onely could claime the whole world for their Dioecesse neither could they leave any heires behinde them of their Apostleship the succeeding Administrators of the severall Churches were fixed to their owne Charges having neither power to command in another mans division nor such eminence of authority as that their example should be a rule to their neighbours How then can any living man conceive it possible if there had not been an uniforme order setled by the Apostles that all the world should so suddenly meet in one forme of policie not differing so much as in the circumstances of government That which Parker thinks to speak for his advantage neque uno impetu disciplina statim mutata est Polit. Eccles l. 2. c. 8. sed gradatim paulatim that the discipline was not changed at once but by little and little as by insensible degrees makes strongly against him and irrefragably for us for here were no lingring declinations towards that government which we plead for but a present and full establishment of it in the very next succeeding hands which could not have been but by a supereminent and universall command If we doe but cast our eyes upon those Churches which now dividing themselves from the common rule of Administration affect to stand upon their own bottome do we not see our Countrimen of Amsterdam varying from those of Leiden concerning their government and in the New-English Colonie those of the Boston-leaders from the Westerne Plantation When we see drops of water spilt upon dry sand running constantly into one and the same streame we may then hope to see men and Churches not overswayed otherwise with one universall command running every where into a perfect uniformity of government especially in a matter of such nature and consequence as subordination and subjection is It was the singular and miraculous blessing of the Gospell in the hands of the first Propagators of it Psal 19.3 4. that There was no speech nor language where their voice was not heard Their line of a sudden went out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world The Sun which rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race could scarce out-goe them but as for their followers the very next to them they must be content to hold their own a much slower pace and by leisure to reach their journeyes end If therefore it shall be made to appeare that presently after the decease of the Apostles one uniforme order of Episcopall government so qualified as we have spoken was without variation or contradiction received in all the Churches of the whole Christian world it must necessarily be granted that Episcopacie is of no other than Apostolicall Constitution §. 14. The seventh ground That the ancientest histories of the Church and Writings of the first Fathers are rather to be believed in the report of the Primitive state than the latest Authours SEventhly I must challenge it for a Truth not capable of just denyall that the ancientest histories of the Church and Writings of the first Fathers are rather to be believed in the report of the Primitive State of Church-government than those of this present age A truth so cleare that a reasonable man would think it a shame to prove yet such as some bold leaders of the faction that would be thought learned too have had the face to deny Parker the late oracle of the schisme hath dared to do it in termes who speaking of the testimony of the Primitive times Park Polit. Eccles l. 2. c. â— Haecne Ecclesia illa est quae certum testimonium in causa disciplinaria praestitura nobis est Is this saith he in the high scorne and pride of his heart the Church that shall give us so sure a testimony in the cause of Discipline and every where disparaging the validity of the ancient histories preferres the present Is Eusebius mentioned who records the succession of Primitive Bishops from their first head Ibid. l. 2. c. 5. At Eusebio defuit c. But saith he Eusebius being carried away with the sway of that age wanted that golden reed which is given to the Historians of our times Apoc. 11.2 to measure the distance of times the difference of manners the inclinations of Churches and the â—rogresse and increases of the Antichristian Hierarchy c. Are any of the holy Fathers allâ—â—â—ed Alas poore men saith he they were much mistaken yet howsoever they are much beholden to him Ibid. c. 8. for saith he Non volentâ—s sed nescientes non per apostasiam aut contemptum sed per infirmitatem ignorantiam lapsi sunt Patres qui in disciplina aberrârunt The Fathers who erred in this matter of discipline did not offend out of will but out of want of knowledge not through apostasie or contempt but through infirmity and ignorance But can I now forbeare to ask who can indure to heare the braying of this proud Schismatick For the love of God deare brethren mark the spirit of these men and if you can think it a reasonable suggestion to believe that all ancient histories are false all the holy and learned Fathers of the Church ignorant and erroneous and that none ever saw or spake the truth not of doctrine onely but not of fact untill now that these men sprung up follow them and relie upon their absolute and unerring authority but if you have a minde to make use of your senses and reason and not to suffer your selves to be wilfully besotted with a blinde and absurd prejudice hate this intolerable insolence and resolve to believe that many witnesses are rather to be believed than none at all that credible judicious holy witnesses are rather to be trusted for the report of their own times than some giddy corner-creeping upstarts which come dropping in some sixteen hundred yeares after But what then will ye say to this challenge Quid autem Patres qui adversus nos c. Polit. Ecclesâ—l 2. c. 19. The Fathers saith Parker which by the favourers of Episcopacie are produced against us were for the most part Bishops so as while they speake for Episcopacie they plead for themselves Ecquis igitur eos credendos dicet Will any man therefore say they are to be believed Or will any man forbid us to appeale from them Blessed God! that any who beares the title of a Christian should have the forehead thus to argue Appeale To whom I pray To the succeeding Doctors and Fathers No they were in the same predicament to the rest of the whole Church They were governed by these leaders whither therefore can they imagine to appeale but to themselves and what proves this then but their owne case And if the Fathers may not be suffered to be our witnesses will it not become the house well that these men should now be the Fathers Iudges But the Fathers were Bishops the case was their owne true they were Bishops and it is our glory
and comfort that we have had such predecessours In vaine should we affect to be more holy and more happy than they Let them if they can produce such presidents of their parity But the case was theirs Had there been then any quarrell or Contestation against their Superiority this exception might have carried some weight but whiles there was not so much as the dreame of an opposition in the whole Christian world how could they be suspected to be partiall They wrote then according to their unanimous apprehension of the true meaning of the Scriptures and according to the certaine knowledge of the Apostolike Ordinances derived to them by the undoubted successions of their knowne predecessours Heaven may as soone fall as these evidences may faile us See then I beseech you brethren the question is whether a man may see any object better in the distance of one pace or of a furlong Whether present witnesses are more to be believed than the absent whether those which speake out of their own certaine knowledge and eye-sight or those which speake out of meere conjecture and if this judgement be not difficult I have what I would If I shall make it good that all ancient histories all testimonies of the holy Fathers of the Church of Christ are expresly for this government which we maintaine and you reject the Cause is ours §. 15. The 8th ground That those whom the ancient Church of God and all the holy Fathers of the Church have condemned for hereticall are no fit guides for us to follow in that judgment of the government for which they were so condemned EIghthly I must challenge it for an unquestionable truth that those men whom the ancient Church of God and the holy and Orthodoxe Fathers have condemned for erroneous and hereticall are not fit to be followed of us as the Authours of our opinion or practice for the government of the Church in those points for which they were censured It may fall out too oft that a man whose beliefe is sound in all other points may faile in one and proceed so farre as to second his error with contumacie The slips of the ancients are too well knowne and justly pitied but they passe as they ought for private oversights if any of them have stood out in a publike contestation as holy Cyprian did in that case of Rebaptizing the Church takes up his truth as her common stocke balkes his errour not without a commiserating censure Now if any man shall think fit to pitch upon the noted mis-opinions of the holiest authors for imitation or maintenance what can we esteeme of him but as the flye who passing by the sound parts of the skin fals upon a raw and ulcered sore And if the best Saints may not be followed in their faults how much lesse may we make choice of the examples or judgements of those who are justly branded by the whole Church for schisme or heresie What were this other than to run into the Prophets woe injustifying the wicked Esa 5.23 and taking away the righteousnesse of the righteous from them Is not hee like to make a good journey that chooses a blinde or lame guide for his way When the Spouse of Christ enquires after the place of his feeding Cant. 1.7 8. and where he maketh his flocke to rest at noone he answers her If thou know not O thou fairest among women goe thy wayes forth by the footsteps of the flocke and feed thy kids besides the shepheards tents what is his flocke but Christian soules and his shepheards but the holy and faithfull Pastors The footsteps then of this flock and the tents of these Shepheards are the best direction for any Christian soule for the search of a Saviour and of all his necessary truths To deviate from these what is it but to turne aside by the flocks of the Companions If then it shall be made to appeare that one onely branded Heretick in so many hundred yeares hath opposed the received judgement and practice of the Church concerning Episcopall government I hope no wise and sober Christian will think it safe and fit to side with him in the maintenance of his so justly exploded errour against all the Churches of the whole Christian world §. 16. The ninth ground That the accession of honourable titles and compatible priviledges makes no difference in the substance of a lawfull and holy calling NInthly It must be yeelded that the accession of honourable titles or not incompatible priviledges makes no difference in the substance of a lawfull and holy calling These things being meerely externall and adventitious can no more alter the nature of the calling than change of suits the body Neither is it otherwise with the calling than with the person whose it is The man is the same whether poore or rich The good Patriarch was the same in Potiphar's dungeon and on Pharaoh's bench Our Saviour was the same in Joseph's work-house and in the hill of Tabor Saint Paul was the same while he sate in the house with Aquila making of Tents that he was raigning in the Pulpit or disputing in the Schoole of Tyrannus As a wise man is no whit differently affected with the changes of these his outward conditions but looks upon them with the same face and manages them with the same temper so the judicious beholder indifferently esteemes them in another as being ready to give all due respects to them whom the King holds worthy of honour without all secret envie yet not preferring the Gold-ring before the poore mans richer graces valuing the calling according to its owne true worth not after the price or meanenesse of the abiliments wherewith it is cloathed If some garments be course yet they may serve to defend from cold others besides warmth give grace and comelinesse to the body there may be good use of both and perhaps one and the same vesture may serve for both purposes It is an old and sure rule in Philosophie That degrees do not diversifie the kinds of things The same fire that flashes in the Tow glowes in the Iuniper if one gold be finer than another both are gold if some pearles be fairer than other yet their kinde is the same neither is it otherwise in callings and professions We have knowne some Painters and in other Professions many so eminent that their skill hath raised them to the honour of Knighthood in the meane time their worke and calling is the same it was But what doe I go about to give light to so cleare a truth If therefore it shall be made to appeare that the Episcopacie of this Island is for substance the same with that of the first Institution by the Apostles howsoever there may have beene through the bounty of gracious Princes some additions made to it in outward dignity or maintenance The cause is ours §. 17. The tenth ground That those Scriptures whereon a new and different forme of government is raised had need
holyes Our Martyr goes on In his Epistle to those of Smyrna he is Ignat ad Smyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Pag 16 11 if it be possible more punctuall Follow your Bishop saith he as Christ did his Father and the Colledge of Priests as his Apostles reverence your Deacons as ministring according to the command of God Let no man without the Bishop do any of those things which appertains to the Church Let that Eucharist be held right and unquestionable which is done by the Bishop or by such an one as he shall allow Where the Bishop shall appear there let the multitude assemble as where Christ is there all the heavenly hoast stands by him c. It is not lawfull without the Bishop to baptize nor to offer c. And soon after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Honour God as the Author and Lord of all things and your Bishop as the chief Priest bearing the image of God of God I say as chief and of Christ as Priest c. Neither is there any thing greater in the Church than the Bishop who is consecrated to God for the salvation of the world neither is there any among the Princes like to the King who procures peace and equity to his subjects c. And anone Let all your things be done in decent order in Christ Let your Laicks be subject to the Deacons Pag. 48. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— the Deacons to the Priests or Presbyters the Presbyters to the Bishop the Bishop to Christ as he to his Father Could he speak plainer Lo saith Vedelius and our Scotus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this savours not of the age of Ignatius in whose time no such distinction as of the Clergie and Laity was on foot Weakly suggested Had they but read our Clement Clem. ad Corinth in his fore-recited Epistle to the Corinthians they had soon eaten this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he to the Priests their proper place is assigned The Laickes have their services 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Lay-man is bound to lay Ordinances But I may not so far hinder my way as to make excursions to meet with Cavills if any man be disposed to accept I am ready to give him full satisfaction in a meet season 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In his Epistle to Polycarpus he requires that no man should so much as marry without the Bishops consent and soon after Pag. 208. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Let all things saith he be done to the honour of God give regard to your Bishop as God to you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. My soul for theirs who obey their Bishop Presbyters and Deacons In his Epistle to the Ephesians magnifying their Bishop Onesimus he charges them to give all respects to him and addes Ye ought to look upon your Bishop as upon God himself since he waits upon the Lord and serves him And towards the end Following the holy Ghost for your guide obeying your Bishop and the company of Presbyters with an intire heart c. What shall we think of all this was not St. Ignatius see'd to speak on the Bishops side Or how would these words have sounded in the late Assemblies of Glasco and Edinborough Are we more holy than he Is the truth the same it was or is the alteration on our part All these have been large and full Testimonies of the acknowledged superiority of Bishops and of the high respects that are and were ever due to these prime governours of the Church But if any man think these came not yet home to the point let him cast his eye back upon the first Epistle ad Trallianos and mark well what he saith where having reckoned up the three so oft mentioned Orders of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons he addes Without these Pag. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. there is no elect Church without these no holy Congregation no assembly of Saints And I perswade my self that you also are of the same minde Lo here words which no Vedelius can carp at as interpolated imposing such a necessity of the being of these three severall Orders in Gods Church that it cannot be right without them I see and pity his shuffling Append. Notaâ—rum Crit. but would be glad to see a satisfactory answer from any hands Epist ad P Molin In the mean time I wish with learned Bishop Andrews those Churches where they are missing that happinesse which now to our grief and I hope theirs they are forced to want I have dwelt long with blessed Ignatius where could I be better That one Author is in stead of many why should I not boldly say if besides the divine Scriptures there were no other testimony but this one Saints it were abundantly enough to carry this Cause and I must wonder at any man who confessing Ignatius to have been so holy a Bishop so faithfull a Martyr so true a Saint can stick at a Truth so often so confidently so zealously recommended by him to the world For me let my soul go with his let his faith be mine and let me rather trust one Ignatius than ten thousand Cartwrights Parkers Ameses or any other their ignorant and Male-contented followers Tell me now my dear brethren tell me in good eanest Do you not think this Ignatius a likely man to build up the kingdome of Antichrist were not these shoulders fit for the supportation of that man of sin Away with these absurd and wicked fancies and if this charge of his were holy and Apostolicall wherein he requires us to honour our Bishops as the Lord himself whom they serve and represent what doom do you suppose would he have passed upon those who as such abhorre them and eject them as Devills I cannot without horrour think of either the act or the issue §. 12. The testimony of the Ancient Canons called the Apostles YEt perhaps if Ignatius went alone he might herein incurre some suspicion now all antiquity is with him never any ancient Author said otherwise We will begin with those Canons which are instyled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the holy and most venerable Apostles Surely if not theirs yet of some Apostolicall men near to their times worthy even for their age and authority to be reverenced of all Christians as the most credible witnesses of the state of those Primitive times In them besides the note of professed distance betwixt the Bishops and Presbyters proclaimed in every Chapter there are those which do imply a power and Iurisdiction as Can 15. Can. 15. If any Presbyter or Deacon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or any of the number of Clerks leaving his division or Parish shall go to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and without the leave or allowance of his own Bishop abide in another Parish or charge we forbid him further to Minister especially if when his own Bishop calls him back he
I beseech the reader in the bowels of Christ to lay most seriously to heart is the most manifestly-spick-and-spannewnesse of this devised Discipline for all wise and staid Christians have learned to suspect if not to hate noveltie in those things which are pretended to be the matters of God In matter of Evidence they are old Records that will carry is As the ancient of dayes is immutable and eternall so his truths are like him not changeable by time not decayable by age who was the father of this child I professe I know not otherwise than I have specified in my premonition to the Reader I am sure Calvin disclaimes it Calv. Epist ad SadoletuÌ„ Garâ—m Ego autem Saâ— olete c. who in his Epistle to Cardinall Sadolet hath thus I for my part professe to be one of them whom you do so hostilely in veigh against for although I was called thither i. to Geneva after the Religion was setled Tametsi enim constituta sam religione ac correcta Ecclesiae forma illuc vocatus fui quia tamen quae à Farello ac Vireto gesti erant non modò suffragio meo comprobavi sed etiam quantum in me suit conservare studueÌ„ ac confirmare separatam ab illis causam habere nequoo c and the forme of the Church corrected yet because those things which were done by Farell and Viret I did not onely by my suffrage allow but what in me lay laboured to conserve and ratifie I cannot hold my cause any whit different from theirs Thus he So as he professeth onely to be the Nurse-father of that issue which was begot by a meaner Parent It is true those other were men of note too but for ought I know as much for their exuberance of zeale as for any extraordinary worth of parts Farell indeed was called Flagellum sacrificulorum the scourge of Masse-Priests and what he did for the reformation of Religion I am as apt to acknowledge and applaud as the forwardest But that he preacht somewhere in the very streets Spâ—nhem Geneva Restituta and even Quam vis renitente magistratu in Saint Peters Church was not to be brag'd of by himselfe or his friends Fâ—emente interim an mâ—ginaÌ„ te plebe Ibid. And in his violent carriage in the animating of the people to the outing of their Bishop Pet Balms though perhaps faulty enough and the introducing of this new forme of government Natus Vapineâ— noto Delphinatus oppido Idem I wish he had lived and died in his Vapincum His Coadjutor in this worke was I perceive one Antho. Frumentius vehement young man who was set up by the people to preach upon a Fishstall and no doubt equally heartned his auditors to this tumultuous way of proceeding but then when Viret came once into the file here was at the least fervour enough The spirit of that man is well seene in his Dialogue of White Divels these were the founders of that Discipline men of eminence wee must believe but farre inferiour to Calvin who came into Geneva first as a Lecturer or Preacher and then became their Pastour insomuch as Zanchy reports when Calvin preacht at S. Peters and Viret at S. Gervases concurrent Sermons a Frenchman asked why he did not come somtimes and heare Viret Zanch. Epist ad Misc Citat in Surv. Disc answered Si veniret Sanctus Paulus qui eâdem horâ concionaretur quâ Calvinus ego relicto Paulo audirem Calvinum If Saint Paul should come and preach in the same houre with Calvin I would leave Paul and heare Calvin which was spoken like a good blasphemous zelote But it is not to be wondered at in men of such spirits Calvin Farello I told you before what Calvin himselfe writes to Farell There was one at Basil who professed to attribute non minus Farello quà m Paulo Not lesse to Farell than to Saint Paul O God whither doth mad zeale hurry men It appeares then that Farell and Viret rough-hew'd this statue which Calvin after polished wee now know Consulem ac Deim and I doubt not but some doe yet live who might know the man For me although I have not age enough to have knowne the Father of this Discipline yet one of the Godfathers of it I did know who after his peregrination in Germany and Geneva undertooke for this new-borne infant at our English Font under whose Ministrie my younger yeares were spent Trouble of the English Church at Frankfort in marg The zeale of A. G. The authour of that bitter Dialogue betwixt Miles Monopodius and Bernard Blinkard one of the hottest and busiest stickers in these quarrels at Frankfort So young is this forme of government being untill that day unheard of in the Christian world in which name Peter Ramus though a man censured for affecting innovations in Logicke and Philosophie is if we may credit his old friend Carpentarius said to dislike it and to frump it by the name of Talmud Subaudicum I cannot be ignorant of the common plea of the pretenders that so farre is this forme from novelty as that it was the most ancient and first modell of Churchr-government under the Apostles Thus they say and they alone say it All they have to say more in colour of reason for it is That the twelve Apostles themselves were all equall What then If their pretended forme were bred From thence where hath it lien hid all this while till now That they can tell you too Vnder the tyranny and usurpation of Antichrist Deare Christians I hope you now believe it that the very Apostles themselves who lived to see and act the establishment of Episcopacie would betray the Church at their parting to that man of sin That all the holy Fathers and Martyrs of the Primitive Church were either through ignorance or will guilty of this sacrilegious treachery that all the eyes of the whole world were blind till this City which was once indeed dedicated to the Sun and beares it still for her emblem inlightened them and if ye can believe these strange suggesters wonder ye at them whiles I doe no lesse wonder at you But with all give me leave to put you in mind that this is a stale plea for more vnholy opinions than one The Anabaptists when they are urged with the Churches ancient practice of baptizing of infants straight pretend that this ill guise was brought in by Popery and is aparcell of the mystery of iniquity Prolaeus Fesciculo c. the New-Arrians of our times hellish hereticks when they are pressed with the distinction of three persons in the Deity and one infinite Essence straight cry out of Antichrist and clamour that this doctrine was hatched under that secret mistery of iniquity the Father of the Familists H. N. Ibid. a worse divell if possible than they in his Evangelium Regni sings the very same note Evang. Regni for his damnable plot of doctrine and