that from the evidence of the Epistles onely of Saint Paul to Timothy Wherein as he particularly expresseâ—h the Qualification work and duty of Presbyters and Deacons that Timothy might know what persons were fit to be ordained unto those Offices So in the directions given to Timothy throughout those Epistles he sufficiently describeth the Qualification work and duty of a Bishop that Timothy might know how to behave himself in the exercise of his Episcopall Office as well in ordaining as in Governing the Church 5. Reply Sect. 8. As to the signification of the word Episcopus the primary signification thereof and the application of it to Church Officers you acknowledge and that the same was after by Ecclesiastical usage appropriated to Bishops you deny not But the distinction of Episcopus Gregis Episcopus Pastorum you do not allow If you disallow it for the unfitnesse of the word as may seem by that passage where you say That His Majesty hath said that Episcopus signifieth a Keeper of Shepherds His Majesty thinketh you might very well have spared that exception For if there be a person that hath the oversight of many Shepherds under him there is no more impropriety in giving such a person the stile of Episcopus Pastorum than there is in using of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in calling Doeg the Master of Sauls Herdmen And for the thing it self it cannot be denied but that the Apostles and Timothy and Titus by what clam ordinary or extraordinary as to the present busines it matters not had the oversight and authority over many Pastors and were therefore truly and really Episcopi Pastorum The appropriation of the names of Episcopus and Presbyter to these distinct Offices considering that it was done so early and received so universally in the Church as by the writings of Clemens Ignatius the Canons commonly called of the Apostles and other ancient evidences doth appear His Majesty hath great reason to believe that it was done by consent of the Primitive Bishops meerly in honour of the Apostles out of their respect and reverence to whose persons and personall Prerogatives they chose to call themselves Bishops rather than Apostles in common usage although they made no scruple to maintain their succession from the Apostles when they spake of things proper to the Episcopall Function nor to use upon occasion the termes of Apostle and Apostolicall in that sence the truth of all which is to be seeâ—e frequently in the writings of the Ancients The Testimonies of so many writers ancient and modern as have been producâ—d for the Scripture-originall of Bishops His Majesty conceiveth to be oâ— so gâ—eat importance in a question of this nature that he thinketh himself bound boâ—h in Charity and Reason to believe that so many men of such quality would not have asserted the same with so much confidence but upon very good ground The men respectively of high estimation and reverend authority in the Church worthily re-renowned for their Learning and Piety of moderate and even Passions of Orthodox belief sundry of them uninteressed in the Quarrell and some of them of later times by interest and education byassed rather the other way Their assertions positive peremptory and full of assurances Constat neâ—no ignorat it is clear none can be ignorant and other such like expressions Namely that Christ constituted Bishops in the Apostles That it was founded upon a divine Law That Episcopacy is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Ordinance of God That it seemed good to the holy Ghost so to order it c. Insomuch as they accounted Aerius an Heretique for holding the Contrary And this their judgement they delivered as led there into by divine evidence of Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods word teacheth it apertis Scripturae testimoniis it appeareth by plain testimonies of Scripture discimus ex hoc loco From this place we learn and the like which testimonies should they be encountered as His Majesty doth not yet believe they can be with a cloud of Witnesses to the Contrary for number and in every other respect equal thereunto Yet should not the Authority of their evidence in reason be much lessened thereby inasmuch as one witnesse for the Affirmative ought to be of more value than ten for the Negative and the testimony of one person that is not interressed than of an hundred that are And whereas you seem in this Question to decline this kind of triall because matter of right is properly triable by Scripture His Majesty conceiveth this present Question in what termes soever proposed to be yet in the true stating of it and in the last Resolution clearly a Question of Fact and not of Right For what right soever the Bishops have or pretend to have must be derived from the fact of Christ or his Apostles Which matter of Fact if it be not in the most plain historicall manner that may be related in the Scriptures but is to be deduced thence by topical remote inferences and probability of conjectures the most rationall and proper expedient for the finding out of the Right is to have recourse to the Judgement but especially to the Practice of the nearest and subsequent times according to the received Maximes Lex currit cum Praxi Consuetudo optimus interpres Legum Now he that shall find by all the best Records extant that the distinction of Bishops from and the Superiority over Presbyters was so universally and speedily spread over the face of the whole world and their Government submitted unto so unanimously by the Presbyters that there never was any considerable opposition made there against before Aerius and that cryed down as an Heresie Nor since till this last Age And shall duly consider with all that if Episcopall Government had not had an indubitable institution from the Authority of Christ and his Apostles or if any other Form of Church Government could have pretended to such institution had been the most impossible thing in the world when there neither was any outward certain power to inforce it nor could be any Generall Councel to establish it to have introduced such a Form of Government so suddenly and quietly into all Christian Churches and not the Spirit of any one Presbyter for ought that appeareth for above three hundred years to have been provoked either through zeal ambition or other motive to stand up in the just defence of their own and the Churches liberty against such an usurpation His Majesty believeth that whosoever shall consider the premises together with the Scripture evidences that are brought for that Government will see reason enough to conclude the same to have something of divine institution in it notwithstanding all the evasions and objections that the subtil wit of man can devise to perswade the contrary And therefore His Majesty thinketh it fit plainly to tell you that such Conjecturaâ—l Interpretations of Scripture as he hath yet met with in this
He delivered it so cautiously saying onely It might be probable but as that which for the present came first into his thoughts and was sufficient for his purpose without the least meaning thereby to prejudice other interpretations as namely of those Expositors who take the words with the Bishops and Deacons as belonging to the persons saluting and not to the persons saluted to this sence Paul and Timotheus the servants of Jesus Christ with the Bishops and Deacons to the Saints at Philipi c. or of those who affirm and that with great probability to That Epaphroditus was then actually Bishop of Philippi but not to be mentioned in the Inscription of the Epistle because he was not then at Philippi but with St. Paul at Rome when that Epistle was written Any of which conjectures if they be true as there is none of them utterly improbable that place of Phil. 1. 1. will not do you much service in this Question In the Epistles to Timothy and Titus the Apostle directeth and admonisheth them as Bishops particularly concerning Ordination of Ministers that they do it advisedly and Ordain none but such as are meetly qualified for the Service of the Church which Directions and Admonitions His Majesty believeth for the substance to belong to all Bishops of after times aswel as unto them But His Majesty seeth no necessity why in those Epistles there should be any particular Directions given concerning the Ordination of Bishops at least unless it could be made appear That they were to ordain some such in those places nor perhaps if that could be made to appear in as much as in those Epistles there is not the least signification of any difference at all between Presbyters and Deacons in the maner of their Ordination both being to be performed by the Bishop and by Imposition of Hands and to both comprehended under that general Rule Lay hands suddenly on no man but onely and that very little and scarce considerable as to the making of distinct Offices in the qualification of their persons The Ordination therefore of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons being to be performed in the same maner and the same qualifications after a sort saving such differences as the importance of their several Offices make which is more in the degree then in the things being required in both it had been sufficient if in those Epistles there had been direction given concerning the Ordination and Qualification of but one sort of Church Officers onely as in the Epistle to Titus we see there are of Presbyters onely and no mention made of Deacons in the whole Epistle whence it may be aswel concluded That there was to be no other standing Officer in the Church of Crete but Presbyters onely because S. Paul giveth no directions to Titus concerning any other as it can be concluded That there were to be no other Officers in the Church of Ephesus but Presbyters and Deacons onely because S. Paul giveth no directions to Timothy concerning any other XI Reply 23 27. As to the Ages succeeding the Apostles COncerning the judgement of Ecclesiastical Writers about the Divine Right of Episcopacy His Majesty conceiveth the difference to be more in their Expressions then in their Meaning some calling it Divine others Apostolical and some but not many Ecclesiastical but that the Superiority of Bishops above Presbyters began in the Apostles times and had its foundation in the Institution either of Christ himself or of his Apostles His Majesty hath not heard Aerius excepted that any till these latter Ages have denyed For that which you touch upon concerning the word Infallible His Majesty supposeth you knew his meaning and he delighteth not to contend about words As for the Catalogues some uncertainties in a few a frailty which all humane Histories are subject to His Majesty taketh to be insufficient to discredit all differences there are in Historiographers in reciting the Succession of the Babylonian Persian and Macedonian Kings and of the Saxon Kings in England And we finde far more inextricable intricacies in the Fasti Consulares the Catalogues of the Roman Consuls notwithstanding their great care in keeping the publique Records and the exactness of the Roman Histories then are to be found in Episcopal Catalogues those especially of the chiefest Cities as Jerusalem Rome Antioch Alexandria Ephesus c. yet as all men believe there were Kings in those Countreys and Consuls in Rome in those times so as you might wel foresee would be answered the discrediting of the Catalogues of Bishops in respect of some uncertainties although His Majesty doubteth not but many of the differences you instance in may be fairly reconciled tendeth rather to the confirming of the thing it self That which you say in Answer hereunto That the Ecclesiastical Writers called them Bishops incomplyance to the Language of their own times afte the names of Presbyters and Bishops were distinguished but that they were not indeed Bishops in the proper sence now in Question His Majesty who believeth the distinction of those names to have begun presently after the Apostles times if not rather whilest some of them were living doth consequently believe that as they were called so they were indeed Bishops in that proper sence It appeareth by Ignatius his Epistles every where how wide the difference was in his time between a Bishop and a meer Presbyter If Hierom only and some a little ancienter then he had applyed the name Bishop to persons that lived some ages before them there might have been the more colour to have attributed it to such a complyance as you speak of but that they received both the name and the truth of their relations from unquestionable Testimonies and Records His Majesty thinketh it may be made good by many instances For example to instance in one onely Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna who is thought to be the Angel of that Church in the Revelation Ignatius who was contemporary with him wrote one Epistle to him and sends salutation to him in another as Bishop of Smyrna Many years after Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons in France whose Writings were never yet called in question by any not onely affirms him to have been constituted Bishop of Smyrna by the Apostles but saith That he himself when he was a boy had seen him a very old man Tertullian next a very ancient Writer affirmeth That he was Bishop of Smyrna there placed by St. John After cometh Eusebius who in his Ecclesicastical History not onely Historically reporteth of his being Bishop there as he doth of other Bishops but citeth also for it the Testimonies both of Ignatius and Irenaeus which by the way giveth good credit to Ignatius his Epistles too Then Hierom also and others lastly attest the same And it cannot be doubted but Eusebius and Hierom had in their times the like certain Testimonies and Grounds for sundry others whom they report to have been Bishops which Testimonies and Records are not all come to our hands For the
Testimonies of Clemens and Ignatius His Majesty saith First That though it be not reasonable that the Testimony of one single Epistle should be so made the adequate measure of Clemens his Opinion as to exclude all other proofs from his Example or otherwise yet His Majesty since Clemens was first named by you and the weight of the main Cause lieth not much upon it is content also for that matter to refer himself to that Epistle Secondly That His Majesty could not but use some earnestness of expression in the cause of Ignatius against some who have rejected the whole volumn of his Epistles but upon such Arguments as have more lessened the rephtation of their own Learning then the Authority of those Epistles in the opinion of moderate and judicious men And yet Blendellus la very learned man though he reject those Epistles confesseth notwithstanding the Ancient Fathers gave full Credence thereunto The Apostles you say did not ordain themselves Bishops of any particular places and yet the Bishops of some particular places are reported in the Catalogues to have been Successors to such or such of the Apostles and even the Names of such Apostles are entred into the Catalogues To this his Majesty saith That the Apostles were formally Bishops by vertue of them Mission from Christ as hath been already declared but did neither ordain themselves nor could be ordained by others Bishops of such or such particular Cities Although His Majesty knoweth not but that they might without prejâ—dice to their Apostleship and by mutual consent make choyce of their several quarters wherein to exercise that Function as well as St. Peter and St. Paul by consent went the one to the Circumcision the other to the Gentiles But such apportionments did not entitle them to be properly called Bishops of those places unless any of them by such Agreement did fixedly reside in some City of which there is not in the History of the Church any clear unquestionable Example If James the Lords Brother who was certainly Bishop of Jerusalem were not one of the Twelve Apostles as the more general opinion is that he was not yet did the Churches of succeeding times for the greater honor of their Sees and the memory of so great Benefactors enter the head of the Lists or Catalogues of their Bishops the Names of such of the Apostles as had either first pianted the Faith or placed Bishops or made any long abode and continuance or ended their days among them yet doth not the true Title of being Successors to the Apostles thereby accrew to the Bishops of those places more then to other Bishops but all Bishops are equally Successors to the Apostles in two other respects The one for that they derive their Ordination by a continued Line of Succession from the Apostles The other for that they succeed into the same Apostolical Power and Function which the Apostles as ordinary Pastors had Your motion to reduce this whole Dispute to Scripture alone were the more reasonable if the matter in question were properly a point of Faith And yet even in points of Faith as the Doctrine of the Trinity the Canon of Scripture and sundry other the uniform judgement of the Church hath been ever held of very considerable regard but being a matter of Fact as before was said which the Scriptures do not deliver entirely and perspiscuously in any one place together but obscurely and by parts so that the understanding thereof dependeth meerly upon conjectural Interpretations and uncertain probabillities nor assure any certain distinguishing Characters whereby to discern what therein is extraordinary what Prudential and what of necessary and perpetual Obligation there seemeth to his Majesty to be a necessity of admitting the subsequent Judgement and Practice of the Christian Churches into the Tryal XII Reply 29 c. As to the three Questions proposed by His Majesty HIs Majesty resteth very much unsatisfied That you have now again wholly declined the answering of those three Questions so clearly proposed by him which your selves also confess to be of great importance upon this onely pretence That the whole volumn of Ecclesiastical Policy is contained in them Whereas His Majesty did neither expect nor require from you any large or Polemical Discourse concerning those QUESTIONS but yet did conceive you were in order to His Satisfaction and your own Undertaking in some sort obliged to have declared in few words what your judgment was therin with the grounds thereof that so His Majesty might have taken the same into His further consideration then which nothing could have more condued to the informing of his judgement and the satisfaction of his Conscience which His Majesty also further conceives you might have done with the tenth part of that pains you have hitherto bestowed to other purpose and therein have given full as much satisfaction to His desires as he expected and in all likelihood better satisfaction to His judgement then he yet findeth or can hope to finde from you so long as you hold off from declaring your opinions concerning those Questions For certainly until one of these three things can be clearly evidenced unto His Majesty viz. Either that there is no certain form of Church Government at all prescribed in the Word or if therebe that the Civil power may change the same as they see cause or if it be unchangeable that it was not Episcopal but some other His Majesty thinks himself excuseable in the judgement of all reasonable men if he cannot as yet be induced to give his consent to the utter Abolition of that Government in the Church which he found here settled to his hands which hath continued all over the Christian world from the times of the Apostles until this last age and in this Realm ever since the first Plantation of Christianity as well since the Reformation as before which hath been confirmed by so many Acts of Parliament approved as consonant to the holy Word of God in the Articles of our Religion and by all the Ministers of the Church of England as well by their personal subscriptions as otherwise so attested and declared and which himself in his judgement and conscience hath for these many years been and yet is perswaded to be at least of Apostolical Institution and Practice Truly His Majesty cannot but wonder what should be the reason of your great shyness and unwillingness to discover your mindes in a matter of so great necessary consequence and for a final conclusion of this whole dispute which His Majesty thinketh fit to shut up with this Paper he must plainly tel you That your endeavors to have given him satisfaction in the Questions proposed would have added much in his opinion to the reputation of your ingenuity in the whole undertaking it being not probable you should work much upon his judgement whilst you are fearful to declare your own nor possible to relieve his Conscience but by a free declaring of yours Nevertheless His Majesty liketh well of your Prayer in the close of your Paper and thinketh you should do very well to joyn therewith your utmost possible endeavors towards the setling of Truth and a happy Peace in this unsettled Church and Kingdom FINIS