the City Provinces As for the Church of Antiochia it spread its bounds and jurisdiction over those goodly Countries of the Roman Empire from the Mediterranean on the West unto the furthest border of that large dominion where it confined upon the Persian or the Parthian Kingdom together with Cilicia and Isauria in the lesser Asia But whether at this time it was so extended I am not able to determine Certain I am that in the very first beginning of this Age all Syria at the least was under the jurisdiction of this Bishop Ignatius in his said Epistle to those of Rome Ignat. ad Rom. stiling himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a Bishop in Syria but the Bishop of Syria which sheweth that there being many Bishops in that large Province he had a power and superiority over all the rest Indeed the Bishops of Hierusalem were hedged within a narrower compass being both now and long time after subject unto the Metropolitan of Caesarea as appears plainly by the Nicene Canon though after they enlarged their border and gained the title of a Patriarch as we may see hereafter in convenient time Only I add that howsoever other of the greater Metropolitan Churches such as were absolute and independent as Carthage Cyprus Millain the Church of Britain Concil Ni. c. 7◠and the rest had and enjoyed all manner of Patriarchal rights which these three enjoyed yet only the three Bishops of Rome Antioch and Alexandria had in the Primitive times the names of Patriarches by reason of the greatness of the Cities themselves being the principal both for power and riches in the Roman Empire the one for Europe the other for Asia and the third for Africk This ground thus laid we will behold what use is made of this Episcopal succession by the ancient writers And first Saint Irenaeus a Bishop and a Martyr both derives an argument from hence to convince those Hereticks which broached strange Doctrines in the Church Iren. contr haer lib. 3. cap. 3. Habemus annumerari eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt Episcopi in Ecclesiis c. we are able to produce those men which were ordained Bishops by the Apostles in their several Churches and their successors till our times qui nihil tale docuerunt neque cognoverunt quale ab hiis deliratur who neither knew nor taught any such absurdities as these men dream of Which said in general he instanceth in the particular Churches of Rome Ephesus and Smyrna being all founded by the Apostles and all of them hac ordinatione successione by this Episcopal ordination and succession deriving from the Apostles the Preaching and tradition of Gods holy truth till those very times The like we find also in another place where speaking of those Presbyteri so he calleth the Bishops which claimed a succession from the Apostles He tells us this quod cum Episcopatus successione charisma veritatis certum secundum placitum Patris acceperunt that together with the Episcopal succession Ir. adv haeres l. 4. cap. 43. they had received a certain pledge of truth according to the good pleasure of the Father See to this purpose also cap. 63. where the same point is pressed most fully and indeed much unto the honour of this Episcopal succession Where because Irenaeus called Bishops in the former place by the name of Presbyters I would have no man gather Smectym p. 23. as some men have done that he doth use the name of Bishops and Presbyters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a promiscuous sense much less conclude that therefore Presbyters and Bishops were then the same For although Irenaeus doth here call the Bishops either by reason of their age or of that common Ordination which they once received by the name of Presbyters yet he doth no where call the Presbyters by the name of Bishops as he must needs have done if he did use the names 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a promiscuous sense as it is supposed And besides Irenaeus being at this time Bishop if not Archbishop of the Church of Lyons could not but know that he was otherwise advanced both in power and title as well in Dignity as Jurisdiction than when he was a Presbyter of that very Church under Pothinus his Predecessor in that See and therefore not the same man meerly which he was before But to let pass as well the observation as the inference certain I am that by this argument the holy Father did conceive himself to be armed sufficiently against the Hereticks of his time and so much he expresseth plainly saying that by this weapon he was able to confound all those qui quoquo modo vel per sui placentiam malam vel vanam gloriam vel per coecitatem malam sententiam praeter quam oportet Ire adv haeres l. 3. c. 3. colligunt Who any way either out of an evil self complacency or vain-glorious humour or blindness of the mind or a depraved understanding did raise such Doctrins as they ought not So much for blessed Irenaeus a man of peace as well in disposition and affection as he was in name Next let us look upon Tertullian who lived in the same time with Irenaeus beginning first to be of credit about the latter end of this second Century Baron ann eccl anno 196. Pamel in vita Tertull. as Baronius calculates it and being at the height of reputation an 210. as Pamelius noteth about which time Saint Irenaeus suffered Martyrdom And if we look upon him well we find him pressing the same point with greater efficacy than Irenaeus did before him For undertaking to convince the Hereticks of his time as well of falshood as of novelties and to make known the new upstartedness of their Assemblies which they called the Church he doth thus proceed Tertull. de praes adv haeres c. 32. Edant ergo origines ecclesiarum suarum evolvant ordinem Episcoporum suorum c. Let them saith he declare the original of their Churches let them unfold the course or order of their Bishops succeeding so to one another from the first beginning that their first Bishop whosoever he was had some of the Apostles or of the Apostolical men at least who did converse with the Apostles to be their founder and Predecessor For thus the Apostolical Churches do derive their Pedegree Thus doth the Church of Smyrna shew their Polycarpus placed there amongst them by Saint John and Rome her Clement Consecrated or Ordained by Peter even as all other Churches also do exhibit to us the names of those who being Ordained Bishops by the Apostles did sow the Apostolical seed in the field of God This was the challenge that he made And this he had not done assuredly had he not thought that the Episcopal succession in the Church of Christ had been an evident demonstration of the truth thereof which since the Hereticks could not shew in their Congregations or Assemblies it
Adeo Argumenta ab absurdo petita ineptos habent exitus said Lactantius truly Now for my History and my proceedings in it that must next be known my business being to make good the matter of Fact that is to say that in all Ages of the Church there hath been an imparity of Ministers that the chief of these Ministers was called the Bishop that this Bishop had the Government of all Presbyters and other Christian people within his Circuit and finally that the powers of Jurisdiction and Ordination were vested in him In which particulars if the Affirmative be maintain'd by sufficient evidence it will be very difficult if not impossible to prove the Negative And for the better making good of the Affirmative I have called in the ancient Writers the holy Fathers of the Church to testifie unto the truth of what is here said either as writing on those Texts of Scripture in which the Institution and Authority the Church in their several times in the Administration and Government whereof they had most of them some special interess Their Testimonies and Authorities I have fully pondered and alledged as fully not misreporting any of them in their words or meaning according to the best of my understanding as knowing well and having seen experience of it that such false shifts are like hot waters which howsoever they may serve for a present pang do in the end destroy the stomach And for those holy and renowned Authors thus by me produced I desire no more but that we yieldas much Authority unto them in Expounding Scripture as we would do to any of the Modern writers on the like occasion and that we would not give less credit to their Affirmations speaking of things that hapned in their own times and were within the compass of their observation than we would do to any honest Country Yeoman speaking his knowledg at the Bar between man and man And finally that in relating such orrurrences of Holy Church as hapned in the times before them we think them worthy of as much belief as we would give to Livy Tacitus or Suetonius reporting the Affairs of Rome from the Records Monuments and Discourses of the former times This is the least we can afford those Reverened Persons whether we find them acting in publick Councils or speaking in their own private and particular Writings and if I gain but this I have gained my purpose I hope to meet with no such Readers as Peter Abeilard of whom Saint Bernard tells us that he used to say Omnes Patres sic ego autem non sic though all the Fathers hold one way he would hold the contrary To such if any such there be I shall give no other answer at this time but what Dr. Saravia gave to Beza in this very case viz. Qui omnem Patribus adimit Authoritatem nullam sibi relinquit that is to say He which takes all Authority from the ancient Fathers will in fine leave none unto himself I should proceed next to the Canonical Ordination of Priests and Deacons the Stewards which the Lord hath set over his Houshold the ordinary Dispensers of Mysteries of Eternal life which like the Angels ascending and de scending upon Jacobs Ladder offer the People Prayers to God and signifie Gods good pleasure and commands to the rest of the People Offices not to be invaded or usurp'd by any who are not lawfully Ordained that is to say who are not inwardly prompted and inclined unto it by the Holy Spirit outwardly set apart and consecrated to Gods publick service by Prayer and imposition of Hands A point so clear as to the Designation of some persons unto sacred Offices that it hath been universally received in all times and Nations The sanctifying of the Tribe of Levi for the service of the Tabernacle amongst the Jews the instituting of so many Colledges of Priests for the service of their several Gods by the ancient Gentiles Acts 13. v. 2. the Separating of Paul and Barnabas to the work of the Ministery in the first dawnings of the Gospel sufficiently evidence this truth And no less clear it is as to the Laying on of Hands in that Sacred action retained since the Apostles times in all Christian Churches at the least deservedly so called And this the Presbyterian-Calvinists saw well enough who though profest Adversaries to all the old Orders of the Church do notwithstanding admit none amongst them to the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments but by the Laying on of the Hands of their Presbyteries But if it be objected that there is no such thing required by the Ordinance of approbation of publick Ministers bearing date March 20. 1653. I answer that that Ordinance relateth not to Ordination but to Approbation and Admission it being supposed that no Man is presented to any Benefice with cure of souls or unto any publick Lecture and being so presented craves to have Admission thereunto who is not first lawfully Ordained That Ordinance was made for no other end but to great Admission to such fit persons as were nominated and presented to them and thereby to supply the place of Institution and Induction which had been formerly required by the Laws of the Land And therefore the said Ordinance declares very well that in such Approbations and Admissions there is nothing sacred no setting apart of any Person to a particular Office in the Ministery that being the sole and proper work of Ordination but only by such trial and approbation to take care that places destitute may be supplyed with able and faithful Preachers throughout the Nation The Question is not then about Ordination or about Laying on of Hands in which all agree but what it is which makes the Ordination lawful whose Hands they are which make it to be held Canonical The Genevians and the rest of Calvins Discipline challenge this power to their Presbyteries a mungrel company not heard of till these latter times consisting of two Lay-elders for each preaching Minister The Lutherans with better reason appropriate it to their Superintendents which in their Churches execute the place of Bishops But all Antiquity Councils Fathers the general usage of the Churches of the East and West with those also of the Aethiopian or Habassine Empire carry it clearly for the Bishop who hath alone the power to Ordain and Consecrate and by the imposition of Hands to set apart some Men to the publick Ministery though he call in some Presbyters as Assistants to him Saint Jerom no great friend to Bishops doth acknowledg this Quid facit Episcopus excepta Ordinatione quod Presbyter non faciat What doth a Bishop saith the Father but what a Presbyter may do also except Ordination And to the disquisition of these Canonical Ordinations I shall next proceed as hath been promised in the Title But I have said so much to that Point in the Course of the History as Part 1. Cap. 2. Num. 11 12. Cap. 4. Num. 2,3 Cap. 5.
unconquered patience suffer And if it does appear by this Disquisition that the Episcopal Government continued from the Apostles times till the time of Constantine not interrupted by the fury of those Persecutions which made such havock amongst men of that Sacred Order there will be little question made of it for the time succeeding in which both the Order and the Men were raised unto the highest pitch of Estimation But finding one objection of a later date not to be satisfied in and by the practice of those elder times I think it not amiss to make answer to it here before we part The matter to be prov'd and in the proof whereof they do so much glory is That there is one Congregation at the least in the Christian World in which the Government of Bishops hath met with Contradiction contrary unto that which had been positively affirmed in the Humble Remonstrance And this they prove from the Bishops own Darling HEYLYN who told them in his Geography pag. 55. That the people of Biscay in Spain admit no Bishops to come amongst them and that when Ferdinand the Catholick came in progress accompanied among others with the Bishop of Pampelone the people rose up in Arms drove back the Bishop and gathering up all the dust which they thought he had trod on flung it into the Sea All this the Darling writes indeed they say true in that But can any rational Man infer from hence that the People of Biscay do abominate the Episcopal Government or that it is not there received without contradiction They may conclude as strongly I am sure more logically that the Dean and Prebends of Westminster are enemies to Episcopal Government or at the least receive it not without contradiction because they suffer neither Archbishop nor Bishop to exercise any jurisdiction within that City and the Liberties of it nor to hold any Convocation within that Church but upon special leave obtained and under a solemn protestation not to infringe thereby their antient priviledges For the truth is that the Biscains being a poor and indigent Nation and finding the Episcopal Visitations very chargeable to them procured a priviledge in times past that their Bishops should not come in person to visit their Churches for which consult the general History of Spain fol. 919. And being withal a rugged and untractable people tenaciously addicted to their antient customs and kept continually in mind of some wrongs and injuries which had been offered by their Prelats in the times foregoing they might be easily excited to that act of outrage against the Bishop of Pampelone and yet without any the least contradiction receive there as indeed they do the Episcopal Government But to proceed I could not but perceive by this scornful attribute under what prejudice I lay amongst those of that Party and therefore that any thing of mine in Answer to them would not be lookt upon with equal and impartial eyes The door of Truth is never so close barr'd as when Prejudice and Prepossession have blockt up the entrance In which respect having finished the discourse which I had in hand I thought not fit to let it pass under my own name but published it under that of Theophilus Churchman not without many honest Precedents in that kind before A name which might both serve to conceal my Person and express my Relations and whereunto I hoped to create no reproach or obloquy by my slack performances But contrary to what I hoped the Author of the Pamphlet called The Observator observed finding perhaps who walked under that Disguise must needs take him to task setting upon him first with a petulant scorn after his usual way of throwing dirt on all he meets with as not knowing by what name to call him whether Goodman Worshipful Right Worshipful Honourable Right Honourable or Right Reverend Churchman Which said he chargeth it upon him that there is nothing in his Book but what is stoln from Archbishop Whitgift Bishop Bilson Bishop Hall and others fol. 37. and reckoning up some others who have written in defence of Episcopacy he acknowledges them all but Churchman to be good men and true and consequently Churchman neither true nor good Therefore that no man else may suffer by my imperfections I have thought good to lay aside my former Vizor to shew my self in my own likeness and to cry out with him in Virgil Me me adsum qui feci in me convertite ferrum Let him and all the Enemies of Episcopacy make their blows at me and if I cannot stand my ground against all their Batteries and justifie my self from the crime of falshood in all the particulars of that History I shall with gladness follow their Triumphant Chariot like a conquered Captive It will add something to the Pageant that the bold Champion of the Bishops as he elsewhere scoffs it hath his place therein At this time passing over his reproachful taunts I am to clear my self of the Felony which is charged upon me for stealing all things in that Book from Archbishop Whitgift Bishop Bilson Bishop Hall and others this is Novum crimen ante haec tempora inauditum a Felony not heard of in the Common Law to which the Gentleman pretends such a special knowledge The citing of the Authors for every passage absolves me clearly from that crime And I would fain know of him being so perfect an Historian how a man writing the Affairs of the former times which come not within the compass of Autopsie or ocular inspection as we know who saith can possibly attain to the knowledge of them but by canvassing all sorts of Authors which either lived in or near those times or otherwise held Correspondence and Intelligence with them It is not for all men though it be for some to challenge such a soveraign or praetorian power of coining as well the matter as the words of their Histories that whatsoever they let fall their negligences and ignorances their mistakes and passions shall forthwith be received for Oracular truths We poor men who pretend unto no such priviledge and write of things done long agoe in the dark ages and obscure twilights of the Church must help our selves by the light of Letters and thankfully make use of all hands which hold forth that Candle without fear of holding up our own If this be stealing neither the Magdeburgians nor Baronius nor Torniellus Salianus Parker Harpsfield Fox nor any of our late Compilers of Ecclesiastical or Civil History can be acquitted from the Crime Let us all be discharged or condemned together guilty or not guilty all or none there 's no question of it But I have gone too far on this Gentlemans Errant And therefore for the credit of those Witnesses which I have produc'd what is desired of the Reader in relation to them with other things preparatory to the following History I must refer the Reader to the General Preface that being informed in all particulars which concern the
Spirit found that there would be work enough elsewhere to choose one or other of their sacred number to be the Bishop of that Church and take charge thereof And this they did not now by lots but in the ordinary course and manner of election pitching on James the Son of Alpheus Gal. 1.19 who in regard of consanguinity is sometimes called in Scripture the Lords Brother and in regard of his exceeding piety and uprightness was surnamed the Just Which action I have placed here even in the cradle of the Church upon good Authority For first Eusebius tells us out of Clemens that this was done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eccles Hist l. 2. c. 1. after the Ascension of our Saviour Hierome more plainly statim post passionem Domini immediately upon his passion In Scrip. Eccles We may with good security conclude from both that it was done not long after Christs Ascension as soon almost as the Believers were increased to a considerable number And lastly Ignat. in ep ad Trall that Ignatius hath made S. Stephen to be the Deacon or subservient Minister to this James the Bishop of Hierusalem and then we must needs place it in some middle time between the Feast of Pentecost and the 26. of December when Saint Stephen was Martyred So early did the Lord take care to provide Bishops for his Church and set apart a special Pastor for his holy City 'T is true there is no manifest record hereof in holy Scripture but then withal it is as true that in the Scripture there are many pregnant circumstances whereon the truth hereof may well be grounded Gal. 1.18 19. Saint Paul some three years after his Conversion went up unto Hierusalem to see Peter but found no other of the Apostles there save only James the Lords Brother Ask Hierome who this James was whom S. Paul then saw and he will tell you that it was James the Bishop of Hierusalem Hier. in Gal. 1. Hic autem Jacobus Episcopus Hierosolymorum primus fuit cognomento Justus And then withal we have the reason why Paul should find him at Hierusalem more than the rest of the Apostles viz. because the rest of the Apostles were dispersed abroad according to the exigence of their occasions and James was there residing on his Pastoral or Episcopal charge Fourteen years after his Conversion Gal. 21.1 being the eleventh year after the former interview he went up into Hierusalem again with Barnabas and Titus and was together present with them at the first general Council held by the Apostles In which upon the agitation of the business there proposed the Canon and determination is drawn up positively and expresly in the words of James Act. 15.20 Do you desire the reason of it Peter and others being there Chrysostom on those words of Scripture Act. 15.13 Hom. 33. in Act. c. 15. v. 23. James answered saying doth express it thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this James was Bishop of Hierusalem And this no question was the reason why Paul reciting the names of those with whom especially he had conference at his being there puts James in the first place before Peter and John viz. Galat. 2.9 because that he was Bishop there as Estius hath noted on that Text. The Council being ended Paul returneth to Antioch and there by reason of some men that came from James Peter withdrew Vers 12 and separated himself eating no longer with the Gentiles Why takes the Apostle such especial notice that they came from James but because they were sent from him as from their Bishop about some business of the Church this James being then Bishop of Hierusalem Theoph. Oecum in Gal. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as both Theophylact and Oecumenius note upon the place Finally nine years after this being the 58. of Christs Nativity Paul makes his last journey to Hierusalem still he finds James there Act. 21.18 And the day following Paul went in with us unto James c. as the Text informs us Chrysost hom 46. in Act. Chrysostom notes upon the place that James there spoken of was the Lords Brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Bishop of Hierusalem So that for 20 years together we have apparent evidence in Scripture of James residing at Hierusalem and that as Bishop there as the Fathers say For that Saint James was Bishop of Hierusalem there is almost no ancient Writer but bears witness of it Ignatius who was made Bishop of Antiochia Ignat. ep ad Trallian within eight years after the Death and Martyrdom of this James in their account who place it latest makes Stephen to be the Deacon of this James as Clemens and Anacletus were to Peter which is an implication that James was Bishop of Hierusalem out of which City we do not find that Stephen ever travelled Egesippus who lived near the Apostles times Hieron in loc Euseb l. 4. c. 21. Apud Euseb hist l. 2. c. 1. Ibid. l. 7. c. 14. makes this James Bishop of Hierusalem as both Saint Hierom and Eusebius have told us from him Clemens of Alexandria not long after him doth confirm the same And out of him and other monuments of antiquity Eusebius doth assure us of him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he was the first that held the Episcopal throne or chair in the Church of Hierusalem Saint Cyril Catech. 4. cap. de cibis Catech. 14. Bishop of Hierusalem speaks of him as of his Predecessor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the first Bishop of that Diocess And Epiphanius for his greater credit makes him not only the first Bishop that ever was Haeres 29. n. 3. but Bishop of the Lords own Throne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. adv haeres 78. n. 7. and that too by the Lords appointment S. Ambrose doth assign this reason why Paul going unto Hierusalem to see Peter Ambros in Gal. 1. De Scriptor Eccles should find James there quia illic constitutus erat Episcopus ab Apostolis because that by the rest of the Apostles he was made Bishop of that place Saint Hierom doth not only affirm as much as for his being Bishop of Hierusalem but also doth lay down the time of his Creation to be not long after our Redeemers passion as we saw before Saint Chrysostom Hom. ult in Ioh. besides what was alledged from him in the former Section tells in his Homilies on S. Johns Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Saint James had the Bishoprick of Hierusalem Where by the way I cannot but take notice of a lewd forgery or at the best a gross mistake of Baronius who to advance the Soveraignty of the Church of Rome An. 34. n. 291. will have this James to take the Bishoprick of Hierusalem from Saint Peters hands and cites this place of Chrysostom for proof thereof But surely Chrysostom saith no such matter for
of that Church his being Bishop there and suffering there an ignominious yet a glorious death for the sake of Christ are such noted Truths that it were labour lost to insist upon them Only I shall direct the Reader to such pregnant places in the most ancient and incorrupted Writers as may give satisfaction in those points to any one that will take pains to look upon them And first to look upon the Greeks he may find Papias and Clemens ancient Writers both alledged to this purpose by Eusebius Hist Eccles l. 2. c. 14. Caius Dionysius Bishops of Corinth both of good antiquity alledged in the same book cap. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eusebius speaking for himself not only in the 13. Chap. of the same book also but also in his Chronicon in which he notes the year of his first coming to that City to be the 44. after Christs Nativity See to this purpose also Saint Chrysostom in his Homily De Petro Paulo Saint Cyril of Alexandria in his Epistle to Pope Celestine Theodoret Sozomen and others Next for the Latins there is hardly any but saith somewhat in it whereof see Irenaeus l. 3. c. 3. Tertullian in his book de praescript adv haeret Lactant. lib. 4. cap. 21. Optatus lib. 2. contr Parmen Hierom in his Tract De Eccl. Scriptoribus Saint Austin in Epist 165. and other places not to descend to later Writers of the Latin Churches whose interest it may seem to be To close this point Saint Austin Aug. ep 169. whom I named last shall speak once for all who reckoning up the Bishops in the Church of Rome thus begins his Catalogue Si enim c. If the succession of the Bishops there be a thing considerable quanto certius verè salubriter ab ipso Petro numeramus how much more certainly and assuredly do we begin the same with Peter who bare the figure of the whole Church And then goes on Petro successit Linus Linus succeeded Peter Clemens him and so to Anastasius who then held the See Nor can it be replyed that Peter took the Church of Rome into his Apostolical care and had not the Episcopal charge thereof as some now suppose The Tables of succession make that clear enough Saint Peter the Apostle could have no successours but the Bishop might Linus or whosoever else succeeded nor did nor could pretend succession to the preheminences and miraculous priviledges which were required necessarily unto the making of an Apostle challenge an interest by succession in his Pastoral Office they both might and did The Writers of all ages since do afford them that Only the difference is amongst them who was the first that did succeed him in his Pastoral charge St. Austin gives it unto Linus as before we saw next Clemens Adv. haeres l. 3. c. 3. Haeres 26. Lib. 2. contr Parmen Hieron de Script Eccles in Clement Id. ibid. in Petro. and then Anacletus Irenaeus doth agree with Austin placing Linus first but placing Anacletus second and then Clemens third and so doth Epiphanius also Optatus reckoneth them as before in Austin Saint Hierom sometimes ranketh them as Irenaeus and Epiphanius did Linus Cletus Clemens and sometimes placeth Clemens first as Tertullian and plerique Latinorum most of the ancient Latin Writers had done before I know there is much pains taken to compose this difference amongst our Antiquaries those most especially of the Papal party But in my mind there cannot be a better course taken to effect the same than that which was observed before in the case of Antioch And to effect this composition Ignatius and some other Fathers give a ground as probable as that which was laid down before in the former business Iren. l. 3. c. 3. For first it is affirmed by Irenaeus that S. Paul had as great an interest in the foundation of the Church of Rome as Saint Peter had A duobus Apostolis Petro Paulo Romae fundatae constitutae Ecclesiae as his own words are The like saith Epiphanius in another language Ado. haeres 27. num 6. Ep. ad Tral making both of them Bishops of that Church Next it is said expresly by Ignatins who might well speak on certain knowledg living in those times that Anacletus for I conceive that Cletus and Anacletus were the same was Deacon to S. Peter and Linus Deacon to S. Paul who doth indeed make mention of him in his second Epistle unto Timothy This ground thus laid why may we not conceive as before in Antioch that in the first planting of the Church of Rome there were two several Churches or congregations that of the Circumcision being collected by Saint Peter that of the Gentiles first drawn together by Saint Paul each of them being Bishop or chief Pastor of their Congregations Secondly that when the two Apostles perceived the time of their sufferings to draw near Peter ordained Anacletus Bishop of the Churches of the Circumcision and that Paul did commit to Linus the government of the Churches of the Gentiles both whom they had employed before as Deputies and Substitutes to attend these charges whilst they themselves did travel to and fro as occasion was and the necessities of the Church required Thirdly and lastly that Linus being dead Clemens who had before been specially designed by Saint Peter to possess his place succeeded Bishop of the Churches of the Gentiles there who finally surviving Cletus or Anacletus call him which you will and the division between Jew and Gentile being worn away united the two Churches in his person as the sole Bishop of the whole And this I am the rather induced to think because that Epiphanius making up a Catalogue of the Popes of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Epiph haer 27. first joyns together Peter and Paul next coupleth with the like conjunction Linus and Cletus and after brings in Clemens Euaristus Alexander c. in a line successively And yet the Tables of succession may well stand as they have done hitherto first Linus after Cletus and thirdly Clemens because that Linus dying first left Cletus in possession of the Pastoral charge and Cletus dying before Clemens left him the sole surviver of the three which possibly may be the reason why many of the Latins reckon Clemens for the first Bishop after Peter whom they conceive to be sole Bishop of that Church as indeed it was before there was a Church of Gentiles founded in that famous City For being formerly designed by Saint Peter to be his Successour and afterward enjoying the whole charge alone as Peter for a season did it might not seem improper to report him for the second Bishop that is the second of the whole And then again Clemens is placed by some next and immediately after Linus whose successor he was in the direct line as Bishop of the more famous Church viz. of the Gentiles and by some also after Cletus whom he succeeded at the
besides the Church of Rome before remembred We find Epaphroditus not he that is commemorated by S. Paul In Annal. Eccles A. 60. Rom. Martyr Mart. 22. April 3. Jun. 4. Julii 12. Julii 12. Julii 23. Chrys serm 128. in his Epistle to the Philippians as Baronius witnesseth against himself à beato Petro Apostolo Episcopus illius Civitatis ordinatus made Bishop by S. Peter of Tarracina of old called Anxur Pancratius made by S. Peter Bishop of Tauromenium in the Isle of Sicily as the Greeks also do affirm in their Menologia Marcianus Bishop of Syracusa to whom the said Menologies do bear record also Hermagoras a Disciple of S. Mark the first Bishop of Aquileia now in the Signeurie of Venice Panlinus the first Bishop of Luques in Tuscanie Apollinaris created by S. Peter the first Bishop of Ravenna in praise of whom Chrysologus one of his Successors and an holy Father hath composed a Panegyrick Marcus ordained Bishop of Atina at S. Peters first coming into Italy Rom. Martyr Apr. 28. Novemb. 7. Sept. 1. Octob. 25. Jan. 27. Acts. Martyrol Rom. Decem. 29. And last of all Prosdocimus the first Bishop of Padua à Beato Petro ordinatus made Bishop thereof by S. Peter Next to pass over into France we find there Xystus the first Bishop of Rhemes and Fronto Bishop of Perigort Petragorricis ordained both by this Apostle As also Julianus the first Bishop of Mayne Cononiensium in the Latine of his Ordination And besides these we read that Trophimus once one of S. Pauls Disciples was by S. Peter made the first Bishop of Arles And this besides the Martyrologies and other Authors cited by Baronius in his Annotations appeareth by that memorable controversie in the time of Pope Leo before the Bishop of Vienna the chief City of Daulphine and him of Arles for the place and dignity of Metropolitan In prosecution of the which it is affirmed by the Suffragans Epist contr Provinc ad S. Leonem in fine lib. or Com-provincial Bishops of the Province of Arles Quod prima inter Gallias Arelatensis Civitas missum à Beatissimo Petro Apostolo Sauctum Trophimum habere meruit Sacerdotem that first of all the Cities of Gaul that of Arles did obtain the happiness to have Saint Trophimus for their Bishop for so Sacerdos must be read in that whole Epistle sent to them from the most blessed Apostle S. Peter to preach the Gospel For Spain we find this testimony once for all that Ctesiphon Torquatus Secundus Caecilius Judaletius Hesychius Rom. Martyr Maij 15. and Euphrasius Romae à Sanctis Apostolis Episcopi ordinati ad praedicandum verbum Dei in Hispanias directi Having been ordained Bishops at Rome by the Apostles viz. S. Peter and S. Paul were sent unto Spain to preach the Gospel and in most likelihood were Bishops of those Cities in which they suffered the names whereof occur in the Martyrologie If we pass further into Germany we may there see Eucherius one of S. Peters Disciples also by him employed to preach the Gospel to that Nation which having done with good effect in the City of Triers Primus ejusdem Civitatis Episcopus Decemb. 8. he was made the first Bishop of that City And unto this Methodius also doth attest Ap. Mar. Scotum in An. 72.74 as he is cited by Marianus Scotus who tells us that after he had held the Bishoprick 23 years Valerio Trevericae Ecclesiae culmen dereliquit he left the government of that Church unto Valerius who together with Maternus both being Disciples of Saint Peper did attend him thither and that Maternus after fifteen years did succeed Valerius continuing Bishop there 40 years together I should much wrong our part of Britain should I leave out that as if neglected by the Apostle concerning which we are informed by Metaphrastes whose credit hath been elsewhere vindicated that this Apostle coming into Britain Commem Petri Pauli ad diem 29 Junii and tarrying there a certain time and enlightning many with the word of grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 did constitute Churches and ordain Bishops Presbyters and Deacons in the same Which action as he placeth in the twelfth year of Nero being the 67. of our Redeemer so he professeth that he had his information out of some writings of Eusebius which have not come unto our hands but with a great deal more of that Authors works have perished in the ruins and wrack of time Nor is it strange that the Apostle should make so many of his Disciples Bishops before or shortly after they were sent abroad to gain the nations to the Faith Beda hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 27. that being the usual course in the like imployments as may appear by Austins being consecrated Bishop immediately after his first coming into England The reason was as I conceive it that if God prospered their endeavours with desired success they might be furnished with a power of ordaining Presbyters for their assistance in that service And so much for the Churches planted by Saint Peter and by his Disciples CHAP. IV. The Bishoping of Timothy and Titus and others of Saint Pauls Disciples 1. The Conversion of Paul and his ordaining to the place of an Apostle 2. The Presbyters created by Saint Paul Act. 14. of what sort they were 3. Whether the Presbyters or Presbytery did lay on hands with Paul in any of his Ordinations 4. The people had no voice in the Election of their Presbyters in these early times 5. Bishops not founded by S. Paul at first in the particular Churches by him planted and upon what reasons 6. The short time of the Churches of S. Pauls plantation continued without Bishops over them 7. Timothy made Bishop of Ephesus by S. Paul according to the general consent of Fathers 8. The time when Timothy was first made Bishop according to the Holy Scripture 9. Titus made Bishop of the Cretans and the truth verified herein by the ancient Writers 10. An Answer unto such Objections as have been made against the Subscription of the Epistle unto Titus 11. The Bishopping of Dionysius the Areopagite Aristarchus Gaius Epaphroditus Epaphras and Archippus 12. As also of Silus Sosthenes Sosipater Crescens and Aristobulus 13. The Office of a Bishop not incompatible with that of an Evangelist WE are now come unto S. Paul and to the Churches by him planted where we shall meet with clearer evidence from Scripture than before we had A man that did at first most eagerly afflict the poor Church of Christ as if it were the destiny not of David only but also of the Son of David to be persecuted by the hands of Saul Rhemist Testam Act. 15. But as the Rhemists well observe that the contention between Paul and Barnabas fell out unto the great increase of Christianity So did this persecution raised by Saul fall out unto the great improvement of the Gospel For by this means the Disciples being
some Miracle or great hiatus in the story I leave to any man to be imagined Timothy and Titus being thus setled in their Episcopal Sees we must pass on to see if we can meet with any other of Saint Pauls Disciples or his assistants if you will that were entrusted with the like Authority And first we meet with Dionysius the Areopagite ordained by Saint Paul as is most likely the first Bishop of Athens but howsoever questionless ordained the first Bishop there Another Dionysius Bishop of Corinth Ap. Euseb Eccl. hist l. 4. c. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also l. 3. c. 4. who in all probability was born whilst Saint John was living doth expresly say it viz. that Dionysius the Areopagite being converted to the Faith by the Apostle Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was first ordained Bishop of the Church of Athens The foresaid Dionysius the Corinthian doth also tell us Ap. Euseb l. c. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Publius succeeded the Areopagite after him Quadratus both which were Disciples of the Apostles the former of the two being conceived to be the same Acts 28.8 whose Father Paul cured so miraculously in the Isle of Malta Next for the Church of Thessalonica August 4. the Martyrologies inform us that Aristarchus one of Pauls Companions ab eodem Apostolo Thessalonicensium Episcopus ordinatus was by him ordained Bishop of the Thessalonians And after him succeeded Caius whom Saint Paul mentioned in his Epistle to the Romans Rom. 16.23 Comment in Epi. ad Rom. c. 16. by the name of Gaius the Host as he calls him of the whole Church Certain I am that Origen reports him to be Bishop here and that upon the known tradition of his Elders Fertur sane ex traditione majorum quod hic Gaius Episcopus fuerit Thessalonicensis Ecclesiae as his own words are So for the Church of the Philippians Saint Paul hath told us of Epaphroditus one whom he mentioneth oftentimes Phil. 2.29 in his Epistle to that people that he was not only his Brother and Companion in labour and his Fellow-souldier Vestrum autem Apostolum but he was also their Apostle Theodor. in 1. ad Tim. c. 3. Ask of Theodoret what Saint Paul there meaneth and he will tell you that he was their Bishop For in his Comment on the first to Timothy he gives this note Eos qui nunc vocantur Episcopi nominabant Apostolos that in those times in which Saint Paul writ that Epistle those who are now called Bishops were called Apostles And this he proves out of this passage of Saint Paul that so in this respect ita Philippensium Apostolus erat Epaphroditus Epaphroditus is called the Apostle of the Philippians Which clearly sheweth that in his opinion Epaphroditus was Bishop of the Philippians as Titus of the Cretans and Timothy of the Ephesians in whom he afterwards doth instance Beza indeed doth render the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Latin Legatus in which he hath been followed by the latter English who read it Messenger But Calvin doth not only keep himself to the old Translation Calvin in 〈◊〉 lip c. 2. though he take notice of the other but he prefers the old before it Sed prior sensus meliùs convenit as more agreeable unto the meaning of the place For the Colossians next we find the names of Epaphras and Archippus their two first Bishops in the Epistle to that Church And first for Epaphras it is conceived that he first preached the Faith of Christ to the Colossians And this Saint Paul doth seem to intimate in the first Chapter of the same Epistle saying Ver. 7. As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellow servant Certain it is that in the Martyrologies he is affirmed to be the Bishop of this Church ab eodem Apostolo ordinatus Julii 19. and that he was ordained Bishop by the hands of Paul But being after Prisoner with Saint Paul at Rome Archippus undertook the Episcopal charge Colos 4.17 whom Paul exhorteth to take heed unto the Ministery which he had received of the Lord and to fulfil it Most sure I am that Ambrose writing on those words doth make Archippus Bishop of Colossi by the name of their Praepositus Ambros in Colos 4. V. cap. 3. n. 5. or Governour of which see before adding withal that after Epaphras had seasoned them in the Truth of God hic accepit regendam eorum Ecclesiam Archippus took the Government of that Church upon him For other of Saint Pauls Disciples we find in Dorotheus if he may be credited that Silas Pauls most individual Companion Dorotheas in Synopsi was Bishop of the Church of Corinth the truth whereof shall be examined more at large in the second Century and that Sosipater mention of whom is made Acts 20 was ordained Bishop of Iconium wherein Hippolitus concurring with him doth make the matter the more probable Of Sosthenes of whom see Acts 18. 1 Cor. 1. the same two Authors do report that he was Bishop of Colophon one of the Cities of the lesser Asia But leaving these more Eastern Countreys let us look homeward towards the West And there we find that Crescens whom Saint Paul at his first coming unto Rome 2 Tim. 4. had sent into Galatia to confirm the Churches was after by him sent on the like occasion into Gaule or Gallia there to preach the Gospel for so I rather chuse to atone the business than correct the Text and read it Crescens in Galliam with Epiphanius Epiphan haeres 51. n. 11. For having with so good success been employed formerly in Galatia he might with better comfort undertake the service of Preaching Christ unto the Gaules whereof the Galatians were a branch or Colony Now that he did indeed Preach Christs Gospel there is affirmed positively both by Epiphanius and Theodoret two very eminent and ancient Writers Epiphan haeres 51. Theodor. in Epl. 2. ad Tim. Ado in Chron. and Ado Viennensis a Writer though of lesser standing yet of good repute affirmeth that he was put upon this employment quo tempore Paulus in Hispà nias pervenisse creditur at such time as it is conceived that the Apostle Paul went into Spain which was in Anno 61. as Baronius thinketh there being left and having planted a Church of Christ in the City of Vienna now in that Province which is called Daulphine he became the first Bishop of the same Primus ejusdem Civitatis Episcopus saith the Martyrologie Decemb. 29. In Chronico And to this Ado one of his successors also doth agree adding withal that after he had sat there some few years he returned back again into Galatia leaving one Zacharias to succeed him Finally not to leave out Britain it is recorded in the Greek Menologies that Aristobulus whom Saint Paul speaks of Rom. 16. being one of the Seventy and afterwards a follower of Saint Paul Menolog
time contracted somewhat of that rust and rubbish wherewith the middle ages of the Church did so much abound Yet if mine own opinion were demanded in it though I agree unto the story both for the number of the Bishops and the Metropolitans I must needs think there was some other reason for it than the relation of the number of the Flamines and Archiflamines which is there pretended And that this was not done at once but in a longer tract of time than the Reign of Lucius as was in part affirmed before That Lucius did convert the Temples of the Idols into Christian Churches setled the revenues of the same upon the Churches by him founded I shall easily grant so far forth as the bounds of his dominions will give way unto it but being there were but 28 Cities in all that part of Britain which we now call England as both from Huntingdon and Beda was before delivered and that King Lucius was but a Tributary Prince of those Regions only which were inhabited by the Trinobantes and Cattieuchlani as I do verily conceive he was I believe rather that the number of the Bishops and Archbishops which our stories speak of related to the form of government as it was afterwards established in the Roman Empire Notitia Provinc in div cap. and not to any other cause whatever Now they which have delivered to us the state of the Roman Empire inform us this That for the easier government and administration of the same it was divided into fourteen Diocesses for so they called those greater portions into the which it was divided every Diocess being subdivided into several Provinces and every Province in the same conteining many several Cities And they which have delivered to us the estate of the Christian Church Notitia Prov. dignitat c. have informed us this that in each City of the Empire wherein the Romans had a Defensor Civitatis as they called that Magistrate the Christians when they gain'd that City to the holy faith did ordain a Bishop that over every Province in which the Romans had their Presidents they did place an Arch-bishop whose seat being commonly in the Metropolis of the Province gave him the name of Metropolitan and finally that in every Diocess in which the Romans had their Vicarius or Lieutenant-General the Christians also had their Primate and seated him in the same City also where the other was This ground thus layed it will appear upon examination that Britain in the time of the Roman Empire was a full Diocese of it self no way depending upon any other portion of that mighty State Ib. in Provinc Occident sup c. 3. as any way subordinate thereunto And being a Diocese in it self it was divided in those times into these three Provinces viz. Britannia prima Cambd. de divisione Britan. containing all the Countrys on the South of the River Thames and those inhabited by the Trinobantes Cattieuchlani and Iceni 2. Britannia secunda comprising all the Nations within the Severn and 3. Maxima Caesariensis which comprehended all the residue to the Northern border In the which Provinces there were no less than 28 Cities as before is said of which York was the chief in Maxima Caesariensis London the principal in Britannia prima Caer-Leon upon Vsk being the Metropolis in Britannia secunda And so we have a plain and apparent reason not only of the 28 Episcopal Sees erected anciently in the British Church but why three of them and three only should be Metropolitans For howsoever after this there were two other Provinces taken out of the former three viz. Valentia and Flavia Caesariensis which added to the former Id. ibid. made up five in all yet this being after the conclusion of the Nicene Council the Metropolitan dignity in the Church remained as before it did without division or abatement according to the Canon of that famous Synod Concil Nicen. Can. 6. And herewithal we have a pregnant and infallible Argument that Britain being in it self a whole and compleat Diocese of the Roman Empire no way subordinate unto the Praefect of the City of Rome but under the command of its own Vicarius or Lieutenant-General the British Church was also absolute and independent owing nor suit nor service as we use to say unto the Patriarch or Primate of the Church of Rome but only to its own peculiar and immediate Primate as it was elsewhere in the Churches of the other Dioceses of the Roman Empire This I conceive to be the true condition of the British Church and the most likely reason for the number of Bishops and Arch-bishops here established according to the truth of Story abstracted from those errours and mistakes which in the middle Ages of the Church have by the Monkish Writers of those times been made up with them But for the substance of the story as by them delivered which is the planting of the Church with Bishops in eminent places that appears evidently true by such remainders of antiquity as have escaped the tyranny and wrack of time For in the Council held at Arles in France Anno 314. Tom. 1. Concilior Gall. Ã Sirmundo edit we find three British Bishops at once subscribing viz. Eborius Bish of York Restitutus B. of London and Adelfus B. of Colchester there called Colonia Londinensium Gennadius also in his Tract de viris illustribus mentioneth one Fastidius by the name of Fastidius Britanniarum Episcopus Gennad in Catal amongst the famous Writers of old time placing him Anno 420 or thereabouts whom B. God win I cannot tell upon what reasons Godwin in Catal. Episc Londinens Cit. ap Armachan de Primor c. 5. Cambden in Brigant reckoneth amongst the Bishops of the See of London Particularly for the Bishops or Archbishops of the British Church we have a Catalogue of the Metropolitans of London collected or made up by Joceline a Monk of Fournest an ancient Monastery in the North being 14 in all which howsoever the validity thereof may perhaps be questioned by more curious Wits yet I shall lay down as I find it taking their names from him that little story which concerns them out of other Writers First then we have Theon or Theonus 2 Eluanus one of the two Ambassadours sent by King Lucius to the Pope 3 Cadar or Cadoeus 4 Obinus or Owinus 5 Conanus 6 Palladius 7 Stephanus 8 Iltutus 9 Theodwinus 10 Theodredus 11 Hilarius Geosr Monmouth hist Brit. Speed in descr Britan. 12 Guitelinus sent as Ambassadour to Aldrocnus King of Armorica or Little-Britain to crave his aid against the Scots and Picts who then plagued the Britains 13 Vodius or Vodinus slain by Hengist but some say by Vortiger at the first entrance of the Sateons into this Isle 14 And last of all Theonus who had been sometimes Bishop of Gloncester but was after translated hither and was the last Bishop of London of this line or Series Of
since been ordained reverend for their Age for their Faith sincere tried in Affliction and proscribed in time of persecution Nor doth he speak this of his own time only which was somewhat after but as a matter of some standing cum jam pridem per omnes provincias that so it had been long ago and therefore must needs be so doubtless in this present Age being not long before his own And this extent of Christianity I do observe the rather in this place and time because that in the Age which followeth the multitudes of Christians being so increased we may perhaps behold a new face of things the times becoming quicker and more full of action Parishes or Parochial Churches set out in Country-Villages and Towns and several Presbyters allotted to them with an addition also both of trust and power unto the Presbyters themselves in the Cure of Souls committed to them by their Bishops with many other things which concern this business And therefore here we will conclude this present Century proceeding forward to the next in the name of God CHAP. IV. Of the authority in the government of the Church of Carthage enjoyed and exercised by Saint Cyprian and other Bishops of the same 1. Of the foundation and preheminences of the Church of Carthage 2. Of Agrippinus and Donatus two of St. Cyprian's Predecessors 3. The troublesom condition of that Church at Cyprian's first being Bishop there 4. Necessitated him to permit some things to the discretion of his Presbyters and consent of the People 5. Of the authority ascribed by Cyprian to the People in the Election of their Bishop 6. What Power the people had de facto in the said Elections 7. How far the testimony of the People was required in the Ordination of their Presbyters 8. The power of Excommunication reserved by St. Cyprian to the Bishop only 9. No reconciliation of a Penitent allowed by Cyprian without the Bishops leave and licence 10. The Bishop's power as well in the encouragement as in the punishment and censure of his Clergy 11. The memorable case of Geminius Faustinus one of the Presbyters of Carthage 12. The Bishop's Power in regulating and declaring Martyrs 13. The Divine Right and eminent authority of Bishops fully asserted by St. Cyprian SAint Hierom tells us of S. Cyprian Hieron de Scriâ—tor Eccl. in Tertulâ—d that he esteemed so highly of Tertulian's writings that he never suffered any day to pass over his head without reading somewhat in the same and that he did oft use to say when he demanded for his works Da mihi magistrum reach me my Tutor or Praeceptor So that considering the good opinion which S. Cyprian had harboured of the man for his Wit and Learrning and the nearness of the time in which they lived being both also members of the same Church the one a Presbyter the other Bishop of the Church of Carthage We will pass on unto S. Cyprian and to those monuments of Piety and Learning which he left behind him And this we shall the rather do because there is no Author of the Primitive times out of whose works we have such ample treasures of Ecclesiastical Antiquities as we have in his none who can give us better light for the discovery of the truth in the present search than that blessed Martyr But first before we come to the man himself we will a little look upon his charge on the Church of Carthage as well before as at his coming to be Bishop of it the knowledge of the which will give special light to our following business And first for the foundation of the Church of Carthage Cited by Baronius in Annal Eccl. Anno 51. if Metaphrastes may be credited it was the action of Saint Peter who leaving Rome at such time as the Jews were banished thence by the Decree of Claudius Caesar in Africam navigasse Carthaginensem erexisse Ecclesiam is by him said to sail to Africa and there to found the Church of Carthage leaving behind him Crescens one of his Disciples to be the Bishop of the same But whether this be so or not it is out of question that the Church of Carthage was not only of great Antiquity but that it also was of great power and credit as being the Metropolitan Church of Africk the Bishop of the same being the Primate of all Africa properly so called together with Numidia and both the Mauritanias as well Caesariensis as Sitisensis So witnesseth S. Cyprian himself Latius fusa est nostra Provincia Cypri Ep. 45. habet enim Numidiam Mauritanias duas sibi cohaerentes as his own words are And this appeareth also by the subscription of the Bishops to the Council of Carthage convented ex Provincia Africa Concil Tom. 1. p. 149. Edit Binil Numidia Mauritania as is most clear on the record For whereas antiently the Roman Empire was divided into fourteen Diocesses reckoning the Prefecture of the City of Rome for one every Diocess being subdivided into several Provinces as was said before the Diocess of Africa was not of the meanest containing in it six large Provinces Notitia Provinciarum and reaching from the greater Syrtis Eastward where it confined upon the Patriarchat of Alexandria to Mauritania Tingitana on the West which did belong unto the Diocess of Spain Now Carthage standing in that Province which was called Zeugitana or Proconsularis and being the Seat or Residence of the Vicarius or Lieutenant General of the Roman Empire for that Diocess The Bishop of it was not only the Metropolitan of his own Province but the Primate also in regard of the other sive which were Tripolitana Byzacena Numidia and the two Mauritanias before remembred Nor was he only the supream Bishop in regard of them but also absolute and independent in regard of others as being neither subject or subordinate to the Patriarchs of Alexandria though the prime City of all Africa nor to the Popes of Rome the Queen and Empress of the world Concil Carthaginiens 6. against whose machinations and attempts the Church of Carthage for a long time did maintain her liberty Such being the Authority and power of the Church of Carthage we must next look upon the Bishops of the same who though they had not got the name of Patriarchs as those of Antioch Rome and Alexandria now had and they of Constantinople and Hierusalem shall be found to have in the times succeeding yet had they all manner of Patriarchal jurisdiction Of these the first I meet withal was Agrippinus who flourished in the beginning of this Century bonae memoriae vir a man of blessed memory as S. Cyprian Cyprian Epist 71. Vincent Lerinen adv haeres cap. 9. Aug. de Bap. lib. 2. cap. 7 8. Cypr. Epi. 71. Venerabilis memoriae of venerable memory as Vincentius Lerinensis calls him S. Austin also mentioneth him in one of his discourses against the Donatists as a Predecessor of S. Cyprians
Bishops there Assembled being sixteen in all Ib. ibid. as by S. Cyprian is recorded Which as it was the manner of Electing not only of the Bishops of Rome but of most Bishops else Leo. Epist 89. in the times we speak of so it continued long in use the voices of the Clergy in the point and substance the presence and approbation of the people for the form and ceremony electio Clericorum and testimonia populorum being joyned together by Pope Leo. Now the condition of the Church of Rome under this Cornelius besides the Schism raised in it by Novatianus of which more anon is to be seen most fully in a Letter of his to Fabius Patriarch of Antiochia Extat ap Ruseb hist l. 6. c. 35. p. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which he certifieth him that besides the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who was but one in every Church and could not be more there were forty-six Presbyters seven Deacons and Sub-Deacons seven forty-two Acolythites Exorcists Readers Sextons Ostiarij fifty-two in all Widows and other poor People pressed with want and sickness fifteen hundred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All which saith he are maintained at the publick charge by the grace and bounty of the Lord. Out of which place and passage of my Author there are these several points to be considered in reference to our present business First the exceeding large revenue of the Church of Rome in these early days so great as to maintain the numbers before specified according to the rank and quality of each particular the distribution of the which did ordinarily and of common course belong unto the Bishop only or such to whom he pleased to entrust the same And secondly we may observe the singularity of succession wherein the Bishop differed from the other Clergy he being but one they many in their ranks and stations sometimes more sometimes fewer according to the greatness of the Church in which they served and the emergent necessities and occasions of it Here in the Church of Rome to one only Bishop we find a Clergy of inferior Ministers consisting of 154 persons which doubtless was exceedingly increased in the following times Hierom. in epist ad Evagr. Hierom complaining in his time Presbyteros turbam contemptibiles facere that the great number of them made them be the less regarded And last of all we may observe that though Cornelius mentioneth Acolythites Readers Sub-Deacons Exorcists and Sextons these are not to be reckoned as distinct Orders in the Church although now so accounted in the Church of Rome but only several services and imployments which were required in the same Concerning which take here the learned resolution of judicious Hooker Hooker Eccl. Polit. l. 5. n. 78. There is an error saith he which beguileth many who much intangle both themselves and others by not distinguishing Services Offices and Orders Ecclesiastical the first of which three and in part the second may be executed by the Laity whereas none have or can have the third but the Clergy Catechists Exorcists Readers Singers and the rest of like sort if the nature only of their labour and pains be considered may in that respect seem Clergy-men even as the Fathers for that cause term them usually Clerks as also in regard of the end whereunto they were trained up which was to be ordered or ordained when years and experience should make them able Notwithstanding in as much as they no way differed from others of the Laity longer than during that work of Service which at any time they might give over being thereunto but admitted not tied by irrevocable Ordination we find them always exactly severed from that body whereof those three before rehearsed Orders of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons only are the natural parts So the judicious Divine indeed as one truly calls him I add this further of Cornelius Holy Table having thus fallen upon the Orders in the state Ecclesiastick that he had passed through all inferior Offices per omnia Ecclesiastica officia promotus as Saint Cyprian hath it Cypr. Ep. 52. and exercised each several Ministery in the Church of God before he mounted to this height ad Sacerdotij sublime fastigium are the Fathers words which shewed that the estate of Bishops was as a different office so an higher dignity than any other in the Church Now as the speech of Heaven doth many times put us in mind of Hell so this relation of Cornelius an holy Bishop and a Martyr occasioneth me to speak of Novatianus in whom it is not easie to determine whether the Heretick or the Schismatick had the most predominancy Certain it is he proved in both respects one of the cunningest instruments of Satan for the disturbance of the Church who suffered most extreamly by him both in peace and truth the Schism or Heresie by him raised at this very time being both more suddain in the growth and permanent in the duration of it than ever had been set on foot before in the Church of Christ Now this Novatianus was a Presbyter of the Church of Rome and being much offended as well at the Election of Cornelius as that himself was pretermitted in the choice associates himself with one Novatus an African Bishop as near unto him in conditions as he was in name whom Cyprian omnium sacerdotum voce Cypr. Epist 49. by the consent and suffrages of all his Comprovincial Bishops had before condemned By them it was agreed that Novatianus should take upon himself the name and title of the Bishop of Rome And being there could be no shew nor colour for it did he not first receive Episcopal Consecration from some hands or other they sent unto the obscurest parts of Italy Euseb hist Eccl. lib. 6. c. 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as my Author hath it to find out three poor Countrey Bishops that had not been acquainted with the like affairs Who being come to Rome and circumvented by the Arts of these wicked men and partly also forced by their threats and menaces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they Ordained him Bishop if at the least an Act so void and null from the beginning may be called an Ordination And this being done because they found that people naturally are inclined to imbrace new fancies especially where pretence of piety seems to bear a stroke they took upon them to be very strict in their conversation precise in their opinions and wonderfully devout in all their carriage raising withal this doctrine suitable thereto That such as fell in time of Persecution though they repented never so truly and did what ever was thought necessary to testifie their grief and sorrow for their great offence yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there was no hope of their salvation Id. ibid. no mercy to be looked for at the hands of God By means whereof they drew unto their side some Confessors as they called
those times did build their studies and having built their studies on a wrong foundation did publickly maintain some point or other of his Doctrines which gave least offence and out of which no dangerous consequence could be drawn as they thought and hoped to the dishonour of God the disgrace of Religion the scandal of the Church or subversion of godliness amongst which if judicious Mr. Hooker be named for one as for one I find him to be named yet is he named only for maintaining one of the five points that namely of the not total or final falling away of Gods Elect as Dr. Overald also did in the Schools of Cambridge though neither of them can be challenged for maintaining any other point of Calvins Doctrine touching the absolute decree of Reprobation Election unto life without reference to faith in Christ the unresistible workings of Grace the want of freedom in the will to concur therewith and the determining of all mens actions unto good or evil without leaving any power in men to do the contrary And therefore secondly Mr. Hookers discourse of Justification as it now comes into our hands might either be altered in some points after his decease by him that had the publishing of it or might be written by him as an essay of his younger years before he had consulted the Book of Homilies and perused every clause in the publick Liturgy as he after did or had so carefully examined every Text of Scripture upon which he lays the weight of his judgment in it as might encourage him to have it printed when he was alive Of any men who publickly opposed the Calvinian tenents in this University till after the beginning of King James his Reign I must confess that I have hitherto found no good assurance though some there were who spared not to declare their dislike thereof and secretly trained up their Scholars in other principles An argument whereof may be that when Dr. Baroe dyed in London which was about three or four years after he had left his place in Cambridge his Funeral was attended by most of the Divines then living in and about the City Dr. Bancroft then Bishop of London giving order in it which plainly shews that there were many of both Universities which openly favoured Baroes Doctrines and did as openly dislike those of the Calvinians though we find but few presented to us by their names Amongst which few I first reckon Dr. John Buckridge President of St. Johns Colledge and Tutor to Archbishop Laud who carried his Anti-Calvinian doctrines with him to the See of Rochester and publickly maintained them at a conference in York House Ann. 1626. And secondly Dr. John Houson one of the Canons of Christ Church and Vice-Chancellor of the University Ann. 1602. so known an enemy to Calvin his opinions that he incurred a suspension by Dr. Robert Abbots then Vice Chancellor And afterwards being Bishop of Oxon subscribed the letter amongst others to the Duke of Buckingham in favour of Mountague and his Book called Appello Cesarem as before was said And though we find but these two named for Anti-Calvinist in the five controverted points yet might there be many houses perhaps some hundreds who held the same opinions with them though they discovered not themselves or break out in any open opposition 1 King 19 18. 1 King 19 1◠as they did at Cambridge God had 7000. Servants in the Realm of Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal though we find the name of none but the Prophet Eliah the residue keeping themselves so close for fear of danger that the Prophet himself complained to God that he alone was left to serve him A parallel case to which may be that the Christians during the power and prevalency of the Arian Hereticks St. Jerome giving us the names of no more than three who had stood up stoutly in defence of the Nicene council and the points of Doctrine there established viz. 1. St. Athanasius Patriark of Alexandria in Egypt St. Hillary Bishop of Poictious in France and St. Eusebius Bishop of Vevelli in Italy of which thus the Father Siquidem Arianis victis triumphatorem Athanasium suum Egyptus excepit Hillarium è prelio revertentem galliarum ecclesia complexa est ad reditum Eusebii sui lugubres vestes Italia mutavit that is to say upon the overthrow of the Arians Egypt received her Athanasius now returned in triumph the Church of France embraced her Hillary coming home with victory from the battel and on the return of Eusebius Italy changed her mourning garments By which it is most clear even to vulgar eyes that not these Bishops only did defend the truth but that it was preserved by many others as well of the Clergy as of the People in their several Countreys who otherwise never had received them with such joy and triumph if a great part of them had not been of the same opinions though no more of them occur by name in the records of that age But then again If none but the three Bishops had stood unto the truth in the points disputed at that time between the Orthodox Christians and the Arian Hereticks yet had that been sufficient to preserve the Church from falling universally from the faith of Christ or deviating from the truth in those particulars Deut. 17.6 Mat. 18 19. the word of truth being established as say both Law and Gospel if there be only two or three witnesses to attest unto it two or three members of the Church may keep possession of a truth in all the rest and thereby save the whole from errour even as a King invaded by a foreign Enemy doth keep possession of his Realm by some principal fortress the standing out whereof may in time regain all the rest which I return for answer to another objection touching the paucity of those Authors whom we have produced in maintenance of the Anti Calvinian or old English doctrines since the resetling of the Church under Queen Elizabeth for though they be but few in number and make but a very thin appearance Apparent rari nautes in gurgite vasto in the Poets language yet serve they for a good assurance that the Church still kept possession of her primitive truths not utterly lost though much endangered by such contrary Doctrines as had of late been thrust upon her there was a time when few or none of the Orthodox Bishops durst openly appear in favour of St. Athanasius but only Liberius Pope of Rome Theod. Hist Eccles lib. 2. cap. 15. who thereupon is thus upbraided by Constantius the Arian Emperour Quota pars tu es orbis terrarum qui solus c. How great a part saith he art thou of the whole world that thou alone shouldst shew thy self in defence of that wicked man and thereby overthrow the peace of the Universe To which Liberius made this answer non diminuitur solitudine mea verbum dei nam olim
departure of the Prince Elector Palatine in both of which he calls upon his Audience to joyn with him in Prayer by way of bidding moving or inviting Invitemus huc numen precemur preces offeramus and such like phrases All which thus laid together do most plainly shew that he did go that way which was prescribed by the Injunctions revived and ratified in the Canon and travel'd by those Worthies that went before him I mean to instance next in Bishop Jewel who lived and flourished after the setting out of the Queens Injunctions and dyed long time before the making of the Canon In a collection of his Sermons by John Garbrand of Oxon Printed 1583. there are these three passages which declare most plainly how he did understand the said Injunction one giving light unto the other Of these the first occurs in that upon the first of Haggai where having spent two leaves upon the entrance to his matter and made division of his Text we find it in a line by it self and a different character this word Pray and that noting out the place in which his Form of bidding prayer was at that time used More fully in his Sermon upon Rom. 13.12 where having entred on his matter he thus moves the people or as the Stile then was thus biddeth the Prayers But before I proceed to declare further that which is to be spoken at this present let us turn our bearts to God even the Father of lights that it may please him to open the Eyes of your understanding and to direct all our doings to his Glory Most fully and indeed as fully as may be to this purpose in that on Luc. 11.15 where having read his Text he doth thus move the people to joyn in prayer That it may please God so to order both my utterance and your understanding that whatsoever shall be spoken or heard may turn to the glory of his holy name and to the profit and comfort of his Church Before I enter into the exposition of these words I desire you to call upon our gracious God with your earnest and hearty prayer and here I commend unto you Gods holy Catholick Church and therein the Queens most excellent Majesty by the especial grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the true antient and Apostolick Faith and the highest Governour next under God of this Church of England c. that as God of his mercy hath marvellously preserved her to the possession of her right to the great comfort of all her Subjects hearts and to the Reformation of the Church so it may please him to aid and increase her with his holy Spirit to the continuance and performance of the same The Queens most Honourable Council with the residue of the Nobility the good Estate of both of the Vniversities and all other Schools of Learning the only Nurseries of this Realm the Bishops and Preachers that the number of them may be increased and that they may have grace to set forth the truth of Gods Gospel as their duty is diligently sincerely soberly timely and faithfully And the whole Commons of this Realm and specially such as speak ill or think ill of Gods holy Word that they may have grace to regard the Salvation of their Souls to lay aside all blind affection to hear the Word of God and so to come to the Knowledge of the truth This is the Form by him then used which plainly is by way of Exhortation not of Invocation a Form of Bidding prayer according as it is prescribed in the Injunction and no direct prayer with address to God as is now devised against the Injunction and the Canon And here it is to be observed that in this Form of Bishop Jewels there is not only a conformity to the Injunction that is by Bidding and Exhorting only but that therein he recommends unto them those particular heads which in the said Injunction are contained the last excepted As for the words or phrase of speaking he useth not the same precisely which are laid down in the Injunction but other words amounting to the same effect which also sheweth that whatsoever liberty is given us in the Canon by these words or to this effect by no means giveth us any power to change the Form of moving bidding or exhorting but only sheweth to what effect they must and may bid move or exhort the people The next in order of Ascent for so we purpose to proceed is Archbishop Parker the first Archbishop of Canterbury in Queen Elizabeths Reign who being Pro-vice-chancellor of Cambridge in King Edwards time and preaching at the Funeral there of Martin Bucer in the conclusion of his Sermon doth thus begin his Exhortation ad preces as it is there called or which comes both to one doth thus bid the prayers Vt igitur velum ignorantiae cordibus nostris detrahetúr discutiatur ab oculis invidiae caligo atque profundâ cogitatione consideratione hunc tristem casum pro occasione à Deo oblatâ confiteamur c. Coram Deo clemente misericorde nos prosternamus piis precibus ab eo misericordiam invocemus In quibus Commendo vobis Ecclesiam Catholicam Sanctam Dei Communionem ut cum dignâ confessione c. progrediatur in cognitione ejus voluntatis in Domini nostri Salvatoris fide persistat orate insuper pro omnibus iis qui per errorem atque infidelitatem manifestò deprehenduntur extra Ecclesiam vel qui hypocriticâ dissimulatione habentur de eadem cum sint reverâ synagoga Satanae ut vocem Christi summi Pastoris unanimes audiant efficiamur unum ovile unum grex uno ore corde gloriam tribuentes Deo Patri Domini nostri Jesu Christi Orate pro Ecclesiâ Anglicanâ Hibernicâ ambarum supremo capite proxime à Christo Illustrissimo Clementissimo Domino nostro Rege Edwardo ejus nominis sexto c. Precemur etiam pro nobis ipsis ut quemadmodum Patres Veteris Testamenti versabantur in continuis votis expectatione primi adventus Servatoris nostri in carne c. sic nos sub novo testamento sobriè piè justè vivamus in hoc mundo acerrimâ cupiditate secundum ejus adventum manentes unà cum dormientibus Fratribus plenam redemptionem Corporum nostrorum ejus glorioso corpori conglutinandorum sitientes consociati Abrahamo Isaaco Jacobo c. This I have here set down in the Latine tongue according as I find the same in the opera Anglicana of the said Martin Bucer pag. 898. which if it be compared with the Kings Injunctions will manifestly appear to be conform thereto in each particular the special recitation of the Kings Sisters the Protectours Grace the Clergy and Nobility being all included though cut off with c. and cometh also very near to that of Bishop Jewel before remembred both of them keeping to the Form of bidding moving
bring greater trouble to the Clergy than is yet considered and far less profit to the Countrey than is now pretended which is the third and last of my Propositions and is I hope sufficiently and fully proved or at the least made probable if not demonstrative I have said nothing in this Tract of the right of Tithes or on what motive or considerations of preceding claim the Kings of England did confer them upon the Clergy Contenting my self at this time with the matter of fact as namely that they were setled on the Church by the Kings of this Realm before they granted out Estates to the Lords and Gentry and that the Land thus charged with the payment of Tithes they passed from one man to another Ante Concilium Lateranense bene toterant Laici decimas sibi in feudum retinere vel aliis quibuscunque Ecclesiis dare Lindw in Provinc cap. de decimis until it came unto the hands of the present Occupant which cuts off all that claim or title which the mispersuaded subject can pretend unto them I know it cannot be denied but that notwithstanding the said Grants and Charters of those ancient Kings many of the great men of the Realm and some also of the inferiour Gentry possessed of Manours before the Lateran Council did either keep their Tithes in their own hands or make Infeodations of them to Religious houses or give them to such Priests or Parishes as they best affected But after the decree of Pope Innocent the third which you may find at large in Sir Edw. Cokes Comment upon Magna Charta and other old Statutes of this Realm in the Chapter of Tithes had been confirmed in that Council Anno 1215 and incorporated into the Canons and conclusions of it the payment of them to the Minister or Parochial Priest came to be setled universally over all the Kingdom save that the Templars the Hospitalers and Monks of Cisteaux held their ancient priviledges of being excepted for those Lands which they held in Occupancy from this general rule Nor have I said any thing of Impropriations partly because I am persuaded that the Lords and Gentry who have their Votes or Friends in Parliament will look well enough to the saving of their own stakes but principally because coming from the same original grant from the King to the Subjects and by them setled upon Monasteries and Religious houses they fell in the ruine of those houses to the Crown again as of due right the Tithes should do if they be taken from the Clergy and by the Crown were alienated in due form of Law and came by many mean conveyances to the present Owners Onely I shall desire that the Lords and Commons would take a special care of the Churches Patrimony for fear lest that the prevalency of this evil humour which gapes so greedily after the Clergies Tithes do in the end devour theirs also And it concerns them also in relation to their right of Patronage which if this plot go on will be utterly lost and Churches will no longer be presentative at the choice of the Patron but either made Elective at the will of the People or else Collated by the Trustees of the several Counties succeeding as they do in the power of Bishops as now Committee-men dispose of the preferments of the Sequestred Clergy If either by their power and wisdom or by the Arguments and Reasons which are here produced the peoples eyes are opened to discern the truth and that they be deceived no longer by this popular errour it is all I aim at who have no other ends herein but only to undeceive them in this point of Tithes which hath been represented to them as a publick grievance conducing manifestly to the diminution of theâ—â— gain and profit If notwithstanding all this care for their information they will run headlong in the ways of spoil and sacrilege and shut their eyes against the light of the truth shine it never so brightly let them take heed they fall not into that â—â—â—â—tuation which the Scripture denounceth that seeing they shall see but shall not perceive and that the stealing of this Coal from the Altars of God burn not down their Houses And so I shut up this discourse with the words of our Saviour saying that no man tasteth new wine but presently he saith that the old is better ECCLESIA VINDICATA OR THE Church of England VINDICATED PART II. Containing the Defence thereof V. In retaining the Episcopal Government AND VI. The Canonical Ordination of Priests and Deacons Framed and Exhibited in an HISTORY of EPISCOPACY By PETER HEYLYN D. D. HEB. XIII 17. Obedite Praepositis vestris subjacete eis Ipsi enim pervigilant quasi rationem pro Animabus vestris reddituri ut cum gaudio hoc faciant non gementes CYPRIAN Epist LXV Apostolos id est EPISCOPOS Praepositos Dominus elegit Diaconos autem post Ascensum Domini in coelos Apostoli sibi constituerunt Episcopatus sui Ecclesiae Ministros LONDON Printed by M. Clark to be sold by C. Harper 1681. THE PREFACE TO THE READER THE Quarrels and Disputes about Episcopacy had reposed a while when they broke out more dangerously than in former times In order whereunto the people must be put in fear of some dark design to bring in Popery the Bishops generally defamed as the principal Agents the regular and establisht Clergy traduc'd as the subservient Instruments do drive on the Plot Their actings in Gods publick Worship charged for Innovations their persons made the Common subjects of reproach and calumny The News from Ipswich Bastwicks Let any and the Seditious Pamphlets from Friday-street with other the like products of those times what were they but Tentamenta Bellorum Civilium preparatory Velitations to that grand encounter in which they were resolved to assault the Calling The Calling could not be attempted with more hopes of Victory than when it had received such wide wounds through the sides of those persons who principally were concerned in the safety or defence thereof The way thus opened and the Scots entring with an Army to make good the pass the Smectymnuans come upon the Stage addressing their discourse in Answer to a Book called An Humble Remonstrance to the Lords and Commons in Parliament Assembled Anno 1640. amongst whom they were sure beforehand of a powerful party to advance the Cause which made them far more confident of their good suocess than otherwise they had reason to expect in a time less favourable And in this Confidence they quarrelled not the Rocket or the Officers Fees the Oath ex officio the Vote in Parliament or the exorbitant jurisdiction of the High-Commission at which old Martin and his followers clamoured in Queen Elizabeths time Non gaudet tenui sanguine tanta sitis Their stomach was too great to be satisfied with so small a sacrifice as the excrescences and adjuncts of Episcopacy which seemed most offensive to their Predecessors
Eccles l. 4.21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Five books he writ as both Eusebius and Saint Hierom tell us touching the Acts and Monuments of the Church of God this last affirming of the work that it contained many things ad utilitatem legentium pertinentia exceeding profitable to the Reader De scriptor Eccles though written in a plain and familiar stile Some fragments of his cited by Eusebius we have seen before the body of his Works being eaten by the teeth of Time and one we are to look on now being the remainder of a most accurate and full confession of his Faith Euseb ut supra which he left behind him There he relates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that in a Journey towards Rome he did confer with many Bishops and that he found amongst them all the same Form of Doctrine there being no City where he came no Episcopal succession wherein he found not all things so confirmed and setled as they were prescribed by the Word taught by the Prophets and Preached by our Lord and Saviour Particularly he tells us of the Church of Corinth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it continued constantly in the Orthodox Faith till the time that Primus was there Bishop with whom he had much conference as he sailed towards Rome staying with him many days at Corinth and being much delighted with his Conversation Of Rome he only doth inform us that he abode there till the time of Anicetus whose Deacon Eleutherus at that time was who not long after did succeed in his Pastors Chair Soter succeeding Anicetus Eleutherus succeeding Soter Where by the way De viris ill in Egesip I wonder how Saint Hierom came to place the coming of Egesippus unto Rome sub Aniceto when Anicetus was there Bishop considering that Egesippus tells us he was there before and that he there continued 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 until the time of Anicetus as before was said Discoursing of the Errours of the Jews his Countrey-men he sheweth that after James the Just was martyred in defence of Christs Truth and Gospel Simeon the son of Cleophas and Uncle to our Saviour was erected Bishop all the Disciples giving their voices unto him as being of their Masters kindred He addeth that Hierusalem whereof he speaketh was called for long time the Virgin Church as being undefiled with the filth of Heresies and that Thebulis was the first who broached strange Doctrine in the same the man being discontented as it seemed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he was not made a Bishop So far the pieces of this Journal or Itinerary direct us in this present search as to discern how strong a bulwark the Episcopal succession hath been and been accounted also of Gods sacred Truths how strong a Pillar for support of that blessed building At the same time with Egesippus lived Dionysius the learned and renowned Bishop of the Church of Corinth Euseb Eccles hist l. 4. c. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De scriptor Ecc. successor to that Primus whom before we spoke of A man as both Eusebius and Saint Hierom say of such both industry and Eloquence ut non solum suae Civitatis Provinciae populos that he instructed not alone by his Epistles the people of his own City and Province but also those of other Churches One writ he saith Eusebius to the Lacedemonians at once confirming them in faith and love another unto the Athenians about the time that Publius their Bishop suffered Martyrdom exhorting them to live according to the prescript of Christs holy Gospel In that Epistle he makes mention of Quadratus also who succeeded Publius in that charge declaring also that Dionysius the Areopagite being converted by Saint Paul was made the first Bishop of that City Of which three Bishops of Athens Quadratus is much celebrated by Eusebius for an Apologie by him written Euseb l. 4. c. 3. and tendred unto Adrian the Emperour in the behalf of Christians being the first piece of that kind that was ever written in the World and written as it seems with such power and efficacy Id. ibid. c. 9. that shortly after Adrian desisted from his persecuting of the Church of God making a Law or Edict for their future safety But to go on with Dionysius A third he writ unto the Nicomedians opposing in the same the Heresies of Marcion a fourth unto the Gortynaeans in which he much commended their Bishop Philip in that the Church committed to his care and governance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had been made famous by so many tryals both for faith and constancy He writ unto the Church of Amastris also and the rest in Pontus speaking by name of Palma the Bishop there as also to the Church of Gnossus in the Isle of Crete in which he did persuade Pintus Bishop of the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to impose that grievous yoke of Chastity upon his brethren as a matter necessary but to consider rather the infirmity and weakness of them Finally there was extant in Eusebius's time another Epistle of this Dionysius to the Church of Rome wherein he magnifieth their abundant charity towards all the Brethren which were in want or persecution not only of their own but of other Cities highly commending Soter who was then their Bishop who did not only study to preserve them in so good a way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also did encourage them to improve their bounties So much remains of Dionysius and his publick Acts by which we may perceive that though the Bishops of those times as since had their particular Sees and Cities yet did their care extend unto others also maintaining a continual intercourse betwixt one another not only for their mutual comfort in those dangerous times but also for the better government of the Church it self the Unity whereof was then best preserved by that correspondence which the Bishops in the name of their several Churches had with one another For other Bishops of those times not to say any thing of Melito or Polycarpus whom before we spake of nor of the Bishops of the four Patriarchal Sees which we shall have occasion to remember shortly those of most fame were Papias and Apollinarius Euseb Hist l. 3. c 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bishops successively of Hierapolis a City of Phrygia Pothinus Bishop of Lyons in France Id. l. 4. c. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. l. 5. c. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. c. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. c. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. c. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theophilus Bishop of Caesarea Cassius Bishop of Tyre Clarius Bishop of Ptolomais all three in Palestine Publius Julius Bishop of Debelto a Colony in Thrace with many others of great eminency whereof consult Euseb Hist Eccles 5. c. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By this that hath been said of Dionysius and other Bishops
conferens bestowing with a liberal hand possessions and revenues both on Church and Church-men did ratifie the said donations by his publick Charters And this he saith on the Authority of Gildas who in a book of his entituled De victoria Aurelii Ambrosii not now extant had affirmed the same Radulphus de Diceto speaks more fully to the point in hand Eleutherus saith he Citat ap Armachan lib. de Primord c. 4. sent into Britain Faganus and Diwanus for so he calls him who having Baptized Lucius the King templa etiam quae in honorem plurimorum deorum fundata erant did dedicate unto the one and only God those Temples which had been built in former times to the honour of Idols More fully yet in fewer words Gervase of Tilbury doth relate it thus Hic Lucius omnia territoria templis pridem collata contulit Ecclesiis ampliavit Ap. eund c. 6. This Lucius saith he bestowed upon the Churches those Lands and Territories which had been formerly conferred on the Pagan Temples and inlarged them also So that we find the Church indowed and Bishops instituted in the time of Lucius and that I hold to be above all exception as will appear more evidently by the Episcopal succession reckoned from this time but whether in so large a number and upon that occasion as it is laid before us in our common Chroniclers that is the point to be considered Now our Historians old and new very few excepted report that in those times in Britain there were no less than 28 Cities of name and eminency whereof 25 had anciently been the seats of the Heathen Flamines the three remaining viz. York London and Caer-Leon upon Vske of the Archiflamines and that upon the introduction of the Gospel hither the Temples of the Idols being turned into Christian Churches instead of Flamines they placed Bishops Archbishops in the place of the Archi-Flamines All our own Writers which speak of the foundation of these Bishopricks from Geofry of Monmouth down to Polydore Virgil do report it thus And so do many forrein also beginning with Martinus Polonus who first took it up and so descending down to Platina and since to other later Authors both ours and theirs Erant tunc in Britannia vig inti octo Pontifices Idolorum quos Flamines vocabant inter quos tres Archiflamines erant Martin Polonus in Chron. Sed praedicti Sancti that is Faganus and Deruvianus de mandato Apostolici ubi erant Flamines instituerunt Episcopos ubi Archiflamines Archiepiscopos We had the same before in England save that the Popes appointment mandatum Apostolici doth here occur which there we had not And how far this may stand with probability or with truth of story is in the next place to be looked on And for the number of them first it cannot be denied but that of old there were no less than 28 Cities in these parts of Britain which we now call England Beda Hist Ecc. Angl. l. 1. cap. 1. Beda affirms it so expresly Erat viginti octo Civitatibus quondam nobilissimis insignita that Britain anciently was ennobled with 28 signal and noted Cities besides Towns and Castles Henry of Huntingdon doth not only declare as much Huntingdonen hist l. 1. in init but lets us know the several names whereby they had been called in the Britains time and by the which the most of them were known in the later Ages when he lived And possibly there might be Bishops in them all according as the Gospel did inlarge its borders and Provinces were gained to the Faith of Christ though neither all so early as the days of Lucius nor all of his foundation and endowment as it is supposed It was a work too mighty for a petty Prince to spread his arms at once over all the Island especially so many Provinces thereof being none of his What might be done in times succeeding and by his example is not now the question nor whether that which was done after might in some sort be ascribed to him as being the first that gave the on-set and shewed the way to others how to do the like as Rome is said to have been built by Romulus because he began it the greatest part thereof being built a long time after And this seems probable to me Ap. Bedam hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 29. as to the number of the Sees Episcopal that there were so many because that Gregory the great by his constitution appointed twelve Bishops for the Province of Canterbury and twelve also unto that of York which with the four in Wales which are still remaining will make up eight and twenty in the total But for the Flamines and Arch-flamines I must confess I am not so well satisfied in the probability and truth of that That by the name of Flamines the Gentiles used to call the Priests of their several Gods Isidor Origin l. 7. c. 12. I know well enough Socerdotes Gentilium Flamines dicebantur as it is in Isidore But being that one and the same City had not only many Flamines but also many Colleges of Flamines according to the number of the Gods they worshipped some for Mars others for Jupiter and some for Romulus and that there is no ancient Writer of the Roman stories which mentioneth either Archiflamines or Protoflamines Godwin Landavens tract de convers Brit. as is objected very well by B. Godwin I must confess I am not so well satisfied in this point as to deliver it for a certain and undoubted truth He that desires to see what may be answered unto those objections let him consult the learned and laborious work of Francis Mason Mason de Minist Ang. l. 2. c. 3. late Archdeacon of Norfolk De Ministerio Anglicano the sum whereof in brief is this Licet in una urbe multi Flamines that though there were many Flamines in one City yet was there only one which was called Pontifex or Primus Flaminum the Pope or principal of the Flamines of which kind one for every City were those whom our Historians speak of And for the Archiflamines or Proto-Flamines Beda hist eccl Angl. l. 2. c. 13. though the name occur not yet were there some in power and authority above the rest who were entituled primi Pontificum as indeed Coifi by that name is called in Beda which is the same in sense with Archiflamines although not in sound This if it satisfie the Reader shall not thwart with me who am no enemy unto the story or any part thereof which may well be justified If not but that it rather be accounted a device of Monkish ignorance I shall desire them who are so opinionated to consider this that few of the records of those elder days have come entire unto our hands and that it is no marvel it such an ancient story as this is considering through whose hands it passed hath in so long a tract of
of all the brethren Where clearly there is nothing ascribed unto the Presbyters as in the way of reconciliation but only in the way of intercession as unto other of the brethren the main work being still reserved unto the Bishop I know indeed Tertullian is alledged by some as if there were a Government of the Church at that time in use in the which neither the Bishop nor the Presbyters did bear the greatest stroke but a Society of Lay-Elders or if we may admit such a Monster both in sense and Grammar a Lay-Presbytery The place or passage commonly alledged to make good the same is that in his Apologetick for the Christian Churches where having shewed the manner of the Christian meetings in their Congregations for Prayer and hearing of Gods Word he addeth Id. in Apol. c. 39. that there are also Exhortations Chastisements and Divine censures Judgment being executed with great advice Then followeth Praesident probati quique seniores honorem istum non pretio sed testimonio adepti the Presidents of our meetings are approved Seniors or Elders call them which you will who have obtained this honour not by money but by good Report So he And those whom he calls Seniores Elders they will needs have to be such Elders as they dream of men of the Laity taken in to day and put out to morrow A thing which better might become the Conventicles of the Heretick and Sectary than the Church of Christ And as it seems amongst the Hereticks and Sectaries such a course there was hodie Presbyter qui cras Laicus that he which was to day an Elder was on the next day to revert to his occupation Id. de Praescr haeret l. 41. this day an Elder in the Consistory the next a Botcher on the stall The Christian Church had no such custom what ever might be found amongst the Marcionites if then it be demanded who these Seniors were which are here said to have presided in their Congregations I answer that they were the Bishops those at whose hands de manu Praesidentium the people used in those times to receive the Sacrament Lay-men they could not be though called simply Elders because they did administer the blessed Eucharist and simply Presbyters they were not and they could not be because it is there said that they did preside and had the Power of Censure and Correction which are the works and badges of Authority It then remains they were the Bishops the Presidents or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Church of Christ such as we find described before by Justin Martyr and are affimed by Beza to be such as Timothy whom we have proved to be a Bishop And this appears to me yet further by the words themselves in which we find that those who did attain that honour got it by good Report and not by Money And this may very well be might the Gentiles say had it been spoken of the Presbyters for who would give money for so poor an Office wherein there was but little to be gotten more than ones labour for his pains or at the best some bare allowance from the sportula and that too on the Bishops curtesie When we can hear you say the like of Bishops through whose hands the money went who had the keeping and disposing of the common Treasury and might enrich themselves by the spoyl therof you then say somewhat to the purpose Till then it makes but little to the praise of your integrity and candour that such poor men whose places were not worth the haviing should pay nothing for them This makes it evident to me that the Elders mentioned here were not simply Presbyters but such whose places were esteemed to be both of Means and Credit and therefore doubtless they were Bishops that did so preside Nor is it any prejudice to the truth thereof that they are called Seniores in the plural number Tertullian speaking not in the behalf of a particular Church or City wherein could be one Bishop only but pleading in the behalf of the Universal wherein there were as many Presidents or Bishops or Presiding Elders call them which you will as there were Cities gained to the Faith of Christ Now if we please to take a view of the extent of Christianity according as it stood in the present Century we cannot better do it than by a place and passage of Tertullian who very fully hath described the same in his Apologetick presented to the Magistrates of the Roman Empire in the last year thereof or the next year after as is affirmed both by Pamelius and Baronius out of ancient Writers Pamol in vita Tertul. Bar. in Annal. For having shewn that Christians were not to avenge themselves upon their Persecuters or to take Arms for the repelling of those injuries which were offered to them he doth thus proceed Tertullian in Apologet. c. 37. Si enim hostes exertos c. For should we shew our selves saith he to be open enemies unto the State should we want either strength or numbers Behold what mischief is done daily to you by the Moors Marcomannians and those of Parthia Masters of a few Countreys only whereas the Christians are diffused over all the World you count us Aliens or strangers to you vestra omnia implevimus yet we have filled all places that are yours Cities Isles Castles Burrowes your places of Assembly Camps Tribes Palaces the very Senate and the Market-place with our numerous Troops Only your Temples are your own c. Nay should we only go away from you and retire into some remote corner of the World and carry all our Families with us Suffudisset utique dominationem vestram tot qualiumcunque amissio civium the loss of so many of your people how ill soever you conceive of them would be so shrewd a weakening unto your Dominions that you would tremble at that strange desertion and be astonished at the solitude and silence of your emptied Cities quite destitute of men to be commanded there being more Enemies than Citizens remaining in them Whereas now God be thanked you have the fewer Enemies amongst you in that you have so many Christians Pene omnes cives Christianos habendo most of your People being of that Religion Which as it shews the great extent of Christianity in Tertullians time so doth it shew a like extent also of Episcopacy there being no place where Christianity had been received wherein Episcopacy was not planted also Which lest it might be taken for a bold assertion without ground or Truth I shall crave leave to step a little out of this present Century and borrow a testimony from Saint Cyprian who is next to follow and if he may be credited will affirm no less Cyprian E. 52. For by him we are told of a certain truth per omnes Provincias per urbes singulas ordinatos esse Episcopos that in all Provinces and in every City Bishops had long
formatae or communicatoriae were these Letters called as in the 163 Epistle of S. Austin where both names occur This as it was the usage of the former times so was there never more need to uphold the same than in the latter part of this present Age. So mighty a distemper had possessed the Church that no part almost of it was in a tolerable constitution and therefore it concerned the Bishops to be quick and active before the maladies thereof became incurable In that of Carthage besides the faction raised by Felicissimus which had no countenance from the Church there was an erroneous doctrine publickly received about the Baptism of Hereticks The Church of Alexandria besides the heat she fell into concerning Origen was much disquieted by the Heresie of Sabellius broached within the same And that no sooner was suppressed or at lest quieted for the present but a great flame brake out in the Church of Antioch which beginning in the House of Paulus Samosatenus before remembred had like to have put all the Church into combustion Rome in the mean time was afflicted more than all the rest by the Schism raised and the false doctrines preached therein by Novatianus and that not for a fit only and no more but so but in a constant kind of sickness which disturbed her long In this distemper of the Church the Bishops had no way to consult her health but by having recourse to their old way of mutual commerce and conference which being it could not be performed in person must be done by Letters And so accordingly it was Witness those several Letters written by St. Cyprian to the Bishops of Rome viz. from him to Stephanus Epist 71. to Lucius Epist 58. and to Cornelius Epist 42 43 47 54 55 57. to the Church there Epist 23 29. and from the Church of Rome and the Bishops of it unto him again Epist 31 46 48 49. In all of which they mutually both give and take advice as the necessities of their affairs and the condition of the Church required Nor was the business of the Church of Carthage in agitation between Cyprian only and the Roman Prelates but taken also into the care and consideration of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria Euseb hist Ecc. l. 7. cap. 2. who writ his judgment in it and advice about it to Stephanus then Pope of Rome who held against St. Cyprian or indeed rather for the truth in the point in question What the same Dionysius did for the suppressing of the faction of Novatus raised in Rome at first but after spreading further over all the Church we have in part beheld already by his Epistle unto Fabius of Antiochia who was suspected to incline that way and that inscribed unto Cornelius written about that business also which before we spake of And we may see what Cyprian did in recompence of that advice and comfort which he had from Rome in his own afflictions by the great care he took for the composing of her Schisms and troubles when she fell into them by his Epistles to that only purpose as viz. those unto Cornelius Cypr. Ep. 41. Id. Ep. 42. Id. Ep. 43. Id. Ep. 50 51. Id. Ep. 48 49. intituled Quod ordinationem Novatiani non receperit De ordinatione ejus à se comprobata Quod ad Confessores à Novatiano seductos literas fecerit The Letters of those seduced Confessors to him and his congratulation unto them upon their return to their obedience to the Church Cornelius writing unto him touching the faction of Novatian and their wicked practices with his Reply unto Cornelius Thus also when Sabellius began to broach his Heresies within the jurisdiction of Alexandria he did not only signifie the same to the Bishop of Rome which by the Cardinal is used I know not how for a prime Argument Baron in Annal Eccl. Anno 260. n. 62. to prove the Popes Supremacy but unto divers other Bishops as before was shewn to whom assuredly he owed no obedience This as he did according to the usage of the Church at that time in force so took he other courses also for the suppression of that Heresie both by power and pen. For finding upon certain information 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that diverse Bishops of Pentapolis Athan. de sentent Dionys being within the Patriarchat of Alexandria began to countenance and embrace the said desperate doctrines and had so far prevailed therein that there was hardly any mention in their Churches of the Son of God he knowing that the care and oversight of the said Churches did belong to him first laboured by his Messengers and Commissioners to dissuade them from those lewd opinions and when that would not do the deed he was constrained to write unto them an Epistle in which he throughly confuted their erroneous Tenets By which as we may see the care and piety of this famous Prelate triumphing in the fall of Heresie so we may see the power and eminency of that famous See having the governance and superintendency of so many Churches But that which was indeed the greatest business of his time and which the Church was most concerned in was that of Paulus Samosatenus the sixteenth Bishop of the Church of Antioch great in relation to the man Euseb Eccl. hist l. 7. c. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of the three prime Bishops in the Christian Church and great inference to the danger which was like to follow When one of the main Pillars of a Church is foundred the whole edifice is in danger of a present ruin And therefore presently upon the apprehension of the mischief likely to ensue in case there was no speedy course taken to prevent the same the Bishops of all parts repaired to Antioch not only those which were within the jurisdiction of that Patriarchate but such as lived far off and in all possibility might have kept their Churches from the infection of the Heresie being so remote For thither came Firmilianus Bishop of Caesarea Id. Ibid. in Cappadocia Gregory surnamed Thaumaturgus Bishop of Neo-Caesarea in Pontus and Athenodorus his brother another Bishop of that Province Helenus Bishop of Tarsus Nicomas Bishop of Iconium Hymenaeus Bishop of Hierusalem Maximus Bishop of Bostra Theoctecnus Bishop of Caesarea the Metropolis of Palestine and so many others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the number of them was innumerable Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria was required also to be there Id. ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but he excused himself by reason of his age and weakness And well indeed he might do so being then very ill at ease and dying whilst the Synod was in preparation Id. ibid. But what he could not do in person he performed by his Pen writing not only to the Fathers who were there assembled which Eusebius speaks of but to the Heretick himself a Copy of the which we have both in Baronius and the Bibliotheca as before was said As
Clergy Mr. John Hooker Bishop of Gloucester and Martyr of whose Exposition of the Ten Commandments and his short Paraphrase on Romans 13. we shall make frequent use hereafter a man whose works were well approved of by Bishop Ridley the most learned and judicious of all the Prelates who notwithstanding they differed in some points of Ceremony professeth an agreement with him in all points of Doctrine as appears by a Letter written to him when they were both Prisoners for the truth and ready to give up their lives as they after did in defence thereof Now the words of the Letter are as followeth But now my dear Brother forasmuch as I understand by your works which I have but superficially seen that we throughly agree and wholly consent together in those things which are the grounds and substantial points of our Religion Acts and Mon. fol. 1366. against the which the world now so rageth in these our days Howsoever in times past in certain by-matters and circumstances of Religion your wisdom and my simplicity and ignorance have jarred each of us following the abundance of his own sense and judgment Now I say be you assured that even with my whole heart God is the witness in the bowels of Christ I love you in truth and for the truths sake that abideth in us and I am persuaded by the grace of God shall abide in us for evermore The like agreement there was also between Ridley and Cranmer Cranmer ascribing very much to the judgment and opinion of the learned Prelate as himself was not ashamed to confess at his Examination for which see Fox in the Acts and Monuments fol. 1702. By these men and the rest of the Convocation the Articles of Religion being in number 41 were agreed upon ratified by the Kings Authority and published both in Latine and English with these following Titles viz. Articuli de quibus in Synodo Londinens A.D. 1552. ad tollendam opinionum dissentionem consensum verae Religionis firmandum inter Episcopos alios eruditos viros convenerat Regia authoritate Londin editi that is to say Articles agreed upon by the Bishops and other learned men assembled in the Synod at London Anno 1552. and published by the Kings Authority for the avoiding of diversities of opinions and for the establishing of consent touching true Religion Amongst which Articles countenanced in Convocation by Queen Elizabeth Ann. 1562. the Doctrine of the Church in the five controverted points is thus delivered according to the form and order which we have observed in the rest before 1. Of Divine Predestination Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God whereby before the foundations of the World were laid he hath constantly ordered by his Council Artic. 17. secret unto us to deliver from curse and damnation those whom be hath chosen in Christ out of man-kind and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation as vessels made to honour Furthermore we must receive Gods promises in such wise at they be generally set forth to us in holy Scripture and in our doing the will of God that is to be followed which we have expresly declared to us in the Word of God 2. Of the Redemption of the World by the faith of Christ The Son which is the Word begotten of the Father begotten from everlasting of the Father c. and being very God and very Man did truly suffer was Crucified Dead and Buried Artic. 2. to reconcile his Father to us and be a Sacrifice not only for Original guilt but also for the actual sins of men The Offering of Christ once made Artic. 31. is this perfect Redemption Propitiation and Satisfaction to all the sins of the whole world both Original and Actual 3. Of mans will in the state of depraved nature Artic. 9. Man by Original sin is so far gone from Original righteousness that of his own nature be is inclined to evil so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit and therefore Works done before the grace of Christ Artic. 13. and the inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ neither do they make men meet to receive grace or as the School Authors say deserve grace of Congruity 4. Of the manner of Conversion The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works Artic. 10. to faith and calling upon God wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God without the grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will 5. Of the uncertainty of Perseverance The Grace of Repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism in regard that after we have received the Holy Ghost Artic. 16. we may depart from grace given and fall into sin and by the grace of God we may arise again and amend our lives and therefore they are to be condemned which say they can no more sin as long as they live here or deny the place of Repentance to such as truly repent Now in these Articles as in all others of the book there are these two things to be observed 1. What Authority they carried in respect of the making And 2. How we are to understand them in respect of the meaning And first for their Authority it was as good in all regards as the Laws could give them being first treated and agreed upon by the Bishops and Clergy in their Convocation and afterwards confirmed by the Letters Patents of Edw. VI. under the Great Seal of England But against this it is objected That the Records of this Convocation are but a degree above blanks that the Bishops and Clergy then assembled had no Commission from the King to meddle in Church business that the King durst not trust the Clergy of that time in so great a matter on a just jealousie which he had of the ill affections of the major part and therefore the trust of this great business was committed unto some few Confidents cordial to the cause of Religion and not unto the body of a Convocation To which it hath been already answered That the Objector is here guilty of a greater crime than that of Scandalum magnatum making King Edward VI. of pious memory no better than an impious and lewd Impostor in fathering those children on the Convocation which had not been of their begetting For first the Title to the Articles runneth thus at large Articuli de quibus c. as before we had it which Title none durst adventure to set before them had they not really been the products of the Convocation Secondly the King had no reason to have any such jealousie at that time of the major part of the Clergy but that he might
University For if it had been so appointed by the University he would have been rewarded for it by the same power and authority which had so appointed when he appeared a Candidate for the Professorship on the death of Whitacres but could not find a party of sufficient power to carry it for him of which see also Chap. 21. Numb 4. And thirdly as for the not Priting of the Sermon it is easily answered the genius of the time not carrying men so generally to the Printing of Sermons as it hath done since But it was Printed at the last though long first And being Printed at the last hath met with none so forward in the Confutation as Mr. Wotton is affirmed to be when at first it was Preached And therefore notwithstanding these three surmises which the Author of the Perpetuity c. hath presented to us it may be said for certain as before it was that Mr. Harsnet was never called in question for that Sermon of his by any having Authority to convent him for it and much less that he ever made any such Recantation as by the said Author is suggested In the next place we will behold a passage in one of the Lectures upon Jonah delivered at York Anno 1594. by the right learned Dr. John King discended from a Brother of Robert King the first Bishop of Oxon afterwards made Dean of Christ Church and from thence presented by the power and favour of Archbishop Bancroft to the See of London A Prelate of too known a zeal to the Church of England to be accused of Popery or any other Heterodoxies in Religion of what sort soever who in his Lecture on these words Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown cap. 3. verse 4. discoursed on them in this manner The only matter of Question herein Bishop King's Lecture upon Jonath Lect. 33. p. 450. is how it may stand with the constancy and truth of eternal God to pronounce a Judgment against a place which taketh not effect within one hundred years For either he weas ignorant of his own time which we cannot imagine of an omniscient God or his mind was altered which is unproble to suspect Numb 23. Heb. 13. Rev. 1. For is the strength of Israel a man that he should lie or as the Son of man that be should repent Is he not yesterday and to day and the same for ever that was that is and that which is to come I mean not only in substance but in Will and Intention Doth he use lightness Are the words that he speaketh yea and nay Doth he both affirm and deny too 2 Cor. 1. Are not all his Promises are not all his Threatnings are not all his Mercies are not all his Judgments are not all his Words are not all the titles and jots of his words yea and amen so firmly ratified that they cannot be broken Doubtless it shall stand immutable When the Heaven and the Earth shall be changed Mal. 3. and wax old like a garment Ego Deus non mutor I am God that am not changed Aliud mutare voluntatem aliud velle mutationem Aquin 1. qu. 19. art 7. The School in this respect hath a wise distinction It is one thing to change the will and another to will a change or to be willed that a change should be God will have the Law and Ceremony at one time Gospel without Ceremony at another this was his Will from Everlasting constant and unmoveable that in their several courses both should be Though there be a change in the matter and subject there is not a change in him that disposeth it Our Will is in Winter to use the fire in Summer a cold and an open air the thing is changed according to the season but our Will whereby we all decreed and determined in our selves so to do remain the same Sometimes the Decrees and purposes of God consist of two parts the one whereof God revealeth at the first and the other he concealeth a while and keepeth in his own knowledge as in the action enjoyned to Abraham the purpose of God was twofold 1. To try his Obedience 2. To save the Child A man may impute it inconstancy to bid and unbid Mutat seo tentiam non mutat consilium lib. 10. mor. cap. 23. but that the Will of the Lord was not plenarily understood in the first part This is it which Gregory expresseth in apt terms God changeth his intent pronounced sometimes but never his Counsel intended Sometimes things are decreed and spoken of according to inferiour cause which by the highest and over-ruling cause are otherwise disposed of One might have said and said truly both ways Lazarus shall rise again and Lazarus shall not rise again if we esteem it by the power and finger of God it shall be but if we leave it to nature and to the arm of flesh it shall never be The Prophet Esay told Hezekias the King put thy house in order Esa 38. for thou shalt die considering the weakness of his body and the extremity of his disease he had reason to warrant the same but if he told him contrariwise according to that which came to pass thou shalt not die looking to the might and merecy of God who received the prayers of the King he had said as truly But the best definition is that in most of these threatning there is a condition annexed unto them either exprest or understood which is as the hinges to the door Jer. 18. and turneth forward and backward the whole matter In Jeremy it is exprest I will speak suddenly against a Nation or a Kingdom to pluck it up to root it out and to destroy it But if this Nation Jer. 18. against whom I have pronounced turn from their wickedness I will repent of the plague which I thought to bring upon them So likewise for his mercy I will speak suddenly concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to build it and to plant it but if yet do evil in my sight and hear not my voice I will repent of the good I thought to do for them Gen. 20. it is exprest where God telleth Abimeleck with-holding Abrahams Wife Thou art a dead man because of the Woman which thou hast taken the event fell out otherwise and Abimeleck purged himself with God With an upright mind and innocent hands have I done this There is no question but God inclosed a condition with his speech Thou art a dead man if thou restore not the Woman withoput touching her body and dishonouring her Husband Thus we may answer the scruple by all these ways 1. Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown and yet forty and forty days and Nineveh shall not be overthrown Wy Because Nineveh is changed and the unchangable will of God ever was that if Nineveh shewed a change it should be spared 2. There were two parts of Gods purpose the one disclosed
held on the 25th of June 1622. were severally condemned to be erroneous scandalous and destructive of Monarchical Government Upon which Sentence or determination the King gave order that as many of those books as could be gotten should solemnly and publickly be burnt in each of the Universities and St. Pauls Church-yard which was done accordingly An accident much complained of by the Puriten party for a long time after who looked upon it as the funeral pile of their Hopes and Projects till by degrees they got fresh courage carrying on their designs more secretly by consequence more dangerously than before they did The terrible effects whereof we have seen and felt in our late Civil Wars and present confusions But it is time to close this point and come to a conclusion of the whole discourse there be no other Objections that I know of but what are easily reduced unto those before or not worth the answering 15. Thus have we taken a brief survey of those insinuations grounds or principles call them what you will which Calvin hath laid down in his book of Institutions for the incouragement of the Subjects to rebellious courses and putting them in Arms against their Sovereign either in case of Tyranny Licentiousness or Mal-administration of what sort soever by which the Subject may pretend that they are oppressed either in point of Liberty or in point of Property And we have shewn upon what false and weak foundations he hath raised his building how much he hath mistaken or abused his Authors but how much more he hath betrayed and abused his Readers For we have clearly proved and directly manifested out of the best Records and Monuments of the former times that the Ephori were not instituted in the State of Sparta to oppose the Kings nor the Tribunes in the State of Rome to oppose the Consuls nor the Demarchi in the Common-wealth of Athens to oppose the Senate or if they were that this could no way serve to advance his purpose of setting up such popular Officers in the Kingdoms of Christendom those Officers being only found in Aristocraties or Democraties but never heard or dreamt of in a Monarchical Government And we have shewn both who they are which constitute the three Estates in all Christian Kingdoms and that there is no Christian Kingdom in which the three Estates convened in Parliament or by what other name soever they do call them have any authority either to regulate the person of the Sovereign Prince or restrain his power in case he be a Sovereign Prince and not meerly titular and conditional and that it is not to be found in Holy Scripture that they are or were ordained by God to be the Patrons and Protectors of the common people and therefore chargeable with no less a crime than a most perfidious dissimulation should they connive at Kings when they play the Tyrants or wantonly abuse that power which the Lord hath given them to the oppression of their Subjects In which last points touching the designation of the three Estates and the authority pretended to be vested in them I have carried a more particular eye on this Kingdom of England where those pernicious Principles and insinuations which our Author gives us have been too readily imbraced and too eagerly pursued by those of his party and opinion If herein I have done any service to supream Authority my Countrey and some misguided Zealots of it I shall have reason to rejoyce in my undertaking If not posterity shall not say that Calvins memory was so sacred with me and his name so venerable as rather to suffer such a Stumbling-block to be laid in the Subjects way without being censured and removed than either his authority should be brought in question or any of his Dictates to a legal tryal Having been purchased by the Lord at so dear a price we are to be no longer the Servants of men or to have the truth of God with respect of persons I have God to be my Father and the Church my Mother and therefore have not only pleaded the cause of Kings and Supream Magistrates who are the Deputies of God but added somewhat in behalf of the Church of England whose rights and priviledges I have pleaded to my best abilities The issue and success I refer to him by whom Kings do Reign and who appointed Kings and other Supream Magistrates to be nursing Fathers to his Church that as they do receive authority and power from the hands of God so they may use the same in the protection and defence of the Church of God and God even their own God will give them his Blessing and save them from the striving of unruly people whose mouth speaketh proud words and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity FINIS De Jure Paritatis Episcoporum OR A BRIEF DISCOURSE ASSERTING THE Bishops Right of Peerage WHICH EITHER By Law or Ancient Custom DOTH Belong unto them WRITTEN By the Learned and Reverend PETER HEYLYN D. D. In the Year 1640. When it was Voted in the Lords House That no Bishop should be of the Committee for the preparatory Examination of the EARL of STRAFFORD He being dead yet speaketh Heb. xi 4. LONDON Printed by M. Clark for C. Harper 1681. A PREFACE ALthough there are Books enough writ to vindicate the Honours and Priviledges of Bishops yet to those that are fore-stalled with prejudice and passion all that can be said or done will be little enough to make them wise unto sobriety to prevail with them not to contradict the conviction of their mind with absurd and fond reasonings but that Truth may conquer their prepossessions and may find so easie an access and welcome unto their practical judgments that they may profess their faith and subjection to that order which by a misguided zeal they once endeavoured to destroy Many are the methods that have been and are still used to rase up the foundation of Episcopacy and to make the Name of Bishop to be had no more in remembrance For first some strike at the Order and Function it self And yet St. Paul reckons it among his faithful sayings 1 Tim. 3.1 that the Office of a Bishop is a good work And the order continued perpetually in the Church without any interruption of time or decrees of Councils to the contrary for the space of many Centuries after the Ascension of Christ and the Martyrdom of the Apostles For they ordained Bishops and approved them Before St. John died Rome had a succession of no less than four viz. Linus Anacletus Clemens and Evaristus Jerusalem had James the just and Simeon the Son of Cleophas Antioch had Euodius and Ignatius and St. Mark Anianus Abilius and Cerdo successively fill'd the See of Alexandria All these lived in St. Johns days and their order obeyed by Christians and blessed by God throughout the whole world for the Conversion of Jews and Gentiles for the perfecting of the Saints and the edifying of
Clergy in the Church of of God hath been or is maintained with less charge to the Subject than the established Clergy of the Church of England Page 167 2. That there is no man in the Kingdom of England who payeth any thing of his own towards the maintenance and support of his Parish-Minister but by his Easter-Offering Page 171 3. That the change of Tithes into Stipends will bring greater trouble to the Clergy than is yet considered and far less profit to the Countrey than is now pretended Page 174 The History of Episcopacy PART I. CHAP. I. The Christian Church first founded by our Lord and Saviour in an imparity of Ministers 1. THE several Offices of Christ our Saviour in the Administration of his Church Page 187 2. The aggregating of Disciples to him Page 188 3. The calling of the Apostles out of them and why twelve in number ibid. 4. Of the Name and Office of an Apostle Page 189 5. What things were specially required unto the making of an Apostle Page 190 6. All the Apostles equal in Authority amongst themselves ibid. 7. The calling and approinting of the 70 Disciples Page 191 8. A reconciliation of some different Opinions about the number Page 192 9. The twelve Apostles superiour to the Seventy by our Saviours Ordinance ibid. 10. What kind of superiority it was that Christ interdicted his Apostles Page 193 11. The several powers faculties and preheminences given to the Apostles by our Saviour Christ Page 194 12. That the Apostles were Bishops averred by the ancient Fathers ibid. 13. And by the text of holy Scripture Page 195 CHAP. II. The foundation of the Church of Hierusalem under the Government of Saint James the Apostle and Simeon one of the Disciples the two first Bishops of the same 1. Matthias chosen in the place of Judas Page 196 2. The coming of the Holy Ghost and on whom it fell Page 197 3. The greatest measure of the Spirit fell on the Apostles and therewithal the greatest power ibid. 4. The several Ministrations in the Church then given and that in ranking of the same the Bishops are intended in the name of Pastors Page 198 5. The sudden growth of the Church of Hierusalem and making Saint James the first Bishop there ibid. 6. The former point deduced from Scripture Page 199 7. And proved by the general consent of Fathers ib. 8. Of the Episcopal Chair or throne of James and his Successors in Hierusalem Page 200 9. Simeon elected by the Apostles to succeed Saint James Page 201 10. The meaning of the word Episcopus and from whence borrowed by the Church ibid. 11. The institution of the Presbyters Page 202 12. What interest they had in the common business of the Church whilst St. James was Bishop ib. 13. The Council of Jerusalem and what the Presbyters had to do therein Page 203 14. The institution of the Seven and to what Office they were called ibid. 15. The names of Ecclesiastical Functions promiscuously used in holy Scripture Page 204 CHAP. III. The Churches planted by Saint Peter and his Disciples originally founded in Episcopacy 1. The founding of the Church of Antioch and that Saint Peter was the first Bishop there Page 205 2. A reconciliation of the difference about his next Successors in the same Page 206 3. A List of Bishops planted by him in the Churches of the Circumcision Page 207 4. Proofs thereof from St. Peters general Epistle to the Jews dispersed according to the exposition of the Ancient Writers ibid. 5. And from Saint Pauls unto the Hebrews Page 208 6. Saint Pauls Praepositus no other than a Bishop in the Opinion of the Fathers ibid. 7. Saint Peter the first Bishop of the Church of Rome Page 209 8. The difference about his next Successors there reconciled also ibid. 9. An Answer unto such Objections as have been made against Saint Peter's being Bishop there Page 210 10. Saint Mark the first Bishop of Alexandria and of his Successors Page 221 11. Notes on the observations of Epiphanius and Saint Hierom about the Church of Alexandria Page 212 12. An observation of Saint Ambrose applyed unto the former business ibid. 13. Of Churches founded by Saint Peter and his Disciples in Italy France Spain Germany and the Isle of Britain and of the Bishops in them instituted Page 213 CHAP. IV. The Bishoping of Timothy and Titus and other of Saint Pauls Disciples 1. The Conversion of Saint Paul and his ordaining to the place of an Apostle Page 214 2. The Presbyters created by Saint Paul Acts 14. of what sort they were Page 215 3. Whether the Presbyters or Presbytery did lay on hands with Paul in any of his Ordinations Page 216 4. The people had no voice in the Election of those Presbyters by Saint Paul ordained Page 217 5. Bishops not founded by Saint Paul at first in the particular Churches by him planted and upon what reasons ibid. 6. The short time that the Churches of Saint Pauls Plantation continued without Bishops over them Page 218 7. Timothy made Bishop of Ephesus by Saint Paul according to the general consent of Fathers Page 219 8. The time when Timothy was made Bishop according to the holy Scripture Page 220 9. Titus made Bishop of Cretans and the truth verified herein by the antient Writers Page 221 10. An Answer unto some Objections against the subscription of the Epistle unto Titus ibid. 11. The Bishoping of Dionysius the Areopagite Aristarchus Gaius Epaphroditus Epaphras and Archippus Page 222 12. As also of Silas Sosthenes Sosipater Crescens and Aristobulus Page 223 13. The Office of a Bishop not incompetible with that of an Evangelist ibid. CHAP. V. Of the Authority and Jurisdiction given unto Timothy and Titus and in them to all other Bishops by the Word of God 1. The authority committed unto Timothy and Titus was to be perpetual and not personal only Page 224 2. The power of Ordination intrusted only unto Bishops by the Word of God according to the exposition of the Fathers Page 225 3. Bishops alone both might and did ordain without their Presbyters Page 226 4. That Presbyters might not ordain without a Bishop proved by the memorable case of Colluthus and Ischyras ibid. 5. As by those also of Maximus and a Spanish Bishop Page 227 6. In what respects the joint assistance of the Presbyters was required herein Page 228 7. The case of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas objected and declared ibid. 8. The care of ordering Gods Divine Service a work peculiar to the Bishop Page 229 9. To whom the Ministration of the Sacraments also doth in chief belong Page 230 10. Bishops to have a care that Gods Word be preached and to encourage those that take pains therein ibid. 11. Bishops to silence and reprove such Presbyters as preach other Doctrines Page 231 12. As also to correct and reject the Heretick ibid. 13. The censure and correction of inferiour Presbyters in point of life and conversation doth
was a very pregnant evidence that they had neither verity nor antiquity to defend their Doctrins nor could with any shew of Justice challenge to themselves the name and honour of a Church Id. ibid. ca. 36. And such and none but such were those other Churches which he after speaketh of viz. of Corinth Philippi Thessalonica Ephesus and the rest planted by the Apostles apud quas ipsae Cathedrae Apostolorum suis locis praesidentur in which the Chairs of the Apostles to that time were sate in being possessed not by themselves but by their Successors By the same argument Optatus first and after him St. Austin did confound the Donatists that mighty faction in the Church St. Austin thus Numerate Sacerdotes vel ab ipsa sede Petri August contr Petil. l. 2. in illo ordine quis cui successerit videte Number the Bishops which have sate but in Peters Chair and mark who have succeeded one another in the same A Catalogue of which he gives us in another place Id. Epist 165. lest else he might be thought to prescribe that to others on which he would not trust himself Nay so far he relyed on the authority of this Episcopal Succession in the Church of Christ as that he makes it one of the special motives quae eum in gremio Ecclesiae justissimè teneant which did continue him in the bosom of the Catholick Church Id. contr Epist Manichaei c. 4. As for Optatus having laid down a Catalogue of the Bishops in the Church of Rome till his own times He makes a challenge to the Donatists to present the like Optat. de schis Donat. l. 2. Vestrae Cathedrae originem edite shew us saith he the first original of your Bishops and then you have done somewhat to advance your cause In which it is to be observed that though the instance be made only in the Episcopal succession of the Church of Rome Irt. adv haere lib. 3. cap. 3. the argument holds good in all others also it being too troublesome a labour as Irenaeus well observed omnium Ecclesiarum enumerare successiones to run through the succession of all particular Churches and therefore that made choyce of as the chief or principal But to return again unto Tertullian whom I account amongst the Writers of this Age though he lived partly in the other besides the use he made of this Episcopal succession to convince the Heretick he shews us also what authority the Bishops of the Church did severally enjoy and exercise in their successions which we will take according to the proper and most natural course of Christianity First for the Sacrament of Baptism which is the door or entrance into the Church Tertul. lib. de Baptism c. 17. Dandi quidem jus habet summus sacerdos i. e. Episcopus The Right saith he of giving Baptism hath the High-Priest which is the Bishop and then the Presbyters and Deacons non tamen sine Episcopi antoritate yet not without the Bishops licence and authority for the Churches honour which if it be preserved then is Peace maintained Nay so far he appropriates it unto the Bishop as that he calleth it dictatum Episcopi officium Episcopatus a work most proper to the Bishop in regard of his Episcopacy or particular Office Which howsoever it may seem to ascribe too much unto the Bishop in the administration of this Sacrament is no more verily than what was after affirmed by Hierom Hieron adver Lucifer shewing that in his time sine Episcopi jussione without the warrant of the Bishop neither the Presbyters nor the Deacons had any authority to Baptize not that I think that in the days of Hierom before whose time Parishes were assigned to Presbyters throughout the Church the Bishops special consent and warrant was requisite to the baptizing of each several Infant but that the Presbyters and Deacons did receive from him some general faculty for their enabling in and to those Ministrations Next for the Sacrament of the blessed Eucharist that which is a chief part of that heavenly nourishment by which a Christian is brought up in the assured hopes of Eternal life he tells us in another place non de aliorum manu quam Praesidentium sumimus Tertul. de Corona Militis that they received it only from their Bishops hand the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or President of the Presbytery as Justin Martyr seconded by Beza did before call him Which Exposition or construction lest it should be quarrelled as being injurious to the Presbyters who are thereby excluded from the honour and name of Presidents I shall desire the Reader to consult those other places of Tertullian in which the word Prefident is used as viz. Prescriptio Apostoll Bigames non sinit praesidere Tert. ad axor lib. ad uxorem and lib. de Monogamia in both of which the man that had a second Wife is said to be disabled from Presiding in the Church of God and on consideration to determine of it whether it be more probable that Presbyters or Bishops be here meant by Presidents Besides the Church not being yet divided generally into Parishes but only in some greater Cities the Presbyter had not got the stile of Rector and therefore much less might be called a President that being a word of Power and Government which at that time the Presbyters enjoyed not in the Congregation And here Pope Leo will come in to help us if occasion be assuring us that in his time it was not lawful for the Presbyter in the Bishops presence nisi illo jubente Leo Epist 88. unless it were by his appointment conficere Sacramentum corporis sanguinis Christi to consecrate the Sacrament of Christs body and blood The author of the Tract ascribed to Hierom entituled de Septem Ecclesiae ordinibus doth affirm as much but being the author of it is uncertain though it be placed by Erasinus amongst the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 docta we will pass it by From the Administration of the Sacraments which do belong ad potestatem ordinis to the power of Order proceed we on to those which do appertain ad potestatem jurisdictionis unto the power of Jurisdiction And the first thing we meet with is the appointing of the publick Fasts used often in the Church as occasion was A priviledg not granted to the common Presbyter and much less to the common people but in those times wherein the Supream Magistrate was not within the pale or bosom of the Church entrusted to the Bishop only This noted also by Tertullian in his book entituled de jejuniis which though he writ after his falling from the Church and so not to be trusted in a point of Doctrine may very well be credited in a point of custom Quod Episcopi universae plebi mandare jejunia assolent non dico de industria stipium conferendarum sed ex aliqua sollicitudinis Ecclesiae causa