is laid by Christ and whose fabricke is raised by the Apostles is of divine institution Page 28 § 8 The second ground The practice and recommendation of the Apostles is sufficient warrant for an Apostolicall Institution Page 30 § 9 The third ground That the formes ordained for the Churches Administration by the Apostles were for universal and perpetuall use Page 32 § 10 The fourth ground That the universall practice of the Church immediately succeeding the Apostolike times is a sure Commentary upon the practice of the Apostles and our best direction Page 35 § 11 The two famous rules of Tertullian and S. Augustine to this purpose asserted Page 39 § 12 The fifth ground That the Primitive Saints and Fathers neither would nor durst set up another forme of government different from that they received of the Apostles Page 50 § 13 The sixth ground That if the next successors would have innovated the forme of government yet they could not in so short space have diffused it through the whole Christian world Page 56 § 14 The seventh ground That the ancientest Histories of the Church and writings of the first Fathers are rather to be believed in the report of the Primitive state of the Church than the latest Authors Page 59 § 15 The eight ground That those whom the ancient Church of God and all the holy Fathers of the Church since have condemned for Hereticks are no fit guids for us to follow in that their judgement of the government for which they were so condemned Page 64 § 16 The ninth ground That the accession of honourable Titles and Compatible priviledges makes no difference in the substance of a lawfull and holy calling Page 66 § 17 The tenth ground That those Scriptures whereon a new and different forme of government is raised had need to be more evident and unquestionable than those which are alledged for the former that is rejected Page 69 § 18 The eleventh ground That if Christ had left this pretended order of government it would have ere this time been agreed upon what that forme is and how to be managed Page 71 § 19 The twelfth ground That if this which is challenged be the Kingdome of Christ then those Churches which want any essentiall part of it are mainly defective and that there is scarce any at all entire Page 72 § 20 The thirteenth ground That true Christian policie requires not any thing absurd or impossible to be done Page 74 § 21 The fourteenth ground That new pretences of truths never before heard of especially in maine points carry just cause of suspicion Page 76 § 22 The fifteenth ground That to depart from the judgement and practice of the universall Church of Christ ever since the Apostles times and to betake our selves to a new invention cannot but be beside the danger extremely scandalous Page 78 The Second Part. § 1 THe Termes and state of the Question setled and agreed upon Page 1 § 2 Church government begun by our Saviour in a manifest imparity Page 11 § 3 The execution of this Apostolicall power after our Saviours ascent into Heaven Page 16 § 4 The derivation of this power and majoritie from the Apostles to the succeeding Bishops Page 19 § 5 The cleare testimonies of Scripture for this majoitie especially those out of the Epistles to Timothy and Titus urged Page 26 § 6 Some elusions of these Scriptures met with and answered Page 35 § 7 The testimonie of S. John in his Revelation pressed Pag. 41 § 8 The estate and order of Episcopacie deduced from the Apostles to the Primitive Bishops Page 49 § 9 The testimony and assent of Bucer and some famous French Divines Page 54 § 10 The superiority and jurisdiction of Bishops proved by the testimonie of the first Fathers and Apostolicall men and first of Clemens the partner of the Apostles Page 59 § 11 The pregnant and full testimonies of the holy Saint and Martyr Ignatius urged Page 65 § 12 The testimonie of the ancient Canons called the Apostles Page 79 § 13 The state and historie of the next age Page 84 § 14 Proofes of the confessed superiority of Bishops from severall forceable arguments out of antiquitie Page 88 § 15 Power of Ordination only in Bishops Page 90 § 16 Power of jurisdiction appropriated to Bishops from the first Page 95 § 17 Exceptions against our Episcopacie answered and particularly of the dissimilitude of our Bishops to the Primitive in their Pompe and perpetuity Page 99 § 18 The practice of the whole Christian Church in all times and places is for this government by Bishops Page 110 § 19 Of the suppression of contrary Records and of the sole opposition of the heretick Aerius Page 117 § 20 The vindication of those Fathers which are pretended to second Aerius his opinion Page 120 § 21 The practice of the Waldenses and Albigenses in allowance of Episcopall government Page 125 § 22 The government by Bishops both universall and unalterable Page 129 The Third Part. § 1 THe appellation of Lay-Elders and the state of the Question concerning them Page 1 § 2 No Lay-Elder ever mentioned or heard of in the times of the Gospell in all the world till this present age the texts of Scripture particularized in pretence of the contrary Page 7 § 3 Lay-eldership a meere stranger to all antiquitie which acknowledgeth no Presbyters but Divines Page 15 § 4 S. Ambrose's testimonie urged commonly for Lay-Elders answered Page 19 § 5 The utter disagreement and irresolution of the pretenders to the new Discipline concerning the particular state of their desired government Page 24 § 6 The imperfections and defects which must needs be yeelded to follow upon the discipline pretended and the necessary inconveniences that must attend it in a kingdome otherwise setled Page 30 § 7 The knowne newnesse of this invention and the quality of the late authors of it Page 36 § 8 A recapitulation of the severall heads and a vehement exhortation to all Readers and first to our Northerne brethren Page 42 § 9 An exhortatorie conclusion to our brethren at home Page 53 EPISCOPACIE BY DIVINE RIGHT §. 1. An expostulatorie entrance into the Question GOod God! what is this that I have lived to heare That a Bishop in a Christian Assembly should renounce his Episcopall function and crie mercy for his now-abandoned calling Brother that was who ever you be I must have leave a while to contest seriously with you the act was yours the concernment the whole Churches You could not think so foule a deed could escape unquestioned The world never heard of such a Penance you cannot blame us if we receive it both with wonder and expostulation and tell you it had beene much better to have been unborn than to live to give so hainous a scandal to Gods Church and so deep a wound to his holy truth and Ordinance If Tweed that runs betweene us were an Ocean it could not either drown or wash off
other than to snatch the reines out of the hands of a skilfull Coachman and either to lay them loose on the horses necks or to deliver them to the hands of some ignorant and unskilfull lackeyes that run along by them But of this point more elsewhere My zeal and my respects to the Churches abroad and my care and pitie of many seduced soules at home have drawne me on farther in this discourse than I meant For who can indure to see simple and well meaning Christians abused with the false colour of Conformity with other Churches when there is apparently more distance in the ground of their differences than in the places of their situation Be wise my deare Brethren and suffer not your selves to be cheated of the Truth by the mis-zealous suggestions of partiall-teachers Reserve your hearts free for the clearer light of Scripture and right reason which shall in this discourse offer to shine into your soules For you Sir fu frere confesse unlesse you can in truth deny it that you goe alone and that you have reason absolutely to quit all the hope of the Patrocination of other Churches which you might seeme to challenge from their example and practice For now that I have got you alone I shall be bold to take you to task and doe in the name of Almighty God vehemently urge and challenge you to maintaine if by any skill or pretence you may your owne act of the condemnation of Episcopacie and your penitent submission to a Presbyteriall government Wherein I doubt not but I shall convince you of an high and irreparable injury done by you to God his Ordinance and his Church § 6. The project and substance of the Treatise following FOr the full and satisfactorie performance vvhereof I shall only need to make good these tvvo maine points First That Episcopacie such as you have renounced even that vvhich implies a fixed superioritie over the rest of the Clergie and jurisdiction is not only an holy and lavvfull but a divine Institution and therefore cannot be abdicated vvithout a manifest violation of Gods Ordinance Secondly That the Presbyterian Government so constituted as you have novv submitted to it hovvever venditated under the glorious names of Christs Kingdome and Ordinance by those specious and glozing termes to bevvitch the ignorant multitude and to insnare their consciences hath no true footing either in Scripture or the practice of the Church in all ages from Christs time to the present That I may clearly evince these two maine points wherin indeed consists the life and soul of the whole cause I shall take leave to lay down certain just and necessary Postulata as the ground-workes of my ensuing proofs all which are so cleare and evident that I would fain suppose neither your selfe nor any ingenuous Christian can grudge to yeeld them But if any man will be so stiffe and close-fisted as to stick at any of them they shall be easily wrung out of his fingers by the force of Reason and manifest demonstration of Truth §. 7. The first ground or postulate That government whose foundation is laid by Christ and whose Fabrick is raised by the Apostles is of Divine Institution THe first whereof shall be this That government whose ground being laid by our Saviour himselfe vvas aftervvards raised by the hands of his Apostles cannot be denied to be of Divine Institution A Proposition so cleare that it were an injurie to goe about to prove it He cannot be a Christian who will not grant that as in Christ the Sonne of God the Deity dwelt bodily so in his servants also and agents under him the Apostles the Spirit of the same God dwelt so as all their actions were Gods by them Like as it is the same spring-water that is derived to us by the Conduit-pipes and the same Sun-beames which passe to us through our windowes Some things they did as men actions naturall civill morall these things were their own yet they even in them no doubt were assisted with an excellent measure of grace But those things which they did as Messengers from God so their names signifie these were not theirs but his that sent them An Ambassador dispatcheth his Domesticall affaires as a private man but when he treats or concludes matters of State in his Princes name his tongue is not his owne but his Masters Much more is it so in this case wherein besides the interest the agents are freed from errour The carefullest Ambassador may perhaps swerve from his message these which was one of the priviledges of the Apostles were through the guidance of Gods Spirit in the acts of their Function inerrable So then if the foundation were laid by Christ and the wals built up by his Apostles the Fabrick can be no lesse than divine §. 8. The second ground That the practice and recommendation of the Apostles is sufficient warrant for an Apostolicall Institution SEcondly It must also be granted That not onely the government which vvas directly commanded and enacted but that vvhich vvas practised and recommended by the Apostles to the Church is justly to be held for an Apostolicall Institution In eminent and authorized persons even examples are rules much more in so sacred Neither did the Spirit of God confine it selfe to vvords but expressed it selfe also in the holy actions of his inspired servants as Chrysostome therefore truly said That our Saviour did not only speak but vvork Parables So may vve say here that the Apostles did not only enact but even act lavves for his holy Church Licèt autem nullum extat praeceptum de manuum impositione c. Calv. l. 4. Instit C. 3.8.16 And this is learned Calvins determination about imposition of hands Although saith he there is no certaine precept concerning Imposition of Hands yet because vve see it vvas in perpetuall use vvith the Apostles their so accurate observation of it ought to be unto us instead of a command and therfore soone after he affirmes plainly That this Ceremony proceeded from the Holy Ghost himself And in the fore-going Chapter speaking of the distribution of Pastors to their severall charges he saith Nec humanum est inventum c. It is no humane device but the Institution of God himselfe For vve read that Paul and Barnabas ordained Presbyters in all the Churches of Lystra Antioch Iconium And that direction vvhich the great Apostle of the Gentiles gave to Timothy vvas as Calvin truly Mandati nomine in the name and nature of a command And vvhat els I beseech you vvould the rigid exacters of the over-severe and Judaicall observation of the Lords day as an Evangelicall Sabbath seem to plead for their vvarrant vvere they able to make it good any vvay but the guise and practice of the Apostles Precept certainly there is none either given or pretended Thus the bitter Tileno-mastix can say There was a double Discipline of the Apostles Docens and Vtens in the first they gave precepts to
the Church Paracles l. 1. c. 4 and her Governours in the second their practice prescribes her government although as he adds without booke not without the Churches owne consultation and consent which if it be granted makes the more for us who ever since we were a Church have consented to the Apostles practice and constantly used the same What do I stand upon this They are the words of Cartwright himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the example of the Apostles and generall practice of the Churches under their government draweth a necessitie §. 9. The third ground That the formes ordained by the Apostles were for universall and perpetuall use THirdly it is no lesse evident that the form which the Apostles set and ordained for the governing of the Church was not intended by them for that present time or place onely but for continuance and succession for ever For no man I suppose can be so weak Praecepta ipsa disciplinae omnibus in futurum Ecclesiis dictante Sp. Sancto tradiderunt Sco. Wy Paracles l. 1. c. 4 as to thinke that the rules of the Apostles were personall locall temporary as some Dials or Almanacks that are made for some speciall Meridians but as their office and charge so their rules were universall to the whole world as farre and as long as the world lasteth For what reason is there that Crete or Ephesus should be otherwise provided for than all the world besides Or what possibility to think that those first planters of the Gospell should leave all the rest of Christs Church as the Ostrich doth her eggs in the dust without any farther care The extent and duration of any rule will best be measured as by the intention of the Authour so by the nature and use of it S. Paul's intention is clearely expressed for a continuance untill the appearing of our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Tim. 6.14 As for the nature of the severall directions they carry perpetuity and universality of use in the face of them there being the same reason of their observation by all persons concerned and in all times and places why should not every Bishop be as unreproveable as a Cretian or an Ephesian Why should an accusation be received against an Elder upon more slender evidence in one place than another Why should there not bee the same courses taken for Ordination and Censure in all ages and Churches since the same things must of necessity bee done every where in all ages and Churches But why should I strive for a granted Truth For it is plaine that the Isle of Crete and Ephesus were but the patternes of other Churches and Timothie and Titus of other faithfull Overseers If therefore it shall appeare that Episcopacie so stated as we have expressed was in these persons and Churches ordered and setled by Apostolicall direction it must necessarily be yeelded to be of Apostolike and therefore Divine Institution §. 10. The fourth ground That the universall practice of the Church immediately succeeding the Apostolike times is a sure Commentary upon the practice of the Apostles and our best direction FOurthly I must challenge it for a no lesse undoubted Truth That the universall practice of the Church immediately succeeding the Apostles is the best Commentary upon the practice of the Apostles and withall that the universall practice of Gods Church in all ages and places is next unto Gods Word the best guide and direction for our carriages and formes of Administration The Copartners and immediate Successors of those blessed men could best tell what they next before them did for who can better tell a mans way or pace than he that followes him close at the heeles And if particular men or Churches may mistake yet that the whole Church of Christian men should at once mistake that which was in their eye it is farre more than utterly improbable A truth which it is a wonder any sober Christian should bogle at yet such there are to our griefe and to the shame of this late giddy age even the great guides of their faction Polit. Eccles l. 2. cap. 7. Falsum est c. Our mis-learned countriman Parker the second Ignis fatuus of our poore mis-led brethren and some Seconds of his stand peremptorily and highly upon the Deniall It is false saith he that the universall practice of the Church is sufficient to prove any thing to be of Apostolike Originall And jeeringly soone after Vniversa Ecclesiae praxis consensus patrum unica Hierarchicorum Helena est The universall practice of the Church and consent of Fathers saith he is the onely dearling of the abettors of the Hierarchy But the practice of the Church immediatly after the Apostles is no evidence Heare now I beseech you my deare brethren all ye who would pretend to any Christian ingenuity and consider whether you have not reason to distrust such a leader as would perswade you to slight and reject the testimony and practice of the whole Church of God upon earth from the first plantation of it to this present age and to cast your selves upon the private opinions of himselfe and some few other men of yesterday surely in very matter of doctrine this could be no other than deeply suspicious than foulely odious If no man before Luther and Calvin had excepted against those points wherein we differ from Rome I should have hated to follow them how much more must this needs hold in matter of fact Iudge what a shame it is to heare a Christian Divine carelesly shaking off all arguments drawne from Antiquity Continuance Perpetuall Succession in and from Apostolike Churches unanimous consent universall practice of the Church immediate practice of all the Churches succeeding the Apostles as either Popish or nothing And all these are acknowledged for our Grounds and are not Popish For me I professe I could not without blushing and astonishment read such stuffe as confounded in my selfe to see that any sonne of the Church should be not onely so rebelliously unnaturall to his holy mother as to broach so putrid a Doctrine to her utter disparagement but so contumelious also to the Spirit of God in his providence for the deare Spouse of his Saviour here upon earth Holy Jrenaeus Iren. l. 4. contr haeres I am sure was of another minde Agnitio vera saith he The true acknowledgement is the doctrine of the Apostles antiquus Ecclesiae status and the ancient state of the Church in the whole world by the Succession of Bishops to whom the Apostles delivered the Church which is in every place And then whiles we have both these the doctrine of the Apostles seconded by the ancient state of the Church who can out-face us What meanes then this wilfull and peevish stupidity Nihil pro Apostolico habendum Ibid. l. 2. c. 7. Nothing saith Parker is to be held for Apostolike but that which is found recorded in the writings of the Apostles Nothing Was all
onely could claime the whole world for their Dioecesse neither could they leave any heires behinde them of their Apostleship the succeeding Administrators of the severall Churches were fixed to their owne Charges having neither power to command in another mans division nor such eminence of authority as that their example should be a rule to their neighbours How then can any living man conceive it possible if there had not been an uniforme order setled by the Apostles that all the world should so suddenly meet in one forme of policie not differing so much as in the circumstances of government That which Parker thinks to speak for his advantage neque uno impetu disciplina statim mutata est Polit. Eccles l. 2. c. 8. sed gradatim paulatim that the discipline was not changed at once but by little and little as by insensible degrees makes strongly against him and irrefragably for us for here were no lingring declinations towards that government which we plead for but a present and full establishment of it in the very next succeeding hands which could not have been but by a supereminent and universall command If we doe but cast our eyes upon those Churches which now dividing themselves from the common rule of Administration affect to stand upon their own bottome do we not see our Countrimen of Amsterdam varying from those of Leiden concerning their government and in the New-English Colonie those of the Boston-leaders from the Westerne Plantation When we see drops of water spilt upon dry sand running constantly into one and the same streame we may then hope to see men and Churches not overswayed otherwise with one universall command running every where into a perfect uniformity of government especially in a matter of such nature and consequence as subordination and subjection is It was the singular and miraculous blessing of the Gospell in the hands of the first Propagators of it Psal 19.3 4. that There was no speech nor language where their voice was not heard Their line of a sudden went out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world The Sun which rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race could scarce out-goe them but as for their followers the very next to them they must be content to hold their own a much slower pace and by leisure to reach their journeyes end If therefore it shall be made to appeare that presently after the decease of the Apostles one uniforme order of Episcopall government so qualified as we have spoken was without variation or contradiction received in all the Churches of the whole Christian world it must necessarily be granted that Episcopacie is of no other than Apostolicall Constitution §. 14. The seventh ground That the ancientest histories of the Church and Writings of the first Fathers are rather to be believed in the report of the Primitive state than the latest Authours SEventhly I must challenge it for a Truth not capable of just denyall that the ancientest histories of the Church and Writings of the first Fathers are rather to be believed in the report of the Primitive State of Church-government than those of this present age A truth so cleare that a reasonable man would think it a shame to prove yet such as some bold leaders of the faction that would be thought learned too have had the face to deny Parker the late oracle of the schisme hath dared to do it in termes who speaking of the testimony of the Primitive times Park Polit. Eccles l. 2. c. â— Haecne Ecclesia illa est quae certum testimonium in causa disciplinaria praestitura nobis est Is this saith he in the high scorne and pride of his heart the Church that shall give us so sure a testimony in the cause of Discipline and every where disparaging the validity of the ancient histories preferres the present Is Eusebius mentioned who records the succession of Primitive Bishops from their first head Ibid. l. 2. c. 5. At Eusebio defuit c. But saith he Eusebius being carried away with the sway of that age wanted that golden reed which is given to the Historians of our times Apoc. 11.2 to measure the distance of times the difference of manners the inclinations of Churches and the â—rogresse and increases of the Antichristian Hierarchy c. Are any of the holy Fathers allâ—â—â—ed Alas poore men saith he they were much mistaken yet howsoever they are much beholden to him Ibid. c. 8. for saith he Non volentâ—s sed nescientes non per apostasiam aut contemptum sed per infirmitatem ignorantiam lapsi sunt Patres qui in disciplina aberrârunt The Fathers who erred in this matter of discipline did not offend out of will but out of want of knowledge not through apostasie or contempt but through infirmity and ignorance But can I now forbeare to ask who can indure to heare the braying of this proud Schismatick For the love of God deare brethren mark the spirit of these men and if you can think it a reasonable suggestion to believe that all ancient histories are false all the holy and learned Fathers of the Church ignorant and erroneous and that none ever saw or spake the truth not of doctrine onely but not of fact untill now that these men sprung up follow them and relie upon their absolute and unerring authority but if you have a minde to make use of your senses and reason and not to suffer your selves to be wilfully besotted with a blinde and absurd prejudice hate this intolerable insolence and resolve to believe that many witnesses are rather to be believed than none at all that credible judicious holy witnesses are rather to be trusted for the report of their own times than some giddy corner-creeping upstarts which come dropping in some sixteen hundred yeares after But what then will ye say to this challenge Quid autem Patres qui adversus nos c. Polit. Ecclesâ—l 2. c. 19. The Fathers saith Parker which by the favourers of Episcopacie are produced against us were for the most part Bishops so as while they speake for Episcopacie they plead for themselves Ecquis igitur eos credendos dicet Will any man therefore say they are to be believed Or will any man forbid us to appeale from them Blessed God! that any who beares the title of a Christian should have the forehead thus to argue Appeale To whom I pray To the succeeding Doctors and Fathers No they were in the same predicament to the rest of the whole Church They were governed by these leaders whither therefore can they imagine to appeale but to themselves and what proves this then but their owne case And if the Fathers may not be suffered to be our witnesses will it not become the house well that these men should now be the Fathers Iudges But the Fathers were Bishops the case was their owne true they were Bishops and it is our glory
and comfort that we have had such predecessours In vaine should we affect to be more holy and more happy than they Let them if they can produce such presidents of their parity But the case was theirs Had there been then any quarrell or Contestation against their Superiority this exception might have carried some weight but whiles there was not so much as the dreame of an opposition in the whole Christian world how could they be suspected to be partiall They wrote then according to their unanimous apprehension of the true meaning of the Scriptures and according to the certaine knowledge of the Apostolike Ordinances derived to them by the undoubted successions of their knowne predecessours Heaven may as soone fall as these evidences may faile us See then I beseech you brethren the question is whether a man may see any object better in the distance of one pace or of a furlong Whether present witnesses are more to be believed than the absent whether those which speake out of their own certaine knowledge and eye-sight or those which speake out of meere conjecture and if this judgement be not difficult I have what I would If I shall make it good that all ancient histories all testimonies of the holy Fathers of the Church of Christ are expresly for this government which we maintaine and you reject the Cause is ours §. 15. The 8th ground That those whom the ancient Church of God and all the holy Fathers of the Church have condemned for hereticall are no fit guides for us to follow in that judgment of the government for which they were so condemned EIghthly I must challenge it for an unquestionable truth that those men whom the ancient Church of God and the holy and Orthodoxe Fathers have condemned for erroneous and hereticall are not fit to be followed of us as the Authours of our opinion or practice for the government of the Church in those points for which they were censured It may fall out too oft that a man whose beliefe is sound in all other points may faile in one and proceed so farre as to second his error with contumacie The slips of the ancients are too well knowne and justly pitied but they passe as they ought for private oversights if any of them have stood out in a publike contestation as holy Cyprian did in that case of Rebaptizing the Church takes up his truth as her common stocke balkes his errour not without a commiserating censure Now if any man shall think fit to pitch upon the noted mis-opinions of the holiest authors for imitation or maintenance what can we esteeme of him but as the flye who passing by the sound parts of the skin fals upon a raw and ulcered sore And if the best Saints may not be followed in their faults how much lesse may we make choice of the examples or judgements of those who are justly branded by the whole Church for schisme or heresie What were this other than to run into the Prophets woe injustifying the wicked Esa 5.23 and taking away the righteousnesse of the righteous from them Is not hee like to make a good journey that chooses a blinde or lame guide for his way When the Spouse of Christ enquires after the place of his feeding Cant. 1.7 8. and where he maketh his flocke to rest at noone he answers her If thou know not O thou fairest among women goe thy wayes forth by the footsteps of the flocke and feed thy kids besides the shepheards tents what is his flocke but Christian soules and his shepheards but the holy and faithfull Pastors The footsteps then of this flock and the tents of these Shepheards are the best direction for any Christian soule for the search of a Saviour and of all his necessary truths To deviate from these what is it but to turne aside by the flocks of the Companions If then it shall be made to appeare that one onely branded Heretick in so many hundred yeares hath opposed the received judgement and practice of the Church concerning Episcopall government I hope no wise and sober Christian will think it safe and fit to side with him in the maintenance of his so justly exploded errour against all the Churches of the whole Christian world §. 16. The ninth ground That the accession of honourable titles and compatible priviledges makes no difference in the substance of a lawfull and holy calling NInthly It must be yeelded that the accession of honourable titles or not incompatible priviledges makes no difference in the substance of a lawfull and holy calling These things being meerely externall and adventitious can no more alter the nature of the calling than change of suits the body Neither is it otherwise with the calling than with the person whose it is The man is the same whether poore or rich The good Patriarch was the same in Potiphar's dungeon and on Pharaoh's bench Our Saviour was the same in Joseph's work-house and in the hill of Tabor Saint Paul was the same while he sate in the house with Aquila making of Tents that he was raigning in the Pulpit or disputing in the Schoole of Tyrannus As a wise man is no whit differently affected with the changes of these his outward conditions but looks upon them with the same face and manages them with the same temper so the judicious beholder indifferently esteemes them in another as being ready to give all due respects to them whom the King holds worthy of honour without all secret envie yet not preferring the Gold-ring before the poore mans richer graces valuing the calling according to its owne true worth not after the price or meanenesse of the abiliments wherewith it is cloathed If some garments be course yet they may serve to defend from cold others besides warmth give grace and comelinesse to the body there may be good use of both and perhaps one and the same vesture may serve for both purposes It is an old and sure rule in Philosophie That degrees do not diversifie the kinds of things The same fire that flashes in the Tow glowes in the Iuniper if one gold be finer than another both are gold if some pearles be fairer than other yet their kinde is the same neither is it otherwise in callings and professions We have knowne some Painters and in other Professions many so eminent that their skill hath raised them to the honour of Knighthood in the meane time their worke and calling is the same it was But what doe I go about to give light to so cleare a truth If therefore it shall be made to appeare that the Episcopacie of this Island is for substance the same with that of the first Institution by the Apostles howsoever there may have beene through the bounty of gracious Princes some additions made to it in outward dignity or maintenance The cause is ours §. 17. The tenth ground That those Scriptures whereon a new and different forme of government is raised had need
to be more evident and unquestionable than those which are alledged for the former rejected TEnthly It cannot but be granted That those passages of holy Scriptures wherein any forme of government different from the anciently received and established is pretended to be grounded had need to be very cleare and unquestionable and more evident and convictive than those whereon the former now rejected policy was raised For if only Scripture must decide this question and no other either evidence or judgment will be admitted besides it And if withall there be difference concerning the sense of the texts on either sides alledged it must needs follow that the clearer Scriptures must carry it and give light to the more obscure we are wont to say that possession is eleven points of the Law surely where that is had and hath long been held it is fit there should be a legall ejection and that ejection must bee upon better evidence of right If therefore the Church of God have beene quietly possessed of this government by Bishops for above these sixteene hundred yeares it is good reason the ejectors should show better proofe than the ancient possessours ere they be outed from their Tenures And what better proofe can there be than more cleare Scripture Shortly then if it shall bee made to appeare that the Scriptures brought for a lay-Presbytery are few doubtfull litigious full of diverse and uncertaine senses and such as many and much clearer places shall plainely show to be otherwise meant by the Holy Ghost than these new maisters apply them then it cannot be denied that the lay-Presbytery hath no true footing in the Word of God and that the old forme of Administration in an imparity of Ministers ought onely to be continued in the Church §. 18. The eleventh ground That if Christ had left this pretended order of government it would have ere this time been agreed upon what that forme is and how to be managed ELeventhly I may well take it for granted neither can it reasonably be denied that if the Order which they say Christ and his Apostles did set for the government of his Church which they call the Kingdome and Ordinance of Christ be but one and that certaine and undoubted then certainly it must and should and would have beene ere this agreed upon by the abettors of it what and which it is For it cannot without impiety be conceived or said without blasphemie that the Sonne of God should erect such a Kingdome upon earth as having lyen hid for no lesse than sixteene hundred yeares cannot yet be fully knowne and accorded upon so that the subjects may be convinced both that it is his and by what Officers and what rules it must be managed If then it shall be made to appeare that the pretenders to the desired Discipline cannot yet all this while agree upon their verdict for that kingdome of Christ which they challenge it will be manifest to every ingenuous Reader that their platformes of this their imagined kingdome are but the Chimericall devices and whimsies of mens braines and worthy to bee entertained accordingly §. 19. The twelfth ground That if this which is challenged be the kingdome of Christ then those Churches which want any essentiall part of it are mainly defective and scarce any at all entire TWelfthly It must be yeelded that if this which they call for be the Kingdome and Ordinance of Christ then it ought to be erected and maintained in all Congregations of Christians all the world over And that where any essentiall part thereof is wanting there the Kingdome of Christ is not entirely set up but is still mainly defective If therefore it shall appeare that even in most of those Churches which doe most eagerly contend for the Discipline there neither are nor ever were all those severall Offices which are upon the list of this spirituall Administration it will irrefragably follow that either those Churches doe not hold these offices necessary which having power in their hand they have not yet erected or els that there are but very few Churches if any upon earth rightly constituted and governed which to affirme since it were grossely uncharitable and highly derogatory from the just glory of Gods kingdome under the Gospell it will be consequent that the device is so lately hatched that it is not yet fledge and that there is great reason rather to distrust the plots of men than 〈◊〉 condemne the Churches of God §. 20. The thirteenth ground That true Christian policie requires not any thing absurd or impossible to be done THirteenthly I have reason to require it granted That true Christian policie requires not any thing which is either impossible or absurd to be done If therefore it shall be pretended that upon the generall grounds of Scripture this sacred Fabricke of Discipline raised by the wisedome of some holy and eminent reformers conforme to that of the first age of the Church it is meet it should be made manifest that there is some correspondence in the state of those first times with the present and of the Condition of their Churches with ours Otherwise if there be an apparent difference and disproportion betwixt them it cannot sound well that one patterne should fit both If then both the first planters and the late reformers of the Church did that which the necessity of the times would allow this is no president for the same persons if they were now living and at their full liberty and power neither can the Churches of those Cantons or Cities which challenge a kinde of freedome in a Democraticall State be meet examples for those which are already established under a setled Monarchy If therefore it shall appeare that many foule and unavoidable inconveniences and if not impossibilities yet unreasonable consequences will necessarily follow upon the obtrusion of a Presbyterian government upon a Nationall Church otherwise setled all wise Christians who are members of such Churches will apprehend great and just cause why they should refuse to submit and yeeld approbation to any such novell Ordinances §. 21. The fourteenth ground That new truths never before heard of especially in maine points carrie just cause of suspicion FOurteenthly It must be granted that Those truths in Divinity which are new and hitherto unheard of in the Church but especially in those points which are by the fautors of them held maine and essentiall carrie just causes of suspicion in their faces and are not easily to be yeelded unto And surely if according to Tertullians rule quod primum verum That the first is true then the latest is seldome so where it agrees not with the first After the teeming of so many ages it is rarely seene Liberum esse praeter contra sanctorum Patrum Doctorum sententiam in religionis doctrina innovare Alphons Var. Toletan de Stratagem Iesuit that a New and Posthumous verity is any other than spurious It was the position it seemes of
Episcopall power as those Bishops which they have abdicated 1 Tim. 3.8.9.10 Thirdly Timothy must prove and examine the Deacons whether they be blamelesse or not Whether they be so qualifyed as is by him prescribed and if they be found such must allow them to use the office of a Deacon and upon the good and holy use of it promote them to an higher degree How should this be done without a fixed Superiority of power Or what other than this doth an English Bishop 1 Tim. 3.15 Fourthly Timothy is encharged with these things in the absence of St. Paul that if he should tarry long he might know how to behave himself in the house of God which is the Church of the living God That is how to carry himself not in the Pulpit only but in Church government in admitting the Officers of the Ephesian Church This could not be meant of the duties of a meer Presbyter for what hath such an one to doe with the charges and Offices of his Equals par in parem c. Besides that house of God which is the Church wherin his behaving is so required is not some one private Congregation such an one were not fit for that style of the Pillar and ground of Truth but that famous Diocesan Church of Ephesus yea of Asia rather wherin there was the use of the variety of all those offices prescribed Neither may we think that Timothy was before after so much attendance of the blessed Apostle in his journeys ignorant of what might concerne him as an ordinary Minister it was therefore a more publique and generall charge which was now imposed upon him he therefore that knew how to behave himself in a particular Congregation must now know what carriage is fit for him as a Diocesan Fifthly Timothy must put the brethren that is 1 Tim. 4 6. the Presbyters in remembrance of the foreâ—old dangers of the last times and must oppose the false doctrine there specified with this charge Command and teach He must teach then himself he must command others to teach them Had he been only a simple Presbyter he might command and go without Now hee must command If our Lords Bishops do so much what do they more Sixthly 1 Tim. 5.1 Timothy is encharged with censures and prescribed how he must manage them towards old and yong Rebuke not an Elder roughly c. He is also to give charge conâ—erning the choyce carriage and maintenance of these widowes which must be provided for by the Church he hath power to admit some and to refuse others and to take order the Church be not charged unduely which a single Presbyter alone is not allowed to do even where their own Presbytery is on foot Seventhly Timothy must care and see that the Elders 1 Tim. 5.17 or Presbyters who are painfull in their callings be respectfully used and liberally maintained what is this to an ordinary Presbyter that hath no power of disposing any maintenance If every Presbyter had and no body over them to moderate it at what a passe would the quiet of the Church be Who would not repute himselfe to be most painfull if himselfe might be judge No it was the Bishops work that A thing that the Bishops once might well do when all the Presbyters were and so were all at first as of the Bishops family all the tiths and means of the Church comming in to him and he dispencing among the Priests and other Church-officers to every one his portion Now indeed as by the distinction of Parishes and since that by other events things are falne it is that which our Bishops indeed may endeavour and pray for but sure I am it is more than they can hope to do till God himselfe be pleased to amend it Eighthly 1 Tim. 5.19 Timothy was charged not to receive an accusation against an Elder or Presbyter but before two or three witnesses So then Timothy by his place might receive accusations against Presbyters How could he do so if he were but their equall Our Northerne paraclesis can tell us parium neutrum alteri subordinatur and paria non sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scot. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 1. c. 4. that fellowes cannot be subordinate witnesses must bee called before him in cases of such accusation How can this be without a Iurisdiction And when he findes a Presbyter manifestly faulty he may he must rebuke him before all that others also may fear Epiphan haere 75. That of Epiphanius is upon good ground therefore The Divine speech of the Apostle teacheth who is a Bishop and who a Presbyter in saying to Timothy Rebuke not an Elder c. How could a Bishop rebuke a Presbyter if he had no power over a Presbyter Thus he The evidence is so clear Camer in 1 Tim. 4. that Cameron himselfe cannot but confesse Nullus est dubitandi locus c. There can be no doubt saith he but that Timothy was elected by the Colledge of Elders to governe the Colledge of the Elders and that not w thout some authority but such as had meet limits Thus must thus might Timothy do even to Presbyters what could a Bishop of England do more And thus Cameron Though I cannot approve of his election by the Colledge that conceit is his own but the authoritie is yielded 1 Tim. 5.21 Ninthly Timothy is charged before God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the elect Angels to observe all these things without preferring one Presbyter before an other and doing nothing by partiality plainly therefore Timothy was in such place and authority as was capable of giving favour or using rigor to Presbyters what more can be said of ours 1 Tim. 5.22 Tenthly Timothy is charged to lay hands suddenly on no man he had therfore power of the imposition of hands On whom should he lay his hands for Ordination but on Presbyters and Deacons therefore he above Presbyters The lesse saith the Apostle to the Hebrews is blessed of the better Hâ—br 7.7 He laid hands then Yes but not alone say our Opposites My demand then is But why then should this charge be particularly directed to Timothy and not to more The Presbytery some construe to have laid hands on the ordained but the Presbytery so constituted as we shall hereafter declare but a meer Presbyter or many Presbyters as of his or their owne power never An Apostle did so to Timothy himselfe and Timothy as being a Bishop might do it but who or where ever any lesse than he Neither doth the Apostle say lend not thine hand to be laid on with others but appropriates it as his own act whereas then our Antitilenus tells us the question is not whether this charge were given to Timothy but whether to Timothy alone me thinks he might easily have answered himselfe Doth St Paul in this act joyne any with him were there not Elders good store at Ephesus before Could they have
in the town of Kirkwall The Superintendent of Rosse his Dioecesse shall comprehend Rosse Sutherland Murray and the North Isles called the Skye and Lewes with their adjacents his residence shal be the Canonry of Rosse The Superintendent of Argile his Dioecesse shall be Argile Kintire Lorne the South Isles Argile and Boot with their adjacents his residence is at Argile The like of the Superintendent of Aberdene the Superintendent of Breckin the Superintendent of Fiffe the Superintendent of Edinburgh the Superintendent of Iedburgh the Superintendent of Glasgow the Superintendent of Dumfreys all of them bounded with their severall jurisdictions which who desires to know particularly may have recourse to the learned Discourse of D Lindsey then Bishop of Brechen concerning the proceedings of the Synod of Perth Where he shall also finde the particularities of the function and power of these Superintendents Amongst the rest these That they have power to plant and erect Churches to set order and appoint Ministers in their Countreys That after they have remained in their chiefe townes three or foure moneths they shall enter into their Visitation in which they shall not onely preach but examine the life diligence and behaviour of the Ministers as also they shall trie the estate of their Churches and manners of the people They must consider how the poore are provided and the youth instructed they must admonish where admonitions need and redresse such things as they are able to appease They must note such crimes as are hainous that by the censures of the Church the same may be corrected And now what main difference I beseech you can you finde betwixt the office of these Superintendents and the present Bishops How comes it then about that the wind is thus changed That those Church-governours which your owne reformers with full consent allowed and set downe an Order for their Election in your Constitutions before the Book of Psalms in Meeter should now be cashiered There and then M. Knox himselfe whose name you professe to honour by the publike authority of the Church conceives publike prayer for M. Iohn Spotteswood then admitted Superintendent of Lothian in these words O Lord send upon this our Brother unto whom we doe in thy name commit the chiefe charge of the Churches of the division of Lothian such a portion of thy holy Spirit as that c. And in the name of the Church blesseth his new Superintendent thus God that hath called thee to the office of a watchman over his people multiply the gifts of his grace in thee c. Now I beseech you how is this Superintendency lost That which was then both lawfull and usefull and confessed for no other then a calling from God is it now become sinfull and odious Are we become so much wiser and more zealous than our first reformers as there is distance betwixt a Superintendent and no Bishop But what is it the stroake the Bishops have in government and their seat in Parliament which is so great an eye-sore Let me put you in mind that your greatest patrons of your desired Discipline have strongly motioned an Ecclesiasticall Commission for the over-looking and over-ruling your Consistories and even when they would have Bishops excluded both out of those Comitiall Sessions Moved also to the Lords of the Counsell in Q Eliz. time by the humble Mot. and out of the Church yet have moved such was Beza's device long since for Scotland That in the place of Bishops there might be present in the Parliament-house some wise and grave Ministers of speciall gifts and learning sorted out of all the land to yeeld their Counsell according to Gods heavenly Law even as the Civill Iudges are ready to give their advice according to the temporall Law and for matters of greater difficulty What a world is this Grave and wise Ministers and yet no Bishops Doth our Episcopacie either abolish our Ministery or detract ought from wisdome and gravity Away with this absurd partiality But these must be to advise not to vote in any case beware of that where then is the third estate Beza's Counsell we see is yet alive but it comes not home to the purpose Welfare that bold Supplicator to Q. Elizabeth which moved that foure and twenty Doctors of Divinity to be called by such names as should please her Highnesse might be admitted into the Parliament House and have their voices there instead of the Bishops O impotent envie of poore humorists Doctors but no Bishops Any men any names but theirs the old word is Love creepes where it cannot goe How much are we beholden to these kinde friends who are so desirous to ease us of these unproper secularities Even ours at home can nibble at these as they think ill-placed honours and services yours goe alas too roundly to worke striking at the root of their Episcopacie not pruning off some superfluous twigs of priviledge rather than not strike home not caring whom they hit in the way would God I might not say even the Lords Anointed whom they verbally professe to honour at whose sacred Crowne and Scepter if any of the sons of Belial amongst you do secretly aime whiles they stalke under the pretence of opposition to Episcopacie the God of heaven find them out and powre upon them deserved confusion But for you alas Brethren what hopes can I conceive that these pre-judged papers can have any accesse to your eyes much lesse to your hearts my very Title is barre too much But if any of you will have so much patience as to admit these lines to your perusall I shall beseech him for Gods sake and for his own to be so farre indifferent also as not upon groundlesse suggestion to abandon Gods Truth and Ordinance and out of meere opinion of the worth of some late Authour to adore an Idoll made of the earings of the people and fashioned out with the graving toole of a supposed skilfull Aaron Shortly after these poore well-meant howsoever I doubt ineffectuall endeavours my prayers shall not be wanting for your comfortable peace loyall obedience perfect happinesse Oh that the God of heaven would open your eyes that you may see the truth and compare what you have done with what you should doe how soone would you finde cause to retract your own decrees and to re-establish that true Ordinance of the living God which you have beene mis-induced to abandon §. 9. An exhortary conclusion to our brethren at home ANd for you my dearely beloved Brethren at home For Christs sake for the Churches sake for your soules sake be exhorted to hold fast to this holy Institution of your blessed Saviour and his unerring Apostles and blesse God for Episcopacie Doe but cast your eyes a little back and see what noble instruments of Gods glory he hath beene pleased to raise up in this very Church of ours out of this sacred vocation What famous servants of God what strong Champions of Truth and renowned Antagonists of Rome and her superstitions what admirable Preachers what incomparable Writers yea what constant and undaunted Martyrs and Confessours men that gave their blood for the Gospell and imbraced their fagots flaming which many gregarie Professours held enough to carry cold and painlesse To the wonder and gratulation of all forraigne Churches and to the unparallelable glory of this Church and Nation I could fill this page with such a Catalogue of them who are now in their heaven that come for the present to my thoughts besides those Worthies yet living both here and in Ireland who would be unwilling from my pen tO blush at their owne just praises as might justly shame and silence any gaine-sayer After that a malicious Libeller hath spit out all his poyson against Episcopacie and raked together out of all histories all the insolencies and ill offices which have in former ages been done by professedly Popish Prelates which do almost as much concerne us as all the Treasons and Murders of formerly male-contented persons can concerne him faine would I have him shew me what Christian Church under heaven hath in so short a time yeelded so many glorious Lights of the Gospell so many able and prevalent adversaries of Schisme and Antichristianisme so many eminent Authours of learned workes which shall out-bid time it selfe let envie grinde her teeth and eat her heart the memory of these worthy Prelates shall be ever sweet and blessed Neither doubt I but that it will please God out of the same rod of Aaron still to raise such blossomes and fruit as shall win him glory to all eternity Go you on to honour these your reverend Pastors to hate all factious withdrawings from that government which comes the nearest of any Church upon earth to the Apostolicall And that I may draw to Conclusion for the farther Confirmation of your good Opinion of the Bishops of your Great Britaine heare what Iacobus Lectius Iacob Lectius Prascriptionum Theologicarum l. 2. Nota. 2. the learned Civilian of Geneva in his Theologicall Prescriptions dedicated to the Consuls and Senate of Geneva saith of them De Episcoporum autem vestorum vocatione c. As for the calling of your Bishops saith he speaking to his Popish adversaries others have accurately written thereof and we shortly say that they have a show of an Ordinary Ministery but not the thing it selfe and that those onely are to be held for true and legitimate which Paul describes to us in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus Cujusmodi olim in magno illo Britanniarum regno extitisse atque etiamnum superesse subindeque eligi Episcopos non diffitemur Such kind of Bishops as we doe not deny but yeeld to have been of old and to be still at this day successively elected in the great Kingdome of Britaine Thus he when Geneva it selfe pleades for us why should we be our owne adversaries Let me therefore confidently shut up all with that resolute word of that blessed Martyr and Saint Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all things be done to the honour of God Give respect to your Bishop as you would God should respect you My soule for theirs which obey their Bishop Presbyters Deacons God grant that my portion may be the same with theirs And let my soule have the same share with that blessed Martyr that said so Amen FINIS
our interest or your offence however you may be applauded for the time by some ignorant and partiall abettors wiser posteritie shall blush for you and censure you too justly for some kind of Apostasie Sure I am you have done that to your selfe which if your Presbytery had done to you would have been in the Construction of the great Councell of Chalcedon Concil Chalced. of 150 Bish Can. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no other than sacriledge For me I am now breathing towards the end of my race the goale is already in mine eye young men may speake out of ambitious hopes or passionate transportations I that am now setting foot over the threshold of the house of my age what aime can I have but of the issue of my last account whereto I am ready to be summoned before the Judge of quick and dead Neither can you look as is likely to be long after me setting therefore that awfull Tribunall to which we shall shortly be presented before our eyes let us reason the case in a modest earnestnesse I should be ashamed to find lesse zeal in my self for holy Episcopacy than you think you have show'd in disclaiming it Say therefore I beseech you before God and his elect Angels say what it is besides perhaps the feare of plundering a faire temporall estate by the furious multitude say what it can be that induced you to this sinfull to this scandalous repentance shew me true grounds and take me with you How wearie should I be of this Rochet if you can shew me that Episcopacie is of any lesse than divine Institution The eminence of that calling which you have given up as too good for you will not allow you though perhaps you might to plead ignorance Win him by your powerfull arguments who is so far from being wedded to the love of this misconceived pomp that he envies the sweet peace of his inferiours Let me tell you it is your person that aggravates your crime For a sheep to stray it is no wonder but for a Shepheard yea a guide and director of Shepheards such God and the Church had made you not to wander himselfe only but to lead away his flock from the green pastures and comfortable waters of divine Truth to the drie and barren desarts of humane inventions it cannot be but as shamefull as it is dangerous both in an high degree That some poore seduced soules of your ignorant vulgar should condemne that calling which they were never suffered to looke at but with prejudicate eyes or that some of your higher-spirited Clergie out of an Ambition of this dignity and anger of the repulse should snarle at this denied honour or that some of your great ones who perhaps do no lesse love the lands than they envie and hate the preheminence of Bishops should crie downe that sacred function could be no other than might in times so conditioned be expected and by fore-expectation made the more tolerable But for a man held once worthy to be graced with the chair of Episcopacie to spurne downe that once honourable seat and to make his very Profession a sin is so shamefull an indignity as the judicious of the succeeding ages will shake their heads at and not mention without just indignation If you were guilty to your selfe of any noted personall exorbitances or of any insolencies or offensive miscariages in your ill-placed government such perhaps as have inraged your angry vulgar these had beene just matter of your humble penitence and worthy of your most submisse deprecation but to repent you of a most lawfull honourable holy divine vocation and thereby to cast mire in the faces of the blessed Apostles who received it from their God and Saviour and by the guidance of his Spirit ordained it is such an act as can scarce be expiated with floods of over-latest teares Come then I beseech you and let us in the feare of God reason sadly together not in a vaine affectation of victorie like some young Sophisters but as sober Divines in a fervent pursuit of that Truth which God and his purer Church have left and consigned to us That God who is the Father of lights and the God of truth and peace inlighten the eyes of his poor seduced people that they may see and acknowledge his Truth not suffering themselvs to be blinded with unjust prejudices and false suggestions and that they may know those things which belong to their peace §. 2. The difference of the condition of forraign Churches and Divines from those of our Northern neighbours BUt first ere we enter these lists let me advise you and your now-Maister the faction not to deceive your selves vainly with the hope of hiding your heads under the skirt of the authority of those Divines and Churches abroad which retain that form of government whereto you have submitted For know their case and yours is far enough different They plead to be by a kinde of necessitie cast upon that condition which you have willingly chosen They were not they could not be what you were and might still have beene Did any of them forsake and abjure that function of Episcopacie which he might freely have injoyed with the full liberty of professing the Reformed Religion It is true many Bishops have beene faultie in their owne persons and condemned too justly of exorbitance in managing their calling but where the calling is as it should be severed from these exceptions to the person did ever any wise man or Christian Church condemn that calling for it selfe Yea if the last Bishop of Geneva had become a Protestant aad consented in matter of Doctrine to Calvin Farret Viret have you or any man living just cause to think that the Citie would not gladly have retained his government still and thought themselves happy under such a protection would they have ejected him as an enemy whom they might have enjoyed as a Patron Would they have stood upon his Episcopacie whiles they had his concurrence in the truth of Religion No man that hath either braine or forehead will affirme it since the world knowes the quarrell was not at his dignitie but at his opposition to the intended Reformation But because this is only a suggestion of a then-future-conditionate contingencie and may perhaps meet with some stubborn contradiction heare what Calvin himselfe saith for himselfe and his Copartners Calvin de necessit Eccles Reformandae Talem si nobis hierarchiam exhibeant in qua sic emincant Epâ—scopi ut Christo subesse non recusent ut ab illo tanquam unico capite pendeant ad ipsum referantur c. tum vero nullo non anathemate dignos fatear si qui erunt qui nâ—n eam rev renter summáque obedientia observant Cited also as approved by Chamier De membris Eccles Lib. 4. Cap. 1. If they would saith he bring unto us such an Hierarchie wherein the Bishops shall so rule as that they refuse not to submit themselvs
to CHRIST that they depend upon him as their only head c. then surely if there shall be any that shall not submit themselves to that Hierarchie reverently and with the greatest obedience that may be I confesse there is no Anathema of which they are not worthy Thus he in the treatise of the necessity of reforming the Church Do you heare your Doome from your owne Oracle Loe such and no other was that Hierarchie wherein you lately bore a part and which you have now condemned make account therefore of the merit and danger of Calvins just Anathema Interea tamen Ecclesiae authoritatem vel pastâ—rum Superintendentium quibus Ecclesiae râ—gendae provinâ—â—a mandata est sublatam nâ—lumus Fatemur ergo Episcopos sivâ— Pastores râ—vâ—renter auâ—iendos quaâ—enus pro suae functionis ratione verbum Dei docent Confess Fidei nomine Gall. Eccles Yet againe the same Authour in his Confession of Faith written in the name of all the French Churches speaking of the depraved estate of the Roman Church then in the fieri of Reforming plainly writes thus Interea tamen Yet in the meane time we would not have the Authority of the Church or of those Pastors or Superintendents to whom the charge of Governing the Church is committed taken away we confesse therefore that these Bishops or Pastors are reverently to be heard so farre forth as according to their function they teach the Word of God And yet more plainly Sanè si veri Episâ—opi essent aliquid iis in hac parte auth ritatis tribuerem non qua tum sibi postâ—lant sed quantum ad politiam Ecclesiae ritè ord nandam requiritur Calv. Instit l. 4. c. 10. Certainely saith hee speaking even of Popish Bishops if they were true Bishops I would yeeld them some authority in this Case not so much as themselves desire but so much as is required to the due ordering of the Policie or Government of the Church Lastly for it were easie to heap up this measure in an Epistle of his wherein the question is purposely discussed what is to be done if a Popish Bishop shall be converted to the reformed Religion he so determines it That it is fit such an one first renounce his Popish power of sacrificing and professe to abstaine from all the superstitions and foedities of the Romish Religion then that he must doe his utmost endeavour that all the Churches which belong to his Bishopricke may be purged from their Errours and Idolatrie and at last concludes that both his possessions and authority too should be left him By vertue whereof he must take order that the Ministers under him do duly preach Gods Word as himselfe also must doe Thus he wisely and moderately Not first of all stripping him of his Episcopall power and discharging all his Clergie of their respects and obedience to him and reducing him to the rank of the meanest Plebeian Presbyter as some hot heads would have done You heare how judicious and moderate Calvins opinion was then and had he been in your late pretended Assembly at Glasgow or this of Edinburgh what vote he would have given Had he had the casting voice your Coat had not been cast for him How happy were it for your Churches if all among you who so much honour his name would as readily submit to this his judgement Sure I am had it been so with you you had been as far from defying Episcopacie in holy professors as you are now from truth and peace § 3. The judgement of the German Reformers concerning the retaining of Episcopacie ANd that the French Reformers may not herein bee thought to goe alone take notice I beseech you what the Germane Divines of the Ausburgh-Confession have freely professed to this purpose Who taking Occasion to speake of Canonicall Ordination break forth into these words following Sed Episcopi c. But the Bishops say they do either force our Priests to disclaime and condemne this kind of Doctrine which we have here Confessed or by a certaine new and unheard of kind of Cruelty put the poore and innocent soules to death These causes are they which hinder our Priests from receiving their Bishops so as the crueltie of the Bishops is the Cause why that Canonicall Government or Policie Quam nos magnopere conservare cupiebamus which we earnestly desired to conserve is in some places now dissolved And not long after in the same Chapter Prorsus hic iterum c. And now here again we desire to testifie it to the world that we will willingly Conserve the Ecclesiasticall and Canonicall government if only the Bishops will cease to exercise Cruelty upon our Churches This our will shall excuse us before God and before all the world unto all posterity that it may not be justly imputed unto us that the Authority of Bishops is impayred amongst us when men shall heare and read that we earnestly deprecating the unjust cruelty of the Bishops could obtaine no equall measure at their hands Thus those learned Divines and Protestants of Germany wherein all the world sees the Apologist professeth for them that they greatly desired to conserve the government of Bishops that they were altogether unwillingly driven from it that it was utterly against their heart that it should have beene impaired or weakened That it was onely the personall crueltie and violence of the Romish Persecutors in a bloody opposition to the doctrine of the Gospell which was then excepted against To the same purpose is that Camer in vita Melancth which Camerarius reports concerning those two great Lights of Germany Melancthon and Luther That Philip Melancthon not only by the consent but the advice of * Who professeth also so much in the Smalcaldian Articles Art 10. Luther perswaded the Protestants of that time that if Bishops would grant free use of the true doctrine their ordinary power and administration over their severall Dioeceses should be restored unto them And the same Melancthon in an Epistle to Luther hath thus Melanct. Epist Luthero You do not believe in how great hatred I am both with the Noricians and I know not whom els for restoring to the Bishops their jurisdiction and in a most true censure in his history of the Augustan Confession Melanct. Camerario hist Confâ—s August per Chytraeum Hoc autem malè habet quosdam immoderatiores reddi jurisdictionem restitui politiam Ecclesiasticam This saith he troubles certaine immoderate men that jurisdiction is re-delivered to the Bishops Buc. de Regno Christi He that desires to see more testimonies of this kinde I refer him to the Survay of Discipl chap. 8. and their Ecclesiasticall policie restored As for Bucer he is noted and confessedly acknowledged for a favourer of Religious Episcopacie See now I beseech you how willing these first reformers were to maintaine and establish Episcopall government how desirous to restore it how troubled that they might not continue
registred by themselves which we must believe they did or enacted For doctrine necessary for salvation we are for him but surely for evidence of fact or rituall observation this is no better than absurd rigour than unchristian incredulity Where is there expresse charge for the Lords Day Where for Paedobaptisme Where for publike Churches Where for Texts to be handled in Sermons Where for publike Prayers of the Church before and after them and many such like which yet we think deducible from those sacred authorities That is true of Hierome Hieron Tom. 6. in Agge 1. Quae absque authoritate c. Those things which men either finde or feigne as delivered by Apostolike tradition without the authority and testimonies of Scripture are smitten by the sword of Gods Spirit But what is this to us who finde this which we challenge for Apostolicall recorded in the written Word of God Or with what conscience is this alledged against us which is directly bent against the hereticall doctrines and traditions of the Marcionites either utterly without or expresly against the Scripture §. 11. The two famous Rules of Tertullian and S. Augustine to this purpose asserted I May not baulke two pregnant testimonies of the Fathers wherewith this great Anthierarchist and his Northerne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much and justly troubled as our cause is advantaged not so much because they are the sentences of ancient Fathers which they have learned to turne off at pleasure with scorne enough as for that they carry in them such clearenesse and strength of reason as will not admit of any probable contradiction The former is Tertull. conâ—r Marcion c. 4. that of Tertullian Constabit id esse ab Apostolis traditum quod apud Ecclesias Apostolorum fuerit sacrosanctum That shall clearely appeare to be delivered by the Apostles which shall have been religiously observed in the Churches of the Apostles What evasion is there of so evident a truth Vbi supra Me seemes saith Parker that Tertullian understands onely those Churches which were in the very time of the Apostles not the subsequent for he saith not Quod est but Quod fuerit and thus it may be held true But this is to mocke himselfe and those that trust him and not to answer all the Fathers testimony The question must be what in Tertullian's time should be held to have beene Apostolike and therefore he saith Constabit not Constitit now if he shall speak to Parkers sense he shall say That which was religiously kept in the Church planted by the Apostles and in their own time is to be held Apostolike what is the reader ever the wiser since it were equally hard to know what their Churches then did and what they themselves ordained to be done were it not for the continued tradition and practice descending from them to the succeeding ages so as either they must trust the Churches then present for the deduction of such truth or els nothing would be proved Apostolike Neither is there any thing more familiar with the Fathers than to terme those the Churches of the Apostles even for some hundreds of yeares after their decease wherein they after some residence had established a government for future succession which had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Synesius speaketh as it were too easie to instance in a thousand particularities yea that it may appeare how Parker shuffles here against his owne knowledge there is a flat mention of the Churches after the time of Saint Iohn the longest liver of all that holy traine which he cals Ioannis alumnas Ecclesias Tert. l. 4. contra Marc. c. 5. So as this of Parkers is a miserable shift and not an answer The other is that famous place of Saint Augustine against the Donatists agiâ—ated by every pen Quod universa c. That which is held by the universall Church and not ordained by any Councell but hath beene alwayes retained in the Church is most truly believed to be delivered by no other than Apostolicall authority which Parker sticks not to professe the Achillaean argument of the Hierarchists Neither have they any cause to disclaime it the authority of the man is great but the power of his reason more For that which obtaineth universally must either have some force in it selfe to command acceptation or els must be imposed by some over-ruling Authority and what can that be but either of the great Princes as they are anciently called of the Church the holy Apostles or of some generall Councels as may authoritatively diffuse it through all the world If then no Councels have decreed the observation of an ordinance whence should an universall not reception onely but retention proceed saye from Apostolike hands No cause can work beyond his owne Sphere Private power cannot exceed its owne compasse Let not any adversary think to elude this testimony with the upbraiding to it the Patronage of the Popish Opinion concerning Traditions we have learned to hate their vanities and yet to maintaine our owne Truths without all feare of the patrocination of Popery We deny not some Traditions however the word for want of distinguishing is from their abuse growne into an ill name must have their place and use and in vaine should learned Chamier Fulk Whitakers Perkins Willet and other Controversers labour in the rules of discerning true Apostolicall Traditions from false and counterfeit if all were such and if those which are certainly true were not worthy of high honour and respect And what and how farre our entertainment of Traditions is and should be I referre my Reader to that sound and judicious discourse of our now most Reverend Metropolitan against his Iesuite A.C. Onwards therefore I must observe That whereas Chamier doth justly defend Cham. Panstrat de Traditionibus that the Evidence of these kind of Traditions from the universall receipt of the Church doth not breed a plerophory of assent he doth not herein touch upon us since his Opposition is only concerning points of faith Our defence is concerning matter of fact neither do we hold it needfull there should be so full a sway of assent to the testimony of the Churches practice herein as there ever ought to be to the direct sentence of the sacred Scripture Will none but a divine faith serve the turn in these Cases which Parker himselfe professes to bee farre from importing salvation Is it not enough that I doe as verily believe upon these humane proofes what was done by the Apostles for the plantation and settlement of the Church as I doe believe there was a Rome before Christ's Incarnation or that a Iulius Caesar was Emperour or Dictator there or Tully an Oratour and Consul or Cato a wise Senator or Catiline a Traytor Certainly thus much beliefe will serve for our purpose who so requires more besides the grounds of the Apostolike Ordinances recorded in Scripture thus seconded may take that counsell which boyes construe the Lapwing
were the immediate Successours of the Apostles would or durst set up a forme of government different from that which was fore-designed to them and that either faulty or selfe-devised Certainly it must needs follow either those succeeding governours practised maintained and propagated that forme which they immediately before received from the hands of the Apostles or els they quite altered it and established a new If the first we have what we desire if the later those holy men were guilty of a presumptuous Innovation which were a crime to thinke Charity thinks not evill And what evill can be worse than to violate or transgresse Apostolicall Ordinances How highly doth the Apostle of the Gentiles praise the Corinthians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 11.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they kept all his orders and observed his Traditions and would he have lesse deeply blamed those that should have wilfully broken them Vultis veniam in virga Will ye that I shall come to you with a rod saith the same Apostle All the Christian world knew how sacred the Authority of those great Delegates of our Saviour was how infallible their Determinations how undoubted their inspirations Withall it must be granted that the first Ages were the purest as the water that first rises from the spring is clearer than that which by a long decursion hath mixed it selfe with the soyle of the Channell Can it therefore enter into any wise and honest heart that those prime Saints even in the greatest purity of the Church would wilfully varie from the holy Institutions of the blessed Apostles And as the fickle Israelites did so soone as Moses his back was turned worship Idols of their owne invention Surely he must be strongly uncharitable that shall thinke so strangely impudent that dares maintaine it and wickedly credulous that can believe it Quae defectio in Ecclesia quidem ipsa Apostolorum aetati proximâ adeò coepit ut argumento certo illius universa praxis esse nequeat Paâ—k Polit. Eccles l. 2. c. 8. But the defection began in the Church presently after the Apostles yea in their time A point eagerly urged by the faction It is no trusting therefore to the universall practice of the Successors Our owne Authours are frequently alledged for the earlinesse of this Apostasie Whitakers Reynolds Field Mornay what need it when the Apostle himselfe tels us the mystery of iniquity began then to worke yea and as it is said your Moderator lately told you Saint Paul himselfe by appointing Bishops was himself a worker in it The mystery of iniquity What is that but the plots of that Antichrist Yea but you ordinarily speak of him as I thought but as one The Romane vice-god Now I perceive it is a mistake there was the Antichrist at Hierusalem the Antichrist of Antioch of Alexandria shortly in every Church one But let them say now Doe they repute the Bishop of Rome to bee the Antichrist or not If they doe let them shew us what it is that makes him so which all good Bishops do not as mainly oppose What hand hath the Patriâ— rch of Constantinople or Alexandria or the Abassine Bishops in his transcendent supremacy and usurpation These disclaime him these resist him Did the Episcopacie of these and all other Christian Churches give any aid to the advancement of that usurpers infallibility or universall supremacie Did or do the Christian Bishops of all other Churches give him their shoulder to hoyse him up above all that is called God If they helpe him up who offers to pull him down Shortly then if the mystery of iniquity did then work for Rome yet not for the Grecian Syrian Asian Churches No no it was not any point of the defection this but rather of the perfection of the Church But here we are choaked with the examples of some Churches which soone after their plantation swerved from their former purity Of Israel it is said Rehoboam left the Law of the Lord 2 Chron. 12.1 and all Israel with him Of the Galathians I marvell that you are so soon turned away from Christ Galat. 1.6 and severall errours are reckoned up of succeeding Churches and men It is no such strange matter therefore that the Christian Church should in some sort faile after the decease of the Apostles How little reason and great uncharitablenesse is there in this Argument If there were some errours shall we suspect all truths And if some particular Churches failed in some opinions shall we therefore mis-doubt the practice of the universall Parker grants that in the times of the Apostles the Church was in her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the height of her health even then were there not quarrels were there not foule mis-opinions in the Churches of Corinth Galatia Thessalonica Colossae If these particular failings did not hinder the soundnesse in doctrine and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in government of the universall Christian Church what reason have we to cast this aspersion upon the subsequent It is true as Physitians observe that in seven yeares the body changes and in thirty there is as Keckerman observes not ill a remarkable alteration in every state Neither is the Church priviledged from mutability but as a man changes his complexion but still holds his visage and as the State changes its Officers but still retaines the lawes and formes of Administration so the Church may perhaps alter some Customes and either mend or impaire in manners and yet still continue the rules and formes of her government neither have we reason to thinke otherwise of those which succeeded the Apostolike And if some men therein declined towards errour or heresie God forbid the Church should suffer as guilty of their lapses But as for the maine lawes of Church-Discipline if the succeding Governours should have so foulely forgotten themselves after the decease of the two great Apostles of the Gentiles and the Circumcision yet Saint Iohn lived a faire age after no lesse than sixty eight yeares after our Saviour and had leisure enough to controll their exorbitances had they been such neither would he have indured any such palpable and prejudiciall innovation in the Church of God Briefly then if it shall appeare that these holy men who were immediate Successours in the Apostolike chaires continued and maintained an imparity and superiority of the Episcopall function we have evicted what we plead for § 13. The sixth ground That if the next successors would have innovated the forme of government yet they could not in so short space have diffused it through the whole Christian world BVt sixtly if the succeeding Church-Governours would or durst have owned so much presumption as to alter or innovate the forme of government left by the Apostles yet they could not possibly in so short a space have diffused their new uniforme platforme of Administration through the whole Christian world For who knowes not that universality of power and jurisdiction died with the Apostles they
whereof Saint Peter acknowledges himself a Compresbyter for if it be alleaged as it is That this is against our owne Principles who allow but one Bâ—shop in one City and these were many let me put the Objector in minde that though these Bishops were called together by Saint Paul from Miletum to Ephesus yet they were not all said to be Elders of Ephesus but from thence monition went speediliest out to all places to call them and so we hear saint Paul say Ye all amongst whom I have gone preaching the Kingdome of God which plainly argues they were not confined to the compasse of one City or Territory but Over seers of severall and far-dispersed charges As Saint Paul therfore to his Timothy so Saint Luke here uses the terms promiscuouslâ— one being as yet in common use for both though the offices were sensibly distinguished And now what shall we say to this Tell me ye that look upon these Papers with censorious eyes tell me is all this think you no other than a formall presidence of an assembly without any power or command Is this to do but as a Consull in a Senate to propound Cases to gather Votes to declare the judgement of the Presbytery or Synod or as Zanchy resembles it ut Rector in Academia as a Rector in one of their Academies or rather as Saint Ierome whom you challenge for your Patron in this point hath it tanquam imperator in exercitu â—â—â—â—on Epist 〈◊〉 Evangâ—â—â— as a Generall in an Army who hath power both to Marshall all the troops and to command the Captains and Colonels and to execute Marshall law upon Officers If you have a mind to suffer your eies to be willingly blinded with such improbable suggestions falling from those whom you think you have otherwise reason to honour hugg still your own palpable errour not without our pity though without the power of redresse but if you care for truth and desire in the presence of God to imbrace it for truthes own sake without respect of persons aske your own hearts whether these charges and services laid by the elect Vessell upon his Timothy and Titus be any other than really Episcopall and such as manifestly carry in them both Superiority and Iurisdiction §. 7. The testimony of St. Iohn in his Revelation pressed NEither can all the shifts in the world elude that pregnant Vision and charge of the blessed Apostle St. Iohn in whose longer lasting time the government of the Church was fully setled in this threefold imparity of the Orders and degrees who having had the speciall supervision of the whole Asian Church was by the Spirit of God commanded to direct his 7 Epistles to the Bishops of those seven famous Churches by the name of so many Angels To the Angel of the Church of Ephesus To the Angel of the Church in Smyrna c. For what can be more plain than that in every of these Chur hes as for instance that of Ephesus there were many Presbyters yet but one Angel If that one were not in place above the rest and higher by the head than they how comes he to be noted in the throng Why was not the direction to al the Angels of the Church of Ephesus Divina voce laudatur sub Angeli nomine pâ—aepositus Ecclesiae Aug. Epi. 162. All were Angels in respect of their Ministery one was the Angel in respect of his fixed superioritâ— There were thousands of Starres in this firmament of the Asian Churches there were but seaven of the first magnitude who can indure such an invasion that one is mentioned many are meant as if they had said Non populum aggrâ—dit sed principem claâ—â— utique Episcopum Mâ—rlâ—rat To one that is to more To one Angel that is to more Angels than one To what purpose is it to insist upon any proprâ—ety of speech if we may take such liberty of Construction As if when the Prophet came to Iehu with a message and expresly said To thee O Captain he should have turn'd it off to the rest and have said To me that is Not to me alone but to all my felllows with me But to put this matter out of doubt it is particularly known who some of those Angels were Holy Polycarpus was knowne to be the Angel of the Church of Smyrna whom Ignatius the blessed Martyr mentions as by his Episcopacy greater than his Clergie Timothy had been not long before Bishop of Ephesus yea of the Asians now Onesimus was whose Metropolis Ephesus was Wherein Ignatius acknowledges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very great multitude of Christians so large that in the Emperour Leo's time Iura Graec. p. 88. 90. it had 36. Bishopricks under it And so was Sardis having under it 24. And shall we think that these great Dioceses were as some obscure Parishes wherein were no variety of eminent persons so as the Angel that is noted here must needs be of a large Iurisdiction and great Authority But if any man shall imagine these things spoken to the Angel as to him under that title in the name of all the rest let him know that this cannot be for that the charges and challenges there made are personall and such as could not be communicated to all for who can say that all those of the Church of Ephesus were patient and laborious Revel 2.2 that none of them fainted that they all lost their first love that all hated the work of the Nicholaitans who can say that all those of the Church of Smyrna were either poore or rich That none in the Church of Pergamus denyed the fath Besides here is a manifest distinction betwixt the Pastor or Bishop and those of his charge and they are described by the severalties of their estates As when he had acknowledged the Graces of Polycarpus the Angel of Smyrna Revel 2.10 and incouraged that blessed Martyr by way of premonition to some of his Church Behold some of you the devill shall cast into prison and ye shall be tryed and endure Tribulation ten dayes and then addressing to him Be thou faithfull to the death c. And in his fourth Epistle Revel 2.24 distinguishing the Angel or Bishop of Thyatyra from the rest of his charge But unto you saith saith he and the rest of Thyatyra as many as have not this doctrine and the depth of Satan as they speake I will put none other burden upon them but that which ye have hold fast till I come So that this conceit is no lesse wild than that other which followes it of my old acquaintance Brightman who makes not only these Angels the types of those Churches but those Churches of Asia the Types and Histories of all the Christian Churches which should be to the end of the world Thus the Bells say what some Hearers thinke So cleer is this truth that the Opposites have been forced to yield Priority here intimated but a Priority of Order onely not
the Apostles themselves If it were constituted in their time and proceeded from them and were in this name received of all Churches then certainly it must be yielded to be of Apostolicall that is divine Institution More if it needed might be added and that out of Chamier's owne allegations Thus much truth is not grudged us by these ingenuous Divines All the question is of the nature and extent of this Superiority This difference there was but as that great Pancratiast others with him contend though many prerogatives were yielded to the Bishop in his place especially in the nobler Cities yet this place Cham. ubi supra was but Primatus ordinis a Primacy of order onely nulla erat hic dominatio aut jurisdictio sed sancta charitas Here was no rule no jurisdiction but all was swayed by an holy Charity Here 's the knot wher 's the wedge Why 't is here If charity did it then it doth it still for I hope Jurisdiction and charity may well stand together and Chamier had no reason to oppose things which agree so well as well in a Bishop as in a civill Magistrate for as for rule if we affect any but fatherly and moderate and such as must necessarily be required for the Conservation of peace and good order in the Church of God we doe not deprecate a Censure We know how to bear humble minds in eminence of places how to command without imperiousnesse and to comply wth out exposing our places to contempt so as those are but spightfull Frumps and malicious suggestions which are cast upon us of a tyrannicall pride and Lordly domineering over our brethren We are their Superiours in place but we hate to think they should be lowlier in mind But hereof we shall have fitter occasion in the sequel §. 10. The superiority and Iurisdiction of Bishops proved by the testimony of the first Fathers and Apostolicall men and first of Clemens AS for that Jurisdiction which we claime and those reverend and obedient respects which we expect from our Clergy if they be other than those which were both required and given in the very first times of the Gospell under the Apostles themselves and of those whom they immediatly intrusted with the government of the Church let us be hissed out from among Christians For proof of this right then whom should I rather begin with after the Apostles than an Apostolicall man a copartner and a deare familiar of the two prime Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul I mean Clemens whom St. Paul mentions honourably in his Epistle to the Philippians Philip. 4.3 by the title of one of his fellow-labourers whose names are in the booke of life One who laid St. Peter in his grave as Theodoret tells us and followed that blessed Apostle both in his See and in his Martyrdome yea one whom Clemens Alexandrinus enstyles no lesse than an Apostle of so great reputation in the Church that as Ierome tells us he was by some reputed the pen-man of the holy Epistle to the Hebrews and that learned Father findes the face of his style alike if not the same you looke now that I should produce some blowne ware out of the pack of his Recognitions or Apostolicall Constitutions but I shall deceive you And urge a Testimony from that worthy and Apostolike Author which was never yet soyled so much as with any pen either in Citation or much lesse in Contradiction of venerable and unquestionable authority It is of that noble and holy Epistle of his which he wrote to the Corinthians upon the occasion of those quarrels which were it seemes on foot in St. Paul's time and still continued Emulation and side-takings amongst and against their teachers which belike proceeded so farre as to the ejecting of their Bishop and Presbyters out of their places He gravely taxes them with this kinde of Spirituall conspiracy and advises them to keepe their own stations For which purpose having laid before them the history of Aarons rod budding and thereby the miraculous confirmation of his election he addes And our Apostles knowing by our Lord Jesus Christ the contention that would arise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 about the name of Episcopacy and they Clem. Epist ad Corinthios 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. for this very same cause having received perfect knowledge appointed the foresaid degrees and gave thereupon a designed order or list of Offices that when they should sleepe in their graves others that were well approved men might succeed in their charge or service Those therefore which were constituted by them or of other renowned men after them with the consent and good liking of the whole Church and have accordingly served unblameably in the Sheepfold of Christ with all meeknesse quietly and without all taynt of corruption and those who of a long time have carryed a good testimony from all men these we hold cannot justly or without much injury be put from their Office and service For it were no small sinne in us if we shall refuse and reject them who have holily and without reproofe undergone these Offices of Episcopacy And withall blessed are those Presbyters who having dispatched their journey by death have obtained a perfect and fruitfull dissolution For now they need not fear least any man shall out them from the place wherein they now are For we see that some ye have removed and displaced from their unblameably-managed office ye are contentious my brethren and are quarrelsome about those things which do not concerne salvation search diligently the Scriptures c. Thus Clement Did he write this trow we to the Church of Corinth or of Scotland Judge you how well it agrees but in the mean time you see these distinctions of degrees you see the quarrels arising about the very title You see that the Bishops ordained by the Apostles succeeded in their service you see they continued or ought to continue in their places during their life you see it a sin to out them except there be just cause in their misdemeanour The testimony is so clear that I well foresee you will be not a little pinched with it and desirous to give your selfe ease And which way can you doe it perhaps you will be quarrelling with the authority and antiquity of the Epistle But this yron is too hot for you to take up It hath too much warrant in the innate simplicity of it and too much testimony from the ancient Fathers of the Church for any adversary to contradict Though it could come but lately to our hands yet we know long since that it had the attestation of Iustin Martyr of Irenaeus who calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Clemens Alexandrinus of Origen of Cyrill of Ierusalem of Photius who tearms it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very worthy Epistle of Ierome who tearms it valde utilem a very profitable Epistle and tells us that it was of old publikely read as authenticall in Churches
They are under the government of the Patriarch of Alexandria to whose Jurisdiction belong both the Christians of Aegypt and those about the Bay of Arabia Upon whose late solemn Consecration how many Bishops attended and what solemnity were used were too long to rehearse For the Abassine Christians they are subject to their Abuna a Patriarch of their own Some report of an 127 Arch-bishops And Alvares that in one Church of the holy Trinity upon a solemn occasion he saw two hundred of their Mitred Clergie together Thus have I for the readers satisfaction contracted into a short view some passages of laborious Christianography of Mr. Paget gathered by him out of many Authors whereby it well appears how the Christian Church is governed abroad and which is very remarkable well near all of these in a manner utterly divided from the correspondence with Rome and professedly opposite to most of her errors and chiefly to her ambitious and tyrannous usurpation but all gladly ever submitting themselves to that Episcopall government which some few very ill-advised but very well self-conceited new-commers here in a corner of our Europe have for their own ends presumed to contradict §. 19. Of the Suppression of contrary records and the sole opposition of the heretick Aerius CLearly then all times all places all histories are for us not one that ever mentioned the discipline and government pretended It is a very poor and beggerly evasion of Parker and Anti-tilenus that perhaps there were some but they were suppressed suppressed now gramercy for that By whom I hope by the Hierarchy what when there was no opposition No colour of offence suppressed what not only their edition in this age of Presses but their very mention Can they perswade themselves others sure they cannot or if they can I would fain see them that among so many holy Fathers and faithfull recorders of all occurrences that befell the Church whose worthy monuments are in our hands there should not be the least touch either of their dislike of Episcopacy if there had been any or of their allowance of the discipline called for not so much as the least intimation of any City or region that was or wished to be otherwire governed then by a Diocesan Bishop As well may they tell us there are people at this day on and beyond the mountains of the moon who do still and ever have governed themselves by their platform though who and what they are could not cannot possibly be discovered Onwards then It can be no great comfort or credit to the disparagers of Episcopacy that the only founder and abettor of their opinion which we meet with in all the world of history and record is a branded heretick Arius branded even for this very point which they now maintain And how could this be if the conceit had been formerly currant Or why he singled from the rest if there had been others known to have been of the same minde No man ever wrote of hereticks who did not name him for one Epiphanius Austen Philaster And who can choose but blush to hear those who would go for Orthodox Christians now at the latter end of the day after so many ages of exsibilation to take upon them the defence of a noted heretick against all the holy Fathers of the Church yea against the whole Church of God whose judgment those Fathers expressly declared Hear then of your Patriarch all ye opposers of Episcopacy and then judge how you like him All agree in the story Epiphanius is the fullest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. haeres 75. Aerius saith he was a man frantick-headed proud-minded an Arrian altogether He would fain have been a Bishop and when his schoole-fellow Eustathius came to that honour which he eagerly desired and missed of he was so much the more netled with emulation Eustathius humor'd him by all means he was still the more peevish at last he brake forth into Opposition and saith that Father his speech favored rather of madnesse then of sober humanity For he said what is a Bishop better then a Presbyter The one differs not at all from the other There is but one order one honour one dignity of both Doth the Bishop impose hands So doth the Presbyter Doth the Bishop administer baptisme So doth the Presbyter The Bishop dispenceth the service of God so doth the Presbyter The Bishop sits in his Chair or Throne Epiph. loco citato so doth the Presbyter These are the opinions among others for which Aerius was hooted not out of the Church only but out of the Cities towns and villages which I grieve to see taken up in this doting and last age of the world by those who should be both godly and wise He whom Epiphanius in the voyce of Gods Church stiles magnum mundo malum a great mischief to the world is now applauded by those who pretend to holynesse for a great patrone of Truth §. 20. The vindication of those Fathers that are pretended to second Aerius BUt what noyse is this I hear from our Antepiscopists of many Fathers who favoured and cryed up this opinion of Aerius surely if there had been any such the world would have rung of it ere now The then-present Church would sooner have noted it than those that lag after them so many hundred paces of years But to make this good more than once is laid in our dish by Parker Paracles l. 1. c. 7 and the censure of Tilenus the quotation of Medina which our Reverend and learned Bishop of Durham Dr. Morton in his Apology cites Apol. p 2. c. 12. Non Dubito c. I doubt not saith Medina to affirm that St. Jerome Sedulius Primasius Theodoret held with the Aerian hereticks that the Order of Bishops and Presbyters is Jure divino the very same It is well that he omitted St. Augustine Ambrose Chrysostome Oecumenius Well what of this the learned Bishop cites Medina but doth he approve him he scornes the motion Medina cites those Fathers as for this opinion The more shamelesse he Is it ever the truer because a sworn champion of the tyranny of Rome and a professed enemy to the reformed Religion impudently avers it It is enough for me to leave him to the castigation of Bellarmine and though I might spend paper in vindicating these sacred names from the aspersion of the favour of Aerianisme yet for that it is but incidently in our way Intolerabilis est Medirae impudentia Spalat de Rep. Eccles l. 2. c. 3. I shall rather remit my Reader to the learned and satisfactory discourse of the Archbishop of Spalato who hath prevented that labour All the rest are easily freed St. Jerome and St. Ambrose in the opinion of some seem to take in water For the former as he was naturally a waspish and hote good man so now being vexed with some crosse proceedings as he thought of John Bishop of Hierusalem heflew out into some expressions indeed but
double honour construes those Elders for boni dispensatores ac fideles and because you may thinke this may well enough fit Laick Presbyters he adds Evangelizantes regnum Dei those that preach the Kingdome of God And againe Adversus Presbyterum c. Against a Presbyter receive not an accusation c. Because saith he Ordinis hujus sublimis est honor the honour of this order is high for they are the Vicars of Christ and therefore an accusation of this person is not easily to be admitted for it ought to seeme incredible to us that this man who is Gods Priest should live criminously Thus he so as this Ambrose's Presbyters are no other in his sens◠than Gods Priests and Christs Vicars If our Lay-presbyters then have a minde to be or to be called Priests and Vicars their Ambrose is for them else he is not worthy of his fee for what hee hath said If all antiquity have yeelded any other witnesse worth the producing how gladly should we heare him out and returne him a satisfactory answer but the truth is never any man thought of such a project and therefore if any authour have let fall some favourable word that might seeme to bolster it it must be against his will neither did any living mam before some Burgesses of Geneva in our age took it upon them ever claime or manage such an office since Christ was upon the earth §. 5. The uter disagrement and irresolution of the pretenders to the new discipline concerning the particurlar state of the desired government ALl this considered I cannot but wonder and grieve to heare a man of such worth as Beza was so transported as to say that this Presbyter of their device is the Tribunall of Christ a Tribunall erected aboue fifteene hundred yeares after his departure from us an invisible Tribunall to all the rest of Gods Church besides a Tribunall not knowne nor resolved of by those that call it so Surely our blessed Saviour was never ashamed to owne his ordinance neither was he ever so reserved as not to show his owne Crowne and Scepter to all his good subjects he never cared for an outward glorious magnificence but that spirituall port which he would have kept in his government he was farre from concealing and smothering in a suspitious secrecy If this then be or were Christs Tribunall where when how in whom wherefore was it set up Who sees not that the wood whereof it is framed is so green that it warpes every way Plainely the sworne men to this exoticall government are not agreed of their verdict An exquisite forme they would faine have but what it was or what it should be they accord not Even amongst our own in the Admonition to the Parliament An◠o 1572. a perfect platforme is tendred not so perfect yet but two yeares after it is altered nine yeares after that Anno 1583. a new draught fit for the English Meridian is published yet that not so exact but that Travers must have a new essay to it 29. Eliz. And after all this a world of doubts yet arise which were in 1588. debated at Coventry Cambridge elsewhere And yet still when all is done the fraternity is as far to seek in very many points for resolution as at the first day yea at this very houre faine would I know whether they can ring this peale without jarres It is not long agoe I am sure that they found every parcell of their government litigious Cartwright is for a Presbytery in every Parish wheresoever a Pastour is and his late clients make every village a Church absolute and independent the Genevian fashion is otherwise neither doth Danaeus think it to be Christs institution to have every Parish thus furnished and governed Our late humorists give power of excommunication and other censures to every Parish-Presbytery The Belgick Churches allow it not to every particular congregation without the councell and assent of the generall Consistory There are that hold the Elders should be perpetuall There are others for a Trienniall others for a bienniall Eldership others hold them fit to be changed so oft as their liveries once a yeare The Elders sayes T. C. are joyntly to execute with their Pastour the election and abdication of all their Ecclesiasticall officers Not so Io. Calv. l. 4. Inst c. 3. saith I.C. Soli pastores onely the Pastours must doe it And good reason what a monster of opinions it is that lay-men should lay on hands to the ordination of Ministers I wonder these men feare not Vzzah's death or Vzziah's leprosie There are that doubt whether there should be Doctors in every Church and I am deceived if in Scotland you do not hold your Consistories perfect without them There are that hold them so necessary a member of this body of Christs ordinance that it is utterly maimed and unperfect without them And indeed what to make of their Doctors neither themselves know nor any for them To make them a distinct office from Pastors as it is an uncouth conceit and quite besides the Text which tels of some Evangelists some Prophets some Pastours and Doctors and not some Pastours and some Doctors so it is guilty of much errour and wildnesse of consequence For how is it possible that spirituall food and teaching should be severed Who can fe◠d the soule and not instruct it Or who can teach wholsome doctrine and not feed the soule This is as if every child should have two nurses one to give it the bib another the brest one to hold the dish and the other to put in the spoone Now if Doctors must be whether in every Parish one whether admitted to sit and vote in the Presbyterie and to have their hand in censures or not or whether they bee Lay-men or of the Clergie whether as Academicall Readers or as rurall Catechists are things so utterly undetermined that they are indeed altogether undecidable As for Deacons there is if it may be yet more uncertainty amongst them whether they bee necessary in the constitution of the Church or whether members of the Consistory or not whether they should be onely imployed in matter of the purse or in the matters of God or if so how farre interessed whether fixed or moveable and if so in what circle And least there sould be any passage of this admired government free from doubt even the very widdowes have their brawles These to some are as essentiall as the best to others like to some ceremonies of which Iunius his judgement was Si adsint non recuso si absint non desidero not to be refused where they are and not to be missed where they are not however I see not why the good women should not put in for a share and chide with the Elders to be shut out These which I have abstracted from our judicious surveyer and an hundred other doubts concerning the extent and managing of the new Consistory are enough to let an ingenuous