those traditions which he receiv'd fill'd his writings with many new doctrines and fabulous conceits he tells us there that divers Ecclesiasticall men and Irenaeus among the rest while they lookt at his antiquity became infected with his errors Now if Irenaeus were so rash as to take unexamin'd opinions from an Author of so small capacity when he was a man we should be more rash our selves to rely upon those observations which he made when he was a Boy And this may be a sufficient reason to us why we need no longer muse at the spreading of many idle traditions so soon after the Apostles whilst such as this Papias had the throwing them about and the inconsiderate zeal of the next age that heeded more the person then the Doctrine had the gathering them up Where ever a man who had bin any away conversant with the Apostles was to be found thether slew all the inquisitive eares the exercise of right instructing was chang'd into the curiosity of impertinent fabling where the mind was to be edified with solid Doctrine there the fancy was sooth'd with solemne stories with lesse fervency was studied what Saint Paul or Saint Iohn had written then was listen'd to one that could say here hee taught here he stood this was his stature and thus he went habited and O happy this house that harbour'd him and that cold stone whereon he rested this Village wherein he wrought such a miracle and that pavement bedew'd with the warme effusion of his last blood that sprouted up into eternall Roses to crowne his Martyrdome Thus while all their thoughts were powr'd out upon circumstances and the gazing after such men as had sate at table with the Apostles many of which Christ hath profest yea thoughthey had cast out Divells in his name he will not know at the last day by this meanes they lost their time and truanted in the fundamentall grounds of saving knowledge as was seene shortly by their writings Lastly for Ireneus wee have cause to thinke him lesse judicious in his reports from hand to hand of what the Apostles did when we find him so negligent in keeping the faith which they writ as to say in his third Booke against Heresies that the obedience of Mary was the cause of salvation to her selfe and all mankind and in his fift Booke that as Eve was seduc't to fly God so the Virgin Mary was perswaded to obey God that the Virgin Mary might be made the Advocate of the Virgin Eve Thus if Irenaeus for his neerenesse to the Apostles must be the Patron of Episcopacy to us it is no marvell though he be the Patron of Idolatry to the Papist for the same cause To the Epistle of those brethren of Smyrna that write the Martyrdome of Polycarpus and stile him an Apostolicall and propheticall Doctor and Bishop of the Church in Smirna I could be content to give some credit for the great honour and affection which I see those brethren beare him and not undeservedly if it be true which they there say that he was a Prophet and had a voyce from Heaven to comfort him at his death which they could heare but the rest could not for the noise and tumult that was in the place and besides if his body were so pretious to the Christians that hee was never wont to pull off his shooes for one or other that still strove to have the office that they might come to touch his feet yet a light scruple or two I would gladly be resolv'd in if Polycarpus who as they say was a Prophet that never faild in what he foretold had declar'd to his friends that he knew by vision hee should die no other death then burning how it came to passe that the fire when it came to proofe would not doe his worke but starting off like a full saile from the mast did but reflect a golden light upon his unviolated limbes exhaling such a sweet odour as if all the incense of Arabia had bin burning in so much that when the bill-men saw that the fire was overaw'd and could not doe the deed one of them steps to him and stabs him with a sword at which wound such abundance of bloud gusht forth as quencht the fire By all this relation it appeares not how the fire was guilty of his death and then how can his prophesie bee fulfill'd Next how the standers by could be so soone weary of such a glorious sight and such a fragrant smell as to hasten the executioner to put out the fire with the Martyrs blood unlesse perhaps they thought as in all perfumes that the Smoake would bee more odorous then the flame Yet these good brethren say he was Bishop of Smyrna No man questions it if Bishop and Presbyter were anciently all one and how does it appeare by any thing in this testimony that they were not If among his other high titles of propheticall Apostolicall and most admired of those times he bee also stil'd Bishop of the Church of Smirna in a kind of speech which the Rhetoricians call {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} for his excellence sake as being the most famous of all the Smyrnian Presbyters it cannot bee prov'd neither from this nor that other place of Irenaeus that hee was therefore in distinct and monarchicall order above the other Presbyters it is more probable that if the whole Presbytery had beene as renowned as he they would have term'd every one of them severally Bishop of Smyrna Hence it is that wee read sometimes of two Bishops in one place and had all the Presbyters there beene of like worth we might perhaps have read of twenty Tertullian accosts us next for Polycrates hath had his answer whose testimony state but the question right is of no more force to deduce Episcopacy then the two former He saies that the Church of Smirna had Polycarpus plac't there by Iohn and the Church of Rome Clement ordain'd by Peter and so the rest of the Churches did shew what Bishops they had receiv'd by the appointmēt of the Apostles None of this will be contradicted for we have it out of the Scripture that Bishops or Presbyters which were the same were left by the Apostles in every Church and they might perhaps give some speciall charge to Clement or Polycarpus or Linus and put some speciall trust in them for the experience they had of their faith and constancy it remaines yet to be evinc't out of this and the like places which will never be that the word Bishop is otherwise taken then in the language of Saint Paul and the Acts for an order above Presbyters We grant them Bishops we grant them worthy men we grant them plac't in severall Churches by the Apostles we grant that Irenaeus and Tertul affirme this but that they were plac't in a superiour Order above the Presbytery shew from all these words why we should grant 'T is not enough to say the Ap left this man
Bishop in Rome that other in Ephesus but to shew when they alterd their owne decree set downe by St. Paul and made all the Presbyters underlings to one Bishop But suppose Tertullian had made an imparity where none was originally should hee move us that goes about to prove an imparity betweene God the Father and God the Sonne as these words import in his Booke against Praxeas The Father is the whole substance but the Son a derivation and portion of the whole as he himselfe professes because the Father is greater then me Beleeve him now for a faithfull relater of tradition whom you see such an unfaithfull expounder of the Scripture besides in his time all allowable tradition was now lost For this same Author whom you bring to testifie the ordination of Clement to the Bishoprick of Rome by Peter testifies also in the beginning of his treatise concerning Chastity that the Bishop of Rome did then use to send forth his edicts by the name of Pontifex Maximus and Episcopus Episcoporum chief Priest and Bishop of Bishops For shame then doe not urge that authority to keepe up a Bishop that will necessarily ingage you to set up a Pope As little can your advantage bee from Hegesippus an Historian of the same time not extant but cited by Eusebius his words are that in every City all things so stood in his time as the Law and the Prophets and our Lord did preach If they stood so then stood not Bishops above Presbyters for what our Lord and his Disciples taught God be thanked we have no need to goe learne of him and you may as well hope to perswade us out of the same Author that James the brother of our Lord was a Nazarite and that to him only it was lawfull to enter into the holy of Holies that his food was not upon any thing that had life fish or flesh that he us'd no wollen garments but onely linnen and so as he trifles on If therefore the tradition of the Church were now grown so ridiculous disconsenting from the Doctrine of the Apostles even in those points which were of lest moment to mens particular ends how well may we be assur'd it was much more degenerated in point of Episcopacy and precedency things which could affor'd such plausible pretenses such commodious traverses for ambition and Avarice to lvrke behind As for those Brittaine Bishops which you cite take heed what you doe for our Brittaine Bishops lesse ancient then these were remarkable for nothing more then their poverty as Sulp Severus and Beda can remember you of examples good store Lastly for the fabulous Metaphrastes is not worth an answer that authority of Clemens Alexandrinus is not to be found in all his workes and wherever it be extant it is in controversie whether it be Clements or no or if it were it sayes onely that Saint Iohn in some places constituted Bishops questionlesse he did but where does Clement say he set them above Presbyters no man will gaine-say the constitution of Bishops but the raising them to a superiour and distinct order above Presbyters seeing the Gospell makes them one and the same thing a thousand such allegations as these will not give Prelaticall Episcopacy one Chapell of ease above a Parish Church And thus much for this cloud I cannot say rather then petty-fog of witnesses with which Episcopall men would cast a mist before us to deduce their exalted Episcopacy from Apostolick times Now although as all men well know it be the wonted shift of errour and fond Opinion when they find themselves outlaw'd by the Bible and forsaken of sound reason to betake them with all speed to their old starting hole of tradition and that wild and overgrowne Covert of antiquity thinking to farme there at large roome and find good stabling yet thus much their owne dêify'de antiquity betrayes them to informe us that Tradition hath had very seldome or never the gift of perswasion as that which Church Histories report of those East and Western Paschalists formerly spoken of will declare who would have thought that Polycarpus on the one side could have err'd in what he saw Saint Iohn doe or Anicetus Bishop of Rome on the other side in what he or some of his friends might pretend to have seene Saint Peter or Saint Paul doe and yet neither of these could perswade either when to keep Eâ—ster The like frivolous contention troubled the Primitive English Churches while Colmanus 〈◊〉 Wilfride on either side deducing their opinion 〈◊〉 the one from the undeniable example of Saint Iohn and the learned Bishop Anatolius and laâ—â—â— the miraculous Columba the other from Saint Peter and the Nicene Councell could gaine no ground each of other till King Oswy perceiving no likelihood of ending the Controversie that way was faine to decide it himselfe good King with that small knowledge wherewith those times had furnisht him So when those pious Greek Emperours began as Cedrenus relates to put downe Monks and abolish Images the old Idolaters finding themselves blasted and driven back by the prevailing light of the Scripture sent out their sturdy Monks call'd the Abramites to alledge for images the ancient Fathers Dionysius and this our objected Irenaus nay they were so high flowne in their antiquity that they undertooke to bring the Apostles and Luke the Evangelist yea Christ himselfe from certaine records that were then current to patronize their Idolatry yet for all this the worthy Emperour Theophilus even in those darke times chose rather to nourish himselfe and his people with the sincere milke of the Gospell then to drinke from the mixt confluence of so many corrupt and poysonous waters as tradition would have perswaded him to by most ancient seeming authorities In like manner all the reformed Churches abroad unthroning Episcopacy doubtlesse were not ignorant of these testimonies alledg'd to draw it in a line from the Apostles dayes for surely the Author will not thinke he hath brought us now any new authorities or considerations into the world which the Reformers in other places were not advis'd of and yet we see the intercession of all these Apostolick Fathers could not prevaile with them to alter their resolved decree of reducing into Order their usurping and over provender'd Episcopants and God hath blest their worke this hunder'd yeares with a prosperous and stedfast and still happy successe And this may serve to prove the insufficiency of these present Episcopall Testimonies not only in themselves but in the account of those ever that have beene the followers of truth It will next behoove us to consider the inconvenience we fall into by using our selves to bee guided by these kind of Testimonies He that thinks it the part of a well learned man to have read diligently the ancient stories of the Church and to be no stranger in the volumes of the Fathers shall have all judicious men consenting with him not hereby to controule and new fangle
the Scripture God forbid but to marke how corruption and Apostacy crept in by degrees and to gather up where ever wee find the remaining sparks of Originall truth wherewith to stop the mouthes of our adversaries and to bridle them with their own curb who willingly passe by that which is Orthodoxall in them and studiously cull out that which is commentitious and best for their turnes not weighing the Fathers in the ballance of Scripture but Scripture in the ballance of the Fathers if wee therefore making first the Gospell our rule and Oracle shall take the good which wee light on in the Fathers and set it to oppose the evill which other men seek from them in this way of Skirmish wee shall easily master all superstition and false doctrine but if we turne this our discreet and wary usage of them into a blind devotion towards them and whatsoever we find written by them wee both forsake our owne grounds and reasons which led us at first to part from Rome that is to hold to the Scriptures against all antiquity wee remove our cause into our adversaries owne Court and take up there those cast principles which will soone cause us to soder up with them againe in as much as beleeving antiquity for it self in any one point we bring an ingagement upon our selves of assenting to all that it charges upon us For suppose we should now neglecting that which is cleare in Scripture that a Bishop and Presbyter is all one both in name and office and that what was done by Timothy and Titus executing an extraordinary place as fellow labourers with the Apostles and of a universall charge in planting Christianity through divers regions cannot be drawne into particular and dayly example suppose that neglecting this cleerenesse of the text we should by the uncertaine and corrupted writings of succeeding times determine that Bishop and Presbyter are different because we dare not deny what Ignatius or rather the Perkin Warbeck of Ignatius sayes then must we bee constrain'd to take upon our selves a thousand superstitions and falsities which the Papist will prove us downe in from as good authorities and as ancient as these that set a Bishop above a Presbyter And the plaine truth is that when any of our men of those that are wedded to antiquity come to dispute with a Papist and leaving the Scriptures put themselves without appeale to the sentence of Synods and Councells using in the cause of Sion the hir'd souldjary of revolted Israel where they give the Romanist one buff◠they receive two counterbuffs Were it therefore but in this regard every true Bishop should be afraid to conquer in his cause by such authorities as these which if we admit for the authorities sake we open a broad passage for a multitude of Doctrines that have no ground in Scripture to break in upon us Lastly I doe not know it being undeniable that there are but two Ecclesiasticall Orders Bishops and Deacons mention'd in the Gospell how it can be lesse then impiery to make a demurre at that which is there so perspicuous confronting and parallelling the sacred verity of Saint Paul with the offalls and sweepings of antiquity that met as accidentally and absurdly as Epicurus his atoms to patch up a Leucippean Ignatius enclining rather to make this phantasme an expounder or indeed a depraver of Saint Paul then Saint Paul an examiner and discoverer of this impostorship nor caring how slightly they put off the verdit of holy Text unsalv'd that sayes plainely there bee but two orders so they maintaine the reputation of their imaginary Doctor that proclaimes three certainly if Christs Apostle have set downe but two then according to his owne words though hee himselfe should unsay it and not onely the Angell of Smyrna but an Angell from Heaven should beare us downe that there bee three Saint Paul has doom'd him twise let him be accur'st for Christ hath pronounc't that no tittle of his word shall fall to the ground and if one jot be alterable it is as possible that all should perish And this shall bee our righteousnes our ample warrant and strong assurance both now and at the last day never to be asham'd of against all the heaped names of Angells and Martyrs Councells and Fathers urg'd upon us if we have given our selves up to be taught by the pure and living precept of Gods word onely which without more additions nay with a forbidding of them hath within it selfe the promise of eternall life the end of all our wearisome labours and all our sustaining hopes But if any shall strive to set up his Ephod and Teraphim of Antiquity against the brightnesse and perfection of the Gospell let him feare lest he and his Baal be turn'd into Bosheth And thus much may suffice to shew that the pretended Episcopacy cannot be deduc't from the Apostolicall TIMES The End 2 Tim. 4. Pag. 4. 1 Tim. 1. 3. Pag. 5. p Euseb. l. 6. 〈◊〉 page 8 p. 13. p. 16.