a Bishop the same paper contains both Characters but sure one Character doth not contain the other A. doth not contain B. nor doth B. contain A. So the same Soul may receive two Characters two Orders but if the two Orders be distinct how can they contain each other I understand no more then I do these Holy Characters If they can paint them out unto me in their proper figures perchance I may understand them better but as yet I ingeniously confess my ignorance I grant in a Metaphysical way of Abstraction the superiour species contains the inferiour genus A Man a rational creature contains the animality of a Horse the inferiour creature but doth not contain a real Horse in his belly nor can a man beget Horses or men when he pleases Nor can you truly say a man is a Horse I believe my Schoolmen would take it in snuff should I affirm any of them to be Horses c. But they affirm that a Bishop doth not only virtually contain the Priesthood but is really a Priest and can make Priests or Bishops as he please Whereby you may see this answer That the Superiour Order virtually contains the inferiour is a meer evasion it sounds as if it were something but really is nothing to our purpose at all for we are not now upon Metaphysical abstractions but real individual subsistencies two actual distinct Orders as they would have it two distinct indelible characters imprinted on mens souls by Ordination as A. and B. which can never be truly affirmed one of the other A. is not B. and B. is not A. a man is not a horse and a Horse is not a man so a Bishop ordain'd only Bishop is not a Priest nor a Priest a Bishop if they be distinct Wherefore I must beleive them one and the same Order especially seeing the Scripture applies the same name promiscuously to both which is the second argument of their identity to be one and the same Acts. 20. St. Paul sends to Ephesus to call the Presbyters of that Ghurch un-him at Miletum and speaking to them he calls them all Bishops in our Translation 't is Overseers Verse 28. So in his Epistle to the Phillippians he directs to all the Saints with the Bishops and Deacons both in the plural number so that by the word Bishops we must needs understand Presbyters for Bishops as we now take the word were never many in one City I pray observe also St. Paul Epis. to Titus 1. 5. For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest ordain Elders in every City if any be blameless for a Bishop must be blameless Is it not here evident that an Elder and a Bishop in St. Paul's Language is one and the same otherwise there were no coherency at all in St. Paul's speech If this be not convincing beyond all possible evasion I understand nothing of discourse Other such places are obvious in Scripture to every one I need mention no more only I desire to inform the Reader of a passage to this purpose in an Epistle of Clemens to the Corinthians This Clemens is mentioned in Scripture and is he whom St. Peter appointed his successor at Rome and who was of so great Authority that as St. Hierome tells us this his Epistle was read in Churches Now in this Epistle Clemens particularly sets forth the constitution of the Church by the Apostles and what Ministers they ordained in the Church to wit Bishops and Deacons he names no other which seems to me as full an evidence as can be that there were no other Orders in the Church in those daies but those two And yet we are sure there was then Presbiters in the Church for Peter and Iohn call themselves Presbyters and St. Peter calls them Presbiters to whom he wrote his Epistle so that if there were but two Orders to wit Bishops and Deacons Presbyters must be one and the same with Bishops or with Deacons not with Deacons therefore one and the same with Bishops One Order called by two names promiscuously in Scripture as hath been shewed before And I desire you to observe that of those two names Presbyter and Bishop if therebe any dignity and eminency exprest in one more then the other sure it is in the name of Presbiter not Bishop because the Apostles themselves and the chief of the Apostles as some would have it who stand highest on their Panâ—ables are in Scripture styled Presbyters or Elders as the word in our English Translation but never Bishops as I remember And therefore I can't but wonder why that haughty head of the Papists should not assume to himself the title of his pretended predecessor St. Peter Presbyter rather then Bishop unless it be by God's providential disposure to shew his blindness in this as well as in other things and make him confute himself by this name of Bishop which was never given to St. Peter no more then St. Peter gave unto him the Headship of the Church As to the interpretations and answers given to these and such like Scripture expressions sure I need not take any pains to confute them for they are so weak as that Petavius a late Writer and great stickler for the superiority of Episcopacy durst not trust to them nor would venture his credit to make use of them but sound out a new and rare conceit as he conceives That these Presters mentioned in Scripture and called by both names were all really Bishops and that the Apostles Ordained them so as most convenient for that time for the Congregations of the Faithful being small there needed no Priests under the Bishops to officiate and yet there was need of a Bishop in those small Congregations because there were several things to be done which were not within the power and capacity of Presbiters to act as he supposes viz. the laying on of hands and confirming the Faithful after Baptisme the veiling of devoted Women the reconciling of penitents the ordaining Deacons where there was need and adds moreover several impertinences as the making of Chrisme consecrating Church-Vessels c. And Petavius mightily applauds himself in this conceit as the only means to clear all difficulties Our Doctor Hammond also finding the usual interpretations of those places of Scripture above mentioned too weak to sustain the arguments builded on them for the Unity of Order goes along after Petavius a great way in the fore cited discourse though not in the later impertinances and affirms that the Presbyters then were all Bishops And so far I go with them that all were Presbyters all Bishops because all was one and one was all several names not several Orders as they would have it and this I humbly conceive firmly proved by my former Argument of one Ordination wherein two distinct Orders could not be conferred so that still I require them to shew me from Scripture where these Presbyter-Bishops were twice Ordained else it cannot be truly affirmed they were really
into all and understand the behaviour of each Pastor under him to admonish and chastise when there was cause Whereas with us partly by great distance of Cities partly by the favour of former Princes several Towns being cast into one Diocess they became so large as 't is impossible any one Bishop should have a sufficient inspection into them As I said before of great Parishes so here of Diocesses the Bishop knows not the names nor faces of half or a quarter of them much less their behaviour he may have as well a part of France in his Diocess to govern And as for their Triennial and Circuity Visitations they signifie just nothing as to this 't is a meer money business to pay procurations to the Bishop fees to Chancellors Registers c. the Bishop indeed usually makes a Speech unto them and a Sermon is preach't by some one of them wherein perchance good Admonitions are given but what knowledge can the Bishop by this have of their lives or doctrine or diligence If he continue long there he may learn a few more names or faces scarce any thing more I humbly conceive this ought to be redressed and the Diocess bronght into that compass that each Bishop may be a Bishop in Government as well as in Title and Authority over them But if the Diocesses be divided less and Bishops more encreased where shall we have maintenance for so many Bishops some having too little already When ever I shall see the Clergy of this Nation Congregated by his Majesties Authority resolved in good earnest to reform and establish all according to the holy Constitutions of the Primitive Times and come to this last mentioned contracting the bonds and in number encreasing the Diocesses and Bishops for them I 'le undertake to propose wayes both rational and conscientious of providing convenient maintenanee for all but I desire to be excused at present least greedy Harpies make ill use of my zealous intentions And so I proceed to consider a second abuse in Church Government which is Exempt Jurisdictions a thing altogether unknown to Antiquity and brought in by Papal Tyranny The Popes at the height of their usurped dominion taking upon themselves to be head of the Christian Churches to be the Universal Bishop thereof and all other to be but their Curates took then upon them also among other matters to exempt from the power of â—â—y their under Bishops whomsover they Pleased And out of policy to have the more Creatures and Vassals immediately depending on them in every Kingdom and Nation to stickle for them with Kings and Princes on all occasions did for the most part exempt all Monasteries who with their near Relations and Tenants made a great part of the Kingdom from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop they exempted also several Deans and Chapterss several peculiar Chappels several Arch-Deaconries and other and some of these were endowed with Archiepiscopal Jurisdiction in their Precincts wherein they acted whatever they pleased without controul of any but their Popeships All which would have appeared a confused madness in Primitive times when for any person to have been out of the Jurisdiction of all Bishops was to have been quite out of the Church and would have been lookt upon as a Heathen and Infidel according to the Primitive practice in all Ages till Papal usurpation And therefore all these Exempt Jurisdictions are meer Papal and if duely examined will be found opposite to the established Laws of this Kingdom since the reformation from Popery as they are directly opposite to the Primitive Canons of the Church before Popery was known or heard of And by reason of these Exempt Jurisdictions great disputes and great frauds arise between the Bishop and them and the poor Clergy are so pild and pold by them both that they are forc't to go in threadbare Coats whilst the several Officers of both grow fat and fair by fees extracted from them Wherefore I humbly conceive the Bishops with the rest of the Clergy are bound in conscience to implore the Assistance of both Houses of Parliament to Petition His Majesty for the redress of these abuses by Pious Laws Setling the Church Government in the Primitive purity and authority which most evidently was very great and as greatly reverenced Bishops being the persons to whom Christ and his Apostles committed the Souls of Men bought with the precious blood of Christ to whom be glory and to his holy Spouse the Church be all Sacred Authority for ever Amen A Charitable Admonition to all Non-Conformists MY beloved in Christ you see how earnestly I have pleaded for you to the Fathers and Governors of our Church that they would graciously condescend to abolish some Ceremonies in the Church that they may receive you into it but yet I have no great hopes that they will hearken to me you your selves for whom I plead destroy my hope for they presently dash me in the teeth saying go rather and perswade the Sons in duty to submit to their Fathers then Fathers to yield to Sons and can you deny but of the two you are rather to submit You think to excuse this by saying Were it not against your Conscience you would submit but you dare not for fear of displeasing God his holy Word forbids you I beseech you shew me in his holy Word any one clear sentence against any one Ceremony commanded in our Church you see plainly I am not biast to any one Ceremony and I am sure I have read the Scripture all over several times and I humbly conceive 't is no pride of heart if I think I understand Scripture as well as you and for my part I cannot find any one condemning Sentence in Scripture But you have the Spirit of God enlightening you which I want by this rule you may affirm any thing out of Scripture and I should be as mad in disputing against you as you in affirming it 't is madness for a blind man as you conceive me to be to dispute of colours therefore if you are so void of all reason as to expect your bare affirmation that you have light ought to convince all gain-sayers I shall not trouble my self or you to gainsay you farther but address my self to others who soberly undertake to shew me such Texts as an unbiast Christian willing and desirous to submit to all Scripture Truths as I am sure I am may discover the truth of them and I desire those sober undertakers to show me any one such clear Text to excuse their non-conforming as I show them for their conforming Submit your selves to every ordinance of man c. 1 Pet. 2. 13. and Obey them that have the rule over you and submit Heb. 13. 17. These are as clear as the Sun that you ought to obey Now if the Text you bring be not so clear but doubtful I beseech you is your conscience so bold against a clear Text and so timerous at a doubtful Text is this
particulars and you will find a small remainder that preach piously and edifying also very few to equal the Compilers of our Homilies and then calmly consider the great use yea the great necessity of such Homilies But if you can furnish all our Churches with pious discreet edifying preaching Pastors I am abundantly satisfied and do you seal up the Book of Homilies till a new dearth of spiritual food which God in his great mercy prevent Amen Concerning Bishops and Priests WHoever unbiass'd reads the Scripture thence proceeds to the first Christian Writers and so goes on from Age to Age can't doubt but that the Church was always governed by Bishops that is by one Elder or Presbyter or President or what else you please to call him set over the rest of the Clergy with authority to Ordain to Exhort to Rebuke to Judg and Censure as he found cause no other form of Government is mentioned by any Authority for Fifteen hundred years from the Apostles downwards Now who can in reason and modesty suspect those Primitive Bishops who lived in the days of the Apostles chosen by them into the Church succeeded them in Church Government yea and in Martyrdom also for the Faith as Clemens Ignatius Polycarpus and others who I say can suspect them to be prevaricators in Church Discipline and take upon them another form of Episcopal Government contrary to Apostolican Institution These great Masters of Self-denyal who gave their Lives for the Truth would they transmit unto Posterity a Church Government contrary to the Truth let who will believe it I can neither believe it nor suspect it And there is yet another thing very observable that all the Orthodox Church dispersed all the world over some parts having no correspondence at all with the other by reason of distance some by Warrs divided and made cruel Enemies yet all agreed in this form of Government and not only the Orthodox but also the Schismaticks and Hereticks who separated from hated and persecuted the Orthodox Church they likewise retained still this form of Government as if all were of necessity compelled to acknowledg this having never known heard nor dream'd of other And therefore nothing but necessity if that can excuse those who first set up another form of Government to their own Masters let them stand or fall I will not presume to censure them I will only say That from the begining it was not so and I thank God 't is not so with us but as it was in the beginning so it is now with us and ever shall be I trust in God Amen But notwithstanding all this yet 't is very much to be doubted whether they were of any distinct superiour order from and above the Presbyters or one of the same order set over the rest with power to ordain Elders to exhort rebuke chastise as Timothy and Titus were constituted by St. Paul For though they were of the same order with the other Elders and Pastors yet there was great reason for some to be placed with greater Authority to rule over the rest The Scripture tells us That even in the days of the Apostles there were several seducing teachers leading the people into errors and heresies and more were to follow after the Apostles times grievous wolves in sheeps clothing and therefore it was very necessary to pick out some of eminent soundness in faith and godliness of life and set them up on high with great Authority as fixed Stars in the Heavens so styled Revel 1. to whom all might have regard in dangerous times as Marriners observe in their Sea-faring journies But the Scripture no where expresses any distinction of order among the Elders we find there but two orders mentioned Bishops and Deacons Of Deacons we shall treat afterwards Let us now proceed to the Order of Bishops and Priests which the Scripture distinguishes not for there we find but one kind of Ordination then certainly but one Order for two distinct Orders can't be conferred in the same instant by the same words by the same actions They who think Deaconship and Priesthood distinct the one subservient to the other though they intend in the same hour to consecrate the same Man Deacon and Priest do they not first compleat him Deacon then Priest I pray let any Man shew me from Scripture as I said Timothy or Titus or any one ordained twice made first Priest then Bishop which is absolutely necessary if they be distinct characters and 't is generally affirmed though I humbly conceive they scarce understand what they affirm I mean they understand not what these characters are whether Greek Hebrew or Arabick or what else But let that pass I desire them only to shew me how a Man can make two characters with one stroke or motion A. and B. at the same instant If then neither Timothy nor Titus nor any other were but once ordained whence can we gather these two distinct characters these two distinct Orders We find the Apostles themselves but once ordained those by the Apostles but once ordained and so on When St. Paul left Titus in Creete to ordain he mentions only one ordination that of Presbyters so the word in Greek no other ther 's no commission given him to ordain Bishops and Presbyters Who then was to ordain Bishops there not Titus he had no such command we do not find that St. Paul himself did And sure you will not grant that the Presbyters which Titus ordained that they could ordain Bishops there for you will not allow them to ordain so much as Presbyters Yet Bishops you will needs have in every City and in Creete were very many who ordained Bishops for them all Truly I can't find nor you neither I believe But you will say The superior order contains in it virtually the inferior order let this pass at present doth Presbyter then virtually cantain Bishop If so then all Presbyters are Bishops No say you Bishop is the superior order and that contains in it Presbyter You say so but by your leave you are to prove so or give me leave to say otherwise especially seeing I have Scripture for my saying and you have none for yours But should I grant Bishop the superior what then we find Titus ordained not any but Presbyters as he was commanded by St. Paul so we are still at a loss for our Bishops we find not their Ordination Or did St. Paul mistake in his expression and meaning Bishops in every City said Presbyters in every City let this pass also and I pray let us see what you mean by this The superior order virtually contains the inferior Do not you say they are two distinct Orders two real distinct indelible characters imprinted in the Soul as the School-men affirm give me leave to talk their Language though I understand it not If I take a fair paper and make an A. upon it for the character of Presbyter and then make a B. upon it for the Character of
restrain and chastise disorderly Pastors Just so when whole Nations were converted and not only the Pastors but the Bishops also who had oversight of the Pastors encreased in number then for the same reason it was thought fit there should be an Overseer of the Bishops and be called an Arch-Bishop when the Arch Bishops were multiplied then another set over them and he called a Patriark and at last one over the Patriarks and he call'd Papa a Pope Catexochen though Papa before was a name attrributed to other Bishops Now as Pope Patriarck Arch-Bishop Bishop are all one and the same Order Papists themselves grant this so Bishop Elder Presbyter Priest all one and the same only one of these set over the rest and he now particularly call'd Episcopus that is Bishop Catexochen because he oversees the Overseers but this last constitution only is Apostolical the other of Arch-Bishop Patriark Pope are meer humane not at all mentioned in Scripture But now another Objection arises Petavius grants that all the Elders which the Apostles Ordained were Bishops and towards the end of the Apostles days they set some eminent amongst them over the rest to govern and ordain Elders in every City as Timothy and Titus and these Elders in every City were Bishops and thus the Apostles left the Church with Bishops only and Deacons And this is evident by what I brought before out of Clemens who lived after the Apostles days and mentions only Bishops and Deacons left by the Apostles This being so I desire to know who after the Apostles days began this new kind of Ordination of Presbyters or Elders not Bishops the Apostles Ordained none such who then and by what authority was this new Order set up the Scripture mentions it not when and by whom came it in A very bold undertaking without Scripture or Apostolical practice I will not boast my conceit as Petavius doth his only I wish the Reader to consider which is most practical most rational or rather most scriptural thereon I frame this wole Fabrick as the Rock and only sure Foundation humane Brain is too weak to erect and to support the Fabrick of the Church of God which the Romanists have made a very Babel with their humane inventions and multiplied Characters and Orders some of them would have nine several holy Orders in God's Church militant here on Earth because there are nine several Orders of Coelestial Spirits in the Church Triumphant in Heaven This is a castle of their own building in the Air a rare foundation for God's Church Others will have seven several Orders and Characters as seven Gifts of the Holy Ghost Hath the Holy Ghost then but seven several Gifts to confer on Men St. Paul 1 Cor. 12. counts unto us nine not as if these were all but only for example sake to shew us that many and divers Gifts are conferred on us by one and the same Spirit and in the conclusion of the same Chapter he mentions eight These things were uttered accidentally according to the occasion not as limiting the Gifts of the Holy Ghost to any set number But if you will further look into their application of these Gifts of the Holy Ghost and see to what kind of several Orders they appropriate them it would make a Man amazed to see sober Learned Men even that great Wit and Scholar Aquinas discourse in such wild manner as did you but stand behind a Curtain to hear and not see them you doubtless would conclude you heard some old Woman in the Nursery telling her Dreams to Children rather than Divine Doctors in School I 'le name but one or two of their Orders The Porter of the Church Door is one and he forsooth hath a Sacred Character imprinted on his Soul and his Gift is the discerning of Spirits that he may judge who are fit to enter into God's Church who to be shut out Another of their Orders is that of Acolouthi who are now antiently they were quite another thing certain Boys carrying Torches and attending on the Bishop saying Mass these have their Character also and their Gift of the Holy Ghost is the interpretation of Tongues signified no doubt on 't by the Light in their Hands but understand no more of Tongues than the Stick of their Torch I will not weary you with more of their Absurdities Our Episcopal Divines rejecting these chymerical fancies of Orders and Characters suppose it to be a certain Faculty and Power conferred by the laying on of hands for the exercise of Ministerial Duties and according to this purpose the Superior Order contains the Inferiour as the greater Power contains in it the less Thus Episcopacy being the superior Order contains in it Priesthood and Deaconship these three are their supposed distinct Orders They may suppose this if they please and. I may suppose the contrary But I would gladly know on what Scripture they ground this discourse that 's the thing I still require and there we find no larger Faculty or Power given to Bishops but rather to Presbyters as I have shewed the Apostles who had the greatest power being stiled Presbyters not Bishops And when our Bishops do Ordain Presbyters do not they use the very same form of words which our Saviour used when he Ordained the Apostles Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose sins ye forgive they are forgiven c. Do they not then by the same words conser the same power for I hope they use no Equivocation nor mental Reservation if the Power be the same the Order is the same by their own Rule Again let us examine their own Practice Do they not require a Man should be ordained first Deacon before he be ordained Priest and Priest before Bishop what needs this if the superiour contains the inferiour But in Scripture we find it otherwise Timothy who long officiated under St. Paul as a Presbyter when he was left at Ephesus and so when Titus was left at Creet both to be Bishops we find no new ordination were this requisite sure the Scripture would have given us at least some hint of it but not one tittle there But if the Scripture be defective in expressions you will supply it by the expressions and practice of the Church in first succeeding Ages Before you go on and take much pains to shew me this give me leave to tell you that I shall not easily recede from Scripture in fundamentals either of Faith or Church-discipline in things indifferent of themselves or in more weighty matters very doubtfully express't in Scripture I shall always most readily submit to the interpretation of the Primitive and Universal Church I require both Primitive and Universal for I shewed before that in matters of Faith there were some errors very Primitive yet not continued by the Universal Church but rejected in succeeding Ages And at the time of the Evangelical Reformation by Luther Melancton Calvin c. I can shew some errors generally received in most if
Bishops have the authority of Ordination more than Presbyters A Man may smile to see this used as an Argument for the preheminency of Bishops which is directly against it for St. Hierom having discourst of the equality and Identity of Presbyters and Bishops and having brought many Arguments from Scripture to prove that Bishop and Presbyter was only two names for one and the same Office for a further confirmation hereof asks this question I pray what doth a Bishop do more than a Presbyter except Ordination plainly intimating thereby that this could make no such distinction of eminency in them above Presbyters I beseech you consider Do not Presbyters perform Offices of a higher nature than Ordination Presbyters are ordained Embassadors for Christ to preach his Holy Gospel for the Salvation of Souls they are under Christ Mediators between God and the People to make intercession for them they administer the Sacrament of Baptism wherein the Children of Warth are regenerated and made the Children of God and Heirs of eternal Life yea they administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper also the most transcendent act of Religion and Christian Dignity whereby we are made partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ And what doth a Bishop more than these except Ordination which being no Sacrament sure is inferiour in dignity to the other mentioned Acts and therefore cannot elevate them to a higher degree Judge now I beseech you whether this question makes pro or con Are not such questions always tending to disparagement When any Man is boasting his Power and Authority should I come and ask What can you do more than others unless it be in this or that poor business not worth speaking of would he not take this as an affront Wherefore it cannot enter into my head that St. Hierom intended by this Question to express any superiour Order above the Priesthood but plainly the contrary v z. That Bishops having no other power distinct from Priests but Ordination this could be no Argument for a distinct and superior Order And now I desire my Reader if he understand Latin to view the Epistle of St. Hierom to Evagrius and doubtless he will wonder to see Men have the confidence to quote any thing out of it for the distinction between Episcopacy and Presbytery for the whole Epistle is to shew the Identity of them Before I chanced to read this Epistle I was of the crroneous Opinion that Bishops were a distinct Order but so convinc'd by this Epistle as I was forced to submit to a change And I farther desire my Reader to observe the various fate of St. Hierom and Aerius Aerius is reviled as an Heretick for affirming this Identity of Order Hierom passes for a Saint and a great Doctor of the Church though he affirms the very same as fully as Aerius or any Man can do and therefore it may be my fate to be reviled as Aerius was but our Saviour bids us rejoyce and be exceeding glad when we are reviled for his Names sake or for his Words sake sure all is one for great is our Reward and so I proceed But there lies yet a great Objection made by our good Bishop Hall he tells us how that Collutbus a Presbyter of Alexandria took upon him to ordain others and that afterwards in a Council of a hundred Bishops in Aegypt their Ordination was declared null because ordained by a Presbyter From this and some other such Instances the Bishop would prove that the Order of Presbyters is not capable to ordain therefore Bishops are a distinct Order I am sorry so good a Man had no better a proof for his intended purpose It seems he quite forgot how that the famous Council of Nice consisting of above three hundred made a Canon wherein they declare That if any Bishop should ordain any of the Clergy belonging to another Bishop's Diocess without consent and leave had of that Bishop to whose Diocess they did belong their Ordination should be null You see then the irregular Ordination of a Bishop is as null as the irregular Ordination of a Presbyter therefore the irregular Bishop and the irregular Presbyter are of the same Order of the same Authority neither able to Ordain Is it not most evident by this that 't is not their Order but Commission that makes them capable to Ordain sure an irregular Bishop is of the same Order with the regular Is the Line of his Diocess like a Conjurers Circle within it he is a Bishop without it he is none No but within it he hath Commission given him to Ordain without it no Commission no nor to act in his own Diocess beyond his Commission which is to ordain only the Clergy of his own Diocess and within his own Diocess Can any thing be plainer Cellutbus then being but a Presbyter and under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Alexandria his taking upon him to ordain Presbyters was highly irregular and insolent and therefore most justly declared null I desire the Papistical School-Divines with their manifold indelible Characters to observe here how easily the Councils dasht out the indelible Character of Presbyter imprinted on the Souls of these Men irregularly ordained they made a clear rasure not one tittle of it left And could they so easily cancel the Gift of the Holy Ghost I leave my Schoolmen to find out how this rare feat was done And I proceed to add a Canon taken from a Council at Antioch concerning Chorepiscopi much to our purpose When the Apostles had settled Bishops in every City with authority of ordaining and governing the several Churches or Congregations within the Circuits of those Cities some were very large and therefore in process of time when more were converted to the Faith and the Congregations encreased more in number and at greater distance than the Bishop himself could well have the overfight of the Bishop chose some principal Men for his assistance and dividing his great Circuit into several lesser Circuits placed these Men as Overseers under him and these were called Chorepiscopi that is Country Bishops and were much after the manner of our Rural Deans Those Chorepiscopi Country Bishops being thus setled in authority to govern the Pastoral Priests in their Circuits took upon them to ordain more Priests when occasion required which the chief Bishops took very ill at their hands as a great lessening to their Supream Authority And to prevent it for the future a Canon was made in the Council of Antioch about the year 340. to forbid these Country Bishops to ordain any Priests Now I pray you observe These Chorepiscopi were either really ordained in the Order of the Chief Bishop or not if they were as full Bishops as he as really they were why might they not ordain Priests as well as he The Chief Bishop answers Because he gave them no Commission Whereby you see that the power of ordaining Priests was annexed no more to Bishops than to Priests
turns all this round quite another way according to the working of his fancy And so he doth some places of Scripture as little to his purpose as this He tells us out of the Acts that Philip and Stephen both Deacons were Preachers of the Word that is a Spiritual work therefore belongs to a Spiritual Order I would gladly know who informed Petavius that Philip who Preacht to the Eunuch and afterwards went about Preaching to others was Philip the Deacon and not rather Philip the Apostle as seems to me far more probable for Philip the Deacon was by his Office to reside at Ierusalem and take care of the Poor thither the Alms of the Faithful were sent to relieve the Saints at Ierusalem But you farther urge Surely Stephen was a Deacon and let Philip also if you please it signifies little to the purpose Sure I can shew out of Scripture Preachers that were in no Spiritual Order neither Presbyters nor Deacons neither as Aquilla and Priscilla his Wife too and Apollo likewise to whom they both Preached and instructed him more fully sure they did not ordain Apollo a Deacon nor can I believe any of the Apostles ordain'd him Deacon and sent him forth to Preach before he was well catechized in the Word he was not so much as Baptized in Christ but knew only the Baptism of Iohn if not Baptized surely not ordained Deacon yet he prevailed and mightily convinced the Iews It is in reason strange though in practice common to see how Men wedded to an Opinion think whatever they read speaks to that so Fathers Doctors all clink as they think In the Primitive time all both Men and Women did Preach the Gospel taken in a large sence as St. Peter calls Noah a Preacher of Righteousness that is they endeavoured to instruct all they conversed with in the Faith of Christ and Godliness for which many both Men and Women suffered Martyrdom Wherefore though Philip the Deacon and Stephen Preach the Gospel it signifies nothing to the Spirituality of the Deaconship seeing that thousands of Lay-men and Women also did the like And so the Apostles laying their hands on those chosen to be Deacons signifies as little to this purpose Do not we find that Paul laid his hands on the converted Disciples at Ephesus and they received the Holy Ghost and Prophesied yet none of them ordained either Presbyter or Deacon And sometimes the Apostles laid their hands on those that were already ordained both Presbyters and Apostles also as on Barnabas and Paul when they were sent forth to Preach This laying of hands was a Ceremony used on several occasions I need not mention more they are obvious to any that read the Scripture 'T is evident then from Scripture that the first institution of Deacons was a meer Lay-Office I will not say a prophane Office as some too grosly and irreverently have termed it but a pious and honourable Office in the Church of God to serve Tables to take care of God's Poor but as I have shewed in process of time it became quite another thing and so different from the Original Institution as it made Chrysostome and divers other great and good Men doubt whether the Apostles did not constitute two sorts of Deacons some for this Lay-Office some for Spiritual-Offices Had Chrysostome consulted only Scripture he would never have doubted nor dream't of two sorts of Deacons there being no mention at all but of one but he seeing the practice of the Church which he was unwilling to condemn so different from that one Apostolical Institution of Deacons this so confounded the good Man that he knew not well what to make of it and willing to piece Scripture and the present practice together to put a new patch upon an old Garment made the rent the wider rending the Deaconship in two pieces which of old was but one only to serve Tables which Office he that used well purchased to himself a good degree a good esteem and so it might be a recommendation to the degree of Priesthood though no necessary step to it And so we find that holy Deacon and most renowned Martyr St. Lawrence was made a Priest but continued afterwards in that same Office of Deacon unto Death which he suffered in a most cruel manner laid on a Gridiron over Coals rather than he would give up the Treasury of the Church and Alms of the Poor to the covetous cruel Tyrant This holy Deacon Petavius brings to prove that Deacons by virtue of that Order only did minister in holy things telling us that St. Ambrose mentions how he did distribute in the Lords Supper the Blood of Christ to the Communicants under Bishop Xistus Whereas St. Ambrose tells us how he Consecrated the Blood of Christ which plainly shews how untruly Petavius deals with us and that St. Laurence was a Priest not a bare Deacon for neither Petavius nor ever any allowed Deacons the Consecration of these sacred Mysteries Wherefore seeing the Scripture allows Deacons as Deacons no more then serving of Tables for the Poor whatever else Ministration is allowed them is by humane Authority not Divine and their Office or Order which you please to call it being about Temporal things must be Temporal not Spiritual And so I leave them to their proper Office of serving Tables not finding in Scripture any thing more belonging to them Concerning Confirmation Confirmation or some such thing is so necessary that for want of due execution thereof Persons extreamly unfit are admitted to the holy Table of the Lords Supper I fear a quarter of the Communicants of this Nation do not sufficiently understand the true meaning of these holy Mysteries the due preparation for them the benefits the damages in worthily or unworthily receiving them This I affirm upon experience having by way of discourse questioned many both of low and high degree where one would little expect such Ignorance And by reason of this gross Ignorance in due preparing and conscientious receiving this blessed Cordial and Medicine of the Soul of power in it self to cure all our diseases if rightly applied is turned into our destruction and damnation of the Soul For this holy Sacrament rightly apprehended would strike a terror into the Soul and a dread of Sin but Men receiving it without any regard into their sinful souls the beams of Grace which this Sun of Righteousness brings with it harden their dirty hearts and make them afterwards unsensible of any horrid abomination whatsoever And all this is occasioned by the want of some fit Person of authority to examine youth of all degrees ever so high or ever so low before they are admitted to the Lords Table For there being many poor ignorant Curates many unconscientious careless Ministers many over-awed by the superior quality of their Parishioners some cannot some will not some dare not search into the requisite abilities of persons to be admitted All which was prevented in the Primitive times of Christianity
of darkness to take full possession of their Souls and sometimes of their Bodies also both being sentenced thereby to the everlasting flames of Hell and likewise a power to release penitent souls from the chains of darkness and slavery of the Devil and restore them to the glorious liberty of the Sons of God whereby they are made Heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven If there be any thing under Heaven fit to stir up the Ambition of mortal men yea an ambition in Angels themselves sure this is it Who can forgive sins but God alone said the Iews to our Saviour Christ swelling with indignation against him for this though they had seen many divine Miracles wrought by him yet this is so peculiar so transcendent a divine act as not to be offered at by any but the great God Iehovah himself But blessed for ever be this great and gracious God who by his eternal Son Christ Jesus hath given this power unto men As his heavenly Father sent him with this power so sent he his Apostles with this power saying unto them Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained Wherefore if there be any thing in the Office of a Bishop to be stood upon and challenged peculiar to themselves certainly it should be this yet this is in a manner quite relinquished unto their Chancellors Lay-men who have no more capacity to sentence or absolve a sinner then to dissolve the heavens and earth and make a new heaven and a new earth and this pretended power of Chancellors is sometimes purchased with a sum of Money their Money perish with them Good God! what a horrid abuse is this of the Divine Authority But this notorious transgression is excused as they think by this that a Minister called the Bishops surrogat but is indeed the Chancellors servant chosen call'd and placed there by him to be his Cryer in the Court no better that when he hath examined heard and sentenced the Cause then the Minister forsooth pronounces the sentence Just as a Rector of a Parish Church should exclude any of his Congregation and lock him out of the Church then comes the Clerk shews and gingles the Keys that all may take notice that he is excluded And by this his authority the Chancellor takes upon him to sentence not only Lay-men but Clergy men also brought into his Court for any delinquency and in the Court of the Arches there they sentence even Bishops themselves This is a common practise in later ages but in St. Ambrose his time so great a wonder as with amazement cryeth out against the Emperour Valentinian when he took upon him to judge in such cases saying When was it ever heard of since the beginning of the World that Lay-men should judge of spirituals he means in spiritual things not in temporal things which by the laws of God and man belongs to the Lay-Magistrate This was that Ambrose of whom the other great Emperour as Good as Great Theodosius Father to this Valeninian affirmed Ambrose onely knew how to act the Bishop and with all Christian humility this great Emperour submitted to the sentence of this godly Bishop denying him entrance into the Church for the cruelty acted by his Souldiers at Thessilonica by his command and upon his great repentance and pennance performed six months together and after publique confession in the Church was again absolved and joyfully received into the Church Oh my Great and Reverend Fathers of the Church the Bishops whom Christ hath cleaved to his high dignity whom he hath made Kings and Princes whom he hath called to sit with him on his Throne there to give sentence of eternal life or eternal death can you so tamely part with this prime flower of your Crown yea the very Apex of it and suffer the Lay-members of the Church to usurp this divine authority Or how can you answer it to the chief Bishop of our Souls if any one Soul by the ill management of the Chancellors should certainly perish shall not his blood be required at your hands But perchance some of you will answer 'T is no fault of yours but of your predecessors who gave such Patents unto them as by vertue thereof they exercise this power will ye nill ye 'T is too true and I remember when the Bishop of Wells hearing of a cause corruptly mannaged and coming into the Court to rectifie it the Chancellor Dr. Duke fair and mannerly bad him be gon for he had no power there to act any thing and there with all pulls out his Patent sealed by the Bishops Predecessor which like Perseus shield with the Gorgons head frighted the poor Bishop out of the Court Where are you Parliament men you great Sons of the Church so zealous for Episcopal Government yet suffer this principal part of it to be thus alienated and usurped by Lay-men If an unordained person take upon him to pray or preach with what outeries and severe Laws and with great reason also you fall upon him but if an unordained person take upon him to judge sentence and excommunicate Bishops themselves you calmly pass it over take no notice of it You will answer me The Bishops themselves pass it over yea and pass it away from themselves and their successors for to gratifie their kinsmen or their friends or perchance for worse why then should you stir in it Truly in this you have reason and the balme most wholly light on them who do not use all possible endeavour and implore your assistance also to rectifie this great abuse which subverts the main Pillar of the Church Government this is no Ceremonial matter but the very substance of it they strain at Gnats and swallow Camels For Chancellors to intermeddle in Probats of Wills payment of Tythes or any other temporal matters there is no scripture nor reason to condemn but rather to condemn Bishops should they interpose in such matters for which they have no commission from Scripture but rather a prohibition from that saying of our Svaiovr Man who made me a judge or a divider over you but then it will be necessary that Chancellors have also power of Temporal punishments and not prophane that high and holy power in sordid earthly things certainly a greater prophanation than to convert a Church into a Chandlers Shop the Church is a bulk of earthly materials and holy only by dedication the power of its Keys is in its own nature and original constitution spiritual and divine If Uzza being no Levite suffered death for laying hold on the Sacred Ark of God to support and hold it up what shall he suffer who being no consecrated person layes hold on the sacred authority of Gnd to pull it down from heaven to earth Let them consider But let not the Civilians for this account me an Enemy to their Profession which no man honours more and I heartily wish much more of our Civil matters were
commited to their management and judicature The Civil Law is that whereby most of the civilized World is govern'd and if we will have commerce with them 't is fit we should have able Civilians to deal with them which will never be unelss they have profitable and honourabl places to encourage them for it all that I beg of them is that they would contain themselves within their own Sphear of activity and not intrude into spiritual and sacred matters committed by Christ and his Apostles to the Priesthood And so I beg of Priests that they would not intermeddle in Lay and Temporol officer In the time of Popery when Spiritual and Temporal affairs were all intermingled and horribly confounded as the Pope took upon him Secular and Imperial authority directly contrary to the Word and Constitutions of Christ so the Bishops and Priests under him intermeddled in all Secular Affairs and offices and in this Nation Bishops were frequently Lord Keepers Treasurers Chief Justices Vice-Royes what not which is strangely un-Apostolical and unlawful their vocation being wholly Spiritual as Men chosen out of the World should have no more to do with it than of meer necessity for food and rayment Wherefore to take upon them any Lay-Office which must needs take them off much from the Ministry of the Word and Prayer is doubtless very sinful For Acts 6. we find the Apostles gave themselves continually to these and would not endure to have these interrupted by that charitable Office of taking care for the Poor certainly then they would have much less endured yea abominated to be taken off by temporal and worldly Offices And on this occasion let me speak a word to those of the inferiour Clergy who take upon them to study and practice Physick for hire this must needs be likewise sinful as taking them off from their spiritual employment had they studied Physick before they entered Holy Orders and would after make use of their skill among their poor Neighbours out of charity this were commendable but being entered on a spiritual and pastoral Charge which requires the whole man and more to spend their time in this or any other study not spiritual is contrary to their vocation and consequently sinful and to do it for gain is sordid and unworthy their high and holy Calling But Necessitas cogit ad turpia the maintenance of many Ministers is so small as it forces them even for food and rayment to seek it by other Employment which may in some measure excuse them but mightily condemn those who should provide better for them Whether this belongs not to King and Parliament I must humbly beseech them in Christs name seriously to consider I crave pardon for this I hope useful Digression and return to the Business of Excommunication This Sacred Authority of Excommunication being committed by Christ to the Apostles by them to their Successors was used in weighty and very scandalous matters very few examples of it in Scripture The incestuous Corinthian Hymenus and Alexander scarce another clearly exprest The Apostles being fully guided by the Holy Ghost in all things did exercise this power singly themselves but the succeeding Bishops having not the Spirit of that full measure used the assistance of the principal Clergy in their Diocess that the act might be more solemn and authentick the person excommunicated if he conceived the act injurious appealed to one or more neighbouring Bishops who assembled together and discussing the matter either confirmed or reversed the Act as they found cause And sometimes the matter proceeded so far as to cause an Assembly of the whole Province But each Bishop or Praepositus as St. Cyprian calls him and declares that he was absolute in his own Diocess to exercise his power and none condemned for using it but only for abusing it contrary to reason and conscience there were the only rules they proceeded by at first Afterwards when Bishops on this or other occasions met in Assemblies Provincial or General they made it divers Canons which passed for Rules and Laws to govern the Church by which doubtless are very good helps to bridle the extravagant passions of particular Men very apt in this corrupt age to prevaricate yet I cannot conceive them so far oblidging but new emergent circumstances may justly cause new and different Decrees yet so as every particular Bishop is oblidged for peace sake to submit to or at least to acquiesce in the General Decree of that Nation where he lives I said They are not bound entirely to submit to the Decrees of former Councils either Provincial or General because as I have shewed before all their Decrees are humane not Divine and all humane Ecclesiastical Laws are alterable according to the time and occasions by other General Councils As to the bounds of each Bishops Diocess they were occasioned several wayes The Apostles for the better spreading of the Gospel Preach't it first in the principal Cities which generally had great influence upon the adjacent parts by reason that the occasions of most call them thither and in these Cities they settled the chief Pastors of the Church with power to ordain Presbyters and Pastors in other lesser Cities and Towns round about as the Congregations of the Faithful encreased and all those Churches that were erected and Pastors establish't in them by these Apostolick Men in the chief Cities I humbly conceive in reverence of their worth and Apostolick authority were freely observant and subject to them which afterwards out of custom grew into a kind of right challenged by their successors Sometimes the authority of the Pastor or Bishop of a City was enlarged according to the temporal authority of the same it being the Metropolitan of this or that Countrey for so we find in the Council of Nice and other Councils the chiefest and largest authority given to the Bishop of old Rome because it was the first Imperial City to Constantinople as the second Imperial City to Alexandria as the chief City of that part of Africa to Antioch Ierusalem Ephesus Corinth Phillipi c. where you see that though Ierusalem were the first City from whence the Gospel issued forth Antioch the second City where the Gospel was planted and where the Faithful were first called Christians yet Rome Constantinople and Alexandria were preferred before them and had far larger Jurisdiction so that it is a meer humane temporal matter and Men have no farther obligation to it in conscience than for Peace sake and Order which in like manner obliges every Man to be subject to all Magistrates within their respective Jurisdictions There are yet two things more to be considered in this business First Where the Apostles first planted the Gospel in Cities with authority over the adjacent part it was in rich populous Countries where Cities were much nearer together than in these Northen parts and the circuit of each City was much less in compass so that the Bishop might well have the inspection