forbids any thing by them Thus St. Peter requires Christians to pay their obedience unto Governours sent by him as well as to the King the Supreme Power Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of them that do well 1 Pet. 2.13 14. The Governours sent by the King in Ecclesiastical Affairs are the Reverend Bishops I take the word Bishop not in the Common and General notion as every Pastour or Presbyter is a Bishop as he doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oversee the particular Flock committed to his charge Thus the Municipal Aediles among the Romans were stiled Bishops and Cicero Campanae orae Episcopum se dicit constitutum was Bishop of the Campanian Territory But in a more proper and peculiar sence for persons who have not onely the over-sight of the Flock but even of the Pastours themselves a distinct Function and Dignity from Presbyters as the Fathers and Councels generally understand the word Bishop Now concerning these I affirm First Episcopacy that is the Prelacy or Preheminence of one Pastour among the rest is not repugnant to the Scriptures If I evince this that saying of Christ He that is not against us is on our part Mark 9.40 will contribute not a little to the confirmation of this Order And if any man shall say that this Order is repugnant to the Scripture that is if he presume to condemn the whole Christian Church for more then 1000 years after Christ of impiety or folly he must necessarily take upon him the heavy that I say not intolerable burthen of making it good There is not that I am conscious of one Text of Scripture that affords any countenance to that opinion unless that in St. Matthew Jesus called them the ten Apostles unto him and said Ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them and they that are Great exercise Authority upon them But it shall not be so among you Mat. 20.25 26. And somewhat more to their purpose in the tenth of St. Mark 44. Whosoever of you will be chiefest shall be the servant of all To these Texts I Answer 1. The Anabaptists of old and other Fanatick spirits supposing the Antithesis here to be between the Gentiles and the Christian State have extended the Pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among you to the whole Gospel-Church and all Christians in it And from thence they conclude that It is unlawfull for Christians to exercise any Rule or Authority over their Brethren So that the same Text by which some would cast Episcopacy out of the Church is made use of by others to as good purpose to thrust Magistracy out of the Christian World 2. Some Learned Interpreters weighing the expression used by Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in eas dominari they Lord it over them Id est cum quadam acerbitate Beza with bitterness and rigour understand Christ's prohibition of an unjust and Tyrannical Power onely such as the Princes of the Gentiles generally used over those that were subject to them And so Christ doth not dehort his Apostles from exercising Power and Authority over their Brethren but onely from the Tyrannical abuse of Power 3. The Presbyterians themselves in foreign Parts do generally acknowledg that this Text in St. Matt. doth not take away the Ecclesiastical Authority of Teaching Binding and Loosing according to the Gospel vel gradus Ecclesiasticorum a Christo institutes datos Ecclesiae no nor those degrees of Ecclesiastical Persons that were instituted and appointed his Church by Christ Apostles Prophets Teachers c. Paraeus he intends not by that Prohibition in St. Matt. to bring a Parity or Equality into the Church Nam sic tolleretur omnis ordo inveheretur confusio as He for so all Order would be abolished and Confusion introduced in the room of it 4. The design and intent of Christ in the forementioned Text is not to take away all Preheminence or Primacy among the Apostles or Pastours of the Church but to admonish the Apostles and ensuing Pastours of the Church that their High and Honourable Calling hath the Ministry or Service of the Church annexed to it Now this is so far from being inconsistent with Preheminence and Authority that even Kings themselves serve the Church and Kingdom in their High Calling So King Antigonus to his Son An ignoras fili mi nostrum regnum nobilem esse servitutem Art thou ignorant O my Son that our Empire is nothing else but a more noble servitude Though therefore the Apostles and their Successours are required to be Ministers and Servants to all this doth not take away their Preheminence any more then a Shepheard's serving his Flock or a Tutour's serving his Pupil or the King 's serving his Subjects takes away the Respective Authority or Preheminence of the Shepheard Tutour or King over those whom they serve 5. This Text is so far from abolishing Prelacy and Preheminence among the Apostles and Pastours that it confirms and establisheth it For when St. Matthew and St. Mark say He that will be greatest among you St. Luke saith he that is greatest and he that is chief Luk. 22.26 and you may observe that our Lord Christ propounds his own example as a pattern to them Whosoever will be Chief among you let him be your Servant even as the Son of Man came not to be Ministred unto but to Minister Mat. 20.27 28. The Duty therefore of Ministring to or serving others doth not hinder but that he who Ministers or serves may be Greater then those to whom he Ministers unless by urging this Text for a Parity among Pastours they intend to level the great Apostle Christ himself to be no more then equal to the other Apostles And one would wonder did not Prejudice and Interest draw a Film over the eye of mens Reason how any man could entertain a thought that ever Christ intended a Parity among Ecclesiastical Persons when by his own finger from Heaven he hath so evidently pointed out a disparity among them He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastours and Teachers Ephes 4.11 which are not onely distinct Functions in the Church but distinct Degrees as is evident by the Apostle in the first to the Corinthians 12.28 And God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers after that Miracles then Gifts of Healings c. The Evangelists themselves are as Hienom ad Fabiol Secundi ordinis minoris gradus but of a second Order and inferiour degree Dignitate minores Apostolis as Calvin inferiour to the Apostles in Dignity The first Assertion then namely That Episcopacy that is the Prelacy or Preheminence of one Pastour among the rest is not repugnant to the Scriptures is undeniably true Secondly The Church Catholick that is the
had he said more then you received he had prejudiced himself who desired earnestly to see the faces of his Thessalonians That he might perfect that which was lacking in their faith 1 Thes 3.10 Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other then that which you have received quicquid Evangelio quasi ad salutem necessarium additur Parae whatsoever is added to the Gospel as necessary to salvation I said therefore we are to receive our direction from the Lips of God only in things Essential and Fundamental A fundamental in general is that upon which other things are built Fundamentalls in Religion are those primitive truths without the knowledge of which we can neither believe aright nor yield that obedience which we owe to God In these I say we are to dedepend upon God only for direction to hear no voice but his for as they observe in Architecture the yielding of a stone in the lower part of a Fabrick but an hairs breadth will make a cleft of more then half a foot aloft So important are fundamental errors A small error in the beginning and foundation of all things proves in the procedure and end of them a great mischief And therefore God appointed the Foundation of the Tabernacle to be of massy pieces of silver intimating thereby the solidity and purity of the Truth whereupon the Church is founded And a Rabby of our own observes that every man in Israel from twenty years old and upward was to give half a shekel towards these foundation-pieces whereas to other things they were not bound to a set summe but every man to give as his heart moved him which might teach them that to the Fundamentalls of Religion they were all bound but in other things each one according to the gift given him gold or silver or purple or scarlet or fine linnen or goats hair Lightfoot on Exod. 30. So that thus you see in things fundamental and essential we are to receive directions from the great Master of the house God only But In things circumstantial even in Religion and the Worship of God it is the masters pleasure that we should receive directions in them from his stewards The High Steward in this house under God is the King or Higher Powers intrusted by God with a legislative and coercive or constraining power By the Higher Powers I intend the person not the office And that by no less authority then St. Pauls who calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Higher Powers Rom. 13.1 at the 3d. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers Now this higher or highest Power is a single person or company of men intrusted with Soveraign Power over the people he or they being subject only to the Empire or power of God himself I say a single person or company of men For though that which commands in chief or in whom the highest Power is invested must necessarily be one yet it is not of necessity that it be one in or by nature but it sufficeth if it be one by institution so that the highest Power is not appropriated to Kings or absolute Monarchs onely but in a rightly constituted Aristocracy or Common-wealth the Optimates Senat Estates or by what other Title they are Dignified are the highest Power And they or He the King is only subject to the Empire of God himself For he is not cannot in any propriety of speech be called the highest Power but because there is not among men any higher Power Super Imperatorem saith Optatus contra Parmenianum l. 3. Non est nisi solus Deus qui fecit Imperatorem There is none superiour to the Emperour but God only who made the Emperour And so Tertullian ad Scap. Colimus Imperatorem sic quomodo nobis licet ipsi e◠pedit ut hominem a Deo secundum solo Deo minorem We so reverence the Emperour as it is meet for him and lawfull for us as a man second unto God and inferiour to God only You may perceive by this what I mean by the Higher Power but since the good providence of God hath cast us under the best of Governments Monarchy I shall speak in the ensuing discourse concerning the single person the King only And 1. He is intrusted by God with Authority and Power not only in Civill matters and affairs of State but in Ecclesiasticall matters the Affaires of Religion in the Church There are 3. Arguments that evince this 1. St. Paul tells you Rom. 13.4 He is the Minister of God to thee for good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indefinitely universally And explicating himself afterward more distinctly he tells us that Kings and persons in eminent or the highest place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were instituted and appointed of God to this end and purpose that we should lead a quiet and peaceable life under them not only in all honesty but in all piety 1 Tim. 2.2 The happiness of a City Country or Kingdom consists in this ut Dei sit amans amata Deo That it love and be beloved of God Vt illum sibi Regem se illius populum agnoscat August de Civit. Dei l. 5. c. 14. That it be in subjection to God whom it hath over it for its King And the Father-pronounceth Kings happy Si suam potestatem ad Dei cultum maxime dilatandum Majestati ejus famulam faciant If by promoting his worship as far as they can they subject their power to the Majesty of God Thus the Emperours Theodosius and Honorius Epist ad Marcellinum tell him that they design'd not any thing in all their Labour of War and Councells of Peace Nisi ut verum Dei cultum orbis nostri plebs devota custodiat That the people devoted to their service might follow the right worship of God Theodosius likewise in Ep. ad Cyrillum Caesarei est muneris ut non solum pacifice sed pie etiam subditi vivant The Emperour must take care that his Subjects live under him not only peaceably but piously Thus Isidor Pelusiota propounds the same end to the Prince as to the Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Salvation of their Subjects to which that of Ammianus Marcellinus agrees fully Nihil aliud est imperium ut sapientes definiunt nisi cura salutis alienae l. 39. Empire is nothing else in the judgment of wise men but the care of the Welfare and Salvation of others Since then this is the end which Kings are to propound unto themselves that their Subjects may live under them not onely honestly but godly it necessarily follows that they must be intrusted with Authority and Power in Ecclesiasticall matters For the end being admitted we must admit those things without which the end cannot be attain'd And accordingly we find God laying his command upon Kings in Scripture When the King sitteth upon the Throne of his Kingdom he shall write him a Copy of this Law in a book out of that which is before the Priests and the Levites and
Congregation of Christians in all the World hath received and embraced the Episcopacy we contend for To this all the Fathers without exception of any one bear witness He among them who ascribes least to Episcopacy St. Jerom who was not a Bishop but a Presbyter of an inferiour Order whose Testimony therefore may stand in stead of many saith In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus caeteris superponeretur ad quem omnis cura Ecclesiae pertineret It is universally decreed that one chosen from among the Presbyters should be set over the rest to whom the whole care of the Church should appertain And that this was the universal Custom of the Church appears by this because those Hereticks who made a separation from the Church Catholick did yet retain this Order among them Thus the Authour of the Homilies upon St. Matthew Hereticks in their Schism have all those things among them which are proper to the true Church Similiter Ecclesias similiter Scripturas similiter Episcopos caeterosque Clericorum ordines They have their Congregations Scriptures Bishops and other Orders of the Clergy as the Church hath Aerius indeed in a Pang of indignation because he missed a Bishoprick which he stood for would have made himself equal to the Reverend Bishops by broaching this Doctrine Presbyterum ab Episcopo nulla differentia discerni debere That a Presbyter ought not to be distinguished by any difference from a Bishop but this errour of his was condemned by the whole Church When one wrote to St. Jerom Nihil interest inter Episcopum Presbyterum There is no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter he reproved him sharply in the Answer which he returned Hoc satis imperite This was not said for want of ignorance In portu ut dicitur naufragium you make shipwrack as they say Proverbially in the Haven Thirdly The Episcopacy under our present consideration is of venerable Antiquity in the Church having it's rise in the Apostles time In proof of which we can have no better Evidence then the Catalogue of Bishops in Irenaeus Eusebius Socrates and Theodoret who begin from the Age in which the Apostles lived Now no man can deny his assent to such Grave Authority so unanimously conspiring in matter of fact without incurring the guilt of singular irreverence and pertinacy It is as if one should deny that which all the Roman Histories affirm that the Consulship of Rome began from the Banishment of the Tarquins Will you hear St. Jerom Alexandriae a Marco Evangelista Presbyteri unum semper ex se electum in celsiori gradu collocatum Episcopum nominabant Ep. 85. The Presbyters of Alexandria ever since St. Mark the Evangelist having chosen one from among themselves and exalting him to an higher place stiled him Bishop St. Mark died in the eighth year of Nero about the year of our Lord 62. whose Successour St. John the Apostle yet living was Amianus to him succeeded Abilius to Abilius Cerdo After the Death of St. James Simon succeeded him in the Bishoprick of Jerusalem After St. Peter's departure Linus Anacletus and Clement or as some St. Peter yet living sate in the Episcopal Chair at Rome as Evodius and Ignatius did at Antioch A Record of such Antiquity confirmed by Ignatius the Disciple of St. John cannot be rejected by any save such onely who have no Faith for any thing that themselves saw not Who may as well deny that ever there was a Philip of Spain or Lewis of France or Henry King of England as that the persons before mentioned were Bishops of their respective Sees Fourthly The Episcopacy we intend is approved by Divine Right or as Bucer expresseth it Visum Spiritui Sancto utinter Presbyteros unus cur am singularem gereret It seemed good unto the Holy Ghost that one among the Presbyters should have the especial care of the Church Of this we have an undeniable Argument in the book of the Revelations where we find Christ from Heaven commanding St. John to write unto the seven Angels of the Churches of Asia The Title of Angel may I acknowledg be applyed in a general signification to every particular Pastour or Presbyter But here it is manifest Christ intends one in each Church onely whom he stiles the Angel in a proper and peculiar sence For It is no ways probable that Churches so large of such vast extent as Ephesus Smyrna and the rest were had but one Pastour or Presbyter in each of them Nay it is certain and evident concerning Ephesus that in the days of St Paul there were many Presbyters ordained or constituted to feed the Church of God Acts 20.17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the Elders of the Church and said unto them verse 28. Take heed unto your selves and to all the flock c. to feed the Church of God And we may as rationally conclude concerning the rest that there were many Pastours in each Church Why then should Christ direct his Epistle to one the Angel if there had not been one among them of a Superiour Function and more eminent Dignity Sub Angeli nomine saith St. Augustine Epist 162. laudatur praepositus Ecclesiae Under the name of the Angel he commends the Prefect of the Church Angelos Ecclesiis Praesidentes dixit Hierom By Angels he understands the Presidents of the Churches And for Smyrna Polycarpus was without controversie Bishop of it ordained by St. John as Bullinger himself acknowledgeth and Irenaeus saith of him l. 3. c. 3. Polycarpus non solum ab Apostolis eruditus c. Polycarp was not onely instructed by the Apostles and conversant with divers of those persons who saw our Lord in the flesh but in Asia he was constituted by the Apostles Bishop of the Church of Smyrna whom I saw saith the Father while I was a young man I wholly wave many other Evidences and descend to a late Protestant Writer Marlorat in locum St. John saith he mentions first the Church of Ephesus in respect of the dignity of the place Nec populum aggreditur sed Principem Cleri utique Episcopum And he doth not apply himself to the people but to the Principal of the Clergy to wit the Bishop And because the Authority of Mr. Beza and Doctour Reinolds may possibly go furthest with those who have no great friendship for the Episcopal Dignity let us in the Point in hand hear them To the Angel saith Beza id est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quem nimirum oportuit inprimis de his rebus admoneri ac per eum caeteros collegas totamque adeo Ecclesiam That is the President who first ought to be admonished and by him his Colleagues and so the whole Church Reinolds in his Conference with Hart c. 8. Sect. 3. saith Though there were in the Church of Ephesus many Presbyters and Pastours to Administer to that Church yet there was one ever those many whom our Saviour stiles the