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
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
taken it justifies his doing of evil by doing of worse Since therefore through the goodness of God and his Majestie 's undaunted Resolution the Reverend Bishops are restored to the Church and sent as Governours by the King if you be Members of this Spiritual House you must submit to their Directions and Injunctions in all Rites Ceremonies and Circumstances of Religion Which fairly leads me to the last thing intended the Consideration and Vindication of the Liturgy of our Church The Calves of our lips our Prayers are a service more acceptable to the God of Heaven then Hecatombs of Oxen Thousands of Rams or ten Thousand Rivers of Oyl An Heathen could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prayers are a more acceptable Sacrifice to God then Oxen. That part of our lives which we spend in Prayer is the most celestial and Divine Prayer is a Duty so absolutely necessary for every person who acknowledgeth a Deitie that Nature hath dictated it to those who were strangers to the Scriptures and Aliens to the Common-Wealth of Israel The Mariners in Jonah when the Storm was upon on them cryed every man unto his God Chap. i. verse 5. and the Mr. of the Ship rebuked the Prophet himself sharply for neglecting this Duty with What meanest thou O Sleeper Arise call upin thy God verse 6. The Sun hath never yet beheld a person so impudent provided he did not say in his heart with David's Fool There is no God as plainly and directly to condemn this Duty In the exercise or performance of which we are diversly concerned after one manner as we are men private persons and after another as we are Christians and members of this Spiritual house on family the Church As Private persons we are left free to make choice of such Time Place and Form as the Exigence of our present occasions require Firs For Time either the Sixth hour as St. Peter in Acts x. 9. or the Ninth hour as the Centurion verse 3 either thrice a day as David at Evening Morning and Noon Psal lv 17. Or Seaven times a Day as He Psal cxix 164. Secondly For Place either in Closet Vpper-Room Garden Fields or elswhere with conveniency Thirdly For the Manner either taking unto our selves words and expressions of our own or making use of apt and pertinent Forms invented by others In all these Circumstances we are free and at our own election as private persons But as we are in Family Members of the house a publick body we are not left free but are under the direction on of our Spiritual guids or Governours in all these respects of time place and form In then two first of these time and place all who are called Christians agree that the King or Governours under him may prescribe that publique Prayers shall be made at such times and in such places onely But the third the prescribing a Form will by no means be allowed by some to the Spiritual Governours or any others And others who allow the King and those who are under him authority to prescribe a form of publique Prayer wil not admit of that which we call The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments I shall endeavour therefore first to vindicate set Forms of Prayer in General and secondly the Liturgy of our Church in Particular First For the lawfulness and expediencie of set Forms of Prayer I offer four Arguments First The Example of God himself and of some Holy men who were enspired by the Holy Ghost In the sixth Chapter of the Book of Numbers verse 22 and foreward you have a form of Blessing the people prescribed by God himself to Aaron and his sons The Lord spake unto Moses saying Speak unto Aaron and his sons saying On this wise ye shall bless the Children of Israel saying unto them The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace And as God prescribed the Priests a Form to Bless the people so he prescribes the People a Form in these words And thou shalt go unto the Priest that shall be in those days and say unto him I profess this day unto the Lord thy God that I am come unto the Countrey which the Lord sware unto our Fathers for to give us Deut xxvi 3 and verse 5. Thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God A Syrian ready to perish was my Father c. When they went to Battel a Form was prescribed Deut xx 3. a form of Thanksgiving for victory and deliverance Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel this Song unto the Lord and spake saying I will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the Horse and his Rider hath He thrown into the Sea c. Exod. xx 1. This Song was composed by Moses and learned by all the People and repeated again in the same words by Miriam verse 21. And Miriam answered them Sing ye unto the Lord for c. King Hezekiah delivered from Death did not onely compose a Set-Form of Thanksgiving but used it all the Daies of his Life The Lord was ready to save me therefore we will sing my Songs to the stringed Instruments all the daies of our Life in the House of the Lord. Isa xxxviii 20. And the same Hezekiah commanded the Levites to ling praises to God with the words of David and Asaph 2 Chron. xxix 30. VVith the Words of David and Asaph that is with Forms composed by those Sacred Pen-men Secondly The Practise and Precept of our Lord Christ in the New Testament is a second Argument 1. This Practise Matth. xxvi 44. And he left them and he went again and prayed the third time saying the same words And again upon the Cross Matth. xxvii 46. My God my God Why hast thou forsaken me The expresse words ' of David Psal xxii 1. 2. VVe have his Precept likewise in prescribing the Pater Nester not onely as a Pattern but Form of Prayer For though he say in St. Matthew After this manner therefore pray ye Our Father c. Matt. vi 9. yet he saith in St. Luke When ye pray say Our Father c. Luke xi 2. Since therefore Christ in whom all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledg were hid in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily to whom the Spirit was not given by measure prescribes and practisech a Form of Prayer the Sons of men may without disparagement to their Parts or Gifts lawfully make use of a Set-Form Thirdly The Example of St. John Baptist who taught his Disciples to Pray by prescribing them a Form which occasioned the Disciples of Christ to desire and him to answer their reqnest in giving them a Form Luke xi 1. To which that excellent Person whose loss the Church could hardly have sustained had not God by his Providence in taking him from us near the time of His Majestie 's