and visible symbol of a Christian and Church-member And that all Christs Church hath so accounted of baptism to this day and true Tradition is in no one point so full and constant as in this And moreover the very nature of the thing it self declareth it Is not he a Christian that believeth according to the sense of the institution in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and by a solemn Vow and Covenant devoteth himself to him as his God and Father his Redeemer and Saviour and his Sanctifier and Comforter and the witness of Christ and that hereupon hath right to justification adoption and the heavenly inheritance Who is a Christian if this be not § 12. The sense of the Catholick Church is so notorious in this that I think there is little disagreement about it The Papists confess it The Protestants confess it See but Vossii Theses de Baptismo and Davenant de Bapt. and especially Gatakers Ammadversions on that of Davenant All confess that all the antient Churches held that to the duly qualified receiver all sin was pardoned in baptism and the person put into a state of life And therefore was a member of the Church § 13. II. And that Christ commanded all Christians to take each other as brethren and to live in Love and that all men by this were to know them to be his disciples is so fully revealed in Scripture that it is needless among Christians to prove it III. As also that such Christians united to him their Head are eo nomine his Church and living in this Love live as the members of his Church must do § 14. And here three things are to be noted 1. That what was done by the Holy Spirit as given extraordinarily to the Apostles as founders or Architects of the Church to lead them into all truth was truly done by Christ himself the Holy Ghost so extraordinarily given being his promised Agent 2. That yet this work of Instituting Baptism as the terms of Church-union he would not leave to the Spirit in the Apostles but was the immediate author of it himself 3. But yet two things hereabout he left to the Apostles 1. To explain to the baptized the true sense of the general words in the baptismal Covenant 2. And to institute part of the terms of Particular Church Order and Vnity who accordingly setled or ordained Elders Bishops or Pastors in every particular Church which at first was for the most part in every City or great Town where the Gospel was received by any competent number and after they added Deacons and Deaconesses or Widows ad melius esse only and they taught them by word and writing to observe all that Christ commanded § 15. III. And as I have proved 1. That it must be done 2. And that Christ did it so 3. It is part of our proof that no other did it or could do it 1. No other had authority to institute Church-Essentials and to give such necessary universal Laws 2. No other came early enough to do it but as his Ministers after Christ had done it 3. No other had wisdom and fitness enough for it nor were fit to agree to make Church essentials 4. De facto History proves they did it not 5. To undertake it is to invade Christs office The Apostles themselves found it done to their hands Much less can any ordinary Pastors since prove any authority from God or any true capacity in themselves for such a work § 16. And if any pretend to it they must be such as lived before Christ had any Evangelical Church that is of the same species as hath been since the institution of Christian baptism or such as have lived only since The former came not in as competitors The latter were too late to be the doâ—â—s of that which was done before Union is essential to the Church in general The necessary terms of Union are essential to it in specie as the Christian Church For necessarium est sine quo res esse non potest It 's no Christian Church without the necessary terms of Church union And therefore before those terms were first made or instituted there was no Church of that species and after there was such a Church and consequently such terms of its Union none could make them they being made before If any that came after did or shall hereafter attempt to make such terms it must be new ones and not the same that constituted the first Church and then their Church will be new and not of the same species as the first Indeed God did make new Laws of Administration and so may a Kingdom without changing the constitution but not new constituting terms Governing Laws which follow the Constitution are not to make the Kingdom a Kingdom or the Church a Church but to preserve the Church and its order and promote its welfare and the Oath of Allegiance maketh a man a Subject without subscribing to the Governing Laws But as a Subject he consenteth to live under those Laws and if he break them he is punishable according to them and for breaking some of them may be cut off and for some crimes a man may be excommunicate But yet excommunication must be distinguished That which totally cuts a man off from the Church must be but a sentence upon proof that he hath first morally cut off himself Lesser crimes must be punished with the lesser excommunication which is but a suspension and that which Paul speaketh of 2 Thess 3. 15. Yet take him not for an enemy but admonish him as a brother § 17. By all this it is most evident that Christ himself the Institutor and maker of his Church hath made the terms of essential Catholick Vnion and that we have nothing to do herein but to find out what are the terms that he hath made and not to enquire what any men since have made or added as being not authorized thereto CHAP. X. No humane terms not made by Christ or his Spirit extraordinarily given to the Apostles are Necessary to the Being of Particular Churches But divers humane acts are necessary to their existence and administration § 1. DIvers men speak diversly of this matter 1. Some say that no form of the Polity of particular Churches is of Divine institution but that God hath left all the forming of them to the will of man 2. Others say that no form of them is lawful but what is of Divine institution And of the first some say that Christ instituted the Papal form and some say General Councils the summam Potestatem to the universal Church and left it to them to form particular Churches Others say that Magistrates are to do it And others that the Diocesane Bishops of every Nation in National or Provincial Synods may do it But all agree that the form of particular Churches must be made by some that had authority from Christ to do it § 2. Of the second sort who hold no
lay more stress or an outward act of man and point of order than he doth § 26. 3. And as to the Nature and Use of the thing Order is for the sake of the thing ordered and the persons for whose good it is And therefore not to be set against them § 27. 4. And Christ himself hath oft taught us this way of judging When he bids us Go learn what this meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice And when he oft reproveth Jews and Samaritans for striving about circumstances setting them against spiritual worshipping of God And when he saith The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath And Paul when he saith All things are yours whether Paul or Apollos and Let all be done to Edification All which tell us that the End is a certain Canon to the means and to be preferred and that Morals must be preferred before Rituals and Rituals never set against them And methinks they should be of this mind that deny the Scripture to have unchangeably fixed all Rituals and yet confess that Morals are fixedly determined § 28. 5. And even Popes have been taken for Popes upon Election before Consecration And Arch-bishops with us have no superiours to Consecrate them but such Inferiours as promise them obedience at their own Consecration § 29. X. To the tenth question There be some called Erastians who hold the King to be so mixta persona like Melchizedeck as that he is also the chief Priest and hath the chief power of Ordination and that he might administer the Sacraments if he would and that his Appointment is an Ordination which the people are bound by reception of the person to consent to There are others that think that though the investing act must be performed by a Bishop yet he is bound by the Kings choice and command to do it as a Minister of God and the King But as I never saw either of these well proved so very few comparatively receive them and therefore they will never unite the Churches And Christs giving the power of the Keys himself to the Apostles and their Successours in the Ministry seemeth to me to contradict them Sure I am that Christs Church hath not thus been founded or edified And yet Magistrates have a great and honourable part even in the Government of the Church I speak not for all those Popish Councils and Canons which nullifie all Ordinations of Bishops either chosen or presented by Civil Rulers or Great men that are Secular nor of those that pronounce even a Pope an Usurper that is so introduced But of the Councils and practice of the sounder ages that were still against this 2. However if Clergy and people were proved to be bound to Consent to whomsoever the Prince shall choose yet till they do consent he is no Bishop to them You may could that be proved prove them culpable for not consenting but not prove him their Bishop as the Scripture and all Church custome and Canons and Reason shew § 30. XI To the eleventh case I answer That the Priests or people sin who disobey a lawful command of the King and not otherwise But sin or not sin it nullifieth not the Ordination or Priesthood meerly that it is against the will of the Prince All the Bishops and Priests in the world or most were made against the will of Princes for three hundred years And Christ gave the Keyes to other hands § 31. XII and XIII To the twelfth and thirteenth cases I answer together If a heretick whose denyal of an essential of Christianity is notorious and maketh him equal to an Apostate ordain his Act is null as without all authority And the mans Priesthood or Episcopacy is null if he have not a sufficient cause and proof of it besides or without this The same I say of one excommunicate for such a cause But if the Heresie be only a schism or some lower errour consistent with Christianity and Priesthood or the excommunication only on such a cause then the ordination in sensu passivo is not null meerly on that account that it was done by such a heretick or excommunicate man As is commonly agreed on But yet if this Bishop or Presbyter be ordained by a heretick or excommunicate man of a lower order to this or that particular Church caeteris paribus the people may see reason to refuse him and consent to another that hath a better ordination unless in a Church so corrupted that the Ordainers and Excommunicators authority is not to be regarded and help up which hath too oft faln out But regularly none ought to ordain a man to any Church before the election or consent of the flock though it may serve ad esse officii if the consent come after But if three Bishops ordain one man to be Bishop of such a Church and three others ordain another to the same that is the true Bishop quoad esse which the Church to which he is ordained doth accept by their consent before or after Yea though it were the worser party of Bishops that ordained that man § 32. As to the point of successive-right-ordination uninterrupted from the Apostles I hope afterward in due place to prove that to the Church universal such there hath been de facto in all the necessary parts But that to any particular Church or any individual persons ministry such uninterrupted course of ordination in being notice or proof is utterly unnecessary and that the Papacy hath no such to shew § 33. To conclude To the Being of the true Relation of a Bishop or Presbyter is necessary only 1. The Subject which is a Qualified Christian man sufficiently notified and offered 2. The Fundamentum Relationis Christs Law or Charter giving him his power and obliging him to his work 3. The mutual consent of Pastor and flock in the Relation to a particular Church is partly Dispositio subjecti and partly as it is Gods means a modus fundandi or conditio tituli 4. The Terminus of one ordained to the gathering of Churches sine titulo or not to any particular Church is objectively first men unconverted to be called and next men converted to be edified and as Effects the work to be done and the good to be done by it And in those ordained to particular Churches it is the work and the effect on them 5. The Correlate is 1. Christ to whom we are related as his Ministers as the efficient of our office 2. The people to whom we are related as the end and that 1. we are Ministers to the world to be converted 2. To the Universal Church to be edified 3. and mostly to particular Churches to be guided 6. The Relatum then is such a person Authorized and obliged to Teach Worship and Rule under Christ the Prophet Priest and King of the Church the foresaid flocks or Christians to the foresaid ends § 34. II. So much for what is necessary to the Being of the sacred
renounce all doctrines and practices of Rebellion sedition or Schism I believe not that subjects may take up Arms or use any force or conspiracy to violate the Rights Authority or Persons of those in supreme Power over them I believe not that by any Laws of God or Man the Bishop of Rome hath the right of Governing all the world or all Christian Kings and Kingdomes nor the King or Kingdome of England in particular in matters secular or religious Nor that it is the duty of this Kingdome or the King to subject themselves unto him and obey him Nor that the said Bishop of Rome hath any true authority or right to impose oaths on Kings or other temporal Lords or otherwise oblige them to judge their subjects to be Hereticks who deny the Popes universal Supremacy over all the Churches on earth or who deny that the universal Church hath any Visible Head but Christ or who believe that the truly consecrated Bread and Wine in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper remain true Bread and Wine after the Consecration or that believe they are not to be adored as their God nor the Wine to be denyed to the Laity communicating Nor may the Pope oblige Kings or any others to exterminate burn or kill or punish any such as hereticks nor excommunicate Kings or temporal Lords for not doing it nor depose them being excommunicated nor give their Kingdomes or Dominions to others nor authorize any to kill them or to raise arms against them and to invade their Countreys by hostility Nor hath he right or authority to forbid Kingdomes or Countreys the publick celebration of Gods worship or holy Christian Communion Nor to oblige any Rulers or others to destroy any as Hereticks or judge them such because they are so judged by the Pope or Councils And I believe not that the Clergy are exempted from obedience to the Secular Powers or from being judged and punished by them by any Laws of God or any valid Laws of man not made or consented to by the said Powers And I unfeignedly believe that if any Pope or Council how great soever do decree or assert any of these things which I have hereby renounced and disclaimed or shall hereafter decree or assert any of them they err and sin against God in so doing and are not to be believed therein nor do oblige any thereby to obey them And all this I profess as in the sight of God my Judge without fraud or dissimulation in the sincerity of my heart THe errours which men should be restrained from preaching or propagating are innumerable and not necessary to be all put into a subscribed or professed renunication so they be actually forborn I will recite part of a Catalogue of false and doubtful dangerous points not fit to be published by preachers I. Of the nature and acts of God 1. The God is corporeal or material 2. That God is essentially only in Heaven or in some finite space 3. That God hath parts and is divisible 4. That God hath the parts or shape of humane bodies head face eyes hands feet c. properly so called 5. That God is the Universe or whole world or that he is meerly or properly the soul of the world as his body and so but a part of the world 6. That God or any essential of God is really new changeable or finite 7. The God can suffer hurt or hath proper real grief and passion 8. That God knoweth not all that hath been is or will be and all that is intelligible 9. That Gods own essential perfection goodness and love is not the ultimate and chief object of mans love to be loved chiefly for himself as most amiable and above our selves and all things created but that he is only or chiefly to be loved as our Benefactor or as good to the creature And so that man is Gods end and his own chief and ultimate end and not God mans chief and ultimate end 10. That God is the first and chief or any proper cause of sin or that God doth by efficient premotion as the first cause predetermine every mans mind will tongue and members to every forbidden act that is done as it is determined to and specifyed by the object with all its forbidden circumstances and modes and so to every lie perjury hatred of God and goodness murder c. that is committed 11. That God ruleth the world only as an engine by physical motion and doth not rule any free agents by moral means as precepts prohibitions promises c. in any acts saving as these are parts of his physically necessitating motion 12. That God may or ever doth lie or by his inspiration or his works of nature or providence necessitate innocent persons de facto or oblige any as a duty to believe that which is false 13. That God hath so committed the affairs of this world to Angels or any creatures or natural means as not to mind them or particularly govern and dispose of them himself 14. That God is essentially or virtually absent from the effects which he causeth 15. That God hath not power to do any more or otherwise than he doth though he would 16. That Gods will is not the fountain and the measure of all created good or that things are not good because they are willed by God 17. That Gods proper and absolute will desire and decree may be disappointed and not come to pass 18. That somewhat of or in the creature may be a true or proper cause of somewhat not only relative but real in God or make a real change on God 19. That God hath no vindictive or punishing and no rewarding justice 20. That God may be formally conceived of and comprehended by man and not only known analogically and as in a glass II. Of the Blessed Divine Trinity 1. That there are three Gods or three divine essences or substances 2. That the Trinity are but Three Names of God or three relations of him to the creature 3. That they are Three parts of God 4. That the three Persons are one God only in specie as Abraham Isaac and Jacob are One man because they have but one humane sort of nature 5. That one person in the Trinity is in time or dignity before or after other or greater or less than other 6. That in the Trinity there are three Fathers three Sons or three Holy Ghosts 7. That the doctrine of the Trinity is contradictory or impossible to be true 8. That it is unnecessary to be believed or preached 9. That there are no Impressions or notes of the Trinity on the soul of man or any other known works of God 10. That the works of Creation Redemption or Sanctification are no more eminently or otherwise ascribed in Scripture to any one Person in the Trinity than to the other That Creation is no otherwise ascribed to the Father than to the Son and Holy Ghost nor Redemption to the Son than to
down Sect. XI 3. They turn all the Parish-Churches into Chappels or meer parts of one Church and Unchurch them all in the judgment of those that take a Bishop to be essential to a Church And all will not agree to Unchurch all such Parishes Sect. XII 4. It maketh true Discipline as impossible as is the Government of so many score oâ— hundred Schools by one Schoolmaster or Hospitals by one Physician without any other Schoolmaster or Physician under him but Ushers and Apothecaries which all Christians will not agree to Sect. XIII 5. It is contrary to the Practice of the Primitive Churches and casteth out their sort oâ— Parochial Bishops as I have elsewhere fully proved 1. From the Testimonies of many such as that oâ— Ignatius before cited 2. From the custom of choosing Bishops by all the People 3. And of managing Discipline before all the Church 4. By the custom mentioned by Tertulliâ—â— and Justin Martyr of receiving the Sacrament onely from the hand of the Bishop or when he Consecrated it 5. By the custom of the Bishops onely Preaching except in case of his special appointment 6. In every Church the Bishop sate on a high Seat with the Presbyters about him 7. The Bishop onely pronounced the Blessing 8. Many Canons after when the Churches grew greater command all the People to be present and communicate with the Bishop on the great Festivals These and many more Evidences prove That in the Primitive Times the Bishops had but single Churches and every Altar and Church had a Bishop Sect. XIV 6. The very Species of the old Churches is thus overthrown and the old office of Presbyters therewith which was to be assistant Governors with the Bishop and not meer Preachers or Readers And all these Changes all Christians will not agree to Sect. XV. 7. Especially the sad History of Councils and Prelacy will deter them from such Concord when they find that their Aspiring Ambition and Contention hath been the grand Cause of Schisms and Rebellions and kept the Church in confusion and brought it to the lamentable state in East and West that it is in Sect. XVI 8. And constant Experience will be the greatest hinderance As in our own Age many good Men that had favourable thoughts of Diocesans are quite turned from them since they saw Two thousand faithful Ministers silenced by them and that it is the work of too many of them to cast out such and set up such as I am not willing to describe And such Experience After-Ages are like to have which will produce the same effects When Experience persuadeth Men That under the name of Bishops they are Troublers Persecutors and Destroyers they will account them Wolves and not agree to take them for their Shepherds It will be said That Good Bishops are not such It 's true and that there are Good Ones no sober Man doubteth But when 1300 years Experience hath told Men That the Good Ones are few in comparison of the Bad Ones ever since they had large Dominions and Jurisdictions And when Reason tells Men That the worst and most worldly Men will be the most diligent seekers of such Power and Wealth and that he that seeketh them is liker to find them than he that doth not and so that Bad men are still likest to be Diâ—cesans And when the divided scattered persecuted Flocks find that the work of such Men is to silence the most conscionable Ministers and to be Thorns and Thistâ—es to the People though they wear Sheeps cloathing Men will judge of theâ— by their fruits and the Churches will never be united in them Sect. XVII 9. The greatest Defenders of Episcopacy say so much to make Men against them as will hinder this from being an uniting course I wiâ—l instance now but in Petavius and Doctor Hamâ—â—d who followeth him and Scolus who saith 〈…〉 Clara led them the way These hold That the Apâ—stâ—â—s setled a Bishop without any subject sort of Presbyters in every City and single Congregational Church And Doctor Hammond Annot. in Act. 11. Dissertat adversus Blondel saith That it cannot be proved that there were any subject Presbyters in Scripture-times but that the word Presbyter every where in Scripture signifieth a Bishop And if so 1. Men will know that the Apostolical Form was for every Congregational Church to have a Bishop of its own 2. That no Bishop had more setled Congregations than one For no such Congregation could worship God and celebrate the Sacrament of Communion as then they constantly did without a Minister And one Bishop could be but in one place at once and so without Curates could have but one Assembly 3. And Men will be inquisitive By what Authority Subject Presbyters and Diocesan Bishops and Churches were introduced after Scripture-times in which they will never receive universal satisfaction If it be said that the Apostles gave Bishops Power to make a subject order of Presbyters and to turn Parish or Congregational Churches into Diocesan and so to alter the first Forms of Government when they were dead this will not be received without proofs which never will be given to satisfie all Nay it will seem utterly improbable and Men will ask 1. Why did not the Apostles do it themselves if they would have it done Was not their Authority more unquestionable than theirs that should come after If it be said that there were not qualified Men enow it will 2. Be asked Were there not like to be then greatest Choice upon the extraordinary pouring out of the Spirit 3. Do we not find in Corinth so many inspired gifted persons in one Assembly that Paul was put to limit them in their Prophecying yet allowing many to do it one by one And Acts 13. there were many Prophets and Teachers in Antioch And at Jerusalem more and at Ephesus Acts 20. and at Philippi Phil. 1. 1 2. there were many Bishops or Elders And such Deacons as Stephen and Philip c. would have served for Elders rather than to have none 4. Doth not this imply that after-times that might make so great a change may also do the like in other things 5. And that Diocesans and subject Presbyters be but humane Institutions and therefore Men may again change them 6. Doth it not dishonour the Apostles to say that they setled one Form of Government for their own Age which should so quickly be changed by their Followers into another species All these things and much more will hinder Universal Concord in Diocesans Sect. XIX Yet I must add that there is great difference between Diocesans both as to their Government and their Persons whence some Churches may comfortably live in Concord under them though 〈◊〉 be divided and afflicted under them 1. Some Diocesans have Diocesses so small that Discipline is there a possible thing Others as ours in England have some above a thousand some many hundred or score Parishes which maketh true Discipâ—â—â— impossible 2. Some Diocesans exercise
giveth Let them not deceive men by making a Verbal strife of it If they will call either electing or investing a Giving of the Power I will not contend against their liberty of speaking as unfitly as they list if they will but well explain it But the thing is plain and sure that 1. The election doth but determine of the Receiver 2. and that the Investing act is but a ministerial publick delivery of a Right which resulteth immediately from the Charter or Law of Christ If a Bishop say I ordain you to the office of a Presbyter the Scripture must tell us what that is If the Bishop say Take the office of a Presbyter but preach not or only preach and administer the Sacraments or do both but you shall have none of the Church Keyes or power of discipline it is null as to the restraint There is no contract freer than that between a husband and wife as to the choice of persons And yet when a woman chooseth a man for her husband it is not she that properly giveth him the Ruling power she did but choose the receiver God by his Law is the Giver If she bargain with him that he shall not be her Governour it is null because against Gods Law And so it is in the present case If the power of Ordination and Church Government can be proved to be setled by Christ on the Presbyters either conjunct with the Bishop or alone he that ordaineth a Presbyter by virtue of Christs institution cannot deprive him of that power by his own will and act by saying You shall have no such power For God is the describer and the giver § 14. Yea some would perswade men that the very office of Presbyters is of humane institution As some Papists in the Council of Trent would have had it pass that Christ having made the Pope the Pope maketh the office of Bishops and they hold their power from him so some Prelates would have it believed that Christ only instituted the Order of Bishops and that Bishops made the Order of Subject Presbyters and that after Scripture-times there being none till then existent but the word Presbyter in Scripture everywhere signifying only a Bishop Which those that are against the distinct order of Bishops thankfully accept and say that indeed Subject Presbyters having no ordaining power are a humane invention since Scripture-times and that God instituted no such order But the difference is that these say man had no authority to do it and bid the other prove by what authority it was done and where the Bishops had such power given them to make a new species order or office of sacred Ministers But the other say that it was well done But proof is all § 15. And here come in many other Church-distracting contentions As 1. Whether any Bishops Ordination be valid that holdeth not his Power from the Pope 2. Whether he be a true Bishop that is not Canonically ordained by three Bishops 3. Whether he be a true Bishop that is not chosen or consented to by the people and Presbyters of his Church 4. Or if he have but the minor part the rest not being allowed or called to choose 5. Or if the major part be against him 6. Or if three neighbour Bishops be for him and ordain him Bishop and many more be against it or forbid it 7. Whether he be a true Presbyter that is not ordained by a Bishop of distinct and superior Order And whether an uninterrupted succession of such ordination is necessary 8. Whether he be a true Bishop that is ordained only by Presbyters 9. Whether he may be a true Bishop or Presbyter that hath no Ordination 10. Or he that hath no Election but the Kings or the Patrons nor other proved Consent of the people 11. Whether he be a true Bishop or Presbyter that the King alloweth not or forbiddeth 12. Whether the Ordination of hereticks be null 13. Whether the Ordinations of prohibited degraded or excommunicate Bishops be null Abundance of such controversies ignorance and faction have torn the Churches with § 16. I. As to the first I need not answer it to any but Papists and as to them I and others have said enough that is unanswered § 17. II. As to the second where the Churches agree to take none for a Bishop that is not ordained by three four or more that person cannot be the Bishop of that particular Church which by such agreement doth refuse him Not for want of any thing necessary to a valid ordination but for want of the Consent of the people or subjects that are to receive him For he cannot be their Pastor against their will But the Ordination of One may make a man a Minister in the Church-universal unfixed and to a particular Church if the receivers of him do consent § 18. III. As to the third Election oft signifieth the first determining nomination distinct from after consent This is not necessary to the office or power But Consent is necessary at least to the exercise and therefore to the office which is for that exercise If people were as much under Princes for choosing Guides for their souls as a daughter in her fathers house is under her father for the choice of a husband which yet I never saw proved to be so yet as he can be no husband to her without her consent though she culpably deny consent so is it here he can be no Pastor to them till they consent § 19. IV. and V. In all Societies where consent is necessary the consent must be either of All or of the Most or else they will divide § 20. VI. To the sixth The question of the Validity of the Ordination dependeth not on it but on the peoples acceptance and consent If ten Bishops ordain one man Bishop of a Church and three ordain another to the same Church and one a third as sometimes there have been divers ordained Popes that only is the true Bishop whom the Church which he is to be over consenteth to Other decisions will not serve § 21. VII I will answer this largelier by it self in the third part Here I only say 1. so far as any Ordination is necessary the Ordination of a Bishop is necessary But the question 〈◊〉 what a Bishop is If he be defined by the Power of ordaining alone some think there is no such because by the old Canons the Presbyters were to joyn in Ordination Others think that when none else are there any one Presbyter may ordain alone If he be defined by the Power of Ordaining simply or of having a Negative vote in ordaining the doubt is whether every Presbyter have not Power to ordain as in nature the Propagation of its own species is common to all living things Either Ordination is a Governing act of superiority or a propagation of the species If the later Presbyters may do it If the former then Bishops cannot ordain Bishops as such nor
Arch-bishops ordain Arch-bishops nor Patriarchs ordain Patriaâ—rhs nor any one ordain a Pope And yet of old Deacons and Presbyters were made Popes that were not before so much as Bishops Formosus being the first Bishop of Rome that had been a Bishop before and therefore condemned and executed dead the Canons forbidding any to remove from one seat to another saith Arch-bishop Vsher Jerome ad Evagr assureth us that at Alexandria from the dayes of St. Mark till Demetrius the Presbyters made their Bishop ergo they may make Presbyters They that can do the greater can do the less And Dr. Hammond concluding that there is no proof that in Scripture-times there were any subject Presbyters distinct from Bishops maketh it hard to be proved that there should be any such at all and whether the making of a rank of Presbyters that have no power of Ordination be not a changing of Scripture order and a sin Yet even subject Presbyters made since Scripture-time concurred in ordinations and do partly to this day 2. If a Bishop be described by his actual superiority over Presbyters then saith the foresaid Dr. Hammond there was none in Scripture-times 3. If a Bishop be described by being over a Church compounded of divers Parish Churches or Congregations that have Altars there can none such be proved to be in the world for about two hundred years after Christ besides Apostles and Itinerants whose Province was indefinite and not a particular Church not of long after saving at Rome and Alexandria There was none such when Ignatius's Epistles were written 4. But if the chief or only Pastor of a single Church that hath unum altare yea of a City Church be to be called a Bishop then multitudes now called meer Presbyters have been such Bishops and have ordained And as to a Negative Vote in ordaining that if it were proved it self proveth no distinct order or office but for order-sake a prerogative in the same office The question is yet undecided even among Schoolmen and Bishops whether a Bishop and Presbyter differ only Gradâ— as the foreman from the rest of the Jury or a Justice of Quorum or a chief Judge or Justice from the rest or also Ordine or Specie as a Justice and a Constable Saith Arch-bishop Vsher with Bishop Reignolds and many other Bishops Ad ordinem pertinet ordinare and they are ejusdem ordinis which others deny § 22. But not to anticipate my fuller answer to this case I briefly answer that Gods Law or Charter giving the Ministerial power to the duly qualified receiver no Ordination doth more than to determine with the peoples consent who is the qualified receiver and for the sake of Order and the Churches notice to declare his right and solemnly invest him And God hath not appropriated this declaring and investing power so to their Prelates distinct from Presbyters that I ever found as that the Church should receive none but of their ordination What men decree is one thing and what God ordaineth is another Where an order is setled by men according to Gods allowance and general rules there the people should caeteris paribus receive him that is most regularly commended to them But if they receive one less regularly sent them if he want nothing necessary to the Being of the office he is their Pastor who is so received by them When Justices of the Peace did marry the people in England the Marriage was valid before God as truly as when the Clergy did it The same is a sufficient designation of the Recipient person in some times places and circumstances which is not at others And when the Person is but Determined of and consented to Gods word authorizeth him § 23. VIII The answer to the seventh question serveth to the eighth They were true Bishops whom the Presbyters made at Alexandria and those in the North of England who as Beda saith were made by Scots Presbyters § 24. IX He may be a true Bishop or Presbyter that in cases of necessity hath no Ordination at all much more he that is ordained but by Presbyters The proof lyeth in these things set together 1. As is said Gods Law or charter giveth the right or power to the duly qualified determined and chosen person But in cases of necessity a qualified person may be determined of and chosen without any Ordination Therefore he may have the right or authority without 2. Such necessity there may be in several cases As 1. If by good books men be Converted among Infidels where no Bishop or Ordained Minister can be had They must not therefore forbear Church-assemblies and publick worshipping God and baptizing 2. In case that many Christians be banished or cast upon forraign lands where no Minister is to be had 3. In case that persecutors banish or destroy all ordained men and will suffer no other to come among them or them to fetch ordination 4. In case that all the Bishops or Ordainers turn either hereticks or tyrants and will ordain none but on some sinful terms 5. In case that men living under Bishops do forge Orders and pretend that they are ordained when they are not and the people know it not Their acts now are of full authority or validity to the innocent people though God will condemn the pretender for his sin This case I have oft known my self and in my youth lived under such as was after discovered And the opponents themselves here confess that Presumption may serve turn to the people when they cannot detect it And indeed few people in England know any otherwise than by presumption that their Bishops or Pastors are ordained And if it were true that Presbyters Ordination were null yet when the ordained after great study believeth it valid and the people cannot know the contrary here is a Presumed title both to the ordained and the people that is valid administrations and receptions without ordination § 25. 2. And indeed the like cases prove it by parity of reason Ordination to the Ministry is but like Coronation to a King or publick marriage to Consenters or like listing and the sacramentum militare to a Souldier or like publick authorizing to a Physicion a School master c. and not all so much as baptizing to make a Christian But an hereditary or Elected King is a King before his Coronation and marriage privately contracted and publickly professed is valid before God before the solemnization by a Minister and in case of necessity without it And a Souldier may be truly such by contract without Colours or Oaths And a man may be a Lawful Physicion or School-master in case of necessity without a License or publick authorizing Yea one may be a Christian before God yea and before men that openly professeth and Voweth the Baptismal Covenant though in case of necessity when either a Minister or Water cannot he had the washing be wanting And we are not to feign God to make a difference here without proof or to
member of the universal Church who is not a member of some particular Church 23. That none are in the universal Church who are not the subjects of Diocesan Bishops 24. That a man not baptized by one that hath Ordination from a Diocesan Bishop is no member of the universal Church 25. That a member of the visible Church cannot be certainly known because it cannot be known what is essential to a Christian seeing it depends on the sufficiency of the proposal of truths which cannot be known of many or most XVII Of Gods worship preaching and Ministers and his day 1. That there are more Gods than one and several Countreys may worship their several Gods 2. That if we keep our hearts to God we may bow down before Images as Idolaters do 3. That it is not necessary that we actually love God above once a year or once a month or week at most 4. That if we fear Gods wrath and love one another we may be saved without any other love to God 5. That no higher Love to God is necessary than to love him for our selves and others as a Benefactor and means to the Creatures good 6. That Gods word is not to be trusted as infallibly true 7. That because God will be spiritually worshipped outward bodily worship is not necessary to spiritual persons 8. That he that loveth trusteth and serveth God so as yet he loveth trusteth and serveth the flesh and the world and sinful pleasure more prevalently may yet be saved without more 9. That outward worship without inward love and holiness may serve to Salvation 10. That we may give Divine worship to Angels or glorified souls or to the Cross or Images 11. That if prayer move not or change not Gods will it is needless to use much prayer 12. That it is lawful to require the people to pray and praise God in an unknown language instead of words which they understand and such prayer and worship they must preferr or use if the Pope or Bishops command it 13. That any man may make himself or become a Pastor or Teacher of the Church in office who thinketh himself fit without mans election or ordination 14. That none are true Ministers of Christ who are not sent by the Bishop of Rome or some authorized by him or ordained by such 15. That no Ministers are owned as such by Christ nor are the Sacraments administred by them valid that are not ordained by Diocesans or by such as had an ordination themselves by an uninterrupted succession from the Apostles down by Diocesan Bishops or a Canonical succession 16. That all Ministers ought to cease preaching the Gospel and all Churches or persons publick worshipping God who are forbidden by the Pope as some say or by Bishops as others say or by the King or Magistrate as others 17. That it is sinful for Presbyters to preach say some or to pray say others publickly in any other words save those that are written down for them or prescribed by the authority either of Pope Council Bishops or Civil Magistrates 18. That it is sinful to instruct the people or to pray to God or praise him in a form of words premeditated or prescribed by any other or agreed on in Councils 19. That it is sinful to joyn with any Pastor who speaketh any unlawful words in preaching prayer or other ministration 20. That it is unlawful to hold Communion with any Church where scandalous sinners are present or are tolerated members 21. That men may lawfully change the essential or integral parts of Gods commanded worship by diminution or additions of the like 22. That spiritual men are not bound to be members of particular Churches or put themselves under the guidance of any Pastors 23. That all the people are bound to believe all that to be Gods word which the Bishop or Priests tell them is so 24. That the people are bound to do in Gods worship whatever Bishops or other Rulers command them without examining and judging whether it be agreeable to the Law of God 25. That Pope Bishops or Priests can forgive sin even as to the punishment in another life by immediate pardoning power in themselves and not only by preparing men for pardon and offering and declaring it and delivering it ministerially by application from Gods word and in order hereto judging who are capable of Consolatory and Sacramental applications 26. That God pardoneth in heaven all that the Priest pardoneth on earth though erroneously and by mistake 27. That God will condemn to hell all that an erring or malicious Pope Bishop or Priest condemneth 28. That it is lawful to separate from and disown Communion with all parties of Christians differing in things not necessary to Gods acceptance except that one party which we judge to be rightest or allowed by the higher powers 29. That the first day of the week was not separated to Divine worship in commemoration of Christs resurrection by the Spirit of Christ in his Apostles or is not to be observed to that holy use any more than any other day 30. That it is lawful to swear unnecessarily and to use Gods name lightly and vainly in our talk 31. That perjury is lawful for our safety or in obedience to man 32. That Popes Councils or Bishops can dissolve the obligations of our Vows to God or Oaths of fidelity to Princes though the matter be lawful and good and otherwise God dissolve them not 33. That all Oaths and Vows are to be interpreted as not binding us longer than it is for our commodity or safety 34. That we may take Oaths imposed in words whose common sense is false or sinful though not otherwise expounded by the imposer because in charity we must suppose always that our Rulers mean nothing against Gods word or their own or the peoples good 35. That it is unlawful to break any Vow or Oath which was unlawfully imposed on us by man or unlawfully taken by our selves though the matter of it be good or lawful 36. That no Vow bindeth us to that which we were bound to before That all Vowing is sinful and all swearing when lawfully called for the attesting truth and ending strife XVIII Of our duty to our Rulers and Pastors and their duty 1. That Christianity so nullifieth all natural and civil relations or obligations that Children subjects and servants owe nothing to Parents Rulers or Masters but what they are bound to in meer justice and gratitude to them as benefactors or by voluntary consent and promise 2. That Parents owe nothing for their children but bodily provision and not to educate them in Godly and Christian doctrine and practice 3. That Princes may seek their own pleasure and wealth against the common good or above it 4. That they may lawfully make war upon neighbour Countreys only to enlarge their power or dominions or satisfie their pride passion or wills 5. That they or Bishops may fine imprison banish or put to death all
Alexandria and many other places had two at once by their Divisions but none of them so long as Rome But perhaps he taketh it to be enough to Catholicism or the Validity of Ordinances if we be subject to the species of Bishops and so to any one that is Consecrated rightly or wrongly and so that in Schisms both are true Bishops But lest he deny this I will spare to recite its Consequents Sect. XXVIII 3. He in his Preface and all along supposeth That no unlawful thing is 〈…〉 the Nonconformists as necessary to their Ministry or Communion which will as much satisfie them as if he had told them That Lying Perjury Covenanting deliberately against Gods Precepts and for the corrupting his sacred Doctrine Worship Order and Discipline are lawful things Did he ever hear them and confute their Reasons Sect. XXIX 4. In short he never proveth but beggeth 1. That when Gods Word describeth the Sacred Ministerial Office yet the Ordainers will and words can alter it 2. That the chief Pastors of particular Churches even Cities that had all of old their several Bishops are not true Bishops unless Men purpose them to be so in Ordination 3. That Presbyters who ordain with Bishops may not in cases of necessity ordain without them or if they do it is a nullity 4. That in Cases of Necessity Ability Consent Election and Opportunity may not design the person that shall receive authority and obligation directly from Gods Law without other Ordination 5. That any Church on Earth can prove an uninterrupted Succession of Canonical Ordination by Bishops themselves so ordained 6. That such a Succession is necessary ad esse Officii 7. That the Covenant of Grace secureth not true penitent Believers of Pardon and Salvation where they cannot have the Sacrament 8. That the Sacrament is null as to Mens Pardon and Salvation if the Priest be not truly called or have not successive Episcopal Ordination 9. That if a presumptuous Title as â—e saith may yet make all valid when Men seem Episcopallâ— dained and are not Whether able godly Men ordained by such like City Pastors or Presbyters in a Synod and chosen by Religious People and solemnly dedicated to Gods Ministery in the face of the Congregation have not a better presumptuous Title than notorious ignorant and vicious Men that say they were ordained by a Bishop when their Orders were forged of which sort there have been many 10. Whether he can prove that it is not Anabaptistry to baptize all again that are baptized in the Reformed Churches that have no Diocesanes 11. Whether he abuse not Gods Word and Churches in feigning all such Reformed Churches to live in the Sin against the Holy Ghost for serving God without a Succession of Episcopal Ordination 12. Why is it that I cannot intreat him to answer Voetius de desperata Causa Papatus that hath long ago confuted Jansenius a far stronger Adversary than he Nor my Dispute of Ordination Twenty Years ago written and yet unanswered when I tell him we have not leisure to write over the same things as oft as Men provoke us to it Sect. XXX I will now cast before him these following Notes 1. What proof hath he of Sacraments besides Sacrifices before Abraham's days And was there then no pardon of sin 2. Were Women damned that were not circumcised Or were the uncircumcised Children in the Wilderness none of the Church 3. Were not Infants in the Covenant of Grace before Circumcision entered them into the Covenant of Israels peculiarity 4. Why did Abraham think there had been Fifty righteous persons in Sodom And in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him Acts 10. 5. Though Sacraments under the Gospel convey greater benefits can he prove that it placeth greater necessity of them than the Law did 6. Seeing Christ was not baptized till about thirty years old was he not Holy and the Churches Head before 7. Can he prove that the Apostles were ever baptized Or were they not before true Christians 8. The Apostles had not the Lords Supper till near Christs death and yet had part in him before 9. Was Paul of this Mans mind that said He was not sent to baptize but preach and thanked God that he had baptized so few 10. Is not that Promise true That whoever believeth shall not perish but have everlasting life and that the pure in heart shall see God c And will want of a Sacrament then frustrate all 11. He presumeth to say That God is obliged to make good the Sacraments of those that have but a presumptuous Ministery seeming to have Episcopal Ordination when they have not And is not the reason as strong from the Peoples impossibility of avoiding the danger when they can have no Sacraments or none but from Ministers that had not Episcopal Ordination 12. What if the Succession have been interrupted long ago in Armenia Egypt Syria or elsewhere Are all damned that were born since Or which way shall particular persons there remedy it they cannot send to Europe for Ordainers 13. If Laymen as Frumentius and Edesius convert persons in India are they all damned that dye after Conversion for want of an ordained Priest and Sacraments 14. If Baptism give the first sanctifying Grace then none but unholy persons are to be baptized and that is impenitent unconverted Infidels or wicked men 15. It is confessed that the Lords Supper is for Confirming Men in the Faith they had before And are not both the Sacraments of the same general nature one to declare and confirm our initial Faith and the other our progressive 16. The Sacraments are to Christianity what Solemn Matrimony is to Marriage which is valid before God upon private consent but is necessary for order and preventing Fornication to satisfie Men ouâ— Church Title ordinarily depends on Baptism but God knoweth and accepteth heart consent 17. God saith Else were your Children unclean but now are they holy 1 Cor. 7. 14. Therefore it is not the Sacrament that first maketh them holy And the seed of the Faithful have such Promises as we make good against the Anabaptists 18. Children may dye before they can be baptized and are they by that natural necessity damned 19. If a Man live where the Priests will not baptize or give the Lords Supper but on condition that we profess some falshood or commit some sin as in the Church of Rome Must we commit that sin or be damned for want of the Sacrament 20. Doth not this lay a necessity upon all the Protestants in Italy Spain France Austria Batavia Portugal yea Mexico Peru c. to leave their Countries and travel to some Land where they may have Sacraments without sinful Conditions and may have it from Men of right successive Ordination And how shall all these be able so to travel And where will they find that Land on Earth that will answer their expectation and can and will receive them
all 21. What if a thousand honest weak Men mistake and think that the things imposed as necessary to their Sacramental Communion are great Sins and it be not so as our Doubts against Conformity are thought to be Mistakes yea the Anabaptists Error Can he prove that all such are damning Errors for want of Sacraments 22. Gods Oath is also to confirm our Faith And if a Man may be saved that beâ—ieveth Gods 〈◊〉 and knoweth not of his Oath why not he that believeth it and knoweth not of the Sacrament 23. Doth not his Doctrine make the Priests the absolute Lords of all Mens Souls that can deny Salvation to any or all Men by denying them the Sacrament Is this the sense of their having the Power of the Keys 24. Is not this abuse of Tibi dabo Claves and the office of Key-bearing the knack by which Popes have subdued Kings and Kingdoms 25. Is not the Argument which this Man manageth against the Reformed Churches to prove them â—o Churches and to have no Ministery and Sacrament the Achilles of the Papists in which is their chief coâ—fidence but often baffled as by Voetius against Jarâ—nius aforesaid 26. Nay the Papists themselves are far more moderate than this Man for they take a Laymans Baptism yea a Womans to be sufficient to salvation when this Man denieth it of all the most learned and holy Pastors that have not uninterrupted Episcopal Ordination 27. Bishops have too oft conspired to corrupt Gods Sacraments witness the Lateran Council sub Innc. 3. and to interdict Kingdoms and oppress Princes and People and may do so again And have the People no remedy against them 28. A Minister justly ordained and unjustly suspended or silenced by a Bishop hath more authority than Laymen and their Sacraments are not Nullities by the Romanists Confession 29. Is not this Mans Doctrine far grosser than Cyprians and the Africans yea the Dâ—natists that denied the validity of Heretick Baptism 30. A Lay-Chancellor in these mens judgments useth the Keys of Excommunication and Absolution validly and yet are not the Sacraments or Ordination of the Reformed Churches aforesaid valid 31. Surrogate Priests by the Bishops consent validly Excommunicate that are no Bishops 32. No People can be sure by this Mans Rule that they have Sacraments or shall be saved except by faâ—lible presumption not knowing that their Priest hath uninterrupted successive Ordination 33. When your presumptuous Ordination is discovered to be Null must all the People be Re-baptized 34. The Church of England giveth none the Lords Supper till 16 years old Doth it become absolutely necessary to Salvation just at that Age and not before 35. The Burial Office pronounceth all saved that never Communicated so they be Baptized and not Excommunicate nor kill themselves 36. What work would this Man make for Rebaptizers if all the Protestanâ—s of all Nations must be Re-baptized that have not the foresaid Ordination 37. Is it suitable to the description of God and his grace in Scripture to believe that he layeth all mens Salvation upon Sacraments performed by men Ordained as he describeth 38. Are not we Reproached Silenced Ministers as like to be good Protestants as such men as this that say that 1. The Reformed Churches that have not Episcopal Ordination from uninterrupted Succession are no true Churches 2. Have no true Ministers 3. Nor true Sacraments 4. Nor part in the Covenant of Grace 5. Nor hope of Salvation by promise from God 6. That their Ministery and Sacraments is the Sin against the Holy Ghost 7. That the Church of Rome hath this uninter rupted Succession as he tells me 8. That as will hence follow the French Protestant were better turn Papists than be as they are Sect. XXXI There are as many and greater Objections that I should lay before him about his Doctrine of an Universal Church-Policy and that sort of Episcopacy which he rather supposeth than proveth necessary and such other Points But I will no more tire the Reader herein Sect. XXXII All the definition of the Protestant Religion that I can extort from him is Communicating with the Church of England and those that it holds communion with 1. And so did the Papists saith Dr. Heylin in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign till the Pope forbad them 2. The Church of England never renounced Communion with the Reformed Churches which he renounceth 3. A particular Church is no Standard of Religion Nor England more than the rest Sect. XXXIII If he renounce Communion with all these Reformed Churches and with the Romans also what a Separatist is this Man and how narrow is his Communion and into how small a number hath he reduced the Universal Church If neither Papists nor any Churches that have not Ordination from uninterrupted Succession be parts of the Catholick Church it is very little if not invisible Sect. XXXIV He thus teacheth almost all the Christian world instead of Love and Concord to Unchurch Unchristen and Condemn each other The Romans on such accounts already Unchurch all the rest The rest will far more easily prove that Simony Heresie uncalled Popes uncapable ones and manifold Schisms have oft interrupted his described Succession at Rome And so Turks and Heathens have matter given them against us all Already by such kind of Schismatical Principles there are few parts of the Church on Earth that are not by others Unchurched and Unchurch not others But yet it is but few of them that have proceeded to that Anabaptistical height as to nullifie all their Sacraments and to expect that almost all the Christian world should be again baptized Yea this is far more Schismatical than common Anabaptism For the Anabaptists with us Re-baptize not them that were baptized at age by such Ministers as this Writer and such others degrade much less do they damn almost all the Christian world or other Reformed Churches and say They have no part in Gods Covenant of Grace and Promise of Salvation and that they sin against the Holy Ghost as this Man doth CHAP. X. None of these terms will unite a National Church or any Associated Churches nor well any single Church Though by other means a competent Vnion may be kept in some Churches notwithstanding such Schismatical Courses § I. THE same Reasons which prove that none of these terms will ever unite the Universal Church but that all are fitted to promote Divisions will prove also that they tend of themselves to the dividing and distracting of all lesser Church Societies and Communions Though yet we do not deny but de facto a particular Church may easilier agree in an Error or be kept in some Concord under the same Pastor where a Sin or Error prevaileth than the Universal Church on Earth can As the Church of Rome may agree in Popery but all the Christian world will not And as a great part hath agreed in Arianism called Christians and a great part in Nestorianism and to this day in Eutychianism
Church should not hastily set their own Wit or Authority against them all who for 600 if not nearer 1000 years after Christ did not only judge that Bishops must come in by the Peoples Election and Consent but that he was to be accounted an Usurper and no Bishop of theirs that had it not Fourthly And we have reason to think St. Cyprian and the Carthage Council of Bishops as wise as the Objectors who in the Case of Martial and Basilides before described judged that the People ought to forsake an uncapable scandalous Pastor though other Bishops even he of Rome absolved him And that the chief power of choosing or forsaking was in them and if they did otherwise it was not the contrary Sentence of Bishops that would excuse them before God It is easie to say St. Cyprian erred and we are in the right and this would overthrow all Government But neither the persons that object nor their Reasons have ever yet seemed to me sufficient to make me prefer their judgment even in this before Cyprian and the African Fathers XI In all probability FREE SACRAMENTS administred by such Ministers of Christ as by the Christian Magistrates Licence are either Approved or Tolerated would heal most of all the Discords about Religion in England I mean Sacraments not constrainedly but freely given and received I shall tell you why I think so by instances 1. The Thing call'd Strict Presbytery with a power of Classes and National Assemblies composed of Ordained and Unordained Elders as a Judicature whose Excommunication is to be enforced by the Magistrates Sword is approved by few of my acquaintance in England But those that Prelatists calâ— Presbyterians here commonly are Ministers that desire but the exercise of so much of their proper Office and the freedom of a Christian and a Man as not to be forced to administer Sacraments against their knowledge and conscience to the uncapable because a Lay-Chancelor or a Diocesane that knoweth not his Neighbours and Flocks so well as he shall say that they are worthy and command him to renounce his knowledge in obeying them And if God had made all such Ministers to be only the Lay-Chancellors or the Diocesanes Agents or Servants to Baptize and give the Lords Supper only in the Chancellors or Bishops name as a Messenger and if it be done amiss that not we but the Chancellor or Bishop should answer it to God then we could joyfully thus obey them But while we believe That we must answer our selves for our own actions and that we must Baptize and give the Lords Body and Blood in Christs Name and not the Bishops we dare not obey Men before God nor renounce our own judgment in the matters of our own Office and Trust Therefore it would satisfie us had we but freedom in our Ministerial action not to go against our Conscience however blind malice would make the world believe that it is some Papal Empire even over Princes that we desire Nay we desire That if the Magistrate will allow us Parish-Churches and Maintenance and Countenance in our work that any person that cannot remove his dwelling without great detriment and cannot be satisfied in our Order of Worship and Communion but can receive more Edification from another Minister may have leave to join in Communion with any other Approved or Tolerated Church keeping the Laws of Loyalty and Peace Why should I envy anothers desires or benefits Or think it hard that any can profit more by another than by me Or why should I be against it And we desire not that the People may be Ordainers or Church-Governors or have the power of the Keys but that if any Flock cannot be satisfied after full hearing to rest under the conduct of our Ministery they may freely chooâ—e another and remove us And for my own part as I never did so I wonder how any ingenious Minister can obtrude himself on any People and pretend to be their Pastor against their wills As my Conscience condemneth it as against God and them so I confess my Prudence is against it for my self and I am not so base as to endure such a life 2. And as for the Party called Independant I have reason to think that it is the main of that Toleration which they desire For Mr. Philip Nye who led them more than any one man known to me did purposely write to prove That the Christian Magistrate may set up Teachers all over his Dominions whom the People upon his Command are bound to hear But that to take any for their Pastors he thought they might not be compelled 3. And even the Anabaptists would be contented with the same liberty if they be but near as peaceable as Mr. Tombes was who wrote for even Parâ—chial Communion and persuaded the Anabaptists to it Though few so far followed him most I think would be contented with Free Sacraments in which I include the Eucharistical Lords-day worship § X. And what harm will this do where Love prevaileth and where Pride and Envy make not 〈◊〉 Priests to think all wrong them that do not Adore or Idolize them or give them more than is their due What harm will it do me if an hundred of my Parish hear and prefer another man by whom they can profit more than by me What if they worship God in other sound words or in Cloaths of another make or colour as long as they are restrained from reviling and the breach of Peace Are they any better in my Auditory with censuring or dissenting â—â—dgments hearing me against their wills than where they can freely join in Love and Peace If a bad or weak Minister grudge at all that go to an able Conformist in the next Parish few wise men will think that he doth it more for God or for his Brothers Soul than for himself and yet that person breaketh the Canon that goeth to the next Parish as well as he that goeth to a Nonconformist And why should we be more impatient with this man than with that § XXI The Pamphlets that are spread abroad for Rigor and Severity of late under the pretence of Conformity do many of them savor so rankly of Church-Tyranny and a bloody Mind and Principles and are made up of such Reasons as give us just cause to suspect that more of them are written by Papists than some think I instance in one called A Representation of the State of Christianity in England and of its decay and danger from Sectaries as well as Papists Printed 1674 for Benjamin Tooke in which the Staâ—e of Religion here is unworthily slandered and the Follies of some few such as the Quakers pretended to be the State of our Religion and words beseeming Mad-men which we never hear fathered on those that he pleaseâ— to call Sectaries and they are represented as 〈◊〉 of the Creed Lords Prayer and Commandments and what not that is reverend good and holy and the Papists much preferred before them
form of a particular Church lawful but what is of Divine institution some hold that only a Diocesan Church that hath many Congregations and Altars is of Divine institution and that the Parochial are not Churches but Oratories or Chapels or parts of a Church Others hoâ—d that only Parochial Churches of one Altar or associated for personal Communion in presence are of Divine institution some that both Diocesane and Parochial Churches are of Divine institution and some that these and Provincial National Patriarchal and the Papal are of Divine institution Thus do mens judgements vary § 3. A third sort hold that God hath instituted some Church forms besides the Universal and left men to make others And here some think that God instituted Patriarchal and left them to make the Diocesan and Parochial some hold that God instituted only the Diocesan and left them power to make the Patriarchal and the Parochial some hold that he made only the Parochial I mean single societies associated for present personal Communion and left them by voluntary associations to make the greater over them § 4. Among these opinions let us first try whether Christ hath instituted any Church form besides the universal and 2. what that is I. And 1. if Christ hath instituted a holy Christian society for ordinary holy Communion and mutual help in Gods publick worship and holy living consisting of Pastors authorized and obliged to Teach and Guide and speak for the flock in Gods publick worship and administer his Sacraments according to Christs word and of a flock obliged to hear them learn obey and follow such their conduct to the foresaid ends then Christ hath instituted a form of a particular Church and its policy But the antecedent is true as shall be proved And the consequent or major is proved à definito ad denominatum This definition containeth the Essentials of a Church No man can deny that to be a Christian Church which hath this definition § 5. Here still it is supposed that the Spirit in the Apostles who were designed to be founders and master-builders and to gather and order Churches and teach them to observe all Christs commands was Christs promised Agent as Tertullian calls him and that Christ did what the Spirit did by the Apostles in their proper work to which he was promised them as their Guide as it is aforesaid § 6. And that Christ and his Apostles instituted sacred ordinary Assemblies of Christians for holy worship and Communion is so clear in the New Testament that it were vain to prove it § 7. And 2. as notorious and past doubt it is that the end of these Assemblies was such as is here mentioned 3. And as plain that such Pastors as are here described were set over all these Congregations and authorized and obliged to the foresaid work that is under Christ the great Teacher Priest and Ruler of the Church to Teach them Gods word to intercede under Christ for them to God and from Christ to them in prayer and Sacraments c. and to Guide them by that called the Keyes of the Church discerning whom to receive by Baptism whom to reprove exhort comfort or absolve Act. 14. 23. Act. 20. 1 Tim. 3. Tit. 1. and many other places shew this § 8. And it is no less plain that the people were bound to continue in their doctrine communion and prayer and to obey them in that which they were commissioned to do Heb. 13. 7 13 24. 10. 25 26. 1 Thes 5. 12 13. 1 Tim. 5. 17. 20. and many other places so that the form of such Churches as consist of such Congregations and their Pastors is past all denyal and just doubt § 9. And as to all other Church-forms Classical Diocesan Metropolitical Provincial National Patriarchal and Papal it is these only that fall under reasonable doubt and controversie And 1. for Classical Churches I can say but this 1. That the General commands of holding Christian Love and Concord and doing all to edification require such Churches as live near together to be helpers to each other and that counsel and correspondency is necessary hereto which the Churches have still laudably exercised by Synods And if these associations for order-sake be agreed on as to stated times and numbers and bounds it is but the circumstantiating of a known duty And if any will call this a distinct Policy or Church-form I contend not against their liberty of speech while we agree de re But I judge it perillous to give the same name to such an Assembly or Association as to a Church of Christs institution lest it seduce men to think that the word is not equivocally used If the Agents of several Kingdoms met at a common Dyet I had rather not call them a superiour Kingdom were their meeting never so necessary An Assembly that is the Pars Imperans of one body Politick having Legislative power is one thing and an Assembly of Agents or Princes for meer concord and strength and help of distinct Kingdoms Schools Armies c. is another thing And I know no proof that such Councils must be ordinary or at stated Times and places but sometimes that is best and sometime not as the case standeth as even the Papists confess And when they begin to degenerate from a Council for Concord to a Majesty or highest Governing power it 's time to cross their claim and interrupt the occasions of it § 10. And if men at such Classes and Councils choose one to keep order as a moderator yea if they fix him it is but the circumstantiating of the Assemblies work But if he will claim hereupon a distinct order office and proper political Church relation so as hence to make himself the Regent part of a species of a Church yea and claim this as of God and unalterable I cannot justifie such a Church-form § 11. This holds as to the Presidents of all ranks of Synods Classical Diocesan Metropolitical Provincial National or Patriarchal To use them as Presidents of Councils for Concord is one thing and to use them as the Pars Imperans or the constitutive heads of a distinct Church species is another Arch-Bishop Vsher told me himself his judgement that Councils were but for Counsel and Concord and not for the Government of each other or any of the members and that they had no proper Governing power either over their Minor part or over any absent Bishops Though each Bishop was still the Governour of his own flock and their power over their flocks was exercised with the greater advantage by their Concord in Councils Dyets and Councils of distinct independent Bishops are not distinct forms of policy or Churches § 12. And if this hold true that the Councils themselves are not thereby Rectors of a distinct political society but for Concord of many then it will follow that a President of such a Council whether Diocesan Provincial National or more General is not as such a
Sins are not within his Cognizance 3. To do the work of Parents Pastors Tutors or Physicians is no part of the Office to which he is appointed and authorized 4. But he may drive on all these to do their duties by due means 5. It is unlawful to seek to cure a lesser Evil with a greater That is to be numbred with the things which the Prince cannot do which he cannot do by lawful means or such as do more hurt than good 6. The Mischiefs before enumerated against the Princes Safety and Honour and against Love and Justice and Conscience and Religion are so great as that no Severity must be used which procureth them and doth not a greater good 7. The punishing of small Faults by great Punishments is Injustice and Unlawful 8. Abundance of Infirmities and humane Frailties and Errors are such as must be endured so they be but by Doctrine Love and gentle Reproofs rebuked and disowned without Punishments Ecclesiastical or Corporal else there will be no Love or Peace 9. Preachers must not be suffered to persuade Men from the Faith Love or Obedience of God in Christ against any Article of the Creed or Petition of the Lords Prayer or Precept of the Decalogue or any essential part of the Christian Religion 10. If such speak a damnable Error or Heresie by Ignorance or Heedlesness they must have a first and second Admonition and they 〈◊〉 repent But if they forbear not upon Admonition they do it studiously and wilfully and such are to be Silenced till they Reform because the Preaching of one that opposeth an essential Point of Religion will do more harm than good except among Heathens or where no better Preachers can be had 11. It will not be unmeet for the Rulers to draw up either a Catalogue of integral Points of Religion of great moment which all shall be forbidden to Preach or Dispute against or else a Catalogue of Errors contrary to such which none shall have leave to propagate But it is not every one that violateth the Law that is to be forbidden to preach Christs Gospel but lesser pecuniary Mulcts may be sufficient punishment to many and the bare denying them preferment or maintenance and casting them among the disowned that are but tolerated may be better punishment and more effectual in case of tolerable Faults than the more severe 12. Rulers should do much more to restrain from Evils than to constrain to Religious Duties And those Evils are of these sorts First Such as blaspheme God Secondly Such as draw the Hearers Souls into damnable Error or Sin Thirdly Such as tend to overthrow the Honour and Safety of the Governors Fourthly Such as tend directly to breed Hatred in men against each other and kindle the fire of Contention and Enmity Fifthly Such as draw men from the common duties of Justice towards Neighbors or Relations into Fraud and Injury 13. It is the greatest part of the Magistrates duty about Religion First To see Gods own Laws kept in Honour Secondly And to keep Peace by Church Justices among Clergymen and People that are apt to take occasion from Religion to abuse and calumniate one another 14. Yet Rulers may and must compel Persons that are grosly ignorant or erroneous to hear what can be said against their Error and for their Instruction As Parents so Magistrates may compel Children and Subjects to be Catechized and to hear Gods Word and may compel them to hear such Teachers as have the Rulers Licence either as Approved or Tolerated to Teach 15. Men ought not to be compelled to receive the Sacraments of Baptism or the Lords Supper by the Sword or Force because it is to receive a sealed Pardon of Sin and Donation of Christ and Life which no unwilling person hath right to or doth receive For to say I am unwilling is to say I receive not and so the reception of the outward sign is Hypocrisie Prophanation and taking the Name of God in vain 16. Yet those that being Baptized and at Age avoid Communion are after Admonition to be taken for Revolters so far and to be declared such as so far cast themselves from the Communion of the Church And the Christian Magistrate may well deny them many Priviledges in the Commonwealth which he should appropriate to sound persevering Christians 17. Places in Government Trust Burgess-ship and Votes in Elections of Governors and such like are best appropriated to the Approved part of Christians and some the Tolerated but never granted to Apostates proper Hereticks or any that are intolerable 18. Pastors of the Churches should not be constrained to give the Sacrament of Baptism or the Lords Supper to any one against their Consciences because First It is their Office to be Judges who is to be Baptized and to Communicate This is the power of the Keys Secondly If they may not judge of the very Act which they are to perform they have not so much as that judicium discretionis which belongeth to every man as a man and so must act brutishly Thirdly If they may administer against Conscience when they think it Sin the same reason would hold for all men to sin whenever a Ruler commandeth them that judgeth it no Sin what Bounds shall be set against absolute blind Obedience Fourthly Whereas the Objection is from Inconveniences As Then every Pastor may deny Men Sacraments I answer 1. So every Tutor Physician c. may abuse his Trust 2. Therefore men must have care whom they choose and trust 3. There are better Remedies than sinful slavery in the Minister even consulting with Synods of Ministers or where Bishops rule appealing to them 4. The persons that expect the Sacrament may have it from some other Pastor that is willing It is a less inconvenience that a single person remove or else communicate in another Assembly than that the Pastor whose Office is to use the Church Keys be enslaved to sin against his Conscience 5. We suppose that of ancient right the Church is not to have a Pastor over them whom they consent not to Therefore if the Church find themselves wronged by the Pastors Fact they have their Remedy They may admonish the Pastor and if he hear not tell the Bishop Synod or Magistrate for I am not now determining the case of superior Bishops but tell what is the actual Remedy where such bear Rule And if he hear not the Church Synod Bishop or Magistrate they may desert him and choose a fitter Pastor and yet neither Excommunicate nor Silence him but the same man may be more sutable to another Flock which will desire him They that object Inconveniences in this motion should consider First That a Mischief and Sin is worse than an Inconvenience Secondly That there is nothing desirable here without Inconveniences which may furnish an unwise Contender with Objections Thirdly That they that cry up the Canons and Traditions Custom or judgment of Antiquity Bishops Councils Fathers and the Catholick