was a wild man his hand was against every man and every man's hand was against him Gen. 16. 12. They conclude all the Christian world besides their Brethren in iniquity to be Antichristian and all Christian Chruches condemn them as Schismaticks They dissent from this Christian Church whereof they are or ought to be Members and in that respect they dissent from the Catholick Church primitive and successive But this say some is hard measure they are our Brethren and our Protestant Brethren In good time that now at last upon a mischievous design which is easily understood and might be soon manifested Malignants from 40 to 60 should be taken in into the number of the Brethren sure we are they received harder measure from these their false Brethren than Jacob did from his Brother Edom Obad. 10 c. They are in the Scripture notion strange Brethren who can find in their hearts to plunder and murther their now lately adopted Brethren But how comes these dear Brethren with a mischief to be dubbed Protestants Are they so called because they dissent from all Protestant Churches Protestant signifies with them another thing than a reformed Catholick which every Protestant is or else he is no true Protestant Three acceptations of the word Protestant are now in fashion for first Protestants are a Set of pretenders in opposition to and exclusion of all others who profess Christianity if this be their notion they are pure Donatists and the exclusioners have as much Antichristian pride and uncharitableness as the Pope or his most bigotted Papalins it 's an assumed name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeks name it who justly esteem every such a badge of division and apostasie Lact. a Latin too thought so Christiani esse desierunt c. They cease to be Christians who forsaking the name of Christ usurp to themselves humane and alien denominations Or secondly Protestants are but Antipapists all who renounce the Communion of the Church of Rome and oppose the Pope's Sovereignty without any more to do commence Protestants in short they are no Papists therefore they are Protestants or which is far more absurd they are enemies sworn and foresworn enemies to Episcopacy and Monarchy and they then are true Protestants The Demagogues and Sectaries do frequently thus sense it which is indeed to reproach it and make it odious to all who love peace and truth For then all Doctour Stillingfleet's Gnats which are now metamorphosed into Vipers then all Doctour Burgesses putredinous Vermin of bold and frantick Sectaries so he honoured them Ser. before Comm. Nov. 5. 1641. who erewhile were his Bandogs which he let loose and hounded on the King and Bishops must be honoured with this title Then Socinians Anabaptists Familists Antinomians Swinckfeldians yea all Mr. Baxter's Jugglers the Hiders whom he subdivides into Vanists Paracelsians Weigelians Behminists c. with his Seekers whom he again subdivides into six more vile ranks must be dignified with this not to be despised as not to be too much extolled title Or lastly Protestants were those learned and pious men who endeavoured the retrieval of the Primitive Catholick and Apostolick Faith and Usages from the innovations and corruptions which had overspread and polluted the Church What they did was to reduce the Church into its primitive state in the simplicity and purity of Faith and redress abuses in practice reserving still a power in each particular Church to determine for it self what God hath left undetermined for unity order and edification with the closest consonancy to the rules and observations of the ancient Catholick Doctours and Fathers If this which indeed is the true notion of the Appellative be intended the Dissenters are to all intents and purposes for ever barred from any claim to it unless they mend their manners which is scarce to be hoped For as a learned man observed They know they are in the wrong as well as we can tell them but all the world will not make them confess and amend As the case now stands they cannot challenge any right either to the name or to the thing Not to the name for neither they nor any of their Sect were in Germany an 1529. when the Disciples were first called Protestants upon a protestation and appeal from the Decree of Spira unto Coesar and a General Council Nor to the thing For neither they nor any commissioned by them did ever subscribe to the Augustan Confession neither will they now be concluded by it nor will they submit to the harmony of Confessions industriously drawn as the proper Test of Protestancy to distinguish true Protestants from false pretenders to the name It is therefore mere mockery to affirm them Protestants who protest against true Protestancy and the resolutions of all formed Protestant Churches But if they must be called so it must be by an odd Figure the same by which a schismatical traiterous Conventicle patched up of Clergy-men States-men Sword-men and Lawyers was once called an Assembly of Divines Their agreement if any such there be in the same common principles of Faith which are arbitrary as to them will not gain them the denomination of Protestant nor beget the relation of Protestant Brethren For then the Pope and his adherents must be Protestants and our Protestant Brethren to boot and with great reason because they earnestly contend for the first Principles of the Oracles of God and Doctrines of Christ which several of the Fanaticks either oppose or scruple Dr. Stillingfleet will not blame the Papists for believing too little but too much which these heretical Blades are faulty in too as well as they The Pope or Church of Rome by a presumed infallibility of judgment from a Divine endowment assumes a power to declare which in practice is to mint and coin Articles of Faith so the Sectaries hold forth their singular opinions and Enthusiastical dotages as demonstrations of Spirit More plainly thus The Roman Chairman with his Conclave or a Council takes upon them to define false or disputed opinions as matters of Faith which thereupon they enter into their Creed to be believed as absolutely necessary to salvation The Sectarian Chairmen with their Benchers and Associates pass Problems in their Systemes and Synods for Divine Revelations and Principles of the Doctrine of Christ which they exemplifie in their Catechisms and Confessions of Faith as the Oracles of God Now they are as infamous prophane prevaricators of Divine Law who preach up their private fancies and sentiments for infallible Soul-saving Doctrines as those who equalize their particular Traditions with the infallible word of God The learned and judicious Bishop Davenant thought so Adhort ad Pacem Eccles c. 1. p. 43. I says he think it is all one to obtrude our controverted points on the Consciences of men in the same degree of necessity with the most perspicuous Doctrines of the Gospel as to confound unwritten Traditions with the written word of God Mr. Newcomen a sprig
been a great noise and bustle for a better in the chief Materials and Superstructures thereof It is confessed Doctrine Worship and Government are the Essentials of a regularly constituted Church each of which hath been impugned traduced and defamed The Doctrine hath been least debated though too much the Worship hath been more scrupled and with great heats opposed the Government most of all canvassed and bandied against Upon which accompt this being most contemned by all Sectaries and least respected by many who retain a kindness for the Doctrine and Worship is first to be reflected on where it will not be amiss before that be considered to premise something in general relating to all and every of the contested particulars CHAP. I. Sect. 1. MAny things conducing to the well-being of a regularly formalized Church may be and are in their kind alterable which yet as Mr. Calvin observes nec subinde nec temerè nec levibus de causis should not be altered Considered precisely in themselves they may but if the reasons of their Constitution be regarded they are practicè moraliter unchangeable These terms are borrowed from a great Jesuit yet made use of by several reformed Divines in several important instances and approved by them for this reason because the first reason of their origination is moral and perpetual Those of this nature being not merely occasional temporary Proviso's which often vary either upon some sudden unexpected emergent or for the avoidance of some greater evil but were ordained for the great end of Christian Society and in the ordination founded on the general rules of the Gospel Whereupon with the Greeks they passed as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divine Constitutions for their serviceableness to the great Concerns of publick Religion with the Latins as Divina Magisteria Divinae Dispositiones Divinae Sanctiones quae publicâ Lege celebrantur quas universa Ecclesia suscipit Mr. Calvin saith of them Sic sunt humanae ut simul sunt divinae which if I understand aright hath this clear sense They are humane in their composition but divine in their foundation and reason of their Constitution Sect. 2. To attempt a second Reformation will be a great reproach to our first Reformers who confessedly were men of great learning piety and zeal For if they failed in their undertaking either through ignorance oscitancy or interest it will be readily concluded they designed onely a Change and endeavoured an innovation which at once blasts their reputation and justifies all the imputations of their Romish Adversaries who impeached them of novelty and Schism And if we set upon a new refined Reformation as their former charge will hardly be evaded so with difficulty will we solve their latter Objections viz. Protestants have no Principles or which is as bad are so given to change they will not stand to their principles whereas if we maintain the Reformation to be onely a Reduction of affairs to the primitive Apostolical and Catholick order and state we do not onely thereby render a second Reformation unpracticable but also invalidate all the Romish contumelies and calumnies This was the avowed profession of our first Reformers they would onely retrieve the Primitive Christianity and settle this Church according to the Catholick Pattern concluding all other methods of Reformation to be irrational and schismatical Bishop Jewel in his famous Apology p. 176 177. fully declares it Accessimus quantum potuimus asserting the whole and every main part to be Apostolical and consonant to the judgment and practice of the ancient Catholick Bishops and Fathers This Apology not onely Peter Martyr in his Epistle prefixed to it but also the learned Divines of Tigur Bullinger Gualther Wolphius c. have so highly approved that they resolved no Book extant in the Protestant cause was comparable to it Other eminent Transmarine Divines might be mentioned yea a Jesuit in his Pamphlet against Mr. Chillingworth hath confessed that of all other courses in the Reformation that which the English followed was the most effectual for the establishment of our Religion against the Romish Church The more shame for a presumptuous Ignoramus publickly to remonstrate We might as easily persuade the modish Ladies of Court and City to Queen Elizabeth's Ruffs as to gain him and his rabble to be content with her Settlement of Religion Sect. 3. This Church being thus Reformed and restored to its primitive strength and splendour to move for a second Reformation dissonant therefrom is in effect to renounce the Communion of the Primitive Catholick Church with which all successive Churches ought to hold as near as possibly they can a perfect correspondence and where this cannot be obtained by reason of some cross circumstances to reflect upon it as an infelicity The reason hereof is obvious for the primitive and successive Churches are but one Body having the same dependencies upon and relation to the one Lord one Faith and one Baptism and the Catholick visible Church and every regularly constituted particular Church is an organized Body having several Members for several Offices all which conspire for unity that there be no Schism in the Body which certainly would happen if successive Churches observe not the same Laws and retain not the same Government which the primitive maintained For that which maketh the Church one is the unity of these and that which distinguisheth one Body or Society from another is the diversity of Laws and Government and so long as the same Laws and the same Government are in force the Body is still the same Now as Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to day and for ever so is his Church which at first was embodied into an indeterminable Society For the Scripture assures us the Church is a Body and that Body whereof Christ is the Head Col. 1. 18 24. Eph. 4. 11 12 15 16. which we profess to be Catholick not onely in respect of persons and place but also of time The Catholicism whereof not onely includeth variety of places and multitudes of men but is to be extended to universality of succession Now evident it is that all Bodies Corporate whether aggregate such as the Church is or sole by their succession are immortal as long as they retain the same fundamental Laws and remain under the first settled Government If therefore we condescend to a new Reformation distinct from the first Settlement or opposite thereto we design a schismatical separation from the primitive Catholick Church if we put it in execution we fall under the same condemnation we sentence against the Romanists this being the common Protestant Apology We have departed from Rome no farther than she hath from the ancient Church and her self and if there were no other reason for this our secession as there is viz. That we embraced Christianity before S. Peter planted a Church there and when the Western apartment was set out by the Fathers this of ours had the honour of being one of the Seven
102. the ninth and last year of Clemens 6. Simeon named Act. 15. 14. after his Kinsman James the Brother of our Lord was martyred consecrated his Successour at Jerusalem an 63 or 64. Euseb l. 3. c. 10. and 16. so that for full eleven years he was of an inferiour Order for so many passed after the mention of him in the Acts. 7. Dionysius spoken of Act. 17. 24. was the first Bishop of Athens Euseb l. 3. c. 4. To these may be added Archippus Bishop of Coloss Apollo of Corinth Epaphroditus of Philippi Tychicus of Chalcedon Sylvanus Sosthenes c. but it will be sufficient to review the Catalogue of the four Patriarchal Sees 1. After James the first Bishop of Jerusalem fourteen of the Circumcision succeeded him Euseb l. 4. 5. whereof Justus was the last who died an 131. which is full twenty years before Blondel's Ara. 2. At Antioch after S. Peter Euodius was Bishop till an 98 then Ignatius till an 108 after him Cornelius who died before 140. 3. Eight successive Bishops sate at Rome till 140. in which year Higinus was consecrated Antonini Pii Tertio 4. At Alexandria five are accounted from S. Mark the last whereof Eumanes was ordained an 134. Num. 4. That all these had the same power which is now claimed by Bishops is evident from Rev. 1. 20. where as the seven Angels of the Asian Churches are distinguished from the Churches so every of those Angels had a power of Jurisdiction in their respective Churches to redress abuses For why should they be particularly taxed for scandals and irregularities therein if they had no power to reform and remedy them It seems too severe to charge neglects on them who have no power to take cognizance of crimes and to correct them That those Asian Churches were fixed and determinate distinct Churches the Presbyterians cannot deny who affirm they were governed by Presbyters for that must needs be a determinate Body which is governed by one or by many The Independents shift we find here a Congregational Church wherein were many Congregations many Ministers many Believers many Pastours is frivolous for there might and many such there were yet these might be and were under one President over them in Chief for such as these many are to be found in our Cities where there are Bishops to rule them and it is evident that those Prefects were and did exercise authority over both Laity and Clergy from the rule given to Timothy by S. Paul before alledged John Frigivile of Gaunt writ his Reform Pol. an 1593 wherein he avers p. 64 c. Q. Elizabeth maintained the Government and State of the Clergy in England as God had ordained in the Law and confirmed in the Gospel for said he p. 14. Though the Apostles were equal among themselves concerning authority yet no sooner was the Church encreased but different degrees began S. Paul charged Timothy who was Bishop of one of those Seven Churches not to admit an accusation against a Priest therefore he might admit or reject an accusation against a Priest and therefore he had Jurisdiction even over a Priest Dr. Raynolds's Conference with Hart p. 535. thus states it In the Church at Ephesus were sundry Elders and Pastours to guide it yet among those sundry there was one Chief whom our Saviour calleth the Angel of the Church here then is our Saviour's approbation for the Chiefty of the Order and this is he whom afterwards in the Primitive Church the Fathers called Bishop Num. 5. The Apostles having ordained Bishops to succeed them in the Government of the Church they who were so ordained were thereby authorized to ordain others and so on to the end of the world Matt. 28. ult which in the judgment of the best Interpreters imports Though the Apostles continued not in their Persons yet should in their Successours That there should be such a Succession is concluded from Scripture Act. 1. 20. must one be ordained to take Judas his Bishoprick which by Divine disposition fell upon Matthias who as Euseb reports l. 2. c. 1. was of the Seventy an inferiour because a distinguished Rank to that of the Apostles which seems probable from v. 21. it being the employment of the Seventy to accompany and attend them Saint Paul appointed Timothy to depute faithfull persons to officiate in the Church 2 Tim. 2. 2. yea so great care had the Apostles for a Succession that as Clemens reports they Note Lift or Catalogue of approved men who should succeed the present Bishops in each Church Num. 6. In the Apostles times certainly immediately after there were three Orders in the Church not as Calvin who first conjured up Lay-Elders to be his officious Agitatours recites them nor as Mr. Dallee conjectures but as they are accounted in the Church of England Bishops Priests and Deacons Indeed it is very likely there was first but one Order the Apostolical or Episcopal the Apostles or Bishops discharging all Church Administration and Offices But they having a power entire in themselves and radically they were enabled to derive and communicate what they thought fit for the necessities of the Church to others Accordingly the Church increasing as it is recorded in the Acts the Order of Deacons was instituted who were not empowered onely to collect receive and distribute Alms to the necessities of the poor but to higher Ecclesiastical Offices For we find Philip both preached and baptized Acts 8. 35 38. That this Philip was not the Apostle but the Deacon Calvin thinketh so because he supposeth the Apostles were not then removed from Jerusalem Gualter is positive from the Testimony of Epiph. de Sim. c. and all ancient Writers Certainly Saint Cypr. ad jub is clear A Philippo Diacono quem iidem Apostoli Petrus scil Johannes miserant baptizati erant Beza reckoning the Pastoral Offices and duties adds Sub quibus c. under which we comprehend the Administration of Sacraments and the blessing of Marriage from the perpetual use of the Church in which particulars the Deacons often supplied the place of the Pastours so he Confess c. 5. Aphor. 25. This he attempts to prove from Joh. 4. 2. 1 Cor. 1. 14. with him concurrs Bull. Fleming Magdab who all received it from Just Mar. Ambr. Hter Aug. the Greek Par. and Tert. who is most express Dandi quidem c. The chief Priest that is the Bishop hath the first right of administring Baptism then the Presbyters and Deacons How long these two Orders continued in the Church is not fully resolved Some conceive from Act. 14. 23. about an 49. Claudii Septimo the third Order that of Presbyter was superinduced others conjecture not so early however Cities and their Territories submitting to the Sceptre of Christ Presbyters were constituted before all the Apostles died yet the Bishops still reserved the power of Ordination and by consequence of Jurisdiction as in the Greek Chruch even to this day Bishops alone Ordain as Arcud de
Concord l. 6. c. 4. sect Igitur observes Indeed in the Latin Church Presbyters did lay on hands with the Bishop at the Ordination of a Presbyter yet this was observed not for its validity but for its solemnity and attestation For the African Fathers who ordered it ascribed the entire power to the Bishop Cod. Afric c. 55. 80. and even at Rome besore S. John's death Presbyters were settled in several Parishes by Enaristus Caron p. 44. and therefore we may believe before that the same was done in earlier converted Churches Mr. Toung in his Notes on S. Clem. 1. Ep. ad Cor. out of a Book which Mr. Petty brought from Greece hath this Sentence S. Peter was in Britain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 settled Churches by laying hands on Bishops Priests and Deacons It will not be amiss to superadd how far the Waldenses concurred in judgment upon this case with the Church of England which we find Parsons third part of the Three Conversions of England cap. 3. p. 44. who relates from Vrspurg Trithem Antomin and others that they onely approved three Ecclesiastical Orders at which his tender Conscience was moved viz. That of Deaconship Priesthood and Bishops which is very probable for the Fratres Bohemi to continue a succession of Bishops sent twelve men to the Waldenses in Austria to be ordained Bishops by their Bishops which was accordingly done and Corranus a Spaniard one of the Waldenses flying thence into England was retained a Preacher at the Temple and dedicated a Dialogue to the Lawyers there an 1574. in the close whereof he maketh a confession of his Faith where he declares his judgment herein I hold saith he there be divers Orders of Ministers in the Church of God viz. Some are Deacons some Priests some Bishops to whom the instruction of the People and the care of Religion is committed This we are sure of S. Bernard complains heavily many Bishops were of their Communion This was the primitive Establishment Conc. Cart. 3. and 4. Chal. Act. 1. for which reason Nazian in Vita Basil enforms us that he rose to his Bishoprick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the order and rule of spiritual ascent one degree after another So S. Hier. writes of Nepot in Ep. Fit Clericus per solitos gradus c. Num. 7. If S. Augustine's known and generally approved rule be admitted then the Order of Bishops is truly Apostolical because maintained in all Apostolical Chruches before any general Council had determined it And Tert. his Sorites will make it good which was that is truest which is first that is first which was from the beginning that was from the beginning which was from the Apostles that was from the Apostles which was inviolably and religiously observed in all Apostolical Churches Calvin speaks fairly to the case and so doth Beza too if their words may be taken who have tricks to eat them in the former saith the Bishops of the ancient Church made many Canons with that circumspection they had nothing almost contrary to the word of God in their whole Oeconomy l. 4. Instit c. 1. sect 14. but more fully thus they did not frame any other form of Government in the Church than that which God prescribed in his word The latter averreth what was then done was done optimo Zelo if so then they did it from warranty either from the Scripture or universal Tradition S. Hierome himself once said it was an Apostolical Tradition and when he said it was a Custome he proved it a good one because ordered for a good end as a safe remedy against Schism and an Apostolical Custome because taken in the Apostles times when one said I am of Paul c. which happened an 58. The disparity of Bishops and Priests was so religiously maintained in the primitive Church that the Fathers in the Council of Chalc. Act. 1. adjudged it sacrilege to bring down a Bishop to the degree of a Presbyter and the Doctrine of parity was condemned as flat Heresie in Aerius because he positively affirmed that there was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. one Order one Honour one Dignity in the Priesthood Dr. Crack Defens Eccl. Anglic. contra Arch. Spal p. 242 243. Bishops then as they were settled in matricibus Ecclesiis the Apostolical mother Churches so have been continued in all successive Ages without any considerable opposition for 1500 years which is so strong and cogent an argument to some who have not been over-fond of Episcopacy they have resolved it unanswerable since the Order hath been canvassed by some yet is still retained either in the Name or Thing in all the Eastern and Southern Churches generally in the Western and Northern reformed and others unless in two or three petty Associations in comparison of the rest where by reason of some cross circumstances it cannot be obtained though highly approved and much affected by most of their learned men never disowned or abominated by any but those whose zeal for the good Old Cause is immoderate S. Augustine's expression insolentissima insania insolent madness Num. 8. If these Structures be built upon the Foundation of the Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner Stone the Fabrick is as firm as Mount Sion which may not be removed For if the Apostles did settle Bishops in their several Plantations and these such as the Prelatists plead for then that is the one necessary Government to be retained in the Church For the Apostles being inspired by the Holy Ghost they did then act and order the Church according to his directions Amesius himself resolves what is Apostolical Stands by Divine Right his words are Med. Theol l. 2. c. 15. n. 28. The Apostles were acted by the Divine Spirit no less in their Institutions than in the very Doctrine of the Gospel propounded by word or writing This he delivers to assert the Divine Authority and unalterableness of the Lord's day and will therefore hold here For if Episcopacy stand in the Church by the same authority that the Lord's day doth which Dr. Hammond hath fully proved then it hath the same Divine Authority for its Establishment This King James saw and so Premonition p. 44. is very positive That Bishops ought to be in the Church I always maintained as an Apostolical Order and so the Ordinance of God The Dissenters who allow of Church Government as such have often declared what concerns the rule of Government in the Church by Officers appointed by Christ is unchangeable Now that the Bishops are those Officers hath been evidenced from Scripture Rules and Precedents and confirmed by the suffrage of a cloud of Witnesses who as they accord in their Testimonies so were faithfull unto death some whereof were the chosen Witnesses of Christ's Resurrection some were immediate Successours to those ordained by the Apostles others of the highest reputation in the Church for testifiers of Catholick Tradition all of them had and still have such credit in the
Diocesan or Patriarchal Churches as well as Rome yet even this would justifie our Separation because it was our duty to reunite our selves to the Catholick Church all several Churches being but partes simulares homogeneal parts of the whole Whereupon it followeth that that Church which keeps closest to the primitive Catholick Pattern and holds the nearest alliance with it is the purest and that several Churches having such a relation to and dependence upon it neither particular persons nor particular Churches are to act as divided Bodies by themselves which is the ground of all Schism but are to teach and to be taught and to doe all other Christian duties as parts conjoyned to the whole and as Members of the same indeterminable Society Sect. 4. Suppose we should yield to another project of Reformation the issue will be confusion and desolation for if we may conclude their intentions from their former practices and present principles the design is to over-rule or abolish all their way was to strike at all root and branch and now they are for removing the Laws Their course of regulation is to rase the Walls of the City if they can if not to undermine them Down with the Church of England is the Popish Plot and the direct way to this is to divide it All the Papist Pot Cannons and Sophisms could never batter or shake our Jerusalem till some of the Citizens thereof made breaches in it Nay the Romanists never made an approach upon it till the Puritans had made an assault these gave the other both the opportunity and encouragement to attack it Tush say the Popelings let us levell this the Mushrome Sectaries will either fall in the ruines of it or else into our hands they have been very serviceable Tools to us in all our attempts and no doubt will be so on to the end if ever we effect it and then we know how to engage their tender Consciences let it but appear to them which we will not fail to doe they can gain by the barter they forsooth have a new light a new dispensation of Providence and they must wait on Providence and follow that light Sect. 5. What will the consequence of this work be if it go on Is it to remove what is established before we resolve where to fix This were certainly mad work to demolish old Structures before we have advised of the fashion of the new Perhaps a model is fansied but are all the Dissenters agreed about it When they had power too much and time too long to resolve on a settled way even then they neither would or could unite nor ever will or can This we are sure of none of the schismatical Parties can have their own ends unless all be taken away which crosseth their humours or interests and if this be done by violence or by Law not one of ten shall have his own ends which because they cannot obtain their feuds will be high till one party get the full mastery and then the Plot of Union is marred But who shall be taken into this motion to have the benefit of it If all nothing can follow but confusion without remedy and scandal beyond an Apology If one onely Party which yet is unknown what it is then the others if they dare will stand out and oppose it if not they will murmur and repine and thus expostulate Why should they be secluded Members debarred of the privilege of Comprehension This say they we can say for our selves we were drawn into the Lines of Communication by the persuasions and solicitations of their gratified Partizans and Comrades and though they say it have as much promoted the good Old Cause In this indeed we are all agreed we shall never enjoy Liberty of Conscience till we have power to kill and take possession neither likely to have Free Trade till without any respect to Law we can plunder and sequester Malignants and shall we who are fully accorded with them be laid aside If it be pretended the favoured will give good security for their good behaviour for the future whereof there is yet no evidence we are as free as they not doubting to affirm we are the more sober and peaceable in whom there is a more sweet and gratious spirit of love and zeal and have been more constant to their principles than they For we can prove many of them were active Conformists soon after proved persecuting Presbyterians then dough-baked Independents and now again have tacked about and are Cologueing Compliers However if some be received into favour and others rejected there is plain partiality in the case if all must be entertained a downright unaccountable Schism follows But to wave the Persons to be comprehended what Things must be granted them for an Union If onely a few unsatisfactory alterations be tendered the project is baffled we should be as far from Unity as now we are for then the clamour would be our burthens are a little mitigated but not removed our grievances are abated but not fully satisfied we must not leave an hoof behind us when we go out of Egypt If many and great alterations be submitted to then they triumph in their Conquests they had not onely Providence on their side but reason also and argument and then we shall hear of nothing in Pulpits Clubbs and Coffee-houses but stories of their mighty Acts that their Enemies are now under great convictions that they are the Godly conscientious Gods secret Ones and the good Old Cause must needs be God's Cause Having premised these Considerations let us next reflect upon the matters on which this motion of Reformation must proceed and first of that which is most opposed the Government CHAP. II. COncerning it the most proper method will be to discuss these following Propositions 1. That Church Government is necessary 2. That necessary Church Government ought to be one and the same throughout the Christian world at all times 3. That one Church Government is Episcopacy which hath prevailed ever since the first plantation of Christianity Sect. 1. Church Government is necessary for these reasons The Church is a Society which cannot subsist without it It is a Body whose parts are compacted each whereof hath its proper Office and Service it is that Body whereof Christ is the Head who therefore will provide for its preservation and peace by placing Governours over it which de facto he hath done 1 Cor. 12. 28. It is the House of God whereof Christ is the Lord who hath reserved this prerogative to himself to nominate and constitute the Stewards of his Houshold and Family as he did Luk. 12. 42. hence those commissionated by him are called the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God Therefore for any to exercise a power in his House who is not authorized by him or to reject those powers which he hath entrusted to provide for his Family and rule his House is a most sacrilegious invasion and
presumption This House is his Kingdom too Matt. 13. 24 31 33 34. Temporal Monarchs if they have occasions to absent themselves from their Dominions will always depute and substitute such as shall take care for the preservation of their Kingdoms in peace and tranquillity certainly we have lower thoughts of Christ than we have of an earthly Potentate if we can conceive that he having designed and formed a Kingdom of Heaven here upon Earth would at his departure hence be so careless and insensible of its after state and condition that he would not make sufficient provisions for its due management stability and perpetuity especially since we are ascertained this his Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom to continue unto the worlds end and he hath promised so long he will be with it Matt. 28. ult which he effectually ordered Luke 22. 29. I have appointed you a Kingdom I who have full authority for all power is given me Matt. 28. 18. have appointed you as my Embassadours 2 Cor. 5. 20. to transact and negotiate the affairs of my Kingdom in all quarters of the world setting you on Thrones whereby ye are impowered by Commission to rule under me and for me and I have appointed all my faithfull Servants to give you double honour and be obedient unto you 1 Tim. 5. 17. 1 Thess 5. 12 13. Heb. 13. 17. viz. I have actually conferred the preheminence and dignity upon you not left my Kingdom at random to be ordered by contingent and infinitely variable votings not to be new modelled 1536. when Jesuitism and Presbyterianism first peeped out nor to be reformed to confusion in 1641. nor to receive amendments in 1648. and a refinement in 1680. and made a full grant to you and your Successours for ever what was then demised stands still in full force and virtue even the more prudent and sober of the Sectaries will subscribe to this there ought to be a Government in the Church that it continue not as a City without Walls or a Vineyard without a Hedge and many of them have stood stifly for the Jus Divinum of the several opposite and contradictory Models Sect. 2. It being now proved that Church Government is necessary both in respect of the appointment of its Head and from the constitution and nature of that Body it will necessarily follow that that necessary Government be always one and the same because the Head and the Body is always one and the same If once we admit several contradistinguished Governments we must grant several Heads and several Bodies It can never be proved from Scripture God will approve several Governments in his Church or that he hath permitted any degrees or orders of men to alter that which was from the beginning This is one of the great crimes we charge upon the Pope that he hath altered the Government of the Church which will appear to be unjust if the Government thereof be ambulatory and ad placitum Article what we can against him on this score if there be no one perpetual determinate Government he will easily abate the impeachment for he will clear himself by this that he being a Temporal Prince as well as an Ecclesiastical Prelate hath power upon reasons of State and Discipline to alter the Polity of the Church if God hath not fixed a constant unvariable Form For if it be arbitrary and precarious why should any Kingdom or State deny that power to him which they assume and usurp themselves In a well-ordered Kingdom he is not onely a Traitour who disclaims the jus Regnandi of his natural Liege Lord and Prince but he also who without any authority derived from him or contrary to his pleasure shall presume to exercise any of his Regalities or powers annexed to and inherent in the Crown so they who will readily grant Christ to be Head of the Church yet withall pretend a power to form another Government than that which he observed and ordered in his Church are formal Schismaticks and Traitours to Christ the King of Kings This is obvious if we reject the authority of the Church we renounce Christ's authority and if we levell and cashier the Catholick Government we schismatically divide and so far separate from the Catholick Church which receives that denomination not onely in respect of that Faith which is universally professed but also of the Government which hath been and is universally observed It is true there are many particular Churches in the Catholick which are distinct locally and in a foreign account but really and morally are onely one because they all and each of them adhere to the one Lord one Faith and one Baptism and retain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace For this distinction is not in essentials or integrating requisites but onely happens to them upon an extrinsecal and adventitious account inasmuch as it doth not spring from any diversity or contrariety in Faith Sacraments or Government but doth onely accrue to them from the diversity of several Kingdoms independent one from another into which these are incorporated It is true there was some distinction of Churches before the Kingdoms of the earth were Christian yet this arose upon an accidental respect from the respective Plantations There is an ancient Tradition which is probable that every Apostle had his peculiar circuit appointed by Christ whereupon they some sooner some later dispersed themselves into Twelve several Regions and parts in the world to fix their Plantations if this be admitted they were necessitated to suit their Rules and introduce such Customs as were most proper for the inhabitants and possessours of their several Assignments this then will afford a probable reason of that variation of Orders and Customs in the Jewish and Gentile Plantations who were of different tempers and principles whom the Apostles would endeavour to please as S. Paul witnesseth of himself 1 Cor. 9. 19. 20. Now though hereupon several circumstantial observations were taken up in several places and Provinces yet still the same Faith and the same Government in the main was maintained The Conclusion then is all the Churches of Christ Primitive or Successive have but one Lord one Head one King are but all one Body one House one Kingdom therefore they all de jure are under one Government which what it is is next to be considered Sect. 3. That one necessary Government is Episcopacy or Prelacy which because it hath prevailed in the Catholick Church ever since the first plantation of Christianity is therefore undoubtedly Apostolical and if so then certainly Divine To demonstrate this the method will be to produce the Evidences in order Num. 1. Prelacy was founded originally in the person of Christ as the true Messiah It was foretold Isa 9. 6. the Government should be on his shoulders and this to be perpetual v. 7. and this he founded in an imparity of Ecclesiastical Officers settling two distinct Orders for Church Ministeries the twelve Apostles and
pia fraus 2. The Zealots of the Sect honour an honest unpremeditated prayer with the title of Spiritual by way of propriety in opposition to set Forms for ordinary use pretending the Spirit immediately suggests the expressions Thus Ambrose in his experiences published with Licence from Herle once Prolocutor of their Assembly Angier Johnson and Waite Provincials in the Class in Lancashire upon a private Fast observed Jan. 6. 1642. held it forth The Lord gave some that exercised that day the very spirit and power of prayer to the ravishment of the hearers surely it was the Spirit spake in them which they resolved from Zach. 12. 10. Rom. 8. 26. This is a Jesuitical Cheat as it is reported by Maffeus elevante spiritu c. that the Spirit would raise Ignatius at his prayers four cubits from the earth 3. The great Sticklers for the good old Cause so highly extoll extempore conceptions that they own them as the best evidences of their Party and Piety first idolizing that which in some is mere natural in others an artificial habit of Enthusiasm as Casaubon hath evidenced c. 4. next idolizing the persons pretending to it who have been very monsters of men such as Achitophel who as the Rabbins relate prayed every day thrice and every time had a conceived Oration such as Basilides the great Duke of Muscovy and Oliver two most bloudy Villains and Tyrants such as the blasphemous Hacket here in England and the vile Wretch were in Scotland the horrid execrable Regicides and the whole litter of our late Mammon Rebels and Renegadoes SECT 5. It is confessed by the most knowing men of the Party that imposed stated Forms were in common practice in the Fourth Century which is an Argument they were so from the beginning For the Fathers of that Age being persons eminent for piety and sincerity in the Christian profession would not innovate and being also men of excellent accomplishments would easily have observed what was most proper for the discharge of their Function Had they believed that lowsie Fancy that the modification of publick Worship by personal abilities was the formal act of the ministerial Office as the cutting of Cloath into such a shape by his own skill is the formal ministration of a Taylor as an Anonymus p. 79. of his Survey mechanically held forth they doubtless would have made use of their great personal abilities in their publick administrations which confessedly they did not and it is certain they would not doe so because they conceived themselves obliged to retain the ancient Forms in veneration to those pious persons who composed and injoyned them for publick use The Third Council at Carthage c. 3. resolved Quascunque c. Whatsoever prayers any shall transcribe for themselves let them be taken out of a Copy before in use S. Basil de Sp. Sanct. c. 27. refers to the solemn words of prayer observed before his time in the benediction at the Eucharist Saint Chrys Hom. 2. in 2. ad Cor. exemplifies a Form which had long before been constituted in the Church In Ireland S. Patrick brought a Liturgy which he received from Germanus and Lupus originally taken from S. Mark Archbishop Vsher in his Discourse of the Religion professed by the ancient Irish affirmeth he had seen it set down in an ancient Fragment well nigh nine hundred years since remaining now in the Library of Sir Robert Cotton That every exception against those Liturgies of Saint James c. that they were supposititious is an argument that such there had been for if they were corrupted something was pure if somewhat was supposititious in them somewhat also was genuine One trifling objection against our Liturgy which serves to amuse the Vulgar is not to be neglected It is this The first Reformers industriously contrived the Common Prayer Book to endear the Papists to its use This in the judgment of wise men is to commend them Zanch. in Phil. 4. 8. thought the gratification of bad men in those things wherein we do not offend God to be a duty Amyral de Secess ab Eccl. Rom. p. 225. highly approves this course atque hic commemorare c. we are here to consider with what wisedom and moderation the French and Genevian Churches contrived their publick Forms of Prayer They are so far from handling any controversial matters therein that the Pontificians themselves scruple not to use them and which is scarce to be believed but that the matter of fact is notorious they have picked out of them certain Prayers which they have inserted into their Manuals for the use of the people in their native Language The objectors might have remembred that Book took with the Romanists for full ten years of Q. Elizabeth's Reign probably had longer but that their dear Friends the Puritans had disturbed the peace of the Church which gave the Pope an opportunity to dispatch his Emissaries and ever since both Parties have bandied against it The Consectaries of the premisses are stated Liturgy from Scripture with the practice of the primitive Christians and continued in the Catholick Church is the best service of God and our Liturgy being perfectly conformed thereto is to be retained It was then no vanity or presumption in Archbishop Cranmer to engage against all opposers thereof if he was permitted to take Peter Martyr with three or four more for his assistants he would prove there was nothing therein contained but what was agreeable with the holy Scriptures and primitive Antiquity Bishop Jewel had great reason to assert Accessimus c. We came as near as possibly we could to the Order used in the Apostles times Apol. par 5. c. 15. divis 8. and more fully par 6. c. 16. divis 1. We came as near as possible we could to the Church of the Apostles and of the old Catholick Bishops and Fathers and have directed according to their customs and ordinances not onely our Doctrine but also the Sacraments and form of Common Prayer so false and absurd is that fancy that our Liturgy is formed out of the Roman Missal that so far as it is Popish is nothing else but a bombast of corrupt additionals patched to it CHAP. V. THE next Charge against the Reformation is that Ceremonies are retained and enjoyned SECT 1. That circumstances may be determined the Assemblers have resolved Pref. to the Direc p. 7. viz. They endeavoured to hold forth such things as were of Divine Institution and to set forth other things according to the rules of Christian prudence agreeable to the general rules of God's word and some of these other things are Ceremonies for a determination of the posture of the Body in Divine Service is one which they pass when they order the people to sit at the Table and in the Office of Marriage they will and require the Man to take the Woman by the right hand c. which they accompt a Ceremony or else their immediately subsequent clause is non-sense viz.
on my forehead the banner of the Cross The custome then being ancient and innocent because observed in the best times it ought to be retained and for its better observation be enjoyned by authority certainly not laid aside to gratifie humorous people 3. As for kneeling at the receiving of the holy Sacrament though there be not so clear a constat yet this is plain the Ancients used the same gesture they did at prayer which never was that of sitting which neither in it self hath nor in the esteem of the Ancients ever had any thing of reverence Tert. de Orat. c. 12. protests against it and Amesius c. 18. de Consc p. 191. rejects it because not expressive of reverence nor approved in Scripture Now kneeling was the ordinary custome Euseb l. 8. c. 5 8. standing was at particular times and places which they used as a significant Ceremony yet when they stood they bowed the body after the manner of worshipping which is sufficiently proved by that received rule Nemo manducat c. Let none communicate but he who first adores so that ordinarily they kneeled when they received and when they did not they worshipped The best reformed Churches use kneeling and the best learned of those who do not acknowledge it a gesture of humility and reverence which where it is constituted ought to be uniformly observed The Genevians in their Annot. on the harmony of Confessions are well content every particular Church should use her liberty in such cases particularly they make mention of kneeling at the Communion and use of all such Ceremonies as now are observed by the Lutherans Copes Organs c. and had been used before by Papists Annot. Sect. 14. Obs 4. ad Confes Bohem As an upshot to this when an English fugitive Separatist proposed his Thesis de Adiaphoris at Geneva he could not be permitted to discuss them The whole may be drawn up in this order Ceremonies are lawfull things some of this kind are expedient these expedients ought to be significant these may and occasionally ought to be imposed these so imposed are to be observed and those we practise caeteris paribus are to be settled rather than any other because thereby we honour our first Reformers we obey our lawfull Superiours we keep up our alliance with other reformed Churches sure with the chiefest and best and which is more we hold a firm correspondence with the primitive and present Catholick Church CHAP. VI. AS for the observation of Holidays the Grandees of the Sectarians seemed once willing to admit Festivals provided they were not called Holidays which was nothing else in them but a silly sour singularity and morosity for more learned and much better men than they never scrupled at the name Mr. Perkins Demonst Problem p. 232. n. 6. asserts this Holy they are not in and for themselves but for the holy duties then performed to God Dr. Rivet in Ex. 20. p. 167. declares A relative holiness belongeth to them and they might very properly be called Holidays ratione finis in respect to their ends and uses being separated for holy exercises So they were constituted and observed in the primitive Church S. Chrys Hom. in Ascen hath assured us The Catholick Church observed six recurring anniversary Solemnities in memory of Christ's Nativity Epiphany Passion Resurrection Ascension and mission of the Holy Ghost The matter of fact is notorious In the Reign of Dioclesian an 294. and by the Greek Menology on the twenty fifth of December the Christians assembled to commemorate the Birth of our Lord whereof the Emperour having received intelligence commanded the doors of the Church to be shut and fire set to it which soon consumed both them and it Julian in an hellish design joyned with the Christians in their publick Assembly on the sixth of January called the Epiphany The Festival for it 's called by Phil. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Fast of our Saviour's Passion was solemnly celebrated and that from long custome Eus l. 2. c. 16. The dispute so early started about the time of the observation of Easter puts that beyond dispute Just Mart. Resp ad Orthod 115. speaks of its being kept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Apostles time Euseb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vid. Eus l. 5. c. 23 24 25. and S. Aug. Ep. 119 ex authoritate Scripturarum universae Ecclesiae consensione The Ancients called Ascension Tessaracostae Scal. de Emend Temp. many are their Homilies on that day Conc. Elib c. 43. treats of Whitsuntide as an ancient Solemnity censuring all those who neglect it as Hereticks The matter of fact is backed with a good reason For if the primitive Christians were strict in the observation of the Birth-days as they were called but indeed Death-days of the Martyrs we cannot imagine they would be forgetfull fo the joyfull days wherein the Lord and the Lord of the Martyrs begun continued and perfected the work of the Redemption of mankind But evident it is those days were religiously observed S. Cypr. l. 3. Ep. 6. expressed his great care and zeal those commemorations and solemn Offices should not be slurred Rivet in Ex. 20. p. 154. saith Ratio postulat c. Reason requires that not onely certain days but sufficient be retained even as many as the right constitution safety good of the Church and the glory of God requires For we being exonerated from the Jewish yoke may have more ought not have fewer days for the service of God than they had but they had more than one in seven some whereof were of humane institution This he confirms p. 163. Quod de die c. that which was expresly said of the Seventh-day by analogy and parity of reason respects any day which the Church hath appointed and in common use hath observed for holy Meetings whereupon all Interpreters do conceive not onely the Lord's day but all other lawfully instituted Festivals are comprehended under the Fourth Commandment But a good word from Geneva may doe more service than all other authorities and reasons Hear a whole gang of Genevians at once Every Church may use her liberty in observing Ember-days and Holidays consecrated to the godly memory of the Saints Annot. in Harm Confess Sect. 16. Obs 1. ad Conf. Boh. and retain the use of singing Christian Hymns and Songs upon the Holidays Obs 2. Zanch. in Expl. c. 2. ad Col. so far approves them that though he thinks there is no absolute necessity for them yet there is a profitable necessity in their due observation Bishop Dav. in his exposition of the same words hath furnished us with three substantial reasons who will may consider them CHAP. VII THE last which is opposed is the Doctrine of the Church exemplified in the Book of Articles The Independent Sophi hath expressed so great kindness for 36 of them that by his Verdict woe be to him that shall dispute them no less correction will satisfie his tender Conscience than exile but away
an ambulatory or menstruous Creed nor with an arbitrary monstrous superintendency voted and unvoted and revoted backward and forward according to the sense and interests of the Chairman and his crew in S. Stephen's Chapel Neither will we be satisfied or own a civil or common Law hotch-potch Church according to the device of the Counter-plot as the three Inventors gave it a Name one whereof is an outlawed Traitour the second a Church Trepanner the third a giddy Changeling For I demand Was the Church of England when Popish a true constituted Church according to its first settlement by Christ and his Apostles and subsequent example of the Primitive Church because it was so established by Law or not If it were we have done the Papists business they need not prove us we have proclaimed our selves Schismaticks in separating from a true constituted Church by Christ's and the Apostles order antecedently such before any humane Sanction if not then a legal settlement may be Antichristian which in that very respect stands in great need of a Reformation For as to attempt a Reformation of that which is founded on Divine Authority and stands by Divine Law is a contradiction to the indispensable and irrevocable will of the Founder so to reform what hath been introduced by mere humane authority without any warranty either general or special from a grant of our Law-giver is a pious Christian duty provided that in the management thereof nothing be done repugnant to any other Divine Law and our duty But let what can be suggested for the promotion of this new project it will be baffled by the two notorious Ringleaders of the Faction For if Mr. Baxter's onely true way of concord will not pass he and his Comrades will be as clamorous and stirring if they dare as ever J. O. is positive All lawfull things are not to be done for the Churches peace which quite undoes it Confessed it must be that several of the Partisans conceive a full union cannot be expected yet to comprehend and condescend to those who will occasionally and partially conform may go far towards a peace In good time can this be a way to true Christian peace when Mr. Baxter hath given us fair warning not to trust them plainly telling us Apol. for Nonconf p. 90. they are onely Instruments to undermine us and will turn against us as soon as they have opportunity Neither will their coming to Church as they delusorily and hypocritically call it clear them from the guilt of Schism because this Church being both founded and settled upon Divine Right in all its Superstructures there arises an obligation constantly and throughly to communicate with it and observe its Rules and Orders which not to doe is sinfull Separation and to abett or countenance those who doe not is to partake of their sin For it is not love devotion or duty which draws them but cunning interest and fear which drives them to this outward auckward conformity The best any can make of it it s an act of compliance cannot be an act of Christian allegiance and obedience to lawfull Superiours which is a work of Faith incorporate with the other good works of Faith issuing from the supernatural power of God's Word Spirit and Grace Certain it is that the men for whom this favour is moved do publickly and honestly declare which is next to a moral impossibility that they ever will that Kingly power is originally and immediately from God that Prelatical Episcopacy is a Divine Apostolical Institution that some circumstances and adjuncts in the external ministeries of Divine Worship not expresly prescribed by God may and ought to be adhibited therein for decency order and edification they are not to be trusted and if frequent experiences will not make us so wise as to neglect them and all such motions for them we are fit to be begged and once more undone We are yet again efforted with a troop of tantum nons who are still bleating for connivence forbearance and moderation which in effect is to solicite the Laws be outlawed though herein they would give better evidence of their moderation and modesty if they left that solely to the resolution of the Government Take these we must as we find them and we shall find them vary as the wind does they can blow hot and cold with one breath that trimming Proverb is their Rule There is no living at Rome and fighting with the Pope and let the Government sink or swim they will keep themselves out of harms-way If possible to make sure of this world they will have friends of all parties for which end they can at present swallow the Oath of Allegiance take the Test and upon another occasion vomit a fulsome Remonstrance Address or Association but by all means they will make infallible provisions for heaven in order whereto if they be in health they are for the Church and if in safe policy they may for a Conventicle too yea from the Church to a Conventicle and back again if sick they will not refuse the Offices of the Church but will admit them de bene esse yet for their transire and viaticum they must have a voluntary conceived prayer by a moderate Sneak who can play fast and loose with the Church Offices and to make sure work the Sacrament must be re-administred by one of the same batch or a zealous Holder-forth In my judgment these of all other Sects are the most dangerous because the more close and reserved we cannot say they are either flesh or fish nor discover whether they be Hawk or Buzzard they are animalia imperfectè mixta but this we know much mischief hath hapned by this false disguised and miscalled moderation to evidence which it will be requisite to exemplifie this in some all are too numerous and would be too bulky instances and to give in the opinion of two who in their times were reputed moderate learned men and excellent preachers 1. It hath been mischievous to the Church The Samosatenian Heresie was brought in under a mistaken charitable pretence to reconcile the Jewish and Christian Religion The Heresie of the Monothelites was set up on a design to moderate the Heresie of Eutyches The Eusebians propagated the Arian Heresie by their moderate endeavours to compose the difference betwixt them and the Catholicks Some Novatian Bishops to satisfie the scruple of a convert Jew thought fit to leave it though the matter of it was an approved practice as a thing indifferent which soon raised a Schism and this Schism in a short time begot another Theoph. Alex. favoured the Originists in hope to recover some at least from that Sect but S. Hier. told him roundly his moderation therein was very offensive to holy men because thereby he emboldned and strengthned the already over insolent and peevish Faction What Greg. Naz. got or rather lost by his easiness of temper is too large to relate and so it is of many more