by blessing him Indeed the words in Greek are both the same but ordination is expressed by another word Acts 14.23 and when they had ordained them Elders in every Church and had praied with fasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth a divine institution not holding up of hands in a choice of any Vid. Act. 10 41 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they commended them to the Lord Or if you will say that Timothies ordination though spoken of twice yet it only shewes that St Paul and the Presbyterie were associate in the work you will hardly find Calvin so to interpret 1 Tim. 4.14 in his Institutions But be it so * Chryl hom 13. in 1 ad Tim. cap. 4. that Presbyterie was a companie of Elders whereas Calvin saith they were Bishops yet you cannot by that prove that preaching Elders were of the same antiquitie with the Apostles except you take the Apostles themselves only for such Elders nor yet that preaching Elders saving the Apostles were of equall authoritie with Bishops Mathe. I pray Sir make that forth to me that Elders or Presbyters were not of equall antiquity and dignity with Bishops Phila. You are to observe that both the Office of Bishop and Elders were both at first included in the Apostles only as 1 Pet. 5.1 the Apostle Peter there cals himselfe a co-Elder while he exhorteth Elders yet that proveth not that Peter was only an Elder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no more then it proveth that those Elders to whom he then wrote were all Apostles for none durst join themselves to the Apostles in commission Acts 5.13 till they had ordained and appointed them and therefore no doubt those that ministred had their approbation and appointment first from them except they had an immediate call from God as Paul had from heaven and Ananias in a vision to go and baptize Paul But their ordinary way was to give commission by laying on of hands and ordination Therefore we read Acts 6.3 that they appointed the seven elected Deacons and laied their hands upon them though they had the Holie Ghost before that Acts 6.3 yet had no commission to officiate that dutie till then Acts 6.6 So also Barnabas and Saul was separated by command from the Holie Ghost to the particular work to which God had appointed them and they were separated by the imposition of hands fasting and praier and to that work approved So we find that Barnabas and Saul ordain Elders in every Citie at Lystra Iconium and Antioch Acts 14.22 23. till which time we read not of the word Elders nor of ordination which power of ordination so far as I see was ever kept in the hands of the Apostles and such whom they made superintendents over many Churches So Paul having made Titus superintendent or Bishop over Creet appointed him to ordain Elders in every Citie Calvin Institu lib. 4. cap. 3. which power I find not given to every inferiour Presbyter nor yet to many of them associated without a superintendent I know some may say that those that sent Barnabas and Saul were not Apostles I answer though none of the twelve yet of the second order namely Apostolicall Prophets such as are spoken of Eph. 4.11 not by foretelling things to come but by expounding the divine oracles Ambrose in 1 Cor 12. who in that time were no lesse than Bishops for we read not of any of the 72 Disciples nor of any other meer Presbyters that ever took upon them imposition of hands and therefore when Philip had converted some people at Samaria the Apostles sent Peter and John to lay their hands on them Acts 8. by which they received the Holie Ghost by an holie consignation Eph. 1.13 not for miraculous operation Mathe. What other difference is there between Bishop and Presbyter Phila. As they were more ancient that by them Presbyters might be ordained so they were of more dignitie and authoritie then any meer Presbyters This dignitie and authoritie the Apostles kept to themselves a while First because as yet the Church was not setled Secondlie because at first few or none were found fit for that office But at last lest equalitie and paritie should breed schisme they set up superintendents or Bishops Hieron in Tit. c. 1. Ep. ad Evagri who did excell other Presbyters both in conferring rewards and also in censuring manners as in Tit. 1.5 he had power to ordain So they had a jurisdiction coactive and corrective transmitted to them from the Apostles as Timothy is bid by St Paul to charge some that they preach at Ephesus no other but sound doctrin 1 Tim. 1.3 and to restrain prophane and vain bablings 2 Tim. 2.16 And Titus is also authorized by S. Paul to put some to silence Tit. 1.11 as well as to rebuke others v. 10. yea to excommunicate some Tit. 3.10 Hieron 〈◊〉 Luciferi By this means faction was prevented which else likelie might have made in time as many schismaticks as Priests some people crying up Paul others Apollos others Cephas 1 Cor. 1.12 The Apostles therefore set up Bishops in divers Cities who were succeeded by others in place and authoritie still above Presbyters Aug. cont Manich. Epi. c. 4. to 6. which succession hath kept people still in the lap of the Church whose prosperity hath much depended upon their power and dignitie And that there hath been a continued succession of them the Ecclesiasticall histories sufficientlie declare And that they have been alwaies in higher dignitie then Presbyters must needs be allowed or else the Apostles left the Church in unwarrantable paritie contrary to Christs example who gave the twelve Apostles an higher title then the 72 Disciples Luke 10. and so did they set others above Presbyters And these we find sometimes called Apostles i. of the second order Gal. 1.19 So James the Lords brother was called an Apostle yet he was none of the twelve and also many other called so 1 Cor. 15.7 which were not of the twelve neither This no doubt was in regard of their precedencie as Epaphroditus was called the messenger or Apostle of the Philippians Phil 2.25 Theod. in 1 Tim. 3. and what is that saith Theodoret but their Bishop namely of that Church The twelve are alwaies in Scripture called the Apostles of Jesus Christ because they had from him their immediate divine mission but others that had only Apostolike ordination they are only called Apostles or Apostles i. Bishops of such Churches as Gal. 1.19 and 2 Cor. 8.23 And this appears further that such Apostles were Bishops because Christ commends the Angell of the Church of Ephesus for trying those that said they were Apostles but were not These that were tried could be none of the twelve for they were all known to that Angell if they were at that time living but it is most like to be some that like Diotrephes sought the preheminence of an Apostolicall Bishop which was above the
next association was in the Temple at praier time and at breaking of bread in their houses Acts 2.46 that is in their private oratories or upper rooms set apart for holy occasions of which there was no use when Churches were built except for devotion of the private family Another meeting you find Acts 4.23 where God shook the place where they were assembled and they were all filled with the holy Ghost Another meeting you find Acts 6.2 about choosing the seven Deacons of whom Stephen was one who was the first Martyr that suffered death for Christ Acts 7.58 Then began persecution to wax hot by reason of Sauls being too zealous for the Law of Moses Acts 8.4 and so the Church was scattered but he was converted Acts 9. Then had the Church rest and multiplied exceedingly ver 31. and spread very farre and at Antioch they were first called Christians Acts 11.26 Then Herod Agrippa to curry favor with the Jewes Acts 12.2 killed James and imprisoned Peter but God smote him in the midst of his vain glory Acts 12.23 The next speciall meeting of the Apostles was Acts 15.16 the first Councill that ever was who determined the great Question of circumcision negatively that it should not be imposed on the Gentiles Other meetings there were in divers places according as the Church increased and was transplanted in divers regions as Acts 20.7 at Troas Mathe. But had they any publick meeting places called Churches in those times Phila. The first they had were those oratories which the Jewes had on tops of their houses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called the upper rooms which though the Romans called caenaculum or a banquetting room because it was like their feasting rooms on the tops of their houses yet neither the Jewes nor Christians used it but in religious devotions And therefore where Christ eat the Passeover and celebrated his last supper was held a place sacred though appertaining to some private house of some of the disciples In this place some say that Christ appeared to his disciples on the day of his Resurrection Nicepho Bed de locis Sanct. to 3. c. 3. and on the eighth day after to Thomas with the rest and that here James was made Bishop of Jerusalem by the Apostles and the seven Deacons elected and the first Councill held Cyr. Hieros cat 16. Acts 15. And Saint Cyril cals it the upper Church of the Apostles where the Holy Ghost descended also upon them Acts 2. And it may possibly be the place prophecied of as being neer to mount Sion Psalm 50.2 out of Sion God appeared in perfect beauty in which Psalm the spirit also seems to refuse carnall facrifices which was Gospel-like doctrine Also it is prophecied that out of Sion shall go forth the Law and the word of God out of Jerusalem to which many people shall flock and so they did Acts 2. And thus his foundations were laid in the holy mountains and he hath shewed that he loved the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings of Jacob Vide Hier in Epitap Paulae epi. 27. because he i. Christ was there produced by the Gospels promulgation which never came from the Temple though divulged from a place neer to Sion which place was enclosed afterward if we may beleeve antiquity with a faire Church called the Church of Sion In process of time as the Church Christian increased no doubt they built places of recess for the worship of God as well as the Jewes had Synagogues whose religion was estranged as much from the religion of the Roman Empire as the Christians was and in these places they did ordinarily assemble to perform divine duties unlesse they were hindred by necessity Mathe. I pray give me some instances of these Phila. We read that as at first they had their upper rooms for oratories so afterward they had places of worship built in fields Euseb eccles hist lib. 2. c. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where they heard the Scriptures interpreted and had severall classes for men and women and sung Psalms and had distinctions of Bishops and Deacons We see also in Pauls Epistles that he salutes some with their houshold only as Aristobulus and Narcissus Assyncritus Rom. 16. Oecume in in Rom. 16. and Col. 4. and Phlegon But others he saluteth with the Church at their house i. all those that there commonly assembled So he salutes Nymphas Col. 4.15 and Philemon and Aquila and Priscilla Rom. 16. which sheweth their houses or part of them dedicated to pious uses in common So Theophilus to whom St Luke dedicates his Gospel Hiero. in ep 2. ad Galat. Clem. in Recog lib. 10. and Acts of the Apostles did dedicate his house at Antioch to this purpose this was about thirty eight years after Christ And Eusebius reports that St Mark had divers Churches in Alexandria in his history lib. 2. cap. 16. So St Paul at Corinth as we may collect from 1 Cor. 11.22 saying have ye not houses to eat and drink in or do you despise the Church of God So Joseph of Arimathea and his Colony of Christians built the Church of Glassenbury in England Hist Angli which being burnt was built again by King Henry the second his Letters Patents So Crescens caused a Church to be built at Vienna So in 79. Eus l. 3. c. 4. there was a great Church built at Ephesus by St John saith Eusebius lib. 3. cap. 20. And many were built also in Rome by the Apostles means Euseb l. 2. c. 25 And surely the reason of this dedicating places to holy worship was because Christians being taught by Scriptures that the majesty of God is most sacred and incommunicable so those things by which they worshipped should not be made common And indeed therefore Christians were well admonished by an ancient holy Writer Clem. in epist ad Corinth that we ought to do all things as God had expressed them to be done in regard both of times when and persons whereby and places wherein that so we may be accepted of him all these we find in the first hundred years after Christ Mathe. I pray go on and give me a further light Phila. We find Ignatius reproving Trajan in a Church lib. 3. cap. 19. as Nicephorus reports And 117. the Emperor Adrian commands Christian Churches to be built Dion in Adri. and forbade to place the Images of the Romane Gods therein And Ignatius writing to the Magnesians Vid. Epist ad ad Philad chargeth them to meet in one place to use one common praier with one heart as coming to one Temple of God one Altar and one Christ So we find Polycarpus receiving the Communion in a Church at Rome in the year 169. And Theophylus Antiochenus Eus l. 5. c. 25. in his Epistle to Autolycum saith that as the sea hath Ilands that are fruitfull so the world hath Synagogues called
harm may be done by rash suspension from the Sacrament or excommunication from Christian societie nor lesse harm by facile and easie absolution Therefore though a Priest hath power to denie the Sacrament upon good grounds yet not to excommunicate from all society in the Church without the authority of his superiour nor was it wont that one should be received again to the Sacrament without the hand of the Superiour and Clergy was laied upon his head Cyp. l. 3. Ep. 16. in token of reconcilement So Bishops were wont to give account to Synods of their excommunicating men Conc. Nic. Can. 5. Concil Sardcens Can. 14. And for absolution of Schismaticks it is true the people have been called together to be satisfied in their repentance not to confirm the sentence but to satisfie their conscience in the absolution and to prevent schisms afterward they observing how the party was stricken with fear and recovered with shame but this was no proofe of a Lay Presbytery Mathe. What was then the Presbytery mentioned by St Paul Phila. It is but once mentioned in all the New Testament as in the 1 of Tim. 4.14 which I have proved to be only spirituall men as Pastours and Teachers called Elders as at Jerusalem fifteen years after Christs ascension were Apostles and Elders Acts 15. So at Antioch were Prophets and Teachers as Barnabas Simeon Lucius Manahen Saul and Mark and others Acts 13. which the Apostles placed in Cities where they had planted the Gospell This was done for the defence of beleevers against seducers that crept into houses and subverted many by teaching things that they ought not for filthy lucres sake 2 Tim. 3. And that those ruling Elders were Lay Judges that Paul speaks of it plainly appeareth to the contrary for the Apostle there speaks of maintenance allowed out of the Church stock which I never heard or read was given to any Lay ruler and certainly if St Paul was loath to have the Church burdened with a widow 1 Tim. 5. so long as her own kindred could maintain her would lesse put the charge of a Lay Judge upon it The Governors in the Apostles times were moderators of dissentions 1 Cor. 6.4 between party and party by their gifts of wisedome discretion and judgement by-which decision of controversies the slander of the Gospell might be prevented in their going to law before Magistrates who were Infidels 1 Cor. 6.1 But beside these I find no Lay rulers to meddle in Ecclesiasticall affairs 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I mean common people called Lay from the Greek word that signifieth people or secular men but only Presbyters i. Priests in a short speaking Beside we find that God hath alwaies governed his Church by Regall Propheticall or Sacerdotall jurisdiction therefore Christ being all these in himselfe governeth his Church so by Magistrates Teachers and Pastors Now the Lay Elder is neither of these for they are no Prophets because they have no charge of his word nor have they Priestly power in regard of sins and Sacraments as Jam. 5.14 15. If any be sick let him send for the Elders of the Church who shall pray and annoint him with oile and his sins shall be forgiven him These Elders were not Lay men but such to whom was committed the gift of healing and absolution Nor have they the Regall power for then the Magistrate must be subject to them not they to him or if they had it can last no longer than when the Magistrate is a Christian So that I see not how Lay Elders should be governors of the Church but they must be Magistrates or Ministers Mathe. If there be no Christian Magistrates must then the Ministers take all the power of government Phila. They may do as was done in the Primitive times when the Church was not protected by the civill sword but rather persecuted Mathe. But what if they grow Hereticks or prove pernicious Phila. Then the whole may avoid the unsound for in such cases the people have power of desertion but not of coercion they may avoid or decline but not punish their Pastors as John 10. my sheep know my voice but strangers they will not follow So Rom. 16. mark them that cause divisions and avoid them for no doubt where the publike State is not Christian Cyp. l. 10. Ep. 4 the people have power to chuse a good Pastor and refuse a bad one Mathe. What Presbytery is that which the ancient Fathers do so often speak of in their writings Phila. First you must know that the Scriptures speak of three degrees in the Church and so do the Catholike Fathers viz. of Deacons Elders or Presbyters and Bishops and when they speak of a Presbytery they mean a company consisting of these as if you read them you shall find in Ignatius Jerom in Tit. 1. Amb. in 1 Tim. 5. Ignat. ad Trallianos Magnes Philad Smyrn Antioch Aug. de civit dei l. 20. c. 9. in Psal 106. Isid Originum lib. 7. Tertul. in Apolog. In his tract of flight in the time of persecution And Aug. speaking of seats of Church Governors shewes plainly that Lay men had not judgement seats in the Church for who governed the Church he tels us in Psal 106. they that sate at the stern as himselfe did Mathe. How came Bishops to be above the Presbyters Phila. Christ made a difference in the degrees of Apostles and disciples so did the Apostles of Bishops and Presbyters for though at first both the Bishop Presbyter and Deacon were all included in the Apostles yet as they found reason to lead them to make Deacons Acts 6.3 and also Presbyters in severall places to keep up the Gospel which they had planted as there were Presbyters at Ephesus Acts 20. and also among the converted Jewes 1 Pet. 5. where St Peter calleth himselfe a fellow Presbyter i. in care and pains not in office and degree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the equality of Presbyters breeding faction among the people they were forced to commit the care of the Church planted to some choice person who might oversee the flock as Pastor of the place and the rest to be his helpers in dispersing the word and advising in the Church government and to these were committed ordination and imposition of hands and the keies not to the Presbyters which the Fathers call Episcopall power This may be seen by Paul's Epistles to Timothy and Titus 1 Tim. 1.2 So c. 5.22 Tit. 1.5 and how they kept the keies to themselves may be collected from the 2 Thes 3. where he bids the Presbyters only note him by a letter that would not obey his words but the use or sparing of the rod he keeps to himselfe 1 Cor. 4. 2 Cor. 12.13 and delivers it to those no doubt whom he made overseers or Bishops like themselves who were also called Bishops Cyp. l. 3. Ep. 9. Amb. in Eph. 4. Epiph. cont
regulated yet not Episcopacy be extirped since it hath been alwaies held and found to be the bond of Church-union and separation from it the symboll of faction Therefore the ancient Writers counted those that would not be subject to them to be worse then infidels for they held the Church had her externall being and constitution by Bishops and they that did not communicate with Episcopacy were not in the Church Yea more Cyp Ep. 27. in Ep. ad Flo. Pupianum Clem. Ep. 1.3 Ruff. transl Russinus is so bold to say that all Priests Clergy men people nations and languages that would not obey their Bishops should be shut from the communion of the holy Church here and of heaven hereafter Mathe. Many found fault as much with the Liturgy as with Episcopacy Phila. They found none but fained some They pretended that set forms of praier were not to be used in the Church neither considering the authority antiquity nor the conveniency of it First not the authority as that it was appointed by God himselfe Num. 6.23 where the Priests are appointed to blesse the people in a set form of words So Deut. 26.13 the people are injoined a set form of praier after the paiment of his tiths Nor do they consider that the book of Psalms are all set forms of praier or praise and delivered to chiefe Musitians to be set to divers instruments to praise God withall 1 Chron. 16.7 and 1 Chron. 25.3 and 2 Chron. 30.21 and Ezra 3.11 Nor do they discern that Christ gave his Disciples a set form first giving it them as a pattern in the first year of his ministry Mat. 6.9 and in the third year of his ministry gives it them as a praier expresly to be used Luke 11.2 when you pray say Our Father which praier is not of extempore conception neither for we may find in old Jewish Euchologues most of the petitions not that Christ need to borrow of any but he did it to shew that truth was his freehold wheresoever he found it and to teach us to subject our selves to the spirit in ancient truths rather then to affect extempore raptures Nor do they perceive the antiquity of set forms in the N. T. Church for we find St James the first Bishop of Jerusalem was the first setter forth of Liturgies and he placed there by the Apostles So Titus was left in Creet to set in order things than were wanting and what things they were being they had the Gospell and Sacraments let any man tell you except they were Church Rituals Ignatius also Bishop of Antioch taught his Church Liturgies and Doxologies as appears by the Ecclesiasticall histories He lived in the first hundred years after Christ and from that Church of Antioch Trip. hist l. 10. c. 9. where men were first called Christians Liturgies were derived to other Churches as to Rome it selfe For Gregory the first being Bishop of Rome brought in the form of the Greek Letanies in that Church so that our Liturgy primarily commeth from the Greek Conc. Ancyr 1. tom Con. Conc. Meter not the Latin Church but if it did yet whatsoever is good in it may be used by any Christian Church except we think it not fit to worship Christ because he was sometimes consessed by the devils mouth Nor do they see the convenience of it St Paul did namely that we may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 15.6 And Mr Calvin approved it very much writing to the Protector of England in K. Edw. the sixths time that there should be a form of Church Service from which Ministers might not depart in the exercise of their functions that there may be an help to the simplicity of some and a remedy against the levity of others that affect innovations and for the clearer appearance of the unanimity of all Churches among themselves I know they say also that set forms of praier hindereth the gift of the spirit in ministers which would utter it selfe freely but that it is bound up by reading a set form But considering that the minister is the mouth of the people to God I conceive it convenient that the people know what he sollicites God for that they may the more comfortably join with him in praier Nor can I see how the Church is more edified by extempore praier than a set form since the Church is edified as well by Sermons composed as sermons preached Besides the spirit of the Church may edifie her members by her composures as well as any one member may edifie any part of the Church by his voluntary conceptions and expressions which may be done for ostentation or may want consideration and discretion also Nor doth set forms limit the spirit any more then extempore raptures neither in the minister nor people Not in the minister for he hath divers times in private devotions and before and after his Sermon to enlarge himselfe farther as occasion requireth And for his being stinted by the Liturgy there is no reason but he may since the spirit of the Prophet must be subject to the Prophets in their prophecying 1 Cor. 14. and then why not in praying by the spirit of the Church representative which composed the Liturgy And for the spirit in the people it is no more limited by a set form then by a sudden conceived praier for their spirit being equally intent upon this is as much limited as by that and so as the peoples spirit is subjected to the ministers in his praier so much more ought the spirit of the minister be subjected to the spirit of the Churches corporation I have seen many ridiculous pamphlets against the Liturgy more fit for wast paper then to be answered I spoke enough before of this matter in answer to some heresies Some do object that it containeth not praier for all occasions yet I think if they would well consider the Letany they can hardly add any thing to it though upon every particular petition therein they make as long a praier as the whole Liturgy Mathe. But the ceremonies are more offensive then the Liturgy Phila. They need not if people would consider the paucity the indifferency and the power that the Church hath to impose things indifferent For first there was but three the Surplice for the Minister the Crosse for the Baptized and kneeling for Communicants three innocent ceremonies as many of the complainers themselves have confessed in the opinion of wise men yet have they been violently opposed by many that cannot find the medium between affirmative and negative superstition but either rush into the gulfe or dash upon the rock The Praecisian he will have no ceremony without speciall warrant from Scripture like the Sadduces The Papist on the other side will have them necessary to divine worship though not set down in Scripture like the Pharisees traditions of the Elders Between both these lieth a middle way to
of Tiberius Eus l. 2. c. 13. This Magus taught men to worship images especially his own and his companion Helena Next to him was Menander Menander Epiph. cont haeres a Samaritan and a conjurer some think one of Simons disciples who taught that the world was made by Angels and that he was sent to save the world and to baptize The Apostle speaks contrary to him about Angels Col. 2.18 and also about baptisme Eph. 4.5 that there is but one Lord one faith one baptisme Next was one Ebion Ebion See Acts 15.6 First Council of Apost abolished circumcision who said Christ was only a man begotten of Joseph and Mary and that the observation of Moses Law was needfull to salvation This man and his followers condemned Paul as an Apostate from the Law who by his doctrine did establish the Law Rom. 3.21 They also rejected all the New Testament save the Gospell of St Matthew and yet that proves Christ not begotten by Joseph Mat. 1.18 23 25. So one Cerinthus pretended he received a revelation from Angels that after the resurrection Christ should have a Kingdome upon earth Cerinthus and that his subjects should eat drink marry contrary to Christs doctrine Matthew 22.30 In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the Angels Next sprung up the Nicolaitans Nicolaitans Acts 6. who by a mistake of Nicolas one of the seven Deacons to assoile himselfe from jealousie of his faire wife said that for his part he could be content any other should marry her upon which they held wives in common Clém. Alex. strom 3. which thing Christ saith he hated Rev. 2.6 15. these arose in the first hundred yeers after Christ There was also about the next hundred year after Christ In the second hundred yeers Carpocrates Epiph. cont haeres 1 Tim. 4.1 2 3. Eus l. 4. c. 7. divers others As 1. Carpocrates of whom came Gnosticks that professed strange hidden mysteries They worshipped gold and silver Images as they said of Jesus So of divers Philosophers these also forbad marriages and allowed fornication as the Pope doth also and by their unclean lives brought a great scandall upon Christians Valentinus set up a plurality of Gods masculine and feminine Valentinus which it is very like he borrowed from Poetry as Hesiod Hesi in theogon that writes of such a subject So one Marcus one of his schollers brings in a new form of baptisme Marcionites In the name of the unknown Father and in the name of the verity the mother of all things and in the name of him that descended on Christ These and all the Gnosticks followers of Carpocrates denied the resurrection of the body and said that salvation belonged only to the soul contrary to St Paul 1 Cor. 15. Cerdon and Marcion denied the same also Cerdon and Cerdon said there were two Gods one the author of good the other of evill They denied also the verity of Christs humane nature Aug. index and the truth of his sufferings Polycarpus called this Marcion the first born of the Devill He held a man might be baptized often It may be he thought himselfe to need it by reason of his whoredomes in which he lived for which his Father excommunicated him out of his Church at Pontus Apelles and Lucianus his schollers follow him but not in all his opinions but they said Christs body was not made of the substance Apelles or seed of the woman as God said Gen. 3.15 but of elements and after his resurrection was resolved into them again yet the Scripture saith he had flesh and bones when he appeared to his disciples and so was taken up Acts 1.9 Tatianus the author of Encratitae Tatianus who abstained from wine and flesh and all sensitives came next and condemned marriage Col. 2.1 Tim. 3.1 and St Pauls Epistles also for they confute their errors Montanus that perswaded women to leave their husbands Montanus Synods of Asia condemned him Eus l. 5. c. 3.14 17. to become Prophetesses He called himselfe the Holy Ghost as did also Macedonius after him and forbad second marriage contrary to Paul Rom. 7.3 Many other there were I only shall reck on the chiefe Some added cheese to their bread in the holy Supper as the Artotiritae In the third hundred yeers more weeds appeared Some denied the writings of St John as the Alogi Some met in stoves naked men and women called Adamiani Some denied Christs divinity as the Theodotiani Some magnified Melchisedeck above Christ Some would have no possessions but approved voluntary poverty and accounted marriage an unclean estate of life these were called Apostolici Some would not procreate children yet fornicate like Onan Gen. 38.9 10. these were Origeniani Some said Euseb l. 6. c. 33. if one denied Christ for fear of persecution and yet held the faith in their heart sinned nor yet Christ approveth it nor Luke 12.9 nor St Paul 2 Tim. 2.12 Novatus following Novatus con demned in the Councils at Rome Eus lib. 6. c. 41. So at Antioch So at Ancyra tom 1. Concil Sozom. l. 7. c. 12. was clean contrary for he held that a man doing so was never to be admitted into the Church upon what repentance soever contrary to Gods word Isa 1.18 He was excommunicated by Cornelius Bishop of Rome and Cyprian Bishop of Carthage but his heresie continued longer then any before Arrius coming in under a shew of zeale and holinesse and because they held as well as the true Catholicks the divinity of Christ and suffered for it under the Arrian persecution which ensued His followers were called Catharoi or Puritans Sabellius confessed one God Sabellius but denied three Persons So doth the Socinians in a manner also if they think that the Trinity is nothing but a distinct manner of apprehending the Godhead without personality This Heretick Sabellius was the disciple of one Noetus in the daies of the Emperour Gallus and in the year of Christ 257. and before him affirmed by Hermogenes and Prazeas but nursed up by Sabellius Ruffi l. 1. c. 29. which opinion confounds substance and subsistence together and so they understood that the Father suffered when the Son suffered for us because all the three terms of Father Son and Holy Ghost are by them given to one person and not only to one God and therefore they were called Patrispassiani father-sufferers In the year Nepotians 264. an Aegyptian Bishop Nepos in Galienus reigne raised the opinion which the Millenaries or Chiliasts hold now that the godly should rise from the dead before the wicked and should live with Christ So held Papias Bishop of Hierapolis in the first century of yeers on earth in all earthly pleasures as Cerinthus held before in the first hundred yeers after Christ Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria confuted Coracion who held this opinion in three daies disputations at
before Jesus Christ Next they divided into fourteen The first sort called the Muncerians of Muncerus of whom I have spoken before An old Sect 130 years ago Secondly Apostolikes because they wandered about without staves shooes or mony They washed each others feet and left houses wives and trades They grew chargeable to the common purse they put away their wives when they pleased at last were excommunicated by the rest of the brethren as idle vagabonds The third were Separatists because they sequestred themselves from the world and brave cloaths marriage meetings feasts and musick and arms looked sad and sighed much The fourth were called Catharists because they pretended purity without sin and said children had no originall sin and denied them baptisme and would not say the Lords Praier The fifth were Silentes because they seldome spake The sixth were called Enthusiasts who said the gift of prophecy by dreams came to them and therefore would lie much in trances like Mahomet when he was in a paroxisme or fit of the falling sicknesse or like our Quakers They said Anabaptisme was holy but childrens baptisme came from the devill The seventh were called Liberians or Libertines who misunderstanding the liberty of Christ to be worldly and carnall thought themselves free from paying rents tributes or tithes though Christ paied tribute to Caesar and also took liberty to commit all uncleannesse The eighth were called Adamites because they thought themselves in the state of innocence and therefore accounted cloaths to be a sign of the curse and therefore went naked as did the old Adamiani 300 yeers after Christ in their Conventicles or Hupocausta under ground caves which were warmed by secret furnaces or stoves in which place they stood naked men and women The ninth sort were called Hutites from their author Iohn Huta These denied Christs divinity with the Arrians The tenth were called Augustinians who conceived there was no entrance into Paradise till Augustin the Bohemian opened it forgetting that Christ said to the thiefe on the crosse this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise The eleventh was the Beuckeldians who said that it was an holy thing to have many wives at once forgetting Mal. 2.14 where it is called trechery against the wife of thy youth of which covenant God is the witnesse The twelfth was the Melchiorists who of one Melchior Hoffman their Prophet at Strausborough whom they look for to come with Elias at the day of judgement and hold that Christ was not conceived and born of the blessed Virgin Mary but only passed through her as water through a conduit in which they agree with the old Eutychians The thirteenth were the Georgians so called of David George the originall of the Familists who thought himselfe a greater Prophet then Christ and that he would rise three yeers after his death and restore the Kingdome of Israel but he was never heard of since The fourteenth were Menorists so called of one Menor a Frisian by whose name for a certain time they were generally called These differed not in doctrines from the rest no more then did the Muncerians and Hutites Some were founded as I have shewed upon ancient heresies some of them hold the same opinions with the rest but have added more to them Many others there were as the Henerobaptist Gastius de Ana. Exord p. 20. that baptized himselfe daily if the weather were temperate Others did follow Servetus who not only denied baptisme to children but denied the deity of Christ who was burnt at Geneva in the year 1553. Hist of Anab. p. 53. Others sottishly abusing Christs words except you become like children you cannot enter into the Kingdome of heaven would turnble and battle in their own dung and play like children and innocents and lie with one another but I beleeve not very innocently Calv. contra Libert Some denied the resurrection of the body Deukius held Origens error that in time the devils and wicked men should be saved Others set all Christian duty in praier like the old Euchytae Others so left all things to God that they neglected the means God appointed Vid. Hezychi Stephan Budaeum Others held that all that were not plunged in water were not rightly baptized whereas the Greek word in the New Testament for baptizing signifieth washing or sprinkling as well as plunging as Mark 7.3 and Heb. 9.10 And if the Scriptures gives a word of divers interpretation no doubt but it was that the Church might use such a form in baptizing as the word admits or as the region and weaknesse of the party baptized permitteth Mathe. But do our Anabaptists now among us hold such hereticall opinions Phila. I beleeve all do not hold alike but take them together or severally you shall find all or some either to have a tincture of old heresies or else newly dipped into other colours divers from the truth Mathe. I pray make that appear Phila. Some of them hold that Christ shall come from heaven 1000 years before the generall judgement and shall raign with the Saints upon earth and shall destroy all the wicked viz all that are not of their sect And this before Christ come they have endeavoured to put in practice and so they prove Millenaries and somewhat worse Others hold that they are the communion of Saints and that all those that have been notorious sinners and excommunicate may not be restored again upon their repentance and so they be Novatians Yet this is but a pretence for I find their practice contrary for they do either account their own sins none or else favour them in the punishment Others say that in the true Church there are no scandalous livers and if so it wil be hard to prove their Church to be true though they say the Church is bounded in their societies and therefore separate from all other Christian assemblies therein shewing themselves Donatists Some again of them hold that Christ took not his flesh of the Virgin Mary And so held also the Priscilianists Others of them hold that it is lawfull for the people to lay violent hands on the magistrates and depose and slay them how supreme soever they be and so are plain Jesuits Some of them hold that election is of foreseeen faith and that man hath free will of himselfe to refuse or accept Gods grace and that a true beleever may fall away totally and finally from grace and so are Pelagians contrary to St Johas tenet 1 John 3.9 Others say that there ought to be a parity in the Church of ministers contrary to St Paul who saith that without all contradiction the lesse must be blessed of the greater Heb. 7.7 and therefore left Titus in Creet to ordain Elders i. ministers in every City Also that Church Service and Ceremonies are superstitious and that the Church of England is no true Church and therefore must be left and in this they be Brownists Mathe. How came these into England Phila. After this
it was done by decree of St Paul upon the incestuous person 1 Cor 5. I have determined as if present to deliver him to Satan Amb. in 1 Tim. cap. 1. As for their assembling together at his command it was that the whole Church might see and fear that upon reading the sentence the spirit of Paul being present by the power of the Lord Jesus Satan should plainly smite him with some evill Chry. in 1 Cor. 5 hom 15. as once Peter did Ananias dead Acts 5. and Paul Elymas the sorcerer Acts 13. From this it is St Paul saith 2 Cor. 10. we have in a readinesse to revenge all disobedience and is called his rod 2 Cor. 13.2 1 Cor. 4. which he will not spare This I confesse was excommunication and somewhat more for many were excommunicated and yet not delivered to Satans power 2 Cor. 13.10 which was a sharp execution of that power the Lord had given him Thus we see the Apostles kept this power and by their command only it was executed Christ gave this power of the keies only to the Apostles John 20. and Paul being an Apostle used them without the authority of Presbyters Mathe. But whether doth the power still continue and in whom Phila. Some gifts were appointed to the Apostles persons As 1. Their calling by Christs own mouth 2. Their infallibility in truth 3. The visible assistance of Gods spirit 4. To speak extempore in divers tongues 5. To work miracles 6. To bestow the gifts of Holy Ghost upon others all which was given to them to beget and convert and confirm Christians at first But this milk is not necessary alwaies to be continued when the Church is grown to a ripe age for the Scriptures are afterward sufficient to make us perfect to every good work 1 Tim. and the miracles then done are a full confirmation of their truth But yet you must know that the authority of their calling liveth yet in their successors and to teach administer Sacraments to bind and loose sins to impose hands for the ordaining Pastours and Elders are not ceased nor can be wanting so long as there is a Church for these beget faith without which there is no Church Therefore their successors are stewards of the mysteries of Christ and are warned to take care of Christs flock Acts 20. and of this few doubt but the power of the keies troubles them to whom they are committed that is excommunication and absolution So others quarrell about ordination and these are the well-wishers to Lay-Eldership which they would have joined in this work with Apostles and Bishops but they find no warrant for it I know they bring commonly two or three places of Scripture for Presbyterie as the hands of the Presbyterie 1 Tim. 4.14 which I have shewed were the hands of Bishops and preaching Elders at least not of Lay Elders So they say Christ bids a man tell the Church Mat. 18. which if a man will not hear he is to be accounted as an heathen Now by this word Church they would bring in all the Lay Elders Chrys hom 61. in Mat. 18. Beza annot in Mat. 18. saith the chiefe implieth the whole But surely there is understood the spirituall Presidents and Governors so there we read of no Lay Presbyterie But they say that in the 1 Tim. 5. Paul tels us of ruling Elders and thereforre there were some Elders beside those that laboured in the word and doctrine as Rom. 12. he that ruleth let him do it with diligence but it is plain they are not distinct offices Beza annot in 1 Tim. 4. Chrys hom 15. in 1. Tim. 5. Hieron in 1 Tim. cap. 5. but sometime pertaining both to the Deacon or Preaching Elder who also ruled the Church and in regard of their good government deserved double honour of reverence and allowance but especially for laboring in preaching the Gospell because they cannot so well provide things needfull for themselves But for Lay Judges I never heard they were to be maintained by the Church stock of which maintenance the Apostle in 1 Tim. 5. speaketh and therefore here can be understood no Lay Presbyterie but rather such as did govern the Churches stocks as the Deacons did or ministers which either did both Beza annot in 1 Pet. cap. 5. or only laboured in the word for the name Elder compriseth sometimes all those that have any Ecclesiasticall function And St Chrysostome on 1 Cor. 1.17 on these words Chrys in 1 Cor. 1.17 Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach saith that few were able to preach but many to give baptisme therefore the inferiour sort of ministers baptized and the superiour in wisedome Evangelized They that performed the first well were counted worthy of double honour for their right ordering the Church but especially such as labored in the word and doctrine so that still we find no ruling for Lay Elders but rather the dutie and pains of their Pastors and Teachers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one by ruling the flock well in his Church and charge whereof he is president by doctrine administration and example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the other for travelling with great pains of mind and body to dispense the Gospell and confirm Christians by travell and visiting in which sense Paul saith 1 Cor. 15. he laboured more then all the Apostles Yet I speak not this in derogation to Lay-men which are holy grave and wise but only that they had no place in ordination or excommunication yea I beleeve good use might be made of them for moderation of quarrels and strifes and examinations as 1 Cor. 6.4 and to end matters peaceably between Christians but not to censure Ecclesiastically for that belongs to the ministers nor to punish by the civill law for that belongs to the Magistrate The keies were given of Christ to his Apostles and of them to their successors which were spirituall pastors so that every godly minister hath power to put by an unworthy receiver from the Lords Table as well as to admit one that is worthy Amb. de poenit lib. 1. c. 2. without the assistance of Lay Eldership to whom neither power of preaching the Word nor administring the Sacraments Chrys de sacer lib. 3. was ever committed For when Christ said to Peter Aug. 5. Tract in Joh. I will give thee the keies of the Kingdome of heaven he meant and intended it to all the ministers of the Church as appeareth in giving the rest of the Apostles the same power after his resurrection Therefore saith Ambrose Amb. de dignita sacer c. 6. all we that are Priests received the keies in blessed Peter but he saith not Lay-men did also receive them Mathe. This may make Ministers take too much upon them Phila. Not if they be either wise and godly Cypr. l. 1. Ep. 2. for they are to use this power with moderation and great discretion for much
consent among themselves or by the chiefe Bishop among them So there were two Synods summoned in Asia about reformation of the Church and ordaining Bishops Others at Ancira in Galatia and in France and at Antioch against Montanus Others at Rome about the celebration of Easter But when the Emperour Constantine turned to the Christian faith he called the generall Councill of Nice in Bythinia against Arrius who denied Jesus Christ the Son of God to be of the same substance with the Father which opinion was there condemned and accursed and Easter day setled to be kept upon the Lords day and not on the Jewes fourteenth of Nisan And so Councils were usually called till the Pope usurped the power striving to wrest it from the Emperour and to set himselfe above Councils But had Charls the fift dealt as roundly with him about the Councill of Trent as the Emperour Sigismund did in the Council of Basil it had not been twenty five years in calling nor so long in sitting and so little good done But that they governed the Church by Councils it may appear from the great Councill of Nice Concil Nic. Can. 5. Con. Ant. Ca. 20 which decreed that there should be in every Province a Synod twice a year So concluded the Councill of Antioch so did the first Councill of Constant Can. 2. So the Council of Chalcedon Can. 29. So the third Council of Toledo Can. 18. So the second Councill of Turo Can. 1. And so good and approved was this government that when the Synod of Antioch sixty years before that of Nisen had condemned Paulus Samosatenus for heresie and he would not yeeld up his Church but kept it by violence they complained to the Emperour Aurelianus an heathen and he drove him out to his shame from Antioch Mathe. Why then are Bishops so much cried down in these latter times Phila. 1. By that spirit that lusteth to envy And 2. By selfe love which if it cannot swell us to be as big as others we do strive like Satan to pull down others to be like our selves 3. By covetousnesse which loves to part Christs coat or to cast lots for it many had rather cloath themselves with the Churches means then Christs merits and wrap themselves warm in his coat rather then trust to the purchase of his Crosse These are the motives whatever the pretences are or else why was not the Abby and Bishops lands reserved to pious uses I beleeve the Commonwealth was more rich by the Churches leases then ever she was by the Churches purchases The Farmer then grew from a Yeoman to a Gentleman and most of the purchasers are now fallen from Gentry to beggery But beside all this it is no wonder if that be cried down in these times of Libertinisme Hieron in 1. Epist ad Titum which was set up for the preventing of schism and heresie whose ground is alwaies pretended liberty of conscience which kind of people are alwaies adverse to Christ and his Spouse the Church and therefore ever persecute the overseers of the flock Cypr. Ep. 55. that they may the better adorn themselves with the ruines of the Church and are no doubt the followers of the great Antichrist and forerunners of the last apostacy of this world since the Church hath been governed by them Simler de rep Helvet fol. 148 for 1500 years and upward or by none or else by a disorderly confusion as we see in those Churches who have cast off Episcopacy as in Switzerland where a Lay man is President of their Consistory And at Zurick and Basil their Consistories are wholly Lay and Ministers are only to advise Yea in other places Ministers are not so much as assistants so that they may use their Ministers like minstrels and chuse whether they will hear them or no for they have no power nor hardly a right derivation of their ministry from the order of Christ and his Apostles Mathe. Whether can you derive your own aright having originally received it from Rome by Popish Bishops Phila. You think it seems that our Bishops took their ordination there at first or that there were no Bishops in England to ordain others but they must needs travell to Rome for it or take it from Rome by delegation and if so you take our Bishops and ministry to be meerly antichristian But suppose we had it from thence that will no more prove our ministry antichristian or popish then our very Bible Gospell or Baptisme if we received it from thence For superstition cannot annihilate the ordinances of God given at first from Christ no more then building stubble upon the foundation can destroy it or than a spring water is utterly spoiled by running from a rock through a clay But our Bishops and Presbytery we derive from the Apostles as we do also our Protestant doctrine professed which though held in unrighteousnesse in the Church of Rome like a captive for a time yet at last redeemed it selfe and came to light and shewed it selfe the true child of God begotten at first in Rome by the word of truth from which shee deviating the truth chose another foster-mother to dwell withall that will maintain her with goods and life and not forsake her to the death So our Bishops and Clergy came not at first from Rome though Rome hath made bold to invade the Church of England But for the first three hundred years after Christ the Pope had nothing to do out of his own Diocesse as may be seen by the Councill of Ephesus order Con. Ephes p. 1. act 7. made in the behalfe of the Cyprian Bishops against the Patriarch of Antioch who challenged their ordination That Councill decreed that the Cyprian Bishops should not be violated in their right and also that no Bishop should busie himselfe afterwards in anothers Province or invade others priviledges Ruff. hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 6. which they enjoied from the beginning By which the Bishop of Rome was shut up within his owne City and Suburbs And we find for certain that the Brittish Bishops did not acknowledge any obedience due from them to the Pope Spel. Conc. anno 601. which they must needs have done if they had their ordination from him and they had reason to stand upon it being Brittany was the elder Church planted by Joseph of Arimathea in Tiberius Caesars time Gild. de conq Brit. and Peter came not to Rome till the second year of the Emperor Claudius to settle that Church Mathe. How came the Brittish Bishops to be consecrated Phila. Some think by those that came with Joseph of Arimathea into England having Apostolike authority such as Simon Zelotes who was crucified in Brittany Jerom. in Catal. script Eccles Others think that some were ordained by Fugaâ—ius and Damianus whom Elutherius Bishop of Rome sent to baptize at the request of King Lucius himselfe and people And if it were so there is no reason to
the discession from pure doctrine is not generall So a Church may by ministers neglect want Sacraments and by the tyranny of Princes want discipline yet if the Church be purely visible it hath ordinarily these three notes which indeed freeth it from maintaining error heresie and schisme though all three may possibly be in it 1 Cor. 1.11 and cap. 3.3 1 Cor. 11.19 provided alwaies that the heresie thrust it not into infidelity or cause it not to deprave the doctrines of faith as the Church of Rome hath and so is become adulterous and hereticall So it may be in some things schismaticall so far as to hurt charity not verity by taking occasion unjustly as the Separatists to depart from the Church but not giving occasion to the Church to depart from them as the Papists have done to us like the old Pharisees who gave just occasion to Christ and his Apostles to separate themselves from their traditions Therefore true doctrine is the chiefe note of a true visible Church whereby people are taught as Christs sheep to hear his voice John 10.27 and to continue in his and his Apostles doctrine Acts 2.42 which is the foundation of the Church Eph. 2.20 And for the Sacraments they are commanded by Christ himselfe Mat. 28.19 and Luke 22.19 So also is the administration of discipline set down by our Saviour Mat. 18.17 and used by St Paul 1 Cor. 5.5 upon the incestuous person So that the right use of these must needs be a note of a true visible Church Let the Papists brag of their tearm Catholike I am sure it no way agreeth to them neither in respect of the extension of their Churches bounds which is not universall nor yet in regard of their doctrines which are not according to the Catholike truths confessed by the primitive or orthodox Churches of old and therefore their word Catholike is no note for a true visible Church is not to be judged by a name but by the thing it ought to hold otherwise the Pope like Simon Magus might be thought the great power of God Acts 8.10 Nor doth their boasted antiquity make their Church the more true for many things were said of old which were not intended at the first as they were afterward used Mat. 5. It is not antiquity but his truth that is the ancient of daies that is the note of the Church Aug. Q. 14. vet No. Testam The devill is older then the Church and Idolatry and Paganisme is very ancient and the Jews and the Samaritans pleaded antiquity and held the Gospell of Christ but a novelty yet their Church was not the true Beside if antiquity be a note then the Church Christian and Jerusalem and that of Antioch where Peter taught and sate as superintendent for seven years must be accounted the true Church and not Rome which was planted since but the authority of religion must not be measured by time Cypr. lib. 2. cont gent. Nor doth duration prove it the better for it is neither a proper or inseparable note as appeareth Psal 47.7 8. Rev. 12. And truly the Church of Rome hath not had a continued duration for Bellarmin saith that a Church cannot subsist without a Bishop and the seat of Rome hath been often vacant by wars and schisms among the Popes themselves as hath been formerly shewed you Nor doth their amplitude and multitudes make any thing in this case for them for Satans Kingdome is larger then Christs and his numbers more then Christs little flock who are often like Noahs family in the Ark they have a many of the vulgar Chrysost ad pop Antioch the Church hath a few faithfull one precious stone is worth many toies Nor will succession of Bishops help them to a note for who succeeded Melchisedeck but Christ many hundred of yeers falling between Vid. Athan. laudem in orat Nazian and the place changed also for the Church is not bound to place or persons of men Nor can ordination prove a note since hereticks hath it as well as the true Church neither can we find their ordination alwaies good if Pope Jone was ordained or she ordained any And Liberius the Pope being an Arrian ordained Arrians also Nor doth unity passe for a note except in the faith under one mysticall head Jesus Christ for satan is not divided against satan and very theeves are united together Nor can their miracles prove their Church true because they are false and Antichristian 2 Thes 2.9 and are invented to maintain false doctrines Beside if they were true they were not alwaies a note of a true Church for not only heathen gods have done strange things to perswade their divinity Bel. lib. de notis Eccl. cap. 14. Socrat. hist lib. 7. c. 17. but even heathen men as Vespasian made a blind man see and a lame man walk Mathe. What Church do you hold hath these three notes Phila. The true Christian Protestant Church especially as it was constituted by the first reforming Princes in England for the doctrine thereof is built upon the holy scripture They administer Sacraments in their primitive purity and hold only two generally necessary to salvation i. Baptisme and the Lords Supper rejecting all the spurious Sacraments of the Church of Rome As confirmation which the Church of England did use in a laudable manner and might do much good by using it as it was but not as a Sacrrment for it kept young people in a care to render an account of their faith and Ministers and Parents to teach them Catechisme So pennance was injoined notorious offenders for satisfaction of the Church and to reduce them better manners and to beget fear and shame in others but never held it a Sacrament no more then it did matrimony or ordination As for the fift spurious Sacrament of Rome extreme unction they never used it because not instituted of Christ as a Sacrament It is true Mark 6.13 the Disciples anointed many that were sick with oile and they were healed and St James in cap. 5.14 adviseth them to use oile with praier for the sick but it was no consecrated oile as the papists use Bellar. lib. 1. de extrem unct cap. 3. nor applied for remission of sins to seven parts of their body But you will say we in England at this time want right discipline I answer It is true yet the Church doth maintain it in her doctrines and constitutions but she cannot use it in those times when the shepherd is smitten and the sheep are scattered or else combined against him that they may live at their own liberty without correction by the rod of discipline yea libertinisme is grown to such a height that the disciplinarians themselves who envied the Bishops authority dare not exercise the Presbyterian virge lest they also follow the Bishops dejection Mathe. Might not a Nationall Councill set all right Phila. No doubt it might with Gods blessing so that it were called and