Bishops have the authority of Ordination more than Presbyters A Man may smile to see this used as an Argument for the preheminency of Bishops which is directly against it for St. Hierom having discourst of the equality and Identity of Presbyters and Bishops and having brought many Arguments from Scripture to prove that Bishop and Presbyter was only two names for one and the same Office for a further confirmation hereof asks this question I pray what doth a Bishop do more than a Presbyter except Ordination plainly intimating thereby that this could make no such distinction of eminency in them above Presbyters I beseech you consider Do not Presbyters perform Offices of a higher nature than Ordination Presbyters are ordained Embassadors for Christ to preach his Holy Gospel for the Salvation of Souls they are under Christ Mediators between God and the People to make intercession for them they administer the Sacrament of Baptism wherein the Children of Warth are regenerated and made the Children of God and Heirs of eternal Life yea they administer the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper also the most transcendent act of Religion and Christian Dignity whereby we are made partakers of the Body and Blood of Christ And what doth a Bishop more than these except Ordination which being no Sacrament sure is inferiour in dignity to the other mentioned Acts and therefore cannot elevate them to a higher degree Judge now I beseech you whether this question makes pro or con Are not such questions always tending to disparagement When any Man is boasting his Power and Authority should I come and ask What can you do more than others unless it be in this or that poor business not worth speaking of would he not take this as an affront Wherefore it cannot enter into my head that St. Hierom intended by this Question to express any superiour Order above the Priesthood but plainly the contrary v z. That Bishops having no other power distinct from Priests but Ordination this could be no Argument for a distinct and superior Order And now I desire my Reader if he understand Latin to view the Epistle of St. Hierom to Evagrius and doubtless he will wonder to see Men have the confidence to quote any thing out of it for the distinction between Episcopacy and Presbytery for the whole Epistle is to shew the Identity of them Before I chanced to read this Epistle I was of the crroneous Opinion that Bishops were a distinct Order but so convinc'd by this Epistle as I was forced to submit to a change And I farther desire my Reader to observe the various fate of St. Hierom and Aerius Aerius is reviled as an Heretick for affirming this Identity of Order Hierom passes for a Saint and a great Doctor of the Church though he affirms the very same as fully as Aerius or any Man can do and therefore it may be my fate to be reviled as Aerius was but our Saviour bids us rejoyce and be exceeding glad when we are reviled for his Names sake or for his Words sake sure all is one for great is our Reward and so I proceed But there lies yet a great Objection made by our good Bishop Hall he tells us how that Collutbus a Presbyter of Alexandria took upon him to ordain others and that afterwards in a Council of a hundred Bishops in Aegypt their Ordination was declared null because ordained by a Presbyter From this and some other such Instances the Bishop would prove that the Order of Presbyters is not capable to ordain therefore Bishops are a distinct Order I am sorry so good a Man had no better a proof for his intended purpose It seems he quite forgot how that the famous Council of Nice consisting of above three hundred made a Canon wherein they declare That if any Bishop should ordain any of the Clergy belonging to another Bishop's Diocess without consent and leave had of that Bishop to whose Diocess they did belong their Ordination should be null You see then the irregular Ordination of a Bishop is as null as the irregular Ordination of a Presbyter therefore the irregular Bishop and the irregular Presbyter are of the same Order of the same Authority neither able to Ordain Is it not most evident by this that 't is not their Order but Commission that makes them capable to Ordain sure an irregular Bishop is of the same Order with the regular Is the Line of his Diocess like a Conjurers Circle within it he is a Bishop without it he is none No but within it he hath Commission given him to Ordain without it no Commission no nor to act in his own Diocess beyond his Commission which is to ordain only the Clergy of his own Diocess and within his own Diocess Can any thing be plainer Cellutbus then being but a Presbyter and under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Alexandria his taking upon him to ordain Presbyters was highly irregular and insolent and therefore most justly declared null I desire the Papistical School-Divines with their manifold indelible Characters to observe here how easily the Councils dasht out the indelible Character of Presbyter imprinted on the Souls of these Men irregularly ordained they made a clear rasure not one tittle of it left And could they so easily cancel the Gift of the Holy Ghost I leave my Schoolmen to find out how this rare feat was done And I proceed to add a Canon taken from a Council at Antioch concerning Chorepiscopi much to our purpose When the Apostles had settled Bishops in every City with authority of ordaining and governing the several Churches or Congregations within the Circuits of those Cities some were very large and therefore in process of time when more were converted to the Faith and the Congregations encreased more in number and at greater distance than the Bishop himself could well have the overfight of the Bishop chose some principal Men for his assistance and dividing his great Circuit into several lesser Circuits placed these Men as Overseers under him and these were called Chorepiscopi that is Country Bishops and were much after the manner of our Rural Deans Those Chorepiscopi Country Bishops being thus setled in authority to govern the Pastoral Priests in their Circuits took upon them to ordain more Priests when occasion required which the chief Bishops took very ill at their hands as a great lessening to their Supream Authority And to prevent it for the future a Canon was made in the Council of Antioch about the year 340. to forbid these Country Bishops to ordain any Priests Now I pray you observe These Chorepiscopi were either really ordained in the Order of the Chief Bishop or not if they were as full Bishops as he as really they were why might they not ordain Priests as well as he The Chief Bishop answers Because he gave them no Commission Whereby you see that the power of ordaining Priests was annexed no more to Bishops than to Priests
heretical Profession though not their Opinion who conscious to themselves of their own dissimulation and desirous to get favour with St. Austin a Person of great Veneration and Authority with all related unto him this specious Story which St. Austin's great Charity was apt to believe as St. Paul saith believeth all things and from hence concludeth that it might be lawfull to use the Power of the Civil Sword to reduce Hereticks to the Church But unless it can be evidenced that these Donatists Hearts were changed as well as their Profession a thing impossible to prove all this proves nothing Thirdly Put the Case their Hearts were really changed as to matter of Belief 't is evident their Hearts were very worldly still groveling on the Earth not one step nearer Heaven our Saviour saith An evil Tree can't bring forth good Fruit and sure their Heart was evil which was far more moved for the quiet enjoyment of this Worlds good than for the blessed enjoyment of Christ. Fourthly Though we farther grant that the pruning of the Magistrates Sword did really correct the vitiousness of the Tree and made it bring forth some good Fruit yet shall we do evill that good may come of it God forbid saith St. Paul Put the case Malchus had been converted by St. Peters cutting off his Ear this would not have excused St. Peters act which our Saviour so sharply reproved and threatned with perishing by the Sword and gave him the reason why he ought not to use the Sword in his cause Thinkest thou that I cannot pray unto my Father and he will presently give me more than twelve legions of Angels Canst thou do any thing more prejudicial to the honour of my God-head than to think I want the help of Man to defend me And according to this may our Saviour say Thinkest thou that I cannot pray unto my Father and he shall give me more than twelve millions of Souls to worship my Name or canst thou do any thing to eclipse more the power and glory of the Gospel which I have ordained to be set up by weakness and foolishness of Preaching and thereby to subdue both the wisdom of the Greeks and the power of the Gentiles As I my self have conquered all Enemies by preaching and suffering so must my Disciples tread in my steps And just so we find that the Gospel was most miraculously advanced over all the World by preaching and suffering for it not by compelling others to it 'T is evident that upon preaching of the Gospel as many as were ordained by God to Eternal Life believed and surely those who are not ordained by God to Eternal Life can never be brought thither by the ordinance or power of Man Wherefore when the Ministers have preached and prayed they have performed all they can do the rest must be left to the Justice or Mercy of God who hath mercy on whom he will haue mercy and whom he will he hardeneth so that the sharpest Sword in this world shall enter their hard heart no more than an Adamant All this I say in reference to compelling Men to believe or conform still reserving to the Magistrate power according to Scripture To punish evill doers not evill believers not who think but do publish or do practice something to subvert the Fundamentals of Religion or disturb the Peace of the State or injure their Neighbour God the only searcher of hearts reserves unto himself the punishment of evil thoughts of evil belief which Man can never have a right cognizance of for the greatest Professor may be the greatest Atheist But the Magistrate shall conceive he hath sufficient warrant to punish also evil believers and shall proceed to execution or on that pretence shall punish true believers the Scripture is most clear that the Subject is bound to submit and bear it with all Christian patience to the loss of Goods Liberty or Life not only patiently to bear it but to rejoyce in it and I am sure if he hath any true Religion any right understanding in him he will rejoyce on his own behalf because his reward is exceeding great Therefore whoever under pretence of Religion raises any Tumult or takes up Armes against the Magistrate to preserve himself from persecution absolutely declares himself either a stark Fool or a stark Atheist either he believes there is no such reward or is mad to reject the opportunity of gaining it and so at the best is fit for Bedlam at the worst for the Gallowes now let him choose An Appendix to the former Subject BEfore I leave this matter of imposing new Articles of Faith I desire to speak a word or two concerning the authority of Councels and Fathers in relation to it When the Superstitions and the Abuses of the Popish Church especially in the matter of Indulgences grew so very gross as not longer to be endured Luther Melancthon Oecolompadius Bucer divers others opposed them and coming to dispute with their Adversaries about these things the Popish Doctors having no Scripture for their Errors quoted several Fathers and Councils to give countenance unto them The Evangelical Doctors so called because they chiefly urged Evangelium the Gospel for the defence of their Doctrine were most of them bred up from their Infancy in the Popish Church and therein taught even to adore all Councils and Fathers and education being of great force to command and awe both the Wil's and Judgments of Men made them very shie and timorous to reject that authority which they had long reverenced in modesty therefore some of the Evangelical Doctors were content to admit the authority of Fathers and Councils for three or four of the first Centuries some admitted five or six whereby they were reduced some times to great streights in their Disputations for though neither all nor half the Popish Errors can be found in the Councils and Fathers of these Centuries yet some of them were crept very early into the Church This Superstition of the Cross and Chrysme were in use in the second Century The Milenary Error got footing about that time the necessity of Infants receiving the Blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper came in soon after About the fourth Century there was some touches in Oratory Sermons by way of Rhetorical Ejaculations like praying to Saints but long after came to be formally used as now in Churches and so Superstitions came in some at one time and some at another The Papists themselves do not receive all these Errors but reject some as that of the Millenaries and the necessity of Infants receiving the Lords Supper Now I ask first the Papists by what rule they retain some of these things and reject others Secondly I ask the Evangelical by what rule they submit to the authority of some Centuries and refuse others Both will answer me Because they believe some to be erroneus some to be Orthodox Whereby 't is evident that neither submit to the Fathers authority as comanding
whom I could more readily submit than to St. Austin a Person of wonderful sharpness in understanding and yet of great modesty no way affecting to take new Opinions much less to impose them no others Now I pray consider How can we have assurance of any Doctrine he delivers more than another I mean assurance from his own authority or reason what he delivers from Scripture authority is another matter we believe St. Austin erred in some things whereof he was most confident he believed it absolutely necessary for Children to receive the Sacrament of the Lords Supper as I say'd he believed it a direct heresie to hold there were any Antipodes Lactantius another great Wit and great Scholar believed the like with divers others Who then can doubt but that they might be mistaken in other things also Wherefore let God be true and all Men lyars in this sense to deliver lyes materially that is falsities for truths What I have said of Fathers must certainly hold good of Councels also though ever so general ever so Primitive for this and that Father may and have erred surely then that and that may also erre I can have no assurance in Men nor can I be saved by faith in Men. The general Objection made against this is The promise which Christ made unto his Church That the gates of Hell should not prevail against it and that he would be with the Apostles unto the Worlds end As for that other saying of our Saviour He that will not hear the Church let him be to thee as an Heathen and a Publican I can't but wonder that Men of any brains or modesty should so grosly abuse this saying spoken of several differences between Man and Man to be referred to the termination of the Church that is the Congregation of the Faithful which they usually and by order should assemble in and refer this to the Church in general in matters of Faith not in the least pointed at there Wherefore I pass this over as very impertinent and proceed to answer the former Objection of more weight yet no way concluding as they would have it No Man in the Christian World can more firmly believe than I do That the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it and that Christ will be with his Church unto the end of the World but I do not believe nor am I bound by Scripture to believe such Expositions as the Popish Church makes of this place By what authority doth the Romish Church challenge to themselves to be Expositors of Scriptures more than other Churches I find nothing for it in Scripture which is my Rule of Faith I proceed then to the business of general Councels Whether they may erre in some points of Faith and why not All the Evangelical Doctors grant the later general Councels have erred if so why not the former what promise had the former from Christ more than the later what period is there set in Scripture for their not erring or what promise is there at all for any not to erre The gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church I grant what 's this to a General Council not the thousand part of the Clergy not the thousand thousand part of the Church which is Scripture is alwayes put for the whole Body of the Faithful though of late it be translated into quite another notion and taken for the Clergy only But you will say a General Councel is the representative of the whole Church what then what promise is made in Scripture that the representative shall not erre You further urge If the representative erre 't is probable the whole Church will receive their errour I answer We are now treating of matter of Faith which must not depend on humane probabilities but Divine certainties besides 't is not so probable the Church will receive the error of the representative We know the whole Church hath not received a Truth determined by them much loss an errour And I pray have not Councels been against Councels Put then the case a General Councel should erre in some matters you can't therefore say the whole Church hath erred the gates of Hell have prevailed against the Church I pray consider can you truly say the Great Turk hath prevailed against the Christian Army because he hath kill'd the thousand part of it and yet the greatest General Councel holds a less proportion to the whole Church But I will grant yet more Put the case the whole Church should deviate into some erroneous Superstitions had the Devil therefore prevailed against it Can I say I have prevailed against another Man because I gave him some slight hurt in his Leg or Thigh as long as his Head his Heart his Arm are whole he still is able to fight and wound me as bad or worse till the Devil can so wound the whole body of the Church as to destroy the Vitals the Fundamentals and make it no Church the gates of Hell can't be said to have prevailed against it Now God be blessed there have continued all along several Churches as great or greater than the Roman Church which have still maintained in defiance of Satan One God the Father of whom are all things and one Lord Iesus Christ by whom are all things and several other sound Doctrines of Christianity how then hath Satan prevailed when so many millions have waged war against him and upheld the Kingdom of God and his Christ The Scripture plainly tells us that in the dayes of Anti-Christ's great power the Church shall be driven into the wilderness scarce visible in the world neither Pope nor Devil hath yet so prevailed but as then Christ shall have so Christ hath still had a Church warring against Satan Sure no learned Papist will deny but that about the second Century the Millenaries were far the greater part of the Church scarce any writing Doctor in those dayes but had this error Did Satan then prevail And in St. Austin's dayes the necessity of Infants receiving the Lords Supper was so general and held so necessary a Principle that it was made use of to prove the necessity of Infant Baptism this Sacrament being to precede the other in those dayes a Lanthorn would have been necessary to find out a Church without this error Did Satan then prevail But say you No General Councel determined those errors why because none was called about them had any been called who can doubt but that they would have avowed that in the Councel which they all taught in their Churches No the Spirit of God would have preserved them from it Shew me that promise in Scripture if Gods Spirit did not preserve them from teaching the whole Church so I fear the Spirit would not have preserved them more in Council than in Congregation where all sucking in this error from their Infancy would hardly have quitted it by a determination in Council I humbly crave pardon for this bold presumption being lead into it
by the bold assertion of the Papists telling us without warrant how God will preserve their Councils from error as if they had been of his Privy Council We are not to search into Gods secret Counsels for what he will permit or why he permits this or that I search only into his declared Promises and with all the search I can possiby make I can't find any such promise to General Councils as not to erre no only that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against his Church to destroy it which he hath hitherto made good and I am sure will to the end of the World but beyond his promise I am not sure of any thing though it seems ever so rational God will not endure to be fettered with Sophistical Sophisms and humane consequences and therefore I am afraid to wander from his wise and holy Word and trust to the Doctrine of Men seeming ever so wise ever so holy I reverence their Persons but can't believe in their Doctrine I am taught to believe only in God not in the Church much less in any member or Congregation or Council but to believe the Holy Catholick Church that is that God hath had now hath and will have to the Worlds end a select company of Faithful ones confessing and serving him To whom be honour and glory for ever Amen Concerning Ceremonies and Church Service FIrst as to Ceremonies I wonder Men of any tolerable discretion should be so eager either for or against them our salvation no way depending on them but much hazarded by our contention about them breaking Peace the principal thing recommended to us by the Gospel of Peace sure both are very sinful For my part I think all Subjects are bound in conscience to conform to the established Ceremonies of that Church whereof they are Members unless there be any thing flatly against the Word of God for to disobey our Superiours is directly against the Word of God 1 Pet. 2. 13. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake And therefore he that doth not submit had need have as clear an evidence out of Scripture that the thing he rejects is directly contrary to the Word of God otherwise he breaks an evident Commandement to satisfy himself in a doubtful thing which without doubt is damnable St. Paul requires one Brother to yield unto another in things indifferent much more Children to Parents Subjects to Governours But no Man that knows this World can expect all Children all Subjects will be dutiful and obedient and therefore as Children are to obey their Parents so Parents ought not to provoke their Children to disobedience by imposing unnecessary things and very offensive Yet if they do impose such things the Children are bound to obey unless the things imposed be offensive to God also then they are acquitted not otherwise But still Parents must remember they are to give accompt to God of their commands as Children are for their obedience And setting this aside Nature alone should prompt Parents to seek the love of their Children especially spiritual Parents styl'd the Ministers of God who is love Should not they desire rather to lead the People into the House of God by love than whip them in by fear to have their Churches full rather than empty to put on such a habit as would invite them in and not such as will fright them out What wise and loving Father would put on a winding sheet on his head to fright his weak and simple Child I say this to the chief Rulers of the Church not to inferior Ministers who must observe the Constitutions of the Chief and the Chief ought to consider the disposition of inferiours what will be most edifying for them As the Apostles in the beginning of Christianity continued to observe the not eating of blood and things strangled to comply with the Iews so the Surplice with other things was wisely and piously retained by the Reformers from Popery when probably many long nourished up in those Ceremonies would not have come in to the Church had all those been cast out but now to be zealous for them when the People are so passionate against them savours more of passion likewise in Governours than Religion as if they had rather shew their Authority than their Charity If they answer That many of their Flock are as zealous for these things as others against them and they had rather gratifie the Obedient Conformers than the Disobedient Gain-sayers I reply First This is no Obedience to conform to such Ordinances of their Superiors as they have a passion fox the Superiors in this conform rathâ—r to them than they to their Superiors Try their Obedience if they will submit to the taking of these things away and then you may have more reason to gratify them yet you know you are rather to bear with the infirmities of the weak than please the strong Love your Friends most value the Obedient most but love your Enemies also endeavour to gain the disobedient also The first are your dutiful Sons abide alwayes with you all that you have is theirs but yet when the Prodigal the stray returns rejoyce and kill the fatted Calf yea if he will not return leave the ninety and nine and go seek that one that is lost But you have no hopes of gaining him you believe 't is not Conscience but Faction and wilful perverseness keeps him off Oh do not despair believe better of him Charity hopeth all things believeth all things But you know it is so with him then pity him the more going headlong into Hell yield the more to save his Soul from Hell overcome evil with good fetter him bind him fast with chains of love what is stronger then love it will overcome Schism Faction Sedition any thing it will overcome God himself and even force God to withhold him by his merciful and powerful hand and thus converting this perverse sinner from the error of his way you will save his Soul alive and cover the multitude of your sins a blessed and joyful work whereat the Angels of Heaven will rejoyce and sing Alleluja Amen Oh my Fathers my Fathers that should Preach and Practice the Gospel of Peace and Love to your Children vouchsafe at my humble request to read Rom. 14. See what great liberty that great Grand-father of the Church allows his Children and observe in the general how he became all things to all men to gain some and will not you in some things comply to gain all will you restrain the liberty of the Gospel to the rigidity of your Discipline to lose some to lose many and perchance in the end to loose all your selves and all Be pious be charitable be prudent build your Church on a Rock that will endure stormes and not on the sand of Ceremonies that will both raise stormes and probably overturn your Church e're long But you will say If you yield to some dissenters in this you