administration of the Sacraments and no other Canon 36. Mark No other And the Bishops that endure this are forced to say that these Pulpit prayers are not the Churches prayers but our own But yet they are Publick prayers and therefore I doubt a breach of the Canon-Covenant 7. A Presbyter as such hath no power to preach the Gospel The words of his Ordination do but give him power to preach when he shall be lawfully called yea his Presentation Institution Induction and possession of a Pastoral Charge do not all make up this Lawful call nor may he preach one Sermon after all this till he have a particular Licensing Instrument from the Bishop So that he preacheth not meerly as a Presbyter nor as a possessed Incumbent but as Licensed by the Bishop 8. When he visiteth the sick he hath no Power left him to judge Whether the person be penitent and fit to be Absolved or not But if the wickedest liver will but say or swear that he repenteth of Swearing of Adultery of Perjury though such expressions or circumstances be such as plainly tell a present Minister that he hath nothing like to a serious repentance yet must this Minister be forced even in Absolute words to Absolve him from all his sins When a Popish Confessor would require more I do not in all this lay the fault that this Minister hath not power to keep away any of these persons from Baptism Confirmation the Lords Table Absolution c. but only that he hath no Power to forbear his own action and application and leave them to others that are satisfied to do it Nor not so much as to delay till he give a reason of his doubt to his Lord Bishop 9. When he buryeth the dead he hath no power to judge so far as to the performing or restraining of his own act whether the deceased person must needs be declared and pronounced blessed Three sorts of persons he must deny Christian burial to 1. Those that die unbaptized though they be the Children of the holiest Parents 2. Those that kill themselves though they be the faithfullest persons of godly and blameless lives who do it in melancholy deliration a phrenzy feaver or distraction 3. All that are Excommunicate though by a Lay Chancellor for not paying their fees or though it be because they durst not take the Sacrament from the hands of an ignorant ungodly drunken Priest to whose ministery neither they nor other of the Parish did ever consent or that it be the Learnedest Godly Divine that is excommunicate for dissenting from the Prelatists But all others without any exception that are brought to Church they must bury with a publick Declaration that they are saints viz. That God in mercy hath taken to himself the soul of this our dear brother And without Holiness no man shall see God So great difference in Holiness there is between the Holy Church of Rome and ours that they Canonize one Saint in an age by the Pope and we as many as are buryed by the Priest Though it was the most notorious Thief or Murderer or the most notorious Atheist or Infidel or Heretick who either writeth or preacheth or disputeth that there is no God or no life to come or useth in his ordinary talk to mock at Christ as a deceiver and to scorn the Scriptures as nonsence and contradiction or though it be a Jew who professeth enmity to Christ Much more if it be a common blasphemer perjured person adulterer drunkard a scorner at a godly life c. who never professed repentance but despised the Minister and his counsel to the last breath yet if he be brought to the Church for buryal the Priest must pronounce him saved in the aforesaid words so be it he be not Excommunicate of which sort of late there are too great numbers risen up in so much that the sober Prelatists themselves cry out of the growth and peril of Atheism Infidelity and most horrid filthiness and profaneness The words of the Canon are Can 68. No Minister shall refuse or delay to bury any corps that is brought to the Church or Churchyard convenient warning being given thereof before in such manner and form as is prescribed in the book of Common Prayer And if he shall refuse except the party deceased were denounced Excommunicated Excommunicatione majori for some grievous and notorious crime and no man able to testifie of his repentance he shall be suspended by the Bishop of the Diocese from his Ministry by the space of three months But the New Rubrick in the Liturgy saith The office ensuing is not to be used for any that die unbaptized or Excommunicate or have laid violent hands on themselves The Office saith Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the Soul of our dear brother here departed c. And We give thee hearty thanks that it hath pleased thee to deliver this our brother out of the miseries of this sinful world And yet as self-contradicters and condemners if any man do but say of one that hath been openly against the Prelates or Conformity that he was a godly honest man much more one that was against the King and especially a downright Traitor who so lived and died impenitently they take it for a heinous crime as in the latter case they well may do And yet except those whose quarters they set up upon the gates or deny Christian burial to by the Magistrate the poor Priest must pronounce them all at the Grave to be the Bishops dear brethren and saved as aforesaid 10. They have no Power to give the Sacrament of Communion with Christ and his Church to any the most Learned holy Christian who dare not receive the Sacrament kneeling for fear of bread-worship in appearance c. which though I think is unwarrantably scrupled yet hath so much of Universality and Antiquity as maketh it ill beseeming those same men who cry up the Church Councils Customes and Antiquity to cast out of Communion those that conform to all these for so doing For who knoweth not by Can. 20. of Concil Nic. 1. and the consent of Antiquity that they took it for a custome and tradition and Canon of the Universal Church that none should at all adore God kneeling on any Lords day in the year nor on any week-day between Easter and Whitsunday 11. They have no power to forbear denying the Sacrament of Communion to any how faithful and holy soever who is against the Diocesanes Confirmation and is unwilling that those whom he taketh to be no true Bishops should use that which he taketh as used by them to be no true Ordinance of God but a taking of his name in vain or if on any other account he be unwilling of it For the new Rubrick is There shall none be admitted to the holy Communion until such time as he be Confirmed or be ready and desirous to be Confirmed So that
swear that they are duties or may be done as of humane obligation by those that cannot say they are of Divine obligation 55. We hold that the first Churches that did divolve all arbitrations of differences among Christians upon the Pastors did that which brought no great present inconvenience when the People were but few and the Pastors had sufficient leisure but that which prepared for the degenerating of the Ministry and the Churches lamentable corruption And therefore that they should have foreseen this and done as St. Paul directed them and referred matters to any fit wise man among them And when they saw the mischief they should have quickly reformed it as Silvanus Bishop of Troas aforementioned did And that if there were Lay Elders in any of the ancient Churches as one passage in Origen and one in Ambrose and this of Silvanus in Socrates have made some think they were truly Lay and appointed only to such Arbitrations as these and such other Animadversions over the rest as Lay-men may do A help that I once tryed and found to be very great 56. We hold that when Constantine gave the Clergy the sole Power of Judging the Causes Civil and Criminal of all the Christians he shewed more ignorant zeal than true discretion and did let in a pestilence into the Church and that instead of that he should have only left Arbitrations to mans free choice and have set up a Christian or Righteous Magistracy to whom both Bishops and all other Christians should submit 57. We hold that when Christians so multiplyed as that they grew uncapable of Personal Communion at one Altar it was the duty of them and the Bishops to have ordered them into new Churches whcih should every one have had its proper Bishop or plenary Pastoral Office among them and not to have kept them all still in the name of one particular Church infimi ordinis when they were uncapable of the nature and end 58. We hold that it was sinfully done to make a new Office or Order of subject Presbyters that had not the Governing power of their perticular Churches neither alone nor conjunct but had only the power to Teach and Worship the Government being reserved only to the Bishop of another called a Mother Church 59. But we believe that this came not in till many hundred Years after Christ and that but by slow degrees and that after subordinate Churches and Altars were invented and set up yet the Pastors under the name of Presbyters had much of the Governing power of the Keys though with and under the Bishop of the Mother Church 60. The deposing of all the first rank or Order of Bishops which were before over each particular Church the making of a new Office of half Presbyters the making of Churches of a new species as being under a new sort of Officers the making Archbishops who should have many Churches and Bishops under them to become the Bishops of the lowest rank having none under them but above all these the making of the Pastoral work especially discipline become utterly impossible by putting that into one mans hand that cannot be done but by many or many hundred these and such like are the things that we can neither swear to nor approve 61. We hold that though the Magistrate may shape his part of the Church Government variously according to the Interest of the common good yet that the Spiritual or Pastoral part should not have been molded into the shape of the Civil Imperial Government And that so doing did give the Papacy that countenance which is the ground of its usurpation 62. For we hold that the essential constitution of the Pastoral Office and its work and the essential constitution of the Church Universal and of Individual or particular Churches are all of Divine unalterable Institution And that all Laws of Christ for such Constitution and for Administration are unalterable by man Though we hold that Circumstancials and Accidentals are alterable as being not setled by any Divine determination As e. g. how many Ministers shall be in each Church which of them shall be more regarded than the rest as being of greater wisdom how ost and when and where they shall assemble with many the like 63. We hold that as all Christians ordinarily should have personal Communion in particular Churches so those Churches and their Bishops should hold such Communion as is needful to their strength and concord and the common good 64. This Communion of Churches is to be held internally by Concord in the same Faith and Love and Religion and externally by the same profession and instrumentally 1. by Messengers and Letters and 2. by Delegates and Synods when there is need which as is said for Time Place Numbers Provinces Orders are left to humane Prudence 65. If any that divide the Country into Provinces will settle Synods accordingly and settle over them Presidents for the ordering of their proceedings and will give power to one above others to call such Synods and will call these Provinces or Nations or Empires by the name of Provincial National or Imperial Churches and the Bishops so exalted by the name of Metropolitans Primates Patriarchs c. We contend not against this as unlawful in it self though we easily see the accidental danger being taught it by long and sad experience so be it 1. that none of these be pretended to be of Divine Institution but of humane determination 2. and that they meddle with nothing but such accidentals as are left to humane prudence 3. and that they equal not their humane Association with the Christian Worshiping Churches which are of Christ's Institution 4. and that much less they do not oppress their brethren and tyrannize nor deprive the particular Pastors and Churches of their proper priviledges and work But alas when were these Rules observed by humane Churches 66. The Canons of such Synods or Councils of Bishops may be made Laws indeed by the Civil power and they are if just obligatory to the people by virtue of the Pastoral Authority of the Bishops But as to the particular Bishops they are only Agreements and no proper Laws the Major Vote of Bishops being not proper Governours of the rest and bind only by virtue of Christ's General Laws for Love and Concord 67. The Pastoral power is not at all Coactive by secular force on body or estate but only Nunciative and perswasive commanding in Christ's name as authorized by him and executed no otherwise than by a Ministerial word and by with-holding our own acts of Administration and denying our Communion to offenders Nor did the Apostles themselves pretend to any other than this power of the Word for the Keys are exercised but thus excepting what they did by Miracle And if Bishops would go no further they would work on none but Voluntiers and their usurpations might be the more easily born 67. And indeed we are fully perswaded that none but Voluntiers are â—it for the
Altars with the form were introduced till two hundred Years after Christ which maketh some the more question the Antiquity of Ignatius and Clem. Const and Can. Apost I yield to Baronius ad An. 57. that the Christians had Churches that is places consecrated for Church-Assemblies under those peaceable Emperors that went before Dioclesian For Eusebius besides others expresly telleth us so Spaciosas amplas construxerunt Ecclesias But I desire the Reader to mark his words Lib. 8. cap. 1. A man might then have seen the Bishops of all Churches in great reverence and favour among all sorts of Men and with all Magistrates Who can worthily describe those innumerable heaps and flocking multitudes through all Cities and famous Assemblies frequenting the places dedicated to Prayer Because of which Circumstances they not contented with the old and ancient Buildings which could not receive them have through all Cities builded them from the Foundation wide and ample Churches Here note 1. That here is no mention of any more Churches than one in each City Cities and Assemblies are numbered together 2. That these Buildings are called Churches 3. That these Churches were built greater than the old ones anew from the Foundation because the old ones were too narrow to contain the People But not superadded to the old ones 4. That the Bishops are called The Bishops of all Churches in relation to the same kind of Churches as are here described So that then a Bishop's Church met in one enlarged place Yet all these were no Temples but such as the silenced Ministers have of late built in some parts of London for the Christians were in continual danger of the demolishing of them which fell out in Dioclesian's time But till this Calm which Eusebius here describeth for about two hundred and fifty Years after Christ the Christians oft met in Vaults and secret places where they might be hid and not in open Churches unless now and then in a Calm between Platina in vit Xisti tells us that even at Rome it self about the Year 120. there were few found that durst profess the Name of Christ And see what he saith In Vita Clement 1. Anaclet Mantuan lib. 1. fastor de Clem. Anacl Evarist Alex. Xist Calist Urban c. In whose times Killing Banishing and Persecuting caused Scatterings hidings and as Pliny tells us many Apostasies See what Gers Bucer saith pag. 221 222 223. of all the Ages now in question about this matter As Tertullian saith Apol. c. 3. adeo in hominibus innocuis nomen innocuum erat odio Did the Rabble but see or hear the Christians they were raged against them and cried to the Judges Tollite impios Saith Polydor. Virgil. de invent rer l. 5. c. 6. Romae non reperio quod sciam aliud antiquius templum aedificatum aut dicatum vel ad usum Sacrorum fuisse conversum quam Thermas Novati in vico patricio quas Pius Pontifex Praxidis eximiae sanctitatis foeminae rogatu divae Pudentianae ejus Sorori consecravit qui fuit annus circiter 150. But the name Templum here is not used by Polydore as by the Ancients for a large and comely Fabrick For saith Tertullian after that Apol. c. 37. Christians leave Temples to the Heathens And saith Pope Nicholas in Epist de depositione Zachariae Rodoaldi Episc recited in his Life by Papir Massonus Fol. 132. Col. 2. Deinde propter frigidiorem locum in Ecclesia Salvatoris quae ab Authore vocatur Constantiniana quae prima in toto terrarum orbe constructa est You see that by this Pope's own Testimony there was no Church in the whole World built before this one at Rome by Constantine The meaning is no large sumptuous place called a Temple but only commodious meaner Rooms or Buildings And the same Pap. Masson in Vita Bonifacii fol. 55. noteth that Hierom even in his time so late Basilicas Christianorum tres tantum commemorasse When upon the great increase of Christians but one odd Idol Temple even in Alexandria was begged of the Emperor for the Christians Ruffin lib. 2. cap. 22. and divers others tell us what tumult and stir it caused And when Euseb de Vita Constant lib. 3. c. 49 50. tells us of his building of Churches except Constantinople it is but one in a City even the great Cities Nicomedia in Bythinia and Antioch And Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 12. saith that even in Constantinople which he made so great and beautiful that it was no whit inferior to Rome and by a Law engraven on a Pillar commanded that it be called Second Rome he built from the Foundation but two Churches Pacis Apostolorum I could find in my heart were it not tedious here to translate all Isidor Pelusâ—ota's Epist 246. lib. 2. in which he openeth the difference between Templum and Ecclesia and inveigheth against that Bishop as no Bishop who cried up the Temple as the Church while he persecuted and vexed the Godly who are the Church indeed and against them that are for sumptuous Temples and unholy scandalous Churches and tells us he had rather have been in the times when Temples were less adorned and the Churches more adorned with Heavenly Graces than in those unhappy times when Temples were too much adorned and Churches naked and empty of Spiritual Graces So that when there was but one Temple in a City except two or three and when that was called the Church because it contained the Church it 's evident what the Churches then were V. The ancient Agapae shew how great the Churches then were when as all the Church did feast together and these continued in Tertullian's time in some places at least And several Church-Canons mention them after that And Chrysost saith Homil. de Oportet haeres esse p. mihi 20 21. that in the Primitive times there was a custom that after Sermon and Sacrament they all feasted together in the Church which he highly praiseth But it was not many hundred Churches that feasted in one Room And after he saith The Church is like Noah's Ark but Men come in Wolves and go out Lambs c. shewing that by the Church he meant the Assembly And after All have the same Honour and the same Access till all have communicated and partaked of the same Spiritual Meat The Priests standing expect them all even the poorest Man of all By this he sheweth what Church he meant and how great the Church was Et Serm. 21. pag. 313. Redundat injuria in locum illum Ecclesiam enim totam contemnis Propterea enim Ecclesia dicitur quia communiter omnes accipit This doth not only shew what Church he meaneth but fully confirmeth what I said before that The whole Church was in that place and that the place is therefore called the Church because it commonly receiveth all But note that this was not preach'd at Constantinople but yet at the great Patriarchal Church of Antioch And I
may add as to the former Evidences To. 5. Serm. 52. pag. 705. when he had shewed that in the Church there must be no division he expoundeth it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui seipsum ab hoc conventu sejunxerit So that the Assembly was the Church and not a thousandth part of the Church only See more of the Churches feasting together in Baronius ad an 57. pag. ed. Plant. 543. to spare me more labour about this VI. Another Evidence of the Limits of the ancient Churches is that which I oft mentioned in the particular Testimonies that every where all the People either chose or expresly consented to their Bishops and they were ordained over them in their sight And this no more could do than could meet in one place and one part of a Church hath no more right to it than all the rest The Consequence is evident And for them that say that it was only the Parishioners of the Cathedral Church that voted I answer Now Cathedrals have no Parishes and heretofore the Cathedral Parish was the whole Church The Testimonies fully prove that it was All the Church or People that were the Bishop's Flock And for some hundreds of Years there were no Parishes in his Diocess but one and therefore no such distinction Pamelius's heap of Testimonies and many more for the matter of fact I have already cited And however some talk now to justifie the contrary course of our times it is so clear and full in Antiquity that the People chose their Bishops at first principally and after secondarily after the Clergy having a Negative Voice with them and their Consent and Testimony ever necessary even for eight hundred Years at least that it would be a needless thing to cite any more Testimonies of it to any versed in the Ancients Papists and Protestants are agreed de facto that so it was See Cyprian lib. 4. Epist 2. of Cornelius lib. 1. Epist 2. of Sabinus and lib. 1. Epist 4. Euseb Hist lib. 6. cap. 29. tells us that Fabian by the People was chosen to succeed Anterus And Cyprian saith it was Traditione Apostolica vid. Socrat. lib. 4. cap. 14. lib. 2. cap. 6. lib. 7. cap. 35. Sozomen lib. 6. cap. 24. lib. 8. cap. 2. of Chrysostom lib. 6. cap. 13. vid. Augustin Epist 110. Theodoret Hist lib. 1. cap. 9. in Epist Concil Nicaeni ad Alexandr The Bloodshed at the Choice of Damasus was one of the first occasions of laying by that custom at Rome And yet though they met not so tumultuously they must consent Leo's Testimony I gave you before with many more Theodor. lib. 5. cap. 9. of Nectarius sheweth that Bishops were then chosen Plebe praesente universa fraternitate as Cyprian speaketh of Sabinus So the Concil Parisien even an 559. But for more plentiful proof of this see M. A. Spalatens de Rep. Eccles lib. 1. cap. 22. n. 10. lib 6. cap. 7. lib. 3. cap. 3 n. 12. c. Blondel de Jure plebis more copiously and de Epis Presbyt Bilson perpet Govern cap. 15. lib. of Christian Subjection oft And it is to be noted that when the People's Confusion had made them seem uncapable any longer to chuse 1. This was long of the Prelates themselves who by that time had so far enlarged their Churches that the People were neither capable of doing their ancient Work and Duty nor yet of being ruled by the Clergy aright 2. And when the People were restrained from the Choice by Meetings and Vote the Magistrates in their stead did undertake the Power 3. And when it fell out of the People's hands into Great Mens the Proud and Covetous who could best seek and make Friends did get the Bishopricks whereupon the Churches were presently changed corrupted and undone 4. And the sense of this moved the few good Bishops that were left to make Canons against this Power and Choice of Princes and great Men decreeing that all Bishops obtruded by them on the Churches should be as none but be avoided and all avoided that did not avoid them And the Roman and Patriarchal party cunningly joyned with these honest Reformers to get the Choice out of the Magistrate's hands that they might get it into their own and so Christ's Church was abused among ambitious Usurpers The Decrees against Magistrates Choice of Bishops you may see Can. Apost 31. Decret 17. q. 7. c. siquis Episc Sept. Synod c. 3. Decret 16. q. 7. Oct. Synod c. 12. Act. 1. c. 22. Decret 16. q. 7. Nicol. 1. Epist 10. Epist 64. with more which you may find cited by Spalatens lib. 6. cap. 7. pag. 675 676 677. And it is to be noted that though still the Clergy had a Negative or first Choice yet when they procured Charles the Great who was to rise by the Papal help to resign and renounce the Magistrates Election he restored the Church to its Ancient Liberties as far as enlarged Dioceses and ambitious Clergy-men would permit it His words are these Sacrorum Canonum non ignari ut in Dei nomine Sancta Ecclesia suo liberius potiretur honore assensum ordini Ecclesiastico praebuimus ut scilicet Episcopi per Electionem CLERI POPULI secundum statuta Canonum de PROPRIA DIOECESI remota personarum munerum acceptione ob vitae meritum sapientiae donum eligantur ut exemplo verbis sibi subjectis usquequaque prodesse valeant Vid. Baron To. 11. n. 26. Decret Dist 63. c Sacrorum Where note that 1. he includeth the People of the whole Diocess 2. And doth this as according to the sacred Canons So that for Men to dream that only the Parishioners of a Cathedral Church which had no proper Parish or the Citizens only were to chuse is to feign that which is contrary to notorious Evidence of Law and Fact as well as of the reason of the thing For where all are the Bishops Flock and chuse as his Flock there all the Flock must chuse and a parcel can claim no privilege above all the rest VII The next Evidence is this In the first Age it is very fairly proved by Doctor Hammond that there were by the Apostles more Bishops and Churches than one in many Cities themselves And if one City had more than one Church and Bishop then much more many distant places in Towns and Countries That one City had more than one he sheweth by the distinction of Jews and Gentiles Churches As Peter was appointed chiefly for the Jews and Paul chiefly for the Gentiles so he sheweth it very probable that at Rome Antioch and other places they had several Churches And thus he reconcileth the great differences about Linus Clemens and Cletus or Anacletus And especially on this reason that they had not the same Language And indeed when in great Cities there are Christians of divers Languages it is necessary that they be of divers Congregations
Pastor must be as bad 2. And as to his appeal to the discipline of the Ancients I leave the Reader to the deceit of this mans arguings 1. If he cannot find it fully proved in this Book that the Churches of the ancient Bishops were not so big as our greatest Parishes as to the number of Souls much less as our Diocesses 2. And if in my abstruct of Church-History of Bishops and Counsels I have not fully proved that Discipline was neglected corrupted or overthrown dy degrees as Bishops-Churches overswelled When we read such doleful complaints in History Fathers Counsels and their Canons of the corruption of the Churches is this the true use to be made of all that we must be like them and not blame them lest we open the nakedness of our Fathers 3. And if men can make themselves willingly so blind as by a story that the Fathers did such things among People and circumstances which we know not to renounce common experience that it is not now any where done nor can possibly be done If men can be so ignorant what our Parishes and Diocesses are and what a Bishop and Chancellor do and can do Let such err for I am unable to cure them any more than if they were confident that my Lord Major can Govern all the Families of London as their Masters by stewards without Family-Masters or that one Physitian or one Tutor could serve instead of many for the City Indeed they that have as low an esteem of true Discipline as Mr. D. in his Letter seems to have may easily believe that a few men may do it And those Papists that can let the Church be the sink of common uncleanness and a Nursery of Ignorance Vice and Prophaneness so they may but keep up their Wealth and Ease and Honour by crying up Order Government and Unity may accordingly believe that no more knowledge Piety or Discipline is a duty than serveth the ends of their worldly Dominion I must again give notice to the Reader that whereas the Common Objections of the greatness of Bishops Churches in the second Centurie are fetcht from the instances of Rome and Alexandria I have answered even those two in the beginning of my Breviate of Church-History to which I must refer you and not again repeat it here I know that poor ingnorant Persons must expect such a shameful Cant of old reproach as this to cheat them into the hatred of Christs Church order and Government into a love of Clergie bondage a scornful smile shall tell them Mr. Baxter would have as many Bishops as Parishes and a Pope in every Parish when men think one in a Diocess too much When every ignorant or rash Priest shall be the Master of all the Parish and you have no remedy against his Tyranny what a brave reformation will this be And such a deceitful scorn will serve to delude the ignorant and ungodly But if they truly understood the case they would see the shame of this deriding objection 1. A Pope is a Monarch or Governour of the world and a Diocesan of a multitude of Parishes And sure he usurpeth not so much who will be but the Church-guide of one A man is abler to guide one School Colledge Hospital or Family than a hundred or thousand without any true Master of a Family School Colledge c. under him 2. Why is not this foolish scorne used against these foresaid relations also Why say they not every Master maketh himself a Pope or Bishop to his own house and every School-Master to his School whereas one Master over a thousand would do better with bare Teaching Ushers that had no Government 3. Let it be remembred that we would have no Parish Pastor to have any forceing power by Fines Mulcts Imprisonments c. But only to prevaile so farr as his management of Divine authority on mens Consciences can prevail And we would not have Magistrates punish men meerly because they stand excommunicate or because they tell not the Clergy that they repent True excommunication is a heavy punishment fitted to its proper use and not to be corrupted by the force of the Sword but to operate by it self And valeat quantum valere potest He that despiseth it will not say he is enslaved by it But is this all that the Bishops desire 4. We would have no man become the Pastor of a Church without the peoples consent if not choice no more than a Physician should be forced on the sick And as the Servant that consenteth to be a Servant consenteth to his Masters Authority and he that consenteth to a Physician consenteth to be ruled by him for his health and neither take this for a slavery So he that consenteth to a Pastor consenteth to his Pastoral conduct And if he think it to his injury he may choose 5. And yet we believe that the Magistrate may constrein Atheists Infidels and such as refuse all proper Church Communion to hear Gods word Preached and make all the Parish allow the Teacher his tythes and maintenance due by Law But he may force no man to Receive the great gift of the Body and Blood of Christ or a pardon delivered and sealed by Baptism or the Eucharist and to be a member of the Church as such against his will For none but desirous consenters are capable of the gifts so that the same Minister may be the common Teacher of all the Parish and yet the Church-Pastor only of fit consenters And when Sacraments are free and no Minister constrained to deliver them against his Conscience nor any unwilling man to receive them who is by this enslaved 6. And if a Church-Pastor do displease the Church and the main body of them withdraw their consent we would not have any man continue their Pastor while they consent not but disclaim him Though in case of need the Rulers may continue him in his Benefice as the publick Preacher if the people be grosly and obstinately culpable in refusing him 7. And we would have that Parish Pastor to have no power to hinder any other Minister from giving any one the Sacrament whom he denyeth it to or that refuseth it from him Though he that for a common cause is cast out of our Church should not be received by others till he repenteth yet that holds not in all private causes between the particular Pastor and him nor in case of unjust excommunication And other Ministers must judge of their own actions whom to receive and an injuring Minister may not hinder any other nor the injured person from communicating elsewhere 8. And we would have Parish Churches be as large as personal communion doth require or allow and every Church to have divers Ministers and if one be chief or Bishop and the rest assistants and if three or four small Parishes make one such communicating Church we resist not 9. And we desire frequent meeting or Synods of neighbour Pastors and that there every single
of the first rank afore-described must govern it statedly as present by himself and not absent by others Chap. 12. The just opening and understanding of the true nature of the Pastoral Office and Church Government would end these Controversies about Prelacy Chap. 13. That there is no need of such as our Diocesâ—nes for the Unity or the Government of the particular Ministers nor for the silencing of the unworthy Chap. 14. The true original of the warrantable sort of Episcopacy in particular Churches was the notorious disparity of abilities in the Pastors And tho original of that tyrannical Prelacy into which it did degenerate was the worldly Spirit in the Pastors and people which with the World came by prosperity into the Church Quaere Whether the thing cease not when the Reason of it ceaseth PART II. Chap. 1. THe clearing of the State of the Question Chap. 2. The first Argument against the aforedescribed Diocesanes that their form quantum in se destroyeth the particular Church form of Gods institution and setteth up a humane form in its stead Chap. 3. That the Primitive Episcopal Churches of the Holy Ghosts Institution were but such Congregations as I before described Proved by Scripture Chap. 4. The same proved by the Concessions of the most learned Defenders of Prelacy Chap. 5. The same proved by the full Testimony of Antiquity Chap. 6. The same further confirmed by the Ancients Chap. 7. More proof of the aforesaid Ancient Church limits from the Ancient Customs Chap. 8. That the Diocesanes cause the Error of the Separatists who avoid our Churches as false in their Constitution and would disable us to confute them Chap. 9. The second Argument from the deposition of the Primitive species of Bishops and the erecting of a humane inconsiâ—tent species in their stead A specifi k difference proved Chap. 10. Whether any form of Church Government be instituted by God as necessary or all be left to humane prudence and choice Chap. 11. Argument third from the destruction of the Order of Presbyters of divine Institution and the invention of a new Order of half Sub-presbyters in their stead Chap. 12. That God instituted such Presbyters as had the foresaid power of the Keyes in doctrine worship and discipline and no other proved by the Scriptures Chap. 13. The same confirmed by the Ancients Chap. 14. And by the Confessions of the greatest and learnedest Prelatists Chap. 15. Whether this Government belonging to the Presbyters be in foro Ecclesiastico exteriore or only in foro Conscientiae vel interiore Chap. 16. That the English Diocesane Government doth change this Office of a Presbyter of God's institution quantum in se into another of humane invention The difference opened Twenty instances of taking away the Presbyters power from them Chap. 17. That the great change of Government hitherto described the making of a new species of Churches Bishops and Presbyters and deposing the old was sinfully done and not according to the intent of the Apostles Chap. 18. Argument fourth from the impossibility of their performance of the Episcopal Office in a Diocesane Church And the certain exclusion and destruction of the perticular Church Government while one man only will undertake a work too great for many hundreds when their work is further opened in perticulars Chap 19. The same impossibility proved by experience 1. Of the ancient Church 2. Of the Foreign Churches 3. Of the Church of England 4. Of our selves Chap. 20. Objections against Parish discipline answered The need of it proved Chap. 21. The Magistrates sword 1. Is neither the strength of Church discipline 2. Nor will serve instead of it 3. Nor should be too much used to second and enforce it The mischeifs of enforcing men to Sacramental Communion opened in twenty instances Chap. 22. An Answer to the Objections 1. No Bishop no King 2. Of the Rebellions and Seditions of them that have been against Bishops Chah 23. Certain brief consectaries Chap. 24. Some Testinonies of Prelatists themselves of the late state of the Church of England its Bishops and Clergy lest we be thought to wrong them in our description of them and their fruits Chap. 25. The Ordination lately exercised by the Presbyters in England when the Bishops were put down by the Parliament is valid and Re ordination not to be required jure divino as supposing it null A TREATISE OF EPISCOPACY Confuting by SCRIPTURE REASON And the CHURCHES TESTIMONY That sort of Diocesan Churches Prelacy and Government which casteth out the Primitive Church-species Episcopacy Ministry and Discipline and confoundeth the Christian world by Corruption Usurpation Schismes and Persecution Meditated 1640 when the c. Oath was imposed Written 1671 and cast by Published 1680 by the Call of Mr. H. Dodwel and the Importunity of our Superiors who demand the Reasons of our Nonconformity The designe of this book is not to weaken the Church of England its Government Riches Honour or Unity But to strengthen and secure it 1. By the concord of all true Protestants who can never unite in the present Impositions 2. And by the necessary reformation of Parish-Churches and those abuses which else will in all ages keep up a succession of Nonconformists As an Account why we dare not Covenant by Oath or Subscription never to endeavour any amending alteration of the Church Government by lawful meanes as Subjects nor make our selves the justifying vouchers for all the unknown persons in the Kingdom who vowed and swore it that none of them are obliged to such lawful endeavour by their vow By RICHARD BAXTER a Catholick Christian for love concord and peace of all true Christians and obedience to all lawful commands of Rulers but made called and used as a Nonconformist London Printed for Nevil Simmons at the three Cocks at the West end of Saint Pauls and Thomas Simmons at the Prince's Armes in Ludgate-street MDCLXXXI These Books following are printed for and sold by Nevil Simmons at the three Golden Cocks at the west end of St. Pauls A Christian Directory or sum of practical Theology and cases of Conscience directing Christians how to use their Knowledge and Faith how to improve all helps and meanes and to performe all duties how to overcome temptations and to escape or mortifie every sin in four parts 1. Christian Ethicks or private Duties 2. Christian Oeconomicks or Family Duties 3. Christian Ecclesiasticks or Church Duties 4. Christian Politicks or Duties to Our selves and Neighbours in Folio Catholick Theology Plain Pure Peaceable for Pacification in three Books 1. Pacifying Principles c. 2. Pacifying Praxis c. 3. Pacifying Disputations c. in Folio The Life of Faith in three Parts The first Sermon preached before his Majesty c. The Second Instructions for confirming believers in the Christian faith The third directions how to live by faith or how to exercise it in all occasions in Quarto Naked Popery or the naked Falshood of a book called the Catholick naked Truth
or the Puritan convert to Apostolical Christianity written by W. H. opening their fundamental errours of unwritten tradition and their unjust description of the Puritan the Prelatical Protestant and the Papist and their differences c. To which is added an examination of Roman Tradition as it is urged as infallible c. In answer to a book called A rational discourse of Transubstantiation in Quarto A Key for Catholicks to open the Jugling of the Jesuits and satisfie all that are but truely willing to understand whether the cause of the Roman or reformed Churches be of God and to leave the readerutterly unexcusable that will after this be a Papist in Octavo A Treatise of Justifying Righteousness in two books in Octavo There are lately published of this Authors these two Books following and sold by Thomas Simmons at the Princes Armes in Ludgate-street CHurch-History of the Government of Bishops and their Councils Abbreviated Including the chief part of the Government of Christian Princes and Popes and a true account of the most troubling Controversies and Heresies till the Reformation Written for the use especially of them I. Who are ignorant or misinformed of the state of the Antient Churches II. Who cannot read many and great Volumes III. Who think that the Universal Church must have one Visible Soveraign Personal or Collective Pope or General Councils IV. Who would know whether Patriarchs Diocesans and their Councils have been or must be the cure of Heresies and Schismes V. Who would know the truth about the great Heresies which have divided the Christian World especially the Donatists Novatians Arrians Macedonians Nestorians Eutychians Monothelites c. By Richard Baxter a Hater of False History A Moral Prognostication I. What shall befal the Churches on Earth till their Concord by the Restitution of their Primitive Purity Simplicity and Charity II. How that Restitution is like to be made if ever and what shall befal them thenceforth unto the End in that Golden Age of LOVE Written by Richard Baxter when by the Kings Commission we in vain treated for Concord 1661. And now published not to instruct the Proud that scorn to learn nor to make them Wise who will not be made Wise But to Instruct the Sons of Love and Peace in their Duties and Expectations And to tell Posterity That the Things which befall them were Fore-told And that the Evil might have been prevented and Blessed Peace on Earth attained if Men had been but willing and had not shut their Eyes and hardened their Hearts against the Beams of Light and Love THE English Diocesan AND PRIESTHOOD TRYED c. CHAP. I. The Reasons of this Writing I Am not ignorant how displeasing it will be to the Prelates that I publish these Reasons of my Nonconformity to the Subscriptions and Oaths by which they would have me become an obliged Approver of their Function Nor am I ignorant what Power Wit and Will they have to express and exercise their displeasure And consequently how probable it is that I shall suffer by them for this work And I well know that peaceable subjects should not unnecessarily say any thing against that which is required by their Rulers Laws nor cherish the Peoples discontents but do all that is lawful for the common Peace And I am not of so pugnacious or self-hating a disposition as to be willing of mens displeasure especially my Superiours or to be ruined in this World and all that I may but vent my Opinion in a case wherein I have published already so much that is still unanswered as in my Disputations of Church-Government is to be seen And upon such Reasons but above all that I might not cast away my opportunity for some more useful writings nor put an end to my own labours before God put an end to them I have been silent in this Cause since our publick debates in 1661 above ten years I have lived peaceably I have endeavoured to preserve the due reputation of the publick Ministry and to perswade all others to due subjection love and quietness I have by Word and Writing opposed the Principles of such as are exasperated by their sufferings into the Dividing and Separating extream Though I knew that by so doing I was like to incur the displeasur and bâ—tter cenâ—â—â—e of the Separatists as much as I had before of the Prelates though not to suffer so much by them And I thought that the Prelates themselves who would not understand the true state of the People nor the tendency of their way by our informations and evident Reasons might yet come in time to know all by experience and so to amend what they have done amiss But now I dare be no longer silent for the Reasons given Apol. ch 1. which I will â—tay the Râ—â—der bâ—ieâ—y to sum up 1. I find that experience it self doth not Teach some men but Harden them 2. I perceive that those that are now convinced by experience and wish they had taken another course and rather have united the Ministry than silenced them are not able to undo what they have done nor to amend what is done amiss much less to retrieve all the doleful consequents but the matter is gone out of their hands and beyond their power 3. I see that while we wait the Devil's work goeth on by the silence and by the Divisions of the Ministers Popery greatly increaseth Quakers multiply Atheism and Infidelity go baâ—e faced among those that are accounted men of reputation Malice and bitter hatred of each other with common backbitings censurings and slanders instead of sweet Love and Concord do notoriously encrease Thousands are every day committing these sins to the increase of their guilt and the hastening of Gods judgments on the Land The sufferers call the Prelates persecuters and wolves in sheeps cloathings who are known by their fruits their teeth and â—laws The Prelatists still say that the Nonconformists are unreasonable discontented peevish factious unpeaceable unruly schismaticks that will rather see all confounded than they will yield to things indifferent And shall we still stand by and silently see this work go on 4. And to love and defend Truth Honesty and Innocency is to be like to God It is pity that those that Christ hath done so much to justifie and will so gloriously justifie at the last should have nothing said on their behalf by men But we are much more obliged to justifie a righteous cause than righteous men For all men have somewhat that is unjustifiable but so hath not the truth of God 5. And he that in his Baptismal Covenant is engaged against the Flesh the World and the Devil should be loath to see all their work go on and not oppose it and to see that which he taketh to be no better than deliberate Lying or Justifying sin and Perjury it self and covenanting never to obey God in lawful and necessary Church-reformation to be all called Things indifferent 6. Nature and Scripture teach us to
have a due and moderate regard of our own reputation as men but much more as Ministers of Christ seeing the doctrine of Christ which we preach or write is usually dishonoured in the Ministers dishonour and the edification of the souls of them that hear us or read our writings is greatly hindered by it 7. While Noblemen Knights Gentlemen conformable Clergy men and many others of all Ranks are possessed with these thoughts of us that we are persons who hypocritically pretend to Godliness while indeed we are so humoursome that we will forbear our Ministry and our Maintenance and suffer any thing and divide the Church rather than yield to indifferent things this is a scandal a grievous scandal either given or taken and tendeth to wrong their souls that are scandalized And if we give them this scandal it is our heinous sin But if they take it by misinformation we are obliged to do our part to heal it Souls are precious and scandal doth endanger them even to distast Religion it self for the sakes of such as they take us to be And we must not stand by and see men perish if we can do any thing to save them 8. The sufferings of many of the Ministers are very great that have not bread for their children nor cloaths to cover them and are ashamed to make known their wants And if with all this we suffer the burden of unreproved calumny to lie on them and keep them not to the necessary comfort which conscience should find in sufferings with innocency we shall be guilty of uncharitableness our selves 9. It is part of our Honouring the King and Parliament and other Magistrates not to despise or slight their censures And the judgment which they have publickly passed on us in an Act of Confinement which imposeth the Oath for Prelacy is so hard and grievous that if we are guilty it is fit we should be made the common reproach of men And if we are not as Non-conformists it is our duty to rectifie the judgment of our superiours where they are misinformed And as Augustine saith that no good Christian should be patient under an imputation of Heresie so I may say that no good Subject should be senslesly patient under an imputation of disloyalty and sedition That better beseemeth the anarchical and truly disloyal and seditious who take it for no crime 10. And we know how pleasantly the Papists insult to hear us stigmatized for Villains and seditious Persons by our brethren and what use they will make of it at present and in future History to the Service of their malice and injury to the truth which we ought not silently still to suffer while we see how hereby they do already multiply 11. And how unlikely soever it be it is not impossible that our Superiours that at once deposed and silenced about 1800. Ministers of Christ when they see what Reasons we have for our Non-conformity may be moved to restore those that yet survive And then how many thousand souls would have the joy and benefit 12. Lastly Truth and the just information of Posterity is a thing exceedingly desirable to ingenuous minds It is a great trouble to think that the Ages to come should be injured by false History Therefore we must do our best that they may but truly know our Case and then let them judge of the Persons and Actions of this our Age as they shall find Cause when Truth is opened to-them Upon all these Reasons though to my own great labour and to the greater contradiction of my natural love of silent quietness and to the probable incurring of mens displeasure I take it to be my duty to give my Superlours Neighbours and Posterity a true Account of the Reasons which have moved my self and others of my mind to refuse to Subscribe and Swear to the present English Diocesan Prelacy Committing my Life and Liberty to the pleasure of God in obedience to whom I have both refused to Conform and written these Reasons of my Non-conformity CHAP. II. The English Diocesan Prelacy and Church-Government truly described that it may be known what it is which we disown IT being not Episcopacy in General but the Popish and the English Species of Prelacy which our Judgments cannot approve and which we cannot swear to as approvers it is necessary that we tell strangers what this Prelacy is that the subject of our Controversie be not unknown or misunderstood But the subject is so large that the very naming of the parts of our Ecclesiastical Government in Tables by Dr. Ri. Cosins maketh up a Volume in 16 Tables and many hundred branches Which being written in Latin I must refer the Foreign Reader to it Not at all for the understanding of our Practice but only of our Rule or Laws with our Church-Constitution seeing it would take up a considerable Volume to open but one half of his Scheme All that I shall now do is to give you this brief Intimation That in England there are 26 or 27 Bishopricks of which two are Archbishops In all these set together there was when Speed numbred them nine thousand seven hundred twenty five Parish Churches but now many more In the Diocess that I live in Lincoln there is above a 1000 or 1100. In very many of these Parishes besides the parish-Parish-Churches there are Chapels that have Curates in some Parishes one Chapel in some two in some three if not more In these Parishes the number of Inhabitants is various as they are greater or lesser The greatest about London such as Stepny Giles-Cripplegate Sepulchres Martins c. have some about 50000 persons some say much more some about 30000 some about 20000 c. But ordinarily in Cities and Market-Towns through the Country the number is about 2000 or 3000 or 4000 or 5000 at the most except Plimouth and some few great Parishes that have far more And in Villages in some 2000 in some 1000 in some small ones 500 or 300 or in some very small ones fewer There are in England 641 Market-Towns saith Speed which are of the greater sort of Parishes and such as in old times were called Cities though now a few have got that title at least a great number of them are equal and some much greater and richer than some that now are named Cities The Diocess that I live in is about six-score Miles in length By all this you may conjecture how many hundred thousand souls are in some Diocesses and at what a distance from each other and what personal Communion it is that they are capable of I my self who have travelled over most of England never saw the face or heard the name of one Person I think of many thousands in the Diocess that I live in Nor have we any other Communion with the rest of the Diocess even with above a thousand Parishes in it than we have with the People of any other Church or Diocess in the land about us save that One
Bishop and his Chancellor and other Officers are over us all The Magistrates Civil Governmeut of the Church I shall not meddle with as having no exceptions against it The Sacerdotal or Spiritual Power called the Power of the Keys determineth who shall be Members of the Church and partake of its Communion and exerciseth other acts of Spiritual Discipline of which more anon This power is said to be in Archbishops and Bishops in foro ecclesiae publico vel exteriore though also in the Governed Presbyters in foro privato interiore as they may privately comfort a penitent person and declare God's promise of the pardon of his sin The Archbishops have it in eminency As also the power of confirming the Election of the Bishops of their Provinces and the power of Consecrating Bishops with two others and the power of Convocating Provincial Synods upon the Kings Prescript and of moderating in them The power of receiving Appeals and of Visiting the whole Provinces yea to receive Appeals from the lower Judges omiting the middle ones and to exercise Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in any vacant Diocess under them They have power of Dispensation in all Causes not judged contrary to Gods word wherever the Pope had power and where the Pope had not power if the King or Council permit it them They may dispense with the Eating of flesh on Fasting-days with Marrying without previous publication with divers irregularities and sometime may abolish simoniacum ambitum They may grant Commendams and Dispence with Non-residence and with the keeping of divers Churches called Benefices in several Cases and with a Sons succeeding his Father and with Lay-mens possessing the Church-maintenance called Prebends The Bishops who take place in Parliament of other Barons as the Archbishops do of Dukes are all chosen really by the King who nominateth in a Writ to the Dean and Chapter the man whom they must chuse who pro forma do chuse him never contradicting the Kings Nomination Their proper Office consisteth in the powers of Order and of Jurisdiction as they distinguish them Their power of Order is threefold 1. To Ordain Priests and Deacons 2. To Consecrate Churches and Burying places 3. To Confirm Children after Baptism when they can speak and say the Creed Lords Prayer and Decalogue and others that were not Confirmed in their Childhood Besides that they may be Privy-Counsellors Lord-Keepers of the Great Seal Lord Treasurers Embassadours c. Their ordinary Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction extendeth 1. to the Interdiction of Divine Offices 2. to publick Admonitions and Penances 3. to suspension from the Sacrament and from ingress into the Church and 4. to Excommunication and Absolution and 5. to Anathematisms And as to Ministers 1. They may Sequester Benefices 2. They may Suspend ab officio beneficio and forbid them to Preach or Pray Or grant License to such as shall be tolerated to Preach 3. They may deprive 4. And depose Ministers by sentence verbal and degradation actually This Church Jurisdiction of Bishops is distinguished into Voluntary and Contentious The Voluntary extendeth to abundance of things granted them by Statute and by Common Law which I pass by That which they claim both by Municipal Law and Ecclesiastical is 1. The probate of the Testaments of the dead 2. The granting Administration of Goods to the next of Kin 3. Keeping the bona caduca where none claimeth the Inheritance 4. To receive Reasons of Administring and to be Judges of them 5. To confer Benefices or Institute such as others present 6. To grant Induction to the Instituted 7. To receive the Fruits of vacant Benefices 8. To allow the Vicar a fit proportion 9. To grant Letters Dimissory or Testimonial 10. To Visit their Diocess once in three years In which Triennial Visitation they usually go to one Town in a County and never see the face of the people in the many score or hundred Churches about them and thither they summon the Ministers and the Church-Wardens and Sides-men Where one Minister preacheth and then the Ministers must dine with the Bishop and in Court he or his Officer giveth a Book of Printed Articles containing a multitude of particulars which the Church-warden must swear to present by where because of the quality of them some Church-Wardens refuse and others because of the number some saying it is unlawful to undo their Ministers and Neighbours by such Presentments as for omitting a Ceremony for preaching or keeping a Fast in private c. and some saying it is impossible to keep the Oath and some saying that if they do it they shall be hated of their Neighbours Whereupon those that refuse are prosecuted to punishment And the rest take the Oath and Articles but not one of many doth present accordingly though the Canon enquires after the perjured And many that fear perjury or persecution themselves do hire some poor man to be Church-Warden in their stead that will venture upon all I must intreat the Reader to peruse some of their Books of Articles especially such as Bishop Mountagues and Bishop Wrens to see what was then enquired after Dr. Zouch de Jud. Eccless p. 37. § 1. Part. 3. saith Ad judices quod attinet statuto ordinatum quod personae conjugatae dummodo Doctores Juris Civilis fuerint qui ad officium Cancellarii Vicarii Generalis Officialis vel Commissarii à Majestate Regia Archiapiscopo Episcopo Archidiacono aut alio quocunque potestatem habente deputati sunt omnem Jurisdictionem Ecclesiasticam exercere quam libet censuram sive coercitionem â—rrogare possint This Jurisdiction of Bishops is exercised either Universally by a Vicar General usually a Lay-man or qarticularly by a Commissary And when he please the Bishop may do it himself The other part of their Jurisdiction is called Contentious And here the Bishop may himself judge in some Cases but in the ordinary course of Jurisdiction a Civil Lawyer called his Chancellor is the Judge This Chancellor is and must be a Lay-man which even Bishop Goodman of Gloucester Myst Rel. Epist I have it and can produce it at this time under the Kings own Hand and Seal wherein he forbids that any Church-man or Priest in Holy Orders be a Chancellor and this was the occasion of all the corruption of the Spiritual Courts For Chancellors live only on the Fees of the Court and for them to dismiss a Cause it was to lose so much blood See further in him a Papist Bishop of a Protestant Diocess complaineth in Print that he could not get Reformed This Chancellor keepeth an Ordinary Court in the form of a Civil Court where are Advocates for Council and Proctors for pleading Certain men called Apparitors whose name is commonly a scorn among the people do from abroad the Country bring them in Accusations and Summon the persons accused besides those that by Plaintiffs are accused Here are judged Causes about Church Materials and Causes Criminal which he that
forbear pronouncing of all Traytors Murderers Adulterers Perjured Atheists c. that never profest Repentance at their Burial that God hath of his mercy taken to himself the soul of this our dear brother except the unbaptized c. aforesaid And note 1. that the Parish Priest hath no power to do these things either by himself or in conjunction with the Bishop or any other 2. And that there is not one Suffragan Bishop or Chorepiscopus in England under the 26 Bishops to do any part of their work in these 97025 Parishes CHAP. III. Our Judgment of the History of the Antient Church-Government and of the rise of the Diocesan Prelacy I Shall anon shew more fully that there are two things especially in which we think the very Species of our Diocesan Prelacy to be altered from the antient Episcopacy One is in the Extent of their Office as to their subject Charge a Bishop infimae speciei of the lowest species having then but One Church and now a Bishop infimae speciei having many hundred Churches made into one or nullified to make One 2. In the Work of their Office which was then purely Spiritual or Pastoral and is now mixt of Magistratical and Ministerial exercised by mixed Officers in Courts much like to Civil Judicatures The History of their rise I suppose is this 1. Christ made a difference among his Ministers himself while he chose twelve to be Apostles and special Witnesses oâ— his Doctrine Life and Resurrection and Ascension and to be the Founders of his Church and the Publishers of his Gospel abroad the World 2. As these Apostles preached the Gospel themselves and planted Churches so did many others as their helpers partly the seventy sent by Christ and partly called by the Apostles themselves And all these exercised indefinitely a preparing Ministry before particular Churches were gathered abroad the World and afterwards went on in gathering and calling more 3. Besides this preparing unfixed Ministration the same Apostles also placed by the peoples consent particular fixed Ministers over all the several Churches which they gathered 4. These fixed Ministers as such they named indifferently Bishops Elders Pastors and Teachers Whereas those of the same Office in general yet unfixed are called either by the General name of Christ's Ministers or Stewards of his Mysteries And in regard of their special works some were called Apostles some Prophets and some Evangelists 5. These Apostles though unfixed and having an Indefinite charge yet went not all one way but as God's Spirit and prudence guided them they dispersed themselves into several parts of the World 6. But as they did many of them first stay long at Jerusalem so afterward in planting and setling Churches they sometimes stayed several months or years in one place and then went to another And so did the Evangelists or Indefinite Assistants whom they sent forth on the same work 7. While they stayed in these newly planted Churches they were themselves the chief Guides of the People And also of their fixed Bishops 8. This abode in settling the particular Churches and their particular Bishops or Elders occasioned Historians afterward to call both Apostles and Evangelists such as Timothy Titus Silas Silvanus Luke Apollo c. the Bishops of those Churches though they were not such as the fixed Bishops were who undertook a special Charge and care of one particular Church alone or above all other Churches 9. On this account the same Apostle is said to be the first Bishop of many Churches as Peter of Antioch and Rome Paul of Corinth Ephesus Philippi c. When indeed the Apostles were the particular fixed Bishops of no Churches but the Bishops equally of many as a sort of unfixed Episcopacy is included in Apostleship 10. On this account also it is that Timothy is said to be Bishop of Ephesus because he was left there for a time to settle that and other Churches of Asia near it as an Assistant of the Apostles And so Titus is called the Bishop of Crete because he staid in that Island which was said to have an hundred Cities on this work which belonged not to a particular Bishop but to the more indefinite Ministry 11. How many such fixed Bishops Elders Pastors or Teachers each particular Church must have the Apostles never determined by a Law But did de facto settle them according to the number of souls and store of qualified persons In some Churches it is possible there might be but one with Deacons In others it is evident that there were many as at Jerusalem Corinth c. 12. The particular Churches which were the charge of these fixed Bishops or Elders were Societies of Christians conjoyned for Personal Communion in God's Worship and mutual assistance in holy living And though for want of convenient room or liberty they did not always meet all in the same place yet were they ordinarily no more than could meet in one place when they had liberty and never more than could hold personal Communion if not at once yet at several times in publick worship As it is now in those places where one part of the Family goeth to Church one part of the day and another on the other part And those by-Meetings which any had that came not constantly to the publick Assemblies were but as our House-Meetings or Chapel-Meetings but never as another Church Nor were their Churches more numerous than our Parishes nor near so great 13. At the first they had no Consecrated nor Separated places for their Church-Meetings but Houses or Fields as necessity and opportunity directed them But as soon as they could even nature taught them to observe the same appointed and stated places for such Assemblies Which as soon as the Churches had peace and settlement they appropriated to those sacred uses only though they had not yet the shape or name of Temples 14. Though the Pastors of the Church were all of one Office now called Order being all subordinate Ministers of Christ in the Prophetical Priestly and Regal parts of his Office in the Power and Duty of Teaching Worshiping and Government yet was the disparity of Age Grace and Guifts to be observed among them and the younger Pastors as well as people owed a meet reverence and submission to the Elder and the weaker to the stronger who had notoriously more of God's Grace and Guifts So that in a Church where there were many Pastors it was not unlawful nor unnecessary to acknowledge this disparity and for the younger and weaker to submit much to the judgment of the elder and more able 15. While they kept only to the exercise of the meer Pastoral work of Teaching and Worshiping and that Government which belongeth hereunto they had little temptation comparatively to strive for a preeminence in Rule or for a Negative Voice But aliene or accidental work did further that as followeth 16. The Apostles did reprove those Worldly contentious and uncharitable Christians who went to Law before
Heathen Judges And the thing shewed so little of the Christian Spirit of Love and was also of so ill consequence by scandals and dissentions that it was worthy to be reproved especially in Christians that were persecuted by those Magistrates Therefore almost all the differences of Christians were necessarily decided by Arbitration And none were thought so fit to be the Arbitrators as the Elders or Pastors of the Churches By which it came to pass that where Churches were great and the ceasing of persecution which came but as storms that passed away did restore that peace which cherished dissentions the work of the Elders in these Arbitrations was not small especially as added to their greater proper Office-work 17. At the same time many Heresies arose which occasioned Divisions in the Churches and sometimes among the Officers themselves 18. And the Ministers being though holy yet imperfect as well as other Christians the remnants of self-conceitedness and pride occasioned also the trouble of the Churches For when the Apostles themselves while Christ was with them strove who should be the Greatest and have the highest place it is no wonder if they did so afterward who had not so great a measure of Grace as they 19. Besides all this when the Apostolical Virtues ceased there were few Philosophers or Learned men that turned Christians and few that had excellent Gifts of Oratory fit to be Teachers of the Churches And the most of the Elders were good men but of inferiour parts Like the better sort of our unlearned godly Christians By which means it came to pass that some one of the Clergy in every Church when there were many having so much Knowledge and Oratory as to overtop the rest he was ordinarily more esteemed than the rest 20. By these four means conjunct it quickly came to pass that in every Church that had many Elders some one was chosen by the rest and by the people to be the chief and to have some special power of Church affairs And 1. In cases of frequent Arbitration there seemed a kind of necessity that some One be Umpire For if half go one way and half the other there can be no end 2. And in case of Heresies and different Opinions in Religion if One had not in each Church some deciding over-ruling power or Negative Voice it is no wonder if Divisions were the hardlier prevented and the Churches Unity hardly kept 3. And especially when some One was really wiser and abler than the rest it was thought but suitable to Nature that he rather ruled the juniors and weaker sort than that their Votes should rule him or rule without him 4. And when all men have too much self-love and Pride which enclineth them to desire pre-eminence and maketh them judge too high of themselves it was thought safer for all the Clergy and People to judge who among them was really the best and wisest man than to leave every man to be judge of himself and of the rest For so it was too likely that every man would think himself the wisest Therefore one was chosen as supposed by others even by the whole Church as the fittest man to have a deciding and overseeing power among the rest to avoid contention which their own strife about pre-eminence would cause 21. And there was a fifth cause which was not much less than any of the rest which was that often through the scarcity of fit persons One man was first settled over a new-gathered Church before any others could be had to joyn with him And therefore he being there first alone and that in sole power it was thought unfit that any that came after him should come in without his consent or Ordination because he was the sole Governour so that 1. because they came after him 2. and that by his Will if not Ordination it must needs follow that he would usually have the pre-eminence As it is now among us where the Rector of the Parish where there are divers Chapels chusing his Curates who are usually his Juniors he is constantly of greater power than they and ruleth them accidentally though his Office be the same as theirs 22. As by these means one Pastor got a pre-eminence of esteem and power above the rest so in a short time he got the title of Episcopus Bishop to be appropriated to himself alone leaving the name of Elders and Pastors and Priests unto the rest in common with himself For he was now become the prime Overseer of the whole Church both people and Elders 23. Our own experience sheweth us how it came to pass that the people themselves not only consented to all this but also desired and promoted it especially then when the effects of Clergy-ambition had not fully appeared to the World For even now when a great Parish can get one Learned able Pastor they say we will allow you so much but your Curates must take less And they will not endure that the young and weak Curates have either equal maintenance or equal honour or power over them as the chief Pastor of the Parish hath so that the people themselves are against an equality of power where there is not an equality of worth 24. Though we cannot prove that this fixed Episcopacy was either set up by the Apostles or countenanced by them nor yet that it was begun and in being in their days yet it could not be long after their days that it begun And if Hierome mistake not it began at Alexandria some years before the death of St. John the Apostle 25. All this while the Bishop was not supposed to be of a distinct Office or species of Ministry now called An Order but only an Overseer and chief of persons in the same Office with him being in common with the rest Episcopus plebis and extraordinarily Episcopus Cleri vel Episcoporum seu Presbyterorum As one of the Monks is made Abbot in a Monastery or as one Justice among many is of the Quorum or one Judge on the Bench is the chief Justice Or as the President in an Academick College 26. The chief thing in which a special power was given to the Bishops above their fellow Presbyters was in Ordination that none should be Ordained without them It being a matter of exceeding great consequence to the Churches what Ministers were set over them and therefore put chiefly in the power of these chosen men And the next part of their power was in having the chief disposal of all Church affairs as our Parish Pastors have now among their Curates so that nothing was to be done in the Church without and against their consent and pleasure 27. This Episcopacy did so universally obtain that I remember not to have read of any sort of Christians Orthodox or Heretical Catholick or Schismatical who ever refused it or spake against it till Aerius's time And even he spake not against it as flatly unlawful but as unnecessary as far as I can
gather from Epiphanius And after him all sorts and Sects of Christians still owned it Even the Donatists and Novatians who had their Bishops as well as others 28. In Scripture times we read not of any meer fixed Bishops of particular Churches who Ordained either Bishops or Presbyters but only Apostles and their unfixed Assistants who had an equal charge of many Churches Not that the Office of the Indefinite unfixed Ministry was not the same with the Office of the fixed Bishops in specie For both had power to do all the Ministerial work as they had a call and opportunity to exercise it But because it being the employment of the Indefinite or unfixed Ministers to Gather and plant Churches before they could be Governed the Ordination of Elders over them was part of the planting of them and so fell to their lot as part of their constituting work 29. How it came to pass that the Itinerant or Indefinite exercise of the Ministry for planting Churches so quickly almost ceased after the Apostles days is a matter worthy to be enquired after For whereas some think that de jure obligatione it ceased with the Apostles as being their proper work that cannot be true 1. Because many others were employed in the same work in the Apostles days 2. Because it is Christ's own description of that Ministry to whom he promiseth his presence to the end of the Age or World Mat. 28. 19 20. 3. Because to this day there is still lamentable necessity of such Five parts in six of the World being yet Infidels 30. It is most probable that this service abated and withered gradually by the sloth and selfishness of Pastors And that it was the purpose of the Apostles that the fixed Bishops should do their part of both these works that is Both to preach for the Converting of all the Infidel Countries near them and also Govern their particular Churches yet not but that some others might be deputed to the Gathering of Churches alone And then these Bishops finding so much work at home and finding that the Itinerant work among Infidels was very difficult by reason of Labour Danger and their want of Apostolical gifts hereupon they spared themselves and too much neglected the Itinerant work Yet I must confess that such Evangelists did not yet wholly cease Eusebius Hist lib. 5. cap. 9. saith Pantaenus is said to have shewed such a willing mind towards the publishing of the Doctrine of Christ that he became a Preacher of the Gospel to the Eastern Gentiles and was sent as far as India For there were I say there were then many Evangelists prepared for this purpose to promote and plant the Heavenly Word with Godly Zeal after the manner of the Apostles 31. It was the ordinary custome of the Apostles to preach and plant Churches first in Cities and not in Country Villages Because in Cities there were 1. the greatest number of Auditors and 2. the greatest number of Converts And so there only were found a sufficient number to constitute a Church Not that this was done through any preeminence of the City or ignobility of Villages but for the competent numbers sake And had there been persons enow for a Church in Villages they would have placed Churches and Pastors there also as at Cenchrea it seems they did 32. When there was a Church of Christians in the City and a few Converts in the Country Villages that joyned with them they all made up but one full Assembly or Church fit for personal Communion for a long time after the Apostles days the main body of the people being still Infidels so that the Christian Churches stood among the Infidels as thin as the Churches of the Anabaptists Separatists and Independants did among us here in England in the days when they had greatest Liberty and countenance 33. Though at first the Bishops being men of the same Office with the other Presbyters were not to do a work distinct and of any other kind than the Presbyters might do but only Lead them and Preside among them in the same work as their Conductors as I said before of a chief Justice c. Yet afterward the Bishop for the honour of his calling appropriating certain actions to himself alone the Presbyters not exercising those acts in time the not exercising them seemed to signifie a want of Office or power to exercise them and so subject Presbyters who were never made by the Apostles that can be proved nor by their command were like a distinct Order or Species of Church-Officers and grew from syn-Presbyters or assessours of the same Office in specie to be as much subjects to the Bishops as the Deacons were to the Presbyters 34. All this while the Bishop with his fellow Elders and Deacons dwelt together in the same City and often in the same House and met in the same Church the Bishop sitting in the midst on a higher seat and the Presbyters on each hand him in a semi-circle and the Deacons standing And the Presbyters Preaching and otherwise officiating as the Bishop appointed who ruled the action And the Converts of the Villages came to this City Church as Members of it and joyned with the rest In the days of the Author of the Epistles ascribed to Ignatius every Church had but One Altar and One Bishop with his Fellow Elders and Deacons as the note of its Unity or Individuation For so many people as had personal Communion at One Altar with the Bishop or Elders were the constitutive parts of the Churches 35. Thus it continued also in the days of Justin Tertullian and Cyprian no Bishop having more than one Church or Altar without any other formed self-communicating Church under him but only Oratories in City or Country 36. The first that brake this Order were Alexandria and Rome where Converts soon multiplyed to a greater number than could meet in one place or Communicate at one Altar wherefore sub-assemblies with their particular Presbyters were there first formed who Communicated distinctly by themselves Though there is no proof that they Communicated there in the Sacrament of a long time after that they met for Preaching and Prayer Yet even in Rome and Alexandria the only places that had more than one stated Assembly for 200 years or more there were not so many Christians then as in the Parish that I now live in See more of my Proof in the beginning of my Church History abridged whos 's first and second Chapters belogn specially to this Treatise and therefore I must refer the Reader to them 37. Even in Epiphanius time about 370 years after Christ it is noted by him as a singularity in Alexandria that they had distinct Assemblies besides the Bishops whereupon Petavius himself largely giveth us notice that in those days except in a few very great Cities there was but one Church-assembly in a Bishops charge 38. After that in Cities or Country Villages the Converts multiplyed into more
than could meet in one Assembly and had allowance to Communicate in their sub-assemblies yet were they appointed on certain great and solemn Festivals to Communicate all with the Bishops at the chief City Church which sheweth that the sub-assemblies then were few and small 39. Thus was the Apostles Order by degrees subverted and whereas they settled distinct Churches with their distinct Bishops no Bishop having two Churches under him that had not also their proper Bishop now One Church was made of many without many Bishops sub-Presbyters first in the same Church being introduced at last sub-Churches also were set up And when they should have done as we do with Bees let every new Swarm have a new Hive and should have multiplyed Bishops and Churches homogeneal as sufficient numbers of Converts came in instead of this the City Bishops kept all under them as if they had been still one Church yet not as Archbishops that have Bishops under them and kept their sub-Presbyters as their Curates to officiate in the several Churches that had all no Bishops but One. 40. The causes of this were apparently most of the same which are mentioned before for the making of sub-Presbyters Especially 1. The selfishness of the Bishops who were loth to let go any of the people from under their superiority Because it was more honour to rule many than one single Congregation and he was a greater man that had many sub-Presbyters and whole Assemblies at his command than he that had not And also many afforded greater maintenance than a few And 2. the same Reasons that made men at first set up one Presbyter as Bishop over the rest to avoid Divisions and to determine Arbitrations did now seem strong to them for the keeping up the Authority of the City Bishop over the sub-Assemblies round about them 3. And Cities only having been possessed of Bishops for many Years if not Ages before there were Christians enow to make up Country Churches both the Bishops and the City Inhabitants easily overlooking the Reason of it took this for their Prerogative and did plead Prescription As if Schools being planted only in Cities first the Cities and Schoolmasters should thence plead that none must be setled in Country Villages but what are ruled by the City School-Masters And thus the Cities being far the strongest and the Interest of the Citizens and Bishops in point of honour being conjunct and none being capable of a Country charge but such as the City Bishops at first Ordained to it because then there were no other Bishops without resistance it came to pass that both Churches and Presbyters were subjected to the City Bishops 4. And it greatly advanced this design that the Churches which were planted in the Roman Empire did seek to participate of all secular honour that belonged to the place of their Residence And as Dr. Hammond hath largely opened though not well justified did form themselves according to the Model of the Civil Government so that those Cities that had the Presidents or chief Civil Rulers and Judicatures in them did plead a right of having also the chief Bishops and Ecclesiastical Judicatures And thus not only Cities ruled the Country Villages but in time the distinct powers and pre-eminences of Archbishops Metropolitans Primates Patriarchs and the Roman chief Patriarch or Pope came up And the Pagan Common-wealth and Christian Church within the Roman Empire and the neighbouring parts that were influenced by them had a great resemblance 41. But that which most notably set up this exsort swelling and degenerate Prelacy was the mistaken zeal of Constantine together with his Policy and the ambition of Christians and Bishops that were gratified by it For 1. As Constantine perceived that it was the Christians that were his surest strength and when the Heathen Soldiers turned from one Emperour to another as they were tempted he knew that if he only did own the Christians they would unanimously own him and be constant to him so also his Judgment and Zeal for Christianity did concur with his Interest and Policy And as all the Secular and Military Rulers depended on him for honour and power throughout the Roman world he thought it not seemly to give the chief Christians who were the Bishops less honour than he did to the Heathens and to common men Nor did he think meet to deny to the Christian Churches such priviledges as might somewhat set them higher than his other subjects 2. And the Bishops and Christians coming from under long scorn and contempt and coming newly from under the cruel Persecution of Dioclesian and affrighted anew by Maxentius and Licenius they were not only glad to be now honoured and advanced but greatly lifted up with such a sudden wonderous change as to be brought from scorn and cruel torments to be set up above all others As we should have been had we been in their case and it 's like should no more have feared the ill consequents of too much exaltation than they did 3. And the Christian people thought that the exaltation of their Bishops was the honour and exaltation of their Religion it self as well as of their persons 42. Whereas as is aforesaid the Christians had commonly stated the power of Arbitrating all their Civil differences in the Bishop alone when the Apostle intimated that any Wise man among them as such was fit for that business it grew presently to be accounted a heynous crime or scandal for any Christians to go to Law before the Civil Magistrate And Constantine finding them in possession of this custom did by his Edict confirm it and enlarge it decreeing that all Bishops should be Judges of all the Christians causes by consent and that no Civil Judge or Magistrate should compel any Christian to his bar Insomuch that in Theodosius his days when one of Ambrose his Presbyters had a cause to be tryed he denyed himself to be a Christian that he might have it decided by the Civil Magistrate that was Christian also So that even Christian Magistrates might not judge unwilling Christians but the Bishops only Yet had not the Bishops then the power of the Sword but decided all as Arbitrators and enforced their Sentences with rigorous penances and Church-censures By which means 1. many the more turned Christians without the Faith and Holiness of Christians that they might both partake of the Christians honour and immunities and specially that they might be free from corporal penalties for their crimes And who would not do so if it were now our case 2. And by this means the rigorous penalties of the Church by penances were the more easily submitted to as being more easie than corporal pains and mulcts And when thus by the Laws and countenance of so great an Emperour the Bishops were made the Judges of all that were Christians at present and all that would turn Christians that desired it it is easie to understand 1. what a Lordship they must needs
have as to the kind of power 2. How their Office must degenerate from purely spiritual into secular or mixt 3. And how numerous their Flocks and large their Provinces would soon be And here you must note these things 1. That the Bishop of every Church was made Judge of these causes not alone by himself but with his Presbyters or Clergy who judged with him 2. That yet this power was not then taken to be any essential or integral part at all of the Pastoral Office but an Accidental work which Lay-men might do as well as Pastors and that it was committed to the Bishop only as the best able for Arbitration because of his abilities and interest and that as a matter of meer convenience and also for the honour of his place 3. That therefore this Judging power for ending strife and differences might be alienated from the Clergy and done by Lay-men where there was cause 4. And that the Bishop had so much more power than the Presbyters that he could commit it from them to Lay-men All this that one instance of Silvanus in Socrates lib. 7. cap. 37. and in Hanmer cap. 36. whose words were thus Silvanus also no less expressed in his other acts and dealings the good motion of his Godly mind For when he perceived that the Clergy respected nothing but gain in deciding the Controversies of their Clients O woful Clergy he thenceforth suffered none of the Clergy to be judge but took the supplications and requests of suiters and appointed One of the Laity whom for certain he knew to be a just and godly man and gave him the hearing of their causes and so ended quietly all contentions and quarrels And the likeliest way it was You see here 1. that when Princes will needs make the Clergy Magistrates to honour them the wise and good men of the Clergy will return such power to the Laity as usually fitter for it 2. And that it is no wonder that when Law-business is cast upon the Clergy if they grow worse than Lawyers in covetousness and injustice 3. And yet this was not a making Lay-men to be Chancellors that had the power of the Keys For Silvanus did only appoint Lay-men to do Lay-mens work to arbitrate differences but not to excommunicate nor to judge men to excommunication as they do now 4. And this was not a making of Ecclesiastical Elders that were not Pastors and therefore it is no countenance for such but it was a prudent casting back that work on the Laity which good Emperours had in imprudent piety cast upon the Clergy that each might do his proper work 5. But this was but one good Bishop that was so wise and honest and therefore it proved no general reformation This Judicial power went so far and took up so much of the Clergies time that the Synod Taraconens was after this put to Decree Can. 4. that the Clergy should not judge Causes on the Lords day and Can. 10. that no Bishop or Clergy-man should take rewards or bribes for Judgments And the Canons so deterred Christians from seeking Justice from the Civil Judicatures that they had few but Heathens to be Judges of Yea the Christians thought so hardly of the Judges themselves for punishing men by the Sword when the Bishops even for murder it self did punish them but with Penance that they doubted sometime whether those Christians that exercised Magistracy or Civil Judgment after Baptisme were not therefore to be taken for sinners as is visible in Innocent 1. his Epist to Epist 3. to Exuper Tholesan cap. 3. in Crab. Tom. 1. p. 459. And before in Silvester's Concil Rom. apud Crab Vol. 1. p. 280. Can. 16. it is Decreed Nemo Clericus vel Diaconus aut Presbyter propter causam suam quamlibet intret in curia quum omnis curia à cruore dicitur immolatio simulachrorum est Quod siquis Clericus in curiam introicrit anathema suscipiat nunquam rediens ad matrem Ecclesiam A Communione autem non privatur propter tempus turbidum And Constantine is said to be a Subscriber with 284 Bishops 45 Presbyters and 5 Deacons And in former Counc sub Silvest Nullum Clericum ante judicem stare licet I know that Duarenus and Grotius describe not the Bishops power as so large as the Canonists do But Duarenus confesseth that Theodosius made a Law that lites omnes controversiae forenses ad judicium Ecclesiae remitterentur si alter uter litigatorum id postularet That all strifes and controversies forensick should be remitted to the judgment of the Church if either of the contenders required it And that Charles the Great renewed and confirmed the same Law Duar. lib. 1. p. 8. And Grotius de Imper. sum pol. p. 236. saith This Jurisdiction by consent the Bishops received from Constantine with so great power that it was not lawful further to handle any business which the Bishops sentence had decided that is saith he remotâ appellatione And he there sheweth that three sorts of Jurisdiction were by the Emperours given to the Bishops 1. Jure ordinario and so they judged of all matters of Religion and which the Canons reached which went very far in heinous crimes 2. Ex consensu pâ—rtium when the parties chose the Bishop for their Judge Vid. Concil Chalced. c. 9. 3. Ex delegatione which yet went further And even to the Jews such kind of power had been granted But of this whole matter of the Rise of such Prelacy their Courts and power Pardre Paulus hath spoken so well and truly in his Histor Concil Trident. pag. 330 331 c. that I would intreat the Reader to turn to it and peruse it as that which plainly speaketh our judgment of the History now in question Read also his History of Benefices 43. The countenance of the Emperour with these honours and immunities having brought the World into the Church or filled the Churches with Carnal temporizers the numbers were now so great that quickly the great Cities had many Parish Churches and the Country Villages about had some so that now about 400 or 500 Years after Christ most Bishops of great Cities had more Churches than one even several sub Assemblies and Altars as dependant on their Mother Church 44. Yet were their Diocesses which at first were called Parishes somewhat bounded by the Canon and Edicts which decreed that every City where there were Christians enow to make a Church should have a Bishop of their own and that no Bishop except two who bordered one on Scithia a rude unconverted Countrey and the other on the like case of which more in due place 45. And then every oppidum or populous Town like our Market-Towns and Corporations was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City and not only a few among many that have that name by priviledge as it is in England now So that even at this height of Prelacy about 500 600 or 700 Years after Christ they
were but as if every Corporation or Market-Town in England had a Bishop who ruled also the adjacent Villages For though when they began to swell it was once decreed by one Council that Villages and every small City should not have a Bishop lest the Name of a Bishop should grow vile or cheap yet this was but with this addition those Villages or small Cities where there was not a sufficient number of Christians whereas Gregory at Neocesarea thought seventeen a sufficient number to have a Bishop And the Canons that every City should have a Bishop remained still in force 45. Yet was it for about 440 Years so far from these great Bishops to usurp the Sword or any coercive or coactive power on mens Bodies or Estates that they unanimously held that the Magistrate himself was not to punish mens Bodies for Heresie or a false Religion Till at last the bloody violence of the Circumcellian Donatists did cause Augustine in this to change his mind and think them meet for the Magistrates coercion 46. When Bishops grew carnal and ungodly and more regarded the keeping up their Power Parties and Opinions than Charity they beganto distrust the Spiritual Weapons of their warfare and instead of true vigilancy against errours and confutation of them by clear reason and a holy life they fled to the Rulers to do it by the Sword But though Ithacius and Idacius with their Synod of Bishops excited Maximus to take this course against the Priscilianists yet not only St. Martyn did therefore to the death avoid their Synods and Communion and petitioned the Emperour for the Hereticks peace but even St. Ambrose also at Milan would have no Communion with those Bishops that had done this thing 47. About the Year 430 or after Cyril at Alexandria did lead the way and actually used the Sword against the Lives Estates and Liberties of Offenders An example which others quickly followed And easily did he step from the great Judicial Power before described to a forcing power the preparations being so great and the Emperour so ready to exalt them and the people of Alexandria so turbulent and inclined by pride and passion to such ways 48. As the Prelacy thus swelled so the Churches grew suddenly more corrupted with all manner of Vice The Bishops began with sorrow to confess unto the Hereticks that the greater number in the Churches were naught When they should chuse their Bishops they could seldom agree but frequently instead of holy peaceable Votes did turn to Devilish rage and blood-shed and covered the Streets and Church-floors with the Carkasses of the slain especially in the Case of Damasus and others at Rome and oft at Alexandria and Constantinople Frequently they fell into fewds and fought it out and murdered people by multitudes Even the strict holy Monks of the Egyptian Desarts were as forward as others to fighting blood-shed and sedition Even in their ignorance for such a paultry and sottish an Opinion as that of the Anthropomorphites as that God hath the shape and parts of a man so that they forced that deceitful treacherous Bishop Theophilus Alexandr to flatter them and curse the Books of Origen not for his errours but for the opposite truth and to take on him to hold as they did When God tryed them with a Julian who did persecute them very little they reproached him to his face and tryed his patience as well as he did theirs The Antiochians scornfully bid him shave his Beard and make Halters of it In a word when Constantine had brought the World into the Church the Church grew quickly too like the World 49. But it was not the people only but the Pastors both Prelates and Presbyters that grew licentious wicked proud contentious turbulent and the shame of their Order and Profession and the great disturbers and dividers of the Churches except here and there an Ambrose an Augustine a Chrysostome a Basil a Gregory an Atticus a Proclus and a few such that so shined among a darkened degenerate Clergy as to be singled out for Saints Abundance got these great and tempting Prelacies by Simony and more by making friends to Courtiers And not a few by Carnal compliances with the people what abundance of most sharp Epistles did Isidore Pelusiota write to Eusebius the Bishop and to Sosimus Martianus Eustathius c. of all their horrible wicked lives and yet could never procure their Reformation What abundance of Epistles did he write against them to other Bishops and yet could not procure their correction or removal What a sad character doth Sulpitius Severus give of the Bishops that prosecuted the Priscilianists and in particular of their Leader Ithacius of his own knowledge What abundance of Prelates are shamefully stigmatized by Socrates Sozomen Theodoret Euagrius c When a Rebel rose up against his Prince and got but the stronger party and possession how quickly did they flatter him and own him I find but one Bishop besides St. Martin in all France and that part of Germany that disowned Maximus that murdered Gratian The rest applauded him for their own ends Nor in that part of Italy I find not any besides Ambrose and one Hyginus that disowned him Not that I think it my part to condemn all the holy Bishops who professed subjection to Usurpers in possession Even holy Ambrose could write to the odious Tyrant Eugenius Clementissimo Imperatori Eugenio concluding Nam cum privato detulerim corde intimo quomodo non deferrem Imperatori When I honoured thee a private man from the bottom of my heart how can I but honour thee being Emperour And how far have the Roman Bishops gone in this even to Phocas and such as he When good Gregory Nazianz. was chosen and settled Bishop of Constantinople and loved and honoured by a good Emperour yet was he rejected though he easily yielded even by the Synod of Bishops in the arrogancy of their minds because that he came not in by them With what pride what falshood what turbulency did Theophilus Alexand. carry on all his business with the Monks and for the deposing of Chrysostome And how arrogantly and turbulently did Epiphanius joyn with him and even Hierome make himself partaker And how easily did he get a Synod even where Chrysostome lived to second them such lamentable instances are more easie than pleasant to be cited And that Episcopacy which was set up to prevent Heresie and Divisions did afford the Heads of most of the Heresies and Divisions that befell the Churches How few of all the Heresies mentioned by Epiphanius after that Prelacy was in force were not Headed and carried on by Prelates And when the Arian Heresie sprung up by a Presbyter the Prelates so numerously received it that they seemed to be the far greater part if not the main body of the Imperial Church Witness the perverting of many Emperours the many Councils at Sirmium Ariminum c. And the many new Creeds which Socrates and Hilary
so shamefully enumerate and declaim against So that it was said that the World groaned to find it self turned Arian And their fewds and inhumane contentions were so many and odious that it is a shame to read them Multitudes of Cities had Bishops set up against Bishops and some Cities had more than two or three The people reviling and hating each other and sometime fighting tumultuously unto blood for their several Prelates The Christian World was made as a Cockpit and Christian Religion made a scorn by the Contentions of the Bishops Constantines wisdom conscience and interest engaged him to use all his skil his kindness and his power to reconcile them And if he had not done what he did how unspeakably wretched would their odious contentions have rendered them And yet he professeth his heart almost broken by their dissensions and while he chid them bitterly and exhorted them kindly he could not prevail His Sons that succeeded him laboured to unite the Bishops though in different ways and could not do it Jovianus the little time he reigned declared his hatred of their contentions and how much he loved a peaceable man but that did not cure them even when they came new from under a Julian I will look no lower to the more degenerate Prelacy but recite the doleful words of Eusebius even of those that were not at the worst and came but newly from under the persecutions of former Emperours when they had but a little prosperity immediately before Dioclesians persecution they are thus described How great and what manner of glory and liberty the doctrine of piety due to Almighty God preached in the World by Christ hath obtained before the persecution of our time among all mortal men both Grecians and Barbarians it requireth more labour to declare c. The clemency of the Emperours when Heathen towards the Christians was so increased to whom also they committed the Government of the Gentiles And for the great favour they bare to our Doctrine they granted liberty and security to the Professors of Christianity What shall I say of them that in the very Palace of the Emperours and in the presence of Princes lived most familiarly which esteemed of their Ministers so highly that they granted them in their presence freely to deal in matters of Religion both by word and deed together with their wives and children and servants And thus one might then have seen the Bishops of all Churches in great reverence and favour among all sorts of men and with all Magistrates Who can worthily describe those innumerable heaps and flocking multitudes throughout all Cities and famous Assemblies frequenting the places dedicated to prayer Because of which circumstances they not contented with the old and ancient buildings which could not receive them have throughout all Cities builded them from the Foundation wide and ample Churches These things thus prevailed in process of time and daily increased far and nigh so that no malice could intercept no spiteful fiend bewitch no wight with cunning at all hinder it as long as the Divine and heavenly hand of God upheld and visited his People whom as yet he worthily accepted But after that our affairs through too much liberty ease and security degenerated from the Natural rule of piety and after that one pursued another with open contumely and hatred and when that we impugned our selves by no other than our selves with the armour of spite and sharp spears of approbrious words so that Bishops against Bishops and People against People raised sedition last of all when that cursed hypocrisie and dissimulation had swam even to the brim of malice The heavy hand of Gods high judgment after his wonted manner whilest as yet the Ecclesiastical Societies assembled themselves nevertheless began softly by little and little to visit us so that the persecution that was raised against us took first his Original from the Brethren that were under Banner in the Camp When as we were touched with no sense thereof nor went about so pacific God we heaped sin upon sin thinking like careless Epicures that God neither cared nor would visit our sins And they which seemed our Shepherds Laying aside the rule of piety practised contention and schism among themselves and whilst they aggravated these things that is contentious threatnings mutual hatred and enmity and every one proceeded in Ambition much like Tyranny it self then I say then did the Lord make the daughter of Zion obscure and overthrew from above the glory of Israel c. c. 2. We saw with our eyes the Oratories thrown down to the ground the foundations digged up the holy Scriptures burned to ashes in the open Market-place and the Pastors of the Churches some shamefully hid themselves Yet is it not our drift to describe the bitter calamities of these men which at length they suffered nor to record their dissension and insolency practised among themselves before the persecution c. Note that all this was before Arius his Heresie even before Dioclesians cruelties but not before the beginning of Church-Tyranny and ambition as is said But after this alas how much greater were their enormities and dissentions when their Tyranny was much encreased It would grieve any sober Christian to read how the Christian World hath been tossed up and down and the people distracted and Princes disturbed and dethroned and Heresies fomented and horrid Persecutions and bloodshed caused by the pride and contentiousness of Prelates And most of all this in prosecution of that Controversie which Christ decided so long ago viz. Who should be greatest It was not Religion saith Socrates l. 5. c. 22. that the two Arian Sects of Marinus and Agapius was about but Primacy They strove which of them should be the chief wherefore many Clergy-men under the jurisdiction of these Bishops perceiving the ambition the rancour and malice of these proud Prelates forsook them c. Macedonius at Constantinople was so Tyrannical that as he came in by cruelty so he caused more by presumptuous removal of the bones of Constantine to another Church that he might pull down that and this without Constantius the Emperours knowledge where the people in Factions fought it out till the Church and Streets were full of Carkasses and streams of blood saith Socrates The same man set four Companies of Souldiers on the Novations in Paphlagonia till he enraged the people with Clubs and Bills to kill them all And he was so Tyrannical in forcing Conformity that he not only forced men to the Sacrament but gagged their mouths and popt it in Nor was this only the vice of the Heterodox but the Orthodox as is aforesaid And as the French and German Bishops aforesaid did against the Priscillinaists so for their own interest against one another they flattered and restlesly instigated the Civil power even Uusurpers to execute their Wills and favoured that power that most favoured them When the foresaid Maximus had killed Gratian and reigned in France
baptizing 2. and then to teach and guide them Yet all are not called equally to the exercise of all these parts But some were by the Apostles and the Holy Ghost indefinitely employed in an unfixed course in converting men and gathering Churches yet officiating also in gathered Churches where they came And others were fixed in the stated relation of Pastors to particular gathered Churches to teach and rule them and worship among them yet so as also to Preach for the conversion of unbelievers as far as they had ability and opportunity 21. The unfixed Officers were called Ministers in General and Stewards of God's Mysteries and Evangelists But the fixed Officers were also especially called Bishops Pastors and Elders Though sometime â—arely the other also had such Titles because of their doing the same work transiently in the Churches where they came 22. They that were unfixed Preachers or Evangelists had not that special and particular Charge of all the souls in particular Churches and in some one Church above all the rest as fixed Bishops or Pastors have But they had a greater Obligation than these Bishops to preach to Infidels because it was their ordinary chief work 23. The Pastors of particular Churches had such a Charge of those particular Flocks above all other Flocks materially as that they were not obliged equally to do the same for others as they did for them Though yet when they had a particular call they might transiently or occasionally perform the work of the Pastoral Office to other Churches 24. This relation to their particular Flock was not such as disobliged them from their higher regard of the Universal Church For our relation to that is stricter and more indissoluble than to any particular Church And we must always finally prefer the Church Universal though materially we are to labour in our particular Churches principally and sometimes only because by such Order the Church Universal is best edified 25. The Apostles usually but not only planted Churches in great Cities rather than in Country Villages 26. This was not that hereby they might oblige others to confine Churches to Cities only nor because they had any special honour for a City but because they were the places of greatest â—â—â—â—course and had best opportunity for Assemblies and most materials to work upon 27. Neither the Apostles nor others for some Ages after Christ did divide the Countries about such Cities and assign part of theâ— to be the Diocess of one Bishop and the other part to the Bishop of the next adjoyning City Nor was there any bounding of Parishes or Diocess nor any determination to which Bishop such and such ground or Villages of unconverted Infidels did belong Only as natural prudence guided them and the spirit of God they so dispersed themselves that none might hinder another in his work but as most tended to the propagation and orderly governing of the Churches 28. Therefore no City Bishop had such a Particular Charge of the souls of all the individual Infidels either in his City or the Country round about him which some feign to have been his Diocess as he had of the souls of the Church which he was Pastor of Though he was bound to do all that he could to convert all as he had opportunity he stood not in any Pastoral relation to this or that individual Infidel as he did to all the individual Christians of his charge Ignatius requireth the Bishop to know all his Flock by name and enquire after them even the servants but not so of all Infidels in his City or Circuit 29. No man was therefore the Pastor of any Christians in a particular Church relation meerly because he converted them Nor was there ever any Law made by Christ or his Apostles that all should be members of that particular Church whose Overseer did convert them much less that at a distance they should be the members of his Episcopal charge though in another Church 30. The Apostles setled in every particular Church one or more with the Pastoral power of the Keys to teach and govern that Church and to lead them in publick worship And every such Body should still have one or more Pastors with such power And no Pastor or Bishop should have more particular Churches under his special immediate Charge than one unless as an Archbishop who hath Bishops in those particular Churches under him 31. A particular Church of Christ's Institution by his Apostles is A sacrrd Society consisting of one or more Pastors and a capable number of Christian Neighbours consociate by Christs appointment and their own consent for personal communion in God's publick worship and in holy living In this definition 1. The Genus is a sacred Society so called 1. to distinguish it from a meer community or unbodied company of Christians 2. and to distinguish it from Civil and prophane Societies For the Genus is subalternate and the species of a superiour Genus 2. The constitutive parts are Pastor and People 3. I say Pastors as distinguishing it from all other societies as headed by other Officers or Rulers As Kingdoms by Kings Colleges by their Governours Schools by School-masters Families by Parents c. For Societies are specified by their Governours 4. I say one or more because it is the Office in some person that is the constitutive part the number being indifferent as to the Beings though not as to the well being of the Society 5. The People being the other material part of the Society I call them Christians that is Baptized Professing Christians to distinguish them from all Infidels who are uncapable to be members 6. I call them Neighbours because the Proximity must be such as rendereth them capable of the Ends of the Society For at an uncapable distance they cannot have Church-communion 7. I put in a capable number because too few or too many may be utterly uncapable of the Ends One or two are uncapable defectively such multitudes as can have no Church communion are uncapable through excess of which more after 8. The form is the Relative Union of Pastor and People in reference to the Ends Which I mean in the word Consociate 9. The foundation or prime efficient is Christ's Institution 10. The Condition sine qua non is their mutual consent 11. The end or terminus is their Communion 12. The matter of this Communion is both God's publickworship and a holy life which distinguisheth them from such as associate for civil ends or any other besides these 13. The proper species of this holy Communion is that it be Personal By which I mean such as Pastor and People may ordinarily exercise in presence to distinguish it from that sort of Communion 1. which we have only in spirit in faith judgment and affection with Christians in all parts of the World And 2. from that external Communion which several Churches hold together by Messengers Delegates or Letters For if that kind of distant Communion would
serve to the being of a particular Church we might be of the same particular Church with men in the several parts of the World 32. Deacons are subordinate Officers or Ministers to Christs Ministers not essential to the Church but only Integral as needful to its well being in such Churches where the number and benefit of the People do require them 33. The necessity of these Individual or particular Churches is founded in the necessity of the foresaid publick worshiping of God and in the use of the mutual assistance of Christian Neighbours in the matters of salvation and in the need of the personal inspection and conduct of the Pastors over all the Flock 34. The difference between this personal Communion and the distant Communion by Letters or Delegates or meerly internal in Faith and Love is so great and notorious as must make those Societies specifically distinct which are associated for such distinct Ends. 35. Yet do we not hold that all true Churches do Assemble together in one place or that they consist of no more than can meet at once For whole Families seldom go all at once to the Assembly Therefore if one part go to day and another the next day they worship God publickly in personal Communion though not all at the same time 2. And many may be sick and many infants and many aged and the great distance of some may make a Chapel or subordinate Meeting often needful And yet 1. they may all come together in one place at several times for Church communion 2. And they may live so near that one may be capable of neighbourly converse with others and of admonishing exhorting and encouraging each other in their Christian Course 36. Where a Church is so small as to need but one Pastor Christ doth not require that they have more And One can neither be superiour or inferiour to himself 37. But it is most desirable that a Church be as numerous or great as will consist with that sort of Communion which is the end of the Society and consequently that they have many Pastors Because this tendeth to their strength and beauty and it is a joyful thing to worship God in full Assemblies 38. The work of a Bishop or Pastor of a single Church is to mention it more particularly to Teach the Church the meaning of the Scriptures especially of all the Articles of Faith and the things to be Desired in Prayer and the matters and order of Obedience to all the commands of Christ To instruct the Children in the Catechistical or Fundamental verities To Baptize to Pray in the Assembly to praise God to celebrate the Lords Supper to visit the Sick and pray for them To visit the several Families or personally instruct those ignorant ones that understand not publick Preaching as far as he hath opportunity To watch over the Conversations of the several Members and to receive informations concerning them To resolve the doubts of those that seek resolutions and to offer help to them that are so sensless as not to seek it when their need appeareth To comfort the sad and afflicted To reprove the scandalous To admonish the obstinate before all To censure and cast out the impenitent that continue to reject such admonition To absolve the penitent To take care of the Poor And to be exemplary in holiness sobriety justice and charity I pass by Marriage Burials and such other particular Offices And I meddle not here with Ordination or any thing that concerneth other Churches but only with the work of a Bishop or Pastor to the People of his proper Flock 39. The ablest Man among us for mind and body may find full and needful employment of this sort among an hundred persons especially such as our common Christians are But if he have five hundred or a thousand he hath so much to do as will constrain him to leave something undone which belongeth to his Office Therefore our Market Towns and large Country Parishes where there are ordinarily two three or four thousand in a Parish have need of many pastors to do that for which the Pastoral Office was ordained Much more our greatest City and Town Parishes that have ten thousand twenty thousand and some above thirty if not forty or fifty thousand in a Parish 40. The office of a Pastor containing the Power of the Keys as subordinate Ministerially to Christ in his Teaching Ruling and priestly work is not by man to be divided and part of it to be given to one sort and part to another though they that have the whole power may variously exercise it as there is cause But every Church must have such as have the whole power as far as concerneth the People of that Church 41. To divide the essential parts of the Sacred Office as to give one the power of Teaching only another of Worshiping only and another of Ruling only or any two of these without the third is to destroy it and change the species as much as in them lieth that do it And as no one is a man without his Animal Vital and Natural parts so no one is a true Pastor without the threefold power forementioned of Teaching Ruleing that Church by Pastoral means and Conducting them in publick Worship He may be a Pastor that is hindered from the exercise of some one of these or more but not he that hath not the Power in his Office Dividers therefore make new Church Offices and destroy the old 42. Churches headed by such a new sort of Officers specifically distinct from the old of Christ's Institution are Churches specifically differing from the Churches which Christ Instituted Because the Society is specified by the species of its Head or Governour 43. To make a new sort of Church-Heads or Rulers as their Constitutive parts is to make a new sort of Churches 44. The three forsaid Essential parts of the Pastoral Office are not to be exercised by any Lay-man nor by any man that hath not that Office Nor may the Pastors do that work per alios or delegate Lay-men or men of another Office to do it as in their stead For the Office is nothing but just Authority and Obligation to do that work And if they convey such Authority and Obligation to another they convey the Office to another And so he is no longer a Lay-man or of another Office only 45. Therefore though many Pastors of the same Office may in a great Church distribute the work among them yet none of them must do it only as the delegate of another not having himself from God the Office which containeth the power of doing it 46. But the Accidentals of the Pastoral Office may be committed to a Lay-man or one that is no Pastor As to summon Assemblies to keep Registers or the Church Books Goods Buildings with many the like And so some think that the Apostles instituting Deacons was but a communicating the Accidentals of their Office to other men Therefore if
great priviledge of Church-Communion and that giving it to the unwilling that had but rather endure it than a Prison is a great profanation of it and a cheat to poor souls and a horrid corrupting of Christ's Churches and Ordinances 68. If wilful Church-corruptions have made any places uncapable of a present conformity to Christ's Institutions their incapacity must not become the measure and rule of our Reformation But a true Conformity to the Institution must be intended and endeavoured though all cannot come up to it at the first 69. We do not hold that every Corruption in Number or Officers or Order nullifieth a Church or maketh all Communion with it unlawful as long as the essential constitution doth remain Yea though my own judgment is that every Church in Town or Country should have a Bishop yet if they would but set up one Bishop with his assistant Presbyters in every Corporation and Great Town with the neighbour Villages according to the antient practise from the middle of the third Century for many following so that true discipline might but be made possible to them that had a heart to practice it I should greatly rejoyce in such a Reformation much more if every Parish Pastor were restored to all the parts of his Office though he exercised all under the Government of Bishops 70. We hold the Parish Churches of England that have true Ministers that are not utterly uncapable through Ignorance Heresie Insufficiency or Wickedness to be true Churches of Christ But that is because we hold the particular Ministers to be true Bishops Episcopos Gregis etsi non Episcoporum and to have the power of the Keys over all their Flocks And that is because we hold that it is not in our Bishops power to deprive them of it though they would And because we hold that when Christ hath instituted and described the Office of a Pastor or Presbyter and the Ordainers ordain a man to that Office their power shall be judged of by Christs institution and not by the Ordainers will though he mistake or would maim and change it by his wrong description And that the Ordainer is but a Ministerial Invester delivering possession according to his Masters will and not his own And as long as Christ giveth to Pastors the power of the Keys and they themselves consent to receive and use them especially if the People also consent to the exercise of them it is not the Bishops will or words that can nullifie this power And if this Answer were not good I confess I were not able to Answer a Brownist who saith that we have no true Publick Churches of God's Institution Diocesan Churches being but Humane if they had Bishops in each Church under them and being sinful when they have none and Parochial Churches being Humane or null as having no Bishops of their own nor Pastors of Christ's Institution but half Pastors and therefore being but part of a Diocesan Church But all this is sufficiently answered by our foresaid Reasons which no high Prelatist can soundly answer 71. I do hold that those Parish Assemblies that have no Ministers but such as are uncapable either through notorious Ignorance or Heresie or utter Insufficiency as to the Essentials of their Office or by disclaiming themselves any Essential part of the Pastoral Office or by notorious Preaching against Godliness and opposing the Churches necessary good are indeed no true Churches of Christ but only are Analogically or Equivocally so called As you may call a Community of Christians that have no Pastor or Church which is no Organized or Political Society 72. But yet I think it not simply unlawful to joyn at any time with such an Assembly For I may joyn with a Christian Family or occasional Assembly though not as with a Church 73. We hold that all the Christians in the World in particular Churches or out do make up one Catholick or Universal Church which is Mystical and Invisible in that 1. the Faith of Mens minds is Invisible 2. and Christ is Invisible to us Mortals now he is in Heaven But it is also Visible 1. In respect of the Members and their outward Baptism and Profession 2. and because that Christ the Head was once Visible on Earth and is still Visible in Heaven to the Glorified part as the King is to his Courtiers when the rest of the Kingdom seeth him not and will Visibly appear again to all 74. We hold that this Universal Church is One in Christ alone and that it hath no other King or Head That he hath Instituted no Vicarious Head either Pope or General Council Nor is any mortal man or men capable of such an Office 75. We hold therefore that the Roman Pope and General Councils if they claim such an Headship is an Usurper of part of Christ's Prerogative which having usurped he hath used against Christ and his interest against the Soveraignty of Princes and against the true Unity Concord Peace and Holiness of the Churches 76. And we hold that it was the modelling of the Church to the Policy of the Roman Empire which gave the Pope the advantage for this usurpation And that the Roman Catholick Papal Church is a meeâ— Humane Form and an Imperial Church as much as the Archbishop of Canterbury as Superiour to the rest of England is of Man and that Body so united is a National Church And that the General Councils were never truly General as to all the Churches in the World but only as to the Roman Imperial Church None considerable ever coming to such Councils but those that were or had been in the Roman Empire or some very few that closely bordered on them Nor had the Roman Emperour who usually called or gave his Warrant for such Councils or Governed them any power over the Clergy of all the rest of the Christian World in Ethiopia the outer Armenia Persia India c. Nor did the Imperial Pope then exercise any power over them And we are perswaded that the power of the Patriarchs of Alexandria Antioch Jerusalem Constantinople and of the Metropolitaâ—â— Primates c. stood on the same foundation with the Primacy of the Pope and that one is no more of Divine right than the other But that the Papacy is the far more wicked Usurpation as pretending to more of Christ's Prerogative 77. We hold therefore that the Roman Church as such that is as pretending to be the Church-Catholick Headed by an Usurping Universal Bishop is no true Church of Christ but a Humane and traiterous Usurpation and conspiracy therefore by Protestants called Antichristian Though those that are true Christians among them are Parts of Christ's Catholick Church and those that are true Pastors among them may be the Guides of true particular Churches 78. We hold therefore that no Power on Earth Popes Council or Prince hath power to make Universal Laws to bind the whole Church of Christ on Earth because there is no Universal Head or
this power do not degrade the Presbyters nullifie the Churches under them and depose the ancient sort of Episcopacy quantum in se and set up another Humane sort of Churches called Diocesan and of Archbishops turned into Bishops infimi gradus in their stead together with a new Species of half-Presbyters 1. How far Whitgift's Disputations against Cartwright are guilty of this overlooking the true Question I leave to the Reader Only I must say for him that when his Adversarie standeth most upon the denial of all superior Episcopacy it was his part to prove what was denied And I need say no more than that Whitgift oft professeth as Dr. Stillingfleet hath collected out of him that God hath in Scripture prescribed no one sort of Church-Government And therefore not the Prelatical 2. I do not expect that ever this Controversie should be handled by two more judicious Adversaries than Saravia and Beza were And as Beza protesteth against a Parity and pleadeth for a Prostasie desireth that which he calleth Divine Episcopacy tolerating and submitting to that which he calleth Humane Episcopacy and flatly opposing only that which he calleth Satanical Episcopacy So Saravia professeth p. 1 2. p. Defens 4 5. that the General nature of the Evangelical Ministry common both to Bishops and Presbyters containeth these three things 1. The Preaching of the Gospel 2. The Communication of the Sacraments 3. The Authority of Church-Government And only pleadeth that in this last the Power of Bishops and Presbyters is not equal but the Bishops power is principal in Government Which granteth the main Question which we Nonconformist now contend for And I confes that Saravia's Writings were the first and chief that brought me to suspect that the Apostles have Successors in the point of Government as being but an ordinary and durable part of their Office which Argument he hath better managed than any man else that I have seen And p. 12. ib. He granteth that the 70 Disciples were not under the Government of the 12 Apostles He granteth that chosen Seniors of the Laity may be great Assistants in the Government Yea Def. 1. 8. p. 83. He saith that in the absence of Paul and his Assistants the Churches of Crete were wholly ruled till Titus Ordained them Pastors by such Elders A senioribus quos ratio natura in quavis Societate dat non Ordinatio quales sunt natu majores quotquot aliqua virtute in populo excellunt quibus deferre natura omnes gentes docuit quibus addo eos quos tunc temporis passim dona Sp. sancti venia excitabant sed nulli loco alligabant And no wonder for he affirmeth that in times of publick corruption of Doctrine any man that is learned and able and fit must propugne and defend the truth as he hath ability and opportunity or else be judged for hiding his talents as the unprofitable servant pag. 23. cap. 2. Yet doth he most improbably imagine that Rome and Corinth had no proper Pastors when Paul wrote his Epistles to them When as Paul had dwelt a year and half at Corinth when it was the practice of the Apostles to Ordain Elders in every Church and when among the Corinthians there were so many Prophets Instructers Speakers of Languages Interpreters c. that Paul is fain to regulate and restrain them in their Church-meetings that they might not over-do and hinder one another And yet were these People without any proper Pastor Without a Prelate it's like they were Yea when Paul directeth them to deliver the incestuous man to Satan and to exercise Church-discipline upon others that were scandalous doth not this intimate that they had among them such as were impowred to do it If only transiently and occasionally they could Worship God publickly and deliver Sacraments and Govern the Church but transiently and rarely How did they spend the Lords days when those transient guides were absent Did the major part of the people who Saravia thinketh were to exercise the foresaid Discipline also Consecrate and Administer the Sacrament or publickly pray and worship God without a Pastor Were they every Lords day to deposit their Collections and have no Pastors and so no Church-Assemblies Had they so many Sects and false Teachers to trouble them and yet no Pastors When Clem. Rom. so shortly after writeth so much to reconcile the Pastors and People that disagreed And when Paul tells the Romans and Corinthians what Officers God setteth in the Church is it like there was none fixed among them And I must note how great a charge he layeth on the Bishops when Resp ad N. p. 10. Art 12. He saith that the Bishop is aequè imo magis proprius singularum Ecclesiarum sua Dioceseos Pastor illis qui ibi praesunt resident utpote ad quem cura praecipua illorum locorum pertineat The Bishop hath more Charge or Care of all the Parishes in his Diocess than the present Pastors have O dreadful undertaking Ad quem prima praecipua Cura omnium incumbet ita ut ipse suum agnoscit gregem singulis quibus manus imponit c. How many hundred thousand individuals then hath the Bishop of London this particular Charge of whose names he never heard and whose faces he never saw Oportet enim Episcopum omnes quantum fieri potest qui ipsius curae commissi sunt nosse The Bishop must know all his Flock if possible And must he have a Flock then which he cannot possibly know nor never saw one of a hundred or thousand of them with any particular knowledge at least And Cont. quaest Resp Beza p. 103. He approveth of Zanchy's judgment that Ceremonies and things indifferent be left free and the Churches free in them And Defens p. 286. He saith Primum Episcoporum omnium Presbyterorum unum esse Ordinem Constituo I maintain that there is one Order of all Bishops and Presbyters Therefore they cannot differ but Gradu as a Deacon and Archdeacon And again ib. p. 286. Ministerii autem Evangelici unitas probatur ab horum unitate ut ita loquar identitate Eandem enim veritatis doctrinam omnes Orthodoxi docent eadem Sacramenta Ministrant eandem censuram exercent tantum Provinciarum est inaequalitas graduum diversitas The Unity of the Gospel Ministry is proved from the Unity or as I may say Identity of these All that are Orthodox teach the same true Doctrine Administer the same Sacraments exercise the same Censures Only there is an inequality of Provinces and a diversity of degrees Thus the most Learned and rational Defender of Prelacy giveth away their Cause 3. Bishop Bilson a most Learned and judicious man also saith more for Episcopacy than any of our late Writers and in my judgment saith more against the Office of Ecclesiastical Elders distinct from Pastors than can be answered But to our two main Questions before-mentioned of a Bishop over
we differ he indeed saith much to little purpose and finally giveth away his Cause or as he merrily telleth his Adversary pag. 62. l. 3. 6. 47. he useth it as Sir Christopher Blunt's head was used after his apprension first healed and then cut off For 1. in his lib. 3. Where he speaketh of the power of Ordination he not only confesseth that it is in Presbyters with the Bishops and that the Bishops have but a superiority of power therein but is angry with his Adversary for supposing the contrary saying ch 3. p. 68. But where good Sir do I say they must have the sole power in Ordination which you have so oft objected and now again repeat make you no conscience of publishing untruths Cannot Bishops be superiour to other Ministers in the power of Ordination and Jurisdiction which is the thing which I maintain unless they have the sole power so p. 64 c. Therefore he granteth that extraordinarily in case of necessity Presbyters may Ordain that is without a Bishop page 69. and page 108. he giveth this reason for the validity of their Ordination Because Imposition of hands in Confirmation of the Baptized and Reconciliation of Penitents were reserved to Bishops as well as Ordination and yet in the absence of Bishops may be done by Presbyters And that the Papists themselves grant that the Pope may license a Presbyter to Ordain Presbyters If therefore saith he by the Popes license a Presbyter may Ordain Presbyters much better may a Company of Presbyters to whom in the want of a Bishop the Charge of the Church is divolved be authorized thereto by necessity And if all this be so no doubt but the Power of Ordination is in Presbyters as such though they are not to exercise it alone nor without or against the Bishop And so formerly they were not to Preach or Baptize nor Congregate the Church without him For why cannot a Lay-man Ordain with the Bishop but because he hath no such authority And Cap. 5. as to the power of Jurisdiction he saith the same p. 110. 111. I deny not Presbyters which have charge of souls to have Jurisdiction both severally in their Parishes and jointly in Provincial Synods And I have confessed before that Presbyters have with and under the Bishops exercised some Jurisdiction I grant that Godly Bishops before they had the countenance and assistance of Christian Magistracy and direction of Christian Laws used in all matters of moment to consult with their Clergy This was practised by Cyprian Ambrose also in 1 Tim. 5. 1. teacheth that there was a time when nothing was done without the advice of the Presbyters which therefore by Ignatius are called the Counsellors and Co-assessors of the Bishops Which course if it were used still as it would ease the Bishops burden very much so would it nothing detract from their superiority in Governing And page 115. The thing which I was to prove if it had been needful was that whereas Presbyters did Govern each one the People of a Parish and that privately the Bishop Governeth the People of the whole Diocess and that publickly So that both Ordination and Jurisdiction belong to the Presbyters Office though in the exercise of it they must be governed themselves Is not this the very sum of Archbishop Usher's Model of Primitive Episcopacy which we offered his Majesty and the Bishops at first for Concord and the Bishops would not once take it into their Consideration nor so much as vouchsafe to talk of it or bring it under any deliberation When alas we poor undertrodden Persons not only desired to be low our selves but yielded to submit to all their heights their Lordships Parliament dignities grandure and to let them alone with their real sole Ordination and Jurisdiction over us poor Presbyters and to have taken as much care of the People as they would so we could but have obtained any tolerable degree of Government to be setled in each particular Church either in all the Presbyters or in one Bishop and not have had all the particular Churches deprived of Bishops and all the Pastoral Jurisdiction But our great Controversie is handled by Bishop Downame in his second Book wherein he laboureth to prove that the Bishops Church or rather Charge was not a Parish but a Diocess And first page 4. he giveth us a scheme of the Scripture acception of the word Church as preparatory to his design In which there are many Texts cited not only without any shew of proof that they speak of what he affirmeth them to speak but contrary to the plain scope of the places And he tells us that the word Church is used in Scripture for the Church Militant Congregated in an Universal or Occumenical Synod And offereth us not one Text for instance which he doth though injuriously for all the rest Nor is there any that so speaketh He tells us that the word is used particularly to signifie the Church of a Nation in the singular number but could name no such place as to any Church since Christ but only the Jewish Church Acts 7. 38. And he saith it is used to signifie particularly and definitely the Church of a Nation in the plural number And is not this a strange kind of Allegation The Scripture speaketh of the Churches in a Nation Therefore it useth the word for the Church of a Nation in the plural number Is one Church and many all one with him Would he have applauded that man that would have said that such an Author useth the word College for the College of an University in the plural number because he named the College in an University and this to prove that an University is one College Had it not been better said The New Testament never useth the word Church for all the Churches in one Nation since Christ definitely but ever calleth them plurally Churches Therefore to call them all One National Church is not to imitate the Scripture His first Instance is Rom. 6. 4. All the Churches of the Gentiles A sad proof of a National Church What Nation is it that the word Gentiles signifieth No doubt the Gentile Churches were in Gentile Nations But that doth not prove that the Christians in any Nation are ever called in Scripture since the Jews Nation One Church but Churches His next instance is 1 Cor. 16. 1. The Churches of Galatia And the rest are all such v. 19. 2 Cor. 8. 1. Gal. 1. 2. 22. The Churches of Asia Macedonia Judaea But I hope he intended no more than to tell you that the Christians of several Nations are never called a Church but Churches as having any sort of Union than National He giveth many instances when the word Church is used definitely to signifie the Church of a City and Country adjoyning But to prove it used to signifie several Churches in City and Country adjoyning but one only Two Texts he alledgeth to prove that the word Church is used
definitely to signifie these Churches Congregate into a Synod or Consistory But I believe his word of neither place One is Mat. 18. 17. Tell the Church c. If I say that tell the Church signifieth tell the Society containing Pastors and Christians though it is the Pastors that you must immediately speak to and the offender must hear I give as good proof of my exposition as he doth of his If I speak to a man and hear a man though it be only his ears that hear me and his tongue that speaketh to me yet by the word man I mean not only ears and tongue If the King send a Command to a Corporation to expel a seditious member though the Mayor or Aldermen only do it Authoritatively and the People but executively yet the word Corporation doth not therefore signifie the Officers only The other Text is Act. 15. 22. But I will not believe him that the whole Church signifieth the Synod only For though they only decreed it I think the rest consented and approved it and are meant in the word the whole Church I grant him that Rom. 16. 1. the word signifieth the Church of a Village or Town But he will never prove that it is not meant of a Church of the same Species as City Churches were And as to the House or Family Churches which he mentioneth Rom. 16. 5. 1 Cor. 16. 19. Col. 4. 15. Phil. 2. Dr. Hammond expoundeth Col. 4 15. of the Church that did meet in his house and so some do all the rest But that we stand not for nor doth it concern us But when he addeth a multitude of Texts as using the word Church indefinitely not defining the place Society of a Nation or City quantity c. most of the instances brought are of Churches definite as to place and of the same Species as the Apostles Instituted though when the Church of such a place is said to do a thing it 's no determination what number of the members did it His first instance is Acts 4. 31. and next Acts 15. 3 9 c. The Churches had rest through all Judaea and Gallile and Samaria Acts 15. 3. Speaks of the Church of Antioch which v. 27. it 's said they gathered together v. 4. mentioneth the Church at Jerusalem v. 11. mentioneth the Churches of Syria and Cilicia Acts 18. 22. Speaketh of the Church at Caesarea Rom. 16. 16. Speaks of the Churches where Paul lately travelled v. 23. Gaius was the Host of a definite whole Church at Corinth And when 1 Cor. 4. 17. he speaketh of his teaching in every Church it is an Universal enunciation but of Churches of a certain or definite species and so of the rest Then p. 5. he telleth us what is truly and properly a Church on Earth and saith Every company of men professing the true faith of Christ is both truly a Church and a true Church Ans. Yes As Canis caelestis is truly a Dog and a true Dog but not properly but equivocally A Church in its most famous signification is a Society constituted of the Pastor and Flock as a School of the Schoolmaster and Schollars And an accidental meeting of Christians in a Market or Ship is no more properly called a Church than School-boys meeting in such places are a School No nor occasionally praying together neither So p. 5. He concludeth that the Christian People of one City and Country adjoyning whether Province or Diocess are one Church yea of any Nation or part of the World not because under one Spiritual Government or Priest-hood but because one People or Commonwealth ruled by the same Laws professing the same Religion All this is de nomine only But are we not likely to dispute well when we never agree of the Subject or terms of the Question We have no mind to contend about Names Let him call the World or a Corporation or Kingdom or Ecclesiam Malignantium by the name of a Church if he will so that we first agree what Church we dispute of We talk not of any accidental meeting or Community but a Society before defined constituted of the pars gubernans and pars subdita And of this sort we know of Divine Institution an Universal Church Headed by Christ and particular Churches headed under him by their Bishops or Pastors A Church without a Head in Fair Ship or Temple we talk not of Nor yet of a Church that hath but an Accidental Extrinsick and not an Essential Constitutive Head to them as they are Churches of Christ's Institution Whether it be the Emperour of Germany or of Constantinople Mahometan Christian Papist or Protestant we believe that every Soveraign is so the Head that is the Ruler of the Church that is of the Christians in his Dominions We denominate â formâ Bishop Downame may denominate whence he please à materiâ or ab accidente c. and say They are one Church that are under one Prince Law of one Religion Do with your Equivocals what you will But forget not that it is a Pastoral particular Church of the Holy Ghost's Institution that we Dispute about Otherwise I deny not Diocesan or Patriarchal Churches nor deny that the Papal Kingdom is a Church of a certain species right or wrong And forget not his Concession p. 6. and we need no more Indeed at the very first conversion of Cities the whole number of the People converted being sometimes not much greater than the number of the Presbyters placed among them were able to make but a small Congregation But those Churches were in Constituting they were not fully Constituted till their number being increased they had their Bishop or Pastor their Presbyters and Deacons without which Ignatius saith there was no Church c. Of wâ—â—â—h after He next Cap. 1. laboureth much to prove that the words Ecclesia Paraecia and Diocaesis of old were of the sâ—â—e signification About words we have no mind to strive But all the proofs that he brings of the extent of a Church to more than one Congregation or Altar are fetcht from later times when indeed Churches were transformed into Societies much different from those before them He citeth Concil Carth. 2. c. 5. 3. 42 43 c. that places that had no Bishops before should not receive Bishops without the consent of the Bishop whom they were before under Indeed by these Canons we see much of the state of the Church in those times and partly how the Case was altered Every Church had a Bishop of its own Those Churches were almost all first planted in Cities The multitudes were Heathens but the City Christians with those in the Country near them were enow to make a Church or Congregation In time so many were Converted in the Country Villages that they were allowed Assemblies like our Chappels at home And some of them had Country Bishops set over them And in many places greater Towns which they then called Cities were anew converted The Presbyters
that were abroad among these new Converts or scatered Christians made them know that every Church should have a Bishop and that they might choose one of their own And few Presbyters being then Learned able men in Comparison of the Bishops by this advantage of presence among them many raw and schismatical Presbyters crept into the Peoples affections and perswaded them to choose them for their Bishops when they were chosen and ordained they encroached on the rest of the old Bishops Diocess and also refused to come to the Synods lest their failings should be known pretending that they must stay with their own People Now the Bishops that complained of this did not alledge 1. That no Bishop should be made but in a City 2. Nor that when Christians multiplyed they must not multiply Bishops accordingly but all be under their first Bishop only 3. Nor that a new Congregation had not as good right to have and chuse a Bishop of their own as the first City Congregation had But only to keep ignorant Schismatical Presbyters from deceiving the People for their own exaltation and from hindering Synodical Concord they Decreed that none in their Diocesses should have Bishops without the first Bishops consent And that being so Consecrated they should frequent Synods and should be Bishops only of that People that first chose them and not encroach on the rest of the Diocess And whereas he hence gathereth that the Country Churches ever from the beginning belonged to the City Bishops There were no such things as Appendant Country Churches from the beginning of the City Churches But it 's true that from the beginning of the Country Peoples Conversion when they were not enow to make Churches themselves they belonged to the City Churches as Members Even as now the Anabaptists and Independent Churches consist of the People of Market-Towns and the adjoyning Country Associated into one Assembly After that the Country Meetings were but as Oratories or Chappels And when they came to be enow to make dinstinct Churches of some good Bishops had the Wit and Grace to help them to Chorepiscopi Bishops of their own but most did choose rather to enlarge their own Possessions or Powers and set Subject Presbyters only over the People And that these new Bishopricks must be by the old Bishops consent is apparently a point of Order to avoid inconveniences if not of Usurpation For what power had the old Bishop to keep any Church of Christ without a Bishop of their own when it was for there good That he hath some countenance from Leo for the New Church-Form without Bishops I wonder not when Leo was one of the hottest that betimes maintained the Roman Primacy if not Universal Soveraignty And as the Care against placing Bishops in small places ne vilescat nomen Episcopi came in late so 1. It intimateth that it was otherwise done at least by some before 2. And it is but the Prelatical grandure which Constantine had pufft up which is then alledged as the Reason of this Restraint His Argument is That which was judged unlawful by the Canons of approved Councils and Decrees of Godly Bishops was never lawfully regularly and ordinarily practised But c. I deny the Major Kneeling at Prayer or Sacrament on the Lords day the Marriage of Priests the Reading of the Heathens Writings and abundance such-like were forbidden by such approved Councils especially a multitude of things depending on the new Imperial shape of the Churches which are now lawful and were lawful and ordinarily practised before Paul Kneeled and Prayed on the Lord's day Acts 20. c. Therefore the placing of Bishops in Country Parishes was not unlawful before because the Councils of Bishops afterward forbad it nor was it ever unlawful by Gods Law Methinks a Bishop that subscribeth to the 39 Articles of the Church of England which mentioneth General Councils erring even in matters of Faith should never have asserted that they cannot erre in matter of Government nor retract and alter that which was well practised before them His next Argument is this If there were any Parish Bishops then they were the Chorepiscopi But the Chorepiscopi were not such Ans 1. I deny the Major There were then many City Bishops that were but Parish Bishops or had but one Church as shall be further proved 2. Yet as to a great number it is granted that their Diocesses had many Churches at the time of Concil Eliber Sardic c. which he mentioneth But it followeth not that therefore it was so with any in the time of Ignatius or with many in Cyprian's time 3. If it were all granted de facto it will not follow that de jure it was well done and that the old Form was not sinfully changed 4. The Chorepiscopi themselves might have many Congregations under them like our Chapels and yet be Parish Bishops And it 's most probable that at first they had no more than one of our Country Parishes though afterwards they had many Churches under them as City Bishops had His next Argument is Churches endued with Power Ecclesiastical sufficient for the Government of themselves having also a Bishop and Presbytery had the power of Ordination But Country Parishes had not the Power of Ordination Ergo c. Ans 1. Government is Inferiour or Superiour They might have sufficient Inferiour power of Government though they had none of the Superiour power such as belongeth to Archbishops to whom Appeals were made As a Corporation that hath a Mayor and Assistants hath sufficient Inferiour power but not Regal nor such as Judges Lord Lieutenants c. have And if it were proved as some hold that only General or unfixed Ministers like the Apostles and Evangelists or Archbishops that were over many Churches had the power of Ordination and not the Inferiour Bishops of single Churches it would not follow that these Inferiour Bishops had not the power of Governing their own Churches with assisting Presbyters And if he will prove for us that every fixed Bishop hath the power of Ordination who hath but the Inferiour power of Governing his single Church by Admonitions Excommunications and Absolutions he will but do our work for us 2. I deny his Minor Propos If by Country Parishes he mean the Bishops of Country Parishes they had the Power of Ordination And all that he saith against it is only to prove that de facto they had not the Exercise of it in the times he mentioneth and that de jure humano it was not allowed them by Canons But 3. We grant so much of the Conclusion as that de facto few Country Parishes had a Bishop and Presbytery Because there were but few Country Parishes in the World till the third Century that were really Christian Churches or fixed Societies of Christians that had ordinary Church-communion together in the Sacrament or had an Altar But our Case is About single Churches now called Parish Churches and not about Country
Churches For they might be but single Parish Churches though they were in Cities only and the Country Members joyned with them in the Cities And his own Confession is page 35. that besides Rome and Alexandria that had many Churches in the City there is not the like evidence for multitude of Parishes in other Cities imediately after the Apostles times I suppose by his Citations he meaneth till the third Century And if this be granted us of all the great Cities of the World that they cannot be proved to have many Churches we have no great reason to look for many in the Country Villages His next Argument is Churches containing within their Circuit not only Cities with their Suburbs but also whole Countries subject to them were Diocesses But the Churches subject to the ancient Bishops in the Primitive Church contained c. Therefore they were Diocesses Ans Either this is his Description of a Diocess or we have none from him that I can find And let who will Dispute about the Names of Diocess and Parish for I will not And if by a Diocess he meaneth a Church consisting of all the Christians in City and Country associated for Personal holy Communion having One Altar and One Bishop this is that which we call a single Church or some a Parish-Church and if he call it a Diocess he may please himself But if he mean that in these Cities and whole Countries were several such Churches that had each an Altar and were fixed Societies for personal holy Communion not having any proper Bishop of their own but one Bishop in Common with whose Cathedral Church they did not and could not Communicate through Number or distance I deny his Minor proposed in this sense as to the two first Centuries though not as to the following Ages But if by Cities Suburbs and whole Countries subject he mean all the unconverted Infidels of that space for doubtless he calls not the soil or place the Church I deny the very subject There were no such Churches Infidels and Heathens make not Churches Though Hereticks made somewhat like them sicut vespa faciunt â—avos as Tertullian speaketh If the Diocesan Churches Disputed for be Churches of Pagans and Infidels we know no such things But if he mean that all the Heathens in that Circuit are the Bishops Charge in order to Conversion I answer 1. That maketh them no parts of the Church Therefore the Church is of never the larger extent for the soil or Infidel Inhabitants 2. The Apostles and other General Preachers like the Jesuits in the Indies may divide their Labourers by Provinces for the Peoples Convetsion before there be any Churches at all 3. This distribution is a meer prudential Ordering of an accident or circumstance and therefore not the Divine Institution of a Church Form or Species 4. Neither Scripture nor prudence so distributeth Circuits or Provinces to Preachers in order to conversion of Infidels as that other Preachers may not come and Preach there as freely as one that claimeth it as his Province For 1. Christ sent out his Apostles by two and two at first 2. Paul had Barnabas or some other Evangelist or General Preacher usually with him And Peter and Paul are both said to be at Rome at Antioch and other places And many Apostles were long together at Jerusalem even many years after Christ's Resurrection Christ that bid them go into all the World never commanded that one should not come where another was nor have power to Preach to Infidels in that Diocess And what is the Episcopal power over Infidels which is claimed It is not a power to Ordain or to Excommunicate them It can be no other than a power to Preach to them and Baptize them when converted And this is confessed to belong to Presbyters If the Bishops would divide the World into Diocesses and be the only Preachers in those Diocesses it would be no wonder if the World be unconverted It is not Bishops that are sent by the Papists themselves to convert the Indians But perhaps you may say that the Bishops rule those Presbyters that do it I answer 1. It 's an imperfect kind of Government which a Bishop in England can exercise over Presbyters that daily Preach as Mr. Eliat his helpers to the Natives in a Wilderness many thousand Miles from them 2. But if they do rule the Preachers that maketh not the Soil nor the Heathens to be any parts of their Church but the Preachers only Therefore a Diocess with them and a Church must be different things His first Reason therefore page 36. from the Circuit is vain His second page 37. that the City Bishops had a right from the beginning over many Churches that had no other Bishops and did not after usurp it he proveth not at all For the words of Men three or four hundred years after Christ alledging ancient custome are no proof When the 25 Can. Trull cited by himself maketh thirty years possession enough against all that would question their Title And abundance of things had Custome and Antiquity alledged for them so long after that were known Innovations His third Reason is from the Chorepiscopi as the Bishops suffragan which sheweth no more but that the City Bishops whether justly or by usurpation were at last really Archbishops or Rulers of Bishops But of this before His fourth Reason from Succession will be good when he that affirmeth that no Church was governed by the Parish Discipline hath proved that all many yea or any Bishops from the Apostles days had many Churches under them that had no Bishops of their own Till then he saith nothing As to his instance of the Scythians having but one Bishop the Reason was because it was but little of their Country at first that were made Christians or that were at all in the Roman Empire So that the Bishop was setled at Tomis in the borders of the Empire in the Maritine part of the Euxine Sea that thence he might have an influence on the rest of the Scythians over whom the Romans had no power and where there were many Cities indeed but few Christians as may be seen in Theodoret Tripart Nicephor and many others Of his other three or four instances I shall after speak Chap. 3. lib. 2. He pretends to prove that the seven Asian Churches were Diocesan and not Parochial and never defineth a Diocess and Parish which is lost labour His first Argument is Churches whose Circuit contained Cities and Countries adjoining were Diocesses But c. This is before answered Our Question is Whether they were as our Diocesan Churches such as had in these Cities and Countries many Altars and Churches without Bishops under them Trees and Houses and Fields and Heathen People make not Churches nor yet scattered Christians that were Members only of the City Church His proof of the Minor is 1. These Churches comprized all the Churches of Asia Ans If he mean that all the rest
of the Churches of Asia had no Bishops but Parish Presbyters under these seven Bishops he should prove it and confute Dr. Hammond that is so contrary to him had he then lived Till then we take it as a contemptible incredible assertion that Asia had but seven Bishops and yet a multitude of Churches If he mean only that these seven were Archbishops his impertinency is too palbable Particularly he saith The Church of Ephesus Smyrna c. Contained a great City and the Country belonging to it c. Ans We talk of Churches under Churches and he talketh only of Cities and Countries Again I say Let him take his Diocess of Infidels Houses and Ground we know no such Churches Page 46. He saith Cenchrea was subject to the Church of Corinth and never had a Bishop of their own But not a syllable of proof It is not a Family Church which we speak of therefore he need not here have mentioned that But a Church associated for ordinary Communion in God's publick worship which cannot be celebrated without a Pastor Let him prove that Cenchrea was such a Church and yet had no Bishop In § 6. p. 49. He would prove that the Circuit of a Church was in the Intention of the Apostles or first Founders the same from the beginning befor◠the division of Churches as after Which I shall in due place disprove His reasons are 1. Because the whole Church since the Apostles days hath so understood the intention of the Apostles Ans 1. This is not proved 2. I shall anone prove the contrary that the Apostles had no intention that Churches should be defined by the limits of the place and Country nor did they themselves ever appoint any such bounds to any one Church and say so far it shall extend Nor did they ever take any but Christians in any Circuits for Members of the Church And I shall prove that all Churches were but such as I described single Churches with their Bishops at the first and that some Villages had Bishops four or five hundred years after And his own Reason that Churches followed the Civil Form proveth the mutability of their bounds seeing the Civil Forms were mutable His next Reason is because that division of Churches which was 300 or 400 Years after Christ with their Limits and Circuits were ordinarily the same which had been from the beginning as divers Councils testifie Ans Those Councils mean no more than that it had been an old or setled Custome as many Learned men have proved And if they could be proved to mean that from the Apostolical plantations the bounds of all the Diocess were set I marvel that any man could believe them But they say no such thing as were it not tedious to the Reader an examination of each particular would shew Else no new Churches and Bishops must be setled in the World but those that the Apostles converted in any Cities between or near them For the unconverted Cities in the inter-spaces were as much those Bishops Diocesses as the Villages of equal distance And then the making of new Cities would have made one a Bishop of many Cities contrary to the Canons His third Reason is that the Distribution of the Churches usually followed the division of the Common wealth Ans 1. If so as is said they must be various and mutable All the World was not divided just as the Roman Empire was And the Imperial divisions had great changes 2. I think it lost labour to dispute with him that holdeth this assimilating the Church to the Civil Form was of Divine Apostolical Institution If any can think so let him give us his proof that the Church Constitution must vary as Monarchical Aristocratical and Democratical States do As Empires and free Cities do And that from the King to the Constable we must have a correspondent Officer And that the Papacy as Capital in the Roman Empire was of Gods Institution And that an Emperour King or popular State may change the Form of the Churches as oft as they may the Form of their subordinate Governments Are not these small Reasons to prove that when the Apostles planted Bishops in all single Churches they intended that those Bishops should be the sole Bishops of many hundred Churches when they should be raised in the Circuit of ground which now is called their Diocesses But more of this in due place But next he appealeth to mens consciences Whether it be not unlikely that there was but one Congregation belonging to these famous Cities towards the end of the Apostles days Of which more afterward In Chap. 4. p. 69. He argueth The Presbyteries ordained by the Apostles were appointed for Diocesses and not to Parishes Therefore the Churches endued with the power of Ecclesiastical Government were not Parishes but Diocesses Ans Our Question is Whether they were single Churches as before defined or only One Diocesan Church made up of many such single Churches 1. If by Presbyteries be meant many Presbyters a College or Consessus I deny the Consequence because every Church that had Government had not such a Presbytery But one Bishop or Pastor did serve for some of the lesser Churches and yet that one had Governing power 2. I deny the Major It was single Churches that had then many Elders set over them 3. Reader it seemeth to me no small disparagement to the Diocesan Cause that the grand Patrons of it so extreamly differ among themselves Dr. Hammond holdeth that in all the Scripture times no one Church had any Presbyters at all save only one single Bishop This Bishop Downame seemeth to hold that every Governed Church had a Presbytery And no one and every one extreamly differ Yet either of them would have censure him that had gain-sayed them His proof of the Antecedent is this They who were appointed to whole Cities and Countries to labour so far as they were able the conversion of all that belonged to God were appointed to Diocesses not to Parishes But c. Ans Is not here frustration instead of edification to the Reader for want of defining a Diocess and a Parish I thought we had talkt of a Diocesan Church and here is a Diocess described which may be a single Church or no Church at all as the Bishop pleaseth Here is not so much as any Christians much less Congregations of them mentioned as the Bishops Flock But many an Apostle Evangelist and Converting Preacher hath been set over Cities and Countries to labour mens Conversion as far as they were able before they had converted any or at least enow to make a Church and after that before they had converted more than one Assembly The Jesuits in the Indies thus laboured in several Provinces before they were Bishops of those Provinces or called them Provincial Churches But now we perceive what he meaneth by a Diocess even a space of Ground containing Inhabitants to be converted if we can I will shorten my Answer to the
rest of his Reasonings for such Diocesan Churches I will put a few Questions more pertinent than his Queries p. 67. about the state of such Diocesan Churches Q. 1. Whether the Apostles were not by this description Bishops of all the World as their Diocesses And whether therefore it follow that there were no Bishops under them in particular Churches Q. 2. Whether Apostles and Evangelists did not go from City to City sometime staying some Months or Years at one and then passing to another And whether this made all the interjacent Countries their Diocesses changing their Bishops as oft as they thus changed their Habitations Q. 3. Whether more than one such Apostle or Evangelist were not both at once and successively in the same place to labour the conversion of all they could And whether therefore there were many Bishops to a Diocess Q. 4. Where we shall find the proof that the Apostles or Evangelists set the bounds of Diocesses And whether this description of his own do make Diocesses bounded by circuit or space of Ground or by the Abilities of the Bishop to endeavour conversion Q. 5. When the Apostles forbad any other to labour mens conversion in their Cities or Countries where they or others had been before them And did not one plant and another water and usually more than one at once Q. 6. Whether Mat. 28. 19 20. Discipling or Preaching to convert men and then baptizing them be not the way of gathering Churches and therefore proveth that before conversion they are no Churches and are not Christians only members of the Church And are those Diocesan Churches that are no Churches Q. 7. If one be setled in a single Congregation in the City with a purpose to endeavour the conversion of the Country is not a Diocesan Church there the same as a single Congregation though the Diocess be larger Q. 8. If when Congregations multiplyed Bishops were not multiplyed but one would keep many Churches under himself alone doth it prove that this was well done because it was done and that God consented to this change His next Reason is because Churches were not then divided into Parishes Which in due place I shall prove to be a sufficient Reason against him Churches were Societies constituted of Pastors and their Christian Congregations as afore defined And his inference is vain that Presbyteries were not settled in Parishes because the Churches were not yet divided into Parishes For they were Parishes that is single Churches without dividing The space of Ground called Parishes was not then marked out Nor was a Diocesan Church like ours that hath no subordinate Bishops divided into Parishes for there were no such Diocesan Churches to be so divided But the Universal Church and the Apostolical Provinces were made up or constituted of Parishes I mean of particular Churches as greater numbers are of unites and as Villages are of Houses But to say that Churches were not divided into Parishes in the sence in question is all one as to say Churches were not divided into Churches Our Controversie is like this Whether all the Families in the Town should have but One common Master And he that affirmeth it should argue thus Masters were not at first appointed to Families but to Villages For Villages were not at first divided into Families when there were none but single Houses erected True but Families were Families before there were Villages to be divided As Villages were not made before Houses and then divided into Houses nor Cities before Streets and afterwards divided into Streets nor Kingdoms before Cities and Corporations and then divided into Corporations or inferiour Societies Nor Academies before Colleges and then divided into Colleges so neither were Provincial or Diocesan Churches made before single Churches and after divided into them but were made by the coalition of many single Churches which should not have been changed for that use in specie by altering the species of their Pastors and depriving them of their Proper Bishops In his 5th Chap. He pretendeth to confute the Asseâ—tion that for the first 200 years the City Churches were but single Congregations Here we use to except only Alexandria and Rome in all the World And we confidently extend the time to 150 years and very probably to 200 and moreover say that till the fourth Century most or very many Churches were no other if not long after in many Kingdoms All his talk p. 80. against shallow giddy Heads that see no further than their Nose end because it was denied that Pastors were set in single Congregations to convert also the Infidels about I have nothing to do with For I assert that as all Ministers are bound to endeavour the conversion of such if they have opportunity not wanting power so those are most bound to it that have best opportunity which is the Neighbour Bishops But till men are converted they are no parts of the Church no nor of that particular Church eo nomine because converted by that Bishop as shall be proved without some further consent and ground The rest about the largeness of the Church of Jerusalem c. shall be considered in due place In his Chap. 6. p. 104. I desire it may be noted that he saith I do not deny but that at the first and namely in the time of the Apostle Paul the most of the Churches so soon after their conversion did not each of them exceed the proportion of a populous Congregation And p. 114. that Metropolitans he thinks were intended by the Apostles or at least suadente naturâ necessitate flagitante as Beza saith And I suppose a Diocesan Church will find no better ground than a Metropolitan viz. Humane Prudence or I think intended In chap. 7. He pretendeth to prove that in the Apostles times Parishes began to be distinguished under one only Bishop c. But what 's the proof Rome and Alexandria are all the Instances But 1. his proof that Evaristus divided Parishes about An. 100 is worth nothing as having no sufficient evidence but fabulous reports 2. He allegeth Eusebius l. 2. â— 15. saying of St. Mark that he is said first to have constituted the Churches of Alexandria But this is no proof 1. Because Eusebius's following words out of Philo do make it most probable that by the Churches of Alexandria he meant the Churches in and about Alexandria which proveth not many in the City it self 2. If he had planted many Churches in the City it is no proof that he varied from the practice of the other Apostles who as Act. 14. 23. placed Elders that is saith Dr. Hammond Bishops in every Church Or that the Elders of each Church had not the true Pastoral or Episcopal power of Governing the Flock which is all that we plead for And if it had been proved that Mark had been over them it followeth not that he was not over them as an Archbishop but as a meer Bishop only 3. Grotius and Dr.
might dissemble to escape Persecution themselves and greater Persecutions were near and not the Gnosticks nor Jews but Nero beheaded Paul and the Jews themselves were banished Rome 5. And that Simon Magus was indeed so famous a Fellow as to be taken for the supream God when Church Writers speak so uncertainly of his conflicts with Peter as of a doubtful story and the evidence is so obscure and the Roman Histories say so little of him He might as well have thought the Apostle would have made all that ado about James Naylor if he had been then alive 6. And that there were not many other Hereticks as well as the Gnosticks that troubled the Churches if Epiphanius knew how to name them and describe them rightly or Irenaeus before him or John in Rev. 2. and 3. before them 7. And that Simon Magus and his Heresie was a Mystery of Iniquity not revealed when Paul wrote the second Epistle to the Thessalonians 8. And that many had not then followed him and fallen away to Heresie 9. Or that by the Apostasie that must first come is meant the Apostles separation from the Jews and Moses's Law As if he had said we will first separate and that shall bring persecution on you but till we do that it is with-held 10. Or that the said separation was not done by degrees some before this and some after 11. Or that the difference between the Jews persecution of the Christians before the Apostles Apostasie and after it was indeed so great as to be the Crisis of the Antichrists Revelation 12. And that poor Simon should be the Man that sitteth in the Temple of God and opposed and exalted himself above all that is called God when as the Scripture never once nameth him after his deprecation of the Apostles curse or threatning though Nicolaitanes are named and Alexander Hymenaeus and Philetus named and other Adversaries and all the terrible things foretold which are here supposed to be done by Simon and his Doctrine What were all the Sacred Writers afraid to name him when they recited all the Evils that he must do and are supposed to make it a great part of all the Epistles and the History in Acts 15. and when he had been so sharply rebuked and humbled before Act. 8. 13. That the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that with-holdeth till he be taken out of the way is not meant of any person power or state but the aforesaid separation of the Apostles 14. That verse 8. that the breath of Christ's own mouth signifieth St. Peter's words that cast down Simon when he fell and hurt him and that the brightness of his coming or the appearing of his own presence is nothing but the foresaid Destruction of Jerusalem 15. And so many of the Gnosticks and Hereticks that troubled all the Churches of Asia and other Countries were got together into Jerusalem as that they might be said to be consumed and destroyed there who so long after troubled the Churches 16. And when I can believe that the Revelation is made up of such a sence and that most or much of it was fulfilled before it was revealed and written and all the rest fulfilled long ago about Constantine's days except one Parenthesis or a few Verses in the 20th Chapter And that the Resurrection and Thousand Years reign of the Martyrs is that 1000 Years from Constantine's beginning in which the Bishops had Wealth and Honour and sate on Thrones and judged the People in Courts as our Lay-Chancellors now do and that this Glory Wealth and Grandure of Prelates is the Churches Resurrection Glory and Felicity And that these happy thousand Years continued 700 Years after the rising of Mahomet and included those 8th 9th 10th and 11th Ages which Erasmus and all learned men even Bellarmine himself so dolefully bewail And that when Boys and Whores and Sorcerers and Murderers and Hereticks and Schismaticks ruled the Church they were happy that had a part in this first Resurrection to all this Glory yea that these are Holy too Rev. 20. 6. And that the second death shall have no power on them that is while they are drowning the true Churches of Christ in the Floods of all abomination and bringing in all corruption and laying the grounds of all division subduing Kings and murdering Christians by thousands till the Year 1300. Blessed and holy and happy are they because though they persecute the Godly they are free from being persecuted themselves which is the second death Yea that the Church was freed from persecution in the Ages when the poor Waldenses and Albigenses were murdered in greater numbers than ever the Heathens murdered the Christians heretofore When I can believe abundance of such things as these I will believe Dr. Hammond's first Dissertation His second Dissertation which is to vindicate the Epistles of Ignatius I little regard as not concerning me I leave it to Dr. Pierson who they say is about it to answer Dallaeus his numerous Arguments against him with Dionysius For my part I wish Dr. Pierson may prevail For there is no Witness among all the Ancients whom I more trust to at least ad hominem as a plain undoubted destroyer of our Prelacy than Ignatius who is the confidence of the Prelatical Champions I am possest with admiration as much at their glorying in Ignatius as the Patron of Diocesans who is so much against them as I am at their glorying in Rich. Hooker as a Defender of Monarchy and the Prelates Loyalty Of Ignatiuâ— I shall say more anon His third Dâ—â—â—ert about Scripture passages more concerneth us Cap. 1. which tells us of Christs Episcopacy concerneth not our Cause Cap. 2. Whether the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Regeneration be the New Church State and the Apostles Episcopal Thrones be there meant as setled in several Provinces which cannot be proved ever to have been is little to our business Nor yet whether he will prove that it is not Prelacy but Secular Coactive power and gâ—andure that is denyed to the Apostles and that it was those that grudged at the Precedency desired for James and John which Christ intended to reprehend because it was not an injurious Secular power but a labour that was to be in the Prelates of the Church It sufficeth me that so much is here confessed And it cannot be denied For that Precedency and Power which Christ alloweth in the Rulers of the Nations is it which he denyeth to his Disciples But it is not Tyranny proud Domination and Oppression but just Secular Government which he alloweth in the Rulers of the Nations Ergo it is this and not the former which he denyeth to his Disciples And let all the Prelates here remember that the Qâ—estion Whether they be Above their Brethren by Dr. H's Confession is Whether they may take more care and pains for Mens Salvation When one of us poor Ministers were not able night and day to Catechise instruct and oversee a Congregation of
Countries 4. What man will dream that when these went abroad the World to convert men they were the fixed Bishops of particular Churches first which they thus forsook 5. Who will believe that Joseph Silas Apollo Luke Mark Nathaniel Philip or any other when they had converted any City or Countrey had no power after to teach them as a Church or give them the Lords Supper no nor to Baptize them first nor to ordain them Bishops and settle them in order but must either have an Apostle or a City Bishop to come thither after them to do it Such Fancies are obtruded on the Church because the one Ministerial or Priestly Office is first dismembred and then new Officers feigned to be made up of the several Limbs Cap. 7. As he rob'd the Evangelists of the Power of the Keys he would now rob all the meer Presbyters of it and all without shew of Scripture proof from such words of Canons or Ancients as say the Presbyters shall do nothing without the Bishops 1. As if the Presbyters were no Rulers of the Flocks because the Bishops are Rulers of the Presbyters As if a Judge or a Justice were no Governour because he is under the King 2. O Cruel Bishops that will undertake to do that for the Souls of many hundred Parishes which many hundred Ministers are too little for that the Souls of men and their own together may be damn'd by the Omission of it If the power of the Keys be appointed for mens Salvation they perfidiously betray them that thrust out the many hundreds that should do it pretending that it belongeth to one man among the many hundred that cannot do it But of the Bishops great undertaking I must say more anon Cap. 8. Of the Chorepiscopi there is little that concerneth us saving that he cometh near to grant us all that we desire while that § 15 he saith that Learned men believe that in the Church of one Region of old there was but one Altar so that lgnatius rightly conjoyneth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And all Schismaticks were said to set up Altar against Altar As Cypr. de Unit. Eccle. Ep. 40. 72 73 This is the sum of all that we plead for And § 29. he mentioneth the Chorepiscopis as immitating the 70 when yet he had denied the 70 to have the power of the Keys which he supposeth the Chorepiscopi to have under the Bishops Of Clemens words in due place Cap. 9. About the sence of a Canon variously read And Cap. 10. Whether Eutychius Alexandrinus erred in one thing and therefore were not to be believed in another are little pertinent to our business In his 4th Dissert the Cap. 1. is but Proem but Cap. 2. he tells us that the Apostles as Bishops Governed the Churches which they had planted without the mediation of a Colledge of Presbyters all ways and he bringeth not a word to prove it but 1 Cor. 3. 6. You have not many Fathers in Christ I have begotten you by the Gospel c. 4. 15 16. I have planted and c. 9. 19 21. I will come to you will ye that I come with the Rod and c. 5 3 4. I as absent in Body but present in Spirit have judged This is all And will not the impartial Reader wonder at humane frailty how easily men believe what they would have to be true and what an evident Nothing will go for undenyable proof Let the Reader Note 1. That the question is not whether an Apostle after that he had planted a Church remain still an Apostle to them as well as others and have the Apostolical eminency of Power which is greater than any meer Bishop had 2. But first Whether the Apostles had any fixed Provinces or Cities undertaken as their special charge in which no other Apostle had Apostolical Power And 2. Whether there were not fixed Bishops setled by them in all the Churches which they planted 3. And whether it was not so in the Church of Corinth ' in particular Yea whether they had not more Bishops or Presbyters than one For by Unius which here he applyeth to Paul he meaneth Unicus Paul only or else he abuseth his Reader and himself And 1. He that will follow Paul in his Travels will find that he went the same way that some other Apostles went viz. John and Peter and therefore that they must have the same Diocesses or have their Diocesses notably intermixt John was in Asia as well as Paul and no man can prove that he was the Second Bishop of Ephesus or Asia as Paul's successor only when he was dead Nor will the Romans be willing to grant that Peter was Bishop of no more at Rome but the Jews only as this Dr. elsewhere intimateth lest that prove not that the Gentile Church of Rome was founded by Peter but by Paul alone 2. What proof hath he that besides Peter and John there were not many other Apostles per vices in the same Cities where Paul had been And that when they did come thither they had not Apostolical Power there 3. Doth not the Text expresly say that Paul and Barnabas long travelled together And doth it any where intimate that Paul was the Governour of Barnabas or the sole Bishop of the Churches planted by them both together Sure the people that would have worshipped Barnabas as Jupiter and Paul but as Mercury did see no Sign of such a Prelacy in Paul And the Apostles seem so to have ordered the matter by going by Couples as Christ sometimes sent two and two before him as if they had done it purposely to prevent these Monarchical conceits Peter and John were together at the healing of the Criple and the successful preaching that followed thereupon Sometime Paul and Barnabas are together sometime Paul and Silas and Barnabas and Mark Paul and Sosthenes are the inscribed Names who send the first Epistle to the Corinthians and Paul and Timothy the second And in the Text alledged it is said One saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo and c. 1. 12. Every one of you saith I am of Paul and I of Apollos and I of Cephas And Paul baptized none of them save Crispus and Gaius and the houshold of Stephanus By which it appeareth that Peter was among them as well as Paul and if Peter had been only the Bishop of the Jews here also Apollos would not have been brought in as a third in a way of equality And the Controversie would have been otherwise decided by Paul by telling the Jews that Peter was their sole Bishop and the Gentiles that Paul was theirs and all of them that Apollos was but their Subject But he goeth quite another way to work preferring none nor dividing Dioceses but levelling Ministers as being but the helpers of their Faith And though they had Apostolical preeminence above Apollos yet Peter and Paul are not said to have a proper Episcopacy over him And
now to his Arguments 1. Paul planted Paul onely was their Father What then Ergo Paul onely was their Bishop I deny the Consequence and may long wait for a syllable of proof Contrarily Paul onely was not their Apostle Ergo Paul onely was not their Bishop For every Apostle you say hath Episcopal Power included in the Apostolical and none of them ceased to have Apostolical Power where-ever they came though they were many together as at Jerusalem Ergo None of them ceased to have Episcopal Power The conceit of Conversion and Paternity entituling to sole Episcopacy I shall confute by it self anon 2. But Paul judged the incestuous person and speaketh of coming with the rod. And what followeth Ergo None but Paul might do the same in that Diocess I deny the Consequence Any other Apostle might do the same Where is your Proof And if all this were granted it is nothing against the Cause that we maintain And next let us inquire whether this Church had no Bishops or Presbyters but Paul As here is not a word of proof on their side so I prove the contrary 1. Because the Apostles ordained Elders or Bishops in every Church and City Acts 14. 23. Tit. 1. 5. Therefore the Church of Corinth had such 2. If they had not Presbyters or Bishops they could hold no ordinary Christian Church-Assemblies for all Gods publick Worship e. g. They could not communicate in the Lords Supper for Lay-men may not be the Ministers of it nor the ordinary Guides and Teachers of a Worshipping Church But they did hold such ordinary Assemblies communicating in the Lords Supper And to say that they had onely Pastors that were itinerant in transitu as they came one after another that way is to speak without book and against it and to make them differ from all other Churches without proof 3. 1 Cor. 14. doth plainly end that Controversie with 1 Cor. 11. when they had so many Prophets and Teachers and gifted Persons in their Assemblies that Paul is put to restrain and regulate their Publick Exercises directing them to speak but one or two and the rest to judge and this rather by the way of edifying plainness than by Tongues c. And c. 11. they had enow to be the ordinary Ministers of the Sacraments And cb 5. they had Instructions for Church-Discipline both as to the incestuous man and for all the scandalous for the time to come and are chidden for not using it before And who but the Separatists do hold that the power of the Keys for the exercise of this Discipline is in the Peoples hands Therefore most certainly they had a Clergy And if all this go not for proof against a bare Affirmation of the contrary we can prove nothing 4. And 1 Cor. 4. 15. I scarce think that Paul would have had occasion to say Though you have ten thousand instructers if they had not had qualified Persons enow to afford them one or two for Presbyters Cap. 2. proving no more of any one Apostles fixed Episcopacy he cometh to their secondary Bishops or Apostles And whereas we judge that Apostles and Evangelists and the Apostles Assistants were unfixed Ministers appropriating no Churches or Diocesses to themselves in point of Power but planting setling and confirming Churches in an itinerant way and distributing their Provinces onely arbitrarily and changeably and as the Spirit guided them at the present time of their work and that Bishops and Elders were such Pastors as these Church-gatherers fixed in a stated relation to particular Churches so that an Apostle was a Bishop eminenter but not formaliter and that a Bishop as such was no Apostle in the eminent sense but was also an itinerant Preacher limitedly because while he oversaw his Flock he was also to endeavour the conversion of others as far as his opportunity allowed him I say this being our judgment this learned Doctor supposeth Apostles as such to be Bishops and the fixed Bishops as such to be second Apostles And I so avoid contending about Names even where it is of some importance to the Matter that I will not waste my time upon it till it be necessary In § 1. he telleth us that these second Apostles were made partakers of the same Jurisdiction and Name with the first and either planted and ruled Churches or ruled such as others had planted Answ 1. We doubt not but the Apostles had indefinite itinerant Assistants and definite fixed Bishops placed by them as aforesaid But the indefinite and the definite must not be confounded 2. And were not Luke Mark Timothy and other itinerant Evangelists as such of the Clergy and such Assistants or secondary Apostles Exclude them and you can prove none but the fixed Bishops But if they were why did you before deny Evangelists Dissert 3. cap. 6. the power of the Keys and make them meer converting Preachers below Doctors and Pastors and the same with Deacons whereas Paul Ephes 4. 11. doth place them before Pastors and Teachers But avoiding the Controversie de nomine call them what you will we believe that these itinerant Assistants of the Apostles were of that One sacred Office commonly called the Priesthood or Ministry though not yet fixed and that the assigning them to particular Churches did not make them of a new Order but onely give them a new object and opportunity to exercise the Power which they had before and that Philip and other Deacons were not Evangelists meerly as Deacons which term denoteth a fixed Office in one Church but by a further Call And that you never did prove that ever the Scripture knew one Presbyter that had not the power of the Keys as Bishops have yea you confess your self the contrary All therefore that followeth in that Chapter and your Book of James the Just and Mark and others having Episcopal power is nothing against us The thing that we put you to prove is that ever the Apostles ordained such an Officer as a Presbyter that hath not Episcopal Power and Obligation too as to his Flock that is the Power of governing that Church according to God's Word And I would learn if I could whether all the Apostles which staid long at Jerusalem while James is supposed to be their Bishop were not Bishops also with him Whether they ceased to be Apostles to the People there Or whether they were Apostles and not Bishops And whether they lost any of their Power by making James Bishop And whether one Church then had not many Bishops at once And if they made James greater than themselves Whether according to your Premonition they did not give a Power or Honour which they had not which you think unanswerable in our Case Cap. 4. come in the Angels of the Churches Rev. 1 2 3. of which though the matter be little to our Cause I have said enough before why I prefer the Exposition of Ticoniui which Augustine seemeth to favour And I find nothing here to the
contrary that needeth a Reply Cap. 5. he would prove the Angels to be Archbishops which if done would not touch our Cause who meddle not with Archbishops but onely prove that the full Pastoral or Episcopal Office or power of the Keys as over the Flock should be found in every particular Church that hath unum Altaere To prove Metropolitans again he tells us how that in Provinces we find Churches mentioned in the Plural number and in Cities onely a Church singularly not perceiving how hereby he overthrows his Cause when he can never prove that in Scripture many particular Churches are called A Church Diocesane or Metropolitan as united in one Bishop as our Diooesane and Metropolitan Churches now are Nay indeed though the Society be specified by the Government yet the Name sticketh in their teeth here in England and they seldom use the Title of the Church of Canterbury and York for the whole Province and they use to say the Diocese of Lincoln London Winchester Worcester Coventry and Litchfield c. rather than the Church of Lincoln London Coventry and Litchfield c. lest the Hearers would so hardly he seduced from the proper sense of the word Church as not to understand them His Proofs of the Civil or Jewish distinction of Metropolitans § 4 5 c. let them mind that think it pertinent But § 9. we have a great word that It may be proved by many examples that after this Image the Apostles took care every where to dispose of the Churches and constituted a subordination and dependence of the lesser on the more eminent Cities in all their Plantations Answ This is to some purpose if it be made good The first Instance is Acts 14. 26. 16. 4. and 15. 2 3 22 23 30. Not a word else out of Scripture And what 's here Why Paul and Barnabas are sent to Jerusalem from Antioch to the Apostles and Elders about the Question and were brought on their way by the Church and passed thorow Phenice and Samaria Chosen men are sent to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas Judas and Silas with Letters from the Apostles Elders and Brethren even to the Brethren of the Gentiles in Antioch Syria and Cilicia And when they came to Antioch they delivered the Letters and Paul and Timothy as they went thorow the Cities delivered them the Decrees to keep that were ordained by the Apostles and Elders that were at Jerusalem Doth not the Reader wonder where is the Proof And wonder he may for me unless this be it The Apostles and Elders were at Jerusalem when they wrote this Letter and thence sent it to Antioch Syria and Cilicia Ergo They established the Bishop of Jerusalem to be the Governour and Metropolitan of Antioch Syria and Cilicia The Apostle Paul went from Antioch to other Cities and delivered them these Decrees Ergo Antioch is the governing Metropolis of those Cities I think the major Propositions are Every City from which Apostles send their Letters to other Cities and every City from which an Apostle carrieth such Letters or Decrees to other Cities is by those Apostles made the Governing Metropolis of those other Cities What dull Heads are the Puritans to question such a Proposition as this But it is not given to all Men to be wise And we ignorant Persons are left in doubt Q. 1. Whether the Universal Headship or Papacy of the Bishop of Jerusalem be not of Apostolical Institution and that more than by one Apostle even by all of them that were then at Jerusalem Q. 2. Whether the Apostles did not this as they did other parts of Church-settlement by the Spirit of God and so whether it be not jure Divino yea by a more eminent Authority than the Scriptures which were written by parts by several single Men some Apostles and some Evangelists when this is said to be done by all together Q. 3. Whether Christ's Life Death Resurrection Ascension and sending the Apostles thence into all the World and not into the Roman Empire onely do not incomparably more evidently make Jerusalem the Universal Metropolis of the Earth and so set it above Rome which is but the Metropolis of one Empire Q. 4. Whether then an Universal Head of the Church or Vicar of Christ be not jure Divino and so a Jerusalem Papacy be not essential to the true Church and Religion Q. 5. Whether then all the Emperours Bishops and Churches that did set up Rome Alexandria Antioch and Constantinople above Jerusalem were not Traytors against the Universal Sovereign of the Church and guilty of Usurpation and gross Schism Q. 6. To what parpose this Sovereignty was given to Jerusalem which was never possess'd and exercised Q. 7. Whether Peter's being at Rome could alter this Church-Constitution and one Apostle could undo what all together had done Q. 8. Whether the Apostles carried this Metropolitical Prerogative with them from place to place where-ever they came And whether it did belong to the Men or the Place And whether to the Place whence they first set out or to every place where they came or to the place where they dyed Judge what is the proof of any of these Q. 9. When they were scattered which of their Seats was the Metropolitan to the rest or were they all equal Q. 10. If the Power followed the Civil Power of the Metropolitane Rulers whether Caesar did not more in constituting the Church-Order and giving power comparatively to the Metropolitanes than Christ and his Apostles Q. 11. Whether it was not in Caesar's power to unmake all the Church Metropolitans and Bishops at his pleasure by dissolving the Priviledges and Charters of Cities Q. 12. If it please any King or be the Custom of any Kingdom as it is in many parts of America that the Kingdom have no Cities or Metropolis whether it must have any Churches Bishops or Metropolitane Q. 13. Whether when Paul wrote his Letters from Corinth to Rome he thereby made the Bishop of Corinth the Governour of the Bishop and Diocess of Rome And whether little Cenchrea was over them also because Phoebe carried the Letter And did his writing from Philippi to Corinth subject Corinth to the Bishop of Philippi And did his writing from Rome to Galatia Ephesus Philippi the Colossians and from Athens to the Thessalonians and from Laodicea and Rome to Timothy and from Nicopolis to Titus and John's writing from Patmos to the Asian Metropolitanes produce the same effect Q. 14. If Paul's carrying the Letters from Antioch to other Cities proved Antioch the Governour of the rest whether when he returned from the other to Antioch again he made not the other the Governours of Antioch I am ashamed to prosecute this Fiction any further His following Citations from the Fathers I think unworthy of an Answer till it be proved 1. That these Fathers took the Metropolitane Order as such to be of Apostolical Institution and not in complyance with the Roman Government by meer humane
alterable policy And 2. That this Opinion rose as early as he pretendeth 3. And that these Ancients were not deceived â—â—t our English Bishops rather Bilson Jewel c. who took Patriarchs and Metropolitanes as such for Creatures of Humane Original While Ignatius his being Bishop of a Church in Syria shall prove him the Bishop of all Syria and the Church of God dwelling in Syria in Antiochia shall be equivalent with the Church in Antiochia governing all Syria I shall not undertake to hinder such men from proving any thing that they would have believed His Cap. 6. of the promiscuous use of the Names of Bishop and Presbyter and Cap. 7. that prepareth the stating of the Controversie need no answer but to say that we deny not but where a single Presbyter was he had himself the power of Governing that Church but where there were many though all had the full Office severally they were bound to use it in Concord And whether one amongst them shall have a precedency or guidance of the rest we think as Dr. Stillingfleet hath proved to be a matter alterable by humane prudence according to the various condition of the Churches And if any take both such Bishops and Archbishops to be Jure Divine with Dr. Hammond it will be somewhat to his Cause but nothing to ours Cap. 8. he openeth his conceit which in time I shall shew doth yield us the whole Cause that every place of Scripture which mentioneth Bishops or Presbyters meaneth Diocesan supereminent Bishops only And first he proveth it of the Elders Bishops of Ephesus Acts 20. because the whole flock is meant of all Asia Fully proved because Irenaeus said as he thought that the Bishops were convocate from Ephesus and the nearest Cities But 1. Irenaeus saith not Bishops only but Bishops and Presbyters conjoining them as two sorts and not Bishops or Presbyters as the Doctor doth 2. The nearest Cities and all Asia we take not for words of the same importance 3. We take not your bare word for the validity of the Consequence that because the Bishops of several Cities were there therefore it is all Asia that is singularly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the whole Flock and not each Bishops Flock respectively q. d. Each of you look to your several Flock 4. We think if you calculate the time Acts 20 and 21. and consider Paul's haste Acts 20. 16. that few impartial men will believe that Paul's Messengers that were wont to go on foot did so quickly go all over Asia and so quickly get together all the Bishops of Asia to Miletum unless they all resided at Ephesus as our English Bishops do at London and Governed their unknown people by a Lay-Chancellour 5. And Irenaeus ibid. p. 312. saith Et omnia hujusmodi per solum Lucam cognovimus we know all such things by Luke alone pretending no other Tradition And if it be in Luke it is yet to be thence proved 6. But he pleadeth our Cause too strongly by supposing that each City then had a Bishop without any subject half Presbyter and so that no such Office was yet made Cap. 9. Of Timothy's Episcopacy concerneth not our Cause Though I hope that neither he nor his Church were so bad as the Angel or Church in Rev. 2. is described And it 's easier to answer the strength of Dr. Hammond than for him to answer the Evidence brought by Prin in his Vnbishoping Timothy and Titus to shew the itinerant life and Ministry of Timothy contrary to the life of a fixed Bishop And if non-residency have such Patrons and Timothy have taught men to leave their Churches year after year and play the Pastor many hundred Miles distant it will make us dream that non-residence is a duty And if all these years Timothy's Metropolitan Church at Ephesus had no ordained Presbyter but Passengers that fell in I blame them not or wonder not at least that they lost their first love for it 's like they seldom had any Church Assemblies to Communicate and Worship God together Cap. 10. Cometh to the case of Philippi Phil. 1. 1 2. And 1. § 3. he saith It is manifest that Epaphroditus Bishop of Philippi was at Rome with Paul when he wrote this Epistle and he supposeth that there were yet no Presbyters but Bishops And so when Paul wrote to all the Saints which are at Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons he meant to those that are not at Philippi where there was no Bishop but in other Cities of Macedonia that had every one a Prelate without ever a Presbyter under him With some this expounding may go for modest if not true Two probable Arguments I object against his improbable Expositions of this Text and that Acts 20. before mentioned 1. Where did he ever read that all the Province of Macedonia was called Philippi and the Saints said to dwell at Philippi that dwelt all over Macedonia 2. Where did he ever read in Scripture many Episcopal Churches under one Metropolitan called One Church in the singular Number as in Acts 20. 28. or One Flock either 3. Will any knowing man deny that he contradicteth not only Hierom and Theodoret but the common Exposition of the Fathers by this his odd Opinion And is it not gross partiality for the same man that can so easily cast off the judgment of almost all the Ancients at once to lay so much of the whole stress of his Diocesan and Metropolitan Cause upon the Fathers assertions yea doubtful reports and to take it for so immodest a thing in others to deny belief to them in such uncertain matters But he setteth Epiphanius his words against Aerius against them all Even that Epiphanius who ordained in the Bishop of Jerusalem's Diocess to his displeasure and that combined with that Theophilus Alexand. of whom Socrates writeth such horrid and unchristian practices to root out Chrysostom and raise a flame in the Church of Constantinople who liker a mad man than a sober Bishop came from Cyprus not only into the City but the Church where Chrysostom used to officiate to inflame his people and declame against and censure their Bishop to whom he was an inferiour and that parted with him in a wrathful Prognostick and dyed by the way home And yet even this one man saith nothing to his advantage but that the Apostles placed Bishops only with Deacons in some Churches that had not fit men to make Presbyters of which we not only grant but doubt whether ever they made any but Bishops though in great Cities there were many of them And § 8 9 10. when it seemed to serve his turn he yet further gratifieth us by granting yea maintaining that one Congregation had not two Bishops yet nothing hindreth but that in the same City there might sometimes be two distinct Assemblies converted by two Apostles perhaps of distinct dialects and rites and these governed by distinct Bishops with a divided or distinct Clergie which is almost as much
than one or two Churches 6. And what was the cause of this one or two like to touch the Bishops of the other Churches And what Cognisance was all Achaia like to have of the cause of one or two distant persons so as for them to rise up against their own Bishops 7. If it was not all nor many Pastors that were thus turned out as Clemens words import why should all Achaia be called seditious and blamed for it 8. Doth not the common Law of Charity and Justice forbid us to extend those words of reproof to a whole Province which cannot be proved to extend farther than to a single Church and principally toucht but one or two 9. I have before proved that Paul by the Saints at Corinth meaneth but one Church Therefore it 's like that Clemens doth so too 10. The Bishops and Deacons that Clemens speaketh of were set up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cum consensu totius Ecclesiae or as the Dr. will needs have it applaudente aut congratulante tota Ecclesia indeed with the good liking Pleasure or Approbation of the whole Church And shall we be perswaded that all the Cities and Countrey of Achaia were that whole Church which approved or consented to these particular Pastors that were put out Or that had Cognisance of them or acquaintance with them 11. He expresly saith pag. 62. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Church of Corinth for the sake of one or two moved Sedition against the Presbyters And why doth he never say it was the Church of Achaia 12. p. 63. He supposeth the Person Emulating to be a Believer of power in explaining Doctrine wise in judging of Speeches c. And would have the concern'd Person say p. 69. If the Sedition be for me and the Contention and Schisms I will remove I will be gone wither you will and will do what the People pre-determine of or command only let the Flock of Christ with the Presbyters set over them live in peace And is it like that the Flock that this Person must say so to was all Achaia 13. And p. 73. He requireth those that begun the Sedition to be obediently Subject to the Presbyters and not to their Bishop onely And is it like to be the Bishops of other Churches through all Achaia that this one or two is required to Obey and be in Subjection to I have given my Reasons to prove that these Presbyters were in the One Church of Corinth Compare his if you can find them to the contrary and Judge Impartially as you see cause Cap. 8. Hath nothing that concerneth us but the recitall of his grand Concession lest we should think that in Clemens days the great Bishop of Corinth or any in Achaia had any more Church-assemblies than one to whom he could do all the Pastoral Offices himself he thus concludeth § 9. Indeed mention is found only of Bishops with Deacons constituted in each City sometimes under the Title of Bishops sometimes of Presbyters there being no token or foot-step at all appearing of such as we now call Presbyters c. To which I wholly agree though not that there was but one Presbyter in Corinth Cap. 9. He is offended much with Blondel for reproaching Hermas and yet using his Testimony As if a Hereticks or an Infidels Testimony might not be used in point of History And § 14. he again cometh to his supposition of Bishops without Subject Presbyters as if it served his turn more than ours Cap. 10. About Pius words hath nothing that I find the cause concerned in Cap. 11. Is of little moment to us both parties have little that is cogent but velitations about dubious words Cap. 12. Is but about the sense of the word applyed to Ireneuâ— which Dr. H. taketh here and by many after to mean a Bishop and wonders that Blondel pleadeth for a parity of order from a common Name But it is not so much without reason as he maketh it For if Bishops and Presbyters were in the first times called by one Name and the highest Person in the Church then was ordinarily known by the name Presbyter and the appropriating of Bishop to one sort and Presbyter to another came afterwards in by such insensible degrees that no man can tell when it was it sounds very probable that it was the true Episcopal Power or the same Office and Order that was first commonly possessed by them to whom the name was Common And so much of Dr. Hammond's Dissertations wherein I must desire the Reader to note 1. That I meddle not with other mens Causes nor particularly with the question Whether one man in each Church had of old a guiding superiority over the rest of the Presbyters Nor yet whether the Apostles had such successors in the General care of many Churches such as Visiters or Arch-Bishops but only 1. Whether every Presbyter were not Essentially a Bishop or Governour of the Flock having the power of Keys as they call it in foro interiore exteriore both for resolving Consciences and for Church-order 2. Whether every particular Church which ordinarily communicated together in the Lords Supper and had unum Altare had not one or more such Bishops 3. Whether it was not a sinful corrupting change to bring in another Species of Presbyters and so to depose all the particular Churches and Bishops and set up a Dioâ—esane Bishop inâ—â—â—is ordinis with half Churches and half-Priests under him in their stead 2. And note That as it concerned me not to speak to all that the Doctor hath said so I have carefully chosen out all that I thought pertinent and of a seeming weight as to the cause which I mannage and have past by nothing in the whole Book which I thought an understanding Reader needeth an answer to There is yet the same Authors Vindication of his Dissertations to be considered But I find nothing new in them to be answered by me nor that I am concerned for the Cause in hand any further than to give you these few Observations 1. That again p. 5. he saith That by observing the paucity of Believers in many Cities in the first Plantations which made it unnecessary that there should by the Apostles be ordained any more than a Bishop and Deacon one or more in each City and that this was accordingly done by them at the first is approved by the most undenyable ancient Records 2. That p. 7. he again well averreth that the Jewish and Gentile Congregations occasioned several Churches and Bishops in the same Cities And p. 14. 15. That Timothy was placed by Paul Bishop of the Gentiles at Ephesus and S. John and another after him Bishop of the Jews Pag. 16. He thinketh that Timothy was Bishop of Ephesus or Angel when Rev. 2. was wrote Pag. 17. From Epiphanius he reckoneth above 50 years from the Revelation of John Rev. 2. to the writing of Ignatius's Epistles By which we may Calculate the time when the
Office of half-Presbyters began to be invented according to his own Computation That pag. 21. passim his supposition of the 24 Bishops of Judaea sitting about the Throne of James Bishop of Jerusalem and his other supposition of their being so ordinarily there And of the Bishops of Provinces in other Nations being so frequently many score if not hundred Miles off their people in the Metropolitane Cities when the people had no other Priest to Officiate doth tend to an Atheistical conceit that the Ordinary use of Sacred Assemblies and Communion is no very needful thing when in the best times by the best men in whole Countreys at once they were so much forborn Pag. 26. Again you have his full and plain Assertion That there were not in the space within compass of which all the Books of the new Testament were written any Presbyters in our modern Notion of them created in the Church though soon after certainly in Ignatius time which was above 50 years after the Rev. they were Pag. 60. He supposeth that whoever should settle Churches under a Heathen King among Heathens must accordinly make the Churches gathered subordinate to one another as the Cities in which they are gathered were though Heathen subordinate to one another of which more in due place Pag. 76 77. He saith that As Congregations and Parishes are Synonimous in their Style so I yield that Believers in great Cities were not at first divided into Parishes while the number of Christians in a City was so small that they might well assemble in the same place and so needed no Partitions or Divisions But what disadvantage is this to us who affirm that one Bishop not a Colledge of Presbyters presided in that one Congregation and that the Believers in the Regions and Villages about did belong to the care of that single Bishop or City Church A Bishop and his Deacon were sufficient at the first to sow their Plantations For what is a Diocess but a Church in a City with the Suburbs and Territories or Region belonging to it And this certainly might be and remain under the Government of a single Bishop Of any Church so bounded there may be a Bishop and that whole Church shall be his Diocess and so he a Diocesan Bishop though as yet this Church be not subdivided into more several Assemblies So that you see now what a Diocess is And that you may know that we contend not about Names while they call the Bishop of one Congreation a Diocesane we say nothing against him A Diocesan in our sense is such as we live under that have made one Church of many hundred or a thousand But Reader be not abused by words when it is visible Countreys that we talk of As every Market-Town or Corporation is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a City in the old sense so the Diocess of Lincoln which I live in at this reckoning hath three or fourscore Diocesses in it and the Diocess of Norwich about 50 Diocesses in it c. That is such Cities with the interjacent Villages Pag. 78. He saith When they add these Angels were Congregational not Diocesan they were every of them Angels of a Church in a City having authority over the Regions adjacent and pertaining to that City and so as CHURCH and CONGREGATION ARE ALL ONE AS IN ORDINARY USE IN ALL LANGUAGES THEY ARE Thus were Congregational and Diocesan also What follows of the paucity of Believers in the greatest Cities and their meeting in one place is willingly granted by us I must desire the Reader to remember all this when we come to use it in due place And you may modestly smile to observe how by this and the foregoing words the Dr. forgetfully hath cast out all the English Diocesans While he maketh it needful that the Cities be Ecclesiastically subordinate as they are Civilly and maketh it the very definition of a Diocesan Bishop to be a Bishop of a City with the Country or Suburbs belonging to it But in England no lesser Cities ordinarily at least nor Corporation-Towns are at all Subject to the great Cities Nor are any Considerable part of the Countrey Subject to them nor do the Liberties of Cities or Corporations reach far from the Walls or Towns So that by this Rule the Bishop of London York Norwich and Bristow would have indeed large Cities with narrow liberties But the rest would have Diocesses little bigger than we could allow to conscionable Faithful Pastors But he yet addeth more p. 79. he will do more for our cause than the Presbyterians themselves who in their disputes against the Independents-say that Jerusalem had more Christians belonging to the Church than could conveniently meet in one place But saith the Dr. This is contrary to the Evidence of the Text which saith expresty v. 44. that all the Believers were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meeting in one and the same place The like may be said of the other places Act. 4. 4. and 5. 14. For certainly as yet though the number of believers increased yet they were not distributed into several Congregations Will you yet have more p. 80 81. When the London Ministers say that the Believers of one City made but one Church in the Apostles days he answereth This observation I acknowledge to have perfect truth in it and not to be confutable in any part And therefore instead of rejecting I shall imbrace it and from thence conclude that there is no manner of incongruity in assigning of one Bishop to one Church and so one Bishop in the Church of Jerusalem because it is a Church not Churches BEING FORECED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT WHERE THERE WERE MORE CHURCHES THERE WERE MORE BISHOPS I am almost in doubt by this whether the Dr. were not against the English Prelacy and he and I were not of a mind especially remembring that he said nothing against my disputations of Church Government written against himself when I lived near him Observe Reader 1. That even now he confessed that a Church and Congregation is all one 2. And here he confesseth that where there were more Churches there were more Bishops and his words Because it is a Church not Churches seem to import that de jure he supposeth it is no Church without a Bishop and that there should be no fewer Bishops than Churches And then I ask 1. Where and when do all the Christians in this Diocess of above an hundred miles long Congregate who meet but in above a thousand several Temples and never know one of a thousand of the Diocess 2. Doth not this grant to the Brownists that the Parish Churches are no Churches but onely parts of the Diocesane Church 3. And then if it be proved that the Diocesane Church form is but of humane invention what Church in England will they leave us that is of divine institution This is the unhappiness of overdoing to undo all and of aspiring too high to fall down into nothing And doth he not speak
much to the same purpose p. 87. One City with the Territories adjoyning to it being ruled by one single Bishop was to be called a singular Church And therefore that which is said to be done in every Church Act. 14. 23. is said to be done in every City Tit. 1. 5. Tâ—e sum of which observation is only this that one City with the Territories adjoyning to it never makes above one Church in the Scripture Style And yet he largely proveth the contrary that there was one Church and Bishop of Jewish Christians and one of Gentiles whereas a Province or Countrey or Nations consists of many Cities and so of many Episcopal Sees or Churches The like he hath again p. 90 § 53. But whereas p. 88. â—e would Prove that a Province or Nation of many Churches may be called one Church because the Churches in all the World are so called in our Creed and in the Scripture I answer That he can never prove that many Churches are ever in Scripture called one save only the Universal Church which is but one being Headed by one Head even Christ The Universal Church as he said before of a Church compared to Persons is One Collective body as a Political Society related to Christ or constituted of Christ and all Christians And a particular Church is one as constituted of the Ministerial Pastors and People But find any Text of Scripture that calleth the Churches of a Nation or Province one Church in all the new Testament if you can In pag. 103. he giveth Reasons for his singularity in interpreting so many Texts of Scripture and sheweth that as the Fathers differ from each other as Tirinus sheweth so we may also differ from them and I know not of any Expositor that ever wrote that hath more need of this Apology than Grotius and he And I mislike not his Reasons But then how unsavoury is it for the same person to expect that we should in reverence to one expository word in Irenaeus and another in Epiphanius forsake the common sense of the Fathers where they do agree or that we must bow to every ancient Canon But I would not have him thought more singular than he is lest when I have answered him the Prelatists forsake him and say that they are still unanswered therefore I crave the Readers special observation of his words p. 104 105. I might truly say that for those minute considerations and conjectures wheren this Doctor diffâ—rs from some others who have written before him as to the manner of interpreting some few Texts he hath the Suffrages of many of the learnedst men of this Church at this day and as far as he knows OF ALL that embrace the same cause with him Of which I only say that if he do but minutely differ from others and not at all from the most I hope my confutation of him will not be impertinent as to the rest But if he lay the very stress of his cause upon novel Expositions of almost every Text which mentioneth Bishops Presbyters Pastors and quite cross the way of almost all save Petavius that ever went before him then think whether that cause stand on so firm ground as some perswade which needeth such new foundations or ways of support at this Age in the judgement of such learned men as these Pag. 119 120 121. He proveth that Diocesane Bishops are the only Elders of the Church which James adviseth the sick to send for supposing the City Churches even of Jerusalem to be yet no bigger than that one Bishop and a Deacon who yet was not this Visiter of the sick might do all the Ministerial work Where I confess he quite outgoeth me in extenuating the Churches in S. James's time If the Church of Jerusalem had seven Deacons I will not belive him pardon the incivility that they had but one Presbyter And pardon me a greater boldness in saying if he had tryed but as much as I have done what it is to do all the Pastoral work for one Parish of 2 or 3000 Persons in publick and private he could not possibly have been of this Opinion Nor do I think it likely that when it is a singular Person that James bids send for the Elders of the Church but that it implyeth that the Church where he was had more Elders than one I confess that if it had been spoken either to Persons plurally or of Churches plurally the phrase might well have signified the single Elders of the several Churches But to say to each sick man singularly Let him send for the Elders of the Church singularly in common use of speech signifieth that there were many Elders for that man to send for in the Church And whereas he asketh whether a sick man must send for the Colledge of Presbyters I answer that a sick man may well send for the Presbyters or Ministers either one after another as there is occasion or more than one at once if need require for his Resolution If we say to a sick man in London send for the Physicians of the City and let them advise you c. it signifieth that the City hath more Physicians than one and that he may advise with one or more at once oâ— per vices as he findeth Cause and no man would speak so to him if London had but one Physician and Norwich another and York another c. And when p. 121. he supposeth the Objection that they have a mean opinion of visiting the sick because they say it is not the Bishops work which he well maketh it to be methinks this should suit with no English Ears who will quickly understand that they speak de facto of our Bishops to whom a sick man may send an hundred or fifty or twenty Miles to desire him to come presently and pray with him if his disease be a Phrensie which depriveth him of his Wits and all about him be as mad And the Bishop with us may be said to visit the sick of his Diocess as a man may be said to weed a Field that plucketh up a weed or two where he goeth or to build a City because he knockt up a Naâ—l or two in his own House Pag. 120. It is observable which he saith Indeed if it were not the Bishops work to visit the sick how could it be â—y the Bishop when other parts of his Office became his full Employment commited to the Presbyter For 1. he could not commit that to others if he first had it not in himself And 2. This was the only Reason of ordaining inferior Officers in the Church that part of the Bishops taâ—k might be performed by them Ans Either he believed that the Office of a Subject Presbyter or Order as they call it was instituted by God and setled in the Church as necessary by his Spirit and Law or not If he do then Qu. 1. Whether the work of these Presbyters after the institution be not the work of their own
for Chronology and History A few leaves of whose over-large Collections Dr. Hammond hath Answered as you have heard and given his reason for going no further because Blond extendeth the Ministerial Parity but to 140. But to us it is not so inconsiderable to see by what degres the Prelacy rose and to see it proved so copiously that even in after Ages the species extent and of Churches and the Order or Species of Presbyters were not altered notwithstanding accidental alterations And therefore I shall undertake to bring proofenough of what I now plead for from times much lower than 140 such as I think the impartal will rest satisfied in though interest and preconceived Idea's are seldom satisfied or conqueredly a Confutation CHAP. VI. That it is not of Gods institution nor is pleasing to him that there be no Churches and Bishops but in Cities or that a City with its territories or Country adjacent be the bounds of each Church SOme late most esteemed defenders of Diocesanes especially Dr. Hammond lay so great a stress upon the supposition that the Apostles setled the Churches in the Metropolitane and Diocesane order and that they did partly in imitation of the Jewish policy and partly as a thing necessary by the nature of the thing that even in Heathen Kingdomes when Churches are gathered in any Cities they must have a difference of Church power over each other as they find the Cities to have a civil power as you heard before from Dr. H. that I think it meet here breifly to prove 1. That it was not of the Apostles purpose to have Churches and Bishops placed only in Cities and not in Villages 2. Nor that Church power should thus follow the civil 3. Nor that a City with its territories should be the measure of the habitation of each Churches members The licet in some cases I deny not but the oportet is the question yea and the licet in other cases The two first are proved together by these reasons following 1. Christ himself our grand examplar did not only preach and convert Christians in Cities but in Country villages where he held assemblies and preacht and prayed yea in mountains and in Ships And though he planted no particular Churches with fixed Bishops there yet that was because he did so no where He performed all offices in the Country which he did in the Cities except that which was appropriated to Jerusalem by the Law and the institution of his last supper which could be done but in one place 2. There is no Law of God direct or indirect which maketh it a duty to settle Churches and Bishops in Cities only and forbiddeth the setling them in Country villages This is most evident to him that will search the Scripture and but try the pretended proofs of the late Prelatists for the vanity of their pretensions will easily appear They have not so fair a pretense in the New Testament for asserting such a Law as the Pop hath for his supermacy in Peter feed my sheep And where there is no Law there is no obligation on us unto duty and no sin in omission If they say that the Apostles did plant Churches only in Cities comprehending their territories I answer 1. They prove that they planted them in Cities but the silence of the Scriptures proveth not the Negative that they planted none in Villages 2. Nor have they a word of proof that each Church contained all Christians in the Cities with all the interjacent Villages 3. Much less that they must contain all such when all the Countries were converted and the Christians were enow for many Churches 4. Nor can they ever prove that the Apostles planting Churches only in Cities was intended as a Law to restrain men from planting them any where else Any more than their not converting the Villages or the generality of the Cities will prove that they must not be converted by any other Or than that their setting up no Christian Magistrates or converting no Princes will prove that there must be no such thing Whoever extended the obligation of Apostolical example to such Negatives as to do nothing which they did not 5. The reason is most apparent why they preached first in Cities because there is no such fishing as in the Sea They had there the frequentest fullest audirories And so they planted their first Churches there because they had most converts there And it is known that Judea a barren mountainous Coutrey of it self had been so harressed with Wars that there was little safety and quiet expected in Countrey Villages and the Roman Empire had been free from the same plague by such short intervals that as many people as could got into the Cities for all that know by experience what War is do know the misery of poor Country people who are at every wicked Soldiers mercy It was therefore among poor scattered labourers a hard thing to get a considerable auditory which maketh Mr. Eliots and his helpers work go on so heavily among the scattered Americans who have no Cities or great Towns because they can rarely speak to any considerable numbers Now to gather from hence either that Villages must have no Churches or no Bishops is an impiety next to a concluding that they must not be assembled taught or worship God 3. The reasons are vain and null which are pretended for such a modelling of Churches to the form of the civil Government and thus confining them to Cities For 1. There is no need that one Bishop be the Governour of another at all 2. And therefore no need that the Bishop of a Metropolis govern the Bishop of a lesser City or he the Bishop of a Village 1. God hath not given one Bishop power over another as meer Bishops As Cyprian saith in his Carth. Council none of us are Bishops of Bishops but Colleagues Dr. Hammond himself saith that the Bishops are the Apostles Successors and the Apostles were equal in power and Independent Annot. in 1 Tim. 3. c. p 732. Jesus Christ dispensing them all the particular Churches of the whole world by himself and administring them severally not by any one Oeconomus but by the several Bishops as inferiour heads of unity to the severalbodies so constituted by the several Apostles in their plantations each of them having 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a several distinct commission from Christ immediately and subordinate to none but the supreme donor or plenipotentiary Indeed if it be not Bishops but Archbishops or Bishops of Bishops which are the Apostles Successors in order over the Bishops as they are supposed to be over the Priests then such an order of Arch-Bishops is of divine right But not as Metropolitanes or for the Cities sake but as general Officers to take care of many Churches succeeding the Apostles 2. And that Apostolical succession is not the foundation of the Metropolitan or City power is plain 1. Because if the Bishop or Arch-Bishop be the immediate successors of
the Apostles there must be but just 13 or 14 in the whole world if they succeed them fully in the accidentals of their office But if not than their residence in Cities will not prove that they must succeed them in that accident any more than in the number 2. Because as is shewed the Apostles tyed not themselves to Cities only and what they did in preferring Cities was occasional as is said before 3. Nor is there the least proof beyond an ostentation of vain words and confidence that ever the Apostles setled Churches according to the civil form and put the Bishops of lesser Cities under the Metropolitans No more than that among themselves that Apostle was Ruler of the rest who had the Metropolis for his Seat The Papists themselves not pretending that Peter was Ruler of the rest because Rome was his Seat but that Rome must have the ruling Universal Bishop because it was the Seat of Peter And if the Metropolis made not one Apostle Ruler of the rest why should it do so by their successors And I never heard any attempt to prove that Mathew Bartholomew Lebbeus James the Apostle Thomas Philip and every one of the Apostles had a distinct independent Metropolis for his Episcopal Seat 4. Indeed it s but vain words of them that pretend that the Apostles fixed themselves in any Seat at all but it is certain by their Office and by History that they oft removed from place to place in order to call as much of the world as they were capable and were somtimes in Metropoles and sometimes in other places and though the ancients make them the first Bishops of Churches they do not say that they were Bishops of any particular Churches only exclusively to all others But the same Apostle that Planted ten or twenty Churches was the first Bishop of them all pro tempore setling fixed Bishops to succeed them 5. And whoever dreamed that Mark who was no Apostle was the Ruler of other Apostles at least that came into his Province because Alexandria was the second Metropolis 4. This pretended forming of the Churches as aforesaid is contrary to the Ends of Church institution and Communion which are the publick worshipping of God and personal Communion of Parochians or Cohabitants in that worship Sacraments and holy living in mutual assistance Whereas in a great part of the world Country Villages are so far from any Cities that if they must travel to them for this publick Communion they must spend all the Lords day in travaile and yet miss their Ends and come too late Nor can Women Children and aged ones possibly do it at all But if they are to have no such personal Communion with the City Churches but have it ordinarily among themselves then whatever men may say that strive about the Name they are not of that particular City Church as such but are of another Church at home which must have a BishopÌ„ because it is a Church 5. Their Civil and City or Diocesan frame contradicteth the plain institution or Law of Christ and of his Spirit For 1. Math. 28. 19. 20. it is the very Commission of the Apostles and their successors with whom Christ will be to the end of the world to Teach or Disciple all Nations and then to Baptizc them and so gather them into the Church Universal and then Teach them as Disciples all his Laws which includeth Congregating them in perticular Churches where they must be so taught Now as it is all Nations even the whole Countryes and not the Cities only that must be Discipled or convicted and Baptized so it is the whole Nations Villages and all of Baptized persons that must thus be Congregated into particular Churches and taught 2. To which add Act. 14. 23. the positive exemplary and so obliging ordinary practice of the Apostles They ordained them Elders in every Church so that 1. It is Gods will that Villages have Churches 2. And it is Gods will that every Church have a Bishop at least therefore it is Gods will that every Village have a Bishop which have a Church or that some Villages have Bishops And though every City be mentioned Tit. 1. 5. that only sheweth that de facto then and there Village Churches were rare or none but not de jure they must not be gathered nor doth he say ordain Elders in Cities only much less give them Rule according to the City power And as Ceuchrea had a Church which was no City so Act. 14. 23. will prove that they should have a Bishop For every Church is to have a Bishop And Ceuchrea was not a family-Church and so the name not used equivocally And Bishop Downams assertion that it was a Church with a mean Presbyter under the Bishop of Corinth is a naked unproved saying that deserveth no credit and is contradicted by Doctor Hammond who saith there was there no meer Presbyter in being 6. Had this form been setled as they Pretend in Cities only and Diocesses there would have been uncertainty and contentions what places should have Bishops and Churches and what places should have none For it is uncertain and litigious what place is to be taken for a City and what not For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes signifieth any great Town and some times strictly Towns incorprate and sometimes more strictly eminent Corporations now called Cities with us here in England And how great would the difficulty have been to determine when a Town was big enough to pass for a City or when it had privileges enow for that title If it be said that the account and name then and thus used was the directory they will then make Gods Church to depend for being upon a Name with heathen people If they will call Ceucbrea a City it shall have a Church otherwise it shall have none But there was no such controversie in those times 7. According to their model Churches shall be mutable and dissolvible at the will of the Magistrate yea of every Heathen Magistrate For if he will but change the priviledges and title of a Town and make it no City it must have no Church or Bishop And if he will remove the privileges and title the Church and Bishop must remove And if he will endow a big Village or Town with City privileges and name a Church and Bishop must be then made anew But who can believe that Christ thus modled his Churches in his institution 8. Yea after their model an infidel or Christian King aâ—iud agenâ— that never thinketh on it or intendeth it shall change the Churches and destroy them If by war a City be turned into no City or if the King for other reasons un-city it or if change of Government put it into another Princes power that shall for his convenience un city it the Church in City and Country is at an end though there remain people enow to constitute a Church 9. Yea a fire or an Earthquake by this Rule
particular Church ordinances of Christs is a true Bishop But every true particular Church should have such a Pastor Therefore they should have a Bishop By the Church ordinances I mean 1. Teaching 2. Ministerial Worship in Prayer Praise and Sacraments 3. Discipline secret and publick in that Church And let them remember that they that instead of proof do but crudely affirme that Cities only may be Bishops Seats do but beg the question But because he that puts us hardest to it Downame doth lay so much on these two differences of a Diocesan Church from a Parochial 1. That a Diocese conteineth the City and territories though at first it have but one Congregation 2. That converting the rest of the City and territories giveth the Bishop a right to Govern them all I will further distinctly consider of both these CHAP. VIII Whether the Infidel Territories or Citizens do make part of a Diocesane Church 1. WE distinguish between a Diocese and a Diocesane Church 1. The word Diocese first was of civil signification and so we have nothing to do with it 2. It may signifie a Country of Infidels whom a Minister of Christ endeavoureth to convert And so it is no Church of it self nor no part of a Church if a Church be in it as is past all question And so we deny not but that 1. Every Minister should convert as many Infidels as he can 2. That he that is resident on the place as Pastor of a Cohabiting Church hath better opportunity than a stranger usually to convert the neighbour infidels And therefore hath more obligation to endeavour it because men must divide and order their work as their opportunities do invite and guide them 3. But yet that God set no man his Ministerial Charge by the measure of ground And therefore that if such a City-Bishop have a smaller number of Infidels in his territories than will take up his time and labour besides the care of his Church he ought not to confine his labour to them nor neglect other territories that need his help but may must and should go further in his endeavours as Augustine and other later Bishops among the Saxons notwithstanding the neighbourhood of the Brittains and as Wilfred alias Boniface among the Germans c. And if any other Minister come among the Infidels in the Territories of a City that hath a Church while they have need of such help the Bishop were a beast if he should forbid him on pretense that it is his Diocess where another hath nothing to do But as unoccupied Countries belong to any occupant so an Infidel Country belongeth to any preacher that hath opportunity to convert them And if a Diocesane prohibit such preaching he is to be neglected or reprehended but not obeyed Yet I deny not but prudence may direct preachers as it would do occupants in the aforesaid case to distribute their labours so as one may not hinder but help another But that is not a Law of propriety otherwise than as mutual consent obligeth And it is but the determination of circumstances and that not about any part of a Church and therefore nothing to the constitution of a Church And as is shewed as Christ sent his Disciples out by two and two so the Apostles oft went two together or an Apostle and an Evangelist which shewed that no one claimed the Diocess But still were it otherwise Infidels are not of the Church CHAP. IX Whether converting a Diocese give right to the Converter to be their Bishop or Governour 1 WE deny not but that Converts owe a peculiar love and respect to those as their fathers in Christ which did convert them which Paul claimeth of the Corinthians 2. And we deny not but caeteris paribus that man being as fit a man as others and his abode being nearer and his Church being not full but capable of them this advantage should encline his converts to choose him rather than another for their Pastor But yet converting them as such giveth him not a right to govern them as their Pastor nor necessitateth them to choose him As I prove 1. Because a Lay man as Frumentius and Edesius and Origen c. may convert men who are not Pastors to them or any 2. Because Conversion and Baptism as such is but mens admission into the Universal Church as in the Eunuchs case Act. 8. is manifest and not into any particular Church It uniteth them to Christ but not to any particular Pastor For they Baptize not into their own name 3. Because when two or three go together as Paul and Barnabas Silas Timothy Luke c. it is to be supposed that one converteth not all but one some and another some and therefore if converting gave right there must be many Bishops and Churches in a place 4. Because when a Church is settled a strange preacher that cometh after yea one that hath a charge elsewhere may convert many neighbours that were not Converted and yet it will not follow that he must come and set up another Church there for that nor that they must remove their dwelling to follow him 5. Because a man may and abundance of excellent preachers have done it convert many souls in many Countries where they go at great distances from each other But he cannot be the Bishop of so many people or Churches so far dispersed 6. Because it would make it uncertain who it is that hath any where the Episcopal power For Conversion is 1. a secret work known only to the person converted 2. And it is an obscure and usually a gradual work not done at once but by such degrees that the convert seldome knoweth himself who it was that converted him Though he may know that one mans ministry so far convinced him and another so far and so on It will be hard to say just when it came to a conversion And if you say it is he that perswaded him to be baptized that may be a lay man or long after his Conversion Princes in some Countries force or perswade thousands to be baptized If you say that it is he that Baptized him than Paul should be Pastor but to few of the Corinthians who thanked God that he baptized none of them but Stephanus houshold Gaius and Crispus as being not sent to baptize but to preach the Gospel 7. Because else many persons should be necessitated to choose a bad or very weak man if not a heretick for their Bishop when they may have far better and ablermen For it hath been known that a bad Minister and a heretical Minister much more a very weak Minister hath converted men But God doth not allow such converts therefore to cast their Souls under the danger and disadvantage of such a ones Ministry or oversights when much fitter may be had 8. Because both nature and Scripture example direct men to another course that is 1. To be members of the Church where they are cohabitants if there
Able also to admonish one another so Col. 3. 16. Teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns But more of this in the 2d part 5. Lastly it is their part to admonish a brother that offendeth and if he hear not to take two or three witnesses and if he hear not to tell the Church Matth. 18. 15. of which see Dr. Hammonds Annot. and of the Keys But all this requireth personal knowledge and propinquity Obj. It is not necessary to the being of Church members that every one that is a Church member know them many in London know not their next Neighbours Ans I Speak not 1. Of the Act but of the Power or Capacity and the Relation with its end 2. I speak not of every member but of so great a part as denominateth the Church 1. As a Pastor who by sickness or other impediment preacheth not of a long time may yet be a Pastor because he hath 1. The Power 2. And a Relation whose end is the Instructing of the Flock 3. And he intendeth the exercise as soon as the impediment is removed or if lazyness or any culpable neglect be the cause that altereth not the natuâ—e of the office but proveth him faulty So a member that is 1. Capable 2. Related to the end may be a member though neglect or impediments keep them from the exercise of much of that which they otherwise may do He that dwelleth in the Neighborhood may do all these Offices to another if he will when opportunity calleth for it and therefore may be so obliged to it But so cannot he that dwelleth out of reach Citizens or members of Corporations are in a capacity for officesbelonging to the society though some may neglect them and others want opportunity to do them but one out of reach is uncapable of the duty and therefore uncapable of the Relation which is made up of obligation to that duty when there is cause The Relation is essentially a Power and obligation to the Duty And the Dispositio materiâ— is necessary to the reception of the forme He therefore that is not in a capable means by cohabitation is not materia disposita and can neither have Power nor obligation to the dutyes of a Church member towards the rest and so cannot have the Relative form or be indeed a member And therefore all that write judiciously of the definition of a particular Church do make Propinquity or Cohabitation to be the Dispositio materiae sine qua non From which they are called Parishioners They are not a Church because a Parish but they are therefore the materia disposita as to this part of the capacity extrinsick Christianity being it that maketh them intrinsecally fit materials 2. And I deny not but some few members may be several waies uncapable naturally of the ordinary offices of members Some by infancy some by distraction some by sickness some by the restraint of Parents Masters or Husbands and some by a retired disposition c. And some Churches may be so sinfully over-great as that the number hindereth many of the members from a capacity of the ordinary duty of the relation which is the case of some great Parishes in London But either this is the case of the greater part and main body of the Society or bâ—t of a few If but of a few it may prove it a disordered Church but it cannot prove it no Church no more than a few Hereticks can denominate the Church Heretical or a few mad or leprous persons can denominate it mad or leprous or than the family of Noah David Christ was denominated from a Cham an Absolom a Judas But if it be the main body though in intrinsick qualifications the Church may be denominated from the better part sometimes and not from the greater yet in extrinsick qualifications it is now to be denominated a Church only from the Pastor and that number who are capable of the relation as being the two constitutive parts and all the rest are none of the Church And if there be no such body united to the Pastor for true Church ends and capable of them it is no Church Obj. But it is enough to make one Church if they be all united in one Bishop or Governour though their distance make them uncapable of knowing one another and doing what you have described Ans It is enough indeed to make a Church of another species such as I before named either the Catholick Church through out the world or a Church composed of many particular Churches if it may be called a Church Because their Communion is not to be Local or present nor to the ends of a particular Church but only intrinsical in Faith and Love and extrinsical by Delegates or Mediators But this is not enough to the being of a Church of the first order which now we speak of which should have a Bishop of their own and is not composed of many united Churches For else the Church of a Patriark or a Primate or an Arch-Bishop or Metropolitane should be a Church of the first order and have no Church or Bishop under it For such a Church is united in one Governour To say nothing of the Papal Church which yet pretendeth not to depose all Bishops Therefore the unity of the Governour will not suffice of it self to make one Primary Church though it may make one Compounded or General Church conteining many Churches and Bishops 2. And the nature of the thing telleth us that as the People have their Duties and Priviledges as well as the Pastors so the people must be united among themselves by some common Relation conteining Power of and Obligation to that duty and capacity of that priviledge Which is past all doubt among knowing men Therefore an uncapable body cannot be made one Primary Church by the unity of a Prelate 3. But as we distinguish of a Church single and compounded of many particular and General Primary and Secondary all which termes I use to be clearly understood so do we also of Bishops or Pastors which are particular Bishops of one Church or General Bishops of many Churches Of the first sort we confess all that is said positively that is that one such Bishop maketh one Church Because the very nature of his office as shall be after shewed doth suppose a capable society It being his office in presence personally to conduct them which a General distant Bishop cannot do so that indeed one Present Pastor or more of a flock by Christianity and Uicinity capable and by consent united with him and one another for presential Communion in publick worship and holy conversation are the constitutive parts by which a Primary Church is essentiated and must be defined Obj. But even the Presbyterians say that many worshiping congregations may make up one Governed Church though each congregation have ordinary Communion in the Sacrament c. among themselves distinct from the rest because they may be all united
in the Government of one Presbytery And our ordinary Parishes have Chappels in them and yet are one Church Ans 1. We must be excused from submitting now to the opinions of Presbyterians or any other party while we are giving an account of our own judgment in the case 2. The Presbyterians are not all of a mind in that point whether each of those Parishes be not a true political Church and have not its own plenary Pastor or Bishop and such a Government as belongeth to a particular Church though as they all think subordinate to a Presbytery of many Churches conjunct or as some call it of one Church denominated so from the higher Government 3. And as to our Chappels ordinarily they are but places for the Assembling of such as by age or foul weather or weakness cannot travaile to the Parish Churches and they are for distance and number in those Parishes that have them no more or other than may consist not only with the personal acquaintance of the members of the Parish Church but also with the frequent Communion of them all by turnes in the same Parish Church if they please to travaile to it as they may So that these Chappels of case as they are commonly called are not inconsistent with all the fore-described ends and dutyes of Church-members And even the Independants do confess that age distance persecution c. may allow one of their Churches to meet at once in several houses or places where several Pastors may pro tempore officiate and yet this consisteth with all the forementioned ends of the relation 4. And indeed disorders and confusions in Churches must not be our measure to judge of their Nature and constitution by though one in a Swoone may be hardly discerned from a dead man yet life is nevertheless essential to a man The Principalities in Germany may be so curtaled and intangled that it shall be hard for Lawyers to judge whether the Princes be proper Soverains and Monarchs or not And yet what doth constitute Monarchy and Soveraignity is known A Ship may be made so little and a Barge so big as that it may be hard to distinguish them by name and yet a Ship and Barge are divers If in one great house there be several men with their Wives Children and Servants in several rooms or parts and â—ne have some superiority over the rest they being free journy-men or labourers under him the degree of the Power of the chief Master here may be in several cases so various as that it shall be hard for any man to say whether this be one Family only or many But must we therefore remove all distinction of Families or forsake the old and usual definition The same I say of Primary perticular Churches Stepney Parish or Giles Criplegate or Martins in the fields may be so great as to make a doubt of it whether they are single Churches and so may some Lancashire Parishes that have very distant and large Chapelries But shall the disease or extraordinary case or dicffiulty of such a Parish make us change the old and true definition of a Church And thus some Presbyterians have argued from the Multitude of Converts at Jerusalem and Ephesus that they could not be one particular Church so as to meet all in one place which is the common and strongest objection against us But 1. undoubtedly there were many strangers there that were ready to pass away to other places 2. And the Spirit knew that the Church was quickly by persecution to be scattered 3. And on a suddain there was not time to settle them in exact order as afterward they did in all the Churches Acts. 14. 23. But many Apostles being there they might transiently have divers meetings at once 4. And the number and distance of them all was no greater then might consist with the forementioned Church Ends and definition They that meet one day with one Apostle might meet the next day with another and might have Personal Communion and Conversation And 5. The text saith that they did meet all in one place and as Doctor Hammond aforecited saith they deny the plain text that do deny it they were not distributed into divers assembles and the All that meet together must mean the greater part of the Church members at once And I my self have Preached to a Congregation supposed by understanding persons in it to be six thousand and all to have heard and as many more might have heard the next day and so twenty thousand might make a Church when vicinity maketh them otherwise capable and in Judaea we find that men speaking to Armies yea the Enemies Armies shew that far more could hear at once then can do with us whether voices or aire did make the difference I Know not and if the fore-named Parishes that have but one ordinary meeting place have 30000 or 40000 or 50000 souls in them we may conjecture at the case of Jerusalem hereby For though among those new Converts there were not so many neglecters of the Assemblies yet the passing strangers might be many To make the case plain I would but desire the dissenters to consider 4. Whether that Gods publick worship be not a duty Even the Communion of Christians in Doctrine Prayer and Sacrament 2. Whether there must not be some present Pastors to officiate before the Church in all these 3. Whether this Congregation must not be Christians and persons qualified for Communion and whether the Churches have not alwaies by the holy Spirits appointment differenced between Christians and Infidels and between Heretical or flagitious persons and the orderly and obedient and admitted the first sort only to Communion 4. Whether he that is present and delivereth the Sacrament should not know what he doth and to whom he giveth it and should not in the administring make a difference and keep away the Infidels Heriticks and openly flagitious and should not know the people whom he overseeth 5. And whether he can do all or any of this to a transient multitude that as the waters of a river are passing away when he still seeth strange faces only and those are his Auditors and Commuicants whom he never saw before or knoweth how can he know whether they are Baptized Christians or unbaptized Jews or other Infidels 6. Therefore is not an ordinary Cohabitation or vicinity of necessity to a fixed Church and Pastor that he may know them and they may know each other These things I suppose are past dispute 7. And then I ask whether such a society as this be not a true Church and such as is described in scripture and such as should ordinarily be continued in the world whether it be part of a more compounded general Church and under the general oversight of Apostolical Bishops is none of my question now but whether this be not an ordinary political Church of the first order 8. And if so whether every such Church by Acts. 14. 23 should
flock be ordered in the fear of God and that Parents and Masters do their duties and indulge not wickedness in their houses which is also a present persons work 5. It is the Bishops work to visit the sick and to pray with and for them which requireth presence 6. It is the Bishops work to stir up the people that are dâ—ll and backward to their several duties in publick and in private and to provoke them to love and to good works which is the work especially of present and not of absent men 7. And it is his duty to have a special care of the poor and to see that they be relieved which he will never do well in absence and to the unknown 8. And it is confessed to be the Bishops work to admonish the unruly to reprove and exhort ungodly persons to convince gainsayers to hear the accused speak for themselves to hear what accusers and witnesses say against them which requireth presence as shall be further shown anon Obj. Other men may examine witnesses and reprove offenders therefore this may be committed to another Ans Other men may do it on another obligation in another manner to another end But to do it from the Pastoral obligation in a Pastoral manner to Pastoral ends is proper to the Pastors of the Church Obj. A Bishop may receive accusations by presentments or by information and may summon offenders examine witnesses and judge at a distance of persons that are to him unknown Ans He may do what he can that way when necessity hindereth him from doing better but not with any true satisfaction to God the Church or Conscience to discharge the office of a particular Church Bishop In case of title to lands or goods a civil Judicature may judge of persons that are unknown Because the title dependeth not on the moral qualities of the persons And in criminal cases where the question to be judged or resolved is whether the person shall live or die or shall be fined imprisoned banished or not the case may be judged of unknown persons secundum allegata probata For outward punishments must go upon outward proved crimes and the Judges can possibly do no more because about twelve must judge a whole Kingdome And yet even there they greatly regard qua mente with what mind and intent the deed was done and they greatly regard the moral qualifications of a Witness as to his credibility as far as they can find it out But in Church cases it is mens consciences that are to be wrought upon The first intention of the Pastor is to bring the sinner to repentance yea though he continued in penitent never so long before he is not to be excommunicated till at the present also he shew impenitency Therefore it is more necessary to be acquainted with the person and many an admonition or exhortation ordinarily should go before And when it cometh to excommunication the principal part of that Act is to acquaint the Congregation that the impenitent person is unfit for Church communion and to charge and exhort them to avoid him And to do this it is necessary that the Church be taught to abhor the sin and to do it in abhorrence of the sin and therefore that they be convinced that the person is such a one indeed For seeing God commandeth them to Love all the faithful and to live with them in the exercises of that Love in peace if Godly men be unjustly excommunicated by a Diotrephes who receiveth them not and excommunicateth such as do receive them the Church must not disobey God in obeying such a wicked excommunicater And though its true that for order sake they must oft rest satisfied in the Pastors judgment when they have no reason to question it Yet it is as true that it is a thing to be done before the Congregation that they may not only exercise a bare obedience to the Pastor in it but also an abhorrence of the sin which they cannot do that have no satisfactory notice of the case And also that all suspitions of injustice and Church tyranny in their Pastors may be avoided And that the offender may be convinced before all that he may be ashamed And seeing no man is to be excommunicated for any ordinary great sin without impenitency in it so that the question is not then so much whether the man have sinned as whether he be Penitent what man of any experience in these matters can believe that a Bishops or a Chancellors Court among strangers and also when he is in fear of being imprisoned and utterly undone if he be excommunicated is so fit to try a mans repentance as the face of the Congregation where he is known and hath no such motives to constrain him to lie and use hypocrisie Nay in very truth such judicatures may as easily know beforehand that all the impenitent persons that almost ever come before them who are not conscientious persons that take the sin for a duty will say they repent and play the dissemblers as that a Child will cry for forgiveness to escape a whipping Obj. But is it not so much the better The Church must have hypocrites we cannot change the heart that belongs to God If we bring man to profess repentance it is all that 's our part to do Ans Hypocrites that cannot be lawfully detected must be in the Church But we must not therefore make men hypocrites that they may be in it and constrain them to apparent lying and then make lying to be the Church Title and the very constituting qualification of a visible Christian else you may set men on the rack till they say they repent and then absolve them and pronounce them the pardoned Sons of God which will be a surer way than an imprisonment And in this practice this doctrine which I leave all Christians to judge of is included Every Blasphemer Heretick Adulterer Drunkard c who had rather say that he repenteth than lie in a Gaol and be undone ought to be a communicating member of the Church and to be declared pardoned by absolution Yea if there were no Penalty the face of strangers is no fit trial of repentance If the sinner be obstinate he will easilier stand it out before strangers that know him not than before the Congregation which is acquainted with his guilt But usually he will think that it is no great shame to say I repent before a few strangers who are never like to see him more and therefore this he will easily yield to that would not yield to confession and repentance before the Church that is acquainted with them Experience proveth all this to be true And I regard not their reasonings which are against common experience Obj. But we see that many now will rather stand it out and go to prison than they will profess repentance before a Bishop or at a Chancellours Court Ans But who be those Not drunkards or fornicators or any wicked
livers But men that more fear to sin against God who can cast both soul and body into Hell than to lie in prison perhaps it is such Ministers as now are silenced for not saying subscribing or swearing as they are bid or it is some Church-Wardens who fear that they should be guilty of Persecution or Perjury which in their opinion are neither of them things indifferent if they should take the Oaths with the Articles that sometimes are offered them Or perhaps it is some one for not receiving the Sacrament either when a troubled Conscience maketh them fear lest they should eat and drink damnation to themselves or from a Minister or with a Church which they think the Scripture commandeth them to avoid whether such be in the right or in the wrong no wonder if they refuse to repent though they suffer when they fear a greater suffering from God Obj But the Minister of the place though he excommunicates none may seek to bring the sinner to repentance and may satisfie the Church of the justness of the excommunication Ans 1. In the nature of the thing they go together and are the work of the same persons And therefore Tertullian assureth us that in his time Discipline was exercised in the Church-meeting when they had been worshipping God 2. Who is either so fit or so obliged to satisfie the Church of the Act as he that doth it and hath examined all the Cause A parish Minister cannot bring any unwilling person to come over to speak with him not that we would have him have a forcing power but he cannot do his own Ministerial part which is to refuse to be the Pastor of such a man as refuseth to speak with him at all or to take him for his Pastor nor to forbear himself to give him the Sacrament so that he that neither heard the examination of the Cause by the Chancellor nor perhaps can have any speech with the person or at least with the Accuser or any of the Witnesses is very unfit to justifie another mans act and to satisfie the Church that it is well done much less to exhort the offender to repent who to him perhaps if he vouchsafe to speak to him will justifie his own cause when he cannot call witnesses to convince him And to speak to that which is our common case we have few persons excommunicated that ever I saw or knew of in forty years time save only the Conscientious persons beforementioned And when the parish Minister oft taketh them for the godliest persons in his Parish and the Bishop or Chancellor excommunicates them as Impenitent schismaticks how shall such a parish Minister justifie that and satisfie the person or people of the justice of it which he himself lamenteth as a hainous sin which tendeth to the dissipation of his flock But I come nearer to enquire into this officiating per alium by which an absent Bishop is supposed to do his office in the several Parishes of his Diocese 1. That alius or Official is either a Layman or a Clergyman 2. If a Clergyman he is either one of the same Order with the Bishop or another 3. Either it is the meer accidentals of his sacred function which he committeth to another or the proper Acts of it 4. Either it is pro hac vice in some case of necessity or it is as by an ordinary stated Official 1. If it be a Layman and the work be but Accidental or Extrinsick to the sacred function I grant that he may do it But for such works we need no Bishop For what a Layman may do when he bids him he may do when the King or his Magistrates bids him This is not the thing in question But if it be a proper Pastoral Act this Layman that doth it either receiveth from the Bishop power and obligation to do it or not If not he cannot do it as his Official If he do then he is a Pastor or Bishop himself and is Ordained and so no Layman For I provoke any dissenter living to tell me wherein the sacred office or any other lieth but in a Power or Authority and an Obligation to do the proper works of that office so that undeniably here is a contradiction And if any were of opinion that pro tempore in a case of necessity a Layman might do any Ministerial sacred act as Preach Baptize Consecrate the Sacrament of Christs body and blood excommunicate absolve c. 1. I answer if that were true if would but prove that those Acts are not proper to the sacred function in such a case of necessity as single Acts but only as ordinarily and statedly done by one separated to them 2. And therefore this would not at all concern our case which is not about extroardinary Acts in cases of necessity but about an ordinary stated course by Courts Chancellors and Officials 2. But if the Agent or Official were not a Lay Chancellor but a Clergyman if he be of the same Order with the Bishop than I grant all for it granteth me all even that every Church should have an ordinarily present Bishop But if he be supposed to be but of an inferior Order then I proceed as before either the Bishop giveth him power and obligation to do the proper work of the Bishop or not If not he is not hereby enabled to do it If yea then he hath thereby made him a Bishop For to be a Bishop is nothing else than to have Authority and Obligation to do the proper work of a Bishop But if it be but an Accidental or a common work which another may do it is not that in question nor do we need the Office of a Bishop for it Moreover either the Bishop pro hic nunc was himself obliged to do that Act which he committeth to another or not he but the other was by office obliged to do it If he himself was obliged to do it he sinned in not doing it If he were not it was not truly his act or part of his office work nor did he do it by another but that other did only his own work for which not the Bishop but he shall have the reward Obj. But doth not he that sendeth his servant to pay a debt himself in Law-sense pay it per alium what another doth as his Instrument reputatively he doth himself Ans I grant it because it is none of the debtors proper work nor is he at all obliged to it to bring the money and deliver it himself but to cause it to be delivered Therefore in sending it he doth all that he is obliged to do and when another is his instrument it is supposed that he is not obliged himself to do that which his instrument doth but only to cause the doing of it by himself or an Instrument as he please so that stil this is nothing to the case of a work that is proper to the Bishops Office Obj. But we therefore
not give the Pastor an evidence in the Court of Reason acceptable to signifie a voluntary Repentance or consent and therefore what ever possibly may be known to God he is not to be taken into the Church For we must judge by evidence and that is by such free profession of Repentance as Christ hath taught us to expect and therefore we can only Judge that person to be one that had rather say he repenteth than be imprisoned but not as one that indeed repenteth or desireth Church Communion as such and for true ends Obj. But if he be in the Church though without Repentance he may there he brought to Repentance afterward Ans Possibilities are no Rule for us to go by in such cases so you may say if one be Baptized before he profess to believe or repent he may be brought to it after by hearing in the Church But this is but to make Lawes for the Church instead of Christs when we have cast out his Lawes and to confound the world and the Church by our foolish adverse reason He that is in the Church notoriously against or without his will stands there but as a testimony of the Bishops perfidiousness And he that will not come in by any reasoning or intreating without the violence of the Sword is in all process of humane Judgments to be esteemed unwilling The ancient Churches would indeed importune men to Baptism but they never baptized any at age that did not intreat to be baptized and voluntarily make profession of faith and repentance And Papists and Protestants commonly affirm that none should be constrained to be baptized or to make profession of Christianity But the Papists come after and tell us that vet when one is baptized he may be compelled by force to all his duty and so may be constrained to stay in the Church or to return if he forsake it Their Reasons are 1. Because now he is obliged by his own consent 2. Because he hath put himself under the Government of the Church and therefore must be Governed by it Ans But 1. to consent to be a Christian Ruled by Christ and to consent to be constrained by force to continue this consent are two things Prove the latter if you can to be included in our Baptism Contrarily as we freely and not forcedly consent it is supposed that we are accordingly to continue it as we began it 2. And to put our selves under the Government of the Church is not to put our selves under the sword the Church punishment reacheth no further then excomunication and where a man is fully excomunicated he is cast out of the Church again and when he is out of it he is not under its Government Indeed he is under the Magistrates Government But if that will prove that he may be punished for not repenting and returning to the Church when Excomunicate it will prove too that he might be punished before Baptism for not repenting and being baptized For though there be some aggravations of his sin that Apostatizeth to it yet that differeth the case but as to the degree It is for the quality of the crime itself that the Magistrate is to punish as Murder Theft Adultery Blasphemy c. Whether it be in the unbaptized or baptized or excomunicate But it is for Impenitency only in some crime that the Church doth excommunicate And if the Magistrate must imprison or kill men properly for Impeniâ—encie it must be as it aggravateth the crime itself and it may be as well the unbaptized as the baptized for he is the Governour of both It is therefore a meer fiction of Papists Church Tyrants that there is such a difference between the unbaptized and the excommunicate as that the first must not have Church priviledges till they disire them and the later may have them if they be but commpelled to keep them or return to them by the sword And so schismaticaly different are they from the Catholick Church for many hundered years after Christ as directly to contradict them For all the Canons as well as the History tell us that all the antient Churches when they had excommunicated a sinner would not receive him till he had penitently begged readmission Yea they used to cast down themselves on the earth as even great Theodostus did before Ambrose when but suspended and to beg pardon and readmission with tears nay for great faults this was not received till many months or years continued penitence shewed their desires to be sincere and now Prelates must have a Blasphemer or a common Drunkard compelled by the sword to say that he repenteth that he may the next day have the honour and priviledge of a Christian Communicant whether he will or not O kind-natured-cruell-Church And when Gyriâ— of Alexandria began to use the sword and when the Circumcellian Donatists tempted Augistine to change his opinion about using force in matters of Religion yea and when Ithacius and his partakers offended Martin and Ambrose by stirring up Maximuâ— against the Priscillianists none of all this was to force these Hereticks by the sword to Communicate in the Church before they had showed a voluntary repentance nor to make them Church members against their wills even that Ithacius whom Hooker himself acknowledgeth so bad was not so foolish But only they would have forced them from thier own waies and punished them as seduâ—eis of the people and as disturbers of the Churches purity and peace Though yet it is too evident that the pride and passion of the Prelates that were orthodox did quickly and sterely flame out to the constagration of the Churches when they found that the Christian Emperours were ready to serve their passions with the sword It is then past denial that all the power of Bishops or any Pastors is but the â—â—â—â—dgement of the word of God upon the Conferences of men that believe them and voluntarily receive that word only with this advantage that they do not this as private men but as Officers appointed so to mannage this word And therefore he that disobeyeth the word of God truly delivered and applied by them committeth a double sin one as he disobeyeth Gods word as such in the matter in hand and the other as he disobeyeth that particular word of God which commandeth him to hear and obey his Pastors But if men will so sin we have nothing but that word of God which they despise to cure them by For instance 1. In our admonitions and reproofs of the greatest sinners we can do no more but shew them Gods Law which they have broken and which threatneth damnation to them and to perswade them by Scripture arguments to repent that they may escape 2. In excommunication it self we have nothing to do but to shew them the same word and shew them how God hath threatned to punish them and to shew them and the Church that word which commandeth us to have no Communion with them but to avoid them
ordaine and how oft and how oft the Common prayer be read the Surplice worne the Sacraments administred in what place what Registers to be kept what order to be observed in reading the Scriptures and the Apocrypha with abundance the like have all the foresaid answers to prove that they are no proper work of a distinct order There remaineth therefore but the determination of present circumstances which are part of the Ministers proper work or the Lecturer or Clerkes at least As 1. What text to Preach on to day How to expound it and apply it In what method to Preach What words to use How long to Preach 2. In what method words and length to pray where free Prayer is allowed 3. What particular Psalm to Sing and in what tune 4. On what particular daies to administer the Lords Supper besides the great daies Easter Whitsontide c. At what hour to go to Church and when to end 5. What particular sick person to visit and when And what sinner to reprove or admonish personally And who is to be taken for a true penitent and absolved in foro poenitentiali or privately as they distinguish all these are either the personal work of him that officiateth as chewing his meat of a man before he swallow it and degest it or as choosing his medicaments is to the Physician and belongeth to his calling which none should hinder him in of which I make no question And if so it is not the proper work of a Bishop Or else it is fit that this liberty be taken from him and that other men choose for him every day his Text his Method his words his tune his hour and the rest And if so when this also shall be made a Canon no doubt but the King and Parliament and Presbyters in convocation will all have a hand in it and perhaps the Bishops be under the Canon as well as others Yet then we have not found out a Bishops proper work unless it were when he is present in the same assemblies to governe the work in all these circumstances in which I do not contend against him II. If then it lie not in Legislation or Canon making let us consider whether it lie in judging or executing And this must be chiefly about Excommunication and Absolution as it concerneth the Laity And here 1. The business is not to judge of the Law but of the Person by the Law It is not to judge in plaine cases whether we must avoid an impenitent Fornicator a Drunkard a Blasphemer an Heretick c. For if the Bishops say nay we must not believe him or obey him And for difficult instances of the species of sins deserving it is partly the work of an expositor of Scripture to determine of them and partly of the Canons and Laws of the land where Magistrates and Presbyters are efficient and Bishops themselves obliged as well as Presbyters The business therefore is to judge whether this person be guilty of such a Crime and. 2. Whether he be impenitent therein And that this is the work of a Parochus that is a Cohabiting Pastor who is upon the place and knoweth the parties and not of a strange Bishop over a a thousand or many hundred Churches I have partly shewed before and partly shall shew now and partly hereafter At the present let the unexperienced consider of this which any Novice that is upon the place may know 1. A Bishop especially armed with penal terrour or a Chancellour's Court is not like to know of one scandalous Impenitent person of a hundred which the present Pastor is like to know of For experience telleth us that few honest men will accuse their neighbours where they shall but get hatred and foresee no more probality of procuring the persons repentance by it And that Church-Wardens do not and will not do it Many men that fear perjury refuse the oath lest they should break it or sin in keeping it as it bindeth them to prosecute many men for Conscientious Nonconformity And those that take the Cath before they fear an oath will make no Conscience at all of breaking it So that a matter of notorious fact is past dispute The land knoweth that not one Swearer Curser Fornicator Adulterer Railer Thief Derider of Scripture and Religion c. of a multitude is ever accused at the Bishops Court Whereas the Present Pastor can scarce choose but know the greatest part of these in his Parish by dwelling among them where he shall have frequent notice of it Say as long as you will that this is long of the Minister or Long of the Church-Wardens or of the Apparitor we know that the thing is so 2. And in Church judgments where a mans repentance is the cause in question he hath the advantage an hundred fold that is present For the tenor of his life before and after will be of great signification in judging of this A man that never fell into such a sin before and that quickly lamenteth it by free confession known to the Pastor may easily be believed to be penitent But a man that hath many years continued in a wicked life and that after all admonition and perswasions to repent confessing one day and sinning the next and perhaps deriding the Pastor and making a jest of his own confessions is not so quickly to be believed And yet the strange Diocesans or Chancellour shall not know the difference nor hear any more at the best than I repent And whereas they say if he sin again he is to be accused again 1. They know de facio that this is seldome done except against some Conscientious Nonconformists 2. And when neighbours see that the man whom they enraged against them by an accusation cometh home again by saying I Repent and paying his fees and doth but watch to execute his malice against the accusers they will meddle in such improfitable work no more 3. And whereas the Chancelor or Diocesane must go upon the witnesses report 1. The credit of the witnesses will be unknown to them because it lyeth upon the honesty of the persons whom they know not but by other persons nor those other but by others and they are forced to take all our slight reports usualy from some flatterers of themselves almost the worst men in the Parish accounted by them the best and most credible because they know not them aright nor the rest at all 2. And how unsatisfactory a thing it is to a mans Conscience to Judge at random or upon the uncertain credit of they scarce know who in a câ—se of Excommunication or Absolution whereas the present Pastor may goe on far more cleare and satisfactory grounds 4. Moreover the Conviction of a sinner before Excommunication or Absolution requireth a great deal of time and a great many words and those chosen with the greatest skill and set home with the greatest Life and Light and Love that can be manifested by the speaker
effect in order to concord or order they do it by the Magistrates power and not by the Keys without the Magistrate they would be so contemned a sort of men that instead of silencing us by their keyes one of us now silenced could do more to silence them were that according to our Judgment I mean it were easier to perswade ten people from Hearing one of them specially of late than for them to perswade one from hearing us in many places And what the Magistrate doth he can do by others if he please as well as now he doth by them 3. The Churches that have no Bishops have incomparably lesse Heresie Schism Wickedness and more concord then we have here The Church of Scotland is an eminent instance which hath known but little by experience what Schism or Heresies are And so are the Protestant Churches of France of Geneva of Helvetia and other places 4. Were but the true Episcopacy forementioned restored we should yet less know any shew of need for our Diocesane Magistrate Ministers and they would suffice to do what on earth may be expected Obj. Were not Bishops the meanes of the Churches concord in all ages Ans True Bishops such as afore described did their parts but when such as our Diocesans sprang up the Church was presently broken into pieces and by odious contentions and divisions became a sandal and scorne to unbelievers To read but the Acts of Counsels and the History of the Church and there find the horrid contentions of Prelates against each others the parties which they made their running up and down the world to Princes and Rulers and Synods to bear down one another it will do as much to grieve and amaze the Soul of a Sober Christan almost as an History in the world that he can peruse Obj But they silenced Hereticks and deposed them and so kept Doctrine sound and safe Ans Before they had the Sword of the Magistrate to second them they silenced none For how could they do it They only judged them to be cast out of their Communion and deposed which they could no way execute but by avoiding them and perswading the people to disown them and avoid them For they neither did nor could hinder them from gathering Churches and Preaching to their followers And there the rejected ones did reject their Rejecters and excommunicate their excommunicaters and in the eyes of their followers were the better men and only Orthodox So that their silencing was but changeing their Congregations And so numerous were the sects that followed such Teachers that they sometimes seemed more than the Orthodox Epiphanius found enow in his time to fill a large Volume And the Donatists alone were so numerous in Africa as to pretend to be the Catholick Church and by their numbers and insolency deterred Augustine into a change of his opinion and to call for that help from the Princes Sword which before he had denyed Never had the Church in any place so many Sects and Heresies as since the times that Prelacy grew up and in those Countries and where it wasmost exercised Andindeed the ignorance and pride of Prelates was not the least cause For some of them and no small number became the Authors of Heresies themselves such as Paulus Samosatenus the Apâ—linarii the great Patriarcks Dioscorus Nestorious Macedonius and alas how great a number more and others of them did by their dominering insolency rise up with so much pride and wrath against those that humoured them not especially if indeed they erred as that they forced some into Schisms and by silenceing the dissenters did but drive themâ—â—â—t up for themselves in separated assemblies And they so disaffected the zealous people as drove them away from the Orthodox Churches to the Sects and Hereticks as the English Prelates do at this day so that multitudes of the most strict and temperate Christians followed the Novations the Donatists and much worser sects And when the Prelates grew up to a secular terrour and twisted with the Civil power and were backed by the Sword 1. They made the more sober and mortified Christians the more dislike them as may appear by what Eusebius Socrates and others write of them and the Characters that are given of Cyril and Theophilus Alexander and such others And by Martins separation from Ithacius and Idacius and their Synods and by the increase of the Priscilianists by their pride and violence mentioned by Sulp. Severus and others 2. And it was not by the Keys indeed but by the Sword which backt them that they did all that they did be it good or evil in silencings and in keeping up their order 3. And they did but teach the Hereticks to strengthen themselves by the same means So that the Priscilianists once got countenance from Gratians Courtiers against the Bishops And Ambrose was persecuted or endangered by Valentinian as Athanasius at last was by Constantine himself and Chrysostome deposed and many others by such means Yea till at last the Bishops found that evil is more commonly befriended by corrupted nature than good and that Goodness is usually lowest where wealth and honours make men highest and that few Princes were the best of men and therefore that if one befriended the truth many were like to be against it and till the Arrians by the help of Emperours and Vandal and Gothish Kings had almost turned all the Church into Arrians and had got the General Councels on their sides and had cruelly persecuted the Orthodox Bishops and taught them what it was to trust to the Sword for the clensing and concord of the Churches And when the controversie of Images came up one Emperour was for them and another against them By which means and by the contending of the Eastern and Western Patriarcks and Prelates who should be the greatest the Churches have been torne to pieces and so continue lamentably to this day as in the History was before declared And it was the Prelatical Tyranny of the Romanists that since raised so many parties against them and then had no way to Cuâ—b them but by prosâ—câ—ting them by the Sword and flames as in the case of the Waldenses Albigenses and Protestants appeareth And as the Murders of many hundred thousands in Piedmont France Germany Ireland England c Besides their Inquisitions shew Thus Solitudinem fecerunt unitatem pacem â—â—carâ—nt When they have hanged burnt and slain the people and Priests they have quieted and silenced them and when they have made a solitude and depopulation by killing those that disserâ—d from them they have brought all to concord and been all of a mind And let none be offended that I mention the Papists in describing Prelacy For I do it not to raise an Odium on them but I refer it to the consideration of sober men 1. Whether as Herbarists give us the picture and description of herbes not in their spring but in their full grown stalk blossom and fruits
shall obey as his Ministers any whomsoever the King shall commit any part of his power about Church matters to and promise them due obedience as such And so you see what is not the Question now to be debated But the Question is Whether the present Church Government in England as distinct from the Kings and Magistrates part be so good or lawful that we should swear or subscribe our approbation of it our obedience to it or that we will never in our place and calling endeavour an alteration of it no though the King command us and that every man in the three Kingdoms that vowed to endeavour such alteration is so clearly and utterly disobliged as that all strangers that never knew him may subscribe or declare that he is disobliged or not obliged to it by that Vow CHAP. II. The first Argument against the English Diocesans That their form quantum in se destroyeth the particular Church Form of God's Institution and setteth up a Humane Form in its stead ARGUMENT I. WE cannot subscribe or swear to that form of Church Government as good or lawful which in its nature excludeth or destroyeth the very specifical nature of the particular Churches which were instituted by the Holy Ghost and setled in the primitive times and is it self a humane from set up in their stead But such we take the present Diocesane form to be Ergo The Major will be denied by very few that we have now to do with And those few that will deny it must do it on this supposition 1. That the Holy Ghost did institute that particular Church Form which is destroyed but pro tempore And Secondly That he allowed men since to set up one or more of their own in its stead But the disproof of this supposition will fall in more fitly when I have shewed what Church Form was first setled The Minor I thus prove The Species of a particular Church which the Holy Ghost did institute was one Society of Christians united under one or more Bishops for personal Communion in publick worship and holy living The Diocesane English frame is destructive of or inconsistent with this species of a particular Church Ergo The Diocesane English frame is inconsistent with or destructive of the Species of the Holy Ghosts institution In the Major 1. By Bishops I mean Sacred Ministers authorized by Divine appointment to be the stated Guides of the Church by Doctrine Worship and Discipline under Christ the Teacher Priest and Ruler of the Church Whether he have a superior Arch-Bishop I determine not Nor now whether he may ordain Pastors for other Churches What I mean by Personal Communion and whether it be consistent with divers Assemblies I have fully shewed before I mean that the said Churches were no more numerous than our English Parishes nor had more Assemblies Or no more than could have the same personal Communion and that there were never any Churches infimaeâ—vel prime speciei which consisted of many such stated Assemblies I shall therefore now prove 1. That the Churches of the Holy Ghosts institution were no more numerous or were such single Congregations And that they had each such Bishops and Pastors will be proved partly herewith and partly afterward 2. And that such Churches do tota specie differ from the Diocesane Churches and from our present Parish Churches as they define them and are inconsistent with them And the first I shall prove 1. From the Holy Scriptures 2. From the Confessions of the Diocesanes 3. From the testimony of Antiquity All proving fully that the ancient Episcopal Churches were but such single Societies or Congregations as I have described and such as our Diocesses of many hundred Churches are different from and inconsistent with CHAP. III. That the primitive Episcopal Churches of the Holy Ghosts Institution were but such Congregations as afore described THese following particulars set together I think will by the Impartial be taken for full proof 1. In all the New Testament where ever there were more stated societies than one for publick worship as afore described they are called Churches in the Plural Number and never once a Church in the Singular Number except when the Universal Church is mentioned which containeth them all This is visible in Act. 9. 31. and 14. 41. and 16. 5. Rom. 16. 4 and 16. 1 Cor. 7. 17. and 11. 16. and 14. 33 34. unless that mean the several meetings of the same Assembly at several times and 16. 1 19. 2 Cor. 8. 1 18 19 23 24. and 11. 8 28. Gal. 1. 22. 1 Thess 2. 14. 2 Thess 1. 4. Rev. 1. 4 11 20. and 2. 7 11 17 29. and 3. 6 13 22 23. and 22. 16. If any say how prove you that all these were but single Congregations I answer 1. It is granted me by all that these plural terms Churches included many single Congregations 2. I shall prove anon that the most of the particular Churches named in Scripture were but such Congregations 3. And no man can give me any proof that a Society consisting of divers such Congregations is any where called a Church singularly And therefore we are not to believe that the plural term meaneth many such singulars as are no where singularly named 2. Particular Churches are described so in Scripture as fully proveth my aforesaid limitation and description As 1 Cor. 11. 16 18 20 22. When ye come together in the Church I hear that there be divisions among you A Church consisted of such as came together When ye come together into one place this is not to eat the Lords Supper And it is the Assemblies that are called Churches when he saith We have no such custom nor the Churches of God So 1 Cor. 14. 4. He that prophesieth edifieth the Church that is the Assembly that heareth him and not many hundred such Assemblies that are out of hearing Vers 5. Except he interpret that the Church may receive edifying Vers 12. Seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the Church Object May not the whole Church be edified per partes Ans Yes but it must be per plures vel diversis vicibus Not at once by the same man if the far greatest part of the Church be absent Obj. But is not the whole man edified naturally or morally by the edification of a part Answ Yes if it be a noble part Because the whole man being naturally One by the unity of the soul or form there is a natural Communion and Communication from part to part But one Corporation in a Kingdom may be edified or enriched without the wealth or edification of the rest And this Text plainly speaketh of Immediate Edification of that Church that heareth and this at once and by one speaker So Vers 19. In the Church I had rather speak one word with my understanding that I may teach others Here the Church is plainly taken for the Assembly Vers 23. If therefore the whole Church be come together
in one place and speak with tongues what can be more expresly spoken to shew that it is not only a part of the Church but the whole which cometh together into one place So Vers 24. If there be no Interpreter let him keep silence in the Church So Vers 34. For God is not the Author of Confusion but of Peace as in all the Churches of the Saints So Vers 14. Let your women keep silence in the Church for it is a shame for women to speak in the Church So Act. 11. 26. A whole year they assembled themselves with the Church and taught much people Act. 14. 27. When they were come and had gathered the Church together they rehearsed all that God had done by them Act. 15. 3. And they were brought on their way by the Church which must signifie such a number as might be called the Church when part was but for the whole at least Act. 2. 1. They were all with one accord in one place which it's like was all the Church with the Apostles Vers 44. 46. And all that believed were together And they continuing daily with one accord in the Temple c. Act. 4. 31 32. And the place was shaken where they were assembled together And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul Act. 5. 12. And they were all with one accord in Solomon ' s Porch and of the rest durst no man joyn himself to them If any here say that so many thousands could not be of one Assembly I have answered it before 1. I have preached as was supposed to ten thousand at once 2. Some of our Parishes that have but one Church are thirty thousand some forty thousand some fifty thousand 3. There were strangers at Jerusalem from all parts 4. The next Verse saith There came also a multitude out of the Cities round about unto Jerusalem 5. The multitude were not yet perfectly embodied and were quickly scattered Col. 4. 16. When this Epistle is read among you cause that it be read also in the Church of the Laodiceans c. It is not to the Church for then you might have said that so it may be if the Church consisted of many Assemblies But it is in the Church which intimateth that the Church was but one Assembly And so that of Colosse answerably All these Texts and others such plainly tell us whether a Church there was one Assembly or many hundred 3. This is made yet much more evident by the Scriptures description of a Bishops work even such as the Apostles then appointed over every Church 1. They were to be the ordinary publick present teachers of all the Flock which they did oversee 1 Thess 5. 12 13. Know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and esteem them highly in love for their work sake Those then that were over every Church were present with the Church and laboured among them which they could not do in one of our Diocesses saving as a man may be said to labour among a Kingdom or the World because they labour in it Heb. 13. 8 17 24. Remember them which have the rule over you which have spoken to you the word of God Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account So that a Church was no bigger than the Bishops could speak the word of God to and could watch for their souls But I never saw the face of the Bishop of the Diocess where I live and know but very few men in his Diocess that ever did see him 2. And this care was to extend to the particular persons of the Flocks Act. 20. 20 28 31. I taught you publickly and from house to house Take heed to your selves and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Bishops to fâ—ed or rule the Church of God c. Remembor that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears 1 Pet. 1. 2. 3. The Elders which are among you I exhort who am also an Elder feed the Flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint c. that is saith Doctor Hammond The Bishops of your several Churches I exhort take care of your several Churches and govern them not as Secular Rulers by force but as Pastors do their Sheep by calling and going before them that so they may follow of their own accord See also Doctor Hammond's Annot. on Heb. 13. 7 17. 1 Thess 5. 12 13. And saith Doctor Jeremy Taylor of Repent Praef. I am sure we cannot give account of souls of which we have no notice O terrible word to the undertakers of so many hundred Churches and so many thousand or ten thousand souls which they never knew This made Ignatius à s after cited say that The Bishop must look after or take account of each person as much as Servants and Maids Object But there may be more in a Parish than a Minister can know Answ If a Parish may be too large for a Bishops work how little reason have they to make a Church and take the Pastoral Care of many hundred Parishes 2. We must judge by the ordinary common case In a Parish a Minister may know every one except it be some few strangers or retired persons or except it be a Parish or Church of too great a swelling bigness But in a Diocess of many hundred Churches it is not one of a hundred that the Bishop will ever know 3. I know by experience what may be done whatever slothful persons say I had a Parish of about three of four thousand souls A Market Town with twenty Villages and except three or four Families that refused to come to me whom yet I knew by other means I knew not only the persons but the measures of all or almost all their understandings in the Town and my assistants in the Villages knew the rest by personal conference each family coming to us by turns 4. And where a Church is too large for one there may be and must be assistant Ministers and that may be done by many which cannot be done by one alone Object So may a Bishop and his Presbyters in a Diocess Answ In a Diocess of many Churches the Presbyters only know the people and do the Ministerial Office for them except in some one or few Churches where the Bishop dwells and sometimes preacheth But in the same Church all the Ministers preach to the same persons ordinarily per vices and they all know them and all watch over them though they assist each other in particular offices for them There is much difference between a School-master and his assistants in the same School and one School-master only with several Ushers in many hundred Schools As there is between a Master Mistriss and Steward ruling the same Family and one Master with
Stewards ruling many hundred Families of which more anon 3. Another part of the Bishops work in those times was to Baptize For it was part of the Apostles work Matth. 28. 19 20. And how great a work that was to try the peoples due preparations and to see that they did understandingly and seriously what they did I desire no other proof than the great care taken in all the ancient Churches of this business which brought up the Custom of baptizing but twice a year Object The Apostles baptized three thousand at once Answ The Jews were supposed to be bred up in the knowledge of other parts of Religion and wanted only the knowledge of the true Messiah and his Salvation which might be taught them in a shorter time than the Gentiles could be taught the whole substance of Religion that knew but little Therefore as soon as the Jews were convinced of the true Messiah and the righteousness of Faith and consented to the Covenant they might be baptized 2. The extraordinary effusions of the Spirit in that time did make a shorter preparation sufficient At least Baptizing must be an addition to the Bishops work 4. As the Apostles laid hands on Believers to convey the Holy Ghost so the Prelatists think that the Bishops then Confirmed Believers with Imposition of hands saith Doctor Hammond on Heb. 13. a. To teach exhort confirm and impose hands all which were the Bishops office in that place And O what a work it is to know the persons of many hundred Parishes to be capable of Confirmation and so to confirm them of which more afterward 5. I need not prove that the Bishops then were the Masters of the Assemblies and called them appointing time and place as the Rulers of the Synagogues did which sheweth that they were present with the Church Assemblies 6. The Bishops administred the Lords Supper as all confess and therefore must have some Pastoral notice of the fitness of all the Church to receive it which intimateth sufficiently the extent of the Church 7. They went before the Assemblies usually in performance of the publick worship They prayed with them and praised God And Doctor Hammond thinks that in all this in Scripture times they had not so much as a Presbyter to assist them 8. They admonished the unruly and disorderly and received Accusations and openly reproved and excommunicated the Impenitent And O how great a work is it to deal with one Soul aright as must be done before it cometh to Excommunication Much more with all in a Parish Much more in many hundred Parishes 9. It is confessed that it was the Bishops work to absolve the penitent publickly And then he must judge of their Repentance and then he must try it And for how many thousand can a Bishop do this with the rest 10. The Bishop did dismiss the Congregation with a Benediction as is maintained by those that we dispute with and therefore must be present in it 11. They were to visit and pray with the sick and all the sick to send for them to that end Jam. 4. 14. If any be sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him saith Doctor Hammond Because there is no evidence whereby these inferior Presbyters may appear to have been brought into the Church so early And because the visiting of the sick is anciently mentioned as one branch of the office of Bishops therefore it may very reasonably be resolved that the Bishops of the Church one in each particular Church but many in the universal are here meant Though I am far from believing him that the sick person is bid to send but for one when the term is plural or that he must send for many out of other Churches I will take his concession that this was the Bishops work 12. Lastly They were to take care of the poor and of the Contributions and Church stock saith Doctor Hammond on 1 Cor 12. 28. The supreme trust and charge was reserved to the Apostles and Bishops of the Church So in the 41st Canon of the Apostles the Bishop must have the care of the moneys so that by his power all â—e dispensed to the poor by the Presbyters and Deacons and we command that â—e have in his power the Church Goods So Justin Martyr Apol. 2. That which is gathered is doeposited by the Praefect or Bishop and he helpeth or relieveth the Orphans and Widows and becometh the Curator and Guardian of all absolutely that be in want So Ignatius to Polycarp After the Lord thou shalt be the Curator of the Widows And Polycarp himself speaking of the Elders or Bishops They visit and take care of all that are sick not neglecting the Widows the Orphans and the Poor So far Doctor Hammond So that by this time it is easie to see how great the ancient Churches were yea and how great they were to be continued when all this is the Bishops Office and Work We are willing that they have Diocesses as big as they can do this work in even with a Consessus of assisting Presbyters There is no one of all these twelve alone that a Bishop can do for a Diocess of many score or hundred Churches How much less all these set together Nay what one considerable Parish would not find a Bishop with divers assistants work enough in all these kinds if it be faithfully done As for the doing of it per se aut per alium I have so far confuted it before as that I may be bold to tell them now that they may also receive the reward in se aut in alio And if he that will not work should not eat quaere whether they should eat per alium I add If all this as Doctor Hammond maintaineth was made by the Spirit in the Apostles the Bishops work if they may make new Church-Officers to commit part of their work to there may be twelve sorts of Officers made by them for these twelve parts of their work And then we shall better understand them Whatever is the work of a Bishop as a Presbyter every Presbyter may and must do according to his ability and opportunity But whatever belongeth to a Bishop as a Bishop cannot be done by another either Lay-man or Presbyter Therefore let us have but Bishops enough to do it or else confess that it is no necessary work So great a trust as the Gospel and mens souls which Christ hath committed to Bishops may not be cast upon others without his consent that did commit it to them But they can shew no consent of Christ to make new Officers to do their work by Timothy was to commit the same to others which he had received 2 Tim. 2. 2. The things thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also And who knoweth not that if a Tutor commit his work statedly to another he maketh
that other a Tutor And so if a Physician commit his work statedly to another or a Pilot or the Master of a Family he maketh the other a Physician a Pilot a Master And so if a Bishop or Presbyter commit his work statedly to another he maketh that other a Bishop or Presbyter And then that Bishop or Presbyter so made is himself obliged as well as empowred and the work that he doth is his own work and not his that delivered him his Commission So that this doing these twelve parts of a Bishops work per alium is a meer mockery unless they speak unfitly and mean the making of all those to be Bishops as they are or else by perfidious usurpation casting their trust and work on others For if they could prove that God himself had instituted the Species of Sub-presbyters it would be to do their own work and not another mans My next proof of the limitation of Churches in Scripture times is that Deacons and Bishops were distinct Officers appointed to the same Churches The Church which the Deacon was related to was the very same and of the same extent with the Church which the Bishop was related to as is plain in all Texts where they are described Act. 6. 1 Tim. 3. Tit. 7. c. But it is most clear that no Deacon then had the charge of many hundred Churches or more than one such as I have described Therefore neither had the Bishop of that Church They that have now extended the Office of the Deacons further and have alienated them from their first works of attending at the Sacred Tables and taking care of the Poor cannot deny but that this was at least a great part of their work in the Scripture times and some Ages after at least when Jerome ad Evagr. described the Offices of the Presbyters and Deacons And was any man then made a Deacon to a Diocess or to many hundred Churches or to more than one Did he attend the Tables of many Churches each Lords day at the same time If you say that there were many Deacons and some were in one Church and some in another it is true that is They were in several Assemblies which were every one a true Church and they were oft many in one Assembly But there was no one that was related to Many stated Church Assemblies nor to a Church of a lesser size or magnitude than the Bishop was 5. And that there was no Church then without a Bishop one or more is evident from Act. 14. 23. They ordained them Elders in every Church compared with other Texts that call them Bishops And Doctor Hammond sheweth that these Elders were Bishops And indeed it was not a Church in a proper political sense that had no Bishops formally or eminently No more than there can be a Kingdom without a King a School without a School-master or a family without a Master Object They are called Churches Act. 14. 23. before they had ordained Elders Answ 1. It is not certain from the Text for the name might be given from their state in fieri or which they were now entring into 2. If it were so it is certain that the appellation was equivocal as it is usual to distinguish the Kingdom from the King the School from the School-master the Family from the Master but not in the strict political sense of the words for that comprehendeth both 3. The truth is they were true political Churches before For they had temporary unfixed Bishops even the Apostles and Evangelists that converted them and officiated among them Otherwise they could have held no Sacred Assemblies for holy Communion and the Lords Supper as having none to administer it The fixing of peculiar Bishops did not make them first Churches but made them setled Churches in such an order as God would establish 6. Lastly The setling of Churches with Bishops in every City Tit. 1. 5. doth shew of what magnitude the Churches were in the Scripture times For 1. It is known that small Towns in Judea were called Cities 2. And that Creete which was called Hecatompolis as having an hundred Cities must needs then have small ones and near together 3. And it is a confessed thing that the number of Converts was not then so great as to make City Churches so numerous near as our Parishes are And if the consideration of all this together will not convince any that the Churches that had Bishops in Scripture times consisted not of many stated Assemblies as afore described but of one only and were not bigger than our Parishes let such enjoy their error still CHAP. IV. The same proved by the Concession of the most Learned Defenders of Diocesane Prelacy THough the Scripture Evidence be most satisfactory in it self yet in controversie it much easeth the mind that doubteth to find the Cause fully and expresly granted by those that most learnedly defend those consequents which it overthrows And if I do not bring plain Concessions here I will not deprecate the Readers indignation 1. Among all Christians the Papists are the highest Prelatists And among all Papists the Jesuits and among all the Jesuits Petavius who hath written against Salmasius c. on this Subject Petavius Dissert Ecclesiast de Episcop dignit jurisd p. 22. concludeth his first Chapter in which he had cited the chiefest of the Fathers Hactenus igitur ex antiquorum authoritate conficitur primis temporibus Presbyterorum Episcoporum non tantum appellationes sed etiam ordines in easdem concurrisse personas iidem ut essent utrique i. e. Hitherto it is proved by the Authority of the Ancients that in the first times not only the Names but the Orders of Presbyters and Bishops did concurr into the same persons so that both were the same men And if so I shall shew the consequents anon And pag. 23. He thus beginneth his third Chapter as opening the only necessary way to avoid the Scripture Arguments against Episcopacy Si quis amnia illa scripturae loca diligenter expendat id necessario consequens ex illis esse statuet eos ipsos qui ibi Presbyteri vocantur plus aliquid quam simplices fuisse presbyteros cujusmodi hodieque sunt nec dubitabit quin Episcopi fuerint iidem non vocabulo tantum sed re etiam potestate i. e. If any one will diligently weigh all those places of Scripture he will conclude that this is the necessary consequent of them that those that are there called Presbyters were somewhat more than simple Presbyters and such as now they are and he will not doubt but the same men were Bishops not only in name but in deed and in power Pag. 24. Existimo Presbyteros vel omnes vel eorum plerosque sic ordinatos esse ut Episcopi pariter ac presbyteri gradum obtinerent I think that either all or most of the Presbyters were so ordained as that they obtained both the degree of Bishop and
affirmamus So that it is a Bishop of one Assembly or Church which Doctor Hammond will have the question stated about 2. And such a Church or Assembly as great Cities a while had divers of and so divers Bishops 3. And this was after the Scripture times for they had divers Bishops with a divers Clergy 4. But that in Scripture times the Order of Sub-Presbyters cannot be proved instituted 5. And in his Annotations he expoundeth all the Texts of the New Testament of Bishops that mention Presbyters 6. But in his Answer to the London Ministers not daring yet to hold that they were of Humane and not of Divine Institution he holds that they were instituted in the end of St. John's days after all the Scripture was written which was about two or three years before his death and so were of Divine Institution though all the rest of the Apostles were dead Before I apply this I will subjoyn his words of more numerous Witnesses to our opinion with himself for he saith 8. Doctor Hammond of the rest Vindication against London Minsters pag. 104. And though I might truly say that for those more minute considerations or conjectures wherein this Doctor differs from some others he hath the suffrages of many of the learnedst men of this Church at this day and as far as he knoweth of all that embrace the same Cause with him I purposely pass by such Bishops as Cranmer Jewel c. and such conformable Divines as Doctor Whitaker Fulke c. as being not high enough to be valued by those that I have now to do with As Jewel Art 4. p. 171. sheweth that every Church must have one Bishop and but one and out of Cyprian that the Fraternitas universa was to chuse him Et â—piscopus delegatur plebe praesente de universae fraternitatis suffragio Episcopatus ei Sabino deferretur And mentioneth the Rescript of Honorius the Emperor to Boniface that If two Bishops through division and contention happen to be chosen we will that neither of them be allowed as Bishop but that he only remain in the Apostolick Seat whom out of the number of the Clergy Godly discretion and the consent of the whole Brotherhood shall chuse by a new Election How big yet was the Church even then Now all this being asserted 1. It is evident that they hold that in Scripture times no Church consisted of more than one ordinary stated worshipping Assembly 2. And that every such Assembly had a Bishop For if there were no Presbyters there could be no Assembly but where a Bishop was present for the Lords days were then used for publick Worship and the people could not do that without a Minister for they had Communion in the Lords Supper every Lords day And therefore they must have a Bishop or have no such Worship And Doctor Hammond departeth from Petavius in holding that no Church had more Bishops than one So that de facto he granteth all that I desire 1. That the Churches were but so many Assemblies having each a Bishop 2. And that no Sub-Presbyters were instituted in Scripture times And by what right the change was made we shall enquire anon CHAP. V. The same proved by the full Testimony of Antiquity THat the particular Churches infimae speciei vel ordinis of which combined Associated Churches were constituted were no larger than is before described and had but Unum Altare I shall prove Historically from Antiquity I. And Order requireth that I begin with Clemens Romanus But let the Reader still remember that while I cite him and others oft cited heretofore by many I do it not to the same end as they who thence prove that Bishops and Presbyters were then the same but to prove the Churches to be but such single Congregations as are fore-described Ep. ad Cor. pag. 54 55. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Per regiones igitur urbes verbum praedicantes primitias eorum spiritu probantes Episcopos Diaconos eorum qui credituri erant constituerunt Here are these concurrent evidences to our purpose 1. In that he speaketh only of Bishops and Deacons and neither here nor elsewhere one syllable of any other Presbyters but Bishops it is apparent that in those times there were no Subject-Presbyters distinct from Bishops in being Nor could Doctor Hammond any other way answer Blondel here but by confessing and maintaining this and so expounding Clemens as speaking of Bishops only before other Presbyters were in the Church And if so then there could be none but Churches of single Assemblies then or such as one man could officiate in because there was then no more to do it 2. In that Cities and Countries are made the Seats of these Bishops for though some would make them to be mentioned only as the places where the Apostles preached the obvious plain sense of the words is connexive of preaching and constituting Bishops by preaching they made believers in Cities and Countries and over those believers they placed Bishops and Deacons which implieth it to be in the same places And whereas some would strain the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie Provinces and not Country Villages it must then as distinct from Cities have meant many Cities and so have stled Bishops and Arch-Bishops intimating Subject-Presbyters under them But here is no such word or intimation Yea when the Countries are made first the Place of the Apostles preaching as they confess let any impartial man judge whether this be like to be the sense They preached in Provinces that is in the Cities of Provinces and in Cities And if there were Country Churches and Bishops seâ—ied by the Apostle's its easie to see that each particular Church-Assembly had a Bishop when even the City Churches themselves were no bigger than Petavius and others mention 3. Ad hominem Though I believe that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eorum qui credituri erant be intended only to signifie the subsequence of believing to their preaching yet waving that to them that suppose it to intend the subsequence of believing to making Bishops it must needs imply that the Churches then consisted but of few and were yet to be filled up But whether one Bishop to have many Churches is a question which must be otherwise and aliunde decided 4. The magnitude of the Churches is plainly intimated when he saith p. 57. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Constitutos itaque ab illis vel deinceps ab aliis viris celebribus cum consensu universae Ecclesiae qui inculpate ovili Christi inservierunt c. If the Bishops were chosen by the Consent of all the Church it was no greater a Church than would and did meet to signifie their consent and not such as our Diocesses now are 5. Also the same is intimated by pag. 69. If it be for me that Contention Sedition and Schisms arise I will depart I will be gone whither you will and will do what
shall by the people be appointed only let the Sheep-fold of Christ live in peace with the Presbyters appointed over it By which words it is evident that it was such a particular Ovile or Church where the Will of the people might be declared as a matter that bore much sway But who can think that this is spoken of many Congregations where the peoples Will could not easily be signified 6. And it is farther manifest in that it was but for the sake of one or two that the Church of Corinth moved this sedition against the Presbyters called also Bishops pag. 62. Now how many Congregations that Church consisted of where the interest of one or two was either so far concerned or so powerful it is easie to conjecture set all these together and judge impartially I add though out of season that it was none of the Apostles meaning that those whom they made Bishops of such single Churches without a subject Order of Presbyters should make such an Order of subject Presbyters and make themselves the Bishops of a Diocesane Church without any Bishops under them For pag. 57. he saith And our Apostles by our Lord Jesus Christ knew that contention would arise about the name of Episcopacy and for this cause being endued with perfect fore-knowledge they appointed them aforesaid and left the Courses or Orders of After-Ministers and Offices described that other approved men might succeed in the place of the deceased and might execute their Offices So that it was the same places and the same Offices which those ordained by the Apostles had in which others must succeed them which therefore were described by the Apostles and not into others To confirm my Exposition of Clemens note that Grotius himself Epist 182. ad Bignon giveth this as a reason to prove this Epistle of Clemens to be genuine Quod nusquam meminit exortis illius Episcoporum authoritatis quae Ecclesiae consuctudine post Marci mortem Alexandriae atque eo exemplo alibi introduci coepit sed plane ut Paulus Apostolus ostendit Ecclesias communi Presbyterorum qui iidem omnes Episcopi consilio fuisse gubernatas that is Because he no where maketh mention of that excelling authority of Bishops which began to be intrduoced at Alexandria by the custom of the Church after the death of Mark and in other places by that example But he plainly sheweth as the Apostle Paul doth that the Churches were governed by the Common Council of Presbyters who were also Bishops Note also as aforesaid that Doctor Hammond in Dissert granteth as to matter of fact that Clemens speaketh but of the Bishops of single Congregations whom he also calleth Presbyters there being no other in the Church of Corinth II. My next Witness is Pius Bishop of Rome in Epist Justo Episcopo in Biblioth Patr. Tom. 3. pag. 15. mentioning only Bishops and Deacons of which Doctor Hammond making the same Concession still granteth that hitherto Bishops had but single Churches Of this more anon III. My next and greatest Witness is Ignatius in whom to my admiration the Diocesanes so much confide as that quasi pro aris focis they contend for the authority of his Epistles I am as loth to lose him as they are therefore I will not meddle in Blondel's controversie against whom they say Doctor Pierson is now writing In his Epistle to the Philadelphians he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is to every Church one Altar and one Bishop with the Presbytery and the Deacons my fellow servants I am not able to devise apter words to express my sense in He saith not this of some one Church but of all nor yet as of an accident proper to those times of the Churches minority but as of the Notes of every Churches Individuation or Haecceity as they speak The Unity of the Church is characterised by One Altar and One Bishop with the Presbytery and Deacons If 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were out it would not alter the sense being plainly implied Bishop Downame's Exposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it signified Christ is so forced and contrary to the evidence of the Text that his own party quite forsake him in it and he needeth no confutation For who ever before dreamed that the Unity or Individuation of each particular Church consisted in having one Christ who is the common Head of all Churches One Christ to every Church and one Bishop would signifie that every Church must have one several Christ as well as one several Bishop Nor is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so used by the Ancients except when the Context sheweth that they speak by allusion of Christ Master Mede's plain and certain Exposition and Collection I gave you before the same with ours As for them that say that many Congregations might per vices come to one Altar to communicate I answer 1. Let them make Churches as big as can thus communicate and spare not though there be necessary Chappels or Oratories besides 2. But remember that every Church used to worship God publickly and to communicate at least every Lords day and that there was but One Altar to each Church and therefore but one Communicating Congregation Doctor Stillingfleet in his Schismatical Sermon is for my Exposition Object It is meant of one Species of Altars and not one Individual Answ Then it is meant also of one Species of Bishops in each Church and not of one Individual Object The practice of the Churches after sheweth that they took it not for a sin or Schism to have several Altars in a Church Answ I talk of nothing but matter of fact it was the note of One Church when those Epistles were written whether the Author was mistaken de jure or whether after Ages grew wiser or rather had fewer Bishops and more Altars for the sake of Carnal Interest I judge not The same Author Epist ad Smyrn saith Ubi utique apparet Episcopus ibi multitudo sit quemadmodum utique ubi est Christus Jesus illic Catholica Ecclesia as Usher's Lat. Trans or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 omnis exercitus coelestis And the Context sheweth that this multitudo or plebs is the Church which the Bishop overseeth Therefore ubi Episcopus ibi Ecclesia fuit and so every Church had a present Bishop So in Epist ad Magnes he bids them All unitedly or as one run together to one Temple of God as to one Altar to one Jesus Christ So that every Church had one Temple and one Altar to which as a note of their Union in Christ the whole Church must unanimously come So in Epist ad Trull he saith Et Episcopus typum Dei Patris omnium gerit Presbyteri vero sunt consessus quidam conjunctus Apostolorum coetus sine his Ecclesia Electa non est Nulla sine his Sanctorum Congregatio nulla Sanctorum Collectio Et postea Quid vero aliud Sacerdotium est vel Presbyterium quam sacer
coetus Conciliarii assessores Episcopi Quid Diaconi c. So that it is hard more plainly to express a thing in words than this Author expresseth that not only de facto every stated worshipping communicating Congregation had their Bishop Presbyters and Deacons but that de jure it ought to be so And that there was no lawful Church Assembly for Worship without the Bishop and his Presbyters ordinarily and one Altar and one Bishop were the Notes of one Church And Epist ad Polycarp Saepe Congregationes fiant ex nomine omnes quaere servos ancillas ne despicias ut Trans Lat. Ush i. e. Keep often Congregations Enquire or look after all or every one by name despise not the Servants and the Maids And how many Congregations at once that Church then had or how great it was when the Bishop himself was to look after every one by name even the Men-servants and the Maids I leave to their judgments who are willing to understand the truth Since the writing of this about thirteen years I have seen Isaac Vossius his Florentine Ignatius Edit 2. and also had some speech with Bishop Gunning confidently denying that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant one material Altar or place of Communicating I will therefore review the Texts of Ignatius according to Isaac Vossius and answer this Bishops confident assertion 1. Epist ad Smyrn p. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Omnes Episcopum sequimini ut Jesus Christus Patrem Presbyterium ut Apostolos Diaconos autem revereamini ut Dei mandatum Nullus sine Episcopo aliquid operetur eorum quae conveniunt in Ecclesiam Illa firma Gratiarum actio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reputetur quae sub ipso est vel quam utique ipse concesserit ubi utique apparet Episcopus illic multitudo sit quemadmodum utique ubi est Jesus Christus illic Catholica Ecclesia Non licitum est sine Episcopo neque baptizare neque agapen facere Here it is evident 1. That by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Multitude is meant the assembling multitude and not distant people many miles off 2. That by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apparet is meant the personal visible appearing presence of the Bishop And so that every Church-Assembly had a present Bishop ordinarily 3. That by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant the Churches joyful laudatory Communion of which the Lords Supper was a chief part And so that the Eucharist was usually celebrated with and by the Bishop and never but by his particular allowance to the Presbyters not only a general allowance to do it commonly as Parish Priests do without him but to do it in his Assembly either in case of his absence or need or as assisting him 4. That by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant the matters and persons of the particular Assembly And so that every such Assembly had a present Supervisor or Bishop 5. That by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is meant a local going whither he goeth and an imitation of him as present and so that they had his visible presence 6. That the prohibition of baptizing and holding their Love-feasting Meetings without him signified not only without his general licence at a distance but as no Servants must do great matters in the house without the Master so it implieth here his ordinary presence and particular approbation of the single persons fitness for Baptism and his conduct of their Love-feasts and his allowance in case of necessary absence 7. That the same Assemblies had a Bishop Presbyters and Deacons For the same multitude is to follow the same Bishop Presbyters and Deacons And how could one Parish follow all the Presbyters of all other Parish Churches of a Diocess whom they never knew And it is certain that it was the same Church that the Presbytery and Deacons here mentioned had But Deacons were appropriated only to single Churches and the people of one Parish-Assembly were not to follow or obey the Deacons of all other distant Parish Churches 8. And after he saith Saluto Deo dignum Episcopum Deo decens Presbyterium conservos meos Diaconos singillatim communiter omnes Which plainly signifieth that it was the same City Church in Smyrna that had a Bishop Presbytery and Deacons For the scattered Presbyters of many distant Parishes cannot be meant by the Presbytery which is supposed present with the Bishop and Deacons II. The next in the Florentine Copy is the Epistle to Polycarpe where he saith to the Bishop Let not the Widows be neglected Next after the Lord be thou the Curator of them Let nothing be done without thy Sentence and do thou nothing without God and what thou dost let it be well stable Let Congregations be often made seek all by name despise not Servants and Maids speak to my Sisters to love the Lord and be subject in flesh and spirit to their Husbands and to the men to love their Wives And the Men that marry and the Women that are married must make their union with the sentence of the Bishop c. Here it is evident 1. That it was a Church of which Widows were a part that is here meant But Widows then were special parts of particular Parish-Churches and not common to a Diocess of many such 2. It was such a Church where the Bishop himself was to take care of all the Widows and see that they were not neglected And that could not be done to a Diocess of many score or hundred Parishes 3. It was a Church where the Bishop as present could see to all that was done 4. It was a Church that was oft to assemble or be congregate which a Diocess never doth For it is frequent Congregations of the same persons that is here commanded or desired 5. It was a Church so assembled that the Bishop could by name take an account who was absent by his own eye Yea even of the Servant-men and Maids 6. And such as the Bishop could himself marry all that were married in it or at least be their particular Counsellor therein And exhort all Husbands and Wives to their duties 7. He after saith I am of one soul with them that are subject to the Bishop Presbyters and Deacons Signifying that these three were the present Officers of one and the same particular Church III. The next is the Epistle to the Ephesians where 1. Pag. 17. he willeth them to love their Bishop and all of them to imitate him which supposeth that they knew him and so doth not one in an hundred in most of our Diocesses nor ever see his face 2. Pag. 19. He tells them that They agree in the Sentence of the Bishop and so doth the worthy Presbytery agree with him as the strings of a Harp and therefore in their consent and consounding love Jesus Christ is sung and they are all made a Chore that being consonant in consent receiving in unity divine melody
one of our Parishes And let the Bishops take as big a Church as they will do all this for and spare not 5. And the Deacons bringing the consecrated Bread and Wine to the absent in token of Communion with the same Church and Bishop sheweth that there were not under him many other absent Congregations that had no other Bishop of their own Nor did the Deacon carry it to such Congregations through the Diocess In a word here is a full description of a Congregational Church and Bishop Saith Master Mede before cited of these words As the Jews had their Synagogues so perhaps might they have more Oratories than one though their Altar were but one there namely where the Bishop was Die solis omnes c. here he cites these words Namely as he there tells us to celebrate and participate of the Holy Eucharist Why was this but because they had not many places to celebrate in V. Tertullian is as plain and full Apol. c. 39. Corpus sumus de conscientia religionis disciplinae unitate spei foedere Coimus in Coetum Congregationem ut ad Deum quasi manu facta precationibus ambiamus orantes Cogimur ad divinarum literarum commemorationem Certe fidem sanctis vocibus pascimus spem erigimus fiduciam figimus disciplinam praeceptorum nihilominus inculcationibus densamus Ibidem etiam exhortationes castigationes censura divina Nam judicatur magno cum pondere ut apud certos de Dei conspectu summumque futuri judicii praejudicium est siquis ita deliquerit ut a Communicatione orationis Conventus omnis Sancti Commercii relegatur Praesident probati quique Seniores c. And de Corona Milit. cap. 3. Eucharistiae Sacramentum in tempore victus omnibus mandatum a domino etiam antelucanis coetibus nec de aliorum manu quam praesidentium sumimus And further Aquam adituri itidem sed aliquando prius in Ecclesia sub antistitis manu contestamur nos renunciare Diabolo pompae angelis ejus In all these words and many more such in Tertullian it is evident 1. That then a Church was a Congregation met for holy Worship and not many hundred Congregations making one Church primae ordinis 2. That this Church had ordinarily a Bishop present not present in one Congregation and many hundred without 3. That the Bishop baptized and took the Confessions of the Baptized and performed the ordinary Worship and administred the Lords Supper Doctor Hammond himself maintaineth that it is the Bishop that Tertullian speaketh of 4. That Discipline was exercised in those Church Assemblies and therefore the Bishop was present 5. They took the Sacrament from none but the Bishops hand save that the Deacon distributed it as from him which proveth that the Bishop was present when ever the Sacrament was administred 6. They had these Assemblies every Lords day All which set together plainly sheweth that then every Church had a present Bishop ordinarily and was no more than one Congregation met for such Communion as is described VI. And even in Cyprian's time the alteration was not great Epist 68. Edit Goulart p. 201. he saith Propter quod plebs obsequens praeceptis dominicis Deum metuens c. i. e. For which cause the people that are obedient to the Lords Commands and fear God ought to separate themselves from a sinful Prelate or Bishop and not to be present at the Sacrifices of a Sacrilegious Priest seeing they have the greatest power either of chusing worthy Priests or of refusing the unworthy which very thing we see coming down by Divine Authority that the Priest the people being present be chosen or appointed before the eyes of all and by the publick judgment and testimony be approved worthy and fit And so going on to prove the Divine Right hereof he addeth which was before done so diligently and cautelously the people being all called together lest any unworthy person should creep into the Ministry of the Altar or the place of Priesthood For that the Unworthy are sometimes ordained not according to the Will of God but according to the presumption of Man and that these things are displeasing to God which come not of legitimate and just Ordination God himself doth manifest by the Prophet Osee saying They made themselves a King but not by me And therefore it is diligently to be observed and held of Divine Tradition and Apostolical Observation which with us also and almost all the Provinces is held that for the right celebrating of Ordinations all the next Bishops of the same Province do come together to that people over whom the Bishop or Prelate is set and that the Bishop be appointed them or assigned the people being present who fullyest know the life of every one and have throughly seen the act of every ones Conversation which also we saw done with you in the Ordination of Sabinus our Colleague that the Office of a Bishop was given or delivered him and hands imposed on him in the place of Basilides by the suffrage of the whole Fraternity and by the judgment of the Bishops that had met together and had sent you Letters concerning him And before Sect. 4. Deus instruit c. God instructeth and sheweth that the Ordinations of Priests that is Bishops ought not to be done but under the Conscience that is present sight and consent of the assisting people that the Laity being present either the crimes of the bad may be detected or the merits of the good predicated and that Ordination be just and legitimate which was examined by the suffrage and judgment of all The Case is so plain in Cyprian that Pamelius himself is forced thus to confess Non negamus veterem Electionis Episcoporum ritum quo plebe praesente immo suffragiis plebis eligi solent Nam in Africa illum observatum constat ex electione Eradii successoris D. Augustini de quo extat Epistola ejus 120. In Graecia aetate Chrysostomi ex lib. 3. de Sacerdot In Hispaniis ex hoc Cypriani loco Isidor lib. de Officiis In Galliis ex Epist Celestini p. 2. Romae exiis quae supra diximus Epist ad Antoniam Ubique etiam alibi ex Epist Leonis 87. Et perdurasse eam consuetudinem ad Gregor 1. usque ex ejus Epistolis Immo ad tempora usquâ— Caroli Ludovici Imperat. ex 1. lib. Capitulorum eorundem satis constat Verum Plebi sola suffragia concessa non electio quae per subscriptionem fieri solet Hoc enim potissimum tunc agebatur ut invito plebi non daretur Episcopus From hence now the quantity of their Churches may easily be gathered 1. The people must be present 2. And this must be All the people the whole Laity of the Church 3. They give their testimony of the life of the ordained 4. They are supposed all to know his conversation 5. This is the
common custom of the Churches in Africa and all other Countries Now I leave it to the consideration of sober minds how many Churches or Congregations could do all this Whether it was many hundred Churches that never saw the person nor one another that were to meet in one Church or place to do all this Or rather the Inhabitants of a Vicinity using to assemble for Communion when even our Greater Parishes now are more than can thus meet and do all this 2. Note also that when Cyprian imposeth it on the same people that chuse their Bishop also to separate from one that is wicked and not communicate with him in the Sacrament it is most evident to him that is willing to understand that this Bishop was to be the Teacher of all the people of that Church and was to administer the Sacrament to them in the Congregation and they had ordinary communion with him For how else should they be called on to separate from him in the Sacrifice as it 's called Doth he command a thousand or a hundred distant Churches to separate from the Sacrifices of that Bishop who never had local Communion with him unless perhaps once in their lives as with a stranger The Impartial can hardly read these words and not understand them Two Objections are here made 1. Obj. All the People is put for all present which is a part Answ By such interpretations let God or Man say what they will it will signifie but what the Reader please The Context and many concurrent expressions shew that though business or sickness might hinder some Individuals it was the main body of the Congregation which is called Plebs Universa or else it will be nonsense 2. Object But if the same were the custom till the days of Charles and Lodovick then it could not be all the people for then it 's known that the Dioceses were larger Therefore it must be but all that belonged to the Cathedral Answ 1. Even till their days Christianity had not been received by the whole Cities or Parishes in the greatest part of the Empire but according to the liberty then given when none were forced to be Christians the Christians were but few in many great Countries It was long ere they were the greater number of the Inhabitants in France and Flanders longer in England and longer in Germany and Hungary and Poland and longer in Sweden and Denmark c. 2. That it was no Cathedral Society distinct from other Congregations under the same Bishop in Cyprian's time is most evident There being no such distinction intimated but contrarily all the Bishops Church or Flock is spoken to And how should one part of the Church come to have a right to chuse and refuse the Bishop more than all the rest And in all ordinary Dioceses it was so long after But it is true that at Rome Alexandria and the greater Churches where the custom was continued and yet the multitude of the people was so great that they could not half meet in one place those that were forwardest crowded together and oft committed Riots and Murders as at the Election of Damasus and others till by this the custom was changed to avoid such tumults and those that would not be in the Crowd stayed at home And the nearest Neighbours commonly were they that met Object But do not we see that a whole County can meet to chuse Parliament Men Answ 1 No It is only the Freeholders who are comparatively but a small part of the County 2. It is in a Field or Streets and not in a Church 3. It is commonly to judge of their Suffrages by comparing by the eye the magnitude of the distinct Companies when they separate or else by taking their Votes Man by Man in a long time and not to do all in their hearing and by their Counsel as in this Case 4. I have been at great Assemblies for such Elections of Parliament in the Fields and I never saw more together than have heard me preach in one Assembly nor half so many as some London Parishes do contain much less as a Diocess There is a great deal more in Cyprian to prove the thing in question Epist 3 6 10 11 13 14 26 27 28 31 33 40. which would be tedious to the Reader should I recite it A primordio Episcopatus mei statuerim nihil sine consilio vestro sine consensu plebis meae privata sententia gerere Prohibeantur offerre acturi apud nos apud confessores ipsos apud plebem universam causam suam Haec singulorum tractanda sit limanda plenius ratio non tantum cum Collegis meis sed cum plebe ipsa universa Vix plebi persuadeo immo extorqueo ut tales patiantur admitti Secundum vestra divina suffragia Conjurati scelerati de Ecclesia sponte se pellerent By these and many such passages it is evident that even the famous Church of Carthage under that famous Bishop was no greater than that all Church Affairs might be treated of in the hearing of all the Laity and managed by their consent and the Quality of each Presbyter and Communicant and their faults fell under the Cognizance of the whole Church not as Governors but as interessed for their own welfare as the words declare VII And here I think I may seasonably cite the Constitutions called Apostolical which if not written by Clement were certainly for the most part of them very ancient as being before Athanasius who mentioneth them And the Learned and Sober Albaspinaeus Observ Lib. 1. p. 38. saith De constitutionibus istis nemini dubium esse debet quin probus iuxta antiquus liber sit certoque affirmare possum trecentis primis eo ecclesiam Graecam tanquam rituali Pontificali usam esse Quique eas attente legerit eadem de illis quae de canonibus judicabit additas viz. decursu temporum primis novas quemadmodum novae leges constitutiones in regimine Ecclesiae novis occasionibus enatis factae sunt that though they were not written by Clement or the Apostles yet they were that Summary of Apostolical or Christian Discipline which the Greek Churches much used for the first three hundred years and that Additions were made by degrees But I cite them for nothing but the History wherein they are of great account to acquaint us with the state of the Church in those times Lib. 2. cap. 18. It is said that Omnium Episcopus curam habeat eorum qui non peccarunt ut non peccent eorum qui in peccatis sunt ut peccasse poeniteat ait enim Dominus Videte ne contemnatis unum ex pusillis istis Item poenitentibus condonare oportet peccata Quocirca curam omnium suscipe tanquam rationem de pluribus redditurus Ac sanos quidem conserva lapsos vero mone qui in jejunio premens leva in remissione eum qui
luxit recipe cuncta Ecclesia pro eo deprecante c. And much more works he adds Whereby it appeareth that the Bishoprick was no greater than that he could take a personal care of every member over the meanest sound and unsound And that it was one Assembly where all did intercede for the restoring of the Penitent So cap. 20. opening the Bishop's duty to the Laity he repeateth Omnes monens omnes increpans c. And ibid. Medice ergo Ecclesiae Domini adhibe medicinam cuique aegrotantium convenientem Omnibus modis cura sana factos sanos redde Ecclesiae pasce gregem non per vim neque imperiose cum ludibrio despectu quasi dominatum teneas sed tanquam bonus pastor in sinum ac complexum agnos congrega oves gravidas hortare And it concerneth them to know well what they do for cap. 2. Scitote quod qui eum qui injuriam non fecit ejicit aut qui se convertit non recipit fratrem suum occidit sanguinem ejus fudit sicut Cain sanguinem fratris sui fudit cujus sanguis qui ad Deum clamat requiretur Similiter eveniet ei qui ab Episcopo suo sine iusta causa fuerit excommunicatus Qui tanquam pestiferum ejicit eum qui est extra culpam is quidem saevior est interfectore Violentior est ipso homicida qui corpus perimit is qui innocentem ex ecclesia ejicit Et cap. 25. Oportet ut qui in Ecclesia assidui sunt eos Ecclesia aelat viz. Pontificem Sacerdotes Levitas where the Assembly is the Church which maintaineth the Bishop and Presbyters And cap. 26. It is the Bishop that to all the Church is Minister Verbi scientiae custos Mediator Dei vestrum in iis quae ad eum colendum pertinent that is officiateth in Church Worship hic est magister pietatis ac religionis hic est secundum Deum pater vester qui vos per aquam Spiritum sanctum regeneravit c. Episcopus igitur vobis praesideat ut dignitate Dei cohonestatus qua clerum sub potestate sua tenet toti populo praeest Diaconus vero assistat huic c. So that a Bishops Church was no greater than that he could be the constant Teacher Guide Baptizer c. of them all And cap. 27. All the Oblations were to be brought to the Bishop himself by themselves that offered or by the Deacons Immo primitias quoque decimas quae sponte offeruntur is enim probe novit afflictos cuique tribuit ut congruit ne quis eadem die aut eadem hebdom I de bis aut saepius accipiat alius vero nihil penitus So that the reason why all the Offerings Tythes and Gifts in his whole Diocess were brought to the Bishop himself was because he was well acquainted with all the Poor of his Diocess and was every day to relieve them and see that one did not receive twice the same day or the same Week and another have none How many hundred Churches think you had a Church then in the Belly of it and how large was such a Diocess And cap. 28. In their Love-Feasts the Bishop was to have always his special part of the Feast even sent him if he were absent Sure if his Diocess had six hundred or a thousand Parishes and as many Feasts and some of them as far off as I am from the Cathedral Church about fourscore Miles it will cost more the Carriage of the Bishop's Supper than it is worth and it will be cold and it is well if it stink not by the way And the Presbyters that were all to have a double portion also of the Feast are called tanquam Consiliarii Episcopi Ecclesiae Corona sunt enim Consilium Senatus Ecclesiae So that it was but one City Congregation yet that had Bishops and Presbyters and Deacons c. And in cap. 30. and many Chapters there is mentioned often the Bishops doing all without any help save the Deacons which would make one think that de facto Doctor Hammond was in the right and that some of the Constitutions were written when in most Churches there was no Presbyters with the Bishop but Deacons only Cap. 32. If the Deacon knew any to be poor he must tell the Bishop and do nothing without him How large was this Diocess cap. 34. This Bishop must be loved as a Father feared as a King honoured as a God offering him our Fruits and the works of our hands for his Blessing giving him as God's Priest our First-fruits Tythes First-fruits of Corn Wine Oyl Apples Wool and all that God shall give us Was all this carried him from many hundred Parishes many score Miles And cap. 36. The Bishop's Church was no farther off than that all the Members were to come to it in the morning before they went to any work and at Evening when they had done How big was this Diocess Cap. 44. The Deacon is to be the Bishop's Eye and Ear and Mouth and to help him that he may not be overwhelmed with his work If he had a thousand subject Presbyters one Deacon's help only would not have been named Cap. 56. The Bishop is to see that this Deacon speak Peace to every one that entreth into the Church to worship Which implyeth that he was present in the Church Cap. 57. The description of a Church Order is that the Bishop's Seat be in the midst and that the Presbyters sit on each side of him and so for the rest And the Order of Officiating was that the Deacons seeing all orderly keep their Seats the Reader first read the old Scriptures and the Deacon or Presbyters the Gospels then that the Presbyters exhort the people not all at once but one by one and last of all the Bishop c. These were then the Churches where every Altar had a Bishop So cap. 50. Cum doces Episcope jube mone populum frequent are quotidie Ecclesiam mane vespere ut omnino abesse nolit immo assidue conveniat neque Ullus subducendo se Ecclesiam mutilam faciat a corpore Christi unum membrum decerpat Neque enim de solis Sacerdotibus dictum est sed potius quisque Laicus c. So that a Bishop's Diocess or Church was so great as that no one Lay Member should be absent Morning or Evening Lib. 4. cap. The Bishop had the particular care of all the Pupils Widows Labourers Weak Naked Sick Virgins c. And cap. 5. He is to know well who they be that offer all the Oblations and is to reject the Oblations of all the Wicked For cap. 7. Let the Poor have never so much â—eed it 's better perish by Famine than receive anything from the Enemies of God which may be contumelious to his Friends Lib 8. cap. 4. The Ordering of a Bishop must be de quo nulla est querela qui sit a
cuncto populo ex optimis quibusque electus quo nominato placente populus in unum congregatus una cum Presbyteris Episcopis praesentibus die Dominico consentiat Qui vero inter reliquos princeps Episcopus percontetur Episcopos populum an ipse sit quem praeesse petunt c. So that all the people of the Church came together to chuse and consent to the Bishop no greater at that time was a Diocesane Church Cap. 12. His peractis dextram laevam ejus ut discipuli Magistro assistant This is part of the Common Rubrick of the best and eldest Liturgy that I know of recorded by Church History for the celebrating the Sacrament So that it supposeth a Bishop to be then present in all Churches that had an Altar and Sacrament The rest of the Liturgy lib. 8. supposeth still the same presence of the Bishop Cap. 35. Congregabis Episcope Ecclesiam ad vesperam c. It would be too long to recite all the Bishops part in the ordinary Offices of the Assembly It is hence plain that in those Ages unless it were very few perhaps only Rome and Alexandria no Bishops had more stated Assemblies or Churches that had Altars or communicated than one VIII The Canons called the Apostles run just in the same strain with the Constitutions And though by some of them it is apparent that at least all of them are not so old as many think As that which intimateth that Rulers set up Clergy-men c. yet they were elder than our Compound Diocesane Churches For Can. 5. It is said Omnium aliorum primitiae Episcopo Presbyteris domum mittuntur non super altare Manifestum est autem quod Episcopus Presbyteri inter Diaconos reliquos Clericos eas dividunt By which and many such passages it is evident that there was then but one Altar and one Bishop with his Presbytery and Deacons in a Church as in Ignatius's time and that they all lived on the same Altar together with the rest of the Gifts of the Church Vid. Can. 58. The Can. 32. saith Siquis Presbyter contemnens Episcopum suum seorsim collegerit altare aliud erexerit nihil habens quo reprehendat Episcopum in causa pietatis aut justitiae deponatur quasi principatus amator existens Haec autem post unam secundam tertiam Episcopi obsecrationem fieri conveniat The same is in the Can. 5. Concil Antioch And to set up aliud Altare Altare contra Altare is the Phrase used then by many Writers and Councils to signifie a dividing and separating from the Church and setting up an Antichurch All which sheweth that then a Bishops Church had but one Altar IX Dionysius whoever or whenever he wrote doth so describe the Bishops work as sheweth that he had but one Church and Presbytery to assist him Cap. 4. de Eccles Hier. he tells us that The Prefect did baptize those that were converted and the Presbyters and Deacons did but assist him And it is a very long manner of baptizing which he there describeth and all the Church were called together to it and joyned in it And this was in times when the Infidels were to be brought in and converted and baptized at Age where Examinations Professions and Circumstances made it so long a work as this alone would have proved his Church to be no greater than aforesaid much more with the rest of the work which he describeth X. But Councils give the surest testimonies to such matter of fact Concil Agath Can. 4. Siquis etiam extra Parochias ubi legitimus est ordinariusque conventus Oratorium habere voluerit reliquis festivitatibus ut ibi missam audiat propter fatigationem familiae justa ordinatione permittimus Pascha vero Natali Domini Epiphania Ascensione Domini Pentecoste natali Sancti Johannis Baptistae siqui maxime dies in festivitatibus habentur non nisi in civitatibus aut Parochiis audiant This being decreed so late when Christians were increased in the Countries alloweth them to avoid weariness in travelling with their Families too far to have Chappels or Oratories in the remote parts of the Country but so that they come all to the City or Parish Church on all the greatest Festivals Which sheweth that then the Church was but one Assembly which all could joyn in to hear the word And that each of these City and Parish Churches had a Bishop of their own is apparent in what followeth Can. 30. Benedictionem super plebem in Ecclesia fundere aut poenitentem in Ecclesia benedicere Presbytero penitus non licebit that is It shall not at all be lawful for a Presbyter to pronounce the Blessing on the people in the Church or to bless a Penitent in the Church Now these being or one at least performed in every Church Assembly when a Presbyter is forbidden to do them it is implied that a Bishop was present to do it himself and so that every communicating Assembly had a Bishop And it 's said Can. 31. Missas die Dominico secularibus totas audire speciali ordine praecipimus ita ut ante benedictionem sacerdotis egredi populus non praesumat quod si fecerit ab Episcopo publice confundatur So that there must be a daily pronunciation of the Blessing each Lords day and that not by the Presbyters but the Bishop who must rebuke them that go out before it which sheweth that each Church had a Bishop And after Qui solemnitatum id est Paschae natalis domini vel Pentecostes festivitatibus cum Episcopis interesse neglexerint quum in civitatibus communionis vel benedictionis accipiendae causa positos se nosse debeant triennio communione priventur Ecclesiae By which it appeareth that in a City there were no more Christians or Church-members than could congregate with the Bishop on the Festivals for Communion when all the neglecters were to be deprived of the Communion for three years XI The Council at Eliberis Baetic An. 305. had nineteen Bishops twenty six Presbyters and the Deacons omnis Plebs stood by which intimateth that these twenty six Presbyters and the Deacons were the main body of the Clergy under the nineteen Bishops which was not two Presbyters to a Bishop why else should the Deacons and all the Laity be there if not all the Presbyters And supposing that Plebs omnis here signifie not strictly all the Laity yet it intimateth that the Churches were no greater than that so great a part of their Laity was there as that Phrase might be well used of which cannot be of our Compound Diocess XII Concil Gangrens cap. 7. No one was to receive the Oblations of Fruits and the First-fruits due to the Church out of the Church And cap. 8. None was to receive them but the Bishop or he whom the Bishop appointed This sheweth the quantity of the Diocess and that every Church had one Altar
and one Bishop XIII In a Roman Council sub Silvest it 's said Ab omni Ecclesia eligatur consecrandus Episcopus nullo de membris Ecclesiae intercedente omni Ecclesia conveniente nulli Episcopo liceat sine cuncta Ecclesia a novissimo gradu usque ad primum ordinare Neophytum Silvester Papa dixit A nobis incipientes moderamine lenitatis judicare commonemus ut nulli Episcopo liceat quemlibet gradum Clerici ordinare aut consecrare nisi cum omni adunata Ecclesia si placet dixerunt Episcopi placet What can be more fully said Let the Bishop to be ordained be chosen by all the Church no one of the Members of the Church being wanting and all the Church meeting together Let it be lawful for no Bishop without the whole Church to ordain Not to ordain or consecrate any degree of Clergy-Man but with the whole Church together in one And how great then were the Churches when even at Rome and all about it The whole Church united and every member could meet together at every Ordination and Consecration I scarce know how a testimony can be plainer XIV The Concil Sardic which first began to befriend the Grandeur of the Roman Bishop was it that first forbad Bishops to be ordained in small Villages yet note that even there it was not absolutely forbidden to all Villages but only to such Villages and small Cities where one Presbyter was enough But they allowed a Bishop to the Cities Quae Episcopos habuerunt siqua tam populosa est Civitas vel Locus mark Locus as distinct from Civitas qui mereatur habere Episcopum So that if there were but people enough for more than one Presbyter they allowed them a Bishop And Can. 14. It is decreed that As no Lay-man must be above three Weeks from Church so no Bishop from his own Church at another place Whereas if a Bishop have many Churches or many hundred or a thousand he could be but at one in a Year or two or three or more if he did nothing but travel from parish to Parish Only in the next Canon those that have Farms or Lands in the Country are dispensed with for three Weeks to be absent from their own Churches so they go to another XV. In the Epistle of the 1. Concil Nic. ad Eccles Aegypt in Crab. pag. 262. T. 1. Presbyters were to be made Solummodo sivideantur digni populus eos elegerit condecernente simul designante maxime Alexandriae Civitatis Episcopo Still the people that had the choice were no more than could meet to chuse And even in the Arabick Canons ascribed to this Council by some of late it 's said Can. 72. Sic Episcopi Sacerdotes si Civitates suas Altaria propter alia majora relinquerent male facerent which shews that each City even then had but one Altar or Meeting for Sacramental Communion though when these were written there were other Churches in Villages that had Altars And in Pisan Can. 57. Archi-presbyter in absentia Episcopi honoretur tanquam Episcopus quia est loco ejus sit caput Sacerdotum qui sub potestate ejus sunt in Ecclesia The Bishop then was but such a Head of Priests in the same Church as an Arch-Presbyter might be in his absence And Cap. 9. The Vote of the whole Diocess without the Arch-bishop shall not serve to chuse a Bishop though all gathered together XVI The Concil Vasense granted leave for Presbyters to preach and Deacons to read Homilies in Country Parishes which sheweth both that Bishops were the ordinary Preachers to their whole Flocks before and that these Parishes were yet but new and perhaps but Chappels that yet had not Altars and the Lord's Supper XVII Binnius in Concil Ephes 1. To. 2. cap. 20. saith Dalmatius told the Emperor that there were six thousand Bishops under the Metropolitan sent to the Council that were against Nestorius And there was a great number on the other side with Johan Antiochen who cast out Cyril and Memnon How great think you were these Bishops Dioceses XVIII Concil Carth. 3. cap. 39. 40. in Crab some would have had many twelve Bishops at each Bishop's Ordination but Aurelius desired it might be but three because Crebro pene per diem Dominicum ordinationes habemus they had Ordinations almost every Lord's day and Tripoli had but five Bishops How big were these Dioceses where the Bishops could meet almost every Lord's day for Ordinations and five under Tripoly was an exceeding small number And cap. 40. If a Bishop were accused at his Ordination the Cause was to be tried In eadem plebe cui ordinandus est And surely it was not to be in many hundred Congregations at once or per vices XIX Concil Antioch before this Can. 5. pag. 321. in Crab Siquis Presbyter aut Diaconus Episcopum proprium contemnens se ab Ecclesia segregaverit seorsum colligens Altare constituit vel in secunda edit privatim apud se collectis populis Altare erigere ausus fuerit c. This sheweth 1. That the Presbyters then joyned with the Bishop in the same Church 2. And that then each Church had but one Altar and to erect another Altar elsewhere was to set up another Church Can. 8. Presbyteri qui sunt in agris Canonicas Epistolas dare non possunt Chorepiscopi autem dare possunt This sheweth that then the Country Villages had Chorepiscopos with Presbyters Can. 10 Qui in vicis vel possissionibus Chorepiscopi nominantur quamvis manus impositionem Episcoporum perceperint ut Episcopi consecrati sint tamen Sanctae Synodo placuit ut modum proprium recognoscant ut gubernent sibi subjectas Ecclesias earumque moderamine curaque contenti sint This sheweth that then the Churches in Villages had their Bishops though under the City Bishops Can. 16. A Bishop that put himself into a vacant Church without the consent of a perfect Council where must be the Metropolitane must be cast out etsi cunctus populus quem diripuit eum habere delegerit which sheweth that the whole people were no more than could meet to chuse him Can. 17 18 21. imply the same Episcopus ab alia Parochia non migret ad aliam nec sponte sua insiliens nec vi coactus a populo nec ab Episcopis necessitate compulsus Maneat autem in Ecclesia quam primitus adeo sortitus est A Church and a Parish are here the same and no greater than that the people could be the compellers which implieth their concurrence which could not be in a Diocess of many hundred Churches but in one only Can. 23. The Goods of the Church are faithfully to be kept which also are to be dispensed by the Judgment and Power of the Bishop to whom is committed the people and the souls that are congregated in the Church and it 's manifest what things belong to the Church with the
5. UPon the Review finding some considerable Evidences from Councils before omitted some shall be here added 1. The Roman Clergy called a Council at Rome Bin. pag. 158. c. saith that in the Interregnum they had the charge of the Universal Church and Cyprian wrote to them as the Governors of the Church of Rome when they had been a year or two without a Bishop And their Actions were not null 2. A Carthage Council with Cyprian condemn even a dead man called Victor because by his Will he left one Faustinus a Presbyter the Guardian of his Sons and so called him off his Sacred Work to mind Secular things Did this favour of Bishop's Secular Power Magistracy or Domination 3. How came the Carthage Councils to have so many hundreds in so narrow a room or space of Land but that every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corporation or big Town had a Bishop Anno 308. at a Carthage Council the very Donatists had two hundred and seventy Bishops And at Arles two hundred Bishops heard the Donatists Cause 4. The Laodicean Council decreed Can. 46. that the Baptized should learn the Creed and on Friday repeat it to the Bishops or Presbyters which implieth that a Bishop was present with every Church And Cap. 57. It is ordained that thenceforth Bishops should not be ordained in small Villages and Hamlets but Visiters should be appointed them But such Bishops as had heretofore been there ordained should do nothing without the Conscience of the City Bishop Which implieth 1. That every big Town had a Bishop 2. And Villages before 5. Epiphanius Haer. 68. pag. 717. c. saith That Peter separated from Meletius in the same room and as Meletius went to the Mines he made new Bishops and gathered new Churches so that in several Cities there were two Bishops and Churches Which implieth that they were Congregations for Personal Communion 6. The Nicene Council cap. 8. alloweth Rural Bishops then in use whom Petavius proveth to have been true Bishops 7. Greg. Nazianz. pag. 528. c. sheweth how Churches were enlarged and changed when the strife began between Mea Tua Antiqua Nova Nobilior Ignobilior Multitudine Opulentior aut Tenuior 8. After Lucifer Calaritanus ordained Paulinus Antioch had long two Bishops half being his Flock and half cleaving to Meletius 9. Nazianzen had in the great City of Constantinople but one of the small Churches the Arians having the greater till Theodosius gave him the greater And those Hearers he was Bishop over 10. A Council at Capua ordered that both the Bishops Flocks in Antioch under Evagrius and Flavian should live together in Love and Peace 11. Many Cities tolerated Novatian Bishops and Churches among them and oft many other Dissenters Which sheweth that but part of the City were one Church 12. The Council at Carthage called the last by Binius decreed that Reconciliation of Penitents as well as Chrisme and consecrating Virgins is to be done only by the Bishops except in great necessity For how many Parishes can a Bishop do all this and all the rest of his Office And when Christians were multiplied they that desired a Bishop where was none before might have one But else aliud Altare is again forbidden to be set up 13. Another Carthage Council decreeth Can. 15. That the Bishop have but vile or cheap Houshold-stuff and a poor Table and Diet and seek Authority or Dignity by his Faith and desert of Life Can. 19. That he contend not for transitory things though provoked Can. 23. That he hear no Cause but in the presence of his Presbyters else it shall be void that is sentenced without them unless confirmed by their presence Note this being a constant work required a constant presence and it is not a selected Chapter of Presbyters that is named And must those of many hundred Parishes dwell in the City or travel thither for daily Causes of Offenders c. Can. 28 30. Bishops unjust Sentence void and Judgment against the absent 14. A Council at Agathum Can. 3. saith If Bishops wrongfully excommunicate one any other Bishop shall receive him Which implieth that the wronged person lived within reach of a Neighbour Bishop's Parish For it doth not bind him to remove his Dwelling And leave to go daily twenty or forty Miles to Church is a small kindness And I have already cited Can. 63. If any Citizens on the great Solemnities Easter the Lord's Nativity or Whitsuntide shall neglect to meet where the Bishops are seeing they are set in the Cities for Benediction and Communion let them for three Years be deprived of the Communion of the Church So that even when Churches were enlarged yet you see how great a part of them met in one place 15. Divers Canons give the Bishop a third or fourth part of all the Church Profits And if those Churches had been as big as our Dioceses it would have been too much of all Conscience 16. A Synod at Carpentoracte decreed that the Bishop of the City shall not take all the Country Parish Maintenance to himself Which implieth as the former that his Country Parish was small 17. A Council at Orleance Anno 540. decree Can. 3. about ordaining a Bishop that Qui praeponendus est omnibus ab omnibus eligatur The Dioceses yet were not so large but that All met to chuse 18. So Concil Byzazen saith it must be By the Election of all 19. Another at Orleance Anno 545. saith No Citizen must celebrate Easter out of the City because they must keep the principal Festivities in the presence of the Bishop where the holy Assembly must be kept But if any have a necessity to go abroad let him ask leave of the Bishop Here is but one City Assembly and Individuals must be known to the Bishop and ask his leave to go abroad And Can. 5. saith A Bishop must be ordained in his own Church which he is to oversee Which implieth that he had but one Church and Country Chappels 20. Another Orleance Council hath the like deposing all Bishops that come not in by common consent And requiring them both in their Cities and Territories to relieve the Poor from the Church-House Let us have such Dioceses as the Bishop can do this for and we consent 21. A Synod at Paris Can. 8. says Let no Man be ordained a Bishop against the Will of the Citizens nor any but whom the Election of the People and Clerks shall seek with plenary Will None shall be put in by the Command of the Prince c. 22. King Clodoveus called a Synod at Cabilone which Can. 10. decreeth That all Ordination of Bishops be null that was otherwise made than by the Election of the Comprovincials the Clerks and the Citizens 23. The Const Trul. Can. 38. sheweth how the unhappy changes were made decreeing That whatever alteration the Imperial Power shall make on any City the Ecclesiastical Order shall follow it And so if the
probabiliter ex oblatione dare debebit The other Ed. saith Et cura probatio sit Episcopi We are content that the Diocess be as great as the Bishop will perform this for to examine all such dying men and give them the Sacrament or send it them after his distinct Examination VII Gregor Nazianz. Epist 22. pag. 786. To. 1. perswading the Church of Caesarea to chuse Basil for their Bishop sendeth his Letters to the Presbyters the Monks the Magistrates and the whole Laity And though I doubt not but by that time there were Country Congregations by this the magnitude of the City Church may be gathered where the whole Laity could be consulted and could chuse And Basil made this Gregory his chief friend Bishop of Sasimis a small poor dirty Town And yet Gregory himself it seems had in some near Village a Chorepiscopus with Presbyters and Deacons as in Glycerius his Case appeareth Epist Greg. 205. pag. 900 901. And Nazianzum where he plaid the Bishop under his Father two Bishops at once one in Title the other in Practice without Title was but a small Town VIII Basil an Arch-Bishop was so much against enlarging Dioceses and taking in many Churches to one Bishop that he taketh the advantage of the difference between him and Anthymius to make many Bishops more in his Diocess over small places yea it seemeth some places were so small as that they never before had any Pastors at all as appeareth by Gregory Nazianzene Epist 28. IX Theodoret tells us lib. 4. cap. 20. Hist Eccles that even in the great Alexandria the Presbyters and Deacons were all but nineteen when Lucius came to banish them to Heliopolis a City of Phoenicia which City had not one Christian in it By which it appeareth that even then under Christian Emperors Christianity was not received by the multitude when some Cities had not a Christian X. Theodor. ib. l. 4. c. 16. saith that when Eulogius and Protogenes the Presbyters of Edessa were banished to Antionone in Thebais they found the most of the people Heathens and but few of the Church yet had that little number a Bishop of their own XI Id. l. 4. c. 20. In Peter Bishop of Alexandria's Epistle wherein he sheweth such actions then done by the Soldiers in scorn of the Godly proclaiming Turpitude not to be named under the name of scornful Preaching as have been done by others lately among us it 's said of Lucius Qui partes lupi nequitia improbe factis agere impense studebat quique Episcopatum non consensu Episcoporum Oâ—thodoxorum in unum convenientium non suffragiis vere Clericorum non postulatione Populi ut sacri Ecclesiae Canones praescribunt So that great Patriarch himself was chosen Postulatione Populi as shewing the custom of all the Churches which beginning when the people were but one Congregation continued as it could in some degree when they came like a Presbyterian Church for even then it was no otherwise to have many Congregations XII Id. c 22. saith that Valens found the Orthodox even in the great Patriarchal City of Antioch in possession but of one Church which good Jevinian the Emperor had given them of which he dispossessed them And when they met afterwards to worship God at a Hill near the City Valens sent to disturb them thence And Cap. 23. Flavianus and Diodorus Presbyters Meletius the Bishop being banished led them to a River side where they congregated till they were thence also driven by the Emperor And Flavianus when he could not preach collected Mâ—tter Reasons and holy Sentences as Sermon-Notes for others to preach in the Gyâ—nasâ—â—â— Bellicum where they resolved to meet whatever came on it Then Aphraates a Monk taught them and when Valens told him that Monks must pray in private and not preach in publick Aphraates told the Emperor that he had set the House of God our Father on fire and troubled the Church and therefore he was called to its publick help to shew how far they obeyed a silencing Emperor By all which it appeareth that even then the Orthodox Patriarchal Church of Antioch was but one Assembly which met in one only place at once XIII Id. l. 4. c. 29. When Terenâ—ius the Emperor's victorious General being Orthodox was bid by the Emperor to ask what he would of him as a Reward he asked but One Church for the Orthodox and was denied it which intimateth their numbers XIV Dolicha where Eusebius made Maris Bishop was parvum Oppidum a little Town and infected with Arianism where an Arian Woman killed Eusebius with a Tile when he went to ordain Maris Bishop Theodor. lib. 5. cap. 4. XV. Euseb Eccles Hist l. 5. c. 16. tells us that Apollonius saith of Alexander a Montanist Bishop that the Congregation whereof he was Pastor because he was a Thief would not admit him By which it appeareth that his Church was but one Congregation And l. 7. c. 29. The Synod of Antioch say of Dionysius Alexandr that he wrote not to the person of Paulus Samosatenus but to the whole Congregation that is his Church And they say He licensed the Bishops and Ministers of the adjoyning Villages and Cities to preach to the People Which sheweth what Dioceses and Churches then were XVI Socrates l. 1. c. 8. tells us that Spiridion was at the same time a Bishop and a Shepherd And whether his Parish was one Church or many hundred you may easily judge when so holy a Man could spare time all the Week to keep his sheep XVII When Constans the Emperor affrighted Constantius to restore Athanasius Constantius craved of Athanasius that the Arrians in Alexandria might have one Church to themselves Athanasius told him It was in his power to command and execute but craved also a request of him which was that in all Cities there might also be one Church granted for them that communicated not with the Arrians But the Eastern Arrian Bishops hearing that put off the decision of both the Requests By which a willing person may conjecture at the quantity of the Episcopal Churches in those times XVIII Even in Ambrose's days the great Church of Milan was no greater than could meet in one Temple to chuse a Bishop And Ambrose was chosen by them Socrat. l. 4. c. 25. And Baronius in Vita Ambrosii ex Paulino saith pag. 9. Quod solitus erat circa Baptizandos solus implere quinque postea Episcopi tempore quo decessit vix implerent What then was all the rest of his work and how many Churches could he thus oversee And the Arrians for whom the Emperor made all that stir with Ambrose were so few in Milan that when the Emperor would have had one Church for them and could not get it by fair means or force Ambrose thus jesteth at the Empress and the Arrian Gothes Quibus ut olim plaustrum sedes erat it a nunc plaustrum Ecclesia est Quocunque foemina illa processerit secum
suos omnes coetus vehit Her Coach is their Church and which way soever she goeth she carrieth all her Congregations with her Ambros de Offic. To. 4. c. 1. sheweth that teaching his Church is the Bishop's Office And de initiandis c. 2. p. 163. To. 4. he saith to the baptized person Vidisti illic in Sacrario Levitam vidisti Sacerdotem vidisti summum Sacerdotem In which he intimateth that the Bishop as the Chief Priest was present in the Church with his Presbyters at Baptizings Which sheweth that they had not a multitude of Churches without Bishops And de Sacram. l. 1. c. 1. how the Bishop himself must touch with Oyl the Nostrils of all that were baptized with other Ceremonies after mentioned sheweth that he was usually present at every Baptism And de Sacram. l. 3. c. 1. he giveth the reason why he did wash the Feet of all that were baptized and the Church of Rome did not Vide ne forte propter multitudinem declinarit Perhaps they decline it because of the multitude But all the Diocess of Milan as a Bishoprick not as an Arch-Bishoprick had no such multitudes but that besides all his other work Ambrose could have time to wash the feet of every one that was baptized And cap. 3. Ecclesiae contuitu consideratione te ipse commenda The Church was present then And to shew by his work what his Church was he celebrated the Sacrament daily Accipe quotidie quod quotidie tibi prosit sic vive ut quotidie merearis accipere Qui non meretur quotidie accipere non meretur post annum accipere And how he discharged all this you may perceive de Dignit Sacerdot cap. 3. Episcopus non aliud nisi Episcopalia opera designat ut ex bono opere magis quam professione noscatur plus meritis esse Episcopum quam quod nomine vocitetur Quia sicut nihil esse diximus Episcopo excellentius sic nihil est miserabilius si de sancta vita Episcopus periclitetur si Sacerdos in crimine teneatur He thought not as too many now do that the Name and Seat of Bishop or Priest can do more to hallow Persecutions Worldliness and other Crimes than the Crimes can do to unhallow the Bishop or Priest And lib. 5. To. 4. pag. 180. having mentioned The Husband of one Wife he addeth Si vero ad altiorem sensum conscendimus inhibet duas usurpare Ecclesias A Bishop must no more have two Churches than a Husband have two Wives But some Bishops imitate Solomon's Lust rather than his Wisdom and will have above a thousand Churches as Wives or Concubines Adding Qui stipendiis tantum contentus Ecclesiae suae penitus non ambiat quae novit esse superflua Covetousness hath enlarged Dioceses And cap. 5. Cum dominatur populis anima servit Daemoni When he Lords it over the people his own Soul is a Slave to the Devil And cap. 6. pag. 18. Nam quid aliud interpretatur Episcopus nisi superinspector Maxime cum solio editiore in Ecclesia resideat ut ita cunctos respiciat ut cunctorum oculi in ipsum respiciant So that it is from the oversight of one Congregation where he sits among and above the Presbyters that he is called a Bishop and not from Churches which he overseeth indeed but seeth not and might well be said to be an Overseer in our vulgar sense as it signifies one that overlooketh or observeth not were he as many now And of so small a place as Forum Cornelii instead of committing it to a subject Presbyter he saith Epist 63. p. 111. ad Constant Arausicorum Episcopum Commendo tibi fili Ecclesiam quae est ad forum Cornelii quo cam de proximo invisas frequentius donec ei ordinetur Episcopus And pag. 117. Ad Eccles Vercellens post obitum Eusebii Epist he writeth to them thus to chuse another Quanto magis ubi plena est in nomine domini Congregatio ubi Universorum Postulatio congruit dubitare vos nequaquam oportet ibi dominum Jesum voluntatis authorem petitionis arbitrum fore ordinationis praesulem vel largitorem gratiae So that this famous Church was no greater than that all the people could meet and agree in the Choice or Postulation of a Bishop So To. 4. de Poenitent l. 5. c. 15. Tota Ecclesia suscipit onus peccatoris cui compatiendum fletu oratione dolore est By which it seems that all the Church that is so great a part as might be called all was used to be present each meeting when Penitents lamented their sin And in To. 3. p. 183. in 1 Cor. 11. he saith that the Angels before whom the Women in the Church must be veiled are the Bishops as God's Vicars which intimateth that ordinarily every Church-Assembly was to have a Bishop present And ibid. Hoc notat qui sic in Ecclesiam conveniebant ut munera sua offerentes advenientibus Presbyteris quia adhuc rectores Ecclesiis non omnibus locis fuerant constituti c. And p. 161. in Rom. 1. 2. Propterea Ecclesiae scribit quia adhuc singulis Ecclesiis Rectores non erant instituti By which you may conjecture what he thought of the magnitude of Churches then Tom. 3. p. 89. He so far acknowledgeth the People to have elected him that he calleth them on that account his Parents who in other respects were his Children in Luk. 18. Vos mihi estis Parentes qui Sacerdotium tulistis Vos inquam Filii vel Parentes Filii singuli Universi Parentes Like Hooker's Singulis Major Universis Minor Where you see that the whole Church and not a thousandth part did chuse him Bishop And To. 3. p. 180. in 1 Cor. 14. Verum est quia in Ecclesia that is in every Church Unus est Episcopus not in hundreds of Churches For he saith ibid. in 1 Cor. 12. Et quia ab uno Deo Patre sunt omnia singulos Episcopos singulis Ecclesiis praeesse decrevit He decreed that there should be to every Church a several Bishop When I cite all this of the state of that famous Church of Milan where the Emperor himself did oft reside and which presumed to differ in Customs from Rome I leave you to gather how it was before Christian Emperors and in all the ordinary Churches XIX Augustine was chosen by the people and brought to the Bishop to be ordained Vit. cap. 4. And cap. 5. Valerius the Bishop gave him power to preach before him contrary to the use of the African Churches but according to the custom of the Eastern Churches Which sheweth that Augustine while Presbyter and so other Presbyters ordinarily was in the same Congregation with the Bishop and not in another And upon this other Churches took up the same custom And cap. 21. it 's said In Ordinandis Sacerdotibus Clericis Consensum majorem Christianorum consuetudinem Ecclesiae sequendam esse
vel ei etiam assentiente Sacerdotali ordine in media Ecclesia ordinet praesente populo Episcopo alloquente an etiam posset ei populus ferre testimonium Ordinatio autem non fiat clanculum Ecclesia enim pacem habente decet praesentibus sanctis ordinationes fieri in Ecclesia Undoubtedly as Balsamon noteth by Saints is meant fideles the People Here then you see that the Churches then were such where all the Clergy were present with the Bishop who ordained Ministers to a single Church where all the people could be present to be consulted XXXI In the Life of Fulgentius it is said that Plebs ipsius loci ubi fuerat Monasterium constitutum differre suam prorsus Electionem donec inveniret B. Fulgentium cogitabat where the Bishops resolved to ordain though the King forbad it them And though the King persecuted them for it it is added Repleta jam fuerat Provincia Bizacena novis Sacerdotibus pene vix paucarum plebium Cathedrae remanserant destitutae And the Phrase plebium Cathedrae doth signifie a Bishop's Seat in one Congregation of People One Plebs was one Congregation and had its proper Cathedram XXXII Sozomen after Socrates mentioning the diversity of Church Customs as aforesaid l. 7. c. 19. saith that at Alexandria the Arch-Deacon only readeth the Holy Scriptures in other places only the Deacons and in many Churches only the Priests and on solemn days the Bishops By which words it appeareth that then every Church was supposed to have a Bishop Priests and Deacons present in their publick Worship For the Bishop on his solemn days could not be reading in many Churches much less many hundred at once XXXIII Histor Tripartit l. 1. c. 19. out of Sozomen l. 1. c. 14. Edit Lat. Basil p. 1587. telleth us how Arius seeketh as from the Bithynian Synod to Paulinus of Tyre Euseb Caesar Patroph Scythopol ut una cum suis juberetur cum populo qui cum eo erat solennia Sacramenta Ecclesiae celebrare Esse dicens consuetudinem in Alexandria sicut etiam nunc ut uno existente super omnes Episcopo Presbyteri scorsim Ecclesias obtinerent populus in eis Câ—â—â—â—ctas solemniter celebraret Tunc illi una cum aliis Episcopis c. By this with what is said before out of Epiphanius it is undeniable that this gathering of Assemblies by the Presbyters in the same City and administring the Sacrament to them besides the Church where the Bishop was was taken to be Alexandria's singularity even as low as Sozomen's time And yet note that here is even at Alexandria no mention of many Churches in the Countries at a distance much less hundreds thus gathered but only of some few in that great City And if even in a great City and in Epiphan and in Sozomen's days a Presbyter's Church was an Alexandrian Rarity what need we more Historical Evidence of the Case of the Churches in those times XXXIV Ferrandus Diaconus in Epist de 5. Quaest saith to Fulgentius Sanctos Presbyteros Diaconos beatamque Congregationem which was his Church saluto And that you may again see what Congregation or Church that was In vita Fulgentii cap. 17. pag. 8. it is said that the Plebs sought and chose him and that in despight of Foelix the ambitious Deacon who sought the place and sought the life of Fulgentius Populus super suam Cathedram eum collocavit Celebrata sunt eodem die Divina solenniter Sacramenta de manibus Fulgentii Communicans omnis populus laetus discessit And if in the noble City of Ruspe so late as the days of Fulgentius the Bishop's Church-members were no more than could chuse him set him on his seat and all communicate that day at his hands it is easie by this to judge of most other Churches XXXV Concil Parisiens 1. in Caranz pag. 244. Can. 5. saith Nullus civibus invitis ordinetur Episcopus nisi quem Populi Clericorum Electio plenissima quaesierit voluntate Non principis imperio neque per quamlibet conditionem Metropolis voluntate Episcoporum Comprovincialium ingeratur Quod si per ordinationem Regiam honoris sui culmen pervadere aliquis nimia temeritate praesumpserit a Comprovincialibus loci ipsius Episcopis recipi nullatenus mereatur quem indebite assumptum agnoscunt Siquis de Comprovincialibus recipere eum contra indicta praesumpserit sit a fratribus omnibus segregatus ab ipsorum omnium Charitate remotus Here again you see how late all the Church was to chuse every Bishop plenissima voluntate and consequently how great the Church was And were this Canon obeyed all the people must separate from all the Bishops of England as here all are commanded to do from all those Bishops that do but receive one that is put in by the King and not by the free choice of all the Clergy and People of his Church Note that Crab Vol. 2. pag. 144. hath it contra Metropolis voluntatem But both that and Caranza's Reading who omitteth contra seem contrary to the scope and it 's most likely that it should be read Metropolis voluntate contra Episcoporum comprov scilicet voluntatem XXXVI Leo 1. P. Rom. Epist 89. pag. mihi 160. damning Saint Hillary Magisterially yet saith Expectarentur certe vota Civium testimonia populorum quaereretur honoratorum arbitrium Electio Clericorum quae in Sacerdotum solent ordinationibus ab his qui norunt patrum regulas custodiri ut Apostolicae authoritatis norma in omnibus servaretur qua praecipitur ut Sacerdos Ecclesiae praefuturus non solum attestatione fidelium c. Et postea Teneatur subscriptio Clericorum honoratorum testimonium ordinis consensus Plebis Qui praefuturus est omnibus ab omnibus eligatur And how great must that Diocess be where all the Laity must chuse and vote c. It 's true that Epist 87. c. 2. p. 158. he would not have little Congregations to have a Bishop to whom one Presbyter is enough and no wonder at that time that this great Bishop of Rome the first that notably contended for their undue Supremacy in the Empire was of that mind who also Epist 88. saith of the Chorepiscopi Qui juxta Can. Neocaesar sive secundum aliorum decreta patrum iidem sunt qui Presbyteri The falsehood of which being too plain Petavius in Epiphan ad Haeres 74. p. 278. judgeth that these words being in a Parenthesis are irreptitious And ibid. Epist 88. he saith that by the Can. all these things following are forbidden the Chorepisc and Presbyter Presbyterorum Diaconorum aut Virginum consecratio sicut constitutio Altaris ac benedictio vel unctio Siquidem nec erigere eis Altaria nec Ecclesias vel Altaria consecrare licet nec per impositiones manuum fidelibus baptizandis vel conversis ex haeresi Paracletum Spiritum Sanctum tradere nec Chrisma conficere nec Chrismate Baptizatorum frontes
signare nec publice quidem in Missa quemquam poenitentem reconciliare nec formâ—tas cuilibet Epistolas mittere By which it appeareth how big that Man's Diocess must be who besides all his other work must be present to sign every baptized person and reconcile every Penitent in every Congregation And it 's worth the noting what kind of works they be that the Bishop's Office is maintained for XXXVII From the great Church of Rome at its first Tide time let us look to the great Church of Constantinople even in the days of a better Bishop Chrysostom Besides that they had long but one Temple of which anon Chrysostom saith in 1 Thes 5. 12. Orat. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Et primum debet imperare praeesse volentibus lubentibus qui ei gratiam habent quod imperet p. 1472. p. 1473. Sacerdos in hoc suum contulit negotium Nulla est ei alia vita quam ut versetur in Ecclesia Qui Christum diligit cujusmodicunque sit Sacerdos eum diliget quod per eum sit veneranda assecutus Sacramenta And Doctor Hammond saith this Text speaketh only of Bishops 1 Thes 5. 12. Et ibid. Pro te precatur dono quod per Baptismum datur tibi inservit visitat hortatur monet media nocte si vocaveris venit And how many Parishes can a Bishop thus serve And how many score miles will they send and he go to visit the Sick at midnight And Chrysost in 1 Cor. 14. p. 653. saith Conveniebant olim omnes psallebant communiter Hoc nunc quoque facimus They had no separating Choristers sed tunc in omnibus erat una anima cor unum Nunc autem nec una quidem anima illam concordiam videris consensum sed ubique magnum est Bellum Pacem nunc quoque precatur pro omnibus is qui praeest Ecclesiae ut qui in domum ingreditur paternam sed hujus pacis nomen quidem est frequens res autem nusquam Tunc etiam domus erant Ecclesiae though called Conventicles Nunc autem Ecclesia est domus vel potius quavis domo deterior When Churches grew to be Dioceses they grew worse than when they were in houses But he that here is said praeesse Ecclesiae is he also that pronounceth Peace to them XXXVIII Gregory Nyssen speaking of the gathering of true Churches by preaching saith in Ecclesiast Hom. 1. p. mihi 93. He is the true Preacher who gathereth the dispersed into one Assembly and bringeth those together into one Congregation or Convention who by various Errors are variously seduced XXXIX He that readeth impartially Beda's Ecclesiastical History shall find that in England between six and seven hundred years after Christ they were but single Churches that had Bishops For indeed the famousest and holiest of them in the Kingdom of Northumberland were but Scots Presbyters and such as were sent by them without any Episcopal Ordination Aidan Finan c. And though they did Apostolically preach in many places to convert the Heathen Inhabitants yet their Churches of Christians were small yet presently the Roman Grandeur and Ceremoniousness here prevailed and so by degrees did their Church-form Yet saith Cambden Brit. ed. Frank. p. 100. When the Bishops at Rome had assigned several particular Churches to several Presbyters and had divided Parishes to them Honorius Arch-Bishop of Canterbury about the Year 636. first begun to distribute England into Parishes as is read in the Canterbury History But it 's plain in Beda if he did then begin it he went but a little way with that division The same Cambden also tells us that the Bishoprick of York devoured seven Bishopricks and the Bishoprick of Lincoln more c. Some Seats were but removed but many Bishopricks were dissolved and turned into one which yet were erected when Christians were fewer saith Isaackson Chronolog There was one at Wilton the See at Ramesbury one at Crediton one at St. Patrick's at Bodmin in Cornwall and after at St. Germains one at Selsey Island one at Dunwich one at Helmham and after at Thetford one at Sidnacester or Lindis one at Osney one at Hexham c. And at this day Landaff St. Asaph's Bangor St. David's are no Cities where we have Bishops Seats as notices of the old way XL. Isidorus Peleusiota lib. 1. Epist 149. to Bishop Tribonianus distinctly nameth the Bishop's Charge and the calamity if he be bad that will befall himself first and then the whole Church Himself for undertaking and not performing and the whole Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod hujusmodi viro Sacerdotium indigne mandavit The whole Church then was no bigger than to chuse the Bishop and be under his present inspection as he intimateth And Epist 315. to Bishop Leontius If thou tookest on thee the care of the Church against thy Will and art constrained by the Suffrages and the Contentions and Hands of the People God will be thy helper But if by Money c. Lib. 3. Ep. 216. p. 342. He reckoneth up such and so much work as necessary for a Bishop as no man living can do for above one ordinary Parish And frequently he describeth the City and Congregation at Pelusium as the place where the wicked Bishop and his wicked Priests together destroyed the interest of true Religion XLI I conclude this with the words of Eusebius with the Collection of Papirius Massonus a Writer of the Popes Lives Fabianus ab iis electus est ad Episcopatum urbis Ac forte evenit ut in locum ubi convenerant Columba e sublimi volans capiti ejus insideret Id pro foelici signo accipientes magno consensu alacritate animorum ipsum elegerunt Haec Eusebius Hist l. 6. Ex quo loco collegimus Electionem Episcopi Romani non ad paucos sed ad omnes olim pertinuisse Pap. Masson in vita Fabiani fol. 18 col 2. And if all the whole People of the great Church of Rome were then no more than could meet in one Room to chuse their Bishop what were the rest of the Churches in the World and how many Congregations did they contain CHAP. VII More Proofs of the aforesaid Limits of Churches THe thing that we are proving is that every Bishop should have but one Church supposing him to be no Arch-Bishop and that this Church should be such and so great only as that there may be personal Communion in publick Worship and holy Conversation between the Members and not so great as that the Members have only a Heart-Communion and by Delegates or Synods of Officers As to our Historical Evidence of the matter of fact it runs thus 1. That in the first state of the Churches it cannot be proved that any one Church in all the World consisted of more stated Communicating Assemblies than one or of more Christians than our Parishes But though through Persecution they might be forced as an Independant Church
now may do to meet by parcels in several Houses sometimes in a danger yet their ordinary Meetings when they were free was all together in one place And Unum Altare was the note of their Individuation with Unus Episcopus when Bishops grew in fashion in the eminent sense 2. That the first that broke this Order and had divers Assemblies and Altars under one Bishop were Alexandria and Rome and no other Church can be proved to have done so for about three hundred Years after Christ or near nor most Churches till four hundred yea five hundred Years after 3. That when they departed from this Church temperament they proceeded by these degrees 1. They set up some Oratories or Chappels as are in our Parishes which had only Prayers and Teachings without an Altar Oblations or Sacraments in the City Suburbs or Country Villages near the People coming for Sacramental Communion to the Bishop's Church 2. Afterward these Chappels were turned into Communicating Churches But so as that at first the Bishop's Presbyters who lived sometimes in the same House with him and always near him in the same City and were his Colleagues did preach and officiate to them indifferently that is he whom the Bishop sent and after that a particular Presbyter was assigned to teach a particular Congregation yet so as that more of the Bishop's Presbyters commonly had no such Congregations but the most of them still attended the Bishop in his Church and sate with him on each hand in a high raised Seat and whilst he did usually preach and administer the Sacrament they did but attend him and do nothing or but some by assisting Acts as Lay-Elders do in the Presbyterian Churches principally employed in personal oversight and in joyning in Government with the Bishop And those same Presbyters who had Congregations joyned with the rest in their Weekly Work and made up the Consessus or College of Presbyters 3. And next that and in some places at the same time Communicating Congregations were gathered in the Country Villages so far off the City as that it was found meet to leave a Presbyter Resident among them but under the Government of the City Bishop and Presbytery of whom he was one when he came among them And all this while the Churches were but like our greater Parishes which have divers Chappels where there is liberty of Communicating 4. After this when the Countries were more converted there were more Country Parish-Congregations set up till they attained the form of a Presbyterian Church differing only in the Bishop that is a certain number of the Neighbour Country Parishes in one Consistory but with a Bishop did govern all these Parishes as one Church that is It was many Worshipping Churches as sis eight or ten or twelve joyning to make up one governed Church But at the same time many Pastors and People being convinced of the Church-form which they had before been under and of their own necessity and privileges did require the same Order among themselves as was in City Churches and so had their proper Bishops who were called Chorepiscopi or Country Bishops But these Country-Bishops living among the poorer and smaller number of Christians had not so many Presbyters to attend them as the City-Bishops had So that some Country Congregations had Bishops and some had none And the Churches being chiefly governed by the Synods who met for obliging Concord to avoid Divisions these Synods being made up of the City-Bishops at first they there carried it by Vote to make all the Country-Bishops under them and responsible to them Which they the rather and the easilier consented to because many obscure and unworthy Fellows did insinuate into the esteem of the Country-Christians who had no Bishops near them to advise them better and so became the Corrupters of Doctrine and the Masters of Sects and Heresies By this time one part of the Country Churches had Bishops of their own and the other had none but only Presbyters under the City-Bishops and Presbytery But yet it was but few Neighbour-Parishes like our Market-Towns and the Villages between them that were thus under the City-Bishop For every such Town was then called a City in the larger sense as it signifieth Oppidum and most such Towns had City-privileges too which was no more than to be Corporations and not to have a Nominal Eminency as now some small places have above greater as Bath rather than Plimouth Ipswich Shrewsbury c. Next to this the Emperors being Christians and desiring without force to draw all the People from Heathenism to Christianity they thought it the best way to advance the Christians in worldly respects which ever win on common minds And so they endued the Churches and Bishops with such Honours and Powers heretofore described as were like to the Honour and Power of the Civil Governors in their kind And the Bishops being thus lifted up did first enlarge their own Dioceses as far as they could and advance their Power and the World came unchanged into the Church both in Cities and Villages where the Christians were before so few that many think the Heathens were called Pagani in distinction from the Citizens who were Christian And then the Bishops put down the Chorepiscopi as presuming too much to imitate their Power And next to that lest every Corporation or Market-Town having a Bishop their Dioceses should not be great enough and ne vilesceret nomen Episcopi lest a Bishop's Name should not be honoured enough but become cheap by reason of the number and of the smallness of his Church they first ordered that no such small Cities or other places as had People enough for but one Presbyter should have a Bishop and afterward by degrees put down many smaller Bishops Churches and joyned them to their own And so proceeded by the advantage of Civil Alterations on Cities Names and Privileges to bring themselves to the state that they are in wherein one Bishop infimi ordinis that is no Arch-Bishop hath many hundred or above a thousand Churches and multitudes of Cities called now but Corporations Burroughs or Market-Towns I have repeated so much of the History lest the Reader forget what it is that I am proving and that he may note that if I prove now that in later Ages they kept but the Vestigia or Reliques of the former to prove how it was before their times and if I prove but a Church of Presbyterian Magnitude to have so long continued it sufficeth against that which we now call a Diocess And that we do not play with Names nor by a Diocesane Church mean the same thing with a Parochial or Presbyterian but we mean such as our Dioceses now are where a Bishop alone with a Lay-Chancellor's Court or with some small help of an Arch-Deacon Surrogate or Dean and Chapter without all the Parish-Ministers besides doth rule a multitude of distant Congregations who have no proper Bishop under him And now I proceed I.
unless you will have them Hear as the Papists will have them Pray they know not what And though some might say that though they be of divers Assemblies yet they might have onely One Bishop to Rule them I answer 1. Dr. Hammond is more ingenuous and acknowledges that the diversities of congregations and languages inferred a diversity of Churches and Bishops with their distinct Clergy 2. And all Antiquity made Preaching or Teaching his flock as essential to the Bishops office as Governing them of which next But he could not teach several Churches whose language he understood not VIII Antiquity made the three parts of the Bishops office Teaching Worshipping and Governing to be of the same extent as to the subject society under him It was one and the same Church which he was ordinarily to Teach to guide in worship prayers praise sacrament and to Rule by discipline supposing still that we speak of a meer Bishop and not an Archbishop I should weary the Reader to cite numerous testimonies for so notorious a thing But it is known that the said Bishop neither is nor can be the Ordinary Teacher and Guide in worship to a Diocese of a multitude of Churches but to one or few at most And he that peruseth ancient writers shall find that the Bishop was not only to be a raâ—e or extraordinary Teacher of his whole flock but the Ordinary one not only to send others but to do it himself till the enlargement of Dioceses changed the custome IX Another evidence is this In the first two Centuries Deacons and Bishops were ever officers in the same Church But Deacons were never then officers in more Churches or stated assemblies that had Sacramental Communion than one therefore Bishops were not officers in more No proof can be given of any Deacons that had the care in their places of many Churches Parishes or Societies of Christians And when Dioceses were enlarged it is notable that the Presbyter that was the oculus Episcopi in the Diocese is called the Archdeacon Because originally he was but indeed a Deacon the chief Deacon who was with the Bishop in one and the same Church It being then inauditum for a Deacon to belong to many X. Another evidence is The Great number of Bishops who out of a narrow space of ground did usually assemble in the ancient Synods I told you before out of Crab of Sylvesters number at Rome Binius also hath the like words Sylvester collegit in gremio sedis suae 284 Episcopos and that 139 of them were ex urbe Roma vel non longe ab illa A hundred thirty nine Bishops in Rome and not far from it had not such Dioceses as now Cyprian saith lib. 1. Ep. 3. that Privatus was condemned in Synodo Lambesitana by 90 Bishops which was before Christianity was countenanced by Emperours and were under persecution yea long before Cyprian wrote that Epistle For the examining of every ordinary cause of an accused Presbyter sex Episcopi ex vicinis locis six Bishops from the neighbour places not from 40 or fourscore miles distance were to hear and determine and three Bishops for the cause of every Deacon Concil Afric Can. 20. so that no doubt but their Bishops were as near as our Market Towns at least even when so few of the people were Christians as that all that space afforded but one great Congregation The sixth provincial Council at Carthage had 217 Bishops whereas the General Council at Trent had long but 40. A Council of Donatists Hereticks not so numerous sure as the Catholicks at Carthage mentioned by Augustine Epist 68. about an 308 had 270 Bishops And when there were so great a number of Heretick Bishops how many were there of the Catholicks and Donatists and all other sects set together This one heresie had enow to become persecutours of the Catholicks beating them with clubs putting out the peoples eyes by casting vineger mixt with lime into them dragging them in the dirt And yet they were the smaller number and complained of persecution and some Circumcellions killed themselves to make the Catholicks odious as persecutors Occisos auferunt luci vivis auferunt lucem Quod nobis faciunt sibi non imputant quod sibi faciunt nobis imputantinquiunt Clerici Hippon ib. ad Januarium Certainly here were Churches no bigger then than our smaller Parishes And Augustine cont Gaudentium saith there were innumerable Bishops in Africa that were Orthodox And it was but a corner of Africa that were Christians and in the Roman Empire here meant Victor Uticensis in persecut Vandal sheweth that in that part of Africa 660 Bishops fled besides the great number murdered imprisoned and many tolerated The like may be said of Patricks Irish Bishops before mentioned and many others who plainly were Parochial Bishops XI Another evidence is The way of Strangers communicating then by way of Communicatory Letters or Certificates from the Church whence they came which were to be shewed to the Bishop of the Church where they desired to communicate But was it many hundred Churches that they must thus satisfie or must they travail to the Bishop with their Certificate before they must communicate in any one Church within 20. 30. 40. or 50. miles of him Doubtless an impartial Reader will think that it was but a Bishop of the same City-Church which he desired Communion with to whom the Certificate was to be shewn See what Albaspinaeus saith of these Letters ex Concil Laodic c. 41. Concil Antioch c. 1. Concil Agath can 52. Concil Eliber c. 58. in his observat p. 254 255. XII Another evidence is the ancient phrase describing a Schism by Altare aliud erigere to set up another Altar or to set up Altar against Altar And to separate from that Altar was to separate from that Church which implyeth that there was but one Altar in a Church and multiplying Altars was multiplying Churches XIII Another evidence was the late division of Parishes The idle story of Evaristus dividing Parishes at Rome Gers Bucer hath fully confuted It is most certain that except at Alexandria and Rome it was long before they were divided Sir Rog. Twisden Histor Vindicat. c. 3. p. 9 10. saith that it was under Theodore A. B. C. that Parochial Churches began mark Began to be erected here in England and the Bishop of Rome greatly reverenced in this nation c. out of a MS. in Trinity Hall Cambridge And it was 668 as Beda tells us before Theodore was Ordained Bishop The evidence in history of the Lateness of Parish divisions is past doubt And whereas the usual answer is that there may be Dioceses without Parishes I answer It is not the Name Diocese that is the thing in question but the Church-state While there was but one Altar there was but one place of ordinary Church Communion in the Lords Supper And when there were more places with Altars erected they could not be nor were long without
one was new then so the other could not be old XVIII Another evidence is the state of Cathedral Churches which as many Episcopal Antiquaries say were first the sole Churches of the Bishops Charge or Diocese and that Parish Churches were since built one after another as Chappels be in Parishes by those that could not come so far And that the present Government of the Cathedral by the Dean and Chapters under the Bishop is the evident relict of the old Episcopal Government and truly telleth us what it was To pass by many others I will now recite but the words of Holingshead our Historian a Clergy-man Chron. Vol. 1. p. 135. Col. 1. Those Churches are called Cathedral because the Bishops dwell near them At first there was but ONE CHURCH in every JURISDICTION whereinto no man entered to pray but with some oblation towards the maintenance of the Pastor And for this occasion they were built very huge and great for otherwise they were not capable of such multitudes as came daily to them to hear the word and receive the sacraments But as the number of Christians increased so first Monasteries then finally Parish Churches were builded in every jurisdiction from which I take our Deanry Churches to have their original now called Mother Churches and their Incumbents Archpriests And the rest being added since the Conquest either by the Lords of every Town or zealous men loth to travail far and willing to have some ease building them near hand unto these Deanry Churches all the Clergie in old time of the same Deanry were appointed to repair at sundry seasons there to receive wholsome ordinances and to consult of the necessary affairs of the whole jurisdiction if necessity so required And some image thereof is yet to be seen in the North parts But as the number of Churches increased so the repair of the faithful to the Cathedral did diminish whereby they are now become especially in their nether parts rather Markets and shops for merchandize than solemn places of prayer whereunto they were first erected I need to say no more of this XIX The next evidence is That when Churches first became Diocesane in the sense opposed they were fitted to the form of the Civil Government And Dioceses and Metropolitanes and Patriarchs came in at the same door The very name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was long unknown in a sacred sense and was after borrowed from the Civil divisions when the Church was formed according to them And as Altare Damasc p. 290. saith Vox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut refertur ad Episcopum ignota fuit Eusebio superioribus seculis And the word Parish was also before used in our narrower sense for a vicinity of Christians And as Grynaeus saith in Euseb p. 1. not 3. Euseb promiscue usurpat haec duo vocabula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that a Diocesane as such thus formed to the Romane Civil form and a Metropolitane and Patriarch yea and the Pope as the Prime Patriarch in the Empire are all of Humane institution and all of the same original and right there are few Protestants that do deny 1. The reason of the thing plainly sheweth it 2. Their beginning at once sheweth it 3. And that they were never any of them setled out of the Roman Empire where that form obtained except that they setled here and there one on the verge of the Empire to have some care of the neighbour countreys till after that the Roman name and power invited small countreys adjoyning to them to imitation And Bishop Bilson of Chr. Subject often tells us that Metropolitans and Patriarchs are of Humane institution Godwin a Bishop in the Lives of the English Bishops de Convers Brit. c. 3. p. 30. saith Quis tam imperitus est ut non intelligat post mortem Tiberii fluxisse multos annos ne dicam seculum unum aut alterum priusquam Cardinalis Patriarchae aut Metropolitani nomen in Christianorum ecclesiis auditum est He might have added aut Diocesani for they were built by the same hand on the same foundation I do not mean that an Apostolical General Ministry was so new but a Diocesane of many Churches as Episcopus infimi gradus Multitudes of Papists and Protestants attest the novelties of these foresaid ranks Two testimonies of the Papists are so notable as that I will not pass them by Cardinal Cusanus that Learned Prelate and proud enough li. de Concord l. 2. c. 13. saith Omnes gradus Majoritatis Minoritatis in ecclesia juris positivi esse And therefore concluded that the Papacy is removeable from Rome Nay the very Canon Law it self saith Decret Par. 1. dis 22. c. 1. c. omnes Omnes sive Patriarchii cujuslibet apices sive Metropoleâ—n primatus aut Episcopatuum Cathedras vel ecclesiarum cujuscunque ordinis dignitates instituit Romana ecclesia what need we more witness It is from P. Nicolaus his decretal And though a man might suspect that he meant only of the personal Institution of the particular Patriarchs Metropolitans c. yet the context sheweth the contrary and that it is the species office or place that he speaketh of Because the opposite assertion is that the Roman Churches dignity was founded by God himself And the next Cap. 2. is that not the Apostles but the Lord himself gave the Roman Church its primacy XX. The next evidence is That we rarely read of any Bishops preaching in any Church but One unless he was driven out of it by persecution or unless it were in another Bishops Church If I should except only the great Patriarchal Churches out of all the world and that only as late as 400 or 500 years after Christ when Emperours had helpt to increase the Churches no impartial man would take that for any debilitation of my proof And yet I shall not easily yield to that exception In Antioch and Jerusalem I think it will hardly be affirmed that the Bishop used to preach to any Congregation but One In Great Constantinople equalled to Rome when find you Chrysostome any where but in one Church except when violence hindred him and then the same Congregation followed him Indeed the Novatians had a Church there and perhaps there was some bye Congregation or two of Christians who all communicated in the Bishops Church and therefore were but as Chappels But go into all the rest of the world and the case will be plainer except Rome and Alexandria Even Basil an Archbishop is not found a Teacher ordinarily any where but to his Church at Caesarca nor Gregory but at Nazianzum when he went from Constantinople and from Sasimis and so of the rest no not Ambrose in the great city of Milan And let it move none that Milan and some other Cities had more Temples than one for as Baronius before cited tells us there were then many Temples built as Monuments in honour of the Martyrs that were not Tituli nor had
any Parish or Congregation belonging to them When find you Augustine teaching in any Church but one in Hippo as part of his charge Of Epiphanius I need not speak seeing it is confest that in Cyprus no City had two Churches in his days and that it was their custome to place Bishops in villages as Socrates Sozomen and Nicephorus agree So that the matter of fact is certain except four or five Churches if so many in all the world 400 years after Christ and except but two or three hundred years after Christ you will find no Bishop in any Church but one as part of his own Charge But the consequence inferred hence will be denied because the other Parishes might be taught by Subpresbyters without him Answ But I would ask 1. Whether all the rest of the Parishes were not the Bishops Charge yea part of his Church yea equally with the other part As to what Onuphrius and others say of the stations and the Bishops going from Church to Church 1. It was scarce any where but in Rome 2. It was of later times 3. It was only in the City 4. It was commonly the same auditors that followed him to several Churches And it 's true that other Bishops went to the memorials of the Martyrs oft and had as monuments more Churches than assemblies And it 's true that of later times certain Canons bind the Bishops to visit all their Parishes And the eldest oblige him to visit all the people which sheweth that yet his Docese was not great If he be the Bishop of the Church and the office of a Bishop be to guide the Church in Worship and by Discipline then he is bound to do this to all the Church indeed if you make but a meer Presbyter of him then as many may divide the work between them so each might know his proper part as things stood when Parishes or Chappels were divided But if a Bishop as such be the uniting head as the King of a Kingdom he must be equally related to the whole But if it were not equally who can believe that there was so great a difference in the parts of the same Church as that one parcel of them only should have right to their Bishops presence teaching worshipping and personal guidance and ten twenty an hundred a thousand other parcels have no right at all What! a Bishop of a whole Church not at all obliged to Teach or Guide in personal worshipping any part of that Church but one Some great change was made in Churches before men could arrive at such a conceit Even now among us a Bishop taketh himself by the constraining Law of man which is his Rule to visit his Diocese once in three years I do not mean one Church of fourty or an hundred in his Diocese much less to preach himself usually in those few Towns he comes to but to call his Curate Priests together and to set one of them to preach his Visitation Sermon But where find you this done by three Bishops in the world for 300 years after Christ unless that Archbishops visited the Bishops Churches under them Now they say there have been Bishops in England who have once in three years confirmed some children abroad throughout their Diocese I do not mean one of two hundred but where find you that then the Bishop went out of his City to do this 2. My next question therefore is Whether the Bishops of those times were not at least as conscionable and careful and laborious in their offices as any now are if not much more What! not a Gregory a Basil a Chrysostome an Augustine a Fulgentius a Hillary c. What! not they that preached almost daily They that write so strictly of the labours of the Ministery They that lived so austerely and favoured not the flesh that speak so tenderly of the worth of souls And would all these think you undertake to be Bishops of a whole Church and yet so leave the whole work upon others as never to come among them and teach them and examine them nor give them the Sacrament in all the Parishes of the Diocese save one This is not credible If you say that in Alexandria it was certainly so that distinct congregations were committed to the Presbyters I answer 1. Yet so as that they might any part of them as living in the same city come and hear the Bishop when they would 2. They might communicate with him per vices if they would 3. They were all bound to do so at the great festivals of the year 4. They were all personally governed by the discipline of the Bishop and Presbyters conjunct in Council But of this next XXI Another evidence is that the whole Plebs or people of the Bishops charge till Churches were setled under Presbyters far off in the countreys were bound by the Canons to come to the Cathedral Church and communicate with the Bishop at Easter Whitsuntide and some other such festivals even after they were distinguished into several Auditories and Communicating Assemblies under Presbyters which I have before proved from the particular Canons which certainly proveth that the Dioceses were no more than could assemble in one place XXII Another evidence is that Presbyters did but rarely preach in the two or three first ages except in Alexandria or in some few Churches which had got some extraordinary men Chrysostome's preaching at Antioch Augustin's at Hippo while they were but Presbyters are noted as unusual things And it is said of Augustine as forecited that it being not usual in other Churches for the Presbyters to preach in the Bishops presence the example of that Church by the humility of the honest Bishop who preferred his abler Presbyter before himself did lead many other Churches into the same practice Spalatensis and many others have given large proofs that the Bishops and not the Presbyters were the ordinary preachers in their Church * Filesacus saith De Episcop authorit cap. 15. Sect. 1. pag. 344. Episcopos consuevisse ex ambone verba facere refert Concil Lateran sub Martino Concil Trull c. 33. Permissum deinde Presbyteris quanquam non passim nec in quibuslibet ecclesiis Diaconis olim id concessum sed raro p. 351. ait Balsamon juris Graeco-Romani li. 2. cap. 9. in Alexii Comneni Bullis Populum docere solis est datum Episcopis magnae ecclâ—siae Doctores Patriarchae jure docent These were like our Canons as he shews at large and this was in later ages when a Bishop might teach per alium And p. 351 352. Concil Trull c. 64. docet ex Greg. Nazianz. solis Episcopis convenire concionari sanctas scripturas interpretari Presbyteris vero non nisi Episcoporum concessione Of the Bishops teaching see the numerous citations in Filesacus cap. 1. And if any be stumbled at the name Presbyteri Parochiani usual in the Councils and Fathers as if they were Countrey Presbyters who preached then in
other Churches I have before cited a Canon which gave leave to Presbyters to preach in the countrey villages intimating it was rare heretofore 2. Filesacus saith ibid. p. 562 563. Sed ut quod res est libere eloquar illo aevo anteriore cum Parochiae vox vulgo etiam pro Dioecesi usurpatur that is for all the Bishops Charge credo Presbyteros Parochianos dictos fuisse non aliter ac siquis Dioecesanos pronunciaret hoc est In hac Parochia seu Dioecesi ordinatos titulatos But surely whilst Presbyters rarely preached there were either Churches that had no preaching which cannot be proved or else few Assemblies that had not Bishops Obj. But then you make Lay Elders of the Presbyters Ans They were the abler sort of Christians ordained to the same Ministerial or Sacerdotal Office as all true Ministers are But few of them being Learned men and able to make long Sermons were imployed only as the Bishops assistants as elders are among the Presbyterians who if they would but ordain those Elders and let them have power over the word and Sacraments though only to exercise it under the Bishops or chief Pastors guidance when there was cause they would come nearest to the ancient use XXIII And it seemeth to me an evidence that the Churches then were usually but as narrow as I assert that the Presbyters were to abide with the Bishop and attend him in his City Church For if you suppose them able to Teach or guide a flock themselves as some were such as Augustine Macarius Ephrem Syrus Tertullian c. it is scarce credible to me that the Bishop would suffer such worthy persons to sit among his Auditors when there were many countrey congregations that needed their help For that the Church was so supplied with Preachers as that besides all these Presbyters in the Bishops Church there were enow for all the rest of the countrey Parishes as now is contrary to all the intimations of Church-History And therefore when we read of so many Presbyters with the Bishop before we read of many or scarce any elsewhere surely there were no people that needed them XXIV And yet though great Cities had many with the Bishop I may add that the paucity of Presbyters under the generality of Bishops sheweth that their Dioceses then were but like Parish Churches with their Chappels Or else Aurelius and the other Bishops in the Carthage Council needed not have been in doubt whether those Bishops that had but one or two Presbyters should have one taken from them to make a Bishop of which was yet affirmatively decreed because there may be more found fit to make Presbyters of where it 's hard to find any fit to be Bishops I will speak it in the words of the learned Bishop Bilsons Perpet Govern c. 13. p. 256. In greater Churches they had great numbers of Presbyters In smaller they had often two somewhere one and sometimes none And yet for all this defect of Presbyters the Bishops then did not refrain to impose hands without them The number of Presbyters in many places were two in a Church as Ambrose writeth on 1 Tim. 3. sometimes but one In the third Council Carthag when it was agreed that the Primate of that City might take the Presbyters of every Diocese and Ordain them Bishops for such places as desired them though the Bishop under whom the Presbyter before lived were unwilling to spare him Posthumianus a Bishop demanded what if a Bishop have but one only Presbyter must that one be taken from him Aurelius the Bishop of Carthage answered One Bishop may Ordain many Presbyters but a Presbyter fit for a Bishoprick is not easily found wherefore if a man have but one only Presbyter and fit for the room of a Bishop he ought to yield that one to be Ordained Posthumianus replied Then if another Bishop have a number of Clerks that others store should relieve him Aurelius answered Surely as you helped another Church so he that hath many Clerks shall be driven to spare you one of them to be ordained by you A Diocese such as is intimated here we do not strive against XXIV Another evidence is that when ever we read of persecution turning the Christians out of their Churches you ever find them gathered into one Congregation when they could have leisure and place to meet in and usually a Bishop with them unless he were banished imprisoned or martyred and then some Presbyter supplied the place or unless they were scattered into many little parcels And you find no talk of the persecution of multitudes of Countrey Presbyters afar off but of the Bishop with his City Presbyters and Church To which add that it was One Church still which rejected obtruded Bishops and refused to obey the Emperour who imposed them All this is manifest in Gregory Neocaesar his flight with Musonius and the state of his Church In the Case of Basil and of Lucius the obtruded Bishop at Alexandria and in the Case of Antioch before described and of Rome it self It 's tedious to cite numerous testimonies in a well known case If Alexandria was in such a case or near it I hope you will doubt of no other Churches And that with this you may see what Conventicles the Christians kept when the Emperours forbad them and how resolutely the Bishops preached when the Emperours silenced them I will recite the words of Baronius himself and in him of Dionysius Alexandr apud Euseb lib. 7. c. 10. c. 17. and Cyprian ep 5. c. in Baron ad an 57. p. 542. that those who cry out against Preaching and Conventicles when they are but strong enough to drive others out of the Temples may better understand themselves Siquando c. If at any time so vehement a persecution did arise that the Christians by the Emperours edicts were utterly excluded from the Churches and assemblies notwithstanding little regarding such things they forbore not to come together in One in holy assemblies whithersoever there was opportunity This Dionys Alexand. Bishop witnesseth writing to Germanus when he mentioneth the Edicts of Valerian forbidding the Assemblies But we by Gods assistance have not abstained from our accustomed Assemblies celebrated among our selves Yea I my self did drive on certain brethren to keep the assemblies diligently as if I had converst among them And he writeth the same also to Hierax when he was banished When we were persecuted by all and put to death we celebrated the Feast with joyful minds and any place appointed us for several sorts of sufferings as the woods the desert solitudes the tossed ships the common Innes the horrid prison did seem fit to us in which we might keep our solemn Assemblies with the greatest joy That they held their Assemblies and offered sacrifice usually when it was permitted them in the prisons Cyprian witnesseth But the Acts of the holy Martyrs do fullier signifie it especially those most faithful
ones called Pro-Consular which were taken by the publick Notaries Certainly the Gravel-pits afforded them advantage for the celebrating of their publick Assemblies in the time of persecution especially at Rome where in the digged gravel there remain many subterraneous ample recesses Though when the persecution was vehement they were thence also excluded as the letters P. Cornelii ad Lupic Episc Vien testifie saying Christians may not missas agere keep their meetings for Church worship publickly no not in the vaults or pits So much of the Churches and publick assemblies of the Christians c. saith Baronius Which Polyd. Virgil secondeth c. 6. yea the Bishops durst scarce be seen in the streets so hot were the persecutions as Euseb lib. 6. cap. 31. Therefore as I before noted they had yet no capacious Temples as Illyricus well gathereth Catalog Testi verit p. 112. But they began to have days of peace and liberty under Alexand. Severus Gordian Philip Galienus Flavius Claudius Aurelianus Probus and then they did enlarge their too small rooms to that described by Euseb lib. 8. c. 1. XXVI Another evidence is that Monasteries were built before Chappels and Countrey Parish Churches and far more numerous so that we frequently read of Monasteries under a Bishop with their Abbot or Presbyter when we read little or nothing of Parish Churches in the Countries under him And if these had been as common why are they not as much mentioned in the ancient records of the Church The Egyptian Monks and those in Judaea and those in Britain in Beda and the life of Hierome Fulgentius and abundance such witness this XXVII Another evidence is the Canons that none but a Bishop must publickly reconcile a penitent nor pronounce the blessing in the Church c. Of which before in particular Canons XXVIII Another evidence is that Presbyters or Bishops were not to remove from the Places they were Ordained in But those places of old were single Churches usually in Cities with the suburbs that could come to the same Church as Dr. Field saith Concil Arelat 1. cited by Spelman pag. 40. because we had 3 Brittish Bishops there In quibuscunque locis ordinati fuerint Ministri in ipsis locis perseverent And ipse locus was not a circuit of 40 or 50 or 100 miles long but the Bishops Parish or Vicinity Of the Bishops not removing without a Synod many Councils speak XXIX Another evidence is that the Canons which take down the Chorepiscopi and turn them to periodeutae Visitors or Itinerants and which forbid the making of Bishops in small Cities or villages 1. Were of late date 2. And were in aspiring times and had a reason answerable ne vilescat nomen Episcopi 3. And therefore intimate that it was otherwise before as I have before shewed XXX A Separatist or Schismatick was then known by his withdrawing from his proper Church and so was an Apostate or deserter And he that stayed away certain days was to be excommunicate And they that fall into sins and never present themselves to the Church to shew their penitence even when they fall sick and desire Communion shall not have it till they shew fruits worthy of repentance faith Concil Arelat 1. Can. 22. But 1. in our way when the Church that I am of is an hundred miles long and hath above a thousand Parishes who can tell when a man is at the Church and when he is not unless you make half a years work to examine the matter in a thousand Assemblies 2. And a man may wander and never be in the same Assembly once in three years and yet be still in his own Church because the Docese is the Church 3. Unless the Bishops presence as well as remote relation be necessary And then no man cometh to Church but he that cometh where the Bishop is for ubi Episcopus ibi Ecclesia And the Parish Church is with them no Church unless equivocally as a Community For as Learned Dr. Field saith and they must all say None are to be ordained but to serve in some Church and none have Churches but Bishops all other being but assistants to them in their Churches Lib. 5. c. 27. p. 139. Therefore they call the Parish Priests the Bishops Curates and Dr. Field maketh the Bishops Church or Diocese and a particular Church all one If then one Parish priest of a thousand be an Arrian Antinomian Socinian Papist Seeker c. he that separateth not from that one Priest and Parish meeting separateth not from his Bishops Church nor any particular Church For his Church is a countrey which while he is in he is no Separatist if he joyn with any part of it XXXI But my greatest evidence which I trust to above all the rest is The greatness of the Bishops work which no mortal man can truly and faithfully discharge and do for a Diocese in the opposed sence nor for more than one of our greater Parishes I have recited some of the particulars before and I shall again have occasion to do it more at large I now only name these parts 1. To be the ordinary Baptizer or still present with all that are Baptized to anoint their nostrils c. as aforesaid 2. To be the Confirmer of all the baptized in all the Diocese 3. To be the ordinary preacher to his flock and to expound the Scriptures to them 4. To be the only publick reconciler or absolver of all penitents 5. To be the publick Priest to be the Guide of the people in publick worship and to administer the Lords Supper 6. To take particular account and care of all the peoples souls and admonish teach and exhort them as there is special need 7. To be the Excommunicator of the impenitent or ever one and the chief 8. To Ordain all Ministers and Subministers 9. To oversee and rule the Clergy 10. To receive all Oblations Tithes Gifts and Glebes and be the distributer of them 11. To visit the sick in all his flock 12. To take a particular care of all the poor the sick the strangers the imprisoned c. as their Curator 13. To keep almost daily but constantly weekly Assemblies for all the publick offices 14. To keep Synods among his Colleagues Bishops and Presbyters 15. To try and hear Causes with the Bishops and Synods and with his Presbyters at home about all scandals c. that come before him of which one Town may find him work enough the convincing and gentle reproof and exhortation will take up so much time 16. The looking after and convincing or confuting Hereticks 17. The reconciling disagreeing neighbours 18. The confecting of oyl and holy bread c. to furnish all his Presbyters with 19. The Benediction of Marriages and Solemnizing of Funerals with a multitude of other Ceremonies 20. And besides all this the right government of his own house And if he had Children the education of them 21. The oversight of all the Schools
form or species of Bishops And here I need not add much to the former because they are coincident and in proving the one I have already proved the other A Bishop of one Church united for Individuals Communion and a Bishop of one Church united only for Communion in specie actionum are not the same But because I hear many say that Magis Minus non variant speciem And that a Greater and a Lesser Diocese make neither the Church nor Bishop to be of a different species I am here to prove the contrary And first let it be remembred in what predicament the things in question are a Church and a Bishop That is They are relations Then let it be remembred what goeth to the essence and definition of a Relation that is The Relate the Correlate the Subject the Fundamentum or as some speak the Ratio fundandi also and the Terminus Now where these are not the same or any of these then the Relation is not the same because where an essential ingredient is wanting the essence is wanting Again it must be remembred that many Natural Relations are so founded in an act past that the Relation resulteth from it without depending on any thing future As God is Creator quia jam creavit Pater est qui genuit But there are other Relations which are founded in meer Undertaking Mandate authority and obligation to future actions As he is a Tutor a Schoolmaster a Judge a Chancellor a Pilot a Bishop a Husband c. who by mandate and undertaking is authorized and obliged to such and such works implyed in the names And in these cases there is nothing more specifieth the offices than the work of the office which is its nearest End And these nearest ends are ever essential to such Relations whether you will call them the Tâ—rmini or End or by what other name we contend not And therefore Aquinas and all 1. 2. q. 18. art 2. and others commonly agree that the Object and the End do specifie humane acts But remote ends may be the same in Acts and so in Offices of the same species It proving but a Generical agreement which yet may be in specie subalterna All humane Acts should have the same ultimate end that is The pleasing of God in the resplendency of his Glory and the felicity of man Yet this maketh them not all of the same infimae speciei All Government intendeth the common good and yet there are different species of Government All Church Government is for the good of the Church and for the killing of sin and the promoting of faith and holiness And yet there are different species of Church Governours But besides the Object and End which all agree to there are by Schoolmen and Casuists said to be circumstances which may also specifie Moral acts The seven named by Cicero in Rhetor. are Quis Quid Ubi Quibus auxiliis Cur Quomodo Quando And Aquinas and others tell us that these circumstances communicate special Goodness or evil to actions Vid. P. Soto in relect 5. in fine de bonit mal act Greg. de Valent. tom 2. qu. 13. puncto 4. Jos Angles in Florib 2. sent d. 37. q. 3. a. 5. p. 2. Greg Sayrus in Clav. Regia Lib. 2. Cap. 3. pag. 54. giveth us these two notes to know when circumstances specifie actions 1. Quando Circumstantia novam conformitatem aut deformitatem actui tribuit ita ut peculiariter conveniat vel repugnet rectae rationi novam speciem constituit Rat. Quia in hoc casu circumstantia transit in rationem objecti 2. Quotiescunque circumstantia non respicit specialem ordinem rationis in bono vel malo nisi praesupposita alia circumstantia a qua actus moralis habet speciem boni vel mali quam solam intra eandem speciem auget vel diminuit reddendo actum illum meliorem aut pejorem toties circumstantia illa aggravans vel diminuens non autem speciem mutans censenda est ut quantitas v. g. magna vel parva in furto Note also that though Relatio in forma relationis non recipit magis minus e. g. Titius non est magis Pater quam Sempronius Yet quoad subjectum aliquando quoad fundamentum correlatum it may recipere magis minus so that magis vel minus shall change the species This is in such cases wherein the alteration of Quantity altereth the Capacity of the subject quoad finem essentialem For as in Physicks besides the Matter the Dispositio materiae which Aristotle calls Privation is necessary ad formam recipiendam which is comonly called A third Principle but I would call it the Conditio necessaria of the Material Principle so in Relations there must be the Dispositio necessaria subjecti or else there can no relation result E. g. to the being of a house some quantity is necessary to the End that is habitation And therefore it is no house except equivocally which is no bigger than an egg-shell So to the being of a Ship of a Church c. that which is no bigger than a nutshel is no Ship or Church though you call it so or Consecrate it c. And on the other side It is not a spoon a dish a ladle a pen which is as big as a Church a Ship a House Yea a Ship and a Boat do differ in specie though both have the same End safe passage over the waters by portage by the circumstantial differences of the End and Subject So also in Societies the whole world or a Kingdom is too big to be a Family And a Family is too little to be a Kingdom Pagus Vicus Civitas Regnum differ principally in their Ends and next in their Quantity of the subject matter because every quantity is not capable of the same Essential End These things being premised for the use of such ignorant Lads only as know them not who may possibly study the controversie I proceed to my proofs I. And I will begin though it be weakest in it self with an Argument ad hominem For with the men that I now deal with I shall take that to be the most effectual argument which is fetcht from their interest and fitted to their wills I remember that once when an Army was resolved for Liberty of Conscience for all that professed the fundamentals of faith in God by Jesus Christ and the Parliament appointed some of us to draw up a Catalogue of fundamentals which I thought was best done by giving them the Sacramental Covenant the Creed Lords Prayer and Decalogue a good man with others of his mind would needs have many more fundamentals than I was for and among others That to allow our selves or others in known sin is inconsistent with salvation or is damnable I told him that I would not dispute against it but undertake to make him cast it by without dispute And when they would not believe me but went
Communion be Professed seeming Christians and Saints or not And whether they revolt by Heresie or wicked lives from their profession And whether they be impenitent in these revoltings And therefore having opportunity by presence or nearness to know them and the witnesses must judge of the credibility or reports or accusations And must admonish the offenders and seek by all possible conviction and exhortation with patience to draw them to Repentance And if no perswasion will prevail to refuse to admit them to the Communion of the Church and to deliver them the Sacrament of Communion and to tell them openly of their sin and danger and pronounce them lyable to Gods wrath till they do repent and to charge the Church to avoid Communion with them 10. It is the particular Pastors of those Churches to whose office all this belongeth 11. If that Church have more Pastors than one they must do all this work in concord and not divide nor thwart each other So that as many Physicians undertake one Patient as each one singly of the same office and yet must do all by agreement unless some one see that the rest would kill the patient so it is in this case 12. All these particular Churches must in their vicinities and capacities live in Concord and hold such a correspondency and Communion of Churches for mutual strength and edification as tendeth to the common good of all The means of which are Messengers Letters and Synods as there is occasion All these twelve particulars I doubt not but so judicious and worthy a man as Dr. Stillingfleet will easily concede And indeed the summe of them is granted in his book And then whether you will call this a Form of Government or not how little care I for the meer name 13. I may add this much more that All these Congregations are under the extrinsick Government of the Magistrate as Physicians are And he only can rule them by the sword and force But then we will agree with Dr. Stillingfleet or any man that God hath left all these things following without a particular determination to be determined according to his General Laws 1. Whether this Parochial or Congregational Church shall always meet in one and the same place or in case of persecution or want of room or by reason of the Age Weakness and distance of some Members may have several houses or Chappels of ease where some parcels may sometimes meet who yet at least per vices may have personal present Communion with the rest 2. Whether a Church shall be great or small that is of what number it shall consist supposing that it be not so great or so small as to be inconsistent with the end 3. How many Pastors each Church shall have 4. Whether among many One shall be a Chief and upon supposition of his preeminence in Parts Grace Age and Experience shall voluntarily be so far submitted to by the rest as may give him a Negative voice 5. Whether such officers of many Churches shall consociate so as to joyn in Classes or Synods stated for number time and place And whether their meetings shall be constant or occasional pro re nata 6. Whether One in these meetings shall be a stated Moderator or only pro tempore and shall have a Negative voice or not in the circumstantials of their Synodical work 7. Whether certain Agreements called Canons shall be made voluntarily to bind up the several Members of the Synods to one and the same way in undetermined circumstances of their callings or as an agreement and secondary obligation to their certain duties 8. Whether these Associations or Synods shall by their Delegates constitute other provincial or larger associations for the same Ends Who those Delegates shall be Whether one in those larger Synods also shall have such a Negative as aforesaid All these and such like we grant to be undetermined And if they will call only such Humane modes and circumstances by the name of Forms of Government we quarrel not de nomine but de re do grant that such kind of Forms or Formalities are not particularly determined of in Gods word 9. And besides all these whether successors of the Apostles in the ordinary part of their work as A. Bishops or General Ministers having the care of many inferiour Bishops and Churches be not Lawful yea of Divine right or whether they be unlawful is a question which all Nonconformists are not agreed on among themselves so great is the difficulty of it But for my own part being unsatisfied in it I never presumed to meddle in any Ordinations lest it should belong to Apostolical A. Bishops only and I resolved to submit herein to the order of the Church wherever I should live III. But if you hold that Dr. Stillingfleet Bishop Reynolds and all those Conformists who say that no Church Form is jure divino necessario do extend this as expresly they do to the Diocesane Form Let it be observed 1. That we plead for no more than we have proved and they will confess I think to be jure divino 2. And that we plead against swearing and subscribing to nothing but what they themselves say is not of Gods institution 3. That the proper Prelatists affirm it to be of Divine Institution or else they will renounce it 4. That the preface of the book of Ordination to which we must subscribe or declare Assent and Consent doth make this Episcopacy to be a distinct Order from Presbyters as a thing certain by Gods word This therefore I wonder how they can subscribe to who say no Form is jure divino I am sure they perswade us not to subscribe it while they disprove it And I would have leave to debate the Case of the Church of England a little with these Humanists and to ask them If no Church Form be of Gods making 1. Why may not the King and Parliament put it down as aforesaid 2. But specially who made the Form of the Church of England which we must swear to If another Church then that other was not of the same Form otherwise that Form was made before which is a contradiction If it was of another Form I ask what it was and who made the Form of that other Church which made this Church Form and so to the Original If Bishops or Synods made it still they were parts of a Church or of no Church If of no Church what Bishops were those and by what power did they make new Church Forms that were of none themselves If an Emperor or King first made them either he was himself a member of a Church or of no Church If of a Church what form had that Church And why should not that first form stand And who made that form and so ad originem If he was of no Church how came he by power to make Church forms that was of none himself Nemo dat quod non habet It 's no honour to
after one Bishops death another was not chosen As before the choice of Fabian's successor you may see by the Epistles of the Roman Clergy to Cyprian Marcion was expelled by the Roman Presbytes sede vacante Epiphan Haeres 42. And if they had the power over one another more over the flock And I need bring no particular proofs of this For when Bishops have been banished imprisoned dead and the seat vacant a year yea divers years together as it hath been at Rome was the Church no Church all that time Had it no Government Was there no power of the Keys Was the Church laid common to all This instance is so full as nothing can be said against it but that it was in Case of Necessity But that only proveth that it is the Presbyters office work though out of a case of necessity they must do it with the Bishop and not without him But a Lay-man may not do a Presbyters proper work on such a pretence However the Church by this practice hath declared it's judgment in the case VII Concil Carthag 4. Can. 23. is Ut Episcopus nullius causam audiat absque praesentia Clericorum suorum Alioquin irrita erit sententia Episcopi nisi Clericorum praesentia confirmetur If it be said that here is no mention of their Consent but of their Presence only I answer It is a presence necessary to the Confirmation of the Bishops sentence and the presence of Dissenters would rather infirm the sentence more than their absence than confirm it And the conjunct Canons shew that it is Consent that is meant For Can. 32. it 's said Irrita erit donatio Episcoporum vel venditio vel commutatio rei Ecclesiasticae absque conniventia subscriptione Clericorum where such a Connivence is meant as is joyned with subscription And if subscription of the Presbyters was necessary in these cases no less than Consent is meant in the other Which is yet more apparent by those following Canons which forbid the Bishop to Ordain without his Clergy or to accuse any of them but by proof in a Synod or to suffer a Presbyter to stand while he sitteth And the Canons that place the Bishop in consessu Presbyterorum and set him in the midst of them in the same seat in the Church and call him their Colleague The Canons which make the Presbyters Governours of the Rural Churches and make the Deacons servants to them of which the number is too great to be now recited Even here Can. 22. it 's said Episcopus sine Concilio Clerioorum suorum Clericos non ordinet Ita ut Civium assensum conniventiam testimonium quaerat And if not sine concilio * then not contra consilium And if the consent of the Laity be necessary sure the Clergies is so too Can. 29. Episcopus si Clerico vel Laico crimen imposuerit deducatur ad probationem in Synodum Can. 30. Caveant Judices Ecclesiae ne absente eo cujus causa ventilatur sententiam proferant quia irrita erit imo causam in Synodo profacto dabunt And if a Bishop must not so much as accuse but in a Synod on proof much lefs might he be judge alone Can. 33. appointeth that Bishops or Presbyters shall be invited to preach and consecrate the Oblation when they come into strange Churches So for there was no difference Can. 34. Ut Episcopus in quolibet loco sedens stare Presbyterum non patiatur 35. Ut Episcopus in Ecclesia in consessu Presbyterorum sublimior sedeat Intra domum vero Collegam Presbyterorum se esse cognoscat Can. 36. Presbyteri qui per Dioeceses Ecclesias regunt c. Can 37. Diaconus ita se Presbyteri ut Episcopi ministrum esse cognoscat vid. Can. 38 39 40. Yea even in Ordination it is said Can. 2. Presbyterquum Ordinatur Episcopo eum benedicente manum super ejus tenente etiam omnes Presbyteri qui praesentes sunt manus suas juxta manum Episcopi super Caput illius teneant Et Can. 3. Diaconus quum ordinatur solus Episcopus qui eum benedicit manus super caput illius ponat quia non ad Sacerdotium sed ad ministerium consecratur So that Priesthood was to be conferred by the hands of Priests and the Bishop's alone was not enough But Deacons might be Ordained by a Bishop without Presbyters What need I tire the Reader with other Councils testimonies when this though called Provincial having 214 Bishops and among them Aurelius Augustine c. is no less valuable than any General Council in the volumes of the Councils VIII In the Arabick Canons of the Concil Nic. 1. which I cite not for their justification but as testifying the matter of fact in the times of which they were written whensoever it was it 's said Can. 47. After one Bishop is forbid to absolve him that another hath Excommunicated Eadem Lex erit de Sacerdote id est Ut nullus Sacerdos solvat aut liget quem alius Sacerdos solverit aut ligaverit quamdiu ille qui solvit aut ligavit vixerit Post mortem vero successor ejus solvet quem mortuus ligavit sed debet Episcopus praeesse huic negotio Neque convenit ut Episcopus aut Archiepiscopus solvat aut liget eum qui digne a Sacerdote solutus aut ligatus fuit quamdiu ille qui solvit aut ligavit vixerit Here you see the Priest may bind and loose and that in foro Ecclesiastico yea so fast that no Bishop or Archbishop may loose or bind contrarily during his life Then Presbyters had the Keys And Can 57. according to other Canons cited before they say The Arch-Presbyter in the Bishops absence shall be honoured as the Bishop because he is in his place and let him be the Head of the Priests who are under his power in the Church with all that the Archdeacon is over And if one Presbyter may Rule the rest as a Bishop the Government of the flock is not above their Order or place If it be said that he doth it as the Bishops Deputy it is answered oft enough before Spiritual Power or Pastoral is deputable to none but such as are of the same Order which is not properly a deputation IX Presbyters had power to Baptize and to celebrate the Lords Supper Therefore they had power to judge who were Baptizable and who were capable of the Lords Supper For 1. Else they would not do it as Christs Ministers but as the executioners of anothers judgment And if so they may give both Sacraments to Turks and Infidels if they be bid And then indeed the Priest is not the Baptizer or Consecrater Morally but the Bishop doth it by the Priest All which are false And a Presbyter may preach and Baptize in any Infidel Kingdom where no Bishop hath any Diocese and this as an ordinary case in Turky Tartary China Japan c. And what Bishop
shall there tell him whom to Baptize where there is no Bishop And the power of Baptizing is the first and greatest Key of the Church even the Key of admission And they that do among us deny a Presbyter the power of judging whom to Baptize and give the Lords Supper to do not give it to the Bishop who knoweth not of the persons But the Directive part they commit to a Convocation of Bishops and Presbyters and the Judicial partly to the Priest and partly to a Lay-Chancellor X. Epiphanius Haeres 75. saith The Apostles did not set all in full order at once And at first there was need of Presbyters and Deacons by whom both Ecclesiastical affairs may be administred Therefore where no man was found worthy of Episcopacy in that place no Bishop was set By which it appeareth that he thought that for some time some Churches were Governed without Bishops And if so it there belonged to the Presbyters office to govern Whereto we may add the opinion of many Episcopal men who think that during the Apostles times they were the only Bishops in most Churches themselves And if so Then in their long and frequent absence the Presbyters must be the governours XI That many Councils have had Presbyters yea many of them is past doubt Look but in the Councils subscriptions and you will see it A Synod of some Bishops and more Presbyters and Deacons gathered at Rome decreed the Excommunication of Novatianus and his adherents Euseb lib. 6. c. 43. Noetus was convented judged expelled by the Session of Presbyters Epiphan Haeres 47. c. 1. See a great number of instances of Councils held by Bishops with their Presbyters in Blondel de Episc sect 3. p. 202. Yea one was held at Rome praesidentibus cum Joanne 12 Presbyteris An. 964. vid. Blond p. 203 206 207. Yea they had places and votes in General Councils Not only ut aliorum procuratores as Victor and Vincentius in Nic. 1. but as the Pastors of their Churches and in their proper right I need not urge Selden's Arabick Catalogue in Eutych Alex. where there were two persons for divers particular places or Zonaras who saith There were Priests Deacons and Monks nor Athanasius a Deacon's presence Evenof late the Council of Basil is a sufficient proof XII The foresaid Canons of Carthage which are so full are inserted into the body of the Canon Law and in the Canons of Egbert Archbishop of York as Bishop Usher and others have observed XXIII Hierom's Communi Presbyterorum Concilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur seconded by Chrysostome and other Fathers is a trite but evident testimony XIV That Presbyters had the Power of Excommunications see fully proved by Calderwood Altar Damasc p. 273. XV. Basil's Anaphora Bibl. Pat. Tom. 6. p. 22. maketh every Church to have Archpresbyters Presbyters and Deacons making the Bishop to be but the Archpresbyter CHAP. XIV The Confessions of the greatest and Learnedest Prelatists 1. THe Church of England doth publickly notifie her judgment that Church Government Discipline and the power of the Keys is not a thing aliene from or above the Order of the Presbyters but belongeth to their office 1. In that they allow Presbyters to be members of Convocations and that as chosen by the Presbyters And whereas it is said that the Lower house of Convocation are but Advisers to the Upper I answer All together have but an advising power to the King and Parliament But in that sort of power the lower house hath its part as experience sheweth 2. There are many exempt Jurisdictions in England as the Kings Chappel The Deanry of Windsor and Wolverhampton Bridgenorth where six Parishes are governed by a Court held by a Presbyter and many more which shew that it is consistent with the Presbyters office 3. The Archdeacons who are no Bishops exercise some Government And so do their Officials under them The Objection from Deputation is answered 4. The Surrogates of the Bishops whether Vicar General Principal Official or Commissaries are allowed a certain part of government 5. They that give Lay-Chancellors the power of Judicial Excommunication and Absolution cannot think a Presbyter uncapable of it 6. A Presbyter proforma oft passeth the sentence of Excommunication and Absolution in the Chancellors Court when he hath judged it 7. A Presbyter in the Church must publish that Excommunication and Absolution 8. By allowing Presbyters to baptize and to deliver the Lords Supper and to keep some back for that time and to admit them again if they openly profess to repent and amend their naughty lives and to absolve the sick they intimate that the Power of the Keys belongeth to them though they contradict themselves otherwise by denying it them 9. And in Ordination the Presbyter is required to exercise discipline And the words of Act. 20. 28. were formerly used to them Take heed to your selves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers or Bishops to feed or Rule the Church of God Whence Bishop Usher gathereth that the Churches sence was that the Presbyters had a joynt power with the Bishop in Church Government And though lately Anno 1662. this be altered and those words left out yet it is not any such new change that can disprove this to have been the meaning of them that made the book of Ordination and that used it II. Archbishop Cranmer with the rest of the Commissioners appointed by King Edward the Sixth for the Reformation of Ecclesiastical Laws decreed the administring Discipline in every Parish by the Minister and certain Elders Labouring and intending by all means to bring in the ancient discipline Vid. Reform Leg. Eccles tit de Divinis Officiis cap. 10. And our Liturgy wisheth this Godly Discipline restored and substituteth the Curses till it can be done And the same Cranmer was the first of 46 who in the time of King Henry the Eighth affirmed in a book called The Bishops Book to be seen in Fox's Martyrology that the difference of Bishops was a device of the ancient Fathers and not mentioned in Scripture And of the opinion of Cranmer with others in this point his own papers published by Dr. Stillingfleet Irenic p. 390 391 c. are so full a proof that no more is needful III. Dr. Richard Cosins in his Tables sheweth how Church Discipline is partly exercised by Presbyters and by the Kings Commission may be much more And it is not aliene to their office IV. Hooker Eccles Pol. lib. 5. pleadeth against the Divine settlement of one form of Government And lib. 7. Sect. 7. p. 17 18. he sheweth at large that the Bishops with their Presbyters as a Consess governed the Churches And that in this respect It is most certain truth that the Churches Cathedral and the Bishops of them are as glasses wherein the face and very countenance of Apostolical antiquity remaineth yet to be seen notwithstanding the alterations which tract of time and course of the world hath
brought And much he hath elsewhere which granteth that the Presbyters are Church governours though not in equality with the Bishops V. Dr. Field lib. 5. c. 27. shewing how the Apostles first limiting and fixing of Pastors to particular Churches was a giving them Jurisdiction saith this assigning to men having the power of order the persons to whom they were to minister holy things and of whom they were to take the care and the subjecting of such persons to them gave them the power of Jurisdiction which they had not before And As another of my Rank cannot have that Jurisdiction within my Church as I have but if he will have any thing to do there he must be inferiour in degree to me so we read in the Revelation of the Angel of the Church of Ephesus c. So that with him a Bishop is but one of the Presbyters of the same Rank having the first charge of the Church as every Incumbent in respect to his Curates and so above his Curates in Degree And As the Presbyters may do nothing without the Bishop so he may do nothing in matters of greatest moment without their presence and advice Conc. Carthag 4. c. 23. It is therefore most false that Bellarmine saith that Presbyters have no power of Jurisdiction For it is most clear and evident that in all Provincial Synods Presbyters did sit give voices and subscribe as well as Bishops And the Bishops that were present in General Councils bringing the resolution and consent of the provincial Synods of those Churches from whence they came in which Synods Presbyters had their voices they had a kind of consent to the decrees of General Councils also and nothing was passed in them without their concurrence And Chap. 49. The Papists think that this is the peculiar right of Bishops But they are clearly refuted by the universal practice of the whole Church from the beginning For in all Provincial and National Synods Presbyters did ever give voice and subscribe in the very same sort that Bishops did whether they were assembled to make Canons of Discipline to hear Causes or to define doubtful points of doctrine And that they did not anciently sit and give decisive voices in General Councils the reason was not because they have no interest in such deliberations and resolutions but because seeing all cannot meet in Councils that have interest in such business â—but some must be deputed for and authorized by the rest it was thought fit that the Bishops So here are Bishops authorized by Presbyters as their Deputies in the greatest affairs in General Councils He proceedeth to prove this by instances Concil Later sub Innoc. 3. c. VI. Even Archbishop Whitgift maintaineth as Doctor Stillingfleet hath collected Iren. pag. 394. that No kind of Government is expressed in the word or can necessarily be concluded thence No form of Church Government is by the Scriptures commanded to the Church of God or prescribed And Doctor Stillingfleet there citeth many testimonies to prove this the judgment of the Church of England And if so it must be only men and not God who make any difference between a Presbyter and a Bishop in the point of Jurisdiction VII Bishop Bilson Perpet Govern p. 16. c. 391. saith The Synod of Antioch which deposed Paulus Samosat as Eusebius sheweth lib. 7. c. 38. in Concil Eliber about the time of the first Nicene Council sate Bishops and Presbyters even 36. In the second Concil Arelat About the same time subscribed twelve Presbyters besides Deacons So in Concil Rom. sub Hilario Gregor where 34 Presbyters subscribed after 22 Bishops And in the first sub Symmach where after 72 Bishops subscribed 67 Presbyters So in the third fifth and sixth under the same Symmachus Felix had a council of 43 Bishops and 74 Presbyters The Concil Antisiod c 7. saith Let all the Presbyters being called come to the Synod in the City Concil Tolet. 4. c. 3. saith Let the Bishops assembled go to the Church together and sit according to the time of their Ordination After all the Bishops are entred and set let the Presbyters be called and the Bishops sitting in a compass let the Presbyters sit behind them and the Deacons stand before them Even in the General Council at Lateran sub Innoc. 3. were 482 Bishops and 800 Abbots and Priors conventual saith Platina Thus Bilson and more VIII To the same purpose writeth the Greatest Defender of Prelacy Bishop Downam Def. lib. 1. c. 2. sect 11. pag. 43 44. and the places before cited out of him professing that the Bishop hath but a chief and not sole jurisdiction IX Bishop Ushers judgment is fully opened in his Model which we offered to the King and Bishops in vain and which he owned to me with his own mouth X. Because the citing of mens words is tedious I add that All those whom I cited Christ Concord p. 57 c. to shew that they judge the Presbyters Ordination may be lawful and valid do much more thereby infer that they are not void of a Governing power over their own flocks viz. 1. Dr. Field lib. 3. c. 32. 2. Bishop Downam Def. lib. 3. c. 4. p. 108. 3. Bishop Jewel Def. of Apol. Part 2. p. 131. 4. Saravia De divers Min. Grad cap. p. 10 11. 5. Bishop Alley Poor mans Libr. Prelect 3. 6. p. 95 96. 6. Bishop Pilkington 7. Bishop Bridges 8. Bishop Bilson Of Subject p. 540 541 542 233 234 c. 9. Alex. Nowel 10. Grotius de imper 11. Mr. Chisenhall 12. Lord Digby then a Protestant 13. Bishop Davenant Determ Q. 42. p. 191 192. 14. Bishop Prideaux cont de Disciplin Eccles p. 249. 15. Bishop Andrews 16. Chillingworth To which I add 17. Bishop Bramhall in his Answer to Mileterius's Epistle to the King 18. Dr. Steward's Answer to Fountains Letter 19. Dr. Fern. 20. Mason at large 21. Bishop Morton Apolog. XI Spalatensis is large to prove the power of the Keys to belong in common to Presbyters as such I cited the words before Lib. 5. c. 9. n. 2. c. 2. n. 48 c. XII Even Gropperus the Papist pleadeth in the Council of Trent for the restoring of Synods of Presbyters instead of Officials the thing so much detested in England as that all we undergo must rather be endured yet saith Gropperus Restore the Synodals which are not subject to so great corruption removing those Officers by whom the world is so much scandalized because it is not possible that Germany should endure them The Spaniards and Dutch men willingly heard this but not the rest Hist p. 334. lib. 4. XIII The opinion of Paulus himself the author of that History is so fully and excellently laid down of the Original of the Bishops grandeur and of the manner of introducing the Ecclesiastical Courts by the occasion of Pacifications Arbitrations and Constantines Edict as that I intreat the Reader to turn to and peruse p. 330 331
332 333. XIV Filesacus a Learned Papist copiously proveth from Councils that Presbyters were called the Rectors of the Churches pag. 560. And more than so that they were called Hierarchici and Prelates and had place in Councils especially Provincial p. 576 577 578. Pag. 574. he citeth Concil Aquisgr saying Presbyteri qui praesunt Ecclesiis de omnibus hominibus qui ad eorum Ecclesiam pertinent per omnia curam gerant Pag. 576. he proveth they were called Prelates abundantly Pag. 577. Episcoporum instar suam habebant plebem regendam XV. Mr. H. Thorndike is so large in defending the Presbyters Governing power and that as grounded on the power of Congregating in his Form of Primit Gov. and Right of Church c. that it would be tedious to recite his words Pag. 98. he saith The power of the Keys belongeth to the Presbyters and is convertible with the power of celebrating the Eucharist and that 's the Reason why it belongeth to them Nothing could be spoken plainer to our use And p. 128. The power of the Keys that is The whole power of the Church whereof that power is the root and source is common to Bishops and Presbyters And Right of Ch. p. 126 129 130 131. he saith much more to confirm this by testimonies and instances of antiquity XVI The great Jo. Gerson is cited to your hand by the same Filesacus as shewing that Curates were Hierarchical Quia eadem opera Hierarchica eis incumbunt quae Episcopis And more out of Gerson de Concil Evangel de stat Ecclesiastic tit de statu Curatorum consid 1. 4 c. XVII I will end all in the fullest testimony for these times His Majesties Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs before the passing of which it was examined by his Majesty and the Lord Chancellor before Dukes Lords Bishops Doctors of their party and many of us also that are now silenced and after all two great Bishops with Bishop Reynolds and Mr. Calamy appointed by the King to joyn with two Lords to see that it were worded according to the Kings expressed sense And it saith p. 11 c. Because the Dioceses especially some of them are thought to be of too large extent we will appoint such a number of Suffragan Bishops in every Diocese as shall be sufficient for the due performance of their work 3. No Bishop shall Ordain or exercise any part of jurisdiction which appertaineth to the censures of the Church without the advice and assistance of the Presbyters And no Chancellors Commissaries or Officials as such shall exercise any act of Spiritual Jurisdiction in these cases viz. Excommunication Absolution c. As to Excommunication our will and pleasure is that no Chancellor Commissary or Official Decree any Sentence of Excommunication or Absolution Nor shall the Archdeacon exercise any Jurisdiction without the advice and assistance of six Ministers of his Archdeaconry whereof three to be nominated by the Bishop and three by the election of the major part of the Presbyters within the Archdeaconry 4. To the end the Dean and Chapters may the better be fitted to afford counsel and assistance to the Bishops both in Ordination and other offices mentioned before c. Moreover an equal number to those of the Chapter of the most learned pious and discreet Presbyters of the same Diocese annually chosen by the major Vote of all the Presbyters of that Diocese present at the Election shall be always advising and assisting together with those of the Chapter in all Ordinations and every part of Jurisdiction which appertains to the censure of the Church and at all other solemn and important actions in the exercise of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction wherein any of the Ministery are concerned And our Will is that the great work of Ordination be constantly and solemnly performed by the Bishop and his aforesaid Presbytery 5. We will take care that confirmation be rightly and solemnly performed by the information and with the consent of the Minister of the place Who shall admit none to the Lords Supper till they have made a credible profession of their faith and promised obedience c. Besides the Suffragans and their Presbytery every Rural Dean together with three or four Ministers of that Deanry chosen by the major part of all the Ministers within the same shall meet once in every month to receive such complaints as shall be presented to them by the Ministers and Church-wardens of the respective parishes and also to compose all such differences between party and party as shall be referred to them by way of Arbitration and to convince offenders and reform all such things as they find amiss by their Pastoral Reproofs and Admonitions if they may be so reformed And such matters as they cannot by this Pastoral and perswasive way compose and reform are by them to be prepared for and presented to the Bishop At which meeting any other Ministers of the Deanry may if they please be present and assist Moreover the Rural Dean and his Assistants are in their respective divisions to see that the children and younger sort be carefully instructed by the respective Ministers c. See the rest This was the judgment of his Majesty c. 1660. And on these terms we were ready to have Conformed and United with the Prelatists so far as to go in the peaceable performance of our Offices But that very Parliament who gave his Majesty thanks for this his Declaration did lay it by so that it was never done but other Laws established which we feel Obj. You do but obtrude on us your own opinions For when you had drawn up most of those words his Majesty was fain to seem for the present to grant them you for the quieting of you Answ 1. If we did offer such things let the world judge what we sought by them 2. There is most of that about Rural Deanries put in I suppose by the Bishops consent who were to word it after it went from us and after the King had done with it on October 22. 1660. 3. Whoever motioned or desired it by this it appeareth that his Majesty and those that counselled him did not then think the work of Jurisdiction Excommunication Absolution no nor Ordination to be aliene to or above the office of the Presbyter And if that be no part of his Pastoral work they would not have appointed it him Yet finally let the Reader note that though my proofs have reached as high as the power of Canon-making Jurisdiction Court-excommunications and Ordination Yet it is no more than the power of Pastoral Guidance of our particular Parish Churches and not to be forced to administer all holy things Sacraments Absolutions c. contrary to our consciences at other mens will who know not our people and not to those that we know to be utterly Ignorant Infidels Scandalous and Impenitent that I am here pleading for I conclude therefore boldly after all this proof
he knoweth how little of it will be done And who will use his wit learning and zeal to plead his cause and his parts and office thus to serve his designs and gratifie him who considereth what it is to be a Bishop a Christian or a man CHAP. XVI That the English Diocesane Government doth change this office of a Presbyter of Gods institution into another quantum in se of humane invention I Come now to prove the Minor proposition of my Argument That the Diocesane Government deposeth the Office of Presbyters which God hath instituted as much as in them lieth By which limitation I mean that if we would judge of the Power and Obligation of Presbyters as the Prelatical constitution de facto doth describe it and not as God describeth it contrarily we must take it for another thing For the proof of this it must 1. be considered what is Essential to the office and 2. How somewhat Essential is taken from them I. And 1. we grant as before that no Action whatsoever as performed at the present or for some excepted season is Essential to the Pastoral office A man ceaseth not to be a Preacher or Pastor as soon as the Sermon is done and he is out of the Church When a man is asleep or in a journey he endeth not his office Nor yet when he is interrupted by business sickness or persecution Yea if he were so sick as to be sure never to exercise his office more he keepeth the Title with respect to what he hath already done 2. Yet Exercise as Intended and as the Relative end or Terminus of the Obligation and Authority is Essential to the Office For when it is a Relation which we question and that consisteth in Obligation and Authority there is no doubt but it is ad aliquid and is specified by the Action or Exercise to which men are Obliged and Authorized As a Judge a Souldier a Physician are And it being a Calling which we speak of and that durante vita capacitate it must be such Action as is intended to be Ordinary and Constant He that Consenteth not to do the work of a Minister and that for more than a trial or a present occasion and is not Obliged and Authorized to that work at least statedly as his intended ordinary course of life is no Minister of Christ which Paul well expresseth by that phrase Rom. 1. 1. Separated to the Gospel of God 3. As God in creating man made him in his own Image so did Christ in making Church Pastors Therefore he saith As my Father sent me so send I you And he that receiveth you receiveth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and him that sent me Luke 10. 16. And they are Embassadours to beseech men in his name and stead to be reconciled to God 2 Cor. 5. 19 20. And Christ himself is called the Angel of the Covenant and the Apostle and high Priest of our Profession and the Great Prophet and the Bishop of our Souls and the good Shepherd and the great Shepherd or Pastor of the flock and the Minister of the Circumcision And he was a Preacher of the same word of life as we are And he administred the same Sacrament of Communion as we do Now as the Office of Christ had these three Essential parts viz. to be the Teacher the High Priest and the Ruler of the Church so hath not only the Apostles but every true Pastor in his place as is proved this threefold subserviency to Christ 1. They will confess themselves that He is no true Pastor who hath not Authority and Obligation which set together are called a Commission to be a Teacher of the Church For though some men may be so weak as that they can Teach but by Reading Catechizing Conference or very short defective immethodical Sermons And though where a Church hath Many the Ablest may be the usual publick Preachers and the rest be but his assistants Yet I never found any proof of Elders that were not Teachers by office as well as Rulers and had not Commission to Teach the flock according to their abilities and might not Preach as the need of the Church required it however the weaker may give place to the abler in the exercise of his office Because his office is an Obligation and Authority to exercise his Gifts as they are for the Churches greatest edification 2. And it will be confessed that he is no Minister or Pastor who is not Commissioned by Christ to be the Churches Guide in publick Worship in Prayer praise and Sacrament of Communion However where there are many all cannot officiate at once 3. Therefore all the doubt remaineth whether the power of the Keys for Church Covernment such as belongeth to Pastors be not as Essential as the rest I say the Commission the Authority and the Obligation though violence may much hinder the exercise And this I have proved before and must not stay to repeat it Only 1. God doth not distinguish when he giveth them the Keys and office Therefore we must not distinguish 2. The very signification of the words Keys Pastor Presbyter Overseer Steward c. do not only import this Guiding Ruling power but notably signifie it as most think more notably than the Worshipping part of their office 3. Dr. Hammond and all of his mind confess that in Scripture these words are applyed to no one person or office that had not the Governing as well as the Teaching and Worshipping power 4. The truth is the Teaching and Ruling and Worshipping power are inseparably twisted together Ruling is done not by the sword here but in a Teaching way by the Word As a Physician may 1. read a Lecture of health to his Patients 2. and give every one particular directions for his own cure and this last is called Governing them So when the same Pastor who Teacheth all generally by Sermons doth make his applications to mens persons and cases particularly it is Governing the Church as when a man is impenitent he doth Excommunicate him only by teaching him and the Church that such persons as are so impenitent are under the wrath of God and uncapable of Church Communion and therefore requiring the Church as from Christ to avoid that person and declaring him to be under the wrath of God till he repent and requiring him to forbear Communion with the Church And so in other acts of Government And as in Worshipping the Pastor delivereth the Sacrament of Communion so it must belong to him to Give it or Deny it 5. And indeed the ancient Churches had usually more Pastors than Assemblies by which means every Presbyter could not daily preach and officiate But yet they were so constant Assistants in the Government as hath occasioned so many to think that it was mere Ruling Elders who joyned with the Bishops in those times And Paul himself saying 1 Tim. 5. 17. The Elders that rule well are worthy of double
them go without Christianity rather than Baptize them without this Image of a Cross unless he will be suspended from preaching Christs Gospel to the ignorant that they may be saved But if he will bear that he may do what he will that so poor souls may be the losers 19. If the commonest whore or wicked woman come to be Churched as they call it after child-bearing the Priest must use all the Office of thanksgiving without first expecting her repentance as if she were the chastest person And must give her the Sacrament 20. To conclude no Priest as such till Licensed hath power to take upon them to expound in his own Cure or elsewhere and therefore not to his family or any one of his ignorant neighbours any Scripture or matter or Doctrine But shall only study to Read plainly and aptly without glossing or adding the Homilies c. Are these Authorized Priests that may not so much as tell a Child the meaning of his Catechism or any Article of the Faith No though an ignorant person ask him The Priests lips should preserve knowledge and the Law should be enquired of at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts But an English Priest may not expound any Matter Scripture or Doctrine but barely Read till the Bishop License him Obj. If they be not able it will do more harm than good Answ Will the righteous God be always mocked and suffer men to make merchandice of Souls and to vilifie them and set them at cheaper rates than they would do a goose a pig or a dog Is this a fit answer for those that are their Ordainers under whose examination and hands all men enter into the Ministery Will they say that they can get no better What not when they have made so many Canonical Engines to keep out better What not when such as Cartwright Hildersham Amesius Parker Dod Ball c. are cast out as unworthy When so many hundred were silenced in Queen Elizabeth and King James's days and Eighteen Hundred of us now When the Bishops have got so many Laws to hinder us from Preaching in publick and private and to banish us five miles from all Cities Corporations and places where we have preached When none but their sworn Curates Subscribers Declarers c. may preach yet can they get no better Will they keep up a Ministry whom they will themselves so ignominiously stigmatize as to tell the world that none of them all as Presbyters may be endured to expound any Scripture Doctrine or Matter but barely to Read Yea as if they would disswade them from all Learning of Humanity or Divinity as needless or hurtful things they say he shall only study to Read plainly and aptly So that he that studieth for any more than to Read doth break the Canons of the Prelatical Church Also a Priest as such hath no power to judge what Garments he shall wear nor of what colour at home or abroad He hath no power to judge in what house he may instruct or pray with any of his flock nor when so much as with his Church in publick or with any sick or afflicted neighbour in private to Fast and Pray But they are all straitly forbidden to preach or administer the Sacraments except to the sick in private houses To preach or officiate in any room save a Consecrated Chappel even in a Noblemans house To keep publick or private fasts To give the Sacrament to any that are not of their own Parish at least if they go from their own Priest because he never studied more than to Read They have not power to admit any other how Learned and Holy soever to preach in their Churches as Presbyters without Licence All these shew their Priestly power Obj. But a Surrogate may Excommunicate Answ 1. That is but ludicrous pro forma 2. Or else it is but their self-condemnations while they allow one Presbyter of a thousand to do that which all the rest are forbidden The same I say of Arch-deacons and peculiar Ordinaries Object They make Canons in Convocations and choose Convocation Priests Answ 1. It is but two Priests of many hundred that are in a Convocation And what 's that to all the rest 2. Choosing is not a Governing act Where the people choose Kings and Parliament men it proveth not that they have any Government themselves The Laity ever formerly chose their Bishops and yet were no Bishops nor Church Rulers 3. It is in the Bishops power to frustrate their choice For when they have chosen four he may put by two of them In this great Convocation which hath new moulded our Liturgy which hath formed the Engines that have done what is done the great and famous City of London had not one chosen Clerk in the Convocation No wonder then if they Conform not as not being bound by their own Consent For when they chose Mr. Calamy and my self the Bishop refused us both which I am so far from mentioning in discontent that I take it to have been a greater Mercy than I can well express 4. I take not Canon-making to be any considerable part of the Pastoral Office If two of many hundred have power to please the Plural Number of Prelates Deans and other Dignitaries whom they cannot over-vote by serving them against the Church and their Brethren doth that prove that Presbyters as such have the Governing power of their flocks I am not striving for a power of Ruling one another much less of Excommunicating Kings and Magistrates nor a power of making Laws or Ruling Neighbour Churches But only a power of Guiding their own flocks and judging of their own actions Yea and that not as Ungoverned or without Appeals But as Ruled by Magistrates consociated for Concord with other Pastors and Ruling Volunteers And if Archbishops also Rule them by Gods Laws we shall submit CHAP. XVII That the great change of Government hitherto described the making of new species of Churches a new Episcopacy and a new sort of half-sub-presbyters with the Deposition of the old was sinfully done and not according to the intent of the Apostles THere are two pretences and no more that I know of made to justifie all this foredescribed change The first is by Dr. Hammond when he was hard put to it at last in answer to the London Ministers which is That Subpresbyters were Ordained in Saint John's time and therefore by him The second is ordinary that though de facto the Apostles setled but single Pastors without Sub-presbyters at least over single Churches or Assemblies yet this was not done with an Obligatory purpose for the so fixing of it But only de facto pro tempore as a State of immaturity with a purpose and intent that it should grow up to the change of this at maturity I. To the first Pretence I answer 1. What probability is there that one Apostle when all the rest were dead should make so great a
change in their Church Orders Either it was part of the Apostolical Commission and work to settle Church Offices and orders for Government or not as to the species if Christ had not before done it or to settle it by revealing what Christ did command them either from Christ's mouth or the Spirits inspiration to â—â—tle the Catholick Church as Moses did the Jewish If it were none of their Commissioned Office work then it was none of John's And then it is done so as may be yet undone But if it were John's work it was Theirs And if theirs why did they not perform it Even while they had that promise Matth. 15. 20 21. Where two or three are gathered together in my Name c. And If two of you agree of a thing c. If you say that there was no need till they were all dead I answer It is a Fiction The greatest numerous Church at Jerusalem had more need of more than One to officiate among them and so had Ephesus Antioch Coritnb c. than most Churches else had in St. John's days And were all the Apostles so negligent and forgetful 2. What proof is there that St. John did make this change It is either by Scripture that it is proved or by History 1. Not by Scripture For 1. No Scripture mentioneth S. John's doing it 2. Dr. Hammond and his followers confess that it was not done as can be proved in Scripture times And Chronologers suppose that there was but a year or two between his death and the end of Scripture times that is the writing of his Apocalypse And is it probable that he began so great a Change the last year of his life 2. And History maketh no mention of it at all For I am ashamed to answer their nonconcluding reason from St. John's bringing a young prodigal to a Presbyter to be educated or his Ordaining Presbyters when it is no more than is said of the other Apostles Let them give us if they can any Satisfactory proof that S. John alone a year or two ere he died made this new species of Presbyters and Churches that we may believe it to be of God But blind presumptions we dare not trust 3. None of the Ancient Churches Councils or Doctors that ever I could find did ever hold that Subpresbyters were instituted by St. John alone and these changes made by him How then shall we think that men of yesterday can tell us without them and better than they and contrary to them the history of those times 4. By as good a course as this what humane corruption may not be defended and Scripture supposed insufficient to notifie Gods Church-institutions to us When there is nothing said in Scripture for them the Papists or others may say that S. John made this or that Change when all the rest were dead But why must we believe them 5. And the Church hath rejected this plea already long ago When Papias pleaded that he had the Millenary Doctrine from St. John himself and when the Eastern Churches pretended his Authority for their time of Easters observation here was incomparably a fairer shew of St. John's Authority than is produced by Dr. H. in the present case And yet both were over-ruled by the Consent of the Churches II. And that it cannot be proved to be the Apostles intentions that their establishment herein should be but temporary and left to the will of man to change I have largely proved in my Disput 1. of Church Government long ago I now only say 1. That which the Apostles did in execution of a Commission of Christ for which he promised and gave them his infallible Spirit was the work of Christ himself and the Spirit and not to be changed but by an Authority equal to that which did it But such was the setling of the species of Churches and Elders Ergo c. The Commission is before recited from Scripture and so is the promise and gift of the Spirit to perform it 2. Where there is full proof of a Divine Institution by the Apostles and no proof of a purpose that men should afterward change it or that this institution should be but for a time and then cease there that Institution is to be supposed to stand in force and the repeal cessation or allowed mutation to befeigned But there is full proof of a Divine institution by the Apostles that Preesbyters with the power of Government were placed over single Churches and no other saith Dr. H. And there is no proof brought us at all of either Repeal Cessation or Allowance for mutation Ergo c. They confess de facto all that we desire viz. 1. That there was then none but single Churches or Congregations under one Bishop 2. That there were no Subpresbyters Let them now prove the Allowance of a Change 3. That supposition is not to be granted which leaveth nothing sure in the Christian Churches and Religion But such is the supposition of a change of the Apostles Orders in these points Ergo. If the after times may change these Orders who can prove that they may not change all things else of supernatural institution As the Lords day Baptism the Lords Supper the Bible the Ministry yet remaining c. And if so nothing is sure Object Christ himself instituted these and therefore they may not be changed Answ 1. It was not Christ himself that wrote the Scripture but his servants by his Spirit 2. Christ himself did that mediately which his Apostles did by his Mandate and Spirit Matth. 28. 20. The Spirit was given them to bring all things to their remembrance which he had spoken to them And to cause them to Teach the Churches all things which Christ had commanded them And as Christ made the Sin against the Holy Ghost to be greater than that which was but directly against his humanity and as he promised his Disciples that by that Spirit they should do greater works than his so that which his Spirit in them did establish was of no less authority than if Christ had personally established it 4. By this rule the Prelates themselves may be yet taken down by as good authority as the Apostles other settlement was changed For if it was done by Humane Authority there is yet as great Humane power to make that further change Wherever they place it in Kings Bishops or Councils they may yet put down Bishops by as good authority as they put down what the Apostles set up and may set up more new orders still by as good authority as they set up these half-presbyters And so the Church shall change as the Moon 5. That which is accounted a reproach to all Governours is not without proof to be imputed to God and his inspired Apostles But to make oft and sudden changes of Government is accounted a reproach to all Governours Ergo For it is supposed that they wanted either foresight and wisdom to know what was to be
done or Power to maintain it To make Laws and seâ— up Churches Officers and Orders this year and to take them down and set up new ones a few years after seemeth levity and mutability in man And therefore must not without cause and proof be ascribed to God And the rather because that Moses Laws had stood so long and the taking down of them was a scandal very hardly born And if the Apostles that did it should set up by the Spirit others in their stead to continue but till they died this would be more strange and increase the offence 6. There was no sufficient change of the Reason of the thing Therefore there was no sufficient reason to change the thing it self if Prelates had had Authority to do it If you say That in Scripture times there were not worthy men enow to make Subpresbyters and Bishops both of I answer It is notoriously false by what Scripture speaketh 1. Of the large pourings out of the Spirit in those times 2. Of the many Prophets Teachers Interpreters and other inspired speakers which were then in one Congregation Act. 13. 1 2. And 1 Cor. 14. Insomuch that at Corinth Paul was put to limit them in the number of speakers and the exercise of their gifts 2. And it 's known by history and the great paucity of Writers in the next age that when those miraculous gifts abated there was a greater paucity of fit Teachers proportionably to the number of Churches than before 3. And who can prove that if there had been more men the Apostles would have made a new Order of Presbyters and not only more of the same Order 2. Obj. But the Churches grew greater after than before Answ 1. Where was there three Churches in the whole world for 300 years so numerous as the Church at Jerusalem is said to have been in Scripture 2. If the Churches were more numerous why might they not have been distributed into more particular Churches 3. Or how prove you that Presbyters should not rather have been increased in the number of the same Order than a new Order invented 4. This contradicts the former objection For if that Churches were so small and few before it 's like there might have been the more gifted persons spared to have made two Orders in a Church 5. And what if in Constantine's days the Churches grew yet greater than they did in the second or third age compared to the Apostles will it follow that still more new Orders may be devised as Subpriests were 7. There are worser reasons of the change too visible And therefore it is not to be imputed to a secret unproved mental intention of the Apostles In Christs own time even the Apostles themselves strove who should be the greatest False Apostles afterward troubled Paul by striving for a superiority of reputation Diotrephes loved to have the preeminence Sect-masters rose up in the Apostles days Acts 20. 30. Of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Some caused Divisions and Offences contrary to the Doctrine which they had learned Rom. 16. 17. In Clem. Rom. time the Church of Corinth was contending about Episcopacy and superiority even Lay-men aspiring to the chair Peter seemeth to foresee what Pastors would do when he forewarneth them not to Lord it over Gods heritage 1 Pet. 5. 1 2 3. Victor quickly practised the contrary when he Excommunicated the Asian Bishops See Grotius his complaint of the early and ancient pride contention and tyranny of the Bishops De Imper. sum Pot. p. 360 361. Novatian with Novatus quickly shewed this spirit if they be not wronged at Rome and Carthage and so did Felicissimus and his partners against Cyprian What stirrs were there for many ages between the Cecilians and the Donatists What horrid work was there at the Concil Ephes 1. And Concil Chalcedon Concil Eph. 2. between the contending Bishops on each side The reading of the Acts would make a Christians face to blush What strife between Anthymius and Basil for a larger Diocese What work against Nazianzen to cast him out of Constantinople What sad exclamations maketh he against Synods and against these Names and Titles of preeminence and higher seats wishing the Church had never known them And yet he was angry with his friend Basil for placing him in so small a Bishoprick as Sosunis What abundance of Epistles doth Isidore Pelusiota write to Eusebius the Bishop and Sosimus and the other wicked Priests detecting and reproving their malignity drunkenness and horrid wickedness And how sharply doth he lament that a faithful Ministry is degenerate into carnal formal Tyranny and that the Bishops adorned the Temples under the name of the Church while they maligned and persecuted the Godly who are the Church indeed How lamentable a description doth Sulpit. Severus give of the whole Synods of Bishops that followed Ithacius and Idacius And in particular of Ithacius himself as a fellow that made no conscience of what he said And what did Martin think of them who avoided all their Communions to the death and would never come to any of their Synods Especially because by stirring up the Magistrate against the Priscillianists they had taught the vulgar fury to abuse and reproach any man that did but read and pray and fast and live strictly as if he were to be suspected of Priscillianism which Hooker himself complaineth of Pref. And Ambrose also did avoid them What bloody work did Cyril and his party make at Alexandria What a man was Theophilus after him What work made he against Chrysostom What a Character doth Socrates give of him What insolence and furious zeal did Epiphanius shew in the same cause in thrusting himself into the Church of Chrysostom to stir up his hearers to forsake him Hierom had a finger in the same cause His quarrels with Johan Hierosol with Ruffinus his abusive bitterness against Vigilantius c. are well known The multitudes of Canons for preserving the grandeur of Patriarchs and Metropolitanes and Prelates on one side and for keeping small Cities without Bishops ne vilescat nomen Episcopi and for restraining Pride self-exaltation enlargement of Diocese encroachment on each other on the other side do all shew the diseases that needed such a Cure or that had such a vent In a word the Bishops never ceased contending partly for their several opinions and errours and partly for preeminence and rule till they had brought it to that pass as we see it at this day between Rome and Constantinople and the most of the Christian world From all which it is most apparent that Pride and Contention were cured but in part in the Pastors of the Churches And that the remaining part was so strong and operative as maketh it too credible that there were ill causes enow for enlarging of Dioceses and getting many Churches into one mans power and setting up a new Order of half-subpresbyters And that the event of
such a change is no proof that it was the Intent of the Apostles that this change should be made when they were dead no more than you can prove that all this turbulent pride and strife was intended by them If any say that it is not probable that so soon after the Apostles all the Churches would conspire in such an error I answer If all these things before mentioned were not done or if matter of known fact may be denied as improbable then that objection hath some sence To which I add 8. I have proved that this change was not made at once but by slow degrees No nor made so soon as is pretended nor so universally but in long time except at Alexandria and Rome It was long before the Churches knew it 9. And I think none will deny but other things were taken up as the Traditions of the Apostles and all the Churches customes which yet are now rejected as no such thing To say no more of Easter and the Millennium there were five ceremonies which were accounted the Churches universal customes and traditions and none was to omit viz. not kneeling in adoration on the Lords days Adoring towards the East the White Garment the Milk and Honey and the Chrism to the Baptized But were these such Socrates Sozomen and Nicephorus tell us great Reasons to believe that whatever some say the time of Easter the Fast of Lent and many other observances and among others the largeness or smallness of Dioceses were no Laws of God or the Apostles but usages voluntarily and diversly taken up in several places in which no Christians should condemn each other but allow a liberty of dissent and difference without breach of Charity or peace 10. Moreover it is a clear proof that the Apostles intended no such change in that they left no Rule Instructions or Directions for it nor for the calling of the new sort of Presbyters nor for their performance of their places They left full directions for the Ordination and Regulation of Bishops called Pesbyters and for Deacons not leaving out so much as Deaconesses And would they have wholly omitted all instructions for the new order of Presbyters and Prelates c. if they had intended them 11. To put all out of controversie God hath told us that his setled orders are for continuance Eph. 4. 11 12 13. Such Offices as Christ hath given to the Church are for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the Faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man c. If God do give some to lay the foundation and some to build thereon yet he leaveth not men to make new Officers besides all these to do his appointed work Timothy had charge to propagate the same Doctrine and the same Church orders even to the coming of Christ 1 Tim. 6. 13 14. 2 Tim. 2. 2. and 1 Tim. 3. Tit. 1. 5. Heb. 10. 23 24 25. But of this I desire the Reader to see full proofs in my 2. sheet for the Ministry 12. Lastly the holy Scripture is a perfect standing Rule for all things necessary to Salvation and Divine Faith and duty and to Church worship and Communion If not what is And where shall we find it And what stop shall we make of our additions if there be no Law or Rule to govern the universal Church And who are they that have power to Rule the Church universal See my Key for Catholicks against the claim of Pope and General Councils But if it be then the adding and altering is presumption except in circumstantials which God hath left to mans determination And then why must we swear never to alter unnecessary circumstances were they such CHAP. XVIII The fourth Argument From the Impossibility of their performance of the Episcopal Office in a Diocesane Church And the certain exclusion and destruction of true particular Church Government while one man only will undertake a work too great for many hundreds ALI that I have said hitherto is far short of this one Argument from the notorious unquestionable mischiefs which the opposed frame of Prelacy doth infer not probably but certainly not only where Bishops are bad but with the best not in some Churches but in all ARGUMENT IV. That Form of Prelacy is not lawful and to be sworn to which maketh the Episcopal Office impossible to be performed and certainly destroyeth and nullifieth true particular Church Government wherever it obtaineth But such is the opposed frame None will deny the Major but the Erastians who think that the Magistrate only is the Church Governour which as to forcing Government is true And they that so think must needs be against Bishops otherwise than as they are Preachers or Magistrates Therefore I may let them pass The Minor I am to prove by parts It must be remembred that I have shewed how great the Dioceses are and that no work proper to the Office of a Bishop can be done by a Lay-man or any but a Bishop And have prevented the pretence of doing it per alios And now I must shew more fully than in the former breviate what the work of a Bishop is And then you shall see whether it be not impossible And lest you think I precisely feign more work than God hath put upon them I will take it out of Scripture and Dr. Hammonds Annotations I. The Teaching of the Flock II. The Priestly worshipping of God with them III. The Government of them by Discipline are the three parts of the Bishops Office as hath been proved I. The Teaching of the Flock is 1. Publick Teaching them in their Sacred Assemblies by expounding and applying the word of God 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. Feed the flock of God which is among you taking the oversight thereof c. saith Dr. Hammond The Bishops of your several Churches I exhort take care of your several Churches and govern them c. Heb. 13. Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken to you the word of God Dr. H. Set before your eyes the Bishops and Governours that have been in your Church and preached the Gospel to you Acts 20. 7. Upon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break bread Paul preached to them Matth. 24. 45 46. Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his Lord hath made ruler over his houshold to give them meat in due season 1 Thes 5. 12. We beseech you brethren to know them that labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake D. H. Pay your Bishops as great a respect as is possible for the pains they have taken among you 1 Tim. 5. 17. The Elders that rule well are worthy of double honour especially they that labour in the word and doctrine D. H.
satisfaction in comparison of personal knowledge Much less to trust the whole trial to another 3. He must hear the accused person speak for himself For there is no judging till both are heard 4. He must rebuke false accusers and justifie the innocent and vindicate their good name 5. He must by convincing arguments and melting affections labour to bring the sinner to Repentance 6. He must desire the Church to be witnesses of his faithful admonitions and to avoid the like crimes and impenitence themselves and to pray God to give Repentance to the offender 7. He must publickly declare the impenitent excommunicate and bind him over to answer it at the bar of God and set Gods terrors before his Conscience 8. He must try and judge of the Truth of the Repentance of those that say they do repent where all the ancient rigorous Penances came in And not trust every incredible saying I Repent 9. He must receive those publickly into the Church that truly repent or credibly profess to do so and must comfort him with the declaration of the pardon of his sin 10. He must perswade the Church to receive him into their affections and Christian Communion and to esteem and use him as a Brother again II. And as to the Manner all this must be done 1. with great Prudence and discretion else the Church may soon be set on fire as by a confession of a Deacons adulteries at Constantinople c. 2. It must be done with deliberation and throughest acquaintance and information of the truth else rash and hasty judgments and believing knaves will disgrace the Bishop and injure the just and gratifie the wicked breed uncurable breaches between so unjust a Bishop and the flock 3. It must be done with the greatest seriousness reverence and gravity As knowing that the honour of God and Religion and the Church lieth on it and the comfort or recovery of the souls of men and the preservation of the rest It is not a Chancellors check nor saying do you repent and will you pay your fees that dispatcheth such a work as this It requireth much skill and time and patience Poor sinners must not be taken in a passion nor is it imperious frowns that melt men into true Repentance The opening of the nature of the sin and the aggravation not reproachfully but convincingly the awakening of a secure hardened sinner with the terrors of the Lord the drawing him home by the opening of the motives of Love and mercy do all require greater skill and holiness and love to Souls than most Bishops have that ever I was acquainted with much more than a Lay Chancellor hath who is the man that doth the work that never pretended to be a Divine I must profess for my own part that when I did this with others for one Parish it called for more skill and holy affections and consequently more convinced me of my weakness by far than publick preaching to the people The heart of an honest judge will be turned within him before he pass the sentence of death on an offender And before we pass the sentence of Excommunication our bowels must yearn over poor souls and all means be tried to recover them And here it is not the clearest witness of the crime that will serve turn For men are not to be excommunicated for any ordinary crime unless it have impenitency and obstinacy added to it And therefore the work of the Bishop is not like a secular Court to judge only of the fact and fault but to judge of mens repentance or Impenitence And that is a thing that cannot be done by a few Lordly awful words You will say Because of all this we judge that ordinary Priests are not to be trusted with so great a work but a few wise and Reverend Prelates Ans 1. I never yet knew the best Bishop that was to be compared for ability in this work to many a Parish Minister that I have known Nor did I ever know One Bishop tolerably fit for it who had not for a considerable time been a laborious Parish Minister Those that come from the Universities to be Noblemens and Bishops Chaplains and so get the Tythes of two or three rich Benefices and then are made Prebends Deans and Masters of Colledges and then he made Bishops may read and talk of all this work but know no more what it is indeed than I know how to build an house 2. An experienced Minister that liveth upon the place and knoweth all the persons and witnesses hath incomparable advantage above a strange Prelate 3. One that is their familiar and ordinary Teacher whom they neither contemn nor fear with a carnal awe for fear of punishment may discern whether Repentance be credibly serious which he that aweth them by greatness and terror shall never know For almost all the veriest beasts will there profess Repentance though they come home with redoubled malice against the persons that would have reformed them Only a man that believeth he is in the right will incur the Bishops wrath for not confessing that he is in the wrong 4. But yet our Caution is far greater than the Bishops For because this requireth so much skill and faithfulness we would have no one Man trusted with it except in a case of necessity when a Church can have no more For in the multitude of Counsellers is safety We would have every Church have a Consessus of Presbyters and if one be a Bishop we contend not against it And we would have it done in the presence of the Seniors of the flock who know the persons that so if one should want skill or trustiness he might be helpt by others or hindred from doing wrong And if all this will not do we would have the next Synod of neighbour Pastors to have a final audience of the case And now let any thing except utterly blinding Pride and Partiality be judge WHETHER A CONSESSVS OF MINISTERS IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SENIORS OF THE FLOCK WHO ALL KNOW THE PERSONS be not liker to JUDGE RIGHTLY IN ONE PARISH where also a neighbour Synod may review the case than ONE STRANGE PRELATE or CHANCELLOR FOR A DIOCESE OF MANY CHURCHES WHERE HE KNOWETH NOT THE PERSONS Especially when this Chancellor and all the Proctors and Officers of the Courts do live in wealth upon the Trade and therefore must manage it as a trade When in the way that we desire no Presbyter nor Synod should have one farthing for all his pains but his comfort in obeying God and end cavouring the Churches good and mens salvation Alas Lord How long shall Christs enemies be the Pastors of his flocks and the seed of the serpent be the great instruments that must break the serpents head and the lovers of sin be they that must be the suppressers of it and those employed to teach men knowledge who themselves will not know and to preach up holiness who cannot endure it To
with six or seven in a day if he did nothing else shall before he can examine their cases have thousands more of their and others to examine So that nothing of this nature can be more notorious than that our controversie with the Bishops is but such as these Whether the Lord Mayor alone shall not only oversee all the Families in the City but be the Only Governour of them so that Husbands Parents and Masters shall only teach and exhort their families but the Lord Mayor alone shall rule them as to their daily works their speeches and their lives Or whether the City and the whole Diocese shall have but one Schoolmaster who shall be the sole governour of all the Schools in all those hundred parishes 20 or 40 or 100 miles distant and the Schools shall have under him only Curate Ushers who shall only teach the boyes as far as they are willing to learn and for all their untractableness disobedience absence and faults shall present their names to a Chancellors Court set up by the sole ruling Schoolmaster Or whether all the Colledges in the University shall have no Governour but the Vicechancellor and the rest be but Tutors to the Voluntiers Or whether all the Patients in a Diocese shall have but one Physician to govern the Patient by prescripts and under him only Apothecaries to carry about his medicines and directions Indeed if it were the Physicians work to play the Soldier and cut all their throats it might be done in a short time But healing requireth more ado And if it were the Bishops or Chancellors work to do no more than to read an accusation and say Do you Repent and as some do because they must be thrice admonished to say at once I admonish you I admonish you I admonish you I excommunicate you or to do as the Pope doth Interdict whole Kingdoms at once as Herod killed all the children in hope that he should meet with Christ among them then a few hands might do the work But whether it be possible to exercise the discipline of Christ in their Diocesan way on one of a thousand let the impartial judge As also whether that Church be fitlier said to be governed or ungoverned where one of a thousand is governed indeed whenas it is the body of the people and not one of a thousand that is called the Church CHAP. XIX The same Impossibilty proved by Experience THey say Experience is the teacher of fools But O how well were it for the Churches of Christ if their Reverend Bishops who think themselves only meet to govern them had but learnt by it these 1300 years at least The Experience which I offer you is 1. That of the ancient Churches what work the enlargement of their Diocesses and growing great by the greatness of their charge made quickly by the destruction of true discipline abundance of forecited testimonies shew To which what sad complaints might I add out of Socrates Chrysostome Isidore Pelusiata and many others which made Gregory Nazianz Orat. 1. Say so much of the difficulty of a Bishops work and to depose himself when contentious men were ready to depose him and to wish so earnestly that there had never been greatness and Priority and difference of Seats as Upper and Lower among the Pastors of the Churches being tired with their contentions pride and envy even of the Orthodox themselves who instead of doing the work contended for power and preeminence I cited some of Chrysostomes sayings before de sacerdot l 3 c. 16. 17. where he sheweth the greatness of a Bishops work and p. 57. So p. 58. Nisi quotidie Episcopus omnium domos circumierit in hac parte vel eas superans quibus nullum aliud studium est quam in foro versandi deambulandique hinc omnino offensiones infinitae emergent Neque enim ij soli qui aegrotant sed qui sani sunt invisi se volunt Id quod non religionis ac pietatis sed honoris dignitatisque potius nomine plurimi sibi vendicant Ac si quem forte contigerit ex ditioribus potentioribusque Christianis ecclesiae usu lucroque communi ita urgenti ab Episcope frequentius invisi hic protinus Episcopus palpatoris atque adulatoris notam sibi inurit Chrysostome speaketh like a man that knew by experience what a Pastors work is And if our Bishops must go to every house how many years pilgrimage would it be to go but once through all their Dioceses Bernard saith Epist 82. Cum praesideant urbibus valde populosis coetus ut itadicam patrias propriae Diocaeses ambitu circumcludant occasione inventâ â—â— quacunque veteri privilegio satagunt ut vicinas sibi subdant civitates quatenus duae quibus vix due Praesules sufficiebant sub uno redigantur antistite And the doleful lapse of discipline hereupon all History witnesseth Which made Erasmus say Eccles lib. 1. Quantum negotiâ— credimus esse cum praeter vicos paâ—os viginti frequentes amplae civitates such as our big Market Towns uni parent antistiti Et multorum praesulum ditio tam late patet ut siquam maxime forent expediti omnibus mundanis negotiis non possent tamen in omnibus oppidis Concionari quum bodie una civitas quamplures requirit Ecclesiastes How much less will one perform all the rest of the Bishops work Saith Musculus Loc. Commun de Minist p. mihi 438. Quare viderint Episcopi c. Let Bishops look to it who when they cannot or do not rightly Minister to one Church extend their power not to some few Churches but to whole Provinces Let them read Chrysostome on Tit 1. Per civitates in every City c. These things made Luther say advers falsò nominatum ordinem Episcop To. 2. p. 310. Perinde habet c. It is with these wicked ungodly Bishops all one as if the Devil himself should mitred and ringed sit in the chair and himself rule the people And Bishop Hooker in 8 precep saith Et certe si jam vigeret antiquus ille ergae populum amor If they had the ancient Love to the people they would themselves confess that there is more work in one City than the best men can easily do They know well enough that the Primitive Church had no such Bishops till the time of Silvester the first I cite this ex Altar Damascen having not the Book at hand Filesacus tells us ex Concil Triburiensi c. 26. Relata est coram sancta Synodo quaeremonia plebium eo quod sint quidam Episcopi nolentes ad predicandum vel ad confirmandum suas per annum paraecias circuire de Orig. Paraec p. 537. What would they have done if they had been in our times See Isidore Pelus Ep. 246. l. 2. p 236. teaching Bishop Eusebius and Theodosius what a Church is who had so far lost the true Episcopacy as to take walls for men and to abuse and scorn
the true Church or godly people while the Walls were adorned as if Christ had come from Heaven more for Walls than Souls c. of which before In a word nothing is more evident than that true Discipline was shut out at the times and in the degrees as Diocesses were enlarged and that in Aâ—rick and other places where the Churches or Diocesses were more small and numerous discipline was best preserved II. The second sort of experience is that of almost all the Reformed Churches who have found the Pastoral work and Discipline particularly to be so great as that less than all the Parish Ministers concurring could not perform it 1. Those Churches which with Calvin set up Presbytery exclude no Pastor from the Governing part but took in Elders of the people to help them because experience had told them that all the Ministers were too few what then would one Bishop and Chancellour or Vicar have been able to do 2. The Lutherans who set up superintendants commonly so set them over the Pastors as not to take away the true Pastoral power of governing their particular flocks as finding by experience that the old way of Prelacy would not do it And usually they join Magistrates with them as they also in the Palatinate did And it is such an oderate supriority which is exercised in Hungary Transilvania and in Poland till the Papists rooted them out thence 3. The Helvetian Divines exercise a certain measure of power in keeping the unfit from the Sacrament but not what they judge to be the Churches duty because the Magistrate never would consent That the Pastors are for it as needful to the right ordering of the Churches you may see in Polani Syntag. at large and in most of their Divines of Basil Bern Zurich c. I will now only cite the honest hearty words of Musculus above 100 years ago because he was a man most clear and candid and that did mancipate his judgment neither to Luther Calvin nor any party as such but took liberty to differ from them all as in the points of Redemption perseverance c. At Bern in his Loci Commun ed. 1567. p. 421 He proveth Bishops and Presbyters and Doctors and Pastors to be all one And p. 422. that in the Apostolick Primitive Church they governed the Church in common being subject to no head or president But after the Apostles daies as Hierome saith to avoid schism but as he thinketh more out of a desire of Majority one got the name and presidency of a Bishop But saith he whether this counsel did profit the Church or not by which such Bishops were introduced as Hierome saith by custome rather than by truth of divine disposition to be above the Presbyters it hath been better manifested to after ages than when this custome was first brought in which we must thank for all the insolency wealth and tyranny of the Principal and Equestral Bishops yea for the corruption of all the Churches which if Hierome had seen undoubtedly he would have known that it was the devise not of the Spirit of God to take away schisms as was pretended but of Satan himself to lay waste and destroy the ancient Ministers for feeding the Lords flock whereby it might come to pass that the Church might have not true Pastors Doctors Presbyters and Bishops but under the masks of those names idle-bellies and magnisick Princes who will not only not themselves feed the people of God with sound Apostolick Doctrine but also take care by most wicked violence that it be done by no one else By this devise of Satan it is brought to pass that instead of Bishops the Churches have potent Lords and Princes for the most chosen out of the order of Nobles and great men who being upheld by their own and their kindreds power may domineer over the flock of God as they list And p. 423. The office appointed to the Bishops that came after the Apostles times was to preach to the people to adminster the sacred things to prescribe repentance to take the care of the clergy and the people both in City and Country to ordain to visit to take care that the goods of the Church be rightly kept and dispensed and to take the patronage of Church-matters with Princes And if the Bishops had but staid here it had been better with the Church Or if the Prelates and Pastors of our times would return to these Canonical Rules there might be hope that the Eccleasiastical State and order might possibly be reformed and the controversies of these times might be ended by the word of God Hence it is plain that the office of true Presbyters and Bishops in the Church of Christ is to feed the Lords flock with sound Doctrine and to be truly Pastors and Teachers But now the false Bishops pretend a Pastoral Cure when going to the Assembly-Offices they are as they take it Episcopally cloathed They put on a white stole longer than ordinary with a girdle not such as John Baptist wore c. The maskd Pastor thus dressed doth not feed the flock of God but performeth the Church service in such a gesture Ceremony and dralect that all the matters of the Church may be nothing else than certaine vaine and pompous shewes so that if one of the Apostles were there he would never so much as dreame that this were the Episcopal feeding of the Lords flock Thus the Bishop doing once or twice a year doth Suffciently performe his Office what ever he do the rest of the time The ordination of Ministers and other things accounted Ecclesiastical he committeth partly to his suffiragane and partly to his Vicar or Chancellor The office of Teaching he committeth to some Doctor or Monk so sworne as that he shall not dare to speake a word or hisse besides what is prescribed him in the formes of Lawes Thus far I confess he speakes of the Popish Bishops But who would believe he meant not ours that had seen them And how little do they differ Well you shall next hear him speak of Protestant Bishops Pag. 425 Let us now come to other Ministers Pastors and Bishops divers from these who do nothing in the Church of Christ but Preach and teach They have certaine daies of the weeke on which they Preach And that is well They Preach only out of the holy Scriptures And that well too But this is not well that very many of them speak formally and coldly and not from the heart so that what Seneca somewhere saith agreeth to them Animum non faciunt quia animum non habent They make not men hearty or serious because they are not so themselves And that of the Roman Orator thou wouldst never talk thus if thou speakest from the heart Nor do they accommodate the word of God to the Hearers by pertinent and profitable distribution but they think they have well performed their office if they have any how spoken out the hour In the
prescribed in Scripture professed that it was always his opinion And joyned with us in our proposals for Bishop Ushers Model Dr Stillingfleet in his Irenicon hath said so much against the Jus Divinum of our Prelacy as can never be answered I have talked with many of the Bishops and Episcopal Conformists my self of these matters and I do not remember that ever I spake to one accounted a Learned man that did not confess when driven to it that the Greatness of the Diocesses and the Chancellors Government by the Church Keyes were causes of so great a lapse of discipline as is to be groaned under And can shew us no probability it possibility of restoring it while it so stands And yet they would have us subscribe and swear never to endeavour any alteration of the Church Government not excepting in our place and calling by petition or otherwise no though the King commanded us Bishop Hall in his Mod. Offer doth confess the faultiness and desires reformation and in his excellent Peace-maker would take up even with a presidencie durante vita as sufficient to reconcile us Dr. Hammond himself oft complaineth of the lapse of discipline and the clergies and peoples vices thereupon The Liturgy wisheth the godly Discipline restored but doth it not as if in our case it could not be done Abundance of their Writers lament the scandals of clergy and people which have abounded of which I shall say somewhat more anon 2. And this is yet plainlier confessed by the Actual omission of discipline We need not to dispute whether that can or be ever like to be done by our Prelacy which is no where done and never was done no not by any one man of them not excepting the very best so that if they had not come neer the Erastian opinion in their hearts and thought this use of the Keyes to consist but in bare Teaching or the rest to be of no great need it had not been possible that they should have quieted their Consciences Or at least if they did not do it by saying I cannot help it It is not long of me As Bishop Goodman layeth it on the King in the case of Chancellours and most lay it on the Church-Wardens and Ministers for presenting no more But all must confess that little is done besides the troubling of Nonconformists It is not one of a thousand in a Diocesse I am confident that ever is brought under the excercise of Church discipline that ought to be Nor one of many thousand that should be so according to the ancient Canons of the Churches If I should give no other instance than the ordinarie neglect of all Gods publick worship Preaching Prayer and Sacraments in publick Churches or any other Religious Assemblies I do not think but ten thousand persons in this Diocesse and twenty thousand if not fourty in London Diocesse are guilty that were never questioned by the Church I may therefore argue thus That which never was done by any one Bishop in England being the confessed work of their office is naturally or Morally Impossible to be done or if it have a possibility it is as bad as none when it never was once reduced into act But the true exercise of Church discipline on all or the hundredth or many hundredth person that it is due to was never done by one Bishop in England that can by any credible History be proved since the deformation or reformation Ergo. The strength of the Major is plain 1. From the Bishops own mouths who use to praise themselves as the Wisest Learn dst and best of the Clergie and therefore fitter to be trusted with the Government of the Church than all or any of the Presbyters though but under then And they would take it heynously if we question their wisdom conscience or honesty and if they are all or most so good sure it is long of the state and constitution of their places and not long of their persons that their very proper work is made but a shaddow and a dream 2. But though this be but ad homines yet really we have had very worthy and excellent persons to be Bishops what a man was Jewell Arch-bishop Grindal had Godliness enough and resolution too to make him odiâ—s and favoured Lectures and Preaching c. Enough to bring him down if Cambden Godwin or Fuller are to be believed but never could do this work of discipline upon one of hundreds or thousands under him We had an excellent Arch-Bishop-Abbot afterwards good enough to be reproached by Heylin and to suffer what I need not mention but never able to do this work What Learned Judicious worthy men were his Brother Robert Abbot and after him Davenant Bishops of Salisbury And how good a man was peaceable Bishop Hall so Usher in Ireland Moron and many more But no such thing was done by any of them what should I say now of Bishop Reignolds and Bishop Wilkins Men Learned and extraordinary honest in these times But let any man enquire whether any such thing as the discipline in question is exercised on the thousandth Criminal in their Diocese Indeed we have heard in Bishop Reignolds Diocese of a great number censured for Nonconformity And it is his praise that it was not his doing but his Chancellours though heretofore Judge Advocate in Fairefaxes or Cromwells Army And to say now that it is long of Church-Wardens Chancellours c. Is but to say that the Church is corrupted the Episcopal discipline almost quite cast out and all the remedy is to say It is long of somebody Like the Physician whose Praise was that his patients dyed according to the rules of art or the nurse whose praise was that though most of the Children perished it was long of themselves or somebody else IV. But the fullest experience which so far satisfieth me that all the books in the world cannot change me in this is my own and the rest of my Brethren in the Ministry I have lived now through Gods wonderful mercy threescore years wanting lesse than four In all this time whilst the Bishops ruled I never heard one man or woman called openly to repentance for any sin nor one ever publikely confess or lament any sin Nor one that was excommunicate in any Country where I came except the Nonconformists Nor did I hear of any but one man to my remembrance who did formal penance for Fornication I doubt not but there have been more But the number may be conjectuâ—ed by this I lived under a great number of drunken and ignorant Curates that never preached and Schoolmasters my self and many more were round about us that were never troubled with discipline or cast out I never lived where drunkards and swearers were not common but never one of them underwent the Churches discipline But those that met to fast and pray and went to hear a Sermon two miles off when they had none at home But yet this is the last
day 3. The remaining respects which the people had to the Prelates and their way was a hinderance to us that desired to meddle herein with none but consenters 4. A great number of Sectaries raised by the distastes of the Prelates wayes did also hinder us 5. Yet it was than possible and feasible to Ministers that were wise and willing to do so much as might very much attain the ends of discipline though not so much as they desired 6. But is this an Objection fit for the Prelatists to make or doth it not encrease their condemnation what would you say to a Physician a Pilot a Schoolmaster that should say It is not an hundred Physicians that can do what should be done for all the Patients in this City nor an hundred Pilots that can well govern all the Navy nor an hundred School masters that can well Govern all the Schools in the Diocess Therefore I will get them all turned out and I will be the only Physician with my Apothecaries the only Pilot with my Sâ—amâ—n the only Schoolmaster with my Monitors and Ushers my self for the work can be but left undone Such rule the Churches must have while God for our sins will suffer it The doing it per alios is oft enough answered before Obj. V. Many Parish Ministers are young and raw and unfit to govern Ans 1. They are unfit who make this Objection who bring and keep such in and cast so many hundred out that are better however ignorant malice slander them 2. This also may be said against their preaching much more For 3. They may Rule with others when they cannot preach by others 4. There may be appeals to the next Synod or Prelate if you will have it so Obj. VI. You would have a Priest to be a Pope in his Parish Ans I can call this Objection no better than gross Impudency For 1. It s a Contradiction A Pope is a Head of the Universal Church And so it is saying that we make every Minister a Head of the Universal Church to his Parish 2. We desire more Presbyters than One in a Church 3. We desire Appeals to the next Synod and is that to be a Pope 4. Is not one Minister as able to Rule a Parish without the help of assistants and Synods as one Prelate to Rule many hundred Parishes who likely is a worse man than the Minister Impudent pride will perhaps say no. CHAP. XXI The Magistrates Sword is neither the strength of Church discipline nor will serve instead of it nor should be too much used to second and enforce it THese three assertions I will prove distinctly 1. The Magistrates Sword is not the chief strength of true Church discipline I add this because this is the Prelatists last Objection that its true that the Keys are but brutum fulmen and a leaden sword without the Magistrates For almost all men will dispise it Who will come to our Courts if they may choose Who will regard our Excommunications Do not the people now despise them what then would they do if they had their wills when we have excommunicated the Schismaticks They will Excommunicate us again The greatest Prelatists who write to me and speak with me use these very words themselves To which I answer 1. If we prove that Christ hath instituted discipline and that for such noble ends as aforementioned it is little less than blasphemy thus to reproach it As if Christ had no more Power Wisdome or Goodness than to ordain so vain and unprofitable a means to such high and necessary ends 2. The objection doth but express a carnal mind which regardeth only carnal things and thinketh as basely of all others as if nothing moved them but the interest of the flesh And as if Gods favour or displeasure and the authority of his word and Ministers were of no force or regard even with the Church of Christ 3. The objection inviteth Kings to put down all Bishops except Preachers and Magistrates For why should they put the people to so great charge and trouble especially when they love the Prelates so little as to keep them up to wield a Leaden Sword and to brandish a brutum fulmen and to make a noise to no more purpose yea to rob the Magistrate of the honour of his proper work and to make the deluded people believe that those things are done by a brutum fulmen which really are done by the Civil power 4. This objection bitterly reproacheth all the ancient Churches and Bishops and all General and provincical Councils and all the Cannons and ancient discipline of the Churches As if they had troubled the world to no pupose and all their discipline had been vain 5. The objection is notoriously confuted in that the Discipline was more powerful and had better effect before Constantius time than afterwards and was much more strictly exercised against sin And that which so long did more without the Sword than afterward by it doth not receive its efficacy from the Sword 6. A naturarei there is as much of Divine Authority as much of the power of his Precepts Prohibitions Promises and threatnings as much of Heavenly inducement as much of the terrors of Hell as much of internal goodness of holyness and evil of sins as much of Soul interest in what the Minister propoundeth for mens conviction as there is when it is backt with the Magistrates Sword And if all these have no force Christianity must be a dream and able to do no good in the world which better beseemeth Julian Celsuâ— or Porphyry Symmachus or Eunapius to say than a Bishop 7. By this objection the Prelatists openly confess that their Churches consist of men so carnal as are not moved by Divine authority without the Sword And consequently what Pastors they have been to the Churches and how they have governed them and what they allow us to expect from their discipline for the time to come 8. By this Objection they condemn themselves and justifie the Nonconformists For why should we Swear that we will never endeavour any alteration of so brutish an Office as if the King and Parliament could not take down such an useless thing And why should so many hundred Ministers be forbidden to Preach Christ for not assenting consenting and Swearing to such a vaine and brutish power 9. By this they give up their cause to the Presbyterians and Independents Confessing that their discipline is uneffectual when as we that plead for another frame desire not the Magistrates Sword to interpose and desire to use discipline on none but Volunteers And either the discipline which we desire hath some efficacy or none If none what need they fear it or hinder it or silence so many hundred Ministers and write and strive and all to keep men from using such a brutum fulmen which can do no harme But if they confess that our discipline hath efficacy and theirs hath none what do they but directly
the way to make him hate them 15. And the Office of the Pastors is such as that truth and Goodness are the wares which they expose to sinners choice and Light and Love are the effects which Spirits Word and Ministry are appointed to produce And by Light and Love they must be wrought Therefore no Minister â—oth his work or doth any good to some if by Light and Love and holy Life he help not the people to the same And therefore the adjunction of Jayles and confiscations is so contrary to his Office and designe as obscureth or destroyeth it Though Enemies may be restrained and peace kept by force 16. True discipline cannot be exercised this way not only as it s lost in the confusion of powers as a little wine in Wormwood juice but because the Number and quality of the Church members will make it impossible Enemies and rebellious carnal minds are not subject nor can be to the Lawes of Christ you may affright them to a Sacrament but one of them will make a Minister such work who will but call them to credible repentance for their crimes and will renew those crimes so oft till he be excommunicated and will so hate those that excommunicate as will tell you what can be done when all such are forced unwillingly into the Church Of this I have spoke at large in my Book of Confirmation 17. It tendeth greatly to harden the sinners in the Church in their impenitence to their damnation when they shall see that let one swear and curse and be drunk every day in the week if he will but say I repent rather than lie in Jayl he shall be absolved by the Chancellour in the Bishops came and have a sealed pardon delivered him in the Sacrament by the Minister who knoweth his wicked life How easie a way to Heaven which leadeth to Hell do such good-natured cruel Churches make men Obj. The Minister is to refuse the scandalous Ans Not when he is absolved by the Chancellour Obj. But if he sin again he may refuse him again Ans How far that is true I shewed before But not when he is absolved again And he may be absolved toties quoties if he had but rather say I repent than lie in Jayle 18. Let but the ancient Canons be perused and how contrary to them will this course appear The ancient Churches would admit none to absolution and communion after divers greater crimes till they had waited as is aforesaid in begging and tears and that for so long a term and with such penitential expressions as satisfied the Church of the truth of their repentance It would be tedious to recite the Canons How great a part of Cyprians Epistles to the Churches of Carthage and Rome are on this subject reprehending the Confessors and Presbyters for taking lapsed persons into Church Communion before they had fulfilled their penitential course And what a reproach do they cast upon all these Bishops Churches and discipline who say That sinners must be taken into Communion if they will prefer it before a Jayle Though they love a Wherehouse an Ale-house a Play-house a Gaming house yea a Swine-Stie better than the Church yet if they do not love a Jayle with beggery better they shall be received 19. Even when Christian Emperours had advanced Prelates and given them though not the sword yet the aid of it in the Magistrates hand to second them they never used it to force any to the Communion of the Church but only to defend them and to repress their adversaries Yea when Prelates themselves began to use the sword or to desire the Magistrates to serve them by it it was not at all to force men to say They Repent and so to be absolved and communicate But only to keep hereticks from their own assemblings and from publishing their own doctrines or maintaining them or from being Pastors of the Churches And yet now men will force them to be Absolved and communicate And how great mischiefs did even so much use of the sword in matters of Religion as was the punishment of Hereticks then being though they were not forced into the Church Socrates brandeth Cyril of Alexandriae for the first Prelate that used the sword and what work did he make with it He invaded a kind of secular Magistracy He set himself against the Governour Orestes and under his shadow those bloody murthers were committed on the Jewes who also â—illed many of the Christians The Monks of Mount Nystra rose to the number of 500 and assaulted the civil Governour and wounded him and Amonius who did it was put to death by Orestes and Cyril made a Martyr of him till being ashamed of it he suffered his memorial to be abolished And when Hypatia a most excellent woman of the Heathens was famous for her publick teaching of Phylosophy Peter one of Cyrils Readers became the head of a party of that Church who watched the woman and dragg'd her out of a Coach into a Church stript her of her cloaths and tore her flesh with sharp shells till they killed her and then tore her members in peices and carried them to a place called Cynaron and burned them for which we read of no punishment executed Socrat. lib. 7. c. 13. 14 15. And it was this S. Cyril who deprived the Novatians of their Churches and took away all the Secret treasure of them and spoiled the Bishop Theopompus of all his fortunes Socrat. l. 7. c 7. What his Nephew and Successor Theophilus was and did you have heard before and shall hear more anon What the ancient Christians thought of using the sword against Hereticks though they compelled them not to the Church and Sacrament any man that readeth their Writings may see viz. Tertullian Arnobius Laâ—tantius and abundance more And the case of S. Martin towards Ithacius and Idacius I have oft enough repeated Only I cannot but note the impudency of Bellarmine who de Scriptor Eccles de Idacio falsly making Idacius to be the same with Ithacius when he was but one of his associates doth tell us that Idacius fell under the reprehension and punishment of the Bishops in eo reprehensus punitus ab Episcopis fuit quod Priscillianum apud seculares accusaverit occidi curaverit whereas Sulpitius Severus telleth us that all the Bishops of the Synod joyned with them and one S. Martyn and one French Bishop more disowned and refused them and Martin would have no Communion with them to the death save that once at the Emperours perswasion he Communicated with them to save a prisoners life which was given him on that condition and yet was chastised by an Angel even for that And Ambrose at Milan also disowned them as you may read in his life and when the deed was done the Christians spake ill of Ithacius and Idacius for taking that new and bloody way which before the Churches commonly disowned but they pretended that they did not cause this
execution And the same Sulpitius tells you that when this new way of seeking to the Emperour was first set on foot by Ithacius and his Synodists the Priscillianists quickly got the handle of the sword and by a Courtier got even Gratian to be on their side against the Bishops And yet that was not all the mischief but when Maximus had killed Gratian it was this pleasing of these bloody Orthodox Prelates which he trusted to as his means to possess the Empire and so punished the Priscillianists to please them and serve himself of them of which more anon But you may see here that Bellarmine himself seemeth to disown Bishops seeking to Magistrates to punish Hereticks As if he had forgotten their bloody Inquisition and Massacres And Baronius invit Ambros would perswade us that Ambrose who was of Martins mind did not disown the punishment of hereticks by the sword but he would not have Churchmen seek it As if it were not evident enough that it was the thing it self that he and Martin were against and that Martin was reproached by the Prelates as a fâ—â—tor of Hereticks for travelling to Maximus Court and importuning him to save them And as if the Inquisitors did not seek to the Magistrate and more even Judge and execute the sword themselves It s true that Augustine was at last for the use of the sword against the Donatists But it s as true 1. That he wrote much before against it 2. That it was so much against the Churches former judgement and practice that he was fain to write his Apology and reasons 3. And that the Donatists Circumcellians used frequent and cruel violence against the Christians that were Orthodox or Cecâ—llians and catch'd their Presbyter in the streets of Carthage dragg'd him in the dirt and abused him cruelty two Church daies before they let him go with many such outrages Yea the Catholicks could not go safely in the streets for them And among other devises they mixt Lime and Vinegar together and cast it in mens eyes as they passed in the streets to put out their eyes And they were so mad that they wounded and killed themselves to bring odium on the Catholicks And they were so numerous that they called themselves the whole Catholick Church 4. And Austin did never desire the Magistrate to force them to the Sacrament but to defend the Church and repress their insolencies 5. And yet the whole Clergy joyned first in a representation of all this to the Donatists Bishop Januarius as being an old experienced peaceable man and to desire him to remedy it before they would fly for aid to the Magistrate all this you may see in their Epist to him inter Augustini Epistolas And what work did the Arrians make with the Orthodox when they had got the Emperours sword to serve them Nay indeed it was the Arrians who did first set this work on foot after the Jewes and Heathens They so depopulated the Churches by it in the daâ—es of Constantius and Valens that they seemed all to be turned Arrians and thâ— Orthodox party seemed to be almost conquered if not extinct And their Sergius the Monk that instructed Mahomet set him by this way of the sword on that extirpation of Christianity which hath so dolefully prevailed in the Eastern Empire And so great was the swords success against the faith of the Trinity that Philostorgius of Old and out of him Sandius of late would make us believe that almost all the ancient Bishops indeed were Arrians But the saddest instance of the mischief of too much serving Church-men by the sword is the case of the Papal faction when Cyril had begun the trade at Alexandria saith Socrates Episcopus Romanus non aliter atque Alexandrinus quasi extra sacerdotis fines egressus ad secularem principatum erat jam ante delapsus it seems Rome had the primacy in a Sanguinary Prelacy And saith he Then Pope Celestine first took their Churches from the Novations and compelled their Bishop Ruricolae to keep their meetings privately in houses And though the Bishops commended them as Orthodox yet they spoiled them of their fortunes Socrat. l. 7. c. 11. so impatient are armed Prelates of any that are not of their mind and way how honest otherwise soever they acknowledge them But alas since then what streams of blood have been shed to â—ack the Romane discipline How many hundred thousand of the Waldenses and Albigenses did they murther How many thousands in Belgia France Germany Poland Ireland c. And when at first they precariously got the Magistrates to serve them voluntarily with the sword at last they would constrain them to it as their duty and such a duty as they must perform on pain of losing their dominions For the Pope having first excommunicated them next may give away their dominions to others as is fully expressed Concil Lateran sub Innoc. 3. Can. 3. Concil Rom. sub Gregor 7. And do I yet need to say more what mischief hath come by overmuch backing Church discipline by the sword If I do let this be the close that God knoweth how many Great men and Commanders are now in Hell for the persecutions and murders which Church men have thus drawn them to 2. Lastly most certain this course of forcing all men into the Church and to the Sacrament by prison and sword will keep up perpetual divisions in the Churches The more religious sort of people will still in all ages be flying away from such Churches as from a Pest-house or infected place or ruinous house that 's ready to fall The unexperienced Prelates think that it is but some few preachers that teach the people such strict opinions and if those were cut off all would be well But their ignorance is the Churches plague and their own 1. There is somewhat in Scripture that perswadeth them that God hateth all the workers of iniquity and that holiness and unholiness are as Light and Darkness and that he that nameth the name of Christ must depart from iniquity and that the impenitent and scandalous must be avoided and ashamed and hereticks after a first and second admonition and that he that bids them Good speed is partaker of their evil deeds and that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump and therefore the wicked must be cast out and must be to us if obstinate after admonition as Heathens and Publicans These are not the words of phanaticks but of Christ 2. There is something in the newborn soul which is contrary to wickedness and which inclineth men to an enmity with the Serpents seed as such though a love to them as men that are yet capable of grace and which disposeth men to obey all the foresaid words of Christ 3. And there is in the people more than in the Pastors some remnants of ignorance which makes them more liable to stretch these words of Christ too far and by mistake to run further from wicked men than
Bishops have been Arch-hereticks and the cause of tumults and dissensions The very reading over the acts of the General Councils especialy Eph. 1. and 2. Calced is tremendous It was to be a Bishop that Maximus made so pestilent a stir at Constantinople and Alexandria against Gregory Theolog. Yea they tell us themselves that it was because he could not be a Bishop that Aerius spake against Bishops so pestilent a thing hath the desire of such Bishopricks been Theodotus the Bishop would not so much as joyn in Prayer with Basil morning or evening because he had but communicated with Bishop Eustathius upon his fair professions Basil Epist 43. Admir ad Terentium Comit. The contention between such excellent persons as Eusebius Caesar while Bishop and Basil while Presbyter was very sad and scandalous The contention between Basil and Euthemius about the extent of their Diocess was no less The People of Caesarea would have torn in peices Eusebius the President the Emperors own Unkle for Basils sake if he had not hindred them The Church of Neo-Caesarea wrangled with Basil for his Psalmodie and even avoided him as if he had been an Heretick see Basils Epist ad mer. 4. to Julian what language he there ufeth to the Emperour Not that I judge him but wish you to judge equally of the actions of those times and ours See Basil Ep. 82. Theodor. l. 5 c. 19. The Antiochians for a Tax under Theodosius the great did tumultuate and kill the Magistrates and destroyed the Statue of Placilla the good Empress In the West good Ambrose at Milan was not silenced as we are but by an Orthodox Emperour desired and commanded to deliver the Arrians possession but of one Church and he refused to do it and to forsake that Church or Temple or deliver the Vessels till they should be taken by force Vit. Ambros per Baron p. 6. whereas we all left our Churches at a word Nay though he would not resist the Emperour he would rather die than deliver up the Church When he was celebrating Gods Worship he was fain to break off to rescue an Arrian Priest out of the hands of the Orthodox people who had laid hold on him For which multitudes were laid in prison and Irons and accused of Sedition and great Calamity followed to the Church and this from Valentinian an Orthodox Emperour Ambrose saith when he refused to deliver up the Temple Eâ—qua sunt Divina Imperatoriae potestati non esse subjecta If Baronius say true but mine I shall yield to him But we hold that even Temples as well as Bishops though dedicated to God are under the Civil power of the Empour When Ambrose was desired but to quiet the people he answered It is in my power not to stir them up but it is God that must quiet them So great was his interest in the people that the Emperour said he was a Tyrant and that the people would deliver himself bound to him if Ambrose did but bid them Yet had Ambrose been the man that had gone on his Embassie to Maximus and kept him from coming into Italy in pursute of Valentinian which made Ambrose say Non hoc Maximum dicere quod Tyranus go sum Valentiniani qui se meae legationis objectum queritur ad Italiam non potuisse pervenire And because the late revolutions in England are made by some Prelates the pretence for the silencing of the 1800 Ministers of whom one of ten never medled with Warrs being fallen again on this case of Maximus let it be noted how like he was to Cromwel saving that it was not the Sectaries but the Bishops that he studyed to please and rise by When Gratian the Emperour befriended the Priscillianists Maximus to please the Bishops persecuted them to the death When Valantinian by Justina the Empresse meanes did persecute or trouble Ambrose for refusing to deliver a Church to the Arrians and also other Orthodox Bishops as well as Ambrose Maximus gave to Ambrose and the Bishops the Honour of keeping him out of Italy and letting Valentinian scape Yea wrote his Letters to Valentinian for the Orthodox Bishops telling him how grievous a thing it is to persecute the Ministers of God and when under his father they went for faithful Ministers Quae tanta mutatio ut qui antea sacerdotes nunc sacrilegi judicantur Iisdem certe praeceptis Iisdem Sacramentis dilatis Eadem fide credunt qua antea crediderunt An put at Venerabilis mihi serenitas tua conceptam semel in animis religionem quam Deus ipse constituit posse evelli And proceedeth to shew what disorders and contentions must needs follow when there be a shew of persecuting Christians and Ministers Upon this message of Maximus Valentinian being afraid of him the persecution ceased and Ambrose must be sent again on the Embassage to Maximus to stop him But when as the Bishops of France and Germany owned him and Ambrose would not communicate with those Bishops no more than Martin saith he cum videret me abstinere ab Episcopis qui communicabant ei vel qui aliquos devios licet a side that is the Prescillianists ad necem petebant jussit me sine mora regredi See here that Ambrose as well as Martin separated from the Communion of the multitude of Bishops for owning Maximus and for seeking to the Magistrate to draw his sword against the Priscillianists whom Sulp. Severus calleth Gnosticks When as many among us have by words and writing provoked Rulers to draw the sword against us that differ in no one point of doctrine from the Articles of the English Church And the said Maximus and the Bishops did so close that only one Hyginus a Bishop is mentioned and Theognostus besides Ambrose and Martin that rejected Maximus and refused Communion with the Synod and Bishops and was banished also for so doing By which you may see 1. That Bishops can comply with usurpers that will be for them as much as Presbyters 2. And that all is not unwarrantable separation or schism which Bishops call so when these three shall separate from so many And saith Baron in vita Ambros Maximus ut Tyranni nomen vitaret perinde atque fidei Catholicae tuendae causa bellum illud suscepisset in hereticos pugnam convertit Catholicos sacerdotes quibus valuit honoribus officiis est prosecutus p. 24. Maximus raiseth that war for the Orthodox Bishops to save them from the persecution of their lawful Prince and sets himself to do them all the honor he could and to pull down the hereticks And these were the Halcionian daies which Ambrose himself declareth and magnifieth even when Maximus had supprest the Arrians En tempus acceptabile quo non hiemalibus perfidiae caligantis pruinas annus riget nec altis nivis c. ibid. Reader was not that time more strange than ours that Ambrose must be so loyal as to save his Prince and Country from a usurper and yet
and work upon them 4. That it maketh the Discipline or Government instituted by Christ in the very matter of it to become impossible and impracticable and so excludeth it under pretence that they are the only persons impowred for it and they set up a kind of secular Courts and Government in its stead and so are practically Erastians I shall conclude all with these Consectaries which follow what is already proved Cons. 1. Such Diocesane principles greatly strengthen the Brownists cause who deny us to have any Church or Ministry of divine institution as is before shewed And as for them that say No form of Church Government is of divine institution Ans 1. It is well that they are forced to except both the universal and the particular Churches and expound this only of Associations of Churches 2. It is well that yet they confess that the office of Pastors is of Divine institution who are made Church Governours by Christ 3. But it is scant well that yet they subscribe to the book of Ordination which asserteth the Divine right of three distinct orders if they do not believe it 4. And these also too much gratifie the Brownist who affirmeth that we have no Churches of Divine institution and thinketh that it is no fault to separate but from a Church of humane invention Cons 2. To say that no man High or Low is bound in his place and calling to endeavour a Reformation of such a Church-Government and so to justifie the neglecters and opposers of all such Reformation is to draw upon a mans self the guilt of so much pollution and of the ruin of such a multitude of souls as should make that Conscience smart and tremble which is not seared and past all feeling Cons 3. To swear or subscribe or say and declare that though millions should swear to endeavour such a reformation in their places and callings by lawful means there is no obligation lieth on any one of them from that Vow or Oath So to endeavour it is The Lord have Mercy on that Land City or Soul that is guilty of it Cons 4. All carnal interest and all carnal reason is on the Diocesanes side and all the lusts of the heart of man and consequently all the Devil can do Therefore while carnal Christians make a Religion of their lusts and interest and pride and covetousness and idleness are more predominant than the fear of God and the love of souls no wonder if the Diocesane cause prevail with such Cons 5. A truly sanctified heart knoweth the nature and worth of Grace and the nature and weight of the Pastoral Office and is devoted to God and the good of souls and contemneth the ease and pleasures of the flesh and the riches and the honours of this World and is the best argument in the World against such Diocesane Prelacy and must at least be weakened before it can subscribe never to endeavour to amend it Cons 6. No wonder if the most serious zealous practical sort of Christians are ordinarily against such Diocesanes Prelacy when it hath the described effects and that those among themselves Cons 7. No wonder if the principal work of such Diocesanes be to silence faithful preachers and persecute zealous Christians where they had espoused a cause so contrary to the interest of Godliness that all these are unreconcilable thereto Speak not of any other Prelacy Cons 8. Take but from such Prelacy the plumes which it hath stolen from Magistrates and Presbyters and it will be a naked thing and simply a name Cons 9. If Magistrates were not the Prelates Executioners or seconded them not by writs de excommunicato capiendo c. such Prelacy would give up as dead or aweary of it self Cons 10. The ill Mixtures of force and secular power corrupteth Church Discipline and depriveth it of its proper nature use and force maketh it another thing or undiscernable Cons 11. Though in cases of necessity civil Rulers may trust Church men with part of their power about religion it is far better out of necessity that they keep if wholly to themselves And let them thunder their excommunications without any power of the Sword Cons 12. Such Bishops and Arch-Bishops as overthrow not the Churches officers and discipline of Christ must be submitted to by all peaceable men though we cannot prove them as such to be of Divine institution CHAP. XXIV Some testimonies of Prelatists of the late state of the Church of England lest we be supposed partial in our description of it 1. FOr the true understanding of the late state of the Church of England the Reader may find some light in the Lord Falklands Parliament Speeches and Sir Edward Dearings and in Heylins own History of the Sabbath with Pocklingtons Sunday no Sabbath and the Bishop of Lincolnes book of the Holy Table name and things and Dr. Heylens answer to him And the same Heylins History of Arch-Bishop Laud and from Mr. Thornedicks four last bookes II. To what common scorne all serious Godliness was brought by the rabble through the abuse of the name Puritane used by the Prelatists to make odious the Nonconformists is after shewed out of Bishop Downame and Mr. Robert Bolton who is large and frequent in it III. Bishop Halls Confession of the corruptions in the Church Governours and Government in his Modest offer and Peacemaker and his disclaiming those that deny it I have cited elsewhere IV. Williams Arch-Bishop of Yorke Morton Bishop of Durham with many other Episcopal Divines of greatest name and worth did assemble in Westminister and collected a Catalogue of things needing reformation in Discipline and worship which are to be seen in print V. A Prelatical Divine in a Treat called Englands faithful Reprover and Monitor thus speaketh to his prelates and Pastor pag. 60 61. c. And now with what depth of sorrow ought we to recount your past errours partly through neglect of duty partly through abuse of power were the faithful in your trust did ye diligently instruct the ignorant severely punish the disobedient Endeavour to reclaime those that walked disorderly and contrary to the Gospel That ye were violently bent against Action and Schisme against singularity and Non-conformity all confess a few excepted who thought nothing too much yea nothing enough in this kind how opposite soever to Christian mildness prudence and Conscience But in the mean time by reason of your Connivence or Supineness in the Episcopal office Ignorance and Superstition every where misled the people and caused them to wander in darkness not knowing whither they went Profaness like a rank pernicious weed overspread the field and Vineyard of the Lord And the prophane and vicious lives of those who stood up in defence of your Government occasionally gave increase and added strength to the opposite factious party who alledged this as one main ground of their separation from the Church that those who adhered to it were for the most part
unworthy to have Communion with any orderly well governed Congregation of believers because of their loose and scandalous manner of living which because they could not redresse they did pretend at least they were bound thus to shun and avoid as hateful to God and to good men Wherefore ye did not carefully seperate between the precious and the vile but consulting with flesh and blood what ye were to do in this case thought in humane Policy to break the power of one party by strengthening the hands of the other or not binding and restraining them with the Cords of Ecclesiasticall discipline Thus while you opposed Profaneness against Schism or did let that loose at this or secretly favoured and upheld it in hope to suppresse the later by the former the one grew too strong by the violence of opposition for your selves and both for the Church in order to peace and holiness As for your labour in the work of the Ministry how little it hath been for many years together it is even a shame to mention some of you wholly exempting your selves from this necessary burden of their calling for ease and pleasure Others supposing it a task and employment too low and inferiour for them The rest for the most part slightly or seldome bearing it with their shoulders and laying it aside presently as that which concerned other men and not themselves any longer than they listed And thus far had been pardonable with men had care been taken to see this work duely performed by the Clergy But alas there were not wanting of you who did not only wink at the wilful neglect of their inferirour bretheren in this point of Ministerial duty But did countenance and favour such as were most peccant therein judging them most averse from faction who were least conscious Of Preaching to the peole and fairest friends to the present Government who were loose enough God knoweth in their office and conversation Whence it came to pass that very many who were for you in the time of Tryal were ignorant and dissolute men dishonourable to your party and indeed to the Christian Religion which they did continually profane by their words and workes So unsuitable is humane policy with Evangelical simplicity and unsuccesful when it is used to support the regiment thereof And instead of sending forth meet Labourers into the Lords harvest fit Pastors into his flock you sent those that were idle Shephards loving to slumber given to sleep altogether like your selves careless of the Lords Heritage either unwilling if able or if willing unable or neither willing nor able rightly to divide the word of truth giving them their portion in due season As for those to whom God had given both ability and will to preach the word ye permitted them not the free use and exercise of their gifts but forbade them to teach the people as oft as they saw it convenient or necessary for their Edification And though you did at first commend to them the way of Catechizing the younger sort yet afterwards I know not upon what grounds or for what reason you so far limited and restrained the Minister in this pious and profitable practice that ye did in a manner take away the key of knowledge or make it useless for them so that they could not enter in thereby And pag. 69. of this I am assured that nothing was reformed afterward in your ordinations it being as free and indifferent for all who came as ever p. 70. 71. 72. The like excuse some frame for the gross corruptions of your prerogative Courts for commutations unjust partial and unreasonable Censures of Excommunication for unlawful to say no more suspension of the meaner sort from ordinances of Jesus Christ for non payment or rather disability of paying pecuniary mulcts and fees imposed on them and without Equity exacted of them by your prophane and greedy officers They pretend the power of the Chancellour to be distinct and separate from that of the Bishop in many points of spiritual Jurisdiction and so exempt from it and uncontroulable by it however proving illegal and exorbitant in the proceedings there of And surely it may seem strange to any considerate person that ye who did so much strain your authority for the introuducing of new Ceremonies into the Church of Christ savouring of superstition and begetting jealousies in mens minds of Popish innovations intended by you without prudence or Conscience and used it so rigorously for the enforcing of the old upon many ill affected to the observation of them absolutely requiring conformity to the Church Liturgy in every point of all men notwithstanding rebus sic stantibus profligata disciplina some former thereof were not appliable to divers persons would not extend it to the utmost measure for the rectifying those great abuses which had by insensible degrees crept in and corrupted the true Primitive discipline But Court employments State flattery and sinful Complyances with great persons were the main lets which hindred you from the due discharge of your office both in preaching the word and exercising the Rod of Christ according to his mind and will while ye thought in carnal reason such means as these most effectual for the acquiring and retaining of your greatness and despised those which the prudent simplicity of the Gospel did offer and commend unto you Wherefore it is no wonder if vice did reign there where flattery did abound and that in the chief Ministers and Messengers of truth if injustice and oppression did bear sway If men were secure in their sins where peace was proclaimed where a prophane Company heard nothing for the most part decried in the Pulpit but Faction from which perhaps alone they were free And what could be expected from the common people but blind ignorance love of pleasures more than God when ye their chief Leaders caused them to err not only through your negligence but also by your example And I would to God some of you had not proved false and deceitful to your brethren whom ye perverted from the way of truth and peace by your own departing from it continuing fast friends to the world ye were carnal your selves and walked as men shewing them the way to heaven with hearts and eyes fixed upon earth For who more immoderate in their care for the things of this life than you Who more eager in the pursuit of riches and honor more tenacious in withholding good from the owners thereof than your selves Who were more set upon the usual course of enriching above measure and raising your families on high If a dignity or office fell within the Compass of your Diocess who was presently judged of you more worthy to possess and manage it than a Son or a Nephew or a Kin'man or an Allie though they were many times altogether uncapable of the honor and trust to which ye preferred them in the house of God either they wanted ability of
General Pastors And therefore it they say It is not the Presbyters but the Diocesane that is the cheif Pastor of your Parish Church I answer there is none above the Resident or incumbent Presbyters that take the particular charge and oversight The Bishop takes but the general charge as a general Officer in an Army If they do indeed take the particular Pastoral charge of every Soul which belongs to the Bishops infimi gradus then woe to that man that voluntary takes such a charge upon him and hath such a charge to answer for before the Lord. If they say that the Presbyters have the particular charge for teaching and Sacraments but the Bishops for ruling I answer 1. It is Government that we are speaking of if they are Bishops infimi gradus then there are no Bishops or Governours under them And if so then it is they that must perform and answer for Government of every particular Soul And then woe to them 2. Governing and teaching are acts of the same Office by Christs institution as appears in 1 Tim. 5 17. Acts 20. 28. c. And indeed they are much the same thing For Government in our Church sense is nothing but the explication of Gods Word and the application of it to particular Cases And this is Teaching Let them that would divide prove that Christ hath allowed a division If one man would be the general Schoolmaster of a whole Diocess only to oversee the particular School-masters and give them rules we might bear with them But if he will say to all the particular Schoolmasters you are but to teach and I only must govern all your Scholars when governing them is necessarily the act of him that is upon the place conjunct with teaching this man would need no words for the manifestation of the vanity of his ambition The same I may say of the Masters of every Science whose government is such as our Church Government is not Imperial but Doctoral yea of the Army or the Navy where the government is most imperial Now for the Argument 1. The consequence of the Major is undeniable because every such Society is essentially constituted of the Ruling and Ruled parts as every Common-wealth of the pars imperans and the pars subdita So every organized Church of the Pastor and the Flock 2. And for the Minor if they denyed both our Parish Churches and our City Churches that is those in Towns Corporate to be true Churches they then confess the shame and open the ulcer and leprosic of their way of governing that to build up one Diocesane Church which is not of Christs institution but destructive of his institution they destroy and pull down five hundred or a thousand Parish Churches and many City Churches If they will also feign a specifique difference of Churches as they do of Pastors and say that Parish Churches are Ecclesiae dociae but Diocesan Churches are only Ecclesiae gubernatae of which the Parish Churches are but parts I answer 1. The Scripture knoweth no such distinction of stated Churches All stated Churches for worship are to be governed Churches and the government is but guidance and therefore to be by them that are their Guides 2. I have before proved that every worshipping Church that had unum altare was to have a Bishop or Government by Presbyters at least Arg. III. That Ordination which is much better than the ordination of the Church of Rome or of any Diocesane Bishops of the same sort with theirs is valid The Ordination now questioned by some in England is much better then the Ordination of the Church of Rome or of any Diocesane Bishops of the same sort with theirs Ergo the Ordination now questioned by some in England is valid The Major will not be denied by those which we plead with because they hold the Ordination of the Church of Rome to be valid and their Priests not to be re-ordained The Minor I prove If the Ordination that hath no Reason of its validity alledged but that it is not done by Diocesane Bishops be much better than the Ordination of such as derive their power from a meer Usurper of Headship over the universal Church whose succession hath been oft interrupted and of such as profess themselves Pastors of a false Church as having a Head and form of divine Institution and that ordain into that false Church and cause the ordained to swear to be obedient to the Pope to swear to false Doctrine as Articles of Faith and ordain him to the Office of making a peice of Bread to be accounted no Bread but the Body of Christ which being Bread still is to be worshipped as God by himself and others to pass by the rest than the Ordination now questioned in England is much better than the Ordination of the Church of Rome But the Antecedent is true Ergo so is the consequent And for the other part of the Minor I further prove it If the Office and government of the Romish Bishops and of any Diocesanes of the same sort with them be destructive of that form of Episcopacy and Church Government which was instituted by Christ and used in the Primitive Church then the Ordination now questioned by some in England is much better than that which is done by such Diocesanes But the Office and Covernment of the Romish Bishops and of any Diocesanes of the same sort with them is destructive of that form of Episcopacy and Church Government which was instituted by Christ and used in the Primitive Church Ergo The Ordination now questioned by some in England is much better than that which is done by such Diocesanes The Reason of the consequence is because the Ordination of Presbyters now in question is not destructive of the Episcopacy and Government instituted by Christ and used in the Primitive Church Or if it were that 's the worst that can be said of it And therefore if other Ordination may be valid notwithstanding that fault so may it N. B. 1. I here suppose the Reader to understand what that Ordination is now questioned in England viz. Such as we affirm to be by Bishops not only as Presbyters as such are called Bishops but as the cheif Presbyters of particular Churches especially City Churches having Curates under them and also as the Presidents of Synods are called Bishops 2. Note that all I say hereafter about Diocesanes is to be understood only of those Bishops of a Diocess of many hundred or score Churches which are infimi gradus having no Bishops under them who are only Priests who are denied to have any proper Church Government And not at all of those Diocesane Bishops who are Arch-Bishops having many Bishops under them or under whom each Parish Pastor is Episcopus Gregis having the true Church Government of his particular Flock And thus because the Major is of great moment I shall handle it the more largely The Viciousnes of the Romish Ordinations appeareth thus 1.
when vacant by the Bishops death Now all these lived together as in a little Colledge thus the Churches were planted and the Gospel disseminated through the world But at first every Bishop had but one Parish yet afterwards when the numbers of the Christians increased that they could not conveniently meet in one place and when through the violence of persecution they durst not assemble in great multitudes the Bishops divided their charges in lesser Parishes and gave assignments to the Presbyters of particular flocks which was done first in Rome in the begining of the 2d Century And things continued thus in a Parochial Government till toward the end of the 2d Century the Bishop being chiefly intrusted with the cure of Souls a share whereof was also committed to the Presbyters who were subject to him and particularly to be ordained by him nor could any ordination be without the Bishop who in ordaining was to carry along with him the concurrence of the Presbyters as in every other act of Ecclesiastical jurisdiction Pag. 308. 309. Corruptions broke in upon Church Officers especially after the 4th Centurie that the Empire became Christian Which as it brought much riches and splendor on Church employments so it let in great Swarmes of corrupt men on the Christian Assemblies And then the Election to Church offices which was formerly in the hands of the people was taken from them by reason of the tumults and disonders that were in these Elections which some time ended in blood and occasioned much Faction and Schism And Anâ—bitus became now such an universal sin among Churchmen that c. Pag. 310. I do not alledge a Bishop to be a distinct office from a Presbyter but a different degree in the same office c. Pag. 320. As for the sole power of ordination and Jurisdiction none among us claime it but willingly allow the Presbyters a concurence in both these Pag. 322. That whole frame of Metropolitans and Patriarks was taken from the division of the Roman Empire which made but one great National Church Pag. 331. I acknowledged Bishop and Presbyter to be one and the same office and so plead for no new office bearer in the Church The first branch of their power is their authority to publish the Gospell to manage the worship and dispence the Sacraments And this is all that is of Divine right in the Ministry in which Bishops and Presbyters are equal sharers but besides this the Church claimeth a power of Jurisdiction of making rules for discipline and applying and executing the same All which is indeed suitable to the common laws of societies and the general rules of Scripture but hath no positive warrant from any Scripture precept And all these Constitutions of Churches into Synods and the Canons of discipline taking their rise from the divisions of the world into the several provinces and beginning in the 2d and beginning of the 3d. Century do clearly shew they can be derived from no Divine original and so were a to their particular forme but of humane constitution Therefore as to the managment of this Jurisdiction it is in the Churches power to cast it into what mould she will But we ought to be much more determined by the Laws of the land In things necessary to be done by Divine precept since no power on earth can Council the authority of a Divine Law the Churches restraints are not to be considered Pag. 335. I acknowledge that without Scripture warrant no new offices may be instituted Pag. 337. I am not to annul these ordinations that pass by Presbyters where no Bishop can be had And this layes no claime to a new office but only to a higher degree of inspection in the same office whereby the exercise of some acts of jurisdiction are restrained to such a Method And this may be done either by the Churches free consent or by the Kings authority Pag. 348. In Augustines time it appears from the journal of a conference he had with the Donatists that there were about 500 Bishopricks in a small tract of ground Pag. 30. Observe the Bishops were to be ordained in the presence of the people where every one might propose his exceptions yet the popular Elections were not wholly taken away and at least the peoples consent was asked Pag. 41. Vossâ—is from all the manuscripts of Damasus his lives of the Popes shewes that S. Peter ordained both Linus and Gletus Bishops of Rome and after some enquiry into the matter he concludes that at first there were three Bishops in Rome at once Linus Cletus and Aneneletus in the next succession he placeth Cletus Anencltus and Clemens Pag. 48. Among the Jewes where ever there were an hundred and twenty of them together they did erect a Synagoguge Pag. 49. At a conference which Augustine and the Bishops of that Province had with the Donatists there were of Bishops 286 present and 120 absent and 60 Sees vacant And there were 279 of the Donatists Bishops Pag. 51. The Gothick Churches are said to be planted 70 years before Ulphilas their first Bishop came to them Pag. 50 He she weth the like of the Scots By the streine of Ignatius Epistles especially that to Smyrna it would appear that there was but one Church at least but one place where there was one Altar and Communion in each of these Parishes which was the Bishops whole charge Pag. 56. The enlarging of the Diocesses hath wholly altered the figure of Primitive Episcopacy That the Bishops were chosen by the people and by the Clergy and people and at last not obtruded without the peoples consent Father Paul Saript de Beneficiis oft tells you and I have fully proved by many Canons in my abstract of Church-history of Councils FINIS * Where Dr. Allestree was bred His next Neighbor a Cosins Tab. 3. b Cosins Tab. 4. c Cosins Tab. 5. d Cos Tab. 6. e Cos Tab. 2. f Cos Tab. 8. g Cos Tab. 2. Tab. 8. h Cos ibid. i Cos ibid. k Cos Tab. 2. l Act of Uniform That Parish Priests have no Governing power see Dr. Zouch as also that the King is the Ecclesiastical Supream m Cos Tab. 13. n Cos Tab. 11. Acts 14. 23. Tit. 1. 5. ☞ Vid. Epist 2. Edict Anacleti de forma provinciali Metrapol c. Turrian pro Epist decr c. 24. De novitate hujus formae leg Blondel cont Decr. p. 1. 27. who giveth full testimony of it cont Anaclet Ep. 2. 41. Leg. Vitaâ— Ambros per Baron August li. de opera Monecheâ—â—â—n Invit Ambros per Baron Vit. Ambros per Baron Socrat l. 3. c. 15. Theodoret Eccles Hist l. 1. cap. 10. Leg. Valentiniani Valentus Legem seu Literas in Theodoreti Eccl. Hist l. 4. c. 7. Hestor Andaeanorum c. 9. Messalianorum c. 10. cum interpretatione D. Hookeri li. 7. p. 66. de Audio Euseb l. 8. c. 1. Dr. Hanmer's Translat p. 144 145. Socrat. l. 2. c. 3. Id. ib.
Presbyter and so must be of a distinct Order from the Bishops that give him his second power And who giveth them theirs And if you rise to a Patriarch or Pope what Superiour of another Order giveth them their second Power 2. That institution or fixing a man before Ordained to a particular Flock doth not make him of another Order or Office nor is a new Ordination nor is he as oft Ordained and made of another Office as he changeth his Flock or receiveth a new License from the Bishop or the King from whom I had rather have it 3. That the People as well as the Bishop if not much more do give the Minister this opportunity for the exercise of his Office as the Patient chooseth his Physician And yet it is my Opinion that this will not prove that the People are his Governours much less that they give him a new Order or Office And of old the People chose their Bishops themselves It will be as much honour for you Learnedly to prove that there were no Kings in the World till Bishops made them as to confute D. Blondels Historical proof of the Peoples ancient choice of their Bishops 2. And as to a General License I will thank the King for it yea or any man that hath power to hinder me that he will give me leave to Preach and Exercise my Office But I do not think that every man that doth not hinder me when he can doth give me power And if a Bishop be so extraordinary good as not to silence nor hinder a Minister from Preaching Christ I do not think that this man is an Usurper in Preaching the Gospel for want of a License or second Power Nor yet in exercising the rest of his Office where he and the People do consent These things seem plain to us and they that whether by Learning or the Love of Riches and Honour and Domination are made wiser than we may suffer such Fools gladly while themselves are in re vel spe Rich Honourable and wise 3. And what is Ordination but a General Investiture in the power of performing the Ministerial Office And why may not the General Power or License be given at once as at twice I think Take thou Authority to Preach the Word of God and Administer the Holy Sacraments and the Discipline of the Church when thou art thereto lawfully called that is hast opportunity and fit Objects is a General License And a Man may presently Exercise this Office on Consenters Unless the sence be Take thee power when it shall be given thee 3. But if it be a Particular License that is here meant by the grant of second power I confess that there is somewhat considerable in it and that in old time the Bishop and his Clergy living together and meeting in the same Church the Presbyters like our Parish Curates now were in all the Worship of the day and in their privater Ministry to the People to be ruled by the Bishop and to Modifie and Circumstantiate all as he directed them And so may it be again But sure a Minister is not to travel an hundred miles to the Bishop to know whether he shall visit this sick man or give the Sacrament to the other and to know what Chapter he shall read and such like If it be not a General License that is meant it must needs suppose the Bishops presence 9. And seeing the Bishops may License a Presbyter to use the Keys the opening of this will help our understandings about the nature of the Bishops Office There is no act of Jurisdiction which they do not Ordinarily commit to others The sentence of Excommunication and Absolution is ordinarily decreed by a Lay-Chancellor And Spalatensis saith that Episcopal Jurisdiction may be done by a Lay Delegate The same sentence is Pronounced in Court by a Lay-Man or a meer Presbyter The same sentence is published in the Church by a Presbyter or Deacon And a Prince may give a License to exercise the Ministry to which we were Ordained I enquire then 1. Whether the granting of this Episcopal Power be a making that Man a Bishop that it 's granted to If so a Bishop a Presbyter and a Chancellor are all of one Office when thus impowred If not so then a Lay-man or one of another Office may have power to do the Work of the Bishops Office And what is the Office tell me if you can beside Authority and Obligation to do the Work A Lay-man and Presbyter may by the Bishop be Authorized and Obliged to do the Work of a Bishop and this ordinarily as an Office For so they do Ergo a Chancellor and a Presbyter may be made really a Bishop and yet in their esteem remain a Lay-man and a Presbyter still And is not that a Lay Office which a Lay-man may be Commissioned to do If a Lay-man were but Commissioned to do the Work of a Presbyter to Teach a Church ordinarily to Administer the Sacraments and to Excommunicate and Absolve in foro internae poenitentialis either it would make the Man a Presbyter or it would be a Nullity And if it be not so with the Bishops Office what is the Reason Is it not because it is not of Divine Specification and Institution but Humane and therefore mutable or such as Men may parcel out and commit to Lay-men by pieces as they please So much to Dr. Hammond's Appropriation of the Power of the Keys in that Treatise As to his Annotations I shall have occasion to recite them hereafter among those that give up the Diocesan Cause as opposed by us and therefore shall here pass them by His Dissertations against Blondel have a Premonition about Ordination which though most confident I shall manifest when I come to the point of Ordination to be most weak and indeed have done it before his death in my Disput of Ordin His first Preliminary Dissertation of Antichrist of the Mystery of Iniquity and of Diotrephes I will not be so needlesly tedious as to meddle with any further then to say that I will believe Dr. Hammond here and in his Annot. on 2 Thes 2. when I am fallen into so deep a sleep as to dream 1. That the famous Coming of Christ and our gathering together to him which is a great Article of the Christian Faith is but Titus his Destruction of Jerusalem and that the reward promised to all that love his appearing is meant to all that love the said Destruction of Jerusalem 2. And that this Destruction was not to be called nigh or at hand which fell out so few Years after 3. And that the Gentiles of remote Countries were so shaken in mind and moved about a Question of a few Years distance of the Destruction of the Jews more than about Christ's coming to the Common Judgment 4. And that the Gnosticks were indeed such terrible Persecutors of the Church who were dispersed Subjects when their Doctrine was but that they