the tithes Gods portion for their maintenance and God now gives this rule that the b 1. Cor. 9.11 ministry sowing spirituall things should reape of the carnall things sowed by the Laity And in what proportion rather should that be then in that which was of old Gods portion namely a tenth part of the encrease of the ground and cattle And if we upon good ground of the equity of the Law give God and imploy in sacred duties every seventh day of our whole time as before was done in the Patriarchs time and under the Law hath not likewise our Church now well ordained that the Ecclesiastical estate should have the tithe of the increase of the earth and cattell as was done in the Patriarchs time and in the times under the Law The equity of both is alike Besides the generall Rule of mens bounty or duty in this kind shewing their thankfull acknowledgement to God was to make the extent thereof according c Deut. 16.17 Lev. 5.7 11. 14.21 Neh. 5.8 Acts 11.29 1. Cor. 16.2 2. Cor 8.12 to their ability and according to Gods blessing on their labours as God hath prospered their estate And what can bee more sutable thereunto then to render unto God a tenth ever in use untill Christs time when by Heathen tyranny it was interrupted For thus it will come to passe that each man shall have nine parts for his owne use and Ecclesiasticall persons receive a tenth and so partake in a fit proportion with the Laity in yeares of plenty and scarcity and condole in affliction or rejoyce in Gods bounty together with the Laity In the first times of the world the Kingly and Priestly offices were conjoyned in one person and must needs make him of more authority and require and move the people in their own hearts to shew the more reverentiall observance in civill and sacred duties But afterward when the burden and charge was become very great too heavy for one person to undergoe God appointed Mosem custodem utriusque tabulae to take the speciall charge of civill matters and Aaron of the Priestly calling And afterward untill Christs time the Priests tooke care of the sacred performances and were usually assistant unto the chiefe Rulers and Kings as Eleazer to Josua in dividing Canaan Zadock to Solomon in building the Temple Jehoiadah a preserver and instructor of Joash Jehosuah in commission with Zorobabel at the returne from Babel And as the chiefe Fathers and Princes of the severall Tribes assisted the King in civill matters so the Priests and Levites were subordinate to the high Priest in Ecclesiasticall businesses and he and they subject to the King so now when the Kingdomes and occasions of Christian Princes are much increased they have made use of Nobles being men of eminent parts for civill affaires and of Ecclestasiicall men being conspicuous for vertue religion prudence and learning in Ecclesiasticall performances And as the d Deut. 17.9.2 Chro. 19.6 8. Priests and Levites were in joynt commission with Judges for the judgement and cause of the Lord whose the Judgement is so have such Ecclesiasticall men as above been joyned in Judgement with prudent Lay-men in Courts where Christian Lawes subordinate to Gods Law and guided in many things by humane reason and by custome of the Nations well settled have bin the Rule determining controversies Furthermore As the Jews had one solemn place for Gods worship and service namely the Temple in Jerusalem where every day sacrifice was made and holy rites performed and prayers and praises offered up to God and had also many Synagogues in their Land for prayer and expounding the word so have not our forefathers under the Gospel being partakers of a better Covenant and enjoying better promises then they of old well shewed their thankfulnesse to God by building large and goodly Churches for prayer and praising God thrice every day and for frequent preaching in the great Cities of this Land and yet built in the lesse townes and villages ordinary and smaller Churches and Chappels for prayer and preaching at due times Where God affords more meanes he requires more duty according to mens ability so in regard that the great Cities have beene more able to build furnish and maintain Gods Churches and service they may seem religiously in this but to have done their duty Yet the equity of this will not extend so farre as Rome doth stretch it arrogating to her selfe a superintendency over all the world and desiring that all Churches on the earth should vaile to her and depend and be regulated by her as all Canaans Synagogues and Ecclesiasticall persons received their direction from Jerusalem For first in the time of the Law there was such a multiplicity of rites and ceremonies and performances that had not God made the King his Counfell and the chiefe Ecclesiasticall persons in Jerusalem to regulate all parts of the Land of Canaan unity and concord in all points could never have bin observed but in the Christian Church and in the worship and service of God therein Christ ordained few and easie Sacraments a plainer and more familiar doctrine of faith and practise so that it is very possible to keepe peace and unity and for Churches in Lands farre remote one from another to be of one accord and mind if they will rest in the simplicity of the Gospel much more for all the greater Churches in our Land to agree one with another in all performances and chief doctrines and necessary truths because they have the same plain direction from sacred Scripture and one King Parliament to regulate them Secondly whereas God foretold that many a Rev. 17.13 14 15 c. Kings should give power and authority to a tyrannous Beast and should submit themselves to the great City which then raigned and ever since desired to domineer over the Kings of the earth and yet should afterward when the Lamb of God Christ had overcome them re-assume to themselves their own power given them by Christ and should hate that great City called by the Spirit of God The Whore and make her desolate and naked This is in great part already come to passe and Kings and Queens have become nursing fathers and mothers to the Church and rightly hold and maintaine that they have supreme power in their owne Kingdoms next and immediately under Christ the head of the Church and are as independent of any forraine person whatsoever as David and Solomon in their times and therefore that they neither ought nor may be subordinate to the Roman Church which is now manifestly proved to have left her first love and to be The Whore whom the Kings of the earth should ruinate But to returne to the observances of old In the Law from which an equity being deduced is still of use in the Christian Church wee observe that there were in those times * This word is often answerable to the Hebrew for the courses of the
God was much enlarged The Church is now and ever was a Body consisting of severall members some in this a 1 Cor. 12. Body are eyes some hands some feet c. some b Luk. 22.26 are greater and chiefe some lesse in the Kingdome of Christ The lesse have a lesse service or charge the greater and chiefe are or should bee of greater service and imployment for the good of the whole and so they are indeed though it may seeme otherwise A prudent and considerate man will not judge the belly in the Roman Apologue to bee idler then the other parts nor the Master of the Ship sitting at the Sterne a lesse actor for the welfare of the passengers then they which tug at the oares or hoyse or strike saile As the hand and foot are content with their owne offices so should each member in the Church but yet there is a difference in some regard for one of inferiour place in the Church may desire the improvement of his talent and abilities may desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as was said above As Saint Paul approves this so the practice of the primitive times shew it then to have beene usuall Matthias of a Disciple was made an Apostle Philip of a Deacon became an Evangelist Furthermore concerning the performance of these Ecclesiasticall offices Saint Paul speaking of and particularly reckoning up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the diversities of Gods gifts sheweth a more excellent way to use them namely That whatsoever gift of God in this kinde any one hath hee should above all make use of Christian love without which tongues prophesie knowledge faith and all other gifts and graces are nothing and with which Christian love if any ones heart bee truly enflamed hee will apply himselfe to doe good in the Church in whatsoever kinde hee can as Pastor as Deacon as a fellow-workman as a Presbyter as an helper c. yea doe any usefull service in the Church as God gives ability and occasion is offered So Saint John being an Apostle did as a Prophet write the Revelation and as an Evangelist also his Gospel a divine supplement to the three other Gospels and then his Epistles Paul sent forth to preach did sometimes baptise performed the part of a Deacon and Evangelist yea became all things to all men But how may it appeare that any one as a Bishop had many Presbyters and Deacons under him or had a Diocesse or a large circuit of a country to be overseen by him Answer Wee may observe that the Apostles in regard of thepaucity of labourers in the great harvest of God had large as I may call them Diocesses and that each of them settled Presbyters in many Cities as we conceive by that which we read of some of them It is also manifest that there were many Presbyters at once in a Act. 20. Ephesus Acts 20. in Jerusalem Act. 11.30 in Antioch Act. 13.1 b Act. 11.30 at Caesarea there were at one time Philip the Evangelist Paul c Act. 13.1 and the companions of his travels Agabus and Luke These would not have stayed there but that there was worke for more then one of them Seeing professours of Christianity much increased and the Apostles endevoured to hold them in the true faith and still to convert more Proselites it necessarily followeth that they would not see them want any needfull supply of Teachers and Instructors but sent their Ministers and helpers to any Church as any present occasion required and that they call'd them back as they found necessary and expedient for any other place And seeing some Cities were large and had many a Act. 13.5 Synagogues which the Apostles made use of and so probably such as were by them sent or left there to preach it was requisite that they should have more then one Presbyter for the same over which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Angell of the Church was left When the rest of the twelve Apostles were dead and Saint John onely left alive but aged he not able to visit some remote Churches in his own person by writing to the seven Churches of Asia informed every one who had an eare in any Church whatsoever to heare their duties These Angels might according to the example of Titus left by Paul in Creet ordaine Presbyters in every of their Cities They might also try those who said * Rev. 3.9 Rev. 2.2 they were Jewes that is Christians and might examine them who pretended to be Apostles and were found lyars Had not these seven Churches more then one Teacher entertained in them no stranger would have fained * Say he was an Apostle a mission unto any of them and if the Angell of a Church exercised his power to examine and reject false pretenders we see thereby what his authority was for he who could do thus by a stranger might doe as much by a Presbyter bred up in his owne Church As for Diocesses the thing is ancient For the great Cities of old had some Pagi or villages neer adjoyned and subordinate to them Hence we read of a Jos 15. Gilead Ekron c. and their villages of Jerusalem b Ezek. 16. and her daughters Of this there is no need to doubt because it is usuall in all Countries whatsoever as being a thing for many reasons expedient and therefore wee may well grant that Ephesus Smyrna Philadelphia c. had some villages depending on them and subject to them and that therein some free men of the chiefe Cities did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inhabit And thus the thing is ancient how late soever some affirme the name to be Men also have used of old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to dwell together for mutuall defence and comfort one of another so that the thing here also is ancient and was fitted of old for the name of Christian Parishes Suppose there were such adjacent villages to the great Cities and that the retired persons and shepheards there harkned as soon or sooner to the Gospel then the richer and greater Citizens who were cumbred with worldly imployments burdened with the weight of honourable places because also the shepheards of Bethlehem and Joseph of Arimathea and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coasts neer adjoyning to the more noble Cities were often more attentive to the Gospel then the great men in Jerusalem and other large Cities suppose all this yet how will it appeare that these Angels or chief Overseers of the Churches had such large revenues as some Bishops in these our dayes Answer To this an answer is easily made No man can expect that a river should have so great a stream at or neer the spring head as it hath after many miles running 'T is not possible that a Lords or Knights house in New-England should be as well built furnished and attended as a Lords or Knights house usually in Old-England The Angels and Presbyters of the primitive times found stronger
opposition from the potent Romans and cruell Heathen and had much more to doe to keep off the violent hands of malicious persecutors then the New-Englanders to withstand the unarmed Salvages and to build and settle themselves in their neighbourhood If now in the Lands which have long entertained Christianity the goodnesse of God and the bounty of Christian Princes and worthy private men under them have as David and Solomon and their Nobles better provided for the Ecclesiasticall estate and endowed them with a propriety in a larger Revenue then the Apostles times enjoyed we have greater cause to blesse God for all and to sound forth his praise in sacred hymnes as David caused to be done That other Nations seeing the righteous flourish and abundance of peace made use of in due manner for Gods glory may rejoyce and say Happy are the people which are in such a state yea blessed are they which have the Lord for their God who upon a right seeking of his kingdome addes over and above temporall benefits Matth. 6.33 The Civill and Ecclesiasticall state have in all times endured affliction or prosperity alike and joyntly God extraordinarily provided for his People and Priests Manna and quailes in the barren wildernesse but in Canaan gave the People corne wine and oyle in plenty and the Priests tithes his own portion free will offerings and consecrate things of great worth given by David Solomon their worthies and other devout persons so God first provided for his Apostles Presbyters c. extraordinarily by the selling of the beleevers possessions but afterward by free gifts of bountifull persons conferred on them according to the plenty and peace of their times they were furnished with more plentifull meanes to live cheerfully and to undergoe their weighty charge with comfort and alacrity and as God gave more and more increase unto them to build and endow Colledges Schools and Hospitals If Abraham and Job and other religious sacrificers were not the slacker but more frequent in their sacred duties and instruction of their people why should plenty of meanes and outward estate be thought to dull and take off the edge of Ecclesiasticall persons from their sacred offices and performances The same might and sometimes did befall of old so prone is man to sin but Ecclesiasticall persons have and should make use of their religious knowledge to use temporall things aright if they doe not good Lawes established in a Christian Common-wealth are of force to prevent or cure that malady The Gospel by Gods great goodnesse as it hath brought unto us a better covenant and better promises so it hath bettered and enlarged the temporall meanes of all estates Is it fit here to make the Ecclesiasticall estate an exception from the generall Let that I pray you be duly considered God thankes be unto him for his gracious goodnesse hath now made roome enough for his people as for Israel in Canaan and what needs ships having sea roome at will to clash and fall foule one against another God is good unto all and can open the windowes of heaven and poure out a blessing on all estates Onely let the civill and spirituall estates as two strong pillars mutually conjoyne their forces and in Christian love support the whole frame of the building and so make each other the more steady and strong But further Is it fit that our ecclesiasticall persons should bee termed Lords Answer first It pleased God as above was shewed to vouchsafe titles of his owne to Civill and Ecclesiasticall persons as these to the ecclesiasticall Sar Prince Nasi Prelate Rosh head Architecton chiefe builder c. These as also the terme Adon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord are in the highest and most eminent sense due to God onely for hee is a Lord doing what ever hee pleaseth of his owne authority yet in an inferiour and subordinate sense Sara called Abraham Lord so did the Hittite Genesis 23. Abrahams servant is called Lord Genesis 24.18 So is any master of servants Exodus 21.5 Col. 4.7 and which comes home to this present objection one of the foure and twenty Presbyters Apoc. 7.14 is called Lord And if so then this terme is not denyable to Bishops Secondly as others in chiefe places subordinate to Princes are high and honourable Lords so may the chiefe Ecclesiasticall persons be venerable and reverend Lords because in all times from the worlds beginning untill Christs dayes Ecclesiasticall persons were of great esteeme in the primitive times they were chiefe governours of the Church under Christ and for their sacred imployments sake being men answerable to their calling ought doubtlesse to have a neer subordination to Christian Princes and if the kingdome of God by their vigilancy be first and chiefly sought all other matters of this world wil be the more prosperous Thirdly Though God in some sense as above doth deny certain titles to men yet he never was against words of due respect and observance to superiours nor indeed are such words blame worthy so that they be not a As Judas his Haile Master bare and meer complement and not cordiat or b As was Herods applause Acts 12.19 hyperbolicall to puffe up men with pride Yea I know not whether due titles bee not now more studiously and frequently fitted to mens persons Because 1. Some sects set themselves to vilifie them 2. Because 't is not amisse thereby to put some great ones in minde to be Lords defending the innocent as well as to have a title to rule over others in the Lord to be Lords providing for the welfare of all under them as well as to have a power commanding them God hath been bountifull to Ecclesiasticall persons many wayes and they who truely consider that will not be strict handed to them What hath been here spoken in their behalfe was occasioned by some who upon faulty arguments as I conceive judge amisse of their places and callings These have as Saint Paul in like case said compelled mee to speak what I by Gods word finde to bee truth in this point and submit whatsoever I have herein written to the religious grave and mature judgement of all who bee growne men in Christ and by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evill FINIS