8. Apoc. 9. 11. Gen 3. 15. 1 Chro 21. 1. Job 1 7. de 2. 5. Joh. 13. 15. Acts 5. 3. Apoc. 20. 8. The Law whereby Man is in his Actions directed to the Imitation of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. de An. lib. 1. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist 2 de Coct cap. 9 Matth. 5. 48. Sap. 7. 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mens first beginning to grow to the knowl die of that Law which they are to observe Vide Isal. 7. 16. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Merc. Tris. Aristotelical demonstration Ramistry Of Mans Will which is the thing that Laws of Action are made to guide Ephes. â— 23. Salust Matth. 6. 2. Deut. 30. 19. O mihi praeteritos referat si Iupiter annos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alcin. de Deg. Plat. a 2 Cor. 11.3 b Luke 9.51 c Matth. 23 37. * Sap. 9. 15. A corruptible Body is heavy unto the Soul and the earthly Mansion keepet't down the Mind that is full of cares And hardly can we discern the things that are upon Earth with great labor finde we out the things which are before us Who can then seek out the things that are in Heaven Ephes. 5 14. Heb. 12.1.12 1 Cor. 16.15 Prov. 2. 4. Luk. 13.84 Of the Natural way of finding out Laws by Reason to guide the will unto that which is good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. de An lib. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Non potest erâ—â—â— continâ— gare uhi omnes idem oplnamor Mta. Ticat in 1 Pol Quiequid in omnibus inlid viduis uniue speciei communiteâ— mess id causam communew habext oporiet quae est enâ—um individuorum species na uâ—â— lilem Quod tora aliquia specie hr universalis parrienlari qe naturae sir instinctu Fleia de Christ. Rel. Si proficere cupâ— primo â—â—eâ—â— id ve rum pura quâ—l sana mens cumnâ—um hoâ—â—ianâ— atrestatur â—usâ— la Compend cap. 1. c Rom. 2 1â— Non licet naturale universaleque hominum judicium salsâ—â— van unique existimare Ides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. lib. 10. cap. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theoph. in Metaph. 1 Cor. 4. 17. Matth 15.26 Arist. Polit. 1. cap. 5. Arist Polit. 1. cap 5. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Piat in Thâ—at b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arâ—st Metaph. lib. 8. cap. 2. c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plat. in Tim. d Arist. Ethic. lib. 8. cap. ult e Deut. 6.4 f Matth. â—1 20 g Quod quâ— in se approbaâ— â—n alio reprubare non posse lib. in arenam C. de inos teft Quod quisque juris in allum slatuerer Ipsum quoque codem u l debere lib. quod quiâ—que An omni peni di injuril arque vl abslinendum lib. 1. sect 1. Qued vi out clain Matth. 82. 40. On these two Commandments hanseth the whole Law Gen. 39. 9. Mark 10. 4. Acts 4. 37. 5. 4. 2 Thes 3. ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soph. Auti. Th. 1 2. q. 94 art 3. Omaeia peccara sunt in universum contra rationem naturae legem Aug. de Civie Del 1. â—a cap. 1. Omne titlum naturae nocer ac per hoc contra naturam est De Doct Chr. lib. â— cap. 14. Psal. 115. 18. Wisd. 13.17 Wisd. 14. 12. Ephes. 4.17 Isai. 44. 18.19 The benefit of keeping that Law which Reason teacheth Voluntate sublarâ omnem actum parem esse lib. soedis simam de adult Bonam voluntatem plerunque pro sacto reputari l. si quis in Testament Divos castè adeunto pietatem adhi bento Qâ—i secus faxit Deun ipse vindex crit How Reason doth leaâ— Men unto the making of Humane Laws whereby Politick Societies are governed and to Agreement about Laws whereby the Fellowship or Communion of Independent Society standeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Rhher 1. 1 1 Tim. 6. 8. Gen. 1. 29. 2. 17. 4. 2. 4. 20. Matth. 6.33 Gen. 4.20,21 22. Isai. 4gâ— 15. 1 Tim. 5.8 Gen. 13. 19. Gen. 4. 8. Gen. 6. 5. Gen. 5. 2 Pet. 2. 5. Arist. Polit. lib. 3. 4. Arist. Polit. lib. 1. cap. 5. Vide latonem in 3. de legibus a Cum premeretur iniâ—io multitudo ab jis qui majores opes habebant aâ—l unum aliquem consugieban virtute prastantem qui cum prohiberet injeria renuiores aequitate consti â— uendô summos cum intimis parijure retinehar Cum id minùs cantingeret leges sunt inventae Cic. Ossic. lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Rher ad Alex. b Tanta est enim vis voluptatum ut â—ignorantiam protelet in occasionem conscientiam cerâ—rampat in dissimulationem Terâ—ul lib. de Spectacul Arist. Polit. lib. 2. cap. 11â—t Staundf Pâ—C â—ice to the Pleas of the Crown Jude vers 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist. Eth. lib. 10. cap. 1â— Isa. 10. 1. Arist. P. lit 1. cap 2 Gen. 2. 22. Cic. Tuâ—â— 5. 1 de Legib. 1 King 10 1. 2 Câ—râ—n g. 1. Matth. 13 42. Luke 11. 3 Joseph lib. 2. â—â— nâ—â—a ra Appl. â—n Tâ—â—â— lib. 9. de saâ—nd â— â—â— Assâ—ct Ephe. 4. 5. Acts 15. 23. Joh. 14. 27. Wherefore God hath by Scripture further made known such Supernatural Laws as do serve for Mens direction Gal. 6. 8. He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life Everlasting Vide Arist. Ethic lib. 10. c. 10. Metaph. l. 12. cap. 5. cap. 4 cap. 20. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Merc. Tris. Matth 25. The just shall go into life everlasting Matth. 22. They shall be as the Angels of God 2 Tim 4. 8. 1 Pet. 1. 4. Psal. 8. Comment in Procaem 2. Metaph. Phil. 3. 19. a Matth. 5. 12. Rejoyce and be glad for great is your reward in Heaven Aug. de Doct. Christ. cap. 6. Summa merces est ut isto persruamur b Ambros. contra â—ym c Magno excellenti ingenio viri com se doctrinae penitus dididissent qâ—iquid laboris poterat impendi contemptis omnibus privatis publicis actionibus ad inquirendea veritatis studium contulerunt existimantes 〈…〉 esse pâ—â— larius humanarum divinaâ— uacute m que recum in vestigare ac scire rationem quà â—n struendes pibus aut cumulandis hogoribus inhirete Sed neque adepti sunt id quod volehant operam Sâ—mul uâ—que indusiriam perdiderun â— Qu'a veritas id est arcanum summi Dei qui fecir omnia ingenio ac propriis sensibus non potest comprehendi Aliequi nihil inter Deum homineâ—â—que distarer si consilla diiposiâ—â—oâ— illies Majestatis aeternae cogitatio assequeretur humaâ— Quod quia fieri non peruit ut homini per seipsum ratio divina notesceternon est pastâ—â— hominem Deus lumen sapientiae requirentem diuâ—â—s abberaâ—e aâ— fine ullo â—ris effectu vagari per tenebras inextricâ—â—illes Aperuit oculos ejus aliquando
Local It was not therefore every where seen nor did it every where suffer death every where it could not be intombed it is not every where now being exalted into Heaven There is no proof in the World strong to inforce that Christ had a true Body but by the true and natural Properties of his Body Amongst which Properties Definite or Local Presence is chief How it is true of Christ saith Tertullian that he died was buried and rose again if Christ had not that very flesh the nature whereof is capable of these things flesh mingled with blood supported with bones woven with sinews embroidered with veins If his Majestical Body have now any such new property by force whereof it may every where really even in Substance present it self or may at once be in many places then hath the Majesty of his estate extinguished the veriâ—y of his Nature Make thou no doubt or question of it saith St. Augustine but that the Man Christ Iesus is now in that very place from whence he shall come in the same Form and Substance of Flesh which he carried thither and from which he hath not taken Nature but given thereunto Immortality According to this Form he spreadeth not out himself into all places For it behoveth us to take great heed lest while we go about to maintain the glorious Deity of him which is Man we leave him not the true Bodily Substance of a Man According to St. Augustines opinion therefore that Majestical Body which we make to be every where present doth thereby cease to have the Substance of a true Body To conclude We hold it in regard of the fore-alleaged proofs a most infallible truth That Christ as Man is not every where present There are which think it as infallibly true That Christ is every where present as Man which peradventure in some sense may be well enough granted His Humane Substance in it self is naturally absent from the Earth his Soul and Body not on Earth but in Heaven onely Yet because this Substance is inseparably joyned to that Personal Word which by his very Divine Essence is present with all things the Nature which cannot have in it self Universal Presence hath it after a sort by being no where severed from that which every where is present For in as much as that Infinite Word is not divisible into parts it could not in part but must needs be wholly incarnate and consequently wheresoever the Word is it hath with it Manhood else should the Word be in part or somewhere God onely and not Man which is impossible For the Person of Christ is whole perfect God and perfect Man wheresoever although the parts of his Manhood being Finite and his Deity Infinite we cannot say that the whole of Christ is simply every where as we may say that his Deity is and that his Person is by Force of Deity For somewhat of the Person of Christ is not every where in that sort namely His Manhood the onely Conjunction whereof with Deity is extended as far as Deity the actual position restrained and tied to a certain place yet presence by way of Conjunction is in some sort presence Again As the Manhood of Christ may after a sort be every-where said to be present because that Person is every where present from whose Divine Substance Manhood is no where severed So the same Universality of Presence may likewise seem in another respect appliable thereunto namely by Cooperation with Deity and that in all things The Light created of God in the Beginning did first by it self illuminate the World but after that the Sun and Moon were created the World sithence hath by them always enjoyed the same And that Deity of Christ which before our Lords Incarnation wrought all things without man doth now work nothing wherein the Nature which it hath assumed is either absent from it or idle Christ as Man hath all Power both in Heaven and Earth given him He hath as Man not as God onely Supream Dominion over quick and dead for so much his Ascension into Heaven and his Session at the right Hand of God do import The Son of God which did first humble himself by taking our flesh upon him descended afterwards much lower and became according to the Flesh obedient so far as to suffer Death even the Death of the Cross for all men because such was his Fathers Will. The former was an Humiliation of Deity the later an Humiliation of Manhood for which cause there followed upon the latter an Exaltation of that which was humbled For with Power he created the World but restored it by obedience In which obedience as according to his Manhood he had glorified God on Earth so God hath glorified in Heaven that Nature which yielded him obedience and hath given unto Christ even in that he is Man such Fulness of Power over the whole World that he which before fulfilled in the state of Humility and Patience whatsoever God did require doth now reign in Glory till the time that all things be restored He which came down from Heaven and descended into the lowest parts of the Earth is ascended far above all Heavens that fitting at the right Hand of God he might from thence fill all things with the gracious and happy fruits of his saving Presence Ascension into Heaven is a plain local translation of Christ according to his Manhood from the lower to the higher parts of the World Session at the right Hand of God is the actual exercise of that Regency and Dominion wherein the Manhood of Christ is joyned and matched with the Deity of the Son of God Not that his Manhood was before without the Possession of the same Power but because the full use thereof was suspended till that Humility which had been before as a vail to hide and conceal Majesty were laid aside After his rising again from the dead then did God set him at his right Hand in Heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and domination and every name that is named not in this World onely but also in that which is to come and hath put all things under his feet and hath appointed him over all the Head to the Church which is his Body the fulness of him that filleth all in all The Scepter of which Spiritual Regiment over us in this present World is at the length to be yielded up into the hands of the Father which gave it that is to say The use and exercise thereof shall cease there being no longer on Earth any Militant Church to govern This Government therefore he exerciseth both as God and as Man as God by Essential Presence with all things as Man by Co-operation with that which essentially is present Touching the manner how he worketh as Man in all things the Principal Powers of the Soul of Man are the Will and Understanding the one of which two in Christ
what went they out to see a Man Cloathed in Purple and fine Linen no indeed but an obscure harmless Man a Man in poor Clothes his Loynes usually girt in a course Gown or Canonical Coat of a mean Stature and stooping and yet more lowly in the thoughts of his Soul his body worn out not with Age but Study and Holy Mortifications his face full of Heat-Pimples begot by his unactivity and sedentary life And to this true Character of his Person let me add this of his Disposition and behaviour God and Nature blest him with so blessed a hashfulness that as in his younger days his Pupils might easily look him out of countenance so neither then nor in his Age did he ever willingly look any Man in the face and was of so mild and humble a Nature that his poor Parish Clark and he did never talk but with both their Hats on or both off at the same time and to this may be added that though he was not purblind yet he was short or weak-sighted and where be fixt his eyes at the beginning of his Sermon there they continued till it was ended and the Reader has a Liberty to believe that his Modesty and Dim sight were some of the reasons why he trusted Mistris Churchman to choose a Wife for him This Parish Clark lived till the third or fourth year of the late long Parliament betwixt which time and Mr. Hookers Death there had come many to see the place of his Burial and the Monument dedicated to his memory by Sir William Cooper who still lives and the poor Clark had many rewards for shewing Mr. Hookers Grave-place and his said Monument and did always hear Mr. Hooker mentioned with Commendations and Reverence to all which he added his own knowledge and observations of his Humility and Holiness in all which Discourses the poor man was still more confirm'd in his opinion of Mr. Hookers Vertues and Learning but it so fell out that about the said third or fourth year of the long Parliament the present Parson of Borne was Sequestred you may guess why and a Genevian Minister put into his good living This and other like Sequestrations made the Clerk express himself in a wonder and say They had Sequestred so many good Men that he doubted if his good Master Mr. Hooker had lived till now they would have Sequestred him too It was not long before this intruding Minister had made a party in and about the said Parish that were desirous to receive the Sacrament as in Geneva to which end the day was appointed for a Select Company and Forms and Stools set about the Altar or Communion Table for them to sit and eat and drink but when they went about this work there was a want of some Joynd-stools which the Minister sent the Clerk to fetch and then to fetch Cushions When the Clerk saw them begin to sit down he began to wonder but the Minister bade him cease wondering and lock the Church door To whom he replied Pray take you the Keys and lock me out I will never come more into this Church for all men will say my Master Hooker was a good Man and a good Scholar and I am sure it was not used to be thus in his days And report says The old man went presently home and died I do not say died immediately but within a few days after But let us leave this grateful Clerk in his quiet Grave and return to Mr. Hooker himself continuing our observations of his Christian behavior in this place where he gave a holy Valediction to all the pleasures and allurements of Earth possessing his Soul in a vertuous quietness which he maintained by constant Study Prayers and Meditations His use was to Preach once every Sunday and he or his Curate to Catechize after the Second Lesson in the Evening Prayer His Sermons were neither long nor earnest but uttered with a grave Zeal and an humble Voice His Eyes always fixt on one place to prevent his imagination from wandring insomuch that he seem'd to Study as he spake the design of his Sermons as indeed of all his Discourses was to shew Reasons for what he spake And with these Reasons such a kinde of Rhetorick as did rather convince and perswade then frighten men into Piety Studying not so much for matter which he never wanted as for apt illustrations to inform and teach his unlearned hearers by familiar examples and then make them better by convincing Applications never laboring by hard words and then by needless distinctions and subdistinctions to amuse his hearers and get glory to himself But glory onely to God Which intention he would often say was as discernable in a Preacher as an Artificial from a Natural Beauty He never failed the Sunday before every Ember week to give notice of it to his Parishioners perswading them both to fast and then to double their Devotions for a Learned and Pious Clergy but especially for the last saying often That the life of a pious Clergy-man was visible Rhetorick and so convincing That the most godless men though they would not deny themselves the enjoyment of their present Lusts did get secretly wish themselves like those of the strictest lives And to what he perswaded others he added his own example of Fasting and Prayer and did usually every Ember week take from the Parish Clerk the Key of the Church door into which place he retired every day and lockt himself up for many hours and did the like most Fridays and other days of Fasting He would by no means omit the customary time of Procession perswading all both rich and poor if they desired the preservation of Love and their Parish Rights and Liberties to accompany him in his Perambulation and most did so In which Perambulation he would usually express more pleasant discourse then at other times and would then always drop some loving and facetious observations to be remembred against the next year especially by the boys and young people still inclining them and all his present Parishioners to meekness and mutual kindnesses and love because Love thinks not evil but covers a multitude of infirmities He was diligent to enquire who of his Parish were sick or any way distressed and would often visit them unsent for supposing that the fittest time to discover those Errors to which health and prosperity had blinded them And having by pious Reasons and Prayers molded them into holy Resolutions for the time to come he would incline them to Confession and bewailing their sins with purpose to forsake them and then to receive the Communion both as a strengthning of those holy Resolutions and as a Seal betwixt God and them of his mercies to their Souls in case that present sickness did put a period to their lives And as he was thus watchful and charitable to the sick so he was as diligent to prevent Law-sutes still urging his Parishioners and Neighbors to bear with each others
them that so to do were so sin against their own souls and that they put forth their hands to iniquity whatsoever they go about and have not first the sacred Scripture of God for direction how can it chuse but bring the simple a thousand times to their wits end how can it chuse but vex and amaze them For in every action of common life to since out some seâ—tence clearly and infallibly setting before our eyes what we ought to do seem we in Scripture never so expert would trouble us more then we are aware In weak and tender minds we little know what misery this strict opinion would breed besides the stops it would make in the whole course of all mens lives and actions make all things sin which we do by direction of Natures light and by the rule of common discretion without thinking at all upon Scripture Admit this Position and Parents shall cause their children to sin as oft as they cause them to do any thing before they come to years of capacity and be ripe for Knowledge in the Scripture Admit this and it shall not be with Masters as it was with him him in the Gospel but servants being commanded to go shall stand still till they have errand warranted unto them by Scripture Which as it standeth with Christian duty in some cases so in common affairs to require it were most unfit Two opinions therefore there are concerning sufficiency of holy Scripture each extreamly opposit unto the other and both repugnant unto truth The Schools of Rome teach Scripture to be unsufficient as if except Traditions were added it did not contain all revealed and supernatural Truth which absolutely is necessary for the children of men in this life to know that they may in the next be saved Others justly condemning this opinion grow likewise unto a dangerous extremity as if Scripture did not only contain all things in that kinde necessary but all things simply and in such sort that to do any thing according to any other Law were not only unnecessary but even opposite unto salvation unlawful and sinful Whatsoever is spoken of God or things appertaining to God otherwise then as the truth is though it seem an honour it is an injury And as incredible praises given unto men do often abate and impair the credit of their deserved commendation so we must likewise take great heed lest in attributing unto Scripture more then it can have the incredibility of that do cause even those things which indeed it hath most abundantly to be less reverendly esteemed I therefore leave it to themselves to consider Whether they have in this First Point overshot themselves or not which God doth know is quickly done even when our meaning is most sincere as I am verily perswaded theirs in this case was OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity Book III. Concerning their Second Assertion That in Scripture there must be of necessity contained a Form of Church Polity the Laws whereof may in no wise be altered The Matter contained in this Third Book 1. WHat the Church is and in what respect Laws of Polity are thereunto necessarily required 2. Whether it be necessary that some particular Form of Church Polity be set down in Scripture sith the things that belong particularly to any such Form are not of necessity to salvation 3. That matters of Church Polity are different from matters of Faith and Salvation and that they themselves so teach which are out Reprovers for so teaching 4. That hereby we take not from Scripture any thing which thereunto with the soundness of truth may be given 5. Their meaning who first urged against the Polity of the Church of England that nothing ought to be established in the Church more then is commanded by the Word of God 6. How great injury men by so thinking should offer unto all the Churches of God 7. A shift notwithstanding to maintain it by interpreting Commanded as though it were meant that greater things onely ought to be found set down in Scripture particularly and lesser framed by the general Rules of Scripture 8. Another Device to defend the same by expounding Commanded as if it did signifie grounded as Scripture and were opposed to things sound out by the light of natural reason onely 9. How Laws for the Polity of the Church may be made by the advise of men and how those being nor repugnant to the Word of God are approved in his sight 10. The neither Gods being the Author of Laws nor yet his committing of them to Scripture is any Reason sufficient to prove that they admit no addition or change 11. Whether Christ must needs intend Laws unchangeable altogether or have forbidden any where to make any other Law then himself did deliver ALbeit the substance of those Controversies whereinto we have begun to wade be rather of outward things appertaining to the Church of Christ then of any thing wherein the nature and being of the Church consisteth yet because the Subject or Matter which this Position concerneth is A Forms of Church Government or Church-Polity It therefore behoveth us so far forth to consider the nature of the Church as is requisite for mens more clear and plain understanding in what respect Laws of Polity or Government are necessary thereunto That Church of Christ which we properly term his body Mystical can be but one neither can that one be sensibly discerned by any man inasmuch as the parts thereof are some in Heaven already with Christ and the rest that are on earth albeit their natural persons be visible we do not discern under this property whereby they are truly and infallibly of that body Only our minds by intellectual conceit are able to apprehend that such a real body there is a body collective because it containeth an huge multitude a body mystical because the mystery of their conjunction is removed altogether from sense Whatsoever we read in Scripture concerning the endless love and the saving mercy which God sheweth towards his Church the only proper subject thereof is this Church Concerning this Flock it is that our Lord and Saviour hath promised I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any pluck them out of my hands They who are of this Society have such Marks and Notes of distinction from all others as are not objects unto our sense only unto God who seeth their hearts and understandeth all their secret cogitations unto him they are clear and manifest All men knew Nathaniel to be an Israelite But our Saviour piercing deeper giveth further Testimony of him then men could have done with such certainty as he did Behold indeed an Israelite in whom there is no guile If we profess as Peter did that we love the Lord and profess it in the hearing of men charity is prone to believe all things and therefore charitablemen are likely to think we do so as long as they see
three Synods consisting of many Elderships Deacons Women Church-servants or Widows free consent of the people unto actions of greatest moment after they be by Churches or Synods orderly resolved All this Form of Polity if yet we may term that a form of building when men have laid a few Rafters together and those not all of the foundest neither but howsoever all this Form they conclude is prescribed in such sort that to adde to it any thing as of like importance for so I think they mean or to abrogate of it any thing at all is unlawful In which resolution if they will firmly and constantly persist I see not but that concerning the points which hitherto have been disputed of they must agree that they have molested the Church with needless opposition and henceforward as we said before betake themselves wholly unto the tryal of particulars whether every of those things which they esteem as principal be either so esteemed of or at all established for perpetuity in holy Scripture and whether any particular thing in our Church Polity be received other then the Scripture alloweth of either in greater things or in smaller The Matters wherein Church Polity is conversant are the Publick Religious Duties of the Church as the Administration of the Word and Sacraments Prayers Spiritual Censures and the like To these the Church standeth always bound Laws of Polity are Laws which appoint in what manner these duties shall be performed In performance whereof because all that are of the Church cannot joyntly and equally work the first thing in Polity required is A difference of Persons in the Church without which difference those Functions cannot in orderly sort be executed Hereupon we hold That Gods Clergy are a State which hath been and will be as long as there is a Church upon Earth necessarily by the plain Word of God himself a State whereunto the rest of Gods people must be subject as touching things that appertain to their Souls health For where Polity is it cannot but appoint some to be Leaders of others and some to be led by others If the blinde lead the blinde they both perish It is with the Clergy if their persons be respected even as it is with other men their quality many times far beneath that which the dignity of their place requireth Howbeit according to the Order of Polity they being The lights of the World others though better and wiser must that way be subject unto them Again for as much as where the Clergy are any great multitude order doth necessarily require that by degrees they be distinguished we hold there have ever been and ever ought to be in such case at leastwise two sorts of Ecclesiastical Persons the one subordinate unto the other as to the Apostles in the beginning and to the Bishops always since we finde plainly both in Scripture and in all Ecclesiastical Records other Ministers of the Word and Sacraments have been Moreover it cannot enter into any Mans conceit to think it lawful that every man which listeth should take upon him charge in the Church and therefore a solemn admittance is of such necessity that without it there can be no Church Polity A number of Particularities there are which make for the more convenient Being of these Principal and Perpetual parts in Ecclesiastical Polity but yet are not of such constant use and necessity in Gods Church Of this kinde are times and places appointed for the Exercise of Religion Specialties belonging to the Publick Solemnity of the Word the Sacraments and Prayer the Enlargement or Abridgement of Functions Ministerial depending upon those two Principals beforementioned To conclude even whatsoever doth by way of Formality and Circumstance concern any Publick Action of the Church Now although that which the Scripture hath of things in the former kinde be for ever permanent yet in the latter both much of that which the Scripture teacheth is not always needful and much the Church of God shall always need which the Scripture teacheth not So as the Form of Polity by them set down for perpetuity is three ways faulty Faulty in omitting some things which in Scripture are of that nature as namely the difference that ought to be of Pastors when they grow to any great multitude Faulty in requiring Doctors Deacons Widows and such like as things of perpetual necessity by the Law of God which in Truth are nothing less Faulty also in urging some things by Scripture Immutable as their Lay-Elders which the Scripture neither maketh Immutable nor at all teacheth for any thing either we can as yet finde or they have hitherto been able to prove But hereof more in the Books that follow As for those marvellous Discourses whereby they adventure to argue That God must needs have done the thing which they imagine was to be done I must confess I have often wondred at their exceeding boldness herein When the question is Whether God have delivered in Scripture as they affirm he hath a compleat particular Immutable Form of Church Polity why take they that other both presumptuous and superfluous labor to prove he should have done it there being no way in this case to prove the Deed of God saving onely by producing that evidence wherein he hath done it But if there be no such thing apparent upon Record they do as if one should demand a Legacy by force and vertue of some Written Testament wherein there being no such thing specified he pleadeth That there it must needs be and bringeth arguments from the love or good will which always the Testator bore him imagining that these or the like proofs will convict a Testament to have that in it which other men can no where by reading finde In matters which concern the Actions of God the most dutiful way on our part is to search what God hath done and with meekness to admire that rather then to dispute what he in congruity of Reason ought to do The ways which he hath whereby to do all things for the greatest good of his Church are more in number then we can search other in Nature then that we should presume to determine which of many should be the fittest for him to chuse till such time as we see he hath chosen of many some one which one we then may boldly conclude to be the fittest because he hath taken it before the rest When we do otherwise surely we exceed our bounds who and where weare we forget And therefore needful it is that our Pride in such cases be contrould and our Disputes beaten back with those Demands of the blessed Apostle How unsearchable are his Iudgments and his Ways past finding out Who hath known the Minde of the Lord or who was his Counsellor OF THE LAWS OF Ecclesiastical Polity BOOK IV. Concerning their Third Assertion That our Form of Church-Politie is corrupted with Popish Orders Rites and Ceremonies banished out of certain Reformed Churches whose example
in the presence of great men as what doth most avail to our own edification in piety and godly zeal If they on the contrary side do think that the same rules of decency which serve for things done unto terrene Powers should universally decide what is fit in the service of God if it be their meaning to hold it for a Maxim That the Church must deliver her publick Supplications unto God in no other form of speech than such as were decent if suit should be made to the Great Turk or some other Monarch let them apply their own rule unto their own form of Common-Prayer Suppose that the people of a whole Town with some chosen man before them did continually twice or thrice in a week resort to their King and every time they come first acknowledge themselves guilty of Rebellions and Treasons then sing a Song and after that explain some Statute of the Land to the Standers by and therein spend at the least an hour this done turn themselves again to the King and for every sort of his Subjects crave somewhat of him at the length sing him another Song and so take their leave Might not the King well think that either they knew not what they would have or else that they were distracted in minde or some other such like cause of the disorder of their Supplication This form of suing unto Kings were absurd This form of Praying unto God they allow When God was served with legal Sacrifices such was the miserable and wretched disposition of some mens mindes that the best of every thing they had being culled out for themselves if there were in their flocks any poor starved or diseased thing not worth the keeping they thought it good enough for the Altar of God pretending as wise Hyprocrites do when they rob God to enrich themselves that the fatness of Calves doth benefit him nothing to us the best things are most profitable to him all as one if the minde of the Offerer be good which is the only thing he respecteth In reproof of which their devout fraud the Prophet Malachy alledgeth that gifts are offered unto God not as supplys of his want indeed but yet as testimonies of that affection wherewith we acknowledge and honour his greatness For which cause sith the greater they are whom we honour the more regard we have to the quality and choice of those Presents which we bring them for honor's sake it must needs follow that if we dare not disgrace our worldly Superiours with offering unto them such reffuse as we bring unto God himself we shew plainly that our acknowledgment of his Greatnesse is but feigned in heart we fear him not so much as we dread them If ye offer the blinde for Sacrifice is it not evil Offer it now unto thy Prince Will he be content or accept thy Person saith the Lord of Hosts Cursed be the Deceiver which hath in his Flock a Male and having made a Vow sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing For I am a great King saith the Lord of Hosts Should we hereupon frame a Rule that what form of speech or behaviour soever is fit for Suiters in a Prince's Court the same and no other beseemeth us in our Prayers to Almighty God 35. But in vain we labour to perswade them that any thing can take away the tediousness of Prayer except it be brought to the very same both measure and form which themselves assign Whatsoever therefore our Liturgy hath more than theirs under one devised pretence or other they cut it off We have of Prayers for Earthly things in their opinion too great a number so oft to rehearse the Lords Prayer in so small a time is as they think a loss of time the Peoples praying after the Minister they say both wasteth time and also maketh an unpleasant sound the Psalms they would not have to be made as they are a part of our Common-Prayer nor to be sung or said by turns nor such Musick to be used with them those Evangelical Hymns they allow not to stand in our Liturgy the Letany the Creed of Athanasius the Sentence of Glory wherewith we use to conclude Psalms these things they cancel as having been instituted in regard of occasions peculiar to the times of old and as being therefore now superfluous Touching Prayers for things earthly we ought not to think that the Church hath set down so many of them without cause They peradventure which finde this fault are of the same affection with Solomon so that if God should offer to grant the whatsoever they ask they would neither crave Riches not length of dayes not yet victory over their Enemies but only an understanding heart for which cause themselves having Eagles wings are offended to see others flye so near the ground But the tender kindness of the Church of God it very well beseemeth to help the weaker sort which are by so great oddes moe in number although some few of the perfecter and stronger may be therewith for a time displeased Ignorant we are not that of such as resorted to our Saviour Christ being present on Earth there came not any unto him with better success for the benefit of their Souls everlasting happiness than they whose bodily necessities gave them the first occasion to seek relief when they saw willingness and ability of doing every way good unto all The graces of the Spirit are much more precious than worldly benefits our ghostly evils of greater importance than any harm which the body feeleth Therefore our desires to heaven-ward should both in measure and number no less exceed than their glorious Object doth every way excel in value These things are true and plain in the eye of a perfect Judgement But yet it must be withal considered that the greatest part of the World are they which be farthest from perfection Such being better able by sense to discern the wants of this present life than by spiritual capacity to apprehend things above sense which tend to their happiness in the world to come are in that respect the more apt to apply their mindes even with hearty affection and zeal at the least unto those Branches of Publick prayer wherein their own particular is moved And by this mean there stealeth upon them a double benefit first because that good affection which things of smaller account have once set on work is by so much the more easily raised higher and secondly in that the very custom of seeking so particular aide and relief at the hands of God doth by a secret contradiction withdraw them from endeavouring to help themselves by those wicked shifts which they know can never have his allowance whose assistance their Prayer seeketh These multiplyed Petitions of worldly things in Prayer have therefore besides their direct use a Service whereby the Church under-hand through a kinde of heavenly fraud taketh therewith the Souls of men as with certain baits If
same Conjunction so much altered as not to stay within those limits which our Substance is bordered withal nor the state and quality of our Substance so unaltered but that there are in it many glorious effects proceeding from so near Copulation with Deity God from us can receive nothing we by him have obtained much For albeit the Natural Properties of Deity be not communicable to Mans nature the Supernatural Gifts Graces and Effects thereof are The honor which our Flesh hath by being the Flesh of the Son of God is in many respects great If we respect but that which is common unto us with him the Glory provided for him and his in the Kingdom of Heaven his Right and Title thereunto even in that he is Man differeth from other mens because he is that Man of whom God is himself a part We have right to the same Inheritance with Christ but not the same right which he hath his being such as we cannot reach and ours such as he cannot stoop unto Furthermore to be the Way the Truth and the Life to be the Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification Resurrection to be the Peace of the whole World the Hope of the Righteous the Heir of all things to be that Supream Head whereunto all Power both in Heaven and in Earth is given These are not Honors common unto Christ with other Men they are Titles above the dignity and worth of any which were but a meer Man yet true of Christ even in that he is Man but Man with whom Deity is personally joyned and unto whom it hath added those excellencies which makes him more then worthy thereof Finally Sith God hath deified our Nature though not by turning it into himself yet by making it his own inseparable Habitation we cannot now conceive how God should without Man either exercise Divine Power or receive the glory of Divine Praise For Man is in both an Associate of Deity But to come to the Grace of Unction Did the parts of our Nature the Soul and Body of Christ receive by the influence of Deity wherewith they were matcht no ability of Operations no Vertue or quality above Nature Surely as the Sword which is made fiery doth not onely cut by reason of the sharpness which simply it hath but also burn by means of that heat which it hath from fire so there is no doubt but the Deity of Christ hath enabled that Nature which it took of Man to do more then Man in this World hath power to comprehend for as much as the bare Essential Properties of Deity excepted he hath imparted unto it all things he hath replenished it with all such Perfections as the same is any way apt to receive at the least according to the exigence of that oeconomy or service for which it pleased him in Love and Mercy to be made Man For as the Parts Degrees and Offices of that Mystical Administration did require which he voluntarily undertook the Beams of Deity did in operation always accordingly either restrain or enlarge themselves From hence we may somewhat conjecture how the Powers of that Soul are illuminated which being so inward unto God cannot chuse but be privy unto all things which God worketh and must therefore of necessity be endued with knowledge so far forth Universal though not with infinite knowledge peculiar to Deity itself The Soul of Christ that saw in this life the Face of God was here through so visible presence of Deity filled with all manner of Graces and Vertues in that unmatchable degree of Perfection for which of him we read it written That God with the Oyl of Gladness anointed him above his fellows And as God hath in Christ unspeakably glorified the Nobler so likewise the meaner part of our Nature the very Bodily Substance of Man Where also that must again be remembred which we noted before concerning the degrees of the influence of Deity proportionable unto his own purposes intents and counsels For in this respect his Body which by Natural condition was corruptible wanted the gift of Everlasting immunity from Death Passion and Dissolution till God which gave it to be slain for sin had for Righteousness sake restored it to life with certainty of endless continuance Yea in this respect the very glorified Body of Christ retained in it the skars and marks of former mortality But shall we say that in Heaven his glorious Body by vertue of the same cause hath now power to present it self in all places and to be every where at once present We nothing doubt but God hath many ways above the reach of our capacities exalted that Body which it hath pleased him to make his own that Body wherewith he hath saved the World that Body which hath been and is the Root of Eternal Life the Instrument wherewith Deity worketh the Sacrifice which taketh away sin the Price which hath ransomed Souls from Death the Leader of the whole Army of Bodies that shall rise again For though it had a beginning from us yet God hath given it vital efficacy Heaven hath endowed it with celestial power that vertue it hath from above in regard whereof all the Angels of Heaven adore it Notwithstanding a Body still it continueth a Body consubstantial with our Bodies a Body of the same both Nature and Measure which it had on Earth To gather therefore into one sum all that hitherto hath been spoken touching this point there are but four things which concur to make compleat the whole state of our Lord Jesus Christ his Deity his Manhood the Conjunction of both and the distinction of the one from the other being joyned in one Four principal Heresies there are which have in those things withstood the truth Arians by bending themselves against the Deity of Christ Apollinarians by maiming and misinterpreting that which belongeth to his Humane Nature Nestorians by renting Christ asunder and dividing him into two persons the followers of Eutiches by confounding in his Person those Natures which they should distinguish Against these there have been four most famous Ancient General Councils the Council of Nice to define against Arians against Apollinarians the Council of Constantinople the Council of Ephesus against Nestorians against Eutichians the Calcedon Council In four words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 truly perfectly indivisibly distinctly The first applied to his being God and the second to his being Man the third to his being of both One and the fourth to his still continuing in that One both We may fully by way of Abridgment comprize whatsoever Antiquity hath at large handled either in Declaration of Christian Belief or in Refutation of the soresaid Heresies Within the compass of which four heads I may truly affirm That all Heresies which touch but the Person of Jesus Christ whether they have risen in these latter days or in any age heretofore may be with great facility brought to confine themselves We conclude
which sanctified our Nature in Christ that which made it a Sacrifice available to take away sin is the same which quickneth it raised it out of the Grave after Death and exalted it unto Glory Seeing therefore that Christ is in us as a quickning Spirit the first degree of Communion with Christ must needs consist in the Participation of his Spirit which Cyprian in that respect well termeth Germanissimam Societatem the highest and truest Society that can be between man and him which is both God and Man in one These things St. Cyril duly considering reproveth their speeches which â—aught that onely the Deity of Christ is the Vine whereupon we by Faith do depend as Branches and that neither his Flesh not our Bodies are comprised in this resemblance For doth any man doubt but that even from the Flesh of Christ our very Bodies do receive that Life which shall make them glorious at the latter day and for which they are already accounted parts of his Blessed Body Our corruptible bodies could never live the life they shall live were it not that here they are joyned with his Body which is incorruptible and that his is in ours as a cause immortality a cause by removing through the Death and Merit of his own Flesh that which hindered the life of ours Christ is therefore both as God and as Man that true Vine whereof we both spiritually and corporally are Branches The mixture of his Bodily Substance with ours is a thing which the Ancient Fathers disclaim Yet the mixture of his Flesh with ours they speak of to signifie what our very bodies through Mystical Conjunction receive from that vital efficacy which we know to be in his and from bodily mixtures they borrow divers Similitudes rather to declare the Truth then the manner of coherence between his sacred and the sanctified Bodies of Saints Thus much no Christian Man will deny That when Christ sanctified his own Flesh giving as God and taking as Man the Holy Ghost he did not this for himself onely but for our sakes that the Grace of Sanctification and Life which was first received in him might pass from him to his whole Race as Malediction came from Adam unto all mankinde Howbeit because the Work of his Spirit to those effects is in us prevented by Sin and Death possessing us before it is necessity that as well our present Sanctification unto newness of life as the future of Restauration of our Bodies should presuppose a participation of the Grace Efficacy Merit or Vertue of his Body and Blood without which Foundation first laid there is no place for those other operations of the Spirit of Christ to ensue So that Christ imparteth plainly himself by degrees Iâ— pleaseth him in Mercy to account himself incompleat and maimed without us But most assured we are that we all receive of his Fulness because he is in us as a moving and working Cause from which many blessed effects are really found to ensue and that in sundry both kindes and degrees all tending to eternal happiness It must be confest that of Christ working as a Creator and a Governor of the World by providence all are partakers not all partakers of that Grace whereby he inhabiteth whom he saveth Again as he dwelleth not by Grace in all so neither doth he equally work in all them in whom he dwelleth Whence is it saith St. Augustine that some be holier then others are but because God doth dwell in some more plentifully then in others And because the Divine Substance of Christ is equally in all his Humane Substance equally distant from all it appeareth that the participation of Christ wherein there are many degrees and differences must needs consist in such effects as being derived from both Natures of Christ really into us are made our own and we by saving them in us are truly said to have him from whom they come Christ also more or less to inhabit and impart himself as the Graces are fewer or more greater or smaller which really flow into us form Christ. Christ is whole with the whole Church and whole with every part of the Church as touching his Person which can no way divide it self or be possest by degrees and portions But the Participation of Christ importeth besides the Presence of Christs Person and besides the Mystical Copulation thereof with the Parts and Members of his whole Church a true actual influence of Grace whereby the life which we live according to godliness is his and from him we receive those perfections wherein our eternal happiness consisteth Thus we participate Christ partly by imputation as when those things which he did and suffered for us are imputed unto us for Righteousness Partly by habitual and real infusion as when Grace is inwardly bestowed while we are on Earth and afterwards more fully both our Souls and Bodies make like unto his in Glory The first thing of his so infused into our hearts in this life is the Spirit of Christ whereupon because the rest of what kinde soever do all both necessarily depend and infallibly also easue therefore the Apostles term it sometime the Seed of God sometime the Pledge of our Heavenly Inheritance sometime the Hansel or Earnest of that which is to come From hence it is that they which belong to the Mystical Body of our Saviour Christ and be in number as the Stars of Heaven divided successively by reason of their mortal condition into many Generations are notwithstanding coupled every one to Christ their Head and all unto every particular person amongst themselves in as much as the same Spirit which anointed the Blessed Soul of our Saviour Christ doth so formalize unite and actuate his whole Race as if both he and they were so many Limbs compacted into one Body by being quickned all with one and the same Soul That wherein we are Partakers of Jesus Christ by Imputation agreeth equally unto all that have it For it consisteth in such Acts and Deeds of his as could not have longer continuance then while they were in doing nor at that very time belong unto any other but to him from whom they come and therefore how men either then or before or fithence should be made Partakers of them there can be no way imagined but onely by Imputation Again a Deed must either not be imputed to any but rest altogether in him whose it is or if at all it be imputed they which have it by Imputation must have it such as it is whole So that degrees being neither in the Personal Presence of Christ nor in the Participation of those effects which are ours by Imputation onely it resteth that we wholly apply them to the Participation of Christs infused Grace although even in this kinde also the first beginning of Life the Seed of God the First-fruits of Christs Spirit be without latitude For we have hereby onely the being of
Sacrifices of the ungodly Our fourth Proposition before set down was that Religion without the help of spiritual Ministery is unable to plant it self the fruits thereof not possible to grow of their own accord Which last Assertion is herein as the first that it needeth no farther confirmation If it did I could easily declare how all things which are of God he hath by wonderful art and wisdom sodered as it were together with the glue of mutual assistance appointing the lowest to receive from the neerest to themselves what the influence of the highest yieldeth And therefore the Church being the most absolute of all his works was in reason to be also ordered with like harmony that what he worketh might no less in grace than in nature be effected by hands and instruments duly subordinated unto the power of his own Spirit A thing both needful for the humiliation of man which would not willingly be debtor to any but to himself and of no small effect to nourish that divine love which now maketh each embrace other not as Men but as Angels of God Ministerial actions tending immediately unto God's honour and man's happinesse are either as contemplation which helpeth forward the principal work of the Ministery or else they are parts of that principal work of Administration it self which work consisteth in doing the service of God's House and in applying unto men the soveraign medicines of Grace already spoken of the more largely to the end it might thereby appear that we owe to the Guides of our Souls even as much as our Souls are worth although the debt of our Temporal blessings should be stricken off 77. The Ministery of things divine is a Function which as God did himself institute so neither may men undertake the same but by Authoritie and Power given them in lawful manner That God which is no way deficient or wanting unto Man in necessaries and hath therefore given us the light of his heavenly Truth because without that inestimable benefit we must needs have wandered is darkness to out endless perdition and woe hath in the like abundance of mercies ordained certain to attend upon the due execution of requisite Parts and Offices therein prescribed for the good of the whole World which men thereunto assigned do hold their authoritie from him whether they be such as himself immediately or as the Church in his name investeth it being neither possible for all not for every men without distinction convenient to take upon him a Charge of so great importance They are therefore Ministers of God not onely by way of subordination as Princes and Civil Magistrates whose execution of Judgement and Justice the supream hand of divine providence doth uphold but Ministiers of God as from whom their anthority is derived and not from men For in that they are Christ's Ambassadours and his Labourers Who should give them their Commission but he whose most inward affairs they mannage Is not God alone the Father of Spirits Are not Souls the purchase of Jesus Christ What Angel in Heaven could have said to Man as our Lord did unto Peter Feed my Sheep Preach Baptize Do this in remembrance of me Whose Sins ye retain they are retained and their offences in Heaven pardoned whose faults you shall in earth forgive What think we Are these terrestrial sounds or else are they voices uttered out of the clouds above The power of the Ministry of God translateth out of darknesse into glory it rayseth men from the Earth and bringeth God himself from Heaven by blessing visible Elements it maketh them invisible grace it giveth daily the Holy Ghost it hath to dispose of that flesh which was given for the life of the World and that blood which was poured out to redeem Souls when it poureth malediction upon the heads of the wicked they perish when it revoketh the same they revive O wreched blindnesse if we admire not so great power more wretched if we consider it aright and notwithstanding imagine that any but God can bestow it To whom Christ hath imparted power both over that mystical Body which is the societie of Souls and over that natural which is himself for the knitting of both in one a work which antiquitie doth call the making of Christ's Body the same power is in such not amiss both termed a kinde of mark or Character and acknowledged to be indelible Ministerial power is a mark of separation because it severeth them that have it from other men and maketh them a special order consecrated unto the service of the most High in things wherewith others may not meddle Their difference therefore from other men is in that they are a distinct order So Tertullian calleth them And Saint Paul himself dividing the body of the Church of Christ into two Moyeties nameth the one part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much as to say the order of the Laity the opposite part whereunto we in like sort term the order of God's Clergy and the Spiritual power which he hath given them the power of their order so farr forth as the same consisteth in the bare execution of holy things called properly the affairs of God For of the Power of their jurisdiction over mens persons we are to speak in the Books following They which have once received this power may not think to put it off and on like a Cloak as the weather serveth to take it reject and resume it as oft as themselves list of which prophane and impious contempt these latter times have yielded as of all other kindes of Iniquity and Apostasie strange examples but let them know which put their hands unto this Plough that once consecrated unto God they are made his peculiar Inheritance for ever Suspensions may stop and degradations utterly cut off the use or exercise of Power before given but voluntarily it is not in the power of man to separate and pull asunder what God by his authority coupleth So that although there may be through mis-desert degradation as there may be cause of just separation after Matrimony yet if as sometime it doth restitution to former dignity or reconciliation after breach doth happen neither doth the one nor the other ever iterate the first knot Much less is it necessary which some have urged concerning the re-ordination of such as others in times more corrupt did consecrate heretofore Which Errour already quell'd by Saint Ierome doth not now require any other refutation Examples I grant there are which make for restraint of those men from admittance again into rooms of Spiritual function whose fall by Heresie or want of constancy in professing the Christian Faith hath been once a disgrace to their calling Nevertheless as there is no Law which bindeth so there is no cause that should alwaies lead to shew one and the same severity towards Persons culpable Goodnesse of nature it self more inclineth to clemency than rigour And we in other mens
to tye that unto him by way of excellency which in meaner degrees is common to others it doth not exclude any other utterly from being termed Head but from being intituled as Christ is the Head by way of the very highest degree of excellency Not in the communication of Names but in the confusion of things there is errour Howbeit if Head were a Name that could not well be nor never had been used to signifie that which a Magistrate may be in relation to some Church but were by continual use of speech appropriated unto the onely thing it signifieth being applyed unto Jesus Christ then although we must carry in our selves a right understanding yet ought we otherwise rather to speak unless we interpret our own meaning by some clause of plain speech because we are else in manifest danger to be understood according to that construction and sense wherein such words are personally spoken But here the rarest construction and most removed from common sense is that which the Word doth import being applyed unto Christ that which we signifie by it in giving it to the Magistrate it is a great deal more familiar in the common conceit of men The word is so fit to signifie all kindes of Superiority Preheminence and Chiefty that nothing is more ordinary than to use it in vulgar speech and in common understanding so to take it If therefore Christian Kings may have any preheminence or chiefty above all others although it be less than that which Theodore Beza giveth who placeth Kings amongst the principal Members whereunto publick Function to the Church belongeth and denyeth not but that of them which have publick Fonction the Civil Magistrates power hath all the rest at command in regard of that part of his Office which is to procure that Peace and good 〈…〉 especially kept in things concerning the first Table if even hereupon they term him the Head of the Church which is his Kingdom it should not seem so unfit a thing Which Title surely we could not communicate to any other no not although it should at our hands be exacted with torments but that our meaning herein is made known to the World so that no man which will understand can easily be ignorant that we do not impart unto Kings when we term them Heads the honor which is properly given to our Lord and Saviour Christ when the blessed Apostle in Scripture doth term him the Head of the Church The power which we signifie in that name differeth in three things plainly from that which Christ doth challenge First it differeth in order because God hath given to his Church for the Head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Farr above all Principalities and Powers and Might and Dominion and every Name that is named not in this World only but also in that which is to come Whereas the Power which others have is subordinate unto his Secondly again as he differeth in order so in measure of Power also because God hath given unto him the ends of the Earth for his Possesion unto him Dominion from Sea to Sea unto him all power both in Heaven and Earth unto him such Soveraignty as doth not only reach over all places persons and things but doth rest in his own only Person and is not by any succession continued he reigneth as Head and King nor is there any kinde of law which tyeth him but his own proper will and wisdom his power is absolute the same joyntly over all which it is severally over each not so the Power of any other Headship How Kings are restrained and how their Power is limited we have shewed before so that unto him is given by the title of Headship ever the Church that largeness of Power wherein neither Man nor Angel can be matched not compared with him Thirdly the last and greatest difference between him and them is in the very kinde of their Power The Head being of all other parts of the Body most divine hath dominion over all the rest it is the fountain of sense of motion the throne where the guide of the Soul doth reign the Court from whence direction of all things human proceedeth Why Christ is called the Head of the Church these Causes themselves do yield As the Head is the chiefest part of a man above which there is none alwayes joyned with the Body so Christ the highest in his Church is alwayes knit to it Again as the Head giveth sense and motion unto all the Body so he quickneth us and together with understanding of heavenly things giveth strength to walk therein Seeing therefore that they cannot affirm Christ sensibly present or alwayes visibly joyned unto his Body the Church which is on Earth in as much as his Corporal residence is in Heaven again seeing they do not affirm it were intolerable if they should that Christ doth personally administer the external Regiment of outward Actions in the Church but by the secret inward influence of his Grace giveth Spiritual life and the strength of ghostly motions thereunto Impossible it is that they should so close up their eyes as not to discern what odds there is between that kinde of operation which we imply in the Headship of Princes and that which agreeth to our Saviours dominion over the Church The Headship which we give unto Kings is altogether visibly exercised and ordereth only the external frame of the Church-affairs here amongst us so that it plainly differeth from Christ's even in very nature and kinde To be in such sort united unto the Church as he is to work as he worketh either on the whole Church or upon any particular Assembly or in any one man doth neither agree nor hath any possibility of agreeing unto any one besides him Against the first distinction or difference it is to be objected That to entitle a Magistrate head of the Church although it be under Christ is not absurd For Christ hath a two-fold Superiority ever his and even Kingdoms according to the one he hath a Superior which is his Father according to the other none had immediate Authority with his Father that is to say of the Church he is Head and Governor onely as the Son of Man Head and Governor of Kingdoms onely as the Son of God In the Church as Man he hath Officers under Him which Officers are Ecclesiastical Persons As for the Civil Magistrate his Office belongeth unto Kingdoms and to Common-wealths neither is he there an under or subordinate Head considering that his Authority cometh from God simply and immediately even as our Saviour Christ's doth Whereunto the sum of our Answer is First that as Christ being Lord or Head over all doth by vertue of that Soveraignty rule all so he hath no more a Superiour in governing his Church than in exercising Soveraign Dominion upon the rest of the World besides Secondly That all Authority as well Civil as Ecclesiastical is subordinate unto him And Thirdly the
any longer under him but he together with them under God receiving the joyes of everlasting triumph that so God may be in all all misery in all the Wicked through his Justice in all the Righteous through his love all felicity and blisse In the mean while he reigneth over the World as King and doth those things wherein none is Superiour unto him whether we respect the works of his Providence and Kingdom or of his Regiment over the Church The cause of Errour in this point doth seem to have been a misconceit that Christ as Mediatour being inferiour to his Father doth as Mediatour all Works of Regiment over the Church when in truth Regiment doth belong to his Kingly Office Mediatourship to his Priestly For as the High-Priest both offered Sacrifices for expiation of the Peoples sins and entred into the holy Place there to make intercession for them So Christ having finished upon the Cross that part of his Priestly Office which wrought the propitiation for our Sinnes did afterwards enter into very Heaven and doth there as Mediatour of the New Testament appear in the sight of God for us A like sleight of Judgement it is when they hold that Civil Authority is from God but not immediately through Christ nor with any subordination to God nor doth any thing from God but by the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. They deny it not to be said of Christ in the Old Testament By me Princes rule and the Nobles and all the Iudges of the Earth In the New as much is taught That Christ is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Wherefore to the end it may more plainly appear how all Authority of Man is derived from God through Christ and must by Christian men be acknowledged to be no otherwise held then of and under him we are to note that because whatsoever hath necessary being the Son of God doth cause it to be and those things without which the World cannot well continue have necessary being in the World a thing of so great use as Government cannot choose but be originally from Him Touching that Authority which Civil Magistrates have in Ecclesiastical Affairs it being from God by Christ as all other good things are cannot chuse but be held as a thing received at his hands and because such power is of necessity for the ordering of Religion wherein the essence and very being of the Church consisteth can no otherwise slow from him than according to that special care which he hath to govern and guide his own People it followeth that the said Authority is of and under him after a more special manner in that he is Head of the Church and not in respect of his general Regency over the World All things saith the Apostle speaking unto the Church are yours and ye are Christs and Christ is God's Kings are Christ's as Saints because they are of the Church if not collectively yet divisively understood It is over each particular Person within that Church where they are Kings Surely Authority reacheth both unto all mens persons and to all kindes of causes also It is not denyed but that they may have and lawfully exercise it such Authority it is for which and for no other in the World we term them Heads such Authority they have under Christ because he in all things is Lord overall and even of Christ it is that they have received such Authority in as much as of him all lawful Powers are therefore the Civil Magistrate is in regard of this Power an under and subordinate Head of Christ's People It is but idle where they speak That although for several Companies of Men there may be several Heads or Governours differing in the measure of their Authority from the Chiefest who is Head over all yet it cannot be in the Church for that the reason why Head-Magistrates appoint others for such several places it Because they cannot be present every where to perform the Office of an Head But Christ is never from his Body nor from any Part of it and therefore needeth not to substitute any which may be Heads some over one Church and some over another Indeed the consideration of Man's imbecillity which maketh many Heads necessary where the burthen is too great for one moved Iethro to be a Perswader of Moses that a number of Heads of Rulers might be instituted for discharge of that duty by parts which in whole he saw was troublesome Now although there be not in Christ any such defect or weakness yet other causes there be divers more than we are able to search into wherefore it might seem unto him expedient to divide his Kingdom into many Provinces and place many Heads over it that the Power which each of them hath in particular with restraint might illustrate the greatness of his unlimited Authority Besides howsoever Christ be Spiritually alwayes united unto every part of his Body which is the Church Nevertheless we do all know and they themselves who alledge this will I doubt not confess also that from every Church here visible Christ touching visible and corporal presence is removed as farr as Heaven from the Earth is distant Visible Government is a thing necessary for the Church and it doth not appear how the exercise of visible Government over such Multitudes every where dispersed throughout the World should consist without sundry visible Governours whose Power being the greatest in that kinde so farr as it reacheth they are in consideration thereof termed so farr Heads Wherefore notwithstanding the perpetual conjunction by vertue whereof our Saviour alwayes remaineth spiritually united unto the parts of his Mystical Body Heads indeed with Supream Power extending to a certain compasse are for the exercise of a visible Regiment not unnecessary Some other reasons there are belonging unto this branch which seem to have been objected rather for the exercise of mens wits in dissolving Sophismes than that the Authors of them could think in likelyhood thereby to strengthen their cause For example If the Magistrate be Head of the Church within his own Dominion then is he none of the Church For all that are of the Church make the Body of Christ and every one of the Church fulfilleth the place of one member of the Body By making the Magistrate therefore Head we do exclude him from being a Member subject to the Head and so leave him no place in the Church By which reason the name of a Body Politick is supposed to be alwayes taken of the inferiour sort alone excluding the Principal Guides and Governors contrary to all Mens customes of speech The Errour ariseth by misconceiving of some Scripture-sentences where Christ as the Head and the Church as the Body are compared or opposed the one to the other And because in such comparisons ooppositions the Body is taken for those only parts which are subject unto the Head they imagine that who so is the Head of any