ſ Act. 14.23 by S. Paul and S. Barnabas t 1. Tim. 5.22 by Timothy and u Tit. 1.5 Titus The * Hieron Catal c. 16. two former are known to be Apostles the two latter are acknowledged by all antiquity to be Bishops strictly so called which are the very same with Apostles Though you will not believe me I presume ye will not mistrust Walo Messalinus his fidelity to your cause His very words are these x Walo Messal p. 44. Titus Timotheus Apostoli tunc nominabantur REVERA ERANT EPISCOPI JVRE EODEM ET ORDINE quo hodiè habertur qui Ecclesiam regunt Presbyteris praesunt Titus and Tymothy were named APOSTLES and IN VERY TRVTH WERE BISHOPS BY THE SAME RIGHT AND OF THE SAME ORDER that these are at this day who govern the Church and have command over Presbyters So your own dearest friend 37. But there can be no surer Commentary of our Saviours words then the Apostles daily practice And meet it is for us in these things to doe as they did And ought not Bishops to preserve as much as in them lyes that power which God in his word hath committed to them y 1. Tim. 6.20 Depositum custodi is a full command and of a large extent that charge which S. Paul hath committed to Timothie's and every z Vincent Lyrin c. 27. Bishop's trust is not to be waved on any hand carefully preserved it must be For doth not S. Paul charge Timothy to a 2. Tim. 3.14 continue in those things which he hath both learned and been assured of and to b Ib. c. 4. v. 5. fulfill his Ministry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his owne Ministry c Ib. c. 1. v. 6. which was given unto him by the imposition of S. Pauls hands Surely we ought to doe so and I hope God will so enable our Bishops that they shall discharge their duties though it be with hazard of their lives And a main part of their duty it is to Ordaine Presbyters and Deacons For to them and to them only this power belongs as shall be proved § 51.52 The third Proposition That Ordination performed by him by the Bishop being a Presbyter joyned with other Presbyters is in your judgement for substance valid and not to be disclaimed by any that have received it 38. THe Bishops are so much beholding to you as to ackowledge them to be Presbyters and their Ordinations valid notwithstanding their assumings and encroachings Yee take order therefore that d Ord. p. 13. a Presbyter so ordained shall be admitted to a charge WITHOUT ANY NEW ORDINATION 39. Notwithstanding this your Magisteriall definition I must tell you that this your Proposition is partly true partly false True in that an Ordination performed by a Bishop is valid But false that it is performed by him as a Presbyter He ordaines not as a presbyter but as a Bishop or if you will is an Apostle Bishop Not by vertue of the Order of Presbyter but by vertue of his Episcopall or Apostolicall Order e Epiphan haer 75. Presbyterorum enim Ordo non est potens generare patres for this Order the Order of Presbyters is not able to beget Fathers or Presbyters but Children for the Church And so no validitie in their Ordaining as shall be more fully manifested in the Confutation of your next Proposition 40. False like wise it is That the Ordination is only so farre forth valid as it is performed by a Bishop soyned with Presbyters Bishops you pull downe as low as yee can no Ordination good by a Bishop without assisting Presbyters but a Minister is highly in your favour he may if you Authorize Ordaine alone for doe not you say The Minister that ordaineth p. 13. But as you are out in affirming that one or many Presbyters may Ordaine so are you as wide from truth in resolving that a Bishop cannot Ordaine without presbyters joyned with him For this is certaine that the assisting Presbyters are not of the essence of Ordination for then were there no Ordination in the Greek Church since therein Presbyters lay on no hands at all in Ordination As f Pet. Arcud de Concord l. 6. c. 4. §. Igitur in Petrus Aroudius manifests Neither is there so much as mention made of Presbyters assisting or laying on their hands by or with or neare the Bishops hands at Ordination in all the Greeke Canons or the Euchologue but only of the Bishop ordaining a Presbyter They had an eye upon Scripture wherein they finde S. Paul alone and Titus alone and Timothy alone ordaining without assistants Yee are carefull to preserve the credit of some late reformed Churches beyond the Seas give us leave to be tender of those many and famous Churches in the East the first the learned churches of the world from whom we received the Scriptures and if the Learned be not mistaken the best expositions thereof even our Faith and Orders though not immediatly 41. I must confesse that in the Latine Churches g Concil Carthag IIII. Can. 3. Presbyters at the Ordination of a Priest and of a Priest only layed on their hands by the Bishops hand But these were for attestation not for Ordination The African Fathers therefore that enjoyne this very Act of the Presbyters ascribe Ordination wholy and only to the Bishop as is to be seen Co◠Afric Can. 31.55 80 c. A Bishop therefore may Ordaine without the assistance of Presbyters and the Ordination shall be good though not Legall with us because the Bishop may be justly questioned and censured for transgressing the Canons of our Church The fourth Proposition Presbyters so ordained being lawfully thereunto appointed and authorized may ordaine other Presbyters 42. IT seems hereby that Ordination is one thing and lawfull authorizing another That is if I mistake not your meaning when a Presbyter is ordained he receives no such power till he be afterwards lawfully authorized by you or such as you are And yet immediatly after ye make h Ord. p. 2. lawfull calling and Ordaining to be one and the same A Lawfulnesse then there is in Ordination without your concurrence or approbation Yea your own words are that i Ph. p. 15. Presbyters ORDAINED according to this Directory shall be for ever reputed and taken to ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES for LAWFULL and SUFFICIENTLY AUTHORIZED Ministers of the Church of England and capable of any Ministeriall imployment If that be not home enough observe I beseech you how you resolve that every Minister by imposition of hands i◠k Ib. p. 22. set a part to fulfill the worke of his Ministery IN ALL THINGS Having then so full a Commission given them in Ordination how comes it to passe that before they may Lawfully Ordaine they must first be appointed and authorized by you 43. Is it a Ministeriall Imployment to Ordaine If it be so then is every Minister by his Orders sufficiently authorized
concerning his perswasion of the truth of the reformed Religion which few men know where to finde Where may we see the Articles of your Religion or the rule you will be tryed by Is the Reformed Religion contained in out 39 Articles In the Apostles Nicene or Athanasius Creed None of these are in your new Directory It may be it is in the Harmony of Confessions I would to God you would tell us which it is Be it what it will it is according to the Scriptures Is this enough Will not the Brownist and the Anabaptist the Papist and the Antitrinitarian yea and the Socinian say as much And some of these will put the best of your Elders shroadly to it to prove the contrary 85. But why have we not a Directory for faith as well as for Prayers That so we may know what your new reformed faith is I think as your Prayers are unformed so your faith is unfound it is yet to be agreed on A wonder it is you are so long in voting it But your wisedomes know that it is impossible to vote a Religion which might please all the adherents to this Rebellion As therefore ye leave every man at liberty to the spirit of prayer so have ye left every man free to choose his Religion so it be not destructive to your Platformes This you esteem to be that liberty of Conscience which stints not the Spirit and is the only curbe to Popery 86. But you have a great care of e He is to be demanded of his Zeale and Faithfulnesse in maintaining the Vnity of the Church against Errour and Schisme Ib. the Churches unity against Error and Schisme he is therefore to be examined concerning his Zeale and Faithfulnesse in the maintenance of this unity But have we not read of some whose Faith is said to be Faction whose Religion Rebellion f Tertul. de Praescrip c. 42. whose Vnity Schisme But how shall they maintaine Vnity that have dissolved the bonds of charity Thaâ— have raised such and so many Schismes as the Church hath hardly been acquainted with from her foundation That have hatched and clucked up so many Errors and Heresies that men and Angells stand amazed at And yet a pretence of Vnity and a pretence of Reformation may work much upon the weake People as many other pretences have Good Lord how like the Devill we affect to be to make show to be what we are least and to endeavour that we seek to overthrow The rest of your Interrogatories are borrowed from our Book of Ordination and from our Canons as every thing else is that is good in this Directorie 87. In the Ordination I observe that you call the Ministery g Ord. p 11. a great worke an h 〈◊〉 12. holy Service and suddenly after he is to be exhorted to i Ib consider the greatnesse of his Office I am glad you have so good an opinion of the calling If then it be such a worke such an Office as yee speake of why have you thrust such illiterate meane Persons into our Cures as Blacke-Smiths Taylors Felt-makers and the like with unwashed hands to meddle with this holy Service Are these men fit to undertake so great a worke Is it probable that such as these should k Ib. both save themselves and the People by you committed to their Charge It is rather to be feared that as l Levit. 10.1 Num. 3. â— with Nadab and Abihu they offer strange fire so with them they will perish in this fire and draw the people into the same destruction 88. Well he is m 〈◊〉 p. 32. set apart by Imposition of hands that ancient Ceremonie of Ordination to fulfill the worke of his Ministery in all things What Ministery is this Here is none named in particular And yet there are more Orders of Ministers then one witnesse your servant Smectymnuus who n Smect Ans p. 63. acknowledgeth Presbyters and Deacons to be of two distinct Orders But the Church of England agreeably to the whole Church of God for 1500 yeares together tells us that o Preface to the Book of Ordination from the Apostles times there have been these Orders of Ministers in Christs Church BISHOPS PRIESTS and DEACONS 89. His Ministery Hath it no speciall or particular name to be knowne by Alas Ministery and Minister are words of a large extent generall names that reach to all Orders and perchance further Minister is the Genus which hath these species under it Bishop Priest and Deacon and each of these is a Minister But before we can tell which of these is meant there must be added a specificall difference as there must be to a Creature before we can conceive what manner of Creature or of living Creature is intended What though In all things be added yet all these things will reach no further then to those things which are within the compasse or power of that his Ministery to which he is ordained And so for all this we are to seek to what Ministery he is set apart Whereas in our Book of Ordination in the Pontificals and Enchologe every person in his Ordination is by name assigned to his particular Order 90. Indeed I must confesse your Minister is expressed to be a Presbyter before Ordination pag 4. as also after Ordination pag. 15. but at Ordination Minister As if Presbyter and Minister were convertible termes names of the selfe same signification True it is that every Presbyter is a Minister but every Minister is not a Presbyter no more then every living Creature is a man though every man be a living Creature I should rather conceive a Minister to be a Deacon then a Presbyter in our language because we usually translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ministery and Minister 2. Cor. 13.23 2. Tim. 4.5 c. But you must enjoy your owne words and your owne meaning though they be contrary to the sence and custome of the Church 91. Order also is taken that p Ord p. 12. one of the Ordainers exhort and charge the People in the name of God willingly to receive and acknowledge him as the Minister of Christ and to maintaine encourage and assist him in all the parts of his Office No question to be made of their willingnesse to receive and acknowledge a new Minister Novelties are pleasing and the People q 2. Tim 4.3 having itching cares will heap to themselves Teachers after their owne lusts and fancies But when it comes to maintenance yee shall find that an Exhortation or Charge will not serve the turne For though r Jer. 5.31 their Prophets prophecy falsely and the People love to have it so yet experience hath taught you that maintenance comes hardly from them till your Orders and Ordinances constraine them to pay You have been therefore and will be enforced to take a more strict course for the maintenance of your Ministers 92. But when it comes to assistance they will be forward enough for your Ordinance is that Å¿ Ord. p. 12. the People be charged to assist the Minister in all the parts of his Office What Are all Presbyters Are all Ministers Are all Teachers t Haereticorum qui â—am Larcâ— sacerdotalia munera injungunt Tertul. de Praescrip c. 41. By your Ordinance not only some but all the People are turned Prophets The People must assist the Minister in Baptizing in Preaching in administring the Lords Supper for all these belong to his Office If this be not your meaning you should have done well to have expressed your selves in plainer termes that we might understand your meaning For this is certaine that no man can assist a Presbyter in all the parts of his Office that is not of the same Office For though a Deacon may assist the Presbyter in the administration he cannot assist him in the Consecration of the Lords Supper And your selves will say that a Deacon may not assist him in Imposition of hands How then may the People assist him in all the parts of his Office Surely either the meaning or the expression is not good that 's plaine 93. I have done with your Directorie I have discharged my Conscience and I would to God I could u Ord. p. 12. dismisse you with a Blessing With a Prayer I may beseeching God so abundantly to blesse you with his grace that you may see your foule Impieties and Repent and in time while it is called to day discharge your Consciences knowing assuredly that you must appeare and give a strict account for all your Ordinances and Actions before the impartiall Barre of that unerring Iudge Christ Jesus And x Heb. 10.31 a dreadfull thing it is to fall into the Hands of the Everliving God Then an Ordinance of Parliament or the Protection of both Houses shall stand you and your Divine Assembly in small stead In that day your Ordinances and Actions and Intentions shall be throughly sifted and layed open before your faces Then y S. Ioh. 5.29 they that have done good shall goe into the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evill into the Resurrection of Damnation God give every one of us grace to lay this to heart that so we may avoyd the wrath to come AMEN FINIS
to ordaine by your own confession Is it no Ministeriall imployment Then may Lay-men conferre Orders But if you say so you contradict your selves in terminis for your own words are that l Ib. p. 2. It is manifest by the word of God that Ordination by PREACHING PRESBYTERS is an Ordinance of Christ But m Ib. No man ought to take upon him the office of a Minister untill he be Lawfully called and Ordained Ordination therefore belongs not to Lay-men but to Ministers only that 's evident 44. But Ordaining it seemes by you is one thing and authorizing another Ordination you yeeld to the Presbyters but authorizing you reserve to your selves And therein you deale evenly for you have as much power to authorize as they to Ordaine You give them power to Ordaine and they you power to Authorize but neither of these is the grant or ordinance of Christ This then being a Ministeriall act and these being before sufficiently authorized Ministers in all things how can it be that they must be authorized by you Lay-men before they may lawfully Ordaine But so you have ordained and so it must be Your Ordinance is your reason 45. You Authorize and they Ordaine First yee Authorize then they Ordaine and without your Authorizing they may not Ordaine least their Ordinations be dangerous if not invalid For Ordained it is by you that such and such Persons in your Ordinance set downe or any seven of them may Ordaine Presbyters for twelve Moneths and no longer Then your Ordinance and their delegated authority expire and others shall be set up and authorized for this great worke And so it shall be with you as in Tertullian's time it was with some of your Brethren * Tertul d◠Praescrip c. 41. Alius hodiè Episcopus eras alius A Bishop to day none to morrow others must step up while these sneake downe Ordainers to day none to morrow Ordinance-makers this day none the next Thus you put them in the same skale and condition with your selves 46. Presbyters so Ordained I take to be those who in the former Proposition are said to be Ordained by a Presbyter-Bishop joyned with other Presbyters being lawfully thereunto appointed and authorized But he is lawfully appointed and authorized that is appointed and authorized by the Supreme Legislator and according to the Law by him prescribed We must therefore to the Law of Christ to learne who is lawfully appointed and authorized to ordaine For n Heb. 5.4 as no man takes this honour of Priesthood to himselfe but he that is called of God as Aaron was so no man takes the honour or power of Ordination to himselfe but he that is called of God to this Office as Aaron was For o Ib. v. 1. every High Priest taken from among men is Ordained for men in things pertaining to God By Ordination then which is Christs owne Institution and not from your or any humane Ordinance does the Priest or if you please Minister receive power in those things which pertaine to God Witnesse the Church of England which in her Articles confirmed by Parliament teacheth us that p Art 23. WE OUGHT to judge those LAWFULLY CALLED and sent who are chosen and called to this work by men WHO HAVE PUBLICK AUTHORITY GIVEN VNTO THEM in the Congregation to call and send Ministers into the Lords Vineyard And your owne words are that q Ord p. 12. in Ordination every Minister is set apart to fulfill this worke What have they to doe then with your authorizing 47. True it is by humane Lawes Bishops and Presbyters have freedome granted to discharge their Offices in such and such places without molestation or controule to gather their Tithes as also their Revenues and other profits setled upon them by the grace of Princes But this is not to be lawfully authorized with an intrinsecall but with an extrinsecall power that is to have free Liberty to exercise that ministeriall power which by Imposition of hands they had received before in severall Cures alotted to them And in what City or Towne they are not received to this freedome they are commanded to r ◠Mat. 10.14 shake off the dust of their feet against it But there followes an heavier doome in the next verse which God of his great goodnesse avert from those Cities and Parishes which have had an hand in the ruine or removall of their Bishops or Presbyters This seemed so impious an act to the Emperour Justinian that he enacted this Law ſ Iustinian l. 35. c. de Episc Cler. si quis audeat civitatem suo privare Episcopatu infamis redditur if any man dare deprive a City of her Bishopricke he becomes an infamous person O my great Masters in what state are they that rob whole Kingdomes of their Bishoprickes and have made a Covenant with Hell to extirpate the office 48. But by the way I cannot but take notice that he who hath been ordained according to our book of Ordination by a Bishop assisted with Presbyters is lawfully ordained For your owne wordes are that t Ord. p. 2. you hold his Ordination for substance valid and not to be disclaimed by any that have received it after this manner But I shall manifest that one or many Presbyters as Presbyters may not ordaine neither may Presbyters be authorized to ordaine 49. That one or many Presbyters quatenus as Presbyters may not Ordaine or conferre any Spirituall Order I prove first from your owne grant for you resolve that u Ib. It is manifest by the word of God that no man ought to take upon him the office of a Minister untill he be lawfully called and ordained thereunto unto that Office or Ministerie That must be the meaning and that 's most true and agreed upon by the whole Church of God For the lawfulnesse thereof we appeale to the Law of Christ 50. Three Orders of Ministers we find in the New Testament which are often mentioned by the most Ancient Fathers and have alwayes been continued in the Catholike Church first Apostles or Bishops strictly so called secondly Presbyters and thirdly Deacons Confessed it is on all hands that a Deacon may neither consecrate the Lords Supper nor absolve much lesse ordaine one to performe those offices The reason is because it belongs not to his Office or Ministery And I presume it will prove to be as firme a truth that a Presbyter may not Ordaine because it belongs not to his Office or Ministerie For though a Presbyter by his Ordere receive power to Consecrate the Eucharist and absolve a Penitent he receives no power to ordaine Being then not lawfully called and ordained thereunto he ought not to take upon him this Office by your owne confession 51 My issue is this They onely have power to Ordaine who have this power given them by Christ and the word of Christ But to the Apostles onely or Bishops strictly so called is this power given by
deberipraecipue EPISCOPORUM DOCTRINAE ET INDUSTRIAE I know saith he that the Reformation of the Church of England and the subversion of Popery next after God and the Soveraignes of this Kingdome are chiefly due to the LEARNING AND INDUSTRY OF THEIR BISHOPS 10. Let other men be of what opinion they please ye are resolved downe they shall p Ordin Iune 12. 1643. p. 1. For the setling therefore of a NEW GOVERNMENT and for the vindicating and clearing of the Doctrine of the Church of England from all false calumnies and aspersions it is thought fit and necessary to call an Assembly of Learned Godly and Judicious Divines to consult and advise with q Ib. p. 2. The first of these is Algernon Earle of Northumberland and with him nine Lords and twenty Knights and Burgesses After these come in the rest of the Learned Divines called Ministers 11. And that ye may be sure to have the whole worke goe forward according to your owne hearts desire you order very warily and discreetly that r Ib. p. 4. such other Person and Persons as shall be nominated and appointed by both Houses of Parliament shall meet and assemble for the purposes before mentioned And if you like them not you will aire them and Å¿ Ib. from time to time remove them from place to place And if that will not qualifie their heat and pull down their stubborne stomacks then t Ib. shall they be dissolved in such manner as by both Houses of Parliament shall be directed Complaine no longer that Trent was no free Councell declame not against their shifts and devices your selves have outstripped them for never men made surer worke 12. Well meet they shall and that they may answer the expectation of Men and Angells u Ib. the said Persons being at least of the number of Forty shall have power and authority To doe what even to conferre and Treat amongst themselves of such matters and things touching and concerning the Liturgie Discipline and Government of the Church of England A large Commission indeed 13. Observe I pray you Forty of these may conferre and Treat Forty whereof there are Ten Lords Twenty Members of the House of Commons and to these they may adde such other Persons for number and affection as it shall please both Houses to nominate and appoint So there may be Ten Divines or no Divines in the Assembly as it shall please the Houses And yet it shall be called an Assembly of Divines because ye have Voted them to be so But they must no further * Ib. p. 5. advise or deliver their opinions then shall be required by both or either of the Houses Neither may they meddle with these or any other things but x Ib. as they shall be proposed unto them by one or both Houses But how if the Houses will not propose Then must these be mute Neither may they y Ib. divulge by Printing Writing or otherwise their opinions and advices without the consent of both or either House of Parliament What are these then but Iourney-men to the Houses z Ib. If any difference in opinion arise among these Divines it is to be represented to one or both of the Houses and from thence they shall receive such directions as shall be requisite The Houses then are to moderate and determine the Assembly onely to Treat and Advise Thus I have briefly presented unto you the full Power and Authority of the Assembly 14. Well advised it seemes they have and an Ordinance for Ordination you have given us but you tell us not that this Ordinance is framed according to their advice but according to the Directory for Ordination and Rules for Examination therein expressed These words caused me heretofore to dream of a more full Directory But I see by your Directory for publicke Prayers that we are like to have no other a Ord. p. 15. till the Twelve Moneths be over for so long this Ordinance stands in force and no longer So say you and so say I by Gods grace Thus farre I have gone with your Title Page and now I shall make bold with the frame of your Ordinance and see upon what Foundation it is setled 15. The old Crambe is layed for the Corner stone But if this totter and faile farewell frame the Directory and Ordinance are at an end they will hardly hold out the Twelve Moneths they were provided for And they end October the second next ensuing You follow your grand Champion Mounseir Smectymnuns and by him you are misled He saies that b Smect Answ p. 21. 26. the word Presbyter and the word Bishop doe in the Scriptures signifie one and the same Function and c Ord. p. 1. you justifie it As if the difference were about a bare Title or Word and not about an Order or Function of the highest moment in spiritualls Which failing the two other Orders and both the Sacraments will suddenly sinke As shall with Gods blessing be fully manifested when it shall please him to afford us a Presse and Paper 16. In the meane space I could tell you of the Bishop of Norwich and some others that have often foiled your Champion and send you to review their Workes But I shall not boast of other mens strength nor relye upon their Weapons though they be keene enough for that purpose I shall joyne with you upon a shorter issue Briefly then thus 17. I yeeld it to be true setting by the Postscripts to Timothy and Titus that the word Presbyter and the word Bishop doe in Scripture intend and signifie one and the same Function And yet these your inferences are most false namely first that d Ib. the Title of Bishop hath been by corrupt custome appropriated to one 2. That e Ib. p. 2. this Title hath been by him assumed as in other things so in Ordination 3. That f Ib. this Ordination is performed by him the Bishop being a Presbyter 4. That g Ib. Presbyters so ordained may ordaine other Presbyters 5. That h Ib. Ordination by preaching Presbyters is an Ordinance of Christ These are your owne Propositions and with these by Gods grace I shall deale severally as they lye in your owne words The first Proposition The Title of Bishop hath been by corrupt custome appropriated to one 18. THis Proposition is false it was no corrupt custome but uncorrupt discretion that appropriated the Title of Bishop to one in every severall Diocesse It was done by those who detested corruption with a perfect hatred But this Title was not so appropriated to one as to his person that might be layed downe at the yeares end as the Title of Major in a Corporation but it was appropriated to his Office or Order and not given him till he were of a severall Order from Presbyter which Order and Title can never be layed aside or taken from him 19. Give me leave therefore to tell
attended upon our Saviour three yeares and upwards and yet when our Saviour told his Apostles that b S. Joh. 6.70 71. one of them was a Divell and would betray him Iudas was little mistrusted by his fellow Apostles for the text saith plainly that c S. Jo. 13 22. they looked one upon another doubting of whom he spake Indeed by righteousnesse and holinesse of life you and we may judge of grace We may also make tryall of his d Ord. p. 4. Learning and sufficiency in some good measure by examination But if we take sufficiency in a strict sence e 2. Cor. 2.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is sufficient for these things The man is hardly to be found in S. Pauls judgement f 1. Tim. 3.2 for he ought to be vigilant apt to teach and g Tit. 1.9 able by sound Doctrine to convince the gainsayers The Independents give you daily occasion to shew your abilities 79. h Ord. p. 4. Touching the evidence of his calling to the holy Ministery will be a curious point to enquire The onely way we know is by enquiring of the Party to be ordained whether he conceive and beleeve that he is inwardly called to this Sacred Function and by his answer to judge So in this particular beleefe is necessary on both sides for i Heb. 11.1 faith is the evidence of things not seen And neither he nor I can see his inward calling 80. The Rules for examination are not much amisse onely I would gladly know of you k Triall shall be made of his knowledge in the chiefe grounds of Religion and of his ability to defend the Orthodoxe doctrine contained in them against all unsound and erronious opinions Ord. p. 6. what is the Religion he is to be examined in where the chiefe grounds thereof are to be found Which is the Orthodoxe Doctrine he is to defend and which the unsound and erroneous opinions he is to confute Whether l Of his skill in cases of Conscience Ib. in case of Conscience it be upon some occasions lawfull to m Ro. 13 1 2. resist the higher n 1. S. Pet. 2.13 the Supreme Powers the King Cleane contrary to the Doctrine of those two great Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul who command us to submit to be subject to these powers o Rom. 13. â— for Conscience sake Whether in case of Conscience it be lawfull to rob men of their Wives Mothers of their Children and all these of their meanes when they have neither offended against the Law of God nor the established Lawes of the Land Whereas the Law of God is to p Ib. v. 7. give every man his owne his due and q Jer. 22.3 to wrong no man 81. It is required also that r Ord. p. 7. before his Ordination he Preach and dispute Preach before some judicious Corporation and maintaine a Dispute as your Learned men did at Vxbridge But I pray you where doe you find it lawfull to Preach before Ordination S. Paul is of another mind Å¿ Rom. 10.15 How shall they Preach saith he except they be sent Much about the same time that they t v. 14. beleeve in him of whom they have not heard Indeed the u Art 23. Church of England and * Confess August Art 14. the Confession of Auspurge submit to S. Paul and professe that it is not lawfull for any man to PREACH PUBLICKLY before he be lawfully called and sent And who are lawfully called and sent is decâ—ared § 56 57. c. 82. But lawfull calling and sending are grown out of date and though the People are not competent Ordainers yet are they hold by you to be competent Judges of the worth and abilities of those that are desirous to take Orders They must x He is to be sent to the Church or other place where he is to serve there to Preach three severall daies and to converse with the People c. Ord. p. 8. have tryall of their gifts for their edification And after every ones triall y Ib. p. 9. in the last of his three dayes Preaching before a strange and unknowne Parish an Instrument in writing is to be affixed to the Church doore and at the day appointed any member of that Congregation may with all Christian discretion and patience put in exceptions against him What a frivolous thing is this What a bable to please the People with that they are to trye his gifts by three Lectures which may be none of his owne and by a fortnights or three weekes conversation which may be easily dissembled I shall not give you mine owne conjectures least they be misconstrued but I shall acquaint you with two observations of S. Hierome The first shall be concerning the Peoples ability to judge of Sermons z Hieron ad Nepotian Ep. 2. Nihil tam facile quà m vilem plebeculam indoctam concionem Linguae volubilitate decipere Nothing so easie as to cheat the rude People and an unlearned Congregation with a voluble tongue The second is this a Hieron advers Iovin l. 1. c. 19. In Sacerdotibus comprobandis unusquisque moribus suis favet ut non tam bonum quà m SVI SIMILEM quaerat When the choice of the Priest is in the People every man so favours his owne manners that he lookes not so much after a good man as a man after his owne palate We are likely then to see goodly Ministers swarme among us if your Ordinance may prevaile 83. Well b Ord. p. 9. upon the Ordination day a Solemne Fast is to be kept by the Congregation in that Church where he is to serve that they may more earnestly joyne in Prayer to God for a blessing upon the Person and labours of this his servant How much better had it been to have trod in the Ancient steps of the Church and to have the Ordination upon the Sundaies after the Ember weekes when the whole Church of God Fasts and Prayes for this very purpose that it would please God to powre downe his Spirit upon the Persons to be ordained the Sunday following and to furnish them with such gifts and graces as are fit for so high a calling For no question but the Devotions of the whole Church of God together are more acceptable to God and more availeable with him then the Fastings and Prayers of any one petty Parish 84 c Ib. p. 10. The person to be ordained is to be demanded in the face of the Congregation concerning his faith in Christ Jesus A question not unseasonable for the times for a friend of mine was questioned by M. Corbet for teaching that the mother of Iesus Christ was the mother of God d The Minister which hath Preached shall demand of him who is to be ordâ—in'd concerning his perswasion of the truth of the Refoâ—med Religion according to the Scriptures Ib. He is also to be examined