readiness of inventing those expressions or a volubility of the Tongue in pronouncing them if it were only a heat of fancy or a warmth of temper or a natural Enthusiasm peculiar to some tempers if it were any of these things which are usually mistaken for it by our dissenting Brethren I should then indeed not wonder that a perfect Prayer should be separable from the Sacraments because I know such a Prayer as this is separable from a good Life it self But if perfect Prayer be wholly transacted in the Soul of him that prayes if it be a real and hearty sense of his want of the things he prayes for and a sincere desire of them and an intire Resignation unto the Divine Will in things wherein he desires the Divine conduct if it be to think seriously as he speaks and to be affected as he thinks if it be Prayer (a) Eph. VI. 18 and supplication in the Spirit which helps (b) Rom. VIII 26 their infirmities and intercedes with sighs and groans unutterable then it will be as impossible to suppose such a Prayer separable from the Sacraments as it is to suppose it separable from that Grace which according to our Principles is confined to the Sacraments Such a Prayer as this must necessarily suppose a good Man and he who is perfect in it must be perfect in goodness too For this must suppose good inclinations as well as good Actions and therefore must suppose extraordinary degrees of Grace and a fixed inhabitation of the Spirit as an abiding and enlivening Principle which if they be not separable from the Sacraments this kind of Prayer will also be inseparable from them At least these other Popular Principles of Prayer are so like in their signs as to us to the Spirit it self that it will be at least extremely hard if at all possible to distinguish them And therefore it will be a much surer way of arguing to prove a Prayer imperfect if it proceed not from the Spirit than any other Argument can be to prove it perfect distinct from the Spirit And we have just reason to suspect that he wants the Spirit who has neglected the ordinary means of coming by it what preternatural transports soever he may feel otherwise As therefore none can rationally presume that his Prayer is perfect unless he can be rationally assured that he has these Assistances of the Spirit which are requisite to make it so so none can rationally presume that he has these Assistances but by his frequenting the Sacraments themselves wherein according to these Principles these Assistances are only to be expected By which way of proceeding a perfect Prayer must suppose the use of the Sacraments so far it will prove from being an Argument to excuse any from them Nor are these Assistances necessary only to make a Prayer perfect but also to continue it so and the Sacraments as necessary to continue these Assistances to a Prayer that is already perfect as at first to give them whilest it was imperfect Which will oblige all even whilest their Prayer is already perfect to continue the use of the Sacraments if they would continue that Perfection as well as suppose that they must have made use of them at first before they could attein to that Perfection § XVI BUT it is further considerable 6. That the Scripture no where allows such a degree of Perfection attainable in this Life as can in reason excuse I do not only say from the obligation to enter into Ecclesiastical Assemblies but also from the reason of that obligation One great reason which may oblige any one in interest to enter into a Society and consequently to submit to such conditions without which he cannot expect Admission from them who are supposed alone to have the power of admitting him is the advantage he may receive from other Members of the Society who are endued with gifts which he cannot pretend to and which yet he finds very necessary for himself This is the most likely account why a perfect Person should not need these Assemblies because such a dependence on others gifts must necessarily suppose the Person so depending imperfect at least in those gifts for which he depends on others But whether this notion of Perfection may deserve the name of Perfection properly or not it may at least deserve it comparatively in regard of others inferior to it And it is plain that the Perfection spoken of in Scripture is such as is only gradual and still capable of further improvement and that the highest degree of if attainable in this Life does not make any so perfect as not to need the gifts of others This is the Apostles express Doctrine even where he speaks of the gifts of the Spirit That (a) 1 Cor. xii 11 he distributes his gifts to every one as it pleases him That he gives (b) Rom. xii 3 6. a certain measure of this miraculous Faith to every one which I take to be the true meaning of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned afterwards That (c) 1 Cor. vii 7 every one has his own gift from God one after this manner and another after that That to every one of us is given Grace but (d) Eph. iv 7 according to the measure of the gift of Christ. And accordingly the fulness which is that which answers these terms of measure and proportion is still ascribed either to Christ (e) S. Jâ—hn I. 14 16. Col. I. 19 II. 9 himself or the (f) Col. I. 23 Church never to any particular Member And the very design of the Spirit in distributing his Graces so very differently is described to be that he might by this means oblige them to a mutual dependence That as in the natural Body the several Members have different employments and it is by this peculiarity of employments that the Unity of the whole Body is maintained he has taken the same course to oblige them to the same mutual dependence in the Body Mystical Here also the several Members have not the same (g) Rom. xii 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the Apostles word Here also the whole (h) 1 Cor. xii 14 20 Body is not one Member but many and the Apostle takes it to be as destructive (i) v. 19 to the Body Mystical as it would be to the Body Natural if it were otherwise And that he means by the difference of Members not a difference of Individuals only but a difference of Office which makes them all necessary to each other he plainly shews by his continuation of the same Allegory That as in the natural Body (k) v. 17 the Eye needs the Ear to hear by and the Nose to smell by as well as both those Organs need the Eye to see by so it is also in the Body Mystical That as (l) v. 21 22 23. the Eye cannot say to the Hand I have no need of you nor again the Head to
qualifications whatever proportion be requisite for publick service they must admit all those whom they judg qualified and admit none but such if the qualifications alone be supposed to intitle to the Authority But if any may be rejected whom they think qualified or any admitted whom they do not judg qualified either of these are sufficient to shew that qualifications alone cannot be conceived sufficient to intitle to Authority And yet this is all that can be thought of how the Scriptures can be thought to design particular Persons for Authority that they may indeed describe and particularize those qualifications which may fit a Person when he is known to have them for Authority CHAP. XXI Ecclesiastical Authority cannot be derived to this Age without a continued Succession THE CONTENTS 3. This Ecclesiastical Authority cannot be derived from those men to whom it was at first committed to the age we live in without a continued Succession of Persons orderly receiving Authority from those who had Authority to give it them § I. 1. This Authority could not be derived from the Apostles themselves to any beyond their own time Neither by them in their own Persons nor by their Deed of Gift nor by their Writings § II. 2. It hence follows that the only way they could use for conveying this Authority to others after their decease must be by appointing sufficient substitutes who might act for them after their departure § III. 3. The same reasons which prove it impossible for the Apostles to convey this Power to any who did not live in their own Age do also prove it impossible for any of their Successors to do so § IV V. 4. This Negative Argument will only hold concerning the only substitutes of the Apostles and concerning them it will hold That they who have not received Power from them who are alone substituted by the Apostles to convey their Power to others cannot at all receive any Power from the Apostles § VI VII VIII IX 5. That this Negative Argument applied to any particular Age will hold concerning the only substitutes remaining in that particular Age. Bishops were the only substitutes of the Apostles then remaining when our Brethren began their innovations § X. § I 3. THIS Ecclesiastical Authority cannot be derived in this Age we live in from those men to whom it was at first committed that is from the Apostles without a continued succession of Persons orderly receiving Authority from those who had Authority to give it them from those first times of the Apostles to ours at present § II FOR it is plain 1. That this Authority cannot be derived from the Apostles themselves to any beyond their own time There are but three ways conceivable how this might be possible that they themselves might convey Authority to others either by their Persons or by their Deed of Gift or by their Writings But by none of these means are they capable of receiving Authority from them who did not live in their time Not from them in their own Persons because they were dead before the Persons of whom we speak were born or were capable of receiving Authority from them For it is impossible to understand by the nature of any Humane contracts how a personal right can be devolved to another without a personal act or how any personal act can be between Persons who are not supposed coexistent at the same time Not by their Deed of Gift because this also could only convey their Power to Persons of their own Age. Especially considering that Power is that which is the original security of all other Gifts Indeed where a standing Power is supposed and a constant orderly Succession into that Power there a Gift may be made to future Persons which may both be determined by Persons so empowered and the Gift secured to Persons so determined by them But all are so sensible of the unpracticableness of a Gift to future Persons without a Power both to determine the Persons and secure the Gift to them as that it is ordinary in Wills to appoint Executors who may secure the performance where the standing Power cannot descend minutely to take care of the performance in particular cases And it were certainly in vain to make Testaments if none were empowered to determine the Controversies which rise in execution of them and if the publick Authority did not confirm the Act of the Testator in nominating an Executor and the Power of the Executor for performing the trust committed to him It is therefore absolutely necessary that a Power be first established by which the Will may be performed and a Succession in that Power ascertained for so long at least as any particular of the will remains unperformed before any one can in prudence think such a will performable And therefore the Power of the Apostles being the Supreme and only Power by which the Church as a Body Politick does subsist must be first secured and secured in a regular constant Succession so that none ought to be supposed in future Ages to receive any Power from them but they who receive it in that Succession by the hands of Persons empowered to give it them And because their Legacies are not confined to any certain Age therefore the Power of their Executors must not expire for ever and so much the rather because there is no superior Power to take care of the execution in case the Persons should fail who are immediately intrusted with the Execution Not by their Writings though they indeed continued extant after the decease of the Writers for what has been said in the future Chapter § III HENCE it follows 2. That if they would convey any Power to Persons not living in their own Age seeing they could not do it by themselves they must do it by appointing sufficient substitutes to act in their name after their decease that is they must give such Persons whom they would substitute the same Power themselves had received from Christ I mean as to these ordinary exercises of Power for which I am at present concerned and not only so but the same Power also which themselves had received of communicating this Power to others Where both of these were present the act of such substitutes was to be taken for the Act of the Apostles themselves and as validly obliging them as if it had been performed by themselves in their own Persons by all the Laws then received concerning Delegation and substitution And the want of either of them was sufficient by the same Laws to invalidate a conveyance from the Apostles by so imperfectly-Authorized substitutes And I have already shewn that the Laws then received were punctually observed by the Apostles in these their Legal conveyances I cannot foresee what other means our Adversaries can think of to avoid this consequence Chap. iii. §. 5 6 7 8. When they shall think of any it will then be time enough to consider it § IV AND 3. The very same reasons
the Feet I have no need of you but by so much the more those Members which seem to be weaker are yet necessary and as upon those Members of the Body which seem to be less honourable we yet bestow the more abundant honour and our more uncomely parts have the more abundant comeliness So by the same proportion of reason he plainly implies that the more noble and more perfect gifts and Members must yet not be understood to be so perfect as to stand in no need of the Assistance of the least perfect ones And he after tells us that God has therefore followed our example in the Body Mystical also in bestowing (m) v. 24 25. more abundant honour on those Members which most wanted it for this very reason that there might be no SCHISM in the Body From whence our Brethren may be pleased to observe the original of this term which will be of great consequence for stating the true Notion of it But of this I may possibly discourse more largely in the Second Part. At present I only observe that this independence of one Member on another and the consequent withdrawing of the correspondence of any particular Member from the rest how perfect soever he pretends to be is that which the Apostle stigmatizes here expressly by the name of Schism § XVII BUT that I may bring this whole Discourse yet more close to my present design it is yet further observable that among these gifts of the Spirit which are reckoned as necessary for the whole the (a) Rom. xii 8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so frequently given to the Governours of the Church and the (b) Cor. xii 28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are expressly mentioned And in all likelihood this was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was then reputed so necessary for Persons to be ordained the (c) 1 Tim. iv 14 2 Tim. I. 6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which St. Timothy received by imposition of hands And to know who had this gift there was also in in those Ages given another gift the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the (d) 1 Tim I. 18 IV. 14 Prophesies mentioned concerning St. Timothy in relation to his Ordination the tryal by the Spirit in (e) Clem. Rom. Ep. ad Cor. Clemens Romanus and the (f) Clem. Alexandr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Ews I.III. Eccl. Hist. c. 23. signification of the Spirit in him of Alexandria For if it had been any natural gift which they were then so careful should be in Persons to be ordained by them it had not been necessary that their Ordainers should have been endued with another gift to know it And particularly this gift of the Spirit to fit Men for Government was a thing the Jews had been so well acquainted with in the Old-Testament-instances of (g) Numb xxvii 18 19 20 21 22 23. Joshua and (h) 1 Sam. x. 9 Saul and (i) 1 Sam. xvi 13 David and many others nay was the very Mystical Vnion which the external Vnction did only signifie and convey from which their Governours were called the (k) 1 Sam. xvi 6 XXIV 6 10. XXVI 9 11 16 23. 2 Sam. I. 14 16. XIX 21 XXIII 1 Lam. iv 20 1 Sam. II. 25 1 Chron. vi 42 XVI 22 Ps. CXXXII 10 17. LXXXIV 9 LXXXIX 38 51. Hab. III. 13 Lords Anointed Pursuant whereunto it is that according to the rules of the Philosophy then current which ascribed the Truth of names rather to the Spiritual things which were represented than to the sensible signs and Types which represented them the Spirit it self is called Vnction by (l) 1 John II. 20 27. St. John that upon these considerations it is very unlikely that this gift should have been wanting in those times where every thing was so fitted to the Jewish Notions and wherewithal it was so very necessary for the Christian themselves though they had less regarded the Jews in this particular than we find they did in many others Nay how near a Title even Ecclesiastical Governours as well as others how little Spiritual soever they were as to their Persons were then thought to have even to the Extraordinary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on account of that gift of the Spirit which they were supposed to receive upon their investiture into their Office appears from this that the Evangelist gives this as the reason why even Caiaphas Prophecyed because he was High Priest (m) S. John XI 51 that time when he did so If therefore this was a gift which obliged all that wanted it to a dependence on them who had it how much less perfect soever they were in other regards then it will plainly follow that no pretence of Perfection whatsoever could exempt from a dependence on their Governours Which will more immediately reach my purpose than if they had depended on the Sacraments themselves or any other Exercises or Solemnities of the Ecclesiastical Assemblies § XVIII AND the same thing seems very probable from hence that among the Members which are instanced in as necessary the Head is mentioned as one Certainly there is no office in the Body Mystical so suitable with that of the Head in the Body natural as that of Governing Nor can it here be understood of Christ who is indeed frequently called the Head of the Church because such a Head is here spoken of as (n) 1 Cor. XII 21 cannot say to the Feet I have no need of you that is such a Head as is capable of receiving necessary offices from the other Members as well as of performing necessary offices for them And though it should he understood of particular Governours yet it cannot be thought more strange that in this Allegory all particular Governours should be represented under the Metaphore of one Head than it is that all their Churches are frequently in the Scripture called one Church and here are represented in a Metaphore exactly answering the other that of one Body And the utmost that can be made of this expression will only amount to the one Episcopacy in St. (o) de Vnit Eccles. Cyprian which he makes common to all particular Bishops And it deed when one Body had been mentioned before it had spoiled the suitableness of the Metaphore to have mentioned any more than one Head Though indeed a shorter way might have been taken for giving an account of this whole matter that it is not distinction of Persons but distinction of (a) Rom. XII 4 Office which is here taken notice of by the Apostle for the constitution of a distinct Member And therefore though the Persons of Governours be different yet so long as their office is undoubtedly the same and it is the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that qualifies them for that office that is sufficient to shew how they may be here all accounted for under the Notion of one Head And if we