King than the King as such is a Priest than a good Man is always knowing or the Despotical and Regal Power go together The mixing these several distinct Gifts and Powers is the inlet to all disorder The King and Priest have been brought to a Morsel of Bread by it Sect. 3. Kings have no Plea to the Priesthood by their Vnction the Jewish Custom and Government no example to us if so the consequent would be ill in our Government Our Kings derive no one Right from their being Anointed Blondel's Account of this Vnction The Error and Flattery of some Greeks herein Sect. 4. The Church how in the Common-wealth and the Common-wealth how in the Church and both independent and self-existent Sect. 5. The Church founded only and subsisting in and by Christ and his Apostles Sect. 6. Proved from Clemens Romanus Ignatius Irenaeus Origen Tertullian Justin Martyr Athenagoras Minutius Foelix Sect. 7. A distinct Power is in the Church all along in Eusebius Eccl. Hist Socrates c. Opposed to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Power of the Prince so called all along in those Writings Sect. 8. This was not from the present Necessity when the Empire was Heathen if so the Christians had understood and declared it The Apostles God himself had forewarn'd and preinformed the World of it It continued the same when Christian only with more advantages by the Princes Countenance and Protection Sect. 9 10. In Athanasius Hosins St. Jerome Austin Optatus Chrysostom Ambrose Sect. 11. In Eusebius History from Constantine and other Historians downward the Emperor and Bishop have alike their distinct Throne and Succession independent as plain as words and story can report it Sect. 12. And the same do the Ancient Councils all along separating themselves from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sect. 13. This is not the Sense of the Bishops only in their own behalf and which is the Atheistical popular Plea and Objection the Cruelty of the French Reformers Sect. 14. The Emperors own and submit unto it as Constantine though misunderstood by Blondel Valentinianus Justinian Theodosius Leo c. Sect. 15 16. Blondel owns all this and yet does not understand it Sect. 17. All this farther appears from the Laws and Proceedings of the Empire and the Church as in the two Codes Novels and Constitutions from our Church Histories Photius Nomocanon Sect. 18. This farther appears from the Power of the Empire in Councils and particularly that so much talked of Instance in Theodosius Sect. 19. From their Power exercised on Hereticks Heresie is defined to be such by the Bishops Sect. 20. In Ordinations Sect. 21. Church-Censures Mr. Selden's Jus Caesareum relates only to the outward Exercise of the Jewish Worship and comes up exactly to our Model The state then of the Jews answers this of Christianity Sect. 22. The Christian Emperors never Excommunicated in their own Persons or by their own Power Mr. Selden says they did His Forgeries detected His ridiculous account of Holy Orders from Gamaliel He was a Rebel of 1642. Design'd a Cheat on the Crown when annexing to it the Priesthood Sect. 23. What the Empire made Law relating to Religion was first Canon or consented to by the Clergy Nothing the Empires alone but the Penalty So Honorius and Theodosius Valentinian and Marcian Zeno and Leo. Sect. 24 25. No need of present Miracles to Justifie this Power to Assert it does not affront Magistrates 'T is always to be own'd before them Dr. Tillotson's Sermon on this bottom Arianism was of old opposed against Constantius That this Power ceased when the Empire became Christian is a tattle It receiv'd many Advantages but no one Diminution thereby Sect. 26. § I THIS Power of the Church or Power Ecclesiastical it is not in the Prince issues and flows not from the Secular Temporal Governor he is not the Subject of it he is in himself neither Bishop nor Pastor can neither officiate in the high Affairs of Salvation nor ordain substitute and depute others to do it 't is no Duty of his this way to Teach and Instruct the People the Holy Sacraments are not Administred nor can the Church Censures be executed by him Great and vast is the Power committed by God to Kings here on Earth peculiar is their Power and none else may have none else can Plead a title to it 't is the nearest to Infinite of any Devolution vouchsafed from the Heavens to Mankind and the most of his Image is Characterized and enstamped on their Persons communicated in the largest measure unto them and God hath own'd them all along as such in Scripture suitably severed and separated them from the rest of Mankind placed them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the higher places of the Earth next himself in the Honors and Dignities here above and beyond any other Order and Dignity of men whatever a Kingdom and Majesty and Glory and Honor by the most high God is given unto thee Dan. 5.18 but yet these are not the only Separates he has upon Earth his alone Anointed and that to Publick Offices and Services thus he had his Priests of old and whose Persons and Power was separate too Non est tuum O Ozia adolere Deo sed Sacerdotum 2 Chron. 26.18 It appertaineth not unto thee O Uzziah to burn incense to the Lord but to the Priests the Sons of Aaron that are consecrated to burn incense go out of the Sanctuary for thou hast trespassed neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord thy God There is one Jesus of Nazareth a Man approved of by God and by his right hand exalted the Holy Child Jesus whom he hath Anointed whom he raised from the Dead and made both Lord and Christ God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past to the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoke unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed Heir of all things too and who is also the Image of his Person who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth given unto him a Power to Teach and Baptize all Nations in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost a Power for the managery of the things not of the Men of the Earth but of their Souls and Persons for Heaven a Power above that of Angels but not to tread upon Thrones and Scepters of Princes contemn Dignities which Angels durst not do a Kingdom though not of this World yet a true one once given him of God and again to be delivered up by him to the Father who is the head of his Body the Church Colos 1.18 contrary to whom as we are not to set up and be beguiled by Angels so neither Kings nor Princes and not hold fast the head from which all the body by joynts and band having nourishment and knit together increase in the increase of God Col. 2.18 19. Nursing Fathers Kings and Queens are
to be of the Church but the Government it self is laid upon another upon the Shoulders of this Child and Son born and given unto us Isa 9.6 and which they are to nourish to protect and preserve with their Temporal Government and Scepters a Generative Procreative Power is not in them This Power given by the Father to the Son was in part and some instances of it finish'd in his own Person upon Earth in part and other instances he is now managing in Heaven what was to remain here among us after his Ascension was to be given to whomsoever the Son pleased this he deputed and committed to his Apostles some of which Power was to dye with their Persons was extraordinary and temporary only or at the most survived in some few only after them and during a small time what was designed and universally useful for all Mankind and for the lasting perpetual managing us in order to Heaven to continue to the end of the World and in the execution and discharge of which our Saviour has promised to be with us always unto the end of the World this was all transferred and devolved by the Apostles on their Successors in the Evangelical Priesthood the Bishops Presbyters and Deacons of the Church it was not demandated to Kings and Secular Powers which then and for some Hundred years after only Persecuted all that followed after that way and call'd upon that Name before whom they appeared only as Dlinquents if they came before them it was for a Mittimus to the Goal or as men appointed to be slain not for Commissions and Substitutions to Preach the Gospel and this is the state of the World at this day thus stand the Powers in it divided betwixt the King and the Priest each moving in his proper Sphere by virtue of his special particular Grant from Heaven and managing the two great Affairs of Heaven and Earth the Body and Soul both of so high a concern unto us THAT both these Powers have been residing § II at once in one and the same Subject and Person 't is most certain and so it may be again by a conflux of Providences or the immediate pleasure of him whose the Powers originally are and can give to the Sons of men as he pleases nothing but dissonant much more repugnant in it the King has been a Priest too not only with Power and Autority in order to Holy Things and Persons a due Behaviour and Discharge in and of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle speaks Lib. 3. Polit. cap. 10 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make them good Citizens and obedient to Laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to engage their Souls to Virtue by Rewards and Penalties cap. 13. but the Prince has had that Power which is purely and strictly Hieratical and of the Priestly Office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle cap. 10. abovementioned Rex Anuis Rex idem Phoebique Sacerdos and that such as of the Priestly Order have had also the Secular Power conjoyned and annexed to it it is most certain in all manner of History for Evidence of which I 'le only refer such as can enquire to Mr. Selden's First Book De Synedriis cap. 15. Hugo Grotius is of Opinion that the Priesthood was seldom found without some Secular Power added unto it in his Treatise De Sum. Potest Imper. in Sacris Cap. 9. Sect. 4. 30. And the ancient Canons of the Church imply that it was much in Use for the Clergy to be engaged in the Affairs of the World as appears by their several Cautions and Commands against it the Circumstances of the then present Church and particular Reasons moving them to it So Can. Apost 81.84 Can. 11. Concil 1 2. Constantinop Can. 16.18 Concil Carthag The King and the Priest as they are of the same Original so are both designed for the same great End and Purpose for the Care and Promotion Protection and Preservation of the Honor of God his Worship and Service in the ways of Virtue and Holiness and Obedience to his Institutions for the benefit of Mankind both here and hereafter and suitably have their names promiscuously and in common in Ecclesiastical Writers Thus Constantine many times calls himself a Bishop and by other Greek Writers is he called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to an Apostle Many of these are to be seen in Potrus de Marca de Concord Sacerd. Imperii l. 2. c. 10. Sect. 6 7. Valentinian and Marcian the Emperors are styled Inclyti Apostoli famous Apostles and Constantine's Animus Sacerdotalis is mention'd and applauded in a Publick Council Vid. Observat Notas in Paenitentiale Theodori Cant. Archiep. pag. 138. with several Compellations of the like Nature And which Considerations or rather undue Consideration of these gives some little gloss upon their Error who fix the full Power of the Priesthood in the Prince renders it somewhat more plausible than that of theirs who place it in the People but the Truth is no more in reality on the one side than on the other These are given partly by way of Complement Magnificent Title or higher Eulogies not unusual to the Eminencies of such Personages as they honored and protected Religion to transfer upon them the Honors that go along with it of what value in themselves it matters not so be the best it hath Or where it has nearer answer'd the thing it self Constantine himself has shew'd in what Nature and Instances in the Fourth Book of his Life wrote by Eusebius cap. 24. Vos speaking to the Bishops in iis quae intra Ecclesiam Episcopi estis Ego vero in iis quae extra geruntur And again Ibid. the Historian also speaks to the same purpose Episcopus quasi Episcoporum erat Constantinus Curam habuit ut sint pii both which amount but to thus much That Constantine's Episcopacy only consisted in his outward care of the Church and promotion of the Duties that belong unto her it reacheth not to the inward Power the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Sacred Function or Office it self AND here now is the great Enquiry and § III this the main Case in Debate amongst us in this unhappy Age of ours Whether the Kingly and Priestly Offices and Charges immediately in their Natures and Constitutions imply and include each other Not that they agree in one design or more in some Externals but whether where the one is there the other as a necessary consequence is at the same time and by the same appointment existing and to which I am to answer in the Negative as to be a Priest has never inferr'd a Secular Power so nor to be a Prince the Spiritual For the full cleering of this point it will be necessary first to consider the Nature of Gifts Duties Offices and Power in general how far they include and infer one another how far each one in it self is attainable and from
only Regnante Christo and the Reign of the Empire is left out though it do no ways infer and prove that all Empire is originally in Christ both as to Spirituals and Seculars and that he that is his Succession the Church has the disposal of the Kingdoms of the World too Primarily and Originally in him as some zealous Parasites of the Roman Faith thence it seems have inferr'd and against whom the main Plot of D. Blondel in this his Book is laid and very well yet this it infers and evidently proves That our Saviour and his Succession the Church have been always supposed to have had a Kingdom in the World not to supplant and overturn to usurp and encroach upon but to bless that other of the World to render it Prosperous on Earth and by her holier Laws and Discipline to bring all to the Kingdom of Heaven when the Reign on Earth is at an end But this D. Blondel could not or would not see himself and therefore a thing too usual with him runs into the opposite extreme to his Adversaries is angry when this very Church-Power and its existence of which himself gives so evident a Demonstration is asserted solitary and not in the Empire as no ways flowing and included in its Constitution as the other will have no Empire but from and in the Church so hard a matter is it for some Men to contend for Truth and against the Church of Rome at once and as has above been observed but these Oversights if no worse are usual with him 't is like his ill luck in other cases § XVIII AND he that duly consults and considers the sundry Proceedings and Laws and judiciary Acts of the Empire about Church-Matters either as interspersed in our Church Histories or as Collected and United in the two Codes the Theodosian and Justinian in their several Laws Novels and Constitutions will readily grant all this and more that the Church and State the Worldly or Secular and Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Power were still consider'd reputed and proceeded on as quite distinct Bodies and Powers though both flowing from the same Original and Fountain yet as diverse as the Soul and Body with several Offices and Duties on each incumbent in different Channels convey'd and all aiming at the great and ultimate end the general advantage of Mankind and each individual both with their faces to the same Jerusalem but in several Paths and Determinations judiciary in order to it Hee 'l find that as the Church the Councils and Bishops were ever Conscientious and Industrious that they entrenched not on the Empire withheld not from it what was its due usurped not any thing was not their own paid all manner of Observances to Kings and Secular Governors in all manner of Duties as Prayers Thanksgiving Instructions Directions Admonitions Tribute Loyalty c. So again did the Empire preserve their Functions Persons and Estates give them Liberties Enfranchisements Protestations unless where Apostates as Julian where overmuch favouring Heresies as some time Constantius c. countenanced and provided for Truth and Holiness and sound Discipline according to the Rules Canons Directions Interpretations and Determinations given by the Bishops assembled in Council or occasionally otherways made and recommended unto them the Church still Petitioned and Supplicated the Empire when by the Affronts and Insolencies the greater Impieties and Obstinacies of the World the edge of their Spiritual Sword was dulled and blunted when Coercive outward Punishments alone could hope to prevail for Peace and Amendment of this we have several Instances upon Record as for the deposing Dioscorus in Evagrius his Ecclesiastical History l. 2. c. 4. in placing Proclus in the Episcopal Throne Socrat. Hist Eccl. lib. 7. cap. 4. which was immediately by Theodosius Maximinianus the defuncts Body being not yet laid in the Ground to prevent the Tumults of the People To this purpose we have the Case of one Cresconius a Bishop who left his own and invaded another's Church and upon a remand from the Council refusing to return the President of the Country is Petitioned and his Secular arm which alone has a Coercive Power over Mens Persons sends him back again according to the Constitutions Imperial Concil Carthag Can. 52. just such another Case as that of Paulus Samosetanus in the days of Aurelian the Emperor above-mentioned and the course of Proceedings we see is the same now as then both in Church and State as that Laws may be made to restrain such as were fled to the Church for refuge Can. 60. that the Riot and Excess be taken away on their Festivals which drew Men to Gentilism again by the obscener Practices and which were without shame and beyond Modesty Can. 65 66. that the Secular Power would come in eò quod Episcoporum autoritas incivitatibus contemnitur because the Power of the Bishops is contemn'd in the Cities Can. 70. ut Ecclesiae opem ferat to assist the Church against these Impieties so strenuous and prevailing Can. 78. as in the Case of the unrulier Donatists Can. 95 96. and the Thanks of the Bishops were given for their Ejection Can. 97. and the Emperor is Petitioned to grant Defensors to the Church Can. 10.109 and as the Church thus supplicated the Empire in these arduous Cases and when its assistance was wanting so on the other side did the Empire still advise with the Church when designing to make Religion the Municipal Law of the Empire to imbody it with the World under the same Sanctions either as to Punishments or Rewards to make it the Religion of the State also they still consulted antecedent Canons or present Bishops in Council or some Ecclesiastical Autority they created nothing anew gave the help of the World for Countenance Assistance and Confirmation to stablish what the Church had put its Sanction upon And those Emperors that designed to discountenance Christianity or set up some particular Heresie and stifle it in part or depose any great Church-men and some such there was they attempted it not but by the Clergy though of their own the Power as in themselves alone was not pretended to they had their own Synods and Bishops in order to it and what they did was done in their Names also and all this will readily appear to any one acquainted with the Canons of the Church and Laws of the Empire or if it seem too hard a task he 'l find it at least attempted to his hand and with Care and Industry reduced to a little room by Photius Patriarch of Constantinople in his Book therefore called the Nomo-Canon to shew the concurrency of the Laws and Canons the Canons still placed first as in course anteceding And in this sense only that of Socrates can be understood in the Proem to his Fifth Book of Ecclesiastical History 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reges viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So soon as Kings began to be Christians the things of the Church were managed and accomplished
OF THE SUBJECT OF Church-Power In whom it Resides It s Force Extent and Execution that it Opposes not Civil Government in any one Instance of it Nec sic tamen quamvis novissimis temporibus in Ecclesia Dei aut Evangelicus nigor cecidit aut Christianae virtutis aut fidei robur elanguit ut non supersit portio Sacerdotum quae minimè ad has rerum ruinas aut fidei Naufragia succumbat sed fortis habilis honorem divinae Majestatis Sacerdotalem dignitatem plenâ timoris observatione tucatur Cypr. Ep. 68. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodos Imperator apud Theodoritum Eccles Hist lib. 5. cap. 18. By SIMON LOWTH Vicar of Cosmus Blene in the Diocess of CANTERBVRY London Printed for Benj. Tooke at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1685. TO THE READER 'T IS now full two years and upward since that huge din and noise Pannick almost and universal has been in London and elsewhere occasioned by this Treatise and it has with a forcible hand by threats and awes from thence to this day been either with-held from or in the Press insomuch that thô actually conceived and come to the Birth there wanted strength to bring forth my purpose is not to make much Apology in its behalf it comes abroad of Age natus cum barbâ as the Jews say of Esau after a course of Studies upon full Thoughts and a thorow Consideration though hastened as thus digested by a Sermon I met with Preached by John Tillotson Doctor of Divinity and Dean of Canterbury and is to speak for it self and if upon a due perusal the usefulness and seasonableness of the Subject matter together with the integrity of the Collector and which is here professed will not avouch it what can or why should I say any more I am content to fall and shall submit I do not pretend to be the best Composer in the World or above the reach of an Aristarchus and so let the Hypercritical and over-nice pick a Quarrel with it if they please I hope the best and that as in those fears called Pannick and where the Jealousie and Passion is vehement and subitaneous so here the Grounds on which some have already excepted against it will appear rather assumed than real an effect only of the Imaginative faculty and which is many times dismal till by reason corrected 'T is that which St. Jerome urges and aggravates against John Bishop of Jerusalem in his Epistle ad Pammachium adversus errores Johannis Hierosolymitani that when accused of the Errors of Origen and Arius and was expected to have Purged himself he Preach'd only against the Anthropomorphites a certain sort of obscure ignorant Monks who out of a Rustick Simplicity believed God to have the Parts and Members of a Man accordingly as spoken sometimes in Scripture who influenced none and perished within themselves I may here safely conclude my self secure against such an impertinency and indiscretion the Adversary I now engage against is neither ignorant nor obscure his repute for Knowledge is the same as his Conspicuity and that is with Absolom and his Fathers Concubines on the House top in the sight of all Israel and the Sun has passed both Press and the Pulpit and is now in each almost Gentleman's Parlour and Tradesmens Shop and in the Mouths of all Men and he were to be wished to be less in our Divines Studies And after those hotter Controversies in these Western Parts of the Christian World As whether Church-Power be originally lodged in the Person of the Bishop of Rome or in all and each of the Bishops of Christendom or in each single Presbyter or as the less considerable in every Believer 't is now concluded to be purely Secular men roundly and making no Bones run away with it and no more than the Prince's Pleasure is to be enquired after nor are any Persons or Functions to be accounted Sacred in order to the things of Heaven but by his Separation or is there any visible Power on this side Heaven but by his collating Nor is the Subject trivial or inconsiderable and without influence upon Mankind 't is that Christ Jesus had a Power all Power in Heaven and Earth once given him of the Father for the bringing Souls to Heaven this very Power first in him after descended to his Apostles and from them to their Succession the Bishops and Pastors of the Church and is to remain in and with them and their Persons apart and separate from all other Power Government and Jurisdiction till the end cometh and this Kingdom is delivered up to the Father so long is it to be visible and in force under what frowns and oppositions soever thô the Kings of the Earth stand up and the Rulers take Council against it And this is all I here represent to the World and which not by any Publick Autority God be thanked the case is not so with us but by a set of Men has been thus opposed and who seem to be somewhat whatsoever they be it matters not to me I have always learn'd Obedience but 't is to them that are my Governors but who are these neither shall I give place by Subjection to them no not an hour so peculiar is my case in an Age of Liberty when the Statute for Printing is expired and the Government has not thought fit to re-enforce it when every Sect and Party Scribbles and Publishes and a Treatise purely and solely stating and defending our Religion established by Law is brow-beaten and a total Suppression is to the utmost endeavoured I know they say 't is not the subject in general but my Animadversions upon the two Deans Doctor Stillingfleet and Doctor Tillotson they set themselves and contend against and pray how does this mend the matter or is not these Mens Zeal for the Church of England bulky and active to the purpose when its issue is this that the Names and Writings of two particular Men and which must be in so much less esteem and as false as they discountenance and are against our Church and whose Tenents so far as here impleaded they dare not openly Plead for must be untoucht and uncanvassed or else the state of the Church not medled with its Power and Autority be diminish'd and exposed by others by who so pleases and no Man defend it it is not to be duly and fairly represented to the World for their Information or Instruction unless there be an exempt and indemnity to such those two to thwart and oppose it as they shall think fit or give themselves advantages thereby from their Party and such their Autorities stand unquestioned as in Capital Letters to affront and confute all so soon as Published the Proposal must be both ridiculous and unreasonable at once or how can any man undertake to make but this one instance at present to vindicate our Church from Erastianism and that her Reformation did not enstate all Church-Power even in Edward
of this Discourse Sect. 1. Not the Power and Offices of the Church but their Subject is what mostly exercises the Age Sect. 2. Whether the Power be originally in Believers in Common or in the Secular Prince in Particular or in a certain Definite Number of Believers the Bishops and Pastors of the Church Sect. 3. The Design of the Whole and its Three General Heads Sect. 4. VVHEN I first consider'd that of Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan § I Part 1. Cap. 12. Of Religion and which is in short to this purpose in several Paragraphs there That every one is free upon the ceasing or discontinuance of the Miracle to Supersede or Change his Religion once attested by that Miracle to be from God and upon which account it was receiv'd and own'd if the change of the Climate and his Governors his former Education and the present Custom of the Place he resides in requires and all that other Authority and Obligation from Heaven obliged only for that present instant in which the Miracle was wrought and evidenced I with less concern passed it by reflecting on the Person a Man affected with and designing Novelty and Singularity filled with a Conceit of his own worth and autority and opposing it to all the World beside And in particular in this Chapter declaring himself to be such an one that believes an extraordinary felicity a sufficient Testimony of a Divine Calling but going on in my Thoughts and finding by a sad Experience that it went further than the Scheme or Systeme that a great part of our Age is thereby brought into this Opinion and 't is contended for so frequently as their Faith that the Church is nothing at all but in the State its Powers and Offices though once in the Apostles and some of their Successors for some time is now gone with those Miracles that at that time abetted and avouched them nor is the Gospel it self to be Preached or divulged upon other terms or a fixed enjoyned false Religion opposed nay farther this very same to be the stated professed Opinions of some and those too our highest dignified Church-men and left upon Record as the judgment of the greatest part and some of them the most remarkable of our first Reformers that the Prince is invested with whatever belongs to a Church-man then was my heart hot within me and while I was thus musing the fire kindled and at the last I spake with my Tongue I then set my self upon a particular immediate enquiry into the Matter and attaining to a more perfect knowledge of that way I here represent it to my Fathers and Brethren of the Clergy to all good Christians whatever in this following Treatise and only state the plain case as I find delivered down from our Saviour by his Apostles the Bishops Fathers and Doctors of the Church Catholique the Church Historians Councils and Laws Imperial from our own particular Church Articles Canons Rubricks our Book of Ordination and Homilies appointed to be read in the Churches in the time of Q. Elizabeth from our own Doctors and Writers in Divinity in their several times and from the Injunctions and Declarations of our Princes and even the Common-Law and Statute Book of our Kingdom the Honor and Duty I owe to my Jesus to his Universal Church to this particular Church of England to my own Profession as a Divine and love to all Christians is what have engaged to it other advantages I have none nor are any proposed these Considerations alone are they which now makes the dumb Child speak looses the string of that Tongue that held its peace and said nothing and brings him into publick otherwise by an universal Concurrency of all things both Persons and Objects design'd for silence and obscurity § II NOW in order to this I have so much prepared and made ready to my hands that the thing in general is immediately denied by none and that there is a Church-Power to be alwayes upon Earth till the restitution of all things and the Heavens be no more that is certain peculiar Persons and Offices to be separated and discharged in and for the affairs of Souls and the guiding and governing the World in order to Heaven and Salvation is affirmed by all that believe a Heaven and Christ Jesus the Way the Truth and the Life in the Attainment That which has so much unhing'd and discompos'd the World of late is concerning the Subject in which it resides the particular Persons design'd and appointed by our Saviour for the conveyance and execution the due force just extent and consequences of it in whom this Power is to be found and to whom limited since none are extraordinarily by miraculous and sensible demonstrations from Heaven commissioned and marked out thereunto as the Apostles and first Publishers of the Gospel were And though Mr. Selden himself as our great Herbert Thorndike in his Principles of Christian Truth tells us usually said in his common Discourse That all Church Power is an Imposture yet his First Book De Synedriis designed and levelled against this Autority Upon this alone score because presumed in and limited to the Bishops and Pastors of the Church as the Successors of Christ and his Apostles makes it plain his quarrel is because so assumed and limited by them because transferr'd from the Prince or Civil Power in whose hands alone he believes it placed and in those in deputation by him and for which he contends all along in that Book with what Success may be seen hereafter and therein places the Imposture THERE are three distinct Orders of Men § III or at the least to be supposed distinct in which this Power is contended for to be seated each exclusive of one another by the several Assertors and Fautors of the distant Opinions and Parties among us The One places it in the People the multitude of Believers in common as the general first immediate subject of Power Ecclesiastical who by their concurrent Notes Elections and Assignations limit and fix it on particular Persons for the Execution so appointing consecrating and investing for the work of the Ministry to negotiate in the affairs of Souls and in order to their Salvation The Other subjects all in the Prince or Secular Power who is supposed in actu Primo virtually and by a first inherency to be Priest and People equally as Prince and by the Right of Soveraignty as chief Magistrate upon Earth is instructed for all Offices and Duties in relation to Heaven with a Power for Deputation and Devolution as the Harvest may be great or the Labourers few upon each occasion requiring and as he is pleased by his secular Hand to mark out the Person The Third place it not in the Multitude in general or in the Prince in special but in a certain indefinite number of Believers called and impower'd thereunto not by their Gifts and Abilities as Christians in common but by a particular signal Donation superadded given
the Civil Power or that Power of the State to erect an Autority against it because not of and under it that Prince cannot be said to be Supreme if a differing Power within him To be Supreme is to be above all there must be no Power apart from his who is the Supreme if so he is not Supreme This they urge with a great deal more to the same purpose and is the Stone that the great Hugo Grotius stumbles at in the entrance to his Treatise De jure Summarum Potestatum in Sacris and which occasions so many more falls he has all along in that Discourse it being stuffed with inconsistencies to it self throughout and no wonder when bottomed on so false a Principle that the Power of our Saviour is an Usurpation on the State nor does one absurdity go alone A Suspition upon Church-Government that has not the Honor to be new 't is as old as our Saviour in the Flesh and Herod we know started it against him so soon as Born in the World and his Title as King was known unto him for this he sought to kill him when an Infant and the little Children in Bethlehem were barbarously Murdered hoping the Babe Jesus might have died in the croud distrusting if he escaped he would have supplanted him of his Kingdom Nor did his Apostles after him escape the Suspition and Censure and yet our Saviour all along his life-time upon Earth and notoriously at his death still clear'd himself of the Aspersion asserting and maintaining his Power and Kingdom delivered him of the Father that All Power in Heaven and Earth and so did his Apostles too retain and exercise the same Power and with the same Innocency Nor do I doubt but to Vindicate his Body the Succeeding Church still claiming the like Power and that to every rational considering Person to each one that with Herod has not a design and believes it his interest to kill our Saviour to blot out his Power and Name and Memory on Earth § IV AND indeed to pass by the particular Answers to the Objection which will follow in course upon our Procedure the Objection must fall of it self to any one of common sense that exercises not his Enquiries more about Tricks and Phrases to wheedle delude and carry on his own particular Plot and Party then about that which is notorious Matter of Fact certain Truths and realities One thing I know that whereas I was blind I now see a Man that is called Jesus made clay and anointed mine eyes and said unto me Go to the Pool of Siloam and wash And I went and washed and I received sight He put clay upon mine eyes and I washed and do see This was the Answer of the Man that was born Blind and cured by our Saviour John 9.11.15.25 and this great notoriety to common sense baffled all the Malice and Purposes superseded all their trifling Enquiries designed to obscure the Power and Miracle of our Saviour's working that mighty Cure upon him as whether it was done on the Sabbath Day the Person was a Sinner c. and the same common sense and notoriety of Matter of Fact will be our Evidence and Avoucher in this our particular Case also and is the alone Answer we need to give in able indeed to baffle whatever the Skill of an Objector can lay or whatever inconsistencies the wit of Man may urge against us Can any even a Pharisaical race of Men ill-natur'd and Perverse give out and believe That that Body of Christians their Bishops and Governors should Assert and Maintain a Kingdom and Jurisdiction upon Earth destructive to that of the Empire or Secular by whose breath they in their Persons professed to subsist for whose Persons and Government and the Prosperity of both they always Pray'd and in the first place as by whose Influences they were to live Godly lives in all Godliness and Honesty whose Battels they fought whom they Honoured with all the titles of Power and Majesty and Magnificence whom but to think Evil of to Curse in their Hearts in their Bed-Chambers much more openly to Defame and speak Evil of was their Sin and Irreligion whom they acknowledged upon Earth as under God alone and to God alone accountable for all their Actions and Designs nor could any Man say what doest thou And all this they still Remonstrated and Publish'd to the World under the deepest sense of Religion and Zeal with the most solemn Protestations as in all their Apologies Defences and Writings does appear who made it a term of their Communion to Serve Support and Assist the Emperor to shew themselves Faithful and Just and Conscientious towards him equally as to serve their God and Saviour as to say their Prayers for themselves and live Righteously and Soberly in the World and the contrary was a just occasion for their Censures an Intermination upon the Offender who too often died under their Tyranny came peaceably to the Stake neither accusing nor reviling as under the stroke of God himself sealing with their Blood such their Obedience Nor in all our first Church-Story do we find the Catholick Christian engaged in any thing like a Plot or Council against his Governor his either Person or Power much less an open Rebel against him when either an Heathen or Heretick and his professed Persecutor for an Heretick has been no less Cruel than an Heathen and when to make up the Charge by their Malice as in the particular case of Athanasius accused as designing against the Empire by the Arians and Meletians to be accused was his great trouble to be under the Suspition of so foul a Crime being otherways able to acquit himself and so he did and indeed so generally received a Truth was it that a Christian could not be a Rebel or attempt any thing upon the Empire So much was it concluded of the Essence of his Profession that when his Enemies thought effectually to blemish and make him appear no Christian they libell'd him as a Rebel the more and the better a Christian the more did his Prince confide in him and 't is very well urg'd by our Adversaries that Constantine did look upon them as his great Support and Preservers nor could the Empire in all Probability have been continued to him without their Aid and Fidelity and for which his Favours and Temporalities were deservedly large unto them but this is their Error when they tell the World that all Church-Power was then and is still continued upon this score and by the alone favour of Princes IF it be said that all this was the effect § V alone of common Prudence and usual Wisdom they thus provided for their interest the Security in general of their both Religion and Persons and which all Wise Men do in the first place take care of they were wanting both of Power and Opportunity to do otherwise and had it not been so the Hypocrisie had ceased they had both appeared and
but deposed Sect. 32. To Absolve and Re-admit into the Church this the design of Excommunication which is only a shutting out for a time in order to Mercy on whom to be inflicted It s certain force in the Execution Sect. 33. To depute others in the Ministry by Ordination the Necessity of it An instance in St. John out of Eusebius St. Clemens Romanus Calvin and Beza's Opinion and Practice It s ill Consequences Only those of the Priesthood can give this Power to others Sect. 34. The Objection answered and 't is plain the Church is an Incorporation with Laws Rewards and Penalties of its own not of this World nor opposing its Government Sect. 35. The outward stroke is reserved to the Day of Judgment but the Obligation is present If the Church has no Power nor Obligation because not that present Power to Punish or any like it neither has any Law in the Gospel Mr. Hobbs the more honest Man says neither the Ecclesiastical or Evangelical Law obliges His and their Principles infer it Sect. 36. The Power of Christ and his Church cannot clash with the Civil Power because no outward Process till the Day of Judgment and then civil outward Dominion is to cease in its course the present Vnion and Power to be sure cannot this is clear from the several instances of it already reckon'd up Sect. 37. Their Faith is an inward act of the Soul acquitted by Mr. Hobbes and that which is more open Confession obliges if opposed but to dye and be Martyrs Sect. 38. That they Covenant against Sin makes them but the better Subjects Sect. 39. No Man that says his Prayers duly can be a Rebel because first of all to own his Prince and Pray for him The first Christians Innocency defended them when impleaded for Assembling without leave If this did not do they suffer'd Their Christianity did not exempt them from inspection Sect. 40. Charity not obstructive to Government when on due Objects a common Purse without leave dangerous not generally to be allow'd These Christians innocency indemnified them The Divine Right of Titles how asserted Nothing can justifie those Practices but their real Case The Profession of Christianity must otherwise cease Sect. 41 42. Presiding in the Church rises no higher than the Duties exercised 'T is Dr. Tillotson alone ever said To Preach Christ is to Affront Princes If the Jesuit do let him look to it Christianity is not in fault An entring into or renewing the Covenant at the Font or Altar is no Encroachment on the but Justice of Peace in the Neighborhood Sect. 43. Excommunication and other Censures change no Mans Condition as to this World they have no force but in relation to known Duties Prudence is to rule in the Execution particular regard to be had to Princes Whatever is Coercive annexed is from the Prince Lay-Judges Chancellors c. when first granted by the Empire upon the Bishops Petition The same is Absolution neither innovate in Civil Affairs Sect. 44. Conciliary Acts invade no more than does the Gospel it self That Canons have had the precedency of the Law is by the favour of Princes a Council without local meeting Letters Missive Sect. 45. Ordaining others no more prejudicial to the Crown than the former acts This is Mr. Hobbe's Misapprehension Sect. 46. HAVING produced the chief and first § I Arguments and Autorities that are depended upon and urged in this Controversie an Answer to some of which I have already prevented others fall in pieces of themselves to an easie Capacity the rest I shall indeavour to refute in these following Conclusions and which will tend much to the cleering the whole Subject and I 'le begin with the first and great Error of Mr. Selden and his other Friends and which is laid down and insisted on as the Foundation of the whole ensuing Fabrick We are told that all Punishments both before and after the giving the Law in Sinai from Adam to Christ were bodily and outwardly Coercive and inflictive the distinction of Sins Spiritual and Temporal was not then known nor was there any such different Regiments and Governors in regard to them the Sword punish'd Adulteries as well as Burglary And therefore 't is so still under the Gospel by the Institution of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ nor was there a Jurisdiction separate and apart relating alone to Spiritual Church Affairs designed or erected by him An Inference granting the truth of the Premises surely as wide as their keenest Adversaries can wish it to be and the Consequence had been every ways as due and firm in respect to the Law given by Moses that there were never any such Levitical Rites and Ceremonies given from God by him such a Polity erected because nothing like it that we know of was given to Adam in Paradice nor is there one Rule Law or Direction since given to his Succession the Patriarchs in particular but upon the same force and account must still be exemplary nor ought there can there be any institution that is diverse from them received if a distinct Power from all the World before him be admitted and allowed in Moses the Servant much more in Christ a Son over his own House by whom God hath spoken to us in these last days as in times past he did to the Fathers by the Prophets whom he appointed Heir of all things by whom also he hath made the worlds who is the bright Image of his Person upholding all things by the word of his Power Heb. 1.1 2 3 4 5 6. who had greater Autority more full and larger Instructions and Commission and more signally evidenced to the outward sense of Mankind than any Prophets or Messengers of Gods had before who had all Power in Heaven and Earth committed unto him both spake and acted as never Man did And in the same peculiar manner did he gather and stablish and six his Church or Body upon Earth and at his going away into Heaven send down his own Gifts in the face of all Nations at the Feast of Pentecost erected his own Kingdom appointed his own Officers assign'd his own Members influenced them by his own Spirit governed them by his own Laws associated them in his own Method and nothing of it was of this World He made a new Covenant stablish'd on better Grounds incouraged with better Hopes and Promises instituted new Ordinances made new Seals and Conveyances gave new Liveries and Pledges that were diverse a Government to last for ever till the restitution of all things with a respect to nothing future but Heaven and all this absolute in it self and independent abstract and separate from any or all the Powers and Associations in the world beside complying and yielding to no one Circumstance Exigence or Necessity whatever so contrived and ordained that as himself her Head so the Church his Body and every Member in particular hath life in it self derived only from him their own Powers and
it self how inconsistent with his own Schemes and Concessions and what seems farther necessary to a thorow Answer and the carrying on withal and clearing this my own particular Discourse follows in the succeeding Sections AND part of my Answer shall be by way § IX of Concession yielding to him in some measure what he contends for That the Kingdom Government and Jurisdiction of the Gospel is not cannot be outwardly forcing and Coercive by the either Instruments or Penalties of this World To assert such a Power erected by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is immediately and with the same breath to publish it a Cheat an Imposture and Usurpation 't is in the very letter to Affront and Contradict the very Plot Frame and Constitution of it since Christ himself has declared that his Kingdom is not of this World neither laid in the contrivance either sustain'd or supported in the ways and courses of it If it had been so he had surely never appeared in the World in that meaner form and lower order he did a different way then by dying upon the Cross had been design'd for the managery and accomplishment of it he could have call'd for Fire from Heaven as Elijah did upon the Head of his Gain-sayers a course of Proceedings agreeable enough to that present Constitution whose Rewards and Penalties were Carnal in the hands of a Temporal Jurisdiction or have had Millions of Angels his Seconds to smite as they did Sennacherib's Army in one Night one Minute all that opposed that sat in Judgment against him or with but one word from his Mouth laid any one gain-sayer flat upon the ground as he did those few that came first to lay hold of him when he was betrayed He was not sent into the World weak and unable with less perfect Credentials and Instructions or lesser Power than other Prophets or Holy Men had which were sent into the World before him all was full and perfect in order to the Message and Embassy the Errand he came into the World for he came with more with all Power in Heaven and Earth given him the Power of the Kingdom wholly and solely delivered up unto him only he came of a different Errand and Design than some others had come of before him he was of another Spirit and to work his work quite in another manner and by other Weapons not such as were Carnal but Spiritual mighty indeed to the beating down strong holds but of Sin and Sathan he came not to destroy but to save that which was lost to lay hold on the Seed of Abram when he passed by the fallen Angels lest they come into their blackness of darkness those Chains they are now reserv'd in for Judgment And let any one but seriously peruse and consider this great Mystery of Godliness God manifest in the Flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels Preach'd unto the Gentiles believed on in the World and received up into Glory let him look over the History of his Saviour his first coming from Heaven his whole Life Actings Suffering Dying rising again and ascending into Heaven and he can discern nothing like an outward sensible worldly Regiment and Jurisdiction to be erected or executed by him any outward force upon Mens either Persons or Lives or Fortunes in bringing about that work he was sent for into the World by the Father to do is the intent and purpose of it and as he had not neither can he be conceived to have had a design in his own Person to exercise a worldly Dominion or did he delegate others his Apostles and principal Ministers to any such Office and Undertakings his being Preach'd to the Gentiles and believed on in the World implied or inferr'd nothing of it but the quite contrary nor could any be his Adherents and Followers on any such purposes With an industrious Zeal he still removed it out of the apprehensions and thoughts of his Disciples when on Earth among them he told St. Peter he was an Offence to him when savouring these things of Men fancying him to reign as a Temporal Prince on Earth with outward force and Power to repel the Injuries of his Adversaries St. Mat. 16.21 22 23. As also when his Disciples required him to call down Fire from Heaven upon the Heads of his Enemies in St. Luke's Gospel urging to St. Peter and all of them those quite different Doctrines of his Gospel That if any man will come after him let him deny himself and take up his Cross and follow him that whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life shall save it and 't is to save the Soul not gain the World is to be their aim in becoming his Disciples And thus did they Preach Christ ever since the Holy Ghost so fully came upon them reproving the World of Sin of Righteousness and Judgment the work of the Comforter Joh. 16.7 8. And that trifling Argument as if want of Power and Prudential forbearance made them not to attempt any thing more is what cannot fall under the thoughts of a considering Person He that by Twelve mean Persons as were the Apostles could convert so great a part of the World by the same Power and Instruments could he have over-ruled the Persons of the rest of the World to Master and bring into Captivity to the Law of Faith an undisciplined unruly Understanding and Will is as great a Work of the Almighty as to subdue the whole Person The Mind is as difficultly conquer'd as the Body and more difficultly too because no immediate outward force can be put upon it He that when meer Idiots and Ignaro's gave them the Understanding and Tongue of the Learned could also have given them the Arm of the Mighty and Valiant St. Peter who with but one word from his Mouth struck dead Ananias and Saphira his Wife for cheating the Church might with one word from his Mouth also have reversed the Edict of Nero appointing him to be crucified at Rome have enfeebled those hands of the Executioner that nailed and fixed him on the Cross St. Paul who struck Elymas the Sorcerer Blind might have smote Ananias on the Bench made that officious reviling Orator Tertullus to be Dumb and baffled Nero with all his Power had outward Coercion and Force been the assigned way to Plant and Propagate Religion a general course set up a standing Rule either for the present or Succession of Ages However God thought fit to give special Instances of such his Power upon particular notorious Sinners by the hands of his Apostles to let the World see it was not against the Nature of the Gospel though not in the intent of it thus to have them dealt with in particular Cases to preserve the horror in remembrance till the appointed time till the Empire became Christian in whose hands not the Apostles and their Succession this outward sorcing punishing part does reside in its constant perpetual Seat or
World before but what was sensible outward and coercive and all Gospel-Power must be such or none a Plea to what is otherwise is a Cheat and Imposture And in answer to which I must here repeat in part what I have said in the beginning of the Third Chapter of this Treatise upon another occasion § XI THAT the Church is a Body but of a quite differing Nature a various Design and Constitution for another purpose according to that eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord Eph. 3.11 a Body but the Body of Christ framed and fitted alone according to the fulness of the measure of his Stature his Body which is the Church Eph. 5.23 an Association of People incorporated and united under him their Head in one Spirit one Lord one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Eph. 4.4 5. growing up into him in all things who is the head even Christ Ephes 4.15 a Body that is to be visible subject to outward sense but 't is by an Holy Life and Religious Conversation that which Men are to see is their good works and glorifie their Father which is in Heaven and all grants to its Officers Power Means Ordinances are only in order hereunto the only change here design'd is the change of our vile Bodies that they may be like unto Christ's glorious Body according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself A Lordship there is but not over Kings and Scepters 't is Death and Sin Christ Jesus treads under his Feet only He is the Lord of the Sabbath invested with all Power in Heaven and Earth relating to God's Worship and Service his Adoration and Homage to appoint stablish and fix as he pleases for ever A BODY or Corporation with its different § XII Organs Parts and Members the Eye to see the Ear to hear and the Foot to walk with Parts more and less Honorable with diverse Gifts and Graces according to the measure of the Gift of Christ some to Govern others to Obey some to Preside others to Submit and be ruled by them Some of which Governors were to remain only for a time others to continue for ever as the Bishops Presbyters and Deacons Orders of Men instituted and invested by Christ not with an improper as some speak with abatement but with a true real Praefecture Power and Jurisdiction in the Church that sitting upon Twelve Thrones and Judging that Spiritual Grace and Investiture to be collated and so Promised in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the new Age or State beginning just after the Resurrection of Christ it is an Autoritative Paternal Power of Chastisements Discipline and Government to be exercised on all its Subjects each one that has given up his Name unto Christ that expects any benefit of the incorporation for the keeping them in some compass within the terms of a Peaceable Holy truly Christian Congregation As are the words of our Learned Doctor Hammond in his Treatise of The Power of the Keys Cap. 1. Sect. 1. § XIII AN Incorporation with differing Offices and Duties Powers and Capacities from any other in the World to be call'd out from others from the World or any Society in it and to unite in a diverse Association which has peculiar Laws and Rules even of Morality is not enough to specifie constitute and express the Church of Christ to signalize that Collection or Association which is Christian All believe and assent so far that there is such a Sect and Coalition of Persons as are called Christians in the World and is usually call'd a Church 't is Matter of Fact self-evident and not to be denied But this Body or Church is not known and acknowledged to have such means of Salvation such Power and Efficacy such Properties and Priviledges as the true Church of Christ implies and contains The name Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 belongs to Prophane as well as Ecclesiastical Congregations whether in Athens Corinth Alexandria or Jerusalem as Origen argues against Celsus lib. 3. but all have not the Powers Operations alike The Church of God is a Society as with differing Members and Offices Services and Obligations So to differing Ends with differing Gifts and Endowments For the perfecting the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying the Body of Christ Ephes 4.12 the building and raising them to Heaven in the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God Sciendum est illam esse veram Ecclesiam in qua est Confessio Penitentia quae peccata vulnera quibus subjecta est imbecillitas carnis salubriter curat as Lactantius Lib. 4. Sect. Vlt. Vbi Ecclesia ibi Spiritus Dei ubi Spiritus Dei ibi Ecclesia omnis gratia So Irenaeus l. 3. c. 40. that is the true Church where Confession is and Repentance with wholsome means to cure those Wounds and Sins to which the weakness of the Flesh is subject where there is the Spirit of God and all Grace as in the Armory of David those many Shields of the Mighty Divine Assistances and Remedies for Eternity Catholicum nomen non ex Vniversitate gentium Sed ex Plenitudine Sacramentorum as St. Austin relates of the Donatists well replying Collat. cum Donatist Tertii Diei the fulness of the Sacraments not the bare Coalition of all the Nations in the World makes the true Catholick Church And St. Austin himself says the same Ep. 48. Vincentio fratri where there is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first and second cleansing and Purgation the one the Effect of Baptism the other of Repentance In Sozomen's Church History l. 1. c. 3. Now these different Powers and Duties as distant from all others in the World besides so being diverse also as to themselves and in respect of one another according to the several Gifts and Relations these are either common to the whole each Member of the Association every Believer or else they are limited and appropriate to particular distinct Orders and Offices in the Body What Duties and Offices are common and what appropriate I am now to declare and explain § XIV AS Christians in common all of one Body and under one Head so had they one common Faith which every one Professed to which each assented and gave up his understanding whole and entire and which was a first instance of their Union as an Incorporation a signal Badg or Mark by which as a watch-word they were known to one another and distinguished from the whole World besides Now this object of belief and to which they declared their Adhesion was indeed Jesus the Son of God or Christ and him Crucified as delivered by Christ and the Apostles down unto them but because these Rules must be many and Instructions numerous as they are to this day as given in the Scriptures and every good Christian
penè Voce Amen Cantatur Halelujah That Amen which is answer'd and Halelujah which is Sung with one almost Voice throughout so many Nations Lib. 2. adv Literas Petiliani Donatistae super Gestis cum Emerito Episcopo So Athanasius in his Apology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How Decent and Holy is it to hear in the House built for Prayer the People say Amen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one sound and consent there mentioned Carmen Christo quasi Deo dicere Semet invicem saying a Hymn to Christ as God in courses with one another As Pliny lib. 10. Ep. 97. and is referr'd to by Tertullian in his Apology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Singing back again to one another in St. Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praying betwixt one another Ep. 63. Ad Clericos Neocesariensis Ecclesiae in amoibeunis and alternate Responses The Priest Parat mentes fratrum dicendo sursum Corda ut dum respondit Plebs habemus ad Dominum As St Cyprian upon the Lord's Prayer preparing the Minds of his Brethren saying Lift up your hearts and the People answering We lift them up to the Lord this the great and common constant Service of the Church of God The usual manner of old in the Performance of it and an earlier Pattern we have yet as to the Substance of it So soon as we meet with a Church gathered the Holy Ghost descended and those Thousands Converted by St. Peter Acts 7. he there opens to them the Scriptures they receive the Word and are Baptized they go on and continue stedfast in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and Prayer attend the Holy Communion Praising God Poetically extolling of him And thus became Peter in the letter of it a Rock a first Stone or principal Pillar in the Church or People of God § XVII BUT then besides their Publick Worship of God did this Union into one Body or Corporation farther express and oblige the Members in their Duties and Services to one another in the Supplies and Assistances of all its Members whose either special Offices and Imployments in the Service and Support of the Church Body or Association rendred uncapable of undergoing the Cares and Offices of the World for the providing themselves sustenance suitable to their Office and Quality in the Trades and Imployments of it for the Body of Christians though a Collection and Incorporation for Heaven yet is to remain its due time and abode upon Earth and to subsist whil'st on Earth by the usual and lawful courses of it it does not therefore immediately receive Food from Heaven or else whose unavoidable Want and Poverty by the unaccountable disposal of things and the many Contingencies of this mutable state here lays before them in their Streets and High-ways in the rode to this Jerusalem also as Objects of Pity and Commiseration Relief and Charity for their Saviour has told them That the Poor you must always have with you and to them belongs the Kingdom of Heaven And this is to be done and is the general Duty of the whole Body and each Christian there in particular not only by the tenure of the special Charter from God and it is imply'd and made up and required in the Donation it self but by the common course and Laws of things no Body can subsist without it it must run to Decay Degeneracy and Contempt either through want of Instruction Order and Government on the one hand or by Idleness Destitution and Distress on the other and those weighty Reasons and Motives which engaged freely of their own choice no outward force compelling as in the Associations of the World in order to Governance and Subsistency to unite in God's Service it then necessitates that such ways and means be used here as in the sustaining other Societies and this upon the same Consideration and Motive as they believe it useful to be of such the Association and in Communion with one another especially where the force of the World enjoyns no other Provision as it did not till the Government became Christian and the World came in to the Support of the Church for which our Saviour did and must in reason provide upon failure otherwise Religion can no longer subsist then as the civil Empire pleaseth § XVIII AND first this general Care always extended and was made for such as labour'd among them in the Word and Doctrine such as attended the Altar and ministred in Holy Things and this not only to the maintaining their Persons but to the maintaining them in order to their Function and consequently in supplying them with all Utensils and whatsoever else was then thought necessary for the due and more solemn Performance of the Worship of God and the maintenance of his Service This is that St. Paul so much Pleads for and with so great earnestness and weight of Argument 1 Cor. 9.1 2 3 4 c. and tells them plainly That if he be an Apostle as he most certainly is to them who are the Seal of his Apostleship in the Lord then he hath a right to their Estates Have we not Power to eat and drink Have we not Power to lead about a Sister or Wife and to forbear working Who goeth to warfare at any time at his own Charges Who planteth a Vineyard and eateth not of the Fruit thereof or who feedeth a Flock and eateth not of the Fruit of the Flock Do ye not know that they that minister about Holy things live of the things of the Temple and they which wait at the Altar are Partakers with the Altar So hath the Lord ordained that they which Preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel And this the Church-men had not as Stipendiaries and Salary-men but the Believers brought in of their Goods and laid them at the Apostles feet which made a Common Stock or Bank to be at their Prudence in the disposal call'd the Lord's Goods and in relation to this Common Stock or Bank in the hands of the Apostles in which every Christian upon occasion had a right it is said That all things were common among these first Christians in the Book of the Acts for that no one had Property besides cannot be believed and the fault of Ananias and Sapphira was not that they did not bring all they had and lay it at the Apostles feet reserved nothing of their Estate to themselves but this was their guilt they kept part back and said it was the whole their lying to the Holy Ghost otherwise it was their own and they might have reserved to themselves what of it they pleased Now these common Gifts and common Purse as it was first intrusted with the Apostles so upon their failure did the trust descend and remain with the Bishops their Successors who distributed to the Necessities both of Churches and Church-men their Officers and Attendants as occasion required a competent Portion whereof was set apart and reputed their own Persoanl Goods
Psalmists Door-keepers all Ecclesiastical Officers but not in the same Catalogue So in St. Clemens Alexandrinus Strom. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these three of the Bishop Presbyter and Deacon are the whole Progression and several Orders and Ascents in the Church-Ministry These those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all the degrees of the Priesthood as Zonaras in Can. 8. Apost Omnes gradus Sacerdotales as 't is in the same words in the last Canon of the first and second Council at Constantinople and which that Canon provides that every one must go through that becomes a Bishop The Bishop Presbyter and Deacon are opposed to the Laity and placed in the number 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of such as preside in the Church Can. 1. Conc. Antioch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these are fellow-workers in the Ministry as in the Council call'd against Paulus Samosetanus Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 3. And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Life of Constantine Lib. 2. Cap. 46. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Socrat. Eccl. Hist l. 1. c. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 58. Conc. 6. in Trullo None in the Order of Lay-men may deliver to themselves of the Divine Mysteries or Administer in Holy things the Bishop Presbyter or Deacon being present where the Publick Offices of the Church are again limited to these three St. Jerome places them in Superioribus ordinibus Ecclesiae in the higher Order of the Church Comment in Ep. ad Tit. Cap. 2. in the same Language runs the Imperial Laws as are plain and obvious in the Theodosian Codes especially with the Notes and Commentaries of the Learned Jacob Gothfred the Bishop Presbyter and Deacon are the Sacerdotalis assumptio one or all of them 16. Cod. Tit. 5. Lex 5. 52. and are called Primi the First in respect of the Readers Door-keepers c. ibid. Tit. 2. l. 24. and as Gothofred explains it And the same is again l. 41. and he calls them Primi Clerici the first of the Clergy ibid. Tit. 8. l. 13. and Justinian after him speaks the same Novel 6. c. 1. and all this is expressed by our Judicious Mr. Hooker and call'd the Power of Orders Degrees of Order Ecclesiastical in which there are three Degrees Bishops Presbyters and Deacons distinguished from Services and Offices in the Church as Exorcists Readers c. in his Preface to his Ecclesiastical Polity at the end of the seventh Section and in his Fifth Book seventh and ninth Section § XXI THIS Power and Jurisdiction though confined to these three Orders yet is it not given to each alike and in the same degree of Autority whatever is in the Nature of the Church Priesthood is in one of them but every one has not all that is in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there were degrees one above another in the Priesthood to the highest of which every one was not suffered to arise in Justinian Novel 6. Cap. 6. our Saviour himself did not confer all Power alike upon all that he chose for his special Service nor did the Apostles or their Successors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic dici videtur qui in Ecclesia sublimiorem caeteris consecutus gradum ut Apostoli erant consecuturi post eos Episcopi as Grotius in Lucae 22.26 the Ruler or greatest there mentioned by our Saviour seems to be such who had gain'd a higher more sublime degree in the Church such as the Apostles were to have and after them the Bishops In the Church are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above-mentioned in Clemens Alexandrinus Progressions and Promotions from one Order to another as from Deacons to Presbyters and from Presbyters to Bishops Sacerdotes secundi in honore Ecclesiastici gradus Hieronimus Comment in Jerem. 13. the Presbyters are second in the Honor of Ecclesiastical degrees And so in Ezek. 48. and Sacerdos primus ordo in Sophoniam c. 3. the Bishop is the first Order Sacerdos being a word applied to the Bishop or Presbyter as occasion as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 includes the whole of Church-Power as is above-noted and applied as occasion to each of the degrees Optatus in his first Book against the Donatists mentions besides Lay-men which have no Power in the Church or any one degree of the Priesthood Tertium Secundum Sacerdotium apices Principesque omnium Episcopos the Third and Second Priesthood and the top and chief of both the Bishops As Eusebius still expresses the Ministry in general by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as is already at large observ'd So his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those of the second Throne or Order are Presbyters Eccl. Hist lib. 10. Cap. 39. the Presbyter is major Sacerdotio then the Deacon hath more of the Priesthood Hieronimus ad Evagrium Tom. 3. Presbyter Proximus gradu ab Episcopis Presbyter secundi ordinis Sacerdos a Presbyter is next in degree to a Bishop a Priest of the Second Order so all along in the Phrase of the Imperial Laws Cod. Theodos 5. Tit. 3. Cod. 12. Tit. 1. Lex 121. Cod. 16. Tit. 2. l. 7. Tit. 5. l. 9. Constantine the Holy Christian Emperor writes to Chrestus Bishop of Syracuse that he would take with him to a certain Synod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two of the second Throne or Order two Presbyters Euseb Eccl. Hist lib. 10. cap. 5. in a word this is the current voice and distribution of all Antiquity as might be shew'd more largely or were it the design of this Discourse to treat of the Three Orders particularly as the Bishop Presbyter and Deacon are Primi Clerici the first Clergy in respect of the Readers Singers c. for the word Clérus or Clergy is applied to all Ecclesiastical Officers in general as well Reader c. as Presbyter c. among the Ancient Writers so among the Primi Clerici those Three which are first Summus Sacerdos qui est Episcopus the Bishop is the First there as in Tertullian de Baptismo Cap. 17. his is Maximum Sacerdotium in Lactantius Lib. 4. Sect. Vlt. Sacerdotii Sublime fastigium So Cyprian Ep. 52. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 10. Conc. Sardicenf his Power is the greatest and topmost most full and comprehensive of all and all Power in Heaven and Earth now abiding in the Church and purely relating to Church Affairs and the bringing Souls to Heaven in the ordinary course and known appointments is it fixed and so far limited in the Person and Office of the Bishop by Christ and his Apostles as that from and only from him is this Power to be transferr'd and transmitted as is the Harvest and common Need in the particular devolution and distribution of it a great part of this is still given by the Bishop to the Presbyter an Order or Station in the Church for the Service of Souls invested with a large share of the Priestly Power at his Ordination or Deputation to it but comes short of the whole is limited to particular Instances and
is forensick judicial and autoratative pronounced by those sitting on twelve Thrones in the Gospel the Church-Governors judging the Tribes of Israel Plenissimum imperium in domo Dei having a complete thorow Power in the House of God as Grot. in Apoc. 3.7 and all which thus on Earth by them transacted is bound and confirm'd in Heaven So 't is expressed by St. Cyprian à spe Communionis Pacis prohibendos esse 't is a prohibiting from the Hope and Communion of Peace so long as continuing in the Impiety or as the Church sense is given of it to us before him by Tertullian Apol. c. 39. Summum futuri judicii prejudicium si quis ita deliquerit ut à Communione Orationis Conveâ—ûs omnis sancti Commercii relegetur it is the greatest most certain Presumption and pre-occupation of the Judgment to come upon a Delinquent that is banish'd from the Communion of Prayer and Conventions and all holy Commerce Quodammodo ante diem judicii judicant So St. Jerome of the Priests Ep. ad Heliodorum spoken with some abatement of Expression but to the same purpose they in a manner judge before the Day of Judgment And if some Fathers in the Council of Ephesus refused Subscriptions to the Anathema's and Excommunications of the Nestorian Hereticks there condemned and rather turned the Sentence upon themselves in absenting from their Communion as Mr. Selden de Syned l. 2. c. 12. reports it from Acacius this argues only the great tenderness of these holy Men and how dreadful and tremendous the Ordinance appear'd unto them the same Blessing is denied only with a shew of more I had almost said foolish Pity and Love it returns at length to the same thing and with more weight and argument that such as are unruly and will not obey the Truth are to be turned out of the Church Communion even the most tender and affectionate to their Persons dare not congregate in holy Duties with them a Power in the Church which in course follows supposing it to be a Church admitting such the imbodying and incorporation that is here contended for what is natural in all other Bodies and Associations and which must be concluded in this without a great affront on the wisdom and foresight of the Institutor for otherwise it has not what is necessary for its Preservation nor can it subsist without such a jurisdiction over contumacious Offenders And indeed to allow in Church-men a Power for admission by Baptism and to enstate in Church Priviledges which none that own Christianity dare deny and to deny this power for Punishment and Correction upon the breach of the Baptismal terms and which how many among us that are zealous for the former do is what is as incongruous and inconsequential as any thing in the world as any thing in common apprehensions can be only men are rash and heady and do not throughly consider And it is as easily conceivable to men that give themselves a due liberty of thinking that the same Power in Heaven may equally concur with and ratifie what is done in Earth in the cutting off and due Exclusion from the Church upon breach of the terms on which admitted to it as at the first admission and when on those terms enjoyned the disadvantage as the Priviledge must be equally allowed nor is there any thing of thwarting more in the one than the other a branch of Discipline once executed only upon Lay-men the first Canons of the Church not permitting Excommunication to pass upon any of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 within the Order of the Priesthood these were to be deposed from such their high office upon Crimes committed 't was the other only was excommunicated when the offence was adjudged worthy of it and which in effect is but the same Punishment and the same inconveniencies attend the one as the other in their several Stations there was a deprivation to both the Clergy of his Ecclesiastical and the Laick of his Baptismal advantages it was not lawful to joyn in religious Duty with a Lay-man excommunicated neither with a Clergyman deposed as in the tenth and eleventh Canons of the Apostles § XXXIII THE next instance of Church Power that follows in the course of things is the Power of Absolution as of retaining so of remitting Sins they are both put together by our Saviour and of the same Donation and so firmly depend on one another that as relations of the first order they include one another and are inseparable A Power in the Church to shut out and not to readmit to cut off and not to reunite were a Power for Destruction only not for Edification and which the great Gospel design of Mercy and Salvation of abatement and remission cannot endure 'T is true Excommunication is as the last Sentence of the great Judge 't is the anticipation of it equally as firm and irreversible upon the persevering incorrigibly guilty as is from the Ancients in the foregoing Chapter observ'd but herein it differs from that last Sentence because inflicted as a Remedy and not only as a Punishment it leads by Hell gates for Heaven 't is on this side the Pit that its mouth be not shut upon us for ever 't is inflicted in order to Mercy and Remission which no Punishments from the Sentence of the great Judge are and this our Judgment 't is only then without mercy and irreversible like as is that when the Sinner perseveres as do those damned in the height of his non-repentance The formal act of Excommunication is expressed by St. Paul by a word which signifies to mourn and ye have not mourned i. e. excommunicated that wicked Person 2 Cor. 5.2 't is done with remorse and sorrow and rescinded again with joy those hands which cast out have arms wide open to receive again with Kisses and Embracings as it was with the returning Prodigal in the Gospel 't is a departure for a time that they may be receiv'd for ever by a sensible feeling of the loss to set a more value on the Blessing and therefore 't is not inflicted on those that are without as St. Paul 1 Cor. 5.12 do we not judge them that are within but them which are without God judgeth v. 19. ibid. and which were it only as a Punishment and but to aggravate or ensure their Damnation were it only a bare Cursing out of the Church as the licentious and Enemies to God's Discipline still slanderously report of it it were equally proper for both Sinners without as Sinners within but 't is quite otherwise an excision or cutting off only where formerly Members and which the act supposes in the bare expression 't is somewhat lay'd on those that have had once a sense of the benefit of the heavenly Association and have tasted of the good Gifts thereof and to teach them in the absence and deprivation that advantage they would not otherwise consider at least they set no value upon
Calvin and Beza themselves did not believe to he in any other on Earth besides that trick that all Power was radically and virtually in the Presbyters Orders was not then invented and their pretended Power must be either of Man or from Heaven there can be but one of these two ways proposed the one failing the other must be introduced otherwise there must be an universal failure of the Power it self and therefore they are sent as was Christ Jesus as were his Apostles and the Disciples in the Acts and so necessary is it that Calvin still go for an Apostle by all such as now claim a Succession from him 'T is soundly as well as wittily argued by the Author of those Questions and Answers going under the name of Justin Martyr Respons ad Quest 78. ad Orthodox the Child which was illegitimate by Bathsheba died God would not have Christ descend in the Flesh but by such as were born to David by lawful Marriage his descent as the Son of David was to be in the legally received way and such are to be his descents according to the Spirit it is by a due and regular course and succession he devolves and continues his Power amongst us is his Kingdom supported And though there has been several cases in Church Story and Plea's and Bandyings about the validity of Ordinations and some Irregularities as to Canon have been passed by and the Ordination notwithstanding admitted but yet where it plainly appear'd that the Person ordaining was no Bishop himself nor receiv'd that Power by a devolved Succession which he pretended to give to others all debates presently ended the Ordination was I cannot say nulled and voided because declared to be none at all as in the case of Maximus Cynicus Can. 4. Conc. 2. Gen. Constantinop for this it is Socrates Hist Eccl. l. 1. c. 27. tells us that Ischyras was reputed worthy of many Deaths 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that having attained to no one degree of the Priesthood he durst attempt to officiate in holy Things no one Plea of Necessity or Circumstance whatever could gain a liberty for this or but a connivance In some cases the Canons were dispensed with and in time of Persecutions Bishops might attend and officiate in foreign Ordinations and so they did as we read in Sozomen Hist Eccl. l. 7. cap. the common safety and succession of the Church was their great aym and particular Rules and Canons had no force in such cases Thus we read Can. 2. Conc. 2. Gen. Constantinop of some distant barbarous Countries which had no Bishops planted among them and there it was lawful for any Bishop to Ordain that they could either procure or of himself would take the pains And so it appears also from Can. 102. Conc. Carthag that several discerptions and regions there were which had not their proper Bishops and the same in all probability was the case of the Church of Carthage an account of which we have from Victor in his History De Persecutione Vandalorum l. 2. pag. 627. as bound up with the tripartite History who tells us there was no Bishop there for twenty four years together till Zeno the Emperor interposed with Hunnericus the King of the Vandals who had invaded Africa and Eugenius was consecrated their Bishop and this the London Ministers have observ'd to our hands in their Divine right of the Evangelical Ministry cap. 5. pag. 80. with what Zeal and how many Miles some have travelled for Episcopal Ordination and that our Neighbours in Scotland did not do the same admitting what is pretended that once they had only Presbyters among them I could never yet meet with any thing to convince us Sure I am their having none of their own does not imply they used none the instances above given refute a necessity of that or if they did not but consecrated one another such as urge it a Pattern to all Christian Churches ought first to have given the world Satisfaction that it was not their imperfection their guilt and indeed Insolency and Usurpation in so doing But when Musaeus and Eutichianus who were no Bishops had ordained and Gaudentius the Bishop of the place did contend to have their Ordinations valid and confirm'd by that Synod and gave the very same reason why it should be confirmed because at that time Troubles and Seditions were many and there seemed a necessity for what they had done his Reasons were not accepted of Necessity and other accidents do plead for and excuse what is only uncanonical but where want of Power in general it does not And Hosius that most Holy and Reverend Bishop stood up and publickly declared in the Council that we ought indeed all to be quiet and meek and to contend for it but neither Eutichianus nor Musaeus were Bishops had any Power at all for what they pretended and therefore their Consecration was invalid and themselves were only to be admitted into Lay Communion of all which who so pleases may have an account Can. 18 19. Conc. Sardic with the Scholia's of Balsamon and Zonaras and the Annotations of William Beveridge these are certain Rules Habere namque aut tenere Eccelsiam nullo modo potest qui Ordinatus in Ecclesia non est he cannot any ways have or hold a Place in the Church who is not ordained in the Church Cypr. Ep. 76. Sine successione Sacerdotum totus ordo cadit without a succession of Priests the whole Order falls St. Jerome lib. 2. adv Lucifer Tom. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the Succession is cut off a Communication of the Holy Ghost ceaseth Can. 1. St. Basilii ad Amphilochium apud Pandect Can. Beveridg § XXXV AND now I hope this Objection is fully answered that the Church can be no Body separate and apart from the State because no Powers and Officers of its own nothing outward sensible and coercive and consequently with neither Rewards nor Penalties annexed all must return into the Prince or set up against the soveraignty of him if at all and in being for the Church's rise and original is sufficiently declared to be from another Fountain its imbodying and incorporation to be apart with its own Powers and Acts Offices and Officers Laws and Rules Rewards and Penalties Censures and Punishments Hopes and Expectations And all different from that of the Soveraign in the State no ways against the either Power or Soveraignity of him the influences distinct but no ways so opposite to one another as thwarting or destructive Fratres dicuntur habentur qui unum Deum patrem agnoverunt unum spiritum biberunt sanctitatis qui de uno utero ignorantiae ejusdem ad unam lucem expaverunt veritatis as Tertullian describes the incorporation Apol. cap. 30. Christians are called and accounted Brethren who have acknowledged one God and Father who have drank of one Spirit of holiness who have broke through with astonishment one Womb of Ignorance into one Light and Truth I do
were made Law and establish'd by the Civil â—…veraign and they were to thank God it was no worse and did the King command to adore the Linnen or Font or Tables themselves they are not to gain-say and affront because affronting Laws and Magistracy to pretend to a farther obligation from Conscience and to oppose even a false Religion or to make Proselytes to their own though they be never so sure they are in the right is to be guilty of gross hypocrisie without an extraordinary Commission from God to that purpose they are no more obliged to do it here at home than to go into Spain or Italy or Turkey and there make Converts and which no Protestant holds himself obliged to do Sure I am the Bishops had had more Justice done them than they found in the Sermon and it seems very unequal that they should be supposed to redress and be left wide open to a popular Odium because not doing what never was in their Commission what would have been their gross hypocrisie in attempting because having neither an extraordinary Commission for it nor hath the Providence of God made way by the Permission of the Magistrate and all that can be reply'd is this that Mr. Dean chang'd his Judgment upon the writing his next Sermon which he hath declared to be by Nature mutable and thereby has this advantage is always ready for better information or rather to act the Aecebolius as occasion and to do him all the right I can this is to be said for him that he dissents from Mr. Hobbs something in this very passage of his Sermon for the inference on his side is strong that where extraordinary Commission by Miracles is evidenced a false Religion is to be opposed and the true one to be Preach'd though the Magistracy and Law be otherwise which Mr. Hobs will by no means allow he will not permit it to the Apostles Leviathan Part 3. Cap. 42. but then how Mr. Dean will avoid this Consequence that there is no Church Power on Earth nor is it lawful for any one to Preach the Gospel when it is not Law by the Civil Soveraign since those Miracles which alone were in the Apostles time and which is though less of it every whit as rank Hobbism I have not sagacity enough to see that he desires to do it is not very certain all that can be said for him is that he seems to have been but raw in the Controversie and is ready as all such ought to be to submit upon better Information and to which if these Papers contribute they so far answer the design of the Author BUT whatever either Mr. Hobs or his Adherents § VII have wrote or preached sure we are our Saviour calls for Confession before Men for the owning asserting and publishing his Truths and most of all then and most publickly when mostly opposed with the greatest hazard and jeopardy even before Kings and not to be ashamed when the Kings of the Earth stand up and the Rulers take Council together against us and Christ risen from the Dead is not only to be believed in the Brain and Heart but to be confessed too with the Mouth if Salvation the effect of it as St. Paul tells us 1 Cor. 10. whatever anteceding Law against us or what Power soever enacting 't is our very case now as was St. Peter's in the Acts and we are to obey God and not Man And as sure I am also that this was the Practice of the succeeding Holy Fathers and Professors of the Church in the best Ages of it who still opposed whatever Religion was false by what Law soever established and abetted and still possessed and preached the true in opposition to it with the hazard of whatsoever was merciless from this World could attend them for it Nor was it then thought a Contempt or Affront to the Persons or Laws or Offices of the Civil Magistrate nor was it believed so to be by the Empire it self where satisfaction desired or enquiry made as appears particularly in the days of Trajan who ceased his Persecutions and Jealousies too being well assured that they met before day to Pray and give Thanks to and Praise God and Christ covenanting against Adultery Murder and such like Iniquities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that they acted nothing at all against the Laws and the Government was not affronted nor endanger'd by it an account of which is to be seen Tertul. Apol. c. 1. and in Eusebius his Church History Lib. 3. c. 33. and not to Profess Christianity was to deny it and nothing but that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that second Baptism as 't is call'd in Sozomen's Church History that initiation or entrance by a new Engagement a thorow Change and severe Repentance could give again a Name or Interest in Christ replace such among the Candidates for Heaven And those that offered at the Heathen shrines at the Command of the Emperor that fell away and disown'd the Faith in the time of Persecution were not received nor had their Libellum Pacis admitted to a Reconciliation and Unity with the Church but upon severest Penance and a larger trial of after-adherency and such were never admitted into Holy Orders to any Charge or Publick Power in the Church or if in Holy Orders before he was deposed for ever of so much blacker a guilt was it not to Preach Christ than not barely only to confess him however Mr. Dean places no Duty at all in it but the quite contrary as appears all along in the Story of those times and the Rules and Canons of the Church made occasionally on such accounts And we have instances in some that when dragg'd to the Idol with Cenfers in their Hands and there forced to offer as it was one of the Devices of the Devil thus outwardly to gain Countenance to his Worship Men of greater Eminency in Christianity being reserv'd for this purpose and whose Examples were more prevailing and apter to perswade being represented as such that had freely offer'd these Christians did not satisfie themselves in their own innocency and that the Church did so repute and receive them but when released openly declared the force in the face of the Magistracy and their greatest Conventions and were again laid hold of for it went immediately to the stake or the Beasts suffer'd Martyrdom for it though the Laws of the Land Prohibited it and the doing of it was Death though indulged by the Church and the present Circumstances indemnified if not done yet all did not perswade when but in shew to the World their Christianity was not own'd and to the appearance of many denied by them they could on no other terms believe themselves Christians nor consequently design to live upon Earth than as on Earth they confessed their Saviour before Men on this account only did they expect that Christ should own them before his Father which is in Heaven And they were only the worst of
Hereticks and of Men which in that Age taught and practised otherwise Simon Magus and his Sect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was receiv'd to be the Ring-leader of all Hereticks nor was there any thing so impure which he and his followers did not out-do them in as Eusebius tells us Hist Eccl. lib. 2. c. 14. and particularly he tells us lib. 4. c. 7. that these were the Tenents of Basilides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that it is indifferent to eat what is offer'd to Idols and deny the Faith in the time of Persecution and suitably I find this account of them in Irenaeus That whatsoever they outwardly committed against the rules of the Gospel was no Sin that they were not saved by their just actions that there was no such thing as Martyrdom and by the Redemption it was so ordered that the Judge had no advantage over them Ed. Fenard Paris l. 1. c. 20. l. 4. c. 64 c. that they were in their own opinion of themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Kingly Royal Priesthood and People in this sense because above all Laws and Rules of good living as St. Clemens Strom. 3. p. 438 439. Ed. Sylburg and no doubt but Mr. Hobs has been very well acquainted with these Men though he may pass for an Original with many of his Wel-wishers IT then appearing that Obedience is due § VIII from a Christian to both God and Man to his Church and his Prince and Religion and Loyalty are what he must Profess and Practice what is the case that the one may and must yield to the other in abate and be suspended for some time and in some distinct Acts and Offices and neither be violated be affronted or contemn'd in the true intent design and purpose of both I do now undertake to give Satisfaction and in order to which we are to range and limit the Laws of Religion under these three general Heads that the Duties in each Branch may the more particularly appear to whoso considers them 1. They are such as are Arbitrary in their Sanction and Enacting without any antecedent Necessity as to the particular instance and might have been these or other but are Humane only and Ecclesiastical constituted and limited by the Bishops and Governors of the Church in their Canons and Rules to that purpose and which together with the decency and aptness and usefulness of the things themselves renders obliging 2. They are such as are equally Arbitrary and without any foregoing Obligation as are the former the reason and force of which depends upon the choice and Autority of the Law-giver but here is the difference these Laws are Divine their Author and Institutor is Christ or such as were immediately inspir'd miraculously and in an extraordinary manner commissioned by him in order to this very thing Such are the Sacraments c. and which might have been other than they now are had he pleased 3. They are such as are no ways Arbitrary in the instance but follow necessarily and naturally upon the supposal and reception of Religion and this whether the Religion be that of Nature immediately flowing from our Natural Relations and dependency to and upon God and one another such are all the Acts of Natural Religion as Faith and Relyance upon God Prayer and Praises and Thanksgivings to him an Imitation and Copying out of his Purity and Holiness Love and Faith and Justice being tender-hearted and affectionate to one another with more of the like nature and to which all Mankind is oblig'd immutably and for ever not by any positive-superadded Law or Injunction but by the force and necessary results of his Creation connate and congenious with mans being and subsistency and the first Notions of Religion Man must fall from his Orb cease his own proper instincts and operations without them or whether the Religion be founded in the Offices of Christ to which he was since deputed of the Father upon Earth as a King Prophet and Priest in order to Man's Redemption and is in part now executed in Heaven to govern teach satisfie and intercede for him and which implies and includes in the first design and purpose whatever Duty and Service is Natural as above and its farther distinct Acts and Obligations are that this Saviour and Redeemer be believed in inwardly and from the Heart and suitably be obey'd and submitted to as is required of us by him and this to be publickly ownâ—d and confessed in each of his Offices even on the Cross it self when in the greatest hazards when call'd before Kings for his Name sake and this so immediately and indispensably every Christian's Duty that not only his Honour and Advantage is placed in it but he must cease to be a Christian without it and his Saviour will not upon others terms own him before his Father which is in Heaven the Religion cannot be where it is not we cannot suppose a Saviour to come in that Nature into the World so to dye and live for us upon other terms 't is all connate with the being and offices of a Redeemer I 'le consider them each in their order 1. THE Laws of Religion are Church § IX Laws Determinations of what are in themselves indifferent so order'd in the course of things as to be the Subject of Laws Ecclesiastical for the present Power to enact and repeal limit or enlarge suspend or execute as occasion and circumstances direct and urge and tend to the more decent and uniform apt and suitable Performance of what is in an higher order of Duty and farther degree of Necessity and to which there is no antecedent fixed Rule given nor can the most Lesbian rule of what Latitude or how comprehensive soever be so at once contrived and made upon the greatest foresight of the Law-giver as to be so fitted for and answer each Case that offers or Circumstance that may happen to fall in of it self and comply with the present accident and then if no present Power to oblige and over-rule only disorder and confusion in the Church will be the consequent Now these Laws though in themselves obliging and each Christian as a Member of that Society stands immediately engag'd unto them nor can any other Foreign Power repeal or null them as to their Sanction yet there may be there is to be a Cessation as to Practice under some Cases and Circumstances and the particular local Performance may be superseded at present or suspended for the future nor do the terms for Heaven consist in the forbearance or shut out of the Church-Society because of it little Accidents and Contingencies not to be foreseen nor prevented will oft obstruct and become lawful Impediments and much more where the Civil Power comes thwarting upon us and renders Church Laws impracticable a Secular inhibition upon Penalties and Inconveniencies which tend to the greater Damage of our common Christianity if incurr'd and to the silencing and abating from Duties of a higher concern