Epistle to the Magness seems to advise the fame thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all things be done the Bishop presiding as God's Vicegerent and the Presbyters sitting in Council representing the Apostles which seems to be much like the Wish of a more modern Divine whose Words are these Sane â—aec Ecclesiae administrandae ratio quam dixi in quâ Episcoporum porestas certos limiter habeat à synâ—do Coetu Presbyterorum circumscriptos est res magis optanda quam speranda Epist ad Verdae St. Ignatius in several of his Episâ—les frequently mentions a Subjection and Submission due to the Presbyters as well as to the Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the Teams he useth being sufficiently expressive of Jurisdicton and Authority I will give you a few Instances for the Proof of what I have assumed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Smyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all follow the Bishop as Christ his Father and the Presbyters as the Apostles which as Vossius observes was the Opinion of Polycarpe His Words are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is be subject to the Presbyters and Deacons as unto God and Christ Notae Voss 261. Ignatius in his Epistle to the Magnesians written from Smyrna speaking of Zotion whom he had kindly entertain'd commends him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because he was subject to the Bishop and Presbytery in the Grace of God and Law of Jesus Christ And in his Epistle to the Trallians though he faith they ought to take the Bishop along with them so they should also be subject to the Presbyters as to the Apostles of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad. Trall p. 156. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. But what need we hear more Evidences out of this ancient Father a for the time and I believe the Reader 's Patience would fail should I particularly recite what he hath said to this purpose in his other Epistles to the Brethren of Tarsus Antioch c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the People be subject to the Presbyters and Deacons The same Advice he gives to the Philippiâ—ns in his Letter to them as also in his Epistle to the Ephesians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad. Smyr If the Bishops and Presbyters are to be observed and followed as Christ obey'd his Father and as the Church was bound to be obedient to the Apostles then sure the sole Jurisdiction was not in the single Person of the Bishop It was strongly argued in the Council of Basil against Panormitane by Ludovicus Cardinal Arlotensis that there were most evident Testimonies for the Defence of Inferiors For the chief and principal of all Divines st Austine upon the Words of St. Matth. where Christ faith I will give thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven affirmeth that by those words the Judicial Power was not only given to Peter But also to the other Apostles and to the whole Church the Bishops and Priests The famous Dr. St. Jerome doth also agree with St. Austine whose Words are these upon the Epistle of Paul to Titus Before that difference was made in Religion by the Instigation of the Devil or that it was spoken among the People I bold of Paul I of Apollo and I of Cephas the Churches were governed by the common Consent and Council of the Priests for the Priest is the very same that a Bishop is And further he saith That Priests are of lesser Authority than Bishops rather by Custom than by the Dispensation of the Truth of God and that they ought to rule the Church together Mr. Lambert that learned man and constant Martyr in his Defence averred the same thing and that Priests were called Bishops being all one and no other but Bishops The Bishop of London and Duresme in their Letter to Cardinal Pool acknowledge the same thing urging the Authority of St. Jerome in his Epistle to Evagrius and in his Commentary upon Titus Sciant ergo Episcopi se magis ex Consuetudine quam dispensationis dominicae veritate Presbyteris esse majores And in both places prove that the Government of the Churches yea the Patriarchal Churches was by the common Consent and Agreement of the Clergy Acts and Monuments Vol. 2. p. 290. Impress 1684. But I shall refer my Reader and my self as to this Matter unto the Proposal made by Charles II. in his Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs 1660. p. 15 In short I think that excellent Project concerning Church-Government might very well deserve the Consideration of out Superiors especially if Presbyters might have Power granted not only to assist by their Advice but (c) Si judiciariam habent potestatem in Ecclesiâ Presbyteri quid eos prohibet vocem in conciliis habere terminativam Card. Arelat Aen. Sylv. p. 24. de gest Con. Basil Vote too which was strenuously pleaded for and learnedly defended to be the Right of Presbyters in the Council of Basil Acts and Monuments But if as to some doubtful Matters in Doctrine some scrupled Rites and Ceremonies in the Church which have occasioned not only many hot Disputations bitter Contests and the rolling many Garments in Blood our Consciences may be indulged let them take such to govern as they esteem best of in the Church may we but stow out Cargo right secure our Lading and avoid Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience let who will carry the Flag Only give me leave to say verily there hath been a Fault amongst us that whilst our Discipline hath been very quick-sighted in Matters of Conformity as to the smallest (a) We were once complained of in Parliament by a great Member of that Assembly in these Words The Vines have both Grapes and Leaves And Religious Acts both substance and Circumstance but the Gardener is much to blame who gives more charge to the Workmen of the Leaves than of the Fruit Sir Edward Dering Collect. Speech p. 33. Ceremonies it hath been comparatively dull in hearing and slow in espying the greatest Immoralities We have been ready to discern the More but have overlookt the Beam Tender of the Rubrick but less concerned for the Decalogue And so long as our Whoredoms do remain 't is impossible out Church should have Peace Let us be never so zealous for Conformity to the Canons and Rules of it for if God hath a Controversie with us the best Disputant will find the Contest hard and Victory impossible We may blame the Dissenters for our Schisms but I am sure we may thank our selves for them nay with grief and shame may we confess it that to such a pitch hath Prophaneness risen among us that it hath been a Scandal to be good and a Crime to be Religious Tea Truth faileth and he that departeth from Evil maketh himself a Prey or is accounted mad as the Margent reads it 59 Isa 15. Loyalty and Conformity were the whole Cry upon which Cardinal-Vertues for they have been deemed no less
have all Preferments when time was turned For could the Church and State but lay their Foundation here they concluded their Nest to be built upon a Rock But if Grace be not writ upon the Walls of it the Beam out of its own Timber the Stone out of its own Wall will cry down with it down with it even to the Ground without this we shall but daub with untempered Mortar and may cry Peace Peace when Destruction is at hand St. Austine observed that the Romans built their Temple of Concord where the Seditions of the Gracchi had been acted Tiberius and Caius Which Temple afterwards was so far from restraining Decivitate deâ— lib. 3. cap. 25. that it became a Promoter of the highest and most bloody Outrages For Formality-sake we may carry the Ark into the Camp of our Church but the Glory will depart from us so long as the Sins of the young Men be great but their Reproofs small so that hitherto we have mistaken our Enemies and like the Andabaâ—ae have fought with our Eyes shut contending de lanâ Caprinâ we scarce know what we have fallen out for or with whom Alas it hath been our Brethren of the same Faith and Religion whereas our Contests should have been with Spiritual wickednesses in high places yea such have been the Policy and Envy of those who rejoiced in our Divisions hoping to make their own Market of them as first to perswade that they were no Friends to Caesar and then to engage the Civil Magistrate to treat them as Enemies making them â—riples and then beating them with their Crutches who to get the Staff into their Hand would frequently suggest to the Prince whose Ear they could command that there was a People whose Laws were contrary to the King's Laws and therefore desired him to write that they might be destroyed which contrary to often and open Promises of an undisturbed and free Exercise of their Religion he was frequently prevailed with to do Signing divers Acts for their Prosecution Which by a ravenous sort of Informers were so managed as by Bonds and imprisonments Confiscations and Banishments the protestant Dissenters were ravaged and ruined But such have been the Wisdom of our late Senates to see and discover by whom and for what ends they were thus pusht on and acted The Tide of our Councils seems very much turned SERMON preacht at â—ublin before the Lord's Justices of Ireland by the Dean of St. Patricks Printed 1691. since we have with more chearfulness levied such considerable Sums of Money to reimburse our Neighbours the Charge of our deliverance than what was unaccountably raised and expendedâ— Vt delenda esset Carthago It certainly argued saith the Deaâ— of St. Patricks a very passive and submissive Temper in them to give Money so liberally and to fight so fiercely as they did to destroy themselves and their fellow Protestants to make sport for their common Adversaries and to serve the Interest of their most dangerous Enemies This was saith he part of the Project laid down at large in a Paper found in the Earl of Tyrâ—onnel's House then Colonel Talboâ—â— dated July 1671. supposed to be drawn up by his Brother then Titular Arch-bishop of Dublin viz. in these Words That the Toleration of the Roman Catholick Religion in England be granted and the Insolency of the Hollanders be taken down a Confederacy with France Dean of St. Patrick's Sermon c. the Ashes of Amboina must be raked for Embers to put us in a Flame against them and the Affront urged that was given us when their Fleet refused to make Obeysance and strike Sail to the King 's Yatcht sent among them The first of which some thought was not always to be remembred nor the latter a sufficient Ansa for a National Quarrel or which might have been attoned at a far less rate than it stood this unhappy Nation in both of Blood and Treasure But how then should the great design of extirpating the Northern Heresie which was then the Catholick Project have been managed which many Protestants were inconsiderately easily and with too much Zeal engaged in being great Enemies to their Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Constitutions taking all Suggestions of the fear of Popery to be nothing but the old Puritanical Cant revived and ungrounded Scandal cast upon the King as if he had other designs than to maintain the Honour and Grandeur of the Nation which made many of our own Religion very zealous and valourous in carrying on the War against them But the Parliament taking Scent of this deep-laid Project addrest the King to proceed to a Treaty of a speedy Peace as I remember the Words were esteeming a further Prosecution of the War nothing less than a pulling down those Banks and Barriers which were erected against the See of Rome though too many were too great Infidels to believe it till they felt themselves wet-shod in Holy-water and that Tiber so powerfully brake in upon us that the whole Land lookt bright with Popery When alas all the Remedy the Non-resistance Men could afford us was Who a Devil could have thought it but we hope such care will be taken that there shall be no occasion for them to make us such a second amends or be so far heeded that they should again involve us in the same Circumstances and once more give us another flap with their Tails Non licet his peccare Indeed 't is believed they 'll never boil Prerogative to its former height the all Charters must be arbitrary Officers of State but Judges especially ad placitum the only way to sell Justice and to buy the needy for a Pair of Shooes Then Non-Resistance and Passive-Obedience very true and wholesome Doctrines if rightly stated were the universal Cry and squeezed till the Blood came But the Mischief was when they had nurst the Prerogative till it had stung some of them and hill as all the rest they presently let the World see they never brewed this Doctrine for their own drinking Let a coâ—â—â—â—ed Child be but once sâ—ibbed and it flâ—es in the Face of the most indulgent Parent They ne'er expected that non-Resistance would ever have fallen to their share unless when Preferments and Dignities were offered to their acceptance But when they came to experiment with Perillus the Bull they had framed for others What Out-cries did they make Then they acknowledged we indeed suffer justly But what have our Brethren done whom we pursued with such Revenge and Rage Then they confest that they sacrificed the Interest of the Church to their Malice But if the Dissenters would forbear to comply with the common Enemy they would do great things for them whenever they came again into their Kingdom But alas there 's too too much reason as to such kind of promises to apply that of the poet viz. Ægrotat daemon monaobus tune esse volebaâ— Convaluit daemon daemon ut ante suit In stress of
the Flames which have been so industriously blown up may now be blown out and for ever extinguished that virulent and peevish Men may never be intrusted either in Church or State But that a Spirit of Meekness and Moderation may act our Wheels yea the Wheels within the Wheels viz. The Privy-Councils and most secret Transactions that a Spirit of Peace and Love may preside in all our Civil Assemblies And as the Philosophers fancied the Angels were to the Heavens be the great Intelligence to move them As for him whom the King of Heaven and Earth hath by his miraculous Providence set over us and raised up to rescue us from all those Miseries that were come and coming upon us May all the Blessings which ever made Princes good Hic vir non invidet mihi gratiam and great light upon him and as for the ease which his Protestant Subjects injoy in the free Exercise of their Religion we are so far from envying it that we bless God the King and Parliament for it Might but an act of Comprehension be joined to that of Indulgence might the Church Doors be set so wide that all True and Orthodox Ministers and People too might go in and out and find rest to their Souls might but that Project and Platform of Accommodation which his Predecessor Charles II. in his Declaration concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs formerly published and propounded be once enacted and setled as a Law we might live to see Schism baned Truth and Peace setled It hath pleased God to deliver us out of the Hands of our Enemies to serve him without fear might there but be a Temper to appease our angry Friends and why should we fall out for we are Brethren we might sing our Conclamatum est the Work of God would be finisht But when all is said we recommend this great Work to the Providence of God and Wisdom of our Prince Pleading as the Estates of Germany did with Ferdinand in much the same case Te quidem summum à deo nobis datum Magistrum agnoscimus libentissime quidem ac nihil est omnium rerum quod non possis aut debeas à nobis expectare sed in hâc unâ re propitium te nobis esse flagitemus That is we freely acknowledge you to be our Supreme Lord and given to us by God himself nor is there any thing of what we possess which you cannot or may not justly expect from us In this thing only which was Liberty in Matters of Religion we most earnestly intreat your Majesty to be kind and propitious to us Obj. 1st But if this be admitted the Church can never appoint any thing but upon pretence of Scandal to tender Consciences it must be presently cassated and rescinded so that there can be no Establishments of the Church made or Order maintain'd Res 1st These Establishments and Orders have cost the Church dear it once sunk in the Defence of them and with it one of the best of Kings that ever ascended the Throne since the Reformation This was foretold long since by a true Prophet I mean the Learned Zanchy in a Letter to Queen Elizabeth 1571. Your Majesty saith he being perswaded by some otherwise great Men and carried with a Zeal but not according to Knowledge to retain Unity in Religion hath now more than ever resolved and decreed yea doth Will and Command that all Bishops and Ministers of Churches shall in Divine Service put on the white Linnen Garments which the Popish Priests use now in Popery yea it is to be feared that the Fire is so kindled and cast its Flames so far and wide that all the Churches of that most large and mighty Kingdom to the perpetual Disgrace of your most renowned Majesty will be set on a flaming Fire And are there not many yet alive to justifie the fulfilling of that fatal Prophesie Had it not been better then if the Church had not been so tenacious of these Rites to have dispensed with some of its pretended Beauty and Uniformity to have cast something of its Ceremonial Cargo overboard and to have somewhat lightned the Vessel than to have endangered the bottom and suffered as it did Shipwrack of the whole When the Disease grew inveterate and Humors of the Populacy into an extreme ferment our Physicians could have been content to have applied the Remedy but it was too late Sero Medicina paratur Cum mala sinceras penetrat gangrena medullas Time was when the loping off some Luxuriances might have saved the whole but no Temper could be found nor Expedient listned to to prevent a Rupture till at last nothing but Root and Branch Branch and Rush as in one day could satisfie the Victors 2dly If this Objection be admitted are not all the Designs of indulging tender Consciences superseded St. Paul the Apostle directs those which are strong to bear the Infirmities of the Weak To become all things to all Men that we might gain some not to cause our Brother to offend That there be some who prefer one day before another others esteem every day alike some believe they may eat all things another who is weak eateth Herbs What 's to be done in this case We must not despise one and other but forbear one and other in Love not giving any Scandal to our Brethren for he that offends his Brother sins against Christ Which Rules of forbearance are as obliging to the Church in general as to private Christians in particular But if this Objection carry any force with it it might be replied how can this yieldance be for then no sooner shall the Church have appointed by its Decree any thing to be observed but upon the pretence that some nice and scrupulous Conscience is offended all must be given up 3dly Notwithstanding this Objection wise and worthy Men have judged a Latitude and Liberty fit to be used and practiced in these things The Reply of King James to Cardinal Perroon returned him by Causabon was to this purpose That the Church should do well to sever necessary things which are not many from unnecessary and that the latter be left to Christian Liberty This was that which the Council of Jerusalem had regard to when they declared that it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to them to lay nothing upon them but what was necessary viz. to abstain from Fornication from things strangled and from Blood Doctor Potter observes that as the ancient Worthies and Fathers of the Church were most zealous to defend even with their Blood to the least Jot or Title the Rule of Faith or Creed of Christians or as the Scripture calls it the form of sound Words the Principles of the Oracles of God so again they were most charitable to allow in other things a great Latitude and Liberty Would to God the Fathers and Worthies of our Church would do so and our Work were done 4thly Decency and Order may be had and maintained though
is certain that there was a time when the People had no Kings but afterwards when Lands Possessions came to be divided there were Kings ordained for no other case but only to exercise Justice c. Not only the People but also the King to be subject to the Laws c. If a King contemn and despise the Laws violently rob and spoil his Subjects deflower Virgins dishonest Matrons and do all things licentiously and temerariously do not the Nobles of the Kingdom assemble together deposing him from his Kingdom set up another in his place which shall swear to govern uprightly and be obedient to the Laws Fox Acts and Monuments p. 762. Ed. 1684. The Substance of which is that he who hath Sovereign Power or Authority but limited by certain Rules or Conditions which he hath sworn to observe If such an one shall become a Tyrant it is in the Power of the States and Peers of the Realm to restrain him for saith he the Office of the Subject is twofold ordinary in respect to Time Place and Imployment they have in the Common-wealth the other extraordinary which is to be exercised according to the Circumstances of Affairs which can be bound by no certain Rule except that of the publick Safety which must ever be consulted for and which * Lib. de repub Quo fit ut leges non solum populum sed reges etiam obligare sciamus at si regem contemnere leges Raperebona subditorum violare Virgines stuprare matronas omniaque suae libidini temeritati committere vidiamus numquid Congregatis regni proceribus illo summot◠alius sublimabitur qui bene gubernare juret legibus obtemperare Aen. Sylv. de gestis Con. Basili Bodin calls Suprema lex But if Monarchy be absolute and under no Restrictions we must then patiently suffer the most unjust Exercise of Power there being no other appeal but only to the Divine Tribunal Thus Daniel paid Allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar and our Saviour to the Roman Emperor Pareus de potestate civili Propos Primâ saith Episcopi pastores magistratibus suis impiis aut injustis possunt ac debent resistere non vi ant gladio sed verbo dei That is Bishops and Pastors must not resist evil Magistrates by force or by the Sword but by the Word in which he speaks honestly for the Weapons of our Warfare are not carnal but spiritual In his second Proposition he saith Subditi non privati sed in magistratu inferiori constituti adversus Superiorem magistratum se rempub Ecclesiam seu veram Religionem etiam armis defendere jure possunt c. That is not private Subjects but such as are placed in an inferior Order of Magistracy may by force of Arms defend themselves and the Common-wealth the Church or the true Religion without the Breach of any Law Supposing the Supreme Magistrate be degenerated into a Tyrant an Idolater and is become highly oppressing of the People provided they act sincerely and for the publick good because he saith Princes are bound by their own Laws Imperator testatur incodice se contra jus nolle ut sua decreta injudiciis locum habeant sed debere Irrita fieri si fortasse cognoscantur à justitiâ discedere c. Lib. 4. Cod. de leg Prin. Adeo digna est vox Majestate regnantis legibus alligatum se Principem profiteri That all his Commands contrary to Law were void and that it was a Saying becoming the Majesty of a Governour that a Prince is bound by Law Trajan was commended by Dion who giving the Sword to the Praetor used these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is take this Sword if I rule well use it for me if ill against me But as to private Persons he saith Moriendum potius quam resistendum Yet for several Reasons I cannot take his Words in the Sence which that excellent and learned Person D. Fabritius would put upon them restraining his Meaning to the Princes of the Empire who are Sovereign Princes and invested with Royal Power It never being a question whether such had Authority for the Preservation of their Rights and redress of Injuries to levy War against another Prince though in some respects greater than themselves But if in no case the Nobility and Commonalty of a Nation may interpose to prevent the imminent Ruine of the Church and State it would be very difficult to vindicate the late Revolution as is already hinted from those severe Imputations by such as have very little good will to our Sion cast upon it I shall not in so great a case interpose mine own Judgment it being easie to prick our Fingers in such a Thorny question Yet I may say if any for the breaking of their Yoak have ascribed too much to the (b) Though the Bishop of Burgen to prove the Church above the Pope argued from an unexpected Topick endeavouring to prove the Body of the Kingdom to be above the King To which Tho. Corsellis agreed Adductoque intestem summo omnium Philosophorum Aristotele dicebat in omni regno bene instituto illud in primis desiderari ut plus regnum posset quam rex Si contra reperiretur id non regnum sed tyrannidem dici debere Aen. Sylv. degest Con. Basil People granting them too great a Liberty of contesting their Rights with their Sovereigns others in hopes to espouse Princes to their Interest in grieving and oppressing their Dissenting Brethren have beyond measure fawned upon and flattered them till they nurst up the best tempered Monarchy upon Earth into an intollerable and tyrannick Exercise of Regal Power But this is a digression which by pursuing the Extravagancies of some Mens Opinions I have been led In which if I proceed a little further being once out of the way I must beg the Readers Patience and Pardon For having perused the Case of Allegiance due to Sovereign Princes by W. S. I could not but with very much regret observe that in the whole drift of that Discourse we can find little or none other Argument to enforce our Allegiance to King William c. than what would bespeak it for the greatest Usurper and Intruder who hath had the good Fortune to gain an actual Possession of the Crown which looks to say no worse very ungratefully upon him whom the Lords Spiritual and Temporal invited over and who by the universal Consent and applause of the People declared by their Representatives in Parliament was invested with the Royal Government and to whom we owe next to the Divine Providence all that is dear to us To reflect then so unworthily upon him as if he were no better than one who usurps the Government and that hath no further Right to the Kingdom then what Power Possession and Success can convey to him seems no way reconcilable to Duty or good Manners This Author in his Preface tells us that he never did any thing to cause the World