inscription is stiled Religionis Fidei Auctor The Increaser of Faith and Religion And Basilius the Emperour speaking of the Church as a Ship Ejus sibi gvbernacula ait a Deo concredita Saith that God hath committed the Sterage or Goverment of it to him And there is an Ancient Epistle of Elutherius Bishop of Rome in which he stiles the King of England vicarium Dei in regno suo agens de negotio Religionis Gods vicar for the management of the business of Religion in his Kingdome and the first Moguntine Councel calls Charles the Great Vere Religionis Rectorem the Rector of the True Religion and as they of old so the Reformed Churches of late were of the same perswasion in this particular As it appears by their respective confessions Magistratum est non modo de civili politia esse sollicitos verum etiam dare operam ut Sacrum Ministerium conservetur Christique Regnum propagetur denique horum est efficere ut Sacrum Evangelii verbum undique praedicetur ut singuli purae Deum colere venerari ex praescripto verbi ipsius libere possint Belgica It is the Magistrates Duty not only to be careful for the Civil Politie but to endeavour likewise that the Sacred Ministry be Preserved and the Kingdom of Christ Propagated It is his duty finally to see that the Holy Gospel be every where Preached and that all persons may purely and freely worship and serve God according to his word And so the latter Helvetian Confession Teneat ipse Magistratus in manibus verbum Dei ne huic contrarium doceatur procuret bonis legibus ad verbum Dei compositis moderetur populum sibi a Deo concreditum Let the Magistrate take into his hands the World of God and take care nothing be taught contrary to it And let him Govern the people committed to him of God by good and wholesome Lawes according to the word of God And the Confession of Basil waving some others Quilibet Christianus Magistratus omnes vires eo diriget ut apud fidei suae commissos nomen Dei sanctificetur regnum ipsius propagetur ipsiusque voluntati cum seria extirpatione scelerum vivatur Hoc officium gentili Magisiratui injunctum fuit quanto magis Christiano Magistratui commendatum esse debeat ut vero Dei vicario It ought to be the Serious Endeavour of every Christian Magistrate that the name of God be Hallowed and his Kingdom Propogated among those who are commited to his Trust and that they live denying all ungodliness according to his Will This was a Duty incumbent on the Heathen Magistrate how much more ought it to be commended to the Christian Magistrate as the True Vicar of Christ Or Church of England deems those worthy of Excommunication who deny unto our Kings the same Power and Authority in Ecclesiastical Causes that the Pious Kings of the Hebrews Exercised in the Church of the Jewes Canon the 2d And here we must necessarily enquire how far the Authority of the King Extends in matters of Religion whether we are to obey him in every thing he commands without exception or but in some things only We do not believe the Authority of the King Extends so far as Bellarmine stretcheth the Popes when he saith Si papa erraret praecipiendo vitia vel prohibendo virtutes teneretur Ecclesia credere vitia esse bona virtutes malas de Rom. pont l. 4. c. 5. If the Pope should erre in commanding Vice and forbidding Vertue the Church is obliged to believe that Vice is good and Vertue is evil We extend not the power of the King as certain Religious Persons who left it as a Rule to their confidents at Padova 1606. did the Popes authority Si quod occulis nostris album apparet nigrum ille esse definierit debemus itidem quod nigrum sit pronuntiare If that which in our eye is white be defin'd by the Pope to be black we ought also to say that it is black But this we say our obedience is required to all his commands that are not repugnant to the law of nature or contrary to the Express Word of God If he command any thing forbidden by the Law of Nature or by any Positive Law of God that is now obliging to Christians or if he forbid any thing Commanded of God we are not to yield obedience For as in nature inferiour causes depending in point of activity upon Superiour have no power of acting contrary to the efficacy of the Superiour So in morality as St. August Si aliud Imperator aliud jubeat Deus quid judicatur major poteâ—tas Deus da veniam O Imperator de verb. Dom Sec Mat Serm 6 Where the Emperors and Gods Commands are one contrary to the other what Judgement shall I make the power of God is Supream the Emperour therefore must be supplicated to pardon me If the King Command any thing that God forbids or forbid any thing that God Commands in both these cases we must then fortifie our selves with the saying of St Peter and the other Apostles We ought to obey God rather then men Acts 5 29 And God having by nature prohibited the killing of an Innocent person the Hebrew Midwives are commended for not obeying the Kings commandement concerning the killing of the male children But the Midwives feared God saith the Text and did not as the King of Egypt commanded them Exod 1 17. Whatever a commandement of God makes necessary no humane authority can render not necessary or obliging and therefore it is usually said that the Gospel Ministry and Sacraments are not subject to any humane Authority that is in point of changing or altering that in them which is of Divine Institution For what God hath Determined Affirmatively or Negatively man cannot determine the contrary But in things not determined by God as Time Place and manner of performing actions commanded by God the King by his Authority may determine these Though the King cannot Prohibite an Holy Harmless rightly constituted Ministry the Preaching of the Word or Administring the Sacrament according to the form of Divine Institution yet he may require them to preach at such times and in such places only he may prescribe them the habit in which they shall Officiate by Vertue of that Apostolicall Precept Let all things be done Decently and in Order 1 Cor. 14. ult This Rule is so equitable that all men will yield their assent That all things in the Worship of God ought to be done Decently and in Order But what is Decent and Orderly is not so soon agreed For that saith one which you call Decent is in my Opinion the most unseemly thing in the world And that is most disorderly in my Judgement which you account Regularly performed and in Order There must therefore be some proper Judge agreed upon to Determine what is Decent and in Order Do you then Judge in your selves laying only your Prejudice and
suadenda non imperanda el. Bern. Serm. 66. in Cant. you may allure you can't compell any man to believe But besides these Internal there are External actions the words and works of men and these fall under Humane Authority and Power thus the Emperours Gratian Valentinian and Theodosius speak concerning a man that is an Heretick Sibi tantummodo nocitura sentiat aeliis obfutura non pandat If he will think evil things he shall surmise them to himself onely he shall not publish them to the hurt of others And it was with respect to this that Constantine stiled himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Bishop in those things that are without Though therefore the Prince cannot compel men to believe this or that yet he may compel them not to make Profession of any other Faith then that which he allows or approves Thus the King of Nineveh enjoyned his Subjects Sackcloth Fasting Prayer and turning from the Violence in their hands Jonah 3.8 and indeed there 's nothing in which the Supreme power consists more then in determining the Publick Exercise of Religion All that discourse of Politicks make this Praecipuum inter Majestatis jura a Principal Jewel of the Crown to this every man's Reason subscribes For if it be demanded why in the land of our Nativity this Kingdom the Roman Religion flourished in the days of Queen Mary and the Evangelical or Reformed in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth The Proximate cause of it must be acknowledged the will and pleasure of the respective Queens Or if it be asked why one way of Worship is used by the French and Spaniard and another by the Dane and Swed you cannot answer any thing but the will of those that Rule over them If it be objected against this that such a Power in the Prince would render the State of Religion unstable and mutable Religion being subject to be changed as oft as the Prince should change his mind It must be acknowleged true but First The Danger is as great in other things and respects the Work always answering the Artificer and qualis Rex talis lex such as the King is such are his Laws But no person may have his right denyed him for fear least he should abuse it for no man whatsoever should upon this account have his right in any thing because it is possible for him to abuse it Secondly Supposing the right possible to be transferred from the Supreme Magistrate to some other the danger and inconvenience would be no less For upon whomsoever it be transferred they who must Manage this Power are men and so fallible and subject to mutability Our onely hope comfort in this case is in the Divine Providence the minds of all men being in the power of God to confirm them in the truth or to suffer them to turn from the truth to a ly but the hearts of Kings more especially according to that of Solomon The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord as the Rivers of water Prov. 21.1 God can and doth carry on his own work both by good and evil Kings well knowing that a Tempest is sometimes more necessary and profitable for his Church then a Calm If he that rules be a Pious Prince conversant in the Scripture frequent in Prayer alover of the Church one that enclines his ear to the Counsels of those who are truly Pious and Learned the Truth prospers and prevails mightily under Him but if He be a Person of a perverse spirit and corrupt judgment He proves an heavy scourge to those that are in subjection under Him Et legibus malis probantur boni legibus bonis emendantur mali August advers Crescentium l. 3. c. 51. Evil Laws are for the probation of Good men as good Laws for the emendation of Evil men The Jewish Church saw frequent mutations in their Worship Hezekiah abolished the Idol-Worship of hs Father Ahaz his Grand-childe Manasseh restored it again and Josiah his Grand-childs abolished in a second time and yet the Right of their Kings was never disputed For It was never lawfull for the People to assume unto themselves the Publick Exercise of Religion by force but if they cannot conscionably conform to it they may Pray and Weep and Fly other weapons Christianity allows them not Thus the Prophet Elijah fled from Ahab and thus our Lord Christ indulgeth if he doth not Counsel his Apostles saying When they persecute you in this City flee ye into another Matt. 10.23 Thus St. Cyprian and Athanasius delivered themselves by flight in the time of Persecution and the Christians who lived under the rage and fury of Julian knew nothing but the water that distilled from their own eyes to quench the fire of that Persecution Aliud contra Persecutorem non erat remedium ultra nefas procedere Nazian Orat. in Julianum They knew no other remedy against their persecutors to proceed any further was villany Coactus repugnare non novi dâ—lere potero flere potero gemere potero aliter nec debeo nec possum resistere Ambr. I know not how to resist being constrained I can weep and grieve and mourn otherwise I neither can nor ought to resist And this they did not as some have vainly dreamed because they were destitute of Power to make resistance For as Tertullian in his Apology saith of them Vrbes Insulas c. Palatium Senatum Forum impleverant the Cities Islands Castles Garrisons Judgment-Seats Palace and Senat were full of them and yet as he Nulli Albiniani nulli Nigriani nulli Cassiani there were no Traitors or Rebels much less King-killers among them Eusebius Pius the Bishop of Samosatia being banished by the command of Valens the Emperour the people would have held him in his Episcopal See by force but he having learned the Apostle's lesson Rom. 13.1 taught them also what Reverence and Respect was due to the Emperour's commands and telling them that he would not if he could secure himself by a multitude compassing him about Nec ego me vallabo inquit circumfusione populorum he thereby suppressed an imminent sedition These and many more Examples at hand do abundantly evidence what deep impression the words of Christ to Peter made upon the spirits of Christians heretofore The words of Christ are Put up again thy sword into its place for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword Matt. 26.52 Arripit autem qui non a Deo accipit dedit autem Deus soli summae potestati aliis non nisi per illam Grot. He takes the sword namely with an hand of violence who doth not receive it from God for God hath given it onely to the Supream Power and to others by him Thus then you see the determining of the Publick exercise of Religion is invested in the Supreme Power And it is no less the Prince's Duty to abolish or punish all false Worship or Religion Thus Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon being convinced of the
grand cases of Blasphemy and Heresy but in those lesser occasions of Errour and Schism he is entrusted with Power to quench the least spark as well as the devouring flame Arius in Alexandria was but a little spark in the beginning but because the Christian Emperour did not timely interpose his Authority for the quenching it Totum orbem ejus flamma depopulata est it became a flame which consumed almost the whole Christian World The Prince's Authority may and ought to be exercised in restraining dangerous Disputations concerning Religion Sozomen l. 7. c. 12. tells us that Constantine enacted a Law against Disputes of the Trinity Nemo Clericorum de summa Trinitate disputet And Marcianus prohibited all Disputes De fide Christiana of the Christian Religion Andronicus the Emperour when his Bishops were disputing curiously and subtilely of those words of Christ Pater major me est My Father is greater then I threatned to cast them into the River Ni tam periculosis sermonibus abstinerent unless they did forbear such dangerous Discourses That of Sisinius to Theodosius being most true Disputando de sacris accendi tantum contentiones that Contentions only are fostered by Disputations Secondly To the second Question How far the Coercive Power of the Prince extends It is acknowledged that his Authority may extend to Imprisonment Confiscation of Goods and Banishment of persons sinning against his Commands but whether it may extend to Life is not so manifest because the Apostle saith onely Haereticum hominem devita Titus 3.10 The Gloss upon Gratian turns the Verb into a Substantive de vita and adds supple Tolle There is not as a learned Gentleman of our Church in His Historical Vindication hath observed any example in History of prosecuting an Heretick further then to avoid him till after God having given peace to his people under Christian Emperours they finding that if the Church were in trouble the State was seldom otherwise provided by Laws to punish Hereticks The Councel of Nice therefore having in the year 325 censured the opinion of Arius for Heretical the Emperour who had formerly granted certain considerable Priviledges to Christians declared in the year following Haereticos atque Schismaticos hâ— privilegiis alienos that no Heretick or Schâ—â—smatick should have any part in those Privileges but they rarely proceeded to blood unless perhaps against some seditious Preacher And the Holy men of those times used earnest perswasions to deterr men inclining to that severity from it as not esteeming it to agree with that entire Charity that should be in Christians St. August professeth he had rather be himself slain by them then by detecting the Donatists be any cause they should undergo the punishment of death Ep. 127 This was the Temper of the Christians at least 800. years after Christ But about the year 1000 the Christian World began to punish Miscreants as branches not bearing fruit in Christ by casting them into the fire But the Devout men of those Times did not approve of this rigour St. Bernard explaining those words of Solomon Take us the Foxes the little Foxes that spoil the Vines Cant. 2.15 If saith he according to the Allegory by the Vines we understand the Churches and by the Foxes Heresies or rather Hereticks the meaning is plain that Hereticks be rather taken then driven away Capientur dico non armis sed agrumentis taken I say not by Arms but Arguments whereby their Errours may be refuted and they themselves reconciled if possible to the Catholick Church And that the Holy Ghost intends this is evident saith he because he doth not say simply Take the Foxes sed capite nobis take us the Foxes sibi ergo sponsae suae id est Catholicae jubet acquiri has vulpes cum ait capite eas nobis In Cantic Serm. 64. He commands therefore that they be taken for himself and his Spouse that is the Catholick Church when he saith Take us the Foxes Thus the holy men in that Age in which they first stopped mens mouths not with Arguments but Arms judged of it And indeed we have not many Examples of persons suffering meerly for Conscience till after the year 1216. in which Pope Innocent the Third laid the foundation of that new Court called since the Inquisition who appointed such as should be convicted of Heresie ut vivi in conspectu hominum comburentur to be committed alive to the flames of fire And though such proceedings are not at any good agreement with those rules and examples which Christ hath left us in holy Scripture yet the practise hath been long since taken up in this Kingdom and is in force at this day by the Laws Anno 1166. about thirty Dutch came hither who detested Baptism the Eucharist and other parts of Religion and being by Scripture convicted in an Episcopal Councel called by the King at Oxford they were condemned to be Whipped and burnt in the face and a command given that none should either receive or releive them so that they miserably Perished By the Common-Law that is the Custom of the Realm of England Hereticks are to be Punished by Consuming them with Fire and accordingly there is a Writ De Haeretico comburendo An Apostate Deacon in a Councel held at Oxford by Stephen Langton was first degraded and then by Lay-hands committed to the Fire Bracto l. 3. de Corona c. 9 In Edward the Third's daies about the Year 1347. two Franciscans were Burnt quod de Religione male sentirent because they thought amiss of Religion Pol. Virg. Hist Ang. l. 19. And in the year 1583. Copin and Thacker were hanged at Saint Edmonds-Bury for publishing Brown's Book Cambd. which saith Stow p. 1174 was written against the Common-Prayer Book A Fair warning And thus you see if men will not be Subject to the Higher Powers in matters of Religion for Conscience sake they must be subject because of wrath for the Prince is entrusted with a Coercive Power and bears not the Sword in vain But because it is a thing Morally impossible for one man as the King to Govern the whole Church in his Kingdom Personally by himself He may substitute or delegate others under him to manage all his Power which is communicable in the Government of the Church I say communicable because there are some things inseparable from the Supreme Power as to Correct Alter Ratifie Repeal or Make Null Canons and Constitutions made by any persons under him to reverse or mitigate a Sentence injustly or unduly passed the right of Appeals of nominating Bishops to their respective Sees of translating or deposing them where he seeth cause These and such like are incommunicable unto any inseparable from his Crown But in all other things that are not of this nature he may give Power to others to Govern the Church to whom all persons ow their obedience by virtue of his Delegation as much as to the King himself because it is the King that requires or
had he said more then you received he had prejudiced himself who desired earnestly to see the faces of his Thessalonians That he might perfect that which was lacking in their faith 1 Thes 3.10 Or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other then that which you have received quicquid Evangelio quasi ad salutem necessarium additur Parae whatsoever is added to the Gospel as necessary to salvation I said therefore we are to receive our direction from the Lips of God only in things Essential and Fundamental A fundamental in general is that upon which other things are built Fundamentalls in Religion are those primitive truths without the knowledge of which we can neither believe aright nor yield that obedience which we owe to God In these I say we are to dedepend upon God only for direction to hear no voice but his for as they observe in Architecture the yielding of a stone in the lower part of a Fabrick but an hairs breadth will make a cleft of more then half a foot aloft So important are fundamental errors A small error in the beginning and foundation of all things proves in the procedure and end of them a great mischief And therefore God appointed the Foundation of the Tabernacle to be of massy pieces of silver intimating thereby the solidity and purity of the Truth whereupon the Church is founded And a Rabby of our own observes that every man in Israel from twenty years old and upward was to give half a shekel towards these foundation-pieces whereas to other things they were not bound to a set summe but every man to give as his heart moved him which might teach them that to the Fundamentalls of Religion they were all bound but in other things each one according to the gift given him gold or silver or purple or scarlet or fine linnen or goats hair Lightfoot on Exod. 30. So that thus you see in things fundamental and essential we are to receive directions from the great Master of the house God only But In things circumstantial even in Religion and the Worship of God it is the masters pleasure that we should receive directions in them from his stewards The High Steward in this house under God is the King or Higher Powers intrusted by God with a legislative and coercive or constraining power By the Higher Powers I intend the person not the office And that by no less authority then St. Pauls who calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Higher Powers Rom. 13.1 at the 3d. verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rulers Now this higher or highest Power is a single person or company of men intrusted with Soveraign Power over the people he or they being subject only to the Empire or power of God himself I say a single person or company of men For though that which commands in chief or in whom the highest Power is invested must necessarily be one yet it is not of necessity that it be one in or by nature but it sufficeth if it be one by institution so that the highest Power is not appropriated to Kings or absolute Monarchs onely but in a rightly constituted Aristocracy or Common-wealth the Optimates Senat Estates or by what other Title they are Dignified are the highest Power And they or He the King is only subject to the Empire of God himself For he is not cannot in any propriety of speech be called the highest Power but because there is not among men any higher Power Super Imperatorem saith Optatus contra Parmenianum l. 3. Non est nisi solus Deus qui fecit Imperatorem There is none superiour to the Emperour but God only who made the Emperour And so Tertullian ad Scap. Colimus Imperatorem sic quomodo nobis licet ipsi e◠pedit ut hominem a Deo secundum solo Deo minorem We so reverence the Emperour as it is meet for him and lawfull for us as a man second unto God and inferiour to God only You may perceive by this what I mean by the Higher Power but since the good providence of God hath cast us under the best of Governments Monarchy I shall speak in the ensuing discourse concerning the single person the King only And 1. He is intrusted by God with Authority and Power not only in Civill matters and affairs of State but in Ecclesiasticall matters the Affaires of Religion in the Church There are 3. Arguments that evince this 1. St. Paul tells you Rom. 13.4 He is the Minister of God to thee for good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indefinitely universally And explicating himself afterward more distinctly he tells us that Kings and persons in eminent or the highest place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were instituted and appointed of God to this end and purpose that we should lead a quiet and peaceable life under them not only in all honesty but in all piety 1 Tim. 2.2 The happiness of a City Country or Kingdom consists in this ut Dei sit amans amata Deo That it love and be beloved of God Vt illum sibi Regem se illius populum agnoscat August de Civit. Dei l. 5. c. 14. That it be in subjection to God whom it hath over it for its King And the Father-pronounceth Kings happy Si suam potestatem ad Dei cultum maxime dilatandum Majestati ejus famulam faciant If by promoting his worship as far as they can they subject their power to the Majesty of God Thus the Emperours Theodosius and Honorius Epist ad Marcellinum tell him that they design'd not any thing in all their Labour of War and Councells of Peace Nisi ut verum Dei cultum orbis nostri plebs devota custodiat That the people devoted to their service might follow the right worship of God Theodosius likewise in Ep. ad Cyrillum Caesarei est muneris ut non solum pacifice sed pie etiam subditi vivant The Emperour must take care that his Subjects live under him not only peaceably but piously Thus Isidor Pelusiota propounds the same end to the Prince as to the Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Salvation of their Subjects to which that of Ammianus Marcellinus agrees fully Nihil aliud est imperium ut sapientes definiunt nisi cura salutis alienae l. 39. Empire is nothing else in the judgment of wise men but the care of the Welfare and Salvation of others Since then this is the end which Kings are to propound unto themselves that their Subjects may live under them not onely honestly but godly it necessarily follows that they must be intrusted with Authority and Power in Ecclesiasticall matters For the end being admitted we must admit those things without which the end cannot be attain'd And accordingly we find God laying his command upon Kings in Scripture When the King sitteth upon the Throne of his Kingdom he shall write him a Copy of this Law in a book out of that which is before the Priests and the Levites and
forbids any thing by them Thus St. Peter requires Christians to pay their obedience unto Governours sent by him as well as to the King the Supreme Power Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil-doers and for the praise of them that do well 1 Pet. 2.13 14. The Governours sent by the King in Ecclesiastical Affairs are the Reverend Bishops I take the word Bishop not in the Common and General notion as every Pastour or Presbyter is a Bishop as he doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oversee the particular Flock committed to his charge Thus the Municipal Aediles among the Romans were stiled Bishops and Cicero Campanae orae Episcopum se dicit constitutum was Bishop of the Campanian Territory But in a more proper and peculiar sence for persons who have not onely the over-sight of the Flock but even of the Pastours themselves a distinct Function and Dignity from Presbyters as the Fathers and Councels generally understand the word Bishop Now concerning these I affirm First Episcopacy that is the Prelacy or Preheminence of one Pastour among the rest is not repugnant to the Scriptures If I evince this that saying of Christ He that is not against us is on our part Mark 9.40 will contribute not a little to the confirmation of this Order And if any man shall say that this Order is repugnant to the Scripture that is if he presume to condemn the whole Christian Church for more then 1000 years after Christ of impiety or folly he must necessarily take upon him the heavy that I say not intolerable burthen of making it good There is not that I am conscious of one Text of Scripture that affords any countenance to that opinion unless that in St. Matthew Jesus called them the ten Apostles unto him and said Ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise Dominion over them and they that are Great exercise Authority upon them But it shall not be so among you Mat. 20.25 26. And somewhat more to their purpose in the tenth of St. Mark 44. Whosoever of you will be chiefest shall be the servant of all To these Texts I Answer 1. The Anabaptists of old and other Fanatick spirits supposing the Antithesis here to be between the Gentiles and the Christian State have extended the Pronoun 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among you to the whole Gospel-Church and all Christians in it And from thence they conclude that It is unlawfull for Christians to exercise any Rule or Authority over their Brethren So that the same Text by which some would cast Episcopacy out of the Church is made use of by others to as good purpose to thrust Magistracy out of the Christian World 2. Some Learned Interpreters weighing the expression used by Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in eas dominari they Lord it over them Id est cum quadam acerbitate Beza with bitterness and rigour understand Christ's prohibition of an unjust and Tyrannical Power onely such as the Princes of the Gentiles generally used over those that were subject to them And so Christ doth not dehort his Apostles from exercising Power and Authority over their Brethren but onely from the Tyrannical abuse of Power 3. The Presbyterians themselves in foreign Parts do generally acknowledg that this Text in St. Matt. doth not take away the Ecclesiastical Authority of Teaching Binding and Loosing according to the Gospel vel gradus Ecclesiasticorum a Christo institutes datos Ecclesiae no nor those degrees of Ecclesiastical Persons that were instituted and appointed his Church by Christ Apostles Prophets Teachers c. Paraeus he intends not by that Prohibition in St. Matt. to bring a Parity or Equality into the Church Nam sic tolleretur omnis ordo inveheretur confusio as He for so all Order would be abolished and Confusion introduced in the room of it 4. The design and intent of Christ in the forementioned Text is not to take away all Preheminence or Primacy among the Apostles or Pastours of the Church but to admonish the Apostles and ensuing Pastours of the Church that their High and Honourable Calling hath the Ministry or Service of the Church annexed to it Now this is so far from being inconsistent with Preheminence and Authority that even Kings themselves serve the Church and Kingdom in their High Calling So King Antigonus to his Son An ignoras fili mi nostrum regnum nobilem esse servitutem Art thou ignorant O my Son that our Empire is nothing else but a more noble servitude Though therefore the Apostles and their Successours are required to be Ministers and Servants to all this doth not take away their Preheminence any more then a Shepheard's serving his Flock or a Tutour's serving his Pupil or the King 's serving his Subjects takes away the Respective Authority or Preheminence of the Shepheard Tutour or King over those whom they serve 5. This Text is so far from abolishing Prelacy and Preheminence among the Apostles and Pastours that it confirms and establisheth it For when St. Matthew and St. Mark say He that will be greatest among you St. Luke saith he that is greatest and he that is chief Luk. 22.26 and you may observe that our Lord Christ propounds his own example as a pattern to them Whosoever will be Chief among you let him be your Servant even as the Son of Man came not to be Ministred unto but to Minister Mat. 20.27 28. The Duty therefore of Ministring to or serving others doth not hinder but that he who Ministers or serves may be Greater then those to whom he Ministers unless by urging this Text for a Parity among Pastours they intend to level the great Apostle Christ himself to be no more then equal to the other Apostles And one would wonder did not Prejudice and Interest draw a Film over the eye of mens Reason how any man could entertain a thought that ever Christ intended a Parity among Ecclesiastical Persons when by his own finger from Heaven he hath so evidently pointed out a disparity among them He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastours and Teachers Ephes 4.11 which are not onely distinct Functions in the Church but distinct Degrees as is evident by the Apostle in the first to the Corinthians 12.28 And God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers after that Miracles then Gifts of Healings c. The Evangelists themselves are as Hienom ad Fabiol Secundi ordinis minoris gradus but of a second Order and inferiour degree Dignitate minores Apostolis as Calvin inferiour to the Apostles in Dignity The first Assertion then namely That Episcopacy that is the Prelacy or Preheminence of one Pastour among the rest is not repugnant to the Scriptures is undeniably true Secondly The Church Catholick that is the