Sentiment of that Excellent Person will be much confirmed if we consider Church Policy but in one Important Instance the calling of Bishops for this as it has received frequent Alteration and been very different in different times and Countries so it was All upon prudential regards In Cyprian's time as in that of the Apostles it was as it were Iussu populi Authoritate Senatus by Choice of the People and appointment of other Bishops How it is now All know and in the intermediate times it has not always been after one manner but various according unto various times and occasions In short the business of Pastors and Teachers who are permanent and standing Officers in the Church of Christ is to feed the Flock by preaching and administring the Sacraments and on occasion to denounce Eternal Torments the true Spiritual Censure And this will be their business to the Worlds endâ— But for External Rule and Jurisdiction this being but accidental to their Office and arising only from the particular Circumstance in which the Church was while separate from the State now that the Magistrate is Christian it doth entirely devolve upon him the Christian Magistrate is the Ruling Presbyter and whom he appoints as Overseers of the Poor may be called the Deacons It is certain that in our English Constitution not to speak of the French and that of other Foreign Kingdoms however some may talk of Iure divino all Government or Jurisdiction the Spiritual as they call it as well as the Temporal is derived from the King who in this sense is supream Ordinary Bishop and Governour in all Causes and therefore in all Courts and Jurisdictions This is evident both as to the Legislative part of the Government and to the strictly Jurisdictive for as my Author tells me out of the British Councils All the Church Laws in the time of the Saxons were made in the Micklemote And indeed it were easie to evince that most of the Ancient Synods and Councils in England as well as in other Countries were meer Parliaments As for the Consistory Court which every Archbishop and the Bishop of the Diocess hath as holden before his Chancellor or Commissary this seems not to have been divided from the Hundred or County Court before a Mandate was given to that purpose by William the Conqueror the Exemplification of which Mandate is in Mr. Dugdale in his Appendix ad Hist. Eccles. Cathol St. Pauli f. 196. Before the Normans entrance says Mr. Dugdale from Sir H. Spelman the Bishops sate in the Hundred Court with the Lord of the Hundred as he did in the County Court with the Earls in the Sheriffs Turn with the Sheriff But to set out the matter by more Authentick Records In the Statute of Provisors it is affirmed That the Church of England was founded in the State of Prelacy by Edward the First Grand-father to Edward the Third and his Progenitors And in 25th of Henry the Eighth Chap. 19. in the Submission of the Clergy these acknowledge as they say according to Truth That the Convocation of the same Clergy is always hath been and ought to be Assembled only by the King 's Writ and farther promise in Verbo Sacerdoâ—is that they will never from henceforth presume to attempt alledge claim or put in ure enact promulge or exact any new Canons Constitutions Ordinances Provincial or other or by whatsoever name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence may to them be had to make promulge and exact the same and that his Majesty do give his most Royal Assent and Authority in that behalf And it was then enacted That the King should at his pleasure assign and nominate 32 Persons of his Subjects whereof 16. to be of the Clergy and 16 of the Temporality of the upper and lower House of Parliament who should have Power and Authority to view search and examine the Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial and Synodal heretofore made and with his Majesty's Assent under his Great Seal to continue such as they judge worthy to be kept and to abolish and abrogate the residue which they shall Judge and Deem worthy to be abolished It was also provided in the same Act That no Canons Constitutions or Ordinances shall be made or put in Execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which shall be contrary to the King's Prerogative Royal or to the Customs Laws or Statutes of this Realm there the Ecclesiastical Legislation is subjected to the King And enacted That it shall be lawful for any Party grieved in any of the Courts of the Archbishops of this Realm to appeal to the King's Majesty in the Court of Chancery upon which Appeal a Commission is to be directed under the Great Seal to Persons named by the King his Heirs or Successors which Commissioners have full power to hear and finally determine upon such Appeal And here the Jurisdiction of the Church is acknowledged to be originally in the King and derived from him for there the Sovereign Supream Power lodges where the last appeal the last Resort is Add that in the first Year of Edward VI. in an Act entituled An Act for Election of Bishops it was enacted That none but the King by his Letters Patents shall collate to any Archbishoprick or Bishoprick It was also declared That the use of Archbishops and Bishops and other Spiritual Persons to make and send out Summons in their own names was contrary to the form and order of the Summons and Process of the Common Law used in this Realm seeing that All Authority of Jurisdiction Spiritual and Temporal is derived and deducted from the King's Majesty as Supream Head of these Churches and Realms of England and Ireland and so Justly acknowledged by the Clergy of the said Realms It was therefore enacted That all Courts Ecclesiastical within the said Two Realms be kept by no other Power or Authority either Foreign or within this Realm but by the Authority of the King's Majesty and that all Summons and Citations and other Process Ecclesiastical be made in the name and with the Style of the King as it is in his Writs Original and Judicial at the Common Law And it is further enacted That all manner of Persons that have the Excercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction shall have the King's Arms in their Seals of Office c. This Act was passed in a Parliament of the Profession of the Church of England in 1 Eward 6th and though it were repealed by one of another Character in 1 Mariae yet this repealing Statue being again repealed in 1st of Iames 1. 25. it seems plain that that of the first Year of Edward the Sixth is revived But supposing it is not yet in that case though the Constitutive part remain void the Declarative will still stand good as shewing the Common Law Nor doth the late Act of 13 Car. 2. ch 12. that restored
the Bishops only to their ordinary and lawful Jurisdiction Invest them in any new or any that is unlawful at the Common Law or that is contrary to the Prerogative of our Kings All that I have said on this Occasion might receive a further Confirmation were there need of more by the famed Character of King Kenulphus made to the Abbot of Abington in which was a grant of Exemption from Episcopal Jurisdiction as there also was in that of King Off a made to the Monastry of S. Albans by the Title of King Edgar who stiled himself Vicar of God in Ecclesiasticals by the Offering that Wolstan made of his Staff and Ring the Ensigns of his Episcopacy at the Tomb of Edward the Confessor by the Petition of the Archbishop and Clergy at the Coronation of our Kings by the form of the King 's Writ for Summoning a Convocation and of the Royal Licence that is commonly granted before the Clergy and Convocation can go upon any particular Debates In fine by the Statutes relating to Excommunication that do both direct and limit the Execution of that Censure and the proceedings upon it as to Capias's c. And thus much for Church-Government in the Third State of the Church as it is become incorporated by Civil Powers In discoursing of which I have made it plain That as no National Draught is of our Lord Christ's or his Apostles designing so that National Churches are all of Human Institution and their Government Ambulatory that is Alterable according as Times and Occasions and as the Forms of Civil Governments in States that do incorporate the Church oblige it to be to make it fit and suitable I am SIR Your Humble Servant THE THIRD LETTER SIR I Have always acknowledged some Episcopacy to be of Primitive Antiquity but you will please to remember I have likewise shewed that that Episco pacy was Presbyterial not Prelatical Congregational not Diocesan And that the Primitive Bishop was only a first Presbyter that is a Chairman in the College of Presbyters and not as in the Diocesan Hierarchy a Prelate of a superior Order that presided over several Congregational Churches and was invested with the Power of sole Ordination and Jurisdiction much less was he an Officer that kept Courts that had under him Chancellours Commissaries Officials Registers Apparitors c. and that judged per se aut per alium in certain reserved Cases To make this out I presented to you a Scheme of the Government of the Church both as it was established and settled by the Apostles and as it was afterwards I shewed That the Apostles in all their Institutions did carefully avoid any Imitation of the Temple-Orders to which Orders the Prelatical Hierarchy doth plainly conform I shewed also That the Government settled by the Apostles was only Congregational the Apostles in planting of Churches proceeding only after the Model and Way of the Synagogues Ay! all the Churches that we read of in Scripture that were constituted by the Apostles were only Congregational not National or Provincial that is they were as so many little Republicks each consisting of a Senate or Eldership with the Authority and of a People with the Power but all independant one of another and all possessed of all that Jurisdiction and Authority over their Members that was to be standing and ordinary For this Reason tho' every Congregation was but a part and a small one yet it had the Denomination of the whole every particular Congregation was stiled a Church This will appear more evident if we consider That the Interest of the People had at first and long after for above 150 Years in the Ordination of Officers was very great It is true the Word Ordination or that which answers to it in the Greek is never used throughout the whole New Testament for the making of Evangelical Officers nor did it in this Sense come into use among Christians till after the Christian Church began to accommodate to the Language as well as to the Orders of the Jewish But then as the People was called Laity and Plebs so the Clergy was called Ordo and this in the same Sense of the Word as when we read of the Order of Aaron and of that of Melchisedeck and then too the calling of any Person to the Ministry as it was a calling of him to be of the Clergy or Order so it was stiled an Ordination Ordination being nothing but the placing of a Person in the Order of the Clergy But tho' the Word Ordination was not as yet in use in the first Times the Thing was which is the Creation of Officers in the Church and in this the People possess'd so great a share which is a very good Argument of the Church's being framed at first after the Model and Way of Republicks that even the Action it self is called Chirotonia by S. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles and ever since by the Greek Fathâ—rs Ay the Creation of Officers is not usually called Chirothesia for this with the Greek Fathers was the Word that was mostly if not always used for Confirmation not for Ordination tho' Imposition of Hands the Ceremony signified by that Word was the Rite which was used by the Jews in creating of Rabbies and Doctors the Act of Ordination is usually if not always denominated Chirotonia or Extension of Hands which in the Greek Republicks was the Name or Word for the Popular Suffrage Indeed Paul and Barnabas are said to Chirotonize or as our Translators render the Word Acts 14. 23. To ordain them Elders in every Church But says Mr. Harrington they are said to do so but in the same Sense that the Proedri who were Magistrates to whom it belonged to put the Question in the Representative of the People of Athens are in Demosthenes said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make the Suffrage and the Thesmothetae who were Presidents in the Creation of Magistrates are in Pollux said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to chirotonize the Strategi who yet ever since the Institution of Cliethenes that distributed the People into ten Tribes were always used to be elected and made by the Popular Suffrage Nor was this manner of Speaking peculiar unto the Greeks but as Calvin in his Institutions l. 4. c. 4. f. 15. observes it was a common Form used also by the Roman Historians who say That the Consul created Officers when he only presided at the Election and gathered the Votes of the People Et c'est uniforme commune de parler comme les Historiens disent quun Consul creoit des Officiers quand il recevoit le voix du peuple presedoit sur l' election So plain it is that S. Luke in saying that Paul and Barnabas did chirotonize the Elders intended to signifie no more but that the Elders were made by the Suffrage of the People Paul and Barnabas presiding at the Election and declaring or making the Crisis and so the New Latin Translation in
resolved at last into the Testimony and Witness of those who had reâ—ived it from Christ and those particularly whose Office it was to transmit it â—to others and to Vouch it So that in this respect the Case is particular the â—peal was made unto the Apostles and Elders or old Disciples as those â—o having conversed with our Lord had immediately received the Christian â—trin from him which Reason for the Appeal was Peculiar to those Persons â—made and received it and therefore can be none for others taken either in the private or in representative Capacities Further there is something else in this business that was very peculiar I know it is affirmed That the Holy Ghost did assist in this Assembly in a special manner and that the same Assistance and Guidance is promised to all others that convene in Christ's Name either for the Decision of Controversies or for Government of the Church and that any Synod lawfully called and proceeding lawfully may say in their Decrees as the Apostles and Elders and Church do hear It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us I acknowledge them very learned and worthy Men that think so but I must beg their Pardon if I differ from them for with Submission I conceive that the Phrase It seemed good to the Holy Ghost hath no Relation to any Assistance and Guidance of the Holy Ghost that was afforded by any Extraordlnary Illumination of Mind to them that met on that occasion and so it makes nothing for Infallible Direction in Council Rather it relates unto the Decision which the Holy Ghost in Effect had already made of that Controversie by his Descending upon some of the Gentiles who had believed in Christ as Peter preached him without any mention of Moses or of his Law Acts 10. from 34. to 45. For it was the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the believing Gentiles who were Strangers to the Law A Descent that was not transacted immediately by the laying on of the Hands of any Apostles but was an Immediate Descent such an one as that was which had been made before upon the Apostles themselves on the day of Pentecost It was this Descent that being a sealing of them by the Holy Ghost Ephes. 1. 13. was urged by the Apostle Peter as an Argument against the Imposition of the Mosaical Yoke which Argument was confirmed and strengthened by Barnabas and Paul and at last by Iames who doth not give a Difinitive Sentence as the Translation carries it and you somewhere say but only gives his Judgment And this in fine did carry the matter so that it is evident that no Council Synod or Assembly of Men may say It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us in their Decisions as the Apostles and Elders did and because they did if that Council Synod or Assembly has not such a particular Manifestation of the Holy Ghost to bottom their Decisions as the Apostles and Elders had when the Apostles and Elders said It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and to us they meant it seemed good to the Holy Ghost by his Descent and to themselves upon full Debate But to return The Church wilest it stood in its State of Separation from Secular Government must be considered to have been in a Double Condition the first while the Apostles were living who as they had an Extraordinary Charge so they had a proportionable power over all the Church the second after the decease or other removal of the Apostles when the Church was left to it self for in these different Circumstances the proceedings were very different both as to the punishing of Offenders and to the ending of Controversies Whilst the Apostles who had an Extraordinary and Supernatural Rod were living and in a Condition to use that Rod as there needed no other Discipline but that to terrifie flagitious and great Offenders so I find no other used and that too but rarely the greater Excommunication had no place that I can find unless where Diotrephes ruled in that State of the Church Besides the Apostolical Rod it was only Non conversing with or abstaining from the Society of Offenders that was used as a Remedy for the Reducing of them and this by Apostolical Order Indeed the Apostles were not so much for cutting off from the Church as for inviting and calling Men into it The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a Dragnet But after the Decease or other removal of the Apostles when the terrour of their Rod was vanished and when God himself did no longer as at first he seem'd to have done in Extraordinary manner particularly punish for particular Sins as in the Case of the Corinthians For this cause many are sick and weak among you c. and no Assistance could be had from the Sword of the Magistrate without Scandal in that State necessity grew upon the Church to make its Discipline straighter and more awful that so having something in it of severe and rigorous the Terrour of it might restrain and the Execution reform Hence came the Church-Covenant or voluntary Subjection which saith Lewis du Moulin is intimated by Pliny in his Epistle to Trajan in his Sacramento obstricti and says Mr. Selden by Origen contra Celsum when he spake of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Christians And hence by degrees and as occasions obliged it came to pass that Excommunications the greater and the lesser grew into use the former not so much by a positive Institution as by the Common Law of Society and the latter by Congruity to the Apostles Direction 1 Cor. 5. 11. Both which though they carryed terrour in themselves yet to add to it as the Estimate of the Privation ever doth depend upon that of the Possession Admission into the Church and consequently to the Lord's Table were practised with more Formality than in the Apostles times Now comes in a solemn Distinction of Chatechuneti and Fideles and the Candidates of Christianity must take time before them must 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must pass through many Degrees before they can attain to the happiness of being admitted to a participation of the priviledges and rights of the Faithful It was now also that the Notion of a Catholick Vnity obtained which was not understood at that time to be Internal and Spiritual an Unity of Faith and Charity only But to consist in something External relating unto Order and Discipline as being an Unity that was to be maintained by Communicatory and other Letters and by Orders and that was intended to support the Notion of but one Bishoprick in the Church and that every Bishop participated of that one Bishoprick in Solidum A Notion that was of great use to make their Dicipline and Power the more pointed for if but one Church then to be cast out of any part of the Church was indeed to be ejected out of the whole and if but one Bishoprick to be participated by all the Bishops what