Company slighted that Disrespect put upon them will give occasion unto many to imagine that somâ— Bishops conceive an internal Honour at the first viâ—w of those who have been constantly Loâ—al as if a ravenous Wolf had suddenly appeared unto them or that Perâ—eus had accosted ed them with Gorgon's Head upon his Shield because in the glass of their straightness they behold their own Obliquities Rectum being Index sui obliqui But seeing good words when they are given very liberally are but empty Complements without good Deeds for that Chaâ—acter of the Echo may be applied to maâ—y Promises and Oaths now-a-dayes Foâ— est praetereaque nihil It is also one of my Eucâ—icks That the Fathers of the Church espouse the just Interest of their Sons to the utmost of their endeavours and that if a Minister of the Gospel have any Business before a Secular Court the Bishops would be pleased to assist him in his innocent pursuit or Defence according to the Sphere of their Activity For whither shall a Son flee for Protection if his own Father abandon him But if they shall meet with more humanity and readiness to dispatch their affair from those Members of the Court who are not in Orders 〈◊〉 the Great Officer of State for the present is highly applauded by all the Clergy for his Assability and Favour in their Addresses to him for Justiceâ— some will be apt to conclude that these Fathers are only so termed Equivocally and deserve rather to be called Step-fathers as being too like unto Saturn of whom the Poets feigned that he devoured his own Children But Arbor honoretur cujus nos umbra And what greater evidence can bâ— desired of any Allegorical 〈◊〉 a Busâ—ris a Polyphemus a Diomedes or the Inhabitants of Taurica Chersonesus than this Hypothesis Let us suppose it the great Endeavour of some to undermine and blow up by base Calumnies and false Suggâ—stions as if they carried Faux's daâ—k Lanthorn in their Tongues the Reputation of some of their Brethren they having no other provocation to that Diabolical Office except their Envy of a litle favourable Aspect and good opinion which some Great Persons have conceived of them they being hugely concern'd to study a Monopoly of those Grandees lest at any time they give an ear to any true Suggestion against themselves or that any ascend an empty Chair who are not their Creatures or of their own swarthy Complexion Truth it self having told us Qui malè facit odit Lucem But the best Countermine I know to the Fears and Jealousies of those men the most forcible Antidote against their Cordolium is to undeceive them by this Assurance which every honest man is ready to give them that they would deem 〈◊〉 the greatest unhappiness in the World to be constrain'd to draw in the same yoke with those that have cast off the yoke of Holy Iesus or to be of the same Order with those who are guilty of so many Disorders Which voluntary Engagement may afford them more security against their Imaginary Fears than if the Object of their Dread did affect the stupidity of Iunius Brutus whose counterfeited Folly paved the way to the first Consulship of Rome And let us suppose these Obloquies to be as successful as Malice it self could wish it being a very old Maxim in the School of Envy Calumniare 〈◊〉 aliquid adhaerebit and as one said truly concerning that accursed Combination call'd the Covenant That Lyes were the Life of their Cause yet these traduced Brethren have not only the gracious Promises of the Gospel to support them with that blessed Spirit who did Dictate those Holy Lines but also the consideration of that of St. Augustine Quisquis detralâ—â—â—â—mae meae addit Mercedi meae Yea a seriou Reflection upon that of an Heathen man cannot but somewhat solace them Senâ—â—a having said Mala opinio benè parta delectat The Brazen-wall of a good Conscience within being a sufficient Fence and Cordial too against the malicious Batteries from without which the Infinite Wisdom usually makes to end in a Brutum Fulmen because these uncharitable Arietations proceed mostly from Persons of Brutish affections But let us jubjoyn this last Hypothesis That some of these Sons of Belial as if they had sucked the Breasts of Hyreanian â—ygeâ—s and had petrified Bowels were as implacable in their Malice as those cruel Roman Emperours one of which Monsters of Nature said Non adhuc â—ecum â—edii in gratiam another ita serii ut se â—â—â—ri sentiat a third wished That all they whom he hated had but one neck that with 〈◊〉 blow he might cut it off And a fourth said concerning the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his own Brother 〈◊〉 Divus modo ne sit viâ—us Yet I would have these suffering Brethren seriously to consider that the Servant is not greater than his Lord and seeing Innecency it self was persecuted from the Womb to the Tomb and from the Craâ—â—â— to the Grave both with the Scourge of Hands and Tongues they who are almost infinitely guilty before God ought not to take it in ill part far less to be overcome with despondency of mind when they trace the Footsteps of their Lord and Master for not only the Patriarchs and Prophets of old with the Apostles of our Great Master but also many other eminent Lights of the Primitive Church have run the same Fate so that they are not singular in this rugged way such as Narcissus of Hierusalem Eustathius of Antioch Athanasius of Alexandria Gregorie Nazianzen S. Basil of Cappadocia and S. Chrysostom of Constantinople Most of which were persecuted by the Instigation of Churchmen because they endeavoured to rectifie those Errors and to redress those Abuses which had fullied the very Altar of God That Aphorism Corruptio optimi est pessima being not only a Physical Observation but too often verified of Morals also And these suffering Brethren have good reason chearfully to undergoe the Fate of Aristides even to suffer the Ostracism because they are too vertuous Though I confess let them be as innocent as was once the man without the Navel they will be look'd upon as Criminal if they do not homologate all that some men say or do Vid. Concil General 1. Can. 14. Concil Carthaginens 4. Can. 34. Vt Episcopus in quolibet loco sedens stare Presbyterum non patiatur Can. 35. Vt Episcopus in Ecclesia in Consessu Presbyterorum sublimior sedeat intra domum verò Collegam se Presbyterorum esse cognoscat Can. 37. Diaconus ita se Presbyteri ut Episcopi ministrum esse cognoscat Can. 39. Diaconus quolibet loco jubente Presbytero sedeat Can. 40. Vt Diaconus in Convenâ—u Presbyterorum interrogatus loquatur Concil Arelat â— Can. 18. Arelat 2. Can. 15. Concil Laodic Can. 2â— Synod Quini-Sexâ— Can. 7. Concil Bracar 2. Can. 2. a part whereof hath these words similiter Parochiales Clerici servili timore in aliquibus eperibus
THE REFORMED BISHOP OR XIX ARTICLES Tendered by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Well-wisher of the present Government of the Church of SCOTLAND As it is settled by Law In order to the further Establishment thereof Tertul. Praescript advers Haer. Id verum quod primum Sanctum est Veritatem cujuslibet amicitiae anteponere Aristot. in Ethic. lib. 1. cap. 6. Printed for the Author Anno Dom. 1679. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER IN order to the better understanding of the Nature of this ensuing Remonstrance I judged it fit to premit some Particulars to the serious Consideration of the Iudicious Reader 1. That over and above the Homologation of our Assertions in the respective Articles by Reason and inartificial Arguments derived from Authority and dispersed like so many Veins Nerves and Arteries thorow that Complex Body I thought it â—it to Confirm those great Truths embosomed in these XIX Proposals by a more evident Method First Seeing Divine Authority is both Infallible and more Noble than any other Therefore we have Superscribed every Article with the Royal Placet of the King of Kings And that these Sacred Allegations may also serve as Rubricks or Titles to Indicate the Principal Contents of the several Articles Yet we have not cited the places at large Charâ—tably believing that whosoever will be at the pains to read these Lines will think it no trouble to find out the Chapter and Verse in the Holy Bible as they are â—ere pointed at Next We have immediately subjoyned to every Article some Canons of Councels being extensively much more to be regarded than the Authority of any Individual Father seeing they necessarily presuppose a Complex of many For without a Sanhedrim of divers Ecclesiastical Seniors no Councel can consist And intensively too in the Iudgment of those who look upon these Canons as binding to the Church But in the eyes of all Rational men they afford a more Authentick Testimony of the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Church of God at that time than any One particular could do In the last place We have annexed some Testimonies of the most Famous Luminaries of the Primitive Church whose Doctrine is not found to interfere with the most approved Morals and Rituals of the Catholick Church in the Ages wherein they lived yet we have very seldome cited them at large for the Reason above expressed 2. Let the Reader take notice That as the Aera of our Allegations is the Apostolick Age though there was no Provincial Councel Celebrated therein far less any General save that at Hierusalem which was obligatory to the whole Church then in Being whatever some Divines imagine to the contrary So the Terminus ad quem of the Citation of Councels is The Sixth General Synod called otherwise Synodus Quinti-Sexta It had been very easie to amasse a multitude of Canons posteriour thereunto yet we judged it neither necessary nor fit to proceed further because not long after that Convention the Image-storm arose Some adhering to the Councels which were Assembled by Leo Isaurus and Constantinus Copronymus where the Image-Worship was Condemned by the Iconoclastae as they were then termed and others cleaving to that of Constantine and Irene at Nice and to some Roman Synods where the Adoration of Images was approved by those who were named Iconolatrae Then the Greek and Latin Churches began to be divided which have never since that time been thorowly Cemented As for the Vltimate Term of the Allegation of the Fathers We have fixed on Gregory the Great Inclusively whom I look upon as the Last of that Venerable Number Yet we have sometimes mentioned though very sparingly Isidore of Sevil Beda Anselm and St. Bernard The three former because they are so often alleged in the Canon Law and the Last in regard of the Sublimity of his Style blended with so much Eloquence and Divine Zeal in his 4. Books De Consideratione Ad Eugenium tertium Though I am not ignorant that he was at the Distance of many Centuries from Gregory the First at Rome 3. In the third place I shall subjoyn a word or two concerning the Apostolick Canons as they are usually termed in regard we have here made some Vse of them They were indeed to the number of 185 Received by the Sixth General Councel But whether they were the same which are now extant is not certainly known But in respect that some Ecclesiastical Writers reject them all as Apocryphal and some admit but 60 of them Yea the Plurality but the 50 which are first in order Therefore I have laid no great stress upon them citing these only which either in express terms or sence at least are adopted by some of the most approved General or Provincial Councels But whether these Canons were Collected by Clemens of Rome or of Alexandria we shall not Determine though the last is most probable 4. Next I shall give a brief account why the sixth General Councel is termed Synodus Quini-sexta because under that Notion we have many times cited it The ingenuous Reader shall know that the fifth General Councel assembled by Justinian the Great and the sixth by Constantinus Pogonatus made no Canons for Discipline but only some Defitions or Declarations in Matters of Faith the Former determining against some Errors fathered upon Origen fathered I say by Hereticks upon that Zealous man whose Books they Corrupted if we believe Ruffinus and him whose Testimony is more to be regarded viz. Vincentius Lyrinensis and Condemning the Writings of the Tâ—ia Capitula v. g. Theodorus Mopsuestâ—nus Theodoret of Cyrus and Ibas of Edessa as savouring of Nestorianism The other against the Monothelites and Condemned the Doctrine of divers Patriarchs of Constantinople One of Alexandria and one of Rome viz. Pope Honorius for the Hereticks themselves were dead long before that time But that the Church might be regulated not only in Matters of Faith but also in point of Manners Justinian the second Son to Constantinus Pogonatus boni Patris Filius pessimus Summoned a new Synod for that effect who did again meet in Tâ—ullo an apartment of the Imperial Palace And in regard the Fathers thereof made 102 Canons to supply the defect of the fifth and sixth General Councels therefore that Councel was termed Synodus Quini-sexta so the Greeks as Balsamon observes call that Convention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Synodum Quintam-sextam And it being re-assembled within few years to the Former four or five at most so that the greatest part of the Eastern Bâ—shops who were present at the Former were also present at the Later as may appear by their Subscriptions to hoth these Councels therefore the Canons of that Synod usually pass under the Name and Notion of the sixth General Councel This we take to be the more probable Account which Tarasius Patriarch of Constantinople and Petrus Bishop of Nicomedia gave of it in the Face of the second Councel of Nice as it is termed viz. Actionem quartam istius
joyful Remembrance of the Nativity of our Blessed Lord on the Anniversary thereof which in the time of Dioclesian proved a dismal Solemnity to some in Bithynia and of his Resurrection every Lord's Day especially on Easter which is Caput institutionis they on the Contrary as if they had not been unvaluable Mercies but rather great Plagues to the World must needs Fast on these Dayes and alwayes on that Sunday which did immediately preceed the Lord's Day on which the Holy Communion was to be celebrated though the Anniversary of our Saviour's Passion was judged by the Ancients the much fitter season for solemn Humiliation and Preparation in order to the due Reception of that Commemorative Sacrifice of Christ's Body and Blood on Easter Day for when Persecution ceased by the Haloyonian-dayes of the Great Constantine too much of the Christian Fervour abated therewith So that in the later Centuries of the Primitive Church The Holy Eucharist was not received every day no not every Lord's day but appointed to be celebrated thrice a year viz. On the Anniversary of the Nativity and Resurrection of our Blessed Lord and of the Descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost which Canons did at last terminate in Easter Day But these Antipodes are at the Expence of a Kalendar only to shun those dayes as a Sâ—ylla and Charybdis or the greater and lesser Syrtes And that they might give a Demonstration to the World that they are not sworn Enemies to their own Flesh and Blood and that it was not the Mortification of their own sensual Natures they designed by such Abstinence but rather that they fasted for Strife and Debate and to smite with the Fist of Wickedness under such a Religions Palliation It was usually observed that their most solemn Fasts did usher in the greatest Villanies they intended to act so that all honest-hearted men looked upon these Intimations as prodigious Meteors portending some bad Omen either to Church or State and too frequently to both But that they might make a sufficient amends to the animal Life for these few Politick Substractions they gratified the same with Feasting when they could come at it all the dayes of the Week though Epiphanius hath told us that in his time Fasting was practised throughout all the World every Wednesday and Friday unless the Anniversary of our Saviour's Nativity did happen upon one of these dayes As for Saturday's Fast though Pope Innocent pretended the Apostles Fasted that Day because Christ lay in the Grave all that time It did not so early nor universally obtain For it was not practised at Millan in the Time of S. Ambrose Yea more than so they were most willing to Feast all the time of Lent the Passionwee kwhich was deservedly termed by the Ancients Hebdomada magna Sancta Not that it hath sayes Chrysostom either more dayes or hours than other Weeks but because this is the Week in which truly great and ineffable good things were purchased for us not being excepted and were more ready to gormandize than on the Anniversary of our Saviours Passion all the Sympathy they discovered with his imparallel'd Sufferings on that Day being meerly Symbolical and that in a Physical sense too For as the Flesh of our Blessed Lord was inhumanely torne on that Day so they were ready with too greedy Appetites to tear the Flesh of Brutes hateing so much to be reputed Pythagoreans or Manicheans on that Day that they would have chosen rather to be accounted Canibals and ever since that time the Flesh-Market on that day is the greatest of all the year and though the Change of it to some other Day hath been frequently desired by some sober Persons in this Church for the avoiding of Scandal Yet such is the Prevalency of Fanaticisme in some Royal Burghs that the Bishop with his Clergy could not obtain that most reasonable Request This being one of the Cimelia è Scrinio Polonico eruta which they fail not to bring home with them per Hellespontum Danicum Whereas the Emperours Theodosius the first Valentinian the second and Gratian as we find in the Theodosian Code commanded all Suits and Processes at Law to cease and all Prisoners to be set free in this Holy week Whence it may appear these Carnivorous Animals have never seriously pondered that Typical Expostulation of our dying Redeemer which we find in the Lamentations of Ieremie Chap. 1. ver 12. interpreted by all the Ancients of Christ himself and which concerns them as much as any But that they might shew themselves Prefect in that Art of Opposition to the Primitive Church they still presumed to approach to that Holy Table absque Virgine Saliva though it was also condemned by the Ancient Canons and I wish some of them had rested satisfied with their Ordinary Repast in that great Morning of the Feast But there is good reason to fear That the Generality of Plebeian Christians shall rise in Judgment and condemn those Epicurean Fanaticks For these will not upon any account usher in that Spiritual and Incorruptible Food with any Temporal and perishing Harbinger Now if any shall say That they are afraid of Fainting I must confess Necessity hath no Law But I wish some have not contracted that Necessity by Intemperance For Nature is content with little and Grace with less I have also heard some object That Christ himself Condemned Fasting in the Pharisees But take St. Chrysostom's Answer to this ignorant Scruple who tells us That Christ did not simply Condemn the Pharisees their Fasting twice a Week or their exact payment of Tithes but their Hypocrisie and Ostentation But if we shall judge by the Practice of too many of those we have good reason to Conclude That they have perswaded themselves that Christ Condemned both these Matters in Thesi and that there is no necessity of any Hypothesis to expound the Text. But in the Last place Some of the more knowing of them are ready to adduce the Authority of Thorndyke and Ieremy Taylor both which were very far from Phanaticism that they have sufficiently evinced the Lent-Fast not to be an Apostolick Tradition as it is now Calculated by a Quadragesima dierum But that the proper Lent of the Infant Christian Church was only a Quadragesima horarum For Answer I cannot but reverence the Judgment of those great Clerks and do indeed look upon the Quadragesima horarum as the only Apostolick Tradition though the strict Observation of the whole Passion-week did begin very early in the Church But I think it a very strange Parologism to infer from thence That Feasting on Good Friday is Lawful seeing it must needs be inclusively the 〈◊〉 of that most absolute Fast of Fourty Hours But in these dayes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Animosities and Epicurisme have made the Usage of Fasts by Papists a Command to us not to use them And to conclude the Abating any thing of our Gluttony
all the Summ which is expected from a hard-hearted Patron to uphold a decayed Fabrick Yea suppose they had a legal Title to part of that Salary yet they would dispence with it as a part of their Charity unto those who may be said sedere super Chaenicem in regard of the smalness of their Intrado and greatness of their Families and None should have occasion to upbraid that Order That no publick charitable Works have been done by any of them Such as the Such as The Building and Repairing of Bridges on High-wayes though some of those already half demolished are within the Prospect of their Ordinary Residences and daily invite them to put to their helping hand Neither would any who Travel by their Parish-Churches find any ground to admire that pitiful Spectacle Of Bells hanging upon Trees for want of Bell-houses as if they owned that part of Mahomet's Doctrine which Condemns Bells in Steeples or did joyn Issue with the Invectives of the Quakers against Steeple-houses And till Reason and Religion can suggest no other Imployment for that parcel of the Churches Patrimony in their hands Let them not be sollicitous to make that invidious and uncharitable scrambling for a great Estate to aggrandize a near Relation in this World who deserendo Castra nostra do as it is too frequently observed in the next Age if not in that of their Creation resemble the Viper in tearing by Scorn and Contempt the Bowels of that Parent which alone produced their Fortune and Honour It being through the just Judgement of God the unhappy Fate of that Sacred Grove to lend an handle to that Ax which lops its Reputation For the Clergy had no greater enemy nor vilisier in that Age than Caesar Borgia the perverse spurious Brat of an Ecclesiastick But for them to retain so much of their Revenue as is requisite to supply the Necessities of Nature or the Wants of Others ought neither to be the Object of Envy or Fear For he must needs be worse than a Momus or Zoilus who carps at the provision of Food and Raiment which a poor Tradesman makes to his own Family by his Lawful Calling Yet the Dignity of that Sacred Office is such that Decency requires a more ingenuous manner of living than the sordid and mean way of Plebeians in regard they are particularly commanded to practise Hospitality For which not only Spiridion was Famous but also the generality of the Prelates of the Primitive Church whether in a Celibate or Married state But as that Famous Bishop of Cyprus was far from Superfluity in his Entertainment of Strangers So should they be who are bound to know That simple Habit and Diet are most consonant to the primitive Simplicity of Christians but especially of Church-men There being no Heavenly-minded Ecclesiastick who is thorowly Mortified as to the Blandishments of the Flesh and hath absolutely resigned his Soul to God but useth even these things which are Necessary sparingly and moderately not paying Nature its Tribute without some regret grudging the little time he spends about it and therefore makes haste to get from the Table that he may return to his better Exercises And seeing in imitation of St. Augustine he comes to his Meat as to a Medicine it cannot be presumed that he will cast away much of his precious time in such unedifying Employments but rather after the Example of that Great Conquerour will drive away all curious Cooks and other Artificers of Luxury far from his Habitation And let not any imagine that this Practice of Charity which cannot but interrupt the study of these Persian Arts of Splendour and effeminate Gallantry too much in fashion in this Age shall expose that Sacred Order to Contempt in the eyes of the World Sure the contrary will fall out There being no Person of what Quality soever that hath any tiâ—cture of Christianity within him but will be apt to deferr more internal Respect unto them on that account than can be procured by all these Characters of Honour which the most bountiful Temporal Monarch is pleased to conferr upon them Yea more than so when they accost those Holy Persons in the way they will be ready to alight and beg their Blessing as was usually done to St. Basil of Cappadocia and to our Countrey-man S. Aâ—danus though his Mode of Travelling was no more honourable than that of a 〈◊〉 And that this visible Impress of the Divine Image doth extort Admiration and a reverâ—â—d Esteem from the most virulent Enemies of the Christian Religion may sufficiently appear from that Epistle of Iulian the Apostate to the High Priest of Galatia And it is very observable That the Greatest of this Land who understand the nature of true Nobility are apt to caresse some Presbyters who are of a good Descent and have the repute of Pious Charitable and Learned men and the Discretion to demean themselves handsomly in the company of their Betters as much as any Bishop of them all balking only some Titles and Places in lieu whereof they aâ—â—ord them the more internal Respect in imitation of Monsieur de Renty that excellent French Nobleman who thought it his greatest Worldly Honour to Honour the Clergy And they who are knowing Persons of the Nobility look upon it as no Disparagement to their Grandeur to put Characters of Respect and Signatures of Honour on the worthy Ambassadours of Holy Iesus Remembring Constantine the Great his Kissing the hollow of Paphnutius his Eye because he was a famous Confessor who also used to treat those of the Clergy at his own Table though in the meanest and most despicable Habit which some Reguli in this Age would think it below them to do and the high Respect which Theodosius the Great carried to St. Ambrose Not to speak of Theodosius the Younger S. Lewis of France S. Edward of England called the Confessour and St. David of Scotland with many other Great and Pious Princes and for the Female Sex Placilla the Empress and St. Margaret of Scotland are Examples instar omnium For they caressed all in Holy Orders to the Admiration of the World And though it be very commendable in any great Person as being a great Evidence of true Piety in them to put such Respect upon the Representatives of their Great Masters yet I cannot but condemn the ambitious Affectation of it in any Church-man or a solicitous Desire in any of them to be preferred to the great Officers of State For this vanity they did never learn from him who gave them their Commission if ever they were sent of God For He was meek and lowly in heart and commanded all his Disciples to learn that Document from his Example But if it be objected how then shall a Church-man vindicate himself from Contempt seeing it is their Fate to be sometimes palpably dis-respected The Blessed Gospel is indeed a Bundle of Mysteries and a Complex of innumerable Wonders viz. In the Dispensation of the Incarnation
â—alliate their Simony I shall remit them to the Epistle Dedicatory of D. I. Forbes of Corse before his Tractate upon Simony Where our learned Compatriot with an Holy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 declames most rationally against that Surreptitious Edict which he fitly terms Non Lex sed Labes and though some account it Lex soli yet that it should never be reputed by any Christian to be Lex Poli. If we should amass all the Canons of the Councels and Invectives of the Fathers these alone would amount to no small Volume but lest this Enchiridium swell too much I shall supersede many of them yet the ingenious Reader may find divers of them subjoyned by way of Confirmation to this Article But to shew how detestable that Crime of Simony was in the eyes of the ancient Church and how cautious these Primitive Lights were in that Affair I cannot forbear just now to notice that Canon of the Councel of Ancyra which determined That nothing should be given at the time of Receipt of the Eucharist though under the notion of Charity to the Poor lest any should suspect that Donation to be made for the holy Communion But alack we have reason to fear in this Age that the time is come of the fulfilling of the Prophecy of S. Bernard That Christ will again descend from Heaven and take the whip in his hand and scourge mercenary Priests out of his Temple as formerly he did other kinds of Merchants Which Flagellation too many avaricious Prelates of Rome have good reason to fear for presuming to dispence in this Matter not only with all the ancient Canons but also with the inviolable Law of God by practising various kinds of Simony not fit here to be expressed I am not ignorant of that base Flattery of some Roman Parasites I mean the Sycophantine Canonists who look upon the Pope of Rome as the Lord Paramount on Earth of all the Degrees of Priesthood whence they inferâ— that he cannot commit Simony though he should make Sale of them all because a Lord may lawfully sell his own Which perverse Doctrine as it was well observed so it is most rationally confuted by that moderate and learned Roman Doctor Cl. Espencaeus in his excellent Comment on the Epist. to Tit. to which I remit those base Flatterers for their Castigation And I wish from my heart that some leading men in this Church did not transcribe that Copy of pretended Dispensations If it were so we should not find any of them so impudent as to give it under his Hand that a simple Rebuke is an adequate Punishment unto a Presbyter who is convict of notorious Simony that this least of Censures is an Expedient fit enough to unload the Church of that great Burden of Reproach w ch such a flagrant Scandal had laid upon it But seeing this Oracular Response of Delphi is so diametrically opposite to all the ancient Canons we hence perceive Fortuna quem nimium favet stultum facit 7. In the last place I would tender this humble advice to all the Governours of this Church Seeing they enjoy the Privilege of the Advocation of some Churches that they be exceedingly solicitous to provide Persons for those Vacances that are Pares Negotio and let them be of Alexander the Great his Mind about the Succession whose last words were Detur digniori rather than the more uncertain Testament of Pyrrhus the Epirote who bequeathed all at Random unto him who had the sharpest Sword For if it be otherwayes indifferent Spectators will be apt to pass this Verdict upon it That Bishops are no more concerned with the Interest of the Church than Laicks and that they have drawn them a Copy to present insufficient men But as I hope none of the sacred Order shall in that Race which God hath set before them be found to resemble Atalanta who was diverted from her Course by the three golden Apples of Hippomanes a fit Emblem of the Profits Pleasures and Glory of the World which are a Snare to all and ruine the greatest part of the Sons of men So I should wish that none of them be so blind with natural Affection as to bring a Reproach upon themselves and give Scandal to the Gospel by preferring unworthy Relatives in the Church Perit enim omne judicium saith Seneca cùm res transierit in affectum I cannot deny but if indifferent Persons who have a Faculty of judging such Matters do observe in those a competency of means adapted to the end of their Employment so much Respect may be deferred to a natural Obligation that caeteris paribus they may be preferred for there is a Possibility of erring when they consult not with Flesh and Blood as is evident in civil Matters from Antipater's Mistake in preferring Polyspercon to the Protectorship of Aridaeus though his Son Cassander was found by experience to be the fitter man and that Greek Emperour who mixed the Meal of the Western Christians with Lime when they went to recover the Holy Land from Infidels was recommended to the Imperial Dignity by his dying Father before his elder Brother meerly upon the account of that publick Spirit and Sentiments of Justice which the misjudging Father apprehended to be in him But if the Tie of Nature be the A and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his Recommendation there being scarce any thing else to make the aequilibrium far less to preponderate the Scale but only some grains of homogeneal Blood then let a Church-man remember that in the Cause of God a good Levite regards not his nearest Relations nor doth acknowledge his Brethren And let them trace the Foot-steps of that Holy Groslhead Bishop of Lincoln when one of his Relatives who was but a ground-Labourer heard of Grosthead's Preferment his gross Ignorance and meanness of his former Employment were no Remora to his vain Ambition in desiring to be a Labourer in God's Vineyard But that famous Prelate repelled him with this deserved Sarcasm Cousin said he If you want a Yoke of Oxen I will cause buy them to you if ye are destitute of Seed to sow your Ground I will supply that also or if your Plough be broken I will give you a new one But an Husbandman I found you and an Husband man I leave you Vid. Can. Apost 30. Item Synod Neo-Caesariens Can. 2. Concil Arelatens 3. Can 1. Concil Toletan 4. Can. 19. Concil General 6. Can. 14 15. Concil General 4. Can. 2. Where the Giver the Receiver the Mediator even all that are found to have trucked in that sinful Affair of Simony are condemned to great Censures Yea Can. 3. Concil Bracarens 2. there is an Anathema danti Anathema accipienti Concil Aurelianens 2. Can. 3 4. Concil Avernens Can. 2. Concil Aurelianens 5. Can. 3. Concil Toletan 8. Can. 3. Concil Toletan 2. Can. 8 9. Concil Bracarens 3. Can. 7. Concil Cabilonens Can. 16. sic se habet Nullus Episcopus nec Presbyter
of the Councel of Ancyra and the 13th of the Councel of Neo-Caesarea as also the 10th of the Councel of Antioch In all which the Privilege that is accounted most essential to the Episcopal Function viz. The Power to Ordain Presbyters and Deacons which Ierom supposed to be the only formal Difference betwixt Bishops and Presbyters is denied to the Chor-Episcopi And though it may be objected That the tenth Canon of the Councel of Antioch which is one of the Provincials that was adopted by the sixth General Councel insinuates that the Chor-Episcopi were consecrated as Bishops by the Imposition of the Bishop's hands yet that seems either to be a sophisticated Canon or that it was a Ceremony of particular Designation like to that of the thirteenth of the Acts For it is most certain S. Paul was an Apostle long before that Imposition of Hands Which Gloss upon the Canon appears to me to be most probable because this Provincial was celebrated a little after that Famous Councel of Nice and it is most improbable that they would have contradicted so expressly that great Oecumenical in two Particulars viz. The Ordination of a Bishop by one individual of that Order and the making two Bishops in one Diocess whereas that first General Councel ordains three Bishops at least to concur in the Ordination of a Bishop and appoints but one Bishop in every Diocess The Ignorance of which Canon was a matter of Regret to the great Augustine qui Valerio in Episcopatu Hipponensi non successit sed accessit On which account although he design'd Eradius his own Successor yet he would not have him ordain'd in his own time erit inquit Presbyter ut est quando Deus voluerit futurus Episcopus And though it may be presumed that P. Damasus was not ignorant of that Canon of Antioch if there was truly any such he living so nigh to the time of that Councel yet in his Constitution whereby he endeavours to abolish the Chor-Episcopi which we find in Decr. Gratian. p. 1. Dist. 68. c. Chor-Episc he calls them meer and single Presbyters and that through Pride only they usurped the Episcopal Office and that by virtue of their Ordination they could not exercise any Episcopal Privilege both the Councel of Neo-Caesarea and Damasus ground upon this Foundation That Presbyters succeed only to the 70 Disciples and not to the Apostles But suppose the Foundation on which they build to be a tottering Basis yet we may clearly read so much upon the Frontispiece of that Superstructure That they judged the Chor-Episcopi to be nothing else but Presbyters But as to the Succession the Learned Spalatensis a great Asserter of the Episcopal Privileges judgeth aright that both Bishops and Presbyters are the Apostles Successors in potestate ordinaria but with this difference that the former succeed in plenitudinem potestatis the latter in partem sollicitudinis which in the case of the Chor-Episcopi was a little amplified that Restraint which the Ecclesiastical Law hath laid upon the intrinsecal Power of a Presbyter being taken off For an Ecclesiastick may be impowered jure Sacerdotii to do many things in actu primo even when the exercitium actûs is sitly bound up by the Canons of the Church in order to the eviting of Schism Scandal and Confusion in the House of God which ought to be Domus Ordinata And if that accurate Antiquary Beveregius had well considered this he would not I suppose have so bitingly maintained That the Chor-Episcopi could be nothing else but Bishops Article XIII Mat. 20. 26 27 28. 1 Tim. 5. 1 2. 2 Tim. 2. 24 25. Philem. 8. 9. HAVING but just now mentioned the Honour of the Clergy I would next advise all the Governours of the Church to demean themselves courteously and affably to all their Christian Gentileness and Condescendence being the fittest Machin to scrue out internal Respect from all Ranks of People For nothing commends Church-men so much as a Pious Modesty all Degrees of Persons but especially theirs being like Coins or Medals to which howsoever Virtue give the Stamp and Impression Humility must give the Weight Let not therefore any of them in their Travels towards the Northern Pole use insolent Boastings towards any Person of Honour especially in their own Habitations which ought to be Asyla to all And let them not improve that strange Logick any more as to inferr That some Gentlemen are bigot Fanaticks because they earnestly entreated them to preach on the 29th of May seeing they were upon the Place and the Church was vacant though they were not pleased to do it Or to conclude that they called some other Bishops Cheats Knaves because they wished that all of them were as good and just as their own Ordinary For without all Peradventure one haughty expression of a proud Priest hath a greater Tendency in it to proselyte a far greater number to Fanaticism than twenty uttered by the humblest of them all can bring over to Conformity And let all honest Ministers of the Gospel have a large share of those Acts of Humanity none of which deserve that Title who afford not a due Respect to their Superiours either in Church or State he being most unworthy to command who hath not first learned to obey nothing being more easie than a little Civility And yet an obliging Deportment in reference to the Clergy is a matter of great Importance for the good of the Order For by cherishing all those as Sons and Brethren who are well principled and make Conscience of their Office they insinuate themselves into the Hearts of those who next to the favour of God and of their Prince are indeed the best Support of their Government for as the Excellent Historian hath said Concordiâ res parvae crescunt Discordiâ maximae dilabuntur O! how lovingly as there had been no disparity at all did St. Ignatius Polycarp Irenaeus Cyprian the three Asian Gregories Athanasius Basil Augustin and many other Lights of the Primitive Church converse with their respective Colleges of Presbyters Neither will I ever forget that excellent Attestation of the Pious and Eloquent Bishop Hall deservedly termed the English Seneca who appealed to his own Clergy If his Deportment amongst them were not such as if he had been no more but a Presbyter with them or they all Bishops with him Away then with that invidious expression in reference to Presbyters The Inferiour Clergy though it is one of my Eusticks That all the Governours of our Church were superiour to all their Presbyters in that which is usually termed Clergy But whether that Fantastick Phrase savour more of Pride or Ignorance it can hardly be determined Sure I am in the Primitive Church only Deacons and Sub-Deacons with the rest of the Orders inferiour to them were so accounted As for Presbyters they were called Clerici Superioris loci And though some Popish Schoolmen have multiplyed the Sacred Orders into the number of Nine yet the
the Flock So it should fare with those defenceless Creatures if an Hostile Army should invade a peaceable People living securely without any Fear or Apprehension of such a sudden Deluge Friends and Foes Heterodox and Orthodox Conformist and Non-Conformist would be all overflowed alike the insolent Souldier having no other Eyes to discern but what Nature hath given to all living Creatures betwixt the Faith of an Heretick and the Orthodox save only by their Paleness and Garb. So that they who are accustomed to Rapine almost from their Infancies if they found rich Moveables and easily transportable to their own Countries whether the Owners were rich in the Faith or not they would not concern themselves with that nice Distinction But as it was said of the dayes of Caligula That it was then Crime enough to be rich so all should be Fish that should come in their Net so impartial would these rude Souldiers be And the Emperour would be so far from attaining his End that it would rather harden these deluded People to persist in their Non-Conformity they looking upon themselves as Martyrs at least Confessors for their imaginary Faith the most ignorant among them being at least so intelligent as to understand that this is not the peaceable Method of the Gospel to proselyte any to the Christian Faith but point blank contrary thereunto By which truly zealous Intercession this Devout man at last diverted the Tyrant from that most cruel Design But in fine I shall remit them to the serious Consideration of the State and Practice of the Primitive Church when the Civil Magistrate was no Christian but a Persecuter of that way whose Concurrence they could not expect to their Discipline but rather a violent Opposition thereunto And if any of them seemed to put to their helping hand it was not any Love to the Discipline of the Church but Ragione del ' Stato as the Italians phrase it Thus the Emperour Aurelianus did drive away Paulus Samosatenus that Arch-heretick and Bishop from Antioch but it was out of no Principle of Respect to the Church that he did so for he was accounted one of the Persecuting Emperours but from Reason of State because that proud Heretick was a great Incendiary in that City Let therefore the present Church imitate that excellent Pattern of the Primitive before the Halcyonian day of the great Constantine But if in ordine ad Spiritualia they will needs make their Address to the Secular Magistrate for the Coercion of Delinquents I wish it were rather in the matter of gross Scandal contumaciously persever'd in notwithstanding of the highest Censures of the Church inflicted upon them than of the Sentiments of the Judgment which proceed not the length of unwarrantable Practices For they who are incorrigibly profane are more overawed by the Terror of man than by the Fear of God and much more by the Temporal Sword of the Criminal Judge than by the Spiritual Sword of the Church for habitual Practical Atheists may without breach of Charity be presum'd to be such in Speculation I shall only instance the Profanation of the Lord's Day by Salmon-Fishing there being a vile Pack of brain-sick Hereticks in this Land who allow the Practice of it I am indeed far from pleading for a Judaical Sabbath in this Church But for any who are called Christians to be so employed in the time of God's Solemn Worship must needs be very odious in the Sight of Heaven and exceedingly scandalous in the Eyes of all those who are devoted to a Religious Service Neither find we any such Irregularities tolerated in any Christian Church which passeth not under the name of Barbarous no not in Geneva or Amsterdam I know certainly that this Insolency hath been represented both privately and publickly to the chiefest Governours of this Church and they obtested to implore the Assistance of his Majesties Secret Councel in order to the effectual Suppression of that Scandal as being so reflective upon the present Government but I fear it hath not yet been done for there is neither Bruit nor Fruit of that Address But if the Governours of our Church desire to avoid those bitter Sarcasmes Medice cura teipsum Turpe est Doctori c. De ingratis etiam ingrati queruntur qui non ardet non accendit Si vis me flere c. Which in plain English import that we should wash our own Mouths before we apply Gargarisms to others Or to use our Saviour's Phrase pull out the Beam before thou espy the Mote then let them have a special Care not to be found Profaners of the Lord's Day themselves Which Scandal ' they ought to shun the more solicitously because it was one of the Rocks on which their Predecessours did split if we may believe the verbal Assertion of many living Witnesses and that which a late learned Writer hath consign'd in print Which Reflection should serve at least as a Pharos to prevent all Shipwracks of that nature for the future But how this Beacon hath been observed may be perceived from the ensuing little Story A Bedal of a Country-Church being questioned not long agoe before a Country-Session for bringing home a Burden of Flax on the Lord's Day made this Apology for himself That not many Days before there had been a Bishop in that Village who in his Return from the North where he had been visiting his aged Father of the same Order with himself lodged all Night in the Minister's House though the Incumbent was not at home and not staying to supply that Vacancy travelled many Miles that Day of his Removal which was the Lord's Day with a great Baggage-Horse in his Train whose Burden was far above the Proportion of Flax he had brought home Whence he inferr'd That he thought the Bishops had brought such Carriages in Fashion on the Lord's Day and that he might lawfully imitate them who were the Fathers and Lights of the Church From which blunt but true Story for the poor door-keeper was censured in Publick for all his imaginary Authentick Apology I shall also deduce this Inference That all Church-men should be as vigilant as Dragons over their Conversation in the World that they give not the least Offence unto any that Stumbling-block occasioning the most dangerous Fall which is laid by the imprudent deportment of an Ecclesiastick The Plurality of men being more enclined to live by Examples than by Rules the former being much more obvious to Plebeian heads than the latter besides it hath a secret Magnetical Virtue like the Loadstone it attracts by a Power of which we can give no Account Yea such is the perverseness of humane Nature since that woful Lapse of our first Parents that the generality of men are more prone to follow Evil than to imitate that which is Good But that we may shut up this Point I shall add no more to the Prosecution of Delinquents in Foro Ecclesiastico but only this Wish That the Governours