us lyes not here as it is generally mistaken What Form of Government comes the nearest to Apostolical practice but Whether any one individual form be founded so upon Divine Right that all Ages and Churches are bound unalterably to observe it The clearing up of which by an impartial inquiry into all the grounds produced for it being of so great tendency to an accommodation of our present differences was the only motive which induced me to observe Aristotles wild Politicks of exposing this deformed conception to the entertainment of the wide World And certainly they who have espoused the most the interest of a jus divinum cannot yet but say that if the opinion I maintain be true it doth exceedingly conduce to a present settlement of the differences that are among us For then all parties may retain their different opinions concerning the Primitive form and yet agree and pitch upon a form compounded of all together as the most suitable to the state and condition of the Church of God among us That so the peoples interest be secured by consent and suffrage which is the pretence of the congregational way the due power of Presbyteries asserted by their joynt-concurrence with the Bishop as is laid down in that excellent model of the late incomparable Primate of Armagh and the just honour and dignity of the Bishop asserted as a very laudable and ancient constitution for preserving the Peace and Unity of the Church of God So the Learned Is. Casaubon describes the Polity of the Primitive Church Episcopi in singulis Ecclesiis constituti cum suis Prebyteriis propriam sibi quisque peculiari cura universam omnes in commune curantes admirabilis cujusdam Aristocraâ—iae speciem referebant My main design throughout this whole â—reatise is to shew that there can be no argument drawn from any pretence of a Divine Right that may hinder men from consenting and yielding to such a form of Government in the Church as may bear the greatest correspondency to the Primitive Church and be most advantagiously conduceable to the peace unity and settlement of our divided Church I plead not at all for any abuses or corruptions incident to the best form of Government through the corruption of men and times Nay I dare not harbour so low apprehensions of persons enjoying so great dignity and honour in the Church that they will in any wise be unwilling of themselves to reduce the Form of Church Government among us to its Primitive state and order by retrenching all Exorbitances of Power and restoring those Presbyteries which no law hath forbidden but onely through disuse have been laid aside Whereby they will give to the world that rare example of self-denial and the highest Christian prudence as may raise an honourable opinion of them even among those who have hitherto the most slighted so ancient and venerable an Order in the Church of God and thereby become the repairers of those otherwise irreparable breaches in the Church of God I conclude with the words of a late learned pious and moderate Prelate in his Via media I have done and now I make no other account but that it will fall out with me as it doth commonly with him that offers to part a fray both parts will perhaps drive at me for wishing them no worse than peace My ambition of the publike tranquillity shall willingly carry me through this hazzard let both beat me so their quarrel may cease I shall rejoyce in those blows and scars which I shall take for the Churches safety The Contents of the Chapters PART I. CHAP. I. THings necessary for the Churches peace must be clearly revealed The Form of Government not so as appears by the remaining controversie about it An evidence thence that Christ never intended any one Form as the only means to peace in the Church The Nature of a divine Right discussed Right in general either makes things lawful or else due For the former a non-prohibition sufficient the latter an express command Duty supposeth Legislation and promulgation The Question stated Nothing binds unalterably but by vertue of a standing Law and that two fold The Law of Nature and positive Lawes of God Three wayes to know when Positive Lawes are unalterable The Divine right arising from Scripture-examples divine acts and divine approbation considered p. 1. CHAP. II. SIX Hypotheses laid down as the basis of the following Discourse 1. The irreversible Obligation of the Law of Nature either by humane or divine positive Lawes in things immediately flowing from it 2. Things agreeable to the Law of nature may be lawfully practised in the Church of God inlarged into five subservient Propositions 3. Divine positive Lawes conâ—erning the manner of the thing whose substance is determined by the Law of nature must be obeyed by vertue of the obligation of the natural Law 4. Things undetermined both by the natural and positive laws of God may be lawfully determin'd by the supream authority in the Church of God The Magistrates power in matters of Religion largely asserted and cleared The nature of Indifferency in actions stated Matters of Christian liberty are subject to restraints largely proved Proposals for accommodation as to matters of Indifferency 5. What is thus determined by lawful authority doth bind the Consciences of men subject to that authority to obedience to those determinations 6. Things thus determined by lawful authority are not thereby made unalterable but may be revoked limited and changed by the same authority p. 27 CHAP. III. HOW far Church Government is founded upon the Law of nature Two things in it founded thereon 1. That there must be a Society of men for the Worship of God 2. That this Society be governed in the most convenient manner A Society for Worship manifested Gen 4. 26. considered The Sons of God and the sons of men who Societies for worship among Heathens evidenced by three things 1. Solemnity of Sacrifices sacrificing how far natural The antiquity of the Feast of first-fruits largely discovered 2. The Original of Festivals for the honour of their Deities 3. The sâ—crecy and solemnity of their mysteries This further proved from mans sociable nature the improvement of it by Religion the honour redounding to God by such a Society for his Worship p. 72 CHAP. IV. THE second thing the Law of Nature dictates that this Society be maintained and governed in the most convenient manner A further inquiry what particular Orders for Government in the Church come from the Law of Nature Six laid down and evidenced to be from thence First a distinction of some persons and their superiority over others both in power and order cleared to be from the Law of Nature The power and application of the power distinguished this latter not from any Law of Nature binding but permissive therefore may be restrained Peoples right of chosing Pastors considered Order distinguished from the form and manner of Government the former Natural the other not The
far Church Government is founded upon the Law of Nature Two things in it founded thereon 1. That there must be a Society of men for the Worship of God 2. That this Society be governed in the most convenient manner A Society for Worship manifested Gen. 4. 26. considered The Sons of God and the Sons of Men who Societies for Worship among Heathens evidenced by three things 1. Solemnity of Sacrifices Sacrificing how far Natural the antiquity of the Feast of first-fruits largely discovered 2. The Original of Festivals for the Honour of their Deities 3. The Secrecy and Solemnity of their Mysteries This further proved from Mans Sociable Nature the improvement of it by Religion the Honor redounding to God by such a Society for his Worship HAving now laid our Foundation we proceed to raise a superstructure upon it And we now come closely to inquire how far Government in the Church is founded upon an unalterable Divine Right That we have found to be built upon a double Foundation the Dictates of the Law of Nature and Divine Positive Laws We shall impartially inquire into both of them and see how far Church-Government is setled upon either of these two I begin then with the Law of Nature Two general things I conceive are of an unalterable Divine Right in reference to this First That there be a Society and joyning together of men for the Worship of God Secondly That this Society be governed preserved and maintained in a most convenient manner First That there must be a Society of men joyning together for the Worship of God For the Dictate of Nature being common to all that God must be served Nature requires some kind of Mutual Society for the joynt performance of their common duties An Evidence of which Dictate of Nature appears in the first mention we find of any Publick Society so that a Society for Religious Worship was as ancient as the first Civil Societies we have any Records of Nay the very first Publick Society we read of was gathered upon this account For we read in the early days of the world that the Charter for this Society was soon made use of Gen. 4. 26. In the days of Enosh men began to call upon the Name of the Lord. Now Enosh was Seths Son whom Adam had given to him in the place of Abel and assoon as the number of men did increase that men grew into Societies they then had their publike societies for Gods Worship For we cannot understand that place absolutely as though God had not been called on before but now he was called on more signally and solemnly when men were increased that they began to imbody themselves into Societies Coepit congregare populum ad tractandum simul Dei cuâ—tum saith Pererius Tunc coeptum est populariter coli Deus Mariana Invocare i. e. palam colere Emanuel Sa. relating all to the publike societies being then gathered for the worship of the true God From which time in all probability did commence that Title of those who joyned in those societies that they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sons of God which we read of soon after Gen. 6. 2. as they are distinguished from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sons of men which Titles as I am far from understanding in the sense of the Fathers taking them for the Angels which in likely-hood they took from that supposititious piece going under the name of Enochs Prophesie so I cannot understand them as commonly they are taken for meer discretive Titles of the posterity of Seth and Cain as though all that came of Seth were the Sons of God and all of Cain were the sons of men For as there certainly were many bad of Seths Posterity because the flood destroyed all of them Noah only and his Family excepted so there might be some good of the other vice being no more entaâ—ld then vertue is and Jewels may sometimes lye in a heap of dung and so this name of the sons of God might be appropriated to those who joyned themselves to those Societies for Gods worship In which sense some understand the very words of the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then began men to be called by the Name of the Lord which I suppose is the sense of Aquila who thus renders the place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 although it be brought by Dionys. Vossius to justifie the former interpretation of the words This sense if the construction of the words will bear it which Drusius questions but others are much for it and Theodoret The French and Piscator so render it seems most genuine and natural and not at all impugning what I have formerly gathered from the words but implying it For this distinction of Names and Titles did argue a distinction of Societies among them I am not ignorant that the generality of Jewish Expositors and many of their followers do carry the sense of the words quite another way from the ambiguity of the signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which may be interpreted as well to Prophane as Begin and so they read it tunc prophanatum est ad invocandum nomen Domini Then men prophaned the Name of the Lord And accordingly Maimonides begins Idolatry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the dayes of Enosh But the words will scarce bear this construction as Vossius upon him observes and besides there is no mention at all of the name of any false Gods but only of the true one So much then for the first originall of this Society for Religion which we see began assoon as there was matter for a Society to be gathered up of Some indeed derive this Society a great deal higher and because we read that Abel and Cain brought their sacrifices they thence infer that it was to Adam who was the publike Priest then and performed all publike duties of worship in his own person and so was indeed Occumenicall Bishop of the whole world and yet had but four persons or but few more for his Charge Such a Diocess we might be content to allow him that pleads for the same Office and derives his Title somewhat higher then Adam For Pope Boniface the eighth proved there must be but one chief Priest and so one Pope because it is said Gen. 1. 1. That God created the world in Principio not in Principiis mark the number therefore there must be but one beginning and so one Bishop and not many What excellent Disputants an Infallible Chair makes men Much good may his argument do him As a further evidence How much Nature dictates that such a Society there should be for Divine Worship we shall inquire into the practise of men in their dispersion after the Flood And what we find unanimously continued among them under such gross Idolatry as they were given to and which did arise not from their Idolatry as such but from the general nature of it as a kind of
is sufficient It is not against Gods Law but contrary they ought in dede so to doe and there be historyes that witnesseth that some Christien Princes and other Lay men unconsecrate have done the same It is not forbidden by God's Law A Bishop or a Priest by the Scripture is neither commanded nor forbidden to excommunicate But where the Lawes of any Region giveth him authoritie to excommunicate there they ought to use the same in such crymes as the Lawes have such authority in And where the Lawes of the Region forbiddeth them there they have none authority at all And thei that be no Priests may alsoe excommunicate if the Law allow thereunto Thus faâ— that excellent Person in whose judgment nothing is more clear then his ascribing the particular Form of Government in the Church to the determination of the Supreme Magistrate This judgement of his is thus subscribed by him with his own hand T. Cantuariens This is mine opinion and sentence at this present which I do not temerariously define but do remit the judgment thereof holly to your Majesty Which I have exactly transcribed out of the Original and have observed generally the Form of writing at that time used In the same M S. it appears that the Bishop of S. Asaph Therleby Redman and Cox were all of the same Opinion with the Archbishop that at first Bishops and Presbyters were the same and the two latter expresly cite the Opinion of Ierome with approbation Thus we see by the Testimony chiefly of him who was instrumental in our Reformation that he owned not Episcopacy as a distinct order from Presbytery of divine Right but only as a prudent constitution of the Civil Magistrate fâ—r the better governing in the Church We now proceed to the re-establishment of church-Church-Government under our most happy Queen Elizabeth After our Reformation had truly undergone the fiery trial in Queen Maries dayes and by those flames was made much more refined and pure as well as splendid and Illustrious In the articles of Religion agreed upon our English Form of church-Church-Government was onely determined to be agreeable to Gods Holy Word which had been a very low and diminishing expression had they looked on it as absolutely prescribed and determined in Scripture aâ— the onely necessary Form to be observed in the Church The first who solemnly appeared in Vindication of the English Hierarchy was Archbishop Whiâ—giâ—t a sage and prudent person whom we cannot suppose either ignorant of the Sense of the Church of England or afraid or unwilling to defend it Yet he frequently against Cartwrightâ—sserts â—sserts that the Form of Discipline is not particularly and by name set down in Scripture and again No kind of Government is expressed in the Word or can necessarily be concluded from thence which he repeats over again No Form of Church-Government is by the Scriptures prescribed to or commanded the Church of God And so Doctor Cosins his Chancellor in Answer to the Abstract All Churches have not the same Form of Discipline neither is it necessary that they should seeing it cannot be proved that any certain particular Form of Church-Government is commended to us by the Word of God To the same purpose Doctor Low Complaint of the Church No certain Form of Government is prescribed in the Word onely general Rules laid down for it Bishop Bridges God hath not expressed the Form of Church-Government at least not so as to bind us to it They who please but to consult the third book of Learned and Judicious Master Hookers Ecclesiastical Polity may see the mutability of the Form of Church-Government largely asserted and fully proved Yea this is so plain and evident to have been the chief opinion of the Divines of the Church of England that Parker looks on it as one of the main foundations of the Hierarchy and sets himself might and main to oppose it but with what success we have already seen If we come lower to the time of King Iames His Majesty himself declared it in Print as his judgment Christiano cuique Regi Principi ac Rèipublicae concessum externam in rebus Ecclesiasticis regiminis formam suis prascribere quae ad civilis administrationis formam quà m proximè accedat That the Civil power in any Nation hath the right of prescribing what external Form of Church Government it please which doth most agree to the Civil Form of Government in the State Doctor Sutcliffe de Presbyterio largely disputes against those who assert that Christ hath laid down certain immutable Lawes for Government in the Church Crakanthorp against Spalatensis doth assert the mutability of such things as are founded upon Apostolical Tradition Traditum igitur ab Apostolis sed traditum mutabile pro usu ac arbitrio Ecclesiae mutandum To the like purpose speak the forecited Authours as their Testimonies are extant in Parker Bishop Bridges Num unumquodque exemplum Ecclesiae Primitivae praeceptum aut mandatum faciat And again Forte rerum nonnullarum in Primitiva Ecclesia exemplum aliquod ostendere possunt sed nec id ipsum generale nec ejusdem perpetuam regulam aliquam quae omnes ecclesias aetates omnes ad illud exemplum astringat So Archbishop Whitgift Ex facto aut exemplo legem facere iniquúm est Nunquam licet inquit Zuinglius à facto ad jus argumentari By which Principles the Divine right of Episcopacy as founded upon Apostolical practice is quite subverted and destroyed To come nearer to our own unhappy times Not long before the breaking forth of those never sufficiently to be lamented Intestine broyls we have the judgement of two Learned Judicious rational Authours fully discovered as to the point in Question The first is that incomparable man Master Hales in his often cited Tract of Schism whose words are these But that other head of Episcopal Ambition concerning Supremacy of Bishops in divers See's one claiming Supremacy over another as is hath been from time to time a great Trespass against the Churches peace so it is now the final ruine of it The East and West through the fury of the two prime Bishops being irremediably separated without all hope of Reconcilement And besides all this mischief it is founded on a Vice contrary to all Christian Humility without which no Man shall see his Saviour For they doe but abase themselves and others that would perswade us that Bishops by Christs Institution have any Superiority over men further then of Reverence or that any Bishop is Superiour to another further then Positive Order agreed upon among Christians hath prescribed For we have believed him that hath told us that in Iesus Christ there is neither high nor low and that in giving Honour every Man should be ready to preferre another before himself Which saying cuts off all claim certainly of Superiority by Title of Christianity except Men think that these things were spoken
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they consume the fomes morbi the root of the distemper by their serious endeavours after peace and holiness But instead of this the generality of men let all their Religion run up into Bryers and Thorns into Contentions and Parties as though Religion were indeed sacramentum militiae but more against fellow-Christians then the unquestionable hinderances of mens Eternal Happiness Men being very loath to put themselves to the trouble of a Holy Life are very ready to embrace any thing which may but dispense with that and if but listing mens selves under such a party may but shelter them under a disguise of Religion none more ready then such to be known by distinguishing names none more zealous in the defence of every tittle and punctilio that lies most remote from those essential duties wherein the Kingdome of God consists viz. Righteousness and Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost And hence all the several parties among us have given such glorious names onely to the outward Government of the Church the undoubted practise of the Apostles the Discipline of Christ the order of the Gospel and account onely that the Church where their own method of Government is observed just as the Historian observes of Brutus and Cassius Ubicunque ipsi essent praetexentes esse Rempublicam they think the Church can never be preserved but in that Vâ—ssel they are imbarked in As though Christ could not have caused his flock to rest sub Meridie unless the Pars Donati had been in the South And from this Monopolizing of Churches to parties hath proceeded that strange uncharitableness towards all who come not up to every circumstance of their way and method which is a piece of Prudence like that of Brutus who when he had raised those flames in the Common-wealth was continually calling Caesar Tyrant Ita enim appellari Caesarem facto ejus expediebat So when men have caused such lamentable Divisions in the Church by their several parties and factions it concerns them to condemn all others beside themselves leâ—t they most of all condemn themselves for making unnecessary Divisions in the Church of God This uncharitableness and ill opinion of all different parties onely gathers the fuel together and prepares combustible matter which wants nothing but the clashing of an adverse party acted upon Principles of a like Nature to make it break out into an open flame And such we have seen and with sadness and grief of heart felt it to be in the Bowels of our own Church and Nation by reason of those violent Calentures and Paroxysms of the spirits of men those heart-burnings and contentions which have been among us which will require both time and skill to purge out those noxious humours which have been the causes of them I know no prescriptions so likely to effect this happy end as an Infusion of the true spirits of Religion and the Revulsion of that extravasated blood into its proper channels Thereby to take men off from their eâ—ger pursuit after wayes and parties Nations and Opinions wherein many have run so far that they have left the best part of their Religion behind them and to bring them back to a right understanding of the nature design and principles of Christianity Christianity a Religion which it is next to a miracle men should ever quarrel or fall out about much less that it should be the occasion or at least the pretence of all that strife and bitterness of spirit of all those comentions and animosities which are at this day in the Christian World But our onely comfort is that whatever our spirits are our God is the God of peace our Saviour is the Prince of peace and that Wisdome which this Religion teacheth is both pure and peaceable It was that which once made our Religion so amiable in the judgement of imrartial heathens that nil nisi justum suadet lene the Court of a Christians Conscience was the best Court of Equity in the world Christians were once known by their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bâ—nignity and sweetness of their disposition by the Candour and Ingenuity of their spirits by their mutual love forbearance and condescension towards one another But Aut hoc non est Evangelium aut nos non sumus Evangelici Either this is not the practice of Christianity or it was never calculated for our Meridian wherein mens spirits are of too high an elevation for it If pride and uncharitableness if divisions and strifes if wrath and envy if animosities and contâ—ntions were but the marks oâ— true Christians Diogenesâ—â—â—â—er â—â—â—â—er need light his Lamp at noon to find out such among us But if a Spirit of meekness gentleness and condescension if a stooping to the weakness and infirmities of others if a pursuit after peace even when it flies from us be the indispensable duties and the characteristical notes of those that have more then the name of Christians it may possibly prove a difficult inquest to find out such for the crouds of those who shelter themselves under that glorious name Whence came it else to be so lately looked on as the way to advance Religion to banish Peace and to reform mens manners by taking away their lives whereas in those pure and primitive times when Religion did truly flourish it was accounted the greatest instance of the piety of Christians not to fight but to dye for Christ. It was never thought then that Bellona was a nursing Mother to the Church of God nor Mars a God of Reformation Religion was then propagated not by Christians shedding the blood of others but by laying down their own They thought there were other wayes to a Canaan of Reformation besides the passing through a Wilderness of Confusion and a red Sea of blood Origen could say of the Christians in his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They had not yet learnt to make way for Religion into mens mind by the dint of the sword because they were the Disciples of that Saviour who never pressed Followers as men do Soldiers but said If any man will come after me let him take up his Cross not his sword and follow me His was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his very commands shewed his meekness his Laws were sweet and gentle Laws not like Draco's that were writ in blood unless it were his own that gave them His design was to ease men of their former burdens and not to lay on more the duties be required were no other but such as were necessary and withall very just and reasonable He that came to take away the insupportable yoke of Iewish Ceremonies certainly did never intend to gall the necks of his Disciples with another instead of it And it would be strange the Church should require more then Christ himself did and make other conditions of her Communion then our Saviour did of Discipleship What possible reason can be assigned or given why such things should not be
sufficient for Communion with a Church which are sufficient for eternal salvation And certainly those things are sufficient for that which are laid down as the necessary duties of Christianity by our Lord and Saviour in his Word What ground can there be why Christians should not stand upon the same terms now which they did in the time of Christ and his Apostles Was not Religion sufficiently guarded and fenced in them Was there ever more true and cordial Reverence in the Worship of God What Charter hath Christ given the Church to bind men up to more then himself hath done or to exclude those from her Society who may be admitted into Heaven Will Christ ever thank men at the great day for keeping such out from Communion with his Church whom he will vouchsafe not onely Crowns of Glory to but it may be aureolae too if there be any such things there The grand Commission the Apostles were sent out with was onely to teach what Christ had commanded them Not the least intimation of any Power given them to impose or require any thing beyond what himself had spoken to them or they were directed to by the immediate guidance of the Spirit of God It is not Whether the things commanded and required be lawfull or no It is not Whether indifferencies may be determined or no It is not How far Christians are bound to submit to a restraint of their Christian liberty which I now inquire after of those things in the Treatise its self but Whether they do consult for the Churches peace and unity who suspend it upon such things How far either the example of our Saviour or his Apostles doth warrant such rigorous impositions We never read the Apostles making Lawes but of things supposed necessary When the Councel of Apostles met at Ierusalem for deciding a Case that disturbed the Churches peace we see they would lay no other burden 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides these necessary things Acts 15. 29. It was not enough with them that the things would be necessary when they had required them but they looked on an antecedent necessity either absolute or for the present state which was the onely ground of their imposing those commands upon the Gentile-Christians There were after this great diversities of practice and varieties of Observations among Christians but the Holy Ghost never thought those things fit to be made matters of Lawes to which all parties should conform All that the Apostles required as to these was mutuall forbearance and condescension towards each other in them The Apostles valued not indifferencies at all and those things it is evident they accounted such which whether men did them or not was not of concernment to Salvation And what reason is there why men should be so strictly tied up to such things which they may do or let alone and yet be very good Christians still Without all Controversie the main in-let of all the Distractions Confusions and Divisions of the Christian World hath been by adding other conditions of Church-Communion then Christ hath done Had the Church of Rome never taken upon her to add to the Rule of Faith nor imposed Idolatrous and superstitious practises all the injury she had done her self had been to have avoyded that fearful Schisme which she hath caused throughout the Christian World Would there ever be the less peace and unity in a Church if a diversity were allowed as to practices supposed indifferent yea there would be so much more as there was a mutual forbearance and condiscension as to such things The Unity of the Church is an Unity of love and affection and not a bare uniformity of practice or opinion This latter is extreamly desireable in a Church but as long as there are several ranks and sizes of men in it very hardly attainable because of the different perswasions of mens minds as to the lawfulness of the things required and it is no commendation for a Christian to have only the civility of Procrustes to commensurate all other men to the bed of his own humour and opinion There is nothing the Primitive Church deserves greater imitation by us in then in that admirable temper moderation and condescension which was used in it towards all the members of it It was never thought worth the while to make any standing Laws for Rites and Customs that had no other Original but Tradition much less to suspend men her his communion for not observing them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Sozomen tells us They judged it and that very justly a foolish and frivolous thing for those that agree in the weighty matters of Religion to separate from one anothers communion for the sake of some petty Customs and Observations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For Churches agreeing in the same Faith often differ in their Rites and Customes And that not only in different Churches but in different places belonging to the same Church for as he tells us many Cities and Villages in Egypt not onely differed from the Customes of the Mother-Church of Alexandria but from all other Churches besides in their publick Assemblies on the Evenings of the Sabbath and receiving the Eucharist after dinner This admirable temper in the Primitive Church might be largely cleared from that liberty they allowed freely to dissenters from them in matters of practice and opinion as might be cleared from Cyprian Austine Ierome and others but that would exceed the bounds of a Preface The first who brake this Order in the Church were the Arrians Donatists and Circumcellians while the true Church was still known by his pristine Moderation and sweetness of deportment towards all its members The same we hope may remain as the most infallible evidence of the conformity of our Church of England to the Primitive not so much in using the same rites that were in use then as in not imposing them but leaving men to be won by the observing the true decency and order of Churches whereby those who act upon a true Principle of Christian ingenuity may be sooner drawn to a complyance in all lawfull things then by force and rigorous impositions which make men suspect the weight of the thing it self when such force is used to make it enter In the mean time what cause have we to rejoyce that Almighty God hath been pleased to restore us a Prince of that excellent Prudence and Moderation who hath so lately given assurance to the World of his great indulgence towards all that have any pretence from Conscience to differ with their Brethren The onely thing then seeming to retard our peace is the Controversie about Church-Government an unhappy Controversie to us in England if ever there were any in the World And the more unhappy in that our contentions about it have been so great and yet so few of the multitudes engaged in it that have truly understood the matter they have so eagerly contended about For the state of the controversie as it concerns
Scripture its self as to places for as far as we can find sacrificing in high places that is such as were of mens own appointment was lawful till the Temple was built by Solomon as appears by the several examples of Gedeon Samuel David and others Indeed after the place was setled by Gods own Law it became wholly sinfull but if so before we should not have read of Gods accepting sacrifices in such places as he did Gedeons nor of the Prophets doing it as Samuel and David did It is a disputable case about Sacrifices Whether the offering of them came only from natural light or from some express command the latter seems far more probable to me because I cannot see how naturall light should any wise dictate that God would accept of the blood of other creatures as a token of mans obedience to himself And Rivet gives this very good reason why the destruction of any thing in sacrifice cannot belong to the Law of Nature because it is only acceptable as a sign and token of obedience and not simply as an act of obedience and this sign signifying ex instituto for mans destroying the life of a beast can never naturally signifie mans obedience to God and therefore it must have some positive Law for those which signifie only by institution and not naturally cannot be referred to a dictate of the Law of Nature To which purpose it is further observable that God doth so often in Scripâ—ure slight the offering of Sacrifices in respect of any inherent vertue or goodnesse in the action its self or acceptablenesse to God upon the account of the thing done In which sense God saith He that killeth a bullock is as if he slew a man and he that Sacrificeth a sheep as if he cut off a dogs neck c. For what is there more in the one then in the other but only Gods appointment which makes one acceptable and not the other So that it is no wayes probable that God would have accepted Abels sacrifice rather then Cains had there been no command for their sacrificing For as to meer natural light Cains Sacrifice seems more agreeable to that then Abels Cains being an Eucharistical offering without hurt to other creatures but Abels was cruentum Sacrificium a Sacrifice of blood But the chief ground of Abels acceptance was his offering in faith as the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us Now saith is a higher principle then natural light and must suppose divine Revelation and so a divine Command as the Principle and ground of his action Moses his silence in reference to a Command is no argument there was none it not being his design to write at large all the particular precepts of the Orall Law but to deduce the Genealogy of the Patriarchs down from Adam and the Creation But supposing a Command given from God determining modes and circumstances of such â—hings of which the substance depends on a natural Law men are as well bound to the observation of them after their revelation as the other before The one being a Testimony of their obedience to God as clear and full as the other yes and so much the clearer evidence of obedience in that there could be no argument for the performing of those things but a divine Command And even in doing things intrinsecally good the ground of purely religious obedience is because God commands men to do those things more then that they are good in themselves Doing a thing because most suitable to nature speaking morality but doing because God commands it speaks true Religion and the obedience of Faith For as the formal reason of the act of Faith is a divine Testimony discovered to our understandings so the formal principle of an act of spiritual obedience is a divine Command inclining the will and awing it to performance So far then as divine Law determines things we are bound to observe them from the dictates of the natural Law The fourth Hypothesis In things which are determined both by the Law of Nature and divine positive Laws as to the substance and morality of them but not determined as to all circumstances belonging to them it is in the power of Lawful authority in the Church of God to determine them so far as they judge them tend to the promoting the performance of them in due manner So that not only matters wholly left at liberty as to the substance of them are subject to humane Laws and Constitutions but even things commanded in the divine Law in reference to the manner of performance if undetermined by the same Law which enforce the duty Thus the setting apart some time for Gods Worship is a dictate of the natural Law that the first day of the week be that time is determin'd under the Gospel but in what places at what hours in what order decency and solemnity this Worship shall be then performed are circumstances not determined in Scripture but only by general Rules as to these then so they be done in conformity to those Rules they are subject to humane positive determinations But this is not an hypothesis in the Age we live in to be taken for granted without proving it some denying the Magistrate any power at all in matters of Religion others granting a defensive protective power of that Religion which is professed according to the Laws of Christ but denying any determining power in the Magistrate concerning things left undetermin'd by the Scripture This Hypothesis then hath landed me into a Field of Controversie wherein I shall not so much strive to make my way through any opposite party as endeavour to beget a right understanding between the adverse parties in order to a mutual compliance which I shall the rather do because if any Controversie hath been an increaser and fomenter of heart-burnings and divisions among us it hath been about the determination of indifferent things And which seems strange the things men can least bear with one another in are matters of liberty and those things men have divided most upon have been matters of uniformity and wherein they have differed most have been pretended things of Indifferency In order then to laying a foundation for peace and union I shall calmly debate what power the Magistrate hath in matters of Religion and how far that power doth extend in determining things left undetermin'd by the Word For the clear understanding the first of these we shall make our passage open to it by the laying down several necessâ—ry distinctions about it the want of considering which hath been the ground of the great confusion in the handling this Controversie First then we must distinguish between a power respecting Religion in its self and a power concerning Religion as it is the publick owned and professed Religion of a Nation For although the Magistrate hath no proper power over Religion in its self either taking it abstractly for the Rule of Worship or concretely
for the internal acts of Worship for he can neither add to that Rule nor dissolve the obligation of it nor yet can he force the consciences of men the chief seat of Religion it being both contrary to the nature of Religion its self which is a matter of the greatest freedom and internal liberty and it being quite out of the reach of the Magistrates Laws which respect only external actions as their proper object for the obligation of any Law can extend no further then the jurisdiction and authority of the Legislator which among men is only to the outward actions But then if we consider Religion as it is publikely owned and professed by a Nation the supreme Magistrate is bound by vertue of his office and authority not only to defend and protect it but to restrain men from acting any thing publikely tending to the subversion of it So that the plea for liberty of conscience as it tends to restrain the Magistrates power iâ— both irrationall and impertinent because liberty of conscience is the liberty of mens judgements which the Magistrate cannot deprive them of For men may hold what opinions they will in their minds the Law takes no cognizance of them but it is the liberty of practice and venting and broaching those opinions which the Magistrates power extends to the restraint of And he that hath the care of the publike good may give liberty to and restrain liberty from men as they act in order to the promoting of that good And as a liberty of all opinions tends manifestly to the subverting a Nations peace and to the embroyling it into continual confusions a Magistrate cannot discharge his office unlesse he hath power to restrain such a liberty Therefore we find plainly in Scripture that God imputes the increase and impunity of Idolatry as well as other vices to the want of a lawful Magistracy Iudges 17. 5 6. where the account given of Micahs Idolatry was because there was no King in Israel which implies it to be the care and duty of Magistrates to punish and restrain whatever tends to the opposing and subverting the true Religion Besides I cannot find any reason pleaded against the Magistrates power now which would not have held under David Solomon Asa Iehosophat Hezekias Iosias or other Kings of the Jews who asserted the publike profession to the extirpation to what opposed it For the plea of Conscience taken for mens judgements going contrary to what is publikely owned as Religion it is indifferently calculated for all Meridians and will serve for a Religion of any elevation Nay stiff and contumacious Infidels or Idolaters may plead as highly though not so truly as any that it goes against their judgements or their conscience to own that Religion which is established by authority If it be lawfull then to restrain such notwithstanding this pretence why not others whose doctrine and principles the Magistrate judgeth to tend in their degree though not so highly to the dishonouring God and subverting the profession entertained in a Nation For a mans own certainty and confidence that he is in the right can have no influence upon the Magistrate judging otherwise only if it be true it wil afford him the greater comfort and patience under his restraint which was the case of the primitive Christians under persecutions The Magistrate then is bound to defend protect and maintain the Religion he owns as true and that by vertue of his office as he is Custos utriusque tabulae The maintainer of the honour of Gods Laws which cannot be if he suffer those of the first Table to be broken without any notice taken of them Were it not for this power of Magistrates under the Gospel how could that promise be ever made good that Kings shall be nursing Fathers to the Church of God unlesse they mean such Nursing Fathers as Astyages was to Cyrus or Amulius to Romulus and Remus who exposed their nurslings to the Fury of wild Beasts to be devoured by them For so must a Magistrate do the Church unlesse he secure it from the incursion of Hereticks and the inundation of Seducers But so much for that which is more largely asserted and proved by others The Magistrate then hath power concerning Religion as owned in a Nation Secondly We must distinguish between an external and objective power about matters of Religion and an internal formal power which some call an Imperative and Elicitive power others a power of Order and a power of Jurisdiction others potestas Ecclesiastica and potestas circa Ecclesiastica or in the old distinction of Constantine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a power of things within and without the Church the sense of all is the same though the terms differ The internal formal Elicitive power of Order concerning things in the Church lies in authoritative exercise of the Ministerial Function in preaching the Word and administration of Sacraments but the external objective Imperative power of Jurisdiction concerning the matters of the Church lies in a due care and provision for the defence protection and propagation of Religion The former is only proper to the Ministry the latter to the Supreme Magistracy For though the Magistrate hath so much power about Religion yet he is not to usurp the Ministerial Function nor to do any proper acts belonging to it To which the instance of Uzzias is pertinently applied But then this takes nothing off from the Magistrates power for it belongs not to the Magistrate imperata facere but imperare facienda as Grotius truly observes not to do the things commanded but to command the things to be done From this distinction we may easily understand and resolve that so much vexed and intricate Question concerning the mutual subordination of the Civil and Ecclesiastical power For as Peter Martyr well observes these two powers are some wayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are conversant several wayes about the same thing but the Functions of both of them must be distinguished For the Pastors of the Church are not to administer Justice but it is their duty to declare how Justice should be rightly administred without partiality or oppression So on the other side the Magistrate must not preach the Gospel nor administer Sacraments but however must take care that these be duly done by â—hose to whose Function it belongs But for a clearer making it appear these things are to be considered both in a Magistrate and Minister of the Gospel In a Magistrate the Power it self and the Person bearing that Power The power it self of the Magistrate is no ways subordinate to the Power of the Ministry Indeed if we consider both Powers in reference to their objects and ends there may be an inferiority of Dignity as Chamier calls it in the civil power to the other considered abstractly but considering it concretely as lodged in the persons there is an inferiority of Subjection in the Ecclesiastical to the Civil But still the person
of the Magistrate though he is not subject to the power of the Ministers yet both as a Christian and as a Magistrate he is subject to the Word of God and is to be guided by that in the Administration of his Function So on the other side in a Minister of the Gospel there are these things considerable the Object of his Function the Function its self the Liberty of exercising it and the Person who doth exercise it As for the Object of this Function the Word and Sacraments these are not subject to the Civil Power being setled by a Law of Christ but then for the Function its self that may be considered either in the Derivation of it or in the Administration of it As for the derivation of the power and authority of the Function that is from Christ who hath setled and provided by Law that there shall be such a standing Function to the end of the world with such authority belonging to it But for the Administration of the Function two things belong to the Magistrate First to provide and take care for due administration of it anâ— to see that the Ministers preach the true Doctrine though he cannot lawfully forbid the true Doctrine to be taught and that they duly administer the Sacraments though he cannot command them to administer them otherwise then Christ hath delivered them down to us This for due Administration Secondly in case of male-administration of his Function or scandal rendring him unfit for it it is in the Magistrates power if not formally to depose yet to deprive them of the liberty of ever exercising their Function within his Dominions as Solomâ—n did Abiathar and Iustinian Sylverius as Constantius did Vigilius For the liberty of exercise of the Function is in the Magistrates power though a right to exercise it be derived from the same power from which the Authority belonging to the Function was conveyed And then lastly as to the persons exercising this Function it is evident As they are members of a Civil Society as well as others so they are subject to the same Civil Laws as others are Which as it is expresly affirmed by Chrysostom on Rom. 13. 1. Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers that is saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be he an Apostle Evangelist Prophet Priest Monk be he who he will So it is fully largely irrefragably proved by our Writers against the Papists especially by the learned Is. Casaubon in his piece de libertate Ecclesiasticâ So then we see what a fair amicable and mutual aspect these two powers have one upon another when rightly understood being far from clashing one with the other either by a subjection of the Civil Power to the Ecclesiastical or the Civil powers swallowing up and devouring the peculiarity of the Ministerial Function And upon these grounds I suppose Beza and Erastus may as to this shake hands So that the Magistrate do not usurp the Ministerial Function which Videlius calls Papatus politicus nor the Ministers subject the Civil power to them which is Papatus Ecclesiasticus Thirdly we distinguish between an absolute Architectonical and Nomothetical Power independent upon any other Law and a Legislative Power absolute as to persons but regulated by a Higher Law The former we attribute to none but God the latter belongs to a Supreme Magistrate in reference to things belonging to his power either in Church or Commonwealth By an Architectonical Nomothetical Power we mean that power which is distinguished from that which is properly call'd Political The former lies in the making Laws for the good of the Commonwealth the latter in a due execution and administration of those Laws for the Common Good This we have asserted to the Magistrate already We now come to assert the other where we shall first set down the bounds of this power and then see to whom it belongs First then we say not that the Magistrate hath a power to revoke repâ—al or alter any Divine positive Law which we have already shewn Secondly we say not that the Magistrate by his own will may constitute what new Laws he please for the Worship of God This was the fault of Ieroboam who made Israel to sin and therefore by the Rule of Reason must be supposed to sin more himself So likewise Ahab Ahaz and others Religion is a thing setled by a Divine Law and as it is taken for the Doctrine and Worship of God so it is contained in the Word of God and must be fetched wholly from thence But then thirdly The Magistrate by his power may make that which is a Divine Law already become the Law of the Land Thus Religion may be incorporated among our Laws and the Bible become our Magna Charta So the first Law in the Codex Theod. is about the believing the Trinity and many others about Religion are inserted into it Now as to these things clearly revealed in the Word of God and withall commanded by the Civil Magistrate although the primary obligation to the doing them is from the former determination by a Divine Law yet the Sanction of them by the Civil Magistrate may cause a further obligation upon Conscience then was before and may add punishments and rewards not expressed before For although when two Laws are contrary the one to the other the obligation to the Higher Law takes away the obligation to the other yet when they are of the same Nature or subordinate one to the other there may a New Obligation arise from the same Law enacted by a New Authority As the Commands of the Decalogue brought a New Obligation upon the Consciences of the Jews though the things contained in them were commanded before in the Law of Nature And as a Vow made by a man adds a new â—ye to his Conscience when the matter of his Vow is the same with what the Word of God commands and renewing our Covenant with God after Baptism renews our Obligation So when the Faith of the Gospel becomes the Law of a Nation men are bound by a double Cord of duty to entertain and profess that Faith Fourthly in matters undetermined by the Word concerning the External Polity of the Church of God the Magistrate hath the power of determining things so they be agreeable to the Word of God This last Clause is that which binds the Magistrates power that it is not absolutely Architectonicall because all his Laws must be regulated by the generall rules of the Divine Law But though it be not as to Laws yet I say it is as to persons that is that no other persons have any power to make Laws binding men to obedience but only the civil Magistrate This is another part of the Controversie between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Power about the power of determining matters belonging to the Churches Government But there is here no such breach between those two but what may be made up with a distinction or
Worship we have reason to look upon as one of those planks which hath escaped the common shipwrack of humane nature by the fall of man And so though that argument from the generall consent of Nations owning a way of Worship though a false one in order to the proving the existence of God be slighted by some yet there is this double evidence in it to prove it more then is generally taken notice of and beyond the bare testimony its self given by that consent First From mens being so easily imposed upon by false Religions in that they are so soon gull'd into Idolatry it argues there are some Jewels in the World or else men would never be deceived with counterfeits It argues that a Child hath a Father who is ready to call every one that comes to him Father So it argues there is some naturall instinct in men towards the Worship of God when men are so easily brought to worship other things instead of God We see no other creatures can be so imposed upon we read of no Idolatry among the Brutes nor that the Bees though they have a King and honour him did ever bow their Knees to Baal or worship the Hive instead of him If men had no journeys to go others need not be sworn as the Athenians were not to put them out of their way If there were no inclinableness to Religion all cautions against Idolatry were superfluous there is then from mens proness to error as to the person and object of Worship an evidence of naturall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an instinct within towards the act of Worship And as when I see sheep flock together even in their wandrings I may easily gather that though they are out of their proper pastures yet they are of a tame and sociable nature So when we see Societies for Worship were preserved among men after they were degenerated into Idolatry it is an evident argument that such associating together for the generall nature of the act doth flow from the nature of man Secondly All mens agreeing in some kind of Worship though differing as to the object and manner of it is an evidence it comes from Nature because it plainly evinces it could be nothing taken up out of design received by custome nor convey'd by tradition because even among those whose interests and designs have been contrary to one another and could have no mutuall compacts to deceive their people have all agreed in this thing though almost in all other things they have strangely differ'd All other Customs and Traditions are either changed or lost among severall Nations as the rude barbarous Northern Nations that in their inrodes and incursions upon other places have left in process of time almost all other customs but only their Religion behind them This sticks closer then Saladines black shirt or the old Monks cloathes which they put not off till they dyed Nay even those Nations who openly and as by a Law violate the other received dictates of Nature do yet maintain and hold up this Those that have had the least of commerce and converse with civilized people have yet had their societies for worship And when they could find no gods to worship they would rather make then want them The Egyptians would rather spoyl their Sallets then be without gods and they that whipt their gods yet had them still They who had no sense of another life yet would pray to their gods for the good things of this and they that would not pray that the gods would do them good yet would that they might do them no hurt So that in the most prodigious Idolatry we have an argument for Religion and in the strange diversities of the wayes of worship we have an evidence how naturall a society for worship is This to shew the validity and force of the Argument drawn from Consent of Nations even in their Idolatry Three things I shall evidence these Societies for Worship among the Heathens by the solemnity of their Sacrifices their publick Festivals and their secret Mysteries all which were instituted peculiarly in honour of their gods It being necessary in such Societies for Worship to have some particular Rites whereby to testifie the end of such Societies to be for the honour of their Deity and to distinguish those solemnities from all other First then for Sacrifices Paulus Burgensis observing how this custome spread all the World over concludes from thence that it was naturall to men In qualibet aetate apud quaslibet hominum nationes semper fuit aliqua sacrificiorum oblatio Quod autem est apud omnes naturale est Thus far I confesse sacrificing naturall as it was a solemn and sensible Rite of Worship but if he meant by that the destroying of some living creatures to be offered up to God I both deny the universall practice of it and its being from the dictate of Nature and I rather believe with Fortunius Licetus that it was continued down by Tradition from the sacrifices of Cain and Abel before the flood or rather from Noahs after which might the easier be because Nature dictating there must be some way of worship and it being very agreeable to Nature it should be by sensible signs all Nations having no other Rule to direct them were willing to observe that Rite and Custome in it which was conveyed down to them from their Progenitors But let us see what reason Burgensis gives Ratio naturalis dictat ut secundum naturalem inclinationem homines ei quod est supra omnes subjectionem exhibeant secundum modum homini convenientem Qui quidem modus est ut sensibilibus signis utatur ad exprimendum interiorem conceptum sicut ex sensibilibus cognitionem accipit invisibilium Unde ex naturali ratione procedit quod homo sensibilibus signis utatur offerens eas Deo in signum subjectionis honoris ad similitudinem eorum qui Dominis suis aliquid offerunt in recognitionem Dominii But all this will extend no further then that it is very agreeable to naturall reason that as man attains the knowledge of invisible things by visible so he should expresse his sense of invisible things by some visible signs thereby declaring subjection to God as his Lord and Master as Tenants expresse their Homage to their Lord by offering something to them And I withall acknowledge that as to oblations without blood they seem indeed very naturall Whence we shall somewhat largely discover the antiquity of the Feasts of first-fruits which were the clearest acknowledgement of their dependance upon God and receiving these things from him Aristotle tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the most ancient sacrifices and Assemblies appear to have been upon the in-gathering of fruits such as the sacrifices of first-fruits to the gods were To the same purpose Porphyrius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first sacrifices were of first-fruits And Horace Agricolae prisci fortes
word belonging to sacrificing exta Diâ—s cum dabant porricere dicebant Varro then it was lawfull to open the Courts but again when the sacrifice was offered it was not By which we see as from the light of Nature that what dayes and times whether weekly monthly or Anniversary were designed and appointed as dies Festi for the service of God were to be spent wholly in order to that end and not to give some part to God and take others to themselves as they were wont to do in their sacrifices to offer up some part to the Gods and feast upon the rest themselves as Athenaeus tells us that Conon and Alcibiades offered such Hecatombs to the Gods that they entertained the people upon the remainders of them And from hence we may see how far short of natural light their Religion falls who make no scruple of spending a great part of the dayes devoted to Gods worship in following either their imployments or recreations Which latter seem more directly to impugne the end of such time appointed then the other in as much as recreations tend more to the ratifying mens spirits and evaporating them into lightnesse and vanity and so discomposing them for the duties of spirituall worship then mens serious and lawfull callings do But further we observe among the Romans severall sorts of dayes appointed for publike worship Macrobius reckons up four sorts of them Stative Conceptivae Imperativae Nundinae Stativae were the set festivall dayes observed every year by the whole people and marked for that end in their Fasti. Such were the Agonalia Carmentalia Lupercalia which are marked with red Letters in the Fasti consulares or the Calendarium Romanum by Ios. Scaliger call'd Calendarium Colotianum which may be seen at large in Mr. Selden besides which their other anniversary festivals are there set down which Tertullian saith being all put together Pentecostem implere non poterunt make not up the number of fifty and so not so many as our Lords Dayes in a year are Conceptivae were such festivals as were annually observed but the dayes of the keeping them were every year determined by the Magistrates of the Priests as Latinae Sementivae Paganalia Compitalia Imperativa were such as the Consuls or Praetors did command at their own pleasure Such were their solemn supplications in times of trouble and their dayes of Triumph and Thanksgiving for Victories The Nundinae were those which returned every ninth day and therefore the Letter by which they observed the return of the ninth day was H. as among us Christians G. which because it notes the return of the Lords Dayes we call the Dominical Letter These Nundinae were the days when the Country people brought in their wares into the City to be sold which were anciently observed as festival dayes sacred to Iupiter but by the Lex Hortensia were made Dies fasti for determining the Controversies that might arise among the people in their dealings as the Court of Pye-powder was instituted among us upon the same account So much for the solemnity of time used in the service of God Another evidence of the solemnity of Woâ—ship was the extraordinary care of the Heathens in preparing themselves for it by cleansing and purifying themselves with water for which purpose they had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for cleansing their hands and their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 standing at the porch of their Temples for their whole bodies which custome was generally observed by the Heathens as is very obvious in the severall Writers of their Customs in sacrificing besides which they observed likewise this washing with water by way of lustration and expiation of their faults as Triclinius the Sholiast on Sophocles tells us it was an antient custome when men had murthered others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to wash their hands in expiation of their guilt as Orestes did in Pausanias after the killing his mother and some think Pilate in the Gospel did so for the same end but his was only to declare his innocency and not to expiate his sin as is observed by many upon that place But however from hence we may take notice of the Spring and Fountain of the Popes Holy-water which was consecrated by Numa long before Alexander 1. to whom Polydore Virgil and others attribute the first use of it in the Christian Church And as the use of it and the manner of sprinkling it is the same among the Papists as it was among the Heathen so likewise the end of it witness the old Rime Hac aqua benedicta deleat mihi mea delicta Which may be sufficiently answered with the Ceâ—sure of a Heathen Ah nimiùm faciles qui tristia crimina caediâ— Tolli flùmineâ posse putatis aquâ Too easie souls who think the spots of blood Can be wash'd out with every watry flood But from this I pass to the solemnity in their Worship it self evidenced by the generall silence commanded in it which appears by Horace's Favete linguis Ovids Ore favent populi nunc cum venit aurea pompa Virgils fida silentia sacris Festus ' s Linguam pascito i. e. coerceto The Egyptians setting Harpocrates his Image in the entrance to their Temples and the Romans placing the Statue of Angerona on the Altar of Volupia The Greeks had their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Iulius Pollux tells us which Plautus calls facere audientiam to command silence much as the Deacons afterwards did in the Primitive Church who were wont to command silence by their Orarium and were thence call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Christians for though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as applyed to the Bishop and Presbyters did signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to preach yet as it was applyed to the Deacons it implyed only their commanding silence in order to the prayers of the Catechumeni call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristenus observes on Concil Carthag can 106. But this by the way The formula used by the Greeks in commanding silence was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to which Aristonicus the Fidler alluded when in the Market place of Mylassa a Town in Caria he saw many Temples and but few Citizens he cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But I passe these things over as being commonly known only observing from them the solemnity of their publick devotions which is further seen in their solemn excluding unfit persons from partaking with them in their sacrifices Of which Virgil Ovid Statius Silius Italicus and others among the Romans speak and the Lictor in some Sacrifices stood up saith Festus and cryed aloud Hostis mulier vinctus exesto i. e. extra esto and to keep unfit persons the better ff the Flamines had a Commentaculum a kind of Rod in their hands Among
with that Church in those things will be lawfull too and where non-communion is lawfull there can be no Schism in it Whatever difference will be thought of as to the things imposed by the Church of Rome and others will be soon answered by the proportionable difference between bare non-conformity and totall and positive separation What was in its self lawfull and necessary then how comes it to be unlawfull and unnecessary now Did that justifie our withdrawing from them because they required things unlawfull as conditions of communion and will not the same justifie other mens non-conformity in things supposed by them unlawfull If it be said here that the Popes power was an usurpation which is not in lawfull Governours of Churches it is soon replyed That the Popes usurpation mainly lyes in imposing things upon mens consciences as necessary which are doubtfull or unlawfull and where-ever the same thing is done there is an usurpation of the same nature though not in so high a degree and it may be as lawfull to withdraw communion from one as well as the other If it be said that men are bound to be ruled by their Governours in determining what things are lawfull and what not To this it is answered first no true Protestant can swear blind obedience to Church-Governours in all things It is the highest usurpation to rob men of the liberty of their judgements That which we plead for against the Papists is that all men have eyes in their heads as well as the Pope that every one hath a judicium privata discretionis which is the rule of practice as to himself and though we freely allow a ministeriall power under Christ in the Government of the Church yet that extends not to an obligation upon men to go against the dictates of their own reason and conscience Their power is only directive and declarative and in matters of duty can bind no more then reason and evidence brought from Scripture by them doth A man hath not the power over his own understanding much lâ—sse can others have it Nullus credit aliquid esse verum quia vult credere id esse verum non est enim in potestate hominis facere aliquid apparere intellectui suo verum quando voluerit Either therefore men are bound to obey Church-Governours in all things absolutely without any restriction or limitation which if it be not usurpation and dominion over others faith in them and the worst of implicite faith in others it is hard to define what either of them is or else if they be bound to obey only in lawfull things I then enquire who must be judge what things are lawfull in this case what not if the Governours still then the power will be absolute again for to be sure whatever they command they will say is lawfull either in it self or as they command it if every private person must judge what is lawfull and what not which is commanded as when all is said every man will be his owd judge in this case in things concerning his own welfare then he is no further bound to obey then he judgeth the thing to be lawfull which is commanded The plea of an erroneous conscience takes not off the obligation to follow the dictates of it for as he is bound to lay it down supposing it erroneous so he is bound not to go against it while it is not laid down But then again if men are bound to submit to Governours in the determination of lawfull things what plea could our Reformers have to withdraw themselves from the Popes yoke it might have still held true Boves arabant Asina Pascebantur simul which is Aquinas his argument for the submission of inferiours in the Church to their superiours for did not the Pope plead to be a lawfull Governour and if men are bound to submit to the determination of Church-Governours as to the lawfulnesse of things they were bound to believe him in that as well as other things and so separation from that Church was unlawfull then So that let men turn and wind themselves which way they will by the very same arguments that any will prove separation from the Church of Rome lawfull because she required unlawfull things as conditions of her communion it will be proved lawfull not to conform to any suspected or unlawfull practice required by any Church-Governours upon the same terms if the thing so required be after serious and â—ober inquiry judged unwarrantable by a mans own conscience And withall it would be further considered whether when our best Writers against the Papists do lay the imputation oâ— Schism not on those who withdraw communion but on them for requiring such conditions of communion whereby they did rather eject men out of their communion than the others separate from them they do not by the same arguments lay the imputation of Schism on all who require such conditions of communion and take it wholly off from those who refuse to conform for conscience sake To this I shall subjoyn the judgement of as learned and judicious a Divine as most our Nation hath bred in his excellent though little Tract concerning Schism In those Schisms saith he which concern fact nothing can be a just cause of refusing communion but only to require the execution of some unlawfull or suspected act for not only in reason but in Religion too that Maxim admits of no release Cantissimi cujusque praeceptum Quod dubitas nè feceris And after instanceth in the Schism about image-Image-worship determin'd by the second Council of Nice in which he pronounceth the Schismatical party to be the Synod its self and that on these grounds First because it is acknowledged by all that it is a thing unnecessary Secondly it is by most suspected Thirdly it is by many held utterly unlawfull Can then saith he the enjoyning of such a thing be ought else but abuse Or can the refusall of communion here be thought any other thing then duty Here or upon the like occasion to separate may peradventure bring personal trouble or danger against which it concerns any honest man to have pectus praeparatum further harm it cannot do so that in these cases you cannot be to seek what to think or what you have to do And afterwards propounds it as a remedy to prevent Schism to have all Liturgies and publike forms of service so framed as that they admit not of particular and private fancies but contain only such things in which all Christians do agree For saith he consider of all the Liturgies that are and ever have been and remove from them whatever is scandalous to any party and leave nothing but what all agree on and the evil shall be that the publike service and honour of God shall no wayes suffer Whereas to load our publike forms with the private fancies upon which we differ is the most soveraign way to perpetuate Schism unto the Worlds end Prayer Confession
most eager Disputers of the controversie about Church-Government but how necessary they are to be proved before any form of Government be asserted so necessary that without it there can be no true Church any weak understanding may discern Secondly Supposing that Apostolicall practice be sufficiently attested by the following ages yet unless it be cleared from Scripture that it was Gods intention that the Apostles actions should continually bind the Church there can be nothing inferred that doth concern us in point of Conscience I say that though the matter of fact be evidenced by Posterity yet the obligatory nature of that fact must depend on Scripture and the Apostles intentions must not be built upon mens bare â—urmises nor upon after-practices especially if different from the constitution of things during the Apostles times And here those have somewhat whereon to exercise their understandings who assert an obligation upon men to any form of Government by vertue of an Apostolicall practice which must of necessity suppose a different state of things from what they were when the Apostles first established Governours over Churches As how those who were appointed Governours over particular Congregations by the Apostles come to be by vertue of that Ordination Governours over many Congregations of like nature and extent with that over which they were set And whether if it were the Apostles intention that such Governours should be alwayes in the Church is it not necessary that that intention of theirs be declared by a standing Law that such there must be for here matter of fact and practice can be no evidence when it is supposed to be different from the constitution of Churches afterward But of this more hereafter Thirdly Supposing any form of Government in its self necessary and that necessity not determined by a Law in the Word of God the Scripture is thereby apparently argued to be insufficient for its end for then deficit in necessariis some things are necessary for the Church of God which the Scripture is wholly silent in I say not that every thing about Church-Government must be written in Scripture but supposing any one form necessary it must be there commanded or the Scripture is an imperfect Rule which contains not all things necessary by way of Precept For there can be no other necessity universall but either by way of means to an end or by way of Divine Command I know none will say that any particular form of Government is necessary absolutely by way of means to an end for certainly supposing no obligation from Scripture Government by an equality of power in the Officers of the Church or by superiority of one order above another are indifferent in order to the generall ends of Government and one not more necessary then the other If any one form then be necessary it must be by that of command and if there be a command universally binding whose footsteps cannot be traced in the Word of God how can the Scriptures be a perfect Rule if it fails in determining binding Laws So that we must if we own the Scriptures sufficiency as a binding Rule appeal to that about any thing pleaded as necessary by vertue of any Divine command and if such a Law cannot be met with in Scripture which determines the case in hand one way or other by way of necessary obligation I have ground to look upon that which is thus left undetermined by Gods positive Laws to be a matter of Christian-liberty and that neither part is to be looked upon as necessary for the Church of God as exclusive of the other This I suppose is the case as to particular forms of Government in the Church of God but that I may not only suppose but prove it I now come to the stating of the Question which if ever necessary to be done any where it is in the Controversie of Church-Government the most of mens heats in this matter arising from want of right understanding the thing in question between them In the stating the Question I shall proceed by degrees and shew how far we acknowledge any thing belonging to Government in the Church to be of an unalterable Divine Right First That there must be a form of Government in the Church of God is necessary by vertue not only of that Law of Nature which provides for the preservation of Societies but likewise by vertue of that Divine Law which takes care for the Churches preservation in peace and unity I engage not here in the Controversie Whether a particular Congregation be the first Political Church or no it sufficeth for my purpose that there are other Churches besides particular Congregations I mean not only the Catholick visible Church which is the first not only in order of consideration but nature too as a totum Integrale before the similar parts of it but in respect of all other accidentall modifications of Churches from the severall wayes of their combination together They who define a Church by stated worshipping Congregations do handsomely beg the thing they desire by placing that in their definition of a Church which is the thing in question which is Whether there be no other Church but such particular Congregations Which is as if one should go about to prove that there were no civil Societies but in particular Corporations and to prove it should give such a definition of civill Society that it is A company of men joyned together in a Corporation for the preservation of their Rights and Priviledges under the Governours of such a place It must be first proved that no other company of men can be call'd a civill Society besides a Corporation and so that no other society of men joyning together in the profession of the true Religion can be call'd a Church but such as joyn in particular Congregations To which purpose it is very observable That particular Congregations are not de primariâ intentione divinâ for if the whole world could joyn together in the publike Worship of God no doubt that would be most properly a Church but particular Congregations are only accidental in reference to Gods intention of having a Church because of the impossibility of all mens joyning together for the convenient distribution of Church-priviledges and administration of Gospel-Ordinances For it is evident that the Priviledges and Ordinances do immediately and primarily belong to the Catholick visible Church in which Christ to that end hath set Officers as the Apostle clearly expresseth 1 Corinth 12. 28. for how Apostles should be set as Officers over particular Congregations whose Commission extended to the whole World is I think somewhat hard to understand but for the more convenient participation of Priviledges and Ordinances particular Congregations are necessary This will be best illustrated by Examples We read that Esther 1. 3. King Ahashuerus made a feast for all his Princes and Servants Doubtlesse the King did equally respect them all as a Body in the feasting of them
that there was a peculiar Government belonging to the Synagogue distinct from the civil Judicatures Having thus far proceeded in clearing that there was a peculiar Form of Government in the Synagogue we now inquire what that was and by what Law and Rule it was observed The Government of the Synagogue either relates to the Publick Service of God in it or the publick Rule of it as a society As for the Service of God to be performed in it as there were many parts of it so there were many Officers peculiarly appointed for it The main part of publick service lay in the Reading and Expounding the Scriptures For both the known place of Philo will give us light for understanding them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Coming to their Holy places called Synagogues they sit down in convenient order acâ—â—â—ding to their several Forms ready to hear the young under 〈…〉 der then one taketh the Book and readeth another of those best skilled comes after and expounds it For so Grotius reads it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of Eusebius We see two several Offices here the one of the Reader in the Synagogue the other of him that did interpret what was read Great difference I find among Learned men about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Synagogue some by him understand the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called sometimes in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so make him the under Reader in the Synagogue and hence I suppose it is and not from looking to the poor which was the Office of the Parnasim that the Office of Deacons in the Primitive Church is supposed to be answerable to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Jewes for the Deacons Office in the Church was the publick Reading of the Scriptures And hence Epiphanius parallels the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Jewes to the Bishop Presbyters and Deacons among the Christians But others make the Office of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be of a higher nature not to be taken for the Reader himself for that was no office but upon every Sabbath day seven were call'd out to do that work as Buxtorf tells us first a Priest then a Levite and after any five of the people and these had every one their set-parts in every Section to read which are still marked by the numbers in some Bibles But the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was he that did call out every one of these in their order to read and did observe their reading whether they did it exactly or no. So Buxtorf speaking of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hic maximè oratione sive precibus cantu Ecclesiâ— praeibat praeerat lectioni legali docens quod quomodo legendum similibus quae ad sacra pertinebant So that according to him the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the Superintendent of all the publick service thence others make him parallel to him they call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Angel of the Church Legatus Ecclesiae L'Empereur renders it as though the name were imposed on him as acting in the name of the Church which could only be in offering up publick prayers but he was Angelus Dei as he was inspector Ecclesiae because the Angels are supposed to be more immediately present in and Supervisors over the publick place and duties of worship see 1 Cor. 11. 10. this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by L'Empereur often rendred Concionator Synagogae as though it belonged to him to expound the meaning of what was read in the Synagogue but he that did that was call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to enquire thence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the enquirer or disputer of this world thence R. Moses Haddarsan but it is in vain to seek for several Offices from several Names nay it seems not evident that there was any set-Officers in the Jewish Church for expounding Scriptures in all Synagogues or at least not so fixed but that any one that enjoyed any repute for Religion or knowledge in the Law was allowed a free liberty of speaking for the instruction of the people as we see in Christ and his Apostles for the Rulers of the Synagogue sent to Paul and Barnabas after the reading of the Law that if they had any word of exhortation they should speak on From hence it is evident there were more then one who had rule over the Synagogues they being call'd Rulers here It seems very probable that in every City where there were ten wise men as there were supposed to be in every place where there was a Synagogue that they did all jointly concurr for the ruling the affairs of the Synagogue But what the distinct Offices of all these were it is hard to make out but all joyning together seem to make the Consistory or Bench as some call it which did unanimously moderate the affairs of the Synagogue whose manner of sitting in the Synagogues is thus described by Mr. Thorndike out of Maimonides whose words are these How sit the people in the Synagogue The Elders sit with their faces towards the people and their backs towards the Heâ—all the place where they lay the Copy of the Law and all the people sit rank before rank the face of every rank towards the back of the rank before it so the faces of all the people are towards the Sanctuary and towards the Elders and towards the Ark and when the Minister of the Synagogue standeth up to prayer he standeth on the ground before the Ark with his face to the Sanctuary as the rest of the people Several things are observable to our purpose in this Testimony of Maimonides First That there were so many Elders in the Synagogue as to make a Bench or Consistory and therefore had a place by themselves as the Governours of the Synagogue And the truth is after their dispersion we shall find little Government among them but what was in their Synagogues unlesse it was where they had liberty for erecting Schools of Learning Besides this Colledge of Presbyters we here see the publick Minister of the Synagogue the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Episcopus congregationis the Superintendent over the Congregation whose peculiar office it was to pray for and to blesse the people We are here further to take notice of the form of their sitting in the Synagogues The Presbyters sat together upon a Bench by themselves with their faces towards the people which was in an Hemicycle the form wherein all the Courts of Judicature among them sat which is fully described by Mr. Selden and Mr. Thorndike in the places above-cited This was afterwards the form wherein the Bishops and Presbyters used to sit in the primitive Church as the last named learned Author largely observes and proves Besides this Colledge of Presbyters there seems to be one particularly
Feasts at Ierusalem conforms to all the Rites and Customs in use then not only those commanded by God himself but those taken up by the Jews themselves if not contrary to Gods commands as in observing the feast of Dedication in going into their Synagogues and teaching so often there in washing the Feet of the Disciples a custome used by them before the Passeover in using baptism for the proselyting men to the profession of Christianity c. In these and other things our Saviour conformed to the received practice among them though the things themselves were no wayes commanded by the Law of Moses And after his Resurrection when he took care for the forming of a Church upon the doctrine he had delivered yet we find not the Apostles withdrawing from communion with the Jews but on the contrary we find the Disciples frequenting the Temple Act. 2. 46. Act. 3. 1. Act. 5. 20 21 26. Whereby it appears how they owned themselves as Jews still observing the same both time and place for publike Worship which were in use among the Jews We find Paul presently after his conversion in the Synagogues preaching that Christ whom he had before persecuted and where ever he goes abroad afterwards we find him still entering into the Synagogues to preach where we cannot conceive he should have so free and easie admission unlesse the Jews did look upon him as one of their own Religion and observing the same customs in the Synagogues with themselves only differing in the point of the coming of the Messias and the obligation of the ceremonial Law the least footsteps of which were seen in the synagogue-Synagogue-worship But that which yet further clears this is the general prejudice of the Disciples against the Gentiles even after the giving of the Holy Ghost as appears by their contending with Peter for going in to men uncircumcised It is evident that then the Apostles themselves did not clearly apprehend the extent of their Commission for else what made Peter so shy of going to Cornâ—lius but by every creature and all nations they only apprehended the Jews in their dispersions abroad or at least that all others who were to be saved must be by being proselyted to the Jews and observing the Law of Moses together with the Gospel of Christ. And therefore we see the necessity of circumcision much pressed by the believing Jews which came down from Ierusalem which raised so high a Dispute that a Convention of the Apostles together at Ierusalem was called for the ending of it And even there we find great heats before the businesse could be decided 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After there had been much disputing Nay after this Council and the determination of the Apostles therein all the ease and release that was granted was only to the Gentile-converts but the Jews stick close to their old Principles still and are as zealous of the customes of the Jews as ever before For which we have a pregnant testimony in Act. 21. 20 21 22. Where the Elders of the Church of Ierusalem tell Paul there were many myriads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of believing Iews who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all very zealous for the Law still and therefore had conceived a sinister opinion of Paul as one that taught a defection from the Law of Moses saying they might not circumcise their Children nor walk after the customs One copy reads it as Beza tells us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to follow the custome of their Fathers We see how equally zealous they are for the customes obtaining among them as for the Law its self And is it then any wayes probable that these who continued such Zealots for the customs among them should not observe those customs in use in the Synagogues for the Government of the Church Might not they have been charged as well as Paul with relinquishing the customs if they had thrown off the model of the Jewish Synagogue and take up some customes different from that And that which further confirms this is that this Church of Ierusalem continued still in its zeal for the Law till after the destruction of the Temple and all the several Pastors of that Church whom Ecclesiastical Writers call Bishops were of the circumcision For both we have the testimony of Sulpitius Severus speaking of the time of Adrian Et quia Christiani ex Iudaeis potissimum putabantur namque tum Hierosolymae non nisi ex circumcisione habebat Ecclesia sacerdotem militum cohortem custodias in perpetuum agitare jussit quae Iudaeos omnes Hierosolymae aditu arceret Quod quidem Christiana fidei proficiebat quia tum pene omnes Christum Deum sub legis observatione credebant We see hereby that the Christians observed still the Law with the Gospel and that the Jews and Christians were both reckoned as one body which must imply an observation of the same Rites and Customes among them For those are the things whereby Societies are distinguished most Now it is evident that the Romans made no distinction at first between the Jews and Christians Thence we read in the time of Claudius when the Edict came out against the Jews Aquila and Priscilla though converted to Christianity were forced to leave Italy upon that account being still looked on as Jews yet these are called by Paul his helpers in Christ Iesus For which Onuphrius gives this reason Nullum adhuc inter Iudaeos Christianos discrimen noscebatur which account is likewise given by Alphonsus Ciaconius Congeneres comprofessores ejusdem religionis gentilibus censebantur Christiani pariter ac Iudaei The Edict of Claudius we may read still in Suetonius Iudaeos impulsore Christo assiduè tumultuantes Roma expulit We find here the Edict fully expressed for banishing the Jews and the occasion set down which most interpret of the Doctrine of Christ as the occasion of the stirs between the Jews and Christians For the Romans called Christ Chrestus and Christians Chrestiani as the authors of the Christians Apologies against the Heathens often tell us But Marcellus Donatus conjectures this Christus to have been some seditious Jew called by that name for which he brings many Inscriptions wherein the name occurrs but none wherein it is given to a Jew which should be first produced before we leave the received interpretation of it However that be we see the Jews and Christians equally undergo the punishment without any difference observed in them and therefore when Paul was brought before Gallio the Proconsul of Achaia he looked upon the difference between the Jews and Paul to be only a Question of words and names and of their Law and thereupon refused to meddle with it And so Celsus upbraids both Jews and Christians as though their contentions were about a matter of nothing By all this we may now consider how little the Christians did vary from the customs and practice of the Jews when
propounded method to examine what light the practice of the Church in the ages succeeding the Apostles will cast upon the controversie we are upon For although according to the principles established and â—aid down by us there can be nothing setled as an universal Law for the Church but what we find in Scriptures yet because the general practice of the Church is conceived to be of â—o great use for understanding what the Apostles intentions as well as actions were we shall chearfully pass over this Rubicon because not with an intent to increase divisions but to find out some further evidence of a way to compose them Our Inquiry then is Whether the primitive Church did conceive its self obliged to observe unalterably one individual form of Government as delivered down to them either by a Law of Christ or an universal constitution of the Apostles or else did only settle and order things for Church-government according as it judged them tend most to the peace and settlement of the Church without any antecedent obligation as necessarily binding to observe onely one course This latter I shall endeavour to make out to have been the onely Rule and Law which the primitive Church observed as to Church-government viz. the tendency of its constitutions to the peace and unity of the Church and not any binding Law or practice of Christ or his Apostles For the demonstrating of which I have made choyce of such arguments as most immediately teâ—d to the proving of it For If the power of the Church and its officers did encrease meerly from the inlargement of the bounds of Churches if no one certain form were observed in all Churches but great varieties as to Officers and Diocesses if the course used in setling the power of the chief Officers of the Church was from agreement with the civil government if notwithstanding the superiority of Bishops the ordination of Presbyters was owned as valid if in all other things concernning the Churches Polity the Churches prudence was looked on as a sufficient ground to establish things then we may with reason conciude that nothing can be inferred from the practice of the primitive Church Demonstrative of any one fixed form of Church-government delivered from the Apostles â—o them Having thus by a lâ—ght 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drawn ouâ— the several lines of the pourtraiture of the Polity of the antient Church we now proceed to fill them up though not with that life which it deserves yet so far as the model of this Discourse will permit Our first argument then is from the rise of the extent of the power of Church-Governours which I assert not to have been from any order of the Apostles but from the gradual encrease of the Churches committed to their charge This will be best done by the observation of the growth of Churches and how proportionably the power of the Governours did increase with it As to that there â—re four observable steps or periods as so many ages of growth in the primitive Churches First when Churches and Cities were of the same extent Secondly when Churches took in the adjoyning Terriâ—ories with the Villages belonging to the Cities Thirdly when several Cities with their Villages did associate for Church-Government in the same Province Fourthly when several provinces did associate for Government in the Roman Empire Of these in their order The first period of Church government observable in the primitive Church was when Churches were the same with Christians in whole Cities For the clearing of this I shall first shew that the primitive constitution of Churches was in a society of Christians in the same City Secondly I shall consider the form and manner of Government then observed among them Thirdly consider what relation the several Churches in Cities had to one another First That the Primitive Churches were Christians of whole Cities It is but a late and novel acception of the word Church whereby it is taken for stated fixed congregations for publike Worship and doubtless the original of it is only from the distinction of Churches in greater Cities into their several 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or publike places for meeting whence the Scotch Kirk and our English Church so that from calling the place Church they proceed to call the persons there meeting by that name and thence some think the name of Church so appropriated to such a society of Christians as may meet at such a place that they make it a matter of Religion not to call those places Churches from whence originally the very name as we use it was derived But this may be pardoned among other the religioâ—s weaknesses of well meaning but lesse knowing people A Church in its primary sense as it answers to the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 applyed to Christians is a society of Christians living together in one City whether meeting together in many Congregations or one is not at all material because they were not called a Church as meeting together in one place but as they were a Society of Christians inhabiting together in such a City not but that I think a society of Christians might be called a Church where-ever they were whether in a City or Countrey but because the first and chief mention we meet with in Scripture of Churches is of such as did dwell together in the same Cities as is evident from many pregnant places of Scripture to this purpose As Acts 14. 23. compared with Titus 1. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one place is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the other Ordaining Elders in every Church and ordaining Elders in every City which implyes that by Churches then were meant the body of Christians residing in the Cities over which the Apostles ordained Elders to rule them So Acts 16. 4. 5. As they went through the Cities c. and so were the Churches established in the faith The Churches here were the Christians of those Cities which they went through So Acts 20. 17. He sent to Ephesus and called the Elders of the Church If by the Elders we mean as all those do we now deal with the Elders of Ephesus then it is here evident that the Elders of the Church and of the City are all one but what is more observable ver 28. he calls the Church of that City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take heed to your selves and to the flock over which God hath made you overseâ—rs to feed the Church of God Where several things are observable to our purpose first that the body of Christians in Ephesus is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the flock of the Church and not the several flocks and Churches over which God hath made you Bishops Secondly That all these spoken to were such as had a pastoral charge of this one flock Paul calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and chargeth them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to do the work of a Pastor towards it So
with them as may be seen in the actions of Paschasinus the Roman Legat in the Council of Chalcedon From whence forward the great Leviâ—than by his tumbling in the waves endeavoured to get the Dominion of all into his hands but God hath at last put a hook into his nostrils and raised up the great instruments of Reformation who like the Sword fish have so pierced into his bowels that by his tumbling he may only hasten his approaching ruine and give the Church every day more hopes of seeing its self freed from the tyranny of an Uâ—urped power By this Scheme and draught now of the increase of the Churches power nothing can be more evident then that it rise not from any divine institution but only from positive Ecclesiastical Laws made according to the several states and conditions wherein the Church was which as it gradually grew up so waâ— the power of the Church by mutual consent fitted to the state of the Church in its several ages Which was the fiâ—st argument that the Primitive Church did not conceive its self bound to observe any one unalterable form of Government This being the chief the rest that follow will sooner be dispatched The second is from the great varieties as to Government which were in several Churches What comes from divine right is observed unalterably in one uniform constant tenour but what we find so much diversified according to several places we may have ground to look on only as an Ecclesiastical constitution which was followed by every Church as it judged convenient Now as to Church Government we may find some Churches without Bishops for a long time some but with one Bishop in a whole Nation many Cities without any where Bishops were common many Churches discontinue Bishops for a great while where they had been no certain rule observed for modelling their Dâ—ocesses where they were still continued Will not all these things make it seem very improbable that it should be an Apostolical institution that no Church should be without a Bishop First then some whole Nations seem to have been without any Bishops at all if we may believe their own Historians So if we may believe the great Antiquaries of the Church of Scotland that Church was governed by their Culdei as they called their Presbyters without any Bishop over them for a long time Iohannes Maior speaks of their instruction in the faith per Sacerdotes Monachos sine Episcopis Scoti in fide eruditi but least that should be interpreted only of theâ—r conversion Iohannes Fordònus is clear and full to their government from the time of their conversion about A. D 263. to the coming of Palladius A. D. 430. that they were only governed by Presbyters and Monks Ante Palladii adventum habebant Scoti fidei Dâ—ctores ac Sacramentorum Ministratores Presbyteros solunmodo vel Monachos ritum sequentes Ecclesiae Primitivae So much mistaken was that learned man who saith That neither Beda nor any other affirms that the Scots were formerly ruled by a Presbyterie or so much as that they had any Presbyter among them Neither is it any wayes sufficient to say that these Presbyters did derive their authority from some Bishops for however we see here a Church governed without such or if they had any they were only chosen from their Culdei much after the custom of the Church of Alexandria as Hector Boethiuâ— doth imply And if we believe Philostorgius the Gothick Churches were planted and governed by Presbyters for above seventy years for so long it was from their first conversion to the time of Ulphilas whom he makes their first Bishop And great probability there is that where Churches were planted by Presbyters as the Church of France by Andochius and Benignus that afterwards upon the encrease of Churches and Presbyters to rule them they did from among themselves choose one to be as the Bishop over them as Pothinus was at Lyons For we nowhere read in those early plantations of Churches that where there were Presbyters already they sent to other Churches to derive Episcopâ—l ordination from them Now for whole Nations having but one Bishop we have the testimony of Sozomen that in Scythia which by the Romans was called Masia inferior 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Although there were many Cities they had but one Bishop The like Godignus relates of the Abâ—ssine Churches Though their Territories be of vast extent there is but only one Bishop in all those Dominions who is the Bishop of Abuna And where Bishops were most common it is evident they looked not on it as an Apostolical rule for every City to have a Bishop which it must have if it was an Apostolical institution for the Church to follow the civil Government Theodoret mentions 800 Churches under his charge in whose Diâ—cess Ptolomy placeth many other Cities of note besides Cirus as Ariseria Regia Ruba Heraclea c. In the Province of Tripoly he reckons nine Cities which had but five Bishops as appears by the Notitia Ecclesiae Africanae In Thracia every Bishop had several Cities under hâ—m The Bishop of Heraclea that and Panion the Bishop of Byze had it and Arcadiapolis of Coela had it and Callipolis Sabsadia had it and Aphrodisias It is needless to produce more instances of this nature either ancient or modern they being so common and obvious But further we find Bishops discontinued for a long time in the greatest Churches For if there be no Church without a Bishop where was the Church of Rome when from the Martyrdome of Fabian and the banishment of Lucius the Church was governed only by the Clergy So the Church of Carthage when Cyprian was banished the Church of the East when Meletius of Antioeh Eusebius Samosatenus Pelagius of Laodicea and the rest of the Orthodox Bishops were banished for ten years space and Flavianus and Diodorus two Presbyters ruled the Church of Antioch the mean while The Church of Carthage was twenty four years without a Bishop in the time of Hunerik King of the Vandals and when it was offered them that they might have a Bishop upon admitting the Arrians to a free exercise of their Religion among them their answer was upon those terms Ecclesia Episcopum non delictatur habere and Balsamon speaking of the Christian Churches in the East determines it neither safe nor necessary in their present state to have Bishops set up over them And lastly for their Diocesses it is evident there was no certain Rule for modelling them In some places they were far less then in others Generally in the primitive and Eastern Churches they were very small and little as far more convenient for the end of them in the government of the Churches under the Bishops charge it being observed out of Walafridus Strabo by a learned man Fertur in Orientis partibus per singulas urbes praefecturas singulas