The Honor of Gods House, Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Contayning an exhortation to conſtancie in the Doctrine, Fellowſhip, Sacraments, and Prayers of the Church, Act. 2.42.
HE that will not be an Heretick and denie the truth, muſt continue ſtedfaſt in the Apoſtles doctrine, & he that wil not be a Schiſmatick & depart from the Church, muſt keepe himſelfe in the communion of the Apoſtles, that he may be partaker of the Altar and Prayers of the Church. Saint Ignatius in his Epiſtles very often makes the communion of the one to flow from the communication with the other. Take away the Apoſtles fellowſhip, and you take away the breaking of bread, and prayer at the Lords Table: except there be a Prieſt within the Altar, the people are wholly without it. I ſay, it is Saint Ignatius his conſtant determination, that the people muſt ſo depend upon their Paſtours, that they doe nothing without them, Ep. ad Polycarpum, foreign, As nothing muſt be done without the minde of the Biſhop, ſo the Biſhop muſt do nothing without the minde of God.
The Apoſtles and Biſhops hee makes next to God in the Church, he acknowledgeth none above them, reſpecting the Eccleſia ſticall Miniſterie. Epiſt. ad Trall. foreign, Be ſubject to the Biſhop, as to Chriſt, for he watcheth for you. He applyes the Apoſtles words, Heb. 13.17. to the Biſhop, and defines him in the ſame Epiſtle, leſt we ſhould imagine his name to be common to all Paſtours, foreign; what is a Biſhop but one that bears ſway and autoritie above all others? Epiſt. ad Smyrnenſes, he ſayes thus, foreign, As in all the world there is none greater then God, ſo in the Church and Order Eccleſiaſticall, there is none greater then the Biſhop. The ſame Father exhorts in Epiſt. ad Epheſ. foreign. The people ſhould concurre in their conſent to what their Biſhop teacheth them according to God, foreign, that they may concurre and accord in Gods minde: and again, foreign. The people muſt live after Gods minde, and the Biſhop muſt be their guide therin. As in the Apoſtles dayes, the head of the Churches fellowſhip was from them, to which our Saviour added ſeventie Diſciples; ſo in the ſucceſſion, the Biſhop is the head and chiefe to which the Presbyters are added, and of them Saint Ignatius ſayes thus, foreign, &c. be ſubject to the Presbyterie, as to the Apoſtles. This he explains after, when he makes a fuller narration. Epiſt. ad Trall. foreign, The Biſhop is the type of him which is the father of all. Prieſts are the aſſeſſors with God & the band of Apoſtles. The Apoſtles fellowſhip, as it was in the the 12 Apoſtles & 70 Diſciples, ſo afterwards it continued in Biſhops and Presbyters, and as the Apoſtles had commited unto them the calling of all ordinary Paſtours, and correction of all mens manners, that is, God appointed them to ordaine and cenſure, and without them the ſeventie could not execute any ſuch power: So the Biſhops above all other Paſtors have this power, & without them it cannot be executed by any inferior Miniſter. And I never read teſtimonie in the Word of God, or any ancient Writer to the contrary. Saint Paul decreed the Excommunication of the inceſtuous perſon, & commanded the Church of Corinth the execution thereof, & reprehended them for their neglect. As we are to receive our doctrine from the Apoſtles, ſo our fellowſhip, and all proofe of ſucceſſion in the Miniſtery is taken from thence, Tertull. lib. de praeſcript. c. 32. Evolvant ordinem Epiſcoporum ſuorum, it a per ſucceſſiones ab initio decurrentem, ut primus ille Epiſcopus aliquem ex Apoſtolis vel Apoſtolicis viris, qui tamen cum Apoſtolis perſeverarit, habuerint auctorem & anteceſſorem hoc enim medo Eccleſiae Apoſtolicae cenſus ſuos deferunt: ſic Smyrnaeorum Eccleſia habens Polycarpum à Ioanne collocatumrefert, ſicut Romanorum Clementem à Petro ordinatum edit. Let them examine the order of their Biſhops, that ſo hath held by ſucceſſion from the beginning, that, that firſt Biſhop might have for his authour and predeceſſour, ſome of the Apoſtles or Apoſtolicall men, yet ſuch as have perſevered with the Apoſtles, for ſo the Apoſtolicall Churches gave their Suffrages. So he relates of the Church of Smyrna, where Polycarpe was placed by Saint Iohn, and ſhewes the like of Clement, ordained by Peter for the Romanes. Cyprianus l. 2. Epiſt. 20. or Pamelii 42. laborare debemus, ut unitatem à Domino & per Apoſtolos nobis ſucceſſoribus traditam obtinere curemus, we ought to labour, that the unitie from the Lord, and by the Apoſtles to us his ſucceſſours given, through our care might be retained. S. Auguſtine in Pſal. 44. quid eſt, pro patribus tuis nati ſunt tobi filii, patres miſſi ſunt Apoſtoli, pro Apoſtolis filii nati ſunt tibi, conſtituti ſunt Epiſcopi? Hodie enim Epiſcopi, quiſunt per totum mundum, unde natiſunt, Ipſa Eccleſia patres illos appellat, ipſaillos genuit, & ipſaillos conſtituit in ſedibus patrum. What means this, in ſtead of fathers, ſonnes are borne to thee? the Apoſtles are ſent fathers, for Apoſtles ſonnes are ſent to thee, Biſhops are conſtituted; for the Biſhops at this time, that are through all the World, whence are they born? the Church it ſelfe calls them fathers that begot them, and that conſtituted them in the ſeats of the fathers; many moe ſuch paſſages might be cited and ſent both to Rome, and ſome other Churches as citations, nay, as ſentences of condemnation for two errors, both contrary to this truth, as they are alſo contrary one to another; and agree in nothing but falſhood; firſt, Bellarmine l. 4. de Pontific. cap. 25. ſayes thus, Magnum eſt diſcrimen inter ſucceſſionem Petri & aliorum Apoſtolorum. Nam Romanus Pontifex propree ſuccedit Petro, non ut Apoſtolo, ſed ut paſtori ordinario totius Eccleſiae: at Epiſcopi non ſuccedunt proprtè Apoſtolis; quoniam, Apoſtoli non fuerunt ordinarii ſed extraordinarii paſtores, quibus non ſuceeditur, niſi improprié. But God appointed his Apoſtles, ſuch as ſhould be ſucceeded: for how otherwiſe is his promiſe made good of being with them to the worlds end? Others to avoid the Pope and all Biſhops, ſay this fellowſhip may come from all Paſtors, and that they have power to ordain, nay, ſome are ſo abſurd, that they ſtick not to ſay, Paſtors maybe made by the people, and Magiſtrates may ſet up Miniſters, and never be beholding to Rome, or any Biſhops or Paſtours that were ever ordained by them. Saint Ignatius Epiſt. ad Epheſ. foreign, obeying the Biſhop and Presbytery with immoveable and ſtedfaſt minde, breaking one bread, &c. He ſhews plainly that breaking of bread muſt follow our undivided fellowſhip from the Apoſtles and their ſucceſſours: and ſurely how can we have the Sacraments duly adminiſtred, if wee be not truly informed of our Paſtours calling, and the comming of it from the Apoſtles?
Let mee exhort all good Chriſtians to keepe cloſe to theſe notes of the Church; firſt, ſound Doctrine, which the Apoſtles have only delivered. Secondly, an holy fellowſhip, fetched from the Apoſtles, and kept by the faithfull in all obedience to their Biſhops as the chiefe of Paſtours, and the Presbyters, foreign, Epiſt. ad Trall. as his conſiliarii & aſſeſſores, engliſh it as you will, ſo you erre no more in your baſe account of Biſhops. What hath not Rome made offenſive to vulgar eares? the name of a Biſhop, Prieſt, Altar, Sacrifice, and all Church-ſervice is ſet at nought, and wee abhorre to heare of veneiable antiquitie, its to ſmall purpoſe to preſſe any thing upon them that have ſworn to believe nothing but their own novelties, and late inventions of diſcontented perſons ſet on foot to trouble the peace and quiet of our Church, which (I beleeve) holds in the moſt holy manner the Doctrine, Fellowſhip, Altar, and Prayers expreſſed, Acts 2.42.
Storme not at the word Altar, for breaking of bread cannot be without it in that ſenſe which is ſo often inculcated in the Epiſtles of Saint Ignatius, and think no man can be ignorant, that will not wilfully blinde his eyes with prejudice to an Altar, and rather make it any thing then an holy Table: ſurely from fellow ſhip with Biſhops he concludes his Altar, as Saint Luke does breaking of bread from fellowſhip with the Apoſtles. I would wiſh the ſeparation of our times to take need leſt to avoid Pope ry, they part with puritie it ſelfe, and do not ſo much find as forſake what they ſeek for, if they take not miniſterie from us, they have none. Then they can have no Baptiſm, break no bread, and where will they finde the marks and notes of their Church, if they brand ours for none of Gods? our Doctrine, Fellowſhip, Altar, and Prayers, will find footing, when I feare they will faile in all, if they oppoſeus in any. May I conclude, & not be thought to flatter? for I profeſſe what I have ſaid hath ever been my opinion, that Biſhops are by divine inſtitution.