The Honor of Gods House, Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. The Cauſe and Cure of all our Contentions.
Vnitie in the Church is the path of peace, which Papiſts and Sectaries diſturbe in a contrary courſe. The one miſplacing the head, the other the feet, and both ſet them where they ſhould not. The Papiſts place their Popc, where they ſhould place all Biſhops, and Sectaries ſeeke that in the feet which is onelyonly to be found in the head. Saint Cyprian de unitate Eccleſ. compares the univerſall power and juriſdiction of Biſhops to an head, which derives all the vertue to the bodie. To a root which feeds and fils all the branches. To a fountain from which flow all ſtreams. To the Sunne that ſends forth all rayes and beames, &c. This head, root, fountain, and Sun, the Papiſts make their Pope, & all Biſhops but members, branches, ſtreames, and beames of him. Ab uno Epiſcopatu tanquam ab uno capite, radice, fonte, ſole oriuntur omnes Epiſcapi, & hujus Epiſcopatus a ſingulis in ſolidum pars tenetur. A ſingulis in ſolidum, every Biſhop holds wholly for his part whatſoever is in the whole. The head, root, fountain and Sun are ſimilar and alike in all the members. The ſame vertue is in one Biſhop that is in all Biſhops, and the body being univocall, hath but one eſſence in al the parts of it. Order, juriſdiction is the ſame, and nothing heterogeneall, but the Popes challenge to take all to himſelfe, and make Biſhops ſtand to his courteſie for their calling and power, as if all the Sea were in Tyber, or the whole Sunne in the Romane Sphere, the root in one branch, and all the vertue of the head in one member. Sectaries are as ſenſleſſe that take off the head to give life to the feet: raiſe up the root, that the branches may flouriſh. Cut off the fountain, that the ſtreames may flow, and remove the Sun out of its Orbe, that they may enjoy the light. Theſe be our diſeaſes, whoſe cauſes and cure we are now to ſeeke out, and hope it will helpe us to recover our miſery.
I ſuppoſe I may reduce all the cauſes to two heads, Envie and Ignorance, Envie of the perſons, Ignorance of the calling of our Biſhops. Their perſons and practices are ſo hated, that Timothy and Titus muſt be unbiſhoped for their ſakes. We imagine corruptions in Biſhops, and caſt ſuch eyes of diſcontent upon them, that we cannot abide to heare of their calling. I am confident, till that be eſtabliſhed, our contentions will never ceaſe. They are the words of holy Ignatius, breathing with the ſweet ſpirit, that was in the beloved Diſciple, foreign, fly the diviſion of unitie, his arguments which are as medicines to cure the diſeaſe are foure, Epiſt. ad Philad. Firſt, foreign, one faith to be beleeved of all. Secondly, foreign, one predication of the ſame as an effectuall meanes. Thirdly, foreign, one Euchariſt to ſeale it, wherein are many unities to perſwade us from diviſion. Firſt, foreign, one fleſh of our Lord Ieſus Chriſt given for us. Secondly, foreign, one bloud ſhed for us. Thirdly, foreign, one bread viſibly broken to us. Fourthly, foreign, one cup diſtributed to us all. Fiftly, foreign, one Altar or Table, where we communicate. The laſt argument, is, foreign, one Biſhop together with the Presbytery and Deacons. This laft unitie being diſturbed, diſturbes all the reſt, and becauſe all the ſpite is againſt the Biſhops wherein lyes the Churches unitie, we will vindicate the truth thereof, and prove plainly, that Biſhops as the beſt inſtruments, derive all power and peace to the Church, and that without them no unitie can poſſibly in all the reſt be imagined or mayntained.
We will begin with the mayn text, Eph. 4.11, 12. There is a double calling for a threefold end. Firſt, extraordinary, in Apoſtles, Prophets, Evangeliſts. Secondly, ordinary in Paſtors and Teachers. VponUpon theſe two hangs the perfection of the Saints, work of the Miniſtery, and edification of the univerſall Church. In the firſt wee have that calling which is of God, and by God alone. In the ſecond, that which is alſo of God, but by man, and here we muſt inquire by what men? the Scripture reſolves us, by the Apoſtles, and by no others; and therfore Timothy and Titus could be no Evangeliſts for two reaſons: Firſt, becauſe they were not called immediatly of God and by God, but of God by man: and Saint Paul witneſſeth, hee ordained Timothy, 2. Tim. 1.6. and no queſtion, the ſame is to be ſaid of Titus. Secondly, both theſe ordained others, which was effected by no extraordinary perſons before them ſince the Apoſtles. The objection is, that Timothy is bidden doe the work of an Evangeliſt, and therefore is one of their number. By this reaſon I muſt reckon alſo the foure Evangeliſts, and reduce them to the ſame order, and ſo confound Apoſtles and Evangeliſts. A cleere diſtinction will remedie this confuſion. Firſt, ſome Evangeliſts were writers of the Goſpel. Secondly, others Preachers of it, and both theſe are ſo called from the object of their imployment, and not from the author of their calling. We muſt therefore finde out in the third place Evangeliſts by calling, ſuch as was Philip, Acts 21.8. who being compared with the ſeventy, Luke 10.1. ſeemes to be an example of that calling. Firſt, they preached, ſo did Philip. Secondly, they wrought miracles, ſo did Philip. Thirdly, they went before Chriſt to make way for him, and his Miniſtery, ſo did Philip before the Apoſtles, as will appeare, Acts 8.5. and not onelyonly hee, but many more, Ver. 4. which Chriſt had called before his death, of the ſeventy, the Apoſtles remayning at Ieruſalem, Verſe 1. which followed Philip, when they heard of his ſucceſſe, Verſe 14. and ordained Paſtours where he had begun the Goſpel, Verſe 17.
This immediate power to ordain, Chriſt gave his Apoſtles, and by ordinary Paſtours they are ſucceeded, and not by extraordinary, and Timothy and Titus are examples, ſo is Epaphras Coloſ. 4.12. who was one of Coloſſe, when he was at Rome, for it is not following of the Apoſtles that makes men Evangeliſts, or every abſence, that denies them to be Biſhops. In Coloſſe, wee may conjecture that Epaphras was Biſhop of that place, and had Laodicea and Hierapolis adjoyned unto it, Coloſ. 4.13. Archippus may be counted for the Presbyter with the Biſhop, and Philemon, in whoſe houſe he was the Deacon, for Saint Paul ſtiles him in a manner, as Ignatius did the Deacons in his time, σύνεργος, fellow-labourer, σύνδουλος, fellow-ſervant, for ſuch work together in their Maſters buſineſſe. This order being obſerved, the Apoſtles and Biſhops continue the ſucceſſion, and without thē there is none in the Church. In theſe two Ieſus Chriſt immediatly communicates his power of the Keyes to the Church, and none receive it ordinarily but from ſome one of them. The Pope abuſeth all Biſhops to fetch them under his power. The people prophane Gods ordinance when they appoint Paſtours. We muſt confine our ſelves to theſe two heads, or elſe we miſſe Chriſts order, and this is not my conjecture, but the conceit of antiquitie, and by modern Divines is brought againſt the Popes uſurpation above Biſhops.
Saint Cyprian in the Councell of Carthage, hath theſe words, neque quiſquam noſtrum, Epiſcopum ſe eſſe Epiſcoporum conſtituit, aut tyrannico terrore ad obſequendi neceſſitatem collegas ſuos adigit. The Monarchie of one Biſhop in the univerſall Church is a plain tyranny, and ſo is a Presbytery in every Pariſh, where there is no remedie as well againſt the popular as papall juriſdiction. If the Pope infect the Church it muſt needs periſh, becauſe there is no power above him, ſo muſt the Pariſh, for none can helpe it, being ſo independent in it ſelfe, and abſolute from the command of all others: both theſe take away all libertie of calling Councels, and are uncontrouleable in their own wayes. This cannot be of God, to leave his Church deſperate of meanes to helpe it. Betweene both there is a middle way, and that is to have the Churches power in the hands of many, ſo that one may helpe another.
In the firſt Councell, Acts 15. the Apoſtles as heads with the Elders, meet in conſultation & determine what is beſt for the Churches in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, V. 23 and wiſely apply the remedie according to the diſeaſe, for it ſeemes to ſome good Divines, that the act involves no more then are mentioned in it, and that Corinth and other Churches were not tyed by this Canon: but might eat of meats ſacrificed to Idols, and onelyonly were to uſe charitie and diſcretion at ſuch times as it might offend the weake Apoſtles and Elders, conſider of the matter, Verſe 6. diſpute and determine it, and diſperſe abroad the Decree to be obſerved of thoſe Churches that are ſpecified in it. A cleare and evident truth. How the Apoſtles attempted to do nothing without conſent. Its a true rule, that no one man makes Canons for all Churches, & there was never any Biſhop ſave the Pope that challenged all power: but as men moſt peaceably ſought to governe after the divine Canon, and approved Cuſtoms & Councels of Gods Church. No Biſhop makes Lawes, but takes (as he ought) the ſole power to ſee them executed; for if God truſt them with his power to ſee it executed, ſhall the Church diſtruſt them with her Councels?
Bellarmine would help the Pope into his chaire by this poore ſhift. Biſhops are abſolute in their Dioceſes, and have none above them, therefore is the Pope ſo in all the World. An Argument of an ill conſequent, and contrary to Chriſt and his Church. To Chriſt Ieſus, to deprive him of his Monarchie, and order of ruling, who began with many, and Epheſ. 4.11. makes mention of all his officers in the plurall number, and in no ranke can wee thruſt in one to be above al; when the Apoſtles were above the 70 they were many, and it is but a miſerable begging of the queſtion to bring in Saint Peter, as the head of all the reſt. Wee finde that in a multitude, yet well ordered, and ſee in the extraordinary calling a number of Apoſtles above all the reſt, and in the ordinary we finde numbers of Doctors and teachers, yet not confuſed, as to ſet them all in one and the ſame indifferencie and equalitie of place & dignitie, for this would bring the Church to an anarchie; for where there is no order, there is juſt conteſtation that no man is bound to any obedience to another, and whiles all ſtrive to be equall, the Church will never ceaſe to quarrell. I muſt therefore thinke the tyranny of one and all alike; for what the Pope pleads to have none above him, ſo all plead the ſame that they will have none above themſelves. To ſay none are above Biſhops, makes them equall, and ſuch an equalitie ſtands with the Churches peace, and without it, it will never be obtained or mayntained. Ʋnus eſt Epiſcopatus, cujus à ſingulis in ſolidum pars tenetur. Cyprian. de unitat. Eccleſ.
Before I produce my teſtimonies for them, three mayn objections would be cleered. Firſt, From their election, they may be choſen of others. Secondly, they may chooſe others to ordain with them or for them. Thirdly, they are the Churches invention. Others may chooſe them, Saint Ignat. Epiſt. ad Philadel. foreign. It behoves you of Philadelphia, as the Church of God to chooſe a Biſhop, and Saint Cyprian for all Prieſts, Plebs maximè habet poteſtatem eligendi dignos ſacerdotes, vel indignos recuſaudi, Concil. African. apud Cyprian. Epiſt, 68. If the people may chuſe Biſhops and Prieſts, their power is not ſo immediatly of God, but the Church may intercede and act a part between God and them, as it did, Acts 1.23. & 6.3. & 13.2.3. Saint Ignatius will give us light and leading to anſwere ſufficiently all theſe teſtimonies. It behoves you of Philadelphia to chooſe a Biſhop for the Church of Antioch in Syria, ut obeat legationem Dei, & concedatur illis in eundem locum congregatis, etiam glorifioare nomen Dei, that he may undertake Gods delegation, and that the people of the ſame place may congregate, and give God his due glory. Without a Biſhop to order the Church aſſemblies, they are meere conventicles and unlawfull meetings. Here by the way obſerve that the Father ſpeake of ſuch helpe as one Church may and ought to afford another. Annunciatum eſt mihi Eccleſiam Antiochenam eſſe pacatam: it is reported unto me, that the Church of Antioch is quiet and peaceable, and needs your help, that enjoy a worthy Biſhop, and I would wiſh you to doe as Gods Churches have alwayes done, ut ſemper ſecerunt proximae Eccleſiae, quorum aliae miſere Epiſcopos, nonnullae verò presbyteros & Diaconos, that the next Churches ſome of them have ſupplyed their neighbour Churches with Biſhops, others with Prieſts and Deacons.
Rome outreacheth and ſtraineth this teſtimonie upon the largeſt laſt, and helps to ſtretch it with her teeth for the Pope, that hee ought to chooſe all Biſhops for the Churches. With his leave, the words ſerve for any Biſhop with his Church to helpe others to able men that want them, and for our Noveliſts they may not once name this text, that will chooſe for themſelves, and ſuffer no others to meddle with their right, when all Churches have, & ought to have a common right one in another. For the words of Saint Cyprian, they may be expounded that the people being peaceable as it was with the Church of Antioch, and keeping concord amongſt themſelves they may then with one conſent uſe all their power to gaine worthy Prieſts, and ingage it to the uttermoſt to oppoſe them that are wicked and unworthy, and their teſtimony is to be heard of their betters. The Church ſeparates two, and God makes choice of one, ſeven honeſt men are looked out of the ſocietie of Saints, and appointed by the Apoſtles to the buſineſſe of the Church, Paul and Barnabas are ſeparated by the Church to a ſpeciall work, ſignified to them by the holy Ghoſt. Let the people on Gods name in theſe peaceable wayes walke with the Church, and for the Church, and I know none will condemne them: but they are to know all theſe elections are not of the eſſence of a Biſhop, for hee may be ſo when hee is ſent from one Church to another, and therfore to ſpeake diſtinctly, and avoid confuſion, Ordination belongs to a Prieſt, Conſecration to a Biſhop, and Tranſlation is when he is removed from one place to another. Theſe three are the formes of the Church, and Rites ſhe uſeth to expreſſe her ſelfe: but the Epiſcopall power is that which God gives unto them, whom hee uſeth as his immediate means to convey it to the whole Church.
For the ſecond objection, that Biſhops ordaine with others, and by others is eaſily anſwered in Timothy, that he was ordained by the hands of Saint Paul, and may be the hands of the Presbytery, that is, of others that joyned with him, or it may be the office hee received by S. Pauls hands alone. The queſtion is not whether Prieſts may joyne with the Biſhop: but whether they may do it alone without the Biſhop. There is ſome thing ſaid for Chorepiſcopi, or rurall Biſhops that they have ordained, which were unlawfull, if ordination were ſolely Epiſcopall. I anſwer, what the Biſhop may doe by deputation is nothing to my diſputation. I ſpeak of Gods order, and that which is divine, of the humane Laws of the Church, and what power Biſhops have to depute others I leave to them. I look upon that which I conceive to be Gods appointment, and the conſtant courſe of the Scriptures, which ſignifies unto us that either the Apoſtles, or ſuch as Timothie and Titus ordained, and not one word of any Evangeliſt or Prophet, or of all Paſtours, but ſome ſpeciall ones ſelected by the Apoſtles before their death. So Timothie ordained as an Evangeliſt, and you at once affirme two untruths, 1 that Timothie was extraordinarily called, and ſecondly, that ſuch an one being none of the Apoſtles number might ordaine: Timothie was made a Miniſter by impoſition of hands, and to Timothie was committed the power to impoſe hands upon others: but both are arguments againſt his extraordinary calling, and hee that makes Evangeliſts or Prophets by impoſition of hands ſayes that which no word of holy Scripture will warrant him, either by one example or precept in all the new Teſtament.
The third objection is, that Biſhops are the Churches invention, in Schiſmatis remedium. I am glad, they that like not of Biſhops to be of God, will confeſſe them to be of men, for ſo good an end, and it ſhewes what wee have ſaid to be abſolutely true, that without Biſhops, the Church muſt needs be filled with faction, and ſure I am, the quarrell with them is the cauſe of all our doleful contentions and grievous complaints, and if men could work them out, and have their wils, it would not be, So many men, ſo many mindes, but millions of miſchiefe and miſery to this our Nation. Its well they ſee ſuch wiſdome in the neceſſitie of Biſhops: but is not the originall dangerous to cenſure Gods Providence of defect, and mens inventions of Idolatry. To ſay God provided not for Schiſme is to mee a ſecret Atheiſme, and checke to him that better ſees what the Church needeth, then to leave it in ſo mayne a matter to the policie and pietie of men. Againe, the remedie is worſe then the diſeaſe, and of deſperate cure to them that call all humane inventions in queſtion for Idolatry. I hope a neceſſary means to prevent diviſion in Religion is a ſpeciall ordinance of God, and to make it humane is worſe in my thoughts then to make it divine.
Saint Hierome is the moſt welcome autour they have, and yet, contra Luciferan. hee ſayes, the Church conſiſts of many degrees, and makes the higheſt end in the Biſhope, and Dionyſius Eccleſiaſt. Hierarch. c. 5. affirmes not of one, but of all Biſhops, that immediatè in Chriſtum terminantur: and the aforeſaid authour, ad Euagrium, ſayes, ſummum tenent locum, and Saint Cyprian. Epiſt. 65. Pamel. l. 5. Epiſt. 9. Epiſcopi omnes Apoſtolorum ſunt ſucceſſores. It were eaſie to multiply autorities that ſpeake home in this buſineſſe. Saint Ignat. Epiſt. ad Smyru. Laici ſubjecti ſunto Diaconis. Diaconi Presbyteris, Presbyteri Epiſcopo, Epiſcopus Chriſto, ut Chriſtus patri. The ſubordination and ſucceſſion is full, Lay-men muſt ſubmit to the Deacons, the Deacons to the Prieſts, the Prieſts to the Biſhop, the Biſhop to Ieſus Chriſt, as Ieſus Chriſt to his Father. Epiſt. ad Magn. ut praeſideant Epiſcopi loco Dei, & Presbyteri, loco conceſſus Apoſtolici, &c. Biſhops are placed in Gods ſtead, Prieſts accompany them as the Apoſtles did Chriſt. Hee called them to worke with him, and ſo Biſhops call Prieſts to preach the Goſpel, and propagate the faith with them. We muſt lay the compariſon thus, as the Apoſtles were to Chriſt, ſo are Prieſts to Biſhops. The ſimilitude holds in the ſubordination, not in the equalitie, as if either Biſhops were equall to Chriſt, or Prieſts to the Apoſtles, but the accommodation of the ſenſe muſt be as the Autor means it in the order of things, and not the juriſdiction; for here the diſtinction will hold and helpe us, that is by Papiſts abſurdly applyed to the Apoſtles, to make them equall in the one, but not in the other: when wee are certain of them, that order, and juriſdiction is the ſame.
Iſiodorus de officiis Eccleſiaſticis l. 2. c. 7. explaines fully what Biſhops and Prieſts hold in common, and what is proper to the one above the other. His ſicut Epiſcopis, dispenſatio miniſteriorum Dei commiſſa eſt, praeſunt enim Eccleſiis Chriſti, & in confectione divini corporis & ſanguinis conſortes cum Epiſcopis ſunt: ſimiliter & in doctrina populi, & in officio praedicandi: ſed ſola propter autoritatem ſummo ſacerdoti Clericorum ordinatio, & conſecratio reſervata eſt. Chryſoſtome ſola ordinatione Presbyteros Epiſcopi ſuperant, atque hoc tantum pluſquam Preſbyteri habere videntur. Saint Hier. in Epiſt. ad Euagrium, quid facit Epiſcopus, excepta ordinatione, quod non faciat Presbyter, Saint Cyprian. Epiſt. 65. ſayes thus, Dominus, Apoſtolos, & Epiſcopos elegit, Apoſtoli elegerunt Diaconos. He vindicates the Biſhops power from a proud and inſolent Deacon, and calls him to conſider that there is ſome thing between his calling and a Biſhops, as having men and not Chriſt immediately to appoint him. Nazian. in Apolog. Fug. hath this ſhort ſaying, Epiſcopi foreign Chriſti in ſacerdotio collegae ſunt, they are Chriſts companions in the Prieſthood, Aug. in lib. Quaeſt. ex vet. teſt. c. 35. Epiſcopus Chriſti imaginem habet, ut rex Dei. Ambr. in 1. Cor. 11. Epiſcopus habet perſonam Chriſti, & eſt vicarius Dei. I will end with two of their own, that would draw from Biſhops to the Pope, that which is not his due, which theſe are forced to affirme.
Alphon. de Caeſtr. l. 2. c. 24. de juſta Haeret, punit. Cajetani ſententia eſt ipſamet falſitate falſior, & eſt contra ſententiam omnium ſacrorum doctorum, nam etſi ritus conſecrandi Epiſcopi eſt ab Eccleſia, tamen poteſtas Epiſcopi, conceſſa illies a Deo eſt, non ab homine. The Church may conſecrate Biſhops, but it hath no power to confer their autoritie, which is given them of God, and not of man. Caeſar Baronius in Annal. Anno 58. ſayes it is moſt certain, that the Apoſtles had their dignitie of Chriſt, and therfore Biſhops that ſucceed them muſt needs have it from the ſame fountain.
I hope, I may now conclude, that Biſhops as they are holy in calling, ſo they ought to be honourable in our account, and that our cauſes of contention ought to ceaſe, for certainly, as long as we imagine their vocation to be humane, and their actions inhumane, ſo long wee muſt needs live at diſtance, and true devotion will be devoured up with damnable practices, of which our age is full. If Iſmaels tongue be perſecution, Gal. 4.29. then I believe they are perſecuted which ſeeme to perſecute others. Never did any man, convicted, go from the ſeat of judgement without complaint, and exclamation of accuſers, witneſſes, or judges. Men ſhall gnaſh their teeth againſt the moſt righteous judge and revenge that with words, or an irefull countenance, which they cannot compaſſe by their power. I profeſſe its difficult to diſpute with Adverſaries, and not to anſwere them with their owne language.
Deſpiſers of Dominions, and ill ſpeakers of Dignities are compared, Iude, verſe 9. to the Devill, who defends himſelfe by lyes, and all manner of lewdneſſe: but thoſe that will diſpute with theſe, muſt be like Michael the Arch-angell, not ſo much as to dare to bring railing accuſations againſt any, but ſay, the Lord rebuke them that ſpeake evill of thoſe things they know not, and in the which they corrupt themſelves like bruit beaſts, who are inraged if any man doe ſtirre them never ſo little. Saint Aug. de doct. Chriſt. 4. cap. 24, dicat ſapienter, quod non poteſt eloquenter: it is better be wiſe, than …loquent in this way, and it is true wiſdome that knowes how to preſerve truth and peace together. This will carry no water about it to quench zeale, but onelyonly ſo much as may ſprinkle it that it may burn the better within compaſſe, & not fire the houſe, which is intended but to warm, Governours ſhould have the leſſe work, if men would walke by this rule. I know ſcandall will hardly be eſcaped in the beſt intentions, we have to others. But S. Auguſtine ſhall anſwer for me, Si de veritate ſcandalum ſumitur, utiliùs permittitur naſci ſcandalum, quam relinquatur veritas, if any man will be offended with the truth, its more profitable to permit the ſcandall, then part with the truth. Conſider what is ſaid, without paſſion, and the Lord give us underſtanding in all things.
AMEN.