Baxters Narrative of His Life and Times, Part 2 · Section 10 · Floating text 7
The Reduction of Episcopacy unto the Form of Synodical Government received in the Ancient Church, proposed in the Year 1641. as an Expedient for the prevention of those Troubles which afterwards did arise about the Matter of Church-Government.
Episcopal and Presbyterial Government conjoyned.
BY the Order of the Church of England, all Presbyters are charged toaThe Form of ordering of Priests. minister the Doctrine and Sacraments and the Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded, and as this Realm hath received the same. And that we might the better understand what the Lord had commanded therein, the Exhortation of St. Paul to the Elders ofbIbidem Acts 20, 17, 18. the Church of Ephesus, is appointed to be read unto them at the time of their Ordination: Take heed unto your selves and to all the Flock, among whom the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers, to*foreign so taken Matth. 2. 6. & Rev. 12. …. & 19. 15 rule the Congregation of God, which he hath purchased with his Blood.
Of the many Elders who in common thus ruled the Church of Ephesus, there was one President whom our Saviour in his Epistle to the Church, in a peculiar manner stileth the cRev. 2. 1.Angel of the Church of Ephesus. And Ignatius in another Epistle written about twelve Years after to the same Church, calleth the Bishop thereof. Betwixt which Bishop and the Presbytery of that Church what an harmonious Consent there was in the ordering the Church-Government, the same Ignatius doth fully there declare by the Presbytery (with (d) St. Paul) understanding the Company of the rest of the Presbytery or Elders who then had a Hand, not only in the delivery of the Doctrine and Sacraments, but also in the Administration of the Discipline of Christ. For further Proof whereof we have that known Testimony of Tertullian in his general Apology for Christians. IneIbidem etiam exhortationes castigationes & censurae & divinae, nam & indicatur magno cum pondere, ut apud certos de Dei conspectu summum que futuri Iudicii praejudicium esse. Si quis ita deliquerit ut a communione orationis & conventus & omnis Sancti commercii relegatur. Praesident probati quique seniores, hoc norem istum non precio sed testimonio adepti. Tert. Apol. Cap. 39. the Church are used Exhortations, Chastisements and divine Censures; for Judgment is given with great Advice as among those who are certain they are in the sight of God, and it is the chiefest foreshewing of the Judgment that is to come, if any Man hath so offended that he be banished from the Communion of Prayer, and of the Assembly, and of all holy Fellowship.
The Presidents that bear rule therein are certain approved Elders who have obtained this Honour, aud not by Reward, but by good Report. Who were no other (as he himself elsewhere intimateth) but those fromfNec de aliorum manibus, quam praesidentium sumimus & idem de corona militis, Cap. 3. whose hands they used to receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
For with the Bishop, who was the Chief President (and therefore styled by the same Tertullian in another place Summus gDandi quidem baptismi habet jus Summus Sacerdos qui est Episcopus, desint Presbyteri & Diaconi Idem de Baptismo, Cap. 17.Sacerdos for distinction sake) the rest of the Dispensors of the Word and Sacraments were joined in the common Government of the Church. And therefore in matters of Ecclesiastical Judicature, Cornelius, Bishop of Rome used the received Form ofhOmni actu ad me peri…to … co… trahi Presbyterium, Cornel apud Cyprian Epis. 46. gathering together the Presbytery.
Of what Persons that did consist, Cyprian sufficiently declareth, when he wished him to read his Letters toiFlorentissim… illi clero lecum praesidenti, Cyprian Epist. 55. ad Cornel. the flourishing Clergy that there did reside or rule with him.
The presence of the Clergy being thought to be so requisite in matters of Episcopal Audience, that in the fourth Council of Carthage it was concludedkVt Episcopus nullus ca…sam audiat abs que presentiâ clericorum suorum, alioquin irrita erit sententia Episcopi nisi clericorum presentiâ confirmetur. Concil. Carthag. 4. Cap. 23. that the Bishop might hear no Man's Cause, without the Presence of the Clergy, which we find also to be inserted into the Canons oflEncerption Egberti, Cap. 43. Egbert, who was Archbishop of York in the Saxons Times, and afterwards into the Body of them15. qu. 7. Cap. Nullus. Canon-Law it self.
True it is, that in our Church this kind of Presbyterian Government hath been long disused, yet seeing it still professeth that every Pastor hath a right to rule the Church (from whence the Name of Rector also was given at first unto him) and to administer the Discipline of Christ, as well as to dispence the Doctrine and Sacraments. And the restraint of the Exercise of that Right proceedeth only from the Custom now received in this Realm: No Man can doubt but by another Law of the Land this Hindrance may be well removed. And how easily this ancient Form of Government by the united Suffrages of the Clergy, might be revived again, and with what little shew of Alteration the Synodical Conventions of the Pastors of every Parish might be accorded, with the Presidency of the Bishops of each Diocess and Province, the indifferent Reader may quickly perceive by the perusal of the ensuing Proposition.The Parochial Government answerable to the Church-Session in Scotland.
I.
In every Parish the Rector or the incumbent Pastor, together with the Churchwardens and Sidemen, may every Week take notice of such as live scandalously in that Congregation, who are to receive such several Admonitions and Reproofs as the quality of their Offence shall deserve; and if by this means they cannot be reclaimed, they may be presented unto the next Monthly Synod, and in the mean time be debarred by the Pastor from access unto the Lord's Table.
II.
Whereas by a Statute in the Twenty sixth of King Henry VIII.The Presbyterical or Monthly Synods answerable to the Scottish Presbytery or Ecclesiastical Meeting. (revived in the first Year of Queen Elizabeth) Suffragans are appointed to be erected in twenty six several Places of this Kingdom, the Number of them might very well be conformed unto the Number of the several rural Deaneries into which every Diocess is subdivided, which being done the Suffragan (supplying the place of those who in the ancient Church were called Chorepiscopi) might every Month assemble a Synod of all the Rectors, or incumbent Pastors within the Precinct, and according to the major part of their Voices conclude all Matters that should be brought into Debate before them.
To this Synod [the Rector and] Churchwardens might present such impenitent Persons, as by Admonition and Suspension from the Sacrament would not be reformed; who, if they should still remain contumacious and incorrigible, the Sentence of Excommunication might be decreed against them by the Synod, and accordingly be executed in the Parish where they lived. Hitherto also all things that concerned the Parochial Ministers might be referred, whether they did touch their Doctrine or their Conversation: As also the censure of all new Opinions, Heresies and Schisms which did arise within that Circuit, with Liberty of appeal if need so require unto the Diocesane Synod.
III.
The Diocesane Synod might be held once or twice in the Year as it should be thought most convenient, therein all the Suffragans and the rest of the Rectors or Incumbent Pastors [or a certain select Number out of every Deanery within that Diocess] might meet;Diocesane Synods answerable to the provincial Synods in Scotland. with whose Consent, or the major part of them, all things might be concluded by the Bishop or*foreign, i.e. Superintendentes unde & nomen Episcopi tractum est. Hieron. Epist. 85. ad Evagrium. Superintendant (call him whither you will) or in his Absence by one of the Suffragans, whom he should depute in his stead to be Moderator of that Assembly. Here all matters of greater Moment might be taken into Consideration, and the Orders of the Monthly Synods revised and (if need be) reformed. And if here also any matter of Difficulty could not receive a full Determination, it might be referred to the next Provincial or National Synod.
IV.
The Provincial Synod might consist of all the Bishops and Suffragans, and such of the Clergy as should be elected out of every Diocess within the Province. The Primate of either Province might be the Moderator of this Meeting (or in his room some one of the Bishops appointed by him) and all Matters be ordered therein by common Consent as in the former Assemblies. This Synod might be held every third Year, and if the Parliament do then sit (according to the Act for a Triennial Parliament) both the Primates and Provincial Synods of the Land might join together, and make up a National Council; wherein all Appeals from inferior Synods might be received, all their Acts examined, and all Ecclesiastical Constitutions which concern the State of the Church of the whole Nation established.
May it please your Grace,
I would desire you to consider whether Presentments are fit to be made by the Churchwardens alone and not rather by the Rector and Churchwardens. Then whither in the Diocesan Synod the Members of it be not too many, being all to judge and in their own cause, as it may fall out. Therefore after this Clause, and the rest of the Rectors or incumbent Pastors, whether it be not fit to interline, or four or six out of every Deanery.
Ri. Holdsworth.
We are of Judgment, that the Form of Government here proposed, is not in any point repugnant to the Scripture, and that the Suffragans mentioned in the second Proposition, may lawfully use the Power both of Jurisdiction and Ordination according to the Word of God, and the Practice of the ancient Church.
§ 97. When we went with these foresaid Papers to the King, and expected there to meet the Divines of the other party, according to promise, with their Proposals also containing the lowest Terms which they could yield to for Peace; we saw not a Man of them, nor any Papers from them of that Nature, no not to this Day: But it was not fit for us to expostulate or complain.
§ 98. But his Majesty very graciously renewed his Professions, (I must not call them Promises) that he would bring us together, and see that the Bishops should come down and yield on their Parts; and when he heard our Papers read, he seemed well pleased with them; and told us, he was glad that we were for a Liturgy, and yielded to the Essence of Episcopacy, and therefore he doubted not of our Agreement with much more; which we thought meet to recite in our following Addresses, by way of Gratitude, and for other Reasons easy to be conjectured.
99. Yet was not Bishop Usher's Model the same in all Points that we could wish: But it was the best that we could have the least hope (I say not to obtain, but) acceptably to make them any Offers of: For had we proposed any thing below Bishops and Archbishops, we should but have suddenly furnished them with plausible Reasons for the rejecting of all further Attempts of Concord, or any other Favour from them.
100. Before this time, by the King's Return many hundred worthy Ministers were displaced, and cast out of their Charges, because they were in Sequestrations where others had by the Parliament been cast out: Our earnest Desires had been that all such should be cast out as were in any Benefice belonging formerly to a Man that was not grosly insufficient or debaucht; but that all that succeeded such as these Scandalous ones should hold their Places: but these Wishes being vain, and all the old ones restored, the King promised, that the Places where any of the old ones were dead, should be confirmed to the Possessors: But many got the Broad Seal for them, and the matter was not great; for we were all of us to be endured but a little longer. However we agreed to offer these five Requests to the King; which he received.
Agreed to be verbally requested of the King.
1. That with all convenient speed we may see his Majesty's Conclusions upon the Proposals of the mutual Condescentions, before they pass into Resolves, (and if it be thought meet, our Brethens Proposals also.)
2. That his Majesty will be publickly declare his Pleasure for the Suspension of Proceedings upon the Act of Uniformity, against Nonconformists in Case of Liturgy and Ceremonies, till our hoped for Agreement.
3. That his Majesty will be pleased to publish his Pleasure, (at least to those that are concerned in the Execution) that (till the said expected Settlement) no Oath of Canonical Obedience, nor Subscription to the Liturgy, Discipline, Ceremonies, &c. nor Renunciation of their Ordination by meer Presbyters, or confessing it to be sinful, be imposed on, or required of any, as necessary to their Ordination, Institution, Induction, or Confirmation by the Seales.
4. That His Majesty will Cause the revoking of the Broad Seal that is granted to all those Persons, that by it are put into Places where others have Possession, to which none before could claim a right; that is, such as they call dead Places.
5. That his Majesty will be pleased to provide some Remedy against the Return or Settlement of notoriously insufficient or scandalous Ministers, into the Places from which they were cast out, or into any other.
§ 101. While we waited for the promised Condescentions of the Episcopal Divines, there came nothing to us, but a Paper of bitter Oppositions, by way of Confutation of our for mer Proposals. We were not insensible of the unworthiness of this dealing, and the Brethren at first desired me to write an Answer to it. But afterward they considered that this would but provoke them, and turn a Treaty for Concord into a sharp Disputation, which would increase the Discord; and so what I had written was never seen by any Man; lest it should hinder Peace.