The Levites Scourge, Section 8
SECT. VIII. Sixteen reasons for episcopall government.
THat the name of episcopacy, even as it signifieth a degree of eminency in the Church, is a sacred and venerable title: first in holy scripture ascribed to our blessed Redeemer▪ who as he is dominus dominantium, 1 Pet. 2.25. foreign. Act. 1.20.lord of lords, so also episcopus episcoporum, bishop of bishops, the shepheard and bishop of all our souls: next to the Apostles, whose office in the Church is stiled by the holy Ghost Episcope a bishoprick, let another take his bishoprick, though it be translated, let another take his office; yet the originall signifies not an office at large, but an episcopall function, that office which Iuda… lost, and Matthias was elected into, which was the office and dignitie of an Apostle: *Ambros com. in Ephes. c. 4. v. 10. Apostoli sunt Episcopi Ierom. ad Marcel. apud nos Apostolorum locum tenent Episcopi. Cyp. ep. l. 3. Apostolos id est Episcopos, & praepositos Dominus elegit. August. in Ps. 45. loco patrum erunt filii, …d est, Apostolorum Episcopi. Et ibid. dilatatum est Evangelium in omnibus finibus mundi; in quibus▪ principes ecclesia id est, Episcopi sunt constituti.lastly to those whom the Apostles set over the Churches, as namely to Timothy and Titus, who in the subscription of the Apostles letters divinely inspired are stiled Bishops▪ in the restrained sense of the word, 2 Tim. 4. written from Rome to Timoth…us, the first bishop elected of the church of Ephesus and to Titus, the first elect Bishop of the church of the Cretians: how ancient these subscriptions are, it is not certain among the learned, if they bear not the same date with the Epistles themselves (the contrary wherof neither is nor can be demonstrated) yet they are undoubtedly very ancient, and of great authority, and in them the word bishop cannot be taken at large for any minister or presbyter, but for a singular person in place and dignitie above other pastors; for there were many other presbyters in Ephesus both before and besides Timothy, Acts 20.27.18, and in the Island of Creet or Candie there must of necessity be more then one pastor or minister. Besides, S. Paul investeth Timothy in episcopall power, making him a judge of presbyters, both to rebuke them, 1 Tim. 5.1. and to prefer and reward them, ver. 17. and to censure them ver. 19. Against an elder receive no accusation, but under two or three witnesses; and he giveth to Titus expressely both potestatem ordinis & jurisdictionis, of order and jurisdiction; of order in those words c. 1.5. That thou shouldst ordain elders in every citie; and of jurisdiction, I left thee in Creet that thou shouldst continue foreign, to correct or redresse the things that remained▪ or those things which the Apostle before intended to amend, but had not redressed.
2. The Angels of the seven churches, Apoc. 10.20. were no other in the judgement of the best learned *Aug. ep. 162 & comment in Apoc. hom. 2. Ambrose 1 1 Cor. 11.16. …cumeniu…, Areth…s, Marlorat. Pareus, in Apoc. c 1.2. Policarp. Episcopus Smyrnae, Onesimus Ephesi Antipa… Pergami, &c.commentators both ancient and later then the bishops of those sees, for in those provinces or territories there cannot be conceived to be lesse then many hundred ordinary preachers and pastors; yet there were but seven precisely answering to the seven golden candlesticks: seven candlesticks, seven lights burning in them, these can be no other then seven prime pastors, who had the oversight of the rest: for the errors and abuses in all those churches are imputed to them, and they reproved for not redressing them, c. 2.14. Thou hast them that maintain the doctrine of Baalam, and v. 20. Thou sufferest the *Edi… Teclae it is foreign thy wife which demonstrateth that the A… gell there signifieth one singular man of authority in the Church, and not the whole clergy of that place, Ep ad Episc. Winton.woman Iezebel to teach &c.
3. It is confessed by Molinaeus, and other learned patrons of presbyteriall government themselves, that episcopacy is a plant, either set in the church by the Apostles themselves, or their immediate successors in the first and best ages of the Church; and is it agreeable to piety to swear the extirpation of such a plant?
4. It cannot be denyed, that when the Church most flourished, and was of far larger extent then now it is, over the face of the christian world; there was no *Concil. Nice. can. 5. conc. Antioch can 6. Conc. Sard. can. 14. conc Chal. act. 15. c. 29. …gnatius in ep. ad Philad. Irenaeus l. …. c. 3. Tertul. l. de baptismo Euse. l. …. c. 40. Ierom ep ad Nep…t. Optatus l. 1. cont. Parmen. Amb. in Eph. cap. 4. Basil. Eph. 70.other government then episcopacy regulated by divine precepts▪ and ecclesiasticall canons: and shall we swear to extirpate that government under the which the church most thrived and flourished? Shall we swear against our prayers, viz. for the rooting out of that, upon which we are enjoyned to pray God to pour down the dew of his blessing? surely the dew of heaven burns not the root of any plant upon earth, but waters it and makes it grow.
5. They were bishops who had the chiefest hand, first in the plantation of christian religion in the dayes of Lucius, king of Britain; and after in the …estitution in the days of Etheldred King of Kent; and in the reformation of it in the reign of Edward the …, and Queen Elizabeth and is it a religiou… act to e…adicate tha… government and power whi…h both planted and pr…ned religion it …?
6. Christ died not intestate, he made his last Will and Testament, and by it bequeathed many legacies …o his Church, and among them not onelyonly catholike doctrine, but di…cipline also: thi… discipline, if it be not Episcopall government moderated by Evangelicall and Apostolicall rules, the whole Church is guiltie of the losse of a sacred and precious jewell: for certain it is out of records of all ages of the Church, that no other wa… ever retained, or can be found save thi… before the religious reformer and magistrates of Geneva having banished their Popish Bishops, were after a sort necessitated to draw a new plat-forme of Ecclesiasticall discipline by Lay-Elders. Christ, as the Apostle teacheth us▪ was faithfull in the house of God as Moses: and if Moses, after his fortie dayes speech with God on the mount▪ received a pattern from God▪ and delivered it to the Iewes, not only of doctrine but of discipline also, which continued till Christs comming in the flesh; it cannot be conceived, but that Christ lest a pattern of government to his Church, to continue till the end of the world▪ and doubtlesse, his Apostles with whom he conversed forty dayes after his resurrection, speaking of those things which appertain to the kingdom of God, Acts 3.1. delivered that to the Church which they received from their Master. What government or discipline was that? There can be conceived but three formes of government; Episcopall, most conformable to Monarchie; Presbyteriall, to A…istoc…acie, and Independent, as they tearm it to Democracie. Presbyteriall or Independent it could not be, for Presbyteriall is no elder then the reformation in Geneva, and the Independent no elder then New-England; whereas Episcopall government hath been time out of mind no… in one bu… in all Churches: and sith it was not first constituted by any sanction of a generall Councell, it followes necessarily, according to S. Augustins observation, that it must needs be an Apostolicall institution: for what not one Church, but all Churches, not in one age, but all ages, hath uniformly observed and practised, and no man can define who, after the Apostles, were the beginners of it, must needs be supposed to be done by order or tradition from them.
7. This forme of government was not only generally received and embraced by Catholikes, but even by heretikes and …; who though they severed from the communion of the Church in doctrine, yet not in discipline: for the Novatians and Donatists had Bishops of their own from whom they took their names; only Epiphanius haeres. 75. p. 295. Aug ad quod vult D…u… A… riam ab AErio quodam sunt nominati, qui cum esse… presbyter, dolu…sse fertur quod Episcop… non potuit ordinari, di…bat presbyterum ab Ep…scopo nulla …is…r…ntia debere disce…n…. Hieron. in Tit.AErius, who stood for a Bishoprick and missed it out of discontent broached that new doctrine wherewith the heads of our schismatiks are so much intoxicated, viz. that there ought to be no distinction in the Church between a Bishop and a Presbyter: and for this confounding those sacred orders was himselfe ranked among heretiks, and stands upon record in the Bed…olls of them made by Epiphanius, Augustin, and Philastrius. It is true he had other brands on him, but this was the proper mark put upon him by those ancient fathe…s, who mention this tenet of his as erroneous and hereticall. I grant some of the ancient Doctors affirm, that in the beginning, till the prevention of schism made this distinction between Bishops and Presbyters, they were all one in name, as now they are in those essentiall parts of their function, viz. preaching of the Word, and administration of the Sacraments. But AErius was the first who professedly oppugned the ecclesiasticall hierarchie, maintaining that there ought to be no difference and distinction between Bishops and Elders.
8. This assertion of AErius, Con. 1. art. 15. c. 29 Episcopum in presbyteri gradum reducere est sacrilegium. Anatolius constant. Episcop. dixit, i…qui dicuntu… ab Episcopal… dignitat… ad presbyteri ordinem descendi…e, si … causis condemnanturnec presbyteri honore digni sunt.as in the doctrine thereof it was def…ned by the Doctors of the Church to be heresie, so in the practise thereof it is condemned by the great councell of Chalcedon, to be sacriledge; to confound, say they, the ranks of Bishops and Elders and to bring down a Bishop to the inferior degree of an Elder, is no l…sse then sacriledge. Now I would fain know how that comes to be truth now, which was condemned for heresie; and to be pietie now, which was branded for sacriledge above 1200 years agoe.
9. Neither were the Fathers of the councell of Chalcedon, only zealous in this cause, which so much concerned the honour of the Church: but the other three also▪ whose authoritie S. Gregorie held to be the next to the four Evangelists, and the doctrine thereof is after a sort incorporated into our Acts of Parliament, Eliz. 1. In these councells which all consisted of Bishops, Episcopacie it self is almost in everie canon▪ and sanction either asserted or regulated.
10. Next to the primitive Church, we owe a reverend respect to the reformed Churches beyond the seas; who either have bishops, as in Poland, Transilvania, Denmark, and Swethland; or the same function is in nature, though not in name: to wit, intendents and super-intendents; or they would have them if they could, as I understood from manie Ministers in France; or at least approve of them, as appeareth by the testimonie of Beza, Sadiel, Scultetus, and others.
11. What should I speak of the Articles of religion ratified by a sequence of religious Princes succeeding one the other, and confirmed by act of Parliament; to which all beneficed men are required under pain of losse of their livings, within a monethmonth to professe their assent and consent; in which, both the power and consecration of bishops and ministers is expressely asserted,See Art. 36. & …. de consecrat. It is evident to all men reading holy Scriptures & ancient authors, that from the Apostles time there have bin these three orders in the Church of Christ, and that a Bishop ought to correct and punish such as are unquiet, …riminous and disobedient within his diocesse, according to such authoritie as he hath by the word of God. and their distinction from presbyters? or of the Statute of Carlile, the 15 of Edw. 2. and the first of Qu. Eliz. with very many other unrepealed Acts, in which episcopall government is either related unto, or regulated or confirmed in such sort, that quite to abolish and extirpate it would bring a confusion and make a stop as well in secular as ecclesiasticall courts? And therefore our zealous reformers, if they think themselves not too good to be advised by the great councellor, ought to take heed how they rashly and unadvisedly pluck up the tares, as they esteem them, of holy canons and ecclesiasticall laws, ne simul …radicent & triticum, lest together with those tares (as they count them) they pluck up by the roots the good wheat of many profitable and wholesome laws of the common wealth and Acts of Parliament.
12. But if the authoritie of both houses could soon cure the…e sores in precedent Acts of Parliament, yet how will they make up the breaches in the consciences of all those, who in the late Protestation and this new Covenant have taken a solemn oath to maintain the priviledges of the members of Parliament, and the liberties of the subject? The most authenticall evidence whereof, are Charta magna, and the Petition of right, in both which the rights of the Church and priviledges of episcopall sees, are set down in the fore-front in capitall letters.
13. To strain this string a little higher, the power of granting congedeliers, together with the investiture of Arch-bishops, Bishops, and collation of Deanries, and Prebends, with a setled revenue from the first fruits and tenths thereof, is one of the fairest flowers in the Kings crown; and to rob the imperiall diadem of it (considering the King is a Person most sacred) is sacriledge in a high degree; and not sacriledge only, but perjurie also in all those who attempt it. For all Graduates in the Universitie, and men of rank and qualitie in the Common-wealth, who are admitted to any place of emminent authoritie or trust take the oath of Supremacie, whereby they are bound to defend and propugne all preemminences, authorities▪ and prerogatives annexed to the imperiall crown, whereof this is known to be one inherent in the King, as he is supream head of the Church within his realms, and defender of the faith.
14. Yet for all this, admit that reason of state should inforce the extirpation of episcopacie thus rooted, as it hath been said, both in the royall prerogative and priviledge of the subject and in the laws of of the land; it is a golden maxime of law, possumus quod jure possumut, we can doe no more then lawfully we may. If episcopall government must be overthrown, it must be done in a lawful way, not by popular tumults but by a Bill passed in Parliament, and that to be tendered to his Majestie for his royall assent; and how such a bill can be pressed upon his Majestie who hath taken an oath *Vide record. in Exchequer. I wil preserve and maintain to you & the Churches cō mitted to your charges all Canonicall priviledges, and I will be your protector and defender to my power, by the assistance of God, as every good King in his kingdome in right ought to defend the Bishops and Churches under their government &c. Then laying his hand on the book on the communion table, he sayth, the things which I have before promised, I shall perform and keep, so help me God, and by the contents of this book▪at his Coronation to preserve Bishops in their legall rights, I must learn from our great masters of the law. For by the Gospel all inducements to sin are sin; and solicitations to perjurie are tainted with that guilt: neither is there any power upon earth to dispence with the breach of oaths lawfully taken.
15. If we desire that this Church of England should flourish like the garden of Eden, we must have an eye to the nurseries of good learning and religion, the two Univers…ties, which will never be furnished with choice plants, if there be no preferments and incouragements to the students there, who for the farre greater part bend their studies to the Queen of all professions, Divinitie; which will make but a slow progresse, if Bishopricks, Deanries▪ Archdeaconries, and Prebendaries, and all other Ecclesiasticall dignities, which like silver spurs prick on the industrie of those, who consecrate their labours and endeavours to the glorifying of God, in imploying their tal…nt in the ministerie of the Gospel, be taken away. What …ayls are to a ship, that are affections to the soul; which if they be not filled with the hope of some rewards, and deserved preferments, as a prosperous gale of wind, our sacred studies and endeavours will soon be calmed: for, *Cic. Tusc. quaest.honos abit artos; omnesqu… incenduntur studio gloriae; jacentquo ea semper, quae apud quosquo improbantur; honour nourisheth arts; and all men are inflamed with the desire of glory; and those professions fall and decay, which are in no esteem with most men. And if there are places both of great profit, honour, and power propounded to States-men▪ and those that are learned in the law, like rich prizes to those that prove masteries; shall the professors of the divine law be had in lesse esteem then the students and practisers in the municipall? And shall that profession onelyonly be barred from …ntring into the temple of honour, which directeth all men to the temple of vertue; and hath best right to honour by the promise of God, honorantes nic honorab…, those that honour me, I will honour; because they most honour God in every action of their function, which immediately tendeth to his glory?
They will say, that Episcopall government hath proved inconvenient and prejudiciall to the State, and therefore the Hierarchie is to be cut down, root and branch. Of this argument we may say as Cicero doth of Cato, his exceptions against *Pro Mur. tolle no…en Catonis.Murenae, set aside the authoritie of the objectors, the objection hath very little weight in it. For it is liable to many and just exceptions, and admitteth of divers replyes.
First, it is said, that Episcopall government is inconvenient and mischievous, and prejudiciall to the State; but it was never proved to be so.
Secondly, admit some good proof could be brought of it; yet if Episcopacie be of divine institution, as hath been proved, it must not be therefore rooted out, but the luxurious stems of it pruned, and those additions to the first institution from whence these inconveniences have grown ought to be retranched.
Thirdly, if Episcopacie hath proved inconvenient, and mischievous in this age, which was most *Statut. Ed. 3. ann. 25. The Church of England was founded in the state of prelacie, &c. for we owe to it our best laws made in the Saxon times, and Charta magna it self: The union of the two Roses, Yo…k, and Lancaster, the marriage with Scotland; and above all, the plantation & reformation of true religion. See Vindication of Episcopacie▪ page 23, 24. See also the statute book of 16. Rich. 2. where the Commons …hew, that the Prelates were much profitable and necessarie to their Soveraign Lord the K. and the realm &c.beneficiall and profitable in all former ages, the fault may be in the maladies of the patient, not in the method of cure. This age is to be reformed, not Episcopacie abrogated; that the libertie and loosenesse of these times will not brook the sacred bands of Episcopall discipline, is rather a proof of the integritie thereof, then a true argument of any maligr…tie in it to the state: without which, no effectuall *Ierome advers. Luc. c. 4. Ecclesiae salu… à summi sacerdot… dignitate pendet, cui si non …xors quaedam, & ab omnibus em… nens detur protestas, tot in ecclesia efficientur schismata, quot sacerdotes. Cypr. ep. 3. non aliunde haereses abortae sunt, aut nata schismata, quam inde quod sacerdoti Dei non obtemperatur; nec unus in ecclesia ad tempus sacerdos, & ad tempus judex… vice Christi cogitatur.meanes or course can be taken, either for the suppressing schismaticks, or the continuation of a lawfull and undenyable succession in the Ministery.
16. Lastly, though some of late think they have brought gold and silver, and precious stones to build the house of God, by producing some stuff out of antiquitie, to prove the ordination of presbyters by meer presbyters; yet being put to the test, it proves meer trash: for there can be no instance brought out of Scripture of any ordination, without imposition of Apostolicall or Episcopall hands; neither hath prime antiquitie ever approved of meer presbyters laying hands one upon another, but in orthodoxall Councels revoked, cassated, and disannulled all such ordinations, as we may read in the Apologies of *Athanas. apol. 2. Colithus quidam presbyter in ecclesia Alexandrina alios presbyteros ordinare praesumpserat; sed rescissa fuit ejus ordinatio, & omnes ab eo constituti presbyteri in laic… rum ordinem redacti. See Epiph. haer. 75. The order of Bishops begets Fathers in the Church: but the order of Presbyters sonnes in baptisme, but no Fathers or Doctors.Athanasius, and elsewhere.
What shall I need to adde more, save the testimonie of all Chistians of what denomination soever under the cope of heaven▪ save only the mushrom sect of Brownists sprung up the other night, all who have given their name to Christ, and acknowledge and have some dependence on either the Patriarch of Constantinople in the East, or of Rome in the West, or of Muscovia in the North, or of Alexandria in the South, together with the Cophti…, Maro…ites, Abissenes, and Chineses, not onelyonly admit of Episcopall government, and most willingly submit to it, but never had, or at this day have any other? Neither is this, or can it be denyed by our Aërians: but they tell us, that these are Christians at large, who hold many errors and superstitions with the fundamentals of Christian doctrine: their Churches are like oare not cleansed from earth; like gold not purged from drosse; like threshed wheat, not fanned from the chaff; like meale not sifted from the bran; like wine not drawn off the lees: we are, say they, upon a reformation, and the new Covenant engageth us to endeavour the reformation of the Church of England in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, according to the Word of God, and according to the example of the best reformed Churches. The best reformed, which are they? whether the remainders of the Waldenses and Albigenses in Piemont, and the parts adjoyning; or of the Taborites in Bohemia; or of the Lutherans in Germanie; or those that are called after the name of Calvin, in France, and elsewhere.
First, for the Waldenses, the fore-runners of Luther, as he himself confesseth,See also …. Abbot▪ in his … of the visibilitie of the Church, and in his answer to Hill. they had Bishops who ordained their Pastours; a catalogue whereof we may see in the historie of the Waldenses, first written in French, and after translated into English by a learned Herald.
Secondly, for the Lutheran Churches, they have Prelates governing them, under the titles of Arch-bishops and Bishops in Poland, Denmark ▪ and Swethland; but under the name of Superintendents and Intendents in Germanie: and as for their judgement in the point, it is expressely set down in the *Apol. confess. Augustan. c. de numero & usu sacrament. …os saepe pro…estati sumus summa cum voluntate conservare p… litiam eccl…siasticam, & g…adus in ecclesia factos etiam summa authoritate: scimus enim utili consilio ecclesiacticam disciplina hanc modo quo vet…res eam d…scribunt constitutam.apologie of the Augusta…e confession in these words: we have often protested our earnest desires to conserve the discipline of degrees in the Church by Bishops. Nay, Luther. tom. 2. p. 320. Nemo contra statū episcoporum & veros episcopos, vel bonos pastores dictum putet, quicquid contra hos tyrannos dicitur.Luther himself, who of all men most bitterly inveighed against the Antichristian Hierarchie, yet puts water into his wine, adding; l…t no man hereby conceive, that I speak any thing against the state of Bishops, but onelyonly against Rom…sh wolves and tyrant…. Neither are the Lutherans of another mind at this day, witnesse their every-way accomplished *Gerard. de ministerio eccles. Nemo nostrum dicit nihil interesse inter episcopum, & presbyterum; sed agnoscimus distinctionem graduum propter foreign ecclesiae, ut concordia conservetur.Gerard: none of us, saith he, affirmeth, that there is no difference between a Bishop, or Presbyter, or Priest; but we acknowledge a difference of degrees for good order s…ke, and to preserve concord in the Church.
Here, me thinks I see the Smec…y…nians bend their brows, and answer with some indignation: what have we to doe with Luthera…s who have Images in their Churches, and auricular confession, and maintain consubs…antiation, and ubiquitie, and intercision of grace, and many other errors? We are of Calvin, and hold with the doctrine and discipline of Geneva, which hath no allay at all of error and superstition, but is like the pure angell-gold.
Here though I might (as many have done) crave leave to put in a legall exception against the authoritie of Calvin and Beza in matter of discipline, because they had a hand in thrusting out the Bishop of Geneva, and the Lay Presbyterian government was the issue of their brain; and we know it is naturall for parents to dote upon their own children, and accompt them farre fairer and more beautifull then indeed they are: yet such was the ingenuitie of those worthie reformers, and such is the evidence and strength of truth, that in this point, concerning the abolition of Episcopacie in the Church of England, I dare chuse them as Umpires. First, let *Calv. de necess. reform. ecclesiae. Talem nobis hierarchiam s… exbibeant, in qua sic emin…a…t episcopi, ut Ch…isto subeste non recusent, ut ab illo tanquam unico capite pendeant & ad ipsum referantur, in qua sic inter se fraternam societa…em colant, ut non alio modo quam ejus veritate si…t colligati; tum vero nullo non anathemate dignos fateo…, si qui erunt, qui non …am …everenter, summaque obedientia observent.Calvin speak in his exquisite Treatise concerning the necessitie of reforming the Church, the most proper place (if any where) clearly to deliver his judgement in this controversie; where, having ript up the abuses of the Romish Hierarchie, in the end thus he resolves: let them shew us such an Hierarchie, in which the Bishops may have such prehemine…cie, that yet they refuse n…t themselves to be subject to Christ, that they depend upon him as the onelyonly Head, and ref…rre all to him, and so embrace brotherly societie, that they are knit together by no other means then his truth, and I will confesse they deserve any cu…se, if there be any who will not observe such an Hierarchie with reverence and greatest obedience. After him, let us hear *Beza, de grad. minist. evang. c. 18. Sess. 3. Quod si nunc ecclesiae instau…atae Anglicanae suorum Episcoporum & Archiepisc…porum authoritate suffultae perstant, quemadmodum hoc illis nostra memoria contigit, ut eju… ordinis homines non …antum insignes Dei Martyres, sed etiam praestantissimos Doctores & Pastores habuerit, &c.Beza in that very booke which he wrote against Saravia, a Prebend of Canterbury, concerning different degrees in the Clergie: but, saith he, if the reformed Churches of England remain still supported with the authoritie of their Arch-bishops and Bishops, as it hath come to passe in our memorie, that they have had men of that rank, not only famous Martyrs, but most excellent Doctors and Pastours (which happinesse I, for my part, wish that they may continually enjoy) &c. Surely, he that so highly extolled our Bishops, and wished that that order might, like the tree in the Poet, continually bring forth such golden boughs and fruit, would not readily swear to endeavour the utter extirpation thereof.
With these and other shafts the Doctors quiver was full, though he drew out but one only (considering the time and the auditorie) which he took from the oath at the ordination of the Divines in that Assembly, which, as he conceived▪ tied up their hands fast enough from subscribing to the second Clause in the Covenant: for all persons so ordained, who swear for the extirpation of Episcopacie▪ forswear their Canonicall obedience▪ and question the validitie of their Orders given them, upon condition of performing such obedience and submission as that oath enjoyneth.