The Healing Attempt, Chapter 3
CHAP. III. Aley Biſhop of Exeter, Pilkington Biſhop of Durham, Jewel Biſhop of Salisbury, Whitgift Archbiſhop of Canterbury, of the ſame Opinion with Tindall, Lambert, Barnes, and the Reformers in King Edward's Time.
IN Queen Elizabeth's Reign, the firſt I find to mention any thing about the Office of Biſhops and Priests, is Dr. Alley Biſhop of Exeter, in his Miſcellanea on his third Praelection, Alley's Poor Man's Library, Tom. 1. pag. 95, 96.read at Paul's in the Year 1560. on the word Biſhops.
What difference is between a Biſhop and a Prieſt, St. Hierome writing ad Titum, doth declare, whoſe words be theſe: Idem est ergo Presbyter, qui Epiſcopus, &c. A Prieſt therefore is the ſame that a Biſhop is. And before Schiſms and Factions by the inſtinct of the Devil begun in Religion, and before it was ſaid among the People, I am Pauls, I am Apollos, I am of Cephas, the Churches were Governed with the Common Councel of the Priests (or Elders.)
But after that every one thought thoſe whom he Baptized to be his, and not Chriſt's, it was decreed throughout the World, that one of the Prieſts or Elders ſhould be choſen to be ſet over the reſt, unto whom all the care (or charge) of the Church ſhould appertain, and that the beginnings of Schiſms ſhould be taken away. Some do think, that it is not the ſentence of the Scriptures, but ours, that a Biſhop and Prieſt, (or Elder) are one thing, and they do alſo think the one to be a name of Age, and the other to be a name of Office. Let them read again the words of the Apoſtle to the Philippians, ſaying, Paul and Timotheus the Servants of Jeſu Chriſt, to all the Saints in Chriſt Jeſu, which are at Philippos, with the Biſhops and Deacons, Grace and Peace be with you, &c. Philippi is one of the Cities of Macedonia. And truly there could not be many (as they are called) Biſhops in one City. But becauſe at that time they called thoſe Biſhops, which they did alſo call Prieſts (or Elders) therefore indifferently he ſpake of Biſhops, as of Prieſts (or Elders). It may yet ſeem doubtful to ſome, unleſs it be approved by other Teſtimonies. In the Acts of the Apostles it is written, that when the Apoſtle came to Miletum, he ſent to Epheſus, and did call the Prieſts (or Elders) of the ſame Church, unto whom among other things he ſaid thus, A Hand to your ſelves, &c. And here mark you diligently, how that he calling the Prieſts or Elders of that one City of Epheſus, did afterwards call them Biſhops, &c. And Peter which took his name of the firmneſs of his Faith, in his Epiſtle ſaith, I your fellow Elder do beſeech the Elders that are among you, &c. Haec Hieronimus. Theſe words are alledg'd, (ſaith Biſhop Aley) that it may appear, Prieſts among the Elders, to have been even the ſame that Biſhops were. But it grew by little and little, that the whole charge and care ſhould be appointed to one Biſhop within his Precinct, that the Seeds of Diſſention might be utterly rooted out.
In his Second Tome, P. 15.the Biſhop adds out of St. Jerom, Sicut Preſbyteri, &c. Like as Prieſts do know themſelves to be ſubject by the Custom of the Church, unto him which is made Ruler over them: So let the Biſhops know, that they are greater than the Prieſts, rather by Custom, than by the verity of Diſpenſation given of the Lord. He ſaith alſo in another place, with the old Fathers, the Biſhops were the ſame that the Prieſts were; for the name of one is the name of Dignity, and the other of Age and Time. So far Biſhop Aley.
The next I meet with is Pilkington, Biſhop of Dureſme, the Author of the Confutation of an Addition with an Apology, written, and caſt in the Streets of West-Chester againſt the Cauſes of Burning Paul's Church in London, declared by the Biſhop at Paul's Croſs.
The Biſhop did at Paul's Croſs Exhort the people to take the burning of Paul's to be a warning of a greater Plague to follow to the City of London, if amendment of Life be not had in all Eſtates, the Author of the Addition (a Papiſt,Hiſtor. Q. Eliz. pag. 312. notwithſtanding what Heylin ſaith to the contrary, when he tells us that the Papiſts aſcribe it to ſome practice of the Zuinglian Faction, out of their hatred unto all Solemnity and Decency in the Service of God, perform'd more punctually in that Church for Examples ſake than in any other in the Kingdom) imputes it to the laying aſide of the midnight Mattins, forenoon Maſſes formerly had in the Church, and Anthems and Prayers in the Steeple.
This Biſhop, a Perſon of great Learning and good Temper, in Anſwer to this Paper, doth in the Sixth year of the Queens Reign, thus expreſs himſelf. Yet remains one doubt unanſwered in theſe few words, when he ſaith, that the Government of the Church was committed to Biſhops, as tho' they had received a Larger and Higher Commiſſion from God, of Doctrine and Diſcipline than other. Lower Prieſts and Miniſters have, and hereby might challenge a greater Prerogative. But this is to be underſtood, that the Privileges and Superiorities which Biſhops have above other Miniſters, are rather granted by Man, for maintaining of better Order and Quietneſs in Common-wealths, than Commanded by God in his Word. Miniſters have better Knowledge and Utterance ſome than other; but their Miniſtry of Equal Dignity. God's Commiſſion and Commandment is like, and indifferent to all, Prieſt, Biſhop, Archbiſhop, Prelate, by what name ſoever he be called—Saint Jerome in his Commentary on 1 Chap. Tit. ſays, that a Biſhop and Prieſt is all One, and in his Epiſtle ad Evagrium he ſays, That the Biſhop whereſoever he be, is of the ſame Power and Prieſthood.—If they [the Papiſts] were not too much blinded in their own fooliſhneſs, they might ſee in the laſt Subſidy granted in the time of their own Reign, that they grant thoſe to be their betters and above them, from whence they receive their Authority. The Parliament gives them and their Collectors Power to Suſpend, Deprive and Interdict any Prieſt, that Pays not the Subſidy: In that doing they grant the Parliament to be above them, and from it to receive their Power.—I had not thought to have ſaid ſo much on theſe his few words, and yet much more hangs on this their Opinion of claiming their Uſurped Power above Princes and other Miniſters.
The Learned Biſhop Jewel is of the ſame Mind with this Author,Apol. Par. 2. Ch. 5. Diviſ. 1. Ch. 6. Diviſ. 1. and thus much he delivereth, not as his private Opinion, but as the ſenſe of the Church of England,. Furthermore we ſay, That the Miniſter ought lawfully, duly, & orderly to be preferr'd to that Office of the Church of God,Ch. 6. Diviſ. 3. Ch. 7. Diviſ. 5. and that no man hath power to wreſt himſelf into the Holy Miniſtry at his own pleaſure; That Chriſt hath given to his Miniſters Power to bind, to looſe, to open, to ſhut; That the Miniſter doth execute the Authority of binding and ſhutting, as often as he ſhutteth up the Gate of the Kingdom of Heaven againſt Unbelieving and Stubborn Perſons, denouncing unto them God's Vengeance, and everlaſting Puniſhment; or elſe when he doth quite ſhut them out from the boſom of the Church, by open Excommunication. Out of doubt, what Sentence ſoever the Miniſter of God ſhall give in this ſort, God himſelf doth ſo well allow it, that, whatſoever here in Earth by their means is looſed and bound, God himſelf will looſe and bind, and confirm the ſame in Heaven.—And ſeeing one word is given to all, and one only Key belongeth to all, we ſay, there is but one only Power of all Miniſters, as concerning opening and ſhutting.
At this time ſo much was given the Prieſt, that no room was left to make the Biſhop of an Order diſtinct from him: The Keys belong'd to all Miniſters, to the Prieſt as well as Biſhop.
In the Defence of the Apology of the Church of England, Part. 2. Ch. 3. Diviſ. 5.this Learned Biſhop is more full and particular in his Aſſertions. In St. Jerom's time (ſaith he) there were Metropolitans, Archbiſhops, Archdeacons, and others, but Chriſt appointed not theſe Diſtinctions of Orders from the beginning. Theſe names are not found in all the Scriptures: This is the thing which we defend. St. Jerom ſaith, Sciant Epiſcopi, &c. Let Biſhops underſtand, that they are in Authority over Prieſts more by Cuſtom, than by Order of God's Truth.—Eraſmus ſpeaking of the times of Jerom, ſaith, that Id temporis idem erat Epiſcopus, Sacerdos, & Presbyter. Theſe three names Biſhop, Priest, Presbyter, at that time were all one.—
To the Teſtimony of Jerom, the Biſhop adds that of St. Auſtin, Epiſt. 19. ſaying, That the Office of a Biſhop is above the Office of a Prieſt, not by Authority of the Scriptures, but after the names of Honour, which the cuſtom of the Church hath now obtained.
The Biſhop in Defence of the Church of England, Part 2. Ch. 9. Diviſ. 1.had affirm'd, That againſt the Sacred Scripture, neither Law, nor Ordinance, nor any Cuſtom ought to be heard, no, tho' Paul himſelf, or an Angel from Heaven ſhould come, and teach the contrary.
To this Harding replies, If all things neceſſary to Salvation be contain'd in the Scriptures, then whatever is not in them contained, the ſame is not neceſſary; if not neceſſary, why ſhould we be laden with unneceſſary Burdens? Then away with all Traditions at a Clap, be they never ſo Apoſtolick.—Remember you not what the most Renowned Fathers have ſaid of the Neceſſity of Traditions?— If we go about to reject the Cuſtoms that be not ſet forth in Writing—we ſhall bring the Preaching of the Faith but to a bare name. For ſo they were taken for Hereticks, who denied the Diſtinction of a Biſhop, and a Prieſt, &c.
Jewel rejoyns, This [in the Margin] in an Untruth, for hereby both St. Paul and St. Jerom, and other good men are condemn'd of Hereſie.—But what meant Mr. Harding here to come in with the Difference between Prieſts and Biſhops? thinketh he that Priests and Biſhops hold only by Tradition? or is it ſo horrible a Hereſie as he makes it, to ſay, That by the Scriptures of God, a Biſhop and a Priest are all One? or, knoweth he how far, and to whom he reacheth the name of an Heretick? Verily, Chryſoſtom ſaith, Between a Biſhop and a Prieſt, in a manner there is no difference; St. Jerom ſaith ſomewhat in a rougher ſort, I hear ſay, There is one become ſo peeviſh, that he ſetteth Deacons before Prieſts, that is to ſay, before Biſhops; whereas the Apoſtle plainly teacheth us, that Prieſts and Biſhops are all one. St. Austin ſaith, what is a Biſhop but the firſt Prieſt, that is to ſay, the Higheſt Prieſt? ſo ſaith Saint Ambroſe, There is but One Ordination of Priest and Biſhop, for both of them are Prieſts, but the Biſhop is the first. All theſe and other Holy Fathers, together with St. Paul the Apoſtle, for thus ſaying, by Mr. Harding's Advice, muſt be held for Hereticks.
Beſides, as the Biſhop is very expreſs in his aſſerting a Biſhop and Presbyter to be according to Chriſt's Inſtitution all one;Part 6. Chap. 9. Diviſ. 1, & 2. He is no leſs ſo in granting that the Biſhop has receiv'd from the Prince the ſeveral Privileges he has above a Presbyter. I grant there be many ſpecial Privileges granted upon great and juſt Conſiderations of the meer favour of the Prince, that a Prieſt being found negligent, or otherwiſe offending in his Miniſtry, ſhould be convinced and puniſhed, not by the Temporal and Civil Magiſtrate, but by the Diſcretion of the Biſhop.—Mr. Harding muſt remember that all theſe, and other like Privileges paſſed unto the Clergy from the Prince, and not from God; and proceed only of ſpecial Favour, and not of Right.
Archbiſhop Whitgift in oppoſing Cartwright's Platform about the Government of the Church, aſſerted to be de Jure divino, diſtinguiſheth between Spiritual and External Government, and ſaith, That the External Government hath both a Subſtance and Matter about which it is occupied, and alſo a Form to attain the ſame, conſiſting in certain Offices and Functions, and in the Names and Titles of them. The Subſtance and Matter of Government muſt indeed be taken out of the Word of God, and conſiſteth in theſe points: That the Word be truly taught, the Sacraments rightly adminiſtred, Vertue furthered, Vice repreſſed, and the Church kept in quietneſs and order: The Officers in the Church, whereby this Government is wrought, be not namely, and particularly expreſſed in the Scriptures, but in ſome points left to the Diſcretion and Liberty of the Church to be diſpoſed according to the ſtate of Times, Places, and Perſons. Thus much in his Preface; conform to thoſe who went before. The Miniſtry of the Word and Sacraments, and Reprehenſions, &c. which belong to the Prieſt, is of God, the other Offices and Functions, which as he elſewhere has it, belong to the external Order and Policy of the Church, and conſequently the Diſtinction between Biſhop and Prieſt,Defence, Tract. c. 3. Div. 38, 39, 40, 41. and Superiority of a Biſhop above a Prieſt, are only of humane Inſtitution.
More particularly, Cartwright contending for a ſort of Diſcipline which is a Matter of Faith, and neceſſary to Salvation, the Archbiſhop diſtinguiſheth between ſuch things as are ſo neceſſary, that without them we cannot be ſaved, and ſuch things as are ſo neceſſary, that without 'em, we cannot ſo well and conveniently be ſaved; and then adds, To be ſhort, I confeſs, that in a Church collected together in one Place, and at Liberty, Government is neceſſary with the ſecond kind of Neceſſity, but that any one kind of Government is ſo neceſſary, that without it, the Church cannot be ſaved, or, that it may not be altered into ſome other kind, thought to be more Expedient, I utterly deny; and the reaſons that move me ſo to do, be theſe: The firſt is, becauſe I find no one certain and perfect kind of Government preſcribed or commanded in the Scriptures, to the Church of Chriſt; which no doubt ſhould have been done, if it had been a matter neceſſary to the Salvation of the Church. Secondly, Becauſe the Eſſential Notes of the Church be theſe only; The true Preaching of the Word, and the right Adminiſtration of Sacraments:—So that notwithſtanding, Government, or ſome kind of Government may be a part of the Church, touching the outward Form and Perfection of it; yet it is not ſuch a part of the Eſſence and Being, but that it may be the Church of Chriſt without this or that kind of Government; and therefore the kind of the Government is not neceſſary unto Salvation.—There is no certain kind of Government or Diſcipline preſcribed to the Churches, but that the ſame may be altered, as the Profit of the Churches requires; and out of Gualters he ſaith, Let every Church follow the manner of Diſcipline which doth moſt agree with the People with whom it abideth, and which ſeemeth to be moſt fit for the place and time, and let no man here raſhly preſcribe unto others, neither let him bind all Churches to one and the ſame Form.—I do deny, that the Scriptures do ſet down any one certain Form, and kind of Government of the Church to be Perpetual, for all Times, Perſons, and Places: without Alteration.—It is well known,Tract. 17. Chap. 2. Diviſ. 29. that the manner and form of Government uſed in the Apoſtles time, and expreſſed in the Scriptures, neither is now, nor can, or ought to be obſerved, either touching the Perſons, How then can the Government of the Church by Bîſhops, Archbiſhops, &c. be Apoſtolical?or the Functions.—We ſee manifeſtly, that in ſundry points the Government of the Church uſed in the Apoſtles times, is, and hath been of neceſſity altered, and that it neither may nor can be revoked; whereby 'tis plain, that any one kind of External Government perpetually to be obſerved, is no where in the Scripture preſcribed to the Church, but the charge thereof is left to the Magiſtrate, ſo that nothing be done contrary to the Word of God. This is the Opinion of the beſt Writers,This was it's like Univerſally▪ received by all the Engliſh Clergy in Whitgifts time. Neither do I know (ſaith the Archbiſhop) any Learned Man of a contrary Judgment.—Either we muſt admit another Form now of Governing the Church than was in the Apoſtles time, or elſe we muſt ſeclude the Chriſtian Magiſtrate from all Authority in Eccleſiaſtical Matters.—I am perſwaded that the External Government of the Church under a Chriſtian Magiſtrate muſt be according to the Kind and Form of Government uſed in the Common-wealth; elſe how can you make the Prince Supream Governour of all States and Cauſes Eccleſiaſtical?—If you therefore will have the Queen of England Rule as Monarch over all her Dominions, then muſt you alſo give her leave to uſe one Kind and Form of Government in all, and every part of the ſame, and ſo to Govern the Church in Eccleſiaſtical Affairs, as ſhe doth the Common-wealth in Civil.
Dr. Coſins, Chancellor to this Archbiſhop, in his Anſwer to the Abſtract, Pag. 58.aſſerts, That 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. Dr. Low ſpeaks to the ſame purpoſe, Complaint of the Church, No certain Form of Government is preſcribed in the Word;P. 64, 66. only 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.
What is here mention'd of Coſins, Low, and Biſhop Bridges, I have out of Dean Stillingfleet's Weapon Salve, and out of a Learned MS. I have this following paſſage about Whitaker, who, making his Remarques on St. Hierom's teling us,Whitaker, De Ecleſ. Regimin. Contr. 4. q. 1. §. 29. p. 540. Col. 2. That the Difference between Presbyters and Biſhops was brought in by Men, long after the Apoſtles, as a Remedy againſt Schiſm, aſſures us, That it's a Remedy almoſt worſe than the Malady, for it begat and brought in the Pope with his Monarchy into the Church; and this other of Biſhop Morton, telling the Papiſts, That Power of Order, and of Juriſdiction, which they aſcribe to Biſhops, doth de jure divino belong to all other Presbyters and particularly,Morton's Apol. Cath. lib. 1. c. 21. p. 55. That [to Ordain] is the jus antiquum, the Ancient Right of Presbyters, in fine, That Dr. Laurence Humfrey, and Dr. Holland, Humf. againſt Campian. Jeſuit. Part 2. p. 273.both of them Doctors of the Chair in Oxford, did teach and maintain the ſame Doctrine; Holland in the Act, July 9. 1608. concluded that the contrary is moſt falſe againſt the Scriptures, the Fathers, the Doctrine of the Church of England, the Schoolmen, Lombard, Aquinas, Bonaventure, &c.