The Healing Attempt, Author to the reader
THE AUTHOR TO THE READER.
THE Greateſt thing in Controverſie amongſt Proteſtants is, Whether the Office of a Presbyter, and Biſhop be, according to the Holy Scriptures, the ſame? and on a Juſt Determination of this Queſtion depends the Peace of our Church.
To affirm, That the Biſhop and Presbyter are of different Orders, That the Power of Ordination is the ſole Prerogative of Biſhops, That Ordination, only by Presbyters, is void and null, and that the Ordaining 'em again by Biſhops is not Re-Ordination, deſtroys the Church State, not only of Diſſenters, but of all other Proteſtants in the World, except of thoſe in the Church of England, nulling their Miniſtry, Sacraments, and Diſcipline.
A Comprehenſion therefore on theſe Terms is none at all; It's only an offer to Ʋnite with Diſſenters on their doing what is to them Impoſſible; They cannot Renounce their Ordination, nor Conſent to the Deſtroying their own, nor the Church State of Reformed Proteſtants Abroad.
But, leſt the Impoſſibility they lie under be Interpreted a Peeviſh Humour, and Obſtinacy in them, the Sentiments of the Firſt-Reformers, in the Days of Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, and Queen Elizabeth, are Impartially Propos'd and found to be exactly the ſame with theirs; and, what will, touching Matters of Church Government, Heal our Diviſions.
The Author could Deſcend lower than the laſt of Elizabeth; but there's no need on't, and he muſt acknowledge, that tho' a great many Eminent Writers, Learned Divines of the Church of England, aſſerted this Old Reformer's Principle; yet the Canons of James I. ran another way, and in his Reign the Learned were divided in their Opinions about the Office of Biſhop and Presbyter; and ſo they are at this very time: However, it cannot be denied, that the Firſt Reformers, adher'd unto by Archbiſhop Uſher, held the ſame, which the Diſſenters have all along ſtifly maintain'd, and have Antiquity on their ſide.
The Learned Carleton is Poſitive, that the Power of Order by all Writers, that He could ſee, even of the Church of Rome, is underſtood to be Immediately from Chriſt, given to all Biſhops and Prieſts, alike by their Conſecration, and that in this there was no Difference between Papiſt and Proteſtant; whence it follows, that the Diveſting the Pariſh Presbyter of the Paſtoral Office is but a late Invention.
Thus much He Aſſerts of that Power of Order which he diſtinguiſheth from the Power of Juriſdiction, and includes in it the Power of Ordination.
And although, according to the moſt taking Opinion amongſt thoſe, who ſeem'd to be ſomewhat Zealous for Prelacy, the Power of Juriſdiction was peculiarly appropriated to the Biſhop, yet this Juriſdiction following Orders, could never be ſo ſeparated from it, but that there ſtill remain ſome Convincing Inſtances of its belonging unto Presbyters.
In the Caſe of a Biſhop's Suſpenſion, it's clear; I will only obſerve what is at this time moſt obvious.
On the Suſpenſion of the Archbiſhop of Canterbury, All Eccleſiaſtical and Spiritual Juriſdiction belongs to the Dean and Chapter, who are but Presbyters, as is daily Aſſerted in theſe words. Nos Johannes Tillotſon Sacrae Theologiae Profeſſor, Decanus Eccleſiae Cathedralis & Metropoliticae Chriſti Cant'. Et Ejuſdem Eccleſiae Capitulum, ad quos Omnis, & omnimoda Juriſdictio Spiritualis, & Eccleſſiaſtica, quae ad Archiepiſcopum Cant. pertinuit, nunc ratione Suſpenſionis, &c. dignoſcitur pertinere.
A Condeſcending to ſettle the Power of Orders, and Juriſdiction on Presbyters, as well as Biſhops, according to the Learned Archbiſhop Uſher's Model, will as to Matters of Church Government End the Controveſie between the Moderate Epiſcopal, and Presbyterian.
As to what relates unto Stinted-Forms of Prayer, the Judicious Mr. Clerkſon, in his Excellent Diſcourſe of Liturgies, having ſo Learnedly and fully diſcuſſed it, the Author need do no more than only Commend its Peruſal to the Candid Reader, with an Aſſurance, that until it be cleared that Stinted Liturgies are Ancienter than that Learned Perſon Repreſents them to be, we ſhall be freed from a ſtrict Impoſition.