Vindication of the Dissertations Concerning Episcopacy, Chapter 1 · Section 15
Section XV.
Of Dr. Reynolds interpretation, of the Biſhop in Cyprian. Of Ordination by Biſhops not without Presbyters, from the Teſtimonies of Cyprian, and Fermilian.
AFter the authority of Mr. Beza, backt with that of the Divines at the Iſle of Wight, is added, in the ſecond place, the authority of Dr. Reynolds, who as he hath a Letter in print againſt the Divine Right of Epiſcopacy, ſo he acknowledgeth alſo in his conference with Hart, Dial. 3. That this Angel was perſona ſingularis: For he ſaith,
2. The whole place of Dr. Reynolds is ſet down at large by the Archbiſhop of Armagh in the front of his learned Diſſertation of the Originall of Biſhops and Metropolitanes, and I ſhall not neede here to recite it, being of ſome length, and indeed nothing in it defined or expreſt of his opinion, that the Preſident, when he was made ſuch, either continued to be equall with the reſt of the Presbyters, or laſted but for a time, ſo as the Prolocutor of an Aſſembly doth; I am ſure he affirms him to have had the Preſidentſhip (not among, but) over Elders (which I ſuppoſe muſt imply ſome power) and that this was he that in the Primitive Church the Fathers called Biſhop, and applies to him the mentions of Biſhops made by St. Cyprian (and Cornelius) of whoſe notion of Biſhops, that it … not to a bare Prolocutor of an Aſſembly, nay, that in nothing it differeth from ours, I am ſufficiently aſſured, and ſo will the Reader by what is cited from him Diſſert. 3. c. 3. §. 13. And becauſe from ſome other intimations in this Book I ſee there is neede of it, I ſhall here foreign out of many, mention this one evidence more.
3. In the 60 Epistle to Rogation a Biſhop, who had beene wronged and contumeliouſly uſed by a Deacon of his Church, Ego & Collegae mei qui praeſen …es ad…rant.and had written an account of it to Cyprian and the*Append. p. 219 annuall Councell of Biſhops with him, Cyprian returnes this Anſwer, that it was his humility to make this complaint to the councell, Cum pro Epiſcopatus vigore, & Cathedrae authoritate haberes poteſtatem, quâ poſſis de illo ſtatim vindicari, when by force of his Epiſcopall power, and by authority of his chaire, hee had power himſelfe to inflict puniſhment on him immediatly, and that puniſhment afterward ſpecified, ut eum deponas vel abſtineas, either to depoſe him or ſuspend him.
4. Here it was a part of Rogatian's Epiſcopall power, without any joyning with him, to judge and cenſure the inferiour Officers of the Church, and they were bound honorem ſacerdotis agnoſcere & Epiſcopo praepoſito ſuo—as it followes in that Epiſtle, to acknowledge the honour of their Prieſt, and with full humility make ſatisfaction to the Biſhop which is ſet over them. All power in the hands of one ſet over all, call'd promiſcuouſ…ly Prieſt and Biſhop in Cyprian's ſtyle.
5. And therefore when in the Appendix to this Book, theſe men to prove that Ordination by Biſhops without the aſſiſtance of Presbyters was alwayes forbidden and oppoſed, tell us of Aureliu's being ordained by Cyprian, and his Collegues▪ Ep. 33. and then aſſure us from 8p. 58. that by his collegues he meanes his Presbyters (where yet there is no other proofe of it▪ but the uſing of theſe words in the Inſcription of the Epiſtle, Cyprianus▪ cum Collegis, and Ego & collegae, Cyprian with his collegues, and I and my collegues) This is a great, but diſcernible fallacy put upon the Reader, as will ſoone appeare 1. If we but obſerve that the 33 Epiſtle, where he tells of Aurelius, was written by Cyprian to his Preſbyters, and ſo they are the perſons whom he advertiſeth, what he and his Collegues had done, and ſo ſure were not thoſe Collegues that did it with him. Or ſecondly, if for the underſtanding Cyprian's notion of Collegues, Ep. 58. we ſhall but looke forward to the next Epiſtle 59. for that will fully diſcover it, being this, Cyprianus & caeteri Collegae qui in Concilio affuerunt numero LXVI. where Cyprians Collegues are evidently the 66. Biſhops that were in Councel with him.
6. The like might be alſo obſerved of the Teſtimony out of Firmilian, which they there ſubjoyne, of the Seniores and Praepoſiti that have power of ordeining, by whom, ſay they, the Preſbyters as well as the Biſhops are underſtood; But againe 'tis cleare by the expreſſe words of the Epiſtle, that by them are meant the Biſhops in their annual Councel, Neceſſari… apud nos fit ut per ſingulos annos Seniores & Praepoſiti in unu… conveniamus—'Tis neceſſary that every yeare we the Elders and Governors ſhould meet together to diſpoſe and order thoſe things which are committed to our care, adding concerning the Church (in oppoſition to Hereticks) that all power and grace is placed in it, ubi praeſident majores natu, qui & Baptizandi & manum imponendi & ordinandi poſſident poteſtatem, wherein the Elders praeſide, and have power of Baptizing, abſolving and ordeining, an evident deſcription of the Biſhops. But this by the way, as an eſſay, what their teſtimonies out of the Fathers, ſcattered ſometimes in this Book, would be found to be, if this were a place to examine them.
7. Laſtly Dr. Reinolds acknowledges another Praeſident even among Biſhops, the Biſhop of the chiefeſt City in the Province, and ſo a Metropolitan. All which are contrary enough to the praetenſions of the Presbyterians (what amends he hath made them in his Printed letter I know not▪)
8. Yet after all this, there lyes no obligation upon us to regulate our Doctrine by Doctor Reinolds's ſcheme in this matter, being ſufficiently inſtructed by the Primitive records and practice, what kind of power and dignity belonged to the foreign or Praeſident among them, the very ſame that we now pretend to be the Biſhops due, And if Chriſt's letter were addreſt to the Angel, as to ſuch a foreign or Praeſident, 'tis all that we deſire, to erect our fabrick of Spiſcopacy on this one place, if there were not (as there are) others able to ſupport the weight of it.
9. And ſo we ſee what reaſons have been brought to make good their ſecond head of Anſwers, of which we had promiſe that they were ſolid and every way ſufficient anſwers, and yet in the iſſue there is nothing ſo much as offered toward it, ſave onelyonly the teſtimony of Maſter Beza, the Divines at the Iſle of Wight (which is by interpretation themſelve…) and Doctor Reynolds, who yet is not perfectly of their party neither.