Vindication of the Dissertations Concerning Episcopacy, Chapter 1 · Section 1
Section I.
The grounds of affirming them to be Biſhops.
FOr the vindicating of the Diſſertations from all the exceptions which are offered againſt them in the Booke, which I have now before me; It is no whit neceſſary that I give the Reader any the moſt curſory view of the whole Booke; I ſhall therefore fall in, though abruptly, on the ſixt Chapter of the ſecond part of it. For although in ſome of the former Chapters of that part, ſome indeavours are uſed to aſſert Presbytery againſt Epiſcopacy by Arguments ſo frequently produced by that party, that they were every one foreſeen; and in the Diſſertations largely evidenced to have no validity in them, yet it falls out ſomewhat to mine owne and the Readers eaſe, that I am not perſonally called into the liſts, till the beginning of the ſixt Chapter; which by the ſignall of ſome Latine words in the Margine out of Diſſert. 4. c. 4. Sect. 4. have markt me out as the perſon againſt whom that Chapter was intirely deſigned, and I ſhall readily anſwer the call, and not refuſe the paines to examine every Section of that Chapter.
2. The ſubject of this Chapter is the pretended (as they pleaſe to ſtile it) Epiſcopacy of the ſeven Aſian Angels, And thus they begin their aſſault; The ſecond Scripture ground brought to prove the Divine Right of Praelacy, is from the Angels of the ſeven Churches of Aſia; Theſe Angels, ſay they (the Aſſertors of Prelacy) were ſeven ſingle perſons,In … lu…e adhuc ca…c…ire aliquos inter … in…uſpicatiſſimi ſaeculi prodigi… numerandum eſt▪ and (as one hath lately written) not onelyonly Biſhops, but Metropolitans and Archbiſhops. This is ſaid with ſo much confidence that all men are condemned as blind or wilfull that endeavour to oppoſe it: And it is reckoned as one of the great prodigies of this unhappy Age, that Men ſhould ſtill continue blind, and not ſee light enough in this Scripture to build the great Fabrick of Epiſcopacy by Divine Right upon.
3. This is, it ſeemes, the firſt crime chargeable on mee as Author of the Diſſertations, that I am confident of my Aſſertion, and condemne all others as blind or wilfull that indeavour to oppoſe it. And although this be no competent way of diſproving what is aſſerted, for it is no univerſall maxime or Datum among the Objecters that confident aſſerting ſhould be lookt on as a character of falſity, yet I, that would much more be aſhamed to have beene preſumptuous than miſtaken, and deeme it not a ſinne to have erred modeſtly, am concerned to avert the envy of this their Prooeme, and to give this eſſay, how farre any the moſt moderate ſpeeches may be diſguiſed and deformed by a diſadvantageous interpretation.
4. Theſe words [in tantâ luce—] lie thus in the Diſſertations; [Ad tertium accedo—I proceede to the third thing, that which concernes the Angels in the Apocalypſe, that by them are noted ſo many prefects of the chiefe Cities or Churches in Aſia, whom you may call not onelyonly Biſhops, but Primates, Enarchs, or Metropolitans. Each of theſe things muſt be briefly taken notice of. Firſt, that each of theſe were ſingle and properly called Biſhops. So Andreas Caeſarienſis pronounceth of them, foreign, The ſeven Ephori (inſpectors or Biſhops, ſo called from the Greeke foreign Inspectors, directly equivalent to foreign) parallel to the number of the ſeven Churches are in that place of the Ap…calypſe called Angels. This title of Angel is ſufficiently knowne from Malach. 2. 7. to belong to the chiefe Prieſt of the Jewes, for hee is called the Angel of the Lord of Hoſts, as the perſon from whom the Law was to be derived to the people. Further more theſe Angels in that viſion of Johns are likened to ſo many Starres, which, ſeeing Chriſt is ſaid to beare or carry in his Right-hand Apoc. 1. 16. 20. & 1, 2. an argument of competent validity may be drawne from thence, that this dignity and power of them in the Church is, if not immediately inſtituted, yet approved and confirmed by Chriſt; especially when in theſe ſo many parts of this Epiſtle, Chriſt himſelfe hath written to every of them under this title of honour and dignity. In the preſence of ſo much light that ſome Men ſhould ſtill continue blind is to be numbred among the prodigies of this worſt and moſt unhappy age. For as to that which from the one word [yo…] in the plural. c. 4. 24. I finde objected by ſome againſt ſo many ſingle mentions of the Angels (one in every Church) that will immediately vaniſh, &c.
5. Theſe words thus intirely ſet downe have a face very diſtant from that ſo much confidence and cenſoriouſneſſe that I am here charged with by the Provinciall Synod. For 1. For the concluſion deduced from the mention of theſe Angels, 'tis not the Divine Right of Prelacy (which phraſe might yet have beene reconciled with rules of Sobriety and Modeſty, as well as the Jus Divinum of Presbytery) but Chriſts approbation and confirmation of this dignity and power of Biſhops, which concluſion hath evident grounds in thoſe Texts which mention Chriſt's holding them in his Hand, and his addreſſing an Epiſtle to them, ſuppoſing onelyonly, what is undertaken to be evidenced by other mediums, that theſe Angels were ſingle perſons in each Church.
6. Secondly, that which is by me ſo confidently affirmed, is not, as this learned Aſſembly is pleaſed to ſuggeſt, that theſe Angels were Metropolitans or Archbiſops. That they were ſuch, is afterwards as a diſtinct matter in the next Chapter propoſed in a much more moderate ſtyle, ſtatim credibile fiet, it will ſtraitwayes become credible, and with no more ſhew of confidence then the premiſes which are there at large ſet down, will Authorize.
7. Theſe be two competent eſſayes to begin with, by which we may proportion our expectations; But there is yet a third which hath ſomewhat more of injuſtice in it, to mention my ſo much confidence in aſſerting, but never to take notice of the grounds produced, whereon this confidence (as farre as it extends) is built, the want of which is ſo conſtantly the one thing, which renders confidence unſeaſonable or blameable, that it is not in the power of any man to have apprehended grounds as proper to induce a concluſion, and to ſuſpend the beliefe and confidence of the truth of that concluſion, which is ſo inferred. The injuſtice, I ſay, is there not taking notice of the mediums, whereon the confidence is founded, very competent to inferre a concluſion in that ſtile, wherein it was there inferred, if they had been pleaſed to advertiſe their Readers of it.
8. The inference lies thus; The Angel of each Church of Aſia was a ſingle perſon, therefore not a Colledge or Conſiſtory of Presbyters, and the ſingularity of the perſon is there ſuppoſed to be evidenced ſufficiently by that which is ſo many times repeated in the Text, the Angel of the Church of Epheſus, the Angel of the Church of Smyrna, and the like, by the teſtimony of Andreas Caeſarienſis, the Principall Annotator or Interpreter of the Revelation, tranſcribed by Aretas in expreſſe words, foreign, the number of the Biſhops equall to the number of the Churches; and by the anſwer rendred to that one Objection which is brought by the Presbyterians againſt the ſingularity of the perſon of each Angel.
9. Secondly, this ſingular perſon was a Biſhop in that notion of the word which ſignifies a precedence of power and dignity over all others in that Church. This againe was made evident, both by the forementioned ſingularity of his power and perſon in each Church, and farther by the propriety of the title beſtowed on him, an Angel, ſuch as among the Jewes the chiefe Prieſt was ſtyled; Malac. 2. to which matter I ſhall now ſuperadde one Teſtimony which Photius hath out of Diodorus Siculus concerning the Jewes; foreign, Him they call the High Prieſt, and deeme him to be to them an Angel or Meſſenger of the commands of God▪ (a Commiſſioner of Heaven, impowered from thence for the execution of his Office among them.)
10. This by the way, gives us the reaſon of the denomination, becauſe as Angels doe not onelyonly carry up our Prayers to God but alſo bring downe Gods Commands to us, ſo did the High prieſt under the Law. This dialect is alſo ſaid to be derived from the Hebrewes to the Aegyptians, who call their chiefe Prieſt Angel alſo. And then how fitly the parallel runs betwixt the High Prieſt among the Jewes, and the Biſhop, in the Chriſtian Church, taken in the Prelatiſts notion of him; was a theme which ſeemed not to need any length of harangue to performe or illuſtrate it. And yet after a Section ſpent to cleare that one difficulty of the [foreign, you, in the plurall c. 2. 24.] there are two Sections added more for the farther fortifying of this evidence. 1. From the Councell of Chalcedon; Act. 2. which*foreign. from Timothy till the time of their Seſſion numbers 27. Biſhops in one of theſe Sees, that of Epheſus, all ordeined there (and Timothy we know being ordeined by the laying on of St. Pauls hands 2 Tim. 1. 6. will divolve it to that Orginall, Apoſtoliacll inſtitution) and 2. from Polycrates, †De M…tyr. Timoth.who was borne ſoone after St. Iohns dayes, and is a witneſſe of a competent antiquity, and affirmes himſelfe to be the*Ep ad. victor. ap …u…eb. Eccl Hiſt. l. 5. c. 25. eight Biſhop of that See; From both which teſtimonies of the Catologue, and number of Biſhops, aſcending to St. Timothy, as the firſt of that ranke (who certainly was conſtituted there before the Epiſtle of Christ to the Angel of that Church) the concluſion is obvious and irrefragable, that either Timothy or ſome ſucceſſor of his was perſonally the Angel to which the Epiſtle was addreſt, and I profeſſe not to wiſh for a greater evidence to juſtifie a Prelatiſt in his deſire to live in obedience to that order ſo ſignally confirmed by Chriſt.
11. The like is in the next Section produced out of Irenaeus l. 3. c. 3. concerning the Angel of the Church of Smyrna. Irenaeus lived in the time of Polycarp that antient Primitive Martyr, and being a youth had the honour to ſee that venerable old Man, and of him he affirmes, that he was*foreign. not onelyonly a Diſciple of the Apoſtles, and converſt with many that ſaw Chriſt, but that alſo hee was ſent to Aſia, and conſtituted Biſhop in the Church of Smyrna; And if there needed any more light after ſo cleare and authentick a teſtimony (which againe concludes either Polycarpe, or ſome ſucceſſor of his to be the Angel of the Church of Smyrna to whom Chriſt addreſſeth his Epiſtle) there is another added out of Tertullian, a Writer of great Antiquity and reputation for knowledge in the Records of the Church in theſe words. *Sicut Smyrnaeortem Eccleſi… Poly…rpum à Johanne collocatum refert, ſicut Romano…um Clementem à Petro ordi…atum edit, perinde utique & …aeterae exhibent, quc… ab Apoſtolis in Epiſcopatū conſtitutos, Apoſtolici i… ſemins traduces habent. De Praeſcrip c: 32.As the Church of Smyrna relates Polycarpe to have beene conſtituted there by John, as the Church of Rome affirmes Clement to have been ordeined by Peter, ſo in like manner the reſt of the Churches exhibite the Records of thoſe whom they have had their Biſhops conſtituted by the Apoſtles and conveyers of the Apoſtolicall ſeed to them. And more particularly of the Churches of Aſia, the ſubject of our preſent diſcourſe.*Habemus Johannis alumuas Ec…leſias—Oedo Epiſcoporum ad originem rec…ſus in Johanu…m fltabi… authorem. Adv. Ma…c. l. 4. c. 5. We have the Churches fed by John, and the courſe of Biſhops being driven to the Originall, acknowledge John (the Apoſtle) to be the Author of them. Here certainly is light enough to make ſome confidence excuſable in a Prelatiſt, and to make his wonder ſeaſonable, that any that have eyes, ſhould in ſo cleare a Sunſhine want the uſe of them, and to thinke it no very auspicious omen that they doe. Yet becauſe I had much rather aſſiſt, then upbraid other mens infirmities, I have here given them an inſtance how eaſie it had been for them to have informed themſelves and their reſpective charges of the grounds of the Prelatiſts confidence, that the Epiſtle of Chriſt to the Angels of the ſeven Aſian Churches was an evidence of his approbation of the Order of Biſhops in our moderne notion of that word for a ſingle overſeer in every Church.
12. And if there be any obſcurity ſtill remaining in the premiſes, becauſe the Councell of Chalcedon (and Policrates) makes Timothy, who was ordained by Paul the firſt Biſhop or Angel of the Church of Epheſus, but Tertullian divolves the Originall of the courſe or Catalogue to St John, the anſwer is eaſy, that there were two ſorts of Chriſtians in Epheſus, and throughout all Aſia, the firſt of Gentile converts, brought into the faith by St. Paul the Apoſtle of the Gentiles, and over them it was that Timothy was by him placed in Epheſu… their Biſhop; the ſecond of Jewiſh Proſelites converted by St. John (by compact deſigned to goe to the Jewes, as his Province Gal. 2. 9. and thoſe peculiarly the Aſian Jewes, as appeares every where in*foreign l. 3. 23. Euſebius ſtory, and by the relation of his death in that place, given us by†Ibid. c. 31. Polycrates, an early Biſhop there) and the Author of the constiuations out of an antient tradition tells us that another of the ſame name, foreign) was by that Apoſtle ordained Biſhop of the Iewiſh Chriſtians there, as Timothy by S. Paul of the other Congregation of Gentile Chriſtians. An obſervation which is largely educed and exemplified in the*Diſſert 4. c. l, & 7. &c. Diſſertations, and of which there is no ſmall uſe for the dilucidating of obſcurities in antient ſtory, and the clearing of this controverſy betwixt us and the Presbyterians; but I muſt not here take liberty to inlarge on it unneceſſarily, having beene thus farre forced to expatiate ſomewhat above proportion to the length of their owne period, wherein my confidence and cenſoriouſneſſe were ſhortly accuſed, how deſervedly, I hope hath now been made manifeſt.