Plea for Scripture Ordination, Chapter 7 – Chapter 8
CHAP. VII.
Among the Iews any one that was Ordained himself might Ordain another, prov'd from Dr. Lightfoot, Mr. Selden, P. Cuneus.
Arg. VI.IF among the Jews any one that was Ordain'd himself might Ordain another, then may Presbyters Ordain Presbyters. But the former is true— Therefore, &c.
The Consequence of the Major is founded upon that which is acknowledg'd by most Learned Men, that the Government of the Christian Church was formed after the Jewish Pattern.
The Minor I prove from Dr. Lightfoot:Lightfoot Harm. Vol. 1. p. 612. Thus he; Before they had restrained themselves of their own Liberties, then the general Rule for Ordinations among them was, foreign every one regularly Ordained himself, had the power of Ordaining his Disciples, as Ben Maimon affirms. Mr. Selden gives many Instances to this purpose out of Gemar. Babylon. de Synedr. lib. 2. c. 7. §. 1. But in the time of Hi…lel they were rest…ain'd from … former Liberty; whether out of V…ration to his House, or whether from the inconveniency of such common Ordinations, is not certain; and so it was resolved that none might Ordain without the presence of the Prince of the Sanhedrin, or a License from him.
Per insigne est, saith P. Cunoeus quod R. Maimonides tradidit in Salach.cunoe. de Rep. Hebr. l. 1. c. 12. Sanhed. c. 4. Cum enim olim solennem hunc actum pro arbitrio suo omnes celebrarent, quibus imposita semel manus fuerat, coarctatum esse id jus à sapientibus, constitutúmque ut deinceps nemo illud usurparet, nisi cui id concessisset divinus senex R. Hillel.
Selden, De Synedr. c. 14.saith that St. Paul's creating of Presbyters was according to the Custom of creating Elders, Paul being brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, as his Disciple. This Gamaliel was Nephew, or Grandchild of Hillel, and Prince of the Sanhedrin at that time, and therefore no doubt but he had created his Scholar Paul, a Jewish Elder, before he was a Christian; by virtue of which Ordination in all likelyhood the Jews admitted him to preach in their Synagogues, Acts 9. 20.
Now when Paul became an Apostle, he knew himself and other Apostles to be free from the new Law, of not makeing Elders without the licence of the Prince of the Sanhedrin, which was not to be expected in their Case; for this R. Gamaliel, though otherwise a fair Man, had an inveterate prejudice against the Christians, and authorized a Prayer against them, under the notion of Hereticks, commanding its constant use in the Synagogues, as*Vol. 1. p. 278. Lightfoot observes out of Maimonides; which Prayer is used among the Jews to this day, containing bitter Curses and Execrations against the Christians,Synag. Judaic. c. 5. as Buxtorf notes.
Hamm. 6 Quer. p. 349.Dr. Hammond himself granteth that the Government of the Church was formed after the Jewish manner, though he reckoneth up many Inconveniencies which would follow promiscuous Ordinations.
The Analogy between the Government of the Jewish Synagogues and the Christian Church seems very evident in the Case of Deacons, who succeed the Jewish foreign Parnas…n, of which there were two or three in every Synagogue to take care of the Poor. Vide Lightf. Harm. on Act. 6. & 7.
To sum up this Argument, the Case of Presbyters in point of Ordination, is the same with that of Jewish foreign or Elders. Every one that was Ordained himself had originally the Power of Ordaining others, the Exercise of which Power was afterwards restrained by a Canon of that Church: So in the Christian Church, at first in Scripture times, Presbyters had a common power of Ordination; but afterwards ut schismatum semina evellerentur, the power was by degrees devolved upon a few chief Presbyters, whom we call Bishops, and the ordinary Presbyters were restrained by common consent, as Ierom observes in Tit. 1.Hier. in Tit. 1. and*Decr. I. 24. Panormitan after him.
How well the new Order of superiour Bishops hath cured the World of Schism, the Distractions and Confusions of the Church, occasioned by the Pride and Grandeur of that Order, for above a thousand years together, are Instances to palpable to be deny'd.
CHAP. VIII.
Ordination an Act of the Exercise of the Power of the Keys, acknowledged by Cornelius à Lapide, Chamier, Camero, &c. The Keys of Iurisdiction and Order given to Presbyters, and consequently Power of Ordination.
THAT Ordination which is performed by Persons who have the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven committed to them, is valid;Arg. VII but Ordination by Presbyters is performed by Persons who have the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven committed to them, Therefore it is valid.
The Major I prove: Either Ordination is an Act of the Exercise of the Power of the Keys, or of some other Power, but of no other; If any other, it's either of a Secular Power, or of an Ecclesiastical; but neither of these: Not an Ecclesiastical, for there is no Ecclesiastical Power, (at least, which Ordination can be pretended to belong to) but the Power of the Keys; not of a Secular Power, for that belongs not to Ministers.
That the Keys do contain in them the Power of Ordination is acknowledged by Papists and Protestants, particularly by Cornelius à Lapide, Chemnitius, Bucer, Chamier. Nomine clavium significatur omnis potestas Ecclesiastica, Suppl. Cham. lib. 4. c. 4.
Traditio Clavium, saith Camero, Cam. Myroth. p. 40, 41.Symbolum est potestatis atque auctoritatis collatoe, Isa. 22.22. Rev. 3.7. Clavium traditione Doctorum apud Iudoeos inauguratio veteri instituto peragebatur. The Keys delivered to the Jewish Teachers included the power of Ordination; for, as we observed before, Every one, regularly Ordained himself, had the power of Ordaining his Disciples, Maimon.
The Minor is in part granted by all, to wit, That Presbyters have the Key of Doctrine; that they have the Key of Jurisdiction and Order also, as some distinguish them, I thus prove; They that have the Key of Doctrine have also the Key of Jurisdiction and Order; but Presbyters have the former, therefore they have the latter.
The Major I thus prove; Christ gave the Keys together, and did not divide them, therefore they that have the Key of Doctrine have the Key of Jurisdiction and Order. To thee I give the Keys, saith our Lord, Matth. 16. 19. Io. 20.23. He did not give one Key to one, and both to another; he gives no single Key to any Person, but Keys, and so whatever these Keys serve for. We know no distribution of the Keys, but what is grounded upon Scripture.
He that hath the Keys of a House or Castle delivered to him, hath power to admit or exclude Persons, as he seeth cause. Except there be a Limitation in his Order or Commission, his power extends to all Persons without exception. Christ here doth not limit the power of the Keys; therefore if Presbyters may admit Church-Members into the House of God by Baptism, they may admit Church-Officers by Ordination.