A Weapon-Salve for the Churchs Wounds, Religious treatise 1 · Part 1 · Chapter 4
CHAP. IV.
The second thing the Law of Nature dictates, that this society be maintained and governed in the most convenient manner. A further inquiry, what particular Orders for Government in the Church come from the Law of Nature. Six laid down, and evidenced to be from thence. First, a distinction of some persons, and their superiority over others, both in power and order, cleared to be from the Law of Nature. The power and application of the power distinguished; this latter not from any Law of Nature binding, but permissive: therefore may be restrained. Peoples right of chosing Pastors considered. Order distinguished from the form and manner of Government: the former Natural, the other not. The second is, that the persons imployed in the Service of God, should have respect answerable to their imployment, which appears from their Relation to God as his Servants; from the persons imployed in this work before positive Laws. Masters of Families the first Priests. The Priesthood of the first born before the Law discussed: The Arguments for it answered. The Conjunction of Civil and Sacred Authothority largely shewed, among Egyptians, Grecians, Romans, and others. The ground of Separation of them afterwards, from Plutarch and others.
THe second thing which the Light of Nature dictates, in§. 3. reference to Church-Government, is, That the Society in which men joyn for the Worship of God, be preserved, mantained, and governed in the most convenient manner. Nature, which requires Society, doth require Government in that Society, or else it is no Society. Now we shall inquire what particular Orders for Government of this Society established for the Worship of God, do flow from the light of Nature, which I conceive are these following.
First, To the maintaining of a Society, there i… requisite a Distinction of Persons, and a Superiority of Power and Order, in some over the other. If all be Rulers, every man is sui juris, and so there can be no Society, or each man must have power over the other, and that brings confusion. There must be some then invested with Power and Authority over others, to rule them in such things wherein they are to be subordinate to them; that is, in all things concerning that Society they are entered into. Two things are implyed in this: First Power: Secondly Order. By Power, I mean a right to Govern; by Order, the Superiority of some as Rulers, the Subordination of others as ruled. These two are so necessary, that no Civil Society in the World can be without them: For if there be no Power, how can men Rule? If no Order, how can men be ruled, or be subject to others as their Governours? Here several things must be heedfully distinguished. The Power from the Application of that Power, which we call the Title to Government. The Order it self from the form or manner of Government. Some of these I Assert as absolutely necessary to all Government of a Society, and consequently of the Church, considered without positive Laws; but others to be accidentall, and therefore variable. I say then that there be a Governing Power in the Church of God, is immutable, not onelyonly by Vertue of Gods own Constitution, but as a necessary result from the dictate of Nature, supposing a Society: But whether this Power must be derived by Succession, or by a free Choice, is not at all determined by the Light of Nature; because it may be a lawful Power, and derived either way: And the Law of Nature as binding, onelyonly determines of necessaries. Now in Civil Government, we see that a lawfull Title is by Succession in some places, as by Election in other. So in the Church under the Law, the Power went by lineal Descent, and yet a lawful Power: And on the other side, none deny (setting aside positive Lawes) but it might be as lawful by choice and free Election. The main Reason of this is, that the Title or Manner of conveying Authority to particular Persons, is no part of the preceptive Obligatory Law of Nature, but onelyonly of the permissive; and consequently is not immutable, but is subject to Divine or Humane positive Determinations, and thereby made alterable▪ And supposing a Determination, either by Scripture or lawful Authority, the exercise of that Natural Right is so far restrained as to become sinful, according to the third Proposition under the 2. Hypoth. and the 5. Hypoth. So that granting at present, that people have the Right of choosing their own Pastors; this Right being only a part of the Permissive Law of Nature, may be lawfully restrained and otherwise determined, by those that have lawfull authority over the people, as a Civil Society, according to the 5. Hypoth. If it be pleaded that they have a right by divine positive law, that law must be produced it being already proved, that no bare Example, without a Declaration by God that such an Example binds, doth constitute a Divine Right which is unalterable. We say then, that the manner of investing Church-Governours in their Authority, is not Determined by the Law of Nature; but that there should be a Power Governing, is (supposing a Society) of the immutable Law of Nature, because it is that without which no Society can be maintained. And this is one of those things which are of the Law of Nature, not in an abs…lute state of Liberty; but supposing some Acts of Men which (once supposed) become immutable, and indispensable. As supposing Propriety, every Man is bound to abstain from what is in anothers Possession, without his consent, by an immutable Law of Nature; which yet supposeth some Act of Man, viz. the voluntary introducing of Propriety by consent: So supposing a Society in being, it is an immutable dictate of the Law of Nature, that a Power of Government should be maintained and preserved in it.
So I say for the second thing, Order. This, as it implies the§. 2. Subordination of some in a Society to others as their Rulers, is immutable and indispensable; but as to the Form whereby that Order should be preserved, that is, whether the Government should be in the hands of one or more, is no wise Determined by the Obligatory Law of Nature; because either of them may be lawfull and usefull for the ends of Government, and so neither necessary by that Law: For as to the Law of Nature, the Case is the same in Civil and Religious Societies; Now who will say, that according to the Law of Nature, any form of Government, Monarchy, Aristocracy, Democracy, is unlawfull. These things are then matters of Naturall Liberty, and not of Naturall necessity, and therefore must be examined according to positive Determinations of Divine and Humane Lawes, where we shall speak of it. This then is clear as to our purpose, That a power in the Church must be constantly upheld and preserved, fitly qualified for the ends of Government, is an immutable Law; so that this power be lodged in some particular Persons to act as Governours, and so distinct from others, as subordinate to them; but whether the Power of Government come from People by Election, or from Pastors by Ordination, or from Magistrates by Commission and Delegation; whether one, two, or all these wayes, is not determined by Naturall Law, but must be looked for in Gods positive Laws; if not there neither to be found, we must acquiesce in what is determined by lawful Authority. The same I say again, as to forms of Government, whether the Power of sole Jurisdiction, and Ordination, be invested in one person above the rank of Presbyters, or be lodged in a Colledge acting in a p…rity of Power, is a plea must be removed from the Court of common Law of Nature, to the Kings Bench; I mean to the positive Lawes of God, or the Supream power in a Common-wealth: There being no Statutes in the Law of Nature to determine it: it must be therefore Placitum Regis, some positive Law must end the controversie. We therefore traverse the Suit here, and shall enter it at the other Court.
The second thing dictated by the Law of Nature, is, That the persons imployed in the immediate Service of God, and entrusted with the Power of governing the Society appointed for that end, should have respect paid them answerable to the Nature of their imployment. This appears to have foundation in the Law of Nature, being easily deducible from one of the first principles of that Law, that God is to be worshipped; if so, then those whose imployment is chiefly to attend upon himself, ought to have greater Reverence then others. By the same Reason in Nature, that if we do honour the King himself, the nearer any are to the Kings Person in attendance and imployment, the greater honour is to be shewed them. The ground of which is, that the honour given to servants as such, is not given to their persons, but to their Relation, or to the one only upon the account of the other; and so it doth not fix and terminate upon themselves, but rebounds back, and reflects upon the Original and Fountain of that Honour, the Prince himself: So if any be honoured upon the account of their immediate imployment in the service of God, it is God who is chiefly honour'd, and not they; it being the way men have to expresse their honour to God, by shewing it proportionably and respectively to those who either represent him, or are imployed by him. foreign as Chrysostome speaks in this very case. The honour p…sseth through Homil. 65. in Gen. …7. 26. Tom. 1. p. 506. Ed. Savil.them to God himself. Where he largely proves this very thing from the Egyptians sparing the Lands of their Priests; and argues at least for an equality of honour, from reason, to be given to those who serve the true God. Nay, he is so far from looking upon it as part of their superstition, that he mounts his argument à pari, to one à minori ad majus, foreign, that is, As much as truth exceeds errour, and the servants of God do the Idol-priests; so much let the honour we give to them, exceed that which was given by the Heathen to theirs: But we have a further evidence of the honourablenesse of this imployment, by the light of Nature, from the persons imployed in this work, before any positive Laws did restrain it: For I say not, that the Law of Nature doth dictate, that the function of those imployed in this work should be differenced from all other; that is done by Divine positive Laws; but the honour of those in that function is from the Law of Nature: which appears hence, in that in the eldest times, those who had the greatest authority civil, had likewise the sacred conjoyned with it. For as Aristotle rightly observes, that the originallPolitic. lib. 1. cap. 2. of civil Government was from private families: so in those families, before they came to associate for more publike worship, the Master of the family was the Priest of it. ThenceGen. 8. 20. 18. 19. …2. 2. 31. 54. Job 4… 8. we read of Noahs sacrificing, Abrahams duty to instruct his family, and his own command for offering up his Son: we read of Iacobs sacrificing, and Iobs, and so of others. Every Master of the family then was the High Priest too, and governed his family, not only as such, but as a religious Society.
Afterwards (from what institution we know not; but certainly§. 4. the reason of it, if it were so, was to put the greater honour upon the eldest son) it is generally conceived, that the first-born had the Priesthood of the Family in their possession, till the time of the Leviticall Law. The Jewish DoctorsV. Selden. de success. ad leo. Heb. cap. 5. Origin cap. 15. p. 69. think that was the Birthright which Iacob procured from his Father, and which Abraham gave to Isaac, when it is said, that he gave him foreign all that he had: For saith Postellus, if it be meant in a literall sense, how could he give those gifts to his other Sons which are mentioned before? Wherefore he conjectures, by that All, is meant the spiritual knowledge of Christ, which he calls Intellectus generalis; which might be more proper to him as Priest of the family. But the plain meaning is no more, than, when Abraham had bestowed Legacies on his other Children, he left Isaac haredem ex asse, his lawfull heir: I am unwilling to deny a Tradition so generally received, among both Jewish and Christian Writers, as the Priesthood of the first-born before the Law; but this I say, I cannot yet find any other ground for it but Tradition▪ no place of Scripture giving us sufficient evidence for it, and many against it. That which serves sufficiently for the consutation of it, is that observation of Theodoret, foreign ▪ It is to be observed, Qu. 108. in Gen.that the younger are alwayes preferred before the first-born. Which he takes notice of from the case he there speaks to of Ephraim and Manasses; and so runs it up to Abel preferr'd before Cain, Seth before Iapheth, Abraham before his elder brethren, Isaac before Ismael, Iacob before Esau, Iudas and Ioseph before Reuben, Moses before Aaron; and David beforeV. Isidor. Pel. lib. 2. ep. 47. & 48. ad fi… ▪ the rest of his Brethren; (although that was after the Law). That place which gives the greatest countenanc… to the opinion is, Numbers 3. 41. And thou shalt take the Levites for me instead of the first-born: where it seems, that the first-born were formerly the Priests, in whose room the Levites were taken. But with submission to better judgements, I can see nothing implyed in this place, but only that God having delivered their first-born in Egypt, Exodus 12. 23. and calling for them to be sanctified to him, Exodus 13. 2. upon the account of the propriety he had in them, in a peculiar manner, by that deliverance (and not on the account of any speciall service, for many were very unfit for that by reason of age▪ and which is observable, God requires as well the first-born of beasts both to be sanctified and redeemed, Numbers 3 41.) therefore God now setling a way of Worship, he gave the Israelites liberty to redeem them, and instead of them pitched on the Tribe of Levi for his own service. Another plac… is Exodus V. Selden. de success. ad Pontis. ebr. cap. 1. sed & V. eum de Syned. lib. …. cap. 16.24. 5. where the young men are mentioned that offered burntoffering. It is confessed that the Chaldee Paraphrast and Arabick Version understand here the First-born; but however the place implyes no more then that they were employed to bring the sacrifices, for so the Septuagint render it. foreign, or else that they were employed as the Popae only to kill the Sacrifices; for we see the sprinkling of the blood which was the main thing intended here as a foederal rite, was done by Moses himself, who was the High, priest of the people as well as Prince, till Aaron and his sons were set a part, which was not till Exodus 28. 1, 2. and yet Aaron was three years elder then Moses, Exod. 7. 7. which is an evidence that Aaron as first-born was not the Priest; for till his consecration, Moses and not Aaron performed the offices of Priesthood. Thence we read, Psalm 99. 6. Moses and Aaron among his Priests. For although the word foreign be sometimes attributed to those in civill authority, 1 as 2 Samuel. 8. 18. compared with 1 Chron. 18. 17. and 2 Sam. 26. 26. Gen. 41. 50. Exodus 2. 16. Iob 12. 19. yet there is no▪ reason so to understand it of Moses: And further, the ground why foreign was attributed to both Prince and Priest before the Law, was, because the same person might be both; as the Priests of Egypt were Princes too, Gen. 41. 50. But for Moses, we read not only of theV. Selden de Syned. l 2. cap. 2. s. 3. title, but the proper offices of Priests attributed to him, as sacrificing, Exodus 24. 5. consecrating Aaron and his sons, Exodus 29. 35. and therefore Aben Ezra upon that Psalm forecited, calls him foreign the High Priest.
This Priest-hood of Moses leads us to another evidence of§. 5. the honour of those who were employed in the service of God, which is that when Families encreased and many associated into a Common-wealth, though the private service might belong to the master of the Family, yet the publike, before positive Laws restraining it, was most commonly joyned with the civill power. That Melchizedek was both King and Priest in Salem; if with the Jews we conclude he was Som (which we have little reason for) it will be a greater evidence, Sem being then the greatest Potentate Living. But we passe from him to other Nations after the dispersion, to see where the power over religious Societies was generally held. In Egypt we findPlut. de I…. & Osi…id. Str. Geog. l 17. Quest. Rom. 110. Politic. l. 3. cap. 10. 11. l. 6. cap. 8. lib. 3. c. 4. Herod. l. 6. V. C…ag. de rep Laced. lib. 2. c. 2. that their Priests were often made Kings, as Plutarch observes out of Hecataeus, and is confessed by Strabo, Diodorus, and others. Of the Greeks the same Plutarch gives us a large testimony, that among them foreign, the Priesthood was accounted of equal dignity with the Kingdom. The same doth Aristotle in severall places of his Politicks: and particularly of the Spartans, of whom Herodotus adds, that the Priest-hood of Iupiter Coelestis and Lacedaemonius did alwayes belong to the Kings own person. For the old Latins, Virgils Anius is sufficient: and among the Romans after the powers were separated, the Pontifex Max. had royal state, his cella'curulis and Lictores, as the Consuls had, only their Priests medled not in civill affairs, of which Plutarch gives a double reason; the impossibility of minding both imployments as they should do, and so must eitherQu. Rom. 110. foreign, neglect the Worship of the Gods, or else foreign, wrong the people with the neglect of the administration of justice. The other reason is, because those that were imployed in civill affairs, were put upon execution of justice; and it was no wayes fit a man should come reeking from the blood of Citizens, to go and sacrifice to the Gods: This conjunction of civill and sacred power is attested byStrom. l. 7. ep. 121. Geog. l. 14. S…eton. in Aug. c. 31. V. Casaub. in l. & Seld. de Syned l. 1. …. 10. Clemens Alexandrinus of the most civilized Heathens; so likewise by Synesius of the most ancient Nations, by Strabo of the Ephesians, by the Roman Historians of the Roman Emperours, who from Augustus to Gratian, and some say after, continued the title of Pontifex Maximus among the rest of the Imperiall Honours. Thus much then may serve to manifest how the Honour of those persons who are im…e service of God, and the Governme… is a dictate of the Law of …