Episcopacy by Divine Right Asserted, Section 11
§. 11.
The two famous Rules of Tertullian and S. Auguſtine to this purpoſe aſſerted.
I May not baulke two pregnant teſtimonies of the Fathers, wherewith this great Anthierarchiſt and his Northerne foreign is as much and juſtly troubled, as our cauſe is advantaged; not ſo much becauſe they are the ſentences of ancient Fathers (which they have learned to turne off at pleaſure, with ſcorne enough) as for that they carry in them ſuch cleareneſſe, and ſtrength of reaſon, as will not admit of any probable contradiction; The former is,Tertull. con…r. Marcion. c. 4. that of Tertullian, Conſtabit id eſſe ab Apoſtolis traditum, quod apud Eccleſias Apostolorum fuerit ſacroſanctum; That ſhall clearely appeare to be delivered by the Apoſtles, which ſhall have been religiouſly obſerved in the Churches of the Apoſtles: What evaſion is there of ſo evident a truth?Vbi ſupra. Me ſeemes (ſaith Parker) that Tertullian underſtands onelyonly thoſe Churches, which were in the very time of the Apoſtles, not the ſubſequent; for he ſaith not, Quod eſt, but Quod fuerit; and thus it may be held true: But this is to mocke himſelfe, and thoſe that truſt him, and not to anſwer all the Fathers teſtimony. The queſtion muſt be, what, in Tertullian's time, ſhould be held to have beene Apoſtolike; and therefore he ſaith, Constabit, not, Conſtitit; now, if he ſhall ſpeak to Parkers ſenſe, he ſhall ſay, That which was religiouſly kept in the Church, planted by the Apoſtles, and in their own time, is to be held Apoſtolike; what is the reader ever the wiſer, ſince it were equally hard to know, what their Churches then did, and what they themſelves ordained to be done; were it not for the continued tradition and practice, deſcending from them to the ſucceeding ages; ſo as either they muſt truſt the Churches then preſent, for the deduction of ſuch truth, or els nothing would be proved Apoſtolike. Neither is there any thing more familiar with the Fathers, than to terme thoſe the Churches of the Apoſtles, even for ſome hundreds of yeares after their deceaſe, wherein they (after ſome reſidence) had eſtabliſhed a government for future ſucceſſion; which had foreign, as Syneſius ſpeaketh; as it were too eaſie to inſtance in a thouſand particularities; yea, that it may appeare how Parker ſhuffles here, againſt his owne knowledge, there is a flat mention of the Churches after the time of Saint Iohn (the longeſt liver of all that holy traine) which he cals Ioannis alumnas Eccleſias, Tert. l. 4. contra Marc. c. 5.So as this of Parkers is a miſerable ſhift, and not an anſwer.
The other is that famous place of Saint Auguſtine againſt the Donatiſts, agi…ated by every pen; Quod univerſa, &c. That which is held by the univerſall Church, and not ordained by any Councell, but hath beene alwayes retained in the Church, is moſt truly believed to be delivered by no other than Apoſtolicall authority; which Parker ſticks not to profeſſe the Achillaean argument of the Hierarchiſts; Neither have they any cauſe to diſclaime it; the authority of the man is great, but the power of his reaſon more; For that which obtaineth univerſally, muſt either have ſome force in it ſelfe to command acceptation, or els muſt be impoſed by ſome over-ruling Authority; and what can that be, but either of the great Princes (as they are anciently called) of the Church, the holy Apoſtles, or of ſome generall Councels, as may authoritatively diffuſe it through all the world? If then no Councels have decreed the obſervation of an ordinance, whence ſhould an univerſall, not reception onelyonly, but retention proceed, ſaye from Apoſtolike hands? No cauſe can work beyond his owne Sphere; Private power cannot exceed its owne compaſſe; Let not any adverſary think to elude this teſtimony with the upbraiding to it the Patronage of the Popiſh Opinion concerning Traditions: we have learned to hate their vanities, and yet to maintaine our owne Truths, without all feare of the patrocination of Popery; We deny not ſome Traditions (however the word, for want of diſtinguiſhing, is, from their abuſe, growne into an ill name) muſt have their place, and uſe; and in vaine ſhould learned Chamier, Fulk, Whitakers, Perkins, Willet, and other Controverſers labour in the rules of diſcerning true Apoſtolicall Traditions from falſe, and counterfeit, if all were ſuch; and if thoſe which are certainly true, were not worthy of high honour and reſpect; And what and how farre our entertainment of Traditions is, and ſhould be, I referre my Reader to that ſound and judicious diſcourſe of our now moſt Reverend Metropolitan againſt his Ieſuite A.C. Onwards therefore I muſt obſerve; That whereas Chamier doth juſtly defend,Cham. Panſtrat. de Traditionibus. that the Evidence of theſe kind of Traditions from the univerſall receipt of the Church, doth not breed a plerophory of aſſent; he doth not herein touch upon us; ſince his Oppoſition is only concerning points of faith; Our defence is concerning matter of fact; neither do we hold it needfull there ſhould be ſo full a ſway of aſſent to the teſtimony of the Churches practice herein, as there ever ought to be to the direct ſentence of the ſacred Scripture. Will none but a divine faith ſerve the turn in theſe Caſes, which Parker himſelfe profeſſes to bee farre from importing ſalvation? Is it not enough that I doe as verily believe (upon theſe humane proofes) what was done by the Apoſtles for the plantation and ſettlement of the Church, as I doe believe there was a Rome before Christ's Incarnation; or that a Iulius Caeſar was Emperour, or Dictator there; or Tully an Oratour, and Conſul; or Cato a wiſe Senator; or Catiline a Traytor? Certainly, thus much beliefe will ſerve for our purpoſe; who ſo requires more, beſides the grounds of the Apoſtolike Ordinances recorded in Scripture, thus ſeconded, may take that counſell, which boyes conſtrue the Lapwing to give for her neſt.
Two things are anſwered hereto, by Parker and his Clients: The one, That the rule of S. Auguſtine availes us nothing, ſince that the Originall of Epiſcopacie is deſigned as from Decree, by S. Hierome; as from Councels, by S. Ambroſe: but what that decree was, or could be, beſides Apoſtolicall, or what thoſe Councels were, hee were wiſe that could tell; He, and all his abettors, I am ſure, cannot.
But of this in the Sequell. The other (after ſome miſ-applied teſtimonies of our owne Authors, who drive onelyonly at matter of faith) that hee can make inſtance in diverſe things, which were both univerſally, and perpetually received (no Councell decreeing them) and yet farre from an Apoſtolike Ordination. Sibrandus Lubbertus helpes him to his firſt inſtance, borrowed from S. Auguſtine, a fixed day for the celebration of Easter: And what of that? How holds his argument in this? For that this or that day ſhould be univerſally ſet, and perpetually kept for that ſolemne Feaſt, who that ever heard of the ſtate of the Primitive time can affirme? Since thoſe famous quarrels and contrary pretences of their ſeverall derivations of right from the two prime Apoſtles, are ſtill in every mans eye; but that an Easter was agreed to be ſolemnly kept by the Primitive Church univerſally,Euſeb. l. 5. hiſt. c. 24. Quanquam enim in ipſo die differe…tia erat, in hoc tamen omnes E…l…ſiae conſpirâ… unt, Diem Paſchatis obſervandum aliquem eſſe. Ibid. Polit. Eccleſ. thoſe very Contentions betwixt Polycarpus and Annicetus do ſufficiently declare; and Parker himſelfe confeſſeth. Thus it was kept, and withall decreed by no Councell, yet not (ſaith he) by any Apoſtolicall inſtitution: How doth that appeare? Nihil illi de feſtis, &c. They, .i. the Apoſtles, never delivered ought concerning Feaſt-dayes, nor yet of Easter: Why but this is the very queſtion: Parker denies it, and muſt we take his word for proofe, whereas we have the Apoſtles direct, foreign? Let us keep the feaſt. And afterwards there is a plaine deduction of it from and through the times ſucceeding, as is fully and excellently ſet forth by our incomparably-learned, the late Biſhop of Wincheſter, to whoſe accurate diſcourſe of this ſubject,B. Andrewes Serm. of the Reſur. Ser. 13. I may well referre my reader.
His ſecond inſtance is the Apoſtles Creed, which our Authors juſtly place within the firſt three hundred yeares after Chriſt; uſed, and received by the whole Church, and not enacted by any Councels, yet not (in reſpect of the forme of it) delivered by the Apoſtles. A doughty argument, and fit for the great Controller of times, and Antagoniſt of government; we ſpeak of the matter of the Creed, he talkes of the forme of it; we of things, he of words: and juſt ſo Tilenus his friend inſtances in foreign and foreign, found in Ignatius. But do theſe men ſuppoſe, S. Auguſtine meant to ſend us to ſeek for all common expreſſions of language to the Apoſtles? Let them tell us: Is there any thing in the ſubſtance of that Creed, which we cannot fetch from the Apoſtles? Are not all the ſeverall clauſes (as he cites them from S. Auguſtine) per divinas Scripturas ſparſae, indè collectae, & in unum redactae; ſcattered here and there in the Scriptures, penned by the Apoſtles, gathered up, and reduced into this ſumme? As for the ſyntaxe of words and ſentences, who of us ever ſaid they were, or needed to be, fathered upon thoſe great Legates of the Sonne of God? Our Cauſe is no whit the poorer, if we grant there were ſome univerſall termes derived by Tradition to the following ages, whereof the Originall Authors are not knowne: This will not come within the compaſſe of his (quiddam) vox eſt, praetereà nihil.
His third inſtance is in the Obſervation of Lent; for which indeed there is ſo great plea of Antiquity, that himſelfe cannot deny it to be acknowledged even by old Ignatius, a man contemporary to ſome of the Apoſtles; and as overcome by the evidence of all Hiſtories, grants it to be apparent, that the whole Church conſtantly ever obſerved ſome kinde of Faſt before their Eaſter; no leſſe than Theophilus Alexandrinus, Polit. Eccleſ. ubi ſuprà.Lex abſtinendi, the Law of faſting in Lent hath beene alwayes obſerved in the Church; and what need we more? And yet, ſaith Parker, for all that, Lent was not delivered by Apoſtolike authority; Et in eo lapſi ſunt Patres; therein the Fathers are miſtaken. Magiſterially ſpoken; and we muſt believe him, rather than S. Hierome, who plainely tels us, it is ſecundùm Traditionem Apoſtolorum, according to the Tradition of the Apoſtles. The ſpecialties indeed of this faſt admitted of old very great variety; in the ſeaſon, in the number of dayes, in the limitation, ſubject, and manner of abſtinence; as Socrates hath well expreſſed;Socrat. l. 5. c. 2. foreign. but for a quoddam jejunium, ſome kinde of faſt, I ſee no reaſon why the man that can be ſo liberall, as to grant it alwayes obſerved by the univerſall Church, ſhould be ſo ſtrait-laced, as to deny it derivable from the Tradition of the holy Apoſtles; and when he can as well prove it not Apoſtolike, as we can prove it univerſall, we ſhall give him the Bucklers.
To what purpoſe do I trace him in the reſt? the ancient rites of the Euchariſt, and of Baptiſme urged out of Baronius; of geſtures in prayer, of the obſervation of ſolemne Feaſts, and Embers; let one word ſerve for all; it will be an harder work for him to prove their univerſality and perpetuity, than to diſprove their originall; let it be made good, that the whole Church of Chriſt alwayes received them, we ſhall not be niggardly in yeelding them this honour of their pedigree deducible from an Apoſtolicall recommendation: In the meane time every (not ungracious) ſonne of this ſpirituall Mother will learne to kiſſe the footſteps of the univerſall Church of Chriſt, as knowing the deare and infallible reſpects betwixt him and this bleſſed Spouſe of his, as to whom he hath ingaged his everlaſting preſence and aſſiſtance; Behold I am with you alwayes to the end of the world; and will reſolve to ſpit in the face of thoſe ſeducers, who go about to alienate their affections from her, and to draw them into the cauſleſſe ſuſpicions of her chaſt fidelity to her Lord and Saviour. To ſhut up this point therefore, if we can ſhow that the univerſall practice of the Church, immediately after the Apoſtles, and ever ſince, hath been to governe by Biſhops, ſuperiour to Presbyters in their order and juriſdiction, our Cauſe is won.