Episcopacy by Divine Right Asserted, Section 1
§. 1.
An expoſtulatorie entrance into the Queſtion.
GOod God! what is this, that I have lived to heare? That a Biſhop in a Chriſtian Aſſembly ſhould renounce his Epiſcopall function, and crie mercy for his now-abandoned calling? Brother that was, (who ever you be) I muſt have leave a while to conteſt ſeriouſly with you; the act was yours; the concernment the whole Churches: You could not think ſo foule a deed could eſcape unqueſtioned: The world never heard of ſuch a Penance; you cannot blame us if we receive it both with wonder and expoſtulation; and tell you, it had beene much better to have been unborn, than to live to give ſo hainous a ſcandal to Gods Church, and ſo deep a wound to his holy truth, and Ordinance. If Tweed that runs betweene us, were an Ocean, it could not either drown, or waſh off, our intereſt, or your offence: however you may be applauded for the time, by ſome ignorant, and partiall abettors, wiſer poſteritie ſhall bluſh for you, and cenſure you too juſtly for ſome kind of Apoſtaſie: Sure I am, you have done that to your ſelfe, which if your Presbytery had done to you, would have been, in the Conſtruction of the great Councell of Chalcedon, Concil. Chalced. of 150 Biſh. Can. 29. foreign.no other than ſacriledge. For me, I am now breathing towards the end of my race; the goale is already in mine eye; young men may ſpeake out of ambitious hopes, or paſsionate tranſportations; I that am now ſetting foot over the threſhold of the houſe of my age, what aime can I have, but of the iſſue of my laſt account, whereto I am ready to be ſummoned before the Judge of quick and dead: Neither can you look (as is likely) to be long after me: ſetting therefore that awfull Tribunall, to which we ſhall ſhortly be preſented, before our eyes; let us reaſon the caſe in a modeſt earneſtneſſe. I ſhould be aſhamed to find leſſe zeal in my ſelf for holy Epiſcopacy, than you think you have ſhow'd in diſclaiming it. Say therefore, I beſeech you, before God and his elect Angels, ſay what it is, (beſides perhaps the feare of plundering a faire temporall eſtate by the furious multitude;) ſay what it can be, that induced you to this ſinfull, to this ſcandalous repentance; ſhew me true grounds, and take me with you. How wearie ſhould I be of this Rochet, if you can ſhew me, that Epiſcopacie is of any leſſe than divine Inſtitution. The eminence of that calling, which you have given up, as too good for you, will not allow you (though perhaps you might) to plead ignorance. Win him by your powerfull arguments, who is ſo far from being wedded to the love of this miſconceived pomp, that he envies the ſweet peace of his inferiours; Let me tell you, it is your perſon, that aggravates your crime; For a ſheep to ſtray, it is no wonder; but for a Shepheard, yea a guide and director of Shepheards, (ſuch God and the Church had made you) not to wander himſelfe only, but to lead away his flock from the green paſtures, and comfortable waters of divine Truth, to the drie and barren deſarts of humane inventions, it cannot be but as ſhamefull as it is dangerous; both in an high degree. That ſome poore ſeduced ſoules of your ignorant vulgar ſhould condemne that calling, which they were never ſuffered to looke at, but with prejudicate eyes; or, that ſome of your higher-ſpirited Clergie, out of an Ambition of this dignity, and anger of the repulſe, ſhould ſnarle at this denied honour; or, that ſome of your great ones, who, perhaps, do no leſſe love the lands, than they envie, and hate the preheminence of Biſhops, ſhould crie downe that ſacred function, could be no other than might in times ſo conditioned be expected, and by fore-expectation made the more tolerable: But for a man held, once, worthy to be graced with the chair of Epiſcopacie, to ſpurne downe that once honourable ſeat, and to make his very Profeſsion, a ſin, is ſo ſhamefull an indignity, as the judicious of the ſucceeding ages, will ſhake their heads at, and not mention, without juſt indignation. If you were guilty, to your ſelfe, of any noted perſonall exorbitances, or of any inſolencies, or offenſive miſcariages in your ill-placed government (ſuch perhaps, as have inraged your angry vulgar) theſe had beene juſt matter of your humble penitence, and worthy of your moſt ſubmiſſe deprecation: but to repent you of a moſt lawfull, honourable, holy, divine vocation, and thereby to caſt mire in the faces of the bleſſed Apoſtles, who received it from their God, and Saviour, and by the guidance of his Spirit ordained it, is ſuch an act, as can ſcarce be expiated with floods of over-lateſt teares. Come then, I beſeech you, and let us in the feare of God reaſon ſadly together, not in a vaine affectation of victorie, like ſome young Sophiſters, but as ſober Divines, in a fervent purſuit of that Truth, which God and his purer Church have left, and conſigned to us. That God, who is the Father of lights, and the God of truth and peace, inlighten the eyes of his poor ſeduced people, that they may ſee and acknowledge his Truth; not ſuffering themſelvs to be blinded with unjuſt prejudices, and falſe ſuggeſtions; and that they may know thoſe things which belong to their peace.