Episcopacy by Divine Right Asserted, Part 2 · Section 8
§. 8.
The eſtate and order of Epiſcopacy deduced from the Apoſtles to the Primitive Biſhops.
DId not the holy Scriptures yield unto theſe firme grounds, whereon to build our Epiſcopacy, in vain ſhould we plead the Tradition, and practiſe of the Church, ever ſince; for as much as we have to deal with thoſe, who are equally diſaffected to the name of a Biſhop, and to Tradition; and are ſo fore-ſtalled with their own prejudice, that they are carried (where Scripture is ſilent) to an unjuſt jealouſie againſt the univerſall practiſe of the whole Church of God upon earth. But now, when Chriſt and his Apoſtles give us the text, well may the Apoſtolicall and univerſall Church yield us the Commentary; And that let me boldly ſay, is ſo clear for us, that if our Oppoſites dare ſtand to this triall, the day is ours; their gultineſſe therfore would fain decline this barre.
Tertull. de preſcrip. c. 24, 25.Parker taking advantage from a word of Tertullian, Nihil intereſt quando quid ſit, quod ab Apoſtolis non fuit; It matters not when any thing is, which was not under the Apoſtles; that is Adulterine (what ever it be) that is not named by the Apoſtles, inferres, What then? It matters not when the Epiſcopall Hierarchy began, whether ſooner or later;Qi d igitur, Nihil intereſt. &c. l. 2. c. 8. it is enough that it is Adulterine, for that it is not named by the Apoſtles. And contrarily, it matters no whit at what time the reformed diſ ipline was impayred, whether in the very firſt Church, or no; or whether in the time immediatly ſucceeding: Thus he; And ſhall we take him at his word? Where then did the Apoſtles name this mans Conſiſtory? Where his Lay-changable Presbytery Where his Diſcipline? It is therefore Adulterine: As alſo, Where name they the peoples voyce in their Miniſters Election, where Claſſes or Synods; Are all theſe adulterine? For us, we are not concerned in this Cenſure; Our Epiſcopacy is both named, and recommended, and preſcribed by the Apoſtles. As for his diſcipline, ſeeing it never came within the mention either of an Apoſtle, or of any Chriſtian, for above fifteen hundred yeers ſince our Saviour left the world; what can that be, but groſly adulterine? But to make up all: Parker ſhould have done well to have taken notice of the following words of Tertullian; Quod ab Apoſtolis non damnatur, imo defenditur, hoc erit judicium proprietatis; That which is not condemned by the Apoſtles, yea defended rather, may well be judged for their own; and then he would have found how ſtrong this plea of Tertullian is againſt himſelfe. For where, ever, can he ſhow Epiſcopacy condemned by the Apoſtle; yea how clearly do we ſhow it, not allowed only, but enjoyned: finding therefore Epiſcopall imparity ſo countenanced by the written word, we have good reaſon to call in all antiquity, and the univerſall Church ſucceeding the Apoſtles, as the voice of the Spouſe, to ſecond her glorious husband.
Had there been any ſenſible gapp of time betwixt the dayes of the Apoſtles, and the Ordination of Biſhops in the Chriſtian Church, we might have had ſome reaſon to ſuſpect this Inſtitution to have been meerly humane; but now, ſince it ſhall appeare that this worke of erecting Epiſcopacy paſſed both under the eies and hands of thoſe ſacred Ambaſſadors of Chriſt, who lived to ſee their Epiſcopall ſucceſſors planted in the ſeverall regions of the world, what reaſon can any man pretend, that this inſtitution ſhould be any other then Apoſtolicall, had it been otherwiſe, they lived to have Countermanded it. How plain is that of St. Ambroſe, Paul ſaw Iames at Ieruſalem becauſe he was made Biſhop of that place by the Apoſtles: and to the ſame effect St. Auſtin, contra Creſi…n. 1. 2. St. Ierome, the only Author amongſt the ancients, who is wont with any colour to be alleadged againſt the right of Epiſcopacy; yet himſelf confeſſeth that Biſhops began in Alexandria, from Mark the Evangeliſt, who died ſixe yeers before St. Peter or St. Paul; Thirty five yeers before St. James the Apoſtle; Forty five yeers before Simon Cleophas (who ſucceeded St. Iames in the Biſhoprick of Ieruſalem) being the kinſman of our Saviour,… l. 3. c. 11. as Euſebius Brother to Joſeph, as Egeſippus. The ſame author can tell us, that in the very times of the Apoſtles, Ignatius was Biſhop of Antioch, indeed of Syria: Sicut Smyrnaeorum eccleſia habens Policarpum ab Joanne conlocatum Tert. de praeſc.Policarpus of Smyrna; Timothy of Epheſus; Titus of Crete, or Candia, That Papias St. Iohns Auditor ſoon after was made Biſhop of Hierapolis; Quadratus a diſciple of the Apoſtles, Biſhop of Athens after Publius his martyred predeceſſor.
And can we think theſe men were made Biſhops without the knowledge and conſent of the Apoſtles then living, or with it? without it, we cannot ſay except we will diſparage both the Apoſtles care, and power; And withall, the holineſſe of theſe their ſucceſſors who were knowne to be Apoſtolicall men, diſciples of Chriſt, Companions of the Apoſtles, and laſtly bleſſed Martyrs; if with it, we have our deſire, what ſhall I need to inſtance; Our learned Bilſon hath cleared this point beyond all contradiction. In whom you may pleaſe to ſee out of Euſebius, Egeſippus, Socrates, Ierom, Perpet. goverm. of the Ch. ch. 13.Epiphanius, others, as exact a pedegree of all the holy Biſhops of the Primitive Church, ſucceeding each other in the foure Apoſtolicall Sees untill the time of the Nicene Councell, as our Godwin or Maſon can give us of our Biſhops of England; or a Speed or Stow of our Engliſh Kings. There you ſhall finde from Iames the Lords brother, who, (as Ierom himſelfe expreſly) ſate as Biſhop in the Church of Ieruſalem, to Macarius, who ſate in the Nicene Councell, 40. Biſhops punctually named. From St. Peter who governed the Church of Antioch, and was ſucceeded by Evodius, (and he by Ignatius) twenty ſeven. In the See of Rome, thirty ſeven. In the See of Alexandria, from Marke the Evangeliſt, twenty three; A Catalogue which cannot be queſtioned without too much injurious incredulity; nor denied without an unreaſonable boldneſſe: The ſame courſe was held in all other Churches, neither may wee thinke theſe varied from the reſt, but rather (as Prime Sees) were patternes to the more obſcure. For the other, ſaith Euſebius, Euſeb. l. 3. c. 37.it is not poſſible, by name, to rehearſe them all that were Paſtours, imployed in the firſt ſucceſſions of the Church-government after the Apoſtles. Neither indeed needeth it; the warieſt buyers, by one handful judge of the whole ſack: and this truth is ſo cleer, that the moſt judicious late Divines have not ſtuck to acknowledge ſo much as we have deſired.