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6000338 181
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V I
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■O
THE b'i|xW°^
THEOLOGICAL WORKS
HEEBBRT THORNDIKE,
WiMETIME PREBENDARY OF THE COLLSOIATE CHURCH OF 8T. PETER, WESTMINSTER.
VOL. I.
OXFORD :
JOHN HENRY PARKER. MDCCCXLIT.
THE RIGHT OF THE CHURCH IN A CHRISTIAN STATE.
TO THE READEK.
At ihe beginning of these troubles, I published a short discourse, of "The Primitive Government of Churches,*' and Rficr it a IflJiicr, of ■' The Apostolical Form of Divine Service at the Assemblies of the Church;" ihinlcing it easy to infer what ought to be done» if it could be made to appear what tbe A|KjHtleM had dune. Since that time , cungrcgationB bnve been erected^ and preshyteries ordained, though with some linclurc of Erastus's doctrine, which dissolveth all
* " The mhic day that tbc House of l^rdft pawed tVis otdinuici? of attnittdm- •IfuniiX (be Arciibiehu^> uf t'nntprbury, xhtj likewise ptffcd iLn ordinniu'f , That thr lio-ik of Cammnli Pmvcr bIiguM be laid Kaiilc, iLnti far eilulili.stiin); tlic Di- rerlcirv fur Public Wnrsliip. wMch hud l>nn fraintKl b; the AhseiiiUy of Di- vine*, ind wilt in fuvrU to the Pariia- X^t, vhfTf ihf raw^ hfjil ftfiTS ^rhiih'ff WMtt evnfirnud with tacb tmall tmriathnt a* thftf Ikr^Hglil urrr'M'irif.^' — 11uf.Ii- «i>Tlh, ml. ii, p. A.IW. Tliih was panned, Juiiuir}- 4, lti45. Uu tim 2ui\i of Aiij^hhI ITtfti. vah jisMpd All Ordi- nani'v of tlic Lnnl^ and CntnniorM . . . (vt tlir Onliiiaticm of Miius.iers by Uie CLcKvica.l Prc«byten ; to cnnlirLue in _inpre for tlint year*. It conUunR xbete " Thut itll pritsliytem, n-ho atv txe\iy •;i|ii]ittlHl A])d anlhnriEt'il t-o ordain, aiwl aliajl acroMilliig to ihia Din-ctory ordaii) any (me or mnro tfayletK, *re hrrrtig drelnred In frr- an iKfrfitahU irinift' ta ihit Charrh kinfittrm. rtBii ihrlll fc«f.' f/i.- firiil.'i- IMw oj ttot/t HaHxri qf I'liriritrju-ul /rrr tkrir imitrtnntty." Tlif l>ri>if)ylpri/m »jr«l*m had hran oilabH^hcdaiirl rccojf niwd in furlnddvii)! tSic use of iIil- Unak trf Cuinmin T'rajrr, by an flrdiiininv nf l'aTli*ini.'ni. which on ih« '.fltli nf lh-iot>c-r. \<i\li, din-fK-d. • "i/irt/ sh,-
JWVvmJ rMrrtAiju itn/it-rlrrriii vr\th\T\
thrrr mprriiTr brnmd* mid linit«, Iwir* pfnivr t« tHJ/tfint frtim fAf A'nriit- mnl v/ tkf /.mifi .Vh/i/ht all i|[iiiirBrit
and BCUidilouspersoDEwitliin thcTuka h«t«aft(!r following, and nt'rording Ut Li] e said rukM and directions. " Hut if any penon should be disjnti^fi^d with thp eenleiice oflhe rtd«rF nf fatn ^amll, Eic was at *' liberty tu appcuL Co Cbc classical eldership, and from tlem to the proTliicial aunnbly, fironi thence to the national, and /rtrm thence ta the Partiffmfnt,''~ — Bo.thworth, part iv. vol. upp. 2ID.212. UallUcinhii Letters ju^t puldiKhL'^d gives the Ka.i;ic account of the ^pirii of the new system : " The model of (toverament we h*« gotten it (Jirouuh (he AasennMy ac^ennliog^ to uiir nihiil -. it yet aticks la the bat(<la of the Houses, The;bavei)a«!:ii;ilfDurordiuanceaa[leait aboutit,aElpTettyTiffht,abfBTB&coneernB the cuikfetitutioii ana er^^ctiiiiii of (general OAsetiiblleflt provitK'ial Kyuods, jircHby' terie« and seasintif, and tiie power of ordination. In (fee province of Loadoa nnd l.juii'axtiire the bodies \m mt up. Tlinl the like dtligeiicpiii onl H»ed long ago in all i-ther jilan's ii i» (lie suttisli nrgligcnco of the i)ti[it!>'ic'rs nnd ^'Cntry ill Ibi: shires iiiiiri>thaji llic I'ltrliaiiient. That the 3>nwcr id" jiinMJictit'H in nil thitkg* ffp rL'fiuirc. exc'cpiiiiR' appenli from Oir Cii-nirral Aaix'inMy Co the Ptvrliftmeiil, i* mil piK in iifilinnuces Imib ano, it M hti fifti- [i-unnrng ] af fhf }ndfiiiudrnli nnd EniiUuitt JH the itirtmr n/ f'amiwiit.' — J«!itinry '2li. Ifil-". llDillto* Lrticro D)id Joiirnttls >'»!' iii. pp. 1. V. EdinbutKh, l«4a.
39K
TO tHK ItBADER.
ecclesiastical power Into the secular, in states that are Chris- tian. Here I thouf^lu it worth the while to trv how the rea- sons heretofore advanced might be improved, not only to establish the aociety of the Church upon the power of the teys granted by our Lord, or to declare what persons, and upon what tprms, it is trusted with on behalf of the Church, and every part of it, which I had begun to do afore, hut in what right and interest the secular power concurs to the effect of it, in establishing or reforming the Church of any Christian state. This is the reason that I refer so often to lln)se two discourses, intending at the first but to supply and improve what I had said ; but finding by the process, that I could not compass, the brevity which T first aimed at, I hare added a Review^ whereby as some parts are enlar^d, so the whole perhaps remains not so suitable, because other points, that mipht seem to require the like enlargement, arc left as ibcy were, because an end must be made. My reasons are general to all states, and all parts of tlie Church; and that generality will make them obscure to such as consider them not as the consequence of the subject deserves. But it is well, if a subject containing so great difference of particulars^ can be comprised in any general truth.
Many things might have been better said, could all have been copied again; bnt a single heart will make the beat of all that, which is tendered with uo other design but to re- monstrate how hard it is, and yet to shew how it is possible to keep or recover the conscience of a good Christian in such a trial as this. I had a desire to have added herewith, to the other two discourses, a review of some passages, which those things which I have said here give me occasion to eidurge. But the delays of the prc&s, and my ubsencc, en- force me to defer it till opporuuiity aer\'c.
CHAPTER I.
I
THE fHDRCH HATH NO TEMPOHAI, POWKIL, BUT STAMH9 Blf ftOD S PRIVl- LKQE OF UOLDlSa ^^SEMDUBS, TtIR OROl^XD Or TUl-: SKCL'LIS POWEIt's IXTBBEST IN CHUICH MATTE.BS. TBB PDWEK OF TtIB E£TS WHAT IT 18, AXV THAT IT CAdltOT ns TAKFIT TRUH TITB CHUBCR.
It is viBiblc to all unders landings thai there are two slated CHAP, of Gods Churcli ; for tliere must needs ix a greuL ditfbience between the Church, as it was first established, by the ordi- nances of the Apostles, before the exercise of Christianity was allowed and privileged by the ]&v.s of the Roman empire; and as it now sttindeth^ protected by the laws of Christian kingdoms and commoQwealths. And my purpose is here to debate, what power the Church ought to have in this later state, and what right accrues to scculcu* jtowers in Church niatlers, when they profess Christianity, and the maintenance of it : which one dispute will necessarily con- clude the chief matters now in compromise, concerning the state of the Church in this kingdom.
§ 2, To understand this aright, we must suppose that the The Church is not endowed with any manner of the secular imo, nu power of this world, and the civil societies of it, which con- !l"„™'"r"^ stx&iaeth men to obedience by force. For it will be easy for ordinary understandings, after the misertible disputes which tluft civil war hath advanced^ to perceive, that though there be many points of that right wherein sovereign power con- BBBleth, yet all of them are resolved into the power of the ■word ; seeing that there ia no manner of public act, either of sovereign power, or any derived from it, that could be effectual, as the use of civil society requires, did not all men*H •ens^ tell them that there is force ready to reduce the re- fractory to obedience.
§ 3. Now, that our Saviour did, and was to disclaim all title [Tin! ">** lo the swoni, is niflnifept by the Gns]>eJ, and the profession "
(liLircli
1.
THIu RIGHT OP TUS CBCmCB
P, of it For being suspected in His lifetime by His eneraie^ ~ and lastly accused to Pilate, as one thai sougLi to usurp il. His renouncing it so publicly, because it clears Him, therefore conviucea the injiistieo of the sentence Against Him. And truly, whai entertainment shsll we imagine Ilis Gosi>el would have found in the world, had it pretended to establish itself by force ? For this profession must needs have produced that effect which Mahometism did afterwards, to wit, the subversion of all states^ which it might prove able to justle with and in prevail. But, Christianity being first initiated by the cross of Christ, and professing notliing but to follow Him in bearing His cross, it is manifest that those which Biiw not reason to believe it, must be convinced that ihey ought noi (o persecute it For if it preserve the power of the sword in those hands wherein it is found, when the Gos- (wl is preached and received any where, then, of necessiiy, all rights, all goods of this world, in the possession whereof the power of the sword professes to maiutahi all subjects, are by the Gospel maintained in those hands that have them by Just title of human right.
§ -It. And so, thfit which 1 here suppose is do more than the received position of J>ivincs, that temporal domioiou is not founded in grace*: for men's rights, powers, and privi- leges in civil societies, arc no less their own, and concern their estate no les, than their gootb and possessions. There- fore, though much more evidence might he brought to prove * this, iVom tlie Apostle's commanding Christians to obey ucular powers, children their parents, slaves their masleni, wives their husbands, and the like, according to the laws, but above the laws, for conscience to God, obliging thereby all filfltes to maintain Christianity ; yet, this being a point which no party professes to stick at, I will hereuiion prcsunie to tiite it for granted.
• Oiw of the (irnjiOntiAns of Wicliffe, rondrninrt) iij (lip touucil of CoiigUncp, w»« tlii*; At! verura MecnUre domi- nium rpqiiLrimr juatilU iKiminMiLia, mo quiid tiiilliii caislena in peciwto KioT(4li. em domiTtu* ■licuju> tei,- — lUbbct, torn. ivj. eo!. 2i+. Hum, con- aettiRcd in ilic Bitmp couneil. ejtprTOscd the docfrinp tiiun; Nnllu» psi dominM*
ciTJiii, nulius ewt pneUnu, nullu* tM EpiKopuM duin ml fn pecnto inDrt«9i. —lb., cqL 25n. ed. Vcnet. The Uni- versit)- olOAfard, by * riecrt-e uf CtiU- vMitJon. July 21, 1083, candrnint^ »ruin propasiiionK, the rtgbteenth of wEiitii h Ihiit, Dotninton ia fuundeJ in praw-^Wilkin*' CoTicil.j Itwn. iv. p. VI I. Lcndini, 1731,
IS A CURJ&TIAN BtATE.
401
§ 5. But, though the Church ]s not endowed with any CHAP, coactire power by divine right, yet by divine right, and by g^ ,^ j, patent from God, it is endowed with 3 power of holding by Ood'» assembhcs for the common service of God, before any grant ofhoiXs of the powcra of the world, and against any interdict of them, tilie^ if &o it faB out. For the cummunion which the gospel esta- blisheth among Christians, is not only invisible in the heart, believing the satnc fnith, and disposed to live according to it, but also outwardly visible, not only in the profession of the satne faith^ which may be common to those that coramu- oJcate in nothing eke, bnt also in the common service of God. For seeing God hath given Hia Church the ordinances of His worship, wherewith He requiieth to be served in com- mon by liis Church — some of them common both to the 5 Church and the synagogue, that i&> to Jews and Chri&tiatt6> others delivered by the gospel only to the Chiux;h — it is mani- fest that the Church is privileged by God, because com- manded, to join in serving Him according to those ordi- DBDces. And therefore we are not to ask an express warrant in Scripture for this^ whether duty^ or privilege, because it was always Jn force among the people of God, though not always free from the bondage of strangers.
§ 6. The Apostle truly, writing to the Hebrews not to [The fiitl away from Chrigtianity to Judaism, for the persecutions ^lou civil which the Jews their natives brought upon them — which, he '^'^^ that will diligently observe, shall find to be the full scope ''uman, ] of that epistle^ — inferreth, as a consequence, Hob. x, 25, "not to forsake the assembling of themselves." Shewing that Christianity cannot be professed without so doing, though it bring persecution with it : as we know the primi- tive Chriatians frequented the service of God, when they were in danger of the laws, because that which the laws fof-
* " The fubjeei of the Episilc lo the llahrtwi i» UlU; the J«irs being prtvi- Icgvd by Ok Irw) of the cmjiine in t1>c «Z*TciM of their reti^on, JjisdainiJiig ibiMC of Uieir jiftltcn that ha^I iirafpifleJ L'hrittianiij', found lacint by the power of tb« Uomdns le comtruD tbem by jien««utioi) to Tctum la Judaii-nk 11tc qncjition it, wheihcr thej can obtain ulv&ticin. turning Jms iLgftiii. whirh
TUOKHPlSt. D
thcy pptBUJide thinnaclTM ihcy might obtiiin, being such before ibey Mnlinuv (.'hrJitiatiity. ThM i» Hie qunlioii ; let him tiwF will uke Uic pKllU 1v cantpurs the iirojionitioK of it, io llic iKginmng of ibc second choiitrr, Biid the rf^flDiiH it is |>ursiird with until Iho sixth, willi Ihp x.-Diictuniari at tiw dis- piiiG in the tliirlet-iitii," — Epiti^ur, blc, ii. chap. ^ iii.
4m
THE RIGHT Ot THE CHUBCH
CHAP. I.
bade was their assemblies. Wherefore as within several cotn- ntonwcalths there are particular societies, colleges, and cor- porations, subuEting by grant of their sovereigns; and as by \ the law of riations there is a kind of society, and common- wealth, among those that arc bound in the same vessel, upon 6 . the same voyage, which Arigtotle*^ calk trvinfKoiavs as there ^H is also among them that travel togedier in the caravans of " the Eastj, because they submit to some rule in regard of some j common interest : so must we understand the Church to be IB a human, though not a civil society, corporation, or common- ' wealth; not bs these last-named, which consist of subjects to several stales, warranted and protected by the law of nations ; nor as the former, by charter from some sovereign ; but by that law of God whereby all nations arc called to serve Him, by those ordinances which He hath established in the Cbureh.
§ 7. Therefore the main point of that charter, which malcea the Chureh such a society or commonwealth, is the right of assembling and holding such assemblies, without watrant, against all law of the world thai forbids it: the particulars yf it arc those rights which God hath given His Church to preserve unity and communion in the celebration of thi ordinances for which it aasembleth. For since the principlea of Christianity profess one Church, and that the unity thereof extendcth to this visible communion, it is manifest hereby that the will of God is, diat all Christiana communicate with all Christians, in all ordinances of His service, when occasion T requires ; a thing which the practice of all sides confesses. For though this communion be interrupted with so many Bchiams, yet since all parties labour to shew that the cause of separation is not on their side, they acknowledge all separa- tion to be against God's ordinance, when they labour to clear themselves of the blame of it
5 ^- I" die next place we are to inquire upon what title ^ffcwci'i^ of right the Church is ingraffed into civjl societies and sove- S^ L" rcignties f by virtue whereof secidar powers exercise that
Chateh
*«ti tri^irXav, <cal Tebw WLirTpaTufiraj;- t* ffiOT^vurJpy. «aS rijy l-rtupiK^y- flJ St
ulof »A«M^i)f.«.— tihic. Nicom. lib. viii. *a), , .— /fc^ cap. xii. I'J!]!, t». E»i Kotvtrria ulr oty raira
Lof mt,
lara | ■eh, J ose^H
TJUflll of
T7f A CimiBTIAN STATE.
I
riglit to which they pretend in Church matters. For I per- ceive those of the Congregations oftentimes demand ivhat ground we have in Scripture for national Churches^. Now the term of national Cbnrchea, it seems^ is something im- proper, because as one and the same nation may be divided into several sovereign ties, and the Churches thereof, by con- sequence, subject to several sovereigns, bo may the same sovereignty contain several nations, and the Churches of them ; which, in these caaes, are not properly national Churches, and yet are properly that which is signified by the term ofTiational Churches.
§ 9. But getting aside this exception, I conceive those of 8 the Congregations have reason to make the demand^ tmd that the answer to it, if once well made, will l>e of consequence to settle many things in debate. For that the same right, ia matters of religion, is due to Christian princes and states, which tlic kings of Judah practised under the law, of itself no way appears, because of the general difference between the law and the gospel. Tq which may be added, to tic the knot fester, that there is this clear difference between them, in the particular in hand, that the law wa^ conlined to one people, as being the condition of that covenant whereby God undertook to give them the land of promise, and to tnaintalD them in the free and happy posaesston of it; they undertaking, on their part^ to serve Him, and rule themselves by it: but the gospel is the new covenant by which God undertakes to give life everlasting to those that take up Christ's cross to perform it.
§ 10. The persons, therefore, of whom the Church consists, bemg of all nations, all of them of equal interest in that
CHAP. I.
tDlETer-
tween
JcM'Uho.'nd
Christian
{Christian kings have ticivret
In rhi>
Church.]
I
* "A lulionftl Church nnce Christ's doth, ind the dJisolniiDn of the JvtrUh Church, ia k tnobuttdUS com- poand, and B^votm of Judniftm." — Hobinson'i Junillcstian oT Separation, p. 217. A.D. 1630,
" Let me IpII j-oq that that whicli yoit ratJ IbdrpGndenT ia the ocly troe ori^nal and pfimitive pre«bytprial. Which preabytery js proper and po- cniiai 10 eTery puticuUr Church of Chriat ; a»d it not a yreibyttTy toUec* tWf «/ mamjf C*|i«t*« b;t way of jurit-
D
dUtitm.[oWT'\tmt,of manjfOMt taeh, t/ra nalional Church lu fiou itrm it. Ptar Hiithfr o/ thtie CUB y«( fiinl fW'iT in tbr Netf Tettaiueut or i» iht OU." — Hur- ton'» Vtiidic^«Hon of Churches callml IndependcDt, p. M. '^ 1 <!«■> that you cait bririK ntiy ii\faUibie proofs, or one proof. Hint there rithtr atf, or rorr Awtr tii-m, any Hath'i'il Cf'urclif* hj/ ani/ aihtr iiudfuiirni (fhI mrrtty iiHtnan, IKT Uliy one of divine mstilutian, Inil only tliaL of the Jews in tltt Old Te&lnmrn'l, and now whallv dissolved."— /fi.. p. 30.
d2
404
THB RI6K1
CHAP.
I.
[Timn whattiile.3
wherein thej cotnjtuinicate, and tl^erofore in the rules by which: it is manifest that no sovereign can have more interest than another, in creating that right by virtue whereof the sub- jects of several sovereignties communicate. Otherwise, the unity of the Church must needs suffer, one sovereign prescrib- & ing that as necessary to the communion of the Church in. bis dominions, which the sovereigns over other parts of the Church, perhaps, allow not, But though, as a Divine, I admit this debate, yet aa a Christian and a Divine bolb, I eondenin the separation which they have made, before it be decided. The Church of England giveth to the king that power in Church matters, which the kings of God's ancient people, and ChriBtian emperors after them, always practised. This pos- sesfiioD was enough to have kept unity, though the reason appeared not why Christian princes should have the same right in the Church as the kings of Judah had in the syna- gogue. For, if they observe it well, this right is nowhere e&tablishcd upon the kings of God'a ancient people, by way of precept, In the law. For, seeing the law commanded them not to have a king, but gave tbem leave to have a king when they would, upon such terms as it reqnireth Deut. nvii. 14, it cannot be said that any right in matters of religion is settled upon the king, by that law which never provided that there should be a king. j
§ 11. The question is then, not whether the kings of Judah ^H had power in matters of religion, which is express in Scripture, ^> but upon what title they had it, which is not to be had butJ''* by interpretation of the law. And this we shall find» if we consider that tho law was given to thai people when they were freed from bondage, and invested in the sovereign power of themselves, as to a body politic, euch as they became, by submitting to it. So that, though many precepts thereof con- cern the conscience of particular persons, yet there arc also many that take hold of the community of the (jcople ; for which, particular persons cannot be answerable, further than the rate of that power hj which they act in it: aa the de- stroying of malefactors; idolaters in particular. These pre- cepts, thonj being given to the community of the people, and the Common power of the people falling to the king, con- stituted according to the law aforesaid, it followelh, that being
IN A CUBISTIA.V STATE.
405
iai'cstcfl wilt the power, he stands thereby aecountablc foi- CH. the laws to he enforced by It. —
$ 12. And then the queetiou that remaUis will be do more [nui in bwL this, whether civil soeieties, and the sovereign powei-s of^^^h^'^"" Uiem, are called to bo Christian, ns such, and not only as Church.] particular persons. A thing which Tertullian stems to have doubled of, when he made an "if of it, Apoln^et. cap. xxi,, Si poMtnt «« vt Casarfs Christiant^ .- " If cmperorB could bo It Christians;" and Origcn — when he expounds the words of Jfoscs, "I will provoke them to jealoupy, by a people which are not a people," — so be reads it — of the Christians, whereof ib«re were some in all nations, and no whole nation professed Christianity — iw x. ad Bom. lib. viii'. and inPsal. xxxvi. Horn. i. «, seems to count this estate nud condition essential to the Church. But, since anabaptists are no more anabaptists, in denying the power of the sword to be consisteut with Christianity, it j^eems there is no question left about this, as indeed there ought to be nune. For, tlie prophecies, which went before, of the calling of the Gentiles to Christianity, were not fulfilled, till the Roman empire professed to main-^ tain iu And, thereby, the will of God being fulfdlcd, it is manifest that the will of God is, that civil societies, and the powers, of them, should matntain Christianity by their sword, and the acts to which it enableth. But always, with that difference from the synagogue which hatli been expressed. For if the Church subsist in several sovereignties, the power which each of them can have in Church matters, must needs be concluded by that power which God halh ordained in His Church, for the determining of such things, the determining wbercoCsball become necessary to preserve the unity uf it,
* Sed et CeMLTea cicdidisutit vuper Cbnsto, M aui CR«iireft non tftKcnt unrrulii^ ntN^csiani, nul U (■( Climtiani poruiiicnl esse CsMHtrt. — P. 58. ed. VwTw RulliDinAg. l{iD2.
' Ipat, iiiijuil, Mciyv^ifiliL'itflcpt^'rsnTIII Mt'i. Egv ad rTnufalwncm dm adifadm m KDw genUm, de C KriKEiauU Aine t^ubio diceiu. -...-.,.,., Ctiriatiuii vtiro lum c«i una geoi, icd ex oninLbiu j;eti- libua itiiuq {Mpulus, el id-L'o Muyacs pro ■initiiiij Imiiiorr, nun gftitfiii cani nomi^ navii,. unit non eat una (;i.'ae, itii ti in dici pote«l, oiiiniiLrti j^cntiiini ^dk. — - CammenL in Jtuui. lib. viii. K. tauL iv.
p. G2i. ed. Ben.
I Cum «rgt> vidians Judicoa odia lia>i«i(e« Ckriblinuuni et iiuirljnntci ei, ijitelliric luia coiopteCur propkctiu illn qu» oiirit, Et egv coneitalia eos in non gmiem. No* Ctiim mums nnn gena qui pttuci ei isia civifiite CTediicufi. el ui] ex sl!i^ et QusquBiu ^vim uitegra ab Ijiitii* crcduljtatis vidrtur asBimiptu, Non eiiim &icut JiiJ.TOiuni ^t.'ris traC vd .T^gyjitiorum ^vna, ito ctiam C)iris-> li&jiGntun Kt^ixi^ I^^i3 ^''t una, vH Ul' ici^Tn. Ki. npATitrn ex siii^lU |>ei;libiiB conKre^^Bnllir,.— HomLl. i. in Vs. vurj. 1, loni. ii, pp. <j^j, (i'sii, rd- Bvu.
406
THB HIGHT OH THE CHURCH
CHAP. 1.
tion ai'. cuunlcd a
naJty. ]
§ 13. Thu8 much premised, the first point we are to debate 12 -is; whether excommuDication be a secular pumshment amouDting to an outlawry^ or bauishment, as Erastus would have it"" ; or the chief act of cccIOBiMtical power, the power of the spiritual sword of the Churchy cuttcug from the visible communion thereof, such as are lawfully presumed to be cut off from the invisible^ by sin. For, if there be a visible society of the Church, founded by God, without dependence from man, there must be m it a visible power, to determine who shall be or not be members of it; which, by consequence, is tbe sovereign power in the society of the Church, as the power of the sword is in civil societies* But excommunication in the synagogue was a temporal punishment, such as I Baid' ; and therefore it is argued, that our Lord meant not of that, when He said, dk Ecdesi<£; that term, in the Old Testament, being used for the congregation of God's people, in the quali^' of a civil society ^ And therefore when He addetb, " Let him be unto thee as a heathen or a publican," they say it is manifest tliat neither ethnics nor publicans were excom- municated out of the syutigoguc, nor the excommunicate excluded from the service of God in the temple or syna- gogue^; and when our Lord addetb, "whatsoever ye bind
J
^ L E'ccominuni»tiDni» Domm vi- dbtur «x 1 Corinth, x. id»atrtpturn csae, Al(\u.e BiDotioU'Cin si^iificarc a cciiiimu- niani! ilia i^uffi ifaiHHi) Ccirplts CliriEli rominntur. Sancencommuiiicaticinuiic nb arnaibua fere dcJinitur lesclusioTiE c sucietfite ct cDHLniuiiiDut lid'L'liiiiD.
VI. Qiii ex Eccleuls coi»iDuiiiune extenia cjicilur, — \A est, i^ni excom- rntinicatur — vcl ab onmibuH hisoe tri^ bua, Tel a duabua, ve) ab una Lantiuii n- m DvetuT. Spd a du obus pri inlv, nempen oonfesBiDoe Add, et a Cbiia- tianffi iltiCtriit^E a^jipirofaiitione — eub qua volo cDinprebirndL etiarn verb! seu doc- irinJE Audition ?ni — rep^lli nul1iudeb«l: quill fKllicls hue in* itandi et qiiavia rations «,dctucendi Biint omnes. Quo- cin-a relioquitur ut, qui eicommuni- cAtur, n Ba!ii ex Dihut commemomU SDcwnentisriiTii participatinne proliibc- ■ tur. — ErsL-iti ExpHcal. griviat. QuBsL pp. 1.2. Pflftclavii, ]5s9.
' S*e Prira. Govern, ohap. si. accL 8-
^ " Die Efclfiitf in St. MaObew was lb? court) Of law which Uier sat in JtTUsalern.'" — Scldcn's^iprcicluiirarUft-
tnent, quot«{!l 'm RusbwortJi, p, iv, vol. i. p. 203. lit: spokct more aX Itnglh in ihe preface to Dittertatia de Anna CivHi: CutD revera JU-SW linguam cl oiorea Cemp'ore Ulmsti in uau ac (Eoetiinam Tdlmudicam, Eccleaia »eU Syn&gojra,
turn pro Synedrio ■uraantur
Judaico — »v>eMBgno. seu Scjtiuagintn, uniuflvirati, sivi^ niiDorum Aliqiin at^u Vi^ntilrtiLiaTiiali .,..., adfo^w pr<r cnilibtu plane reipubUca iUiiu Iribu- Halihui. — Pr^fai. p. viL
' Quid CAtiquun ethni{:u& Hti gentilii et publicanus hnberi; naminmn pju- quo simpliciter siimpitt, uteit™ morea mere Judaicos eo»iu« quatcniu Chriii- tiariinnO solvim pncib&Dt, baud ulla tunc exifttimfitLOiiis seq^uioris nedum infamia irrognliatUT, ila ncque intm moreN illos, alitee Atque gmtili, qcu nmpLiciter gentili necdum in JudaJB- in\an re[:eptc>, fralcniitas Judsira eju»- que- eSbctus sing^larea, puhliCB.liO vcr-o titp'ile niQileKtiaii imperii quod gravAle r«rebatur RotnuLi instrumecito. iilei<qiii; riini pccca.toTibu)t insignionbus ilon &cmet pariter in Evangrlio ccn»Hn,
IN A CBAISTIAN STATE.
407
13 and loose otj earth," it is manifest, say they, in the langia^e of the Jews, used amoDg the TaJtnud doctors, that "bound" and "looae" is nothing else but that which is declared to be bound or loose, that is, prohibited and permitted i and therefore the effect of the keys of the Church, which is binding and loosing, reaches no further than declaring what was lawful, and what unlawful as to the Jews, by the law of Mobcb, in point of con- science "••
{ 14. The £rst argument that I make against tbia opinion, is drawn from the power of biiplizing, thereby understanding, not the uBicc of ministering, but the right of granting that aacrunent: which we in this state of the Church do not die* tingtush, because all are bom within tbe pale of the Church, and by order thereof baptized infants: but may see a neces- sary ground bo to distinguish by St Paul, when he denies " thai he was sent to baptize, but to preach the Gospel,^' 1 Cor, i. 17. Whereas the words of our Lord in the Gospel are tuanifcst, where He chargeth His Apostles "to preach and teach all nations> baptizing thetu in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." [St. Matt, xxviii. 19.] For the baptising of alt that shoidd turn Christians, could not be peT»>naliy commanded the Apostles; but to preach to all nations, and to make disciples gut of all nations^ this they
14 might do to those that might be baptized, by such as they should appoint.
f 15. We must note that it is in the original fuiBrirevtrare vdvra rd e^wj> make disciples, as the Syriac truly translates it ; commanding firat^ to bring men to be disciples, then to baptize.
CHAP,
1.
[RefiLled from tlio power or
[Not all ailiiitltL-il to bap- lUm.]
fr»tentiutji, ^liijDot arcliorqne siiiicitiie OoiyiLnrlio Ji^negitbHlttir; liuic inicrea oainiiniDd&, u JndKOt eH«t,aucjiutltia proadftiUr c^iuu Judvu TeltqiUKi a&cro- niiiL, Uli auletn socrgnim gencilibus in. tcmplo jffopnarum, 1ic«l noo ipEoninL Jnducoruni, )ib«Tt&te nuiiqium noii penni»a.-^ScLii(ru.. til tvprr^.
tig^nk *i (deenrfi, id est Jitmlltu
d€r»rwgmd*, e.tplica'ndi,iji/Frprrtandi, dc- eJMFWndi, dt tigato it tolnto. tpu ijuiJ Sgatmrn ft i/tud toluium, rgUoil plane inillie* in Tilmuilkisi ex. vctuRtiHsinia Ercl»iB illliuuiadenolMquL<l v^nim *X Ir^eftBcra, quid peTTiiuaum.-^qurgTi- wlnioiluin ct Orrcu i>tmiU9 t'^ff >],wid
Kinif qUifd e« uilrcrt eliam fttrmiUert Heu obligfitioncni nv^auferrc, tlve ban- duminductam muTiHtrftre aut asaerere^ A'\io<:^\iii ad dMti\di itH attrpreiatudi iew (tiecilugiH! prajccptira^iit (iisrceptivB philosophw ft prKCcplowa, qui pre- ct|)ta UBtuTn docL'bant, LstJnU iSicii — munuB solum ibi BttitiLiiL^Selilen, ul ntpr. Sm hUq tlie <te Synieditia lib. i. cmp. viii. m\i6ti Sclden «xplBi»B hiniwlf moie at Urge— Lightf not in his II«btew &nd TahitudicAl Kxer<rita(ai)iiia, wljo sdopli die ump i^icplAnitiDn, ^ivn ■cvera) insUuires nf ihc Talriiudic«l phrnjc^Workj, vol. xl pp. 23S, U27. Londciii, ISiS.
408
TUB UlOUt OP TbE CbUHCH
CHAR t
me of
ftv iwp- tlun, I
* Stmt »UvrrN duriol cen Ukd lltoM «)m dMmd llwiT lirin^ from immnral (wvuUkiM u« W be repelled fnm lUiiUMik ^ A» C«aidiuti6iu qf the \pM(W« : Wk vili. Mp. Kxxii.
Now ilificiplcd lire those that were after called Cbrietiansj, such^ M we profrga otirsclvos, Acts xi. 26 ; those of whom our Lord , nailh in ihe Oositel, [St. Mntt. xii, 48—50.] that "those thatM will do llifi Father's will arc Ili:^ disciples." \Miereforc thej^l luro coninmadcd to baptize euch as should submit to the {(mfptil : nnd so, to judge whether each man did so or not, whifli tlic^' ihflt were trusted with the gospel were, by coDse- ipieiicc, truuted to judge. The effect of this trust is seen in tlio many onlers and canons of the primitive Church: by whldi those that desired (o be admitted into the Church by bupii&nit arc limited to the trial of several yeats to examine their prufcssloii, whether sincere or not"; and such as gained their living by euch trades as Christianity allowed not, rejected until they renounced them".
§ 16. Not that my intent [& to say that these cuions were limited by tlic Apostles; but because it is an argument, that always to judge who shaU be itdmitted to baptlsD) and who not, is another manner of power than to baptize, being the power of thi>m that were able tu settle such canons; though is it IB plain by the SeripiureSi that those rules had their begin- ning from tlie Apostles themselves. For when St. Peter snith, I I'd. iii. ^I, llmt *' ihc baptism which saveth us is not the hiving down ihe filth of the flesh, but the examination of u gmnl i'tu!i!»ricncc to Gixl," trvpitS^foyi aya$ifi (TTipwTtjfMt, he dhcweth^ tliAl the interrogatories which llic ancient Church umhI to pro)H)ULul to ihcm that were to be baptized, were tl>i>n id U))i\ and r$lHlih»he<l by the Apostles, as the condition 1)1" It oonttuct between the Chufrh and them, obliging theni' mtlyvf to livo actwnhng to die gospel, as disciples. And thi A|H«tlo, llrb. vi. if, yjHMiking of "the foundation of repent unee JVoin denil wvrk*. tho d«K'itine of baptisms and imposi- lluii uf liandfi," inaiiifetitly i^hewic ihr succeeding custom of tUv i'lnM>|i ihiU iluy which sued tor baptism should be (<nttvt«titi*f)\l In \W tWiriite of ihr gxts^H'], and contract wi tint rbutvli lu nti-wikt' iiiich counts of the world as stood not uiih II lo bv bhttigltl in hy the Apofitlcs.
*■ Kim. tml m\ iUi*\t\ \>yHH*m OMittlU- UM<| m<MiJwii< .1 r..i... l^.. i(..i ...•i.^.^r.
(•.««il KMW( ..... ,v|i Mi.\. ,«..' t,U. I,<liM,i,«., i ,,,1 iiii'i ^,1 \^^,„
IN A CIiniSTlAN STATE.
409
5 17. This b it which is here called the doctrine of bap- CHAf». tisms; in Uie phiral number, not for that ^Jitic reason which
I
I
I
die diatemper of this titxie hath brought forth, because there uriiap, tav iwo bopiismsP, one of Jqbn by "water, another of Christ ^""'"^ by ihe Spirit; but because it was severally taught several e persons before they were admitted to their several baptisms. And therefore called also the doctrine of imposition of hands, because we understand by Clemens Alexandrinusj, I^i^da* *}ogu$, iii. ll'', atid by the Apostolical Constitutions, vii, 40% that when they carne to the chureh to be catechised, and were catechised, they were then dismissed by him that cate- chised tbem with ioipositlon of bunds, that is, with prayer for them, th^t they might, in due time, become good Christians. AIJ risible marks of the power of the Church, in judging whether a roan were fit for baptism or not. To which I will
«pply mjjclf to Eearc!) from Ilie word wlint these b«ptiiTn& inifrht be, and &a nii>l W]lli the Uaptift'e gtvn iloctrmc iDuchin^ baplisrai, .,,.,, having flrat Bpok«n meanly of liis own bapti&ni, and thpii iitagnili«il thriat'j |t«rBiiiii above liis own, n<»w bf procfcds atoo la maginfy Clirist'i buptism lAiova bis own; 'tie,' Miuli bi^, ' sWU bapliee j-oii witb lbi< lloty Ghnst and wiMi tir?/ lliKt U, I am n servant dv bnptie« wilIl WBt«r. bbl IVe dial ta tlic Son fiflplliea with the Spirh; my baptism w'3}>hes but The body from the fllib of ill? flesh, but Ilis the Boiil from the tilth uf Bin .... Now henice I gather
clcarlyr cv^ii from the Bapti&t*A ow& iTiolitli, thai John 'a bnptisrn and Cbriat'a were distinct baptisma, the iinc Kater-bapli&m, Oie oth^r Eiie-bap- tiain. ..... The Sciipture siuth tiiat
Chriat'a baptiaiu was to fuUatr John's, and did oot accompi^y it at the natno lime .... but •Ktn to follnw it, ati^ tliat
We waa to baptizi^ with Ibe Spirit sfEer John's watpr-baptistn had Itad \li full course." — -Pp. 2, 3. London, lfi'18,
X*1p<x, tCra tt f f>A(r/^irri ; tie la VgUi iog aj^aiiist adomiiiL'nl of Ibi: hend jn ihi* placc—r. 2fll. td. I'oUer- Vciwt. 1757. ^
' Tai^ra col rcb leinan ^&\inj&a fttfy-
rfKOrtlrai H i x^'P"^*^^*" ettrrbv jh^ Otbv fhr Tttf &\&r 8f (m>r4»', . , ,— Lnhbfl, tum t, col. H>. I'l Vcnct.
SodnUB Kom* to hare laid the ^_ of this opinion in hSs tract
agiteal baptum. Nequt? enim hie dr •^DB haptit-mo lp«o Alitor, «tve vox hwtiaMrtmn. cum «qucnt? voce (toe
imw MAJniigi dubcjit aire Ab ca
dil^ini^ Vt nonnulli senlirc videnlur, .... nam priore modo iion dc baptianiD ipw, acd de doctrina bflptiftmlLlum rrrb* fieri iHtlatn ia,t, pO'Slcnore vrro. cnin baptiinioniJTi, non autfm baptismi 6at mrriUu, rcrtum t^»t, ulJlitgit^ue faap- tisDium, Jobonois scilicisl, cl Aposto- lorton ijitclligi d^bere. — Fsu^L Socio. Je Ddq>t. AquK Ditput. cap. fcl p. 72f«. Ircnopal. I66S. Breuius iiilerprctii dMm thoa: Pcruiteutibu» ct credenti- bttl in Cbriatum baptisctiius duptex, paU titerior qui per aquam, ct interior qui ptT Spirilun] fit, propotior Eolebjil. — Not. in Hcbr. vi. 2. fol. lUd. AiDSte- ioduQ. 1966.
WtUiam Dell, Master flfGohvillffiuiLl Caiua Ciillrfte, Cambridge, published this opinion in 161$, He profcK^en to have ditcovi-ied it for Itimaelf. The title of Ilia luiok ia BaTTttr^j' ii^x^t or. The Doctrine of Baptism*.
" Nmr ill thia iiiquiry from th« word. I met with that pUc«, Hebrews Ti, 2. where ihe Apostle, aneatiog of toine of the tnt «ad iiutJiil jKiints of Cluiatian reliKitin, naniea hamtatiMv ^ifaj^Jl.lhpdoclnncof bapiisrii*,whe»rc I perctivcdthfti iii the ptiinitive Church they had fhr doclriiie nf bnpliHins in Ibe plural nmnbc-r, and lbcn;foTe did
410
i-ae nicBT of the chubch
CHAP. L
add oolj that of Eusebius, De Vitd Constantim, iv.*, wlierej spc&kiDg uf ihc bapLism ol' Ccastantiuc, he saitfa^ i^o^Xt/yov- fijevQ^' hfda hi) koI 'jrpStTQV Twi> Sid ystpaSetrUtf: tv^Syv rf^tavTo^ thiat "coufesaiag his ains, he was there first admitted to the i prayers with imposition of hiands,*' j
§ IS. If it be said that there were added to the Church three thousand in a day, Acts ii. 41, which could not be thus catechised and tried, my answer is, that two cases were always excepted from the rule ; the Brst was, in danger of death : the second, when^ by the eagerness of thoGe that desired baptism, the hand of God appeared extraordinary in the work of their converBion to Christianity. Besides, it is not eaid that they wore baptized that day, but that " they were added to the Church that day:" which ia true, though U j they only professed thetoaelves disciples for the present, poES- ing neTertheleas their examination and instruction, as the cage required. If, therefore, there be a power settled in the Church by God, to judge who is fit to be admitted into it, j then is the same power enabled to refuse bira that shall appear unfit ; then, by the same reason, to exclude him that , proves himself unfit after be Is admitted. fj
§ 19. This is the nest argument, which I will ground upon the discipbne of peoance, as it was anciently practised in the Church ; which is opened by the observation advanced in p. 27 of this little discourse, that those, who, contrary to pnietiw oT this contract with the Church, fell into sins destructive to iwnflticc.j fjjjrjg^jani,^^ ^ppg £j,j^ ^Q g^p ^Q Ijg admitted to penance:
which supposeth, that, till they liad given satisfaction of their sincerity in Christianity, they remained strangers to the com* munion of the Church. For, it appearoth, by the most , ancient of Church wiitcrs, that, for divers ages, the greatcst^H sinners, as apostates, murdererg, and adulterers, where wholly n excluded from penance. For TertuUian was a Montanistj when be cried out upon Zephyrinus, bishop of Rome, for Admitting adulterers to penance^ in his book De PudicUid ^
nTU- Ica. tfOHA
bhewn from I 111;
■ C«p, !si. p. 547- «I. Vr1«. * Audio etiam edictam atit
pro-
pMittini, rt qii^dem pc-reraptonuTu ; Fcintir«x Kiltctt Miuimu?, Episrop\i< £piiHiiKiTUni iliCLt; Ego ft mreehiit i-f /ttmimliimit dfliria pfrnitntia fitufth
pDterit boniim ficlum. El uM pro*; ponclur libcralitas istat Ibidem api in ipsi-g libiilinum janni!), sub iput libi<3m'um litulia. Illic cjurmntl* pceni- tcnCiaprDmuIgandsPsr, uSi (JvlinqnentlA iptiH FPrubiLur . . , . . Absil ihiiit « iponu Christe laie preconium. Ill*
IK A CHftlHTlAN STATE.
411
CHAP.
L
Wyet it is manifest by hh esse, that it had formerly been re- fund m tlic Church, because the gratittng of it makes him a Montanist, And St Cyprian, Epist. ad AntoTiianjim", testifieth
I that divers African bishops afore him had refused it, maintain- ing coramuiiion nevertheless with thosG that granted it. § 20. Irenccus also i. 9. * saitb of a cert&in woman, that had [Severity been seduced and defiled by Marcus the heretic, that, after citnidTtL* flhc WM brought to the sight of her sin, by some Christians, c»iiiine.] Ae spent all her days in bewailing it ; therefore without re- coveriuj^ the comniunion of the Church again. And he that shall but look upon the canons of the Elibcrican council^ j^all easily see many kinds of sin censured, some of them not to he admitted to the commnuion till the point, others nut at the point, of death. In this case,, and in this cslntc, these ooJy who were excluded from being admitted to penance were properly excommunicate : neither could those that were adniilted to penance be absolutely counted so, because in danger of death they were to receive the communion^ though in case they recovered, they f>tood bound to complete their penance- And from hence afterwards also, those that had uncc been admitted to jKrnance, if they fell into the like ains again, were not to be admitted tu penance the second time. ^^ApcT^ Tolrt.'ili. Can. x\.', EUber. Can. iii. and vii. ; Ambros. ^^^P/Vmi£ni/ia ii- 10, 11 ; Innocent 1, Epist iii. ; Augustiu. Epist 1. and liv. r
qa* Ten Mt. qiif pu^cvt qiw unt^ta, MBtbit #tiMU murium mtciila. Non hftbrt iiiiilma hov TcpromiltAL Et si tubaehi. nan rcprontittit; tiuonUm et tramitm I>ed tcinplum clUus apuiunca Ummum appelljui potuit n Uomino,
Sun nuBcDonim ci ibnkktMEiim jpk L pL SM. cd. Piun. tiathoinag.
" R[ quiilrm iwii uiCe»a)K>res ncu- IMM i[uii!»iu ije Lpiflcopi* ialic in Pro- rinria »>r>ttra. dsndatn puctn moecKU Aott puUvcrutit, et JD toium pconiten- tim locum conUa adulteri* cUusenint ; n«a iMnm t eocpiKoporani luorum c<di«glo rtecueruBU tai Cutholicn Ec. rlrtiv unlUtcin vc\ duriliic, yv\ een- turm ftun obttinKtinne rupeiunti ut ()tlia Ajiuil ftliix aduilerit piJL dabktltT, qui nno diilui, At ErrietM Bepftrarctur, ■Sltftriiti- ^oiLcordiR vincalo n prrscvc- ttnit t-nUiolicw F.'-cLeftiiV indii-ic)u<i Mmmrnln, u-luni siimn dw^ianit, rt
dtrigit unuaqutnque Epispopu* mlicmem propositi Bui Domina redditurut. — p. 110. ed. Oxon. 1083.
* 'ETicra fitri xaAXoD Kimu tAv iXtkiparv i-wiirrpt^iirraii', a&r^ -riiv Stetun TO, Xfii^of i(oj*vKt/y(ft^4i'n Bi*T*A(ir»i
rev fid-fott Sia^dop^.^^S. Iten. Opp,, lib- i. cap- wii. § 5. p- tiS, ed. Ben,
f Quoniuiiuinii)«rimusperqiiMda:a HxKpnnianim Eccleiiiu, non Mciuidum cnnonetn, sed TcxdiBsimc pro auis pcc- CACis hotniaea Agew prenitentiDiT), ut quotienscuinqupp^ccarelibumt, tulii^Rk a pr»b^GTi]i, Ee reconciJinri«sp^>sruletil) et ideO pro c(i«rc«nda (ittii cxpcnbili pncsumpdan^JdH xancto eoncilio jube> tur, ut eeciiudam formatn cnnonum anLiqUDtiim denluT pamKiilin, hocoit. tit jiriiii cum, qiictn tui pa<nit«[ fcc-ti, a cotnrniiriionc Butpenmrn, irndm itiler n'1iii\ii^9 pccn'ilrnlps hd trmrHDt im}>0(i- Ikiiitfin crcbro rccurme; expletiiituU'ni
41S
tUI B1«BT or TBK caCBCH
kP. ^ 21. It is an easy thing to say that this rigour vas ait' infinaity la the Cbiirch of those times, not understanding
Mttofartignii tempore, timti Mcndo- talii cootempluia probkierit, euoi eom- ninninu rabroftt Hi vero qui kd pram »iti4, Tcl infri HiHuWQiM' umiiui, vcl foU. TccoflcilUuimeai reUbuntur, w- tundam priorum canonum KvmtMan dcnuinituT. — CodciL ToIcl Ui. A.D. SS9. G*n. \L L«bbe], torn. t1. cot 708. fd. VeneL
Iiem d«miiie» qui n<rii iumoUvmnt wd fUDtiui tuitum d^ennt; eo qdod cc a funtalii ab»tiiiUL-runt •BerillciiH, plDcuit. ill fiuc eit ptsiUii cvmmum- uiiMii ^ BetB tAmel) leg^itiiiii pwhitcnlla- IlcTD ip»l SL posL p<riiit«i!iun fufriiK iiia-cliAti, plauuit, ulteriu^ liU nOn £iW dandunt L-gTitmuniou?ni, u<? lusisae de OomiDick canuHunicJie vide&ntui. — CandL EltbcriUiL rirva A.D. SlS.can. iii. I^bbeiitciu. i. cvl Bfi cd. Venrt.
Si quli font fidclii pint Upsum tnwrliin,', poll u-nipgDt conHiluta, ac^ i'eptnpixiiite»lia«Lcuuu futTilfuFrileatus, placuit, noc in fine lnjlwif tfUB" ccni- ntuniuDsn. — /A., caa. rii.
Mi'iito reprtliimduutuT qui ispiiu ageodam pwniteotiain puum; quLs hUEuiantiir m Cluislo. Nun si vcri.' agen^nt pa^nlttiitinin itrrnndam postea lion pul&rcciti <[\i.ia sicui uituni bap- liuiia, ltd una pixuilmlin, qiijc t&tncti pulilici! apjliir '■ n«P» (|m>tidiani nos debet jiicniletv pL'ccatt: «ed hnc delic- Iciruiii leviomiiii ilLa Kiaviunim.'^S. Anibtu*. dty roiiiilriLt.. Tib. U, mjx S, cd(. i^H, cd. Urn.
MiOiiis cat [:r|;ti tunc t]uii!«rcr« cum rs^Tcere ittJii queas apcm pi-uilt^ntia', nt In IpiJL pc&nittnitiD &al, q,uod poaUa fadlgeat piKiiilcutia. QtiK t>i BL-me] rUfiTU uaui]pHta, ncc jur? pclebritta, nee priiMia ftncEum abliiicl, el aufnvl uaum poalsriorta- — lb; cap. ui. evi. iSil cd. baxi.
Kt har t^niiMitum cat quid <lr hit ii^iaorvtvri o|it>rtc«l, qui |tii«i l;n]>ti«niuin MJlliii U-iiiiiuii- iiii-iiiitiiK'iiliir viiluplnti* liil* ili'ilili, in i-ilmiiu rinr vitiii Mitr< ptviiElciitlaii) mIiiiiiI rt rcrtkiiHltotioiieiin
niirilllUllidttl* |-K|HM|il'lll)t. Dv llIN ilfll-
»ri vullii jiHriT iliirUir, |K>^tl'^il>^ iiiti'T- V(iiit'ii|4' ini*cri('tii(hn liiclliiailur i'i>L Naiii til III I II flu ill I [iiinr iriiuU, lit i-ikiiiT* ll«>r«lur <■!■ piviitli-iilia. nvi\ rimmmnin tiaHaniliir. Nuin nuii illli triii|vi^rlliiii cntiiiti |<rrBiii-iil|>i|ii^« pmriit. iii- foiii- """"■■■' 1 fwillla* hmiiitu'* dr
*■ no* iinii if\ urtiTvt n
'■■I ' ■ I'll) I'lmt'itiiiiilu e«t.
peutaA aauaatt^l
«raees» panitendi, ne totum Degoretur : «-! duriumn r«niitsii fi^il lemporis ratio, S«d posU^a quaatf^ Dvuiiiua noxer ii«c«d «clnui nil teddidit, jim terrare d«'pulso coaunn- nionem dari abeuntibus placuit, et propter Doniiai miscricordiam quw triaticutn prvrectiiri} : el be NoiratUai hoereCici n^antis veaianv, Kspentatan et duriiiani s&qui vjd^'iunur. Tribuito^ ergo c!um jKeiut^Ltii extreme co: munio; ut homiueft liujuMnodi. Tel niptemu tub |HvnileDles, iniM^ai Sadvaiare nostTo, a perpeiua exi vindiccQtur. — ^Innoctnl i. Ep. iiL ciijk' ii. L^bb^i, lOTB. iiL coL ll. c4 VenA
Ul etuTn Goiistilueretiu' in EccImB ne quiB^uatii pust sllcrujus crtDiiuu pAoltcada^m cltfrit:atQiii accipiai. vcl ad clericatuia rede^t, vel in cErricaUi TiMneit, non deiperatione induj^eittls. »d ri^re factum est diicriplina^ ; alio- (jiuiti contra claveft datas cccl«ai» di»- putabitur, de quJbtu dictum est, Qiwt lalverilu in leml,4otata trunt el In inrla. 8ed ne for&itan etiajn dcteelia crimiji- ibui, ipe honori» ecclerijutici anintUl inliuntscdiB supefbe ageret pa>[iiten- tiwd, seveTiasinie filacull, ul posl acLsm de criminc daoiiiiibill paiiittniiam. uenio £11 dtricus., ut dcspLTalione tein- ppralis nllitudinis mediciiia major ct v«rioi e^scc buiniliintii- Nnm et Mnctiis Uavid de critniiiibus morti&rii pa:i)iti-»tiim egit el tanien ia hanan huo [hcmiiic. £t beatuni Petrum qtian- da BiiiELrisbiiiiAs \actymui fudit, tilique Doiiliaitll} D^gnsse pccnituit, et tnmiMi ApDAtolus JHansiL Scd dod ideo lupcr- vacua putaiida eal poaterioniui dUl^ED- lin, qui ub) laluti nihil detrahttb^Wi hurnilitnti nliquid addideruBt, qua nlni tiitiiii munirctur, experti credo aliquo- rum IIIcLiit pa>uiteniias per ifiixUtu bononini pctcnlins. — S. AuguitfiL EpUt. cIjucxt. cap. r- torn, ii coll, B'** 6SI. fd. Ben.
(Jusmvia cr^ cauto finlubnterq pTOvii-TJin sit. u( Iwuj illiuB buiniUiiu.
SiKiutenliic wttnul in EccIcMa ««»*-». aUir. ne mt'dicina vilis tiiinus ulilJ* f>BaCl Kgnitif, qunr tanto maEis flaluhnk r>\ t|U«ulu ininuaCCHTcinptibilUfucnl: qui* lanien auiltat dicer? Deo. Quare buic Imniiiil qui post primaTn p<enileii- llani niraui ae Isqtieiti IniquiTAtis ah- nlniiKit, aillmc itenim pareia. — S. Ait- ttii"Hii. F./'itr. i-liii. cap. iii- ioai.
lltflL
rqi»« uumH
[N A CHRISTIAN STATE.
413
}
aright frce justification by faith': but as it Is manifest that chaP. tbU ri^iir of discipline abated more and more, age bj age, — - — till that now it is corae to nothing ; so, if wc go upwards ond compare the writinga of the Aposllea with the original prac- Ucc of the Church, it will appear that the rigour of it was brought in bj them;, because it abated by degrees from age to age, till ot length it is almost quite lost : that the reformation of the Church consists in retaining it, — that we shall do ao much prejudice to Christianity, as we shall by undue intcr- pcctaiion make justilication by faith inconsistent with it. And, io finCj it will appear that all penance presupposeth ex- connimmiartion, being only some abatement of it. " There in A sin unto death," sailb the Apostle^ 1 John v. 16, " I say not that ye pray for it/' Tiiis is commonly understood of denying^ God'a truth, against that light which convinceth the conscience. Whiclij if it were true, the Apostle'a precept could never come into practice, seeing no man can Itnow, un- less by revelation; against what light his neighbour sinncth. But the Novatians, at the council of Nice, as Socrates and Sozomcnus both report, Ercks, HhL i. 10, i. 22,* answering Cotutantine, tliat they refused penance only to those that sinned the " sin unto death," do give us to understand that Sl John was understood by the Church not to cummantt thai apostates be aJiniltcd to penance. And so also Ter- tuUiim in many places of his book D? Pudicitid, as cap. xix, •»
|d dc SicTKinfiito ntpnitPTitiip coni-
pd lunt. Emtrntiluin h&c uicrn-
■tnm ocnAnuil qup il«?«bnl elogio^
McnuUmeHflUbuUmpMi nAufiagiuui:
■ «!• d qni* rmtem innoc«nlJiB in fiii|i' IMIM pCTcepUm prcranilo comipenl, per pttoiuniUm rqiwv potcat. — CU- vhk. InatiL, Uh. iv. cAp. xix.. f 17.
Tolinin lacum ulbfarligniiq pnrni- MuiA Maigiuutl. tic i]iuc|uiE;i]uifltt3Btc- na^ im» wbo anhverli poltnU Uii^uul am wlBccni panilrmi « pra'IcHds malOt ftbMiaeiv. «i monsi in mcUui eooiauitaiv,, juii tin iia qute Ucu bquI Mdi6dlt D»a Eue aulc-m mnlLa MtaninleiUcv '^uibiut peccua reili mamui i ittrjmta, jejimia, abUtionm, c1iaritBti»
[hAom^ Talibui wUMdaciit npfvuni}
I fradii/aM pifcafemn rtmutunun, <|iui AihD in Sctiptun ditfiut pKHtioatur —
One nf the propMitioiiB Jimioa^ tlie tiuptttatijuiri oF PhJiip Metanctlion, At Ili« {'nd dC the fin! volume ot Luther*! narVa, H^Ueberg^\S5H,iat]il!^: Iinpni' dmtiHitne locutiBynicmioTn-BiJc pwni- tnilia gut nullam ibi tHmtiimfm fidtt /ecrrunt. — Diap. de Pan. Lap*. fnL 448.
" 'Rt ftrr^ rb pdirriirfia mtniptnt ^K ilioi ftitimipSwf rotii a^id^Cai iv6' XOfT, tiy TTpin SdtrsTop HoKautiuf aS 9tuu ypOi^aS' StoG yip ^(avalaa fiAvtm, v^^ Upivv ijprTteSoi 't^y tpf a'jk Soxamen. Ecclcs. IliaU i. 22. p. 437. ei Valea. The puKBge frcm 8ocnt« it to the uinie elTect but Idiijjter.
^ Eil enim delictum itd mortm, ffan lie fo rfiVfl ul qttU pprtnltt* ..... .Sri-
mfi4 auirm quttd amnii rx Dtfi nal%u tit H'<n tiereiinguil, aK'ilictl delictum quod bH morteni c-sL It& nihil jam KUlKr- iisLi^uani kui ne^Cfr nKechiim d funti- calionem iiictlalia es« delict*, aiit urc-
414
THE BIOBT OP THE CUURCH
c n A i:
[Of till litiTu
llCBth.]
I A pof t«tc> not ti*l' mlKciI to l-vnojic'cj
BTgucth from this place, that penance was not to be granted to adulterers. Which shcweth that the Church understood the plaee in the same sense, though it admitted not his con- sequence. So also Origen^ in Matt, sviii. 15, Tract vii.'
§ 22. I was long doubtful of the truth of this interpretation, because tho Aposde premising, ■" If any man see his brother sin a sin not unto death^ let him ask of God," acems to speak of private prayers of particular persons. But the words of St- James v. 16, have cleared me of this doubt : " Confesa your sins one to another," saith he, "and pray for one another that ye may be healed;" in which words I make no doubt but he Bpeaketh of public penance. For having premised that the presbyters be sent for to the sick, that they confess their sins to the presbyters, that they pray for them, anoint- ing them with oil, that their sins may be forgifen them ; to ahe^v nevertheless, that, according to the custom aforesaid, in case they recovered, they were to stand bound to penance, heat fiddetb, "confess your sing to one another," to signify thtt this confession and penance remained due before the Church, OS we undcnslAnd by the twelfth canon of Nice"", that the practice was so long afterwards. And this is proved by the precept of both Apostlea, " to pray for one another." For it is manifest that there were two means to obtain remission of tius, in this case; the humihation which the Church pre- scribed, and the penitent performed ; and the prayers of the Church, which St. John prcscribeth not to be granted ajrastates.
§ 23. The very same is the meaning of the Apostle to the
Hebrews vi. 6, when he pronounccth it " impossible tliat
ttiose that fall away be renewed again to repentance." For,
as they that stood for baptism, when they were catechised in
Christianity, were properly said, eyxaiVKrOrjvat et? fjxrdvatav,
to be instructed or dedicated to repentance, because of the
repentance from dead works, which they professed; so they
nivnlilUa fftirnris, pro qiiibtu nee cxo- Tue {I'prmUiitui,— p. 1013, «L ?un.
* OH^n, ('<]nini9ntinS.Malth. torn.
xiii. jt Si}. ti,t\\. iii. p. fit I. «l Hen.
** ntjtil si rvv 4lai*ii6rrvy 6 ■waX.oAkf KbJ Kovonmht y^fiirs ^uAjiX^Tfi'iu Kol fw" Gid^f rfrij i^oii{iai, Tov Ti\tura!ov /cai iLtrWyKmiTTiriiv i^aSl^v nif dlTSffnt-
pr'if$an. f i a irayptt<T6t\s, icai Kaatfytat wikif Tux^fr wilAif *>/ Toti (maar 4(t- Tifffti, ^*-rA Til" icaiPiii'oii'Tuni rni *tyii» fidf^c tarw. KoBiKou Bi koI ntpi irm^li aCmvoiraviy i£<j8«ciDi>rrai, alroDerat t«»
taKifiaaia.t 4iriSATw. — .Concil. Nictftl. A.D. 325. cwi, Utii- L*bhci, torn. ii. coL Vi. Il H Lh« Iwclfih in Itidore.
IN A CaKISTIAN STATE.
41a
(
I
I
ibftt forfeited their Cbnstianity by violating the contract of baptism, are no leas properly said, avaKaivurSijvat tiV ^exa- vcuofr to be renewed} instructed, and dedicated again to re- pentance. And the Aposde's reason agrees, for, "because
! the earth that receives tain, and renders no fruit, is near the ctHse," therefore the Church will not easily believe dial such a one shall lightly obtain of God the grace to becoine a sjcccre Ctiriatian. And therefore the Apostle says not, that it ifl impossible that such an one should repent, but, " tbat he should be instructed again to repentance," to wit, by the Chorch. Aa the Novatians answered Constantine, tbat they remitted such persons to God, not prejudicing their salvation, but not admitting tliem to the means of reconciliation by tlie Churcli.
§ S4. And herewith agrectli the example of Esau, uaed by the Apoade, again xiL 17, saying that **^}ic found not place of repentince;" alluding to that room in the Church, where penitents were placed apart by themselves. And again, su 26» the olIusioD which he maketh to the custom under the law— undeistoodby the Hebrews to whom he writeth — consistetb in this, that, as there was no sacrifice to be made for apostntea^ though for ethnJcs^ — for this was the use of the law, as we understand by Mosos Maimoni ^ in the title of Dressing Oblations^ cap. iii. num. 3 — 5.^ — bo the Christian sacrifice, of the prayers of the Church, was not to be offered for those that had renounced Christianity. If it be thus, you will ask what was the fault of the Novatiaos, seeing they understood
I (his lex( right? and my auswer is, that nevertheless they are heretics, extending tbe name of heretics to those whom now we call schismatics, aa 1 have shewed you in ihe httle Dis- couiw, p^ 1&7', tbat it is often used. For St* John, as he comoEiands not, sa he forbids nor, that they be admitted to penance ; the other Apostle tells them, *' it is impu&sible^" lo let them know that tbey must not expect it : but neither uys that the Church could not give it.
$ 25. When therefore the Church, to preserve unity, was necessitated to grant it, as we see by St. Cyprian b, the Nova-
CHAP.
I.
f Error or the Nijva. tLatu.]
* Dt Iblioaf Sacril^cianun facien- donao* ppv l£0, ISl. iruisliwd into l^tin^ ac Veil, rvis. I(37a.
' PrimilfveOoTeniinenlof ChurcbcB,
chap. KIT, itct. i.
* In ununi fonvcnimiii, ft ScripttlTU diu fx ulraque parte prolalit, tem^rs- inernluiTiHtubtiinocleratiQnelifaTavimiu,
■lOIl lo
with ini. ii-L'^ttiun of
416
TUB niOBT OF THE CHURCH
CHAP. I.
tians \rcrc no less ecbismcLlics in making; scpamtion upon the quarrel — though perhaps ihe reason be not urged by their adversaries — than if thej had understood the test amiss ; the unity of the Church being of more moraent than much un- derstanding in the Scriptures. And so, perhapa, St Paul's , words will belong to this purpose, 1 Tim. v. 22, as not only the Socinians of late ^ but Facianus among the ancients, ParanesU ad Pmnitentiam *, and Matthreus Galenus"* among modem writers, do expound them : to wit, that when be eaith^ ** Lay hands suddenly on no man, nor partake of other | men'a sins," he leaves it to Timothy's judgment whom to admit, whom not to admit to penance; because this blessing , with imposition of hands, was not the mark of absolution, a*' but of admiBsion to penance, as well as the ceremony of ordi- nations
pfflposi- § 26. And though this text of the Apostle be understood hantli. Its ™ particular of ordinations, yet, by the same reason which he meaning.] allcgeth, It is to be extended to all acts of the Chureb that are blessed, by the prayers of the Church, with imposition of hands. For if Timothy, by imposing hand^ upon those whom he ordains, become accessory to their sins, if they be unfit to be ordained j by the same reason, if he impose hands, that is, grant penance unto them that arc not fit for it, he be- comes accessory to the aina which they commit by being
4
lU iMW in (oCum ipei comrrmiticationu tl
pacis lapiu denegarttur ; ns plat de' rperaliont di^ereHt, ei eo cjuod aibi Ecrlesin duflt^Tetuir, secuti scculuni
gentilit&r viverent ; Postea
tunen sicui colUpi conc^^rdta et colli- f^ndiie fr&t«miUtU, ac niedcndi vo.]' ncris utiliUa exij^^bat, necpssitAti t^m- porum succLtbvufise, ct saluti multonitn providtndttin pittas&e, ei nuitc ab hiH Hon raceijere, quot scmfl iti comciHo nnatro rte communi coilatLOtiiC plflcu> erunt -, quAmvii Dtuha tmitCorum vocibud VpRtilenlur, L'tiTi>cnilaciAftdvcrBiiii ucer- iloteg Deidcdiahoti DrepTcilatii,ad runi- pendaoi Catholics unitati& concordiuti ubique jacleiituT.^Ep. ad Antaniannm, pp. 10?, 103. ed, Oicon, 1082.
'' SociiiiiB inCt^rprcts it orordiiiKtion: CtelliuB aUo, but adds, Quid^m id dc Kdmiasiant pqcCRtaniiQ resipiacentium ■d EccluUm. int«r quos pcssunt ct Kiiiarea C0'mpn?liendi, &cn[nuiiL He Ihen ftdda that there U no sui1ici?nt
evidence that penitenta were recanoiJed wirh imposidon of handa, — Comm. in tot:^ Dreniiui' eKplaian it of ordinAtian, adding, fiisi fane proverfaialia ett locutlo, qua HmothGuin nionere Taloit, nfi qurm preibylfrtan peccAli legitiniF iccusatuni lemere fibnolvat,- — CoiDin. in loc.
' Ecce itenim ApoFtolys ad SacCT- dotem, AfoNiu cito nulli iMponat, net rnmninnicCii pfccalis alienit. Quid Tscies tu qui (l^cipis sac^rctoli^iit f Qui ant ignurAnlf;ni f&llis, aut non Ad plenum Bdenteln prnbandl difficuttatc conTiui- dia 1 Raga cr^a vos, fratrcs, ellAm pro ptricuJo mei>, per ilium Uominuinquem iKniltA non faLluiiit deaiiiire viil)iei3.lajn t?pere Fonacientjain, — Bibliothec. Pa» truiiL, loni. iv. p, 31(1. Lugduii. 1677.
^ Dt CbriattBua et CnlholicD Sarer- dpiio. (^ap. ill. p. $5, DilingiE, IA6S, See H«tnmond*s commeiitiiry on tli» Icxt.
rS A CHRISTIAN STATE.
417
I
adaiiltcd to it Icupusltion of hands being nothing else but a ClI
ecromony of that bcncdicticn> which sigqifieth, that those acts
tu which it is grac^ted, are allowed and authorized by the public power of the Church. So imposllioQ of hand^ in con- firmatioa, is the admission of him that is confirmed to the communion of the visible Church ; in penance, the restoring of him ; in ordination, to the exercise of this or that function in tlie Church. Prayer over the sick, which the Apostle eummands^ Jamea v. 14, and our Ixird^ in the Gospel, made with imposition of hands^ slgnilicd the admitting of the sick to penance ; nnd it i;^ said, that in same eastern Churches, to this day, marriages are hlcs3cd with imposition of hands, in lificallon that, the Church iJIoweth of them, which, as it alwa^'s lEc right of the Church to do, aa I 5bull observe in another place ', so it appeareth so to be, in that marriage was never celebrated among Christians without the prnycrs of the Church ■". And this obsenarioa 1 inKist upon the more cbecrfutly, because it rauchstrcngthencth the argument, which die Church makeib, for the baptism of infants, from the act ufuur Saviour in tlie Gospel, when He blessed the infants with impositiaa uf hands. I'or if all imposition of handii be an act tif the public power of the Church, ullowiug th&t which ie done with it, tlicn can this imposition of hands slgnif)' no lesa tluui that those to whom our Lord granteth it, belong to His kingtlom of the visible Church.
^ '27. One little objection there lies against this, from the [Thu in- incestuous person at Corinth^ whom St. Paul, in his second l^^JJI^."* cpiatlct seems to rc-atlmit to communion, his crime being as "''»"i-l diKp AS ntlultery, which, we sfl^^, the rigour of Apostolical dtiiciphue admitted uot to penance. To which I have divers things to answer. That this cannot be objected, but hy him that acknowledges that he was excommunicate by the former epistle. That TertuUlun, la hi& book D^ Padicitid<^, disputes
' In ebiip. iv. and in the EpiloKoe Ul iii clia[i{i. xii, xiU, xiv, xx.
* CrtvntQi luni id rituiD ipectMh ptianiun nun AllunJe'qd^in ub Apo»talictL IfBctalieiM fluxuse, ut non nae bbcct- Aviia pT««ntti« matniTionium contra- halur. — Hai^ii. Aon. Kccle*. Irij. i7.
* Siuf icuituT Apotitolum faulumia ■wupda td Corintmoa eidcm fvmicatvri wmiam drdiiw, qticut in pduu di;deii>
dum Salans) in laterituni cPJnW pro-
niialiaril, afteir reciting the
At)suliiti(!Q in tllG second t^jjiaUc he pniccedsthu^: — Quid hie defomJciilore. cjiiid d« patemi ihori coiiUminAtorc t — cap. XiLi. Again, Siiflieiat 'cjusmodl liUTtiini incKtiatM)i»U qnm » mulxi*, nan in romicatoni p«n«nam c«OT«iure. Si cfiim dcdcnduRi Salanar pranunliaverat iti iiiuniiiin cariiM, uti^uc daoumvcnt
418
THE RIGHT or TUB CHCRC]
C [1 A P. 1.
[Pcnapco iTLitlluteil by the
AilOSUcS.];
iniiiiifaiir<n
illH'l"«"l'd
titii;«rrlic law.]
at liirge tliat it is tiot the same c^^e which is spoken of in a both epistles. That the crime here specified, perhaps, is not of the number of those wLicli from ihe beginning were ex- cluded from penance. But, waiving all this, as I excepted two cases, iu which men were baptized without regular trial, bo sup- posing the rule to take hold in this case, it is no inconvenience to grant that St, Paul might waive the rigour of discipU iu settled, as supposing there might be cause to waive it.
§ 28. If this opinion seem new, ray purpose requires but these two points, ihat the penance practised by the ancient Church, supposed excommunication, which k only abateth ; and that it was instituted by the Apostles ; and, for tha^ there is enough satd, I supjMiec, even to theni that believe not that the Apostles excluded any kind of crimes from penance. Beside that of St. Paul, blaming the Corinthians that " they were puffed up, and had not rather lamented, that he that had done the evil might be put from among them," 1 Cor. T. 2, And again, fearing thai " when he returned, he shouhl Ite forced to lament many/ 2 Cor. xlj. 21. Which, if we compare with the primitive solcmnilv of excommunication, which by the Constitutions of the Apostles, ii. Id*, and other Ways we imdcrstand, was to put the person out of the C'hnrch doors with mourning, it will appear that Epiphaniua is in the 27 right in expounding this latter text to this purpose, Uteres. lix. num. 5. p The power of excumninnication then, by all this, la no more than the necessary consequence of the [wwcr of admitting to cunminnion by baptism ; which, if it imply a contract with the Church to live acconling to the rule of t^hriatijuiitv. then It is forfeit to him that evidently does that, wliJch ciinuot Inland with that rule, and the Church not tied to rcfilore it, but as the peraon can give satisfaction, to observe it fur the future.
§ 2E>. Now, I will make short work with Erastus' Ion Ittbunr^ to prove that there is no excommunication command
euDi Tna[;i9 <]Mani iiii;r('|isverAt. Aiiit4 >Tgo tnit riii Volnit Sii^i:fre Itfrr/ra- litmrm. SKjuiilefiii iVviiicatar nun iii- i;ji.-[iiiliuri>t.'m rl-t' iL'uk'iitin t;jiis rctnk-rat, »ril ElitmLiJiliniwcii. — Ca]>. xiv, |i, ]li07. ed. Paw. iL>it1iiim.ij{. UUi'l.
" 'lSi>r ii 4tr> riv TffmimfK&Ta wi-
#«1 /((AfffftT^i AiiT^ wueptuviaSvatu' oJ
avthy fij* T^s *ZKH\-naiai. — L>iilibci, twiu i col, 2^1, ett. Vcritt
Koi ^iTtfilrfiTBr fioTifirToi oLia\ ylvatrtai., tfoJl aiiM i*oflA?]IT^iro»rTni. tad KvpJ^nv
Coiilr. Chtharos, p. 4il7. cd,OoL 1
ng J
IN A CllEIISTIAN STATE.
419
I
I
the haw 1. 1 yield it; and make a consoqueuee wli'teh will be ihuuglu a strange one : but I hare it from the spccu- ttttioLi of Drigen, in Lent., Horn, xi.', and others, why tho Church should gnlj be enabled to excommunicate, whereas the ^nagogue was enabled tu put to death ^ from the obser- vation of St. Augustine, Qatestiones in DcnteronimK lih. v. Qiuest. xxxix.*, De Fide si Optribus, cap. ii. ^ and othera, that cxeummimicjitiuD in the Clturch is the same that the power of life and death [is] in the synagogue. My argument is, ihcn, that tlic Church is to have the power of excommuni- 2S cation, liccauac the synagogue had the power of life and death. And the reason of the consequence this : because, as Um.' law, Ijeing the condition of the covenant by which the bcnelit of the commonwcalih of Israel was due, enabled tu put to deach such as destroyed it; so the Gospel being the inditino of ihe covenant that makes men denizens of the piritutd Jerusalem^ must enable (o put them from the socii?ty thereof thflit forfeited it
^ 30, It is not my intent hereby to say that there was no rxt*unimunicaliuti under the law: for, I do bcbevf, that we liave niCDtioa of it in Ezra, x. 8 ", grounded, if I mistake not,
c II A ?. 1.
[Ill nsc 1 1 mil T
« M«lii-li(Oturlioc firmum, EmirmMk-. K llmuirliSLiiRi, in I'ftrri Tn'tlamenta ■mJImm /mmt pT^iltr drtiritt matvta a Samtmmlit muilirm ; stsd ad coruudi^m
rrlr-' '--- -■ ■ -'flH SVCUIldlllfll IfpcTi
s pro|ilu'iiH, jU'JUi-
fefl i.'jllCAll ipKI>4JUOI|UC
■iit»rur»oti- (JlinMi clnriswuio c( naii- cti»*>tmii Jotuime BiiptiKlR, fuiHnc invi- tftlut mj|[ia i|iwm tr|ii]|M>s. — 'Thifsis XWii ^ 17. Pc*r!(vv mm.
* SxufMluiii liFii^-rn adiLlter et a.dul- WT» iiKiTic Ri«riirbnti<iir, n« jwicrain dii'rtv. jKiTiiU'iitutiii [lediiiUK, c! vciuafti drfim'aiiiiir. Mom erat Iwrj-mis locua, on «nm<I»^inni ulLi conct'debnlur riruluii. «d i>mnimoi3v i»uiiiri ii«i?es;c- •T*!, (|Lii ini-iirriuwE in li-^cm. Hoc
»'i'^ r-S.iliiT, ct in (iogtllU qtli-
!■'■ niliu^ f|iMliiis crnt pcuim
itx ''i>ta. Ajniil (^liriiiUAiiiia
*rni 11 Biiiiilirninii fncTil ndTnianuTn,
lifln Ml iiprcpptum tit ailtiktr vt\
a-'- ["itnli inti-ruii |)iiniaiitiir ^
■ < '{ iiK^rtr (litninAri*,
lilt Ic^rrii ll<'li«l o
"J"- . , t-iuid iffiiif^ <li«-
mu* nftvd Ira Mn)«i cnid«lif lit. ...
Kl Kvangrliuni Chriiti per iudulijcii-
Be 2
liftiii rvsnlvitauililorfKni drturiuK ? Non i(a est. . . , . . Nmic vt'ro poii iiifertur po^iLa corpori, ace pur^niio petcftii pt-r CMrjjDrnle s.u|i[i1iciulii miisUt, A&d per pcf niti'iitiaiii. — Ongeit, Opp., luin. ii. p, 2iS. td. Den.
' Hoc vmai nunis a^^ic in Eeclebin exeuinniuHicatio, quoH »gfliut tuup iitIerf«(^lio Tom. iii. col. 570. ed. Ben.
' Kt Phiiiece sAcerdua adultrroB ^iiiiul invcntos (ono ultorc conAut. Quod iitiqiipdeprnilalinnibuset pxcodi- niiinicaliiHiitiu^ Kt^iifit;iitiitii esi esse fnoli-iidiri; lior U'1(1])otc', cum in fictk- siw diacipliiia vLaibilic fii(,-Tnit ^Lailiiis ccfisntiirus. — Tom. vi, col. l(ifi.-ed. UtH,
^ Nt illud qmiJcm nobis BilvffrgaEiir, qaoil in lifar. t KBdrcc v».p. x. k'^tur, Etfiii'TI reit ilia pulitica fuil; ad ^at-ra- nicnlB iwii pertiiu't. Nam niagi&tr&tu*.
3I0II snccrdua fUdraa solus i-ilic-
turn pronml^vit, ut sul' pann raiili»- cttiicnlft hoiiurum. rt ekdufaionu, noi> n ■Jirrniiii'-nlis ct ^nc^^lcits, sti) a pii|iulih, ciui ex cjiptiviiatc ri.-dlcMr, riintu"* iiiln* triduiiTti llii'm^olymi.i aiLeaaeiil. .....
Rx ntiinMiU* puti'l iitipiissiliili" csm", ill
liirtc Juvcinr txcuinmunicatio. — Eriut. llin. xxi. pp. 14, IS.
420
TBZ KI«nT or TBK CBrftCI
upon the oonuDinaci of dkc bjng c^ Petsa, recorded Ezra . vii 26; for, that wiuch is here called ''roothig out," seems to be the suoe that is called in (he other ptsce, **dividing &ani the sTOsgogoe of the capdves.* Bexc^ indeed, s kind of temporal ouUawrj* lo whieh is joined cociBscatian of goods. For, so aaith I^utfaer ' tmlj, thai the gieater exoanunaDicalioti among Chnsuans is eveir where a tempcnl poniflluiieiit, tn wit, in regard of some lempoial ponishiDent attending it Id Christian, fitacea, trhicb in ChriitianitT is accidental, bj Act of those states, in Judaism essentia aa long as those tempord advantages, which were the eaaential cooditioa of the law, i were not forfeited. And this without doubt is the same punishment which the gospels call "putting out of the sjaa-29 ; gogue:** though, I cannot say so peremptory for the tempwral effects of it : which several sovereigiis could eaaly hmil to several terms. For the right that Ezra might have to intro- duce this penalty, is clear by the Ian- of DeuL xviL 12, which enabling to put theai to death that obeved not the synagogue, I enabled to excommunicate, to banish, to outlaw them much more. But, as we see, the Ramans allowed them Dot tlie power of life and deaths which the Persians granted them, so I am not to grant, that, putting out of the syoagc^e in the Gofipel, icnplicth the exdnguishing of the civil being of any Jew. The Talmud doctore say, that, those that were under the greater excommunication, were to dwell in a cottage alone, and to have meal and driuk brought them till they died. Arba Turim^ or Shulchan Aruch, in J&rr Dea, Hikoik Niddui Uckercm. A speculation suitable to their condition in their dispei'sioDS, which no man is bound to believe how far it in force and practice.
^ 3], But. suppose the synagogue in the same condition with the Church afore Constantine, enjoying no privilege, but to sen'e God according to the law, as the Church according lo the Gospel: and then, as the synagogue must always have power to excommunicate, which had power to put to death ;.tn so, I say, is the Church enabled by our Lord to do what I have shewed the Apostles did do, by Matt, xviii. 18. I yield,
' Kxcomrnilnicalici siu estti^Tnparaljs aiigejiiia si injiiEt^ fuerit,— Ccnc, de
Bt coTpornlis, ut tamcci orcUnetar. non Virtut Esconini. lom. i. fol. 63. Wile-
eniitm, ttt<X iipo uomTniminjie iulrnorp, ber^a* 1538. vel rppnrntuls, >i jiialp lala fuerit, vpl
aam ^ their
TN A CHRtSTIAV STATE.
4^
ai
I
tbat llie terms of " binding and loosing" are used by tbe Jews to signify ibe declaring uf wliat is prohibited and permitted by ihe law, but I yield uotf that it cnn be so understood here, becsose the ground of this declaration ceaseth under the Gospel ; being derived from the aix hundred and thirteen precepts of the law, and from the power of the priests and doctors to determine all cases, which the law had not deter- mined, in dependence u|K)n the great consistory at Jcntsalem, hy the law of Deut. xvii, 12, which precepta, and whicii power, being voided by the Gospel, can any man think that ll»c power of '" binding and loosing** here given the Church, is u> be understood of it 'f
^ 32. Besides, it is in the proiuise made to St, Peter>f Matt. xvi. J9, said expressly to he the act of the power of the keys. And what is tliat ? U it not an expression manifestly borrowed from that which is eaid to Eliakimj 8oti of Hilkiah, Is. xxii. 22, " I will give thee the keys of the house of David;'' whcrcu|wn our Lord, Apoc, iVu 7, is snid to have " the key of Dsnt),** that ia, of the house of David V whereby the Apostles tuidcr our Lord are made siewarda of the Churchj as Eliakitii oftJic court, to admit and exclude whom he pleased ^ And •o it is manifest, that the power of the keySj given to St, Peter, Malt. XTi. 19, as the Church, MatL xviii. 16, is that power
CHAP,
I.
Till' iHiwcr of(ln' Itej* nhat il is,
' niatrcropApalH eUve!<non agnoi- rima*. Jnuitk per clnves fluiniiiam intvllip rviir«taCeiii triWii argument]* ptX>|jAl. J'rimuin, nil^ptujt* davium UC ill St'tijiliinJt accipiLur ; f)aba i-iai-rm 4omMM thtifil, hie net 'ciave^i' inuHi^i- tUf ptinci|ii.tui LccleMiuticut : Hahtt rtm^m ttaetd, ^ni ijpcrit ft ttrma claudii., Arc«ilit fr>ininuai( conBuecudo: in ur- kiuRi (IriHtioiie clmves Dfieniiitur, et
im fluod ad priotem locum atdncl, datra promiwiB Eliadiimo eudL, id est, biror, pmirifintiiK, La qictrri) Sliulina atite ohtincUt, quenuidinoduni ex licic ««pilr DottatAL 1^1 luctut pnnd|intilin rat Ulo Kliubiu ityjcvlfr, fafttHj^iic Kcriha. I nrincipr. ul «li>>i S^ripiur.i cIokC Xm blUt Jc»u>U)ti Bilk Cipiiiiu. quuido Bad«*U«licu(n Ittinr rLnssupriiicipatum BXtttinut: polldcua cniin Tuit. Nun Sbnbns fion ml fuiictui ue£Til<>lin auti: - ,ir 111 eviriri polr»l: i\
tAt ' -rklM i-^l. lun^i aIi v\\\*'
Ml... i.fii ,^A\lT ucrTiloa Anil- fail;
tt EUtKhmo pTomitlUHtUF elavti tlomiu Dat'id, qtue regaliifuH, mm »aeerdala!ii pottttat- Nnnt per domum Dftvid in- telli^L-fc temptum.ijuia David wdificati t«n)p1uni pra-ccprrjit^ ut quidam re« i>pcitidGt, niJiiis iiic^pium «aU Debebat
potiua cticil ]L)oinu.a Salomonis,
Qyanq^uaiH auteni clavei iltiTnui David priacipaimn querKguftm nr^unt, nam Eaiiien clavci mi m Uieui priAcipaliim semper sigmfioaiit, non ct\^o hooc \oc» convcnioftt inititulo, ^nia Prlta Chrh- liu non projiuMit fluvt* Uumu* David, ttd eimet regni ttgforuM, qua} buhI altcHua
R«neru el nalarw. Quod acL
awaildtini locUm allinirl, Qui habel rta- ivni Uarid, fatcoT bic qiiiilcm ^iitnmam jKimUlemcci-lealaiiiJcnii:) Mmu) e\ poli- licaib inwllif^i. S^J hii» flitsn-t Chrhfut mm papa AuArrr tlicifur, Non [.■»ijn Paps? aeil riirist'O coiiveiiiil ilia vux. 'Data mihi poio»in* omniit cit in r<>-So ac in Icrra.'— Whitalwf. 0pp., lorn. ir. CuiilTuverv iv. iiuirst, n. ra]). i-. ) J. p. m. Gcn<'V. ICLO.
THE RIOUT OF THB CHCKCH
I.
3 6^^
CHAP, which you have seen practised under the Apostles, of admit- ting to, anil excluditig from the CEiurch, by baptism am)^^ penance. So Sl Cyprian expressly underatandcth ibe powed^H of the keys to consist in baptizing^ Epixt. Uxiii.' And of l»n- ance, that which followeth le an express argument, tis I have I obsenred p. 129 • of that short Discourse: for having said, | "whatsoever ye bind," He addetb immediately, "again I say to you, that if two of you agree to ask any thing, it shall be done you by My Father in Heaven." For the means of i pardon being the humiliation of the penitent, enjoined t^^| the Church, and joined wltli the prayers thereof, aa hath been^^ said, the consequence of oiu" Saviour's discourse — first of in- forming the Church, then of binding and loosing, lastly of {^ranting the prayers of the Church- — shews that He speaks of those prayers which should be made in behalf of such as were bound for not bearing the Church ; and hereby we how binding and loosing of sins is attributed to the keys the Church; to which, being made a visible society, by the power of holding asseniblieST no man is to be admitted till as there be just presumption that he is of the heavenly Jeru- salem tliat is above. As the power of judging, who is and who Is not thus qualified, presupposes a profession, so tliat, an in- struction, obliging the oljcdicncc of them which seek remis- sion of sine by the Gospel, and therefore confidently as5urin| it to them which conform themselves.
§ 33. In a word, because admitting to, or excluding from the (Jhurch, is, or ou^ht to be, a just and lawful presumption of admitting to, or cxtluding from Heaven, it is morally and . legally the same act that intitlcth to Heaven, and to th^H Church, that maketh an heir of life everlasting, and ^^^ Christian, because he thai oheyeth the Church* in submitting to the Gospel, is as certainly a member of the invisible, as of the visible Church. Herewith agree the words of our Lord, " Let him be unto thee as a heathen and a publican :" not aa if heathens could be excommunicate the synagogue, wl
fit* jrrc4t- neaa.]
^
■ Uncle intelUpimui iion nisi in Ec- cluill Prifiiiteitia ct in EvarlgclicA l^p, H Domiiiii'A Hjriliiiatinnc ruiiitatia liccre liaiiliK^rr, ct rt'iii.isfiniiijxTcatnrunitlim;
(brill ^iiitpin ikc li^an nlirjiiiil [nisac tiec Kolvi, uli iioti sLt i[tji aiit U^arc poasit
aliquid aul soUcre. — p. 201. ed. 1682. ^Siw Relig. ABBcmbl. cliftp. X. fltitt. 81.
* I'rtniitive Goremment, cliap. Heel. 4.
ry A CHRISTIAN 8TA1
423
nercr were of it, or as if the Jews tliftn durst excommunicate chap.
publicans, ihat levitil litxcg tor llie Runmnij: but because, by —
I their usnge of publicans and Gentiles, it was proper fur our ■ Lord to sipnify how He would have Christiana to use the ex- I communicate; there being no reason why He can be thought BA by these words to regiiUte the conversation of the Jcwa in ~ that estate, so long as the law stood, bnt to ^ive His Cburcli
» rules, lo last till the world's end''. The Jcwa Uien abhorred the company, not only of idolaters, to testify how much they abhorred idob^ and to mAJntain the people in detestation of them — by ceremonies brought in by the guides of the syna- gogue for that purpose— but all those that converaed witli idolaters. For this cause we see they murmur atrainst our Lord ior eatlug with publicans, [St. Matth. ix. 11]; they V4tsh when they come from market, [St Mark vii. 4.] where nnonly they conversed witli Gentiles, and, which is ;, such as Cornelius was, beuig; alloued to dwell among ihcm by the law, profci^sing one God, and taking upon them tlw j^recepls of tlie boub of Noe ; yet are the converted Jews scAiidaUsced fit St. Peter for cAting tiith Cornelius, Acta
XL 2.
§ 34. These rules are m&de void by the Gospel: for St [Com- Pmil tcIU the Corinthians expressly, that they arc not to uniii tiia forbear the company of the Gentiles, for those sins which i'^^"^''*^"-! their proteasion imported ; but if a Chrietlan live in any of those heathen vicea, with him they are not so much aa to eat, I Cor. V. n, to wit, US it followeth immediately, being con- demned by the Church upon such a cause: for, saith he, "What have I to do to judge them that are without? do DDl ye judf^e tho^e that arc within ? but those that arc with- out God judgetb: and ye shall take the evil man from >iig you." That is. Are not you, by the power you have fjudgiug tlioee that are within, to take away him that hath
^ Bilwn held thii opinion. " What H atatnt by tht Church, wliclhi-r thi- Cboreli of CtiriM, nr thr C'hurfTir!> aik) ■MCSlbBa of Uu J«w». that God or- 4Uoal Inilui cotnnionwralth tn govern ffb fwnplr, ant\ Aetmn'uK llirir (jiinr- nlit Uii* hrccdcUt iomii' (|uc-«iioii a. ■MOH dtrlna faowWit tiw tvawiis UK nui* atid irciclity llml move- mr lo itaak the Cbiinh of (.'tmti is mH ram-
priied in itiiMe words ; fir*t, fhi* u-at a itirtrlloH to tlm Jeu't jar their prt'it'it tlatr ami tiini- ; 3ii4 Tlien lia'l Chrim no Chuicl) in Jrwry to which Ulcjt mi^lit cf-uinlAiu. .... Next, the itiaU (en. of whieli lliry itimt < i>iii|ilnit) wirt- »uch B* the Chiircli of Christ might not fltallrngc t« ItctirMiil ilcttrnilnt;." l'<T|M-l, flnvrrn., nhnp. jv, p. 52, I.ow-
424
TQE BIGBT OF THE CHmCH
[Deliver- n-hit it
CHAP, done evil, leaving to God to judge tbose without? Here the
" case is yilaia, there is power io the Church to judge, and taVc
awaj offenders: of which pwvrer the Apo&tle speaks. Tit. iiL 11, when he says that "heretics are condemned of them- selves," if we follow Sl Hierome'a exposition, which seems unquesti enabled For ciperience eonvmccs, that moet here- tics think themselves in ilie right : so far they are from con- demning thcniselves in their cousciencesv But tbcy condemn themselves, hy cutting off themselves from the Church, which other sinners are condemned to by the Church. ^^fl
§ 3d. Neither is it any thing cl§e than excommunicatii^^^ which the Apcstle sij^tiifielh by delivering to Satan, 1 Cor. V. 5, saving that he e^cpresseth an extraordinary effect that followed it in the Apostles' time, to wit, that thoae which were put out of the Church became visibly subject to Satan, inflicting plagues and diseases on their bodies^ which mi^ht reduce them to repentance, which the Apostle calleth the "destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in tlie I day of the Lord Jesus." As he saith of Hymena^ns and a*, Philetus, 1 Tim. i. 20: "whom I have delivered to Sat&n, thai they may learn not to blaspbemc." For it is not to be doubted that the Apostles bad power, like that which St Peter exercised on Ananias and Snppbira, thus to punish those that opposed them, as St, Paul divers times intimates in the texts which I have quoted in another place''; provided by God, as the rest of miraculous graces, to evidence His sence in the Church.
^ 36. These particulars, which I huddle up together the way, might have been drawn out into several arguments, but I content myself with the consequence, by which the patent of this power in the Gospel is cleared, upon which patent all the power of the Church is grounded. That is, if Christians are only to abstain from eating with excommunja
rnuTiirii-
'ided
pv^
' tiui cnim semel bisque correpliis, audito eiTOrf ma, non vult porrigi, cr- nwe exiHtimiit corrigenlem; et e con- Irario se nri piigtii? et jur^iji verhonjin pnniTis, Clim 7iiit lucrifacere n qno do- cetur. Ptopierea vtro n semetipao di- HCUT CMC (U.iniial'ua ; quia foniic'stor, adulter, homicidi et vteteTA vitia pn- RacrrdotFf d*> EcHtm prop^lluntur.
Haretici \uteTn in &cinMi]>Kti8 senten- tiam f«runt buo arbitrio Ac Ecclesia receiienlcs ; qnw rccesiio prnpn* tun- scientine videlur csit lininOAdo. — Gomm. in TiL cap, ]iL 10, 1 1, torn. ir. col. 459. cil- Ben.
' See cUapp. ir. AiLd r. of Religiout Auembltea.
^
n- 1
IN A CRRISTLi^N 9TATE»
425
cAte persona, 09 Jews <Iid with publicans and Gentiles, then excommunication is to be understood when our Lord saith, "Let him be to thee as a beathcn and a publican." As for lliat which is said, that the cs communicate among the Jews were not excluded either lemple or synagogue, therefore it was n secular punishment, it is a mistake ^ That which the Jews call *n3 was not excommunication^ no more than that which tlie Constitutions of the Apostles call a^pta-fio^', which Mis iHc same, being but a step to it^ like that which is uow cnnimonly called the less excommunication ; and therefore he llml was under this censure among the Jews, was but in part removed from the comntunion, as well of sacred as civil society; for it hath been shewed very learnedly in the book of the Power of the Keys^, that he stood as much removed froDi the on« as from the other, because that^ as well in the synagogue as at home, no man was to come within his four rotnta.
^ 37. But when the Talmud doctors determine that the excommunicate dwell in a cottage apart, and have sustenance brought him, such an one wa£ past coming into the temple or syoagog^iie. And so, I suppose, was he that was put out of tbe aynagt^c for acknowledging our Lord Christ to he a tnic prophet, John ix. Z5K For they whieh afterwanls were wont to curse all his followers in their synagogues— as Justin ^htarcyT) Dialog, cum Tryp/t. \ and Lpiplianius, Uteres, xxix.^,
* Nw MM lavia nac-nt ejfcin* futiM[>
hominuni tuituEn cstu.intlD *nti? rvin> citur, ■{uinl Hisiii tCTRpluin ip&um in-
Kli ctr'ttnttiuuicaltB cjuRnnxli iicfks ^•mrL — Sciden, lie JufB NfttUT. «I t-. ^i\ i<r- f-*p- ix. o^«i «ff «ai i'»»^t "'■"' '■t) iro(#rf. I /^* ifMO^iat kt'yarTa.% ^«TRrDf7f,
i^%H^tmf ray iftafiHrftsroi, fa-ftra f c-
ftl 9M1. — hih. ii- Mp. xvi, LolibL-i, torn. L «»l. 341. fd. V^iict
« " K'idtimi U ant a I^JIa] romotioD or Mparatiun ncilht? rTom aacieil nor frunii cTTil •ociotjr — beinp you know hut (lie fi-nt dF^nrr IX f<peric« — bui only ad V*«<Mr poMnt, tlial none roine wUhin llw £ttansff «f toot psre« of him that w an4<r thr onuure. «nd thit degrtic of ■rpM'ilion hrinir tvlend^ Ift (arriM)
liim no( (^ittici from praying witli the i'uiij;re^aliiiii, or l«Briiiii)f, or, if he Hire 0 doctor, tcarhing m it," — .Di. H«m- muufl, I'owiJT of tlie Key*, ehup. iv. »ect. 57. |». 93. Lcir«lo(i, lltlT.
^ SupereM uiiicA ilia, e lytikgcglB cjectioi, qUic nOtitinlli sibj mire pUcetit; iliim pro pxcmnmunifsliiJin; Asarrpntl* proilueiint, qus Johnn. is, xit ?t xvi,
dfr hm re scribunlur. Ek tili
synttgogn ejccliB, rrnl pelitiea ifmfitifvt i/inotninia ft prrnatdeiiqae reluti loralin
■tiiretlainr^lrgjitjo^utexiv. cap.Luc.ccm- jicinms. — Era't. Tinco. xxiL pp. 1.5. 111.
' "tfttit 701) 4f toIj lu^aT^Tiui C^wv uma^usBt TOtnavfiy &t' ittwirov ytko- H^Mttv XpiimiUFiut-.^Cftp, xrri. p. I!f2. «d- DeiL
^ Ol n&yov Tip 0/ tim 'lovSaCwc w<u- J»T n^ht TuiW-o-iii itiHftivrai futtoi, iX\i
jcdl irrpl tJjb' iffiT'ipa*', fjAl tSi i))tipon
CHAP.
I.
4m
THE BIOBT OF TUE CHmCII
CHAP. I.
[PftWPt
r>rthe Ctiufch in Vrivale
Chriari4u.]
tell U3 that tliey did in their time— arc not like to cDtlure In their society, whether sacred or civil, hiin that, in their inter- pretation, was fallen from Moses. And tlius i& the power of the keys clearly grounded upon this charter of the Gt and all the ri^ht of the Church iipuii II
§ 3S. Only one objection yet remains, which to me hathj; always seemed very dil!icidt, for it is manifest that out Lord speakcth here of matters of interest between party and party, when He satth, "If thy brother offend thee;" and it may justly Bccm strange, that our Lorti should give the Church power to excommunicate those that will not stand to sentence of the Church lu such matters. Sut so it is. Jews in their dispersions were fain to have recourse to this penalty to enforce the jurisdiction uf their own bodies, lest, if causes should be carried thence before heathen coiu-ts, God's name should be blasphemed, and the Gentiles scandalized at His people, saying. See what peace and right there is amuug those that profess the true God I For the same causes our Lord here cstatcth the same power upon the Church ; vrhere- of 1 cannot give a more sufficient and effectual argument, than by shewing that it was in use under the Apostles ; though the place out of which I shall shew this is hitherto otherwise understood, because men consider not that it is not against Christianjiy that there bo several seats for several ranks and dignities of the world in the Church, and therefore that it is not that which the Apostle finds fault with, James li. L when he forbids them "to have the faith of Gyd with respect uf persons." ^H
§ 39. But the synagogue vrhlch he speakcth of in the ne^^P words, is to be understood of the court where they juJged the causes and differences between members of the Church. For that the Jews were wont to keep court in their s^'nagogues, we learn, not only by the Tahnud doctor, Mainioni by name, in the title of OathSj cap. ix., where he speaketh particularly of the case of an oath made in the synjigogue when the court sat there, but by that which we find in the New Testament, Matt X. 17; xxiil. 34; Mark xiii. 9; Actsxxii. 19; utvi. 11;
yasarteoB, num. ix. p. I 2\, Cnlon, | S<K Pcixviun' note nn the pl4Vf, torn, ii p. .) I.
M
TS A CHTIISTIAN STATE.
427
M well as in Epipbaniiia, Jfarrs. xxx.', that they used to CHAP, sctjurgc ill tht'ir synagogues; to wit, where sentence was ^—^ given, there justice was execiiteil ; wherefore being con- verted to Christianity, they held the same course, as appears hr the wortls of the Apostle that follow: " Do ye not make « difitrcnre among yourseh'cs, and arc become judges of evil tfaoaghuF'* And again: "If ye respect persons^ ye cotnmit sin. being reproved by the law." By what law but by that whit'h soilh, "Thou shall not accept persons in judgment?" Ler. xix. 15. Fur the exoculiDn of which law it is expressly provided, by the Jews' Constitutions, in Maimoni, Sunedriiit cap. xxL, that when a poor man and a rich plead tt^ether, 3S) the rich iduU not be bid to sit down^ and the poor etaud or 8tl in n A-orse place^ but both sit, or both stand, which, you •ec, is the parlicuIaT for which the Apostle chaises them "to luTe the faitli of Christ with respect of persons;" that ig,
I to shew favour in the causes of Christiaos according to their pcxvona. <§ 40!. The same course, wc may well presume, was settled by the Apostles at Corinth, by the blame St. Paul charges thcDi witli, for going to law before infidels, 1 Cor. vi. 1, 2, for how flhotdd he blame thcin for doing that which they hod nut enter before not to do ? And therefore if our Lord in Oiia phicc give the (Church power to excommunicate those that stand uot to the sentence of the Churchy much more tlwvc that violate the Chrislianily which they have professed. And this b also here expressed vrheu from the particular He |j[oes to the general, saying, *' Whatsoever ye bind on earth,** f{ivui|| (hereby the same ]Kiwer to the Church herc^ which He gsve to St Peter, Matt. ivi. 19, and to the Apostles, JubD XX. 23. And so we have hero two heade of the causes of excommunication ; the first, of such things as concern the conscience and salvation of particular Christians, when they commie such ains as destroy Christianity ; the second, of such u concera the community of the Church and the tuuCy thereoC in which not the act, but the contumacy — the not bearing of the Church — makes them subject to this sentence. § 41. It is not my purpose to say that these nice reasons
■ai laaM-rf^mrtfi toptoi*, — C«ri1r. Kliiuii,
t,ij>. xi. p. Ilji. CtAm. 1 882.
428
tBX utoBt or tac cnrmcB
ABdiku
ttCMUM beKfcCQ
fhocD Ihc
~CH A P. ue to be the title upon which the right of the Church
power standeth or faUeCh: but that being: in posEcssioa of it, Dpon a title as old as ChiistianitT, and demonstrable hy the same evidence, it cannot be ejected out of this possesion by anr thin^ in the Scripture when ic is rightly understood One objection there is moi^ in consequence to this last reason, that if the Church hare power to sentence civU caiiacs of Christians, and by excommunication to enforce that aen- tence, when states prof^ Christianiry. all civil laws will cease, and all judicatories be resolved into one consistory of the Churcb.
[Even in* § •12. The answer to this I defer till I come to shew the ftiie.] right of the states that profess Christianity in Church matters, where it will easily appew how this inconvenience ceaseih". In the meantime, the sovereign power of the Church consist- ing in the sword of excominunicatioDi,upon which the society thereof is founded,, it is necessarily manifest that this power is not lost to the Church, nor forfeit to the state, that pro- fesses ChristianiCy, and undertakes the protection of the Church. For the Church and civil societies must needs re-« main distinct bodies, when the Church is engraffcd into the state, and the same Christians members of both, in regard of the relations^ rights, and obligations, n-hich in ttie same per- sons remain distinct, according to the distinct societies and qualities of several persons in the same. Therefore, as I sud in the beginning, that no Christian, as a Christian, can challenge any temporal right by his Christianity, which the state wherein he is called to be a Christian givcth him not : so on the other side, no man, by his rank in any stftte, is invested with any power proceeding from the foimdation of the Church, as it is (he Chtu-ch So that which-is true in the parts holds in the whole.
§ 43. The Chiu^h is endowed with no temporal right, therefore the state is endowed with no ecclesiastical right, though it hath great right in ecclesiastical mattery of which in due time. For all this right siipposcth the Church already established by that power on which it standeth, and so must mainutn it upon the same terms which it findeth. The homage which the Church payeth to God for the protection " 111 cliBi|)t«r IT.
Christ J40 tMe faaa boTccle- •iwtical
IN A CHRISTIAN STATE.
12U
\
\
of the »tBte, U, not to betray the right, founded on the ex- chap.
press charter of God, to powers subsisting by the works of —
I His mediate providence: but to subdue subjects to that obedience for conscience, which the state exactcth by force. For there is necesaarity this difference between the principles upon which the Church and civil cotnin unities subsist. The charier of the one is revealed by prace ; the others stand upon the laws of nature and nations, and acts» which Provi- dence enables men to do agreeable to the same. Therefore aft no state stands by the Gospel, so no right settled by the Gospel can belong to any state, or person, a:^ a member of any state. Besides, kingdoms and states have their several tmunda: many sovereignties are contained in Christendom, wbereaa the Church is, by God's ordinance, one visible society of all Chri^ians: now it is manifest, first, that there are Knne things which equally concern the whole Church and aU parts of it : secondly, that in things which concern the whole Church, no part thereof, in any state or kingdom, can be concluded by that state or kingdom.
§ -44. Again^ the Apostle's rule is, 1 Cor. vii. 24, that [Antlrati- orerr man abide in Ujc atate wherein he ie called to be a by'ihccon- Cbnstian: and this proves that no Christian can challenge*'."''''**" aiiy temporal right by his Christianity, because states subsist ciiurch.i before they are Christian : therefore It proves also, that no •f or member of it is, by being such, endowed with any t grounded on tlie constitution of the Church. Aud (hcrefore, seeing the Church subsisted three hundred years bcibre any state professed Christianity, whatsoever rights it used during that time, manifestly it ought therefore still to oae and enjoy: this being the most pertinent evidence to «hcw the bounds of it. In particular, aa to the power of the keys, and excommunicatioa the act of it^ seeing the intent of it ia to admit into t}ie visible society of the Church, upon prcsuinptton, that by the right use of it &in i& taken away, and tlie person admitted to the invisible society of life ever- lasting; and, siceing no commonwealth^ no quality in any piTlendeth to take away sin, or to judge in whom it is taken away, it followcth, that no man whatsoever, by virtue of any rank, in any state, is qualified to manage this power, or can prcainue so tu do.
430
TQE RIUtiT OF tJl£ CUU&CH
CHAP II.
CHAPTER II.
K
FruLta of prea- Iiyterinn llieorj.]
THAT TBB WHOLE BODIES Of CHBISTIAJI^, COHTAISBD IH 8ETSVAI. CITIM AMD TRE TBBBITORIES 1>T THEM, MAHB SEVL'R&I' CHURCHES, DEPEMPII UrON TUB G»illRCIlE5 OV GHCATEU CITltS — THEBEFOflE THE FEOI'LB NOT ENHOWBD WITB TUB CUISF POWEB IN ANT CHDBCE.
IlAVrwts seen thus far upon what patent tlie community the Church is cstabhahcd, and the }"K5wcr iheroof founded, will be necessary' further to dispute, in what hands this powc ia depoBited by the Aposilcs, and what persona are trusted with it: which point before it be voided, wo can neither de- tenniue what form of government God hath ordauied in His Church, nor how it may be exerciised in Christian stat without cTosaing the right which they challenge in CUi matters.
5 2, The presbyterians, having designed several pi bytcries, for the government of several congregations, assemble together for the service of God, and having cried np this design for the throne of Christ, the new Jerusalem, and the kinfrdoni af Go<l — seeing there is no question made, that where there ia a presbytery tlicre is a Chiurh, and where there ifl a Church there is the power of the keys, which God hatbf^ endowed His Church with — seem to have given thoae of the Congregations occasion to infer, that every congregation that. , assembles fur the common service of God, is, by consequenooP^ to have the power of the keys to excommunicate" : whereunto
" " Tlint the Cimrcb wliich Christ in IIU Goiwl hath iilBtituIrd, nnil tn which tie hatli ramniitu-d thr It^yn of Hif kingdom. tliL> pawer ofliimtitL); nud loonEnB, Hip tnblu* antl Rc-nU of the covenant, Uie oflictTs nniL rfniurts of Hi; Uhurcli, the hdminiiiLratiaii of nil Ilia pul^lic wittsliiji and ardiiiaiices, l-i firtuji ^drlimn, a eomiuusiion of Saiuu, -a combination of fuiihftti g^ly mtti, nitel- ing for that vud, by fotrttmm and juint riftnent ftila onr. coKjiregaliun, wtijcU n i^omniorLly calltd n particiiUi vi.iJbLe Cliun-h. For theClimeli lo tlic wliich Cliriit comfiiitti^d t1ir power nf binding aii^i loO'Unfr, was n oo]]i|)&uy nf hui;1i, — *fl whereof ruler was (me, — hcli<!ver» lirnfcuMtig that ^ailh on Christ, whiiivDn,
AS on a rock, the Chiuch i: buJlt, Matt. xvt: 18, 10, D-iiA suc]i as unto whom Peler or any limther oflended, miglii in due ftfdcr tell tlit oJTcnce which any brother hui given htin, and pcrnislpd iiii Mutt. Mviii. 17- And the Chttrieli of CunEitli, ta "vsKwh ihc Apostle com- incndelh the c-nt^tiug mil of the iiice»- tuoiis Corinthiui, I Cor. ■*„ wn» jueU a Chtlrcb. ol' Krhich itw ApMll« utih ' They were saints hy i^aUinj;, BatietifiMl by Je»iis Christ," I Cor. i, 2. And alt of them, VMU the tvhatu Church, did mrel togflhfr ei'f}f L-ard'g /Jnyj t« imr place for tlie adiiiiiiist ration of the h(^1y ordi- uaiiiT'tK' of OihI, to puhlic i*di11ratioii, t i'ai. siv. 23. Mid xvi. I, 2^ which frt' ifurjil mtnting ri^rif Lofil's Day in e>i<
IN A CHRISTIAN STATE.
431
adding another principte, that the chief povrer of every con- chap,
tfition IS in the |jcopte", it foHowa, tliat they nre all abao- — li
ItJie, without dependence on the rest of the Church.
§ 3. Hut all this while, both run away n-ith a presumption, for which they can shew ue never a title, or syllable of evi- dence in aU the Scriptures. For presbyters and presbyteries they nuiy shew us in llie Scriptures, and no grand-mercy, imlcn tliey can shew us how to understuml them better than they do : but, that every congregation that assembles together tu Bern God in common, should have a company of* prcs- bytcn for the government of it, is a thing so contrary to all the intclli^nce wc have concerning the state of the Church, eitlier umler the Apostles themselves, by the Scriptures, or any primitive Tccortis of the Churchj or in the succeeding ages of the Church, that they must demand of all men to renounce common sense, and all faith of historical as well as 1 divine trntht before they can believe it. Whereas^ by the same evidcmcc by which the rest of Christlimity is conveyed and comraendt-d unto us—that is, by the Scriptures inierj>reted the uri^innl and universal practice of the Church — it will ;ar, that the ApostlcS:, planting Christianity not only in Amv cities where they preached most, Ijccausc there the hnnrwt was p;rcni|cst, but in the cnnntrius ntljoininp, which hy the cuKtum ol' ull civil nations, every where resort tii their cities for justice, designed the several bodies of Christians, should lie found abiding in several cities, and the tcrri- fa of the same, to make several Churches, the government whereof they planted in those cities, both for themselves and for the countries that resorted unto them : and as in the civil govcnuiieiiL of all civil people, particular cities depend upon mother cities, heads of provinces, governxnents, or sovereign- ties, so the Churches of particular cities to depend upon ihe Churchea of those mother cities, that, by the union and
M[iri' '■■ ■"'-'■ ■"•rft rrnnuit poititiitf tit com- ftii' ftinrrtan. t'r'n-inritti, rir
S«i< '-iif-" — C'vtttiji'« Way of
Ihr C'lLitnJirM in N«W EilgUnJ, Jjp. I, 2. I^Dilun. MW,
• "Tin ' ■ "i I' i>f 4 (ni>Wr m
gcnm) 1 <> rriiiii ('lirLNi,
■Url ->'-' ., ...iiil Itiltl \i,l»ii, ui'f
Hi < / Ih'f iiffiiv ilnti "/ iSiit
««/;. . . ' tUrt f'rrimt u bif the
Chiirrfii anil tilt rr/oTf ttir Chnrrfi halh luJfir-Kfif anil jiul uftrrant, jib to eltiCt nnd cull n pretbytw into oflic^, sii to oril'iin fiiin la it, tiy impoiiitinri i^f liuitls. Thry tliat hAW powrr In pIpl-I s kin^ \\»vc fK>wer nl»o tu dppiit* Kome in their iimtii' \o net llii' cfDwn iip'Hi hU Iii^mI." — CnUiJirii Way uf llip (liiiri-ltcs.clilip. ii. sect. 7. p. +3. Limrtoti, 1645.
432
THE KIGHT or THE CHUECn
CHAP.
TIlBt (ti« wliitilu bodioa of C']irbtiiiii#, contnliiicil in *eviiTal cities iiml Ihc tfrri.
mnke
several
Churchea
tlepL-mllni,'
(igiLiii Die
■t-'liHrrhCi
correspondence of those Churches^ drawing along with them all the Churches under them, the unity of the whole Church, congisting of ihein all, might be established and entertained.
§ 4. This is the Effect of that observation which I advanced in the little Disconr&c in page 16^, that whereas it is 9aid»47 Acts xiv. 23, " that Paul and Barnabas ordained presbyters in every Church ;" St. Paul saith that he left Titus in Crete, *' to ordain preabytera in every city," Tit» i. 5; and again Acta xvi* 4, *' as they passed by the cities, ibey delivered unto them the decrees determined by the Apostles and presbyters «t Jerusalem." "The cities," of which he had said before^ that " they ordained presbyters in every Church," planted in those cities, as Titus in every city. So nice as this evidence in&y seem to those that consider not the state of the whok Church, when it shall appear to any man — as to all that c aider with their eyca open it must appear — that always, Qvcty^ where, all congregations of ChrisiianSj, remaining in country adjoining to any city, made one Church with the Christians of that city; common sense will enforce, that the Apostles' design was the model, from which this form w copied out, in all parts of the Church.
5 5. To which purpose we arc to consider, in the next place, an excellent observation of that pion& and learned pre- late, the Lord Primate of Ireland, published in a little Dis- course, Of the Original of Bishops^ upon the Seven Churches of Asia, to wliich St. John is commanded tu direct that epistle, contained in the second and third chapters of the Apoca- lypse. The observation consists in this, that the seven cities, +J wherein those seven Churches are said to be, were seven chief cities, or mother cities of the province of Asia; whereby it ia manifest that the chief Churches, upon which inferior Chiirt'hes were lo depend, were planted in the chief mother v\\\pp, lo winch the couiurtes about them resorted for justice. ^»f» I'prtHhdy, no mnn will oflfcr such violence to his own rontMhm ■t'ii«r itN lo «u', that there were, at the time of (vritiua titia ypiith', bnl t-cven congregations of Christiatt^fl
ho^J
the I
the
the
* IVitiiltUi'(i»««(mH«|i|i*{CtillKhr*,
t'h«)i. iu •oil J,
•tn^nit tht Certiin Brief TreitisM ron- (■rrnintc the Goremcnent of the C'burclb Usford, ie4t.
I>f A CHAIBTIAN STATE.
4a3
tfiAt provinco, where St. Paul first, and after Iiim St. John, had taken such pains. And if more congregations, but ottlj seren Chnrchca» for what reason, but because many congrega- tions mtke bui one Church, \vhcn they nre under the city in which that Church is planted?
6- There hath bcen^ indeed, an objection made from the ^brdftDflhis cpi&lltr^ when it is said at the end of the address to evtry particular Church, *' He that hath ears to hear, let bim hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches;" the address banning always thus, " To the Church of Epliesus, thus BWth the Spirit ; ' — '* To the Church of Smyrna, thiM sailh the Spirit;" and so vf the rest. The objection pretentleth that by these wonU it appears that there were, in Ephcsus, for
140 exjumplcv many Churclies, constituting the presbytery of that \ dly, which is there called the Church of Ephesus', For if this were 00, I would acknowledge that this argument were over- ihcDwn, and that Churches were not convertible with cUice, I hut (bat many Churches arc here called the Church uf £phe- ^^M^ because the scat of the presbytery was at Kphcsus, ^pScording (o the prcsbyterian design. But this objection m both carries with it an answer to discover tlic mistake upon which il is grounded, and draws after it an effectual ar^ment to choke the opinion which it supports. Lor is not Sl John exprc»ly contnuanded, Apoc. L 11, to "write and send one letter to all those seven Churches?" and can any man be su wnaeless, as, when it is said, " what the Spirit saith to the Churches," to understand several Churches of E2>hcsu3,
Church ie repreiented by one cisdle- slick, tiiBAy miaLatcrs m^kinK up oni: prCTbyten- by one angel". — Th* An*wCT cf the Divine* *t thp Treaty at Newixjrt, p. 21. London, ISM.
. . . Sei;iiUur, aDfrclumi Ecclcsie m ApocnlypM Jahannia, ijuain pro vere Apoxtolica rGi'ipiniuH, alitcr iiLtelliii^rcti- dutn CKSp, qujrni vulgo ni7i-i]iiuiiit, &iqtii. dem sibi vt ulij* Apostolis videiri velil connoitAhtia tcfipMBKe. '£\f>iJii)imx&t ergo ]>cr mnf^eluiH ain^larum Eccle- •ioruni (n.iju!ti(ii? KcclinitF praT4.-ctu- r&in ct nceulurn, t^aoA iJi^m f^h^ptf- 0uTfpi.ov, intelli^i cIchtTf dkitiiUA. N&m nri-sliytenuiit eo ti-jiniori", ]i(h; esL prrH- liyt^ronun c<i:(us, comuiuni connlio, et pan uuctoriuie r«g«lHii MiiKuUnim civitalum l^cclesisF.-'SBlitiM. Appanl. pp. 53, 5t. l,ug*Uin, But. IQiS.
CHAP. 11.
[TnasbiTtP. rian ulijer. liun,]
• "Though but one tTig'l l>f men- linncd in the TuM^nt, yet it fa evM^nl ihmt th* «pi«ilc* thttn«!vc» are dedi- c»inl t« itU the Bogela uid roiriulen in «TMj Chufvh, And la the Churckei
ih«mM3vrft. , . , . Whereiift in
th* bi^ninf of Ui» Bpcecb which lie mftkn ti>th«»«v«n CburtttM, He uiilh, 'ftnd vrttr Enthr «ngrl of the Church;' )«1 in the c]oii> of the nm« lie doth Mt lay. * He thnt hklh ta cu let him ■ what Ibe i'tpirit anith to Ihr uiKc],' I'whai lie ititli to ibc Church.'"— Eiymnuu*. irct. xiii
". . . in mjrtteriiiua *nd pmphetic wrkiagi . . . ■ • A number of tivngt or iKBiloa is uiuaEIy cxpr«wtc<t in un^- \mt%, uid thit il) viBiuus i& the naiutl way of rcpTFfentKiion at Oiingn, « thaamni pcnoiw making up one
THOnWOIBI. F
434
THE RIGHT OF THE CHDHCH
llnn of
Churn hen (n Citien
Smyrna, and the rost, and not the seven Churches, to w the one letter is directed ? and therefore the argument stiiiid3 good, that in these sevetk citiea, there were but eeren Churches, and that the letter is directed to these mother Churches^ planted in the mother cities; because inferior cUies, receiving their Christianity from them, were to depend upon them for the regulation of all things concerning the exercise of it ; as the original and universal coudition aad state of the Church convinces.
§ 7. Now the argument which this objection and the answer draws after it, is this> that in all the New Testament £iul!*pro. y°" ^^^* never find any mention of several Churches in any rlncB!.] city, as Rome, Ephesus, Antiochia, Jerusalem; hut, when
there is speech of any province, be it never so small^ you , shall find mention of a plural number of Churches in it For, of the Churches of Asia, Syria, Cilicia, Macedonia, A<:hala, i Gatntia, Judca, and Samaria, and of the Hebrews in their ' dispersions, we find expreea mention upon several occa&ionSi Acts viii. 5, 40; ix. 31 ; xv. 41 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 1 ; 2 Cor. viii. 23; i I Tbess. ii. 14; Apoe. i. 11 ; ii. 7, 11, 17, 29; iii. 6, 13, 22. ' Though Samaria, among the rest, were a province of no great extent, yet, for example, you have in that province the city whereof Simon Magus was, called Gittha, saith Epipba- nius, Hares, xxi.^now a village, but in those days a city, saith he, — of which Acts vUi. 5 : " and Phitlp went down to a city of Samaria,^' not " the city," as we translate it, — and Csosarea, which Josephus shews us was in that province, xv. 9. Now tell me what reason can be given for this, by any man that will pretend to understand either Scripture or any record of i learning, but that Churches are convertible with cities? For ' had there been many Churches within the city of Ephesus, for example, of parallel power and privilege, making up one 51 classls or presbytery, or whatsoever new name can be ^ven a new thing, without (he least syllable of example^ from the Apostles to Calvin, must not these have been called the , Cliurches, not ihe Church of Ephesus'?
Si tippa-ro Tjfi ^6Mw<i Tfli iff T^ iafia- p*(fli tniA t(iift7}% irafiX"^'^*- — -Cnnlr. SimoniBri. cap. i. p. 55. ed. Colon. ' " That fherp w^re more congtigx-
Uons that! one in the Church of Epbc- Bui appeara by Acts xx. 31, where ti mention of Paul's conlmuatiCfU Eph«- IIU9, in prFBching for tbr ipiic<> of ibret yeRTi; and ActA xix. 18 — 20, whcTf
IN A CUHISTJAN STATE.
435
t
CHAP. II.
§ 8. I come now to a very express mark of xhh depend- ence, during the time untl in the actious uf the Apostles, and ^_ , ' . 1 - , 1 111 .11 [nt'inMid-
tberefore, by iheir order, acknowledged not only by them- i-noe nf
selves, but by all employed by them in the planting of the aeknow-* Cburehca : and it is the going of Paul and Barnabas to Jeru- Iji^^Ali;'^ aalem, in behalf of the Churches of Syria and Cilicia, troubled '^^cb-] bv some that taught at AntiocliiaT from whence those Churches received their Christianity, that Christians arc to keep the law of Moees, Acts xiii. 1 ; xt. I. For were nut Paid and Barnabas able to resolve this question at Antiuchiaj Paul especially protesting, " that he received iiot the doctrine of the Goepel which he preached from man, or by man," GaL L 1 , who is constrained, both to the Galntians and elsewhere^ to oppose his calling, as a bulwark, against all that laboured to bring Judatsm into tlte Church? Surely in regard of the thingt they were, but in regard of authority to the Church, 32 tbey were not. Barnabas was employed by the Apostles to I Antiochia, who found Christians there, but uadc them a Church, by ordering their assemblies. Acts si. 20, 24, 25, 26. And he it was that first brought Saul into that service, by his authority from the Apostles; though afterwards both of them were extraordinarity employed by the Holy Ghost to preach the Gospel and plant Churches, Acts xiii. 1.
^ 9. All this while the Church could not look upon Soul Hniho in the tjaalily and rank of the twelve Apostles, which after- ^tjuriL. he shews us, was ackuuwled^ed by the twelve them- ****""■ ^ t9 at Jerusalem, Gal. ii. S, 9t to wit, when he went to Jerusalem with Bamabaa about this question, Acts xv. 2 ; £>r I can see no reason to doubt that all thai he speaks of tlwrrc passed during the time of this journey. And, in the meantime, it was easy for those that stood for the law to pretend revelation from Godj and authority from the Apo-
thc CBp<ci«l ffipct of the itari U tneit" ttOfwd; «D(i lU mi 17 of tlup unae sbsptrr, wliere U A^Ustitiction of Jevt Mid Gncka ,; tutA I Cor. xvt. &, % where U • mtuin o( Faul't ilay al J,^plii;E<iia Wttil PeuiecoM - mill viTK lU, wliere is Alioo of a grBrtii-iiliit Churi:li, ill the at A(]iiila mill PritdUa then at K^iTftuit, a» ft]i|>rurtli aviii. ll», 'l^.'IG, «/( tJtrrk laid tvgrthtr do fifOfC tlut the tnullilude of bclicvrn did mike more cvngn^tiofta tb^n uiie in llit CLurvli
of Ephe&us."
"Tlial there were Tnaay v\deit i>¥« tLeic mtny ccngregattcti* u uiir flock kpliMretb Acta xx. 17,25, 28, 30. 36."
" Tbal (ftoM maHff congngalkmt mert one Church, and that t/eey vm ttuUrr One prctbgtrriaf gotfrniuett nppv'fviK Kev. iL the first lix verses Joiuid wiiU AcLs ML 17,28."^R*iia()nsuf tlie Dis- bcntJilg Brethren anil tlie Au^wer of ihe Aji3«nkbly of Divinei, London, I6ia.
fl'
^sJL.
436
THE BIGUT nt- THE CBUBCH
CHAP.
ir.
[InIhE! pLililhhlng at ill (16' creei.]
sties, in matters of Christianity, as well as Paul and Bamaba?. What possible way was there then to end this difference biil that of the Apoatle, 1 Cor. xiv. 32, 33 : " The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not the God of unquietness, but of peace, as in all CbLirches of the saints ? " Whereupon vindicating his authority, and chal- lenging obedience to his order, even from prophets, which might be lifted up with revelationa to oppose, he adde " Come the word of God from youj or came it to you alo If any man think himself n prophet or spiritual, let acknowledge the things thai I write you to be the comoian^ mcnta of Godt" That is, that Apostles being trusted to vey the Gospel to the world, were to be obeyed, even by pro- phets themselves, as the last resolution of the Church in the will of God, granting His revelations with that temper, ibqt aa one prophet might see more in the sense, effect, and con- aeqitence of revelations granted to another, than himself could do, in which regard "the spirita of the prophets were to be subject to the prophets;" so for the public order of the Church all were to have recourse to the Apostles^ whom had trusted with it.
§ 10. If then the Church of Antiochia, in which were many prophets, and among them such as Paul and Barnabas, endowed with the immediate revelations of the Holy GhrisI, Acts xiii. 1, must resort to Jerusalem^ the seat of the Apo- stles, to be resolved in matters concerning the state of the Church, how much more are we to believe that God hath ordained that dependence of Churches, without which the unity of no otber human society con be preserved, when lie governeth them not but by human discretion of reasonable 3* persona? Besides, we arc here to take notice, that the Church of Antiochia being once resolved, the Churches of Syria and Cilicia arc resolved by the same ilecrecj, Acts xvi. 4. Because, being planted from thence,, they were to depend upon it for the rule and practice of Christianity. Therefore it is both truly and pertinently obsen'ed\ that the decree made at
1
' Viiruin ()uod ad dicU pel PauKim Pt Silam prumuVnt.! Apostolorum dc- cretn pcrtinc) ; qnundiu cudcm Ulti pnin Siln drt'Liitiit foca, ^aHiuji olim eum Datnalia Hmngrlium prte4icavtrat,
dc ruttDrtiendtM tfvit ah Aporinlii ttalutu rrani, H^ius inculc&sse. L(icm tpsia- lUTi jHttli/aam erro itiot fiMt tunl r^retti, nihii ejutmadi m-dentft ndmonnisse, Lu< ca.i, vit prill* fpcerot, r^ft-rt, t't ex his
IWACnRISTIAN 9TA.TB.
437
JefusaJcm was loe&Jj and not univci-giil, which, had it been chap. made for ihe whole Church, there could not have been that - "- c©Dlroverey which we find was at Corinth, by Sl Paul, 1 Cor, viiL I, about eating things oflcred to Idols; neither eouU] the Apo&llc give leave (o the Corinthians to eat them matcriiilly, as God'a creatures, nor formally, as things offered to idoK M lie dt>e5, 1 Cor* viii. 7, had ihc budy of the AjxjBtlcs at Jerusalem absolutely forbade the eating of them lo Geotile Christiana, for avoiding the scandal of the Jewish ChriatiwiSi. But because the decree concerned only the ChinrcJi of Antiocbiai and so by consequence the Churches dcpcndini; upon it, therefore among those that depended not upon it, for whom the rule was not intended, it was not to be in force.
$ n. There is yet one reason behintl, which is the ground [Depend. is of all, fixnn the original constitution of the synsgoguet Moses^ ciTutcheA \>f ihc advice of Jetbro, ordbdncd the eaptJiias of thousandu, ^'^f;''^'^^'' hundied-s ftfties, and tons, to judge the causes of the people, Kfg«*iJ under himself, Exod. xviil. 24, 25, To him Gud joined ■fkcnrenb seventy persons for his assi&tauce, Num. xt. 16. But (hew caplaiuH were to be in place but during the pill^rimege of the wilderness; for when they came to be BettkHl in the laud of promise, the law provideth that "jwlgcs and ministers be ortlajned in every city," Deut. xn. 18; who, if there fell any dijfFcrence about the law, were Co repair to Jerusalem, lo the succe^ors of Moses, his conaistory, for resolution in it, Deut. svir. 8 — 12 ; by h law, wheresoever the ark should be, this consistory was to at, w inferior consistories in all Inferior cities.
I [2. Most men will marvel what this is to my purpose, becaow most men have a prejudice that the power of the Church is to be derived from the rights and privileges of the priedta and Levilcs during the law, though there be no reason for it. For these rights and privileges were not only tempo- riiy, to vanish when the Gospel was published, but alao, while the law atofKl but local and personal, not extending beyond
»^
1^ p<.>wit, itiu laHl«m I iiafula etant, I*ati)iii» I .■\poMolomm prnmht' F^l til lion mirCrii fi > hoiuiJi cdgiiXtio, ^ui-
rlixuj prsccpls, eL Ttiei&iilcrnt-
tuth ■iJmofiuit. . .— D&ron. Aunal. Ec
438
TUt RIOHT OP THE CHDBCB
IL
CHAP, ihe temple, or land of promise, over any but their own tribe. But it is very well known that from the time of the GreetiS empire, and partly afore it, Judaism subsisted in &11 parts wheresoever the Jews were dispersed, and that wheresoever it subsisted, there were the people to be governed and regu- lated ja the Dbscr%'ation of the law, and the public worship of God, according to the same, frequented also all over the land of promise, whereas the temple stood but in ooe^ plaee. ^H
§ 13. It is also manifest that this law, which gave the con- siatorj' power of life and death, to preserve the body of that people in unity, and to prevent schisms upon different inter- pretations of the law, was found requisite to be put in prac- tice in their dispersions; to wit, as to the determining of all differences arising out of the law, not as to the power of life and death to enforce such sentences, this power being seldom granted them by their sovereigns. For at Alexandria, we understand by Philo, in his book Dc Legatiojie ad Cni'um', that there was such a consistory, as also in Babvlonia there was the like, aa the Jews' writings tell us; for the little chronicle which they caJl Seder Olam Zuto, gives us the names of the heads thereof for many ages. And after the destniction of the temple, it ta manifest, not only by their writings, as Semach David, Sepher Juchasin, and the like; but by Epipbanius, in the Heresy of the Ebionites, and their Cr>nstitution8 of the emperors remaining in the codes, Tit. di^ Jitdtris et Cwticolhy, that there continued a consistory at Tiberias for many ages, the heads whereof were of the family of David; as Epiphanius, agreeing with the Jews, informeth us in the jilace afore named; and as by the story of Saul, in the Acts, it appears that the Jews of Damascus were subject to the government at Jerusalem, so by Epiphanius, in the Hcrcpy of the Ehionitca*^, it appears that the synagogues of
■ PLilaaii Orp., jk 1020. Parii.
I' Ennl PptrinrchiH JtidEanun, E»- bylonienPHS, Tibmadetisev de quibus Seder Clam, Rabbi AbraliAiTi, Hablii Ilavid in i^ernacli, tlcTijainin Itine-
rario istos I^utn^rclhss ridfri mi-
luiHt CHfte dc tribii .liida .... qund Cyrilltia . . . nr^t, ul ^i Tbendareliiii, ijui ro» ad ulirjicm HtrodU refer!. Epi-
pbanius aO GnmiaUeleni. . .— Gotho- fred. Comroenl. in Kvi. Cod. Tbeodo*. Tit. viii. Ug. i. lom. ri. p. 216. Lug- dun. \M&.
• Contr, Sfaion. cap. xi. p, 134. Co- Inn. )6SS. Undo etiun dlBcere lice&l,
Palriarthfp Tiberiadciismm. — Gothn- fred. Coinmcut. in XTL Cod, Tlieodos, Tit, viii. leg, i.
IN A. CqaiSTIAN &TATE.
459
ia and CiliciaTPere subject to the consistory at Tiberias, chap.
M I have shewed out of " Benjamin's Itinerary," in the Dis- course of the ApostoUcal Form of Divine Service, p. 67*, that the ejoagogues of the parts of Asajria and Media were to that in Bagdad ; and, without doubt, that gre&t body of Jews dispersed through Egypt was to that at Aksandna. As for the law of Deut xvi. 18, the Jews need not tell us, as they do, Mainioni by naoie, 7Hi. de SifTtedrio\ that they were not bound to observe that in their dispersions; for how could there be consistories for the Jews in all cities all over the world? hut this they icU us withal, in particular Arba Turimf in the same title sab iniV., that thereby they hold themselves bound to erect consistories in the chief cities of their difl^ [N>rBiuii& § 14. In this conditioDi what is the difference between the of the Byn^ogue and the Church, setting aside that mtial difierence between the law and the Gospel* by which Judaiam wbb coufined to one nation, but Christluuity had a proiBtse to be received by the Gentiles; by reason whereof the Uw ceased, aa it was proper to the Jews, and Christianii became obliged only to the perpetual law of God, beside a very few positive precepts of our Lord, as of Baptism, and the Euchari&t, and the power of the Keys, by virtue whereof, and by the general commission of the Apostles, all ordinances whereby they should regulaio the society of the Church were to be received ae the commandments of God. Here ia the reason for which it is probable that the Apostles, in designing the government of the Church, should follow no other pattern than tliat which they saw in use, by the law, in the syna- gogue. For the design in both belu^ to maintain the law of God, and the unity of His people in His service, savitig the difference between them, what form should they follow bol ihat which the law had (aught their furetathers ? But when the effect bcrouf appears in the lirst lines of this model, I traced by the Apostles, and filled up by their successors, it u menifesl that chesc laws were the pattern, but the order of the Apostles the act which put it in being and force. I 15. The Churches of Jerusalem^ Antlochia, Rome, and
* R«li]{iinu AuniibUic*, chap, ti*. MVt. 10.
* MKiinoD- dc Syjwtr, rl pirti. rap. i. pp. 3, i. Aliuttlod. ia\H.
440
THE RIOHT or THB CHURCH
CHAP. AleKandrlaf no man cau deny were planted by the Aposllca, - ■— — in person, and by ibcir deputies. Tbat they became af\cr-
BW. ]
wards beads of the Cburcbe:> that lay about tbc^iij is nu more than tliat wliich the consistories planted at Jerusalem Tiberias, and in the chief cities of the Jews' dispersions^ w to the synagqrues underneath them by virtue of the 1 This is ibcrefure the orlginEl of the dependence of Churches upon the greatest mother-Church eg. And therefore it ia no , marvel that Jerusalem, once the muthcr-citj of Chrietimiii^^l became afterwords the scat of a patriarch indeed, in remen^^ brancc of that privilege, but inferior in dignity, and nothln^i comparable in bumids to the rest, because it was none of tt^^| greatest and most capital cities: the rule of the AjMBtleB^H design being this, that the greatest cities should be the scats of the greatest Churches. And that Constantinople, when it came afterwards to be ft seat of the empire, was put in the next place to the chief; as it was no act of the Apostles, so is an argument of the riile> by which the rest had onlercd for the same rcaaon. As for the other law of DeutTw xvi. 18, I tuow not what could be marc agreeable to it, thaa that rule of the ancient Church, which is to be seen, not only in those few ancient canons, alleged in the Discourse of the Primitive Government of Churches, p. G7 S but in innumer- able passages of Chiu'cU writer?, that cathednd churches and citiee be convertible, that is, both of the same extent.
§ Ifi. Thus the Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans is in- scribed €tcK\T]a-ia j^t^ TTpoKoBrp-ai ev tott^ yatplov 'Pw-
/xauoi''', the precedence here expressed arguctb the eminence of that Church above the rest of the Churches about it ; but Clemens directcth his epistle from the Church of Rome to that at Corinth thus; 'H iKKX^tri'a tov Seov i} Trapoixoinra 'Pwf^Vt TT) iKtcXrtiria. toO Oeoy TrapoiKovtry KopLvdop ', whereby we understand, that the country lying under the city, belonged to the Church foimded in the city, and was therefore cfdled •rrapoiKm, Signifying that which we now call the diocese, in opposition to the mullier-Church '. That \\us is the reason of the name irapoiKia a])[icare, because Polycnrp addresses his epistle to the Philippiansin this style: Tp ifCKkvfiriarov B^ov
' Chnp. vi. .eel. S,
^ Coielfi,, In™, ti, p. 25-
" IK torn, i, pp, IJS, lit.
' Se«rrini.(iavcrn.,t:biip.utiecl.l9.
J
IN A CHRISTIAN STATE.
441
I
I I
Tij frapottcoiHTyj ^iXXtTTTroiY" : for if the Cbnrch of the Philip- iniiusdwciU iieiit Philippi, iben the couutrj adjoining belonged lu the Church of that city.
^ 1 7, This reason, therefore, was well understood by him that wrote the epistle to the Antiochiaiis in Iguutiu^' name, gnDting it to be of an age much inferior to his ; for he in-
scribelh it, eic/t\i}aiq t/Ketffi^vtf Imo Oeov, trapotKovfTfi eV
Svfiiqy . . . . Ty cV 'j^FTin^^e/^'', signifying thereby that all the Christiaiu of Sjrria belonged to the Church of Antiochia; for which rcasoDf Ignatius hiniself, in his epistle to the Romans^ rails biinsplf Bishop of Syria ', not of Antiochia, because, being Bishop of the head city Church, the Christians of Syria either belonged to his Church or the Churches that were under it. A thfi^ so necessary to be bchcved, that there arc many marJis m his epistles to shew that the Churches also of Cilicia Ixjlonged to his charge, as we saw they did by their fouada- lion in the AposlW time^, and as the reason of the civil goTeninient required; those parts where Paul and Barnabas first {in.^ached having continued longest in the dominion of the kinjrs of Syria, and therefore continuing under the govern- ment that resided at Antiochia. And thus are the words of Clemena', in his epistle to the CorintJbians, fulfilled, where he that the .Apostles, havicig preached the Guspcl m cities countries,, constituted bishops and iiiinisters of those that should lielicve; to wil, accordinf; to the cities and countries adjoining to them. These marks come froni the ancientest recurdfl the Church bath after the writings of the A]>ostle8 ; of the ro6t there ^^uuld be no end, if a man would allege
{ 18. If any man object that it cannot be aiade to appear how tliia rule was ever observed in the Church, the extent of rtthednU churches being in some countries so strait, in others 90 Urge ; the answer is, that it ceascth not to be a rule, though the execution of it was very different in several countries, cither because it was not understood 60 well as it
CHAP.
tl.
[Obtcnr. anw of tl»C
rule In Ihv Eosl and
llicWist.]
' Cctifav^ toin. ii. p. l«-k
* /fc, tvm. ii. p. iOd.
*'Oti T&r 'Evt'O'KWcir Icp^tlii xa-rvj' (^•w d (hkf •^«#^irci til ti/vw iiwh kfunKSit iti*Ta«««i)fri>4«rai, — Cap. U.
fL 37, 111. Cvleirl.
iv Iirpl!^ 'ZuteXijoiat, ()t>i Avt" i^\i fuiH^nt *if *3i*V xp^Ttti, — Cnp. is. p. 3fJ, ih.
» Sect. 7.
' Scorriin. Gavrni,, diap. irit.a«cC. 0.
44S
THE BiaHT OF THE CHUHCH
CTIAIV should have been^ or because the condition of some countries
'■ — was not so applicable to it as that of others. For the Etet,
we have these words of Walafridus Strabo, lib. de Rebus EccU- tkutids ; [cap. xiii.] ■" " FcrtUT ^nhf> in On&titis partibua per nngulas urbea tt prcejecturasj sijigulas esse Ephcnpontm tpiher- nationif .•" whereby we understand that cathedral churches stood very much thicker in the eastern parts than in the west; for thercupou it became observable to WaSafridus, In Airica, if we look hut into the writings of St. Augustine, we shall find hundreds of Bishops resorting to one council. In Ireland alone St. Patrick is said by Nenniu8% at the first plantation of Christianity, to have founded three hundred three score and five bishoprics, And Sozomenus, vii. 19", eailli that in Cyprus and Arabia, it was usual to consecrate Bishops in villages j as . also among the Novatiane and 3Iontanista in Phrygia. On the other side, in England^ we see still how many counties es remain in one diocoac of Lincoln)^: and yet if we look iato Almain, and those mighty foundations of Charles the Great, we may find perhaps larger than it
5 19, The rule, notwithstanding all this, is the same, that cathedral churchos be founded in cities, though cities are iiegiBrt.] diversely reckoned in several countries; nay, though perhaps some countries where the Gospel comes have scarce any thing worth the name of cities, where the rule must he executed according; to the discretion of men that have it in hand^ and ttic condition of limes. This we may generally observe, that churches were erected in greater number when they were erected without endowment, estabhshed by temporal law; ao that in one of the African canons it is questionable whether a Bishop have many presbyters under him t ; fewer still, wher^^
Bibliothec. Falmni Max., torn. xv. tai Ib teAuuiv Mttit^iwoi Uaovt^rai. i^\ p. 198. Lugdun, 1077.
SancCuH ita^ue Patriciiu Evonge- [jer
[KvLI re (uLtlnH from itii
liuin Chriftii ^xtemis nMionifaus ∈iOB qu&dra^rita priL>dicabat, Scripall aliegctoria irec^nU soxagiiitA guicHjue, .aiit co ampliun, Gccle&ms guoqqe eodecn miirif^ra fundavit trec^cn- tii Kxa^iitA quinqui^. Ordinavit Spiicofioi tretcTilDs acKfL^nnta (]Liinque, aii( CO -nnipliuB, in r]iiibi|!i Spintus l>ci CTAL—tliBior. Uriton. { 54. pp. 4+, +5. Londcin 1638,
xopS toit ip ^pityif,n JiaoaTiaa»>*t »aJ Kairrai'irTTius.—^p. 73+. ei Vales.
P TIiecoHntics Qf LitK-oln, Leii'eslel', Hllliling^lloi), Bedford, Huckiiip^ham.aDd pan (jf H^erlforclshire, TUe bi»hopri« cf Kly, Oidbrd, and Pttefborougli, were fiirmcrly in the bishopnc of Lincaln-
« PuElumiaiiUH EifUcopiU dizil. Utuidc qui unum lialiuprit, nunquid riebcl illi unii! presbyter auftni f^ Can. \v. 3niite\. lam. i. p. SS7. Labhn, lorn. ii. col 12!13, ed. VeneL
IK A cannriAN state.
448
they were foundptl by princes professing Christianity, upon temporal endowment. And upon this conBideration, it will be no prejudice to this rule, that in Egypt, till the time of Demetrius, there was no cathedral church but that of Alex- andria, if it be fit to believe the late &.titiquities of that Church, published out of Eiitychius ', bccaiise they seeta to iSgreo with 6* that which Sl Ilicronie reporteth of that Church ■ ; as to this day, if wc believe the Jesuits, whose relation you may see in Godignus, "rf* Abassinorum Rebits," i. 32 '^ there is but one for all Prestcr John*s dominion, or the country of the Abas- sines. For though men would not, or could not, execute the nile so as it look place in more civil countries, yet that such a rule there was ib easy to believe, when we see Christianity suifer as it docs, in those countries profesaing Chrial, by the Defi:lect of it.
^ 20. Before I leave this point, I wit! touch one argument
to the whole question, drawn frnni common sense, presuppoa-
ing historical truth. For they that place the chief power in
congregations, or require at all several presbyteries for the
^^pTcmment of several cot igrcgat ions, arc bound at least to
^Plkew as that congregations were distinguished in the times
of the Apostlesj if tliey will entitle their design to them.
Which I utterly deny that they were. I do believe the pres-
byteriacts have convinced those of the con gregnl ions, that in
Sl Paul's lime, the Churches to whom he writes cotltained
■uch numbers as could by no means asgemble at oncei*; but
several Churches they could not make, being not distinguished
inw several cutigrcgationsj but meeting together from lime to
IS time according to opportunity and order given.
§ 21. About St. Cyprian's time, and not afore, I find men- tion of congregations settled in the country ; for in his twenty- eighth epistle*, you have mention of one Gains, presbyter Did-
\ine sippau!! ticrijiftcfc,. Icslis (?M Jonhties ft Sunttis Uomimefldi proTrssor msliluti qiicm fiapra Isudavi, la inoctavi) «- pile Ubri ({tiarli ciperis urn isiU scrriliit. Qui sBCTorum est in hi* locia prarscs, Ab AlexAndnno inittitur Pntriorclia. PrttUr Itunr nrmo almi niHnrra rtvrret PoatiflcalM, — p, I9S, I.iigduii. \Q\5,
e See note t. seel. 7.
* Integre vX cum ili*.HpUiia fti-ielii, fraire* cflrisHmi, t|iifiil rnmiljn <o!lie- garUTn mfDnim t]\i\ prvs^nles mnt,
CHAP.
n.
' F.utjpeliil, Ecclcfiis muv origines,
p.3a.««note2IKp.l3fi.I.oo(Jon 10*2,
• S« lYim. GovtHL. chAp. vi, »ecL 2.
Uoani habcnl AliBiisiTii,rjui ali^uu
jo marht prweft, Abuni dicitur, id
iPatcT; notninealin MaaitiappoUn-
P»ti« A leKKndriuum PatnarcliiLrn
•jii ' iTUtio est. MoTt&chii el
th : • ' ordiiif » ; rix prf lUt
iij ipiii ultiiTi in ipiioii vidipatnr
h*brf« pntraUleni. Pr^TCT Swricutj*
frli|pn*04 iTi ^ttiinpLn degcnl^A, ^w
444
THE RIGHT OP TUB CHUftCH
0 n A r.
f/rBjti>, wfik'h was the name of some place near Catthage, the fhvircli whcrt'ol' was under the cure uf lliis Gains ; and m ibfc IHc of I'opc Diouysiiis about this tinie, it is said that he divided lilt" dinct'sp* into Churches''; and in Epiphauius agaiusl the .Mmiichecs'. *iH'!ikmg of the begmning of them un<lcr Probus*, aliout till* time there is mentioQ of one Trypho, prcsbjter of Dlndori^i, ti Yill:igt\ as it seems by his relation thcrc^ under AlH-hcliui:^ ihch Bishop of Caschara in Jlesopotatnia ; like- wiwf, in nn epistle of Dionysius of Alexandria, reponed by Kn."<cMus, Eivtrx, UUt. vii. 24 *, there is mention of the "prra- i>j'li're und teachers of the brethren in the villages," And thoic Churches of the countrr, called Mareotes, hard by Alexiuulrin. winch Socrates, Eccleit. IFist. i. 27% ?aitii were juirihlK'Jii of the Church of Alexandria in the lime of Constan- tiiio, nnist ue^nU be thought to have been established long Wfore lUnl lime whereof he writes there. After this, in the eanons of Ancyra and Neociesarea, and those writings that liillow, iliore is oftentioies diflercnce made between city and country presbyters''.
§ *i*J. In cities, this must needs have been be^im long afc 03 we Bud mention of it at Rome, in the life of Pope Caius% where it is said thai he divided tbe titles lud coemetcric? among the presbyters: and the distribution of the wards of Alexandria, and the Churches of them mentioned by £pi-
Gaio Diiltlpnu pTCfthytrTD, rt diacona t^ftm {^nsiiislu non nutrniuiucwidiiiii : — Ep. ucxtv. p. *yj. «L Otoa. Titne- liilk' Duto is ■& fulloirs :^-— Si quid in re inicvrti diviave Ikct, fit niihi vcrisi- iiiilc, I>id(tam pngum quc'uipria.tn fui:is« in CBTChajriiiicnn dioce^j et Gjituni huiir fui&se' tlliu^Ioci prcsbyteruiu, id «at. quriii irnnc Yocamus putOTein i'uf ciin;tiim.idque qiiutdikcoiii illiut mcti^ tiODem f»ciL— EiL Pain. p. 37, Vxn&,
' Hie pmbyteiu ecckwH divl&it el COBtaieteria, poivchiatqtic et dIiE'c<:s«'s constituit. — Labluei, iom. i. coL B47. ed. Venet.
i*4ntir, /f j) Tpv^v Til i-wtiiKttrrarof
■tiBi Tptafiirrtpot. — Hlbm. Ixti. cap. si p. 627. Coldu. 1682.
* M. AuMiu* f rpbua, Aug. CmmuL
* ^vyKoXtirv Tofei rptrfftrrifioirf ti&att»i\oi'% -tiir if rati xK-fuuT ASiK-
ivti' Km/uu Sc fiat* i» aur^ nUol
TJ^r airau wdAi*' w% vapbwloi.^-p. 6t.
•* See Ptim. Govtm., chip. lii- sect. 19.
* Possibly A ini^takE fur Diaoj^iiu, irbo is s*id to lisrc doue tfail «lucb i* bcr? itasi^'vd to Coius: Me nute y. sect. 21. In t^e HpWtl« of C*iitK btiw. ever, »t re»d,— Et »^ion««, went is \iti: uihv re€>iiiit£, per ungvlas urbta
3UJE pcpu]<»tc fuprint, dUmulHB dtvt- antur.— cap-vL Lsbfaci, lOOL. LcflLftge. ed, Venef.
;>hfloiu$. Harts, Ixviii. ' and Ixlx.s, seems to bavp been made lonfj before ihe time whereof he speaks. But when Jastin JIartjr says expressly, Apol, \,'^, that in his time those out of the coitntiy, and those in the eity, assembled in one, far was it from distingtiishing settled cotigregations under the Apo- stlesL Which if it be true, the position which 1 have hitherto prored, must needs be admitted, that the Christians remain- ing in several cities, and the territories of them, were by the Apostles ordered to be divided into several distinct bodies and eDciciics» vhich the Scripture caIIs Churches, and are now ItDovn by the name of cathe^lral Churches, and the dioceses of them coiistiluiing one whole Church,
^ 23. This being proved, I shall not much ibsmk any man
to quit me the position tipon which the congregations arc
^ grounded, to wit, the chief power of the people in ihc
^C'burcb: tliough it seems they arc not yet agreed tbemsctves
■what the p)vrer of the people should be. Moretlus', in
IjKthc French Churches, disputed downright that the state of
W government in the Church ought to be democratic, the
(xroplc to be sovereign % wherein by Beza's epistles, It appears
thnt be was supjwrted by Ramus'': for the man whom Bcza
calb o^v'Ap^oSi and descril>cs by other c ire am locutions, who
HArt
Thcrefori the penpJl is nut cTi-
Wjth the c3iief
niiy I
Tf 4«wAvvM otnt KsAoufidyr) 'AXt(<ur~
— rantr. Itdi'twri.. rjifi. iv. p, 'lit,
• *Otf« ytfi tuifXTKritu. i^( jfaflflAiJtfli i*mX^0imM hf 'AA«{arSfi«ii^ uiclr iva *Ap-
4*rvrrtrf)t4m *ifft wfttrQiir^pm. Sift
itr. Ariui. L p. 727. Colnn.
Cfe*l In R«l. Aucmbl., chap, vl
•ML la
> \ Frruch Ppileium in the ISth
MnUiry, fho rjivp coo&idcrablc (rouble
' to tbr ftr»bytftiAn%. Jiih&nnri Mii-
kUub, OtUa*. rnroplrr libcmn cdittim
ill (|ili> conti'nuit Jm rjrviiimvniraniti
fntt prtthfftfrtit tett pmrj Er-
ft vMtta prrtbylcri" pxc-nrmnu,-
wt liber pollJi'G ex.uMu^ «c
'cjut omnibiu s^ub giavi piCna
Ctnm fuiu t'acit hire ila suut
R«|iWmb. Boni 1^lj3, — Kniti
CuiifiFm. lit>- i. pp. G9, 70.
iitig luopi" iike then thai ss Mo-
ri^Uius iliil Ic4m fiotn llie ilinciplet ol* Mtiiic^T hi!) cci'keiaslic aiiaf cliy, where- by hf. troubled ti>e ChHreli of France, till by llejti anil SaJael iii ihe gcnera^j ahHL-niblite of that kin^ituiii hv wu cnufuunded, uid hii anibaptiaCic rollici exploded i to ihkt Brawn and nulton did IcBm in the same nchool that very ravery of MorpUius, knd runny other tJie lilc?, by the which ibout the fHme liinPi »ntl ever uncn, ibey h*ve pilifully vexed lliB Chureh nf Engl:«uirL"^Bay- Ije'^n Dissuasive, p. IS, London, 16'kr. The French P cot eain tits cDudenined bim in their Hynod nf Paria, A.D.
ludS Qniclt^t ^ynodlmD, yoI. L p.
66. London, Ifilf2.
^ QmeuiKjue Ghri*<iniiiS'le'^bij£ niD- rifausque virit, ubicunijue &ic, nihil in- l«mt, cipU Fit Vhriilianut ri ad pubii- c»m dt rfgrtula firilale Dei eomHium adkibfmlat, tic »tl(o]ii.ic c-i^leai^e din- ci|iliria (;atlio1ii;a «it, UQfxgue oninilUti cum fcacriii litLeri* conienliente judiiriQ acecptAprnbalmiiie, — Itcniii!!, ilc Fide, CoiiiinenC.. lib, i. cup. xit. p. 79. Fntii- cofurti, IJ?4i,
^m the FttnA rWjrlMi id Ac uwilkk of direcs synods, to wuppam tUs poiciany m tfaoe it ipp"— , cmn be do otba iJ^Ht F— — **. F^sk^s R^BB^s CRtfit m oar Uniirenities WW tke &9l noBB m faring Aim ocacdt io rcl^ioo unong am: tor them the oam thut he «■■ iBoat cried up in them, Bfotm and Barrow pabBAed iL Ualett it be more probable Io ttuh a frniB tfae iimijkiii of FnnUan. For UMae that would lake t^HO. iken to *«*—*■* eke povn of the keys m line catal^ becaoae Aej were a cmpegaiioa that aaBentUed togethw &r tb« aerrice et God— wlucfc power could not stmid, uolese recoozae nugfat be had to excoouDunic^doa^ — did bj express coDseqnence challei^ the public powa of the Church to all coDgxcgitiocH ; which I hare shewed to be otherwise^ And the contest theie related, between ouc of the people and one of the p^tor^ shews that they groimded themselves upon the right of the people". So true it is, that I said afore, that tbe praabytEiians hare still held thefiii etimip to those of the eopgregations, to put themselves out of tbe saddle.
$ 24. As now the design of the coogregatioDS ia refined, they will not have it said that tbej make the people chief In the Church : for they give them power which ihey will have subject to that authority which they pkce in the pastors and cMers"; which serves not the turn. We have bq instance
' PacudoilJ>I«cticiu Sle, queiD S^«p 'Afijoi junpridf^m docti multi ogtto- luinanint, contentioncm nan |iuTun exeiUvit lie lotM. tcclfrnudra (urafff, qu&m ijiquil di^iuocraticauL 6^&e cipor- tvTC, iinn ar'uitoCTaticaTB, »o]a trpafittU' Ac^fiara prcnbyimo TclinqueDs. — Efw Sy. p. 2-IU, Haiikv. I5i}7.
* *' There fell p certain controvcrty tilt) Htli lUy of JaiLuary *t puppei, l>p<WLi-ii Mr. I fume tlie pa&Iar, and Mc- AiJiloy '. which contTaversy woa handlvd with lomcwbBrt more ihsrp wordn tfitn wm meet. . .. , Tlio 17in of Jiiniitry, mtln tliAt public {iraycTa WL-ri' briidiMl^ Ml, Ai.)j|cy wm liy Uie jiHtur «)id all the plilt^rn rnlk-ii into the church, iiul iIutp m IK'V dmiir^ of Uinn kl] It vra« tibji'c-lcil miiIo lilni, (li.il ha li«ij iiiiiVr'H .... certMli) wi)rdn lonel- InK In tlto klwidiT uf Ihciu and llidr mliiiilry. Aalik'y nnnirrn'd, tlml )lc lirnirlvoHl Mid ijtid«iUaocl litAt tJicy
«1l Wprc ufltllllriL Am I]) ihvil OMLI
niiiltei, and itMi ilirrcforc lir wuiild
not ansver hetore them U COmpeUat
jud|j<;j o( fhe cause, but would re&r the c&UK that he hud f^iDst tb« fmt- tor and iliem — seemg ihej ibewed tlicmbelres an aAvrnmij part lobim^ ta ffif tfiiolt Church and ccclesiaslical dudpliDL'." — rh<Kiu3, voL iL p. 91. Lflodon. 1708.
" " As C'liriM httb for the kwpiog of tills Church in holy uid orderly camnDuniDgii plac-cd name special men over the Church, wlio by their offiot at'; to govtTit, M'tries, vUlt, u>afcA, Sec, >D likeiif iue for the beEtec kevpbi|; Uiere- oT in all plaDBH, bj/ aSi the mrnibfTi, He halh givea aulfioriti/ ami frtid dufif wpmi tSicm at! to walch ont otrr ^malhtt.'* — C>viiti:3U't>ii of Fftith of cen^ui EDglish pi'ujyW ii) the Low C'oaiitri«&, p, 13. jinnted in the year IGQ'i. BayUe in [ib Diasuu!tiv« froDi the Brrors of the Thill'*, p, l&, aayj C}iat thik Cotifcasion tnme from "Hin first settled :-uEi^e|fa- tiou of Drawai&ts ve read of."
IK A CBKJ8TIAN STATE.
447
against it in the state of Rome, after they had driveD away ihe Tarquios. Thej placed authority in the senate, and power in the people : and I suppose the success of time ibewed that wbicb Bodiae disputes against Polyblus, De Re- fmhik&y ii. ] *, to be most true, that the state %fas thereby made a democracy^ So the cougreg^ations, challenging to UiemaelTes right to make theuiselvee ChurchesP, and hy coDsequenee whom ihey please pastors^ must needs, by con- sequence, reduce the authority they pretend, to what measure ibe people shall please, whom, by their proceedings, they enable (o make and untnakc members and pastors at their pleaaorei. But 1 dispute not the consequence of their design, before they declare what they are agreed upon in it. Besides, they coocrire ibey haTt this right in the Church becau&c Ch«j aoK flaintSF: as anabaptists conceive that by the same tdtJe tikoy haTe right to the floods of this world, and, as Chri^ tlans conceive, they have those rights wliich they pretend to in the viable Church, by lawful ordination and baptism ; and
CHAP.
II.
* itttn, Bodiu And^tYeasU, de RvpsUin. ISbri MX.— Unell. l60l.
* ** Asd wfane jau denianrl in thii yUn. hy nj of digreuion, Aaw a ftft ^■a famir • Church, we answer, in a
',1kycatning onloC Babylon, througli ode* oi Got, ind baLlcUsg ouf- I iolo » nrv tad holy teiapfe unto
tW Lard. I canfeu indeed
IW Chorcha in Kn^luid wert very atniualj thli mv. uid would not lo muck M {onakt iiie Pirpr a( Rome till thmr mam-frimU went l>prure thx-m, iriie btfag «Olldllu^d in their office.
did eithci (btir p«ri.'ih
dnndM* onto ifmn, Bui
A0 n^imrf Chunk*! mrt olhervuf gtAerni Hum hy papi«A frinU rtmtinutel Ihfm, Ikt propU Jirat mrparatiag ttpii fram idoialrjf, and «> Jeininj; m th» frttouMkip t^ the gatpfl, mfifnuarda, telum thtt/ kud fit wtett, te rafi t\rm irttv tkr ^flcr ^tht mlnUtrf, amd jB Ihfy yrnciiard," . . . — Robuuon't J aaliflc&Xian at SRwttticm.p. 181. Lon- dm, 1939. "Ana •e«ipg thu-e it dq ofdiflUfie of Chriii, but evtiy ■tuulrtii ia need Ihcfraf for tud «di0CBtii>n in boky foUaw- •Upwitii Cbiivi J»u*— or el«e Chri»t oidaiMd Uinn in vain — ud M«iuK villul Chmi hath commttlMl all Iliii pobtte Itoly ordiMafn la H'u Churcli,
•1 wilt bi Mf^fyl for avrry good Chris- fidn, lo whom God giTeLh opportutiity,
ta join himt€\f (* ivmt om vr oihtr Chunk of Chriii, ^hvt to he may nut de- privehiina.e9rDf the benefit &[id cooifort of any of God's holy ordinance*,'"- — CotlOR'i W;ty ofili^ L'iiurclica, cliAp, i. iicU i. p. 2. Londciin, 16io.
"* " The multitude of bretlircn arc fiuvcmcd by tliu elilerB ao lon^ u they rule nright, to wit, whlbt th«y UoM forth the word and vaire of Chnsf, wliich the sheep of Christ arc wonl (» li?aT. John X. 4. But iik co-w the alSc«Tii do ^iT^ and commit offeftfe, they «h»ll be goverH^id hy Uie whale body of the brethren, though iHbcrwue the bicthren ftre bound to obey *nd submit unto ihcm in tJie Lord, Heb. xiii, 17 " — Cotton's Way at (be Cburchca, chap. t. acct 6. p. 100. London, 1^£.
' "Bu£ tbia w<* bold iinil sifirm, that a compajiy connstinf! Umugb but of two or three sepnratc^J from the world, whether unchrLslJAn oT aiitit;liri&liau, nnd ^alh'CTnl into the name of Christ by n dovennnl, niAde to walk in all the ways of God known Uiilo lliiiim, ii x Cburcb, and ao hath the whole powicr of ChriaL" — Robitisan'i JuitificatioD of Separation, p, 107. A.D. 16^9.
450
THE EIOHT OF THE CUCRCIl
CHAP, Apoatlcs and the Church with the power of the keys — the — —^ — root of all ecclesiastical power, as hath been said " — eUher the Church must cb^euge it against the Apostles, which is not but by ihcm, or it must be undcratood to have been then in the Church because it was in the Apostles, iu whom i\ was before the Church, ^rhich was founded by them ; ^here- upoTi the office of the Apostles ia called t-ma-xoTTT}, a Blsboprii:, before the Church was whereof they were Bishops ^ to witj iu Judas, Acta i. 20, a meaning easy to be read in the num- ber of them ; for the Church being the spiritual Israel, as Israel according to the flesh, coraiug of twelve patriarchs, had always twelve princes of their tribes, and seventy preshy- tersj members of the great consistory, to govern them in the greatest matters concemiflg the stale of the whole people, under one king or judge, or under God when they had neither king nor judge; so did our Saviour appoint twelve patriarchs, as it were, of His spiritual people, sevcDty governors of another rank, both under the name of A{x>5tlea, in whom should rest the whole power of governing thai people, whereof Himself in Heaven remains always King.
§ 29h A perfect evidence hereof ia the derivmg of other power from them, as theirs is derived from Christ. We read7i in the Scriptures of evangelists, and we read of anollier sort of apostles, which if we under&taud not to be of the number of the seventy, we mii9t needs conceive to be so called because they were apostles of the Apostles, that is, persons Bent by the twelve Apostles to assist them in, the work com- mitted to their trust, which, it ia plain, could not he executed by them iu person alone. And indeed, those whom the Scripture calls "false apostles," 2 Cor, li, 13, and* "that Baid they were apos^tlcs and were not/' Rev. ii. 2 ; what can we imagine they weae, but such as pretended to be employed by other Apostles — perhaps by St. Peter to Corinth, who had a band in the founding of that Church, as we leam by Dionysius of Corinth, in Eusebius, £ccles. JlisL iu 25*; agreeing with the beginning of St. Paul's first epistle, — but intended indeed, under their names and authorities, to pull down that which was built by their fellow-Apostl
t Apostles
Hllti BVtin.
CLtfld
beCoie iu
Prim- Govern,,
chkp. r. Kct. 3, note r.
n thb aeoKt peiiiaps, St. PauJ calb AndroDicus and Juaias eniiaent among tbe spostles, Rum. xvi. 7 ; because, it may be, tlicy were employed by himself or by St Peter, about the Gospel at Rome.
4 30. And hereby, wc may take measure what evaogeltsts fEvmge- w«Te. For, seeing it appears by tbe Scripture, that they whoian of
Tiwere the Apostles' scholarsi^ deputed by them, and limited to Itiea^''"^ ffsch employment as they found most proper for their assist- ance; it is muiifest, that they could have no authority but derived from the Apostles. A thing perfectly agreeing; with the custom that bad always been among (jod's people. For, aD prapheis, whom God employed upon His messages, and may tfacrefbre properly be called His Apostles,— as our Lord Christ t» called the Apostle of our profession, lleb. iil. 1. — bad their disciples to wait upon them, which is called "minis- lering lo them" in the language of the Scripture. Thus "Josbtia, tbe minister of Moses,'' Exod. xxiv. 13. "Etiscus pouivd iraier on the bands of Elias^*^ as the chief of bis acboUrs^ that expected a double portion of his spirit, 2 Kings \L 9; iii. 11. Thus the Baptist saich, "be is not worthy to Jouee, or take away our Saviour's shoes;" Matt iii* 11 ; Mark L 7 ; that ia» lo be Ills disciple. For^ by Maimonl, in the title of Leaming tbe Law, chap. v. ', we Icaru, that the disciples of the Jewft* doctors were to do that ficrvice for their masiera. Hexvnpon saith Chrisi, Luke xxii. 27, "1 am among you as be that ministerethr to wit, not as a. master, but as a disciple. Thoa ibo chief of our Lord^s disciples, whom He had chosen from the banning to be with Ilim, receiying Hts commis- aion, became Hia Apostles, having waited on His person, and,
7iby &miliar conversation, learned His doctrine better than otbcn; whereupon I said, in the Primitive Government of ChnrcbeB, p. S^ that to make an Apostle, it was requisite to have seen oar Lord in the flesb, and, that He appeared to Sl. Paul after death, to advance him to that rank by this privil^e* Mutt. X. 1, 5 ; Mark iii. 14.
• P< dodrinn L«{cit, csp, v. j *t. p,
Orrmt itn/alda lk« TneAiiiiig of llie Bnp- li*t*a wordi* ihns, rafernn^ thnn to Che I iiijsur7of tMir Lord'tlncamAlion; A'^n I mm dtgniu »attrr* etirrigiam rakramfttli
EpjiUiiler djcftt: Quid og2
mtrtiiTi si nie mihi prvlatus t^C, qucin post nic (juiilem nntum consulpro, «ed nAlivicatifl cgus mjetctlum nou #]tpie> h«iido ? — Hnm. in Evungcl, Ub. i. Hiitn. riL $ 9. Horn. *x, } 1 tORi, i. cd. Ben. f Chap. I icct 2.
4^2
THE niaU'T OF THE CHPftCa
CHAP. ^31. And shall we think that the Apostles did not, ob
their Lord, and all the prophets before Him had done, cboose
tbemselreB scholars, that;, by waiting on them, might leant their doctrine, and become fit to be employed under them^ and after them? If we do, we shall mis-ken the most remark- able circumstances of Scripture : for we may easily observe, that those who are called in the Scriptures evangelists, are such aa first waited upon the Apostles, aa St. Mark upon St. Peter ; Timothy and St. Luke upon Sl Paul, Acta xvi. 1 : six. 22; as Mark upon Paul and Barnabasj Acts xiii. 5; and Mark again^ — whether the eame or another — upon St. Paul, 2 Tim. iv. 11; and therefore I easily grant both Timothy and Titus to have been evangelists, though the Scripture says it but of one> 2 Tim. iv, 5 ; because I see them both com- panions of St Paul, that is, his scholars and ministers: and therefore find it very reasonable that he should employ Tiins into Dalmatia, to preach the Gospel in those parts, ■where H himself had left, hoping to go further, and carry it beyond, into Ulyricumj whereof Dalmatia was o part, as you may see by comparing the Scriptures: 2 Tim. iv, 10; Rom. xv. 19; 2 Cor. X. 16; Tit. iii. 12. For, thus also, of the seven ministers to the Apostles at Jerusalem, you sec Stephen and Philip employed in preaching the Gospel, and this latter called therefore expressly an evangelist; Acts vi. 9; viii, 5, 12; xxi. 8. And therefore it is not possible for any man, out of the Scriptures, to distinguish between the office of evangelists, and those whom I shewed to have been apostles of the Aposdes; and thereby the conclusion remains firm, that all ecclesiastical power at that time remained, and, for fliturc times, is to be derived from the Apostles, when we see by the Scriptures that the evangelists derived their office and authority from their appointment. IAIIgxxiiI^ ■§■32. And, indeed, how can common sense endure to pXe7<iri- apprehend it othenvise, especially admitting that which hath jTirnjiy tn T^gen discoursed of the power of the keys, in admitting into •tics.] the Church'? That men made Chrisdans by the Apostles— because by them Convinced to believe that they were God's nieasengers^ — whom they stood bound to obey, should never^ thelosg, by being Christians, obtain the power of regulating
■ Chnp. i. sect. It.
m A CHRISTIAN STATS.
)3
rand concluding the Apostlea themselves, in matters concerning Uie coniDiunitv of the Church"— which, what it meant, or ihal eucfa> a society should be, they could not so much as imagine, hut by thwn— ia a thing no conamon sense can admit without
* prejudice. Those that purchase dominion by lawful conquest in the world, become thereby able to dispose of all their sub* je«tt have, because they give them tlieir lives, that is^ them- ■elwfl. The Church is a peop]e» subdued to Christ by the Apoelks^ not by force> but by the sword of the Spirit^ and (hou^ to freedom, yet that freedom consists in the state of puticulflT Christians towards God, not in the public power of the Church, otherwise than it ia conveyed lawfully from them dial bad it before the Church. Indeed, visible Chn»tknity is a cotulitiou requisite to make a man capable of ecclesiastical power, and the Chnrch is then in best estate, when that legal pRsmnption of invisible ChristianUy is most reasonable ^ but if aunts, because saints, have power and right to govern the Church, then follows the position, imposed on Wiclitfe and IJaes in the Council of Constance, and condemned by all Christiaxks, chat ecclesiastical power hold& and faik with gprace''; whkfa will not fail to draw after it the like consequence in TVMCular inaltcrs> pernicious to all civil societies, that the interest of honest men ia the interest of kingdoms and states,
I contradicting the principle laid down at the beginning, that Chrifltiantty calb no man to any advantage of this world, but to tbe cross. Tliereforc no Christian or saint, as saint or Cbritcian. hath any right or power in the Churchy but that which ciui be lawfully derived from the order of the Apostles.
IL
j 33. Those of the congregations used to allege St. Peter's [nwsoiw apology to the Jewish Christians, for conversing witli Come- deijcjiii.."
tiui and his company, Acta xi. 1 — 9% as also that of St. Paul, '"^'* 1
ac inUiLkter« nitw run njiinl riihcr for •^tU oi M\i\boin\ — dill not ilms cn^DM til itiui)is ijilo tlirir own hniidii, liut diil ifitemi Ijjr pcnplr, l^tuugb raw, anil come to Uiv faith, in ull the aStin of the ('hurctii &nd in ilvlibcntiona a«>ruiie altout tlicTn, Aad who vhould den v thtm Cu iTieddIv Id lltMv tfiiim* whirl) cuncrrn thtm t Buf if aity do, ihMc Scriplure* avow tbrir liWrlf. Acli i IS and
XV. 3, +. . . . 1 Corinth, v, 4."' Sic
Holiinson'fr JuBtiGcBtian of Separntion, p. 187.
'' See clittp. i. sect. ♦.
' " In ea.^e o( uFTenct ^V>ni by loy elder, or by die wholt- eldership tajtcthtTj ilii: Cliiirt.li halli aiitlioriiy i^' rctniirp naturai^tiun of llicm, ftftd if tlioy do not pvi- cJiic HiittfifiiciioTi, to proceed to ctn- •UTC According >□ the qu&lity a{ Ihr oit^ttca. For w tee when vniK of th« CliuTcli of Jcnia«k>iti took. Dflsnce
CHAP.
U.
lolheApo-
CoL ir. 17, speaking to dw bodj of the Qmrch at Col<%s£: ''a^ to Archjppas, look to the ounistrT which thoa bast leoeived, to fulfil it* ;" as if Sc Peter, «od Atchippos, must be afiaicl cf exoommanicsdoa if ther rencter not a goul aocount of (heir actwiks lo the peopic Bj which it mav appear how trulr I have said, that the power th£j give the people is in check to that power which was eierdsed by the Apostles, Bat if we reaeoa oot amisa^ it would be a great prejudice to GhiutiaiLity, that St. Peter coold not inform Christian people ' of the leafiDU of hh doiogs^ irbich they understood not, but be moBt make them his sovereign. Or that St. Paul, coavcj- ing his commands to Arcfaippo^ by ao epUttc directed to the '9 whole Church, should be thought to invest the people in that power bj which he comnaand^ Archippus., They allege alsa^ the people of the Church of Jerusalem, preseot at the council there, and joined in the letter by which the decree is signified and conveyed to the Churches of Syria and Cilicia, Acts it™ 4, 12, 23*. %
§ 34. But of this I have spoken alrendy, and am very williug 10 leave all men to judge by the premises, whether it is probable, that for resolution in a doubt, which Euch persons as Paul and Barnabas could not determine, as to the body the Churcb, it can be thought that they resorted to Jcnisale:
■^ninst PftcT tor cunuuiinsuting with the G«nril<B, uid contended with him kbout it; ruti cCmiileecfrQdcd lo give kltlplc aJid due accouul of his acliotts to thc! KatisfactioiL uf tliem ■!!, Acts 3^i. 2— 8."— Cotton's Way ttfthc Churches, chap. T. sect Q. p. 101.
^ •' For they that as a Church might mimnniKh Archippui, Colossi iv, 17, might — in cue he had not hrarkencd to their B<]inonitioit'-~havp firoei-eilcd agUnit him to excommunication.*' — CoElon, chap. iL secL 7. p. i5.
"But in the CUttith. nil Pn4 every ordinance canccmB erer^ pcnon, u i
SBit of theii cottuuuiijor., wUKuut the iiper)i>ati>0is of tti'CBitSity, Tor Cheir tiae ■nd edilicAtion, nil the olTleon Lo be ^b04m by mllV'age, ikiid ronscnt of the mul^tndcv the brc-lhren are to idmoiuili Ih^breChrenbfeverj'riolatioD of God's COiiiiiujtudnicTiL And [lliereuu^tu in orikr lu ■ Itll the CliuTc-h,* and to life Uh? jiarlici rcrormcd; to observe itnd lo Ukw notice of the offictra' ctrringe and
cusittratjoo. and tc 'tay to Axchip, ■a tlicre is oeed, ' take btrd to th^ tninislry, that thou hiut received of tlw Lord, tbot thou iuLfil iC CoL It. 17, uid if the ministeis will de&l corrupLlfj and sd persevere in the »|iint of p ftuiencsa, heresy, idDlnlry. or ath to censure^ depose, reject, or avoid Olhertriae ihcy betray tbeir own and KaKntinn." — RobinAcm's JaatiBca- tion of Sepairntion.pp. 139. 139. A.D. 1639.
* " We conceive the Church eser- Ctaetb eevera] acta of a.uthoTity over their elders, lo wit. . . , , In seadiiig them fortb upun the public »erric« 6f Christ, M the whiile Church at Jeruu- Irni ttnt tbrlb 4?bDaei] ministers with JeittTs of instruL'tioii to Anlioch, and OlJier ChiLrcbea, AcH xv. 22. No* the ainbss»»i[cii ia not (^renter than lie that sent him, but usaally inferior, John xiii. 16." — Cutton*§ W'*y of the Churcbce, obnp, v. stt;t, S. p. 101.
:iIRISTIAN
455
as to the brethren, or as to the AjTOstles^; whcttier it can be chap. uziAf^iued, that thfi people of ihe Church at Jerusalem could — - — prencribe, in any way, either of power, or of authority, or QlanuuAtioii^ utjto the Church of Aniioch, and the public pcraons of it^. Lastly, whether the arrow is not shot beyond the mark;, whoa it is pjgued, that this decree is the act of the people'', be«iuse h appears that they assent to it, seeing we
' "Thu dlMmnou and cllspuuiion hilPWu P<m] and BunuitMu, nnd tome «f dtt bdierine Jewa wbo tnughl ihe btrtkttn iIkt beho'eil la he eircum- o*«^wi» •Chnreh MdtmvcTny: Paul BamabM did hotil llie ucjj^tu-i^, Itfrfewlrd IfarCliurch of the tirethr^^n . tmbnoMg luch wicktd opmioca, wfara Antiuch could, iiot ^IcEeriDiDe tlw ^uaithwi. PauI bhiI BariiiJibdE had RC«iirM to I *yao<i, a.» onlin^ry <hep' btrda, win wbro tlic-y could not p^r- ' ih* bnthrrib o( ilir falnctiood. ot I^DCtrine. vmC to 9v«k hctp a^ain^t ■t^n ryf ■oul>, 14 thcj" are c-hlled, ■ ■ . «uMiJii«E jmlicatures >1 rMxltng", fnr when I ^rtai uiiii( cautint prevail, Ul^ugU I raooirieu, ba tlrscenideOi ti> tiiAt wbich ordinary paj^lora b; the 1 <of ranm kJionlii do, ir* neck help I a coUagt of Church guiclei -, ffgo. did not thia mfKly U, an Apir- '— •ftDlherfiud'a Duo Right nt byurkt, pp. SJST, 358, l-oiidgu,
"The derma are toid to be ardDJued •a <*vll Ir/ ihe ciders, a« by the Apu- wdtt Bl Jcniialeni, Acta xvi. 4. m that |boai this wUoie lynodal trajL»ac- ' ridrra are declared in llit- text in a full authentic pqutpa^jc »tOi iha Afioatlee. TrQiin [vouiC lit [lOint. Aad ihwrvfora m lliia Kjnud ttie Apo- Mla avtod aa ordinary cldcn, not at UiraMilliurj oJGcm." — J un I>i win. Mc- KccI*MAatic. chap, xiv. p. '^ffi. 10«. ''** TTiia trtMp of proof*, that Icnawn aoil luitablv |)lasc. Acta nv., ahall abut (10 1 In «h<ch i>p haft-' (li« people's llMfty tai the Cburchra hocli nC .An- iioch and JarUaaJetn p^ULlifiil!}' c-on- Mid ctHninoMled by ApD«tolic to oiiuiiLg; Ckmrrhi;a and . . . . Aa Ril.Lia and Jiida* wt-rc vilh Paul and Baniabta b? the Je« and e-ldirrs with the whole ch «ntj> Antiix-h, vrr. 52, m were 'lettn* wriUcn back in the name
of them nil to the brvthiQH st Antiocli, ver. 23. And Alcliiiugh the decre» Uf he ob*erveci by the Churches oF thn G-entilei — whereof no cine FXCC-pLiDif Antioch had any delcgntes prcBent — w5iich were also (jart of Iht wurd of God and holy canon, coutd come from noiiG other than the .^pcutlea, tminedi- atcly insjiircd bj the Hcly Ukust, irhey, nol withstand infii >n publiKhLng of the wiitiL' did not disdain iht consenting «ufrrft{tc cf the bri^thr^n of thai purti- cular CbuTDh of JeiiiBoJc-m wliere ih^ Mitmbly WBs."^ Robinson** Apoloj^ of the BrDwiiiats, pp. iH, 3S. A.D. lUii. See alto CuttMJi'B Way uf Clie Clnirtfiesi chap. v. tevt iv. p^ 107-
* " I pray uke H'Otice of the rciolu* (ion or this t^ynod. ver. 22, ' then pleased it the Apoxtles and eldcra with the whole Church ; ' with the irhg-lt Clmrch, what i» that ? The btrsied .^politics and thfirfellDW-laboiircrs did nut eitgroM — ajid aa our tburthmeri ajfcct to do^ — usurp, aiid inunctpolize the won) Church, as proper cinly to Chtirchmcn. No. you &Lali find it even in the 'Epigraphe of tiie cauoni niid deorcc-B of this true, holy, and Kncred jiynod, that the despised latty aro in lh«fle cations con/olried with \he blpMcd Apostle«, , , . tliey that were pneunt had voice, they who voiced the canons jaini:tl in the decTW, and Heud- itig the decree u.nto Antioch. The words are thus; "The Apo&tlea and elder" uid bMlliTcn wnd greeting to thi- bfL'thren w-ldch an.' in Ai)tii>chia, &c/ H^re the brethren at Jenisalem are-^with the Apostles and eideri — acton in, and authota of, th?' csjioqb ill thiit council agrettd. There ta no evasion, no eUmion to lie hud, iiiLleaa yoTj con prove that all tlie brethren in Antiocb, to whom ihcu brethnm in Jerusalem did, write, were oi^ly clergy- mEH." — Sir Eilward Decriiig'a Con- sideration upon t1iL' tatc^ Catiima, pp. 113, 17. Union, IthU.
456
THE RIGHT 07 THE CHCRCH
CliAi'. know by the premises^ that tbcy were bonnd to conecot to the
'■ — acta of the Apostles, So, in the power of the keys and ei-
coiDiuunication, what can be so plain, as that St. Paul gives fiontence upon the incestuous person at Corinth, and ohligeasu the Church (here to execate his decree, as he calls it in cx- presB terms, 1 Cor. v. 3, 4 ? I conceive I have read an answer to this in some of their writings, that this epistle is Scripture, and therefore the matter of it commanded hy God'. [Instanced ^ 35, But let me instance in the result of the council t-niincii of Jenisalem : the Church of Jerusalem was tied by virtue of the ltni!T' decree, for to them there was no epistle sent ; therefore the Church of Antiochia, and the rest of the Churches to whom that epistle waa sent, which we have Acts xv^ 23, were tied by virtue of the decree, not by virtue of the epistle, by which they knew themselves tied^. And let me put the case here : had St. Paul been at Corhith, and decreed that which be decreeth by this epistle, had not the Church been tied, unless he had sent tbem an epistle, or otherwise made it appear to them, that he had a revelatiofi from God on purpose, having made appearance to them that he was the Apostle of Christ ? Believe himself in that ceisc, when he says, he will do as much absent as present, 1 Cor. v. 3. And again, '' When I come I shall bewail divers, 2 Cor. xii. 20, 21 ; that is, excommunicate them, or put thcui to penance, as I have said^. Remember
' " New the fourth Scripture, which U I Cor. v., doiti directly oppose ihAt for which it !» brou^lil. It vtu the Chnrcirit fault not Co hjive piirge-d <>Mt tiiu sour Inven, the incetCTiDUB pi^rsoit, befoK' thejr cither fai'sn! from Paiil, ur ho of that evil aniotigsl them, and fcr their ur^ligence ^leniti Elie ApoBtlc' reprovcth thcni, (is aii men see iTint are ItoC vrilliiigly blind, tlattfor Pnul, V 4» gfti€Tal at a /krum^iH ^ (Ar tfol^ Gkint tetvie SniptuTf* for thr dircctha uj the Corinfliiatu, and all ollitr Churches to Uit waijd's eaAf uid iu sji^cinl m ii chief officer of thai hy d^MermlDliLg for biin^ aelf diftrhnrifOd hi» nwn duly, but ditt mfrithrr h'ei"! goifTrr, nor compatt the «r(jfn*, iKvng »i Philippi. or rather nt Ephceui for the pivacul, from whence hti «rolr ihp rliintlc to the ChuTtb. unto whiL-Ji hp comniendtti die hiisi- ncu in hand, boil) for the hr^iiiiinir ■ud mding of it " — Robinson's Jti»lill-
caticm nf Separation, p. 118. A.S. 1
i '' For the detrce wA» merely Apo- Btoltcnl. to spealc prt:>pt;Tly. ajid frajaed by iitlallible dirieii'jn of iho Holy Ghost^which the eidcta in Llienitdm I'Otisldered bad not— ns appearctb, rw- iJi, and WAS, uid is. in the lighl end axud L'quily of it a pAii at the caJMniul Scriptures, in penning whereof ths (elders bad tio butd : ttm to la impoMd upoD the Churchei of the G«iitflH evL'ry wlitre, ver, 23, inlJi nhom the riders of Jenualeui had nothiiiB to do^ but only the Aponlo, nhich were geueml men, to tut oeither breihien nor elderft more ihau eonsenl to the ifeeree itarlf, iind that necejaarily U' unto a Diriae Onck/' — Robinsou's JualJiiriiliun of Sc{uihitlon. p. lefi. A.D. I631>.
* Sec Prim, Govern, chap. xi. fcecu t^
iper j
IN A CBRISTIAN STATE.
457
the miraculous effect of excomtnunicaticn in the ApostJcs* tilDC, wbcD;, by visible punishmeDts iuflictcd on the excotu- nunirate hy cril angels, it appeared that they were cast out of ibe shadutT of Gocl's tiibemacle, and it wLU &eem as pro- bable, that this is the rod which St. Paul tlireatcns the Gorin- tbuuis with, 1 Cor. iv, 31 ; 2 Cor. x. 1, 8, as, " that many were fidi there,'' because they abused tbe Eucharist, 1 Cor. xi. 30. Thcrefbre, if this effect of the sentence came from the Apostles, the sentence also came.
^ 36. Here appears a necessary argument from the legisla- tive power of the Apostles to the whole Church. For as no Chruban can deny that the Constitutions of the ApoBtles oblige the Church, so it is manifest tbat tliey do not oblige it becauie the}' are written in the Scripture, for tliey were all io force in the Church before the Scriptures were written in which they arc related ; neither dulh it evidence tliat they itere firet delivered to the Church with assurance th&t ihey were, by express revelation, commanded to he delivered to the Church, or because they were passed by votes of the people; but bj virtue of the general commission of the Apa- ttlea, beiDg received in that tjuality by those that became Christiana, and so n^ade a C^hurch. So in matter of ordina- tions, It is: well known who they arc that have made the people believe that Paul and Barnabas ordained presbytera 83 in the Churches of their founding by voices of the people, ■ignified by tlie word ^etpoTopfjtTiitn-e^, Acts xiv. 23^; which being admitted, it is but an easy consequence to infer that all cuDgn^gattuI]s are absolute, because, making their prcshy- tCTB, they must needs first nmkc themselves Churches. But he tliat rrails the text without prejudice, easily sees that the act uronlaifimj; is here attributed to the Apostles, not to the people. " They*" the Apostles, *' ordained them," to wit, the Chufvh or people^ *' presbyters ; " therefore this Scripture •peaks not of election by holding up of the people's hands, but of onlinntion, by laying on the hands of ibe Apostles. And iJieruforc in the choice of the seven deacons, it is niani- 6st that the Apostles, though tlicy gave way to the people to nominalc, yet reserved themselves ihc approving of the pcnKMU, otherwise the people might have sinned, and the
> &tt riiin. Ciovem., chap. xiL tOCt. 12. notv o.
cnAt».
[GroundB oftheolili- grUion nf
precKpti.]
4€S
CHAR II.
[Of the
titntis
[IrilercHt oriUe
|H.>i}[ile-J
TM£ moHT 01* THE CHtiftClI
Apostlea borne the blaitie for it. For when St. Paul syiih. "Lay hrinds suddenly on no man, nor participate of otlier men^s sins," 1 Tim. t. 22, It ie manifest lUat he who imposes hands ought to have power not lo impose, because he Bim imposing amiss.
§ 37. I^ast of all, let ua consider how liberally the Church of Jerusalem parted with whole estates; the Church of Corinth maintained their feasts of love^ whereof we readSJ 1 Cor. xi. 17 ; the same Corinthiana, with other Churehej, offered to the support of the Churches in Judca, 2 Cor, viiL 1 ; the Philippians sent to supply St. Paul, Phil. ii. 25, 30 ; iv* 15; and all the rest which we liud recorded in the New Testa- ment of the oblatious uf the faithful to the maintenance of God's service : whence it shall appear, in due time, that the endowment of the Church ia estated upon it; and then let common sense judge whether this came from the under' siandingj and motion, and proper devotion of the people, or from their Christianity, obliging them to follow that order which the authority and doctrine of the Apostles should shew them to be requisite for their profession, and the support of the Church at that time.
§ 38. By all this, as it will easily appear that the chief interest and right in disposing of Church matters cuuld not belong to the people, under the Apostlea, bo is it not my piupose to say that at any time llie people ought to have nu manner of right or iuEcrcst in the same. For if the practice under the Apostles be the host evidence that we can ground law upon to the Chureli, then it is requisite to the good estate of the Church, and necessary for those that can disposes^* of the public order of it, to procure that it he such as may give the people reasonable satisfactiop in those thluf^ where- in they are concerned: which, what it requires, and how far It extends, I will say somewhat in general when we come to give hounds lo the several interests in the public jK>wer of the Church"'. In the meantime, as no water can ascend higher than it descended afore, so can no people have any further right and power in Church matters than that which the people had under the Apostles, because that is all the evidence upon which their interests can be grounded and
■■ la elisp. iv.
IN A CBAIS-TIAN STATE.
459
acknowledged, not require.
Lcse IB not to be granted; more tliey must chap.
m.
CHAPTER m.
■ TSAT TBB CHIEr rOWER OF EVEKT CBUBCA SBSTETn IS TBB BI&HOP AUD
I rKcanTTMBs, attb>d£d dt ran usacokb. tbat osl\ the power or
W Zm KZIS U COSVEaT[Bi.K WITH THE omCE OF COKSECHAIING TU13
I BCCBABIST. A.KD TUCRErORE, THAT TKEBE ABE NO LAt ELDERS. THE
miCBT or TKE BISHOP, FBESBTTEBS, AKB PSdPUS, U CBCRCB MATl-EBB.
TttBSE diings premised, I shall here Bupprae that theiiutthe
naaoaa heretofore advanced, arc sulHciGnt to provc^ that by Ji^.'^Jrrf
ardiuaace of the Apostles, the government of eveiy such V.'^^ .
Cbtircht consisting of the body of Christians in a city and the rostcth in
_ teititory thereof, is to rest in a Bishop, and a company or ahii [,res-
I college of presbyters, his council and assistanls in the exercise ,^^j|rji,'"
H of the chief power thereof, to whom are added the deacoDS to ^^^ '^*^"
B It- *^'"'*-
p Bllcnd them in executing tbeir uummands : adding on!}- fur tlie
present in confirmation of those reasons, as foUoweth.
§ 2. First, that there La an ordinary power, of governing [Dinvr-
Cburriics of their own planting, in the Apostles, easily to be tweenthe
cbstHngtusbed from the power of other Apostles, because, ^^,^^'^1*'
Mwbems the general commission extends the power of every siioi)*.]
Apoptlc to the whole Church : those things which we Bad re-
conted, cither in the Scriptures, or in other monnnieiits of
I biwtoricitt truth, which common sense cannot refuse to credit,
" do «bew nmuifcst arguments of the s^>ccial C]i.ereisc thereof, dc
/aet»f in special places, either by contract, when a Chriatiau
nuj tlwnlt that an agreement might bo recguisite among such
holj pciBuns as we sec GaL ii. J), or otherwise, by occupation
Bad ufte. And this ordinary power of the Apostles is as easy
to be dJ!i^lingui.shed from the power of Biahops. by the extent
of it, this of Bishops reaching only to the Church whereof
dicy arc made Bishops.
§ 3. Now, to make good the proof that James, Bishop of TThc suc-
Jenisalcm, was one of the Apostles, I must here auswcr two j^n.'^ "'
qnestions, which seem to make this opinion hard to beheve, '*'^'l
The first, because Megesippus iu Eusebius, oftentimes men-
460
THE EIGHT OF THE CRTRCH
CHAP, tioning Simeon the son of Cleopas, and that he succeeded
— ■ this Jnines in the government of that Church* never mentions
in one syllable^ any relation of his to this James whom he succeeded ; which, if they had heen bo near as brothers, it seems he would have done. The second is this ; because KXetwra? is manifestly a Greek name, being the diminutive of jKXcoiTOTpo?, and therefore nothing to Alphseus, which hathr auother, both original and significatiun in the Hebrew. The first makes no proof, because we have not Hegesippus, and therefore cannot presume that he nowhere said this, because wo find it not in those shreds which Eusoblua hath related out of him : neither ate we bound to presume that either he would write, or Eusebius relate out of him, that which we at this present conceive to be most necessary to be related, because of the dispute presently on foot, which to them, perhaps, was no dispute. In fine, fi-om that Avhich be says not, we cannot conclude the negative, but from that which he says, we may conclude the tantamount of the affirmative.
§ 4. For when Hegesippus, in Ensebius, Eccles. Hist. iv.22\ says, that Simeon was the second of otir Lord's cousins that was made Bishop of Jerusalem, to thera that knew by the i Gospel, that the cousins of our Lord, which it calls brothers, were Janica and Joscs, Sioioa and Judas, Malt. xiiL 55, he says in effect, that James and Simon were brothers; especially Euscbius, making the same Simeon the son of Cleopas and Mary, Ecclvs. Hist. iii. 32 '', which he seems to have froi^^J llcgcsippua. For seeing Mary Cleopas, John xix. 2d> is, il^H all probability, "Mary the mother of James the less, and ' Joses," Mark xv. 40, Matt, xsvii. 56 — because we read bat«9 of two Maries in the Gospel that foUowed our Lord, beside the Blessed Virgin p. Matt, xxvii. 61 — and seeing St Jude
thv ^Itumaf, iff Ka\ i KiJ'piDi iw\ t^ a?rr^ fiSytii, iriiAi,- A iK Sttoi aoritu Zu^cdjt- 6 Toil KA'Uira fcaSliTTaToi iirirrK6wris' i/J
Kipiau ifiTfpey.^-~p. I42. eA. Vali?a.
TipOf HBTtKTT^yOi rfli ip 'ItpcftoKiifnuis tKKXttiriai iirlaKowov iihtlKuaafttr ' . • - Nol Toirau fiaprvt . . , . 'HY't^i^"'t- — fi. 103 cd. VhIl-8.
p A rrugliirnt of Taji'ia.!, in die OdiI- 1t'«« L'\htiiry, Cntl. MSS. iat»7, spenks
of four Mnrie*. Il h publishFil liy
Gratic, Spjcilcg., SEeeut. i, lam, 5. pp.
3^-, 35. Oxon. Iffpp, *
Maria Ti)ik(i?r Domini; M&tu C]
;1ia', nivi' AlpliM, uxor, qns fuit niJI aciibiF>piHi['upi et AjxjBtoli, d Symfinit tt Thflriti, w cHJusdam Joseph; Muii Sfllome, uxor Zchidei, m&tei Johatmii evnngL'llKtii!, H JaraHi; Maria Ma^s- lene. lnx> ijuotupr ni pvanydio wpe- riuntuT. Jacobtift tt Judxs et Joseph, lilii eranl Tnal*!TteTft Dcmiini. Jacrvhux
"J
IN A CDRISTIAN STATE,
461
calls bimsoLf the brother of James, Jude 1, and seeing James CH ak
anil Simeon, Bishops of Jerusalena, are both cousins to our ^—
Lord — that i^ brothers in the language of the Scripture — according to Ilegesippus, it is to be thought that ho intended there to signify, that SimeoD^ llie son of Ct'eopas, and James Bi&faop of Jerusalem, were brothers: the age of Simeon, suf- fering a hundred and twenty y<?ars old, Eu&ebius, Eccles. HiH. iii. 32 S being so great lliat he might well succeed his brother in the chaige.
^ 5- Now Jnmos the soti of Alphs&us, might well be alao Mm of CIcopHf, and the same man's name Alphaeus and Cleopas; because of the custom which we Hud to have been AQMX^ the Jews, of calling themselves by one name among tiwir own conntrymen, and by another, oftentimes near the oClier in sound, among the Greeks and Romans ; for if Jason, in the Maccabees, were called Jesus among the Jews, as it spfwan by Jcsepbus, Antifj. idu G^', if Saul and Paul were one Apostle; if the first Bishop of Alexandria^ who is called Ananias in the Antiquities of that Church out of Eutychius', be called Anntanus in Eusebius*; if Silas be nothing else but Sjlranus; Luke, Jjucius; as learned men cannot choose but believe t why shall wc not believe thai the same man was cafled ^Sn, in the Mebrew then used, as his name is now written in the Syriac Testament, and KXfoira? in the Greek, being the diminutive of KXeoTrorpo?, an ordinary proper nam« nt thai time? And thus it cannot be contradicted, chat the Church of Jerusalem had one of the Apostles for the first Bishop of ii ".
§ 6. Now, whereas it is said that Timothy and Titus had [ofttw iliAt power which the Scripture witnesseth, as ovangeliste % it «c.i. (;i\en
loTimiitliy dii Jirrot iirh JlafiiS kei] XiiKTrivnir. anil TiLiU.]
Dumtni furrunl fllit. Maria Jacohi adiMiiia.ct Joacpti, RiAtrr, uKiir Alphei, lorar Ailt Mah» nutrii Domim i^uam CImbIi* Jithannc*. \t\ a piiET«, Tet a fltBtUiUtu (Wilis, vcl dia cauH. Ifuia Siloiiu Tri « riru, vcl « vjco 4Udvi tuncFUidcln Clvnphie ijuidam 4tMM 9flO(l tliicn ririK habuirHl. Maria, 4tdtBr i))iiniin»trix live "iclla mam; gawlE mtm lutnMt inundi; s«miun« JMtaD Rf rn Uomina nitncupatur, qiua nsKil boininmn-'^Printeo alao in Xe«L BcUo, Saer., lom. i. p. 10.
gal athm fiaprvptj iritiy &v iKaror fT- jfOff*f.— p. 104. fU- Vales,
' 'O ^^J* otv 'ifJtfD't'i 'iditmva iatnhv iJ.f:Tarv6iiaa*v. — ^Ca[i, v. p. J3I. edi Hiid'Hin.
* Eut)>cbu Ongmc», p. 3S. ed. Sal- dcn. Lirndin. UH2.
' Ei-ckiL Hist, lib. ii^ cap. x»t, p. 66. ed. Vales.
* See Prim. QOTem., cliap^ Si. aaCL 2, 3.
* " Timoiby and Tilm were not left to ordaiM ridtri an DUkop*, bat eu rvan-' ffrlitttt whose ofllPtF wna alike cxtia-
'■ft A f', tit %f, '.0t '>aidcc0£ 'zyK -vim Sayore it can ^pear that
msat^^issx, m erai«s^s, had anr povrr in sdt Chmdi?
lluu thfj wen ccv in mk and esteem to tlie AposUea, I
f^MiU \itcauat of the Sui^jtuna, 1 Cor. xii. 28, Eph. iv. 11 ;
f Ifkt 'J*it»t wa» ao eran^I^ a§ well as Hmothr, 2 Tun. iv. 5,
I *\'} Mifrre; becaose St. Panl san there, that be was gooe
irit/f Dalrriatia; whidi being port of IllTricam, whither SlPwI
lifwl piirfHiHcd toadrance the Go^icl, as tod saw afore % there ia
Kfc'it iiiifMrarancc that, being in durance, be employed TltoB
lo prcfirh the Gfwpcl and plant Churches there, as well «b to
K"vrn) tlu! Churches already settled in Crete; and that bj
I III' mwxw. rciiKon ait himself governed all the Churches of hii
(■linrKc, lluL having shewed t such probabilities, to think th^tt
I'vitngcliptiN wore no more than a secondary rank of Apostlei^
lliitt in. inrn oinploycd by the Apostles upon any work; it
rnttnul ho Hiiid (hat by the quality of evangelists they had
pimiM' fo ptvorn any Church; unless it can be shewed that
llio Hitvk OH which tliey were employed was the governing of
•iM I li'il \ 'huivhoM ; which cannot he shewed of any but Timothy
mill TihiK, bv iho cplstlos to them, which shew that they two
\^('i^t np|vvtnUHl in dial quality at Ephesus and in Crete. For
!• prtphmn, ihrti i*» K|>MphnKlitus, for the names are both one,
\\\M wrt» oHtploM^l by ihc Philippians to St Paul, PhiL it
^\ '\y\ wft* tA*<\ otnpIoYod — no doubt by St Paul, or by some
t»ih»'i *M iho V|Hwios, unto!!S we will say that he depended
»i»»( iMt ili,^«v ^>^nti«r> to thai which hath been proved — to
\s\>m\\ \\w 1*ax|v1 (o the l\>lossians, i. 7; and therefisre as
» \'«»)hO*»i h> 0»on>» Imu «o Ai^)varance of any commission to
M<^^t-ti^ \\\M ^^hoivh : his ohar^ to the Colossians not hinder-
*um ht» vm^O,^> «>,H« M St l>a«l ftwn the Philippians. On
\W \^\\\\\is\\^ \\w y\sw\T^Tfisi^^\t» pvcty "nmothv and Titus, by
il\. i>i\(m)v\ 1)n^^^^s) ro th«NnvM>r so &r from being temporary,
y*\'i\ hi \\^-»v nt> **n\->x w»ai> Th«i wotild g^ve them to him
>\l\»^"» iti'^xv''' ^>'** "ihMS^Ni n> <v««r t*>-TOO(rPow ■.
4tn Timo:t^y i* cx}treashr ootfmuBded r^ Ar thr vrtL a: an fVTLpplirt. 1 Tim. \ .\ ■ A"ottnr.'» War of thr Chnrebes, o^nh >' ^Ct":. ^ n. 4fi. LnndoL 1M5l ^ .~^IH^ i> *K">. SI. Piim. Goran-,
!*-im I'-tn-t-n... riikii. xii. wet. 16.
N 'iio ^^.TviS;.. .-)t«ii. ». fwcl. Sfi. Si.
>i< 1. fu: KB.- !^ul fram Killing
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IN A CHRISTFAN STATE.
463
{ 7. Ilencp we hove a competent rcflson why the name of Bishops shoutd be common tu Bishops and presbyters in the New Testamppt, though the thing, which is the power, never wn&. Because the chief Bishops of that time bore another
IquaUtjr, of Aposilcs, evaiigclists or apostles of the Apostles : b; which, while they were called, it is reasonable to think that other Bishops and presbyters — between -whom there wag Dot that dhitance as bctncen the ppreatest of them, aud Apo- atlca or evangelists — should he called by the common nftme of Bishops. An inetauce yoa have in the syni^uguc : fur the bodiea of Jews residing in the several cities of their <Us[^)er- noDft bcinf; governed by colleges or consistories of preshylcrs, both the heads and the members of those colleges arc called a common name in the plurtd ntimbcr^ a^orres t% r^» Acts xviii* 8, 17, or apj(i(ruifarfaiyoi, xiii. 15, which, "TiTllic Gospels, seems to be the same with ap;^oiTc? absolutely,
ILukc xiv. t : which notwithstanding we find expressly iti £piphBnJu8> that the chief of them was called also Archi- ajoagqgus, kot i^ox^v, hts inferiors, presbyters, the deacons 'A^iuKnu in Epiphanius' Greek", as in the Jews' writings min. So that we are to think, th&t In those times alao, n whereof the Scriptures of the New Tesinment speak, there was oDC set over the rest, though all go by one name; bccauM we know that in the great consistory, whether at Jeniailein or in tlieir dispersions, so it wa*? always. By this Gonvapondence — having shewed afore That the power of the coMMCoricg is that which tlic Church succeeds the synagogue in — it JB manifest lliat all the seeming diihculty of this little otncctioD it rt^muved.
^ 8. To the argument drawn from the angels of the 8cven
Churches of Asia, I add only a reply lo the answer that is
brought, thai angels stand there for presbyteries or
CHAP.
II I-
[Wliy the nRini; of
wa* once
C<.i'|]|[Ili>ll
lo Did hop* and pr^f^ byicrs.]
gelt of tt^o
■even
CtiurL-tiD*
wprc
fiis1in]is.]
hj ianiitrdri in E[i')icsiis, that he MlMt omiiflluiUjr t«ncl« tiim up and
iwmn ■pen *n Ch uicU urv i ares, ,
MlhM 11 apfW* l)iat Timnthy was no BuIiDv. bui a □imioter. hh evsngeUft,
a r< ' ruftlie Apwtles
XTi, f in SpripUire concern-
'Wfc '■ i^i PauI, m it U con-
Mjf . <1 m^D, iliil first 4MiiLme
bUA Ujf it'ii'HBoip af im luboura in the flmt of Jolin, and naic Mm hia coni-
paninn, .... from Cilii-ia he pasi^Ui
to Crete be k-fr Tilua thero Sot a
Khilc ' (0 *el in onltr titiiijfa ikal re- main.' Vrt., it wriji im.t /or a uibitf, for in hif cpt»tle whirh lie wrote to bim, not many ytnit nftei, Ke ciijaids Uim to come to him lo Niiapulia," . ,^ Snw Ply 111(111 us, secL siii,
' Sue I'rim. Covem., chap. kii. aeet lii. lUtig. AHeiubL, chap, iii, s«ct 18, note x-, and wet. \0.
THE RIGHT OF THE CHU&CQ
CBAV: «g|h|{W of pTH^Vtcrs. ''. For now it appean too ^ross lo
MfjCb ft"" Churches in that place, because the Scripture sail
capitnlT, Rev. i. 20. that the Churches are there signiiiecl hy QMldfasdckti; mid it appears now an inconvenience to takt cfct candlestick for the candle =. But no less inconvenience win be $sL<cn in tliis answer, if we consider that it must be provwi to signify so cither by some reason of grammar or of Tbctoric. That an angel ia put for a presbjter, or Bishop^ is a mttaplior very reasonable, because of the correspondence betvecu ihctn; but an angel cannot stand for presbyters, br nman of gmmmar, unless either the word be a collcGtiTe, ngnifying a multitude in the singular number, or else tbe^i consUuctJon shew that the singular stands for the plural ; nor by reason of rlietoric, unless somebody can shew us how au luigcl is like a college ; none of which reasons is to be Bee^H either in tho text or in the nature of the subject. ^^
§ 9. To the premises 1 add now this argument, drawn from UlKt obsorvntion which I have advanced, in the book of the Apoatolical Form of Divine Service, p. 71 "^^ out of the Apo- stolical Consititutiuns, Igntitius, Dionysiua Arcopagtta, and the Jews' conctilutions that^ in the primitive Church, the p; bytcnt were wont tu sit by thcmselvcB, in a half circle, at Mkat «tid of the church, with ihoir faces turned to the feces the jH'ople, the deacons stjinding behind tbcm, as waiting on them, but the Bkhop on a throne by himself, in the midst of thi' presbyters' seats. For if this form were in use under the ^ A]KUilU^ tlien was the dilferencc of Bishops and pro&bytelfH lm>u^ht in by omlinance of the Apostles; and that It wag in use uudiT the A(Kwtles may ap]>ear by ihe representation of the Church triumphant, Rev. iv. and v. ; for be that knows the pn'tuij««^ Jind fiwU there twcnty-fonr elders, equal in number to lUe twelve hcatli of llie tribes of Israel, and the twelve
IHMl
I the J )res-fl
HI
< ^'Tw which WW aniDriT, Iiri>i, ihjii .j^,iuu( i>. ili..« . |i».i1r« ia |itit roJfrrftiWp
II,. k|>pt«r>L by :]>c
yjL. . I . ... U'hal cnii \iv
n\Mv fM>kiil. Ii' ittovi'.lhat liy Anjirl U
lllMttt, IK'I '»HV MUflHlu |U-niUII, hut tho
mIioIv iH«j»]Wiiv nf nre«hylpr« tlwt wrrr |ii'i'liVAlir«.">-Stiii,v*yii»)uiis,4tv(. %'ul
* •' W« •!■> iwi c«ftA>niitl ibff Anfrb
anil th« Churchef — we know Utttt h Ck dlstinrCian Ww-»n thp' aUn and tite iMUiillfstk>k&— but me affirm. UlAl ihr Tpislk's are writtcTi tu tb« Churcht» u well aa lo Ihe .\ll(^ls, and to all tht Angels aa well as to any anc" — Vlnclj. cation or ihe Ausivcr to th« Humble Rcnioitatnuitt, secL xHL )». 147, Lon- dou Itiil. * Chap, iv, wet, .1-^.
1
IN A CHRISTIAN STATE.
405
.^lostles, suTToundnl witli ntini^termg epirils standing about diem — as the deacona in the cburcli stood about the pres- bjrters — the congregation standing with their faces turned to the presbj-wrs, as the people in the church al Divine sen'ice; bow can he doubt that ihe throne of God^ in the midst of the tbroocs of the twenty-four presbjters, is correspondent to iHe Bishop's chair in the Church miHtant, under the AptHtles, Jctiowing tliai bu $oon after the Apostles just &o it was taitd?
§ 10, Tbcy that expound this vision to resemble the camp of Israel in the desert. Numb, ii,'— where, about the ark were four sundanls, answenible to the four creatures about the throDe, then the tribe of L.eri cjiTirouing the sanctuary, and the camp of Israel that — do make the four creatures as far distADl frotu the throne as the standards of the four leadiug tlibcs were from the tabernacle, and ihe presbyters' seats to CQpip— s the tlirone, iK-hind, before, and on both sides: wfacWiM, in the rision of Isaiah, vi. 1 , and Ezckiel, )■ 1, which all agree that this is borrowed from, the four creatures stand close lo the throne, a£ attending peculiarly upon God's immediate cOainHUuls. Besides, the four creatures arc said to stand ^ tUff^ ToO 0p6voVf iced fcvicK^ rov 6p6i>ouj Rev. Iv. 6, that is, two At lite two fore<;orners, and two al the two hind-comers of the throne : for otherwise it cannot be understood how they can bo said to stand both round about the throne and in the maddJeof the throne, which the text snjs expressly — that Is, in the distance, beti%*ecn the throne and the presbyters' scats -^which wonls can have no sense if we conceive the four cteaiurcs to stand where the four standards of the camp etood. Bcaidea, the Lamb ia said to stand dva fjAtrovTov Opovav, vii. 17, which ifi more expressly said, iv. 6, to be in the midst of the ifanxie, creatures, and ciders: which words expressly describe thai compass of a half circle, which the throne, environed with the fonr creatures and the twenty-fonr presbyters' seats, makes, in which compass the Lamb is properly dcscribetl to stand brfoTf the throne.
[Tlie
SI. JchI
i>j us thl Church imhEimt
* ACi^ue tU, ul jam Lnndem ftniam, Thronum in NUitiiito \mc con^msu.
LrfllU •! «HcerdMi)iu>, rjualnor ani- ma!b qiialcior <.-ai>tTlk [>iTn«lilicLa riv
THOaitPlKK. II
npnnJpTe ; id ■est, toMiTH etiiifCMuni priHriP illlll^ ruslramplaHonin in tpemo
niilii viiipor. — Mrdic, Comtti. Apcw., Ptir. ]'nvn. ill- XigiliM, p. ^^Ci^ Lunnlou ]ni33.
h
466
THE RIGHT OF THE CHUBCH
CHAP. § 11. Again, the mullitudc that stands before the throne
'■ — and the Liimbj vii. 9, are manifestly the same that arc called
the aouls under the altar, vi. 9, though commonly thej are conceived to lie under the altar, and from thence to cry for vengeance ^ For the altar there mentioned is nol the aliar of burnt sacrificcsj but the altar of incense before the veil : which Incense, lu this case, ia the prayers of the saints, which the elders offer, v. 8, and. the nngel puts incense to, viii, 3 ; where- upon follows the vengeance which the soula under the alt&rM desired, who having while robes granted them, instead of that present jnstice which their prayera solicited, are afterwards described standing with their faces toward the throne, the Lamb, and the eldei-a; as the people in the churchy at Divine service, towards the Bishop and presbyters : which partici^acs, too long here to be deduced, ate easy to be observed by com- paring Rev. V, 8; vi. 9, 10, 11; vii. 12, 14; vlii. 3, 4, 5. Add hereunto the saying of Ignatius », that the Bishop in his church bears the figure of the Tather of all, to wit, in the whole Church triumphant; and unto that the ordinary ei- presfiion of the Jews, when they use the term of " Goil aud His hou.se of judgment," li*": n'21 nws that is. His court or consis- tory, to represent the majeety of God sitting in council, or in judgment upon the world, with the ann:els about liJm^ In the Old Testament™ hut the saints in the New, attended by the angels. Matt six. 28; Luc. xxii. 30; 1 Cor. vi. 2 ; Rey. xi. 4. wliich ospresffiion of theirs is manifestly borrowed from t Scriptures of (he Old Testament, everywhere representing the majesty of God in this posture, Pb, Ixxxix^ 7; Dan. vii. 9; Ps. cxlii. 1 ; Deut. Kxxiii. 2; and you have not only a com- mentary upon this whole passage, but also a conAnnation ofsi all that hath been or shall be said, that the Bishops and prcs-
th^j tlW
' Si^if!c&ri hie duplex aUftnt, in- Hcet, altare ha]iH?nu!itoniTn, c)uad ent in atrio; el altar? ihyiitiamnlis, quod eral in sjjnclo. In \\]d enim quasi immolnta, el nub eo qiiAM sepulla sunt corporis martvTuni : in hoc vcro pnat mortem tranalalx anime eonim ; titiasi reqiiicBCUiit jugo thynimmn imtdi* Deo fXhalnnteB. Diro ergo priniff, alliidi <:l noUri hie «)uro holoc&tifilOnim. Id palel, quia ?ub mi lalenl ammsr inter.
fi^clDTuai^ id e^l, immolntorum alUri : et quix tlutisnt, po^uUn viiidictam bus lltiiriDlBtiDiii.'i.^ComeC a Lnpide, CcmTn, in Ajinc. ti. 9,
Xpittrbr 'lijaouf 01/ tpihtucti rliirii tov r6wDu- iii (toJ & "^EwliTKOwos tdE tloT^r
•rSfySXttvTvirotl^dfx*'' — Epist, iaterf. ad Trsll. cnp. iii. p. 6+. ed. Coteler. The poKimgie Is corrupt in ihp grnuinc-
I
bytprs arc ihe same id the Church, as the Sanhedrin and the cii a1 bead of them in the synagogue. — ^
§ 12, All this is jet more fortified by the testimony of [Chatmof Tertullian, De Prescript, c&p, xxxvL^j that the very chairs si'i^.]^^ in which the Apostles sat, in their churches, were extant in hia time: "as," gaith he, "were also the very originals of their cpistleSj in the Churches to whom they were sent;" and ail the chair of St, James, at Jerosalcm, was extant m Euaebius's time, Eccks. Hist, vii, 10', add further, "The iqipemiost eeais in the Eytiagogue&, which the scribes nud Fharificca desired/' Luke xi. 43 : add the Apostle, 1 Cor, xvt. 29, 30, distinguishing hetwccn the seate of private per- aorts and prophets, which the supposed St. Ambrose expounds by tl»c ciistum of silting in the synagogue, as I have shewed in the same place''; add, "The chair of Moses, on wliich ibe i«crihes and Pharisees sat," Matt, xxiii. 2; in Bucfcs- «OD to him, who taught the people in that pc^tiiro, with the priestd sitting about him, as Philo' expaimdcth the text, Nutah. XV. 33; and I suppose we have not only evidenced to common eense the superiority of the Bishop above the prcsbytcra,. by his place in the Church, but also the distinc- of the cloi^y from the people by the same"'.
5 13. Which point that I may deduce with that care which [Prosby- dio consequence of il requires, it will be worth the inquiry, ..'"^^f^J^^ fimt, by what title of right the celebration and consecration [|^^^[^i"'''"^ of the Eucharist belongs only to presbyters: which, ns it leeau lu Iw agreed upon ou all sides, so let the reason alsu once be agreed upon, why it belongs only to theni, and thereby it will appear that it is convertible with the power of the keys; that is, thai ibe power uf the keys also belongs only to presbylere, whereas the offices of preaching and
ritod \»t{on ill Rtllg. AM«mlj., hr. vKL 5.
itWKawiip wp^t utrriiS rati Z«rr^fKi( leai
f«W 'Avotfr^Xvr MDiffa^iVoiU'
tit laifw w^Karffdifof al TTJSt xarit
rtiit wi^m tniitirnvvrTai.'^i'. 265. ed.
^ H<Ii^. Awetnb , chap. iii. >c-cl. 1 3-
waptiaritHti 5i airffwa«fa if wTtHt^lt Itphi ijcpiiiai¥' — Dv VitA Mosis, [i. 6HS.
» "NeLtlieriJu wpti'kiiawlMlg'C ruling HiWrs in tlie Ctiurt;!! <io be Iny rkltria pr(ft>i?fly ; *iii to wiy wtibiinf qf the ftiilim-iitin Itelreren liui virr^if and iaitjf, wliU'li U 'i/ » lrti¥T ri}ition lliaii Apo*tolie titan," — CotHni'* Way orchcCLurchm, dliflp. ii, leul. 2, |>. 24.
ub2
4€S
THE RIGHT OF THE CUUECH
CHAP, baptizing are communicable to their inferiors, and tlial it
' — l>elongs also to all presbyters, and. so by consequence that
there is no giich thing as lay elders. [Dpfeciof § 14. The presbyteriana% staling their pastors "ministers of byicfLati the word and Sacraments," in opposition to their lay elders^ ^^•i seem to ground this right upon the coramisaion of our Lord to His Apostles, ** Go preach and make disciples all nations, baptizing them," as if this were the oftiicc wherein presbyters succeed the Apostles, though of the Eucharist there is here never a word. But if they consider what it is to preach the Gospel to unbelievers,, or rather what it was before the Gospel wsis received anywhere, it will easily 99 appear, that unless ihcy be niadtncn that go about it, it is necessary that they be endowed with abilities to make it appear, even to the enemies of the Gospel^ that they are sent by God to preach it- Therefore no man succeeds the Apo- stles in. the office of preaching the Gospel to the natioi And therefore, if they will take notice, they shall observe that tlie titles of " minister of the Gospel," " minister of the word of the New Testament," " minister of the Churchj" and others equivalent, are never giveti to auy but the Apostles in the St^ri ptiires, unless it be to their scholars and substitutes, the evangelists; because they were to the Apostles as the Apostles to Christ, and Christ to God; that is, they were ministers of the Apostles, assumed by them to the work which Christ Lad trusted them in person with, of preaching the Gospel and planting Christiauity : and therefore,
Apo- ^ ation^^j
■ itier-ar I
° Hinc diitramuH Apotiiulatuiii nun eBse inancin honoris tituluni, Bcd npe- rofum niunuii.idfuqiif nihil mngts esac ■ bfiUTduni <rel tniniis lulciabLli.- qtiain ut libi Isrvnli homines UBurpciit fauiic lioiioreLTi qm oiiost n^iiuitcs, doccndl niliQliK a f^e rpjiciunt. A Papa Rocnimo cjusque co-hurtt superbe fiTJcecssii) hsti jictatiir, qUEui cotninuiiein ctini Pctro Bt »jud coll^gin |i«niotmm BUBltoeiiTit : .... hoc uiwi verbo satis v«.1ide pron- leniitur fmilia corunn literarchia. 71*0^
Hutliu jipattchrum sHCfntff' rtif potest tiiaj 9111 tuam in Er'tngfiii fir/rdimHoHr ifwmm CkrUto itnpfndil.- de>iii]W imU- 9KM Jwlorii pnTfrn ntitt iwpSrtf pfrperam nomen Apatliili nwiiftVur.— -Culriii. Hap- mon. EwttiigtS, in S. Mj^tth. xxvUi, 19, " WhosOEvef bj (lib oflice may teacli,
by liU DfTico may ailministfT the Si< mcnti, for C]in*( gLvclh one and the iBiTit roy&l p&tont ami comniiMion foi bolh.^tallli.*Exi-iii, IT." — Kiithcrfurd's Due Right of Prcsliylerics, p. I(>7- Lwo- don. I6U.
''' t'nlo the pnslorfi appertains llu lea'chin^ of L}ie vkorii of UocI, irt kmho and out of season, puMicly kitdl pri- WAlely, Hlways travelling Co edify, Wid discharge his- conscim^e, as O "~ Tdrd prc«L-Tibc<s to him. Unto fiASloni only appertains tlie adminis: tton of llic- ^acraintnU, in li1c« iq]#ii'qe7 fls ihe sdrninidrnlJtm of tW word." — The Secund Uook uf DL&ciplme, c-hap. til, in the Doctrine and DtseipHnc oC ihc Uhurch lOf Scotland. K " ' 10(1.
T» A CQStSftAK STATE.
111.
When n^cd was, were able to muke their commtssion appear cilAPl hv ihe trorks thev Uidj tliuuf^h in an inferior degree, because ■ ibev proceeded upon thai stock of reputation which the Apo- stles had won the Gospel by their preaching and miracles.
5 15. Such titles you shall find attributed to the Apostles, and tbeir fbllowcrs and substitutes, 1 Cor. iii. 5 ; 2 Cor. Ui. 6 ; w. 4 ; «i £3 ; Col. i. 23, 25 ; Eph. iiL T ; vi. 21 ; 1 Thess, iii. 2; Col. iv. 7; L 7; Acts i. 17: vi. 4; xx. 34; xxi. 19 ; but nowhere to presbj'lerB, For the nfimc of prpsbyters, aa ■Iso c^ Bishops, js relative tu the people of those Churches whereof they are Bishops and presbyters, signifying theiu to be ibe best cpialifietl of all the body of those Cluirches, dwecji and constitute to conduct the rest in ChrUlianity. And therefore the Ajwstles also fire presbyters, as St. Peter and St. John style tbcuisclTcs, 1 Pet. v, 1 ; 2 Johu 1 ; 3 John I ; because the greater includes the less, and because lb«y bad power in all Churches, as presbyters in one: but preibytere ore never called Afiostlosj because the greater is Dot included in the lees, and because presbyters never bad comniiasiun "to preach the word or the (lospcl," lu the sense whereof I speak here, that is, to publish the Gospel to un* believers.
I 16. And whereas Uiere is the same difference between [Diat €varfy«>J^0(u and tcfpiHjireiv on the one part, and Bt.Bd<Tic£iv '^^l^^*^' on tJhcolher, as ihetc is belweeu "pubhshinc the Gospel to fi'iaihing
.1- 1 ■ . .->i ■ ■ 1 t- ■ ■ 11 wkI leach.
unbciicvcTS, and instructing Christian assemblies in it: we lug. 1 never find the former attributed to any presbyter in the ScripiurcB, but we find both attributed to tlie Aposlk's, be- cause their commission was tu "publish the Gospel to all and to make them disciples, by baptizing them:' ig such, to "teach them," further, ''Co observe all that our Lord coromandeth," Matt xxviii. 19, 20; Mark iri. 15. llius the Apostles, Acts v. 42, "ceased not to teach and preach Jc$u$ Christ, m bouses and in the temple:" "to leach" the Chiurcfa in those houses where the Christians aoaembled to serve God as Christians, and "to preach" to the Jews iu the temple, whither llicy resorted for that seis lice, Acts Vu 42, 46 ; so. Acts xv. 35, Paul and Baniabaa cuntiuued at Anliochia, " tcacluiig," that is, the Cbiirch, and "preaching the Gospeb" to wJT, to utibelicvers.
470
THB SIGHT or TUB CHUI
CHAP, 111.
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f 17, And wilh the same difference it is said uf oiir Lord in the GoHpela, Matt. iv. 23 ; ix. 35 ; xi. 1 ; that He '* taught," to wit, as a prophet — who had alwajs the privilege of teach- ing in the synagogues, as Ilia disciples also by the same title — and "preached the Gospel," as sent by God for that oitra- ordinary purpose. But though the Apostles being sent to preach the Gospel, were by consequence to teach the Cburcht yet ia it never said that presbytere, being appointed to teach the Church, were also called to preach the Gospel. For their relation hoing to Churches as much persuaded of the truth of Christ'tatiUy as themselves, they needed no such qualities RB might make evidence thnt they were sent immediately firom God, to convince the world of the truth of it; but only loi Buch understanding m it above the people of their respective t'hurehcs, as might enable tbcm to conduct the people there- of in it. And therefore whnt hindereth their inferiors also to bo employed in teaching the Church, which now we call pjenehhig? For if onr Lord and His Apostles employed their respective ministers in teaching those whom they could not attend tipon themselves ; and in all Churches, af^er the example of the first at Jerusnlem^ dencons or ministers were ordained to wait upon the Bishops and presbyters of the same, in tlie execution of iheir office, is it not the same tiling fur BIsEiops and prcsbytei^ to employ their deacons in prrnehihg to those of their own Church, as ic ia for the Apo*tlos at JtM'Ufititem to employ St. Stephen, and St, Phi1i[i, St. Pnul, Timothy, or Krastus, or Tychiciis, or Epaphroditus, ID prvachuig to unbelievers? fbr there remains as much dilferrncc in tlieir charges i^ in their cbie& ^m whom they arc employed.
$ IK Besides, who i» able to prore by the Scriplarcs th«l dioM wlu) an called doctors, 1 Cor. xu. £8; Eph. iv. 11, miv idl of tiwm men ordained by impositton of bands as prasbytrfs? liccwmi vhom and evangelists there eectna to bft the 0IUIW difference «t between twayytXt^Eo^mi and xigpvr-ta 0t»9t on tbo one put, and it&irwar on tbe other; this ivlMing to ttoenbliMi of Cbrisciais, and imparting the in- itnictiii([ nf them in th« right Bpdwstmdiog of (hat Chris- tiamitr. viudt they alreoilY believe and fvofctt; that, to tfawc who art noi ('br««iwn» as uudntalnng to redbce them to
IM A CHRISTIAN STATE.
471
iriatlanttv, wMch supposeth comtnissiun and abilities answer- c!l A P. sbk. Further, the supposed Su Ambrose, upon Eph. jv. 11", — ~- cotnparing evangelists with deacons, says that deacons also lAught vrlthoul a chiLir : the custom of the Churcli then admitting them to preach upon occasions, but not sitting, as tlie Bishop and presbyters did: because thej did iiot flit, but stand, in the church — as the angels tn tlie Revelation, aboul the presbyters' chnirs^ — as attendiug upon llieir com- mandsL And what is this but the same which you 5nd in use in the synagogue. Acts xiii. 16, where Paul "stands up" to preach, whereas our Lord "sits down," like a doctor, when He goes In preach in the synagogue, Lute iv. 20? by which ic Appears, that it was of custom, drawn from the