Velitationes Polemicae: OR, polemical short DISCUSSIONS Of certain particular and select QUESTIONS. By I. D. Phil-Iren-Alethius.  1 THES. 5. V. 21. Prove all things, hold fast that which is good. {αβγδ}; plate. in Cratyl. 
LONDON, Printed by W. H. and are to be sold by Robert Littlebury at the Unicorn in Little Britain. 1651.   

Elenchus Quaestionum.  Of 

1. Reformation.  
2. Prelacy in Church-Government.  
3. Ruling Lay-Presbyters.  
4. Lay-Teachers.  
5. Places appropriate to Divine Worship.  
6. solemn set Prayers in public.  
7. The Election of Ministers.  
8. The Maintenance of Ministers.  
9. Set festival Dayes in the Church.  
10. The Liberty of prophesying.  
11. Things given to Religious Uses.  
12. The Supreme Power in matters ecclesiastical.    

Corrigenda aliqua, aut alias( omissa) interserenda, quae non abs re Lectoris fore judicavi, si hic in ipso statim vestibulo operis annotata darem.  
QUest. 1. pag. 6. num. 8. lin. 8. leg.— Anichristian violence which should be; p. 9. l. 4.— Ezra cheese among them. n. 11. l. 6. 2 Chron. 23. v. 16. p. 11. n. 14. in Margin.— D. Halic. l. 5. n. 199. p. 13. n. 12. l. 19.— 1 Pet. 2. p. 15. n. 19. l. 6.& 7.— Now once after a making it 
Vestrum( in quit) fuit O Milites mihi dare regimen Imperii:- Verùm ubi hoc ego suscepi, meum jam est, non vestrum, de rebus cogitare Communibus Valentin. dictum apud P. Diac. Hist. l. 12.  over from the people, where before it lay virtually& tanquam in semine, or further, instrumentally( at most) to be disposed of, principally in the hands of God, Dan. 4. v. 17. Rom. 13. v. 1. so properly—  
Qu. 2. p. 34. n. 2. l. 6.— Isid. Pelus. l. 3. Ep. 216. p. 46. n. 18. l. 3. deal.— and godly— p. 51. n. 57. in Marg.— Socr. Ep. 27. p. 57. n. 30. in Marg. Nam in Alexandriâ& per totam Egyptum, si desit Episcop. &c. Aug. Qu. in yet.& Nov. Test. c. 101.& rursús, p. 6. n. 33. p. 58. n. 35. l. 10.— For and so &c. n 32. in Marg.— Marsil. Patavin. &c.  
Qu. 3. p. 88. n. 20. l. 3.— Laying on of hands of the Presbytery, p. 96. n. 29. l. 15. after wanting, leg.— according to that of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 6. v. 5, 6. Is it so that there is not a wiseman among you, &c. But brother goeth to Law with brother, and this before the unbelievers?  
Qu. 4. p. 109. n. 18. after {αβγδ}— that Lay-persons ought not at any hand to invade or usurp the Pulpit.  
Qu. 5. p. 125. n. 3. l. 5.— indeed not properly any at all, p. 131. n. 11. l. 2. yet, Sanctus Marcialis, who lived, as some are of opinion, near to—  
Qu. 6. p. 147. n. 14. l. 3. {αβγδ}, p. 150. n. 17. l. 3. Disparate, p. 160. n. 22. in Marg.— {αβγδ}; Cedren. Hist. n. 107. p. 162. n. 26. l. 18.- affect, p. 163. l. 3. in the makers.  
Qu. 7. p. 166. n. 1. l. 6.— nearly, p. 179. n. 19. l. 6-a rhetorical and mere figurative, &c.  
Qu. 8. p. 190. n. 8. l. 11. causally-p. 200. n. 23. in Marg.- Ang. Polit. l. 12. Ep. 31.  
Qu. 9. p. 229. n. 23. in Marg.- {αβγδ} {αβγδ}— n. 215. in Marg.- {αβγδ}.  
Qu. 10. p. 259. n. 26. in Mar. {αβγδ}, n. 27. in m. Isid. Pelus. l. 3. Ep. 363. p. 288. n. 28. {αβγδ}; Const. Ep. ad alexander.& Arr. apud Gel. Cyzic. in Act. Synod. l. 2. c. 4.  
Qu. 11. p. 262. n. 19. l. 18.- {αβγδ}, p. 265. n. 23. in Marg.— Liv. decade. 5. l. 2. c. 3.  
Qu. 12. p. 289. l. 13. {αβγδ}—] p. 310. n. 9. l. 4.— 1 Cor. 5. p. 311. l. 2. unless they will serve. &c. p. 331. n. 18. in Marg.— Sen. de Benef. l. 4. c. 34, 35.  
— Errata Caetera quali acunque levioris momenti, ut quae sensum orationis non Corrumpant sc:, nec moram aliquam securè alioquin perlegenti iniiciant, in numeris, voculis, punctis, accentibus &c. hic& illic crebrò plus satis occurrentia,( nè {αβγδ} nimis sollicitè videar.) Ipse pro libito suo vel praetereat, vel emendet, candidus Lector.   

Of REFORMATION.  
REformation here propounded as the Subject of our present Disquirie, bespeaks properly some certain addition, some kind of alteration for the better, any where attempted whether in Church or State affairs. Where the Quere yet is not of the Thing, but of the manner: not whether such a Reformation if just occasion require it, may and ought to be, but whether it may, or should be endeavoured by violence, as to Religion; or simply, and in any respects, without concurrence of the Head-Magistrate.  
Hic modus, Haec nostro; and both ways( as so) I conceive it utterly unlawful, for these ensuing Reasons.  


Argu. 1ma.  What directly and in terminis contradicts the word, is,( without peradventure) not to be enterprised or undertaken by Christians.  
But Reformation assayed by outward violence, directly and in terminis, contradicts the word;  
Ergo—   
Reformation assayed by outward violence in matter of Religion, directly, and in terminis, contradicts—] For that so, the weapons of our warfare, saith he, meaning it by the the gospel, are not 
Arma nostra non sunt scutum& gladius-Primas. in loc. Non facta de ferro, nec manu hoins fabricata &c. Sedul. Hybernic. Ibid.  carnal, but mighty through God, 2 Cor. 10. v. 4. And what these are more particularly, you have it expressed, Ephes. 6. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God. The breast plate of righteousness, is one, v. 14. the shield of faith, is another, v. 16. the Helmet of salvation, a third, v, 17. No room here for Sauls spear, or goliath his Sword, in the Christian mans armoury.  
again, Not by might, nor by power, 
{αβγδ} ( alias Army) but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts, Zach. 4. v. 6. which words as they point forth to us Zerubbabel the Son of Shealtiel,( and Zerubbabel, 'tis true, with the rest of the Israelites now returned from Captivity, having undertaken a repairing of the material Temple, then ruinated and laid waste, met with resistance, and were forced to an use of their military weapons, Nehem. 4. v. 13. 14.) So doth it further, and that principally relate to a future building, a building of the spiritual Temple, the Church of Christ, C. 6. v. 12. 13. And accordingly our Saviour, the Architect or Master builder designed for this great work, when he comes afterwards, He sends forth his Disciples abroad into the World, Mat. 28. with Commission of teaching the gospel, i.e. of gently persuading it;( Therefore doth the Apostle join them together. These things teach and exhort, 1 Tim. 6. v. 2.) not of enforcing it after some hostile or violent manner: Appositely hereupon 
Tractat. de reign. Christi.  Melancthon, Cum igitur Apostoli, saith he, tantum habeant mandatum docendi, impium est sentire quod doctors Evangelii debeant armis constitùere quaedam Imperia, aut Regnum tale in quo isti dominentur: Judaicum hoc delirium est, Anabaptisticum. &c.  
Christs gospel, and that not without some special importance in the word doubtless, is termed the Gospel of peace, Rom. 10. v. 15. Semblably, is the Fruit of righteousness, Jam. 3. said to be sown in peace of them that make peace; peacemakers, rather then Warriors, are, it may seem, in the Apostles opinion, the fittest undertakers of such a work; Not David, but Solomon his son is commanded to build the Temple; And why? Because David the Father had  shed blood abundantly, and had made great warres, 1 Chron. 22. v. 8. {αβγδ}, &c. as Cl. Alexand. in praefat. ad gentle.  
I know well enough of divers instances which may be brought to the contrary, of the Ten Tribes preparing for war against the other two, Josh. 22. v. 11. 12. of all the Tribes invading that of Benjamin, judge. 20. v. 1, 2. of the maccabees taking up arms against Antiochus, 1 Macha. c. 2. 3. and thereupon tacitly commended for their great courage and zeal by the Apostle, Heb. 11. v. 34, 35. Cases of difference about Religion chiefly all three, yet prosecuted, wee see, at leastwise attempted, by the sword.  
Whereto I answer briefly, that these with the like are Instances of preserving or defending Religion in its just purity, where it is already settled,( as will appear by consulting the several stories) Tuendae Ecclesiae causâ, as Saint Austen against the Donatists. Ep. 50.— Non quò alios persequerenter, said quò se defenderent. Ep. 164. and which together with him, we no ways gainsay; not of enforcing it anew where it is not, and so nothing to the point in controversy.  
Besides, that I conceive in truth of a great deal of 
Aliud tunc Deus praecepit Dispensatoribus Veteris Testamenti— aliud praedicatoribus Novi.— Aug. Contr. Faust. l. 22. c. 77.  difference( possibly) that may be in this respect, betwixt the Law proceedings then, and these since of the gospel; which therefore, as was said, is Emphatically termed the Gospel of peace,( not only inward, but outward likewise, vid. Is. 2 v. 4. Mic. 4. v. 3.)& hereto makes that Caveat which our Saviour, upon occasion gives Peter, Joh. 18. v. 11. Put up thy sword again into thy sheathe. {αβγδ}. The Rule he here sets us, saith Cyril alexander. is not according to the rough temper of the Law formerly, but suiting altogether with the mild and gentler condition of the gospel, which was now to take place.  


2 dum.  Nothing that runs parallel and agrees with the course of Antichrist forespoken, in the setting up of his Throne, is( as so) to bee practised by Christians.  
Forcible violence used in Reformation, runs parallel and agrees with the course of Antichrist forespoken, in &c.  
Ergo—   
Forcible violence used in Reformation runs parallel and agreeth with—] Rev. 13. v. 4. Who is like to the beast, who is able to war with him? Then v. 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them, &c. The Texts alleged speak plainly of that Antichristian violence which shall be, and this in pursuance, and for the further increase of his blasphemous untruths, That, all who dwell upon the earth may worship him, v. 8. and thence follows strait in way of corollary, v. 10. a manifest reproof of all such force, as savouring too much of Antichrist and his proceedings. If any kill with the sword, he must bee killed by the sword; Here is the patience and faith of the Saints.  
I deny not, for all this a legal Civill use of the Sword exercisable by the Magistrate, upon refractory offenders, constraining them to a due obedience of wholesome Church-Lawes, or else punishing them for the contrary;( whereof hereafter purposely and more at large, Quest. 10.) Saint Paul is plain in the point, Rom. 13. v. 4. and Francisc. 
Relect. de Ind. Sect. 2. c. 15.  a Victoria, to this purpose hath well observed a difference here as ought to bee made, betwixt Subjects and Aliens, whom we have nothing to do with in a Judiciary way of process: But it is a military hostile use I argue against, such as the 
Alcor. azure. 18. 19  Turk alloweth of towards the advancement of his mahumetism, or the Spaniard practiseth in the propagation of his pretended catholicism: And it is indeed the very Doctrine which the Pope that great enemy of the true Reformed Religion, dogmatically upholds and maintaineth by his Emissaries; Fidem Christianam deberi etiam armis propugnari. Sanders. de Clav. Dav. l. 2. c. 15.  


3um.  That which hath no warrantable precedent, but rather to the contrary, in Sacred Writ, cannot sasely be enterprised by us.  
But Reformation( absolutely) without concurrence of the supreme Magistrate, hath no warrantable precedent in, &c.  
Ergo——   
Reformation( absolutely) without concurrence 
18.  of the supreme Mag: hath no—] See Deut. 29. v. 2. 10, 11, 12. Josh. 24. v. 25. 2 King. 23. v. 23. 2 Chro. 15. v. 8. 12. ch. 29. v. 3. 10. ch. 34. v. 31. 32. Ezr. 10. v. 3. 5. Coll. with ch. 2. v. 7. &c. In which places with the like, you have ever the chief Magistrate concurring, or rather( as his place required) going before the people, but no where the people covenanting upon a reformation,( even in times of the worst of Kings) without concurrence of the Magistrate: Arise, for the matter belongeth unto thee, saith the whole Assembly of Elders there met, to Ezra the Prime Ruler, Ezr. 10. v. 4, 5.  
A just performance of the Covenant the people of the Jews( I know) stood equally bound to: For that the stipulation was made betwixt God on the one part, the King and people( conjunctim) on the other, 2 Chron. 24. v. 16. But it is the Entrance into Covenant I speak of, in which the King was of right to lead, and had a principal Interest, and without whom the undertaking may seem to have been altogether unjustifiable.  
To shun the force of this Argument, 
Gothofred. Anton. Dis. Apologet. apud Goldast. pars. 13. Althus. pol. c. 14. brute. vindi. Contr. tyrant. Qu. 3. &c.  some have fancied and brought in, a supposed Coordination of power, betwixt the sovereign and the people; that in case the sovereign doth forego his duty of Reforming, the people. Themselves in their Representative meetings may warrantably undertake the business: And it is indeed( this Coordination to wit) the main Buttresse or supporter, the Archpillar among the rest, which with them bears up the weight and burden of the present cause.  
Other grounds they may have, and those more likely here to build upon, I question it not; But for This( to let pass how vainly and to no purpose, as to a certain redress of emergent abuses in Church or State, such power may seem placed in the Body Representative, where the sovereign onely hath the right of calling, and then of dissolving at pleasure the said Body) I conceive of it as a mere Phaenomenon, an empty airy speculation: and the reasons more particularly of such my Conception,( speak we of a true monarchical state, as here we do) are these which follow.  


Ratio. 1 ma.  threescore implieth a gross absurdity, is not to be supposed by us.  
But coordination betwixt the sovereign and the People implieth &c.  
Ergo—   
Coordination betwixt the sovereign and the People implieth.—] It is absurd to imagine a coordination properly and truly so called, which is, saith Cajetan, Concursus partialium causarum ejusdem ordinis& in eodem genere causae. 1. 1 mae. Q. 52.( Such, as to our purpose, were the Roman two Coss. between whom the supreme Authority of that State was 
Dyon. Holicarn. l. 8. n. 199.  divided, and they of equal power each with other)( For, quoad hoc, and in some respects, with reference to certain particular Acts, of propounding, voting, and framing laws in their public Assemblies when met together, I gainsay not) betwixt the sovereign and his Subjects.  
Now such are the people in respect of their Lord or sovereign:( My Lord the King is the usual Scripture expression) Vi relationis, by virtue of that mutual relation interceding betwixt them: Relatives I call and so account them in dispari gradu, where the one term excels in worth and dignity the other opposed to it; as here, take the People under any notion, 
{αβγδ}, Maxim. Tyr. Dissert. 41. Animus Reipubl. tu es, illa Corpus tuum. Sen. de Clem. aduer. Caesar. li. 1. c. 3.  collective, or distributive: And all the men of Judah, the Kings servants, 1 King. 1. v. 9. All, it is supposed, have with unanimous joint consent, transferred their power upon him, therefore are all thenceforth his inferiors truly, and beneath him.  
again it is absurd to conceive of a Coordination between the members and the Head; Yet such too is the sovereign if compared with the People: And Samuel said unto Saul, when thou wast little in thine own eyes, wast thou not made Head of the Tribes, 1 Sam. 15. v. 17. Head of the Tribes; not of this or that particular person or persons; yea further, Head in the singular number, not one of the Heads plurally, as speaking of more; like as it is, 2 Chron. 7. v. 2, 7, 9, 11. These were the Heads of their Fathers House, chief of the Princes: But, Head of those Heads, 2 Chron. 5. v. 2. Note you must by the way, the Jewish Monarchy, to have been as restrained or limited a kind of Government in all respects of Laws and Covenants wherewith the Prince was there tied, Deut. 17. v. 14, 15, 16, 17. 2 Sam. 5. v. 3. 2 King. 11. v. 17. &c. as ordinarily we shall meet with; and Argumentum ductum a pari. Top. 2. c. 10. where all or most circumstances hold correspondency, is concludent beyond exception.  
For what they in interpose here of the Kings being a Minister, or choicer Officer of State merely; is a groundless gross conceit, and the very badge which your jesuits in disgrace of Temporal Princes, if compared with their sovereign Lord the Pope, usually bestow upon them; Whereas no prudent Law-giver, Ancient or Modern, among their aphorisms of State-government, ever ranked them in so low a degree. {αβγδ}. Plato in l. {αβγδ}: at most, {αβγδ}, as Aristotle, pol. l. 3. c. 14. The 
Dei Vicarius in terrâ Parem non habens.— Magnus Dominus noster. Bract. de Reg. Anglo. l. 3. Tractat. prim. c. 9.  Ministers of God, saith Saint Paul, Rom. 13. 4. not of the people: Indeed the Authors, or Ordainers of such ministerial Offices in a State, 2 Pet. 2. v. 14. no Officers themselves; Solomon thus, wee red, had his twelve principal Officers under him, Officers over the whole Kingdom, 1 Kin. 4. but was none of them Himself.  
briefly, magistratical power in chief. Ubi seeds meri imperii est, say Civilians, and ministerial, are plainly {αβγδ}, and in no wise consistent; unless haply they would be understood as speaking in ordine ad finem; with relation to the designed end: So the Angels are termed ministering Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heires of salvation, Heb. 1. v. 14. Christ himself a Minister, or servant, Mat. 20. v. 28. Phil. 2. v. 7. And thus the sovereign we yield, without any prejudice to his regal authority; may well be esteemed and styled a Minister, {αβγδ}, as Antigonus was wont to say of himself. Ael. var. Hist. l. 2. c. 20. 
Plutarch. {αβγδ}.  {αβγδ}. One serving under God for the good and greater benefit of the people.  


2dum.  Nothing repugnant to the true conditionof Monarchy, is to be supposed by us.  
But Coordination in power repugneth to the true condition of monarchy.  
Ergo—   
Coordination in power repugneth to the true condition of Monarchy.—] They who maintain Coordination here, necessary suppose a Communicability of the sovereign power to more then one, which nevertheless I conceive,( now once after a making it over from the people, where before it lay virtually, and tanquan in semine, be it granted, Dispositively in the hands of God.) So properly belonging to, so inseparably seated in the person of the Prince, as that it cannot bee communicated unto any other, save onely in way of deputation, when and how far forth himself pleaseth in the outward exercise of the same.  
The Legislative power I aclowledge for common( in some sort) betwixt Prince and People: Originally belonging to the King, the fountain of it; Cum Ipse sit Author Juris, saith Bracton. l. 3. Tract. 1. c. 9. Vita& caput& Autoritas in principe est omnium quae in republic. Anglicanâ agi solent. Smith. de Repub. Anglor. l. 2. c. 4. He is the life and Head, and strength of what ever is done in the State there, Derivatively imparted to the People, whose advice and joint concurrence is here of use for the more satisfactory establishment of those laws which Themselves are afterwards to live under, and be obedient to.  
But this now, the Legislative power either way, if well considered, is quiter another thing from the sovereign ruling power; That {αβγδ}, as 
Plato in politic.  Plato calls it, {αβγδ}, saith Aristotle, Pol. 4. c. 15. which yet alone properly both makes and denominates a Monarch, and in monarchical States necessary consisteth always in Indivisibili, and is confined to one.  
To one I say, and that not by reason of some certain predominancy of power in the Prince above the rest( as some would have it) and no more: Like as it fareth in natural compound bodies, where one of the four Elements there in composition, and under the same Form, usually prevaileth over the other three; but of 
{αβγδ}. Rhet. l. 1. c. 8  appropriation, and adequate inherence: No mixture here in the power itself, that may be imagined:( {αβγδ}) no plurality of Partners or associates, communicating in this power.  
The mixture they dream of( such as it is, and since they will needlessly have it thus) lieth not in Monarchy, as so, but in the whole aggregate body of State, comprising in it moreover somewhat also of other Governments, Aristocracy, Democracy, &c. {αβγδ}, Iamblych. de vitâ Pythag. c. 27. Yet so, as that the Apex or top of all, which wee call sovereignty( and which truly makes the State to be monarchical) shall still reside in one: Such to resume the former Allusion, is the condition of imperfect mixed bodies, where one of the concurring Elements, yet still remaines entire, not broken or subdued to an equal temperature, with the rest.  
Or thus if they please; As Richerius frames the compare with Church-government under Christ. l. de Eccl.& pol. potest.§. 12. Let the Government here in order to 
Illud admonendi sumus, Reipub. Statum ab Imperandi ratione distare plurimùm. Nam Republ. Status Regalis esse potest, gubernatio tamen popularis futura est, &c. Bod. de Republ. l. 2. c. 2. Greg. Tolos. l. 5. c. 1. n. 18. 19. &c.  an economy or external Administration of it by different offices be truly mixed; yet may the State well enough be simply monarchical in the Head, the fountain of it; thence distilling down in some good proportion, suited to the capacity of their several stations and employments, the strength and vigour of it influence upon other the subordinate inferior powers: Still subordinate I say, whether Originally and from a first constitution of the State any where, conjoined with the sovereign, or whether assumed( and that most commonly) by a voluntary after choice, as long as they hold,( which yet is supposed still they do) a necessary dependence on him.  
At a word, where it is otherwise, and there be to bee found in truth more then one partaking immediately in the Supreame-ruling power, Coordinate with, and independent on the sovereign, which is the mixture they must needs mean, if so they would be thought to speak ought to purpose,( whilst yet in the Interim they distinguish not, as they should, betwixt Mixture and Limitation; This relating onely to an outward management of the power in a Regular course by certain laws, and legally appointed Officers as abovesaid, joined to the sovereign, and may well consist with Monarchy, the other not) let men conceit what they list, that State or Government whatever, is not truly monarchical, nor so 
De modo Regimin. Angl. ex hac parte. vid. LL. Edôvard. Confess c. 17. H. 8 vi. An. 24. c. 12. Cambd. Britann. C. de Ordin.  to be accounted; but look how many Sharers there are in the supreme power; as many supreme Governours or Soveraines( respectively and according to the different Interests they have, more or less) shall there be; Since as Bodine rightly gives it. Necesse est ut Regnum quantumcunque est, ac jura omnia Majestatis in solidum uni partitione sublatâ tribuantur. Alioqui non Monarchia, said Polyarchia dicetur. De Republ. l. 6. c. 8.  
All that can with any show or colour of Reason be here replied to the precedent discouyse, is that the Legislative power residing in the whole Body of State hath perchance some special grand influence upon the Gubernative seated in the sovereign, and withall that it is the chief or principal of the two: chief or principal I shall not put it to the Test: but then also must they remember, how that principally, as wee said, it resteth in the Prince, the fountain of it: And for that Influence they speak of,( and all Monarchies not wholly absolute have it thus) it is but Directive at most, by pointing forth certain rules or laws comformably whereunto the sovereign is of right to walk, in his after manage of public affairs committed to his charge; no ways praejudicial to, or jetting upon in the least manner, as may possibly be conceived, the sacred confines of sovereign Authority.  
So fals their pretensed Coordination in an ordinary acceptance of the term; As for those who yet farther by widening a little,( for it is no other) the aforesaid Principle into a larger extent, will needs bee 
Haec Sententia quot malis causam dederit& etiamnum posset, animis penitus recepta, nemo saptens non videt; Grot. de jur. Bel. l. 1. c. 3. n. 8. Seditiosis hominibus ad res novandas materiam praebet, ac Rerumpl. perturbationem affert. Bod. l. 1. c. 8.  placing the Supremacy of power in the hands of the Community, in them wholly, or( which is all one) in the hands of their Trustees, it is a crotchet so absurd, so voided of reason, as not to deserve a serious Confutation.  
For who is there, that but rightly understands the radical true complexion and difference of States, and seeth not at first blushy, how again it strait overthrows monarchical Government; yea, in Contrarium vertit,( quiter the other extreme) & popularem facit, as Livy well notes upon occasion of the Law of appealing from the Magistrate to the people brought in by Publ. Valer. Cess. Dec. 1. l. 2. And therefore were the Roman Dictators we find,( so far forth 
Nec quidquam Similius potest dici, quam Dictatura huic Imperii potestati. Eutrop. l. 1. ad finem. {αβγδ}, Cedren. in C. Coes. n. 18.  Emblems of true sovereignty for the short Intervals of time they sate at stern: The same in substance with those {αβγδ} among the Grecians, and had thence their beginning, thinks Dionys. Halicarnass. l. 5.) endued with a plenary power in the discharge of their place, free from all further appeal to, or after questioning by the People: As likewise were the succeeding Emperours all along, ut quibus summum rerum Judicium Dii dedissent, Tacit. Annal. l. 6. c. 2. {αβγδ}. Ziphil. in Monarch. Augusti. and in them truly, not in the people;( Albeit, some tenders of this nature we shall sometimes meet with in story, made by the Emperours then being, out of State policy, or Court compliment, you may imagine) the highest pitch and final stay of appeals to bee found evermore.  
So as to give you in short the issue of the point; This opinion of a Supremacy of power, either Formally or but Virtually through means of their Representees, seated in the commonalty, plainly, as was said, thwarts the nature and true condition of Monarchy, or as plainly, but more grossly, if they shall stand their ground in maintaining the Government still to be monarchical, sets the feet above the Head, the Subjects above their rightful Lord and sovereign.  


3um.  That which putteth the sovereign inthe condition of a mere Subject, is not to be supposed by any.  
But Coordination in power putteth the sovereign in the condition—  
Ergo—   
Coordination in power putteth the sovereign in the condition of—) Because where there are many of joint and equal power, one for certain, must needs be subject to the many, if counterpoiz'd and laid single in the balance against the rest: Par in parem non habet Imperium, as they say; but pares in parem, necessary have, and may justly challenge it, of kerbing, restraining, and if need be, of Censuring the other party.  
Yet surely was the Kingly Prophet David of another opinion; Tibisoli peccavi, could he say, Psalm. 51. v. 4. He maketh his address unto God, to God alone, as whom he thought himself only accountable to, there being none else in power above him, since, Supremo non datur superius, and that's expressly the King, 1 Pet. 2. v. 13. None therefore who might lawfully question him, or take just cognizance of his faults; So Saint Ambrose directly upon the place. Rex utique erat( David,) nullis ipse legibus tenebatur, quia liberi sunt Reges a vinculis delictorum; Neque enim ullis ad poenam vocantur legibus, tuti Imperii potestate: Homini ergo non peccavit, &c. To a like purpose, Chrysost. Arnob. Cassiod. Bed. Euthymius, and jerome in ep. 2da. ad Rustic. Rex enim erat, alium non timebat: As being King he needed not to fear the Courts or threatening censures of men.  
certainly, with the Nation of the Jews, notwithstanding their Princes so near dependence on the People,( manifest from Scripture all along) both in their Election and Government afterwards, as much as any, yet were they no ways judicially or responsibly obnoxious to them, at leastwise the People apprehended it not so: I shall onely instance in that fundamental grand Law particularly given concerning their Kings, Deut. 17. The King, he shall not multiply horses to himself. Nor shall he multiply Wives to himself. Neither silver nor gold. v. 16. 17. The best and wisest of their Princes afterwards broke this Law in every branch thereof; David, as to the second, 2 Sam. 5. Solomon in all three, 1 King. c. 10. 11. So they, so others successively: Nor were they hereupon, ever, as we can find, questioned by the People or Sanhedrin in their name. That they summoned Herod before them and proceeded judicially against him, which 
Schikard. de Jure Hebr. c. 7.  some object out of Josephus, Antiq. l. 14. c. 17. argues a foul oscitancy or oversight of them in perusal of the Story: For as much as Herod was not King at present, but onely Deputy of Galilee, a particular Province, under Hircanus; not King till afterwards, and so mean while justly liable to the coercive power of laws; Saul, 'tis true, put his own life, and his son Jonathans life upon the hazard of lottery, 1 King. 14. But this was an Act of condescension merely, and where he knew himself free, not of Constraint: All the penalty then wee red that State at any time inflicted upon their il-deserving Princes, was haply after their death the discredit of a less noble burial, 2 Chron. 21. v. 19, 20. c. 24. v. 25. which yet withall doth it sufficiently bespeak the awful and tender regard they had of their persons whilst living.  
Anciently the Rule was Principes solutos esse Legibus, quamvis Legibus vivant, Inst. l. 2. Tit. 17. That Princes are 
{αβγδ}. Agapet. Diacon. ad just. Imp. c. 27. 39.  free from the Coercive power of laws, though it be fitting they conform and live accordingly, both for their own and the peoples good through their example. He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God, 2 Sam. 23. v. 3. and 
Auson. in Sentent. Pittaci.  Pareto legi quisquis Legem Sanxerit, was a most equal and just Decree, superadded to the rest of his laws by the wise Lawgiver Pittacus.  
But notwithstanding this, and what more might be added, if need were, in due praise of Princes squaring their Government always according to the Law; yet can it not in reason be well conceived, how moreover they should be under, or have wholly concluded Themselves within the penal reach of that, which either they 
{αβγδ}. Palaeolog. {αβγδ}. l. 1. c. 51. Cuisoli concessum est leges& condere& interpretari. justin. in Confirm. Digest. Proaem.  ordain, as in Absolute Monarchies they do,( and therein doth the absoluteness of their power mainly consist) or have at leastwise, as in limited, a principal chief hand in the ordaining; The people( in effect) they only device and propound the laws: It is the Prince who by his royal assent sets the stamp of true validity upon them,( {αβγδ}, so specially called thereupon, the Kings laws) and hath what's more, among other privileges the Right of course most where established in him, of superseding the force& just vindicative rigour of them, as occasion may require, towards others.  
But and farther; were it granted the Law, whether Municipal or Divine, to be above the sovereign; Howbeit, still I question the power that may give life to the putting in execution of such Law; 
Cogens& coactum requirunt distinctas personas. Grot. de jur. Bel. l. 2. c. 14.  himself against himself, it cannot bee: And for others, they have their power more immediately from him, as sent forth and authorized by him, 1 Pet. 2. v. 14. and in nature now the Instrument hath no energy or influence back upon the Cause, but the Cause altogether upon the Instrument: Shall the Ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith, or the Saw exalt itself against him who moveth it? Isa. 10. v. 15.  
And herein then more particularly among other discriminating circumstances consists a main difference to be observed betwixt the sovereign and other inferior powers or principalities; There the party doing ought contrary to Law, is justly questionable, as having some 
Imperium minus praetor, majus habet Coss.& a minore imperiomajus, aut mayor col. lega rogari jure non potest. A. Gel. l. 13 c 14.  higher power in foro Humano still above him, before whom he may be questioned and proceeded against. As thus— Omne sub regno graviore regnum est. But not so here, the Case is different; unless we shall vainly imagine a still continuance, at leastwise a revocation of the power back upon occasion ever and anon into the peoples hands; which yet doth it the one way, as hath been argued, instead of Monarchy, bespeak a flat democracy: and in the other, no certain settlement of governance at all,( much like as was the precarious Government of the Gothish Kings heretofore in spain, Aymo. Hist. l. 11. Of the Vandals in Africa, Procop. l. 1. up and down at pleasure of the Commonalty) the people being ready at every turn to catch at this golden Ball of sovereignty, by resuming it into their own hands, to the sure and speedy overthrow of the supposed Monarchy.  
Or if lastly, for avoiding those former rocks, we shall constitute as 'twere certain Arbitrators or Umpires betwixt Them, the People and the sovereign, as Judges of his behaviour, and asserters of the kingdoms welfare, {αβγδ}, Plutarch. in Qu. Graecan.( where yet withall must they be fixed in some consistorian standing body, not transient or uncertain: Else we fall short of the right Model of such pupillar kindes of Government elsewhere.) Then, as before, They plainly are the {αβγδ}, and in Them doth the Supremacy of power finally rest, quiter cross to the true condition of Monarchy.  
Thus then again with them, and according to their Principles, the sovereign is made forthwith to put off his genuine and wonted person; Becomes strait a Subject: a Subject to his Subjects,( such were those 
{αβγδ}, &c. Synes. {αβγδ}.  Titular Spartan Kings of old, in regard of an sun-rising Ephorie there, Reges nomine magis quam Imperio, saith Aemylius Probus, and such we red of in the iceland Tabrobane, Cum quadraginta 
Et si fuerit provocatum, Septuaginta judices fiunt— tum denique interdicto omni visu& Colloquio. jugulatur: Mart. capel. l. 6. c. 37.  Rectoribus, &c. Solin. Polyhist. c. 64. Plin. l. 6. c. 22. and even such would Calvin have Princes still to be within their several Dominions, in respect of those Ordines Regni every where,( Though somewhat doubtfully he speaks it, and with a Fortè there added, as you may observe, Inst. l. 4. c. 20. n. 31.) Which if bound up together with the other premised absurdities,( the woeful strange effects also well considered, that have sometimes actually ensued of this Doctrine, and naturally ever do,) strongly argues the falsehood of those grounds Mixture and Coordination here supposed by some, as consistent with the nature of true monarchy.  
If in return to the premises, it be said, what then in case the supreme Magistrate shall neglect his Duty, forbear the rectifying of gross Abuses either in Church or State; which like weeds in a Garden will ever and anon be certainly sprouting forth; The Answer is Epicetus his {αβγδ}, or rather Saint Peter his {αβγδ}, 1 Pet. 2. must here take place; The same God who stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, Ezra 1. v. 1. put it into the heart of King Artaxerxes, a repairing of the Temple, having long lain waste, ch. 7. v. 27. Even He, in whose hands are the hearts of Kings to turn them whether he pleaseth, Pro. 21. v. 10. will in his due time, if devoutly called upon, move the heart of the sovereign whomsoere and whatsoe'er, to a through redress of all exorbitancies.  
And further, because of the singular immunity we have pleaded due to the sovereign each where( if truly such), as free from all human Cognizance touching his defaults, personal or political, which may be committed by him; Nevertheless that he wax not insolent or overbold hereupon, God hath his ways and means of punishing him or them;( Stories, yea Scripture itself abound with Examples in this kind) So as to make good his several Edicts on this behalf, whether general or special, against blood-shed, rapine, oppression. &c. though still without the help of any inferior, and mortal judicatory.  He shall cut off the spirit of Princes, He is terrible to the Kings of the earth, Psal. 75. v. 12. 
Regum timendorum in ipsos Greges,  
Reges in ipsos Imperium est jovis.  Horat.  

Of PRELACY in Church-Government.  
CLear and undeniably evident is the Scripture, how that the Apostles by virtue of power given them from Christ, eminently residing in them, did Themselves whilst living exercise true prelatical Authority( as to the substance of it) i. e. Authority in chief above the rest of the presbytery,( though attended on, 'tis true, with divers extraordinary and personal privileges, incommunicable to their Successors) in the management of Church affairs: For Ordination, See Act. 6. v. 6. ch. 14. v. 23. 2 Tim. 1. v. 6. &c. For Jurisdiction in the Directive part, Acts 20. v. 17, 18. 28. 1 Cor. 11. v. 34. in the Coercive, 1 Tim. 1. v. 20, &c.  
2. What needs more? Apostoli,( i.e.) Episcopi. Cyprian ad Rogat. Ep. 65. Their Office it was episcopal, Acts 1. v. 20. His bishopric, saith the Text by Judas one of the twelve, let another take; {αβγδ}, as Isid. Pelusiota, speaking of the Apostle St. Paul, lib. 3. ep. 212. But that moreover the Apostles instituted and ordained such a power, together with form of Government in the Church,( praeciding from all extravenient after defects or enormities) as useful, if not necessary to be retained by succeeding generations, I thus demonstrate it.  


Arg. 1um.  That power in the Church which Timothy and Titus did exercise by the Apostles special appointment is certainly of apostolical Institution.  
But Praelaticall power or power of Ordination and Jurisdiction in chief, Timothy and Titus did exercise by the Apostles special—  
Ergo—   
3. Power of Ordination and Jurisdiction in chief, Timothy and Titus did exercise—) First, lay hands suddenly on no man, 1 Tim. 5. 22. For this cause left I thee in Creet, that thou shouldst set in order things, and ordain Elders, &c. Tit. 1. v. 5. Next, against an Elder receive not an Accusation, but before— 1 Tim. 5. 19, 20. These things speak and exhort; and rebuk with all Authority, Titus 2. v. 15.  
4. And that Prelatically or Episcopally,( so St Chrysostome at once, without further proof of the point, in Phil. c. 1. {αβγδ}: The like for Titus) namely by supplying the Apostles room, who till towards an end of their times most-where discharged themselves this so necessary a duty in the Church; so as then there much needed not any particular local Bishops besides the Apostles: We are not ordinarily to look for any such; nor withall did the present condition of Christian Assemblies, then in gathering, much require it.  
5. A subordinate Co-assistance of the Presbytery I grant,( even then,) joined with the Apostles in the Ordering of Churchaffaires, Acts 15. verse 6. 22, 23, &c. And many times, it may be, as forced through absence, or pressed with variety of occasions, they committed the whole performance( Ministerially, to wit, and with dependence still on their over-ruling Power, 1 Cor. 11. v. 34. 2 Cor. 11. v. 28.) to the Presbyters: For the business of Exconmunication, we find it so apparently, 1 Cor. 5. 4, 5. Coll. with 2 Cor. 2, vers. 10. To whom ye forgive any thing, saith the Apostle speaking of the Excommunicate person, I forgive also: Then for Ordination, or laying on of hands, you may suppose the like, since in so numerous a plantation of the Gospel in different places, they could not be every where in person present themselves.  
6. Which by the way,(& being well observed, it easily takes off the edge of their misgrounded allegations of scripture drawn from the Texts after cited, as likewise the Authority of many of the 
Eosdem illo tempore Episcopos quos& Presbyteros appellabant. Proptereà( Apost.) de Episcopis quasi de Praesbyteris est locutus, Hieron. Primùm Episcopi Presbyteri vocabantur. Ambros. {αβγδ}. Chrys.  Fathers relating plainly in their Discourses to these first beginnings of the Church, and there urging the said Texts, Hieron. in Comment in Tit. c. 1.& in Ep. ad evagr. Ambr. in Ephes. c. 4. Chrysost. in Phil. 1.&) occasioned questionless, as I was saying, that promiscuous use of the terms Bishop and Elder then, Acts 20. v. 17. 28. Phil. 1. verse 2. 1 Tim. 3. v. 1. Coll. with c. 5. v. 17. Tit. 1. v. 5. 7. 1 Pet. 5. v. 2. 7, &c. by reason of no formal set distinction in those Functions or Offices as yet, or but scarcely as yet, made betwixt them, {αβγδ}, saith: Epiphanius, Haeres. 75. And hereupon Sometimes they called them Bishops, {αβγδ} in respect of their charge, which was to over-see the flock of Christ committed to them: otherwhiles Presbyters, in regard of their Age or else their Dignity.  
7. Or grant we such a Distinction betwixt Bishops and Presbyters, already begun in the Church( somewhere, and in some places upon occasion, it is acknowledged, and the premised Instances of Timothy and Titus insinuate as much, though generally and in all places, during the Apostles times, still I presume it was not:) yet as Oecumenius and St Ambrose both hint the reason in 1 Tim. cap. 3. a Communicability of names or appellations might for a while then, and afterwards,( which it 
Polyc. Ep. ad Philip. Clem. in primâ ad Corinth. Iraen. l. 3.& 4, &c.  did, and the rather because of the common usage of Speech formerly, as it happeneth in other like cases, not yet quiter forgotten) well follow upon the general Community of Nature in 
{αβγδ}— Oecum. in 1 Tim. 3. v. 8. Vid. Remig.& Theodor. Ibid.  the Offices {αβγδ}, saith Oecumenius, Uterque Sacerdos est, saith Saint Ambrose, both are Priests alike, both endued with Priestly and ministerial Authority.  
8. So for the names of Apostle and Elder, 1 Peter 5. v. 1. Joh. Ep. 2. v. 1. of Apostle and Deacon, 1 Cor. 3. v. 5. 2 Cor. 3. v. 6. of Evangelist and Deacon, Acts 21. v. 8. Christ himself thus an Apostle, Hebr. 3. v. 1. a Deacon or Minister, Rom. 15. v. 8. Namely in a Confuse and general acception of the terms.  
9. Prelatically or Episcopally I added, and not as Evangelists barely, which is the usual way of evading here: Though as Apostles they might say as well, 2 Cor. 8. v. 23. or as Deacons, {αβγδ}, saith he of Timothy in the same place where he calls him Evangelist, 2 Tim. 4. v. 5. {αβγδ}, 1 Thes. 3. v. 2. and Ignatius in his Epist. ad Trall. ranks Timothy in a just equipage of Degree with the Martyr St Stephen: Neither yet again by their leave was Ordination or Jurisdiction properly any Evangelicall work, but rather the Preaching and promulgating of the gospel within their several Divisions, whereto they were assigned.  
10. But to let go this hold, as also the Testimony of divers of the Ancients, who have in their writings expressly, and without further circumlocution, recorded them for Bishops: Nor yet to make use of those Subscriptions or rather Inscriptions perchance( transplaced onely) found at the foot of the two Epistles to Timothy and Titus, which how ere some reject, as false, at best as adscititious, and so invalid( though neither do they once question the credit of any of the other belonging to the rest of the Epistles) yet I see not under favour why they should not bee of equally binding Authority with the paratitles( those without the body of the Text too) to most of Davids psalms; with the {αβγδ} or Inscriptions to some of Solomons Proverbs, as c. 25. These are also parables of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah King of Judah copied out. It is plain he prefixed it not himself; So c. 30, c. 31. again,( and more pat to our purpose) with the {αβγδ}, or closes to psalm 72. Here end the prayers of David the son of Jesse: to Job cap. 31. to Jeremy c. 51. All alike being certain useful clauses for our better Information, added( it may be thought) by the first Compilers of those several Treatises.  
11. First, most sure it is, the Office of Bishop and Evangelist, could not be simply,( at leastwise successively) inconsistent in the same person,( It was but the fixing or limiting of a power before locally unlimited, to a certain set place of pastoral Jurisdiction) no more than was that of Apostle and Bishop, and the Apostles now,( for some of them) over and besides the privilege of an universal transcendent Jurisdiction which they had in the Church, properly and in strictness of Phrase were both of these together.  
12. This wee have confirmed more 
{αβγδ}, Cyril. Hierosolym. Catech. 14.  fully, as to all circumstances, in St James, Apostle, and Brother of Christ, 1 Corinth. 15. v. 7. Gal. 1. v. 19. withall Bishop of jerusalem, Euseb. lib. 2. c. 1. 22. in St Peter Bishop of Antioch. Hieronym. Ep. ad Algas: Qu. 6. So seated, you must observe( upon special Reasons inducing thereto) by voluntary choice, and not by virtue of any restraining Church Ordinance, which were to evacuate the unbounded power of their Apostleships.  
13. The other,( concerning the Evangelists) in Saint Mark, afterwards Bishop of Alexandria, Hieron. Proaem. in Matth.& Marc. in Saint Luke Bishop of Thebais in egypt, S: Metaphr. in vitâ Sancti Lucae. Bishops I say, substantial true Bishops all of them, notwithstanding the many Cavils and put-offs here used by some; Surely, no less we may safely infer, than were their Successors in the fore-named Seas, who followed after them( successio est enim personarum unius ejusdemque ordinis continuatio) and were truly Bishops in the sense here controverted beyond gain-saying.  
14. Apostles likewise they then usually 
{αβγδ}, &c.  called them and others in like place of Government upon a Primitive and first Institution, as Theodoret hath well observed in 1 Epist. ad Tim. cap. 3. verse 1. either because they immediately succeeded in room of the Apostles, else as deputed by them( vice-Apostles, as 'twere Rom. 16. verse 7. 2 Cor. 8. verse 23. Phil. 2. verse 25.) with a certain legatine power for the plantation of Churches abroad, which they did, and afterwards Episcopally praesided in them themselves: So for Clemens Bishop of Rome, whom yet Cl: Alexandrinus somewhere stiles Apostle: Ignatius thus, {αβγδ}, Chrysost. Homil. in Ignat. Marcialis servus Dei, Apostolus autem Jesu Christi, Marcial. Episcop. Lemniuocens. in front Epist. ad Tolos. For all which, as touching a different acception of the word Apostle, and the no real inconsistency thereof with the Office of Episcopacy, simultaneously, or successively, Vid. Hieron in Gal. c. 1. v. 19.  
15. Next for the As or Quatenus of the point,( although neither indeed ought forms and Modalities of Consideration over-nicely to be insisted upon, where wee agree in the main or Substance of the thing: Else what Ordinance well-nigh of Christs Institution may not thus be subject to debate by those who will be apt to elude the same, in restraining it to the Apostles, or to the Church then in being:) The Order whether of Apostles or of Evangelists as here, was together with their Persons, temporal and extraordinary; But the Power in question being for substance a necessary appendance to the gospel,( which thereupon doth St Paul of purpose carefully decipher and set forth more at large in the 
{αβγδ}— &c. Dicturus de Episcop. Officio, cujus modi esse Episcop. deceat, indicat: Neque id quasi Timoth. admonens dicit, said ut omnibus simpliciter loquens ac per illum quid omnibus conveniat, dictans. Chrys. in 1. Tim. 3. v. 1.  persons of Timothy and Titus, 1 Tim. 5. Tit. 1. Non tam sollicitus de curâ Timothei, said propter successores ejus, ut exemplo Timothei Ecclesiae ordinationem custodirent, Ambr. in 1 Tim. 6.) intended to continue, and so in all likelihood committed unto them in the exercise of it according to this Model, as the best pattern or president of Church-Government for the future; Yea nor this moreover, without some semblance of Precept given 2 Tim. 2. The things which thou hast heard of me, saith He,( having treated formerly of Church-Ordinances, this among the rest, 1 Tim. cap. 3.& 5.) The same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Ignatius, 'tis clear understood it so, either binding on this same, or some other-like passage among the apostolic Writings: {αβγδ}, saith he in Ep. ad Trallian; Have a reverend esteem, bee sure of your Bishop, as of Christ; for so have the blessed Apostles commanded us: It cannot in reason bee thought he should teach obedience or respect due to Bishops, by virtue of apostolical command, and not suppose the Office its self to have been apostolical and so transmitted to posterity.  
16. Or secondly, grant the most, that Timothy and Titus did what they did, as Evangelists, after some extraordinary way or manner of Jurisdictive Authority; So They, so the Apostles; yet howbeit were they single Individual persons; let the Notion or Formality of consideration, under which they executed their Authority, bee what it will: And this still bespeaks as fully the exercise of Church-Government by one at leastwise, {αβγδ}, then in use; not unfitting therefore, though under a different style or Compellation, to bee taken up and practised by those of after Ages.  
17. What they add further concerning the punctual time when Timothy and Titus may bee thought ordained Bishops: the tedious Journyals they have framed of their travails spent in accompanying Saint Paul from place to place; so as they could not in all probability rest settled upon their several charges, which yet, say they,( and weakly enough, considering the great darkness of those first and primitive times) if Bishops, they ought to have done. These with the like chronological uncertain Calculations, I easily pass by, as being blocks onely cast in the way to stumble a business, otherwise plain enough.  


2um.  Such power in the Church as the immediate successors of the Apostles, men learned and godly, did generally both assert and practise, is doubtless of apostolical Institution.  
But prelatical power, or a power of one above the rest, the immediate successors of the Apostles, men learned and godly did—  
Ergo—   
18. prelatical power the immediate successors of the Apostles, men learned and godly did—] Learned and godly, whereby they might bee able fully to know the truth, especially following so close upon the Apostles times, as they did; and withall godly, that would not, you may be sure, speak or practise ought but what they knew. For proof of either, I instance in Clemens, Ignatius, Irenaeus, Polycarp, &c. Polycarp namely Bishop of Smyrna, one of the seven Angels, 'tis thought, whom St John was bid writ unto, Rev. 2. v. 8. certain it is, we find the Successors of those seven Angels, together with the several names of their Churches, afterwards sitting as Bishops, in the first great council of Nice. Vid. Catolog. Episcop. ibid. suffragantium ad finem Concilii.  
19. Notwithstanding these are but human Testimonies they'll say, and human Testimony is no safe ground for them to build their Faith upon. Answ. Nor do I desire they should: Howbeit, saving faith, they may please to remember is one thing, and an historical belief of past occurrences, is another. And for this now they must necessary 
{αβγδ}. Plato in Timaeo.  rely upon human testimony, or forthwith abjure the Credit of all Antiquity, so involving the world in a blind and darksome Mist of ignorance concerning the truth of former Ages.  
— pro Magno Teste vetustas,  
Creditur, acceptam parce movere fidem.  
20. Especially where the matter is doubtful, and not so clearly and particularly determined either way in Scripture, as both here, as likewise elsewhere in points of Discipline and for Church-Ordinances,( that of Poedobaptisme and Celebration of the Lords Day not excepted) may themselves be Iudges, and they must needs aclowledge they are not; whereof Luther in an Epist. of his to Melanchthon gives the Reason, because saith he the Spirit of God there in holy Writ busied as 'twere about matters of higher importance, and necessary( ex se) tending to salvation, many times slightly or but in general terms toucheth at those other, else wholly passeth them by.  
21. Secondly, prelatical power or power of Church-Government by one in chief, is perhaps a piece of the Mystery of Iniquity, which even then, the Apostles yet living, began to work in the Church, 2 Thes. 2. v. 7. Answ. work it did questionless, and that very dangerously, sundry ways; Hebion, Cerinthus, Hermogenes, Philetus, and Himeneus branded Saint Paul for their wild portentous doctrines, confirm as much: But that any Antichristian Leaven had as yet corrupted the Church in her Government( yea in the highest point of Government, as here) it is but gratis dictum, because they would be thought to say some thing.  
22. Else is it likely, tell me, that the same Saint Paul, or some other of the Apostles, should no where take particular notice of so great and notable an Innovation; since, Error cvi non resistitur, approbatur, as they say, and some Bishops 'tis plain were {αβγδ} or Contemporary with the Apostles, Clemens aforesaid of Rome, Polycarp of Smyrna, Mark of Alexandria, with divers more.  
23. But 3dly, to make the most of the Argument, it proves, say they, but a certain {αβγδ} or Precedency in Order of one before the rest, in like sense as Saint Peter may be said, and truly said to have been Apostolorum Princeps {αβγδ},( for and so the Ancients usually style him,) no superiority of Office, no pre-eminence of Power or Command that he exercised over them.  
24. Ans. This is but a mere shift upon fail of better Answer; Timothy for certain exercised a true Jurisdictive power in this kind, 1 Tim. 2. v. 19, 20. So did Titus, Tit. c. 1. v. 5. ca. 2. v. 19. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuk, {αβγδ}, with all command or Authority: And let the Fathers generally be well looked into, and they will bee found to speak as much: Among the rest, Ignatius is most punctual and clear, in Ep. ad Philadelph. {αβγδ}, &c. Let the Priests and Deacons, saith he, with the rest of the Clergy yield obedience to the Bishop. again, in Ep. ad Smyrn. {αβγδ}— &c. The laity ought to submit themselves to their Deacons, the Deacons to their Presbyters, the Presbyters to their Bishops, and their Bishops to Christ.  
25. Now subjection or obedience manifestly imports some 
{αβγδ} Socrat. in ep. i. e. Praefecti. Vid. Suid. in Verb. {αβγδ}— ad quem dilectus& summa negotii referebatur. Cic. ad Att. l. 7. c. 18.  Authority or commanding power,( {αβγδ}, Id. in Ep. ad Trallian. Potestatem Sacerdotalem, Cypr. Ep. 68.) restant in the person whom the whole Clergy must thus be subject to. {αβγδ}, &c. as Epiphamius argues the case upon that 1 Tim. 5. v. 1. Rebuko not an Elder—) What needed a Bishop, saith he, such á caveat given him in rebuking an Elder( the ministerial Elder, Epiphanius, it seems, understood the place of) if so he were not above, and had Authority over him.  
26. Yet further, This still, say they, bespeaks at most but onely some kind of parochial Bishops, or Pastors; ruling each within the precincts of his own particular parish: and so the word Parochia or parish is commonly used by classic Writers. Answ. Besides that, this is nothing to the Jurisdictive power of one above the rest, for which yet do I chiefly pled, and which might well be before any such Division made of Parishes: What was Rome, or Smyrna, or Antioch, mere parishes? So great 
Vid. Pol. Virgil. de Invent. Rerum. l. 4. c. 9. Clem. Rom. in epitome. vitae B. Petr. &c.  multitudes of people in every of those Cities, with the many Wards and several Divisions in each, as questionless there was, and all shut up, will they say, within the limits of one single parish; But on the other hand, if the parishes were many, respectively belonging to them, then, it follows that the persons forenamed were true Bishops, as presiding there over the rest,( For and thence surely bare they the name of the place each where, particularly among the rest,) in their several places.  
27 Again, who so ignorant, as not to know how an usage of the word {αβγδ} then, Can: Apost. c. 14. Conslit. l. 8. c. 10. at leastwise in short-processe of time afterwards, was according to both acceptions, and did signify as well a diocese as a Parish; {αβγδ}— &c. council. Antioch. c. 9. 18 Ancyr. c. 13. 18. Once for all. See Capitul. Carol. Magn.& Lodov. c. 6. 164, &c. Where you have both put together into one and the same Canon, t● nullus Episcoporum vel Presbyterorum parochiam alterius invadat: Let none either Bishop or Presbyter encroach upon the confines of anothers parish.  
28. Once more, and then you will have in the full sum of their Replies here: What though certain particular persons endowed with just power and command over the rest of the clergy, might be evinced and clearly, as so, made good from approved History; yet were they, say they, but of occasional Institution, onely set up for the beter ordering and and regulating of church-affairs in their synodal Conventions, and so removable at pleasure, and the power by turns communicable to some other. Ans. It were a pretty shift this, could they make it out by help of any warrantable Authority. Indeed Saint Ambrose in Ephes. c. 4. informs us concerning the Institution of Bishops about the primitive times, Quòd ordo; non meritum creabat Episcopum— Ut recedente uno sequens ei( Presbyter) succederet: A course much different from ours now adays, and quickly altered( yea before Saint Ambrose his time,) for avoidance of special inconveniences following upon such successive Praelations, prospiciente Concilio, as he there speaks, the Nicene it is he points at, Can. 4. But howbeit, Saint Ambrose saith not, as he should to their purpose, that the persons preferred on this wise were merely Arbitrary in their Continuance, and not for term of life: The recession he speaks of was doubtless a recession by death, and so much Story assures us of concerning the persons particularly under debate, that they held their places of Government in the Church unchangeably, not quitting them till death, the glorious death of martyrdom.  


3um.  That power which the mere presbytery of Themselves and Authoritively never did nor could they, at least-wise were not permitted to exercise in the Church, during the Apostles times, is doubtless in the prelatical usage of it according to apostolic Institution.  
But power of Ordination and Jurisdiction the mere presbytery of of themselves, and Authoritively never did, nor could they, at least wise were not permitted— &c.  
Ergo—   
29. Power of Ordination and Jurisdiction the mere Presbytery of themselves did never exercise—) Else let the Gain-sayers show it by any Instance,( and it is but their own usual manner of plea, This, unpon like occasion) brought from Scripture: For Ordination, that place 1 Tim. 4. ver. 14. Neglect not the gift which is in thee, that was given thee by prophesy with the laying on the hands of the Presbytery, proves nothing at all, if compared with 2 Tim. 1. verse 8. where Saint Paul assumes to himself a principal hand at least in the work; Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the Gift which is in thee by the laying on of my hands, {αβγδ}, not, {αβγδ}, as before 1 Tim. 4. By, not, with; the one noting a bare concurrence in the Presbytery, the other some principality of causation, or special influence upon the work, in the Bishop: And to this purpose are the Apostles Injunctions every where, as may be observed, personally restrictive, lay ( Thou) suddenly hands on no man, 1 Tim. 3. v. 22. For this cause left I Thee in Creet, that( Thou) shouldst set in Order, and ordain Elders— &c. Tit. 1. v. 5. So far that when as a while afterwards, through an unwarrantable custom crept in, the Presbytery of themselves without Commission first obtained from the Bishop, had begun to usurp upon the said Power, the council of Ancyra by a Decree framed on purpose quickly interposed against such doings, council. Ancyr. c. 12. Antiochen. c. 10.  
30. And surely not without great Reason( granting the Hypothesis of the Argument true) since alter but the Preseript or Method of some Institution,( especially as to the matter and Persons concerned in it) and the Institution itself( probably) must needs become ineffectual to a compassing of that end for which it was intended, the validity of such outward duties depending evermore mainly upon an exact observance of some prime Circumstances there enjoined: Let the children of Israel, saith God to Moses, Numb. 9. keep the Passeover in the appoynted season— according to all the Rites and Ceremonies thereof shall ye keep it, v. 2, 3. God who hath ordained and freely made choice of such a means, willeth in all likelihood it should be used,( ordinarily, and cases of 
Apud alexander. in in Aegypto si desit Episcopus, consecrat Presbyter, August. Qu. in V.& N. Test. c. 24. Consignat. Ambros. in Ephes. 4.  necessity excepted {αβγδ}, Justin. Mart. Resp. ad Orthodox. 24.) after such or such a manner as he hath appointed, or not at all; whence comes it that, as anciently for certain the power of Ordination restend thus ever chiefly in the hands of some one, the Bishop; 
Quid fancy exceptâ ordinatione Episcopus quod non facit Presbyter. Hieron.  Hieron. Ep. ad Evagr. 
{αβγδ}. &c. Chrys.  Chrysost. in 1 Tim. 3. Hom. 11. &c. So boni ordinis Causâ at least, or propter {αβγδ} Ecclesiasticam, as they speak, the Lutheran Churches have still their Super-intendents, i.e. in other phrase Bishops, anent S. Hieroms& S. Austins Interpretation of the word long sithence; Hierom. ubi Suprà. Aug. de Civ. Dei. li. 19. c. 19.  
31. Next for the Jurisdictive part, no better effect than the former concerning Ordination, works that place, 1 Cor. 3. v. 4, 5. where the presbytery( for of them I understand it) gathered together, practise a power of Excommunicating the incestuous person; They excommunicate him I know; but they did it( as was said before) Ministerially, and with dependence on the Apostles Authority; So as in short then, both powers, as well this of Jurisdiction, as the other of Ordination, principally appertained to the Apostles for their times, and by their Example to the Bishops after them.  
32. And therefore( by the way) must jerome and Chrysostome in those exceptive Clauses premised, where they make Ordination the signal and onely proper note of Episcopacy, be construed, as using the word in a more Comprehensive Latitude of signification, including that 
Intellexit ibi Hieronymus per ordinationem, non potestatam conferendi seu collationem sacrorum Ordinum, said potestatem Oeconomicā Ordinandi Ecclesiae ritus,& regulandi, &c. Marsil. Pautan. defence. pac. p. 2. c. 15.  whole Interest of Power the Bishop hath, {αβγδ}, both Ordinative and Iurisdictive in the Church,( for and the words, {αβγδ}, Ordinare, used by either, will well bear it, as I shall have occasion to show more hereafter, Quest. 8. n. 8, 9.) Saint Paul I am sure, defining the just limits of the episcopal Office puts them together, 1 Tim. 5. v. 19, 22. Tit. 1. v. 8. Nor is it likely that what the Apostles by the guidance of Gods Spirit had thus conjoined, the Fathers fore-cited, They or any, would go about to dissever, or but verbally( if understood aright) report it to a contrary sense, which they could not but well know was the constant practise of the Church long before their times. The 19. Canon of the first council of Arles is to this effect indefinitely 
{αβγδ}. Ignat. in ep. ad Smyrnon. ad magnets. Vid. Constit. Apost. l. 2. c. 27, 31, &c.  universal, Ut Presbyteri sine conscientiâ Episcoporum nihil faciant; that the Presbyters presume not to attempt ought in Church business, without the allowance of their Bishops.  
33. Neither could they or at leastwise were not permitted.) The power itself either way, whether Communicably inherent in the whole Presbytery, as flowing from one& the same specifical Order,( onely distinguishable secundum gradus, by some new degree of perfection Intensively or Extensively super-added) common to both, and jointly conferred upon them by Christ in that his last Legacy, joh. 20. verse 22, 23. as so me; or whether diversified with the Order in relation to the foresaid special Acts of Ordination and jurisdiction, shadowed forth, say they, in that original distinction to be found betwixt the Apostles and the 70, as others, both of eminency in the Schools, do hold; i.e. in other terms, whether there bee different {αβγδ}, or {αβγδ} here conceivable;( And 
Episcopi& Presbyteri una Ordinatio est— Ambr. in 1 Tim. 3. Unus penè gradus— Hier.& Primas: Ib. Aug. Qu. ex utroque Test. l. 4. c. 161.  this now again, together with the 
Episcopi sacerdotes se esse noverint, non Dominos. Hieron. ep. ad Nepotian.  Supercilious fastuous demeanour of some in place, {αβγδ}, as Greg. Naz. speaks: Their withall 
Et in communi debere regere Eclesiam. Comment. in Tit. cap. 1, &c.  engrossing to themselves the whole power in church-affairs, without the assistance of their Presbyters, is another thing that divers of the Fathers may seem in some doubtful Passages of theirs to have scrupled at, not in any wise the truth of episcopal pre-eminence or superiority in Station; which every where, even in those very passages they clearly grant:) The power itself, I say, one way or other, at present I dispute not, but onely the external lawful exercise of such power,( the way 
Nic. Cusan. de Concord. Catholic. l. 2. c. 13.  Cusanus here took in stating the point,) now at length upon reason to be given in the subsequent Argument, begun to bee restrained and made over {αβγδ}, to one, which as hitherto lay in common among them, practisable most where, as hath been said, by the yet surviving Apostles.  
34. That this was so, why otherwise I would fain know were the so oft mentioned Timothy and Titus deputed unto the Churches of Ephesus and Creet, with special Authority from St Paul to this very purpose, 1 Tim. 3. Tit. c. 1. v. 5. since for Presbyters surely, now after the Apostles so long abode in person among them, and his having planted a Church either where, there wanted not store of them already.  
35. For some greater grace or countenance of the business, They'll say, Not so neither: For besides that a bare Commission from Saint Paul directed to the presbytery there already resident, would have served the turn,( and some such course, I say, the Apostles sometimes must necessary have taken, because in so numerous a plantation of the gospel streight in different remote places, they could not upon all occasions, either They, or their Legates bee every where ready at hand.) That's but a reason of their own coining, and therefore say I with as good or better, considering both the practise of the Apostles themselves, and then of those who next after them managed the affairs of the Church, and without all peradventure best knew the mindes of their predecessors, it was to exemplify and settle there,( and every where) such a particular form of Government ere his departure out of this world, now at hand, as himself professeth, 1 Tim. 4. v. 6.  
36. Concerning other matters of Church-Discipline, wee find he did thus, 1 Cor. 4. v. 17. ch. 7. v. 17. So teach I— and, So ordain I in all Churches, &c. nor is it likely he should here vary from the accustomend Method of his proceedings; But and therefore, Ab apostles instituti sunt in Ecclesiis Episcopi successores eorum, saith Irenaeus plainly, l. 3. c. 3. l. 4. c. 4.( Succession in Office it is we speak of, not in Time or Doctrine, or other common respects, which none will deny to the presbytery also, but that's not the point.) again, Apud nos Apostolorum locum Episcopi tenant, Hieron. ep. ad marcel. Vicariâ ordinatione, Cypr. ep. 75. Filii eorundem, Aug. in Psal. 45. v. 16. Where the 3. latter cannot be otherwise understood than as speaking of true prelatical Bishops, nor consequently the first; And to remove all doubtings, the foresaid Irenaeus a little after, l. 3. c. 14. clearly distinguisheth betwixt Bishops and Presbyters, 
Convocatis Episcopis& Presbyteris qui erant ab Ephese& reliquis proximis Ciuitatibus, &c.  Convocatis Episcopis& Presbyteris— &c. saith he, paraphrasing on that passage of Scripture, Acts 20 v. 17. A difference in the Functions, it seems, even then, the Apostles yet living( some where and in some places at leastwise, as I said) he knew well enough, howbeit elsewhere he commonly confounds the appellations; yea further again, treating of the same Argument, concerning a succession in Church-government, l. 4. c. 45. he delivers, as he tells us, what he had received in this particular, upon good Authority, and but at 3d hand from the mouth of the Apostles, Quem admodum audierat â quodam Presbytero, qui audierat ab his qui Apostolum viderant,— Seniorem Apopostolorum Discipulum, He records him to have been, c. 22. some ancient Disciple or Follower of the Apostles.  


4um.  That form of Government which makes most for the Preventing and Composing of Church-differences, is( Caeteris paribus) to bee preferred before all others.  
But prelatical Government, or the Government of one in chief, serveth best for the preventing and—  
Ergo—   
37. That form of Government which best 
Olim idem orat Episcopus quod Presbyter,& antequam Diaboli instinctu studia& Schismata in Eclesiâ fierent, &c.  serves for the preventing and compos—] St Hierom. in his Comment. in Tit. 1.( whom they of the adverse party do here most rely on, and whose Authority yet at worst, I might, if need were, sufficiently counterpoise with the Authority of Ephinanius his equal for time, and direct opposite in the present Argument, Haeres. 75) fetcheth thence the Rise& first beginning of episcopal prelation in the Church, alluding to that passage of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 1. v. 11. For it hath been declared unto me of you my Brethren, that there are contentions among you,— &c.  
38. I press not the Argument in the Fathers misconceived sense, as relating to his own times, but in the true, and as( comparing this passage with divers others elsewhere, particularly in Ep. ad Evagr. where speaking of such Church-divisions, he 
Iacobus Cognomento Iustus-post, passionem Domini stati●i ab apostles Hierosolym. Episcopus ordinatuus; Hieronym. in catalogue. Script Ecclesiast. c. 3.  strait infereth the Constitution of Bishops successively in Alexandriâ, beginning at S. Mark, Nam et Alexandriae a Marco Evangelistâ usque— &c.) he certainly meant it, of the times forepast and gone, which this way also again casteth the Origen of Episcopacy upon the Apostles: For since divisions were already begun in the Church, it cannot be imagined they in wisdom should not forthwith ere their departure hence, have been as careful of applying such a sovereign Remedy as their Successors afterwards were, or that indeed the Father should conceive otherwise.  
39. Consuetudo with S. jerome there in the place prealledged, Ex Comment. supra. Tit. 1. which so strenuously& unanswerably, as they think, they inculcate upon us, Noverint Episcopi se magis consuetudine quàm dispositionis Dominicae veritate Presbyteris esse majores, &c. is no more in truth then Apostolica Traditio, an apostolic Tradition or Ordinance, brought in by them the Apostles occasionally, and after some short process of time, but not enjoined by any immediate or express command of Christ, according to that of S. Paul in the case of Marriage, 1 Cor. 7. This speak I,( saith he, giving his judgement thereupon) and not of commandment, v. 6. as contrariwise, unto the unmarried I command, yet not I, but the Lord, v. 10. And in this sense the said jerome in Ep. ad Evagr. sub fine, more clearly interprets himself, where treating of the original distinction betwixt Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons, in the Church, derivable from that Platform of hierarchical Government under the Law, consisting of an high Priest, Priests, and Levites, Ut Sciamus, quoth he, Apostolicas traditions sumptas de veteri Testamento,— &c.  
40. But now for the minor proposition, and in confirmation thereof, we find it to be thus in all affairs, and upon all occasions; The nearer things grow to an 
{αβγδ}— &c. Trismegist. pimand. c. 11  unity every where, the further off are they from a wasting division: therefore, Imperator unus, judex unus Provinciae, in navi unus gubernator, in Domo unus Dominus, &c. as the same S. jerome elsewhere 
Ep. ad Rustic. d.  pleading for episcopal Jurisdiction in the Church, or Superiority of one over the rest there: When Moses by Jethro's advice, Exod. 18. had for his greater ease, divided the burden of public affairs among the scutcheon chosen Elders, in case they could not, or should not at any time agree, he reserves himself as the ultimate Judicatory, whereto they might resort for the closing up all Controversies; And as the ground then of Iethro's counsel, and Moses his alteration made thereupon in the manage of common affairs, was occasional,( the importable burden which before lay on Moses shoulders alone, v. 18.) yet was it not effected without Gods special appointment or command, v. 23. So here the occasion of setting up Bishops, some with power above the rest, were divisions sprung up in the Church; howbeit, neither were they set up, it may well be thought, without the particular direction of Gods 
Visum enim& hoc est spiritui sancto ut inter Presbyteros. &c.— Buc. de reign. Christ. l. 2. c. 12.  Spirit working in the Apostles, and inclining them thereunto, as the likeliest remedy in all reason against such divisions.  


5um.& est ad hominem.  Such Form of Government as cometh up nearest to the Proto-type, or first pattern of Gods own framing, is by warrantable analogy of Scripture, and from their own Principles chiefly to be embraced in the Church:-( For, and thus argue they in maintenance of the presbyterial Government, by making Pastors answerable to the Priests under the Law, Lay-Elders to their Lay, Deacons to their Levites, their consistorial countries to the Jewish Sanhedrim,— &c.)  
But prelatical Government or the Government of the Church By Bishops, Ministers, and Deacons, &c. cometh nearest to the Proto-type, or first—  
Ergo,—   
41. prelatical Government, or the Government by Bishops, Ministers,— &c.] Among the Jews, to whom the Almighty had himself prescribed a particular set form of Government in the Church, and according to this first Foundation of Church-Discipline there laid, with a certain eye thereupon, it is probable( as jerome fore-cited in his Ep. ad Evagr.) Christ afterwards framed and settled the Superstructure of his Gospell-Government: Besides the High Priest there, who was universally over the rest of the Hierarchy,( Archbishop you may style him) partly for Orders sake, and partly as a Type of Christ to come; they had moreover their second High Priests; 2 King. 23. v. 4. c. 25. v. 18. 
Qui nuncupabantur principes sacerdotum, nunc Episcopinominantur; Isid. Hispal. de office. l. 2. c. 7.  chief of the Priests and Levites, 1 Chron. 24. v. 5, 6.( {αβγδ} they also then called them, Num. 4. v. 16. Neh. 11. v. 22.) Bishops with us; Their inferior sort of Priests suiting with our ordinary Ministers, their Levites with our Deacons, their college of Prophets, 2 King. 2. v. 3. 5. c. 6. v. 1. c. 22. v. 14. with our Cathedrals; answerable these to those 
Constit. Ap. l. 2. c. 28. 47. Ign.& Cypr. in ep. Passim. {αβγδ}, Orig. Contr. cells. l. 3. Ordinis Consessus. tart. Caetus Presbyterorum. Hieron. &c.  {αβγδ}, or local Presbyteries, consisting of Bishops, Priests and Deacons, together of so solemn use in the Primitive times, and had thence questionless, as those again from apostolic practise Act. 25. v. 4, 6. c. 21. v. 8. the immediate rise or ground of a first Institution.  
42. And here have they then( could they see wood from trees) the best and truest pattern of presbyterial Government( since they are so taken with it) to be found in all Antiquity, the Bishop joined with his Presbytery in the dispatch of ecclesiastical Affairs, Ut Episcopus nullius causam audiat, absque presentiâ clericorum svorum, council. Carthag. 4. c. 23. which very thing doth the placing anciently of Bishops and Canons houses with us, close to the Cathedral each where, stil bespeak, according to an Ordinance framed therefore and on purpose, Ubi Supra. c. 26. revived afterwards by Egbert. Archiep. Eborac. Constit. 45. namely, their readier and more expedite mutual advice in such Transactions.  
43. This and what more might bee argued in defence of prelatical Government, or Church-Government by one in chief( call him what you please, {αβγδ}, the name I contend not for) is not to be understood as spoken of a monarchical exercise of the same: Some will be apt to say, it savoureth too much of that {αβγδ}, condemned in Bishops, council. Eph. c. 8. and yet whether they of the opposite party do not here tread down the Bishops formerly supposed pride, with another as great, or greater pride; nay further, prove not guilty of that {αβγδ} censured by Saint John, 3 Joh. v. 9. as much as they with whom they so hotly contend about it, I spare to censure. Or secondly, in vindication of their wonted Titles, real or nominal,( though I see not in true reason, what title of honour may bee thought too high for them whom the Spirit of God its self, Rev. 8. v. 24. hath dignified with the glorious compellation of Angells, {αβγδ}, Dionys. Areopag. {αβγδ}. c. 12.) Or lastly, in maintenance of their persons, if peccant and liable to just censure,( as indeed, who is not? Homines sumus, non Dij, and besides, {αβγδ}, saith Isidore Pelusiota, l. 2. Ep. 52.) But onely in defence of the precisely, and truly Primitive Authority, maintained thus, and to this height in every particular long since by that worthy Instrument of the Churches Reformation, Martin Bucer, De reign. Christ. l. 2. c. 12.  
44. What the Apostles first exemplarily practised themselves, then afterwards left it to others of their appointment, and what they thus did, they did it( let me add) either from the Spirit immediately, 1 Cor. 7. v. 10. or at leastwise agreeably to the dictates of Gods Spirit, v. 12. Coll. with. v. 40. Some things extraordiry, 1 Cor. 14. v. 29, 30. Jam. 5. v. 19. some 
Id verius quod prius, id prius, quod ab initio: Ab initio id quod ab Apostolie; Id ab apostles traditum, quod apud Ecclesias Apostolorum fuerit sacrosanctum. Tertul. Cont. martion. l. 4. c. 5.  ordinary, but temporary, Act. 15. v. 28. 29. 1 Tim. 5. v. 9. and some for continuance, as this haply among the rest. The Church of Christ hath generally received and constantly maintained in all Ages, which if both put together, doth some way tant-amount, and comes closely up to a jus Divinum, cannot but seem harsh in us utterly to abolish and take away; Poedo-Baptisme, a keeping Sabbath on the day we Christians do, stand or fall, in a manner, upon the same bottom; apostolic Tradition namely, backed with a perpetual and general practise of the Church, which yet are we by the Apostles advice to hold fast, 1 Thes. 2. {αβγδ}, even to the uttermost of our power.  
45. And to conclude, be the worst imagined, it was a gross over-sight of that Vine-dresser in Gellius, who instead of pruning the trees, and lopping off only some superfluous branches or other, Fructeta atque virgulta simul omnia convellit, made short work of it, and cut up branch and root together; Certè meritò reprehendendi sunt, qui odio abusuum in his ordinibus& dignitatibus, universum hunc ordinem quem Hierarchicon appellant, ut nervum Antichristi, sublatum volunt; Cassan. Consult. Artic. 14.   

Of Ruling LAY-PRESBYTERS.  
THE Government of Christs Church by Lay-Presbyters joined to the Pastors, hath of late been much insisted upon, greatly pressed and endeavoured on all hands,— Hoc Ithacus velit& magno mercentur Atridae; where this mixed form of Government first drew breath in foreign parts, how it came over, and by what means it received countenance and entertainment here, I leave to others to inquire after; but that such a particoloured coat, such a Linsie-woolsey garment is no fit wear for the Spouse of Christ,( nor shalt thou plow with an ox and an ass together, as it there followeth, Deut. 22. verse 10.) a Government this neither lawful nor necessary in his Church, one or both, I thus evince it.  


Arg. 1um.  That Government which hath no express clear testimony in Gods Word, or but some necessary deduction thence to ground upon, is not of Divine Institution, nor by their own Rules to be received in the Church, but rather held as Antichristian.  
But the Government by Ruling Lay-Presbyters hath no express clear testimony in Gods Word, or but some necessary deduction thence.—  
Ergo—   
2. The Government by Ruling Lay-Presbyters hath no express clear testimony in Gods Word, or but some necessary deduction thence.—) Let the places be examined they most confided in, Rom. 12. v. 8. 1 Cor. 2. v. 28. 1 Tim. 1. v. 17. First, the places alleged( the former two to choose, be but uncertain general ones, and which no ways( though ne're so industriously wrought and fitted by the diversity of Expositions) closely come up as they ought, to the cause in hand: Strange to me, that in a point of so high concernment, as where both Church and State are mainly interested, wise men should offer to build upon so weak and sandy a 
Fundamenta sic sunt facienda, uti fodiantur— ad solidum,& in solido, quantum ex amplitudine operis pro ratione videatur, Crassitudine ampliore quàm parietum qui supra terram sunt futuri Vitruv. l. 1. c. 5.  foundation.  
3. But then ad partes, He that ruleth with diligence, Rom. 12. v. 5. i. e. say I the Civill Magistrate; for if you mark, the Apostle having in the beginning of this verse, joined to the two immediately precedent, gone through with Church-Offices, he strikes out here into an enumeration of general and common Duties.  
4. Or again, he probably entreats there, not altogether of different Functions or Offices,( subjectively different, I mean) but moreover of the diversity of spiritual gifts coincident in same person; In the sixth ver. where he entereth upon an enumeration, he plainly nameth gifts.  
5. So for the 1 Cor. 12. v. 28. God hath set some in the Church, first Apostles, secondly Prophets,— then gifts in healing, helps, Governments,— &c. diversity of Gifts is the very subject of his discourse in this Chapter, ver. 1. The Apostle here too withall, you may observe, useth the Abstract, {αβγδ} thereby intimating( as 'twere) some such difference, not of stations or Offices, but of spiritual endowments; whence further upon an exact recapitulation had in the Concrete of the said Church-Administrations, ver. 29. 30. he leaveth out that of Helps and Governments, as being onely certain useful appendents( it may bee) to the fore-going Offices, and so comprised under them.  
6. Or secondly; grant the words import a distinction of personally different Offices, like as that of Apostles, Prophets, and Teachers, there also mentioned, doth: What then? Are therefore Lay-Elders strait the men? Or, must they necessary be the persons understood among all others? Why not rather Deacons, say I, if guesses may have place, who were plainly taken in, we red, Acts 6. v. 1. 2. as 
〈◇〉 Constit. Apost. l. 2. c. 44. Opitulationes,— ut Titus Apostolo vel Archidiaconi Episcopis. &c. Gloss. Interlin.  Helps to the Apostles in their work of ministering to the Saints; and had moreover, together with and under the Presbyters, power questionless in the Rule or Government of the Church; Else neither would S. Paul, 1 Tim. 3. v. 12. have so carefully as he doth, required in them before their admission, a skill of governing their own houses well, but only in order( coll. it with v. 4,& 5.) to their Government afterwards of church-affairs.  
7. And by this further without more ado, to omit divers other not improbable Constructions, which have and might be well made use of, you have in the third place an Answer unto that 1 Tim. 5. v. 17. Let the Elders that rule well be accounted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the Word and Doctrine; The Ruling and the Labouring Elder bespeak but one and the same subject, in whom these several gifts or abilities of teaching and of governing, do sometimes haply concur, and it is to bee wished they always did, for the good and benefit of Gods people; Every true Minister, specially if called to some more eminent place or station, for the exercise of his ministry, Virtute officii, ought to be thus qualified.  
8. Where if he shall discharge his duty sufficiently well in both respects, he is worthy of double honour, Officii& Doctrinae, saith S. jerome: Or again, double, that is, in plainer language, great 
{αβγδ}— Jul. Misopog.  honour; for your shane you shall have double, and for— Isa. 61. v. 7. jer. 16. 18.  
— {αβγδ},  
{αβγδ}.  Piud. Olymp. odd. 6. 
At gemina& mammosa Ceres,- Lucr. l. 4. h. e. plena, ampla, Turneb. Advers. l. 27. c. 35. which by the way, for that maintenance is a chief part of the honour here enjoined, v. 18. if their Lay-Presbyters shall chance to challenge it( as granting them a being in virtue of this Text, they may, and who can promise but they will;) vae victis as so, woe to the poor overburdened Parochians, whose charge hereby must needs be greatly multiplied, and increased.  
9. But to return; If over and above, as to that other and more essential part of his duty, conversant about teaching, he shall abound,( Intra ambitum ejusdem Generis, you must take it, by comparing Bishops with Bishops, and Ministers with Ministers,) prove, I say, notably laborious and diligent in the work of the gospel, then the {αβγδ} seasonably comes in; such an one especially is worthy of great, yea, the greatest honour; {αβγδ}. saith the Philosopher, Pol. l. 4. c. 15. reckoning up the several rights, or privilegiall duties incident to Magistracy: And will any say because of the {αβγδ} here intervening, he speaks not wholly in order to one and the selfsame kind of Magistrate? Vellemus quidèm singulis quibusque Devotissimis Reipub. virtutis multò majora defer compendia, quàm eorum dignitas postulat, maximè ubi honorem vita commendat, Vopisc. in vit. D. Aureliani: And what? must these Devotissimi with the Historian, and in his sense, have needs been persons of different ranks or professions because of the maxim here inserted and coming between? Pheu, pheu.  
10. A like place you have for substance, Heb. 13. v. 17. and the Apostle there clearly, and without controversy speaks it by the preaching Minister; it cannot otherwise bee understood in a right coherence of the terms; Remember them that have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God; so 1 Thes. 5. v. 12. Know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you: {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, are the words again.  
11. The Fathers and generally all the ancients, before the Devisers of this new platform of Church-Government, have thus understood the Text in hand, of pastoral Elders altogether, S. Ambrose( for one) among the rest, whose authority notwithstanding elsewhere, they principally rely on: At a word, this which hath been offered, is in effect all the place will naturally afford, what's more, is but pump't and strained; the Text made to speak more then haply God or his holy Spirit ever put into it.  
12. Thus albeit, as he speaks, a three-fold cord is not quickly broken, yet is the force of their triple Argument drawn from the three forementioned Texts, easily loosed and dissolved.  
13. On the other side, see Acts 15. v. 23. where you have Elders and Brethren,( Elders of the Priests, or Ministers, to wit, 2 King. 19. v. 2. Isai. 37. v. 21.) and Brethren of the Laity, set as terms contradistinguish'd one from the other. Again, Acts 20. v. 18. 28. Iam. 5. v. 14. 1 Pet. 5. v. 1. 2 Joh. v. 1. &c. in which places with the like( where er'e there's mention had of Elders in a Gospel-sense) you shall find the name all along, no one place I am certain, beside those we have examined, but capable of their devised construction, still relating to the pastoral Elder, or Teaching Presbyter, the {αβγδ} or Priest, not improperly so rendered of some, both according to the Analogy of the word, as also the nature of the office they sustain, by succeeding in room of the levitical Priesthood formerly, Isa. 66. v. 21. as to a performance I mean, of Gospell-duties.  
14. Therefore so nominated either from the special condition and quality of their office, which is {αβγδ}, Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,( {αβγδ}) as if God did beseech you by us, 2 Cor. 5. v. 20. else from the age of the persons, according to that of the Philosopher, Pol. 7. c. 9. whose advice there it is, {αβγδ}— &c. that men of yeers and riper standing in time be chosen to the Priesthood; Thus sergeant-major, Segneur elsewhere, Alderman sieve Ealderman with us, titles thence of prefecture and dignity; Apud lacaedemonios 
{αβγδ}, Dyon. Halicarn. Antiq. Rom. l. 2. {αβγδ}, Suidas.  senes appellati, qui summum quendam Magistratum gerebant, Fenest. lib. 2. cap. 1.— Nomen& aetatis mite Senatus habet, Ovid. Fast.  
15. And such now in all probability likewise did the Apostles at first make choice of to serve in the ministry of the Gospel; whereupon cometh it that Saint Paul so excuseth( as 'twere) the youth of timothy, Let no man( saith he) despise thy youth, 1 Tim. 4. v. 12. Hesychius joins both 
Hesych. lextc.  reasons together, {αβγδ}, {αβγδ}, &c. A like doth Isidore Pelusiota, lib. 3. ep. 97. schooling a certain Presbyter for his loose irregular behaviour in divers respects, {αβγδ}, saith he, {αβγδ}.- &c.  


2dum.  That form or manner of Government which without just warrant from the Word, trencheth too closely in the practise of it upon the ministerial Function in things wherein it hath no right or Interest, is not to be born with in the Church.  
But the form of Government by Ruling Lay-Elders trencheth too closely in the practise of it upon the ministerial Function, &c.( viz. in point of Excommunication, Ordination, Superintendency, either in all, or some of them.—)  
Ergo—   
15. The form of Government by ruling Lay-Elders, trencheth too closely—) Concerning Excommunication, or power of the keys formally and truly,( the same be said of other ecclesiastical duties whatever) residing in the 
{αβγδ}— Const. Apost. l. 3. c. 10.  ministry, the proper subject of it; see Mat. 18. v. 17, 18. Tell it unto the Church,— verily I say unto you, whatsoever you shall bind on earth— &c. The Church he there speaks of, is the Church Representative, {αβγδ}, saith Theophylact; the same with those we meet with again, Joh. 20. v. 22, 23. the Apostles and Ministers of the Church.  
16. Our Saviour there, together with the power of binding and losing, bestoweth on them the gift of the Holy Ghost, i.e. Commission of warrantably and effectually exercising their ministry; The gift of working Miracles it could not be, that they were to wait for by our Saviours appointment, Luk. 24. till the day of Pentecost afterwards; but it was the gift or power then of preaching, baptizing— &c. with other like ministerial Duties pertaining to their Function, Go therefore and teach all Nations, baptizing them— &c. Matth. 28. v. 10. A power this no ways exerciseable in the ordinary course, by Lay-persons will any sober-headed man affirm; and so neither here the power of Excommunication, both which wee have thus inseparably by Christs own Ordinance; linked and coupled together.  
17. For that Text 1 Cor. 5. v. 4. In the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ, when you be gathered together, that you deliver such an one unto Satan— &c. where S. Paul writing to the Corinthians may seem to enlarge the power of this duty by placing it in the whole Church,( subjectively or not, you must note, is the point; For as touching its original seatment here or there, that's a farther Quaere, which I shall not meddle with, Hoc esset extrà lineas currere,) yet mark; Though absent in person, yet his Authority is required, as needful, v. 3. And at length what they do, they do it in virtue of his Spirit, v. 4. The Church then, i.e. say I, the Ministers of the Church acting here subordinately to the Apostles Commands.  
18. Or again, the Church, even the whole Congregation, Lay and Clergy did there haply appear in some way of declarative suffrage, afore or after, showing their consent to the fact, this, of losing and binding by name,( for as to a joynt-concurrent handling, and determining of some kind of Church-matters, Acts 15. v. 22. c. 21. v. 18, 19. 2 Cor. 8. v. 19. &c. I stand not on it,) but not as doing or performing ought Authoritatively in the very business; On this wise S. Paul confessing of himself before Festus the governor, Acts 26. v. 10. sheweth how he had been a persecutor of the Saints, and had given sentence of death against them, i.e. approved of or consented to the sentence of death given against them; For judge he was none, and he refers more particularly to the death of the blessed Martyr S. Stephen, whereto he was consenting onely, as himself declareth, c. 22. v. 20.  
19. But thirdly and lasty, what if we say, and it is all the Text will necessary enforce, that this so weighty and solemn a business, was of course to be transacted before or in presence of the Congregation, present& adstante plebe, Cypr. Ep. 14. according to that of the Apostle, 1 Tim. 5. v. 20. Them who sin rebuk before all, that others also may fear; And to put the matter out of question, S. Paul 1 Tim. v. 20. there excommunicates Hymeneus and Alexander, not so much as once naming the Church.  
20. Concerning Ordination, we shall no where for certain find the laity under any capacity or consideration to have concurred in a performance of this duty; For that place 1 Tim. 4. v. 14. Neglect not the gift which was given thee by prophesy, with the laying on of hands; Who dare say,( taking the word {αβγδ} in the sense it ought, and as it is ordinarily used, for some company or society of men, not any dignity of calling, which 
{αβγδ}— Phavorin. {αβγδ}, Dan. in Susanna Hist. v. 50. i. e. {αβγδ} &c. Conc. Ancyr. c. 18.  is {αβγδ},) that by Presbytery here name, we are to understand a Lay-Eldership; Besides, and in reason, Nihil dat quod non habet, persons of the Laity have no such ministerial power truly residing in them, therefore they cannot give or bequeath it to another.  
21. For the last, that of Super-intendency, whereby they make them morum praefectos or Supervisours of the peoples demeanour; The Apostle hath plainly enough, one would think, committed it altogether into the hands of the Pastor, Acts 20. v. 17. 28. 1 Thess. 5. v. 12. 1 Tim. 3. v. 2. 5. Heb. 13. v. 7.& c. {αβγδ}; again, {αβγδ}, v. 17. Obey them( the Ministers) that have the rule over you; A co-assistance of the Lay-Elder in this respect, hath no more plea for grounding it in Sacred Writ, then that of Commissary, official, Church-Warden, &c. under the Title of Helps and Governments; Grant the one, and the other will follow, each of them alike owing their rise and first-beginnings to human Institution; And such a Lay-Eldership now( in effect) was that of certain Curators or Overseers in every Parish, long since allowed of by the Orders of our Church, so as they needed not 
Instit. Eliz. c. 46  to have striven much about it.  


3um.  Such manner of Government as is Originally of jewish Institution, grounded upon reasons properly suiting with, and fitted to the laws by which the Iewes were then governed, is not to be retained in the Church of Christ.  
But the Government by ruling Lay-Elders is originally of jewish Institution, grounded upon reasons properly suiting with, and—  
Ergo—   
22. The Government by Ruling. Lay-Elders is Originally of jewish Institution, grounded upon reasons— &c.) The main reason there of joining Elders to the Priests,( Synedriall Elders I speak of, for that there were other kindes of Elders also, secular Elders, as I may so term them, Elders of the Congregation, Lev. 4. v. 15. Elders of the City, Deut. 19. v. 12. Elders or Heads of the Tribes, 1 King. 8. v. 1.) was the mixed condition of the judicial Law they had to deal with, howbeit of divine Institution wholly, and from God; yet in regard of the drift and scope thereof, partly divine and partly human, occupied in a decision of doubts happening betwixt God and Man, as likewise betwixt Man and Man,( much after the nature of our Chancery-affairs, you may conceive of them, seated for the most part as 'twere in medio, betwixt the Law on the one hand, and Conscience on the other:) and accordingly the Priests and Levites, besides the ordering of the sanctuary their peculiar task, 1 Chron. 24. v. 5. 2 Chron. 34. v. 8. had principally to do in matters of it appertaining unto God; The Elders they in things belonging to men, 2 Chron. 19. v. 8, 9, 10, 11. &c. Moreover in jerusalem did jehosaphat set of the Levites, and of the Priests, and of the Fathers of Israel,— And behold Amariath the chief Priest, is over you in all matters of the Lord, and Zebadiath for all the Kings matters.  
23. Principally I said, and not without cause; Else as to some particulars, and upon occasion they did interfear, and had to deal each promiscuously in either, Deut. 17. v. 9. c. 19. v. 16, 17. Ezra 10. v. 15. 16. &c. And hence farther came it that their Priests had such an unlimited power on a manner, as they had, in the hearing and determining all kindes of Controversies, whether secular or divine, {αβγδ}, saith Iosephus, {αβγδ} 
Contrà Appion. l. 2.  {αβγδ}— Not unlike to that of the P. Maximus with the romans, Qui pariter Religioni& Reipublicae praefuit, alexander. ab Alex. Gen. Dier. l. 6. c. 8. Or of the druids anciently among the Gaules, Caes. in Comment. l. 5.  
24. In brief, the Jewish Sanhedrim, if so at leastwise it be to be understood in those places commonly alleged by them, Exod. 18. v. 25, 26. Numb. 11. v. 16, 17. Deut. 17. v. 8, 9. c. 19. v. 16, 17. &c. was upon the point a 
Sigon. de Repub. Heb. l. 6. c. 7. Cunae l. 1. c. 12. l. 2. c. 9.  Civill Court, and had to deal in matters of Right or Title, yea, of life itself; Which kind of power yet in order to such an universal Cognizance of different affairs, they will not, I suppose, ascribe to their new erected Consistories.  


4um.  By what right or interest Lay-men may intermeddle in Church-Affairs, by the same Ministers of the gospel may meddle in Civill.  
But Ministers of the gospel( with them) may not intermeddle in Civill affairs—  
Ergo—   
25. By what Right or Interest Lay-men may intermeddle in church-affairs—] whether and how far the Gospell-Minister may meddle in secular matters,( save onely in Oeconomicall, with reference to his own Family) by bearing office there, I list not to examine; At once the less, the 
Vid. Can. Apost. c. 6. Chalced. c. 3. Charthag. 4. c. 15. &c.  better, I may safely say, it being so much without the verge of their profession; No man that warreth( saith the Apostle) entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, 2 Tim. 2. v. 4. {αβγδ}, Synes. Ep. 57. Constantine the great certainly was of another mind, when as by solemn Edict he dissever'd them, and yet therewithal thought he did the Clergy a pleasure in easing them of the toil and burden, no prejudice at all, Euseb. l. 10. c. 7. Niceph. l. 7. c. 42.  
26. But this by the way; The point I drive at, and whereon resteth the stress of my Argument, is a right of being mutually and equally interested on both sides each in others calling; Since as they say, Eadem via Thebis Athenas ducit& Athenis Thebas: They are both alike members materially of the same Church, of the same Common-wealth, though under a different form or notion; And by what reason then they shut the doors against intruders beyond their just limits, more on this side, then they do on that,( for when all is done ecclesiastical persons so properly called, they cannot make them) Haruspice opus est, non censore, I would fain learn, and bee instructed by them.  
27. Foundation then in Scripture old or new, for ought I could ever perceive, they have none that may warrantably uphold this new Superstructure of a Lay-Eldership; And so far forth at least ex oresuo, as I said at beginning, they are cast by their own principles: Where yet withal it is pretty to observe the unevenness or rather inconstancy of their proceedings; down must the Babel-building of episcopal hierarchy: And why? because( say they) having no plain and evident Text of Scripture to support it: On the other hand, they hasten up with all speed their presbyterial frame of Government, interlaced with Lay-Elders, which yet themselves( some of them) will ingenuously confess, hath as little comfort from Divine Writ( both alike lying wrapped up under a confused usage of the several terms, Bishop and Elder) as the other hath.  
28. What they further bring out of Fathers and other ancient Writers, to underprop their cause, as Origen Contrà cells. l. 3. Tertul. Apollog. c. 39. Ambros. in 1 Tim. c. 5. Cyprian, Austin— &c. Let the places be well examined, either, they speak of pastoral Elders, Presbyteri, Seniores, signifying most where the 
Senioresvel Laici vel clerici-Greg. Turonens. hist. l. 5. n. 48  same as Sacerdotes doth, upon the ground fore-given, num. 14. to wit, that ripeness or maturity of yeers commonly required in those, whom at first and in the nonage of the Church, they admitted to the ministerial Function; president probati quique Seniores, saith Tertullian, as he is alleged by them: yet, Eucharistiam de aliorum manu quàm praesidentium non sumimus, saith the same Tertullian elsewhere, De Coron. mill. c. 3. And what were these, say they, save persons in Sacred Orders; The same with those Praepositi there, in other phrase Episcopi or Sacerdotes; De Monog. c. 12.  
29. Else secondly, may they be understood of certain Elders, some or other in chief rank among the rest of the people, taken in occasionally for advice and present assistance, Ecclesiarum {αβγδ} so termed, council. Chalced. c. 23. Seniores urbis, Loci, you shall often meet with in Greg. Turonensis abovesaid: A kind of extraordinary Church-guardians you may imagine them to have been, not endued with any peculiar and settled jurisdiction; That too in times of prevailing paganism, when and where the needful aid of a Christian Magistracy was wanting; And in one of these two senses now most of your seeming-crosse Authorities rightly expounded, will bee found to speak little or nought against us.  
30. But thirdly and lastly, grant the Fathers in truth to make for them, yet Quid hoc ad Iphicli boves? What's this to a Divine Right so strongly stood upon by divers? Be it some of them here and there make mention of such a Lay-Seigniorie, as an expedient and behoveful order in the Church, where the right Governours of State any where moving upon prudential grounds, shall find the conveniency, and the business be feasible in a gentle way of performance,( for otherwise truly it was not Tanti, but that Religio potuit tantum suadere, &c, by occasioning such a lamentable disturbance both in Church and State for the bringing it about) may they on Gods Name {αβγδ}, according to these terms enjoy their desires.  
Florentem Cytisum sequitur lasciva Capella,  
Te Corydon O Alexi, Trahit sua quemque voluptas.   

OF LAY-TEACHERS.  
IT is now again directly after a platonical Revolution of certain Centuries of yeers, the time S. jerome once complained of, touching a 
{αβγδ}, &c. Max. Tyr. Diss. 16.  promiscuous handling or dispensing of holy Scripture, Hanc garrula unus, hanc delirus Senex— &c. Persons of what rank or condition soe'er, backed with an opinionative conceit of the Spirits assistance, venture on it; A like complaint doth Niceph. Gregorensis make for his, Hist. l. 11. Apud nos( saith he) etiam Opisicibus fusa sunt Theologiae arcana atque item omnes— &c. The Waldenses heretofore, if so Jo. Bern. abbess, Fontis, Calidi in his Confutation of them, c. 4, 5, 6. &c. misreport them not, were much guilty of this frenzy, The people of our dayes more then ever.  
Mutavit mores populus levis,& calet uno  
Dicendi study—  
2. All have their effectual secret calling, if need be, not of man, neither by man, Gal. 1. v. 1. But howbeit they prove not such their calling by any show of Miracles, which yet Luther requires, as the best and likeliest note of evidence in cases extraordinary; The works that I do( saith Christ) they bear witness of me; Testimonium Apostolatus sui, S. Paul terms them, 2 Cor. 12. v. 12. the signs or marks of his Apostleship.  
3. All have had the Spirit powred forth upon them, Acts 2. v. 17. yet they observe not how it was onely in those dayes, v. 18. Nor do they make proof of any such peculiar gift of Gods Spirit abounding in them, from the matter or manner of their doctrine, with other like circumstances, which howbeit where plain Miracles are wanting,( as John the Baptist did no Miracles, we red, Joh. 10. ver. 40.) have their due place, and are not lightly to be regarded.  
4. Are Priests and Prophets all, 1 Pet. 2. v. 5. by virtue of that spiritual Unction mentioned, 1 John 2. v. 20. nevertheless by a like figurative construction of speech, they might, if they pleased, prove themselves Kings as well as Priests, Who hath made us Kings and Priests unto God, Rev. 1. v. 6. whereas the places alleged( take them together) speak onely of a catholic spiritual Unction, as we are Christians, not of a peculiar and sacerdotal.  
5. Briefly, all have power from above committed unto them, of teaching and admonishing one another, Col. 3. v. 16. 1 Thes. 5. v. 11. 1 Pet. 4. v. 10. True, if so it be done in private, for mutual edification, sine Cathedrâ, as they say, not Ministerially or in public, {αβγδ}, council. Trul. c. 6. {αβγδ}, saith Balsomon, in Can. Ibid.  
6. Yet all this while they heed not a particular distinction of the name Lay and Clergy, as grounded haply upon Acts▪ 1. v. 17, 25. {αβγδ} in the choice of Mathias to his ministerial office; so to be found strait afterwards expressly in 
{αβγδ} &c. Ep. 1 mâ. ad Cor.  Clemens, Ignatius, &c. which that it ought to be thus still, and therefore the contrary practise utterly unlawful, I evince it by these ensuing Reasons.  

A practise which expressly crosseth 
Arg. 1um.  the Order and Institution of God himself, is at no hand to be used in a Christian Congregation.  
But public preaching of the Word used by Lay-persons expressly crosseth the—  
Ergo—   
7. public Preaching of the Word expressly crosseth the Order and—) See Num. 18. v. 1, 2, 3, 4. &c. where the Lord distinguishingly maketh choice of the levitical Tribe from among the rest to serve him in the Priests Office, to teach the people his Law and Ordinances, Mal. 2. v. 7.  
8. They will not say, I hope, as to the substance of it, that this was a merely ritual Ordinance, commanded under a vanishing Type; S. Paul Heb. 5. v. 6. fetcheth an instance thence, which otherwise he would not have done, from the Priesthood of Aaron to prove the manner and legality of the Gospel-Minister, No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called, as was Aaron; And in the 1 Cor. 9. upon like grounds he presseth the equity of sufficient maintenance for them in discharge of their appointed Duties.  


2dum.  No man hath just right or warrant to preach the Word, but he who is sent; Rom. 10. v. 14.  
But Lay-persons( as so) they are not sent—  
Ergo—   
9. Lay-Persons( as so) they are not sent—) Rather they may be reckoned in the number of those whom the Lord himself complaineth of, jer. 23. v. 21. I have not sent these Prophets, saith the Almighty, yet they run; I have not spoken to them, yet they prophecy; Of such who enter not in by the door, but climb up some other way, joh. 10. v. 1. Thrusting in themselves for Pastors, jer. 17. v. 16. {αβγδ}, as Isid. Pelus. most aptly l. 3. Ep. 119. fanatically presumptuous, and selfe-authorizing Intruders.  
10. The Mission they pretend to will not help them out; For besides that they can produce no certain evidence of any extraordinary calling they have, the mission the Apostle speaks of, was doubtless in an ordinary way done by the Church, and with the usual laying on of hands, Acts 13. v. 8. c. 14. v. 23. 1 Tim. 4. v. 14. c. 6. v. 22. and therefore it is to be thought concerning such, that as God sends them not here forth, because the Church doth not, so neither will he bee with them( which yet for his lawfully deputed Ministers he hath promised he ever will, Mark 16. v. 20.) by giving success to their bold unwarrantable undertakings.  
11. There are I know, who in defence of this their schismatical and groundless Tenet, raled( which yet perchance themselves know not) out of the sink of 
Socin. Tract. de Eccles. small. de Minist. Eccles. Osterod. Instit. c. 1. &c.  socinianism, make Imposition of hands a merely circumstantial and ineffectual Symbol, only superadded for solemnities sake: Election by the people, say they, is that which constitutes a Minister in being, and so easily shift off the force of the Argument.  
12. But this they say, and say it without any so much as but a tolerable reason given for what they say; Against both the judgement and practise of all Antiquity, and in time following the thread of their adventurous proceedings, they may come to a scrupling those other Principles of Christian Doctrine( like as they have done by baptism already) of Faith and Repentance, a Resurrection to life again, and eternal judgement, amongst which St. Paul hath also numbered this of laying on of hands, Hebr. 6. Vers. 1, 2. &c.  
13. But again, and more closely up to the point; Where's the fruit and benefit of this Solemnity so importunately required by us? we red, say they, of some special Gifts consequent to such Imposition of hands in former times, Deut. 34. v. 9. 1 Tim. 4. v. 14. the Gift of the Holy Ghost, Acts 8. v. 17, 18. c. 9. v. 6. &c. And now since the effect is ceased, well may the means be spared, as altogether needless, or rather a scenically ridiculous Pageant to no purpose.  
14. Answ. The fallacy of this Objection lieth in an imperfect enumeration of parts: Giving of the Holy Ghost was not the sole or adequate effect of such Imposition,( though sometimes then given per accidence, and in way of concomitancy) but there were divers others, and those more proper and certain; One where the enstating of the Magistrate in his place of Civill Judicature, which Moses did by Joshua, Numb. 27. v. 22, 23. elsewhere the conveyance of some particular benediction or blessing thereby, corporal, Acts 28. v. 8. spiritual, Gen. 48. v. 14, 15. Mar. 10. v. 16.( 
{αβγδ}) Const. Apost. l. 8. c. 28.  {αβγδ} they called it, distinguishingly from that other, {αβγδ} seu {αβγδ}, in the Ordination of Ministers, Tharass. in Act. 1. council. Nicen. 2.) other whiles a separation from profane,& consequently an application to holy uses, Num. 8. v. 10. 14. Act. 13. v. 2, 3. Separate me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereto I have called them— And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.  
15. So here in the present Argument, where although the Spirit itself perchance be not always given, as they would have it, yet I doubt not of the Spirits more particular 
{αβγδ}— D. Areopag. de Eccles. Hier. c. 5.  assistance going along with the ceremony; Or howe'er it is in sign of that {αβγδ}, the Apostle mentioneth, Rom. 1. v. 1. and which notwithstanding his miraculous calling to the office of Apostleship, he had further confirmed unto him by the laying on of Ananias his hands, Acts 9. v. 17.  
16. Whence accordingly, and from his example might the men of our dayes learn if they pleased,( what though divers of them have, it may be, very special gifts or abilities in this kind, howbeit no ways comparable to S. Paul, I hope) not therefore strait out of a pride and ostentation of their good parts, to thrust into the harvest of Gods Word ere they are sent, or to labour in Christs vineyard, whether as yet neither he nor his Church hath hired them; But, Si clericatus eos titillat desiderium, &c. as S. Hierom some where; if they have such mind to the profession, the way is open, and the means of Ordination ready at hand, whereby they may easily, if they shall there approve themselves, attain their desires.  
17. Even the beasts offered up in sacrifice at Consecration of Aaron and his sons, they will not, I suppose, affirm them capable of any spiritual receptions, yet were they likewise thus set apart by the laying on of hands, Num. 8. v. 12. Or can they show it that timothy and Titus deputed by St. Paul to this very Office, 1 Tim. 5. Tit. 1. did withall inseparably and always confer the gift of the Holy Ghost upon the parties ordained; In brief, Ordination of Ministers now in times of the gospel, answers to the Consecation of Priests then under the Law; both being solemn and useful badges of discrimination( at leastwise) in the persons destined to holy services, and so far forth accounted requisite, that on this ground alone, Exod. 40. is Moses also commanded to anoint or consecrate the Tabernacle with all the Instruments of service belonging thereunto.  


3um.  Every man must keep to the Vocation wherein God hath placed him.  
But Lay-Persons as so, God hath not placed in the Vocation of the ministry.  
Ergo—   
18. Every person must keep to the Vocation wherein—) Not only Scripture expressly requires this, 1 Cor. 7. v. 17. but even custom, and the practise of well-ordered republics; Why else that distinction of Offices and several Professions there in all kinds? The tradesman may by no means encroach upon the Physitians Art, nor the physician upon the Lawyers; But 
Aristophan. in Vespis.  {αβγδ}, saith the Proverb; Let each one hold to the profession he hath taken upon him, and is best skilled in: And it was warily ordered, as to the 
{αβγδ}, &c. Nullatenus nobis Christianis permissum est ut quis in Ecclesiâ seu publicè Scripturus sacras explanet, nisi qui in clericalem ordinem adscitus fuerit, Suid. in l. {αβγδ}.  particular point in hand, in that first great council of Nice, {αβγδ}, Gelas Cycicen. in Acta council. l. 4. c 30.  
19. If they shall here reply, how that Medad and Edad from among the people, without being called thereto by Moses, did prophesy, Num. 11. v. 26. The like did Philips five daughters, Act. 21. v. 19. Yea, the Disciples generally upon their being dispersed are said to have gone forth every where preaching the Word, Acts 8. v. 4. c. 11. v. 19. That King jehosophat sent out of his Princes or Rulers to teach in the Cities of judah, 2 Chron. 17. v. 7. how Apollos Acts 18. v. 24.( for ought appears by the Text) a private person, yet openly spake and taught in the Synagogues; Lastly, that the Apostle S. Paul notwithstanding his ministerial Function otherwise, was by a Trade a Tent-maker, Acts 18. v. 3. and did practise ordinarily in the said Trade or Occupation.  
20. For the two first places, the Instances be extraordinary, and furthermore as either where it must be understood, what's miraculous prophesying to our usual preaching? Usuall I added, because in case of urgent necessity, suppletivè,( as when the Levites supplied the Priests room in slaying the burnt-offerings, 2 Chron. 29. v. 34. Thus till Moses by Gods appointment had established a Priesthood, the young men are permitted to officiate in the Priests stead, Exod. 24. v. 5. which yet now is none of our condition: Though the harvest be great, the labourers, God be thanked, do every where abound) and in a Church not fully constituted, it may haply be well enough allowed of in private men, not invested with a ministerial lawful Calling; So 
Theodor. Hist. l. 1. c. 23. Nice ph. 5. c. 14.  Aedesius and Frumentius among the Indians, so Origen in the Church of Alexandria.  
21. Concerning those Disciples Acts 8.& 11.( supposing them to have been other then the 70. who had received Authority of Preaching the gospel long before at our Saviours own hands, Luke 10. v. 1) S. Ambrose hath furnished us with an Answer in Eph. c. 4. where speaking of those first unsettled times, Ut cresceret plebs& multiplicaretur, saith he, omnibus inter initia concessum est,& Evangelizare& baptizare& Scripturas in Ecclesiâ exponere, &c. All then without distinction, were licenced to teach, for the speedier and quicker increase of the gospel; Not so yet, as if this confused practise were or ought to have long continued, but as it followeth, Caepit alio ordine& providentiâ gubernari Ecclesia,— &c. and this e're long, the Apostles yet surviving, you may be sure, from Act. 14. v. 23. c. 20. v. 17. And so likewise is Tertullian to bee understood, l. de Exhort. ad Cast. c. 13. Differentiam inter ordinem& plebem constituit Ecclesiae Authoritas, &c. he speaks of the apostolic Church; else in compliance with the Montanists, which he was now turned, and so the less to be headed.  
22. Or secondly, what if we say, that the word {αβγδ} there used imports no more then {αβγδ}, mark 5. v. 19. applied to the dispossessed person, and rendered by {αβγδ} in the next ensuing verse, {αβγδ}, Luke 8. v. 39. viz. a mere declarative narration of things done; go home to thy friends, and tell what great things the Lord hath done for thee; So then they went abroad preaching, i.e. divulging or relating the history of Christs Death and Resurrection.  
23. But thirdly, and without more ado, who can positively say, but that these Disciples had lawful commission in the ordinary way of calling, for dispatch of what they undertook, though the Scripture be altogether silent herein, since an Argument drawn thence negatively in matter of fact or outward circumstance, is no ways firmly concludent, and we find it to have been the usual practise of the Church elsewhere, that they who went forth upon ministerial employments, were solemnly deputed, as abovesaid, by the laying on of hands.  
24. The teaching spoken of, 2 Chron. 17. and ascribed to Jehosophat his Princes, denotes nothing else save a mere commissionary power they had of giving in charge, and seeing the duty orderly performed by others;( A thing usual with our Itinerant Iudges in their circuits still:) The Priests and Levites there are the men whom the executive part of this business did questionless wholly concern, thereupon mentioned strait afterwards, v. 8. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, saith holy David, and uphold me with thy free Spirit; Then will I teach transgressors in thy way, Psal. 51. v. 12, 13. Did he do it, trow they, or was he about to do it Ministerially, as using the Pulpit or the chair, like as did Ezra the Scribe and Priest, Nehem. 8. v. 4, 5. where he expounds himself the Law unto the People, and doth what properly belonged unto his Function.  
25. Apollos his proceedings Act. 18. bespeaks at most but some kind of theological exercise, some Disputes or Reasonings in Divinity,( {αβγδ} is the word) then in use for the time, and indifferently performed either by Lay or clergy in public; One while in their Synagogues, yet standing, Act. 17. v. 2. c. 18. v. 4. &c. afterwards in the Church, or Congregation, 1 Cor. 14. v. 29. 30, 31. And what's this to preaching again? a 
Vid. Acont. Stratagem. l. 4. §. 4.  solemn ministerial dispensing of the word I say, the point here in controversy.  
26. For the fourth and last, that of S. Pauls being a Tent-maker; 'tis true: yet was this but casual, namely for supply of his pressing necessities at instant; This too upon special inducements, peculiar to the condition he was in, that he might not be burdensome in preaching of the gospel to any,& so make his glorying voided, 1 Cor. 9. v. 15. howe'er, what though Paul the Preacher made Tents, yet Paul the Tent-maker did not preach: It was an higher principle or endowment of Gods Spirit in him that set him a work,( that of special revelation, Ephes. 3. v. 3.) which though our men now adays much pretend to, yet will they never bee able to justify, or make good.  


4tum.  Nothing which begets confusion among the members of Christ his mystical Body, and consequently destroyeth the integral being of a true Church, is allowable in Christian Assemblies.  
But a promiscuous preaching of the gospel by Lay-persons begets confusion among—  
Ergo—   
27. Promiscuous preaching of the gospel by Lay-persons begets confusion among-) Saint Paul 1 Cor. 12. in that Chapter throughout Allegoriewise resembles Christs Church to a Body; In this Body there are diversity of members, every member hath its peculiar set office: The Head or sovereign, his; the inferior Magistrate, as being the hand, his; the foot of the commonalty, his; and the eye which in proportion must needs be the Minister,( so S. jerome in L. Contr. Lucifer: expounding that passage, Mat. 6. v. 22. The light of the body is the eye-&c.) his also: Take heed unto yourselves, and to the flock over which the Lord hath made you Overseers.  
28. Now, if the whole body, as he there goeth on, were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole— &c. And therefore, are all Apostles? are all Prophets? are all Teachers? v. 28. 
{αβγδ}, &c. Naz. Orat. 26.  No, but let every one wait upon the Office God hath called him to, that so he breed no confusion in the mystical body of Christ his Church, which himself hath so aptly framed and set together.  


5tum.  That calling which requireth all possible sufficiency of knowledge both secular and divine towards a right discharge of the same, is not lightly to be attempted by illiterate persons.  
But the ministerial calling requireth all possible sufficiency of knowledge both—  
Ergo—   
29. The ministerial Calling requireth all possible sufficiency of knowledge—) Even the whole Cyclopaedia of Arts, if it might be: Since, Who is sufficient for these things, 2 Cor. 2. v. 16. and, The Priests lips must preserve knowledge. Mal. 2. v. 7. Of logic, to divide the word aright; Of rhetoric, to persuade the hearers; Of School-Theologie, to convince the gain-sayers, &c. If 
Cicero de Orat. l. 1.  Cicero and 
Quintil. Instit. l. 1. c. 10. Ex multâ eruditione, ex plurimis artibus& omnium rerum scientiâ exundat& exuberat ad mirabilis illa eloquentia— Dialog.  Quintilian, two expert Masters both in their profession, require, as somewhere they do, such an universal confluence of Arts and Sciences to make up a perfect orator; How much rather may it be thought necessary in the Minister, the orator or ambassador, as S. Paul styleth him, 2 Cor. 5. v. 20. of reconciliation betwixt God and Man.  
30. Besides that Divinity of its self is a vast Ocean to pass through; Enough to take up a mans whole time: St. Basil and St. Gregory, saith 
L. Hist. 2. c. 9.  Ruffinus, spent 13. yeers entire in searching forth the hidden sense of Scripture barely, before they would make show of their profession; yet now à sellulâ ad Cathedram strait, from the Shop to the Pulpit; {αβγδ}, Et nèc dum discipuli, jam Magistri sunt, men forthwith become Teachers of divinity that ne're were 
Asper, Cornutus,& alij innumerabiles requiruntur ut qui libet poeta posset intelligi- Et tu in sanctos libros sine duceirruis,& de his sine praeceptore audes far sententiam. Aug. ad Honorat. c. 7.  Learners; Such mechanic presumptuous intruders upon the profession of philosophy hath Lucian long since in his {αβγδ} not undeservedly after his jeering wonted manner taken to task; Sure I am here with us lamentable is the event of such proceedings; The people by this means are commonly fed with husks instead of better food, the Temple is turned into a theatre, and the Pulpit too often becomes the Stage of deserved laughter.  


6tum.  Nothing that casts a blot of ignominy and disrepute upon the Church of Christ is to be suffered there;  
public Preaching in a promiscuous manner by men of all sorts casteth a blot of ignominy and disrepute—  
Ergo—   
31. public preaching in a promiscuous manner casts a blot—) To let pass how no rightly ordered Church in the world besides, whether Grecians, Habassines, Armenians, Muscovites, &c. hath it so; Nay, the very Heathen themselves have always observed a difference in this kind betwixt their Priests and ordinary sort of men; The Church of Christ is somewhere in Scripture likened to a well-governed Army, Cant. 6. v. 4. Elsewhere to an house, 1 Tim. 3. v. 15. Many times to a flock, Luke 12. v. 32. In an 
〈◇〉 Clem. in Ep. 1 mâ ad Corinth.  Army all are not Leaders: In an House not all Stewards or dispensers of the Masters goods: In a Flock every sheep doth not wear the Ensign.  
32. again, as thus; no more Dic Ecclesiae, but rather Dic ubi est Ecclesia,( since Ecclesia non est quae non habet Sacerdotem, saith S. jerome, it is no Church in truth which hath no rightly ordained Ministers for their 
{αβγδ}— Ignat. Ep. ad Trallian. Ecclesia plebs est Sacerdoti ad unita& Pastori suo ad haerens. Cypr. Ep. 69.  Teachers) where is your Church, that mystical Body of Christ, known by its distinct and orderly disposal of parts; Well may Greg. Naz. his complaint upon like occasion long sithence, Apol. 1 m â. bee well applied to our times, {αβγδ}, &c. No difference remaines there now betwixt the Teachers and the Hearers of the Word, but all lies blended and confused together into a misshapen Chaos of gross inordinacy.  
33. But lastly, and it is indeed the marrow or substance of other Arguments in the point; Why otherwise I marvel, did Christ and his Apostles take such care of setting the Church in order: Christ he by giving some Apostles, and some Evangelists, and some Pastors and Teachers, saith St. Paul, Eph. 4. v. 11. and he relates evidently to that our Saviours first Institution on this behalf, Joh. 20. v. 21. As my Father sent me, so sand I you; The Apostles they afterwards by placing Elders and Deacons there, 1 Tim. 3. with such like different Offices, namely, some to teach, and some that might be taught,( all for the perfecting of the Saints, as it followeth) if so every man at pleasure may usurp upon the Function.  
34. The issue of this short velitation may be to lessen the boldness of some overweening Enthusiasts, who not content to move within the sphere of their proper Vocation, will needs go beyond the bounds and limits which God hath set, and being 
{αβγδ}— Hippocr. {αβγδ}.  {αβγδ} dare to meddle with holy Mysteries; Ye take too much upon you ye sons of Aaron,( cry they, as did those murmurers in like manner, Numb. 16.) seeing all the Congregation are holy, every one of them; And truly, I wish,( whose punishment there ensuing, they cannot choose but tremble at) they would forbear to imitate their example.  
35. Presume they not for countenance sake to father the spurious off-spring of their own sick brains upon the Spirit,( Woe unto the foolish Prophets that follow their own spirit, Ezek. 13. v. 3. Phreneticum& immundum ignorantiae spiritum, as Irenaeus l. 1. c. 13. Again, what is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord, jer. 23. v. 8.) like those 
De vitâ Beatâ. c. 12  Seneca speaks of in his times, who devoted to a loose intemperate course of life, Luxuriam suam, quoth he, in Philosophiae sinu abscondebant, had wont to shroud their enormous rioting under the faire and specious covert of the Epicurean Profession.   

OF PLACES Appropriate to DIVINE WORSHIP.  
SOme certain Places or other solemnly set apart for the exercise of Divine Worship, the controller sort of Heathen have always made use of; None but few shall we find of the Christian Profession that ever disliked it, besides the Manichees, the Massilians, those Fratricelli in times past, and now of late certain novelists, who not content to foregoe such hallowed places, do moreover( Non sine horrendâ Divinae Majestatis, contumeliâ as Bucer de reign. Christi, l. 1. c. 11.) 
{αβγδ}, &c. Si quis docet domum Dei contemptibile esse,& conventus qui in eâ celebrantur, Anathema sit; council. gangrene. c. 6.  scoff and deride the same; What, despise ye the Church of God? 1 Cor. 11. v. 22. Blaspheme ye his Name, and his holy Tabernacle, Rev. 13. v. 6. And that now some such place( call it what you please) is very behoveful, if not advantageous in the practise of our Christian Profession, against those {αβγδ}, or forsakers of the Church, Hebr. 10. v. 25. Sic Colligo.  

That place which the Lord himself 
Arg. Ium.  had once special care of, as to the setting up and ordaining it to this very purpose, is still fitting and expedient for us Christians likewise in the service of him.  
But such a place( first the Tabernacle, afterwards the Temple of the Jews I mean) the Lord himself had once special care of, as to the setting up and ordaining—  
Ergo—   
2 Such a place( the Tabernacle, then the Temple) the Lord himself had special care of,— &c.) See Exod. 25. 2 Sam. 7. Under a type it was either where, they'll say; Answ. Not so: Else let them show the antitype it relates to, save improperly, and in way of allusion perchance, that as God is often said by reason of his more especial presence to dwell in the one, the Temple, so did the fullness of the Godhead dwell in Christ, Col. 2. v. 9. Under the Law most things on this sort happened there for examples and types, saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 10. v. 11. And thus Christ, as I have said, calleth his body a Temple, Destroy this Temple, and in three dayes I will raise it up, joh. 2. v. 19. was himself both Priest, and Temple, and Sacrifice altogether, Heb. 9. v. 9, 10. Also, and upon like grounds of resemblance, though weaker much, are we Christians styled the Temple of the Holy Ghost; Know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, 1 Cor. 6. v. 19.  

Prudent.  Aedem sibi in mente hoins condidit,  
Niveam, serenam, sensualem, flexilem,  
Pulchram, Venustam, &c.  
{αβγδ}, as Clemens Alexandrinus terms it, storm. l. 7. in opposition to that other, which he there calleth {αβγδ}, namely the artificial and outward Church or Temple.  
3. Or again, be it granted the Temple was truly and properly, a type of Christs coming in the flesh, yet was it not only a type; that was not the sole end, indeed not any end at all, but rather a lauding and magnifying of the high God after a more solemn manner in his own appointed place; These two no ways cross or thwart one the other, but do well accord, so as what was typical, is gone together with the Temple itself, and what was morally expedient still remaines in the usage of other like structures, since every where erected by Christians, according to that first example.  
4. Briefly, Ceremonies with the Jews were of two sorts, some merely typical, and some symbolical, 
{αβγδ}— Aristeae, Hist. p. 40.  significant of some moral perfection, or other tacitly recommended to us; Such was the unblemished feature of body throughout required in the Priests and Levites: Their washing at foot of the Altar; their being arrayed with 
Proptereà Altari albis in duti assistunt( Diaconi) ut Caelestem vitam— &c. Isid. Hisp. De Off. l. 2. c. 8.  white and pure linen:- Niveo pietatis amictu, according to that of the Psalmist, Let thy Priests be clothed with rigteousnesse, Psal. 132. v. 9. For that the fine linen is the righteousness of the Saints, Rev. 19. v. 8. And such now haply was this of the material Temple, implying a fast union or joining together, as should be, of Christs chosen people,( the living stones of his mystical Temple, the Church, 1 Pet. 2. v. 5.) in the profession of his holy Name; S. Paul where he admonisheth the Colossians, Col. 2. v. 16. of sundry mere ceremonial times and seasons, that were a shadow of things to come, v. 17. makes not the least mention( neither there nor any where else) of place or places, in the Catalogue of these Ceremonies.  


2um.  Where the ground or fundamental reason of some thing in the sirst constitution of it abides still the same, there the thing itself is still to be had in like esteem among Christians.  
But the ground or fundamental reason of appointing set places to Gods Service, exempt from secular uses abides still the same—  
Ergo—   
5. Where the ground or fundamental reason of some thing in the first Constitution abides still the same, there—) Eâdem vel simili ratione manente, idem statuendum est, is a certain Rule of the Law; So for instance, in the observation of the seventh or Sabbath day of the week, the time more particularly allotted to Divine Worship: It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever, saith God, Exod. 31. v. 1. And why ever? The reason you have annexed equally still binding,( had not the Apostles by especial warrant from above, and that likewise upon grounds as sufficiently good, as that former was, stepped in, and caused it to cease) For in six dayes the Lord made the heaven and the earth, and restend the seventh day.  
6. Now for the Assumption, the ground or main reason at first of building the Jewish Temple, a set place to worship God in, was by his appointment, prayer not sacrifice, 1 King. 8. v. 28, 29, 30. &c. and hence had it the name of being peculiarly called the house of Prayer, Isai. 56. v. 7. The Prophet there( and it is worth the noting) speaks in the Future-Tense, My house shall be called, and this universally in regard of all people, not of the Jews alone, but of the Gentiles also, My house shall be called an house of prayer for all people, which thing the Christians afterwards( it may seem) taking into consideration, usually termed such consecrate places every where, {αβγδ}, Oratoria, from the end, to wit, or primary scope of their Institution.  
7. Other collateral ends as might be given I deny not, but pass by, there intimated, 1 King. 8. of exalting the honour of Gods worship, of providing the people a more known and familiar staple of public recourse, albeit these likewise pled as strongly for our Churches or set places of meeting in the Service of God.  


3um.  Such place as the Apostle or any of the Apostles have designed and pointed forth, may and should be accordingly of special use with Christians in the Service of God.  
But some such particular set place, separate from profane uses the Apostle S. Paul hath somewhere—  
Ergo—   
8. Some such particular set place the Apostle S. Paul hath somewhere-) See 1 Cor. 11. v. 20. What, have ye not houses to eat and drink in, or despise ye the Church of God; Where the Apostle pointing at their {αβγδ}, or abused love-feasts then in fashion, opposeth the place of their religious meetings unto private houses, or houses of ordinary use to eat and drink in; So c. 14. v. 4 coll. with v. 35. By Church either where you must necessary understand( and so do Chrysost. Theophyl. upon the place, 1 Cor. 11. Aug. supper Levit. Qu. 57, &c.) some material or local Church; The Heathen entred into her Sanctuary, whom thou didst command they should not enter into thy Congregation, Jer. 4. v. 10. {αβγδ} is the word in the former, {αβγδ} in the later part of the verse; the Sanctuary there, the Church or Congregation here, both expressing one and the same thing.  
9. In strict propriety of phrase I know, {αβγδ}, as Isid. Pelus. l. 2. Ep. 246. the Church is properly one thing, and the Temple another; and, {αβγδ}, Clem. Alex. storm. l. 7. yet {αβγδ}, h. e. Locus conventus Ecclesiastici, Constit. Apost. l. 2. c. 59, 60. Conventus Ecclesiarum sieve Templi— ut vocant, Zen. Veronens. in Psalm 126. Afterwards in process of time a promiscuous use of the terms grew usual with the Fathers, as it is easy to observe in them; Dominicum Tertullian often calleth it, the Lords House: So doth Cyprian, Ruffinus, Augustine, &c. {αβγδ}, council. Ancyr. c. 5. Neocaes. c. 50. &c. And this the word Kirk or Church with us well expresseth, properly answering( in its kind) to the Lords day, the one a circumstance of time, the other of place, Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, and reverence my Sanctuary, Lev. 19. v. 30.  
10. But this( you'll say) maketh little or nought for such entire fabrics or Temple-buildings, as be now in use; Christians of the first times, 'tis thought, had them not: {αβγδ}, &c. saith Isidore abvovesaid; Ans. Nor do I here pled for them: It may be Christians then in the bud, or otherwise under the danger and burden( both) of Pagan persecution, had not sufficiency of means to build such, or not freedom of conscience to use them being built; Whereupon, and in defect of more solemn places to meet in, they contented themselves perforce with 
Walfrid. Strab. de Reb. Ecclesiast. c. 3. vid. Pol. Virgil. de Invent. Rerum l. 5. c. 6.  Caves and hidden Vaults, with private houses at best, such as was the house of Aquila and Priscilla,( probably) mentioned, Rom. 16. v. 5. that of Nymphus, Col. 4. v. 15. Separate on this wise by the devout owners, and either wholly or in part applied to religious exercises.  
11. Yet for all this, S. Marcialis who lived near to the Apostles times makes mention of such religious structures then already in use, Ep. ad Toloss c. 8. The like doth Niceph. Constantipolitanus, and he instanceth in one among the rest, founded by S. Andrew, catalogue. Episcop. Byzantin. c. 8. Simeon Metaphrastes tells of Temples and Altars built by S. Luke, Hist. vitae Sti. luke. vid. 
{αβγδ}.  Philon. Jud. de vitâ Theoric. Just. Mart. Apol. d. versus sinem 
{αβγδ}, Euseb. ex Cato vetust. Scriptore, Hist. l. 2. c. 24.  Ignat. in Ep. ad magnets; Tertul. de idol. c. 7. De Virgin. Veland. c. 3. 13. advers. Valent. c. 3. As for Isid. Pelusiota fore-cited, he speaks only of the adorning or beautifying of Temples, not simply of the having of none at all; {αβγδ}( saith he) i.e. {αβγδ}, as it followeth, not so magnificently built, or so fairly garnished, as now we have them: And according to this purport or meaning, might sundry others also of the seemingly gain-saying Ancients, if need were, be fitly expounded, as Origen Contr. cells. l. 8. Minuc. in Octav. Arnob. advers. Gent. l. 6. Lactant. de falsâ relic. l. 2. c. 2. 19. &c.  
12. Nor further do I contend for 
De Rebus Ecclesiast. c. 9.  those {αβγδ} or wonted appurtenances of Dedication, Consecration, performed long since by the Patriarch Jacob under a type,( as Walfrid. Strabo notes) Gen. 28. v. 18. in his erecting a new Altar there where the Lord had appeared unto him, and powring oil upon it, and then calling the name of the place Bethel, or the house of God; Yea, anciently practised upon the accomplishment, and towards a seasoning, as 'twere, of 
Tacit. An. l. 6. c, 11. l. 14. Suet. in Ner. c. 12. 31. Plin. l. 10. Ep. 117 &c. {αβγδ}, Dion. l. 51. n. 311, 312. l. 53. n. 347, &c.  common structures,( Sanctificatione invocativâ, to wit, by imploring Gods benediction in the after usage of them, not costitutivâ, as your Canonists speak, and so distinguish it from this other belonging properly to houses of religious employment) Deut. 20. v. 8. Neh. 12. v. 27. So Psal. 30. in lemmate Psalmi, A Psalm or Song at the Dedication of the House of David; All I stand on at present, is the meet expediency of some certain place severed from all other whate'er, and solely appropriated to sacred uses.  


4tum.  solemn set duties require a solemn set place correspondent to them for the performance of these duties.  
But Prayer and Preaching are solemn set duties.  
Ergo—   
13. solemn set duties require a solemn set place—) This is the very Argument( in part) which David useth, 2 Sam. 7. v. 2. for the building of God an House taken from the dignity of the ark, as yet nevertheless unprovided for; The King said unto Nathan, see I dwell in an house of Cedar, but the Ark of God dwelleth within the Curtains.  
14. Besides, other Functions of what kind soe'er, have for most part, their set places of meeting and dispatch; 
{αβγδ}, Demost. Orat. pro Coron.  {αβγδ}, Basilicas, Praetoria, guild or common-halls purposely ordained to this use; Now is the ministerial Function( objectively) the highest of all others: And what congruity in reason can there bee to deny unto it being the highest, that which we carefully provide for, and willingly allow to other far meaner performances?  
15. The council of Gangrena judged a right correspondency betwixt the 
{αβγδ}, &c. plate. de Iugd. 10.  place and the performance, the Church and Gods solemn Worship so necessary, as to have put it( Can. 6.) under a dire Anathema, if any should go about to solemnize religious meetings elsewhere; questionless, the Fathers there saw some extraordinary inconvenience or other in it to the contrary, and this now hath S. Chrysostome clearly pointed forth, in Ep. 1. ad Cor. Hom. 47. where he gives us a reason of the first building or erecting of Churches, Non ut divisi simus, cum convenire oportet, saith he, said ut divisi Conjungamur, as much as if he had said it in plainer terms, to prevent Conventicles, and such like clandestine 
Aspergebatur infamiâ( Alcibiad.) quòd in domo suâ facere Mysteria dicebatur quod nefas erat more Atheniensium, id queen non ad Religionem, said ad conjuraetionem pertinere existimabatur. Aemil. Prob. in vitâ.  factious Assemblies.  
16. You shall find the word Conventiculum, I know( so to prevent a cavil by the way) somewhere used in a wider and orthodox sense, for all manner of places destined to holy meetings, Arnob. advers. Gent. l. 4. Ambrose in Eph. 4. c. 4. Oros. l. 7. c. 12. ruffian. l. 1. c. 9. l. 2. c. 5. &c. But the word I stand not on: The matter we contend about, is the appropriation of some solemn approinted place or other, call it as you list, Church or Temple, or Conventicle, and the more known and public, the better for avoiding, as abovesaid, of fractions and divisions.  


5tum.  That place which begets and increaseth devotion in us at our Religious meetings is questionless of special use to Gods people.  
But a set place particularly destined to holy duties, begets and increaseth devotion—  
Ergo—   
17. A place particularly destined to holy duties, begets and—) Eccles. 5. v. 1. Keep thy scot when thou goest into the house of God, and be more ready, &c. There's an Item given of warily and devoutly behaving ourselves borrowed from the place; Put off thy shoes,( the shoes of thy corrupt affections,) for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground, saith the the Almighty to Moses, Exod. 3. v. 5. What know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. 6. v. 19. He useth an Argument drawn from the supposed holiness of the artificial outward Temple to commend holiness unto us in the inward, which Temple mystically,& under a figure we are.  
18. It is, it may be in regard of this sanctity of the place, together with the someway heightening of our devotions in contemplation thereof, that the Prophet David adviseth, Praise ye the Lord, saith he, praise God in his Sanctuary, Psal. 150. v. 1. Praise him we may, and must every where; But yet then are our praises of him most comely and pleasing withal, when as performed there, where himself or the Church by authority derived from him, have appointed them to be done; {αβγδ}; Pray we may at home, saith 
{αβγδ}.  Chrysostome, and every where, whatsoe'er we be, but no where so conveniently in all respects, as in the Church or Sanctuary.  
19. I do not hereby( that so I be not mistaken) ascribe any true inherent holinesse to the very place:( wood and ston are no materials capable of it) much less any worship due thereupon: That's but an inconsequential Parologism of Bellarmines( with his followers) in a like cause, L. de cultu imagine. c. 12. 21. But only I conceive a kind of relative holiness, that may well be attributed to it, in order or relation to the end, the end evermore extrinsically at leastwise, qualifying the means conducent to the end; Thus every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord, Lev. 27. v. 28. And hence sprung those names of solemn use among the Ancients, Sacellum, sacrarium, {αβγδ}, Sacra sunt loca divinis cultibus instituta, saith Isid. Hispal. l. 15. c. 4. {αβγδ}, jul. Poll. Onomast.  
— Sacer est, pueri, locus, extrà  
Meite, could the Heathen Poet say.  
20. Or again secondly in respect of the more immediate application of Gods presence to such place or places; Whence he is said to 
{αβγδ}.  dwell between the Cherubims, 1 Sam. 4. v. 2. 2 King. 19. v. 15. to have his resting place within the Temple, 2 Chron. 6. v. 41. Arise O Lord into thy rest, thou and the Ark of thy strength; which too must it needs reflect as 'twere some beams of sanctity upon the place, real or imaginary: Like as did the Ark, we find, by Davids mansion-house, 2 Chron. 8. v. 11. My wife, saith Solomon there, shall not dwell in the house of David King of Israel, because the place is holy, whereunto the Ark of the Lord hath come; If the placing of the Ark had that powerful efficacy in it,( even when afterwards removed and gone) shall not the Almighties presence be much more efficacious to an hallowing the place of his especial residence, or symbolical abode amid his appointed Ordinances?  
21. If in return to the premises some or all of them, it be said, God is not tied to places; Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, 1 King. 8. v. 27. And upon this mere consideration have divers of the Heathen altogether declined the usage of such materiate Temples, quip non esse parietibus include ados Deos, quorum hic mundus omnis Templum esset ac domus, Cic. de Leg. l. 2. vid. Herodot. l. 1. Strab. l. 19. &c. Not an unlike effect did the same opinion,( besides the restraint laid upon them by oppressing Tyranny) work in some of the more Cautelously devout Christians at first, as may be probably gathered from the fore-named Authors, 
{αβγδ}— Orig. Contrà cells. l. 7.  Origen. 
Templum quod ei extruam, cum totus mundus ejus operâ fabricatus eum capere non posset: Ecum homo laxius maneat— Minuc. &c.  Minuc. Arnob. Lactant. &c.  
— {αβγδ} 
sibyl. O rac. de christian.  {αβγδ};  
{αβγδ},  
But, Therefore I will that men pray every where lifting up pure hands, saith S. Paul, 1 Tim. 2. v. 8. Every where God he is present, and his presence can make a Temple any where, as the Princes personal residence doth a Court.  
22. Answ. This latter Text( there to begin) is principally to be understood of private Prayer; So Mat. 6. v. 6. When thou prayest, saith Christ, enter into thy Closet,( the Closet of thine own heart, as Cassian. collat. 9. c. 35.) and when thou hast shut the door, &c. Our Saviour there further more particularly perstringeth the hypocritical humour of the Pharisees, who did all for show, and to be seen of men: A right usage of Temples, or other like solemn places he condemns not, but only their ostentation, and vain-glorious demeanour occasionally practised in such places.  
23. For the former, Salomon makes the Objection, and hath withall given in an Answer to it, v. 28, 29. Yet have thou regard unto the prayer of thy servant, that thine eyes may be open towards this house; God he is present in such places, not by way of confinement:( So the Almighty dwelleth not in Temples made with hands, Act. 7. v. 48. It was the gross conceit of certain of the Heathen( that) touching their Idoll-Gods, whom and therefore for more sureties sake, they usually kept fast, and 
Cur sub validissimis clavibus, ingentibus sub Claustris &c. Arnob. advers. Gent. l. 6. vid. Origen. ubi Suprà; Cypr. ad Demetr. Oros. Hist. l. 6. c. 1. Q. Curt. de Tyriis l. 5& Plutarch dee●sd. {αβγδ}.— &c.  tied up, Wisd. c. 13. v. 15. Baruc. 6. v. 18.) but of a particular and more gracious application, and in this sense is it Domus mea so styled evermore, mine house, signantèr, mine.  
24. Nor yet is this to be understood in any appropriative manner of locution, if we shall compare some such places with other consecrated in a like sort. As that his being worshipped here, did prescribe against a performance of the like duty as well elsewhere,( which was the error our Saviour there rebuketh in the samaritan woman concerning their worshipping of God in Mount Gerizim alone, Joh. 4. v. 21. and an honour once peculiarly belonging to the Temple at jerusalem) but of some eminentiall, though( still) unconfined assistance.  
25. Well then: The truth of the main position laid down at beginning holds still unshaken, and may so pass, yet with this provisò as before; Be sure we impute not superstitiously any virtue or efficacy to the place in or from itself, ( let it be the groundless calumny of gain-sayers, that) That as the Temple formerly sacred by Gods own particular appointment, and immediate institution, 1 King. 9. v. 3. did sanctify the gold of the same, the Altar the gift upon it, Mat. 23. v. 18, 19. So should the Church now be thought in any wise to add more value or esteem to our petitions, we there commence before him; But it is the lawfulness, conveniency, the ancient usage of Churches I pled for, and no more.  
26. And then further, so to make this discourse come round and close where it began: Be it considered, that as the Lord frequently in Scripture upbraids and grievously menaceth the defilers of his holy Temple, the place of his Throne, and the place of the soles of his feet, Ezek. 43. v. 7. So least any should think of securing Themselves in the vain imagination of an abolished Type, there are not wanting among us, men of special note, who have fastened a suitably harsh doom upon the profanation and abuse of ours; Certè haec tanta est, saith reverend 
De reign. Christ. l. 1. c. 10.  Bucer, divini Numinis contemptio, ut eâ vel solâ meriti simus de terra exterminari: Were there no other impulsive reason of Gods just vengeance against us, yet were this alone enough to cause our being rooted out of the Land of the Living.   

Of solemn PRAYERS In public.  
sudden or extempore prayer in private I censure not, where both thoughts and words are left us more at large, and God perchance requireth no such solemn premeditation in our ordinary addresses unto him: But that it be used in the public service of him, made indeed as it is, the only Act of performance wherewith the men of our daies do so in Rostris se venditare, rather than a solemn set form, nay, this excluded quiter, I can by no means approve of, for these ensuing Reasons.  


Arg. 1um.  That manner of Prayer which Christ himself hath recommended to us; The Saints both on Earth and in Heaven glorify God with; The Primitive Christians did generally practise, is surely to bee preferred in the public service of him.  
But a set form Christ himself hath recommended to us: The Saints both on Earth and in Heaven glorify God with: The Primitive Christians did—  
Ergo—   
2. A set form of Prayer Christ himself hath recommended to us—) First, by precept, Luke 11. v. 2. when ye pray, say: It is {αβγδ}, say ye 
Aliter orare quam docuit( Christus) non ignorantia sola est, said culpa: Oremus itaque fratres dilectis simi sicit magister. Deus docuit. Cypr.  This, as well as thus; verba& recitationem certam praescribit, saith Melancthon, Tract. de Invocat.& precat. Therewith heretofore, namely with the Lords Prayer,( though now a daies so slighted and little set by; a neglect well deserving the revivall of sundry ancient Church-Canons, Constit. Apost. l. 7. c. 20. council. Tol. 4. c. 9. &c. de oratione dominicâ frequentandâ,) usually began they their public service; praemissâ Legitimâ& ordinariâ oratione Drminicâ quasi fundamento, jus est superstruendi— &c. saith Tertullian, ad Mar. c. and with it did they conclude the same, Aug. ep. 59. Qu. 5. Then by example, Mat. 26. v. 39, 42. And he went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.  
3. The Saints on earth and in heaven glorify—) Num. 6. v. 23, 24. c. 10. v. 35, 36. coll. with Psa. 68. v. 1. 2 Chron. 6. v. 41. 42. with Psa. 132. v. 8, 9, 10. 2 Chron. 29. v. 30. c. 35. v. 25. Ezra 3. v. 10, 11. Dan. 9. v. 5. with 1 King. 8. v. 27. David his psalms throughout; Here end the prayers of David the Son of Jesse, ad Calcem Psalmi 172. Particularly, vid. Psa. 90. 92. 102. Rev. 4. v. 8. c. 15. v. 3, 4. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the Song of the Lamb, saying,— &c.  
4. The Primitive Christians did generally practise—) For their manner of divine service what it was in their {αβγδ} or solemn Assemblies, originally in or about the Apostles times, it is hard to determine: Onely wee red of certain {αβγδ}, hymns and Lections of Scripture then in use. Phil. da vitâ Theoric. Plin. l. 10. Ep. 2. &c. Nor shall I urge the particular forms of Prayer both before and after the Communion, mentioned in the apostolic Constitutions, l. 8. c. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. &c. Not Dionys. the Areapogite, Eccles. Hierarh. c. 3.& in Ep. ad Demophil. Monach. Nor yet further the set liturgies ascribed to Saint mark, Saint James, some ways altered and otherwise afterwards digested by Saint Basil and Saint Chrysostome, as Proclus testifieth, Bibliothec. Patrum, Tom. 5. They will be ready I know to decry them all as supposititious, it being the most usual Answer always in difficult straites, and nearest at hand; Though yet the learned Causabone in his exercitations upon Baronius Exercit. 14. c. 8. may seem somewhat of another opinion, with a sunt, aut videntur at leastwise: and Scaliger, one as able as most men of his time were, to discern betwixt true and counterfeit wears, without further mincing the matter, speaks of an ancient liturgy he had lying by him, of Ignatius his composing,( for so so I understand him) de Emendat. Temp. l. 7.  
5. But what say they then to Clemens Rom.( to begin with) in Ep. primâ ad Corinth: where he hath the word 
{αβγδ}. Hipolit. in orat. de consummat. Mnndi. Ann. Christ. 220.  {αβγδ} or liturgy, over and again; which as it doth, if taken in gross, imply the whole Action of divine service, with all the integrating circumstances performable whether by Pagans or Christians: So principally evermore,( in the Christian Dialect) that of Prayer; As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, Act. 13. v. 2. {αβγδ}, is the word: Then v. 3. And when they had fasted and prayed, &c. A set prescribed prayer, say I for Clemens: since as there in the same place, p. 52. and upon the same occasion he speaks of 
{αβγδ}.  set houres in praying, why also he should not be understood, as having respect to set forms, it is hard to say.  
6. To Justin Martyr, Apolog. d. ver. finem, The Father there plainly differenceth between the prayers of the Minister and people in common, and the prayers of the Minister alone; {αβγδ}, saith he, setting forth the peoples part:( {αβγδ}, as Ignat. in Ep. ad magnets): Then {αβγδ}, &c. The Minister he succeeds, and doth the whole.  
7. To Tertullian in l. de orat. c. 13. Sonos etiam vocis subjectos esse oportet; quid enim referent isti qui clarius adorant, quam quod proximis obstrepant: Much to a like purpose Cyprian treading in his Masters steps, as his manner is, though with some variation of phrase, l. de orat. Dominic. n. 3. Surely such a caution were altogether needless from either, where the people met together had nought to do, but onely gape upon the Minister, and say Amen to his Orisons; But they were therefore those {αβγδ}, Macarius Homil. 6. or Corybantian loud clamours used in prayers, they either of them censured, and for which the silly people thought they should bee sooner heard, than for the truth of their hearty and well tempered devotions.  
8. Saint Ambrose further tells us of an Ecclesiastica Regula, a prescript Rule or form they kept themselves unto in praying. Ambros. in 1 Tim. 2. the like doth Prosper de vocat. Gent. l. 1. c. 12. Dictrinae haec est Apostolicae Regula, quâ Ecclesia Universalis imbuitur, &c. and the Reason he gives is good and pat to our purpose. Nè in diversum intellectum nostro evagemur Arbitrio: It cannot bee some kind of Directory they meant, a thing but of late invention: Rather they were those precationes omnis Ecclesiae, those Common and received prayers of the whole Church Saint Austin speaks of. Ep. 59. 106. Ab apostles traditae— atque in omni Ecclesiâ Catholicâ uniformiter celebratae. Gennad. Ecclesiast. Dogm. c. 43.  
9. Audiat orantis populi consistens quis extra Ecclesiam vocem, saith Saint hilary in Psalm. 66. Let the people, not the Minister lift up their voices with that contention of holy zeal, so as they without and passengers by, may bee able to hear them: The saying of a bare Amen, though never so strongly echoed forth, cannot be all he here insinuates: The word( Orantis) imports a great deal more, even their joint concurrence in performance of the whole duty: {αβγδ}, as 
{αβγδ}.  Chrysostome, both hearts and tongues, you may imagine, did there haply conspire on all hands to the making up a full Consent, which yet cannot possibly be, save where men pray after a known and prescribed form of words.  
10. Certainly Isid. Hispal. l. 1. de office. c. 9. makes express mention of such prescribed forms,( {αβγδ}, Euseb. de vit. Const. l. 4. c. 17.) as being of most ancient usage in Christian Congregations, and long before his time: Utimur precibus, saith he, instar earum quas constituit Christus quasque primùm Graeci caeperunt componere, &c. and Paul Diaconus Hist. l. 11. to show the rifeness of them about the Apostate Julians times telleth us of a device of his for bringing the Pagan ceremonies to as near a conformity, as posssible he could, with the Christians their manner of Divine Service; Itaque in Idolorum Templis fieri curavit sublellia, ininstituit, lectiones,— idèm certas horarum& dierum preces: He ordained set hours or times of Prayer to be kept; yea, {αβγδ}, 
Orat. tertiâ advers. jul.  adds Gr. Nazianzen, set forms of Payer itself.  
11. And since I am casually so far inengaged in the pursuit of Antiquity, I could tell you of divers passages of our liturgy as was, expressly and {αβγδ} to be found in them, and so from them conveyed down by the helpful hand of good authority unto us; Accipe. quae sint verba( consecrationis) saith St. Ambrose, De Sacram. l. 4. c. 5. Dicit sacerdos-&c. and there setteth down the words before and after, much according to those in use formerly with us; solemn est, saith S. jerome, Contrà Luciferian: in Lavacro post Trinitatis Confessionem interrogare, credis in Sanctam Ecclesiam? credis remissionem peccatorum; And Tertullian de Coronâ mill. c. 3. Aquam adituri( Baptisteris) contestamur nos renunciare Diabolo,& pompae,& angels ejus— &c. both of which plainly exhibit forth our late public 
Abrenuncias Diabolo& operibus ejus; Ab renuncio: Abrenuncias saeculo& voluptat. &c. Ambros. de Sacram. l. 1. c. 2. vid. D. Areopag. de Eccles. Hier. c. 2. Cyril. mist. 1.  form of baptism; Gloria Patri, or the doxology, you have it in Sozom. lib. 3. cap. 19. together with the {αβγδ} or following supplement in way of Reddition, Sicut erat in principio,& nunc est,& semper erit— In saecula saeculorum, Iraen. l. 1. c. 1. or as tertul. {αβγδ}, de Spectac. c. 25.  
12. Gratias agimus Domino Deo nostro, We give thanks unto our Lord God: And then, Dignum est, justum est, Aug. de Bono persever. c. 13. Sursum corda, lift up your hearts, with the Responsorie, Habemus ad Deum, Id. Ep. 156. Cyril. Mistag. 5. Dominus vobiscum, the Lord be with you: Whereupon strait, Et cum Spiritu tuo, Chrysost. in Homil. m. de t. Pentecoste; Isid. Pelus. l. 1. Ep. 122. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, through Jesus Christ our Lord, an accessory close to most of our prayers, you have it in Ambrose de Sacram: l. 6. c. 5. with many more of the like strain, Const. apostle. l. 2. c. l. 7. c. 48, 49. &c. bespeaking the reverend usage of Antiquity.  
13. If any shall interpose here, and say, that these are but fragments or broken pieces; Right: Yet do they bespeak some entire body, of which they are thus the remaining pieces; The fragments of Lucilius, Ennius, Pacuvius, &c. upon such or such an Argument prove manifestly enough the complete fabric of such a Poem as was, though now long since utterly lost, and perished in the deluge of aldevouring time: And under the same Fate of oblivion we may easily conjecture, have those ancient Church liturgies suffered, there being nought left of them, but certain scraps or bits here or there to be found among the Monuments of other writings.  
14. After all, I might, if I pleased, subjoin the attesting suffrage of divers Councells, council. Laod. c. 18, 19. Carthag. c. 23. Afric. c. 70. Milevit. c. 12. &c. But it shall suffice onely to have pointed to them: At a word, so far were they from approving of extemporie prayer in the Church, that they inhibited it( some of them) by express Decrees framed occasionally to this very purpose.  


2um.  That manner of Prayer which maketh most for Gods honour, more feelingly affects the people with holy zeal in their service of him, is to be preferred in the public Worship of God.  
But a prescribed set form of Prayer, makes most for Gods honour, more feelingly affects the people with holy zeal, &c.  
Ergo—   
15. A set form of Prayer makes most for Gods honour—) Reas. Because done with greater solemnity, and solemnity now is a main piece of his outward Worship: O worship the Lord, saith he, in the beauty of holiness, Psal. 29. v. 2. They have seen thy goings O God, even the goings of God my King in the sanctuary: The singers go before, the— Psal. 68. v. 24, 25.  
16. More feelingly affects the people with—) 1. Because of their more sensible concurrence, and bearing part there. 2. By virtue of the special weight and Authority the Church stamps upon it, as hers, far above that which any private Spirit can afford the sudden issue of his own brain, though ne're so pithy and effectual.  


3um.  Prayer that hinders and abates the intentnesse of our devotions in our putting them up unto God, both in the Petitioner and Hearer also, is not to be used in the solemn Worship of God.  
But extemporie Prayer hinders and abates the intentness of our devotion both in—  
Ergo—   
17. Extempore prayers hinders and abates the intentness of—) For that 
{αβγδ}. Hyppocr. {αβγδ}, &c. Rhet. l. 3. c. 17.  two disperate faculties of the soul, such as the will and understanding are, cannot at once be so strongly carried on, or so firmly fixed upon the object whate'er; So for those sensitive inferior powers, the eye and ear, if at any time busied and employed together; whilst the understanding then is in labour of the matter which we are to deliver, or of but apprehending rightly what is delivered by another, the will necessary flags and remits much of her wonted intentness; {αβγδ}, Longin. {αβγδ}, c. 13.  


4tum.  Prayer which may 1. justly argue the Petitioner of somewhat too much boldness with the Almighty, 2. occasioneth divers Solaecismes and vain Tautologies, and 3. by means whereof we present God at no hand with the best and ablest of our endeavours, is not to be used in the public service of him.  
But extempore or sudden Prayer may 1. justly argue the Petitioner of too much— 2. occasioneth divers Solaecismes and vain Tautologies, and 3. by means thereof we present God at no hand( as we ought) with the best—  
Ergo—   
18. Sudden or extemporie prayer may justly argue the Petitioner of—) Keep thy soot when thou goest into the house of God— Be not 
Qui apud Imperatorem P. R. dicit extempore, quantum sit, non sentit Imperium; Panyger.  rash with thy mouth, and let not thy, &c. Eccles. 5. v. 1, 2. and the Reason follhweth; For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; as much as to say, He is a God of transcendent majesty, far above man, as far, yea, farther then the heavens surmount in height this sublunary globe of Earth, and therefore not rashly or unadvisedly to be spoken to.  
19. Occasioneth divers Solaecisms and vain Tautologies—) This our Saviour sharply rebuketh in the hypocritical Pharisees, Mat. 6. v. 7. But what then? Take with you words, saith the Prophet Hosea, and turn unto the Lord, saying, Hos. 14. v. 2. Again, I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding, is S. Pauls resolution, 1 Cor. 14. which yet many times to speak truth, these men scarcely do.  
20. And by means thereof we present God at no hand as we ought, with the best and—) For that I suppose none among them so well gifted or ready in the performance of this duty, but that upon deliberation they may possibly mend their place, somewhat better their conceptions either for the matter or method of them,( for trials sake let their expressions be taken up immediately falling from them, and presented to their more serious view, themselves, I dare say, will aclowledge as much) And what else do they then by such unpremeditate extempore effusions, but as the Prophet Malachy speaks, c. 1. v. 8. offer unto God the lame, the sick, as 'twere the refuse of their devotions.  


5tum.  
{αβγδ}, Arist.  Where the true and warrantable sole cause of some duty is ceased, the duty itself ought of right to cease, and not to be continued in the Church.  
But an extraordinary assistance of Gods Spirit, 1 Cor. 12. v. 4, 5. the true and warrantable sole cause of using extempore prayer,( by the Apostles and others then I mean it, if so they did) is now ceased.  
Ergo—   
21. An extraordinary assistance of Gods Spirit,( in this kind) is now ceased) Tongues and Prophecies, with operations of great works, we know are ceased: And why, I pray, should an extraordinary assistance of Gods Spirit in this particular be imagined to continue more than those other, all being as beads hung upon the same string, supernatural endowments of the self-same spirit.  
22. Neither yet further( which they might do well to observe) find we at all any such {αβγδ} there reckoned up among the rest; Haply the Spirit foresaw the ill use men would in time be apt to make of such a pretence for their groundless enthusiasms; For even and so did the Euchitists afterwards,( a certain sort of 
{αβγδ}, Cedren. Hist. n. 113.  heretics)& for this very cause termed thereupon Enthusiasts in a Synonimous phrase of appellation; It is true, Chrysostome in his Commentary upon the place, makes some mention of the foresaid {αβγδ} or gift of prayer: Be it so, yet is it, I say, now long since ceased; It was at most but {αβγδ}( as he speaks) only for the time then, not derivable to ensuing generations.  
23. Concerning that place of the Spirits helping our infirmities, and making intercession for us, Rom. 8. v. 26. much insisted on in the present Argument, it is specially, if not solely, to be understood of an efficacious secret concurrence the Spirit oft-times graciously affords us, by directing our thoughts in the things we are to pray for, and withall quickening and enlivening our desires in a right performance of the whole Duty;( and this is it doubtless the Apostle calleth a praying in the Spirit, Eph. 6. v. 18. Iud. v. 20.) not any notable help proceeding from it in our outward expressions; Groanings that could not be uttered, be the only external effects we meet with there recorded.  
24. What they presume further of the Spirits assistance here, is at most( ordinarily) but the blessing of Gods Spirit upon our preceding endeavours: And truly I see not otherwise how the same Spirit which furnisheth them, as they pretend, with such extraordinary abilities in the work of Prayer, should not be also as extraordinarily assistant to them in the duty of preaching,( thus Act. 2. v. 4. 14.) of disputing,( Acts 6. v. 9, 10.) which nevertheless for the one commonly they do not, and for the other they dare not lay claim unto.  
25. But they will say perchance; This is at least a confining of the Spirit, a tying it up to words and phrases; Answ. So by a like Reason shall the Hearers be always as being limited and restrained in their attentions to the speakers discourse, so shall the Preacher his own spirit be in the very utterance or elocution of what he hath conceived, and before the Spirit is as free in the Act of premeditation, as in that of sudden conception.  
26. With the Penmen of sacred Writ it was so, Who spake( saith the Text) as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, 2 Pet. 1. v. 21. howbeit upon some fore-going premeditation still, I suppose, not as men 
Hieron. Proaem. in 1um. Comment. Suprà Isa. Origen. Contr. cells. l. 7.  rapt in an ecstasy, or besides their senses,( like to the 
dvo genera vaticinandi sunt, aut simplex ut Heleni, aut per furorem, ut Sybillae, &c. serve. in Virg. Aen. 3. Insanum vatem aspicies-&c.  Sybils of old, and other Enthusiasts among the Heathen) not knowing, it may be, what Themselves delivered; But the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets, 1 Cor. 14. v. 32. Only are their almsgiving fancies then a little straightened hereby,( a quenching of the Spirit are they pleased to call it) and they deprived the liberty of their extempore effusions, it being the only quality of magneticke force wherewith they strangely effect,( Mirè ad pullatum circulum haec) and draw the astonished simpler sort of people after them.  


6tum.& est ad hominem.  That manner of Prayer which bespeaks no unusual wit or learning, nor yet any extraordinary gift of the Spirit in the contrivers, is not over-greatly to be valued for the performance of it.  
But extempore or conceived prayer bespeaks no unusual wit or learning, nor yet any extraordinary-&c.  
Ergo—   
27. extempore Prayer bespeaks no unusual wit or learning—) An illiterate undisciplined artisan can do as much, yea, and ordinarily doth it; Neither was Lucilius forsooth, any whit therefore the better Poet for his 
Extemporalis garrulitas, nec expectata cogitatio,& vix surgendi mora, circulatoriae verè jactationis est, Qnintil. Instit. l. 2. c. 4.  facile and extempore vein in versifying, 
— Qui stans pede in uno,  
Ut magnum, versus dictabat saepe ducentos.  Whereas an Homer or grave Maro commonly require some larger respite of time to the mature production of their labours.  
28. Nor yet any extraordinary gift of the Spirit-) That fancy hath been confuted already: But it bespeaks them only a greater measure of audacity in them, improved and confirmed by practise: join to these two what followeth most an end, a voluble easier delivery of such their( too often) raw conceptions,( 
Tolutim quasi volutim, i.e. volubiliter loqui, Onomastic.  Toluti loquentiam, you may fitly term it, {αβγδ}, as the Poet, {αβγδ}, Max. Tyr. Dissert. 15.) wherewith they dare to present the Almighty, which yet learneder and more judicious men dare not, and it is a done business.  
39. So then; lay but the premised reasons together, and the 
Grat. Actio.  Loci Honor( the Church I mean) & venerabilis pavor, to use Ausonius his terms, if added thereunto, might justly serve to repress the boldness of some from venting there their unpremeditate and abortive conceptions; The place and meeting both are solemn, let not the manner of our performances be unsuitable: At a word, let us not so demean ourselves in a careless way of Ostentation, as that we seem forgetful either of God, in whose presence we stand, or of the Assembly before whom we expose our endeavours.  
30. A set Lyturgicall 
Quod ad formulam precum& rituum Ecclesiasticorum spectat, valdè probo ut illa extet, à quâ pastoribus discedere in functione non liceat, tàm ut consulatur— &c. Calvin. in Ep. ad Protect. Angliae.  form of Prayer in public( so to drive to an issue) is the thing in truth, I aim at; And such an one we had not long ago, could men but have contented Themselves, and were not altogether given to Novelties and changes, thinking that evermore best, which is newest: And till such time some like form or other shall be again restored, whereby the hearts and tongues of people met together, be able more perfectly to join in the performance of holy Duties, besides other main inconveniencies thence arising, God is like, for all I know, to want much of the substance and glory both in his outward Worship due unto him.   

OF THE ELECTION OF MINISTERS.  
THere is a certain Rule of the Law, true in some sense, if truly understood: Quod omnium interest ab omnibus debet approbari; that which merely concerns all, ought to receive allowance from all: The plausiblenesse of this saying hath so wrought with many of the Lay condition, as to desire to Themselves, 
Cu. Domitius Trib. pleb. legem tulit, ut Sacerdotes quos antea Collegae sufficiebant, populus crearet. Patercul.  Lege Domitiâ, as 'twere newly revived, the choice of their parochial Pastors in their several Congregations.  
2. What the custom may have been in elder times of the Church, by sufferance or otherwise: how for a while constantly practised( bee it confessed) and upon what considerations at length broken off; chiefly for avoiding of strifes and debates,( as Zonaras relates, Supra 12.& 13. Can. council. Laodic. {αβγδ} &c.—) incident to such kindes of popular Elections, I stand not to inquire; but that it hath not been so ab initio, nor yet ought to be, I conclude it from these ensuing Reasons:  


Argum. 1.  As the choice of Priests was under the Law, so most likely in sundry respects,( and in this particularly among the rest,) ought the choice of Ministers to be now in times of the Gospel:  
But the Priests under the Law were not chosen by the People.—  
Ergo—   
3. Priests unde the Law were not chosen by the—) Saint Paul to the Hebr. c. 5. v. 4. lays down the ground of the former proposition; No man, saith he, taketh this honour unto himself, but he who is called of God, as was Aaron; where by Aaron you are to understand, not Aaron in his own person singly, but the whole Priesthood,( then, and still ever since upon a continuation of the self same reason yielded, v. 1. That they might be for men in things appertaining to God) in their subordinate and several Stations.  
4. Now that the Priesthood of Aaron and his sons in their different ranks, was not of the Peoples choice, see Exod. 28. v. 1. It is an Act of Gods there by the hand of Moses: And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel, that they may Minister unto me in the Priests office, &c. So for their Consecration or ordaining afterwards, Levit. 8. v. 6, 7. where the people they stand by, as assembled and gathered together for solemnities sake, but act nought towards a performance of the whole business: Afterwards again upon Aarons decease, Num. 20. v. 18. doth Moses alone without any 
Defuncto Pontifice, Max. alius eligebatur non a populo, said ab ipsis pontiff. &c. Pomp. Laet. de Sacerd. c. 10.  suffrage of the people substitute Eleazar into the office of Priesthood in his Fathers room.  
5. True it is, the people at Consecration of the Levites, Num. 8. v. 10. put their hands upon the Levites heads; But it was done onely, as appears, v. 12. in token of their being presented to Gods service in stead or lieu of their brethren,( For they are wholly given unto me, saith God there, from among the children of Israel in stead of such as open every womb, even in stead of the first born of the children of Israel have I taken them unto me.) No pattern( this) of imitation to the people in choice of their Pastors.  

What the Apostles did( ordinarily) 
2 um.  practise in the manage of church-affairs by Themselves, and without concurrence of the people, that belongs to their successors still to do by warrant from their example.  
But choice of Ministers the Apostles( ordinarily) did practise of themselves without—  
Ergo—   
6. Choice of Ministers, the Apostles did( ordinarily) practise by Themselves.—) Ordinarily, or modo ordinario, I inserted to forestall an evasion as might be made, of some pretended extraordinary proceedings here used by virtue of apostolical privilege, which nevertheless if they shall stand to urge, Affirmantis est probare, it resteth on their hands to make it good; But that this was their practise, see Act. 14. v. 23.  
7. And when they had ordained them Elders in the Church—) {αβγδ} is the word, which as it is a translatitious phrase of speech, {αβγδ}, borrowed from an ancient greek custom of stretching forth the hand in a voting or voicing of businesses, applied to God himself touching his fore-eternall choice of the Apostles to be witnesses of the Gospel, Act. 10. v. 41. where it cannot possibly be taken in its native sense, as it denotes a choosing by suffrage, no more than {αβγδ} in the Election of Mathias by Lot, Act. 1. v. 26. {αβγδ}, they gave forth their Lots, and the Lot fell upon mathias, {αβγδ}, he was numbered with the eleven,( For that thus too among the Heathen were their Priests and Magistrates eligible by 
Herodot. l. 3. c. 83. Demosth. Contra. Neaer. Aeschin. in orat. contra Ctesiphont. Tacit. Annal. l. 1. c. 11. l. 13. c. 6. &c.  Lots, as well as by voices, the Priests especially, saith Aristotle, Pol. l. 4. c. 15.)  
8. So it signifieth not simply an Imposition or laying on of hands: That the Apostle commonly expresseth in other terms of {αβγδ}, Act. 6. v. 6. 1 Tim. 4. v. 14. 2 Tim. 1. v. 1.( Although neither am I ignorant of the promiscuous use of the words elsewhere, both then, Act. 13. v. 3. Coll. with 2 Cor. 8. v. 19. and afterwards, Just. Martyr, Resp. ad Orthodox. 14. Chrysost. in 1 Tim. 4. v. 14. council. Chalced. c. 6. Antiochen. c. 17. vid. balsam in council. Laod. c. 5. Zonar. in Conc. Nic. c. 14. And thus {αβγδ} here perchance for {αβγδ}, by a Customary Enallage of the terms, as I might, if I listed, pled.)  
9. But it bespeaks then haply the whole compound act consisting of both Election and Ordination together: the same with {αβγδ}, Tit 1. v. 5. generally to order or appoint, whether by suffrage or without, and so frequently used in classic Writers,( even coetaneous with our Saint Luke here, or before him,) as learned Mr Selden hath by most pregnant instances, at large proved it to my hand; De Synedr. l. 1. c. 14.  
10. An Act all along in Scripture( {αβγδ} or principally I will not say, since that's not denied on either side) but wholly the solely ascribed to the chief Pastours of and Church, as particularly for Act. 14. will easily appear, if wee consider but the Context or grammatical Syntaxis of the words; And when they had ordained them Elders, &c. What they? They, who came from Derbe, v. 20. Returned thence to Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, v. 21. and these were none other save Paul and Barnabas, v. 20. No mention here, or but the least intimation, of the peoples joint Concurrence in the Action.  
11. Repl. But howbeit say they, wee find of their concurrence in the choice of Mathias, Act. 1. v. 23. of the seven Deacons, Act. 6. v. 3. Answ. For the first,( And they appointed two,) the words may well relate to the Apostles onely among the whole number of the Disciples there assembled: Otherwise should the women also, who were of the number too, v. 14. have had an hand and share in the business; Nor was the Action altogether exemplary, will Themselves say; else why do they not continue their Elections by lots still?  
11. For the second or the Election of the seven,( to say nothing of the meanness of the Office, if set in compare, it being the lowest in the scale of sacred Orders, and as then employed chiefly about the serving of Tables,) the Apostles it may be, did somewhat abate of their just Authority, upon special reason given, v. 2. besides others insinuated, v. 1. namely of gratifying the people, and withall of declining a suspicion, {αβγδ} in Themselves.  
12. At most the people either where, for ought can be evinced out of the Text, {αβγδ}, in the former,( yet 'tis God who is said to have made the choice there, v. 24.) and {αβγδ}, in the latter,( the twelve who elected here) concurred not as Electors truly, but by way of 
Episcopus sine concilio clericorum non ordinet, ita ut Civium Conniventiam& testimonium quarat; council. earth. 4. c. 22. Obsecratus à populis, electus à Sacerdotibus, &c. Ambros. de Achol. l. 3. Ep. 22. vid. Leon. Ep. 89. c. 4, 5. Ep. 92. c. 1. &c.  proposal only, or testimonial approbation; And thus much now we should be content to afford the Laity,( all indeed in effect that Calvin when all's done, requires on their behalf, Inst. l. 4. c. 4. n. 12.) would they stop there, and press no further.  

Where the people have no competent meet judgement in affairs, there they ought not( of right) to be admitted as determiners, or to have a decisive voice.  
But in the choice of Ministers, as to requisite and fitting parts, the people have no competent meet judgement, &c.  
Ergo—   
13. In the choice of Ministers the people have no competent meet judgement—) The Apostle Tit. 1. sets down the parts required in a Minister to a very high pitch: That he may be able, saith he, by sound doctrine to exhort and convince the gain-sayers, v. 9. And, Who is sufficient for these things? 2 Cor. 2. v. 16. Now how may your Literarum prophani, your mechanic or mere rural persons do to be able to discern of such sublime, yet withall needful excellencies, or be any ways thought Legales homines for such a trial; With me, saith S. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. 4. v. 3. it is a very small matter that I should be judged of you: He takes it, it may seem, as a kind of disparagement to his Function, they should but offer it.  
Judicium 
{αβγδ}.  vulgi insulsum, imbecillaque mens est,  
Stulta placent stultis; Palingen.  
14. It is true, I know what some have observed of the peoples sagacity in liking or disliking, how that 
Plin. Ep. Mirabile est cum plurimùm in faciendo intersit inter doctum& rudem, quàm non multùm differant in judicando, Cic. de Orat. l. 3.  Singulis judicii parum est, omnibus plurimum, they may seem to have some notable perspicacious insight, if taken in the bulk and together, who have little or none apart, and the {αβγδ} mentioned, 1 Cor. 4. v. 29. Let the Prophets speak two or three, and let others judge, are perchance the people there; Notwithstanding this is only a judgement seated, as 'twere, in the ear, it pierceth not to a discovery of those more hidden parts of learning and deep knowledge, yet still necessaery, and here required by the Apostle.  
15. That testimonial concurrence then we a little before granted the people, was at most, but as to the life and manners of the person: Such an one he must have the good report of all men, 1 Tim. 3. v. 7. be, {αβγδ}, v. 2. {αβγδ}, Tit. 1. v. 6. And so may the Councells and Fathers, most of them perchance, where speaking ought in the point, be, if rightly, understood; St. Cyprians testimony among the rest, here chiefly objected, enforceth no more; Sacerdos, saith he, plebe present, sub omnium oculis deligatur, Ep. 68. And why? Ut detegantur malorum crimina, vel bonorum merita praedicentur, as it there followeth; again, Episcopus deligatur plebe present, quae singulorum vitam plenissime novit,& uniuscuiusque actum de ejus conversatione cognovit, It is the life and conversation only of the party elected he still speaks of, as subject to the peoples cognizance.  
16. Nay,( so to retort the Father back upon them, and withall a little to enlarge the bounds of our plea) did not the said Cyprian himself with his Colleagues of the Clergy alone, elect Aurelius and Celerinus into the Office of Lectorship in the Church, Ep. 33, 34. make choice of Numidicus to be Presbyter, Ep. 35. the populacy either where, not being at all till afterwards, so much as acquainted with the business; Thus too for Bishops, even as high as the Apostles times, Nam& Alexandriae à Marco Evangelistâ usque Presbyteri semper unum ex se electum in excelsiori gradu Collocatum, Episcopum nominabā, &c. saith their old friend S. Hierom, whereby appears plainly the power at leastwise of the Clergy in such Elections, and what they might have done of Themselves, if so they had pleased; But I shall not much stick upon this: A testimonial concurrence here in manner abovesaid I can willingly beteem the people, may that suffice, and they rest satisfied with the Concession; And thus now we may observe it to have been rife enough in the Church anciently, by the romans borrowing it thence, which they did, in the choice of their provincial Magistrates, Lamprid in vitâ 
Ubi voluisset vel Rectores Provinciis vel praepositos dare, nomina corum proponebat, dicens grave esse quùm id Christiani& judaei faceret in praedicandis Sacertodibus qui ordinandi sunt, non fieri in Provinciae Rectoribus—  alexander. Severi. as likewise was it in effect continued, no ways interrupted,( but by neglect of the people Themselves) still in ours; vid. Formul. Prec. Commun. in Ordinat. Ministr.  


4tum.  That which occasioneth division, and most likely ends in a factious determination, is not convenient for the state of Christs Church.  
But choice of Ministers by the people, occasioneth division, and most likely ends in—  
Ergo—   
17. Choice of Ministers by the people occasioneth division, and most likely ends in—) The reason is, because being many they will scarcely agree, and for that, as before, they want judgement, they will be apt to place their Votes in the hands of some few more sagacious and active then the rest,( those Grandees of the Consistory) be lead on by them, as resting blindly or factiously on their precedent suffrage; And thus the supposed popular Election, when all's done, ends upon the matter in an oligarchical.  
18. Not so in the choice of the Civill Magistrate( although there too, Ut ferè fit, mayor pars vincit meliorem, the greater part is not always the best) where the people upon mere prudential principles of understanding, are able without more ado to judge of a meet and needful sufficiency in the party, and so follow, if they please, without swerving aside, the Dictates of their own particular judgements.  


5tum.  Sheep may not in congruity make choice of their shepherd, or the blind of their Overseers.  
But the people are as Sheep and blind( comparatively) the Ministers are their Pastors, Overseers.  
Ergo—   
19. The people are as Sheep and blind-) Sheep, joh. 21. v. 16, 17. blind, Mat. 15. v. 14. Rom. 2. v. 19, 20. {αβγδ}, saith Gr. N. If any shall object against the force of the Argument, as grounded at best upon a typical and mere figurative phrase of speech; Ans. They say right, where the Trope and the Thing implyed thereby, hold not mutual and meet correspondence in the main reason of analogy or similitude on which the Trope is founded, as yet 
{αβγδ}. Isid. Pelus. l. 3. Ep. 216.  here apparently they do, the peoples usual gross ignorance, and their heedless simplicity subministring just occasion to the usage of such figurative locations.  
20 But most full to our purpose in all respects is that of the Apostle, Act. 20. v. 28. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to the Flock over which the Lord hath made you overseers; First, the People are at best) for the most part) but a simpler sort of men, a Flock: Secondly, blind, wanting the needful help of Overseers: Then it followeth, Over which the Lord hath made you so: The Lord, not the People: the Lord as then acting singularly in and by the Apostles; and accordingly have They in all likelihood bequeathed an answerably peculiar right or interest in the choice of fitting Ministers, to their successors after them.  

That which creates too straite a dependency of the Minister upon the people, is not expedient or fitting in a wisely ordered Church.  
But popular Election creates too straite a dependency of the Minister upon——  
Ergo—   
25. Popular Election creates too straite a dependency of the Minister upon—) Some effects depend upon their causes in fieri onely, and some in fieri& in facto esse, both in the making and conservation of them, in which latter rank the Ministers Vocation must needs be, if so popular Elections might take place.  
26. But then for the mayor proposition; dependence of necessity produceth consequently a certain observance: Observance will be apt evermore to warp and wry the Ministers Doctrine to the Peoples irregular fancy: They must teach placentia or nothing; And so a primo ad ultimum, according to that of the Prophet Jeremy, Ch. 5. v. 31. The Prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means,& my people love to have it so.)  
26. Were the premised Reasons weighed as they ought, in the balance of true judgement, They of the Laity perchance would not be so forward to go beyond their last, or to meddle in matters wherein they have no approved right,( neither 
{αβγδ}. Conc. Laod. c. 13. vid. Const. Apost. l. 8. c. 16.  Legal, nor 
Electio olim Abbatum& praesulum, tempore Anglorum, penè Clericos& Monachos erat. Malsbur. de Gest. pontiff. l. 3.  Customary, with us) and less ability for a meet performance: Olserve them, saith the Apostle,( i.e. the Ministers, Heb. 13. v. 13. coll. with v. 7.) who have the Rule over you; Nothing of choice here, or of the peoples setting them up, and so investing them with such Rule.  
27. Shortly, Elections in all kindes then do best, when as the Suffragans are men of competent judgement, and bring with them to the scrutiny, as well skilfully discerning heads, as upright and well disposed Consciences. And the rather needs there good advice and care of the Church taken herein, in as much as Saint Paul hath long since Prophetically as twere, and truly, foretold the likely issue of such Popular Elections, 2. Tim. 4. v. 3. 4.  
The time will come, saith he, when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears.  
And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto Fables.  
28. For and hence( alas) to say no more of it, your congregational New-Moulded Assemblies of late start up among us: whilst men following their private, though misguided fancies, had rather have Teachers over them of their own factious choosing, whomsoere and howsoere constituted,  — Undique ad illos. 
Conveniunt, than persons, solemnly ordained after the due and usual manner, and so put as Candles upon their proper Candlesticks, thence giving light to the whole room or determinate precincts of the Parish they are seated in.   

OF THE MAINTENANCE OF MINISTERS.  
THe Quota or set portion in way of Decimation, I meddle not with: That hath been often and again debated, Usque ad Nauseam: Some insisting on the Law of tithes, as ceremonial, and some as judicial, and some more probably then either upon an equity in reason drawn from both; yet still as it was said of the Milesians,( If I misremember not) Sciunt rectè facere Milesii, said tamen nolint; So here men know well enough what's to be done in this case, but they will not do it; My purpose at present only is to press the Bounty, together with the established certainty of ministerial Allowance in a middle way betwixt Decimation and pure alms, and this I make good( in the Hypothesis, and no further) according to my proposal, by these ensuing Reasons.  

The Priests under the Law were 
Arg. 1um.  thought worthy to have liberal large allowance made them in the service of God.  
Ministers of the gospel are as worthy, as the Priests under the Law.  
Ergo—   
2. The Priests under the Law had a liberal large allowance—) The force of the Argument depends mainly on that of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 9. where he compareth as to this particular, the ministry of the gospel with the Priesthood of the Law: {αβγδ}, Even so hath the Lord ordained, that they who preach the gospel, should live of the gospel, v. 14. Now touching the largeness of Allowance made to the Priests there, it is easy to gather thus.  
3. We find the people of Israel divided into twelve Tribes, the Tribe of Levi not connumbred with them, which by comparing Numb. 1. v. 46. with c. 3. v. 39. exceeded not much the sixtieth part of the whole Congregation; This single Tribe nevertheless was by Gods appointment to receive towards their maintenance the tenth of increase from the other twelve; Besides their Cities, first-fruits and offerings, over and above allotted them; which being all put together, what an exceeding liberal proportion of allowance must the whole needs amount to? {αβγδ}, &c. Phil. in l. de Praem. Sacerdotal. so as the Priests, saith he, the meanest of them abounded with all store and plenty of provisions.  
4. Nor might any then, or now may, upon due examination have just cause to repined thereat, or bear an evil eye; God he is Lord of all: The earth is his, and all that therein is, saith holy David; And what he may please to allow thereof of in how great proportion soe'er to his more immediate Servants or Ministers, people should by right account it as given of his own, not taken from them, and with all thankfulness accept of the remainder; For as the foresaid 
Philo ubi Suprà.  Philo gives the reason, {αβγδ}; Therefore did the people bring their oblations( first) into the Sanctuary, that the Priests might thence receive them, as 'twere more immediately from the Almighties hand.  


2dum.  That which heartneth and encourageth the Ministers in a due performance of their duty, is to be yielded and given unto them.  
But a liberal large proportion of maintenance heartneth and encourageth—  
Ergo—   
5. A liberal large proportion of Maintenance heartneth and encourageth—) This is the very reason given by good Hezechias, 2 Chron. 41. of his so diligent providing for the Priests and Levites, that they might be encouraged in the Law of the Lord: And for want of such fitting encouragement, we find the Levites and Singers to have deserted their places, Nehem. 13. v. 10.  

Martialis.  In Sterili Campo nolunt juga far juvenci,  
Pingue solum lassat, said juvat ipse labour.  
6. For why? men they are as well as others, and whilst they carry about them these earthly Tabernacles of their bodies, as the Apostle speaks, some manner of earthly mindedness will necessary remain in them; Some inbred secret proneness of desire after the profits and honours of this present world; And no marvel, since God hath ordained the use of his best creatures in some good measure for them, as well as for others; All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat shall be thine, saith God unto Aaron Num. 18. v. 12.  
7. Besides that those of the ministerial Function have been( hitherto at leastwise) persons commonly of good and generous extraction; A royal Priesthood the Scripture styleth them( Them of the Jews) not without some little glance it may be of aspect this way, as 
{αβγδ}; Isid. Pel. l. 2. Ep. 47.  succeeding there in room of the Primogeniti, or first-borne of the Family; Among the Athenians they observed it for a Law, {αβγδ} as Plutarch relates; whereof Aristotle gives the reason, Pol. 7. c. 9. {αβγδ}; Because even the honour and esteem of Gods Worship lies much thereupon; The romans long while out of the great respect they bare to the sacerdotal dignity, confined the Office of Augurship to the 
Fenest. de Sacerd. c. 4. Pomp. Laet. c. 5, 6. &c.  Patricii onely, men of nobler and better descent, till by the sun-rising strength of their Tribunes it was brought lower, and exposed to the Plebeians; It was the notorious fault of Jeroboam after his revolting, 1 King. 12. that he made the lowest of the people Priests, v. 31. Now then, men on this wise gently born, ingenuously and liberally brought up, well may they in congruity require a suitably liberal means towards their supportance.  


3 um.  Where the labour or pains undertaken deserveth extraordinary much, there is due an umple and more then ordinary recompense.  
But the Ministers pains deserveth extraordinary much—  
Ergo—   
8. The Ministers pains deserveth extraordinary-) The Labourer is worthy of his hire, saith our Saviour Christ, Mat. 10. v. 10. Be that laid as a sure unquestionable ground to build upon; Now no labour or pains answerable to the Ministers; Not the Lawyers, not the Physitians, &c. whether we consider the person and his Office, the ambassador of Christ, 2 Cor. 5. Or moreover the excellency of the divine Habit, whence casually it proceedeth, or lastly, the dignity of the matter, whereabouts objectively it is employed, even the salvation of mens souls.  
9. What the Philosopher therefore Ethic. l. 9. c. 1. delivers concerning your more sedulous instructors or bringers up of young youth, 
{αβγδ}. Socrat. Ep. 6.  {αβγδ}— &c. holds as true, if applied to our present purpose; How that in proportioning to them( the Ministers) a meet {αβγδ} of reward, we value their pains of study or care in overseeing( with the like) undergone by them, but not their abilities of knowledge, which we cannot, nor yet the benefit of spiritual culture we receive from them: Or if so this latter, then the Merces here assigned, suits onely ex congruo,( say your Schoolmen,) as whereby there's meted forth unto them a convenient 
Non enim à populo redditur quasi merces, said tanquàm stipendium datur, quo ut possint laborare, pascuntur; Lombard. in 1 Tim. 5.  subsistence,( regard being evermore had of mens different deserts,) somewayes answerable to their ministerial Profession; And thus S. Paul for certain,( whether in the one respect, or t'other) 1 Tim. 5. allows them double honour or reward; Double, i.e. great and extraordinary.  


4um.  That which enableth the ministry with meet and fitting power for performance of their duty in their several places according to the Apostles more special rule or precept on this behalf, is to be indulged unto them.  
But liberal Maintenance enableth the ministry with meet and fitting power, for—  
Ergo—   
10. liberal Maintenance enableth the ministry with—) The Apostles one rule 1 Tim. 3. among others, is that a Bishop or Minister,( for, Eatenùs they are all one) be {αβγδ}, given to Hospitality, v. 2. Tit. 1. v. 8. ready for works of 
Domus Clericorum debent esse Communes; Linwood de Cleric. non Residentib. c. 3.  Bounty and Charity, which yet possibly he cannot do, unless endued with sufficiency of outward means.  
11. And indeed to consider aright of the business, who so fitting in all respects for such a Christian-like Office, as is the Minister; So judiciously discerning of times and persons, with other circumstances here occurring; Anciently the Primitive devout Christians were wont according to that Act. 3. v. 34. 35. to commit into the Clergies hands, as into a safe Repository, the stock of their charitable benevolence; And hence came it that Bishops then had morveover their Paronomarios, Vicedominos, Oeconomos, {αβγδ}, council. gangrene. c. 8. certain Stewards or Dispencers under them, for the easier distribution of Church-alms.  


5um.  What makes for the greater lustre and glory of Gods Church, is by all means to be taken care of.  
But a liberal Maintenance of the ministry makes for the greater lustre and—  
Ergo—   
12. liberal Maintenance of the ministry makes for the greater lustre and—) The glory of Christs Church stands not onely in the sincere administration of the Word and Sacraments,( though that be chief) but likewise in the comeliness of outward means, by which they are to be ministered; Under the Law with what pomp and solennity were things appertaining to Gods Service then performed; The Temple glorious, the Utensils for Service all glorious, the Priests in their appointed Offices, glorious: And if now the administration of death, as the Apostle speaks, 2 Cor. 3. was glorious, how shall not the administration of the Spirit be rather glorious?  
13. I know what some will be apt to reply; Eminency of Learning, Sanctity of Life and Conversation, are truly the crown and glory of the ministry: Such remarkable endowments, as St. Paul requires in them, 1 Tim. 3. True: But yet is the outward sufficiency of means an excellent foil for the setting them off; Poverty bings contempt upon their persons, and where the person of a man is held in low esteem, his Doctrine will hardly gain credit or acceptance; wisdom is better than strength, saith Solomon, Eccles. 9. v. 16. nevertheless the poor mans wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.  

{αβγδ}, Alcaei Erag.  {αβγδ},  
{αβγδ}— Callimach.  
14. again, affluency of means, say they, is the right way to corrupt them; A good Curate we see, proves oftimes but an ill person: Answ. {αβγδ}, &c. was the gibing reason 
Ep. ad Ecebol. Naz. in Orat. 1mâ.  julian gave of his despoiling the ministry of their wealth and riches they then possessed: That Christ their Master whose followers they would seem to be, had spoken much every where in commendation of poverty, and therefore it was a favour to strip them of such needless superfluities, as might well prove a let or hindrance to them in their progress towards heaven.  
15. And further upon a like pretence, they might, if they pleased, as well except against the gifts of Gods grace conferred upon men, which yet notwithstanding some they turn into wantonness also, Jud. 4. But, Vitium personae non transit in Rem; It is one point the abuse of a thing, and another the lawful and laudable use of it: Let the abuse be taken away, and the thing itself may well be reserved to better Masters.  


6um.  What's due to the Gospell-Minister by the undoubted Law of moral Equity, that the Magistrate ought to see determined and made sure by the Law positive or municipal.  
But some kind of allowance for certain is due by the Law pos.—  
Ergo—   
16. What's due to the Gospell-Minister by— that the Magistrate ought to see—) We speak here, remember, {αβγδ}, as supposing no such portion at all either allotted or confirmed by Law.  
17. There is an opinion very predominant in the minds of many, as if Ministers were by profession to be a kind of 
Vid. Grets. in Disceptatione Mendicit.& proprietat. sieve de utili Dominio Bonorum.  Eleemosynaries, hominum mendicabula, as Plautus phraseth it, wholly at the charity and devotion of the people; wickliff is said to have been the first broacher of this Heterodoxall opinion; Upon this pretended ground we find him in truth condemned in the council of Constance, Articul. 18. and Waldensis he Dogmatically relates and confutes the same; Doctrinal. Fid. Tom. 1. l. 2. c. 65. howsoe'er it was, Fides penès Authores esto, I determine not.  
18. We read of a provision not much unlike to this made on behalf of their Ministers in the Bohemian Churches, Ut avertatur periculum otisae viotae, ipsi suis manibus victum parent: Let them work hardly or they must not eat, Confess. Bohem. c. 9. and herein have they followed directly the fourth council of Carthage Can. 51, 52. Ut Clericus quantumlibèc verbo Dei eruditus artificio victum quaerat; So apt are men to cull out the worst of every thing, if any there be: albeit if we shal narrowly search into the different condition of the times, such Canon might perchance have been of good and necessary use as then, and moreover that may well befit one place, we know, which yet by reason of the disproportion it bears, ought in no wise to be obtruded or forced upon another.  
19. Wickliff his ground now was, if so he held, a wrong understanding of our Saviours words, Mat. 10. v. 8. Freely ye have received, freely give, relating apparently( there from the Text) to a dispensation of those miraculous gifts the Apostles were endowed with, which as they had received them gratis of Gods extraordinary bounty for the greater benefit of his Church; so were they not to make sale or merchandise of them, as Simon Magus afterwards, Act. 8. would they should have done.  
20. Next v. 9. Provide neither gold nor silver, nor,— &c. spoken for the time only, if we shall compare it with Mark. 22. v. 20. But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, as likewise his scrip-. &c. And it is further refeled by that of the Apostle afterwards, 1 Cor. 9. where reflecting upon the present state of affairs, as then was, and still is, he seriously argues and concludes, as I said, the Ministers right from grounds of natural equity.  
21. But then moreover is this right of natural equity to be ascertained by some positive and binding law: Else how shall the Minister do to compass such his right? Right is as much as no right, where it lieth beyond the power of our procuring.  
22. Besides, that Artis est perficere Naturam, as they say: And since Common equity grounded upon nature,( This further seconded and confirmed by a special Ordinance of Gods own framing, that They which preach the gospel should live of the gospel, 1 Cor. 9. v. 14.) hath interested the Minister to some proportionable meet allowance, though uncertain what, it is doubtless the Magistrates part to perfect the work so fairly begun, by assigning 
Positivum Jus determinatio est Juris naturalis; Regul.  determinately what Nature hath intended and drawn forth in a ruder proportion.  
23. At a word, no trusting to the bare benevolence of the people in this could Climate of ours, and in times especially when Charity according to our Saviours prediction, Mat. 24. is grown colder; Time was when through abundance of love they would have plucked out their own eyes to have given them S. Paul, Gal. 4. v. 19. much more have freely contributed to him whate'er might be needful for him in way of support: But now as times are come about, they will be sooner ready to pluck out the eyes of their Ministers; Instead of falling down to them in sign of reverence, as the Jaylor did by Paul and Silas, Act. 16.( And truly he who shall but considerately ponder those our Saviours words, Luk. 10. v. 16. He who despiseth you despiseth him that sent me: Or that of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 4. v. 1. Let men so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ, might perchance be easily persuaded to a better and more reverend esteem 
{αβγδ}; Jul. Apost. in Frag.  of their persons and Function both) they every where fall upon them.  
24. unless haply( and for great part I speak it, not otherwise) they be some 
{αβγδ}, Trismeg. in Pimand. c. 9. Ita est, idemque semper fuit: Damnat quisque quod ignorat, A. Polit. l. 12 Ep. 31.  illiterate, fanaticke, factious spirits among them— Facit hoc illos Hyacinthos: {αβγδ} {αβγδ}, as Athenagoras speaks: Such briefly whose none or ill deserts by a wrong construction of the Age we live in, hath lifted them up into the high esteem of worthy Pastors.  Criminibus debent, hort●s, Praetoria, Mensas.  

OF SET festival DAYES IN THE church.  
BY Set festival Dayes, I mean not such Dayes the Papists celebrate, for the most part dedicated to Saints that ne're were men, or had a being; Again, to them whose names, it is to be feared, may sooner be found written in the rubric, than in Heaven, and that in such abundant number as they do: More Solemn Feasts have they devoted to a Commemoration of their imaginary and fictitious Saints, than the year well nigh hath dayes to keep them on.  
Et tot Templa Deûm Romae, quot in urbe sepulchra,  
Herôum numerare licet—  
2. But by festival Dayes then I understand dayes of solemnity instituted upon good grounds, in honour of Christ himself in the first place, in memorial of those special Saints the Apostles, Evangelists, &c. and this too moreover for good ends, {αβγδ}, Euseb. Hist. l. 4. c. 14. as well for memorial to the dead, as likewise for an useful pattern of imitation to succeeding Posterity.  
3. The Fathers and others of the Ancients are frequent in making 
catalogue. Primordial. Festorum habes in Constit. Apost. l. 5. c 12 18, 19. l. 8. c. 33. Orig. Contr. cells. l. 8. Adscitorum posteà in novel. Commin. {αβγδ}—  mention of such dayes; Oblationes pro defunctis, pro Natalitiis annuâ die facimus, saith Tertullian de Coron. mill. c. 3. Eusebius binding upon certain Tradition fetcheth the rise of them, as high as the death of Polycarp, Ubi Suprà, c. 14. Ignatius teacheth it plainly, {αβγδ}, in Ep. ad Philip. that we neglect not by any means, or undervalue the appointed Feasts of the Church: So far as that S. Austin accounts him not true son of the same who shall so do; Rectè Festa Ecclesiae colunt, qui se Ecclesiae filios esse recognoscunt, saith he, Serm. de Temp. 252. But the Authority( barely) neither of Church nor Fathers, is now adays much set by, such is the overweening self-conceitedness of men: And therefore passing by that despised kind of Plea, I shall endeavour to assert the lawfulness, as likewise the expediency of some certain festivals, by these ensuing Reasons.  


Arg. 1um.  What the Apostles have warrantably and that of their own Authority, done by one day, their Successors or the Church Representative may do in like sort by others.  
But the Apostles have warrantably of their own Authority set apart one special day to solemn uses in this kind.  
Ergo—   
4. What the Apostles have warrantably and of their own Authority done by one day, their Successors, the Church may—) Particular and divine inspiration on the Apostles behalf, they of the adverse party cannot pled here; If they do, they must and ought to prove it: And as for Power and Authority, the 
Deus singulis temporibus candem Ecclesia largitur gratiam, Theoph. alexander. Ep. ad Epiphan.  Church doubtless hath still a like left with her in some good measure, together with a promised general assistance of the Spirit ne're to fail, Joh. 14. v. 16, 17, 26.( especially for the institution and abrogation of ecclesiastical Rites) as the Apostles had; Else had she not, I suppose, ventured on it, which yet nevertheless it cannot be denied, but that she hath, even to an abolishing or reversing of sundry Ordinances instituted by the Apostles Themselves, Act. 13. v. 28, 29. 1 Cor. 11. v. 33, 34. 1 Tim. 5. v. 9, 10. coll. with the known practise of the Church since being; Else should she want again the just means of providing occasionally things within her self making for order and decency, as the Apostle adviseth, 1 Cor. 14. v. 40.  
5. Now the minor Proposition of the Argument appears from their assigning the first day of the week to a solemn and constant remembrance of Christ his Resurrection, which was done by their translating over, or adjourning, as I may say, of the Jewish sabbath; So as one day of the week we still celebrate in memory of the Creation, by an everlasting Precept of the moral Law, and the same as being the first, by an apostolical Ordinance in honour of our Saviours rising and return from the grave; 
justit. l. 2. c. 8. n. 34.  Calvin yet goes further, and is of opinion that( there occurring no certain Precept to the contrary) the Church if she pleased, and occasion were offered, might again change the day, and remove the Sabbath-observance unto some other.  


2dum.  Such dayes whereon we have received some inestimable great benefit or other at Gods hands, we ought not to let pass without solemn acknowledgement and celebration of them.  
But on certain peculiar dayes we have received divers inestimable—  
Ergo—   
6. Such dayes whereon we have received some inestimable, &c—) Thou shalt show thy son in that day, saith God,( speaking of the Institution of the Passeover,) saying, This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came out of Egypt, Exod 13. v. 8. again, This is the day which the Lord hath made, Psal. 118. v. 24. What then? We will rejoice and be glad in it; The Fathers in their festival Homilies are rife and frequent in pressing this Motive; The 
Hesiod. in {αβγδ}, Ovid. in. Fast. l. 1. 2. &c. Alexand. ab Alexand. Genial. dierum, l. 4. c. 20. vid. A. Politian. l. 12. Ep. 7.  Heathen themselves lead on thereunto by the guidance merely of natural reason and gratitude together were accurate in this kind of observance, even to excess.  
7. The Assumption I make good by instancing in the dayes of our Saviours Nativity, his Passion, Resurrection, Ascention, the same S. Austine keeps to, and reckons them up in order, in Ep. ad Januar. 118. For the first, Generatio Christi est origo populi Christiani, saith lo: and therefore to be had in high esteem with us; The Angells themselves in that Hallelujah or set Anthem of theirs, Luk. 2. v. 13, 14. did celedrate the same, thus giving us example what we likewise ought to do.  

Te cuncta nascentem puer,  
Sensere dura& aspera,  saith Prudentius of the birth of Christ: All things then universally both above and beneath conceived thereupon a kind of cheerfulness within them; And shall we only remain altogether stupid? express no manner of joy in commemoration of that day, which other creatures at first entertained with such sense of joy and gladness?  
8. For the second S. Paul ranks it in almost an equal degree of worth with the Resurrection; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification, Rom. 4. v. 21. So, c. 8. v. 34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ who died, yea rather that is risen again; {αβγδ}, could 
Philo. de vitâ Theoricâ.  Philo say( speaking of the Essaei) who himself lived much about those times; Great is the solemnity observed by them in the day of Christs saving Passion.  
9. For the third I speak of an Anniversary celebration here, and S. Paul may seem to have pointed at it, 1 Cor. 5. Therefore let us keep the Feast, the Feast of the Passeover, v. 7. not with old leaven, &c. Justin Martyr speaks of its being kept as high as the Apostles times, {αβγδ}, Resp. ad Orthodox. 115. {αβγδ}, Eusebl. 5. c. 25. Ex Authoritate Scripturarum,& universae Ecclesiae Consensione, saith August. Ep. 119. c. 14. So as very early within the second Century of yeers, it came to an hot dispute betwixt the Eastern and western Churches,( Victor being Pope) concerning the punctual determinate day of an observation; They earnestly then for a set day: The men of our times as much against any at all; Dicite Pierides— whose judgement of the two, trow ye, had we best to follow.  
10. For the third, it was a business in itself wholly of triumph and exaltation; Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in, cries David, Prophetically foretelling this 
just. Mar. in Dial. cum Triph. n. 56.  Ascention of Christs, Psal. 24. v. 7. and the Apostle S. Paul in a Semblable wise, where afterwards Historically he records the same, Eph. 4. v. 8. When he ascended up on high, he lead captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men; solemn 
Scalig. de Emendat. Temp. l. 7. Diem festum solent agitare mulieres à partu, quod tempus appellant {αβγδ}, Censorin. de Die Natal. c. 10.  Tessaracostae they anciently called it in distinction from that of Pentecost following.  
11. For true it is, the effectual Collation of those gifts happened not until the day of Pentecost afterwards, and therefore was this likewise kept holy upon the grounds premised by the Primitive Christians, in remembrance to wit of such notable gifts as then, actually conferred on the Church: We find the Apostles, and others of the Disciples, Act. 2. v. 1. unanimously then met together, fore-speaking as 'twere some such solemnity from the beginning due unto the day; And indeed in reason why should not the day of the Spirits descent, thereby enabling the Apostles with sufficiency of means for preaching of the gospel, equally and as well deserve a day of remembrance, as that of the Lords coming down upon Sinai did at promulgation of the Law; the one answering to the other in condition of being, and both in distance of time following directly fifty dayes after a celebration of their Passeover, our Easter.  
12. Perchance they will say in way of return to whate'er hath been offered concerning the observance and special respect the premised dayes may seem to challenge at our hands: How that all the duty here required of them is sufficiently performed by an hearty and grateful commemoration of soul within: Answ. That's not enough; Solomon was quiter of another mind, when he dedicated the House and Ark of God, 2 Chron. 7. with such solemnity and outward expressions of joy, as there he did; And further they might upon like reason say as much, if they durst, in prejudice of the Lords day, or first day of the week, celebrated with a weekly observance in memory of Christs rising then.  
13. Yes; But the Apostles as it was confessed, have already taken care for the due keeping of that, giving us example by their practise, what likewise they would have us to do: They have so; nevertheless are the grounds each where for the observing of this and other dayes much the same, only gradually distinguished in the worth of them, and therefore by the Rule of analogy capable of a like Constitution or Ordinance in the Church.  
14. But secondly, say they: Another day may serve as well, Christ may be taught and presented to the people as born, and crucified, risen, and ascended every day: Answ. 
De Pentecost. Homil. 1mâ.  S. Chrysostome had a sense of this devout fancy, and moreover lessoneth us how and upon what good Motives we may be induced to an effectual performance of it: {αβγδ}, &c. yet doth he not there gainsay, but highly approve of the solemn keeping of certain dayes also; There is surely somewhat, which too he well knew no doubt, in the peculiar set day, which by reason of the annexed suitableness of time, as it formally points forth, so it carrieth our intentions upon the particular acts here falling under a Commemoration.  
15. Be it added as a Corollary of useful observance, that the wilful neglect of such more remarkable dayes, will by degrees insensibly eat out a remembrance of the blessings themselves we have received on those dayes; Certainly it was the cursed stratagem of the Manichees in so doing, as S. Austine reports it, Contrà Ep. Manich. c. 8. cum saepe à vobis quaererem saith he, quòd pascha Domini plerumque nullâ, interdùm à paucis tepidissimâ celebritate frequentaretur— Respondebatur ejus diem celebrandum esse qui verè passus est; Christum autem qui natus non est,— &c. Of the Priscillianists afterwards, as lo, Ep. 39. c. 4. 17.  


3um.  The Synagogue or Church of God among the Jews, had power of ordaining set festival Dayes.  
The Church of Christ hath no less power than had the Synagogue a● among—  
Ergo—   
16. The Synagogue or Church of God among the Jews, had power of ordaining, &c.) V. gr. the Feast of Dedication of the Temple, Ezr. 6. v. 16. of the Altar, 1 Macchab. 4. v. 59.( graced by our Saviour afterwards with his presence, Joh. 10. v. 22) of an yearly triumph or rejoicing for the overthrow of Nicanor, 1 Mac. 7. Joseph. Antiqu. l. 12. c. 15. Of Purim, Hest. 9. v. 19. besides sundry other that Sigonius reckons up, De Repub. Heb. l. 3. c. 16, 17. Yet further is it observable how, Hest. 9. the keeping of the day was established by a decree, not left at liberty: That too for an yearly performance, nor movable or uncertain; And such power now of consecrating certain dayes in the year, the Church of Christ likewise as was said, hath evermore assumed to herself, which nevertheless if any ways unwarrantable, in all likelihood she would not once have attempted, or gone about to do.  


Ad agens uniform sequitur actus& effectus uniformis, De Cael. l. 1. c.  Where the main reason of some Action 
4um.  or Duty continueth still one and the same, there the duty consequent hereupon, may still be one and the same.  
But the main reason of appointing set festival Dayes, is one and the same with us still, and with the Jews under the Law.  
Ergo—   
17. The main reason of appointing set festival dayes, is still one and the same with—) A main reason thereof with the Iewes was the 
{αβγδ}; Theodor. {αβγδ}, Ep. 8.  magnifying of the Lords Name, a solemn rejoicing in his manifold blessings from time to time conferred upon them: Such were their Feasts, and upon this ground most evidently instituted and commanded to be kept, the Feast of Pentecost, of Trumpets and Tabernacles, Lev. 23. Deut. 16. that they might rejoice before the Lord: And this reason now still concerneth us, as well as Them.  
18. Nor shall the want of Gods Authoritative particular direction,( as there, where the Almighty was pleased to order all things conducent to a right service of him, by his own immediate appointment,) alter the case, since we add nothing thereby to the Divine Worship, that may be essential; Nothing 
iron. l. 4. c. 25.  besides or against the Word, briefly, nothing in prejudice of it any ways, which is the thing our Saviour condemneth Mark. 7. v. 13. and terms it a making the Word of God of no effect through our enforced Traditions; And such particularly as to the point in question, was jeroboam his ordaining a new paschal Feast, I King. 12. v. 31, 32. both for time and place contrary to what God had appointed, Exod. 12. v. 18. Otherwise it is an universal good note of Luthers somewhere, Satis est si non sint ibi prohibita, &c. In circumstantial points of Religion what the Scripture expressly forbiddeth not, it may well be thought to allow of, as leaving it to the 
Confess. August. Artic. de Tradit. Melancth. in loc. Tit de Caeremon. Reg. 3á.  Churches further determination: Yea, virtually it doth allow of it, under that general caution or advice in the forecited, 1 Cor. 14. v. 40.  
19. Nay occasional extraordinary Feastdayes, Themselves, as scrupulous as they be, will in no wise gain-say, but do practise them: And they have holy David, Solomon, &c. for warrant, who besides those solemn usual Feasts among the Jews of Gods own Institution, ordained other-some,( upon religious occasions too) 2 Sam. 6. v. 15, 16, 17. 2 Chron. 7. v. 8. 9. &c. 30. v. 32.  
20. Onely they are then your set appointed dayes, 
Feriae aut stativae sunt, aut conceptivae, aut Imperativae— Macrob. Saturn. l. 1. c. 16. Stata Sacra, Cato Orig.  Feriae stativae they so impugn; {αβγδ}, as the Aerians long ago were wont here to clamour, Epiphan. Haeres. 75. yet with what reason save onely a kind of peevish humour in them of doing things, {αβγδ}, as he there goeth on, rather of their own free motion, than by the appointment of superiors, it is hard to say, there being no more colour of will-worship censured by S. Paul, Col. 2. v. 23. discernible in the one, than in the other.  


5um.  Those whom we ought to honour exceedingly, whilst living, their memories we may justly celebrate after their decease.  
But the Saints of God we honour exceedingly whilst living—  
Ergo—   
21. Those whom we ought to— their memories we may justly celebrate after—) For the Assumption, that's clear of its self, without further proof: The mayor holds firm in the cohaerance of it by an Argument drawn a Consentaneis, where the ground of the antecedent and consequent is equal, or the same.  
22. Now for the consequent itself what more effectual ready course of celebrating and perpetuating their memories,( according to that of the Psalmist, Psal. 112. v. 6. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance) than by allotting certain dayes to be spent in an Anniversary commemoration of them; A practise this so grounded upon plain reason, that we perform it ordinarily and in civill considerations to our 
{αβγδ}, balls. in Phot. Nomocan.  Princes; The romans did it to their nearer Friends, Themselves; Natales seu natalitios dies, who so ignorant but hath heard of? Christians afterwards by their example took them up, and applied them to the death of the Saints deceased, especially of such who had suffered 
Meritò natus hodiè dicitur, quamdò non ad prasentem vitam materno est effusus utero, said conc eptu fide i, Mar tyrli partu caele stinascitur gene ratus ad gloriam, Chrysol. in Sanctum Andr. Serm. ●. 3 3.  martyrdom for the Truths sake, {αβγδ}, in this sense, council. Laod. c. 51. {αβγδ}, Euseb. l. 4. c. 14. vid. Ambros. in Serm. de Sanctis per Annum, D. Maxim. de eisdem, &c. Bed. in Martyrolog. passim.  
23. But why this you'll say, is it donne to the Saints in times of the gospel, rather than it was to the Patriarks, and other Worthies under the Law? Nay, secondly, why is the 
{αβγδ}, Cedren. in vitâ Constant. Copronymi.  name of Saint at all attributed unto them. To answer ordine retrogrado, one Quaere with another: And why, I pray, may it not be communicated to the faithful servants of God now deceased, as well as whilst they continued here upon earth, which yet in contemplation of their more eminent deservings we find in Scripture usually bestowed on them; No reason that I can guess at, unless some special design they may have of ingressing the specious Title of Saintship to Themselves.  
24. But more particularly for the former of the two, that praelation of some, namely the Apostles and Evangelists before the rest; It is not the Popes Canon or glozing rubric we bind on: But the reason is their nearer conjunction with Christ both in time and favour, whose {αβγδ} they are styled to have been, or fellow-labourers with him in the work of the gospel, 1 Cor. 3. yea, {αβγδ}, or the Saviours of men( in some good sense) is Macarius bold to add, Homil. 28.  
25. As the gospel came in time after the Law, for the Law, saith he, was by Moses, but grace and truth came by Iesus Christ, joh. 1. v. 17. So have these first messengers of glad tidings a nearer relation to, and greater interest of respectful observance in us; How beautiful are the feet— &c. We cannot then too highly honour them,( I speak of a moral civill respect) whom the Lord hath honoured so much himself, and so proportionably for 
{αβγδ}; Herocl.  others likewise, who by imitating their remarkable and praise-worthy deeds, shall( though not aequis passibus) tread in their steps, follow their example.  
26. Upon these with the like reasons then I may be bold to infer the expediency( a lawfulness at leastwise) of some set festivals, if, first of all, not abused through riot and profaneness, that which S. Paul so much blameth the Corinthians for in the keeping of their love-feasts, 1 Cor. 11. {αβγδ}, &c. as 
De festis Paschal. Serm. 5.  S. Cyril Apologizeth for the looseness of his times, and it hath been haply the salt of ours heretofore; Else through superstitious vanity, as the Papists deal by theirs, placing a kind of Sanctity in the dayes themselves;( No, we challenge no such power of altering any day from its wonted and proper nature;) And hereupon comes it further, their esteeming so of one day above another, forbidden Rom. 14. not in reference to the ground or moral occasion of such day or dayes,( which peradventure might well enough be born with,) but simply in its self, and for the dayes sake.  
27. Secondly, if not mixing with 
Vid. Ambros. Serm. de Circumcis.  Heathenish customs, Quibus gentes Idolis deditae intendunt, as Sanctus Marcialis fore-warneth, ad Toloss. c. 25. Else containing somewhat in them secretly repugnant to the truth and substance of Christs gospel, which is another thing; S. Paul Col. 2. v. 16, 17. Gal. 4. v. 10, 11. notes in those caeremoniall jewish Feasts, their Sabboths, and new moons, and lessoneth us against the observance of them.  
28. But all this is still {αβγδ}; The question is only about some Festivals,( No other than what many of the best 
Confess. Helvit. c. 24 Bohem. c. 15. Auspurg. c. 4 &c.  Reformed Churches abroad have allowed of) and these rightly regulated and kept up to the purity of their first Institution.  
29. As for such who hold off here merely out of a timorous simplicity, because we may be thought hereby to take somewhat from the due Worship of God, and impart it to the Saints, may that of S. Austine suffice with little change of terms; 
Honorandi sunt Martyres proptèr imitationem, non orandi propter Religionem, honorandi charitate, non Servitute; Rab. Maur. de Inst. glory. l. 2. c. 24.  Nos Martyribus non templa sicut Diis, said memorias tanquam hominibus mortuis celebramus, De. Civ. Dei, l. 22. c. 10. Again, Contr. Faust. l. 20. c. 21. Populus Christianus memorias Sanctorum, &c. we Christians consecrate such festivals not so much to Saints as to God, nor yet this moreover for any Worship or Honour( more than civill) of Them, but only in commemoration of their vertues.  
30. The rest of more intractable spirit in this and other Arguments, I meddle not with, whose manner it is when driven about by strength of reason, and hardly put to it, to cry out conscience strait,( as they of Rome in such like exigencies, the Church, the Church) making conscience on this wise the common Asylum of dull ignorance, or dissembled Faction.  
31. Nor shall I say more to those who will be ready to object here the peoples 
Bonaeres neminem scandalizant nisi malam mentem,— agnoscunt malum suum qui tali bono scandalizantur: tertul. de Virg. Veland. c. 3.  weakness, and proneness to superstition upon this occasion, as not rightly apprehending why, or for what ends such festivals, were ordained, but that it is pity where the easy remedy of sound and better information may be had( since, {αβγδ}, saith C. Alexandrinus,) good orders wholesomely established in the Church, should without more ado fall a needless sacrifice to the peoples undisciplined simplicity.  

Euripid. {αβγδ}.  {αβγδ}  
{αβγδ}.   

OF THE liberty OF prophesying.  
CHrist our Saviour died and rose again, that he might purchase unto himself a Church, Eph. 5. v. 25. This Church he meant in some good measure it should be free as well from the wrinkles of error and heresy; as the spots of gross impiety: And to this purpose when he left the world, he bequeathed unto it the fellowship of his holy Spirit, which might direct and guide it into all truth: Nor so onely, but he hath fenced it in moreover with Order and Rules of Discipline against the sly insinuations of whate'er encroaching Novelties.  
2. The Primitive 
Socrat. l. 1. c. 6. l. 3. c. 21. Sozom. l. 7. c. 4. Evagr. l. 2. c. 1.— {αβγδ}.  Fathers were so careful in performance of their duty herein, as not to admit of the least {αβγδ} or tittle, Ne syllabae quidèm, saith Theodoret, Hist. l. 4. c. 17. in point of variation from the truth; What stir with them about the terms {αβγδ} and {αβγδ}, touching the Consubstantiality of Christs Divinity and Humanity together in the same Person against the Arrians; Of {αβγδ} and {αβγδ} in procession of the Spirit, against the Macedonians; The Nicene council quickly damnes the blasphemous writings of Arrius that they might not do further mischief, as likewise did the Ephesine the works of Nestorius, the council of Chalcedon those of Eutyches.  
3. So vigilant were they anciently, we find, to prevent the noxious Superseminations of Satan: And so careful ought Christians by their example still to be in suppressing that liberty of opining,( assumed now adays more than ever,) i.e. of venting and then maintaining their private sancies under the colour of prophesy; Which that the Christian Magistrate or Minister according to their several Interests may lawfully do, I prove it by these ensuing Arguments.  


Arg. 1 um.  That Discipline which we find both commanded and severely practised for restraint of false and erroneous opinions concerning Gods Worship in times of the Law, may accordingly( in some good proportion at least) be used in times of the gospel.  
But such a coercive Discipline we find both commanded and practised in times of the Law, &c.—  
Ergo—   
4. Such a coercive Discipline we find both commanded and—) This is clear from Deut. 13. v. 1, 2, 5. &c. c. 17. v. 2, 3, 4, 12. c. 18. v. 20. 2 King. 23. v. 5, 6, 20. 2 Chron. 15. v. 12, 13. c. 34. v. 32, 33. &c. josiah took away all the abominations out of the Countreyes which pertained to the children of Israel, and made all that were present in Israel to serve, even to serve the Lord their God.  
5. For the mayor( whate'er advantage the Donatists of old might conceive gained to their cause by distinguishing of the times before and after the gospel, as Optatus reports, Contrà Parmen. l. 3.) S. 
De Exhortat. Martyr. c. 5.  Cyprian enforceth the Argument, Si ante adventum Christi, saith he, alluding to that place Deut. 13. Circà Deum colendum haec Praecepta servata sunt, quantò magis post adventum Christi; If it were so in times of the Law, much rather ought it to be donne in times of the gospel: For that the purity of Gods Worship is now as much, or more to be tendered, than then it was, as the body exceedeth the shadow, and truth the substance.  

A Discipline which( over and above) 
2um.  we have confirmed by sundry passages praeceptive and exemplary extant in the gospel, hath quaestionlesse its place and use in the Church of Christ.  
But such a coercive Discipline we have it over and above confirmed by sundry passages Praeceptive and Exemplary extant in—  
Ergo—   
6. Such a coercive Discipline we have over and above confirmed by—) See 1 Tim. 1. v. 3, 10. 20. where the Apostle excommunicates Hymen and Philetus upon this very point; So 2 Tim. 2. v. 18. Our Translation there renders it, Shun profane babblings: But as appositely perchance, {αβγδ}, stay profane, &c. again, Tit. 5. v. 11. c. 3. v. 10. Rev. 2. v. 14. I have a few things against thee,( writes Christ unto the Church of Pergamos) because thou hast them there that hold the Doctrine of Balaam, &c. and v. 20. speaking of the Church of Thyatira, Notwithstanding I have a few things, saith he, against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants; What more plain?  
7. And further, to what purpose else, may that Rod be, S. Paul makes mention, of, 1 Cor. 4. v. 21. A Rod of power, v. 20.( intimated by that {αβγδ} seu baculum pastoral given heretofore into the Bishops hands at time of their Investiture; 
Iliad. A.  {αβγδ}, said he of Chryses Apollos prime Priest,) where the Apostle haply alludes to Aaron his 
Ambros. l. 2. Ep. 18.  Rod, betokening the Authority of his Commission from God, Exod. 4. v. 17. Answerably whereunto Christ is said in verve of such his power which he hath, to break the Nations in pieces with a rod of iron, Rev. 2. v. 27. or else he relates, as being a freeborn Citizen of Rome, Act. 22. v. 28. to those fasces or bundle of rods carried in token of their Authority before the roman Magistracy.  
8. We exclude not here,( as before Qu. 1. n. 21) the Civill Magistrate from the use of the Sword in some cases, where the Rod of ecclesiastical Discipline will not do, for as much as he beareth not the Sword in vain, Rom. 13. Constantine the Great used it to purpose, in the banishment of Arrius and his Complices; So did Theodosius, Valentinian, and Gratian,( notwithstanding the Lenity of Theodosius while upon occasion, Socrat. l. 5. c. 20.) by framing of capital laws as a bar of resistance against the Underminers of the Orthodox established Religion; Few or none of better note shall we find in the whole Series of those Emperours to have donne otherwise: It is the brand which 
Paul Diacon. in vitâ Valentis. Idem in Ialian. Themist. {αβγδ}. Orat. 12. vid. Lamprid. in Heliogabalo.  Historians fasten upon some loose Pagans or heretics there Themselves, that without any discrimination had at all they suffered a multiplicity of all Religions, as did Valens, Julian, thereby to gain the easier passage for their own.  
9. Nor yet without cause,( so to add reason to example) have good and prudent Governours of State been very sharp in suppressing the dangerous encroachments of innovating Sectaries at all times; since heresy is a kind of Gangrene or Canker, 2 Tim. 2. which if spreading, and not otherwise curable, what follows, but that  Immedicabile vulnus, 
Ense recidatur— S. Paul to this effect useth the very phrase of cutting off; I would they( i.e. certain seducing Teachers) were cut off who trouble you, {αβγδ}, Gal. 5. v. 12.  


3um.  That Discipline which occasioneth a greater coming in of Proselytes or Converts to the Christians Profession, is surely of good use in the Church of Christ.  
But such a coercive Discipline occasioneth a greater coming in of Proselytes and Converts, &c.  
Ergo—   
10. Such a coercive Discipline occasioneth a greater coming in of—) Therefore 
Ad Officium Haereticos compelli, non allici, dignum est. Duritia vincenda, non suadenda est; tertul. advers. Gnostic. c. 92.  saith Christ concerning those unmannerly guests in the Parable, Luk. 14. compel them to come in that my house may be filled; This House is his Church, and the Compulsion there meniioned is by the severity of paenall laws; S. Austin is frequent and earnest in pressing this kind of means as the surest and speediest course of reclaiming the Donatists with their seduced adherents, Ep. 49, 50, 60, 127, 158, 161, 167. &c. notwithstanding their envious complaints of injury being donne hereby to their weak unsettled consciences; Since, Quae pejor mors ainae, saith he, quam libertas erroris? What more certain death of the soul, than that of free liberty 
Melius est ut liberemus invitos, quàm ut volentibus concèdamus exitium. jul. Firmic. de Error. profan. Religionum.  permitted unto men of following their own ill-grounded and erroneous opinions.  
11. On the other hand restraint here begets in men whether they will or not, a sense or feeling of the duty they are enforced to, and knowledge many times, though unawares, produceth a love of what they thus know; Per haec enim fiet, ut velint sanari, Edict. Marcellin. Contrà Donatist. ad fin. Collat. Carthag. {αβγδ}, Herocl. Where the last Act then is not forced, but voluntary, capable of effecting a sincere and true Religion in the heart.  
12. If this will not suffice, or may seem too harsh, I further distinguish betwixt positive and privative censures, as may be used; The latter without all scruple justly exercisable upon offenders here; when as namely men of reserved and otherwise inoffensive spirits, shall yet, if required, required, deny due obedience to some known established law; Such are abstension, preterition, a 
{αβγδ}, Lex. justinian. in Cedren. n. 136.  disabling for present, from the enjoyment of places of public advantage either in Church or State; {αβγδ}, saith Paul, reject such an one, Tit. 3. v. 10. and this because of the great scandal and exemplary harm which doth necessary follow upon such their unconformity.  


4um.  That Discipline, the neglect whereof maketh way for the increase of Schism and heresy whereby the growth of Christs gospel is much retarded, ought to be retained and exercised in the Church.  
But the neglect of such coercive Discipline maketh way for the increase of—  
Ergo—   
13. The neglect of such coercive Discipline maketh way for—) S. jerome aptly to this purpose, Scintillula res parva est,( saith he) & paenè dùm cernitur, non videtur: said si fomitem comprehenderit,& nutrimentum sui quamvis parvi ignis invenerit,— &c. Igitur& scintilla statim ut apparuerit, extinguenda est— Comment. in Gal. 5. v. 9. On this sort, and from such small beginnings broke forth the Arrian heresy with him, and in like manner, almost in the same terms doth Pomponius Laetus record the rise and growth of mahumetism, Hist. l. 2. in vitâ Magmed.  
14. For why? No error so grossly sottish which( if not strait crushed in the shell,) may not gain Abettors, and men in reason will be forward to broach their novel opinions, where instead of censure, they are like to find 
{αβγδ}; Procop. Hist Arcan.  immunity, if not credit and applause;  
Nemo satis credit tantum delinquere, quantum  
Permittes—  
Error, like as all sin, is naturally most fruitful of increase; Dato uno sequuntur mill: One evermore readily begets another, and so onwards, as long as either the fancy within remains unwearied, and not tired out, or there be offered from abroad fitting and plausible matter to work upon.  
14. But what will some say; Shall the devout minded Christian be utterly debarred the liberty of scanning whate'er doctrinal truths commended to him, of satisfying his scrupulous conscience, of propounding, if occasion require, his supposedly better and more Orthodox conceptions? Answ. It is mens open and turbulent divulging of their private fancies I argue against, not their sober examinations even of established and generally received Tenets; When with the Beraeans Act. 17. they shall modestly search into the truth of points, whether it be so, or not: And on this manner we may lawfully, as St. John adviseth, 1 joh. 4. try the spirits of others, as likewise propound our own; yet so, as that for quiets sake, we submit to the Churches Decrees already fixed, until such time, as a solemn and formal discussion of the matter in way of review, may bee first obtained.  
15. Again, doth not Christ himself Mat. 13. counsel us to let the wheat and tares grow up together, till the time of harvest shall come; By tares, say good Expositors, denoting the Haeretick, and by wheat the Orthodox Professors; Yes: Lest whilst we gather the tares, we destroy the wheat also, v. 29. There you have the Reason assigned of this forbearance; 
{αβγδ}; Chrys.  So as where we are able to distinguish betwixt them,( which yet to do is many times a peculiar Act of Gods all-discerning eye, who alone can uncase these ravenous dissembling wolves) we may extirpate the tares and leave the wheat standing: Or else he means it of the wicked generally, and so must we perforce rest content with their company in this present world, else go out of it, as the Apostle speaks, 1 Cor. 5. v. 10.  
16. Gamaliel his advice, Acts 5. v. 38, 39. urged by some of letting things alone, lest haply we be found to fight against God, 
De puniendis Haereticis à Magistratu. n.  Beza hath long since well and easily answered, with an Ex veris principiis malam conclusionem eliciunt; For what though Gods decree in all cases doth evermore inevitably take effect, it follows not therefore, we may not lawfully make use of subordinate outward means either way, sometimes in a way of furtherance, and sometimes of praevention, as here, to the crushing of such dangerous opinions in the very shell, or first budding of them.  


5tum.  Nothing that opens a gap to many or more Religions than one, as tending to salvation, is sufferable in a Christian Church  
Liberty of prophesying opens a gap to many, yea more Religions than one—  
Ergo—   
17. Liberty of prophesying opens a gap to—) 
{αβγδ}; Orig. Contr. Cols. Non esse noxium si inter Gentilium arras& Dei Ecclesiam quisquis transiens utraque veneretur. Arrianorum dictum referent, Greg. Turon. l. 5. n. 43.  Unumquemque in suâ fide salvari, that men may be saved in their own several ways of Religion and Worship, hath been the groundlessly absurd opinion of divers; The first broacher I meet with of this brainsick conceit, is Carpocrates the famous heretic, who binding on those two great Postulata in Christianity, Faith and Charity as alone absolutely necessary to salvation, held all other things for matters of indifferency, Et secundùm opinionem hominum quaedam quidèm bona quaedam à mala vacari, iron. l. 1. c. 24. Yet what saith our Saviour, 
〈…〉  straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life; There is but a way thither it seems, not ways, and this way but narrow too; S. Paul Phil. 3. v. 16. mindes us of a certain Rule, that Fidei Catholicae Regula, as the phrase afterwards grew rife among the Fathers, which every of us professing the Christian Religion must conform to, and warily proceed by; Let us walk by the same Rule, let us mind the same thing.  
18. It was the senseless custom of the romans in latter times( for else anciently, Separatim nemo habessit Deos, neve novos,— &c. D●deca-Delt. de Jur. Sacror. n. 2.) to worship their several gods, of whom they had store, after their several appointed forms of Service, thus allowing as many Religions in their State, as they had Idol Deities; Quid interest quâ quisque prudentiâ vera inquirat? Suus cuique mos, suus cuique ritus est, saith 
Symmach. in Relat. ad Valent. &c. vid. Athenag. in legate. pro Christian. statim ab initio.  he: But not so for the true God, the God of Israel; I will give them( my people) saith the Lord, one heart, and one way that they may serve me, jer. 32. v. 38. and, Be ye perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgement, 1 Cor. 1. v. 10. A Babel confusion of various Sects and Professions, of silver, and brass, and iron, and led mingled together, in no wise pleaseth him; But, he will gather them into the furnace, and his wrath shall blow upon them to melt them, Ezek. 22. v. 20.  
— Multa ambago viarum  
Anfractus dubios habet,& perplexius errat;  
Sola error caret simplex via.  Prud. 


6tum.  That which begets certain jealousy faction, and rancour of mind among people, is not to be permitted in a State.  
But liberty of opining, and then practising divers Religions, begets certain—  
Ergo—   
19. Liberty of opining and practising divers Religions, begets certain jealousy, faction, and—) 
{αβγδ}; Mecaen. Orat. ad Aug. apud Di●n. l. 52.  Begets, I say, and that almost necessary: For where there is difference in opinions, there will be a disagreement of affections, it can hardly be withststood: Whilst each party suspecteth the others overspreading growth, opposeth its increase, and stomacks all successful prevailings of the same; The jew will evermore malign the samaritan, the Pharisee contest against the Saduce, till all be in an uproar, as there it was, Act. 23. v. 7. Dissensiones augente licentiâ, as Amm. Marcellinus gives it l. 22. And it was one of julian the Apostate his subtle devices, a tolerating, yea cherishing the Christians in their divided Sects and Opinions, Ne unanimantem plebem timeret, saith he there; The like plot we read of in Diodor. Sicul. l. 2. which some Tyrants of egypt used towards their Subjects,( Good policy indeed in a weak and not fully secure Government,) {αβγδ}— thereby to hinder them from a mutual accord each with other, and so the more easily keep them under.  
20. Unity in point of Religion is the surest tie of concord in affections; I will give them one heart, and one way that they may fear me, jer. 31. We shall hardly ever fear God, as we ought, unanimously and with one heart, unless we serve him after one and the same way; And hereupon doth S. Paul Eph. 4. v. 3. praemise the unity of the Spirit before the bond of peace; Endeavouring, saith he, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace; 
{αβγδ}— Agath. Scholast. Hist. l. 2  No peace to be expected, where the spirits and judgements of men are disagreeing: Where there remaines struggling together in the same womb, as 'twere, of the Church, different Tenets, contrary Opinions.—  
Conjunctaque eôdem,  
Non been junctarum discordia semina Rerum.  


7um.  Things fault-worthy in Themselves, secret or open, may justly be punished according to a different cognizance had of them.  
But error or blindness of mind is a thing fault-worthy in itself.  
Ergo—   
21. Error or blindness of mind is a thing fault-worthy in itself—) Reas. Because it is 
{αβγδ}, & c.. Clem. Alexdrin. l. 1.  sinful; If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any, Lev. 4. v. 2, 14. The thought of foolishness is sin, Prov. 24. v. 9. simplo ignorance, as being the fruit of original corruption in us, and habitual, of actual; Therefore both punishable,( as so) by God the searcher of the heart, and who keepeth his tribunal of judicature likewise there; I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give unto every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings, jer. 17. v. 10. Outwardly by the Magistrate in reference to those external effects it usually produceth, of ill example, inconformity, disturbance either to Church or State.  
22. Otherwise, Cogitationis paenam nemo patiatur, is a saying Orthodox enough: For that conscience of itself truly, is as 
Enchirid.  Epictetus speaks, {αβγδ}, a thing not to be come at, or reached to by the hand of punishment: But therefore do the inward acts here, those privy machinations of the soul fall under censure, only by accident, as making to the greater increase and aggravation of the outward; 
{αβγδ}, Apthou. Progymnas m. c. 13.  Praemeditated offences done with a full and knowing consent of the will, deserve severer chastisement, than do slips of infirmity; Else secondly, in a constructive sense, as prompting to a violation of that Law or Command which conscience within tells me I ought not to violate; Wherefore you must be subject( saith he, Rom. 13. speaking of external obedience due to Governors) not onely for wrath, but for conscience sake.  


8um.  What men are otherwise bound to, that they may lawfully be enforced and compelled to by help of some paenall Discipline:  
But Christians are bound to a true and incorrupt profession of the gospel.  
Ergo—   
23. Christians are bound to a true and incorrupt profession of—) For as for those without, Pagans and infidels, I meddle not with; There's perchance another and milder kind of course to be observed in dealing with them: Monendo, non cogendo, as the council of Toledo hath praescrib'd, c. 56. Such who have not as hitherto submitted Themselves to the Iurisdictive Authority of the Church, and from whom we differ in the fundamentals, and first Principles.  
24. But now the bond or obligation of Christians is double, the one of general equity as they tender the welfare of their own souls; The other that particular vow or promise made by them in Baptism: And upon this especially followeth a just right in the Magistrate of holding them to their vow.  
25. Neither may they say, it is not in their own power to change their opinion, when as required thereto,( being first sufficiently praemonish't, according to the Apostles Rule, Tit. 3. v. 10.) for want of a further and higher illumination; It may be, it is, did they but improve their naturals as they ought, by help of the written word,( the Word of Truth, Iam. 1. v. 18.) carefully and impartially perused by them; Since the rectifying of our understandings in the apprehension of Dogmaticall points is one thing, and the comforming of our wills is another.  
26. Or howbeit did they at leastwise admit of that divine light shining in upon the Intellect, when as perchance it is offered them, and not rather shut it out, like those job 24. v. 13. who are said to rebel against the Truth: And in both these cases fore-going, paenall coercion serves most effectually( and 
{αβγδ}; Plato.  Remedii loco est quod prodest, saith Seneca, Malum paenae medicinale, your Canonists call it) to excite and quicken the slothful and otherwise sluggish dispositions of men: Where yet again, as before, the violence of constraint here used, reacheth not at all to the conscience within,( Voluntas enim non cogitur, they'll say, and no more may the conscience truly, in respect of its immanent and more immediate operations) but fastens as 'twere and determines wholly upon the outward Acts, whether of omission or commission, the proper objects of it.  
27. If the Ancients of the Church shall seem to cross the Doctrine premised, as somewhere 
Religionis non est cogere ad Religionem; Tertul. ad Scapul. c. 2. Verbis potius quàm verberibus res agendae est; Lact. l. 5. c. 19. Nemo cogitur ut credat invitus; Cassiod. l. 2. Ep. 27. {αβγδ} Isid. Pelus. l. 3. Ep. 353.  they do,( unless they speak haply of some manner of illegal hostile coaction, as formerly I have put the difference, Qu. 1.) you must consider the times they lived in, of trouble and persecution commonly: And men, we know, will be apt out of a strain of grief and anger,( good Job himself cannot be excused) or where Themselves are interested, {αβγδ}, as they say, to deliver that, which otherwise and upon a calmer more settled judgement they would not have donne.  
28. In brief, so to cast the question into a kind of state, and then leave it: Error of Doctrine is for certain after some way or other positive or privative, censurable by authority: But chiefly, where as it toucheth upon high and dangerous points in Themselves, so withall it breaks forth, and redounds abroad to any notable annoyance of the Church we live in; Else, Quisque in suo sensu, &c. a mutually charitable forbearance of Christians one towards another would here do well: Still, Salvâ sidei compage, as S. Austin gives the Caution, So as the fellowship 
{αβγδ}, &c. Constant. in Orat. Introduct. ad council. Nicaen. apud Gelas. Cycicen.  and sweet communion of Faith among men be no ways hindered or impeached thereby.  
29. But in other cases as hath been argued, far be that {αβγδ}, mentionned by Socrates, Hist. l. 5. c. 20. Away with such a Pantheion, a confused Miscellanie of multiplicious Religions: a tolerating thus of many, is in truth the direct way to have none, and whilst we indulge a liberty of different opinions, we endanger the immaculate purity of the true; Thereby we render Gods holy Haeritage as a speckled bide, strange to behold, whereof he complaineth, jer. 12. v. 12. Contrary to what he hath forbidden, Deut. 22. v. 9. we sow Christs Vineyard the Church, with divers and different seeds, the seeds, as most commonly it falleth out, of ensuing discord and 
Diversitas Religionum omne dissipat Imperium. Cardan. vid. Lips. advers. Dialogist. c. 13.  confusion.  
30. Finally, consider but the desperate wild conceits,( under the notion of new lights,) such an unbounded liberty of prophesying hath of late brought forth, what Monsters of impiety and gross folly together it hath begotten among us, {αβγδ}, Aeschyl. whilst the Ghosts as 'twere of all the 
{αβγδ}— Legem aut Prophetas nihili faciunt,— Resurrectionem& judicium futurum non credunt, ainae immortalitatem negant,& denique Religionum omnium {αβγδ} propugnant Const. Apost. l. 6. c. 10.  ancient heretics may seem to have been consulted with, and their loathsome long since putrefied opinions again revived in the same or a worse shape, than what at first they had, and that saying of Shemaiath unto Zephaniath the Priest,( Priests and People both it concerns) jer. 29. v. 26, 27. might do well perchance if taken into consideration.  
The Lord hath made thee Priest, saith he, instead of Jehoiada the Priest, that ye should be Officers in the House of the Lord, for every man who is mad, or maketh himself a Prophet, that thou shouldst put him in prison, and in the stocks.  
Now therefore why hast thou not— &c.   

OF THINGS GIVEN TO religious uses.  
THings consecrated, or gigiven to Holy Uses, I have formerly else-where shown it,( {αβγδ},) Qu. 5. n. 19. how after some sort they may justly be termed holy too, and so ought of right to be esteemed by us, considering the ends and uses for which they serve; Every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord, Lev. 27. v. 28. Neither again is there any doubt hereupon, but that men in all Ages will to choose be grasping and reaching at them.  Nitimur in vetitum sempèr, cupimusque negata. 
The devoted golden wedge, with the Babylonish forbidden garment, Josh. 7. by so much the more do they inflame Achan his unruly desires.  
2. But nor this, nor that is the question in hand: The Quaere is, whether or no they be so fastened as 'twere to the Church, by virtue of their Donation, that they cannot safely be taken away, or otherwise disposed of, Hic Rhodus, hic saltus—: And that they cannot( absolu●è loquendo) I stand thus confirmed in my opinion, by these ensuing Reasons.  


Arg. 1um.  That which defrauds the donor of his pious and good intendments, is not at any hand to be attempted or put in practise.  
But such aversion or taking away of things consecrated to Religious Uses, defrauds—  
Ergo—   
3. That which defrauds the donor of his pious good intendments, is not at any hand—) The will of the deceased, is surely, if not sacred altogether, yet much to be regarded: No man, saith the Apostle, disannulleth, or addeth thereto, Gal. 3. v. 15. Nihil est quod magìs hominibus debeatur, quàm ut supremae voluntatis, post quam jàm aliud velle non possunt, liber sit stylus,& licitum, quod non iterum redit Arbitrium, Cod. l. 1. Tit. 2. Nothing more agreeable to reason, than that the last wills of men stand firm and irreversible, after which they can will or dispose of nought any more.  
4. Now on the other side, is it notoriously apparent, how the donor here intends his beneficence, {αβγδ}, binding it moreover most an end with a certain Anathema, or Curse against surprisal: Whence the Things themselves given on this sort, as they are sometimes termed {αβγδ}, seu Donaria, Gifts, Luk. 21. v. 5. so elsewhere, as rightly {αβγδ} because of the 
Sacer, est vonerandus& execrandus, Agrat. Gramat. vid. Fest. in verb.  curse or imprecation annexed: {αβγδ}, Lev. 27. v. 28. &c.  
5. Further {αβγδ}; Things separate from common uses, without all right or liberty of returning thither again; {αβγδ}, council. Chalc. Can. 24. {αβγδ}, Just. Mart. Resp. ad Orthodox. 121. Modo irrevocabili res in Ecclesiâ firmatae, ll. Wisagoth. Tit. 1. A perpetual portion, Lev. 25. v. 23. not to be redeemed or sold again, c. 27. v. 28.  


2um.  Nothing which depriveth the Donee of his just right wherein he is interested by the Law of God, of Nature, and of Man, is in any wise allowable.  
But such ablation of Things consecrated deprives the Donee of his just right, wherein he is interested by—  
Ergo—   
6. Such ablation of consecrate Things deprives the Donee of his just right wherein—) For the Positive and human Law, it is plain enough, and needs no further proof; Yet among others, notable is the Law of King Edgar to this purpose: Primùm Ecclesia Dei jura atque immunitates suas habeto; And the more notable for the reason we find given by one of his Successors afterwards, 
Leges Edovard. An. 1049.  Quià per eam( Ecclesiamsc:) Rex& Regnum solidum subsistendi habent fundamentum: Because it layeth a surer foundation of safety to the whole State.  
7. Likewise for the Law of Nature, which alloweth Sum cvique, or right of enjoying without interruption that what every man stands justly possess't of; And therefore is Furtum or theft generally defined to be, Lege naturali prohibitum, Instit. l. 3. Tit. de oblige. a thing most injust and even against the dictates of Nature itself.  
8. For the Law of God, Ne furabere here takes place: It is a breach doubtless of the fift Commandement, interdicting all invasion, secret or manifest,( invito Domino) of another mans goods; Or rather to speak properly, sacrilege so called, by reason of the object whereabouts it is conversant, improving it up to an higher species of evil; Sacrilegus dicitur, qui sacra legit, i.e. 
{αβγδ}; Zenoph. in Orat. de Agesilao.  furatur, Aquin. 2. 2dae. Qu. 99.  
9. In every truth, it is somewhat hard to find out a proper name, or to assign a due and fitting series wherein to place it; Since as one speaks, Quod nomen accipiet ablatio facultatum, quas nulla lex, nullus casus facit caducas; Symmach. in Relat. ad Valent. &c. What appellation or title may the seizure of consecrate things deserve, the which no Law or instance of default doth any ways render obnoxious to forfeiture.  
10. But what then? May not the State any where out of its Autocratoricall power dispense with these laws? Answ. With the merely positive Law it may: Ejus est rescindere, cujus est condere: The same power may reverse and alter, which first enacted and gave it life; But with the Law of Nature it may not, it is fixed: With the Law of God it must not, it is sacred: Civilis ratio civilia quidèm jura corrumpere potest, naturalia vero,( aut divina, we may safely add) non utique; Inst. l. 1. Tit. 15.  
11. Yet again: Such Donations, they will say, be oftimes impended to superstitious and blind uses, or if not so, at leastwise misapplied afterwards besides the Doners first intendments, by the undescrvingly present Occupiers; Answ. For the former of these two, what if our Ancestors shall have erred in their charitable, but withall misguided zeal: Though their devotion was blind, yet was it not lame: Let us afford them eyes who have found us hands by putting their charity into a right course, howbeit still with reservation had of the Church her just deuce and immunities; Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, made them Censers with an ill intent, that they might offer up Incense in them before the Lord, Num. 16. which was not lawful for them to do: Yet nevertheless Eleazar there destroys not those Censers, nor doth he utterly cast them by, as unserviceable to all manner of holy employments, but makes broad plates of them, for the covering or overlaying of the Altar.  
12. For the latter, as it is the most common Objection here used upon this and other like occasions, the Argumentum {αβγδ} as 'twere, that {αβγδ}, saith Aristotle, Rhet. l. 1. and a principal ground of mistake with the memorable; Jo. Huss. Tractat. de Ablat. Temporal. à Cleric. n. 16, 17, 18, 19. &c. So is it the most frivolous and unconcludent that may be: An arguing from the abuse of a thing to the quiter taking away of the Thing itself.  
13. By this kind of reasoning no Ordinance whate'er either in Church or State, though ne're so rightly established, should be of long continuance, since offences will certainly come; It is not 
Sic poterit evenire, ut dum cavemus ne uspiam sit aliquid ubi insipientium mens posset errare, nihil pene habeamus, Walfr. Strabo, de reb. Eccles. c. 11.  Consequent, the institution be strait made null, because of the succeeding misdemeanours and abuses committed against it: As Hezechias somewhere upon special considerations quiter demolisheth the Brazen Serpent, 2 King. 18. takes away all the Altars for incense, and casts them into the brook Cedron, 2 Chron. 30. v. 14. So 2 Chron. 19. he only cleanseth the Temple by removing the filth and rubbish out of it.  
14. And yet more particularly for the business under dispute; God he is( in strict phrase of speech) the proprietary or owner here as it shall be evidenced by and by: Et cum Deus possessor caenobii nunquàm reatum commisit,( was anciently the Rule) sit praefata libertas aeterna Ll. Edgar, An. 996. For as much as he who is the true owner of such Donations cannot possibly in any wise offend, whate'er his Receivers entrusted under him do, neither may the gift itself therefore be justly seized upon, or taken away.  


3um.  That which( yet higher still) robs Christ of his proper Patrimony or Possession, is by all means to be abandoned of us.  
But such( forced) ablations of Church-revenues rob Christ of his proper Patrimony or Possession—  
Ergo—   
15. Such forced Ablations rob Christ of his proper Patrimony or—) Will a man rob God, saith he, Malac. 3. v. 8. yet ye have robbed me: But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings: Therefore, as it followeth, v. 9. ye are cursed with a curse, because ye have robbed me, even this whole Nation; Whence it is plain that God almighty is in some sort capable of being robbed and peeled. As likewise on the other hand of receiving somewhat, Mat. 25. v. 40. Verily I say unto you, saith Christ, in as much ye have done it( .i. e. ye have given any whit) to the least of my brethren, ye have done it unto me.  
16. I will not here with the Canonists enter a curious needless dispute concerning the true proprietary of things dedicated to sacred uses; Some holding for the present Incumbent; Some for the Church in communi, and some for Christ: For Christ as the chief Lord; Those of the Church as Feoffees in trust, or 
Prosp. de vitâ contemplativâ, l. 2. c. 9.  Procurators under him; Deo& Ecclesiae is the usual style of such Religious Grants; Ecclesiae and therefore Deo, as some have probably reasoned upon this very ground, because Christ and his Church are mystically but one in virtue of that close union of Head and Members, Husband and Spouse, which is betwixt them; I am my beloveds, and my beloved is mine, Cant. 6. v. 3. For certain, Quod Divini Juris est, id nullius,( i.e. hoins) in bonis est, Inst. l. 2. Tit. 1. The Lords inhaeritance, Deut. 18. v. 1. The holy portion of the Land, Ezek. 45. v. 4.  
17. Nor doth it occasion any manner of difficulty, that his being Lord already before such Enfeofment by right of Creation, whereby he made the world and all that therein is; I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds: For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills, Psal. 50. v. 9, 10. True: but here's an assignment or making over of things, which begets a new and more particular Title; Christ he is pleased in way of gift to accept of what was his before; His as Creator and maker of all things: and now his as Head and Patron of his Church.  
18. And hence is it, in virtue namely of such transaction or new making over, that, Things on this wise consecrate to holy uses, are commonly in Scripture termed Offerings, Gifts, Numb. 8. v. 19. Mat. 5. v. 3. If thou bringest thy gift to the Altar,& c. {αβγδ}, where all the right then or interest the Donor formerly had, is now hence forward abolished and taken away; Whiles it remained, was it not thine own, and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power, is the speech of S. Peter to Ananias, Act. 5. v. 4. as much as to say: Now he had sold his possessions, and brought in the price to the Churches stock,( which he had done) it was not his own, the title was changed: Like as in such manner of Transactions elsewhere betwixt party and party it wonteth to be.  


3um.  That which discourageth Posterity in their free contributions to pious and godly uses is not to be approved of.  
But such distractions of Church-Revenues discourageth Posterity in their free contribut.— &c.  
Ergo—   
19. Such distractions of Church-Revenues discourageth Posterity in—) Since who will depart with the least moiety of his substance to Religious employments, when he shall see it obnoxious to the rapine of sacrilegious persons in future times; It will be here with men, as it was with the children of Israel in their offerings, because of Hophni and Phinehas, 1 Sam. 2. whose rapacious wicked dealing in this manner, slacked the peoples devotions, so as they abhorred the offerings of the Lord, v. 17. Indeed Perdere hoc esset, non donare: It would rather be thought rash prodigality in them, than any ways a piece of Religious discreet charity thus to make ready the prey as 'twere,( {αβγδ} as he 
Herocles.  speaks,) which covetous greedy Sacrilegists might in succeeding Ages certainly imbezzle and devour.  


5um.  What we find forbidden in Scripture as to the House or place of Gods Worship, may in reason be well supposed forbidden concerning Lands, Revenues, and whate'er other things consecrated to his service:( And therefore doth the council of Chalcedon lay them together under one and the same Interdict, c. 24.)  
But the impropriating or misapplying of Gods House to other uses besides the first institution of it, we find expressly forbidden in— &c.  
Ergo—   
20. The impropriating or misapplying of Gods House to other uses besides the first institution of it, we find—) For this make all those places that prohibit any where and in any wise the polluting of his peculiar House, the Temple heretofore, Lev. 21. v. 12. 2 Chron. 29. v. 5. Ezech. 43. v. 7, 8. Dan. 11. v. 31. joh. 2. v. 15, 16. &c. But most remarkable to the point in hand,( as things especially now go) is the Prophet Davids complaint here, Psal. 74. v. 3, 4. taken up long since, and occasionally used by Gildas,( such is the fatal revolution of times,) Lib. de Excid. Brittan.  
Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolation that the enemy hath done wickedly in the Sanctuary.  
Thine adversaries roar in the midst of thy Congregation, and set up their banners for tokens.  
They break down all the carved work with axes and hammers.  
They have set fire upon thine holy places, and have 
Prophanatum, quod in Sacrario pollutum: Va●ro de Lingu. latin. l. 5. Despoliare Templa, sacra prophanare, omnia polluere. sallust.  defiled, or* profaned( {αβγδ}) the dwelling places of thy Name.  
21. Optatus l. 6. Contrà Parmen. well expresseth this 
{αβγδ}, Polyb. l. 6.  Jury of the Heathen against the Temple of God, in that of the Donatists afterwards, against the Church of Christ, Quid tam sacrilegum quam Altaria Dei, in quibus& vos aliquando obtulist is, frangere, radere, removere &c. omnia suror vester, aut rasit, aut fregit, aut removit: And whether or no such outrages are to be matched by some kind of proceedings in these late licentious times of ours, may after stories speak, I need not.  
23. But the places fore-alleged, they'l say, conclude only against a misapplying of Gods House to secular and profane uses: and so, Give not that which is holy to Dogs, saith our Saviour, Mat. 7. v. 6. Ans. I grant as much, neither are they intended to prove any more; Withall I aclowledge a great difference that is between ablation wholly, and a mere alienation: Or, which is much one, betwixt alienanation to 
Vetuit ne tigna reliquaque materies ad aedificanda Templa congesta in prophanos usus converteretur, posse ad structuram alterius Templi vel Coenobii; Platin. in vita Hygin.  profane or not profane uses; This latter do your Canonists upon much easier terms yield unto; quip per eam, as Navarr. rationally gives it, non aufertur res Christo ejus vero Domino,& alteri datur, said solùm efficitur ut manente utrobique Dominio penes ipsum, inserviat ei alio in loco, vel in alios usus quàm ante serviebat; De Spol. Cleric. n. 13. Albeit in truth this be but little better than fulfilling of the old Proverb, a 
Ruinis Templorum aedificant tanquam non ●idem ubique sint Dii immortales,& spoliis aliorum alii colendi excolendique; Liv. Dec. l. 2. c. 3.  robbing Peter to pay Paul, whilst we supply the wants of Christs Church here, by doing some notable prejudice thereto, it may be elsewhere; But then again, the other reasons afore drawn from the wrong committed against the donor, Donee, &c. prove as strongly and conclusively against either.  


6um.  That which the Heathen by the mere light of natural reason have always declined and forborn to meddle in, quaestionless containeth in it somewhat of gross impiety and not to be undertaken.  
But seizure of Church-means Heathen by the mere light of natural reason have always declined and—  
Ergo—   
23. What Heathen by the mere light of natural reason have always declind and—) The Assumption stands clear by the evidence of Pagan Histories, from their notable laws, and manifold Sanctions evermore framed against sacrilege: Except few, and those branded with infamy, none of note shall you meet with upon record, that were this way guilty; sacrilege they held( generally) as the 
Talem hominem antiqui Patres nominarunt Reptorem Homicidam populi, lupum Diaboli— Bonifae. in Ep. ad Cuthb. Arch. Cantuar. apud clariss. Spelm. in council. Britaun.  worst, the most abominable of all crimes, ranking it in equal degree with Blasphemy, Act. 19. v. 37. Ye have brought these men hither which are neither robbers of Churches, nor yet blasphemers of your Goddesse; With Idolatry, as doth the Apostle, Rom. 2. v. 22. Nay, he there gives it for the worse of the two, his Argument runs a Minori ad Majus, Thou that abhorrest Idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? A crime briefly which they reckoned up among their 
Sacri-commissum est quod nunquam expiari poterit; Ex Tabul. pontiff. apud P. Crinit. de H. Discipl. l. 14. c. 2.  Sacri-Commissa, or faults not expiable.  
24. For the mayor I speak there of Reason well guided and regulated in its courses; In most things it is true, the Heathen following the clue of their natural inbred reason, {αβγδ}, as S. Paul tells us, Rom. 1. v. 24. they became foolish, and went altogether astray, having their hearts darkened through error; But howbeit in some they kept right still, The Gentiles which know not the Law, saith the Apostle, c. 2. v. 14, do by nature the things contained in the Law: And thus, say I, may their abstaining from sacrilege or depraedation of Church-means, call it as you please, among the rest deservedly pass upon the score of their more famous and praise-worthy virtues.  
25. Dub. 1mim. But here a doubt or two may haply arise, e're we sum up the whole; Is the disposal then of Church-Revenues, will some say, whether by alienation, gift, or otherwise; no ways lawful; But that being once made over to the Church, they must necessary there continue, without all power any where restant, or right of revocation? To this, I shall only tell you what your Romish 
Filliuc. Tom. 2. Tract. 44. navarre. de Spol. Cleric. n. 2, 3. &c.  Casuists here say as far as their Resolves do stand with Reason, and a pearl is still a pearl, though found amid a dunghill.  
26. First, it must be, say they, Non sine compensatione debitâ, there ought be a meet considerable price thought of in way of satisfaction: Secondly, cum assensu Beneficiariorum, with full consent of the Possessors or Persons already instated; For by the Law of Equity, Nemo jure quod habet, potest invitus privari: And in defect hereof Ahabs taking of Naboths vineyard from him, 1 King. 21. though upon a just value first tendered for the same, is counted,( and worthily) to have been no better than rapine; Thirdly, Ut rationabilis causa subsit, that the cause evermore be surely good, and this further they distinguish into three particulars, of conveniency, necessity, and piety.  
27. For the first of these it commonly bespeaks some kind of exchange or bartur in holy things; And truly where the Church is no ways disconvenienced but rather advantaged thereby, such Commutations to me seem 
Permutare licet pro re Majeri meliori vel aequali. Cod. l. 1. Tit. 2. n. 16. novel. coll. 2dâ. Tit. 1. c. 2. &c.  lawful enough, there lying as now no direct inhibition from God there against, which yet there did against the jewish Priesthood in regard of their Possessions, Ezek. 48. v. 14.  
28. For the second, that of necessity,( some avoidable fatal necessity you must understand it by, not a 
Nulla necessitas excusatur quae potest non esse necessitas, Tertul Exhort. ad Cast. c. 7.  voluntary or needlessly contracted one) they bind much upon the examples of Asa and good Hezechias in this case, 1 King. 15. v. 17, 18, 19. 2 King. 18. v. 14, 15, 16. &c. Non esse percendum materiali Templo, nec eis quae dedicata sunt Templo, ubi salus redditur& pax pariclitanti populo, is the resolute determination of Ocham. l. de Potest, Eccles.& saecul.  
29. For the last of the three they follow herein the practise of S. Austin and S. Ambrose, Qui Ecclesiae vasa propter captivos—& indigenas conflari jubebant, Possid. in vit. August. c. 34. Ambros. de office. l. 2. c. 28. so afterwards, Cod. l. 1. Tit. 2. Novel. coll. 9nd. Tit. 3. c. 9, 10. &c. Howbeit Alexious the Emperour( for his time) made it utterly unlawful by an Edict of his, so to do, {αβγδ}, Alex. Commen. {αβγδ}, c. 24.  
30. Dub. 2dum. But then further and again, Will any praetence or allegation of such cause or causes serve the turn? No: It must be probata non praesumpta, not barely praesumed, but justifiably proved,( {αβγδ}, if taken with all the premised limitations set together) and yet is this now as much as the Canonists, the Popes own creatures will allow his Holiness, maugre his supposedly transcendent and vast over-ruling Authority.  
31. By this in brief may the Invaders of Church-Revenues, see the bounds and narrow limits they are included within; There's almost a Noli me tangere to be found cleaving unto them; Sacrum with the Ancients walking by the light of nature only, was as much as Inviolabile; 
Festus.  Sacro-Sanctum dicebatur quod jurejurando interposito erat institutum, ut qui violasset, morte paenas penderet: Thus Sacro-Sancti Tribuni plebis, sacratissimi Imperatores, among the romans; And in this sense doth Cicero Orat. in Catil. d. use the term of Sacro-Sanctae possessiones, intimating a kind of Revenue that was in no wise to be meddled with: pharaoh buying all the rest of the Land besides in egypt, Exod. 14. 7. yet spares he the Priests possessions there;  
— Fuit haec sapientia quondam,  
Publica prophanis secernere, sacra prophanis.  
32. On the other hand let the Receivers or Contractors for Church-means be well advised before they fall into this snare, as the Wise-man terms it,( It is a snare to the man who devoureth that which is holy, Pro. 20. v. 26.) lest whilst with the Eagle in the Fable they snatch their il-gotten substance from the sacred Altar, they unawares carry a coal along with it, that may burn their nest, and in time ruin their Posterity, 
Liban. Sophist. {αβγδ}. vid. Niceph. l. 10. c. 29.  {αβγδ}; Then whenas all too late, it may be, perceiving the moth and rust of Gods secret vengeance wasting the same, they will be forced with Antiochus, 1 Mac. 6. to recant and say, Now I remember the evils that I did at Jerusalem, and that I took all the vessells of gold and silver, that was therein.  
33. Above all may they( neither of them) forget that terrible fiend Euronymus mentioned by Pausanias l. 10. whose peculiar office it is among those infernal spirits hereafter, {αβγδ},( as he there gives it,) to vex, or as we say, to gnaw the bones of sacrilegious persons; They lye in hell like sheep, death gnaweth upon them, Psal. 49. v. 14. and hereof you have a remarkable example in the Story of the famous Charles Martel, to be seen more at large in gull. Malisbur. l. 2. c. 13.  
34. Or lastly, if private home respects present or future cannot persuade with men, would they but consider seriously the common safety that lies at stake, and is hereby brought in danger; sacrilege like some noxious vapour infecting the whole region of air round about it, oft-times draws a curse upon the very State it is committed in; Wherefore doth the Divine 
De Leg. l. 9.  Plato call it, {αβγδ}, a both wicked and State-devouring enterprise. And you in any wise( saith Joshua, speaking of the devoted substance at sacking of jericho, Josh. 6. v. 18.) keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest you make yourselves accursed, when you take of the accursed Thing, and make the Camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.  Dii prohibete minas, dii talem avertite casum.  

OF THE SVPREME POWER In matters ecclesiastical.  
IT is pretty to observe how those of the Court of Rome, and our new Disciplinarians,( some of them at least) conspire and meet in divers of their undertakings; Like to Sampsons Foxes tied by the tails, though their heads look different ways: Among the rest may this be one.  
2. The Pontificii have mainly laboured the setting up of that Man of Sin above all Principalities and Powers whate'er, whether in spiritual or temporal affairs; Our Disciplinarians give out at this latter; But howbeit in their endeavours for the advancing the spiritual power of their Presbytery they come little or nothing short; Christs kingdom with them is not rightly ordered, nor he fully seated upon his Throne, unless the sovereign sole management of Church-businesse be entrusted into their hands; No superior will they willingly aclowledge here upon earth besides him: 
Optat. Contr. Parm. l. 3.  Quid imperatori cum Ecclesiâ? cry they with the Donatists of old; So that an asserting of the Civill Magistrates Authority, as to ecclesiastical matters, is almost as needful a task within ourselves, as it hath been wontedly heretofore against the common adversary: And this now in some sort I shall endeavour to perform by these few following Arguments.  


Arg. 1um.  Such Power which the best of Gods Saints bearing rule here upon earth, have anciently exercised within their several Dominions, may doubtless be still lawfully exercised by the Christian Magistrate.  
But the Supreme power both in ecclesiastical and Civill affairs, the best of Gods Saints bearing Rule— have anciently—  
Ergo—   
3. Supreme Power both in ecclesiastical and Civill affairs the best of Gods Saints—) I will not here instance, which yet I might, in Melchisedech, King and Priest, Eli, Samuel, Priests and Judges, who judged Israel, saith the Text; Noah Illustris sacrorum pontifex, Beros. de Geneal. l. 2. For that in them the regal and sacerdotal Power may seem after an extraordinary manner to have been formally united together; And thereupon doth the word {αβγδ} used Gen. 41. v. 45. Exod. 2. v. 6. Psal. 99. v. 16. &c. signify as well a Prince as a Priest: Yea, generally before the giving of the Law, when as a distribution of this double Office unto several persons first began, the Priesthood always followed and clavae inseparably to the Primogeniture or first-borne of the Malekinde.  
4. Afterwards it came again to be reunited and settled of course( within the Line of the Asmonaei) in one and the same person, 1 Mac. 10. v. 20, 21. c. 14. v: 17. 41. 47.& c. {αβγδ}, saith Joseph. Antiqu. l. 14. c. 17. {αβγδ},( i.e. {αβγδ}) Ziphil. in Pomp. vid. Heggysip. Hist. l. 2. c. 13. Oros. l. 6. c. 6. &c. Nor was it thus onely with the Jews, who had the Ordinances of God and traditional practise of their Fore-fathers to direct them, but also with the very Heathen mostwhere, as we may observe, whether Romans, Greeks, or Barbarians.  
5. First, for the romans: who had we red, their Reges Sacrorum or Reges Sacrificulos by name, ordained of purpose for performance of certain Sacrifices in former times belonging to the regal Office; Rex sacrificiis& Templis& omni Cultui Deorum,& moribus& legibus praecrat, Pompon. Laet. de Mag. Rom. c. 1. Nama Pompilius, it seems, first divided the Functions, Liv. Dec. 1. l. 1. Afterwards and in process of time again we find that of Pontifex Max. as a chief flower in the specious Garland of the Caesarean Titles, and so continued for good while by the Christian Emperours until Gratian his time, Rosin. l. 5. c. 22.  
6. Next for the grecians and others of the gentle world; Plato in his Dialogue {αβγδ} gives it for a Rule, {αβγδ}, &c. again, {αβγδ}, Stob. in l. de reign. {αβγδ}, Ael. Var. Hist. l. 14. c. 34. {αβγδ}, Plutarch. l. de Isid.& Osir.  
7. Neither yet this again with reference merely to some kind of praesidentship or oversight they may be thought to have exercised in sacred matters; But they did moreover personally Themselves perform these Duties: {αβγδ}, Stob. ubi Su●●à, {αβγδ}, Heraclid. {αβγδ}.  
— Superoque nitentem 
Rex ipso nutantem Inclinat Pateram, secretaque Beli, Et vaga testatur— Claudian.   
Caelicolûm Regi, mactabam in littore taurum.  Virg. 
He speaks it by Aeneas chief Captain or Leader of his Company, elsewhere entitled their King, Aen. 1. 6, 7.— {αβγδ}, saith I●omer, like as Moses we have thus styled King in Jesurun, Deut. 33. v. 5. Those Judges after for their times of being, Kings in Israel, judge. 18. v. 1.  
8. But to pass by,( as I was about) such like instances on all hands, Jewish or Heathen, for proof of the Argument propounded, I pitch upon David, 1 Chron. c. 23. c. 24. c. 25., upon Solomon, 2 Chron. 8. v. 14. Asa, 1 King. 15. v. 11, 12. Jehosophat, 2 Chron. 19. v. 8. josiah, 2 King. 22. v. 3, 4. c. 23. Ezechias, 2 Chron. 29. v. 3, 4. c. 31. v. 2, 3. whose authorative influence there( all of them) upon the disposal of church-affairs in every respect, is so evidently clear of its self, as not to need any further discourse in confirmation of it.  
9. To say here, they did it by some special allowance from the Almighty; This confirms the point in controversy so much the more; Since how is it likely God should approve of that done after such a constant course of performance,( as there it was,) which yet were no ways lawful, yea, not commendable in its self; Or again, as a Duty for then,( which others say,) particularly appertaining to the Kings of Israel; Lirae, lirae, until they shall be able by some more probable show of reason, to make good such their devised fancy.  


2um.  The Head hath Supreme Power in directing and ordering the rest of the Members.  
The Civill Magistrate is Head or chief of the Church he lives in.  
Ergo—   
10. The Civill Magistrate is Head of the Church he lives in) For a clearer proceeding, observe, First, that I speak of some particular Church, not of the Church universal, whereof Christ he alone is Head, Col. 1. v. 18. Eph. 4. v. 15, 16, and as so, Imperator bonus intrà Ecclesiam, non Suprà Ecclesiam est, saith 
Conc. de non tradend. Basic.  St. Ambrose most truly; And by this means further we avoid that common Rock against which the Romanists so foully dash in making the Pope Head of the Church,( indefinitely,) Christs Vicar general, a Prochristum, as some have termed him.  
11. Secondly, I speak of the people as Members here relating to this Head, under the notion of Christians also, not as men barely or as they are integral parts of the Common-wealth; There's a wide difference to be found betwixt these two considerations.  
12. According to the former of these two last, doth my Argument chiefly proceed, and for proof thereof, see Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers,& c. {αβγδ}, saith S. Chrysostome, {αβγδ}, &c. With him agrees Theodoret, Oecumenius, Theophylact in their Commentaries upon the place; With them,( 'tis plain) and in their opinion, the precept there is universal, and extends to all men, of all sorts, whether Lay or clergy.  
13. But then moreover for the modality of the business; In the 2 Tim. 2. the Apostle there gives as 'twere the reason of such precept formerly, namely that we may led a quiet and peaceable life( under them) in all godliness and honesty, v. 2. godliness and honesty,— which manifestly implies that double right the Civill Magistrate hath both of temporal and spiritual Jurisdiction, making for our behoof in the course of honesty, as we are men, and of godliness, as we are Christians.  


3um.  That which necessary agreeth to the Christian Magistrate for compassing the end whereto he is ordained, is not to be denied unto him.  
But such a comprehensive general power including the manage both of temporal and spiritual affairs, necessary agreeth to the Christian Magistrate for compassing the end whereto—  
Ergo   
14. Such a comprehensive general power necessary agreeth to—) The Christian Magistrates end is, a rendering his people under him happy, not onely in temporal respects of Honour, Wealth, and Safety, &c. but likewise in spiritual considerations of virtue and true Religion, whether relating to this life, or that hereafter; {αβγδ}, could the Heathen Philosopher 
Vid. Pol. 7. c. 8.  say, Eth. l. 1. c. 13. that this is indeed, or should be by right his chiefer endeavour of the two.  
15. Which now in both respects he cannot possibly achieve or reach to without the Sword of either power: And hereupon was it therefore well and stoutly resolved of by jo. Parisiensis long ago in spite of the Pope, Quòd potestas Regalis non est corporalis tantùm, said spiritualis, habens curam animarum sicut& corporum, De potest. Reg.& Pap. c. 15.  
16. Of either power, I say, in regard of the different ends there; And accordingly are the ways or means of proceeding either where, for the compassing of those ends very different, answerable to the various and divers condition of the subject matter they are conversant about; Whence have you by the way the meaning of that saying of our Saviour, joh. 18. v. 36. My kingdom is not of this world, i.e. not according to the garb of this present world in the outward manage of it; Otherwise( as I was saying) since that distinction aforesaid, made of the Offices regal and sacerdotal, the power, as far as I can conceive, is simply one, a Civill power altogether in its self, by no means sacerdotal, eminently or formally, as not productive of any true ministerial Act that may be; The Civill Magistrate cannot preach, ordain, nor consecrate, with the like.  
17. What though Moses did so, and ordained Aaron, Numb. 3. v. 3. It was an Act of extraordinary performance, and by special command of God; Priest he was not for certain, by virtue of his Primogeniture, being younger brother to Aaron, Exod. 7. v. 7. maugre that Text Psal. 99. v. 6. Moses and Aaron among his Priests, i.e. his Princes haply, for so the word in the original, as I have said, will carry it: And hence is it we find Saul, jeroboam, Uzziah, &c. checked each of them for meddling in such actions, belonging to the Priests alone.  
18. But to return: It is then simply an architectonical, or over-ruling Civill Power,( {αβγδ}, as one speaks) resident in the chief Magistrate; No conjunction here as of old, of different Functions or Offices in the same person, nor is the Magistrate hereupon properly a mixed person, 10. H. 7. c. 16. some Tragelaphus on this sort or feigned Hippocentaure; But only you have the outward discharge of a double duty, flowing virtually from one and the same principle of secular power, wherewith he stands enabled to both purposes.  


4um.  wear takes away a due subordination of the powers one under another, is not to be approved of.  
But Independency of the ministerial party in the management of church-affairs takes away a due—  
Ergo—   
19. Independency of the ministerial Party in the management of church-affairs takes away—) A subordination here in ordine ad sinem, because of the strait 
Ecclesia est in Republicâ, Optat.  complication of Church and State in one, and that great need the Church hath of the secular arm to help upon all occasions, will not serve the turn; The Pontificii I know, make good use of this quirk for advancing of the Popes unlimited power: Indeed they do, as so, no question, Mutuas vices praestare, the Magistrate in his way of Rule and Government, the Minister in his of wholesome advice, Per modum dirigentis, saith Parisiensis; And thus right enough is that of Ignatius Ep. ad Philadelph. if rightly understood, {αβγδ}; It is fitting the Clergy and Lay both, the Prince with his Peers, be guided by the Bishop; Yet howbeit for all this, it argues not truly any Superiority of Iurisdictive power in him, nor the Minister whate'er, no more than it doth in the 
{αβγδ}, Arr. Epict. l. 3.  Lawyer, physician, &c. as to other respects of serviceably performing their several duties about the sovereign.  
20. All the Quaere is of a lineal direct subordination, not essential, nor yet causal as the effect stands subjected to the superior cause by virtue of its production;( For so either of these Powers magistratical and sacerdotal is immediately from God:) but moral and accidental upon occasion of some intervening Precept from the Almighty, Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers, saith he,— the Powers that be, are ordained of God, Rom. 13. It is a thing altogether of Gods appointment and constitution.  
21. Thus Moses and Aaron had their calling of God alike immediately; Yet such is his pleasure that Aaron obey Moses in all things, He shall be to thee,( saith the Almighty unto Moses, Exod. 14. v. 16.) instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God: His superior, his Guide and governor; And hence that frequent acknowledgement both in the Priests and Prophets heretofore of their service due to the sovereign Magistrate, and that he was their Lord; My Lord, O King, is Nathans speech to David, 1 King. 1, v. 24. Let not the King impute any thing unto his servant, saith Abimelech to Saul, 1 Sam. 22. v. 13.  
22. Were it otherwise in truth, and that there were not such a subalternate dependence of the two callings, one upon the other, the ministerial upon the political, there would necessary follow strait a gross monstrosity of two Heads, two Supremes in the same Body of the State, and these, as occasion may fall out, quiter contrary and repugnant in their Acts each to other.  
23. The Fathers here, and other Ancients of the Church have evermore been zealous in crying up the Rights of the Civill Magistrate, Chrysost. in Rom. 13. August. in Ep. ad Vincent. 48. ad Bonifac. 50. Conc. Crescon. l. 3. c. 15. Contrà Parmen. l. 2. c. 7. Contr. Gaudent. c. 26. Optat. Contr. Parmen. l. 3. Isid. Sent. l. 3. c. 53. Ambros. in 13. ad Rom. v. 6. Vicem Dei agunt, saith he; Vicarii Dei, as Bracton, the very Title Pope Eleutherius long since bestowed upon Lucius the first reputed Christian Prince of this Land, LL. Edoard. n. 17. and approved of by some of the Reformed Churches, as generally well befiting all chief Magistrates within their several Dominions, Confess. Basil-& Bohem. Sect. 19. Indeed the 
{αβγδ}; &c. Zen. de Cyri Instit. l. 8.  principalest among other their Titles whate'er, and most nearly concerning them; {αβγδ}, &c. Jur. Graeco-Roman. Tom. 2.  
24. But for a further and fuller clearing of this point, as how namely the prime Magistrate any where may properly be termed the Vicegerent of Christ within his own Dominions; Our Saviour Christ,( we know) underwent a triple office of being King, Priest, and Prophet: For his Priesthood he hath already by once offering up himself, Heb. 9. v. 28.( so far forth at least) fully discharged that; There need no more Sacrifices, nor yet Sacrificers to present them.  
25. His prophetical Office, whereby he taught and instructed his chosen people in the ways of saving truth: afforded them moreover divers Rules of wholesome Discipline, as a fence or mound of greater safeguard to that Doctrine which they had received; This, as being of necessary continuance,( together with a subordinate power of governing his Church, which consequently hereupon is not denied them) he hath deputed to his lawful Ministers after him, according to that of the Apostle, Eph. 4. v. 11. Some he gave Apoostles, and some Pastours, and some Teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry.  
26. Then in the third place for his Kingly Office, and that again is twofold, at leastwise there is a twofold administration of it; The one internal, by which he rules in the hearts of his chosen, through an efficacious, though secret working of his holy Spirit, Eph. 3. v. 16. 20. The other external, whereby he provides and effectually ordereth the outward means of their salvation.  
27. And here now doth the Christian Magistrate come in, and is subservient in his place or calling; The Minister of God for this purpose, and for this more especially:( Episcopus too or Bishop after a sort, {αβγδ} as Conflantine was wont to style himself, Euseb. de vit. Constant. l. 4. c. 24.) by having the oversight or care of the Church in a peculiar wise committed to him; {αβγδ}, saith Homer, even some way anent the sense our Saviour useth the word {αβγδ} in joh. 21. v. 16, 17. Feed my sheep, which is donne not only Docendo, but Regendo likewise, and under this notion of Church-governance Princes and other secular Rulers be frequently in Scripture termed Pastours or 
{αβγδ}; Eustath. in Iliad. E.  shepherds, jer. 23. v. 1, 2, 4. c. 25. v. 34, 35. Cyrus my shepherd, Isa. 44. v. 25. {αβγδ}; Plato.  
28. Directively, you must note, and in way of some Authorative supervision, is it here to be understood whate'er we ascribe to the Civill Magistrate in this work of Church-Administrations, not executively, or of any ministerial personal performance; The Civill Magistrate as I said, preacheth not himself, baptizeth not, nor yet consecrates, &c. but onely his charge is to see these duties, with the like, well and fitly performed by others; And herein then doth the 
{αβγδ}; Platan Polit.  Nomothetick Faculty differ from other Arts, as Aristotle in his E hicks l. 10. c. 10. hath well observed, {αβγδ}, &c. because there, saith he, the Professors commonly, as Physitians, Limmers, &c. both prescribe and act Themselves to all purposes, but not so the Civill Magistrate: Nor is it consequent in very truth he should, whate'er some men of greater clamour, than reason, would seem thence necessary to enforce.  


5 um.  That which begets certain annoyances inevitably befalling the public State, is not to be allowed or approved of.  
But an Independency of the ministerial Government in the Church upon the Civill, infers certain annoyances inevitably befalling—  
Ergo—   
29. An Independency of the ministerial Government upon the Civill infers-) For first it infers an irresistible power of performing the highest Act of spiritual Judicature, which is Excommunication, upon the person of the chief Magistrate, and so consequently of suspending and putting him for the present in a doubtful capacity of governing: With them of the Romish Faction it is a ruled case, Quàm citò aliquis denominatur excommunicatus, ipso facto ejus subditi sunt absoluti à Dominio ejus, Aquin. 2. 2dae. Q. 12. As Uzzia, say they, struck with a contagious leprosy, did incur by Gods Law the forfeiture of his Kingly Authority, 2 Chron. 26.  
30. again, as so, the ministerial party might of Themselves frame and enact ecclesiastical laws, though ne're so praejudiciall, yea contrary to the Civill, that is, distracted and tear in pieces a well settled State by their opposite proceedings: It is a most true saying that of our Saviour, and will be ever found so, how a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand; But then doth the council of Peace safely rest between them both,( the spiritual and temporal Jurisdiction) Zach. 6. v. 13. when as they are caemented and joined together in one and the same person.  
31. It may be said, This manner of Reasoning opens as wide a gap to inconveniences another way; The temporal Magistrate may probably use his Supremacy of ecclesiastical power,( supposeit there placed) in decreeing laws and Ordinances to the Churches prejudice, as much or more, than the Church hers to the detriment of the Civill Magistrate.  
32. Answ. The Magistrate we now speak of, I suppose to be Christian, and Orthodox withall, equally thereupon interested in the defence and maintenance of the true Religion; Christianus Magistratus praecipisè 
{αβγδ}, Nazianz.  censors& Minister Divinae potentiae est, Confess. Basil.& boo. Sect. 19. Where it is otherwise he may I conceive have to do( and rightly) in church-affairs brought before him, Act. 25. v. 10. c. 26. v. 23. but not so much; His Power is not so kindly, not so well suited and proportioned to the business in hand: Being without the Church himself, a Pagan, an Infidel, he cannot be thought so properly interested in matters belonging to the Church; Doth any of you, saith the Apostle, having a matter against another, go to Law before the unjust, and not before the Saints, 1 Cor. 6. v. 1. Of Christian Governours is it then chiefly to be understood what the Prophet Isaiah speaks, Isa. 49. v. 25. Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers and Queens, &c.  


6tum.  Where the last appeal lieth in matters whether ecclesiastical or Civill, there undoubtedly rests the Supremacy of Power either way.  
But in matters both ecclesiastical and Civill the last appeal lieth to the secular Magistrate.  
Ergo—   
33. In matters both ecclesiastical and Civill the last appeal lieth to—) It is the Judiciary Supreme Authority, you must observe, in ordering and determining Church-matters, I argue for, not some potestative command barely, which they themselves likewise, as business may fall out, are sometimes content to admit of: And for that now see Exod. 18. v. 25, 26. &c. there Moses reserveth to himself the final decision of all causes brought unto him, undeterminable in inferior Courts: All causes, I say, promiscuously, whether they were ecclesiastical or Civill, as will appear by comparing the place with Deut. 17. v. 8, 9. &c. So St. Paul, Act. 25. v. 11. appeals from the high Priests, and Sanhedrim of the Jews unto Caesar; The business was altogether about certain doctrinal points in Religion, v. 19. Nor did he it as forced upon this course, but I stand at Caesars bar, saith he, {αβγδ}, where I ought to be judged: Quià hic est locus judicii, as the Interlinearie gloss hath it.  
34. Repl. But are we not commanded to go unto the Priests, the Ministers in difficult doubtful causes, and they shall show us the sentence of judgement, Deut. 17. again, red we not of the Priests lips preserving knowledge, and how at his mouth we must seek the Law, Mal. 2. v. 7. i. e. be directed and ruled by him.  
35. For the former Instance, it concerns altogether the people, not the Magistrate; The people are there directed to the Priests and Judges of the Sanhedrim, over whom yet was Moses for his time, and after him the Kings and other Rulers successively ensuing; For the latter it argues the Priests their praeheminency of knowledge in Divine matters, not at all of judiciary Authority: chief Councellors I grant, they may be, Supreme Judges they may not.  
36. But secondly, the Civill Magistrate, say they, is many times unlearned, an utter stranger, wholly unexpert in the Mystery of Divinity; The well is deep, and he may have little or nought to draw with; Answ. It was a good wish, and well befiting the place he held, of the Emperour Tiberius; 
Tacit. Annal. l. 4. c. 7.  Ut ipsis intelligentem humani, Divinique juris mentem( Dii) darent; That the gods would furnish them with a through understanding as well in Divine affairs, as secular: Give the King thy judgements, O God, and thy righteousness unto the Kings Son, Psal. 72. And truly in times of the Law, God Almighty, 'tis plain, required it at their hands: For and therefore were they commanded to study the Law exactly, Deut. 17. v. 18. Yea, it was great part of the Solemnity at their Inauguration, a praesenting them with the Testimony of the Law, 2 Chron. 23. v. 11. thereby intimating the special skill and knowledge they ought evermore to have in the same.  
37. Yet, suppose the worst, 
Princeps non tenetur profundè seu determinativè intelligere Scripturas sacras,- sufficit nanque ei earum in confuso degustare sententias, qualitèr& peritiam legis suae, &c. Fortesc. c. 54.  personal defects, say Civilians, in no wise prejudice the just rights of a man; He may have an inhaerent right, yet not be able to make true use of such right in the practise of it: else by the same reason Princes oft-times should lose their right of secular judicature, not of ecclesiastical only, as being through want of age, experience or otherwise, a like unskilful in both.  
38. But therefore over and beyond that extraordinary privilege of Gods Spirit, 1 Sam. 10. v. 9. Prov. 16. v. 10. c. 20. v. 2. usually enabling them after a more particular manner for discharge of so high a calling, they have to this purpose,( at leastwise may have) of the clergy always, men of profound and expert knowledge about them; David thus had Abiathar of his council in spiritual affairs, as well as Achitophel in Temporal, 1 Chron. 27. v. 33, 34. Ioshua by Gods special appointment, was, as occasion required, to consult with Eleazar the Priest, Num. 27. v. 21. jehoiada, whilst he lived, instructed jehoash, 2 King. 12. v. 2. So as what's wanting on the Magistrates part at any time, may be supplied by the advice and judgement of others.  


Et est ad hominem.  By what right or interest secular 
7um.  persons of inferior rank exercise juridical Authority in Church business, by the same and much rather, may the Supreme or chief Magistrate.  
But secular persons of inferior rank,( with Them) exercise juridical Authority in—  
Ergo—   
39. secular persons of inferior rank( with Them) exercise juridical Authority in—) I refer myself for proof hereof to their own consistorial Courts, or synodal Conventions, where persons of the mere Laity are interested and authorised, we find, in the disposal of ecclesiastical affairs.  
40. But they do it, they'll say, in way of concurrence, and as joined with the ministry; Well: Yet is that little to the point; For if persons of the Laity, as so, may at any hand co-ordinately or otherwise have to do in Church-matters, the main Bar, an inconsistence namely, between the two Offices is quiter removed; Grant the chief Magistrate but power of interposing here, it must necessary be a Supreme Power, and the right consequently a Supreme Right, as grounded upon this Power.  
41. Finally and for conclusion of the present Argument; certain it is the Christian Emperours of former Ages,( notwithstanding the modesty of some, at sometimes, as of 
Ruf. H. l. 1. c. 2. Niceph. l. 5. c. 16.  Constantine the Great, 
Ambros. Ep. l. 1. c. 1. l. 2. Ep. 12, 13.  Theodos. Valentin. Gratian,— &c. whose reverend regard nevertheless hereby expressed to the ministerial Function, should not by any means be objected to a diminution of their just Authority) have thus assumed to themselves power of ordering Church-matters, both Credenda& agenda, sometimes in council, and sometimes out, {αβγδ}, Euseb. de vit. Const. l. 3. c. 11, 12, 13. Socrat. l. 1. c. 22. Theod. l. 1. c. 20. Cod.& novel. passim: And what follows then, but that on the other side we( for our parts) readily give unto Caesar the things which are Caesars; yield to the secular Powers those their just rights and deuce, which both God and the municipal Law most where hath invested them in; Take heed least while over-eagerly we contend here against a {αβγδ} in the Magistrate, we again introduce not thus unawares a {αβγδ} in the Clergy by too much enlarging the Phylacteries of our new devised Presbytery.  
42. And now withall briefly to set a 
Conclus. operis.  period to the whole Treatise collected by me, such as it is, occasionally heretofore, and for my private use; What I have there argued and then concluded of to or fro in each particular point, I humbly submit to the unpraejudicate censure of the severest Gainesayer; 
Tuscul. Qu. l. 2.  Et refellere sine pertinaciâ,& refelli sinè iracundiâ paratus, as somewhere the orator: Not peremptorily confident in condemning of other mens opinions, nor yet peevishly averse( upon clearer and better grounds) from having mine own refuted.  
43. The Lord of his mercy forgive the sinful gross Errors of the Age we live in, and in his good time compose all differences of opinions among us: So making us to be of one mind and of one judgement in the verity of his unerring word; Sic faciat, qui quicquid vult facit. Amen.  
Aliud est {αβγδ} Soribere, aliud {αβγδ}, in alio pugnandum, in alio docendum est; Hieronym.  
{αβγδ}; Arist. phies. l. 8.   

TWO CASES OF CONSCIENCE Briefly expended.  

case. Imus. Whether and how far it is lawful to obey any where( supposedly) unlawful Powers.  
THE best and safest carded to steer by in matters of Conscience, is, they'll say, Conscience its self; To this purpose every man hath his own peculiarly to himself, his juno Moneta, as I may so call it, or bosome-counsellour within him; Yet that conscience within want not moreover some certain rules of Directions from without, I have( as to the present Case) fitted this short ensuing discourse.  
2. Where to begin, I speak not of some power or other unlawful in its outward acts of Administration barely,( That hath already had it's due place of examination elsewhere) but in the substance and first orignation of it; The one for distinctions sake, you may perchance aptly style {αβγδ}, the other {αβγδ}, that genuine, this( as to civill considerations) an aequivocall false power.  
3. Such namely is all kind of usurped Authority whate'er, whether by Force or Fraud, with the like preposterous and indirect means of achievement; For as much as 
Ad justitiam belly tria requiruntur, 1. Autoritas principis, 2. Causa justa, 3. Intentio bellantium recta; Sylvest. in Verb.  Force of itself, and not extraordinarily backed,( which yet is not now to be expected) by some special warrant from the Almighty, as Ioshua had in driving out the Nations before him, Josh. 1. or Jehu for his cutting off the house of Ahab, 2 King. 9. v. 6, 7.( because, He it is, the most high God, who alone ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, Dan. 4. v. 17.) can never give a warrantable true Title, though sometimes it may make way for one; Else and upon like grounds might your high-way Robbers or Pirates on the Seas not want just plea for their exorbitancies; And for fraudulency it is so far from interessing the Occupier or Possessor to a just tenor, that it weakens, yea quiter anulls the same; quip id jure possidetur, quod jure acquiritur, is a true maxim in Law: That's justly possessed of us, which is justly and rightly acquired by us.  
4. A subsequent unanimous Agreement of the people then( and such by the way, both then and long before, had those roman Emperours whom S, Paul and S. Peter there Rom. 13. 1 Pet. 2. enjoin obedience to,( consult but the 
Dion. Ziphil. Tacit. Suet& invit. Imperat.  History aright) The 
{αβγδ}. Constit. Apost. l. 6. c. 23.  Jews for their parts, freely profess as much, Joh. 14. v. 15.) is the sole thing that may supply and make up the deficiencies either way.  
5. And this too withall you must note, onely in Elective States where the people become free again, loose and disengaged upon every change; Like as the Apostle speaks of Marriage, 1 Cor. 7. The Wife( saith he) is bound by the Law to her Husband, as long as her Husband liveth, but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married unto whom she pleaseth.  
6. Not so altogether perchance in true hereditary Empires, but there lies moreover a certain obligation upon the community binding them for Posterity; What Power their Praedecessors by mature advice have settled in some Race or Line of men, their Successors cannot at pleasure,( For neither in truth are they any longer Sui juris here, or at their own dispose in that condition of Subjects they now since stand in) evacuate in their Issue.  
6. Surely such sinister Intrusive Acquisitions of Power abovesaid by Force or Fraud, &c.( not to dispute the right of Title any farthur,) God seldom prospereth,( Shall he prosper? Shall he escape that doth such things? Or shall he break— Ezek. 17. v. 15.) never blesseth; Permit he may some times the Intruders there for chastisements sake to a sinful Nation or People, as the Rods of his anger, Isa. 10. v. 5. the executioners of his judgements, Habak. 1. v. 12. yet not approve of them; Oppression or unjust dealing in any kind are no fit object of the Almighties Favour.  
7. At best to argue here further, as men most an end will be apt to do, the Justice of some Cause, or the good liking of God concerning it, from the outward prosperous success of the same, is a verrie silly and groundless way of reasoning; Secret things belong unto the Lord our God, saith Moses, but the things which are revealed unto, us— that we may do the words of his Law, Deut. 29. v. 29. Gods revealed Will extant in his Law, is the sober Christian mans Rule whereby he steers himself and actions; That of Providence merely, or outward success, the motto of praesumptuously foolish men, such who have not rightly observed the various and uncertain method evermore of Gods proceedings in the dispensation of human affairs; They prosper in their ways, saith he, Psal. 18. v. 5. thy judgements are high above their sight, therefore defy they all their enemies.  
8. But now supposing the worst, and that by the just sufferance of Almighty God in this kind, we are at any time put under the Usurped Power of illegal Governours, the main scruple propounded is, what course People are to take in this case, how far they may obey or not obey, yet without any wrong donne to their Consciences.  
9. That live they must and may under them, is a point clear enough beyond gain-saying; else as the Apostle speaks upon other occasion, 1 Cor. 3. we shall be forced oft-times to go out of this present world, to quit that station or place of abode which yet God and nature hath placed us in: Israel now subdued may not be suffered upon any other terms to dwell in the Land, unless they serve their new Masters the Chaldeans, Jer. 40. v. 9.  
10. Obedience, I term it, although the word more properly here importing, were that of submission: S. Paul, Heb. 13. v. 17.( and sometimes, 'tis true, where the power is lawful, both are required) joins them together: Obey them who have the power over you, and submit yourselves: Obedience in the true notion of the word implies some voluntary and free consent in the parties subjected, without which, forced Domination whether in the purchase or after manage of it, is according to the just Rules of 
{αβγδ}— Plato {αβγδ}.  Policy, no other than plain tyranny.  
11. I cannot here pass by without touching at it, the gross praevarication of some men in pressing upon us so earnestly as they do, the duty of obedience to the Supreme power always, whether good or bad, lawful, or unlawful; And for Scripture proof they allege commonly the old Texts, Rom. 13. v. 1. 1 Pet. 2. v. 13. which howbeit time was, they were pleased to take little notice of, or rather they laboured to elude them by their frivolous glosses, and strained interpretations; But what? Doth a fountain, my brethren, sand forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? as S. James speaks; Or shall the Spirit of God blow hot and could in the same Text, according to our changeable fancies, and as may best make for our advantage?  
12. Truth is the Powers the Apostle there treats of, are Powers of Gods ordaining, Whosoever therefore resisteth, resisteth the Ordinance of God, Rom. 13. Powers, I mean, set up in a justifiable way of achievement; And such now was even Nero then,( over and besides the free consent of the people, we spake of, as sometimes necessary) claiming by a just and good Title, as being Originally of the Caesarean 
Fundata longo imperio domus, Tacit. Hist. l. 2. {αβγδ}; Zip●●tlin. in August.  Family, grand Nephew to Augustus and Tiberius both, though in a different Line, Claudius his Son moreover by Adoption, and by him particularly designed, any Obstacle notwithstanding that might be, next to succeed after him, ( howbeit too was such Obstacle now removed by the death of Brittannicus Claudius his natural Son and right, heir indeed, when St. Paul 
Scripta est hac Epistola ad Roman. à Paulo Corinth. comorante An. Christ. 56. Imper. Neron. 310. Diem obijt. Britannic. veneno extinctus, An. Chr 57. Im. Neron. 2de. Calvis. in Chronolog.  wrote his Epistle to the romans) in whose time and with particular regard had to his tyrannicall Government afterwards, the Apostle, it may be, chiefly framed that peremptory and indefinite command of obedience to superiors.  
13. But such now are not your Usurped Powers; Powers assumed, as they say, Sine Titulo; Such they may rather be thought to be from Satan, who gave power, we find, to the Beast, Rev. 13. v. 4. Or if from God, from him in way of 
Deo non volente, said permittente Remig. in Rom. 13. vid. Cyril. in Hos. 8. v. 4. Isid. Pelus. l. 2. Ep. 216. Aug. Contr. Faust. l. 22. c. 75. Bona( à Deo) propitio, mala irato; Isid. Hispul. l. 3. c. 53. de most, {αβγδ}; Theod. in loc  permission barely, not in any wise of his appointment properly, or setting up; They have set up Kings, saith the Almighty, but not by me, Hos. 8. v. 4. i. e. not by my allowance,( as to the matter and manner of the Fact both,) pointing to jeroboam, who had injuriously invaded the Throne; Like was the il-gotten sovereignty,( which by turns they held over the Jewish people) of the Moabites, judge. 3. v. 12. the Canaanites, c. 4. v. 2. the Amorites, c. 10. v. 7. and accordingly did the Jews,( no particular Mandate from God to the contrary here again interposing, as there did in Jeroboams case, 1 King. 12. v. 24. or in that of Nebuchadnezar, jer. 27. v. 12, 17.) as oft as strength and opportunity served, again 
Vèdes: in hanc rem, Bodin. de Republ. l. 2. c. 9 Gr. Tholoss. l. 26. c. 7. v. 5. Gorrard. de Magist. Polit. c. 3. v 81. Alsted. case. Theol. c. 17. Reg. 8.  throw them off, the same hand of the Lord working their deliverance upon a serious repentance, which had formerly for their sins, brought this heavy yoke of bondage upon them.  
14. Thus for our living merely under illegal powers, after a submissive passive manner of conversation, as we are men, as Christians, each in his private calling, so long as there be nothing obtruded upon us repugnant or hurtful to our Consciences; But then besides a Being or bare Fruition of livelihood many too withall must needs have places of public Office, and employment from them: and the Quaere especially will be, what's to be done there? How men may Politically act or not act in this doubtful posture of subordination,— Hic nodus vindice dignus.  
15. For as much as, first they may seem hereby to approve of the praevailing power; Else why do they co-operate with them? Action most an end, and very probably argues our tacite allowance of them with whom we join in action; Who is on my side, saith jehu, who? 2 King. 9. and he proves it there by their subserviency to his commands in doing execution upon Jezabel; All that thou commandest us we will do, and whither soever thou sendest us we will go, say the Israelites to Ioshua, c. 1. v. 16. thereby testifying clearly the good opinion they had of him, and his new begun Government over them.  
16. again, if the power( Originally) be invalid and nought,( as to a stating of the question we have supposed it is) it cannot possibly be communicated to inferior Agents in any purer condition than what itself hath; Where the fountain is corrupt, the streams thence issuing by no means run clear; Certainly Quod dost in causâ, dost in effectu: And therefore what men 
{αβγδ}, &c. Arist. Rhet.  shall operate in virtue of such power( though otherwise right enough perchance for the matter of it) can scarcely be accounted right or lawful, as grounded upon no lawful Authority.  
17. Some have found out, as they conceive, a sufficient salue for this sore, by fancying some such legal Authority abovesaid, residing at leastwise in case of defaylance, eminently and virtually in the whole body of the republic; Or howe'er, better it is, say they, to Act by a wrong or null power, than that the Commonwealth should run to anarchy, and utter confusion, which otherwise it must needs do.  
18. What chimaeras of Inventions will men make use of to strengthen and uphold their most groundless conceits they have once embraced; For as to the former of the two: Do they mean some idea or 
Collegium est persona ficta, nec potest ejus consensus haberi nisi per singulas personas, Piliuc. Tract. 25. c. 8.  Abstractive notion merely of a Common-wealth, and thereupon a tacite interpretative consent of the people thence further arising? If so, well might their decision on this behalf have passed heretofore in Plato's school, but not with us; Or is it the people they mean viritim and diffussively taken, in whom there resteth, and from whose 
Non potest ad civium consensione factum censeri quod ereptâ libertate fiat. Bodin. de Rep. l. 2. c. 5. Tholoss. l. 26. c. 7. n. 3.  unanimous free consent they would seem to derive their power: That's truly the main point in Question here, but as mainlie still supposed against.  
19. To the latter I shall say no more, but that the praetence can at no hand seem sufficiently warrantable, the upholding of injustice and wrong any where, for avoidance of certain temporal inconveniencies; We must not do evil that good may come thereof, is the Apostles peremptory Doctrine, with a brand of sure damnation annexed and set upon them who shall so do, Rom. 3. v. 8.  
20. Yes, but further, supposing the matter of their commands to be just and good, may we not here, say they, as lawfully Act towards an imposing them upon others, as perform them ourselves by command from others; Both alike being duties of Obedience, and for the latter there can be no great question of it.  
21. Ans. The difference, as to this particular, is wide and clear enough, betwixt a Passive and an Active obedience,( Active, I mean, in some political way of acting,) For the one, the Passive, it is a duty which by reason of the object it points at, were there no compulsive Authority from without, we are morally bound to: every man in this respect is or should be his own Magistrate.  
22. But in the other, there's a legal power over and above required for the right forming or actuating as 'twere of our endeavours; Else, Quâ Authoritate haec facis, by what Authority do we such or such actions, may be the Quaere again; I may doubtless in order to the lawfulness of the thing itself oft-times warrantably do that, which they who sit in Moses Cha●re shall injoine: Or moreover, as need requires, make use of their power in a 
Quià non peto Actum illicitum, said justitiam Actus illis illi citi: Cajet. in Verb. Tyrannus.  dispensative way of justice, yet nevertheless may I not for all this leap into Moses Seat, or be but perchance a subservient instrument to the execution of their commands.  
23. There remaines one onely key behind, able to unlock the foresaid difficulty,( if so the materials be sound and good, whereof it is framed,) and that is in such case of public disturbance, and where the golden link of wonted subordination is broken off, an immediate dependence upon God above, according to that Prov. 8. v. 16. By me Princes rule, and Nobles, even all the Judges of the Earth; again, The judgement is Gods, saith he, Deut. 1. v. 17. Let this be granted, and they, the inferiors whate'er shall act what they do, not in virtue, though in name of the usurping Powers, but of God, from whom they have received their Commission, and to whom they must one day render an account of all their undertakings.  
24. But here again they must moreover( according to the cautions formerly insinuated) with all circumspection distinguish of the object or business they may have to deal in, which is twofold; Sometimes Things intrinsically good, else indifferent at leastwise, and of common course regulable by the known established laws of the Land; And here the way they have to walk in( in this regard at least) is somewhat smother; not so subject to any scruples or doubtings.  
25. Other whiles Things relating particularly to the present discomposed condition of State they live in; And here now there appears a Lion in the way, rather there lurks an Adder in our path, which we can never be able to pass by without being stung; When as we shall do ought there to the upholding in any wise of an injust power, or on the other hand to the hurt and prejudice( as may be) of the wronged party.  
26. So as to draw up a short state of the business, and then finish; Act men may haply in such a case propounded of unlawful Governors: Under them, to wit, or rather in truth, under God: again under them, but not for them; And this lastly in matters of legal and ordinary dispatch,( for as for their intrinsical conformity to the Rule of moral Iustice, that's evermore to be understood) not of particular and the present concernment.  
27. What men shall do beyond these bounds, it is an 
Qui obtemperat in malo, similis est ei qui facit malum,— Facientem& obsequentem eadem poenitentia constringit. Ambros. l. 4. Ep. 29.  owning of the cause wherein they embark: Indeed a drawing upon their heads the guilt of other folks sins, nay their own sins, whilst they own and make the cause to be theirs; When thou sawest a thief, saith he, thou consentest with him, and hast been partaker with the Adulterers, Psal. 50. v. 18. It is in brief the very thing God almighty in his Word, so often cautions and lessoneth us against, Gen. 49. v. 6. Prov. 1. v. 15, 16. Isa. 8. v. 11, 12. jer. 15. v. 17. 2 Cor. 16. v. 14, 15, 16, 17. 2 joh. v. 11. &c. and to omit other places, remarkable to the purpose it is that with which holy David beginneth his psalms, and wherewith I shall end this short Essay.  
Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the council of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sate in the seat of the scornful, &c.   

case. 2dus. Whether a forced Oath, or other like Promise doth bind the undertakers to a necessary performance of the same?  
WIth what caution and wariness men ought to embark themselves in all manner of engagements, needs not much oil or labour spent upon the inquiry; The Scripture alone is sufficiently able to instruct us, sometimes terming it a bond, Ezek. 20. v. 37. sometimes a snare, Prov. 6, v. 2. And truly he who in this kind, shall, as they say, leap before he looks, may easily fall into a pit of divers, and those inextricable difficulties.  
2. So many praecipices of danger here occurring are there, of error and misprision on the one hand, from fear or force with the like to be avoided on the other; An obligation submitted to through force is the subject of our present enquiry, whereby the will is rather forcibly mis-inclin'd, than the understanding in any wise deceived; Though indeed to speak properly that free-spirited faculty of the soul, the will, is beyond the reach of violence: They are our 
Metus qui cadere posset in virum constantem— est metus in se continens mortis metum,& corporis cruciatus,— Bract. l. 2. c. 5.  Fears and Hopes, and such poor by-respective incitements that within betray the mind, and then to palliate our infirmities we call it force.  
3. But not to question further the propriety of the phrase; A forcing be it, whether by Oath or Promise, or in what sort soe'er: The Quaere is still one and the same: How far it binds, whether or not it may be dispensed with, as to an after performance.  
4. For howbeit there be to be found a great difference betwixt a simplo Promise, and a Promise confirmed by Oath, the obligation being double in the latter, which is single in the first, there on a manner barely a Civill tie, and here a Religious bond, yet I say, as to the first undertaking, and then an after fulfilling or performance, the case is much the same.  
5. Nor may men therefore, I wish, deceive themselves in this particular; The same God who forbids all evil speaking, hath likewise forewarned us that we put not forth our hands unto wickedness: He who loveth pure lips, delights no less in clean and undefiled hands: onely there we interest him for a witness, and here we make him a spectator of our actions; What we do thus either way, we do it as in his more special presence, before whom lie open all our ways, Psal. 119. v. 168.  
6. And now briefly to a Decision of the case propounded; Determine it I shall in the Negative, although the grounds in truth whereon to build such a determination, I find them somewhat doubtful, and, Difficile est iter per incerta, as they say, it is hard keeping right amid cross ways.  
7. Some bind on the very term, Force, here used; Since all Contracts, say they, ought to be free on either side: each of right should have power over his own will, in the Apostles phrase, 1 Cor. 7. v. 37. and Force quiter evacuates that liberty of assent here required; What we act as so, may seem as 'twere not acted by us, whilst the true fountain of liberty within is obstructed and shut up, from whence yet the current of human actions hath necessary its rise: And for this reason a Virgin under the Law vowing a vow without consent of her Parents, Numb. 30. was not tied thereby, because at anothers namely, and not of her own disposal.  
8. But the ground these build upon, is not haply so firm or good; For hower'e in such case the will be much straightened of its native liberty in respect of outward acts, yet, as hath been said, it is not 
{αβγδ}. Eth. l. 3. c. 1.  wholly taken away: no Force or Violence reacheth so far; Though I cannot do sometimes what I would, yet can I not be constrained to do what I would not; An out-let of evasion there ever lieth betwixt these two to the party enforced, by sufferance, and a resolved Constancy.  
Senec. Tr.  Cogi qui potest, nescit pati. 
9. again, neither is this ground of compass enough, or comes home to a satisfaction and clearing of all scruples that may be made here; For be it in matters just and lawful, or but indifferent, a man hath constrainedly engaged himself; Surely there, if I mistake not, he ought and is bound( in Foro Conscientiae I mean; for as for the judicial exterior Court, it may be not: my 
Ex actione involuntariâ non nascitur Obligatie. Regul. jur. vid. Cod. l. 2. Tit. 20.  involuntary Concession perhaps affords no title of just plea to the Invader there) to keep his Promise, though it be to his loss, as the Psalmist teacheth, Psal. 15. v. 4. Joshua did thus in that disadvantageous Contract, joh. 4. v. 18. which fraudulently drawn into, he had made with the Gibeonites.  
10. Others have found out, as they think, a quainter salue for this sore, of a mental or tacite reserve conceived by them upon their entrance into such Engagements; Much according to the old Adagial saying,  {αβγδ}, 
Juravi linguâ, mentem injuratam juro. What though my tongue( or hand) stand engaged, howbeit my conscience is still free: For which saying yet, the author we find,( would they observe it) even with Heathens then 
Arist. Rhet. l. 3. c. 15.  quaestioned before the Areopagites, as the instructor and prompter on to perjury.  
11. But here, besides that this fancy it savours strongly of that Popish exploded artifice 
Quâcunq, arte verborum quis jurat, Deus tamen qui conscientiae testis est ita hoc accipit, sicut ille cvi juratur, intelligit. Isid. Hisp. Sent. l. 2. c. 31. Ut mens deferentis conceperit fieri oportere, id observandum est, Cic. de office. l. 3. c. de Fortitud.  Equivocation, and withall enervates utterly the sincerity of all Contracts betwixt men,( whereas an Oath or Promise in the true purport of it, is for the confirmation of truth, not a cozenage of either party) they greatly mistake the point; For that the strength of the Obligation hangs not so much on the secret intendments of the mind, as the plain and formal expression of words there used; and then further, Words being the best Emblems of the mind, nor could the outward signification of words or deeds be had without an inward consent of the will first obtained, by engaging Themselves the one way, they consequently draw on a certain tie, as to the other.  
12. Well then, the foresaid grounds failing us as hath been argued, as to a full and satisfactory Solution of the case in hand, we are to cast about in search of some safer and surer principles to rest on; Judicious 
Filliue. Tom. 2. Tract. 25. Bonacin. Disput. 4. Qu. 1. &c.  Casuists give us three special Rules to the purpose, by which we may examine the legality and bindingness of whate'er Engagements, and they are these which follow.  
13. One is that it be supper Re licitâ, undertaken in a matter just and lawful in its self: Since God is not to be assumed either for witness or overseer of a thing simply injust( as there he is) who is a God of pure eyes, we red, and cannot behold iniquity; And moreover, because it hinds a man to a doing of that, which yet the very intrinsical condition of the matter refuseth a performance of; Upon this ground Herod was not bound, notwithstanding his promise, to deliver the Baptists head unto Herodias her daughter; No more were those forty Conspirators against S. Paul, Acts 23. nor David by his having vowed the destruction of churlish Nabal, 2 King. 25.  
14. Another is that it be in Bonum finem, for good ends and purposes; Ends consistent with the welfare of our neighbour, especially of the Church and State we live in,( a clause, say they, necessary supposed, though not always expressed in such Contracts;) And let me add, if not 
Immo etiansi res qua promittitur, non sit illicita, said majus bonum morale impediens, sic quoque non valebit soldan; Quia— Grot. de jur. Bell. l. 2. c. 13 n. 7.  repugnant or obstructive to the performance of some good moral duty, or other: I shall by no means promise peremptorily against a doing ought, which yet the Equity of the thing, either then, or upon occasion fairly offered, may afterwards justly require at my hands.  
15. A third and last is, it must not be Contrà pactum aliquod prius initum, not repungnant to some former Oath or Promise made by us; As to promise V. gr. I will do this or that, when and where lawfully I may to the utmost of my power, and then afterwards to undertake though in other terms, yet amounting to the same effect, that I will not, these are contradictories.  
16. Such Superfaetation of dissonant promises, begets ever a direct nullity in the latter; We must therefore first be sure we find ourselves acquitted in conscience from the fore-going tie, e're we can safely contract a new: A 
{αβγδ}; Isid. Pol. l. 3. Ep. 353.  slipping off nimbly from one Obligation to another by help of some devised Quirk or frivolous construction, is in soothe no other than a kind of playing fast and loose, and no ways becoming a serious Christian:  
Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo? There is no Oath so sacred in the whole world, no tie can there be so firmly and inviolably contrived, which may not thus be easily shifted off.  
17. These are the three Rules, and by these three alone is it easy to discern, when an obligation binds, and when not; It must be right for the matter, justifiable in the ends, not repugnant to former, and those( sometimes) better promises already made: Answerable these three to that threefold caution given by the Prophet jeremy, jer. 4. v. 2. of swearing in truth, in judgement, and in righteousness.  
18. Over and beyond these, there are, I know, certain other cases, in which the person once engaged may seem not tied to a necessary observance; As when he promiseth concerning somewhat impossible and without his reach, De impossibilibus enim nemo tenetur, is the received maxim: Or when his 
Sen. l. 4. c. 34. c. 35.  condition is notably changed from what it was, when first he entred the Obligation: some inevitable and remediless impediment comes between; So S. Paul oft-times determined, as he tells them, to come unto the romans, but was hindered, Rom. 1. v. 13. 
Sylvest in Tit. Iuram.  His condition, I say, changed, not the parties with whom he contracts, who, as long as he is able, or but willing to perform what lies on his part, the Obligation still holds firm and inviolable.  
19. But to return; The Rules forementioned be yet, I say, the most catholic and surest landmarks for our direction in this cause: Where they fail all or any of them, the supposed promise doubtless becomes frustrate; entangle us it may, in the snares and bonds of 
Iurant illicitum peccat Iurando,& peccat servando; Aquin. 2. 2dae. Qu. 89.  sinfulness, as the Wise-man calls them, Prov. 5. v. 22. but not oblige us to a performance.  
20. No, even then when as we freely and voluntarily incur the snare, much less when it is cast upon us by an ensuring power; This loosens and weakens the tie, if supervening thus to other circumstances; Albeit, as was said, of its self and alone, it doth not utterly annul any.  
21. And by this then may men see at any time, how weak the cords of a wrong obligation or engagement are: how little they bind, save onely to repentance; Repentance for their unadvised rashness, if spontaneously undertaken, and repentance for their cowardice, if through fear submitted to; Effectually they bind not, I dare avouch it, either way.  
22. On the other side by this may the Imposers likewise see, who shall thus lay stumbling blocks of offence before their brethren( yet, woe to that man by whom the offence cometh, Mat. 18. v. 7. accursed is he, Lev. 19. v. 14.) to how little purpose they make use of these ties and fetters, that bind not in truth, but onely ensnare; Like to those cords wherewith samson was held, and as easily upon occasion broken asunder; No tack, no validity in such bonds; There wants a twisting in of those three conditions premised to strengthen and confirm them.  
23. Nay, so far are they from holding fast the person engaged, that upon a due examination of the point they help to set him 
Tolerabilius est promissum non facere quod turpeest; Ambros. de office. l. 3. c. 12. vid. council. Tol. 8. c. 2.  loser, when as he shall consider seriously the guilt and burden of sin he yet lieth under; No other way of escape then by a speedy canceling of the Obligation: And on this ground it may be, David having promised Shimei, a notorious offender pardon of his life, 2 Sam. 19. though for reasons best known to himself he let him alone during his time, yet afterwards he fails not to leave it in charge with his son Solomon, that he see him brought to condign punishment.  
24. Briefly and to conclude: Where the promise whate'er, both for matter and manner is rightly undertaken, we cannot be too solicitous or punctual in keeping of it; Thou shalt not forswear thyself, saith he, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oath, Mat. 5. v. 33. {αβγδ}, was one of Pythagoras his 
Iamblych. in vita Pythag. l. 1. c. 28.  first lessons to his Disciples; Yea God himself hath vouchsafed it a room within the Catalogue of his more glorious Titles, of being faithful and keeping Covenant; Otherwise where fraud or force with the like shall hap to interpose, and withall the matter in any respects above specified be unjustifiable, concerning such a 
Si quis necessitate coactus juraverit pignusve posuerit, quo is ad insidias Domino suo parandas, vel opem injustè cuivis ferendā adstringitur, resiliat potius quàm quò caepit insistat, suademus— At si— LL. allured. c. 1.  promise when or whatsoe'er, my resolution, is, that it is ill taken and worse kept.  
Consilium, prudensque animi sententiae jurat,  
Et nisi judicii, vincula nulla tenant.   
FINIS.