/i^i/ZSZ^ V^/X.A WORKS ON THEOLOGICAL SUBJECTS BY E. C. HARINGTON, M.A., CHANCELLOR AND CANON KESIDENTIART OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF EXETER. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : F. & J. RIVINGTON, WATERLOO PLACE. EXETER : W. CLIFFORD. CONTENTS. VOL. I. Two Ordination Sermons, preached in the Cathedral Church of S. Peter, Exeter, and published at the request of the Lord Bishop of Exeter, with copious Notes. Second Edition. "The Succession of Bishops in the Church of England Unbroken." Second Edition. "The Reformers of the Anglican Church, and Mr. Macaulay's History of England," with an Appendix. Second Edition. " The Purity of the Church of England, and the Cor- ruptions of the Church of Rome," a Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of S. Peter, Exeter, November 5th, 1852. " Rome's Pretensions Tested," a Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of S. Peter, Exeter, November 5th, 1855, with copious illustrative Notes. " Pope Pius IV., and the Book of Common Prayer." "The Bull of Pope Pius IX., and the Ancient British Church." 206GS70 APOSTOLICAL SUCCESSION, AND THE NECESSITY OF 4 EPISCOPAL ORDINATION, AS HELD BY THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH, AND MAINTAINED BY THE REFORMERS OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. BEING TWO SERMONS PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PETER, EXETER, AT TWO CONSECUTIVE ORDINATIONS, HELD BY THE RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE, IN 1845, AND PUBLISHED AT HIS LORDSHIP'S REQUEST. WITH COPIOUS ElluBtratibe SECOND EDITION, WITH LARGE ADDITIONS. BY E. C. HARINGTON, M. A. PREBENDARY OF EXETEE, AND INCUMBENT OF ST. DAVID, AUTHOR OF THE " ANTIQOITT, &C., OF THE RITE OF CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES,' " THE SUCCESSION OF BISHOPS IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND UNBROKEN," &C. " Inde cnim SCHISMATA el II^F.RESES dbortee sunt et oriuntur, dum EPISCOPUS, qui units est, et Ecclesia- prcecst, superba quorundam prcusumptione conlemnitur, ft Itomo dignatione Dei lioitoratus, indif/ntis b ttominibiisjinJicatui: . . . Sciredebes EPISCOPUM in Eccli'sin esse, et Ecdtsiai in EPISCOPO ; et ei qui cum EPISCOPO non sini, in ECCLESIA. non es$e." C'upriani ipisl. CO. LONDON : F. & J. RIYINGTON. OXFORD: j. H. PARKER. CAMBRIDGE : MACMILLAN & co. EXETEK : K. J. WALLIS, AND \V. SPREAT. 1847. TO THE BIGHT HEV. THE LORD BISHOP OF EXETER, Sermons, PUBLISHED AT HIS LORDSHIP'S REQUEST, ARE, WITH EVERY FEELING BUE TO HIS LORDSHIP, AND TO HIS SACRED OFFICE, RESPECTFULLY AND GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED, BY THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. " IF it be objected against me, that throughout the following pages I have rather collected than com- posed ; and that, instead of offering any thing of my own, I have gathered from others what might be most serviceable to the cause I have espoused, I readily confess it ; and I am not ashamed to ac- knowledge myself furnished with my arguments from the writings of men (such as Hooker, and Barrow, and Leslie, and Hammond, and Taylor, and Beveridge, &c. &c.) whose names and per- formances are sufficient to do honour to any pages, and to whom I refer all that shall be found good in those now submitted to the public." The Excellency and Beauty of the Church of England. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. The favorable reception of the first Edition of these Sermons, and the approbation bestowed upon the weight of evidence adduced from our best Divines, in support of the Author's statements, have induced him to add very largely to the authorities previously advanced in defence of Episcopacy. He believes that there is not one position of any moment which is not confirmed by ample testimony from some one or more of the great Luminaries of the Church. The additional quotations from Bilson, Dodwell, Durel, Sage, Hickes, Downame, and the Author of Episcopal Government Instituted by Christ, will be found worthy of a very careful perusal. The Author cannot hope, in the language of one of his reviewers, that " to the younger Clergy just entering on their sacred office, these Sermons and Notes will be found invaluable ;" but he trusts that he may without arrogance entertain the belief, to quote another Reviewer, that "the references to the yreat Divines and Champions of our Church are so numerous, that, on this account alone, the Pamphlet must prove of great value to any one who desires to study the arguments by which the Constitution of the Church is defended." St. David, Exeter, Jany. 1847. SERMON I. ST. MATT, xxviii. 16. 1820. " Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost : teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." WHEN our blessed Lord had finished the great work of man's redemption, and had fully instructed the Apostles concerning the nature of that work in which they were to be engaged, the method they were to observe in carrying out that work, and whatsoever else is contained in that general expres- sion of " the things pertaining to the kingdom of God," the Apostles having received the w r onderful effusion of the Holy Spirit, for which our Saviour had commanded them to " tarry in Jerusalem," im- mediately " went forth, and preached every where, 8 SERMON I. the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." In examining the early histoiy of the Church, we perceive that certain ordinances were appointed of a permanent character, viz. Baptism, the Lord's Sup- per, public prayer, and preaching in the congregation, with others of a less general nature; and we learn that, from the earliest period, there have always been certain Officers 1 in the Church whose business it has i " As the Lord, under the Law, and from the first founding of that Church, did set apart a peculiar order and function of men for the service of the sanctuary, so did He, under the Gospel, a peculiar order and function for the ministry of the gospel ; and this no more to be usurped upon, than that. Now as, under the law, there were several sorts of men within that function, as high-priests, chief-priests, ordinary priests, and Levites, but all paled in with that peculiarity, that no other might meddle with their function ; so likewise, at the first rising of the gospel, there were Apostles, Evangelists, Prophets, 1'astors, Teachers, according to the necessity of those present times, but all hedged in with a distinctive ministerial calling, that none other might, nor may, break in upon. All the titles and names, that ministers are called by throiighout the New Testament, are such as denote peculiarity and distinctiveness of order, as, " wise men and scribes." Now,* the Jews knew not, nor ever had heard, of " wise men and scribes" but the learned of their nation, distinguished from others by peculiarity of order and ordination ; and if they understood not Christ in such a sense, viz., men of a distinct order, they un- derstood these titles, " wise men and scribes," in a sense that they had never known nor heard of before. Ministers in the New Testament are called "Elders," "Bishops," "Angels of the Churches," "Pastors," * " Nam apud Judseos Sapientes et Scribae doctos, ab aliis segregates, seu peculiarem hominum ordinem, ^n^tria separatum, semper denotant ; neque enim uspiam reperire est, apud Hebrseos, olim dictos Sapientes et Scrtf/as alio sensu." Leusd. SI;I;.MON I. been to administer these several ordinances. Scrip- ture and antiquity declare, beyond a doubt, that there ever were in the primitive Church ETT/O-XOTTO*, bishops 2 , 7r/> Draught of the Primitive Church. The Divine Right of Episcopacy asserted, by a Presbyter of the Church of England ; especially ch. 5 9. 3 Bingham, vol. i. pp. 251 275. * Bingham, vol. i. pp. 2!>7, 309. 10 SERMON I. tered abroad had elders. 5 (James v. 14.) Titus was left in Crete to ordain elders 6 in every city, as St. Paul had appointed him. 7 (Titus i. 5.) Again, 5 See Potter on Church Government, pp. 106 122, and Sclater's Original Draught of the Primitive Church, ch. 4. pp. 165 236. 6 Bishop Pearson proves from St. Clement of Alexandria, Ter- tullian, and Origen, that in their judgment the Apostle speaks of Presbyters properly so called ; as doth also Theodoret, by this argu- ment, that the Apostle requires Presbyters, in the plural, to be ordained in every city, whereas there was to be only one single bishop in a city. See also Bingham's Antiquities, vol. i. book ii. c. 13. 1 " I come now to demonstrate the distinction between Presbyters and Deacons, which is altogether as clear and apparent as that between Bishop and Presbyter. St. Ignatius (ad Trail: ad Philadel: ad Magnes : ad Smyrn :) does not only place the Deacons as the third order of the Church, but declares that they must obey the Presbyters. And accordingly at their institution at first, in the Acts, their office is assigned to distribute the charity of the Church, in subjection to the Apostles or Bishops, with the Elders or Presbyters. Tertullian is very express to the same purpose, and measures the obedience of Deacons to Presbyters, by the obedience of Presbyters to Bishops. The Presbyters were by a positive Canon to exclude the Deacons from their assemblies and Colleges (Condi. Nic. c. 18). Epiphanius, in opposition to the first inventor of Church parity, names two orders as distinct, Presbyter and Deacon (con. Aeri. L. 3. Hcer. 75) and St. Jerome says (ad Evag.) that Deacons were to Presbyters, as Levites were to Priests ; and in another place (adv. Jovi.J that Deacon is not only a distinct name, but a distinct office. St. Chrysostom assigns five talents or powers to the Presbyter and two to the Deacon (Horn. 23, 25 c. Mat.) Remarkable is that other saying of St. Jerome, that the Presbyters are inferior in gain to the Deacons, but superior in Priesthood (ad Nepot.) Origen assures us, (24 Tract, in Mat. c. 23) that in the way of ascent, Deacons are the first order of the Church, and Presbyters the second. ' All men in Holy Orders,' (says the Canon, Con. Laod. c. 24.) 'from Presbyter to Deacon' 'The Church is divided into Bishop, Priest, and Deacon,' says Ignatius (ad Srnyr.). Lastly, both St. Jerome and the Nicene Fathers (ad Evag. Condi. SERMON I. 11 St. Clement, bishop of Rome, who lived and wrote in the Apostles' times, and conversed freely with them 8 , and observed their methods of practice, assures us of the Apostles in general, that they constituted Bishops wheresoever they made converts. This testimony is so full, express, and clear, and proceeds from so unexceptionable a witness, who wrote from his own personal knowledge, that were both Scripture and all other writings 9 silent as to this particular, St. Clement's bare affirmation would be sufficient demonstration. But further; the Apostles made St. Simeon bishop of Jerusalem, after the martyrdom of St. James 1 ; St. Clement bishop of Rome ; St. Ignatius bishop of Antioch ; and St. Poly carp bishop of Smyrna. 2 And St. Clement of Nic. c. 18.) declare, that the Deacons had no power to administer the Eucharist as the Presbyters had, and that the servant of tables and widows could by no means plead the same power with him, who consecrated the holy sacramental elements." Oldisworth's Timothy and Philatheus, vol. iii. page 45. 8 The person mentioned by St. Paul, (Philip, iv. 3,) as some sup- pose. 9 The reader may refer to Archbishop Potter on Church Govern- ment, pp. 139 197, for other testimonies in favour of the episcopal succession. The archbishop says, " I hope that it has now appeared from the Scriptures and the chief writers of the first four centuries, that as our Lord was sent by God the Father to established a Church in the world, so the Apostles were authorized by our Lord to enlarge and govern the Church after His ascension, and that they derived the same authority to their successors the bishops." 1 See The Divine Right of Episcopacy asserted, ch. 6. 2 "It was shown in the last chapter, that James was appointed the fixed Apostle and bishop of Jerusalem, before the rest of the Apostles 12 SERMON I. Alexandria, who examined these points with great diligence, and learnt from those who had been taught by the Apostles St. Peter, St. James, St. John, and St. Paul, assures us that when St. John was released from Patmos, he went to Ephesus, and constituted bishops and clergy in the neighbouring churches ; and so says Tertullian. St. Ignatius also, who not only was made a bishop by the Apos- tles, but continued in that office many years during their lifetime, and was martyred but a little while after St. John's death, takes occasion in his epistles to mention Onesimus bishop of Ephesus, Damas bishop of Magnesia, and Poly carp bishop of Smyrna ; he speaks also of the bishops of Philadelphia, and of bishops and elders of different churches, and declares that there "is no Church without them." Irenseus also, and Tertullian, speak of 3 bishops constituted by the Apostles in all the Churches left it. It must here be added, that after the death of James, the surviving Apostles, disciples, and kinsmen of our Lord, assembled together at Jerusalem, and ordained Simeon, the son of Cleophas, mentioned in St. John's Gospel (xix. 25), to be his successor. Simeon presided in the Church till the time of Trajan, as we learn from Hegesippus, who was a diligent searcher into the practice of the Apostles and their disciples, and lived in the next age after them. (Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib. iii. c. xi. xxiii ) And after Simeon there succeeded thirteen bishops of the Jewish race before the first excision of the Jews by Adrian, whose names Eusebius has inserted into his history from the Ancient Monuments of the Church." (Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib. iv. c. 5.) Archbishop Potter, ch. iv. p. 140. 3 See Archbishop Potter on Church Government, chap. iv. pp. 139 197. SERMON I. 13 which they planted. 4 Of the appointment of deacons we have the account in the sixth chapter of Acts ; < " That the Apostles were Bishops of several and distinct Churches, there is no reason to doubt, if we believe antiquity. St. James was the first Bishop of Jerusalem, (St. Jer. de Scrip. 2. Christ. Horn. 3 in Act. Apost. Euseb. Lib. iii. c. 5.); St. Peter of Antioch, after- wards of Rome, (Jer. de Scrip. Ecc. in Pet. Epipha. con. Hares. Lib. i. Hccr. '27}. St. Peter calls the Apostleship a Bishoprick (Acts i.}, St. Cyprian says expressly that the Apostles were Bishops (Lib. \\\. Epis. 9}, and St. Ambrose is full to the same purpose (Amb. in Ephes. c. 4.). And as the Apostles were Bishops themselves, so 'tis as evident that they ordained others to the same function. Thus Timothy was ordained Bishop of Ephesus by St. Paul (Euseb. Lib. iii. c. 4. Jer. de Scrip. Ecc. Ambros. Prof at. 1 Tim. Chrys. in ad Phil. 1. Epiphan. Hceres. 75.), and Titus of Crete (Euseb. iii and iv. Ambros. Prcef. in Tit. Theodoret apud Oecum. Free, in Tit.}, Poly carp of Smyrna by St. John (Jer. de Scrip. 32), and Clemens of Rome by St. Peter (Tertul. de Prcescr 32. Euseb. iii.-xiv. Jer. de Scrip. 15.), Evodius of Antioch, by the same Apostle (Tgnat. Epis. ad Antioch}, and Ananius of Alexandria by the Evangelist St. Marh (Euseb. Lib. ii. c. 24.). I mention these instances the rather, because 'tis positively said of k each of them, not only that they were Bishops of such Churches, but that they were ordained thereto by the Apostles. It is not much to the purpose to enquire the time when this was done, and yet even that is set down minutely by several writers, and said to be imme- diately after our Saviour's passion and ascent. (Euseb. Lib. ii c. 1, Lib. iii. c. 5. Hiero. de Scrip. 2.) And in general we are told, that all the first Bishops were consecrated, ordained, or made Bishops by the Apostles, (Tertul. de Proes. 32. Euseb. Lib. iii. Hiero. de Scrip. 2. Ambros. 2 ad Gala.}; and as the institution of Bishops by the Apostles, so their succession is attested by as good witnesses. Eusebius (Lib. 7 ca. 31), and other writers (Socrates Lib. i. cap. 5. Lib. iii. cap. 15. Lib. iv. cap. 20. Theod. Lib. i. cap. 3, 7- August. Epis. 165. Optat. contra Parmenianum Lib. ii.} give us a list of 54 Bishops successively in the see of Jerusalem, of 38 in the see of Rome, of 28 in the see of Antioch, and of 24 in the see of Alexandria ; and they assure us that some of these succcessions ran so far as the eleventh or twelfth Bishop even in the Apostles' time. Nor are these instances all ; for 14 SERMON I. for though they are not in that place called by that name, yet it appears from the nature of the office assigned them, and from the consent of all anti- quity, that they were deacons. And St. Paul gives Timothy directions for the choice of deacons, as well-known officers, (1 Tim. iii. 8 12.) and he particularly salutes the deacons. (Phil. i. 1 5.) Clement of Rome also, who lived in the time of the Apostles, speaks of deacons in the Christian Church, and assures us that they were made by the Apostles, and that wheresoever the Apos- tles planted Churches they made deacons. St. Ignatius also, who was contemporary with the Apostles, speaks of deacons in the Churches in his Irencsus tells us {Lib. iii. c. 3.) that it would be too long to enumerate all other Churches, but yet that it was easy to be done. Besides Timothy and Titus, who are scriptural Bishops, there are others that afterwards were made Bishops (Euseb. Lib. iii. c. 4. Orig. Lib. x. cap. 16. Epis. ad. Rom. Ambrose in Prescript. ~) and continued the succession, whose names are recorded in Scripture, and their merits highly applauded by the Apostles, as Linus, Clemens, Dionysius, Caius, Archippus, Onesimus, and Polycarp. Ttrtullian reckoned Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, andEphesus to be Apostolical sees, by succession, in his time. In St. Cyprian's days, who was Bishop of Carthage, (Euseb. Lib. vii. Cap. 5 et alib.') there are, besides that see, the Churches of Casarea, Laodicea and Tyre. And in the subscriptions at the Council of Nice, we have the names of the seven several Bishops of the Asiatic Churches mentioned in the Revelations. Now if all this be true, then there is no doubt but that the Bishops so succeed- ing had an Apostolical right, and if the Apostles too were Bishops, consequently a Divine ; which right is expressly asserted in the Bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria, by one of the Antients. (Greg. Lib. vi. Epis. 37.) Oldisworth's Timothy and Philatheus, vol. iii. page 38. SERMON I. 15 time, adding, that "they are not ministers of meats and drinks, but of the Church of God," and says, that there "is no Church without them." The deacons 5 also are as constantly and manifestly dis- tinguished from other Christians to whom that title did not appertain, and as plainly described to be well-known officers of the Church, 6 as the bishops 5 See Bingham's Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 279 308. 6 See Hickes on the Christian Priesthood, pp. 3338. " That Deacons arejnot Laymen but Preachers, (says the Author of Episcopal Government instituted by Christ,} and a third order of Church Gover- nors it is evident, Acts vi. for as soon as there was any need of men of that office, (that was when the number of the Disciples was multiplied,) they were chosen and elected by the Apostles, yea, they were elected too before the Apostles went out of Jerusalem and separated them- selves to preach the Gospel to all nations ; for they behoved to be helpers of the Apostles, and to assist them in the work of Ministry, to have a care of the poor under them, and to baptize new converts at their command ; that so the Apostles might give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word, Acts vi. 4. The truth of this may be seen Acts x. 48, where the Apostle Peter gives commandment (no question to the Deacons) to baptize Cornelius and those who were with him ; so we may see 1 Cor. i. that the Apostle Paul attributes the care of baptism to others than the Apostles, when he saith that he was not sent to baptize, it being chiefly the charge of the Deacons, but to preach the Gospel ; not that he might not baptize, for we see the contrary in the words, but because the Apostles gave themselves chiefly to prayer and the ministry of the word, and committed the care of baptism to the Deacons, and the administration of the sacra- ment of the Supper to the Evangelists, called hereafter Elders, as may be gathered out of 1 Cor. x. 11. We see also Col. i. 1. a manifest distinction between Bishops and Deacons ; for the Apostle writes to them as their chief Bishop and Overseer ; for as yet the Apostle reserved the chief care of that Church to himself, although some think that Epaphroditus was chief Bishop of that place ; howsoever we see two orders here of Churchmen, 1() SERMON I. and presbyters themselves. Now it appears from antiquity, that those ecclesiastical officers whose business it was to administer the several ordinances of the Church, and the deacons also whether they were empowered 7 to administer any of those ordi- nances or not were usually called the clergy, and thereby distinguished 8 from the laity or people, 9 viz. those other Christians, who, though forming a com- ponent part of the Church, were not appointed to, and therefore could not rightly administer, the offices of the Church 1 . The reason of this distinction and and I hope none will deny but the Apostle was in order and degree above them ; we see them also made mention of in the Epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus, over whom Timothy and Titus are placed as their chief Governors ; so that it is more than evident that Christ and the Apostles continued three orders of Church Governors under the Gospel." Episcopal Government instituted by Christ, and confirmed by clear evidence of Scripture, and invincible reason, p. 6. 7 See Bingham, vol. i. pp. 279308. 8 See Bingham, vol. i. p. 42. And Saravia's Treatise on the Chris- tian Priesthood, ch. vii. 9 Hickes on the Dignity of the Episcopal Order, p. 222 226. 1 " The distinction between the Clergy and Laity is so very notorious among the Antients, that I need not much insist on that. St. Chrysostorris Comment upon the story of Uzzah, and the famous contest between St. Ambrose and the Emperor Theodosius, are full to this purpose. Ignatius declares the same at large (ad Mag. Smyr. Philadel. Antioch.) ; Tertullian debars the Laity from consecrating the Sacrament, and says that the distinction between them and the Clergy is as old as the Church itself (De Cor. Mil. It. de Exhort, ad Casti.). In another place {Condi. Hispal. ii. ca. 9.) the laity are debarred the assemblies and consultations of the Clergy in matters Ecclesiastical. Tertullian declares it to be the custom of hereticks {De Pr&scrip.) to make the same persons Presbyters to-day and laymen to-morrow. SERMON I. 17 appellation is not a question of much importance. That xXypof, from whence the word Clergy is de- rived, 2 signifies a lot, I need hardly observe ; and whether the clergy are so called because they are God's portion of people, being set apart to minister in holy things, or because God is their portion, they subsisting upon those offerings in the primitive times which were made to God by the Church, or whether the name arose from choosing ecclesiastical officers by lot, which was customary among Jews and Gen- tiles, and as St. Matthias was chosen to the apostleship though that custom, as Bingham tells us, never generally prevailed amongst Christians whatever, I say, might have been the reason for the distinctive appellation, suffice it that the name was given to those ecclesiastics of whom I have been speaking. It is agreed on all hands that this name can be traced as far back as the third century, though an earlier date is questioned. It matters little, perhaps, as to the antiquity of a word, but I would observe, that St. Clement of Alexandria tells Optatus (De Schism. Donist.) defines laymen to be those who have no dignity in the Church. And St. Chrysostom (Horn. 53, 25 cap. Mat.) reckons the laity to have one talent or power less than the Deacons. Lastly, it was determined at Alexandria (Eiiseb. Lib. 6 c. 20.) that for laymen to teach in the Church, was insufferable and contrary to all order." Oldisworth's Timothy and Philatheus, vol. 3, p. 46. 2 See Macri Hierolexicon, verb. " Clcricm" Brokesby's Life of Dodwell, p. 92 , and the Theses Theologica of Le Blanc, De membris EccksicB militantis. Cap. Pri. B 18 SERMON I. us that St. John, after his release from Patmos, received men into the number of the clergy ; so that the word " clergy" was known as referring to the officers in the Church in the second century. Nay, even St. Clement 3 of Rome, who lived in the first century, speaks of laymen as distinct from those who served at the altar ; his words are these " Seeing then that these things are manifest to us Christians, it will behove us to take care that we do all things in order, whatsoever our Lord has com- manded us. And particularly that we perform our oblations and services to God at their appointed sea- sons ; for these He has commanded to be done, not rashly and disorderly, but at certain times and hours. And therefore He has ordained by His supreme will and authority, both where and by what persons they are to be performed. 4 They, therefore, who make 3 Ep. i. cap. 40. 4 "Episcopal Government instituted by Christ. The first argument. " That whatsoever degrees of Church Governors, as God established " under the Law, that Christ and his Apostles continued under the " Gospel, and that hath governed the Christian Church since the days " of Christ and his Apostles, they are and must be of Divine Ordina- " tion. But God established three degrees of Church Governors under " the law, Christ and his Apostles continued three degrees under the " Gospel, and three degrees hath governed the Christian Church since " the days of Christ and his Apostles. " And therefore three degrees of Church Governors are and must " be of Divine Ordination." "The proposition I will take for granted, for I know no man will deny it. The assumption I must prove, which hath three branches : The first is, that God established three degrees under the Law, the SERMON I. 19 their oblations in the Church at the appointed sea- son, are happy and accepted, because that, obeying High Priest, inferior Priests, and Levites ; the High Priest to be in the first order, inferior Priests in the second, and Levites in the third : and this I hope will be granted. The second branch of the proposition, that Christ and his Apostles continued three degrees under the Gospel, I prove thus: Christ chose Apostles for one order, and Evangelists for another, called at the first the seventy Disciples, to distinguish them from the other twelve, who were also called Disciples, as long as Christ lived, (for they were seldom before Christ's resurrection dis- tinguished by their proper names,) and Christ filled the room of the High Priest himself as long as he served in the ministry of the Gospel : and after his ascension, immediately the Apostles by the direction of the Spirit made choice of a third order of Churchmen, whom they called by the name of Deacons, (Acts vi.) ; so that the Apostles were appointed to be of the first order after Christ's resur- rection, at which time they were only endued with Apostolical autho- rity, being before Christ's death in the order and rank of Evangelists, and the Evangelists inferior to them ; for the twelve were ever distin- guished from the seventy, both in place and estimation, as any man may perceive that can read the Scriptures : but when Christ was to ascend up unto the Father, he made the Apostles chief Governors of the Church, and put them in his own place, and said to them, " he that heareth you heareth me, and he that despiseth you despiseth me ;" after which time they were called by the name of Apostles ordinarily, and the other seventy got the name of Evangelists, and were the second order of Church Governors, and at all times remembered in the second place ; howsoever, the twelve Disciples were called Apostles, as chiefly sent of God, although the other seventy were sent too, as we read Luke x., yet they were not consecrated with so great solemnity as the other twelve, nor got not so strict a charge, nor so great authority and power conferred upon them ; the truth of all this you will find in the last chapter of St. John's gospel and the first of the Acts ; so that, since the twelve Disciples are thus advanced, and not the seventy, it is more than evident, that Christ would have the seventy to be still inferior to the twelve. And this also appears by the election of Matthias, who way taken out of the number of the severity, and ad- n ' ! 20 SERMON I. the commandments of the Lord, they are free from sin. For the High Priest has his proper services, vanced to the Apostolical charge ; if the twelve had not been in degree above the seventy, to what end should this distinction have been made? No man will say, I hope, that the twelve would have advanced themselves above the seventy, if Christ himself had made no difference before ; for Christ, no question, if they had been wrong would have reproved their arrogance ; but on the contrary, Christ gives testimony of his approbation of that which they did, by con- senting to Matthias' election ; yea, it appears that they had a com- mandment so to do, for Peter saith, Acts i. 22, that one (must) be ordained to be a witness with us of the resurrection ; the word 8< in the 21st verse is very emphatical, so that it would seem that it was not left arbitrary to them, to do it or not to do it, at their pleasure ; but of necessity it behoved to be done, as being commanded by Christ their Master. " Moreover, it is evident by the words of the 25th verse, where the Apostle makes a clear distinction between Apostles and Evangelists : ' That he may take part (saith he) of this Ministry and Apostleship ;' now the Apostle could not call it this Ministry, except it had been distinct from that which Matthias had before; he was one of the seventy Disciples before, and had power to preach the Gospel of Christ ; so that it is most sure, if the calling of the twelve had not been par- ticularly differenced by Christ from the calling of the seventy, the Apostles would never have put a distinction between the one Ministry and the other. But the Apostle Peter adds yet a clearer distinction, and he calls the Ministry whereunto Matthias was advanced Apostle - ship, 'this Ministry and Apostleship' (saith he;) now the Ministry of the seventy Disciples was never called Apostleship unto this day, as all men know. " Further this distinction appeareth, that the Apostle, with the con- sent of the rest of the twelve, would have the number made up before the coming of the Holy Ghost ; for the Holy Ghost did not visibly descend upon any but upon the twelve ; well, they did always attend his coming, they could not tell how soon, and therefore they thought it necessary that Matthias should be elected with all expedition ; so that any man may conceive, if there had not been a wide difference SERMON I. 21 and to the Priests their proper place is appointed, and to the Levites appertain their proper ministries, and the layman is confined within the precepts of lay- between the twelve Apostles and the seventy Disciples, the Apostles would never have made such haste. " By the former doctrine we find that our Saviour differenced the twelve from the seventy, thrice ; in the time of his life once, for by taking the twelve to be of his Council (as it were) and guard of his body he made a manifest distinction, Luke vi. 13. Next, after his resurrection, he put a difference between them, in that he installed them solemnly in their apostolical charge, which he did not unto the seventy ; and thirdly, after his ascension, he sent the Holy Ghost chiefly to the twelve, and caused Him to descend visibly, even to the view of all the beholders, upon their heads in the likeness of cloven tongues of fire, which for any thing we read he did not to the seventy." In the thirteenth of the Acts, verse 1. we may behold this distinc- tion with our eyes ; where Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul are called Prophets and Teachers, and not Apostles ; for I think as yet Saul was not joined to the number of Apostles, at least he was not accounted one : so Paul makes this distinction, when he takes to himself the honour to plant the Gospel and to lay the foundation, and makes Apollos a waterer only and a builder upon the foundation, ' Paul plants,' saith he, ' Apollos waters, but God gives the increase,' 1 Cor. ii. 6. " Moreover, Acts 8, we see a manifest distinction, in Philip the Evangelist, who converted the Samaritans and baptized them ; but Peter and John behoved to be sent out of Jerusalem to lay on hands and confer the Holy Ghost : but my opponent may say that Philip was a Deacon and one of the seven mentioned, Acts 6. I answer, we read of Philip the Apostle and of Philip the Deacon, and why not a third Philip an Evangelist ? read Acts xxi. 8. He that was Deacon was thereafter advanced to be an Evangelist. Always we gain this much, that Deacons must preach and administer the Sacrament of Baptism, and therefore they are not lay-men." Episcopal Government Instituted by Christ, pp. 1 6. 22 SERMON I. men, o' Aa tH? oVOpcoTro? rof? Aafxoff The distinction between clergy and laity being thus allowed, the question occurs, from whence do the clergy 6 derive their authority ? I answer, without 5 See Sclater's Draught of the Primitive Church, ch. 6. ' of the Lay- members' Rights and Privileges in the Church.' " Laici nomen deriva- tum est a Graeca voce *<>;, quae populum sive plebera significat. Itaque laici ab ipsis dicuntur quasi plebeii sive populares illi, qui pertinent ad Ecclesia? plebem, id est, quibus nulla pars functionis Ecclesiae demandata est, et qui nullo ministerio in Ecclesia funguntur." Theses Theologies ; De membris ecclesice militantis. Cap. Pri. See also Hooker, book 5, ch. Ixxvii. sec. 2. 6 "In that they are Christ's ambassadors and His labourers, who should give them their commission but He whose most inward affairs they manage ? Is not God alone the Father of spirits ? Are not souls the purchase of Jesus Christ ? What angel in heaven could have said to man, as our Lord did unto Peter, ' Feed my sheep preach baptize do this in remembrance of me. Whose sins ye retain, they are retained, and their offences in heaven pardoned, Avhose faults you shall on earth forgive ? ' What think ye ? Are these terrestrial sounds, or else are they voices uttered out of the clouds above ? The power of the ministry of God translateth out of darkness into glory ; it raiseth man from the earth, and bringeth God himself from heaven ; by blessing visible elements, it maketh them invisible graces ; it giveth daily the Holy Ghost ; it hath to dispose of that flesh which was given for the life of the world, and that blood which was poured out to redeem souls ; when it poureth malediction upon the heads of the wicked, they perish ; when it revoketh the same, they revive. O wretched blindness, if we admire not so great a power : more wretched if we consider it aright, and, notwithstanding, imagine that any but God can bestow it ! To whom Christ hath imparted power, both over that mystical body which is the society of souls, and over that natural which is Himself, for the knitting of both in one, (a work which antiquity doth call the making of Christ's body,) the same power is in such not amiss both termed SERMON I. 23 fear of cavil or refutation, that from the beginning of Christianity down to the present time, the Clergy have been authorized to exercise their functions 7 a kind of mark or character, and acknowledged to be indelible. ' Receive the Holy Ghost : whose sins soever ye remit, they are remitted; whose sins ye retain, they are retained.' Whereas, therefore, the other Evangelists had set down, that Christ did before His suffering promise to give His Apostles the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and being risen from the dead promised moreover, at that time, a miraculous power of the Holy Ghost, St. John addeth, that He also invested them, even then, with the power of the Holy Ghost for castigation and relaxation of sin ; wherein was fully accomplished that which the promise of the keys did import. Seeing, therefore, that the same power is now given, why should the same form of words expressing it be thought foolish ?" Hooker, book v. 77. " Now, the priviledge of the visible Church of God (for of that we speak) is to be herein like the ark of Noah, that, for any thing we know to the contrary, all without it are lost sheep ; yet in this was the ark of Noah privileged above the Church, that whereas none of them which were in the one could perish, numbers in the other are cast away, because to eternal life our profession is not enough." Ibid. 68. 7 " The power of remitting sin is originally in God, and in God alone ; and in Christ our Saviour, by means of the union of the God- head and manhood into one person, by virtue whereof, ' the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins upon earth.' " This power being thus solely vested in God, He might, without wrong to any, have retained and kept to Himself, and without means of word or Sacrament, and without ministers, either Apostles or others, have exercised immediately by Himself from Heaven. " But we should then have said of the remission of sins, saith St. Paul, ' Who shall go up to heaven for it, and fetch it thence ? for which cause,' saith he, ' the righteousness of faith speaketh thus, Say not so,' &c. " Partly this ; but there should be no such difficulty to shake our faith, as once to imagine to fetch Christ from heaven for the remission of our sins ; and partly also, because Christ, to whom alone this com- mission was originally granted, having ordained Himself a body, 24 SERMON I. by Almighty God, either immediately or mediately. Now, to elucidate my position, I will suppose a number of persons sent by the Queen to some distant colony, possessed with official character, and empowered to constitute other officers, and thus to continue a succession of these functionaries in that colony. In this case, not only those very per- sons whom the Queen sends, but those also who are constituted by such as the Queen sent, and those who shall derive their succession from them in fu- would work by bodily things, and having taken the nature of a man upon Him, would honour the nature He had so taken, for these causes ; that which was His and His alone, He vouchsafed to impart, and out of His commission to grant a commission, and thereby to associate them to Himself, (it is His own word by the prophet,) and to make them ffwigynti that is, co-operatores, workers together with Him (as the Apostle speaketh) to the work of salvation, both of themselves and of others. From God then it is derived ; from God and to men. " Now if we ask, to what men ? the text is plain. They to whom Christ said this, remiseritis, were the Apostles. " In the Apostles (that we may come nearer yet) we find three capacities, as we may term them. 1. As Christians in general. 2. As preachers, priests, or ministers, more special. 3. As those twelve persons whom, in strict propriety of speech, we term the Apostles. " Some things that Christ spake to them, He spake to them as representing the whole company of Christians ; as His vigilale. " Some things to them, not as Christians, but as preachers or priests ; as His tfe, predicate evangelium, and His hoc facite, which no man thinketh all Christians may do. " And some things to themselves personally ; as that He had appointed them witnesses of His miracles and resurrection, which cannot be applied but to them, and them in person." Andrewes, Appendix, p. 90. See also Saravia's Treatise ort the Christian Priest- hood, ch. 17. SERMON I. 25 turc, all of them authorized by the Queen. But they are authorized after different manners. Those whom the Queen sends at first are authorized im- mediately by her, for she signs their commissions herself; but all others are authorized mediately by her, that is, they are authorized by virtue of that commission which was at first granted by the Queen. Thus, in the Church of God, T Christ, as God, has full power in Himself, and as God-man has received full power from the Father to constitute officers or clergy in the Church which is a society of God's own institution and to enable them to appoint others, and to continue the succession " even to the 7 " My opinion is, that episcopal government is not to be derived merely from apostolical practice or institution, but that it is originally founded in the Person and office of the Messias, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ ; who being sent by our heavenly Father to be the Great Apostle, (Heb. iii. 1,) Bishop, and Pastor (1 Pet. ii. 25) of His Church, and anointed to that office immediately after His baptism by John, " with power and the Holy Ghost" (Acts x. 37, 38) " descen- ding" then " upon Him in a bodily shape," (Luke iii. 22,) did after- wards, before His ascension into heaven, send and empower His holy Apostles, in like manner as His Father had before sent Him, (John xx. 21,) to execute the same apostolical, episcopal, and pastoral office, for the ordering and governing of His Church until His coming again ; and so the same office to continue in them and their suc- cessors unto the end of the world, (Matt, xxviii. 18 20.) This I take to be so clear, from these and other like texts of Scripture, that if they shall be diligently compared together, both between themselves and with the following practice of the Churches of Christ, as well in the Apostles' times as in the purest and primitive times nearest thereunto, there will be left little cause why any man should doubt thereof." Sanderson's Divine Right of Episcopacy. C 26 SERMON I. end of the world." And if it be convenient that there should be a subordination of clergy in the Church, Christ has full power to appoint them, or to enable the superior clergy to appoint those of an inferior order. And all the clergy so appointed, either by Christ Himself, or by those whom He has enabled to appoint others whether equal or subordinate to each other do receive authority from God, either immediately or mediately, to exercise their functions in the Church ; so that it will of necessity follow, that from the beginning of Christianity down to the present time, 8 (for the objection, sometimes ad- 8 Romanist. Can a man be a lawful minister without a lawful calling ? " Anglican. Of course not. " Romanist. If so, I pray tell me how the Anglican Church can defend her ministry. Surely I may address each of you in Harding's words to Jewel ; ' What say you, my master ? You bear yourself as though bishop of Salisbury ; but how will you substantiate your call ? What is your warrant for ministering in the Word and Sacra- ments ?' &c. &c. I ask thee, is your call inward or outward ? "Anglican. Both. " Romanist. An outward call, to be lawful, must be either imme- diately from Christ's mouth, as the Apostles were called, or mediately through the Church. " Anglican. Well ; we are called by God through the Church ; for it is He who gives ' pastors and doctors for the perfecting of the saints.' ''Romanist They who are called by God through the Church, must derive their warrant and power by lawful succession from Christ and the Apostles. If you maintain you have proceeded from this origin, it is your business to prove it clearly to us ; to set forth and trace your genealogy. SERMON I. 27 vanced, that the succession was broken 9 in the six- teenth century, is too weak to require refutation,) " Anglican, The ministers of the Anglican Church derive their imposition of hands in a lawful way from lawful bishops, possessed of a lawful authority, and therefore their call is ordinary. " Romanist. But whence have those bishops derived their power ? " Anglican. From God, through the hands of bishops before them." Mason's Vindicias Ecclesice Anglicance, book i. ch. 2. 9 " We proceed, in the next place, to the constant visibility and succession of pastors in our Church. And here I make him (Papist) this fair proposal ; let him, or any one of his party, produce any one solid argument to demonstrate such a succession of pastors in the Church of Rome, and I will undertake, by the very same argument, to prove a like succession in our Church. Indeed, the author of the letter is concerned, no less than we are, to acknowledge such a suc- cession of lawful pastors in our Church till the time of the Reforma- tion ; and if we cannot derive our succession since it is a hard case. But our records, faithfully kept and preserved, do evidence to all the world an uninterrupted succession of bishops in our Church, canoni- cally ordained, derived from such persons, in whom a lawful power of ordination was seated by the confession of the Papists themselves. For the story of the ' Nag's Head Ordination' is so putid a fable, so often and so clearly refuted by the writers of our Church, that the more learned and ingenuous papists are now ashamed to make use of it." Bishop Bull, Vindication of the Church of England, .sac. 34. I would again refer the reader to Mason's Vindicice, where we have the dialogue between a Romanist and an Anglican continued : " Orthodox. The ministers of England receive imposition of hands in a lawful manner, from lawful bishops, endued with lawful authority, and therefore their calling is ordinary. " Philodox. But from whence have your bishops themselves this authority ? " Orthodox. From God, by the hands of such bishops as went before them. " Philodox. But from whence did those derive their succession ? " Orthodox. Archbishop Cranmer and other heroical spirits, whom the Lord used as His instruments to reform religion in England, had the C 8 28 SERMON 1. the clergy, whether equal or subordinate, were authorized to exercise their functions by Almighty God, either mediately or immediately, if it be ap- parent that Christ did appoint clergy in His Church, and enable them to constitute others for a perpetual succession. 1 Now, how stands the fact ? When our Saviour, after His resurrection, 2 proceeded to the very self-same ordination and succession as you glory so much in ; and therefore if those argue that your calling is ordinary, you must con- fess that theirs likewise was ordinary." Mason's Vindicice book i. chap. 2. See also Brown on the Nag's Head Controversy ; Courayer's De- fence of the English Ordinations, and Defence of the Dissertation ; Williams' Succession of Protestant Bishops Asserted; Bramhall's Consecration of Protestant Bishops Vindicated; Leslie's Qualification requisite to administer the Sacraments ; and Mason's Vindicice Ecclesiae Anglicance. I have enlarged upon the above point in my Succession of Bishops in the Church of England Unbroken. 1 See Turner's Rights and Privileges of the Christian Church Vindi- cated, chap. 5 ; and Bishop Sage's Reasonableness of Toleration, p. 209. 2 "We may observe, that, after our Saviour's resurrection, when He advanced the eleven to be Apostles, He did it in a most solemn manner : first breathing on them, and communicating to them the Holy Ghost ; and then, after He had assured them of His own authority, He gave them the power of the keys, and authority to exercise all the holy offices in the Christian Church, and to convey the same authority to others ; promising that He would be ' alway' with them and their successors, ' even to the end of the world,' and ratify and confirm what was done in their name, and agreeable to His commission. And by virtue of this commission the Apostles ordained many bishops with their own hands, and did actually leave all Christ- endom under episcopal government ; for no one Church can be pro- duced where episcopal government did not take place. The Armenian and Persian Churches in the East, those of Spain in the West, of Africa in the South, and of Great Britian in the North, submitted to SERMON I. 29 regular establishment of his Church upon earth, He appointed the eleven disciples, whom He had " or- dained," (John xv. 16.) and " named Apostles" (Luke vi. 13.) by way of distinction, to meet Him in a mountain in Galilee, for the purpose of deliver- ing His commission and directions to them on that subject. 3 "Then the eleven disciples," we read, (Matt, xxviii. 16, 20.) "went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth 4 ; bishops without exception. That bishops, therefore, should succeed wherever the Gospel did, cannot be accounted for any other way than that the Gospel and episcopacy came in upon the same Divine title. And the proof we have of all this is the universal testimony of those writers upon whose authority we admit the canon of Scripture. And therefore, those who admit the canon of Scripture upon the testimony of the Fathers, surely will not reject the very same testimony in the case of Church government. For certainly, whether bishops were superior to presbyters was a matter of fact full as notorious as whether such and such were the writings of the Apostles. Nay, I may say more notorious, for the superiority of bishops was visible to all ; no one Christian could be ignorant of it ; and therefore, there could be no need of a general council to define the form of Church government, as there was to settle the canon of Scripture." Tracts by a Non-juror. 3 Vide Dr. Richard Mocket's Politia Ecclesia Anglicance, cap. 5, and Saravia's Treatise on the Christian Priesthood, ch. 3. 4 " ' Go,' He says, ' and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them,' &c. . . . This commission of our Saviour we may properly style the charter of the Church ; and mind, I pray, what is con- tained in it. Our Saviour here declares the extent of His Church, and of what persons He would have it constituted. It was to extend throughout all the world, and to be made up of all nations. He here declares by whom He would have it built and constituted, viz. the 30 SERMON I. go ye, therefore, and teach (or, make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- manded you ; and lo ! I am with you alway, 5 even unto the end of the world." It is to be observed, that at this time our Saviour's disciples exceeded the number of five hundred. After His resurrection " He was seen of above five hundred brethren at Apostles. He here declares upon what grounds He would have it constituted, or upon what conditions any person was to be received into it, viz. their becoming the disciples of Jesus Christ, and under- taking to observe all that He has commanded. He here likewise declares the form or the method by which persons were to be admitted into this Church, and that was by being baptized in thejiame of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. And lastly, He here promises the perpetual presence of His Holy Spirit, both to assist the Apostles and their successors in the building and governing this Church, and to actuate and enliven all the members of it." Arch- bishop Sharp's Sermons, vol. vii. 5 " ' I am with you alway, unto the end of the world.' Yes, most certain it is, present by His Spirit ; or else in bodily presence He continued not with His Apostles, but during His abode on earth. And this promise of His spiritual presence was to their successors, else, why ' to the end of the world ?" The Apostles did not, could not live so long. But [then, to the successors the promise goes no farther than ' I am with you always,' which reaches to continual assistance, but not to Divine and infallible. " ' The Comforter, the Holy Ghost, shall abide with you for ever.' Most true again ; for the Holy Ghost did abide with the Apostles, according to Christ's promise thus made, and shall abide with their successors for ever, to comfort and preserve them." Laud's Conference with Fisher, 16. 29. See also Dr. Featley's Sixteen Reasons for Episcopal Government. SERMON I. 31 once." (1 Cor. xv. 16.) But our Saviour did not deliver the commission for administering the sacra- ments of the Church to His disciples at large, but only to His Apostles, 6 and to them not by accident, but it should seem by express design ; in the first instance, at His last supper : "I appoint unto you a kingdom," said our Lord to the eleven, (Luke xxii. 29.) " as my Father hath appointed unto me." And again, in administering the bread and the cup, He said, "This do in remembrance of me." (Luke xxii. 19.) And in the second, when, in consequence of a particular appointment to meet Him in Galilee, after his resurrection, He delivered to them His final commission to " baptize all nations." Now G " The twelve, not the seventy, were the continual and domestical hearers of all His sermons, and beholders of all His wonders, as chosen to witness His doctrine, doings, and sufferings to the world ; the twelve, and no more, were present when He did institute His last supper, and they alone heard and had those heavenly prayers and promises which then He made. To the eleven, apart from the rest, was given in Mount Olivet the commission to ' teach all nations,' (Matt. ch. xxviii. 16 19.); and look how God sent His Son, so sent He them as Apostles, that is, ' Ambassadors 1 from His side ; not only to preach the truth, and plant the Church throughout the world, but in His name to command those that believed in all cases of faith and good manners ; to set an order amongst them in all things needful for the government, continuance, peace, and unity of the Church ; sharply to rebuke, and reject from the society of the faithful, such as resisted or disobeyed ; to commit the Churches to sound and sincere teachers and overseers ; to stop the mouths of those that taught things they should not, for filthy lucre sake; and to deliver them to Satan that persisted in their impieties or blasphemies." Bishop Bilson's Perpetual Government of Christ's Church, ch. v. Edit. 1610. See also Saravia's Treatise on the Christian Priesthood, ch iv. 32 SERMON I. the granting a commission manifestly implies, that none but those to whom it has been delivered, have authority to act in that business for which the com- mission has been granted, otherwise the commission would be an useless form. 7 Christ, therefore, by making choice of only eleven out of the whole num- ber of His disciples, intended, it is presumed, that the business which He authorized them to do, should not be performed by every one that might think proper to take upon himself to execute it. 8 It is to be remarked further, that the tenor of the commis- sion delivered to the Apostles seems purposely cal- culated to provide against, and thereby render unnecessary, all self -constituted authority in the 7 " Here I cannot choose but apply the complaint of our Saviour, (John v. 43,) ' If any come in the name of Christ,' that is, by a com- mission from Him derived down all the way by regular ordination, ' him ye will not receive' ; nay, though he be otherwise a man without exception, either as to his life and conversation, or as to his gifts and sufficiency for the ministry, you make this his commission an objection against him ; for that reason alone you will not accept him. But if another come ' in his own name,' that is, with no commission but what he has from himself, his own opinion of his own worthiness, ' giving out that himself is some great one,' (Acts viii. 9,) him ye will receive, and follow and admire him ; ' heaping to yourselves teachers, having itching ears,' as it was prophesied of these most degenerate times, (2 Tim. iv. 3.") Leslie's Works, vol. vii. p. 111. s See St. Luke vi. 12, 13; St. Mark iii. 13, 14; St. Matt. x. 1 ; xxviii. 16, 19, 20; St. John xx. 21, 22. This important point the reader will find particularly made out and insisted on, in Archbishop Potter's Discourse on Church Government, ch. ii. p. 45, et seq., and ch. iii. p. 61, et seq; and Saravia's Treatise on the Christian Priesthood, ch. 18,19. SERMON I. 33 Church. " As my Father hath sent me," said Christ, "so send I you," &c. (John xx. 21.) ; according to the common import of which words, as well as the received sense of them in the Catholic Church, our Saviour is to be understood as if He had said : " With the same power and authority that my Father sent me into the world to constitute and govern my Church, I send you and your successors for the further advancement of the same Divine purpose ; and, lo ! my Spirit shall accompany the regular administration of the office even to the end of the world. As, therefore, in consequence of the mission 9 received from my Father, I send you, so, 9 " Our blessed Lord Himself would not take upon Him to minister in holy things between God and man, till He was particularly and externally commissioned by God for that purpose. For notwithstand- ing He was full of the Holy Ghost ; notwithstanding His manhood was inseparably united to the second Person of the most glorious Trinity, whereby He was more than sufficient, nay, infinitely gifted for such a purpose ; and notwithstanding the great necessities and consequent miseries of all mankind, which were continually wanting His undertaking to administer for them in things pertaining to God ; yet He kept Himself in His private station for about thirty years together, and would not take upon Himself so high an office, till He received His commission and inauguration thereinto from the hands of a prophet [John the Baptist] who baptized Him, to fulfil this part of righteousness and justice, viz. of not taking upon Himself to be a minister of the new covenant without a special warrant from God, by the mediation of one who was by Him appointed to convey this power and authority to Him. And then we find, that God Himself ordained Him, by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon Him in a visible glory, and by an audible voice from heaven, saying, ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,' confirming His great commission ; and that from thenceforward (and not before) He pro- D 34 SERMON I. by virtue of the mission received from me, you have authority to send others, for the purpose of carrying on and perpetuating the plan which I have adopted for the regular administration of the affairs of my kingdom, even to the end of the world." The government committed to the Apostles was, there- fore, of the same nature with that of Christ ; for thus He declares to them, " I appoint to you a king- dom, as my Father hath appointed unto me." The keys of the kingdom of heaven Christ received from ceeded in the execution of it. From that time He preached and taught, gave His Apostles order to baptize and preach, wrought miracles Himself, and gave others power to do so likewise, for the confirmation of his doctrine, &c.* Now what could be the reason of our Saviour's thus long desisting from the performances of such beneficial offices ? Why did not compassion itself, the blessed Jesus, then personally among them, undertake their speedy rescue ? Doubt- less it was because He had not received His commission from His Father. So that if our Lord's example may be allowed in this case to be conclusive, it is plain that not all the gifts imaginable, nor all the pressing necessities that may be pleaded, can ever of themselves give sufficient warrant to minister authoritatively for men, in things per- taining to God, when those are of such a nature as that a commission from Him must be obtained by the person who undertakes to ad- minister ; and that therefore such a person ought to be duly com- missioned for such administrations." Beauty of the Church of England. * Morinus has a very beautiful and curious remark to this purpose ; " The most high God," says he, " came down to Mount Sinai, and conse- crated Moses ; Moses laid his hands upon Aaron ; Aaron upon his sons ; his sons successively upon those that followed them until John the Baptist ; John the Baptist laid his hands upon our Saviour ; our Saviour upon his Apostles ; his Apostles on the Bishops that succeeded them ; and they ever since on those who are admitted into holy orders." See Morinus, de Or- dinationibtis Maronitarum. SERMON I. 35 God ; by virtue of which grant, He had power to remit sins on earth. These same keys, with the power which belonged to them, were delivered by Christ to His Apostles 1 in these words, " Whose- soever sins ye remit, they are remitted ; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained," (John xx. 23.) " The Father," we read, " committed all judgment unto the Son." (John v. 22.) And our Lord promised that, "when the Son of man" "shall sit on the throne of His glory," the twelve Apostles should " sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Matt. xix. 28.) Hence it is, that the Apostles are represented as constituting part of the foundation on which the Christian Church was built. " The wall of the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God," the Spirit describes as having twelve foundations, and in them " the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb." (Rev. xxi. 10, 14.) And St. Paul told the Ephesians, that they were "the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus ' " Christ promised the keys to St. Peter (Matt. xvi. 19). True ; but so did He to all the rest of the Apostles (Matt, xviii. 18, John xx. 23), and to their successors as much as to his. ... St. Augustine is plain, 'If this were said only of St. Peter, then the Church hath no power to do it,' which God forbid ! The keys, therefore, were given to St. Peter and the rest in a figure of the Church, to whose power, and for whose use, they were given. But there is not one key in all that bunch, that can let in St. Peter's successor to a ' more powerful principality' universal, than the successors of the other Apostles had." Laud's Conference with Fisher, 25. 15. D 2 36 SERMON I. Christ Himself being the chief corner stone." (Eph. ii. 19, 20.) I repeat, then, that the testimony of Scripture and antiquity abundantly proves the neces- sity of a Divine commission,* in order to minister rightly in the Christian Church. 2 " There is, moreover, required a sacerdotal qualification, that is, an outward commission, to authorize a man to execute any sacerdotal or ministerial act of religion ; for ' this honour no man taketh uuto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an high priest ; but He that said unto Him, Thou art my Son Thou art a priest,' &c. (Heb. v. 4 6). "Accordingly we find that Christ did not take upon Him the office of a preacher till after that outward commission, given to Him by a voice from heaven at His baptism ; for it is written (Matt. iv. 7), ' From that time Jesus began to preach ;' then He ' began ;' and He was then 'about thirty years of age' (Luke iii. 23). Now no man can doubt of Christ's qualifications before that time, as to holiness, sufficiency, and all personal endowments. And if all these were not sufficient to Christ Himself, without an outward commission, what other man can pretend to it, upon the account of any personal ex- cellences in himself, without an outward commission ? "And as Christ was outwardly commissionated by His Father, so did not He leave it to His disciples, to every one's opinion of his own sufficiency, to thrust himself into the vineyard, but chose twelve Apostles by name, and after them seventy others of an inferior order, whom He sent to preach. " And as Christ gave outward commissions while He was upon the earth, so we find that His Apostles did proceed in the same method after His ascension, (Acts xiv. 23,) ' They ordained them elders in every Church.' " But had they who were thus ordained by the Apostles power to ordain others? Yes. (Tit. i. 5. 1 Tim. v. 22.) 'For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest ordain elders in every city.' 'Lay hands suddenly on no man,' &c. St. Clement, in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, writing concerning the schism which was then risen up amongst them, says, par. 44, that 'The Apostles, SERMON I. 37 We may then next enquire, who may be said to have this Divine commission ? And here I shall not hesitate to affirm, that none but those who are or- dained by such as we now commonly call bishops, 3 foreknowing there would be contests concerning the episcopal name (or office), did themselves appoint the persons.' And not only so, lest that might be said to be of force only during their time ; but that they ' afterwards established an order how, when those whom they had ordained should die, others, fit and approved men, should succeed them in their ministry ;' par. 43. that ' they who were entrusted with this work by God, in Christ, did constitute these officers.' " Leslie's Works, vol. vii. p. 100, &c. See also Dodwell's Separation of Churches from Episcopal Government proved SchismaticaL Edit. 1679, ch. 18, 19, 20, &c., and Barwick's Treatise on the Church, part i. ch. 2 3. 3 To the question, " Who were the Apostles' successors in that power which concerned the governing those Churches which they had planted ?" Dr. Hammond replies, " I answer, that it being a matter of fact or story, later than that the Scripture can universally reach to it, cannot be fully satisfied or answered from thence, any further than the persons of Timothy or Titus, &c., and the several angels of the Churches in the Apocalypse, (who are acknowledged by all the ancients to be single persons that had power over all others in those Churches,) but will, in the full latitude throughout the universal Church in those times, be made clear from the next evi- dences that we have, viz. from the consent of the Greek and Latin fathers, who generally resolve that bishops are those successors. This I shall not be so unreasonable as to attempt to prove at large through the writings of those 'fathers, but content myself with one or two of the first of them." Of the Power of the Keys, chap. iii. See also Bishop Bilson's Perpetual Government of Christ's Church, p. 258, and Lowth on the Subject of Church Power, ch. 4. I would refer the reader to A Brief Account of Ancient Church Government, by Abraham Woodhead, of which work Dr. Hickes remarks "I have taken occasion to mention the Book of antient Church Government, to invite all true friends, and sons of the Church of England to read it, especially the younger Clergy, who may 38 SERMON I. can have any authority 4 to minister in the Christian Church ; for that the power of ordination is solely conferred upon that order, 5 can be proved from the institution of our Saviour, and the constant practice of the Apostles. That the power of ordination con- ferred upon the Apostles was of Divine institution, 6 please to take notice, that by others in the title page, the author principally meant Dr. Stillingfleet in his Irenicum. The chief of whose arguments against the unalterable Divine Right of Episcopacy he hath fully answered without naming the learned Author. The reader indeed will find by some expressions in the book, that the Author was of the Roman Communion ; but as learned men of that Church have written most excellently in defence of many articles of the faith, so hath he written with no less learning, judgment, and strength of reasoning in defence of the Government of the Catholic Church." Preface to the Divine Right of Episcopacy asserted, Page 5. It is hardly necessary to add that Stillingfleet wrote the Irenicum when only 24 years of age ; that he subsequently confessed " there are many things in it, if he were to write again, he would not say ; some which shew his youth and want of due consideration ; others, which he yielded too far, in hopes of gaining the Dissenting parties to the Church of England ;" and that he maintains the Divine Right of Episcopacy in many of his subsequent works. See Several Con- ferences between a Romish Priest, a Fanatick Chaplain, p. 148. The Unreasonableness of Separation, part 3rd., and Ecclesiastical Cases. Vol. 1. See also Bishop Taylor's Episcopacy Asserted, sects. 4. 6 ; and Dodwell on Schisin, ch. 9, Edit. 1679. 4 " It was the general received persuasion of the ancient Christian world," says Hooker, "that Ecclesia est in Episcopo, the outward being of a Church consisted in the having of a bishop ; insomuch that they did not account it to be a Church which was not subject unto a bishop." See Dodwell on Schism ch. 19, Edit. 1679, and Jackson's Dissertation on Episcopacy. 5 See Leslie, vol. vii. p. 177. See also Bishop Bilson's Perpetual Government of Chrisfs Church, p. 248. 6 See Bishop Taylor's Episcopacy Asserted, sect. 9 ; and Bishop Skinner's Primitive Truth and Order Vindicated, ch. 2, pp. 112 342. SERMON I. 39 I suppose no one will question who reads these words of our Saviour to them after His resurrection, " As my Father sent me, so send I you ;" (John xx. 21.) and, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world;" (Matt, xxviii. 20.) For from hence it is evident, 1st, That it was by a Divine commission that our Saviour 7 ordained His Apostles. 2ndly, That by virtue of the same com- mission tbe Apostles were at that time empowered 8 ' " This Government was, by immediate substitution, delegated to the Apostles by Christ Himself, in traditione clavium, in spiratione Spiritus, in missione in Peniecoste. When Christ promised them the ' keys,' He promised them ' power to bind and loose ;' when He breathed on them the Holy Ghost, He gave them that actually to which, by the former promise, they were entitled ; and in the octaves of the passion, He gave them the same authority which He had received from His Father, and they were the 'faithful and wise stewards, whom the Lord made rulers over His household.' But I shall not labour much upon this. Their founding all the Churches from east to west, and so by being fathers deriving their authority from the nature of the thing ,- their appointing rulers in every Church ; their synodal decrees de suffocate et sanguine, and letters missive to the Churches of Syria and Cilicia ; their excommunications of Hymeneus and Alexander, and the incestuous Corinthian ; their commanding and requiring obedience of their people in all things, as St. Paul did of his subjects of Corinth, and the Hebrews, by precept apostolical ; their threatening the pastoral rod ; their calling synods and public assemblies ; their ordering rites and ceremonies ; composing a symbol as the tessera of Christianity ; their public reprehension of delinquents ; and indeed, the whole execution of their apostolate is one continued argument of their superintendence and superiority of jurisdiction." Bishop Taylor's Episcopacy asserted, sect. 2. 8 This power, so delegated, was not to expire with their persons ; for when the great Shepherd had reduced His wandering sheep into a fold, He would not leave them without 'guides to govern' them, 40 SERMON I. to ordain others ; and Srdly, That this commission to ordain was always 9 to continue in the Christian so long as the wolf might possibly prey upon them, and that is till the last separation of the sheep from the goats. And this Christ intimates in that promise, " Ero vobiscum ( Apostolis) usque ad consummationem seculi" Voliscum, not with your persons, for they died long ago ; but vobiscum et vestri similibus, with Apostles to the end of the world. And therefore, that the apostolate might be suc- cessive and perpetual, Christ gave them a power of ordination, that by imposing hands on others, they might impart that power which they received from Christ. For in the Apostles there was something extraordinary, something ordinary. Whatsoever was extraordinary, as ' immediate mission, unlimited jurisdiction, and miraculous opera- tions,' that was not necessary to the perpetual regiment of the Church, for then the Church should fail when these privileges extraordinary did cease. It was not, therefore, in extraordinary powers and privileges that Christ promised His perpetual assistance ; not in speaking of tongues ; not in doing miracles, whether in materia censurte, as delivering to Satan ; or in materia misericordiee, as healing sick people ; or in re natural^ as in resisting the venom of vipers, and quenching the violence of flames; in these Christ did not promise perpetual assistance, for then it had been done, and still these signs should have followed them that believe. But we see they do not. It follows, then, that in all the ordinary parts of power and office, Christ did promise to be with them to the end of the world ; and therefore there must remain a power of giving faculty and capacity to persons successively, for the execution of that in which Christ promised perpetual assistance. For since this perpetual assistance could not be meant of abiding with their persons, who, in a few years, were to forsake the world, it must needs be understood of their function, which either it must be succeeded to, or else it was as temporary as their persons ; but in the extraordinary privileges of the Apostles they had no successors ; therefore of necessity must be constituted in the ordinary office of apostolate. Now what is this ordinary office ? Most certainly since the extraordinary, as is evident, was only a help for the founding and beginning, the other are such as are necessary for the perpetuating of a Church. Now in clear SERMON I. 41 Church, and to remain in such hands l as the Apos- tles should convey it to. 2 All this, I say, is evi- evidence of sense, these offices and powers are ' preaching, baptizing, consecrating, ordaining, and governing.' For these were necessary for the perpetuating of a Church, unless men could be Christians that were never christened, nourished up to life without the eucharist, become priests without calling of God and ordination, have their sins pardoned without absolution, be members, and parts, and sons of a Church, whereof there is no coadunation, no authority, no governor. These the Apostles had without all question ; and whatsoever they had, they had from Christ ; and these were eternally necessary ; these, then, were the offices of the apostolate, which Christ promised to assist for ever, and this is that which we now call the order and office of Episcopacy." Bishop Taylor's Episcopacy Asserted, sect. 3. 9 "It is clear in Scripture, that the Apostles did some acts of ministry which were necessary to be done for ever in the Church, and, therefore, to be committed to their successors." Again, " Im- position of hands is a duty and office necessary for the perpetuating of a Church, ne gens sit unius atatis, ' lest it expire in one age.' This power of imposition of hands for ordination, was fixed upon the Apostles and apostolic men, and not communicated to the seventy-two disciples or presbyters ; for the Apostles and apostolic men did so de facto, and were commanded to do so, and the sevent} r -two never did so. Therefore this office and ministry of the apostolate is distinct and superior to that of presbyters ; and the distinction must be so continued to all ages of the Church ; for the thing was not temporary, but productive of issue and succession ; and, therefore, as perpetual as the clergy, as the Church itself."--Bishop Taylor's Episcopacy Asserted, sect. 7. 1 Bp. Taylor's Episcopacy Asserted, sect. 4. 2 "Here I know it will be said, that I confound Apostles and the Chief Bishops together, and Evangelists and inferior Bishops ; whereas Apostles and Evangelists were extraordinary callings, and ceased with themselves. Ansicer. Truly this mistake is the cause of all our dissenting, one from another, in this point ; for if we did hold the callings of Apostles 42 SERMON I. dent from these words, when duly considered and compared. And hence this conclusion naturally and Evangelists, to be appointed by Christ, to continue in the Chris- tian Church, for the Government thereof, until the end of the world, as they are indeed, this division that is amongst us had never been. And, therefore, I will endeavour, by God's grace, to prove, both by reason and scripture, that these callings are ordinary, and cannot without high sacrilege be cast out of God's Church. I will shew you, then, in what respects their calling was ordinary, and perpetually necessary for the government of the church, and for what respects it is called extraordinary. It is ordinary and perpetually necessary, in regard of that power which Christ conferred upon them, to preach the word and administer the Sacraments, and also in regard of the power of Absolution and Excommunication, Ordination, and Juris- diction spiritual, which our Saviour also granted unto them, as all men confess : and in regard of all those parts of the Episcopal Func- tion to be continued until the second coming of our Saviour ; and I think, no man should deny this neither. It is called extraordinary, for these respects following ; first, because they were extraordinary persons, not being of the Tribe of Levi, who had only ordinary power in those days to be instruments of God's public worship, and to serve at the altar. Next because their gifts were extraordinary ; for Christ, who was ' anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows,' and had the spirit in superabundance, He gave his Apostles an abundant measure of the Spirit ; but to after ages he imparted only a certain sufficiency, ' Grace for Grace.' Thirdly, the extent of their charge was extraordinary ; they were tied to no settled residence, but the whole world was their Diocese : ' Go ye into all the world,' saith our Saviour. Fourthly, the manner of their calling was extraor- dinary, without education, trial, or ordination. Fifthly, they had the infallibility of the Spirit ; in matters of Faith they could not err. And lastly, their calling was extraordinary, quoad ante, but not quoad post, even in respect of the ordinary parts of the Ministerial Function ; quoad ante, because the calling of churchmen in those days, was to offer up sacrifices unto God, of bullocks, rams, and lambs, and other creatures, and to burn incense unto him ; but so was not the calling of the Apostles ; their calling was to preach the Word SERMON I. 43 follows; Whoever has a power to ordain, must de- rive it from the commission which our Saviour re- and administer the Sacraments, open the gates of heaven to the peni- tent, and shut them upon the impenitent, &c. ; and so I may say their calling, in analogy to the Priests' calling under the law, is to offer up the sacrifice of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving to God, and to teach every man to present their bodies in a living holy and ac- ceptable sacrifice. Quoad post it was not extraordinary ; because Christ established that government for the Christian Church in all ages to come, or else none at all, for other we see not, but this is manifest : yea, our Saviour continued the Apostolical and Episcopal calling, in regard of the substance of it, in the full latitude of Apos- tolical authority ; and all this I will prove after this manner : And first, If the callings of the High Priest, Priests, and Levites, was not extra- ordinary, quoad post, in the days of Moses : then the callings of Apostles, Evangelists, and Deacons was not extraordinary, quoad post, in the days of Christ. But the first is true, and therefore the second. My second argument is this If the callings of the Apostles, 8fc. cannot be called extraordinary, quoad post, neither in regard of their extraordinary gifts, nor extraor- dinary manner of calling, nor the extent of their charge, nor their infal- libility of spirit, then it is not extraordinary at all, in regard of the time to come. But for none of these aforesaid respects, can their calling be called extraordinary, in regard of the time to come. And therefore it was not extraordinary, in regard of the time to come. Now I will prove by evidence of Scripture, That the calling of the Apostles was an ordinary calling, and to be continued until the second coming of our Saviour, with the same power and authority, both for ordination and jurisdiction, which they had themselves. My first testimony is in Matt, xxviii. 19, out of which I form this argument. They that were commanded to teach and baptise all nations until the end of the world, their calling was ordinary, and to continue until the end of the world. E 44 SERMON I, ceived from God and gave to his Apostles, and was by them conveyed to their successors. 3 The only But the Apostles were commanded to teach and baptise all Nations, until the end of the world. And therefore their calling was ordinary, and to continue until the end of the world. My second testimony is in Mark xvi. 15. The argument is this, They who were commanded by Christ to ' preach the Gospel to every creature? that is, to all men without exception, until the end of the world, their calling was ordinary, and to continue until the end of the world. But the Apostles were commanded by Christ to preach the Gospel to all men without exception, until the end of the world. And therefore their calling was ordinary, and to continue until the end of the world. My third testimony is in Matthew xviii. 18. and John xx. 23. The argument is thus, They to whom our Saviour Christ gave the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, their calling was ordinary, and to continue until the end of the world. But our Saviour Christ gave to his Apostles the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. And therefore their calling was ordinary, and to continue until the end of the world. The fourth testimony is in Matt, xxviii. 20, and John xiv. 16, The argument I frame thus They with whom Christ promised to ' be always until the end of the world', their calling was ordinary, and to continue until the end of the world. But Christ promised to be with his Apostles always until the end of the world. And therefore their calling was ordinary, and to continue until the end of the world. The fifth testimony is in Matthew v. 14. The argument is this, They whom Christ appointed only to be ' the light of the world 1 , their calling was ordinary, and to continue until the end of the world. But Christ appointed his Apostles to be the light of the ivorld. SERMON I. 45 way, then, to know in whose hands this commission is now lodged, is to enquire, what persons were ap- pointed to succeed 4 the Apostles in then* office. Now it is plain to any one who will read the Scrip- tures without prejudice, that there were three 5 distinct orders of ministers in the Christian Church, answering to those of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, to whom I have already alluded. I know, of course, that some have heen pleased to tell us, that And therefore their calling was ordinary, and to continue until the end of the world. The sixth testimony is in Matt. x. 40, and Luke x. 16. The argu- ment is this, Whomsoever all men are bound to hear and receive in Chrisfs stead, their calling was ordinary, and to be continued until the end of the world. But to hear and receive the Apostles in Chrisfs stead, all men are bound. And therefore the calling of the Apostles was ordinary, and to con- tinue until the end of the world. The seventh testimony is in Matt. xxiv. 42, and Mark xiii. 35. The argument is this, They who are commanded by watching and prayer to attend the second coming of our Saviour, their calling was ordinary, and to continue until the end of the world. But the Apostles were commanded by watching and prayer to attend the second coming of our Saviour. And therefore the Apostles' calling was ordinary, and to continue until the end of the world. Episcopal Government instituted by Christ, pp. 14 21, where the reader will see the above propositions defended and proved. 3 Hickes on The Dignity of the Episcopal Order, p. 190. 4 See Bingham's Antiquities, vol. i. p. 67. And Bishop Bilsou's Perpetual Government of Christ's Church, ch. 13. Edit. 1610. 5 Bingham, vol. i. pp. 51. 340. 46 SERMON I. Timothy 6 and Titus, 7 and others of the highest or- der, were extraordinary 91 officers in the Christian 6 " The common refuge of Dissenters, that are concerned for the unbishoping of Timothy, (to speak in Mr. Prynne's language,) is, that he was an extraordinary officer and Evangelist. He is expressly so styled, says Mr. Prynne. He is in direct terms called an Evangelist, say the Assembly of Divines ; and that he was so, says Smectymnuus, is clear from the letter of the text, 2 Tim. iv. 5. Yet neither in this place, nor in any other part of Scripture,* is that to be found which these men affirm with so much confidence. " If it had been intended that the authority committed to Timothy and others of his rank should be temporary, either this may appear from the nature of the thing, or it might have been expected that we should have had some notice of it in the Scripture. For if we may take the liberty, without any grounds, to fasten on it the title of temporary or extraordinary, we may by the same means soon put an end to any constitutions whatsoever. But there is nothing in the nature of this authority that may hinder its continuance ; nothing in the Scripture that declares it to be abrogated. We may conclude, therefore, that as it is fit to be continued, so it was designed to be so in all succeeding times. " We have no reason to believe that St. Paul would alter his own constitutions without a cause ; or that, without any necessity, he would put the government of a church into a new model, and divert the course of discipline from that channel in which it ought to run in all ages. If therefore he sent Timothy as an extraordinary com- missioner to interpose in the affairs of Ephesus, we may suppose this to have been either, 1. Because there was some extraordinary work, which none but extraordinary officers could perform ; or 2, Because there were no ministers at Ephesus, or such only as were unfit for government. But neither of these can well be imagined. Not the first, for the work was no other than what hath or might have been performed by Bishops ever since. Not the second, for there were * See A Brief Account of Ancient Church Government, partiv. ch. i iii. and Burscough on Episcopacy, p. 115. SERMON I. 47 Church, and so of temporary institution only , but I would fain enquire who told them so ? 9 Certainly presbyters at Ephesus of eminent gifts, such as the Holy Ghost had made Overseers. It seems improbable then, that these were con- stituted supreme standing rulers of the Church, or that the work for which they were so well qualified was so soon taken out of their hands. " Particularly it seems improbable, either that they had the power of ordination, or that it would have been transferred from them to a stranger who came to visit them, but was not of their number, and that without any ground or reason given, or any notice taken of them, as concerned in the matter." Burscough on JSpiscopacy, pp. 114. 125. 7 " It is sufficient, that he (Titus) was a pastor of many Churches, and had authority over their presbyters and deacons. For if this be true, it strikes at the root of the Presbyterian and Independent opinions about Church Government. And I know not what can be said in vindication of them, unless it be that he was an extra- ordinary officer. This you insist on, and to prove it you tell me he was an Evangelist. But the Scripture says of him no such thing. From the Scripture indeed we learn, that Philip was an Evangelist, and yet he wanted power either to confirm those that were baptized, or to ordain officers by imposition of hands. But Titus could perform the last of these, which was the greater ; and consequently he was something more than an Evangelist, and could be no less than an Apostle, or a Bishop. But, that he may be reckoned amongst the pastors extraordinary, you likewise urge, that he was only left in Crete, as the deputy or the delegate of the Apostle, and that but for a time, till he should have established Churches in every city, and organized them with elders ; which having done, you say, it is very probable that he returned again to St. Paul, to give an account of that affair, and then you think his commission expired. Not that you have read any such thing of him in Scripture : but since he was obliged to act as the Apostle had appointed, from hence you collect, that his deputation was but temporary : and you might as well have concluded, that since it was the duty of presbyters and deacons to walk as the same Apostle appointed, according to the rules he gave for their conversation, their offices also were temporary, and designed 48 SERMON 1. not the voice of antiquity, which directly refutes 1 their groundless assertion. To quote the language for no long continuance." Burscough on Episcopacy, p. 140. See also Saravia's Treatise on the Christian Priesthood, chap. 2. 8 " Now it remaineth to prove that the Bishops succeeded in place of the Apostles, and in place of Evangelists inferior Presbyters ; and I will begin with this argument. Either Bishops are the Successors of the Apostles, or the Apostles have no Successors at all. But that the Apostles have no Successors at all, it is false, as I have in my judgment unanswerably proved. And therefore Bishops are their Successors, for I have proved also that Presbyters cannot be their Successors. My next argument is this : Timothy and Titus were Bishops. Timothy and Titus succeeded unto the Apostles. And therefore Bishops succeeded to the Apostles. I prove the proposition by this argument, that is, that Timothy and Titus were bishops. They whose calling was ordinary, and had the power of Ordination and Jurisdiction over Presbyters, were Bishops. But Timothy and Titus their calling was ordinary, and had the power of Ordination and Jurisdiction over Presbyters. And therefore Timothy and Titus were Bishops. The proposition will be granted, I prove the assumption ; and first that Timothy's and Titus' calling was ordinary. They who had only the ordinary parts of the ministerial Function, their calling was ordinary. But Timothy and Titus had only the ordinary parts of the ministerial Function. And therefore the calling of Timothy and Titus was ordinary. The proposition will be granted ; I prove the assumption ; They who had only power to preach the word and administer the Sacraments, $~c. had only the ordinary parts of the ministerial Function. But Timothy and Titus had only power to preach the icord, and ad- minister the Sacraments, S,-c. SERMON I. 49 of Stillingfleet, "They who go about to unbishop 2 Timothy and Titus, may as well unscripture the And therefore Timothy and Titus had only the ordinary parts of the ministerial Function. I prove the assumption thus ; Tim. and Tit. had neither the gift of Miracles, nor the gift of Prophecy, nor the gift of Tongues, nor the gift of Healing, nor any extraordinary gift at all, for any thing we read ; neither were they infallibly guided by the Spirit ; for if they had had the infallible assistance of the Spirit, the Apostle Paul would not have been so earnest to exhort them to do their duty in their calling ; Timothy is exhorted to ' war a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience,' 1 Tim. i. 18, 19, and to be 'an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity,' 1 Tim. iv. 12, and to ' give attendance to reading, to ex- hortation, to doctrine, and meditation,' and ' not to neglect the gift that was given him by prophecy,' 1 Tim. iv. 13, 14, 15. Titus had also the like exhortations; so that it is most certain, neither of them had the spirit of infallibility, nor no extraordinary gift of the Spirit, but only the ordinary parts of the ministerial functions, and consequently their calling was ordinary. Next I prove their calling was ordinary by this argument. They whose calling was by education, trial, and ordination, their calling was ordinary. But Timothy and Titus, their calling was by education, trial, and ordination. And therefore their calling was ordinary. The proposition needs no probation ; for they who were called to be preachers of the gospel, by ordinary means, without all question their calling was ordinary ; for Timothy it is clear, for he had his education under his grandmother Lois, and his mother Eunice ; he was tried by the Apostle, and he had the approbation and commen- dation of the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium, before he would receive him in his company ; thereafter he had his breeding, for a greater progress in knowledge, under the Apostle Paul, before he was made a Presbyter, much more before he was made a Bishop ; for this cause Paul saith to him, ' Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which F 50 SERMON 1. Epistles that were written to them, and make them only some particular and occasional writings, as they is in Christ Jesus ;' as for his ordination, it is without all question most clear and evident ; all this also may be said of Titus, and there- fore I conclude both their callings to be ordinary, Titus' calling as well as Timothy's. Thirdly, I prove their calling to be ordinary by this argument. That calling which was to continue until the end of the world was an ordinary calling. But Timothy and Titus calling was to continue until the end of the world. And therefore Timothy and Titus calling was an ordinary calling. I prove the assumption That which was to be propagated until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the persons of Timothy and Titus successors, was to con- tinue until the end of the world. But Timothy and Titus calling was to be propagated in the persons of Timothy and Titus successors, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore Timothy and Titus calling was to continue until the end of the world. The proposition will be granted, I prove the assumption ; That which must be kept until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, must be propagated by Timothy and Titus successors until his appearing. But the calling of Timothy and Titus, (in all the particular parts of it,) must be kept until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore their calling was to be propagated in the persons of their Successors until his appearing. The proposition is evident, because the parts of the ministerial function cannot be otherwise kept, but by propagation : and for this cause the Apostle commands Timothy to propagate. 2 Tim. ii. 2. ' The things that thou hast heard of me (saith he) before many wit- nesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.' The assumption is also manifest by that strict charge which he giveth unto Timothy in the latter end of the first epistle, chap. vi. 13, 14. ' I charge thee (saith he) in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate wit- SERMON I. 51 make Timothy and Titus to have been only some particular and occasional officers. But the Chris- nessed a good confession, that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Now this commandment that he would have Timothy to keep, doth comprehend all the particulars contained in his Epistle, both concerning Doctrine and Government, and in particular the whole parts of the Episcopal function, which is most obvious to any reader, and so still my conclusion stands good, That the catting of Timothy and Titus is to be propagated in the persons of their Successors until the second coming of our Saviour, and consequently their calling was an ordinary calling. Episcopal Government instituted by Christ pp. 23-9. 9 " Adversarii earn potestatem quam Episcopalem dicimus, Tito atque Timotheo, non ut Ephesiorum at Cretensinm Episcopis, sed ut evangelistis concessam volunt. Per evangelistas autem intelligunt extraordinarios quosdam nascentis Ecclesia; Christi uiinistros, Apostolis dignitate et authoritate proximos, quorum opera Apostoli in Evangelic praedicando fundandisque ecclesiis ntebantur ; in quo quidem munere successores non habuerint, nee habere debuerint. Primo, quodnam fuerit eorum munus quos S. Paulus a Christo ecclesise evangelistas datos esse testatur, neque ex Scriptura, neque aliunde certo constat. Sed si Pseudo-Atnbrosio aeque in omnibus fidem habeant adversarii, quod viros ingenuous deceret, non infra Episcopatum modo, sed Presbyteratum quoque subsidebat. ' Evangelists (inquit ad cap. iv. Epist. ad Ephes.) Diaconi snnt, sicutfuit Philippus. Qitamvis non sint Sacerdotes, Evangelizare tamen possunt sine Cathedra, quemadmodum et Stephanm et Philippus memoratus? Quod si verum est, vides quam nihil ad rem effugium illud de Timotheo et Tito Evangelistis. Secundo, non magis constat Titum ac Timotheum fuisse ex eorum ministrorum numero. Nihil enim ex Scripturis afferri solet ad munus illud Tito asserendum. Et quse verba de Timotheo in earn rem afferuntur, scilicet, efyoi/ ire(i)trtv IvayyehiffTu (2 Tim. iv. 5) non magis evincunt eum fuisse Evangelistam non autem Episcopum, quam hsec ibidem immediate sequentia, TI Siaxoviav ir aura ^/50TC>)&iVTf i tint 8>jirOTt a&yuw y.Krjfu. f Cone. Chalc.Act. 11. J Condi. Hisp. ii. c. 5. Dist. xxiii. c. 14. SERMON I. 67 this power of regulating divine service, 6 necessarily implies the chief power of administering the sacra- able to distinguish. But let us hear more particularly his grave censure of this Council ; ' What a toy was it for the Council of Seville in Spain to reverse the ordination,' &c. What a boy is this, (might these Fathers say), that presumeth thus to censure us ? Was not Isidor, the Archbishop of Seville, the president of this Council, and author of these Canons, one of the most learned of the writers which have been in the Church within this thousand years ? Was not this Council held against the hereticks called Acephali, and did it not learnedly and judiciously confute them? Did these grave Fathers toy, when by grave censures they sought to preserve the discipline and Canons of the Church, to maintain the lawful authority of Bishops, and to prevent the presumptuous usurpation of Presbyters, contrary to the Canons of the Church ? Had not the ancient Council of * Orange decreed. ' That if any Bishop should by any infirmity or weakness, either fall into the dulness of his senses, (as this Bishop did,) or lose the faculty of speech, he should not suffer Presbyters, (as this Bishop also did,) under his presence, to do those things which are not done, but by Bishops ; but that he should call for a Bishop, to whom he may commit that which is to be done in the Church /" The testimony of Si. Jerome, in favour of the superiority of Bishops over Presbyters in potestate ordinis, is given in the words of Dr. Downame in a previous note (see page 59, note 3.) For that of Epiphanius, I must refer the reader to the Defence, p. 94, book iii. c. 4, sect. 17. 5 " The primitive Church expressing the calling and offices of a bishop, did it in terms of presidency and authority. Episcopus typum Dei Patris omnium gerit, saith St. Ignatius, 'the bishop carries the representment of God the Father,' that is, in power and authority, to be sure, (for how else ?) so as to be the supreme in suo ordine, ' in offices ecclesiastical.' And again, Quid enim aliud est episcopus (juam is, qui omni principatu et potestate superior est ? Here his superiority and advantage is expressed to be in his ' power ;' ' a bishop is greater and higher than all other in power,' viz. in mater ia, or gradu religionis. And in his Epistle to the Magnesians : Hortor ut hoc sit omnibus * Cone. Arausican, c, 29. 68 SERMON I. ments ; 7 a power conferred immediately upon the Apostles by Christ Himself; the one at the last studium, in Dei concordid omnia agere, episcopo prcesidente loco Dei : ' Do all things in unity, the bishop being president in the place of God.' ' President' in all things. And with a fuller tide yet, in his Epistle to the Church of Smyrna : Honora episcopum, ut principem sacerdotum imaginem Dei referentem, Dei quidem propter principatum, Christi vero propter sacerdotium. It is full of fine expression, both for eminence of order and jurisdiction. The bishop is ' the prince of the priests, bearing the image of God for his principality,' that is, his jurisdiction and power ; but ' of Christ Himself for his priesthood,' that is, his order. St. Ignatius hath spoken fairly ; and if we consider that he was so primitive a man that himself saw Christ in the flesh, and lived a man of exemplary sanctity, and died a martyr, and hath been honored as a holy catholic by all posterity, certainly these testimonies must needs be of great pressure, being sententice repetiti dogmatic, not casually slipped from him and by incogitancy, but resolutely and frequently " But the instances of this kind are infinite ; two may be as good as twenty, and these they are. The first is of St. Ambrose : Honor et sublimitas episcopalis nullis poterit comparationibus adcequari; 'The honour and sublimity of episcopal order is beyond all comparison great.' And their commission he specifies to be in pasce oves meas ; unde regpndcB sacerdotibus contraduntur, merito rectoribus suis subdi dicuntur, &c. ; ' The sheep are delivered to bishops as to rulers, and are made their subjects ;' and in the next chapter, Hcec vero cuncta, fratres, ideo nos prcemisisse cognoscere debetis, ut ostenderemus nihil esse in hoc sceculo excellentius sacerdotibus, nihil sublimius episcopis reperiri : ut cum dignitatem episcopatus episcoporum oraculis demon- stramus, et digne noscamus quid sumus, actione potius quam nomine demonstremus ; ' These things I have said, that you may know nothing is higher, nothing more excellent than the dignity and eminence of a bishop,' &c. The other is of St. Jerome : Cura totius ecclesios ad episcopum pertinet ; ' The care of the whole Church appertains to the bishop.' But more confidently spoken is that in his dialogue adversus Luciferianos : Ecclesice salus in summi sacerdotis dignitate pendet ; cui si non exsors qucedam et ab omnibus eminens detur SERMON I. 69 supper, " Do this," that is, administer the Lord's supper, for that was the act in which our Saviour potestaS) tot in ecclesiis efficientur schismata quot sacerdotes ; ' The safety of the Church consists in the dignity of a bishop, to whom, unless an eminent and unparalleled power be given by all, there will be as many schisms as priests.' " Here is dignity and authority and power enough expressed ; and if words be expressive of things, (and there is no other use of them,) then the bishop is superior in a peerless and incomparable authority ; and all the whole diocese are his subjects, viz. in regimine spirituali." Bishop Taylor's Episcopacy Asserted, sect. 34. Again, " What the authority of Bishops was iu the primitive Church in respect of government, (writes Dr. Downame), I will first shew absolutely, and then by way of comparison with Presbyters. What the au9evra, as the Council of Carthage (C.Carth.Grce. ch. 68,) calleth the authority of Bishops, was, may first appear by this, that they were accounted the governors and rulers of the Churches, meaning thereby Dioceses. For though there were many ministers, who were Angels, Pastors, Bishops, yet there was but one in every church, which was the Angel, the Pastor, the Bishop, the governor of the Church ; bearing, as Ignatius saith, the sway of authority above and over them all. (Ignat. ad. Trail.) But I delight to hear Jerome, the only pretended patron of the Disciplinarians ; who confesseth, as we have heard, (contra Lucifer.) that of necessity a peerless power and eminent above all, is to be attributed to Bishops, and that the safety of the Church dependeth thereon. He therefore, in his commentary upon Esay, chap. 60, v. 17, reading according to the Septuagint, (Hier. 1 Esa. 60. ) ' I will give thy Princes in peace, and thy Bishops in righteousness,' saith, ' Herein the majesty of the Holy Scriptures is to be admired, which calleth, principes futuros Ecclesice, Episcopos, the Princes or Rulers, which should be of the Church, Bishops ; whose visitation is all in peace, and the name of their dignity,' (meaning their superintendence,) ' in righteousness.' And on those words of the 45th Psalm (Hier. in Pxa. 45.) ' Instead of Fathers children shall be borne unto thee,' ' O Church (saith he) the Apostles were thy Fathers, for they begat thee. Now, forasmuch as they are gone out of the world, thou hast Bishops who were borne 70 SERMON 1. was engaged, " Do this in remembrance of me ;" the other after His resurrection, " Go ye, and teach of thee. For these also are thy Fathers, because thou art governed of them.' And on the words following ' Whom thou shalt make Princes in all the earth,' 'for (saith he) in the name of God the gospel is spread in all ends of the world, in which Principes Ecclesice, id est, Episcopi, the princes of the Church, that is to say, the Bishops, are placed. 1 On which words Augustine also doth comment to the like purpose. ' Instead of the Apostles, sons are borne to thee, Bishops are ordained ; think not thyself forsaken, because thou seest not Peter and Paul who begat thee ; of thine own issue is sprung a fatherhood; Agnoscant qui prcecisi sunt; veniant ad unitatem, &c. Let them which are precise, or cut off by schism, acknowledge it, and come unto unity. The Church hath borne sons, and instead of her fathers, hath made them princes over all the earth ;' (Aug. in Psal. 45) Optatus likewise calleth the Bishops ' apices et principes omnium? (Lib. 2 advers. Parmen.}" Bishop Downame, having quoted the Council of Carthage and other authorities, again adduceth Jerome. " But what saith Jerome ? He having intreated of the other degrees of the Clergy, at the last cometh to intreat de prcecipuo gradu Ecclesice, of the chief degree of the Church, qui ordo episcopalis est, which is the order of Bishops ; the power whereof he setteth down in these words ; ' He ordaineth Priests and Levites,' that is Presbyters and Deacons, &c. He governeth the Church of God ; he showeth what every one ought to do ; he condemneth, he receiveth, he bindeth, he looseth that which was bound ; he hath the keys of the kingdom of heaven; he openeth and shutteth the throne of God, (meaning heaven,) having nothing (meaning no ecclesiastical order) above him,' &c. But the superiority of Bishops over Presbyters I shewed in the sermon by comparing the jurisdiction of Bishops with that which Presbyters have, both in regard of the greatness and largeness, and also in respect of the derivation thereof. The Presbyter's jurisdiction is over the flock of one parish ; the jurisdiction of the Bishop is over the whole Diocese. The Presbyter's is private in the court of conscience ; the Bishop's public, and in the external court also. The Presbyter governeth the people only of one flock ; the Bishop governeth not only the people of the whole diocese, but the SERMON I. 71 all nations, baptizing them," &c. ; and through them upon the bishops, the successors of the Apostles. Presbyters, indeed, have the power of administering the sacraments, but cannot exercise it without au- thority from the bishop 8 . This we are expressly taught by Ignatius 9 , who was nearly contemporary with Timothy, and perfectly well acquainted with several of, if not all, the Apostles. The councils of Laodicea, Aries, and Toledo, say, " The presbyters shall do nothing without the consent of the bishop, Presbyters also themselves. The Presbyters receive institution unto their jurisdiction from the Bishop, and exercise it under the Bishop of the Diocese, who having, (as the council of Antioch and Jerome say,) the care of the whole Church or Diocese, admits the Presbyters in partem solicitudmis, into part of their care, by giving them institution to their several parishes. The Presbyters do answer to the sons of Aaron, and are successors of the seventy disciples, as divers of the Fathers do teach ; but the Bishops answer to Aaron, and are the successors of the Apostles, as I prove by the testimony of Jerome, (Hieron. ad Marcel, advers Montan.) who saith, that in the true Church Bishops do hold the place of the Apostles ; and of Irenceus, (Lib. iii. c. 3.) that the Apostles left the Bishops their successors, de- livering unto them their own place of government." Bishop Dow- name's Defence, book iii. ch. v. p. 111. 6 Bingham, vol i. p. 111. See also Archbishop Potter on Church Government, ch. iii. p. 66. ; and Heylyn's Hist. ofEpis. pt. i. ch. v. sec. 8. 7 Bingham, vol. i. pp. 80 82. See Archbishop Potter, ch. iii. p. 70, et seq. ; and Heylyn's Hist, of Epis. pt. i. ch. v. sec. 9. 8 Bingham, vol. i. p. 81. 9 " Quemadodum enim Dominus sine Patre nihil facit, ' nee enim pos- sum facere a meipso quicquam - 1 sic et vos sine Episcopo, nee Presbyter, nee Diaconus, nee laicus ; nee quicquam videatur vobis consentaneum, quod sit prater illius judicium ; quod enim tale est, et Deo inimicum." Epist, ad Magnesianos, 72 SERMON I. without his privity or knowledge." Under this head may be placed the bishop's authority to pre- vent presbyters from preaching false doctrine ', " Charge them not to preach doctrines which rather minister questions than godly edifying." (1 Tim. i. 3, 4.) But what was Timothy to do if they did not obey his charge ? He must silence them, as Titus was particularly directed to do. " There are many," writes St. Paul, " whose mouths must be stopped, teaching things that they ought not." (Titus i. 11.) " A man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject," (Titus iii. 10.) is the command given directly to Titus by St. Paul ; a passage respecting which even Calvin writes, Tito scribens Paulus. non disserit de officio */ magistratus, sed quid episcopo conveniat ; and St. Jerome (notwithstanding his desire to elevate the presbyter 2 ,) declares, that this power belongs to the 1 Bingham, vol. i. p. 83. And Heylyn's Hist, of Epis. pt. 1, ch. 5, sec. 11. 2 " Wherein, if a'man suppose that Jerome and Chrysostom knew no difference at all between a presbyter and a bishop, let him weigh but one or two of their sentences. The pride of insolent bishops hath not a sharper enemy than Jerome ; for which cause he taketh often occasions most severely to inveigh against them; sometimes for showing disdain and contempt of the clergy under them ; sometimes for not suffering themselves so be told of their faults, and admonished of their duty by inferiors ; sometimes for not admitting their presby- ters to teach, if so be themselves were in presence ; sometimes for not vouchsafing to use any conference with them, or to take any counsel of them. Howbeit, never doth he in such wise bend himself against their disorders, as to deny their rule and authority over presbyters." Hooker, Episcopal Jurisdiction Asserted ly Jerome, book vii. ch. vi. SERMON I. 73 office of a bishop. " I wonder," says he 3 , speaking of Vigilantius, a presbyter, who propagated false doctrines, " I wonder that the bishop, in whose diocese he is a presbyter, has so long given way to his impiety, and that he has not rather broken in pieces, with the apostolic and iron rod, this unprofit- able vessel." This was the verv rod which was / put into the hands of Timothy and Titus by St. Paul. It was peculiar to the bishop in Jerome's day, and he calls it an apostolic rod, and conse- quently it was no usurpation. But episcopal juris- diction extends beyond this ; it appertains to the correction of morals 4 , so far as it can be done by Again, " The ancient Christian people, yea, and the ancient Chris- tian presbyters, owned their bishops as fathers, in a precedency and presidency of place, degree, dignity, and authority ecclesiastical. " Thus did St. Jerome write with respect to St Austin as a bishop, and his junior in age, yet so far his superior ; although St. Austin's humility, indeed, so far compliments with, and cools the other's heat, as to say, that although bishop Austin's precedency before Presbyter Jerome was by ecclesiastical use and custom, (very old, apostolical, and universal,) yet, as to the truth of personal worth and eminency of merit, Presbyter Jerome was above Bishop Austin." Dr. Gauden's Sermon at the Funeral of Dr. Brownrig, bishop of Exeter. See also Dr. R. Mocket's Politia Ecclesice Anglicance, cap. 5. Downame's Defence, Book iii. ch. iv., p. 101. Brokesby's Primitive Church, ch. xiv. Saravia's Treatise on the different degrees of the Christian Priesthood, ch. xxiii. And Note 3, p. 59. 3 " Miror sanctum episcopum, in cujus parochia presbyter esse dicitur, acquiescere furori ejus, et non virga apostolica virgaque ferrea confrigere vas inutile.'- Ep. 53. ad Ripar. 4 See Archbishop Potter on Church Government, ch. iii. p. 67. I 74 SERMON I. ecclesiastical censure 5 . Both presbyters and people were in this respect subject to the bishop. 6 St. Paul says to Timothy, " Against an elder (i. e. a presby- ter 7 ) receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses," and, " them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." (1 Tim. v. 19, 20.) Presbyters then were subject to censure; but to whose ? To that of their congregation ? No such absurdity; but to their bishop's 8 , to Timothy's. s Binghara, vol. i. book ii. ch. iv. 6 The reader may peruse with advantage the fifth section of the second part of Bishop Hall's Episcopacy by Divine Right. 7 See Whitby, ad loc. 8 "St. Ignatius, in his Epistle to the Church of Trallis, Necesse itaque est, saith he, quicquid facitis, ut sine episcopo nihil tentetis. So the Latin of Vedelius, which I the rather choose, because I am willing to give all the advantage I can. ' It is necessary,' saith the good martyr, ' that whatsoever ye do, you should attempt nothing without your bishop.' And to the Magnesians : Decet itaque vos obedire epis- copo, et in nullo illi refragari ; ' It is fitting that ye should obey your bishop, and in nothing to be refractory to him.' Here is both a decet and a necesse est already ; ' it is very fitting, it is necessary.' But if it be possible, we have a fuller expression yet, in the same epistle : Quemadmodum enim Dominus sine Patre nihilfacit, ' Nee enim possum facer e a meipso quicquam ;' sic et vos sine episcopo, nee diaconus, nee laiconus*, nee laicus ; nee quicquam videatur vobis consentaneum quod sit prceter illius judicium ; quod enim tale est, et Deo inimicum. Here is obedience universal, both in respect of things and persons ; and all this no less than absolutely necessary. ' For as Christ obeyed his Father in all things, saying, ' Of myself I can do nothing ;' so nor you without your bishop, whoever you be, whether priest, or deacon, * Sic in Bp. Heber's edition of Bp. Taylor's Works, and in folio, 3rd edit., 1674. In the original the words are, O'TW xi fy*> $vtv TW IjriffxSjrw, SERMON I. 75 The laity 9 also were subject to Timothy's correction : " an elderly man," he was to " entreat as a father ;" or layman ; let nothing please you which the bishop dislikes ; for all such things are wicked, and in enmity with God.' But it seems St. Ignatius was mightily in love with this precept, for he gives it to almost all the churches he writes to. We have already reckoned the Trallians and the IMagnesians. But the same he gives to the priests of Tarsus, vpfo-BuTtpoi vTroTac-o-tTwa-oiv iirHrxfatfi, ' Ye presbyters, be subject to your bishop.' The same to the Philadelphians : Sine episcopo nihil facite, ' Do nothing without your bishop.' But this is better expli- cated in his epistle to the Church of Smyrna : Sine episcopo nemo quicqwm facial eorum, qua ad ecclesiam spectant ; ' No man may do any thing without the bishop,' viz. ' of those things which belong to the Church.' So that this saying expounds all the rest; for this universal obedience is to be understood according to the sense of the Church ; viz. to be in all things of ecclesiastical cognizance, all Church affairs. And therefore he gives a charge to St. Poly carp, their bishop, that he also look to it that nothing be done without his leave. Nihil sine tuo arbitrio agalur, nee item tu quicquam prater Dei fades volun- tatem ; ' As thou must do nothing against God's will, so let nothing (in the Church) be done without thine.' By the way, observe, he says not, that as the presbytery must do nothing without the bishop, so the bishop nothing without them : but, so the bishop nothing without God. But so it is, 'nothing must be done without the bishop ;' and therefore, although he encourages them that can to remain in virginity ; yet this, if it be either done with pride or without the bishop, it is spoiled. For, Si gloriatiis fuerit, periit; et si id ipsum statuatur sine episcopo, corruptum cst. His last dictate in this Epistle to St. Polycarp, is with an Episcopo attendite, sicut et Dem vobis ; 1 The way to have God to take care of us, is to observe our Bishop.' Hinc et von decet accedere sententice cpiscopi, qui secundum Deum vos pascit ; quemadmodum etfacitis, edocti a Spiritu ; ' You must therefore conform to the sentence of the bishop ; as indeed ye do already, being taught to do so by God's Holy Spirit.' " There needs no more to be said in this cause, if the authority of so great a man will bear so great a burden. What the man was, I said before ; what these epistles are, and of what authority, let it rest upon r- 76 SERMON I. (1 Tim. v. 1.) the " younger men" were to be "re- buked" with greater freedom, but still with lenity. Vedelius, a man who is in no wise to be suspected as a party for episcopacy ; or rather upon the credit of Eusebius, St. Jerome, and Ruffinus, who reckon the first seven, out of which I have taken these excerpta, for natural and genuine. And now I will make this use of it. Those men that call for reduction of episcopacy to the primitive state, should do well to stand close to their principles, and count that the best episcopacy which is first ; and then consider but what St. Ignatius hath told us for direction in this affair, and see what is gotten in the bargain. For my part, since they that call for such a reduction hope to gain by it, and than would most certainly have abidden by it, I think it not reasonable to abate any thing of Ignatius' height, but expect such subordination and conformity to the bishop, as he then knew to be a law of Christianity But let this be remem- bered all along, in the specification of the parts of their jurisdiction." Bishop Taylor'a Episcopacy Asserted, sect. 35. See also Dr. Dow- name's Defence, book iii. ch. v., and Sermon, Defending the Honorable function of Bishops, pp. 46 50, and Heylyn's Hist . of Epis. pt. i. ch. v. sect. 13. 9 " I shall not need to derive hither any more particular instances of the duty and obedience owing from the laity to the bishop ; for this account will certainly Le admitted by all considering men. God hath intrusted the souls of the laity to the care of the ecclesiastical orders ; they, therefore, are to submit to the government of the clergy in matters spiritual, with which they are intrusted. For, either there is no government at all, or the laity must govern the Church, or else the clergy must. To say there is no government, is to leave the Church in worse condition than a tyranny. To say that the laity should govern the Church, when all ecclesiastical ministries are com- mitted to the clergy, is to say Scripture means not what it says ; for it is to say, that the clergy must be prcepositi, and -pot i dis- orderly, and not after the tradition which ye received of us, (2 Thcss. iii. 6.) Now, who can walk more disorderly, than he that breaks the unity of the Church, and sets up a separate communion in opposition to the one Catholic communion ? By consequence, have we not here a plain precept not to communicate with schismatics ? Hear him again, (v. 14,) 104 SERMON I. Christ," whose sacred office is to administer, in the name of Him whom they are commissioned 7 to re- And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with Mm, (p.^ avmtaprmabt, do not mix with him, especially in religious assemblies,) that he may be ashamed. And, 2 Pet. iii. 1 7, we are commanded to beware of being led away with the errors of the wicked. In short what can be a plainer precept than that, Rom. xvi. 17, mark them which cause divisions and offences, contrary to the doctrine, which ye have heard, and avoid them ? Or that, Tit. iii. 10, a man that is an heretick, after the first and second admonition, reject. 'Tis certain that the word hfiretick, naturally means the same thing which we mean by the word schismatic. 'Tis certain that in the Apostolic age, and many after ages, heresy and schism were words indiscriminately used, to signify any communion opposite to the one Catholic Communion. This migLt be largely proved ; but 'tis needless. That heretick, in the text mentioned, signifies schismatic, or separatist, is plain from the next verse ; he is to be rejected ; why ? OT< \%ia-Tp.irT(u a To