DIRECTIONS TO THE PEOPLE CONCERNING THEIR INTERNAL AND PRIVATE DUTY TO
THEIR PASTORS, AND THE IMPROVEMENT OF THEIR MINISTERIAL OFFICE AND
GIFTS.
The people's internal and private duty to their pastors (which I may
treat of without an appearance of encroachment upon the work of the
canons, rubrics, and diocesans) I shall open to you in these
directions following.
_Direct._ I. Understand first the true ground, and nature, and reasons
of the ministerial office, or else you will not understand the
grounds, and nature, and reasons of your duty to them. The nature and
works of the ministerial office I have so plainly opened already that
I shall refer you to it to avoid repetition.[88] Here are two sorts of
reasons to be given you: 1. The reasons of the necessity of the
ministerial work. 2. Why certain persons must be separated to this
work, and it must not be left to all in common.
The necessity of the work itself appeareth in the very nature of it,
and enumeration of the parts of it.[89] Two sorts of ministers Christ
hath made use of for his church: the first sort was for the revelation
of some new law or doctrine, to be the church's rule of faith or life;
and these were to prove their authority and credibility by some divine
attestation, which was especially by miracles; and so Moses revealed
the law to the Jews, and (Christ and) the apostles revealed the
gospel. The second sort of ministers are appointed to guide the church
to salvation by opening and applying the rule thus already sealed and
delivered: and these, as they are to bring no new revelations or
doctrines of faith, or rule of life, so they need not bring any
miracle to prove their call or authority to the church; for they have
no power to deliver any new doctrine or gospel to the church, but only
that which is confirmed by miracles already. And it is impudence to
demand that the same gospel be proved by new miracles by every
minister that shall expound or preach it: that would make miracles to
be no miracles.
[Sidenote: The work of the ministry.]
The work of the ordinary ministry (such as the priests and teachers
were under the law, and ordinary pastors and teachers are under the
gospel) being only to gather and govern the churches, their work lay
in explaining and applying the word of God, and delivering his
sacraments, and now containeth these particulars following: 1. To
preach the gospel for the conversion of the unbelieving and ungodly
world. And that is done, partly by expounding the words by a
translation into a tongue which the hearers or readers understand; and
partly by opening the sense and matter.[90] 2. In this they are not
only teachers, but messengers sent from God the Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, to charge, and command, and entreat men in his name to repent
and believe, and be reconciled to God; and in his name to offer them a
sealed pardon of all their sins, and title to eternal life.[91] 3.
Those that become the disciples of Christ, they are (as his stewards)
to receive into his house, as fellow-citizens of the saints, and of
the household of God; and as his commissioned officers, to solemnize
by baptism their entrance into the holy covenant, and to receive their
engagement to God, and to be the messengers of God's engagement unto
them, and by investiture to deliver them by that sacrament the pardon
of all their sin, and their title by adoption to eternal life; as a
house is delivered by the delivery of a key; or land, by a twig and
turf; or knighthood, by a sword or garter, &c. 4. These ministers are
to gather these converts into solemn assemblies and ordered churches,
for their solemn worshipping of God, and mutual edification,
communion, and safe proceeding in their christian course.[92] 5. They
are to be the stated teachers of the assemblies, by expounding and
applying that word which is fit to build them up. 6. They are to be
the guides of the congregation in public worship, and to stand between
them and Christ in things pertaining to God, as subservient to Christ
in his priestly office; and so both for the people, and also in their
names, to put up the public prayers and praises of the church to God.
7. It is their duty to administer to them, as in the name and stead of
Christ, his body and blood as broken and shed for them, and so in the
frequent renewals of the holy covenants, to subserve Christ
especially in his priestly office, to offer and deliver Christ and his
benefits to them, and to be their agent in offering themselves to God.
8. They are appointed to oversee and govern the church, in the public
ordering of the solemn worship of God, and in rebuking any that are
there disorderly, and seeing that all things be done to
edification.[93] 9. They are appointed as teachers for every
particular member of the church to have private and personal recourse
to, (as far as may be,) for the resolving of their weighty doubts, and
instruction in cases of difficulty and necessity, and for the settling
of their peace and comfort. 10. They are appointed as physicians under
Christ, to watch over all the individual members of their charge, and
take care that they be not infected with heresy, or corrupted by vice;
and to admonish the offenders, and reduce them into the way of truth
and holiness, and if they continue impenitent after public admonition,
to reject them from the communion of the church, and command the
church to avoid them. 11. They are as to bind over the impenitent to
answer their contumacy at the bar of Christ, so to absolve the
penitent, and comfort them, and require the church to re-admit them to
their communion. 12. They are appointed as stewards in the household
of Christ, to have a tender care of the very bodily welfare of their
flocks, so as to endeavour the supplying of their wants, and stirring
up the rich to relieve the poor, and faithfully (by themselves or the
deacons) to distribute what is intrusted with them for that use. 13.
They are especially to visit the sick, and when they are sent for, to
pray for them and with them, and to instruct them in their special
preparations for death, and confirm them against those last assaults.
14. They are appointed to be the public champions of the truth, to
defend it against all heretical and profane opposers, and thereby to
preserve the flock from being seduced. 15. They are appointed to be
(under Christ the Head) the nerves and ligaments of the several
churches, by which they are kept not only in vigour by communication
of nutriment, but also in concord, and such communion as they are
capable of, by the correspondencies, and consultations, and councils
of their pastors.[94] All these are the distinct and special uses to
which Christ hath appointed the office of the sacred ministry; which
having but named to you, I need to say no more to show you the
excellency, and necessity, and benefits of it.
Herein also the reasons are apparent, why Christ did institute this
sacred office. 1. Because it was meet his kingdom should have
officers, suited to his work in the administration of it. 2. It was
meet that they be men like ourselves, that we can familiarly converse
with. 3. The great necessity of his church required it, where the most
are weak, and insufficient to perform all these offices for
themselves; and cannot well subsist without the support of others. It
was meet therefore that the pastors were selected persons, wiser, and
holier, and stronger than the people, and fit for so great and
necessary a work. 4. It was requisite also to the order of the church;
for if it were like an army without officers, there would be nothing
but confusion, and neither order nor edification.
By this you may also see the nature and reasons of your obedience to
your pastors: as they are not appointed to govern you by force,[95]
but willingly, "not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, not as
being lords over God's heritage, but as ensamples to the flock," 1
Pet. v. 1-3, so you must willingly and cheerfully obey them in their
work. As their government[96] is not by any bodily penalties or
mulcts, (for that is the magistrate's work and not theirs,) but a
government by the force of truth and love; so your obedience of them
consisteth in the loving and thankful reception of the truth which
they teach you, and the mercies which they offer you from Christ.
You see then that the reasons of your obedience are manifold. 1. Some
of them from God: he hath sent his messengers to you, and set his
officers over you; and Christ hath told you that he that heareth them
heareth him, and he that despiseth them despiseth him, and him that
sent him, Luke x. 16: he commandeth you to hear and obey them as his
officers. 2. From themselves: they have authority by their commission,
and they have ability in their qualifications, which require your
obedience and improvement. 3. From yourselves. Have you reason to obey
your natural parents on whom your livelihood in the world dependeth?
Have you reason to obey him that tendereth you a pardon from the king
when you are condemned? or that offereth you gold or riches in your
want? or that inviteth you to a feast in a time of famine? or that
offereth to defend and save you from your enemies? Much more have you
reason to obey Christ's ministers when they call you to repentance,
and offer you pardon of sin, and peace, and salvation, and eternal
life. Did you ever hear a man so mad or churlish, as to say to one
that offered him riches, or liberty, or life, I am not bound to obey
you; offer them to those that you have authority over? When the office
of the ministry is as well subservient to Christ as a Saviour and
Benefactor, as to Christ as your Teacher and your King, the very
nature of their work engageth you to obey them as you love yourselves.
If you were in hell, and Christ should send for you out, you would not
refuse to go, till the messenger had proved his authority. And when
you are the heirs of hell, condemned by the law, and going thither,
will you refuse to turn back, and yield to the offers and commands of
grace, till you have skill enough to read the minister's commission?
By this also you see, that the power of your pastors is not absolute,
nor coercive and lordly, but ministerial.[97] And though the papists
make a scorn of the word "minister," it is but in that pride, and
passion, and malice which maketh them speak against their knowledge:
for their pope himself calleth himself the servant of God's servants;
and Paul saith, 1 Cor. iv. 1, "Let a man so account of us as of the
ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." 1 Cor.
iii. 5, "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom
ye believed?" 2 Cor. iii. 6, "Who made us able ministers of the new
testament." 2 Cor. vi. 4, "In all things approving ourselves as the
ministers of God." Even magistrates, yea, and angels, are not too good
to be called (and used as) the ministers of God for the good of his
servants, Rom. xiii. 3, 6; "and to minister for them who shall be
heirs of salvation," Heb. i. 7, 14. Yea, Christ himself is so called,
Rom. xv. 8. And therefore you have no more excuse for your
disobedience, than for refusing his help that would pull you out of
fire or water when you are perishing. You see here that your pastors
cannot command you what they list, nor how they list. They have
nothing to do with the magistrate's work; nor can they usurp the power
of a master over his servants, nor command you how to do your work and
worldly business (except in the morality of it). In the fifteen
particulars before mentioned their work and office doth consist, and
in those it is that you owe them a rational obedience.
_Direct._ II. Know your own pastors in particular: and know both what
you owe to a minister as a minister of Christ in common, and what you
owe him moreover as your pastor by special relation and charge.[98]
When any minister of Christ delivereth his word to you, he must be
heard as a minister of Christ, and not as a private man; but to your
own pastor you are bound in a particular relation, to an ordinary and
regular attendance upon his ministry in all the particulars before
mentioned that concern you. Your own bishop must in a special manner
be obeyed:
1. As one that laboureth among you, and is over you in the Lord, and
admonisheth you, and preacheth to you the word of God,[99] watching
for your souls as one that must give account, 1 Thess. v. 12; Heb.
xiii. 7, 17; and as one that ruleth well, and especially that
laboureth in the word and doctrine, 1 Tim. v. 17; "teaching you
publicly and from house to house, taking heed to himself, and to all
the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made him an overseer, not
ceasing to warn every one night and day with tears," Acts xx. 19, 20,
24, 28, 31, 33. "Preaching Christ, and warning every man, and teaching
every man in all wisdom, that he may present every man perfect in
Christ," Col. i. 28.
2. He is to be obeyed as the guide of the congregation in the
management of God's public worship. You must seriously and reverently
join with him every Lord's day at least in the public prayers and
praises of the church, and not ordinarily go from him to another.
3. You must receive from him or with him, the sacrament of the body
and blood of Christ: which of old was administered every Lord's day,
and that only in the church where the bishop was, that is, in every
church of the faithful: for, as Ignatius most observably saith,[100]
ἓν θυσιαστήριον πάσῃ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ, καὶ εἷς ἐπίσκοπος ἅμα τῷ πρεσβυτερίῳ,
καὶ τοῖς διακόνοις--UNUM ALTARE OMNI ECCLESIÆ, ET UNUS EPISCOPUS CUM
PRESBYTERIO ET DIACONIS.--IN EVERY CHURCH there is ONE ALTAR, and ONE
BISHOP, WITH THE PRESBYTERY and DEACONS.--So in his Epist. ad Magnes.
Come all as one, to the temple of God, as to one altar, as to one
Jesus Christ. And saith Tertullian,[101] _Eucharistæ Sacramentum--nec
de aliorum manu quam præsidentium sumimus_: We take not the sacrament
of the eucharist from the hand of any but the president.
4. You must have recourse to him especially for the resolution of your
weighty doubts, in private.[102]
5. You must hear your bishops and repent, when in meekness and love
they convince and admonish you against your sins, and not resist the
word of God which they powerfully and patiently lay home to your
consciences, nor put them with grief to cut you off, as impenitent in
scandalous sins, from the communion of the church.
6. You must, after any scandalous sin which hath brought you under the
censure of the church, go humble yourselves by penitent confession,
and crave absolution and restoration to the communion of the church.
7. Your public church alms should ordinarily be deposited into the
bishop's hands, who relieveth the orphans and widows, and is the
curator or guardian to all absolutely that are in want, saith Ignatius
to Polycarp, cited by Dr. Hammond on 1 Cor. xii. 28.[103]
8. You must send for him in your sickness to pray with you and advise
you. See Dr. Hammond on James v. 14. And on 1 Cor. xii. 28, he saith,
Polycarp himself speaking of the elders or bishops saith, They visit
and take care of all that are sick, not neglecting the widows, the
orphans, or the poor. And Dr. Hammond on James v. 14, showeth out of
antiquity,[104] that One part of the bishop's office is set down, that
they are those that visit all the sick. Not but that a stranger may be
made use of also; but ordinarily and especially your own bishop must
be sent for; because as you are his special charge, and he "watcheth
for your souls as one that must give account," Heb. xiii. 17, so it is
supposed that he is better acquainted with your spiritual state and
life than others are, and therefore in less danger of wronging you by
mistake and misapplications; for it is supposed that you have
acquainted him with your personal condition in your health, having
taken him as your ordinary counsellor for your souls, and that he hath
acquainted himself with your condition, and confirmed you, and watched
over you by name, as Ignatius to Polycarp bishop of Smyrna saith,[105]
_Sæpe congregationes fiant: ex nomine omnes quære: servos et ancillas
ne despicias_, as bishop Usher's old Latin translation hath it: Let
congregations be often held; inquire after all by name: despise not
servants and maids. The bishop took notice of every servant and maid
by name; and he had opportunity to see whether they were in the
congregation.
9. You must use him as your leader or champion against all heretics,
infidels, and subtle adversaries of the truth, with whom you are
unable to contend yourselves, that your bishops may clear up and
defend the cause of Christ and righteousness, and by irresistible
evidence, stop the mouths of all gainsayers.[106] It is for your own
benefit, and not for theirs, that you are required in all these works
of their office to use them and readily obey them. And what hurt can
it do you to obey them in any of these?
_Direct._ III. Understand how it is that Christ doth authorize and
send forth his ministers, lest wolves and deceivers should either
obtrude themselves upon you as your lawful pastors, or should alienate
you from those that God hath set over you, by puzzling you in subtle
questioning or disputing against their call. Not only Paul's warnings,
Acts xx. 30, and 2 Tim. iii. 6, but lamentable experience, telleth us
what an eager desire there is in proud and self-conceited men, to
obtrude themselves as teachers and pastors on the churches, to creep
into houses and lead people captive, and draw away disciples after
them, and say (and perhaps think) that others are deceivers, and none
are the true teachers indeed but they. And the first part of the art
and work of wolves, is to separate you from your pastors, and catch up
the stragglers that are thus separated. The malice, and slanders, and
lies, and railing of hirelings and deceivers, and all the powers of
hell, are principally poured out on the faithful pastors and leaders
of the flocks. The principal work of the Jesuits against you, is to
make you believe that your pastors are no true pastors, but uncalled
private persons, and mere usurpers: and the reason must be, because
they have not an ordination of bishops successively from the apostles
without interruption.[107] I confess if our interruptions had been
half as lamentable as theirs, (by their schisms, and variety of popes
at once; and popes accused, or condemned by general councils, for
heretics; and their variety of ways of electing popes, and their
incapacities by simony, usurpation, &c.) I should think at least that
our ancestors had cause to have questioned the calling of some that
were then over them. But I will help you in a few words to discern the
juggling of these deceivers, by showing you the truth concerning the
way of Christ's giving his commission to the ministers that are truly
called, and the needlessness of the proof of an uninterrupted
succession of regular ordination, to your reception of your pastors
and their ministrations.
The ministerial commission is contained in, and conveyed by, the law
of Christ, which is the charter of the church, and every true bishop
or pastor hath his power from Christ, and not at all from the
efficient conveyance of any mortal man: even as kings have their power
not from man, but from God himself; but with this difference, that in
the church Christ hath immediately determined of the species of church
offices, but in the civil government, only of the genus (absolutely
and immediately).[108] You cannot have a plainer illustration, than by
considering how mayors, and bailiffs, and constables are annually made
in corporations: the king by his charter saith, that every year at a
certain time the free-men or burgesses shall meet, and choose one to
be their mayor, and the steward or town-clerk shall give him his oath,
and thus or thus he shall be invested in his place, and this shall be
his power and work, and no other. So the king by his law appointeth
that constables and churchwardens shall be chosen in every parish.
Now let our two questions be here decided: 1. Who is it that giveth
these officers their power? 2. Whether an uninterrupted succession of
such officers through all generations since the enacting of that law,
be necessary to the validity of the present officer's authority? To
the first, It is certain that it is the king by his law or charter
that giveth the officers their power; and that the corporations and
parishes do not give it them by electing or investing them; yea,
though the king hath made such election and investiture to be in a
sort his instrument in the conveying it, it is but as the opening of
the door to let them in, _sine quo non_; but it doth not make the
instruments to be at all the givers of the power, nor were they the
receiving or containing mediate causes of it. The king never gave them
the power which the officers receive, either to use, or to give; but
only makes the electors his instruments to determine of the person
that shall receive the power immediately from the law or charter; and
the investers he maketh his instruments of solemnizing the tradition
and admission: which if the law or charter make absolutely necessary
_ad esse officii_, it will be so; but if it make it necessary only _ad
melius esse_, or but for order and regular admittance when no
necessity hindereth it, the necessity will be no more. And to the
second question, It is plain that the law, which is the _fundamentum
juris_, remaining still the same, if a parish omit for divers years to
choose any constable or churchwarden, yet the next time they do choose
one according to law, the law doth authorize him, nevertheless, though
there was an interruption or vacancy so long; and so in corporations
(unless the law or charter say the contrary): so is it in the present
case. 1. It is the established law of Christ, which describeth the
office, determineth of the degree and kind of power, and granteth or
conveyeth it, when the person is determined of by the electors and
ordainers, though by ordination the delivery and admission is
regularly to be solemnized; which actions are of just so much
necessity as that law hath made them, and no more. 2. And if there
were never so long an interruption or vacancy, he that afterward
entereth lawfully, so as to want nothing which the law of Christ hath
made necessary to the being of the office, doth receive his power
nevertheless immediately from the law of Christ. And Bellarmine
himself saith, that it is not necessary to the people, and to the
validity of sacraments and offices to them, to know that their pastors
be truly called or ordained: and if it be not necessary to the
validity of sacraments, it is not necessary to the validity of
ordination. And W. Johnson[109] confesseth to me that consecration is
not absolutely necessary _ad esse officii_ to the pope himself: no,
nor any one sort of electors in his election, p. 133. And in his Repl.
Term. Expl. p. 45, he saith, Neither papal nor episcopal jurisdiction
(as all the learned know) depends of episcopal or papal ordination:
nor was there ever interruptions of successions in episcopal
jurisdiction in any see, for want of that alone, that is necessary for
consecrating others validly, and not for jurisdiction over them. You
see then how little sincerity is in these men's disputations, when
they would persuade you to reject your lawful pastors as no true
ministers of Christ, for want of their ordination or succession.
_Direct._ IV. Though the sacraments and other ministerial offices are
valid, when a minister is qualified (in his abilities and call) but
with so much as is essential to the office, though he be defective in
degree of parts and faithfulness, and have personal faults which prove
his own destruction; yet so great is the difference between a holy,
heavenly, learned, judicious, experienced, skilful, zealous,
laborious, faithful minister, and an ignorant, ungodly, idle,
unskilful one, and so highly should every wise man value the best
means and advantages to his eternal happiness, that he should use all
lawful means in his power to enjoy and live under such an able, godly,
powerful ministry, though he part with his worldly wealth and pleasure
to attain it.[110] I know no evil must be done for the attainment of
the greatest helps; (for we cannot expect that God should bless a
sinful course, or that our sin should tend to the saving of our
souls;) and I know God can bless the weakest means, when they are such
as he appointeth us to use; and can teach us by angels when he denieth
us the help of men: but Scripture, reason, and experience tell us,
that ordinarily he worketh morally by means, and fitteth the means to
the work which he will do by them: and as he doth not use to light men
by a clod or stone, but by a candle, nor by a rotten post or glow-worm
so much as by a torch or luminary; so he doth not use to work as much
by an ignorant, drunken, idle person, who despiseth the God, the
heaven, the Christ, the Spirit, the grace, the sacred word which he
preacheth, and vilifieth both his own and other men's souls, as he
doth by an able and compassionate minister. And the soul is of so much
more worth than the body, and eternal things than temporal, that a
little commodity to the soul in order to the securing of our
salvation, must be preferred before a great deal of worldly riches: he
that knoweth what his soul, his Saviour, and heaven is worth, will not
easily sit down contented, under such a dark, and dull, and starving
minister, as he feeleth he can but little profit by, if better may be
had on lawful terms. He that feeleth no difference between the
ministry of these two sorts of men, it is because he is a stranger to
the work of the gospel on the soul: and "if the gospel (in its truth,
or worth, or use) be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, the god of
this world having blinded their minds."[111] It must be no small
matter that must satisfy a serious christian to cast his soul upon any
hurtful or dangerous disadvantage. Though Daniel and his companions
may live well on pulse, yea, and Ezekiel upon bread baked with dung,
when God will have it so, yet no wise man will choose such a diet:
especially if his diseases require the exactest diet, or his weakness
the most restorative, and all too little; which, alas, is the common
case. Yet this caution you must here take with you, 1. That you
pretend not your own benefit, to the common loss or hurt of others. 2.
And that you consider as well where you may do most good, as where you
may get most; for the way of greatest service, is the way of greatest
gain.
[Sidenote: The order and credit of ministerial teaching the doctrine
of salvation.]
_Direct._ V. Understand what sort and measure of belief it is that you
owe to your teachers, that so your incredulity hinder not your faith
in Christ, nor your over-much credulity betray you to heresy, nor make
you the servants of men, contrary to Matt. xxiii. 8-10; Eph. iv. 13; 2
Cor. i. 24; Acts xx. 30. We see on one side how many poor souls are
cheated into schism and dangerous errors, by forsaking their teachers
and refusing their necessary help, and all upon this pretence, that
they must not make men the lords of their faith, nor pin their faith
on the minister's sleeve, nor take their religion upon trust. And on
the other side we see among the papists, and in every sect, what
lamentable work is made by an over-much credulity and implicit belief
of ambitious, worldly, factious, proud, and erroneous guides. That you
may escape both these extremes, you must observe the truth of these
conclusions following, which show you what it is that your teachers
have to reveal unto you, and in what order, and how far the several
particulars are, or are not to be taken upon their words.
And first, as a preparative, it is presupposed, (1.) That you find
yourself ignorant, and one that needeth a teacher; for if you think
you know all that you need to know already, you are like a full bottle
that will hold no more. (2.) It is presupposed that you take the man
that you learn of to be wiser than yourself, and fit to teach you;
either because fame or other men's reports have told you so, (as the
woman, John iv. drew the Samaritans to Christ,) or because his own
profession of skill doth make you think so (as you will hearken to him
that professeth to be able to teach you any art or science); or else
because your present hearing his discourse doth convince you of his
wisdom; by one of these means you are brought to think that he is one
that you may learn of, and is fit for you to hear (so that here is no
need that first you take him to be infallible, or that you know which
is the true church, as the papists say). These are supposed.
[Sidenote: To know yourself.]
The doctrines which he is to teach you are these, and in this method
to be taught. 1. He will teach you the natural knowledge of yourself;
that being a man, you are a rational, free agent, made by another for
his will and use, and by him to be ruled in order to your ultimate
end, being wholly his, and at his disposal.
[Sidenote: To know God and holiness.]
2. He will next teach you that there is a God that made you, and what
he is, and what relation he standeth in to you, and you to him, as
your Creator, your Owner, your Ruler, and your Benefactor, and your
End: and what duty you owe him in these relations, to submit to him,
and resign yourselves to him as his own, to be obedient to all his
laws, and to love him and delight in him; and this with all your
heart, and soul, and might; even to serve him with all the powers of
your soul and body, and with your estates and all his blessings.
[Sidenote: To know the life to come.]
3. He will next teach you that this God hath made your souls immortal,
and that there is a life after this where everlasting happiness or
misery will be your part, and where the great rewards and punishments
are executed by the Judge of all the world as men have behaved
themselves in this present life. That your end and happiness is not
here, but in the life to come, and that this life is the way and time
of preparation, in which everlasting happiness is won or lost.
Thus far he needeth no supernatural proof of what he saith; but can
prove it all to you from the light of nature: and these things you are
not primarily to receive of him as a testifier by mere believing him;
but as a teacher, by learning of him the evidences by which you may by
degrees come to know these things yourselves.
Yet it is supposed that all along you give him so much credit as the
difference between his knowledge and yours doth require, so far as it
appeareth to you; as you will hear a physician, a lawyer, a
philosopher, or any man, with reverence, while he discourseth of the
matters of his own profession; as confessing his judgment to be better
than yours, and therefore more suspecting your own apprehensions than
his. Not but that the truth may compel you to discern it, though you
should come with no such reverence or respect to him; but then you
cast yourself upon much disadvantage irrationally; and this human
belief of him is but a medium to your learning, and so to the
knowledge of the matter; so that you do not stop and rest in his
authority or credibility, but only use it in order to your discovery
of that evidence which you rest in, which as a teacher he acquaints
you with.
These things being thus far revealed by natural light, are (usually)
at first apprehended by natural reason, not so as presently to put or
prove the soul in a state of saving grace; but so as to awaken it to
make further inquiry; and so when the soul is come so far as to see
the same truths by supernatural grace in the supernatural revelation
of the holy Scriptures, then they become more effectual and saving,
which before were known preparatorily; and so the same truths are then
both the objects of knowledge and of faith.
[Sidenote: To know that Christ, faith, repentance, and obedience, is
the way to it.]
4. Having acquainted you with man's ultimate end and happiness in the
life to come, the next thing to be taught you by the ministers of
Christ, is, that Christ as our Saviour, and faith, and repentance,
and sincere obedience to be performed by us through his grace, is the
way to heaven, or the means by which we must attain this end. Though
the knowledge of the preacher's wisdom, piety, and credibility remove
some impediments which would make the receiving of this the more
difficult to you, yet you are not to take it barely on his word, as a
point of human faith; but you are to call for his proof of it, that
you may see better reasons than his affirmations for the entertainment
of it.
[Sidenote: To know that this is true because God hath revealed it; or
it is his word.]
5. The proof that he will give you is in these two propositions: 1.
God's revelations are all true. 2. This is one of God's revelations:
this is an argument, Whatsoever God saith is true: but this God saith,
therefore this is true. The first proposition you are not to take upon
the trust of his word, but to learn of him as a teacher to know it in
its proper evidence; for it is the formal object of your faith: the
veracity of God is first known to you, by the same evidence and means
as you know that there is a God; and then it is by the force of this
that you believe the particular truths which are the material object
of faith. And the second proposition, that God hath revealed this, is
orderly to be first proved, and so received upon its proper evidence;
and not taken merely upon your teacher's word: yet if you do believe
him by a human faith as a man that is likely to know what he saith,
and this in order to a divine faith, it will not hinder, but help your
divine faith and salvation; and is indeed no more than is your duty.
Here note, 1. That primarily these two great principles of faith, God
is true, and this is God's revelation, are not themselves _credenda_,
the material objects of divine faith, but of knowledge. 2. That yet
the result of both is _de fide_, matter of faith. 3. And the same
principles are secondarily _de fide_, as it is that there is a God.
For though they are first to be known by natural evidence, yet when
the Scripture is opened to us, we shall find them there revealed; and
so the same thing may be the object both of knowledge and of faith. 4.
And faith itself is a sort of knowledge; for though human faith have
that uncertainty in its premises, (for the most part,) as forbiddeth
us to say, (properly,) I know this to be true, because such a man said
it; yet divine faith hath that certainty which may make it an
excellent sort of knowledge; as I have proved copiously elsewhere. In
believing man we argue thus, Whatsoever so wise and honest a man
saith, is credible, that is, most likely to be true: but this he
saith; therefore, &c. But in believing God we argue thus, Whatever God
saith is credible, that is, as infallible truth: but this God saith;
therefore, &c. So that the word credible, signifieth not the same
thing in the two arguments; nor are divine faith and human faith the
same.
[Sidenote: To know that the gospel is his word.]
6. The next thing that the preacher hath to teach you, is the proof of
the aforesaid minor proposition (for the major was proved in the proof
of a Deity); and that is thus: The gospel which Christ and his
apostles first preached, and is now delivered in the sacred
Scriptures, is the word, or infallible revelation, of God: but this
doctrine, that Christ, with faith, and repentance, and obedience on
our parts, are the way to life eternal, is the gospel which Christ and
his apostles first preached, &c.; therefore it is the word of God. For
the minor you need not take your teacher's word, if you can read; for
you may see it in the Bible (of which more anon): but the major is
that which all men desire to be assured of, That the gospel is God's
word. And for that, though a belief of your teacher is a help and
good preparatory, yet you are not there to stop, but to use him as a
teacher to show you the truth of it in the proofs: or else you must
take any thing for God's word, which your teacher affirmeth to be
such. And the proof which he will give you, must be some divine
attestation which may be showed to those whom we would convince.
[Sidenote: The Divine attestation of the gospel.]
7. The divine attestation, which he is next to show you, hath many
parts, that it may be complete and satisfactory. 1. God's antecedent
testimony. 2. His inherent or impressed testimony. 3. His adherent,
concomitant testimony. 4. His subsequent testimony. 1. God's
antecedent testimony by which he attested the gospel, is the train of
promises, prophecies, types, and the preparing ministry of John, which
all foretold Christ, and were fulfilled in him. 2. God's impressed
testimony is that image and superscription of God, (in his governing
wisdom, holiness, and love,) which is inimitably engraven on the
gospel; as an image upon a seal, which is thereby made the instrument
to imprint the same on other things. Thus as the sun, the gospel
shineth, and proveth itself by its proper light. 3. The concomitant
attestation of God, is that of multitudes of certain, uncontrolled
miracles, done by Christ and his apostles, which proved the approving
hand of God, and oblige all rational creatures to believe a testimony
so confirmed to them. Among these, Christ's own resurrection and
ascension, and the gifts of his apostles, are the chief. 4. The
subsequent attestation of God is, the power and efficacy of the
gospel, in calling and sanctifying unto Christ a peculiar people,
zealous of good works, and directing and confirming them against all
temptations and torments to the end; producing that same image of God
on the souls of his elect, which is (more perfectly) engraven on the
world itself; making such changes, and gathering such a people unto
God, as no other doctrine ever did. And all these four attestations
are but one, even the Holy Spirit, who is become the great witness of
Christ and his gospel in the world: viz. 1. The Spirit of prophecy is
the antecedent attestation. 2. The holy image which the Spirit hath
printed on the gospel itself, is the inherent evidence. 3. The
miracles of the Spirit, is the concomitant attestation or evidence. 4.
And the sanctifying work of the Spirit is the subsequent attestation,
renewed and accompanying it to the end of the world. So that the
argument runs thus, That doctrine which hath this witness of the Holy
Ghost, antecedently in such prophecies, inherently bearing his image
so inimitably, accompanied by so many certain, uncontrolled miracles,
and followed and attended with such matchless success in the
sanctification of the body of Christ, is fully attested by God to be
his own: but such is the doctrine of the gospel; therefore, &c. The
major you are not to take upon trust from your teachers, though your
esteem of their judgment may the better dispose you to learn; but you
are to discern the evidences of truth which is apparent in it. For he
that denieth this, must by force of argument be driven to deny, 1.
Either that God is the Governor of the world; or that he is the
supreme, but say he is controlled by another. 2. Or that he is good
and true; and must affirm that he either governeth the world by mere
deceits, and undiscernible lies, or that he hath given up the power to
some one that so governeth it: all which is but to affirm that there
is no God (which is supposed to be proved before).
[Sidenote: To know the matters of fact subservient to our faith.]
8. There now remaineth nothing to be taught you, as to prove the truth
of the gospel, but only those matters of fact which are contained and
supposed in the minor of the two last arguments: and they are these
particulars. 1. That there were such persons as Christ and his
apostles, and such a gospel preached by them. 2. That such miracles
were done by them, as are supposed. 3. That both doctrine and miracles
were committed to writing by them, in the Scriptures, for the
certainer preserving them to the church's use.[112] 4. That churches
were planted, and souls converted and confirmed by them in the first
ages, many of whom did seal them with their blood. 5. That there have
been a succession of such churches as have adhered to this Christ and
gospel. 6. That this which we call the Bible is that very book
containing those sacred writings afore-mentioned. 7. That it hath been
still copied out and preserved without any such depravation or
corruption as might frustrate its ends. 8. That the copies are such
out of which we have them translated, and which we show. 9. That they
are so truly translated as to have no such corruptions or mistakes, as
to frustrate their ends, or make them unapt for the work they were
appointed to. 10. That these particular words are indeed here written
which we read; and these particular doctrines containing the
essentials of christianity, together with the rest of the material
objects of faith.
All these ten particulars are matters of fact that are merely
subservient to the constituting principles of our faith, but yet very
needful to be known. Now the question is, How these must be known and
received by us so as not to invalidate our faith? and how far our
teachers must be here believed? And first it is very useful to us to
inquire, How so many of these matters of fact as were then existent
were known to the first christians? As how knew they in those days
that there were such persons as Christ and his apostles? that they
preached such doctrines, and spake such languages, and did such works,
and that they wrote such books, and sent such epistles to the
churches, and that churches were hereby converted and confirmed, and
martyrs sealed this with their blood, &c.? It is easy to tell how they
were certain of all these; even by their own eyes, and ears, and
sensible observation, as we know that there are Englishmen live in
England; and those that were remoter from some of the matters of fact,
knew them by such report of those that did see them, as those among us
that never saw the king, or court, or his restoration, do know that
such a thing there was, and such a person there is. Thus they knew it
then.
From whence I note, 1. That in those days it was not necessary to the
being of true faith, that any supernatural testimony of the Spirit, or
any other sort of proof, than their very senses and reason, should
acquaint them with those matters of fact which they were eye-witnesses
of. 2. That credible report or history was then the means for any one
that saw not a matter of fact, to know as much as they that saw it. 3.
That therefore this is now the way also of producing faith. Some
things we have yet sight and sense for; as that such Bibles and such
churches are existent; that such holy effects this doctrine hath upon
the soul (which we see in others by the fruits, and after feel in
ourselves): the rest we must know by history, tradition, or report.
And in the reception of these historical passages note further, 1.
That human belief is here a naturally necessary means to acquaint us
with the matter of our divine belief. 2. That there are various
degrees of this belief, and some need more of it by far than others,
according to the various degrees of their ignorance:[113] as he that
cannot read himself, must know by human belief (in great part) that
the preacher readeth truly, or that such words indeed are in the
gospel as he saith are there; but a literate person may know this by
his eye-sight, and not take it upon trust. So he that understandeth
not Hebrew and Greek, must take it upon trust that the Scripture is
truly translated; but another that understandeth those tongues, may
see it with his eyes. 3. History being the proper means to know
matters of fact that are done in times past, and out of our sight, the
same industry that is necessary to a thorough acquaintance with other
history, is necessary to the same acquaintance with this. 4. That the
common beginning of receiving all such historical truths is first by
believing our teachers so far as becometh learners, and in the mean
time going on to learn till we come to know as much as they, and upon
the same historical evidence as they. 5. That if any man be here
necessitated to take more than others upon the trust or belief of
their teachers, it is long of their ignorance: and therefore if such
cry out against their taking things on trust, it is like a mad-man's
raving against them that would order him; or as if one should reproach
a nurse for feeding infants, and not letting them feed themselves.
_Oportet discentem credere._ He that will not believe his teacher will
never learn. If a child will not believe his master that tells him
which are the letters, the vowels, and consonants, and what is their
power, and what they spell, and what every word signifieth in the
language which he is teaching him, will he be ever the better for his
teaching? 6. That he that knoweth these historical matters no
otherwise than by the belief of his particular teacher, may
nevertheless have a divine and saving faith; for though he believe by
a human faith that these things were done, that this is the same book,
&c., yet he believeth the gospel itself (thus brought to his
knowledge) because God is true that hath attested it. Even as it was a
saving faith in Mary and Martha, that knew by their eyes and ears, and
not only by belief, that Lazarus was raised, and that Christ preached
thus and thus to them; but believed his doctrine to be true, because
of God's veracity who attested it. 7. That it is the great wisdom and
mercy of God to his weak and ignorant people, to provide them teachers
to acquaint them with these things, and to vouchsafe them such a help
to their salvation, as to make it a standing office in his church to
the end of the world, that the infants and ignorant might not be cast
off, but have fathers, and nurses, and teachers to take care of them.
8. But especially mark, that yet these infants have much disadvantage
in comparison of others, that know all these matters of fact by the
same convincing evidence as their teachers; and that he that followeth
on to learn it as he ought, may come to prove these subservient
matters of fact, by such a concurrence of evidences, as amounteth to
an infallibility or moral certainty, beyond mere human faith as such:
as e. g. an illiterate person that hath it but from others, may be
certain that it is indeed a Bible which is ordinarily read and
preached to him; and that it is so truly translated as to be a
sufficient rule of faith and life, having no mistake which must hazard
a man's salvation; because the Bible in the original tongues is so
commonly to be had, and so many among us understand it, and there is
among them so great a contrariety of judgments and interests, that it
is not possible but many would detect such a public lie, if any should
deal falsely in so weighty and evident a case. There is a moral
certainty (equal to a natural) that some actions will not be done by
whole countries, which every individual person hath power and natural
liberty to do: as e. g. there is no man in the kingdom but may
possibly kill himself, or may fast to-morrow, or may lie in bed many
days together; and yet it is certain, that all the people in England
will do none of these: so it is possible that any single person may
lie even in a palpable public case, as to pretend that this is a Bible
when it is some other book, or that this is the same book that was
received from the apostles by the churches of that age, when it is not
it, &c.; but for all the country, and all the world that are competent
witnesses, to agree to do this, is a mere impossibility, I mean such a
thing as cannot be done without a miracle, yea, a universal miracle.
And more than so, it is impossible that God should do a miracle to
accomplish such a universal wickedness and deceit; whereas it is
possible that natural causes by a miracle may be turned out of course,
where there is nothing in the nature of God against it (as that the
sun should stand still, &c.). We have a certainty that there was a
Julius Cæsar, a William the Conqueror, an Aristotle, a Cicero, an
Augustine, a Chrysostom, and that the laws and statutes of the land
were really enacted by the kings and parliaments whose names they
bear; because the natural and civil interests of so many thousands
that are able to detect it, could never be reconciled here to a
deceit. When judges and counsellors, kings and nobles, and plaintiffs
and defendants, utter enemies, are all agreed in it, it is more
certain to a single person than if he had seen the passing of them
with his eyes. So in our case, when an office was established in the
church, to read and preach this gospel in the assemblies; and when all
the congregations took it as the charter of their salvation, and the
rule of their faith and life; and when these pastors and churches were
dispersed over all the christian world, who thus worshipped God from
day to day; and all sects and enemies were ready to have detected a
falsification or deceit; it is here as impossible for such a kind of
history, or tradition, or testimony to be false, in such material
points of fact, as for one man's senses to deceive him, and much more.
Thus I have at once showed you the true order of the preaching, and
proofs, and receiving of the several matters of religion, and how and
into what our faith must be resolved; and how far your teachers are to
be believed. And here you must especially observe two things: 1. That
there can be no danger in this resolution of faith, of derogating
either from the work of the Holy Ghost, or the Scriptures'
self-evidence, or any other cause whatever; because we ascribe nothing
to history or tradition which was ascribed to any of these causes by
the first christians; but only put our reception by tradition,
instead of their reception immediately by sense: our receiving by
infallible history, is but in the place of their receiving by sight;
and not in the place of self-evidence of Scripture, or any testimony
or teaching of the Spirit. The method is exactly laid down, Heb. ii.
3, 4, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation; which at
the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by
them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs
and wonders, and divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost,
according to his own will?" Here is the sum of what I have been
saying.
2. Observe also the great difference between us and the papists in
this controversy of using tradition in the resolution of our faith. 1.
They decide the main question in gross by tradition, viz. Whether the
Scripture be the word of God? But we only decide the questions about
history or matters of fact by it, which are subservient to the other.
2. The tradition which most of them plead, is nothing but the
authoritative judgment of the successive pastors of the church in a
general council confirmed by the pope; and as another faction among
them saith, The reception of the whole church, both laity and clergy;
and this church must be only the Roman faction. But the tradition
which we plead is the concurrent testimony of friends and foes,
orthodox and heretics; and of all the churches throughout the world,
both Greek and Latin, Ethiopian, Armenian, protestants, &c. And this
testimony we plead, not merely as a human testimony, much less as such
as is credible chiefly for the mere power (real or pretended) of the
testifiers; but as such as by a concurrence of testimonies and
circumstances hath (besides the teachers' authority) the evidences of
infallible moral certainty, in the very history; as we have of the
statutes of the realm.
_Direct._ VI. Understand what kind and measure of obedience it is that
you owe your lawful pastors, that you neither prove schismatical and
unruly, nor yet have a hand in setting up idols and usurpations in the
church. This you may learn from the foregoing description of the
pastor's work. The kind of your obedience is commensurate to the kind
of his office and work. You are not to obey your pastors, as civil
magistrates that bear the sword; nor as physicians, to tell you what
you must do for your health; nor as artificers, to command you how to
plough, and sow, and trade, &c. (except in the morality of these); but
it is as your teachers and guides in matters of salvation that you
must obey them.[114] And that not as prophets or lawgivers to the
church; but as the stated officers of Christ, to open and apply the
laws that he hath given, and determine of such circumstances as are
subservient thereunto. Not as those that have dominion of your faith,
or may preach another gospel, or contradict any truth of God, which by
Scripture or nature he hath revealed, or can dispense with any duty
which he hath commanded; but as those that have all their power from
God, and for God and your salvation, and the good of other men's
souls; to edification only, and not to destruction: particular cases I
here purposely forbear.
_Direct._ VII. Be sure that you look on them as the officers of Christ
in all that they do as such; and see not only their natural, but
their ecclesiastical persons, that through them you may have to do
with God. Especially in preaching, and administering the sacraments,
and binding the impenitent, and absolving the penitent, and comforting
the sad and humbled souls. All the holiness, and life, and power of
your spiritual converse with them consisteth in your seeing and
conversing with God in them, and using them as his messengers or
officers, that deliver his message and do his work, and not their own.
If you disobey them in his work, it is God that you disobey; and if
they teach you his word, or deliver you Christ and his benefits in the
sacraments, it is Christ himself that doth it by them as his
instruments, so far as they do it according to his commission and his
will. This observing Christ in their teaching will possess you with
due reverence and care, and cause you to do it as a holy work; and to
see Christ in them, delivering and sealing his covenant to you, will
very much increase your joy; when man as man is but a shadow.
_Direct._ VIII. Make use of their help in private, and not in public
only: as the use of a physician is not only to read a lecture of
physic to his patients, but to be ready to direct every person
according to their particular case (there being such variety of
temperatures, diseases, and accidents, that in dangerous cases the
direction of the judicious is needful in the application); so here, it
is not the least of the pastoral work, to oversee the individuals, and
to give them personally such particular advice as their case
requireth. Never expect that all thy books, or sermons, or prayers, or
meditations should serve thy turn without the counsel of thy pastors,
in greater cases; for that were but to devise how to prove God's
officers needless to his church. If thou be an ignorant or unconverted
sinner, go to the minister, and ask him, what thou must do to be
saved? and resolve to follow his sound advice. If thou be in doubt of
any weighty point of faith or godliness, or assaulted perilously by
any adversary, or need his advice for thy settled peace, thy assurance
of pardon and salvation, and thy preparation for death; go ask counsel
of thy pastors, and receive their help with readiness and
thankfulness: or if thou live where there is none that is able and
willing thus to help thee, remove to them that are such, if lawfully
thou canst.
_Direct._ IX. Assist you pastors in the work of God, by the duties of
your places which tend thereto: labour by your holy, serious
conference, to instruct the ignorant, and convince the unbelieving,
and convert the ungodly, and strengthen the weak, with whom you have
fit opportunity for such work. Labour by your holy examples, by love,
and concord, and meekness, and sobriety, and contempt of the world,
and a heavenly life, to "shine as lights in the midst of a dark and
crooked generation." Preach all of you, by the examples of your
blameless, humble, holy lives. Oh how abundantly would this course
promote the success of the public preaching of the gospel! If you
would cause those men to see the glory and power of the gospel in your
holy and heavenly lives, who cannot see it in itself: then many that
would not be won by the word, might be won without it (to seek after
it at least) by your conversations.[115] Thus all must preach and be
helpers of the ministers of Christ.
_Direct._ X. Forsake not your faithful pastors to follow deceivers;
but adhere to them who spend and are spent for you; defend their
innocency against false accusers; and refuse them not such maintenance
as is needful to their entire giving up themselves to that holy work
to which they are devoted.[116] Read and study well Eph. iv. 13-15;
Acts xx. 30. It is for your sakes that your faithful pastors are
singled out in the world to bear the slanders and contradictions of
the wicked; and to lead the way in the fiery trial. If they would
forsake you, and that sacred truth and duty that is needful to your
salvation, and sell you up into the hands of cruel and deceitful men,
it were as easy for them to have the applause of men, and the
prosperity of the world, as others: it is perfidious ingratitude to
forsake them in trial, that must lose their lives and all the world,
rather than forsake you or betray your souls; or to grudge them food
and raiment that lay by the gainful employments of the world, that
they may attend continually on the service of your souls.
[88] Disput. ii. of Church Government, chap. i. and Universal Concord.
[89] Of the difference between fixed and unfixed ministers, see my
Disput. ii. iii. of Church Government, and Jos. Acosta lib. v. c. 21,
22, de Missionibus.
[90] Rom. x. 7, 14; Mark xvi. 15; Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.
[91] 2 Cor. v. 19-21; Acts xxvi. 17, 18; Eph. ii. 19; Acts ii. 37-40.
[92] Tit. i. 7; 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2; Matt. xxviii. 19, 20; Acts xx. 32; 1
Cor. iii. 11, 12.
[93] Acts xiv. 23; 2 Tim. ii. 2; Acts xiii. 3; ii. 41, 42; vi. 2; xx.
7, 28; 1 Tim. v. 17; Titus i. 5; Acts xx. 30, 31; Col. i. 28; Eph. iv.
11, 42; Mal. ii. 7; 1 Tim. v. 17.
[94] 1 Cor. xiv. 16, 26; Acts xx. 7, 36; James v. 14; Acts vi. 4; ii.
42; Phil. i. 4; Neh. xi. 24; xi. 17; 1 Cor. xi. 24; x. 16; Heb. vii.
7; Tit. ii. 15; i. 9, 11; 1 Tim. v. 19; iii. 5; Tit. iii. 10; Matt.
xviii. 17, 18; 1 Cor. v. 4, 11, 13; Eph. iv. 13, 14; Acts xv.
[95] Princes may force their subjects by the temporal sword which they
bear: bishops may not force their flock with any corporal or external
violence. Bilson, Christ. Subjection, p. 525.
[96] Dr. Hammond Annot. q. d. The bishops of your several churches, I
exhort--Take care of your several churches, and govern them, not as
secular rulers, by force, but as pastors do their sheep, by calling
and going before them, that so they may follow of their own accord. If
you would know the true nature and extent of the bishop's work and
office, read carefully the said Dr. Hammond's Paraphrase on Acts xx.
20, 28; Heb. xiii. 7, 17; 1 Tim. v. 17; 1 Thess. v. 12; Heb. xiii.;
Annot. a. Tit. iii. 10; 1 Cor. xii. 28; Annot. e. Jam. v. 14; Annot.
Acts xi. 30; Annot. b. Acts xiv. 23.
[97] Chrysost. cited by Bilson. p. 525. But if any man wander from the
right path of the christian faith, the pastor must use great pains,
care, and patience. For he may not be forced, nor constrained with
terror, but only persuaded to return entirely to the truth.----A
bishop cannot cure men with such authority as a shepherd doth his
sheep.--For of all men christian bishops may least correct the faults
of men by force, p. 526. Matt. xx. 26; Mark x. 43. See Psal. ciii. 21;
civ. 4; Isa. xvi. 6; Jer. xxxiii. 21; Joel i. 9, 13; ii. 17; 2 Cor.
xi. 23; Acts xxvi. 26; Rom. xv. 16; Eph. iii. 7; Col. i. 23, 25; 1
Tim. iv. 6; 1 Thess. iii. 2; Col. i. 7.
[98] Functiones in ecclesia perpetuæ sunt duæ, Presbyterorum et
Diaconorum: Presbyteros voco cum omni ecclesia veteri eos, qui
ecclesiam pascunt verbi prædicatione, sacramentis et clavibus; quæ
jure divino sunt individua. Grotius de Imperio, p. 267. c. 10.
[99] Bishop Jer. Taylor of Repentance, Pref. "I am sure we cannot give
account of souls of which we have no notice."
[100] Ignat. Epis. ad Philad. Vid. Mead's Disc. of Churches, p. 48-50.
[101] Tertull. de Coron. Milit. c. 3.
[102] It is very observable that Acosta saith, l. vi. c. 12, that they
found it an old custom among the Indians to confess their sins to the
priests before the gospel came thither.
[103] See more in Dr. Hammond, ibid.
[104] Vid. Canon. Apost. 5. 32. Et Concil. Antioch. c. 5. Et Concil.
Carthag. 4. Can. 35.
[105] Vid. Just. Mart. Apol. 2. Vid. Tertul. Apol. c. 39.
[106] I hope all this will tell you what a bishop indeed is.
[107] Grot. de Imp. p. 273. Pastorum est ordinare pastores. Neque id
officium eis competit, qua hujus aut illius ecclesiæ pastores sunt,
sed qua ministri ecclesiæ catholicæ.
[108] See in Grotius de Imper. sum. potest. p. 269. The necessary
distinction of, 1. Ipsa facultas prædicandi sacramenta et claves
administrandi, quod Mandatum vocat. 2. Applicatio hujus facultatis ad
certam personam, viz. Ordinatio. 3. Applicatio hujus personæ ad certum
cœtum et locum, viz. Electio. 4. Illud quo certa persona in certo
loco ministerium suum exercet publico præsidio ac publica authoritate,
viz. Confirmatio, p. 273. Constat muneris institutionem a Deo esse;
ordinationem a pastoribus, confirmationem publicam a summa potestate.
So that the doubt is only about election. Which yet must be
differenced from consent.
[109] See my Disput. with him of the Successive Visibility of the
Church, p. 336.
[110] Cyprian. Epis. 68. Plebs obsequens præceptis dominicis a
peccatore præposito separare se debet. Which Grotius de Imper. p. 230,
citing saith, Jubentur enim singuli, multo magis universi, cavere
prophetas falsos, alienum pastorem fugere, ab iis declinare qui
dissidia faciunt et offensas contra doctrinam. 2. Imperatur fidelibus
familiarem eorum consuetudinem declinare, qui fratres, &c. 2 Cor. v.;
Rom. xvi. 17; John x.; 2 Tim. iii. 6; 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14; 2 Cor. iv.
3, 4.
[111] Satan or their own worldly advantages, saith Dr. Hammond. Dan.
i. 12, 13; Ezek. iv. 12, 15. Read c. iii. Acosta excellently rebuking
the negligence of their priests that taught the Indians the catechism
idly, and without explication, or calling them to account about the
sense, and then laid all the fault on the blockishness of the people,
when Tota catechizendi ratio erat umbratilis, et ludicræ similis: ego
vero (inquit) si homines ingenio acerrimo, et discendi percupidi tales
præceptores nacti essent, nihil aliud quam ut duplo ignoratiores
evaderent, doceri isto modo arbitrarer. Olim in symbolo addiscendo et
intelligendo, mysteriisque fidei agnoscendis viri ingenio præstantes
et literatura celebres, diu in catechumenorum ordine tenebantur, cum
ecclesiastica disciplina vigeret; neque ante ad fidei sacramentum
admittebantur, quam multas ab episcopo de symbolo conciones audissent,
diu et multum cum catechista contulissent; post quas omnes curas et
meditationes, magnum erat si recta sentirent, consentanea
responderent, &c. And he addeth, p. 360, Equidem sic opinor, neque ab
ea opinione avelli unquam potero, quin pessimo præceptori omnes esse
auditores hebetes credam. A bad teacher hath always bad scholars. Even
in the Roman church how little their authority can do against
profaneness and negligence, the same Acosta showeth, l. 6. c. 2. p.
519. Cum in provinciali concilio Limensi ab omnibus Peruensibus
episcopis cæterisque gravibus viris ad ea vitia emendenda multum operæ
et studii collatum sit, atque edita extent egregia decreta de
reformatione permulta, nihil tamen amplius perfectum est, quam si ab
otiosis nautis de republica moderanda consultatum esset. Bonific.
Mogunt. Ep. iii. mentioneth it as the error of a new-sprung sect, that
heinous sinners even so continuing may be priests. And Ep. lxxiii. it
is said, No man may be made a priest, that hath sinned mortally after
baptism, and, Si iis qui tam in episcopatu vel presbyterio positus
mortale peccatum aliquod admiserit, non debet offerre panes Domino,
quanto magis patienter retrahat se ab hoc non tam honore quam onere,
et aliorum locum qui digni sunt non ambiat occupare. Qui enim in
erudiendis et instituendis ad virtutem populis præest, necesse est, ut
in omnibus sanctus sit, et in nullo reprehensibilis habeatur. Qui enim
aliquem de peccato arguit, ipse a peccato debet esse immunis. Auct.
Bib. Pat. Tom. ii. p. 81. If there were somewhat too much strictness
in the ancient exclusion of them that heinously sinned after baptism
from the priesthood, let us not be as much too loose.
[112] Est enim mirabilis quædam continuatio seriesque rerum, ut alia
ex alia nexa, et omnes inter se aptæ colligatæque videantur. Cic. De
Natur. Deor. pag. 6.
[113] By all this it is easy to gather whether a pastor may do his
work _per alium_. Saith Grotius de Imp. p. 290, 291, Nam illud quod
quis per alium facit per se facere videtur ad eas duntaxat pertinet
actiones quarum causa efficiens proxima a jure indefinita est. Yet
people should labour after such maturity and stedfastness, that they
might be able to stand if their pastors be dead or taken from them by
persecution, yea, or forsake the truth themselves. Victor. Utic. saith
of the people in Africa when their pastors were banished, and others
might not be ordained in their steads: Inter hæc tamen Dei populus in
fide consistens, ut examina apum cereas ædificantia mansiones,
crescendo melleis fidei claviculis firmabatur. Quanto magis
affligebantur, tanto magis multiplicabantur. Victor. p. 382.
[114] We may not offer any violence, but only persuade: we have not so
great authority given us by the laws, as to repress offenders; and if
it were lawful for us so to do, we have no use of any such violent
power: for that Christ crowneth them which abstain from sin, not of a
forced, but of a willing mind and purpose. Chrys. citante Bilson of
Subjection, p. 526. Et ibid. ex Hilar. If this violence were used for
the true faith, the doctrine of bishops would be against it: God
needeth no forced service. He requireth no constrained confession. I
cannot receive any man but him that is willing: I cannot give ear, but
to him that entreateth, &c. Ita et Origen. ibid. citat. 2 Cor. i. 24;
Gal. i. 7, 8; 2 Cor. x. 8; xiii. 10.
[115] Acts xviii. 24, 26, 27; Rom. xvi. 3; John iii. 8; Eph. iv. 29; 1
Pet. iv. 11; Phil. ii. 15; Matt. v. 16; 1 Pet. iii. 1, 2; 2 Pet. iii.
11: 1 Pet. i. 15, 16; ii. 12; Heb. iii. 13; Heb. x. 24.
[116] 1 Thess. v. 12, 13; 2 Tim. ii. 10; 2 Cor. iv. 15; 1 Thess. iii.
9; i. 5; Matt. xxvi. 56; 2 Tim. iv. 16; Gal. vi. 6, 10; 1 Cor. ix.;
Col. i. 24.