S6 A PKEFACE TO THE READER.
all pomp and glory, ho adds, Tcvs ivKSyJvovg aoyjjVTac, v[jlujv -/.al [SagiXeas riyuG&ai voi^iZirs, -/.a) duff/j^oi/i w; (SaeiXiZsi 'rr^os^phcTs. The paying of tri- bute to them as kings is the issue of these descriptions, that tliey may have •wherewithal to maintain their pomp and greatness, according to the institution of our Lord Jesus Christ and his blessed apostles ! But I shall not rake farther into this dunghill, nor shall I add any more in- stances of this kind out of Ignatius, but close in one insisted on by our doctor for the proof of his episcopacy. Dissert, ii. cap. xxv, 7, saith he, Quarto, Tui e-iax.o'Tru) Trooe'syjn, 'ha xal 6 Qiog v.aTv. ' Avri-^-jyov lyu ruv I'TtoraaGoijAiUv rw iiriaxSTtw, rr^iaCuri^oii xai diuxovoig, " Episcopo attendite, ut et vobis Deus attendat. Ego animam meam libenter corum loco sub- stitui cuperem quod Anglice optime dicimus " (my soul for theirs), " qui episcopo, presbyteris, et diaconis obsequuntur." I hope I may -without great difficulty obtain the doctor's pardon, that I dare not be so bold with my soul as to jeopard it in that manner, especially being not mine own to dispose of.
Upon these and many more the like accounts do the epistles seem to me to be like the children that the Jews had by their strange wives, Neh. xiii. 23, 24, who spake part the language of Ashdod, and part the language of the Jews. As there are in them many footsteps of a gracious spirit, every way worthy of and becoming the great and holy personage whose they are esteemed, so there is evidently a mixture of the working of that ■worldly and carnal spirit which in his days was not so let loose as in after times. Eor wliat is there in the Scripture, what is in the genuine epistle of Clemens, that gives countenance to those descriptions of episcopacy, bishops, and the subjection to them, that are in these epistles (as now we have them) so insisted on? what titles are given to bishops? what sove- reignty, power, rule, dominion, is ascribed to them ? Is there any thing of the like nature in the writings of the apostles? in Clemens? the epistle of Polycarp, etc., or in any unquestionable legitimate oftspring of any of the first worthies of Christianity? Whence have they their three orders of bishops, presbyters, and deacons, upon the distinct observation of which so much weight is laid ? Is there any one word, iota, tittle, or syllable, in the whole book of God, giving countenance to any such distinctions ? Eph. iv. 11, we have " pastors and teachers." Rom. xii. 7, 8, " Him that teacheth, him that exhorteth, him that ruleth, and him that showeth mercy." Phil. i. 1, we have "bishops and deacons;" and their institution, with the order of it, Ave have at large expressed, 1 Tim. iii. 1-13, — "Bishops and deacons," without the interposition of any other order whatever. Deacons we have appointed, Acts vi. 1-G; and elders. Acts. xiv. 23. Those who are bishops we find called presbyters, Tit. i. 5, 7; and those wlio are presby- ters we find termed bishops, Acts xx. 28 : so that deacons we know, and bishops who are ju-esbyters, or presbyters wlio are bishops, we know ; but bishops, presbyters, and deacons, as three distinct orders in the church, from the Scripture we know not. Neither did Clemens, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, know of any more than we do, which a few instances will manifest. Saith lie, sjieaking of the apostles, Kara y^ojoag olv -/.al ridXiig xrisuasoiTcC^ xadlara'jo\i rug aTa^^aj ai/ruv, doxi/x,daa\>rig tw Ilcj^aar/, iig s~ia- XOTTOU? xa/ diaxoMOvg ruv fMSAXovruv ':risr(V£n' xai roZro oh y.anu;, sx, yao hi] rro'K- "km -/ol,\uv lysypurrro m^i s'Ziex.o-uv xai diax6iu\i, etc. Bishops and deacons (as in the church at Philippi) this man knows, but the tliird order he is utterly unacquainted withal. And tliat the diflerence of tliis man's ex- pressions concerning church rulers from those in the epistle under con- sideration may the better appear, and that his asserting of bishops and
A PREFACE TO THE READER. 37
presbyters to be one and the same may the more clearly be evidenced I shall transcribe one other passage from him, whose length I hope will be excused from the usefulness of it to the purpose in hand : Pages 57, 58 Kal 61 d'rroaro'koi rjfj.MV syvuffav dia. rov Kv^iov ri[MMV 'IrjCov XpiffTOu, or; hig idrai i-TTi rov ovo/vcaroj rjjg J'T/ffxocr^S" bia ravTrjv ouv rriv airlav, vpoyvusiv siXri^ong TiXsiav, xaTSSTriaav rovg <7r^oiiin,asvovg, zai fMira^v s'ttivo/jltiv hhdjyiaaiv, oTrug idv xoi/JiTiOojaiv, diad':t,c>JVTai 'in^oi Bi8oKifMa(r,aivoi avdpsg, rriv Xiirovpylav avruiv. Toi); cx)v KaTasraShrag U'Tt' sxihuv^ ri fisra^ii hp Ir'soMv sKKoyi^ioyj tcvhs^v, duviv- honyisderig rrii sx-/.Xr,s!ac irdci^g, (for so, it seems, was the manner of the church in his days, that their officers were appointed by the consent of the whole church,) xai Xnrou^yriaavrag d,7J/ATrws rw 'zoitj^vlio rov Xotsrou furd ra'TTiit/o- (p^nGuMYig, TiSv^C/jg K,ai dZccvauaojg, /xifxa^ru^rj/jiyhcvg rs "TroXXcTg •yomoig V'Tto itdt- ruv, TOVTOvg oh dizaiug vo/xiZ,o,(J.iv d'rroQaXisdai Tr,g Xiirousyiac' d,aa^T/a ydp oh fii'iiod r\iuv sarai, lav roiig d-wipbir-ciig zai oa'iug a^oGivsy-KOMrag rd buoa rrig Iff/ff/COT^g aTo£aAW,ctsv. Maxd^ioi oi i-^ooboi'Tro^riffavrig 'rroioQxjnPoi (or the bishops of whom he was speaking), ohmg 'iyxao'irov xal nXi/av 'isyov rriv dvdXue/v, etc. And sundry other discoveries are there in that epistle of the like na- ture. It is not my design or purpose to insist upon the parity of bishops and presbyters, or rather the identity of office, denoted by sundry appel- lations, from these and the like places ; tliis work is done to the full by Blondellus, so that our labour in this kind, were that tlie purpose in hand, is prevented. He that thinks the arguments of that learned man to this purpose are indeed answered thoroughly and removed by Dr H[ammond], in his fourtli dissertation, where he proposes them to consi- deration, may one day think it needful to be able to distinguish between words and things. That Clemens owns in a church but two sorts of of- ficers, the first whereof he calls sometimes bishops, sometimes presbyters, the other deacons, the doctor himself doth not deny.