A PEEFACE TO THE READER. 47
politan church having neither presbyter nor bishop properly related unto it as such, but an archbishop, — we are worse than infidels ! Truly I cannot but wonder whether it doth not sometimes enter into these men's thoughts to apprehend how contemptible they are in their proofs for the fathering of such an ecclesiastical distribution of governors and government, as un- deniably lackeyed after the civil divisions and constitutions of the times and places wherein it was introduced, upon those holy persons, whose souls never once entered into the secrets thereof.
Thus fares it with our doctor and his Ignatius : Om 7div, dXX' sdojirjCiv /dih dia \i\)XTa giXyjvTiv. I shall only crave leave to say to him as Au- gustus of Quintilius Varus, upon the loss of his legions in Germany under his command, " Quintili Vare, redde legiones. Domine doctor, redde ec- clesias." Give us the churches of Christ, such as they were in the days of the apostles, and down to Ignatius, though before that time (if Hege- sippus may be believed) somewliat defloured, and our contest about church officers and government will be nearer at an end than perhaps you will readily imagine. Give us a church all whose members are holy, called, sanctified, justified, living stones, temples for the Holy Ghost, saints, be- lievers, united to Christ the head by the Spirit that is given to them and dwelleth in them ; a church whose 'zXrjdoi; is otto-j av (pavrj 6 I'rie-A.o'rrog^ that doth nothing by its members apart, that appertains to church-order, but when it is gathered l-iri rh avro' a church that being so gathered to- gether in one place, ff'TouddZ^n 'xdvra. rrsdffgiiv sv ofj^ovoice, ©sou, 'z^oxaOyi- /xivov rou ivis-A.i'TTou, acting in church things, in its whole body, under the rule and presidence of its officers ; a church walking in order, and not as some, who siriaxo'TTOv ix\v xaXovifiv, %oij/S 8s avrou 'xdvra 'TT^daffovffiv (of whom, saith Ignatius, oi Toiovroi oiix. i\jsvvuhr\Toi (isv ihai (palvovrai, did luv rh (lii ^sQaiujg -/.ut' IvroXriv cuvadpoil^saSai, such as calling the bishop to the assem- blies, yet do all things without him, — the manner of some in our days, — he supposeth not to keep the assemblies according to the command of Clu-ist) ; — give us, I say, such a church, and let us come to them when they are rravTsg sttI rh avro, h rfi ir^oeivyj] a/za 6\)va-)(Shrii, such as the churches in the days of Ignatius appear to have been, and are so rendered in the quo- tations taken from his epistles by the learned doctor for the confirmation of episcopacy, and, as I-«aid before, the contest of this present digression will quickly draw to an issue. Being luiwilling to go too far out of my • way, I shall not, —
1. Consider the severals instanced in for the proof of episcopacy by the doctor. Seeing undeniably the interpretation must follow and be pro- portioned by the general issue of that state of the church in the days wherein those epistles were writ, or are pretended so to be, if that appear to be such as I have mentioned, I presume the doctor himself will confess that his witnesses speak not one word to his business, for whose confirma- tion he doth produce them. Nor, —
2. Shall I insist upon the degeneration of the institutions and appoint- ments of Jesus Christ concerning church administrations, in the manage- ment of the succeeding churches, as principled and spirited by the opera- tive and efficacious mystery of iniquity, occasioned and advantaged by the accommodation of ecclesiastical affiiirs to the civil distributions and allot- ments of the political state of things in those days. Nor, —
3. Insist much farther on the exceeding dissimilitude and unconformity that is between the expressions concerning church officers and affairs in these epistles (whencesoever they come), and those in the writings of un- questionable credit immediately before and after them, as also the utter
48 ^ A PREFACE TO THE READER.
silence of the Scripture in those things wherewith they so abound. The Epistle of Clemens, of which mention was made before, was written for the composing and quieting of a division and distemper that was fallen out in the church of Corinth. Of the cause of that dissension that then miserably rent that congregation, he informs us in that complaint that some ou dixaliAjg u'TroCacX'sffdai rris "ksirov^y/ug, were wrongfully cast from the ministry by the multitude : and he tells you that these were good, honest men, and faithful in the discharge of their duty; for saith he, ' O^Z/msv on sv'icug v,asT; ^irr^yaLjin^ xahZig 'TroXinvofJi^svovg, ix. rr^g ccfxs/M'jrTCog avroTg titi- ,ajj,«.fvjjc y.iiTovoyiag, though they were unblamable both in their conversa- tion and ministry, yet they removed them from their office. To reprove this evil, to convince them of the sinfulness of it, to reduce them to a right understanding of their duty and order, walking in the fellowship of the gospel, what course doth he proceed in ? what arguments doth lie use ? He minds them of one Grod, one Christ, one body, one faith ; tells them that wicked men alone use such ways and practices; bids them read the epistle of Paul, formerly written to them upon occasion of another division, and to be subject to their own elders, and all of them to leave off contending, quietly doing the things which the people, or the body of the church, de- livered and commanded. Now, had this person, writing on this occasion, using all sorts of arguments, artificial or inartificial, for his purpose, been baptized into the opinion and esteem of a single e^jiscopal superintendent, — whose exaltation seems to be the design of much which is said in the epistles of Ignatius, in the sense wherein his words are usually taken, — and yet never once so much as bid them be subject to the bishop, that " re- semblance of God the Father, supplying of the place of Christ," nor told them how terrible a thing it was to disobey him, nor pawned his soul for tlieirs that should submit to him, that all that obeyed him were safe, all that disobeyed him were rebellious, cursed, and separated from Grod; what apology can be made for the weakness and ignorance of that holy martyr, if we sliall suppose him to have had apprehensions like those in these epistles of that sacred order, for omitting those all-conquering rea- sons which they would have supplied him withal to his purpose in hand, and pitching on arguments every way less cogent and useful? But I say I shall not insist on any such things as these, but only, —