Part I. The Pastor and the Prelate Compared by the Word of God
PART I. THE PASTOR AND PRELATE COMPARED BY THE WORD OF GOD. The form of worship and government to be learned from the Word.—What, then, is the Kirk’s part?—The prelates agree not among themselves—They halt betwixt twa—They would make a new ceremonial law.—The perpetual and due office-bearers in the kirk.—No difference in Scripture between a pastor and a bishop.—No lord.bishop in Scripture.—No bishop of bishops or pastors in Scripture.—Every pastor in Scripture bath his own particular flock; none is without a flock, nor with a diocese.—Tbe pastor hath power of ordination, which the prelate appropriateth.—The pastor bath the power of jurisdiction, which the prelate usurpeth and appropriateth.—No such majority of power of one pastor over another, as the prelate claimeth.—The pastor meddleth not with matters civil, but the prelate is more in the world than about Christ.—The pastor and prelate’s form of praycr.—Their preaching.—Music.— Baptism.—Celebration of the Lord’s supper.—Observation of the Sabbath.—Residence.—Life and conversation.—The presence and blessing of God.—Objection, Bishops are warranted by the Word.— Answer, Showing that the prelate hath no warrant in the Word and the manifold difference betwixt the divine and diocesan bishop. That the worship of God, and the government of the kirk, which is the house of God, are to be learned out of his own word, is a truth against which the gates of hell shall never prevail. For we ought to give this glory to God, that all his books are full, and written on both sides. As the book of nature, the book of providence, and the book of conscience is perfect, alsoihe Scripture, which is the book of grace, is perfect. We ought to give this glory to the Son of God, that, as he is a perfect high priest for reconciliation, he is also a perfect prophet for revelation, and a perfect king and lawgiver for ruling of his own kirk and kingdom. We ought also to give this glory to the Spirit of God, that as he purposed to set down a covenant, a testament, and a perfect canon, so in fulness of wisdom he hath performed his purpose. We ought humbly to acknowledge, that the kirk hath no power (whether by translation of divine ordinances from the Old to the New Testament, under pretext of piety, or by imitation of the enemy, seem it never so charitable, or by man’s invention, let it appear never so plausible) to make new laws, or to institute any new office or office-bearer, any minister, or part of ministration in the house of God. But that it is her part to see the will of God obeyed, and to appoint canons and constitutions for the orderly and decent disposing of things before instituted.{1} We call here the prelates and pastors of conformity to a threefold consideration. First, That they agree not among themselves about the matters in question: some of them affirming that their hierarchy is warranted by divine authority; others confessing it is only by ancient custom; and a third sort defending neither of the two, but that it is apostolic.{2} Again, some of them make the form of kirk government to be universal and perpetual; others holding it to be conformable to civil policy, as if man might prescribe unto God what form of government is fittest for his house: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. He that hath the seven eyes seeth better in his own matter than man that seeth nothing but by his light. Wisdom, that hath built her house, and hewn out her seven pillars, cannot be content that man’s wisdom should devise and hew out the eighth pillar. Secondly, they should consider, that the arguments and answers that we give to them against their hierarchy and oeremonies, are the same that they are forced to use in defence of the truth against the papists; and the answers and arguments that the papists give them for traditions, for the pope’s monarchy, and for their will-worship, they are forced to use against us in defence of their cause: resting thus in their lukewarmness, and halting betwixt two, for the love of the world; which hath made the papists to say, that the prelates disputing against them are puritans, and while they dispute against the puritans they are papists, and turn to their side. Thirdly, they should consider that the form of government and divine ceremonies under the law, were not removed to give place to the inventions of man under the gospel. What is beside the particular precepts of God in Scripture is against the general commandment, “Thou shalt not add to the word that I have commanded,” &c.; and therefore let us say with Augustine, "We are brethren, why strive we? our Father died not intestate, but made a testament, and died and rose again; the father lieth in the grave without sense, and yet his words are in force; Christ sitteth in heaven, and his testament is contradicted on earth,—let it be read,” &c. {3} Let the pastor and the prelate be presented before the law and testimony; let the authority of the one and the other be pondered,—not in the weights of worldly avarice and ambition, but in the balance of the sanctuary; and let us measure their callings and carriage, —not by the cord of the canon law, but by the golden reed of the temple, and we shall soon see whether of the two hath warrant from God.
1. The PASTOR acknowledgeth no offices in the kirk after the extraordinary of the apostles, prophets and evangelists, but the ordinary of pastors, teachers, elders and deacons, appointed by Christ, {4} as sufficient for the weal of the kirk, and of every member thereof, in all things spiritual and temporal. The PRELATE setteth up one hierarchy of archbishops and lord-bishops,—having for the head the Roman antichrist, and for the train, suffragans, deans, achdeacons, officials, &c., never named in Scripture, nor known in the purer times of the kirk, against the weal of the kirk, and of every member thereof, both in things spiritual and temporal.
2. The PASTOR, according to the Scripture, putteth difference betwixt the names of the office bearers in the New Testament, never calling the ordinary by the name of the extraordinary, nor the inferior by the name of the superior,{5} as the pastor by the name of the apostle or evangelist; but never putteth difference at all betwixt a pastor and a bishop,—making every pastor to be a bishop, and taking the pastor and bishop always for one. The PRELATE maketh a confusion of names, that he may put himself in the place of the apostle, as the pope will be in the place of Christ; and, against all Scripture, will make so great difference betwixt a pastor and a bishop, that he will have no pastor to be a bishop, and that there be no bishop but the prelate.
3. The PASTOR can see no lord-bishop in Scripture, but the Lord’s bishop only, a name of labour and diligence, and not of honour and ease. The PRELATE will admit no other bishop but a lord-bishop, which he hath made a name of honour and ease without labour or diligence.
4. The PASTOR is a bishop set over a flock, in respect whereof he is called a bishop, and not in relation to other pastors.{7} The PRELATE setteth himself as a bishop over pastors, and in respect of them is called a bishop, and not in relation to any particular flock.
5. The PASTOR is set over a particular flock,{8} that may convene together in one place, amongst whom he is to exercise the whole parts of the ministry,—as preaching, prayer, ministration of the sacraments and discipline, according to the trust committed to him by the Son of God, in whose name he is ambassador, from whom he deriveth his power, on whom he depends in the exercise of his ministry, and to whom he must be accountable, and to no other pastor or bishop. The PRELATE both ordaineth pastors at large, without assignation of a particular flock (as if he were either making masters of art and doctors of physic, or as if ordination should go before election, which is as absurd as first to crown a king, or install a magistrate, and there to choose him,) and setteth himself as a proper pastor over a whole province, and over many kirks in divers provinces, as well of those that he never saw, as of that where his seat is,—esteeming the pastors to be but his helpers and substitutes; as having their power from him, being obliged to render account to him, and whom he may continue and displace at his pleasure.
6. The PASTOR, with his fellow-presbyters, as he is put in trust with the preaching of the word and ministration of the sacraments, hath received also of Christ the power of ordination of pastors, where presbytery,{9} never used in the New Testament to signify the office of priesthood or order of a presbyter, can be no other thing but the persons or company of pastors laying on their hands, and that not only for consent, but for consecration, of which number any one may pronounce the words of blessing. The PRELATE, for the honour of the priesthood, that is, out of his ambitious humour, taketh the power of ordaining pastors to himself,—denying that a whole presbytery without him may ordain a pastor, excepting the case of extreme necessity, as women are admitted to baptise; whereby in a manner he calleth in question the lawfulness of our piinistry, these sixty years past, since the Reformation.
7. The PASTOR hath committed to him, by Jesus Christ, not only the keys of the inward and private court of conscience, but also of the outward and public court of jurisdiction,{10} for deciding controversies, making of constitutions, and inflicting of censures, they being both but one and the same power of binding and loosing. He hath the shepherd’s staff in his hand as well as the shephetd’s pipe at his mouth. The PRELATE keepeth the staff in his own hand, and arrogateth to himself, even amongst them who never heard him, all power of jurisdiction (whether dogmatic, didactic, or critic, as it is distinguished,{11}) which the apostles themselves, notwithstanding their extraordinary gifts, would never do, but in all these parts of jurisdiction behaved themselves as presbyters.
8. The PASTOR findeth it to be so far against the word of God to claim any authority over his brethren, that albeit there be a divine order in the kirk, whereby there is one kind of ministry, both ordinary and extraordinary, in degree and dignity before another, as the apostles before all others, the pastor before the elder and deacon, yet he can find no minister, ordinary or extraordinary, that hath any majority of power over other inferior ministers of another kind,— as the pastor over the elder and deacon, far less over other ministers of the same kind, as the pastor or bishop over the pastor.{12} The PRELATE findeth it to be so far against his place to quit his authority over his brethren, that albeit he hath no warrant for any other kind or degree of ministry than the pastor, yet he usurpeth majority of power over pastors, and taketh upon him both direction and correction; and that not social, but authoritative, to beat them at his pleasure.
9. The PASTOR is separate from the world to the kingdom of Christ, which is not of this world:{13} he will not be called gracious lord, nor strive for the right hand or the left; he should not follow the pomp of the world, but must shine in knowledge, diligence, and godly simplicity; he may not assume another ecclesiastical office, far less take upon him a secular charge; he may not divide the inheritance, nor burden himself with worldly affairs. The PRELATE is separate from the kingdom of Christ, and thrusteth himself into the throng of the world, he would be called My Lord, and Your Grace; and, without respect of age or gifts, preferreth himself to the most reverend pastors: he robbeth the nobility and magistrates of their places and dignities, and will have his cushion, his coach, and his courtly train: he is a lord of parliament, of council and session, a baron, a steward, a judge of civil and criminal causes; and why not bishop of the order of the garter, and count palatine, that at last he may have both swords and the triple crown, as the Abimelech-like brambles of the world have done before.
10. The PASTOR taketh the sum and forms of prayer from the directions of God, from the Lord’s prayer, and from the prayers of the godly in divers places of Scripture, the particular arguments and petitions from the present purposes, persons, places, times, and occasions, which, as the mouth of the congregation, according unto the grace given unto him from the Holy Ghost, he presenteth before the throne of God the Father, in the name of Jesus Christ.{14} The PRELATE would tie the pastor, (albeit he had the tongue of an angel,) and occasions never so contrary, to certain words, and a set form of liturgy, and would divide the prayer betwixt pastor and people, and by many idle repetitions, would bring both pastor and people under the guiltiness of vain babbling and popish superstition.
11. The PASTOR thinketh it the principal part of his ministry to labour in the word and doctrine, because woe is unto him if he preach not the gospel. And when he preacheth he will have God’s word only to sound in his own house,—reading nothing but the canonical text, and comparing scripture with scripture for edification, that he may save himself and those that hear him. The PRELATE thinketh of preaching as accessory, and would have it worn out of use by a long dead liturgy. In reading he would have no difference betwixt the Apocrypha and the canonical Scripture, and liketh best such sermons as are stuffed with philosophers, poets, orators, schoolmen, and ancients in Greek and Latin, that he may preach himself, and be admired of those that hear him.
12. The PASTOR loveth no music in the house of God but such as edifieth,{16} and stoppeth his ears at instrumental music, as serving for the pedagogy of the untoward Jews under the law, and being figurative of that spiritual joy whereunto our hearts should be opened under the gospel. The PRELATE loveth carnal and curious singing to the ear, more than the spiritual melody of the gospel, and therefore would have antiphony and organs in the cathedral kirks, upon no greater reason than other shadows of the law of Moses; or lesser instruments, as lutes, citherns, or pipes, might be used in other kirks.
13. The PASTOR ministereth baptism in the place of the public assemblies of God’s people,{17}—it being a note of our Christian profession, and a protestation of our faith, and therefore should be celebrated publicly, as well as ordination of ministers, excommunication, confession of converts, or reconciliation of penitents. The PRELATE hath given place to private baptism,{18} and thereby entertaineth the superstitious conceit of the necessity of baptism, bringeth in the absurdity of conditional baptism, and maketh a ready way for private persons and midwives to baptise.
14. The PASTOR, as the words of the institution prescribe, and after the example of Christ and his apostles, hath a table prepared for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper: he sitteth down in a public communion with the congregation, in the most customable and comely form of sitting, far from all danger of idolatry; when he hath given thanks, he breaketh the bread sacramentally; when he delivereth the elements he uttereth the words of promise, This is my body, this is my blood, demonstratively; the people distribute the bread and cup among themselves lovingly; they eat and drink in such measure as they may find themselves refreshed sensibly; and as before the action they were prepared by diligent examination and powerful sermons, for trying themselves, so in the time of the action their ears and their hearts are filled with pertinent readings and pithy exhortations, and, after the action, dismissed with joy, with strength, and with spiritual resolution, to the great honour of God, the enlargement of the kingdom of Christ, the terror of antichrist, the peace of the kirk, and the unspeakable comfort of their own souls. The PRELATE pretending the words of the ninety-fifth Psalm, and, after the example of antichrist and his followers, hath turned the table into an altar-like cupboard,—the table gesture of sitting into the adoring gesture of kneeling (with no better excuse of idolatry than is expressed in the obscure term of abstractive ab objecto, and objectum a quo significative),—the public communion into a private action betwixt him and the communicant,—the sacramental breaking into a preparative carving before the action,—the enunciative words of the institution into a form of a prayer or oblation,—the Christian distribution into a steward-like partition,—the refreshment of eating and drinking into a pinched tasting,—the preparatory examination and preaching into a schismatical disputation about kneeling and sitting,—the spiritual exhortations in the time of the action, either in a dumb guise and comfortless deadness, or in a confusion of the readers reading, and his own speaking at the giving of the elements, both at one time,—and the spiritual joy, strength and resolution after the action, into tenors of conscience in some, the opinion of indifference in all matters of religion in others, and of looseness of life in many, to the mocking of God, the re-entry of antichrist, rending of the kirk, obduring of the papist, stumbling of the weak, and grief of the godly.
15. The PASTOR thinketh it no Judaism nor superstition, but a moral duty to observe the Sabbath.{19}
Because, first, the observation of one day of seven, albeit it be positively divine, yet it is not ceremonial nor for a time, but unchangeable, and obligeth perpetually, as is manifest by the time when it was appointed before the fall, when there was no type of redemptiou by Christ, and by numbering it among the ten precepts of the moral law, written by the finger and proclaimed by the voice of God, which cannot be said of any changeable law. Neither can it be called perpetual and moral in this sense, that a certain time is to be allotted to divine worship; for then the building of the tabernacle and temple, the new moons, and other legal festivities, containing in them a general quity, might as well be accounted moral. Secondly, the change of the Sabbath from the last to the first day of the week is by divine authority, from Christ himself, from whom it is called the Lord’s day, who is Lord of the Sabbath, who did institute the worship of the day, and rested from his labours that day, whereon all things were made new by his resurrection, and sanctified it, even as in the beginning God rested from all his works on the seventh day, and blessed it. He thinketh it no more contrary to Christian liberty than it was to Adam, in his innocence, to keep one of the seven, and therefore he laboureth to make the Sabbath his delight,—observeth it himself— and by his doctrine, example and discipline, teacheth others to do the like; and to cease not only from all servile works which require great labour of the body, but from all our own works whatsoever, drawing our minds from the exercises of religion, and serving for our own gain and commodity, except in the case of necessity, caused by divine providence. He would have it well considered wherein the Jews were more strictly obliged than Christians, and what liberty we have that they had not. Beside the Sabbath he can admit no ordinary holidays appointed by man, whether in respect of any mystery, or of difference of one day from another, as being warranted by mere tradition, against the doctrine of Christ and his aposs ties, but account.eth the solemn fasts and humiliations unto which the Lord calleth, to be extraordinary sabbaths, warranted by God himself. The PRELATE, by his doctrine, practice, example, and neglect of discipline, declareth that he hath no such reverend estimation of the Sabbath. He doteth so upon the observation of Pasche, Yule, and festival days appointed by men, that he preferreth them to the Sabbath, and hath turned to nothing our solemn fasts and blessed humiliations.
16. The PASTOR findeth that every part of his office, and every name whereby be is called in Scripture, doth call upon him to be personally resident,{20} and where he resideth, to be a terror to the wicked and a comfort to the godly. The PRELATE either waiteth upon council, session, or court, or dwelleth so far from his charge, that the speech of Caranza (proving the necessity of the personal residence of bishops), may be applied to him: “He is a bishop, but without overseeing,—an ambassador, but runneth where his errand lieth not,—a captain and soldier, but far from his station,—a father and steward, but suffereth the children to perish for want of food.” Or if he happen to be resident, his lordship is a protection to the papist, to the carnal professor, and to the idol-minister and idle-belly, and such a vexation to the vigilant pastor, that he had much rather he were a non-resident.
17. The PASTOR must be so unblameable, that he have a good testimony of them that are without,{21} he must rule well his own house, having his children in subjection, with all gravity, not accused of riot, or unruly. He must be sober, not given to wine; he must not be greedy of filthy lucre, nor covetous; he must not be a brawler, a striker, or fighter. The PRELATE mocketh at conscience, gravity, sobriety, modesty, patience, painfulness, &c., and calleth them puritanising.
18.—The PASTOR laboareth to keep faith in a good conscience, and, by the blessing of God upon his labours; findeth the increase of the gifts of God in his old age, and the grace of God growing in the hearts of the people.{22} The PRELATE, by losing a good conscience, maketh shipwreck of faith, and by the curse of God upon his sloth and defection, may find himself like Balaam, who seeking horns did lose his ears—that is, seeking preferment he lost the gift of prophesy, and may see grace decayed, and worn out of the hearts of the people. The Prelate’s objection.—The PRELATE will object, notwithstanding all the evil that hash been said;, or tbat ye can say against him, that the name, the calling, the power, and the life of the bishop, is set down in the Word. The Pastor’s answer.—The question is not of the bishop, but of the prelate or diocesan bishop, whether he be the divine bishop. Haman could think upon no man but himself, when the man was named whom the king would honour; even so the prelate imagineth no other bishop to be spoken of in Scripture but himself. And as Alexander the great took Jupiter’s ominous salutation, ω παιδιον, [O child or babe,] for ω παι Διος [O son of Jupiter,]{23} even so in the prelate’s ambitious ear, every word of a bishop sounds honour unto him. But the truth is, that the pastor, and not the diocesan bishop, is the bishop divine.
1. The diocesan bishop is but one, in a diocese, over many kirks. The divine bishops may be many in one city, and over one kirk.
2. The diocesan bishop hath a form of ordination of his own, different from the ordination of the pastor. The divine bishop hath no other but the ordination of the pastor.
3. The diocesan bishop preacheth at his pleasure, and is not obliged to preach by the nature and necessity of his calling. The divine bishop is bound by his calling to preach with all diligence.
4. The diocesan bishop hath no particular congreation for his flock, to feed with the word and sacraments. The divine bishop is tied to a particular flock.
5. The diocesan bishop is, for the greater part, a secular person. The divine bishop is a person merely ecclesiastical.
Therefore the diocesan bishop is not the divine bishop, neither doth the word of God acknowledge any diocesan kirk, or any prelate or diocesan bishop charged with the care of many particular congregations, and having majority of power to direct and correct other pastors.