Bishops out of the Parliament.
IN the beginning Bishops and Pres∣byters were alike, like the Gentle∣men in the Country, whereof one is made Deputy Lieutenant, and another Justice of Peace, so one is made a Bi∣shop, another a Dean; and that kind of Government by Arch-bishops, and Bi∣shops no doubt came in, in imitation of the Temporal Government, not Ju∣re Divino. In time of the Roman Em∣pire, where they had a Legatus, there they placed an Arch-Bishop, where they had a Rector, there a Bishop, that eve∣ry one might be instructed in Christiani∣ty, which now they had received into the Empire,
They that speak ingeniously of Bi∣shops and Presbyters, say, that a Bishop is a great Presbyter, and during the time of his being Bishop, above a Presbyter: as your President of the Colledge of Phy∣sicians, is above the rest, yet he himself is no more than a Doctor of Physick.
The Words [Bishop and Presbyter] are promiscuously used, that is confessed by all: and tho’ the Word [Bishop] be in Timothy and Titus, yet that will not prove the Bishops ought to have a Juris∣diction over the Presbyter, tho’ Timothy or Titus had by the Order that was gi∣ven them: some Body must take care of the rest, and that Jurisdiction was but to Excommunicate, and that was but to tell them they should come no more in∣to their Company. Or grant they did make Canons one for another, before they came to be in the State, does it follow they must do so when the State has re∣ceiv’d them into it? What if Timothy had power in Ephesus, and Titus in Creet over the Presbyters? Does it follow there∣fore the Bishops must have the same in England? Must we be govern’d like Ephesus and Creet?
However some of the Bishops pre∣tend to be Jure Divino, yet the Pra∣ctice of the Kingdom had ever been o∣therwise, for whatever Bishops do other∣wise than the Law permits, Westminster-Hall can controul, or send them to ab∣solve, &c.
He that goes about to prove Bi∣shops Jure Divino, does as a Man that having a Sword, shall strike it against an Anvil, if he strikes it a while there, he may peradventure loosen it, tho’ it be never so well riveted, ’twill serve to strike another Sword (or cut Flesh) but not against an Anvel.
If you should say you hold your Land by Moses or God’s Law, and would try it by that, you may perhaps lose, but by the Law of the Kingdom you are sure of it; so may the Bishops by this Plea of Jure Divino lose all. The Pope had as good a Title by the Law of En∣gland as could be had, had he not left that, and claim’d by Power from God.
There is no Government enjoyn’d by Example, but by Precept; it does not follow we must have Bishops still, be∣cause we have had them so long. They are equally mad who say Bishops are so Jure Divino that they must be continu∣ed, and they who say they are so An∣tichristian, that they must be put away, all is as the State pleases.
To have no Ministers, but Presby∣ters, ’tis as in the Temporal State they should have no Officers but Constables. Bishops do best stand with Monarchy, that as amongst the Laity, you have Dukes, Lords, Lieutenants, Judges, &c. to send down the King’s Pleasure to his Subjects; so you have Bishops to govern the inferi∣our Clergy: These upon occasion may address themselves to the King, otherwise every Person of the Parish must come, and run up to the Court.
The Protestants have no Bishops in France, because they live in a Catho∣lick Country, and they will not have Catholick Bishops; therefore they must govern themselves as well as they may.
What is that to the purpose, to what End were Bishops Lands given to them at first? you must look to the Law and Custom of the Place. What is that to any Temporal Lord’s Estate, how Lands were first divided, or how in William the Conquerours Days? And if Men at first were juggled out of their Estates, yet they are rightly their Suc∣cessors. If my Father cheat a Man, and he consent to it, the Inheritance is rightly mine.
If there be no Bishops, there must be something else, which has the Power of Bishops, though it be in many, and then had you not as good keep them? If you will have no half Crowns, but on∣ly single Pence, yet Thirty single Pence are half a Crown; and then had you not as good keep both? But the Bishops have done ill, ’twas the Men, not the Function; As if you should say, you would have no more Half-Crowns, be∣cause they were stolen, when the Truth is they were not stolen because they were Half Crowns, but because they were Mony, and light in a Thieves hand.
They that would pull down the Bishops and erect a new way of Govern∣ment, do as he that pulls down an old House, and builds another in another Fashion; there’s a great deal of Do, and a great deal of Trouble: the old Rub∣bish must be carried away, and new Ma∣terials must be brought; Workmen must be provided, and perhaps the old one would have serv’d as well.
If the Parliament and Presbyterian Party should dispute, who should be Judge? Indeed in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth, there was such a Dif∣ference, between the Protestants and Pa∣pists, and Sir Nicholas Bacon, Lord Chan∣cellor, was appointed to be Judge, but the Conclusion was, the stronger Party carried it: For so Religion was brought into Kingdoms, so it has been continued, and so it may be cast out, when the State pleases.
’Twill be great Discouragement to Scholars, that Bishops should be put down: For now the Father can say to his Son, and the Tutor to his Pupil, Study hard, and you shall have Vocem & Sedem in Parliamento; then it must be, Study hard, and you shall have a Hundred a Tear, if you please your Parish. Object. But they that enter into the Ministry for Prefer∣ment, are like Judas that look’d after the Bag. Answ. It may be so, if they turn Scholars at Judas’s Age; but what Arguments will they use to persuade them to follow their Books while they are young.