THE ORIGINAL OF BISHOPS AND METROPOLITANS, &c. &c. THE ground of episcopacy is derived partly from the pattern prescribed by God in the Old Testament, and partly from the imitation thereof brought in by the apostles, and confirmed by Christ himself in the time of the New. The government of the Church of the Old Testament was committed to the priests and Levites, unto whom the ministers of the New do now succeed; in like sort as our Lord's day hath done unto their sabbath, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, touching the vocation of the Gentiles, "I will take of them for priests, and for Levites, saith the Lord." That the priests were superior to the Levites, no man doubteth and that there was not a parity, either betwixt the priests or betwixt the Levites themselves, is manifest by the word of God; wherein mention is made of the heads and rulers both of the one, and of the other. The Levites were distributed into the three families of the Gershonites, Cohathites, and Merarites: and over a Isaiah. chap. 66. ver. 21. 1 Chron. chap. 24. ver. 6. 31. and Ezra, chap. 8. ver. 29. each of them God appointed one NW apxwv, or ruler, The priests were divided by David into four and twenty courses; who likewise had their heads: who in the history of the New Testament are ordinarily called aρxipeïs®, or chief of the priests; and clearly distinguished from that singular one, who was the type of our "great' High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God." Yea in the eleventh chapter of Nehemy, we find two named bishops, the one of the priests, the other of the Levites that dwelt in Jerusalem. The former so expressly termed by the Greek in the fourteenth, the latter both by the Greek and Latin interpreter in the twentyseconds verse, and not without approbation of the Scripture itself, which rendereth the Hebrew word of the same original in the Old, by the Greek Tкоn in the New Testament. Of Levi it was said by Moses, the man of God: " Theyk shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law; they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar." Because this latter part of their office hath ceased with them, and the Levitical altar (the truth prefigured thereby being now exhibited) is quite taken away: may not we therefore conclude out of the former part, which hath no such typical relation in it, that our bishops and presbyters should be, as the apostle would have them to be, didaкTIкoil" apt to teach; ablem by sound doctrine both to exhort, and to convince the gainsayers?" Nay, and out of the latter part itself; where God had appointed, that "the" priests, the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi should eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire" doth not the apostle by just analogy infer from 66 Numb. chap. 3. ver. 24. 30. 35. d 1 Chron. chap. 24. e Matth. chap. 2. ver. 4. and chap. 27. ver. 1. Acts, chap. 19. ver. 14. &c. f Heb. chap. 4. ver. 14. 8 'ЕnioкоTO Aɛver@v. LXX. Episcopus Levitarum. Hieron. thence, that forasmuch as "they" which waited at the altar, were partaker with the altar; even so had the Lord ordained, that they which preached the Gospel, should live of the Gospel?" With what shew of reason then can any man imagine, that what was instituted by God in the Law, for mere matter of government and preservation of good order, (without all respect of type or ceremony,) should now be rejected in the Gospel, as a device of Antichrist? that what was by the Lord once "planted" a noble vine, wholly a right seed," should now be so "turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine;" that no purging or pruning of it will serve the turn, but it must be cut down root and branch, as "a plant which our heavenly Father had never planted?" But nothing being so familiar now a days, as to father upon Antichrist, whatsoever in church matters we do not find to suit with our own humours: the safest way will be, to consult with Christ himself herein, and hear what he delivereth in the cause. "Those things saith he, that hath the seven stars." He owneth then, we see, these stars, whatsoever they be; and, the mystery of them he thus further openeth unto his beloved disciple: "The seven stars, which thou sawest in my right hand, are the angels of the seven churches." From which words a learned man, very much devoted to the now so highly admired discipline, deduceth this conclusion: "Howt great, therefore, is the dignity of true pastors, who are both STARS, fixed in no other firmament than in the right hand of Christ, and ANGELS?" He had considered well, that in the church of Ephesus (one of the seven here pointed at) there were many PRESBYTERS", whom "the holy Ghost had made BISHOPS, or overseers, over all that flock; to feed the Church of God, • 1 Cor. chap. 9. ver. 13, 14. Matth. chap. 15. ver. 13. Revel. chap. 1. ver. 20. P Jerem. chap. 2. ver. 21. * Quanta igitur dignitas verorum pastorum, qui tum stellæ sunt, non in alio firmamento, quam in dextra Christi fixæ, tum angeli? T. Brightman. in Apocalyps. chap. 1. ver. 20. Acts, chap. 20. ver. 17. 28. which he had purchased with his own blood." And withal he saw, that by admitting one angel there above the rest (all, as well extraordinary prophets", as ordinary pastors, being in their own several stations accounted angels or messengers of the Lord of Hosts) he should be forced also to acknowledge the eminency of one bishop above the other bishops (that name being in those days. common unto all the presbyters) and to yield withal, that such a one was to be esteemed as a star fixed in no other firmament, than in the right hand of Christ." To solve this therefore, all the stars in every church must be presupposed to be of one magnitude, and though those stars which typified these angels are said to be but seven, yet the angels themselves must be maintained to be far more in number: and in fine, where our Saviour saith, "unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write;" it must by no means be admitted, that anya one angel should be meant hereby, but the whole college of pastors rather. And all upon pretence of a poor shew of some shallow reasons; that there "" was not one angel of Ephesus but many, and among them not any principal." Which wresting of the plain words of our Saviour is so extreme violent, that M. Beza, though every way as zealously affected to the advancement of the new discipline as was the other, could by no means digest it: but ingenuously acknowledgeth the meaning of our Lord's direction to have been this: "To the angel, that is, to the president, as whom it behoved specially to be admonished touching those matters; and by him both the rest of his colleagues, and the whole Church likewise." And W Judg. chap. 2. ver. 1. Hagg. chap. 1. ver. 13. Matth. chap. 11. ver. 18. y Philipp. chap. 1. ver. 1. 1 Tim. chap. 1. ver. 2. Tit. chap. 1. ver. 5. 7. Revel. chap. 2. ver. 1. a Nec uni alicui angelo mittuntur, sed toti (ut ita dicam) collegio pastorum ; qui omnes hac communi voce comprehenduntur. Non enim unus erat angelus Ephesi, sed plures: nec inter istos aliquis princeps. Brightman. in Apocalyps. chap. 2. ver. 1. 5 Τῷ ἀγγέλῳ, id est, προεστῶτι. Quem nimirum oportuit inprimis de his rebus admoneri, ac per eum cæteros collegas, totamque adeo ecclesiam. Bez. in Apocalyps. chap. 2. ver. 1. |