THe Contests that have been raised in this Age concerning the lawfulness and the usefulness of the Episcopal Government , have engaged so many learned Men to treat that Argument so fully , that as there is very little excuse left for the Ignorance or obstinacy of those who still stand out against the Evidence of a Cause made out so clearly , so there is scarce any thing left to be said by any , whose zeal may set him on to handle a matter that seems to be now exhausted . There is one sort of Arguments yet remaining , that as they are more within every ones compass to apprehend and apply , so they have a greater force on Mens affections , which commonly give a biass to their understandings . For conviction has an easie access to us when we are already inclined to wish that were true , concerning which we imploy our enquiries : And in practical matters , such as Government , Arguments fetched from great Patterns do not only prepare us to think well of such Forms , but really give us truer and juster Ideas of them than speculative Discourses can raise in us ; which work but coldly on persons unconcerned . An Argument not foreign to this , is used by all the Assertors of Episcopacy , in which the force of the reasoning is equal to the truth of the assertion ; Which is , that it is not possible to think that a Government can be criminal , under which the World received the Christian Religion , and that in a course of many Ages , in which as all the corners of the Christian Church , so all the parts of it , the sound as well as the unsound , that is the Orthodox as well as the Hereticks and Schismaticks , agreed : the persecutions that lay then so heavy on the Church made it no desireable thing for a Man to be exposed to their first fury , which was always the Bishops portion ; and that in a course of many Centuries , in which there was nothing but Poverty and labour to be got by the Imployment : There being no Princes to set it on as an Engine of Government , and no Synods of Clergymen gathered to assume that Authority to themselves by joynt designs and endeavours . And can it be imagined that in all that glorious Cloud of Witnesses to the truth of the Christian Religion , who as they planted it with their Labours , so watered it with their Blood , there should not so much as one single person be found , on whom either a love to truth , or an envy at the advancement of others prevailed so far as to declare against such an early and universal corruption ( if it is to be esteemed one . ) When all this is complicated together , it is really of so great Authority , that I love not to give the proper name to that temper that can withstand so plain a demonstration . For what can a Man , even heated with all the force of imagination , and possessed with all the sharpness of prejudice , except to the inference made from these Premisses , that a Form so soon introduced , and so wonderfully blest , could not be contrary to the Rules of the Gospel : and cannot be ascribed to any other Original , but that the Apostles every where established it , as the Fence about the Gospel which they planted , so that our Religion and Government are to be reckoned Twins born at the same time , and both derived from the same Fathers .

But things so remote require more than ordinary knowledg to set them before us in a true light : And their distance from us makes them lessen as much to our thoughts , as Objects that are far from us do to our Eyes . Therefore it will be perhaps necessary in order to the giving a fuller and amiabler prospect of that Apostolical Constitution , to chuse a Scene that lies nearer , and more within all peoples view ; that so it may appear , that for the living Arguments in favour of this Government we need not go so far as to the Clement's , the Ignatius's , the Polycarp's , the Ireneus's , the Denys's and the Cyprian's that were the glories of the Golden Ages : Nor to the Athanasius's , the Basil's , the Gregorie's , the Chrysostome's , the Martin's , the Ambrose's and the Austin's , that were the beauties of the Second but Silver Age of Christianity ; but that even in this Iron Age , and dreg of time , there have been such Patterns , as perhaps can hardly be matched since Miracles ceased .

We ought not to deny the Church of Rome the just Praises that belong to some of the Bishops she has produced in this and the last Age , who were burning and shining Lights : and we ought not to wonder if a Church so blemisht all over with the corruptions of her Clergy , and in particular of the Heads of them , covers her self from those deserved Reproaches by the brightness of such great names ; and by the exemplary Vertues of the present Pope , which being so unusual a thing , it is not strange to see them magnifie and celebrate it as they do . France has likewise produced in this Age a great many Bishops , of whom it must be said , That as the World was not worthy of them so that Church , that used them so ill , was much less worthy of them . And though there are not many of that stamp now left , yet Cardinal Grimaldy * * Who is dead since this was first written . , the Bishop of Angiers , and the Bishop of Grenoble , may serve to dignifie an Age , as well as a Nation . The Bishop of Alet was , as , a great and good Man told me , like a living and speaking Gospel .

It is true their intanglements with the See of Rome and the Court of France , were things both uneasie and dangerous to them ; but I love not to point at their blind Sides , it is their fair one that I would set out : and if we can bear the highest commendations that can be given to the Vertues of Heathen Philosophers , even when they do eclipse the reputation of the greater part of Christians ; it will be unjust for any to be uneasie at the Praises given to Prelates of another Communion , who are to be so much the more admired , if notwithstanding all the corruptions that lye so thick about them , that they could hardly break through them , they have set the World such examples as ought indeed to make others ashamed that have much greater advantages . But since the giving of Orders is almost the only part of their function , that is yet entirely in their Hands , they have indeed brought a regulation into that which was so grosly abused in former times , that cannot be enough commended , nor too much imitated ; they have built and endowed Seminaries for their Diocesses , in which a competent number of young Ecclesiasticks are bred at Studies and Exercises suitable to that Profession , to which they are to be dedicated ; and as they find them well prepared , they are , by the several steps and degrees of the Pontifical , led up to the Altar , and kept there till Benefices fall , and so they are removed from thence , as from a Nursery , into the several parts of the Diocesses . By this means the Secular Clergy of France have in a great measure recovered their reputation , and begin now to bear down the Regulars , whose Credit and Wealth had risen chiefly by the Ignorance and Scandals of the Curates . In this the present Archbishop of Rheims has set a pattern to the rest , suitable to the high Rank he holds in that Church , for he has raised a Seminary that cost him Fifty thousand Crowns a building , and above Five thousand Crowns a Year in supporting the expence of it : in which there are about One hundred Ecclesiasticks maintained ; and out of these he Ordains every Year such a number as the extent of his Diocess does require : And with these he supplies the Vacancies that fall . This is a way of imploying the Revenues of the Church , that is exactly suitable to the sense of the Primitive times , in which a Bishop was not considered as the Proprietor , but only as the Administrator and Dispencer of the Revenue belonging to his See : And there is scarce any one thing concerning which the Synods in those Ages took more care than to distinguish between the Goods and Estate that belonged to a Bishop by any other Title , and those that he had acquired during his Episcopat : for though he might dispose of the one , the other was to fall to the Church .

But now to return to the Subject that led me into this digression , there is nothing that can have a stronger operation to overcome all prejudices against Episcopacy , than the proposing eminent Patterns , whose Lives continue to speak still , though they are dead : Of which my native Country has produced , both in the last and in the present Age , some great and rare Instances , of which very eminent effects appeared , even amidst all that rage of furious Zeal , into which that Nation was transported against it : And I suppose the Reader will not be ill pleased if I make a second digression to entertain him with some passages concerning them , but will bear with it perhaps better than with the former .

And since my Education and the course of my Life has led me most to know the Affairs of Scotland , I will not enter upon a Province that is Foreign to me , and therefore shall leave to others the giving an account of the great Glories of the Church of England , and will content my self with telling some more eminent things of some of our Scottish Bishops : In which I will say nothing upon flying Reports , but upon very credible , if not certain Information . There was one Patrick Forbes of Aberdeenshire , a Gentleman of Quality and Estate , but much more eminent by his Learning and Piety , than his Birth or Fortune could make him . He had a most terrible Calamity on him in his Family , which needs not be named : I do not know whether that or a more early principle determined him to enter into Orders : He undertook the labour of a private Cure in the Country , upon the most earnest invitations of his Bishop , when he was Forty Eight Years old , and discharged his Duty there so worthily , that within a few Years he was promoted to be Bishop of Aberdeen ; in which See he sat about Seventeen Years . It was not easie for King Iames to perswade him to accept of that Dignity , and many Months past before he could be induced to it , for he had intended to have lived and dyed , in a more obscure corner . It soon appeared how well he deserved his Promotion , and that his unwillingness to it was not feigned , but the real effect of his humility : He was in all things an Apostolical Man , he used to go round his Diocess without noise , and but with one Servant , that so he might be rightly informed of all matters . When he heard reports of the weakness of any of his Clergy , his custome was to go and lodge unknown near their Church on the Saturday Night , and next day , when the Minister was got into the Pulpit , he would come to Church , that so he might observe what his ordinary Sermons were , and accordingly he admonished or encouraged them . He took such care of the two Colledges in his Diocess , that they became quickly distinguished from all the rest of Scotland : So that when the troubles in that Church broke out , the Doctors there were the only persons that could maintain the Cause of the Church ; as appears by the Papers that past between them and the Covenanters . And though they begun first to manage that Argument in Print , there has nothing appeared since more perfect than what they writ . They were an honour to the Church both by their Lives , and by their Learning , and with that excellent temper they seasoned that whole Diocess , both Clergy and Laity , that it continues to this day very much distinguished from all the rest of Scotland , both for Learning , Loyalty and Peaceableness ; and , since that good Bishop died but three years before the Rebellion broke out , the true source of that advantage they had , is justly due to his Memory : One of these Doctors was his Son Iohn , the Heir of his Vertues and Piety , as well as of his Fortune : But much superiour to him in Learning ; and he was perhaps inferior to no Man of his Age , which none will dispute , that have read his Instructiones Historico-Theologicae , a Work which if he had finished it , and had been suffered to enjoy the privacies of his Retirement and Study , to give us the Second Volume , had been the greatest Treasure of Theological Learning that perhaps the World has yet seen . He was Divinity Professor at Aberdeen , an endowment raised by his Father : But was driven out by the Covenant , and forced to fly beyond Sea . One memorable thing of his Father ought not to be left unmentioned ; he had Synods twice a year of his Clergy , and before they went upon their other business , he always began with a short discourse , excusing his own infirmities and charging them that , if they knew or observed any thing amiss in him , they would use all freedom with him , and either come and warn him in secret of secret errours , or if they were publick , that they would speak of them there in publick ; and upon that he withdrew to leave them to the freedom of Speech . This condescension of his was never abused but by one petulant Man , to whom all others were very severe for his insolence , only the Bishop bore it gently and as became him .

One of the Doctors of Aberdeen bred in his time and of his name William Forbes , was promoted by the late King , while he was in Scotland in the Year one thousand six hundred thirty and three , to the Bishoprick of Edenburgh , that was then founded by him , so that that glorious King said on good grounds , that he had found out a Bishop that deserved that a See should be made for him ; he was a grave and eminent Divine ; my Father , that knew him long , and being of Council for him in his Law-matters , had occasion to know him well , has often told me , That he never saw him but he thought his Heart was in Heaven , and he was never alone with him but he felt within himself a Commentary on these Words of the Apostles , Did not our Hearts burn within us , while he yet talked with us , and opened to us the Scriptures ? He preached with a zeal and vehemence , that made him often forget all the measures of time , two or three Hours was no extraordinary thing for him ; those Sermons wasted his Strength so fast , and his ascetical course of life was such , that he supplyed it so scantly that he dyed within a Year after his Promotion ; so he only appeared there long enough to be known , but not long enough to do what might have been otherwise expected from so great a Prelate . That little remnant of his that is in Print shews how Learned he was . I do not deny but his earnest desire of a general Peace and Union among all Christians has made him too favourable to many of the Corruptions in the Church of Rome : but tho' a Charity that is not well ballanced , may carry one to very indiscreet things ; yet the Principle from whence they flowed in him was so truly good , that the errors to which it carried him ought to be either excused , or at least to be very gently censured .

Another of our late Bishops was the noblest born of all the Order , being Brother to the Lord Boid , that is one of the best Families of Scotland , but was provided to the poorest Bishoprick , which was Argile ; yet he did great things in it . He found his Diocess overrun with ignorance and barbarity , so that in many places the name of Christ was not known ; but he went about that Apostolical Work of planting the Gospel , with a particular industry , and almost with equal success . He got Churches and Schools to be raised and endowed every where ; and lived to see a great blessing on his endeavours ; so that he is not so much as named in that Country to this day but with a particular veneration , even by those who are otherwise no way equitable to that Order . The only answer that our angry people in Scotland used to make when they were pressed with such Instances , was , that there were too few of them : But some of the severest of them have owned to me , that if there were many such Bishops , they would all be Episcopal .