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A51741
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A reformed catechism. The first dialogue in two dialogues concerning the English Reformation / collected for the most part, word for word out of Dr. Burnet, John Fox, and other Protestant historians ; published for the information of the people in reply to Mas William Kings answer to D. Manby's considerations &c. ; by Peter Manby.
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Manby, Peter, d. 1697.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing M388; ESTC R30509
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77,561
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110
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Light he cannot but know him He is like the Devil in his doings for the Devil said to Christ if thou wilt fall down and worship me I will give thee all the Kingdoms of the World even so the Bishop of Rome giveth Princes their Crowns being none of his own Christ saith that Antichrist shall be and who shall he be Forsooth he that advanceth himself above all other Creatures Now if there be none other that hath advanced himself after such manner besides the Pope he forgot Mahomet then in the mean time let him be Antichrist I say the Bishop of Rome treadeth under Foot God's Laws and the Kings c. Fox 3 Vol. page 653 and 661. A. This was strange stuff coming from the Metropolitan of a Nation B. But Fox admires it and adds this marginal Note the Pope proved Antichrist NOTE Cranmer little thought that in less then one Century after his Death his Protestant Successors in the See of Canterbury should be turn'd out of doors as the Limbs and Feet of that great Antichrist the Pope and that by vertue of his own dear Principle of Reformation the Scripture interpreted according to every Man's Judgment of Discretion I have seen a Book entituled The Souldiers Catechism composed for the Parliaments Army published in the year 1644 where this among other Questions being put What is it that you chiefly aim at in this War against the King The Answer is 1. At the pulling down of Babylon and rewarding her as she hath served us Psal 137.8 2. At the suppression of an Antichristian Prelacy consisting of Archbishops Bishops Deans c. 3. At the Reformation of a most corrupt lazy infamous superstitious soul-murdering Clergy 4. At the advancement of Christ's Kingdom and the purity of his Ordinances 5. At the bringing to Justice the Enemies of our Church and State. 6. At the preservation and continuance of the Gospel to our Posterity And to this Question Is it not a lamentable thing that Christians of the same Nation should thus imbrue their Hands in one anothers Blood The Answer is I confess it is but as the case now stands there is an inevitable and absolute necessity of fighting laid upon the good People of the Land. 2. The whole Church of God calls upon us to come into the help of the Lord and his People against the Mighty 3. We are not now to look at our enemies as Country Men or Kinsmen or fellow Protestants but as the Enemies of God and our Religion and Siders with Antichrist and so our eye is not to pity them nor our Sword to spare them Jerem. 48.10 And to this Question who do you think are the Authors and Occasioners of this unnatural War The Answer is the Jesuites those Fire-brands of mischief with all the Popish Party 2. The Bishops and the rotten Clergy with all the Prelatical Party c. This Book was printed in the year 1644. and licensed by James Cranford a Presbyterian Ringleader of those times In the Title page whereof you shall find these words viz. Written for the Instruction and Encouragement of all that have taken up Arms in the Cause of God and his People c. In which Book the Reader shall find them driving the Nail to the Head and expounding the Scripture against the Protestant Hierarchy just as Cranmer had done against the Pope and Church of Rome For you must know the time when Cranmer answered thus invectively against the Pope was the year 1556. the Parliament the National Church and Clergy of England being then actually reconciled to the Church of Rome as you may find both in Burnet and Fox so that his Authority for saying the Pope had brought in Gods of his own framing was then the very same with that of the Presbyterians anno 1644. for calling the English Bishops Antichrists namely the Scripture inter preted by himself A. It seems Cranmer was then a Schismatique as well from the established Church of England as Rome namely in the year 1556. B. Yes for Catholique Religion was then restored by Act of Parliament with all the Catholique Bishops who had been ejected by the Privy Council of Edward 6. So that I think it no easie matter to resolve you of what Church was Cranmer at that time a Lutheran he was not not yet a Calvinist nor of the Church of England then established by Law. A. His Church was then in Vtopia Go on to the rest of his Story B. Thus you shall find him answering to the Charge of Dr. Martyn viz. I will never consent to the Bishop of Rome so he would never consent to the Disinheriting of King Henrys Children for then should I give my self to the Devil I have made an Oath to the King and must obey the King by Gods Laws By the Scripture the King is Chief and no Foreign person in his own Realm above him There is no Subject but to a King. I am a Subject I ow my Fidelity to the Crown to the Lady Jane Grey the Pope is contrary the Crown I cannot obey both for no man can serve two Masters at once as you in the beginning of your Oration declared by the Sword and the Keys artributing the Sword to the King and the Keys to the Pope but I say the King hath both Therefore he that is subject to Rome and the Laws of Rome he is perjured c. Fox pag. 653. NOTE In his Opinion the King has both the Power of the Sword and of the Keys This must needs be a man after King Henrys own heart but if this Doctrine be true then Queen Mary had the Power of the Keys and our present Sovereign King James II. must have the same Power also He proceeds Now as concerning the Sacrament I have taught no false Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Altar For if it can be proved by any Doctor above a thousand years after Christ that Christs Body is there really I will give over My Book was made seven years ago and no man hath brought any Authors against it I believe that who so eateth and drinketh that Sacrament Christ is within them whole Christ his Nativity Passion Resurrection and Ascension but not that corporally that sitteth in Heaven Fox ibid. Here Dr. Story another of the Queens Proctors interrupted him saying Pleaseth it you to make an end To which he replyed Now I have declared why I cannot with my Conscience obey the Pope neither say I this for my Defence but to declare my Conscience for the Zeal that I bear to Gods Word trodden under foot by the Bishop of Rome See the rest in Fox pag. 654. Then Doctor Story stood up and said addressing himself to the Bishop of Glocester Pleaseth it your good Lordship because it hath pleased the King and Queens Majesty to appoint my Companion and me to hear the Examination of this man to give me leave somewhat to talk in that behalf although I know that in talk with Hereticks there
he of his own Accord without any Addresses from Cranmer designed to raise him to that Dignity and gave him notice of it that he might make haste and come home to enjoy that reward which the King had appointed for him But Cranmer having received this News did all he could to excuse himself from the Burden which was coming upon him and therefore he returned very slowly to England hoping that the Kings thoughts cooling some other Person might step in between him and a Dignity of which having a just and primitive Sense he did look on it with Fear and Apprehension rather than Joy and Desire This was so far from setting him back that the King was thereby confirmed in his high Opinion of him and neither the delays of his Journey nor his Intreaties to be delivered from a Burden which his humility made him imagine himself unable to bear could divert the King and good reason why because amongst all the Bishops he found no Man else for his purpose So that tho six months elapsed before the thing was settled yet the King persisted in his Opinion and the other was forced to yield Burnet page 127. Now let the Reader observe Doctor Heylin's account of Cranmer's backwardness to accept that Preferment viz. Warham Archbishop of Canterbury dying Cranmer is designed for his Successor in that eminent Dignity which he unwillingly accepts of partly in regard that he was Married at that time and partly in reference to an Oath which he was to take to the Pope at his Consecration But the King was willing for his own ends to wink at the one viz his Marriage and the Pope was not in a Condition as the Case then stood to be too peremptory in the other Heylin Hist Reform page 177. Burnet says further though Cranmer was a Man of too great Candour and Simplicity to be refined in the Arts of Policy yet he managed his Affairs with great Prudence that is to say respect to his interest which did so much recommend him to the King that no ill Offices were ever able to hurt him page 172. 1 Vol. In the end of January 1533. the King sent to the Pope for the Bulls for Cranmer's Promotion and though the Statutes were passed against procuring more Bulls from Rome yet the King says Burnet resolved not to begin the Breach till he was forced to it by the Pope that is whilst there were any hopes of the Popes consenting to his Marriage with Ann Bolen On the other hand the Pope had no mind to precipitate a Rupture with England therefore consented to Cranmer's Promotion page 128. A. I pray let us hear Doctor Burnet's account of his Consecration and taking the Oath to the Pope B. Cranmers Bulls being sent into England he was on the 13th of March Anno 1533. consecrated by the Bishops of London Exeter and Saint Asaph But here a great Scruple was moved by him concerning the Oath that he was to Swear to the Pope which he had no mind to take And Writers near that time say the dislike of that Oath observe this was one of the Motives that made him so unwillingly accept of that Dignity He declared that the Obligation which that Oath brought upon him would bind him up from his Duty to God the King and the Church page 128 129. 1 Vol. A. I would fain hear the words of that Oath before you go any further B. Ego T. Electus Ecclesiae C. Episcopus ab hac hera fidelis obediens ero beato Petro Apostolo Sanctaeque Romanae Ecclesiae c. I T. Bishop of C. from this hour forward shall be faithful and obedient to Saint Peter and to the Holy Church of Rome and to my Lord the Pope and his Successors Canonically entring I shall not be of Council nor Consent that they shall lose either Life or Member or shall be taken or suffer any violence or wrong by any means Their Councel to me credited their Messengers or Letters I shall not willingly discover to any Person The Papâ—cy of Rome the Rules of the Holy Fathers and the Regality of Saint Peter I shall help and maintain and defend against all Men The Legate of the See Apostolick going and coming I shall honorably intreat The Rights Honours Priviledges Authority's of the Church of Rome and of the Pope and his Successors I shall cause to be conserved defended augmented and promoted I shall not be in Council Treaty or any Act in the which any thing shall be imagined against Him or the Church of Rome their Rights Seats Honours or Powers And if I know any such to be moved or compassed I stall resist it to my power and as soon as I can I shall advertise him or such as may give him Knowledge The Rules of the Holy Fathers the Decrees Ordinances Sentences Dispositions Reservations Provisions and Commandments Apostolick to my Power I shall keep and cause to be kept of others Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebels to our Holy Father and his Successors I shall resist and prosecute to my Power I shall come to the Synod when I am called except I be letted by a Canonical Impediment The Thresholds of the Apostles I shall visit yearly Personally or by my Deputy I shall not alienate or sell my Possessions without the Popes Counsel So God help Me and the Holy Evangelists p. 123. A. Did he take this Oath in Terminis B. Yes and you shall hear how His Scruple being communicated to some of the Canonists and Casuists saith Burnet they found a Temper that agreed better with their Maxims then Cranmers Sincerity which was that before he should take the Oath he should make a good and formal Protestation that he did not intend thereby to restrain himself from any thing that he was bound to either by his Duty to God or the King or the Countrey and that he renounced every thing in it that was contrary to any of these This Protestation he made in Saint Stephens Chappel at Westminster in presence of some Doctors of the Canon Law before he was censecrated and he afterwards repeated it when he took the Oath to the Pope by which if he did not wholly save his Integrity note this yet it was plain he intended no Cheat but to act fairly and above board page 129. NOTE Vpon the like Protestation he might have taken another Oath to be true to Mahomet The Dr. is here at his wits end for an Excuse but confesses he did not swear like a sincere Christian He intended no Cheat but to act fairly and above board viz. He would take the Oath but so God help him and the holy Evangelists if ever he meant to observe one syllable of it Reader in all ages those that have been sent by God for the Reformation of the World and Restoration of ancient Piety have appeared to be Persons of extraordinary Sanctity at least if not recommended by Miracles in this Reformer there is yet no appearance of either A. After