of Trent gave it two mortal wounds 1. To declare Bishops in many cases the Popes Delegates 2. To leave the question of their residence and jurisdiction undecided 1. The first of these two things brings Episcopacy unto a strange abatement renders the Pope master of all Bishops Jurisdictions breaks all ancient Canons runs down the interests of all Princes encroaches upon the Rights and Liberties of Churches gives the Bishops a quality unworthy the successors of the Apostles and forces them to receive that as a borrowed and begg'd privilege which belongs naturally to them The second causes Episcopacy to be look'd upon as a meer humane emploiment or Civil Magistracy Such a Bishop could never have the confidence to say with the Apostle 2 Cor. 13. 3. Do you seek a proof of Christs speaking in me Nay he would no more value his sacred character then one of the Kings officers do his and regard the duties of his Divine calling rather as rules instituted for decency then as unchangeable obligations so strictly requir'd from him that without them he has no hope of salvation XXVI Jurisdiction is no less essential to Episcopacy then the power of ordaining Ministers a proposition we could easily demonstrate to be unanswerable would it not render this Discourse too big and had it not bin already done by a learned hand against the infamous Doctrine of â—oth English and French Jesuits For Jesuits are every where the same Ordination and Jurisdiction are so twisted together that they cannot be divided without their â—â—utual destruction Bishops receive both from the same hand and are no less instituted by Christ in the Church to govern 〈◊〉 then to continue the succession of the Governors XXVII Nay may it not be affirm'd that Jurisdiction is both as essential to Episcopacy 〈◊〉 necessary to the Church as Ordination â—or the Church being as St. Paul saies a 〈◊〉 i. e. a society consisting of Rulers and others submitted to them without Jurisdiction it can no more be such a society then without Ordination those rulers can be continued Therefore as noâ— Bishop ordains in the Catholic Church aâ— the Popes or any other Patriarchs delegate but by the fulness of power he receives from Christ so no Bishop exerciseâ— any act of Jurisdiction by any delegation but by that power he is invested with aâ— Bishop successor of the Apostles and Vicar of Christ A Bishop that acts or believes otherwise betraies that dignity intrusted to hiâ— by Christ which he ought to maintain 〈◊〉 the last drop of his blood XXVIII Nor pretend we thereby to say thâ— such a Jurisdiction may be exercis'd in â—â—very place and over all persons the patition of Dioceses shews the extraordâ—â—nary wisdom of Councils and Princeâ— Nor may any one transgress the limiâ— they have put among Bishops without dâ—â—claring himself an enemy to all disciplinâ— Now all the following Propositions aâ— certainly true at least to all admirers 〈◊〉 former times whom I take to be in Eâ—England in a greater number then elsewhere 1. That no man or no part of a Diocess can be substracted from a Bishops Jurisdiction but by the autority of a Prince or Council 2. That no man can be substracted from the Jurisdiction of his Bishop without being put at the same time under another 3. That however a Bishop deals with any man either substracted from his Jurisdiction or added to it 't is alwaies of himself and by the power he receiv'd from Christ 4. That the exemtions of Friars and Monks are a Schism rais'd by the Popes 5. That the name of the Popes Delegates in its most favorable sense given to the Bishops in things which belong to them is plenojure and by all Laws a most shameful injury to the Episcopal order 6. That nemo est qui non perhorrescat to use the words of a Learned Doctor of Sorbon at the speech of the Jesuit Lainez in the Council of Trent That all the power of Jurisdiction hath bin by Christ conferr'd on the Bishop of Rome so that the Jurisdiction of Bishops is not fundamental but deriv'd XXIX Now concerning the divine right of Episcopacy the Fathers of Trent committed two great faults the one to bring it into question and the other to leave it undecided As for the first it had bin receiv'd in the Church for fourteen ages taught by the Fathers embraced by their Disciples and only impugn'd by the Italian Canonists For the second such an indecision is a ground for any man in the Church of Rome to deny doubt of and contradict the institution of Bishops these three things being the nature of all undecided points So a man may maintain there is no government at all in the Church and consequently no Church since it does not appear that Christ hath instituted any other then Episcopacy and certainly to find any other the Scripture must be strain'd in many places the constant universal and never oppos'd practice of fourteen hundred years be impudently contradicted XXX But what is most pleasant in this Indecision is that the Pope has verifi'd the word of the Prophet Psal 35. 8. Let the net that he hath hid catch himself for all these following consequences flow from it 1. That the Holy Father is no Pope by divine right Jure divino for the Popedom being nothing else but an extension of Episcopacy he is no Pope but because he is Bishop No Divine durst yet advance any other opinion But the Episcopacy of the Holy Father is not different from that of other Bishops being in all respects of the same kind Episcopatus unus est And the Italians who are so abundant in novelties when they undertake to raise up the credit of their Master have bin dumb in this matter Therefore if the Popes Episcopacy is not Jure divino his Papacy is not so neither since one is engrafted upon the other and if the Holy Father is not Pope Jure divino what ground can be laid for the ambition and usurpation of the Apostolical See What shall we do with the fine and rare Doctrine of Infallibility 2. The Council has impos'd the belief of its new Decree upon all Christians under pain of eternal damnation but if they are only Ministers from the Church and not from Christ with what eies shall we consider so stupendious a boldness Who hath impowr'd a company of men to make Decrees of divine Faith And how without being authoriz'd by God did they exact an obedience only due to Ministers sent from Heaven 3. 'T is a crime in a Roman Catholic to believe the Council of Trent did not lawfully what it did otherwise such a meeting is a dream and a chimera But who is that Roman Catholic of any sense who can be perswaded of it seeing 't is allow'd in the Church of Rome to deny any of those Bishops had the least autority from God to do what they did XXXI And indeed who will not wonder the Fathers of
looks on the praises which the Saints have given him in their Epistles as titles and privileges from Christ the Church of England opposes it with as much constancy as justice and not being able to cure the wounds of that Bishop she leaves him to the judgment of our great God XII The pride of the Pope has caus'd the separation of the Greek Church and made a breach between East and West which will never be made up It has also bin the occasion of the one part of the West being divided from the other And it is not ten years since in the affair of the four French Bishops it had like to raise a Schism and a division in the rest XIII But supposing the submission of all the rest to Rome should be lawful yet that is nothing to the Church of England which was never any part of it It plainly appears she receiv'd the Faith almost as soon as Christ brought it to the world but altho the time be uncertain yet none can think that she was ever instructed by the Church of Rome Her manner of observing Easter as in the East and her Ceremonies very different from those used in the Church of Rome shew that she receiv'd the Gospel from thence St. Gregory having sent hither Austin the Monk and that Holy Saint requiring the Clergy to submit to the Popes autority the Abbot of Bangor in the name of all the rest answer'd in such terms as shew'd the purity and simplicity of the former times We submit our selves saies he to the Church of God to the Pope of Rome and to every good Christian and love each of them with such a degree of charity as is due to them to assist them both in our works and Councils to become sons of God we know no other respect due to him whom you stile Father of Fathers XIV It is therefore certain for six hundred years at least that the Church of England hath in no manner bin subject to that of Rome her Councils and promotions of Bishops and generally all that belongs to Religion has bin transacted without the Church of Rome being at all concerned in them It would be much against the honor of the Pope if those means should be made known by which he hath endeavor'd to establish himself for the succeeding ages The public Acts of this Kingdom of a far greater autority then all their legends are â—ully charg'd with his Oppressions What pains did the Kings take to put a stop to them with what constancy did the Clergy oppose it till the time of Henry the Eighth That history was writ with as much impartiality as truth by the Learned Sir Roger Twisden It appears by all public Acts that the Pope hath wonderfully endeavor'd to make use of all conjunctures of times to get footing into this great Isle He hath bin enrich'd by the liberality of her Kings by Factions which he sow'd in the heart of the Kingdom and by the Wars which he brought upon it from abroad XV. Henry the Eighth whom all the Popes have so cry'd out upon went not further then his Predecessors and the title of supreme Governor in these his Realms well understood is no less due to him then to any other Prince in the World This King or any of his Successors pretend to no more autority over the Church then Constantine Justinian or Charles the Great They have neither power to administer the Sacraments nor to Preach the word of God They meddle not at all with any thing which belongs to faith or manners and leave to their Bishops all the power in those matters which Christ himself has given them They make no Canons tho they add Sanctions to them and declare the knowledge of Spiritual affairs is not a right of their Crowns They only take care of the outward administration of the Church to see Canons executed and hinder foreign autority under pretence of piety from disturbing the quiet of their people Upon this account the Bull of no Pope is receiv'd in France without the Kings consent all privileged men are daily restor'd to the jurisdiction of the Ordinaries and when any thing does endanger the liberties of the Gallican Church or the Laws of the Land the Pasce oves meas is of no force and the Kings autority stops the attemts of the Holy Father In Spain the King has the disposal of all things belonging to the outward Government of the Church The Inquisitors condemn in the Kings name and when the Council of Trent was there receiv'd 't was by the command he gave his Subjects to do it nor do the Kings of England claim any more XVI 'T was not the title of Supreme Governor which did most of all distast the Pope He could easily bear with that in all Kings for it is but what naturally belongs to them he knew that every King has such autority over the Church but he fear'd the consequences of it which indeed are very terrible to a Pope Henry the Eighth by that did suppress the Bulls which came from Rome and retain'd in his own Realms those vast sums which before were yearly carried out of them This was transacted in the sight of two great Kingdoms inclin'd enough to do the like The Pope therefore thought that in prudence he ought to cry out on that Prince but because a man cries in â—ain when things are represented in their â—rue and lively colours he gave his defenders liberty of forming Chimera's to the end they might work upon the people such an effect in this point as he desired XVII The Church of England need not recuâ— to an extraordinary mission nor to those arguments so far distant from reason to prove her self a Church She hath not confounded the order of things and assum'd a Government lately sprung up Since she hath receiv'd the Faith which was according to Nicephorus in the firsâ— age and to St. Beda some small time after we see the succession of Bishops hath continu'd without the least interruption or change XVIII The Usurpations of Popes the comâ—merce of Italians and most of all the ignorance wherewith God for some timâ— permitted the West to be blinded madâ— them fall into the errors of Rome But when God looked upon the Church in hâ—â— mercy and had opened her eies she laâ—bored to reform her self but not in a tuâ—multuous manner and spilling of bloodâ— She was not left to the conduct of the blind People which will suffer nothing but what pleaseth them best and which is delighted only with extreams The King calls a Council of the whole Kingdom stored with wise and holy Bishops as appears both in their lives and works This Council form'd the articles of a reformation which being seconded by the law of their Prince according to the custome of all Monarchs were by that great Kingdom receiv'd with a general respect XIX These holy Prelats in the Reformation had nothing carried on either
destroy old ones There being therefore so great a difference between their doctrine and that of their Church I have the justice and honesty not to charge their excesses upon a communion which notwithstanding its many errors cannot cease to be great and venerable but the acts of Trent the Councils of the Catholic Church the writings of the Fathers and the decretal Epistles of the Popes themselves being still extant 't is from thence that the assertors or opposers of that Council must fetch their arguments I make no doubt but that this writing will increase the hatred of my adversaries and I foresee that the blackest colours of calumny will not be dark enough to draw my picture with T is the ordinary way of many Zealots who make it a part of their vertue to slander persons on the account of their Religion and to persecute them to the end either to induce them thereby to turn back to the communion they have left or at least to discredit them in that which they have embraced No Christianly affected man can see such dealings so opposite to God's Spirit without great sentiments of sorrow and compassion nor deplore too much the state of those men who break thro all the laws of charity by a principle of Conscience and certainly a party must needs be strangely weak when its defenders run to Pamphlets and injuries to maintain it The greatest and most signaliz'd revenge I le take of them and of their writings shall be a constant silence As their arguments shall never find me dumb so their reproaches shall for ever make me deaf The living God who understands the language of our hearts shall be the only witness of mine to him alone I will complain and if at any time I pray for the ruine of my persecutors it shall be as St. Austin tells us David did for the destruction of his Enemies He hated them with a perfect hatred he could never be reconcil'd with the sin but nevertheless loved very tenderly the sinner and at the same time he would have suffer'd death to confound the one he would have given his life to save the other REFLEXIONS On the Council of TRENT Discourse I. That the Protestants without any necessity of inquiring into the Decrees of the Council of Trent have sufficient reason to reject it I. THERE are no true Christians whose very being so imprints not in them a profound respect for the Councils of the Church since they consider them as Sacred Conventions wherein that Holy Mother both instructs and reforms her Sons and wherein Bishops speak forth the dictates of that Spirit which proceeds from the supreme Bishop of our souls 1 Pet. 2. 25. thereby preserving as well the faith of their people from being undermin'd by the overgrowing malice of Heresie as their manners from being corrupted by the remissness of her discipline The Catholick Church has alwaies judged them of so absolute a necessity that when ever the Devil attempted to disturb her peace so soon she gather'd her Members from all parts of the Earth to oppose him and to learn from the Divine Scriptures how that dreadful Enemy was to be conquer'd So when Arius endeavor'd to deprive us of our Redeemer by the denyal of his Divinity the whole Church thundred upon him in the Nicent Council Macedonius whose blasphemous Tongue inveighed against the Holy Ghost was no better treated in the Constantinopolitan That of Ephesus prov'd no less Enemy to Nestorius A thousand Anathema's were pronounc'd against Eutiches by the Fathers met at Chalcedon And because the Nestorians even after Nestorius his condemnation were resolv'd to maintain his Errors under the name of Theodorus Bishop of Mopsuestia Theodoret Bishop of Cyr and Ibas Bishop of Edessa and did likewise pretend that the first being dead in the Communion of the Church and the two others having been receiv'd in the Chalcedon Council the said Council had approv'd of the Nestorian Heresie the fifth General Synod gather'd at Constantinople condemn'd the three Chapters their Authors and Defenders amongst whom was poor Pope Vigilius reckon'd notwithstanding all his Infallibility It had been the constant desire of Men that the Council of Trent would have taken these first Assemblies for its rule kept both their form and spirit and shew'd in these last Times where Charity is so cold some foot-steps of those where it was so flaming II. There were no reasons wanting to raise in us the most ardent desires that it should have been so There was scarce any Religion to be found in men Superstition had so blinded their minds and fleshly lusts infected their hearts And at the same time that ambition had put Arms into the hands of Princes to disturb the world the bloodless but more pernicious and obstinate quarrels of Divines wasted the face of the Church The immediate fore-going Ages had brought forth Councils that contradicted each other All Europe stood amaz'd at those of Constance Basil Florence and the Lateran The sacred Persons of Kings were become so despâ—cable â—s to be excommunicated and degraded without the least scruple The Divine Authority of Bishops was brought to nothing and it was hard to judg whether ignorance or corruption was more predominant in the Clergy Nay the Popes themselves if you believe their Bulls seem'd to be sensible of so many Exorbitances Pope Pius the Fourth confessed He could not but be struck with horror when he saw how much both Heresie and Schism had prevail'd and how much Christian manners stood in need to be reformed Paul the Third before him had acknowledg'd That Heresie and Schism had vitiated all things But Adrian the Sixth goes further and in his Letter to the German Princes does not think it enough to say That the whole world groans under inveterate and insufferable abominations that he desires earnestly a Reformation but adds That the Church of Rome the Apostolical See is the off-spring â—f so many disorders We know saies he â—here have been many abominations in this â—oly See abuses in Spiritual affairs excesâ—s in the Laws and that all things are perâ—erted and it is no wonder that the disease â—ath flown from the head to the members â—rom the Popes to the inferior Prelates This is also the Confession of those â—rave and learned Doctors who being â—onsulted by Paul the Third about the â—ntended Reformation answered him poâ—â—tively That such an Enterprize would â—rove impossible and useless to the Church unâ—ess it began at the Head III. 'T was requisite therefore to come to that so much expected Reformation recal the ancient Doctrine and manners of the Church and demonstrate by a sudden and efficacious remedy that the Popes were not deaf to the cries and complaints of so many Nations But 't was necessary also to make the humane Grandeur of the Apostolick See agree with the Spiritual necessities that Souls were in exhibit some kind of help which they should be alwaies masters of and like
it appears that nothing was done therein but by his Orders Theodosius junior sent Count Candidian to preside in his stead And some contestation happening to be amongst the Bishops he writes to them in these terms Our Majesty cannot approve of own as lawful what has bin done hitherto And these very Bishops that had a great veneration for their Emperor tell him in their Synodical Epistle They have done nothing but â—y his motions and that they have made use â—f his Letter as a Light to conduct them The fourth General Council hath no â—ess evident Testimonies for it The resistance which was made to Pope Leo's Legats requiring Dioscorus to be put of the Assembly the affair of Juvenalis and Thalassius that of the ten Egyptian Bishops that of Bassianus and Stephen which were all determined by the Emperors Judges leave us no ground to doubt of this truth Justinian was President at the Fifth as is clear from all the Acts of that Council And that great Prince whom Baronius abus'd so unworthily declares in his Letter written to the Synod That he considered the Bishops reunion as the foundation and beginning of all the happiness of hiâ— Reign The Sixth is so clear and its Session were so many characters of such a presidency that an adorer of the Popes new Power endeavored to discredit the Actâ— of it because saies he The Emperor with his Judges plena autoritate praesidet presides with full autority Anastasius did whatever he could to deprive us of the Seventh but Pope Adrian did repair abundantly that defect We offer these things saies he in his Letter to Constantine to the end they may be carefully examined for we have not exactly gather'd these testimonies we present to your Imperiâ—â— Majesty We received these Letters from Adrianus B P of Rome saies the Emperor directed to us by his Legats who also sit with us in the Synod We commanded them to be publicly read There is no Italian whom these word would not stagger The Eighth expresly saies Praesidentibus Imperatoribus and because the Popes Legats pretended that the Bishops who were defenders of Photius having bin â—ondemned by the Pope ought not to be â—eard any more as sentenc'd by their last â—udge the Emperors Envoies to the Council answer'd That the Prince comâ—ands them to be heard the second time Imâ—erator vult jubet Who after so many Presidents clearer â—han the light will not wonder to hear Leo the Tenth in his Lateran Council â—ay imperiously and in such a manner as gives a truer Character of him than all â—is Historians The Pope of Rome only as â—eing above all Councils is fully impowered to â—all to transport and to dissolve them And who after a particular account of 100 Provincial Councils for 1000 Years where the Pope was never spoken of but â—or the condemning of his pretences who I say will not confess with Cardinal 〈◊〉 Zabarella That the Pope has so generally â—nvaded the Rights of particular Churches â—hat other Bishops signifie almost nothing and 〈◊〉 God be not merciful to his Church Vehementer periclitatur IX Nor does their pretended Power oâ— confirming Councils stand upon betteâ— grounds than the other two For if by thâ— word Confirmatioâ— they understand an external engagement whereby all faithful People are to obey the holy Constitution of these Divine Assemblies such an Authority belongs so properly to Princes and makes so considerable a part of theâ— Dignity that no man can appropriate 〈◊〉 to himself without a manifest Usurpation and violation of the Sacred Majesty oâ— Kings 'T is in that sense Eusebius said of Constantine Quae ab Episcopis erant saâ—citae regulae suû confirmâ—bat consignabâ—â— autoritate And to the same purpose Jâ—stinian speaking of the Canons of the first Ages saies Sancimus vicem legum obtineâ—â— sanctas regulas But if by Confirmation they understand the internal obligatioâ— laid upon all Christians of hearing those whom God has made their guides anâ— especially when they speak in Councilâ— where the Holy Ghost has promised to bâ— with them to reduce it to the Pope 〈◊〉 the greatest Chimera in the World Thâ—â— is to make these Venerable Assemblies aâ— object of scorn and derision to give occasion of disbeleiving the certainty of the truth they set forth or the justice of the laws they impose and turn all Christendome into a club of Independents given up to the guidance of their own reason Is it probable that the Holy Ghost should be absent from a meeting of 300. Bishops among whom we find Athanasius Osius Maximus c. and be present to Liberius a Subscriber of the Arian Heresie That he should not be in the Ephesin Chalcedonian and Constantinopolitan Councils where you have Cyril Leo Proclus Flavian c. and yet in Vigilius a defender of the three Chapters That he should not vouchsafe his presence to three hundred Bishops met at the sixth general Counci and yet inspire Honorius a patron of the Monothelites Is not this to include the Universal Church in the Pope which is a dangerous heresie To acknowledg him to be above Councils which the Basilian Council the Popes's Carthage as well as the famous Sorbon stile an other heresie and in fine to open the door to a thousand inconveniences the renown'd distinction excathedra cannot help X. These weighty reasons induc'd the German Princes to protest against that Council Many Kings of France had done the same before and Francis the First whose name alone in a World of of great Men was so fully perswaded of its being no Council much less a General one that the subscription of the Letters he directed to them was only this Conventui Tridentino But above all Henry the Eighth King of England a cleer-sighted Prince and extreamly well learned in the true concernments of Princes oppos'd it with a greater constancy T was not out of any motion of Heresie or Schism he dealt thus for he lived yet in the Roman communion Nor out of any ambition since all the historians nay those themselves who endeavoured most to defame him acknowledg he had been all his life-time the general Arbiter of Europe Nor yet out of any fear of or aversion to Councils since at the same time that he protested against the Council of Trent he declared he was ready to submit to any other lawfully call'd and to send thither the Bishops of his Realms But the true and only cause was that he perceived of how great importance an attempt of that matter would be for all succeeding ages and what slavery all Christian Princes would be reduced to if he should let it pass So that if the Council of Trent were as orthodox as the Nicene and we had no other reasons of rejecting it this we have alledged is sufficient to satisfy all unprejudic'd persons T is an essential defect and a fundamental one at the beginning of an affair
a contempt of Episcopal dignity XXVI And indeed the most holy Father us'd them all ut creaturas mancipia James of Clodia Fossa saying he could not suffer tradition to be parallel'd with the Scripture was expell'd the Council Peter of Justinianople being but suspected of what they call'd Lutheranism was forbidden to come there and take place amongst the Bishops Another was proclaim'd Schismatical and threatned to be rejected for affirming there had bin many lawful Bishops never call'd or confirm'd by the Pope Nay another was depos'd because he said the Pope should be contented with the title of Holy which God is satisfied with without affecting that of most Holy So that t was not without reason the Cardinal of Lorrain complains the Council was not free since nothing could be propos'd or resolv'd but what was the Legats pleasure nor could they propose any thing but what was the Popes XXVI But to convince all unprejudic'd persons we need but consider the safe conduct granted to Protestants Tho the Fathers of Trent were engaged in honour to blot out the memory of the Constantian Council whose wounds continued still bleeding by testifying to their adversaries all imaginable sincerity and Candour yet they gave them greater occasions then ever to distrust Protestants require nothing but what had bin accorded to the Bohemians by the Fathers at Basil but they are plainly denied They beg at least a safe conduct which they many confide in but t is doubted whether it may be granted them and they are told it shall be given in the Congregation viz. in the Friers meeting and not in the Session viz. in the Council At last after having bin thus baited they oâ—tain safe conduct which has respect only to the Germans worded in such captious terms that thereby the Pope had reserved to himself the power of burning all the English Swedes Danes and French that should come to the Council nay the Germans themselves tho they could blame nothing but their own simplicity Notwithstanding whatever reasons Protestants had of declining such a Council after the example of the Holy Fathers and the judgment of the wisest men then living they trusting the justice of their cause and seeing in that noble and magnificent safe conduct hope was given them of disputing and proposing their difficulties sent their Divines to Trent and exposed them to all dangers without any other defence then the truth which is call'd in the Scriture the shield of the just These Divines thus authoriz'd by their Nation being arriv'd at Trent conceal not themselves They avoid not the sight of men The whole Councill is acquainted with their coming They speak to the Ambassadors make their addresses to the Popes Legats conjure them to pitty the calamities of Germany and after having presented them with the confession of their Faith they beg no other favour from them but to have it read in the Council for its being either approv'd of or condemn'd The Legats do not burden them with Irons or tumble them into Dungeons they are so far from being murdered that their life could not be more secure in the Prince of Saxonies or the Landgraves Chamber But they receive no answer their confession of Faith remains buried the Legats keep it in Petto nor are the most entire submissions and ardent entreaties able to bring it forth Thinking perhaps that the quality of a Priest or of a Divine had no great influence upon an Apostolic Legat they made use of the Emperours Ambassadors That Prince was the Soul of the Pope as the Pope was of the Council But all these endeavours are frustrated there is somwhat unknown and unperceiv'd which strikes dumb their Eminences Who ever heard of any such dealings If Protestants decline the Council grounded upon a thousand unanswerable reasons all the World rises against them nor are the names of Heretics Schismatics nay Atheists sufficient to express their imputed perfidiousness But tho they come and strike Heaven and Earth with their complaints an ignorance is pretended of their being there The Fathers have neither ears nor hearts nor mouths to hear their praiers feel their grievances and answer their proposals and they are forced to beg and expect from God that justice which men deny them XXVII T is evident from so many instances that Protestants did never reject Councils There is no Christian whom the Authority of the Church do's not overcome he deserving to be debar'd from the quality advantages and hopes of a Son who hearkens not unto his Mothers voice The Church has a true jurisdiction a real and effective authority All contrary Doctrines flow from independency and Enthusiasm two blind and furious Monsters every where to be profligated But the very same Protestants so great admirers and defenders of the Church require she should speak in lawful assemblies When they shall be condemned in Councils like that of Nice and Chalcedon then they will receive their sentence with as much joy as respect But when a new and unlawful meeting guilty of essential aver'd and incontestable defects nay acknowledg'd to be such by the most learned and disinterested men of the Roman Communion shall claim the same authority as these Divine assemblies they will be very careful to keep their ancient waies and far from being deterr'd by the threats of that proud and uncharitable Church which excludes from heaven all those she cannot keep blindfold in her bosom they will augment the glorious company of many holy Fathers whom the overpowring number of unjust Councils could never bend to betray the cause of Christ Such an one was St. Athanasius who rejected the Council of Tyre Maximus Patriarch of Jerusalem that of Antioch Cyril that of Syrmium Paulinus that of Milan and Chrysostome an example of Christian constancy that ad quercum In a word they will receive those curses pronounc'd against them as so many blessings and without going any further into the discussion of the Tridentine Councils decrees they will conclude with the words of Cardinal Bellarmine Si legitima Synodus non fuit planum est nullam authoritatem potuisse habere nullius roboris sunt illius Canones REFLEXIONS On the Council of TRENT DISCOURSE II. That the Doctrine of the Council of Trent is contrary to the ancient Doctrine of the Catholic Church I. WHOEVER peruses the Council of Trent cannot but be strangely amazed to find its stile so altogether unlike that of the ancient writings of the Church There is in those I know not what characters of holiness and Christian majesty which command reverence from all but in this we meet with a sort of so unusual and dubious expressions that shew the Authors of it were incomparably better versed in political practices or Books of School-men then in the Works of the Fathers They never intended in many of their Canons to fix a true and uniform sense which all People might rely upon but a double and captious one apt to receive
contrary interpretations to satisfy men of different interests and give them the mutual pleasure of believing their assertions upheld by the autority of the Council And thus the Jesuits and Dominicans were equally contented with the Canons concerning Grace and Justification Each Party drew the autority of the Council to its own side and there has not bin any Writer of these two Orders who in their many Books as opposite one to another as light is to darkness has not alledged these very Canons as invincible proofs against his adversary II. But if any should enquire further and search into that vast multitude of Decrees unknown till then he must needs wonder to find them built upon so sandy Foundations The most general Basis of them is laid in the fourth Session where the Council proposes two objects to our Faith to wit Books which are written and Traditions which are not written And they pretend as a necessary consequence that whatever we oppose against the Church of Rome is of that kind This is the Epitome of all the Council Nevertheless least any one should be offended at the word Tradition and perswade himself that they intend by it to equal mens autority to that of God or humane Ceremonies to the sacred Precepts of the Gospell they give of it a most magnificent character calling it The Word of Christ a Doctrine inspired by the Holy Ghost for the ordering our Faith and manners and preserved in the Catholic Church by a continued succession If that Principle be true there is an end of all Controversies and were the Church of Rome as able to prove it as she is ready to advance it we might hope to see in our daies that blessed Word of Christ accomplish't There shall be one Fold and one Shepherd And indeed there is no Protestant in the World who doth not admit of a Tradition endued with these Qualifications First That it be the Word of Christ 2. Inspired by the Holy Ghost 3. In matter of Faith and Manners 4. Preserved in the Catholic Church by an uninterrupted succession But there is no Protestant in the World that doth not maintain such a Tradition cannot be proved and is nothing else but one of those rich and splendid Idea's as admirable and flattering in their speculation as impossible and deceiving in their practice III. For the perfect evidencing whereof we need but consider the following Proposals First That of all places of the Scriptures whereby the Church of Rome asserts her Tradition there is not so much as one alledged by the Fathers in her sense Secondly That none of the Fathers ever understood Tradition otherwise then for the unanimous consent of the Doctors of the Church grounded upon a word which is written Thirdly That no places in Scripture are express for the authorizing such Tradition but many positive and clear to prove the sufficiency of Scripture Fourthly That among the Traditions of the Church of Rome she proposes many to our belief which do not appertain at all either to Faith or manners IV. The Scripture is most holy most infallible most perfect in it self The Gospel has added what was deficient in the Law And the Apostles Writings supplied the defect of the Gospel There we must stay 'T is no less crime in S. Basil's opinion to add that which is not written then to reject that which is written And 't is a stupendious boldness when God has vouchsafed to reveal his will to men by a certain and infallible word to substitute another neither clear nor undoubtedly received V. That new word which is ascribed to God has properly and by its self relation to those things which cannot be proved by Scripture as one of the Divines present at Trent has taken notice of otherwise it would be a written word But if it be so nothing is more unworthy of Christ and less agreeable to his divine Oracles It is to render his truth suspected or uncertain to expose Christians to infinite errors to give them as many masters as there are persons who will profess themselves the Guardians of that word and to make it the object of all mens scorn since according to the excellent saying of S. Jerome Quod de Scripturis autoritatem non habet eâ—dem facilitate contemnitur qua probatur VI. We find not that Christ in his holy Gospel sends us to Tradition whereby we may come to the knowledg of him Search the Scriptures they are they that testify of me The Apostles speak as their Master We have also a more sure word of Prophecy whereunto you do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts Many saies S. Chrysostom pretend to speak from the Holy Ghost but they do it falsly as long as they speak from themselves as Christ testifies he spoke not from himself but from the Law and the Prophets so if they proffer us any other thing then the Gospel under pretence of its being inspired by the Holy Ghost let us be far from believing it Is there any thing worse saies Pope S. Leo then to have impious sentiments and yet not to be willing to assent to the more learned and wise Those are guilty of this folly who when they are hindred from knowing the truth by any obscurity do not recur to the Prophetical Books the Apostolical Writings and Evangelical autority but to themselves and so become Masters and Teachers of error because they refused to be Disciples of Truth It would have bin very easy for S. Austin in that long and tedious Disputation with the Donatists concerning the Catholic Church to have made an end of it by sending them to Tradition But instead of doing so Let us not hear saies he Haec dico haec dicis but let us hear haec dicit Dominus We have the Lords Books Both of us acknowledg their autority both of us believe them ibi quaeramus Ecclesiam ibi discutiamus causam nostram nolo humanis documentis seâ— divinis Oraculis sanctam Ecclesiam demonstrari We seek as he there adds where the Church is what shall we do in verbis nostris eam quaesituri sumus an in verbis Domini I think it is to be sought in his words who is the TRUTH and knows perfectly her who is his Body Habeo manifestissimam vocem Pastoris mei commendantis mihi sine ullis ambagibus exprimentis Ecclesiam If I suffer my self to be reduced and separated from his flock which is the Church by the words of men I will impute it to my self whereas he advertiz'd me saying My Sheep know my voice 'T is the constant Doctrine of that admirable man in all his Works In his Letter to S. Jerome I confess your Charity saies he I give those Books alone which are termed Canonical that honor as to believe none of their Authors did
conformable to his Praises imitates what he extolls and considers those excellent Patterns as so many reproches to the disorders and remisness of his life But he is not induced thereby to invocate them to ascribe to them what is due to God alone and offer them Prayers which being commanded neither by the Precepts of Christ nor his Apostles spring rather from a blind Superstition then a well ordered Piety Non Religioni sed Superstitioni deputantur XX. But supposing the Church of Rome had some small ground in Antiquity for the Invocation of Saints she has not the least shadow of reason for the worshipping their Images Nor is it difficult to prove that Images are a remnant of heathenish Ceremonies which a blind zeal for the memory of the Apostles brought into the Church Hence the Fathers of the Primitive times became extremly zealous to interdict not only their worship but their very sight in the Churches So Origen Eusebius Justin Martyr c. inveigh on all occasions against Images The Eliberitan Council where the great Osius was present he whom the Councils stile their Father and Master condemns by an express Canon the placing any sort of Images in Churches S. Epiphanius forbids the having Images in Churches or in the Crypts of the Martyrs And to shew that his practice did not contradict his Precepts he gives an account to John Patriarch of Jerusalem how having found at the entrance of the Church at Anablatta an Image of our Savior painted upon a Curtain he tore it and wished the Priests to make use of it for the burial of some poor person XXI But it is clearer then the light that by the word Adoration the holy Fathers meant all manner of Worship Those famous men had a Divinity of sense not of terms they were not acquainted with those Distinctions which became the whole business of Scholastics in succeeding Ages They no less included external worship then internal and thought not the one less dangerous then the other S. Augustin was not perswaded that a man could so purify his intentions in adoring an Image but that the Wood and Stone must needs bear some part in it Who is the man saies that holy Doctor who looking upon an Image either worships or praiseth qui non sic officitur ut ab eo se exaudiri putet hoc enim facit quodammodo extorquet figura membrorum I know saies the same Saint in his admirable Book De Moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae That there are many worshippers of the Sepulchres and Pictures of Martyrs Multos Sepulchrorum Picturarum adoratores But I advise you not to take occasion thence of slandering the Catholic Church in aggravating the faults of those People whom she her self condemns quos ipsa condemnat corrigere studet This excellent place shews that there are many disorders in the Church the Church is not at all guilty of and that those are in the wrong who charge a whole Society with the faults of some of its particular members So that when we speak against worshipping of Images we exclaim not against that shameful traffick exercised in the Churches of the Mendicants neither against those Chappels set round with pieces of wax and silver nor against those false Miracles which are only so many baits whereby covetous Monks delude the ignorant and simple and enrich themselves All these things Ecclesia Romana condemnat corigere studet It is well known the pious men of these Monasteries are troubled at such abuses and Bishops wish they were able to apply a remedy to them But we combat the Decrees and Canons of the Roman Church things to which the contrary sentiments are by her stiled Impiety We give them no other sense then she her self would put upon them and we maintain in their most favorable interpretation that she has made Laws of some points quas ipsa Ecclesia Catholica condemnat corrigere studet XXII There is not a learned person in the Church of Rome who doth not consent that to paint God Almighty has bin accounted a crime for twelve hundred years 'T is not lawfull for a Christian saies S. Austin to put in any Church the Image of God in a humane shape Nevertheless the Council of Trent makes it a Virtue to admit of them There is not a Church in which you may not see the unworthy Pictures of an immense and incomprehensible God whose most perfect delineation consists in the impossibility both Men and Angels lie under of conceiving any The Popes Chappell is filled with them and his holiness is pleased to forget that one of the cheif Patrons of Images calls it a folly and an extreme Impiety XXIII Neither is there any understanding person who doth not acknowledge that â—he most obstinate Defenders of Images never went so far as to maintain that â—his soveraign Worship should be renâ—red to them which is due to God alone â—Tis by this only reason they pretend to free themselves of that Idolatry which was laid to their charge So that it is a meer evasion of those who answer to all the authorities of the fifth sixth and seventh Ages against Images that they were levelled only against Divine and supreme worship being a ridiculous dealing no way chargeable upon grave Men. But the Church of Rome to perswade the receiving of these things calls them with an incredible insincerity Ancient practices strives to amuze people by swelling and high flown words and because he miserably abandons himself to his own reason and sinks under the most horrid Impiety who respects not true Councils and Fathers that of Trent speaks of nothing but Apostolical Traditions Consent of Fathers and authority of Councils XXIV All these magnificent promises are reduced to a miserable Conventicle held in the eighth Age to which no Western Bishops nor any of the two parts of the East not one of the three Patriarchs of Jerusalem Antioch and Alexandria came which Pope Nicholas I. and Adrian II. durst never call General A Council called by a cruel and disordered Prince wherein Irene his mother sate President so ambitious and unnatural a woman that she commanded the eies of her own Son to be plucked out A Council at which the most considerable person present was Thalossius Patriarch of Constantinople a man who as Pope Adrian describes him from a Lay-man became Bishop from an illiterate Courtier Patriarch of Constantinople whom the same Pope saies he abhorred as a Monster ut monstrum exhorruit made Bishop against all Ordinances and Canons A Council that founded its Decrees upon Visions and meer Fables such as one of the meanest spirit must needs be offended at The Image of our Saviour given to King Abgarus the Leprosy Baptism and miraculous recovery of Constantine are things of that nature as the learned in the Church of Rome do now account supposititious not to alledge many others which deserve that the
the truth that being necessary to make truth reach the Pope spake after the same rate Nevertheless The sacred holy and oecumenical Council met at Trent in the name of the Holy Ghost to be rul'd there by the word of God the writings of the Fathers and the Apostolical Tradition thinks not fit to take away the Annats The Holy Ghost just goes so far as to correct small abuses frivolous nothings but reaches not to Heresies and Crimes Salva semper Apostolicae sedis autoritate There is not in so vast a number of Bishops one single Nathan or Elijah or if it be too much to seek Prophets among them there is not a single Ambrose or Basil none of all these Vicars of Christ who durst say with his Master Our friend sleepeth but I go that I may awake him out of sleep Joh. 11. 11. XVIII And indeed it would have bin a kind of Murder to have cut off Annats Rome would have bin no more a triumphant City all its Palaces would have bin either pull'd down or interrupted in the building and especially that of Pius the Fourth rais'd during the Council of which the Arch-Bishop of Brague told him That the stones would have serv'd better to build an Hospital To banish Painters Musicians Poets from St. Peters See to make a Pope in our daies live like S. Leo or S. Gregory to rule a Cardinal-nephew according to the Council of Carthage and the examples of S. Charles to require the same severity of life from an eminentissimo Cardinale as we saw in Cardinal Baronius and some years ago in Cardinal Bona Such demands I say would have brought a blemish upon the Council never to be obliterated and instead of procuring its confirmation fir'd upon them all the Vatican thunders How could a Cardinal undergo the hardship of riding without a retinue of 200 Coaches and an infinite number of staffieries In the Apostles time the most common Motto was The world is crucified to me and I to the world Gal. 6. 14. Priests then had no other liveries then the blood of Martyrs no other retinue then a vast number of poor no other Palaces then Prisons but in our Age you cannot walk in the streets of Rome without hearing People cry out The equipage of his Eminence the Mules of his Eminence the staffieries of his Eminence the perfumes of his Eminence the Music of his Eminence the Abbies and Bishopricks of his Eminence c. that is of a Deacon in the Diocess of Rome of a Parson in the City or Suburbs of a man maintain'd by the alms of the Church dead to the World and its vanities perswaded that there is a life to come and that the shortest way to enjoy its happiness is to renounce all the pleasures and honors of the present XIX The Fathers therefore at Trent were not cruel to the Pope nor Pius the Fourth ungrateful to them He confess'd in a full Conclave They had us'd him more gently then he would have done himself and that Council which otherwise had pass'd for a Conventicle became so sacred that this Pope never spake afterwards without an honorable mention of it in all his discourses But this Popes own confession is too puissant a proof against him 't is the testimony of his own Conscience Those Physitians flatter'd so much their Patient that he was asham'd of it and instead of applying powerful Remedies to his inveterate Distempers they took no notice of them 'T is wrongfully therefore they accuse the Popes self-love or the blindness incident to those who separate themselves from unity to constitute a particular order as speaks St. Gregory and St. Austin Pius the Fourth was convinc'd of the need he stood in of being reform'd But the Fathers put a bar to his desires huc usque venies without them he would have gone further XX. Nay least the small Reformation they made of some few things should last too long they found out an expedient from which experience shew'd the success of the whole was expected and this was the liberty left to the Pope of dispensing with all the Ordinances of the Council That only favor deserv'd all Pope Pius's acknowledgments he and his successors made so good use of it that it will not be amiss to give some examples thereof It had bin observ'd for many Ages how much the exemtions of Friars were injurious to Episcopacy and scandalous to the Church wherefore the Council cuts them off but Pius the Fourth using his power of dispensing re-establishes them with greater autority then before so that there has bin scarce any Bishop since zealous of his duty and the honor of his Divine Character whom a pitiful Friar whether more fraught with boldness or ignorance I shall not determine arm'd cap apied with his privileges durst not impudently oppose Some abuses concerning Dispensations Expeditions for Benefices and other pretended favors of the Apostolical See were remov'd the Pope uses his right of dispensation and scarce had the Trent Fathers got home from reforming them before Pius the Fourth had again brought up all those Impieties XXI The Council had handled the matter of Indulgencâ—s with as great dexterity as moderation and in its Decree not one of the following Propositions which the Friars have since bâ—ndâ—ed about with so violent heat is to be â—een 1. That Indulgences are authoriz'd by the Scripture 2. That they are granted and receiv'd for the dead 3. That they are a super-abundance of the merits of the Saints 4. That they are any thing else but a relaxation of Canonical Penance accorded only to those who pray who demand who work petenti operanti roganti 5. That the Pope has greater power to grant them then any particular Bishop No man had reason to complain of so wise and moderate a Decree but the Pope uses his right of dispensing too many People being interessed in keeping Indulgencies The Vatican magnificence the softness of the Cardinals and the Friars idleness ow'd their maintenance to that solid and clear Revenue You see therefore Bulls both for the living and the dead dispers'd into all parts of the World every Church hath its priviledg'd Altars and a thousand Books are made public most of them dedicated to the Pope and approv'd by the Inquisition wherein they are call'd Heretics and Atheists who oppose the Opinions which the Council hath left undetermin'd The stile of these Bulls is as extraordinary as their matter the Popes grant two four six or seven thousand years of true pardon and indeed the word true looks very pleasantly in that place he remits not only the pain due to sin but the sin also into the bargain somtimes to make the most on 't he divides it and pardons but a third part somtimes one half somtimes all just as his Holiness is in humor And that we may not tire our selves with too much pains in getting so precious and rare a favor as the pardon of our sins a
waters flow to life Eternal The Word of God being the foundation of our happiness and the key of the World to come she permits all People perswades exhorts and commands all ages all conditions and qualities to peruse it St. Chrysostome was of opinion that all Merchants and men of affairs who had not zeal enough to read the Old Testament should at least read the new St. Jerome prescrib'd to many Ladies of quality the manner of teaching it their Daughters St. Austine in his Sermons declares to his People that the multitude of their sins proceeded from their neglect of the Scriptures God having resolv'd in process of time to accomplish the great work of Predestination in his Elect by his word to neglect the reading of it would be to reckon himself excluded of that blessed tribe The Church of England follows that opinion Her Bishops are not contented with instituting it in their Synods and the Preists preaching it in their Churches but the Holy Ghost being of all Nations and languages it has bin their business so justly to translate it as the most ignorant can make use of it and so all the World may equally have this great treasure for it is folly for any one to perswade themselves that it is only open to the learned There needs no science but much humility and Faith towards God for the knowing this truth of Salvation Let a Man have learning without humility the most ignorant person understands better then he do's Men teach the mind and corrupt it but God instructs the heart and it is converted VIII But because it is easy for our reason to be seduc'd and nothing is worse for any Man then to abandon himself to his own sense the Bishops order their Curats to look back on the former ages to get the explication of the Scriptures from the holy Fathers to hearken to the Church in her Councils and never to fall from her interpretations and ordinances The Church of Rome runs into one extremity and some authors to another the former so look on the Fathers as to equal their authority with that of God the others under pretence of hearing God hear no body and treat those holy Saints and August Councils with such contempt as merits a thousand Hells The holy Church of England keeps her self in an exact mean She rejects condemns and trembles at the folly pride and ignorance of those unhappy wretches before whose eies the Devil has cast so great a mist and who think it better blindly to cry Scripture then to hear those who are the most faithful interpreters of it She with great respect and reverence looks upon those former ages where truth was not disguis'd nor charity cool'd but she rises not to such an excess as the Church of Rome and whatsoever grace God has given to his servants she alwaies acknowledges that they are but rivulets which can never be equall'd with the Ocean from whence they proceed IX They therefore are mistaken who confound this holy Church with such unreasonable persons as refuse to be instructed by the examples and writings of so many holy servants of God She receives â—ot tradition in any other sense then is â—ccording to Scripture She will hold â—ll that as holy which can be alledged â—onformable to that excellent rule of St. Vincent of Lerins quod semper quod ubiâ—ue quod ab omnibus servatur She will alâ—aies receive with a profound reverence â—he unanimous consent of the Saints and â—ever appeal from the decrees of the Church assembled in general legitime Councils For tho the Church has no power to ordain any new article of Faith either to add or cast out any part of it nevertheless she has sufficient Authority to declare her opinion in any point of Faith and seeing that she do's it all Christians are bound to submit themselves to her judgment what seeming truth soever there appears on the contrary and it is much more probable for one particular person to be deceiv'd to whom God has promis'd no other assistance but that which is common to all Christians then the Catholic Church to which Christ is present till the end of the World and has promis'd to send his Spirit there where they are gathered together in his name Christ in speaking to inferiours said not he who hears you hears me they therefore have no right to be heard nor consequently to speak He said to his Apostles and Bishops whom he has order'd to govern the Church in their place t is therefore their business to speak and right to be heard and those who teach without or against their order do break the ranks in which God has placed them X. But to attempt the reducing the Catholic Church to one part of Europe and to force the name of Roman upon those who ought not to receive it and to exclude them from Salvation who are both Christians and Catholics without being Romans is the greatest absurdity in the world But to confine that part of Europe to the Pope to make him the center of unity which belongs alone to Christ is the greatest impiety and most insufferable extravagancy that can be imagin'd But that any man should call himself the High Priest the Universal Bishop of the Church that is take those titles w ch his Predecessors look'd on as an execration and which he hath not gotten but by an immensurable ambition is beyond all imagination But that the same person under pretence of a Pasce oves meas which he hath expounded as he pleased contrary to the opinion of the Fathers and Councils should march in the head of all his Brethren and raise Clergy men of the meanest order such as are Cardinals above the holy order of Bishops should excommunicate Kings and depose them give their Kingdoms to a depredation dispence Subjects from the Oath of Allegiance which they have sworn to their Prince and colour all these attemts as done by the autority which Christ hath given him the Church of England will never admit of such Principles as the most forlorn sinners cannot look upon without horror XI If the Pope would do all for the truth and nothing contrary to it if he would limit himself to the word of Christ and the practice which the Church hath prescrib'd him and go no further then St. Leo or St. Gregory she will communicate with him She will rob him neither of the dignity of Bishop nor Patriarch Christ gave him the one and the Church granted him the other She acknowledges that the ancient See of Rome is one of the most considerable in the world that hath bin formerly ennobled with as many Martyrs as Bishops that he hath bin mightily respected in Councils and that the Emperors have dignified him with great privileges But when he pretends to draw thence an occasion of exalting himself above others and that according to the remark of a famous Emperor at the Council of Florence He
the place where he was before then you will know he gives not his Body as you understand it You will then apprehend that his Grace non consumitur morsibus till the end of the World the Lord is above but yet the truth of the Lord is upon Earth with us Corpus enim in quo resurrexit in uno loco esse oportet veritas autem ejus ubique diffusa est That incomparable Doctor speaks after the same manner when he teacheth that all places of the Scripture which seem contrary to truth and good manners are to be understood in a figurative sense If you find saies he a Commandment which forbids a crime or enjoins any good action then its sense is not figurative but it is otherwise when it seems to command a crime and prohibit a good action Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no life in you saies Christ That word seems to command a crime figura est ergo it is therefore a figure which bids us communicate in the Passion of our Lord and recall into our memories with suavity and utility that his flesh hath bin wounded and nailed upon the Cross for us XIII To what the Church of Rome believes concerning Transubstantiation we may add her practice in taking away the Cup. She is not contented with changing the nature of a Sacrament but thinks it lawfull to tear and divide it All the learned men of her Commumunion assent to the following Propositions First That Christ instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood under both kinds of Bread and Wine Secondly That he instituted it thus for all Christians and said drink as he said eat without any distinction of of Priests and Lay-men being the Savior of all Thirdly That at least for twelve hundred years such a practise hath bin faithfully observed in all the Churches in the World and is still in the Eastern Fourthly That its intermission is not grounded upon any invincible reason or irremediable inconveniences For it would be the greatest piece of non-sense in the World to affirm that the Church of Rome in the thirteenth Age hath seen inconveniencies which the Catholic Church could not foresee in twelve hundred years and the Greek is still ignorant of Yet the Council of Trent perseveres in so considerable an innovation stops its ears to the cries of an infinite number of Souls who beseech their Fathers substance might not be so cruelly divided and stiles this a Liberty the Church has alwaies bin Mistress of to dispense Sacraments as she judges it convenient But suppose the Sacrament to be no less compleat under one kind then both and that the Cup is but an addition to it We notwithstanding maintain the Church hath no autority to change any thing Christ hath instituted and prescribes the observation of All reasons in such occasions must be suspected when Christ himself speaks promulgates himself his own Laws and commands them to be put in execution as he hath done here all our pretended inconveniences are then gross errors nor must we affect to be wiser then the eternal Wisdom who foresaw better then we can do the reasons of our scandals Had Christ instituted all the Ceremonies the Church judged necessary for the greater decency of her Worship and commanded the observation of them it would be a dreadful crime to cut off the least But Pope Gelasius speaks not of that division as of the taking away of a simple Ceremony We heard saies he that some by I know not what superstition after having received the sacred Body refused the Cup of the precious Blood But for such aut integra Sacramenta percipiant aut ab integris arceantur The reason of that learned Pope is worthy to be weighed because saies he divisio unius ejusdemque mysterii sine grandi sacrilegio non potest pervenire One and the same mystery cannot be divided without a grand sacriledge Pope Gelasius and the Fathers of Trent are wonderfully opposed these say the Sacrament is no less perfect under one kind then under both that such a division is a wise dispensation which cannot be reasonably contradicted the other calls the distribution of the precious Body and Blood one and the same Sacrament and stiles that prudent dispensation a division of two things united by Christ which cannot be done without an horrid sacriledg Which then of the two Gelasius or Paul III. must be supposed to have pronounced ex Cathedra If the Jesuits are chosen Judges between them Gelasius shall be condemned for Salmero and another of his Society were so impious as to say in the midst of the Council that sometimes the Devil transforms himself into an Angell of Light but now appears covered with the Cup of Christs Blood to offer a draught of poyson But as if it had not bin enough to have committed so great an enormity without adding to it an insufferable ignorance these two most holy and learned Fathers as a most holy and learned Jesuit styles them all the members of that Society being ipso facto most holy and learned begged of Cardinal Madruccio That it might be added to the Canons already made that the Sacrament was instituted under both kinds only for the Apostles and Priests XIV The Canons of the fourteenth Session are no less opposite to Antiquity wherein the Council defines Repentance to be a Sacrament a Doctrine unknown till the time of Eugenius IV. The Arch-Bishop of Caesarea tells us in a Book he entitled De Reformatione Scholasticae which he considered as a great step to that of the Church that Eugenius ascribed it to the Florentine Council tho such a Decree had never bin read or seen there 'T is an effect of the Popes usual sincerity So that for twelve hundred years together the Church is silent in this point Now what must a Christian think of a Council that gives to our human satisfactions and poor Sacrifices the power due only to the unspeakable merits of Christ Who without just indignation can hear that our Alms and Fastings expiate our sins and preserve us from eternal Death Did ever any Councils Fathers or Divines run into such excesses nor do we pretend to embrace the other extreme and diswade Christians from that life w ch the Saints term a Cross and a Martyrdom We think that it not only obliges Penitents but Innocents also and we are struck with fear at these words of Christ Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish But far be it from us to confine our Repentance to some trausient and slight exercices of Piety We require that sinners die continually to themselves that they think no pleasures lawful but such as the miseries of humane life render necessary and unavoidable that they endure rather then enjoy them and bewail the blindness and obdurateness of an infinite number of Souls who being made drunk by the pride and wantonness of the World are
Council of Francfort should object That those Nicene Fathers not being able to prove their Decrees either by the autority of the Scripture or the testimonies and examples of the Saints had recurred to fancies and Dreams A Council which the Assembly at Francfort of 300. Bishops headed by Charles the Great declared to be so annulled and abrogated that it ought not to be put in the order of Councils unless of such as Ariminum Lastly a Council which the learned Defenders of Images were so loath to defend that it had continued buried in a deep oblivion had not the Jesuit Mainbourg three years since raised it from its Grave but alas in what a manner First he affected and this is his confession and glory to write in a Romantick stile upon one of the gravest Controversies in Religion as if matters of Divinity and the Oracles of the living God were of the same metal as those abominable Books Secondly in writing against Iconoclasts he never directed his arrows against them but designed to fix them in the hearts of the Jansenists Preposterous and irrational fancy being put to it how to recover the lost honor of his Society so trampled on in the sight of all Christendom he resolved to attack once more his Conquerors not out of any hopes of Victory but out of impatience the natural product of Pride He durst not therefore come into the open Field and renew that Quarrel his Society had so shamefully begun and so unhappily prosecuted but betook himself to by waies and thought it more secure and glorious to represent the Jansenists under the notion of Iconoclasts and the imputed rebellion of the one against the Apostolical See under the history of the other Thirdly He so ill contrived his design that he lost the Character of both and only betrayed himself to be of a spirit bold and temerarious who with more then a Jesuitical impudence delivers lies as confidently as others do truth His History of the Arians and this of the Iconoclasts both daughters of the same brain both written with the same design had also the same fate Neither was answered those whom they were chiefly levelled against being there so unskilfully delineated as not to know themselves nor indeed would they ever have done so had not that Author doating upon his so well resembling Babe and the Jesuits who like the Spaniards triumph as well when beaten as when Conquerors spread it through the World But I have spent too many words upon so inconsiderable a Writer XXV To return then to our purpose who of any sense or reason hearing the Fathers of Trent say that they permit the worship of Images juxta Catholicae Ecclesiae usum à primaevis Christianae Religionis temporibus receptum Sanctorumque Patrâ—m consensionem Sacrorum Conciliorum Decreta and then seeking all these great things finds 1. That for 800. years the Catholick and Apostolick Church has determined nothing of it 2. That all the Fathers are contrary to it 3. That those sacred Councils so magnificently alledged are nothing but a miserable Conventicle at the end of the eighth Age. 4. That England Germany the Low-Countries Sweden Denmark part of France and Poland declare against it What man of any sense I say considering all this will not conclude 1. That we ought to distrust all the Decrees of Trent and some being evidently false give little credit to the most true 2. That the Fathers of Trent had not the Charity of the Apostles whose Successors they were since they excluded from their Communion so many considerable Churches for a point which themselves acknowledg not to be grounded on Scripture Not necessary to Salvation Not related to Faith Manners Sacraments and Discipline And Protestants not requiring Images to be pulled down as did S. Epiphanius and S. Serenus but only their use to be ordered as it was in S. Austin and S. Gregory's time 3. That the Church of Rome being immoveable upon the Controverted points she must give us leave to address to her Council the same words the Fathers of Francfort did to the Nicene Out of what fury or rather madness doth unius partis Ecclesia attempt to establish that which has never bin establisht by the Apostles or their immediate Successors and oblige them either to undergo the Anathema so vainly pronounced against them or disobey the Apostolical Constitutions Were they not promted by her who is called in Scripture the ancient poison the guide of Death the root of all evil they would never strive to fix the name of General Council to their Assembly had without the consent of many Catholick Churches They would never take upon them to anathematize with such boldness so many and so considerable Churches which are no less then they the Body of Christ REFLEXIONS On the Council of TRENT Discourse III. That the Council of Trent was so far from reforming the disorders which had crept into the Church that it really made the breaches in its discipline wider and cut off all hopes of correcting the antient abuses I. WHatever Ecclesiastical disorders are recorded in the Writings of the Antients they seem in no respect equal to those which infested the Church about the time of the Council of Trent In the first Ages indeed the zeal and severity of Christians rendred every fault conspicuous but in the last the most pious could hardly suffice to express her real and constant evils This produc'd the desires of a general Reformation especially that he who pretends to be upon Earth the supreme Judg of all men would judg himself take some pity of his own Soul and since the distempers of the Church ow'd their original to the Apostolical See begin at that part from whence the cure of all the rest was hoped for II. Whereas then the Worlds recovery depended on that of the Popes they ought willingly to have embraced the occasion of doing so great a good Nor could less be hoped then that considering the promotion of Piety as their proper Interest they would sacrifice all others to it and the Council of Trent which lasted eighteen years rais'd the expectations of all good Christians that the tears of so many Nations would not be shed in vain But by the dreadful judgment of God it miserably baffled the Churches cries and instead of closing her wounds opened and created new ones For to evince the truth of which so great reproach we need only consider two particulars 1. The distempers of the Church 2. The remedies applied to them And from the consideration of these there will none I hope but confess that the Fathers of this Council acted the part of an unfaithful Chirurgion who to cure a less noble part inflicts a deadly wound to the heart of his Patient III. We intend not here to treat of any personal defects which shew'd themselves in the Popes private life but shall confine them only to those which were public when they dealt
there would be no pretence or excuse at all to live at Rome The loss of Rome for a Cardinal is no small sacrifice and there is a great difference between these two to lie conceal'd in his Diocess and to shine in a Court known to be the most proud rich and voluptuous in the World The second should have hazarded too much in striving against the Cardinals They lived in their families eat the crumbs which fall from their tables and made a part of their retinue Those of them who were less despis'd had also more ambition they aim'd at Cardinalship and Residency was the nearest way to be depriv'd of it They forgat therefore that they were Bishops and chose rather to betray their character then leave their pretences and pleasures XXXVIII What then has the Council done in its so much boasted of Reformation Great things indeed Those two hundred Bishops that had bin five and twenty years before they could meet and eighteen after they had met answer'd perfectly the expectation of all Christendom 1. They have forbidden Praiers in a known Tongue 2. Ruled the Church-wardens 3. Ordained that Friars could not vow but being sixteen years old 4. Approv'd the Jesuits's order that is strengthn'd the enemies of Christ 5. Shaped an Index expurgatory as barbarous in its form as in its name 6. Establish'd Inquisition a new tribunal which may be properly call'd the eleventh persecution of the Church XXXIX But to speak seriously we must say with Mr. D'Espences and the most considerable men of the Roman Communion 1. They have encroached upon the liberties of all Churches 2. Rais'd the Popes power and brought Episcopacy to nothing 3. Cut off all hopes of Reformation and canoniz'd all the vices of Rome 4. Made breaches in the Discipline which shall never be made up and induc'd those who have some knowledge of the ancient Canons to ask them in Saint Austin's words Curare est hoc an occidere Levare de terra an praecipitare de coelo A CONCLUSION Of the foregoing Discourses Concerning the State of the Church of England and how she hath bin more successful in the reformation of her Faith and manners then the Church of Rome I. THE Anglican Church is not any private Society but a part of that body which as the Scriptures tell us is spread over the face of the whole Earth Her intent is only to be a member of the Catholic Church from whose Spirit she receives life and governs her self by her laws She do's no less abhor Heresie and Schism then the Roman seems to do only she do's not attribute that name to all persons and things but knowing truth and charity to be the most precious gifts the holy Jesus purchas'd by his death she is the less easily mov'd to accuse any of forsaking them II. Her extent greatness and prudence with the moderation of her conduct hath alwaies made her seem the main and most considerable body of the Protestants and hence arises that ardent zeal of the See of Rome either to recover or to destroy her hence proceed so many artifices to tempt and draw away the Children of this holy mother that for these hundred years its emissaries have labour'd to raise new Churches within her But he who commands the winds and imposes silence to the Seas will suffer no tempest to arise within her breast unless it be to render her the more glorious She hath alwaies liv'd in unity catholicism and which is the spring of them both in that holiness which God requires III. Neither Calvin nor Luther were the authors or reformers of her Faith nor do's she look upon them any otherwise then the Church of Rome do's upon Baronius or Bellarmine She indeed considers them as great writers but yet as men on whose words she founds no part of her Creed The word of the Prophets the Gospel and writings of the Apostles are her laws God having spoken so clearly and plainly she looks for no other instructions then his word and according to that she being a national and independent Church and consequently having just authority did reform her self IV. The reverence she hath for the Scriptures carries her neither to Enthusiasm nor a private Spirit She explains not the word of God by any humane exposition She knows there is nothing so difficult in one part of the Scripture which is not plainly illustrated by another more easy She therefore compares the one with the other as did the Fathers in former Ages She seeks the will of God by the light God himself hath given and knowing that he cannot and will not deceive her she relies upon and wholly delivers her self up to his care and conduct She acknowledgeth no other Infallibility then his She knows all men are subject to error and falshood and the greatest Saints themselves may truly say If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us V. The Church of Rome flatters her self with an Infallibility which she can reduce to no certain principal The Pope assumes it to himself as if he were the only source of it and the Italians call all other opinions Heresie The rest of her communion attribute it to a General Council and anathematize all those who think the contrary So that this Infallibility is reduc'd to that as to prove either the Pope or Council to be in Heresy The Church of England cuts off such an abominable division She acknowledgeth the power of God and the infirmity of man the eternal and essential truth of the one and the falsehood the other is subject to She hears with trembling the word of the Apostle Let him that glories glory in the Lord she therefore gives the glory to God and in this life she looks upon Gods word as the pillar of Fire which led the Children of Israel thro the desert and never forsaked them in so many intricate marches VI. If the Catholic Church hath not err'd at least in fundamentals t is not by reason of any promise of Infallibility which God hath accorded to men but because that he being a God of mercy has had in all times some faithful servants whom he made acquainted with his waies and who have walked according to his word The gates of Hell have not prevail'd against them because they were fill'd with that charity which triumphs over both visible and invisible Enemies And God having resolved in the decrees of charity which the Scripture teacheth us he hath lov'd the Church by to be served in spirit and truth to the end of the World he hath not permitted his word to be taken away from her how bloody soever the persecution of Martyrs has bin how blind soever the ignorance was in which many ages had bin involved how terrible soever the corruption appear'd in which we see the World every day plunge it self VII The holy Church of England stops not that Fountain out of which
understand the most important truths of Salvation This is not contrary to the exercise of the inward praier which St. Austin callâ— the voice of the heart by which we beâ— and are supplicants to God for his mercyâ— and the Church of England is so far from forbidding Christians to prepare themselves for the life to come by a seriouâ— consideration of the miseries and inconstancy of the present and to learn how to love Christ that by her they are commanded to do all this and the Bishop say to each of them in giving them thâ— Gospel as the Angel did to the Prophetâ— comede volumen istud Eat this Book and convert it into your own substance XXVII This makes it appear with how much less sincerity our adversaries who have but a blind zeal think to offer a great sacrifice to God in calumniating their Brethren and accusing all the Protestants of renouncing all the exercises of Christian Piety and of retaining nothing but a meer morality which is to be met with in any honest Heathen And indeed if going in Procession carrying Images about one counting Beads and a hundred such like nothings are counted Piety she acknowledges none of them But if the renouncing of our selves the mortifying our senses the humility of our hearts the love of our neighbor forgiving our enemies the meditation of the Gospel be stiled holiness she teacheth and practiseth them faithfully XXVIII The holy Church of England proceeds farther and the Church of Rome hath no really holy practices which she doth not follow Confession so ancient in the Church is in use here also but the liberty thereof is left to movements which God himself inspires into the hearts of sinners The Church had so done for twelve Ages and until the pretended general Lateran Council there was no Statute made about it She desires it should be wrought by the Holy Ghost that the Spirit of God should throw a sinner at the feet of the Priest and not the fear of Excommunication XXIX She doth as they believe the usefulness and necessity of fasting All Scriptures and Traditions are full of the praises which God and his holy Saints have attributed to it Lent and the abstaining from certain meats on certain daies are practices so ancient in the Church that none can blame them without an insupportable ignorance and temerity She observes all these things with a great deal of edification Her Bishops and many of her Clergy-men fast after the manner of the Primitive Christians that is eat but once and that at night Abstinence from flesh is alwaies injoined with their Fasts They abhor the shameful subtilties of the Casuists of the Church of Rome who retain nothing of it save the name but in effect destroy it Their fasting and abstinence have nothing superstitious He that eateth not is not scandaliz'd by him that eateth Rom. 14. 1. The strong do patiently bear with the weak and pray God that he strengthen them XXX Nor doth the Church of England condemn Monastical life She praiseth them that retire into solitude therein to bewail their crimes who forsake all to find all in Jesus Christ It cannot be denied but whatever irregularities the greater part of the Church of Rome be in there are amongst them a very great number of good people whom God will recompence rather according to their heart then actions Had they when Henry the Eighth suppressed them in England walked in the duties of their Calling they had bin still in being The Popes anger was not because they had bin suppress'd for Popes themselves shew by their examples that these sort of suppressions are somtimes necessary but 't was because it was done without his autority which then becomes a nice point in Law pernicious to all states and contrary to the respect due to Kings This Prince found them in ignorance and corruption They were a burden to the State a scandal to the Church a subject of grief to all good people Their zeal for asserting the temporal autority of the Pope was inconceivable and they treated their Bishops with extreme scorn When so many evils gathered together are incurable who doubts but that the root thereof should be pull'd up and the hazard be run of losing a blessing which cannot be preserved but by greater evils XXXI Good Monks are certainly of great example The conferences of the Priest of Marseilles shew that the East was filled with the fame of their virtue In the West the Order of St. Bennet had during many ages furnish'd all the Sees in the Church and bred up more Saints and Bishops then all the other Orders together had of Religious persons But those were neither insolent Monks who from the bottom of their Cells would condemn all the World besides nor vagabonds who made a trade of their poverty nor people who having renounced the World had yet more intrigues and restless desires then those who had not They that got their livelihood by the sweat of their brows were no less separated from Ecclesiastical emploiments then secular and â—ived in a continual humility and peâ—â—ance XXXII The Orders in the Church of Rome which continue still in the same state are worthy of Veneration It is a most false argument for looking upon them as people of no use to the Church They serve her in their way and truly it is a very great service they do her of praying and groaning continually for her We must not judg the usefulness of men by their actions but by the station God hath placed them in A person that does â—ut little in his calling is often more useful to the Church then another that does much out of his calling the will of God and not that which appears to men being the rule of the utility or inutility of those that serve him XXXIII It is clear following this principle that though there are yet many good men in the present corruption of Friers Orders nevertheless the Church of England hath done well in not suffering any She rejects them not because they are Friers or Monks but because the greateâ— part of them is not in that condition they ought to be in It is good to shew clearly and to make the devout of the Church of Rome see that they are injurious in reproching that of England for having banished Friers XXXIV Is there in the World any more effeminate and idle life then that of the Clervaux and the Cisterciens Is not the ignorance idleness and sloth of these Friers beyond all imagination Does there appear the least trace of that laborious and penitent life of their holy Founder Will not a man that hath read St. Bernard's Epistles or Sermons when he sees these Monasteries think himself in another World finding people that call themselves his sons who have nothing either of his spirit or manners For the Mendicants we need but hear the Bishops to be acquainted with their nature They are as great a charge
Trent so peremtorily give their verdict of things they confess not grounded upon Scripture and which were converted for many Ages as Images Praiers to the Saints Indulgencies c. and leave undecided a point so evident in Scripture and so constant in Tradition XXXII It highly therefore concerns the truth to find out the mystery why they were so obstinate at Rome in an undecision so extremely pernicious to the whole Catholic Church to that of Rome in particular and to the Pope himself The truest cause is the pride of the Eminentissimi Cardinali They were used long since to trample on the necks of Bishops and to keep them in quality of their Secretaries or Stewards An enormity proceeding from the poverty weakness and sad condition of the Italian Prelates A Bishop to gain respect needed to be privy to the pleasures or designs of the Cardinal At Pope Pius the Fourths Counsel Bishops stood bare-headed whilst gli Eminentissimi sat and were covered And by a disorder no where to be found but at Rome a gray hair'd Bishop or Arch-bishop exhausted with austerities and considerable for services done the Churâ—h was seen at the feet of a young powdered perfumed Cardinal puft up with pride softned by wantonness and in a word whose Eminency had usually nothing more eminent then most eminent vices XXXIII 'T was then impossible to speak in the Council of the Bishops Institution without putting Cardinals in mind of theirs one is so ancient and divine the other so new and humane that the very thoughts of them could not chuse but make Cardinals asham'd For if they consider their dignity as Spiritual they are only Priests or Deacons submitted for that very reason to their Bishops and without power of voting in Councils Or if they consider it as a temporal honor they have nothing to do with the affairs of the Church They are in the order of the sheep not of the Shepherd and instead of being so proud as to ambition speaking and ruling in Councils must beg with a profound humility to hear and be ruled Or at last if they are in a middle state as a Jesuit a man of a middle state also as fit as the rest of his company to unite great extremes describes them they ought to fear the condemnation Christ has interminated to those who serve two masters And thus it was of a very high concernment for Cardinals to leave a question undecided which would have restored them to their ancient condition and done justice to the sacred character of Bishops How dangerous soever seemed the consequences of such undecision they followed the Italian maxim To keep the present usurpations at the price of the most equitable Laws XXXIV Nor were they less interess'd at the question of Residency For if the decision of the divine institution of Bishops destroied their honors that of residency finished their pleasures sent them to their Diocess and cut off the sweet and luxurious life of Rome Nevertheless it was required by the Spanish and French Bishops that Residency should be declared Jure divino Of all Christian Truths none is so powerfully expressed in the Scripture so conformable to good sense so inculcated to us by the Writings and Examples of the Fathers Nay without gathering a thousand testimonies from all parts of the Scripture let us only say to the Bishops what Saint Jerome saies to Nepotian Interrogent nomen suum and no doubt 't is enough to perswade them There is none of these Bishops absent from their Dioceses who dares read without fear that parable of the Gospel wherein Christ calls himself the good Shepherd expresses in a stile full of love that 〈◊〉 takes all imaginable care for hindering them from going astray that he has a voice whereby his sheep know him and discern him from foreigners or mercenâ—â—ries and what is more that he has 〈◊〉 life to spend for saving them from death XXXV Now Bishops are in the Church to reâ—present Christ to the life either because he has committed to their care the goâ—vernment of his people or because they succeed the Apostles who are his witâ—nesses A Bishop that wants a watchfuâ— care to look after his sheep a voice to caâ— them and above all a life to lose for their sakes is a thief that comes not but to steal to kill and to destroy This great duty gave occasion to the Fathers to call Bishops Sponsos Ecclesiarum suarum the Bride-grooms of their Churches Thence they drew these important conclusions 1. That the polygamy of Dioceses is no more lawful to a Bishop then polygamy of Wives to a Christian 2. That as in a Christian Marriage a husband must be entirely to his wife concenter in her all his desires and love her after God above all the world so a Bishop that is tyed to the Church must banish all other thoughts then to live and die in her bosom 3. That as we learn from the sublime Divinity of the Apostle that Christ loved entirely his Church never abandoned her died for her and remains with her till the end of the world so a Bishop must be jealous of the Church Christ has entrusted him with watch continually for her and because she lies in the midst of a thousand enemies persevere in her defence till his last breath XXXVI We need but read St. Pauls Epistles to Timothy and Titus to see the Disciple Preaching as he had bin taught by his Master All those great qualities he requires in a Bishop that irreprehensible life that exact watchfulness that sound doctrine that incredible patience in exhorting that prudent behavior amongst so many different sorts of people old men youths widows and virgins have no other foundation but residency And the Fathers were so throughly convinc'd of this duty that when they speak of Episcopacy they stile it a burden dreadful to the shoulders of angels themselves along and tedious death a source of infinite cares and solicitudes all which expressions are meer mockeries if they did not suppose residency Jure divino Their examples are more pressing then their precepts And St. Athanasius St. Austin and Pope St. Gregory did actions answering to and surpassing their words Nay God has not permitted the Church of Rome it self in the darkness of its incredulity to be destituted of such precedents St. Charles nephew to Pope Pius the Fourth retir'd to his See maugre all the intreaties of his uncle Cardinal Bellarmin the Popes great adorer would never accept of a dispensation profer'd to him for non residing and he has left us an excellent Letter to a nephew of his wherein we may see that tho Jesuit and Cardinal he could never be induced by the Pope himself to betray his conscience XXXVII But the Cardinals presiding at Trent and the Italian Bishops did not care very much to shake the very principles of Religion and so recur to the softest interpretations of Casuists The first foresaw that if residency be declared of Divine Right