Orders is nothing else but to imagine that God hath given Power to divide that is to destroy his Church For what is setting up Altar against Altar but to Usurp Power to Consecrate the Eucharist and give the Communion of it in despite of them whom they allow to have Power to do the same because they do it by Authority received from themselves In all the Records of the Church there is but one Case expresly remembred in which it can be said to have been done That fell out in Aegypt at the time when the Church was divided between the Arians and the Catholicks But before that trouble there was another division on foot about receiving back into the Church those that had fellen from the Faith in the persecution of Diocletian For Meletius Bishop of Lycopolis had proceeded to Ordain Bishops in as many Cities as he could in opposition to those Bishops that stuck to the See of Alexandria In these distractions Coluthus one of the XII Presbyters of Alexandria became the Head of a Party by himself and to propagate his Party took upon him to make Ordinations of Presbyters to Minister to those of his Sect. Aerius is the man that maintained the Authority of Bishops and Presbyters to be all one Yet do I not remember that it is any where said that Aerius took upon him to Ordain Presbyters being himself one Much less that he was able to hold up a Sect by such Ordinations Audius was a Presbyter that became the Father of one of those Sects that Epiphanius writes against But Epiphanius says expresly that he had Bishops that imbraced his Opinion and propagated his Sect by Ordination Tertullian became the Father of a Sect which continued at Carthage till S. Austines time by whom they were reduced to the Church And truly it is to be presumed that the Father of the Sect did propagate it by Ordinations made of his own Head For what should he stick at that takes upon him to divide the Church and to set up Altar against Altar But I have not found it said that he did do it Nor have I found that any Presbyter did ever undertake to do it but Coluthus At the Council of Nicaea to unite the Meletians to the Church the Bishops Ordained by him were allowed to succeed when the present Bishops should dye yet so as to be then lawfully Ordained though they had been Schismatically Ordained afore But when the Coluthians pretended the same priviledge Athanasius pleads for himself that all Coluthus his Ordinations were made void Which is thought to have been done by that Synod at Alexandria which Hosius was present at with Commission from Constantine This is the only Example of Presbyters Ordained by a Presbyter without and against his Bishop All the rest are meer conjectures which cannot stand unless we suppose the Canons of the Church were not observed because it is not recorded how they were observed Whereas all reason requires us to suppose that they were observed because they might be observed and because there followed no dissension upon their not being observed Such Ordinations then being meer nullities as presumed to be done by them that never received Authority from the Church to Ordain do further induce Irregularity by the Canons of the Church And who can deny that all reason and Conscience requires it For who can believe his Creed professing one Catholick Church and not think the Church more disobliged by Schism then by any other Crime that renders a man uncapable to be promoted to Orders Certainly if Rebellion be the Crime that is hardest to be reconciled to Civil trust then is Schism hardest to be reconciled to trust in the Church Nevertheless because Unity is to be preferred before Discipline and because experience shews that when men are taken off from an ingagement in division they prove the more trusty the more weary they were of their ingagement it hath been often practised by the Church to receive not only Schismaticks but even Hereticks also That is such as had received Orders of those that parted from the Church upon an errour in Faith in their respective Orders But always upon condition of renouncing the cause of their division Whereupon they were to receive the Blessing of the Church by Prayer with Imposition of Hands The reason was because neither is Baptism in Schism effectual to Salvation nor Ordination in Schism effectual to Grace by the Ministry of any Office in Schism But being renounced there remains no Cause why their Ministry should not be effectual to their people Their Baptism and their Ministry to their own Salvation supposing it sincerely renounced Therefore the Reason why they who are Ordained by Presbyters cannot be received in their respective Orders is peremptory Because the Schism consisting in Ordaining against Authority cannot be renounced unless the Ordination be voided For so long as the Ministry may be usurped upon such Ordination so long is the Schism on foot I do very well know that the Ordinations of Arians were allowed by S. Athanasius in a Synod at Alexandria who had made the Ordination of Ischyras by Coluthus void And I remember the high acclamation which S. Hierom applauds his Act with That thereby the world was snatched out of Satans jaws But I read that the Tertulliniasts were received into the Church not that they were received in their Orders I find difficulty made by Forreign Churches of receiving the Donatists in their Orders Notwithstanding the complaints of the African Bishops that without them they had not Clergy enough to serve the Church Hereby it is to be judged how severe this Church was with them that had received Ordination by Presbyters The Canon of the whole Church makes all Irregular Ordainers and Ordained Because they had concurred to bring back his Majesty Which was the restoring of the Laws and so of the Church the forfeiture was wholly passed by and nothing required of Ordainers more then of the Clergy Which is an utter Oblivion of the attempt made by those Ordinations And is not that a very great degree of Forbearance in our Case S. Paul when he injoyns Forbearance doth he injoyn that those who did not understand how men were saved by Faith alone that were saved under the Law should be promoted to Orders indifferently with those that did profess it That were indeed something like that which hath been demanded that Weakness should intitle to the Clergy which orderly supposes strength But does he injoyn farther that they should Minister without Orders That continuing Lay-men they should commit the Sacrilege of Usurping to Celebrate the Eucharist That if their Ordination be void by the Law of the Land there should be a new Law made to make their Ordination good and valid which was void when it was made Then must he injoyn that it be lawful for every Lay-man to celebrate the Eucharist Forasmuch as every Lay-man hath as much to do to celebrate the Eucharist as he whose
Ordination is void Surely S. Paul that commands Christians to be without offense to the Jews and Gentiles as well as to the Church commands them also to be without offense to Papists And will not we have those that would be inabled to consecrate the Eucharist by such a Law to shew us how to satisfie the Papists that such Orders are good At least those that by their sufferings have preserved Ordination by Bishops Let them at least be satisfied of the Validity of Ordination without Bishops At least let no man impose upon them that they cannot yield the Forbearance which S. Paul requires for tender Consciences unless they receive the Sacrament consecrated by Lay-men That is by those whose Ordination they believe to be utterly void CHAP. XV. That the Orders of the Reformed Churches are not void because these are NOw I am to look an Objection in the face which at a distance seems to admit of no Answer but if it be a little considered will appear to have neither Reason nor Religion at the bottom of it It is said that hereby we shall make void the Ordinations of the Reformed Churches of France and others Reformed according to Calvin And so make them no Churches Here we agree that it was necessary for the French as well as for our selves to Reform themselves That it was necessary for all to Reform themselves unto the Form of the Primitive Catholick Church I say not we do agree I say that till we do agree there remains no hope of Unity because no Rule for Reformation in the Church But to the Objection Who hath the Conscience to think or the Face to say that if Ordinations made by Presbyters against their Bishops be void Then Ordinations made by Presbyters where they could not be had by Bishops are void For that is the difference of the Cases It is manifest that the Bishops of this Church when they Ordain Presbyters Ordain them to Minister their Office according to the Laws That is under their Bishops And can any man imagine that hereby they give them Power to Ordain others to Minister their Office by what Laws they please themselves And had the French demanded of their Bishops to Ordain them Presbyters that should Minister their Office according to the Reformation does any man think they would have done it So the necessity of Reforming which we all agree in made the Ordinations of the Reformed Churches The Pride and Presumption which causeth all Heresie and Schism usurping Authority never received made the Ordinations of our Presbyters And shall they be as valid as those All that can be questioned is how it may appear that it was not of choice but of necessity that they imbraced that way of setling and propagating their Reformation which they imbraced And for that we have sufficient Presumption from the Albigenses Who secretly Reforming themselves under the See of Rome did certainly do it by the Authority of Bishops who propagated their Order by Ordinations This may be proved by other testimonies if need be But it is sufficient that the Case of the Bohemians is so well known They having resolved exactly to Reform themselves and having chosen the Persons whom they would have for their Bishops were at a stand how to compass their succession from the Apostles by having them Ordained by Bishops In this nonplus they understood that there were in Austria of the Albigenses that kept secret Communion among themselves under their Bishops notwithstanding that publickly to avoid the Laws they went to Mass To them they sent their Bishops elect protesting against their dissembling but desiring Ordination for their Bishops which thus were propagated And this may well seem to be the Reason why they that Reformed in the Empire according to Luther in the name of whom Melancthon hath offered to be subject to their own Bishops admitting the Reformation set up such a Form of Episcopacy as they could of themselves For they had cause to think that the Bohemians had not advantaged themselves enough by that Ordination which they had been able to procure For it is to be noted that they the Bohemians had sent all over the World to learn how to get such Ordination as might authorize their Ministry according to the Reformation which they pretended And are not we hereupon to presume that the French by these degrees finding a necessity of balking the Authority of the Episcopacy which they were under did think themselves thereupon free to cast themselves into that Form which they use For if it be said That by this time they had profited beyond their Predecessors in discovering the Whore of Babylon that they found Episcopacy to be the Body of Antichrist and therefore renounced it It will appear by many Reasons that this cannot serve the turn First how can the common sense of men endure to believe that the Pope is Antichrist by reason of that Greatness which it is certain and evident that he hath attained by Usurping the Rights of his inferiour Bishops And yet those inferiour Bishops be the Body of Antichrist by suffering those Usurpations which they cannot help Secondly it is manifest that they who should hold this Plea could not pretend by virtue of their Orders received from the Bishops of this Church to Ordain Presbyters Unless they would say that they may have their Authority from Antichrist This Plea therefore must remain for the Independents to authorize them that think themselves in the State of Grace before they are members of the Church to make their their Congregations Churches and Usurp the Authority of Apostles in Ordaining their own Ministers Lastly it appeareth sufficiently that very many learned and religious persons of those Churches have not only approved the Episcopacy here setled But have wished the benefit of it to themselves Whereby it is manifest that those Churches cannot owne this Reason when another so far from it is owned by their principal Members I have another Reason to alledge which weighs as much with me as all these And that is the Communion which hath always been used between this Church and the Reformed Churches For should they hold Communion with us and yet think our Ordinations authorized by Antichrist how could they expect to be believed so grosly contradicting themselves And therefore though I must not take upon me either to justifie or to condemn their Ordinations Averring on one side that they are not according to Rule Seeing on the other side that they are owned by my Superiors yet I must acknowledge that there are very great Reasons to hope and to presume that God accepteth of their Ordinations though not made according to Rule In consideration of the necessity that drove them to it and of the Reformation which they were used to propagate Whereas those that Vsurp the Power of the Keys and the Consecrating of the Eucharist by virtue of Ordinations made in despite of those Bishops from whom they have all the Authority which
they can challenge by their Orders what pretense is there to imagine that there can be any such Crime as Schism if this be not it That God should bless that which is done by such gross Vsurpation as this is And when all this is said it remains free for me to say That there is no other way to restore and to preserve Vnity within the Reformation but by establishing and maintaining Episcopacy in that Authority which it hath always had for the determining of differences Nor maintain that Authority but by confining it within the Bounds which the Faith and the Laws of the whole Church do limit As for the Fanaticks which make our Orders void because the Pope is Antichrist and the Mass Idolatry whence our Bishops received and where they exercised their Orders I will only consider the Case of the Donatists forejudged by the whole Church They pleaded in point of fact that Caecilianus was Ordained by Apostates A thing which the Church was so clear in that the African Bishops offered to give up their Sees if it were proved But besides in point of Right had it been proved and Caecilianus owned by the Church because it did not appear or because they thought the Canons ought to be dispensed with for Unities sake those that Ordained Caecilianus having repented of their Apostacy shall we imagine that the Church was lost by owning those that had been Apostates and their Ordinations The Donatists are branded for Hereticks and Schismaticks maintaining all the Laws of the Church but that of Unity And shall Lay-Christians presuming to authorize Lay-Christians to consecrate the Eucharist and set up Churches be esteemed less then Hereticks and Schismaticks Let those that pretend to Unity find that Forbearance which a favourable construction of their actions signifies But Charity to the sound obligeth to take the profession of Schismaticks in the worst sense which if we do the making of Independent Congregations Churches will be the denying of One Catholick Church and the making of them Hereticks that do it CHAP. XVI That changing the Laws for the Weak is not Forbearance BUt if it be a thing absurd in common sense to allow them their Orders much more absurd will it be to change the Ecclesiastical Laws of the Land for their sakes Which is nothing else but to purchase their Ministry at the price of our Religion which the Ecclesiastical Laws contain Here we must distinguish two questions For it may be lawful for Christian people to live by those Laws which it was not lawful for Superiors in Church and State to make A thing evident to all that believe that it was possible for our Ancestors before the Reformation to be saved under the abuses of the Church of Rome But our question is whether or no the Laws of Superiors injoyn that which Gods Law forbids Inferiors to do Otherwise it is pernicious to all Government that Inferiors should take upon them to judge the Acts of Superiors But if the matter of the Law be within the Power that makes it to require an Exception for tender Consciences is to say that there is no Power in the World to give any Law to those tender Consciences Was there ever any Heresie any Schism any Religion pretending Christianity that did not alledge Scripture for themselves Did ever any man alledge it that would not be thought to be touched at the heart with it What is there for a Christian to doubt at where the Exception of tender Consciences lyes not Or how shall we that agree against the See of Rome but agree not in the terms and grounds of Reformation be tryed in the sense of the Scripture Can any man imagine that S. Paul intended to destroy his own Authority of giving Law to the Church which he exercised when he ordered the Jews and Gentiles at Rome to forbear one another Or is this Authority dead with the Apostles What Church then can there be alive if there be no Authority deriyed from the Apostles to give Law to it But the Authority is not questioned so it provide for weak Consciences Episcopacy will be owned if the Secular Power will force it to take them for their Presbyters whose Ministry they cannot give account to God of Being both authorized and exercised by Laws made without and against their Authority This no Christianity can justifie Christianity maintains the Estates of the World in all the Right they had when they became Christians And cannot justifie it self to the World otherwise How should the World receive it upon other terms But if the World stand upon the same terms having received Christianity as afore then must Christianity and the Church continue in the same Rights which it had before the World received it No exception to be allowed but as afore If it appear that the Faith and Laws of the Primitive Church be decayed Not if it seem to private Spirits that the Scripture is not fulfilled In the mean time is it for the honour of the Religion we profess that Weakness which at the best is negative ignorance in truth perhaps wilful ignorance should give Law to it Is it reason that they who have failed to destroy both Church and Kingdom should give Law to both As if a Child should govern the House because he will be framfold and disquieted otherwise Surely it is that which the Emperor said to his Niece Put as tibi injuriam fieri nisi imperas But is that the way to have Peace in Religion When Inferiors shall be made to tread upon the necks of their Superiors they will be so modest for the future as to stay there They will be content to have their Doctrine regulated by them as the Law of the Kingdom requires Or they will think fit that the Bishops be content with their Revenues and leave them to Preach what they please Surely they that can carry the dispute of a hundred years wherein the Bishops had so visibly the better that Club-law was found requisite to get the advantage will not lay down the Cudgels here So they that agree in conforming to the Laws differing every day in that which the Law determines not the Recusants on both sides may make hay in the heat of our Contentions and profit more by such a Law then by the War which destroyed this Church But especially the Atheists who have profited so well under these Contentions as to make that visible which was but foreseen under the Usurper That no Religion would in time stand to be the Religion of the Kingdom They having the Priviledge of the Laws and not liable to any Infamy when the differences maintained make Religion contemptible shall have cause to thank all that shall have done their work by solliciting such Laws CHAP. XVII Of the Opinion of Regeneration by Baptism ONe point I must not pass over in silence which hath been named for a point to be changed That all passages seeming to determine the Opinion of Baptismal
can have Power to introduce any thing for Reformation in the Church but that which the Consent of the Whole Church either injoyneth or alloweth Not as if the least Tittle of Scripture were not enough to warrant that which it injoyneth to be the Reformation of the Church But whereas the sense of the Scripture is that which remains questionable not the Authority of it that nothing can be the true sense of the Scripture which the Consent of the Whole Church contradicteth And therefore that though there be an appearance of truth in such a sense yet it is not for a Christian Kingdom to inact it for Law till it be duely debated And that being done it will infallibly appear in all which in most things appeareth already that the Consent of the Whole Church cannot contradict the true sense of the Scripture And that it is nothing else but not knowing the one or the other that makes it seem otherwise If the Scripture it self is not nor can be owned for Gods Word but by the Consent of Gods people from the beginning attesting the Motives of Faith related in the Scripture to have been infallibly done by submitting to the Faith which they inforce Then must the same Consent be of force to assure common reason that the Faith and the Laws wherein the whole Church agrees came from the Authority setled by God not by any Consent of all Christians to fall from that which they Profess And therefore though a Kingdom may force the Subjects thereof to call that Reformation which they inact yet they can never make it Reformation in that sense which the Salvation of Christians requires if it be not within these bounds It may be called Reformation to signifie a New form but it can never be Reformation to signifie that form which should be unless it signifie the form that hath been in Gods Church For that being One and the same from the first to the second Coming of Christ can authorize no other form then that which it may appear to have had from the beginning CHAP. IX That it cannot be done without the Synods of this Church ANd therefore it being granted on both sides that the Soveraign Power of Christian Kingdoms and States proceeding duely obligeth the Subjects to submit to the Reformation of the Church and cannot exact Legal Penalties of them which refuse upon any other Terms I do except in the second place that it ought to proceed in all Reformation by and upon the Authority of this Church That is of the Synods For what doth the whole Church agree in so Visibly as in this That the Authority which God hath instituted in his Church should give Laws to his Church And how can a Christian Kingdom promise themselves Gods blessing upon such Acts as they have no Power nor Right from God to do For granting there is such a thing as a Catholick Church it is not possible that any Christian Kingdom which must be a part of it should have Power to inact any thing Prejudicial much less destructive to the Whole to the Visible Being which is the Visible Communion of it And therefore the Faith and the Laws of the whole being the Condition under which the parts are to communicate no Christian Kingdom can have Power from God to give New Laws in Religion to the Subjects thereof which the Church of the Kingdom warranteth not to be according to the Laws of the whole Church If any thing may appear to have been in force in the Primitive Church and by the abuse of succeeding times to have become void I do not deny that the Secular Power may Reform the Church by restoring it though the Church should refuse their Consent to it The reason is because the Church would be without help if there were no Lawful way to restore the decays of it Which we agree have come to pass without the consent of them that are chargeable for the decay of it Now the Faith and the Laws of the Catholick Church are the Birth-right of all Christians Purchased by undertaking to Profess one Catholick Church at their Baptism And Christian Powers are to protect their Christian Subjects in their Birth-right And the Authority of the present Church is not seen in the Faith and the Laws of the Whole Church For it is meer matter of Fact what they are The evidence whereof praeexistent to the Authority of the present Church cannot be understood to require or to presuppose it And therefore the Authority of the Church cannot be violated by reducing the Faith and the Laws of the Primitive Church into force Nevertheless in regard that which is decayed can seldom be restored without determining new Bounds which the present state of the Church requires It is manifestly the Office of the Church to determine the same Nor can it be done by Christian Powers of this World without assuming to themselves that Authority in which they are to maintain the Church For though Soveraign Power hath Soveraign Right in all Causes and over all Persons Ecclesiastical yet is it capable of no Ecclesiastical Power or Right But is to maintain those that have it by the Laws of the Church in the use of it If any thing were done at the Reformation setting aside the Synods of this Church which I am here neither to deny nor to acknowledge it must be justified upon this Account that they refused the Authority of the Whole Church in authorizing the Reformation of this Church If any thing now may appear to be demanded upon the same Account let the Authority of the Synods be passed by for their punishment if they hinder the Reformation of the Church by refusing it But that cannot appear till it may appear First that the matter demanded ought to have the force of Law in the Church having been of force and since decayed by the injury of time or corruption of men Secondly that it is of such weight that Religion is like to have more advantage by restoring it then the Vnity of the Church shall suffer by violating the Regular Authority of the Church What thanks I shall have of my LL. the Bishops for this I know not For I deny that they themselves can have any Authority in the Case that shall not be confined within the same bounds But it is not possible for him that is the most jealous of the Rights of the Crown in Church-matters to say what danger there can be to this Crown in securing the Conscience of the Kingdom by the Authority of the Church For the acknowledging of those Bounds which the Authority of the Church is confined to as well in respect of Soveraign Power in the Dominions whereof it subsisteth as of the rest of the Church leaveth no Plea for it to Vsurp either upon the Crown or upon the Christian Subjects of it And all this I claim by S. Paul where he commandeth all Christians to abide in that state in which they are called
Conscience should be pretended when the question is whether to turn Christian or not Is it possible that there should be such a doubt in that point that a man to whom the Reason why he ought to be a Christian is sufficiently proposed can be said to be under a light that convinceth him not Which if it be true then is there nothing in Christianity which there is not a sufficient light to convict that man of to whose Office it belongs Otherwise it could not being to his Office not being able to discern the Obligation of it It is therefore a horrible reproach to Christianity to say that any doubting Conscience is not under a light sufficient to resolve it Scruples of Conscience there may be which may eternally have recourse and that no disparagement to the Faith Because the Faith provides a Resolution that they who have scruples in Conscience are bound in Conscience to lay them aside Nay to act positively against them But he that says that being a Christian he is not under a light sufficient to clear him in any doubt of Conscience says that the Faith obligeth him to sin Whereas it is not the Faith but the want of it which obligeth not the erring Conscience to sin but intangleth him so that he must sin if the obligation of acting fall out before the errour be removed Suppose the Jews convict by the Epistle to the Romans that Salvation comes only by Faith and not by the Law also And you suppose them under a light that neither the Law nor any Ordinance then standing by virtue of the Law could oblige But suppose them in love with themselves and with their Ancestors and to have such an Opinion of Salvation intailed upon them and their issue by the Law as to think that they could not have it by God that gave the Law if the Gentiles might have it as well as themselves and they might very well for consequence of Reason though very ill for their own account oversee the light they were under Suppose we now those that make this Plea not to believe one Catholick Church and one Baptism for the remission of sins But had rather gratifie the Socinians and deny that any Christian can be obliged to any thing that appears not to his own Reason out of Canonical Scripture Then imagine he should gratifie the Papist if he should grant that Catholick Communion always made the Catholick Church Suppose them not to believe that the Faith which only saveth includeth Baptism in the Catholick Church And that this Church is not Reformed unless it be restored to the same form I say supposing them possest with such prejudices as these and marvel not to see them eternally doubting whether or no it be lawful for them to obey the Laws which this Church and Kingdom is able to make Nay to see them break out into Schism as all Parties now seem to do rather then obey them when they shall be out of hope to give their own Law to the Kingdom Never forecasting how it may appear to continue a Church when they have given such Laws to it CHAP. XIV That it is not Forbearance to allow their Orders I Suppose they who make this Plea will not grant that they are in any errour so near the Foundation as these which I name Nor do I think that those Christian Jews at Rome that doubted of transgressing the Law when they knew that Salvation comes only by Faith did deny the Foundation of Faith For as long as they lived in the Church they were in the way to learn and understand how both were true Neither will I say that any of those who desire Forbearance for the weak are in any errour destructive to the Foundation of Faith and the hope of Salvation till they break out into Conventicles When that is done I am thenceforth bound to charge them with all the Error which the Title of their Schism can signifie And therefore I charge them with Hypocrisie when they pretend to Forbearance because they are weak and yet break out into Conventieles when they do so then they can be counted no more the weak among Christians then those Jews which S. Paul will have to be forborn as the weak among Christians supposing them to have renounced the Faith afterwards rather then continue in the Church And therefore the Plea of weak Consciences cannot be allowed those that ingage in Conventicles They have cut themselves off from it by leaving the Church Let them return and then make the best of it As to them the Church is under a new Precept of S. Paul which says A man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition avoid Knowing that such a one is out of the way and sinneth being condemned by himself Titus III. 10 11. Because saith S. Hierom after S. Cyprian Whereas other sinners are put out of the Church by those that manage the Keys of the Church Hereticks and Schismaticks put themselves out of the Church Therefore Titus that is all Titus his flock are to avoid them for Excommunicate persons who do Excommunicate themselves As for those that continue in the Church though with a pretense of giving such Laws to the Church as no man knows how soon they may unchurch it let them make their best of it But being grounded at least upon a pretense of weakness there can be no question made but some errour must be granted for the ground of this weakness Let themselves at their leisure assign what errour they will acknowledge if they like not that which I have assigned Only let them shew the world that is the Legislative Power of this Kingdom what errour it is that they have hitherto had which being avoided for the future all those difficulties will cease which this Discourse pretendeth cannot be met with but by bounding the Reformation within the Faith and the Laws of the Catholick Church In the mean time let me go on to shew that those who were Ordained in and for the late Schism composed by the Laws at his Majesties Return by Presbyters against their Bishops cannot claim by virtue of it to be owned for Presbyters Or in the terms of the Ancient Church to be received in their own Orders A thing which there can no question be made in by any body that understands what the Church or what a Schism signifies And it is marvel how they that would be thought to allow Episcopacy should question it To acknowledge the Authority of giving Orders in the Bishops according to the Laws by which we both maintain this Church to be Reformed and yet to allow those that are made Presbyters by those Bishops not to Ordain others but to Minister the Office of their Order according to the Reformation setled in this Church I say to allow them to Ordain others to Minister their Office by other Laws not only without but against the consent of the Bishops from whom they have their
these terms of our Reformation what shall we plead with a good Conscience to bring Recusants to Church It will be said that the Pope is Antichrist and the Church of Rome all I Idolaters that there can be no question of abandoning Idolatry and Antichrist But is there no question of holding the true Faith of continuing a true Church parting with Idolatry and Antichrist Were Papists Idolaters and the Pope Antichrist a thousand times the Reason and the Rule of Reforming the Church would be where it is and will require that it be so Reformed as to continue a Member of one Catholick Church as it was unreformed saving the Unity which cannot be held without the consent of those that will not be reformed Not that I grant the pretense of Idolatry and Antichrist Or that I intend to dispute against it at present being a question too large to be voided by so short a Discourse as this But that to ground our Reformation and Salvation upon the interpretation of Prophesies is a thing without the compass of Reason to do And also a departure from that Plea upon which our Reformation is hitherto stated Having therefore placed my business and spent my time in considering the Controversies which the Reformation hath occasioned Because the Disputes we have among our selves concern nothing but how far we are to depart from the Church of Rome I thought my self tyed in Conscience to publish the Resolution I had attained both under the danger that might be expected from the late Usurpation and at His Majesties happy return So that the publishing of my Opinion in the Case at this time in dispute is but a declaration of the consequences that have ensued because a palliative cure hath not served the turn If they that break Unity in the Church have liberty to plead for their their Conventicles which they Vsurp against Law why should not my Opinion expect a favourable Audience Protesting before God that how advantagious soever I think it to the Salvation of Souls yet I do not desire that it should take place but by the free Act of this Church and Kingdom CHAP. III. That the Rule of Reformation is the Catholick Church IN the first place therefore I hold my self bound in Conscience upon this occasion freely to declare to my Superiours That there is no Power in this Church and Kingdom to reform it self in matter of Religion but only by that Form and to that Form which may appear to have been held by the whole Primitive Church before the Corruption came in which we pretend to Reform And the reason hereof is unanswerable being immediately grounded upon the Article of our Creed whereby we profess to believe one Catholick and Apostolick Church For if there be such a thing in the world then must there be one Catholick Faith the Profession whereof is the condition of Communion with it And one and the same Laws the violating whereof is the forfeiture of the same And here I crave leave to call all Canons all Customs of the Church whether concerning the Rites of Gods Service or other Observations whether delivered in writing or received by silent Vse and Practice by one and the same general name of Laws of the Church Only that I may be the better understood Being therefore well assured that the Church cannot be Catholick but it needs must be Visible Because it cannot be Catholick till it may be Visibly distinguished from Heretick and Schismatick both I must also infer that it can never be Visible till it become Catholick That is the only way to justifie that which hath been always pretended that this Church is the same that it was before Luthers time For as the Church had never been Catholick had it been confined to one Nation as the Synagogue was So I do believe that it had never been called Catholick had there not been Heresies and Schisms before it was so called It had been One Church of all Nations by virtue of the Conversion of the Gentiles When Heresies sprung up as Tares among the Corn then was it called Catholick for distinctions sake It was visible that the true Faith was spread all over Heresies and Schisms prevailed but here and there where they were raised So if an Heretick or Schismatick were asked the way to the Catholick Church he durst not have shewed the way to his own saith S. Austin Nor is it a question to be asked a Christian why the true Church should be Catholick The answer being so obvious that it was Aposiolick Say why the Faith preached by the Apostles prevailed why the Communion setled by their Authority whereas Heresies and Schisms were known but here and there and you have said why the True Church was Catholick We that profess the Reformation are agreed that this provision of Gods goodness is no Promise of God against mans malice That corruption may become Catholick for the present Age though not from the Apostles This is the common ground of Reforming the Church If the measure and bounds which it limiteth were also common all our divisions were at an end Nor can any private Spirit expounding the Scripture without these bounds derogate from it It is a sufficient prejudice against any Interpretation of Scripture that it standeth not with the Faith and with the Laws of the Primitive Church S. Paul challengeth the prophets at Corinth to shew themselves Spiritual men by submitting to his Orders Having said that the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets and inferring that all their Spirits are to be subject to his being an Apostle 1 Cor. XIV 32 36 37. The same is the Case to the Worlds end the promise of our Lord Behold I am with you to the worlds end being made to the Apostles and to all that should be Christs Disciples and learn of the Apostles to do all that he hath commanded Mat. XXVIII 19 20. For who can think he continueth in the Doctrine of the Apostles departing from their Authority in any thing subject to their Authority Or what is not subject to their Authority excepting that which our Lord had commanded before he gave them their Authority His own Commands being the condition of Salvation Their Authority the means provided to inable us to attain it by observing and learning his Commands So as it is Heresie to depart from the Faith which they preached so is it Schism to depart from the Authority which they left in the Church till the Worlds end Were not the Catholick Church a Warrant to particular Churches they could not Reform themselves without the consent of the Whole But seeing abuses are and were Visible at the Reformation it is necessary to grant that particular Churches and secular Powers by whose Laws they subsist may restore that which may appear to have been decayed But it is also necessary to say that Reformation is the Restoring of that which was not the introducing of that which was not CHAP. IV. That
the Church is no further Visible then it is Catholick ANd thus shall the Church become Visible according to the Will and Ordinance of God which being in decay by the malice of man though not Invisible yet must needs become hard to be seen at least to the purpose of Gods goodness For by the discourse premised it appears why it pleased God to provide that the true Church should be Catholick That is to say that when it was so easie to discern the True Church from all that pretended being indeed Hereticks or Schismaticks the simplest were left without excuse if they made a wrong choice Which if it be true how can it be in the Power of any Church or of the secular Powers that maintain it being bound to continue a Member of the whole Church to introduce that for Reformation which cannot appear to be restored but may seem to be innovated Which how should it be done without owning that ground of Reformation which I have delivered and by consequence those bounds which the said ground inferreth And I do very well believe that none of those who decline Conformity with the Church would have the Face to deny this had they to do with the now Missionaries of the Church of Rome For it would not serve their turn in answer to them to plead that the Pope is Antichrist and the Papists Idolaters having Reason to challenge that God hath founded a Visible Church It would be absolutely necessary to plead though the goodness of God hath instituted a Visible Church yet that by the malice of man it might be and is become Invisible for the difficulty of finding Salvation by it though absolutely Visible because Salvation might always be had in it It is easie for him that would answer them with a good Conscience for Truth and not for Victory to maintain the Church to be Visible so far as the Faith and the Laws thereof continue Visible But that so far as the Faith and Laws thereof may be disguised from that which was from the beginning so far it may and is to be said that the Church which by Gods Ordinance is and ought to be Visible by humane disorder is become Invisible Which being said it follows immediately that as all estates in the Church are obliged in their several qualities to do their utmost that the Church may be Visible the Salvation of all Christians requiring them to Resort to the Communion of the Church which they believe to be Catholick so there is no other way to make it Visible but to restore the Faith and the Laws of the Church that from the beginning made it Visible And therefore no Christian Church or State can have Power to Reform the Church any otherwise then by restoring that Faith and those Laws which the Church may appear to have had from the beginning It would be Sacriledge and Vsurpation upon the Faith which God hath built his Church upon and upon the Laws which either the Apostles have delivered to the Church or inabled the Church to deliver to posterity to introduce any thing else for the Reformation of the Church Which seeing it must needs bind over the Church and Kingdom to the wrath of God as either destructive or at least prejudicial to the Salvation of the People must needs bind over him that hath this opinion to the same if upon so just an occasion he should forbear to publish and to plead it as he may without offense And therefore I take leave to blame all those who declare in behalf of this Church that it departeth and separateth it self from the Church of Rome For seeing it hath been granted in and by this Church ever since the Reformation that there is and always was Salvation to be had in the Church of Rome as a true Church though corrupted I am very confident that no Church can separate from the Church of Rome but they must make themselves thereby Schismaticks before God though before the Church they cannot be condemned for such because the Church of Rome the Authority whereof must needs be ingredient into the Sentence cannot oblige any Body to stand to the Authority which it so abuseth For if God have tied all Churches to Communion with all Churches how should it not be Schism to profess Separation from a true Church And it is every whit as easie to say that we intend only to Reform our selves and that the Separation hath come to pass by the rigour of the Church of Rome Excommunicating those that Reform themselves without her leave CHAP. V. How far this Rule is owned by this Church HEre it will perhaps be demanded whether or no the Law of this Land make this the Rule of the Reformation which we Profess And my Answer is that in effect and by consequence it doth For by maintaining the three Creeds to be part of the Service wherewith we glorifie God by Professing the Catholick Faith and by maintaining the four Councils whereby both the Faith and the then Canons of the whole Church are established it doth in effect maintain the Primitive Church not only till that time but beyond it For seeing it is evident that the fifth and sixth Councils are but appendances of the Fourth tending only to maintain and inforce the decree of it how can it be doubted that the Article of this Church receiving all Councils that have decreed according to the Word of God receiveth and inacteth those which tend only to inforce the Fourth which it owneth for decreeing that Faith which the Word of God teacheth Besides the prayers for the prosperity of the Catholick Church whereby we prove our selves no Schismaticks to the See of Rome when we repay the Curses of it with our prayers Besides that Injunction of Edward the VI which obligeth all Preachers to expound the Scripture according to the Consent of the Ancient Fathers Which as no man can say why it should not be in force So had it been in force we need not have come to the question now on foot And indeed it is in effect that which I demand For it will be found that the Consent of the Fathers is not to be had but in the common Faith and in those Laws which the whole Church either enjoyned or allowed particular Churches So that to expound the Scriptures according to the Consent of the Fathers is to expound them within those bounds and to trouble the heads of Christian people with nothing that is without the same As if their Salvation could be concerned all being safe within those bounds Here I must take notice that the reason why the Church Catholick is to be held may be miskenned if it be extended to all that is called Christians and not limited to that which maintaining the Faith violateth not the Vnity of the Primitive Church If the profession of Christ and Christianity were enough to make men members of the Catholick Church why should not Socinians and Anabaptists belong
to the Church dispersed over the face of the whole earth Again the Eastern Christians that are thought to come from Nestorius the Southern Christians under Prester John that maintain the memory of Dioscorus and condemn the fourth Council of Chalcedon cannot be admitted to be Catholicks by any man that owneth the four Councils But in regard it appeareth not that they owne the Heresies of Nestorius and Eutyches though they owne the memory of their persons and in regard there is cause enough to presume that they would with all their hearts be reunited to the Church did not the See of Rome refuse all terms of Re-union that include not the infinite power which it challengeth they cannot be included within the Catholick Church without reserving a liberty to exclude them whensoever in point of Faith it shall appear that they owne the Heresies of Nestorius and Eutyches As for the Canons of the Church it was never neceslary to the maintenance of Communion that the same Customs should be held in all parts of the Church It was only necessary that several Customs should be held by the same Authority Which is to say That the same Authority instituted several Customs which they thought to be for the best in several times and in several places For so they might be changed by the same Authority and yet Unity remain Whereas questioning the Authority by questioning whether the Acts of it be agreeable to Gods Law or not how should Unity be maintained This is the Reason of that which I said even now that the Fathers do not agree in any thing but in the Faith and the Laws of the Church For it is manifest that they could not have agreed in the Laws of the Church if any had excepted against any thing used in any part of the Church as if Gods Law had been infringed by it Seeing therefore it is manifest that there are certain Canons and Customs known to have been the Canons and Customs of the Primitive Church owned by this Church it followeth of necessity that nothing can be disowned by this Church as contrary to Gods Law which holdeth by the Primitive Church So it is not my intent to say that the Canons and Customs of the Primitive Church ought to be in force And that there is no other means to restore Unity in the Church But that nothing can cause a Breach in the Church that hath Authority from the Primitive Church And that nothing can have Authority in the present Church that infringeth the Authority of the Primitive Church as if Gods Law were destroyed by any Act of it Further there are two points in the Title and Cause of the late War Episcopacy and Sacriledge wherein the Cause of the Crown hath been so united to the Cause both of this and of the Catholick Church that I may well say that to disowne the same Cause in other points alike Primitive and Catholick would be to deny the Conclusion admitting the Premises Or to keep divers weights and measures in the same Budget The Plea for Episcopacy and for Consecrate Goods hath made out so much evidence for it self that it hath helped to recover the Laws of the Kingdom And shall not the Laws of the Kingdom so recovered maintain the same Plea in all other things For the Visible Unity of the Catholick Church as it never subsisted but in the consent of Bishops so was it never maintained but out of Consecrate Goods CHAP. VI. What Errours have followed because it is not so expresly BUt I do freely acknowledge that though this Church hath many Obligations to owne this Principle for their Rule yet it is not formally and expresly inacted by those Laws of the Land whereby Religion and the Rights of the Church are established For I do further claim that the want of inacting and inforcing it and driving it home to the true Consequence in every point is the Cause and Sourse not only of the disorders which divers pitiful plaisters have been tendred to cure But of all disorders imperfections and decays of Religion which have succeeded upon the Reformation having been made without limiting those bounds And that the present disorders in Religion are the Symptoms of a common disease which all men are offended with but cannot be cured without recourse to the Unity of the Catholick Church and the terms of it wherein that health of Christianity consisteth which all division impeacheth I do therefore freely acknowledge that I find two positions to be the sourse of all those Excentrical Opinions in Religion which caused that Confusion upon the issue of the War that helped to make way for his Majesties happy Return The first is that there is no Condition for the Covenant of Grace That there is no Contract in it but a meer Promise The second is that there is no such thing as a Visible Church instituted by God But that men are first Children of God by Faith then members of a Church of free choice Of these Positions the one necessarily dependeth upon the other For the Faith of the whole Church from the beginning requires Baptism to Salvation And therefore includeth it in that Faith which alone justifieth And by consequence requires that justifying Faith cannot be understood without that Profession of Faith which a man maketh at his Baptism And this will necessarily infer a Church therefore Visible because Catholick For it is agreed upon by the whole Church that Baptism in Heresie or Schism That is when a man gives up himself to the Communion of Hereticks or Schismaticks by receiving Baptism from them though it may be true Baptism and not to be repeated being given in the form of the Church yet is not available to Salvation making him accessory to Heresie or Schism that is so Baptized Now it is not my intent to say that these two Positions were expresly and formally professed by Companies distinguishing themselves from others by Ecclesiastical Communion in the Profession Which is the true signification of an Heresie in the eye of the Church But the Positions I maintain to be Heresies in so much that if there were such Companies they must of necessity be taken for Heresies in the account of the Church And my Reason is clear For it is acknowledged by the whole Church clearly delivered by our Lord in the Gospel that the taking up of his Cross is a necessary condition to Salvation Now since our Lord gave Commission to his Apostles to Baptize all Nations in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost it is evident that ever since we take up Christs Cross when we undertake at our Baptism to lay down our lives rather then deny the Faith of Christ or transgress his Commandments And since this Promise is not available unless it be deposited with the true Church it cannot be available to him that continueth not in the true Church that may exact the Promise deposited with it If any man ask whom I can charge
Law maintain it I suppose it will not be though a good Plea at the day of Judgment for a Subject to say that he was either Protestant or Papist because his Soveraign was so Now Christianity can be Visible by no other means but because it is the Visible Profession of the Visible Church If it become Invisible by differences betwixt Parties it must be in Soveraign Powers to bring the Parties to tryal Provided that there be no tryal but by the Visible Church This is the Forbearance that may be extended by Pastors and may be required by the Soveraign in our Case For the present dissension shews that the Reformation was well begun indeed but not perfected Does not the World know that there was an Act in force for nominating Commissaries to Reform the Ecclesiastical Laws of the Kingdom I am not to say why this Act took no effect I think I have said it when I have observed the rise of the Puritan Party and the seeds of the late War sowed in the beginning of Recusancy But I am to say it could not have taken good effect without taking in the Principle which I maintain What could be more just and discreet then to appoint Commissaries in equal number of Bishops Divines Civil and Common Lawyers But what could have had force but that which had been done to restore and maintain the Faith and Laws of the Primitive Church There are very great Reasons why those that desire to serve the Church should be satisfied in all that this Exception will allow There can be no Reason why more should be allowed To bring them into dispute with their Pastors is to put the Authority of the Church to compromise To compromise any Law of the Kingdom to dispute of Divines upon this Principle is no more then to oblige either Popish or Fanatick Recusants either to stand to the Result or to suffer Penalties competent to their disobedience and the hazard which the Publick Peace runneth when the Peace of Religion is disturbed If that which hath been pretended be all that is intended That some small things are scrupled Let the Legislative Power be satisfied that the preservation of Religion and of the Authority of the Church in which the preservation of Religion consisteth is only sought The Interest of the Parties to give and to receive mutual satisfaction is so great that if there can be ever hope of Peace by dispute this is the time and ours the Case wherein to hope for it CHAP. XIX Probability of recovering the Presbyterians FOr I cannot have so hard an opinion of men whose zeal for the advancement of Discipline in the Church I have always esteemed as to think them resolved to ruine the Common Christianity without hope of doing their own business seeing this to be the unavoidable consequence of holding up the difference on foot rather then taking up with so much of their own Pretensions as the State of the Catholick Church will allow Let them consider in the first place the Recusancy of the Fanaticks as well as those of the Church of Rome What hope their Principles can give them either to make their Recusancy punishable by the Law of the Land or to reduce them by convicting them of that sense of the Scripture which they only allow themselves to convict them with I set aside for the present those Prophesies of Daniel and the Revelation by which they pretend the Pope to be Antichrist and the Papists Idolaters For I must argue in due place that the Recusancy of the Papist cannot be punishable by Law upon this Account But how will they either reduce the Recusancy of the Papist by those punishments which the Recusancy of the Fanaticks must suffer or give the Kingdom God and the World a Reason for the why not which the best of them is here challenged to undertake Then let them consider the wantonness of these times and the wits of them that think it good sport to call in question the foundation of Christianity upon the belief of Original sin by introducing the praeexistence of Souls That think it but sport to make ready their studies in Divinity for the Pulpit by Episcopius his Works denying Original sin both name and thing and making the Faith of the Holy Trinity unnecessary to Salvation Or rather by the Works of the Socinians collected and united together in Holland on purpose to prepare us for the same Apostasie to Socinianism which they are in so much danger of there Let them consider what hope they have to make the Vniversities good Presbyterians that have sowed the seeds of this danger in them by the dissatisfaction they had of their Doctrine when they were in Possession there Then let them tell me what we shall say to the Papists to perswade them to come to Church when as they shall say that they cannot be secured that their Curate is no Socinian or Origenist For the Arminian Congregations in Holland having admitted the Socinians into their Communion and the Canon of the Church making all Socinians in the eye of the Church that Communicate with Socinians how shall they be secured against those that take their Doctrine from the Socinians Or from them who communicate with Socinians Besides let them but remember the time when they had the Ball at their Foot an Ordinance of Parliament for setting up their Presbyteries And how much they gained upon the People whom they had disordered out of all Ecclesiastical Government when they came to be at what they would be at I think they will be at so great despair of reducing the World to their intent having nothing in the Law of the Land to favour it that they will think that they have cause to thank God of a good opportunity to bring them off from an ingagement in which they are like to gain so little by hazarding the common Christianity As for the Clergy of this Church I suppose there is none of them so little a Christian as to repute it a loss to the Party to see their Adversaries capable of that trust in the Church and those rewards of it which they have suffered for themselves For if the necessity of the Kingdom hath required an Act of Oblivion much more must the necessity of Religion which cannot be attained without a cordial conspiring of those that are to manage it inforce a mixture of Interest And that being considered let any man tell me how that can be made but by a Third in which all are alike Interessed That is by owning the Faith and the Laws of the Catholick Church whereby the Papist is either reduced or left punishable as the Fanatick CHAP. XX. The Cure by repairing the Revenue of the Church BUt all this is but a Cure for the Symptom Should such a Conference take effect the Cause of the disease would remain intire For the Cause of our Divisions is not these differences which are too inconsiderable to produce so incomparable a
was setled upon that Faith and those Laws that are now as Visible as the Laws of England from which present Titles are derived can be Visible must needs have that Right from which the Right of all present Soveraignties must be derived Because the Church whose Interest concurreth with the Interest of them all in the same matters is always One and the same and ought so to be from the first to the second Coming of Christ And that answers any difficulty that may be objected when any Law of any Roman Emperor or other Christian Prince or State seems to infringe the Canons of the Church For the Protection of the Crown being of such advantage as it is both for the inlarging and maintaining of Christianity It is enough that the Church can continue One and the same Visible Church by one and the same Visible Laws Though the force and effect of them be hindred now and then here and there by some Acts of Secular Power which in some regards may advance the Church as much as they hinder it in others It was necessary for the Crown under Henry the VIII to vindicate the Supremacy from the pretense of the Popes Secular Power which had been on foot divers Ages afore And therefore not to have to do with him that pretended to assoil the Subjects of Princes whom he should excommunicate of their Allegiance till they might owne him upon terms consistent with the Protection they owe their People And it was still more necessary under Edward the VI. when the Reformation was inacted which they knew well enough that the Pope would not endure But when the Right of the Crown in Church-matters is declared by Law to be the same which the Kings of Gods Ancient People and the first Christian Emperors did exercise the ground of that Interest and the bounds of that Interest which the Church must challenge if it will continue a Church are declared to be the same which the Faith and the Laws of the Whole Church from the beginning do allow CHAP. XXIII Of restoring and reforming the Jurisdictions of the Crown and of the Church in Ecclesiastical Causes ANd this makes the Reformation of our Ecclesiastical Laws as easie as it is visibly the cure of all distempers in Religion among us It is in brief this That the Jurisdiction which may by this means appear to the Kingdom to be invested in the Church by Gods Law be by a Law of the Kingdom restored to the Clergy To the Bishops in chief then to the Chapters of their Cathedrals and to their Archdeacons And to these not without the Assistance of the Principal Clergie of their Respective Jurisdictions the Judges of the Ecclesiastical Courts continuing the Kings Judges as they are now by Law to manage the Interest of the Crown in all the Rights thereof resumed into the Crown by the Acts of Supremacy according to the Roman Laws in those Ages of Christendom which passed before the Usurpation of the See of Rome had taken place If it be said That it is not Visible when those Usurpations took place I shall allow all the time which that Code of the Canons contains that Pope Adrian sent to Charles the Great In whose time there can be no pretense of Usurpation upon the Temporalties of Princes by the See of Rome This Code is yet read under the Name of Codex Canonum Ecclesiae Romanae I have commended the Justice and Wisdom of that Commission which was designed under Henry the VIII and Edward the VI for the qualities of Persons limited by it But I do not think it possible for any Commission to Reform the Alterations introduced by the Popes Canon Law after that time in one Kings Raign with that circumspection which is requisite The Jurisdiction which the Church challenges by Gods Law can not be distinctly stated with more satisfaction to all Interests preserving that of Religion then by a Commission so qualified The Interest of the Kingdom in preserving the study of the Roman Laws hath always been thought considerable But how shall the study of them be maintained if the Authority of them be not maintained Or how shall that Authority be maintained but by adopting them into the Law of the Kingdom in matters necessary to be provided for by Law but not provided for by the native Law of the Kingdom Or what provision can there he by the native Law of the Kingdom for those Causes which for so many hundred years before the Reformation the Popes Canon Law had sentenced by the Authority of the Kingdom There is an Interest of Religion in Matrimonial Causes in Testamentary Causes in Causes arising upon Elections of Corporate Clergie in Causes of Dispensation in Canons in Causes of Tithes in divers sorts of Causes besides those which the Power of the Keys in the Discipline of the People and the Correction of Inferior Clergy occasioneth Let me not say that it were Barbarous for a flourishing Kingdom in a flourishing Age for all other Learning to reduce the Tryal of them to the Arbitrary Verdicts of Juries Who can never understand the Grounds upon which the matter of Fact is to be stated when I can so clearly say that there can be nothing more like to meer Tyranny then Arbitrary Justice nor Justice more Arbitrary then where it is manifest that there can have been no other Law provided because the Canon Law hath been hitherto used As for those Causes which are proper to the Church as rising from the Constitution of it how can it stand with Religion and Reformation in Religion which we pretend to try them otherwise then by those which the Kingdom shall be satisfied by such a Commission that they are by Gods Law capable of Authority to do it And the Interest of the Crown and of the Subjects which it is bound to protect shall be secured when provision is made by adopting the Roman Laws for managing the Rights of the Crown resumed by the Act of Supremacy within those Bounds which the Roman Laws maintained before the Usurpation of the See of Rome It cannot be denied that the Popes Canon Law which the Law of the Land hath already adopted so far as it contradicteth not the Law of the Land provideth for many things not provided for by the Primitive Canons within the Compass of the Roman Laws And it would be too much rashness to recal that Adoption and to leave so much matter to arbitrary Justice rather then retain a Provision which the Law and Religion professed by the Kingdom owns not the Original of though it owne the matter it hath adopted For whatsoever shall prove by time and tryal to hinder the Reformation which we pretend thus to ground and thus to bound the faults that shall be found by experience must open the way of mending it because the Cure must be as particular as the disease is And upon these Terms it can be no dishonour to the Kingdom and to the Reformation
which it professeth to use the Canon Law which it adopteth till time shew the way of amending those particulars which time shall shew that the Reformation pretended requires to be changed For instance we know that since Henry VIII it is not the custom to take any degree in Canon Law Notwithstanding the Law of the Land adopteth the Canon Law And accordingly we all know that Graduates in the Civil Law of the Romans are priviledged by the Ecclesiastical Law of the Kingdom I would fain have any of them that would wear the Face and the Conscience of a good Christian and a good English man both Give me a reasonable Account of these their Tenures waving that which I here set forth for them whom they will think too bold with their Freehold for it For my part who am no mans foe but my own in publishing my Opinion thus freely upon this Exigent I think I do good service to them with my Country to set forth this Account why and how the Roman Laws deserve to be adopted into the Laws of the Kingdom Namely that the Popes Canon Law which is already adopted may be limited within those Bounds with the Roman Laws And by consequence the Primitive Canons of the Church which the Roman Laws acknowledge and inforce do either prescribe or allow I would make a further Offer of introducing the Roman Laws both into the Study of the Law of the Land and into Authority in our Courts of Equity And of reconciling thereby the Cross-Interests of the Professions upon competence of Jurisdictions But though I must needs have that Opinion my self which I can see nothing against seeing much for it yet I will trouble no man with an Opinion which neither my Profession obliges me nor my skill inables me to make out It shall be enough for me to observe that they shall deserve to be counted Professors of the Roman Laws that are trusted to minister the Canon Laws by those Bounds which the Roman Laws allow As for the Concurrence of that Jurisdiction which is proper to the Clergy by Gods Law and that which is resumed by the Crown to be ministred by the Professors of the Roman Laws I do acknowledge it cannot be ended but by Appeals The issue whereof whither it ought to resort when it is time to say it will be then time to say also how these Interests are reconcileable In the mean time Episcopacy being owned by the Law of the Kingdom and the Law of God both to be that which the whole Church from the beginning acknowledgeth I think I do my Country and the Church of God in it no disservice to propose a plaister large enough for the Sore of it that shall come within the bounds which I have proposed For the Chapters of Cathedral Churches are by their Birth-right Counsellors to the Bishops and Assistants in his whole Office The Archdeacon his Minister and principal Commissary Those by the Rule first set on foot by the Apostles and observed always by the Church of planting Cathedral Churches in Cities and making the Churches planted in Cities Cathedral Churches for the Government of all Christendom within the Territories of those Cities This being by his Order Ministerial to them as well as to the Bishop when both have part in the same Office And here I place the hinge upon which I hang the Reconcilement of the presumed Interest of the Presbyterians with the true Interest of the Clergy Supposing the Conference proposed to have taken effect and produced a Request of both Parties to the Legislative Power of the Kingdom to make a Law of those particulars upon which they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 come to agreement to be received and to exercise their Ministry For the Office of the Clergy being separated from the Interest of the Crown by an Act of the Kingdom And the Professors of the Roman Laws trusted to manage this Interest in behalf of the Subject Only assisting the Clergy in that part of the Jurisdiction proper to the Church which will concern the Interest of Subjects as Members of the Church as well as the Office of the Clergy What shall hinder them the Presbyterians as well as the rest of the Clergy to exercise the Zeal which they have always professed towards the Reforming of the conversation of the People in assisting that Discipline as well over the Inserior Clergie as the People which the Chapters of Cathedral Churches and the Archdeacons shall by the Bishop and under the Bishop be trusted with For what need all this hinder the Prerogative of the Bishops Negative Vote when as there will be more to do under him then hands will be found for reserving to him those causes which he would chuse to reserve For that will be found no more then requisite to preserve his Prerogative that nothing be done without him when nothing is done without him but that which he shall chuse to be eased in He that knows what the Hierarchy signifies must needs understand that the same means which preserved the Whole Church in Vnity so far and wide for place so long for time as Unity prevailed in the Church and Christianity with it and by it knows that the same must be used to preserve Unity in the Church of this Kingom The Question being how to Reform it so that it may continue a Member of the Whole CHAP. XXIV Some Principal Canons to be restored in our present State FOr let no man think that any Law can be effectual to this purpose till the Case be stated which the Law is provided for We are in the State of Schism in spite of our teeth Though we are to clear our selves of the crime of Schism upon the Terms setled which cannot clear us if it be possible that any other should clear us King Henry the VIII had reason to declare that he and his Kingdom should have nothing to do with the Pope that Excommunicated him for his Divorce So many Popes having discharged the Subjects of Princes Excommunicate of their Allegiance But to make good the Protestation that he intended no further change in Religion I need not say what he did to give succeeding Popes occasion to recal the folly of that Pope which Excommunicated him by a timely Reconcilement In the mean time the way to preserve the Kingdom in Peace was to have nothing to do with the See of Rome But had he been so well advised as to have maintained his Divorce upon the terms which I plead for What could the Pope have said to that Code of Canons which Pope Adrian the I. sent to Charles the Great which I would have this Church to owne For it concludes with a Synod of the Province of Rome under Pope Gregory the II. which pronounces Anathema to whosoever shall marry his deceased Brothers Wife Let Julius II. Pope that dispensed with Henry the VIII and his Marriage with the Lady Katherine of Spain have bethought himself how to
the State was setled or contributed to the setling of it upon expectation of being tolerated in their Religions when it should be setled But when the Vnited Provinces were in danger to break in pieces upon a Dispute in Religion in the year 1618. and when the point of Religion was decided by the point of that Sword which decided by the point of that Sword which inabled the States General to give Law to the States of Holland Let him that now may see more Aprons then Clokes come from their Arminian Gongregations tell me whether the point were decided by a Penalty or not But let him tell me also whether it had not been better to have decided it no further then the Catholick Church had decided it then to indanger the Reformation as now it is in danger by admitting the Socinians into Communion with the Arminians in case the Penalty should prove insufficient As for the Discourses that threaten the transporting of Estates upon Penalties for Religion and that would incourage strangers to plant and improve Trade here Who knows not that the Conventicles now Usurped were first erected by the late War And therefore must be presumed to cherish the pretense of it And how easie is it for those that inact Penalties for Religion to provide that it be for no mans ease to declare himself an enemy to his Country Nor let any man think that strangers are affected in Religion as those at home are who pretend by Religion to give Law to their Country The dissensions on foot among us may well discourage them from planting among us to improve Trade with us The improving of the Reformation and the setling of it would be but an incouragement to them to pass by those frivolous pretenses which carry us to these frantick distances In the mean time be it considered that Independency which was not in rerum natura at the planting of New England being once setled there by the pretense which their Patent or Patents gave became so fruitful that within twenty years they were able to cut off their Prince For. all that love truth must acknowledge that they were Independents that did that horrible Act. And then consider how you would hope to have it restrained if S. Pauls precept of avoiding Sectaries that Excommunicate themselves be not in force by Canonical Penalties upon them that are to avoid And by temporal Penalties upon them that are to be avoided For conversing together otherwise then for Trade and Commerce experience shews that infection is unavoidable And therefore the Protection which the Kingdom owes the Religion which it professeth necessarily requires not only that it be maintained at the Charge of the Schismaticks in it For as that is the proper Penalty for them to redeem their Recusancy with So is it the Justice which they owe their fellow-Subjects whom they have hitherto kept in that Aegyptian Bondage And this Reason will extend the same obligation to all other Plantations and Residences of English To wit that if they be suffered to live in another Religion there account may be taken of them here that they be not admitted to Communion here without renouncing that which they lived in there That they be not suffered there without maintaining the Religion professed here It extends also to French and Dutch and all Forreign Churches that for Trade or otherwise may be allowed to plant here For either they hold Communion with this Church or not If not it must be Penal both for those of this Church to Communicate with them and for them to admit those of this Church If so yet so long as there is cause of jealousie there must be provision that neither Church be declined upon any pretense of such jealousie I will here add one thing before I make an end Because it may be demanded how the Law of the Land may make Excommunication turn to disgrace and to some degree of Infamy The answer is Let the Law of the Land provide that no man may have Christian Burial that is be buried in Consecrate ground and with the Office of the Church but he whom his Curate knows to have received the Communion within the year And I believe the most part of them that Excommunicate themselves will return of themselves But then it must be provided and the Bishop must be inabled by Law to discharge that Curate of Office and Benefice that shall falsifie his trust in that point Now give me leave to demand whether the Church be under Protection or under Persecution If the Curate be not inabled by Law to refuse Christian Burial to those of whose Salvation he can give no account because they withdraw themselves from his Cure CHAP. XXX The Condition of reconciling Recusants BUt this not all There is one point yet behind For whensoever the Church Excommunicates for notorious and scandalous sin to restore him that is so Excommunicate to Communion would be to murther his Soul and Christianity both at once not supposing some proportionable presumption of amendment in him that is restored This therefore must hold as the Reason of it holds in those that Excommunicate themselves In the reconciling of Hereticks and Schismaticks to the Church And this the practice of the Whole Church of God from the beginning shews them that are willing to understand the reason of it before they tread that Authority under foot which the common Christianity obliges all to follow Shew me any Heresie or Schism ever restored to the Church without renouncing the same and I will confess that the Church it self turned Heretick or Schismatick from the same date Only there is a difference to be put between Heresie and Schism and other Personal Crimes For I see no reason why we should not call other Crimes Personal in opposition to Heresie and Schism Because we call it not Heresie or Schism till Scparation be made A false Belief in Fundamentals is Heresie before God a Resolution to divide the Church is Schism before God both destructive to Salvation before Separation be made But Separation is the disease we pretend to cure without prejudicing the health of Gods Church And therefore should Separation be made to maintain a Profession that Simony for example or Sacriledge or any other deadly Crime is no sin the Party so formed would be ipso facto an Heresie Personal Crimes then must be restored to Communion upon presumption of Personal Conversion from the same But Heresies and Schisms becoming Bodies by professing an Ingagement may be re-united to the Church in Body renouncing the Separation in which they stood ingaged For there is reasonable presumption that the Leaders would not renounce if they did not repent them of it As for the People that only follows and leads not it is most true and just to maintain that Heresie and Schism is a Bar to Salvation though we allow hope of Salvation to the simple that follow malicious Leaders out of invincible ignorance It is therefore no