damnum me sciente nemini pandam Papatum Romanum Regalia Sancti Petri adjutor eis ero ad retinendum defendendum salvo meo ordine contra omnem hominem Legatum Apostolicae sedis in eundo redeundo honorificè tractabo in suis necessitatibus adjuvabo Iura honores privilegia auctoritatem Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Domini nostri Papae Successorum praedictorum conservare defendere augere promovere curabo neque ero in consilio vel sacto seu tractatu in quibus contra ipsum Dominum nostrum vel eamdem Romanam ecclesiam aliqua sinistra vel praejudicialia personarum juris honoris status potestatis eorum machinentur Et si talia à quibuscunque tractari vel procurari novero impediam hoc pro posse quanto citius potero significabo eidem Domino nostro vel alteri per quem possit ad ipsius notitiam pervenire Regulas Sanctorum Patrum decreta Ordinationes seu dispositiones reservationes provisiones mandata Apostolica totis viribus observabo saciam ab aliis observari Hae-reticos Schismaticos Rebelles eidem Domino nostro vel successoribus praedictis pro posse persequar impugnabo Vocatus ad Synodum veniam nisi praepeditus suero canonica praepeditione Apostolorum limina singulis trienniis personaliter per me ipsum visitabo Domino nostro ac successoribus praesatis rationem reddam de toto meo pastorali officio ac de rebus omnibus ad meâ—… Ecclesiae statum ad Cleri populi disciplinam animarum denique quae meae fidei traditae sunt salutem quovis modo pertinentibus Et vicissim mandata Apostolica humiliter recipiam quam diligentissime exequar Quod si legitimo impedimento detentus suero praefata omnia adimplebo per certum nuntiam ad hoc speciale mandatum habentem de gremio mei Capituli aut alium in dignitate Ecclesiastica constitutum seu alias personatum habentem aut his mihi desicientibus per diaecesanum sacerdotem clero deficiente omnino per aliquem alium Presbyterum saecularem vel Regularem spectatae probitatis Religionis de supradictis omnibus plenè instructum De hujusmodi autem impedimento docebo per legitimas probationes ad sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem proponentem in Congregatione sacri Concilii per supradictum Nuntium transmittendas Possessiones vero ad mensam meam pertinentes non vendam nec donabo neque impignorabo nec de novo inâ—…eudabo vel aliquo modo alienabo etiam cum consensu Capituli Ecclesiae meae inconsulâ—…o Romano Pontifice si ad aliquam alienationem devenero paenas in quadam super hoc edita Constitutione contentas eo ipso incurrere volo IN. Elect of the Church N. from this hour forward shall be faithful and obedient to St. Peter the Apostle and the Holy Roman Church and our Lord the Pope N. and his Successors that shall enter canonically I shall be in no Council Consent or Fact that they lose life or member or be taken with any ill taking or that violent hands be any way laid on them or any injuries be done them on any pretended colour And whatever Council they shall trust me with either by themselves their Nuntio's or Letters I shall knowingly reveal to none to their hurt I shall help them to retain and defend the Roman Papacy and the Royalties of Saint Peter against all men saving my own Order I shall treat the Legate of the Apostolick See honorably both in his going and coming and shall help him in his necessities I shall take care to preserve defend increase and promote the Rights Honors Priviledges and Authority of the Holy Roman Church of our Lord the Pope and his Successors foresaid I shall neither be in Council Fact or Treaty in which any thing shall be contrived against the said our Lord or the same Roman Church or any thing that may be prejudicial to their Persons Right Honor State or Power And if I know such things to be treated or procured by any body I shall hinder it all I can and as soon as is possible shall signifie it to the said our Lord or any other by whom it may come to his knowledg The Rules of the Holy Fathers and the Decrees Orders or Appointments Reservations Provisions or Mandates Apostolical I shall observe with all my strength and make them to be observed by others and I shall according to my power persecute and oppose all Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebells against the said our Lord and his Successors I shall come to a Council when called if I be not hindred by some Canonical Impediment I shall personally visit the thresholds of the Apostles every third year and shall give an account to our Lord and his said Successors of my whole pastoral charge and of all things that shall any way belong to the State of my Church and the Discipline of my Clergy and People and the salvation of the Souls committed to my trust And I shall on the other hand humbly receive and diligently execute the Apostolical Command And if I be detained by any lawful Impediment I shall perform the foresaid things by a special Messenger that shall have my particular Mandate being either of my Chapter or in some Ecclesiastical Dignity or in some Parsonage or these failing by any Priest of my Diocess or failing any of these by any Priest secular or regular of signal Probity and Religion who shall be fully instructed in all things aforesaid And I shall give lawful proofs of the foresaid Impediment which I shall send by the foresaid Messenger to the Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church that is Proponent in the Congregation of the Holy Council I shall neither sell give Mortage nor invest of new nor any way alienate the possessions that belong to my Table notwithstanding the consent of the Chapter of my Church without consulting the Pope of Rome And if I make any such Alienation I am willing to incur the penalties contained in a Constitution thereupon set forth The Inferences that may be drawn from this Oath are so obvious that I shall not trouble the Reader with any knowing that every one will easily make them FINIS See the 23. Art of our Church Hist. Interdict Venet Lib. de Fregn Comun Art 33. Act. 7. 3. Inter. Epist. 31. l. 12. Ind. 7. Can. 42. Lib. 8. cap. 21. and 23. Cap. 26. Inter Epi. Cypr. Ep. 75. Can. 64. Can. 10. Not. 18. in Can. Nic. Arab. See Nazianz Orat. in Bapt. Cyr. Pref. ad Catech. Balsam in Schol. in Con. Laod. Ant. Harmen in Con. Antioch a Ep. 24. 21. b Ep. 28. c Ep. 24. 33. 34. d Ep. 76. e Apud Eus. lib. 6. cap. 43. Grat. dist 77. cap. 1. 2. Can. 14. 62. a Can. 5. b Can. 6. c Can. 7. d Can. 8. e Can. 9. f Can. 10. Vit. Pontif in vita Silvestri Nove. 123.
authority to what Offices they will have made Saints and added devotions to them as they pleased All persons in that Communion must either by a blind resignation accept of every thing in their Worship which the Pope imposes believing him infallible or if they are not of that perswasion but give themselves leave to examine the Offices whether they do it by the Scriptures the Fathers and Tradition or by the Rules of Reason they must needs see there are many injustifiable things in their Offices many Saints are in the Breviary about whose Canonisation they are not at all assured And in a word one shall not speak with one of these Principles but they will acknowledg there is great need of Reforming their Offices Yet they must worship God according to them as they are otherwise they are Schismaticks and fall under that same condemnation for which they are so severe upon us Therefore it must either be the merits of the Cause that makes a Schismatick or if a Condemnation for separating from Authorised Offices does it then they must resolve to be guilty of it or worship God contrary to their Consciences They have no rules for their Offices but the Popes pleasure for Councils never made any and indeed it is the most unreasonable thing that can be to put the direction of the whole worship of God in one Man or a succession of Mens power unless they be believed Infallible The last thing I shall mention to shew how unreasonable they are who deny the Popes Infallibility and yet condemn the Reformation so severely is in the point of Government which though it be not of so high nor so universal a Nature as the two former are yet it must be acknowledged to be of great Importance And that the Prelates of that Church are fast tied to the Pope without any Reserves or Exceptions unless it be that of saving my Order the sense whereof is not fully understood will appear from the Oath they make to the Pope before they are Ordained From the consideration of which it was that King Henry the 8th laid it out to his Parliament that they were but half his Subjects and by the Oath then taken by the Bishops of England as is set down by Hall it appears that since that time there are very considerable Additions made to that Oath which any that will compare them together will easily discern If men make Conscience of an Oath they must be in a very hard condition that believe the Pope to be Infallible and yet are so bound to him by such a Bond. If the Superior be Infallible the Subject may without any trouble in his Conscience swear Obedience in any terms that can be conceived But when the Superior is believed subject to error and mistake then their swallow must be very large that can swear to preserve defend increase and promote the Rights Honours Priviledges and Authority of the Holy Roman Church of our Lord the Pope and his Successors foresaid The Decrees Orders or Appointments Reservations Provisions or Mandates Apostolical I shall observe with all my strength and make them to be observed by others And I shall according to my power persecute and oppose all Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebells against the said our Lord and his Successors And I shall humbly receive and diligently execute the Apostolical Commands Which words being full and without those necessary and just reserves of the Obedience promised to Ecclesiastical Superiors in all things Lawful and Honest all the Prelates of the Roman Communion are as fast tied to the Pope as if they believed him Infallible for if they believed him such they could be tied to nothing more than absolute and unlimited Obedience Therefore they are in so much a worse estate than others be which hold that opinion because they have the saâ—… Obligation bound upon them by Oath And let the Pope command what he will theâ—… must either obey him or confess themselveâ—… guilty of breach of Oath and Perjurâ—… And I hope the Reader will observe whâ—… mercy all whom they account Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebels againâ—… their Lord the Pope are to expect at their hands who make their Bishops swear 〈◊〉 persecute all such according to their power so that we may by this be abundantly satisfied of their good Intentionâ—… and Inclinations when ever it shall be iâ—… their power to fulfil the Contents of thiâ—… Oath for let any of them speak ever 〈◊〉 softly or gently if he comes to be Consecrated a Bishop he must either be Perjured or turn a persecuter of all Protestants whâ—… are in their opinion the worst sort of Hereticks and Schismaticks And certainly it is much more reasonble to calculate what in reason we ought to expect from the Prelates of that Church if ever our sins provoke God to deliver us over to their Tyranny from the Oath they swear at their Consecration than from all the meek and good natured words with which they now study to abuse some among us which is so common an Artifice of all who aspire to Power and Government that one might think the trick should be tried no more but some love to be cheated a hundred times over From these Instances it is apparent that the Pope has every whit as much Authority in that Church and over all in it as if he were believed Infallible since both the Doctrine Worship and Government of their Church are determined by him to whose award all must not only submit but be concluded by it in their Subscriptions Worship and other practices So that the opinion of the Popes being fallible gives such persons no ease nor freedom except it be to their secret thoughts but brings them under endless scruples and perplexities by the Obligations and Oaths that are imposed upon them which bind them to a further obedience and compliance than is consistent with a fallible Authority And therefore their Principles being so Incoherent that they cannot maintain both their charge against us of Heresie and Schism and their opinion of the Popeâ—… Fallibility and keep a good Conscience withal There is one of three things to be expected from men of that Principle either that they shall quite throw off thâ—… Popes tyrannical Yoke and assert their own liberty reserving still their other Opinions as was done in the days of King Henry the Eighth or that they shall joynâ—… in Communion with us or that they shall continue as they are complying with every thing imposed on them by the Court oâ—… Rome preferring Policy to a good Conscience studying by frivolous Distinctions to reconcile these Compliances with their Principles which any man easily see are Inconsistent That those of the Port-Royal have done the last is laid to their charge both by Calvinists and Jesuits and as I am credibly informed by some of their own number who do complain of their subscribing Formularies and every thing else sent from Rome which they have opposed as long
Pool to have been a righteous Arch-Bishop and so confesses Catholick Ordination and Jurisdiction to be lawful valid and good which was necessary by the Laws of England as appears from her Mandate in which she supplies any Defects they might have been under Now all the Authority the Queen had flowed from the Parliament which annexed all Jurisdiction Spiritual or Temporal over the Ecclesiastical State of this Realm to the Crown by which they made her Pope So that by the very words of the Act Matthew Parker had his Jurisdiction from the Queen and she hers from the Parliament Therefore the Protestant Priests and Bishops are only Parliamentary Priests and Bishops and are not from Christ and his Church but from their Kings Queen and Parliaments Here is such a heap of things so unjustly and weakly said that it must needs grieve all honest men to see a company of Priests going up and down the Kingdom studying to abuse weak and unlearned persons with such disingenuous Stories or Writings Which I hope will appear more fully if you consider the following particulars First It is certain that King and Parliament have the Supream Legislative Authority in this Realm and this they have from the Laws of God Nature and Society confirmed by the Gospel which commands us to be subject to the Higher Powers Therefore whatever they Enact that is within the Limits of their Jurisdiction is Law and if it be not sinful is to be obeyed if it be sinful it is to be submitted to For instance if they set up a false Religion by Law it does not make it a true Religion but adds the sanction of Law and is the civil Warrant and Security for the Subject therefore the Civil Power cannot change the nature of things to make Good Evil or Evil Good but only gives Authority and Security and in this they are restrained in things Civil as well as Spiritual for if they make unjust Laws in Civil things the case is the same with their unjust Laws about Spirituals Therefore it is to be concluded as the Fundamental Maxim of Civil Government that whatever may be done lawfully and without Sin ought to be done when the Supream Civil Authority commands it and that the Subjects ought to obey Secondly Whosoever is empowered by the King and Parliament to execute this their Supream Authority has a full Right and Title to apply that Power so given or committed to him having the execution of that Law put in his hands and if any shall without their Warrant or Authority from them usurp or assume any sort of Power or Jurisdiction within this Kingdom they are Intruders and Usurpers and the success they have in it does no more justifie that Force than a Robber's does his Title to Goods unjustly taken And although some weak Princes in hard times did yield it up to the Pope yet both the Clergy themselves and the Parliaments did often assert their own Authority which was most eminently done by King Edward the First and King Edward the Third So that the Popes power here had no just Title but was a violent Invasion for that they neither had it from Christ nor Saint Peter nor by any Decree of General Councils and that for 800 years after Christ it was never allowed them that they never had it in the Eastern Churches and that what they had in the Western Churches was only extorted by force and fraud from the Princes and States of Europe and that they had no Law for it in England are things so certain that for proof of this I shall refer my self to the Writers of their own Church De Marca Launoy and Balusius with many others And at this very day the Pope has neither more nor less power in the other Kingdoms of Europe than the Connivence of Princes or the Laws give him Therefore the Pope had no power in England but what was unjustly usurped from the King and Parliament Thirdly When the Supream Authority the King and Parliament have long endured an Encroachment upon them that gives no just Title to it nor hinders them from asserting their own Rights when they find a fit opportunity for it and neither devests them of their Authority nor the Subjects of their due Rights and Freedoms Therefore the Government of the Kingdom and all the exercise of coercive Jurisdiction being inseparably annexed to the Supream Authority it was incumbent on them to shake off all Forrein Jurisdict they should have done it sooner but could never do it too soon Fourthly The King and Parliament asserting their Authority in this Particular and condemning the Popes Usurpations they might commit the execution of it to whom they would Therefore they putting it into the Queens hands and her Successors she had a good Right to exercise it having a Law for it This then being annexed to the Imperial Crown of the Realm by the Supream Authority of King and Parliament the King hath the power of exercising it fully and only in his hands and is to be obeyed in all his Injunctions that are not sinful by the Laws of the Supream Authority in this Kingdom which comes from God and is confirmed by the Gospel Fifthly Though the power of the Ministers of the Gospel comes only from Christ yet the exercise of that Power and this or that person being put in this or that Living or Preferment and having the right to the Tythes and all the Jurisdiction of the Spiritual and Prerogative Courts being things not appointed in the Gospel the King having the Supremacy over the Ecclesiastical State does not exceed his Limits when he reserves to himself such power that no person shall be vested with the Legal Authority for those things but by his knowledg or upon his Order It is true he cannot make a man a Bishop or a Priest nor can he take away Orders for if Bishops should Ordain or Consecrate without or against his pleasure he may proceed against both the Ordainers and Ordained and can hinder their exercising any Function in his Dominions by Banishing or Imprisoning them but â—…he cannot destroy or annul their Orders So that the power of Ordination comes from Christ and has a Spiritual Effect whatever opposition the King may make but the exercise of that power must be had from him If the King commands an Heretick or a Scandalous person to be Elected or Ordained Churchmen may well demur and offer their reasons why they cannot give Obedience not for the want of Authority in the King but because the matter is Morally evil As they must also do if the King should command them to commit Theft or Murther So that all Consecrations in this Land are made by Bishops by the power that is inherent in them only the King gives orders for the execution of that their power Therefore all that the Queen did in the Case of Matthew Parker and the Kings do since was to command so many Bishops to exercise a power they
Collects Adesto and Propitiare and the prayer of Consecration with the Collects Super Oblata And on the Margin the giving of the Ring and Staff is set down but with a very different and much later hand The Eleventh Ritual begins with some rites that are not in the Roman Pontifical tho by it all is to be done in the Popes name by a Bishop Commissioned by him called Dominus Apostolicus or perhaps the Pope himself that being the common way of designing the Pope in those Ages the Dean or Arch-presbyter and the Clergy of the See ask the Pope or his Delegate their Blessing three times then they are asked some questions about the Elect Bishop among which those are considerable It is asked if he be of that Church to which it is answered Yes Then what Function he is of Answ. Of the Priestly Quest. How many years has he been a Priest Ans. Ten. Quest. Was he ever Married Answer Not. After these Questions are put then the Decree of Electing him which is addressed to the Pope is read by which they desire he may be Ordained their Bishop This must be signed by them all Then it is asked if any Simoniacal promises be made they answer No. Then the Bishop Elect is brought to the Popes Delegate who first puts the same Questions to him that were before put to the Dean and he answers them in the same manner Then the Introitus is sung after which follows the Collect Adesto then the Questions that are in the Pontifical are put to him and whereas in the former Rituals there was only a general promise of Obedience to the Metropolitan put to the Elect Bishop instead of that the two following Questions are put to him Wilt thou reverently Receive Teach and Keep the Traditions of the Orthodox Fathers and the Decretal Constitutions of the Holy and Apostolick See Answer I will Wilt thou bear Faith and Subjection to St. Peter to whom the Lord gave the Power of binding and loosing and to his Vicars and Successors Answer I will But these words not being thought full enough they have since added to Faith and Subjection and Obedience in all things according to the Authority of the Canons then the Elect Bishop is examined about his Faith the Questions being taken out of the three Creeds After which he is blessed and cloathed with the Episcopal Vestments and the Epistle is read 1 Tim. 3. Cap. Then his Sandals and Gloves are put on with Prayers at each of these Rites then the Bishops laying the Gospels on his head and shoulders and their hands on his head the Ordainer says the Collects Adesto Oremus and Propitiare then follows the Prayer that in former Rituals is called the Consecration but has no such Rubrick here it has all that is in the first Ritual only after the words Coelestis Unguenti Flore Sanctifica the Rite of Annointing the head with the words joyned to it in the Sixth Ritual is inserted after which follows the rest of that Prayer Next the hands are annointed and words somewhat different from those in the Sixth Ritual are pronounced Then follows a new Rite of putting the Chrism on his Thumb with a Blessing joyned to it then the Ring is blessed and given and so is also the Staff then the Kiss of Peace is given and he is set down among the Bishops and the Ordainer sits down and washes his hands and puts Incense in the Censer and gives the Blessing then follows the Service of the Communion To this Ritual Morinus had added an ancient piece of a Ritual which he found in a MSS. at Tholose about the Election Examination and Ordination of Bishops in the Roman Church which in all things agrees with the former except in an Addition which is also mentioned by Alcuinus I shall set it down in Latin without a Translation which in modesty I ought not to give By it the Reader will see what the Roman Church gained by pressing the Celibate of the Clergy so much since they were suspected of such horrid Crimes and were to be tryed about them The words are Inquirat illum de quatuor Capitulis secundum Canones id est de Arsenoquita quod est Coitus cum Masculo pro Ancilla Deo sacrata quae à Francis Nonna dicitur pro quadrupedibus muliere alio viro conjuncta aut si conjugem habuit ex alio viro quae à Graecis dicitur Deuterogamia dum nihil eorum ipse vir conscius suerit Evangeliis ad medium deductis jurat ipse Electus Archidiacono posthaec traditur Subdiacono pergit cum praesato Electo ad Aulam Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae ibique supra ejus sacratissimum Corpus confirmet quod non cognovisset superius nominata capitula And thus if they were free of these Crimes which are not to be named no other act of uncleanness was to be inquired after or stood upon only the Pharisaical Spirit of that Age is to be observed in that they reckon a Church-mans having been married to another mans wife which is forbidden by no Law of God or Nature in the same Predicament with those Abominations which God punished with Fire and Brimstone from Heaven The Twelfth and Thirteenth Rituals have not the office of Consecrating Bishops in them The Fourteenth Ritual begins with the Decree of Election directed to the Metropolitan without that previous examination that is in the Eleventh then follows the examination of the Faith and manners of the Bishop Elect then the people pray he may be Ordained after which two Bishops begin the Litany this is in no ancienter Ritual then the Hymn Veni Creator is begun which is also new being in no other Ritual after which they lay the Gospels on his head and lay on their hands and the Metropolitan says the Collect Oremus then follows the Propitiare which is called the Benediction then follows the Prayer Deus honorum after which there is another long Prayer that is in no other Ritual for a blessing in the Function to which he is Ordained then follows the blessing of the Sevenfold Grace then the Consecration of the Bishops hands with the Oyl and the Chrism then the Chrism is put on his head as the Oyl was by other Rituals put on his head in the midst of the Prayer Deus honorum omnium then follows a new Rite of putting the Miter on his head but no words are pronounced with it then the Ring is blessed and given so also is the Staff blessed and given then there is a Prayer about the putting him in his Chair after which he is put in his Chair and a new Prayer is used and all ends with the Blessing that is at the end of the Sixth Ritual The Fifteenth Ritual has no considerable variation from the former only in the beginning the Bishop that presents the Bishop Elect says Reverende Pater postulat sancta Mater Ecclesia ut hunc praesentem