A VINDICATION OF THE True Episcopal RELIGION As it was Planted and Set forth by our Saviour Christ Who Ordained the First Twelve Bishops and afterwards maintained it by his Apostles against all his Enemies especially the Papists and Non-Conformists Who have strove to disparage it and to overthrow it By W.C. Student in Divinity LONDON Printed for W. Chandler 1681. A VINDICATION of the True Episcopal Religion c. THis Church of England as it is now was planted by Joseph of Arimathea who buried the Body of Jesus The Church of Jerusalem being in great Persecution Joseph was put into a Cell or Dungeon and watched by the High-Priest but by Providence was delivered out and came to a place where were Ten Christians that the Jews had put into a Boat without Oars to shift for themselves into this Boat Joseph and his Son Joseph entred which brought them to Marsellis in France from whence they came into Britany as Cardinal Baronius affirms out of the most ancient Records in the Vatican Library of Joseph's Preaching here his words were Lazarus Mary Mary Magdalen Martha and Marcela whom the Jews hated more than others were banished Jerusalem with Maximinus a Disciple Cardinal Baronius sets down the Year when Joseph came into England out of the ancient Records in the Pope's Library viz. in the Nineteenth year of the Reign of Tiberius the Emperour and in the Thirty fifth year of Christ I might quote many more Authors which all agree of his coming into Britany and planting the Christian Religion but sure it was he planted the Time Episcopal Religion here as he had it from the Apostles which hath continued here in England ever since though with much Persecution The First Persecution was by the coming of the Saxons I might speak at large of the Heathen Persecutions but I shall wave them and come to the Christian Perfecutions And first by Austin the Monk whom Gregory Bishop of Rome sent over to England to pesuade them to condescend to the Orders of the Church of Rome and to unite with them which the British Bishops refused and told them that our Church was planted before theirs Yet Austin uses all the means he could for the bringing of them to their Society having procured by means of Ethelbert a Meeting of divers British Bishops and other Principal Men of the Clergy at a certain place in Worcestershire called after upon this occasion Austin's Oak where by Persuasions Threats and. all manner of means he endeavoured to draw the Britans to an entire Conformity with the Church of Rome which then was fallen from the Purlty of former Times whereas the Britains had still continued as Geoffery of Monmouth saith in the same Tenor of pure Doctrine which they had received in the first Infancy of the Church Their Answer was short and peremptory That they might not submit themselves to him having an Archbishop of their own Austin not discouraged procured another Meeting to which many more of the Britains repaired than before it is said there were seven Bishops Before this Assembly certain Britains thought it good to ask Counsel of a certain Old Man to know of him whether he thought it best for them to submit to Austin or not he advised them if he were a Man of God to take the Course he shewed them and to follow the same and when they asked him how they should discern whether he were such an one or no he pronounced this Saying of our Saviour Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart if then this Austin be a meek and humble Man it is an evident sign he beareth the yoke of Christ but if he be stout and proud he is not of God you may be sure This therefore is my advice Have a care that he and his Company be first in the place where you meet if then you being the greater number he rise not to do you Reverence but despiseth you despise you him also and his Counsel Austin first entred the Place with great pomp and when the British Bishops came in never moved to rise or salute them This they taking very ill gainsaid him in every thing exhorting one another not to yield a jot unto him by any means For say they he that will not dain so much as to rise out of his Chair to salute us how much more when we have submitted our selves to his Jurisdiction will he despise us and set us at nought With this Repulse Austin was so much moved that he could not forbear to send out Threats against the poor Britains telling them That they which refused Peace with their Friends should shortly find War and Enemies How well he seconded his Words by Deeds appeareth by the Words of Thomas Gray who wrote the Chronicle about 300 years since Austin being refused by the Bishops and other Learned of the Britains complained to King Ethelbert who forthwith levied his Power marched against them and slew them in a most cruel manner having no more regard of them than Wolves have of Sheep Their fury was so great against them that Ethellert sent Elfred King of Northumberland to help him and that Austin met them at Chester upon this occasion The Britains received a great Overthrow for besides an infinite number of Soldiers were slain a great Company of Monks no less than 1100 who never sought at all but by Prayer Of all other of the Clergy the greatest spleen was against them as the greatest Wrong-doers because they would not receive quietly the yoke of a Forreign usurping Jurisdiction intruded upon them The next Persecution was by Queen Mary about the year 1554 who hurned the Twelve Bishops and Doctors which compiled the Book of Common Prayer with many more of the Clergy and of the Commonalty till a Gentleman told the Queen If she used this way of Burning she would weaken the Church of Rome for all that beheld them admired them that Death being so sanctified to them that they seemed not to feel the Flames This Persecution was terrible for the time it lasted but it pleased God to take her away in a very short time and bring in Queen Elizabeth of happy Memory who established the Lpiscopal Religion again with the Book of Common Prayer which Queen Mary had burned whom God blessed with a Reign of 44 years The next Persecution designed by the Papists was in King James's Reign in 1603. when they had plotted by Gunpowder which was laid for that purpose under the Parliament-house to blow up the King and the Chief of the Nobility of this Land This devilish Plot had it taken effect had been the worst of all the Perfections for it would have taken away their Lives in a moment so that they should have no Meditation for their Souls good This Plot aimed to destroy the Soul as well as the Body but Melted be God it was discovered The next Plot that was by the Antichristian Papists was in
Ireland This was an inhumane Persecution such as the very Heathen would abhor They rebelled agains their King ripped up their Women with Child and slew their Husdands at their own door The next Persecution was against the King and the Church of England by the Nonconformists especially the Presbyterians for they first broke the Unity of the Church of England and caused a Rebellion in Scotland by raising an Army against King Charles the First one of the best Kings that ever Reigned in the World about the year 1640. and after pursued the Rebellion and raised an Army in England and fought against the King himself and killed many of his Loyal Subjects and pursued their King until they had brought him to the Block This Persecution was against the Church as well as the King they murdered the Archishop of Canterbury and Dr. Huet and deposed the Bishops of all their Spiritual Employments and then they fell to Sacriledge to robbing of the Church abolished the Common Service Book and sold the Bishops Lands and most of the Church-lands and put down the Discipline of the Church as much as they could imitating the Papists in many things committing Rebellion Murder Treason Sacrilege and Perjury pretending as the Papists do now all was for the Glory of God and for the Reformation of the Church Episcopal Religion was ordained by Christ and his Apostles who ordained the first twelve Bishops and after the Apostles gave order for the placing of Bishops in many Churches for the well ordering of the Church Joseph of Arimathea Disciple of Christ one that buried him planted our Church of England according to the purest way which hath continued for above 1600 years a true Church for the most part as many Historians write notwithstanding much Persecution by the Heathen and the Antichristians and yet they have enjoyed and kept up this Church in some corners of this Land till a Change of Government hath hapned and the Governours have been converted by it and have defended it from evil Men. Now I beseech you all the good People of England from the King to the beggar to take especial notice of the Persecution of this innocent Church of England which is the truest mark of a true Church You see how Satan by the Heathen and by the Papists and by the Nonconformist hath persecuted it to the utmost of his power yet God of his Mercy and Providence hath defended it against all the fury of the Enemies Therefore all good People of England comfort your selves and. serve God in this Church with rejoycing and praising God for preserving and defending this Church against all his Enemies Wherefore you may be assured as Gamaliel told the Jews this work is of God and it cannot be overthrown for saith he if it be of themselves it will conic to nought but if it be of God you cannot overthrthrow it lest you be found Fighters against God Charles the First sealed it with his Royal Blood the twelve Bishops and Doctors sealed this Church by Fire and Blood in Queen Maries Reign The Blood of the Martyrs is the seed and seal of a true Church I shall now speak something of the Church of Rome which was planted by St. Paul as most Historians write because he commends it in I Rom. in these words I thank God thy Faith is spoken of throughout the whole World and so it continued a true Church for near 600 years having above Gixty Bishops whereof Linus was the first whom St. Paul speaks of in his Epistles All those Bishops were godly Men being subject to the Civil Magistrate Pelagius the Second in his days perceiving that Maurice the Emperour went about to make and establish an Universal Bishop very much opposed it and decreed That no Bishop no not the Bishop of Rome himself ought to be called the Vniversal Bishop and Bishop Gregory his Successor writeth That none of his Predecessors ever consented to use so prosane a Title And also the said Gregory writeth to the Bishop of Constantinople who was willing to take that Title upon him What wilt thou answer to Christ the Head of the Vniversal Church that thus goest about by the Name of Vniversal Bishop to make all his Members subject to thee Whom dost thou imitate in so perverse a Name but Lucifer that would have been singular alone above all his fellow Angels Sabinianus succeeded Gregory and after him Boniface the Third who obtained of Phocas the Emperor as afterwards is set down That the Bishop of Rome should be called the Head of the Church Since which time the Pope hath been called the Prince of Priests and Supreme Head of the Vniversal Church Titles due only to Christ himself the Great Bishop of our Souls Cedrenus setteth forth Phocas to be a Wine-bibber given to Women a bloody Man fierce without Mercy cruel of Manners an Heretick and Theophylact Simocatta describeth him after this manner A Caledonian Tyrant covered with Iron in a manner barbarous of the Generation of the Cyclops a Centaur in Purple most petulant whose chief strife was for the Kingdom of Drunkenness A fit Man to be Antichrist's Midwife to bring him into the World The Authority of the former Bishops extended no farther than unto Matters of Religion they were subject to the Emperours some of them created by him as Paget affirms in his History of the sundry sorts of Churches and denied the Popes Supremacy with their Superstitious Worship introduced by Boniface the Third by calling Councils of a few Italian Bishops and turning out many good Bishops which would not consent to their creating of Sin And some they murdered as Paget affirms because they withstood their wicked Decrees especially in the Council of Trent who enacted a Canon That the Traditions of the Church of Rome must be honoured and embraced with the like honour and reverence as the Holy Scriptures are honoured In this Council their first Sin they created and decreed was for Image-Worship contrary to the Second Commandment 2. Invocation of Saints contrary to the Practice of the Church the Examples of Holy Men and to the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures 3. The Propitiatory Sacrifice in the Mass which derogateth from Christs Sacrifice once offered for us 4. Communion in One Kind directly against Christs Precept in the Institution St. Paul saith Col. 1.18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which they have not seen vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind In this Council they also decreed That all Bishops and Ministers must teach the People to worship Saints Images and Angels contrary to the Doctrine of the Apostles and of St. John the Divine in Rev. 19. who saith I fell at the Angels feet to worship him and he said unto me See thou do it not I am thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus Worship God Here good People take notice their Decrees are
quite against the Word of God They command Angel worship and the Angel tells John See thou do it not I am thy fellow-servant worship God St. Paul tells the Thessalonians 2 Thess 2.3 Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling awry first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God and so on and then at ver 12. he concludes with these words For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness The Mystery of Iniquity began to work in the time of Gregory the Great the second Bishop of Rome before Boniface the first Antichristian Bishop The said Gregory writing to the Bishop of Constantinople sharply reprehends him in the words before quoted and he saith also Whosoever shall call himself Universal Bishop or desire so to be called in the pride of his heart is the fore-runner of Antichrist I may by no means omit again to remember you what St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians in the place before cited from ver 1. to 12. of that Chapter upon which St. Austin in his Book de Civitate Dei hath these words This Scripture saith he doubtless is meant of Antichrist And again Truly saith he I am utterly ignorant what others Conjectures are hereof but I will not be silent Some say St. Paul spake of the state of Rome and would not be plainer lest he should incur a slander that he wished Romes Empine an evil Fortune The same Father hath given his opinion That these Words He that withholdeth shall let till he be taken out of the way and then the wicked man shall be revealed are meant of Antichrist No man doubteth saith he that this may not unfitly be understood of Rome As if he had said He that now reigneth shall reign until he be taken away This may be meant of those good Emperors that should be taken away by death and then that wicked Man was revealed Phocas the Emperour of Rome who was the Father of Antichrist and created Boniface the Third Bishop of Rome an Universal Bishop of the Christian World He opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God I shall give you a Definition of the God here spoken of Temporal and Spiritual and first of the Temporal God Moses in one of his Books speaking of the Temporal Gods says I have said you are Gods but you shall die like Men ye Princes shall fall like others Here God is pleased to call Emperors Kings and Princes Gods because they execute Gods Will upon Earth Here the Man of Sin exalteth himself above the Temporal Gods in placing and displacing them at his pleasure he maketh them believe that he can put them into the state of Damnation or absolve them at his pleasure whereas for the first 600 years more than sixty Bishops were subject to their Emperours and Kings and many of them Ordained and Instituted by their Order till Boniface the Third and Phocas that wicked Emperour Again He exalteth himself above the great God of Heaven and Earth Christ refused to be called Good and told them There was none good but God but the Man of Sin the Pope thinks it not a sufficient Honour to be called Good or Holy but Most Holy a Title due to none but the Great God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Here in this very Particular he exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped Again He is so uncharitable as shews he is nothing of a true Christian for he will Excommunicate the Reformed Churches from the highest to the lowest tho he never knew any of them nor their Doctrine or Manners and does his endeavour to send them to Hell tho we know his Power is nothing against our Church Whereas the Great God saith As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner but that all should come to repent and be saved And the said Pope the Man of Sin hath Excommunicated all God's Vicegerents of this Land from Queen Elizabeth to our gracious King that now is Here the Luciserian Bishop shews how he exalts himself above all that is called God in Excommunicating Gods Vicegerents when no doubt but many of them may belong to the Election written in the Lambs Book of Life before the Foundation of the World Here the Man of Sin toucheth the Wisdom of the Godhead in putting into the state of Damnation those whom God hath elected for saith the Apostle Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth In this he exalteth himself above all that is called God so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God shewing himself that he is God But you will say That the Temple of God was at Jerusalem St. Austustine in his Book de Civitate Dei gives you his Judgment in that In Templum Deum saith he In some Temple of God And he adds It could not be meant of the Temple at Jerusalem because Titus Vespasian had destroyed and sacked it so that there was not left one stone upon another which was not thrown down nor of an Heathenish Idols Temple for that was no Temple of God but he must sit in some Christian Temple which may not unfitly be applied to Rome So he Now St. Augustine and many of the Learned do conclude That St. Paul meant this of that great Cathedral St. Peters Church in Rome which may not unfitly be called the Temple of God because for the first 600 years after Christ Religion did slow plentifully from thence into many Parts of the World as St. Paul speaks in Rom. 1. that their faith was spoken of thorow the whole world And there was Constantine the first Christian Emperour converted to the Faith in whose Reign Arius broached his Heresie in Africa whereof when Constantine heard he said There was no true serving of God without Vnity and Love and thereupon he made a Decree and Sealed it with his own Seal in these VVords I straightly charge and command more than 300 Bishops that you go into Africa and summon Arius and examine his Doctrine whether it be according to the Word of God or no and if not to brand him for an Heretick that it proceed no further as Eusebins saith in his Ecclesiastical History VVhere was St. Peter's Successor the Pope of Rome when Constantine executed his Ecclesiastical Power which Authority has been claimed and exercised by the Bishop of Rome but since Phocas the Emperour and Boniface the Third who was made by that wicked