that ye may be able to swear in truth righteousness and judgement 6. Can you professe before a Congregation that you trust you are inwardly moved by the holy Ghost to take upon you the office and ministery of a Deacon after so long a time as you have been virtually a Deacon already 7. Can you solemnly profess that you think you are truly called to the ministery of the Church that is first to be a Deacon and afterwards a Presbyter either according to the will of Christ or the order of this Realm Where hath Christ or this Realm prescribed such a reordination 8. Can you cordially promise that you will gladly and willingly assist the Priest in divine Service in the Congregation where you are placed 9. Can you promise reverent obedience to your Ordinary who is it is like but of the same order and the same degree of that order as instituted by Christ Jesus yea it may be he is but a lay-person exercising spiritual jurisdiction and also that you will submit to his godly judgement 10. Can you receive a distinct authority to be a Deacon and a distinct authority to read the Scripture according to the two distinct acts of investiture 11. Can you receive a distinct authority to read the New Testament without any expresse delivery of power to read the old Testament or any mention of it 12. Can you comfortably receive the Lords Supper with them and according to them View the form in the Liturgy 13. Can you rationally joyn in the last prayer in the ordering of Deacons where they pray that the Deacons may so well use themselves in this inferiour office that they may be found worthy to be called which must needs imply Hereafter unto the higher Ministery in this Church How can you thus pray that you must exercise the office of a Deacon by the faithful discharge whereof you may be judged meet to be made a Presbyter and yet be ordained Deacon and Presbyter both on one day as some I hear are wherein you neither have sufficient time for tryal nor the proper judges present 14. Can you joyn in the first prayer in the ordering of Presbyters Mercifully behold these thy Servants now called to the office of Priesthood which seems to imply Not before And the like in the third prayer after the Letany 15. What is that office of Priesthood according to Scripture and the Laws of our Realm And where are the Ministers of the Gospel called Priests 16. If ever you aim at commencing Lord Bishopâ— how can you obey that exhortation wherein is this good Illation following For this self same cause ye see how ye ought to forsake and set aside as much as ye may all worldly cares and studies and that ye have clearly determined by Gods grace to give your selves wholly to this vocation whereunto it hath pleased God to call you so that as much as lies in you you apply your selves wholly to this one thing and draw all your cares and studies this way and to this end And can you promise the same 17. Can you promise to administer the discipline of Christ when yet in the words of investiture there is not any power given expresly of administring discipline Nay more are you not by certain Canons restrained from exercising the discipline of Christ or a great part of it 18. Can you promise to administer the Doctrine Sacraments and Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and this Realm hath received them except you can approve the whole Hierarchy and whether then 19. Can you promise to teach the people committed to your charge to keep and observe the same that is the Doctrine and Sacraments and Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and this Realm hath received the same according to the Commands of God 20. Doth not that expression recoive the holy Ghost seem to imply some extraordinary gift which the Ordainers can neither believingly beg nor the ordained believe that they shall receive How can that expression imply the office as some great ones would have it sith the authority is delivered expresly in the next words A. Usher in Doctor Bern. book 339. Mr. Hook Eccics pol. 412. Take thou authority to preach c. And especially how can that expression intend the office when yet it is used in the consecration of Bishops wherein no new office is bestowed or received according to the judgement of multitudes of our late Bishops themselves Look before you leap 19. Whether doth the person in the Question intend to undertake the cure of a particular Church or not If not to what purpose should he be reordained Or much trouble himself about this Question If he do then I ask whether he can perform the conditions necessary to the procurement of Institution and Induction If he cannot get Institution and Induction to what purpose is reordination If he can then whether is it by the benefit of his Majesties gracious Indulgence or by a full conformity If by the former let him consider whether he be like to keep his Benifice on the same termes that he gained it if he cannot to what purpose should he trouble himself much to gain that which if he had he could not keep But if this must be by full conformity the I only add 1. Have you well considereâ— what that Government is that is held fort in the 39. Art book of Consecration Lâ—turgy and Canons 2. Have you wâ— considered what the Oath of Canonicâ— obedience is and to whom 3. Have yoâ— throughly considered the Liturgy 4. Anâ— the book of Homilies 5. The Canons And 6. the book of Consecration Anâ— have you attained satisfaction by perusinâ— what is said thereupon Insomuch that yoâ— can with a clear conscience subscribe reaâ— and use them Have you considered thâ— natural fruits of growing principles and caâ— you rellish them c. Be not rash in youâ— vows for rash vows are too often as rashly broken as made and though the matter may admit no violation yet the rashnesâ— will exact some lamentation 20. Is not this reordination whether hypothetical or absolute a meer novelty seldome or never known in the Church oâ— God this sixteen hundred years We reaâ— indeed of great contentions in the Church anciently about ordinations but were they not generally determined either valid oâ— invalid If valid where shall we find a reordination If invalid how could there be a reordination I suppose I need to say but little more to prove this negative till some one else shall prove the affirmative Yet I shall add something towards not the proof of the negative directly but of an affirmative that will infer the negative viz. reordination decryed both by Ancients and Moderns The 67. Canon of the Apostles as they are called runs thus Si quis Episcopus out Presbyter In sermone de ablutione pedum Bellar. de sacram ordin l. 6. c. 10. Contra. Epist Parm. l. 2. c. 13. Can. 38. aut
Cent. 4. p. 244. Oportebat autem ut hic obiter moneamus Episcopum manuum imponentem non suspecta esse religionis sed orthodoxum sie enim Moses Saracenus raptus ad vicinum Episcopum Lucium Alexandrinum ut ordinaretur adductus manum ejus quod Arianus esses religionis hostis persecutor ferre noluit sed deduci se jussit ad exulantes in montanis orthodoxos à quibus manuum impositionem accepit Simile exemplum Theod. etiam de Antiochio recitat is enim Eusebio magnâ— illi Samosatensium Episcopo successor delectus cum inter manuum impositionem conversus vidisset Jovianum Pergensem qui brevi teâ—â—pore cum Arrianistis conjunctus fuerat manum capiti suo imponere repulit illam petiitquâ—ne interesset numero consecrantium se quod sufferre manum administram blasphemiae sacrâ—rum se posse negaret And that Reverend Doctor Field writes that which may make some mens ears tingle to read Cyprian saith he Cecilius Posic and other Bishops writing to the Clergy and people of the Churches of Spain whereof Basilides and Martialis were Bishops who fell in time of persecution denied the faith and defiled themselves with idolatry perswade them to separate themselves from those Bishops assuring them that the people being holy religious fearing God and obeying his Laws may and ought to separate themselves from impious wicked Bishops and not to communicate with them in matters of Gods service Quando ipsa plebs maxime habeat potestatem vel eligendi dignos sacerdotes vel indignos recusandi The same Doctor cites Ocham thus Si Papa maxims celebres Episcopi incidanâ— in haeresin ad Catholicos devoluta est omnis potestas judicandi So then when God shall punish a people with such Bishops how Candidates can desire ordination from them judge you Though their acts when done may be valid if the substance of the Ordinance were not neglected yet that will not justifie their sinful bestowances nor other sinful receptions 18. Could you admit reordination in actu signato yet how can you admit it in actu exercito Here it is supposed that reordination in actu exercito is cloathed with many accidents which quoad nos are inseparable the particulars whereof may be seen in the book of Consecration of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons a scantling wherefrom I shall propound for consideration and leave the judicious and conscientious to make the conclusion 1. How can you perswade your selves that this second ordination is no proper ordination no new investiture with office-power When yet 1. They begin with an exhortation declaring the duty and office of such as come to be admitted Ministers 2. It is said the Archdeacon or his Deputy shall present such as shall come to the Bishop to be admitted Deacons 3. If the Archdeacon tell truth then he presents these persons present to be admitted Deacons 4. If the Bishop tell truth then the persons presented are to be ordered Deacons and to be admitted to the same 5. The Directory in that book saith And if any great crime be objected the Bishop shall surrease from ordering that person 6. It is said the Bishop commending such as are found meet to be ordered c. 7. It is afterward prayed Mercifully behold these thy servants now called to the like office and administration 8. It is further said that the Oath of the Kings Supremacy is to be administred to every of them that are to be ordered 9. It is again in the direction said every one of them that are to be ordered 10. The Bishop calls the work you come about a taking upon you this office and administration 11. Accordingly he tels you what appertaineth to the office of a Deacon 12. Afterwards the Bishop expresly saith Take thou authority to execute the office of a Deacon 13. It is Also all that are ordered shall tarry and receive the holy Communion the same day with the Bishop 14. Then the Bishop blesseth God for the taking of those servants into the office of Deacons in the Church of God 15. The Archdeacon shall present unto the Bishop all that shall receive the order of Priesthood that day 16. The Archdeacon saith Reverend Father in God I present unto you these persons present to be admitted to the order of Priesthood 17. The Bishop saith Good people these be they whom we purpose God willing to receive this day to the holy office of Priesthood 18. If there be any of you which knoweth any impediment or notable crime of any of them for the which he ought not to be received into this holy Ministery 19. The Bishop prayes Mercifully behold these persons now called to the office of Priesthood 20. The Bishop calls it three times The office to which ye are called or to the same purpose in his exhortation 21. In the Bishops first Question in the name of the Congregation there are these expressions called To the ministry of Priesthood 22. The Bishop blesseth God for calling those persons to the office and ministry 23. Receive the holy Ghost and take thou authority c. 24. In the Rubrick following it is said If the orders of Deacons and Priests be given both upon one day 25. Afterwards the ordering of Priests 26. The ordering of Priests again 27. The Deacons shall be ordered Besides the title of the book the form of making and consecrating c. so that above thirty times in this book is the exercise called the ordering of Priests and Deacons though not in the same words yet in others that are tantamount many whereof seem by no means applicable to a meer legal establishment or any thing lesse then a proper investiture with ministerial power and several of them being in prayers and promises wherein an equivocation and wresting of words is dangerous therefore though we should grant which yet we deny that ordination may be used to some other end then to invest with power from Christ yet we can by no means grant that it should be administred by this form which so plainly expresseth what is not intended and is wholly silent in that which is only intended But to proceed to other considerations 2. Can you chearfully sing the Letany with the Congregation when you are reordained according as it is appointed 3. Can you joyn in praying the Letany which hath in it so many stated repetitions as also stated alterations the people being one while the publick mouth another while the Minister and their parts in prayer being so disjoyned that neither the Ministers words nor the peoples words carry any full sence in themselves but depend upon supplyes from each other Yea is there not such an alteration of the speakers in the saying that most compendious concatenated form of our blessed Lords own prescribing 4. Can you pray in the Letanies general expressions for all that travel by land and by sea 5. Do you well understand the Oath of the Kings Soveraignty appointed to be administred to you
est Constant Conc. Can. 6. secundum Merlin ut neque Maximus fuisse aut esse etiam putetur Episcopus Statutum est neque hi qui ab eo ordinati sunt qualemcunque gradum Clericatus obtineant omnibus scilicet quae circa cum vel ab eo gesta sunt in irritum revocatis Now where is the word Presbyter to be found or any syllable that should intimate any Presbyterian ordination to be the reason of that censure 11. It seems that this was not the cause in that all things done by Maximus were made void as well as his ordinations Now let any candid Reader judge whether the person in the Question have common justice when such persons and actions as these shall be drawn into example against him 3. Doth it not well become these to pass over irregularities in others ordinations whose own are guilty of so many how is it possible for any one to condemn Presbyterian ordinations for irregularities and non-canonicalness and not condemn the Prelatical also for is it not an irregularity to be consecrated a Bâ—shop without the election or consent of the People and Presbyterie to ordain a man a Deacon and a Presbyter both in one day and without a publike congregation in a private chamber and without the notice or consent of the Bishop of the Dâ—ocess I might add are Drunkards canonical are swearers are cursers are gamesters are whoremongers are Non preaching Prelates and Priests and are illiterate Mechanick Readers c 4. As to the Statute-Law of our Realm is not that of capacity large enough to admit to preferment those that have imposition of hands only from the Presbyterie it seems so to be 1. From the Act of the late Parliament confirmed in this present Parliament â—egun May. 8.61 which confirmeth the â—udicial proceedings in the late interruptions â—xe cised by vertue of the authority from the late pretended powers such as were many of the ordinations by the Classes 2. From the book of consecration and the law establishing it neither of which have any clauses as is asserted by a great Lawyer that null ordinations by other forms 3. Because the Statute of 13. Eliz. c. 12. doth seem plainly to take in other ordinations then are according to our form it runs thus Be it enacted by this present Parliament that every person under the degree of a Bishop which doth or shall pretend to be a Priest or Minister of Gods holy Word and Sacraments by reason of any other form of institution consecration or ordering then the form set forth by Parliament or now used in the raign of our most gracious Soveraign Lady shall in the presence of the Bishop or Guardian of the spiritualities of some one Diocess where he hath or shall have Ecclesiastical living declare his assent and subscribe to all the Articles of religion which only concern the confessions of the Christian faith and the Doctrine of the Sacraments 4. It seems further undeniably clear that the Law would allow such Ministers in that formerly presentations institutions and inductions were granted to persons Presbyterially ordained and they so invested were deemed legal Incumbents first fruits and tenths received from them and tythes paid to them yea they had the very same benefit of the law to sue for their tythes and profits and to secure their propriety as others had And certainly the law is not at all altered in this case We judge of the sense of the law by the uniform execution 5. I beseech the Reverend Prelatists to consider whether the principles and practices of the late Bishops do not oblige us to own Presbyterian ordination shall we not give occasion to some to account us apostatical if we should utterly disown such ordinations as the Church of England hath hitherto owned and moreover if our Reverend Predecessors would joyn in communion at the Sacraments either formally by their presence or virtually by their approbation with those that were Presbyterially ordained and we shall refuse do we not refuse to communicate with the Church of England or the generality of the chief Pastors and infinite numbers of the members thereof 6. What a lamentable blow would the nullifying of Presbyterian ordination give unto the Church of God especially the Reformed Churches it is well known that in the Reformed Churches their ordination is but Presbyterial no not any better in Denwark or those other countries where they have Superintendents for those Superintendents have all their authority under Christ from the Magistrate and Presbyterie without any Diocesans at all And moreover some of those Churches when they had Bishops cast them out and others when they were offered refused them yet it is to be observed in how great concord we have lived with them since the Reformation and those that do now disown them I would have them speak out that the world may know them Further if the want of Prelatical ordination will unchurch us then greater faults will unchurch a people much more and then what will become both of the Eastern and Western Churches 7. Will not the nullifying of Presbyterian ordination give support to the hypochondraick fears of melancholy persons lest some in the Clergy should too much indulge the unreformed Interest it is well known that Bellarmines great argument against the reformed Churches is hence because they have no legal Bishops and therefore no Ministers and therefore no Sacraments no Churches now if any amongst us should deny the Pope to be Antichrist and the Papists idolaters and acknowledge their Priests to be true Ministers and their administrations firm but deny all the Protestant Ministers not Prelatical to be true Ministers and their administrations valid who would think c. 8. What can be gained by creating this necessity of reordination whether Parsons or people or Parsonages not Parsons for its very observable that multitudes will never submit to reordination and of those that do submit many do it as to an unlawful thing on the Imposers part though lawful on their own part and therefore they are not gained at all and few other that I can hear of Not many of the people for its most certain that a huge number of the sober people of this nation are much saded at the loss of those faithful Ministers that submit not to reordination and no small number saded at those that submit fearing that they will prove time-servers and turn to any thing yea the more studious sort of the Gentry that read Bishop Vsher Bishop fewel c. observe the variations from the old way and are not well pleased yea many of the worst of all the people can see a difference betwixt drunkards and sober men painful Preachers and idle drones But then Parsonages and other Livings be gained there is no doubt but then where shall we find men to deserve them To engross into Pluralists hands and settle idle drunken insufficient persons that will be content with little more then they deserve to the