found no other favour but Vt Laicus communicet to communicate in the same place that the Laity did and was not permitted Locum Sacerdotis usurpare to approach unto the Altar or take the place of a Priest any more So Cornelius deposed Novatus that was made Bishop in a Taverne and after he had performed publike penance he was received only In communionem Laicorum to communicate with the Laity Now that these distinctions of places were strictly observed in the Catholike Church within 200. yeares after Christ appeareth manifestly out of Tertullian who to the shame and confusion of Hereticks very excellently discovereth the want thereof among them Non omittam ipsius haereticae conversationis descriptionem I will tell you saith he what the fashion of Hereticks is in their meeting how light vaine and base it is issuing out of the earth and the braines of idle men Sine gravitate sine authoritate sine disciplina very sutable to their faith For first of all quis Catechumenus quis Fidelis incertum you shall see no distinction made amongst them of Catechumeni Fideles Pariter adeunt pariter audiunt pariter orant they run in a rout together and so heare and pray all in one place and if Heathen men come in while they are at their Sacrament before these Swine doe they cast their Pearles licèt non veras though they be false Prostrationem disciplinae and when they prostrate discipline in this manner they would be commended for their purity and simplicity Cujus penes nos curam lenocinium vocat the care whereof amongst us they stile the trappings of the Whore of Babylon For the reformation of these grosse and odious abuses and to restore the Church to her ancient and reverend discipline the Councell of Ancyra was assembled Here you shall finde cleerely how Audientes Catechumeni Fideles Clerici Sacerdotes were distinguished by all which their mistake sheweth it selfe that say there were no Churches till 200. yeares after Christ. CAP. IX Where the Communion was celebrated The installation of Bishops The Bishops Throne S. Iames's Chaire in Ierusalem S. Peter's Chaire in Rome What kept S. Austine in the bosome of the Church Hereticks had no Church Succession of Bishops from the Apostles necessary to prove a true Church How S. Irenaeus S. Augustine Tertullian confounded Hereticks The detection of the creeping in of Aereticks A true succession of Bishops in the Ch. of England When Schismaticks crept into it LET us now come to speak more particularly of that place of the Church where the Priests served This was called Presbyterium because it was a place appointed for Priests to administer the Sacrament in Here Anicetus gave the Eucharist to Polycarpus Anno 167. Hither Theotechnus brought Marinus to receive the Sacrament thereby to be encouraged to endure Martyrdome Here were made the inthronizations of Bishops Egesippus sayes that he was present at Rome when Anicetus was installed Anno 167. And many personages of great quality were present at the solemnity of Fabianus his installation All these received their president from the Apostles For S. Iohn went from Ephesus into a Church Constituere Episcopos to ordaine Bishops For this purpose a Chaire or Throne was placed in the Presbytery or Chancell Vrbanus Bishop of Rome Anno 230. speaking thereof sayes that before his time Sedes in EpiscoporuÌ„ Ecclesiis excelsae constitutae inveniuntâ—r ut thronus speculationem potestatem judicandi solvendi ligandi à Domino sibi datam doceat their High-place put them in minde of their high authority given of the Lord to binde and loose And Vrbanus may well say they were found there for there they had continued in the principall Sees even from the Apostles Sublimiorem quandaÌ„ sedem fuisse indicat historia de Cathedra Iacobi that there were such lofty seats S. Iames his Chaire is an evidence say the Centurists out of Eusebius that bare them no great good will The Bishops seat of S. Iames continued in the Church till Eusebius his time Anno 326. which the Brethren there ordinarily have shewed unto all men Such a Seat it was wherein Saint Irenaeus saw Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna sit Anno 180. Such a Chaire S. Austin telleth Petillianus remained both at Ierusalem and Rome from the Apostles dayes till his time Though saith he you slanderously call the Chaire in other Churches Cathedram pestilentiae what cause hath the Church of Rome given you to say so of it In qua Petrus sedit in qua â—odie Anastasius sedet or the Chaire of the Church of Ierusalem In qua Iacobus sedit in qua hodie Iohannes sedet quibus nos in Catholica unitate connectimur to which two Churches we are joyned in Catholick Vnity The succession of Bishops in such a Chaire was one thing amongst others that kept St. Augustine from departing out of the bosome of the Catholicke Church For thus he saith in his answer to the Epistle of Manichaeus Multa in Ecclesiae gremio me justissimè tenent-tenet ab ipsa sede Petri Apostoli usque ad praesemem episcopatum successio sacerdotum The succession of Priests from Saint Peters seat keepes me of right in the Church Tenet Catholicae nomen the name of this Catholick See keeps mee in For whereas all Hereticks would bee called Catholicks yet when they demanded by a stranger be ubi ad Catholicam conveniatur where is the Catholick Church at which they meet Nullus haereticorum vel basilicam sâ—am vel dâ—mum audeat oâ—â—endere there is none of them all that dare undertake to doe that The very note whereby Hereticks were knowne from Catholicks was that Catholicks could shew their Churches and the very Chaires in them wherein there was not onely a Morall succession in purity of faith and manners but a Locall succession of Bishops continued even from the Apostles times which Hereticks could not shew and therefore were hereby convinced to be such and so put to shame and confounded Thus Irenaeus confoundeth Valentinus Cerdon and Marcion We are able saith he to reckon up all those that were appointed Bishops by the Apostles in their severall Churches unto our time But because that was too long a businesse for the worke then in hand therefore he reckons up those that had succeeded the Apostles Peter and Paul in the Church of Rome And to them succeeded Linus then Anacletus 3º loco Clemens Clementi Euaristus Euaristo Alexander then Sixtus deinceps Hyginus post Pius post quem Anicetus Then Soter and now 12º loco Episcopatum ab Apostolis habet Eleutherius By this ordination and succession saith hee the tradition which is from the Apostles received in the Church and the publishing of the faith hath come even to us which we being able to shew confundimus omnes eos qui quoquo modo vel per suam placentiam vel vanam gloriam vel
Petrus tanquam os Apostolorum caput pro omnibus respondet Truth distinguisheth Christs Disciples from other men then Love declareth and maketh known whose they are Truth then is first of all to be searched after Pilate once made this seasonable Quaere Quid est veritas But unhappy man he turned his back before Truth it selfe returned him an answer No marvell then if much bussle and stirre have continued ever since about it His haste to please men exivit as Iudaeos lost him and so will us that resolution Pilate to get favour of the Iewes made haste out and left Truth behind him The like reflexion upon the men of Gr. and their friends moved our Pen-man to affect a by-path and to run counter flat-crosse to the present directions of the Governours of our Church Marry you may not parallell him with Pilate it was not for favour but deare charities sake which he commends to the Vicar and preferres before all obedience to Ceremonies appointed by the Church And doubtlesse if the Vicar could have seene Truth the foundation of his Charity he would have received it as he doth the commands of his mother the Church with all reverence and subjection but a formall recommendation of disguised charity he conceiveth ought neither to be given nor received as a legall supersedeas to the rules of Truth and directions of his Ordinary Wherefore for the calling and setting of the Lords Table he thinks fit to follow the directions of his Ordinary and to traverse the whole matter contained in this strangers bill and to give answer to the chiefest points thereof CAP. II. Of the antiquity of Christians Altars in Scripture In the Decretals THe first point I will begin withall is this The name of Table is not two hundred yeares more ancient than the name of Altar in the Christian Church The Authour maintaines it is but not according to his owne directions to the Vicar rationibus cogentibus and so makes a bad cause starke naught Now that neither the Authour nor my selfe be mistaken in the name of Christian Church let us both hearken to St. Ambrose Accipe quae dico anteriora esse mysteria Christianorum quam Iudaeorum And againe Intellige primò priùs coepisse populum Christianum quà m populam Iudaeorum Christ was Christ before he was born of the blessed Virgin Himselfe saith Before Abraham was I am And as Christ was so were Christians and Christian Sacraments and Christian Ceremonies before Christ was borne or the Iewes either Iudaei quando esse coeperunt sayes St. Ambrose I pray you when began the Iewes why ex Iuda pronepote Abraha from Iudah Abrahams nephewes sonne 1. Take we then a view of the Christian Church in the Old Testament and there we find the name and use of Altars is above eight hundred yeares more ancient than the name of Tables in Gods Service The children of God by the light of nature infused into them without any direction or speciall command or rather by inspiration of Christs blessed Spirit who delighted to walk with the sonnes of men erected Altars Noah that durst not step out of the Ark without speciall warrant and direction from God by instinct of nature guided by Christs Spirit built an Altar Abraham also with whom Christ walked as a friend built two Altars in one Chapter Whereupon St. Ambrose sayes ubi Bethel est hoc est Domus Dei ibi Ara ubi Ara ibi invocatio But the name of Table came in with the Ceremoniall Law about Anno 2465. Whether the Church of God before Moses was called Christian I will not dispute but sure I am that it had the same Christ that we have for their Saviour and we are assured out of St. Ambrose that it was Populus Christianus it was a Christian Church if it were a Church at all which no Christian can doubt of Therefore in the Christian Church the name of Table is not two hundred yeares more ancient than the name of Altar But the name of Altars and their religious use is in the Christian Church guided by Christs Spirit above 1200. yeares more ancient than the name of Tables in the Church of the Iewes and above 2300. more ancient than the name of Tables in the Christian Church erected by the Apostles among the Gentiles 2. The Church in the New Testament I am sure is a Christian Church in the notion of this Authour and at Antioch it was so first called And I am as sure that the name of Table is not two hundred yeares more ancient than the name of Altar therein but if I be not deceived of the same or a later date that our Saviour maketh mention of a Christian Altar and of a Christian oblation in his own Christian Church where he saith If thou bringest thine offering to the Altar c. Leave there thine offering at the Altar c. I suppose no Christian will deny and this was neare three yeares before he makes mention of a Table at which the hand of him that betrayed him was with him S. Paul maketh mention of an Altar at which Priests in the New Testament do serve and of a Table which is the very same Hitherto the name of Table is not two hundred yeares more ancient than the name of Altar 3. For the Primitive Church Damasus sayes that Euaristus died a blessed Martyr this man lived within eighty yeares after Christ Anno 112. who if we believe the Decretall maketh mention of Altars For he speaketh of the dedication of Churches and consecration of Altars Hyginus that lived Anno 154. and died a Martyr maketh mention of Altars for according to Gratian he made a decree concerning the re-dedication of a Church si motum fuerit Altare Pius succeeded him and lived Anno 158. who according to Gratian maketh mention of Altars and of a linnen cloth spread upon Altars whereunto the practice of the Church agreeth for Corpus Domini non in sericis sed in syndone munda consecratur Wherefore for 158. yeares it may seem there is mention made of Altars and none at all of the Communion-Table Ob. But the Centurists tell us that these Epistles are forged things and trifles of no worth Or if they be true then you may see how timely the mystery of iniquity began to worke in the Church of Rome in the dedication of Churches and consecration of Altars Sol. If they be forged things why did no Catholike Father not so much as in the Greek Church detect the same and cry them downe How comes it to passe that both the East and West Church keep so good correspondency in the use of Altars and in the dedication of them Was this a mystery of iniquity in the West Church and none in the East But who gave this Quaternion of Ministers authority to brand the Martyrs of the Primitive Church and the whole Church both Greek and Latine with
per coecitatem malam sententiam praeterquam oportet colligunt we put all those to confusion that through vaine glory or ignorance broach new doctrines in the Church For none of all these Heretickes can derive their succession from the Apostles nor shew how their doctrines were received by Tradition from them For before Valentinus there were no Valentinians and he came to Rome under Hyginus and increased his faction under Pius and continued unto Anicetus Cerdon also that was before Marcion came in under Hyginus who was the eighth Bishop and Marcion prevailed under Anicetus which was the tenth So those that are called Gnosticks from Menander Simons Disciple All these sell into Apostacy after the Church had continued a long time Thus Tertullian confoundeth Valentinus Apelles and other Hereticks edant origines ecclesiarum suarum evolvant ordinem sacerdotum ita per successionem ab initio decurrentem ut primus ille episcopus aliquem ex Apostolis vel Apostolicis viris qui tamen cum Apostolis perseveraverit habuerit authorem antecessorem Let Heretickes shew that they had an Apostle for the Author of their doctrine or some Apostolicke man whom they doe succeed as Polycarpus was placed by Saint Iohn in the Church of Smyrna and Clemens by Peter in the Church of Rome Confingant tale quid Haeretici I would faine see Hâ—reticks to set their heads to devise such a pedigree This hee was sure they could not for Valentinus and Marcion saith he came in under Antoninus the Emperour and were cast out of the Church by Eleutherius In this sort doth Saint Cyprian confound Novatian Novatianus in Ecclesiâ nâ—n est nec Episcopus computari potest Novatian is neither Bishop nor member of the Church qui Evangelica Apostolica traditione contempta nemini succedens à seipso ordinatus est because hee cannot prove his succession according to Apostolicall tradition To conclude thus doth Saint Augustine confound the Donatists and Sectaries of his time Numerate Sacerdotes vel ab ipsa sede Petri in illo ordine Patrum quis cui successit videte They that say there were no materiall Churches built till 200. yeares after Christ are more injurious to the Church and unjust to themselves and to all true members of the Catholicke Church than perhaps every one is aware For if in all this time there were no materiall Churches then there could bee no materiall Chaire wherein their Bishops were enthronized and if no Chaire then no reall inthronization then no personall succession from the Apostles whereby the right faith was derived from God the Father to his Sonne whom he hath sent into the world out of his owne bosome nor from the Sonne to his Apostles nor from the Apostles to succeeding Bishops For as Tertullian reaoneth very excellently if we will have the truth to be adjudged of our side it must appeare by this if we walk in that rule quam Ecclesiae ab Apostolis Apostoli à Christo Christus à Deo tradidit which we have received of the Apostles they of Christ Christ of God Those that deprive us of the benefit of this Apostolicall tradition plucke one speciall staffe out of our hands whereby wee stay our selves from falling from the true Catholicke Church and beat all Hereticks out of our Communion Miserable were we if he that now sitteth Arch-Bishop of Canterbury could not derive his succession from St. Augustine St. Augustine from St. Gregory St. Gregorie from St. Peter For hee that remembreth whom hee succeeds will doubtlesse endevour and pray to be heire to their vertues as well as possessor of their places What a comfort is this to his Grace and to all those that receive consecration from him and to all those that they shall ordaine when they remember that this Grace can say Ego sum haeres Apostolorum Sicut caverunt Testamento sicut Fidei commiserunt sicut adjuraverunt ita teneo I am the Apostles heire the Faith which they have by Will bequeathed to the Church that I hold Mea est possessio Olim possideo prior possideo habeo origines firmas ab ipsos authoribus quorum fuit res Here I and my Predecessors have kept possession here are my evidences which I have to shew that I have received the right Faith from the true Owners Vos verò but as for you Marcion and Apelles exhaeredaverunt semper ubdicaverunt the Apostles Christ God Himselfe hath dis-inherited you and cast you out On the other side what a confusion is this to all Hereticks or Schismaticks when the Fathers of our Church and all true children of the Church shall be able to tell them that they have no right of inheritance or portion in their Mother Quando unde venistis Quid in meo agitis non mei tell us when and from whence you come and what you make your selves to doe in the Church that are no sons of the Church We can with Saint Irenaeus point you to the time of your comming in You Cartwright and your brood came in as most Sabbatarians did under Arch-Bishop Whitguift and you Ames and Brightman with your Laodiceans came in under Arch-Bishop Bancroft and you Vicars and our Cotton with his fugitives came in or rather went out under Arch-Bishop Abbot Thus Saint Irenaeus Saint Cyprian Saint Augustine and other holy Fathers have detected the Donatists Marcionists and other Sectaryes of their times and so put them to utter confusion And so by their example are we taught to doe and our duty is to blesse God that wee are able so to doe Cotton therefore or whosoever else is the Author of this Letter shewed himselfe a sly and subtile Merchant when he would make use of the authority of a learned and godly Bishop of our Church against his mind utterly to overthrow the Truth of our Church by making simple people believe there were no Churches nor Altars till 200. yeares after Christ. For if this were so and that he could tell us when our Church came in then there would no be cause but to honour him and his party for a true Church as well as this of ours And it would bee no reproch to him and his adherents to have their comming in detected and thereby themselves discovered to bee no other but such whose comming in may be discovered CAP. X. Dedication and Consecration of Churches used by godly Bishops and taxed by the Centurists for the Mystery of Iniquitie What penance was performed by Hypocrites and Apostata's before their admittance into the Church Of Confession Exomologefis Dayes of Penance and Absolution Citizens Penance I Will passe from the placing of the Bishops Chaire to the dedication of his Church where it was set The dedication of Churches within two hundred yeares after Christ sheweth clearely that there were Churches within that time There is mention of Dedication of Churches under Euaristus Anno 112. and under Hyginus Anno 154. under Calixtus of
Gloria eos obligent quia veritate non possunt that vanity may make a side when Verity cannot do it Nusquam faciliùs perficitur quà m in Castris rebellium Souldiers never rise to promotion so fast as when they serve under Rebels ubi ipsum esse illic promereri est where their presence is worth sufficient Itaque alius hodie Episcopus cras alius hence it is that they take their Superintendency by turns he that is Head to day is Tayle to morrow hodiè Diaconus qui cras Lector He that is a Deacon to day must come downe a pinne to morrow and bee glad to bee an Elder Hodiè presbyter qui cras Laicus He that is a learned Lecture-man to day will cry ha' you any Bowles or Trayes to mend to morrow Nihil interest illis licèt diversa tractantibus dum ad unius veritatis expugnationem conspirent Though they agree like Harpe and Harrow among themselves 't is all one so the conspiracy hold good against the Truth Ipsae mulieres haereticae quà m procaces It is a world to see what pert Gynny Birds their Gossips are quae audeant docere contendere exorcismos agere curationes repromittere forsitan tingere preach and dispute they will so earnestly and outragiously well that their husbands Talent will shew ordinary and his faculty but reasonable But when they set themselves to exorcising and taking Devils to taske they make Darrels hayre stand upright Thus amongst Schismaticks libera sunt omnia soluta every one does what he list For ubi Deus non est nec veritas ulla est where God is not there is no Truth and where there is no Truth merito talis disciplina est such a discipline suteth right well And now I pray you tell mee if Mr. Cotton or his Vmbra here have not spun a faire thread There were no Churches within 200. yeares of Christ then certainly there were no Schooles in all that time and if no Schooles then none of all these degrees and distinction of places names no Educati Audientes Catechumeni Competentes no not Fideles neither and least of all Diaconi and Sacerdotes For Deacons and Priests after long tryall were chosen out of the ranke of Fideles and these must first of all be Neophyti and these Competentes and Competentes must first be Catechumeni and these must be Audientes and Educati And if there were no Deacons nor Priests for 200. yeares after Christ to continue and derive power of Ordination and Consecration from the Apostles to their successors I am sure there are none now Then may Mr. Cotton by vertue of an extraordinary spirit set up a Church of his owne Then have some of our Lecturers rose of their right sides for these may speak as long as their Lungs last and never care for comming into Orders as Origen did I have often beene thinking why the chiefe of this new Corporation have beene so loath to take Benefices to read the Prayers of the Church and to Administer Sacraments as Deacons and Priests should doe and my wit would never serve me to dive into the mystery till this lucky man came with his open Letter in his hand as Sanballat did to disturbe the Church of the Iewes And from him I understand the cause For he saith like Ananias the High Priest You understand nothing know you not that wee conforme our selves to the Primitive Church And in the Primitive Church and for 200. yeares after Christ there were no Churches Why this is full and satisfactory For then every Child can conclude if there were no Churches there were neither Diocesse nor Parish belonging to them nor Priests nor degrees out of which those Priests and Deacons should be taken I believe that in those times some did stand and some did speak and some did Lecture and to doe these no orders are required and hereunto these men conforme themselves Secondly as they had Schooles and degrees so likewise had they publike Libraries furnished with usefull and necessary books to fit such as were in the place of Auditors and others in time to be serviceable in the Church Eusebius tels us that Philo his bookes were chained up in the publike Library at Rome Anno 39. The bookes also of Origen were placed in a publike Library in Caesarea after that of a Lecturer he took holy Orders Alexander Patriarch of Ierusalem built a famous Library there from whence Eusebius had his helpes for compiling of his History Anno 197. And if they had publike Libraries to preserve bookes and Schooles for Professors to read them and Scholers to be trained up under them to do the Church service and for no other end at all can we imagine they were without Churches for those to serve God in whom they had fitted and inabled for that purpose This were to imagine Mariners Calkers and Pilots 200. yeares before there were any Ships It were weaknesse to think that their Persecutors would give leave to building of Schooles and Libraries but not of Churches for they hated all alike As appeareth by Dioclesian who spared their bookes and Libraries no more than he did their Churches but burnt and destroyed all Thirdly they had publike Treasuries to keepe the goods of the Church that came unto them by Oblations and other revenues whereby the members of the Church that aâ—tended the service of God were maintained and the poore and such Christians as lived in exile or in prison were relieved This is cleere out of the Canons of the Apostles and Iustin Martyr and Tertullian Arcae genus est whereunto he that is disposed stipem apponit Haec quasi deposita pâ—etatis sunt This stock qui praesidet the Bishop bestowed in pious uses S. Iustin tels us the very same The richer sort every Sunday when the Eucharist is administred offer what they think good and what is then so gathered in communi aerario apud praepositum deponitur thereby to relieve Orphans Widowes Prisoners and Strangers No Communion then in the Primitive Church was without Obons for the use not only of the Priest who was to live of the Altar but also of the poore And S. Ambrose gives the reason why they relieved the poore with almes to be this that the poore might relieve them with their prayers Defensionem requiro saith he defensionem habeo I crave defence against the Goths that intended violently to possesse the Arrians of the Churches of Catholicks and a defence I have sed in orationibus pauperum Coeci illi Claudi robust is bellatoribus fortiores sunt The blinde and the lame are the thundring and victorious Legion Munera pauperum Deum obligant what is given to the poore is lent to the Lord and we have him fast bound for the Loane and the principall This I am perswaded in my conscience hath preserved all our Cathedrall Churches from the rapine of sacrilegious hands and hearts as impure whatsoever
The word used in those Authors is Mensa Domini or Altare not Communionis mensa the Communion Table For though the word Communion Table be a fit and convenient word yet it came not in so soone but it came in I will not impeach the comming in thereof nor speak so unreverently as he doth of Altars and say it crept in but it came in long after the youngest of these Authors went out of the Church Militant into the Church Triumphant Therefore it will be hard to know out of them how Communion Tables stood which he shall never finde in any of them at all nor in any before them nor in the holy Scripture nor in any after them till Anno 1552. For in King Edwards Liturgie saith the Author of 1549. it is every where but in that of 1552. it is no where called an Altar but the Lord's board From whence then we may gesse when Communion Tables came in But if out of these Authors he can make the Vicar know how the Lord's board or holy Altar stood in the body of the Church the Vicar will not stand upon the name of Communion Table any longer Wherefore to take his Authors in their order I begin with Eusebius his words are these Absoluâ—â— Templo ac sedibus excelsissimis ad honorem praesidentium subselliis ordine collocatis ornatâ— post omnia Sancto Sanctorum viz. Altari in medio constituto Out of these words the Vicar must know how the Altar stood not at the upper end of the Quire but in the middest of the Church among the people This Church whereof Eusebius speakes was the Church of Tyre built by Paulinus the Bishop there And to this place I can give a speedy answer by sending the Author as he doth the Vicar to a book which he may take himselfe bound to read and believe as some willing to be deceived do and he shal be satisfied the Centurists In this place Illyricus tels us that Eustathius who was Prolocutor in the Councell of Nice and Patriarch of Antioch was deposed in a Conventicle there onely because hee approved the Councell of Nice and opposed and publikely reproved Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia and this Paulinus Bishop of Tyre and others tanquam Arrianos for Arrians With this tale of the Centurists I suppose the Author rests satisfied that it is no good argument to say the Altar stood in the midst of Arrian and Hereticall Churches therefore it ought so to stand in Catholike or Orthodox and Christian Churches But I will deale more favourably and not cut him off so short nor resolve Paulinus for an Arrian upon their information I wish the Author could say as much to quit some of the Centurists of Arrianisme as may be said in the behalfe of Paulinus in that respect If Paulinus before the decree of the Councel of Nice did leane to Arrius which appeares not but by the report of Arrius who may lie yet after the Councell had determined against him neither Arrius nor any of his friends embarke Paulinus in that frantick ship but the Prolocutor himselfe and Athanasius affirme that all the Bishops Theonas and Secundus excepted assented to the determination of that Councell and condemned Arrius whether in truth and sincerity of heart or otherwise it is hard to say But of Paulinus we may be fully assured that he gave his vote sincerely for the Preacher who made the Sermon at the Dedication of that Church acknowledged our Saviour Iesus Christ to be the naturall and only Son of God and God Himselfe and to be the Creator and not a Creature as the Arrian Councell at Ariminum resolved and made him equall in honour with God the Father This truth tending altogether to the confutation of Arrius the Preacher might have forborne to deliver in that presence if it had not sorted well enough with his Lord Paulinê° But if we may give as much credit to Staphylus a privat man speaking of Illyricus a private man as some yeeld Illyricus against the testimony and doctrine of all ancient Fathers in more things than one then was Illyricus in his opinion no better than a Arrian For hunc inter alia renovasse Arrii doctrinam talemque eum esse ab Academia Whittenbergensi damnatum testatur Staphylus saith Prateolus Hereticall also is that doctrine of his That originall sin is a substance for which cause his brethren and those of his fathers house threw stones at him Wherefore I will make no use of the testimony of a man so branded but take Paulinus for a good Catholik and yeeld that the Altar in his Church stood as it ought to do all things considered But how will it appeare that the Sanctum Sanctorum as the Preacher in Eusebius cals it or the holy Altar stood not at the upper end of the Quire but in the middest of the Church among the people For this is the point which the Author informes the Vicar he shall know out of Eâ—sebius But certainly the Author never read or never weighed the testimony borrowed of Eusebius but came lightly by it and presumed he might play it away and passe it upon the Vicar as it came to him All that the Preacher in Eusebius sayes is this that when all the parts of the Church were finished then the Sanctum Sanctorum or holy Altar was set in the midst not in the middest of the body of the Church among the people that crosseth all antiquity and is supplyed by a friendly hand to the Author but as Bishop Iewell points us very truly to the Presbytery and in the midst that is in the midst of the Presbytery it was set And in reference to the Presbytery it may well be said to stand in the midst though not in the very Centre of the Presbytery but removed a good distance from it and placed at the upper end of the Quire Thus Ioshuah sayes of the Gibeonites In medio nostri est is you are in the middest of us when indeed they were three dayes journey from them Wherefore out of Eusebius the Vicar cannot know how the Altar stood in the body of the Church among the people But were this granted that the Altar stood in the midst of the Church of Tyre yet shall the Author get nothing by the hand for his purpose The Church of Tyre as appeares by the Preachers Sermon was contrived after the patterne of the Temple built by Solomon and after by Zorobabel And Paulinus in his structure endeavoured as much as lay in him to conforme his building to that modell and not to come behinde Besaleel himselfe in expressing the like art and cunning in his workmanship that the Iewes their neighbours might happily take the better liking thereof and be sooner wonne to Christiany Now the City Ierusalem as appears in Iosephus was thought to stand in the midst of the earth and the Psalmist favoureth that situation Deus operatus est salutem in medio
say the people ran round about the Altar where it stood and where the Diptychs were read and that is not only in the Presbytery but in sacrario in the most holy place of all the Chancell and not in the body of the Church among the people which he would make us believe by englishing Diptychs by Lessons and Chapters This I am sure is not true for lessons and Chapters were taken out of the word of God But Diptychs contained the Catalogue of Generall Councells or of such holy and Catholicke Bishops who had derived themselves their Faith and Religion from the Apostles or Apostolicke men that faithfull men who desired as they in the Councell of Chalcedon make profession iter ambulare Regium to keep the King of Heavens hiâ—-way might daily see what guides to follow and what paths to shunne This was the holy and profitable use of these Diptychs much unlike that List of persons censured by holy Church called with some reproach of truth and Christian Religion Catalogus testium veritatis and as unlike a Calendar that I have seene wherein the Holy Martyrs and Confessors of Iesus Christ who not onely had place sometime in these Diptychs but whose names are written in heaven are rased out and Traitors Murderers Rebels and Hereticks set in their roomes that if Penry Hâ—cket or Legate had come in time they might have challenged as Orient and Scarlet coloâ—â—ed a Die as some of them These Calendars were as unluckily made as these Diptychs were alledged by the Author for his purpose to make the people and marre the Altar and â—eâ—ace the ancient forme of Gods true Service which is by naming of them utterly made voyde and frustrated For it appeareth hereby and by the fifth Councell of Constantinople that the Altar did stand in the Presbytery and not in the midst of the Church among the people And so I come to his next authority CAP. XVII Whether the Quire may be found in the body of the Church out of Durandus and Platina That Boniface the second divided the Quire from the people how to be understood How long this was done before the fifth Councell of Constantinople Of the Priests turning about at the Altar IF Durandus examined the cause why the Priest turneth himselfe about at the Altar and found Scripture for it medio Ecclesiae c. he did more than the Author of this Epistle did in examining Durandus or Platina either For if from Durandus and his reason hâ—e can inferre the Quire was then in the body of the Church from examining Platina and his testimony he shall finde that the Quire did not stand in the body of the Church Platina saith that Boniface the 2d. though the Author tell us not so divisit populum à Clero cum celebraretur hee divided the people from the Clergy in the administration of the Eucharist He saith not he was the first that so divided them This is put in by the Author and is not true For 300. yeares and upward before Boniface was borne even in Saint Cyprians Tertullians and Irenaeus his time they were so divided And if in 300. yeares a disorder crept into the Church he did no more than his duty in dividing the people from the Clergy when the Sacrament was Celebrated In the same manner it may bee said in time to come that our Diocesane divided the people from the Clergy by setting a rayle to enclose the Lords Table yet is not he the first in these latter times that began to conforme his Diocesse to the practice of the Primitive Church in that respect Neither can ages to come reason in this sort as this man doth that therefore the Quire was in his time in the body of the Church For we know this is not so Secondly That which Platina reporteth of Boniface the 2d. was about Anno. 525. The people then were divided from the Clergy and this was about 800. yeares before Durandus could examine causes of the Priests turning about So that if the Author allow what Platina saies he must disallow what himselfe saies that the Quire was in Durands time in the body of the Church For wee are sure out of Platina that neere 800. yeares before Durandus was borne the people were divided from the Clergy at the Celebration of the Sacrament Therefore in all that time the Quire was not in the body of the Church Thirdly Boniface the 2d. was foure yeares before the particular Synod of Constantinople under Menna and Agapetus and almost twenty yeares before the fifth Generall Councell of Constantinople under Iohn the Patriarch and Vigilius which Councell this Author bringeth here to prove that the Altar stood in the body of the Church among the people because cucurrit omnis populus circum circa Altare Now this Author assures us out of Platina that Boniface had divided the people from the Clergy Anno. 525. Therefore hee must needs confute himselfe and tell us that in the fift Councell of Constantinople Anno. 545. the Altar did not then nor 20. yeares before stand in the body of the Church among the people for Boniface made a separation twenty yeares before Haud commodè haec divisa sunt temporibus Wherefore if this man will examine his owne Authors as Durandus did the cause of the Priests turning about hee must say that the Quire was not then in the body of the Church when Durandus lived nor for 800. yeares before that and when he is come so high S. Cyprian and others will lift him up so much higher that he may looke 300. yeares further and never finde the Altar in the body of the Church among the people but alwayes inclosed at the upper end of the Chancell and the people ever divided from the Clergy cum celebraretur as himselfe tells us out Platina Fourthly Let it be granted that the Priest turnâ—th himselfe about at the Altar and that this reason is yeelded for the same In medio Ecclesiae aperui os meum doth it therefore follow that the Priest and the Altar stood in the body of the Church among the people Could not the Priest turne himselfe about at the Altar and say I opened my mouth in the midst of the Congregation but the Altar must needs thereupon stand in the midst of the Church When supplication intercession consecration and giving of thanks unto God the Father were finished by the Priest with his face unto the East and the next office to be performed being to blesse the people is it not fit he turne him after reverence done towards the holy Altar and with his face into the West blesse the Congregation of the Lord and doe it upon this ground aperui os in medio Ecclesiae but this Author will conclude that therefore the Quire stood in the body of the Church among the people David praised God In medio ecclesiae yet no man can from thence inferre that he stood in the Sanctum Sanctorum where the Lord
solemnely performed and done openly before all Israel and before this Sunne But if the Altar had crept in then the Bishop had crept in much more for no Bishop was enthronized before his Altar was Consecrated and if the Bishop crept in then I am sure hee himselfe crept in and if he crept in the Sextons might doe well to shew him the way out For without the Church militant and triumphant in earth and in heaven shall bee dogges and whosoever maketh or telleth lyes And with untruth this saying that Altars crept into the Church hath more affinity than I could wish and more than all the water in his Well can wash off if hee make not ignorance his refuge and save himselfe under the shadow of her wings And thus much of the manner of creeping in of Altars CAP. XXII Complying with the Iewes doth not argue the creeping in of Altars The enemies of the Church have long pickt a quarrell at her Altars and her Priests The Councell of Aquisgrane defendeth them At what houre of the day Altars came in Christian Altars came in at Noahs floud and have so continued in the Christian Church ever since Danger to meddle with holy and consecrate things King Iames of blessed memory washed his hands of medling with them The polity of the Christian Church was framed by the patterne of the Iewish Church Sonne of the Church an honourable name The complying of Sabbatarians with the Iewes IN the next place the Author shewes the means wherby Altars crept into the Church and that is By a certaine complying in phrase with the people of the Iewes Now see what a froward or blinde destiny haunted and led the Secretary of this Letter For that very reason which he brings to prove the creeping in of Altars doth cleerly demonstrate that they did not creepe in He tels us what he has read in Kemnitius Gerardus and other sound Protestants yet such as suffer Altars still to stand It appeares he sailed not farre for his gold And the Commodities which he brings are common upon every petty Chapmans stall and such as will be his utter undoing when they come to be rifled into The complying in phrase with the people of the Iewes is the meanes whereby Altars crept in say you But I say and I hope to produce those that will make it good that this complying both in phrase and in other respects is the only assurance that we have that Altars did not creepe in but were brought in or rather continued in the Christian Church of the Gentiles from the Christian Church of the Iewes and were alwayes in both these in honourable and reverend estimation and ought not to be turned off by any Christian so disgracefully There is not any one ancient Father that ever I see who doth not derive the polity of the Christian Church and take their patterne in laying downe the platforme thereof from Gods Church among the Iewes as well before Moses as after as well in externall Rites and Ceremonies as in the internall spirituall and essentiall parts of Gods service I shall take as little paines for this rich and sure commodity as the Author did for the ruine of his cause The Councell of Aquisgrave jâ—st 800. yeares agoe hath furnish me abundantly that I need look no further There were in those times some Factors for the Synagogue of Satan that would not be pleased neither with Priests Altars Oblations Sacrifices nor with the very Churches and Houses of God themselves or any consecrated things but kindly perswaded themselves that some of these they might pull downe and cast out and make the rest their prey These things were made common Table-talke and the food of Conventicles and in the end it was commonly given out Haec non ex authoritate divina constare that all these and the like had but slender or no ground in holy Scripture Sed potius arbitrario cordis nostri say the Bishops imò cupiditate quadam inventione commenta esse but by some slye device of our owne were brought in or as this man speakes crept into the Church These things being by the carefull Spyes and witty Agents at times buzd into the Kings eares The godly and learned Fathers of that Councell think fit to present an humble declaration of the truth concerning these matters and give his Highnesse to understand that if these Objectors and Surmisers would diligently read and seriously weigh what in that writing was contained they would be brought to acknowledge Nos quae Dei sunt ad vestram salvationem ad regni stabilimentum that the things which are established in the Church and which we have delivered are the things of God and such as make for your Majesties eternall salvation and for the establishing of your Kingdomes and Dominions Se verò but those that say that these things crept into the Church Ea quae sunt mundi Dei voluntati usque quaque contraria existunt ad animarum interitum pertinent absque dubio loqui To come home then to the very point whether Altars crept into the Christian Church by a kinde of complying in phrase with the Iewes let the authority of S. Ambrose commend one ground of Christianity to those that hold by that Title Accipe quae dico anteriora esse mysteria Christianorum quam Iudaeorum Christians are more ancient than Iewes so are the mysteries of their Religon their Sacraments Sacrifices Altars more ancient than any of these among the Iewes Therefore the dreame of complying must needs be idle There are twelve houres of the day and in one of these Altars came into the Christian Church They crept not in by complying And the Councell of Aquisgrave will tell us plainly at what houre of the day they came in The Morning of the World was from Adam to Noah saith S. Gregory the third houre from Noah to Abraham the sixth houre from Abraham to Moses the ninth houre from Moses to Christ the twelfth houre from Christ to the worlds end At what houre of the day now did Altars come in Heare these holy Fathers speake True it is say they Religio primum coepit â—ine Altare ab Abel justo Religion at first was without an Altar Altars came not in at Sun rise This man would then have said they crept in under some cloud Well the third houre was from Noah to Abraham And now Arrige aures Pamphile for we are upon the very houre of the comming in of Altars Noah being preserved from the great danger of the floud Non extra Altare sedjam supra Altare holocausta Deo obtulit he offered holocausts upon an Altar And if the Vicar had erected such an Altar the only holocaust needed not to have beene his discretion except he would have beene as prodigall with his discretion as this Author for there were sacrifices of thanks and praise which Noah taught him to offer on an Altar Come we to the
in true and legall right but his So that now the kind patron that has an handfull of Meale to give his Priest need not run both his hands over with birdlime and then take it up and give it freely for all is his the whole materiall is his The Relativum formale fled when the Priest was banished and the Evangelicall Minister came in He may keepe all with a good conscience moulded out of a Logick Axiom May not all sacrilegious persons blesse this Man and wish Many a good Letter like this may he write for this Letter is there writ the cheapest and gainfullest that ever was procured Herewith they can seize upon all revenewes belonging to Priests and in the end if need be arrest Heaven Happy men by thy boone that hast done thus much for them But shall I ring you another peale Wretched Man that thou art thou makest this people to trust in a lye Thy Wine is of the Vine of Sodome thy clusters are bitter thou pleasest them with Apples of Sodome and feedest them with ashes thou leadest them by crooked paths and the way of truth thou hast not made knowne unto them Be not deceived God will not be mocked nor stript of his owne by a Logick Axiom which I leave to the Moderator of Sophisters to canvasse as nothing appertaining to this cause The ground and foundation that Church and Churchmen build upon for the revenues belonging to God and to those that serve at his Altar is laid upon a Rock Christ Iesus Whatsoever is or was given devoted consecrated and dedicated to him is his and his Priests and he that takes away or secretly with Achan purloines but a Priests garment call them Babilonish garments if you will or but a peece of gold nay but a shooe-latchet that person hath trespassed and is become execrable in the sight of God and doubtlesse his sin will finde him out And there is not a sacrilegiously-disposed wretch in this Kingdome but knowes or may know that those coales which their predecessors in that vice have stollen from Gods Altars hath burnt the houses of most of them and turned them to ashes and layd them on ruinous heaps And those that goe by and aske why hath the Lord done thus to these noble and renowned houses can receive no other answer but that they have taken the houses of God in possession and therefore God hath performed his word and made them like unto a wheele and turned them topsie turvey so that there remaines not a stone upon a stone which is not cast downe Wherefore let not the sound of that Logick Axiom mis-understood or mis-applyed be heard in the eares or taken into approbation of any good Christian. The Sacrifices which Papists offered upon their Altars are taken away and therefore Altars themselves by taking away of Relativum formale are also taken away and nothing remaines but materiale tantum wood or stone therefore doe not you call them any more Altars saith he to the Vicar O good Sir remember the abuse of a good thing is not nor ever was or can be the Relativum formale of a good matter The Sacrifices of Papists were abuses and were not the formale relativum of Altars S. Cyprian tels you that the use of Altars is to sanctifie the Eucharist upon and that without an Altar it cannot be consecrated and that therefore Hereticks have no Sacraments among them because they have no Altars The consecration of the holy Eucharist by Gods owne Priests who for this purpose doe or did daily Assistere Altari wait at his Altar is rather the Relativum formale than any thing else this is not taken away God be blessed for it when the Sacrifices that Papists offered upon their Altars were taken away and therefore Altars are not taken away Therefore doe not you open a doore to let in all profanenesse and impiety by forbidding Gods people to speake like the people of God and by reading such a Logick Lecture as will assuredly if it should be learned which God forbid undoe all the people of God in the ruine of their Altars Priests and Churches To conclude For as much as God hath put into the hearts of the Governours of our Church to restore the Lords Table to his ancient and true place it had in the Primitive Church and also to the honour and reverence which of right belongs unto it in regard of the presence of our Saviour whose Chaire of State it is upon Earth and to inclose it with Rayles not only to keepe it at all times from all manner of profanation but also if it might be to strike the minds of all beholders with some reverence and respect to keepe their true distance and to make a difference betweene place and place person and person holy and profane that their preparations and dispositions may be suitable Let no man then that hath the feare of God before his eyes to whom God hath given wit elocution learning place in Church or Common wealth lend the Devill and his Imps sacrilegious or factious persons the service and use of these to disturbe so holy and godly a purpose and so fully conformable to the beauty and awfull Majesty that the houses of God were in in the Primitive Church CAP. XXV Canons of our Church need no private mans confirmation Rationibus cogentibus The edicts of Princes Articles of our Creed our baptisme Eucharist will be unsetled if men may require to have these maintained rationibus cogentibus Ecclesiasticall and temporall authority receive more prejudice by having the same disputed than suffering it to be railed against To what distresse the Vicar is put to maintaine the Canon of bowing at the name of IESVS The Author ill advised to make a jeere of the first and second Service IF you doe not allow and practise these things except they be maintained rationibus cogentibus the Church is not beholden to you either for your allowance or practise neither will the Common wealth or Prince if need require With this proviso Iudas of Galilee will admit of the Edict of Augustus Caesar Licinius allow of Christianity Iulian allow of Iesus of Galile Vicisti Galilaee Ebion and Cerinthus allow of S. Pauls Epistles Wat Tyler and Iack Straw allow of Lawyers and the Lawes of this Realme Carthright and his holy brood allow of Church governement of Supremacy of Kings over their Presbytery and of the common Lawes of the Land over the Dictats of their Consistory Wherefore if you will not allow of what is by law appointed nor practise it nor be the meanes that others practise it unlesse it be maintained rationibus cogentibus and in the opinion of the men of Gâ— you make Soveraigne authority and Lawes Ecclesiasticall and temporall to depend upon a Spiders thread For if you or the Vicar could frame such Arguments as were in themselves every way exactly demonstrative and such as in reason must overmaster and controle the understanding and compell
Hebrewes because you know who saies it is not maintained rationibus cogentibus You shall lose Saint Iames's Epistle because you know who saies it so farre from being maintained to bee Canonicall rationibus cogentibus that it is verè straminea You shall loose two Epistles of Saint Iohn and also the Revelation for these are not maintained to bee Canonicall say some rationibus cogentibus If Saint Augustine had stood upon these termes he had never beene Catholicke Come we to the holy Sacraments and of two which remaine as generally necessary to salvation wee shall not have one at all left us if they and the rites and ceremonies about them must not be maintained by the Authority practise and tradition of holy Church but with this mans rationibus cogentibus You shall have no God-fathers nor God-mothers no imposition of names no saying of the Creed or Lords Prayer at the Font nor Font neither no vowing in the childs name abrenunciation Satanae Mundo Pompis ejus or to believe in God and keep his Commandements no taking of the childe into the Priests armes no dipping nor sprinkling to omit the signing with the signe of the crosse for in all these sayes S. Basil and before him Tertullian is amplius aliquid quaÌ„ Dominus in Evangelio determinavit The ground of these is the practise and tradition of holy Church say these Fathers and therefore not to be allowed sayes this Author because they are not maintained rationibus cogentibus You shall not have the ten Commandements the Epistle Gospell Constantinopolitane commonly called the Nicene Creed the Lords Prayer Trisagium and other prayers and doxologies read at the administration of the holy Eucharist for these were not read by our Saviour Christ but brought in by certaine Popish Bishops and are not maintained rationibus cogentibus You shall not receive the holy Sacrament in a morning nor fasting nor kneeling nor standing nor walking nor from a framed Table nor in bread cut with a knife nor in the Quire nor in the body of the Church neither with this man because none of all these things are maintained rationibus cogentibus Your Bishops shall have no power of Ordination Consecration or Iurisdiction over Priests neither ought there to be such degrees or names in the Church your Chancellors Commissaries and Officials ought not to keepe Courts to send out Summons Suspensions and Excommunications your Clergie ought not to be maintained by Tythes Offerings or Glebland for these things they will say depend only upon use prescription and authority of the Church and are not maintained rationibus cogentibus And to conclude you shall not bow nor do reverence to the blessed name of IESUS more than to the name of Lord or Christ or Emanuel or God or Iehovah or Saviour or Maker or Redeemer because it is not maintained rationibus cogentibus Thus in three words this man hath laid a plot in case it should be apprehended and concealed from the Bishop of the Dioces and his Officers to do more hurt than all his Predecessors did or could doe For all our old dotards could not devise such an exquisite engine to undoe Church and Common-wealth as our acute and witty Dedalus hath found out Cartwright with his heavie Volumes Martin with his virulent tongue Wigginton and Hacket with their extraordinary spirit Dorrell with his miraculous power of possessing dispossessing and repossessing and trouncing of Devils up and downe and those odde fellowes in a corner with their spirit of prophesie could never fetch about that which this man hath light on All these did but set their mouth and fill their cheeks with winde to blow out the light of the Moone which so long as the Sunne lasteth they will never be able to do Some of these were divided one against another Manasses against Ephraim and Ephraim against Manasses and both agreed against Iudah One allowes not the crosse but the Surplice he esteemes as a fooles coat so can be content to weare it since it is the Kings pleasure to have it so An other casts out that rag of Antichrist but submits to the Crosse as better agreeing with his disposition An other passes not upon these but his knees may not buckle to Baal nor kneele at the Communion An other having his back shored up with his seat will stand at the Gospell but it stands not with his ease in that posture to bow his knee at the name of IESVS But this man allowes all practiseth all this and is so benigne and propitious to the Vicar as to approve his doings in all these And sayes It is well done that you affect decency and comelinesse in officiating of Gods divine Service and that you doe the reverence appointed by the Canon to that blessed Name of IESVS All this while the Vicar stands much beholden to him for his kinde approbation Marry hee had need take heed that he kill him not with his kindnesse For there is a So or two two or three limitations which the Vicar must looke to observe otherwise he loseth his approbation and exposeth himselfe to so much danger as may be imagined in a Counterfeits censure And if he avoide his censure and win his approbation he looseth himselfe and the cause of holy Church He liketh well the reverence done to the Name of IESVS so it be done humbly and not affectedly to procure devotion and not derision of the Parishioners and so he doe not maintaine it rationibus non cogentibus You will say is not this very faire and plausible Yes marry is it Sir therefore I pray you tell me whether it be in the Vicars power to hinder the Parishioners that they shall not say that that is done affectedly which he doth most humbly or that which he heartily intendeth to move devotion shall not move derision both in the better and worser sort of the Parishioners Of the better â—orthere will bee no great doubt but they will bee apt enough to deride him of whom if this feigned Letter were to be regarded they have complayned already as to a Diocesan And the Vicar can looke for small reliefe against their derision if the stroke were in such a mans hands as the Author hath â—eigned himselfe to be in regard that he findes him to commend some of them for discreet and modest men who have complained against the poore man for doing well as this Author himselfe confesseth namely in presidenting himâ—selfe in setting the Lords Table with the forme in his Majesties Chappels and the Quires of Cathedrall Churches Those that will complaine of him for this and goe away with his commendation and approbation therein and have the Table setled if this forged Letter were of any proofe after their wils and contrary to the Vicars good and approved desires are not in all likelihood to receive a check for their derision and scorne cast upon the good man The Vicar then sees by this time in what case he is For if he do