c. But this it is for people to meddle in Controversie at an Age when they have forgot their Grammar Notwithstanding therefore this Aristarchus We still retain the Liberty of believing and obeying only such things which be defined according to God's Word For which we are much blamed in the Conclusion of this Discourse * p. 260. In rejection of the Churche's Judgment saith he let none think himself secure in relying on the Testimony of his Conscience or judgment But what reason soever he may have to undervalue the Testimony of a good Conscience we think it advisable from St. Paul * 1 Tim. c. 1. v. 19. to hold faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made Ship-wrack Of whom are But saith he let none think himself secure in any of these things so long as his Conscience witnesseth still to him this one thing namely his Disobedience and Inconformity to the Church-Catholic But our Consciences do not witness to us any disobedience to the Church-Catholic but only to that Church which falsly praetends to be Catholic He means to the Major part of the Guides thereof But the cause has not yet been decided by Poll that we should know which side has the Majority Let him know that his Condition is very dangerous when he maketh the Church-Guides of his own time or the major part thereof incommunicable-with in their external profession of Religion There was a time then when to believe the Consubstantiality of the Son was a dangerous Condition and this perhaps made Pope Liberius externally to profess Arrianism When for the maintaining of his Opinions he begins to distinguish and divide between the doctrine of the Scripture and the Doctrine of the Church But why not distinguish where the Church her self distinguishes and saith Christ indeed in the Scriptures instituted so but I institute otherwise as in the case of denying the Cup. Between the Doctrines of the Catholic Church of the former ages and of the Catholic Church of the present But here again the Church her self distinguishes when She tells us that * Conc. Const Sess 13. licet in primitiva Ecclesia sub utraque specie Sacramentum reciperetur Yet now the contrary Custom habenda est pro lege quam non licet reprobare Between the Church's orthodoxness in Necessaries and non-necessaries to Salvation If there be no difference betwixt these why doth a * Guide in Controv. Disc 1 c. 6. par 56. Friend of the Author tell us of an Obedience of Assent in the one but of Non-contradition only in the other When he begins to maintain the Autority of an Inferior Ecclesiastical Judge against a Superior But what if this be only where the Inferior Judge agrees tho' not with his immediate Superior yet with the Supreme Or of a minor part of the Church-Guides against a Major But that is not a case yet fairly decided When they grant that God hath given them beside the Scriptures guides of their Faith But those Guides themselves to be guided by the Scripture And that they have in their judgment departed from those Guides i. e. the major part of them But this we would have prov'd Which in a Court consisting of mapy is the legall Judge Guides and Judges are different things but we hope when this Court sits the Judges will consult the Scripture the Statute they are to go by and if they judge according to that they will judge well These are the Doctrines of blind-Obedience which this Author so studiously inculcates For sice Doctrines are taught us different from Scripture we are advis'd to use another way of discerning Doctrines then what the Gospel prescribes Our Saviour bids us Mat. 16.6.12 Beware of the leaven i. e. the doctrine of Pharisee's tho' sitting in Moses his Chair We are now advis'd to embrace all the doctrines of those that sit in the Chair of S. Peter Christ bids us * Mat. 24.4 Take heed that no man deceive us tho' coming in his Name We are now told that they who come to us in the Name of Christ cannot deceive us St. Paul saith * Gal. 1.8 that If an Angel from Heaven preach to us any other Doctrine then that which he preach'd Let him be accurs'd Now if we do not embrace whatever a Patriarch from the West preaches tho' never so contrary to the Gospel we are concluded under an Anathema The Apostles tell us that they * 2 Cor. 1.24 have no Dominion over our Faith but their Successors exercise a Despotic power in requiring a servile Obedience to all their Dictates S. Paul's practise was to * Gal. 2.11.14 withstand Peter to the face When he saw that he walk'd not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel but St. Peter's Successor pleads that in no case he may be withstood because it is impossible but that he should walk uprightly in the truth of the Gospel The inspir'd Divine bids us * Rev. 18.4 Come out of Babylon that we may not partake of her Sins Our modern Theologists advise us to come back into * Babylonia apud Joannem Romanae urbis figura est Tertul. adv Marc. l. 3. c. 13. Roma quasi secunda Babylonia est Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 18. c. 2. Babylon for that She only is impeccable Imprimatur GILB IRONSIDE Vice-Can Oxon. Octob. 19. 1687. REFLECTIONS ON THE HISTORICAL PART OF Church-Government PART V. He that is first in his own cause seemeth just but his Neighbor cometh and searcheth him Prov. 18.17 OXFORD Printed at the THEATER Anno 1687. The Introduction THE Pamphlet proposes to relate the English Reformation and to examine the lawfulness of it Now from an Examiner we might justly expect Argument and from a Relator Truth How he argues I find consider'd by the Animadverter Two small defects he has been charg'd with 1st That he proceeds upon dubious or false Premises 2ly That were they granted his Conclusions would not follow It is my business to examine his Narrative which yet is not so purely Historical but that it is perplex'd with dispute For it is peculiar to this Author that when he should reason he barely affirms as if he was writing an History but when it is his business to relate being conscious that the stream of Autority is against him he is forc'd to dispute it out as if he was proving a Problem But his arguing is such as the Cause would bear and his History such as it necessarily requires The former has gain'd him no great credit with the Men of Reason and this I doubt will little recommend him to the Honest and Ingenuous But I forbear to prejudge the cause and desire nothing may be farther charg'd on him than it is prov'd I pretend to no Critical skill in the History of the Reformation and I am beholden to the Author that I need it not His prevarications lie so open that a Novice in History may
extirpate Heretics upon pain of being themselves extirpated and if they will not be active must be passive It is farther observ'd that Protestant Princes as well as Catholic have thought fit to execute this Law upon Heretics He instances in Joan of Kent and George Paris burnt in Edward the Sixth's days But these suffer'd for Impieties directly against the Creed a B. V. 2. p. 111. Joan of Kent for denying that Christ was incarnate of the Virgin Mary b Ibid p. 112. George Paris for denying that he was God We have King Edward's c Ibid tears recorded which he shed upon signing the warrant for Joan of Kent's execution but I have not read of any tears shed upon that Occasion by Q. Mary Some other Anabaptists condemn'd and recanting were enjoyn'd to bear their Faggots But d Ibid. p. 111. the Opinions of these Anabaptists would have made an Anticreed to that of the Apostles and bearing the Faggot is ill oppos'd to the cruelty of that Reign when e Cranmer's case recanting did not exempt from burning In Henry the 8th 's time Cromwel pronounc'd Sentence on Lambert to be burnt I never read before that King Henry was a Protestant Prince Arch-Bishop Cranmer committed to the Counter Thomas Dob a Master of Arts who also died in prison The Consequence is that Protestant Princes burn Heretics In Q. Elizabeth's time Lewes and Hammond were burnt for Heretics Hammond's Impieties against God and his Christ were such as a Cambd. Hist of Eliz. p. 235. Edit Lond. 1675. Mr. Cambden will not mention but desires they may be buried in Oblivion Lewis was an Heretic of the same Magnitude Hacket was executed for Heresy and Blasphemy b Ful. Hist Book 9 â—h p. 205. Such blasphemies as might have been utter'd by a faln Angel Coppin and Thocker were hang'd for publishing Brown's book against the Common-prayer But c Stow's Chron. Q. Eliz. p. 696. that book full of Sedition against the State In King James's time Bartholomew Legate was burnt for an Heretic But d See his Opinions Full. l. 10. p. 62. he an Arrius Redivivus As for the Statute of King James An. 3. Jac. 4. c. it does not punish the reconcil'd as Heretics but as Traytors The Crime there reputed Treason is with-drawing the Natural Obedience from the Prince and none can suffer by that Act who takes the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy Had the Writ de Haeretico comburendo lain as quiet as this Act We should not have reflected with so much horror on the Cruelty of the C. of Rome This instancing in a Statute made only in terrorem and never put in Execution tho' the demerits of some Apostates have been sufficiently provoking would tempt one to look back into the last Century and review the Treasons and Rebellions which extorted the making of that Statute but I forbear to pursue this Topick least too warm a zeal against the disloyalty of that party be it self interpreted dis-loyal § 66 Having shew'd us the Protestant's judgment concerning the justness of burning Hereticks he next gives us his own Sentiments The ignorant Laity and illiterate Clergy he in his great mercy rescues from the Faggot and condemns only to Poverty and Prisons This in Spain or Italy had been a great Act of grace but He might be sure few of our Laity or Clergy could plead the benefit of it The Fathers of the Church and Learned Sons of it are not mention'd in this Indulgence and there seems to be no reserve for them Indeed He had stretcht his kindness too far in favour of the Haereticis credentes and as if he repented confesses some of them to have been extremely arrogant and ignorant It provokes his Indignation that Mechanics should dispute with Bishops But the advantage these Mechanics had in the cause made amends for the imparity of the Advocates And after all Bonner and the Miller were not such unequal Disputants as He would perswade Us. They relied he saith on the uncertainty of their own Judgment But this Protestant certainty such as has been prov'd to rise as high as the Popish Infallibility He is not satisfied that the Relations of these disputes are pen'd with Integrity Indeed the reasonings of the Roman Prelates and Doctors are such as One would be apt to think them mis-related but when I read our Modern Controvertists I begin to have a great respect for their Fore-fathers The next Paragraphs tell us §. 67.68 that if the Ejection of these Bishops were lawful then the Introduction of others will be so too tho' 1. Whilst they living 2ly Without the Metropolitan's consent But I am so well satisfied he has not prov'd the lawfulness of the Ejection that I shall not dispute with him concerning the Consequences of it Our Author him-self who doth not use to be scrupulous seems here unsatisfied with his own performances For being conscious he has not prov'd Q. Mary's Clergy lawful § 69 He has another hold to which he makes his last retreat He is willing to justifie Q. Mary's re-establishment of the former Religion even without her own Clergy from the Autority of Superior Synods This he knows is part of our Plea but with this advantage on our side that Whereas he will have the Prince oblig'd to execute the Church's Canons without Inferior license We think him much more concern'd to provide for the Execution of Christ's Laws without such consent of the Clergy What has been said in this Chapter cannot want a Recapitulation The ejection of Bishops in King Edward's time was to have been prov'd unlawful because for an unlawful Cause and by an unlawful Judge the ejection of Bishops in Q. Mary's time lawful because for a lawful Cause and by a lawful Judge the Judges in both cases were the same viz. the Commissioners of each Prince the Causes in neither are rightly assign'd and of those which are assign'd Nothing is said to prove their respective lawfulness or unlawfulness This is the great Argument of the Chapter to repeat all the fals-hoods in it would be to transcribe it A Reply to his 6th Chapter THat the former Supremacy was reassum'd by Q. Elizabeth §. 70.71 is confest Thus much is said in the Title of this Chapter and no more in 3 pages of it Some bounds of this Supremacy are own'd to be assign'd by Protestant Writers § 72 Who therefore are wrong'd by this Author when they are represented as Advocates of an unlimited Supremacy The Qualifications by us urg'd are taken from the Queen's Title her Admonition the words of the 37th Article and the Proviso in the first Act of Q. Elizabeth § 73 Now as to his Rational Reply to the Title that Head and Governor in a due sense are Synonymous I allow but because the Style of Head gave Offence the changing of it into a word which was less obnoxious to cavil § 74 was material As to the Admonition it has been observ'd
promise of the guiding of his Spirit into all truth But that any such Council hath at any time allowed the Mass c I affirm saith he to be impossible for Superstition i e. the Masy and the sincere Religion of Christ can never agree together For Determination of all Controversies in Christ's Religion Christ hath left unto the Church not only Moses and the Prophets to ask counsel at but also the Gospels Christ would have the Church his Spouse in all doubts to ask counsel at the word of his Father written Neither do we read that Christ in any place hath laid so great a Burthen upon the Members of his Spouse that he hath commanded them to go to the Universal Church It is true that Christ gave unto his Church some Apostles some Prophets c. But that all men should meet together out of all parts of the world to define of the Articles of our Faith I neither find it commanded of Christ nor written in the Word of God To which Bishop Latimer nexeth these words In things pertaining to God and Faith we must stand only to the Scriptures which are able to make us all perfect and instructed to Salvation if they be well understood And they offer themselves to be well understood only to those who have good wills and give themselves to study and Prayer neither are there any men less apt to understand them than the prudent and wise men of the world Thus Latimer in application of his Discourse to General Councils See likewise Bishop Ridley's Disputation at Oxford where being pressed with the Authority of the great Lateran Council Fox â— 1321. after having replyed that there were Abbots Priors and Friers in it to the Number of 800 he saith that he denyeth the Authority of this Council not so much for that cause as for this especially because the Doctrine of that Council agreed not with the word of God i e. as he understood this word Thus he who was counted the most Learned of those Bishops concerning the Authority of Councils See like matter in the Discourse between Lord Rich and Mr. Philpot Fox p. 1641. § 63 To proceed These Canons and Definitions I say not of Popes and Pontificians as they were ordinarily then Nick-named but of supposed former lawful Superior Councils were then in just force in Queen Mary's days notwithstanding any abrogation of them made by a National i e. an Inferior Synod See Thesis the Fourth and the Eighth as also was frequently urged against those questioned Bishops See the Examination of Arch Bishop Cranmer Fox p. 1702. where Dr. Story the Queens Commissioner thus objecteth but receives no answer there to it The Canons which be received of all Christendome compel you to answer For altho this Realm of late time thro such Schismaticks as you have exiled and banished the Canons yet that cannot make for you for you know that par in parem nec pars in totum aliquid statuere potest Wherefore this Isle being indeed but a Member of tire whole could not determine against the whole Thus Dr. Story Yet neither in Queen Mary's time could the Authority of a National Synod or an Act of Parliament be pleaded for such an abrogation of the old Canons or Liturgies or Supremacies and the establishment of new because both the Synod and Parliament of this Nation in the beginning of her Reign had pulled down again what those under King Edward and Henry had builded so that those Bishops could not hereupon ground their non-conformity which Argument Dr. Story there also prosecuteth against the Arch-Bishop § 64 Such as these then being the Causes of the Ejection of those Bishops I think it is evidenced And 2â—◠〈◊〉 to the Jâ—â—â— that they were Regularly and Canonically ejected as to the Cause And 2. Next so were they as to the Judge They being condemned as guilty of Heresy 2. or other Irregularities which are mulcted with Deposition and so ejected or also degraded and excommunicated with the greater Excommunication further than which the Ecclesiastical Power did not proceed not by any Secular Court or by the Queen's Commissioners but by those whom the Church hath appointed in the Intervals of Councils the ordinary Judges of Heresy or other Breaches of her Canons Amongst whom the highest Judges are the Patriarchs and above them the first Patriarch of Rome By whose Delegates the more Eminent Persons that were accused of Heresy the Arch-Bishop and the Bishops were here tryed according to the Authority shewed to be due to and to be anciently used by him in Chur. Gov. 1. Part. § 9.20 c and 2. Part § 77 and other Inferior Persons were tryed by the Bishop who was their Ordinary Queen Mary having revived the Statutes repealed by King Henry and Edward concerning the Tryal of Hereticks by the Church's Authority as hath been noted before § 49. The issue of which Tryal by the Church if they found guilty was either Deposition only from their Benefice and Office for Breach of her Canons or also Excommunication excommnnicatione majori and Degradation for Heresy and Opposition of her Definitions hi matters of Faith and so the yielding them up as now by degradation rendred Secular Persons to have inflicted on them by the Secular Power the punishments appointed for such crimes by the Secular Laws as you may see in the Forms of the Condemnation of Cranmer Ridley c Fox p. 1603 and elsewhere and in the Profession of the Bishop of Lincoln to Bishop Ridley Fox p. 1597. All saith he that we may do is to cut you off from the Church for we cannot condemn you to dy as most untruly hath been reported of us c. § 65 As for the burning of such afterward whom the Church first condemns of Heresy To β. it is to be considered Where Concern the buâ—â—ing of those whâ— in Q. Mary days were by the Câ—u condemned of Heresy That the Secular Laws not Ecclesiastical appoint it and the Secular Magistrates not Ecclesiastical execute it Again That Protestant Princes as well as Catholick King Edward King James Queen Elizabeth as well as Queen Mary have thought fit to execute this Law upon Hereticks So in Edward the Sixth's days Joan of Kent Anne Askews Maid who was burnt in Henry the Eighth's days for denying the Real Presence and George Paris were burnt for Hereticks Fox p. 1180 And some other Anabaptists condemned and recanting were enjoined to bear their Faggots See Stow p. 596. And in Henry the Eighth's time Arch-Bishop Cranmer in the Kings presence disputed against Jo. Lambert for denying the Real Presence and the Lord Cromwel pronounced Sentence upon him to be burnt for it Fox p. 1024 1026. And the same Arch-Bishop being as yet only a Lutheran saith Fox p. 1115 prosecuted others upon the same grounds and also in the beginning of King Edward's Reign before that the Protector and his Party appeared much for Zuinglianisme committed to the Counter
more dignified and powerful amongst the Religious are acquainted what Penalties they have incurred and have seen already inflicted on others and that the King as Supream Head of this Church might also depose their Societies alienate and dispose of their Estates as he saw sit to those who would serve God better but that they might one way sooner obtain both security and pardon for their past faults and provision for their future livelihoods if they would rather preventively resign their Foundations and Possessions into the King's hands then stay to have them by his just power taken from them especially since the King on such condition would either to the present Incumbents give other Preferments or allow considerable Pensions equalling their former Income to the unpreferred for their lives And thus many if not all of these greater Foundations having seen already the lesser seized on some persons having fair hopes of being well provided for others of Impunity others also desiring more liberty and weary of the fetters of a Cloistered life especially as restrained by the new Regal Injunctions give-up and make-over their Monasteries and all the Estate belonging thereto under their Hands and Seals to the King and his Heirs for ever And the King again returns yearly a vast summe of Money in Pensions bestowed on the more Eminent of the Monasticks for term of life A many of which Pensions you may see set down in Mr. Fuller 6. l. p. 304. who also ibid. p. 316. makes this Relation how the Monks were tempted with them It was also pressed upon the Monks Fryars and Nuns that they thro their viciousness being obnoxious to the King's anger this i. e. the taking away of their Estates might and would be done without their consent So that it was better for them rebus sic stantibus to make a Vertue of Necessity the rather because this Compliment conduced nothing to the Kings Right on whom the Parliament had already bestowed those Abbey-Lands but might add much to their own advantage as being the way whereby their Pensions might be the more easily procured largely alotted and surely paid unto them Thus He. And thus the Lord Herb. p. 442. to the same purpose Cromwel betwixt Threats Gifts Perswasions Promises and whatsoever might make men obnoxious obtained of the Abbots Priors Abbesses c that their Houses might be given up Among which those that offered their Monasteries freely got best Conditions of the King for if they stood upon their right the Oath of Supremacy and some other Statutes and Injunctions brought them in danger or their Crimes at least made them guilty of the Law which also was quickly executed and particularly on the Abbots of Glassenbury Colchester and Reading who more than any else resisted § 92 When these Lands also were dispersed and disposed-of and this great income spent the King's Necessities being no less argent upon him than formerly nay more he having lately engaged a War with France and Scotland the gleanings as it were of this Harvest which before lay unregarded are now looked after and all the Chaunteries Free-Chappels Colledges except the Universities Fraternities c Dedicated also to such pious uses as neither the King nor Parliament of that time disallowed viz. offering the Holy Eucharist distributing Alms and saying Prayers for the faithful deceased as likewise the advancing of Learning sustenance of the Poor c are thrown into the King's Lap upon pretence of abuses found in these too For which see Statute 37 Hen. 8.4 c. where the reason of giving them away to the King and frustrating the uses for which they were founded is lest the Priests or Governors that enjoyed them should sell them away and frustrate the same uses as some had done already probably for prevention of the Storm they saw coming upon these after the Monasteries as if such faults of the Incumbents were capable of no other cure nor these Lands preservable by Law to the Founders intentions § 93 Now to reflect a little on these Ads of King Henry so odious to the memory of posterity Reflections upon these Preâ—eaces in them he seem many ways void of excuse For 1. First For the King's Necessities many of them seem to be faultily contracted 1. by to say no worse needless expence and because this high-spirited and valiant Prince would needs engage himself as Lord Herb. p. 511. judiciously observes beyond what was requisite and would be an Actor for the most part where he needed only to have been a Spectator And methinks these things do not sute well together to pull down Religious Houses for meer necessity Herbert p. 513. and in such Expeditions to cross the Seas in a Ship trimmed with Sails of Cloth of Gold § 94 Secondly For the Precedent of Cardinal Wolsey 1. 2. There was nothing done in it but what was justifiable by the Ecclesiastical Canons it being lawful in some Cases and on some Conditions for the Supreme Governors amongst Church-men to alienate or rather to transfer from one pious use to another those things which are given to them or being given to God are in his right possessed by them as his Ministers But hence will it riot follow that any Lay tho the Sovereign Power who is not the Receiver or Possessor of such a Gift but rather the Doner for without the King's Consent the Church receives no such Gifts can afterward resume from God and the Church the disposal of it Here I may say as St. Peter Acts 5. 4. Before it was so bestowed by him was it not his own But once so passed away and his Mort-main allowed to it it cannot then be recalled upon any Secular Title But Secondly Suppose the King Heir to all that Supremacy which in these matters the Pope or other Ecclesiastical Persons have formerly exercised yet this Power will not extend to that which the King assumed For the Pope pretends to no such Power as to alienate the Church Revenues for to spend them himself or to dispose of them in what manner or to what Persons he pleaseth but only for some just cause i.e. in a prudential arbitration for an equal or greater Benefit thence accrewing to the Church or Christianity Which also was observed in his concession of those to Cardinal Wolsey in a time when Religious abounded more than Schollars and by that Concession the Church still enjoys them But whither Henry the Eighth's Abbey-lands went and what uses they have served we all know and this some think to the enriching of few but ruine of many Noble Families in this Nation See Dr. Heylin's Hist of Reform of Qu. Mary p. 45. and p. 67 68. § 95 Thirdly Neither were the Vices of those Religious a sufficient ground of overthrowing their Societies and Foundations 3. because the King might have punished ejected changed the Persons without taking away the Houses or Maintenance as is frequently done in all Societies and particularly in Religious Houses abroad unless
Antiquit-Brittan p. 339. And you see by the Testimonies forecited how many suffered for opposing the Kings Injunctions and particularly this new Form of Common-Prayer and how many more of the old Clergy are said to have opposed them in every place where they might hope for impunity insomuch as that this Book in many places was not so much as heard of and how a major part even of the Bishops are by Protestants confessed in their conformity only to have used an ontward compliance and dissimulation Lastly 3. From what they so many as remained of them did immediately after King Edward s time so soon as this Yoke of fear was removed in the entrance of Queen Mary at which time they threw-off their former vizards and plainly renounced not only the rest of the Reformation the fruit but also the Regal Supremacy i. e quoad talia the root Nor could fear when the Sovereign power rechanged ever make them taught by long experience to take up again their former disguise amongst whom the major part of those seven Bishops chosen to compose the new Common-Prayer-Book who survived to Queen Mary's days namely Day Thirlby and Goodrich Skyp Bishop of Hereford and Holbeck Bishop of Lincolne being dead before deserted this new Form and returned again to the Mass And it is probable that some of those Bishops who by Queen Mary were ejected for Marriage some of them even after a Monastick profession conformed themselves likewise to the old Religion because tho they lived here at home in so inquisitive and severe times we find not that they were restrained or proceeded against as Hereticks Such were Holgate Bird Bush c. § 128 Now since such were the inclinations of all or most of King Edward's first Clergy and to be swayed only from the profession thereof by fear no marvel if his Council went about reforming at the first by vertue of the new Supremacy before the calling of any Synod save that wherein Arch-Bishop Cranmer was frustrated of his intentions And Dr. Fern Exam. Champ. 2. c. § 8. makes this Apology for such proceeding That Reformation of Gods worship may be warrantably done without a foregoing Synodical vote where there is just and apparent cause of fearing more danger from the persons which are to be convocated and the times wherein they are to assemble To which purpose saith he sounds that known complaint of Nazianzen That he saw no good end of Councils spoken by reason of the prevailing faction of the Arrians in his time We cannot say the Sovereign Prince is bound in the way of prudence always to receive his directions from a vote in a Synod especially where there is just cause of fear I suppose that he means Fear that the Synod will go contrary to what the Prince thinks to be right but he may have greater reason to ask advice from persons free from the exceptions of factious interests to which the most of them that should meet are apparently obnoxious And saith he how far this was considerable in the beginning of King Edward's Reign i. e till the King had otherwise moulded the Members of the Synod or whether such fear made them forbear to put it at first to a Synodical Vote I cannot say Thus Dr. Fern. § 129 And much-what in the same manner doth Dr. Heylin Eccles Vindic. 2. Par. 5. § p. 82. discourse of King Edward's Reformation to shew you that our modern Writers are not without some apprehension of the neglect of the Church authority in it Which reviving saith he of the ancient Forms of Gods worship rather than the introduction of a new as the King Edward did here in England by his own authority the body of the Clergy not consulted in it so possibly there might be good reason why those who had the conduct of the Kings Affairs thought it not safe to put the managing of the business to a Convocation and then having shewed that such change of Religion would be both against the reputation and profit of the Clergy he goes on So that as well in point of reputation as of profit besides the love which many of them had to their former Mumpsimus it was most probable that such an hard piece of Reformation would not easily down had it been put into the power of a Convocation especially under a Prince in nonage and a State unsettled Thus he As for that which afterward he saith That this was passed by the Bishops when it passed in Parliament the Bishops making the most considerable van of the House of Peers It is answered by what hath been said before § 11. n. 2. And what he saith That all was confirmed by the Clergy on the Post-fact in the Convocation of 1552 sall be answered by and by See likewise what the same Dr. saith on the same subject in 1. Par. 6. § p. 36 where after doubting whether several particulars of King Edward's Reformation were done of the Kings meer motion or by advice of his Council or by Consultation With his Bishops For saith he there is little left upon record of the Convocation of that time more than the Articles of the year 1552 He speaks also of Queen Elizabeth's Reformation done after the same sort Thus also saith he in Queen Elizabeth's time before the new Bishops were well setled and the Queen assured of the affection of her Clergy she went that way to work in the Reformation which her two Predecessors Henry and Edward had done before her in the well ordering of the Church she published her Injunctions c. But when the times were better setled and the first difficulties of her Reign passed over she left Church-work to the disposing of Church-men who by their place and calling were most proper for it and they being met in Convocation did make Canons c. And thus if a Prince according to the Sect which himself and his Council favours may take the liberty with coactive power to reform at the first against his Clergy he within a short time no doubt may securely leave the Church-work to Church-men as the Dr. saith and justify his Reformation by his Clergy that is either changed first or terrified § 130 To χ. To χ. These two I grant differ little 1 The Clergy's first motioning to the King 2. or The King 's first motioning to the Clergy a Reformation of something in Doctrine or Manners so that the Clergy uncompelled or forced by the King establish it before it be enjoyned or imposed on any to be observed But this following differs from the former toto coelo viz. When the King directed by some particular Bishops whom he thinks good to advise with proposeth to the Clergy a Reformation in Doctrine not to be consulted on by them and their judgment to be exhibited to him upon the assent or denyal of a major part of whom as having in these things the legislative power such Reformation may be established or laid aside but to be obeyed and
18. Edward the. p. 184. l. 5. § 194. p. 210. l. 8. § 204. p. 211. l. 10. § 197. p. 215. l. 37. that tho no. p. 226. l. 22. their words ANIMADVERSIONS ON THE EIGHT THESES Laid down and the INFERENCES Deduced from them in a DISCOURSE ENTITL'D Church-Government PART V. Lately Printed at OXFORD They went out from Us because they were not Us for if they had been of Us they would have no doubt have continu'd with Us but they went out that they may be made manifest that they were not all of Us. 1 Joh. 2.19 OXFORD Printed at the THEATER Anno 1687. Imprimatur JO. VENN Vice-Can Oxon. Jun. 2. 1687. To the UNIVERSITY READER THESE Papers neither have nor need any other recommendation then that of the Cause which they maintain They are extorted by the importunity of those Adversaries who have endeavour'd to wound us in all our nearest concerns The Honour of our University the Autority of our Church and the Rights of our Sovereign The Laborious Author of the Discourses spar'd no pains to shake the foundations of our Religion and the designing Publisher has with no inconsiderable expence endeavoured a farther advantage from them by casting a reproach upon these Seminaries of our Education But it is justly hop'd that their designs against the University will prove as successless as their attempts on the Church Of which we know that tho' the Rains descend the Flouds come and the Winds blow yet it cannot fall for it is founded upon a Rock The hopes of our Enemies abroad have been entertain'd and the solicitude of our Friends awaken'd by the news of our Oxford Converts daily flocking into the bosom of the Roman Church But we hope All men are by this time convinc'd that they deserve as little consideration for their Number as they do regard for their accomplishments No one need to be alarm'd at the Desertion of Six or Seven Members who shall consider their dependence on One who by the Magazines which He had stor'd up against Us shews that He has not now first chang'd his Complexion but only let fall the Vizour Nor ought we more to regard the Insinuations of those who tell us of the secret Promises of such as have not openly Profest as having no other ground but the confidence of the Reporters But be it as it will God covers us with his Feathers and under his Wings will We trust We will neither be afraid of the arrow that flieth by day nor for the Pestilence that walketh in darkness But we least of all fear any danger from this praesent attempt of our Author since the Regal power seems engag'd with our Church in one common defence For she is no farther concern'd in this present Controversie then as she is accus'd to have been too great a friend to the Praerogative of the Crown And certainly that Doctrine which invades the just Rights of the Prince can hope but for few Proselytes amongst those who have constantly defended them in their Writings asserted them in their Decrees and upon all occasions vindicated them with their Swords For We do not lie open to the imputation of a condition'd and distinguishing Loyalty who have shew'd our readiness to imitate the glorious examples of our Fathers and were prepar'd had not Gods good Providence prevented our service to have transcrib'd that Copy lately at Sedgmore which they set us formerly at Edge-hill And in truth our steady fidelity to the Prince is so unquestionable that our Enemies have been pleas'd to ridicule what they could not deny and have made Passive Obedience bear a part in our Charactery when the Muse has been inclin'd to Satyr As for our Author and his Theses there is nothing here advanc'd which was not in King Edwards time fully answer'd by Protestant Writers and had he written in Henry the 8th's Reign he might have receiv'd a Reply from a Roman Catholic Convocation So vain is it to urge Us now with the stale pretences of a Forreign Jurisdiction which our Ancestors of the Roman Communion ejected with so Universal a consent and which our Fathers of the Reformation resisted even unto death I mean those Glorious Prelates who here dying seal d the truth of our Religion with their Blood and left it as a Legacy to us their Children by us to be convey'd to the Generations yet to come Animadversions on the Eight Theses c. AS that Person who would prove himself a genuine Son of the Church of England had need of more Sincerity then this Editor shew'd whilst He profest to be of Her Communion so one who has the ambition of appearing a potent Enemy against her had need of greater Strength then he has either produc'd of his own or borrow'd from others since he has been her declar'd Adversary Had he continued still to dissemble his Faith and affected an aequilibrium betwixt both Churches His writings would have been more suitable to such a Character where the attentive Reader will find the Church of England but weakly attacq'd and that of Rome as faintly vindicated But since some Motives have prevail'd with him to assume the Name of another Church as that which he has left has no great cause to lament the loss of such a Member so that which He would seem to have fled to will have little reason to boast that She has gain'd a Proselyte For how plausibly soever He may discourse of Church-Autority He abounds in too great a Plerophory of his own sense to submit himself either to a Convocation at home or Council abroad and altho' he would appear an Enemy to Luther he seems at this very time to be drawing up a novell Scheme of Doctrines and modelling to himself a new Church Hence it is that in one of his Treatises he has deserted the antient Plea of Transubstantiation upon which the Tridentine Fathers founded their Adoration of the Host and from which all the great Champions of that Church have constantly deduc'd it Hence his modifying the Council's Sacramentum into Res Sacramenti his prescinding from the Symbols his certain inferior cult only due to them his stripping them even of the Schoolmens latricall qualified secondary improper accidental co-adoration and such other his abstractive Notions of that Worship as do indeed befit a Nominal Philosopher but have no agreement with the avowed doctrines and practises of the Roman Communion Hence it is that in the Discourse we are now upon We read nothing of the Dominus Deus Papa of the Canonists Nothing of the Vicar of Christ the Holy Apostolick and Infallible See which their former Writers have endeavour'd to establish Jure divino Nothing of the Supreme Pastour Governour and Head of Christ's Church the Successor of S. Peter and other Titles which even our Representers of late whose business it hath been to mollifie have furnish'd us with No not so much as of the modest Bishop of Meaux's Primacy of S. Peter's chair and common Center
then a Church under persecution until Moses was rais'd up by God a Lawful Magistrate over them The cases are alike for all the world No Magistrate did assemble them in Aegypt and good reason why they had none to do it But this was no barr but when Moses arose authoriz'd by God had the Trumpets by God deliver'd to him He might take them keep them use them for that end for which God gave them to assemble the Congregation Shall Moses have no more to do then Pharaoh or Constantine then Nero See also a Field of the Church l. 5. c. 52. Dr Field His Third Thesis is That the Secular Prince cannot b Soave Hist of Conc. Tr. Pag. 77. depose or eject from the exercise of their Office in his Dominions any of the Clergy nor introduce others into the place of the ejected But the Quaestion here is not Whether the Prince can eject any of the Clergy from the Exercise of their Office but Whether he can depose any for not Exercising it While the Clergy faithfully discharge their Office the Prince ought to protect them and if for this they suffer no doubt but they are Martyrs But it is possible they may abuse their power and then it is to be enquir'd Whether Civil Laws may not inhibit them the Vse of it This Author holds the Negative and tells us 1st They cannot eject them at pleasure without giving any cause thereof But he doth not pretend that the Reforming Princes ever ejected any without a Cause given And therefore he adds 2ly Neither may Princes depose them for any Cause which concerns things Spiritual but with this Limitation without the consent of the Clergy I could wish he had here told us what he ment by things Spiritual For things as well as Persons Spiritual are of great Extent d Pope Paul the 3d told the Duke of Mantua that it is the Opinion of the Doctors that Priest's Concubines are of Ecclsiastical Jurisdiction But he gives us his reason for his assertion Because it is necessary that a Judge to be a competent one have as well potestatem in causam as in Personam and the Prince as has been mention'd in the 1st Thesis has no Autority to judge such Causes purely Spiritual Now the power denied to the Prince in the 1st Thesis is to determine matters of Faith But may not the Prince judge whether an Ecclesiastick deserves Deprivation without determining a Matter of Faith May not he judge according to what has been already determin'd by the Church Or may not he appoint such Delegates as can determine matters of Faith Or are all the Causes for which a Clergy-man may be depriv'd merely Spiritual By Virtue of this Thesis he proves the Ejection of the Western Patriarch unlawful pag. 37. Now was not this Matter of Faith already determine by the Clergy Had they not unanimously decreed That he had no more Autority here then any other forreign Bishop And can the King be said here to have acted without the consent of the Clergy And yet that matter of fact is applied to this Thesis As for the Ejection of the Bishops in King Edward's time is not that confest to have been for not acknowledging the Regal Supremacy pag. 70. But this was a matter which wanted no new Determination for the Church-Autority had decided it in their Synod in King Henry's Reign But it is said the Judges were not Canonical as being the King's Commissioners part Clergy part Laity But neither was the cause purely Canonical for denying the Supremacy was not only an infringment of the Canon but also a Violation of an Act of Parliament As for the Bishops Bonner and Gardiner they were accus'd for not asserting the Civil power of the King in his Nonage Nor do they plead Conscience for not doing it but deny the Matter of Fact * Burn. His Ref. part 2. l. 1. p. 127. 165. The same Objections were then made against their Deprivation as are reassum'd by this Author now and therefore it may suffice to return the same answers That the Sentence being only of Deprivation from their Sees it was not so entirely of Ecclesiastical Censure but was of a mix'd nature so that Lay-men might joyn in it since they had taken Commissions from the King for their Bishopricks by which they held them only during the Kings pleasure they could not complain of their Deprivation which was done by the King's Autority Others who look'd farther back remembred that Constantine the Emp. had appointed Secular Men to enquire into some things objected to Bishops who were call'd Cognitores or Triers and such had examin'd the business of Coecilian Bishop of Carthage even upon an Appeal after it had been tried by several Synods and given Judgment against Donatus and his party The same Constantine had also by his Autority put Eustathius out of Antioch Athanasius out of Alexandria and Paul out of Constantinople and though the Orthodox Bishops complain'd of their particulars as done unjustly at the false suggestion of the Arrians yet they did not deny the Autority of the Emperors in such cases Ibid. p. 127. But neither is the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury by this Author allow'd to be a proper Judge that because He did not Act by his Canonical Superiority in the Church but by the Autority he joyntly with the rest receiv'd from the King As if he had ever the less the power of a Metropolitan because He was also the King's Commissioner By this way of arguing the Decrees of Oecumenical Councils will be invalid because they were call'd to determine Controversies by the command of Emperors But how Uncanonical soever King Edward's Bishops are said to have been He does not except against Queen Mary's Bishops tho' they in depriving the Reformed acted by Commission from the Queen As for the Bishops ejected in Q. Elizabeth's time it has been already said it was for a Civil cause i. e. refusing the Oath of Supremacy which why it should be lawful in her Father's time and unlawful in her's why it should be contriv'd by Roman Catholics in that Reign and scrupled by the same Roman Catholics in this Why it should be inoffensive when exprest in larger terms and scandalous when mitigated whence on a sudden the Refusers espied so much Obliquity in that Oath which they had all took before probably either as Bishops or Priests in the reigns of King Henry the 8th and Edward the 6th whence this change of things proceeded unless from secret intimations from Rome or their own Obstinacy will not easily be conjectur'd As for his Note that what is sayd of the other Clergy may be said likewise of the Patriarch for any Autority which he stands posses'd of by such Ecclesiastical Canons as cannot justly be pretended to do any wrong to the Civil Government He has been often told by our Authors that Patriarchs are an Humane Institution That as they were erected so they
London b Lord Herbert p. 402. Being afterwards made Bishop of Duresme he was sent with others to perswade Katherine to acquiesce in the Divorce he us'd several Arguments to convince her of the justice of it She urging his former Opinion in favour of her cause he replyed that he had only pleaded for the amplitude and fulness of the Bull but that the Consummation of the former Marriage had now been judicially prov'd the second Marriage declar'd by the Sentences of the Universities incestuous and contrary to the Law of God and therefore by the Pope's Bull however ample indispensable Which is a Demonstration against what this Author asserts that Tonstal was one who justified the second Marriage tho' the former had been Consummate Sanders his diligence in reckoning up those who wrote for the Queen's cause we do not question but we much doubt his Veracity It requir'd an extraordinary diligence to find a book written by a c Sand. p. 53. Bishop of Bristol 13 Years before ever there was such a Bishop-rick But should we grant Sanders's full tale of almost twenty these are neither to be compar'd in Number nor Autority with those who wrote against it An d Burn. Hist V. 1. p. 106. hundred books were shewn in Parliament written for the Divorce by Divines and Lawyers beyond Sea besides the Determinations of twelve the most celebrated Universities of Europe To which might have been added the e See the Abstract of what was written for the Divorce Burn. V. 1. p. 97. Testimonies of the Greek and Latin Fathers the Opinions of the Scool-men the Autority of the Infallible Pope who in our Author's Introduction granted a Bull of Divorce and the Sentence of one more Infallible then He the a Lev. 18.16 and c. 20.21 Author of the Pentateuch This was agreed on all sides that Papa non habet potestatem dispensandi in impedimentis jure divino naturali conjugium dirimentibus sed in iis quae jure Canonico tantum dirimunt This was not so Universally agreed as our Author would perswade us for those b Burn. Hist Vol. 1. p. 103. who wrote for the Queen's Cause pleaded that the Pope's power of dispencing did reach farther then to the Laws of the Church even to the Laws of God for he dayly dispenced with the breaking of Oaths and Vows tho' that was expresly contrary to the c With us the third second Commandment And when the Question was debated in the Convocation One d Id. ibid. p. 129. voted the Prohibition to be Moral but yet Dispensable Others gather'd the Law in Levit. 18.16 dispensable in some cases from the express Dispensation made therein Deut. 25.5 But on the other side it was then answer'd e Ibid. p. 105. that the Provision about marrying the Brother's Wife only proves the ground of the Law is not in it's own Nature immutable but may be dispensed with by God in some cases but because Moses did it by divine Revelation it does not follow that the Pope can do it by his Ordinary Autority For the general Judgment of the Learned and particularly for the Vniversities after you have read the Story in Sanders concerning them and especially concerning Oxford as likewise what is said by Lord Herbert See what the Act of Parliament 1º Mariae saith of them What the general judgment of the Learned was has been intimated already What were the Sentiments of the Vniversities will best be learnt from their solemn Determinations After I have read the Story in Sanders concerning them and especially concerning Oxford I am very well satisfied that I have been abus'd and that the rather when I see what is said by Lord Herbert a Lord Herbert p. 352. who on purpose publishes an Original Instrument to confute the lie of Sanders who had call'd the Resolution of our Universities in a sort surreptitious As for the Act of Queen Mary it was the Act of a Queen in her own cause and the 25 Hen. 8.22 c. is as great a proof of the Lawfulness of the Divorce as this is of the Unlawfulness of it What censures were past upon this Act when made may be seen in b Burn. Hist V. 2. p. 254. Dr. Burnet The Act mentioning certain bare and untrue conjectures upon which Archbishop Cranmer founded his sentence of Divorce This Author will have these relate to the consummation of the Marriage of Katherine with Arthur But this is but a bare conjecture of his and very probably untrue For Cranmer c See the Abstract of the grounds of the Divorce Burn. V. 1. Coll. p. 95. thinking the Marriage of a Brother's Wife unlawful and the Essence of all Marriage to consist not in the carnalis copula but in the conjugal pact might upon these Principles conclude the Marriage with Henry unlawful tho' that with Arthur had been prov'd not consummate and therefore need not build on any conjectures concerning the Consummation Tho' had he founded his judgment upon that supposition It if I may so speak with due reverence to an Act of Parliament was neither a bare conjecture nor untrue As for the Hesitancy of the German-Protestant Divines to declare the Divorce lawful I cannot conceive why it is urg'd by this Author who certainly doth not prefer the Judgment of these Protestant-Doctors to the contrary Determination of the Roman-Catholic Universities It has been observ'd upon this Author's writings that he is no great Friend of either Communion of which We have here a very good Confirmation when to prove the illegality of K. Henry's Divorce he declines the Autority of the Roman-Catholic Universities as Mercenary and appeals to the German Divines whom he will have to be of his Opinion Now what can be a greater blemish to the Roman Communion then that those great Bodies which may justly be suppos'd it's greatest Strength should so cheaply barter away their Consciences Or what more Honourable testimony given to the Leaders of the Reformation then that their judgment should be appeal'd to in an instance which makes it appear that their Integrity could not be so far sway'd by the prospect of a common reform'd Interest as their Adversaries are said to have been by the scandalous temptations of a Bribe But this is not a single instance how much more he regards his Hypothesis then the honour of his Communion Thus below § 122 to prove that King Edward's Reformation was not Universal he accuses those Clergy that did comply of Hypocrisy and to shew there were some non-complyers he instances in the frequent Rebellions of the Romanists which he saith would not have been had they not been justified to them by the Clergy The most bitter Adversary to the Church of Rome would wish her such Advocates I have made this Digression to shew you the diversity of Opinions which was in this difficult Matter that you may see the Pope stood not alone in his judgment and how the several Interests
of several times justified and condemn'd the same thing I am very well convinc'd tho' not from our Author's proof that the Pope stood not alone in his judgment For certainly He that holds both sides of a Contradiction cannot be singular in his Opinion The Pope judg'd for the Divorce in the 17th Paragraph when the Dispensation was procur'd from him but here in the 19th he judges against it But our Author mistakes that Pope's Character when he represents him as passing Sentence according to the merits of the Cause it being certain that in this whole procedure He acted by no other Principles then his Passions or Interest And therefore this Author observes a greater Decorum when telling us in the same Page that the King had now no hopes of obtaining a Divorce from the Pope he does not pretend the Reason to have been because the Pope was convinc'd of the Unlawfulness of it but because at the same time he stood much in aw of the Emperor victorious in Italy and a near Kinsman and Favourer of Queen Katherine He needed not therefore to have instanc'd in the different Opinions of diverse Men since the actings of the Pope alone would sufficiently have convinc'd us that the several Interests of several times justifi'd and condemn'd the same thing Now to return to our Matter in hand So that it seems he has digress'd for 2 Pages to no other purpose then to shew that his Paratheses are of the same Stamp with his Parentheses The aforesaid Summ of 100000 l spent upon the Vniversities abroad c. This is again a transcript from Dr. Bailie and I need say no worse of it § 20 The King he saith excepted at the Limitation of Quantum per legem Christi licet in the Title given him by the Clergy and so at last upon renew'd threats this Clause also was procur'd to be omitted See Antiquit. Britannic The Author knew or might have known that the Author of the Antiquities was in this mistaken For Dr. Burnet a Hist V. 1. p. 112. from the Cabala p. 244. has upon this passage in A. Bp. Parker observ'd that King Henry when the Province of York demurr'd upon granting the King the Title of Head as improper in his Answer to them urges that Words are not always understood in the strictest Sense and mentions the Explanation made in the Province of Canterbury that it was in so far as is agreeable with the Law of Christ Accordingly it is represented as pass'd with this Qualification by our other b Herbert p. 348. Full. Eccl. Hist Book 5. p. 184. Dr. Heylin Ref. Justif § 2. Historians He refers us again to Dr. Bailie But the Reader I presume has had enough of him already The excluding the Patriarch is he saith contrary to his 4th Thesis It is pity these Theses were not written in the last Century for the Use of those Roman-Catholics who excluded the Pope They could find no grounds for the Papal Autority from Scripture Antiquity or Reason but they might perhaps have been convinc'd from our Author's Theses which are an Autority distinct to all those This Paragraph concludes with the mangled Citation from Dr. Hammond which has already been animadverted on and is a sore which if I do not here again touch upon it is because I would not gall him too much Cranmer is said to have divorc'd the King from Q. Katherine after he had excluded the Pope's Autority out of his Dominions § 22 The Divorce c Burn. V. 1. p. 131. compar'd with p. 144. was pronounc'd in May 1533 and the Extinguishing Act did not pass till March following Cranmer in the Sentence is call'd Legate of the Apostolic See By this Instance it is plain how implicitely our Author follows a Sand p. 73. Sanders in his Chronology as well as History Warham a favourer of the Queen's cause b Sand. p. 55. Varamus qui summo studio Reginae partes adjuverat saith Sanders This favourer of the Queen's Cause when the Marriage was first propos'd c Burn. V. 1. p. 35. declar'd it was contrary to the Law of God He induc'd d Ibid. p. 36. the e Hen. the 8th Prince when of Age to enter his Protestation against it f Ibid. p. 38. He subscrib'd and perswaded the other Bishops to subscribe to the unlawfulness of it He earnestly prest Fisher to concurr and upon Refusal made another set that Bishop's Name and Seal to the Resolution of the other Bishops These are some of the favours which Warham shew'd to the Queen's Cause § 23 The Clergy having declar'd the King Supreme Head of the Church it seem'd reasonable that no Acts of the Church should stand good without the concurrence of the Head This is a wild and senseless Calumny the C. of England thinks no Acts which are purely Spiritual want the King's concurrence her Sacraments and her Censures she esteems valid independently on all humane Autority her Charter she derives immediately from Christ The Clergy did indeed bind themselves not to promulge and execute any Canons without the King's leave but the execution of which they abridg themselves is such as hath influence on the Civil Rights of the Subject and therefore necessarily requir'd the concurrence of the Supreme Civil power He cites from Dr. Heylin an Answer made by Gardiner and allow'd by the Convocation to a Parliamentary Remonstrance But either my a Reform Just in the Historical Tracts Edit Lond. 1681. Edition of Heylin or which I am the rather apt to think from the infidelity of his other citations this Author deceives me The next Paragraph descants upon the request of the Clergy that the Laws Ecclesiastical might be review'd by 32 Commissioners § 24 This he complains was never sufficiently weigh'd by Dr. Heylin Dr. Hammond nor Dr. Fern. The business of those Advocates was to defend the Reformation and it is one of our Author 's pertinent remarks that they did not meddle with what was not reform'd The Reformation of the Canons was a design of which Nothing worse can be said than that it did not take effect If it trouble him that Canons contrary to the King's Prerogative Laws of the Land good of the Subject and Laws of God should be reform'd no Honest man can pity him If he quarrels with the competency of the Reviewers that has been spoke to by the b Animadv p. 36. Animadverter If by Canons Synodal he will understand the Constitutions of any other Synods but those of this Nation it is out of his wonted pride to outface the Statutes For the c Forasmuch as such Canons Constitutions and ordinances as heretofore have been made by the Clergy of this Realm cannot now be view'd examin'd and determin'd by the King 's Highness and the 32 Persons according to the Petition of the Clergy 25. Hen. 8.19 c. Act expresly limits the Review to those Canons which had been enacted by English Synods and had no
but I know not of any Henrician Creed incorporated into our Faith The Romanists have a Creed Younger by some Years then King Henry but nothing is a part of our Faith but what sprung up with Infant-Christianity It is therefore a wild Inference that because we own the King to be Supreme Head of the Church therefore We make the Christian Religion mutable Did we make Acts of Parliament the Rule of our Faith there would be ground for such an Objection For then an Article of Faith might be enacted and repeal'd at pleasure and He who was Orthodox in one Session might become an Heretic in the next But Scripture is the Rule of our Faith a Rule like it's Author unchangeable the same yesterday to day and for ever The Christian indeed is obnoxious to the power of the Prince but Christianity is without the reach of his Sword Nor has the King this influence over the external profession of Religion as he is the Ecclesiastical Head but as he is the Civil Supreme God has intrusted him as such with the power of the Sword with a command indeed to use it for the protection of the true Religion but with a natural liberty still of using it for the Protection of a false This Author I confess has a remedy against this namely some Temporal coactive power lodg'd in the Pope in order to dissolve upon Occasion the coactive power of the Prince But we do not envy him this Catholicon against Innovation Passive Obedience is our Principle and if this renders the legal Establishment of our Religion more obnoxious to the pleasure of the Civil Magistrate Yet it better secures our common Christianity Q. Mary therefore may repeal King Edward's Laws but unless she could repeal Christ's Law too Ridley's and Latimer's Religion will still be the same The only difference is that the Faith which before they defended from the Pulpit they now more effectually propagate at the Stake To conclude this point whilst Princes have the power of the Sword and Subjects are oblig'd to Non-resistance the Supreme Governor will have an influence over the outward State of Religion and He that complains of this repines against the Methods of God's providence It is no blemish therefore on the Reform'd Religion which is here dwelt upon by this Author that it went forward or backward under King Henry according as his different passions or Interests inclin'd him Whilst Q. Ann liv'd it had indifferent success saith Fox Here then saith our witty Observer the Supreme Head of the Church was directed by a Woman and manag'd the Affairs of Religion accordingly Now admitting this were a truth which had escap'd him Yet the curious Editor I doubt not amongst his Collections has met with a Medal representing Donna Olympia with the Pope's Mitre on her Head and St. Peter's Keys in her Hands and on the Reverse the Pope with his Head drest like a Lady and a Spindle in his hand Be it also true that Cromwel a Laic had the total management of Ecclesiastical affairs under King Henry Yet any one Who is conversant in History knows that the administration of the Popedom has been in the Hands of more obnoxious Favourites § 86 What is said in the next Paragraph is not of more moment here then when first mention'd in Paragraph the 19th § 87 By Virtue of such Supremacy he took Possession of all the Monasteries and Religious Houses Our prolix Author who never spares his own Labour or his Reader 's Patience has enlarg'd upon this point for 12 Paragraphs and is very copious against Sacrilege But I do not see how our Cause is concern'd in this charge Avarice and Sacrilege are as great Sins in our Homilies as they are in the Popish Canons and Cranmer and Ridley were as severe against robbing the Church as this Declaimer We are no more concern'd to defend King Henry's rapines then the Lusts some have charged him with Were the Suppression of Abbies as great a crime as it is here under false colours represented I do not see why we are more oblig'd to plead in it's favour than this Writer would think himself bound because he asserts the power of the Roman Patriarch to justifie the foul and unparallel'd enormities of those who have sat in St. Peter's chair But were the dissolution of Monasteries represented impartially it would be easie were it necessary to give it a fair appearance and it must be at last confest that the fault of King Henry was not so much in taking away those foundations of Superstition as in not applying all the Revenues as he did some and had done more if the Reformers had had more Influence over him to Uses truly Religious By Virtue of such a Supremacy he made orders and gave Dispensations in matters of Marriage §. 99.100 of Fasts of Holydays of Election and Consecration of Bishops and Challeng'd a power of abrogating several other Ceremonies It ought to have been shewn that any Constitutions concerning these did ever oblige us but such as either were made and ordained within this Realm or such other as were induced into the Realm by sufferance consent and custom for until this Proposition laid down in the Statute a 25. of Hen. 8.27 c. be disprov'd the Assumption there that the State hath power to dispence with it's own Laws will be unshaken Ecclesiastical Canons with this Author is another expression for Papal Decrees the Autority therefore which supported them being justly taken away it is no wonder if they fell with it Amongst the Rites which King Henry commands to be observ'd till he shall be pleas'd to alter them Fox reckons paying of Tithes Where this Annotator observes that Tithes are here conceiv'd to be in the disposal of the Supreme Head of the English Church Now whether King Henry thought Tithes to be jure divino or not doth not concern the Reformation But what is here said of payment of Tithes doth not prove that he thought them alienable from the Clergy For he might by his Laws regulate the payment of them tho' he did not think them disposable in this Author's sense Several Statutes were made in his Reign for the better securing this Right of the Clergy In them a 27. Hen. 8. c. 20. Tithes are said to be due to God and the Church the detainers of them to have no regard of their b 32. Hen. 8. c. 7. duties to Almighty God And the c Ref. Leg. Tit. de Decimis cap. 1. Reformatio legum derives the Clergy's original right to them from the Laws of Christ § 101 By Virtue of such Supremacy he without any consent of the Clergy by his Vice-gerent Cromwel order'd that English Bibles should be provided and put in every Church The translation of the Bible was petition'd by the 2 d Bur. V. 1. p. 195. Houses of Convocation and the publication of it was included in that request This Act therefore had the consent of the
Sword And least it be thought that in this subscription he was over-rul'd by a majority in a c Bur. V. 2. p. 71. Work which was wholly his own without the concurrence of any other He sets forth their Divine Institution Posterity saith our Commentator might have done better to have cover'd this Nakedness of their forefather then to have publish'd it after so great Silence A caution this of great use to the Followers of Ignatius and Francis but till we come to draw Parallels betwixt Cranmer and our Saviour we shall not be asham'd to own in him the frailties of a Man § 106 King Edward sent out Injunctions in matters of Religion True And these contrary to the Decrees of former Obliging Councils Which till the four former parts of Church-Government are publish'd I may safely deny Without the consent of a Synod the Act of which only has force in such Matters This has been said often but never yet attempted to be prov'd § 107 He next presents us with a summary of the King's proceedings from Fox but according to his usual method very much interpolated Men of Learning were sent for from forreign Countries saith Fox Which argues scarcity at home of those Clergy who would second the King's Reformation saith the Comment After his rate of arguing very possibly it may men of great Learning say Travellers are at this time great rarities in some Popish Countries Yet my Logick gives me no encouragement to argue that in those places there is a scarcity of Popish Clergy Among those sent for saith Fox were Peter Martyr Martin Bucer and Paulus Fagius He might have added saith the Parathesis Bernardus Ochinus Had he been as much delighted in adding as we find this Church-Governor he no doubt would have added it But Mr. Fox very probably had not read that Ochinus was sent for and therefore besides other reasons made Conscience of saying it Martyr taught at Oxford Bucer and Fagius at Cambridge saith Fox Sure saith our Author not because the Vniversities were not held so Learned but because they were not counted so Orthodox Very sure it is that a composition of both was requir'd and it is no wonder if in the very dawnings of Reformation Persons so qualified were very rare Fox addeth And that with no small commendation of the whole University The Author puts in not without opposition of many Learned Men there and recommends to our Reading when at leisure the rational arguings of Mr. Glyn Mr. Langdale and others against the Reformers How rational their arguings are he that is at leisure may consider but this Writer has given us such a Specimen of his own that I doubt his Judgment will little recommend them But since he has impos'd this task upon us I hope by way of return he will be pleas'd to peruse the Dialogue between Custom and Veritie which immediatly follows that part of Fox which he has assign'd us As for the Oxford oppositions Peter Martyr's relation is perhaps not the most impartial And some may say our Church-Governor is perhaps not the most Honest For if by this scrupulosity of Expression he would insinuate that Martyr was partial this is a Calumny borrow'd from Sanders and replied to by his a Bur. V. 2. App. p. 394. Confuter You may find in his Opponents Tresham Chadsey and Morgan much Learning Reverence to the Church and zeal in their Cause I have not the Relation by me and therefore can pass no judgment on this Learned Triumvirate But as for Tresham we have a Specimen in Fox b Fox p. 1475. how great a Talent he was Master of in disputing Being Pro-Sub-Dean of Christ-Church he call'd all the Students together and recommended Popery to them upon these convincing grounds 1st He urg'd that there were a goodly company of Copes that were appointed to Windsor but he had found the Queen so gracious to him that they should come to Christ-Church Now if they like honest men would come to Mass they should wear them on Holy-days A second motive was that he would get them the Lady-Bell of Bampton and that should make the sweetest ring in all England The third was that as for an Holy-Water-Sprinkle he had allready the fairest within this Realm He thought therefore no man would be so mad as to forego these commodities It may be needless to remark to the Gentle-men of that Foundation that our Adversaries are still the same dangerous Orators and therefore if any should have irrecoverably engag'd his Affections to a pretty pair of Beads or set his heart immoderately upon the great Bell it concerns him to have a guard upon himself The Author having muster'd up the Bishops ejected in King Edward's days adds Pate Bishop of Rochester Goldwel Bishop of St. Asaph Bishop elect of Bangor are said to have been Banish'd If the Author was Jesuite enough to say this to himself before he wrote it he may come off If not it will prove a most unconscionable Gasconade Pate a Godw. Catal. of Bishops in Worcester Bur. V. 2. p. 324. was never Bishop of Rochester but of Worcester he was not Banish'd but Fled and this not in King Edward's time but in King Henry's So here was multum in parvo Goldwell b Heylin's History p. 224. was not Bishop of St. Asaph nor any other Bishop till A. 1555. which was in Q. Mary's time and therefore it was an unreasonable Prolepsis to make him one of the exil'd Bishops in King Edward's time Anonymus Long-stroke Bishop Elect of Bangor is one of our Author 's own Creation Some more he saith might be remov'd in like Manner who happen not to be mention'd because deceas'd before the Reign of Q. Mary as Wakeman Bishop of Glocester Holbeck Bishop of Lincoln Skyp Bishop of Hereford Rugg Bishop of Norwich No doubt they might have been if this Church-Governor had pleas'd for never Committee-man ejected more arbitrarily then he But that they actually were not remov'd we have these good reasons to think The ejection of Bishops is particularly insisted on by our Historians but these Bishops make none of the number All these Bishops do happen to be mention'd not as depriv'd but deceas'd Tho' their Deprivation had deserv'd mentioning as well as their Death c Burn. V. 2. p. 152. Heylin's Hist p 90. Wakeman dyed in Dec. 1549. d Burn. V. 2. p. 203. Heylin's Hist p. 129. Holbeck in August 1551. e Burn. V. 2. p. 218. Skyp in the Year 1552. Rugg dyed in the Year 1550 according to f Godwin's Catalogue in Norwich Godwin Dr. Burnet g Burn. V. 2. p. 150. call's him Reps and saith heresign'd So that what our Author has inserted here de proprio is like to be lookt upon as one continu'd Forgery The next two Paragraphs have more truth in them §. 108.109 being transcrib'd from Fox But the Proclamation inhibiting the whole Clergy to preach cited from Fuller is question'd by