profit of the difference and laugh at the follies and credulity of the appellants The Supremacy of the King in all Causes and over all Persons as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal being that which hath been learnedly evinced by our Writers and is solemnly recogniz'd every day in Gods presence in Prayers and Oaths according to the settlement of our Laws by the Wisdom of the Nation But though this inside of the Church be properly Secular and Temporal because visible yet the Secular Causes which belong to the determinations of Christian Secular Authorities are well and orderly distinguishable into Ecclesiastical and Christian or Temporal and Civill as the whole Commonwealth may be considered either as a Society of men or a Society of Christian men or Church In the first respect as men all are Subject to their own Kings and Laws in matters of life limb and property whether they be Christian or Holy or Heathen and Antichristian as they were before Christ came into into the World and must be to the Worlds end For Magistracy is Gods Ordinance whom all men therefore are to be subject to from the heart which alwayes attends what God appoints though manag'd by a Claudius who was weak and infamously credulous or Nero who for his cruelty was believed by many to be Antichrist for to such the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul command obedience and subjection not only for fear of wrath and power but for Conscience sake and the fear of God Rom. 13.5 1 Pet. 2.14 16. For they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Rom. 13.2 Yet on this undoubted unforfeitable right of Earthly Kings and Governours according to their several Constitutions by the Laws of their Kingdoms the Pope like a fift Monarch hath ever and still doth affect and design new incroachments as before upon the King of Heaven and spiritual pretences of Superiority Not only by exempting his Subjects and Clergy from secular subjection assuming to be the mother of the Child that 's not her own but also through his Emissaries and influence in the time of his Reign and Power in bringing the Lives of Subjects to the Stake and their States into Forfeiture from their Posterity for Opinions and the Heads and Crowns of Kings themselves to the like danger for the like insufficient cause Absolving Subjects of their Allegiance which Christ binds on every Soul and leading them into perjury and Rebellion which God forbids and damns being not only Traytors against Heaven and Earth therein but which is infinitly worse Traitor-makers as Satan is worse than a sinner and as many Traitor-makers by their Doctrine and what lyes in them as there are Subjects or Polls in any Kingdom they would absolve and seduce Which made the Nation joyn unanimously against their methods not only by Acts of Treason since the Reformation but of premunire long before A very Apostolical and comely deportment in a chief Professor of Christian Holiness and vertue that he and his Missionaries should deserve to be thrust and shoulder'd out like Pests by a wise and a Religious people and their Friends and the door made fast against them with the strongest Barricadoes that could be thought of Hanging and Drawing and Quartering Yea many of his own Confessors and Martyrs our Native Roman-Catholicks to this day who sincerely adhere to all his other Doctrines though Flead Alive with penalties and inconveniences for it yet disclaim and desert his infallible guidance in this particular and would be ready to venter Lives and Fortunes for their Laws and Countrey against any Invasion of the Land though countenanc'd or authoriz'd by the Pope for though such Loyalty be looked upon at Rome with an evil eye as hath lately appeared in the Irish Excommunications for the like principle and profession of Allegiance yet they are resolved to be true to their King let who will call them Hereticks for being honest Subjects And this their Resolution must be grounded either upon Policy or vain glory to avoid the danger as well as the Infamy of Rebellious principles or upon Conscience to God which only is true honour I am apt if I do no wrong to believe the last and to acknowledge and own all such by Consequence as true English Protestants as any in our own Church for preferring Conscience before the Pope which as I have proved is the chief point in difference between Papists and Protestants And the rather if they deal alike with the rest of their opinions which set us at distance from one another by the same rule which if it be good and right must hold in the rest as well as this dismissing all other Tenets that are excepted against and have no support from God or Conscience or the Scripture but the bare Authority of the Pontifical Chair For being so dangerously and perfidiously deceived while trusting to its judgement and of right interpreting in a case so evident and plain and Important as Neck and Estate and Salvation can amount to If they will suffer themselves again to be over-rul'd to differ from their Brethren upon no reason of Conscience but this bare Authority alone whereof they have had tryal of its fidelity and the old sophisme of believing as that Church believes This cannot be counted worthy and filial piety and well weighed Religion in them but a negligent unadvisedness equivalent to plain fault and folly especially there being present suffering and future hazard in the Case according to the known Proverb The Friend that deceives me once it is his fault twice it is my own All differences in our Religion being thus easily compos'd between us if they stand constant to their good principle throughout its consequences as reason binds them to and there will be no reason else to believe or trust their Loyalty what a day of bliss would it be to them and us to go hand in hand together like Christian as well as English brethren to their Churches and ours what peace to themselves in their concerns both within and without what tears of joy would it cause in their Protestant Tenants and dependants who would willingly resigne their lives to see that blessed day what acclamation and bone-fire throughout the Nation for the restoration of its strength and Union what Ecchoes and Halelujahs amongst the Angels of Heaven that delight in mens Salvation and return from Errour But should they offer to make themselves and us and the Nation happy with such a Festival How must they expect to be well lash'd for this by their Old Friends for Hereticks and Schismaticks and Apostates from the Holy See besides the ignobleness of changing and being unconstant to which I shall not now reply But those of them that through Gods Grace assisting them nowithstanding such discouragements and obstacles that will be leaders and examples to their brethren in such paths of Peace and Life and count it Glory and magnanimity to adhere to truth through shame and calumny and but an Heathenish
obedience and submission to Heathen Magistrates do command the same much more to Christian And manifestly condemn the Pope as Antichristian in denying it And as in the World or the Kingdom of God they were Gods Deacons or Liturgists as they are stiled Rom. 13.4 6. or his Ministers for the encouragement and discouragement of Vertue and Vice v. 4. So in the Church or the Kingdom of Christ they are Christs Ministers to serve him with their Authorities in maintenance of Holiness and Order which is vertue in its highest degree and extirpation of Scandals which is Vice and Confusion under greatest aggravation Which trust and supremacy they bore in the Church of God in all Ages under all dispensations in Old Israel or the Jewish Church and New Israel or the Christian Gal. 6.16 For so Aaron gave place to Moses and Nathan though inspir'd counts himself but the servant of his King nevertheless bowing himself with his face to the ground when he came into his presence as his deportment is recorded not for naught by the Spirit of God 1 King 1.23 27. And such was the power and influence of the Kings of Israel in matters Ecclesiastical that the whole state and face of the present Church and the fate and destiny of the land it self is usually comprised by Scripture in one word in the Character of the Kings heart that reigned whether it was right with God or not When it sayes that such and such Kings did that which is good or that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and what was like to follow from such example for no face or figure of Heaven can be more benigne or fortunate No Comet so portending and ill boding to a Nation as a wakeful or a supine Prince in Mercy or Judgment appointed over it that eyes all himself in his Charge or trusts too far to others The Prince is the first and Master wheel even in the Church that gives motion and Order to all the rest all will be at a stand or out of order when this is He is the Architect in the building and ordering both of Tabernacle and Temple according to his Pattern from God he sets all to their proper work and erects and dedicates both the one and the other and places Aaron and Levi in their several Stations each one afterwards to look to their own work and duties of Instructing Sacrificing attoning interceding that God may dwell in the Camp or State as the Life and Soul and Strength there of And their care of Gods Church was not a free will Offering or a generous work of Super-erogation in the Kings of Israel which was their praise and honour to mind and attend and not their guilt to neglect and leave to others but it was the principal indispensable point of their trust and charge For Old Israel might be said to be more a Church than a Kingdom being the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lot and Inheritance the Clergy or spiritual Kingdom of God The rest of the Heathen World being revolted from him and kept in slavery under the Prince of the power of the Air Ephes 2.2 And therefore the Governour of such a Nation was more the head of a Church than the King of a Countrey being truly both the one and the other the one supremacy being common to every Heathen Prince but the other proper and peculiar to Rulers in Israel For God himself by particular condescention was King of Israel 1 King 8.7 And men came to be Kings by his permission and allowance as his Vicars and Lieutenants to maintain his Worship and Honour wherein the peoples happiness as well as their Prerogative did consist In the World he was the best and completest Prince that had most of the Councellor or Captain in him to suppress all disorder and violence at home by Laws and all invasions and dangers from abroad by Arms and Courage But in Israel he was the best King that had most of the Priest and Bishop in him to win God of his side They conquered their enemies in the field then best when they served God best at home Their Victories and Successes depended not so much upon their Bow and Chariot or the Conduct of their Generals or the Courage and Number of their men as upon having the Lord of Hosts on their side to go along with their Armies which Blasphemous Lives never had the Happiness to procure that Rule of our Saviour that directs how to prosper in the World being true as well before as since his coming But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Rightousness and all things shall be added unto you Mat. 6.33 For it was their sins that gave valour and prevalence to their enemies and despondency to themselves Then was there War in the gate when they sought after new Gods Jud. 5.8 The children of Ephraim carrying Bowes turn'd their backs in the day of Battel because they kept not the Covenant of God Psal 79.9 And it was their Piety and Repentance made them miraculously Victorious when over-match'd Yea the Heathen Historian observes and confesses the like touching the Roman Empire that its progress and success was founded in sincere zeal for their Gods as its decayes and overthrow to arise from profane remissness and easie Luxury Upon good reasons therefore as well of Conscience and Equity to approve themselves Faithful and Loyal to Gods Honour and Interest to whom Kings are immediate Subjects as they expected the like Fidedelity and Loyalty from their people appointed to be their Subjects as of publick wel-fare and prosâ—erity to their Nation obliging Arguments with riâ—ht Princely dispositions We find the best Kings of Israel and even Heathen Kings when sober chiefly to imploy their Royal Authority and Power about matters Ecclesiastical to suppress Idolatry to reform Abuses to settle wholesom Laws and Fences about Doctrine Worship and Discipline in Gods Church To put down high places Groves Idolatrous Altars Sodomites-houses and all strange Religion as did Josia 2 Kings 23.4 5 6 7. And other Kings to break in pieces the Brasen Serpenâ— though made by Moses when abused to Idolatry as did Hezechia 2 King 18.4 To send able Teachers throughout the Land as did Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 2.8 to Dedicate and Repaire and Purifie the Temple as did Solomon 1 King 8.29.6 and Joash 2 Chron. 24.4 and Hezechia 2 Chron. 5. To institute the Feast for the Dedication of the Temple as did the Macchabees 1 Macch. 4.56.59 which our Saviour honour'd with his presence Joh. 10.22 To restore the celebrating of the Passoever to its Ancient Rite 2 King 22.21 To appoint a Faâ—r to save his Nation as did the King of Niniveh with success Jon. 3.7 10. To decree Blaspheming Hectors to be cut in pieces as did the King of Babylon when converted Dan. 3.29 To appoint Judges in Causes Ecclesiastical as well as Temporal 2 Chron. 19.8 Amaria the Chief Priest in all matters of the Lord and Zebadia the Ruler of the house of Juda for all the Kings matters
Usher 1129. Hist Britt l. 8. c. 8. Ubbo Emmius l. 3. p. 107. Emrys or Aurelius Ambrosius before him Here that Archbishop had his Residence that sent seven of his suffragan Bishops to meet the said Augustine near Worcester to defend their Brittish rights and Customes against Rome's Invasion Neither is Cressy's exception against the Welsh Epistle in Sir H. Spelman of any validity because it mentions the Archbishop of Caerleon to be their proper Superiour when as at this time saith he the See was at St. David and not at Caerleon c Usher p. 1132. p. 83. Quanquam ipsius Augustini temporibus inurbe Legionum sedem Archiepiscopatûs adhuc haesisse cum ab aliis tum ab Authore Chronici quod Brutus appellatur proditum inveniam unde ijdem Legionenses Menevenses Antistites Giraldo because though it were it was still the same See and the names were promiscuously us'd and there is nothing in that Epistle but what is in effect contain'd in the Narrations of Bede and Geoffrey of Monmouth who is no where more fabulous than for the Interest of Rome or the discredit of our Brittish Worthyes and both Authors appear more their Friends than ours And where Geoffrey Stiles Dubritius without any colour of Truth Britanniae Primas Apostolicae sedis legatus The Pope's Legate and Primate of Brittain though it was as absurd then as to fancy General Montecuculi now to be a Turkish Bashaw yet it serves very well to confirm that this Archbishop of Caerleon was the undoubted Primate at that time and not York or London because Lyes and Legends that expect any belief are ever fastned to some Truth And there this Primacy continued amongst the Brittians till sometime after the Norman Conquest But if the Question be of right Where the Primacy of Brittain ought of right to be and to be by all right English and Brittish-Christians obeyed from the heart as unto Christ The Resolution is far more easie For this Church may be considered as to its Inside or the heart and inward man or the Outside or its outward man As to the first the Primacy is solely in Heaven the heart being subject to no Pope nor Prelate but to Christ alone and to all lawful Governours for his sake Neither is this Primacy local or confin'd and limited to any place on earth either Rome or Canterbury as neither is the Soul or its thoughts but in all places of Europe and Asia Africa and America we are to obey and follow Christ the Soveraign of the Soul before any other whatsoever God before man Conscience before Interest Truth before Authority the Laws of God befere the Doctrines of men Duty before Fancy Honesty before Advantage Heaven before Earth and Everlasting Concernments before any Temporal whatsoever But if the Church be considered in its Outside the Case is in another World that is in this present World where the Civil Magistrate is Supream in all Temporal Concerns and Causes As in all Ecclesiastical are Ecclesiastical Magistrates and Governours and that two wayes 1. Originally 2. Eminently Originally the rightful Bishops of Brittain before the time of King Lucius and Constantine being of Apostolical descent and Institution and the chief of their Order were the chief and Prime Governours of this Church by right for the first Bishops are certainly known to be appointed by the Apostles themselves as James at Jerusalem c. And the Magistrate while Heathen had no right to controle them in any part of their Commission that was from Christ for the propagation of his Gospel or the publick weal and preservation of his Church in truth and order and regular Communion in this world therefore in that respect alone they were exempt and not subject to any human Laws and Authorities whatsoever which liberty hath been scandalously abus'd and extended by the principles of Popery to exemption from Christian Magistrates As if they had been equally as opposite and asymbolical with the Gospel as Heathen But when the Magistrate became Christian in Lucius and Constantine c. And were received into the Church according to their quality and station before in the World of Gods Erection the Case was otherwise again for now they were Ecclesiastial Magistrates as well as Civil and if Ecclesiastical therefore Supream in Ecclesiastical causes referring solely to this present life as well as Temporal that is Supream Primates and defenders of the Temporal concerns of the Eternal Church of Christ Therefore as the Supremacy of the Church was Originally in our Brittish Bishops so it came afterwards Eminently to be lodged and vested of right in our Brittish Christian Magistrates Christian Bishops giving place to Christian Kings like the lesser to the greater Lustre who yet acted little or nothing without their advice and counsel as we found King Arthur a little before chusing his Bishops and Archbishops with the advice of Synods Therefore as we say where the King is there the Court is so it may as well be said and justified where the Christian King of Brittain is there is the Primate of Brittain and head of this Church Notwithstanding as our Kings in their Civil Capacities have their standing Courts and Tribunalls for Habitation or Justice by Law and custome as well as Ambulatory and Personal so likewise in their Ecclesiastical their standing Primacyes where they pleased by Law to fix them as did King Lucius perhaps at London and Constantine at York and Arthur at Caerleon and others at Canterbury which they or their Successors may adjourn and remove elsewhere in like manner when they see good reason The vulgar practice of common Seamen penetrates and decides this point For with them at the motion of the Prince or Admiral from a first to a second or third Rate Ship the Flag shall follow by consequence and desert that Ship whatever be its Rate the Prince deserts and hover only there where he hath chosen to abide In like manner it is with the Primacy which answers to the Flag as Ships at Sea answer to Cities on Land It doth and alwayes ought to follow the will and Law of the Prince and any Forreign Pope hath as much to do to order and dipose of a Flagg in our Fleet by his Bulls and Canons as of a Primacy in our Kingdom There is an old appetite in Mitre and Crown to Re-unite and to be together as they were Originally in the same Persons in the Patriarchs yea in Heathen Kings and Emperours Holy and Publick signifying the same our English Primacy which travelled heretofore from London to Canterbury to be near King Ethelbert is since crawl'd back as far as Lambeth to be near White-hall The Christian Mitre attends the Crown the Antichristian would Controle it Both would have it near the one goes to it the other would have it to come to him Christian Bishops count themselves Subjects to their Kings Antichristian would have Kings to be Subjects unto them â—ea and
peculiar Ministers and Levites set a part by Gods Institution on purpose who were and are the Clergy of his Clergy and Heritage and the Priests to those in speciall that were and are his peculiar people and Priest-hood Exod. 19.6 Revel 1.6 The Church it self being Laick and common compar'd to these as was the World to the Church For no less is implied in the reason of those expressions where both the Christian and Jewish Church are said to be a Kingdom of Priests as in Exodus or Kings and Priests to God as in the Revelation they being in special manner Kings and Priests and Clergy from whom the name and title is deriv'd to others for some likeness and comparison for what the Copy is that is the Original much more And if Christs mission was not from Secular but Divine Authority so neither is the Institution of the Evangelical Priesthood from man but from God being sent from Christ as he was sent from God Joh. 20.21 Bishops and Presbyters being equally from Christs own Ordination and appointment though not of equal order and degree between themselves but in several respects the one Superiour and which may seem strange inferiour likewise to the other For the better understanding whereof the distinction between Spiritual and Temporal is to be remembered and considered in its Primitive and Apostolical acception and not the modern Roman sense who confound Heaven and Earth in their notions as they do in their values and affections the one referring to the present visible world the object of sense the other to the Church or Invisible world to come wherein Christians live here by Faith the Church being more excellent than this world as eternity is more than time and yet this world more excellent than the Church which is dead unto it in the estimation of sense as is the living more excellent than the dead Eccles 9.5 whereby is discoverable the several Superiorities between Episcopacy and Presbytery in the same person in whom both are co-incident as they are in every Bishop and those Elders in Timothy who for Ruling well and labouring also in the word and Doctrine were counted worthy of double honour 1 Tim. 5.17 where in the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we have a clavis to decide this difference for the habitude and Character of a Bishop is that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Ruler or Prince as the Brittains term their Arcsh-Bishop of Carleon to Monk Agustine but that of a Priest or Presbyter is the form and quality of a Subject or Servant or Labourer which two notions greatly differ like God and Creature But then their several allotments or respective worlds are to be considered wherein the one and the other are said to labour or bear Rule And clear first it is that the Presbyters labour as a Servant under Christ in his word and Sacraments is within the Vineyard of the Church and therefore belonging to Eternity as the Church it self doth and that the Rule of the Bishop in the second place is Temporal by consequence and about order in this present world and the better preservation of the Temporal out-side of the Church for to affirm it to be a Spiritual Rule over the Church in its in-side which is Eternal and Christs own Peculiar Jurisdiction were very inconvenient and unsound And this Temporal Superiority over the Temporal part of an Ecclesiastical Community as to all Causes and persons that be within it for any Society whether Sacred or Civil can no more subsist or fare well without a Governour or a Chief than a body without a head continues in Bishops by Christs establishment till the rising of the Sun that is till the Civil Magistrate of that Province become Christian whose defect they before supplied as Guardians and then it doth set or cease but Heliacally as the Stars set in the morning in deference to a greater lustre that is better able to do their work continuing still in the same firmament and Sanhedrin under his Rayes and bound nevertheless by their office and duty to be ready to shine again without him as before in case of darkness or Eclipse as was said before And it well appears how the Christian Temporal Magistrates and the Church have understood one another in reference to their several bounds and limits by those parcels of Ecclesiastical Authority the one hath resum'd as his right and the other willingly quitted and yeilded thereunto as just upon his arrivall to Supremacy in Church as well as state For we never find him offering to touch any part of the Priestly office or the Power of the Keys nor to preach or Baptize or absolve or consecrate which acts and Authorities belong to another Spiritual Kingdom farr enough out of his Temporal Dominion and Jurisdiction But several parts of Episcopal Rule and Government have been rightly assum'd and yielded to him in Generall Counsels and in our Church of England in particular wherein he is declared supreme in all Causes and over all persons Ecclesiastical which was the Original Right of Metropolitans but since held by them as was fit not as Soveraigns any more but as subordinate to their Christian Magistrates And by this Hypothesis is resolvable whether Bishops ordain Priests as they are Priests or as they are Rulers which would make for the strength and re-allyance of the Protestant Interest For Bishops cannot Ordain of themselves without Priests to assist much less can Priests Ordain without a Bishop to preside where he may be had and Christian Kings offer not to resume as their temporal right any part of the Ordination or Consecration of either sort but only nominate our Bishops in the right of Patrons or Founders or as representers of the whole Community by whom they were in the Primitive Church elected as likewise in the Brittish Therefore the Priest who is but a Labourer is Inferiour and subordinate in this World to the Bishop who is a Ruler by Divine Order and designation not to be violated by any without the guilt and scandal of being Rebells against Superiours And the Bishop in his Chair as a Ruler is Inferiour to himself in his Pulpit as Christs Labourer and Preacher in reference to the other World For it is a higher excellency to be the least in Eternity than the greatest in time to subdue sin than to subdue the World Psal 84.11 Which yet is so as to Faith and reason and the Consciences of all sober men with their own yet not as to sense or the Law and course of this present life and general Practice whereby through humane infirmity very few yet not wanting in our times have been observed to be as ambitious of the labour of Converting Souls as of the honour and command of a Rich Bishoprick though the worst and Welsey himself at their dying hour have yielded to this Truth Whereby no Inferiour Minister that is diligent in his work and calling can have
which how they were imputable to them alone who were the faulty Original Causes and how avoidable by the Innocent and Sincere in Gods Account who measures all our Actions by our hearts was explain'd a Sect. 10. p. 344. before To the like effect is the 13 Can. of the Council of Antioch that whosoever enters upon another's Diocess 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless he be Invited by the letters of the Metropolitan together with the other Bishops of that place upon whith he enters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All that he hath done is void and nul and himself is forthwith deposed by this holy Synod as a just recompence of his disorder and unreasonable aggression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Scholiast upon this Canon it gives cause and occasion of much scandal commotion in a land for one Bishop to enter upon anothers Province And Canon 22. of the same Council what Priest or Deacon soever he shall offer to ordain the Ordination shall be void and himself to be punished by the Synod And this Council though at first a Provincial yet being confirm'd by a general Council it partakes of the same Authority and Force And Augustine and Theodore and there Successors who were never invited hither by our Brittish Bishops or their Letters or assent stand fully condemn'd by it as also by the second Canon of the second General Council at Constantinople upon the same Subject matter extending the Prohibition not only to Ordination but any other b Bals in Can. 2 Con. Con. 35. Can. Apost Ecclesiastical Act whatsoever to be done by him in anothers Diocess which the Scholiast Construes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he ought not to break disorderly into another's Territory as a Robber but with the good leave and liking of the Bishop of the place for theives are frown'd upon by other Canons and being taken are by the 25 Canon of the Apostles to be excluded from the Ministry though not from all Christian Communion Yea to Preach in publick in another's Diocess against leave Degrades a Bishop to the Lower degree of a Presbyter by the 20. Can. in Trullo And there is hardly any shift or pretence for a colour to this Invasion but it is prevented and censur'd by other Canons will he say the Diocess was Vacant when he came in and Theonus the Archbishop of London was not to be heard off when he entred upon Canterbury this is met by other Canons 37. of the 6th General Council in Trullo The Impression of Heathens upon a See makes no Vacancy though the Bishops are forc'd to flee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Council would by no means allow that Ecclesiastical rights should be abolished by Heathen Invasion And the 18th Canon of Antioch is to the same effect But suppose the place really and honestly Vacant without Heathens or Augustine himself or his Pope being the evil cause yet the entrance of him and his Successors stands eondemned by the 16th of Antioch and Sardyc Can. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If any Bishop unprovided of a Bishoprick thrust himself into a Vacant Church and Usurp its Throne without the consent of a perfect lawful Synod which requires the presence of the Metropolitan he is to be rejected though all the People whom he so entred upon should unanimously Elect or force him saith the 14th Canon of the Apostles By these Canons the consent or Invitation or Force of the People avails not to excuse this Trespass If the Invitation of some Potentate in the place and Territory be pretended which comes nearer to our Augustine's Case though by Bede it appears he came hither altogether uninvited out of meer Commiseration kindled in Pope Gregory by the fair English Youths sold at Rome in the Market it will not much mend the matter as appears by the 30th Canon of the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any man through the help of Secular Princes possesses himself of a Church or See belonging to another let him be deposed from his degree and Ex-Communicated both he and all that joyn with him This further increases the nullity of our Roman Catholick Church in England whereby Augustine stood Degraded from his Episcopal Dignity and all that favour'd him Excommunicate and all are a Brethren in Iniquity to Simonaicks as appears by the near conjunction of this Canon to the Precedent observed by the Scholiasts and what Church can that be where both Head and Members are all either deposed or Excommunicated from the Catholick Church of so little use and benefit is the Invitation of Infidel Princes to the wrong of Christian Prelates upon the place were it allowed and granted that Augustine settled here at the request of Ethelbert who was not King of England nor of all the Archbishoprick of London or Canterbury which Reached from Humber to Cornwall and Severn And what ever were the right of Ethelbert to Invite it was the manifest sin of Augustine and Gregory to accept the Primacy to the prejudice of the Christian Prelates in the same Province and in Wales that was not yet subdued For though the Canons approve of Charity yet to the breach and violation of Justice and Vnity amongst Christian Brethren or of obedience to Superiours it will by no means admit thereof Therefore their Priests and Inferiour Pastors if they had any are in no better condition than their Superiour Clergy both equally Degraded from their Orders for contempt of the Brittish Bishops who in this Province were to be owned by them as their just Superiours unless they had other guess exceptions against them than that the Infidels were too hard for them The 30th Canon of the Apostles saith If any Presbyter or Minister gather Conventicles apart in despite and contempt of his own Bishop and set up an Altar in his Diocess having nought to charge his Bishop in point of Holiness or honesty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be deposed for his Pride and Ambition for such a one is seditious or next door to a Tyrant And whoever of the Clergy or Laity joyn with him the one to be deposed the other to be Excommunicated after one or too Monitions which was not in any probability omitted to Augustine and his Clergy in the first and second Synodical Meetings given him as before by the Learned Unblemished Brittish Bishops and their Associates For as at home for the Inferiour Clergy to confederate to suppress their Superiours were Schism and Ecclesiastical Rebellion in them by this Canon so for any from abroad of the same Christian Communion to Erect Chairs above the Chairs of the Bishops of this Province were such an Impudent Invasion of the rights of Lawful Superiours and an account will follow of that Epithite as if the French or any Forreign Church at London should go about to exalt it self above the See of Canterbury or London that gives it Harbour Yea whosoever shall attempt or cause himself to be made a
empty with ease till the Wesel advised from a loof si vis effugere istinc Macra cavum repetas c. The way to get out is to be as lank and empty as you came in So if Rome could have proceeded with that moderation and comport with the variety of its fortunes that was prescribed in the morality of this Fable It might had retain'd its Christian though not its carnal glory to this day But for the first three hundred years her condition without being lank and narrow though healthy and glorious within and being highly feasted by Constantine and some succeeding Emperours with the affluence of the Roman Empire in its height it began to grow big and corpulent and require more room that when the Empire began to decline it was a hard lesson to decline with it and return from a Pallace to its first Cell Therefore here thoughts came in how the Ecclesiastical Grandeur of Rome might be supported and kept up amidst the falls and ruine of its secular So that the sacking of Rome in the year 400 and 500. and the declension of the Empire especially in the West thereupon or the removing of that which letted out of the way as the Fathers unanimously interpret that expression 2 Thess 2.7 was both a Prophetical mark and an operative occasion of the conception and forming of Antichrist Here the Inch of respect given to the Popes at the Council of Sardyca began to be stretched into an Ell of Primacy and Empire for a taste by fathering it upon false Canons of Nice Council till the forgery in the Council of Carthage was publickly detected as before And the Dog that began to lick ashes early discover'd what his appetite was after meal wherewith the Italian saying would not have such to be trusted But the long Insolencies and exactions of the Exarchs of Ravenna from the year 500. till their deliverance by Rebellion against Leo Isaurus by whom every Pope was to be confirmed and for a large Fee a Platina in Severino 1 mo Vana erat cleri populi Electio sine Exarchi Confirmatione else the Election to be null was a large tryal likewise and fatigation of patience to those that could never forget their once high nor ever remember their low condition which else would have been their Cure and Grandeur in imitation of their too much neglected Apostle I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and suffer need Phil. 4.12 And the Ecclesiastical ambition of the Constantinopolitan Patriarchs after all aiming at priority to of Rome which disdain'd to admit them into equality did more discompose than the Civil Tyranny of the Exarchs for Pride had rather lose its Purse than its Plume by this their patience was set on the tenter Caesar and Popes being alike in their setting up on the ruin of the Liberties of others the one of his Country the other of their Church and both from a punctilio and sense of Diminution not in their being and subsistence but their quality b Sueton in Julio Caesare § 29. Difficilius se Principem Civitatis a primo Ordine in secundum quam ex secundo in novissimum detrudi It was harder for him being a chief Citizen to be made a second of the first than the last of a second were Caesars words and the thoughts of our Popes the fall being greater from the imaginary condition of a God into that of a Creature than from one Creature into another And all of high breeding and low fortunes that chuse to set up in the High way have the like temptations and distress for Apology for their Secular as the Church of Rome for its Ecclesiastical depredations not any want of necessaries but of Grace For the Roman Popes had little cause to be offended with the Constantinopolitan claim of Superiority now their City was the Seat of the Empire and Rome ever and anon taken and retaken by Goths this being the best stake in their own hedge when it was an Imperial City and the best and chiefest foundation of its Western Priority but being now brought down to the dust their last Emperour Augustulus resigning to Odoacer by force about 480. who fix'd his Court saith one at Ravenna ne umbra Regni Romae superesset Their Consuls and Senate ceasing in 540. Their Citizens fleeing for shelter into the Marshes of Venice and else-where far and nigh as the Brittains into Wales no Inhabitants left that could be counted Roman unless Goths and Vandals and Herules or as Platina c Platina in Gregorio saith Si Epirotae Dalmatae Pannoni faex totius orbis terrarum huc missa Romani appellari queant unless Epirots Dalmatians Hungarians and the dregs and Porters of all mankind sent amongst us might pass for Romans Their City often sack'd and Burnt and ruinâ—d by the Goths And the very c Platina in Gregorio ruins themselves and their Ancient Monuments and Statues ruin'd by our Pope Gregory as he is tax'd to contrive that mens repair to Rome might not be more for curiosity than Devotion what reason had the Church of Rome to expect to fare better in this her solitude and desolation than that of Jerusalem the undoubted Mother of all Churches which was glad in her Poverty to truckle under Caesarea where the deputies then resided as Caesarea under Antioch the residence of the chief President of the East and why not ruinâ—d Rome to the Constantinopolitan See now the residence of the Emperours themselves Nothing was here wanting to a good title of Supremacy as far as the Constantinopolitan Empire reach'd as it did undoubtedly to Rome at this time but only the Imperial ratification and assent without which Romes Priority by express Canons still continued unrepealâ—d But when the Emperour began to interpose c Platina in Gregorio Et Mauritius monuit Gregorium ut Johanni Constantinopolitano obtemperaret and monish'd our Pope Gregory to submit and acquiesce under the See of Constantinople their Christian Patience could last no longer the string was wound so high till it broke here they first began to be desperate and though they quitted conscience they kept their cunning and seing Christ did not defend them better Satan shall Si nequeo superos Acheronta movebo Here our Pope Gregory first exonerates himself on his competitor John Archbishop of Constantinople and stiles him no less than Antichrist or his Fore-runner for affecting so large a Supremacy which yet himself and Successors more vehemently drove at but he Water-man-like with his face the contrary way carrying Servus Servorum in his mouth while Dominus Dominantium was in his heart Auxit que modestia Crimen to use the early expression of a worthy Pen the Hypocrisie and contradiction Antichristianiz'd his Crime Soon after Mauritius himself is murder'd by the Tyrant Phocâ—s and his