were no difficult Task to shew and were worthy the Observation of any Historian that would give a true Account of the continuance and increase of our deplorable Divisions And as we dislike this Notion the more when we consider the purposes and designs for which 't is calculated so we have this Argument to urge why it should be disown'd viz. Because it plainly sets up a Foreign Jurisdiction against which the Nation is solemnly sworn The second Canon excommunicates ipso facto all Impugners of the King's Supremacy Agâ—inst which we think there is nothing can be objected but the fault common to it with the 10 following Canons viz. Excommunicating ipso facto Of which more under these following Canons Can. 3. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That the Church of England by Law established under the King's Majesty is not a true and Apostolical Church teaching and maintaining the Doctrine of the Apostles Let him be excommunicated ipso facto and not restored but only by the Archbishop after his Repentance and publick Revocation of such his wicked Error Can. 4. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That the Form of God's Worship in the Church of England established by Law and contained in the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of Sacraments is a corrupt superstitious or unlawful Worship of God or contains any thing in it repugnant to the Scriptures Let him be excommunicated ipso facto Can. 5. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That any of the 39 Articles agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London 1562 c. are in any part superstitious or erroneous or such as he may not with a good Conscience subscribe unto Let him be excommunicate ipso facto Can. 6. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England by Law establish'd are Wicked Antichristian or Superstitious or such as being commanded by lawful Authority men who are zealously and godly affected may not with any good Conscience approve 'em use 'em or as occasion requires subscribe to 'em Let him be excommunicate ipso facto Can. 7. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That the Government of the Church of England under His Majesty by Archbishops Bishops Deans Archdeacons and the rest that bear Office in the same is Antichristian or repugnant to the Word of God Let him be excommunicate c. Can. 8. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm or teach That the form and manner of making and consecrating Bishops Priests and Deacons contains any thing in it repugnant to the Word of God or that they who are made Bishops c. Let him be excommunicate ipso facto Can. 9. Whosoever shall hereafter separate themselves from the Communion of Saints as 't is approved by the Apostles Rules in the Church of England and combine themselves together in a new Brotherhood c. Let him be excommunicate ipso facto Can. 10. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That such Ministers as refuse to subscribe to the form and manner of God's Worship in the Church of England prescribed in the Communion-book may truly take to 'em the Name of another Church not established by Law and dare presumâ— to publish it That this their pretended Church has of long time groan'd under the burden of certain grievances imposed upon it and upon the Members thereof before mentioned by the Church of England and the Orders and Constitutions therein by Law established Let him be excommunicate ipso facto Can. 11. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm or maintain That there are within this Realm other Meetings Assemblies or Congregations of the King 's born Subjects than such as by the Laws of this Land are held and allowed which may rightly challenge to themselves the Name of true and lawful Churches Let him be excommunicate c. Can. 12. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That 't is lawful for any sort of Ministers or Lay-persons or either of them to join together and make Rules Orders or Constitutions in Causes Ecclesiastical without the King's Authority and shall submit themselves to be ruled and governed by them Let him be excommunicate ipso facto To these may be added Can. 139. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That the Sacred Synod of this Nation in the Name of Christ and by the King's Authority assembled is not the true Church of England by representation Let him be excommunicate c. Can. 140. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That no manner of person either of the Clergy or Laity not being themselves particularly assembled in the said Sacred Synod are to be subject to the Decrees thereof in Causes Ecclesiastical made and ratified by the King's Majesty's Supreme Authority as not having given their voices to them Let him be excommunicate c. Can. 141. Whosoever shall hereafter affirm That the Sacred Synod assembled as aforesaid was a Company of such persons as did conspire together against godly and religious Professors of the Gospel and that therefore both They and their Proceedings in making of Canons and Constitutions in Causes Ecclesiastical by the King's Authority as aforesaid ought to be despised and contemned the same being ratified by the same Regal Power Let him be excommunicate c. We have often heard our Clergy mention among many other Excellencies of our Church her admirable Charity towards those that differ from her and we have hitherto taken it for one of her just Characters For tho those that dissent from us would frequently object the Severity of the Penal Laws and the rigor with which they have sometimes been Executed as if such heavy Fines and long Imprisonments look'd but like a cold and frozen sort of Charity yet we thought it a sufficient Answer That our Church did not Countenance any of these Severities by her Doctrine And therefore how active soever some of our fiery Zealots who were the Tools of another Party might be in urging the Execution of them this was their personal Fault and nor justly imputable to the Church her self Tho by the way we cannot think it so ingenuous in some of our Clergy to throw all the blame of those severe Laws on the Parliament that Enacted them which many of themselves were but too earnest and importunate Sollicitors of But we are extreamly surprized to read the foregoing Canons and when we hear them objected as an Evidence of the Uncharitableness of our Doctrine it self We are at a great loss what to say in defence of it for we plainly perceive by them that the Practice of our most violent Bigots in the Execution of the Penal Laws has been as much more Charitable than these Canons of our Church as 't is more merciful to send the Bodies of Men into the Custody of the Jailor than to consign their Souls into the Paws of the Devil Nay 't is well that Writs de Excom Cap. have not been issued out against all whom these Canons Excommunicate For if they had the whole Race of Dissenters had long
himself against him which went so far as to procure an Inhibiâ—ion and Citation against him out of his Court. P. 97. All his Brethren forsook him even the Primate himself though the lasâ— that did so yet at length Almighty God so remarkably prosper'd the zeal of this holy Man that he was conniv'd at and held on undisturb'd iâ— personally attending his Episcopal Court God give to our Englâ—sh Bâ—â—hops the like Courage and Success Thus the Rooks give check to the King and the Lay-chancellor in the Court proves too hard for the Bishop as the Devil in the Sign of a Tavern doth for the Saint Dunstan we mean But as though this were not enough matters are yet a great deal worse For not only doth an Appeal lie to the Câ—urt of Delegates of which we shall say nothing because 't is his Majesty's But there is also the Archbishops Court of * Chamberâ—ain's Present State of England part 2. p. 33. Arches where any Ecclesiastical Suits between any Persons within the Province of Canterbury except some peculiar †Consets Practice of Eccl Courts Jurisdictions belonging to the King'â— Majesty may waving all Inferior Courts be decided The Official may take cognizance of all Ecclesiastical Causes whatsoever not only at the instance of Parties but also of his mere Office or when they are promoted as also all manner of Appeals except as before excepted from any Bâ—shops Deans and Chapters c. Arch-deacons their Officiaâ—s and Commissaries or other Ecclesiastical Judges whatsoever as also all Commissaries of the Archbishop of Canterbury whether particular or special within all or any Diocese of his Province This Court is kept in the Archbishop's name by his Official who is the Judge of it called also Dean of the Arches a perfâ—ct Lay-man usually a Knight and Doctor of Laws But he being for the most part absent substitutes a Surrogate in his place who is the Archbishop's Man's man viz. the Dean of the Deanry of the Arches And there doth this Judge Perkin sit in state Chamberlain's Pres â—â—â—te of England part 2. page 273. and according to the old Mumpsimus of the Pope's Canon-Law alone without any Assessors hears and determins all Causes without any Jury of 12 men as is necessary in Common Law-Courts and presumes to sentence not only us Lay-men but the Clergy-men also and even Bishops themselves for any Delinquency And as the Official treats our Superioâ—s in the Arches so doth the Lay-chancellor handle us and the Inferior Clergy in the Bishop's Court held in the Cathedral of his Diocese Only when any do not appear being legally cited and propounded contumacious and decreed excommunicate then the Plaintiff's Proctor offers a Schedule of Excommunication to the Judge H. Conset Pracâ—ice of the Spiritâ— C◠〈…〉 who reads it if he be in hâ—ly Orders for you must know a special care must be taken of that and if not then it is given to one who is in Holy Orders who is constituted to this purpose by the Judge Good God! saith the forementioned Author of Naked Truth 〈…〉 what a horrid abuse is this of the Divine Authority This notorious Transâ—r â—â—â—â—n is excused as they think by this that a Minister call'd the Bishop's Surrogate but is indeed the Chancellor's Servant chosen called and placed there 〈◊〉 him to be his Cryer in the Court no better when he hath examin'd heard and sâ—nt ne'd thâ— Cause then the Minister forsooth pronounces the sentence Then the Judges Seal being clapt to them away the Letters of Excommunication are posted to the Rector Vicar or Curate of the Parish with Orders to publish the same in time of Divine Service on some Sunday or Holy-day always provided these Letters of Excommunication be deliver'd to tâ—e Rector c. at least that same day on which they are to â—e read before Morning or Evening Prayers that they may be sure to have timely notice of it saith our * H. Conset Practice of Eccl. Courts p. 38. Author which they are to publish without delay unless they are willing to undergo the Fate of the Miller's Man who was hang'd for his Master for if they neglect so to do they are to be punisht by Suspension from their Office For unless at his own peril the Parish Minister must no more examine the equity and justice of the Sentence than a Hang-man dares but must do his Office though to the best liver in his Parish be the Cause what it will how unjust soever the Sentence is or how illegally soever obtain'd He must give fire when the word of Command is given though he good man know nothing of the matter yet denounce the Ecommunication he must and give the rest of the People warning that they avoid the company of such a one just as the two nimble Iron Sparks on the outside of St. Dunstan's Church when moved by the Wires within briskly turn about and give a Thump on the Bell that all may know what quarter of the hour it is 2. But to proceed from Persons to things This we suppose no sober man will deny that Excommunication being a punishment of an immediate Divine Original men should have a Divine Warrant in what cases to inflict it And being so severe a Punishment no less than cutting off from the Body of Christ and shutting out of the Kingdom of Heaven as well as the Society of Christians on Earth it should not be inflicted but for those black Crimes and deadly Sins and those obstinately persisted in too for which the Holy Jesus hath declared that men do deserve that amputation and exclusion from Heaven that so what is bound here below may be bound above And this being the Church's expulsive faculty for the casting out of noxious Humâ—rs her weapon for the cutting off rotten and scandalous Members should be used to that end only as we find in the New Testament and many Centuries after it was in the case of Heresy or detestable Enormities accompanied with Contumacy Now such Sinners swarm among us we have such crowds of Adulterers Drunkards Swearers Blasphemers c. that some of the Sons of our Church say by way of excuse for the neglect of Discipline it would not be prudent or safe to attack them How few of these do our Ecclesiastical Courts take notice of In David's time the Sparrows were allowed a place near God's Altar in our days whole herds of Swine have the same privilege and no one will or dare to drive them out But if a man trip in a Ceremony if an honest but simple Dissenter will not come to the Sacrament because though weakly yet it may be conscienciously he scruples Kneeling or will not trhough obstinacy pray the Parson his Dues or if the Governors of the State have a Political Design to carry on out comes the sacred two-edged Sword immediately and they are cut off by dozens We might refer the Reader to Dr. Pinfold as to this Point who a
since been both the Jaylors and the Devils Prisoners and we are very much afraid a great part of our own Clergy and Laity must have born them Company So that we can foresee no better Apology for the Convocation that fram'd these Canons than this That they seem only to have designed them for the old rusty Armor of our Church to be hung up for Terror rather than to be used for Execution For it cannot be denied that how little Charity soever those had that made them our Bishops have generally since had more Christian Tenderness than to Prosecute all in their Courts whom these Canons make so hainous Criminals And therefore were we of the Laity worthy to offer our humble Advice to the present Convocation we should recommend it to them as a piâ—ce of necessary Prudence as well as Charity to Cashier these ill-natur'd Canons For they do but frighten the silly Dissenters the more from our Communion and are a standing Râ—proach to our Church her self on these two Accounts 1. Were the Assertions here censurâ—d never so dangerous Heresies an ipso facto Excommunication is an unreasonable thing 'T is no better than passing Sentence on an Offender before any Attempts are used to reclaim him which is a gross Absurdity in Ecclesiastical â—auses whâ—re 't is not the bare Offence subjects Men to that Censure of the Church but Obstinacy in it For these Canons quite contrary to our Saviour and his Apostles Rule make a Heathen and a Publican of our Brother before he is ever told of his fault they reject him before he be admonish'd Whereas Divine Justice it self does not subject Men to the Sentence of Condemnation meerly for their Sins themselves but for their Impenitency in them And sure the Church should not use greater Severity and therefore should not in those Câ—nsures which Tertullian calls Summum futuri judicii praejudicium exclude Men from her Communion ipso facto upon their having run into Errors or Crimes but upon their persisting incorrigibly in them And what Lindwood observes concerning such Canons as these does not wholly excuse them namâ—ly That a dâ—claratory Sentence of the Judg is necessary notwithstanding the ipso-facto Excommunication to a Mans being avoided as an Excommunicate Person by others For all that this can amount to is no more than to say That tho a Mans Mittimus to the Devil is drawn up by these Canons yet his Neighbours are not to take notice of it till it be publish'd but for all that the Man is truly Excommunicated and that without any other precedent Admonition than what the Canons themselves give him which few of us ever read or see No personal Admonition being used to prevent his Excommunication but only to restore him by Absolution And if these Canons be just all whom they Excommunicate are bound in Conscience to forbear the Churches Communion and therefore we cannot in consistency with our selves invite the Dissenters into it unless we could either change their Minds or at least put Gags into their Mouths But were this all the Fault of these Canons the matter were more tolerable But 2. The Assertions themselves mention'd in the Canons can by no means desâ—rve so heavy a Censure For as Excommunication is the highest Censure of the Church which according to the Form us'd in our own excludes the Person excommunicated from all Christian Society and cuts him off as a dead Member from the Body of Christ so it should never be us'd against any but those who are guilty of such pernicious Errors or hainous Crimes as give all imaginable ground to believe them in a state of damnation Such as those mentioned 1 Cor. 6.9 10. Gal. 5 19 20. 2 Tim. 3.2 3 c. For otherwisâ— we might shut those out of our Communion whom our blâ—ssed Saviour receives into his and dangerously cut off the living instead of the dead Members of his Mystiâ—al Body Besides Nothing will sooner bring that sacred part of the Church's Discipline into contempt than the using it â—n slight and frivolous Occasions as we shall further shew afterwards when we come to speak of Ecclesiastical Courts Sess 25. Decr. de Reform cap. 3. 'T was a grave and wise Caution of the Council of Trent though they had not the grace to follow it themselves That though the Sword of Excommunication be the very sinews of Ecclesiastical Discipline and very wholsom to keep the People in obedience yet it should be warily us'd lest if it be drawn out rashly on every slight cause the People should rather despise than dread it For if Clergy-men will so far trifle with those solemn Censures as to thunder out Excommunications against all that keep Easter the wrong day or maintain Antipodes or wear Beards of a wrong cut c. as some Wise and Learned Popes have formerly done 'T is no wonder if Men come to look upon them as Ecclesiastical Scarecrows and provided they can scape the Jaylor set the Bishop at defiance And though the Assertions censur'd in these Canons be not altogether such Trifles yet they are some of them things too dubious to Men oâ— mean Capacities that have a fatal biass of an unhappy Education clapt on their Understandings and of too small consequence to bear the weight of so heavy a doom For what tho the Dissenters should arraign the Offic of Burial read over the Graves of all the notorious Villains that have the good fortune to escape or buy off an Excommunication or censure the use of our God-faâ—â—ers as exclusive of the Parents publick undertaking for the religious Education of his own Child What though they foolishly mistake the Sign of the Cross for a New Sacrament what tho they dispute against that Passage in the Book of Ordination that asserts the divine right of three distinct Offices Bishops Priests and Deacons What tho they be more peevish and untoward and censure the very Office of our Bishops as they are by the late Alterations in the Book of Ordination made the sole Pastors of all the Churches in their several Dioceses Nay what though they affirm their own Congregations to be true and lawful Churches shall we on the score of their declaring their mistaken Opinion in any one of these disputable matters treat them as if they had denied all the Articles of the Apostle's Creed or broken all the Ten Commandments Nor are the Dissenters the only Persons concern'd in these Canons There are few of our Latitudinarian Clergy as some are pleas'd to call all that have not as narrow Souls as their own but will freely in their Discourses censure some things in the Government of our Church particularly the Lay-chancellors Power of decreeing Excommunications And all these must expect no quarter from the 7th Canon So that these Canons will quickly retrench the corpulency of our Church and reduce it to the small number of Bigots who it seems are not so ridiculous as they seem'd to be in monopolizing the Character
them to send them to him whom the Officers of this Court deal so much with and to whom Hermolaus Barbarus was fain to resort to understand the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. We should proceed to the Things that ensue upon Excommunication And here it were easy to be very large in discoursing on the Significavit into the Court of Chancery in the Bishop's name that the Person hath stood excommunicate forty Days for the getting a Writ de Excommunicato capiendo that he may be sent to Prison Of the forfeitures of ten Pounds on every Capias afterwards for not yielding ones self up a Prisoner on the Proclamation of the Capias's It is a liberty peculiar to the Ch. of England Dr. Consin'â— Apology p. 8 9 10. saith the learned Advocate of these Courts above all the Realms in Christendom that I read of that if a Man stand wilfully forty days together Excommunicate and be accordingly certified by the Bishop into the Chancery that then he is to be committed to Prison without Bail or Main-prise quòd potestas regia Sacrosanctae Ecclesiae in suis querelis deesse non debet because the Royal Power ought not to be wanting to Holy Church in her Quarrels Yet we must confess we don't see how this can be justified unless that Axiom be own'd for truth that Dominion is founded in Grace and when a Man is made as a Publican and Heathen he loses all his Civil Rights We might further speak of the several ways of Absolution from this Sentence and that upon several little mistakes in the Form of Proceedings and by Orders sent down from Civil Courts For when a Man is fast bound one would think there are many of these ways of unloosing him as we have seen Children that by the dextrous pulling of the right String have immediately whipt off the Pack-thread from another's thumbs in a most surprizing manner Bp. Bedel's Life p. 89. We might further speak also of the commuting of Penance for Money Which as Dr. Burnet well saith is the worst sort of Simony being in effect the very same abuse that gave the World such a Scandal when it was so indecently practised in the Church of Rome and open'd the way to the Reformation For the selling of Indulgences is really but a commutation of Penance Of this that good Bp Bedel had so many and such notorious Instances in his Diocess that be bitterly bewail'd it and to which he was able to reply nothing but that he had read in Mantuan of another place in the World Rome he means where Heaven and God himself were set to sale Id. p. 90. Now from that little that hath been said we may see how truly he spoke Id. p. 93. when he said that a plain and simple thing is by these Men made very intricate And that amongst all the Impediments to the Work of God among us Id. p. 103. there is not any one greater than the Abuse of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction This is not only the Opinion of the most Godly Judicious Learned Men that I have known but the cause of it is plain Blessed Iesu who alone works great Marvels send down thy Spirit on our Bishops that they may boldly whip these Buyers ond Sellers out of thy Temple that sit there only to dishonour thy Name and spunge on thy People and turn thy House of Discipline into a Den of Thieves Amen And we beseech God to encline their Hearts and those of our Governours to do it and not to suffer these Lay-Chancellors to meddle but in Civil Causes only and there to endeavour to regulate their enormous Abuses and in the Lord Bacon's Words That in lieu of Excommunication Consid p. 21 22. there be given to them some ordinary Process with such Force and Coercion as appertaineth and that this Censure be restored to the true Dignity and Use thereof which is that it proceed not but in cases of great Weight and that it be decreed not by any Deputy or Substitute but by the Bishop in Person and not by him alone but assisted by some others of his grave Clergy according to the excellent Model of that incomparably learned and pious A B. Vsher Then will Discipline recover its ancient Vigour and Splendor then will Sinners no longer slight this Spiritual Sword in the Church as Atheists do God's fiery flaming one that sometimes appears in the Heavens as if it were a meer Meteor hanging in the Air and made of fiery Vapors only but will find 't is a solid substantial thing hath a real Point and a sharp Edg piercing into the very Depths of the Soul and that it needs not corporal Penalties to set one upon it to that end Of removing scandalous Ministers AND sure none that regard the Glory of Almighty God or the Honour of our Church or the Reputation of our Clergy themselves can ever oppose so reasonable a Motion as this for nothing has more exposed our Holy Religion to Contempt or encouraged the Laity in their Vices or sunk the Credit of our Clergy not to say of our Church it self than the scandalous Lives of some of that Function and since Examples have a more powerful Influence on the People than meer Precepts 't is no Wonder that the Lives of flagitious Clergy-men bring in more Proselytes to Wickedness and Vice than ever their preaching will make Votaries to Religion and Vertue for how should the best Advices and Counsel they can deliver from the Pulpit make any great Impression on their Hearers which they never follow themâ—elves when out of it They may long enough commend Vertue and declaim against Vice and urge what they say with Arguments drawn from the Rewards and Punishments of another World but how should the People believe them when they do â—ot live as if they believed themselves And while so many of â—ur Clergy make no great Scruple of Conscience to drink and whore and swear and game and droll on the Bible and proâ—ane the Sunday and neglect the most important Duties of their â—astoral Charge 't is no Wonder if the Laity think themselves â—â—thorized to take the same Liberty which they see used by those whom they look on not only as their Instructors but their Patâ—erns too It was a just Observation of the late E. of Rochester â—hat that one particular Vice viz. the base Arts of some Clergy-men in aspiring to the high Preferments of the Church had possess'd many of the best Quality in the Nation with that wretched Idea of Religion that greatly disposed them to Atheism For they look'd on that sacred Profession as a Holy Cheat a Trade of talking well and living ill 'T is high time then to redress this Corruption to rid our Pulpits and our Altars of such as stain them with their profane Breath and unhallowed Hands 1 Sam. 2.17 and like the wicked Sons of Eli make the very Offerings of the Lord to be abhorr'd And we