truly Catholick was to extirpate all Innovations in Doctrine all transgressions of Discipline that swerved from the Decrees and Ordinations of the Church and no other 2. Surely the Doctor doth not think Christian Princes as such cease to be sons of the Church they must be saved as well as their Subjects and therefore are not dispensed from that speech of our Lord Qui vos audit me audit They are not Pastors but Sheep Yet Catholick Religion obliges us to acknowledge that their Civil power extends it self to all manner of causes though purely Ecclesiastical so as to make use of the Civil Sword in constraining even their Ecclesiastical Subjects to perform that duty which either the Moral and Divine Law according to the Churches exposition thereof or the Laws of the Church require Such a power yea a Supremacy in such a Power we acknowledge to be in Princes But withal we cannot find either in reason or Antiquity any ground to apply to Princes that Commission which our Saviour only gave to the Apostles and their Successors Sicut misit me Pater c. As my Father sent me so send I you Receive the holy Ghost c. Teach all Nations c. No promise hath been made to Princes that God's Spirit shall lead them into all Truth any other way then whilst they follow the direction of their Ecclestical Pastors to whom only that Promise was made 3. Nay that very Argument by which he would assert his cause is a Demonstration against him He sayes and that very truly Our Kings are as much as any in the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they hold their Regal Authority immediately from God without any dependence on any other authority on earth The like must be said of other absolute Princes too Now this independency of Princes demonstrates that the regulation of their power in Ecclesiastical matters must of necessity be made according to an Authority and Iurisdiction purely spiritual common to them all which is in the Church For otherwise being independent and absolute they may perhaps be able to preserve a kind of Unity in their respective Kingdoms by forcing from their Subjects an Obedience to a Religion and Church-policy framed by themselves contrary to the Law of the Catholick Church But how shall the whole Church be preserved in Unity by this means Other Princes are independent as well as they and therefore may frame a Religion which they may call Reformation as well as they So that if there be not a spiritual Director and Ecclesiastical Laws common to them all and submitted to by all what will become of Vnity Which of these Independents will make himself a Dependent on another Shall there be Patriarchicall or General Councils of Kings meet together Who shall summon them In such Royal Synods there must be order which of them shall challenge a Primacy even of Order Doctor Pierce may see what consequences naturally and unavoidably flow from his Positions 4. Touching the Code and Novels of Iustinian and the practice of Charlemain for the Emperor Zenos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we leave to himself he may please to cast a serious eye on their Laws and will find they were all regulated by the Law of the present Church in their Times The Churches Faith and her Canons for Discipline they reduced into Imperial Laws to the end their Subjects might be more obedient to the Church more averse from innovations in Doctrine and irregularity in manners And doth all this suit with the case of English Protestants Can he justifie King Henry the Eighths Oath of Supremacy and Head-ship of the Church or King Edward the Sixths Reformatio◠legum Ecclesiasticarum or Q. Eliz. new Articles and Canons by these Laws of the Code or Capitulare Let the Emperor Iustinian pronounce his Sentence in this matter Sancimus vicem Legum obtinere c We ordain and command that the holy Ecclesiastical Rules declared and established by holy Councils shall obtain the force of Laws For their Doctrines we receive as the Holy Scriptures themselves and their Rules we observe as Lawes Add again to shew that the Laws enacted by him touching Ecclesiastical matters were intended not as Acts of an absolute Ecclesiastical Supremacy but as consequences of the Churches Authority he saies Our Lawes disdain not to follow the holy and Divine Rules of the Church These were indeed Lawes of Reformation fit for glorious Princes devout Sons of the Church to make but surely very incommodious patterns for the Preachers purpose 5. What the late Emperours Fardinand the first and Maximilian the second did neither his Sermon nor Margin tell us but onely that something was done which he it seems thought for his advantage I 'le tell him what it was Their Reformers in Germany were grown very powerful yet not so but that they made a shew of hearkening to some composition Those worthy Emperors for peace sake made several consultations with learned and moderate Catholicks some indeed too moderate as Cassander c. how the Church Doctrines and Ordinances might be qualified Hereupon divers expedients were proposed Treatises written c. by which the Emperors were in hope debates might be ended But how By betraying the present Churches Faith By renouncing the Popes Iurisdiction or consent to a composition Far otherwise For when they saw no agreement would please the Lutheran Electors and their Divines but such as was derogating from the Authority of the Supream Pastor and prejudicial to the Lawes of the Church they surceased all motions of reconciliation rather chusing to expose themselves to all the dangers that might come from their arms and Rebellion 6. Touching the many Kings of England as he sayes in Popish times whose actions in his opinion shewed that the work of Reformation belonged especially to them in their Kingdom His Margin indeed quotes the Names of fourteen of our Kings since the conquest as if he would have the world believe the pure Reformed Religion were almost six hundred years old But what Reformations were made by any of them either in Religion or Church-Discipline neither I nor himself can shew except by the last King Henry the Eighth who was indeed a Reformer of the new fashion 'T is true the former Kings had frequent quarrels with the Court of Rome touching Investitures procuring of Bulls for determining causes belonging to the Kings Courts usurping a disposal of Bishopricks and other Benefices c. But what is all this to Religion Such debates as these he may see at this day between the Roman Court and the Kings of France Spain c. in all which commonly the Pope is but little a gainer yet notwithstanding all these he will not sure deny but that the Kings of France and Spain and 't is as certain that all those former Kings of England except one were perfect Roman Catholicks not any of them ever did believe that their Supremacy could allow them to alter the
and examining Antiquity and were as willing to make it speak on their sides as the Preacher was But as ill Consciences as they had they were convinced and forced publickly to confess that the Fathers were against them and focus And in particular Opposition to his Claim of Antiquity like Bishop Iewels for the first six Centuries Doctor Fulk is so far from concurring with him or Bishop Iewel that he is so choleric at the suspition of such a charge that he addresses himself to his Adversary in this civil language I Answer saies he if he charge me with confessing the continuing of the Church in incorruption for six hundred years next after Christ he lyeth in his heart 3. One passage there is of that famous Andreas Duditius which truly I cannot read without extream compassion and astonishment at the dreadful judgment of God and it may do Doctor Pierce much good if he sadly reflect on it Many years he had lived in great esteem for learning and prudence a Catholick Bishop of Petscben in Hungary called Quinque Ecclesiae present he was at the frameing the Decrees of the Council of Trent But at last falling in love with a Maid of honour in the Queen of Hungaries Court to marry her he quitted both his Bishoprick and Religion This poor man in his declining Age could not abstain from confessing in a Letter to Beza his unsatisfaction in his new Religion vainly hoping some either Cordial or Opiate for his distressed Conscience from one as deeply plunged and by the very same motives engaged in the same change I pray observe his words Si veritas est saies he quam veteres Patres c. If that be truth which the antient Fathers by mutual consent have professed it will entirely stand on the Papists side For if heretofore any Controversies out of a beat of Disputation arosâ— between the learned among them an end was presently imposed thereto by Decrees of Councils or even of the Pope alone But what strange people have we among us They are alwaies wandring toss'd with every wind of Doctrine and being hurried into the main Deep they are carried sometimes this way sometimes another If you would inform your self what their Iudgment to day is touching Religion you may perhaps come to know it But what it will be to morrow on the same Argument neither themselves nor you can certainly affirm Thus Duditius And what Cordial against this scrupulous Melancholly does Beza his good friend afford him Take it from himself Scio speciosum esse venerandae velustatis nomen c. I know the name of venerable Antiquity is very specious But whence shall we fetch the beginning of that Title but from the Prophets and Apostles For as for Writers that come after them if we will take their own advice we will believe them on no other terms but as far as they shall evidently make good what they deliver out of the Holy Scriptures That is in effect have but the Christian modesty and humility to prefer your own sense of Scriptures before all the Fathers and Councils of Gods Church and then nothing they say need to trouble you Antiquity venerable Antiquity will be on your side You may confidently say of all your Adversaries Doctrins From the Beginning it was not so 4. Many other Confessions of the like nature might be added but for brevity-sake I will content my self with onely one more and that is as it seems to me a secret acknowledgement of the Church of England in her publick Liturgy directly contrary to the Preachers pretension and applications of his Text by which she after a sort imputes Novelty to her self and confesses the Roman to be that Church which was from the beginning In the Order for Morning-prayer there are these Versicles and Responds V. O. Lord save the King R. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee V. Endue thy Ministers with righteousness R. And make thy chosen people joyfull V. O Lord save thy People R. And bless thine Inheritance Then follows a Versicle for Peace Now these as almost all the other Prayers are mafestly translated out of the Roman Office But that which ought to be observed is That in the Roman Office there is a Versicle and Respond immediately following these and going before the Versicle for Peace which the English Church has studiously left out and that is this V. Be mindfull of thy Congregation O Lord. R. Which thou didst possess from the beginning Now the ground why this special Versicle or Prayer for the Church was left out is not so mysterious but it may be very probably guess'd at The first Reformers did not love to put God in mind of that Church which was from the beginning Or rather they were desirous the People should forget the Church which was from the beginning They had rather no Prayers at all should be made for the Church than for one that was from the beginning because apparently that could not be the Reformed Church of England whose beginning themselves saw 5. Notwithstanding such plain Confessions of these Pillars of Reformation yet the Doctor confidently stands with a little contraction and abatement to Bishop Iewel 's Challenge He indeed mentions 27. Points of which 22. are about circumstantial matters touching the Eucharist and two more of them viz. 1. That Ignorance is the Mother and Cause of true Devotion and Obedience 2. And that the Lay-people if he speaks of them in general are forbidden to read the Word of God in their own tongue are Calumnies The other are three indeed of the Preacher's points viz. 1. Supremacy of the Pope 2. Worship of Images 3. Common-prayers in a strange tongue though the only fault he can find in this last is That the later Church hath adhered too close to Antiquity that the hath not varied in the language of her Devotions from her Predecessors and after A. D. 600. continued to say her Prayers in the same Language she did before But then this Bishop as being somewhat better experienc'd in Antiquity than Doctor Pierce had not the confidence in this his Catalogue to reckon as Novelties either the Infallability of the Church Invocation of Saints Purgatory or Prayer for the Dead Celibacy of the Clergy or Sacrifice of the Mass. So much more courage had the Preacher than even Bishop Iewel himself Well between both all antiquity is for them and nothing but novelty on our side No doubt but his admiring and believing Hearers assured themselves that some never-before-examined Witnesses some hitherto unknown or un-observed Records had been found out by their learned and confident Preacher to justifie their deserted claim of Antiquity I mean by way of aggression and not simple defence But when the Sermon is publish'd nothing appears in the Text or Margins but Assertions and Quotations an hundred times before produced and as often silenced many of which too as he explains them have no regard
General Councils every Patriark and Bishop is appointed to be chief in his proper Diocesse as the Bishop of Rome is the chief in his And a strict Injunction is laid on all the Bishop of Rome not excepted that they presume not to meddle in any Diocesse but their own And the chief Primacies of Order were granted to Rome and Constantinople not for having been the Sees of such and such an Apostle but for being the two Seaâ—s of the two great Empires Witnesse the famous Canon of the General Council of Chalcedon c. Nay the immediate Predecessâ—r of Boniface the third Pope Gregory the Great calls the Tiâ—le of Universal Bishop a wicked prophane and blasphemous Title importing that the times of Antichrist were at hand c. Further adding That if any one Bishop were universal there would by consequence be a failing of the universal Church upon the failing of such a Bishop Which is an Argument ad homines not easily to be answer'd whatsoever infirmity it may labour with in its self c. And upon that occasion he makes an excursion about the Pope's infallibility and his falling into Heresie c. nothing to the Point Lastly He concludes that Whosoever shall read at large the many Liberties of the Gallican Church and the published confessions of Popish Writers for more then a thousand years together touching the Papal Vsurpations and Right of Kings he will not deny that the Supremacy of the Pope is but a prosperous Vsurpation 3. This is the substance of his Discourse upon this Point of Novelty the Supremacy of the Pope In answering which he must permit me yet without any prejudice to the Cause yea rather for a better clearing of it not to bind my self to his Order Assuring him in the mean time that I will not purposely omit any thing material either in his Reasoning or Quotations 1. And first in general he must give me leave to tell him that by the Conclusion of the foregoing Discourse he has entirely enervated all that went before For by arguing and asserting That the Gallican Liberties and Popish writings against Papal Vsurpations do demonstrate that the Supremacy of the Pope 〈◊〉 but a prosperous Vsurpation He clearly shows that his fore-mentioned Reasons do not touch the Catholic Cause at all He acknowledges those Writers to have been Roman Catholics None can deny the French Church to be a Member of the Roman Catholic Church acknowledged for such by the Pope himself and professing a subjection to him as to the Supream Spiritual Pastor of God's Church Therefore it is evident that what they deny to the Pope is not simply his Supremacy in Spiritual matters which is all that will be required of Protestants but an extending of that Supremacy beyond what they conceive the received Ecclesiastical Canons do warrant and this the English may as well be permitted to do as the French 4. To the end therefore he may no longer mistake this so important an Argument I will clearly set down the Churches Doctrine concerning this matter This Doctrine is contained in that profession of Faith compiled by Pius 4. and extracted out of the Council of Trent I believe that the Pope is the Successor of St. Peter and Vicar of Iesus Christ on Earth I acknowledg the Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church as the Mother and Mistress of all other Churches And more largely in the Decree with great circumspection framed in the Council of Florence and subscribed by the Greeks We do define that the Holy Apostolic See and Bishop of Rome does enjoy a Supremacy through the whole world And that the Same Bishop of Rome is the Successor of St. Peter Prince of the Apostles the true Vicar of Iesus Christ the Head of the Vniversal Church the Father and Teacher of all Christians and that in the Person of St. Peter he hath received from our Lord Iesus Christ full power to feed rule and govern the whole Church in such manner as is express'd in the Acts of Oecuminical Councils and the holy Canons This is the Decision of the Council of Florence The substance of the Doctrine of which Decree by which the Pope as Successor of St. Peter is acknowledg'd to have a Jurisdiction over all Christians to be regulated by the Ecclesiastical Canons is so received even in France notwithstanding all the Gallican Liberties that whoever denies it will not be esteem'd a Catholic See what Cardinal Palavicino writes touching the Cardinal of Lorrain and his French Bishops proceedings about this Point in the Council of Trent 5. This Jurisdiction the Preacher positively denies both to the Pope and St. Peter affirming It to be an impudent opposition both to the Letter and sense of our Saviours forecited precept Mark 10. But I heartily with Dr. Pierce would look well on this passage of the Gospel once more and ask his own reason though he should not be able to exclude all the fumes of passion from it Is Ecclesiastical Authority in Superiors and Subordination of Inferiors forbidden in this Text Will one that calls himself a Regular Son of the Church of England by vertue of this Text pronounce the Sentence of Decapitation according to his own pleasant expression upon his own Church whosoever passes for the Head of it whether his Majesty or my Lord of Canterbury On the contrary I dare pronounce that not the affecting but lawful exercising a Supremacy of Power and Iurisdiction is so far from being an impudent opposition to this Precept that it is establish'd by it For in this very Text expresse mention is made of some that are great yea some that are the chiefest And if he would have adjoyn'd the next Verse to his Quotation he would have published to the most ignorant of his Hearers of Readers his manifest abusing this passage of Scripture Our Saviour immediately adding For even the Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister Surely he will not deny but that our Saviour had Authority yea a Supremacy of Iurisdiction over the Church and only here proposes himself as a Pattern of humility to be imitated by his Apostles and their Successors And what were the Apostles Church Governors without question How then are they to imitate their Supream Governor In renouncing Superiority Did he himself do so By no means But as he did not glorifie himself to be an High Priest But he that said unto him thou art a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedech And being high Priest he did not forget his meeknesse and humility consistent very well with the vigour of Spiritual Jurisdiction In like manner his Apostles and all that succeed him are commanded not to affect Superiority and when they are lawfully invested with it not to exercise it with such an arrogant pride as Heathen Princes usually do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conc. Eph. 1. Can. 8. they must neither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nor
as shall be shewed And because new opinions arising do naturally cause debates and contentions from what causes soever they flow and contentions are apt to generate Schisms since likewise Ecclesiastical Lawes are made to be observed every where if any particular Church were Independent of the whole there could be no remedy against Divisions hence it is that the Holy Fathers do assert the necessity of a Supream Authority and assign thereto these Acts. 1. Either to determine or at least silence Disputes about opinions 2. In those which are called majores causae as wrongful Depositions of Bishops c. either by appeals or consultations to restore the Persons wrong'd and punish the wrong-doers 3. To take care that Discipline establish'd by received canons be every where observ'd 4. To judge when there is a necessity of convening in General Councils and thereupon to summon all Bishops and as far as the Authority of a common Spiritual Father may extend to oblige Princes to permit their respective Bishops to meet 4. These things thus premised now follow the Proofs demonstrating that before Boniface the thirds time suck like Acts of a Supream Authority were practised by his Predecessors and submitted to generally in the Church I must not write a Volume therefore I will select a few examples in all Ages which will at least recompence the Doctors Anti-quotations and when he shall require it many many more shall be added 5. To proceed therefore ascendendo St. Gregory the Great Predecessor of Boniface the third though he would not admit an Vniversal Episcopacy yet at the same time he challenged and exercised an Vniversal Superintendency Hence saies he t is notorious that the See Apostolic by Divine institution is preferr'd before all Churches And again more fully The care of the Church was committed to the holy Apostle and Prince of the Apostles St. Peter The care and principality of the Vniversal Church was committed to him and yet he is not called the Vniversal Apostle Again writing to the Bishop of Syracusa If any fault be found in any Bishops I know no Bishop that is not subject to the See Apostolic But when no fault exacts it we are all in regard of humility equal And this subjection saies he elsewhere both our most Religious Lord the Emperor and our Brother John Bishop of the same City do frequently protest And in an Epistle to Natalis Bishop of Salona If saith he any of the four Patriarks had committed such an act so great a disobedience would not have passed without great scandal Moreover in another Epistle he declares how he had reversed the judgment of the Church of Constaninople against a Priest of Chalcedon where he saies Dost not thou know that in the cause of John the Priest against our Brother and Collegue John of Constantinople he according to the Canons had recourse to the See Apostolic and that the cause was determined by our Sentence A world of like examples more may be added And in these a primacy of Iurisdiction is manifest which therefore by his own confession is no Vsurpation 6. In the next place the immediate Predecessor of St. Gregory Pope Pelagius the Second in the very same Epistle in which he condemns the presumptuous Title of Vniversal Bishop assumed by Iohn of Constantinople hath this passage writing to the Eastern Bishops The Apostolic See is inform'd that John Bishop of Constantinople out of this his presumption hath convoked you to a Synod whereas the authority of assembling general Synods is by a special priviledge deliver'd to the Apostolic See of St. Peter neither can we read of any Synod esteem'd to be ratified which was not establisht on the Apostolic Authority Therefore whatever you have decreed in your foresaid Conventicle by the Authority of St. Peter Prince of the Apostles and the Speech of our Saviour who gave to Blessed Peter the power of binding and loosing I do command all things determined by you to be void and repealed c. Again his not immediate Predecessor Pope Gelasius is a yet more full and convincing witnesse to the Popes Vniversal Iurisdiction upon this occasion Pope Felix the second who possessed St. Peters Chair next before him had been appealed and complain'd to by Iohn Patriark of Alexandria unjustly dispossess'd by Peter an Eutichian whom the Pope in a Synod of 42. Bishops excommunicated Moreover upon the complaints of the same Iohn he cited Acacius Bishop of Constantinople to appear And upon his contumacy excommunicated him likewise in this Form Take notice saies he that thou art deprived of Sacerdotal honor and Catholic Communion and moreover that thou art segregated from the number of the Faithful having lost both the Name and Office of Priestly Ministery being condemned by us by the judgment of the Holy Ghost and Apostolic Authoriâ—y Yet this Sentence not having been as the former was denounced in a Synod some Eastern Bishops found fault with it Whereupon his next Successor Pope Gelasius justifies his proceedings in an Epistle to the Bishop of Dardania he shews that when any Heretic has bin once condemned by a Synod as Sabellius c. there was need of convoking new Synods for the condemning his Followers And that this was the case of Acacius who communicated with Peter and Timotheus Bishops of Alexandria Eutychians which Heresie had been condemned in the Council of Chalcedon In consequence whereto he adds these Words Neither do we omit to signifie which the whole Church all the world over knows very well that the See of the blessed Apostle St. Peter has a power to loose whatsoever things shall be bound by the Sentences of any Bishops whatsoever as being the Church which has a right to judge every other Church neither is it permitted to any one to censure its judgment Seeing the Canons have ordain'd that appeals should be made to it from every part of the World Are these now marks onely of a Primacy of Order and not Supremacy of Iurisdiction 7. We will next enlarge a step to Pope Leo the Great who began his Seat in the year 440. and in whose time the General Council of Chalcedon was assembled How couragious and constant an Assertor he was of his Supream Iurisdiction most of his Epistles witnesse and almost all Protestant Controverâ—ists complain He in his 53d Epistle to Anatolius Bishop of Constantinople in the 54th to the Emperor Marcianus and the 55th to the Empresse Pulcheria vindicates the Derivation of his Authority not from the Imperial City but St. Peter Prince of the Apostles 8. Therefore whereas the Preacher calls to witnesse the famous Canon of Chalcedon decreeing to the Bishop of Constantinople an equality of priviledges with the Bishop of Rome not for any other reason then its having the good hap to be one of the two Imperial Cities If he had had a mind to dealingenuously he would have cal'd it an
the great Saint Basil who writing to St. Athanasius about suppressing Arianism in the East hath these words It seems convenient to us to write to the Bishop of Rome to desire him that he would have regard to our affaires and interpose the judgment of his Decree c. Moreover that he would give Authority to sâ—m choice persons who may bring the Acts of the Council of Ariminum for the annulling of those things that were violently done there c. 6. Again when the Synod of Antioch about the year 343. assembled by Arians to the prejudice of the Council of Nice had framed a new confession of Faith it was argued of nullity saith Sâ—crates especially because Iulius Bishop of Rome was neither himself present nor sent any to supply his place Whereas saith he the Ecclesiastical Canon commands that no Decrees be established in the Church without the assent of the Bishop of Rome And this authority the same Pope Iulius asserts For writing to the Eastern Bishops who had condemned St. Athanasius he sayes thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Are you ignorant this is the custom that you should first write to us and after that determin just matters there Therefore if there were any ill suspition against that Bishop of Alexandria you ought to have signified it in the first place to the Church here 7. Consonantly hereto Sozomen another Greek Historian saith expresly That there was received in the Church a Sacerdotal law declaring all things to be void that are done without the sentence of the Bishop of Rome Nay which is yet more this which for ought appears was only an unwritten Canon or Custom for no Council mentions it but deliver'd by Tradition even in the Eastern Churches was of such authority that the foresaid Emperor Valentinian makes it a Law-Imperial We decree says he that according to the antient custom nothing be innovated in the Church without the sentence of the Bishop of Rome Surely Dr. Pierce will acknowledge these Testimonies argue more than a Primacy of Order here is a Iurisdiction asserted extending it self beyond the Diocesâ—n Metropolitan or Patriarcal limits of Rome 8. I will add a few examples more when some Eastern Councils had deposed Athanasius Patriark of Alexandria Paul Bishop of Constantinople Marcellus Priâ—at of Ancyâ—a and Asclepas Bishop of Gaza The Bishop of Rome saith Sozomen to whom for the dignity of his Throne the care of all things does pertain restored to every one of them their own Church And he adds further That he commanded those who had deposed them to appear on a day appointed at Rome to give account of their judgement threatning that he would not leave them unpunish'd if they did not cease from innovating All this he did saith Theodoret not by usurpation but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 following the Churches law 9. Again when the General council of Ephesus was entring into debate about the cause of Iohn Patriark of Antioch the Bp. of Ierusalem interposed affirming that according to the antient custom the Church of Antiochâ— as alwayes governed by the Roman Whereupon the whole Council remitted the judgement of that Cause to the Pope 10. Moreover when Dioscorus Patriark of Alexandria in the Scismatical Council of Ephesus had deposed Flavian Bishop of Constantinople Flavian appealed to the Pope And this he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the custom of Synods sayth the Emperor Valentinian 11. Two examples more I will the rather add because we of this Nation are particularly concern'd in them The first is taken out of the famous Council of Sardica assembled about twenty years after that of Nice This Council was by Iustinian called Oecumenical because though the Eastern Bishops departed before the conclusion yet the Canons of it were never rejected by them In the third and fourth Canons of this Council it was ordain'd upon a proposal made by the famous Osius of Corduba to this effect That in any Controversies between Bishops which could not be determined in their own respective Provinces the person aggrieved might appeal to the Bishop of Rome who might renew the Process and appoint Iudges And by a second proposal of Gaudentius a Bishop in case any Bishop deposed should make such an appeal till the Pope had determin'd the cause it was not permitted that another Bishop should be ordained in his place These Decrees the Council made to honor the memory of St. Peter the Apostle 12. Now at this Conâ—cil among other Bishops from all the Western Countreys some came out of our Britany as St. Athanasius an eye-witness assured us And therefore the General Superintendency of the Pope over all churches could not have been unknown in this Nation long before St. Augustin the Monk or the Saxons had possession here By which may appear the slightness of the late found Welsh paper though much bragged of in which the Abbot of Bangor is said to have refused the subjection to the Pope which St. Augustin requir'd of the British Bishops For what grosse ignorance was it in this Abbot if the Paper relate truth of him That after all that power exercised by that man called the Pope over the whole Church of God especially over the Western Provinces and so much respect return'd him from them after the presence of the British Bishops at so many famous Councils and after so many holy Bishops sent for the conversion of these Islands by the Bishops of Romes delegation he should be such a stranger to his person or authority or his titles after the year of our Lord 600 At which time also the Irish Bishops are found to have yielded all obedience to this Roman Bishop when the Britains thus denied it as appears Both in that they are said by venerable Beda the South-Irish at least to have returned very early to a right observation of Easter Ad admonitionem Apostolicae sedis Antistitis and also in that about this time they sent Letters to St. Gregory then Pope to know after what manner they ought to receive into the Church such as were converted from Nestorianism to whom he sends his Orders concerning it directed Quirino Episcopo ceteris Episcopis in Hybernia Catholicis as may be found in the Register of his Epistles 13. A second Monument wherein we Britains have a peculiar interest is that most antient first Council of Arles celebrated according to Baronius and Sirmondus assented to by Sir Henry Spelman in the year 314. about eleven years before the first Council of Nice The Canons of this Council are directed to the Bishop of Rome as appears by the first Canon in these words First concerning the Paschal observation of our Lord that it be observed by us upon one day and at one time through the whole world and that according to custom thou wouldst direct Letters to all And moreover in the head of the Canons is inserted this Breviary of
not dangerous to States On the contrary c. Protestants writing in favour of it 1. BUt as yet our Proofs of Primacy of Iurisdiction in the Successor of St. Peter though they reach to the Beginning in the latitude fixed by the Doctor and truly I am perswaded to an indifferent Reader will appear more credible than any his Margins furnish to the contrary Yet they may be continued till we come even to the Presbyterians Independants and Quakers Beginning too that is the Gospels themselves To demonstrate this we will make a short enquiry into the times of the Church before Constantin whilst it was a mere suffering Church incapable of conspiring either in or out of General Councils But withal a Church lesse dispersed and torn by Heresies or contentions among Bishops and therefore lesse needing this Preservative against Schisms Supreme Authority 2. In these holy peaceable times therâ—ore before Silvester I will content my self with two or three examples to prove the acknowledgement of such a Primacy And the first shall be of St. Melchiades the immediat Predecessor of Pope Silvester St. Augustin will afford us a Testimony of his care and authority extended into Africk whose words are Qualis ipsius Melchiadis ultima est prolata Sententia c. Such an one was the last sentence Melchiades himself pronounced in judgeing the cause of Donatus by which he would not have the boldnesse to remove from his Communion his Collegues the Catholic Bishops in Africa in whom no crime could be proved And having censured most deeply Donatus alone whom he found to have been the Original of all the mischief he gave a free choyce of healing the breaches of Scism to all the rest of his Followers being also in a readiness to send communicatory Letters to those subdivided Scismatics that were ordained by Majorinus a Donatist Bishop in so much as his Sentence was that in whatsoever Cities of Africk there were two Bishops dissenters a Catholic and a Donatist he should be confirm'd in the Bishoprick who was first ordained c. and that another Diocese should be provided which the other should govern O Son of Christian peace and truly Father of the Christian flock says St. Augustin 3. I will add to this three other examples in which though as to the use and administration of the Superintendency som Objections have been made yet they suffice to confirm the acknowledgement of such a Superintendency in the Pope as the Preacher denies The first is of Pope Stephanus contemporary with St. Cyprian and his fellow in Martyrdom concerning whom we read in Eusebius that he either inflicted or at least threatned excommunication to som of the Churches of Asia that held a necessity of Rebaptization after Baptism received by Heretics And in the same quarrel between the same Pope Stephaâ—â—s and St. Cyprian himself matters were almost brought to the like extremity yet neither did St. Cyprian though wonderfully sharp nor even that violent Cappadocian Bishop Firmilianus ever question the Popes Authority though as they thought unjustly employed 4. The other is extant in the same St. Cyprian who endeavour'd to peswade the Pope to depose Marcianus a Metropolitan Bishop of Arles siding with Novatian His words to Pope Stephanus about it are these Let Letters be directed from thee into the Province and to the people of Arlâ—s commanding that Marcianus be excommunicated and another put in his place And to the like purpose is another Epistle of his in a cause touching two Spanish Bishops upon mis-information restor'd by the Pope 5. The third is that so well known example of Pope Victor concerning whom Eusebius thus writes Victor endeavours to cut off from the fellowship of Communion the Churches of Asia as declining into Heresie and sends Letters by which he would divide them all indifferently from the Ecclesiastical Society c. But there are extant Letters of Bishops by whom Victor is sharply reproved as one that was carelesse of the commodity of the whole Church Particularly Ireneus reprehends him telling him that he did very ill to divide from the unity of the whole Body so many and so great Churches Now in such reproofs from Ireneus and even Polycrates an Asian Bishop himself the ring-leader of the party of the Quartâ— decimani against St. Victor it was not impuâ—ed to Victor that he exercised an usurped Authority over Bishops not subject to him but that the cause of exercising his just Authority was â—ot sufficiently weighty 6. Having proceeded thus far our last step shall be to the utmost degree the very beginning it self our Lord and St. Peter in the Gospels And here we will acknowledge what the Dâ—ctor saies that all the Twelve Apostles were equally foundations of the Churches building That the same Authority which was first given to St. Peter alone sustaining the person of the whole Church was afterward given to the rest of the Apostles that as St. Cyprian saies the same that St. Peter was the rest of the Apostles likewise were pari consortio praediti c. endowed with an equal participation of honor and power And as St. Hierom affirms that all Bishops in all places whether at Rome or Eugubium Canterbury or Rochester are of the very same merit c. But he will give leave to the Scripture to interpret it self and to the Fathers to interpret both it and themselves We grant therefore that all the Apostles and all Bishops their Successors enjoy the whole latitude of Apostolic and Episcopal Iurisdiction for as much as concerns the internal essential qualifications of either But for the external administration there may be and alwaies was acknowledged a subordination and different latitude in the exercise of the same authority both among the Apostles and Bishops Let him not find fault with this distinction for they themselves have occasion somtimes to make use of it to the like purpose Arch-bishop Whitgift in his Defence of the Answer to the Admonition affirms that Archbishops quoad Ministerium do not differ from other Pastors but touching Government page 303. And afterward page 386. Answering the same Argument out of St. Hierom who equals the meanest Bishop with the Pope he saies that they are equal quoad Ministerium but not quoad polittam 7. Let him take therefore an example illustrating this at home What Function what Act of Iurisdiction can my Lord of Canterbury exercise I mean according to their Tenets which the meanest of his subordinate Bishops cannot perform He can ordain Bishops and Priests So can they the former with him the other without him He can visit his Prâ—vince they their Diâ—cesse He can give the Holy Ghost by Confirmation So can they He can assemble a Provincial Council They a Diocesan He has a Canonical Authority over Bishops c. They over Priests He can absolve from Censures inflected by himself they can do as much Yet nothing of all this excludes him from
Supremacy began with St. Peter his words are Among the Apostles themselves there was one chief that had chief authority over the rest to the end Schisms might be compounded And this he quotes from Calvin who said The twelve Apostles had one among them to govern the rest 26. I will now produce two who will give this whole Cause to the Pope The first is the so fam'd Melancthoâ— who writes thus As certain Bishops preside â—ver particular Churches so the Bishop of Rome is President over all Bishops And this Canonical policy no wise man as I think does or ought to disallow c. For the Monarchy of the Bishop of Rome is in my judgement profitable to this end that consent of Doctrine may be retain'd Wherfore an agreement may easily be established in this Article of the Popes Supremacy if other Articles could be agreed upon The other witnesse is learned Doctor Covel the Defender of Mr. Hooker he having shew'd the Necessity of setting up one above the rest in God's Church to suppresse the Seeds of Dissention c. thus applies it against the Puritans If this were the principal means to prevent Schisms and Dissentions in the Pâ—imitive Church when the graces of God were more abundant and eminent then now they are Nâ—y if twelve Apostles were not like to agree except there had been one chief among them For saith Hierom Among the twelve one was therefore chosen that a chief being appointed occasion of Schism might be prevenâ—ed how can they think that equality would keep all the Pastors in the World in peace and unity For in all Societies Authority which cannot be where all are equal must procure unity and obedience He adds further The Church without such an Authority should be in a far worse case then the meanest Common-wealth nay almost then a Den of Theives if it were left dâ—stitute of means either to convince Heresies or to suppresse them yea though there were neither help nor assistance of the Christian Magistrate Thus Dr. Pierce may see how these his own Primitive Reformers either joyn with us in this Point of Primacy or however they oppose him in calling it a Novelty begun by Pope Boniface the third CHAP. IX Of the Churches Infallibility The necessity thereof that she may be a certain Guide to Salvation And the grounds whereupon She claims it 1. THe Second pretended Novelty of Catholick Doctrine is the Infallibility of the Church called by the Preacher The Paâ—â—adium of the Conclave and derived from the Schollars of Marcus in Irenaeus or from the Gnosticks in Epiphanius Against which Infallibility his unanswerable Arguments are 1. Infallibility is one of Gods incommunicable Attributes 2. The Church not being omniscient must therefore be ignorant in part and consequently may fall into Error 3. It is confess'd by the great Champions of the Papacy that the Heresie of the Novatians was hatch'd in Rome and continued there almost two hundred years 4. Besides Arianism that over-spread the Church she was infected with the Heresie of the Chyliasts being deceived by Papias which Heresie found no contradiâ—â—â—â— for some Ages 5. Yea the whole Church in the opinion of St. Augustin and Pope Innocent during the space of six hundred years according to Maldonaâ— thought the Sacrament of the Eucharist necessary to Infants yet the Council of Trent is of a contrary mind 2. In order to the answering of this Discoâ—rse he will sure acknowledge that all Sect of Christianity agree in this that each of them has both a Rule of their Faith and a 〈◊〉 also But in both these there is difference among them To the Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Quakers Socinians c. the only Rule is the Holy Scripture But both Catholicks and English Protestants though they acknowledge Divine Revelations to be their only Rule yet they admit certain universally received Traditions besides expresse Scripture 3. But as for the Guide from which we are to learn the true sense of this Rule the difference among the said Sects is far greater and more irreconcilable The Socinians will have Scripture interpreted onely by private reason a Guide evidently fallible and therefore not to be imposed on others The Independents Anabaptists Quakers and Presbyterians too pretend to an Infallible Guide Gods Holy Spirit but with this difference that the Independents Anabaptists and Quakers rationally acknowledge that this Guide is only to direct those that have it and perceive they have it but cannot oblige other men that have it not nor can be sure they have it Whereas the Presbyterians by an unexampled Tyranny at least in France do oblige themselves and their Posterity to a Profession that by a Divine Illumination they are taught to distinguish Canonicâ—l Books of Scripture from Apocriphal and by the same Guide to justifie all the Doctrines by which they dissent from all others And moreover by a most senslesse inhumanity will impose a necessity on all others to belie their own Consciences and acknowledge the same Guide though they have never wrought any Miracles which certainly are necessary to oblige others to believe and follow the internal Guidance of that Spirit to which they pretend 4. As for Dr. Pierce and the generality of English Protestants I speak of them now as hitherto they have bin for what they must be hereafter neither they nor I know a special Guide of theirs beyond Reason and Spirit for the finding out the sense of Scripture and judging of Traditions received by them is the Primitive Church or foure first General Councils But since those ancient Fathers are now past speaking and their Writings are as obnoxious to disputes as the Scriptures themselves a speaking Judge of the sense of all these I suppose is their Ecclesiastical Synods or Bishops when Synods are dissolved but principally those that are to make and determine the sense of Acts of Parliament And upon these grounds they finde themselves obliged to behave themselves differently to several adversaries For against Sects that went out from them they use the help of Catholick weapons the Authority of the Chuâ—ch Councils c. But against Catholics they renouncing the Authority of the present Church in her Supremest Councils of convening which the times are capable and in the interval of Councils in the major part of the Governours thereof united with him whom themselves acknowledge the prime Patriark will make use of a kind of private spirit or reason or the judgment of a most inconsiderable number of Church-Governâ—rs going against the whole Body of the Catholick Church and their chief Pastor but this as to assent only where it likes them and so will be their own selves Judges of what is the sense of Councils Fathers Scriptures and all And great difficultie they often find how to avoid being accounted Papists when they speak to Sectaries and being even Fanaticks when they Dispute with Roman Catholicks And truly the Doctors whole Sermon is in effect meerly Fanatick