but that you may perceive the sin whereof it is the off-spring that you may draw your self from the one and from the other by the knowledge which he gives you of the horrour you should have for the Cause by the grief you resent by its Effect You shall see it Sir clearly enough by the consequents of the Maxims upon which the Authors of the Reformation which your Fathers embraced have laid their Foundations The Foundations of the Reformation of Calvin are laid upon these two Maxims which he and all those which have forsook the Church as himself hath delivered as indubitable to the People which have followed him The first is That the Church was fallen into ruine and desolation by Errour in its Faith by Idolatry in its Service and by Tyrannie in its Government The second That to reform and re-establish it â—…n its Original Purity the Faith of its Doctrine of its Service and of its Government was to be reduced to the onely precepts of the Scripture ' of the sense whereof every Believer ought to be Judge for his own proper salvation by the light of the Holy Ghost which conducts him They saw that if they did not suppose these Maxims for the causes of their Reformation they could not pretend any which might oblige them to forsake the Church which they had a mind to leave that they might frame a Contrary Party and make war against her For they could not deny the Church from which they separated the Title of the True Church but in accusing of it as they have done of Errour Idolatry and of Tyrannie And if we suppose this accusation for true they could not bring in the necessity of a Separation to make their Reformation but in excluding the Authority of Tradition and the Judgement of the Church and by reducing the rule of the Reformation to the Scripture it self interpreted by every mans Judgeâ—…ent Your Majestie Sir shall now see that of those Maxims which the Bishops of your Realm already become Schismaticks receiv'd for the causes of the Reformation which they admitted there was first of all Formed the Sect of Puritan-Presbyterians against the Protestant-Episcopalians who could not subsist against them upon the Foundation of these Maxims And that at length the Brownists the more Reformed Puritans did raise themselves upon the same Foundations who have since begot the Independents for the ruine of the Presbyterians by the same reasons by which the others had ruined the Protestants and Episcopacy and with Episcopacy Royalty it self In such sort that all this dreadful disorder which makes your Kingdoms to be a Chaos of lamentable disorder in which your authority finds it self put out comes from these Principles of Reformation which are the natural source thereof That this is so your Majestie Sir may clearly perceive it When the Bishops consented to these Principles of Reformation they abandoned by them the Faith of the Catholick Church concerning the Sacrifice of the Mass concerning Transubstantiation in the holy Eucharist concerning the number and vertue of the seven Sacraments concerning Justification real and inherent in the faithful and of their Merits and the Invocation of Saints concerning Prayer for the Dead and of Purgatory concerning the Authority of the Pope and of the adhering of all the Faithful to the See of St. Peter at Rome But they retain nevertheless the Episcopal Dignity and Authority with a part of the Liturgie and Ceremonies of the Catholick Church But the Puritan-Presbyterians have cast away all Form of Hierarchy and community of the Liturgie and Ceremonies with the Church of Rome as pernicious remainders of the Papal Tyrannie and Idolatry as they call them That they might oppose both Parties according to the first Maxim of their Reformation they brought in a Form of Government altogether novel and composed a Form of Service altogether new Upon which they have had so much advantage against the Protestants in combating them with the reasons of their common Principles and in stirring up the People heated with the zeal of Reformation that it was impossible for them to subsist if the Puritans could but once be supported by the Authority of Parliament against the Authority of the King who onely did support the Protestant Cause not by arguing but by command For Controversy by their Principles was all for the Puritans against the Protestants Could they without Tradition and by the holy Scripture alone interpreted by the judgement of every one find Episcopal Dignity and its Authority with distinction and superiority of power above the other Pastors and Ministers They could certainly without doubt by the Authority of the holy Scripture assisted by Tradition which declares the lawful sense But in doing this the victory which it gives them obligeth them to consent likewise to the Authority and Primacy of the Pope for the Government of the Universal Church as founded in the Primacy St. Peter receiv'd in the College of the Apostles as well for the Form of the Government of the Universal Church as of every particular Church from whence every Bishop derives his Authority Then thus it must be either that the Protestants abandon Episcopacy as a seed of Tyrannie and become Presbyterians or in retaining it to enter again into the Communion of the Pope and Bishops who adhere to him Though there be no need to speak here that their sole Division makes it impossible for them to subsist by the reason which the great Bishop and Martyr St. Cyprian represents to all Bishops in declaring the obligation they have strongly to retain the Unity of the Church by the not to be divided Unity of Episcopacy whereof every one doth solidly possess his share Upon which he admonisheth them that if any one goes to separate himself it shall happen unto him as to a Beam drawn from the body of the Sun which shall have no more part through its division in the unity of the light which continues in the body As to a Bough broken from the Tree which shall spring no more having no more share in the sap which remains in the body and in the root of the Tree Even like a Rivolet cut off from the Fountain which will dry up having no more to do with the course of the water which runs from the Spring This is that also Sir which your Bishops cannot avoyd It must be that being separated from the Mother-Church they should be extinguished and should vanish away as it s come to pass It must be that their very pain â—…as the proper work of the cause of â—…hier errour That their Reformation made them lose their Form But if the Puritans have had this advantage upon the Protestants by the Common Principles of their Reformation that which the same Principles have given the Brownists to withdraw themselves from the Puritans of the Genevian Discipline in the more exact purity which their spirit Interpreter of the sense of the Scripture suggests unto them is yet more great Behold
beginning to make the Authors of this Reformation agree that the Church remained pure in Faith during the time of the four first general Councils they have afforded us a way by this to disabuse the People they do abuse when they accuse the Church at this day of Errour in the heads of her Faith which they have rejected For they can no longer avoyd falling into a manifest contradiction of the sense which they impute to the antient Fathers in points of Faith which are in controversy between us They cannot brand the Church at this day for having a different opinion in Faith from the Antient Church without cutting their throats with their own proper contradictions upon the opinion they attribute to the Faâ—…hers So that there is nothing more to do for the informing the People separated from the Church of the truth and obliging them to enter again into her than to make them understand the cheat wherewith they have been surprized under the name of Reformation by convincing in their presence their Ministers of an evident contradiction of themselves by the consequences of the Fundamental Maxims of their Reformation From whence results the indubitable Demonstration which proceeds from the spirit of lying and errour If it please your Majestie Sir to imploy this way for your instruction and the satisfaction of your Conscience that your Conversion and return to tâ—… Church may both open the hearts and the way for all the rest to follow your example You cannot do it morâ—… solemnly or commodiously than in thâ—… place wherein you are at the present We have in this place five Ministers of the Communion separated from the Catholick Church who have gotten themselves as much credit and authority through the esteem of their sufficiency and reputation of their zeal as any that are in their whole body Your Majestie Sir may easily obtain of the King your good Brother and Friend that they be called by his Authority to come with all those of their Communion wherewith they would be assisted and appear in presence of Monsieur the Archbishop of Paris and Monsieur his Coadjutor and the Catholick Doctors which he shall please to bring with him And there Sir you Majestie being present to speak and answer with all security and liberty that which their spirit and conscience doth suggest to them upon the evident contradictions of the principles and consequences of their Reformation that in all their different Sects which have for saken the Church under this pretext there is neither Church nor Faith And that upon the Points of Faith where they have accused the Church of Errour and have taken the opportunity to separate themselves from her they are likewise separated from the Communion of the Church of all Ages So that they cannot any waies accuse us of diversity of opinion with the Antient Church but that they again fall into an evident contradiction of themselves as well as of the Antient Fathers and of us These Ministers Sir will deny neither the desire of your Majestie nor the Commandment of the King your good Brother to render the duty both to their charge and to their conscience unless they 'll wirness by their denial the open forsaking which they make oâ—… their cause and the condemnation which they themselves pronounce in their hearts But they 'll love rather as I think ingenuously to present themselves to yield to the truth which they cannot contradict than to incurr the blame of being acknowledged formal enemies of the peace and re-union of the Church through the perversness of an obstinate Faith I know not what to think that they should rather love to fling themselves headlong with their people into the confusion and disorder of Independency and indifference of all opinion in Religion than to avouch the errour and blindness of those who were the first Egressors from the Church by these Maxims which have cast by their consequenc s their Followers into this abyss of irreligion whereinto we see them at this present fallen And when the Ministers would let themselves be carried away to so unlucky a thought I do no waies believe that in France the People would follow them and adhere to their opinions This is wherefore Sir I dare hope that the Ministers which are in Paris being obliged by the desire of your Majestie and the will of their Sovereign to submit to this Law which their own Conscience imposes on them for the satisfaction of their own People for the People will have no less affection and will be no less desirous to see the success of the appearance of their Ministers and the answer they shall make will yield to it and will rather choose to walk in the way of honour and a good conscience than basely to appear desertors at one and the same time both of their Cause and good Faith Whatsoever comes to pass Sir and whatsoever they do whether they follow the motion of the Spirit of Peace and Truth or whether the Spirit of Pride suggest unto them to avoyd and fly both the one and the other youâ—… Majestie shall alwaies have all full satisfaction for departing from the errour which you shall see forsaken or condemned by its own Ministers and entring into the Church which is the Pillar of Truth and Rock of Ages against which you see all the sail of different Sects running at every wind of Doctrine through the deceit of them that conduct them to break and shipwrack â—…hemselves And then when your Majestie shall be entred into the Church after this manner and when all the world shall see that the desire to glorifie God by the searching for the Truth by the repose of your Conscience and by the love of your Salvation shall have been your whole motive You need not doubt Sir but your example will make the like impression in all the souls that are touched with the fear of God You need not doubt Sir for so much as God hath elevated your Majestie in birth and eminent dignity above the rest â—…hat are in the Communion wherein â—…ou have lived They all seeing these â—…ircumstances of your change and enâ—…rance into the Sanctuary of the Church â—…pon the wings of the victory of Truth â—…hich carries you thither alone will â—…e stirred up to give glory to God for â—…he same causes for which you shall be â—…endred to him It concerns you then Sir to make â—…our entrance by this means and that â—…ou serve your self of this way to adâ—…ress your self thither to the end your â—…onversion and return to the Church â—…ring to her with you by the solemn â—…onviction of the errour which hath â—…ismembred her not onely those which â—…he division of your Fathers hath torn â—…rom her but also all the rest which â—…he same cause hath separated For by â—…he power which Truth hath upon the Conscience of men when it is apparent here is no doubt but it will come to â—…ass after this manner When the People shall
THE VICTORY OF TRUTH FOR The Peace of the CHURCH To the King of GREAT BRITAIN To invite him to embrace the Roman-Catholick Faith By Monsieur De la Militiere Counsellour in Ordinary to the King of France With an Answer thereunto Written by the Right Reverend John Bramhall D. D. and Lord Bishop of London-Derry Printed at the Hague 1653. To the King of Great Britain to invite his Majestie to embrace the Catholick Faith SIR THE Wisedome of Gods Counsels is far above the prudence of men who are altogether void of the knowledge of his grace One sort who know neither God nor his providence look upon all the events of humane life as if they happened by chance They imagine that that which we call good luck or ill luck hath no other cause than hazard and that which every mans prudence or imprudence brings to the conduct of his life Others who acknowledge a Divine providence but onely after the manner that God hath manifested it to the world by the instructions and judgements of his Law think that all the goods which heap prosperities upon them are the effects and testimonies of the favour where with God cherisheth those that are his And that the Ils that oppress mans life with miseries are arguments of the anger and hatred of God upon those he handles after that manner But Christians to whom God hath revealed by the Gospel the counsel of his mercy in Jesus Christ know that in his Cross on which for satisfying the Justice of of the Law he hath bore the pain of our sinnes he hath changed for those he calls to his Communion the use of Afflictions And that he imployes them first to humble them and acknowledge their sin that they may desire deliverance to the end they may come by this way to the Faith of his grace which doth deliver them And when they are entred into Communion with him by faith and that the exercise of the same afflictions accomplisheth in them the work of his grace in giving them by his consolation in their patience the hope of the glorious happiness which he hath promis'd them and which carries over all their affections to the loving of him Those therefore that have this faith and this hope are of a judgement far differing from the opinion of men of the world upon the event of Goods and Evils which accompany mans life Considering Sir the present fortune of your serene Majestie far removed from the Majestick condition of your Birth I humble my self with you in the sight of the powerful hand of God who is the onely Judge and onely Master of Monarchs to ascend by the steps whereto the Gospel addresses us even into the counsel of his infinite mercy And I find there that the disaster of this great calamity which environs you is a work of the wisdome of the King of Kings who will shew in you whom he hath honoured with his Unction and his Image an admirable effect of his grace and of his power I say Sir that under the Cloak of so many sad adventures which try you by revolutions so strange that all the Universe doth tremble the King of Heaven and of the Earth who hath humbled himself for you infinitely more low than you are draweth himself near unto you He comes to take you by the hand not onely to reâ—…stablish you in your Throne but to make you sit in his that you may reign with him eternally after you have imployed the Scepter which he shall put again into your hand to re-establish his Kingdome among your people It is very easy for me Sir to give you a reason of this judgement I make of thaâ—… of God upon your sacred Person and to explicate unto you not onely the causes and effects of the ill which is come upon you but also the way the use and the success of the remedy which the hand of God will give you to accomplish in you this work of his mercy If we seek the Cause for which we behold that the hand of God hath made it self so grievously heavy upon the sacred head of the King your Father and which pursues yet after him your Royal Person with so many sinister accidents which hath caused this great desolation to come upon all your Kingdomes this confusion and this subversion of their peace and former prosperity this change into which they are so blindly precipitated to part with the form of Government that God had established amongst them under which they had lived so happily for so many Ages past to become slaves of the yoke which the armed hand of a Tyrant hath put upon their head under the false name of Liberty it will be very easy for us to find the Cause and to acknowledge it by the Effects You are not ignorant Sir and all the world knows it with you that the subject for which this Paricidal Parliament hath so cruelly persecuted the King your Father hath been the Ecclesiastical Government of which they desired to change the form by abolishing Episcopacy and suppressing the Liturgie and the Ceremonies by which the Protestants of your Kingdome had yet retained some image of the Catholick Church Those which they call Puritans and Presbyterians who would live under the form of the Genevian Discipline could not endure the form of that Antient Order which the Royal Authority had retained as instituted by Divine Authority and for this very thing necessary for its conformity to preserve in Christian Estates the form of a Monarchical Government From thence it is come that the Puritan and Presbyterian Faction hath conceiv'd and alwaies kept in its breast an implacable hatred against Monarchical Government by reason of their aversion from the Episcopal That which the prudence of King James your Majesties Grandfather Sir having judiciously taken notice of did as wisely inform his posterity by an express Book to take heed of it And this King knowing Church as well as State matters foreseeing the inconvenience that might arise expressing from his mouth that which touched him at the heart had this familiar speech No Bishop no King which is become a lamentable Prophesie under his Successour But O good God! what Successour Such an one certainly that had neither cause nor pretext capable to stir up the hatred of Subjects against a King so merciful so just and so loyal so amiable to his People so venerable to his Neighbours that upon this onely prejudication wherein the Puritan Faction had instructed them in making them believe that under that Form of Government and Antient Service the King and the Bishops had an intention to re-establish in the Realm the Catholick Religion This is the poyson which the Puritan Faction hath blown into the hearts of the People to fill them with hatred against a King so love-worthy And this Republican Parliament endeavouring to erect it self in a Sovereign Authority by annihilating that of the King hath not thought any occasion more favourable to
their design than to act the Puritan that they might come to the execution of their desires which they have done at last by the Sacrilegious Paricide of their Archbishop and of their King This was Sir the grand work of mans malice and the Devils stratagem which caused the ils which are fallen upon your Crown and Person by the pitiful fate of that succession which ought to have befallen you But the Justice and Wisdome of God in this conjuncture hath other ends Every one knows that this Archbishop â—…ourished in the Schism from the Catholick Church had no other thought noâ—… inclination than to re-unite in one body the People divided into Sects among themselves as well as from the Church and to make himself Chief Head of this Schismatical Body And we see God hath permitted that his own People divided against it self hath caused his Head to be cut off The King otherwise accomplished in all royal and moral virtues did use in the Schism by the Law of his Predecessours the Authority which God had given him in temporal matters for governing of spiritual and called himself the Head It is for that reason that God chastizing in his person the fault of his Predecessours would let us know by the tragical spectacle of an unheard of Death in a King no less innocent than lawful that so strange an effect of his anger hath had no other cause than to instruct all other Princes that are in the Schism with what severity God will revenge his glory for their injuring the Unity and Authority of his Church But if such is the Effect of Divine Justice and Wisdome in the cause of your misfortune Sir his Mercy goes far before it and this is the effect that concerns you For God makes it here plainly appear unto your Majestie that the Reformation which the Authors of the Schism in this latter age have pretended to make hath been under the pretext of so good an outside no otheâ—… thing in effect than the entire ruine as well of the Faith and form of the Church as of the Order it self instituted by God for the governing of men This is the Lesson which God sets before your eyes in the historie of this sad Revolution which hath given you a wound the feeling whereof is to be your instruction You shall see Sir through all the circumstances of these tragical effects which have produced the trouble and changed the form of your Estates and which have ravished from you the Crown That the new Religion which your Predecessours embraced after the Schism is the onely efficient cause by the very maxims and foundations of the design which its Authors have called the Reformation of the Church Their new opinions did very easily sside themselves under this apparent colour through the clefts of the Schism into the spirit of the Bishops who made themselves culpable But neither they themselves that received this novelty nor the Kings that authorized them did think they should charge themselves with Uria's packet which would abolish both the authority of the Bisâ—…ops and the Sovereignty of Kings For men are alwaies blind in the works of Darkness which they do by the instinct of the Devil who goes disguizing himself into an Angel of Light that he may induce them for to commit them And their passions which do blind them do insensibly draw them into precipices of mis-haps whereof neither the extraordinary steepness nor depth is by them discerned Certainly whosoever should have demanded of Peter Martyr himself and Martin Bucer who carried Calvin's Reformation into England if they went to bring in the Brownists opinions who by maxims receiv'd from their hands did a little after think upon a more exact purity by the motions which they suppose the Holy Ghost suggests unto them from whence it is that they esteem themselves more Reformed Puritans Whosoever likewise should have enquired of them if they came to tell them they might be of what Religion they pleas'd and for the extinction of all Ecclesiastical Discipline of all rule and form of a common Faith according to the opinion of the Independents Whosoever should at last have ask'd them whether the Sword of the Word they carried in their mouths was to cut off their King's and Bishop's heads that they might give a Form altogether new as well to the Kingdom as to the Church what would they have answered They would have sworn without doubt with their hands upon the new Gospel they carried about them that their intentions were further distant from these thoughts than the Earth is from Hell And nevertheless this thing is no waies to be doubted of and altogether apparent at present that â—…alvin Martyr Bucer and the Bishops which admitted their Reformation and the Kings which authorized it have brought in by the maxims of their Foundations not onely Protestants but also Brownists and Independents The Bishops that receiv'd this Reformation saw not that of it would be bred the Sect of the Presbyterians Enemies to the Hierarchy of the Church and all the Order of its institutions as well for the Service as for the Government and would ruine their Authority that they might abolish Royalty it self But neither did Calvin Martyr nor Bucer know that from the maxims of their Reformation would spring up the Brownists and Indepâ—…ndents who would ruine their Reformation by introducing an indifference concerning all opinion in Religion This is that Sir which the historie of things hapned in the progress of this Reformation the knowledge whereof your Majestie at this present carries engraven in your heart by too bitter feelings represents unto your eyes to the end all the world may see the nature and Genius by the effects of its maxims I will represent them Sir to the eyes of your Majestie and by a demonstration so lively and evident that no reason can contradict it You shall see that the pain you suffer and under which your Estate groans is the true effect as the very punishment of the sins your Fathers committed and transâ—…itted unto you then when under the pretext of this blind Reformation they abandoned the Faith of the Church and her Communion For it is after thiâ—… mâ—…nner the just vengeance of God punishetâ—… sin by it self and that its own proper work becomes the punishment it deserves This Religion for which the Bishops the Kings and the People have forsook the Church hath destroyed the Bishops and the Kings and reduced the People to live without Bishops without Kings without a Form of Government and without Discipline in Religion under the Tyrannie of a Monster who without being either King or Bishop attributes to himself all Authority both in State and in Religion This which I declare unto your Majestie Sir is to make you understand that this terrible work of the hand of God which afflicts you after this manner is nevertheless a judgement of his mercy for you For you may see he sends you not this trouble
Your valour and their unfearful hearts had for a time gotten the advantage of the great number of your Enemies who saw themselves ready to turn their backs But the chance of Arms turning in an instant for them this ill hap fatal to your Crown ravishd from you in this last Conflict according to humane appearance both the way and hope of recovering it But God hath waies unknown to men and his waies are not our waies It is in our weakness that he magnifies his strength and in our lowliness that he makes his height to be seen Then when you were thus deprived of your Forces and all humane means of safety taken from you he came to you under another visage and armed you with a sense of hardiness and resolution which was above the spirit of a man for the Party which you made choyce of for your security You resolv'd with your self to seek it by exposing your sole Person in the solitariness of waies and in the desert of Forrests to the hazard of a thousand sad Accidents after you had hidden all the Marks of that Majestie which is born with you under a form borrowed from the most base condition that the eyes of the People which owe you after God the second homage might not know what you truly were You have passed after this manner without astonishment and without fear across a thousand objects which the imagination at every step presented to you It is there where you acknowledged God had incamped his Angels about you for your guard and for your defence It is there where he made a simple Peasant and an infirm Woman the very Angels of his assistance for to be your guide giving to the simplicity of the one and to the frailty of the other prudence and resolution necessary to conduct you with as much judgement as sincere loyalty and to bring you as a stranger and unknown person both the object of every mans scorn and disdain into the Capital City of your Ancestors Inheritance It is there where before fearing by reason of the Orders set forth against your life and for discovering you the meeting so many faces that would regard yours the hand of God hath withdrawn the eyes of all those who had a heart to hurt you And he hath opened them to him alone for to acknowledge you who without being prevented either by a fore-sight or expectation of you became the Angel of your conduct for your crossing the Seas descending upon our Banks and moreover rendring you to the eyes of the Queen your dear Mother to whom your presence hath caused a greater cessation of grief and rendred a greater joy than you did at your Birth God hath then after this manner Sir made you to return hither into the Bosome wherein your Majestie hath begun to live to the end he may give you a new one by your being born again into the spiritual Bosome of your eternal Mother You may see the conduct and counsel of God who calls you to him by a call so marvelous having heard the prayers and vows the sighs and tears of this Catholique Princess to give her the joy to see you rendred a partaker of the greatest graces she hath received from God and which she hath implored for you ever since your Birth without ceasing Since she is the Daughter of Henry the Great the Glory of most Christian Kings she implores of God for you the inheritance of that grace he received from his hand which set him at one and the same time time both in the Church and upon the Throne Her faith implores it her patience hopes it and her piety shall obtain it This is the consolation she sighs after for restoring her from so many bitter afflictions which she hath suckt in at leisure and that the hand of God hath poured upon her in his Sons Chalice by which he proves the constancy of those who love him To the tears of this desolate Princess I adde Sir the Innocent Blood shed before God by the King your Father whom I think I may be able without fear to stile happy For if we look upon the cause of his death he hath been persecuted and cruelly â—…ain being able to avoyd the one and the other from the hands of his Enemies if he would have submitted his Conscience to their Covenant and consented to the abolishing of Episcopacy But he hath loved rather to glorifie God by the confession of a good Conscience and for supporting a Dignity which he hath believed to have been instituted by God according to the opinion of the Catholique Faith Certainly we ought to believe that it is to this Faith which he hath preferred before the greatest things in the world which we must rehears acknowledge for the fruits Piety Humility Patience Constancy Resignation to the will of God submission even to that of men for the love of God which we have seen in him and which his persecution suffering prison unworthy intreatings criminal proceeding degradation condemnation the horrour and cruelty of his punishment like to which the Sun did never yet see an example on the Earth have rendred him more illustrious and more bright shining than the light of the Sun it self We may say that that firmness of this faith hath been in his heart a secret work of God for reuniting him in this trial of the last moments of his life to his Catâ—…olique Church in the number of his faithful Elect many of which saith St. Austin invisibly belong to the Church though they are not rendred members visibly And we ought to believe that this Crown which he hath gained by the constancy of his faith hath been woven for him by the hands of Jesus Christ the King of Kings hearing the prayer and intercession of the most happy Queen his Grandmother who hath in the same manner shed heâ—… blood and given up her soul into the hands of God by one and the same punishment with a faith and constancy not to be imitated for the Catholique Faith which was the very cause of the hatred and persecution she received from her people and most near Kinswoman from whom the succession of the Crown belonged to her For the prayers of the most happy Martyrs in Heaven tends to obtain continually of God by Jesus Christ the accomplishment of the same grace they have received here below imploring it for those that have need to the end that their Faith may be also consummated by a perfect Charity This is the grace Sir you shall make trial of when your Majestie shall attain this Faith by your reunion with the Church You shall feel likewise the effect of the prayers and intercession this glorious Princess makes to God for you by Jesus Christ to the end that when you shall be restored to his Church the Throne unâ—…ustly taken away both from her and from you shall be rendred to you in the middle of your Subjects there to establish by the same
give others leave to â—…tile them the Heads of the Church within their Dominions But no man can be so simple as to conceive that they â—…ntended a spiritual headship to infuse â—…he life and motion of grace into the â—…earts of the faithful such an head is Christ alone No nor yet an Ecclesiaâ—…ical headship We did never believe â—…hat our Kings in their own persons â—…ould exercise any act pertaining either â—…o the power of Order or Juriâ—…ction Nothing can give that to another which it hath not it self They meant oneâ—…y a Civil or Political Head as Saul is called the Head of the Tribes of Israel to see that pubâ—…ick peace be presâ—…rved to see that all Subjects as well Eccâ—…esiastiques as others do their duties in their several places to see that all things be managed for that great and Architectonical end that is the weal and benefit of the whole body politique both for soul and body If you will not trust me Hear our Church it self When we attribute the Sovereign Government of the Church to the King we do not give him any power â—…o administer the Wâ—…rd or Sacraments but onely that Prerogative which God in holâ—… Scripture hath alwaies allowed to Godly Princes to see that all States and Orders of their Subâ—…ects Ecclesiastical and Civil do their duties and to punish those who are delinquent with the civil Sword Here is no power ascribed no punishment inflicted but meerly political and this is approved and justisied by S. Clara both by reason and by the examples of the Parliament of Paris Yet by vertue of this Political power he is the Keeper of both Tables the preserver of true Piety towards God as weâ—…l as right Justice towards men And is obliged to take care of the souls as well as the skins and carkasses of his Subjects This power though not this name the Christian Emperours of old assumed unto themselves to Convocate Synods to preside in Synods to confirm Synods to establish Ecclesiastical Lawes to receive Appeals to nominate Bishops to eject Bishops to suppress Heresies to compose Ecclesiastical differences in Councils out of Councils by themselves by their delegates All which is as clear in the Historie of the Church as if it were written with a beam of the Sun This power though not this name the Antient Kings of Englaâ—…d ever exercised not onely before the Reformation but before the Norman Conquest as appears by the Acts of their great Councils by their Statutes and Articles of the Clergy by so many Lawes of provision against the Bishop of Romes conferring Ecclesiastical dignities and benefices upon Foreiners by so many sharp oppositions against the exactions and usurpations of the Court of Rome by so many Lawes concerning the Patronage of Bishopricks and Investitures of Bishops by so many examples of Church-men punished by the Civil Magistrate Of all which Jewels the Roman Court had undoubtedâ—…y robbed the Crown if the Peers and Prelates of the Kingdome had not come into â—…he rescue By the Antient Lawes of England it is death or at lest a forfeiture of all his goods for any man to publish the Popes Bull without the Kings Licence The Popes Legate without the Kings leave could not enter into the Realm If an Ordinary did refuse to accept a resignation the King might supply his defect If any Ecclesiastical Court did exceed the bounds of its just power either in the nature of the cause or manner of proceeding the Kings Prohibition had place So in effect the Kings of England were alwaies the Political heads of the Church within their own Dominions So the Kings of France are at this day But who told you that ever King Charles did call himself the Head of the Church thereby to merit such an heavy Judgement He did not nor yet King James his Father nor Queen Elizabeth before them both who took Order in her first Parliament to have it lest out â—…f her Title They thought that name did sound ill and that it intrenched too far upon the right of their Saviour Therefore they declined it and were called onely Supreme Governours in all Causes over all persons Ecclesiastical and Civil which is a Title de jure inseparable from the Crown of all Sovereign Princes Where it is wanting de facto if any place be so unhappy to want it the King is but half a King and the Commonwealth a Serpent with two Heads Thus you see you are doubly and both waâ—…es miserably mistaken First King Charles did never stile himself Head of the Church nor could with patience endure to hear that Title Secondly a Political Headship is not injurious to the Unity or Authority of the Church The Kings of Isâ—…ael and Judah the Christian Emperours the Engâ—…ish Kings before the Reformation yea even before the Conquest and other Sovereign Princes of the Roman Communion have owned it signaâ—…ly But it seems you have been toâ—…d or have read this in the virulent writings of Sandâ—…rs or Parsons or have heard of a ludicrous scoffing proposition of a Mâ—…rriage between the two Heads of the two Churches Sixâ—…us Quintus and Queen Elizabeth for the re-uniting forsooth of Christendome All the satisfaction I shâ—…uld enjoyn you is to perswade the Bishop of Râ—…me if Gregory the Great were living you could not fail of speeding to imitate the piety and humility of our Princes that is to content himself with his Patriarchical dignity and primacy of Order Principâ—…m unit at is and to quit that much more presumptuous and if a Popes word may pass for current Antichristian term of the Head of the Catholick Church If the Pope be the Head of the Catholique Church then the Catholique Church is the Popes Body which would be but an harsh expression to Christian ears then the Catholick Church should have no Head when there is no Pope two or three Heads when there are two or three Popes an unsound Head when there is an heretical Pope a broken Head when the Pope is censured or deposed and no Head when the See is vacant If the Church must have one Universal Visible Ecclesiastical Head a general Council may best pretend to that Title Neither are you more successful in your other Reason why the Parliament persecuted the King Because he maintained Episcopacy both out of Conscience and Interest which they sought to abolish For though it be easily admitted that some seditious and heterodox persons had an evil eye both against Monarchy and Episcopacy from the very beginning of these troubles either out of a fiery zeal or vain affectation of Novelty like those who having the green-sickness prefer chalk and meal in a corner before wholsome meat at their Fathers table or out of a greedy and covetous desire of gathering some sticks for themselves upon the fall of those great Okes yet certainly they who were the contrivers and principal actors in this business did more malign
Episcopacy for Monarchies sake than Monarchy for Episcopacies What end had the Nuncio's Faction in Ireland against Episcopacy whose mutinous courses apparently lost that Kingdome When the Kings consent to the Abolition of Episcopacy in Scotland was extorted from him by the Presbyterian faction which probably the prime Authors do rue sufficiently by this time were those Presbyterian Scots any thing more favourable to Monarchy To come to England the chief Scene of this bloody Tragedy If that party in Parliament had at first proposed any such thing as the Abâ—…ition either of Monarchy or Episcopacy undoubtedly they had ruined their whole design untill daily tumults and uncontrollable uproars had chased away the greater and sounder part of both Houses Their first Protestation was solemnly made to God both for King and Church as they were by Law established Would you know then what it was that Conjur'd up the storm among us It was some feigned jealousies and fears which the first broachers themselves knew well enough to be fables dispersed cunningly among the People That the King purposed to subvert the Fundamental Lawes of the Kingdome and to reduce the free English Subject to a condition of absolute slavery under an Arbitrary Government For which massy weight of malitious untruth they had no supporters but a few Bull-rushes Secondly that he meant to apostate from the Protestant Religion to Popery and to that end had raised the Irish Rebellion by secret encouragements and Commissions For which monstrous calumny they had no other foundation except the solemn Religious Order of Divine Service in his own Chapel and Cathedral Churches than some unseasonable disputes about an Altar or a Table and the permission of the Popes Agent to make a short stay in England more for reason of State than of Râ—…ligion And some sensless fictions of some Irish Rebels who having a Patent under the Great Seal of Ireland for their Lands to colour their barbarous murthers shewed it to the poor simple people as a Commission from the King to leavy Forces And lastly some impious pious frauds of some of your own party whose private whispers and printed insinuations did give hopes that the Church of England was coming about to shake hands with the Roman in the points controverted Which was meerly devised to gull some silly Creatures whom they found apt to be catched with chaff for which they had no more pretext of truth than you have for your groundless intimations in this unwelcome dedication These suspitions being compounded with Covetousness Ambition Envy Emulation desire of Revenge and discontent were the sourse of all our Calamities Thus much you your self confess in â—…ffect that this supposition that the King and Bishops had an intention to re-establish the Roman Catholique Religion was the venome which the Puritan Faction insused into the hearts of the people to fill them with hatred against a King worthy of love And the Parliament judged it a favourable occasion for their design to advance themselves to Sovereign Authority Be Judge your self how much they are accessary to our sufferings who either were or are the Authors or fomenters of these damnable slanders There was yet one cause more of this cruel persecution which I cannot conceal from you because it concerns some of your old acquaintance There was a Bishop in the world losers must have leave to talk whose privy Purse and subtil Counsels did help to kindle that unnatural war in his Majesties three Kingdomes Our Cardinal Wolsey complained before his death That he had served his King better than his God But certainly this practise in your friend was neither Good service to his God to be the author of the effusion of so much innocent blood nor yet to his King to let the world see such a dangerous president It is high time for a man to look to himself when his next neighbours house is all on a flame As hitherto I have followed your steps though not altogether in your own method or rather your own confusion So I shall observe the same course for the future Your discourse is so full of Meanders and windings turnings and returnings you congregate Heâ—…erogeneous matter and segregate that which is Homogeneous as if you had made your Dedication by starts and snatches and never digested your who'â—… discourse On the contrary where I meet with any thing it shall be my desire to dispach it out of my hands with whatsoever pertains unto it once for all I hope you expect not that I shou'd amuse my self at your Rhetoâ—…cal flowers and elegant expressions they agree well enough with the work you were about The Pipe plays sweetly whilst the Fowler is catching his prey Trappings are not to be condemned if the things themselves are good and useful but I prefer one Pomegranat-Tree loaden with good fruit before a whole row of Cypresses that serve onely for shew Be sure of this that where any thing in your Epistle reflects upon the Church of England I shall not miss it first or last though it be but a loose unjoynted peâ—…ce and so perhaps hitherto untouched Amongst other things which you lay to our charge you glance at the least twelve times at our supposed Schism But from first to last never attempt to prove it as if you took it for granted I have shaped a Coat for a Schismatick and had presented it to you in this Answer but considering that the matter is of moment and merits as much to be seriously and solidly weighed as your naked Crimination without all pretext of proof deserves to be sleighted lest it might seem here as an impertinent digression to take up too much place in this short Discourse I have added it at the Conclusion of this Answer in a short Tract by it self that you may peruse it if you please You fall heavily in this Discourse upon the Presbyterians Brownists and Independents if they intend to return you any answer they may send it by a messenger of their own As for my part I am not their Proctor I have received no Fee from them And if I should undertake to plead their Cause upon my own head by our old English Law you might call me to an accompt for unlawful maintenance Onely give me leave as a by-stander to wonder why you are so cholerique against them for certainly they have done you more service in England than ever you could have done for your selves And I wonder no less why you call our Reformation a Calvinistical Reformation brought into England by Bucer and Peter Martyr a blind Reformation yea the intire ruin of the Faith of the very form of the Church and of the civil Government of the Common-wealth instituted by God Though you confess again in our favour that if our first Reformers had been interrogated whether they meant any such thing they would have purged themselves and avouched their Innocence with their hands upon the new Gospel The
Euch. c. 29. quodam modo â—…q p. 3. 1. 76. Aâ—…t 7. Deut. 29. 29. Durand Against multiplying of questions and Controversies The occasion of this Discourse P. 37. The Authors indiscretion To no pur pose The King is already a better Catholick than himself Discursus modestus Jesuitarâ—… p. 13. Watsons quodlib l. 2. Art 4. Par. 2. Act. 6. c. 7. Not lawful to add to the old Creed Concil Flo. Sess. 10. prof fil in bulla pii quarti What are additions to the Creed and what are onely explications Aq. 2. 2. q. 1. Art 10. Gal. 1. 〈◊〉 P. 4. Crosses arâ—… not alwaieâ—… punishments buâ—… sometimes corrections or trials Which the Author presently forgets P. 〈◊〉 P. 14. Joh. 9. 2. Better grounds of his Majesties sufferings than those of the Author Ps. 128. 3. The Authors rash censure upon the Archbishop of Cant. Sovereigns may be taken away for the sinâ—… of their Subjects Pro. 28. 2. Not above two or three of our Princes called Heads of the Church That is onely political heads 1 Sam. 15. 17. Art 37. Expos. Paraphâ—… art Conf. Ang. Aâ—…t 37. The Chrâ—…stian Emperours political heads The old Kings of England political heads See Auâ—…horities for all these in Cawdries Case in Judge Cook his Reports Neâ—…ther K. Charles K. James nor Q. Elizabeth stiled heads of the Church The Authâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pope to leave that vain Title Hatred of Episcâ—…pacy not â—…he true â—…ause â—…hy â—…he 〈◊〉 persecuâ—…d thâ—… King The true causes of the troubles in England P. 11. We are onely accused of Schism Presbyterians and Brownists have been Romes bst friends P. 16. P. 19. P. 14. P. 17. L. Cant. 1643. C. I. The English Reformation not Calvinisticâ—… P. 9. P. 10. M. Thâ—… Sq. P. 19. Reformaâ—…n is someâ—…imes necessary Reformation not agreeable to all persons especially the Court of Rome There is danger in Reformation The right rule of Reformation Our Reformation not the ruin of Faith Church or Common-wealth Our 〈◊〉 supposed Maxim The Catholick Church cannot come to ruin or bâ—… guilty oâ—… Idolatry or Tyranny Chrys. â—…holick â—…nd Roman not Convertibles Rev. 2. 5. The Roman Church it self not absolutely faln to ruin Whether the Roman Church be guilty of Idolatry The Roman Court most Tyrannical Our second supâ—…osed Maxim P. 21. P. 26. Much mistaken The Scripture 〈◊〉 rule of supernatural truths L. 4. de verbo Dei cap. 11. Who are the proper expounders of Scripture and how far 1 Thes. 5. 21. The manner of expounding Scripture This is conformable to the doctrine and practice of our Church Can. 1603. Can. 49. Seâ—… the Pâ—…eface to the Bishops Bible Can. 34. Can. 1571. tit Concionatores Can. 1631. Can. 53. Art 20. Can. 1603. Can. 139. The English Church an enemy to upstart not to Apostolical traditions P. 24. Of the Sacrifice of the Mass. Heb. 10. 14 In the Collects for these Feasts Of Transubstantiation Of 7. Sacraments Anno 1439 1528 1547. Jam. 5. 14. Of Justification Rom. 8. 33. Of Merits 1 Tim. 4. 8 Disert Eecles lib. 2. c. 4. Of Invocation of Saints S. Clara â—…robl 37. â—…x Horantio Rev. 22. 9. Of Prayer for the Dead with Purgatory Tarâ—… The Authority of the Pope P. 27. Whether humane Laws bind the Conscience P. 34. 69. The Author a little Enthusiastical The Romanists râ—…quire submission to their Church as necessary to salvation Yet cannot agree anâ—…ong themselves what this Roman Church is The English Chuâ—…ch not perished Gen. 42. 13. P. 42. The Authors vain Dreams P. 43. 44. P. 47. c. His vainer Proposition of a consâ—…quence The King of England desires no such Conference If he should he had neither Reason nor need to desert his English Clergy Such a Conference not â—…t to be granted by â—…he King of France Nor to be accepted by the Min sters of the Reformed Church Nor could any such Success be expected from it The ' Authors importinence and saucinese with the King His Pen over runâ—… his Wit His improper choise of a Pation for his Treatise Serm. Sâ—…xon in 〈◊〉 Paschat P. 62. P. 222. His unâ—…kilfulnes or his unfortunateâ—…ess in his Demonstrations The great advantage of the Protestant above the Roman Catholick in the choice of his foundation P. 68. His Majesties Apostacy is not the way to his restitution 1 〈◊〉 1. 7. P. 70. The obligation of the Scots to his Majâ—…sty the greatest of any Subjects in the known world Their Treachery The loyal Scots excepted The disloyal Scoâ—…s deciphered No hope from that party until they â—…epent P. 73. God must not be limited to time or means of deliverance P. 74. 75. His Majesties escape ouâ—… of England almost miraculous And seems to presage that God hath something to do with him P. 76. Prayers and tears the 〈◊〉 Aâ—…ms of women Especially of Mothers Yet not so powerful as his Fathers intercession now in Heaven P. 77. The Authors instance of Henry the great not pertinent Pluâ—…rch P. 77. 78. The just commendation of K. Charls It is gross impâ—…dence to feign that he dyed a Roman Catholick The Authors confession confutes his demonstration that Protestants have no faith His intelligence as good in Heaven 〈◊〉 upon Earth Aug. de â—…ra pro mortâ—…s c. 15. No faith sufficient armour against bloody attempts The Author much fall'n from his former charity in seeking the reunion of Christendome P. 204. The way to a generâ—…l Accommodation