well beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him and to hear him is Life And I know They committed two Evils that forsook the Fountain of Living Waters to hew out to themselves Cisterns broken Cisterns that can hold no water Jer. 2.13 That Episcopal and Kingly Government are inseparable in England and the Establishment of both are Jure Divino WE have in the late Tragical Revolutions been too severely taught that no Project of Government either in Church or State Episcopacy excluded is consistent with England's happiness and that Episcopacy and Monarchy are inseparable and the only props of this Nations Peace we by the same cruel Experience have been made sensible whereby it appears that 't is England's great Interest to uphold both for her safety and that the one cannot subsist without the other was well understood by that second Solomon King James of blessed memory from whom we have the Maxim in his Basil Do. Sublato Episcopo tollitur Rex no Bishop no King And no Faction or Profession though nick-naming themselves Protestants deviating from the Principles in Doctrine and Practise in Worship from the present Church of England can stand with Monarchy A right Protestant of the English Church protests not only against the errors of Rome but against all Schism and errors of every Sect and against all Doctrine not agreeing with the Primitive Profession and Practise of the antient Church of Christ There are sorts of People that are ever clamorous and designing to Reform the Reformed and even to amend Reformation it self chiefly plotting a great alteration which is more than a Reformation of Church Government by removal of Bishops from the Government but these are enemies to good Reformation for no good Reformer ever held Episcopacy unlawful the Order doth emanare ab Apostolis The Government is of Divine Right of which Christ himself the Great High-Priest Heb. 4. v. 14. and Bishop laid the Foundation was Bishop over all and the Apostles were Ministers After him every Apostle had his Charge many of them a Diocess and was Overseer that is Bishop over many Churches and they left this way of Government a Pattern for all Posterity to follow So it is manifest that Church-Government by Bishops is as old and universally practised as Christian Religion and Christian Faith was received in England soon after the Crucifixion of our Saviour and the Government of the Church by Bishops entred with it as well it ought for there was no other Government Order or Constitution in the Primitive Church Apostles Angels Bishops Patriarchs c. are Synonima one Office under several Denominations St. Paul an Apostle not of men neither by man but by God was a great Apostle or Bishop Timothy had a Jurisdiction over the Ephesians and was ordained Bishop Tim. 3.22 and so was Titus Bishop of Creet and had many Ministers under them Thus entred Episcopacy and that Order of Priesthood to the Government of the Church in the beginning There was an order of Priesthood in the old Law of which the high Priest was chief and there were Priests and Levites so in the new it seemed meet to the Eternal Builder of the Church to leave by the example set by his Apostles an Order and Method of Government therein and this divine Emanation the Universal Church hath in all Ages embraced and this Order best keeps the Presbyters and Clergy in Unity one with another and in an Union of Doctrine and Worship in the Church throughout which otherwise the order of Church-Discipline left to every Presbyter's private fancy to use after his own modelling would greatly hazard the introducing as many Novels may be Schisms and Factions as there are parochial Churches in the Land what a Medly what a Confusion what a Hydra what a Babel what an open Mockery as it were of God would there be throughout the Nation to the scandal thereof so the Church in England would have no appearance no face and constant dress to be known by Strangers would be at a loss for the true English Church finding here a Hydra of many faces not one like another But who and what generation of men are wiser and more holy than the Apostles and Fathers of old to set up a new way of Government of their own contriving in Christ's Church what Power on Earth can abrogate that Government by divine Institution reared and continued by the same right all Ages in the Church of God And what necessity is here of a change or alteration of Government in the Church from that which is Apostolical to that which peradventure may prove Diabolical for what good can be expected by pulling down that which is of Gods setting up and introducing a new we know not what of Man's absolute devising But if perchance any Irregularities have crept in or undue practices contrary to the established Order have been committed in any part of this Government which should call for or minister a Necessity of Reformation surely not unhallowed hands of the prophane Laity who should be governed by the Church and not the Church corrected by them are fit Instruments of this Work especially in a Nation that hath so lately felt the dire Effects and Issues of a popular pretended Reformation and wherein those men have shown to the World what ill Workmen they are Let the people reform their own Manners This reforming part of what is amiss in the Church belongs only to them to whom the Holy Spirit said I will be with you always to the end of the World with the Church i. e. with the Apostles whose personal continuance lasted not in the World and their Successors in the Office of Apostles Bishops Pastors Patriarchs c. in the Church who shall have the assistance of the Holy Spirit for ever As my Father sent me so send I you And as Christ sent them so they sent others so what shall seem meet to the Holy Spirit and to them whom Christ hath sent and through whose word we are to believe in Christ St. Jo. 17.20 the Governours of the Church successively to whom Christ hath promised to be with and in whom only the Jus Divinum remains may reform and alter what they judge convenient for it is of the same power that chang'd the Sabbath from the last to the first day of the week and 't is from and by the same Power and Divine Authority that the Church conveys all the Ordinances Sacraments and Holy things of God to his People from Generation to Generation These Pastors and Governours with whom Christ according to his word is always present to the end of the World may I grant transfer the Government should they deem a necessity into more hands under other names than that of Bishop which note will still be but Episcopacy degenerated into another denomination the Power will be the same not altered but translated from one to many in whom the Supremacy and Jus Divinum will remain In all
Succession Numerate Sacerdotes vel ab ipsa Petri sede in illo ordine Patrum quis cui successit videte as saith St. August In hoc ordine successionis nullus Donatista Episcopus invenitur And our English Bishops had no succession from Roman Catholick for immediately after their Consecration Stapleton Harding c. told them to their faces they were no Bishops Ergo only the Roman Church have lawful Succession The Third Argument from pretended peculiar Privileges belonging to the Roman Church viz. 3. That Church only that have confuted and anathematiz'd all Hereticks converted Nations deprived Schismatical Bishops restored Orthodox Bishops called Councils c. that is the True Church But only the Roman is such Ergo only the Roman is the True Church The Proof THe Major is plain because these Privileges belong to the Authority of the Mother Church which is Matrix Radix omnium Ecclesiarum The Minor is proved for In Ecclesia Romana semper viguit Apostolicae Cathedrae Principatus therefore in the Oriental Councils when some Bishops would not agree divers cryed out Romam ambulent Let them go to Rome Nam a Petro inquit August ipse Episcopatus tota Authoritas nominis hujus emersit and 't is manifest no Protestant Church ever confuted Hereticks converted Nations deprived Schismaticks restored Orthodox Bishops but slept Endimion's Sleep for above a thousand years or like a Didopper dived in the Apostles time and never rose again until Squire Luther that second Elias that fift Evangelist The Fourth Argument from Universality of the Roman Church viz. 4. That Church is only Catholick which is dispersed through all Nations But only the Roman is dispersed through all Nations Ergo the Roman Church only is the Catholick Church The Proof THe Major is proved for Universality is an evident mark of the Catholick Church Si vestra Ecclesia saith St. August sit Catholica ostendite per universam terram ramos suos copia ubertatis extendere for no Heresie can be Universal no Heretick can be Catholick Protestants are so far from Universality that 't is as hard a matter to find a Protestant in fifteen hundred as motum in vacuo The Minor is as evident that the Roman Church was dispersed through all Nations by St. Paul to the Romans 3.8 where he faith that the Roman Faith was Preached in all the World that is Peter's Faith and what Faith the Romans had then the very same they have at this present for the Roman Church is not to be new bottom'd neither to be reformed of new Calciners Fidei enim Regula una omnino est sola immobilis irreformabilis as Tertullian the Doctrine of Faith once delivered to the Apostles by the prime verity Jesus Christ and assisted by the Holy Ghost for ever cannot be altered and the Church being built upon a Rock need no repairing of new Masons Soliditas illius Petrae quae Apostolorum Principe est laudata perpetua est sicut Petra permanet quod in Christo Petrus credidit ita permanet quod PetrO Christus instituit Here St. Leo saith the Church is Perpetual and cannot fail so long as Christ is the Son of the Living God And although the Protestant Church be fallible yet the Roman is infallible therefore Vivat Fides Catholica Vivat Ecclesia Romana quae fuit tempore Apostolorum est eritque per secula sempiterna THE ANSWER SIR I Derive not my Faith from Luther or Calvin as Beginners of it yet do confess with St. Paul Acts 24.14 that aften the way which they call Heresie so worship I the Lord God of my Fathers I mean as those Fathers did whom Justin Martyr calls Patres Patrûm professing the Ancient Catholick Faith all the Articles of my Faith being grounded on Scripture and the constant belief of Fathers and Couneils in the Church of Christ the first four hundred years Antiqua Ecclesia primisquingentis Aunis vera Reclssia fuit Bell. lib. 4. de not Eccl. c. 9. The Opinions of any Posterior Fathers where they vary from the Doctrine of the First I think it unsafe to follow For St. Hierom teacheth me well Nec Parentum nec majorum Error sequendus est sed Authoritas Scripturarum Dei docentis imperium nam Judaei post Baalim abierunt quos didicerunt a Patribus In Jerem. ca. 9. We are not to take error by Tradition from our Fathers or Ancestors but the true sence of holy Scriptures is to be followed and the Power of God instructing us in them for the Jews went after Baal by the example of their Fathers As your Fathers did so do ye Acts 7.51 I am of the Apostles belief and I am sure they were no Papists rather Protestants protesting the Truth and sincerity of Faith against Error and Schism So we by receiving the true Sacraments which are called Visible Signs protesting the Faith protest against those which are corrupted and against all Doctrines contrary to Scripture and the Apostolick Faith c. and so in that sence you may call me Protestant Now to prove only the Roman Church to be the True Church you say That Church only that is Visible in all Ages is the True Church but only the Roman Church is Visible in all Ages Ergo only the Roman Church is the True Church And to prove the Major you instance the words of St. Mathew Dic Ecclesiae To which I answer that 't is not said Dic Romanae Ecclesiae Tell it to the Roman Church therefore makes no more for Rome than for Greece or any other place where the Church is hath been or shall be And to prove the Minor you only say 't is cleer by Church Histories Councils and Fathers that the Roman Church only is Visible but bring not one particular proof from any of them to make it evident and evince that the Church was no where else Visible for History also tells us that the East or Greek Church though often in great misery and persecution was and is a Church from the Apostles time So that Argument which is common to others you cannot appropriate only to the Roman seeing it makes as much for the Greek Church in whose Language the Oracles of the Son of Ged were written as for it The Greek Church was first honoured with the Original written Gospel and the Latin Church had it only by Franslation from it That there was and is a Church constant in all Ages though not apparently flourishing and visible at all times to all the world I not deny but that there is no Church where 't is not Splendid and Visible to all eyes you have not yet made any ways apparent Certainly the Ark of God was not less an Ark in being in Dagon's Tent and the Hands of the Philistines Persecution the fare of the Church Militant obscured the Churches Rays in many Nations and sometimes so totally Eclipsed her as she was not visible to Humane Eyes Besides your Position that
Visibility is the only mark of the true Church you have not proved to be granted be Churches differing from the Roman therefore is a Principle of your own and a begging of the Question I deny it to be the only mark for a mark must be infallible and That mark which may possibly deceive and is common both to a True and a False Church and may as probably lead to the one as the other is no certain infallible mark to find the true Church But Visibility may deceive being common to both and may as readily lead to a False as a True Church Therefore Visibility no sure mark and unerring Rule to find the True Church The Major is undeniable bearing its own Proof Truth and Reason in it self The Minor is apparent in all Ages even from the beginning of the World to this day Go up into Paradise the Garden of Eden there was Truth and Falshood even as soon as God had laid his Church the Devil began to build a Chappel for in Genesis not long after Et Deus dixit And God said c. the Devil was busie to set up a false Worship and wrong Obedience and then comes Et Serpens dixit And the Serpent said which visibly and miserably deceived our first Parents The Church was with Moses in Egypt there were Magicians and mock Miracles Falshood ever followed the Truth or Truth found it where it went There were Calves in Dan and Bethel there were worshipers of Baal Error is almost as old in the world as Truth No sooner went the Apostles out to Preach but a false Doctrine appeared in Simon Magus and his Followers Acts 8.14 In one place or other Erroneous and false Churches have been always Visible to this day even when the true Church have been obscured by Persecutions for so it must be according to the saying of St. Paul 1 Cor. 11.19 Oportet esse Haereses Were the idolatrous People in the time of Elias Achas Manasses and others the True Church because they only were Visible to the World For where was Visibility of the True Church when the Prophet cried out and complained 1 Kings He only was left alone so a true Church may be though not visible for there were seven thousand true Worshippers which he knew not of Where was Visibility when the Shepherd was smitten and the Sheep scattered hid and concealed Zach. 13.7 Joh. 16.32 Where was Visibility of the True Church in the time of Dioclesian the Emperour when neither Church Book nor Men escaped Was she not as St. Joh. testifieth Revel 12.6 fled into a Desart where she should not be found for a space c. And St. Chrysostom in Math. 24. saith In the time of Abomination of Desolation viz. of wicked Heresie Nulla probatio potest Christianitatis c. No proof of Christianity can be made or refuge found for Christians to know the true Faith but only the Divine Scripture So the Church of Antichrist may be Visible and Flourishing when the true Church of Christ is in obscurity and hath no Lustre Therefore Visibility is not in all Ages and all times an infallible mark of the true Church but is a mark also of a false one and so a true Church hath been and may be though not Visible to Humane Eyes c. Your next Position is from Succession viz. 2. That Church that have lawfull Succession is the True Church But only the Roman have lawful Succession Ergo only the Roman Church is the True Church To prove the Major you twice instance St. Augustine but direct to no place where therefore I know not whether he speaks as you represent him or if he doth whether he denotes a Succession in Place of Persons or of Doctrine and you bring in Irenaeus to say Successione Confundimus omnes c. but there is no such saying in the manner you mention found in Irenaeus 't is only corruptly quoted by Bellarmine Bellar. li. 4. de notis Eccles ca. 8. Sect. 2. nor have I heard or found Irenaeus or any other Father make Local Personal Visible and Continued Succession a necessary Sign or Mark of the True Church in any one place as though a True Church could not be in any place without it yet the Faith was delivered over by Succession in some places or other to their time and is to our time and shall be till there be no time for a True Church may be hath been and is in places where there hath not been Continued Visible Personal Succession Were not Jerusalem Antioch c. and others in the Primitive times true Churches yet Succession of Bishops hath not continually succeeded in them to this day and later Churches are true likewise Constat omnem Doctrinam quae cum illis Ecclesiis Apostolicis Matricibus Originalibus Fidei conspiret Veritati deputandam So saith Tertullian De praescript advers Haeret. c. 21. And in the same place Ecclesiae posteriores non minus Apostolicae deputantur pro consanguinitate Doctrinae The Succession Irenaeus stood upon was of the Churches then in Asia and of Smyrna where Polycarpus sat Bishop as that of Rome Testimonium his perhibent quae sunt in Asia Ecclesiae omnes qui usque adhuc successerunt Polycarpo Iren. l. 3. advers Haeret. ca. 3. And St. Hierom tells us Ecclesia non in parietibus consistit in Psal 133. So Succession in the Fathers Account is not tyed to Place or Person but to the verity of Doctrine as Tertullian de praescript c. 32. Ad hanc formam provocabantur ab illis Ecclesiis quae licet nullum ex Apostolis vel Apostolicis Authorem suum proferunt ut multo posteriores quae denique quotidie instituuntur tamen in eadem fide conspirantes non minus Apostolicae deputantur pro cansanguinitate Doctrinae shewing that modern Churches such as are daily instituted and set up agreeing and linking together in the same true Faith are no less to be esteemed Apostolical for their neerness and consanguinity of Doctrine and to that we have as good Succession as any Christian Church this day in the whole Catholick Body the Religion professed in the Church of England being nearest of any Church now in being to the Primitive Christian Church Churches that have Doctrine that is not allied in Blood to that of Christ and his Apostles have no lawful or good Succession for Consanguinitas Doctrinae is required Irenaeus speaks plain Illis Presbyteris obediendum est qui cum Episcopatus Successione Charissima acceperunt veritatis Iren. l. 4. ca. 43. We are to obey those Priests who with their Succession in the Office of Bishop have received the Pledge or Gift of Truth whereupon Stapleton Relic cont 1. q. 4. A. 2. Notab 1. is forced to confess successio nec locorum tantum est neo personarum sed etiam verae sanae Doctrinae And why it cannot be of Pastours he again tells us Notab 4. ibid. name Pastore Lups fleri potest
which is true many great men have turned Hereticks Judas chang'd from an Apostle to a Devil so 't is the easie for others to change from Shepherds into Wolves Nor can the Roman Prelates pretend they have only this verà m et sanam Doctrinam or claim a lawful succession of Pastors continually holding entire the Unity and the Eaith for they have not kept the Unity of the Church but have had more Schisms among them than any other Church above thirty acknowledged by their own Chronologer Onuphrius Even Popes themselves have many of them by confession of several Romish Authors who have written of their Lives been very vile erroneous Heretical c. So 't is clear Rome hath no lawful Succession by confession they have only a Succession of gross Superstitions and Errors for a bout a thousand years for which they can shew no Practice on Warrant from the Apostles You further say That our English Bishops had no Succession from Roman Catholick for immediately after Conscoration Stapleton Harding c. your own men told them to their faces they were no Bishops Ergo only the Roman Church have lawful Succession I see you are put to hard straits for proof that seeing the Fathers will not speak for you you are forced to be your own Testimony which with me is less than nothing for who will or can take an Adversary's bare objections for a sufficient confutation of a matter in question for by this your Argument and Rule of proof should I tell you that any of our Party say Stapleton Harding c. were no Scholars though indeed they were great Clarks and should I say they were damnable Hereticks and forsakers of the Truth as in truth they are you ought to admit it as a convincing Testimony else why do you obtrude your sayings for proof but let that pass You confess English Bishops had Consecration from the Roman and so enabled and qualified for the service of the Church If then the Roman had any lawful power to consecrate which I deny not I do not question but their Consecration is valid enough and hold good notwithstanding Stapleton and Hardings words to the contrary for such sayings do not unordain and so we have your Succession and Consecration to boot But whether ordinary Mission or Ordination be so absolutely necessary to the being of Truth as though Truth could nor be without it is with me a question seeing Christ encouraged the Faithful that did wonders in Christ's name and was not sent St. Mark 9.39 40. forbid him not he is on our part c. nor did I ever conceive a necessity lay on the English Church to receive Orders from Rome more than on the Roman to receive Orders from it seeing we were a Church Apostolick assoon yea were a Church before any settlement of a Church in Rome The Religion of Christ was received in Brittain tempore ut scimus summo Tiberii Caesaris in the latter time of Tiberius Caesar as saith St. Gildas de excid Brit. the same is acknowledged by your own man Baronius whereas St. Peter kept in Jury long after Tiberius his death And as Theodoret and Sophronimus Patriarchs of Jerusalem affirm the Apostle St. Paul first taught in Britain Also Aristobulus mentioned Romans 16. came to this Isle and discharged the Office of a Bishop as Dorotheus witnesseth and in his Synopsis also averreth Simon Zelotes Christum praedicavit in Britannia ubi crucifixus occisus et sepultus est The same also affirmeth Nicephorus lib. 2. cap. 40. Simon Zelotes Evangelii Doctrinam ad occidentalem Oceanum Insulasque Britannicas perfert And Joseph of Arimathea An. Dom. 53. taught the Gospel in Britain as Baleus Flemingus and others affirm likewise Tertullian who lived An. Christi 200 saith Britanorum loca Romanis inapoessa Christo subdita sunt advers Judaeos cap. 7.8 After him Origin An. Christi 260. witnesseth Britanniam in Christianam consentire Religionem So it is evident and most clear that Apostles and Apostolick men delivered over the Faith to us and were the first Planters we had many Waterers after of this Plantation and a succession of Doctrine by confession on all sides St. Jerom also Anno 405. records Gallia Britanniá Africa c. unum Christum adorant unam observant Regulam veritatis In which time Bellarmine confesseth the Church was a true Apostolick Church Antiqua Ecclesia primis quingentis Annis vera Ecclesia fuit c. Bel. l. 4. de notab Eccl. cap. 9. and then viz. the first four hundred years we and Rome were of one joint Belief and Faith from one Fountain Christ Jesus and his Apostles and the same faith we had then the same we have now we hold to the old Foundation the Scripture Creed and ractice of the general Church in those times so are we a true Church and a right Member of the Catholick having lawful succession of Doctrine convey'd to us as before is proved from Apostles and Apostolick men whereby it 's evident we are no Novelists nor any of our Profession the Antiquity whereof our very Enemies do acknowledge Reinerus a Roman Inquisitor above three hundred years since speaking of the Professors at Lyons calling them Valdensae Leonistae c. in contempt saith they are more pernitious to the Church of Rome than all other Sects for three causes First being of longer continuance than any other the Sect enduring ever since the Apostles Secondly It is general creeping into all Lands Thirdly It hath a great shew of Godliness they live justly believe all things well concerning God and all the Articles contained in the Creed only they Blaspheme in hating the Church of Rome c. He calls us indeed a Sect as of old the Priests of the Jews called the Church of Christians a Sect of Nazarites Acts 24.5 but you see by Confession we had our Doctrine in former Ages and were a Church from the Beginning and are not estranged from the Church of Rome where she holds the Truth but she from us and the true Catholick Church of Christ nor do we depart from her as they charge us or are any further remote from her than she her self is from her primitive Purity antient Principles from Scripture Reason Charity Antiouity and from what she was in her best of times our present Church of England though often have been under clouds and heavy persecutions still retaining the primitive verity to this day So your second Argument is invalid in that you have not proved nor can prove that the Church of Rome hath this lawful Succession of uncorrupted Doctrine and Principles or that succession of Pastors is necessarily tied to one particular place for ever to make the being of the Catholick Church as though the universal Church of Christ could cease to be if Rome and her Prelates were extinct and turn'd to Ashes Your third Argument from pretended Privileges belonging to the Roman Church viz. 3. That Church only that have confuted and anathematized
all Hereticks converted Nations deprived and restored Bishops called Councils c. that is the true Church But only the Roman is such Ergo only the Roman is the true Church The Major you say is plain because these Privileges belong to the Authority of the Mother-Church which is Matrix Radix omnium Ecclesiarum I answer you should first have proved her to be the Mother-Church Radix c. before you exercise or can claim the Authority of a Mother I would fain know what Church is the Mother of the Roman or is Rome it self Motherless for I deny her to be the Mother of the universal Church of God yet do agree that those Privileges you mention do belong to the Authority of the Catholick Church but 't is an insolent and intolerable usurpation of the Rights and Privileges of the Universal Church for any particular Church to confine all the Catholick Privileges to her particular self I am sure she hath not this power from Christ to judge and condemn her Sisters for she is not Matrix Radix omnium Ecclesiarum as you say there were elder than she therefore she at best but a Daughter Church and Sister to others Jerusalem if any particular was it as was prophesied of old Mic. 4.2 and fulfilled Luke 24.47 and so Theodoret lib. 5. Hist Eccl. cap. 9. tells us Ecclesia Hierosolymitana quae aliarum omnium Mater And Men were first called Christians not at Rome but at Antioch Acts. 11.26 St. Gregory Nazian saith The Church of Caesaria was Mater prope omnium Ecclesiarum meaning of neighbouring Churches not of the whole Catholick Church Et Constantinopolitana Ecclesia dicitur omnium aliarum caput so in that sense and no other Rome may be called Head of those Churches in her Patriarchat Every particular Church that teacheth the Catholick Doctrine may be called Catholick as a Member of the universal and so was the particular Roman whilst it held all things true concerning the Faith but never was she Mater Radix omnium Ecclesiarum for the Universal Church hath no particular or locall Root of its being Jerusalem as I said before if any was it Or if you will have a particular Root of the Catholick Church 't is in the East not in the West at Rome se praecisam esse a Radice orientalium Ecclesiurum c. St. August Epist 170 But the Head Root Matrix Fountaine c. of Rome and all other particular Churches is the Catholick Church and her Unity and to break her Uunity by usurping a Power or Priority which Christ never gave is at the least abominable if not certainly damnable 't is against a command too The Text is clear There was a strife among the Apostles which should be greatest St. Luke 22.14 Christ answered them The Princes and Rulers exercise Dominion c. but it shall not be so with you He that will be greatest c. St Matt. 20.26 There is no Priority much less Superiority given to Churches National Tertullian tells us Omnes Primae omnes Apostolicae dum unam omnes probant unitatem de praescript advers Haeret. cap. 20. Porro unam esse primam Apostolicam ex qua reliquae hanc nulli loco affigit B. Rhenanus therefore not at Rome And it is to be observed that Tertullian long since numbering the then Apostolical Churches reckons Rome last of them Tertull. ibid. cap. 32. and Pamelius lately puts Rome after others cap. 21. num 129. what you speak out of St. Augustin In Ecclesia Romana semper viguit Apostolicae Cathedrae Principatus that in Rome there did always flourish the Principality of an Apostolick Chair in relation to the West and South parts of the Church all the other four Apostolical Chairs being in the East doth not give Rome nor the Pope thereof power to exercise this Principality beyond his Limits out of his own Patriarchate over the whole Church of Christ for in the same Epistle of St. August Epist 162. Melciades then Bishop of Rome had leave granted him to hear a matter of the Donatists adjudged by the African Bishops and other Bishops by the Emperour were sent Judges to determine with him for if he had done it without leave the Epistle tells us it had been an usurpation seeing ad cujus curam c. ibid. it belonged to the Emperours care and charge and that he is to give an account to God for it Yea a Pope himself saith 'tis Antichristian to be stiled universal Bishop St. Greg. l. 4. Epist 78 monstrous and blasphemous Absit a cordibus Christianorum Nomen illud Blasphemiae ibid. Epist 76 and further St. Greg. Epist 83. In isto scelesto vocabulo consentire nihil aliud est quam fidem perdere So the Roman was not then universal Bishop had no power over Patriarchs and National Bishops no Monarch over the whole militant Church for near six hundred years after Christ and Britain in those times was never subject to the See of Rome for it had a Primate of its own Et a Patriarcha non datur Appellatio saith the Civil Law from whom lies no Appeal Now then the general power of anathematizing Hereticks depriving Schismaticks restoring Orthodox Bishops c belong to the Catholick Church Militant and her Authority in general Councils lawfully by her called and constituted and that the Catholick Church is our Mother no man will deny that accounts God to be his Father But this Holy Catholick Church mentioned in the Apostle's Creed is not the Church of Rome nor any other particular Church on Earth The Holy Catholick Church there spoken of contains not only the whole militant Church on Earth but the whole Triumphant alive in Heaven for so St. August Euch. cap. 56. Ecclesia hic tota accipienda est non solum ex parte quae peregrinatur in terris c. verùm etiam ex illa quae in Caelis And who converted Nations originally Did not Christ send out his Apostles and seventy Disciples at another time and then after sent many more were not then Apostles Apostolick men and the general Church they that converted and confuted Nations and planted the Church of Christ in the World Now this Holy Catholick Church before ever Rome was a Church is Matrix Radix omnium Ecclesiarum of Rome as well as other The Catholick Church was ever one and the same Church viz. the Church of God spread over the whole World and as before described by St. August Rome could never be it for if Rome a particular Church can be now the Catholick Church then by the same Rule if it be not out of Rule some other particular Church before it was the Catholick Church and how came that to lose it and Rome to get it that it is now as you say translated to Rome and doth it not follow by the same rule that Rome also may transire in non Ecclesiam pass way in no Church for what Patent or holy Charter
St. Peter's and why not St. Paul's Faith was not his as good and the other Apostles the same that St. Peter taught Was there no true Faith but what came from Rome and 't is yet a question whether St. Peter was ever there Rome could never yet make it appear Was all the Doctrine of the other Apostles invalid Was not their power equal Matth. 28.19 20. and 18.18 Joh. 20.22 23. 'T is most sure one was not above another as before is proved Christs Word was delivered to all to Preach from which our very greatest Adversary is forced to confess Summa Potestas Ecclesiastica non solum data est Petro sed etiam aliis Apostolis Bellarm. li. de Ro. Pont. ca. 1. all are Supreme Then they who pretend to be St. Peter's Successors have not Supreme Ecclesiastical Power any more than the Successors of the other Apostles for St. August Tract 50. in St. Jo. saith Si hoc Petro tantum dictum est non facit hoc Ecclesia The Keys were given to St. Peter and all the rest in a Figure of the Church as one saith to whose power and to whose use they were given not to one to Lord it over the rest It shall not be so with you c. as before And St. Augustin de Agon Chri. ca. 30. Petrus Personam Ecclesiae Catholicae sustinet huic datae sunt Claves quum Petro datae so the Power is in the Catholick Church not any single Person as is evident by the practise of the Primitive Church many hundred years after Christ when was no Universal Bishop as before is proved to St. Gregory's time St. Peter's Faith not his Person is the Rock against which c. for afterwards to his Person Christ said Get thee behind me Satan c. And a Temptation did too much prevail on him when he most horribly fell in a personal and shameful denial of his Master which cost him many bitter Tears Epiphanius li. 2. Heres 59. tells us 't is his Faith Super hanc Petram solidae Fidei edificabo Ecclesiam meam So St. Greg. Nyssen also Haec sides Ecclesiae fundamentum est de Trin. adver Judaeos The same Interpretation gives St. Hilar. li. de Trin. Super hanc igitur confessionis Petram Ecclesiae edificatio est And this Faith the whole Catholick Church hath which is the Rock against which Hell Gates shall not prevail to cause the Church to fail fundamentally If any were supreme why not the beloved Disciple to whom it was never said Get thee behind me Satan and who never denyed his Master Or St. Paul though none of the twelve yet an Apostle for whom there is more colour for He had the Right Hand of Fellowship given him Gal. 2.9 And he himself owned expresly an Authority 1 Cor. 7.17 And so ordain I in all Churches In all Churches in the Roman as well as other if Rome was then a Church Sollicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum The Care of all the Churches he saith 2 Cor. 11.28 And where was St. Peter's Supremacy yea where was his Infallibility when St. Paul rebuked and opposed him to his face in that He walked not uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel Gal. 11.3.4 And where was his Supremacy when he was sent on Errands by the Church viz. by the other Apostles Acts 11.3 4. and Acts 15.13 And how can St. Peter's pretended Successors claim a Supremacy that St. Peter had not himself If any succeeded our Lord in the Principality of the Church Epiphanius twice tells you it is St. James the Lords Brother Ille primus Episcopalem Cathedram cepit quum ei ante caeteros omnes suum in terris Thronum Dominus tradidisset Epiphan l. 3. Haeres 78. Page 103. You go on and say What Faith the Romans had then the very same they have at this present c. Not so neither for Rome was a right Church and is now a wrong Their Faith is changed at least what Faith they have now they had not then the true Church then and many hundred years after knew not your present Errors and Superstitions not your prayer in the Church in an unknown Tongue as St. Paul witnesseth 1 Cor. 14. The Church owned no supreme Prelate no Pope above his fellows usurping a power to depose Princes no worshipping of Images no invocation of Saints no adoration of the Bread in Sacrament no breaking of Christs Institution in the Eucharist giving the holy Sacrament but in one kind no Purgatory no Decretal Epistles and Canons against Scripture to be believed as Scripture No Doctrine of Devils c. Tim. 4.1 2 3. St. Augustin whose memory is honoured through the whole Christian world in all Churches was of the true Catholick Church no man will deny and yet he was no Romanist in Opinion for he was in the separation of the Affrick Church from Rome with many other Bishops and died therein Ergo 't is possible to be of the true Catholick Church and yet out of the Roman We are taught by St. August de Bap. con Don. ca. 4. Evident Scripture before all things must take place for it is as your own man Stapleton confesseth Relict con 4. q. Ar. 3. the Foundation and Pillar of Faith Scripturam Fundamentum esse Columnam Fidei fatemur Then I shall not easily be led away from the Foundation by the subtle tradition of men seeing St. Paul gives more warning Coloss 2.8 Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain Deceit after the Tradition of men Now what my Faith is I have told you in the beginning of my first Paper which I take to be the Faith of the present Church of England I embrace the Faith which the Apostles delivered I believe the holy Scripture and the Creeds and these in the sence of the ancient Primitive Church I submit in all humility to the four great General Councils so much magnified throughout Christendom their Determinations and Interpretations and I do believe all points of Doctrine generally received as fundamental in the Church of Christ This I confess and subscribe to and seeing I so do you are bound in charity to believe me for you have all the proof that can be had or that ever Man or Church required Now shew me where I do depart from the Foundation and yet I am no Papist or shew me if you can where the Church of England doth fail in any one point fundamental in the Faith We do not Hominis consuetudinem sequi sed Dei veritatem as St. Cypr. l. 2. Epist 3. teacheth for Consuetudo sine veritate vetustas est Erroris ibid. We are bid to go to the Law and the Testimony The Word is a Light unto our Feet and Lanthorn to our Paths we are taught to Search the Scripture which is able to make the man of God perfect saith St. Paul It was proclaimed from Heaven by God the Father first at Jordan then at Mount Tabor This is my
this the Church loseth not her Right But to take away the Government by Bishops from the Church without her Authority or Consent is to cut off great part of her self and to deprive her of much of her Being And for Lay-men to encroach upon her Government and force it from her is to rifle her of her Divine Right devolved to her as aforesaid The Authority came not from the Laity so they have nothing to do therewith and no Authority to disturb it For who can touch the Ark of God though in their Judgment it should seem to totter and be guiltless when Uzziah's indiscreet Zeal was so severely punished and what misery did such misguided popular Zeal lately bring on this Nation in rudely medling with God's Ark the Church and pulling down that Government and those Governours they should Religiously have obeyed And if Uzzah's fault whose fervent Zeal was to uphold not overthrow the Ark was followed with so great destruction on his body what punishment may they from Divine Justice expect who through Malice Avarice and Ambition seek to destroy the Government and Authority of the ancient Church of God Think not then Oh thou perverse Enemy of the Apostolical Government of Gods Church that your expectation of a change in this Age can have any foundation that they who enact just Laws can propose unjust things to be enacted that any one Member of the whole Community any one of the Representatives of us Lay-men in this Lay-Parliament will adventure to lay violent hands on the Church of Christ by endeavouring to pull down her Governours from their Seat to lay her desolate to bid defiance to the Spouse of Christ and so make War again against the Soul of the Lords anoynted for rothing can pass into a Law but by Royal Assent and what unhallowed Lip dare offer at a motion savouring of abolishing that radieated Government which his Majesty not only by his Education and choice hath received and following the Wisdom and Piety of his Forefathers and Predecessors hath approved and confirmed as most Catholick and Sacred but obliged by solemn and sacred Tie of an Oath at his Coronation to preserve and maintain with all the Legal Rights of the Church Who can be so impious to lay a snare for his precious Soul or so vile to imagine to prevail in endeavouring to wheadle him to so great a Transgression as the horrid sin of Perjury and to betray his Mother the Church to be worried again by her inveterate Enemies and so consequently himself at last to be at the discretion and mercy of the same Gang who have been as ready to unhinge the State as unsettle the Church and do assuredly expect the one from the other that 't is more than likely the old Design is now a new on foot for every stroke that hurts the Church doth wound the State It would be strange and savour much of Satanism if any should advise a Son from inheriting his Fathers Virtues to set at nought the Holy Counsel of so great a Saint in Heaven not to observe the pious Injunctions and Admonitions of a Religious King and Father whose dying Speeches as if he had bequeathed his Piety and Religion his Zeal and Honour for the Church to be a Portion for his Children and a Glory to the Crown in his Successor obliged the Prince of Wales our present Sovereign by a sweet invitation of Reason and Righteousness to stand firm to the Religion in which he was educated amongst his admirable Instructions divine Admonitions and Advices he saith Above all I would have you as I hope you are already well grounded and settled in your Religion The best Profession of which I have esteemed that of the Church of England in which you have been Educated Yet I would have your Judgment and Reason now Seal to that Sacred Bond which Education hath written that it may be judicially your own Religion and not other men's Custom or Tradition which you profess In this I charge you to persevere as coming nearest to God's Word for Doctrine and to the primitive examples for Government And in another place he adds I do require and intreat you as your Father and your King that you never suffer your heart to receive the least check against or disaffection from the true Religion established in the Church of England I tell you I have tried it and after much search and many Disputes have concluded it to be the best in the World not only in the Community as Christian but also in the special notion as Reformed keeping the middle way between the pomp of superstitions Tyranny and the meanness of fantastick Anarchy Now behold Oh ye Enemies of the Reformed Church of England yea all the World behold the Profession of this pure Religion is confirmed to be the truest on Earth by the most signal and Authentick Proof under Heaven a Proof that bears Majesty yea Divinity in it 't is descended from on High Kings are Gods on Earth The King the most Sacred of Kings hath tried it and 't is the Honour of a King to search out a Matter Prov. 25.2 God's Vicegerent made it the great Business and work of his Life to search for Truth and pure Profession of Religion and in the controverting confounded all the Arguments and Argumentators against God's Church to their Amazement and Confusion He in the Decision would not part with one jot of Truth to betray or oppress the Church His Righteousness he held fast and would not let it go Job 26.6 for when he was in the cruel hands of his implacable Enemies oven a Captive at their dispofal at New-Castle far from the Aid of good Men or Books to assist and comfort him at this disadvantage as if God had delivered him as he did Job to be buffeted by Satan and winnowed their great Champion of their new Gospel Dr. H. the deputed Tempter of the Synod and Commons House furnished with all the ensnaring Arguments Sedition and Treason could invent was sent to captivate the Soul of his Soveraign and ruffle him out of his Faith thereby to lay a stone for their new Babel but met with such Divine and convincing Reasons from the King who so concisely and sweetly answered every point of their long studied and tedious Sophisms as overcame the Giant and all his Host of sophistrated Arguments that returning in high discontent to those who sent him in great discomposure of Spirit furiously cryed out Never man spake as the King spake and argued as the King argued he is able to confound ye all c. and being enraged that he was vanquished fell into a Conflict of Spirit and not long after finished his days Kings represent God are Children of the Most High Sit upon Gods Throne the King hath tryed it and where was there ever or can be found on earth a Prince for Piety Religion and Wisdom his equal or one like him and who can be more concern'd for