no Church The step to Christian and Catholick Belief is the well-grounded Credibility excluding all prudent doubts of the Clergy we have the same of the Church and of the Faith and Doctrine proposed by its testimony and the true Faith admits of no such doubts Therefore Protestants before they can prudently believe themselves to have true Faith or be in the Catholick Church must clear all the doubts objected against their Ordination For though any Person shall not be convinced of the Nullity of their Ordination yet he cannot but harbour a prudent doubt thereof there being so many Reasons and Motives for it Now to Receive Sacraments from Priests of so doubtful Authority is without doubt a damnable Sacriledg it being in the highest degree against the light of Right Reason and Rule of Faith to expose the Reverence of the Sacraments and Remedy of our Souls to so manifest an hazard SECT V. J. S. THis Conclusion is of the same temper with the Premises these were a confused heap of Incredibles Improbables and Impossibles this is a wild distempered Sorites carried on with an affected Obscurity to distract and amuse the Reader by multiplying confounding and changing the Terms hudling up many Conclusions in this one If St. Hierome by Church meant the Vniversal Church this always has now hath and ever will have Bishops as Sacerdotes signifies with him but if he spoke of a particular Church then his is not is not to be taken absolutely but respectively not simply to deny it's being and existence but it 's integrity and complement viz. there is no through complete Church which hath not Bishops For we read in the Ancients of some Churches that had received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fulness of Dispensations and of others which had not attained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the complement of Necessaries though in St. Hierom's time all Churches were complete that he might truly affirm there was no Church without a Bishop But it may fall out also that all the Bishops of a well-formed complete Church may dye or by Persecution be so Scattered that they dare not appear or by an Infidel Conquerour be Banished or Murthered but if the remaining Christians in this distressed condition keep their first Faith they are in a salvable state and continue true members of the Vniversal Church as those Roman Converts were who believed upon St. Peter's first Sermon Act. 2. which was long before St. Peter came to Rome Rom. 16.7 2. He suggests It is impossible they should c. For once he guesseth right It is impossible any Church of one denomination can be the true Catholick Apostolick Church that is in the usual sense of the Romanists the Vniversal as it is impossible for a Part to be the Whole or their Catholick Church which is not the fourth part thereof to be Vniversal as they by their common restriction assume but it is possible a particular Church may be a true Catholick and Apostolick Church and the true Catholick and Apostolick Church of such a Nation For the Title Catholick is either taken properly for the Vniversal Church which is the Congregation of all Believers dispersed over all the World in opposition to the Herds of Jews Pagans and Infidels and then it is a contradiction to apply or appropriate it to any particular Church as the Romanists industriously do to huckster off their false Wares which otherwise would stick on their hands or else it is used in the more common signification of an Orthodox Church which participates in the true Faith with the Vniversal Church in a contradistinction to the Conventicles of all Heretical Blasphemers In this Notion the Protestant Church of England is not only a Catholick and Apostolick Church but in due Form of construction the true Catholick and Apostolick Church of England as several particular Churches viz. Rome Carthage c. have been honoured with the Title of the Catholick Church of those respective Nations (k) For as the Roman Church was called the Catholick Church of Rome Leo Ep. 12. So that of Antioch the Catholick Church of Antioch Conc. Constant 5. Act. 1. That of Carthage the Catholick Church of Carthage Aurel. Epist Eccl. Cathol Carthag So Polycarp was the Bishop of the Catholick Church of Smyrna Euseb lib. 4. hist c. 14. And that famous Epistle to the Smyrnians was directed to all the Holy and Catholick Churches id ib. in Princ. Greg. Naz. the Bishop of the Catholick Church of Constantinople in his last Will and Testament witnessed by four Bishops of their several Catholick Churches as of Iconium c. Provinces and Dioceses 3. His doubts and uncertainties have a rare virtue perhaps they may work strongly on weak minds they can demonstrate This is the noble demonstrating faculty of Romish Traditors they can raise doubts and uncertainties where there are none and by their Magick demonstrate first that the Protestant Church is not the Vniversal and then it is no Church first absurdly without Proof suppose the Nullity of its Ordinations and thence conclude the Nullity of its Christianity The best is this is but one Doctors opinion if more there be yet all his Colleagues are not so Magisterial in their nullifying Sentence The Bishop of Chalcedon is more solid and Prudent Persons (l) As Bishop Bramhal cites Reply to the Survey p. 33. saith he living in the communion of the Protestant Church if they endeavour to learn the truth which if they do not they are neither good Protestants nor good Christians and are not able to attain unto it but hold it implicitely in the preparation of their minds and are ready to receive it when God shall be pleased to reveal it they neither want Faith nor Church nor Salvation which elsewhere he confirms by this reason A Church may be Heretical and Schismatical really yet morally a true Church because She is (m) Bishop of Chalced. Survey c. 2. Sect. 4. invincibly ignorant of her Heresy and Schism Pope Innocent was so much offended at the irregularities of the Spanish Ordinations in his time that at first he inclined to null them but upon better thoughts be forbore declaring that for the number of those who were faulty therein he would not question nor doubt of any of them any ways passed but rather leave them to Gods Judgment Epist ad Conc. Tolk Car. sum Conc. p. 270. 4. But saith he a solid doubt c. This is not Universally true for a Church which hath a doubtful Clergy by irregularities of Ordination if She contend for that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints and cannot avoid those irregularities through not a pretended or contracted but a real necessity is a true part such an irregularity not absolutely and totally Un-Churching her of the true Catholick Church True but not Complete not Complete because it wants that which is required to the Integrity and Perfection of a Church yet True because it hath all things essential to
a Church For this reason the most eminent Protestants who still maintained the Divine Right of Bishops yet did they clear those Transmarine Churches which have not Bishops from sinning against Divine Right because their want was not through their own default but the Iniquity of the Times and Places they lived in which charitable construction should seem very reasonable to the Romanists for that the Court of Rome gave the first occasion of all the contests about Episcopacy by investing Priests with Episcopal Jurisdiction and Power by their Commissions and Delegations and without doubt Necessity is as strong Dispensation for these Pastors to execute the Ministerial Office as the Popes Mercenary Bulls granted upon unworthy avaritious ends can be for their Priests to exercise Episcopal Authority Those Churches therefore under this want are True though lame and maimed Members of the Catholick Church Just as Canus (n) Loc. l. 4. c. ult ad 10. determines of the Romish Church in a vacancy It is then left Lame saith he and diminished without Christs Vicar that one Pastor of the Church the Pope yet the Spirit of Truth should abide in it and vvithout doubt the Spirit of Truth will as certainly abide in those Churches which want Bishops as in their Church wanting a Pope at least they should think so because in their account the Pope is as necessary if not more to the being of a Church than Bishops are To clear this more distinctly some things are required to the Essence (o) This is Stapleton's distinction of a Church as the Doctrine of saving Faith in the Profession and Practice thereof some only to the Perfection and Integrity of a Church as the having Regular Pastors by a due Form of Ordination both these are necessary though not equally and in the same Degree the former absolutely and indispensably the latter de congruo possibili viz. it concerns the Church if possibly it can be obtained to have lawfully Ordained Pastors and every wilful Omission much more Rejection of the Catholick settled Order in this kind is Sacrilegious and Schismatical yet those Pastors who highly esteem Episcopal Ordination and much affect it but cannot obtain it through the Recusancy of Bishops in present Place and Power who will not Ordain them without sinful compliance and submission to gross Errours and Corruptions evidently contrary to the Law of Christ if they hold and divide the Word of Truth rightly may be accounted true Pastors though not in a real Mission yet by a moral designation as being deputed and separated to that Divine Office because in this case the Necessity is invincible which makes that allowable which otherwise would be unlawful as Dr. Cracken contr Spalet c. 4. observes from the Gloss and illustrateth from Scipio's Example who when the Questors denied him a supply of Monies out of the Publick Treasury because it was against Law presently replied Necessity hath no Law The Romanists confess the desire of Baptism is sufficient to excuse the want thereof and they have it in effect who have it in desire in all reason the want of an undoubted Sacrament is more dangerous than the want of a Sacramental can be especially where there is a Desire to have the Impediment removed The Jews were prohibited to build private Altars yet in case of Necessity when they were not permitted to go to Hierusalem the learned Jews determined the Prohibition ceased as to its present effect and every one knows a Negative Prescript is not so dispensable as an Affirmative It is the opinion of Cornelius a Lapide in Numb 20.26 that Eleazar was mâ—de High-Priest praeter legem morem otherwise than by standing Law and Custom he ought First because his Father was then living next in that the right only of putting on his Fathers Garment was used without any Solemn-Unction or Consecration to the Priesthood 5. He subjoyns a doubtful Clergy makes a Doubtful Church This is a Doubtful Proposition the most he can make of it is that a Doubtful Clergy makes a Doubtful Church only in Part not in the Whole for even Schismaticks in those things wherein they have made no separation from the Church otherwise the Romanists would be in a sad condition do so far still remain uncorrupted to the Church so that if that Doubtful Clergy keep the wholesom words of sound Doctrine if N. N. doubt of this he may remember there is a Clergy of a beyond-Sea Church which hath no Bishops hath made this good against the choicest Champions of the Roman See so far they are Catholicks 6. He is very positive a doubtful Church is no Church It is true he who harboureth a doubt which he will conclude Prudent because the issue of his own Imagination or the suggestion of some over-admired Teacher of that Church whereof he is a Member that Church to him is no Church but where such a doubt is entertained the Case is only disputable and questioning doth not disprove or destroy certainty and truth But such doubtful Propositions as N. N. hath here conjured up will without doubt damnify his good old Cause because thereby his Church will be concluded a no Church by the demonstrating Power of those many doubts and uncertainties which her chief Members have conceived and uttered against her instances of most important concern For Part 2. 1. It is a rule with them that a doubtful Pope is no (p) Crespet in verb. Papa Caran p. 827. Pope and that there cannot be two Popes at one and the same time etiam ex urgentissima causa as Jac. Castellon cites out of Navar verb. Papa p. 485. no not upon the most weighty Consideration because there is but one Monarch and one Monarchy only for Spiritual concerns by the appointment of Christ hence they generally conclude that all those who are not united to that one determinate Head are in the state of damnable Schism and those who are united to him are united to the true catholick-Catholick-Church viz. The Church is a Society of men united in the Profession of the same Faith and participating of the Sacraments under the Government of lawful Pastors chiefly of one Vicar of Christ upon Earth the Roman Pope This then is obvious at the first view from these Premises that an undoubted Pope is as fully and by the word chiefly in the definition more necessary to the being and Constitution of the Church than an undoubted Clergy and a doubtful Pope is as destructive to the Church as a doubtful Clergy from whence it necessarily follows that if a doubtful Clergy makes a doubtful Church a doubtful Pope must do so too and then if this be proved there hath been a doubtful Pope and no one undoubted Pope by N. N 's demonstration it is impossible the Roman can be the true Catholick and Apostolick Church but this is easily made evident from the many doubts and uncertainties which of the several pretending Popes hath been the one undoubted Pope
ORIGO PROTESTANTIUM OR AN ANSWER TO A Popish Manuscript OF N. N's That would fain make the Protestant Catholick Religion Bear date at the very time when the Roman Popish commenced in the WORLD WHEREIN PROTESTANCY is demonstrated to be elder than POPERY To which is added a JESUITS LETTER With the ANSWER thereunto annexed By John Shaw Rector of Whalton in Northumberland and Preacher at St. Johns in New-Castle upon Tine Cypr. Pomp. contr Ep. Steph. Quod nunc facere oportet Dei Sacerdotes divina Precepta servantes ut in aliquo si nutaverit vacillaverit veritas ad Originem Dominicam Evangelicam Apostolorum traditionem revertamur inde surgat actus nostri ratio undè origo surrexit LONDON Printed for H. Brome at the Gun in St. Pauls Church-Yâ—â—â— 1677. TO The Right Worshipful Sir RALPH CARR MAYOR Sir ROBERT SHAFTO RECORDER THE ALDER MEN SHERIFF And the rest of the Members of the Ancient Town and County OF Newcastle upon Tine J. SHAW Humbly presenteth this ensuing TREATISE The Preface WHen it pleased God in his great goodness and mercy to this Persecuted Church and Harassed Kingdom by a miraculous Providence to restore his Sacred Majesty to his just Rights and the Church to her Legal and Primitive settlement I also who was before necessitated to seek shelter elsewhere till the Tyranny was overpast returned to my own Native Countrey where I found diverse whom I left professed Sons of our Church turned Renegades having forsaken their own Mother in the day of Trial and betaken themselves to that flattering Stepdame of Rome This I reflected on with much regret and so much the more because I found that with this defection from their Mother they were also grown cool in their Affection to the common Father of their Countrey our Sovereign Lord the King as being sowred with Republican or Protectorian Leaven infused into them by the so much admired Thomas de Albiis amongst others I observed further that the Romanists in these parts grew every day more insolently active to bring more Grist to their own Mill and List more men in the Popes Service not only by Printed Books but also by private Letters and Manuscripts The first whereof that came to my hands was the short Letter subjoyned to this Treatise to which I have upon my Friends request framed an Answer and here annexed to the Letter The next I met with was a Manuscript that would fain usurp the Title of Origo Protestantium sent me by a Gentleman for my opinion thereof which after having perused and transcribed it I returned to him again and have here endeavoured to refute and therein vindicate the English Reformation The Author seems to be a man in great request amongst them especially if he be the same N. N. who assisted in the late Conference if not he is probably that N. N. who was Second to Father Knott as S. W. or W. S. was to Mr. White Be the Author who he will you are to understand that as the design of the former was to seduce unstable Souls from our Church by suggesting it to be no true Church through the defect both of Moral and Personal Successions so also the great business of this latter is to prove the Nullity of our Church for want of Personal Succession therein chiefly upon the old Nags-Head Story which might have passed for current Roman Coin perhaps in 57 when Lilly's Almanack and Mother Shipton's Prophesy were in vogue But they are much out in their Politicks who think such like Riff-raff as fitly Calculated for 75 the World is grown a little Older and so much Wiser too than to believe all is Gold that Glisters and can discern between Legends and true History however the insinuating Jesuit would fain become again a Pearl for a Lady Other Scripts and Prints of this nature and to this effect are since come to my sight which perhaps I may when I have nothing else to do animadvert upon holding my self obliged to lend my poor endeavours in scouring these Northern Coasts especially of those Popish Pirats who count all Fish that comes to the Net and will break all Laws to compass one unlawful Prize Mean while the Reader is desired to Correct such Errata as he may possibly meet with in this Treatise in regard of the Author 's great distance from the Pres and he will thereby oblige His Humble Servant J. Shaw Origo Protestantium OR PROTESTANCY Before POPERY CHAP. I. SECT I. N.N. IN the year 1516 there was no other Religion in our Parts of the World acknowledged Catholick and Apostolick but that which the Protestants now call Popery SECT I. J.S. 1. PRotestants on the contrary assert that which now is called Popery though it was then the prevailing Faction in the Church yet it was not the acknowledged Catholick Religion in these our parts of the World Erasmus (a) Epist ad Godeshal Ros hath declared there was nothing in Luther but might be defended by good Authors he had good reason to say so for that the Pope and his Great Council did politickly devise and erect an expurgatory Office which they industriously advanced to expunge out those very Doctrines which the Protestants embrace Particularly the Doctrine of Merits in and about that time was not reputed Catholick In a Book entituled A form of Baptisme according to the Practice of the Roman Church Printed at Paris (b) But since Corrected in 6 places or otherwise prohibited by the Inquisitors of Spain p. 249. 1575. And in the Roman Pontifical Venet. 1585 (c) Reformed at Rome Ann. 1602. under this head Questions to be made to a dying man this is one Credis quod c. Dost thou believe that our Lord Jesus Christ died for thy Salvation and that none be Saved by their own Merits or by any other means but only by the Merits of his Passion And in a Book much elder than these called Hortulus Animae (d) Since forbidden Index lib. prohib p. 156. A Garden of health for the Soul there are several Questions of the same nature and import which were daily used by the Ecclesiasticks in their visitation of the Laicks The like are to be found in Breviloq Bonav in Gerson de Agon interrog Ansel published by Cassander commended by Caspar Vtembergius and confessed by Martin Eisingreene (e) Tract Apol. de cert gratiae pro vero Germano intellectu Can. 13. Sess 6. Conc. Triden c. 8. a learned man and Chaplain to the Emperour to be the ordinary form used at the visitation of the Sick in their last Agonies further relating that he found an old Book in the (f) Called Rhasme id ib. p. 484. Covent of the Augustine Friers wherein the same Questions were and further adds that such there were in Agendis veteribus the ancient Liturgies of Wittenburg Salsburg Mentz c. 2. That which Protestants call Popery and is the Fundamental of all
Popish Fundamentals viz. The Popes Supremacy over all General Councils and the Infallibility of his judicial Sentence in causes of Faith was so far from being acknowledged Catholick and Apostolick Doctrine that it was condemned for Heresy in that Age. The Council of (g) Sess quarta quinta confirmed by Martin V. Ep. Synod Conc. Basil ad omn. Christ p. 143. Constance determined the power of a General Council to be above the Pope which determination was judicially passed for that all the publick Acts amongst which this was entered were Conciliarily Ratified as appears by the Council of Basil writing to Pope Eugenius For when the Fathers there assembled heard that the Pope intended to dissolve them to prevent that Project they thus writ to him It is not likely that Pope Eugenius will any way think to dissolve this Council seeing it is against the Decrees of the Council of Constance which both his predecessor Martin V. and himself had approved And indeed if that Decree was not Conciliarily concluded Martin V. had not been true Pope for in pursuance of this Decree the other contesting Popes were deposed and he created (h) John Gerson who was present at Council upon every occasion in his writings did approve and extol that Decree which he would not have done unless he had known it to be Conciliarily determined Ep. Juliani Cardin. ad Eugen. p. 76. inter opera Aen. Sylvii After this the Council of Basil (i) Confirmed by Eugenius with his Letters read in Council Sess 16. from which the Fathers concluded decret quinque conclus p. 96. his Pontificial Ratification affirmed Decree Sess 33. affirmed the Decree superadding this their sence of it that what was decreed was a (k) Ep. Conc. Bas p. 144. Truth of Catholick Faith that he who gainsaid it was to be accounted an Heretick and that the Universal Church ever till then had embraced it and that so constantly and conformely that never any learned (l) Infin Sess 45. Conclus 5. in decret quinque Concil p. 96. man doubted thereof It is true endeavours were soon used to invalidate it but all the then famous Vniversities (m) Orthuinus Gratius in fasco rer expet p. 240. asserted it and so did many excellent men far and near who were famous for their parts and Piety in that Generation as Card. (n) Lib. 2. de concor Cathol lib. 17. 20. Cusan a Belgian Joh. de (o) Lib. de Auth. Gen. Conc. p. 88. Turrecr a Spaniard Card. (p) C. significasti extrav de electione Panorm a Sicilian and Anton. Rossel (q) Monar part 2. c. 15. part 3. c. 21. an Italian To make sure work if possible against all opposition about four years after the determination of this Council the Pragmatical Sanction which was received saith (r) De Benefic lib. 5.11 By the consent of the whole Clergy and all the Peers of Faanee Joh. Marius lib. de Schis c. c. 28. Duarenus with the applause of all good men was established by Charles the seventh at Bourges for the Confirmation (Å¿) Gagninus annal Franc. l. 10. Bin. Not. in Conc. Bitur ex Gagnino of that Decree Pope Pius the second was hereat much perplexed and laboured with Lewis the eleventh to have it annulled but all in vain for the Parliament at Paris crossed the Popes design by exhibiting a Book to the King which convinced him that the Popes project if it took effect would be in an high degree prejudicial to the State For that if the Pragmatical Sanction were not maintained there would yearly be transported to Rome (t) Defens Paris Curiae pro libert Eccles Gall. adversus Rom. aulam num 67. inde above a thousand thousand Crowns and that the Pope hath had for three years last past for Archbishopricks and Bishopricks above an hundred thousand Crowns for Abbies an hundred and twenty thousand for other Dignities an hundred thousand and for Benefices five and twenty hundred thousand by which means the Goldsmiths Shops were drawn so dry that none but such as made Puppets and (u) Ib. num 71. Childrens Gaudies dwelt in them But here the matter rested not for not long after Lewis the twelfth assembled a Council at Tours (w) Genebr lib. 4. Chron. omn. Epist. Gall. Chron. Mattaei Ann. 1510. consisting of all the Bishops in France and very learned men in which it was resolved the Pragmatical Sauction should be kept inviolably About this time Julius the second was mounted on the Papal Chair who resolved by all means right or wrong to erect and settle the Papacy at his Election he was sworn to summon a General Council which Popes utterly dislike and being after required to remember his Oath and observe the constitution of the Council of Constance viz. That after the determination (x) Concil Constan Sess 39. Oct. 9. Ann. 1417. Caran p. 840. of ten years a new Council should be appointed Pontifice vel non valente vel non (y) Caran p. 884. volente saith my Author The Pope either not able or unwilling which is more likely utterly refused whereupon certain Cardinals at the motion of several Bishops called a Council at Pisa which was favoured by the (z) Sabel Onuphr in vit Jul. II. Emperour and Christian King The Pope being much straitned makes use of his Keys and the Sword which he pretended St. Peter and St. Paul left to his management in Chief whereupon he forthwith excomunicated the King of France and procured Ferdinand King of Arragon to joyn in Arms with him against the French King and other Adherents to the Pisan Council and after maintained a bloody (a) At Ravenna a City of Romaniola in which many thousands were slain Caran p. 884. 885. Lanquet in his Chron. ad Ann. 1512. saith it was Fought on Easter-day and the Pope was discomfited with the loss of 1600 of his Souldiers Battle against them in which many thousands were slain Historians (b) Speculum Pontific per Steph. Szegidinum p. 105. and a Spaniard in the lives of the Popes collected out of Dr. Hascar Friar Joh. de Pineda c. number those that died in this Quarrel within the space of seven years to Two hundred thousand But here the Popes fury for the Man was more enraged by N. N's good leave than ever Luther was stopped not he proceeds to the Excommunication of John de Albert (c) Plat. in vit Julii secundi King of Navarre who by Marriage to Katherine right Heir to Blanch Queen of Navarre held that Kingdom and by his Bull deprived him of it and made a Grant thereof to the above-named Ferdinand to dispose of it as he pleased whereupon he invaded that Kingdom and soon became master of Pampelona the chief City therein and after got possession of the whole In the year 1513. Albert pressed Ferdinand to do him right and reason by the
of Constance as a lawful General-Council and to its Decree concerning the Superiority of a Council above the Pope and as many do to this day which also necessarily destroyeth the supposition of the Popes Infallibility because no inferiour Authority can be Infallible for that it can be controuled and corrected by a superiour over-ruling Power and that which is Infallible cannot neither ought to be controuled or corrected If any Romanists conceive and some there be who would be esteemed and pass for such with otherwise discerning men to be the more moderate sort that this is no direct consequence it were well done of them to reconcile the different pretensions and contradictory perswasions of the Pope and a Council and clearly declare whether the two contesting parties can be both Infallible for an Infallibility they will have and if there be such a thing it must be seated in the one or the other for there are no other pretenders to it and if we must have two Infallibles then which of them for the time being is the most Infallible to end the Controversy for till this be decided there can be no end of Controversies because this Controversy will be still agitated and few or none besides shall be satisfactorily determined because all others do mostly depend on this or whether it were not more prudent by way of Accommodation to compound the difference betwixt themselves that by consent the Contestants should take the Infallibility by turns the Pope have his vicissitude and the Council theirs or that it pass as a long time it hath done by a standing Rule of Catch that Catch can provided it can be so ordered that it be done without hot bickerings and canvassings But the through-paced Papists stand close to their tacklings for where they fix the Supremacy there also very consonantly to their supposition they lodg the Infallibility for thus they argue in the ease of the Pope His Authority (p) Bell. l. 4. de Pont. c. 24. Sect. 2. c. l. 2. de Conc. c. 13. And this is saith he the judgment of the best writers quos recenset ib. Sect. ult and therefore his judgment is the last and highest id l. 4. de Rom. Pont. c. 1. Sect. Sed nec Sect. denique and because it is the last and highest therefore it is Infallible ib. l. 3. Sect. contra l. 2. de Conc. c. 9. Sect. accedat c. c. 11. Sect de 2. Sect. de 3. is Supreme therefore his judgment in causes of Faith is the last and the highest and because it is the last and the highest therefore it is Infallible But upon the whole matter it is evident from what hath before been avouched that the Holy Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul were not the Founders of the present Romish Church as it is now constituted and managed but Julius the Second and Leo the Tenth by their new settlement and so their pretence of possession which at the best was tortious is quite out of doors and at last N. N's Original of Protestancy falls out to be indeed the just date and commencement of Popery Wherefore as the Papists frequently but foolishly propose to us Where was your Church before Luther So we upon the foregoing grounds may more reasonably demand of them where was your Popish Church before Julius the Second and Leo the Tenth which Question they will never satisfy till they renounce their new Faith and new Foundation of Faith upon which their new Church is superstructed 3. Supposing this acknowledgment then an 1516. and there in our parts of the World this is far from rendring it Catholick because far removed from that Golden Rule of Catholicism delivered by Vin. Lyr. and approved by all good Catholicks quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus c. For if before that year and age and in other parts of the World that which Protestants now call Popery was not acknowledged Catholick Doctrine it must not now be acknowledged Catholick neither ought it then and in our parts of the World to have been acknowledged Catholick the ancient Primitive is to be more respected and reverenced than the Church of the last Century and other parts of the Christian World have been and are as truly and univocally parts of the one Holy Catholick Church as ours can be and the true Faith is one and the same in all ages and places But will or can N. N. answer to Bell. who l. de notis Eccl. c. 7. positively declares that if only one Province should retain the Catholick Faith yet it should be truly and properly called the Catholick Church as long as it might be shewed as Protestants have it was the same which it was at other times in other plaees of the World Driedo dogmat Eccles lib. 4. part 2. seems to be of his mind And what will he say to Dr. Bristow who motive the 45. confesseth some there have been in many ages in some poinis of the Protestants opinion insomuch that there is scarce one piece or Article of our whole Faith but by one or other first or last it hath been called in Question and that with such liking for the time that they all have in a manner drawn after them great herds of followers these some and all were long before this Origenists Aera 1516. and what if these some of Bristow prove to be very many as the Cardinal of Praeneste reckoned them Vicards poor people of Lions Speronists Arnoldists and Waldenses who as Reinerus reports were far spread and of long standing in the Church For thus he relates the matter refort Illyric Catal. test devit tom 2. p. 543 but in an old Edition p. 32. lit D. they continued so long as no Sect hath some say it hath been since Sylvester some since the Apostles there is universality of time and there is almost no countrey wherein it spreadeth not there is universality of place and persons they have great shew of Piety living uprightly before men and believing all things aright concerning God and all the Articles of the Creed and abating his great shew they were good Catholicks because holy believers and livers but that he added a subsequent cause only they hate and blaspheme the Church of Rome and that marred all otherwise they had passed muster and St. Bernard is much to the same purpose Serm. 65. sup Cant. Edit Venet. an 1575. Tom. 1. p. 328. tit H. Si fidem interroges c. If you require an account of their Faith nothing is more Christian if of their Conversation nothing more commendable they frequent the Church honour the Priests offer their Gifts make Confession and communicate in the Sacraments these were no Schismaticks they hurt none circumvent none contemn none are true and just in all their dealings performing what they promised these were not unjust wicked men yet he had a pique at them they did not observe the Monkish Vow of Continence which he conceived
account among the common People In this Confusion the Protector calls a Parliament 1547 but the Common-Prayer Book did not then pass yet all former Statures made against Hereticks or Sectaries were recalled and annulled In the ensuing Parliament the Book was approved because it seemed in matter of the Sacraments to humour divers Sectaries who before had opposed it yet the Common People of England took Arms in defence of the Old Roman Catholick Religion complaining that most Sacraments were taken from them and they had reason to fear the rest This was King Edwards Reformation which could not be perfected because he lived but six years It is remarkable how in this Kings time it was resolved that whatsoever should be determined by six Bishops such as they were and six Learned men in the Law of God or the major part of them concerning the Rights Ceremonies and Administration of the Sacraments that only should be followed Never did any Sectaries before this time presume so far as ours did in preferring the judgment of seven men for that is the major part of twelve before that of the Christian World in changing the matter and form of Sacraments abolishing the Sacrifice of the Mass and ancient Rites and Ceremonies of the Church Catholick confirmed by so many General Councils and approved by all the Ancient Fathers Heresy is always accompanied with presumption but this exceeds all Parallel SECT II. J. S. HEre again something in General is to be premised to remove those prejudices which N. N. hath raised against the procedure of Edward the sixth It is granted that King was but a Child yet it must not be denied that the Laws of the Kingdom committing the exercise of Supreme Power in that case to a Protector what was regularly done by him ought to be deemed as valid as if the King had been of age and done it himself The Reformation made in Jehoash his minority 2 Chron. 23 though it was the immediate Act of his Uncle Jehojada was firm to all intents and purposes It is acknowledged also That Images were pulled down a Body of English Liturgy formed c. But what was done in these particulars was done without confusion or contradiction For it was done by Authority of the Supreme Power with the advice and consent of the major part of the Bishops not opposed by the Convocations but rather approved for that the Clergy in the respective Diocesses generally practised the prescribed form and after confirmed by Parliament This appears from the Provisional Injunctions 1 Edw. 6. and the Acts of Parliament 2 3 Edw. 6. to which the Bishops had so great a respect that as they practised themselves so they took care for the uniform observation of these Injunctions and Statutes requiring conformity to them from the Inferiour Clergy which accordingly they submitted to For we find a charge was drawn against Stephen Gardiner one Article whereof was He observed not the Book of Common-Prayer nor ordered the observation thereof in his Diocess to which charge he made this Answer to the Duke of Somerset with five others of the Council viz. That he having deliberately perused the Book of Common Prayer although he would not have made it so himself yet he found such things in it as satisfied his Conscience and therefore he would use it himself and see his Parishioners do so too the same in effect he said to the Lord Treasurer Secretary Peters and Sir William Herbert when they came to him with Articles from the King himself To confirm this procedure it is to be observed 1. The whole affair was managed by an approved Catholick Rule which was to reform what was amiss according to the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures and usage of the Primitive Church not to form any New Religion but retrieve the Old and to reduce it into that state as Christ had left it the Apostles practised and the Primitive Church had received and observed as the King declared to the Romish Rebels 2. It was ordered as the Tridentine Assemblers thought most fit Decreto de Celebratione Missae in which Institutions were read concerning abuses to be corrected in the Celebration of the Mass the substance whereof was that the Bishops ought to forbid all things brought in by Avarice Irreverence or Superstition If it be alleadged the Bishops were so to do as Delegates of the See of Rome the Return is obvious Our Bishops as Commissioners of the Supreme Power might do what they did with better Authority and Warranty For 1. Learned Romanists do confess that particular Nations have a Power to purge themselves from Corruptions as well in Church as State without leave from the See of Rome This is acknowledged by Seren. Cressy in his Answer to Dr. Pierce's Sermon p. 285. But what if the Pope issue out a Prohibition and interdict the whole Nation very many of them do conceive it may be waved and opposed because no reason can be assigned why the Church should continue under known Corruption for the Popes reâ—lyeness to have them redressed Aeneas (l) De Conc. Basil l. 1. Silvius after Pius the second was once of this mind for that if the Popes recusancy may hinder the proceedings of a General Council to the disturbance of the Church corruptions of the Minds of Men and the destruction of their Soul all would thereby be undonne without remedy Cardinal (m) De concord Conc. l. 2. c. 12. l. 3. c. 15. Gusan goes yet higher affirming that the Emperour in duty was obliged by his Imperial Authority to Assemble a Synod when the great danger of the Church required it which determination was also resolved in the first (n) Conc. Pis impress Lutet 1612. fol. 69. Pisan Council Quintinus (o) A Lawyer and pablick Professor at Paris in repet lectione de Civitatis Christianae Aristocratia Heduus who lived in Henry the eighth's time hath aproved by many Canons that if the Pope command and the King forbid the King is to be obyed therefore when the King calls together the Prelats of the Church to reform the state thereof they are bound to obey though the Pope forbid it (p) Franc. praelect 4. a. 161. at this day a General Council may be called against the Popes mind by the Emperour and the Christian Princes whether he will or not Baron (q) Ad Ann. 553. n. 2. confesseth the second General Council is approved though Pope Damasus with might and main opposed it Vigilius though once he consented to the calling of the first General Council yet when he was called to give his personal appearance and afford his assistance and concurrence being commanded so to do by the Emperour and solicited thereto by twenty (r) Baron 553. n. 35. Metropolitans whereof three were Patriarcks the sturdy insolent Pope utterly refused whereupon the Emperour the necessity of the Church which was then in a general Tumult and Schism about the (s) Ibid. Ann.
Edward's time had passed their Authority to certain Persons Deputed by the King to make Spiritual Laws * Fox Act. Mon. So that though nothing appears apud Acta because perhaps not so carefully registred or not at all because it was the Personal Act of their Deputies or in that primo Mariae which is likely enough expunged and destroyed yet a Synod there was to carry on this work upon the foregoing Reasons to which may be added what Bishop Jewel def Apol. fol. 520 affirms which Mr. Harding (a) Scoffing at it as a small obscure meeting of a few Calvivinists Def. Apol. fol. 521. which Bishop Jewel farther avers Defen Apol. fol. 645. could not deny We have not done saith he what we have done altogether without Bishops or a Council the matter hath been treated in open Parliament with long Consultation and before a notable Synod and Convocation Having premised thus much the less shall be said to N. N's exceptions and reports and nothing at all to his angry scurrilous malicious invectives and expressions 1. Edward the sixth was a Child c. This is a close reflection on his incompetency to act in that kind but N. N. might have considered that Kings in the eye of the English Laws are never Minors and that though he was a Child in years yet not so in understanding for during the time of his Reign he kept a most exact judicious Journal of all the most principal (b) Haywards Ed. 6. affairs of State and his abilities were so great far beyond his years that he could encounter Gardan and disputed his new devised Paradoxes with so much acuteness and strength of Reason that Cardan reported his parts to be miraculous And as to his Knowledg in matters of Religion his Answer formerly related to the Romish Rebels sufficiently shews he was no Candidate thereof but a solid understanding Christian But if his being a Child be so great an offence to the Romish tender Consciences why should not their Universal Monarch's being a Child work the same effect in them Such they have had Benedict the ninth was a Lad almost ten years old John the eleventh a stripling and a Bastard to boot which one of their stout sticklers grants and makes a pleasant Phanatick (c) A. D. Soc. Jes in his Reply to Dr. White p. 289. Sect. to the seventh Apology for their youth viz. in these words The young years of our Bishops cannot be a hinderance to debar them of being Infallible Pastors and Universal Monarchs in the Church since out of the Mouth of Babes our Lord can work his own praise neither is Ignorance want of Learning or Discretion any lett when by the mouth of an Ass God can instruct a Prophet 2. They did vary as he runs on and so were in confusion The Antecedent is beggarly without proof and the consequence is naught every variation in judgment and opinion doth not infer or imply Confusion The members of the Trent-Assembly in far more and more importing Doctrines did vary almost at every turn yet I presume this man of confidence will not adventure to conclude that all was there in a Confusion But King Edwards Doctors did not vary for they were perfectly agreed and took an effectual course to prevent discord and confusion For 3. The Common-Prayer Book was not obstructed but generally and Religiously observed For in 1 Edw. 6. it was Authorized by Proclamation recommended to the Bishops by special Letters from the Lords of the Privy Council to see it practised and in 2. Edw. 6. a penalty was imposed by Act of Parliament on such as should deprave or neglect the use thereof if any disturbance therein it proceeded from the Popish party and their Preachers which occasioned a Proclamation to be issued out to silence them 4. He relates every one might Preach what he pleased c. This is false for a Proclamation was published none should Preach unless he were Licensed 5. Hugh Latimer saith he was in great esteem c. If so then probably the Common People would have sided with him for the Common-Prayer Book which he so highly esteemed that he judged all those who condemned it to be Factious and Seditious as in particular he charged Thomas Lord Seymour upon that account 6. He tells us the Common People took Armes c. Surely not those who so much respected Hugh Latimer they were some who affected Popery that is no news such should prove Rebels when they dare he might have spared this to save the Credit of his Old Religion This practice is sufficient to prove them no true Roman Catholicks for the Old Religion taught Subjects Submission and Suffering for Religion and forbad Resistance and Rebellion and taking up Arms against their lawful Sovereign 7. He supposeth Edward the sixth's Reformation could not be perfected c. In good time by the same reason Queen Mary's reduction of Popery could much less be perfected for she lived but five years 1. He presents his grand remarkable in this Kings time c. But he is so reserved and wary as not to specify the year of his Reign if he means 1 Edw. as is most probable he misseth one of the number for thirteen were appointed this is a pardonable mistake That which follows is a down-right Calumny as hath been sufficiently proved for those seven men had a real respect to the Judgment of the Christian World and Practice of the Catholick Church If he pitch on 2 3 Edw. 6. then 32 persons were nominated to examine Ecclesiastical Lawes viz. such as concerned the Jurisdiction and Rights of the Church in foro externo which indeed were but so many Regulators of the Canon-Law If he relate to 6 Edw. 6. only eight persons were named in the Kings Letters Patents with a power to call into their Assistance whom they pleased But this is remarkable that when N. N. lays claim to all the Christian World many General Councils and all the Fathers for their Matter and Form of Sacraments and their Sacrifice of the Mass he is then fallen into the braving humour of his old Thrasonical Bragadochio Colleagues Testor omnes patres omnia Concilia c. No less than all was the nothing Brag of Father Campian but the Author of the Apologetical Epistle published Ann. 1601 goes far beyond him in this swelling ranting ventosity That Faith which I defend is taught in all the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures and all ancient Glosses and Scholies on their Latine and Greek by all the learned Fathers Historians Antiquaries and Monuments by all Synods Councils Laws Parliaments Canons and Decrees of Popes of Emperours and Kings by all Martyrs and Confessors and Schools by all Friends and Enemies even Mahumetans Jews Pagans and Infidels all former Hereticks and Schismaticks All these he had carefully and with diligence studied and considered them this is a right Don Glorioso But somewhat is still behind his Faith is approved by all the
Testimonies that can be devised not only of this World but of God of Angels and Glorious Souls of Devils and Damned Spirits in Hell the fittest Witnesses of all and here he stops his Carreer Other puling Hereticks have boasted of this or that Council or of some few Fathers but these have attained to that pitch of Impudency that all makes for them all is theirs when upon a just examination none at all appears for them Heresy is alwayes accompanied with Vanity and Insolency but this exceeds all Parrallel but that we find it the constant custom of the Romish Hectors SECT III. N. N. AFter Edward died his Sister Queen Mary Reigned who being a Catholick restored Religion by Act of Parliament Cardinal Pole the Popes Legate absolved the Kingdom from the Excommunication and Schism incurred Some Histories report that three thousand Sectaries all Strangers were Banished out of England and among the rest the two holy Apostles Peter Martyr and Bernard Ochine All King Edwards Bishops were Deposed and Imprisoned the Catholick Bishops set at liberty and restored to their Sees SECT III. J. S. 1. QVeen Mary did reintroduce Popery but this she did contrary to the solemn Promise made to the Gentry of Norfolk and Suffolk to violate such an obligation will scarce be proved either Honourable or Religious 2. She did not regularly restore her Religion but confusedly shuffled it up as hath been before declared that if any Protestant Prince had done the like an hideous Hubbub would have been raised Bishop Jewel relates the manner thus (a) Reply to Harding Art 13. fol. 358. The Papists first scattered it and forced their Mass against a Law then in force against them then established it by Law and next after had a Solemn Disputation at Oxford to try whether the Law were good or no. This saith he Mr. Harding is your Lidford Law for in order of nature the Disputation should have been first then the Law then the Execution thereof but as Tertullian saith Haeretici ex Conscientia infirmitatis suae nihil tractant ordinarie 3. He cannot but his hand must slip though he have no visible advantage by it for all King Edwards Bishops were not Deposed the Bishops of Lincoln and Hereford were not the Bishops of Litchfield Salisbury Norwich Bangor St. Asaph and Landaffe complyed 4. If the deposed Bishops were but pretended Bishops then your restored Bishops were so too for some of these received their Ordination from them and those who ordained them But now the Originist after all these Sallies falls afresh on his great work on which he spends much Paper and time wherein he most triumphs and glories and thus he makes his first approach and onset CHAP. III. SECT I. N. N. QUeen Mary deceased without issue her Sister Elizabeth is proclaimed Queen The Reformation is established by Act of Parliament notwithstanding the great opposition made by all the Bishops and others in the Upper-house The Queen was resolved to pull down Catholick Religion because Cecil and others of her Council perswaded her she could not be secure as long as the Pope's Authority was acknowledged in England seeing the Apostolick See had declared her a Bastard and all Catholicks looked upon the Queen of Scots as true Heir to the Crown Nevertheless it was judged expedient for her quiet and the peace of the Realm to keep always a Resemblance of it in the Clergy as the best remedy against Puritanism which was thought by her Majesty dangerous to Monarchy The titles therefore of Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans and Chapters were retained as also in her own Chappel some Images the Altar and a Crucifix upon it But what will they do for Ordination That Form which was instituted in Edw. the sixth's time was judged invalid by publick Judgment in Queen Marie's days insomuch that Leases made by King Edward's Bishops though confirmed by Dean and Chapter were not esteemed good because saith the Sentence they were not consecrated nor Bishops see Brook's Novel Cases Plac. 463. fol. 101. impress London 1604. Seeing therefore it concerned the Queen to have consecrated Bishops she endeavoured by all means to have such as she named for Bishopricks consecrated by Catholicks but they all resolved not to make Bishops in the Church whereof themselves refused to be members The Queen notwithstanding the reluctancy of Catholick Bishops named in her Letters Patents Kitchin Bishop of Landaff among others to consecrate Mr. Parker and his Fellows he being the only man among all the Catholick Bishops that took the Oath of Supremacy in her Reign But many others who complied with Henry the eighth in that particular refused now to consecrate and Landaff was resolved to do the same yet at last by fair words and promises they prevailed with the old man to give them a meeting at the Nags-head in Cheapside where they hoped he would have ordained them Bishops despairing that ever he would do it in a Church because that would be too great and notorious a scandal to Catholicks among whom Landaff desired to be numbred Bonner Bishop of London hearing of this sent Mr. Neal his Chaplain to forbid the exercise of giving Orders in his Diocess under pain of Excommunication wherewith the old man being terrified and otherwise also moved in his Conscience refused to proceed in that Action alledging chiefly for reason of his forbearance want of sight This excuse being interpreted an evasion by Mr. Parker and his Fellows lessened his entertainment some of them reviling him and saying this old Fool thinketh we cannot be Bishops unless we be greased alluding to the Catholick manner of Episcopal Vnction Being thus deceived in their expectation they resolved to use Mr. Scories help an Apostate irreligious Papist who had born the name of Bishop in King Edward's time and was thought to have sufficient power to perform the Office he having cast off with his religious habit all scruple of Conscience willingly went about the matter which he performed in this sort having the Bible in his hand and they all kneeling down before him he laid it upon every one of their heads and shoulders saying Take thou Authority to Preach the Word of God sincerely and so they rose up Bishops of the new Church of England SECT I. J. S. TO this long lying Section the fittest method will be to discover the several falsities and vain conjectures as they lie in order First He vainly surmiseth great opposition was c. This is one misadventure for there was but fourteen Bishops then living whereof four were absent and then a Question may be made whether all those ten who were present did oppose it for some of them had learned the Art of compliance so exactly that they could suit to the times without any opposition for the others there was but one Abbot of Westminster and only two Lords Temporal the Earl of Shrewsbury and Viscount Montacute who did oppose it these thirteen if they had all combin'd could not make any great opposition
2. The Queen saith he did resolve c. This is most false for thus she expressed and declared her self (a) Cambden Ann. p. 35 36. England embraceth no new Religion nor any other than that which Christ hath commanded the Primitive and Catholick Church hath practised and the Ancient Fathers have always with one mind and will approved If N. N. hath another Catholick Religion let him keep it to himself 3. The Pope did declare her a Bastard c. Perhaps this may be true but if he did so he declared against his own Conscience if Guicciardine say true but whether this were so or no the Pope hath a faculty to determine and declare contradictions If once he did declare her a Bastard he hath a cleanly conveyance to call in his Declaration and pronounce her Legitimate Our English Authors of good account probably upon common report have written that Pius the fourth as he offered very large Concessions so if the terms could be agreed on which were proposed to revoke the â—cateace against â—rer Mothers Marriage This seems to Mr. Fuller to be a light conjecture but others as modest and more knowing than himself in that point have averred it Bishop Babington on Num. the seventh affirms of Clement the eighth and Bishop Andrews Tort. Torti p. 142. is very positive in it Certe illâ—â—d rentatum constat de cuteris si ut vero Primatus c. Mr. Fuller himself relates the Pope sent by his Nuntio the Abbot of St. Saviours a Letter to her in which he promised to grant her whatsoever she would desire for the establishing and confirming of her Princely Dignity and assured her having furnished the Abbot with secret Instructions he should deal more largely with her intreating her to give the same credit to his Speeches which she would do to himself If these Instructions contrived for that pretence and profer were not publickly to be seen this was but a piece of Pope-crafe for the matter was so to be managed that nothing was to be concluded till the Abbot certainly found the Letter would take and produce the designed effect But before this Paul the fourth promised though not so frankly yet home enough that if she would refer her self wholly to his free crooked disposition he would do whatsoever might be done with the (b) Hist Counc of Trent fol. 411. ad An. 1558. honour of the Apostolick See and we know that the Popes have ready inventions they can any time off-hand find an expedient to salve its honour This Pope in the year 1554 being a moderate good man by a Letter to Queen Mary whom he knew to be zealously addicted to the Papal Interest granted a close Dispensation to confirm and ratify the alienation of the Possessions and Revenues of the Church and forged six reasons to satisfy the World that such a Dispensation might be granted with honour and conscience This Letter with the reasons was found in the Offices of the King's Papers the original whereof was there preserved but the next year following the tender-conscienced man changed his mind and in private discourse often told the English Embassadors with deep protestations that he could not profane the things dedicated to God and that his Authority reached not so far as to approve Sacriledg and therefore under an Anathema restitution must be made of Church-Goods and Revenues adding withal they could not hope that St. Peter would open Heaven to them so long as they usurped his Goods upon Earth Hist Counc of Trent fol. 392 393. ad An. 1555. This was a pure piece of Pope-craft to get Peter-pence from the people and Annates from the Crown for himself which he gained by this Artifice and let the Church shift for her Rights as well as she could The Pope and his Adherents do generally charge the Greeks with Heresy and Schism yet by an accord the Greeks may have his good leave to be Hereticks and Schismaticks let them but acknowledg his Supremacy they may keep their Religion and be either Hereticks or Schismaticks but if they prove refractory and refuse then presently they are pronounced Hereticks and Schismaticks For in Ann. 1594 Articles were drawn and concluded betwixt the Pope and the Bishops of South-Russia the main whereof was he was to permit to them the liberty of the exercise of their Religion and they were in lieu of that to acknowledg his Supremacy which they submitted to but with special reservation of their Religion and Rites Brerewood Inquiries p. 138. taken out of Th. a Jesu What Arts the Popes have used to maintain their Reputation the Author of the Hist of the Couno of Trent hath reported for fine stories of Reconciliation fol. 382 and 383 which he truly and properly stiles shadows of Obedience For Saligniacus the Pope's Protonotary Itenr to 8. c. 2. refert Brerewood p. 161. expresly affirmeth that the Christians in Egypt never yielded obedience to the Pope Let the Pope's Interest be either bettered or secured he can with honour allow Heresy and Schism and so sober and moderate a man is he he will not stand with you upon the strict account of Religion Neither is N. N. certain that all the Catholicks did take the Queen of Scots to be true Heir to the Crown yea it is false for not those sure who concluded the Marriage of King Henr. the eighth with Katharine to be unlawful and Divorce lawful not those sure who owned Elizabeth their natural Liege-Prince as Heath Arch-Bishop of York and Oglethorp Bishop of Carlisle who Crowned her not those who judged the Act of Succession valid neither the Secular Priests who in their Book entituled Important Considerations Printed An. 1601 and now re-Printed An. 1675 bound with the other Treatises did acknowledg her their true and lawful Queen and themselves her Highness natural born Subjects p. 53. and 64 and as such did profess their Allegiance to her as highly as the most Loyal Subjects could or should do p. 85 86. Nay nor Father Parsons and his Comrades who entituled the King of Spain and the Infanta his Daughter to the Crown in his Book entituled Dolman and as the Secular Priests affirm Import Consid p. 82. Philip King of Spain treated with Queen Elizabeth to Marry his Son Charles which he would not have done if he either valued the Pope's Declaration (f) Which none of those Roman-Church and there are great store of them do who deny his Infallibility in matters of Fact and Right or thought the Queen of Scots to be true Heir unless he had been assured of a Dispensation and by vertue thereof disseize and debar the right Heir But this project failing he gave out words he would take her for his own Wife insomuch that the King of France feared a Marriage betwixt them which moved many of the more inquisitive and considering sort to believe that the reason why the Pope did not draw in his Declaration proceeded only from the practices of
others not till afterwards and upon several days 5. But N. N. is wronged is being reproved for falshood and misadventures he good man will say nothing but that for which he hath good authorities and good proofs which whether they be regular and valid is next to be examined SECT II. N. N. THis Narration of the Consecration at the Nags-head I have taken out of Hollywood Constable and Dr. Champney's Works They heard it from many of the ancient Clergy who were Prisoners in Wisbitch-Castle as Mr. Bluel Dr. Watson Bishop of Lincoln and others these had it from Mr. Neal and other Catholicks who were present at Mr. Parker's Consecration at the Nags-head as Mr. Constable affirms The story was divulged yet being so evident a truth none durst contradict it notwithstanding both the Nullity and Illegality was objected against them in Print not long after by the Famous Dr. Stapleton's Counterblast fol. 301. SECT II. J. S. ALL this here presented amounts to thus much 1. Mr. Neal and Mr. Constable reported the story therefore it is true Neal was an eye-witness and Constable took it upon trust and all the rest hear-say men So that the whole depends upon their credit and honesty who have crack'd their credit by their holy Fraud and lying Legends and practising the black Art of Equivocation and their honesty is justly suspected who care not what they say so they say something for the advantage of the good old Cause as will hereafter be declared 2. Dr. Bishop a fast Friend to the Cause in his Repr of Dr. Abbot's Defence p. 120 confutes this way of Argumentation saying Any man not past all care of his Reputation would be ashamed to cite such late partial Writers it is either where their testimony is not contradicted by their Adversaries when they set themselves industriously to detect falsifications in their Allegations or else those Protestants do annex the Authorities and Reasons on which their testimonies are grounded Testimonies of private men or hear-say men when crossed by Authentick Records are always slighted and contemned If the Homagers of a Manor swear to a custom which is more than speaking to it yet if there be any Court-Roll extant and produced which declares the contrary to their Depositions their testimony is thereby utterly invalidated Baronius in the point of Maxentius his Birth presumed to correct all former Historians by the discovery of an ancient Coin certainly an ancient Record is better than an ancient Coin can be for standing Records have always by all Nations and the consent of Mankind been esteemed the strongest human testimonies and the best assurances of Faith which ought not to be disbelieved or disputed upon the reports of particular men because they have been purposely devised and preserved for the discovery of Truth and the decision of Controversies which might arise in after-Ages and the rectifying of particular mens several apprehensions Such as these we produce in this case which have convinced and fully satisfied more ingenuous Adversaries than N. N. or his Narrators seem to be When Dr. Reynolds shewed these Records to Mr. Hart he confessed they were undeniable The Bishop of Chalcedon acknowledged that Father Oldcorn alias Hall took the leisure and pains to search the Records who thereupon concluded them authentick Arch-Bishop Whitgift with four other Bishops prevailed with four Popish Priests to view these Records which when they had done they declared to them freely that they were not to be doubted of 3. It hath been the common practice of such as these Narrators were as shall after more fully appear to divulge stories by an holy fraud either to stagger weak minds or to settle the over-credulous Bigots of their party in a detestation of Arch-Bishop Whitgifts life whom the Romanists may believe if they please if they will not take his word let them choose and shew the contrary hath given us a pregnant testimony hereof for he informs us that that Arch-Bishop going to Dover at his entrance into the Town an Intelligencer from Rome landed who wondred to see an Arch-Bishop in England and so honourably attended but seeing him the Sunday following waited on with a nobler Train and hearing the solemn Service of the Church he was overtaken with admiration and told an English Gentleman Sir Edw. Hobby who accompanied him that they were led in great blindness at Rome by our own Nation who made the people there believe that there was not in England either Arch-Bishop or Bishop or Cathedral Church or any Church-Government but c. 4. These his Narrators could never agree in the most material circumstances of the story they cannot speak either to the number of the Consecrators or Consecrated nor to the determinate place and time 5. The Story was contradicted assoon as it was divulged as hereafter will be more fully declared 6. Dr. Stapleton's Objection did not run on the Nag's-Head Score he never so much as mentioned it and therefore may reasonably be presumed either not to have heard any thing of it or not to believe it the former is more probable for it was not divulged in his time 7. If the matter had been performed clandestinely or intended so to have been Mr. Neal and the other Catholicks could not have been admitted neither should its clandestine performance have rendered the Act invalid When John the twelfth ordained a Deacon in a Stable I demand whether in N. N's private judgement the Ordination were invalid SECT III N.N. THey being not able to make good the Ordination against Catholicks were forced to beg an Act of Parliament whereby they might enjoy their Temporalities notwithstanding the defect of their Ordination against the Canons of the Church and Law of the Land For albeit King Edwards Rite of Ordination was established by Act of Parliament 1 Eliz. yet it was notorious that the Ordination of the Nags-Head was very different from it and framed ex tempore by Scories Puritanical Spirit The Words of the Act are Such from and order for Consecrating Archbishops Bishops c. as was set forth in Edward the sixth's time shall stand and be in full force and effect and all Acts or Things heretofore done or made by any person or persons elected to the Office and Dignity of Archbishop c. by virtue of the Queens Letters Patents or by Commission sithence the beginning of her Reign be and shall be by Authority of this Parliament declared and judged good and perfect in all respects and purposes c. See Poulton in his Kalendar p. 141. n. 5. by which Act it appears that not only King Edwards Rite but any other used since the first of the Queens Reign upon her Commission was enacted good and so consequently the Nags-Head might pass Hence it was they were called Parliament Bishops SECT III. J. S. THE chief Argument which N.N. framed in this Section runs thus 1. Their Ordinations were defective as not ordered according to the Canons of the Church and Laws of
shall appear from a pretended discovery of Turrians who brought to light that which lay in darkness for a good store of hundred years 3. Bishop Jewel and other Protestants of those times were not required to produce the Records by Dr. Stapleton Dr. Harding Mr. Rascal and other Romanists of those times who never urged any thing in defence of N. N's Story and to the prejudice of the Records 4. They were virtually and in effect produced by the Parliament in their reference to them and were alledged and mentioned in Dr. Parker's Life as N. N. acknowledgeth in the next Paragraph 5. The advantage got by producing them could only have proved their Legality and the advantage lost by concealing might have brought their Legality into dispute but could not destroy their Validity 6. The producing them would not have foiled their enemies for produce them unless it be to an ingenious Adversary the Sticklers have a despeâ—â—te shift they were forged if this be cleared they produce another desperate shift now most in request with them supposing say they there be materialâ— Mission in the Church of England yet it is not to the true intent and purpose or as some express it their Ordination doth not enable them to offer true substantial Sacrifice and so from one desperate shift unto another in infinitum 7. They did not produce them therefore they were not extant is another of N. N's absurd inconsequences for it is an Argument from Authority negatively which though in some cases it may hold yet here it cannot for it is as if we should thus argue Neither N. N. nor any of his Camrades were so quick-sighted as to spie such a Sentence in St. Aug. therefore there is not any such extant in his Writings 8. What he affirms of Dr. Fulk we are not directed where to find it probably if he had been at leisure he would have referred to his Answer to the Rhemish Annotators and if there it he then it is to be found in Rom. 10. Sect. 5. p. 471. where he hath so strongly proved his Position out of Ruff. Theodor. c. that all his Nags-head Narrators durst never undertake a refutation neither was this any desperate shift in him upon that pretended reason which N. N. hath alledged for this he had bassed in the foregoing Sentence which N. N. unworthily and purposely conceals saying No man ought to intrude himself into that Priestly Office without lawful Calling How lewd and desperate then was N. N. to tell the World he was put to desperate shifts when he giveth God thanks he had no temptation nor occasion to use any thing If it be suggested he bluntly declared any such expressions he will be found still to be the same man and of the same Judgment SECT IX N. N. DR Bristow Motive 21. what Church is that whose Ministers are very Lay-men unsent uncalled c. Mr. Rainolds Calv. Tarc l. 4. c. 15. There is no Herdman in all Turkie which doth not undertake the Government of his Herd upon better Reason Right Order and Authority than those your magnificent Apostles and Evangelists can shew for this Divine Office of governing of Souls Dr. Stapleton's Counterblast against Horn fol. 7 8 9. To say truly you are no Lord of Winchester c. Is it not notorious that you and your Collegues were not Ordained according to the Prescript I will not say of the Church but even of the very Statutes c. fol. 301. You are without any Consecration at all your Metropolitan himself poor man being no Bishop at all Dr. Harding in his detection against Mr. Jewel fol. 129. You tell not half my tale c. I ask you of your Priesthood and Bishoply Vocation and Sending c. These being my Questions you answor neither by what example hands were laid on you nor who sent you c. Those who took upon them to give Orders in King Edward's days were altogether out of order themselves and ministred them not according to the rite and manner of the Catholick Church as who had forsaken the succession of Bishops in all Christendom c. and had erected c. Mr. Jewel answers this with profound silence only he says without any proof our Bishops c. To this Dr. Harding replies your Metropolitan who should give authority to all your Consecrations himself had no lawful Consecration the Ancient Bishops were either not required or refused to Consecrate you which is an evident sign you sought not for such a Consecration as had ever been used but such an one whereof all the former Bishops were ashamed To this sharp Reply directly affirming the Nullity of Mr. Parker's Ordination and by consequence of all the English Clergy Mr. Jewel answers not one word to the main Point nor mentions Mr. Mason's Records what then can any man of an indifferent Judgment think in this case but the Records were not then extant or forged How is it they should not be produced by Horn Jewel Parker and the rest whom it specially concerneth to make proof of their own calling being so often and so earnestly urged thereto by their Adversaries triumphing over them for want of due Authentick proof thereof yet the Records were never mentioned by any of them If they were extant and not produced against the Catholicks it was because in Queen Elizabeth's time many were living who could have proved them to be forged so that the Act of Parliament and Parker's Life makes them more incredible than if no mention were made SECT X. J. S. TO this tedious nothing for N. N. hath now almost emptied his Budget of broken Wares which deserves no return in it self that shall be replied only which will discover how willing some Romanists are to fight with their own shadows and like drowning men to catch at sticks and straws to buoy up their sinking Cause 1. Those Authors he here mentions never touched at the Nags-head if they had known or heard of any such thing they would have divulged it with open mouth neither did they in all these Quotations ever so much as hint at or reflect upon the Records only Dr. Stapleton presumes they were not Ordained according to the Prescript of the Statutes themselves because he conceived as formerly hath been said that the Statute was not revived in Law primo Eliz. if otherwise he thought the Parliament may be presumed to be more knowing than he was in that Case and we may further and justly presume that those who left no stone unturned for the advantage of the good old Cause would not over-leap such Stumbling-blocks for the two first of these Authors they were so deep in rage that they quite stifled reason but Dr. Bristow met with his match one that paid him home in his own Coin for Mr. Rainolds he acted the part of a Renegado who would be sure by the fortiter calumniari his high calumnies to decline the shame of his Revolt Dr. Stapleton by Catholick Church meant
the Roman Enclosure and so he fairly begged the Question and what he affirms he proves not for Dr. Harding he was taken with the same beloved fallacy which they always make use of when they are put to a pinch Thus their Argument proceeds they were not Ordained by Romish Bishops nor after the Rite then used in the Romish Church therefore they were not lawful Bishops which is all one with this Dr. Stapleton and Dr. Harding did not Commence Doctors at Oxon. or Cambridg therefore they were not lawful Doctors The Antecedent is granted and for this reason it vvas improper and impertinent to produce the Records for to what purpose is it to produce them in proof of that vvhich is confessed no more than for to produce the Registeries of Oxon. for a Doctor 's taking his Degree at Lovain but the Consequence is denied being impossible to be proved for there have been and there are novv lawful Bishops in the Christian World vvho vvere neither Ordained by Roman Bishops nor according to the Prescript of the Roman Church as confessedly the novv Bishops of the Greek Church are vvhom they all acknovvledg for lawful Bishops 2. Whereas he saith Bishop Jewel answered not a word to the main Point it vvill be found he searched the Point to the quick both in relation to his Priesthood being Ordained Priest the same time Mr. Harding vvas def fol. 125 and 129 and in relation to his Episcopacy saying Our Bishops succeed the Bishops that have been ever before our days being Elected Confirmed and Consecrated c. as they have been Further adding that Mr. Harding himself was one of his Electors none of this Mr. Harding could deny and therefore he fell to the old Game of Tergiversation turning his back from the main Question and starts a nevv one for a desperate shift having nothing else to say but this they vvere not forsooth Confirmed by the Bishop of Rome which is an implicit confession that all those recited Acts were performed only they wanted the Pope's Confirmation which yet the Bishop with great evidence of Reason and Primitive Authority proved to be unnecessary and is contrary to all Antiquity and the Practice of the Greek Church and withal told Dr. Harding in civil terms he would never give over that idle trade of begging Thus this Bishop Jewel maintained both the Regularity and the Legality both of his Priesthood and Episcopacy though not with express reference to the Records themselves yet implicitly to the Subject-matter thereof particularly Election Confirmation and Consecration to his Episcopal Dignity and Office and also propugned the Validity of both Orders from Scriptures and the perpetual Tradition of the Catholick Church pursuing Dr. Harding in all his shifts from Post to Pen till he drives him to his Non ultra 3. All that N. N. durst conclude from Dr. Harding is only that by his sharp Reply he directly affirmed the Nullity of Dr. Parker 's Consecration but Protestants are not so lame as to take every Affirmation of Mr. Hardings for a proof they expect he should make his bold Affirmation good by good Authority or Reason neither by N. N's good leave did any thing that he affirms affirm a Nullity what he alledged if it were true and home would only have rendred those Ordinations Irregular or Illegal but not Null his no lawful Consecration respected only the manner of the Catholick Church that is theirs in their usual restriction and such as they had used 4. Whether the Records were extant N. N. cannot affirm but in his indifferent judgment if they were then they were forged which in the judgment of all indifferent men will certainly pass for a desperate shift Just such a work Dr. Harding made about the (k) From his counterfeit Athanasius Bishop Jewel's Reply fol. 157. Nicene Canons they were burnt yet falsified they were falsified yet burnt c. Such a Blunder also Baronius made concerning a pretended Edict of the Emperor Justinian it was an Edict and it was not an Edict it was (l) Baron an 564. n. 3. an Edict put out by the Emperor in favour of the Aphthardokites who denied the Body of Christ to be subject to Passions and Death for these two Reasons the (m) Id. an 564. n. 1. Orthodox contemned it and the Emperor persecuted all those (n) Id. ib. n. 3. an 563. n. 12. vid. n. 3.8 9. who did oppose it and it was not an Edict it was only a Cabinet-paper for this Reason the Emperor indeed writ it but never (o) Id. an 565. n. 4. so Evagr. l. 4. Hist Eccl. c. 40. published it if so then no Edict the Popes as bad as they are make a Publication of their Decrees But this is all meer impostures for his Edict oppugned that Heresy of the Aphthardokites Edict Justin p. 492 495. which Pope Agatho witnesseth in his Epistle directed to the Emperor Constant Pogonat as it is to be seen Act. 4. Conc. gen 6th p. 21. which Baron himself confesseth An. 681. n. 21 24. n. 25. to be approved of the whole Roman Synod consisting of 125 Bishops 5. But N. N's Catholicks triumphed c. Did they so that is an old trick of their Men of War to do as Agesilaus commanded his Souldiers still to shout Victoria to brag when they are worsted which they must do to keep up their Credit with their deluded Partisans and Proselytes But who triumphed when his Grave and Learned Divines pitched a Field time place and order of Battel contrary to the rules of all Combatants yet like the Children of Ephraim who being harnessed and carrying Bows as if they would do strange seats of Chivalry who but they turned their backs in the day of Battel For did not your old Friends both challenge and order a Disputation 1 Eliz. upon the Points in Controversy and did not they upon the approach of the Enemy after a Pickeer or two face about and dastardly forsake the field How often have the Protestants triumphed over you with the story of Madam Donna Seamore Pope Joan Bishop Goodwin hath produced thirty several well-known Authors to attest the Story and it is not much above an hundred years since her Picture was standing in the Church of Sienna in Italy where (q) Papir Massin de Episc Vrbis l. 6. in Pio. 3. the Pictures of the Popes were set up which so moved Baronius his patience that he sollicited the Pope and Duke of Florence to take it down which accordingly at his intercession they caused (r) Florimund Fab. Joan. c. 22. n. 2. to be done Such an ancient Picture in confirmation of other reports is as good an evidence that there was such a Madam Pope as Baronius his ancient Coin in contradiction to all former Histories was to prove the determinate time of Maxentius his birth and had N. N. and his Narrators such a proof for their dusty weather-beaten Nags-head they would do wonders with
it and pursue it hotly with Hue and Cry from Country to Country 6. Though several Reasons have before been assigned and more might why our Writers in those times such as Bishop Jewel c. did not expresly appeal to the Records yet I take the Chief to be this The then Romanists did pretend to a mixt Succession but chiefly insisted upon the Moral and Doctrinal so Dr. Stapleton Graeca Ecclesia c. The Greek Churches though they have lineal Succession yet because of the Heresies which they hold and the Schism they make they have not lawful (Å¿) Staplet Princ. doctr l. 13. c. 6. Succession and again Successio de qua agitur c. The Succession of which we dispute is not of places and persons but of true (t) Id. relect c. 1. qu. 4. art 1. 2. notab 5. and sound Doctrine Thus also Mr. Harding def fol. 119. Did Capon Shaxton or ever any Bishop of that See before you teach your Doctrine whom have you succeeded as well in Doctrine as in outward sitting in that Chair To which Question if Bishop Jewel had appealed to the Records he had trifled because they are only evidences of meer matter of Fact not at all of Doctrines taught 7. But N. N. is a man of confidence he believes there were many living in Queen Elizabeth's time could have proved them Forged this is strange forgery is a work of darkness carried on by a few these are too many to be privy to the Fact and very closely with all the securities of secrecy and therefore a man of indifferent judgment will hardly be perswaded that many can be accessory and privy to a designed Forgery 8. On a sudden this great Undertaker grows dull for he supposeth that to make the Records more incredible which to all others makes them most credible To N. N. they are more incredible upon testimony of publick Authority which is indeed to destroy all human security and contrary to the common notices of mankind But N. N. is resolved to speak the Truth at last SECT XI N. N. THE truth is most of the Clergy of England in those times were Puritans and inclined to Zwinglianism they therefore contemned and rejected Consecration as a Rag of Rome and were contented with the extraordinary calling of God and his Spirit as all other Churches do who pretend to Reformation neither is it credible there was any other Consecration of Parker and his Camrades but that which passed at the Nags-head SECT XI J. S. THE truth is there is no truth in any of these Affirmations for 1. The Clergy of England then had a Liturgy with Rites and Ceremonies witness N. N. in what he said before which they orderly observed they did own and defend the three Orders (u) Bishop Jewel Apol. c. 3. divis 1. defence fol. 85. of Bishops Priests and Deacons witness the Ritual which N. N. also acknowledgeth to be the allowed Form of the Church of England to have been ever in Christ's Church since the time of the Apostles which the Puritans do not if they did the Romish Emissaries would lose some Proselytes and therefore N. N.'s suggestion that the Clergy then did condemn Consecration as a rag of Rome is a most malicious untruth 2. The Clergy then neither followed Zwinglius nor any other Person nor any Sect or Sectaries of Men farther than they followed the Scripture and the Practice of the Primitive Church these they took for their rule 3. If by Zwinglianism he intends as it is usually called Zwinglianism the rejecting that monstrous Figment of Transubstantiation they were therein followers of the Apostles and Doctors of the Catholicks if he conceive Zwinglius opposed Episcopacy he is deceived for he and the Helvetians did honour it What he adds of other Reformed Churches is most false for most of them have and do own Bishops either name or thing or both as in the Dominions of the King of Sweden Denmark and the most of them in High Germany even as many as subscribed to the Augustane Confession those under the Duke of Saxony Luxenburg the Marquess of Brandenburg the Prince of Anhault and many others and those of the Reformed Churches which have no Bishops account it their want an infelicity It is a bad Cause which must be underpropped with impious Frauds and is supported only with hideous and palpable Lies 4. In the close of this Section N. N. brings by head and shoulders his Nags-head again to shew he can write as well against common sense as without common honesty for his suggestion neither is it credible and is contrary to the apprehensions of all Impartial Judges for it is morally impossible the Fable should be credible because Dr. Parker's Consecration was performed as is before related in the presence of four of the most eminent Notaries Publick in the Kingdom one whereof was principal Actuary at Cardinal Pool's Consecration SECT XII N. N. HEar the Judgment of Whitaker and Fulk who lived in and about that time the English Ordinations were first called in Question I would not have you think saith Whitaker we make such reckoning of your Orders as to hold our own Vocation unlawful without them Cont. Dur. p. 821. Mr. Fulks more plainly you are highly deceived if you think we esteem your Offices of Bishops c. better than Laymen Ans to Counterf Cath. p. 50. and in his Retentive p. 67. with all our hearts we difie abhor detest and spit at your stinking greasy Antichristian Orders Is it credible these prime Protestants would answer thus if they had not known that the Story of the Nags-head was true SECT XII J. S. HItherto N. N. hath been a fabulous Romancer and Legendary he now falls under the suspition of a Plagiary for in all probability he hath by a trick of Legerdemain filched these Quotations from some Puritan Pamphleteers many of which have made use of them upon another design But 1. In the different Judgment of N. N. the Question was started in Arch-Bishop Parker 's time though not pursued indeed nor moved for many years after at which time Dr. Whitaker and Dr. Fulk were either but School-boys or Freshmen but when they were Writers the Romanists thought fit to let it lie in a Saint-solitude and smother it with profound silence hoping to get a better opportunity to market the Fable 2. Supposing the English Ordination was first questioned in their times by what Magick will N. N. infer his conclusion or prove his Fable credible His Argument â—â—us from the Staff to the Corner for thus he demonstrates Dr. Whitaker and Dr. Fulke defied and sleighted yea scorned the Popish Ordinations therefore they believe the jolly merry Fable Dr. Whitaker saith We hold our Vocation lawful without their Form and Orders N. N's wild inference from hence is Therefore he knew the Story to be true which if it had been so would have rendered it unlawful Dr. Fulk The Romish Orders are stinking greasy
nothing less than Spite in your Popes to thunder out their Interdicts and publish their seditious and malicious Bulls against this Church and State It might be error or mistake in your Grave Learned Divines to pronounce Protestants Hereticks and Schismaticks but it was the extremity of Spight to condemn them to Fire and Faggot without benefit of the Clergy and doom them to Eternal Flames without the priviledg of Purgatory Indeed the main spight of the whole Sect is against the Church of England down with it cry they and the Puritan-rabble will soon be crushed and quelled and the little undersets which spring from them either dwindle away into nothing or drop into their hands 5. He assures us upon his word which is not worth a rush they hold themselves obliged to hold to their known Tenents and Practices this is tattle and empty talk According to their Tenent the Character is indelible yet Pope Stephen nulled the Orders of Formosus and caused all those Ordained by him to be Re-ordained He tells us it is their Tenent and Practice to Ordain Lapsed Ministers in absolute terms as Lay-men are upon the sole account of the invalidity of their former Ordinations but Pope Paul and Cardinal Pool either thought or practised otherwise when they confirmed and settled the Ordinations made in Edward the sixth's time He saith 't is their Tenent to allow those to officiate who have not valid Orders is to commit damnable Sacriledg but the Pope and the Cardinal did allow those who were Ordained as they speak qui ampullas jactant in the time of Schism to officiate and therefore either did think their Orders valid or committed damnable Sacriledg N. N. dare not affirm the latter if he take to the former then all his confused heap of Possibles Probables and Credibles are at once blown up with a Puff of the Popes breath and are driven away like Down It hath been the Practice of their Grave and Learned Divines when any Protestants revolted to exercise them as if they had been possessed for thus was the Form The Revolter was brought to a Bishop and falling down on his Knees before him the Bishop said I adjure thee thou unclean Spirit by the name of God to depart out of the Man If thus they practised now they would mar their market and a half-gained Proselite before he was thus charmed would either start aside or wheel about Whatsoever their Tenents or Practices be or have been which yet are not heeded by Protestants there is an old Sitter at Rome who can change them at his pleasure which when he is disposed to do all that N. N. or his Fellovvs dare do is to Bless themselves holding up their hands and some crying Benedicite others after the old Mumpsimus mode bennistee or vvhich is all one make use of a grave Nod or discontented Shrug and so sit dovvn in silence This is no more than for the Pope to give out Orders to the contrary or impose Silence by a Decree of Taciturnity then let the Tenent and Practice be vvhat it vvill all is quashed they are the Popes Vassals and must most tamely obey his Orders CHAP. IV. SECT I. N. N. goes on BUT suppose their first Bishops were ordained by Catholicks another Nullity is found in the Form of the Consecration To wave the Matter of Ordination let us examine the Form prescribed in the Protestants Ritual It is a known Principle common both to Protestants and Catholicks that in the Form of Ordination there must be some words expressing the Authority and Power given to the Ordained The intention of the Ordainer expressed by general words indifferent and applicable to all or divers degrees of Holy Orders is not sufficient to make one a Priest or a Bishop As for example Receive ye the Holy Ghost These words being indifferent to Priesthood and Episcopacy and used in both Ordinations are not sufficiently expressive of either in particular unless Protestants will now at length profess themselves Presbyterians making no distinction betwixt Priests and Bishops but they are as far from that as we Catholicks In the Form whereby Protestants Ordain there is not one word expressing Episcopal Power and Authority The Form is Take the Holy Ghost c. Let Protestants search all the Catholick Rituals not only of the West but of the East they will not find any Form of Consecrating Bishops that hath not the word Bishop in it or some other expressing the particular Power and Authority of a Bishop distinct from all other Degrees of Holy Orders See Joh. Morin de Sacr. Ord. Par. 1655. SECT I. J. S. 1. IT seems N. N's former tedious Harangue at length comes to this Arch-Bishop Parker c. were not Ordained by his Catholicks which is one Nullity But this is contrary to the Tenents of his Church witness Bellarmine who Lib. 1. de Sacr. in Gen. c. 21. determines that Sacraments administred by Hereticks are valid and to its Practice allowing the Ordinations of the Arrians and Bonasiosi and these of Acacius see in Morin de Sacr. Ord. and of the Greeks witness N. N. ut supra 2. The other Nullity lies in the Form he being contented to wave the Matter but why so this hath alwayes been accounted an essential part of Ordination Bellarm. lib. 1. de Sacr. Ord. c. 9. Sect. ex his truly relateth Concilium c. The Council of Carthage makes mention only of Imposition of hands His quarrel then being with the Form it is to be considered after some use made of his Concession in this Paragraph which will by good consequence destroy his whole former discourse for he confesseth 1. That Protestants have a Form or Ritual then undoubtedly they would use it and not Bishop Scories extempore Spirit 2. They are as far from being Presbyterians as his Catholicks then they were not Puritans unless his Catholicks be so too then they rejected not Consecration as a Rag of Rome nor were they contented with Extraordinary Calling then they are as much for Bishops and regularly Consecrated Bishops as his Catholicks 3. This Form is prescribed and thereby they Ordained therefore they did Ordain by their Prescript Form and not as N. N. surmiseth and suggesteth 4. The Form hath these words Receive ye the Holy Ghost therefore N. N's feigned Form was not used at Arch-Bishop Parker's Consecration 5. The Form requires the Consecration of a Bishop to be publick in the Church therefore his suggestion of a Clandestine Consecration is a Calumny 6. The Form hath the word Bishop in it therefore it hath sufficient to express the particular Power and Authority of a Bishop 7. The Form requires three Bishops to the Consecration of a Bishop therefore they did not think the help of one was sufficient yet this is the Form N. N. is pleased to quarrel with For 3. He pretends there is a known Principle common c. But this he misrepresents this Form must be used and no other Bell. inclines
to N. N's after-instance of Illustration if the word King be used at his Election this sufficiently expresseth all Kingly Power and Authority SECT II. N. N. farther adds THE Form or words whereby men are made Priests must express Authority and Power to Consecrate or make present the Body and Blood of Christ but their Form containeth not one word expressing this Power see the Ritual Lond. 1607. Deacons did minister and dispense the Body of Christ in Ancient times but were never thought to have Power of Consecrating and making present Christ's Body and Blood SECT II. J. S. THat which N. N. designs by this is that that Form Receive ye the Holy Ghost is defective as to Priestly Ordination which must be supplied by their new one viz. Take thou power to offer Sacrifice to God and to Celebrate Mass both for the quick and the dead This he knows Protestants do reject because lately invented and foisted into the Romish Ritual to foster their gross Figments of Purgatory Transubstantiation and their Antichristian Sacrifice of the Mass and because some Romanists as St. Clara thinks it unnecessary and Bell. saith it is Sacrilegious for this he positively delivers It is Sacriledg to change the Form because determinate Bell. de Sacr. in gen l. 1. c. 21. Sect. apud haeret c. secunda prop. For Sacraments are instituted by God therefore the chief part thereof the Form and to add to or alter the words of the Scripture is not lawful therefore not the words of the Sacraments Id. ib. in Fin. yet this great Champion never did prove their new Form to be found in or founded on Scripture much less instituted by Christ 2. If that Form comprehends not all the Essentials of Priestly Ordination then the Apostles were not empowered to Consecrate for our Saviour used that and no other to enable them for the execution of the Priestly Office wherefore Scotus l. 4. dist 24. hath resolved verba illa c. those words Whosoever sins ye remit c. are declarative of the Power formerly given in these Receive ye the Holy Ghost by which Power is passed over all the Sacraments and therefore that of Sacrificing Biel l. 4. dist 19. quaest un concurs with him cul datur c. to whom the Principal is given to him also the accessory is given but by these words Receive ye c. Christ gave the power of the keys therefore by them he conveyed the power of Consecration which is a branch of the power of the Keys 3. What is added concerned Deacons is a pure piece of impertinency no way advantagious to him nor prejudicial to Protestants if he vvere put to it he vvould find it a difficult task to prove Deacons were Dispencers of the Mysteries vvho vvere only Assistants to the Dispensation SECT III. N. N. IN all Forms of Ordaining Priests that ever were used in the Eastern and Western Churches there is expresly set down the word Priest or some other word importing the particular and proper Function and Authority of Priesthood If any State or Country should choose a Person to be King in the word King is sufficiently expressed all Regal Power and Authority Therefore the Greeks using the word Bishop and Priest in their Form sufficiently express the respective Power of every Order SECT III. J. S. EAch Clause of this Section hath been sufficiently confuted SECT IV. N. N. BUT the reason why the English Form of making Bishops and Priests is so notoriously defective and invalid is because in Edward the sixth's time when Zwinglianism and Puritanism did so prevail in the Church the Real Presence was not believed by them of the Clergy who bore the sway therefore they did not put in the Form of Priesthood any word expressing Power and Authority to make Christ's Body present They held Episcopacy and Priesthood to be one and the same thing wherefore in the Form for making of Bishops they put not one word expressing the Episcopal Function only some general words which might seem sufficient to give them Authority to enjoy the Temporalities and Bishopricks This is also the true reason why Parker and his Collegues were content with the Nags-head Ordination and why others returned to extraordinary Vocation in Queen Elizabeth's time SECT IV. J. S. THis also is another vain Repetition Three who bore the sway in King Edward's Reign held the Real Presence but not in the Popish manner of determination Those in Queen Elizabeth's time had and did stand for ordinary and orderly Vocation The Church of England alwrys asserted the Divine Right of Episcopacy and her orderly Orderly Orthodox Sons have constantly maintained it If some have distinguished Priesthood into the degrees the higher and the lower as the Romanists generally do yet they still conclude the said different degrees of the Acts and Uses which could not be exercised in a due subordination of the lower to the higher for a distinct respective Consecration thereto and did hold those of them who should presume to exercise the Higher Power not being regularly Consecrated thereto were Schismatical Transgressors of the Apostolical Order and Catholick Practice and that every Act of that usurped Power when no real necessity to abate or excuse it to be null and void It is the Pope and his Collegues who are the (f) For it is not resolved in the Congregation of the Cardinals that the Pope's Legats should not suffer the determination of the Article of the Institution of Bishops by Divine Right to pass Hist Counc of Trent fol. 603. And it being perceived that Laynez his Speech was displeasing and opposed by the Spanish Bishops this distasted the Legats ib. fol. 615. therefore Canons came from Rome which the Pope moved to have proposed p. 657. which displeased the Fathers c. after much contention because the opinion of Divine Right was as displeasing to the Pope ib. fol. 737. it was waved leading Puritans It was the Pope who said the Absolute Divine Right of Bishops was a false and erronious Opinion it was the Pope who slighted and scorned those Bishops in the Trent-Assembly who affirmed (g) Ib. fol. 825. the Institution of Bishops by Divine Right It was the Pope who first devested them of their Jurisdiction and Power by his Commissions and Delegations (h) Caran p. 869. to inferior Priests SECT V. N. N. TO conclude the Matter I say with St. Hierome Ecclesia non est quae non habet Sacerdotem How can the Protestant Church be the true Church which hath not one Bishop or Priest Though it were not evident it hath no Valid Ordination yet so many doubts and uncertainties as they must acknowledg concerning their Ordinations do demonstrate the Nullity of their Church for if there remain one solid and prudent doubt of the validity of Ordination in any Church it is impossible it should be the true Catholick and Apostolick Church because a doubtful Clergy makes a doubtful Church and a doubtful Church is
determine what Intention was necessary because they could not agree about the efficacy of the Sacraments it being impossible there should be the same Intention of two who differ in their judgments concerning it The common Salvo was that the Intention to do as the Church doth was sufficient but this satisfied not the scruple because men â—â—ffered in opinion what the Church is and their opinions herein being different their Intentions in administring the Sacraments would also prove different To evade this it was pretended all the Priests had the same design but as it is impossible for any to know the things that is the purposes of Man save the Spirit of Man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 so it is unconceivable how they should have the same end and aim who have different Judgments Humours Passions and Interests At last they were driven to this shift perhaps there may be some such wretched Priest yet this case is rare To this the Bishop of Minori replied would God said he that the case was rare and that in this corrupt age we had not cause to doubt there were many but suppose there are but a few or one only let a Knave Priest Baptize who hath not an Intention to administer the true Baptism to a Child who being after a grown Man is created a Bishop of a great City so that he hath Ordained a great part of the Priests in his Diocess it must be said that he being not Baptized is not Ordained nor they Ordained who are promoted by him Behold Millions of Nullities of Sacraments by the malice of one (z) Histor Council of Trent fol. 241. Priest in one Act only 4. To give full measures of Doubts and uncertainties in the most mysterious act of their Religion Dr. Holden (a) Apendix of Schism p. 445. Refert Dr. Ham. dispatcher Preface p. 14. averreth All Roman Catholicks do believe and reverence the Sacrifice of the Mass as the most substantial Act of their Religion but if it be demanded wherein the substance of this Sacrifice doth consist no substantial Resolution can be expected from them their Doubts and uncertainties about the Nature and Essence thereof are so cross and various There are divers opinions concerning it saith (b) Azor. l. 10. c. 9. or part 2. l. 2. c. 14. Azor. There are six Acts of which it is doubted in which one or more of them the Essence of the Sacrifice consisteth saith (c) Tom. 3. dist 75. art 1 2. Suarez Some place it in the one Act of Consecration but the doubters dispute against it for say they Consecration belongeth rather to the nature of a Sacrament than a Sacrifice and every external Sacrifice such as the Mass is must be sensible but the Conversion made by the words of Consecration is not sensible for the real change is not and again if the Act of Consecration then the outward Elements only are the Hoast and matter offered but we may not say the Species are the Hoast others set it in the Oblation but the dissenting Brethren oppose this because Christ used no Sacrificial Act at his Last Supper and if Christ did not the Priest ought not though some of them grant it belongs to the intergrity of the Sacrifice But how the Trent-Divines were divided in their judgment herein may be read Hist Counc of Trent fol. 544 c. Some of them again conceive Consecration Consumption or Sumption to be the Essence this others contradict because then say they the Body and Blood of Christ must be destroyed for that which is Offered in Sacrifice is to be destroyed but Sumption can be no part thereof because the Act of Receiving is not for although Christ be not received after the Consecration yet is he truly said to be Sacrificed and Doctors doubt whether Christ did receive in his last Supper and the Priest receiving doth nothing in Christs person but his own others stood for Fraction but this the doubters easily disprove for it is say they an Act purely Sacramental not at all Sacrificial and Fraction being before Consecration the Substance of the Bread and Wine remaineth When N. N. hath solved all these Doubts and satisfied all these Doubters he may be more confident of the demonstrative Power of Doubts and uncertainties in the mean time he may apply them to his own Church in his own words Mutatis mutandis Therefore the Romanists before they can prudently believe themselves to have true Faith or be the Catholick Church must clear all Doubts and uncertainties not objected by Protestants but started and pursued by their own Divines concerning their Church their Head of the Church their Ordinations and the most Substantial Act of their Religion the Mass for though any Person should not c. 7. N. N. goes one step forward the step to Christian and Catholick belief is c. This hath nothing of usefulness to his Conclusion unless he prove that a Clergy not regularly ordained cannot believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith c. that the Protestant Church hath a doubtful Clergy in which his attempts have hitherto been unsuccessful and unlucky to him and his Church If his meaning be the well-grounded Credibility of his Church is the foundation of Christian belief this is to beg the Question and is false for Christian Faith is not an assent and adherence to the Objects thereof upon the bare Testimony of the Church but on that of God neither is its warranty derived from the Church's Proposition but Divine Revelation True Faith is founded on the writings of Moses and the Prophets of Christ and his Apostles Eph. 2.20 which moved Durand thus to define it It is an habit whereby we assent to the Doctrines of the Scripture for the Authority of God revealing them But if he intend only that the Church's Proposition is to her members the first motive and preparative of Faith it will not be gainsaid but then he must remember that a prudent Christian will not take the Church for well-groundedly credible till he find by the Rule of Faith She deserves to be so esteemed for it is impossible the Church can appear so to him till he know the Faith it proposeth which he cannot do but by applying it to the Rule for every intellectual and moral habit must be sufficiently known before the Acts resulting from them can be predicated of any subject capable to exercise them As I must know what Prudence is before I can truly affirm of any man that he is Prudent 8. That which N. N. mainly drives at is to seduce the members of the Church of England from her Communion and solicite them to Apostate to Rome To effect this he took as he conceived a seasonable opportunity to perplex the minds of men with his Doubts and uncertainties by reason of our late sad divisions Then the Romanists bent all their forces to perswade easy seduceable tempers This Church was either a dead or (d) Bishop
of Chalcedon Survey c. 2. Sect. 9. Dr. Holden Anal. of Faith saying the present State of the Protestant Church consisting of Protestant Bishops c. and their Protestant Flock not being likely to continue long no Church If this design prevailed with some crasy minds they were as imprudent as the Romish Solicitors were impudent For the Romish Church has suffered as Tragical and durable divisions as This then did for besides that long Schism formerly related in Alexander the third's time a Schism lasted till fere eversa c. as Car. speaks p. 794. That Church was at her last Gasp and in this very juncture of time their contests were so high that their great Head of Unity was put to all his Pope-craft to smother them the Disputes betwixt the Jansenists and Molinists were then so hot that both Parties pressed a decision and by consent referred the matter to the Pope who because he did not understand the points in debate would fain have declined it pretending that his Predecessor Clement the eighth after he had appointed Congregations to discuss the Articles waved it and commanded silence to both Parties which pleased neither and that he was an Old Man and had not studied Divinity but both sides still moving for a hearing because each aspersed the other with the guilt of Heresy at last being overcome with importunity he condescended But hear how the Infallible Judg determined the contest at one Congregation he rebuked the Molinists for corrupting (e) 2 Congregation July 8. St. Augustin at another for urging the Authority of the Schoolmen and not producing the Evidences of Scripture Councils (f) 10 Congregation and Fathers In all probability the Jansenists had the better of the day but it proved otherwise the Pope passed his Sentence in favour (g) Ann. 1653 whom before he had branded and paradigmatized with Insincerity of the Molinists All that can be said in excuse of this rash resolution was the most Christian King commanded the dull Canonist to dispatch vvhich so startled him that he durst trifle no longer but the main reason vvas he was at that time so busily bent upon his Papal and Donna's concernments that he was not at leisure to attend the serious discussion of that too hard Controversy for his soft Head For then he and his Propagators were consulting how to manage Campanella's Project in fomenting our intestine broils to reduce this Kingdom into a State This is certain his Nuncio Joh. (h) â—lench mot nuper in Angl. par 2. p. 7. inde Bapt. Renuncino after his arrival in Ireland endeavoured the destruction of all that stood for the King and the English Interest animating the Rebels to the most villainous outrages and because two Noble persons of the Roman Communion would not be perswaded by him to join with the Rebels he Excommunicated them This was not all the Pope by the instigation of the Barbarini's had another design on foot as Abbot Gualdi p. 143. relates even to expel his Catholick King out of his Dominions in Naples upon Ma's Anello's Rebellion to add it to the Triple Crown All is Fish that comes to St. Peter's Successors Net if the Kings be Guelphs their Kingdoms are Gibelins if they be Catholicks their Crowns are Hereticks It is the Popes business to determin emergent Controversies but upon forced put his main work is to rule over Nations to rout out c. Jer. 1.10 as his Parasites have prophaned that Text. But as the Pope and his Propagators failed in his Enterprises so N. N. and his Comrades were deceived in their design For though some were gulled with these Holy Frauds yet in that levity of disposition and easiness of change they did not act according to the common received measures of Prudence which is to stay where we are till we know where to be better For this Church at the worst was much better than that they revolted to this was a Distressed Church that a Depraved this had Scars in the Face that Ulcers in the Heart this Wounded in the Skin that Rotten in the Vitals this in it's Constitution Orthodox and Sound that Heretical and Corrupt For to state the case between the Church of England and that of Rome impartially the Quaere will be Whether for some defects in Rituals be they really such or only pretended it be more prudent to desert a Church free from Schism Heresy and Idolatry at least less subject to a suspition of any of these or to lapse to a Church most deeply Guilty or most justly presumed to be so in all these Carnalities and Corruptions If Prudence must resolve the Quaere the issue and verdict will be It is easier to remain in the Church of England than to Proselyte to Rome for no Prudent man will precipitate himself into more more apparent and more real danger for fear of a less less evident and more remote danger This only remains to be proved that the Church of Rome is Guilty or justly presumed to be so of dangerous Innovations and Corruptions which will be evidenced by these two Conclusions constringently asserted 1. The Church of Rome as it is now ordered and hath been since the times of Julius the second and Leo the tenth at least by the Pope and his Propagators in the Court thereof hath chopped and changed the Apostolical Rule of Faith by Composing a new Creed or which is as bad hath clogged and charged the Catholick Creeds with new-patched Additionals which She hath defined to be Essentials of Faith necessary to be believed by all Christians in order to their Salvation 2. This Church so managed hath depraved and subverted the Catholick and Apostolick Government and Dicipline by setting up her Bishop as the Vniversal Monarch and Pastor of the Church claiming and challenging to him an unlimited Supremacy over he whole Body of Christ and exercising this Power by Excommunicating full three parts of the Catholick Church for not submitting thereto CHAP. V. SECT I. 1. THE first Conclusion is fully evident from the famous Council (a) C. 7. Caran in can Pelt Jesuit in summa illius capitis difference as well as contrariety Conc. Flor. Sess 10. Conc. Tom. 7. p. 641. D. 644. B. at Ephesus for the maintenance wherof the Popes are sworn and therefore cannot without the guilt of Perjury reject its Sentence This Decreed That it should not be lawful for any man to Publish or Compose another Faith or Creed than that which was defined by the Nicene Council and that whosoever shall dare to Compose or offer any such thing to any Persons willingly to be Converted from Judaism or Heresy if they be Bishops and Clerks as the Popes be should be Deposed if Lay-men should be Anathematized When this Authority was urged by the Greeks to the Latines in the Council of Florence they only Answered That this Canon did not forbid another explication agreeable to the truth contained in that Creed but did indeed
forbid all Difference as well as contrariety Now it is clear those twelve new Doctrinals of Faith defined by the Pope Pius the fourth and set at the foot of the Old Creed if they be not contrary to them as most of them really are which might be proved by an Induction yet are they different from them for they are neither implicitly and virtually contained in them nor can by any direct or immediate consequence be deduced from them and therefore have no respect or relation to them nor connexion with them neither are they applied to the Old Creed as Explications thereof but were designed as so many supernumerary Articles of Faith the Catholick Church having only twelve Articles the Roman Church twenty four as some of their own sticklers confess which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved For they are dictated and proposed as so many distinct material objects of Faith to be believed in the same degree of necessity with the other to which they are superadded and therefore in the judgment of this Council and of the Latines themselves in their subterfuge the composition thereof is a dangerous Innovation and corruption in the Rule of Faith and the severe imposition of it is a Schismatical Presumption and a tyrannical Antichristian Usurpation 2. The second Conclusion is firmly deduced from another Canon of the same Council (b) C. 8. Caran in can Pelt Jesuit in summa illius capitis Nicene Council c. 6. which runs thus Let the same course be observed in other Diocesses and in all Provinces every-where that none of the Holy Bishops seiz upon another Province which was not of old and from the beginning under his Power This indeed particularly respected the exemption of the Cypriots from the encroachments of the Patriarch of Antioch yet for-as-much as the Decree passed in general words without any reservation to the Bishop of Rome he is thereby concluded as well as any other to be an ambitious Vsurper if he claim or exercise any Jurisdiction over the Churches which from the beginning were not under his Power Some of N. N's quick-sighted Gentlemen have apprehended the Decree to be so highly prejudicial to their pretensions and affections who therefore have endeavoured by Legerdemain to juggle it out of the Acts of this Council though if this unworthy Artifice had succeeded yet these Shufflers had gained nothing by it for the Nicene Council much earlier than this had confined the Bishop of Rome to his Bounds giving the like Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch within their respective Diocesses which the Bishop of Rome had within his The importance of which Order is That as certain Churches were consigned to the Bishop of Rome so were certain to the Bishops of Alexandria and Antioch and as those of his Diocess were not subject to them so neither those of their Diocesses were subject to him upon this account that it was not lawful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for any one to Invade (c) Nilus de primatu Papae and Soz. l. 7. c. 9. taketh this to be the Sense of the second General Council in Constantinople the words of the Canon confirm Nilus his Interpretation the Parilis mos and the ancient Customs As the Bishop of Rome had Power over all his Bishops so the Bishop of Alexandria was to have over his ex more according to Custom which Custom too was like which makes it appear the Roman Bishop was limited to his Diocess for there is no parity between an Vniversal Monarch and a Patriarchal Bishop and as it is absurd to say Alexandria must have bounds as Rome hath if Rome then had none so it is good Sense to say Let Alexandria be limited to her assignment and partition for Rome is the Sense then is Let the Jurisdiction of the Roman Bishop be a Copy Pattern or Form for the Bishop of Alexandria as Pope Nicholas Epist 8. ad Mich. p. 690 expresseth it The Nicene Canon took from Rome an Example particularly what to give to Alexandria therefore if the Bishop of Rome his Jurisdiction was over all the World it could not be a Form or Reason for the limitation and distriction of Alexandria into Cantons so the African Fathers understood it Ep. Afric Conc. ad Coelest c. 105. anothers Jurisdiction The Bishop of Alexandria was to have under his charge Aegypt Lybia c. the Bishop of Rome had the oversight of the Churches of his Neighbourhood the (d) Ruff. l. 1. c. 6. Hincma p. 6. c. 4. C. R. was one of the seven Accidental Diocesses Berer Diatrib 1. c. 1. 3. and Britain was another id ib. p. 198. Suburbicarian Regions beyond which his Jurisdiction did not extend and which made up his Diocess viz. three Islands Corsica Sicilia and Sardinia and seven Provinces on the Continent Campania Tuscia Vicenum suburbicarium Apulia with Calabria Brutium Samnium and Valeria and further yet the Bishop of Rome had but one of the seven Diocesses as they were anciently called or chief Jurisdictions which were appointed to the Western Church and for those other seven or as some (e) Mr. Brerewod thinks there were but thirteen Diocesses in the whole Empire Enquir p. 170. number them six assigned to the Eastern Church they were never subject to his Jurisdiction Pope Agatho about (f) Confesseth in 6 Synod Act. 4. Conc. Tom. 5. p. 60 F. 64. E. 65. B. So Zonaras Ann. 680. confesseth his Authority did not reach the East but before that time when St. Ignatius lived the Church of Rome was only the Church of the chief City of the Regions (g) Inscription of his Epist ad Roman of the Romans and before him in St. Clements time it was but the Provincial Church of God at Rome as the Church of God was but the Provincial Church (h) Clemens Title of his Epist ad Corinth of God at Corinth to both which that Form of Prayer observed in the Church and exemplified in the Author of the Apostolical (i) Lib. 8. c. 10. Constitutions is very agreeable viz. Let us pray for the Episcopacy of the whole World for our Bishop James of Jerusalem and his Diocess for Clement of Rome and his Diocess for Evodius of Antioch and his Diocess So just was that Censure of a fast Friend to the Cause once (k) Aeneas Sylvius Ep. 288. the most was to preside over the West as Zonar a Pope which he bluntly delivered viz. before the Nicene Council little respect was had to the Roman See But what Respect She had then and like time after was only Arbitrary at the Courtesy of the Church which sometime gave her a large Apartment sometimes Cantoned it For a time the Church allotted the Bishop of Rome the Government of some Western Churches which anciently and from the beginning belonged not to his Diocess as the Macedonian (l) Zonar note on the 6 Sardican Canon Illyrian Peloponesian and
he or any of the rest for as all those of Rome might Appeal to their ovvn Patriarch so they might refuse and those of other Diocesses were prohibited to go to Rome and were bound either to their own Diocesan or else to the Patriarch of Constantinople But suppose the Bishop of Rome had been one of these two Plenipotentiaries the other joyned in Commission with him had a Coordinate Power because they were empowered to act severally and most certain it is that Coordinacy is inconsistent with Supremacy and Equality incompatible with Sovereignty But the Sultan Pontificians gave one of N. N's easy Answers to these Premises which their Wits will make use of viz. They are but wordish Testimonies which are easily despised or disguised Their great Achilles hath told us in plain terms A ready Invention will quickly find an Interpretation to transform them but withal he is so civil as to shevv a ready vvay how to deceive and baffle the Wits vvhich is to produce Matter of Fact and Practice of the Church vvhich is not so easily evaded nor so liable to misconstruction If therefore the Usage concur vvith the standing Lavvs the foregoing Conclusion is rightly deduced and the Romanists concluded guilty of those Crimes articled against them and vvhat the Practice hath been vvill be easily knovvn by the ensuing Instances Fortunatus Felicissimus and others being troubled that St. Cyprian having Intelligence hereof Writ (x) Lib. 1. Ep. 3. Ed. Pam. 55. to Cornelius and reproved him for assuming a Power to himself to judg of a Sentence passed in Africa telling him it was a Law amongst them and it is fit and just the Cause be there heard where the crime was committed which in plain English is The Fact was done in Africa under his Jurisdiction and what had an European to do to meddle with it for it follows in that Epistle A certain portion of the Lords Flock is assigned to each Pastor c. and the Authority of the African Bishops is no whit inferiour to that of the Bishops of Rome Nisi paucis perditis desperatis unless some few desperate lewd Companions think so The same St. Cyprian dealt as sharply with Stephen Bishop of Rome another of his contemporaries whom he charged with Perfidiousness in undertaking (y) Cypr. Ep. ad Pompeian Ed. Pam. 74. the Cause of Hereticks and with Ambition and Tyranny for that he made himself Bishop of Bishops and by Tyranny had driven his fellow-Bishops to a necessity (z) Conc. Carthag inter opera Cypr. of obedience Baron hath confessed that that Clause in the Council of Carthage beginning at Neque enim c. relates (a) Bar. An. 588 n. 24. particularly to Stephen But Firmilianus and (b) Ep. 45. Ed. Pam. the Eastern Bishops handled Stephen more roughly calling him a Schismatick and one that had made himself an Apostate from the Communion of Ecclesiastical Vnion and one who thought he might Excommunicate all thereby indeed Excommunicating himself alone from all St. Aug. (c) Ep. 162. Conc. Milev c. 22. Codex Afric c. 23. in the case of Cecilianus and Donatus a nigris causis severely rebuked Melchiades or Meltiades Bishop of Rome for that he with his Transmarine Colleague took upon them to discuss and reverse that Judgment which had been determined by a Council of Seventy Bishops in Africa Anastasius with the concurrence of his Bishops of Rome Decreed that the Donatists who had been preferred to Charges and Dignities though they should return to the Unity of the Church should not be continued but the African Fathers in Council made a Counter-Decree that the conforming and repenting Donatists should be received and retain their Places and Dignities with a non obstante Notwithstanding what had been decreed in the (d) About Ann. 401. Justel in Cod. Conc. Eccl. Afric c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bals c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aug. Ep. 50. Transmarine Roman Synod Julius Bishop of Rome pressed the restitution of Athanasius whereupon the Eastern Bishops met in Council and signified to him that it was a Pragmatical presumption in him to (e) Soz. l. 3. c. 7. to be ordered by him Socr. l. 2. c. 11. interpose in their affairs he ought not to contradict them neither would they endure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be ordered by him this was not the resolution only of the Eusebian and Semi-Arrian Bishops who yet were Conformists to the Orders of the Church but (f) Soz. l. 3. c. 12. Epiph. haer 68. Athan. or 1. contr Arr. of the Catholicks also acting in the Council who though they favoured Athanasius and his Cause yet thought fit to check the Bishop of Rome's insolency Juvenalis Bishop of Jerusalem moved the Council of Chalcedon that his Bishoprick might be promoted into a Patriarchate which motion the Fathers assembled did entertain and referred the ordering of the matter to himself and Maximus the Patriarch of Antioch who agreed that the Patriarch of Antioch should hold the two Phenicia's and Arabia and the Bishop of Jerusalem the three Palestines which Accord they represented to the Council desiring them to confirm it which they willingly (g) Conc. Chalc. act 7. p. 105. Evagr. l. 2. c. 18. Niceph. l. 5. c. 30. with the consent of the Popes Legats condescended to and over and above procured the Judges to add the Royal assent for its full settlement Baronius relates the Pope resisted what was done thus in Council and hindered the Execution thereof for a good while which was till the fifth Synod assembled where (h) Baron Ann. 553. n. 245 246. the Pope gave his Placet and then and not till then was the Accord put in execution but this is one of the great Annalists mistakes for fifteen years before that fifth Synod under Mennas assembled Peter Patriarch of Jerusalem did summon all the Bishops of the three Palestines two whereof were the Metropolitans of Caesarea and Scythopolis to convene in Council who accordingly without demur (i) Conc. Tom. 2. p. 472. obeyed his summons The Church and Bishops of Rome for a long time disallowed and rejected the second General Council yet the Catholick Church always owned it and as occasion offered acted by it That which moved the then Romanists to this dissatisfaction and aversness was that that Council had settled the See of Constantinople into a Patriarchate which Honour they repined at giving to the Bishop thereof precedency to the Patriarchs (k) Conc. 2.3 of Alexandria and Antioch and granting to him Power and Authority over the Churches in Asia minor (l) In all 28 Roman Provinces Brerewood's Enquiries p. 125. Thrace and Pontus and therefore soon after this Council determined the (m) Resisted it Baron An. 553. Bishop of Rome endeavoured to invalidate this Settlement for Statim post c. as soon as it was concluded Damasus then Bishop of Rome indicted a Roman Synod in which a Counter-Decree was enacted
which as (n) Alias Turcelline l. de 6 7 8 Synodis p. 65. Turrian relates is extant in the Vatican and it is very probable for Pope Leo seventy years after (o) Conc. Chalc. Act. 16. p. 136 137. Leo Ep. 53 54. Car. p. 201. by his Legates in the Council of Chalcedon opposed it though to no purpose for his resistance was not valued either by the Council or the Judges who indeed contemned it These two Popes then did withstand it but Caran adds That the Church of Rome would not by any means receive it though welfare a little touch of Ingenuity for the peace of the Church which it seems highly esteemed it it was not contradicted which in effect imports thus much The Popes and Church of Rome were so cunning as to dissemble their spight against this Council and that Act especially but durst not shew their teeth for fear of the Emperour For the proof of this relation he refers to Innocent the third and St. Gregory the great whom he cites truly for though in one Epistle he professeth to (p) Lib. 2. Ep. 24. embrace that Council as one of the four Evangelists and testifieth that the Church of (q) Ibid. Ep. 10. Rome then owned it yet in another Epistle he (r) Lib. 6. Ep. 31. confesseth that until his time or age wherein he lived that Council and the Acts and Canons thereof were not entertained by the Roman Church so that for the space of two hundred years and upwards for that Council convened Ann. 381. and Gregory flourished Ann. 600. it was opposed and rejected as far as in safe Policy it could be done by the Church of Rome but notwithstanding this opposition the Catholick Church still reputed it a lawful General Council and all the Acts and Canons thereof to be obligatory and occasionally practised according to them which is next to be demonstrated For by warranty of that Canon in this Council which so perplexed the Roman Church Anatolius Patriarch of Constantinople in the right of his Sec did take place before and above the Patriarchs of Alexandria (s) In the Council of Chalc. Act. 1. Conc. Chalc. p. 8. Synod Ann. 553. Coll. 1. and Antioch and so did Eutychius in the fifth Synod Ann. 553. And when it was reported to the Fathers of Chalcedon that Flavianus Patriarch of Constantinople in the reprobated Council of Ephesus neglected himself sitting below the Patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem they were much offended saying in great zeal Why did not Flavianus sit in his proper place that was next to the Bishop of Rome or his Legates By authority of this Canon which so troubled the Popes Patience St. Chrysostom when he was Bishop of Constantinople (v) Conc. Chalc. Act. 11. in fine Soz. l. 8. c. 6. saith 14. in Ann. 400. Pallad in vit Chrys deposed fifteen Bishops in Asia the lesser and ordained and settled others in their Sees and Dignities and in Ann. 400 the same St. Chrysostom celebrated a Council at Ephesus to which he called all the Asian Bishops who readily attended him After this Justinian the Emperour commanded all the Canons of this Council which the Popes would if they durst have publickly rejected Dipticis inseri praedicari to be Recorded in the Eclesiastical Books Rolls or Registeries and publickly to be read in all Churches in token of their (w) Novel c. 1 2. Vniversal Approbation But albeit both Law and Usage the best Interpreter of Law concur for the proof of this Conclusion yet the cry still goes O the Mother O the Mother Church of Rome which is hotly pursued by the Bigots set on by the Boutefeu's of the Tribe This hath made a great clutter and bustle in the world which yet hath nothing in it but folly and disingenuity and impudence for can any man in his right Wits who is not tainted either in his Intellectuals or Morals ever hearken to such a Perswasion so contrary to all Records Divine and Human The Scriptures make Jerusalem the Mother-Church Gal. 4.16 But Jerusalem which is above or the New Jerusalem as it is stiled Revel 21.2 and the Holy Jerusalem ver 10 whose wall had twelve Foundations and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb which is Mother of us all Christians Believers of the Gospel where the Church of Christ was first planted by the Apostles and St. Peter Preached his first Sermon and begot many to the Faith and from whence they all departed after to execute their Apostolical Commission For this Jerusalem is not that which shall be but that in which the House of God shall be built with a Glorious building and all Nations shall turn and fear the Lord God truly and bury their Idols so shall all Nations praise the Lord and as old Tobit instructed his Son Tobit 14 5 6 7 as it is here allegorically expressed for that City was a Type of the Christian Church Psal 48.2 and 122.3 Isa 31.5 In the Old Testament it was foretold to be the Mother-Church of Christianity Out of Sion shall go forth the Law of Faith as it is universally Interpreted and the Word of the Lord the Gospel from Jerusalem Isa 2.3 Mic. 4.2 And in the New Testament the Prophecy is accomplished and verified where it is plainly declared that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be Preached in Christs Name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem c. Luke 24.47 48 49. Act. 1.8 and fully compleated Act. 2. per tot So for Human evidences the first General Council at Constantinople is clear which expresly owneth Jerusalem for the Mother of all Churches to which Tert. (x) Cap. 20. which Pam. thus Gloseth this is the first from which the Church all the World over is disseminated so Hier. Interprets that of Isa 2. and this is the Mother Church from whence the Faith came to us as the same Tert. lib. 4. adver Marc. Rome is but one of the Sister Churches which yet are Mothers in their Precincts Id. ib. de praec c. 36. may be added in his Book de Prescr The Church was first founded at Jerusalem as the Seminary of the Churches all the World over and ex abundanti even in St. Bernard's time when the Church of Rome had exceeded her limits yet had she not the reputation of Vniversal Mother nor the Honour of Lady Mother at least in his judgment for thus he writ to (y) Lib. 4. de Consid Tom. 2. p. 141. tit L. Edit Venet. Pope Eugenius Above all things consider that the Holy Roman Church over which thou art placed by God is a Mother of Churches some not all and so every Apostolical Church is as well as Rome not a Lady or Mistriss of any and thou thy self not a Lord of Bishops but one of them It is true St. Cyprian saith Rome is the or rather a principal Church from whence the unity of Priesthood first began but this signifies nothing
time by (e) Marsil Petav. def part 2. c. 18. the Nicene Council But because N. N. stands so much upon his points of Prudence it may be neither an imprudent nor impertient digression to compare the Romish Principles and Practices with the Protestant and by discussing one of them more largely to judg of the rest more clearly It is universally acknowledged that the Doctrine of all Apostolical Churches disseminated over the whole Christian World is Infallibly certain because attested by Vniversal Tradition which in it self is so but it is generally confessed that the Tradition of an Apostolical Church of one denomination may prudently be traversed because often found certainly False Now Protestants rely upon Vniversal Tradition truly such for Time Place and Persons and the Authority of all Apostolical Churches Papists content themselves and sit down in security with the Tradition and Authority of the Roman Church and which is worse of the present Romish Church of this age Protestants prescribe for Sixteen hundred years there is no Law nor Custom to destroy or over-rule a Prescription of so long standing Papists plead as N. N. doth the acknowledgment of the sixteenth Century over-leaping all the rest and that but in our parts of the World Protestants believe the Scripture to be the adequate Rule of Faith as to the essentials thereof Papists hold unwritten Traditions are to be received with the same reverence and respect Protestants esteem those Books to be Canonical Scripture which the Catholick Church hath so adjudged Papists singularly superadd others to the Canon Protestants believe the Truths they profess to be Divine Revelation because God by his Son Jesus Christ hath delivered and promulgated them to Mankind Papists believe their supernumerary Articles which they assume to themselves because defined by an Infallible Pope with the advice and consent of a presumed General Council Protestants assert the Pope is not Infallible for Pope Honorius was a Convicted Heretick as before hath been proved The Catholick Church hath always resolved against his Infallibility and the Doctors of that Church cannot agree about it and some of them oppose it neither was that Council General say the Protestants because no Southern nor Eastern Bishops was there nor any Northern but one titular only Olaus magnus the Goth who for that time passed as an Arch-Bishop of Sweethland no English Bishops nor Irish save another blind Sir Robert the Scot who for that time being was reputed the Primate of Ireland only two French Bishops six Spanish the rest were Italians who when they came to be arrayed were mustered but to Forty three in all This was a Plot of the Pope to keep what his Predecessor Leo the tenth had got by the Lateran Assemblers and after him others still maintained but he was for all this contrivance possessed with fears and jealousies the Council would be tampering with his Jurisdiction as other Councils had done and therefore was very careful to have fresh supplies in readiness for a reserve and according as the Pope suspected it hapned for the Council began to form Canons for the redress and reformation of several abuses and to abridg the Popes unlimited Power in granting Dispensations of which design he received early intelligence from his Legates and thereupon moved the Council to desist from any further progress therein for six weeks which being accepted and condescended to he dispatched his new recruits of Auxiliaries forty Italian and Sicilian Bishops who within the time limited ariving at Trent over-voted the reformers in the Council and quite quashed their attempts which made the Apulean Bishops cry out in open Council O we are the Popes Creatures we are the Popes (f) Carol. Malin l. de ton Frid. n. 21. Slaves Protestants rely only upon the Mercy of God and Merits of Christ for their Salvation This Bellarm. saith is the safest way and therefore it is the most Prudential Papists will join in their own Merits of Works done by Grace which Bellarm. confesseth is a more uncertain way and therefore less Prudential Protestants ascribe all Religious Worship to God and to God only Papists give it to Images and the Consecrated Host Protestants know it is an indispensable duty to Pray to God for all things necessary both for Soul and Body and direct their Prayers only to God the Father through and for the Merits and Mediation of Jesus Christ alone Papists Pray to God by Jesus Christ for which Duty Zanchee entertains a charitable opinion of them but withall they invocate Angels and Saints departed as Conductors secondary and subordinate Mediators for which Practice Protestants aver there is no warranty in Scripture no Authority from Primitive Antiquity nor any rule in Reason to approve it either a necessary lawful or an expedient Duty But because some eminent Protestants have declared that Papists have more to say for this particular than in any of their other eleven additional new forged Articles if this Principle and Practice of theirs be cogently proved unscriptural unpractical and irrational the same may be concluded of the rest CHAP. VI. SECT I. IT is Vnscriptural The Scripture teacheth us and commands us to ask the Father in the name of his Son Jesus Christ it prescribeth no rule to ask in any other name but declareth against it For it proposeth Christ to us as our only Mediator and Intercessor there is one God to whom we are to make our requests known by Prayer and Supplication and there is one Mediator between God and Man 1 Tim. 2.5 the God-man Jesus Christ by whom we have boldness of access to the Throne of Grace The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is emphatical importing thus much as there is one God only and no more even so there is one Mediator betwixt God and Man in reference to our Prayers Supplications Intercessions and Thanksgivings ver 2. one God and no other besides him even so one Mediator and none but he who is our Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 1 Joh. 2.1 who as he performed all Righteousness for us so the virtue and value thereof qualifies and capacitates him for the Office of being Advocate for us viz. to recommend open and plead our Cause for us and procure our Prayers to be granted none can effectually Mediate for us but he who did Redeem us he only can be our Advocate who is the Propitiation for our Sins which was Jesus only who for the more effectual execution of his Office of Advocate after he had offered himself a Propitiatory Sacrifice for our Sins was advanced to sit on the right hand of God the Father Rom. 8.34 where it may be observed that it is the same Person that died for us and therefore as Jesus alone died for our Sins and rose again for our Justisication so for the application of these Benefits and Priviledges to us he only sits at God's Right-hand and makes Intercession for us this Office being as proper and
nature and kind so they shall have distinct natural qualities and operations for then the Angels shall remain as they are more Spiritual substances the Saints departed shall have Bodies though these also in some respect Spiritualized and incorruptible but some only and these specified and intimated in the Context in that Spiritualized state they shall not need Matrimony for the propagation of their kind nor Food for the preservation of their numerical persons as Alphonsus (k) Alphonsus à Castro l. 3. c. haer Jansen Harm Evaug c. 117. a Castro and Jansen understand the words and so they shall be as the Angels or equal to them in being the Children of God for that they are Children of the Resurection which in effect amounts to this they as the Angels shall be free from all the necessities of a temporal human life and from all material and corporeal affections and which is more shall be equal to the Angels in the participation of eternal bliss and the immovable possession of that Inheritance which is incorruptible undefiled and fadeth not away and reserved for them Again they produce Rev. 5.8 four and twenty Elders fell c. but Viega Lyra and Haimo will tell them these four and twenty Elders are not the members of the Church Triumphant Saints reigning in Heaven but of the Church Militant and principally the Pastors (l) Viega in Apoc. c. 4. Lyr. in 8. pl 1. and Bishops thereof And lastly they cite Rev. 8.4 but several of their learned Expositors will satisfie them that that Angel is Christ Albert. Viega Hug. Card. (m) Haimo in loc Aug. Hom. 4. in Apocal. Neither were these Supplications for Pardon and Grace but for Thanksgivings for the redemption of the World as appears by ver 9 and 13. August Hom. 6. in Apocal. Haimo the Glosses and Diouys Carthus saith the Catholick Doctors understand it so SECT II. IT is unpractical Indeed the Tridentine Assemblers affirm it is a good and profitable Practice to Invocate Angels and Saints departed and their great reason of this their affirmation is that it is a Custom received from the Apostles and perpetually hath been retained in the Church of God and agreeable hereunto it is so resolved in the Roman Catechism Par. 2. c. 2. Sect. 5. p. 297. and yet it is most evident that St. Paul when he instructed the Christians of his time in the Duty of Prayer not only for the Substance thereof but descending to a consideration of its convenient circumstances never hinted the expediency of this so supposed profitable Practice which certainly he would not have omitted if he had entertained such a conceit of the profitableness of this Duty as the Romanists do For he professeth that he kept nothing back that was profitable to the Asians during the time of his residence with them but that publickly and privately which is all one with in season and out of season he taught them Repentance towards God and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ now because it is impossible to make it appear by any one instance that either he taught this Doctrine of Invocating the Blessed Spirits or prescribed the Practice or ever exemplified it to them by his own usage it necessarily follows he never deemed either the Doctrine or Practice to be any profitable Duty or any part of Repentance towards God or of Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ But as it was no Apostolical practice so neither could it be the constant Custom of the Church in the Primitive succeeding Centuries For the Doctrine and the present Practice of the Church of Rome being grounded on this supposition that the Saints departed do now Reign in Heaven and enjoy the Beatifical Vision whereby they are capacitated to have cognizance of the Devotions of their humble Petitioners those Primitive Doctors who did peremptorily deny the supposition cannot be supposed to assert the Doctrine and Practice founded thereupon because he that denies the supposition must consequently deny the Doctrine and Practice established upon it unless he be presumed to be so inconsiderate and interested as to believe and act contrary to his received Principles and it is hardly to be believed that those ingenious Romanists who profess great reverence to antiquity will think so hardly of the ancient Fathers Now Learned Romanists do confess that Eighteen Catholick Doctors and Fathers of the best note both of the Western and Eastern Church have constantly affirmed the Saints departed do not enjoy the Beatifical Vision but after death are kept in certain hidden receptacles in Rest and Peace till the General Resurrection and they were great names who are confessed to be of this opinion viz. Clem. Rom. Just Mart. Orig. Tert. Ambr. Lact. Hil. Chrysost Prud. Theod. Theod. Theoph. Euih Oecum Ar. Caesar and Bernard Neither could those eminent Fathers who from the Catholick Practice of Invocating God by his Son Jesus Christ and praying in the Holy Ghost be supposed to Invocate the Blessed Saints because they concluded from this Practice the Divinity of the Son and the Holy Ghost disputing against the Arrians and Macedonians viz. Catholicks did Pray unto them the force of which argument depended upon a received rule among them that God alone was to be Invocated neither could those Ancients have justly condemned the Arrians of Idolatry for Invocating Christ whom they conceived to be a Creature but that they had resolved that no Creature was capable of the Divine honour of Invocation But both Bellarm. and (n) Vide Infra Petavius confesseth we must not say their Argument was weak and inconclusive and it was so if a distinction would have invalidated it for then the Arrians would by such evasion have worsted the Catholicks because they could have retorted upon them with great advantage For if the Catholicks had practiced this invocation of the Blessed Spirits the Arrians would have galled them with this return You Catholicks or who would be reputed so charge us with the guilt of Idolatry in that we Pray to Christ whom we judg a Creature whereas you give the same honour to Blessed Spirits the Angels and Saints departed and therefore take the guilt home to yourselves and object not that to us wherein you your selves are more criminal if the Catholicks had replied in excuse of this their Fact as the Romanists now do We indeed Invocate those Creatures with indirect subaltern and relative Prayer but direct soveraign and final we render to God only and when we Pray to him we have more high and hohourable Conceptions of his Divine Majesty than we have to those Creatures when we Pray to them The Arrians would have smartly rejoyned even so do we Invocate Christ and in our inward thoughts we honour him above all other Creatures and we have better reason to Invocate Christ than you have to Invocate Angels or Saints departed because confessedly Christ is superiour to them and deserveth greater Honour than they can expect or is due to them
if Doulia or Hyperdoulia belong to them or any of them much more is due to Christ who if he be not God equal with the Father yet is far above all Angels Principalities and Powers and every name which is named in Heaven and Earth besides we have clear Text that we should Honour the Son even as we do Honour the Father and not the least intimation in Scripture we should so Honour the Angels but on the contrary that all Angels should Worship him in that he by Inheritance hath obtained a more excellent name than they It is altogether unnecessary to multiply Quotations from the Ancients or to cite those numerous places which are to be found in the Writings of the Fathers of the Catholick Church to prove what the Doctrine and Practice of the Catholick Primitive Church hath been in this instance it is sufficient for the satisfaction of any considerate disinterested person to let him know that the Testimonies which the Protestants have produced from them are so forcible that the great Cardinal (o) Never any Author before him had invenred those Authors Ep. ad Bell. See Bellarmin's life l. 2. c. 7. R. 3. Perron hath confessed he was forced to strain his Invention and great Parts to frame Answers to them and when he had racked them to the height all that he could Apologetically feign in excuse of the present Practice of the Romish Church was to accuse and impeach the Fathers of deep dissimulation and Imposture For first (p) Upon the Head of Invocation of Saints p. 1044 1045. he saith The Fathers in their Writings against the Gentiles said those things not which they did believe but dissembling and disguising their Practice said those things which served their cause to refute the Gentiles Objections This Scandalous Imputation is enough to crack their Credits for ever in the judgment of honest minds for who will ever believe them who for a colour to their cause are so wicked as to speak Lies in hypocrisy or ever esteem them as the chiefest Apologists and choicest Advocates of Christianity who were egregious Prevaricators and mean contemprible Proctors in their own and the Churches concern Or who will ever rely upon their Testimony who were so weak and sottish as to attempt the dissembling of that which could not be concealed and the disguising of that which could not be denied or evaded For the Gentiles as they were Artists enough to find out any Sophistical shufflings in their discourses and disputes against them so they were malicious and active Adversaries having their Spies and Trapanners abroad to give them intelligence of the Christians Practice both in their Civil and Religious Conversation and if these failed there were too many lapsed Christians who would inform them to the full and too many false Brethren who industriously pretended to Christianity that thereby when occasion served they might accuse them to the Higher Powers such as those of the Circumcision were in the Apostles time who were unawares brought in and came in privily as Spies Gal. 2. and after Ages have been all out as bad if not worse after Nero's Reign In the second place the Cardinal tells us The Fathers in their Writings against the Heathens declined to speak of the Churches Prayers lest the Gentiles might think there were some appearance of conformity though but false and fallacious betwixt the Churches Practice herein and that of the Heathen and thereby take an occasion though upon no just ground to retort upon their Practice This insimulation is somewhat more modest or less irreverent than the former but as false and fallacious For SECT III. 1 THE Fathers in their Writings to the Heathens did not decline but declare what the Churches Prayers were both for matter and form witness Just (q) Apol. 2. Clem. Alex. l. 7. Strom. p. 717. Tert. Apol. c. 30. p. 27. de Oâ—at Domini c. 1 12. Mart. Clem. Alex. and Tert. and it appears from Flinies Epistle to the Emperour Trajane The Heathens were well accquainted with the Christians Practices in their Assemblies in this therefore the Cardinal dissembleth and in the next Period of his Sentence he disguiseth and glosseth the matter For 2 The Churches Prayers then were not the same with those now in use in the Romish Church as he fallaciously suggesteth but perfectly Protestant as the Prayers of the Holy Martyr Policarp recited in Eusebius lib. 4. c. 15. to which may be added that when the People of Smyrna desired to have the Body of their Martyred Bishop for its Burial the Jews perswaded the Governour not to grant their Request upon this unworthy pretence the Christians would Worship it to which false suggestion the Christians replied We can never be induced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Worship any other with Religious Adoration but Christ him we adore others we worthily love and respect This Protestation was thus rendered in the (r) Ex passionario M. S. 7 Cal. Febr. in Bibl. Eccl. Sarisb Dom. Rober. Cottoni Latine Edition Nunquam Christum c. We Christians can never forsake Christ who did vouchsafe to suffer so great things for our Sins nor impart precem Orationis the Devotion Religion or Supplication of Prayer to any other and accordingly as it was thus Translated it was publickly read in all the Churches of the West 3. If they did forbear to speak of the Churches Prayers lest the Gentiles should retort it upon them then because the Gentiles had good intelligence of their Practice as hath been proved but never did retort it upon them it may safely be concluded their Practice was not the same with that of the present Romish Church and that Reason assigned by some Pontificians why in the Apostles time they and their Disciples abstained from this Practice cannot hold unless we take in the Three hundred years succeeding for so long time did the Christians and Heathens live promiscuously as Fellow Subjects to the same Higher Powers and the Heathens knew what the Christians practised during which space of time if that had been the Churches Practice which is surmised by the Romanists the Heathen would have looked upon it with jealousy as a politick trick cunningly contrived by the Christians to set up a new modelled Court of Requests and take just occasion thereby to retort upon their Practice which because they did not therefore so long time there was no such practice in the Church But if their and the Cardinal's reason be good it will render the Romanists very imprudent or uncharitable or both in that when they endeavour the Conversion of the Heathen to their Church they do not conceal and forbear this so suspicious and offensive Practice to them 4. The Cardinal dissembleth in that he pretends there is but some appearance of Conformity betwixt the Practice of the Romish Church and their Heathen Ancestors For if we may believe the reports and complaints of some learned Romanists the Practice of the common
tied us to this nice scrupulous disquisition or commanded us to be Annalists and Historians though Christ hath promised there shall be a perpetual visible Church which yet in your sense of visibility you will never be able to prove yet did he never assure us there should be Histories and Records of Professors in all Ages neither did he ever command us to search and read them he hath commanded both you and us to search and read the Scriptures that we may be able to bring them in evidence You might if your leisure or somewhat else had permitted have remembred what hath been returned to this demand long before you proposed it It is your usual rant it is unanswerable you may know the contrary if not I shall inform you after I have premised some Considerations to clear the procedure 1. What do you mean by Protestant if you intend to hook in all who challenge that Appellative the return is short all that call themselves Catholicks and Saints are not such 2. What by Faith if every Doctrine which hath been maintained by some Protestants as a probable Opinion or as a pious profitable Truth then you trifle and sophisticate but if by Faith you understand the object of Faith or things necessary to be believed by all that they may be saved as it is usually taken in Scriptures Fathers and Councels then the Protestants assert their Faith is the Faith of all good Christians who lived before them who all professed to believe as they believe which they thus evidence 3. Protestants earnestly contend for the Faith which was once or at once delivered to the Saints Jude 3. Which you by the addition of your new super-numerary Essentials had corrupted and changed as Anthony of Valtelina a Dominican Friar affirmed in the Council of Trent and was seconded by the Bishops of five Churches therein Hist of Council of Trent ad An. 1562. Fol. 548 549. Their Reformation was not to compose a new but to retrieve the old Faith which you had so confounded and changed not to form a new Church but to free the old Church from your new Essentials The corruptible and incorruptible body are one in substance differing only in perfections and purities their Faith is the same in substance with the Faith of the whole Christian World differing from some part thereof in quality and goodness The end of the Reformation was to separate the pretious from the vile the chaff from the wheat to refine the Gold mixed with dross to dress the Garden overgrown with weeds to cure the body which was diseased to regain and recover that Faith which the Christian World had reputed and received for true and saving Faith even the same that hath the attestation of the universal Church in all Ages which is dispersed in the Scriptures but contracted and summed up in the Apostles Creed which was designed by them witness your own authorized Catechism to preserve Believers in the unity of Faith to be a badg and cognizance to distinguish Believers from Vnbelievers and Misbelievers This and nothing but this hath been professed always every-where by all persons ubique semper ab omnibus in Vinc. Lyr. Golden Rule of Catholicism This is evinced by Practice the Profession of this Faith and of this only was and is required of every person either by himself or Sureties before he be admitted into the Church by holy Baptism That Question and Answer doest thou believe I do believe had alwaies respect to this and no other into this and this alone both you and we are Baptized by this and this alone you and we are made Christians by this with the advantage of an holy Life according to the Precepts of Christ the Christians of all Ages have gone to Heaven for 1400 years without the knowledg or belief of your 12 new coined Articles For this they have the sentence and determination of the Ephesine Council which your Popes have been solemnly sworn to observe the judgment of the Ancient Fathers the concurrent suffrage of many of your Learned Divines and Schoolmen and which will weigh most with you the Remonstrance of your Trusty and Well-beloved Tridentine Assemblers who once in their good mood thought fit thus to express themselves The Apostles Creed is the shield of Faith by c. the firm and only Foundation against which the Gates of Hell shall never prevail This Protestants profess with the whole Christian World in its several Successions and Centuries this they believe too as it is sensed by the four first General Councels and the traditious interpretation of the universal Church And for us of the Church of England as we admit no new Creed so we reject all new senses of the Old which thus sensed they own for the true Catholick Apostolick Faith Indeed other Articles we have but they are Articles of Peace not of Faith not all of them to be respected as Essentials of saving Faith but as pious Truths which none of the Pastors of the Church are to contradict or oppose 4. To retort your Question the Protestants offer these Proposals to you to nominate successive Professors since the Apostles of the whole Faith of the present Roman Church or a succession of Professors who since the Apostles have received these 12 new distinct Articles which Pius the 4th added at the foot of the 12 old ones as Essentials of Faith absolutely necessary to be believed by all necessitate medii without which they could not be saved We are sure they were never reputed for such for 1400 years Prove those your late forged Articles at Trent to have any relation to or analogy with those of the Apostles that they are evidently concluded from them or virtually contained in them as conclusions in their premises Lastly that the Apostles did deliver or teach by Word or Writing your new-found Faith or passage to Heaven Till these be satisfactorily performed by you we desire you to be wise unto sobriety and to consider whence you are fallen Answer to the second Question 1. WHat mean you by Mission if Ordination to the respective Functions of Bishops and Priests c. then such a Mission our Bishops and Priests have if you have any 2. What by Lawful what you fancy or the Pope resolves to be so you know we neither value your conceits nor the Pope's by-Laws the English have received and rejected them at their pleasure take and leave as they like with us those things pass for lawful which are so by the Law of Christ which gives them validity or by the Laws and Constitutions of the Church which makes them Canonical or by the Laws of the Kingdom whereby they become Legal accordingly as we averr 1. The English Clergy hath a lawful that is a valid Ordination by the Institution of Christ for the English Church in conferring Holy Orders observeth all the Essentials of Ordination by Authority of Holy Scripture Matter and Form as some of your own fast Friends