any persons be produc'd who told the Reformed Churches any such tales Mr. Durell must be content to be thought a spreader of false informations if he can produce any such by my consent let him have the whetstone and keep it untill he can find Mr. Durell telling something that will make him deserve to have it returned But he shall not need to keep it very long For Seventhly Pag. 86. he tells us That the Bishops in England are to rule by the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical and by the Laws of the Land and no otherwise calling alwaies to joyn with them in imposition of hands and other matters of weighty concernment some of the Prebends of their Cathedralls or other graâ—â— Ministers of the Diocess Where was shame when this was pen'd do the Canons require any Bishop to call any one Minister to join with him in imposition of hands upon a Deacon or in the Confirmation of persons before they are admitted to the Lords Supper or doth the Bishop offend against any Law or Canon if he call none of his Ministers to joyn with him when a Presbyter is Excommunicated or is it so much as necessary that the Bishop himself should be present when Excommunication is decreed Is any thing more usual then for Lay-Chancellors to decree Excommunication calling only some Minister for fashion sake to pronounce the sentence I would Mr. Durell would shew us any Reformed Church that hath any such custom and I wish also he would tell us what those Canons and Constitutions are according to which our Bishops are to rule us For some tell us that they are to proceed not only according to the Canons of 1603. but also according to sundry other Canons that ordinary people know not nor ever had an opportunity to read of provided they be not repugnant to the Laws and Statutes of the Nation Mr. Durell 't is like hath all the 77. Legatine Canons as also the 212 Provincial Canons at his fingers ends If he can find any Canon among them all commanding our Bishops to call in some of the Presbyters to joyn with them in imposition of hands and all other weighty matters let him discharge it in their faces yet taking heed left it recoyle and do himself some mischief For Bishops do not love to have their power limited or the Canons relating to it expounded by any but themselves I hope no Canons are in force but those of 1603. and by them I am sure the Bishop is not required to call in Presbyters to joyn with him in every imposition of hands In the 31 Canon indeed he is appointed to celebrate Ordinations on the four Sundays after the Ember weeks and in the Cathedral or Parish Church where the Bishop resideth and in the time of Divine Service in the presence not only of the Archdeacon but of the Dean and two Prebendaries at the least or if they be let or hindred in the presence of four Grave persons Masters of Art and allowed Preachers The 35 Canon also saith That the Bishop shall diligently examine him that is to be admitted to Holy Orders in the presence of those that shall assist him at the imposition of hands or else cause the said Ministers carefully to examine every such person All this doth not amount to the calling in of Presbyters to joyn with him in the imposition of hands The Book of ordering Priests and Deacons doth indeed require that the Priests that are present with the Bishop shall together with him lay on their hands when a Priest is ordained but how if no Priest should lay on his hand the Ordination is valid however as is again and again determined by Bishop Taylor in his Episcopacy asserted Yea he saith pag. 197 198. That it was declared Heresie to communicate the power of giving Orders to Presbyters either alone or in conjunction with Bishops What he saith concerning the Decree of the 4th Council of Carthage pag. 189. I leave to others to examine confessing that I innocently thought that when our Presbyters laid on hands together with the Bishop they as well as he had conferred Orders Dr. Heylin in his History of Episcopacy pag. 162. hath undeceiv'd me for these are his words The conjunction of the Presbyters in the solemnities of this Act was more for the honour of the Priesthood than for the essence of the work Nor did the laying on of the Presbyters hands conferr upon the party that was ordained any power or order but only testified their consent unto the business and approbation of the man I must also confess that I did not apprehend things aright in reference to the Bishop and his Presbyters untill lately I read in the foresaid Bishop Taylor p. 257 258. That to the Bishop is committed the care of the whole Diocess He it is who is appointed by peculiar designation to feed the flock The Presbyters are admitted in partem sollicitudinis but still the Jurisdiction of the whole Diocess is in the Bishop and without the Bishops admission to a part of it per tracit onem subditorum although the Presbyter by his Ordination have a capacity of Preaching and Administring Sacraments yet he cannot exercise this without designation of a particular charge either temporary or fixed and p. 262. after he had muster'd up many Testimonies he tells us They shew that the Presbyters in their several charges whether of temporary mission or fixed residence be but Delegates and Vicars of the Bishop to assist the Bishop in his great charge of the whole Diocess And p. 282 283. he hath these words As I have shewn that the Bishop of every Dss did give Laws to his own Church for particulars so it is evident that the Laws of Provinces and of the Catholick Church were made by Conventions of Bishops without the intervening or concurrence of Presbyters or any else for sentence and decision The instances of these are just so many as there are Councils and more plainly 287. Till the Council of Basil the Church never admitted Presbyters as in their own right to voice in Councils and that Council we know savor'd too much of the Schismatick Nay Mr. Jeans tells me That in the Convocation which was the last before the late wars Bishop Pierce told the Ministers of his Diocess that it was an unquestionable Priviledge due unto his See for him to propound unto them the Clerks that they should choose unto which he expected their Conformity part 2. pag. 131. Now if all this should be true it might be a kind of a Quodlibetical Question whether in our Convocations any do sit and vote beside the Bishops for they that sit not in their own rights but in the right of others and as they are Delegates and Substitutes are scarce said to sit And so the men whom Mr. Durell so much condemns for false accusations will be found rather to have spoken incautelously than falsly As for the other false accusation relating to Archbishop Laud
to be accounted the same thing not to be and not to appear and if they had appeared their appearance might perhaps make those Presbyters who gave orders without them Schismaticks it could not possible make their orders null for as formerly where our Church thought that Baptisme administred by a Midwife was valid and allowed and enjoyned her in Case of necessity to baptize the Midwife had offended if she had baptized where there was no true necessity yet this offence notwithstanding her baptisme would have been reputed valid so here if our Presbyters could confer a valid Ordination when Bishops were not at hand their Ordination must needs be valid though Bishops were at hand therefore all the dust that is raised by Mr. D. to shew some difference between the Presbyters of our own and other Churches could be designed to no other end but to blind his own and his Readers Eyes that so no notice might be taken how he got off this controversie it may be he may come nearer the mark in the point of Episcopacy it self but of that also we shall find that his Arrows fall Heavenly wide For the Non-Conformist has again and again professed in conference and writing that he can and would for peace-sake receive a Bishop that should have as great a superintendence over Presbyters as ever Cyprian had over his but they say that by assenting and consenting to the present Book of Ordination they must acknowledge a Bishop to be by divine Institution of a superiour order to a Presbyter and for this they say they can find no Foundation in Scripture and less then none in any writings of modern reformed Divines If they are mistaken either in setting our Bishops higher then they have set themselves or in making a Bishop when set to such a heighth to be an Officer unknown to Primitive or Modern Churches Mr. Durell had done a very Christian work if he had taken pains in the Spirit of meekness to shew them their mistake but he cannot sure think that he hath endeavoured any such thing He tells us page 4th and the 5th that all the Lutheran Churches have a subordination of Pastours and that those who are in them called Superintendents or Bishops have the power of Ordination as the Bishops of the Church of England have But does he believe what he himself writes does he not know that they all found their Superintendency on a human and not on a divine institution does he not know that some Lutheran Divines of eminent note do with full mouth declaim against us here in England because we so much appropriate the power of Ordination unto Bishops Tobias Major I am sure on this very score calls us Angli Papizantes let all Scholars consult Chemnitius Gerard Brockmand or any other Lutheran that writes common places or if they be too many to consult let them consult Hunnius's demonstration of the Lutheran Ministry in which they shall find him though himself a Superintendent making a Bishop in Ordination to act only as the Churches instrument and averring that if the Church should delegate her power to a Presbyter or to a Layman the Ordination would be as valid as if performed by a Bishop The Non-Conformists have no quarrel against the name either of Superintendent or Bishop nor will it be any satisfaction to them to shew them Ecclesiastical Persons in the Lutheran Churches dignified by the name of Superintendents or Episcopi unless it could also be shewed that they claim that dignity by divine right and are received by the Elders as an Order of men superiour to them the which will never be shewed nay it will easily be proved that meer Presbyters have ordained those who in Germany and Denmark go by the name of Bishops and Super-intendents Nicholas Amsdorft as appears in his Life written by Melchior Adam was created Bishop but by whom was he created by Martin Luther the Pastour of the place where the Ordination was solemnized and two Pastours more Now did these set this Bishop into an order superiour to their own if they did who gave them authority so to do if they did not then his Title notwithstanding he was still of the Order of Presbyters and those that were afterwards ordained by him were ordained but by a Presbyter Likewise in Denmark when Reformation there first began seven Bishops of the Kingdome being cast out there were seven Super-intendents ordained who were to do the work of the expelled Bishops and to be Executors of the whole Ecclesiastical Ordination but by whom were these seven ordained even by John Bugenhagh who was but a Presbyter as may be seen in his Life written by the forementioned Author so that such Episcopacy as is scrupled by the English Non-Conformist has no place in any Lutheran Churches and if not in the Lutheran I am sure not in the reformed Churches Yet Mr. Durell in many places of his Book makes shew as if the Episcopacy quarrelled against here in England had place in some reformed Churches and that those very Churches among whose Ministers there is an equality do not condemn Episcopal Government the French Churches he is certain page 13. are so far from averseness to it that they rather wish they were in a condition to enjoy that sacred order Now what means he by that sacred Order if he do not mean an Order by Divine appointment superiour to the order of Presbytery he doth most egregiously trifle If he do mean such an Order I say that as many French Divines as do desire such an Order are manifestly fallen off from the confession exhibited to Charles 9th 1561. the 30th Article whereof is this We believe that all true Pastours in what place so ever they are set are all endued with the same and equal power among themselves under that one head and chief and sole universal Bishop Jesus Christ And if any Ministers of the Belgick Churches do either desire or could approve of the English Hierarchy they also must fall off from the Belgick Confession which in the Synod of Dort was reviewed and approved for if that Confession had no inimicous aspect upon the Church Government in Britain why did our Divines of England approve only that part of it which related to Doctrine not that which related to Discipline Our Prelates and their Friends in England do very much build their Hierarchy upon Ignatius his Epistles If the French Churches did not dislike the building why do the most Learned of them take so much pains to ruine and pull up the Foundation why have Blondel Salmasius Dally so long employed their Pens to prove the Epistles even in the best Edition to be spurious I know Mr. Durell tells a story concerning Blondel that in his Apology for the opinion of Hierom he had inserted a passage which some Scotch Ministers prevailed with him to blot out in which he declares himself to be no Enemy unto Primitive Episcopacy if that be true he did not sure
think our Episcopacy to be Primitive for Doctor Hammond in his Answer to Blondel complains of him as if he were so far from being touched with any care of our Church or sense of our miseries that he thought meet contrarily more sharply to prick those that were already oppressed and endeavoured to triumph over our Church when it was sick and staggering and ready by reason of inward troubles to give up the Ghost let Mr. Durell now consider whether he will make his Countryman Blondell an Enemy to our Hierarchy or make our Countryman Dr. Hammond a Calumniatour one of the two he must unavoidably do And for the future let him bethink himself how to wipe off that great and black blot which he hath let fall upon some of the best and most obedient of the Sons of the Church of England page 2. viz. that they weakly suffered themselves to be brought into a bad and false opinion of the Transmarine reformed Churches meeâ—ly by the reports given them by the new Presbyterians For certainly it is little to their credit when they had the Confessions and Symbolical Books of the reformed Churches in their Libraries never to consult them but to take up reports concerning their Neighbours from Men whose interest did lead them to make the world believe that they had a many Friends abroad though but few at home Doubtless our Episcopal Divines knew well enough that the Hierarchy they aimed at was not countenanced by Sister-Churches and long before Smectymnuus was heard of or ever such a creature as an Ordinance of Lords and Commons saw the light one among us had said publickly perfecto odio odi Calvinum and Bishop Laud had inured his tongue to say Ecclesia Romana and Turba Genevensis he had also told Bishop Hall that though he did well to put a difference betwixt the Scottish and other Churches yet he had written more favourably even of other Churches than their cause would then bare and the good cause then in hand did work so powerfully even upon the Holy and Learned Bishop Hall himself that he adventured as Mr. Prin tells us to reordain Mr. John Dury though he had been before ordained in some Reformed Church Such an Episcopacy as was claimed by Arch-bishop Cranmer the far greater part at least of present Non-Conformists could admit but such an Episcopacy as Arch-bishop Laud was introducing they cannot yet digest and that is the Episcopacy that the present book of Ordination if assented and consented unto would engage us in and let it not seem strange that the present Non-Conformists startle at it when as Dr. Holland the Kings professour of Divinity in Oxford was so much offended with Dr. Laud for asserting it that he did not stick to affirm he was a Schismatick and went about to make a Division betwixt the English and other Reformed Churches yet though the Non-Conformists do not like such a kind of Hierarchy they will if they consult the peace of their Consciences use no such incivil language against it as some of Mr. Durells Countrymen have done they will not be so uncivil as to call Dr. Hammond Knave which is the English to Salmasius his Nebulo they will not say as Maresius does in his Examen of Dr. Prideaux his four Questions pag. 1. That Dr. Hammond as proceeded to such a degree of fury as professedly to propugne the cause of the Pope Much less will they say that the English Bishops had better consulted their eminence if they had acted more moderately in it and had rather with the rest of Protestants made it to be of humane institution than so stifly to assert the jus divinum of it for as a bow by too much bending of it is broken so they too much stretching their Authority and dignity fell quite from it like the Camel in the Fable who because he affected horns lost his ears pag. 68. least of all will they say as the same Author says pag. 71. which I tremble to English Praesules Angli ex parte collimarunt ad Papismi restitutionem jure postliminii and pag. 111. Vt dicam quod res est haec defensio temporalis Jurisdictionis pro Ecclesiae Ministris portio aliqua est illius fermenti Papistici quo Hierarchiae Anglicanae massa paulatim se infici passa fuit dum magis ambit Typhum Seculi quam humilitatem Crucis meditatur To conclude all when the Learned Gataker was most bitterly railed upon by Lilly for being a Presbyterian he answers in his Apology pag. 24. A duly bounded and well regulated Prelacy joyned with a Presbytery wherein one as President Superintendent Moderator term him what you please whether Annual or Occasional or more constant and continual either in regard of years or parts or both jointly hath some preheminence above the rest yet so as that he do nothing without joint consent of the rest Such a Prelacy I never durst nor yet dare condemn The like he says for divers others if not the greater part of the Assembly pag. 26. And the same dare I adventure to say in reference to the far greater part of the present suffering Ministers nay I may further undertake for them that if any one should publish in print that the difference betwixt a Bishop and Presbyter is by divine institution they would not think themselves any way concerned to have such a one suspended from his Ministry yet if my memory greatly fail me not Mounsieur Peter Moulin in his first Epistle to Bishop Andrews making Apology for some passages in his Tract of the Vocation of Pastors excepted against by K. James useth these or the like words That if he had made the difference betwixt a Bishop and Presbyter to be founded on a divine Law his own Churches would have inflicted Ecclesiastical censures upon him It will concern Mr. Durell highly either to prove that Moulin wronged his own Churches or that they have abated of their zeal against Episcopy for if he prove neither of these he will lose that which is better then all his Ecclesiastical revenues a good name and when his hand is in at this work he may also do well to take Bishop Mountague to task who in his appeal to Caesar by his Majesties special direction and command perused by Dr. White and approved as fit to be Printed says p. 70. That the Discipline of the Church of England in the Synod of Dort and other Dutch Synods is held unlawful If it be held unlawful in the Synod of Dort it may be presumed it was held unlawful by almost all other Reformed Churches for almost all sent thither their Delegates and these Delegates approved the confession of Faith in which onely the Discipline of our Church can be thought to be condemned Now let Mr. Durell bid his zeal awake for certainly Hannibal est ad portas either he or Bishop Mountague will be found false witnesses against the Reformed Churches I will not determine whither must be branded for a
that the Corps should be brought into the Church though now I find one or two Psalms appointed to be read after the Minister and people are come into the Church and by Comparing the old and new Liturgy together I find where in the old was the word Minister in the new there is constantly the word Priest so that whereas a Deacon may preach to us and Baptize our Children he may not bury our dead which seems to be a Mystery worthy Mr. Durells unridling Our Clergy men themselves seem Strangers to this mystery for nothing is more usual among them than to set Deacons to bury their dead nor can I in that old Liturgy which I follow find any notice given that the office for the burial of the dead is not to be used at the burial of such as die unbaptized in the new Liturgy such notice is given the reason whereof I am not so happy at present as to know why should Infants that die unbaptized through no fault of their Parents be denied such a burial as Baptized Infants have Mr. Durell is a knowing man and can satisfie us about these matters and brings us no question many Reformed Churches where the same usage obtains but why did he bring in his Friend Mr. Drelincourt saying pag. 49. That he should account the Custome of the Ministers of the Reformed Churches in France being silent at dead mens burial unsufferable were it not for their present condition That learned worthy Divine knows that the Reformed Churches in Holland are under no such condition as the French Churches and yet their Ministers are perpetually silent at the burials of dead men Is their Custome unsufferable I believe he will not so pronounce and therefore will scarce think himself civilly dealt with to have a Fragment of a private Epistle thus published especially seeing it reflects disgrace upon the Ministers of his own nation who are Pastors in Holland I have been too tedious in examining this impertinence The Communion also he tells us pag. 44. Is constantly celebrated at certain set times in all Reformed Churches And is there any thing in the Directory against the celebrating of it at certain set times Does it not say that it is frequently to be celebrated And take order that notice shall be given before hand of its celebration nor does the Directory any where forbid the Administring of the Communion unto those that are sick in private houses though if it had so done it might have justified it self by the Example of many of the best Reformed Churches Let Mr. Durell when he is at leisure enquire whether one of the Assembly of Divines did not Administer the Sacrament to Captain Hotham when he was just going to be Beheaded or whether he was ever censured for so doing I will enlarge my Catalogue no farther by the instances already produced it appears that Mr. Durell may well be called Mr. Impertinent But I shall now by sundry instances make it evident also that he hath thrust sundry things into his book that are like enough if they fall into the hands of a weak Reader to be prejudicial and pernicious and to alienate him from our Church He tells us page 8. the Hungarian and Transilvanian Churches are as Pure and Reformed as any whatsoever but page 10 11. he spoils all and takes a great deal of pains so to do borrowing a book very rare and scarce and out of it acquainting us That in those Churches Ministers swear obedience Canonical unto Presbyters as well as Bishops and That Ministers are to be governed by certain Laws by an eminent sort of Presbyters called Elders as well as by Bishops Then which what can be more derogatory to the Episcopal Power Place Juriisdiction and Ordination in Presbyters as well as Bishops and what Eminence will there then be left for Bishops what will there be left to a Bishop more than what the Presbyterians have a thousand times over acknowledged themselves ready to yield him It may be he thought he should heal his wound by saying as he does page 8. That these Elders are indeed Bishops and the Bishops Archbishops But I say they are indeed but a more Eminent sort of Presbyters so they are expresly called and they can be no other because they were never by Ordination put into an Office or Order superior to that of Presbyters and observable it is vid. pag. praedict That the Minister acknowledgeth himself in his Oath to receive the function of the sacred Ministry from the there present Ministers of God and most Faithful dispensers of his Mysteries Which are Phrases agreeing unto all that are entrusted with the word of Reconciliation So that this Testimony looks with a very evil eye upon Episcopacy and so does much more the Testimony of the Bohemian Churches related pag. 11 12 13. for in that we have Presbyters Ordaining Bohemian Bishops a thing that sounds dreadful to an Episcopal ear This story will strengthen the Presbyterians and be a second unto that with which they are wont so much to confirme themselves I mean the History of Pelagius Bishop of Rome being ordained by two Bishops and one Presbyter These Histories do at least prove that Presbyters and Bishops were of the same Order and that Presbyters as well as Bishops may lay hands upon Bishops and confer the power of making Ministers Indeed the man makes himself ridiculous who goes about to look for any Bishop properly so called among the Waldenses and he does gratifie the Presbyterians not a little page 38. whilst he tells them That the French Churches sing at the end of the Commandments these four verses which answer to our Lord have mercy upon us and incline c. for this is the very thing that Presbyterians desire that these words might be uttered at the end of the Commandments and not at the end of every particular Commandment pag. 45 46. he takes Mr. Calvins pen and drops a very foul blot upon our Church for the custome of Receiving thrice a year which is known to be our custome for no man is bound to Receive oftner is by him the called vitiosus mos i. e. a vitious custome at least if not a custome full of vice But page 53. he calls us all Fools by Craft for these are his words That every National Church ought to have Vniformity within it self hath alwaies been the judgment of all sober and wise Christians and is at this day the good example of all the Reformed Churches in the world I assume that there ought to be Uniformity in every National Church hath not alwaies been nor yet is the Judgment of the Church of England what Conclusion hence arises every one seeth but the Conclusion is so horrid that I will not form it My Assumption I prove from the Canons of 1640. which are so far from determining that there ought to be an Uniformity that they expresly allow a Difformity desiring in reference to the Rite of doing
BONASVS VAPVLANS OR Some Castigations given to Mr. John Durell for fouling himself and others in his English and Latin Book By a Country Scholar LONDON Printed in the Year 1672. ERRATA Page 3. l. 25. r. reproved p. 12. l. 15. r. bear p. 13. l. 16. r. hasp 16 l. 7. r. whether p. 21. l. 18. r. nor should have p. 26. l. 26. r. Phrases In on s p. 28. l. 21. r. Salmurienses p. 30. l. 17. r. operous p. 39 l. 25. 41. l. 10. r. Nonconformist p. 44. l. 22. r. That l. ult r. there is p. 49. l. antepen r. the more p. 53 l. 11. 〈◊〉 Tithes p. 59. l. ult r. bring us p. 63. l. 25. r. there called p. 64. l 26. r. world p 72. l. 21. r. was l. 25. r. Aquila p 79. l. 1. r. of such l. 9. r. strongly l. 17. r. Episcopacy p. 94. l. 26. r. Consecration though p. 114. l. 7. r. there p. 119. l. 3. r. all p 128. l. 3. r. in p. 136. l. 20. r. Ecclesiae p. 138. l. 20. r. down and p. 145. l. 13. r. will find p. ult l. 10. r. in the behalf of l. 11. r. done you will SIR I â—â—ve of late so wholly addicted my self to practical Theology and taken so huge a pleasure in reading those Authors that never espoused the petty interest of the Times that next to wishing for Mr. Durell's sake his Eristical volume had never been written I wish for my own sake you had never sent it me or at least sent it me under such circumstances that I might have laid it down assoon as it had given me enough of it i. e. as soon as I had read the Title page Certainly if you had left me to pay the Stationer for it if I had not returned it it should only have stood in my Library to encrease the number of my Books nor should I have ever taken it down unless when I take down Bonarscius his Amphitheatrum i. e. when I have a mind to discover unto my self or others unto what a height of bitterness corrupt nature not restrained by Grace will transport men even in controversies relating to Religion which of all others require to be managed with exemplary moderation and meekness but seeing you have thought meet to be so bountiful as to bestow a Book on me which must needs cost you sundry shillings and seeing you have desired of me for a requital of your cost and charges to throw away some time upon it I should be extreamly uncivil and unthankful if I should not bestow a few hours in reading of it or so much of it as may be sufficient to pass a judgement upon the whole the which yet I cannot so well do until I have first given my censure of that English Treatise printed 1662 the answering whereof in a Latin Apology for the Nonconformists has produced these voluminous Vindiciae and of that Treatise my censure in brief is this that a Noncomformist cannot better secure himself against it then by standing at the mark at the which its Author pretends to shoot all his Arrows The controversies betwixt Conformists and Non-Conformists being brought to their true State it will appear that Mr. Durell either never knew them or was afraid to come near them To instance in a few particulars of many Several hundreds of Ministers during the late distractions were ordained by meer Presbyters they only having courage enough to confer orders publickly and solemnly with Fasting Prayer and imposition of hands None of these would the Bishops admit to Ecclesiastical employment unless they would submit to be re-ordained with and by that very form of Ordination which is used for the Translating of Laicks into the state of Clergymen Here two Questions arise first Whether a valid Ordination may be repeated and that the far greater part as well of Conformists as Non-Conformists deny the second therefore and only remaining Question is Whether an Ordination by meer Presbyters be valid if it be not we nullifie the most famous Churches beyond the Seas whom God has so remarkably owned and supported amid all the troubles and persecutions of their Popish Adversaries if it be valid then by the judgement even of the very Conformists no other Ordination can be received Mr. Durell was unwilling to annihilate those Churches in which he was baptized and yet was as unwilling to justifie the English Presbyterians in not submitting to Re-ordination and therefore wisely passed over these Questions in silence but being by the Latin Apologist reprove for omitting so Capital a controversie he grows more hardy and adventures to affirm the Case of the Presbyterians beyond the Sea and those in England is not the same because among them there are no Bishops as among ours there were and so they are defended by necessity which ours cannnot plead How much better had it been to have left this sore naked and exposed to the Eyes of all than to have used a Plaister that can neither Cure nor cover it Is the Case of Transmarine and English Presbyterians so vastly different Why is the same hard measure meeted out to both How comes it to pass that if a man ordained at Rome could obtain leave of himself to assent and consent he were capable of the highest Ecclesiastical dignities but if a man were ordained at Geneva the most unfeigned assent and consent will not qualify him for Ecclesiastical dignities unless he will also receive new Orders Was it so from the beginning either of our first or second Reformations were any of those that either in the persecutions of King Henry the eight or Queen Mary fled beyond the Seas and received orders in reformed Churches looked upon at their return as meer Lay-men our Histories tell us they were not nor would the right Reverend and Learned Bishop Morton so far scandalize the Neighbour Churches as to re-ordain one of their Ministers though strongly importuned so to do by a Letter of the dissembling Archbishop of Spalato Nor could Bishop Báncroft be induced to give way that the Scotch Divines should first be made Priests before they were Bishops although it was alleadged that they had never been made Priests but by Presbyters So as this custom of Presbyterifying de novo those that before had received the gift of Presbytery must needs be an innovation here in England of the which I wish I could give a more fair and plausible account unto Forreigners then for the present I am able For it would greatly dishearten those renowned Ministers abroad who live under a King of a different Religion from them to come over to our Nation for a Sanctuary if they must when come hither break the Seal that God hath set to their Ministry before they be admitted to any cure of Souls 2. I say this pretended difference is no difference at all for what though there were Bishops in England yet did they not appear to magnifie their offices And it hath been wont
the French Rubricks upon Sundays in the morning the following Form is commonly used The meaning whereof he tells us there is That it is to be alway used and no other A gloss that sounds marvellous strange to our English ears which have been accustomed to distinguish betwixt Commonly and Always and will not easily unlearn that distinction and so when we hear out of the Harmony of the Belgick Synods a Minister shall pray either by a certain Form proposed to himself or else the Spirit shall dictate we are wont to imagine that the meaning is not that a Minister shall never pray but by a Form it may be Mr. Durell is of another mind if he be he may do well to communicate to the world the grounds of so singular an opinion and when he shall so do he may do well also to give us his thoughts concerning the practice of the Bohemian Churches where it seems the Ritual Books or Formula's are delivered onely to the Pastors the Reason whereof Comenius in his Annot. pag. 101. saith is That the Auditors might be more attent and more profoundly admire the grace of God for says he if onely prescribed things are alwaies recited what is there that may stir up attention Curiosity rather will be stirred up whilst this and the other man attends whether the Minister reads exactly the same things which they behold in their own books nor addeth he must we think that the Ministers are tyed to the very words and syllables of the books delivered to them it is free according to variety of occasions to use any thing drawn out of the Treasures of mystical wisdome which makes for the exciting of zeal whence it eomes to pass that pious Auditors are scarcely ever present at holy Mysteries without a new motion of heart My imagination on the reading of these words is that Comenius was not hugely fond of prescribed Formula's in which the people were as well versed as the Minister he seems rather to be of opinion that if words flow from the mouth of the Minister which the People had not seen before hand they will be heard with the more Devotion whether Mr. Durell's imaginations agree with mine time may discover mean while I may have leave to guess what it was that moved Mr. Durell's pen to run into such excess of riot against the two Houses and Assembly and I conceive it was the extravagance of his Country-man Ludovicus Capellus in his discourse about Liturgies unhappily inserted into the Theses Dalmurienses for his words Mr. Durell has punctually transcribed and done into English a Scholler may find them in the third part of those Theses p. 707. I shall follow Mr. Durell's own Translation pag. 15. One hundred forty years ago when the separation was made from the Church of Rome and that the Christian people coming out of Babylon did cast off the Popes Tyranny the sacred Liturgy was purged of all that Popish Superstition and Idolatry and all such things as were overburdensom or which did contribute but little or nothing to the edification of the Church And so were framed and prescribed in several places divers set forms of holy Liturgies by the several Authors of the Reformation that then was and those simple and pure in Germany France England Scotland the Netherlands c. differing as little as possible from the antient set Forms of the Primitive Church which set Forms the Reformed have used hitherto with happiness and profit each of them in their several Nations and districts till at last of very late there did arise in England a froward scrupulous and over nice that I say not altogether superstitious Generation of men unto whom it hath seemed good for many Reasons but those very light and almost of no moment at all not onely to blame but to cashier and abolish wholly the Liturgy used hitherto in their Church together with the whole Hierarchical Government of their Bishops instead of which Liturgy they have brought in their Directory as they call it On the words thus translated I adventure to say First That I am not much in love with the Professors Chronology He gratifies the Papists too much to say or but to intimate that no secession was made from their Church till an hundred and forty Years before he put forth those Theses some Churches had gone out of Babylon much sooner some not so soon Secondly I am less in love with his jumbling together of the Liturgies of Germany France England Scotland Belgia for if the Germans did purge their Liturgie of every thing that was over-burdensom and troublesome or which did contribute but little or nothing to the edification of the Church let a reason be given me why we leave any thing out of our Liturgies which they retain did this Professor of Divinity think that nothing is retained in the Lutheran Liturgies that is burdensom and operosous or that makes little to edification or did he conceit that none of the Lutheran Churches are German do the Lutherans Latine Songs contribute much to edification are their Images apt to teach the soul did ever any one get much good by having the bread put into his mouth instead of having it broken and delivered into his hand what is I wonder the advantage of Exorcism certainly if the Lutheran Liturgies recede as little as may be from the Forms of the Primitive Church other Churches have receded very much from them Thirdly It was a great misadventure to affirm that the Reformed had with profit and happiness each of them in their several Nations and Districts used set Forms till lately the Liturgy was Cashired in England Had not Calderwood told the world long since that for many years he had not used set Forms whilst he was Minister in Scotland was not the Liturgy laid aside in Scotland before in England Fourthly It is a sign of no great humility for one Professor so severely to censure the actings of a whole Assembly of Divines in which were many Superiour to himself in Learning but let not Episcopal Divines much glory to find the Assemblies Reasons so vilified they will find the Reason of Mr. Hooker their Oracle as much vilified in this Censor's Thesis de Festis Fifthly It is very Probable the good Professor had never read the Directory else he would not have left it on Record that the Directory contains onely the Arguments of things to be said and done in the Administration of the Sacraments for in the Directory the words for Administration of Baptism are prescribed so are the words for the Administration of the Lords Supper Mr. Durell therefore by translating Capellus into English hath but uncovered his nakedness exposing him to contempt who was before become too contemptible by decrying the Hebrew points and Scripture Chronology so opening a door to down-right infidelity Yet as if he had not done him spight enough He not only gives us his Text but also draws six Observations from it pag. 15 16.
should not have dealt slightly in this matter which yet any one may observe that he does for instead of giving us instances of Reformed Churches that use the Cross in Baptisme He contents himself to give us a few instances of Reformed Churches that use the Cross out of Baptisme the Church of Geneva he saies Makes the Christian Religion in a picture to lean upon the Cross page 21. and page 31. Does not think the Christian Religion sufficiently represented without the figure of a Cross And the French Churches agreed Anno 1609. That they would not debarre from the Sacrament such as should wear Crosses upon their Cloaks in case the King would not allow them the maintenance for maimed souldiers untill they did wear such Crosses He might also have added that the Erectors of the short lived Commonwealth among us did appoint a Cross to be set upon that Money which they presumed to Coin and also put the figure of a Cross into the Flags of those ships which they set forth against his Sacred Majesty and had he so done would not any one at last have asked him to what purpose is all this waste of Examples never did sober Presbyterian or Independant question such kind of Crosses many of them perhaps will be found to have them in their Coat of Arms and in their Signets with which they use to Seal their Letters and yet would at no hand be induced to suffer their Children to be Baptized with the sign of the Cross as a signe of their Dedication to God or as a token that afterwards they should not be ashamed of Christ Crucified c. Mr. Durell had sure forgot that the Cross our Church appoints is a Transient Cross by which Bishop Sanderson would have it distinguished sufficiently from the Cross of the Papists which is permanent else he would not have brought so many instances of permanent Crosses which being the Objects of sight may occasion in us some good thoughts and meditations concerning the Cross on which our Lord Jesus did suffer but the Transient Cross leaving no visible impression on us has no such aptness objectively to stir in us any good thought concerning Christ Crucified and it is hard to conceive how it should be useful in the way of admonition unless we had some one to admonish us that we were Crossed with such a Cross I know that dipping or sprinkling the Water upon the body leaves no visible impression upon it neither but the spirit who alwaies abides in believers hath an office to bring baptism to their remembrance and hath so effectually brought it to remembrance that they have from considerations drawn from it quenched the fiery darts of Satan that this blessed Spirit will concern himself to bring our being Crossed in Baptisme to remembrance Mr. Durell will not hastily affirm what then would Presbyterians better approve of the making of a permanent Cross on the forehead of newly Baptised Infants surely no. But they sometimes argue thus ad hominem and think that their is strength in their arguings Mr. Durell hath no where that I can find shewed their strength to be but weakness rather he hath strengthened their hands by some expressions used in his Sermon pag. 23. Where he placeth Chrism used in Confirmation amongst superstitious or superfluous Ceremonies Now why the Chrism in Confirmation should be accounted superstitious or superfluous and the Cross in Baptisme not be so accounted there can no good reason at all be assigned Is the Cross antient so is Chrisme the Cross as much abused by the Papists as ever was the Chrism the Cross made significant of what Baptisme it self signified and signified more clearly than the Cross can signifie and therefore superfluous enough if that be superfluous which is used for the doing of that which was sufficiently done before whereas in Confirmation there is no outward visible sign to signifie that which Chrism signifies viz. Anointing with the Holy Ghost inwardly as may be collected from a Petition yet retained in the Liturgy for Confirmation I am not now at leisure to enquire strictly into the usuages of Reformed Churches abroad nor into the Sentiments of their Divines concerning our Ceremonies but this I have found that those who have gone from our Universities and travelled into forreign Reformed Churches and Kingdomes have generally returned to us again with very little fondness for our Ceremonies now it seems very strange that if the same Ceremonies be used abroad that are used here or if they abroad count them as indifferent as we do them at home that Travells should ingenerate in any a dislike of them and it is strange also if Mr. Beza had no worse thoughts of out Discipline and Rights then Mr. Durell would make shew of that he should have so good thoughts of Mr. Travers and several other chief Nonconformists in England as to make them his greatest Correspondents for so I can prove he did by Letters still extant Hitherto I have shewed you how much Mr. Durell hath mistaken and mis-represented the state of those Controversies that are on foot among us I will now give you in a short Catalogue of Impertinences by which you shall see that he hath stuffed his Book with Testimonies to prove that which never any Presbyterian denyed or ever gave him the least occasion to think he denyed The first place in this Catalogue is due to his Testimonies mustered up pag. 51 52. relating to Sacriledge a Species whereof he saies is the purchasing and detaining of Church Lands I for my part think so too and never yet met with a Presbyterian that thought otherwise if there be a true superfluity of Church Lands then the Magistrate doubtless may out of that superfluity take for any other good use though it be not directly Ecclesiastical In cases also of great necessity Church Lands seem not to be priviledged from sale nor can any wise man doubt but that it is the Magistrates duty to convert such Lands as were given to the Church by a Zeale without knowledge and to promote Idolatry and Superstition unto such uses as are truly pious and acceptable unto God These and other such like Cases excepted the Presbyterians would as willingly have a Noli me tangere upon every parcel of the Church Lands as Mr. Durell himself He tells us indeed page 51. That many here among us and some of them Presbyterian Ministers made nothing of purchasing and detaining Church Lands and another as very a Scribler as himself hath told us That in the Annotations commonly known by the name of the Assemblies Annotations he could never meet with any thing against Sacriledge in any of those places where he had consulted them the first edition of those Annotations I have not by me but if that Edition had nothing in it against Sacriledge let the Saddle be set upon the right Horse and the blame laid upon Dr. Daniel Feately who Commenting upon Romans the 2d where the word Sacriledge
occurs would let it pass uncensured but I have heard that in our latter Editions of the English Annotations Dr. Feateleys Notes are not altered if so the Debator hath reason to be ashamed of his impudence and railing accusation for any one may see that Sacriledge is sufficiently condemned at Rom. 2.22 and it is severely Censured Acts 5. as also Prov. 20.25 and if that be not also censured Ezekiel 48. who must bear the blame but Bishop Richardson to whose share it fell to Comment on that portion of Scripture Certainly the second and third Editions of the English Annotations were Printed in times in which it was all out as dangerous to reprove Sacriledge as in those times in which the first Edition was put forth In those Editions I have already referred to enough that makes against Sacriledge yet if need were I could referr to much more and possibly should so do were it not that the work had been long since done to my hand by an Episcopal Divine in a Discourse Printed 1648. with this Title Church Lands not to be sold He that will be at pains to peruse that book shall soon find that no one could keep the Covenant and not be against the alienating of Church Lands page 27. he quotes these words from Mr. Gearee an holy Nonconformist To abolish Prelacy and to seize the Lands of Prelates to private or civil Interest undoubtedly could neither want stain nor guilt adding I am confident by the discourse I have had with the most able of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster that at the least three parts if not all of them are of the same Judgment with Mr. Gearee and that they would openly profess as much if they were put to answer the Question But saith Mr. Durell some of the many who made nothing of purchasing and detaining Church Lands were Presbyterian Ministers and to prove this in the Margent he puts Dr. Burgess never so much as adding an c. so that in his Arithmetick Dr. Burgess is some Presbyterian Ministers But he should first have proved that he was one Presbyterian Minister before he had gone about to perswade us that he was sundry Presbyterian Ministers He is not that Dr. Burgess who defended the three Ceremonies against Dr. Ames but yet he is the Dr. Burgess that took care to have that Defence Printed and beautified the Margent of it to make it he more pleasing to the Readers eye and he is the Dr. Burgess that did write for Baptismal Regeneration which the Presbyterian can by no means swallow I have heard indeed that he took the Covenant but not till he saw that it was dangerous not to take it I have heard also that he was employed to make a Speech in answer to Dr. John Hackett who was to plead for the continuance of Deanes and Chapiters but in that Speech he openly declared the utter unlawfulness of converting Dean and Chapiters Lands to any private persons profit so that he then delivered the same Doctrine with Dr. Hackett only differing in the Application as Mr. Fuller words it book 11. page 179. It seems afterwards he himself was a Purchaser and a great Purchaser contrary to the Doctrine delivered by him for which I leave him to his own Master unto whom he hath some years since given his Accounts Mr. Durell as if he were a Privy-Councellor in Heaven presumes in his Latin book to say That the Cancer of which he dyed befel him for his Sacriledge I dare not so say the Providences of God are too great a deep for any man to venture himself into and methinks Mr. Durell might have been deterred from such presumption by the example of Gods dealing with Bishop Gawden who after that he had written for the Liturgy and against Sacriledge dyed not long after of a Disease as loathsome and far more painful than that which brought Dr. Burgess to his Grave and this Disease was that very Disease unto which he had compared the Presbyterian Sermons and befell him in a very short time after he had made the Comparison yet all these Circumstances notwithstanding no man shall ever hear me say That the sickness was a stroak of Divine Justice inflicted on him for his fierceness against the Presbyterians Indeed the Providence of God is to us so hidden and secret that there is no concluding from it either love or hatred and therefore the Sons of the Church have no reason to thank Mr. Durell for saying page 17. of his Sermon That the wonderful manner of raising our Church up again is an evident proof that she is her Beloveds and her Beloved hers and an Argument that her Reformation since neither mens Craft nor violence which so far prevailed against it were never able to destroy it is certainly the work of God and his Counsel which shall stand Non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis Our Church needs no such Tophicks she will think that he has a minde to betray her who useth them on her behalf for who knows how soon God provoked by our sins may turn the stream of his Providences and bring our Church Governours under as great poverty and reproach as ever If the stream of Providence should never turn yet all Theological ears will abhor to hear our English Reformation called the Counsell of the Lord which shall stand That is a Scripture Phrase and Printed as such by Mr. Durell and therefore ought not to have been so palpably wrested by him Dare any man think that the Decrees and Counsels of God are changed unless our Reformation as attended with all its Rites and Cermonies endure from generation to generation But I have almost run away from the business of Sacriledge If any man desire to know how zealous Reformed Divines have been against this sin he may quickly inform himself from Dr. Hornebeckes Examen bullae Papalis I only adde that some men have been so hardy as to to say that our Impropriations are a kind of Sacrilege The Lord Bacon seems to be of that mind and charges all the Parliaments since the 31. of Henry VIII with debarring Christs Wife of a great part of her dowry if so Mr. Durell may find more Sacriledge among his friends then he is aware of and he may do well to enquire whether the impropriations of the several Cathedrals to which he himself belongs are so disposed of as that the Incumbants residing upon them have a sufficient and honerable maintenance allowed them His Majesty hath graciously emitted a Letter that it might be so if the Letter have been universally obeyed I rejoyce in the obedience given to it but I am sure heretofore no Impropriators allowed less then Clergy-men no parishes were worse supplied than those in which the Titles went to the Cathedralls unless Mr. Durell be sure that he and his Fraternities be free from this sin it will not be seasonable for him to throw stones at other sinners least it should be said thou
Hypocrite first c. A Second of Mr. Durell's Impertinencies is his Quotation pag. 40. of the Bohemian Churches for the peoples saying Amen at theend of Prayers Did the Presbyterians ever say the People might not say Amen at the end of Prayers are they not rather judged by their Adversaries to erre by affirming that it were meet for the people to say nothing else but Amen Thirdly What made him pag. 43. Waste paper to prove that Confirmation is used in most Reformed Churches Did not Mr. Hanmer and Mr. Baxter write whole books in the commendation of Confirmation Did the Presbyterians ever more heartily desire any thing than that adult persons might before they were admitted to the Lords Supper he ordered to make a Confession of Faith and to declare their Resolution to own that Faith and to walk according to it Did they not alway with grief of heart complain that Confirmation had never been practised here in England or else had been turned into a meer form Fourthly Wherefore are we told page 37 38. That the Lords Prayer and Ten Commandments and Creeds are sung in some Reformed Churches as also the Magnificat the Benedictus and the Nunc dimittis Do the Presbyterians question the lawfulness of singing any of these or do they require any more than that they should be put into Meeter and set into such tunes as ordinary people might follow I my self have heare an eminent Presbyterian Divine on a day of Humiliation read and sing the Lords Prayer as it is Translated and Printed at the end of our Psalm books Yea where as Mr. Durell tells us That the French Church does not sing the Lords Prayer and the Creed of the Apostles because both the Rhyme and Language were somthing course and old Presbyterians never left off to sing according to the Vulgar Translation its oldness and coursness notwithstanding and if hymns should be made out of other places of Scripture by men wise and skilful who is there that would blame them Fifthly Who ever quarrelled with the French Churches for having great silver Chalices for the Communion as he tells us they have pag. 32. Or who would be offended if richer Churches had the ten Commandments in Letters of Gold and the Creed and the Lords Prayer in the same form I have heard one of the chief Presbyterian Ministers did rejoice that the Lords Prayer was by the Painter drawn in very visible Characters upon a wall just over against his Pulpit for by that means if at any time he happened to be as much out in repeating of that form as Mr. Durell lately was in the repeating of the Belief he might help himself and not put himself and others to shame as Mr. Durell did Sixthly He tells us pag. 32. That in all Reformed Churches men used to enter into the place of publick worship with their hats off which is as great an untruth as ever dropped from writers pen unless it be understood of places of publick worship whilst publick worship is actually performed in them and if it may be so understood then the Presbyterians would hugely approve of it By the Directory it was enjoined that all enter the Assembly not irreverently but in a grave and seemly manner gravity and seemliness do include putting off the hat which yet would be a ridiculous action if a man should use it as too many now a days do as oft as they go through the Church though none be met for worship and though they themselves intended no worship nor does the Directory any where condemn the manner which Mr. Durell tells us hath obtained among the French Ladies viz. to unmask themselves when they come into the Temple provided they do not unmask themselves out of a vain or wanton design if they should do so they know by whom they are condemned I but saith Mr. Durell the devoutest sort both of men and women use to kneel and make a Prayer for Gods blessing before they sit down and this the Directory prohibites Had he said that the devouter sort use a short Prayer when they took no seats and came to perform no service to God then he had said something to excuse the actings of some among us The peoples making a secret Prayer before they sit down in their seats is not forbidden by the Directory unto all or unto any but these who come into the Church the publick worship being begun and whether it be more meet for such to betake themselves to their private devotions or to join with the Assembly in that ordinance that is in hand let the learned judge for they are wise Seventhly All might have been spared that is brought pag. 33. Of Peoples standing bare in time of Divine Service and at the Administration of Sacraments In the very Church of Scotland all are uncovered at the Administration of the Sacraments here in England men had left off to put on their hats in time of Sermon which Mr. Durell seems to distinguish from Service had Mr. Calamy and others been hearkened to Eighthly Above all what need we be told pag. 22. That Calvin wore a Gown and a Cap Were not Presbyterians accustomed so to do in the Universities Those sent down by the two Houses to Cambridge did all of them preach in the University Church in their Gowns and in their Hoods and I never heard of any but Brownists that questioned the using of the very same Churches that the Papists had used yet we have fine stories of that pag. 28. As also of the Ring in Marriage as if there were some odde Nonconformists that did scruple being Married with a Ring He tells us also of Matrimony in the publick Congregation pag. 47. celebrated also by a Minister just according as the Directory orders but if he would have gratified us here in England he should have told us that all Reformed Churches do count Marriages valid though made without and against the consent of Parents as also that they have Officers whom they allow to give Licenses for Marriages though there have been no Banes published nor any thing equivolent thereunto but to affirm this had been somewhat too gross Pag. 48 and 49. He minds us that in most Reformed Churches the dead are buried with great solemnity singing of Psalms and Funeral Sermons as if Presbyterians had scrupled the Preaching of Funeral Sermons or had not been wont when desired to Preach them I believe if Comparison were made Presbyterians formerly preached more Funeral Sermons then Prelatical men do now and that very many of those for whom Sermons are now Preached are addicted to Presbytery Mr. Durell should have called to remembrance that our Church hath appointed no Funeral Sermons nor required any more of her Ministers save only to meet the Corps at the Church Stile and so go either into the Church or towards the Grave to say or sing some versicles out of Holy Writ I do not find that by the old Liturgy it was required
declared that Mr. Durell hath much abused him in leaving out sundry passages in his Letter wherin he did moderate and regulate the Episcopal power which if they had been inserted the Letter would not at all have fitted his design Lastly it plainly appears that Mr. Durell is no observer of the Act of Uniformity for he over and over confesseth that he hath suffered those to preach in his Church who had no Episcopal Ordination which is a Crime severely to be punished by the Act. And I much doubt whether Mr. Durell himself be qualified to be a Preacher in England for though he make shift to tell us that he was Ordained by a Scotch Bishop yet it is probable enough that that Bishop was Ordained Presbyter by Presbyters or at least by those who never had themselves any Ordination to be Presbyters but by Presbyters and if so there was an error in the first Concoction and we know that is not to be corrected Our Bishops lately took care to prevent this scruple and consecrated Mr. Sharp first Deacon then Priest then Bishop c. But we are sure from History that the first Bishops who came over hither to receive Ordination were not so dealt with and therefore Mr. Durell may do well to consider upon what ground he stands and whether according to the Principle now prevailing he be not still a Laick I have one Catalogue more to give you still and that will consist of things which Country men call Whiskers you may if you please more civilly call them Durellisme I shall not reckon up all but yet I must be allowed to mention some The first occurs page 31. I know none that did ever so much as move the question in what place and which way the Communinion Table ought to stand so it be seated where the people may hear and see except the new Scotch and English Presbyterians A man must have a large measure of Charity that can think him ignorant that there were great questions moved among our Bishops themseves concerning the placing of the Communion Table and some did urge Ministers to read Service there though it was demonstrated that the one halfe of the people could neither see nor hear them A second I find page 32. In all Reformed Churches men use to enter into the places of Publick Worship with their Hats off This is a most notorious nothing being more usual in some Reformed Churches than to pass through and through the places of Worship never stirring their Hats But if he would have the saying understood of mens putting off their Hats when they enter into the place of Publick Worship whilst the Congregation is Worshipping then must this speech be placed where it is already placed among the Gentlemans impertinencies Thirdly page 44. he averrs That those who profess themselves to be Orthodox either altogether neglected the Lords Supper for many years in both Vniversities that of Oxford having had no Communion for above 12 years or only admitted some few choice persons to the same refusing it to all others though their outward carriage were sober honest and religious There are hundreds of Scholars and Citizens know this to be an untruth no Presbyterian in the University of Oxford that had a Pastoral Charge or any thing like it neglected to administer the Sacrament for many years or for any one year or refused any whose conversation was sober honest and religious Some of them were blamed for admitting such whose conversation was not so sober and religious as all Rules of good Discipline do require in Church-members The phrase That of Oxford having had no Communion for above 12 years perhaps was intended only to bear this sence That the University did not for above 12 years meet together to receive the Sacrament in St. Maries before the Terms If this be any fault the Presbyterian is not concerned in it In those 12 years time there were but four Vice-Chancellors all of them right-worthy persons but not one of them professing himself a Presbyterian But indeed it may be question'd whether it was veri nominis crimen not to keep up that Sacrament For I wonder who made the University as the University a Church or who is the Pastour of that Church what Bishop hath Jurisdiction over it or who shall Excommunicate those Members that come not to the Ordinance I never heard that ever the hundred part of the University was at that Sacrament when administred or that any one man was ever censured for being absent from it nay I believe the Statute injoyning this Sacrament in that Church will be found a spick and span new Statute coyned on purpose to inure the Scholars to Bowing towards the Altar Fourthly In the same page and the very next words we have an Assertion as void of all Truth viz. That all the Reformed world over no man that is not a notorious ill Liver is debarred from that Comfort which Christ hath left to his Church for the sick and weak as a Medicine against their Diseases Had it been said that all the Reformed World over no one is to be debarred from the Sacrament by the Rules of Discipline but a notorious ill Liver the Assertion had had some modesty but what intolerable impudence is it for any man to arrogate so much to himself as to adventure to say no man is debarred indeed in all Reformed Churches others are to be debarred besides notorious ill Livers namely the ignorant and those that have any heretical opinions which they make known yea and all those who cannot satisfie themselves to conform to all the Rites and Ceremonies used in the Churches if we may believe Mr. Durell himself Yet I trow there 's no necessity such should be notorious evil Livers Fifthly Pag. 61. He finds a forehead to leave these words on Record It is said that the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas take those things in which they differ from the Reformed Church of England to be sinful and that therefore they would have her to conform to them By whom was this ever said either in so many words or in any expressions tantamount and how would Mr. Durell have this uncouth affirmation to be understood universally or particularly It should be understood universally or else Mr. Durell's going about to prove the Negative is very needless and if it be so understood he might as well have charged us to say that the Reformed Churches count it a sin in the English Church to use her own Native Language The French Ministers preach with their Hats on did ever Nonconformist say that they count it sinful in us to preach with our hats off or did ever Nonconformist go about to bring the French mode into his Church Sixthly Pag. 85. he acquaints us That the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas are told that the Convocations of the Church of England consist onely of Archbishops and Bishops and that the inferiour Clergy are not admitted to sit and vote in them Till
that he should make a Liturgy differing from the Liturgies of Q. Eliz. and K. James and K. Charles I. I must needs say that is no false accusation Mounsieur Chabret in his Letter recorded pag. 82. Doth not say that it was reported Archbishop Laud had compiled a new Liturgy for the Church of England but onely that a new one was compilled by him which had occasioned much clamour and been the ground of fears and jealousies Now I beseech Mr. Durell to tell me Did not Arch-bishop Laud compile a Liturgy for the Scotch Nation if he did not let those who have charged him so to do in allowed writings be confuted If he did compile that Liturgy or which is all one direct those who compiled it I am sure it did differ from ours and occasioned much clamour raised many fears and jealousies which at last ended in a war betwixt the two Nations Yea there were some few alterations made by the said Archbish or some of his Creatures in the Liturgy for our own Church which were not very well relished by those that never were enemies to the legally established Government what those alterations were may be seen in the Dedicatory of Mr. Prynn's Quench Coal But I must give check to my running pen and take notice of some â—â—ner failures against truth p. 8. Mr. Durell thus Pâ—â—â—sifieth Oecolampadius who reformed the City of Basil is stiled Bishop of that Church upon his Tomb of which Bellarmine himself was an eye witnes in his time much against his will for this we are referred to Bellar. de notis Eecles l. 4 c. 8. where Bellarm. indeed does tell us That he was at Basil and there saw the inscription on Oecolampadius his Tomb and read it not without laughter Now it is hard to conceive that he should see that much against his will the sight whereof caused laughter in him but the truth is Bellar. laughter was ridiculous for the words upon the Tomb are not Primus hujus urbis Episcopus as Bellarm. quotes them but Author Evangelicae doctrinae in hac urbe primus Episcopus indeed he is called but how Hujus Templi verus Episcopus and if such an Episcopus will do Mr. Durell any pleasure he most be a very humoursome man that will envy him such a pleasure Ninthly Page 13. He fears not to affirme That all understanding men among the French Churches say plainly that if God Almighty were pleased that all France should embrace the Reformed Religion as England hath the Episcopal Government must of necessity be established in their Churches That all understanding men should say this and say it plainly is certainly a all understanding men were never heard to speak about this matter and should they be called together to speak they would not utter any such speech as is here fathered on them it is scarce sence to say if all France should embrace the Reformed Religion as England hath for certainly all England hath not embraced the Reformed Religion the more the pity and what necessity could there be if France should generally embrace the Reformed Religion that Episcopal Government should be established in it I am not more certain that ever I saw the Sun than I am certain that many understanding Frenchmen will never be brought to say that Episcopal Government must necessarily be established Tenthly Page 27. Having told us the Helvetick Confession does vehemently approve of the observation of some Holy-days he dreads not to tell us That the Ministers of the Church of Scotland subscribed that Confession An. 1566. the Ministers of that Church being then of another Judgment and of a temper far different from that their Successors have shewed of latter years Whereas the Scotch Ministers who subscribed the Helvetick Confession subscribed it with express exception of that part of it which concerns the observation of the Holy-days and so as to that matter plainly shewed themselves to be of the same temper and Judgment with their Successors as plainly appears from the Records of that Church Let the World judge what credit is to be given to Mr. Durell concerning remote Churches who relates things so contrary to truth about a neigbour Church Eleventhly Page 28. He would perswade us That the Crosses have not been pulled down from the top of Churches unless perhaps in som popular Storm but we can tell him of Crosses that have been taken from the top of Churches by the Magistrates appointment and with the Ministers aprobation which things are not to be found in a popular Storm Twelfthly P. 29. He bears us in hand That the Bohemians have solemn dedication of Churches which Ceremony is to be performed with them by the Bishop in the same manner as with us here in England Which words I know not how to reconcile to truth For what Law is there among us enjoyning Churches to be Consecrated by a Bishop or where may a man find the form and manner of Consecraring a Church here in England or read the Prayers with the which the Consecration is to be performed how shall I be able to convince Parishoners that they are bound to desire the Consecration of their newly built or newly inlarged Churches or the Bishop that he is bound to undertake this Consecra .. I though he be not desired and must the Diocesan bear the charges of his journey or have them born by the people sundry such questions as these need resolution which is a sign that the Laws and Canons now in force concern not themselves at all in this business of Consecraition 13thly Pag. 30. Mr. D. bears witness against the Directorians which is either non-sense or a falsity for these are his words At Bazil in the Cathedral Church they have their Fonts of Stone and use them for the baptism of Infants as we do here they have use them alike in the City of Breme and so in other places by which we see they are not of the same judgment with the Directorians who find Popery and Superstition in the very placing of them If the meaning of these words be that the Directorians find Popery and Superstition in placing of Fonts as they are placed at Bazil and Breme it is a perfect calumny if the meaning be that the Directorians find Popery and Superstition in some kind of placing of the Fonts how can a man thence gather that they of Breme and Bazil are not of the same judgment with the Directorians all that the Directory orders is that Baptisme be administred in the face of the Congregation where the people may most conveniently see and hear and not in the places where Fonts in the time of Popery were unfitly and superstitiously placed Here is no finding of Popery and Superstition in the very placing of Fonts but onely a prohibiting the administration of Baptisme in the places where Fonts in the time of Popery were unfitly and superstitiously placed and what I wonder could move the Papists to place their Fonts where