stood in the Church of England at the time of the making this Homily and therefore he has put down the Proem of an Act of Parliament of the fifth and sixth years of Edward the 6th concerning Holy-days by which he would have the Lord's day to stand on no other ground but the Authority of the Church not as enjoyned by Christ or ordained by any of his Apostles Which Statute whosoever shall be pleased to peruse may easily see that this Proem he mentions relates only to Holy days and not to Sundays as you may observe from this passage viz. which holy Works as they may be called God's Service so the times especially appointed for the same are called Holy-days not for the matter or nature either of the time or day c. which title of Holy-days was never applied to Sundays either in a vulgar or legal acceptation And tho the Doctor fancied this Act was in force at the time when this Homily was made and therefore must by no means contradict so sacred an Authority as that of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled in Parliament because this Act tho repealed by Queen Mary he would have to be revived again the first year of Queen Elizabeth and so to stand in force at the time of making this Homily whereas whoever consults our Statute-Book will find that this Statute of King Edward the 6th was not revived nor in force till the first of King James when the Repeal of this Statute was again repealed tho certainly the reviving of that or any other Statute does not make their Proems which are often very carelesly drawn to be in every clause either good Law or Gospel But tho the Doctor in other things abhors the Temporal Powers having any thing to do in matters of Religion yet if it make for his Opinion then the Authority of a Parliament shall be as good as that of a Convocation But I have dwelt too long upon this Head which I could not well contract if I spoke any thing at all to justifie the Lord Primat's Judgment in this so material a Doctrine The next Point that the Doctor lays to the Lord Primat's charge as not according to the Church of England is a passage in a Letter to Dr. Bernard and by him published in the Book intituled The Judgment of the late Primat of Ireland c. viz. That he ever declared his Opinion to be that Episcopus Presbyter gradu tantum differunt non ordine and consequently that in places where Bishops cannot be had the Ordination by Presbyters standeth valid And however saith he I must needs think that the Churches in France who living under a Popish Power and cannot do what they would are more excusable in that defect than those of the Low-Countries that live under a Free-State yet for the testifying my communion with these Churches which I do love and honour as true members of the Church Universal I do profess that with like affection I should receive the blessed Sacrament at the hands of the Dutch Ministers if I were in Holland as I should do at the hands of the French Ministers if I were at Charenton Which Opinion as I cannot deny to have been my Lord Primat's since I find the same written almost verbatim with his own hand dated Nov. 26. 1655 in a private Note-Book not many months before his death with the addition of this clause at the beginning viz. Yet on the other side holding as I do That a Bishop hath Superiority in degree above Presbyters you may easily judg that the Ordination made by such Presbyters as have severed themselves from their Bishops cannot possibly by me be excused from being schismatical And concluding with another clause viz. for the agreement or disagreement in radical and fundamental Doctrines not the consonancy or dissonancy in the particular points of Ecclesiastical Government is with me and I hope with every man that mindeth Peace the rule of adhering to or receding from the Communion of any Church And that the Lord Primate was always of this Opinion I find by another Note of his own hand written in another Book many years before this in these words viz. The intrinsecal power of Ordaining proceedeth not from Jurisdiction but only from Order But a Presbyter hath the same Order in specie with a Bishop Ergo A Presbyter hath equally an intrinsecal power to give Orders and is equal to him in the power of Order the Bishop having no higher degree in respect of intension or extention of the character of Order tho he hath an higher degree i. e. a more eminent place in respect of Authority and Jurisdiction in Spiritual Regiment Again The Papists teach that the confirmation of the Baptized is proper to a Bishop as proceeding from the Episcopal Character as well as Ordination and yet in some cases may be communicated to a Presbyter and much more therefore in regard of the over-ruling Commands of invincible necessity although the right of Baptising was given by Christ's own Commission to the Apostles and their Successors and yet in case of Necessity allowed to Lay-men even so Ordination might be devolved to Presbyters in case of Necessity These passages perhaps may seem to some Men inconsistent with what the Lord Primate hath written in some of his printed Treatises and particularly that of the Original of Episcopacy wherein he proves from Rev. 2. 1. that the Stars there described in our blessed Saviour's right hand to be the Angels of the seven Churches 2. That these Angels were the several Bishops of those Churches and not the whole Colledg of Presbyters as Mr. Brightman would have it 3. Nor has he proved Archbishops less ancient each of these seven Churches being at that time a Metropolis which had several Bishops under it and 4 that these Bishops and Archbishops were ordained by the Apostles as constant permanent Officers in the Church and so in some sort Jure Divino that is in St. Hierom's sence were ordained by the Apostles for the better conferring of Orders and for preventing of Schisms which would otherwise arise among Presbyters if they had been all left equal and independent to each other And that this may very well consist with their being in some cases of Necessity not absolutely necessary in some Churches is proved by the Learned Mr. Mason in his defence of the Ordination of Ministers beyond the Seas where there are no Bishops in which he proves at large against the Papists that make this Objection from their own Schoolmen and Canonists and that tho a Bishop receives a Sacred Office Eminency in Degree and a larger Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction than a Presbyter yet that all these do not confer an absolute distinct Order and yet that Bishops are still Jure Divino that is by the Ordinance of God since they were ordained by the Apostles and whereunto they were directed by God's Holy Spirit and in that sence are the Ordinance of
God bless you and whatever you undertake so I rest Your Lordship's most Affectionate Friend Ol. Grandisone Dublin 3 Feb. 1620. But before his going over and while Bishop Elect a Parliament was Convened at Westminster and began Feb. 1 st 1620. and I find this passage among some of his Memorandums of that time viz. I was appointed by the Lower House of Parliament to preach at St. Margarets Westminster Feb. 7. the Prebends claimed the priviledge of the Church and their exemption from Episcopal Jurisdiction for many hundred years and offered their own Service Whereupon the House being displeased appointed the place to be at the Temple I was chosen a second time And Secretary Calvert by the appointment of the House spake to the King that the choice of their Preacher might stand The King said It was very well done Feb. 13 th being Shrove-Tuesday I dined at Court and betwixt 4 and 5 I kiss'd the King's hand and had conference with him touching my Sermon He said I had charge of an unruly Flock to look unto the next Sunday He asked me how I thought it could stand with true Divinity that so many hundred should be tyed upon so short warning to receive the Communion upon a day all could not be in Charity after so late contentions in the House Many must needs come without Preparation and eat their own Condemnation That himself required all his whole Houshold to receive the Communion but not all the same day unless at Easter when the whole Lent was a time of Preparation He bad me to tell them I hoped they were all prepared but wished they might be better To exhort them to Unity and Concord To love God first and then their Prince and Country To look to the urgent necessities of the Times and the miserable state of Christendom with Bis dat qui citò dat Feb. 10 th The first Sunday in Lent I preached at St. Margarets to them And Feb. 27 th the House sent Sir James Perrot and Mr. Drake to give me thanks and to desire me to print the Sermon which was done accordingly the Text being upon the first of the Cor. 10. 17. For we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread This Sermon was printed by the desire of the House and with one more preached before the King at Wansted Jan. 20. 1624. upon Eph. 4. 13. concerning the unity of the Catholick Faith were all the Sermons I can find to have been published by his allowance But the Lord Bishop Elect returning some time after into Ireland was there Consecrated by Dr. Hampton then Lord Primate assisted with some other of the Bishops and being thus advanced to the Episcopal Degree his Province and Imployment might be altered but not his mind nor humble temper of Spirit Neither did he cease to turn as many as he could from Darkness to Light from Sin and Satan to Christ by his Preaching Writing and Exemplary Life observing that which St. Augustine said of St. Ambrose Et eum quidem in populo verbum veritatis recte tractantem omni die Dominico audiebam Magis Magisque mihi confirmabat c. That he handled the Word of God unto the People every Lord's Day About this time some violent Papists of Quality happened to be censured in the Castle-Chamber at Dublin for refusing to take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance upon this occasion the State ordered the Bishop of Meath on the day of the Sentence to make a Speech to them as well to inform their Consciences of the Lawfulness of it as of the great penalties they would undergo if they persisted to refuse it Which he performed in a Learned Discourse and highly approved of by His Majesty Which was as follows A Speech delivered in the Castle-Chamber at Dublin November 22 th 1622. At the Censuring of certain Officers concerning the Lawfulness of taking and danger of refusing the Oath of Supremacy WHat the danger of the Law is for refusing this Oath hath been sufficiently opened by my Lords the Judges and the quality and quantity of that offence hath been aggravated to the full by those that have spoken after them The part which is most proper for me to deal in is the information of the Conscience touching the truth and equity of the matters contained in the Oath which I also have made choice the rather to insist upon because both the form of the Oath it self requireth herein a full resolution of the Conscience as appeareth by those words in the very beginning thereof I do utterly testifie and declare in my Conscience c. and the persons that stand here to be censured for refusing the same have alledged nothing in their own defence but only the simple plea of Ignorance That this point therefore may be cleared and all needless scruples removed out of mens minds two main branches there be of this Oath which require special consideration The one positive acknowledging the Supremacy of the Government of these Realms in all Causes whatsoever to rest in the King's Highness only The other Negative renouncing all Jurisdictions and Authorities of any foreign Prince or Prelate within his Majesties Dominions For the better understanding of the former we are in the first place to call unto our remembrance that exhortation of St. Peter Submit your selves unto every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be unto the King as having the preheminence or unto Governours as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well By this we are taught to respect the King not as the only Governour of his Dominions simply for we see there be other Governours placed under him but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as him that excelleth and hath the preheminence over the rest that is to say according to the tenure of the Oath as him that is the only Supreme Governor of his Realms Upon which ground we may safely build this conclusion That whatsoever power is incident unto the King by virtue of his place must be acknowledged to be in him Supreme there being nothing so contrary to the nature of Soveraignty as to have another superiour power to over rule it Qui Rex est Regem maxime non habeat In the second place we are to consider That God for the better setling of piety and honesty among men and the repressing of prophaneness and other vices hath established two distinct powers upon Earth The one of the Keys committed to the Church the other of the Sword committed to the Civil Magistrate That of the Keys is ordained to work upon the inner man having immediate relation to the remitting or retaining of sins That of the Sword is appointed to work upon the outward man yielding protection to the obedient and inflicting external punishment on the rebellious and disobedient By the former the spiritual Officers of the Church
God But if by Jure Divino you would understand a Law binding all Christian Churches universally perpetually unchangeably and with such absolute Necessity that no other form of Regiment may in any case be admitted in this sence we cannot grant it to be Jure Divino And much of the same Opinion is the Learned Bishop Davenant in his Treatise So that you see here that as Learned Men and as stout Asserters of Episcopacy as any the Church of England hath had have been of the Lord Primat's Judgment in this matter tho without any design to lessen the Order of Bishops or to take away their use in the Church since Mr. Mason in the said Treatise tho he grants the French Churches having a constant President of the Presbytery to enjoy the substance of the Episcopal Office Yet whereas their Discipline is still very defective he wishes them in the bowels of Christ by all means to redress and reform it and to conform themselves to the ancient Custom of the Church of Christ So that I hope after all this Question Whether Episcopacy be Ordo or Gradus will prove only a difference in words rather than substance between those of the Lord Primat's Judgment and those of the contrary since they are both agreed in the main Points in controve sie between them and the Presbyterians viz. That Bishops were ordained in the Church by the Apostles themselves from the direction or at least approbation of our Saviour himself being the Stars which St. John saw in his Vision in our Lord Christ's own Hand and that they are permanent immutable Officers in the Church which cannot subsist without it but in Cases of pure Necessity And lastly that those Presbyters which in Churches founded and setled with Bishops do separate from them are guilty of Schism These things being agreed upon on both sides I think the rest of the Controversie is not worth contending about But if any Learned Persons of the Church of England who are well vers'd in the Writings of the Fathers and other ancient Monuments of the Church have already proved or can further make out that Episcopacy has always been an absolute distinct Order as well as Office in the Church I suppose the Lord Primate were he now alive would be so far from opposing them that he would heartily thank them for giving him greater light provided it could be done without unchurching all those Protestant Churches abroad vvho want Bishops And I hope however if the Lord Primat may be thought by the Doctor or others not to go high enough in this matter nor sufficiently to magnifie his own Office yet that he may well be pardoned since it proceeded from his excess of Humility and Charity towards our neighbouring-Churches to whom no good Protestants ought to deny the right-hand of fellowship The third Point which the Doctor will have the Lord Primat to hold contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of England which he says maintains an Universal Redemption of all Mankind by the Sufferings and Death of Christ as is proved by the Prayer of Consecration of the sacred Elements in the Sacrament which declares that God hath given to his Son Jesus Christ by his suffering death upon the Cross and by the Oblation of himself a full and sufficient Sacrifice Oblation and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World And also that in the publick Catechism the party catechised is taught to believe in God the Son who hath redeemed him and all Mankind But that in this Point the Lord Primat is of a contrary Judgment to the Church of England For as he seems not to like their opinion who contradict the riches of Christ's Satisfaction into too narrow a room as if none had any interest therein but such as were elected before the foundation of the World so he declareth his dislike of the other Extream as he is pleased to call it by which the benefit of this Satisfaction is extended to the Redemption of all Mankind The one Extremity saith he extends the benefit of Christ's Satisfaction so far ut reconciliationem cum Deo Peccatorem Remissionem singulis impetraverit as to obtain a Reconciliation with God and a Remission of Sins for all Men at his merciful hands p. 21. which tho they are the words of the Remonstrants at the Conference at the Hague Anno 1611 and are by him reckoned for untrue yet do they naturally result from the Doctrine of Universal Redemption which is maintained in the Church of England not that all Mankind is so perfectly reconciled to Almighty God as to be really and actually discharged from all their Sins before they actually believe which the Lord Primate makes to be the meaning and effect of that Extremity as he calls it p. 2. but that they are so far reconciled unto Him as to be capable of the remission of their Sins in case they do not want that Faith in their common Saviour which is required thereunto And here the Doctor thinks he finds out two notable Contradictions in the Lord Primat's Letter of the Year 1617 since in one part thereof he seems to dislike of their Opinion who contract the riches of Christ's Satisfaction into too narrow a room as if none had any kind of interest therein but such as were elected before the foundation of the World as before was said And in the other he declares that he is well assured that our Saviour hath obtained at the hands of his Father Reconciliation and Forgiveness of Sins not for the Reprobate but Elect only p. â—1 Now the Doctor has done his worst Yet I hope to prove that tho there may be a difference between my Lord Primat's way of explaining this Doctrine and that of the Doctor 's which proceeds indeed from the different Notions they had of Election and Reprobation Yet that there is no such formidable Contradiction in these two Propositions of my Lord Primat's by him laid down as the Doctor fancies or that the L. Primat hath maintained any thing in this Doctrine contrary to that of the Church of England for 1. the Doctor owns that all Mankind is not so perfectly reconciled to Almighty God as to be really and actually discharged from all their Sins before they actually believe but that they are so far reconciled unto him as to be capable of the remission of their Sins in case they do not want that Faith in their common Saviour which is required thereunto Now what will the Doctor get by these words if they are so far reconciled to him as to be capable of the remission of their Sins in case they do not want that Faith which is required thereunto since the Question still remains between the Lord Primat and those of the contrary Opinion Whether all Men can obtain without the aid of Grace this saving Faith which is required thereunto Our Saviour says the direct contrary Joh. 6. 44 65. No Man can come to me except the
in their proper places In the next place it is requisite to mind the Reader touching the following Collection of Letters herewith published being for the most part Originals written by the Lord Primate to learned Men of our own and foreign Nations or of those written to him relating mostly to matters of Learning These Epistles I gathered together with what care I could and when I had selected those out of a far greater number that I thought might prove most fit for publick view and useful both in respect of the Learning contained in them and the various subjects whereof they consisted I would not presume to publish the Collection until they had passed the Inspection and Censure of those Learned Men to whom they were first shown being Persons of great Judgment and Integrity and who retain a very high Esteem and Veneration for the Primate's Memory Perhaps the Reader will expect to meet with if not all yet many more of the Primate's Letters in this Collection than may be found but by all our Industry and search they cannot yet be retrieved partly because the Primate himself seldom kept Copies of his Lettes and many of those he had reserved met with the same fate which many others of his loose Papers and Manuscripts which were either lost in his often forced removals or fell into the hands of the Men of those spoiling times who had no regard to things of that Nature There are other Epistles not numbred with the former at the end of this Collection written by Men of great Names found among my Lord Primate's Papers which are thought worthy to be inserted and Printed Before I dismiss the Reader I have one thing more to advertise touching two Letters in the Collection one written by Dr. Bedell then Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland to the Primate Usher then Arch-Bishop of Armagh and his answer to it as you will find Numb 142. and 143. importing an accidental difference between those two Eminent Bishops and most intire Friends touching the Administration and Jurisdiction in Ecclesiastical Courts as then exercised in the Kingdom of Ireland which Letters however otherwise Worthy of perusal yet are now more especially published for the doing right to the Arch-Bishops Character which might else have suffered by some injurious Reflections upon him in the Life of that Bishop lately Written taken up partly from some uncertain Reports and partly upon the Bishops Letter to him upon that occasion But how little Reason there was to say the Primate was not made for the Governing part of his Function as that Author affirms besides his known abilities that way his Answer to the Bishops Letter and other Composures of his upon those kind of Arguments will sufficiently testifie Of which inadvertency as the Composer of that Life is already made sensible so we hope that he will do him Right according as he hath promised when time shall serve The order observed in disposing these Letters in the following Volume is according to their several Dates that being concluded fittest beth for the use and delight of the Reader only some of them through mistake are transposed and others that were brought in late are Printed at the latter end of which the Reader may consult the Advertisment at the end of the Book Farewell THE LIFE Of the Most Reverend Father in GOD JAMES USHER Late Lord Arch-Bishop OF ARMAGH Primate and Metropolitan of all IRELAND Collected and Written by RICHARD PARR D. D. his Lordships Domestick Chaplain Psalm CXII v. 6. The Righteous shall be had in Everlasting Remembrance Proverbs X. v. 7. The Memory of the Just is blessed but the Name of the Wicked shall rot LONDON Printed for NATHANAEL RANEW at the Kings-Arms in St. Pauls Church-Yard MDCLXXXVI THE LIFE OF The Most Reverend Father in God JAMES USHER SOMETIME Arch-Bishop of Armagh PRIMATE of all IRELAND THIS great Person whose Life we now write was Born in the City of Dublin the Metropolis of Ireland upon the fourth day of January Anno Domini 1580. His Father Mr. Arnold Usher one of the Six Clerks of Chancery and of good repute for his prudence and integrity was of the Ancient Family of the Ushers aliàs Nevils whose Ancestor Usher to King John coming over with him into Ireland and setling there changed the name of his Family into that of his Office as was usual in that Age his descendants having since brancht into several Families about Dublin and for divers Ages bore the most considerable Offices in and about that City His Mother was Margaret Daughter of James Stanihurst who was of considerable note in his time being chosen Speaker of the Honourable House of Commons in three Parliaments and was Recorder of the City of Dublin and one of the Mastres of Chancery and that which ought always to be mention'd for his honour he was the first mover in the last of the three Parliaments of Queen Elizabeth for the Founding and Endowing of a Colledge and University at Dublin which was soon after consented to by Her Majesty and being perfected hath ever since continued a famous Nursery for learning and good manners blessing both the Church and State with many admirable men eminently useful in their several Stations His Uncle by the Fathers side was Henry Usher sometime Arch-Bishop of Armagh a wise and learned Prelate one who industriously promoted the founding of that University and by his Zeal and Interest procured of the said Queen an established Revenue for the maintainance of a Provost and Fellows Students and Officers as may be seen by the Charter and Statutes of that Foundation and so it has flourished ever since with ample improvement A happy Foundation and great honour to that Kingdom having in the space of somewhat more than 90 years sent out divers Persons very considerable both in Church and State and yielded more than fifty Bishops besides others of inferiour Dignities who were many of them of great parts and excellent learning His Uncle by the Mother side was Richard Stanihurst a Learned man of the Romish Perswasion an excellent Historian Philosopher and Poet as appears by several of his Works still extant though some of them for that reason written against his Nephew yet notwithstanding their difference in Judgment they had frequent correspondencies by Letters some of which you will see hereafter in this following Collection He often mentioned two of his Aunts who were blind from their Cradle and so continued to their deaths and yet were blessed with admirable understanding and inspection in matters of Religion and of such tenacious Memories that whatever they heard read out of the Scriptures or was preached to them they always retained and became such proficients that they were able to repeat much of the Bible by heart and as their Nephew told me were the first that taught him to read English He had but one Brother Ambrose Usher who though he died young yet attained to great skill and perfection in the Oriental
of Christ are inabled to govern well to speak and exhort and rebuke with all Authority to loose such as are Penitent to commit others unto the Lord's Prison until their amendment or to bind them over unto the Judgment of the Great Day if they shall persist in their wilfulness and obstinacy By the other Princes have an imperious power assigned by God unto them for the defence of such as do well and executing revenge and wrath upon such as do evil whether by death or banishment or confiscation of goods or imprisonment according to the quality of the offence When St. Peter that had the Keys committed unto him made bold to draw the Sword he was commanded to put it up as a weapon that he had no authority to meddle withal And on the other side when Uzziah the King would venture upon the execution of the Priest's Office it was said unto him It pertaineth not unto thee Uzziah to burn incense unto the Lord but to the Priests the Sons of Aaron that are Consecrated to burn incense Let this therefore be our second Conclusion That the power of the Sword and of the Keys are two distinct Ordinances of God and that the Prince hath no more Authority to enter upon the execution of any part of the Priest's Function than the Priest hath to intrude upon any part of the Office of the Prince In the third place we are to observe That the power of the Civil Sword the supreme managing whereof belongeth to the King alone is not to be restrained unto Temporal Causes only but is by Gods Ordinance to be extended likewise unto all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Things and Causes That as the spiritual Rulers of the Church do exercise their kind of Government in bringing men unto obedience not of the duties of the first Table alone which concerneth Piety and the Religious Service which man is bound to perform unto his Creator but also of the second which respecteth moral honesty and the Offices that man doth owe unto man so the Civil Magistrate is to use his Authority also in redressing the abuses committed against the first Table as well as against the second that is to say as well in punishing of an Heretick or an Idolater or a Blasphemer as of a Thief or a Murtherer or a Traytor and in providing by all good means that such as live under his Government may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all piety and honesty And howsoever by this means we make both Prince and Priest to be in their several places Custodes utriusque Tabulae Keepers of both God's Tables yet do we not hereby any way confound both of their Offices together For though the matter wherein their Government is exercised may be the same yet is the form and manner of governing therein always different the one reaching to the outward man only the other to the inward the one binding or loosing the Soul the other laying hold on the Body and the things belonging thereunto the one having special reference to the Judgment of the World to come the other respecting the present retaining or losing of some of the comforts of this life That there is such a Civil Government as this in Causes Spiritual or Ecclesiastical no man of judgment can deny For must not Heresie for example be acknowledged to be a cause meerly Spiritual or Ecclesiastical And yet by what power is an Heretick put to death The Officers of the Church have no Authority to take away the life of any man it must be done therefore per brachium saeculare and consequently it must be yielded without contradiction that the temporal Magistrate doth exercise therein a part of his Civil Government in punishing a Crime that is of its own nature Spiritual or Ecclesiastical But here it will be said the words of the Oath being general That the King is the only Supreme Governor of this Realm and of all other his Highness's Dominions and Countries How may it appear that the power of the Civil Sword only is meant by that Government and that the power of the Keys is not comprehended therein I answer First That where a Civil Magistrate is affirmed to be the Governor of his own Dominions and Countries by common intendment this must needs be understood of a Civil Government and may in no reason be extended to that which is meerly of another kind Secondly I say That where an ambiguity is conceived to be in any part of an Oath it ought to be taken according to the understanding of him for whose satisfaction the Oath was ministred Now in this case it hath been sufficiently declared by publick Authority That no other thing is meant by the Government here mentioned but that of the Civil Sword only For in the Book of Articles agreed upon by the Arch-Bishops and Bishops and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London Anno 1562. thus we read Where we attribute to the Queen's Majesty the chief Government by which Titles we understand the minds of some slanderous folks to be offended we give not to our Princes the ministring either of God's Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Injuctions also lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen do most plainly testifie but that only Prerogative which we see to have been given always to all Godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself that is That they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil doers If it be here objected that the Authority of the Convocation is not a sufficient ground for the exposition of that which was enacted in Parliament I answer That these Articles stand confirmed not only by the Royal assent of the Prince for the establishing of whose Supremacy the Oath was framed but also by a special Act of Parliament which is to be found among the Statutes in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth chap. 12. Seeing therefore the makers of the Law have full Authority to expound the Law and they have sufficiently manifested That by the supreme Government given to the Prince they understand that kind of Government only which is exercised with the Civil Sword I conclude that nothing can be more plain than this That without all scruple of Conscience the King's Majesty may be acknowledged in this sense to be the only Supreme Governor of all his Highness's Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal And so have I cleared the first main branch of the Oath I come now unto the Second which is propounded Negatively That no foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm The foreigner that challengeth this Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Jurisdiction over us
that perswasion and therefore it was thought to be enough to condemn Transubstantiation and to say that Christ was present after a spiritual manner and received by Faith And to say more as it was judged superfluous so it might occasion division Upon this these words were by common consent left out and in the next Convocation the Articles were subscribed without them This shews that the Doctrine of the Church then subscribed by the whole Convocation was at that time contrary to the belief of a Real and Corporal Presence in the Sacrament only it was not thought necessary or expedient to publish it Tho from this silence which flowed not from their Opinion but the Wisdom of that Time in leaving a liberty for different Speculations as to the manner of the Presence Some have since inferred that the chief Pastors of this Church did then disapprove of the Definition made in King Edward 's time and that they were for a Real Presence And that our Protestant Bishops that were martyr'd in Queen Mary's days were against this expression of a Real Presence of Christ as a Natural Body appears by those Questions which they disputed on solemnly at Oxford before their Martyrdom The first Question Whether the Natural Body of Christ was Really in the Sacrament The second Whether no other substance did remain but the Body and Blood of Christ Both which they held in the Negative So that since this expression of a Real Presence of Christ's Body was not maintained by our first Protestant Reformers nor used by the Church of England in her Articles I do not see of what use it can be now tho perhaps only meant in a spiritual sence by most that make use of it For the real presence of a Body and yet unbodily I suppose those that speak thus understand as little as I do unless that some Men love to come as near the Papists as may be in their expressions tho without any hopes now of ever making them approach the nearer to us and in the mean time giving matter of offence and scandal to divers ignorant and weak Christians of our own Religion The fifth Point that the Doctor taxes the Lord Primat with as held by him contrary to the Church of England is That she teaches that the Priest hath power to forgive Sins as may be easily proved by three several Arguments not very easie to be answered The first is from those solemn words used in the Ordination of the Priest or Presbyter that is to say Receive the Holy Ghost Whose Sins ye forgive they are forgiven and whose Sins ye retain they are retained Which were a gross prophanation of the words of our Lord and Saviour and a meer mockery of the Priest if no such power were given unto him as is there affirmed The second Argument is taken from one of the Exhortations before the Communion where we find the people are exhorted by the Priest that if they cannot quiet their Consciences they should come unto him or some other discreet Minister of God's Word and open their grief that they may receive such ghostly advice and comfort as their Consciences may be relieved and that by the Ministry of God's Word they may receive Comfort and the benefit of Absolution to the quieting of their Consciences and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness The third and most material Proof is the Form prescribed for the Visitation of the Sick In which it is required that after the sick Person hath made a Confession of his Faith and professed himself to be in Charity with all Men he shall then make a special Confession if he feel his Conscience troubled with any weighty matter And then it follows that after such Confession the Minister shall absolve him in this manner viz. Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left power to his Church to absolve all Sinners that truly repent and believe in him of his great Mercy forgive thee thine Offences And by his Authority committed to me I absolve thee from all thy Sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Amen Of the first of these three places deduced all of them from the best Monuments and Records of the Church of England the Lord Primat takes notice in his Answer to the Jesuit's Challenge p. 109. where he treateth purposely of the Priests power to forgive Sins but gives us such a Gloss upon it as utterly subverts as well the Doctrine of this Church in that particular as her purpose in it And of the second he takes notice p. 81. where he speaks purposely of Confession but gives us such a Gloss upon that also as he did upon the other But of the third which is more positive and material than the other two he is not pleased to take any notice at all as if no such Doctrine were either taught by the Church of England or no such Power had been ever exercised by the Ministers of it For in the canvassing of this Point he declares sometimes that the Priest doth forgive Sins only declarative by the way of declaration only when on the consideration of the true Faith and sincere Repentance of the Party penitent he doth declare unto him in the Name of God that his Sins are pardoned and sometimes that the Priest forgives Sins only optativè by the way of Prayers and Intercession when on the like consideration he makes his prayers unto God that the Sins of the Penitent may be pardoned Neither of which comes up unto the Doctrine of the Church of England which holdeth that the Priest forgiveth Sins authoritativè by virtue of a Power committed to him by our Lord and Saviour That the Supream power of forgiving Sins is in God alone against whose Divine Majesty all Sins of what sort soever may be truly said to be committed was never question'd by any who pretended to the Christian Faith The Power which is given to the Priest is but a delegated power such as is exercised by Judges under Soveraign Princes where they are not tied unto the Verdict of Twelve Men as with us in England who by the Power committed to them in their several Circuits and Divisions do actually absolve the party which is brought before them if on good proof they find him innocent of the Crimes he stands accused for and so discharge him of his Irons And such a power as this I say is both given to and exercised by the Priest or Presbyters in the Church of England For if they did forgive Sins only declarativè that form of Absolution which follows the general Confession in the beginning of the Common-prayer-Book would have been sufficient where the Absolution is put in the third person Or if he did forgive Sins only optativè in the way of prayers and intercession there could not be a better way of Absolution than that which is prescribed to be used by the Priest or Bishop after the general Confession made by such as
all Abraham's Seed Males and Females yea to the Males and Females of all that were adjoyned to Abraham tho but bought with his Mony And the Circumcision of the Males was an Obsignation of God's Covenant to the Females also Lastly in the New Testament willing to make more ample Demonstration of his Love and more abundantly to confirm the Truth of his Promises he hath appointed the Obsignation of them even to both Sexes and to every several Person Whereby he hath not made their Condition worse who without contempt do want it but their 's better which are Partakers of it Which I speak in regard of the imagined necessity of Baptism to Infants to Salvation as if it were indeed a Medicine to save Life whereas it is only an assuring that Christ gives Life Consider how Baptism was given to them who had remission of Sins and the gifts of the Holy Ghost also before who therefore could have no other Intention therein but Certification only and adjoyning to the Church Acts 10. 44. Consider how it hath force about Sin not only going before it but following also yea even to them that at the time of the outward receiving it do ponere obicem else such ought to be re-baptized Consider that if the Faith of the Parents or the Church were effectual before Circumcision was instituted for the taking away of Original Sin from Infants or under the Law from Female Children it is no less effectual at the present under the Gospel And this presupposing that some mean must come between to make them partakers of Christ. Wherefore the same mean yet standing the effect of Baptism needs not to be assigned Justification or Ablution from Sin but Testification to the Receiver when he repents and believes that he is washed from Sin Consider that if you will aver that Baptism washes away otherwise then sacramentally that is obsignatorily original Sin yet you must allow that manner of washing for future actual Sins And you must make two sons of Justification one for Children another for Adulti And which passes all the rest you must find some Promise in God's Covenant wherein he binds himself to wash away Sin without Faith or Repentance for that Children have these I think you will not say You seem also to break the Chain of the Apostle Rom. 8. 30. Whom he hath justified he hath glorified Lastly by this Doctrine you must also maintain that Children do spiritually eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood if they receive the Encharist as for divers Ages they did and by the Analogy of the Passover they may perhaps ought since they do not ponere obicem contraria cogitationis aut pravae operationis And sith the use of his Sacrament topics quoties must needs confer Grace it seems it were necessary to let them communicate and the oftner the better to the intent they might be stronger in Grace Which Opinion tho St. Austine and many more of the Ancients do maintain I believe you will not easily condescend unto or that Children dying without Baptism are damn'd Which if Baptism be the Remedy that takes away Original Sin I see not how you can avoid Touching the Propositions of Molina opposed by the Dominicans and the Letters of Hippolytus de Alonte-Peloso I am glad you have met with them For I sent you the Originals which P. Paulo gave me upon occasion of speech with him touching that Controversy reserving no Copy to my self The occasion was the contention of the Jesuits and Dominicans before Pope Clement the 8th And those Letters were week by sent from Rome to Padre Paule of the carriage of the Business When you find a trusty Messenger I desire you to send me them For the Quodlibetical Question there is no haste I would join with it another Tractate about the Valtelinâ— set forth by Sir Rob. Cotton in English as it is said at least but I cannot get the Italian Copy I am sorry that Arminianism finds such favour in the Low-Countries and amongst our selves and glad that my Lord of Sarum whom I truly love and honour came off so well in the Business touching his Sermon LETTER CLXIV A Letter from his Majesty K. Charles the First to the King's Council in Ireland Cha. REX Right trusty and right well-beloved Cousins and Counsellors we greet you well Whereas it hath pleased God of his infinite Grace and Goodness to vouchsafe unto us a Son born at our Palace of St. James's the 9th day of this present Month of May to the great comfort not only of our Selves in particular but to the general Joy and Contentment of all our Good and Loving Subjects as being a principal Mean for the establishment of the prosperous Estate and Peace of all our Kingdoms whose Welfare We do and will ever prefer before any other earthly Blessing that can befal Us in this Life We therefore according to the laudable Custom of our Royal Progenitors in like case heretofort used have thought fit to make known unto you the joyful Tidings as well in regard of the High Place ye hold under Us in the Government of that our Kingdom as also that by timely Order from you the same may be communicated unto the Nobility and principal Cities and Towns thereof as to those who we know with all dutiful and loving Affections will embrace whatsoever may maâ—â— for the prosperous advancement of the Publick Good in which both you and they have so great Interest And to this purpose We have sent these out Letters unto you by Our trusty and well beloved Servant Thomas Pristâ—◠〈◊〉 one of our Officers of Arms being an Officer of Honour specially by Us honour to appointed for the more honourable expression of our good affection to that our Kingdom Given under our Signet at Our Palace of Westminister the fifth day of June in the sixth Year of Our Reign To Our right 〈◊〉 and right well-beloved 〈◊〉 and Counsellors Adam Viscount Loftus of Ely 〈◊〉 Chancellor of Our Kingdom of Ireland and Richard Earl of Cork Our Justices of that our Realm LETTER CLXV A Letter from the Right Honourable the Earl of Cork c. to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh After our hearty Commendations to your Lordship WE have lately to our exceeding great comfort received the glad Advertisement of the Queen 's safe Delivery in the Birth of a young Prince which did surprize us with such extraordinary Joy as is justly due from us upon so happy an occasion And because it is our Duties to join in sit Expressions of thankfulness to God for so great a Blessing we have resolved to set a Day apart for performance of those Duties so soon as one of his Majesty's Servants shall arrive here who is an Officer of Honour especially appointed by his Majesty to convey unto us those glad Tidings for the more honourable expression of his Highness's good Affection to this his Kingdom The particular respect we
bear to your Person and to the eminence of your place in the Church have moved us to make choice of your Lordship to preach here before this State on the Day whereon we purpose to perform those Ceremonies of Thankfulness due from us which we have thought fit to make known unto you purposing shortly to let you know the day when we desire your presence Yet if you shall find by your late Sickness any indisposition in your Body or danger to your Health to perform this Charge which we know would otherwise be very acceptable to you we do not in such case so strictly require your presence with us but that we do freely leave it to your own choice to come or stay as you shall find the disposition of your Body to enable you Only we desire to understand from you whether we shall then expect you or not to the end we may make choice of another if you may not come And so we bid your Lordship very heartily farewel From his Majesty's Castle of Dublin Junii 18. 1630. Your Lordship 's very loving Friends R. Cork Ad. Loftus Canc. In imitation of the like sent us out of England we have caused the inclosed to be imprinted here LETTER CLXVI A Letter from the Right Reverend William Laud Bishop of London to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Salutem in Christo. My very good Lord I Hope your Grace will pardon me that in all this time I have not written unto you For though I thank God I have recovered my Health in a measure beyond expectation yet I have been so overlaid with Business that I have not been able to give you any account or at least not such as I desired Your Lordship's first Letters for I owe you an answer to two bear date April the 5th and your later June the 4th 1630. The Main of both Letters is concerning Sir John Bathe And though in your last Letters you be confident that Sir John's Grant is not past the Seals as he hath avouched it is yet I must acquaint your Grace that you are mistaken therein for it appeared at the last sitting of the Committee that the Seal was put to his Grant at the beginning of April last Of which Doctrine you may make this Use what close conveyance and carriage there may be when the Church is to be spoiled I understand by Mr. Hamilton that the Lord Chancellor of Ireland is in Holy Orders and that being Deacon he holds an Arch-Deaconry yet of good value Surely my Lord if this be so there is somewhat in it that I will not express by Letter but were I his Superior in Ordinary I know what I would do and that I have plainly expressed both to his Majesty and the Lords Committees But my Lord for the Business I have stuck so close unto it both with his Majesty and with the Lords especially the Lord Treasurer who hath been and is very noble to the Church that I hope Sir John Bathe will see his Error and pitch upon some other Reward for his Services and surrender this Patent though seal'd that we may go on with the King 's Royal and Pious Grant to the Church Things being thus far onward once more there are two things which stick with the Lords 1. One is They like not the placing of these Impropriations upon any Incorporations Dublin or other To this I answered That neither did I like it and that it must be alter'd because it is against Law So it is resolved that we shall hereafter take not only that but all other material Passages of the Grant into consideration and therefore I think neither your old nor your new Letter will stand Some thought it fittest that these Impropriations should be left to the King to give To this I replied That that course would by the Suit of the Clergy and their Journeys over take off a great part of the Benefit intended them And to leave them in the Power of the Lord Deputy that might be but to enrich his Secretaries and expose the Church to that which I will not speak 2. The other Difficulty is That this Grant to the Church is too much against the King's Profit in these difficult Times because in the Lay-way the King's Rent may be improved which according to this Grant cannot be This Blow I looked not for but answered upon the sudden That I thought the Church of Ireland would be glad to take the King's Grant though it were with some improvement upon such Impropriations as might well bear it This I did partly to bear off the shock for the time and partly to gain opportunity to write to you who understand that Business better And I pray you by your next Letters give me all the help you can towards this Business One thing more and then I have done with Sir John Bathe Upon occasion of his Speech That the Clergy had a third part of that Kingdom I represented to the Lords the Paper which you sent me concerning the State of the County of Louth It was a miserable spectacle to them all yet at the last some Doubt arose whether those Values there expressed were the Rate in the King's Books or the uttermost value to the Incumbent To this I was not able to make a resolute Answer yet I feared they were Rates to the utmost value Hereupon the Lords required of me to write unto you to desire you to send me word with all the speed you can what value that Note of yours contain'd of which I pray fail not Your Grace is pleased in another Passage to desire me not to be too strict to my Rule in chusing Deans only to be Bishops My Lord it is true Deans are or should be the likeliest Men to be fitted for Bishopricks but they and no other was never any Rule of mine to my remembrance My Rule was and is and to that I shall ever be strict not to suffer any Bishop to hold any Deanery in Commendam if it lie in my power to hinder it For that which concerns the Bishop of Clonfert and Killmacduagh I have read the inclosed Papers you sent and see cause more than enough to pity but the way for remedy will be full of difficulty And for Killâ—anora there will be time enough to think upon Annexation For the Colledg and their Chauntry-Lands c. when they come for their Patent they shall not need to doubt all the lawful assistance that I can give them And now my Lord for as my Business stands 't is time to make an end I must needs thank you that you make it a matter of Joy to hear of my late Honour in being chosen Chancellor of Oxford My Lord I speak really it was beyond my deserts and contrary to my desires but since it hath pleased God by their Love to lay it upon me I must undergo the Burden as I may My honourable Predecessor enriched his Name by the Greek Manuscripts