such Lords and Princes and so addeth his Dicendum est Where dallying and shifting with his Distinctions the Answer which he maketh to the Words of St. Ambrose is this at that time the Church being in Her minority had not the power to bridle Princes and that therefore she suffered the Faithful to obey Julian the Apostata in those things Quae nondum erant contra Fidem Which were not then against Faith Vt majus periculum Fidei vitaretur That the greater danger of Faith might be eschewed And the second Objection He more slightly passeth over saying That there is not the like Reason of Infidels and Apostata's And thus this great Schoolman relying upon the Authority of Gregory the Seventh had adventur'd to oppose himself against the Examples alledged out of the Old Testament against the Practice of the Primitive Church and against the Judgment of St. Ambrose not caring how many Thousands by this Rebellious Doctrine might come to Destruction so as the Bishops of Rome might have the World at their commandment We here omit how as Thomas and divers others writ many large Volumes upon Peter Lombard the Master of the Sentences his Distinctions so afterward and especially of later Times Books upon Books have been published upon his the said Thomas's Works all of them pursuing as they come unto it this seditious and trayterous Doctrine so Clerk-like handled by their Master Only we observe this great Schoolman's Conscience how in labouring to shift off the Truth maintain'd by St. Ambrose he could pass over a Lye in Gregory the Seventh where he saith That in absolving of Subjects from their Oath of Obedience and in prohibiting them from performing their Duties and Fidelity towards their Soveraigns He followed the Statutes of his holy Predecessors Being himself the first that ever durst be so desperate As also that he confesseth it was not in St. Ambrose his time contra fidem for Subjects to obey their Soveraigns though they were either Infidels or Excommunicate and likewise how thankfully the Bishops of Rome accepted and approved this Man's Travels so resolutely undertaken on their behalf Vrbanus the Fourth did so admire him as he reputed his Doctrine Veluti coelitus delapsam As to have fallen from Heaven Innocentius so admired both Him and his great Learning Vt ei primum post Canonicam Scripturam locum tribuere non dubitaverat As he doubteth not to give unto Him and to his Works the next place after the Canonical Scriptures And John 22th made him a Saint in the Year 1329 about forty nine years after his Death He was born during the Reign of Henry the Third King of England died about the second Year of King Edward the First and was Canonized a Saint in the time of King Edward the Second so ancient is this Chief Pillar of Popery Placet eis John Overall CAP. XI JVstinian the Emperour about the Year 533. did so contract the Civil Law as he brought it from almost 2000 Books into 50 besides some others which he added of his own Howbeit shortly after it grew out of Use in Italy by reason of the Incursions of sundry barbarous Nations who neglecting the Imperial Laws did practise their own till after almost 600 Years that Lotharius Saxo the Emperour about the Year 1136 did revive again in that Countrey and in other places also the ancient Use and Authority of it Which Course of the Emperour did not much content as it seemeth the Bishops of Rome because it revived the Memory of the ancient Honour and Dignity of the Empire Whereupon very shortly after Eugenius the Third set Gratian in hand to compile a Body of Canon-Law by contracting into one Book the ancient Constitutions Ecclesiastical and Canons of Councils that the State of the Papacy might not in that behalf be inferiour to the Empire Which Work the said Gratian performed and published in the days of Stephen King of England about the Year 1151. terming the same Concordia discordantium Canonum a Concord of disagreeing Canons Of whose great pains therein so by him taken a Learned Man saith thus Gratianus ille Jus Pontificale dilaniavit atque confudit that fellow Gratian did tear in pieces the Pontifical Law and confound it the same being in our Libraries sincere and perfect But this Testimony or any thing else to the contrary that might truly be objected against that Book notwithstanding the Author's chief Purpose being to magnifie and extol the Court of Rome his said Book got we know not how this glorious Title Decretum aureum Divi Gratiani The Golden Decree of S. Gratian and he himself as it appeareth became for the time a Saint for his Pains Indeed he brake the Ice to those that came after him by devising the Method which since hath been pursued for the enlarging and growth of the said Body by some of the Popes themselves Gregory the Ninth about the Year 1236. and in the time of King Henry the Third after sundry Draughts made by Innocentius the Third and others of a second Volume of the Canon-Law caused the same to be perused enlarged and by his Authority to be published and being divided into 5 Books it is Entituled The Decretals of Gregory the Ninth Boniface the Eighth the great Augustus as before we have shewed commanded likewise another Collection to be made of such Constitutions and Decrees as had either been omitted by Gregory or were made afterward by other succeeding Bishops and Councils and this Collection is called Sextus Liber Decretalium the Sixth Book of the Decretals and was set out to the World in the Year 1298. in the Reign of K. Edward the First Clement the Fifth in like manner having bestowed great Travel upon a Fourth Work comprehending 5 Books died before he could finish it but his Successour John the 22th did in the Year 1317. and in the time of King Edward the Second make perfect and publish the same Work of Clement and gave it the Name of The Clementines Afterward also came out another Volume termed The Extravagants because it did not only comprehend certain Decrees of the said John the 22th but likewise sundry other Constitutions made by other Popes both before and after him which flew abroad uncertainly in many Mens hands and were therefore swept up and put together after the Year 1478. into one Bundle called Extravagant Decretals which came to light post sextum after the sixth By which Title the Compiler of this Work would gladly as it seemeth have had it accounted the seventh Book of the Decretals but it never attaining that Credit the same by Sixtus Quintus's Assent is attributed to a Collection of certain other Constitutions made by Peter Matthew of divers Popes from the time of Sixtus the Fourth who died in the Year 1484. To all these Books mentioned there have been lately added Three great Volumes of Decretal Epistles from St. Clement
Ecclesiastically and to instruct them in the Mysteries of their Salvation through the blessed Seed of the Woman according to the Doctrine of the Gospel which was from time to time in divers Manners delivered by the Son of God unto them This Priestly Office and Ecclesiastical Authority was yet joyned as before the Flood with the Office of the chief Fathers and civil Governours Noah himself was both a Prince and a Priest he built Altars offered Sacrifices and taught the Church after the Flood 350. Years all that which he had learnt from his Fathers concerning the Creation of the World the Fall of Man and of his Restitution by Christ and generally all that did concern necessarily either civil Societies and Government or Ecclesiastical Assemblies and Authority not omitting the very Ceremonies After Noah the chief Fathers Sem Abraham Isaac and Jacob did execute that Office God himself renewing unto them this Promise of Salvation through the blessed Seed and not only confirming the same to Abraham and his Posterity by the Sacrament of Circumcision but likewise teaching and instructing them in that Heavenly Mystery sometimes by his own Voice and sometimes by Visions and divers other ways whereof the Scriptures make more plain mention than they do of the delivery of the same Evangelical Doctrine before the Flood CAN. VII IF any Man shall therefore affirm either that the Priestly Office and Authority Ecclesiastical which Noah had before the Flood was by that Deluge determin'd or that it was by the Election of his Off-spring confer'd again upon him or that Sem Abraham Isaac and Jacob were neither Priests nor had any Ecclesiastical Authority until they were chosen thereunto by their Children and Nephews or that the Priesthood and Ecclesiastical Authority were not the Ordinances of God for the governing and instructing of the Church according to the Will and direction of God himself delivered and revealed unto them as is aforesaid he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. VIII AS before the Flood Cain and his Posterity were opposite to the Posterity of Seth and might therefore generally have been called the Church Malignant so fell it out after the Flood in the Generations of Japhet but especially of Cham against the Posterity of Sem in whose Lineage the true worship of God through the blessed Seed was especially continued and not that only but in like manner as the Children of Seth in process of time provok't against them the wrath of God by corrupting their ways and following in their Conversations the Generations of Cain and were in that respect all of them with the rest of Cain's Off-spring justly punisht and drown'd by the Flood saving eight Persons Noah and his Wife Sem Cham and Japhet and their three Wives so did the Posterity not only of Cham and Japhet as well before as after the confusion of Tongues and the death of Noah but likewise the Off-spring of Sem who were called more effectually to the knowledge of the Mysteries of Christ and right service of the true God leave the ways of Noah and Sem and gave just occasion to Almighty God had he not bound himself by his Covenant to the contrary to have drowned them all again Nimrod descended of Cham not contenting himself with the Patriarchal or Regal mild Government ordain'd of God by the Laws of Reason and Nature became a Tyrant and Lord of Confusion and by Histories it is apparent that within few Ages after the Death of Noah's Sons great Barbarism and confusion fell among their Generations through their Pride and dissoluteness in that they thought scorn to be govern'd either Civilly or Ecclesiastically as God himself by Noah had ordain'd or to be ruled otherwise than as they list themselves and touching the Service of God and the Ecclesiastical Authority they mingled with true Religion many false worships and chose Priests among themselves to serve God after their own Fashions or rather they devis'd to themselves many Gods and found out Priests accordingly such as were content to train them up in those kinds of Impiety In Chaldea it self and the places adjacent the Children of Sem were all of them almost grown to be Idolaters insomuch as God himself to keep a remnant more carefully that should through the publick profession of his name be partakers of his Mercies in Christ called Abraham with his Family from the habitation of his Fathers to become a Stranger in the Land of Canaan CAN. VIII IF therefore any Man shall affirm That the said Posterity of Noah's Children did well in altering either the manner or form of civil Government which God had appointed by bringing in of Tyranny or factious Popularity or of the Ecclesiastical by framing unto themselves a new kind of Priesthood and worship after their own humours or that it was lawful for such as then served God upon any pretence to have imitated their Examples in either of those courses he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. IX IT is apparent in the Scriptures That although God was not pleased that the Issue of Jacob's Children should by the Example of the Sons of Noah grow up to become the heads of so many several Nations but continuing together should make one People and Nation to be ruled and governed by the same Laws and Magistrates yet it seemed good to his Heavenly Wisdom that in so great a People as should descend from Jacob's Children no one Tribe or Family should continue charg'd both with the Civil or Regal and Ecclesiastical Function and therefore Jacob making way to the fulfilling of the will of God herein did take just occasion moved thereunto by the Spirit of God to deprive his eldest Son Reuben of his Interest by Birthright in both those Prerogatives to be disposed afterward by God unto other of his Brethren Now after Jacob's Death the former thereof viz. the Scepter in process of time fell to Judah as Jacob before had Prophesied and the other also viz. the Priesthood was afterwards given to Levi by God's Ordinance CAP. X. AFter Jacob's Death till Moses was sent to deliver the Children of Israel out of Egypt there is little in the Scriptures touching either the Civil or Ecclesiastical Government It appeareth that Joseph being a great Prince in Aegypt by the King's Authority was whilst he lived chief amongst his Brethren but after his Death through the Tyranny of the Kings of Aegypt which God suffer'd to lie heavily upon them for many Years the civil Authority which any of the Tribes had was very small there was such jealousy of their number which daily encreast above all ordinary expectation as it is not likely that the Kings successively would suffer any great Authority to rest in them howbeit we think they had some either the chief heads of the Tribes generally or of the Tribe of Ephraim and Reuben for it may be Jacob's Prophecy of Reuben's losing the Prerogatives of his
own Sister Miriam for using some undutiful speeches against him was strucken by God with an exceeding great Leprosie and so odious was the murmuring of Korab Dathan and Abiram and their Confederates as the Lord caused the Earth to open and to swallow some of them quick and the Fire to consume the rest Joshua succeeding Moses the People professed their Subjection and Obedience unto him saying All that thou hast commanded us we will do and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go as we obeyed Moses in all things so will we obey thee Whosoever shall rebel against thy Commandment and will not obey thy Words in all that thou dost command him let him be put to death During the Reign of all the Judges though the People are noted for many great Enormities yet we do not find that they rebelled or shewed any great disobedience against them whom God had set over them to rule them except the particular murmuring and opposition of the Ephramites against Gideon and Jephtha at their first entrance upon conceit they had been contemned which opposition God punished with a great overthrow of them When the People had Kings according to the manner of other Nations to order and govern them their subjection was rather encreas'd than diminished according to Samuel's description of the King's Claim or manner of ruling which should reign over them To command not only over the Persons of his Subjects but also over their Goods which manner of ruling or dealing by any King without a just cause as it was Tyranny so to deny it when the necessity of the King and State did require it according to the Laws of the Kingdom was a great neglect of preserving the publick good and a high degree of disobedience Besides it is generally agreed upon that Obedience to Kings and civil Magistrates is prescribed to all Subjects in the Fifth Commandment where we are enjoyn'd to honour our Parents Whereby it followeth that subjection of Inferiours unto their Kings and Governours is grounded upon the very Law of Nature and consequently that the Sentences of Death awarded by God himself against such as shewed themselves disobedient and incorrigible to their Parents or cursed them or struck them were likewise due unto those who committed any such Offences against their Kings and Rulers being the Heads and Fathers of their Commonwealths and Kingdoms which is not only apparent by way of consequence but likewise by Example Practice and Precept as where Shimei is judged to die for cursing of David the Lord 's Anointed where David himself appointed by God to succeed King Saul would not be induced by any perswasions to lay violent hands upon his Master the King and where it is said Principi populi tui non maledices and again Ne maledicas Regi in corde tuo to which purpose more might be alledged CAN. XVI IF any Man therefore shall affirm that it was lawful in the Old Testament either for Children or Nephews to have been disobedient to their Fathers being their chief Governours from the Creation till Moses's time or afterward for the Children of Israel either under Moses Joshua the Iudges or their Kings to have been disobedient to them in their lawful Commandments or to have murmured or rebelled against them or that it was in those times more lawful unto Subjects for any cause whatsoever either to curse their Princes Kings or civil Governours or to bear Arms against them or to depose them from their Kingdoms or Principalities or to lay violent hands upon their Persons than it was in the said times lawful upon any occasion for Children either to have cursed their Parents or to have rebelled against them when they did reprove or correct them or to have withdrawn themselves from their subjection saying unto them they being private Men We will be no more your Children or you shall be no more our Fathers or bearing civil Authority over them we will depose you from your Government over us and will be no longer ruled by you or to have offered any violence unto them or to have beaten them and much less to have murthered them He doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XVII WHen God appointed Princes Judges and Kings to Reign over his people the manner usually was that they had notice of it thereby to conform themselves to obedience Moses and Aaron acquainted the Israelites with God's pleasure for their deliverance out of Egypt by their service agreeably to his Promise formerly made to Abraham and they chearfully and with great thankfullness submitted themselves to be ruled by them God having appointed Joshua to succeed Moses the same was signified by Moses to the Israelites and they willingly protested their obedience unto him Likewise no sooner did the Lord assign Judges to defend and govern them but presently they followed and obeyed them Upon the people's request Samuel having anointed Saul for their King when the same was made apparent to them either by casting of Lots or by answer from the Lord they shouted when they saw him and said God save the King King David being anointed by Samuel at God's appointment to succeed King Saul and after Saul's Death coming thereupon by God's direction to Hebron the Tribe of Judah presently anointed him again for their King and yielded themselves to be governed by him Seven years after all which time King David had Wars with Ishbosheth Saul's Son the rest of the Tribes came unto David and acknowledged that God had ordained him to be their Governour King David growing old and having appointed by God's direction his Son Solomon to be anointed King in his own Life time when the people knew that Zadok the Priest had so anointed him they forthwith upon the blowing of the Trumpets said all with one Voice God save King Solomon Afterwards also the like course was held upon the Death of every King to make his Successor known to the people Sometimes they were so addicted unto new Kings as they expected no further Circumstance but submitted themselves to their Government and sometimes it was held fit for the young Princes to imitate King David's Example by kind usage and loving words to knit more firmly their Subjects hearts unto them Placet eis CAN. XVII IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that the callings of Moses of Aaron of Joshua of the Iudges of Saul of David of Solomon or of any other of the Kings of Judah elected and named by God himself or coming to their Kingdoms by Succession according as Jacob by the Spirit of Prophecy had foretold did receive any such virtue or strength from the people their said notice presence and applause as that without the same the said callings of God either by Name or by Succession had been insufficient or that if the people had withstood any of them so called by God as is aforesaid they
might then lawfully command and do what they list In the separation of the Priesthood from the Regal Principality the same having been formerly in one Person they were then so by God distinguished as in some things appertaining to the Office of Kings no Priest as he was a Priest had any Authority to intermeddle as in some other things appertaining to the Office of Priests no King as he was a King might lawfully be an Actor both of them having their bounds and limits appointed unto them by God which without Sin they might not exceed And therefore as we greatly blame the High-Priest Vriah for obeying the wicked Command of King Ahaz in building by his direction an Altar in the Temple according to the Form of One that was in Damascus so do we greatly commend the godly Zeal of Azariah the High-Priest and of Eighty other Priests that were with him in withstanding as far as lawfully they might Vzziah King of Judah when in the Pride of his Heart he went into the Temple of the Lord and would have burnt Incense upon the Altar of Incense which none might lawfully do but Priests But it is to be observed that they did not withstand the King by force or Armies but told him that it did not appertain unto him but to the Priests to burn incense unto the Lord and therefore urged him to go forth of the Sanctuary Howbeit the King being angry with them for the same persisted as it appeareth in his former purpose and having Incense in his hand would have burnt it upon the Altar if God himself had not struck him in the Forehead with a Leprosie wherewith being terrified as also with a great Earthquake then happening as some learned Men have written from Amos 1. 1. he was constrained not only to desist from that rashness and to depart hastily out of the Sanctuary but likewise as a Leper to dwell in a house apart according to the Law and Jotham his Son as Viceroy ruled his Father's house and judged the People of the Land Vzziah himself during his life remaining King CAN. XXII IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that Uriah the High priest was bound to have built the said Altar because King Ahaz did command him or that Azariah and the other Priests did amiss in reproving King Uzziah so plainly or that they lawfully might have used any violence or force against the King's Person either in hindering him from burning of Incense or in thrusting him out of the Temple or in compelling him to dwell apart in a house as he did though he was a Leper if he had not of himself yielded to the observation of the law in that behalf or that he was deprived of his Kingdom either by the said stroke of God or by his dwelling in a house apart or that any thing which the Priests then did might have been a lawful Warrant to any Priest afterward in the Old Testament either to have deposed by sentence any of their Kings from their Kingdoms for the like offences or to have used Arms or repressed such their unlawful attempts by forcible ways though they had imagined the same might have tended to the preservation of Religion or that either before that time or afterward any Priest did resist by force of Arms or depose any of the Kings either of Israel or of Judah from their Kingdoms though the Kings of Israel all of them and fourteen of the Kings of Judah were open and plain Idolaters he doth greatly Erre Placet eis CAP. XXIII WE have shewed before that King Solomon did lawfully depose Abiathar from the Priesthood and placed Zadok in his room but that any Priests in the Old Testament as likewise we have before declared did ever depose from their Crowns any of their Kings how wicked soever or had any Authority so to do it can never be proved Howbeit one Example of Jehoiada the High-Priest is fit to be considered After the Death of Ahaziah King of Judah his Mother Athaliah finding his Children to be very young killed them all but the youngest and reigned by Usurpation six Years over the Land The said youngest Child whose Name was Joash was secretly conveyed away by his Aunt Jehoshabeth his Father's Sister and the Wife of Jehoiada the High-Priest who kept him so secretly in the Temple as that Athaliah the Usurper could never hear of him Now after the said six Years that Joash the true and natural Heir apparent to the Crown had been so brought up he the said Jehoiada being the King's Uncle and the chief Head or Prince of his Tribe sent through Judah for the Levites and chief Fathers both of Judah and of Benjamin to come unto him to Hierusalem who accordingly repairing thither and being made acquainted by him with the Preservation of their Prince as is aforesaid and that it was the Lord's Will that he should reign over them they altogether by a Covenant acknowledged their Allegiance unto him as unto their lawful King and so disposed of things as presently after he was crowned and anointed which dutiful Office of Subjects being performed they apprehended the Usurper Athaliah and slew her as before it was by the said States resolved In all the process of which Action nothing was done either by Jehoiada the High-Priest or by the rest of the Princes and People of Judah and Benjamin which God himself did not require at their hands Joash their late King's Son being then their only natural Lord and Sovereign although Athaliah kept him for six years from the Possession of his Kingdom CAN. XXIII IF any Man therefore shall affirm either that Athaliah did well in murthering her Son's Children or that Jehoiada and his Wife did amiss in preserving the Life of their King Joash or that Athaliah was not a Tyrannical Vsurper the right Heir of that Kingdom being alive or that it was neither lawful for Jehoiada and the rest of the Princes Levites and People to have yielded their subjection unto their lawful King nor having so done and their King being in Possession of his Crown to have joyned together for the overthrowing of Athaliah the Vsurper or that Jehoiada the High-Priest was not bound as he was a Priest both to inform the Princes and People of the Lord's Promise that Joash should reign over them and likewise to anoint him or that this fact either of the Princes Priests or People was to be held for a lawful warrant for any afterward either Princes Priests or People to have deposed any of the Kings of Judah who by right of Succession came to their Crowns or to have killed them for any respect whatsoever and to have set another in their places according to their own choice or that either this Example of Jehoiada or any thing else in the Old Testament did give then unto the High-Priest any Authority to dispute determine or judge whether the Children of the Kings of Judah should
and sole though invisible Monarch The foundation of which Church was ever one and the same Rock to wit Christ Jesus the promised Seed of the Woman that should break the Serpents head and as many Persons Families Societies and Companies as truly believed in that blessed Seed without exception of any sort or distinction of People were the true Members and parts of the Catholick Church For the death of our Saviour Christ which long after did actually ensue was virtually through Faith as effectual to all Believers before his Passion as it hath been since In respect whereof the Holy Ghost did not only affirm That Jesus Christ was the same that is the Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption of those that believ'd in him yesterday that is before and after the Law as to day that is now in the time of the New Testament but likewise that he was the Lamb slain from the beginning of the World because his Death and Passion being ever as present in the view and sight of God the Father before whom a thousand years are but as one day the same was typically represented by Sacrifices and effectual Sacraments and the merits thereof have from the beginning been communicated to all Believers So that although in imitation of the Scriptures we have spoken hitherto but of one particular Church and of the Succession of it in the Lines of Seth and Sem yet there have been other particular Churches in all Ages which were built upon the said Rock and promised Seed Cain offer'd his Sacrifice to God as well as Abel though it was not for his sins accepted and it is not to be doubted but that every chief Family of his Posterity had their Priests and publick worship of God albeit mingled with some such Superstition and Idolatry as offended God and made them less acceptable in his sight For as of the Posterity of Seth many perished so we are to judge on the other side that many of Cain's Line died in God's favour except we should think against the rules of Charity that the Curse which fell upon Cain killing his Brother Abel did cause his Off-spring to become as brute Beasts whereas having Adam their Grandfather it is more than probable he did better instruct them and prevail'd at least with some of them Likewise after the Flood all Noah's Off-spring being one Church under him and grounded upon Christ the true Foundation of it although afterward when they were setled in their several Countries allotted unto them they swerved greatly from that Purity in Religion which Noah had taught them yet they had still their Priests their Sacrifices and some outward worship of God amongst them Besides hitherto all the World being as one People if there were then any visible Churches at all upon the Earth it cannot be truly said that the calling of Abraham out of Chaldaea and the Erecting of the true worship of God in his Family did make them to be in worse case than they were before If Churches before they so continued after though Superstitious and Idolatrous Churches Again it is generally held that God did not therefore distinguish the Jews from other Nations and People and settle his publick worship amongst them as purposing thereby that his Catholick Church in their times should only consist of them and of their Nations and such other Proselytes as would be circumcised and join themselves unto them but much more because by that means the truth and certainty of all the Promises and Prophecies concerning the coming of the Messias might be faithfully and diligently observ'd and kept in one Nation and visible known place and People For it is plain in the Scriptures that after the said distinction many of the Gentiles served God and believed in Christ and were thereby made the true Members of the Catholick Church though they were not circumcis'd nor had any medling with or dependency upon the Jews Some are particularly named as Job Jethro Rahab the Ninevites the Widow of Sarepta Naaman Cornelius and some others by whom we are not only to judge of their Families and Governments that they were so many particular Churches but likewise that in every Country and People many such godly Men from time to time might have been found who with their Families and peradventure Subjects were so to be held and esteemed of We will not enter into the discussing of these places how far they may be extended Without Faith it is impossible to please God For he that cometh to God must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him In the word was life and the life was the light of men Is God the God only of the Jews and not of the Gentiles also Yes of the Gentiles also for it is one God who doth justify Circumcision by Faith and the uncircumcised through Faith I have other sheep which are not of this fold Only we do further observe that it was lawful for any of the Gentiles to come into the outward Court of the Temple to bring their Sacrifices unto the Lord and there to offer up their Prayers likewise unto him that accordingly they did often resort to the Temple for Devotion sake there to worship God as by the Examples of the Eunuch of Ethiopia and of certain Grecians that are mentioned in the Scriptures and that many of them were so addicted to the true service of God as the Prophet Haggai calleth our Saviour Christ Desiderium Gentium So that the Catholick Church consisting from the beginning till Abraham's time of such only as were afterward for distinction sake called Gentiles although God was then pleased to bestow his Mercies more plentifully upon that one particular Church of the Jews deduced from Abraham than upon any other or indeed upon all the rest for the principal Causes before-specified yet they were not utterly so rejected or cast out of God's favour but that many of them did continue as dutiful Children in the Lap and Bosom of the said Catholick Church Of which Catholick Church it is true that Adam and Noah for their times were under Christ the chief Governours Howbeit afterward the Posterity of Noah being mightily encreased when thereupon he distributed the whole World among his three Sons and their Issue he did not appoint any one of them to be the Ruler of the said Catholick Church but left the Government of every particular Family or Church unto their chief Heads Princes and Priests and of the whole to the Son of God and sole Monarch of it who only was able to undertake such a charge Neither do we read that Aaron or any of the High-Priests took upon them at any time to extend their Jurisdiction beyond the bounds and limits of the twelve Tribes or so much as once dream'd that the whole World was their Diocess that which they had being indeed more than they well ordered
Christ but likewise the other two Persons of the Blessed Trinity God the Father and God the Holy Ghost in that the dishonouring of One of them is the dishonouring of them all Three We do therefore for our selves and in the Name of all the rest of the Church of England acknowledge and profess from the bottom of our hearts the Truth of all that is written in the Sacred Scriptures and consequently and in more particular manner whatsoever is written in the same that doth appertain to the most Holy and Blessed Trinity Out of the Doctrine of which Sacred Writings because the Apostles and Churches of God moved thereunto by sundry sorts of Hereticks have long since most faithfully and learnedly deduced into certain Summaries rightly termed Creeds all those Points of true Doctrine which do concern God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost and are necessarily to be believed under pain of condemnation We do resolutely embrace and stedfastly believe all and every one the Articles of the Apostles Creed and all and every one the Articles of the other Creeds made by sundry Councils for the further Declaration of the Christian Faith and Apostolick Creed as of the Nicene Creed made by the Council of Nice against Arius who denied the Divinity of the Son of God and of the next Creed made in the first Council of Constantinople ratifying and further declaring the Nicene Creed against Eudoxius the Arian and Macedonius who denied the Holy Ghost to be God and of the Creed made in the first Council of Ephesus against Nestorius who taught that the two Natures in Christ were not united together personally but that the Word which did take our Nature upon him for our Redemption did only assist Christ our Saviour as one Friend may assist another and of the Creed made in the Council of Chalcedon against Eutyches who did confound the two Natures of Christ Against any of which Articles whosoever doth oppose himself and doth willfully continue in such his Opposition we hold and judge them to be worthily subject to all those Censures and Anathematisms which the several Constitutions and Canons of the said Councils have justly laid upon them Also with the same Resolution and Faith before-mentioned we receive and believe all and every one the several Points and Articles of the Athanasian Creed made a little after the Council of Nice against such blasphemous Opinions as in those times were either directly or indirectly published in Corners and spread here and there to the seducing of many According to some Articles of the which Creed that do more nearly concern our Course We stedfastly believe and confess That our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God is both God and Man God of the substance of the Father begotten before all Worlds and Man of the substance of his Mother born in the World perfect God and perfect Man of a reasonable Soul and humane flesh subsisting Equal to the Father as touching his Godhead and inferiour to the Father as touching his Manhood who although he be both God and Man yet he is not two but One Christ One not by Conversion of the Godhead into Flesh but by taking of the Manhood into God One altogether not by Confusion of substance but by Unity of Person In respect of which Personal Union of the two Natures of our Saviour Christ without confusion or mixture of either of them thus described in the said Creed whatsoever is affirmed in the Scriptures as well of the one Nature as of the other the same is also truly to be affirmed de toto Composito that is of his most sacred Person being both God and Man the Essential Properties of them both remaining notwithstanding distinguished For as the said personal or hypostatical Union of the said two Natures doth not make the one Nature to be the other the divine Nature to be the humane Nature or the humane Nature to be the Divine Nature so doth it not make the Essential Proprieties of the one Nature to be the Essential Proprieties of the other Nature but as well the Proprieties and actions as the Natures themselves do remain distinguished though united in one Person both of them concurring together the Deity in working that which appertaineth to the Deity and the Humanity executing those Essential Proprieties and actions which do belong unto the Humanity For Example the Divine Nature appear'd in Christ by Miracles when his humane Nature was subject to many opprobries and injuries In that our Saviour Christ did satisfie 5000. Persons with 5. loaves did give Water of Life to the Woman of Samaria did walk upon the Sea dry-foot did by his Commandment calm the Winds he shewed thereby some effects and works of his Divine Nature because they were as one well saith verbi propria non carnis the Proprieties of the Word and not of the Flesh Again in that Christ brake Bread this was an Office of his humane Nature but in that he multiplied it the same did appertain to his Divine Nature In that he cried out Lazarus come forth that was the office of his humane Nature but in that he quickned him and raised him from Death that did belong unto his Divine Nature In that he said Thy sins are forgiven thee that was an office of his humane Nature but in that such sins were indeed remitted the same did appertain to his Divine Nature In that our Saviour Christ died the same did proceed from the Flesh but in that by his Death he did expiate our Sins that did proceed from the Spirit In that he was Buried did proceed from the Flesh but in that he did raise himself from the dead that was he Office of his Divinity In that he gave Bread to his Apostles in his last Supper he did it as Man but in that he made them partakers of his blessed Body he did the same as he was God In that now being in Heaven he doth possess that Kingdom in the name and behalf of his Elect that doth appertain to his humane Nature but that he doth now remain with us and dwell in our hearts that is an Office of his Divine Nature In that he maketh Intercession for us that doth belong to his humane Nature but in that he doth justifie us regenerate us work in us both to will and to perform in that he ruleth us and leadeth us in the way of his Commandments all these Offices do appertain unto his Divinity Lastly In that he shall come in the Clouds and say unto one sort of Persons Come ye blessed and unto the other sort Depart ye Cursed he shall do the same according to his humane Nature but in that he shall judge every Man according to his knowledge of all Mens hearts their cogitations desires and works that he shall do as God Nevertheless any thing by us thus affirmed notwithstanding Christ himself is not divided though the Proprieties and actions of his two Natures are in this
had been a lawful Form of Government whilst the Apostles lived but upon their Deaths it became presently to be unlawful It is very apparent and cannot be denied That in many Greek Copies of the New Testament Timothy and Titus are termed Bishops in the Directions or Subscriptions of two Epistles which St. Paul did write unto them These are the words of the said Directions The second Epistle written from Rome unto Timotheus the first Bishop elected of the Church of Ephesus And again To Titus elect the first Bishop of the Cretians written from Nicopolis in Macedonia Moreover agreeable to the said Subscriptions the ancient Fathers generally having no doubt upon their due searching the Scriptures fully considered of the Form of Ecclesiastical Government whilst the Apostles lived do with one consent whensoever they expound the Epistles of St. Paul to Timothy and Titus or have Occasion to speak of the Authority of those two Persons very resolutely affirm That they were by the Apostles made Bishops And the same also they do testifie of St. James the Apostle himself called the Lord's Brother that he was made by the rest of the Apostles his Colleagues Bishop of Hierusalem and so also of the Seven Angels of the Churches in Asia that they were so many Bishops of the Apostles Ordination Besides the said ancient Fathers did very well know that when St. Paul said to Timothy I charge thee in the sight of God and before Jesus Christ that thou keep this Commandment without spot and unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ that it was impossible for Timothy to observe those things till the coming of Christ he being to die long before and that therefore the Precepts and Rules which St. Paul had given unto him to observe in his Episcopal Government did equally appertain as well to Bishops his Successors as to himself and were to be executed by them successively after his Death unto the Worlds End as carefully and diligently as he himself whilst he lived had put them in Practice One of the said Fathers doth write as followeth With great Vigilancy and Providence doth the Apostle give Precepts to the Ruler of the Church for in his Person doth the safety of the People consist He is not so circumspect as fearing Timothy's care but for his Successors that after Timothy's Example they should observe the Ordination of the Church and begin themselves to keep that Form which they were to deliver to those that came after them Again it is evident by the Ecclesiastical Histories that not only St. James Timothy and Titus were made Bishops by the Apostles but that likewise Peter himself was Bishop of Antioch so termed because of his long stay there and that the Apostles likewise made Evodius Bishop of Antioch after St. Peter and St. Mark Bishop of Alexandria and Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna and that St. John returning from Patmos to Ephesus went to the Churches round about and made Bishops in those places where they were wanting and also that divers others of the Apostles Coadjutors besides Timothy and Titus were made by them Bishops and did govern the Cities and Provinces where they were placed according to the same rules that were prescribed to Timothy and Titus as Dionysius the Areopagite was the first Bishop of Athens Caius the first Bishop of Thessalonica Archippus the first Bishop of the Colossians and we doubt not but many more by diligent reading may be found that were in the Apostles times made Bishops Furthermore it is apparent by the testimonies of all Antiquity Fathers and Ecclesiastical Histories that all the Churches in Christendom that were planted and govern'd by the Apostles and by such their Coadjutors Apostolical Persons as unto whom the Apostles had to that end fully communicated their Apostolical Authority did think that after the Death either of any of the Apostles which ruled amongst them or of any other the said Bishops ordained by them it was the meaning of the Holy Ghost testified sufficiently by the practice of the Apostles that the same Order and Form of Ecclesiastical Government should continue in the Church for ever And therefore upon the death of any of them either Apostles or Bishops they the said Churches did always supply their places with others the most worthy and eminent Persons amongst them who with the like Power and Authority that their Predecessors had did ever succeed them Insomuch as in every City and Episcopal See where there were divers Priests and Ministers of the Word and Sacraments and but one Bishop only the Catalogues of the Names not of their Priests but of their Bishops were very carefully kept from time to time together with the Names of the Apostles or Apostolical Persons the Bishops their Predecessors from whom they derived their Succession Of which Succession of Bishops whilst the Succession of Truth continued with it the ancient Fathers made great account and use when any false Teachers did broach new Doctrine as if they had received the same from the Apostles choaking them with this that they were not able to shew any Apostolical Church that ever taught as they did Upon such an occasion Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons within 75. years or thereabout after St. John's Death doth write in this sort Habemus annumerare eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt Episcopi in Ecclesiis Successores eorum usque ad nos qui nihil tale docuerunt neque cognoverunt quale ab his deliratur And so likewise not long after him Tertullian to oppress some who as it seemeth drew Companies after them saith thus Edant Origines Ecclesiarum suarum Evolvant ordinem Episcoporum suorum ita per Successiones ab initio decurrentem ut primus ille Episcopus aliquem ex Apostolis aut Apostolicis viris qui tamen cum Apostolis perseveraverit habuerit autorem Antecessorem Hoc enim modo Ecclesiae Catholicae sensus suos deferunt And St. Augustin Radix Christianae Societatis per sedes Apostolorum Successores Episcoporum certâ per Orbem propagatione diffunditur Again forasmuch as it was thought by our Saviour Christ the best means for the building and continuing of his Church in the Apostles times to ordain sundry degrees of Ministers in Dignity and Authority one over another when such a kind of preheminence might have been thought not so necessary because the Apostles by working of Miracles might otherwise as it is probable have procured to themselves sufficient Authority How can it with any reason be imagined but that Christ much more did mean to have the same still to be continued after the Apostles days when the gifts of doing Miracles were to cease and when Mens Zeal was like to grow more cold than it was at the first It savoureth assuredly We know of what Faction Indiscretion or Affection for any Man either to think that Form of Church-Government to be unfit for our times
Episcopi quasi Cardinales Archiepiscopus sederet quasi Papa ibi omnis Appellatio subsisteret querela Hoc quidem Rex Henricus machinabatur approbant quamplures Episcopi hâc de causâ ut dictum est ut possent de sub jugo sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae colla excutere Now the building of the said Church is so forward that there is ordain'd there a Dean a Provost and more than 40. Canons founded of the Goods of the Church of Canterbury by birth Noblemen abounding in Wealth Allies of the King and of the Bishops Some of them do adhere to the King some have Offices in the Exchequer all of them familiar Friends to the Bishops and of a Confederacy with them Against such and so great Persons what is the Church of Canterbury able to do Certainly it is to be feared not only that the Church of Canterbury shall hereby be overthrown but that upon this occasion the Authority of the Apostolical See which God forbid shall in England be greatly diminish'd und prejudiced For when this Canonry or Cathedral Church was founded it was the common fame and the opinion of every Man that it was founded to this end that Bishops should be there as it were Cardinals and that the Archbishop should sit amongst them as Pope and that there all Appeals and complaints should be determined This assuredly was plotted by King Henry and the same very many Bishops do allow for this cause or end that so they might deliver their Necks from under the Yoke of the Holy Church of Rome Again after the Death of Celestin the Fourth the Cardinals being at so great a Dissention amongst themselves as that they could not agree for the space of a Year and nine Months who should succeed him both the Emperour and the French were greatly moved and offended therewith The Emperour finding his advice unto them to hasten their Choice to be despised and scorned and how dishonestly some of them had broken their Promises and Oaths unto him made in that behalf he gathered a great Host and dealt sharply with them And from France they received a Message that if they continued to dally as they did in prolonging the choice of a new Pope they would utterly leave Rome and choose to themselves a Pope of their own to govern the Churches on this side the Alps. Hereof Matthew Paris writeth thus Per idem tempus miserunt Franci solennes Nuncios ad Curiam Romanam significantes persuadendo praecisè efficaciter ut ipsi Cardinales Papam ritè eligentes Vniversali Ecclesiae solatium Pastorale maturiùs providerent vel ipsi Franci propter negligentiam eorum de sibi eligendo providendo summo Pontifice citra Montes cui obedire tenerentur quantocyùs contrectarent About that time the State of France did send their solemn Messengers to the Court of Rome signifying unto them and perswading them precisely and effectually that either the Cardinals should more speedily provide for the Vniversal Church her Pastoral Comfort by their due choice of a new Pope or else they themselves the French because of their negligence would forthwith fall into deliberation of choosing and providing for themselves a Pope on this side the Mountains whom they might be bound to obey Thus the said History Whereby as also by the former words of the Monks of Canterbury it is very evident that both England and France was long since in deliberation to have abandon'd the Authority of the Bishops of Rome out of both those Kingdoms as finding no necessity of the Universal overswaying power of the Roman Papacy and that the Churches within their several Countries and Territories might receive as great benefit and comfort by the Ecclesiastical Government of their own Archbishops in every respect as ever they had done from the Bishops of Rome For as it may truly be said not of one King to govern all the World but of every particular King in his own Kingdom so may it be truly affirmed not of one Pope to govern the whole Catholick Church but of every Archbishop in any National Church and Province to rule and direct the same that under the Government of one viz. of Kings for temporal Causes and of Archbishops for Ecclesiastical Causes there is the best order the greatest strength the most stability for continuance and the easiest manner and form of ruling We have spoken hitherto of the Government of the Church especially as it was in the Apostles times and afterward for the space of 300. years when the civil Magistrates were Enemies unto it Whereby we do infer that if the particular Churches setled then almost in every Country and Nation throughout the World had so good success when there were no Christian Magistrates nor had any assistance of the temporal Sword for the strengthning of their Ecclesiastical Government but only Ministers to teach and direct their Parishioners in the ways of Godliness and Bishops over them in every Diocess to oversee and rule as well the Ministers as the several People committed to their charge that they taught no new Doctrine or ran into Schisms and Archbishops over them all in every National Church and Province for the moderating and appeasing of such oppositions and dissentions as might otherwise have risen amongst the Bishops and so consequently have wrought great distraction betwixt their Diocesan Churches how much more then are the said particular Churches like to flourish and prosper under such a Form of Ecclesiastical Government wherein the Christian Magistrate is become to be as the chief Member of the Church so the chief Governour of it to keep as well the said Archbishops within their bounds and limits as all the rest of the Clergy and Christians Bishops Ministers and Parishioners that every one in their several places may execute and discharge their distinct Offices and Duties which are committed unto them We shall have fit occasion hereafter to speak of the Authority of Christian Princes in Causes Ecclesiastical here we do only still prosecute the Government of the Church when temporal Kings and Princes were her great and mortal Enemies and the Folly if not the obstinacy of our Adversaries who either see it not or will not acknowledge it that peace and quietness may as well be preserved in all the Churches in the World by Archbishops and Bishops without one Pope to govern them all as by Kings and Sovereign Princes in all the Kingdoms and temporal Governments in the World without one temporal Monarch to rule and oversway them For our Adversaries shall never be able to prove that it may be ascribed as we have before said more to any want of discretion and due Providence in our Saviour Christ that he hath not appointed the Pope to govern the Catholick Church than that he hath not assigned the Government of the whole World to one King or Emperour Rather it is to be attributed to their audacious temerity and presumption that will either enforce
For the Lombards beginning to trouble Rome and they being asham'd to crave Aid from the said Emperour whom they had so abused they left their own Soveraigns under pretence that in regard of their Wars with the Saracens they were not able to assist them and procured assistance from France First by Carolus Martellus and then by Pepin his Son the said Stephen the Second having bound the said Pepin as it seemeth by an Oath that if he overcame the Lombards all that appertained to the Exarchate of Ravenna which had lately been the Emperours might be annexed to the Bishoprick of Rome which was afterward by him performed accordingly Suitable hereunto were the proceedings of Pope Adrian the First Who being again troubled with the Lombards obtain'd help from Carolus Magnus by whose coming into Italy the Lombards were shortly subdued and the Pope's Estate greatly advanced but the Emperour 's was in effect utterly overthrown concerning his Interest and Authority which he had before in those Parts For the said Carolus having vanquished the Lombards and none else there being able to resist him he caused the said Pope to Anoint his Son Pepin King of Italy and so returned into France But aboâ—â— Four Years after Leo the Third being Pope and afterward faln into so great Hatred amongst the Romans as he hardly escaped them with his Life He the said Leo used such means as that he brought the said Charles again to Rome before whom Leo purged himself by his Oath from those Accusations wherewith the Romans charged him In Requital whereof and the rather because at that time Irene the Empress and Wife of Leo the Fourth Raign'd at Constantinople after her Husband's Death which the Romans disliked the said Charles was in Rome created Emperour over the Western Parts which belonged before to the ancient Empire Touching which Point an ancient Historiographer writeth in this sort The Romans who were in Heart long before faln from the Emperour of Constantinople taking this occasion and opportunity that a Woman had gotten the Dominion over them did with one general Consent proclaim King Charles for their Emperour and Crowning him by the Hands of Leo the Third Saluted him as Caesar and Emperour of Rome And this was the fruit of the Exemption which was granted to the Bishops of Rome by the Emperour Constantine the Fourth for their Preferment to that See without the Emperour's Approbation Rome and Italy are cut off from the ancient Empire a new Empire is erected by the Practices and Treacheries principally of the Bishops of Rome it being in a sort necessary that so notable a Treason against the said ancient Empire should be especially effected by such notorious Instruments Placet eis JO. OVERAL CAP. VII CHARLES the Great having possessed himself Jure Belli of the greatest part of Italy and made his Son King thereof although he bestowed much upon the Church of Rome and used Pope Vrban very honourably yet he being a wise and a very provident Prince could not be ignorant how insolently the Bishops of Rome had behaved themselves toward their former Emperours and how traiterously they had long sought to make them odious in Italy after they had gotten themselves to be released from the Emperour's Authority in their Advancement to that See That he might therefore prevent the like dangers for the time to come and secure both himself and his Posterity in that behalf He so used the matter with the said Vrban as he brought the Popes to their former Subjection The Relation whereof is thus recorded by a principal Upholder of that See Carolus being returned to Rome saith he appointed a Synod there with Pope Adrian in the Patriarchal Palace of Lateran Which Synod was Celebrated by One hundred and fifty three religious Bishops and Abbots At what time Adrian the Pope with the whole Synod deliver'd or yielded to Charles 's Interest and Power of choosing the Bishop of Rome and of ordering the Apostolical See Moreover He the said Adrian defined that all the Archbishops and Bishops through all particular Provinces should receive from the said Charles their Investiture and that none should be Consecrated by any except he were first commended and invested Bishop by the King under pain of Excommunication Howbeit when Charles being dead his Son Ludovicus was as it seemeth so wrought upon through the softness of his Nature as he was contented that the Romans according to their own Judgment should Create and Consecrate their new Bishop so it were done without Tumult or Bribery always provided that the new Bishop should advertise him by his Legats as touching his Consecration and conclude a Peace with him Or as another saith That Legats should be directed unto the Emperour and to his Successors Kings of France to make a League of Friendship Love and Peace betwixt them and the Bishops of that See With this Order though it tended much to the prejudice of the Empire the Bishops of Rome were not long satisfied as brooking no shew of any Superiority over them but were still shifting as they might to cast off likewise that Yoak Which Otho the First well perceiving when he came to the Empire sought to reform as knowing how dangerous their ambitious Humours were to his Estate by causing Leo the Eighth with all the Clergy and people of Rome to decree in a Synod about the Year 964. That he the Emperour and his Successors should have the power of Ordaining the Bishops of Rome that if any should attempt any thing against this Rule he should be subject to Excommunication and that if he repented not then he should be punished with irrevocable Banishment or be put to Death Afterward also about the Year 1046. Henry the Third finding those Bishops still to persist in their said aspiring Course of â—â—empting themselves from the Emperour's Authority and that thereby there grew divers Schisms and Quarrels in their Elections he held a Council at Sutrium not far from Rome wherein it was determined that the Romans should no more intermeddle with the Choice of their Bishops but that the same should always be referred to the Emperour At what time also the Emperour made the Romans to swear that from thence-forward they would neither Choose nor Consecrate any Pope but such a One as he should tender unto them By these and such like other means from the time of Charles the Great hitherto for about the space of 236 Years the Emperours kept the Bishops of Rome in some reasonable good Obedience towards them but not without their own great trouble and much kicking and repining by those Bishops at it as growing daily worse and worse Insomuch as there being Sixty of them if not more who succeeded in that See within the compass of the Years before-mention'd about Fifty of them did so degenerate from the Vertues of their Predecessors as a great Friend in his