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A62339 A dissertation concerning patriarchal & metropolitical authority in answer to what Edw. Stillingfleet, Dean of St. Pauls hath written in his book of the British antiquities / by Eman. à Schelstrate ; translated from the Latin. Schelstrate, Emmanuel, 1645-1692. 1688 (1688) Wing S859; ESTC R30546 96,012 175

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Apostolic Authority over England and that not only the ancient Britains but also the Saxons as soon a● they were Converted to the Faith acknowledg'd this with due veneration 9. And so much of some ancient Monuments from whence we have deduced that the British Nation did acknowledge the Popes Authority in the first Ages It now only remains that we return an Answer to the Objections raised from the Manuscript set forth by Spelman and the Acts of the British Synod which our Author cites out of Venerable Bede And first as to the Manuscript set forth by Spelman it doth not seem to be so ancient but that it might have been written since the Schism But saith Spelman at what time this Manuscript was written Spelmans Tom. 1. Conciliorum dugliae or by what Author I cannot learn either from the Manuscript it self or by any other means but I believe the Book may be found in the Cottonian Library Spelman tells us that he had no certainty concerning the Author of this Manuscript But on the contrary plainly intimates that he was in great doubt concerning the matter moreover since he confesses he was ignorant of the time when this Manuscript was written we may easily gather from hence that it was not ancient Nay the Style manifestly discovers that it is modern and could never have been Penned in the time of Augustine the Monk and of Gregory the Great Lastly it is there affirmed that the Britans and Dinoth the Abbot answer'd Augustine that they would own no Subjection to him Monumertum Anglicanum supposititium because they were under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Caerleon upon Usk. Whereas it is manifest that there was no Archbishop of Caerleon upon Vsk at that time and that the Metropolitan Jurisdiction had for above a hundred years before been transferr'd to Menevia As to the acts of the Synod which the Author cites against us out of Venerable Bede others have heretofore made answer that there was no dispute between Augustine and the British Bishops concerning the Primacy of the Bishops of Rome but only about some Traditions of their Church concerning which Augustine argued in this manner with the Bishops Indeed saith he to them Venerab Bed●● lib. 2. Hist cap. 2. Vid. num L. you do not only act contrary to our custom but likewise to that of the Vniversal Church in many things and yet if you will comply with us in these three things the observation of Easter at the right time the administring Baptism in which we are regenerated to God according to the Rite of the Holy Roman and of the Apostolic Church and in the joyning with us to preach the Gospel to the English we will bear with you in all other things wherein you act contrary to our custom But they made answer that they would not do any of these things nor accept of him as their Archbishop Thus far Bede from whose words it is apparent if I mistake not that the question was not concerning the Primacy of the Roman Bishop but about Augustines Metropolitical jurisdiction over them and that the British Bishops only contended that they ought not to pay subjection to Augustine as their Archbishop And although upon this account they refused to receive some other things that were of Ecclesiastical Tradition yet in this they did not oppose the Roman Church only but the Churches throughout the whole World where they were said to act many things inconsistent with Ecclesiastical Unity concerning which Venerable Bede in his Second Book above mentioned gives us this relation Ibid. Vid. num LI. When after a long disputation held they could not be brought either by the supplications perswasions or reprehensions of Augustine and his Companions to give their assent but rather chose to prefer their own Traditions before those of all the Churches which agree with one another in Christ throughout the whole world besides The Holy Father Augustine put an end to this long and troublesom contention by saying thus Let us beseech God who makes men to live in unanimity in their Fathers house that he would vouchsafe to discover to us by a sign from Heaven which Tradition is to be follow'd and which way we ought to take to arrive at his Kingdom let some Person that labours under an infirmity be brought and let his faith and works be believ'd to be devoted to God and be followed by all by whose prayers he shall be cured Which when his Adversaries although with reluctancy yielded to a certain blind man of English Race was brought who being offered to the British Priests for a cure and obtaining none by their Ministry at length Augustine as obliged upon so just an occasion bends his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ beseeching him that he would restore the sight of the blind man which he had lost and by enlightning the body of one man irradiate the minds of many Believers with the light of spiritual grace The blind man forthwith had his sight restored and Augustine is by all proclaim'd a Preacher of Divine light Whereupon the Britains confess'd they had plainly found that way of Righteousness to be true which Augustine taught Thus far Venerable Bede who no where mention'd any Controversie about the Popes Supremacy but concerning Traditions viz. the observation of Easter and some certain Rites in the administration of Baptism as is above remark'd 10. But though these things are true and confirm'd to be so by the Testimony of Venerable Bede yet let us suppose that amongst other things the Bishop of Romes Primacy was also controverted who sees not that the acts reorded in Venerable Bede fully confute our Authors Plea The acts testifie that the Britains contended about Traditions which they prefer'd before all Churches which agree amongst themselves in Christ over the world so that if the question was concerning the Primacy of the Bishop of Rome it is manifest that all the Churches in the World did then ackowledge the Primacy of Peters Successor as Gregory the Great also testifies Gregorius Magnus lib. 4. Epist 32. Vid. num LII lib. 4. Epist 32. writing to Mauritius For 't is manifest saith he to all that knowthe Gospel that the care of the whole Church was by the word of our Lord committed to S. Peter the Prince of all the Apostles Therefore in the time of Gregory the Great all that were acquainted with the Gospel knew the Successor of Peter the Prince of the Apostles whom the faithful from the very first Ages of Christianity styled the Bishop of Bishops so that the Britains opposed his Primacy against the judgment of the whole Catholic World. Supposing therefore that the Britains amongst other Traditions rejected also that of the Primacy of the Roman Bishop what could be gather'd from hence but that as Baronius the Parent of Annals hath observed after the Saxons had broken in upon them they deserted the Doctrines and Rites of the Catholic
Church and receded as Schismatics from the center of Ecclesiastical Communion What else can we conclude but that God was willing to shew the falshood of the Schismatical Church of Britain by the Miracle which he wrought upon Augustine's intercession Do not the Acts of the British Synod recorded in Bede testifie that Augustine did by so manifest a Miracle demonstrate the truth of those things which he proposed to the Britains that they were forc'd to confess it was the true way of Justice which Augustine Preach'd If these things cannot be denied as it is most certain they cannot what do the modern English Authors mean when they object against Catholics the answer of the Britains and the Monks of Banchor Will they not at length be convinc'd that they oppose nothing but their own Errors which are the vain Forgeries of Men against that Truth which hath been confirm'd by a Divine Testimony and that the rest of the Church hath just reason to condemn them for having lost both Truth and Modesty at the same time I am weary of vainly spending my time in matters so clear so manifest so perspicuous and of being again forc'd when Religion is the subject to bring a new Evidence of that Truth which all the English Writers of former Ages all men that have been eminent in Britain for Sanctity and Learning and lastly even the Bishops who have been present in the several Councils that have been held in England Scotland and Ireland have acknowledg'd and defended I will therefore conclude my Discourse with the following Exhortation AN EXHORTATION TO THE MINISTERS OF THE English Church WHen Philo the most Eloquent of the Hebrews address'd his Oration to Caius the Emperor Philo in Oratione pro Gente Hebraeorum ad Caium Caligulam and the Roman Senate How long saith he shall we old Men be Children as to the Body gray indeed through Age but as to the Mind through want of Knowledge very Infants whilst we believe Fortune the most inconstant thing in the World to be stable but Nature to be unstable whereas it is most constant Pardon me I beseech you most excellent Ministers of the English Church if I make my Address to you in the Words of Philo tho somewhat alter'd How long will you who are ancient in Body be Children in Minds and meer Infants for want of knowledg of Religion whilst you think the Catholic Church unstable which is yet most constant and your own which is rent from the Body of the Catholic Church will be stable You have chang'd the true Estimate of things attributing that to a part which is only the Property of the whole and imagining with your selves that the Catholic Church is defectible Matthaei 16 cap. 1. ad Timoth 3. which the eternal Truth hath promised shall never fail and which the Doctor of the Gentiles hath called the Pillar and Ground of Truth You thought that the true Faith was lost in the Catholic Church spread over the Face of the whole World but found again by you in England little considering how truly that Objection might be made against you which Henry the Eighth your King in the Age before this made against Luther that like the Donatists you reduce the Catholic Church to a very small number whispering of Christ in a Corner It was the Judgment of the great Augustine and of St. Optatus Milevitanus Optat. Melcvit Lib. 2. contra Parmenianum Quasi in carcerem latitudo Regnorum that the Church was not to be shut up in some Corner but to extend it self to the utmost Bounds of the World the latter of these Holy Fathers Lib. 2. reprehends Parmenianus the Chief of the Donatists for endeavouring to make void that Promise of God the Father of giving to the Son the uttermost parts of the Earth for his Possession whereas he had confined the large Extent of his Dominions as it were to a narrow Prison Then he asserts the Church that it may be Catholic ought to be extended to all parts of the World and that the first Mark to distinguish it by was Vnity which consists in the Communion it holds with St. Peter's See which is but one and this he believ'd so manifest that he thought Permenianus himself could not deny it Negare non potes inquit loco supracitato Stire te in Vrbe Roma Petro Primo Cathedram Episcopalem esse callatam in qua sederit emnium Apostolorum Caput Petrus undè Cephas appellatus est in qua una Cathedra uni as ab ●m●●bus servaretur ne caeteri Apostoli singulas sibi quisque defenderent ut jam schismaticus peccater esset qui contra singularem Cathedram alteram coll●caret Ergo Cathedra unica que est prima de dotibus sedit prior Petrus cui successit Linus enumerata longa Romanorum Pontificum serie usque ad Siricium sub quo scribebat Siri●●us inquit hodie qui noster est Sociu● cum quo nobis totus Orbis commercio formatarum in una Communionis Societate concerdat You cannot deny saith he in the place above cited but that you know that the Episcopal See of the City of Rome was granted to Peter as the Chief in which Peter the Head of all the Apostles sate from whence he was called Cephas in which one See Unity was to be preserved by all least the rest of the Apostles should claim a Superiority to any of their Sees So that now he would be a Schismatic and a Sinner who should set up another See in opposition to this peculiar See. Therefore in this one See only which is its chief Dowry Peter first sate to whom Linus succeeded and so reckoning up a long Series of Roman Bishops till he came to Siricius in whose time he wrote who saith he is our Fellow-Bishop with whom the whole World agrees as we do in one Society of Communion by intercourse of Communicatory Letters There was then a true Church in time past which diffused throughout the whole World made Peter's one See the Center of its Vnity and communicated with the Roman Church as a Sign of one Faith and Religion by Communicatory Letters This was the Sentence of Optatus Milevitanus and the rest of the Fathers which because the Donatists durst not deny they had constituted a Bishop of their own in the City of Rome who as St. Augustine tells us was called Rupensis and Montensis a Rupe vel Monte from the Rock or Hill wherein he conceal'd himself If therefore the Popes Authority was so manifest in former Ages that the Schismatical Affricans themselves could neither be ignorant of it nor deny it how comes it to pass that you in England now do not at all acknowledg it was perhaps the Knowledge of it so obliterated in the latter Ages that it could not be discovered by your Ancestors when they separated from the Communion of the Apostolic See Henricus Octavus libro de 7.