A IOYNT ATTESTATION Avowing that the Discipline of the Church of ENGLAND was not impeached by the Synode of Dort LONDON Printed by M. Flesher for R. Mylbourne and are to be sold at his shop at the great South-doore of Pauls 1626. A IOYNT ATTESTATION avowing that the Discipline of the Church of England was not impeached by the Synode of DORT IT behooveth him that pretēdeth to frame A just Appeale from unjust Informers therein to keepe himselfe cleare from the just imputation of unjust informing Yet hath the Author of the Treatise styled Appello Caesarem rashly and without ground cast a foule blot upon the Synode of Dort in generall and consequently in common reputation upon all the members thereof among whom those Divines that were by his late Majesty of blessed memory sent thither and concurred in the Conclusions of that Nationall Synode are in speciall aymed at as having betrayed or impeached the government of their Reverend Mother The Discipline of the Church of England saith hee in that Synode is held unlawfull And againe The Synode of Dort in some points condemneth upon the Bye even the Discipline of the Church of England Was that distressed Church in the midst of her distractions about matter of Doctrine so wily in her intentions as to make preposterous use of their neighbors assistance and to draw them in for concurrence in matter of Discipline with a forreine sister against their owne Mother Were those that hence ayded that Church tam naris obesae so dull of apprehension as not to perceiue the interest of their owne Or did they demeane themselves tam sublesta fide so perfidiously as to suffer the government of this renowned Church so much as upon the Bye to bee condemned by others there and to sit downe by it Had there been any colour for such surmise it might have pleased the Appealer or Appeacher before he Recorded in print such his odious Information tendered to his Majesties owne hands to have demanded in private such a question of some of those from whom in all likelyhood hee might have received particular satisfaction Civill correspondence required no lesse of him towards those whose persons hee professeth to respect for ancient acquaintance and other causes The best is though himselfe for his own part doth often salute that Synode with the complements called in Rhetorique 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non equidem invideo and such like flowers strewed along his Treatise yet in his indulgence hee giveth others as cause so leave to speake in their owne behalfe Let them looke to it and answer for it whom it concerneth And againe Let them that are interessed plead for themselves Wee therefore who have hereto subscribed our names being interessed in that Synode and withall deeply in this crimination of Puritanisme can doe no lesse then answere and cleare in some publique manner this slander published against us And first in generall to remove the often objected suspition of complication betweene foreine Doctrine and foreine Discipline wherby is intended that there is a kinde of naturall consanguinitie betweene that Doctrine which odiously hee styleth foreine subscribed unto by that Synode and the Presbyteriall Discipline established in that and other forein Churches wee answer that in the Netherlands the party opposite unto that Synode and most aggrieved with the Conclusions thereof concerning the Points controverted are notwithstanding as vehement and resolute maintainers of the Ministeriall Parity as any that concluded or accepted the judgement of that Synode Moreover in our private conversing with the most eminent of the Ministery there wee found divers times upon occasion of our declaring unto them the order and manner of our Church-government that they were more ready to deplore then defend their owne estate and wished rather then hoped to bee made like the flourishing Church of England Nor were these therefore the lesse ready to concurre for the Dort Conclusions but were rather of the principall and forward actors therein Secondly in speciall we plead against a supposed act of damning our owne Episcopal discipline Which inditement in fayre accusation should have beene layed more particularly what action what Session what Conclusion Now are wee put to seeke not so much our defence as our fault And for such surmise wee can finde no other footing then possibly in the approbation of the Belgique Confession propounded to the Consideration of the Synode about a weeke before it brake up This Confession composed an 1550 and received in their Church and in the Wallon Churches ever since the first reforme of Religion is unto them for consent in Doctrine a Rule not much unlike to our Articles of Religion here established Which as it was formerly anno 1583 accepted and approued by the Reformed French Church in a Nationall Synode at Vitree so upon the opportunitie of this Nationall Synode the State and Church there recommended the same to more publique judgement for further establishment And because two or three Articles therof concerned Church-discipline and avowed a Parity of Ministers they prudently fore-seeing that the Britaine Divines would never approve but rather oppose the same did therefore provide that before the examining or reading thereof protestation should be made by the President of the Synode that nothing but the Doctrinall points was to be subjected to their consideration and suffrages and for the surer preventing opposition or dispute the Articles concerning Discipline were accordingly retrenched and suppressed in the reading of that Confession to the Synode If therefore the Britaine Colledge had in their suffrages onely answered ad quaesita concerning Doctrine and uttered no opinion at all de non quaesitis concerning Discipline they thinke they had not herein beene wanting to their Synodicall duty and calling The rather for that 1 They were sent thither to endeavour the peace and composure of that distracted Church by expressing their judgements in the Points there already controverted not by intruding in matters not at all questioned among them 2 Among the Instructions given them by his Majesty they had none to meddle with the Discipline there established but had charge to use moderation and discretion and to abstaine from multiplying of questions beyond necessity 3 In that subject there was no hope on possibility of prevayling by argument or perswasion especially in that Church where the Civill government is popular and so complyeth more easily with Ecclesiastique Parity Yet wee thought not fit to content ourselves with warrantable silence but upon our returne from that Synodicall Session to the place of our private Collegiate meeting wee diligently perused the Confession not onely for points of Doctrine referred to our judgements but also for those excepted Articles touching Discipline And consulting together what was fit to bee done in delivering our opinions the next day wee joyntly concluded that howsoever our Church discipline had not beene Synodically taxed nor theirs avowed yet it was convenient
aequales et omnes omninò homines sunt aequè homines non inde tamen homo homini non debet subesse Haec non ad harum Ecclesiarum offensionem sed ad nostrae Anglicanae defensionem se submonuisse professus est A reliquis Britannis nonnulla alia sunt subnotata de libero arbitrio de passiva Christi obedientia praesertim vero de phrasi nimis dura generali cum dicatur de Canonicis libris nullam unquam fuisse controversiam Quae quidem incommoda phrasis vitio interpretis irrepserat cum in originali Gallicana benè se habeat Item exceptioni de disciplina adjioitur à reliquis Britannis similis exceptio si quid contra legitimos ritus externos generaliter ibidem statuatur Britannorum interpellationi à Synodicis responsum ne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quidem About a yeare after our returne the Acts of the Synode were published in print wherein among other particulars the Belgique Confession is at large set downe in 37 Articles Whereof two or three containe matter of Discipline received in those Churches These belike our Censurer viewing prout jace◠in terminis thereupon without any further search concluded that Synode Guilty and condemnable as condemning the Discipline of the Church of England But still wee hold our selves to stand cleare and therefore prosecute our Appeale from the rash sentence of this Appellant alleadging for our selves 1 Though all and singular the Articles there comprised had passed Synodicall sorutiny and beene approved canonically yet will it not follow that all and every the Synodiques there gave consent thereto For this approbation might have passed by the votes of the major part etiam reclamantibus Britannis who for number were not considerable among so many both other strangers and Provincialls And so a favourable construction might have exempted the Britaine Divines from that which is here covertly put upon them being thought to reach forth their hand to the striking their Mother 2 We deny that upon view of those Synodall Acts we by presumption in Law need to be put to our purgation herein as members involved in a Capitular decree of the whole Body For in point of Discipline there passed no Act at all there was no proposition made as evidently appeareth by the same booke of the Synodall Acts in the narration of the proceedings about this Belgique Confession where the matter subjected to deliberation is recorded with limitation first positive quae ad dogmata doctrinae essentiam pertinerent points dogmaticall and pertaining to the essence of Doctrine then exclusive Monitum proinde fuit eo tempore Articulum trigesimum primum secundum non esse examinandum quia in utroque de ordine Ecclesiastico quem exteri nonnulli à nostro diversum habent ageretur Declaration was accordingly made at the same time that the thirtieth first and second Articles were not to be examined because in them Ecclesiasticall Order or Church government was handled wherein some strangers namely the Church of England differ from ours namely from that of the Church of the Netherlands This recorded testimony of so expresse withdrawing from the eye of the Synode all view of Church discipline might demonstrate to any indifferent peruser of those Acts that there was no possibility of Synodicall condemning so much as upon the Bye the Discipline of the Church of England in such examining the Belgique Confession As for our manner of examining and judging thereof though it be not so particularly set downe in the said printed Acts as we could have wished would have provided for had wee beene made acquainted with any intent of their publication yet is it in some sort touched in the same page in that very narration of the next Session testifiyng a cautelous delivery of our judgements Declararunt clarissimi Magnae Britanniae Theologi se Confessionem Belgicam diligenter examinasse nihilquè in ea deprehendisse quod ad fidei quidem dogmata attineret quod verbo Dei non consentiret The Divines of great Britaine declared that they had diligently examined the Belgique Confession and that therein for as much as concerned dogmaticall points of faith they found nothing that agreed not with the Word of God Which reservation implyeth that somewhat else which did not cōcerne point of faith but other matter received not their approbation It may be sayed and so wee our selves say that the disposers and publishers of these Synodicall Acts had done more right to the Britaine Divines if speciall mention had beene made of that other matter not approved by them and of their particular exceptions against the Articles which concerned Church government But it seemeth as in most other vocall passages in this Synode the Actuary here intended abridgement in what he set downe and meant not to expresse in particular what was sayd by any concerning points not propounded to Synodicall deliberation especially touching upon so tender a string as the open impeachment of their owne established Discipline And so they thinke that they have given us our due herein partly by thus pointing afar off to what we did in our owne defence leaving the reader to finde it by implication and partly by recording that all Synodicall proposition and approbation of this Confession was confined to matter of Doctrine onely According to which reserved forme of expression the President of the Synode in the great Church of Dort immediately after the publication of the Synods Iudgment upon the five Controversies notifying the approbation of this Confession sayed not that the whole and every parcell was approved but doctrinam in Confessione comprehensam in Synodo relectam atque examinatam ut orthodoxam c. fuisse approbatam The doctrine comprised in that Confession read over in the Synode and examined was approved as orthodoxe Which style of speach excludeth whatsoever is there comprised concerning not Doctrine but Discipline whatsoever was not examined Synodically nor so much as read in the Synode whatsoever in common understanding admitteth not the title of Orthodoxe which attribute is proper unto dogmaticall points In this sense and of this subject they did and well might there alleadge the cōcording judgements omnium tà m exterorum quà m provincialium Theologorū of all the Divines as well strangers as Provincialls Nor had we cause to expect that in such publication of the whole Synods doctrinall consent they should trouble their owne people with expressing the dissent of some few of the Exteri in matter of Church-discipline Which our dissent they have delineated in this Record of their Acts though over-veyled for their owne peace yet transparent enough for our defence But our ill happ belike it was that he who turned over all the leaves of the Belgique Confession there set forth to finde the Articles concerning Discipline could not intend to cast his eye upon the page next fore-going that Confession to view the limited manner of both propounding and approving that body of Articles Which limitation had he seene and considered so confident are we of his ingenuitie he would not have cast this harsh imputation upon us And now being better informed by this our true account of the cariage of that businesse he that hath traduced us will we hope and crave make us some competent satisfaction by acknowledging his over-sight and recalling what he hath unadvisedly written to our prejudice Which reparation we have the more cause to expect for that upon credence yeelded to this his Information this imputation hath of late bin further upon the Bye grated on and upbrayded in the audience of divers personages of note whose opinions of us we have great cause to respect As for our selves in the integritie of our consciences we herein doe not decline the judgement of any indifferent unpassionate man and such we hope this true and plaine Narration will satisfie But above all according to our duty and desire we humbly submit this and all other our actions concerning our calling to the judgement of our most venerable Mother the Church of England From whose sacred rule we avow we have not swarved nor any whit impeached her Discipline or authorised Doctrine either abroad or at home And as in that Synode our speciall care and perpetuall endeavour was to guide our judgements by that sound Doctrine which we had received frō the Church of England so were we farre and ever shall be from usurping our Mothers authoritie or attempting to obtrude upon her children any of our Synodicall conclusions as obligatory to them yet remaining our selves never the lesse resolved that whatsoever there was affented unto subscribed by us concerning the five Articles either in the joynt Synodicall Iudgement or in our particular Collegiate suffrage styled in the Acts of the Synode Theologorum Magnae Britanniae Sententia and at large extant there is not only warrantable by the holy Scriptures but also conformable to the received Doctrine of our said venerable Mother Which we are ready to maintaine and justifie against all gain-sayers whensoever we shall be thereunto called by lawfull Authoritie Ita attestamur GEORGIVS Cicestriensis Episcopus IOHANNES Sarisburiensis Episcopus Gualterus Balcanquall Decan Roff. Samuel Ward Pub. profess Theol. in Acad. Cant. Coll. Sid. Praefect Thomas Goad Sacrae Theol. Doctor FINIS Appeale page 70. Page 108. Page 69. Page 107. Page 71. Page 108. Page 56. 72. Ignat. Epist. ad Philadelph Tertul. de Baptismo Hieronym Epist. ad Marcellam Aug. in Psal. 44. Epiphan haeres 75. * In the more correct edition then promised and since published among the Acts of the Synode Articulo 31. the words aquè and aequalem are cashiered Acta Synod in folio edit Dord Sess. 144. pag. 301. * The word trigesimum should have beene twise repeated which by mistake was here cast out as redundant And upon this errour the word utroque crept in for illis Page 301. Sess. 145. Act. Synod Page 322.
for us who were assured in our consciences that their Presbyteriall Parity and Laicall Presbyterie was repugnant to the Discipline established by the Apostles and retayned in our Church to declare in a temperate manner our judgement as well concerning that matter though by them purposely excepted as the other expresly referred to us Accordingly the next morning when suffrages were to passe concerning the Doctrine comprised in that Confession wee having by our place the prime voyce in the Synode gave our approbation of the substance of the doctrinall Articles with advice touching some incommodious phrases and withall contrary to the expectation of the whole Synode wee added expresse exception against the suppressed Articles with some touch also of Argument against them Which our Contestation or Protestation for so may it bee styled was principally performed by him whom for prioritie of age place and dignitie it best became and from whose person and gravitie it might be the better taken by the Civill Deputees of the States there present Therein he professed and declared our utter dissent in that point and further shewed that by our Saviour a Paritie of Ministers was never instituted that Christ ordained twelve Apostles and seventy Disciples that the authoritie of the twelve was aboue the other that the Church preserved this order left by our Saviour And therefore when the extraordinary authoritie of the Apostles ceased yet their ordinarie authoritie continued in Bishops who succeeded them who were by the Apostles themselves left in the government of the Church to ordaine Ministers and to see that they who were so ordained should preach no other doctrine that in an inferiour degree the Ministers that were governed by Bishops succeeded the 70 Disciples that this order hath bin maintained in the Church from the time of the Apostles And herein he appealed to the judgement of Antiquity or of any learned man now living if any could speak to the contrary c. In giving our severall suffrages the same exception was seconded by the rest of us Collegues partly by other allegations and partly by briefe reference to this declaration made communi nomine by our Leader To this our exception and allegations not one word was answered by any of the Synodiques either Strangers or Provincialls So that herein we may seeme to have had either their consent implied by silence or at least approbation of our just and necessary performance of our bounden duty to that Church whereunto they all afforded no small respect though differing in government from their severall Churches Herein perhaps by some we might be deemed rather to have gone too farre in contestation and upbraiding quasi in as the Civill Magistrate and Ministery there with undue forme of government of that Church whose doctrine onely was offered to our opinions But on the contrary part it hath bin suggested here at home by some that herein wee came short of our duty that we ought to have stepped yet farther by exhibiting in writing a formall Protestation to bee entred and kept by the Actuary of the Synode Whereto we answer First that the course there taken for the manner of delivering our judgements was not as in the 5 Questions controverted by subscription but onely by vocall suffrage which gave no oportunitie of putting in a written Protestation whereas if we had subscribed our names unto that Confession we would infallibly have added with the same penn our exception against the Articles concerning Discipline Secondly in that vocall proceeding had we been overborn by the multitude of their voyces or receiued any grievance or affront from them touching Discipline we would have releeved our just cause either by written Protestation or better meanes But when as neither the Civill Magistrate in whose hearing our exceptions were constantly uttered did gain-say us nor any of the Divines in the Synode once opened their mouths either in offence of our government or defence of their owne what needed we to redouble our stroke upon those that turned not upon us Rixa suam finem cum silet bostis habet Peradventure some hot spirit would not have rested in a formall recorded Protestation neither but would have charged those Churches to blot those Articles out of their Confession and forthwith to reforme their government otherwise not have yeelded approbation to any Article of Doctrine as there comprised but renounced the Synode and shaken off from his feet the dust of Dort I have nothing to doe with your Conclusions I have no part nor portion in them What ends you have how things are caryed I cannot tell nor care We confesse we were and are of another minde our owne dispositions and the directions of our blessed Peace-making King kept us from kindling new fires where we had worke enough to quench the old We then thought and so still in our consciences are confident that we forgat not our duty to our venerable and sacred Mother the Church of England but tooke a course conformable to the rules as wel of filiall observance as of Christian moderation And even then according to our custome of weekly transmitting into England briefe narrations of the proceedings in each severall Session to be imparted to his Majesty we by the next messenger sent our relation hereof as no whit ashamed of our deportment herein Which because it was then framed when we did not imagine that any quarrell would be picked against us for more impartiall and unpassionate attestation is here inserted as much as concerneth that particular 1619. April 29 stylo novo Sessione 144 pomeridiana Gregorius Martine unus ex politic is ad Synodum delegatis Hagâ jam recens reversus narrat quanto Dni Ordines gaudio afficiantur de singulorum in Canonibus sanciendis unamini consensu Eo nomine Theologis cùm exteris tum Provincialibus gratias habere eorum Domniationes ob labores Synodicos exantlatos Proximo in loco postulare vt Confessio Belgica perlustretur ita tamen vt sine gravi causa nihil immutetur nec phrasium Grammaticarum argutijs curiosè insistatur In eadem judicijs Synodicorum subjiciuntur tantùm ea quae doctrinam spectant omissis prorsus ijs que disciplinam Intercurrit quaestio de authentico exemplari Sumitur illud quod in Ecclesiarum reformatarum Confessionibus habetur Totum perlegitur pretermissis qui disciplinam Ecclesiasticam attinent articulis Sessio 145. April 30. antemeridiana Rogantur de hac Confessione suffragia Dominus Episcopus Landavensis omnia doctrinae capita probat Interea tamen de disciplina paucis monet Nunquà m in Ecclesia obtinuisse Ministrorum paritatem non tempore Christi ipsius tunc enim duodecim Apostolos fuisse Discipulis superiores non Apostolorum aetate non subsequutis seculis Nec valere rationem in hac Confessione usurpatam nempe quia omnes sunt aequè ministri Christi Nam 70 discipuli erant Ministri Christi aequè ac Apostoli non tamen inde Apostolis