THE WAY and MANNER OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England DECLARED and JUSTIFIED Against the Clamors and Objections of the Opposite Parties By PETER HEYLYN D. D. MALACH. 2. 7. Labâa Sacerdotis custodient Sapientiam legem requirent ex ore ejus quia Angelus Domini Exercituum est Heb. 13. 17. Obey them that rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not grief LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for Henry Seile over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleetstreet M.DC.LVII TO THE READER THe occasion which induc'd me to the writing of this Discourse hath been already touched at in our general Preface and shall be shewn thee more at large in the following Preamble or Introduction Let it suffice thee now to know that it was done on an occasion really given and not in supposition only the better to bring in the Design which I have in hand and that it gave such satisfaction to the Party for whose sake it was undertaken that it was thought fit by some to have it publisht for the Use of others But being published by a faulty and imperfect Copy I caus'd it presently to be call'd âin not willing it should goe abroad though without my Name till it were able in some measure to defend it self if not to justifie the Authour Being now set upon a resolution which God bless me me in of vindicating this poor Church as far at least as in me is in her Forms of Worship her Government and establisht Patrimony together with the Times and Places destinate to her Sacred Offices I have thought good to place this Tractate in the Front as a Praecognitum or necessary Manuduction unto all the rest The way and manner of the Reformation of the Church of England declared and justified cannot but give a good Relish unto all that follows being no other then the Essentiall parts and branches of that Reformation If thou art satisfied in this it will be a faire Omen to me that the rest may not prove unwelcome And that thou mayst peruse it with the greater chearfulness I will not keep thee longer in the Entrance of it it being no good Husbandry to waste that Friend in petit Matters whom we endeavour to preserve for nobler favours And so fare thee well The Contents of the Chapters SECT. I. THe Introduction shâwing the Occasion Method and Design of the whole Discourse pag 1. 1. Of Calling or Assembling the Convocation of the Clergie and the Authority thereof when convened together 3. 2. Of the Ejection of the Pope and vesting the Supremacy in the Regal Crown 10. 3. Of the translation of the Scriptures and permitting them to be read in the English tongue 13. 4. Of the Reformation of Religion in the points of Doctrine 19. 5. Of the Reformation of the Church of England in the forms of Worship and the times appointed thereunto 28. 6. Of the power of making Canons for the well ordering of the Clergy and the directing of the people in the publick duties of Religion 34. 7. An Answââ to the main Objections of either Party 38. SECT. II. 1. That the Church of England did not innovate in the Ejection of the Pope and setling the Supremacy in the Regal Crown pag. 46. 2. That the Church of England might proceed to a Reformationâithout the approbation of the Pope or the Church of Rome 52. 3. That the Church of England might lawfully proceed to a Reformation without the help of a General Councell or calling in the aid of the Protestant Church 62. 4. That the Church did not innovate in translating the Scriptures and the publick Liturgie in to vulgar Tongues and of the Consequents thereof to the Church it self 70. 5. That the proceedings of this Church in setting out the English Liturgie were not meerly Regal and of the power of Soveraign Princes in Ecclesiastical affaires 79. 6. That the Clergie lost not any of their just Rights by the Act of submission and that the power of calling and confirming Councels did antiently belâng to the Christian Princes 86. The Errata of the First Part to be thus Corrected Pape 1. for New read Your p. 8. r. convâniântly p. 9. r. pâiviledged p. 9. r. ejection p. 11. l. 10. r. enact p. 12. l. 22. r. final p. 13. l. 16. to Phil. and Mary add yet were they all revived in the 1. of Elazabeth p. 19. l. 19. r. Sacraments p. 25. l. 17. r. not on it p 30. r. Holbeck p. 34. r. Warham p. 56. l. 11. r. four p. 58. l. 7. r. Canon Law p 63. l. 27 r. come p. 76. l. 6. dele to the Popes authority on the one side or the other side p. 72. l. 7. r. of it into the p. 84. l. 22. r. formerly p. 93. l. 23. r. continued p. 95. l. 7. r. humble p. 181. l. 1. r. we shall see hereafter p. 194. l. 6. r. one new body p. 251. l. 20. r. Nicomedia p. 254. l. 2. r. derived p. 258. l. 1. r. Sabbath p. 292. l. 10. r. hint p. 296. l. 21. r. praefantes p. 300. l. 23. r. cure p. 342. l. 3. dele Greek and The Way of the Reformation of the Church of England Declared and Justified c. The Introduction Shewing the Occasion Method and Design of the whole Discourse My dear Hierophilus ãâã company is alwaies very pleasing to me but you are never better welcome then when you bring your doubts and scruples along with you for by that means you put me to the studying of some point or other whereby I benefit my self if not profit you And I remember at the time of your last being with me you seemed much scandalized for the Church of England telling me you were well assured that her Doctrine was most true and orthodox her Government conform to the Word of God and the best ages of the Church and that her publick Liturgie was an extract of the primitive Formes nothing in all the whole Composure but what did tend to edification and increase of piety But for all this you were unsatisfied as you said in the waies and means by which this Church proceeded in her Reformation alledging that you had heard it many times objected by some Partisans of the Church of Rome that our Religion was meer Parliamentarian not regulated by Synodical Meetings or the Authority of Councels as in elder Times or as Dr. Harding said long since in his Answer unto B. Iewel That we had a Parliament Religion a Parliament Faith and a Parliament Gospel To which Scultingius and some others after added that we had none but Parliament Bishops and a Parliament Clergy that you were apt enough to think that the Papists made not all this noise without some ground for it in regard you have observed some Parliaments in these latter daies so mainly bent to catch at all occasions whereby to manifest their power in
but two Priests appeared at all and those as Legatâ from the Pope not authorised to represent the Italian Churches so that of 318 Bishops which were there assembled there were but twelve in all besides the Lâgats of the Pâpe for the Western Churches too great a disproporâion to entitle it ãâã the name of General And yet this was more General then the rest that followed there being no Bishops of the Wâst at all in the second and third but the Popes themselves and in the 4 none but the Legats of the Pâpe to supply his place So that âhese ãâã were called General not that they were so in themsâlves but that there was a greaâeâ câncâurse to them frâm the nââghbouring Provinces then was oâ had bâen to somâ oââers on the like occasions Which if it be enough to ãâã a General ãâã I sâe no ãâ¦ã callâd so too summoned in the case of ãâ¦ã the Patriarch at that time of that âamous City For the condemning of whose Heresie there conveenâd not the Bishops of that Province only but the Paâriaâch oâHiârusâlem the Bishâp of Caesarea in Palestine Bâzra in Arabia Tarsus in Ciliââa Caesarea in Cappadocia of Iconium in Lyâaâniâ oâNeo-Caesareâ in Pontus besides many others from all places of the ãâã rank and quâlity but of lesser fame not âo say any thing ãâã Dionysius Pâtriarch of Alexandâia ãâã buâ not ãâã in regard of sicknesse which dâfâct he recompensâd ãâ¦ã and intârcourse or of Dionâsius Pope oâRome so ãâã by the Puritan or ãâ¦ã that he could not shine So that if the present of two of the fouâ Patâiarchs and the inviâing of the others with the Bishops of so many distant Nâtions as were there assembled âuffice to make a General Councel the Councel of Antioch might as well havâ the name of General as almost any of the rest which are so entituled But laying by thâse thoughts as too strong of thâParadox and looking on a General Councel in the common notiân âor an Assembly of the Prelates of the East and West âo which the four Patriarchs are invited and from which no Bishop is excluded that comes commissionated and instructed to atâând the ãâã I cannot think them of such coâsequence to the Church of God but that it may proceed without them to a Reformation For certainly that saying of S. Auguâtine in his 4. Book against the two Epistles of the Pelagians cap. 12. is âxceeding true Paucas fuisse haereses ad quas superandas necessarium fuerit Concilium plenarium occidentis orientis that very few Heresies have been crushed in such General Câuncels And so far we may say with the learned Cardinal that for seven Heresies suppressed in seven General Councelâ though by hiâ leave the seventh did not so much suppress as advance an Heresie an hundred have been quashed in National and Provincial Synods whether confirmed or not confirmed by the Pâpes authority we regard not here Some instances hereâf in the Synods of Aquileia Carthage Gangra Milevis we have seen before and might adde many others now did we think it necessary The Church had been in ill condition if it had been otherwise especially under the power of Heathen Emperors when such a confluence of the Prelates from all parts of the world would have been construed a Conspiracie against the State and drawn destruction on the Church and the Persons both Or granting that they might assemble without any such danger yet being great bodies moving slâwly and not without long time and many difficulties and disputes to be rightly constituted the Church would suffer more under such delay by the spreading of Heresie then receive benefit by their care to suppress the same Had the same course been taken at Alexandria for suppressing Arius as was before at Antioch for condemning Paulus we never had heard newes of the Councel of Nice the calling and assembling whereof took up so long time that Arianism was diffused over all the world before the Fathers met together and could not be suppressâd though it were condemned in many ages following after The plague of Heresie and leprosie of sin would quickly over-run the whole face of the Church if capable of no other cure then a General Councel The case of Arius and the universal spreading of his Heresie compared with the quick rooting out of so many others makes this clear enough To go a little further yet we will suppose a General Councel to be the best and safest Physick that the Church can take on all occasions of Epidemical distemper but then we must suppose it at such times and in such casâs only when it may conveniently be had For where it is not to be had or not had conveniently it will either prove to be no Physick or not worth the taking But so it was that at the time of the Reformation a General Councel could not conveniently be assembled and more then so it was impossible that any such Councel should assemble I mean a General Councel rightly called and constituted according to the Rulââ laid down by our Controversors For first they say it must be called by such as have power to do it 2. That it must be intimated to all Christian Churches that so no Church nor people may plead ignorance of it 3. The Pope and the four chief Patriarchs must be present at it either in person or by Proxie And lastly that no Bishop is to be excluded if he be known to be a Bishop and not excommunicated According to which Rules it was impossible I say that any General Councel should be assembled at the time of the Reformation of the Church of England It was not then as when the greatest part of the Christian world waâ under the command of the Roman Emperors whose Edict for a Genâral Councelâighâ speedily be posted over all the Provinces The Messengers who should now be sent on such an errand unto the Countreys of the Turk the Persian the Tartarian and the great Mogul in which are many Christian Churches and more perhaps then in all the rest of the world besides would finde but sorry entertainment Nor was it then as when the four chief Patriarchs together with their Metropolitans and Suffragan Bishops were under the protection of the Christian Emperors and might without danger to themselves or unto their Churches obey the intimation and attend the service those Patriarchs with their Metropolitans and Suffragans both then and now languâshing under the tyranny and power of the Turk to whom so general a confluence of Christian Bishops must nâeds give matter of suspicion of just fears and jealousies and therefore not to be permitted as far as he can possibly hindâr it on good Reason of State For who knowes better theâ themselveâ how long and dangerous a war was raised against their Predecessors by the Western Christians for recovery of the Holy Land on a resolution taken up at the Councel of Cleâmont and that âââing war against the Turks is
they acted absolutely in their Convocations of their own Authority the Kingâ Assent neither concurring nor required and by this sole Authority which they had in themselves they did not only make Canons declare Heresie convict and censure persons suspected of Heresie in which the subjects of all sorts whose Votes were tacitely included in the suffrages of their Pastors spiâitual Fathers were concerned alike But also to conclude the Clergy whom they represented in the point of Property imposing on them what they pleased and levying it by Canons of their own enacting And they enjoyed this power to the very day in which they tendred the submission which before we spake of For by this self-authority if I may so call it they imposed and levied that great Subsidie of 120000 l. an infinite sum as the Standard of the Times then was granted unto King Henry the 8. anno 1530. to free them from the fear and danger of the Praemuniâi By this Benefit of the Chapter called Similiter in the old Provincial extended formerly to the University of Oxon only was made communicable the same year unto Cambridge also By this Crome Latimer Bilney and divers others were in the year next following impeached of Heresie By this the Will and Testament of William Tracie of Toddington was condemned as scandalous and heretical and his body taken up and burnt not many daies before the passing of the Act of Submission anno 1532. But this power being thought too great or inconsistent at least with the Kings Design touching his divorce the Clergy were reduced unto such a straight by the degrees and steps which you find in the following Section as to submit their power unto that of the King and to promise in verbo sacerdotii that they would do and enact nothing in their Convocations without his consent And to the gaining of this point he was pressed the rather in regard of a Remonstrance then presented to Him by the House of Commons in which they shewed themselves aggrieved that the Clergy of this Realm should act Authoritatively and supremely in the Convocations and they in Parliament do nothing but as it was confirmed and ratified by the Royal Assent Which notwithstanding though this Submission brought down the Convocation to the same Level with the Houses of Parliament yet being made unto the King in his single person and not as in conjunction with his Houses of Parliament it neither brought the Convocation under the command of Parliaments nor rendred them obnoxious to the power thereof That which they did in former times of their self-authority in matters which concerned the Church without the Kings consent co-operating and concurring with them the same they did and might do in the Times succeeding the Kings Authority and Consent being superadded without the help and midwifery of an Act of Parliament though sometimes that Authority was made use of also for binding of the subject under Temporal and Legal penalties to yeeld obedience and conformity to the Churches Orders Which being the true state of the present businesse it makes the clamour of the Papists the more unreasonable but then withall it makes it the more easily answered Temporal punishments inflicted on the refractory and disobedient in âTemporal Court may adde some strength unto the Decrees and Constitutions of the Church but they take none from it Or if they did the Religion of the Church of Rome the whole Mass of Popery as it was received and setled hââe in Qu. Marios Reign would have a sorây câutch âo stand upon and might as justly bear the name of a Parliament Faith as the reformed Religion of the Church of England It is true indeed that had those Convocations which were active in that Reformation being either call'd or summoned by the King in Parliament or by the Houses separately or ãâã without the King or had the Members of the same been nominated and impoââered by the Hous alone and intermixt with a considerable number of the Lordâ and Commons which being by the way the Case of this New Assembly I do not see how any thing which they agree on ãâ¦ã the Clergy otherwise then imposed by a strong hand and against their priviledgeâ Or finally had the conclusions or results thereof been oâ no effect but as reported to ãâã confirmed in Parliament the Papists might have had some ground for so gross a câuânny in calling the Religion which is now est bâithâd by the name of a Parliament Religion and a Parliament Gâspel But so it is not in the Câse which is now before us the said âubmissiân notwithstânding For being the Convocation is still called by the same Authority as before it was the Members of that Body ãâã stilâ the sâme priviledge with the same freedom of debate and determination and which is more the Pâocurdtors of the Clergy invested with the same power and trust which before they had there was no alteration made by the said ãâã in the whole constitution and composure of it but onely the addition of a greater and more excellent power Nor was there any thing done here in that Reformation but either by the Clergy in their Convocations and in their Convocations rightly câlled and canonically constituted or with the councel and advice oâ the Heads thereof in more private conferences the Parliaments of these Times contributing very little towards iâ but acquieâcing in the Wiâdome of the Sovereign Prince and in the piety and zeal of the Ghostly Fathers This is the Ground work or Foundââion of the following building It is now time I should proceed to the Superstructures beginning first with the Election of the Pope and vesting the Supremacie in the Regal Crown 2 Of the Ejection of the Pope and vesting the Supremacy in the Regall Crown ANd first beginning with the Ejection of the Pope and his Authority that led the way unto the Reformation of Religion which did after follow It was first voted and decreed in the Convocation before ever it became the subject of an Act of Parliament For in the Year 1530. 22 Hen. 8. the Clergy being caught in a premunire were willing to redeeâ their danger by a sum of money and to that end the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury bestowed upon the King the sum of 100000 lâ to be paid by equal portions in the same Year following but the King would not so be satisfied unless they would acknowledge him for the supream Head on earth for the Church of England which though it was hard meat and would not easily down amongst them yet it passed at last For being throughly debated in a Synodical way both in the upper and lower Houses of Convocation they did in fine agree upon this expression Cujus Ecclesiâe ãâ¦ã To this they al consented and subscribed their hands and afterwards incorporated it into the publike Act or Instrument which was presented to the King in the Name of his Clergy for the redeeming of their errour and the grant
hands was by them presented to the King by His most excellent judgment to be allowed of or condemned This book containing the chief heads of Christian Religion was forthwith printed and exposed to publike view But some things not being cleerly explicated or otherwise subject to exception he caused it to be reviewed and to that end as Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England I speak the very words of the Act of Parl. 32. H. 8. c. 26. appointed the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces and also a great number of the best learned honestest and most vertuous sort of the Doctors of Divinity men of discretion judgment and good disposition to be called together to the intent that according to the very Gospel and Law of God without any partial respect or affection to the Papistical sort or any other sect or sects whatsoever they shââld declare by writing publish as well the principal Articles and points of our Faith and Belief with the Declaration true understanding anâ observation of such other expediânt points as by them with his Grace advice councel and consent shall be thought needful and expedient as also for the lawful Rights Ceremonies and observation of Gods service within this Realm This was in the year 1540. at what time the Parliament was also sitting of which the King was pleased to make this especial use That whereas the work which was in hand I use again the words of the statute required ripe and mature deliberation and was not rashly to be defined and set forth and so not fit to be restrained to the present Session an Act was passed to this effect That all Determitions Declarations Decrees Definitions and Ordinances as according to Gods Word and Christs Gospel should at any time hereafter be set forth by the said Archbishops and Bishops and Doctors in Divinity now appointed or hereafter to be appointed by his Royal Majesty or else by the whole Clergy of England in and upon the matter of Christs Religion and the Christian Faith and the lawful Rights Ceremonies and Observations of the same by his Majesties advice and confirmation under the great Seal of England shall be by all his Graces subjects fully believed obeyed observed and performed to all purposes and intents upon the paines and penalties therein to be comprized as if the same had been in ãâã and ãâ¦ã and fully made set forth declared and contained in the said Act 32. H. 8. c. 26. where note That the two House of Parliament were so far from âedling in the matter which was then in hand that they did not so much as require to see the Determinations and Decrees of those learned men whom His Majesty had then assembled before they passed the present Act to bind the Subject fully to believe observe and perform the same but left it wholly to the judgment and discretion of the King and Clergy and trusted them besides with the ordaining and inflicting of such paines and penalties on disobedient and unconformable persons as to them seemed meet This ground-work laid the work went forwards in good order and at last being brought unto as much perfection as the said Arch-Bishops Bishops and other learned men would give it without the co-operation and concurrence of the Royal assent it was presented once again to the Kings consideration who very carefully perused it and altered many things with his own hand as appeares by the book it self ââll extant in the famous Library of Sr Robert Cotton and having so altered and corrected it in some passages returned it to the Archbishop of Canterbury who bestowed some further paines upon it to the end that being to come forth in the Kings Name and by his Authority there might be nothing in the same which might be justly reprehended The business being in this forwardnesse the King declares in Parliament Anno 1544. being the 34 year of his Reign his zeal and care not onely to suppress all such Bookes and Writings as were noysome and pestilent and tended to the seducing of his subjects but also to ordain and establish a certain form of pure and sincere Teaching agreeable to Gods Word and the true Doctrine of the Catholick and Apostolick Church whereunto men may have recourse for the decision of some such controversies as have in Times past and yet do happen to arise And for a preparatory thereunto that so it might come forth with the greater credit he caused an Act to pass in Parliament for the abolishing of all Bookes and Writings comprizing any matters of Christian Religion contrary to that Doctrine which since the year 1540. is or any time during the Kings life shall be set forth by his Highnesse and for the punishment of all such and that too with most grievous ãâã which should preach teach maintain or defend any matter or thing contrary to the book of Doctrine which was then in readiness 34 35 H. 8. c. 1. Which done He canâed the said book to be imprinted in the year next following under the Title of Anecessdry Doctrine for all sorts of people prefixing a Preface thereto in his Royal Name to all his faithful and loving Subjects that they might know the better in those dangerous Times what to believe in point of Doctrine and how they were to carry and behave themselves in points of practice Which Statute as it is the greatest Evidence which those Times afford to shew that both or either of the Houses of Parliament had any thing to do in matters which concerned Religion so it entitles them to no more if at all to any thing then that thây did make way to a book of Doctrine which was before digested by the Clergy onely revised after and corrected by the Kings own hand and finally perused and perfected by the Metrâpolitan And more then so besides that being but one Swallow it can make no Summer it is acknowledged and confessed in the Act it self if Poulton understand it rightly in his Abridgment That recourse must be had to the Catholick and Apostolick Church for the decision of Controversies Which as it gives the Clergy the decisive power so it left nothing to the Houses but to assist and aid them with the Temporal Sword when the Spiritual Word could not do the deed the point thereof being blunted and the edge abated Next let us look upon the time of K. Ed. 6. and we shall finde the Articles and Doctrine of the Church excepting such as were contained in the book of Common-Prayer to be composed confirmed and setled in no other way then by the Câergy onely in their Convocation the Kings Authority co-operating and concurâing with them For in the Synod held in London Anno 1552. the Clergy did compose and agree upon a book of Articles containing the chief heads of the Christian Faith especially with reference to such points of Controversie as were in difference between the Reformators of the Church of England and the Church of Rome
to do either in making Canons or prescribing Orders for the regulating of Spiritual and Ecclesiastical matters and unto whom the same doth of right belong according to the Laws of the Realm of England And first King Henry being restored to his Headship or Supremacy call it which you will did not conceive himself so absolute in it though at the first much enamoured of it as not sometimes to take his Convocation with him but at all âimes to be advised by his Prelates when he had any thing to do that concerned the Church for which there had been no provision made by the aâcient Canons grounding most times his Edicts and ânjunctiâns Royal upon their advise and reââlution For on this grounâ I mean the judgement and conclusions of his Convocation did he set out the ãâã of the yeaâ 1536. for the aboââshing of superstitious Holy days the exâerminating oâ the Popes authority the publishing of the book oâ Articles which before we spake of âum 8. by all Parsons Vicaâs and Curates for preaching down the use of Imâges Reliques Pilgrimagâs and supeâstitious Miracles for reheaâsing oâenly in the Church in the English âongue the Creed the Pater noster and the ten Commandements for the due and râverend ministâiâg of the Sacraments and Sacramentals for providing English Bibleâ to be set in every Church for the use of the people for the regular and sober life of Clergy men and the relief of the poor And on the other side the King proceeded sometimes onely by the advise of his Prelates as in the Injunctions of the year 1538. for quarteâly Sermons in eâch Parish for admitting nonâ to preach but men sufficienâly Licenced for keeping a Register book of Christnings Weddings and Burials for the due paying of Tâthes as had been accâstomed for the abolishing of the commemoration of Sâ Thomas Becket For singing a Parce nobis Domine in stead of Ora prânobis and the like to these And of this sort were the Injunctions which came oât in some years succeeding for the taking away of Images and Reliques with all the Ornaments of the same and all the Monumânâs and writings of feigned Miracles and for restraint of ofââring or setting up Lights in any Churches but onely to the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar in which he was directed chiefly by Archbâshop Craââer aâ also those for eating of white meats in the ãâã of Lent the abolishing the Fast on St Marks day and the ridiculous but supeâstitious sports accustomably used on the days of St. Clâment St. Catherine and St. Niâholas All which and more was dâne in the said Kings Reign without help of Parliament For which I shall reâer you to the Acts and Mon. fol. 1385 1425 1441. The like may also be afâirmed of the Injuâctions published in the name of K. E. 6. An. 1547. and printed also then for the use of the Subjects And of the several Letters missive which went forth in his Name prohibiting the bearing of Candles one Candlemas day of Ashes in Lent and of Palms on Palm-sunday for the taking down of all the Images throughout the Kingdom for administring the Communion in both kinds dated March 13. 1548. for abrogating of pâivate Masâes Iune 24 1549. for briâging in all Missâls Graduals Processionals Legends and Ordinals about the latter end oâDecember of the same year âor taking down of Altars and setting up Tables in stead theâeof An. 1550. and the like to these All which partâcuâars you have in ãâã book of Actâ and Mon. in King Edwards life which whether they were done of the Kings meer motion or by advice of his Councâl or by coâsultation with his Bishops âor there is little left upon Râcord of the Convocaâions of that time more then the Articles of the year 1552 ceâtain I am that there was nothing done nor yet pâeâended to be done in all these particulars by the authority oâParliament Thus also in Qu. Elizabeâhs time before the new Bâshops were well setled and the Qâeen asâured of the afâections of her Clergâ she went that way to work in the Reformation which not onely her two Predecesâors ãâã all the Godly Kings and Princes in the Jewish State and many oâ thâChristian Emperours in the Primitive times had done before her in the well ordering oâ the Church and peopâe committed to their care and government by Almighty God and to that end she published her Injunctions An. 1559. A book of Ordeâs An. 1561. Another of Advertisements An. 1562. All tending unto Reformation unto the building up of the new Ierusalem with the advise and counsel of the Metropolitan and some other godly Prelaâes who were then abâut her by whom they were agreed on and subscribed unto before they were presented to her without the least concurrence of her Court of Parliâment But when the times were better seâled and the first diââiculâies of her Reign passed over she left Church work to the disposing of Church-men who by their place and calling were most proper for iâ and they being met in Cââvocation and thereto authorised as the laws required did make and publish several books of Canons as viz. 1571. An. 1584. An. 1597. Which being confirmed by the Queen undâr the broad seal of England were in force of Laws to all intents and purposes which they were first made but being confirmed without those formal words Her Heirs and Successors are not binding now but expired together with the Queen No Act of Paâliameât required to confirm them then nor never required ever since on the like occasion A fuller evidence whereof wâ cannot have then in the Canons of the year 1603. being the first year of King Iames made by the Clergie onely in the Cânvoââtion and confirmed onely by the King for though the old Canons were in force which had been made before the submisâion of the Clergie as before I shewed you which served in all these wavering and unâetled tâmes for the perpetuâl standing rule of the Churches govenment yet many new emergent câseâ did require new âules and whilest thâre is a possibility of Mali mores there will be a necessity of bona Leges Now in the confirmation of these Canons we shall find it thus That the Clârgy being met in their Convocatioâ according to the Tenour and effect of his Majesties Writ his Mâjâsty was pleased by virtue of his Prerogativâ Royal and Supream authoriây in causes Ecclesiastical to give and grant unâo them by his Letters Patents dated Apr. 12. and Iun. 25. full free and lawfuâl liberty licence power and authority to convene treat debate consider consult and agree upon such Canons Orâders Ordinances and Constitutions as they should think necesâary fit and convenient for the honor and service of Almighty God the good and quiet of the Church and the better government thereof from time to time c. to be kept by all persoâs within this Realm as far as lawfully being members oâ the Church it may concern
still âsteemed a cause sufficient âor a General Councel And then besides it would be known by whom this General Councel was to be assemblâd if by the Pope as generally the Papists say he and his Court were looked on as the greatest grievance of the Christian Church and 't was not probable that he would call a Councell against himself unlesse he might have leave to pack it to govern it by his own Legats fill it with Titular Bishops of his own creating and send the Holy Ghost to them in a Clokâbag as he did to Trent If joyntly by all Christian Princes which is the common Tenet of the Protestant Schools what hopes could any man conceive as the times then were that they should lay aside their particulâr interesses to center all together upon one design or if they had agreed about it what power had they to call the Prelates of the East to attând the business or to protect them for so doing at their going home So that I look upon the hopes of a General Councel I mean a General Councel rightly called and constitâted as an empty ãâã The mâst that was to be expected was but a meeting of some Bishops of the West of Europe and those but of ãâã party only such as were excommunicated and thââ might be as many as the Pope should please being to be excluded by the Cardinals Rule Which how it may be callââân Oecumenial or General Councell unlesse it be a Topical Oecumenical a Particular-general as great an absurdity in Grammar as a Roman Catholick I can hardly see Which being so and so no question but it was either the Church must continue withouââeformatiân or elâe it must be lawfull for National paâticular Churches to reform themselves In such a case the Church âay be reformed per partes Part after part Province after Province as is said by Gerson But I do not meââ ãâã trouble you with this Disââââ ãâ¦ã may reform themselves by National or Provincial Counââls ãâ¦ã Church generall will not do it or that it cannot be effected by a General Councel hath been so fully proved by my Lord of Canterbury in his learned and elaborate discourse against Fisher the Iesuite thaâ nothing can be added unto so great diligence But if it be objected as you say it is that National Councels have a power of Promulgation only not of ãâã also I answer first that this runs crosse to all the current of Antiquity in which not only National but Provincial Councels did usually determine in the poinââ of Faith and these too of the greatest moment as did that of Antiâch which if it were somewhat more then a National was notwithstanding never reckoned for a General Councel I answer secondly as before that for one Heresie suppressâd in a General Councel there have been ten at least suppressed in National and Provincial Synods wich could not be in case they had no power of Determination And thirdly That the Articles or Confession of the Church of England are only Declaratory of such Catholick Doctrines as were received of old in the Church of CHRIST not Introductory of new ones of their own devising as might be evidenced in particular were this place fit for it But what needs any proof at all when we have Confession For the Archbishop of Spalato a man as well studied in the Fathers as the best amongst them ingenuously acknowledged at the High Commission that the Articles of this Church were profitable none of them Heretical and that he would defend the honour of the Church of England against all the world And this he said at the very time of his departure when his soul was gone before to Rome and nothing but his carkasse left behinde in England The like avowed by Davenport or Franciscus a Sancta Clara call him which you will who makes the Articles of this Church rightly understood according to the literal meaning and not perverted to the ends of particular Factions to be capable of a Catholick and Orthodox sense which is as much as could be looked for from the mouth of an Adversary So much as cost one of them his life though perhaps it will be said that he died in prison and the burning of his body after his death though he endevoured to save both by a Retractation So that in thiâ case ãâã we have omniâ bene ãâã amisse in the proceedings of this Church with reference to the Pope or a General Councel But you will say that though we could not stay the calling of a General Councel which would have justified âur proceedings in the eyes of our Adversaries it had been requisite even in the way of civil Prudence to have taken the advice of the Sister-Churches especially of those which were ângaged at the same time in the same designs which would have addâd râputation to us in the eyes of our Friends As for the taking counsel of the Sister-Churches it hath been tâuchâd upon âlready and thereâore we shall say no more as tâ that particular unlesse the Sister-Churches of these later timââ had bâen like the Believers in the infancy of the Châistian Faith when they were all of one heart and one soul as the Scripture hath it Act. 4. their counsâls had been ãâã if not destructive 'T is true indeâd united Councelâ are the stronger and of greater weight and not to be neglected whâre they may be had but where they are not to be had we âust act without them And if we look into the time of our Reformation we shall finde those that were engaged in the same design divided into obstinate parties and holding the names of Luther and Zuinglius in an higher estimate then either the truth of the Opinion in which they differed or the common happinesse of the Church so disturbed between them The breath not lessened but made wider by the rise of Calvin succeeding not long after in the fame of Zuinglius besides that living under the command of several Princes and those Princeâ driving on to their several ends it had been very difficult if not impossible to draw them unto such an Harmony of affections and consent in judgement as so gâeat a businesse did require So that the Church of England was necessitated in that conjuncture of affairs to proceed as it did and to act that single by it self which could not be effected by the common Councels and joynt concurrence of the others 'T is true Melanchthon was once coming over in King Henries daies but stâid his journey on the death of Qâeen Anne Bullen and that he was after sent fâr by King Edward the sixth Regis Literiâ in Angliam vocor as he affirms in an Epistle unto Camerarius anno 1553. But he was staid at that time also on some other occasion though had he come at that time he had come too late to have had any hand in the Reformation the Articles of the Church being passed the Liturgie reviewed and setled in
indulgence and celebrate their Liturgie in their own Language to this very day So that the wonder is the greater that those of Rome should stand so stifly in defence of the Latine Service which the common people understand not and therefore cannot knowingly and with faith say Amen unto it For though the Latine Tongue was Vulgar in a manner to those Western Nations amongst whom the Latine Service was first received and for that cause received because Vulgar to them yet when upon the inundation of the barbarous nation the Latine tongue degenerated into other Languages as in France Italy and Spain or else was quite worn out of knowledge as in Britain Belgium and some parts of the modern Germany in which before it had been commonly understood it was both consonant to piety and Christian Prudence that the Language of the common Liturgies should be altered also The people otherwise either in singing David's Psalmes or repeating any parts of the daily Office must needs be like those Romans or Italians which S. Ambrose speaks of who loved to sing Greek songs by rote as we use to say out of a meer delight which they had to the sound of the words nescientes tamen quid dicant not understanding one word which they said or sung The blame and guilt of Innovation being taken off we must next examine the effects and dangerous consequents more visibly discerned at this time in the Church of England then was or could have been believed when they were first intimated Amongst these they reckon in the first place the increase of Heresies occasioned by the mistaking of the true sense and meaning of the Holy Scripture and to that end it is said by Bellarmine that the people would not only receive no good by having the Scripture read publickly unto them in their national Languages Sed etiam caperet detrimentum but on the contrary are like to receive much hurt However acciperet facillime occasionem errandi because thereby they would most easily be led into errors which gave occasion unto some as he tels as there to call the Scripture Librum Haereticorum the Hereticks Book So he in his 2. Book and 15. chapter De verbo Dei The like saith Harding in his Answer to Bishop Iewel's Challenge Art 3. sect. 31. The Nations saith he that have ever had thei Service in the vulgar Tongue where note that some Nations never had it otherwiâe have continued still in Errors Schisms and certain Judaical Ceremonies c. In the next place they âeckon this that by permitting Scripture and the publick Liturgies to be extant in the Vulgar Tongues all men would think themselves Divines and ãâã authority of the Prelates would be disesteemed So Harding in his Answer to Iewels Apologie l 5. fol. 460. that the people not content with hearing or ãâã the holy Scripture would first take upon them to be Expositors and at last to be Preachers also which in effect is that which is charged by Bellarmine And for this last the present Distempers and consusions in the Church of England out of which they suck no small advantage gives them great rejoycing as seeing their predictions so exactly verified In answer to the first we need say no more then that there have been Sects and Heresies in all times and Ages never so many as in the first ages of the Church witnesse the Catalogue of S. Augustine Philastrius and Epiphanius in which the Scripture was translated into fewer Languages then it is at the present 2. That this is no necessary effect of such Translations for we see few new Heresies started up of late in France or Germany where such Translations are allowed of but a meer possible Contingency which ãâã may be or may not be as it pleaseth God to give or to withdraw his grace from a State or Nation And 3. That as according to the Divine Rule of the Apostle we must not do a thing positively evil in hope that any good how great soever may come of it so by Analogie thereunto we must not debar the people of God from any thing positively good for fear that any contingent mischief may ensue upon it But of this I shall not say more now as being loth to travel on a common place The point hath been so canvassed by our Controversors that you may there finde Answers unto all Objections That which doth most concern me to consider of is the second consequent because it doth relate more specially then the other did to the present condition and estate of the Church of England Although the Charge be general and equally concerning all the Protestant and Reformed Churches yet the Application makes it ours as before I said and as ours properly within the compasse of my present design And though I will not take upon me to Advocate for the present distempers and confusions of this wâetched Church which no man can lament with a greater tendernesse or look on with more indignation then I do and I think you know it yet I must tell you that it is neither Novum crimen C. Caesar nor ante haec tempora inauditum for those of the inferiour sort to take upon them the inquiry into sacred matters to turn Expositors ãâã ãâã as the spirit of delusion moves them The people have had an itch this way iâ all times and Ages The Satyrist thus complained of it amongst the Heathens Ecce inter pocula quaerunt Romulides satuâi quid dia Poemaâa narrant That is to say The wel-âed Romans in their Cups do sit And judge of things contain'd in holy Writ And the Apostle doth complain of it among the Christians where he informes us of some ignorant and unstable men which wrested some haâd places of S. Pauls Epistles as they also did the other Scriptures to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3. 26 and wrest them so they could not I am sure of that did they not take the liberty of expounding also Look lower to S. Basils time when learning did most flourish in the Church of CHRIST and we shall finde the Emperors Cook or the Clerk of his Kitchen at the best as busily dishing out the Scriptures as if it were no more then serving up his Masters diet from the Kitchin-hatch paid home by that good father for his over-great sawcinesse with this handsome scoffe Tuum est de pulmento cogitare non Divind decoquere that it belonged unto his office to provide good pottage for the Court not to Cook the Scriptures But this was not the folly only of this Master Cook who perhaps though better fed then taught might now and then have carried up the Chaplains Messe and having heard their learned conferences and discourses was apt enough to think himself no small fool at a joynt of Divinity That whole age was extremely tainted with the self-same pââcancy of which S. Hierome in his Epistle to Paulinus makes this sad complaint Whereas saith he all other Sciences and Trades
but a Regular way Kings were not Kings if regulating the external parts of Gods publick worship according to the Platformes of the Primitive times should not be allowed them But yet the Kings of England had a further right as to this particular which is a power conferred upon them by the Clergy whether by way of Recognition or Concession I regard not hâre by which they did invest the King with a Supreme Auâhority not only of confirming their Synodical Acts not to be put in exâcution without his consent but in effect to devolve on him all that power which firmly they enjoyed in their own capacity And to this we have a paralled Case in the Roman Empire in which there had bâân once a time when the Supreme Majesty of the Sâate was vested in the Senate and people of Rome till by the Law which they called Lex Regia they transferred all their Power on Caesar and the following Emperors Which Law being passed the Edicts of the Prince or Emperor was as strong and binding as the Senatus Consulta and the Plâbisâita had been before Whence came that memorable Maxim in Iustinians Iustitutes that is to say Quod Principi placuerit legis habet vigârem The like may be affirmâd of the Church of England immediately before and in the reign of K. Henry 8. The Clergy of this Realm had a Self-authority in all matters which concerned Religion and by their Canons and Determinations did binde all the subjects of what rank soever till by acknowledging that King for their supreme Head and by the Act of submission not long after follâwing they transferred that power upon the King and on his Successoâs By doâng wherâof they did not only diâable themselves from concluding any thing in their Convocations or puâting âheir results into execution without his conâent but put him into the actual pâssession of that Authoriây which properly beâonged to the supremacy or the supreme Head in as âull manner as ãâã the Pâpe of Rome or any dâlâgated by and under him did before enjoy it After which ãâã whatsoever the King or his Successors did in the Râformâtion as it had vertually the power of the Convocations so was it as effectual and goâd in law as if the Clergy in their Cânvocation particularly and in terminis had agreed upon it Not that the King or his Successors were hereby enabled to exercise the Kâiâs and determine Heresies much lesse to ãâã the Word ând administer the Sacramentâ as the Papists âalsly gave it out but as the Heads of the Ecclesiastical Body of this Realm to see that all the members of that Body ãâã perform their duties to rectifie what was found amisse amongst them to preserve peace between them on emergent differences to reform such errors and corruptions as are expresly contrary to the word of God and finally to give strength and motions to their Councels and Determinations tending to Edification and increase of Piety And though in most of their proceedingâ toward Reformation the Kiâgs advised with such Bishops as they had about them or could assâmble without any great trouble or inconvenience to advise witâall yet was there no necâssity that all or the greatest partâ of the Bishops should be drawn together for that purpose no more then it was anciently in the Primitive Times for the godly Emperors to câll together the most part of the Bishops in the Roman Empire for the âstâblishing of the matters which comâerned the Church or for the godly Kings of Iudah to call together the greatest part of the Priests and Levites before they acted any thing in the Reformation of those corruptions and abuses which were crâpt in amongst them Which being so and then withââl considering as we ought to do that there was nothing aâtered here in the state of Râligion till either the whole Clergy in their ãâ¦ã the Bâshops and most eminent Church-men had resolved upon it our Religion is no more to be called a Regal then a Parliament-Gospel 6 That the Clergy lost not any of their just Rights by the Act of Submission and the pâwer of calling and confirming Councels did anciently belong to the Christian Princes If you conceive that by ascribing to the King the Supreme Authority taking him for their Supreme Head and by the Act of Submission which ensued upon it the Clergy did unwittingly ensnare themselves and drew a Vasâallage on these of the times succeeding inconsistent with their native Rights and contrary to the usage of the Primitive Church I hope it will be no hard matter to remove that scruple It 's true the Clergy in their Convocation can do nothing now but as their doings are confirmed by the Kings authority and I conceive it stands with reason as well as point of State that it should be so For since the two Houses of Parliament though called by the Kings Writ can conclude nothing which may binde either King or Subject in their Civil Rights untill it be made good by the Royal Assent so neither is it âit nor safe that the Clergy should be able by their Constitutions and Synodical Acts to conclude both Prince and People in spiritual matters untill the stamp of Royal Authority be imprinted on them The Kings concurrence in this case devesteth not the Clergy of any lawful power which they ought to have but restrains them only in the exercise of some part thereof to make it more agreeable to Monarchical Government to accommodate it to the benefit both of Prince and People It 's true the Clergy of this Realm can neither meet in Convocation nor conclude any thing therein nor put in execution any thing which they have concluded but as they are enabled by the Kings authority But then it is as true withall that this is neither inconsistent with their native Rights nor contrary unto the usage of the Primitive Times And first it is not inconsistent with their native Rights it being a peculiar happinesse of the Church of England to be alwaies under the protection of Christian Kings by whose encouragement and example the Gospel was received in all parts of this Kingdome And iâ you look into Sir Henry Spleman's Collection of the Saxon Councels I believe that you will hardly finde any Ecclesiastical Canons for the Government of the Church of England which were not either originally promulgated or after approved and allowed of either by the Supreme Monarch of all the Saxons or by some King or other of the several ãâã directing in their National or Provincial Synods And they enjoyed this Prerogative without any dispute after the Norman Conquest also till by degrees the Pope ingrossed it to himself as before was shewn and then conferred it upon such as were to exercise the same under his authority which plainly manifests that the Act of Suâmission so much spoke of was but a changing of their dependance from the Pope to the King from an usurped to a lawful power from one