inaudita Here is at length some certainty Some truth mingled among to give the better grace and to be as it were the Vehiculum of a lye For Iohn Scory in King Edward his times Bishop of Chichester and after of Hereford was one of those that ordained Doctor Parker and preached at his Ordination But that was the Ordination effected as you call it We are now in that which was not effected but attempted only And here we seek again who were these quidams that laid Hands on Scory We may go look them with Laudasensis the Archbishop of Ireland Well hear the proofs Master Thomas Neal Hebrew Reader of Oxford which was present told thus much to the antient Confessors they to F. Halywood This proof by Tradition as you know is of little credit with Protestants and no marvel For experience shews that reports suffer strange alterations in the carriage even when the Reporters are interested Irenaeus relates from the antient Confessors which had seen John the Disciple and the other Apostles of the Lord and heard it from them That Christ our Saviour was between forty and fifty years of Age before his Passion I do not think you are sure it was so For my part I had rather believe Irenaeus and those Antients he mentions and the Apostles than Father Halywood and his Confessors and Master Neal. But possible it is Mr. Neale said he was present at Matthew Parkers Ordination by John Scory These Confessors being before impressed as you are with the buz of the Ordination at the Nags-head made up that Tale and put it upon him for their Author Perhaps Mr. Neal did esteem Iohn Scory to be no Bishop and so was scandalized though causelesly at that action Perhaps Mr. Neale never said any such Word at all To help to make good this matter he saith It was after enacted in Parliament That these Parliamentary Bishops should be holden for lawful I looked for something of the Nags-Head Bishops and the Legend of their Ordination But the lawfulness that the Parliament provides for is according to the Authority the Parliament hath civil that is according to the Laws of the Land The Parliament never intended to justifie any thing as lawful jure divino which was not so as by the Preamble it self of the Statute may appear In which it is said That divers questions had grown upon the making and consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops within this Realm whether the same were and bâ— duely and orderly done according to the Law or not c. And shortly to cut off Father Halywoods surmises the case was this as may be gathered by the body of the Statute Whereas in the five and twentieth of Henry the Eighth an Act was made for the Electing and Consecrating of Bishops within this Realm And another in the third of Edward the Sixth For the Ordering and consecrating of them and all other Ecclesiastical Ministers according to such form as by six Prelates and six other learned Men in Gods Law to be appointed by the King should be devised and set forth under the great Seal of England Which Form in the fifth of the same Kings reign was annexed to the Book of Common Prayer then explained and perfected and both confirmed by the Authority of Parliament All these Acts were 1 Mariae 1 2 Philippi Mariae repealed together with another Statute of 35. Henry 8. touching the Stile of Supreme Head to be used in all Letters Patents and Commissions c. These Acts of repeal in the 1 Elizabeth were again repealed and the Act of 25. Hen. 8. revived specially That of 3 Edw. 6. only concerning the Book of Common Prayer c. without any particular mention of the Book or form of Ordering Ministers and Bishops Hence grew one doubt whether Ordinations and Consecrations according to that Form were good in Law or no. Another was Queen Elizabeth in her Letters Patents touching such Consecrations Ordinations had not used as may seem besides other general Words importing the highest Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical the title of Supreme Head as King Henry and King Edward in their like Letters Patents were wont to do And that notwithstanding the Act of 35 Hen. 8. after the repeal of the former repeal might seem though never specially revived This as I guess was another exception to those that by vertue of those Patents were consecrated Whereupon the Parliament declares First That the Book of Common Prayer and such Order and Form for consecrating of Archbishops and Bishops c. as was set forth in the time of King Edward the Sixth and added thereto and authorised by Parliament shall stand in force and be observed Secondly That all Acts done by any person about any Consecration Confirmation or investing of any elect to the Office or Dignity of Archbishop or Bishop by vertue of the Queens Letters Patents or Commission since the beginning of her Reign be good Thirdly That all that have been Ordered or Consecrated Archbishops Bishops Priests c. after the said Form and Order be rightly made ordered and consecrated any Statute Law Canon or other thing to the contrary notwithstanding Theâ—e were the Reasons of that Act which as you see doth not make good the Nags-head-Ordination as F. Halywood pretends unless the same were according to the Form in Edward the Sixth's days His next proof is That Bonner Bishop of London while he lived always set light by the Statutes of the Parliaments of Queen Elizabeth alledging that there wanted Bishops without whose consent by the Laws of the Realm there can no firm Statute be made That Bonneâ— despised and set not a Straw by the Acts of Parliament in Queen Elizabeths time I hold it not impossible and yet there is no other proof thereof but his bare Word and the antient Confessors tradition of which we heard before Admitting this for certain there might be other reasons thereof besides the Ordination at the Nags-head The stiffness of that Man was no less in King Edwards time than Queen Elizabeths And indeed the want also of Bishops might be the cause why he little regarded the Acts of her first Parliament For both much about the time of Queen Maryes death dyed also Cardinal Poole and sundry other Bishops And of the rest some for their contemptuous behaviour in denying to perform their duty in the Coronation of the Queen were committed to Prison others absented themselves willingly So as it is commonly reported to this day there was none or very few there For as for Doctor Parker and the rest they were not ordained till December 1559. the Parliament was dissolved in the May before So not to stand now to refute Bonners conceit that according to our Laws there could be no Statutes made in Parliament without Bishops wherein our Parliament Men will rectifie his Judgment F. Halywood was in this report twice deceived or would deceive his Reader First that he would make that exception which
Letter from him requiring answer to the former from Madrid in Spain April 14. 1619. p. 282. 3. The Answer to the last Letter Dated Aug. 5. 1619. p. 284. 4. A Letter from Mr. Waddesworth upon the receipt of the former From Madrid dated Octob. 28. 1619. received May 23. 1620. p. 291. 5. The Answer to the last Letter June 15. 1620. p. 294. 6. A Letter from Mr. Waddesworth from Madrid June 8. 1620. p. 298 7. A Letter of Mr. Dr. Halls sent to Mr. Waddesworth and returned into England with his Marginal Notes p. 300. 8. A Letter returning it inclosed to Mr. Dr. Hall p. 304. 9. A Letter sent to Mr. Waddesworth together with the Examination of his Motives Octob. 22. 1620. p. 307. 10. The Examination of the Motives in the first Letter p. 308. The Heads of the Motives reduced unto twelve Chapters answering unto the like Figures in the Margent of the first of Mr. Waddesworth's Letters OF the Preamble The titles Catholick Papist Traytor Idolater The uniformity of Faith in Protestant Religion p. 311. Of the contrariety of Sects pretended to be amongst Reformers Their differences how matters of Faith Of each pretending Scripture and the Holy Ghost p. 319. Of the want of a humane external infallible Iudge and Interpreter The Objections answered First That Scriptures are oft matter of Controversie Secondly That they are the Law and Rule Thirdly That Princes are no Iudges Fourthly Nor a whole Council of Reformers The Pope's being the Iudge and Interpreter overthrown by Reasons And by his palpable miss-inâ—erpreting the Scriptures in his Decretals The stile of his Court His Breves about the Oath of Allegeance p. 328. Of the state of the Church of England and whether it may be reconciled with Rome Whether the Pope be Antichrist PAULO V. VICE-DEO OUR LORD GOD THE POPE The Relation de moderandis titulis with the issue of it p. 358. Of the safeness to joyn to the Roman being confessed a true Church by her Opposites Mr. Wotton's perversion printed at Venice The Badge of Christs Sheep p. 372. Of fraud and corruption in alledging Councils Fathers and Doctors The falsifications imputed to Morney Bishop Jewel Mr. Fox Tyndals Testament Parsons four Falshoods in seven Lines A tast of the Forgeries of the Papacy In the antient Popes Epistles Constantines Donation Gratian The Schoolmen and Breviaries by the complaint of the Venetian Divines The Father 's not untoucht Nor the Hebrew Text. p. 384. Of the Armies of evident Witnesses for the Romanists Whence it seems so to the unexpert Souldier The Censure of the Centurists touching the Doctrine of the Antients Danaeus of S. Augustines opinion touching Purgatory An instance or two of Imposture in wresting Tertullian Cyprian Augustine p. 409. Of the Invisibility of the Church said to be an Evasion of Protestants The Promises made to the Church and her glorious Titles how they are verified out of S. Augustine falsly applyed to the whole Visible Church or Representative or the Pope p. 422. Of lack of Vniformity in matters of Faith in all Ages and Places What matters of Faith the Church holds uniformly and so the Protestants Of Wickliff and Hus c. whether they were Martyrs p. 426. Of the original of Reformation in Luther Calvin Scotland England Whether King Henry the Eighth were a good Head of the Church Of the Reformers in France and Holland The original growth and supporting of the Popes Monarchy considered p. 429. Of lack of Succession Bishops true Ordinations Orders Priesthood The fabulous Ordination at the Nags-Head examined The Statute 8 Elizabeth Bonners slighting the first Parliament and Dr. Bancrofts answer to Mr. Alablaster The Form of Priesthood enquired of p. 453. Of the Conclusion Master Waddesworth's Agonies and Protestation The Protestation and Resolution of the Author and conceipt of Mr. Waddesworth and his accompt p. 481. THE COPIES OF Certain LETTERS Which have passed between SPAIN and ENGLAND In matter of RELIGION Salutem in Crucifixo To the Worshipful my good Friend Mr. William Bedell c. Mr. Bedell MY very loving Friend After the old plain fashion I salute you heartily without any new fine complements or affected Phrases And by my inquiry understanding of this Bearer that after your being at Venice you had passed to Constantinople and were returned to S. Edmundsbury in safety and with health I was exceeding glad thereof for I wish you well as to my self and he telling me further that to morrow God willing he was to depart from hence to imbark for England and offering me to deliver my Letters if I would write unto you I could not omit by these hasty scribled lines to signifie unto you the continuance of my sincere love never to be blotted out of my breast if you kill it not with unkindness like Mr. Ioseph Hall neither by distance of place nor success of time nor difference of Religion For contrary to the slanders raised against all because of the offences committed by some we are not taught by our Catholick Religion either to diminish our natural obligation to our native Country or to alter our moral affection to our former friends And although for my change becoming Catholick I did expect of some Revilers to be termed rather than proved an Apostata yet I never looked for such terms from Mr. Hall whom I esteemed either my Friend or a modester Man whose flanting Epistle I have not answered because I would not foil my Hands with a poetical Railer more full with froth of Words than substance of Matter and of whom according to his beginning I could not expect any sound Arguments but vain Flourishes and so much I pray let him know from me if you please Unto your self my good Friend who do understand better than Mr. Hall what the Doctors in Schools do account Apostasie and how it is more and worse than Heresie I do refer both him and my self whether I might not more probably call him Heretick than he term me at the first dash Apostata But I would abstain from such biting Satyrs And if he or any other will needs fasten upon me such bitter terms let them first prove that In all points of Faith I have fallen totally from Christian Religion as did Iulian the Apostata For so is Apostasie described and differenced from Heresie Apostasia est error hominis baptizati contrarius Fidei Catholiae ex toto and Haeresis est error pertinax hominis baptizati contrarius Fidei Catholicae ex parte So that he should have shewed first my errors in matters of Faith not any error in other Questions but in decreed matters of Faith as Protestants use to say necessary to Salvation Secondly That such errors were maintained with obstinate pertinacy and pertinacy is where such errors are defended against the consent and determination of the Catholick Church and also knowing that the whole Church teacheth the contrary to such opinions yet
Lords of their due obedience and antient inheritance When as the Bishop and Clergy of Geneva upon the throwing down Images there by popular tumult departed in an anger seven years ere ever Calvin set Foot within the Gates of that City A thing not only clear in Story by the Writers of that time and since Sleidan Bodine Calvins Epistles and Life but set down by those whom ye cite Mr. Hooker in his Preface speaking of Calvin He fell at length upon Geneva which City the Bishop and Clergy thereof had a little before as some do affirm forsaken being of likelihood frighted with the peoples sudden attempt for the abolishment of Popish Religion And a little after At the coming of Calvin thither the form of their Regiment was popular as it continueth at this day c. Dr. Bancroft The same year that Geneva was assaulted viz. by the Duke of Savoy and the Bishop as he had said before pag. 13 which was Anno 1536. Mr. Calvin came thither If Calvin at his coming found the Form of the Government Popular If he came thither the same Year that the Bishop made war upon Geneva to recover his Authority being indeed either affrighted or having forsaken the Town before how could Calvin expel him And in truth Bodine in his second Book De Repub. Chap. 6. affirmeth That the same Year Genoa was established in a State Aristocratical which was he saith Anno 1528. Geneva was changed from a Monarchy Pontifical into an Estate Popular governed Aristocratically although that long before the Town pretended to be free against the Earl and against the Bishop c. What Saravia hath written touching this point I cannot tell as not having his Book But in Beza his answer to him there is no touch upon any such thing He joyns with his complaint of the sacrilegious usurping Ecclesiastical goods in answer to his Proëme He dissents in that Saravia accounts the Seniors of the reformed Churches like to that kind which Saint Ambrose speaks of brought in out of wisdom only to rule the disorderly Beza saith they were not introducti but reducti Cap. 12. For the rest in all that answer there is nothing of Calvin or any such revolving of the state as you accuse him of Which makes me think that herein your memory deceived you It may be that in your younger time falling upon these Authors by occasion of the question of Discipline which was then much tossed ere ever your judgement were ripened you formed in your mind a false impression of that which they say of Calvin You conceited them out of your zeal in the cause to say more than they do and thus possible unawares received the seeds of dislike of the doctrine of Calvin as well as his discipline which have since taken root in you But you shall do well to remember the difference you put a little before of these two Christian doctrine is uniform and ever the same government is changeable in many circumstances according to the exigence of times and persons And even the same men that write somewhat eagerly against Master Calvin yet give him the praise of wisdom to see what for that time and state was necessary Master Hooker saith of him That he thinks him incomparably the wisest man that ever the French Church did enjoy since the hour it enjoyed him and of his platform of discipline after he hath laid down the summ of it This device I see not how the wisest at that time living could have bettered if we duely consider what the present state of Geneva did then require But be it and for my part I think no less that herein he was mistaken to account this to be the true form of Church policy by which all other Churches and at all times ought to be governed let his error rest with him yea let him answer it unto his Judge but to accuse him of ambition and sedition and that falsly and from thence to set that brand upon the Reformation whereof he was a worthy instrument though not the first either there or any where else as if it could not be from God being so founded for my part I am afraid you can never be able to answer it at the same Barr no nor even that of your own Conscience or of reasonable and equal men For the stirrs broils seditions and murthers in Scotland which you impute to Knox and the Geneva Gospellers they might be occasioned perhaps by the Reformers there as the broils which our Lord Jesus Christ saith he came to set in the world by the Gospel Possible also that good men out of inconsiderate zeal should do some things rashly And like enough the multitude which followed them as being fore prepared with just hatred of the tyranny of their Prelates and provoked by the opposition of the adverse Faction and emboldened by success ran a great deal further than either wise Men could foresee or tell how to restrain them Which was applauded and fomented by some politick Men who took advantage of those motions to their own ends And as it happens in natural Bodies that all ill humors run to the part affected so in civil all discontented people when there is any Sorance run to one or other side and under the shew of common Griefs pursue their own Of all which distempers there is no reason to lay the blame upon the seekers of Reformation more than upon the Physicians of such accidents as happen to the corrupted Bodies which they have in Cure The particulars of those affairs are as I believe alike unknown to us both and since you name none I can answer to none For as for the pursuing our King even before his birth that which his Majesty speaks of some Puritans is over-boldly by you referred to Master Knox and the Ministers that were Authors of Reformation in Scotland Briefly consider and survey your own thoughts and see if you have not come by these degrees First from the inconsiderate courses of some to plant the pretended Discipline in Scotland to conceive amiss of the Doctrine also Then to draw to the encreasing of your ill conceit thereof what you find reported of any of the Puritans a Faction no less opposed by his Majesty in Scotland than with us in England So when we speak of Religion though that indeed be all one you divide us into Lutherans Zwinglians Calvinists Protestants Brownists Puritans and Cartwrightists whensoever any disorder of all this number can be accused then lo are we all one and the fault of any Faction is the slander of all yea of the Gospel it self and of Reformation Judge now uprightly if this be indifferent dealing From Scotland you come to England Where because you could find nothing done by popular tumult nothing but by the whole State in Parliament and Clergy in Convocation you fall upon King Henry's Passions you will not insist upon them you say and yet you do as long as upon any one member
the affections those things that tended to edification ought only to be used And thought it would be hard otherwise to make stops for upon the same pretence an infinity of Rites might be brought in And the sense he had of the excesses of superstition from what he had observed during his long stay in Italy made him judge it necessary to watch carefully against the beginnings of that disease which is like a green Sickness in Religion He never used the Common Prayer in his Family for he thought it was intended to be the solemn Worship of Christians in their Publick Assemblies and that it was not so proper for private Families He was so exact an observer of Ecclesiastical Rules that he would perform no part of his Function out of his own Diocess without obtaining the Ordinaries leave for it so that being in Dublin when his Wife's Daughter was to be married to Mr. Clogy that is much more the Author of this Book than I am and they both desired to be blest by him he would not do it till he first took out a Licence for it in the Archbishop of Dublin's Consistory So far I have prosecuted the Relation of his most exemplary discharge of his Episcopal Function reserving what is more personal and particular to the end where I shall give his Character I now come to the conclusion of his life which was indeed suitable to all that had gone before But here I must open one of the bloodiest Scenes that the Sun ever shone upon and represent a Nation all covered with Blood that was in full peace under no fears nor apprehensions enjoying great plenty and under an easie yoke under no oppression in Civil matters nor persecution upon the account of Religion For the Bishops and Priests of the Roman Communion enjoyed not only an impunity but were almost as publick in the use of their Religion as others were in that which was established by Law so that they wanted nothing but Empire and a power to destroy all that differed from them And yet on a sudden this happy Land was turned to be a Field of Blood Their Bishops resolved in one particular to fulfil the Obligation of the Oath they took at their Consecration of persecuting all Hereticks to the utmost of their power and their Priests that had their breeding in Spain had brought over from thence the true Spirit of their Religion which is ever breathing cruelty together with a tincture of the Spanish temper that had appeared in the conquest of the West-Indies and so they thought a Massacre was the surest way to work and intended that the Natives of Ireland should vie with the Spaniards for what they had done in America The Conjuncture seemed favourable for the whole Isle of Britain was so imbroiled that they reckoned they should be able to master Ireland before any Forces could be sent over to check the progress of their butchery The Earl of Strafford had left Ireland some considerable time before this The Parliament of England was rising very high against the King and though the King was then gone to Scotland it was rather for a present quieting of things that he gave all up to them than that he gained them to his Service So they laid hold of this conjuncture to infuse it into the people That this was the proper time for them to recover their ancient Liberty and shake off the English Yoke and to possess themselves of those Estates that had belonged to their Ancestors And to such as had some rests of Duty to the King it was given out That what they were about was warranted by his Authority and for his service A Seal was cut from another Charter and put to a forged Commission giving warrant to what they were going about And because the King was then in Scotland they made use of a Scotch Seal They also pretended that the Parliaments of both Kingdoms being either in rebellion against the King or very near it That the English of Ireland would be generally in the interest of the English Parliament so that it was said That they could not serve the King better than by making themselves Masters in Ireland and then declaring for the King against his other rebellious Subjects These things took universally with the whole Nation and the Conspiracy was cemented by many Oaths and Sacraments and in conclusion all things were found to be so ripe that the day was set in which they should every where break out and the Castle of Dublin being then as well stored with a great Magazine which the Earl of Strafford had laid up for the Army that he intended to have carried into Scotland had not the pacification prevented it as it was weakly kept by a few careless Warders who might have been easily surprized it was resolved that they should seize on it which would have furnished them with Arms and Ammunition and have put the Metropolis and very probably the whole Island in their hands But though this was so well laid that the execution could not have mist in all humane appearance and though it was kept so secret that there was not the least suspicion of any design on foot till the Night before and then one that was among the chief of the managers of it out of kindness to an Irishman that was become a Protestant communicated the Project to him The other went and discovered it to the Lords Justices and by this means not only the Castle of Dublin was preserved but in effect Ireland was saved For in Dublin there was both a shelter for such as were stript and turned out of all they had to fly to and a place of rendezvous where they that escaped before the storm had reached to them met to consult about their preservation But though Dublin was thus secured the rest of the English and Scotch in Ireland particularly in Vlster fell into the hands of those merciless Men who reckoned it no small piece of mercy when they stript people naked and let them go with their lives But the vast numbers that were butchered by them which one of their own Writers in a Discourse that he printed some years after in order to the animating them to go on boasts to have exceeded two hundred thousand and the barbarous cruelties they used in murthering them are things of so dreadful a nature that I cannot easily go on with so dismal a Narrative but must leave it to the Historians I shall say no more of it than what concerns our Bishop It may be easily imagined how much he was struck with that fearful storm that was breaking on every hand of him though it did not yet break in upon himself There seemed to be a secret guard set about his House for though there was nothing but Fire Blood and Desolation round about him yet the Irish were so restrained as by some hidden power that they did him no harm for many Weeks His House was in no
will persist in them And yet further if there be any doubt he must manifest unto me which is the Catholick Church Thirdly to make it full Apostasie he should have convinced me to have swarved and backslidden as you know the Greek Word signifies like Iulian renouncing his Baptism and forsaken totally all Christian Religion a horrible imputation though false nor so easily proved as declaimed But I thank God daily that I am become Catholick as all our Ancestors were till of late years and as the most of Christendome still be at this present day with whom I had rather be miscalled a Papist a Traytor an Apostata or Idolater or what he will than to remain a Protestant with him still For in Protestant Religion I could never find Uniformity of a settled Faith and so no quietness of Conscience especially for three or four years before my coming away although by reading studying praying and conferring I did most carefully and diligently labour to find it among them But your contrariety of Sects and Opinions of Lutherans Zwinglians Calvinists â—rotestants Puritans Cartwrightists and Brownists some of them damning each other many of them avouching their Positions to be matters of Faith for if they made them but School Questions of Opinion only they should not so much have disquieted me and all these being so contrary yet every one pretending Scriptures and arrogating the Holy Ghost in his favour And above all which did most of all trouble me about the deciding of these and all other Controversies which might arise I could not find among all these Sects any certain humane external Iudge so infallibly to interpret Scriptures and by them and by the assistance of the Holy Ghost so undoubtedly to define questions of Faith that I could assure my self and my Soul This Iudge is infallible and to him thou oughtest in Conscience to obey and yield thy understanding in all his determinations of Faith for he cannot erre in those Points And note that I speak now of an external humane infallible Iudge For I know the Holy Ghost is the Divine internal and principal Iudge and the Scriptures be the Law or Rule by which that humane external Judge must proceed But the Holy Scriptures being often the Matter of Controversie and sometime questioned which be Scriptures and which be not they alone of themselves cannot be Judges And for the Holy Ghost likewise every one pretending him to be his Patron how should I certainly know by whom he speaketh or not For to Men we must go to learn and not to Angels nor to God himself immediately The Head of your Church was the Queen an excellent notable Prince but a Woman not to speak much less to be Iudge in the Church and since a learned King like King Henry the Eighth who was the first temporal Prince that ever made himself Ex Regio jure Head of the Church in Spiritual matters a new strange Doctrine and therefore justly condemned by Calvin for monstrous But suppose he were such a Head yet you all confess that he may erre in matters of Faith And so you acknowledge may your Archbishops and Bishops and your whole Clergy in their Convocation-House even making Articles and Decrees yea though a Council of all your Lutherans Calvinists Protestants c. of Germany France England c. were all joyned together and should agree all which they never will do to compound and determine the differences among themselves yet by the ordinary Doctrine of most Protestants they might in such a Council err and it were possible in their Decrees to be deceived But if they may err how should I know and be sure when and wherein they did or did not err for though on the one side Aposse ad esse non valet semper consequentia yet aliquanâ—o valet and on the other side frustra dicitur potentia quae nunquam ducitur in actum So that if neither in general nor in particular in publick nor private in Head nor Members joyntly nor severally you have no visible external humane infallible Iudge who cannot err and to whom I might have recourse for decision of doubts in matters of Faith I pray let Mr. Hall tell me Where should I have fixed my foot for God is my Witness my Soul was like Noah's Dove a long time hovering and desirous to discover Land but seeing nothing but moveable and troublesome deceivable Water I could find no quiet center for my Conscience nor any firm Foundation for my Faith in Protestant Religion Wherefore hearing a sound of Harmony and Consent That the Catholick Church could not err and that only in the Catholick Church as in Noah's Ark was infallibility and possibility of salvation I was so occasioned and I think had important reason like Noah's Dove to seek out and to enter into this Ark of Noah Hereupon I was occasioned to doubt Whether the Church of England were the true Church or not For by consent of all the true Church cannot err but the Church of England Head and Members King Clergy and People as before is said yea a whole Council of Protestants by their own grant may err ergo no true Church If no true Church no salvation in it therefore come out of it but that I was loth to do Rather I laboured mightily to defend it both against the Puritans and against the Catholicks But the best Arguments I could use against the Puritans from the Authority of the Church and of the ancient Doctors interpreting Scriptures against them when they could not answer them they would reject them for Popish and flye to their own arrogant spirit by which forsooth they must control others This I found on the one side most absurd and to breed an Anarchy of confusion and yet when I came to answer the Catholick Arguments on the other side against Protestants urging the like Authority and Vniformity of the Church I perceived the most Protestants did frame evasions in effect like those of the Puritans inclining to their private Spirit and other uncertainties Next therefore I applyed my self to follow their Opinion who would make the Church of England and the Church of Rome still to be all one in essental Points and the differences to be accidential confessing the Church of Rome to be a true Church though sick or corrupted and the Protestants to be derived from it and reformed and to this end I laboured much to reconcile most of our particular controversies But in truth I found such contrarieties not only between Catholicks and Protestants but even among Protestants themselves that I could never settle my self fully in this Opinion of some reconciliation which I know many great Scholars in England did favour For considering so many opposite great Points for which they did excommunicate and put to death each other and making the Pope to be Antichrist proper or improper it could never sink into my Brain how these two could be descendent or Members sound nor unsound
first it must be declared whether you mean the Catholick Church or a true part of the Catholick Church For there is not the like reason of these to error Against the Catholick Church Hell Gates shall not prevail against particular when Christ doth remove the Candlestick out of his place they do Witness the Churches of Africk sometimes most Catholick And thus it seems you must take this term since your doubt was Whether the Church of England be of the true Church or no. Besides I must desire to know what manner of Errors you mean whether even the least or only deadly and such as bar from salvation which the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 heresies of perdition 2 Pet. 2.1 Take now your own choice for if you speak of every errour the Proposition is false even of the Catholick Church much more of any particular Church Yea I add further not only of the Catholick Church by denomination from the greatest part or by representation as the Pastors or Prelates thereof met in a Council which is still the mixt Church but even that which is Christs true body whereof he is the Saviour and which shall be with him for ever As for deadly and damnable errors this true and properly called Church both in the whole and every part of the mixt Church is yet priviledged from them finally For it is kept by the power of God to salvation it is not possible the Elect should thus be seduced Truth it is That by such errors particular visible Assemblies universally and obstinately defending them become falsly called Churches from which we are to separate our selves Example in the Synagogue and in Churches of the Arians Now let us see your Assumption But the Church of England Head and Members King Clergy and People yea a whole Council of Protestants may err by your own grant I answer The Church of England that is the Elect in the Church of England which only are truly called the Church can never deadly err This no Protestant will grant ye The mixt Church of England Head Members King Clergy and the residue of the people and a whole Council of Protestants may err damnably and therefore much more fall into lesser errors This they grant And if they shall so err obstinately they shall deservedly lose the name of a trâ—e Church But they deny they do thus err yea they deny that they err de facto at all What follows in Conclusion Ergo No true Church This shortness in suppressing the Verb would make a Man think you meant to cover the fault of your Discourse And indeed you might by that means easily beguile another but I cannot be perswaded you would willingly beguile your self Sure you were beguiled if you meant it thus Ergo it is no true Church See your Argument in the like A faithful Witness cannot lye But Socrates or Aristides may lye by his own grant Ergo no faithful Witness He that stands upright cannot fall But you Mr. Waddesworth by your own grant may fall Ergo stand not upright Perhaps your meaning was Ergo it may become no â—rue Church to wit when it shall so err damnably But then it follows not There is now no salvation in it and therefore come out of it now When you shew that I shall account â—ou have done wisely to go out of it Shew â—â—at in any one Point and take me with â—ou In the mean while for my part I shall sooner trust that Chapman that shall say to me Lo here is a perfect Yard I will measure as truly as I can and when I have done take the Yard and measure it your self than him that shall say here is thus much ye shall not need to measure it but take it on my Word Yea though one of his Apprentices should stand by and say he could not deceive me though he would as Benedictus à Benedictis tells the present Pope Volens nolens errare non potâ—s Where you relate your endeavour to defend the Church of England and tell of the Puritans rejecting those Arguments you could use from the Authority of the Church and of the ancient â—octors interpreting Scriptures against them flying to their own arrogant Spirit I cannot excuse them for the former nor subscribe to your accusation in the latter Perhaps you have met with some more fanatical Brownists or Anabaptists whom here you call Puritans But these that are commonly so called which differ from the Church of England about Church Government and Ceremonies only give indeed too little to the Authority of Men how holy learned or ancient soever Which is their fault and their great fault especially in matters of this nature yet they fly not to their own Spirit as you charge them That which you add That you perceived the most Protestants did frame the like evasions when you came to answer the Arguments against them on the other side When you shall shew this in particulars I shall believe it In the mean while I believe you thought so for commonly mediocrities are aggravated with the hatred and slandered with the names of both extreams But in the question between the Popish faction and us you might easily have discerned why the Argument from bare Authority is not of such validity For Ceremonies and matters of order may be ordered by wise Men and are not the worse but the better if they be ancient yea if they be common to us with Rome which Puritans will by no means allow In Doctrine if holy Men yea if an Angel from Heaven shall innovate any thing we are not to admit it Now the Controversies between the Romanists and us are most about Doctrine and they exceed as much in extolling the authority of the Ancients in their private Opinions and incommodious and strained speeches as the Puritans in depressing them We hold the mean and give as much to the Authority and Testimonies of the Fathers as may stand with the truth of Holy Scriptures and as themselves defer to the writing of others or require to be given to their own Next you tell of your following their Opinion who would make the Church of England and the Church of Rome still to be all one in Essential Points and the differences to be accidental Confessing the Church of Rome to be a true Church though sick or corrupted and the Protestants to be derived from it and reformed This Opinion is not only as you write favoured of many great Scholars in England but is the common Opinion of all the best Divines of the reformed Churches that are or have been in the World as I shewed in part of another Work which as I remember you had a sight of Wherein yet I fear you mistake the term accidental which doth not import that our differences are but slight and of small consideration but that all those Opinions and Abuses which we reform and cut off are not of the Faith but superfluous and foreign yea
Bonner laid against the First Parliament in Queen Elizabeths time to be true of all the rest Then that he accounts Bishop Bonner to have excepted against this Parliament because the Bishops there were no Bishops as not canonically ordained Where it was because there was no Bishops true or false there at all His last proof is That Dr. Bancroft being demanded of Mr. Alablaster whence their first Bishops received their Orders answered That he hoped a Bishop might be ordained of a Presbyter in time of necessity Silently granting That they were not ordained by any Bishop And therefore saith he the Parliamentary Bishops are without order Episcopal and their Ministers also no Priests For Priests are not made but of Bishops whence Hierome Quid facit c. What doth a Bishop saving Ordination which a Presbyter doth not I have not the means to demand of D. Alablaster whether this be true or not Nor yet whether this be all the answer he had of Dr. Bancroft That I affirm that if it were yet it follows not that D. Bancroft silently granted they had no Orders of Bishops Unless he that in a false Discourse where both Propositions be untrue denies the Major doth silently grant the Minor Rather he jested at the futility of this Argument which admitting all this lying Legend of the Nags-head and more too suppose no Ordination by any Bishops had been ever effected notwithstanding shews no sufficient reason why there might not be a true consecration and true Ministers made and consequently a true Church in England For indeed necessity dispenses with Gods own positive Laws as our Saviour shews in the Gospel much more then with Mans And such by Hieroms Opinion are the Laws of the Church touching the difference of Bishops and Presbyters and consequently touching their Ordination by Bishops only Whereof I have treated more at large in another place for the justification of other reformed Churches albeit the Church of England needs it not To confirm this Argument it pleaseth F. Halywood to add That King Edward the Sixth took away the Catholick Rite of Ordaining and instead of it substituted a few Calvinistical Prayers Whom Queen Elizabeth followed c. And this is in effect the same thing which you say when you add That Coverdale being made Bishop of Exceter in King Edward 's time when all Councils and Church Canons were little observed it is very doubtful he was never himself canonically consecrated and so if he were no canonical Bishop he could not make another Canonical To F. Halywood I would answer That King Edward took not away the Catholick Rite of Ordaining but purged it from a number of idle and superstitious Rites prescribed by the Popish Pontifical And the Prayers which he scoffs at if they were Calvinistical sure it was by Prophecie for Calvin never saw them till Queen Mary's time when by certain of our English Exiles the Book of Common Prayer was translated and shewed him if he saw them then Some of them as the Litany and the Hymn Veni Creator c. I hope were none of Calvin's devising To you if you name what Councils and Church Canons you mean and make any certain exception either against Bishop Coverdale or any of the rest as not Canonical Bishops I will endeavour to satisfie you Mean while remember I beseech you That both Law and Reason and Religion should induce you in doubtful thingâ— to follow the most favourable sentence and not rashly out of light surmises to pronounce against a publick and solemn Ordination against the Orders conferred successively from it against a whole Church Wherein I cannot but commend Doctor Carriers modesty whose Words are these I will not determine against the succession of the Clergy in England because it is to me very doubtful And the discretion of Cudsemius the Jesuite which denies the English Nation to be Hereticks because they remain in a perpetual succession of Bishops And to take away all doubt from you that some of these Ordainers were only Bishops elect and unconsecrated besides Miles Coverdale in King Edward's time Bishop of Exceter cast in Prison by Queen Mary and released and sent over Sea to the King of Denmark know that William Barlow was another in King Edward's days Bishop of Bath and Wells in Queen Mary's beyond the Seas in the company of the Dutchess of Suffolk and Mr. Bertie her Husband at the time of Dr. Parker's Ordination Elect of Chichester A third was Iohn Scory in King Edward's time Bishop of Chichester and at the time of the said Ordination Elect of Hereford A fourth was Iohn Hodgeskin Suffragan of Bedford And these four if they were all ordained according to the Form ratified in King Edward's days were presented by two Bishops at least to the Archbishop and of him and them received Imposition of Hands as in the said Form is appointed One Scruple yet remains which you have in That these Men did consecrate Doctor Parker by vertue of a Breve from the Queen as Head of the Church who being no true Head and a Woman you see not how they could make a true Consecration grounded on her Authority But to clear you in this also you must understand the Queens Mandate served not to give Power to ordain which those Bishops had before intrinsecally annexed to their Office but Leave and Warrant to apply that Power to the person named in that Mandate A thing unless I have been deceived by Reports used in other Countrys yea in the Kingdoms of his Catholick Majesty himself Sure I am by the Christian Emperors in the Primitive Church as you may see in the Ecclesiastical Histories and namely in the Ordination of Nectarius that I spake of before Yea which is more in the Consecration of the Bishops of Rome as of Leo the Eighth whose Decree with the Synod at Rome touching this matter is set down by Gratian Dist. 63. c. 23. taken from the example of Hadrian and another Council which gave to Charles the Great Ius potestatem eligendi Pontifâ—cem ordinandi Apostolicam Sedem as you may see in the Chapter next before See the same Dist. c. 16 17 18. and you shall find that when one was chosen Bishop of Reate within the Popes own Province by the Clergy and people and sent to him by Guido the Count to be consecrated the Pope durst not do it till the Emperors Licence were obtained Yâ—â— that he writes to the Emperour for Colonus That receiving his Licence he might consecrate him either there or in the Church of Tusculum which accordingly upon the Emperours bidding he performed Yet another Exception you take to the making our Ministers That we keep not the right intention First Because we neither give nor take Orders as a Sacrament By that Reason we should have no true Marriages amongst us neither because we count not Matrimony a Sacrament This Controversie depends upon the definition of a Sacrament
late King He communicated to him the inwardest thoughts of his Heart and profesed that he had learnt more from him in all the parts of Divinity whether Speculative or Practical than from any he had ever conversed with in his whole life So great an intimacy with so extraordinary a person is enough to raise a Character were there no more to be added P. Paulo went further for he assisted him in acquiring the Italian Tongue in which Bedell became such a Master that he spoke it as one born in Italy and penned all the Sermons he then preached either in Italian or Latine in this last it will appear by the productions of his Pen yet remaining that he had a true Roman Stile inferior to none of the Modern Writers if not equal to the Ancients In requital of the Instruction he received from P. Paulo in the Italian Tongue he drew a Grammar of the English Tongue for his use and for some others that desired to learn it that so they might be able to understand our Books of Divinity and he also translated the English Common-prayer Book into Italian and P. Paulo and the seven Divines that during the Interdict were commanded by the Senate both to preach and write against the Popes authority liked it so well that they resolved to have made it their pattern in case the differences between the Pope and them had produced the effect which they hoped and longed for The intimacy between them grew so great and so publick that when P. Paulo was wounded by those Assassinates that were set on by the Court of Rome to destroy so redoubted an Enemy upon the failing of which attempt a Guard was set on him by the Senate that knew how to value and preserve so great a Treasure and much precaution was used before any were admitted to come to him Bedell was excepted out of those rules and had free access to him at all times They had many and long discourses concerning Religion He found P. Paulo had read over the Greek New Testament with so much exactness that having used to mark every Word when he had fully weighed the importance of it as he went through it he had by going often over it and observing what he past over in a former reading grown up to that at last that every word was marked of the whole New Testament and when Bedell suggested to him critical explications of some passages that he had not understood before he received them with the transports of one that leapt for joy and that valued the discoveries of divine Truth beyond all other things During his stay at Venice the famous Ant. de Dominis Archbishop of Spalata came to Venice and having received a just character of Mr. Bedell he discovered his secret to him and shewing him his ten Books De Republica Ecclesiastica which he afterwards printed at London Bedell took the freedom which he allowed him and corrected many ill applications of Texts of Scripture and Quotations of Fathers For that Prelate being utterly ignorant of the Greek Tongue could not but be guilty of many mistakes both in the one and the other and if there remain some places still that discover his ignorance of that Language too plainly yet there had been many more if Bedell had not corrected them but no wonder if in such a multitude some escaped his diligence De Dominis took all this in good part from him and did enter into such familiarity with him and found his assistance so useful and indeed so necessary to himself that he used to say he could do nothing without him A passage fell out during the Interdict that made greater noise than perhaps the importance of it could well amount to but it was suited to the Italian Genius There came a Jesuite to Venice Thomas Maria Caraffa who printed a Thousand Theses of Philosophy and Divinity which he dedicated to the Pope with this extravagant Inscription PAULO V. VICE-DEO Christianae Reipublicae Monarchae invictissimo Pontificiae Omnipotentiae conservatori accerrimo To Paul the U. the Uice-God the most invincible Monarch of the Christian Common-wealth and the most zealous asserter of the Papal Omnipotency All people were amazed at the impudence of this Title but when Mr. Bedell observed that the numeral Letters of the first Words PAVLO V. VICE-DEO being put together made exactly 666. the number of the Beast in the Revelation he communicated this to P. Paulo and the Seven Divines and they carried it to the Duke and Senate it was entertained almost as if it had come from Heaven and it was publickly preached over all their Territories that here was a certain evidence that the Pope was Antichrist And it is like this was promoted by them more because they found it took with the Italians than that they could build much upon it though it was as strong as the like computation from the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon which some of the Ancients laid some weight This flew so over Italy that lest it should take too much among the people the Pope caused his Emissaries to give it out every where That Antichrist was now born in Babylon and was descended of the Tribe of Dan and that he was gathering a vast Army with which he intended to come and destroy Christendome and therefore all Christian Princes were exhorted to prepare all their Forces for resisting so great an Invasion And with this piece of false news that was given out very confidently the other conceit was choaked But though Mr. Bedell makes use of it in his Book against Wadsworth yet he was too modest a Man to claim the discovery of it to himself but Sir Henry Wotton assured King Iames That he first observed it Here I must add a passage concerning which I am in doubt whether it reflected more on the sincerity or on the understanding of the English Ambassadour The breach between the Pope and the Republick was brought very near a Crisis so that it was expected a total separation not only from the Court but the Church of Rome was like to follow upon it It was set on by P. Paulo and the Seven Divines with much zeal and was very prudently conducted by them In order to the advancing of it King Iames ordered his Ambassadour to offer all possible assistance to them and to accuse the Pope and the Papacy as the chief Authors of all the mischiefs of Christendome The Prince and Senate answered this in words full of respect to King Iames and said That they knew things were not so bad as some endeavoured to make the World believe on design to sow discord between Christian Princes and when the Popes Nuncio objected That King Iames was not a Catholick and so was not to be relyed on The Duke answered The King of England believed in Jesus Christ but he did not know in whom some others believed Upon which P. Paulo and the Seven Divines pressed Mr. Bedell to move
the Ambassadour to present King Iames's Premonition to all Christian Princes and States then put in Latine to the Senate and they were confident it would produce a great effect But the Ambassadour could not be prevailed on to do it at that time 〈◊〉 pretended that since S. Iames's day was not far off iâ— would be more proper to do it on that day If this was only for the sake of a Speech that he had made on the conceit of S. Iames's Day and K. Iames's Book with which he had intended to present it that was a weakness never to be excused But if this was only a pretence and that there was a design under it it was a crime not to be forgiven All that Bedell could say or do to perswade him not to put off a thing of such importance was in vain and indeed I can hardly think that Wotton was so weak a Man as to have acted sincerely in this matter Before S. Iames's day came which I suppose was the First of May and not the Twenty fifth of Iuly the difference was made up and that happy opportunity was lost so that when he had his audience on that Day in which he presented the Book all the answer he got was That they thanked the King of England for his good will but they were now reconciled to the Pope and that therefore they were resolved not to admit of any change in their Religion according to their agreement with the Court of Rome It may be easily imagined what a Wound this was to his Chaplain but much more to those who were more immediately concerned in that matter I mean P. Paulo with the Seven Divines and many others who were weary of the corruptions of their Worship and were groaning for a Reformation But now the reconciliation with Rome was concluded the Senate carried the matter with all the dignity and Majesty that became that most seâ—ene Republick as to all civil things for they would not ask Absolution but the Nuncio to save the Popes credit came into the Senate-House before the Duke was come and crossed his Cushion and absolved him Yet upon this they would not suffer any publick signs of joy to be made nor would they recal the Jesuites But in all these things greater regard was had to the dignity of their State than to the interest of Religion so that P. Paulo was out of all hopes of bringing things ever back to so promising a conjuncture upon which he wisht he could have left Venice and come over to England with Mr. Bedell but he was so much esteemed by the Senate for his great Wisdom that he was consulted by them as an Oracle and trusted with their most important Secrets so that he saw it was impossible for him to obtain his Congè and therefore he made a shift to comply as far as he could with the established way of their Worship but he had in many things particular methods by which he in a great measure rather quieted than satisfied his Conscience In saying of Mass he past over many parts of the Canon and in particular those Prayers in which that Sacrifice was offered up to the honour of Saints He never prayed to Saints nor joyned in those parts of the Offices that went against his Conscience and in private Confessions and Discourses he took people off from those abuses and gave them right Notions of the purity of the Christian Religion so he hoped he was sowing Seeds that might be fruitful in another Age and thus he believed he might live innocent in a Church that he thought so defiled And when one prest him hard in this matter and objected that he still held communion with an Idolatrous Church and gave it credit by adhering outwardly to it by which means others that depended much on his example would be likewise encouraged to continue in it All the answer he made to this was That God had not given him the Spirit of Luther He expressed great tenderness and concern for Bedell when he parted with him and said that both he and many others would have gone over with him if it had been in their power but that he might never be forgot by him he gave him his Picture with an Hebrew Bible without Points and a little Hebrew Psalter in which he writ some Sentences expressing his esteem and friendship for him and with these he gave him the unvaluable Manuscript of the History of the Council of Trent together with the History of the Interdict and of the Inquisition the first of these will ever be reckoned the chief pattern after which all that intend to succeed well in writing History must copy But among other Papers that P. Paulo gave him some that were of great importance are lost for in a Letter of Mr Bedells to Dr. Ward he mentions a Collection of Letters that were sent him Weekly from Rome during the contests between the Iesuites and Dominicans concerning the efficacy of Grace of which P. Paulo gave him the Originals and in his Letter to Dr. Ward he mentions his having sent them to him These very probably contained a more particular relation of that matter than the World has yet seen since they were writ to so curious and so inquisitive a Man but it seems he did not allow Bedell to print them and so I am afraid they are now irrecoverably lost When Bedell came over he brought along with him the Archbishop of Spalata and one Despotine a Physician who could no longer bear with the corruptions of the Roman Worship and so chose a freer air The latter lived near him in S. Edmundsbury and was by his means introduced into much Practice which he maintained so well that he became eminent in his Profession and continued to his death to keep up a constant correspondence with him As for the Archbishop of Spalata his Story it is too well known to need to be much enlarged on He was an ambitious Man and set too great a value on himself and expressed it so indecently that he sunk much in the estimation of the English Clergy by whom he was at first received with all possible respect but after he had stayed some years in England upon the promotion of Pope Gregory the XIV that had been his School-fellow and old acquaintance he was made believe that the Pope intended to give him a Cardinals Hat and to make great use of him in all aâ—fairs so that he fancied that he should be the instrument of a great Reformation in the Church his Pride made him too easie to flatter himself with these vain Hopes and the distaste some of the English Clergy had taken at him for his ambition and covetousness gave Gundamor the Spanish Ambassadour great advantages in the conduct of that matter for his mind that was blown up with vanity and sharpned with resentment was easily wrought on so that he believing that the Promises made him would not only be performed but that