Concurrence or Licence should not be thought necessary in the creating of a Pope And from Hadrian the First who dyed Anno 795. till Hadrian the Third there were 89 years and from Vigilius his days who dyed Anno 555. there were 330 years So long were the Popes made upon the Emperors Mandates Nor did the Emperors part easily with this Right but after that the Otho's and the Henry's kept up their Pretension and came oft to Rome and made many Popes and though most of the Popes so made were generally reckoned Anti-Popes and Schismaticks yet some of them as Clement the Second are put in the Catalogue of the Popes by Baronius and Binnius and by the late publishers of the Councils Labbee and Cossartius There was indeed great Opposition made to this at Rome but let even their own Historians be appealed to what a Series of Monsters and not Men those Popes were how infamously they were Elected often by the Whores of Rome and how flagitious they were we refer it to Barronius himself who could not deny this for all his partiality in his great Work But in the end Pope Gregory the Seventh got the better of the Emperors in this particular And now let the ingenuity of those Men be considered who endeavour to Invalidate our Orders and call our Priests and Bishops Parliamentary Priests and Bishops because they are made upon the King's Mandate according to the Act of Parliament When it is clear that for near 500 years together their own Popes were Consecrated for the most part upon the Emperors Mandate And it is certain the Kings of England have as much power to do the same here as the Emperors had to do it at Rome The Emperors were wont also to grant the Investitures into all the Bishopricks by giving the Ring and the Staff which were the Ceremonies of the Investiture and so they both named and invested all the Bishops and Abbots This Pope Gregory the Seventh thought was no more to be suffered than their creating the Popes both being done by the same Authority Therefore he resolved to wring them out of the Emperors hands and take them into his own and it was no wonder he had a great mind to bring this about for the Bishopricks and Abbeys were then so richly endowed that it was the Conquest of almost the third part of the Empire to draw the giving of them into his own hands Therefore he first disgraced these Laical Investitures by an ill name to make them sound odiously and called all so Ordained Simoniacks as he also called the Married Clergy Nicolaitans Now every body knows how much any thing suffers by a scurvy Nick-name raised on it But he went more roundly to work and deposed the Emperor and absolved his Subjects from their obedience What bloody Wars and unnatural Rebellions of the Children against the Father followed by the Popes instigation is well enough known In the end his Son that succeeded him was forced to yield up the matter to the Pope In Spain it appears both from the 12th and 16th Councils of Toledo that the Kings there did choose the Bishops which Baronius does freely confess And Gregory of Tours through his whole History gives so many Instances of the Kings of France of the Merovinian Race choosing and naming the Bishops that it cannot be questioned all the Writers of the Gallicane Church do also assert that their Kings gave the Investitures from the days of Charles the Great But the Popes were still making inroads upon their Authority for securing which Charles the Seventh caused the Pragmatic Sanction to be made It is true afterwards Pope Leo the Tenth got Francis the First to set up the Concordate in its place against which the Assembly of the Clergy at Paris did complain and appealed to a General Council and yet by the Concordate the King retains still the power of naming the Bishops In England there are some Instances of the Saxon Kings choosing Bishops and though so little remains of the Records or Histories of that time that it is no wonder if we meet but few Yet it is clear that King William the Conqueror and both his Sons did give the Investitures to the Bishops and though upon a Contest between King Henry the First and Anselm about them the King did yield them to him yet upon Anselm's death he did re-assume that power I need not say more to shew what were the Rights of the Crown in this matter nor how oft they were asserted in Parliament nor how many Laws were made against the Incroachments and tyrannical Exactions of the Court of Rome these are now so commonly known and have been so oft printed of late that I need add nothing about them Only from all I have said I suppose it is indisputably clear That if Ordinations or Consecrations upon the Kings Mandate be invalid which this Paper drives at then all the Ordinations of the Christian Church are also annulled since for many Ages they were all made upon the Mandates of Emperors and Kings By all which you may see the great weakness of this Argument I shall to this add some Remarks on a few particulars of less weight that are insinuated in this Argument First The Writer of it would infer from the Queens calling Cardinal Pool the late and immediate Arch-Bishop and Pastor of Canterbury that we acknowledg Catholick Ordination valid lawful and good If by Valid Lawful and Good be understood that which retained the Essentials of Ordination and was according to the then Law there is no doubt to be made of it but if he mean that all the Forms and Ceremonies of their Ordination are acknowledged to be Good he will never draw that inference from these words Secondly From the Clause of the Patents that is for supplying all defects considering the necessity of the times he would infer there was somwhat wanting in them which was thereby supplyed If by that Want he means an essential Defect there was none such for they were true Bishops If he means only that some things were not according to what the Law required it is of no Force for whoever makes a Law can also dispense with it Therefore the execution of these Laws being put in the Queens hands she might well dispense with some particulars all which the Parliament did afterwards confirm and any defect in the point of Law might make them liable to the Civil powers but it can by no means be pretended that this should annul the Ordinations though illegally gone about Thirdly He would infer from the Act of Parliament that the Queen is made Pope when he knows that both by one of the Articles of the Church and another Act of Parliament it is declared otherwise express words as follows where we attribute to the Queens Majesty the chief Government by which Titles we understand the minds of some slandrous folks to be offended we give not to our Princes the Ministry either
had within the Kings Majesties Dominions it is requisite to have one Uniform fashion and manner for making and Consecrating Bishops Priests c. Be it therefore Enacted by the Kings Highness with the Assents of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons of this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same mark by which Authority they are made that such Form and manner of making and Consecrating of Archbishops Bishops Priests c. as by six Prelates and six other men of this Realm learned in Gods Law by the Kings Majesty who was but a Child to be appointed and assigned or by the most number of them shall be devised for that purpose and set forth under the Great Seal of England before the first day of April next coming and shall by vertue of this present Act see what vertues be lawfully exercised and used and none other any Statute Law or Usage to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding By Authority whereof those Prelates and meâ—… learned in the Law invented and made thâ—… Form before mentioned never heard of before either in Scripture or Church of God From which I thus argue and prove my Minor They that instituted the Form were thâ—… King and Parliament 3. 4. Edward VI. Buâ—… that King and Parliament were neither Authors of Grace not had power over the Body and Blood of Christ therefore they that Instituted this Form were neither Authors oâ—… Grace nor had power over the Body and Blood of Christ nor consequently could make it present Fifthly They are no true Priests because the Bishops that made them were no true Bishops nor so much as Priests and no man can give power to another which he hath not himself That they were no true Bishops nor Priests who pretended to make these Priests which shall be the second part of my Discourse I prove thus PROTESTANT BISHOPS NO BISHOPS NOR SO MUCH AS PRIESTS First They are no Priests because made by the same Form which other English Ministers were which I have clearly proved to be null That they are no true Bishops I prove first out of this very Principle already laid because they are no true Priests for as Master Mason a chief Champion of theirs says Epist. Ded. ad Episcop Paris Seeing he cannot be a Bishop who is not a Priest if it can be proved we are no Priests there 's an end to our English Church And the great Doctor of the Church St. Jerom Dial. cum Lucifero cap. 8. says Ecclesia non est quae non habet Sacerdotem It is no Church that hath no Priests The Protestant Bishops therefore being no Priests can be no true Bishops nor their Church a Church at all Secondly They are no Bishops because their Form of Ordination is essentially invalid and null seeing it cannot be valid no more than that of Priesthood unless it be in fit words which signifies the Order given as Mr. Mason says in his Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae lib. 1. c. 16. n. 6. in these terms Not any words can serve for this Institution but such as are fit to express the power of the Order given And the reason is evident because Ordination being a Sacrament as the same Author says lib. 1. n. 8. and Doctor Bramhal page 96. of the Consecration of Protestant Bishops that is a visible sign of invisible Grace given by it There must be some visible sign or words in the Form of it to signifie the Power given and to determine the matter which is the Imposition of hands of it self a dumb sign and common to Priests and Deacons Confirming Curing c. to the Grace of Episcopal Order otherwise it were sufficient to say at the Imposition of hands Be thou a Constable or God make thee an honest man But there is no such visible sign or words in the Protestant Form expressing this Episcopal Power given therefore no such power is given That there is no such sign or words in the Protestant Form I prove out of the Form it self which is this made in King Edward the VI. time and continued till the happy Restauration of his Majesty that now is Take the Holy Ghost and remember that thou stir up the Grace of God that is in thee by Imposition of hands for God hath not given us the Spirit of Fear but of Power and of Love and Soberness In which is not any word signifying Episcopal Power or Ordination and therefore for this defect in their Form they are no true Bishops Against what has been said you will object first That I prove them to be no Priests because they are no Bishops that made them and on the other side I prove them no Bishops because they are no Priests which is a vicious Circle But I easily answer this because I first prove à priori that is from the essential which ought to give being to each of them tat they are severally null and each of them being null for that reason it is evident that it is a cause of Invalidity in the other for as he can be no Bishop who is proved to be no Priest so he can make no Priest who is proved to be no Bishop Secondly You will object and salve up all the Defects afore-mentioned in one word to wit That although the Form used in the Church of England were invalid in King Edward ' s Queen Elizabeth's King James ' s and King Charles the First 's time for want of a valid Form of Ordination yet now it is valid in our Sovereign King Charles the Second's with whom the Parliament now sitting hath appointed a true Form Enacting that for the future to wit after St. Bartholomew's Day 1662. the Form of Ordaining a Priest should be Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office of a Priest and of a Bishop Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and work of a Bishop But to this I 'le answer you in another word That the salve is worse than the sore because by this change of the Form before established they acknowledge it to be null for why else need they change it Secondly By it they in effect acknowledge all their Bishops and Priests till that time to be null because Ordained by a Form that was null and could not give Power it had not nor signified Thirdly Because being no Bishops already they cannot Ordain validly by any Form whatsoever for no man can give what he has not as has been said before Lastly Whatsoever Power this Act gives to Ordain is from the Parliament and not from Christ which is what I first undertook to show and destroys their Orders root and branch Now although the Bishops of the Church of England and their Ministers grant this change of their Form of Ordination yet if any one should deny it you need only look upon the Form of making Bishops and Priests made 〈◊〉 and which was only used in the Church of England for an hundred years to be found in every
authority to what Offices they will have made Saints and added devotions to them as they pleased All persons in that Communion must either by a blind resignation accept of every thing in their Worship which the Pope imposes believing him infallible or if they are not of that perswasion but give themselves leave to examine the Offices whether they do it by the Scriptures the Fathers and Tradition or by the Rules of Reason they must needs see there are many injustifiable things in their Offices many Saints are in the Breviary about whose Canonisation they are not at all assured And in a word one shall not speak with one of these Principles but they will acknowledg there is great need of Reforming their Offices Yet they must worship God according to them as they are otherwise they are Schismaticks and fall under that same condemnation for which they are so severe upon us Therefore it must either be the merits of the Cause that makes a Schismatick or if a Condemnation for separating from Authorised Offices does it then they must resolve to be guilty of it or worship God contrary to their Consciences They have no rules for their Offices but the Popes pleasure for Councils never made any and indeed it is the most unreasonable thing that can be to put the direction of the whole worship of God in one Man or a succession of Mens power unless they be believed Infallible The last thing I shall mention to shew how unreasonable they are who deny the Popes Infallibility and yet condemn the Reformation so severely is in the point of Government which though it be not of so high nor so universal a Nature as the two former are yet it must be acknowledged to be of great Importance And that the Prelates of that Church are fast tied to the Pope without any Reserves or Exceptions unless it be that of saving my Order the sense whereof is not fully understood will appear from the Oath they make to the Pope before they are Ordained From the consideration of which it was that King Henry the 8th laid it out to his Parliament that they were but half his Subjects and by the Oath then taken by the Bishops of England as is set down by Hall it appears that since that time there are very considerable Additions made to that Oath which any that will compare them together will easily discern If men make Conscience of an Oath they must be in a very hard condition that believe the Pope to be Infallible and yet are so bound to him by such a Bond. If the Superior be Infallible the Subject may without any trouble in his Conscience swear Obedience in any terms that can be conceived But when the Superior is believed subject to error and mistake then their swallow must be very large that can swear to preserve defend increase and promote the Rights Honours Priviledges and Authority of the Holy Roman Church of our Lord the Pope and his Successors foresaid The Decrees Orders or Appointments Reservations Provisions or Mandates Apostolical I shall observe with all my strength and make them to be observed by others And I shall according to my power persecute and oppose all Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebells against the said our Lord and his Successors And I shall humbly receive and diligently execute the Apostolical Commands Which words being full and without those necessary and just reserves of the Obedience promised to Ecclesiastical Superiors in all things Lawful and Honest all the Prelates of the Roman Communion are as fast tied to the Pope as if they believed him Infallible for if they believed him such they could be tied to nothing more than absolute and unlimited Obedience Therefore they are in so much a worse estate than others be which hold that opinion because they have the saâ—… Obligation bound upon them by Oath And let the Pope command what he will theâ—… must either obey him or confess themselveâ—… guilty of breach of Oath and Perjurâ—… And I hope the Reader will observe whâ—… mercy all whom they account Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebels againâ—… their Lord the Pope are to expect at their hands who make their Bishops swear 〈◊〉 persecute all such according to their power so that we may by this be abundantly satisfied of their good Intentionâ—… and Inclinations when ever it shall be iâ—… their power to fulfil the Contents of thiâ—… Oath for let any of them speak ever 〈◊〉 softly or gently if he comes to be Consecrated a Bishop he must either be Perjured or turn a persecuter of all Protestants whâ—… are in their opinion the worst sort of Hereticks and Schismaticks And certainly it is much more reasonble to calculate what in reason we ought to expect from the Prelates of that Church if ever our sins provoke God to deliver us over to their Tyranny from the Oath they swear at their Consecration than from all the meek and good natured words with which they now study to abuse some among us which is so common an Artifice of all who aspire to Power and Government that one might think the trick should be tried no more but some love to be cheated a hundred times over From these Instances it is apparent that the Pope has every whit as much Authority in that Church and over all in it as if he were believed Infallible since both the Doctrine Worship and Government of their Church are determined by him to whose award all must not only submit but be concluded by it in their Subscriptions Worship and other practices So that the opinion of the Popes being fallible gives such persons no ease nor freedom except it be to their secret thoughts but brings them under endless scruples and perplexities by the Obligations and Oaths that are imposed upon them which bind them to a further obedience and compliance than is consistent with a fallible Authority And therefore their Principles being so Incoherent that they cannot maintain both their charge against us of Heresie and Schism and their opinion of the Popeâ—… Fallibility and keep a good Conscience withal There is one of three things to be expected from men of that Principle either that they shall quite throw off thâ—… Popes tyrannical Yoke and assert their own liberty reserving still their other Opinions as was done in the days of King Henry the Eighth or that they shall joynâ—… in Communion with us or that they shall continue as they are complying with every thing imposed on them by the Court oâ—… Rome preferring Policy to a good Conscience studying by frivolous Distinctions to reconcile these Compliances with their Principles which any man easily see are Inconsistent That those of the Port-Royal have done the last is laid to their charge both by Calvinists and Jesuits and as I am credibly informed by some of their own number who do complain of their subscribing Formularies and every thing else sent from Rome which they have opposed as long
Bishop should be delayed then he should be Consecrated by two Bishops appointed by the King and then in the same Statute grants further that all recourse be forbidden to Rome and Archbishops and Bishops be Confirmed and Consecrated by Bishops to be assigned by the King Secondly Out of the Act of 8. Eliz. 1. made purposely to set forth the Authority next under God by which Matthew Parker and the other first Protestant Bishops in the beginning of the Queens Reign were made by reciting how they were made by the Authority of her Majesty and how she was authorized to that end by the aforesaid Statute of Henry VIII and the Statute of 1. Eliz. 1. in these words First It is well known to all the degrees of this Realm that the late King Henry the Eighth was as well by all the Clergy then of this Realm in their several Convocations as also by all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in divers of his Parliaments justly and rightfully recognized and acknowledged to have the Supreme Power Jurisdiction and Authority over the Ecclesiastical State of the same and that the said King did in the twenty fifth year of his Reign set forth a certain order of the Manner and Form how Archbishops and Bishops should be made c. And although in the Reign of the late Queen the said Act was repealed yet nevertheless at the Parliament 1. Eliz. the said Act was revived and by another Act they made all Jurisdiction Priviledges c. Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power or Authority hath hitherto been or lawfully may be used over the Ecclesiastical State of this Realm is fully and absolutely by Authority of the same Parliament mark by what Authority united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm mark here how she is made Pope and by the same Statute there is also given to the Queen mark Given Power and Authority by Letters Patents to Assign and Authorize such Persons as she shall think fit whether Clergy-men Lawyers Merchants Coblers or any other so they be naturally born Subjects of the Realm for the Statute requires no more to exercise under her all manner of Jurisdiction in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual Jurisdiction in this Realm Whereupon the Queen having in her order and disposition all the said Jurisdictions c. hath by her Supreme Authority caused divers to be duly made and consecrated Archbishops and Bishops according to such Order and Form and with such Ceremonies in and about their Consecration as were allowed and set out by the said Acts c. And further her Highness hath in her Letters Patents used divers special words whereby by her Supreme Authority she hath dispensed with all causes and doubts of imperfections or disability c. as is to be seen more aâ—… large in the same Act. In which you see declared by the Queen Matthew Parker himself and the whole Parliament That Matthew Parker the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury was made Archbishop as all the other Protestant Bishops in her time were by Authority of the Queen and that she had her Authority for it from the Statutes 25. Henry 8. 20. and 1. Eliz. 1. from whom all our Protestant Bishops since spring and descend and derive all the Power and Authority that they have From which you see clearly that Protestant Bishops have no Authority to teach Preach or to be Bishops but what originally they have from the Parliament Which is still more evidently confirmed by this Parliament now in being which in the year 1662. by the Act of Uniformity annulled the forementioned Forms of Ordination of Priests and Bishops as being deficient and appointed new ones by their own Authority So from the first to the last all the Protestant Priests and Bishops both heretofore and at this present are only Parliamentary Priests and Bishops and not so from Christ and his Church but only from their Kings Queen and Parliaments I must confess this present Parliament may easily answer the Parliaments of Edward the VI. and Queen Elizabeth why it hath lately altered the Form of Ordination instituted and used by them to wit because their Forms were null and invalid but what Authority either of them had to make alter or use any Form of Ordination or to give Power to Teach Preach Minister Sacraments or the like of themselves without Authority from Christ our Saviour there I must leave them to answer him From the Premisses I infer First That they being no Priests nor Bishops theirs is no Church as Mr. Mason and St. Jerom grant Secondly If no Church no part of the Catholic Church out of which and without whose Faith kept entire and inviolate no man can be saved as their own Common-Prayer-Book affirms Thirdly They can never eat the Flesh of Christ our Lord nor drink his Blood without which they cannot have life in them John 6. 54. Fourthly They commit a most hainous Sacriledge as often as they attempt to Consecrate or Minister the most Holy Sacrament having no such Power Fifthly They commit the like Sacriledge in presuming to hear Confessions or forgive Sins Sixthly All that Communicate with them and follow the same Religion are involved in the same sins so that the blind leading the blind they must necessarily both fall into the ditch of eternal perdition foretold by our Saviour Matth. 15. 14. Lastly It is to be noted that although I conceive I have clearly proved the Ordination and Iurisdiction of their Priests and Bishops to be invalid by every argument I have used to those ends yet to my purpose it is sufficient to have proved it by any one For as to prove a man to be a Thief or Forger it is sufficient to prove he has stoln one Horse or forged one Deed to hang him for the one or set him on the Pillory for the other so to prove by one argument alone that they are no Priests nor Bishops nor have any Iurisdiction is sufficient to prove them guilty of Sacramental Forgery and by that means of deluding and stealing away innumerable souls A VINDICATION OF THE ORDINATIONS OF THE Church of ENGLAND In answer to the former Paper THis Paper which you sent me being only a Repetition of those Objections which were long ago refuted by Master Mason with great learning and judgment and more lately by the most Ingenious Lord Primate of Ireland D. Bramhall there needs nothing else be said to it but only to refer the Reader to those learned and solid Writings on this Subject The same Plea was again taken up by the Writers of two little Books published since his Majesties Restauration entitled Erastus Senior and Erastus Iunior which was thought so unreasonable even to some of that Communion that one of the learnedst Priests they had in England did answer them and though he did not adventure on saying our Ordination was good and valid knowing how ingrateful that would have been to
Pool to have been a righteous Arch-Bishop and so confesses Catholick Ordination and Jurisdiction to be lawful valid and good which was necessary by the Laws of England as appears from her Mandate in which she supplies any Defects they might have been under Now all the Authority the Queen had flowed from the Parliament which annexed all Jurisdiction Spiritual or Temporal over the Ecclesiastical State of this Realm to the Crown by which they made her Pope So that by the very words of the Act Matthew Parker had his Jurisdiction from the Queen and she hers from the Parliament Therefore the Protestant Priests and Bishops are only Parliamentary Priests and Bishops and are not from Christ and his Church but from their Kings Queen and Parliaments Here is such a heap of things so unjustly and weakly said that it must needs grieve all honest men to see a company of Priests going up and down the Kingdom studying to abuse weak and unlearned persons with such disingenuous Stories or Writings Which I hope will appear more fully if you consider the following particulars First It is certain that King and Parliament have the Supream Legislative Authority in this Realm and this they have from the Laws of God Nature and Society confirmed by the Gospel which commands us to be subject to the Higher Powers Therefore whatever they Enact that is within the Limits of their Jurisdiction is Law and if it be not sinful is to be obeyed if it be sinful it is to be submitted to For instance if they set up a false Religion by Law it does not make it a true Religion but adds the sanction of Law and is the civil Warrant and Security for the Subject therefore the Civil Power cannot change the nature of things to make Good Evil or Evil Good but only gives Authority and Security and in this they are restrained in things Civil as well as Spiritual for if they make unjust Laws in Civil things the case is the same with their unjust Laws about Spirituals Therefore it is to be concluded as the Fundamental Maxim of Civil Government that whatever may be done lawfully and without Sin ought to be done when the Supream Civil Authority commands it and that the Subjects ought to obey Secondly Whosoever is empowered by the King and Parliament to execute this their Supream Authority has a full Right and Title to apply that Power so given or committed to him having the execution of that Law put in his hands and if any shall without their Warrant or Authority from them usurp or assume any sort of Power or Jurisdiction within this Kingdom they are Intruders and Usurpers and the success they have in it does no more justifie that Force than a Robber's does his Title to Goods unjustly taken And although some weak Princes in hard times did yield it up to the Pope yet both the Clergy themselves and the Parliaments did often assert their own Authority which was most eminently done by King Edward the First and King Edward the Third So that the Popes power here had no just Title but was a violent Invasion for that they neither had it from Christ nor Saint Peter nor by any Decree of General Councils and that for 800 years after Christ it was never allowed them that they never had it in the Eastern Churches and that what they had in the Western Churches was only extorted by force and fraud from the Princes and States of Europe and that they had no Law for it in England are things so certain that for proof of this I shall refer my self to the Writers of their own Church De Marca Launoy and Balusius with many others And at this very day the Pope has neither more nor less power in the other Kingdoms of Europe than the Connivence of Princes or the Laws give him Therefore the Pope had no power in England but what was unjustly usurped from the King and Parliament Thirdly When the Supream Authority the King and Parliament have long endured an Encroachment upon them that gives no just Title to it nor hinders them from asserting their own Rights when they find a fit opportunity for it and neither devests them of their Authority nor the Subjects of their due Rights and Freedoms Therefore the Government of the Kingdom and all the exercise of coercive Jurisdiction being inseparably annexed to the Supream Authority it was incumbent on them to shake off all Forrein Jurisdict they should have done it sooner but could never do it too soon Fourthly The King and Parliament asserting their Authority in this Particular and condemning the Popes Usurpations they might commit the execution of it to whom they would Therefore they putting it into the Queens hands and her Successors she had a good Right to exercise it having a Law for it This then being annexed to the Imperial Crown of the Realm by the Supream Authority of King and Parliament the King hath the power of exercising it fully and only in his hands and is to be obeyed in all his Injunctions that are not sinful by the Laws of the Supream Authority in this Kingdom which comes from God and is confirmed by the Gospel Fifthly Though the power of the Ministers of the Gospel comes only from Christ yet the exercise of that Power and this or that person being put in this or that Living or Preferment and having the right to the Tythes and all the Jurisdiction of the Spiritual and Prerogative Courts being things not appointed in the Gospel the King having the Supremacy over the Ecclesiastical State does not exceed his Limits when he reserves to himself such power that no person shall be vested with the Legal Authority for those things but by his knowledg or upon his Order It is true he cannot make a man a Bishop or a Priest nor can he take away Orders for if Bishops should Ordain or Consecrate without or against his pleasure he may proceed against both the Ordainers and Ordained and can hinder their exercising any Function in his Dominions by Banishing or Imprisoning them but â—…he cannot destroy or annul their Orders So that the power of Ordination comes from Christ and has a Spiritual Effect whatever opposition the King may make but the exercise of that power must be had from him If the King commands an Heretick or a Scandalous person to be Elected or Ordained Churchmen may well demur and offer their reasons why they cannot give Obedience not for the want of Authority in the King but because the matter is Morally evil As they must also do if the King should command them to commit Theft or Murther So that all Consecrations in this Land are made by Bishops by the power that is inherent in them only the King gives orders for the execution of that their power Therefore all that the Queen did in the Case of Matthew Parker and the Kings do since was to command so many Bishops to exercise a power they
Ancient of them was written till within those last Four hundred years so that he gives us a clear view of the Ordinations of seven succeeding Ages of the Western Church His Book is scarce to be had and therefore I shall draw out of it what relates to the Ordination of Priests and Bishops Only as he has Printed these Forms Strictly as the Manuscripts were written without altering some things that are manifestly the Faults of the Transcribers so I shall set them down exactly as He has published them with the Emendations on the Margin from other Manuscripts and adde a Translation of them in English But I shall begin with the three first Canons of the Fourth Council of Carthage in which we have the fullest and earliest Account of the Ordidinations of Bishops and Priests in the Latin Church and from the Simplicity of these and the many pompous Rites that are added in the latter Rituals the Reader will both perceive how the Spirit of Superstition grew from Age to Age and will be able to judge whether the Church of England or the Church of Rome comes nearest the most Primitive Forms These I set down according to the MSS. published by Morinus and Collationed on the Margin with a MSS. belonging to the Church of Salisbury that is judged to be six hundred year old and also with that Published by Labbée in the Tomes of the Councils Sacrarum Ordinationum Ritus Ex Concilio Carthaginensi quarto depromptus CANON I. QUI Episcopus Ordinandus est antea examinetur si natura sit prudens si docibilis si moribus temperatus si vita castâ—…s si sobrius si semper suis negotiis cavens si humilis si affabilis si misericors si literatus si in lege domini instructus si in scripturam sensibus caâ—…tus si in dogmatibus Ecclesiasticis exercitatus ante omnia si fidei documenta verbis simplicibus asserat id est Patrem Filium Spiritum Sanctum unum Deum esse confirmans totamque Trinitatis Deitatem coessentialem consubstantialem coaeternalem coomnipotentem praedicans si singularem quamque in Trinitate personam plenum deum totas tres personas Unum deum Si incarnationem divinam non in Patre neque in Spiritu Sancto factam sed in Filio tantum credat ut qui erat in Divinitate Dei Patris ipse fieret in homine hominis Matris filius Deus verus ex Patre homo verus ex Matre carnem ex matris visceribus habens animam humanam rationalem simâ—…l in eo ambae naturae id est Deus Homo una persona unus filius unus Christus unus Dominus Creator omnium quae sunt autor Dominus Rector cum Patre Spiritu Sancto omnium creaturaram Qui passus sit vera carnis Passione mortuus vera corporis sui morte resurrexit vera carnis suae resurrectinoe vera animae resumptione in qua veniet judicarâ—… vivos mortuos Quaerendum etiam ab eo si Novi Veteris Testamenti id est leges Prophetarum Apostolorum unum eundemque credat autorem evâ—…m Si Diabolus non per conditionem sed per Arbitrium sit malus Quaerendum etiam ab eo si credat hujus quam gestamus non alterius carnis resurrectionem Si credat judicium futurum recepturoâ—… singulos pro his quae in carne gesserunt vel poenas vel gloriam Si nuptias non improbat si secunda Matrimonia non damnet si carnium perâ—…eptionem non culpet si poenitentibus reconciliatis communicet si in Baptismo omnia peccata id est tam illud originale contractum quam illa quae voluntate admissa sunt dimittantur si extra Ecclesiam Catholicam nullus salvetur Cum in his omnibus examinatus inventus fuerit plene instructus tunc cum consensu Clericorum Laicorum conventu totius provinciae Episcoporum maximéque Metropolitani vel Authoritate vel praesentia ordinetur Episcopus Suscepto in Nomini Christi Episcopatu non suae delectationi nec suis motibus sed his Patrum definitionibus acquiescat In cujus Ordinatione etiam aetas requiritur quam Sancti Patres in praeeligendis Episcopis constituerunt Dehinc disponitur qualiter Ecclesiastica Officia Ordinantur CAN. II. EPiscopus cum Ordinatur duo Episcopi ponant teneant Evangeliorum Codicem supra Caput cervicem ejus uno super eum sundente benedictionem reliqui omnes Episcopi qui adsunt manibus suis caput ejus tangant CAN. III. PResbyter cum Ordinatur Episcopo eum benedicente manum super caput ejus tenente etiam omnes Presbyteri qui praesentes sunt manus suas juxta manum Episcopi super caput illius teneat In English thus CAN. I. LET Him that is to be Ordained a Bishop be first Examined if he be naturally prudent and teachable if in his Manners he be temperate if chast in his life if sober if he looks to his own Affairs be humble affable merciful and learned if he be instructed in the Law of the Lord and skilful in the sense of the Scriptures and acquainted with Ecclesiastical Doctrines and above all things if he assert the Articles of Faith in simple Words that is to say affirms that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are one God and teaches that the whole Deity of the Trinity is Coessential Consubstantial Coaeternal and Coomnipotent and that every Person of the Trinity is fully God and all the Three Persons are one God If He believes that the Holy Incarnation was neither of the Father nor the Holy Ghost but of the Son only that He who was the Son of God the Father by the Godhead becoming a Man was the Son of his Mother very God of His Father and very Man of His Mother who had Flesh of the Bowels of His Mother and a human reasonable Soul And both Natures God and Man were in Him one Person one Son one Christ one Lord the Creator of all things that are and the Author Lord and Governour of all Creatures with the Father and the Holy Ghost Who suffered a true Passion in His Flesh and was dead by a true death of His Body and rose again with a true Resurrection of His Flesh and a true Re-assumption of His Soul in which He shall come to judge the quick and the dead It must likewise be asked if He believes that one and the same God was the Author of the Old and New Testament of the Books of the Law the Prophets and the Apostles If the Devil be not wicked by his will and not by his Nature And if he believes the Resurrection of this Flesh which we now carry and not of any other and the Judgment to come and that every one shall receive either punishment