to judge these to be heinous abuses which did much endanger the Salvation of Souls therefore being the Pastors of the Church and being assisted in it by the Civil Powers they had both good reason and sufficient Authority to reform the Church from these Abuses and he left it to M. C. to chuse on which of these Particulars they should discourse M. B. said The Bishops and Pastors having the charge of Souls were bound to feed the Flock with sound Doctrine according to the word of God So S. Paul when he charged the Bishops of Ephesus to feed the Flock and to guard it against Wolves or Seducers he commends them to the word of Gods Grace which is the Gospel And in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus wherein the Rules of the Pastoral charge are set down he commands Timothy and in him all Bishops and Pastors to hold fast the Doctrine and form of sound words which he had delivered and tells him the Scriptures were able to make the man of God perfect If then the Bishops and Pastors of this Church found it corrupted by any unsound Doctrine or Idolatrous Worship they were by the Law of God and the charge of Souls for which they were accountable obliged to throw out these Corruptions and reform the Church and this the rather that the first Question proposed in the Consecration of a Bishop as it is in the Pontifical is Wilt thou teach these things which thou understandest to be in the Scripture to the People committed to thee both by thy Doctrine and Example To which he answers I will M. C. said We had now offered as much as would be the subject of many days discourse and he had but few minutes to spare therefore he desired to be informed what Authority those Bishops had to judge in matters which they found not only in this Church but in all Churches round about them should they have presumed to judge in these matters D. S. said It had been frequently the Practice of many Nations and Provinces to meet in Provincial Synods and reform Abuses For which he offered to prove they had both Authority and President But much more in some Instances he was ready to shew of particulars that had been defined by General Councils which they only applied to their Circumstances and this was never questioned but Provincial Synods might do M. C. desired to be first satisfied by what Authority they could cut themselves off from the Obedience of the See of Rome in King Henry the VIII his days The Pope then was looked on as the Monarch of the Christian World in Spirituals and all Christendom was one Church under One Head and had been so for many Ages So that if a Province or Country would cut themselves from the Body of this Nation for instance Wales that had once distinct Princes and say we acknowledge no right William the Conquerour had so that we reject the Authority of those descended from him they might have the same Plea which this our Church had For the day before that Act of Parliament did pass after the 20. of Henry the VIII the Pope had the Authority in Spirituals and they were his Subjects in Spirituals Therefore their Declaring he had none could not take his Authority from him no more than the Long Parliament had right to declare by any Act that the Sovereign Power was in the Peoples hands in pursuance of which they cut off the Kings Head D. S. said The first General Councils as they established the Patriarchal Power so the Priviledges of several Churches were preserved entire to them as in the case of Cyprus that the British Churches were not within the Patriarchal Jurisdiction of Rome that afterwards the Bishops of Rome striking in with the Interests of the Princes of Europe and watching and improving all Advantages got up by degrees through many Ages into that height of Authority which they managed as ill as they unjustly acquired it and particularly in England where from King William the Conqueror's days as their illegal and oppressive Impositions were a constant Grievance to the People so our Princes and Parliaments were ever put to struggle with them But to affront their Authority Thomas Becket who was a Traitour to the Law must be made a Saint and a day kept for him in which they were to pray to God for Mercy through his Merits It continuing thus for several Ages in the end a vigorous Prince arises who was resolved to assert his own Authority And he looking into the Oaths the Bishops swore to the Pope they were all found in a Praemunire by them Then did the whole Nation agree to assert their own freedom and their Kings Authority And 't was considerable that those very Bishops that in Queen Maries days did most cruelly persecute those of the Church of England and advance the Interests of Rome were the most zealous Assertors and Defenders of what was done by King Henry the VIII Therefore the Popes Power in England being founded on no just Title and being managed with so much Oppression there was both a full Authority and a great deal of reason for rejecting it And if the Maior Generals who had their Authority from Cromwell might yet have declared for the King who had the true Title and against the Usurper so the Bishops though they had sworn to the Pope yet that being contrary to the Allegiance they ow'd the King ought to have asserted the Kings Authority and rejected the Pope's M. B. said It seemed M. C. founded the Popes Right to the Authority he had in England chiefly upon Prescription But there were two things to be said to that First that no Prescription runs against a divine right In the clearing of Titles among Men Prescription is in some Cases a good Title But if by the Laws of God the Civil Powers have a supream Authority over their Subjects then no Prescription whatsoever can void this Besides the Bishops having full Authority and Jurisdiction this could not be bounded or limited by any Obedience the Pope claimed from them Further there can be no Prescription in this case where the Usurpation has been all along contested and opposed We were ready to prove that in the first Ages all Bishops were accounted Brethren Colleagues and fellow-Bishops with the Bishop of Rome That afterwards as he was declared Patriarch of the West so the other Patriarchs were equal in Authority to him in their several Patriarchates That Britain was no part of his Patriarchate but an exempt as Cyprus was That his Power as Patriarch was only for receiving Appeals or calling Synods and did not at all encroach on the Jurisdiction of other Bishops in their Sees and that the Bishops in his Patriarchate did think they might separate from him A famous Instance of this was in the sixth Century when the Question was about the tria Capitula for which the Western Bishops did generally stand and Pope Vigilius wrote in defence of
as our Church judged brought in the Doctrine of the corporal presence without all reason the Church made that Explanation to cast out the other so that upon the matter it was a negative He added that it was also unreasonable to ask any one place to prove a Doctrine by for the Fathers in their Proceedings with the Arrians brought a great Collection of Places which gave light to one another and all concurred to prove the Article of Faith that was in Controversie so if we brought such a consent of many Places of Scripture as proved our Doctrine all being joyned together we perform all that the Fathers thought themselves bound to do in the like case D. S. then at great length told them The Church of Rome and the Church of England differed in many great and weighty points that we were come thither to see as these Gentlemen professed they desired if we could offer good reason for them to turn Protestants and as the Ladies professed a desire to be further established in the Doctrine of the Church of England In order to which none could think it a proper Method to pick out some words in the obscure corner of an Article and call for express Scriptures for them But the fair and fit way was to examine whether the Church of England had not very good reason to separate from the Communion of the Church of Rome therefore since it was for truth in which our Souls are so deeply concerned that we enquired he desired they would joyn issue to examine either the grounds on which the Church of England did separate from the Church of Rome or the Authority by which she did it for if there was both good reason for it and if those who did it had a sufficient Authority to do it then was the Church of England fully vindicated He did appeal to all that were present if in this offer he dealt not candidly and fairly and if all other ways were not shufling Which he pressed with great earnestness as that only which could satisfie all Peoples Consciences M. W. and S. P. T. said God forbid they should speak one word for the Church of Rome they understood the danger they should run by speaking to that D. S. said He hoped they looked on us as Men of more Conscience and Honesty than to make an ill use of any thing they might say for their Church that for himself he would die rather than be guilty of so base a thing the very thought whereof he abhorred M. B. said That though the Law condemned the endeavouring to reconcile any to the Church of Rome yet their justifying their Church when put to it especially to Divines in order to satisfaction which they professed they desired could by no colour be made a Transgression And that as we engaged our Faith to make no ill use of what should be said so if they doubted any of the other Company it was S. P. his House and he might order it to be more private if he pleased S. P. said he was only to speak to the Articles of the Church of England and desired express words for that Article Upon this followed a long wrangling the same things were said over and over again In the end M. W. said They had not asked where that Article was read that they doubted of it for they knew it was in no place of Scripture in which they were the more confirmed because none was so much as alledged D. S. said Upon the terms in the sixth Article he was ready to undertake the twenty eighth Article to prove it clearly by Scripture M. W. said But there must be no Interpretations admitted of M. B. said It was certain the Scriptures were not given to us as Parrots are taught to speak words we were endued with a faculty of understanding and we must understand somewhat by every place of Scripture Now the true meaning of the words being that which God would teach us in the Scriptures which way soever that were expressed is the Doctrine revealed there and it was to be considered that the Scriptures were at first delivered ro plain and simple men to be made use of by all without distinction therefore we were to look unto them as they did and so S. Paul wrote his Epistles which were the hardest pieces of the New Testament to all in the Churches to whom he directed them M. W. said The Epistles were written upon emergent Occasions and so were for the use of the Churches to whom they were directed D. S. said Though they were written upon emergent Occasions yet they were written by Divine Inspiration and as a Rule of Faith not only for those Churches but for all Christians But as M. W. was a going to speak M. C. came in upon which we all rose up till he was set So being set after some Civilities D. S. resumed a little what they were about and told they were calling for express Scriptures to prove the Articles of our Church by M. C. said If we be about Scriptures where is the Judge that shall pass the Sentence who expounds them aright otherwise the Contest must be endless D. S. said He had proposed a matter that was indeed of weight therefore he would first shew that these of the Church of Rome were not provided of a sufficient or fit Judge of Controversies M. C. said That was not the thing they were to speak to for though we destroyed the Church of Rome all to nought yet except we built up our own we did nothing therefore he desired to hear what he had to say for our own Church he was not to meddle with the Church of Rome but to hear and be instructed if he could see reason to be of the Church of England for may be it might be somewhat in his way D. S. said He would not examine if it would be in his way to be of the Church of England or not but did heartily acknowledge with great Civility that he was a very fair dealer in what he had proposed and that now he had indeed set us in the right way and the truth was we were extream glad to get out of the wrangling we had been in before and to come to treat of matters that were of importance So after some Civilities had passed on both sides D. S. said The Bishops and Pastors of the Church of England finding a great many abuses crept into the Church particularly in the worship of God which was chiefly insisted upon in the Reformation such as the Images of the blessed Trinity the Worship whereof was set up and encouraged The turning the Devotions we ought to offer only to Christ to the blessed Virgin the Angels and Saints That the worship of God was in an unknown Tongue That the Chalice was taken from the People against the express words of the Institution That Transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of the Mass were set up That our Church had good reason
vanish into nothing when closely canvassed I have not dwelt so long on every step of the History I have vouched as was necessary designing to be as short as was possible and because these things have been at full length set down by others and particularly in that great and learned work of Albertin a French Minister concerning this Sacrament In which the Doctrines of the Primitive Church and the steps of the change that was made are so laid open that no man has yet so much as attempted the answering him and those matters of fact are so uncontestedly true that there can be little debate about them but what may be very soon cleared and I am ready to make all good to a tittle when any shall put me to it It being apparent then that the Church of Rome has usurped an undue and unjust authority over the other States and Nations of Christendom and has made use of this Dominion to introduce many great corruptions both in the Faith the Worship and Government of the Church nothing remains but to say a little to justify this Churches Reforming these abuses And First I suppose it will be granted that a National Church may judge a Doctrine to be Heretical when its opposition to the Scripture Reason and the Primitive Doctrine is apparent for in that case the Bishops and Pastors being to feed and instruct the Church they must do it according to their Consciences otherwise how can they discharge the Trust God and the Church commit to their charge And thus all the ancient Hereticks such as Samosatenus Arrius Pelagius and a great many more were first condemned in Provincial Councils Secondly if such Heresies be spread in places round about the Bishops of every Church ought to do what they can to get others concur with them in the condemning them but if they cannot prevail they ought nevertheless to purge themselves and their own Church for none can be bound to be damned for company The Pastors of every Church owe a Charity to their neighbour Churches but a Debt to their own which the Stubborness of others cannot excuse them from And so those Bishops in the Primitiue Church that were invironed with Arrians did reform their own Churches when they were placed in any Sees that had been corrupted by Arrianism Thirdly No time can give prescription against truth and therefore had any errour been ever so antiently received in any Church yet the Pastors of that Church finding it contrary to truth ought to reform it the more antient or inveterate any errour is it needs the more to be looked to So those Nations that were long bred up in Arrianism had good reason to reform from that erronr So the Church of Rome will acknowledge that the Greek Church or our Church ought to forsake their present Doctrines though they have been long received Fourthly No later Definitions of Councils or Fathers ought to derogate from the ancienter Decrees of Councils or opinions of the Fathers otherwise the Arrians had reason to have justified their submitting to the Councils of Sirmium Arimini and Millan and rejecting that of Nice therefore we ought in the first place to consider the Decrees and Opinions of the most Primitive Antiquity Fifthly No succession of Bishops how clear soever in its descent from the Apostles can secure a Church from errour Which the Church of Rome must acknowledge since they can neither deny the succession of the Greek Church nor of the Church of England Sixthly If any Church continues so hardned in their errours that they break Communion with another Church for reforming the guilt of this breach must lie at their door who are both in the Errour and first reject the other and refuse to reform or communicate with other Churches Upon every one of these particulars and they all set together compleat the Plea for the Church of England I am willing to joyn Issue and shew they are not only true in themselves but must be also acknowledged by the Principles of the Church of Rome So that if the grounds of Controversie on which our Reformation did proceed were good and justifiable it is most unreasonable to say our Church had not good right and authority to make it It can be made appear that for above two hundred years before the Reformation there were general complaints among all sorts of persons both the subtle School-men and devout Contemplatives both Ecclesiasticks and Laicks did complain of the corruptions of the Church and called aloud for a Reformation both of Faith and Manners even the Council of Pisa a little before Luther's days did Decree There should be a Reformation both of Faith and Manners and that both of the Head and Members But all these complaints turned to nothing abuses grew daily the interests of the Nephews and other corrupt intrigues of the Court of Rome was always obstructing good motions and cherishing ill Customs for they brought the more Grist to their Mill. When a Reformation was first called for in Germany instead of complying with so just a desire all that the Court of Rome thought on was how to suppress these complaints and destroy those who made them In end when great Commotions were like to follow by the vast multitudes of those who concurred in this desire of Reforming a Council was called after the Popes had frequently prejudged in the matter and Pope Leo had with great frankness condemned most of Luther's opinions From that Council no good could reasonably be expected for the Popes had already engaged so deep in the Quarrel that there was no retreating and they ordered the matter so that nothing could be done but what they had a mind to all the Bishops were at their Consecration their sworn vassals nothing could be brought into the Council without the Legates had proposed it And when any good motions were made by the Bishops of Spain or Germany they had so many poor Italian Bishops kept there on the Pope's charges that they were always masters of the vote for before they would hold a Session about any thing they had so canvassed it in the Congregations that nothing was so much as put to the hazard All these things appear even from Cardinal Pallavicini's History of that Council While this Council was sitting and some years before many of this Church were convinced of these corruptions and that they could not with a good Conscience joyn any longer in a worship so corrupted yet they were satisfied to know the truth themselves and to instruct others privately in it but formed no separated Church waiting for what issue God in his Providence might bring about But with what violence and cruelty their enemies who were generally those of the Clergy pursued them is well enough known Nor shall I repeat any thing of it lest it might be thought an invidious aggravating of things that are past But at length by the death of King Henry the eight the Government fell in the hands of