well as Apostatical from its right Guide and Rule as hath been shewed And the Elder and the Healthy hath some pretence to Govern the Younger but the Younger and Sickly no manner of colour to Govern his Sound and Elder Brother which brings me to the Third and Last Point to prove That the Church of Rome hath no Superiority or Mother-hood over our British Church in respect of its Extraction or first Plantation of the Gospel SECTION IV. Rome no mother Church to Brittain in respect of Extraction or Plantation of the Christian Faith but much Junior to it WHich it never had from Rome nor by its means but without it altogether and for a good space of time before it had any Chair to boast of Our Brittish Islands by remarkable Providence being exempt and distinct from all the world as to subjection though not to Communion (a) Ms. Bernesii Doctoris Pontificii apud Spelman Concil p. 28. not only in respect of its seperate scituation and the Supremacy of its Crown but the Antiquity and Independancy of its Sees But rather than to be dumb and confess and yield the cause the Romish Advocates will stand up and pretend some out of Simeon Metaphrastes that St. Peter himself made a long abode in Brittain and converted many and ordained Bishops Priests and Deacons amongst us and at the founding of Westminster his apparition and Ghost appeared to direct the Builders which Legend is not worth an answer not only for its suspected Author but for its ill conduct against its own Interest and forgetting its cause making Brittain no more Inferiour but equall and co-ordinate to Rome and Sisters from the same Spirituall Father St. Peter But others with more colour will object did not Augustine the Monk sent from Rome about the year 600 convert this land and especially the English to the Christian Faith Had they not quiet possession of their plantation for about a thousand years till they were wrongfully justled out by King Henry the Eighth in a Rebellious manner Is not the Chair of Canterbury which derives its descent from Rome and Austine Superiour by publick allowance to all the Chairs of Brittain besides to ascend higher to stop the mouths of the Ancient Brittains that plead more Antiquity in this Island than the English or Saxon can or do whose first landing here was not till about the year 449 Did not the Pope Eleutherius through Faganus and Dwywanus he sent hither with others Christen their King Lucius about the year 170 and convert and Baptize the rest of the Nation and settle Bishops and Arch-Bishops amongst them where Flamins and Arch Flamins were before as appears by their own Histories And is not this a sufficient Title that is 1500 years standing to prove the Church of Rome the fountain and Mother Church to Brittain and if a Mother where is the honour and Obedience that is due unto her But if it shall more fairly and truly appear 1 That the Church of Brittain was planted by the Immediate followers of our Saviour either Apostles or Apostolical men shortly after his Resurrection and before St. Peters Arrival at Rome whether that tradition be true or false and the same seed though sometimes in some parts of the Nation mixt with tars in other parts more purified from them continued among us without failer especially in the Northern and Western Parts of this Island from that day to this 2 If the whole passage by consequence between Eleutherius and King Lucius cannot be allowed for true which Savours of the latter Arts of Rome to compass Sveraignty contrary to the express words and tenor of Eleutherius his Epistle and answer to the King and the subsequent Practice of the Bishops of Rome for some hundreds of years after him while they continued good 3 If Augustine the Monks arrival here was a manifest Intrusion upon anothers Province without Invitation or consent of the Christians of the place to Invade and subjugate and destroy the Brittish Church by the help and means of Pagan Enemies then making War upon them as Jackcals and Vulturs follow Camps for Prey whereby he and all his Clergy stood depos'd and degraded of their Orders and all his party of Christian communion by the concurrent suffrages and Canons of all the Generall Counsels of the whole Catholick Church that went before him 4 If the Controversie between the Church of Brittain and Rome in those Early times was the same that is now maintained against it by the Protestant Church of England at this day touching its Superstitions and Arrogated Supemacy with this difference that there was no roome nor place then for those Sophismes now us'd where was your Church before Luther or Henry the Eighth but both still agreeing in their manner and temper of Proceeding now as then and then as it is now on the one side great learning and Truth and piety on the other as great Ignorance and Arrogance with lying wonders and Massacres 5 If the Gospel was Providentially planted amongst the English or Saxons by Brittish Ministry and not by Romish and the Church of Rome by its bewitching Power and Grandeur in degenerare times over all this part of the world did but invade and disturb both the English and Brittish Church and ravish their Sees and disorder their Consecrations and successions and Vnchurch it self thereby and attempt to enslave our Crown as well as Mitre 6 if Henry the Eights relief of both Crown and Church was just and Providentiall and also Brittish and not the unsettling of a Right Possessor but the lawful ejection of an old Intruder And the peace and Interest and Glory of this Nation is fairly pointed out by Providence to consist in pursuing this design 7 If the Primacy of the See of Canterbury be from the Grace and pleasure of our Kings and Laws who can alter it as they think fit and not from any Ecclesiastical Right of the Pope according to the Laws and Canons of the Universal Church but rather in contrariety unto them And Christian Subjects ought to submit to the supreme Magistrates Right and pleasure in ordering such external matters about the Church as clash not with Salvation If these seven points shall appear as clear from proof and evidence as they are in the model and supposition will it not inevitably follow that no English much less Brittish Christian subject of what perswasion soever can with any conscience or thankfulness to God renounce his Mother of Brittain to own a Forraign Church for his Mother or desert his Colours to list himself under the Conduct and Supremacy of Rome to Act against his own Church and Country without being apparently convict before God and the world as well as his conscience of being a Renegade to his Church and false unnatural to his Country and as our wise Laws upon good grounds declare and define a Perfidious Traitor against his Soveraign First then it may be affirmed what cannot and is not
the great esteem and contempt that Syberwid and Ansyberwid was and is in still amongst them that have kept their Language and Ancient Customs most free from Forreign mixtures for with such no man can fall under a worse or better character them of Syberw or Ansyberw no greater commendation have they for any man or woman than gwr or gwraig Syberw no greater note of Infamy and unworthyness than Ansyberw which they pronounce as Suber and Ansuber though writ with y which words whatever is their Etymology in their common acception carry a comprehensive signification of several good and evil qualities as ingredients And 1 it is manifest Syberw in the first surface denotes liberality as Ansyberw niggardness but then further it points at the cause and reason of both for 2 such a man is to be allowed Syberw that doth by all men as he would be done by and the contrary is Ansyberw so is he that takes greater measure to himself than he will afford to others so are all that can endure to fare richly while their Neighbours starve by them and Syberw is he that is watchful and resolute against all avaritious inequality and overreaching or unconcernedness for others that be in want and misery so that Syberw is just and mercyful as well as Liberal and Ansyberw unjust and merciless 3 It implies some inequality when a man strives to be kinder ro another than to himself and pinches himself in back and belly to be kind and liberall to many as I have known vety good Women who went habited scare above beggars and of proportionable abstinence in their diet who if they had worn all their large almes upon their backs from year to year which they valued above all gayety and good fare might have appear'd and far'd as splendid as any of their rank and know by this time they made a better choice and herein is the essence and formality of Syberwid and such an engrafted traditional honour and esteem there is for such amongst the Brittains that their names are mentioned with great and cordial dearness as if this were to be a Saint for faith and all vertues are presumed to be in that man or woman where this temper is found and though it may seem unreasonable or at least a work of Superogation to love another above himself yet they judge nothing to be a greater duty and content and blessing as indeed what is more Divine and Honourable and the source all noble actions and rewards exposeing life for Country c. and in their common bargains and measures they abhorr and dread precise and exact equality without some addition or voluntary overplus of kindness to another they deal with above the strict contract and they had rather abate of the price agteed than be disabled to give the said addition as their free guift over and above their bargain which they proverbially call rhád-duw or Gods Grace and Blessing And the giver is as Willing or rather more to give his Rhad-duw into the bargain than the other to receive it 4 It takes in conscience and the heart above all they 'l hardly receive it if it comes not from the heart and from no ends but as a free guift and he that is Ansyberw is therefore hateful with them because esteemed to have no conscience and he that is Syberw from the heart is call'd glan ei galon or clear spirited which is the loveliest Character they judge any man can deserve or receive and probably Syberw comes from Sobrius and Sobrius from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Etymology of it whereby it signifies the preservation of the mind and heart which is done they conceive by nothing more than Syberwid as the mind and soul is destroyed and corrupted by nothing more than Ansyberwid which is the same with Philauâ— or self love as appears by the premises so hateful with St. Paul and our Brittans and with all good men so that by this their imbred tradition received amongst all undegenerate Brittains both high and low they judge honesty and mercy and love to others above themselves as in the case of humility to be their self-preservation and chiefest Interest and surest method to prosper And no wonder they preferr'd this hearty Syberwid before all other vertues it being nothing else but that love which is the fulfilling of the Law or that charity from a pure heart which is the end of the commandment and the total of all Religion for what excellency or degeneracy is there in human or Christian nature that is not contain'd in Syberw and avoided in Ansyberw What is honour in Nobles honestum with Romans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Greeks humility and charity with Christians is all comprehended in Syberw And this Brittish Principle and Custom is so undoubtedly Apostolical and Primitive that nothing more is the root and cause of the Arrogance and troublesomness of Popery or of that hollowness and Hippocrisie that hath too much prevail'd in Modern Protestancy and Puritanism it self than the manifest want thereof Some of our degenerate Gentry ought to compare their ignoble and sinful constant healthing and swilling while they can hardly spare a glass of Water to Christ in their poor Neighbour with this sober and salvifical principle of their Progenitours who it is to be believed never met to r Gyrald Cambrens descript Camb. c. 9. drink but in relation to Cymmortha and these are so much Brittains they say in their servile imitations of forreign vitious Customs that the health of an Ansyberw or niggaâ—dly selfish person was never known to go round amongst them but only of the Syberw and generous This character of our Brittish Church in her Doctrines and Rites is exactly the same with that which Å¿ Epiphanius lib 3. in sine Epiphanius gives of the Primitive Catholick which the Church of England this day professes to follow and to retrive which is the same Church with the Ancient Brittish Church the Brittains and the English being the same People not only in Faith and worship but in Laws and bloud and greater alliance in Doctrine and Consanginity to be found between them than between Alexander and Clement modern Italians and Linus and Anacletus their predecessors Ancient Romans as may further appear The Brittish Church therefore appearing from undoubted evidence and their adversaries exceptions to be so sound and Ancient in the substance of her Orthodox Faith to impute schism to it for her distance or departure from the Roman her Junior or to ask where was your Church before Luther is a cavil not only ignorantly groundless but inpudently ridiculous if they pretend to be in their Sences that urge it They may with as much colour of reason object a separation in us from Prester-John or the Church of the Abyssines well known perhaps to our Fore-Fathers when they met at Jerusalem whither both resorted with whom as with all other Churches of Christendom and as many as are allowed
Gregorie's Epistles extant plainly shew he verily was an Apostle of Roman rites and ceremonies not of the Christian Faith or the word of God to the English Nation he taught them how to be Romans and Papists more than to be Christians or Believers And by the points in such hot and bloudy contest between him and the Brittains where there was little or nothing insisted on touching soundness of Doctrine or purity of life but all touching the domination and power of Rome and Romish rites and tonsures it plainly appears he was but a meer man of straw and f Ceremoniosus non relligiosus ceremony more than of God and Religion Where to stop the mouths of Ignorant Romanists that make a brag as if the English had received their faith from Rome he likewise shewes at large that Pope Gregory himself was no better than his Apostle Augustine for that he was not so good a man for life and pen as the Papists would pretend And g Antiquitates Ecclesiasticae p. 36. g Ibdem p. 36. again valde dolendum Anglorum conversionem in ista tempora incidisse in quibus collapsa Ecclesiae Doctrine atque disciplina c. It was a great misfortune that the English conversion fell out to be at such a time wherein the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church was quite fallen to the ground and wholly degenerated from its primitive purity and sobriety into vanity of errour and superstition and the matter it self proclaims too loud let Bede say what he please to the contrary that Augustine's chief work and business here was to instill some Roman Ceremonies amongst our Ancestors and not the Christian Faith yea Rome it self about that time and by the particular influence and endeavours of Pope Gregory was the spring and fountain of all such superstitions not only among us in England but in the rest of the World beside of which he makes a large proof with Instances Irrefragable of their superstition and ambition their Holy Water and Dreams and Legends and Divine lyes and Golden Vessells and a wooden Priesthood not that decent ceremonies that take not the heart from God are in themselves unlawful in Gods service as Christ himself hath shewed in the Institution of visible Sacraments as also of their pride and Antichristian design to enslave Kings and Churches and Nations under them and when all was done and they mounted themselves as high as they would or could the effect and product of all was no more but that ambition outed all good rule and Government Luxury good living Dreams and legends the Preaching of the word lamentable superstition Catholick Religion And that their first adventure and attempt to erect their Roman supremacy over souls and Churches was here in England and Augustine the Monk their forlorn hope that their ungodly success and Victory was about its height about the time of Charlemain about 140 years after lasting about 800 years to the the time of our Henry the eight h Antiq. Eccles p. 37. Et sane illa prima de Romanis ritibus per Augustinum excitata contentio quae non nisi clade sanguine Innocentium Britannorum poterat sedari ad nostra recentiora tempora cum simili pernicie eladeque Christanorum pervenit And verily that first and early contention and strife for rites and ceremonies begun here by Augustine which could not be exstinguished or abated but with the bloud and desolation of the Innocent Brittains is evidently carried down to our own times with fresh and daily tydings at our doors of the like destruction and Massacre of Christians for the like cause Thus that Eloquent and Judicious prelate an i Norwich Antiq. Eccl. p. 39. East-Angel by birth and a chief Father of our Church by place and merit And it is additionally remarkable that several of those Saxons Laws and Homilies bore date before the arrival of Augustine to this Land there being k M. Westm Anno 596. about 147 or 150 years from the Saxon invasion to his coming as before was said which is an invincible Argument that the Brittains as they had any opportunity Preach'd the Gospel in those dayes to the Saxons though their bloudy and perfidious Enemies to which those alliances and Intermarriages with them in their infidelity for which they stand blamed in story might by the ordering of Providence be Instrumental yet are taxed by Gildas if the passage be Authentick for neglect that they were not more vigorous and diligent in Communicating the Gospel to them whereby may be conjectured how great the Christian zeal of Gildas was and the Brittish Ministers of his stamp and Inclination as he confesses there were several who were so thirsty for the Salvation of the souls of their Enemies who thirsted for nothing more than their Lands and bloud SECTION X. That all or most of the Kingdoms and Churches in this part of Europe and Rome it self received their first Faith from Brittain yet Brittain pretends to no Supremacy over them upon that account and the Romanists Feloes de se in that kind of Plea IF the Church of Rome hath no better evidence for her propagation of the Faith and Supremacy thereby over other Churches of the world than is produc'd for Brittain it is plain and easy to discern its title is not founded in any reality or merit but a disease of the fancy only and that high-mindedness whereof she was early forwarn'd by her rejected Apostle Rom. 12.3 or a malady like that of the Athenian Merchant who imagin'd all the Ships that arrived at Harbour to be his own whose cure from this distemper had been their imaginary beggery and undoing The French Church at the Savoy or the Lutheran amongst us might far better pretend to a Primacy over York and Canterbury being more Orthodox and Learned and better understood by several that resort to them and acting with the leave of our Province and its Lawful Governours and not siding Barbarously with Pagan Enemies against Christian Brethren to destroy or adulterate the true Faith as did Monk Augustine who at least could be but Rector of Christ-Church Canterbury under his mighty Patron Ethelbert in defiance of his rightful Metropolitan Theonus which yet he could not supply himself for want of the tongue nor by any other by reason of the Schism and Irregularity Or to suppose more than can be asked or expected that Ethelbert who was King of Kent only was King also of Mercia and the East and the South and West-Saxons and compleate Lord over the whole Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury or London which then reached from Humber to Severn and Cornwall and now further over Wales and that he in such a right had lawfully nominated and elected our Augustine for his Arch-Bishop who thereupon had been regularly Consecrated and Install'd by the Clergy of the Province according to the Canons of the Church and by the consent and voluntary Cession of Theonus his predecessor without the help of Heathen
its destructive contrary which they rightly understood The toleration and mixture whereof within it would be confusion without a Metaphor The Christian Church whose life and being consists in Holiness can never be more destroyed and stifled than when Scandalous and Licentious lives are consistent with its Profession Nor the Roman whose summum bonum is dominion over their Brethren and Kingdoms and Churches but where Kings and Consciences and Scriptures would have their wills against the Pope And happy were it if Christians were as zealous and skilful Druids to excommunicate all vice and sin as the Papists who are firm to their Idol to excommunicate all Heretical Truths and private judgments and secular Supremacies inconsistent with their pride Whereby the Brittains by this Divine principle in the general were better fitted and prepar'd for Christianity than many others and accordingly received it before all other Nations in these parts as soon as Christ had dislodg'd their Idols they were perfect and regular Christians the former Rules and practices of their Druids serv'd presently as Church Canons to them to walk by which probably is the reason they held our intruding Romanists so close to the other express Canons of the Christian Church as to adjudge and conclude them justly to be no better than Pagans in Christian shape for their manifest violations of them as shall hereafter appear This last as well as the other instances clearly argue a great and near correspondence they had and Traditional participation of Oriental Patriarchal Mysteries and customes and the Hierogliphical meaning of the first dayes work of the Creation wherein light was separated from darkness whence Christian Communion and Excommunication had its exemplar and Idea as the Apostle intimates 2 Cor. 6 14. in which two words and parts the work and whole History of the Primitive Christian Church was compriz'd as is well known to the learned but not to digress Much less could our English Apostles receive their learning from Theodore's successors being entred a good while before upon their work and Province and the course that Rome hereafter takes that the English should be no more instructed or corrupted in their sence by their Neighbouring Brittains but by Rome alone least their Roman Replantation should be again worn out and baffled as it far'd with their first clearly proves that they conceived the Brittains to have been that way too busie I shall set down a Record out of Math. Westm. worthy the consideration of all Generous sober English men as well Roman Catholicks as Protestants that have a love for God or their Countrey whether they consider the design or the event that followed z M Westm Anno 727. Erant Doctrina Scholae Anglorum per Romanos Pontifices interdictae c. There was an interdict upon the learning and Schooles of the English by the Popes of Rome from the time of Augustine by reason of the daily Heresies which sprung up in Brittain from the first arrival of the English whilst Pagans mingled with Christians which defaced the beauty of the holy Conversation of Christianity a Ibid. Vnde Ina consensu voluntate Gregorii Papae c. which discovers near about what time this conscientious Interdict began whereupon Ina by the will and consent of Pope Gregory built an Edifice in the City of Rome which they call the School of the English to which the Kings of England and the Royal Bloud and Bishops and Priests and Clerks should repair to be Instructed in the Catholick Faith and Doctrine lest any thing should be taught awry in the Church of England or contrary to the Catholick Faith that thereby being well settled in the stable Faith they might return afterwards to their people And it was also ordained that Rome-scot or Peter Pence should thence forward be annually paid to St. Peter and the Roman Church that the English there abiding might have wherewithall to subsist A neat device to make England Tributary and that for a gross abuse and blindness brought upon the whole Nation to the end they might the easier be Governed by the Ignorance of Rome according to that Brittish Proverb Brenhin iw un-lhygeidiawg ymyfg deilliaid One eye is a King amongst the stark blind for so it proved in the event not long after as we shall have anon an account of this Paternal Roman care from King Alfred about 100 years after for Ina built this School in 727 Alfred flourished in 860 Willibrord c. Preached to the Germans in 690 in whose time there was scarce an English Clergy-man left in all the land that could understand his Latine Breviary b Spelman Concil 167. That if Pipin or Charlemain had sent hither for Wilfrids and Winfrids and Alguins to teach their Countrey such as were of Romes pure bringing up they might have been as well furnished with Apostles from among the Heathen Boors of Boetia as then from England which was not long after this Roman Reformation of our English education In so much that K. Alfred was fain to send to the Brittains for their helping hand which they and the Irish who were more Neutral were always ready to do †Bede l. 3. ◠27. for nothing though they paid dear to Rome for their Ignorance under the colour and fascination of being Orthodoxly taught which Tribute and Cittadel of shameful Ignorance and slavery the English Nation was by Catholick Arts cajoled to pay and maintain at their own proper charge for about 700 years till Henry the Eight a Brittish Prince discharged and blew it up and whipt the cheats into their own Country for which Providential Relief and Honour to our Church and Nation some drowsie stupid and Enchanted Roman-Catholicks are hardly thankful or contented to this day So it manifestly appears á priori and à posteriori that neither before or after Augustine or Theodore either the English had their learning from Rome but only from our Brittish Church But it is again objected that it is clear and evident from History that the English as also the Irish at this time of the German Propagation and before had come over from the Church of Brittain to the Church of Rome who therefore hath chief right and Title to this Plantation which was effected under its Supremacy and Government I answer It is then as clear that they were of the Church of Brittain before they went over to Rome and we in these days shall confess unto them where our Church was the worst 800 years before Luther if they will confess unto us where there Roman Church was in Brittain or Ireland the best 600 years before Augustine the Monk or Theodore For Titius taken by the Turk at 20 and kept a slave for 30 years among them and recovering his liberty in 50 is the same free man now as at first being always the same man not bound to return to slavery because it hath more years to shew then his freedom of birth hath for it
entangled in the Treason by their obedience to Apostolical orders which deposed God as well as the Prince and the allurements of guifts and honours to the one and the other Very ill Presidents to Princes and from Ecclesiastics who pretend in their Church to extol obedience to Superiours above any other whatsoever Whereas their whole establishment consisted in rejecting their right Soveraign both of Heaven and Earth If Popery then be a good Religion Rebellion must be no great Crime For Rebellion upon the pretence of Religion had its first rise and example from that Infallible Chaire It cannot therefore be denyed but our German Apostles took Commission from Rome being impos'd upon as several dayly are by Antichristian arts which was their great Ecclipse and Infelicity enough to blast all the Glory of their other good work But then it is to be considered that though it was an Ecclipse it prevail'd but so many Digits The foul spot of expedient Rebellion being added to the other obscurations from Superstition It was not a total Ecclipse of the whole Luminary which still retain'd a competency of light sufficient to direct dark Heathenism but far better if the Popish fog which they term help had been further off What was clear and sound Religion Germany had from Brittain what was unsound and Superstitious it had from Rome as appears not only in reason because the Roman Religion found no exceptions against the substance of the Brittish as before but only that it wanted some of their Catholick Ceremonies and additions which the Brittains looked upon as suspicious Innovations but also most irrefragably by Charlemagne's condemnation of Image-Worship in the Councel of Francofurt against both the Church of Rome and Greece degenerating into that gross errour by the advice of a M. Westmin 793 Spelm. 218. Alguinus and the Catholick Brittish Orthodoxy shining and surviving then in England solely when the cloud had gone over all the rest Alguinus by his b Idem p. 307. Epistle to Charlemagne who sent the 2d Nicene Decrees to England as Pope c Magd. Cent 8 c. 9. p 626. seq Adrian sent them him for his Approbation did so d Spelman Concil p. 307. shake and rouse him by the Scriptures that in full Synod the Nicene Decree was condemn'd but the e Idem p. 308. Decrees of that Synod wherein were 300 f Spondanus Anno 794. Bishops assembled out of Italy France Germany and Brittain and so great and Learned an Emperor as Charlemagne present are all suppress'd with that e Idem p. 308. Epistle of Alguinus his other works remaining Spondanus confesses the reason Ingenuously that Image Worship was then condemned in the Council not by the Council g Ibid. n. 3. Non accessit consensus corum quorum fuit statutum firmare ut non mireris si quae sint de eà re tunc Acta conscripta nusquam appareant utpote abolita quod ea non probassent legati Apostolicae sedis nec qui eos miserat Hadrianus Papa For their consent was wanting to whom it belong'd to pass that Decree That it is not to be wonder'd if what was voted touching that Controversy is not to be met extant any where neither in Baronius nor Crabbe nor Binius c. for it was abolished and suppressed because the Legates of the Apostolick See did not approve thereof nor Pope Adrian himself that sent them Lo now If these Roman-Catholick-Hereticks serv'd so great and venerable a Council in that course manner together with the Emperors Authority though their great friend and Patron and more a Schollar than any of their pack perhaps for clashing against their infallible Idolatries in the defence of Gods second Commandment as if Catholick Religion depended upon the Negative voice of one Pope against God and the Church which is not only a contradiction in it self but contrary to the course and custome of all general Councils of the Church where one though Pope or Patriarch was condemned by the Community for his Errour and not the Community by any one It s the less wonder if our Brittish Histories and Records were serv'd in the like sort as was all along suspected and far worse The Adulteraing with Legends being worse than burning and suppressing as King Lucius his Baptism Dubritius the Popes Legate King Cadwaldr's Pilgrimage to Rome the Brittish Communalty in Lhoegr all destroyed by the Pagan Saxons and their Clergy quite banish'd which might be true in many places at the first perfidious Insurrection as with Sampson at York till mollified by Ambrosius and Vortimers moderation in their Victories and a tast of Christianity they were afterwards tolerated amongst them to Augustine's coming and h Monastic Angl. par 1. p. 55. Usher p. 755. Diana Worship'd at London and Apollo at Thorney or Westminster instead of Christ as if the English during their Heathenism had preferr'd the Idols of the Brittains before i Munster l. 3. 718. Irmensul and Woden and Mars their own or the same Hostility had spar'd Diana or Apollo who were as great strangers to them as Christ perhaps whereby it is evident the Authors of Romish Histories and Legends have not alwayes present memory and their wits much less their honesty about them in their zealous tales for their Church But to return to our Argument It is clear that the Orthodoxy of Charlemagne and the Franckford Council was not from Rome or the Pope with whom they clash'd which right descendants from Monk Augustine would hardly have done nor from Greece whom they condemn'd nor from the Learned Emperor himself whose feet had well nigh slipt till our Alguin recovered him but therefore solely from Brittain So that our German Apostles being sound at heart against Idolatry upon the score of their Ancient Britttish derivation and Institution though in many parts Leprous upon the score of their new Roman Communion they were still sufficiently accomodated to encounter the Heathenism of Germany with the Remainder of their sound Brittish Faith but had been far more successful and spotless in their proceedings if Rome had stood far enough off And if as living Springs soon work off their mud and trouble which corrupt Lakes and Boggs can hardly do The Protestancy of England and Germany and Sweden and Denmark c. be ascrib'd to the Vigour and Fermentation of their first Brittish Seed strugling after its Original Pristin purity in good soil and erect minds and to early help from England and Wickliff before k Munster lib. 3. p. 800. Baleus of the Life and Tryal of Sir John O'd Castle Luther's appearing I shall not be a dissenter to the conjecture as the like may be observed in our Romanists some reviving the way of Simon Magus a great man heretofore at Rome others of their Gothic Ancestors and Audius their Apostle who is remarkable for three Roman parts 1. In leaving l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the title of
which how they were imputable to them alone who were the faulty Original Causes and how avoidable by the Innocent and Sincere in Gods Account who measures all our Actions by our hearts was explain'd a Sect. 10. p. 344. before To the like effect is the 13 Can. of the Council of Antioch that whosoever enters upon another's Diocess 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unless he be Invited by the letters of the Metropolitan together with the other Bishops of that place upon whith he enters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. All that he hath done is void and nul and himself is forthwith deposed by this holy Synod as a just recompence of his disorder and unreasonable aggression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Scholiast upon this Canon it gives cause and occasion of much scandal commotion in a land for one Bishop to enter upon anothers Province And Canon 22. of the same Council what Priest or Deacon soever he shall offer to ordain the Ordination shall be void and himself to be punished by the Synod And this Council though at first a Provincial yet being confirm'd by a general Council it partakes of the same Authority and Force And Augustine and Theodore and there Successors who were never invited hither by our Brittish Bishops or their Letters or assent stand fully condemn'd by it as also by the second Canon of the second General Council at Constantinople upon the same Subject matter extending the Prohibition not only to Ordination but any other b Bals in Can. 2 Con. Con. 35. Can. Apost Ecclesiastical Act whatsoever to be done by him in anothers Diocess which the Scholiast Construes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he ought not to break disorderly into another's Territory as a Robber but with the good leave and liking of the Bishop of the place for theives are frown'd upon by other Canons and being taken are by the 25 Canon of the Apostles to be excluded from the Ministry though not from all Christian Communion Yea to Preach in publick in another's Diocess against leave Degrades a Bishop to the Lower degree of a Presbyter by the 20. Can. in Trullo And there is hardly any shift or pretence for a colour to this Invasion but it is prevented and censur'd by other Canons will he say the Diocess was Vacant when he came in and Theonus the Archbishop of London was not to be heard off when he entred upon Canterbury this is met by other Canons 37. of the 6th General Council in Trullo The Impression of Heathens upon a See makes no Vacancy though the Bishops are forc'd to flee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Council would by no means allow that Ecclesiastical rights should be abolished by Heathen Invasion And the 18th Canon of Antioch is to the same effect But suppose the place really and honestly Vacant without Heathens or Augustine himself or his Pope being the evil cause yet the entrance of him and his Successors stands eondemned by the 16th of Antioch and Sardyc Can. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If any Bishop unprovided of a Bishoprick thrust himself into a Vacant Church and Usurp its Throne without the consent of a perfect lawful Synod which requires the presence of the Metropolitan he is to be rejected though all the People whom he so entred upon should unanimously Elect or force him saith the 14th Canon of the Apostles By these Canons the consent or Invitation or Force of the People avails not to excuse this Trespass If the Invitation of some Potentate in the place and Territory be pretended which comes nearer to our Augustine's Case though by Bede it appears he came hither altogether uninvited out of meer Commiseration kindled in Pope Gregory by the fair English Youths sold at Rome in the Market it will not much mend the matter as appears by the 30th Canon of the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If any man through the help of Secular Princes possesses himself of a Church or See belonging to another let him be deposed from his degree and Ex-Communicated both he and all that joyn with him This further increases the nullity of our Roman Catholick Church in England whereby Augustine stood Degraded from his Episcopal Dignity and all that favour'd him Excommunicate and all are a Brethren in Iniquity to Simonaicks as appears by the near conjunction of this Canon to the Precedent observed by the Scholiasts and what Church can that be where both Head and Members are all either deposed or Excommunicated from the Catholick Church of so little use and benefit is the Invitation of Infidel Princes to the wrong of Christian Prelates upon the place were it allowed and granted that Augustine settled here at the request of Ethelbert who was not King of England nor of all the Archbishoprick of London or Canterbury which Reached from Humber to Cornwall and Severn And what ever were the right of Ethelbert to Invite it was the manifest sin of Augustine and Gregory to accept the Primacy to the prejudice of the Christian Prelates in the same Province and in Wales that was not yet subdued For though the Canons approve of Charity yet to the breach and violation of Justice and Vnity amongst Christian Brethren or of obedience to Superiours it will by no means admit thereof Therefore their Priests and Inferiour Pastors if they had any are in no better condition than their Superiour Clergy both equally Degraded from their Orders for contempt of the Brittish Bishops who in this Province were to be owned by them as their just Superiours unless they had other guess exceptions against them than that the Infidels were too hard for them The 30th Canon of the Apostles saith If any Presbyter or Minister gather Conventicles apart in despite and contempt of his own Bishop and set up an Altar in his Diocess having nought to charge his Bishop in point of Holiness or honesty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let him be deposed for his Pride and Ambition for such a one is seditious or next door to a Tyrant And whoever of the Clergy or Laity joyn with him the one to be deposed the other to be Excommunicated after one or too Monitions which was not in any probability omitted to Augustine and his Clergy in the first and second Synodical Meetings given him as before by the Learned Unblemished Brittish Bishops and their Associates For as at home for the Inferiour Clergy to confederate to suppress their Superiours were Schism and Ecclesiastical Rebellion in them by this Canon so for any from abroad of the same Christian Communion to Erect Chairs above the Chairs of the Bishops of this Province were such an Impudent Invasion of the rights of Lawful Superiours and an account will follow of that Epithite as if the French or any Forreign Church at London should go about to exalt it self above the See of Canterbury or London that gives it Harbour Yea whosoever shall attempt or cause himself to be made a
want that make it their blind study and zeal to enslave this Ancient free Church and Nation with their own Souls and judgments and likewise their posterity to a titular degenerate Church that stands depos'd and Excommunicate in all their Clergy and Laity for disobedience to Christian Laws by all the general Councils that have met both the best and worst by 1. Nicenum Concilium Can. 6. Anno Christi 325. 2. Constantinopol 1 um Can. 2. Anno Christi 381. 3. Ephesinum Can. 8. Anno Christi 431. 4. Chalcedonense Can. 12. Anno Christi 451. 5. 6. Quini-sextum in Trullo Can. 55. Anno Christi 681. 7. Nicenum secundum Can. 3. Anno Christi 788. 8. Constantinople 4 tum Can. 1 12. Anno Christi 871. Besides Nullities from Invasion which the true Catholick Church of Christ in all Ages hath so much abhorr'd The Roman-Catholick Church in England hath several Nullities in the Ordinations of her chief Clergy all along had their entrance been Caanonical and with Invitation Not to mention Monk Augustine's own Ordination the first pretended Archbishop which against so many Councils he went over Seas to receive from the hands of Etherius Bishop of Arles by the order of his Pope when there were Bishops enough in Brittain who had right to do it and without whom the Ordination was invalid and of no effect by the Canons as well as his whole clerical degree and all his Christian capacity was under disability by his Intrusion unless c Concil Arelat Can. 2. he had remain'd in France in the Province wherein he was Ordain'd Therefore Mellitus and Justus whom he ordain'd alone the one for London the other for Rochester were no Bishops in Law because ordain'd by him that was none himself and by him d Concil Arelat Can. 20. alone without other Bishops to assist which was also against the Canons as shall further appear Laurentius his Ordination the next Archbishop of Canterbury after Augustine was null and void several wayes because Ordain'd by Augustine himself for his Successor in his life-time which Act of his was contrariant to the 23th Canon of the Council of Antioch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That a Bishop ought not to ordain and constitute his own Successor after him in his life-time for if any such thing be done such Act or constitution is void and null but let him rather observe the Laws of the Church which prescribes such promotion to be no otherwise legally made but by a Synod and the suffrages of Bishops who after the death of the Predecessor have power and Authority to chuse for successor him they shall esteem most worthy The 76 Canon of the Apostles is interpreted by Scholiasts to the same effect And this Act was the more inexcusable in our Puny Augustine because the great St. Augustine to whom it was a grief to be chosen Bishop of Hippo in the life-time of his Predecessor through Inadvertence or Ignorance of the Canon had provided a Canon in the Council of Carthage confirm'd afterwards in a general Council that the Decrees of Councils should be read at all Ordinations for the future to prevent the like Inconvenience It was likewise void because done by Augustine who himself was no lawful Archbishop and also done by him alone which was a further Illegality as before Neither could Mellitus who was no Bishop because ordain'd by Augustine be a lawful Archbishop in the third place nor Justus in the fourth by the same reason nor Paulinus Archbishop of York because ordain'd by Justus Nor Honorius a fift Archbishop of Canterbury because Ordain'd by Paulinus nor Felix Bishop of the East-Angels if Ordained by Honorius which is an Additional Argument for the ascribing of the Conversion of that Province to Brittish Ministry Thus having prov'd the Ordinations of such Archbishops of Canterbury as were Italians to be nul and void which was the first foundation of the Romish-Catholick Faith in England Adeodatus the 6th Arch-Bishop who was an English-man but not of the Brittish or Oswaldian Northern Ordination which was the same but of the Romish being Ordain'd by one single Bishop Ithamar Bishop bf Rochester as before because there were no more left of the Roman way throughout the Isle his Ordination was also void as well as the rest by several Canons of the Church whereof I shall recite a few in such Order as shall give a further sight and prospect of the Government and Ordinations of the first Primitive Church followed by no Church more exactly than by our own Ancient Brittish the first Canon shall be the fift of Sardyca by which it appears a Bishop was to be chosen by the People and all the Bishops of the same Province meeting Synodically and what care is there taken least any one should be unsummoned or unacquainted with an Ordination that was to ensue as if all were void if any one were neglected or passed by And the description 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a lawful Synod for such a purpose in the 16 Canon of Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is so to be understood that then and there a Synod is Right and Perfect were the Metropolitan himself is present as well as the rest of his Brethren For neither were to Act without the other by the 34 Canon of the Apostles before Cited which Orders the Bishops of every Nation to know their Metropolitan and Chief on the one hand and to esteem him as their head or their Ecclesiastical Prince And on the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that the Metropolitan should do nothing without their advice and liking for so Concord and Unanimity should be Established and God should be glorified through Christ in the Holy Spirit Which is all comprizâ—d in the 4th Canon of Nice A Bishop ought to be Ordain'd by all the Bishops of his Province if it be possible but if this be Impracticable through some urgent necessity or two great distance of place there must certainly be three Bishops at the least gather'd together at the place and they to have the Proxies of those that are absent and so to Proceed to Ordination but the Confirmation of the Elect must ever belong in every Province to the Metropolitan By which is understood the Right Original meaning of the first Canon of the Apostles generally practiz'd at this day whereby a Bishop is to be Ordain'd by two or three Bishops And that Originally Bishops were to be Chosen and Consecrated and Confirm'd by the whole Communalty of their Province as well Lay as Clergy as is evident out of Cyprian and the 13 Canon of Laodicea which altered that custom and is acknowledged by the Scholiast upon this Canon and by the Principal parts of the Community which answer to the whole and by the King and Head of the Community which represents them all so our Brittish Bishops were chosen in a Synod saith Cambrensis and we have shewed before that our Metropolitans were David by King Arthur Dubritius
constantly present in his heart and mind As he is ever the vainest that hath him least This presence of Christ in the Soul being its chief life and sobriety or preservation of the mind as the Greek imports and begetting that syberwid wherein the Brittish Ethicks did and doth consist And our Laws which are the wisdom of the Nation Endite none but Rebells against God who for not setting his fear alwayes before their eyes become injurious to their Brethren The great Apostle of the Gentiles comprizes the Disease of the Heathen world in one like word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1.28 their averseness to eye God ever in their minds and the health of the Christian World to be in this when the Grace of our Lord Jesus was alwayes with them which was ever his last wish and prayer And the Cure of the Antichristian to be herein for when he had forwarn'd of the Pest that was to overspread the Christian Church in future Ages for their want of love to the Truth 2 Thess 2.9 10 11 12. he there names the best Amulet and Antidote against it again and again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 3.16.18 The Lord of Peace give you peace The Lord be with you all The Grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all Amen For they alone should escheat to Antichrist who cast off Christ and Christ them and those fall into the pit of the one whore and the other that in the Proverbs and the other in the Revelation who are abhorr'd of the Lord Prov. 22.14 And so much shall suffice by way of Exhortation to all Loyal Christians true to Christ their King and Countrey to adhere to our own good Mother-Church of Brittain in opposition to the pretences and inveiglements of the Modern Roman whom we leave as we found as Epaminondas is said to leave a sleeping Centinel whom he run through without a heart and Soul and Life through their taking man and not Christ who is the truth and the life for the Lord and Soveraign of their hearts and judgment SECTION XVII Where the place of the undoubted true Church is out of whose Pale there is no Salvation And how to be of the Church in Heaven while we are on Earth THe Brittish Church of England is a good and a true Church and so are many others but before men the Church of Christ that is in Heaven by true Faith is the true Church before God and the heart And certain Salvation is annext to the Church of Hearts and Faith For according to St. Paul every true Christian who is a Mystical Jew or Israelite is to be tryed by this Rule For he is not a Jew saith he which is one outwardly neither is that Circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and Circumcision is that of the Heart in the Spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God Rom. 2.28 29. An unblamable outward profession constitutes us Sons of this or that Church before men but the sincerity of the heart to God sets us in the true Church before God for as he were not a right Son of this Church that should only observe Rubricks and Ceremonies and Consormity and neglect Temperance and Charity and Truth and Honesty which are greater so where both these are outwardly observ'd and kept as the Laws of God and the Customes of the place are the measures of all wise and sober men yet not from sincere love and obedience in the heart to Christ but for impunity from human Laws or vain-glory or some other secret end and purpose of the mind it is that end we thereby serve and not the Lord and by our out-side and the charitable estimation of men who are deceiveable we may be true Sons of the Church of England but our Inside or our souls which truly are our selves will be found out of the Church of Christ in Gods account who Judges by the heart and cannot be deceived And this Church of Christ is in Heaven where Christ is at Gods right hand and men become of it by saith and the sincerity of the heart which alone can reach it while in the body they remain on Earth This is the true Catholick Church whose Silver Rome borrows to cover its Brass with out of whose pale there can be no Salvation nor Condemnation ever to any that are found within it Rom. 8.1 There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus If a man were Excommunicated by Rome and England and be of this Church he were safe being Christianus in occulto as St. Augustine stiles such a one in his Book de verá Religione cap. 6. and miss of Salvation though in the bosom of both Churches if he be not in his heart of this A Christian who is inwardly by his heart in Heaven with Christ Christ and Heaven are present to his heart by Consequence and such a one is as it were Christ Incarnate as every one who is out of Christ in his heart and wedded to other ends or Idols is a Devil incarnate more or less And this new Celestial person which he puts on becomes the standard of his Interest and the Rule of his deportment whatsoever he doth agreable to Christ thus in him is his honour and newself-preservation and peace and whatsoever unbecoming the contrary For Cicero would allow that the person we sustain by nature or by calling and by Grace by Consequence becomes the Rule and measure of men's duties and obligations so that there is a vast and an infinite difference between one in Christ and out of Christ between a Christian and no Christian as much as between Heaven and Earth Flesh and the Spirit God and a Creature And St. Paul reduces the whole to this point They only that are in Christ can be Justified and Sanctified and Saved and no other and their Natures are chang'd and exalted by this conjunction and consequently all their Actions and affections which answer to the nature they arise from as the fruit to the tree And they that are out of Christ are out of all hopes and possibility of Justification or Sanctification or Salvation and the old man or Nature continues in them and the mortal inclinations and deeds thereof by Consequence And this change of mens state in respect of dignity as well as safety to be freed from wrath and made as second Sons to God is not from any human merit or power but only from the Infinite and free grace of Christ By whom we have access by Faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the Glory of God Rom. 5.2 Our Justification and happiness by this new state is attributed by the Scriptures to Christ and to Faith and to his Resurrection to Christ without us as to the Purchaser and Founder and Finisher To Faith within us as to the Counterpart Instrument of our acceptance and the
move and have our being The first and last part of the Discourse are Unison and both practical and of more general use the midle Historical and Polemical and of no less use to several in these unsetled times to have the evidences of their Faith and Church as their Writings for their Lands to lye by them and their Children against any question that shall arise about the title Where known passages of History were necessarily to be rehears'd all possible conciseness is us'd which makes that part of the stile more obscure without a deliberate reading which yet is remedied by the Citations in the bottome of the Page referring to the Authors themselves And sometimes indignation against inclination rais'd the stile where the adverse objections or practice seem'd highly unreasonable or greatly pernicious having no enmity or disrespect to any person or party high or low but to their sin or ill example for their Recollection to prevent God's wrath and out of fidelity to the common Lord and judge of both The word Protestant is us'd as now it notes the Scriptural Apostolical Faith in opposition to Rome's corrupt Innovations and humane Inventions and in the sense explain'd page 488. Else it were very improper to stile our Brittish Faith Protestant which flourished here 1500 years before Luther was born The great and memorable Archbishop Vsâ—er whose memory ought ever to be especially dear to Brittains is often cited in His Book de Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Primordiis which after once naming is not repeated Which he writ at the command of King James as a Collection on purpose for such an use with great pains and judgment and truth and helpes several wayes and partilarly from the late chief Antiquary of Wales Mr. Rob. Vaughan of Hâ—â—-gwâ—â— with whom he corresponded It is not to be said that all is new or old either which is here deliver'd and intended for a compact systeme of satisfactions on this point under one view which before lay more dispers'd and undiscern'd and as some account also of innocence and patience in their defence which have not escap'd the censure of Improvidence and harder speeches and passages there being a Scaffold Priviledge ever due to Sufferers but this may be safely said that though the Notes were old and standing and ought so to be yet the Tune and management is wholly new and sincerely endeavour'd and design'd for the peace and concord of our Church and the stength and glory of our Nation and in all humility submitted to the candid eare and judgment of all Right Fathers and Sons of our Brittish Church of England Farewel A General Table of the Contents PART I. A Sermon touching Christs immediate Soveraignty over the heart and the usefulness of the Christian Doctrine to Societies being the occasion and foundation of the ensuing Argument SECT I. p. 43. The Controversie reduc'd to one single point in General of obedience to the right Soveraign of the heart and Protestancy found Loyal and Popery the contrary in its Principles and Practice SECT II. p. 68. Of the true Mother-Church to all Christians in respest of their In-side and of Rome'sVsurpations SECT III. p. 78. Of the true Mother Church to every Christian in respect of the Out-side and Rome'sVsurpations SECT IV. p. 123 Rome no Mother-Church to Brittain in respect of extraction or first Plantation of the Christian Faith but much Junior to it and more probably its Daughter SECT V. p. 134. The faith never fail'd in Brittain from the Resurrection to this present SECT VI. p. 143. Brittain had not the faith from Pope Eleutherius SECT VII p. 151. The description of the Old Brittish Church in its Doctrine and Discipline and Government and Traditions when Augustine the Monk made his Impression here SECT VIII p. 194. The face of the Roman Church about the same time and of Augustine's qualification and method for his pretended Propagation of the Gospel amongst the English And that the Nation are under no obligation to Rome for his work here but bound by their Christianity to abhor and detest it SECT IX p. 231. That the Gospel was planted among the English throughout their Counties by Brittish Ministry And that Augustine's Roman Plantation here came to nothing and no Bishop left in all this Land of Rome's Ordination but one and he a Simonaick and that the body of the Nation are old Brittains and our Princes especially and therefore by honour and nature bound to maintain the Rights of our Brittish Church against Forreign Enchroachments SECT X. p. 295. That all or most of the Kingdoms and Churches in this part of Europe received their first faith from Brittain yet Brittain pretends to no Supremacy over them upon that account and the Romanists â—loes de se in that kind of Plea SECT XI p. 346. Of the indirect methods of Rome in subjugating this and other Churches under it SECT XII p. 363. The change in Henry 8th rather a Restoration than Reformation and how commencing in Henry 7th and of the Inauspiciousntss of Popery to the Brittish Crown and the success and blessing of Protestant Counsels to this Nation SECT XIII p. 392. That the Primacy of the See of Canterbury as it is settled by our own Kings and Laws is Canonicall and Regular SECT XIV p. 436. That the Primacy of Canterbury as by the Pope and Monk Augustine is Schismatical and against the Canons of the Vniversal Church And of the several Nullities of the Church of Rome in England And how all their Clergy intruding â—here stand depriv'd of their Orders by the Canons of all the Ancient General Councils and their Laity that abet them of their Christian Communion by the same Authority SECT XV. p. 475. A short disquisition into the Cause and Character of the Roman Apostacy in its Leaders and Followers from History and Prophecy and Practice SECT XVI p 503. What the Roman Catholicks truly mean by the term Heretick they so liberally bestow on others and that none are greater Hereticks in Truth and reality than themselves and of their title Roman-Catholick which they so well like And old Rome and Brittain both Heathen and Christians compar'd with the Modern and that the yoak of Rome is not better to us than our present condition SECT XVII p. 562. Where the place of the undoubted true Church is out of whose Pale there is no Salvation And how to be of the Church in Heaven while we are on Earth Page 23. l. 24. read outside p. 177. l. 18 dele as p. 184. ult r. source of p. 204. l. 18. â— the p. 21 â—… l. 29. r. out of p. 237. l. 18. r. after aâ—lin 1â— d. a p. 29â— l. 10. r. of his p. â—08 l. 5. d. say p. 315. l. 18. r. at p. 319 l. 30 r. of Bede p. 358. l. 13. r. of a God p. 379 l. 21. r. soon began p. 392 l. â— r. like to p. 420. l. 10. r. and from p. 468. l. 2. r. where p. 482.
Episc Lond. l. 2. p. 134. c. Confession of all our Historians that this Wini became a Simonaick and therefore no Bishop in Law by their own Principles A remarkable vindication of the Innocent Bloud of our Bangor Martyrs through Gods wonderful Providence who is wont to give a Victory and a new Resurrection to his Church after mortal wounds and to confound its enemies For Augustine and his Italian Successors as they never had Right so neither had they any long continuance here notwithstanding all their craft and cruelty Honorius Å¿ Idem lib. 3. c. 7. was the fift and the last of their race and number from Augustine who died Anno 653. Then the Chair began to receive most an end †Mat. Westmin A. 666. English Successors such was Deusdedit a West-Saxon d G Malmesb. de Episc Lond. l. 2. p. 134. c. whose English name was Fridona whose Ordination was void by the Canons of the Church as well as his Chair For he was not Consecrated by any Archbishop in in due manner Paulinus being dead and gone but by one single Bishop †Bede l. 3. c. 20. Ithamar Bishop of Rochester who had no more power to make an Archbishop than hath a single Presbyter to Ordain and Consecrate his Superiour Bishop Therefore all his Acts and his whole sitting for 9 years were Void and Null And Will of Malmesburie's reason e Guil. Malmesbury de Gestis Roffens for their not calling the Northern Oswaldian Bishops to their assistance is very disingenious in one that had read their Principles in Bede to be so averse against Communion with the Romish See of Canterbury Cavebant Romanorum apud Cantiam Reliquiae Ordinationes erroneorumsequi The Reliques of the Roman Church in Kent saith he were shy to admit them that err'd about Easter to have an hand in their Ordinations whereas the shyness was on the other side shunning all Communion with them as Schismaticks and Intruders upon the Brittish Church So that there was no Archbishop at all in Canterbury from the time of Honorius 653. the See continuing actually Vacant for a year and a half to Deusdedit and also Deusdedit's nine years sitting being null in Law and a while after to the time of Theodorus of Tarsus in Cilicia his coming to the Chair in 668. Of which contrivance of Rome to begin a second Usurpation over the English Brittish Church as well as their first over the Brittains more shall be observed in proper place Therefore the Church of Canterbury was manifestly extinct for those 15 years between Honorius the last Italian and Theodorus the first and last Graecian Archbishop there And we have heard before of the extinction of the See of Rochester under Putta and Willelm besides the Archbishops that succeeded Theodore seem Brittish by their Countrey and Institution Birthwaldus his next successor Anno 692. was Brothers Son to Ethelfred King of Mercia x Antiquitates Eccles p. 55. where their Faith was right Brittish Tatwin after him in 731. was likewise of y Usher p. â—055 Ex Will. Malmesbury Mercia And three of his Bishops that ordain'd him Ingwald of London Aldwin of Lichfield Daniel of Winton were not of Roman but of Brittish Sees And the last ordain'd by Birthwald z Antiquit. Eccles p. 58. Nothelmus after Tatwin 736. had been Bishop of London where he was born Cuthbert after Nothelm came from the Chair of Hereford an Ancient Brittish See belonging to the Archbishoprick of Caerleon in Wales And not to mention Bregwin a Nobleman of Saxony who succeeded Cuthbert Lambert the thirteenth Archbishop was wholly depriv'd of his Primacy by the means of Offa King of Mercia who withdrew all his Revenues and Churches in Mercia from him and got the Pope to assent thereto misit nuntios donativis conferendis praemunitos b Spelman p. 302 303. Noverat enim Rex Offa desideria Romanorum for he had treated him according to his humour with great guifts And so Aldulphus Bishop of Lichfield was made Archbishop during the Reign of Offa. The Pope notwithstanding through the great darkness that was to be for several Ages in the Church restor'd the See and maintain'd his usurpation at Canterbury to the time of Henry 8. a Brittish King who putting a full end and period to all Popish powers and pretences continued here against the Laws of the Land and the Canons of the universal Church And judging fit to continue the Primacy of Canterbury upon a new and better Authority his own pleasure and the strength of the Law the Superiority of that See became lawful ever afterwards to be submitted to in Brittain according to Church Canons Which from the suppression of the old Archbishoprick of London was all along before a manifestly uncanonical and Schismatical usurpation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Photii Nomocanon Tit. 1. c. 20. infamous to boot in the sense of the Ancient Canons Usurpation and force and Conquest right or wrong being more comely in the field than in the Church and better to be legitimated by descent and time And this Argument of the English or Saxons receiving their first Faith from Brittain and not from Rome is further corroborated by that notable observation of the Reverend and Eloquent Archbishop Parker sometime Queen Elizabeths Latine Tutor as I am informed upon several Old d W. L'isle divers Ancient Monuments Antiquitates Ecclesiasticae p. 35 -to 47. Saxon Laws and Homilies containing several points and Articles and Suppositions in them quite contrary to those Doctrines that Augustine and his Romish successors endeavoured to sow and propagate as the Faith of Rome in England 1. Against Transubstantiation 2. For Communion under both kinds 3. And the Translations of Scripture into the Vulgar Tongue and Instances thereof before the time of Wicleff 4. Laymen to study and read the Scriptures and to learn Creed and Decalogue and Lords Prayer in the Vulgar Tongue 5. Against Invocation of Saints e Wheeloc not in c. 9. lib. 4. Bedae Antiquae Homiliae Saxonum nunquam sanctos invocant c. Worshiping of Images 6. Marriadges to be free 7. Kings to be Gods Vicars in their Kingdom 8. The Legislative Power to be in King and people Quae quidem veteris Ecclesiae Brittannicae dogmata c. Which verily saith he being the Tenets and Doctrines of the Old Brittish Church and long retain'd amongst the Ancient Saxons notwithstanding the influence and successions of their Roman Guides and Teachers to the contrary how agreeable they are both to to the word of God and our Modern Laws and Constitutions and how diametrically contrary in all respects to their way at Rome any one may with ease discern that will For as the same learned prelate again what Author did ever in his works report that Augustine did ever Preach to the English that they might come to believe by hearing that he was not capable to do it his own Pope
Nice upon which the Rights of London stood founded when they were Schismatically Invaded by a high hand from Rome and for many years wrongfully detain'd and usurp'd Or 2. to cut off all pretence and colour of subjection or dependance of this Church upon Rome and all occasion of stumbling to the weak Sons of the Church of England and Ignorant in History who are misled to believe that Rome is the Mother Church of Brittain because it was undoubtedly of Canterbury which is now the reputed Mother Church of all England And by consequence that our Reformation was Schismatical and scandalous the Daughter judging and rejecting the Mother the Inferiour the Superiour and of ill consequence to be approved by Princes Whereas Rome Originally never came to be a Mother to our Brittain so much as in pretence but only by Schisme and incroachment most fit and just to be remedied by Princes in discountenance of wrong and disobedience Because 3. The Learned of the Church of Rome dayly hit our Prelates of that See in the Teeth and the Unlearned likewise harbour evil opinions and surmises concerning them and forbear not to vent and utter them as if they were Vngrateful and Parricidial in their Actings against their first Founder and Maintainer whereby some of themselves also might be discourag'd and cool'd in their zeal against the Romish Vsurpation to which their honour'd predecessors owed Allegiance Whereas Augustine the first founder had his maintenance and dignity and ways of acquisitions from the Brittish See of London whereof Canterbury is parcel or the same and owed Canonical obedience and the rights and fortunes of his Successors to the Brittish Church to whom they are ultimately to refund if these are to refund to them as to the right and first owners Because 4. it would be a great strength and but a due and just vindication of Protestantism or the Apostolical Ancient Brittish Church after such long abuse and wrongful suffering by Rome and a New face and reviving glory to old Brittain to recover its Pristine right and condition in Church as well as State and Name and worthy of a share in those Solemn Consultations appointed as it were by providential instinct for its further Union in Laws and Government to the everlasting honour of that Prince in whose Reign it should be recorded to be accomplished Or 6. to make our chief See in Brittain hold some better proportion with the like in Neigbouring Kingdoms as Remes or Toledo whom in Universities and Colledge Endowments we far exceed to our Glory to be a fit preferment for some of our Princes or chiefest Nobles hereafter for the great support of the Church Or at least 7. that the name and memory of Monk Augustin the first Author of this disorder by his Infamous Schisms and murders which Reign'd so many hundreds of years in such glory under the darkness of Popery should set at last in due obscurity under the Sun-shine of Protestantism Which considerations are recounted not out of any design or desire of Innovation though into a Pristine right or to restore the bone into its due place with pain and danger that hath been so long out of joynt and well serves for use though not rightly set Though the whole design and plea of the Church of Rome be that a bone rightly set and settled and fully useful ought to be dislocated to the hazard and cripling of the whole to be in the wrong posture it once was for a time for their advantage and benefit But to solve scruples and unravel scandals and pluck up all misapprehensions by the roots whereby any might be deluded by any pretences of Equity or conscience or filial Reverence for a Mother-Church into a favourable opinion of Romish slavery Or if any be prick'd in conscience for the wrong done to Rome at the Reformation let the same prick reach to the wrong done before to Brittain by Romes Schismatical Invasion which no prescription of time or years could give right to and then all will be in right order as at first they were and ought to be and the first right owners shall have their due and old Trepassers their censure and rejection yea as by good providence they now are and stand for it ought to be well known and understood that the See of Canterbury as it stands Established is not a Roman but a Brittish See and consequently Exempt from all Romish Superiority or dependance by an Original Birth-right and Immunity and therefore forbiden by our Laws and Synods to use or wear any Pall or Liâ—â—â—y or Legatine power of Rome's bestowing and settled by our Brittish Soveraigns in Christ-Church Canterbury as effectually and Canonically as at St. Pauls in London which all Christians of Brittain whether of Protestant or Catholick stamp and Character may now with a safe and good conscience pay due submission and obedience to as they ought without Schism or scandal or forfeiture of their Christian Dignities and Orders and Communion by the Canons of the Universal Church hereafter to be recited which before they could not For though Schism be objected by the Romanists to the Episcopals as by the Episcopals to the Presbyterians and Non-conformists yet the Pope in Brittain and his Romish Convâ—â—â—clâ—s set up by craft or â—iolence over our Churches which lay out of his Jurisdiction ever were the Original Schismaticks and the first Patterns and ill examples of disobedience against Right Superiours against so many good Laws of the Catholick Church that do Excommunicate and depose them for it And nothing in all likelyhood hath or doth more foment and châ—â—ish our remaining divisions in the Land and Sâ—â—â—s in the Church than Jealousie of Popery and it spâ—â—ted hankerings and designs to reduce men again under the old yoak of Rome so much dâ—restâ—â— and justly abhorr'd by the whole Nation If All in Trust and Eminency could fully satisfie men's fears and Suspitions of their unfeigned adherence under God and the King to their Brittish Mother-Church in opposition and detestation of all Forreign Corrivals for Superiority It were strange and justly unexpected if all parties throughout this miserably divided Nation would not soon joyn hearts and hands and Church-meetings with one another in an entire and indissolvable Union and Brotherhood to the Infinite joy and happiness of Prince and People SECTION XIV That the Primacy of Canterbury as by the Pope and Monk Augustine is Schismatical and against the Canons of the Vniversal Church and of the several Nullities of the Church of Rome in England And how their Clergy Intruding here stand depriv'd of their Orders by the Canons of all the Ancient General Councils and their Laity that abet them of their Christian Communion by the same Authority BUt the Supremacy of the See of Canterbury by the Popes Authority alone as our Romanists would have it without the Authority of the Kings of England is Infamously Schismatical and irregular and against the Canons of the universal