by the sentence and judgement of the Councell and bee at the Emperours pleasure To conclude for this Book if there were any need to commend it to common acceptance by especiall approbation I could had I the Authours consent to this purpose produce many Letters of such as have read it and are best able to judge of it but that would bee in this case a superfluous service and it will be enough to take notice of one of them which is as followeth Reverend Sir YOur Treatise of the Oath is a very excellent Cōment upon a bad Text fit to be made publick for the common good not onely for the present but for after times And as was said by one of Adams fall that it was foelix culpa in that it gave occasion to the manifestation of so great a mercy to mankind as followed thereupon so may I say of the unhappy Oath unhappy in respect of it selfe that it was foelix Juramentum an happy Oath in respect it induced the production of such a profitable discourse upon it very profitable doubtlesse if it may become as universall as it is usefull which is the humble and hearty desire of him that professeth himselfe Yours in all offices of a friend and servant G.J. Having had opportunity to peruse many such Letters I have made choice of the shortest because I would not any longer withhold the Reader from the principall provision prepared for him whereto I now shall willingly dismisse him N.E. CAN. 6. An Oath enjoyned for the preventing of all Innovations in Doctrine and Government THis present Synod being desirous to declare their sincerity and constancy in the profession of the Doctrine and Discipline already established in the Church of England and to secure all men against any suspition of revolt to Popery or any other superstition decrees that all Archbishops Bishops and all other Priests and Deacons in places exempt or not exempt shall before the second of November next ensuing take this Oath following against all Innovation of Doctrine or Discipline and this Oath shall be tendred them and every of them and all others named after this Canon by the Bishop in person or his Chancellour or some grave Divines named and appointed by the Bishop under his Seale and the said Oath shall bee taken in the presence of a publick Notary who is hereby required to make an Act of it leaving the Universities to the provision which followes The OATH is I A. B. doe sweare that I doe approve the Doctrine and Discipline or Government established in the Church of England as containing all things necessary to salvation And that I will not endeavour by my selfe or any other directly or indirectly to bring in any popish Doctrine contrary to that which is so established Nor will I ever give my consent to alter the Government of this Church by Archbishops Bishops Deanes and Archdeacons c. as it stands now established as by right it ought to stand nor yet ever to subject it to the usurpations and superstition of the See of Rome And all these things I doe plainely and sincerely acknowledge and sweare according to the plaine and common sense and understanding of the same words without any equivocation or mentall evasion or secret reservation whatsoever And this I doe heartily willingly and truely upon the faith of a Christian So help me God in Jesus Christ Concerning the Oath and Penalty thereof imposed by the sixth Canon of the late Synod DOubts and Hopes with the Reasons of them both for the most part delivered into the hands and intended wholy to be presented to the prudent and religious consideration of the reverend Father John L. Bishop of Chester in the names of the Divines Physicians and Schoole-masters of his Diocesse pag. 1. 1. Generall DOUBT 1. Doubts in Generall Whether this Oath if it be tendred and taken be not a taking of the Name of God in vaine against the third Commandement pag. 3. 2. Whether this Oath may be taken in faith without which the taking is sinne Rom. 14.23 pag. 11. 3. Whether the sixth Canon as it is charged with this Oath and Penalty be not like to crosse the chiefe end whereat his Majesty aimed in granting his Commission for a Convocation or Synod pag. 11. 1. Particular DOUBT 1. Doubts in Particular What is meant by Discipline and Government whether the same things or no and if the same what they be pag. 14. 2. What is meant by the Church of England pag. 16. 3. Why the Discipline is linked with the Doctrine of the Church of England for necessity of salvation pag. 18. 4. What is meant by Popish Doctrine pag. 32. 5. What establishment of Doctrine is here meant and how farre it may be said to be established pag. 39. 6. whether the degrees here specified be propounded to be allowed in the same or in a different degree of assent and approbation pag. 43. 7. What Deanes are here meant pag. 44. 8. What is the Authority or Government of a Cathedrall Deane pag. 45. 9. What is the Authority or Government of a Deane Rurall pag. 48. 10. What is the Authority or Government of Archdeacons pag. 51. 11. Whether we may safely take a new Oath with an c. pag. 55. 12. How farre the c. is to be extended when it is expresly declared pag. 56. 13. What Governours are included in the c. whether the King as Supreme be altogether omitted or implicitely contained in it pag. 56. 14. Who and what Governours they be pag. 59. 15. Whether the establishment of the Adjuncts or the not necessary appendences of Bishops be to be sworne unto in this Oath pag. 62. 16. What the Right is by which the Government is meant to stand pag. 65. Of Archbishops and Patriarchs pag. 71. 17. How farre this perpetuity propounded is to be applyed to the Discipline or Government of the Church pag. 79. 18. Why we should sweare against consent to alter the Government of the Church pag. 84. 19. Whether if we should thus sweare wee should not be entangled with contradiction to our Governours and to our selves pag. 85. 20. Why in this part of the Oath mention is made rather of the See of Rome then of the Church of Rome pag. 92. 21. How we can sweare to a plaine and common sense and understanding of the Oath pag. 94. 22. What willingnesse is required in the taking of this Oath pag 95. 23. How the Doubts of the Oath may bee resolved and cleared pag. 96. 24. Why the sons of Noblemen are excepted and priviledged from taking this Oath when they take the degrees of Masters of Arts. pag. 103. 25. Concerning the difference betwixt the command and commination of the Canon pag. 106. Our HOPES Our Reasons and Grounds of them are foure 1. Reason grounded on Piety pag. 112. 2. The second on Charity pag. 116. 3. On Equitie pag. 120. 4. On Policie pag. 122. Concerning the Oath and penaltie thereof
we may justly expect from our Popish opposites or require more of us then any Church ever did hitherto Long before these Canons were set forth and h Queen Elisabeth began her reigne Novemb. 17. an 1558. and these were published ann 1561. soone after the reformation of Religion by Queene Elisabeth there were we confess certain protestations to be made promised and subscribed by them that were afterwards to be admitted to any office roome or cure in any Church or other place Ecclesiasticall But we conceive besides other differences to bee touched under another title that neither these protestations are equivalent to such a solemne oath as now is required of us nor that there is such need of it now as there was of them at that time Object If it be said that in these times there is such division and distraction among us that there is need to fasten us together by such a sacred bond as that of the Canon Answ Wee thinke it reasonable to reply That neither the want of such an oath was the cause of the distemper of the times nor that the urging of it will be a convenient cure thereof but rather the contrary since there is more agreement betwixt peace and love which may best be preserved where offensive things are not urged then betwixt love and compulsion especially if as of this oath it is conceived it incroach upon the conscience without any great need as from them that require it or without sufficient ground to satisfie such as should receive it And wee see by the operation of it already daily producing more and more dislike of it that it is not like to be a remedy against any malady already discovered but rather a meanes to exasperate the disease though this bee besides the intention of them that propound it whereof there was the lesse need because as our learned and religious brethren the Divines of Aberdene have observed i Generall Demands of the Ministers and Professors of Aberdene pag. 29. There bee other meanes more effectuall for holding out of Popery and so of any other unlawfull Innovation in which we ought to confide more then in all the vowes promises of men yea also more then in all the united forces of all the subjects of this Land to wit diligent preaching and teaching of the word frequent prayer to God humbling of our selves before him and amendment of our lives and conversations and arming our selves against our adversaries by diligent searching of the Scriptures whereby we may increase in the knowledge of the truth and in ability to defend it against the enemies of it These have been the chiefe meanes to advance both the Doctrine of truth and the Discipline of manners and they will be the best meanes to hold them up still with them there will be no need without them none aide by oaths of this kind There be some that say This Oath was framed for tryall how men stand affected to the present government and whether they be inclined to such a change in the Ecclesiasticall state for Doctrine or Discipline as tendeth to disturbance of the civill government also especially to derogation from his Majesties Authority this is partly implyed in the Preface of the Oath which beginneth thus This present Synod being desirous to declare their sincerity and constancy in the profession of the Doctrine and Discipline established in the Church of England and to secure all men against suspicion of revolt to Popery or any other superstition decrees c. and in this respect they conceive the Oath is of necessary use To such as thus plead for it we thinke it meet to make this answer 1. Concerning the venerable Synod that though some persons in it being suspected of unsound Doctrine of a Popish straine might doe very well to give all due and probable satisfaction to acquit themselves of that imputation wherein we are perswaded of some that they have been untruly traduced yet wee conceive this Oath not so pertinent to that purpose as is alledged because the third Canon which insisteth much in the discovery and pursuit of Papists and none else importeth more opposition to Popery then this sixth Canon doth which requireth the Oath since as wee shall manifest in another place it commeth with a deeper charge against those who are the greatest Adversaries of Popery then against Papists themselves Secondly for the other part of the Oath concerning Discipline or the government by Archbishops c. we apprehend no need of an Oath to declare the sincerity and constancy of the Synod in that respect for who maketh doubt but Archbishops Bishops Deanes and Archdeacons who carry most sway in all our Synods are willing enough to maintaine their dignity and authority and unwilling to subject either of them to Papall usurpations He is a man of little faith who will not take their bare word for that without an Oath or will require so much for no reasonable man can thinke otherwise of them though they say nothing For we cannot imagine if it were but for the Archbishops owne sake that he sitting as President of the Synod would ever submit to any usurpations of the See of Rome since hee knoweth and would have others know from him for hee hath published it in print that the Pope hath acknowledged k Pope Urbane the second accounted my worthy Predecessour Saint Anselme as his owne Compeere and said he was the Apostle and Patriarch of the other world So Archbish Laud in his relation of his conference with Fisher p. 171. Anselme a worthy Predecessour of his in the See of Cant. for his owne compeere the Apostle and Patriarch of the other world And hee sheweth himselfe willing enough to take his Holinesse at his word and to keep him out from all command over the Britaine Church alledging l Ibid. ex Guid. Pancirol that it was never subject to the See of Rome having a Primate of its owne and that Primate for the present is himselfe Thirdly for others this Oath can be no good Criterion to try mens sincerity to either Doctrine or Discipline for many things by divers may bee beleeved liked and preferred before any other of that kind so that they would bee loth to change them and yet may they be unwilling to take an Oath for constancy to them For instance wee beleeve kneeling at prayer to bee lawfull laudable and the best gesture wherein to present our devotions to God yet wee would not be put to sweare never to consent to a constitution for standing at prayer since for it there is first m Mar. 11.25 Luk. 18.11 Scripture secondly a Decree in the first n Consona conveniens per omnes Ecclesias custodienda constitutio est ut stantes ad orationem vota Domino reddamus Concil Nicen. 1. Can. 20. Nicen Councel thirdly a continued practice of it in the Church for o From before Tertullians time untill Anselme Archbish
of Cant. many hundred of yeares together Fourthly many of those who in regard of the manifold doubts involved in the Oath are affraid to take it have given better evidence of their sincerity concerning the state both ecclesiasticall civill then can be expected of most that take the oath without any doubt or examination at all if yet there be doubt of them they may be put to the tryall of the first Canon concerning the Kings Authority and the eight made for preaching for conformity both decreed by this last Synod which may bee sufficient for full satisfaction without an Oath and yet they that dare not bee peremptory in every particular in those Canons determined may for all that bee as farre from all disposition to trouble either Church or State with any Innovation as they who would set the seale of an Oath to every line of them Fifthly though we doubt not but divers who have taken the Oath bee very learned grave and godly persons and have done it as they conceive with due consideration and good conscience yet it cannot bee denied but many may be too forward to sweare without any care or use of either either out of hope to bee held very heartily affected to those who have meanes to promote them the hope whereof as Aeneas Silvius observed made more to adhere to the Pope who gave preferments then to the Councell who had none to give or out of feare of their dis-favour who have power to lay heavie pressures upon them And in respect of such the Oath is of no use or force since the same affections not regulated by Reason and Religion will incline with the alteration of times to quite contrary effects Lastly so many of all sorts both of the Clergie and Laitie yea many of those who hold Episcopall imparity the best government of the Church and are no way addicted to the Presbyterian Discipline dislike this Oath so much that howsoever this Canon may discover some difference betwixt those whose lot the wise man sheweth may be alike viz. betwixt him that sweareth and him that feareth an oath Eccles 9.2 yet not that difference which may bee cause either of assurance of them that take it to the doctrine or government of the Church or of just jealousie or suspicion of them that refuse it 2. Generall Doubt Whether this Oath may be taken in faith 2. Generall Doubt without which the taking is sinne Rom. 14.23 THE REASON BEcause it comprehendeth so many things of severall kinds and divers of them unknowne unto most of us that though wee be ready to beleeve and receive some of them fingle our faith cannot fadome them altogether and so wee cannot sweare without doubting and if doubtfull swearing bee as dangerous as doubtfull eating as wee conceive it is and so may feare wee may be damned for it by the doome of the Apostle in the fore-cited place wee can neither with confidence nor safety take this Oath untill we be better resolved of the true meaning thereof and so as it seemeth to us a superfluous Oath it may prove to the takers a perillous Oath 3. Generall Doubt Whether the sixth Canon 3. Generall Doubt as it is charged with this Oath and penalty bee not like to crosse the chiefe end whereat his Majesty aimed in granting his Commission for a Convocation or Synod THE REASON BEcause in his Royall Declaration which hee was pleased to prefixe before the late Canons hee faith hee giveth leave for Ecclesiasticks to assemble and being assembled p The Kings Declaration prefixed before the Canons pag. 8. to conferre treat debate consider consult and agree of and upon Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions as they should thinke necessary and convenient to this end viz. for the honour and service of Almighty God and for the good and quiet of the Church the q Ibid. pag 10. end and purpose by his Majesty limited and prescribed to the Convocation or Synod and how this Oath sorteth to this end we appeale to the publick report of most Counties in the Kingdome wherein besides the Ministery the people neither of the worst sort for condition nor for conversation nor the fewest for number expresse much discontent and trouble of mind at the proposall of it Hereby wee impute no disobedience to the reverend Prelates and Clergie assembled for wee conceive they had no thought of opposition therein to the pious purpose of his sacred Majestie nor any imprudence since as they beleeved themselves of the Oath they might probably hope of acceptance with others and if generally accepted that such effects might follow as they projected But if they doe not their discretion will direct them to vary their course as times and occasions require For if the Church in this world bee like unto a ship upon the sea in which respect it is likened to r Arcam fuisse Ecclesiae imaginem certum est teste Petro. 1 Pet. 3. Calv. in Genes 6. Noahs Arke their Acts and aimes of Government of it may be sometimes disappointed by the indisposition of the people to comply with them as the purpose of the Pilot by the distemper of the weather who when he reasonably thinkes it meet to hoise up saile may bee soon after induced to strike saile for the avoidance of inconvenience or danger of this prudent accommodation of the Acts of Authority to the times and their uncertaine inclinations and events we find manifold examples both in the Civill and Ecclesiasticall estate Thus much of the Doubts in generall Our Doubts in particular The Doubts hitherto proposed touch not upon any branch of the Oath in severall Doubts in particular or of the appurtenances to it but reach to the whole as taken together those that follow arise out of particular consideration first of the parts of the Oath secondly of the explication of it thirdly of the persons that are to take it fourthly of the penalty attending upon it 1. Of the first part of the Oath I A.B. doe sweare 1. Of the parts of the Oath that I doe approve of the Doctrine Discipline or Government of the Church of England as containing all things necessary to salvation WE are not desirous without just ground ministred unto us to multiply Doubts upon the Text of the Oath and therefore wee take it for the present that by Doctrine is meant that to which the Clergy are required to subscribe by the 36. Canon especially the 39. Articles of Religion But for Discipline or Government our Doubt may be THE DOUBT What is meant by Discipline or Government 1. Particular Doubt whether the same things or no and if the same what they be THE REASON BEcause in divers Authours wee find them many times distinguished but there they seeme to bee the same The word Å¿ The points of Discipline Government and Policie of the Church c. The Kings large Declaration p. 330. Policy is taken with them into society
of the same signification by his Majestie in his late large Declaration And all three signifie with reference to the Church Ecclesiasticall callings ordinances and the exercise and application of them to such as are subject to them both wherefore they that are best acquainted with them all stile their bookes of them indifferently of t Mr. Travers or Udals Eccles Discipline Ecclesiasticall Discipline u Dr. Bridges his defence of the governmeÌ„t of the Church Church Government and x Mr. Hookers Eccles Policie Ecclesiasticall Policie and in a large sense the terme Discipline containeth them y The dispute against English Popish Ceremonies c. 8. sect 8. as it is cited in the Scottish Duplies p. 93. all And so it is taken by z Archbishop Whitgifts Reply to T.C. pag. 372. So also in the History of the Councell of Trent l. 2. p. 135. And Bishop Hall of Episcopacy part 3. p. 4. Archbishop Whitgift where he reduceth all that concerneth Religion to Doctrine and Discipline and so it seemeth they doe who composed the Oath as appeareth by their entrance into it And though sometimes that word be strictly taken for the censure of manners or correction of offenders as in the Preface of the Communion Booke usually read upon Ashwednesdaies yet in a large sense and that very familiar it is put for the whole policy or government of the Church whether a of which Discipline the maine and principall parts were these a standing Ecclesiasticall Court to be established perpetuall Judges in that Court to be their Ministers others of the people twice so many in number as they annually chosen to be Judges with them in the same Court Master Hooker Praefat. of Eccles Polit. pag. 5. Master Cartwr Archbish Whitgist Rep. p. 2. Presbyteriall as in Geneva or Episcopall as with us a principall part whereof is Hierarchicall Imparity in that sense it was said by Master b Master Mountag Appello Caesarem p. 108. Mountague That the Synod at Dort in some points condemneth the Discipline of the Church of England meaning especially the Government by Bishops and so also did the c Dominus Episcopus Landavensis de Disciplina paucis monet nunquam in Ecclesia obtinuisse Ministrorum paritatem non tempore Christi ipsius c. sic Synod Dord sessione 145. April 30. Antemerid Bishop of Landaffe take it when in answer to him and confutation of him hee repeated the defence made by himselfe for the Hierarchy of the English Church in that Synod noting in few words concerning the Discipline That the Church never had a parity of Ministers no not in Christs time wherein there were the twelve Apostles superiours to the 72. Disciples which he sheweth was not contradicted by that Synod In the same sense it is used by d Patres non volentes sed nescientes non per Apostasiam aut contemptum sed per infirmitatem ignorantiam lapsi sunt qui in Disciplina aberrarunt Parker de Polit Eccles lib. 2. cap. 8. where by Discipline must be understood the Government by Bishops others who are not of the same mind in the point of Episcopacie The observation of this imparity in giving precedence to Superiours is called Discipline in the e Scimus inviolatè permansisse Ecclesiae Disciplinam ut nullus fratrum prioribus suis se auderet anteponere Concil Milevitan Can. 13. thirteenth Canon of the Milevitan Councell the Ceremonies also in rule and practice are reduced to Discipline in the prefatory Declaration before the Communion Booke under this title Of Ceremonies why some abolished some retained where it is said that some of them doe serve to decent order and godly discipline and againe without some ceremoniâ—s it is not possible to keep any order or quiet discipline in the Church which implyeth both the constitution and observation of them and to this acception of the words Discipline and Government in this Oath we rather incline but cannot of our selves so certainly resolve it as that we dare sweare it DOUBT 2. What is meant by the Church of England 2. Particular Doubt THE REASON BEcause of the ambiguity of the terme Church which is variously f See Doctor Downham in the defence of his Sermon lib. 2. c. I. p. 4. Master Jacob in his book of the necessity of Reform the Minist and Cerem Assert 1. pag. 6. with others distinguished but especially because the new Canons bring in a new acception of that word new in respect of the language of Protestant Divines for in the fourteenth Canon where caution is given concerning commutation of penance by the Bishop or his Chancellour there is this proviso That if the crime be publickly complained of and doe appeare notorious that then the office shall signifie to the place from whence the complaint came that the Delinquent hath satisfied the Church for his offence The satisfaction is by the payment of a pecuniary mulct that is made to the Bishop or his Chancellour either of them then or both together seemeth to bee called the Church in that Canon and that contraction of a word of such a large comprehension as the right acception of it requireth might breed some suspicion of symbolizing with the Popish Dialect though the sense bee not Popish wherein by an intensive Synecdoche that which is most extensive and diffused all over the world is shrunke up into the person of one man the Pope But because the matter of commutation in that Canon is of a narrower compasse then either Doctrine or Discipline in this wee may take the word Church in a larger acception and that may be either for the Clergy in generall when it is used by way of distinction from the Laity or as the 139. Canon decreeth it The Church representative in a Synod which g Episcopi sunt Ecclesia representativa ut nostri loquuntur Bellar l. 3. de Eccles c. 14. Archbishop Laud seemes to take the word Church for the Bishops in the Epistle Dedicatory before his Starre-chamber Speech where he makes request in the Churches name that it may bee resolved by the reverend Judges that keeping of Courts and issuing of processe in the Bishops names are not against the lawes of the Realme fol. penult p. 1. Papists restraine to Episcopall Prelates Or as the 19. Article taketh it A visible congregation of faithfull men in which the pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments duly administred Or as in the 35. Article it may stand for the place where the people are assembled and holy offices performed but which of these or whether any other sense of the word Church bee meant in this place we leave it to those who have authority to interpret the Oath to resolve DOUBT 3. Why the Discipline is linked with the Doctrine of the Church of England for necessity of salvation 3. Particular Doubt THE REASON BEcause it seemeth to us to coast somewhat towards the conceipt of
44. The things that he and his party stood for were such as that if every haire of their head were a life they should lay all downe for the defence thereof And there are some so rigid to such Churches as want it as to hold they want a principall meanes of their salvation In opposition to these it may bee the meaning of the Oath is That as for Doctrine so for Discipline our Church wanteth nothing that is needfull to salvation but because by such an expression the Composers of the Canon may seeme to assume that necessity of Episcopall preheminence such as it is in England and Ireland which they condemne in the Discipline of Geneva and other Reformed Churches we feare a snare in these words of the Oath Object But did not an Apostolicall Councell decree forbearance of things of different natures as of meat offered to Idols of things strangled of bloud and of fornication calling the abstinence from them all necessary thing Act. 15.28 29. yet was there more necessity of forbearance of the last then of all the rest for to abstaine from them was not necessary but in respect of the state of that time that the Gentiles and the Jewes might live more peaceably together with lesse occasion of quarrell but to forbeare fornication was and will be alwaies necessary to salvation Answ All this is true yet many waies different from our case For First we are bound to embrace the Decrees of an Apostolicall Councell without all doubt or suspicion of errour but wee are not so to entertaine any Constitutions of men since their time whether single or assembled in Synods Diocesan Provinciall Nationall or Oecumenicall since as our Church resolveth in the 21. Article they may erre and have erred in things pertaining to God which the Apostles never did nor could doe in any thing they taught or decreed to be received by the Church Secondly the Apostles leave the word necessary at large to bee distributed by distinction and due application according to the different nature of the things contained in their Apostolicall Decree Of which though they say they are necessary yet do they not say they are necessary to salvation as this Oath hath it both concerning Doctrine and Discipline Thirdly the Apostles by their Decree required no Oath of such as were subject unto them as the sixth Canon doth Fourthly they laid no new burthen on the consciences of Christians but rather tooke off a great part of the old Ver. 28. but this Oath is a new burthen and if it should be urged the heaviest in respect of imposition and penalty to some that ever was laid on the English Church since it left off to bee Romish which the Imposers though prudent might the lesse apprehend and take to heart then their inferiours in place and policy because it was not like to bee their owne case to be troubled at the taking or to bee censured even to undoing for the refusall of the Oath since they liked it so well themselves as to propound it to others If to mollifie the rigour of this combination of Doctrine and Discipline for necessity to salvation there bee found out other distinctions then such as have been touched either concerning Discipline or salvificall necessity they may haply serve to salve an objection in Scholasticall dispute rather then to satisfie the conscience against all doubt so as is necessary to the due and safe taking of an Oath though Discipline in particular as hath been shewed be not necessary to salvation and if it be not it seemeth to be set in the Oath as an Associat with the Doctrine as to that effect like Bibulus with Caesar in the Consulship when * Non Bibulo quidquam nuper sed Caesare factum est Nam Bibulo fieri Consule nil memini Sueton. in Jul. Caes nu 20. p. 16 Bibulus as a single Cypher standing for nothing did nothing as a Consul but Caesar did all so that the saying was Julius and Caesar were Consuls not Caesar and Bibulus And if so it is too neere a non-ens and so a kind of trifling unmeet as we thinke for so serious and sacred a matter as an Oath THE OATH And that I will not endeavour by my selfe or any other directly or indirectly to bring in any Popish Doctrine contrary to that which is so established DOUBT 4. What is meant by Popish Doctrine 4. Patricular Doubt THE REASON BEcause it is not yet determined in any satisfactory way at least not so determined that wee may sweare to it what opinions are to bee esteemed Popish either for Doctrine or Discipline Luther as some report of him was wont to say Å¿ Master Chil. his answer to Charity maintained c. 2. pag. 82. That himselfe and almost every man else had a Pope in his belly yet few have it in their heads to tell what Poperie is Many hold that divers of the Arminians Tenets are nothing else but Popery blanched over with a specious t The Kings large Declaration pag. 319. subtlety and for holding them have some been publickly censured as Popish u Peltius in Harmon Remonstrantium Socinianorum Excus Lugd. Bat. 1633. Archb. Laud calleth the Socinian Heresie an horrid and mighty monster of Heresies in his relat of his confer with Fisher p. 310. there are that make the Arminians brothers to the Socinians in divers dangerous and damnable positions On the contrary it is affirmed by farre higher Authority x The Kings large Declaration pag. 320. That their Tenets could not be accounted Popish concerning which or the chiefe of which as learned Papists as any in the world viz. The Dominicans and Jesuites did as much differ as the Protestants did and that those who adhere to the Augustan confession did hold that side of these Tenets which the Arminians doe hold and therefore farre from being Papists being the first Protestants and therefore it was against all sense to condemne that for Popery which was held by many Protestant Churches and rejected by many learned Papists And whereas the Socinians are severely and that deservedly condemned by a particular y Canon 4. Canon there is nothing at all decreed against the Arminians either in that or any other Canon of that late Synod whereof they that make conjecture of the causes bring in such as these It may bee the Synod thought that it was a better way for preservation of the Churches peace to make no Decree concerning Arminian opinions or that they were slandered and made worse then they are though the Socinian be not or that enough was done against the Arminians at the Synod at Dort and if any thing at all a great deale too little against the Socinians or that it was not for the honour of a Synod of Bishops c. to come after a Synod of meere Presbyters one Bishop onely excepted and by their own Canons as it were to subscribe to Presbyteriall determinations And this last Reason
the title page of his booke doth testifie setteth this Note upon that Article Touching this Article the greatest matter saith l Mast Rogers on the 35. Article of Relig. pag. 193. he is not Whether these Homilies meant and mentioned doe containe Doctrine both godly wholsome and necessary but whether Homilies or any Apocrypha writings at all may bee read in the open Church and before the Congregation Whereof in reason there needs no more refutation then the reading of the Article and the severall Titles and Contents of the Homilies annexed to it And though we like it well enough that his Testimony is sometimes excepted against as m By the Archbishop of Cant. in his answer to A. C. p. 47 48. proceeding from a private man yet since his glosse upon that authenticke Text hath commonly passed in the name and without the note of dislike of Authority it induceth us to doubt what Doctrine in those Bookes may be said to bee established in our Church and wee are the more unsettled in our conceipt thereof because wee see the Homily of the perill of Idolatry so little heeded and so much liberty of late taken to controll it with new Pictures in Churches that if the Homily were read in some of them it might be doubted by such as consider no more then what is presented to their senses whether there were not one Religion for the eares another for the eyes or whether the Lay-mens bookes or the Clergy mens were published with greater priviledge which hath been an occasion of Papists bragging n Charity maintained see Master Chil. Preface in answer to it p. 12. That our Churches begin to looke with a new face and their walls to speak a new language the face out-facing and the language contradicting the Doctrine of the Homilies We doe not meane hereby to charge those with Idolatry who have made it their care and have been at great cost to adde the beauty of henour in the walls and windowes of Gods house to the beauty of holinesse in the Communion of Saints who resort unto it and performe their solemn devotions in it wee doubt not but they are too wise to worship the worke of the pensill or any worke of mans hand yet wee beseech their wisedome to consider that the world groweth old and with age according to the Proverb becomes childish and children delight more to looke upon Babies then on the letters of their bookes or to learne their lessons and so that which by them was meant but for adorning the illiterate with the mutilation of a letter may turne to adoring and what was intended but to be a memorandum of History may be turned by some and taken by others as a memoriall of the mystery of Iniquity whereby the subtle may draw the simple from spirituall piety to sensuall superstition which was the evill effect feared by those grave and godly Divines who composed the Homily and for which cause they so zealously contested against all Images in Churches They had read no doubt with due regard the saying of St. o Malè vos parietum amor cepit malè Ecclesiam Dei in tectis aedificiisque veneramini Anne ambiguum est in his Antichristum esse sessurum Hilarius contra Auxent pag. 216. 217. Hilary against Auxentius Your love is fondly set upon faire walls you doe ill to make your respect of the Church by the outward splendour or statelinesse of structure know you not that Antichrist will set his Throne in such as these But this is his Quaere none of ours we goe on We had thought it had been the established Doctrine of the Church of England in the Homily of the time and place of prayer that it is a necessary and perpetuall duty by the fourth Commandement to celebrate one day in seven with religious observances but wee find that Doctrine publickly gain-said by divers and the Doctrine of the Popish Schoolemen as publickly maintained against it in divers Treatises in print And for the Articles of Religion themselves wherein chiefly wee conceive the Doctrine of our Church to be contained and by Authority both Civill and Ecclesiasticall to be established they are much impeached in the power and vigour of their stability by leaving such liberty for the points of free will predestination and possibility of keeping Gods Commandements as before hath been noted which by the 10.15 and 17. Articles are resolved against the opinions of the Papists and much more are they wronged by him who hath written a p Fran. à San. Clara his book called Deus natura gratia printed Lugdun 1634. Booke and therein hath laboured with much subtlety and diligence so to mince them by manifold distinctions and to wrench them from their proper to a Popish construction as if the Convocation that concluded them had had no mind or meaning to contradict the Councell of Trent and that now our 39. Articles were patient yea ambitious of some sense wherein they may seeme Catholick i. in their sense Popish as a late q See Master Chil. his Preface in answer to the Author of Charity maintained pag. 12. Papist with great boasting hath upbraided unto us So in the book called Charity maintained By expounding and applying of these Articles in a new way hath Franc. à Sanct. Clara troden out a new tracke though with many intricate turnings and windings in which men of equivocall consciences may send their faith to Rome while their affections keep close to their Interests in England and hath taught them to play fast and loose as to their Orthodox and Protestant sense so that as r Plutarch in the life of Alexander p. 110 Aristotle said to Alexander concerning his Physicks they were published and not published their words being read and their meanings not rought the Articles might be said to be established and not established established as a sacred Text but not established by meanes of an ambiguous Comment turning the Interpretation like a nose of waxe as easily to the left hand as to the right And how farre this cunning stratagem hath prevailed with some we cannot tell but as in charity we hope well of those of whom wee know no ill so in godly discretion wee dare not bee so confident in our good opinion as to sweare what we but thinke and wish to be true But though we cannot make faith upon Oath how farre our Doctrine is established as in opposition to Popery wee doe not deny but that our reverend Fathers and Brethren of the Synod might intend hereby more firmly to establish that Doctrine which is most repugnant to such opinions as they beleeved to bee properly Popish and the rather because wee have been credibly informed that the Oath was first proposed and so passed in the house of Convocation as an abjuration of Popery onely But a second time tendred as in a second edition it was augmented but as we conceive not amended when the Discipline or Government
to permit unto them and what that is who can tell but your selfe how then may it be safe to sweare to the Government of the Church by Archdeacons when wee cannot know what their Government is since the rules of that Office are very uncertaine and the prescription by practice more uncertaine to us especially who have had no such Jurisdiction in use among us and it may be if wee had wee should find more cause to except against it then to sweare for it which wee desire may not bee interpreted to the prejudice of any worthy person of that denomination and wee doubt not but there are many such and some well knowne to many of us for men of very eminent endowments both intellectuall and morall whom we acknowledge for such and so desire to enjoy them as our deare brethren and friends Of the c. Our Doubts hitherto have beene of the Governours expressed our next Inquiries are to bee made of the c. and of such Governours as are concealed under it and thereof our Doubts are divers and so counting on our 11. Particular DOUBT is Whether we may safely take a new Oath with an c. 11. Particular Doubt THE REASON BEcause in a new Oath we cannot be certaine without some expresse direction which in this case we find not how farre the sense of the c. reacheth and so we cannot sweare unto it in judgement as the Prophet Jeremy directeth Jerem. 4.2 but at the most in opinion There is no man would willingly seale a Bond with a blanke for the summe so that the Obligee might make the debt as large as hee listed and we conceive we should be more cautelous in ingaging our soules by an Oath then our estates by a Bond since in this the tye is more vigorous the breach more dangerous then it is in that and wee verily thinke that if wee should returne our deposition with some termes of the Oath as I A. B. doe sweare that I doe approve the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England and presently breake off with an c. though what followeth be well enough knowne it would not be allowed for a lawfull Oath which yet seemeth to us more warrantable then that which by this Canon is tendred unto us DOUBT 12. How farre the c. is to bee extended 12. Particular Doubt when it is expresly declared THE REASON BEcause of the variety of opinions which have beene conceived of the Contents of it * M. S. T. some who suppose they understand the Oath so well as to be able to expound it to others have said that the Governours of the Church are expressed before the c. and that under the c. are implicitely comprised the Rules or Constitutions of Government especially the Booke of Canons of the yeare 1603. but most conceive this to be an impertinent interpretation because the c. importeth somewhat of the same sort that went before and thus to expound it is to make a groundlesse transition à personis ad res but if we agree as most doe that persons are meant under the c. and those persons Governours which is most probable our Doubt is what Governours they be DOUBT 13. What Governours are included in the c. whether the King 13. Particular Doubt as Supreme be altogether omitted or implicitely contained in it THE REASON BEcause wee doe not know why hee should bee wholly omitted since hee is supreme Governour over all persons or causes both Ecclesiasticall and Temporall and so to bee acknowledged by all Preachers in their prayers before their Sermons by the 55. Canon nor can wee conceive any just cause why he should be but covertly implyed in an c. when inferiour degrees are formally expressed Object If it bee said that there is a peculiar Oath for his Supremacy to bee taken at the Ordination of Ministers and at other times by other persons upon severall occasions Answ We conceive that should bee no let to the asserting of his Soveraigne Right in this Oath because that Oath of Supremacy is expresly made as the title of it sheweth to shut out the usurpation of q The Bishop shall cause the Oath of the Kings Supremacy and against the power and authority of all forraine Potentates to bee administred to every one of them that are to be ordained So in the Ordinat of Deacons forrain powers and Potentates and so giveth no such security against those popular diminutions of his Ecclesiasticall Authority the jealousie whereof occasioned the reverend Prelates of the Church in the late Synod to propose this Oath as a Bond of assurance of their Episcopall preheminence They have shewed themselves zealous we confess in pressing his Royall Right both ecclesiasticall and civill against all r Can. 1. p. 13. popular as well as Papall impeachments and have annexed a penalty against such as shall by word or writing publickly maintaine or abett any position or conclusion in opposition to their explication of the Kings Authority But yet there is no Oath required to oblige any subject to a perpetuall approbation of his Regall power as supreme Governour of the Church as there is for Archbishops and Bishops nor is the penalty for publicke opposition thereof so dangerous as for a private forbearance of the Oath though with a timerous and tender conscience For for not taking of the Oath a Minister may for ever bee deprived of all hee hath within three moneths but for publicke opposition against the Kings power hee shall not suffer so much unlesse hee continue contumacious two yeares together as they that reade and marke the Canon shall observe It may be his Majesties Supremacie was left out by accidentall oblivion or if by resolved intention it was perhaps upon supposall that the caution of the first Canon made it superfluous and it may be there may be some secret mysterie in this omission which if wee may not presume to know some haply will imagine it is to give some better colour to the Bishops proceedings in sending out the Processes of their Ecclesiasticall Courts in their own names which hath been often reproved by their opposites as very prejudiciall to the Royall Prerogative though of late yeares for that particular there hath been an award procured and published on the Bishops behalfe according to the request of the ſ I do humbly in the Churches name desire of your Majesty that it may be resolved by all the reverend Judges of England and then published by your Majestie that our keeping Courts and issuing Processe in our owne Names and the like exceptions formerly taken and now renewed are not against the Lawes of the Realme as 't is most certaine they are not that so the Church Governours may goe on cheerfully in their duty and the peoples minds be quieted by this assurance that neither the law nor their liberty as subjects is thereby infringed L. Archb. his Epist Dedicat. to
Franciscus à Sancta Clara Provinciall of the minorite Friars who holdeth h Ubi nulli praeesse solent Episcopi deesse debent Presbyteri hos si domas quam miserenda quaeso horrenda sunt quae necessariò subsequentur nam ubi nulli sunt Presbyteri nulla erunt Sacramenta nisi fortè Matrimonium Baptismus Franc. à Sancta Clara Apolog. Episcop pag. 151. That where Bishops doe not rule there are no Presbyters where no Presbyters no Sacraments Hee excepteth according to the tenet of his Church Matrimony and Baptisme the former as a Sacrament the later as a Sacrament and more then that in the Popish opinion as necessary to salvation and hee so farre enforceth this necessity as to say i Episcoporum necessitatem inficiari nihil aliud est quà m Dominicae pasâ—ionis irritationem subintroducere nostrumque redemptionis piaculum evacuare Ibid. pag. 152. That to deny the necessity of Episcopacy is nothing else but to bring in the irritation of the passion of our Lord and to evacuate the vertue of his redemption which is in effect as Doctor du Moulin wrote to Bishop Andrewes k Hoc asserere nihil aliud esset quà m omnes nostras Ecclesias addicere Tartaro Pet. du Moulin cpist 2. Episc Wintonien pag. 173. opusc to damne the Reformed Churches of France and other Countries to the pit of Hell which being brought in as a consequence of the Bishops Tenet of the Authority of Bishops that reverend Prelate very wisely and religiously shunneth saying l Caecus sit qui non videat stantes sine ea Ecclesias ferreus sit qui salutem iis neget Episc Winton Resp ad epist 2. Pet. du Moulin pag. 176. opusc Hee wants his sight that seeth not Churches standing without that Discipline and hath an iron heart that consenteth not that they may bee saved and therefore our late learned Soveraign King James lest he should be mistaken in some of his speeches of some of those who had no good conceipt of the Discipline of the English Church when his monitory Preface wherein hee toucheth most upon such matters was published in Latine that hee might not bee thought to condemne the Churches whose Discipline is different from ours he expresly professed m Puritanorum nomine Ecclesias apud exteros reformatas earumveregimen non designari mihi est decretissimum rebus alienis me non immiscere sed illas reformatae Religionis libertati permittere sic ad fin Praefat. monitor in 8o. printed Lond. 1609. That by that hee had said therein hee intended neither reproach nor reproofe to the Reformed Churches or to their forme of Government but left them free to their Christian liberty And when the Bishop of Landaffe asserted the Ecclesiasticall Imparity of the Church of England at the Synod of Dort hee did not seeke to obtrude it as necessary to salvation but used this caution in the conclusion of his speech n Haec non ad harum Ecclesiarum offensionem sed ad nostrae Anglicanae defensionem The joynt attestation that the Discipline of the Church of England was not impeached at the Synod at Dort pag. 17. This I say said hee not to give offence to these Churches scil those whose Clergy assembled at that Synod but for the defence of our Church the Church of England And the Church of England surely at that time was farre from the conceipt of the Franciscan Friar fore-mentioned when hee and other learned Divines were sent to that Synod the most generall Synod of the Reformed side that hath been held since the reformation of Religion to assist with their consultations and to confirme with their suffrages and subscriptions the Decrees of that Synod wherein among many Presbyters there was but one Bishop and hee not President of that Assembly And when hee who hath pleaded for Episcopacy not onely as a pinnacle of honour but as a pillar of support to the Church wrote thus against the Brownists I o So Bishop Hall in his Apology against the Brownists sect 19. p. 588. reverence from my soule so doth our Church their deare Sister those worthy forraine Churches which have chosen and followed those formes of outward government that are every way fittest for their owne condition It is enough for you to censure them I touch nothing common to them with you which wee alledge not against the government of Bishops In a meet and moderate imparity as the same p Bishop Hall his prop of Church government added to his Irrefrag prop. pag. 6. Authour stateth their preheminence but onely against the necessity of their superiority to salvation which is the point wee have now in hand Whereto agreeth that of Epiphanius who conceived more necessity of a Deacon to a Bishop then of a Bishop to a Church saying q Ubi non est inventus quis dignus Episcopatu permansit locus sine Episcopo verùm sine Diacono impossibile est esse Episcopum Epiphan haeres 75. l. 3. tom 1. pag. 215. That where there was not a man of sufficient worth to bee a Bishop the place might be without one but it is impossible said hee that a Bishop should bee without a Deacon And the fifth Canon of the second Councell of Carthage decreeth r Placuit ut Dioceses quae nunquam Episcopos acceperunt non habeant quae aliquando habuerunt habeant Concil Carth. 2. Can. 5. That those places which never had Bishops shall have none at all and those that had them should have them still which they would not have done if they had conceived Episcopacy to be of necessity to salvation or of necessity to the being of a Church Quest But is there any cause to conceive that any of the late Synod imagined a necessity of Bishops either to save a Chrisian or to constitute a Church Answ Wee take not upon us confidently to impute that opinion to any nor can wee acquit the chiefest of them from such a conceipt for the Å¿ Archb. Laud in his relat of his conference with Fisher pag. 176. marg Archbish in his reply to A.C. having brought in a sentence out of Saint Hierome which is this t Ubi non est sacerdos non est Ecclesia Hieron advers Lucifer where there is no Priest there is no Church he taketh the word Sacerdos for one who hath the power of ordaining which in Hieromes owne judgement is no meere Priest but a Bishop only and thence concludeth so even with him no Bishop no Church which he so approveth as if some who professe more good will to Bishops then Hierome u See Doubt 16 pag. 80. and in the conference at Hampton Court pag. 34. are these words Hierome no friend to Bishops by reason of a quarrell betwixt the Bishop of Hierusalem and him elsewhere doth should say somewhat more or the same that he did with more confidence which to us seemeth little lesse and
not much better then that we have noted of the Minorite Friar For the saying of Hierome That it is not a Church that hath not Sacerdotem we that are Presbyters may as well conceive that he meaneth a Presbyter as he a Bishop that he meaneth a Bishop and Hierome a Presbyter as wee are if he were alive would as wee verily beleeve give sentence on our side For First it cannot bee denied that though there bee more dignity in a Bishop the is more necessity of a Presbyter that is of one to officiate in preaching the Word and administration of the Sacraments whereof there is continuall use then of a Bishop to ordaine if none could doe it but a Bishop which is required but sometimes and though a Bishop performe the same acts yet hee doth them not as a Bishop but as a Presbyter Secondly if Hierome meant that there is no Church without an ordaining Bishop and that is his opinion as his Lordship expounds him it is his errour an uncharitable errour which casteth not particular Christians onely but many Orthodox Churches out of the communion of Saints and consequently out of the state of salvation whereas if some Bishops had been as remote non-residents from their Bishoprickes as the Pope from Rome when he resided at Avinion in France or had medled no more with the Churches under their charges then the Italian Priests did when they had Benefices in England and knew onely the names of them and received tythes from them but did nothing for them or in them yet there might for all that bee true Churches and salvation in them well enough For of what use is such a Bishop or such a Priest either to the being of a Church or the well being or salvation of a Christian Thirdly if his words were true in that sense wherein his Lordship taketh them it would be necessary there should be as many Bishops as Churches and so that Bishops should be rather Parochiall then Diocesan Fourthly if the place in Hierome be unpartially perused it will not make much for the necessity of Bishops for Hierome in his Dialogue against the Luciferians whence the quotation is taken speaketh of one x Hilarius cum Diaconus de Ecclesia recesserit cum homo mortuus sit cum homine pariter interiit secta quia post se nullum clericum potuit ordinare Hieron advers Luciferian Dialog tom 2. fol. 49. col 2. Hilarius a schismaticall Deacon who dyed in the schism and his sect with him because being but a Deacon hee could not ordaine a Clerke to succeed him upon this saith Hierome y Ecclesia autem non est quae non habet Sacerdotem Ibid. It is not a Church which hath not a Priest The word is Sacerdotem which seemeth to bee of the same sense with the word Clericum a little before and that is there meant of him who is next above a Deacon and he is a Presbyter not a Bishop whose office in administration of the Sacraments is there particularly noted which belongeth to a Presbyter ut sic as he is a Presbyter not to a Bishop as he is a Bishop Object But hee speaketh of ordaining and that in Hieromes judgement was proper to a Bishop Answ 1. Hierome knew well enough that of old though it were otherwise in his time Bishops alone did not ordaine Church Ministers but the Presbytery with them 1 Timoth. 4.14 if not without them for many hold that at that time there were no Prelaticall Bishops above their brethren even to this day there is a shadow of that sociable power in ordination of Ministers of the Church of England retained in practice by the imposition of the hands of Presbyters with the Bishop and required by constitution in the 35. Canon of the yeare 1603. And some learned Papists are of opinion though it come too neere the truth to be common among them that Bishops may delegate their power both of z Episcopum in sua provincia posse committere simplici sacerdoti quod conferat sacramentum Confirmationis Martin Ledesma prima 4 ti qu. 13. a. 11. Confirmation and of * Episcopos posse delegare potestatem sacerdoti ordinandi sacerdotes aequè ac Papam Novariens tract 1. part 2.13 apud Fran. à Sancta Clara Apolog. Episcop pag. 249. Ordination to Presbyters or Priests Secondly though where there were Bishops anciently and usually ordination was not conferred without them yet where there were none without them it might be lawfully and effectually done as we shall note in another place and therefore no such necessity either of them or of ordination by them as is pretended And though the over-high exaltation of Prelates hath depressed Presbyters so farre below the right and power of their order that it is made in some mens conceipts a strange thing and a kind of presumption in any case to take upon them the ordination of Ministers yet Hierome surely was not of their mind when hee gave them the honour which some Episcopall parasites appropriate to Bishops to bee accounted the successours of the holy Apostles as he doth in the first of all his Epistles which is written to Heliodorus Thirdly from Hieromes words in this place wee may rather collect that a Presbyter as well as a Bishop may ordaine since hee denieth that faculty but to a Deacon then that by the word Priest a Bishop must bee meant and ordination peculiarly derived from him Fourthly howsoever where hee saith that it is not a Church that hath not a Priest hee is in reason to be understood not of one that hath power to make a Priest but of a Priest already made for such a one a particular Church cannot want but of a Bishop unto it there is no such need Fifthly if Hierome in this place being zealous against schisme spoke somewhat too freely in favour of Bishops which yet is doubtfull though more probable that he spoke on the Presbyters side then of the Bishops It is certaine that in other places which wee shall observe afterward hee expresseth himselfe farre from such fondnesse of affection to Bishops as his Lordship deduceth out of his words So much for the Testimonies of Hierome wherein wee crave his Lordships patience and pardon for our boldnesse since his explication and application thereof for the necessity of Bishops to the being of a Church and so by consequence to salvation hath put a necessitie upon us seriously to examine what hee said and meant Object There be some who to assert a necessity of Discipline say that Discipline comprehendeth a preaching Ministry and that 's necessary to salvation Answ 1. There is neerer affinity betwixt Preaching and Doctrine then betwixt Preaching and Discipline which is exercised more in matter of a Quid prodesset disciplinam habere in conversatione scientiam in praedicatione nisi ad sit bonitas in intentione Sermo ad pastores in Synodo congregatis Inter opera Bernardi col 1730.
the King before his Speech in the Starre-chamber Lord Archbishop of Canterbury that now is Object But howsoever if the mention of his Soveraigne Authority bee omitted there is the lesse to sweare to and so the charge of the Oath is more light and may for that the more heartily be taken Answ It is true if the omission give no occasion of timerous surmise but to some it doth and if in charity wee hope the best of it in this case there is cause yet to doubt of the c. and therefore wee further demand of the subordinate Governours implyed in it The 14. DOUBT Who and what Governours they be 14. Particular Doubt THE REASON BEcause in the title of the seventh Canon there is mention of Archbishops and Bishops with an c. and in the body of the Canon Deans and Archdeacons are added to them and the next words are and the rest that beare office in the same that is in the Government of the Church of England And those that beare office besides these that are named are Guardians of Spiritualties Suffragans Chancellours Vicars generall Commissaries Officials Surrogates For the first t The Kings Preface before the late Can. pag. 9. Guardians of Spiritualties u So in the stat of 25. H. 8. c. 21. are those to whom the spirituall Jurisdiction of any Bishopricke or Archbishoprick is committed during the vacancy of the See x Episcopi Suffraganei coadjureres Episcoporum quorum vice nonnunquam ordinant Ministros Diaconos dedicant Ecclesias confirmant pueros ante informatos rudimentis Christianismi Doct. Cous de polit Eccles Angl. c. 7. Vide etiam Reform leg Eccles de Eccles Minist c. 16. fol. 51. b. Suffragans are titular Bishops ordained to assist the Bishop in his function whose turne they supply now and then in Ordination of Ministers and Deacons dedication of Churches confirmation of children that have been instructed in their Catechisme Chancellours who exercise ordinary Jurisdiction in the City of the Episcopall See next to the Bishop and by Authority derived from him y Can. 104. Vicars generall in some Diocesses are the same with the Chancellours as we may see by the stile of their Processes but if the office bee considered of it selfe as some describe it it is very large for thus we find it in Azorius A z Vicarius generalis potest excommunicare suspendere interdicere Sacramenta conferre vel conferendi facultatem concedere conferre Beneficia visitare inquirere instituere eligere confirmare praesentare corrigere punire votum jus-jurandum commutare relaxare Azor Instit tom 2. lib. 3. cap. 43. col 448. Vicar generall may excommunicate suspend interdict conferre Sacraments or give faculty to others for that purpose hee may collate Benefices visit inquire institute elect confirme present correct punish change vowes and dispense with Oaths a Can. 103.119.128.135 Convocat 1603. Commissaries b See Lindw constit provinc l. 1. cap. 1. de accusat verbo mandat Archiepisc are such as exercise Jurisdiction afarre off over those who cannot well come to the Bishops Consistory in the City c Can. 119. Officialls are properly such as exercise Jurisdiction under Archdeacons and are simply called Officialls without addition and if the Commissary bee called by that name as many times he is it should not be simply but as in d Lind. Tit. de sequestr possâ—ss c. 1. verbo Officialis Lindwood with the addition of Foraneus e Can. 128. Surrogates are such as are substituted by Chancellours Commissaries and Officialls To which wee may adde Canons or Prebendaries of Cathedrall Churches who are joyned in Government with their Deanes and are with them to bee à consiliis to the Bishop Clerkes of the Convocation and it may bee Parsons also may bee reckoned among Ecclesiasticall Governours for they are called Rectors of their Churches and Vicars and other preaching Pastours may be so called governing their Flocks as they doe And it may bee Registers Proctors and Apparitours of the Consistory Courts and Church-wardens and Sworn-men in particular Parishes may bee brought into the Oath by the Explication of the seventh Canon And if no Officers bee comprehended in it but Governours no Governours but such as have a coercive or compulsive power there are yet so many severall sorts of them so much diversity among them and so great difficultie to know their Government what it is and how farre it reacheth that very few not onely of the Laitie but of the Clergie also who are not profest Civilians with all can tell what hee sweareth to when hee sweareth to them under their expresse titles much lesse when under the ambiguous Intimation of c. These are our Doubts of the degrees of Government the next particular is their present state 2. Partic. As it now stands The 15. DOUBT 15. Particular Doubt Whether the establishment of the f So the Archbish of Cant. disting in his Speech in the Starre-chamb an 1637. p. 6. Adjuncts or the g So Bish Hall calleth them in the Coroll to his prop. touching Govern p. 7. not necessary Appendences of Bishops bee to bee sworne unto in this Oath THE REASON BEcause with them they now stand Episcopacy is now honoured and assisted by Baronries and the Ecclesiasticall Government by the high Commission now there are but two Archbishoprickes above the Archbishops no Patriarchs and the h Doct. Cous de polit Angl. cap. 3. Archbishops of Canterbury especially have many priviledges and prerogatives all which stand by the support or fall by the weight of Royall Authority from which their i Stat. 37. H. 8. c. 17. Stat. 1. Edw. 6. c. 2. 25. H. 8. c. 19. 1 Elis c. 1. 5 Elis c. 1. 3. Jac. c. 4. Jurisdiction is derived For first as Bishop Godwin observeth when Rich. Clifford was made Bishop of London by the Popes provision against the Kings mind it was King Edward the fourth he k Bish Godw. in his Catol of Bish p. 200. denied to give him his Temporalties and so made him desist from pursuit of that spirituall promotion and the same power will bee we doubt not confessed by all our Bishops to bee in all our Kings successively Secondly for the high Commission it was first set up as some Lawyers have told us but in the beginning of Queen Elisabeths raigne and is not so established but that by Regall power it may bee demolished Thirdly there may bee more Archbishops then two if it please the King for by the same right or better that l Ibid. pag. 58. Offa King of Mercia erected a new Archbishopricke in Lichfield leaving to the Archbishop of Canterbury for his Province onely London Winchester Rochester and Sherbourne may his Majesty that now is erect new Archbishops in what Diocesse hee pleaseth and may restore the old and so not onely Lincolne shall bee an Archbishopricke but m
col 275. Archbishop or untill the reigne of Constantine as a very learned m Archiepiscopi Patriarchae in usum abierunt quorum ante Constantini tempora altum silentium Dan. Chamier de oecumen pontif lib. 10. cap. 6. tom 2. pag. 353.20 Writer hath observed there is no mention of an Archbishop it will not bee easie perhaps for any by legitimate Testimony to bring in an instance to disprove the observation in the Easterne Church and for the Westerne it came later thither as the Sun-setting cometh after the Sun-rising And Filasacus a Divine of Paris saith n Filasac de sacr ep Anth. ch 19. sect 1. Concil Matisc 1. Can. 4. It is not used in these parts untill the first Matiscon Councell scil anno 587. Which may bee to us the more probable because we have had experience in our owne time of a o Doct. Saravia saith the Assemblies of the Presbyterians are no Synods but Conventicles because he readeth not of any Synod without an Archbishop Sarav de Triplic ep q. 3. p. 90. principall point of now-Archiepiscopall Government the Presidentship of a Provinciall Synod without an Archbishop So was it in the yeare 1603. when the Bishop of London was President of the Synod then assembled Archbish p Archb. Whitgifl in his reply to Master Cartwr p. 310 313 427 432. Whitgift against Master Cartwright endeavoureth to maintaine That the office of an Archbishop was in use in the Apostles time and by their q Can. 33. or 34. as some accompt p. 470. Archb. Whitgi appointment in an Apostolicall Canon and that r Ibid. pag. 400. Titus was an Archbishop over Crete and ſ Pag. 470. Dionysius Areopagita the Scholar of S. Paul Archbishop of Athens But his proofes as some of us upon examination have found them are too low and too flat for the height and compasse of the Arch of his Asseveration especially as applyed to the state and authority of Archbishops in the Church of England the prelation particularly opposed by Master Cartwright who conceiving both the authority and title of an Archbishop by Scripture to belong peculiarly to Christ and not finding the name t The title Archbishop is proper to Christ as appeareth by Saint Peter where he calleth him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is an Archshepheard or Archbishop for Bishop and Shepheard are all one Ibid. p. 300. Archbishop there taketh up the title Archshepheard 1 Pet. 5.4 as equivalent to it The greatest Antiquity and best Authority that wee find for that title is that which u Archb. Whitgifts reply to Mast Cartwr pag. 323. ex Mr. Fox Martyrol tom 1. p. 146. Archbishop Whitgift citeth out of Master Fox viz. That in the time of Eleutherius an 180. there were in Britaine 28. head Priests which in the time of Paganisme they called Flamines and three Archpriests among them which were called Archiflamines as Judges over the rest these 28. Flamines upon the conversion of the Britains were turned to 28. Bishops and the three Archiflamines to three Archbishops which if it be true yet it is far below that which is alledged for the calling of Archbishops and yet more ancient then honourable for the conformity to Pagan preheminence Nor will it serve to say as Pope x Eugen. 4. Epist ad Episcop Cantuarien ait Cardinalium nomen non fuisse in principio nascentis Eccles expressum munus tamen officium à B. Petro ejus successoribus evidenter crat institutum Fran. Long. annot in 2. Concil Rom. pag. 201. Eugenius the fourth said of the name Cardinall that though it were not expresly mentioned in the beginning of the Christian Church yet the office was instituted by Saint Peter and his successours For not to insist upon the name Cardinall of which the saying of the Pope is an unprobable fiction superiority among Bishops is to be reduced rather to a secular then to a sacred Originall For our Archbishop of Canterbury that now is saith y Archb. Laud in his relat of his confer pag. 176. It was insinuated if not ordered that honours of the Church should follow honours of the State as appeareth by the Canons of the Councell of z Concil Chalced Can. 9. Act. 16. Chalcedon and Antioch It was thought fit therefore though as Saint a Cypr. de simplic Praelat Episcopatus unus est Cyprian speaks there bee one Episcopacy the calling of a Bishop bee one and the same that yet among Bishops there should be a certaine subor dination and subjection the Empire therefore being cast into severall divisions which they then called Diocesses every Diocesse contained severall Provinces every Province severall Bishops the chiefe of a Diocesse in that large sense was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes a Patriarch the chiefe of the Province a Metropolitan next the Bishops in their severall Diocesses as we now use the word Among these there was effectuall subjection grounded upon Canon and positive Law in their severall Quarters all the difference there was but Honorary not Authoritative So farre he where though he name the title Bishop Patriarch and Metropolitan hee doth not mention the title Archbishop And though hee grant that b Archb. Laud ubi supra pag. 168. the Church of Rome hath had and hath yet a more powerfull principality then any other Church yet he saith shee hath not that power from Christ The Romane Patriarch by Ecclesiasticall constitutions saith hee might perhaps have a primacy of order but for principality of power they were all equall as the Apostles were before them and hee might have said so much as well of Bishops as of Patriarchs for except for Ecclesiasticall Constitutions and positive Lawes they are not subordinate one to another neither the authority nor title then of Metropolitan or Archbishop is taken to bee so ancient or warrantable by the Word of God as that of the Bishops in the judgement of such as are the dearest friends to Prelaticall dignity Yet as wee deny not but that an inequality betwixt Bishops and Presbyters is as c Inaequalitatem inter Episcopum Presbyterum esse vetustissimam vicinam Apostolorum temporibus ultrò fatemur Fr. Chamier de oecumen pontif l. 10. c. 6. tom 2. p. 85.3 col 2. Chamier confesseth most ancient and very neere the Apostles times so wee yeeld it as probable that Archbishops are very ancient also and as certaine that there have been and are very many as worthy to be Archbishops as others to be Bishops and that there have been of that elevation men of as eminent desert for learning and devotion both in ancient and later times as any that have lived in the same Ages with them but in regard of more doubt of their Authenticke tenure then of that of Bishops though that also bee very much doubted of wee have the lesse heart to sweare to Archiepiscopall preheminence Object If it bee said that
there were present 482. Bishops and 800. Abbots who saith he have lesse to doe then Presbyters in the government of the Church Wherein he implyeth that there should be many more then two Convocation Clerkes in a Diocesse to advise and vote at a Synod And in our Diocesan Synods which are yearly called according to the ancient p Concil Agethen an 440. Can. 40. fo 165. Caranz Canon and Custome wee are all summoned to appeare in the Consistory as in the name of a Synod But when we come thither we have so little power and liberty allowed us either for discussion or determination of any matter wherein Presbyters both in right and fact have had a freedome heretofore that most of us appeare rather as Delinquents standing at the Consistoriall Barre or at the best as Clients or Tenents paying a tribute of suit and service at the Courts of their Landlord So that we may take up the complaint of Duarenus the famous Civilian q Olim hi conventus indicebantur ut Episcopus simul cum Presbyteris de disciplina cleri de causis c. sed hujus honestissimi instituti vix umbram hodie videmus Fr. Duaren de Min. ◠1. c. 11. fol. 13. O fold Synods were called that the Bishops and Presbyters should treat of the Discipline of the Clergie of Ecclesiasticall causes and of divine Doctrine for there was no matter of any great weight which the Bishops without that Senate would determine but now saith hee wee can scarce discerne so much as a shadow of that most honest institution In the fourth Councell of Carthage about the yeare 401. besides many other Constitutions in the behalfe and in honour of Presbyters it was decreed r Concil Carth. 4. Can. 23. pag. 313. edit Fr. Longi That a Bishop should not determine any mans cause but in presence of his Clergie ſ Ibid. Can. 34. pag. 316. That the Bishop though in the Church and in the Assemblies of the Presbyters hee should sit in an higher place yet privately should use his Presbyters as Colleagues and sitting himselfe should not suffer a Presbyter to stand And as Presbyters were not to be disdained by the Bishops but to be taken into a respective society with them for the t Qui Episcopatum desiderat benum opus desiderat exponere voluit quid sit Episcopus quia nomen est operis non honoris intelligat se non esse Episcopum qui praeesse desiderat non prodesse Aug. de civ Dei l. 19. c. 19. tom 5. p. 1310. name of a Bishop was anciently rather a name of labour then of honour rather of duty then of dignity so were they so much to be honoured by the Deacons below them as u Diaconus ita se Presbyteri ut Episcopi ministrum esse cognoscat Concil Carthag 4. Can. 17. subordinate to them as well as to the Bishops x Nec sedere quidem licet medio Presbyterorum Diaconos Concil Nicen. 1. Can. 14. fol. 50. Ne Diaconus coram Presbytero sedeat Concil Aralat Can. 15. Tit. Can. fol. 70. Concil Constantinop 6. Can. 7. Diaconus quolibet loco jubente Presbytero sedeat Concil Carth. 4. Can. 39. That a Deacon might not sit among those that were Presbyters as was decreed in the first Councell of Nice And so it was observed at Rome as y In Ecclesia Romae Presbyreri sedent stant Diaconi licet paulatim increbescentibus vitiis absente Episcopo sedere Diaconos viderim Hieron cpi. ad Evagr. Hieron tom 2. pag. 334. Hierome hath noted untill vice increased And then saith he in the absence of the Bishop I have seene Deacons to sit in the presence of Presbyters And though in later times one Bishop hath had power enough to undoe many Presbyters for small matters yet heretofore in a criminall cause z Causa criminalis Episcopi à duodecim Episcopis audiatur causa Presbyteri à sex causa verò Diaconi à tribus cum proprio Episcopo Concil Carth. 2. Can. 10. fol. 111. a. A Presbyter could not bee condemned by fewer then six Bishops A Bishop indeed as an elder brother had a double portion to censure him for twelve were requisite for a doome against a Bishop and the Deacon as a younger brother to a Presbyter had but halfe so many to give judgement of him as the Presbyter had Now if with security of the publicke peace and the favour of our Superiours there should bee any alteration in the Ecclesiasticall Government wherein we might be assured to be dealt withall if not as Brethren as a Nos omnes Episcopi meminisse debemus Presbyteros omnes esse nostros fratres collegas in Ministerio non famulos non mancipia eosque jure divino non minorem habere in pascendo populo Dei potestatem quam nos habemus Spalat de Repub. Eccles l. 2. c. 9. pag. 284. some of the Episcopall order have professed and pleaded on our behalfe yet rather as sonnes to reverend Fathers then as servants to imperious Lords we dare not be such hypocrites as to forswear a consent to that which wee conceive to bee our right and cannot but be willing to enjoy THE OATH Nor yet ever to subject it to the usurpations and superstitions of the See of Rome The 20. DOUBT is Why in this part of the Oath mention is made rather of the See of Rome 20. Particular Doubt then of the Church of Rome THE REASON BEcause though an ordinary Reader observe no materiall difference betwixt them yet wee are taught by a * Mr. E. B. of the M. T. judicious Lawyer that there is as much difference betwixt the See of Rome and the Church of Rome as betwixt treason and trespasse and he proveth his position by the 23. of Elis cap. 1. where it is said That to be reconciled to the See of Rome is treason but to be reconciled to the Church of Rome is not treason For then saith he every Papist of the Church of Rome should be a Traitour being a member of that Church and therefore reconciled to it Now the See of Rome saith he is nothing else but the Papacy or Supremacy of the Pope whereby by vertue of the Canon unam Sanctam made by Pope Boniface the eighth he challengeth a superiority of Jurisdiction and coercion over all Kings and Princes upon earth and those persons which take Juramentum fidei contained in the Councell of Trent which acknowledgeth this Supremacy are said to be reconciled to the See of Rome But the Church of Rome is nothing else but a number of men within the Popes Dominions or elsewhere professing the Religion of Popery So the meaning of the Oath in this clause of it as hee conceiveth may bee this You must not subject the Church of England to the See of Rome but you may subject it to the Church of Rome That there might be some such subtle meaning in the choice of
of the Tumults in Scotl. p. 176. That the same confession of faith consisting of the same words and syllables sworne without Authority if it shall be commanded by Authority becommeth a new and different confession of the faith There is a third opinion concerning the sense of an Oath to augment the doubt though so much lesse doubtfull as it bringeth with it the better Authority and the Authority for it is no lesse then Royall the sentence of a great and gracious King and which is more to us our King who resolveth o Ibid. p. 177. That an Oath must be either taken or refused according to the knowne intention of him that doth minister it p Ibid. p. 347. especially if it be a new Oath To the same sense though in different words say the q The Minist and Professors of Aberdene in their generall Demands p. 14 Aberdene Divines An Oath is to be given according to the mind and judgement of him that requireth it which words ministreth and requireth make up the meaning to bee That hee that ministreth an Oath who may bee some subordinate Officer must give it in that sense which he that requireth that is hee from whose Authority and Power it proceedeth doth intend That construction wee are taught to make by the explanation of the Oath in Scotland published by the right Honourable the L Marquesse Hamiltoun his Majesties high Commissioner there in these words r The explanation of the Oath in Scotl. in his Majesties large Declar. pag. 328. Oaths must be taken according to the mind intention and commandement of that Authority which exacteth the Oath For as wee conceive it rests not in the power of an inferiour whether hee bee the taker or minister of the Oath to put his private conceipt for the sense which is the soule of a publicke constitution and if hee doe so wee cannot but doubt of it though it seeme never so plausible unlesse it bee allowed by the Authority which chargeth the Oath upon the conscience For First as ſ Bish Hall in his booke of Christian moderation lib. 2. sect 10. p. 109. Bishop Hall well saith The Church which makes the Canon and by the Canon decrees the Oath as it is a collective body so it hath a tongue of her owne speaking by the common voice of her Synods Confessions Articles Constitutions Catechismes Liturgies a tongue not onely to speake the text of her determination but to make a Comment if need be to cleare it and if any single person shall take upon him to bee the mouth of the Church his insolency is justly censureable So he Secondly Oaths are imposed for matter of caution and security to those that impose them that they may relye upon them without doubt or distrust and how can that be when we take them in another sense then they that require them doe meane or will admit of The old rule which is a maxime saith t Is committit in legem qui legis verba complectens contra legis nititur voluntatem Regul Juris 88. He offends against the law who cleaving to the words of the law leaveth the will of the law that is of the Law-maker For the law it selfe is a dead letter and hath no will at all There are some of our Brethren who in good will to themselves and us have undertaken to expound the Oath so as that they and we without scruple may take it and we take kindly their good intention and in good will to them againe request them to consider That a private interpretation of a publicke act can give no satisfaction unlesse it be either expresly or vertually allowed by the highest Authority that doth impose it and then it is made publicke but why they should expect such an approbation of their private opinions we cannot imagine and if that would serve the turne we could find in our hearts and it may bee in our heads too to make as mollifying a glosse on the Oath as they have done and such a one as might be more satisfactory to our consciences then theirs can be But the Authority of interpretation of any doubt in such a publicke act belongeth properly not to private but to publicke persons especially if they bee Authorized by the Synod for such a purpose as in the late Synod wee see u Quòd si in posterum aliqua dubia ambiguitates c. oriantur in co casu omnium hujusmodi dubiorum ambiguitatum difficultatum c. interpretationes declarationes fient per reverendissimum in Christo patrem Archiepiscopum Eboracensem Dominos Episcopos Dunelmensem Caestriensem Carliolensem aut duos eorundem quorum idem reverendissimus pater sit unus So in the Grant of the benevolence or contribution by the Clergie pag. 25. where the Doubts concerning the benevolence of the Clergy granted to his Majesty are ordered to bee determined by the Archbishop of Yorke the Bishop of Durham the Bishop of Chester and the Bishop of Carlile or by two of them at the least whereof the Archbishop is to bee one and in other Doubts whereof there is no certaine rule of Resolution set it is probable the decision should bee given by the sentence of the same or such like Judges For private men though learned if they take upon them the Interpretation of publicke Dictats may be more like to light on mutuall contradictions of each other then on the true and proper construction of the Text they interpret So did x Hist of the Councell of Trent lib. 2. pag. 216. Vega and Soto y Ibid. p. 229. Soto and Catherinus who wrote against each other contrary Comments upon the Councell of Trent In which respect it was a wise advice given to the Pope by the z Ibid. l. 8. p. 817. Bishop of Bestice viz. To appoint a Congregation for the expounding of the Councell and well followed by him when he forbade all sorts of persons Clerkes or Laicks being private men to make any Commentaries Glosses Annotations or any Interpretation whatsoever upon the Decrees of that Councell Doctor Burges indeed made an Interpretation of his owne subscription but there had been no validity in it as we conceive unlesse it had been allowed by the superiour powers and so it was for as hee saith a Doct. Burges in his Answ to a much applauded Pamphlet Prefat p. 26. It was accepted by King James and the Archbishop of Canterbury affirmed it to bee the true sense and meaning of the Church of England And if wee should take the Oath and a Notary publicke record it unlesse our exposition of it were publickly and lawfully for favourably is not sufficient both allowed and recorded also wee may haply bee charged with the crime of perjury and unable fairly and effectually to free our selves from that charge unlesse by Authority wee were permitted to conclude our Oath with the ancient clause of limitation viz. b Haec omnibus partibus
servabo quibus cum sacra Scriptura cum Legibus Civilibus Ecclesiasticis hujus regni consentiunt quantum vires meae patientur Reform leg Eccles de Jure cap. 11. fol. 105. a. so farre as agreeth with the sacred Scripture with the Civill and Ecclesiasticall Lawes of this Kingdome and as farre as our abilities will afford The third Part. Of the Persons that must take the Oath 3. Part. THey are Archbishops and Bishops and all other Priests and Deacons in places exempt or not exempt So in the Prefatory Speech before the Oath and in the direction that followeth it it is imposed on all that are Beneficed or dignified in the Church all Masters of Arts the sons of Noblemen onely excepted all Batchlours and Doctors in Divinity Law or Physicke on all that are licensed to practise physicke on all Registers Actuaries and Proctors all Schoolemasters all such as being Natives or naturalized come to be incorporated into the Universities here having taken degree in any forraine University on all that take holy Orders at the time of their Ordination and all that receive collation institution or licence to preach or serve any cure that is briefly on all who by Ecclesiasticall or Academicall subordination to the Synod or to the chiefe persons assembled are most subject to imposition and penalty which answereth the Doubt of some demanding why Judges are not to bee sworne as well as the Bishops and why not Students of the Innes of Court as well as Students of the University The reason may be because they are not in such a degree of subordination to Bishops or others who are members of the Convocation or Synod as those who are particularly rehearsed in the Canon The 24. DOUBT Why the sonnes of Noblemen are excepted 24. Particular Doubt and priviledged from taking this Oath when they take the degree of Masters of Arts. THE REASON BEfore we render it we professe that we take this Doubt to be of a different kind from those which hitherto wee have proposed since it is without the compasse both of the words and explication of the Oath from whence all our scruples of conscience hitherto have been derived Yet because we have heard this Quaere put forth by many and not well answered by any we crave leave to propose it and to deliver some probable conjectures upon it leaving the certain Resolution to those who are better acquainted with the true causes thereof Object That exception of the sonnes of Noblemen hath been excepted against by some for this reason Reas Because their example in swearing to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church would bee of great moment to the maintenance of both and therefore they thinke it more meet that they should begin this sacred attestation whom others would bee most ready and forward to follow then that they should have a particular exception to free them from it Object If it be said When others take Oath they take none but make their protestations and promises in verbo honoris Answ That is true but neither is so much required of them in this case or if it were two particulars would be returned by way of reply The one That Archbishops and Bishops are to take the Oath who a The Kings large Declarat of the Tumults in Scotl. p. 217. take place of their right Honourable Fathers both Earles and Lords and so it can be no dishonour to their sonnes to doe as such reverend and so much honoured Prelates have done especially since Bishops have beene b Episcopi Regis verbum scu affirmatio sine juramento fit irrefragabile Concil Bergam-stedense cap. 17. anno Christi 700. apud Dom. Spelman de consil tom 1. p. 196. matched with Kings in the prerogative of irrefragable regard and beliefe of their words without an Oath The other That as the sonnes of Noblemen were to be beleeved when they testified any thing in verbo c See pag. 132. seq lit k. in mar honoris so were the Clergy to be beleeved when they did the like in verbo Sacerdotis And by Justinians Code if we may take it upon the word of a Popish Priest for we have not met with it in the originall d Wats Quodlibets pag. 12. The word of a Priest was rated to the Testimonies of twelve of the Laity But the priviledge of the Nobility yet remaineth and that of the Clergy now is lost which may give us just occasion to examine whether they have not beene more true to their honour then most of us to the sincerity of our sacred Profession and if they have they may bee priviledged from the taking of this Oath though we be not It is probable also that they were exempted upon especiall respects both of ingenuity and prudence of ingenuity by those Clergy men who were bound to all honourable observance of such noble Families as had been meanes to preferre them and of prudence in preventing a repulse to their purpose for it was not like that the Nobility would suffer their sonnes to bee entangled with such an Oath as is prejudiciall to the conscience and as many Lawyers alledge to the obedience due to his most excellent Majesty and his Royall Successours That which we reade in the Conference at Hampton Court gives us just occasion so to conceive which is That when there was speech of the e Confer at Hampt Court pag. 89. Oath ex officio one of the Lords compared it to the course of the Spanish Inquisition and if the Nobility had distasted it and renounced it it would have given the greater encour agement to others to stand out against it Howsoever Gods providence hath most wisely ordered their exemption from swearing for since the Nobility are not required to take this Oath their desire and endeavour to have the aggrievance of it removed from others as their petition to his Majesty before the Parliament sheweth doth evidence their noble religious and charitable minds towards all such as by their mediation may bee secured from suffering in their consciences by taking or in their liberties and estates for refusall thereof For which pious compassion many thousands especially we of the Tribe of Levi are deeply obliged to praise God for their Honours and to pray to him for his vigilant providence and potent protection both over them and their honourable Progeny The fourth or last part is Of the penalty of the Oath The words of the Canon IF any man Beneficed or dignified in the Church of England or any other Ecclesiasticall person shall refuse to take the Oath the Bishop shall give him a moneths time to informe himselfe and at the moneths end if he refuse to take it he shall be suspended ab officio and have a second moneth granted and if then hee refuse to take it hee shall be suspended ab officio beneficio and have a third moneth granted him for his better information but if at the end
of that moneth he refuse to take the Oath above named hee shall by the Bishop bee deprived of all his Ecclesiasticall promotions whatsoever and execution of his Function which hee holds in the Church of England Of this our 25. DOUBT is Concerning the difference betwixt the command and commination of the Canon 25. Particular Doubt THE REASON BEcause where a law is rightly grounded and a penalty for breach of it imposed there the offenders are legally censured with an equall and impartiall justice but here it seemeth to us to be much otherwise for of all those persons of severall callings professions or degrees before rehearsed and required to take the Oath onely Clergy men are upon their refusall of it to be punished and that though gradually yet with as much severity as any Ecclesiasticall Authority can inflict for they within three moneths are to be put out both of their ministry and means while all others though they refuse the Oath as well as they are by the Canon not to bee the worse for their refusall It may bee the Bishops may prohibit some to practise Physicke others to teach Schoole that will not sweare and they that will not take the Oath perhaps shall take no orders at their hands and for Registers Actuaries and Proctors of their Courts if they refuse it it may be they will refuse them and put them out of their offices but the Canon concludeth nothing against any one but Ecclesiasticks especially Beneficed Preachers which whether it may more incline such to love or feare those who lay these heavie penalties upon them there is none so simple but may soone perceive nor is any so wise as in this to see either the compassion of the reverend Prelates as their fathers or the charity of inferiour Clerks as their brethren for by this Canon they are necessarily cast upon one part of this dangerous Dilemma If they take the Oath besides the scruples of conscience before observed their taking of it as we have touched before must bee recorded by a Notary publicke and then if they doe any thing which they that are their Judges will call a breach of the Oath they have taken they may bee called in question for the crime of perjury About the yeare 1164. f Conciliab apud Northampton in Anglia celebrat quo Thomas Archiepiscopus Cantâ—ariensis de perjario per Regem accusatus condemnatus cò quòd Anglicanas consuetudines quas juraverat non observâsset Francisi Long. de Concil pag. 806. col 1. Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury was at a Councell held at Northampton accused and condemned of perjury because hee had sworne to the English customes and had not observed them And it is an easie matter out of an Oath of such copious contents as this of the sixth Canon to frame an accusation against him that hath taken it especially if what lieth in ambush under the c. bee brought into the charge hereof our feare may bee the more because some of us have observed how forward some of our superiours have beene to lay an imputation of perjury upon the inferiour Clergy because having taken the Oath of Canonicall obedience they have not been so ready as they would have them to performe what they imposed by uncanonicall Commands On the contrary if they take not the Oath and thereupon the penalty of the Canon bee laid upon them they must take leave of their Pastorall charges and no more be allowed to feed their Flockes nor to be clothed with their fleece which is like in respect of many Parishes to be a great calamity both to the Pastors and People Thus much for our Doubts which if any thinke too much it may be he thinkes too little of the peace of conscience the price of our Ministry in danger to bee lost and the pressure and misery which by many may bee felt by occasion of that Oath which though wee dare not take yet wee dare sweare and can doe it heartily willingly and truly that as yet wee conceive of the Oath wee cannot with sound faith and safe conscience yeeld unto it And if most of these Doubts before proposed should bee found to bee frivolous which wee doe not conceive of any one of them and but one of them containe a just ground of ambiguitie which some that have taken the Oath and some that have written for the Oath have since confessed and not onely by speech but by their hand-writing have acknowledged that one is enough while wee are in suspense concerning the meaning of the Oath to suspend our assent from the taking thereof For the comparison brought in by the prudent Composer of the History of the Councell of Trent wee take to bee true and of much importance to this purpose which is g Hist Concil of Trent 2. pag. 187. As one particular maketh false the contradictory universall so one ambiguous particular makes the universall to bee ambiguous If any man but of a private condition like unto our selves have a mind to make answer to our Doubts or Reasons wee wish him to consider at what hee aimeth in that undertaking If to engratiate himselfe into the favour of those who approve of the Oath wee desire not to cast in any prejudice to his expectation If to satisfie us wee feare his endeavours are like to bee fruitlesse since hee cannot advance his discourse above probability and for that wee may returne upon him with like topicall Arguments and so the consistence of the cause at the best will be but a probleme which will administer but weake encouragement for a sincere willing and hearty taking of an Oath Our HOPES and the REASONS thereof First our HOPES OUr Doubts and Reasons hitherto handled wee hope will assure your Lordship that our not taking of the Oath ought not to be ascribed to contumacy but to conscience and then we hope againe the case standing as it doth that you will neither presse upon us to take it nor oppresse us with the penalty if we take it not Our REASONS FOr this we conceive we have both solid Reasons and sacred Examples and those such as wee presume your wisedome and goodnesse will not disesteeme Our Reasons are grounded on 1. Piety 2. Charity 3. Equity 4. Policy 1. On Piety For the first As your Lordship and the rest of the reverend Prelates are men of God you stand especially engaged as much as in you lyeth to secure your inferiours from the perill of sinne whether Preachers or People and first for Preachers to take care that they doe not take any dangerous Oaths For which cause Saint Basil was very zealous in behalfe of Bishops as h Baron Annal. tom 6. an 449. nu 12. col 83. Baronius sheweth that they might not be put to sweare in respect of the perill of an Oath and hee prevailed so farre as to free them from that perill And the Councell of Challons was as respective of Presbyters decreeing thus