to be found and had not this man then well read and studied the Book to which he so solemnly gave assent and consent I profess where-ever I come I make it my business to reconcile people to the publick Assemblies my Conscience would fly in my face if I should do otherwise but I find my self unable to prevail with them through the prejudice they have taken up against the Liturgy and their prejudices are grounded for the most part upon the wicked lives of those that are the most constant Readers and frequenters of it I shall never upon this account cease to joyn in prayers and to hear Sermons but yet I rejoyce that a great Prelate lately in his Visitation openly declared in his Speech his resolution to proceed and deal more severely against those who should be found loose and profane than against those that differed from him only in Ceremonies The Lord give hearts to those whom it concerns to think immorality worthy of presentment and to set a mark upon all whose feet run into all excess of Riot and whose Tongues are set on fire from Hell that so we may have wherewith to stop the mouths of those who are bent upon Separation and employ their Rhetorick in nothing more than in perswading the people that God is departed from us It would be a small trouble to me to find the Non-conformists disarmed did I find the Weapons of their Warfare put into the hands of those who would use them more to the disadvantage of the World Flesh and Devil I have mentioned one thing that makes Mr. D. not the fittest person in the World to manage this Controversie that is his not being free from at least the suspicion of Covetousness I will suggest one or two more He seems to be very injudicious and therefore puts into his Book such cold Commendations of Church and Liturgy as do only not dispraise it I instance only in Monsieur Vauqueline whom he brings in Pag. 189. thus extolling our Liturgy The Book of Common Prayer is very far from any Idolatry and there is not in it any formal Superstition Is not this a rare Elogium But above all he disparages himself by giving flattering Titles unto men Pag. 87. he tells us that Monsieur Goyen is as versed in Antiquity as possible a Commendation too high to be given to any man and such as that Reverend persons worth will never suffer him to accept of or so much as to commend the love of him who gave it let any one read the Epistle Dedicatory to his Book he will find the Lord Chancellour so highly commended that any one may see the Commendations were rather given to his Place than to his Virtues all the Authority of the Nation hath lately sentenced him to Banishment and yet Mr. D. could not find so much humility as either to bewail his fault or his unhappiness who had bestowed such praises in a printed letter upon him whom the Kingdom has declared to have deserved ill of it and of the Church too I may well think you will begin to say what is all this to the Latine Book that I sent you Or how can I by all you have hitherto writ perceive your Judgment about it Surely Sir the things I have noted out of the English Book are sufficient to let you see that his 2d Book is not worth your reading Scarcely can you find more words put together to less purpose The very Title-Page sufficiently exposes him either to the scorn or pity of those whom he chose for his Adversaries Vindiciae Sacrae Ecclesiae Anglicanae What is this Holy English Church Does he mean that Company of men and women in England who exercise themselves therein that they may be holy as God is holy Quis Lacedaemoniorum vituperat Why is this Church vindicated that no sober man ever went about to accuse If by the Holy Church of England he mean the late Convocation then he hath written as our Episcopal men are wont to write and by the Canons of 1603. it is made a very dangerous point to deny that a Convocation is the Church of England by Repraesentation and I have no mind to try how near I can come to that danger without incurring it Seeing Mr. D. has professed with thankfulness that he learned Divinity under Amyraldus he may do well to try whether he can confute his Master in his Theses de Ecclesia nomine ac definitione and de ratione convocandorum Conciliorum which do not look very smilingly upon that form of Speech which we use in England or upon the way of constituting our Convocations Mr. Jeanes a man of a very Scholastical Head had called the Convocation The Church of England but in the Second part of his Divinity he wonders upon what account he or any one else could think it to be the Church of England he instances in his own Diocess in which there was one Dean one Prebend three Arch-Deacons whereas the whole Clergy of the Diocess chose but two so that he thinks our Convocations may be rather called Repraesentatives of the Bishops and Cathedrals than of the Church of En-England And he asks whether if the King should chuse two hundred into the House of Commons and the people one that Meeting could be called the Representative of the People of England Mr. D. who has used this Title should have done well to give satisfaction to such kind of Questions is these and to have shewed us Synods in other Churches the Major part of the Members whereof are neither chosen by the people nor by the Clergy instead of doing so he hath left it doubtful what he means by the Church And it is much more doubtful to me whom he means by his Schismaticks against whose vociferations he pretends to defend his Church When you have called a man Schismatick you have call'd him every thing but I believe no man in the world thinks that all those against whom he vents his spleen in this Book deserve to be called Schismaticks I am sure according to the definition of Schisme that is given by Dr. Hammond they are not Schismaticks Mr. D. seems to thrust out his sharpest sting against Mr. Baxter Now it is notoriously known that he constantly went to the publick Congregation it s known also that he has in the publick Congregation received the Sacrament of the Lords Supper according to the form that is by Law established he has Communion with the Church of England in all Ordinances takes a great deal of pains to resolve the doubts of those who scruple Communion with her and yet is in Mr. D's account one of the Heads of the Schismaticks Let him take heed that he do not throw this dirt into such mens faces if he do it will fly back into his own The Case of hundreds of Non-conformists stands thus When they were School-boyes or Under-graduates in the University the King called the so much talked of Long-Parliament in which
to be accounted the same thing not to be and not to appear and if they had appeared their appearance might perhaps make those Presbyters who gave orders without them Schismaticks it could not possible make their orders null for as formerly where our Church thought that Baptisme administred by a Midwife was valid and allowed and enjoyned her in Case of necessity to baptize the Midwife had offended if she had baptized where there was no true necessity yet this offence notwithstanding her baptisme would have been reputed valid so here if our Presbyters could confer a valid Ordination when Bishops were not at hand their Ordination must needs be valid though Bishops were at hand therefore all the dust that is raised by Mr. D. to shew some difference between the Presbyters of our own and other Churches could be designed to no other end but to blind his own and his Readers Eyes that so no notice might be taken how he got off this controversie it may be he may come nearer the mark in the point of Episcopacy it self but of that also we shall find that his Arrows fall Heavenly wide For the Non-Conformist has again and again professed in conference and writing that he can and would for peace-sake receive a Bishop that should have as great a superintendence over Presbyters as ever Cyprian had over his but they say that by assenting and consenting to the present Book of Ordination they must acknowledge a Bishop to be by divine Institution of a superiour order to a Presbyter and for this they say they can find no Foundation in Scripture and less then none in any writings of modern reformed Divines If they are mistaken either in setting our Bishops higher then they have set themselves or in making a Bishop when set to such a heighth to be an Officer unknown to Primitive or Modern Churches Mr. Durell had done a very Christian work if he had taken pains in the Spirit of meekness to shew them their mistake but he cannot sure think that he hath endeavoured any such thing He tells us page 4th and the 5th that all the Lutheran Churches have a subordination of Pastours and that those who are in them called Superintendents or Bishops have the power of Ordination as the Bishops of the Church of England have But does he believe what he himself writes does he not know that they all found their Superintendency on a human and not on a divine institution does he not know that some Lutheran Divines of eminent note do with full mouth declaim against us here in England because we so much appropriate the power of Ordination unto Bishops Tobias Major I am sure on this very score calls us Angli Papizantes let all Scholars consult Chemnitius Gerard Brockmand or any other Lutheran that writes common places or if they be too many to consult let them consult Hunnius's demonstration of the Lutheran Ministry in which they shall find him though himself a Superintendent making a Bishop in Ordination to act only as the Churches instrument and averring that if the Church should delegate her power to a Presbyter or to a Layman the Ordination would be as valid as if performed by a Bishop The Non-Conformists have no quarrel against the name either of Superintendent or Bishop nor will it be any satisfaction to them to shew them Ecclesiastical Persons in the Lutheran Churches dignified by the name of Superintendents or Episcopi unless it could also be shewed that they claim that dignity by divine right and are received by the Elders as an Order of men superiour to them the which will never be shewed nay it will easily be proved that meer Presbyters have ordained those who in Germany and Denmark go by the name of Bishops and Super-intendents Nicholas Amsdorft as appears in his Life written by Melchior Adam was created Bishop but by whom was he created by Martin Luther the Pastour of the place where the Ordination was solemnized and two Pastours more Now did these set this Bishop into an order superiour to their own if they did who gave them authority so to do if they did not then his Title notwithstanding he was still of the Order of Presbyters and those that were afterwards ordained by him were ordained but by a Presbyter Likewise in Denmark when Reformation there first began seven Bishops of the Kingdome being cast out there were seven Super-intendents ordained who were to do the work of the expelled Bishops and to be Executors of the whole Ecclesiastical Ordination but by whom were these seven ordained even by John Bugenhagh who was but a Presbyter as may be seen in his Life written by the forementioned Author so that such Episcopacy as is scrupled by the English Non-Conformist has no place in any Lutheran Churches and if not in the Lutheran I am sure not in the reformed Churches Yet Mr. Durell in many places of his Book makes shew as if the Episcopacy quarrelled against here in England had place in some reformed Churches and that those very Churches among whose Ministers there is an equality do not condemn Episcopal Government the French Churches he is certain page 13. are so far from averseness to it that they rather wish they were in a condition to enjoy that sacred order Now what means he by that sacred Order if he do not mean an Order by Divine appointment superiour to the order of Presbytery he doth most egregiously trifle If he do mean such an Order I say that as many French Divines as do desire such an Order are manifestly fallen off from the confession exhibited to Charles 9th 1561. the 30th Article whereof is this We believe that all true Pastours in what place so ever they are set are all endued with the same and equal power among themselves under that one head and chief and sole universal Bishop Jesus Christ And if any Ministers of the Belgick Churches do either desire or could approve of the English Hierarchy they also must fall off from the Belgick Confession which in the Synod of Dort was reviewed and approved for if that Confession had no inimicous aspect upon the Church Government in Britain why did our Divines of England approve only that part of it which related to Doctrine not that which related to Discipline Our Prelates and their Friends in England do very much build their Hierarchy upon Ignatius his Epistles If the French Churches did not dislike the building why do the most Learned of them take so much pains to ruine and pull up the Foundation why have Blondel Salmasius Dally so long employed their Pens to prove the Epistles even in the best Edition to be spurious I know Mr. Durell tells a story concerning Blondel that in his Apology for the opinion of Hierom he had inserted a passage which some Scotch Ministers prevailed with him to blot out in which he declares himself to be no Enemy unto Primitive Episcopacy if that be true he did not sure
both the High-Commission Court and Star-Chamber were taken downa nd the High-Commission Court was taken down in words so general as were interpreted to reach all other Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and coercive power of Church Consistories by these two Statutes Dr. Heylin sayes That the two great Bulwarks of the Church were beaten down In the same Parliament also passed an Act disabling the Bishops to sit as Members in the House of Peers in this condition stood things until an unhappy War was begun betwixt the King and the two Houses during the beat of which War the two Houses Voted away the Episcopal Government established in the Nation and Bishops in the places where their Forces prevailed either were not at all or shewed not themselves Divine Providence so ord'red it that the Kings Forces were at last quite overcome and with them Bishops also were overcome so as they no where publickly and solemnly own'd either their Power of order or Jurisdiction so stood affairs until that his Majesty was restored but in the mean time young men that had applied themselves to the study of Divinity were under necessity either by the Statutes of Colledges or by accepting of Livings to enter into Holy Orders and to receive those Holy Orders from meer Presbyters by which Orders they acted for many Years the Lord accompanying their Ministry with great success the people every where receiving the Eucharist at their hands and bringing their Children also to be baptized by them the Parliament which had the happiness to bring in the King confirming them in their Livings but the present Parliament hath thought meet to en-act that all should be uncapable of Cure of Souls that had not Episcopal Ordination so as they finding themselves under this Dilemma that either they must nullifie their former Orders by Re-ordination or else quit their Livings chose to relinquish their Benefices so made way to the preferment of many every way of Mr. Ds own mind He himself perhaps he had not had so many Ecclesiastical Benefices and Dignities could they have satisfied themselves to keep their stations this is the Schisme of a great many of those with whom he is so angry And can be not forgive them such a Schism which proved so beneficial to himself and others It will be more difficult to forgive Mr. D. the Schisme that he himself endeavours to make contrary to the Intent of the Act of Indemnity and Oblivion by which we are commanded to bury the Actings of those that were indemnified in the Grave so as not to mention them to the disparagement of any but leave them wholly to the Judgment of the Great day but this bitter man as if he envied Church and State the Peace and Quietness they both enjoy will needs open the Grave of Oblivion rake into the dust and bring all old Stories and Transactions upon the Stage again Would any man be like minded how easie were it to recriminate Who knows not that a Primate of England and Metropolitan took up Arms in the Cause of the two Houses and had Money Voted him for his good Service Was not the Author of Politica Sacra Civilia an Episcopal Divine Doth he not at present Conform Is he out of his Living who writ the Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici If we should make search into our Bishops Deans Prebends Priests might we not finde such as took the Covenant themselves and perswaded others to take it Nay might we not among them even among them find those that took the Engagement and came into the Livings of those that were outed for not taking the Engagement Nay if a man would make enquiry for Bradshaw's Chaplains are they not among the the Conformists Be they not also among them who justified the Murthering of the King And if it were allowable to Glory how many Non-conformists had suffered deeply in the Kings Cause before Mr. D. in the Isle of Jersy was either banished or molested but these are things wholly Heterogeneous to Conformity and Non-conformity So is also the whole series of the late War It hath been my hap as yet to know but of four meer Non-conformists that were aged experienced Divines at the beginning of the Warrs and they four so far as I can learn were all in their Judgments unsatisfied in the Parliament War It is like enough that there were many others that were satisfied in their Cause and acted for it But what need Mr. D. or I be sollicitous about this Does not the King understand his Supremacie Has not the Parlialiament declared it unlawful upon any pretence whatsoever to take up Arms against him After such Declaration who is he that will dare to call the thing in Question I do not know that since his Majesties Return any Book has been printed asserting the Lawfulness of Subjects taking up Arms against a King unless that which was published as Mr. Hookers by Dr. Gawden dedicated to the King himselfe nor do I find any English Divine whose testimony the Writers for the Parliaments Cause did more build upon than Bishop Bilson the Great Propugner of Hierarchy whose words it would be Treason now to transcribe Mr. D. knows where to find them let him take them into his consideration and see how he can qualifie them for my part I do not love to exercise my self in things too high for me this I must take leave to say That Mr. D. hath manifested himself very grosly to be a respecter of persons for whereas he pours out contempt upon some now alive for expressions that fell from them in a time of trouble and confusion there is scarce one of his beyond-Sea Divines whom he does not quote with much Honour and Respect though they did in their Systems of Divinity and Comments on Scripture lay down the same Doctrine quarrell'd at in Mr. Baxter Doth he not know what pains David Owen hath taken to make his honest Calvin and his Learned Beza and Danaeus c. as guilty of delivering Trayterous Doctrine as the Jesuites themselves At least he knows that Paraeus his Book was appointed to be burnt at Oxford and yet him he makes use of Pag. 8th and pag. 337. c. Andrew Rivet also he chooseth as a man fit to be of the Synod and yet this Rivet in his Exposition on the 68 Psal determines very peremptorily for the lawfulness of defensive Arms and to the Ephori he allowes a liberty to take up offensive Arms. Peter Du Moylin and Spanhemius he would also have Chieftains in his Synod And yet these two the one in his Anatomy of Arminianisme the other in his Dubia Evangelica on Matthew 5th do make the Right of Civil things to belong only to the Godly or to the Elect then which nothing could be said more dangerous to greater or lesser Societies I know they both distinguish of a Right in respect of men and of a Right in respect of God denying onely the later unto the wicked