expressions in the present Roman Breviary They apply themselves to S. Peter (l) Br. Rom. Jun. 29. in Hymn Peccati vincula Resolve tibi potestate tradita Qua cunctis coelum verbo claudis aperis Loose the bonds of our sins by that power which is delivered to thee whereby by thy word thou shuttest and openest heavent to all men And to all the Apostles they direct their prayers on this manner (m) Br. Rom. in Commun Apost in Festo S. Andr. Qui coelum verbo clauditis Serasque ejus solvitis nos à peccatis omnibus Solvite jussu quaesumus Quorum praecepto subditur Salus languor omnium Sanate aegros moribus nos reddentes virtutibus Ye who by your word do shut up Heaven and loose the barrs thereof we beseech you by your command loose us from all our sins ye to whose command the health and the weakness of all is subject heal those who are sick in their life and practice restoring us to vertue I am apprehensive that many may think these instances the less blameable because the expressions of them have a manifest respect to the commission and authority which Christ gave to his Apostles in the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and the power of remitting and retaining sin and the other Apostles are here owned to have the power of the keys as well as S. Peter But that our Saviours Commission to them referred wholly to the Government of his Church upon Earth is sufficiently manifest from those words both to S. Peter and to all the Apostles whatsoever thou or ye shall bind on earth and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth And though the Apostles are eminently exalted in the glory of the other world yet to acknowledge them in Heaven to acquit or condemn all men and to receive them into Heaven or exclude them from it by their command and by that power which is committed to them must include an owning them to be the full and compleat Judges of the quick and the dead 8. And since the Romish Church asserts all their Bishops to derive and enjoy the same authority which was committed to S. Peter and if this be not only an authority upon earth but in the future state then all their deceased Popes and much to the same purpose may be urged concerning all Priests must still enjoy the same heavenly power which they ascribe to S. Peter though there is great reason to fear that divers of themselves never entred into Heaven To these other numerous instances might be added of their prayers to the Blessed Virgin and to other Saints for grace pardon protection and to be received by them at the hour of death and such instances have been largely and fully produced by some of the worthy Writers of our own Church and Chamier and other Protestant Authors and particularly by Chemnitius in his Examen Conc. Trid. 9. But when Cardinal Bellarmine discoursed of these supplications to the Saints he particularly instanced in some as that to the Virgin Mary Tu nos ab hoste protege hora mortis suscipe do thou defend us from the enemy and receive us at the hour of death but will have them all to be understood as desiring only the benefit of their prayers But because the words they use do not seem to favour this sense of his he tells us (n) Bellarm. de Sanct. Beatitud l. 1. c. 9. Notandum est nos non agere de verbis sed de sensu verborum It must be noted that we dispute not about the words themselves but about the sense and meaning of them Now I acknowledge it fit that words should be taken in their true sense being interpreted also with as much candor as the case will admit Yet I shall observe 1. That it cannot well be imagined that when they expresly declare their hopes of obtaining their petitions to the Saints by their command and by their power which is committed to them which is owned sufficient for the performing these requests as in the instances I mentioned no more should be intended than to desire the assistance of their prayers and this gives just reason to suspect that more is also meant in other expressions and prayers according to the most plain import of the words 2. That though some of the Doctors of the Roman Church would put this construction upon the words of their prayers yet it is manifest the people understand them in the most obvious sense so as to repose their main confidence upon the Saints themselves and their merits This may appear from the words I above cited n. 3. from Cassander who also tells us that (o) Cass Consu t. de Mer. Interc Sanct. homines non mali men who were none of the worser sort did chuse to themselves certain Saints for their Patrons and in eorum meritis atque intercessione plus quam in Christi merito fiduciam posuerunt they placed confidence in their merits and intercession more than in the merits of Christ 10. The invocation of Saints and Angels will appear the more unaccountable No such practice in the Old Testament by considering what is contained in the holy Scriptures and the ancient practice of the Church of God In the Old Testament there is no worshiping of Angels directed though the Law was given by their ministration and that state was more particularly subject to them than the state of the Gospel is as the Apostle declares Heb. 2.5 In the Book of Psalms which were the Praises and Hymns used in the publick Worship of the Jews there is no address made to any departed Saint or even to any Angel though the Jewish Church had no advocate with the Father in our nature which is a peculiar priviledge of the Christian Church since the Ascension of our Saviour That place in the Old Testament which may seem to look most favourably towards the invocation of an Angel Gen. 48.16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the Lads is by many ancient Christian Writers not understood of a created Angel But however it is to be observed that these words were part of the benediction of Jacob to the Sons of Joseph Now a benediction frequently doth not exclude a prayer to the thing or person spoken of but a desire of the good expressed with an implicite application to God that he would grant it Thus in the next words Gen. 48.16 Let my name be named on them and the name of my Fathers Abraham and Isaac which contain no prayer to the names of his Fathers or to his own So Isaac blessed Jacob Gen. 27.29 using these expressions Let People serve thee and Nations bow down unto thee And this Clause of Jacob's Benediction is well paraphrased by one of the (p) Targ. Jonath in Gen. 48.16 Chaldee Paraphrasts Let it be well pleasing before him God that the Angel c. But the Holy Angels themselves declared against the giving to them any
of God in it that all his Revelations to the Patriarchs and Prophets and especially that by the Holy Jesus to the Christian Church do greatly insist upon it When the Gentile World went greatly astray by their abominable Idolatries and their gross Impurities even in their pretendedly Religious Rites the Doctrine of the Gospel appears to turn them from the Power of Satan unto God When the Jews had been under a lower Dispensation our Lord gives his Disciples more excellent Rules and enlargeth the Precepts of the Moral Law as was truly asserted by Irenaeus Tertullian Clemens Alexandrinus St. Augustine and other ancient Writers And why should it be thought strange that Lawgiver should add to the Precepts already given and extend them further who established many new Duties such as to believe the peculiar Doctrines of the Christian Faith to perform many religious Services in his Name and with an eye to him to attend on the Gospel-Sacraments to reverence the Christian Ministry and the Power of the Keys and to own and embrace Communion with the diffusive Catholick Church in all Nations He laid new Obligations upon his Disciples concerning Divorce and the changing the Zeal of Elias into Christian Meekness And it is but reasonable to expect that under the Instructions and Motives of Christianity there should be required greater Measures of the Love of God and Goodness But when the Jewish Church had in their Principles and Practices grosly degenerated from the great Design of the Law and many Corruptions were introduced our Lord protests against them and gives his Disciples this Admonition That their Righteousness must exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees The Pharisees were the strictest Sect of the Jews at that time the Scribes were their chief Teachers and Guides their Righteousness here intended was what was according to the Rules and Doctrines they delivered and received Against that Leaven of Doctrine our Lord warned his Disciples Mat. 16.12 The out-doing and exceeding this Righteousness is so necessary that it is enjoined under this severe Sanction That otherwise we can in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom of Heaven is a Phrase peculiar to St. Matthew among all the Penmen of the Scripture but hath been observed not to be unusual in the Talmud Hor. Hebr. in Mat. 3.3 and other Jewish Writers It sometimes expresseth in this Evangelist the Kingdom of Christ in his Church on Earth but in this place and others the Kingdom of Glory and eternal Happiness But if any should think these Words directly to assert that none whose Righteousness exceeds not that of the Pharisees and their Teachers the Scribes can be true Members of the Christian Church and Christ's Kingdom upon Earth he must consequently acknowledg that they cannot be Heirs of Heaven Yet these Pharisees were not so wholly irreligious but that they attended the Temple and Synagogues made many Prayers seem'd to have a great Veneration for the Law and a Zeal for the Honour of the God of Israel They were not so grosly dissolute and debauched as to give themselves up to Uncleanness Intemperance and all Unmercifulness but they condemned Adultery fasted and gave Alms. Wherefore it may be needful to enquire I. What were the Miscarriages in their Righteousness and wherein must we exceed them if ever we attain to Happiness II. How stands the Case of those Societies who chiefly pretend to Christianity as to their exceeding or not exceeding the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees III. What is the Result of these Enquiries I. Touching their Miscarriages and Defects 1. They placed much Righteousness in their being a peculiar Party and maintaining a kind of Separation They were a particular Sect having and needlesly affecting singular Practices and Opinions different from the other Jews and such as were not enjoined in the Law of Moses The Name Pharisee is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to separate and divide and themselves were distinguished into seven sorts as the Jewish Writers tell us They did not indeed withdraw themselves from the Synagogue or Temple Publick-Worship since as Josephus saith Antiq. Jud. l. 18. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever referred to God both Prayer and other parts of Worship were much ordered by their Model But concerning the Synagogue-Worship there is probable Evidence that the several chief Sects among the Jews and therefore the Pharisees as one of them had their distinct Assemblies And it is certain the Pharisees did reject the best of Men from their Synagogue-Communion meerly for doing their necessary Duty in professing upon the fullest Divine Testimony that Jesus was the Christ and becoming his Followers And in the Temple-Worship the Pharisees were guilty of a kind of Separation under an appearance of Communion For since the daily Sacrifice in the Temple was a Burnt-Offering and therefore appointed for Expiation and Atonement Num. 28.3 the Devotions of them who attended at the Temple at the Hours of Prayer and Sacrifice ought to be conformable thereunto but the Pharisees Prayer there as our Saviour describes it had nothing in it of humble Supplication for God's Mercy and Favour but he thanks God he was not as other Men. And this Spirit of Division was so much the worse in them because it was founded in an high Conceit and great Confidence of their own Righteousness though they had little reason for it and in a contempt of others But now such a proud Temper is inconsistent with Christianity which makes Humility a necessary Qualification for the obtaining everlasting Life And Divisions and Separations are so unaccountable for the Members of the same Body the Church to be engaged in that the Doctrine of Christ gives us frequent Precepts earnest Exhortations and pressing Arguments to Peace and Unity and plainly expresseth the great Danger of Misery in the neglect thereof When 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Contests fierce Heats and Divisions are reckoned among those Works of the Flesh which exclude from the Kingdom of God Gal. 5. can any think the great Discords in the Church unconcerned herein when the Concord of Christians is here chiefly enjoined and the Neglect thereof is every way exceeding hurtful and when all these very Expressions are used by St. Paul to set forth the Divisions of the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 3.3 And therefore where-ever Rents or Schisms in the Church are Works of the Flesh as they must be when they are the Product of Pride Self-will or voluntary Disobedience to or Neglect of the Precepts of Peace and Unity they are destructive The Ancient Church charged an high Guilt upon these Practices Cypr. ep 76. ◠St. Cyprian accounts Schism greatly to deprive Men of the Hope of Christianity And St. Austin maintains against the Donatists that their Separation was as great a Sin as that of the Traditores who gave up the Scriptures into the hands of their Persecutors with which Crime the
it a very high guilt which excludeth so much obstinacy against God And his Apostles were not only defamed by the false Apostles but Diotrophes also prateth against them with malicious words 3 Joh. 10. 14. Now both Ministers in the Church and Governours in the Kingdom are also established by Gods Authority and an honourable deportment towards them is strictly enjoyned by the Sanctions of his Law neither to Secular nor Ecclesiastical Governours When our Saviour sent forth not only the Apostles but even the Seventy Disciples he declared unto them Luk. 10.16 He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me And the authority of secular Governours is so great that the powers that be are ordained of God whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation And so far as the laws of God prevail on the minds and tongues of men they will check and silence rash and defaming expressions against them S. Paul mentions this as one of those precepts of the law which lay a strict obligation upon Christians under the Gospel Act. 23.5 Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people Yea the commands of God will not allow so much as an uncharitable thought Eccl. 10.20 Curse not the King no not in thy thought 15. Tertullian gave a true account of the rules of Christianity and of the temper and spirit of the ancient primitive Christians of his age who endured heavy sufferings when he declares that (i) Apol. c. 36. ad Scap. c. 2. our Religion allows not us to desire act speak or think evil toward any much less towards Governours This contrary to the primitive Christian simplicity whom we must honour and reverence as appointed by God But it is a just matter of lamentation that the divine authority of Governours is little regarded among many men who profess Christianity which is a great testimony that true Religion and a sense of God is not duly entertained That in our age a very great part of men are forward rashly to censure and speak dishonourably both against secular rulers and the Bishops and Ministers of the Church is a thing so plain and obvious that observing men cannot but take notice of it and pious and good men are heartily grieved at it And this misbehaviour towards the pious Bishops of the Church was also many ages since observed and complained of and the ill effects thereof were in some measure provided against by the Canon of a (k) Concil Constant c. 6. General Council when discords and divisions prevailed in the Church And such calumnies as Balsamon there observeth Satan doth much endeavour to soment and cherish 16. Thus Corah and his company were forward with presumptuous confidence but agreeable to the presumption of Core to speak against Moses their chief Ruler and Aaron the Priest slandering and opposing them and this pleased the Congregation of Israel who were too ready to comply with them But this was so provoking to God and so pernicious to the Israelites that there were many exceeding severe punishments inflicted by God upon the Israelites for these offences For Numb 16. the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up Corah and his company the fire from the Lord consumed those men who intruded themselves into the office of the Priest to offer Incense and a dreadful plague brake out upon the Congregation and destroyed suddenly fourteen thousand and seven hundred but was stayed by Aarons making atonement And these things are so far written for our examples that where-ever the like sins are committed under the time of Christianity they are as evil and destructive as they were under the law of Moses since the Gospel gives particular precepts for the honouring Superiours and threats upon the neglect of them and S. Jude declares concerning such disobedient persons who swerved from the true Spirit of Christianity and despise dominion that they perished in the gainsaying of Core Jude 11. 17. Fourthly 4. Men of the sweetest and meekest behaviour are roughly dealt with by virulent tongues Our Saviour was a person of admirable meekness but neither did this preserve him from detraction and calumny He had no proud and haughty carriage he injured no man by word or deed nor gave them any just provocation It is frequent in the world that words and actions of strife and contention do kindle more strife though they ought not so to do If a storm be begun one wave will raise another but in a perfect calm to see the Sea grow boisterous of it self is somewhat unusual And whereas a fiery fierceness of temper is apt to kindle heats and disturbances it was observed in the writings of the Jewish Authors that the result or end of meekness (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is welfare peace and quiet and so it frequently is both to mans self and to them with whom he converseth but it was much otherwise in the practice of the Jewish Nation towards him who was the great pattern of meekness gentleness and patience 18. Indeed it is sinful for any Christians Licentious expressions not justified when occasioned by provocations to give way to their passions and unbecoming expressions though they meet with provocations These provocations are temptations laid before them but their Religion teacheth them to beware of and reject temptations and not to yield to them and suffer themselves to be overcome and prevailed upon by them Even when the Israelites provoked Moses so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips it went ill with him Psal 106.32 33. And when S. Paul was smitten contrary to the law Act. 23. he in that case acknowledgeth the obligation of this duty Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people And the Doctrine of Christianity obligeth its Professors to love their enemies to bless them which curse them and to pray for them who despitefully use them and persecute them The precepts of some of the (m) Plat. in Crit. Maxim Tyr. Diss 2. Ethnick Philosophers went so far as to condemn the returning injuries to them from whom we receive wrong and some rare instances there are among Pagans of some who declared they would and others who actually did treat them with much kindness who had greatly injured them But the doctrine of our Saviour appeareth to have gone higher than the rules which their wisest men prescribed in enjoining as a necessary duty the exercise of love kindness doing good unto and praying for our enemies 19. But that Religion which will not allow of passion and reviling where there may be some considerable occasion given will much more detest it in such cases where there is truly no such occasion but are more unreasonable when without any occasion given For this most clearly shews such men to be much more hurried and commanded by a swelling
eremo Serm. 26. S. Austin's name observes that this sin hath much of spiritual leprosie in it it is dangerous to the soul and greatly defiles it it is apt to infect others and renders the person unfit for common Society and God was pleased to punish it in Miriam with leprosie in her body 26. The Reproacher by publick Censure shut out of the ancient Church When the strict rules of Christian discipline were exercised he who defamed reproached or reviled others was to be cast out of the Church by a publick censure which is an evidence that the Christian Church accounted this sin to forfeit the priviledges of Christianity and that the persons who commit it and live in the practice of it deserve not to be esteemed members of the Body of Christ And that amongst other great sinners the reviler railer or reproacher is worthy to be separated from the Christian Society is declared by the Apostle himself 1 Cor 5.11 For the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle there useth is of that extent as to include all who utter contentious contumelious and defaming words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being oft used by the (y) Septuag in Exod. 17.2 7. Num. 20.3 13. Septuagint to answer the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which relates to strife and contention and takes in all contentious reproaching words According to the disciplinary rules received in this Kingdom many hundred years since offenders of this nature especially if they defamed or spake contumeliously (z) in 2. lib. Poenitent Egbert n. 21 c 29. in Spelmar Conc. Vol. 1. against their Superiors were to come under the rules of penance In like manner in the Eastern Church in ancient times (a) in Regul brev Resp 26. S. Basil adjudgeth both him who slandereth his Neighbour and him also who should comply with him or give ear unto him to deserve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be separated and cut off from Ecclesiastical communion And it was more anciently decreed in the Western Church that those who should spread abroad reproaches or libels against others should be under an Anathema according to the Sentence of the Council of (b) Conc. Elib c. 52. Eliberis All which shews how odious this sin hath been reputed and how much abhorred and condemned in the Christian Church 27. And in the holy Scriptures when the Psalmist declares the qualifications necessary for him who shall dwell in Gods Holy Hill and threatned with exclusion out of Gods Kingdom or who shall be owned a true member of his Church here and have an entrance into his glory hereafter this is part of his description Psal 15.1 3. He that backbiteth not with his tongue nor doth evil to his Neighbour nor taketh up a reproach against his Neighbour To this S. James his words are agreeable Chap. 1.26 If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue that mans Religion is vain S. Paul also assures us that revilers shall not inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6.10 and our Lord himself saith concerning him who speaketh contumeliously to his Brother that he shall be in danger of Hell fire Mat. 5.22 28. Now he who considers what God is and what are the excellencies of his Kingdom and with eternal destruction cannot account it any light Sentence to be eternall excluded from his glory and presence as the fallen Angels are If this be not enough the desperate misery of all wicked doers who shall be refused entrance thereinto will make the stoutest heart to tremble and will change the most brisk and jolly temper into doleful weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth When they shall be under the astonishing sence of the divine wrath the infinite pains expressed by the fire which shall not be quenched the perplexing torment of a terribly awakened conscience and the worm that never dies this will be an unspeakably dismal state To which may be added the amazing presence and Society of the Devil and his Angels and other damned persons expressing their sad out-cries and terrors and the overwhelming sense of an hopeless and unpitied condition and all this to abide in those black and frightful regions of darkness to all eternity 29. and with an heavy degree of future misery and vengeance And yet in the midst of this unspeakable and endless destruction and torment the Scripture which declareth the rule according to which God will denounce his Sentence tells us that those who reproach and speak evil of Superiors are of the number of those sinners who must expect the highest degree of judgment and severity at the great day 2 Pet. 2.9 10. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise government presumptuous are they self willed they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities Where we see despising dominion or Government and speaking evil of dignities is part of the description of those whom God will chiefly punish And to such persons will belong those other expressions of being presumptuous and self-willed for such they must be who will be so insolent as to despise what God hath set over them and forgetting their own station to reproach them who are in Authority And though the former clause of this Verse concerning them who walk after the flesh in the (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lust of uncleanness or defilement may very well be understood concerning them who practise adultery fornication and lasciviousness yet even this clause also may not improperly be applyed to this sin against which I am particularly discoursing For it is evident from Rom. 13.13 14. Gal. 5.16 17 18 19 20. 1 Pet. 2.11 12 13. and other places of Scripture that the passions of men and the expressions and unruliness of them which are contained in reproaching are included under the phrase of the lusts of the flesh and that this sin I am treating of is defiling is manifest from the former part of this Chapter Now the direful vengeance of God doth infinitely go beyond the severest executions which can be contrived by men And all men ought to have a serious sense of this and all holy and godly men have so When (d) Martyr Polycarpi Polycarp was threatned by the Proconsul first to be torn in pieces by cruel wild Beasts and when this moved him not he was told he should be burnt with fire unless he would depart from the Christian Religion it was reasonably and wisely as well as piously replyed by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Thou threatenest that fire which burns for an hour and then goes out but thou considerest not the fire of the future Judgment and the eternal punishment which is reserved for the wicked This is that we all ought to fear as most dreadful and to avoid
found in them And it is considerable that the ancient Bishops of Rome owned not nor claimed any such Authority nor was any such given to them by the Primitive Church To this purpose it may be observed from (l) Epiph. Her 42. Epiphanius that when Marcion being excommunicated by his own Father a pious Bishop for his debauchery went to Rome and desired there to be received into Communion he was told there by those Elders yet alive who were the Disciples of the Apostles that they could not receive him without the permission of his Reverend Father there being one Faith and one Concord they could not act contrary to their Fellow Ministers And this was agreeable to the Rules and Canons of the ancient Church whereby it was ordained (m) Can. Ap. 12. that if any excommunicate person should be received in another City whither he should come not having commendatory Letters he who received him should be himself also under excommunication And the novel Romish Notion of all other Bishops so depending on the Roman as to derive their power and authority from him is so contrary to the sense of the ancient Church that (n) Hieron Ep. ad Evagrium S. Hierome declares ubicunque fuerit Episcopus five Romae five Eugubii ejusdem meriti ejusdem est sacerdotii omnes Apostolorum successores sunt wheresoever there was a Bishop whether at Rome or at Gubio he is of the same worth and the same Priesthood they are all Successors of the Apostles 20. and prejudicial to other Churches and to Religion it self However the Romish Church upon this encroachment and false pretence claims a power to receive appeals from any other Churches And this oft proves a great obstacle to the Government and discipline of those Churches and an heavy and burdensome molestation to particular persons by chargeable tedious and dilatory prosecutions and is a method also of exhausting the treasures of other Churches and Kingdoms to gratifie ambitious avarice But even the (o) c. 6. qu. 3. scitote Canon Law declares the great reasonableness that every Province where there is ten or eleven Cities and a King should have a Metropolitan and other Bishops and that all causes should be judged and determined by them among themselves and that no Province ought to be so much debased and degraded as to be deprived of such a Judicature Indeed the Canon Law doth here for the sake of the Roman See exempt such cases from this judgement where those who are to be judged enter an appeal which is much different from the appeal the ancient Church allowed (p) Conc. Constant c. 6. to a more General Council after the insufficient hearing of a Provincial one But in truth this right of ordering and judging what is fit in every Province is not only the right of that particular Church or Country or Kingdom but where they proceed according to truth and goodness it is the right of God and the Christian Religion which is above all contrary authority of any other and ought not to be violated thereby And appeals from hence (pp) Cod. ean Eccl. Afr. c. 28. The Romanists Schismatical even to Rome were anciently prohibited in Africa 21. And the Schismatical uncharitableness of them at Rome towards other Churches deserves here to be mentioned This widens divisions and discords and perpetuates them by declaring an irreconcileable opposition to peace and truth They excommunicate them as Hereticks who discerning their right and their duty will not submit themselves to their usurpations and embrace their errors and to them they hereupon deny the hopes of Salvation Thus they deal with them who stedfastly hold to the Catholick faith and to all the holy rules of the Christian life and practice delivered by the Apostles and received by the Primitive Church and who also embrace that Catholick charity and Unity that they own Communion with all the true and regular members of the Christian Church and would with as much joy communicate with the Roman Church her self if she would make her Worship and Communion and the terms of it free from sin as the Father in the Gospel embraced his returning Son But this is the crime of such Churches that while they hold fast the Apostolical Faith and Order they reject the novel additional doctrines introduced by the Church of Rome and they submit not to her usurped authority in not doing what in duty to God they ought to do in imbracing the right wayes of truth 22. Their unjust excommunications hurt not others But the excommunicating such persons and Churches doth no hurt to them who undeservedly lie under this unjust censure but the effect of the censure may fall on them who thus excommunicate For they who reject the Communion of them who are true and orderly Members of the Church Catholick do divide themselves from that Communion To this sense is that received rule (q) c. 24. qu. 3. c. si habes c. certum illicita excommunicatio non laedit eum qui notatur sed eum à quo notatur and this was declared by (r) in Balsamon p. 1096. Nicon to be agreeable to the Canons And the excellency and power of the true Catholick Doctrine and the purity thereof is so much to be preferred before the authority of any persons whomsoever who oppose it that that which the ancient Canons (ſ) Conc. Sardic c. 17. established was very fit and just that if any Bishops and consequently any other persons were ejected from their own Churches or suffered any censures unjustly for their adhering to the Catholick Faith and profession they ought still to be received in other Churches and Cities with kindness and love And whereas there were Canons of the Church which allowed not Bishops to reside in other Churches and Dioceses these Fathers at Sardica dispense with that Rule in such a case as this and thereby declare their fense to be That the observation of Canonical establishments must give place where the higher duties of respect to the Christian Faith and Charity were concerned 23. but only themselves When the Scribes and Pharisees condemned the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles for Heresie and cast them who received it out of the Church the Christians were nevertheless the true members of the Church but they who rejected them were not so And when the Donatists would allow none but their own party to belong to the Church they thereby cast themselves out of the Catholick Communion as Schismaticks And when they at Rome so far follow their steps as to confine the Christian Communion to themselves or to a particular Church especially such an one as so greatly swerves from the truth and purity of the Christian Religion Sect. II. this is in effect to deny that Article of our Creed concerning the Holy Catholick Church And since Charity and Vnity are of so great concernment in Christianity on that account also they are none
grant of Indulgences is (c) Bell. de Ind. l. 1. c. 11. Laym ubi sup c. 1. n. 4. not from the power of order but of Jurisdiction and thereupon they place it in the Pope alone But as to this case of delivering souls out of Purgatory they forget themselves when they again assert (d) Bell ib. c. 14. q. 2. Laym ib. c. 7. n. 3. that the Pope doth not do this by a power of Jurisdiction but by proposing or exhibiting to God satisfactions and by suffrages and prayers entreating Gods acceptance of them But thus much can be also done according to their Doctrine by every Priest who offereth the Sacrifice of the Mass (e) Conc. Trident for the Quick and the Dead for Sins Punishment and Satisfactions The Pope indeed in his Indulgencies is pretended to present to God the Satisfactions of the Saints together with those of Christ but besides that the Satisfactions of Christ must be of themselves sufficient the act of the Papal Indulgence being done out of the Sacrament doth not include a proper propitiatory Sacrifice and is therefore inferior to the act of the Priest in the Mass And it is the propitiatory Sacrifice which must give the value to the Satisfactions of the Saints So that this great claim of peculiar authority in this case unto the Roman Bishop is without any solid foundation upon their own Doctrinal Principles and is wholly founded upon Policy to create the higher apprehensions of the Papal excellency Only something is said to make it passable and plausible 22. The last thing I shall here consider and to Rome in the year of Jubilee is the policy of making void all Indulgencies though plenary and all faculties of Indulgence granted to any other place or persons or upon any conditions whatsoever save only what is granted at Rome on the year of Jubilee which is now every twenty fifth year save that it was a peculiar favour of Greg. 13. (f) Tursellin Hist Lauret l. 4. c. 22. to the Lady at Laureto that Indulgentiis toto terrarum orbe ut fieri solet suspensis in Vrbis gratiam unam excepit Aedem Lauretanam When Indulgences were suspended according to custom throughout the whole World for the benefit of the City of Rome that singular place was alone excepted Had the good of men been the principal design of these Indulgencies it would have been a Work of much greater mercy and care of the welfare of men that plenary Indulgencies might constantly have been granted in all Countreys to them who should perform the conditions required But as the benefit of Indulgencies is wholly appropriated to Rome every twenty fifth year so the Papal Bull requires the performance of three days fasting and also Prayers and giving Alms. And some of their Casuists assert (g) Laym Th. Mor. l. 5. Tr. 7. c. 8. n. 10. that all this must be done in one week or others at farthest affirm it must be done within fifteen days whilst the Jubilee continues as a Condition necessary to partake of the benefit of the Indulgence And consequently their alms being confined to those days must by all persons then attending at Rome be given there to the great enriching the Wealth and Revenues of that Church or though some may be there devoted to the service of the Church in other places it is to be expected that that Church in a more particular consideration be then regarded and interested therein 23. The result of this whole Chapter is that if disorderly disturbing the peace of the Church and the World and the unjust invading others rights if undermining and disregarding true piety if undervaluing the dignity of Christ and the Majesty of God and setting up and serving politick interests and designs instead of Religion and true goodness be things loathsom and contrary to Christianity there must then be sufficient cause for great dislike of and averseness from the Church of Rome which promotes all these things by its Doctrines and allowed and enjoined practices CHAP. III. Of our Dissenters where some of the different sorts of them are first particularly considered and then follows a more general consideration of them jointly SECT I. Of Quakers Sect. I 1. OUr Dissenters do not only lie under the Censure of private persons but even of our publick Laws and Constitutions and therefore I shall faithfully and calmly without prejudice enquire Whether there be not in them just and great cause of blame Now these are not all of one Body so much as the Romanists are though they also have their different parties but are more divided in their several ways of Communion and profession and are only united so far as to espouse the same general interest against our established Government And therefore that I may be the more clear and impartial I shall first take some view of the several most famed Parties of them separately and distinctly and then consider them jointly 2. And it is a matter of sad reflection that when the ancient Christian zeal contended so much for that Unity which our Religion earnestly injoineth the Spirit of Division hath so far prevailed amongst them who withdraw from our Church that besides their unwarrantable separation from it great numbers of them have run into other select and distinct parties and many of them very monstrous S. Austin observed that when the Donatists forsook the Catholick Church (a) Cont. Epist Parmen l. 3. c. 4. lib. de Haeres n. 69. they fell into divers parties among themselves inter ipsos multa facta sunt schismata alii atque alii separant and of these the Maximinianists were the most inonsiderable And amongst us we had formerly wretched improvements of Antinomianism into the lewdness of the Ranters of seditious Principles into the fierceness of the Fifth Monarchy men and of separation into Quakerism which is farthest removed from the Communion of the Christian Church and from many weighty points of the Christian Doctrine The giddy progress of separation was complained of in this Kingdom by one who if I mistake not is now not only a practiser but a Patron thereof who not amiss resembled it (b) J. H. to the several peelings of an Onion where first one is taken off by it self and parted and then another till at last there is nothing left but what is apt to draw tears from the eyes of the Beholder And the ill effect of our divisions is so manifest that Dr. Owen acknowledgeth that (c) Of Evangelical Love p. 2. it will be granted that the Glory of God the Honour of Christ the progress of the Gospel with the Edification and peace of the Church are deeply concerned in them and highly prejudiced by them And since the several parties condemn and disapprove each other it is manifest from thence that all of them at most one only excepted must be justly blameable for proceeding upon false Principles and unsound Assertions And if any
Circumcised Gen. 17.12 which is a manifest evidence that they were interested in this Covenant made with Abraham And this precept of Circumcision concerning the Infant Males continued in force until the coming of our Saviour and thereby Infants born in the Jewish Church were owned and received to be members of that Church Now our Saviours coming was not to confine the Church to narrower limits but to extend and enlarge it 3. And it may not be amiss to observe that the Jews themselves did generally acknowledge that the priviledge of having such Children admitted into their Church in their infancy whose Parents were members thereof was not peculiar to that Nation alone but did also belong to those who from among the Gentiles became Proselytes to the Jewish Religion When they admitted the chief sort of Proselytes which were called the Proselytes of righteousness this was usually done (a) Seld. de Syned l. 3. c. 3. p. 34 37-40 Hor. Hebr. in Mat. 3.6 by Circumcision together with a kind of Baptism or washing them with respect to their uncleanness in their Gentilism and Sacrifice as Mr. Selden and Dr. Lightfoot and others have observed who also have manifested from the Jewish writers that they did usually admit Children even Infants with their Parents And if the Mother was admitted into the number of this sort of Proselytes when she was with Child that Child afterwards born was supposed not to need any other washing but if it was a Male was received only by Circumcision And it also appears by the testimonies produced by the latter of these Writers (b) Hor. Heb. ibid. that they ordinarily admitted the Infants of Gentiles to be Proselytes if they were taken into the care and education of Israelites and this was agreeable to what God had established concerning him who was born in Abraham's House or bought with money of any stranger not of his Seed 4. And that the New Testament doth particularly admit Infants into the Church of God and giveth them a right to partake of the benefits of his Covenant as well as the Old Testament did might be justly presumed because there is not any thing said or done by our Saviour which doth exclude them nor is there any thing declared by God whereby he expresseth his altering the terms of his Covenant so as in this particular to confine it into a less and straiter compass under the Gospel But besides this there are plain expressions in the New Testament that Infants are received as Members of the Church of God and interested in the promises of his Covenant under the Christian Dispensation Our Saviour saith of them that of such is the Kingdom of Heaven Mar. 10.14 and S. Peter perswades the Jews Act. 2.38 39. Repent and be baptized for the promise is to you and to your Children and the same thing may be inferred from other Texts of Scripture And these expressions especially considering what God had established and injoined in the time of the Old Testament do sufficiently declare this sense of the Gospel-Covenant that Children and Infants are included therein 5. And whereas the Judaizers did earnestly contend with the Apostles about the necessity of Circumcision and other Jewish Rites to be continued in the Church we read of no contest about the admission of their Children into the Church Had the Apostles and the Christian institution herein differed from the Rules received under the Old Testament in not admitting Children into the Church of God these men would no doubt as eagerly have contended with the Apostles about this thing as about the other since this was a branch of Gods ancient Covenant and such a branch as they could not but think to be of high concernment to themselves and their Posterity But the Christian Doctrine plainly acknowledgeth that Children were reputed holy if but one of their Parents were Christians or Believers 1 Cor. 7.14 and therefore such Children which otherwise had been unclean were accounted to belong to the Church by vertue of that relation they had to such Believing Parents And when the Apostles are said to have Baptized persons and all theirs or all their Houshold upon the consideration now mentioned it is not to be doubted but Children and Infants were included in these expressions Act. 16.15 and v. 33. 1 Cor. 1.16 and also in that other precept of Baptizing all Nations and making them Disciples Mat. 28.19 And this will receive further confirmation from the ordinary and usual practice of the ancient Christian Church in Baptizing Infants which I shall by and by mention 6. Indeed under the Gospel it was necessary that adult persons both Jews and Gentiles should first be taught the Christian Doctrine and own their belief thereof and undertake the practice of repentance and obedience before they could be Baptized into the Christian Church But this gives no support to them who oppose the Baptism of Infants since even under the Old Testament such persons who being adult were received as Proselytes to the Jewish Church were first to be acquainted with the Law of God d and then to profess their owning and believing in the God of Israel (c) Selden ubi sup before they were admitted into that Church by Circumcision and other solemn Rites And this reasonable and necessary observation with respect to those who attained to years of discretion was well consistent with their Circumcising Infants and the Divine Law injoined that when strangers were desirous to embrace the Jewish Religion and were admitted thereto all their Males and therefore even those which were Infants must be Circumcised Exod. 12.48 7. And those words of S. Paul from which the favourers of Anabaptism have endeavoured to prove that under the New Testament none and therefore no Infants are interested in the Gospel-Covenant and Membership of the Christian Church by being born of Christian Parents are greatly mistaken S. Paul saith Rom. 9.6 They are not all Israel which are of Israel v. 7. Neither because they are the Seed of Abraham are they all Children but in Isaac shall thy Seed be called For 1. These words have no peculiar respect to the time and state of the New Testament but they give an account how the promise to the Seed of Abraham was to be understood from the very time in which it was made to Abraham And the Apostle here shews that this Promise and Covenant was particularly fixed upon Isaac and his Family v. 7. and then upon Jacob v. 13. and yet then Infants were constantly Circumcised 2. The true sense of these words is that the Promise and Covenant of God to and with Abraham and his Seed did not bind him to continue all the posterity of Ishmael or other Sons of Abraham nor yet the Posterity of Esau to be his peculiar Church and people though these were Circumcised and lineally descended from Abraham but had departed from the Religion Piety Faith and Obedience of their Father Abraham And from hence the Apostle proves that
the same promise can be no security to the Jews or the Posterity of Jacob in their unbelief and disobedience but God can otherwise accomplish his promise made to the Seed of Abraham by accomplishing it to them who walk in the steps of the Faith of Abraham 3. As this true sense is wholly alien from proving Infants not to be members of the Christian Church so the sense imposed upon them by the Anabaptists is neither agreeable to the words themselves and the scope of that place nor to such other expressions of the New Testament as I have above mentioned 8. Secondly This Opinion and Practice of Anabaptism is very uncharitable to Infants born in the Christian Church upon a double account For First The consequence of this Position will be to take away that great hope of Salvation which the true Principles of Christianity do afford concerning Christian Infants dying in their infancy I acknowledge that this consequence concerning all Infants is not owned by those who hold this erroneous opinion in denying Infant-Baptism who run into other errors to avoid this But yet this is deducible from their Assertion and therefore I charge this uncharitableness to be a proper consequent of this opinion For since Christians are Baptized into the Body or Church of Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 and are thereby entred as members thereof if Infants be denied to have any right to Baptism or to be capable of being Baptized they cannot then be owned to be members of the visible Church of Christ and parts of his Body And they who are supposed to be excluded from the visible Church by Gods special institution and to be thereby made uncapable of being received as members thereof cannot well be presumed to be admitted into membership with the invisible Church if we consider what God himself hath declared concerning the power of the Keys and of Binding and Loosing upon Earth And those great priviledges of the New Covenant of which eternal Salvation is the chief belong to that Church which is the Body of Christ and to the lively members thereof For Christ is the Saviour of this body Eph. 5.23 And this Body which is his Church is that which he will present to himself having neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing v. 27. And whereas Baptism is the laver of regeneration Tit. 3.5 if Infants are not capable of being partakers of that washing of water whereby the Church is cleansed and sanctified Eph. 5.26 and of the laver of regeneration and of regeneration it self also they cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Joh. 3.3 5. 9. But this opinion is further uncharitable to Infants in denying to them such means of grace as the Gospel of our Saviour doth afford them and the Christian Church hath from the beginning alwayes acknowledged to belong to them All the Ordinances and special Institutions of Christ tend to the great advantage and good of them who do aright partake of them and are useful to their spiritual and eternal welfare and benefit and so particularly is Christian Baptism Of this I have particularly discoursed in (d) Libert Eccles B. 1. c. 5. Sect. 3.4.5 another place And as the Scriptures sufficiently express the great benefit of Baptism with respect to regeneration and remission of sins so whosoever hath a due reverence for our Lord and Saviour can by no means entertain such low thoughts of his Institutions as to think them of no considerable usefulness to them who duly receive them But this piece of uncharitableness to Infants is much worse and more hurtful and prejudicial to them than the former For the opinion from whence the former consequent was deduced being untrue the consequence it self is also false and so hath no real influence or effect upon the state of Infants nor are damaged thereby whereas they are truly prejudiced by being denied the means of grace 10. On this account the Chiristian Church in the first ages thereof and in a continued succession from thence to this time hath admitted Infants to be Baptized and thought it self bound so to do S. Austin (e) de peccar Mer. remis l. 1. c. 26. declares this practice to have authoritatem universae Ecclesiae proculdubio per Dominum Apostolos traditam the Authority of the Vniversal Church without doubt delivered by the Lord and the Apostles and the Doctrine of Infant-Baptism is called by S. Austin (f) Ep. 28. firmissima Ecclesiae fides a Doctrine of Faith most firmly and constantly believed in the Church And much to the same purpose is frequently expressed by S. Austin To this purpose the determination of (g) Ep. 59. ad Fidum S. Cyprian and an African Council with him is very manifest When Fidus had written to Cyprian his opinion that Infants ought not to be Baptized within the second or third day of their Birth or until the eighth day which was the time appointed for Circumcision though this opinion allowed and asserted Infant-Baptism S. Cyprian largely declares that not any one of this Council did agree to this opinion but every one of them judged Nulli hominum nato misericordiam Dei gratiam denegandam That the mercy and grace of God is to be denied to no Child of man i. e. upon account of their age And he there shews that Infants from the time of their Birth are not to be prohibited Baptism And of how great consequence they in those early times judged Infant-Baptism is apparent from this expression relating thereto (h) ibid. quantum in nobis est si fieri potest nulla anima perdenda est as far as is in our power if it be possible no soul is to be lost The plain testimonies of Origen both upon Leviticus and the Epistle to the Romans and of divers other Fathers and Councils might be added to manifest the universal reception of Infant-Baptism in the Catholick Church But this having been clearly and sufficiently evidenced by the Historical Theses of (i) Thes Theolog p. 429 c. Vossius upon this Subject of Paedobaptism I shall refer him thither who would have more large and ample proof hereof 11. But that learned man truly observes that there is something which may seem singular in some expressions of Tertullian and Nazianzen who though they deny not Infant-Baptism yet intimate the usefulness of deferring the Baptism of Infants and incline to perswade the same Now though any singular apprehension of one or two men is not to be laid in the balance against the general sense of the Church I shall however observe something further concerning the sense of both these ancient Writers Gr. Nazianzen doth indeed in his Oration (k) Orat. 40. p. 458. concerning Baptism advise that if Infants be in no danger of death their Baptism may be deferred till they be three years old or somewhat less or more that themselves may hear something of that Mystery and give answer But though he might proceed
who appointed not this kind of Covenanting established the Christian Church in that way of Unity that it was one Church but these have ordered this method for the dividing it 20. Secondly This casts a disparagement on Christs Institution of Baptism as if this Ordinance of his was not sufficient and effectual for the purposes to which he appointed it whereof one was the receiving Members into his Church and the Communion thereof The Scriptures declare Christians to be Baptized into one Body 1 Cor. 12.12 and that they who are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 and therefore by this Sacramental Ordinance members are received into fellowship with Christ and communion with his Church But these expressions in the Assembly-confession of (i) Conf. c. 27. n. 1. Sacraments being Instituted to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the Church and the rest of the World And of Baptism being ordained by Christ for the solemn admission of the party Baptized into the visible Church are rejected and left out in the declaration of Faith by them of the Congregational way And we are told by the New England Independents that (k) Answ to 32. Qu. to qu. 4. they do not believe that Baptism doth make men members of the Church and they there say strangely enough that Christ Baptized but made no new Church Wherefore when Christ appointed Baptism to receive members of his Church this Covenant which he never appointed is by them set up thus far in the place and room of it 21. Thirdly By making this Covenant the only right ground of Church-fellowship they cast a high reflexion on the Apostolical and Primitive Churches who neither practised nor delivered any such thing as if the Apostolical Model must give place to theirs and those first Churches must not be esteemed regularly established But this Covenant managed in the dividing way is somewhat like the practice of Novatus who hath been ever reputed guilty of great Schism who ingaged his followers by the most solemn Vow that they should never forsake him nor return to Cornelius their true Bishop only his Covenant had not a peculiar respect to a particular Congregation But this bond of their own promise and vow was intended to keep them in that separation which the more solemn Vow of Baptism and undertaking Christianity ingaged them to reject And it is a great mistake to imagine that the former ought to take place against the latter or that men may bind themselves to act against the will of God and that thenceforth they ought not to observe it 22. Fourthly The confinement of Church-membership to a single Congregation entred under such a particular Covenant is contrary to several plain duties of Christianity For according to this notion the peculiar offices of Brotherly Love as being members one of another and that Christian care that follows thereupon it limited to a narrow compass together with the exercise of the Pastoral care also which ought to be inlarged to all those professed Christians with whom we do converse And it is of dangerous and pernicious consequence that the duties of love and being helpful to one another and provoking to love and good works upon account of our membership with the Church visible though these things be in practice too much neglected should be straitned by false and hurtful notions and opinions It was none of the least miscarriages of the Jews that when God gave them that great Commandment to love their Neighbour as themselves they should satisfie themselves in the performing this duty with a much more restrained sense of the word Neighbour than the Divine Law intended And it must not be conceived that false imaginations concerning the bounds of the Church and fellowship therein will be esteemed in the sight of God a sufficient discharge from the duties he requires men to perform to others nor will this be a better excuse under Christianity than the like mistake was under Judaism 23. Thirdly I shall consider their placing the chief Ecclesiastical power and authority in the Body of the people or the members of the Church To this purpose by some of them we are told that (m) Answ to 32. Qu. to Q. 14. in Peter and the rest the Keys are committed to all Believers who shall join together in the same confession according to the Ordinance of Christ and they give the people the power of (n) Answ to Qu. 15. censuring offenders even Ministers themselves if they be such And on this account at least in part I suppose the Congregational Churches in their Declaration of Faith omitted the whole Chapter of (o) Ch. 30. Church censures contained in the Assembly's Confession in which they had declared the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to be committed to the Church Officers Now besides that the way of Government and Censure by the major Vote of the people hath been the occasion of much confusion in some of their Congregations that which I shall particularly insist on is the great sin of intruding upon any part of the Ministerial Authority or neglecting due regard or reverence thereto How plain is it in the Scripture that the Apostles governed and ordered the state of the Christian Church and that Timothy and Titus and the Angels of the Churches did and were to do the like It was to the Apostles as chief Officers of the Christian Church that Christ declared Joh. 20.23 whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained and Matt. 18.18 whatsoever yet shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose in Earth shall be loosed in Heaven And by these and such like words the power of inflicting Censures and receiving to and conferring of the priviledges of the Church as well as of dispensing all those Ordinances whereby the grace of God and remission of sins are particularly tendered are appropriated to the Officers of the Church as part of their Office 24. In this plain sense were these Christian Laws generally understood by the Primitive Church which practised accordingly which they who read the ancient Canons must necessarily confess And the same is manifest from the particular Writers of the first Ages For instance even (p) Cyp. Ep. 27. S. Cyprian from what our Lord spake to S. Peter of the power of the Keys and of binding and loosing infers the Episcopal honour and that every act of the Church must be governed by those Prefects or Superiors And from those words and what our Saviour spake to his Apostles Jo. 20. about remitting sins he concludes that only the Governours in the Church (q) Ep. 73. can give remission of sins And when Rogatianus a Bishop complained to Cyprian concerning a Deacon who behaved himself contumeliously towards him S. Cyprian commends his humility in addressing himself to him (r) Ep. 65. when he had himself power by virtue of his Episcopacy and the
I shall only here further observe that in the very beginning of Christianity the distinction of the Officers of the Christian Church was owned and acknowledged to be correspondent and parallel to the distinction of the Officers of the Jewish Temple-Service the observing of which seemeth of considerable moment in this case Even St. Hierome declares That what place Aaron Hieron ad Evagr. Epiph. Haer. 29. 78. Hieronym de scrip Eccles in Jacobo Eus Hist Eccl. l. 2. c. 23 gr his Sons and the Levites had in the Temple the same have the Bishops Priests and Deacons in the Church It is related concerning St. James the first Bishop of Jerusalem by Epiphanius out of Clemens that he did wear the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in the Septuagint the Plate upon the high Priest's Mitre on which was engraven Holiness to the Lord and he as also S. Hierome and Eusebius from Egesippus relate that to him only it was lawful to enter into the Holy of Holies 〈…〉 Now all these Christian â—â—â—iters with others who use somewhat like expressions as â—â—â—crates concerning St. John must never be thought to â—â—â—â—pire together to impose Fables upon the after-Ages 〈◊〉 â—ould they be so much wanting in the knowledge of Christianity as to imagine that these great Officers of the Christian Church were Jewish High Priests and ministred in their Temple-Service but the sense of these expressions though they may seem at first view obscure is that S. James was acknowledged to have a like eminency of Office above others in the Christian Church of Jerusalem as the Jewish High-Priest had above other Priests in the Jewish Church Naz. Or. 5. And Nazianzen expresseth his being ordained Bishop by these and other like words saith he Thou anointedst me an High-Priest and broughtst me to the Altar of the Spiritual Burnt-Offering sacrificedst the Calf of Initiation and madest me view the Holy of Holies Which words evidence that the Christian Bishop by an Allegorical Allusion was described by words primarily relating to the Jewish High-Priest because of a Parallel eminency in each of them Now this Observation shews the distinction of these Officers of the Christian Church Euseb HIst l. 2. c. 1. Hieron de script Eccles from the very beginning thereof St. James being ordained Bishop of Jerusalem very soon after our Saviour's Ascension And this will further evidence that as the Scriptures of the Old Testament and the Jewish Writers frequently mention the Officers of the Temple-Service only by the names of Priests and Levites including therein the High-Priest whose Office was distinct from the other Priests so it is no prejudice to the like distinction of Offices under the New Testament that in the Scriptures and some other ancient Writers the Officers above Deacons are sometimes expressed by the name of Bishops sometime of Elders Priests or Presbyters whilst yet we have very plain Testimony of the singular eminency of one who hath since been peculiarly called the Bishop I come now to the last thing to be discoursed of the Divine Authority by which this Ministry is established God in Christ hath given to us the Ministry of Reconciliation and this speaketh three things 1. The true Original of this Function God the Father gave the Ministry of Reconciliation our Lord sent his Apostles as his Father sent him and the Holy Ghost made the Elders of Ephesus to be Overseers of the Flock And here not only St. Paul who was called immediately but Timothy also even as those other Elders of Ephesus being called by Men whom God made chief Officers in his Church received this Ministry by Divine Authority and therefore the Administrations thereof are performed in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost This therefore is such a Sanction as every Person upon Earth ought to reverence and whosoever either despise or oppose this Ministry had need seriously and timely to consider whose Authority they undertake to affront When our Saviour appointed the Twelve Apostles and afterwards the Seventy Mat. 10.15 Luke 10 12. he bids them both to shake off the Dust of their Feet against that City that should not receive them and tells them it shall be more tolerable for Sodom in that day than for that City and declares further even to the Seventy who were then of the lowest rank of them whom he sent Luke 10.16 he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me But for all those who are employed about God's Work and are warranted by his Authority if they be faithful in his Service 1 Pet. 5.4 they shall be here under his Care and hereafter partakers of his Reward St. Peter acquaints us that when the chief Shepherd shall appear they shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away Rev. l. 16 20. ch 2. l. and St. John assures us That our Lord himself holdeth the seven Stars or the Angels of the seven Churches in his right hand 2. This speaks also the Excellency of this Ministry As it is from God it is properly and eminently a Gift of God even a Gift of that high Nature that when Christ in his glorious Exaltation received Gifts for Men he then gave some Pastors and Teachers Eph. 4 1â— and as Head of his Church established this fixed Ministry And if we consider it as it respects Men the most excellent Designs are thereby pursued to wit the promoting among Men the Glory of God and the Kingdom and Government of Jesus Christ and the conducting Men into the Ways of God and thereby unto Peace and Reconciliation with him and to everlasting Happiness Hereupon they who serve God in this Office 1 Cor. 3.9 2 Cor. 6.1 are owned to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fellow-workers with God himself as under God carrying on the great Design of God and his Goodness in the World And this speaks it an Institution of great Value Worth and Honour And as I above noted this Ministry to excell the Jewish Priesthood which yet was very excellent so St. Chrysostom observes That God hath given this high Honour thereto Chrysost de Sacerdot l. 3. c. 5. which he hath not given to the holy Angels and Archangels themselves to be Ministers of Reconciliation and to dispense in his Name the Pledges of his Grace and Favour unto the Members of his Church 3. This sheweth that no Man may take this Honour unto himself but he that entreth into any Order of this Ministry must do it in that way which God appointeth The Apostles were constituted and commissionated immediatly by Christ himself and as he committed the general Care of his Church to them he therewith endued them with a Power to ordain others which is a chief part of that Care and of great concernment for the present and future Good of the Church The Assistants of the Apostles and the first Bishops and other Officers of the several
despising the Blessings which he tenders by those Institutions Wherefore since Episcopal Ordination hath been of so general Practice from the Apostles in the Church of God and is regularly established and continued in this Kingdom no Man in this Church with respect to Order Unity and Apostolical Institution can reasonably expect that God will ever own him as his Officer in the Ministry of Reconciliation unless he be admitted thereto by such Ordination And private Christians both out of Duty to God and out of respect to their own Safety may not so esteem of any who oppose themselves against this Order because of the Danger under the New Testament of perishing in the gainsaying of Core And let every Person whosoever he be be wary how upon any pretence whatsoever he undertakes to execute any proper part of the Power of the Keys unless he be set apart thereunto by regular Ordination And now I shall conclude my Discourse with three Inferences First This gives us an account whence all that Opposition and Difficulty doth arise which the Ministration of the Gospel and the faithful Servants of God therein do meet with The Devil will use his utmost Power by all his Methods to hinder so good a Work as this Ministration is intended for Hence the Holy Jesus and most of his Apostles met with opposition even unto Death And as all the Persecutions of the Christian Church had an especial eye upon the Clergy so that violent one under Dioclesian Eus Hist l. 3. c. 12. for the first Year fingled them only out to be the Subjects of his Fury These are the ordinary Mark against whom all the Churches Enemies shoot their poysoned Arrows envenomed from the Malignity of the Old Serpent And when the Evil One cannot proceed by open Violence he oft makes use of Instruments to fix slanderous Censures and Calumnies upon the Officers of Christ to render their Ministration the less prosperous and successful in the World Insomuch that their Devoutness in Religion is by some upbraided with Ceremoniousness and their consciencious Observance of due Order and Averseness to Faction is branded with the odious Term of Popery and their embracing the necessary Reformation of the Church is by others stigmatized with the infamous Names of Heresy and Schism Thus our Saviour was called Beelzebub himself accused of Blasphemy and his Doctrine of Heresy Besides these things the vicious and scandalous Practices of too many who profess the Truth the various Schisms and other manifold Corruptions in the Doctrine and Practice of Religion and I wish I might not add the undue Proceedings of some Patrons in conferring Ecclesiastical Preferments are all of them dangerous Methods made use of by the Evil One to hinder the attaining the great Ends of this Ministration Secondly I now address my self to you my Reverend Brethren It is a weighty Charge a Business of great Importance that we are called unto and as we are Stewards of the Living God it is required of us that we be found faithful And for the putting us in mind of that serious Care and Diligence which we are to use in our Ministry I know not how to speak otherwise so well as by recommending the serious and frequent considering that useful Exhortation in the Book of Ordination And let us particularly look well to our own Paths for tho the Excellency of God's Ordinances doth not depend upon the Instruments yet if a Blemish appears in any of our Lives it becomes a great Prejudice to the Designs we should carry on among Men and will open the Mouths of our Enemies and if there be a Judas among the Apostles the Devil is ready to make a special use of him to his purposes But let us observe that Rule which but a few Verses after my Text the Apostle tells us was the Practice of himself and other Officers of the Christian Church Giving no Offence in any thing that the Ministry be not blamed but in all things approving our selves as the Ministers of God 2 Cor. 6.3 4. Thirdly Let every one in their places lay to their helping-Hand to promote the Success of this Ministry upon themselves and others Wherefore let every Man who lives under the Dispensation of the Gospel reject all Wickedness of Life and exercise himself unto Godliness and so he will certainly advantage himself and probably others by his good Example And let all those who have the management of the Authority of the Church in their hands indifferently check the Neglect and Contempt of the Publick Service of God and all other Viciousness and Evil which comes within the Limits of their Authority and countenance and encourage all real Vertue Goodness Holiness and Religion And those Parish-Officers who stand charged upon their Oaths to give an account of Offences which is noted by our 26th Canon to be the chief Means whereby publick Offences may be reformed and punished and whose Miscarriage is there severely censured let not them sinfully neglect their Oath and their Duty the right Discharge of which may tend to the Glory of God the flourishing of the Church and Religion and the bringing Men into the Ways of Happiness And because the Apostle proposeth that humbling Question concerning the Ministerial Charge Who is sufficient for these Things Let us earnestly implore the Help and Grace of God to assist us and succeed our Ministrations to the great Good of Men. And let every devout Christian join his fervent and frequent Prayer to this end and purpose That he who hath committed to us this Ministration would bring all those who partake thereof unto true Holiness of Life here and eternal Happiness hereafter through the Merits of Jesus Christ our Lord To whom with the Father and the Holy-Ghost be all Glory for evermore Amen A SERMON Preached at NORWICH March 2. 1678. JOEL 2.12 Therefore also now saith the Lord Turn ye even to me with all your heart IN the foregoing part of this Prophecy there is a dismal appearance of things concerning Judah a heavy threatning of sad Calamities therein both by Famine and Sword in the first Chapter and former part of the second The dreadfulness hereof is represented according to an usual Prophetick Style as if God was making the whole Fabrick of his Creation to totter v. 10. The Earth shall quake before them and the Heavens shall tremble the Sun and Moon shall be dark and the Stars shall withdraw their shining And this great Calamity was like to be the more sad because of the terror of God's Vengeance going along with it v. 11. The Day of the Lord is great and very terrible and who can abide it In such a case as this these words which our Church directeth to be read at the beginning of Lent which is now near and which are of excellent use at all times are the beginning of the Prophetical Direction for their help and recovery from this sad Condition and such a Remedy as recovereth one gasping
but to this Man will I look that is poor and of a contrite Spirit Isa 66.1 2. Now upon this consideration of the Divine Goodness the Ninevites proceeded in their Repentance and tho that was undertaken upon uncertain hopes yet with good success But we have plain Promises and Directions to our Duty and as plain Promises annexed thereunto such as Ezek. 18.20 I will judg you O House of Israel every one according to his Ways saith the Lord God ' Repent and turn your selves from all your Transgressions so Iniquity shall not be your Ruine I come now to consider some peculiar Encouragements from Christianity and shall here mention three 1. From the coming of the Son of God into the World He came to be a Mediator and a Sacrifice and to assure us that God is ready to be reconciled to all them that turn to him and entertain the Terms of his Covenant And therefore those who are truly penitent shall by virtue of the Death and Sacrifice of Christ and the Reconciliation he hath thereby made obtain the Favour of God This was so much designed by our Saviour that Repentance was one of the first things he preached Mat. 4.17 Jesus began to preach and to say Repent And among the last Things which he committed to his Apostles before his Ascension this was one That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations Luke 24.47 And is it not our great Comfort that the Encouragements to true Repentance are assured by the Doctrine of the Gospel and by the Death of Christ and that they are confirmed by both the Sacraments of the New Testament If God had not been willing to receive humble Penitents and to give them his Blessings would he have sent his Son and have given so great a Blessing to the World as to put us upon returning to him And if Christ came to call Sinners to Repentance will he not own and receive them who obey his Call It is true indeed that the Proposals of the Gospel do chiefly relate to God's bestowing spiritual and eternal Blessings and our Care should be especially about these things but even temporal Blessings are not excluded from the Promises of God 2. From the Glory of Christ's Exaltation He who upon Earth proposed the Grace and Doctrine of Repentance hath now in Heaven all Authority and Power to dispense the Blessings he promised to them who obey him And he is faithful and true to perform his Word Would you obtain Remission of Sin and the Favour of God He as our High-Priest is our Intercessor effectually to procure this Blessing from God for them who heartily turn to him And as our King he is himself empowered to dispense this Favour of God For God hath exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour to give Forgiveness of Sins Acts 5.31 And he who took so much pains to seek after the straying Sheep will no doubt embrace them who by his care do return If you seek for the Welfare and Preservation of the Church of God and its being defended against its Enemies as humble pious Christians are the Heirs of Promise these Blessings are the Benefits contained in the Covenant and Promise of God And withal there are special Encouragements from our Saviour's Exaltation for our expecting to receive these Mercies For our Saviour being exalted at God's right-hand is now made an Head over all things to the Church and this includes both his near Relation which he beareth to it and that also he taketh upon himself a very particular Care of it And his Exaltation is so fatal to his and his Churches Enemies that he must reign till all his Enemies be made his Footstool Hereupon he tells Saul going to Damascus that it was hard for him to kick against the Pricks His Enemies must fall before his Power but he will effect what he undertakes to uphold 3. From the more particular Consideration of the State of the gospel-Gospel-Church The Christian Church is made up of returning Penitents but these are owned of God as his Children and Heirs and they shall shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father And such is God's Care of this Society of his Church that if it walk in his Way it shall be supported by him tho Earth and Hell should contrive against it Yet no particular Branch or Part of the Christian Church hath any security of its standing or any assurance from God that it shall be preserved but upon the Conditions of its holding the Faith and practising Piety and Obedience or hearty Repentance And indeed it can have none because there can be no particular Promise from God against the Nature and Terms of the New Covenant which enjoins Faith and Obedience as necessary Conditions of Acceptance with God The Romish Church pretends that she can never fall but must always continue because of that Promise of our Saviour Mat. 16.18 On this Rock I will build my Church But to this all I shall say at this time is That these Words do no way particularly refer to the Roman Church as it would arrogate to it self And our Lord hath plainly declared to us that no Church or Persons whatsoever can be represented by a House built upon a Rock which will stand notwithstanding all Oppositions but those who hear and obey his Doctrine which the Church of Rome doth not But all who neglect this Faith and Practice are as those who build on the Sand their House will fall and great will be the Fall thereof Mat. 7.24 25 26 27. And that there was no particular Privilege of this Nature ever intended to be granted to the Church of Rome is further manifest from that Epistle St. Paul wrote to the Romans For with some particular respect to that Church he lets them know If God spared not the natural Branches take heed lest he also spare not thee and if thou continue not in his Goodness thou also shalt be cut off Rom. 11.21 22. But all particular Churches whatsoever who heartily obey the Doctrine of the Gospel are secured of God's especial Care and Preservation from those Words of our Saviour John 15.2 Every Branch in me that beareth Fruit my Father purgeth it that it may bring forth more Fruit. The fruitful part of his Vineyard will not want his Care And it is our great Comfort that God's Catholick Church stands by his Foundation upon a Rock so that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it or no kind of Destruction shall be able to overcome it So that whatever Enemies it hath in the World they like the proud and mighty Waves if they dash themselves against the Rock will be broken in pieces but the Rock it self and that which is built upon it as an impregnable Fortress standeth firm For the Comfort of the Primitive Christians the Book of the Revelations gave them assurance that God would take care that his Church should not be overwhelmed
by the Persecutions it endured but should prevail under them And if it had not been from the Support of the Power of God the Christian Church in its weakest Estate could never have stood against the Wisdom and Power of the World which was then engaged against it but God then did and yet will uphold his Church even to the end And with a particular eye to God's especial Care hereof in these latter Times we read that when the Thousand Years were ended and the Nations and Gog and Magog compassed the Camp of the Saints and the beloved City then Fire came from God out of Heaven and devoured them Rev. 20.8 9. And those Interpreters who would understand these Phrases of the Camp of the Saints and the Beloved City concerning any particular City or Place upon Earth seem not herein to observe the Nature of the Prophetick Style which will direct us to understand it of the more eminent and chief part of the Christian Church Wherefore we have great grounds for expecting Good from God if we mind our Duty to him Now upon this Encouragement let us in the Fear of God undertake this Duty that we may be instrumental to the procuring Good to the Church of God and that we our selves may be Partakers of eternal Happiness This is the way to have God to be our Friend and no other Peace in the World can be concluded and secured upon those advantagious Terms as our having Peace with God may be And therefore I shall now come to the second thing I proposed to discourse of what we are here commanded to do Quest 2. What is it to turn to God with all our Heart Answ This is one and the same thing with Repentance The Septuagint express this Phrase of Turning in the Text by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or being converted to God And this supposeth or includeth 1. A serious Consideration and minding of our Rule together with the Motives that should put us upon a Practice answerable thereto This Rule is the Word of God or the Holy Scripture as superadded to the natural Light of Reason and Conscience Upon due pondering of this Josiah's Heart was tender and he humbled himself and undertook a Reformation 2. Self-reflection and Examination of our Minds Ways and Actions by this Rule with this stedfast purpose that nothing may be entertained or allowed in us which is not agreeable thereunto 3. An humble and serious Sorrow for past Miscarriages with hearty and unfeigned Confession of Sin and earnest Supplication to God for the obtaining Mercy 4. A resolved undertaking to forsake all Evil in Heart and Life and to do our Duty These things are so plain in the Nature of them and so evidently necessary in their general Consideration that they need not either further Explication or Proof The Practice and Exercise of Repentance and turning to God taketh in all these but both the Phrase of Turning and the chief Design of Repentance hath principal respect to the last of them it being all one to turn to God and to return to and carefully set upon our Duty And therefore I shall now insist on this and that we may practise these things to good effect I shall urge some particular Instances which are of great use to be performed in our minding this Duty 1. In avoiding Schisms and Divisions and practising Unity and Peace 2. In the forsaking Debauchery and Profaneness and the embracing Seriousness and Sobriety 3. In rejecting all Irreligion and Neglect of the Worship of God and engaging our selves in true Piety and hearty Devotion 1. In the avoiding Schisms and Divisions and practising Unity and Peace How many and frequent are the Precepts for Peace and Unity delivered in the Doctrine of our Saviour and how earnestly is this urged and inculcated If there be any Consolation in Christ c. saith the Apostle Phil. 2.1 2. Fulfill ye my Joy being of one accord and of one mind And if we view and consider the Business of our Religion as it was delivered by our Saviour and his Apostles this will be found to be one of its great and weighty Precepts And shall we then be forward to contend about other lesser things to the neglect of this As the Scribes and Pharisees would tithe Mint Anise and Cummin but neglected the weighty Things of God's Law St. Paul tells us The Kingdom of God is not Meat and Drink but Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy-Ghost For he that in these Things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of Men. Rom. 14.17 18. In which Words it is very plainly asserted that whilst some other Things which Men may contend about are of less moment these Things here mentioned are of great concernment to Religion it self and the being esteemed of God and good Men. And as Peace is one of these great Duties here urged so that the Apostle had a very particular Eye thereupon may be concluded from the Words immediatly following v. 19. Let us therefore follow after the Things which make for Peace And the Neglect of this Duty is very hurtful and pernicious to the Christian Church For as in the Body when it is rent and torn and the Members disjointed there must be from this very Cause great Disorders Weakness and Feebleness so is it also in the Church of God Yea these Things are to be accounted of dangerous Consequence for the undermining or shaking the Kingdom of Christ since our Lord himself hath told us that a Kingdom divided against it self is brought to Desolation And shall any good Man be pleased to join with the Enemy in his Designs against the welfare stability and safety of the Church of Christ Now besides many other Arguments which might be insisted on to disswade from Schisms and Divisions there are two things I shall recommend to you as being well worthy your serious consideration First making Divisions in the Church either includes a total want or at least a defect in a great degree of the true Spirit of Christianity This must needs be so because the observing Peace and Unity are so great a part and duty of our Religion If we reflect on our Baptism we are baptized into one Body and therefore are to observe Unity And when S. Paul urgeth the Ephesians to take care of that great Duty of walking worthy of that Vocation wherewith they were called Eph. 4.1 To that end he most particularly and largely insists on their keeping the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace v. 3 c. And from this very Reason he concluded the Corinthians to be carnal because of the envying strife and divisions that were among them 1 Cor. 3.3 And where-ever the Peace and Unity of the Church is broken from those corrupt Principles of Pride Self-will and the carelesness of obeying God's Commandments this speaks such an unchristian temper as will exclude such Persons from the Kingdom of God And therefore those very phrases the Apostle
mixture of hearty sorrow that so much evil should prevail in the world and that so many persons divers of whom intend well should be led away thereby And I humbly beseech Almighty God of his mercy and goodness to bless and give good success to all those labours which are undertaken to guide men into the right wayes of truth and peace 26. I know that many men account him to be wanting in kindness The nature of true kindness and love to men under mistakes and error and love to others who undertakes to lay open their mistakes and miscarriages how sincere and beneficial soever his intentions be yea though this be managed with the greatest tenderness and prudence even as indiscreet Children have hard and unkind apprehensions of him who openeth their sores though it be for their cure and such a person with many men shall rather be ranked amongst revilers and reproachers than amongst the number of Friends And they account that to be kindness and love when any one is ready to speak in favour of them and their actions and will take care to hide their faults and errors whensoever he discerns them And this kind of behaviour is indeed in a due measure an Office of charity in the case of private failings where the offender is sufficiently sensible of his miscarriage and affected with it But it is much otherwise where things that deserve blame are publickly declared and professed and are justified and vindicated or indeed where they are kept more private but without any penitent resentment of them Yet these cases fall under different Rules and considerations If this were true kindness as it cannot be towards men who themselves do amiss and by their examples and perswasions would engage others to do the like to flatter and complement them and to encourage them that they do well to continue in those practices which are their errors and miscarriages then must our grand adversary the Devil be looked on as our kind friend who is very forward to sooth men in their faults and to perswade and intice them into a resolved continuance in them and to shut their ears and open their mouths against those who would advise them better But this is true Christian kindness love and goodness to follow the example of our Lord and to set our selves to do good and to preserve or reduce others from evil though in so doing we expose our selves to the censure and displeasure of bad men or of them who are misguided CHAP. II. The Principles and Practices maintained in the Church of Rome are such as deserve severe Censure and a note of infamy SECT I. The Romish Church and its Doctrines and the putting them in practice is chargeable with great disturbances mischievous to the peace and order of the World Sect. I 1. IN this Chapter I shall enquire The bad Principles and practices owned in the Church of Rome whether the Church of Rome and the Members thereof who practise upon the Principles they are there taught be not chargeable with things really very evil and infamous and which deserve to be greatly condemned In this discourse I shall not intend to take notice of all the considerable errors in doctrine and practice which are owned and espoused in that Church But I shall instance in so many as may be sufficient to satisfie any unprejudiced and impartial Reader of the great corruption of that Church and how hurtful and dangerous it is to be guided by it I acknowledge there hath been so much said already and so largely and plainly proved by divers Protestant Writers and by many of our own Church and particularly by many learned and worthy Discourses of Dr. Stillingfleet in this Controversie of late years that I do not pretend nor need I to add much that is material and considerable to what they have written nor indeed to say so much as they have done upon those Arguments of which I shall discourse But yet I think such Remarks as I shall make may be of so much use to some persons as to give them a satisfactory account how necessary it is to avoid the Romish gross Errors 2. Several Heads of these proposed And what I shall here consider I shall reduce unto five-Heads First to give some instances of the principles and allowed practices of sedition and disturbance against the peace and good order of the Church and of the world and the violation of the rights both of secular Rulers and of other Churches and Bishops Secondly Of such things as are plain obstacles and hindrances to an holy life Thirdly Of those practices and opinions which derogate from the dignity and authority of our Saviour Fourthly of some things which debase the Majesty of God and deprive him of that glory and worship which is due unto him Fifthly Of such things as represent Religion and the Doctrines thereof as a thing contrived or ordered to serve the interests of worldly designs or human Policy And in treating of the several instances I shall give I desire my Reader to observe that since I use these Heads in part for Method and Order sake that which is to be considered in them is not only how aptly they are digested under these several heads though I think that is sufficiently clear but especially whether they do not manifestly contain what is false evil and opposite to Christianity And therefore it may be further noted that several things which I shall treat of are upon other accounts also evil and blameable besides the respect they bear to those particular Heads under which I do digest them 3. Observ 1. Popish Principles opposite to peace and due order First I shall enquire into the principles and allowed practices of sedition and disturbance against peace and good order of the Church and the world Here I shall not need to prove that true Religion and the Christian temper greatly promotes peaceableness and establisheth justice and righteousness in the earth And that the doing wrong and injury the prosecuting unjust claims and invading the rights and properties of others as also the embroiling any part of the World in discord and confusion in wars and tumults and in Sedition and Rebellion is exceeding contrary to our holy Religion For the true principles of Morality and the light of nature will direct men who are not influenced by interest and passion to condemn and detest such things as these Wherefore taking this for granted I shall in the first place reflect on the injurious demeanour of them at Rome towards secular Princes in claiming to the Romish Bishop an universal Soveraignty over Kings and Princes with a Power to depose them and dispose of their Kingdoms That the Pope makes and hath oft acted upon this claim of Sovereign Supremacy I have shewed (a) Christ Loyalty B. 1. ch 6. Sec. 2. in another Treatise And that the power of deposing Kings is owned as a Doctrine of the Romish Church I have
given also (b) B. 2. ch 1. Sec. 1. n. 4 c. sufficient evidence and the same hath been done at large by others The Romish claim is like that of the Tempter who concerning the Kingdoms of the World and the glory of them said Luk. 4.5 6. All this is delivered unto me and to whomsoever I will I give it and it hath also a parallel title which bears it self up upon confident usurpation vain boasting and false pretences Yet they who are thorough Papists must acknowledge this 4. Some Writers indeed of that Communion deny the Pope any power over Princes in things temporal but besides the Censure they generally undergo from their own party they are put to hard shifts when they undertake to reconcile their Assertions with the publickly received Constitutions of that Church For instance sake I shall take notice of the Council of (c) Concil Lateran c. de haeset Laterane concerning which they have as fair and plausible a plea as for any other thing which declares that the Pope may give the Country of a temporal Lord to Catholicks if he neglect to purge his Country of Hereticks Here it is first pretended Of the Câ—uncil at the Lateran that this was not declared by that General Council but only by Pope Innocent III. after it was broken up and that there were no Constitutions or Canons made in that Council And yet in the Decretalia of Gregory the Ninth who was Pope about twelve years after that Council this very Constitution is inserted into the (d) Decret l. 5. Tit. 7. c. 13. Excommunicamus Canon Law as being established by Innocentius in a General Council And from the Authority of that Council Transubstantiation hath been ever since acknowledged to be a declared Doctrine of the Roman Church And what goes under the name of this Council is acknowledged to have the Authority of a General Council both by the Council of Constance and by that of Trent as hath been observed by the (e) Of Popery p. 48-51 Bishop of Lincoln 5. But it is further said by them that the Canon of Lateran concerneth (f) Shel l dons Reasons for Allegiance p. 41. not Sovereign Princes but only some feudatory Lords in Italy and some parts of the Empire And whereas this sense seems plainly contradicted by the last clause of that Constitution eadem servata lege circa eos qui non habent dominos principales that the same Law should be observed concerning them who have no Chief Lords over them they note that there is an (g) Constit Fredericâ— n. 7 Imperial Law established by Frederick the Second much to the same purpose with this Canon to make void the rights of such Lords as purge not their Lands from Hereticks and that therein this clause is annexed that this same Law shall be observed against them who have-no Chief Lords But say they it cannot be supposed that the Emperour would enact a Law which might make void his own Imperial Dignity and forfeit his Empire Now in this Constitution of Frederick there is no express mention of any right of disposing Dominions devolving it self upon the Bishop of Rome but it may be considered how much this Emperours interest and that of the Church and See of Rome were at this time linked together For his possession of the Empire much depended on the Popes authority for (h) Mar. Polon in Oth. p. 394 395. Ursperg p. 326 327. Ave. tâ—â— Ann. Boio 〈◊〉 p. 519. Innocent the Third having excommunicated and deposed Otho the Emperour some of the Princes fix their thoughts upon Frederick to advance him to the Empire and the Pope closeth with this design and encourageth both him and them And therefore this clause concerning the advancing the interest of the Church and the forfeiture of Sovereign Dominion of what force or validity soever it be both tended to assert Fredericks own right and jointly to gratifie the Romish See And this Law was confirmed by him in compliance with the Pope (i) Constit Fred. in Praef. on that very day in which he received his Imperial Diadem from Honorius the Third who succeeded Innocentius And this Law was highly applauded by Honorius and ratified (k) ibid. in fin by him with a severe Curse against them who should act any thing against it and was again confirmed by Boniface the Eighth and seems to be framed by the Popes order from this clause in the Preface Cum nihil velit Ecclesia quod nobis eâdem non placeat voluntate 6. And yet if this were true that the Doctrine of their Church gives the Pope power of disposing only Emperours and Kings must be submissive to the Pope of such Principalities which belong to inferiour and dependent Lords this would afford but little security to the greatest Princes if the Romish Bishop be still allowed to judge in this case For the most imperious Popes have oft very plainly declared the Secular authority of the highest Princes to be derived from them and to depend upon them And the collection of Sacred Ceremonies contains such things concerning Emperours and Kings as when occasion serves may be made use of to infer subjection and dependance Thus we are told (l) Sacr. Cerem l. 1. Sect. 5. c. 1. that the elected Emperour must implore the favour of the Apostolical See and offer himself ad quaecunque fidelitatis juramenta Romanae Ecclesiae praestanda to take any Oaths of Fealty to the Church of Rome and must humbly desire Unction Consecration and the Imperial Diadem And the Pope after examination of the Election and considering the fitness of the Person doth grant him his grace and favour and doth eum nominare denunciare assumere declarare Regem Romanorum Nominate authoritatively pronounce receive and declare him to be King of the Romans and to be fit and sufficient to receive the Imperial Dignity And in this manner it is there said that divers Emperours have addressed themselves to the Pope some of which are there particularly named And if any King shall come to Rome (m) l. 1. Sect. â—3 c. 2. f. 132. after the first day of his being there he is to carry the Popes train and to pour out water for his hands and to carry up the first Dish to his Table and serve the first Cup in other Collations which things with others mentioned in the same Book carry in them fair appearances of doing homage And some of the Romish Bishops which have somewhat more than others complemented Secular Authority in some of their notions have yet in their practice acted as much against them as any others So did Innocent the Third who acknowledged (n) Decretal l. 4. Tit. 17. c. 13 Pervenegabilâ—m Rex superiorem in temporalibus minime recognoscit that a King is to own no Superiour in temporals and therefore speaking of his own Authority besides what he had within the Patrimony of the Church