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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66403	A manual, or, Three small and plain treatises viz. 1. Of prayer, or active, 2. Of principles, or positive, 3. Resolutions, or oppositive [brace] divinity / translated and collected out of the ancient writers, for the private use of a most noble lady, to preserve her from the danger of popery, by the Most Reverend Father in God, John, Lord Arch-Bishop of York.	Williams, John, 1582-1650.	1672 (1672)	Wing W2711; ESTC R38653	30,581	162

A MANVAL OR Three SMALL and PLAIN TREATISES VIZ. 1. Of Prayer or Active Divinity 2. Of Principles or Positive Divinity 3. Resolutions or Oppositive Divinity Translated and Collected out of the Ancient Writers for the Private Use of a most Noble LADY to preserve her from the Danger of POPERY By the most Reverend Father in God JOHN Lord Arch-Bishop of YORK LONDON Printed for William Garret and are to be Sold by Joseph Clark and Ralph Needham in Little-Britain 1672. Certain PRAYERS AND Short MEDITATIONS Translated out of the Writings of St. Augustine St. Gregory St. Bernard Joannes Picus Mirandula Ludovicus Vives Georgius Cassander Charolus Paschalius and others for the private Use of a most Noble Lady Morning Prayer MY Soul fleeth unto the Lord before the morning Watch I say before the morning Watch. O let me hear thy loving kindness betimes in the morning for in thee is my trust shew thou me the way that I should walk in for I lift up my soul unto thee O Lord assist me with thy Holy Spirit in my Prayers and let my cry come unto thee Our Father which art c. A Prayer for Confession of sins REceive O Lord in the arms of thy mercy thy distr●●sed handmaiden who in remorse and contrition returns unto thee from her sins Because the life of that sinner is not abhorred of thee which is accompanied with sighs and repentance Pardon then O Lord all my offences for thy dear Son's sake Amen A Prayer for the Morning ALmighty God our heavenly Father which hast brought me thy handmaiden to this present morning protect me still with thy mighty power that this ensuing day I may fall into no sin nor run into any kind of danger but that my thoughts words and deeds may tend to the honour and glory of thy Name and the eternal comfort and salvation of mine own soul through Jesus Christ my Lord and only Saviour Amen Another O Most sincere and pure Light from whence this light of the day and of the Sun fetcheth his begining Thou which enlightenest every man that cometh into the World Thou Light whom no night or evening can obscure but continuest ever in thy High-noon brightness Thou Word and Wisdom of so great a Father enlighten this morning my soul and understanding that thy weak Hand-maiden may be this day as blinded to the Vanities of the World and quick-sighted only to those things which are pleasing unto thee and leading to the waies of thy Commandements Amen For the Mediation of Christ LOrd Jesus that art not only righteous but righteousness it self and art my Advocate with God the Father justifie thou me thy hand-maiden in the day of judgment because I acknowledge and accuse my self as full of injustice and pollution For it is not upon any action or contrition of mine owne that my soul relies but only upon a faith assurance and bold confidence in thee mine Advocate who livest and raignest with the Father and the holy Ghost one God world without end Amen Against Temptations GIve me thy Grace O Almighty God so to vanquish and overcome the lusts and temptations of this world that I may triumph with thee over the Devil and his wicked angels in the world to come Amen For Piety I Humbly beseech thee O Almighty God that his desire of reading and ●earing thy sacred Word which by thy Holy Spirit thou hast planted in my heart may by thy grace and mercy be daily renued and augmented unto a perfect fire of zeal and devotion to the honour of thy Name and salvation of mine own soul in Christ Jesu Amen A Prayer for a Noble-woman O Lord Jesus Christ that art so far from contemning Nobility of birth that thy Evangelists have diligently searched out and recorded thine own genealogy give me thy unworthy Hand-maiden the grace that I abuse not by ingratitude this thy favour and mercy But rather as it was first acquired in my Ancestors let it still be preserved in my Person by my continual serving of thee and doing as it shall lie in my power all works of Charity to my Neighbours Give me grace that as thou hast plac'd me in Birth Rank so I may be found in devotion piety lowliness of mind weekness and a religious care of thy worship conspicuous above others And if it be thy gracious Will to make me a Mother of Children and Mistriss of a Family let me appear a pattern and ensample of Devotion and Piety to all that are about me And make me and them so to live in thy fear that we may dye in thy favour through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour Amen A Prayer for a Wife ALmighty God which hast given me to be a comfort and an helper unto my Husband endue my soul with those Heavenly Graces wherewith I may be most enabled to serve thee and please him Knit our minds as well as our bodies in an indissoluble band of sincere affection Give either of us sanctified hearts zealous towards thee thankful towards our Soveraign sincere loving one towards another Crown withal if it be thy will these chast intentions with thy fructifying grace that we may become the happy Parents of such Olive branches as may one day advance thy Glory in the Church and Common-wealth In a word so incorporate us both by faith in Christ unto thy kingdom of Grace that we may at the last attain unto thy kingdom of Glory Amen A Prayer for one attendant neer the person of a Prince ALmighty God by whose gracious providence it cometh that my Lord and Husband is thus employed in that nearness of attendance upon His Royal Majesty give him grace so to serve thee that he may the better serve him and by making him thy Saint continue him his servant Fill his mind with all wisdom knowledge and other virtues befitting his rank and calling that he may seem no more elected by the King then selected by thee for these employments Make him vigilant careful and industrious in his Masters affairs Make him to accompt it his only happiness to serve thee his only virtue to observe him and all the rest as glittering vanity That after a troublesome but long life in a Kings Court his soul may be carried by the Angels unto thy Court where one day is better than a thousand Crant this for thy dear Son's sake Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Meditation Count MIRANDULA his twelve Thoughts or Weapons against all the Temptations of Sin Think 1. THe pleasure thou art tempted unto but short and momentary 2. And even this is attended with loathing and anxiety 3. And yet that for this thou must lose Heaven 4. That thy life is but as a dream and shadow 5. Thy death is suddain and at thy door 6. Thy time of repentance casual and uncertain 7. Thy reward or punishment endless and eternal 8. That thou art a creature of an

and the Blood of Christ 2. It keeps us from despair because it assures us our sins are washed away 3. It keeps us from sin For it is a shame for one washed to soil himself again 4. It gives an entrance ●nto the Church 5. It hath a visible sign Water Grace invisible Forgiveness of sins by the blood of Christ VII THe Lords Supper is a distribution of Bread ●nd Wine which seals signs ●nd exhibits or gives unto you Christs true Body offe●ed and his true Blood pou●ed out upon the Cross for ●…our sins as certainly as ●he Priests exhibite unto your hands the Bread and ●he Wine And withal the Supper assures your heart that Christs Body and Blood nourish your soul to eternal life as surely as Bread and Wine doth nourish your body to the offices of this temporal life Mark then the Vses of this Sacrament of the Supper 1. It assures you of all the benefit that is to be expected from the Body and blood of Christ 2. It puts you continually in mind that Christ died for you 3. It strengthens and ascertains your faith if it be received worthily And therefore you must not neglect thrice in the year at the least to approach with all reverence to this heavenly Table VIII THat this Sacrament may be received worthily you must examin your self before the receiving Pray unto God for Faith in the receiving and take heed of gross and premeditated sins after the receiving of this Sacrament IX BEfore the receiving you must examin four things 1. You must examin your knowledge 1. Whether you know how you ought to Live To this end read over the Ten Commandements 2. Whether you know how to Believe Read over attentively your Creed 3. Whether you know how to Pray Say over advisedly the Lords Prayer Without this little knowledge at the least you are not fit to Receive 2. You must examin your Faith Whether you are assured in your heart that Christ hath fully satisfied for your sins and perfectly on your repentance reconciled you unto God not others only but your self also Without this assurance in some measure you may not receive 3. You must examin your Repentance 1. Whether you are sorry for your sins 2. Whether you hate sin 3. Whether you resolve to indeavour to sin no more Without this Repentance you cannot Receive worthily 4. You must examin your Charity 1. Whether you forgive all the world 2. Whether you are free from malice and hutred When you have examined these four points you may receive worthily X. NOw your faith in Christ which you have gotten in Gods Church being thus hatched by the holy Ghost in your heart brought forth by your hearing cherished by your reading of the word sealed by your Baptism and strongly confirmed and strengthened by your part a king of the blessed Sacrament of the Supper must be continually maintained and preserved by these two means Prayer unto God and him only And Good works or holiness of life And this is the sum of all your Notes which I recommend unto you for this time 1. Salvation is only by such faith in Christ as worketh by Love 2. Faith only in Gods Church 3. Where by the Word read or heard Faith is nourished 4. By the Sacrament of Baptism assured 5. By the Sacrament of the Supper ratified and confirmed 6. By Prayer and Good works for ever established A Prayer after the reading of these few Notes O Lord God that I may be partaker of thy Covenant of Grace make me a believing member of thy Church send thy Holy Spirit into my heart to beget there a confidence and full assurance of the remission of all my sins in Christ Jesus let this assurance be still nourished with my hearing and reading of the Word let it be sealed unto me by my Baptism confirmed by the Sacrament of the Supper and fully established by my serving of thee in Prayer and Good Works to the glory of thy Name and the endless comfort and salvation of mine own soul through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen A SHORT CATECHISM CONCERNING Faith and good Works To be Read and Meditated upon once every Week at the least which may be well called The Catechism of the Conscience Quest WHy hath God made me a reasonable Creature and not as well he might of a meaner kind Answ That with your whole heart that is with your will and understanding you might serve him and love him Which creatures only indued with reason can do Quest How is God principally served and loved of me Answ By your faith and good works which God commands you in his Word And these good works of yours are twofold Prayer to God Charity to men Quest What is Faith Answ A full belief and perswasion of your heart sometimes called an Assurance whereby you are resolved of these three points 1. That there is one only God one Essence and Three Persons The Father who created you Son who redeemed you Holy Ghost who sanctified you 2. That God the Son came into the world to do all that was to be performed and to suffer all that was to be endured by you for your sins actual and original And hereby obtained for you perfect forgiveness of all your sins and hath bestow'd upon you his own perfect righteousness by the means whereof you are reckon'd just and guiltless before the throne of God on a supposal that you repent and are become a new creature by bringing forth fruits meet for repentance 3. That God hath prompted with his Holy Spirit the Pen-men of the Scriptures to teach you all this faith and belief as also all the course of his worship And that every thing contained in these Scriptures is true Q. Why doth God so much require of me faith and belief A. Because without believing in him you cannot love nor reverence him As if you did not believe your father to be your father you would not love him or reverence him as your father Q. How is this Faith first wrought A. By your hearing of Gods word and using those two Sacraments appointed by Christ in his Church Baptism and the Lords Supper And withal by praying continually unto God and doing of good works Q. How shall I know that I begin to have Faith A. If you find in your self these alterations 1. If you find that you have gotten more knowledge of God and of Religion and are glad thereof 2. If you do desire more than you did to have the Son of God to become your Saviour and to stand betwixt you and Gods wrath for the sins you have committed against God 3. If you take more delight than you did in Reading and hearing the Word of God Receiving the Sacrament 4. If when you find doubtings in your mind you can pray unto God to strengthen your Faith 5. If you endeavour to abstain from fin for fear of offending so good a God 6. If you begin to endeavour to live godly and

excellent worth and made to serve God 9. That thou hast no happiness to the peace of Conscience 10. Think how good thy God hath been unto thee 11. Think of the Cross of Christ who there died for thee 12. Of examples of holy men and Saints who lived before thee Walk about your Chamber a turn or two after your Prayers and meditate upon these points seriously and you shall find that temptations to sin will vanish away and leave to assault you The four last things to be first thought upon by all good Christians 1. The day of thy Death thou knowest not how suddenly 2. The day of Judgment that will come certainly 3. The Joyes of Heaven if thou live Religiously 4. The pains of Hell if thou continuest to do wickedly The end of Morning Prayer Evening Prayer to bed-ward O Lord hear my Prayer And let my cry come unto thee Our Father which art c. A Prayer for Even O Lord I do confess to my shame confusion that this day hath been spent by me with less purity and piety than it should have been I have augmented since this morning the score of my sins My thoughts have been polluted my wit prophane and unsanctified my tongue more rash and unbridled than became any one of that rank and calling wherein thou hast set me I have sinned through idleness ignorance slothfulness and malice And this darkness of the night puts me in mind of that eternal darkness my sins have deserved Pardon and forgive me all my transgressions Let this darkness be a fit time unto me of rest and sleep and no opportunity of snares and temptations Send thy Holy Ghost into my heart to free and purifie the same from all rolling motions suggestions of Sathan and from the usual terrours affrightments of the night Preserve this house in safety O Lord and all the people that are therein Let my prayer ascend up unto thy presence as the incense and let this lifting up of mine hands be as an Evening sacrifice through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour Amen Another HAving spent the day we betake our selves to our repose in the night So after the troubles of this present life we shall rest our selves in death Nothing doth more resemble our life than the day our death than sleep our grave than the bed our resurrection than our awaking in the morning Do thou then O God my protector and defender preserve me in my sleep from the incursions and temptations of the devil in my death from the guilt punishments of my sins I have no strength to resist in the one nor merits of mine own to display in the other Look only upon the merits of my Lord Saviour give me a strong and stedfast faith to apply his righteousness to mine own soul In confidence full assurance of whose satisfactions for all my sins I do for this night lie me down in peace and take my rest for it is thou Lord only that maketh me to continue in safety Amen Another ALmighty and everlasting God who makest the light to succeed the darkness give me the grace to spend this night freed from the snares of sin and Sathan and to be here again upon my knees in the morning to give thee thanks for the same through Jesus Christ my Lord and only Saviour Amen Meditations When your maid is getting you to bed HE that willingly goes to bed should as willingly go to his grave We willingly put off our cloaths being to put them on again in the morning and should as willingly put off our bodies being to put them on again in the Resurrection 2. After the troubles of the day comes the quietness of the night in the which the King and the swain differ nothing So after this life comes death where poor and rich are alike and equal 3. Here is a fit time especially laid in your bed to fall to your Audite for the day past What evil you have committed by 1. Swearing 2. Lying 3. Taunting 4. Being too angry 5. Vain talking especially of Religion 6. Exceeding in fare or apparel 7. Injuring of another Repent of it Detest it Resolve to do it no more What good you have omitted as Saying grace when you eat Praying Releiving of a poor body Respecting your husband parents Spending some time upon Meditations Works of charity Desire Gods grace to be more wary What good you have performed If you have learned any thing that day If you have done any man good that day If you have kept your private and publick Prayers that day If you have given any Alms that day If you have heard the Word or received the Sacrament that day If you have spent any time upon your Meditations that day Rejoyce in it give God thanks for it When you have run over these accompts and find sleep coming say Into thy hands I commit my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth Amen The end of Evening Prayer Some other Collects For Faith MAn is blinded by fin but thou O Christ by the goodness and mercy of God the Father art become our guide in the way of salvation And yet such is our wretchedness and misery that we stagger for all this sometimes not understanding sometimes not believing many times not applying to our souls with a sure confidence thy promises of salvation set down in the Gospel O miserably blind that we are that can neither see ourselves nor believe our guider and instructer O thou eternal and pure verity vouchsafe so to slide into our hearts that we may be more certainly perswaded of thee thy truth than of those things we see with our eyes hear with our ears and handle with our hands the weak apprehensions of our bodily senses upon which this flesh and blood doth so much depend Appease asswage those rollingthoughts and wandring ●…otions of the flesh that make us to doubt and stagger in those high mysteries of the which we ought most firmly to be fixed resolved Faith is thy gift and therefore work it by the holy Ghost in my heart that all my senses and imaginations may become slaves and captives to the fame Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief O Lord increase my faith Amen Meditations 1. How easily we believe a lewd lying man yet how scrupulous w● are to believe God himsel● 2. We believe a man i● things which nothing concern us we believe no God in matters of our salvation Man is impotent God omnipotent 3. We believe our senses which often delude u● as in all tricks of Legey● demain we distrust Christ who can neither be deceived nor deceive us For the King and the Royal Issue I Humbly beseech thee Almighty God to present with all blessings of goodness our King and His Royal Issue Increase upon them day by day all ●hy

favours vanquish with ●hy mighty hand all open enemies and privy Conspirators who oppugn ●heir Religion Life Diadem or Dignity Crown each of them with all virtues these virtues with ●ong lives and their lives at the last with eternal glory Amen For Charity or the works of Mercy O Lord of mercy and compassion I beseech thee by the tender bowels of thy Son Christ Jesus to move my stony heart to the works of mercy that I may keep my hours of Prayers mourn with them that mourn counsel them that are amiss help them that are in misery relieve the poor comfor● the sorrowful help the oppressed forgive them tha● trespass against me pray for them that hate me requite good for evil despise no man or woman reverence my betters respect my equals be humble and courteous to my inferiours Imitate those that are good shun those that are bad embrace virtue eschew vice Be patient in adversity modest in prosperity thankful in either Keep a watch over my tongue Scorn this world and thirst after Heaven Amen For the receiving of the Blessed Sacrament O Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God through whom only is granted forgiveness of sins and life everlasting who didst justifie the Publican when he confessed the woman of Canaan when she prayed Peter when he repented and the thief upon the Cross when he called upon thee grant unto me a most miserable and wretched sinner pardon and forgiveness of all my transgressions which I most humbly confess I have committed against thee that I may receive this Communion of thy Body and Blood not to my judgement and condemnation but to my everlasting comfort and salvation who livest and reignest with the Father and the holy Ghost one God world without end Amen Meditation When you have newly received O Lord increase my faith O Lord let the Body and Blood of Christ be fixed in my soul to my comfort in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come Amen For that day you expect to hear a Sermon or when you read upon your Bible ALmighty and everlasting God whose Word 〈◊〉 a lanthorn to our feet and a light unto our paths open and enlighten my understanding that I may learn the mysteries of thy Word so far forth as is necessary to my salvation purely and sincerely And be so transfigured in my life and conversation unto that which I shall learn as to please thee in will and deed through Jesus Christ my Lord and only Saviour Amen For Sickness and all other Vses you have excellent Prayers in the Book of Common-Prayer PRINCIPLES Few Notes for the private Use of a most Noble LADY A Prayer to be said upon your knees before the reading over of these Notes ALmighty God the Fountain of true Wisdom and Knowledg send thy Holy Spirit into my heart that I may sufficiently understand and stedfastly believe all the Doctrins necessary to my Salvation and adde such practice and obedience to this Faith through the whole course of my life and conversation as I may so serve thee in thy Kingdom of Grace that hereafter I may be made partaker of thy Kingdom of Glory through the only merit and mediation of thy dear Son and my dear Saviour Jesus Christ Amen I. MAn since his fall in Adam hath no hope of salvation but by the Covenant of Grace betwixt God and Man Whereby God promiseth unto man Mercy and Forgiveness of Sins and man unto God true Faith in Christ and holiness of life and conversation II. CHrist is the Saviour as of all so especially of them that believe and these alone are of God's Church Now the Church of God is Any Company or Congregation of men wheresoever living called by God through the sound of the Gospel unto the Faith of Christ and distinguished from other Societies by these five Marks especially 1. hearing and reading the Word 2. Faith thereunto 3. the use of the Sacraments 4. Prayer and 5. Sanctity of life Where these five things are there is ever a Church of God and sufficient means of salvation III. THe Word must be read often upon your Bible with modesty and short desires of the heart unto God to give you grace to understand it to believe it and to practise it It must be heard upon all convenient occasions especially in those two hours of the Lords day appointed by the Church and the State for that Divine Worship and then you must observe four Rules 1. Observe the Preacher with attention and modesty 2. Secondly apply unto your self in particular the Doctrins and Uses which are delivered in general 3. Examin your conscience if you be guilty of the sins there reproved and presently call to God for grace to amend them 4. Think upon these things again when you come to your Chamber IV. THis outward hearing and reading of the Word together with the inward working of the Holy Ghost in your hearts doth beget a true lively and saving faith which is A full belief without doubting that all is true which God hath spoken or promised in the Scripture and that you rest wholly and confidently upon God that he will grant unto your self in particular forgiveness of sins upon your Repentance and Amendment and perseverance unto the end This is the main point you are seriously to meditate upon and therefore observe these precepts 1. If you do not believe or if you do doubt of any thing in Scripture presently pray unto God to strengthen and enlighten you 2. If you doubt whether you may have any particular interest in those general promises of grace in Christ propounded in the Gospel fall again to your prayers for an increase of Faith 3. If you doubt and yet can find in your heart to pray for more faith let your conscience never be troubled with such a doubting 4. Mark well when the Creed is in reading and give an assent with your heart to every Article And as I doubt not you have learn'd it so keep it still in memory V. NOw as this practical and working Faith is wrought in us by the reading and hearing of the Word joyned with Prayer so is it signed and sealed in our hearts by the two Blessed Sacraments Baptism The Lords Supper Observe in either Sacrament two parts A visible sign Water in Baptism Bread Wine in the Supper An invisible grace Remission of sins in Baptism The benefit of Christ passion in the Supper VI. BAptism is the first Sacrament of the New Testament to wit An outward washing of Water appointed by Christ in his Church with this promise that upon your being Baptized you were as certainly washed from your sins Original being an infant and actual if you had been of years by the Holy Ghost and the Blood of Christ as you were rinsed outwardly in body by this Element of Water Mark then these Vses of Baptism 1. It assures us we are washed from our sins by the Holy Ghost

Act of Reformation begining in sundry estates by reason partly of their divers shapes and forms of governments and partly of a great disadvantage thatone part of Christendom knew not what another did nor consulted with their fellows that so they might with unanimity proceed in the same did necessarily produce a seeming difference in the outward forms of particular Churches But loe the goodness and providence of Almighty God Although these Churches have several faces yet have they all but one heart there being no essential fundamental or material difference amongst any of us of the reformed Religion as you may easily find by reading the confessions of our several Churches And therefore for these odious Nick-names of Lutheran Calvinist Huguenot Zuinglian and the like be more sparing of them until you have reconcil'd your own Church-men as your Minorits and Dominicans about the conception of the Blessed Virgin your Jesuits and Dominicans about predestination and those dependant questions Your Sorbonists and Jesuits about the bounding and meeting out the Regal and Papal Authority and you shall find more doctrinal oppositions in your own than you can imagin ●n our Churches But keep you at home in your ●ative Country and look without envy or partia●ity upon this flourishing Church of England and ●ame me one Kingdom in all Europe that hath continued ●ery neer this hundred years in that constancy and ●mmutability of Doctrin or Discipline We are ordered with that consecration that Archbishop Cranmer was we renounce the Pope by that abjuration that Archbishop Cranmer did we subscribe to those Articles of Religion which Arch Bishop Cranmer in the Reformation pitch'd upon before we can be admitted to any Ecclesiastical function Some wild coults we have that start and boggle at the first if they see but their own shadows but by the discipline of the Church they are curb'd and fetch'd about again and taught in a little while to come on gently to this uniformity and subscription So that malice it self cannot challenge the Church of England this most glorious portion of that Catholick Church of any fractions or divisions in points of Doctrin Pap. Nay but I have often heard that you have no Bishops or Priests at all in your Church But that in the beginning of Q. Elizabeths reign Lay-men in the Parliament did appoint you Bishops who consecrated one another in a Tavern at the Nags-head in Cheapside and that your Priests were ordered only by these Parliamentary Prelates Prot. This tale of the Nags-head Harding Sanders and Stapleton have forged out of their own Nags-heads without any grounds or likelihood at all And yet as easily as they came by it put a Minister of our Church to an infinite deal of learned pains Who by His Majesties special commandment did search out the ancient Records of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury agnized since by many Priests and Jesuits in the Clink and other prisons and out of them hath composed a learned Book shewing the successive Consecrations of all the Bishops of England from that first convocation that banish'd the Pope about the year 1536 so as any Minister looking out that Bishop who gave him Orders may presently ascend in a right line of Bishops to those Prelates that lived in the Reign of Henry the eighth before the reformation And therefore if your own Priests be lawful you may not quarrel with ours differing only from yours in their renouncing of your impieties and superstitions Pap. This Record you speak of is somewhat to the purpose unless the heresie of those first Bishops did disable them for granting of lawful Consecrations and Orders Prot. Heretick indeed is a common word for us in the mouth of every Woman that is but a little Romaniz'd But is it not strange how he should be an Heretique that saies the Creed and the Lords Prayer in that literal and explicate sense and meaning that all the Fathers of the Church for the first 500 years understood the same Yet this is nothing to the point in hand For first if the Bishops in Queen Maries time were lawful notwithstanding their being consecrated by Cranmer and other tainted Bishops as you term them why may not the Bishops in Queen Elizabeth and King James his time expect the same priviledge And secondly your own Writers confess that Heresie which we suppose but not yield these Prelates fallen unto cannot rase out from that Character of a Bishop this inseparable power of consecrating and ordering Pap. Yet there remains an objection against your Church that it cannot possibly be a true Church because it is severed from the true visible head thereof the Pope of Rome Prot. This is a stale objection and soon answered The Church of Asia severed from Pope Victor in the year 200. Athanasius and his fellows from Faelix and Tiberius in the year 375. Cyprian and his Brethren yea and three National Councils from Pope Stephen in the year 250. the Bishops of Carthage Schismatized from all Popes of Rome for an hundred years together about the year 409. lastly the Greek Church cut off from the Roman for 300. years are sufficient testimonies there may be a true Church of God though severed and divided from the Pope of Rome And here in this Kingdom it was no Protestant but Popish Bishops that concluded in a National Synode our King might if he pleased create a Pope of his own in his own Kingdoms and Dominions and yet remain a member of the Catholick Church Pap. Well the best is you have been so tedious in your answers that I have I thank God forgotten all that you have said for your reformed Church Prot. But I will help that quickly by summing up of all into these twelve Positions 1. We have a Church as having Doctrine Salvation Discipline 2. It is a portion of the Catholick Church 3. It hath a Spiritual union of Doctrin with the untainted members of the Church of Rome 4. And yet hath severed her self from the Church of Rome by crying against and dissenting from her Superstitions 5. Which some of us hold no true Church of Gods in regard of the prevailing Faction 6. Although we judge charitably of the Salvation of some in that Church 7. Who notwithstanding are saved not as Papists but as Christians 8. And in one lump or Communion with this Church lived ours before the Reformation 9. Which then for want of a General did sever her self by a National Council from the same 10. Nor was it any by-respect of the Kings but God and the cry of that age that caused this reformation 11. Nor do our reformed Churches dissent amongst themselves in Doctrine but in outward policy and discipline only 12. Our Bishops and Priests come by a lineal Succession from Henry the eights time nor can a supposal of Heresie cut off this discent CHAP. II. Of the Scriptures Papist DOe you then hold this Church of yours