abolendâ cruce Dignum authore opus est dignus at ille opere est nempe cruce It will be here said if this escape in M. Cromptons book were so grosse how came it to passe that it escaped my censure in perusing and licensing the same my answer hereunto is direct That it did not escape mee but I tooke notice thereof in reading that Chapter and both corrected it in that place and afterwards In that place I inserted these words as some report thereby giving the Reader to understand that I avowed not the thing there reported but branded it with suspition and pag. 84. I determined the cleane contrary in the conclusion of the Chapter in these words following line 9. To conclude then it is most certaine that the signe of the crosse was first invented and practiced against Pagans who used to make it onely in derision of Christianity The Valentinian heretickes after abused the Crosse to a fantasticall end c. 2. TOuching Womens baptizing in case of necessity his Majestie in part disliked that which M. Crompton delivers pag. 95. that for a lay man and much more for a woman to baptize in case of necessity in S. Austines opinion it is a pardonable sinne though pardonable yet a sinne and the usurping of anothers office The answer hereunto made as I take it by M. Crompton for I remember not that I spake any thing at all to this point was that in the Conference at Hampton Court womens baptizing was utterly condemned and that thereupon an alteration was made in the Booke of Common Prayer and whereas before women were allowed to baptize in case of necessity in the booke set out by his Majestie baptisme in private houses in time of necessity is restrained to the Minister of the Parish or any other lawfull Minister that can be procured Against this answer his Majestie excepted That neither in the Common Prayer booke set out by King Edward nor in that by Queene Elizabeth there was any mention of womens baptizing In King Edwards Common Prayer Booke printed Anno Dom. 1540. in the Rubricke before private Baptisme we reade of them that are to be baptized in private houses in time of necessity First Let them that be present call upon God for his grace and say the Lords Prayer if the time will permit and then one of them shall name the childe and dip it in the water or powre water upon it saying these words N. I baptize thee c. and let them not doubt but that the childe so baptized is lawfully and sufficiently baptized King Edwards booke reformed anno Dom. 1552. hath the same rubrick verbatim Queene Elizabeths booke hath likewise the same words The booke set out upon the conference at Hampton Court hath altered it on this wise Of them that are to be baptized in priuate houses in time of necessity by the Minister of the Parish or any other lawfull Minister that can be procured First let the lawfull Minister and them that bee present call upon God for his grace and say the Lords prayer if the time will suffer and then the childe being named by some one that is present the said lawfull Minister shall dip it in water c. In all which passages in all the severall Impressions of the bookes of Common praier there is nothing said of a womans baptizing neither to warrant it to be done nor to condemne it when it is done Neither doth S. Austine simply condemne a Lay man or woman baptizing in case of necessitie as a sinne but saith either it is no fault or a pardonable His words Tom. quarto lib. 2. contra Epist. Parmenionis are Nulla cogente necessitate si fiat alieni muneris usurpatio est si autem necessitas urget aut nullum aut veniale delictum est sed etsi nulla necessitate usurpetur et a quolibet cuilibet detur si datū fuerit non potest dicinon datum quamvis rectè dici potestillicitè datum And this said his Maiestie was the summe of the resolution at Hampton Court in this point howsoever some have mistaken it 3. TOuching some kinde of ignorance supposed to bee in Christ according to his humane nature His Majestie disallowed Master Cromptons peremptorie resolution set downe pag. 23 viz. That Christ as man was subject to some kind of ignorance and this was the Primitive truth taught by St. Austine and maintained by the Church of England I cannot endure saith his Majesty that my Sauiour should be said to bee ignorant of any thing For in him the divine nature was hypostatically united to the humane in one person and that person being divine could not nor cannot bee subject to any kinde of ignorance Here I humbly beseeched his Majesty to be pleased to heare what might be probably alleaged in defence of M. Cromptons opinion The rather because Iunius in his answer to Bellarmine and D. Feild a worthy writer of ours in the 5. booke of the Church cap. 14. deliuer the same doctrine in effect as M. Crompton doth in this section These authorities satisfied not his Majestie who said that hee would not that wee should ground our judgement vpon later writers especially those beyond the Seas which were not well acquainted with the Tenets of our Church and moreover differed from vs in discipline and judgement touching the decent ancient and laudible Ceremonies used in our Church Vpon this occasion his Majestie gave M. Crompton and Me many most usefull instructions in our study in Divinitie agreeable to those Directions sent heretofore to the Vniversities which deserve to bee written with the point of a Diamond for the perpetuall use of the Church and advancement of sacred knowledge and learning For these Directions having given his Majesty thankes and promised to follow them I propounded those words of our Saviour Marke 13. 32. But of that day and houre knoweth no man no not the Angels neither the Sonne but the Father Which as I conceived made for M. Cromptons opinion viz. That Christ according to his humane nature might be said if not subject to ignorance yet to a nescience of some particulars such as that which is mentioned in the Text for as for the Iesuits interpretation of that Text viz. That Christ knew not the day of Iudgement ad dicendum nobis to tell us I never could like of it because it is forced and serveth to give support to the doctrine of Aequivocation Neither doe I said his Majesty allow of the Gloss of the Iesuites but you must observe said he that Christ said not that neither the Son of God doth know but neither the Son himselfe And hee was the Sonne of God as well as the son of man and though as man or by his humane nature he knew not the day of Iudgement yet as the Sonne of God he knew it In this exposition of his Majesties according to the interpretation of the ancient fathers Ambrose and Cyril wee rested
CYGNEA CANTIO OR LEARNED DECISIONS AND MOST PRVDENT AND PIOVS DIRECTIONS FOR STVDENTS IN DIVINITIE Delivered by our late Soveraigne of Happie Memorie KING IAMES At White Hall a few weekes before his Death Eccles 12. 11. The words of the wise are as goad and as nailes fastened by the masters of the assemblie LONDON Printed for Robert Mylbourne at the Signe of the Greyhound in Pauls Churchyard 1629. TO THE KINGS MOST EXCELLENT MAIESTIE Dread Soveraigne THere is nothing can dry the overflowing spring ofteares in all your loyall Subjects eyes for the inestimable losse of our late Soveraigne your most Noble Father but the Orient beames bright lustre of your Majesties Emperiall Crowne and most happy reigne over us whereby that is come to passe which the ancient English Poet so much admired Sol occubuit nox nulla secuta est The Sunne set and no night ensued thereupon Blessed and glorified bee his Name for it that dwelleth in a light which none can approach unto Who had no sooner fitted the King your Father for a throne in heaven but he fitted you his Son for his throne upon earth and hath peaceably setled you in it Vno avulso non deficit alter Aureus ac simili frondescit virga metallo No sooner that golden branch was plucked away but another of the same stocke groweth up in the roome Vnder whose shade the Church and Common wealth now shelter themselves If any man have any of your Fathers Iewels he ought to bring them to you his sole Heire The learned resolutions and divine instructions which I lately received from your Fathers mouth I value no lesse then peereless Pearles And because the last speech of a departing friend maketh the deepest impression and Art herein imitating Nature holdeth out long the last note of the dying sound in the Organ I thought it my duty to offer unto your Majestie the ensuing Relation of the last polemicall discourses of his Majesty your Father in matter of controversie in Divinity I reade in Martial of a Fly that by a drop of Amber casually falling upon it grew in such request that a great summe of money was given for it implicuit succina gutta feram Et sic quae fuerat vitâ contempta manente Facta est funeribus mox pretiosa suis. The like I am perswaded of the inclosed Narration that many will esteeme of it not for the flyes sake but for the Amber not for it selfe or the penners sake but for his Majesties remarkeable passages related in it For my part I challenge no more therein than S. Austine did in his childe Adeodatus Nihil agnosco meum nifi peccatum I owne nothing in it but the faults and defects All my hope is that the darker the foile is the brighter the Diamonds of his Majesties speeches inserted therin will appeare which with all humility I present to your Majestie with the tender of my bounden duty and service to God for you to you for God as becommeth Your Majesties meanest yet most humble and affectionately devoted Subject Daniel Featly THE COPIE OF A LETTER SENT TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFVLL THE DEANE OF W Relating divers difficult points and remarkeable directions to Students in Divinity delivered by King Iames our late Soveraigne of blessed memory by the occasion of the publishing Mr. Elton his exposition upon the Commandement intituled Gods holy minde and Mr. Crompton his answer to Mr. Brearly intituled St. Augustines Summos Ian. 6. 1624. WHat Varius Geminus spake sometime to Augustus Qui apud te audent dicere ignorant tuam magnitudinem qui non audent humanitatem Those that dare speake before thee know not thy greatnesse those that dare not know not thy goodnesse I may as truly apply to the admirable temper of Majesty and gracious Clemency in our late Soveraigne King Iames. Those that were not afraid to come before him were ignorant of his Princely Majesty those that were afraid were unacquainted with his benigne affability To omit manifold instances for proofe hereof which more learned pennes have and will commend to posteritie the sweet close which his Majestie set a little before the changing of his corruptible Crowne with an incorruptible to the late harsh sounding businesse about the publishing of two Treatises the one penned by M. Elton the other by M. Crompton deserveth a thankfull acknowledgement of all that were any way interessed in the making or setting forth of those Bookes The speciall passages of his Majesties learned and pious discourses upon that occasion I have here though not perfectly yet faithfully related 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 First his Majestie questioned me for licensing M. Elton his booke and hee seemed to be very much displeased that any should be permitted to print books in the Church of England who were not conformable to the discipline of the Church of England Whereunto my conscience beareth me witnesse that my answer was according to the truth First that M. Elton had set forth in print other books before this at which I never heard any exception taken for matter of inconformitie Secondly that if he had beene a man unconformable doubtlesse my Lord of Winton no favourer of non-conformitants would never have suffered him to have discharged his Ministery so many yeares so neare him without ever calling him in question much lesse suspending him for non-conformitie Thirdly that the generall good report of M. Elton his meeke spirit and peaceable cariage as well as his extraordinary painfulnesse in his pastorall function even to the enfeebling of his bodie moved me to gratifie him so farre being my neighbour as at his request to peruse that his book and if I thought it fit commend it to the Presse Fourthly that of this booke I perused but 52. pages in which I was confident that there was nothing contrary to the discipline or doctrine of the Church of England and that my approbation extends no further then the 52. page appeareth by my Imprimatur and the Warden of the Stationers hand affixed to the 52. page and not to the last page of the booke at which wee usually set our hands if wee allow the whole booke After that first part of the book allowed by me I made a stop because I then understood the Author had made a period of his life Whilst he lived I might and did alter with his consent what we thought fit but after his decease I left oft intermedling in such a worke wherein I could not suffer all things to passe as they were in that copy bonâ conscientiâ nor yet change or mend any thing bonâ fide Yet the booke tooke the libertie of flie out of the Presse without licence But that which then escaped virgulam censoriam hath since met with facem expiatoriam On Sunday the 13. of Februarie 1624. we saw a februation or purging by fire of all the errors discovered in that Posthumus some concerning the Sabbath it selfe there were burnt above 800 Copies The greatest
both satisfied and I humbly desired his Majestie that hee would bee pleased to resolve us in what sense those words of Saint Luke 21. 52. were to bee taken And Iesus increased in wisedome and stature and favour with God and man For if Christ increased in wisedome and knowledge he had then more knowledge in his riper yeares then hee had in his Infancy and if he had lesse knowledge in his younger yeares then in his elder it seemeth that we may without any disparagement to his omniscience according to his divine nature attribute comparative ignorance or rather nescience to him according to his humane nature This knot his Majesty thus dexterously untied In the same verse saith his Majiesty it followeth That he increased in favour with God now saith he was not Christ alwayes in highest and greatest favour with God Did God favour and love him more at one time then another Doubtless not yet is he said truly to increase in favour with God because God more manifested declared his love favor unto him by the effects and outward tokens thereof as he grew in yeares so likewise may he be said to grow and increase in wisedome and knowledge because he more manifested and declared his wisedome and knowledge as he came to riper age To this observation of his Majesty I replyed I could not imagine any thing that might with any colour be objected against it save onely that it is said in the same place That Iesus increased in wisedome and stature but his growth and increase in stature was not onely in appearance to the world but in truth and properly and therefore his growth and increase in wisedome might be conceived to be reall and in inward habit and not only in outward manifestation thereof To this his Majestie sayd that these words He increased in wisedome may as wel be interpreted by the other He grew in favor as by these He grew in stature yet said he Christ might also be said truly to increase in wisedome and knowledge in himselfe as hee did in stature If wee speake of experimentall knowledge whereof S. Paul saith Heb 5. 6. That he learned obedience by the things he suffered but from this increase in experimentall knowledge none could inferre any ignorance at all in Christ because though he knew not some things experimentally in his Infancy which he knew afterwards in his riper yeares yet he knew the selfe same things before otherwise by his divine knowledge and by his habitall infused humane The last point questioned by his Majestie in M. Cromptons book was his undertaking to vindicate St. Augustine from the imputatioon of being durus pater infantum a hard censurer of poore children dying unbaptized whom hee excludeth from all hope of salvation Although saith his Majesty I like it better especially in a yong Divine to endevour to defend an ancient Father where the truth will bear it then like Cham to seeke to discouer the nakednesse of the Fathers Yet I like not your defence of Saint Augustine in this particular because it is a knowne errour in him and you ought to have observed three Caveats in reading of Austine and other ancient Fathers workes First You should observe what they write out of their private opinion and what they deliver as the Iudgement of the Church When any of them goe alone it is not so safe following them but where wee have their unanimous and joynt consent in any materiall point we may more securely relie upon them All the Iesuites in the world shall never be able to produce the unanimous consent of the Fathers against us or for themselves in any substantiall point of Faith as I have maintained in my bookes against them Secondly That you should distinguish what the Fathers write dogmatically and what rhetorically For sometimes they may straine somewhat too far in flourish of exornation and we ought to make the best not the worst of their sayings Thirdly You should observe what they deliver in rofessed discourse and for positive doctrine and what they write in heate of opposition wherein sometimes through too much vehemency they over straine in their polemicall tractates against Heretickes For instance in this very point S. Austin in his worthy treatises extant in the seventh Tome of his workes in vehemently oppuguing those Heretickes that agree with our Arminians to wit the Pelagians who denyed originall sinne in Infants and consequently the necessity of Baptisme was so farre transported to urge the necessitie thereof that hee excludeth all Infants dying unbaptized from all hope of salvation Whether his Majesty received these Observations from any ancient Father or late judicious Writer Or whether the same spirit which directed them immediately instructed him I know not But after I tooke a note of these Cautions joyntly from his Majesties mouth I found theÌ„ severally delivered by divers renowned Authors The first by Vincentius Lirinensis adversus hareses Tunc operam dabit ut collatas inter se majorum consulat interrogétque sententias eorum duntaxat qui diversi licèt temporibus locis in unius tamen Ecclesiae Catholicae communione fide permanentes magistri probabiles extiterunt quicquid non unus aut duo tantum sed omnes pariter uno eod â—mque consensu apertè frequenter perseveranter tenuisse scripsiâ—e docuisse cognoverit id sibi quoque intelligat sine ulla dubitatione esse credendum The second Caution is so necessarie that even the most learned among our Adversaries subscribe unto it Sixtus Senenses saith Saeâ—e monuimus non esse concionatorum verba semper â—origore accipienda quo primùm ad aures auditorum perveniant multa enim declamatore per Heperbolen enunciant hoc interdum Chrysostomo contingit If C. Bellarm. and others of Sixtus Senensis profession had well observed this Caution of his they wold never have grounded any Article of Faith upon flowers of speech and Rhetoricall exornatioÌ„s in the Fathers as they doe in the point of invocation of Saints which they build upon an Apostrophe nor the carnall eating of Christ with the mouth upon the Hyperboles of some of the Fathers viz. Nazianzen and Chrysostome In the last Caution his Majesty coÌ„curreth with great S. Basil who noteth it of Dionysius that he gave the first occasion and birth to the Error of the Anomaei by certaine speaches that fell from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not out of any evill minde he had to broach a new Heresie but out of an over vehement desire to contradict and confute Sabellius Sixtus Senenses and Vasques ingenuously confesse that many of the ancient Fathers in opposition to the Manichean Heresie of fatalitie spake too freely of mens free-will And doth not St. Ierome in heate of opposition to Vigilantius who too much undervalued Virginitie runne somewhat upon the other extreame by too highly extolling the same even to the disparaging in some sort of holy wedlocke It cannot likewise be denyed but that