stood in the Church of England at the time of the making this Homily and therefore he has put down the Proem of an Act of Parliament of the fifth and sixth years of Edward the 6th concerning Holy-days by which he would have the Lord's day to stand on no other ground but the Authority of the Church not as enjoyned by Christ or ordained by any of his Apostles Which Statute whosoever shall be pleased to peruse may easily see that this Proem he mentions relates only to Holy days and not to Sundays as you may observe from this passage viz. which holy Works as they may be called God's Service so the times especially appointed for the same are called Holy-days not for the matter or nature either of the time or day c. which title of Holy-days was never applied to Sundays either in a vulgar or legal acceptation And tho the Doctor fancied this Act was in force at the time when this Homily was made and therefore must by no means contradict so sacred an Authority as that of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons assembled in Parliament because this Act tho repealed by Queen Mary he would have to be revived again the first year of Queen Elizabeth and so to stand in force at the time of making this Homily whereas whoever consults our Statute-Book will find that this Statute of King Edward the 6th was not revived nor in force till the first of King James when the Repeal of this Statute was again repealed tho certainly the reviving of that or any other Statute does not make their Proems which are often very carelesly drawn to be in every clause either good Law or Gospel But tho the Doctor in other things abhors the Temporal Powers having any thing to do in matters of Religion yet if it make for his Opinion then the Authority of a Parliament shall be as good as that of a Convocation But I have dwelt too long upon this Head which I could not well contract if I spoke any thing at all to justifie the Lord Primat's Judgment in this so material a Doctrine The next Point that the Doctor lays to the Lord Primat's charge as not according to the Church of England is a passage in a Letter to Dr. Bernard and by him published in the Book intituled The Judgment of the late Primat of Ireland c. viz. That he ever declared his Opinion to be that Episcopus Presbyter gradu tantum differunt non ordine and consequently that in places where Bishops cannot be had the Ordination by Presbyters standeth valid And however saith he I must needs think that the Churches in France who living under a Popish Power and cannot do what they would are more excusable in that defect than those of the Low-Countries that live under a Free-State yet for the testifying my communion with these Churches which I do love and honour as true members of the Church Universal I do profess that with like affection I should receive the blessed Sacrament at the hands of the Dutch Ministers if I were in Holland as I should do at the hands of the French Ministers if I were at Charenton Which Opinion as I cannot deny to have been my Lord Primat's since I find the same written almost verbatim with his own hand dated Nov. 26. 1655 in a private Note-Book not many months before his death with the addition of this clause at the beginning viz. Yet on the other side holding as I do That a Bishop hath Superiority in degree above Presbyters you may easily judg that the Ordination made by such Presbyters as have severed themselves from their Bishops cannot possibly by me be excused from being schismatical And concluding with another clause viz. for the agreement or disagreement in radical and fundamental Doctrines not the consonancy or dissonancy in the particular points of Ecclesiastical Government is with me and I hope with every man that mindeth Peace the rule of adhering to or receding from the Communion of any Church And that the Lord Primate was always of this Opinion I find by another Note of his own hand written in another Book many years before this in these words viz. The intrinsecal power of Ordaining proceedeth not from Jurisdiction but only from Order But a Presbyter hath the same Order in specie with a Bishop Ergo A Presbyter hath equally an intrinsecal power to give Orders and is equal to him in the power of Order the Bishop having no higher degree in respect of intension or extention of the character of Order tho he hath an higher degree i. e. a more eminent place in respect of Authority and Jurisdiction in Spiritual Regiment Again The Papists teach that the confirmation of the Baptized is proper to a Bishop as proceeding from the Episcopal Character as well as Ordination and yet in some cases may be communicated to a Presbyter and much more therefore in regard of the over-ruling Commands of invincible necessity although the right of Baptising was given by Christ's own Commission to the Apostles and their Successors and yet in case of Necessity allowed to Lay-men even so Ordination might be devolved to Presbyters in case of Necessity These passages perhaps may seem to some Men inconsistent with what the Lord Primate hath written in some of his printed Treatises and particularly that of the Original of Episcopacy wherein he proves from Rev. 2. 1. that the Stars there described in our blessed Saviour's right hand to be the Angels of the seven Churches 2. That these Angels were the several Bishops of those Churches and not the whole Colledg of Presbyters as Mr. Brightman would have it 3. Nor has he proved Archbishops less ancient each of these seven Churches being at that time a Metropolis which had several Bishops under it and 4 that these Bishops and Archbishops were ordained by the Apostles as constant permanent Officers in the Church and so in some sort Jure Divino that is in St. Hierom's sence were ordained by the Apostles for the better conferring of Orders and for preventing of Schisms which would otherwise arise among Presbyters if they had been all left equal and independent to each other And that this may very well consist with their being in some cases of Necessity not absolutely necessary in some Churches is proved by the Learned Mr. Mason in his defence of the Ordination of Ministers beyond the Seas where there are no Bishops in which he proves at large against the Papists that make this Objection from their own Schoolmen and Canonists and that tho a Bishop receives a Sacred Office Eminency in Degree and a larger Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction than a Presbyter yet that all these do not confer an absolute distinct Order and yet that Bishops are still Jure Divino that is by the Ordinance of God since they were ordained by the Apostles and whereunto they were directed by God's Holy Spirit and in that sence are the Ordinance of
of Christ are inabled to govern well to speak and exhort and rebuke with all Authority to loose such as are Penitent to commit others unto the Lord's Prison until their amendment or to bind them over unto the Judgment of the Great Day if they shall persist in their wilfulness and obstinacy By the other Princes have an imperious power assigned by God unto them for the defence of such as do well and executing revenge and wrath upon such as do evil whether by death or banishment or confiscation of goods or imprisonment according to the quality of the offence When St. Peter that had the Keys committed unto him made bold to draw the Sword he was commanded to put it up as a weapon that he had no authority to meddle withal And on the other side when Uzziah the King would venture upon the execution of the Priest's Office it was said unto him It pertaineth not unto thee Uzziah to burn incense unto the Lord but to the Priests the Sons of Aaron that are Consecrated to burn incense Let this therefore be our second Conclusion That the power of the Sword and of the Keys are two distinct Ordinances of God and that the Prince hath no more Authority to enter upon the execution of any part of the Priest's Function than the Priest hath to intrude upon any part of the Office of the Prince In the third place we are to observe That the power of the Civil Sword the supreme managing whereof belongeth to the King alone is not to be restrained unto Temporal Causes only but is by Gods Ordinance to be extended likewise unto all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Things and Causes That as the spiritual Rulers of the Church do exercise their kind of Government in bringing men unto obedience not of the duties of the first Table alone which concerneth Piety and the Religious Service which man is bound to perform unto his Creator but also of the second which respecteth moral honesty and the Offices that man doth owe unto man so the Civil Magistrate is to use his Authority also in redressing the abuses committed against the first Table as well as against the second that is to say as well in punishing of an Heretick or an Idolater or a Blasphemer as of a Thief or a Murtherer or a Traytor and in providing by all good means that such as live under his Government may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all piety and honesty And howsoever by this means we make both Prince and Priest to be in their several places Custodes utriusque Tabulae Keepers of both God's Tables yet do we not hereby any way confound both of their Offices together For though the matter wherein their Government is exercised may be the same yet is the form and manner of governing therein always different the one reaching to the outward man only the other to the inward the one binding or loosing the Soul the other laying hold on the Body and the things belonging thereunto the one having special reference to the Judgment of the World to come the other respecting the present retaining or losing of some of the comforts of this life That there is such a Civil Government as this in Causes Spiritual or Ecclesiastical no man of judgment can deny For must not Heresie for example be acknowledged to be a cause meerly Spiritual or Ecclesiastical And yet by what power is an Heretick put to death The Officers of the Church have no Authority to take away the life of any man it must be done therefore per brachium saeculare and consequently it must be yielded without contradiction that the temporal Magistrate doth exercise therein a part of his Civil Government in punishing a Crime that is of its own nature Spiritual or Ecclesiastical But here it will be said the words of the Oath being general That the King is the only Supreme Governor of this Realm and of all other his Highness's Dominions and Countries How may it appear that the power of the Civil Sword only is meant by that Government and that the power of the Keys is not comprehended therein I answer First That where a Civil Magistrate is affirmed to be the Governor of his own Dominions and Countries by common intendment this must needs be understood of a Civil Government and may in no reason be extended to that which is meerly of another kind Secondly I say That where an ambiguity is conceived to be in any part of an Oath it ought to be taken according to the understanding of him for whose satisfaction the Oath was ministred Now in this case it hath been sufficiently declared by publick Authority That no other thing is meant by the Government here mentioned but that of the Civil Sword only For in the Book of Articles agreed upon by the Arch-Bishops and Bishops and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London Anno 1562. thus we read Where we attribute to the Queen's Majesty the chief Government by which Titles we understand the minds of some slanderous folks to be offended we give not to our Princes the ministring either of God's Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Injuctions also lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen do most plainly testifie but that only Prerogative which we see to have been given always to all Godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself that is That they should rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil doers If it be here objected that the Authority of the Convocation is not a sufficient ground for the exposition of that which was enacted in Parliament I answer That these Articles stand confirmed not only by the Royal assent of the Prince for the establishing of whose Supremacy the Oath was framed but also by a special Act of Parliament which is to be found among the Statutes in the thirteenth year of Queen Elizabeth chap. 12. Seeing therefore the makers of the Law have full Authority to expound the Law and they have sufficiently manifested That by the supreme Government given to the Prince they understand that kind of Government only which is exercised with the Civil Sword I conclude that nothing can be more plain than this That without all scruple of Conscience the King's Majesty may be acknowledged in this sense to be the only Supreme Governor of all his Highness's Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal And so have I cleared the first main branch of the Oath I come now unto the Second which is propounded Negatively That no foreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm The foreigner that challengeth this Ecclesiastical or Spiritual Jurisdiction over us is the Bishop of Rome And the Title whereby he claimeth this power over
About this time whilst his late Majesty was kept Prisoner at year 1648 Carisbrook Castle in the Isle of Wight the Lord Primate was highly concerned at the disloyal actions of the two Houses towards their Lawful Prince to express which he preached at Lincolns-Inn on this Text Isa. 8. 12 13. Say ye not a Confederacy to all them to whom this people shall say a Confederacy neither fear you their fear nor be afraid Sanctifie the Lord of Hosts himself and let him be your fear and let him be your dread Wherein he sufficiently expressed his dislike of those Covenants and Consederacies which they had now entred into contrary to that Oath they had taken already and that we should not fear man more than God when we were to do our Duty to our Prince or Country Not long after which the Presbyterians finding the Independant party too strong for them had no way left to secure themselves but by recalling their Votes of Non-Addresses and to Vote a Treaty with his Majesty in the Isle of Wight And because the differences concerning Church-Government were not the least of those that were to be setled and concluded at this Treaty and for which it was necessary for his Majesty to consult with some of his Bishops and Divines the Lord Primate was sent for by the King among divers others to attend him for that purpose when he came thither he found one of the greatest points then in debate was about the Government of the Church The Parliament Commissioners insisting peremptorily for the abolishing and taking away Arch-Bishops Bishops c. out of the Churches of England and Ireland His Majesty thought he could not with a good Conscience consent to that demand viz. totally to abolish or take away Episcopal Government but his Majesty then declared that he no otherwise aimed at the keeping up the present Hierarchy in the Church than what was most agreeable to the Episcopal Government in the Primitive and purest Times But his Majesty since the Parliament insisted so obstinately on it was at last forced to consent to the suspension of Episcopacy for three years but would by no means agree to take away Bishops absolutely But now to stop the present career of the Presbyterian Discipline the Lord Primate proposed an expedient which he called Episcopal and Presbyterial Government conjoyned and which he not long after he came thither delivered into his Majesty's hands who having perused it liked it well saying it was the only Expedient to reconcile the present differences for his Majesty in his last Message to the Parliament had before condescended to the reducing of Episcopal Government into a much narrower compass viz. Not only to the Apostolical Institution but much farther than the Lord Primate proposed or desired even to the taking away of arch-Arch-Bishops Deans Chapters c. Together with all that additional Power and Jurisdiction which his Majesty's Predecessors had bestowed upon that Function Which Message being read in the House was by them notwithstanding voted unsatisfactory So that the Presbyterian Party was so absolutely bent to abolish the very Order of Bishops that no proposals of his Majesty's though never so moderate would content them till at last when they had wrangled so long till they saw the King's person seized by the Army and that the power was like to be taken out of their hands they then grew wiser and would have agreed to his Proposals when it was too late and so the Presbyterian Party saw themselves within a few days after forcibly excluded and turned out of doors by that very Army which they themselves had raised and hired to fight against their Prince which as it was the cause of his Majesty's destruction so it proved their own ruine But since some of the Church of England have been pleased to judge very hardly of this Proposal made by the Arch-Bishop as if it too much debased the Episcopal Order and levelled it with that of Presbyters To vindicate the Lord Primate from which imputation I desire them to consider these particulars first the time when this Expedient was proposed viz. When his Majesty had already consented to the suspension of Episcopal Government for three years absolutely as also for setling Presbytery in the room of it for that time and for quite taking away Arch-Bishops Deans and Chapters c. as hath been already said whereas the Lord Primate's Expedient proposes none of these but supposes the Arch-Bishops or Primates ought to be continued appointing them to be the moderators of the Provincial Synods of Suffragans and Pastors And though it is true he mentions Bishops as to be only Presidents of the Diocesan Synod yet he no where denies them a Negative Voice in that Assembly and though he mentions at the beginning of this Expedient that the Bishops were wont in the Primitive times to do nothing of moment without the advice of a Synod of their Clergy as he proves from divers quotations out of the Fathers and Ancient Councils yet he does not assert this practice as a thing of Divine or unalterable right but only as the custom and practice of the Church in those Times which being only prudential may be altered one way or other according as the peace and order of the Church or the exigency of Affairs may require and though in Sect. 11. of this Expedient he proposes the making of as many Suffragans in each Diocess as there are Rural Deanries in the same and who should assemble a Synod of all the Rectors or Ministers of their Precinct yet their power was only to be according to the Statute of the 26th of Henry the Eighth whereby they are expresly forbid to act in any matters but by the Authority of and in Subordination to their Diocesan Bishop nor does the Lord Primate here extend their power farther than to be moderators of this lesser Synod where matters of Discipline and Excommunication only were to be determined still reserving the power of Ordination to the Diocesan this being no where given from him in this Expedient neither was this power of Excommunication left absolutely to this lesser Synod without an Appeal to the Diocesan Synod of the Suffragans and the rest of the Pastors wherein the Bishop was to preside only I shall say thus much That it was not the Lord Primate's design or intention in the least to rob the Bishops of any of those just Rights which are essentially necessary to their Order and Constitution and without abasing Episcopacy into Presbytery or stripping the Church of its Lands and Revenues both which the Lord Primate always abhorred for he was of his Majesty's mind in his excellent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Presbytery is never so considerable or effectual as when it is joyned to and Crowned with Episcopacy And that the King himself was then convinced that this was the best Expedient for the setling of the differences of the Church at that time You may
judicio praeterquam suo Praesul verè Magnus Qui Ecclesiam Veterum institutis Clerum suo Exemplo Populum Concionibus Affidue instruxit Chronologiam sacram pristino nitori restituit Bonarum artium Professores Inopia Afflictos Munificentiâ sublevavit Denique qui Haereses repullulantes calamo erudito contudit His ingenii dotibus his animi virtutibus ornatus Praesul optimus piissimus meritissimus Cum inter bella Civilia Ecclesiae Patriae suae funesta Sibique Luctuosa Nec Ecclesiae nec Patriae diutius prodesse poterat In Christo pacis Authore placide obdormivit Anno Aerae Christianae 1655. Aetatis suae 76. Riegat in Comitatu Surrey Martii 21. Obiit Sepultus apud Westmonast In Hen. 7mi Capellâ Apr. 5. 1656. A Catalogue of the Lord Primate James Usher's Works and Writings already Printed In Latin DE Ecclesiarum Christianarum Successione Statu cum Explicatione Quaestionis de Statu Ecclesiarum in partibus praesertim occidentis à tempore Apostolorum De primordiis Ecclesiarum Britannicarum Epistolarum Hibernicarum Sylloge Historia Gotes-Chalci Polycarpi Ignatii Epistolae Graec. Lat. cum desertatione de eorum Scriptis deque Apostolicis Canonibus Constitutionibus Clementi tributis Appendix Ignatiana De Romanae Ecclesiae Symbolo Apostolico vetere aliis fidei formulis De Anno solari Macedonum Epistola ad Lodovicum Capellum de textus Hebr. variantibus Lectionibus Annales Vet. Test. Annales N. Test. Chronologia Sacra De Graecâ Septuaginta Interpretum versione Syntagma Desertatio de Cainane In English AN Answer to Malon the Jesuits Challenge The Religion professed by the Ancient Irish and Britains A Sermon Preached before the House of Commons Westminster A Sermon of the Visibility of the Church Preached before King James Jun. 25 1624. A Speech delivered in the Castle Chamber Dublin concerning the Lawfulness of taking and danger of refusing the Oath of Supremacy Nov. 22. 1622. A Speech in the same Place upon the denial to contribute for the Supply of the Kings Army for the defence of the Government April 30 1627. Immanuel or the Mistery of the Incarnation of the Son of God A Geographical Description of the lesser Asia A Discourse of Bishops and Metropolitans A small Catechism entitled the Principles of Christian Religion with a brief Method of the Doctrine thereof His Annals of the Old and New Testament Translated into English with the Synchronisms of the Heathen Story to the destruction of Jerusalem The Power of the Prince and Obedience of the Subject stated with a Preface by Dr. Robert Sanderson late Bishop of Lincoln Published from the Original Copy written with his own hand by James Tyrrell Esq Grandson to the Lord Primate A Body of Divinity or the Summ and Substance of Christian Religion by way of Question and Answer collected by himself in his younger years for his own private Use and through the Importunity of some Friends communicated to them but not with a Design to be Printed though afterwards published by others with good Acceptance A Volume of Sermons in Folio Preached at Oxford before his Majesty and elsewhere published since his Death These that follow were gathered out of the Fragments of the Lord Primate and Published since his Death by Dr. Bernard HIS Judgment and Sense of the State of the present See of Rome from Apocal. 18. 4. Ordination a Fundamental His Sense of Hebrews 6. 2. Of the use of a Set form of Prayer in the Church The extent of Christs Death and Satisfaction with an Answer to the Exceptions taken against it Of the Sabbath and Observation of the Lords Day His Judgment and Sense of John 20. 22. 23. Receive ye the Holy-Ghost Whose Sins ye Remit c. A Catalogue of the Lord Primate Ushers own Manuscripts of various Subjects not Printed Lemmata Manuscriptorum CEnsura Patrum aliorum Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum five Bibliotheca Theologica Historiae dogmaticae Quaestionum inter Orthodoxos Pontificios Controversarum Specimen in Quaestione de Communi Sacrarum Scripturarum usu contra Scripturarum lucifugas De veterum Pascalibus Scriptis de ratione Paschali quibus computi Ecclesiastici in Universo orbe Christiano ante Gregorianam reformationem apperiuntur ex vetustissimis Manuscriptis codicibus notis Illustratum Veterum de tempore Passionis Dominicae Phaschalis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Variae Lectiones Collationes Vet. Nov. Instrumenti 1. Genesis Longe antiquissimum exemplar Graecum Cottonianum cum editione Francofurtensi Collatum 2. Collatio Psalterii à B. Hieronymo ex Heb. conversi à Jacobo Fabro Parisiis An. 1513. editi cum aliis exemplaribus Manuscriptis Impressis 3. Annotationes variarum Lectionum in Psalmis juxta Masoreth Judaeorum five cum notâ aliquâ Masoreticâ 4. Psalterium cum versione Saxonicâ interlineatâ in Bibliothecâ Salisburiensis Ecclesiae 5. Psalterium Gallicum cum Romano collatum Hebraico 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oppositum Manuscripto in Westmonasteriensis Ecclesiae Bibliothecâ 6. Collatio Canticorum utriusque Testamenti cum editione vulgatâ Latinâ 7. Variae Lectiones Collationes N. Test. ex vetustissimis Exemplaribus 8. Collatio editionis Chronici Eusebii à Josepho Scaligero edit cum Manuscripto è Regiâ Bibliothecâ 9. Collatio variorum Pentateuchi Samaritani Exemplarium cum notis Observationibus 10. Chronologia Legum Codicis Theodosiani Justiniani collata cum Malmesburiensi Manuscripto Julianae Periodi ad Juliani anni usum vulgaris aerae Christianae ad anni Juliani pariter Gregoriani Methodum accommodatae fixa jam Epochâ cum Tabulâ reductionis dierum Anni Juliani veteris ad dies Anni Gregoriani Novi hodie usitati in pluribus partibus orbis Ratio Bissextorum literarum Dominicarum Equinoctiorum Festorum Christianorum tam mobilium quam immobilium De Institutione Chronologicâ viz. De Tempore illius Mensurâ de Die ejusque partibus de horis scrupulis de Hebdomadibus Mensibus de Anno Astronomico de variâ Annorum Supputatione Secundum Graeca Exemplaria De differentiâ circuli spherae de cursu septem Planetarum Signorum Coelestium de quinque Parall in sphera Zonasdistinguent Veteres Observationes Coelestes Chaldaicae Graecae Aegyptiacae Insigniorum Imperiorum Regnorum quae ante Christi adventum in orbe floruerunt successiones et tempora ad usum veteris Historiae studiosorum eorum praesertim qui exoticam Chronologiam cum Sacra conferre cupiunt Series Chronologica Syriaca Regum Imperatorum Babylonicorum Persarum Graecorum Romanorum à Nebuchadnezzar ad Vespasianum ab Anno Mundi 4915. ad Annum 5585. De fastis Magistratuum Coss. Triumphorum Romanorum ab Urbe Condita usque ad excessum Caesaris Augusti ex fragmentis Marmoreis foro Romano effossis à doctissimis nostri temporis Chronographis suppletis Catalogus Consulum ex variis Authoribus De Ponderibus Mensuris De
that perswasion and therefore it was thought to be enough to condemn Transubstantiation and to say that Christ was present after a spiritual manner and received by Faith And to say more as it was judged superfluous so it might occasion division Upon this these words were by common consent left out and in the next Convocation the Articles were subscribed without them This shews that the Doctrine of the Church then subscribed by the whole Convocation was at that time contrary to the belief of a Real and Corporal Presence in the Sacrament only it was not thought necessary or expedient to publish it Tho from this silence which flowed not from their Opinion but the Wisdom of that Time in leaving a liberty for different Speculations as to the manner of the Presence Some have since inferred that the chief Pastors of this Church did then disapprove of the Definition made in King Edward 's time and that they were for a Real Presence And that our Protestant Bishops that were martyr'd in Queen Mary's days were against this expression of a Real Presence of Christ as a Natural Body appears by those Questions which they disputed on solemnly at Oxford before their Martyrdom The first Question Whether the Natural Body of Christ was Really in the Sacrament The second Whether no other substance did remain but the Body and Blood of Christ Both which they held in the Negative So that since this expression of a Real Presence of Christ's Body was not maintained by our first Protestant Reformers nor used by the Church of England in her Articles I do not see of what use it can be now tho perhaps only meant in a spiritual sence by most that make use of it For the real presence of a Body and yet unbodily I suppose those that speak thus understand as little as I do unless that some Men love to come as near the Papists as may be in their expressions tho without any hopes now of ever making them approach the nearer to us and in the mean time giving matter of offence and scandal to divers ignorant and weak Christians of our own Religion The fifth Point that the Doctor taxes the Lord Primat with as held by him contrary to the Church of England is That she teaches that the Priest hath power to forgive Sins as may be easily proved by three several Arguments not very easie to be answered The first is from those solemn words used in the Ordination of the Priest or Presbyter that is to say Receive the Holy Ghost Whose Sins ye forgive they are forgiven and whose Sins ye retain they are retained Which were a gross prophanation of the words of our Lord and Saviour and a meer mockery of the Priest if no such power were given unto him as is there affirmed The second Argument is taken from one of the Exhortations before the Communion where we find the people are exhorted by the Priest that if they cannot quiet their Consciences they should come unto him or some other discreet Minister of God's Word and open their grief that they may receive such ghostly advice and comfort as their Consciences may be relieved and that by the Ministry of God's Word they may receive Comfort and the benefit of Absolution to the quieting of their Consciences and avoiding of all scruple and doubtfulness The third and most material Proof is the Form prescribed for the Visitation of the Sick In which it is required that after the sick Person hath made a Confession of his Faith and professed himself to be in Charity with all Men he shall then make a special Confession if he feel his Conscience troubled with any weighty matter And then it follows that after such Confession the Minister shall absolve him in this manner viz. Our Lord Jesus Christ who hath left power to his Church to absolve all Sinners that truly repent and believe in him of his great Mercy forgive thee thine Offences And by his Authority committed to me I absolve thee from all thy Sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Amen Of the first of these three places deduced all of them from the best Monuments and Records of the Church of England the Lord Primat takes notice in his Answer to the Jesuit's Challenge p. 109. where he treateth purposely of the Priests power to forgive Sins but gives us such a Gloss upon it as utterly subverts as well the Doctrine of this Church in that particular as her purpose in it And of the second he takes notice p. 81. where he speaks purposely of Confession but gives us such a Gloss upon that also as he did upon the other But of the third which is more positive and material than the other two he is not pleased to take any notice at all as if no such Doctrine were either taught by the Church of England or no such Power had been ever exercised by the Ministers of it For in the canvassing of this Point he declares sometimes that the Priest doth forgive Sins only declarative by the way of declaration only when on the consideration of the true Faith and sincere Repentance of the Party penitent he doth declare unto him in the Name of God that his Sins are pardoned and sometimes that the Priest forgives Sins only optativè by the way of Prayers and Intercession when on the like consideration he makes his prayers unto God that the Sins of the Penitent may be pardoned Neither of which comes up unto the Doctrine of the Church of England which holdeth that the Priest forgiveth Sins authoritativè by virtue of a Power committed to him by our Lord and Saviour That the Supream power of forgiving Sins is in God alone against whose Divine Majesty all Sins of what sort soever may be truly said to be committed was never question'd by any who pretended to the Christian Faith The Power which is given to the Priest is but a delegated power such as is exercised by Judges under Soveraign Princes where they are not tied unto the Verdict of Twelve Men as with us in England who by the Power committed to them in their several Circuits and Divisions do actually absolve the party which is brought before them if on good proof they find him innocent of the Crimes he stands accused for and so discharge him of his Irons And such a power as this I say is both given to and exercised by the Priest or Presbyters in the Church of England For if they did forgive Sins only declarativè that form of Absolution which follows the general Confession in the beginning of the Common-prayer-Book would have been sufficient where the Absolution is put in the third person Or if he did forgive Sins only optativè in the way of prayers and intercession there could not be a better way of Absolution than that which is prescribed to be used by the Priest or Bishop after the general Confession made by such as
and slew the Turks in great numbers who after eight Months were forced to raise their Seige and be gone who whilst they sought to starve their Enemies were themselves almost famish'd the Persians having stopped all Passages whereby Provision should have been brought to the Camp The Vizier having raised the Siege and marching toward Mossell a City formerly called Ninive was pursued by their subtil Adversaries demanding their Ambassador who the Turks contrary to the Laws of Arms did detain in this their Fight the Persians had the slaughter of the Turks and after three days the Ambassador was delivered them who with great Honour and Joy returned to Bagdat and the Turks with great loss and greater dishonour marched weakly towards Mossell who before they could arrive thither what with want of Victuals and a Sickness that raigned amongst them as also an extream hot Wind that sometimes happens in those Parts there died in one day twelve thousand Persons in fine they lost in these Wars the greater part of the Army which consisted of 150 thousand Men and now the Vizier with a great part of the Army are here in Aleppo where they purpose to winter and in the Spring to make a second on-set and try their Fortunes as they term it with their Enemies But a good success such unruly and rebellious Souldiers can scarce expect their long Ease and unjust gotten Wealth hath caused them to forget Obedience either to their King or his Lieutenant But whether of these two Mahumetans prevail I think makes not much my Prayers shall be that God his Enemies may be scattered and his Truth take place Your Graces in all bounden Duty Thomas Davis Aleppo July 1625. LETTER LXXXIV A Letter from the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh to the Right Reverend John Lord Bishop of Lincoln Lord Keeper of the Great Seal My very good Lord IT pleased your Lordship and my Lord Treasurer upon the reference made unto you by his Majesty to order that Dr. Rives should forgo the Claim which he made by his Patent to the exercise of the Office of the Prerogative and Faculties and to execute the same only as Substitute under me But the Doctor having taken upon him to set down in Writing your Lordship's Mind hath done it with such advantage to himself that I am forced to become an humble suitor unto your Lordship to commit the drawing up of that order to some Person that shall be more indifferent For there he hath inserted a Clause that he may enjoy the place which he desireth during his Life which is not fit to be granted unto any Substitute but during his good Behaviour and generally he setteth down all things therein as may most make for his own behoof without reserving any Power unto me to limit him any way in the exercise of those Offices when it was no part of my meaning to give him any such unlimited and absolute Power but such only as other Bishops ordinarily do give unto those which they place under them And whereas in Ireland the power of granting Dispensations is not by Law restrained to any competent distance of place to any certain number of Benefices or to any Qualification of Persons I more particularly declared my Mind therein unto my Lord Treasurer in the Doctor 's own presence that I held it no ways fit that my Substitute should have Authority to grant Faculties as he listed but only to such Persons and in such manner as I my self should appoint yet so as the whole profit of such Grants should wholly be reserved unto him and the care of ordering them left only unto me Hereupon a motion was made by my Lord Treasurer that as we had referred the main business unto your Lordship so we should also refer the condition and limitation of that Deputation which was to be granted unto him by me unto which Motion both of us then yeilded After this he brought unto me the Copy of an Instrument drawn by himself wherein there was no manner of mention at all made of any limitation of his Power either in the granting of Dispensations or in any thing else So that by virtue hereof he might also likely do what he pleased without controul or restraint from me I leave unto your Lordship's Wisdom to consider whether it would be convenient that the Doctor should take upon him to visit the whole Clergy of the Kingdom to convent Arch-bishops and Bishops before him and to grant all manner of Dispensations whether I will or no and whether I should not wrong both my self and the whole Clergy of Ireland who have groaned long under this heavy burden as your Lordship discerns by the Copy of their Petitions here inclosed if I did commit any such transcendent and unlimited Power unto him My humble suit therefore unto your Lordship is that you would be pleased to get the Order drawn by Dr. Rives into your hands again and to commit the laying down both of it and of the Authority which he is to receive from me unto some other which shall not respect his own Ends but simply express what shall be your Lordship's pleasure therein whereunto I will most willingly submit my self and ever rest Your Lordship 's in all Duty ready to be commanded Ja. Armachanus Much-Haddam 6 July 1625. The Answer of the Bishop of Lincoln My Lord I do not conceive this Patent to be so unreasonable so a Clause be added therein of a Power reserved to you and your Successors Person to take unto your own Cognizance any Exercise of any one private Act of Jurisdiction or issuing forth of any one particular Dispensation that may be of consequence to the State or the Church which Clause Sir Henry Martyn will at my desire and request clear up for your Lordship Jo. Lincoln C. S. LETTER LXXXV A Letter from Mr. Abraham Wheelock to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Right Reverend MY most humble Duty remembred to your Lordship being not a little affected with your Recovery My Lord you may peradventure blame me of Neglect or Forgetfulness or both concerning some business I was entrusted with when last I was with your Lordship I had wrote a Letter fully to excuse my self The Fellows of Emanuel were confident they had not that Thalmud your Lordship desired Mr. Dr. Ward undertook the delivery of that Bennet-Colledg Book when I intended to have by a Letter excused my self but a long fit of Sickness prevented me I could draw little or nothing from Mr. Downs whose Memory fails him by much a-do I desired him to shew me that place which Mr. Broughton so much talked of concerning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is in Plato his Cratylus pag. 54. at the bottom of the Leaf of the Basil Edition apud Henricum Petri where he brings Socrates shewing why Pluto was so called your Lordship will better gather the Argument that I can fitly set it down Socrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
bear to your Person and to the eminence of your place in the Church have moved us to make choice of your Lordship to preach here before this State on the Day whereon we purpose to perform those Ceremonies of Thankfulness due from us which we have thought fit to make known unto you purposing shortly to let you know the day when we desire your presence Yet if you shall find by your late Sickness any indisposition in your Body or danger to your Health to perform this Charge which we know would otherwise be very acceptable to you we do not in such case so strictly require your presence with us but that we do freely leave it to your own choice to come or stay as you shall find the disposition of your Body to enable you Only we desire to understand from you whether we shall then expect you or not to the end we may make choice of another if you may not come And so we bid your Lordship very heartily farewel From his Majesty's Castle of Dublin Junii 18. 1630. Your Lordship 's very loving Friends R. Cork Ad. Loftus Canc. In imitation of the like sent us out of England we have caused the inclosed to be imprinted here LETTER CLXVI A Letter from the Right Reverend William Laud Bishop of London to the most Reverend James Usher Arch-bishop of Armagh Salutem in Christo. My very good Lord I Hope your Grace will pardon me that in all this time I have not written unto you For though I thank God I have recovered my Health in a measure beyond expectation yet I have been so overlaid with Business that I have not been able to give you any account or at least not such as I desired Your Lordship's first Letters for I owe you an answer to two bear date April the 5th and your later June the 4th 1630. The Main of both Letters is concerning Sir John Bathe And though in your last Letters you be confident that Sir John's Grant is not past the Seals as he hath avouched it is yet I must acquaint your Grace that you are mistaken therein for it appeared at the last sitting of the Committee that the Seal was put to his Grant at the beginning of April last Of which Doctrine you may make this Use what close conveyance and carriage there may be when the Church is to be spoiled I understand by Mr. Hamilton that the Lord Chancellor of Ireland is in Holy Orders and that being Deacon he holds an Arch-Deaconry yet of good value Surely my Lord if this be so there is somewhat in it that I will not express by Letter but were I his Superior in Ordinary I know what I would do and that I have plainly expressed both to his Majesty and the Lords Committees But my Lord for the Business I have stuck so close unto it both with his Majesty and with the Lords especially the Lord Treasurer who hath been and is very noble to the Church that I hope Sir John Bathe will see his Error and pitch upon some other Reward for his Services and surrender this Patent though seal'd that we may go on with the King 's Royal and Pious Grant to the Church Things being thus far onward once more there are two things which stick with the Lords 1. One is They like not the placing of these Impropriations upon any Incorporations Dublin or other To this I answered That neither did I like it and that it must be alter'd because it is against Law So it is resolved that we shall hereafter take not only that but all other material Passages of the Grant into consideration and therefore I think neither your old nor your new Letter will stand Some thought it fittest that these Impropriations should be left to the King to give To this I replied That that course would by the Suit of the Clergy and their Journeys over take off a great part of the Benefit intended them And to leave them in the Power of the Lord Deputy that might be but to enrich his Secretaries and expose the Church to that which I will not speak 2. The other Difficulty is That this Grant to the Church is too much against the King's Profit in these difficult Times because in the Lay-way the King's Rent may be improved which according to this Grant cannot be This Blow I looked not for but answered upon the sudden That I thought the Church of Ireland would be glad to take the King's Grant though it were with some improvement upon such Impropriations as might well bear it This I did partly to bear off the shock for the time and partly to gain opportunity to write to you who understand that Business better And I pray you by your next Letters give me all the help you can towards this Business One thing more and then I have done with Sir John Bathe Upon occasion of his Speech That the Clergy had a third part of that Kingdom I represented to the Lords the Paper which you sent me concerning the State of the County of Louth It was a miserable spectacle to them all yet at the last some Doubt arose whether those Values there expressed were the Rate in the King's Books or the uttermost value to the Incumbent To this I was not able to make a resolute Answer yet I feared they were Rates to the utmost value Hereupon the Lords required of me to write unto you to desire you to send me word with all the speed you can what value that Note of yours contain'd of which I pray fail not Your Grace is pleased in another Passage to desire me not to be too strict to my Rule in chusing Deans only to be Bishops My Lord it is true Deans are or should be the likeliest Men to be fitted for Bishopricks but they and no other was never any Rule of mine to my remembrance My Rule was and is and to that I shall ever be strict not to suffer any Bishop to hold any Deanery in Commendam if it lie in my power to hinder it For that which concerns the Bishop of Clonfert and Killmacduagh I have read the inclosed Papers you sent and see cause more than enough to pity but the way for remedy will be full of difficulty And for Killâ—anora there will be time enough to think upon Annexation For the Colledg and their Chauntry-Lands c. when they come for their Patent they shall not need to doubt all the lawful assistance that I can give them And now my Lord for as my Business stands 't is time to make an end I must needs thank you that you make it a matter of Joy to hear of my late Honour in being chosen Chancellor of Oxford My Lord I speak really it was beyond my deserts and contrary to my desires but since it hath pleased God by their Love to lay it upon me I must undergo the Burden as I may My honourable Predecessor enriched his Name by the Greek Manuscripts
to intreat your Lordship in the same Letter to accept our poor University of Dublin into your gracious Protection I caused the Draught of two other Letters to be made in the Name of the Society unto your Grace the one penned by the Provost the other by Dr. Hoyle the Divinity-Professor there But the Fellows of the House were so factious that nothing could please them which came from their Superiors and so idle that they would not take pains to do the like themselves So that now I have the more cause to implore your Grace's Aid afresh and to present you with a new Supplication of Miserere domus labentis Wherein that I may conceal nothing from your Grace the very Truth is this The Provost albeit he be a very honest Man and one that mindeth the Good of the House yet is of too soft and gentle a disposition to rule so heady a Company The Lord Bishop of Kilmore while he was Provost there composed Statutes for the good of the House conformable to those of Emmanuel-Colledg in Cambridg where he himself in former time lived But there is so little Power given to the Provost for redressing of things that are amiss without the consent of the greater part of the Senior Fellows that they finding thereby their own strength perpetually join together in crossing whatsoever the Provost attempteth for reformation either of themselves or of the Scholars being sure never to give their consent that any punishment shall be inflicted upon themselves either for absenting themselves from the Church or lying out of the House or frequenting of Taverns or other such Enormities So that the Provost by their perverse dealing being now made weary of his place it were to be wished that some other Preferment might be found for him and one of a more rigid Temper and stouter Disposition placed in his room for such a Wedg for the breaking of so evil a Knot must necessarily be used The Earl fearing that my former Letter might not have come unto your hands hath earnestly entreated me to write thus much again which as I could not well deny unto him being but the bearing of a Testimony to the very Truth so do I wholly submit the same unto your graver Judgment Your Grace's most devoted Servant J. A. 1632. LETTER CLXXIV Doctissimo Ornatissimo viro D. Ludovico de Dieu Ecclesiae Lugduno-Batavae Pastori Fratri plurimùm honorando Leydam Salutem à salutis fonte D. N. Iesu Christo. LIbros quos ad te Clariss Vossium miseram acceptos fuisse laetus ab utroque vestrûm audio sed literas alteri cuidam è Belgio vestro in Hispaniam ut audivi postea profecto commissas interiisse video Quae jactura effecit ut nulli facile nuncio fidem deferendarum literarum adhibuerim hactenus Discedente vero hinc ad vos nobilissimo Juvene Dunharvainae Vicecomite oblatam tam opportunè occasionem praetermittere nolens perspectae nobis fidei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsius Vicecomitis Ephoro tradendas curo quas jam scribo literas Atque ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod aiunt ab eo in quo postremas tuas terminaveras ego nunc incipiam monachum illum de quo ad D. Rivetum scripsit Marinus Marsenius non alium quà m Johannem Morinum fuisse suspicor qui tum in prolixâ illâ praefatione editioni 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae Lutetiae An. 1628. Graeco-latina prodiit praefixa tum in Exercitationibus Ecclesiasticis quas in Samaritanum Pentateuchum ibidem Anno 1631. evulgavit ex Graecorum Samariticorum codicum fide Hebraeum nostrum textum corruptum depravatum esse stultissimâ operâ astruere conatus est Stultissimam enim quid ni dixerim cum eâdem ipse operâ sua sibi caedat vineta quod probè est à te annimadversum Vulgatae editionis Latinae authoritatem pariter enervet Tridentinorum suorum Decreti parùm memor qui ut haec ipsa editio pro authenticâ habeatur statuerunt ut eam nemo rejicere quovis praetextu audeat vel praesumat atque adeò eodem cum illo afflatus spiritu cui immanis iste versus olim excidit Pereant amici dum unà inimici intercidant Tui eruditissimi Constantini tui erit hominis nimio sibi placentis audaciam atque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comprimere sacrorum fontium integritatem sartam tectam ab omni detrimento conservare Quâ in re praestandâ maximo vobis erit subsidjo Veteris Testamenti Editio Syriaca quam ab Apostolorum temporibus hucusque magno omnium Orientis populorum qui Chaldaicâ sive Syriacâ utuntur linguâ consensu retentam semper summâ in veneratione auctoritate esse habitam demum publice in omnibus eorum Ecclesijs antiquissimis constitutis in Syriâ Mesopotamiâ Chaldaeâ Aegypto denique in universi Orientis partibus dispersis ac disseminatis lectam esse ac legi in Diatribâ de Chaldaicae lingua Utilitate confirmat Georgius Amira Syrus Cum enim haec in Ecclesiâ Antiochenâ à quà Christianum nobis processit nomen à primis usque temporibus recepta a veteribus Patribus Melitone Sardens Basilio Caesareens Apollinario Laodiceno Eusebio Emeseno Diodoro Tarsensi Theodoreto Cyrensi Procopio Gazaeo Hesychio Polychronio authore Questionum Respons ad Orthodoxos quae Justino Martyri tribuuntur subinde citata fuerit argumentum nobis praebet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loca textus Hebraici cum ea consentientia à posterioribus Masorethis Judaeorum Rabbinis quod isti nugatores clamitant haudquaquam interpolari potuisse Quare sicut anteà Samaritanum ita nunc Syriacum Pentateuchum per D. Freyum nostrum tibi mittendum duxi ut ad Mosaicos quamprimùm libros ab ardelionis istius nefariâ Criticâ vindicandos aggredereris Habeo totius Veteris instrumenti librorum quam mihi emptam in Syriâ vidit D. Jacobus Golius versionem similem nec Canonicorum tantum sed Apocryphorum quoque adjuncto etiam Fl. Josephi de Macchabaeis Hanc quicquid penès me est Samariticorum fragmentorum tecum communicaturus sum libens si quando animum induxeris Parisiensem quam expectamus Samaritani Syriaci contextus editionem cum MSS. nostris exemplaribus comparare Id enim tantum relinquitur peragendum primae editionis gloriâ quam Academiae vestrae optabam aliorum festinatione jam praereptâ Neque alium in finem quaternio ille Arabico-Samaritanus elegantissimo Charactere exaratus à me missus fuerat quam ut formulae archetypae quas matrices vocant inde exprimerentur si quod sperabam Editio ista apud vos procederet Integrum verò Samaritanum Pentateuchum in Arabicam Cuthaeis vernaculum linguam translatum extat licet ea solum pars quae Genesin Deuteronomion complectitur ad meas manus pervenerit Sunt etiam apud me nummi fex aenei vetustissimi partim Phoeniciis partim