Religion of Ireland num 71. God hath given power to his Ministers not simply to forgive sinnes which prerogative he hath reserved only to himselfe but in his name to declare and pronounce unto such as truly repent and unfeignedly believe his Holy Gospel the absolution and remission of sins But that ye may the more fully understand the Primates Iudgement in this point whose authority prevails much with all good men and how remote our Church is from that of the Papists in the use of those words in ordination I shall give you some brief collections out of that Answer of his to the Iesuite Malones challenge concerning this subject and the rather to satisfy the Reader against the injury which among others Doctor Heylene hath done him in this as if his judgement were opposite to the Doctrine of the Church of England First the Primate complains of the wrong done by the Papists in charging us with denying any power to be left by Christ to the Priests or Ministers of the Church to forgive sins being the formal words which our Church requireth to be used in the Ordination of a Minister and there states the question between them us That in the general it was ever the doctrine of our Church that the principal office of our Ministery is excercised in the forgivenesse of sins as the means and end of it The Question is of the manner of the execution and the Bounds of it which the Pope and his Clergy have enlarged beyond all measure of truth and reason We say that to forgive sinnes properly directly and absolutely is Gods propriety onely Esay 43. 25. Psal. 32. 5. produced by our Saviour Matth. 9. to prove his Deity which is accordingly averred by all antiquity But the Papists attribute as much to the Bishop of Rome affirming That in him there is a fulnesse of all graces and he gives a full indulgence of all sins that to him agrees that which we give to our Lord that of his fulnesse all we have received and not much lesse to the meanest Priest viz. That his absolution is such a Sacramental Act that it confers grace actively and immediately and effects the grace of Iustification that as the wind doth extinguish the fire and dispell Clouds so doth his absolution sins and by it Attrition becomes Contrition We do not take upon us any such soveraignty as if it were in our power to proclaim warre or conclude peace between God and man at our discretion We remember we are but Embassadors and must not go beyond our commission and instructions We do not take upon us thus to be Lords over Gods heritage as if we had the absolute power of the Keyes This were Popery indeed No we only acknowledge a Ministerial limited one as Stewards to dispense things according to the Will of our Masters and do assent unto the observation which Cyrill Saint Basil Ambrose Augustine make upon these words of Ordination of the Apostle Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye forgive shall be forgiven viz. That this is not their work properly but the work of the Holy Ghost who remitteth by them for as St. Cyril saith who can free transgressors of the Law but the Authour of the Law it self The Lord saith St. Augustine was to give unâ—o men the Holy Ghost and he would have it to be understood that by the Holy Ghost himselfe sins should be forgiven to the faithfull what art thou O man but a sick man thou hast need to be healed wilt thou be a Physitian to me seek the Physitian togegether with me Saint Ambrose Lo by the Holy Ghost sins are forgiven men bring but their Ministerie to it they exercise not the Authoritie of any power in it Now having acquitted our Church of Poperie in retaining these words in Ordination the Primate proceeds in shewing the Ministers exercise of his function in this particular viz. Forgivenesse of sins in these four things 1. Prayer 2. Censures of the Church 3. Sacraments 4. The word preached 1. Prayer Iam. 5. 14 15. If any be sick let him send for the Elders of the Church let them pray over him and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him and so shewes it to have been the judgement and practice of the Fathers and the ancientest of the Schoolmen that the power of the Keyes in this particular is much exercised in our being petitioners to God for the persons remission not excluding the prayers of the whole Church in assisting them with theirs for which cause in publick offences S. Augustine exhorts men to shew their repentance accordingly that the Church might pray with the Minister for them for the more sure imparting of the benefit of absolution And that before Thomas Aquinas time the form of absolution was by prayer for the partie that a learned man in his time found fault with that indicative form newly introduced Then the form being not I absolve thee but absolutionem remissionem tribuat tibi omnipotens Deus the Almighty God give unto thee absolution and remission c. unto which the antient Ritualls of the Roman Church as the Greeke according to that of Damascenes form yet retained doth agree and 't is the Primates observation that the ancient Fathers never used any Indicative form but alwaies prayer-wise as ye have heard according to which were the ancient Liturgies of the Latine and Greek Churches howsoever the Popish Priests now stand so much upon it that they place the very essence and efficacie of that their Sacrament in it in the first person and not in the third Indeed our Church to shew it stood not upon forms did in its Liturgie observe each 1. In the absolution after the general Confession it is only declarative At the communion 't is in the form of a prayer at the visitation of the sick 't is both Declarative Optative and Indicative 2. In the Censures of the Church there is an exercise of this part of our function which we maintain against the Montanists Novatians who deny any ministeriall power of reconciling of such penitents as had committed heynous sins and receiving them to the Communion of the faithfull which is contrary to that of Saint Paul as 't is generally expounded by antiquity Gal. 6. 1. If any man be overtaken in a fault i. e. in a scandalous one you who are spiritual restore i. e. upon his repentance such a one in the spirit of meeknesse as in the particular of the Incestuous Corinthian whom as in the name and power of the Lord Iesus he had bin excommunicated by Saint Paul and the Elders there so upon his repentance he was in the same name and by the same power restored again even by such to whom was committed the Ministery of reconciliation 2 Cor. 27. 10. c. And indeed this loosening of men is generally by the Fathers accounted a restoring them to the peace of the Church and admitting
of God both Ministery and people in Fasting and Prayer which was the injunction of our Church should have been the practice to invocate God for the assisting grace of his spirit to be given to the person ordained might be prevalent for that end and that the receiving accordingly of ordination might be so far operative as to be a confirmation of the party the more against errors and heresies in the execution of it The falling into which may possibly be the judgement of God upon some who of late dayes have run without it which agrees with the observation Chemnitius makes of Origen who neglected Orders and fell into the like and at last made himselfe incapable of them But I say again that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the forenamed place is most safely to be understood of the gift of authority to be exercised and transferred unto others by laying on of hands And 't is further confirmed by the many examples that do abound our Saviour gave his Apostles not only an inward call by his Spirit but an open verball call before the people Saint Stephen a man full of Faith and the Holy Ghost yet presumed not to officiate till he had imposition of hands from them Beware of making your selves Ministers our Saviour did not make himself a Priest Heb. 5. 5. 't is the blot layed on Iezabell that she made her selfe a Prophetesse Revelat 2. 20. 'T is frequent to hear an ordained Minister called Antichristian but consider who deserves that Title whether those that observe the rule of Christ and tread in the paths of the Apostles or such who without any president in Scripture or in primitive times are in this a law unto themselves And do but think what ill issue may in the future be of this promiscuous presumption upon the offices of the Ministery what doubts it may raise in our posterity in receiving of Baptisme by such as cannot answer to that question By what authority dost thou these things and who gave thee this authority One objection common in the mouthes of men is Why do you stand so much upon a ceremony as laying on of hands is First that which the Apostle callsâ— a Principle and a Fundamentall do not you call a ceremony according to that which was said to S. Peter That which God hath cleansed call not thou common for which we have both Precept and Example to three successions Paul and Timothy and those that succeeded him 2. 'T is a most honourable ceremony used upon other occasions Iacob in blessing of Ephraim and Manasses Moses in constitution of Ioshua Naâ—mans expectation of Elias healing him our Saviours in blessing of the children in the Gospel Saint Pauls at the Holy Ghosts coming upon the disciples of Ephesus in the gift of tongues The Prophets of Antioch upon the separating of Paul and Barnabas for a speciall work designed unto as others by way of benediction and confirmation 3. If it be an institution though how mean soever it is to the eye yet it must be observed or else water in Baptisme bread and wine in the Lords Supper may fall under the like contempt Circnmcision was a carnall ordinance yet Rom. 3. the Apostle checks those who questioned the profit or vertue of it The waxe of the Seale hath little worth in it self but by the impression affixed to the pattent is of great consequence to the party the like application may be made to imposition of hands the Seal of Ordination But suppose laying on of hands be granted as we have said the question yet remains By whose hands Answ. Doubtlesse not by the peoples for it doth not stand with reason that any can transferre that authority which they have not The people may be said after a manner to give their votes in the election as it was the former and ancient custome that they were asked if they knew of any impediment or crime for which the party ought not be received into this holy Ministry and desired to declare it and upon the objecting of any the Bishop was to surcease till the party accused should clear himself The people had liberty of allegation for or against the person to be ordained but it doth not follow that therefore they had power in constituteing and ordaining They are the persons to whom the Ministers are sent can they be the Senders they have their mission to them can they have their Commission from them we are Gods Embassadours not theirs neither do ye â—ind any power this way derived or committed from Christ to them As my Father sent me so send I you saith our Saviour to his Apostles Lo I am with you and so with your successors unto the end of the world Saint Paul saith to Timothy Lay thou hands c. to Titus I left thee behind that thou shouldest ordain be it meant collectively of the rest of the Ministers as assistants with him also but no mention of the people in that act That of Numb 8. 10. the people laid their hands on the Levits is not meant in their consecration but dedication or the donation of them to be consecrated to the Lord instead of the first born by Moses and Aaron It was but as Hanna's giving up her son Samuel to Eli to be consecrated to the service of the Temple or like the presentation of a person formally under the hand and seal of the Patron to the Bishop to be instituted or inducted such was this of the Levites only a signification of their act and deed under their hands in giving up their whole title and interest in them to be set apart for that end For that of Matthias his election before the people to be an Apostle Acts 1. 16. alleadged by some for the power of people in Ordination 1. Saint Peter only signifieth to them what they were about to do and doing it in their presence as in Saint Cyprians time it was the custome to have the Minister ordained praesente plebe sub omnium oculis c. in the presence of the people before the eyes of all c. like Eleazar invested by Moses with the Priests garments on the top of the Mount in the sight of the Israelites but the actions in â—etting two apart in casting the lots prayer c. were the Apostles Secondly This election here to the Apostleship was neither the peoples nor Apostles but Gods by a divine suffrage expressed by lot according to the prayer of the Apostles to God for it and so it makes nothing for the peoples act in ordination and so much for the first Question Whose hands must be imposed 2. What if the ordainers being of the Ministry be found not to have â—een of clean hands themselves i. e. of evill lives is their ordination good I answer Yes For 't is not a personal act but an act of office as 't is not the learning of the Judge makes any decree valid
old had under the Law in curing the Lepers who therefore accordingly may be said to forgive and retaine sins whilst they shew and declare they are forgiven or retained of God So the Priests put the name of the Lord upon the children of Israel and were commanded to blesse the people in saying The Lord blesse thee but it was the Lord himself that blessed them according to the next words and I will blesse them And thus in these four things I leave it to be calmly considered of if the Ministers have not power left them by Christ in relation to forgivenesse of sins and with these limitations whether that part of the old form of the words of Ordination might not be continued also which seems to me to be explained in the next following them viz. And be thou a faithfull dispenser of the word and Sacraments c. through both which the graces of the Holy Ghost and remission of sins are conveyed and sealed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost According as in the words at the Communion used to the recipient the former clause was added in Q. Elizabeths dayes to give the more full sense of the latter And let not any by this Moderate expression extenuate the office of the Ministery as Bellarmine would by this inferre that any Lay-man Woman or Child may absolve as well as the Minister as we have among our selves too many of that judgement For it consisteth not in speech but in power or Authority he being as the officer of a King Authorized to make Proclamation of his pleasure Every man may speak one to another to the use of edifying but to them is given 1 Cor. 10. 16. power to edification God hath made them able Ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit That from them it comes 1 Thess. 1. 5. not only in word but in power also and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance which accordingly hath been experimentally found that howsoever another may from the Scripture shew as truly unto the penitent what glad tidings are there intended to him yet to drooping and doubting soules it hath not been so efficacious in quieting them and giving satisfaction to their consciences either in sicknesse death-bed or otherwise as by the Ministery ordained and commissionated for that end That as 't is their office to pray and exhort you in Christs stead to be reconciled unto God so having listened to that Motion and submitted your selves accordingly 't is their office to declare and assure unto you in Christs stead that God is reconciled with you All which appeares to be the ancient doctrine of the Church of England by what is publickly declared in the exhortation before the Communion to be read sometimes at the discretion of the Minister which is the recitd and approved by the Primate as followeth And because it is requisite that no man should come to the holy Communion but with a full trust in Gods mercy and with a quiet conscience therefore if there be any of you which by meanes aforesaid i. e. Private examination and confession of sinnes to God cannot quiet his own conscience but requireth further Councell and Comfort then let him come to me or some other discreet and learned Minister of Gods word and open his grief that he may receive such Ghostly Councel Advice and Comfort as his Conscience may be relieved and that by the Ministery of Gods word he may receive comfort and the benefit of absolution to the quieting of his conscience and avoyding of all scruple and doubtfulnesse And now let the Reader judge if Dr. Heylene hath not cause to repent of his rash censure of the Primate in his late book p. 108. as if in this part of his Answer to the Jesuite he had as he saith in this particular utterly subverted as well the doctrine of this Church as her purpose in it c. when those two arguments which himself urgeth from the words of Ordination and the exhortation at the communion are produced and defended by the Primate also What would he have he saith the doctrine of the Church of England is that The Priest doth forgive sins authoritativè by a delegated and commissionated power committed to him from our Lord and Saviour doth not the Primate say the same that 't is not only declarativè but designativè not only by way of information out of the word of God as another understanding Christian may do to the penitent that his sins are pardoned but he doth it authoritative as having a power and commission from God to pronounce it to the party and by the seale of the Sacrament to assure the soule of the penitent that he is pardoned of God which no other man or Angel can do ex officio but the Minister of Christ according to that of the Apostle To us is committed the word of reâ—couciliation this is the summe of the Primates judgement He that would have more must step over into the Church of Rome for it I shall only make a trial whether Doctor Heylene will so conclude against Mr. Hooker as he hath against the Primate who in his sixth book of Ecclesiasticall Policy consents fully with him where after his declaring that for any thing he could ever observe those Formalities which the Church of Rome do so esteem of were not of such estimation nor thought to be of absolute necessity with the Ancient Fathers and that the form with them was with invocation or praying for the penitent that God would be reconciled unto him for which he produceth Leo Ambrose Ierome c. p. 96. He thus declares his judgement viz. As for the Ministerial sentence of private absolution it can be no more then a declaration what God hath done it hath but the force of the Prophet Nathan's absolution God hath taken away thy sins then which construction especially of words judiciall there is nothing more vulgar For example the Publicans are said in the Gospel to have justified God the Iewes in Malachy to have blessed the proud man which sin and prosper not that the one did make God righteous or the other the wicked happy but to blesse to justifie and to absolve are as commonly used for words of judgement or declaration as of true and reall efficacy yea even by the opiâ—ion of the Master of sentences c. Priests are authorized to loose and bind that is to say declare who are bound and who are loosed c. Saint Ierome also whom the Master of the Sentences alledgeth directly affirmeth That as the Priests of the Law could only discern and neither cause nor remove Leprosies so the Ministers of the Gospel when they retain or remit sinnes do but in the one judge how long we continue guilty and in the other declare when we are clear or free Tom 6. Comment in 16. Mat. So saith Mr. Hooker when conversion by manifest tokens did seem effected Absolution
endure a short space To make this short space a thousand years or else to put in so many years of the Popes government over Rome before Antichrist come who shall forsooth revolt from his Obedience It seemes rather the dream of a waking man then to hold any likelyhood of Truth Howsoever it resteth even by Viâ—gas consent notwithstanding his cunning combination of two states of Rome that under Paganisme and that under Antichrist with a thousand years between that Rome must have continued Christian for sundery Ages before her Desolation and for ought doth yet appear the present Monarchy which she claims to exercise over the Christian World is the Mystical Babylon out of which Gods People are called For the better clearing whereof let us consider the Description that is made of this Babylon by the Angels and our Saviour Christ himself more distinctly to see whether it doe agree to the present estate of Rome or no The Angel tells Iohn in the last Verse of the former Chapter The woman which thou sawest is the great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth and before Verse 5. upon her forehead is a name written Mysterie Babylon the great Touching this greatness I may spare my pains to speak much there is a learned Book of Iustus Lipsius which he intitles Admiranda marvells touching the greatness of Rome not long after in concurrence thereto there was another made by Thomas Stapleton our Countreyman Professour at Lovaine which he intitles Vere admiranda Marvels indeed touching the greatness of the Church of Rome wherein by comparison he indeavours to shew that for largeness of Extent strength and power over Princes themselves honour yielded unto it the greatness and magnificence of the Romane Church doth far surpass the Roman Empire These two books were both printed together and set forth at Rome against the year of Jubilee 1600. as if the Papacy laboured to carry in her forehead the name Great Babylon For the reigning over the Kings of the Earth by this great City which is another point of the Angels description It is true that heathen Rome had anciently in the borders and confines of the state sundry Kings that held their Kingdomes of her Such were the Herods Aretas and Agrippa mentioned in the New Testament but these were neither in number nor dignity nor in the absolutenâ—ss of their subjection to be compared with those that the now Rome reigneth over And no great marvel if the Roman Emperour armed with thirty or fourty Legions had many Kings at command saith Stapleton but that the Pope being altogether unarmed should give Lawes to the Kings of the Earth and either advance them to their Kingdomes or depose them who would not account worthy of great marvel true but the Angel shewes us the true reason the ten hornes which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdome as yet but receive power as Kings at once with the beast c. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his Will and to agree and to give their Kingdome unto the beast until the Word of God shall be fulfilled And consider I pray you here the manner how they have given their Kingdomes to the beast Vpon the Election of any new Pope they send a solemne Embassage to profess their Obedienee to him And one of those which is extant in Print as great a Monarch as any the Christian World hath Offers himself and all his Kingdomes his Seas Firm lands Islands Armes Forces Treasures Ships Armies whatsoever he is whatsoever he hath whatsoever he is able to doe and falling down at the Popes feet as a most obsequious Sonne he acknowledgeth and confesseth him to be the true Vicar of Christ our Saviour on Earth the successour of Peter the Apostle in that See the head of the Vniversal Church the Provost Parent and Pastor of all Christians praying him and humbly beseeching him that he would receive all whatsoever be hath offered to the profit defence of the Church into his Pâ—otection and Patronage And these words c. are said with a gesture corespondent the Embassador falling down upon his knees let Lipâ—ius if he can with all his reading in Story shew us such an Example of any King subject to old Pagan Rome It is true that Nero accounted it for his highest Glory to have set the Crown upon Tiridates the King of the Armenians head in the City of Rome with great state and pomp But let us see saith Stapleton If the Majesty of the Church of Rome hath not had an equal part of this glory yea and a greater and then he reckons how Pope Leo the third gave the Empire to Charles the great and how other Popes conferred to others a great many other Kingdomes One thing he forgets that neither Nero nor any other Emperour of old Rome ever Crowned any with his feet as Celestine the third did Henry the sixth nor caused him to hold their stirrops or kiss their feet much less set their feet upon their neckes as Pope Adrian the fourth and Alexander the third did to the Emperor Frederick And that we may not spend more time in proving that the present Papal Rome reigneth over the Kings of the Earth the Merchants of Babylon are now resolved That all the Kingdomes of the Earth are the Popes insomuch that the best Title that any Prince can have to his Crown is Dei Apostolicae sedis gratia by the grace of God and Apostolick See And Cardinal Bellarmine recognizing his works retracts that which might seem to Cross this title about the Popes dividing the new world to the Portugals and Spaniards And tempers that which he had said that Christ himselfe whose Vicar the Pope is had no temporal Kingdome and lastly asserts more roundly contrary to his former opinion viz. That the Church may deprive infidels of their Dominion which they have over the Faithfull yea albeit they do not endeavour to turn away the Faiâ—hful from the Faith Howsoever she doth not alwayes so because she wanteth strength or doth not judge it expedient but questionlesse if those same Princes do goe about to turn away their people from the faith they may and ought to be deprived of their Dominions I shall not need to call to rememberance here what Faith or infidelity is at this day in the Roman Language when Paul the Fift teacheth the Catholickes that they cannot take the Oath of Fidelity salva fide Catholica with safety of the Catholick Faith which shewes that if the Pope may deprive infidels of their Dominions how much more such as are Christians being thereby more under the verge of his Authority concerning the Popes ruling over the Kings of the Earth this may suffice The Angel which in the begining of this Chapter proclaimeth the fall of Babylon saith that all Nations have drunke of the wine of the wrath of her Fornication and the Kings of the earth have committed
little to satisfie for thy sins For as for thy siâ—s thou must offer Christs works his pains and wounds and his death it self to him together with that love of his out of which he endured these things for thee These are available for the satisfaction for thy sins But thou whatsoever thou dost or sufferest offer it not for thy sins to God but for his love and good pleasure wishing to find the more grace with him whereby thou mayest doe more greater and more acceptable works to him let the love of God then be to thee the cause of well-living and the hope of well-working thus he and I doubt not but many there be on that side that follow this Councel here with I shall relate the speach of a wise and discreet Gentleman my neighbour in England who lived and died a Recusant he demanded one time What was the worst Opinion that we could impute to the Church of Rome It was said there was none more then this of our merits And that Cardinal Bellarmine not onely doth uphold them but saith we may trust in them so it be done soberly And saith they deserve Eternal life not onely in respect of Gods propromises and Covenant but also in regard of the work it self whereupon he answered Bellarmine was a learned man and could pâ—rhaps defend what he wrote by learning But for his part he trusted to be saved onely by the merits of his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and as for good works he would do all that he could Et valeant qâ—uantum volere possint To proceed In or under the Obedience of Rome there is Persecution and that is a better mark of Christs people then Bellarmines Temporal felicity all that will live godly in Christ Iesus saith the Apostle shall suffer persecution ye shall be hated of all men for my Names sake saith our Saviour and so are all they on that side that are less superstitious then others or dare speak of redress of abuses yea there is Martyrdome for a free opposing mens traditions Image-worshipers Purgatory and the like Add that inobedience to this call of Christ there do some come dayly from thence and in truth how could our Saviour call his people from thence if he had none there How could the Apostles say that Antichrist from whose captivity they are called shall sit in the Temple of God since that Ierusalem is finally and utterly desolated unless the same Apostle otherwhere declaring himself had shewed us his meaning that the Church is the house of God and again ye are the Temple of the living God and the Temple of God is Holy which are ye It will be said that there are on that side many gross errors many open Idolatries and superstitions so as those which live there must needs be either partakers of them and like minded or else very Hypocrites But many errors and much ignorance so it be not affected may stand with true Faith in Christ and when there is true Contrition for our sins that is because it displeaseth God there is a general and implicite repentance for all unknown sins Gods Providence in the general revolt of the ten Tribes when Elias thought himselfe left alone had reserved seven thousand that had not bowed to the Image of Baal and the like may be conceived heâ—e since especially the Idolatry practised under the obedience of Mystical Babylon is rather in false and will-worship of the true God and rather commended as profitable then as absolutely necessary enjoyned and the corruptions there maintained rather in superfluous addition then retraction in any thing necessary to salvation Neither let that hard term of hypocrisie be used of the infirmity and sometime humble and peaceable carriage of some that oppose not common errors nor wrestle with the greater part of men but do follow the multitude reserving a right knowledge to themselves and sometimes by the favour which God gives them to find where they live obtain better conditions then others can We call not Iohn the beloved Disciple an hypocrite because he was known to the High Priest and could procure Peter to be let to see the arraignment of our Saviour nor Peter himself that for fear denied him much less Daniel and his companions that by suit obtained of Melzar their keeper that they might feed upon pulse and not be defiled with the King of Babels meat and these knew themselves to be captives and in Babel But in the new Babel how many thousands do we think there are that think otherwise that they are in the true Catholike Church of God the name whereof this harlot hath usurped And although they acknowledge that where they live are many abuses and that the Church hath need of reformation yet there they were born and they may not abandon their Mother in her sickness Those that converse more inwardly with men of Conscience on that side doe know that these are speeches iâ— secret which how they will be justified against the commands of Christ come out of her my people belongs to another place to consider For the purpose we have now in hand I dare not but account these the people of God though they live very dangerously under the captivity of Babylon as did Daniel Mordecay Hester Nehemiah and Ezra and many Jewes more notwithstanding both Cyrus Commission and the Prophets Command to depart This point may give some light in a Question that is on foot among learned and good men at this day Whether the Church of Rome be a true Church or no where I thinke surely if the matter be rightly declared for the tearms there will remain no question As thus whether Babylon pretending to be the Church of Rome yea the Catholick Church be so or not or this Whether the people of Christ that are under the captivity be a true Church or no either of both waies declare in these tearms and the matter will be soon resolved Except some man will perhaps still Object Though there be a people of God yet they can be no true Church for they have no Priesthood which is necessary to the Constitution of a Church As Saint Cyprian describes it Plebs sacerdoti adunata people joyned to their priest They have no Priesthood being by the very form of their Ordidination Sacrificers for the quick and the dead I answer under correction of better judgements they have the Ministery of Reconciliation by the Commission which is given at their Ordination being the same which our Saviour left in his Church Whose sins ye remit they are remitted whose sinnes ye retain they are retained As for the other power to sacrifice if it be any otherwise then celebrating the Commemoration of Christs sacrifice once offered upon the Cross It is no part of the Priesthood or Ministery of the New Testament But as superfluous additions thereunto which yet worketh not to the destruction of that which is lawfully conferred otherwise
Commands of our Lord Iesus Christs owne Voyce under paine of being accessary to all her sinnes and lyable to all her punishments wish them to use the Libertie to reade the holy Scriptures and to come out of the blinde Obedience of Mens Precepts and Traditions be pleased to tell them further that others may have some Collour of Excuse that live in such places where they may not discover themselves without danger of the losse of their Goods Honour or Life they may doe it here not onely with safetie but with Reputation and profit intreat them to beware least they make themselves extreamely Cuâ—pable not onely of partaking with the former Idolatries Extortions Massacres Powder Treasons and King killings of that bloody City but the new detestable Doctrines Derogatory to the blood of Christ which moderate men even of her own Subjects detest But which she for fear it should discontent her own Creatures and devoted Darlings will not disavow O if they would feare the plagues of Babylon and that of all others the fearfullest Blindness of mind and strong Delusions to believe Lies that they may be damned that believed not the Truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness But you hope better things of them accompanying Salvation and this Message of our Lord Jesus Christ if you will be pleased to deliver accompanying it with those Generall and common goods of Charitie and Meekeness Integritie good Example and the speciall furtherance which your Callings and Places in State Church or Family can give it doubtlesse to Christs people will not be uneffectual Blessed be God that hath-long agoe stirred up the Spirits of our Princes like Cyrus to give libertie to Gods People to go out of Babylon And to give large Patents with Darius and Artaxeâ—xes for the building of the Temple and establishing the Service of God And blessed be God and his Majestie that hath sent us another Nehemiah to build up the walls of Ierusalem and to procure that the Portion of the Levites should be given them Give me leave Right Honourable to put you in mind that this also belongeth to your Care to Cooperate with Christ in bringing his People out of the Romish Captivitie And if to help away a poor Captive out of Turkie hath been Honourable to some Publicke Ministers What shall it be to help to the enlargeing of so many thousand souls out of the bondage of Mens Traditions and gaining to his Majestie so many entire Subjects your wisedom my Lord is such as it needeth not to be advised and your Zeal as it needeth not to be stirred up yet pardon me one word for the purpose of helping Christs People out of Babylon They are called by himself often in Scripture His Sheep and verily as in many other so in this they are like to Sheep which being Cooped up in a narrow Pent though they find some Pleasure and the Passage be set open are not forward to come out unlesse they be put on but strain Courtesie which should begin yet when they are once out with a Ioyfull friske they Exult in their Freedome yea and when a few of the foremost lead the rest follow I shall not need to make Application Do according to your wisedome in your place and Christ whose Work it is shall be with you and further your endeavours The like I say unto you the rest of my Lords Fathers and Brethren help your Friends Followers and Tenents out of Babylon what you may in your places you have the Examples of Abraham Ioshua Cornelius praysed in Scripture for propagating the Knowledge and Fear of God in their Families and Commands with the report of Gods accepting it and rewarding it And this to the use of others But shall you not carry away something for your selves also Yes verily take to your selves this Voyce of our Saviour Come out of Babylon you will say we have done it already God be thanked we are good Christians good Protestants some of us Preachers and that call up on others to come out of Babylon But if Saint Paul prayed the Converted Corinthians to be reconciled to God And Saint Iohn writing to Belevers sets down the record of God touching his Son That they might believe in the Name of the Son of God why may not I Exhort in Christs Name and words even those that are come out of Babylon to come out of her Qui monet ut facias c. He that perswades another to that which he doth already in perswading incourageth him and puts him on in his performance but if there be any yet unresolved and halting or hanging between two as the people did in Elias time That present their bodies at such meetings as this is when their hearts are perhaps at Rome or no where If any in some points rightly informed and cleared in others doubtful to such Christ speaks Come out of her my People presse on by prayer Conference reading If Christs Voyce be to be heard If Rome be Babylon Come out of her And let it be spoken with as litle offence as it is delight We that seem to be the forwardest in Reformatino are not yet so come out of Babylon as we have not many shamefull Badges of her Captivity witness her Impropriations being indeed plaine Church-robberie devised to maintain her Colonies of idle and irregular Regulars Idle to the Church and State Zealous and Pragmatical to support and defend her power pomp and pride by whom they subsisted witness her Dispensations or dissipations rather of all Canonical Orders bearing down all with her Non obstante her Symoniacal and Sacrilegious Venality of Holy things her manifold Extortions in the Exercise of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdictiction which we have not wholly banished Let each of us therefore account it as spoken to himself Come out of her my People In this Journey let us not trouble and cast stumbling blocks before Gods People that are ready to come out or hinder one another with Dissentions in matters either inexplicable or unprofitable let it have some pardon If some be even so forward in flying from Babylon as they fear to go back to take their own goods for haste and let it not be blamed or uncharitably censured if some come in the Râ—ear and would leave none of Christs People behind them No man reacheth his hand to another whom he would lift out of a Ditch but he stoops to him Our ends immediate are not the same but yet they meet in one final intention The one hates Babylon and the other loves and pitties Christs People There the one believes the Angel that cast the Milstone into the Sea in the end of this Chap. with that word so shall Babylon rise uo more The other fear the threatning of our Saviour against such as scandalize any of the little ones believing in him that it is better for such a one to have a Milstone hanged upon his neck and be cast into the Sea himselfe
Finally let us all beseech our Lord Iesus Christ to give us Wisedome and opportunity to further his work and to give success unto the same himself to hasten the judgement of Babylon to bring his People out of this bondage that we with them and all his Saints in the Church Triumphant May there upon sing a joyfull Hallelujah as is expressed in the next Chapter Salvation and Honour and Glory and ' Power be unto the LORD our GOD Amen Halleluiah A Confirmation of the Iudgement of these two most Reverend and learned Bishops in this particular and the vindication of it from the aspersion of Novelty or Singularity from some grounds out of the Ancient Fathers the continued Suffrages of learned men in successive ages and the most eminent Bishops of England and Ireland of later yeares occasioned to be the more large by the Censure which Doctor Heylene in his late book gives the Primate and the Articles of Ireland for it FIrst For the Fathers who lived before that defection or Apostasy whch was to preceed and prepare the ways for the man of sin 2 Thes. 2 3. there could not be expected from them any such direct application unlesse they had a Spirit of Prophesie themselves Rome was in the Primitive times a pure Church and the least infected with Arianisme and other heresies which then abounded in the Eastern parts being rather a receptacle of such as were banished thence by that persecution so that it must have been a Prophetick pen that should then have affirmed that righteous City should become an harlot 'T is true there might be a conception of that man of sin but till his birth there could be no judgement given of him iniquity was breeding but in a mystery verse the 8. like the child in the womb which the Mother of it cannot then be assured but it may prove an abortive and harlots use to keep their conceptions close and undiscerned till they are forced to discover them Now this being thus in the conceiving and producing of that wicked one the silence of the Fathers as to so early a sentence whatsoever they might suspect is not to be wondred at Diseases may be gathering in the body when neither the party himself is sensible nor the most skilfull Physitian can discern of the event fire may be kindling in the house but the next neighbours do not cry out of it till it be smelt or flame forth to their view And so there might be some such distempers and strange fire smothering in the Church of God for some 100's of yeares but till it brake out ye could not expect the Fathers of those ages could take any notice of it at least digito monstrare dicier hic est Secondly The prophesies of the New Testament are like those of Daniel in the Old shut and sealed up till the Time of the fulfilling according to that of Saint Augustine Prophetias implericitius quam intelligi that prophesies are fulfilled before they are understood agreeing with that Rev. 1. 3. blessed is he that reads and understands for the time is at hand 'T is the speech of Irenaeus All prophesies before they are fulfilled are riddles unto men but as soon as the time is come and the thing prophesied is come to passe they have a clear and certain exposition our apprehension conceives no further then our experience reacheth unto That old Adage Veritas est temporis filia truth is the daughter of time hath its place here and in this sense the day shall declare it and therefore Andraeas Caesariensis in his Commentary upon the Revelation speaking of Babylon and who should be meant by it though he had his suspitions as liviug near the time of the revealing of it yet suspended his direct application only saying that the accurate knowledge of the person time and experience will reveale it to the diligent observers What our Saviour said of Iohn the Baptist for his knowledge of some mysteries foretold in the old Testament and living after the Prophets That he was greater then they and the least of the Ministers of the Gospel by surviving him to be greater then he so is it in this sense appliable to the after-ages of the Fathers who lived to see the fulfilling what is foretold of this subject by Saint Paul in the Thessalonians and Saint Iohn in the Revelations Which is according to the judgement of Bishop Andrews in his Tortura Torti page 186. where having fully applyed that of Revel 17. 18. to the See of Rome he addes this But it is no wonder those things which I have said have not so clear or certain an interpretation in the writings of the Fathers for it was then a mystery of iniquity which wrought the book of this prophesie was as yet sealed up And it is a most true speech every prophesie is a riddle while 't is not fulfilled And though those Ancients very much excelled us in all manner of gifts and specially in the holinesse of life yet no man hath cause to wonder that all these things did not seem so clear to them as by the grace of God they are now to us who do see this prophesie now consummated daily before our eyes Certainly while Rome continued in its purity the Fathers of that age might well have wondred with great admiration as Saint Iohn himself did and look upon it as incredulous that it should have degenerated into that pride Idolatry Murder and become the Mother of all abominations c. even as we would at this day if the like should be foretold of England which hath been so famous for Religion in being a shelter for such as have been persecuted by the See of Rome abounded with writers against it and the chief Church of the reformed Religion in opposition to Popery I say if any should take upon him a spirit of prophesie in averring it should in time be an advancer of Popery and be utterly over-run with it and become a persecutor of such as should oppose the errours of it the sinke of Heresie Schisme and prophanenesse c. would not we who now live be as far from believeing the report as Hazael was at what was told him by the Prophet concerning himself But Thirdly There are some grounds out of the ancient Fathers which may be accounted as foundations whereupon to build this application the more firmly being as Bishop Andrews saith a wonder they should see so much looking on these things only quasi per transennam Tertullian who lived about 400 yeares before the Emperour was cast out of Rome in the Exposition of that 2 Thes. 2. 9. and now ye know what with-holdeth or who letteth verse 7. he who now letteth will let till he be taken out of the way saith this Who can this be but the Roman Empire whose removal out of Rome being dispersed into 10 Kingdomes must usher in Antichrist and then shall the wicked one be
the judgement of Arminius Now that the Divines of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas do generally accord also in it need not to be inserted being sufficiently known such as Daneus Franciscus-Iunius Tilenus Morneus Viguierus Rivetus Chamerus etc. The Reformed Church of France have made it one of their Articles in their confession as â—e may find in Chamier Paustrat Cathol Tom. 2. lib. 16. de Antichristo cap. 1. where he gives you the words of the 31 Article conceived in Synodo Papinsensi owned by him to be the confession of the reformed Churches in France in these words following Whereas the Bishop of Rome having erected to himself a Monarchy over the Christian world doth usurp a Dominion over all Churches and Pastors and hath rose to such a height of pride as to call himself God will be adored and all power to be given him in heaven and earth disposeth of all Ecclesiastical things defines Articles of Faith saith the authority of the Scripture and the interpretation of it to be from him maketh Merchandize of soules dispenseth with vowes and oathes institutes new worships of God As also in civil affaires treads upon the lawful authority of the Magistrate in giving taking away translating of Empires We do believe and assert him to be the very proper Antichrist son of perdition foretold in the word of God the scarlet harlot sitting on seven mountains in the great city which hath obtained a rule over the Kings of the earth and we do expect when the Lord according to his promise and as he hath begun will destroy him with the spirit of his mouth and at length abolish with the brightnesse of his coming And Maresius in his preface to the Answer of Hugo Grotius his Observations upon the 2 Thes. 2. and other places gives us the like Article agreed upon in Synodo Nationali Gapensi Anno 1604. which hath very little or no difference from the former and so needlesse to be repeated Which do fully agree with the Synod of Ireland by by the Arch-bishops and Bishops and the rest of the Clergy there in the Convocation holden at Dublin 1615. num 80. viz. The Bishop of Rome is so farre from being the supreme head of the Vniversal Church of Christ that his works and doctrine do plainly discovar him to be the man of sin foretold in holy Scripture whom the Lord shall consnme with the spirit of his mouth and abolish with the brightnesse of his coming The former Synod may possibly be undervalued with some by bearing the name of Presbyterian but seeing it consents with the latter which was Episcopal why may it not be an introduction to a further moderation betweene them in other matters And it stands but with justice that if Presbytery have had a hand in the match of Episcopacy with Popery which seems to have been without consent of parties it should upon this evidence be the more forward in assisting in the divorce Now in regard that above-said Article of the Church of Ireland confirmed by the judgement of the late Primate hath been objected against by Doctor Heylene for that as he saith there is no such doctrine in the book of Articles nor in any publick monument or record of the Church of England but the contrary rather â— shall cite some passages out of the book of Homilies which are approved by the book of Articles as a larger declaration of the Doctrine of the Church of England and leave it to the Readers judgment In the third part of the Sermon of good works speaking against the Popish singing of Trentals and the superstitious Orders in the Church of Rome introduced to serve the Papacy these words are as followeth viz. Honour be to God who did put light in the heart of King Henry the eighth to put away all such superstitions and Pharisaical Sects by Antichrist invented c. which can be meant of no other but the See of Rome by the words not long after viz. Let us rehearse some other kinds of Papistical superstitions c. In the second part of the Sermon of salvation speaking against the Popish opinion of justification by works these words are as followeth Iustification is not the office of man but of God for man cannot make himself righteous by his own works neither in part nor in the whole for that were the greatest arrogancy and presumption of man that Antichrist could set up against God etc. and so accounts it not the doctrine of a Christian that sets forth Christs glory but of him that is an adversary to Christ and his Gospel and a setter forth of mans vain-glory c. And that passage in the third part of the Sermon against the perill of Idolatry p. 69. I leave to the Readers judgement if the sense can be understood otherwise then of the See of Rome in these words following viz. Now concerning popish excessive decking of Images and Idols with painting gilding adorning with pretious vestures pearles and stones what is it else but for the further provocation and inticement to spiritual fornication which the Idolatrous Church understandeth well enough For she being indeed not only an harlot as the Scripture calls her but also a foule filthy old harlot for she is indeed of ancient yeares and understanding her lack of nature and true beauty and great lothsomnesse which of her self she hath she doth after the custome of such harlots paint her self and deck and tire her self with gold pearle stone and all kind of pretious jewels that she shining with the outward beauty and glory of them may please the foolish fantasie of fond lovers and so entice them to spiritual fornication with her Who if they saw her I will not say naked but in simple apparel would abhorre her as the foulest and filthiest harlot that ever was seen According as appeareth by the description of the garnishing of the great strumpet of all strumpets the Mother of whoredomes set forth by Saint Iohn in his Revelation Apoc. 17. who by her glory provoked the Princes of the earth to commit whoredome with her c and it followeth pag. 77. And it is not enough to deck Idols but at the last come in the Priests themselves likewise decked with gold and pearle and with a solemn pace they pass forth before these golden puppets and fall down to the ground on their marrow-bones before the sehonourable Idols and then rising up again offer up odours and incense to them c. He that reads the whole cannot judge of it to be meant otherwise then of the Papacy And if the fifth and sixth part of the Sermon against wilful rebellion be viewed there will be found such a large narration of the pride and ambition of the Bishop of Rome that there will not need any further help to an application of that 2 Thes. 2. to him which thus beginneth viz. After that ambition and desire of dominion entred once into Ecclesiastical Ministers whose
is observable the argument which he useth he produceth as a Maxime then in his time taken for granted not to be proved but supposed no man then so much as questioning the necessity of it for though there were then divers disputes about discipline and ceremonies in which this learned Authour then appeared yet both parties esteemed alike of Ordination to be a sacred institution none presuming to take upon them the office of the Ministery without it Well this I conceive to be the sence here of laying on of hands viz. That it was a Principle of the Catechisme taught to Christians at their first reception that there was to be a successive ordination or setting apart of persons for the Ministery for an authorative preaching of faith and repentance and administration of Sacraments called laying on of hands from the outward rite as the Lords Supper by breaking of bread And this was the judgement of the most Reverend and learned Father of our Church the late Arch-Bishop of Armagh which hath the rather emboldned me to employ my thoughts in the confirmation of it and surely if it be a fundamentall the knowledge of the sense of it is of a greater consequence then to be slighted First it is considerable how well this doth sute with Saint Pauls expression elsewhere speaking of Ordination 2 Tim. 1. 6. Stirre up the gift of God that is in thee by the putting on of my hands 1 Tim. 4. 14. neglect not the gift that is in thee given thee with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery both thus sufficiently reconciled Saint Paul was the principal the Presbyters were his assistants according to the constitutions and custome of our Church in Ordination The Bishop is not to do it alone but with the assistance of at least three or four of the Ministers which was after the pattern of the Primitive times The injunction of Saint Paul for it is accordingly 2 Tim. 5. 22. Lay hands suddenly on no man i. e. ordain And it is the more observable that all are from one and the same Apostle it being one argument to prove Saint Paul was the Authour of this Epistle to the Hebrews by the use of this expression here which is not in the Epistles of any other Apostle 'T is true we read of extraordinary gifts of tongues c. given by laying on of hands in the Acts but they cannot be understood here for they were but temporary and ceased like Scaffolds which after the building of an house are taken down but what is meant here must be as the foundation which remains to the last and all falls with it that agrees to an Ordained Ministery which must continue for the preaching of faith and repentance and administration of Sacraments to the end of the world In which sence is that last speech of our Saviour Matth. 28. Lo I am with you unto the end of the world it cannot be limited to the persons of the Apostles with whose deaths those Administrations did not expire but must be understood collectively of the whole body of the Ministery then as it were in their loines who should succeed in preaching and Baptisme and through whom a successive powerful assistance of the spirit is to be transferred in and through those unto the worlds end This power of officiating was powred on the head of the Apostles and descendeth to the skirts of their garments in these dayes And how like a fundamental Ordination is may easily appear it began at the foundation of the Church and was one of the first stones laid in this Edifice and it must continue to the last for as the Lords Supper is to continue till the second coming of Christ so the Ministers of it have the same term also Ephes. 4. 13. He gave some Pastors Teachers c. Till we all come unto a perfect man unto the measure of the Stature of the fullnesse of Christ c. Rom. 10. 15. Ye have a building of four or five stories high of severall Acts and Ministrations but Ordination of a Ministery is the Foundation Salvation is at the top of this Iacobs Ladder but Ordination at the bottome Whosoever will call on the name of the Lord shall be saved but how shall they call on him on mhom they have not believed how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent c. See praying believing hearing preaching and then as the foundation of all a Mission of Preachers for that end what is said of the Commandements of the Law Iames 2. he that offends in one is guilty of all such is the concatenation of the principles of the Gospel break one link and all are endangered He that renounceth his Baptisme renounceth his Faith into which he was baptized even the death and resurrection of our Saviour signified by it Colos. 2. Consider what ye do in renouncing the Ministery by whom ye were baptized and have believed 1 Cor. 3. 5. if any efficacy be in the Sacrament according to the qualification authoritative faculty of the person officiating see what hazard you run in rejecting of such so ordained Ye know the speech of our Saviour Matth. 23. 17. He that swears by the Altar sweareth by it and all things thereon and is not the contrary true he that despiseth the Altar despiseth not only that but all that depend on it If the Ordination or Mission of the person through Gods institution be of any efficay to what is officiated I may leave the application to your selves Consider what ye do in a totall renouncing of an ordained Ministery as to Baptisme and believing through whom as instrumentals ye did partake of them If the foundation fall how can the building stand As ye see here Saint Paul makes an ordained Ministery a fundamental principle of Christian Religion So much for the sence of the Text what is meant by laying on of hands Now if Ordination be a fundamental principle hence then these 2 things may be inferred 1. A necessity of continuing an ordained Ministery in the Church and the neglect of it to be the underming of the foundation of it 2. That Ordination is not only an internal call from God but an externall from Man for 't is denominated here from laying on of hands First a necessity of continuing such a distinct Order and profession for preaching and other sacred Administratihns This subject would heretofore have been accounted needlesse to be handled but it is necessary and seasonable now there being many set against the very function as if any man might of himself assume it To such I shall represent these considerations following viz. 1. That in all ages there have been some persons set apart for such divine Offices even before the Law or constitution of Aaron and the Levites as since see some appointed Exod. 19. 22. Let the Priests which come near to
but his authority and commission for it A Popish Judge gives a just sentence in Court his sentence is not erroneous and Antichristian though himself may be so his act is good in Law how bad soever he is in matter of Religion so the act of Ordination being an act of office is not nulled or voided by personal defilements It was the errour of the Donatists to put the vertue of Ministerial acts wholly upon the holinesse of the person ministring no as Saint Augustine saith a foul hand may sow good seed But there is one objection more to be answered frequently in the mouthes of men viz. Your Orders were derived from Rome and therefore Antichristian 1. Observe what contrary inferences are against us The Papists say we have no lawful Ministery because we have it not from Rome having renounced our subjection to that See others among our selves argue the same from our being deduced from it Secondly If they mean of our receiving it from thence immediately after the Apostles time which the ancientest of the Brittish Writers extant do not grant but averre that we received it from such as came from Ierusalem hither even in Tiberius his time it is no disparagement to us for it was then a famous Church see Saint Pauls Epistle to it as Ignatius after him But if they mean since the corruption and Apostasy of it we may distinguish between from and through as between the Fountain and Conduit we received it from the Apostles though running through some corrupt times of Popery of which since our reformation it savours no more then the Fish doth of the salt water or as the three children in the furnace when they came out there was not so much as the smell of fire found upon them 3. If they mean of Austine the Monke sent from Rome in Gregory the great his time about 600 yeares after Christ there were then no such defilements of doctrine in it that it should be a scandall to us either And yet we were not then to seek for an ordained Ministery there having been for many hundreds of years before that a flourishing Church among us which the Saxons whom he came to convert had been the persecutors and destroyers of as Gildas tells us so that in that or the former sense the objection is not worth the answering But fourthly I suppose they mean of later Centuries when that complaint of the Prophâ—et concerning Ierusalem might be appliable to Rome How is that faithful City become a harlot it was full of judgement righteousnesse lodgeed in her but now murderers c. i. e. Since the Bishop of Rome became corrupt in doctrine and worship For this first we thus answer While we were under the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome it doth not appear that he ordinarily usurped more then a mandatory nomination of the Bishop to be consecrated which out of a blind fear of his excommunication was assented unto but the consecration was not by him but other Bishops here within our selves And I account the ordination or consecration to be derived from such as gave imposition of hands not from the mandate for them to do it Henry the eight and the Kings succeeding assumed the like power in the nomination of the person which accordingly might not be gainsaid but from thence it cannot be argued that our ordination or consecration was deduced from them for the Kings mandate served not to give power to ordain which those Bishops had before intrinsecally annexed to their office but only was a warrant to apply this power to the person named in that Mandate Now this being all which was usurped by the Bishop of Rome in relation to the consecrations of our Bishops in England when we were under the Tyranny of the Papacy there is as little force for our deriving our ordination from him also And if those Bishops of Sidon which as Arch-Deacon Mason tells us assisted in the first consecration in Hen. 8. as in Edward the sixth's time were not meerly Titular but had their consecration from the Greek Church which is altogether a stranger to the See of Rome it would take off somewhat from the pretence of a totall derivation from thence But still it may be objected that we have at least received our Ordination from such as professed the Religion of Rome First it could not be called properly the Religion of Rome till the Councell of Trent which determined many years after our falling off from the See of Rome The Papists ask us Where was our Religion before Luther we might reply Where was the Popish Religion before that time 'T is true most of those poysonous errours were sowen up and down the world before but not collected fully into a body and so owned and headed by the Papacy till then For till that time scarce any point we hold now against them but there were some of their own Authours who held it also So that to speak properly the now Romish Religion in their new Creed with other appurtenances was established since our form of ordination 2. Suppose we received our ordination from such who were corrupted with Popish errours yet if they retained the Fundamentalls of Christian Religion their ordination may be valid those like some part of the barke of the tree uncut may convey the Sappe from the root to the preserving of life in the branches What Saint Augustine saith of the Donatists in some things mecum sunt they concurre with me in other things they are defiled may be applicable to the Church of Rome and if so why may we not receive through them what was of Christs remaining in them without being defiled with that corrupt part which is their own why may not there be in this a separation of the precicious from the vile And in our reformation we withdrew our selves no further from her then she hath declined from her self in the Apostles time and from the ancient state and condition of it then as one saith well Nostra Ecclesia ab hodierna Romana Ecclesia contaminata recessit ut ad pristinam puram Apostolicam Romanam accedere posset We forsook the present corrupted Church of Rome that we might be nearer a kin to the first pure Apostolical Roman Church in the primitive times 3. In a word we do affirme that neither their corruption in opinion or vitiosity of life do or did void it to the party ordained none doubts of the Baptisme of our fore-fathers administred by those of the like in the Church of Rome as if there needed any reiteration by them who survived our reformation neither do we renew the orders received in that Church when any Priest is converted and betakes himself to our communion and why should it be questioned here Let the Seal be of Silver or brasse the impression is alike valid if affixed by order to the deed Parents in generation convey to the child what is essentiall to