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 (a) In summo Pontifice esse plenitudinem â—mnium gratiarum quia ipse solus confert plenam indulgentiam omnium peccatorum computet sibi quod de primo principe Domino dicimus quia de plenitudine ejus nos omnes accepimus de Regim Principum lib. 3. cap. 10. inter opuscula Thomae num 20. activè proximè efficit gratiam justificationis ut flatus extinguit ignem dissipat nebulas sic absolutio sacerdotis peccata c. Bell. de Sacram. libro 2. cap. 1. de poenitent libro 3. cap. 2. Attritio virtute clavium fit contritio Rom. Correctores Gloss Gratiani de poenitent dist 1. principio c. 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 Justification 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 (a) Cui enim praevaricatores legis à peccato liberare licet nisi legis ipsius autori in Joh. lib. 12. cap. 56. who can free transgressors of the Law but the Authour of the Law it self (b) Daturus erat D minus hominibus Spiritum Sanctum ab ipso Spiritu Sancto fidelibus suis dimitti peccata volebat intelligi nam quid es homo nisi ager sanandus vis mihi esse medicus mecum quaere medicum Homil. 23. Ex. 50. The Lord saith St. Augustine was to give unto 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 (c) Ecce per Spiritum Sanctum peccata donantur homines ministerium suum exhibent non jus alicujus potestatis exercent de Sp. Sanct. lib. 3. cap. 10. 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 Jam. 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
this authority Object One objection common in the mouthes of men is Why do you stand so much upon a ceremony as laying on of hands is Answ First that which the Apostle calls 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 Jacob in blessing of Ephraim and Manasses Moses in constitution of Joshua Naamans 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 Circumcision 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 Object But suppose laying on of hands be granted as we have said the question yet remains By whose hands Answ 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 Book of Ordination 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 find 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 Object 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 Answ 1 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 setting two apart in casting the lots prayer c. were the Apostles Answ 2 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 Quest 2 2. What if the ordainers being of the Ministry be found not to have been of clean hands themselves i. e. of evill lives is their ordination good Answ 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 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 Object 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 Answ 1 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 Answ 2 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 Jerusalem hither even in Tiberius his time it is no disparagement to us Gildas 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 Answ 3 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
43.3 is said to have destroyed the City by being said to pronounce destruction to it The Primate observes that we often meet with these speeches concerning the Leprosie which was a Type of the pollution of sin the Priest shall cleanse him the Priest shall pollute him Lev. 13. according to the Hebrew and the Greek version and out of (a) Contaminatione contaminabit eum haud dubium quin Sacerdos non quo contaminationis Author sit sed quo ostendat eum contaminatum Hieron lib. 7. Esa cap. 23. Saint Jerom that 't is said verse 44. the Priest with pollution shall pollute him not that he is the Authour of his pollution but that he declares him to be polluted and uncleane whereupon the Master of the sentences and others do observe (b) In remittendis vel retinendis peccatis id Juris Officii habent Evangelici sacerdotes quod olim habebant sub lege legales in curandis leprosis Hi ergo peccata dimittunt vel retinent dum dimissa adeo vel retenta indicant ostendant Ponunt enim sacerdotes nomen Domini super filios Israel sed ipse benedixit sicut legitur in Num. Petr. Lomb. l. 4. sent dist 14. that in remitting and retaining of sins the Priests of the Gospel have the like power and office which the Priests of 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 (a) Num. 6. 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 reconciliation 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 (a) Sacerdos
his Kingdome Rome shall be grown proud and secure so as to say I sit as a Queen and then by the ten Kings mentioned in the former Chapter who had given their Kingdomes unto her shall she be ruined and burnt c In this Exposition the revolt that he tells of from the Obedience of the See of Rome is a Fancy of his own and hath not the least ground in St. Iohns Vision That the revolt from the Faith whereof the Apostle Paul speaks 2 Thessalonians 2. is the very Apostacy of Antichrist the man of sinne and sonne of perdition 2 Thes 2.3 that Rome in Antichrists time shall be secure and account her self to sit as a Queen and then be destroyed by the ten Kings that formerly had served and obeyed her this is very true as being expresly so laid down in the 16. and 17. Vers of the former Chapter But that which befell the Iewes in the looking for the Kingdome of Christ when it was already among them happeneth to Viegas and those of his side They fondly look for Antichrist the last head of the beast whereupon the Babylonian Harlot sitteth above a thousand yeares after all the former and consider not that this beast is one Principality under divers forms of Government whereof five being fallen in Saint Johns time one then in being and the other to 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 Viegas 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 consines 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 absoluten 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 Verse 12. the ten hornes which thou sawest are ten Kings which have received no Kingdome as yet but receive power Verse 17. 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 Obedience 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 he hath offered to the profit defence of the Church into his Protection and Patronage And these words c. are said with a gesture corespondent the Embassador falling down upon his knees let Lipsius 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 Lib. Rom. Ponâ— 5.1.2 6. Ab Alex 6. Cap. 7.8 And Cardinal Bellarmine recognizing his
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 Object 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 Epistola 6 9. people joyned to their priest They have no Priesthood being by the very form of their Ordidination Sacrificers for the quick and the dead Answ 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 John 20.23 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 This Doctrine I know not how it can offend any unless it be in being too Charitable that I am sure is a good fault and serves well for a sure mark of Christs sheep And hath very good opportunity to help Christs people out of Babel John 13.35 by this saith he shall men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have Charitie one to another But they call us Hereticks miscreants Doggs c. and persecute us with more deadly hatred then Jewes and Turks yea this is Babylon and perhaps some of Gods People in it that are misinformed of us Thus did Saul for a while yet a chosen vessel to bear Christs Name over the world But let us maintain our Charitie to them as we are wont to bear with the weakness of our friends or children when in hot Fevers or Plurisies they miscal us Let us remember if they be Christs people how little loving soever they be to us they must be our beloved Brethren and this of the Persons Now let us see their dutie It is the Duetie of those people of Christ to come out of Babylon that is as we have already shewed the Obedience of the present Roman Monarchy And for this the very authority of Christs Voyce from Heaven should suffice For his sheep hear his voice But if that be yet doubted whether the Papal Monarchy be Babylon let us for the present set aside the mystical Arguments from this place and all other Prophetical Circumstances And let the matter be tried by plainer Arguments at the Bar of Reason out of the common Principles of Christian Doctrine as thus John 5.39 Luke 11.52 1 Cor. 14. Matthew 28.20 Jer. 17.5 Rom. 6.9 Where the use of Christs Word is forbidden to his people where they lay away the Key of Knowledge and Gods Worship is without understanding in an unknown tongue where Christs Sacraments are corrupted and maimed where Divine worship is communicated to Creatures where Christs Glorious Body is defended to be torn not onely with the teeth of the faithful but also of faithlesse men yea of Rats and Mice where besides a number of other superstitions the effects of Christs blood are communicated to Purgatory fire to Saint Francis frock and the Carmilites scapular where the sole infallible interpretation of Scripture decission of Crntroversies last resolution of our Faith is placed in the brest of one man who may be without true Faith and sound Knowledge of Religion or morall honesty it self where the Doctrine is maintained as Catholike that the Pope is Vice God Monarch of the Christian World Almightie that he can Depose Princes and Expose them to their subjects to be killed Command the Angels with many more like blasphemies From this place and society Christs people are to depart and separate themselves But the present Romane Monarchy is such The conclusion follows undenyable Goe out of her my People Object Here will I crave leave to answer on Objection that may be made by flesh and blood to be retentive to keep Gods people from hearkning to this voyce of Christ and is used for a motive to draw more also to the Obedience of Rome Gods people of which number I hope I am one may be saved nay which is more cannot perish why should I then be so solicitous if salvation may be had there on the contrary they deny that you have either Church or salvation Therefore it is the safest course by the Opinion of both sides to continue there still Answ I answer This is not the discourse of Christs sheep who make the hearing of his Voice and doing of his Will a higher end then their own salvation but well may become the mouth of those deceivers that would seduce them It is the very language of the old Serpent ye shall not surely die The reason and rule of Obedience is not the avoyding of hell fire or the attaining of bliss of Heaven but the doing of the Will of God And yet supposing this to be true that salvation mae be had in Babylon yet it is attained with great difficulty and as it were through the fire As the Apostle speaketh of those builders which foolishly lay upon the precious foundation of Christ the hay straw and stubble of mens Traditions And there is again a large entrance to be afforded into the everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 2. 2 Peter 1.11 If the graces of Gods Spirit abound in us and make us not barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ Again ignorance so that it be not wilful and affected may have some pardon but to hold the Truth of God in unrighteousness as all do that receive not the love of the Truth and knowing how they which commit such things are worthy of death yet doe the same and favour those that doe them The wrath of God from heaven is revealed against such Romans 1.18.31 Even the danger of temporal punishment threatned to the sinnes of Rome is not to be neglected Suppose a man were sure to goe to Heaven but although to humane infirmity it may perhaps seem otherwise even the Eternal punishments
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 Jurisdictiction 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 Rear 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 no 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 Matth. 18.6 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 Judgement 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 impleri citius 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 (a) Omnes prophetiae priusquam habent efficaciam aenigmata sunt hominibus sed cum venerit tempus eveneâ—it quod prophetatâ—m est habent â— quidam dâ—â— câ—â—rtam exâ—â—siâ—◠〈◊〉 c. 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 living near the time of the revealing of it yet suspended his direct application only saying that the (b) Accuratam calculi notitiam tempus experientia revelabit vigilantibus accurate knowledge of the person time and experience will reveale it to the diligent observers What our Saviour said of John 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 John 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 (c) Minimè verò mirum si ista quae dixi
of the Roman Empire should rise up in his stead and take his vacant dignity That these saith he are to be understood of the Bishop of Rome and are to be understood of him only we do affirm And for the name of Antichrist that most specially 't is appliable to him whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be understood by way of opposition to Christ a pretended substitution or a subordination in his stead c. Sect. 13. He hath made use of all sorts of instruments hypocrisies lies equivocations treacheries perjuries poison force and armes that he may well be said to have succeeded that beast like to a Leopard a Beare and a Lion Revel 13.2 by which the Roman Empire is signified whose Image he bare and brought it to passe whosoever would not worship the image of the beast should be put to death c. and concludes with a prayer that God would grant that the Church might be delivered from the fraud and tyranny of Antichrist And so much for 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-Junius Tilenus Morneus Viguierus Rivetus Chamerus etc. The Reformed Church of France have made it one of their Articles in their confession as ye 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 (t) Cùm Episcopus Romanus erecta sibi in orbe Christiano Monarchia dominationem usurpet in omnes Ecelesias pastores in tantam erectus superbiam 1. ut Deum se dicat Can. satis dist 96. lib. 1. Sacrar Cerem cap. de Benedictiensis velitqâ—e 2. adorari Concil Lateran ult Sess 1.3.9 10 omnemque tribui sibi potestatem in coelo in terra res Ecclesiasticas omnes disponat articulos fidei definiat Scripturarum authoritatem atque interpretationem à se esse dicat animarum mercaturam exerceat vota juramentáque dispenset novo Dei cultus instituat Tum in civilibus legitimam magistratâ—um authoritatem pedibus suâ—igat datis ablatis translâ—tiâ— Imperiis Credimus atque asserimus esse verum illum Gâ—rmanum Antichristâ—m perditionis filium pronunciatum in verbo Dei Meretricem purpuratam insidentem septem montibus in magna civitate quae regnum obtinebat in Reges terrae Expectamúsque dum Dominus prout promisit ac jam coepit conficiens eum spiritu oris sui tandem illustri adventu suo aboleat 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 1. God will be 2. 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 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 consume 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 I 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 Justification 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
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 Jacobs 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 whom 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 James 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 efficacy 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 Administrations 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 the Lord sanctify themselves Chap. 24.5 called young men of the Children of Israel sent of Moses who offered the burnt offerings and sacrifice unto the Lord and this is usually interpreted to be the First-borne and that of the principall of the families instead of which the Levites were afterward taken see Numb 3.12 And what a setled Priesthood there was in Moses and Solomons time to the Captivity and after it upon their return who knows not see Mal. 2. A speech to the Priests and for that five hundred-yeer gap betwixt the Old Testament and the New when the Prophets ceased yet a Priesthood continued that the service of God then was not to put to the charity of Passengers as beggars are by the high way but some were appropriated to it Jeroboam that forsook the Temple yet retained a Priesthood though of his own corrupt appointment Object That of the Law was a Priesthood but we speak of a Ministery Resp 1. We stand not upon words or Titles neither doth the Apostle for as 2 Cor. 3.7 8 9. he calls the Priests of the Law Ministers and their office a Ministration so he implies that the Ministers of the Gospel might have that Title of Priests 1 Cor. 9.13 by taking his Argument for their maintenance from the Priests Altar and Temple as they that serve at the Altar partake of the Altar even so hath God ordained that those that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel and the name hath only grown ignominious by the Church of Rome's retaining it whom if by way of distinction they had been called by us sacrificers as Bishop Downham observes there had been no offence in it All that read the Fathers know it is the term used by them whose Tractates of the Ministery are intituled De Sacerdotio And the Apostle makes it only a change of the Priesthood Hebr. 7.12 not a nulling of it upon which change of a
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 Answ 4 But fourthly I suppose they mean of later Centuries when that complaint of the Prophet concerning Jerusalem 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 * De Minister Anglican 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 Object But still it may be objected that we have at least received our Ordination from such as professed the Religion of Rome Answ 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 humane nature not that which is accidentall A maimed Father begets a Son like himself as he was before he lost his arme as the circumcised did and doth an uncircumcised child the like application may be made to the transferring of ordination in such a wounded diseased Apostatized Church as the Roman now is and by such corrupted persons in life and doctrine continuing in it so they do observe the * See Bishop Bedels letter to Wadsworth p. 157. My defence for your Ministry is that the forme Receive the Hâ—ly Ghost whose sins ye remit are remitted doth suciffiently comprehend the authority c. essentials in ordination other superstructures or corruption in the ordainers doth not null it either to the persons themselves or successors which might be further manifested by the pâ—actice of the Church in all ages 1. That Ministration under the Law the Priests of which the Jewish Writers say were consecrated by laying on of hands had as much cause to stand upon succession as any yet ye find often that the Priests the sons of Aaron and the Levites had corrupted their wayes were defiled with Idolatry in Ahaz and Manasses time and others as bad or worse then the See of Rome yet after a reformation the succession which was by their hands was not questioned Though the Priesthood ran through much filth yet retaining the essentialls of the Jewish Religion as circumcision c. they were owned of God again in a successive ministration See in the height of their Idolatry when they were offering their children by fire unto their Idols yet by retaining the Sacrament covenant of circumcision their children are called the Lords children Ezek. 16.20 Thou hast taken thy sons which thou hast borne unto me c. thou hast slayn my children in causing them to pass through the fire etc. 2. In our Saviour Christs time there was as bad a succession as