agree that the Bishop shall practice exercise or have any manner of Authority Jurisdiction or Power within this Realm but shall resist the same at all times to the uttermost of my power And I from henceforth will accept repute and take the Kings Majesty to be the only Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England And to my Wit and uttermost of my Power I will observe and defend the whole Effects and Contents of all and singular Acts and Statutes made and to be made within this Realm in derogation extirpation and extinguishing of the Bishop of Rome and his Authority and all other Acts and Statutes made or to be made in Confirmation and Corroboration of the Kings Power of the Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England c. Here is the Clergy tied to swear as to all Acts of the Civil Power already past so indefinitely and beforehand to all also that are to come which may derogate any thing from the Popes power or add to the Kings in Spiritual matters as if no bounds or limits at all were due thereto § 43 Again in the Sixth Year of King Edward the whole Synod of the Clergy if we may credit the relation of Mr. Philpot See Fox p. 1282. in the Convocation 1. Mariae did grant Authority to certain persons to be appointed not by them but by the Kings Majesty to make Ecclesiastical Laws where it seems to me somewhat strange that the Synod should now de novo give to the King what was before assumed as his Right And accordingly a Catechisme bearing the name of the Synod was set forth by those persons nominated by the King without the Synods revising or knowing what was in it tho a Catechisme said Dr. Weston the Prolocutor 1. Mariae full of Heresies This Book being then produced in Convocation and denied by the Synod to be any Act of theirs Philpot urged it was because the Synodal Authority saith he was committed to certain persons to be appointed by the Kings Majesty to make such Spiritual Laws as they thought convenient and necessary Which Argumentation of Philpots seems to be approved by Dr. Fern in Consid upon the Reform 2. chap. 9. sect Here then the Synod grants Authority in Spiritual matters that they know not who shall in their name establish that which they please without the Synods knowing either what Laws shall be made or who shall make them which is against the First and Second Thesis and is far from adding any just authority to the Ecclesiastical Constitutions of those times or to any Acts which are thus only called Synodal because the Synod hath in general given away their Power to those who make them afterward as themselves think fit Whereas to make an Act lawfully Synodical the Consent of the Clergy must be had not to nominate in a Trust which Christ hath only committed to themselves in general another Law-giver viz. the King or his Commissioners for thus King Edward will choose Cranmer and Ridley and Queen Mary will choose Gardiner and Bonner to prescribe Laws for the Church but to know approve and ratify in particular every such Law before it can be valid § 44 Besides these Acts of Parliament and Synod the manner of Supremacy then ascribed to the Prince yet further appears in the Imprisonment of Bishop Bonner in the First year of King Edward for making such an hypothetical Submission as this to the Kings Injunctions and Homilies then by certain Commissioners sent unto him I do receive these Injunctions and Homilies See Fox p. 1192. with this Protestation that I will observe them if they be not contrary and repugnant to Gods Law and the Statute and Ordinance of the Church the fault imputed here to him I suppose being that he refused to obey any Injunctions of the King when repugnant to the Statute and Ordinance of the Church for which Fox calls this Protestation Popish But the manner of this Supremacy appears yet more specially in the several Articles proposed to be subscribed by Bishop Gardiner § 45. n 1. upon his refusing to execute or submit to divers particular Injunctions of King Edward in Spiritual matters imposed upon the Clergy the Subscription required of him was To the Book of Homilies affirmed to contain only godly and wholsome Doctrine and such as ought by all to be embraced To new Forms of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and to the denyal of Real Presence or of Transubstantiation if any thing in that Form may may be said to oppose either of these To the new Form of Consecration of Bishops and Priests To the disannulling and abolition of the former Church Liturgy and Canon of the Mass and of the Litanies to Saints and Rituals of the Church To the abolition of Sacred Images and Sacred Relicks To the permission of Marriage to the Clergy To the acknowledging that the Statute of the Six Articles was by Authority of Parliament justly repealed and dis-annulled To the acknowledging that the appointment of Holy-days and Fasting-days as Lent and Ember-days and the dispensing therewith is in the Kings Majesty's Authority and Power as Supreme Head of the Church of England To the acknowledging that Monastick Vows were Superstitious and the Religious upon the dissolution of their Monasteries lawfully freed from them as likewise that the suppressing and dissolution of Monasteries and Convents by the King was done justly and out of good reason and ground For all which see the Copy of the Second and of the Last Articles sent to Bishop Gardiner in Fox p. 1234 and 1235. In which Articles the Kings Supremacy is thus expressed in the Second of the First Articles sent to him That his Majesty as Supreme Head of the Church of England hath full Power and Authority to make and set forth Laws Injunctions and Ordinances concerning Religion and Orders in the said Church for repressing of all Errors and Heresies and other enormities and abuses so that the same alteration be not contrary or repugnant to the Scripture and Law of God as is said in the Sixth of the Second Articles sent to this Bishop Now how far this repressing and reforming of Errors c. claimed by the King did extend we may see in those points but now named In the Fifth That all Subjects who disobey any his said Majesties Laws Injunctions Ordinances in such matters already set forth and published or hereafter to be set forth and published ought worthily to be punished according to his Ecclesiastical Law used within this his Realm Again in the 7.11 12.14.16 of the Third Articles sent to the same Bishop That the former Liturgies of the Church Mass-Books c that the Canons forbidding Priests Marriage c are justly taken away and abolish'd and the new Forms of common-Common-Prayer and of Consecration of Bishops and Priests are justly established by Authority of Parliament and by the Statutes and Laws of this Realm and therefore ought to be received
just Authority of Queen Mary's Clergy Reply to α notwithstanding what hath been objected you must First 1. take notice That the Ejection of Bishops in Queen Mary's days was not the First but Second Ejection the first being made in King Edward's time when Gardiner Bonner Tonstal Day Heath Vesy That the Bishops in K Edward's days were not lawfully ejected and probably some other Bishops were removed from their Sees for I find not the Ecclesiastical History of those times accurately written by any nor Mr. Fox to use the same diligence in numbring the Change of Clergy under King Edward as he doth that under Queen Mary yet something may be conjectured from those general words of his p. 1180 For the most part the Bishops were changed and the dumb Prelate compelled to give place to others that would Preach Secondly That if the Ejection of Bishops in King Edward's time was not lawful so many of the Bishops as were then ejected were by Queen Mary justly restored and those who were introduced into their places justly excluded Thirdly That to prove the Ejection of those Bishops under King Edward lawful it must be done both by a lawful Authority and for a lawful Cause Fourthly But that in both these respects their Ejection if the Principles formerly laid in this Discourse stand good appears not just § 55 For 1. First these Bishops being questioned about matters Ecclesiastical and Spiritual 1. Neither for the Judge their Judges were the Kings Privy Council or his Commissioners part Clergy part Laity as the King pleased to nominate them contrary to Third Thesis Amongst whom tho the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was one yet he was so not for his Canonical Superiority in the Church but from the Authority he jointly with the rest received from the King when the former Statutes concerning the Tryal of Hereticks by the Clergy See Fox p. 1237 and p 1202. had been first abrogated See before § 39 whereas the Clergy only are the lawful Judges of these matters namely to declare what is done contrary to the Laws of God and of the Church and to depose from the exercise of their Office the persons found faulty therein See Thesis Third § 56 Secondly The Causes Ecclesiastical urged against them for which they were removed from their Bishopricks were these 2. Nor for the Cause their non-acknowledgment of such a large extended Power of the Kings Supremacy as he then claimed and exercised in Ecclesiastical matters their non-conformity to the Kings Injunctions confirmed if you will with the consent of the National Synod of the Clergy in Spiritual matters And amongst these especially their not relinquishing the usage of the former Church Liturgies and Forms of Divine Service and particularly the Canon of the Mass which had been a Service approved by the general Practice of the Church Catholick for near a 1000 Years in which were now said to be many Errors See Church Gâ—v 4. 〈◊〉 §. 39. for which it might not be lawfully used their not using and conforming to the new Form of common-Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments the new Form of Consecration and Ordination of Priests and many other clear Innovations against the former not only Ecclesiastical Constitutions or External Rites and Ceremonies which it was affirmed in one of the Questions disputed on in the first Year of Queen Elizabeth that every particular Church hath Authority to take away and change but also Ecclesiastical Doctrines established by Synods superiour to that of this Nation as hath been shewed in the Fourth Part of Church Govern A Catalogue of which Doctrines and Canons I have set down before § 45 having taken them out of the Three Copies of Articles proposed to the then Bishop of Winchester See Fox p. 1234 1235. to be subscribed Now such Canons whether concerning matters of Doctrine or of Ecclesiastical Constitution cannot be lawfully abrogated neither by the King See Thesis 1 2.7 8 nor by the National Synods of this Church See Thesis 4.8 and therefore the Ejection of those Bishops in Edward the Sixth's days for not obeying the King I add or the National Synod had there been any such before their Ejection in breaking such Canons was unjust and therefore they justly by Queen Mary restored and the others that were found in their places justly dispossessed Fifthly As for the rest of King Edward's Bishops who besides those Bishops that possessed these non-vacant Sees were ejected in Queen Mary's days § 57 5. That the Bishops deprived in Qu. Mary's days were lawfully ejected their Ejection contrary to the other will be justifiable if done for a lawful Cause and by a lawful Judge 1. First then the Causes of their Ejection were these chiefly § 58 First For their being Married which many if not all the Ejected were Cranmer 1. Bâ—th as to the Cause Holgate the Arch-Bishop of York Coverdale Scory Barlow Hooper Farrar Harley Bird Bush and some of them after having taken Monastick Vows as Holgate Coverdale Barlow as appears in Fox and Godwin contrary to the Canons of the Church both Western and Eastern as to those that marry after having received Holy Orders both Modern and Ancient even before the Council of Nice as is shewed at large in the Discourse of Celibacy § 18 and contrary to the Provincial Canons of the Church of England See Fox p. 1051 and 177 granting Celibacy of the Clergy to have been established here for a Law by a National Synod in the time of Anselme Arch-Bishop of Canterbury about An. Dom. 1080 The Penalty of transgressing which Canons was Deposition from their Office See Conc. Constant in Trullo less strict in this matter than the Western Church Can. 6 Si quis post sui ordinationem conjugium contrahere ausus fuerit deponatur See the same in Concil Neocaesar before that of Nice Can. 1. Conc Elibert 33. c. Affrican Can. 37. And see the same in the Canon of Anselme that all Priests that keep Women shall be deprived of their Churches and all Ecclesiastical Benefices § 59 Secondly For their not acknowledging any Supremacy at all of the Roman Patriarch 2 more than of any other Forreign Bishop over the Clergy of England contrary to the former Canons of many lawful Superior Councils as is shewed in Church Gov. 1. Part. § 53. and also contrary to the former Provincial ones of the English Church And for their placing such an Ecclesiastical Supremacy in the Prince as to use all Jurisdiction to reform Heresy constitute or reverse Ecclesiastical Laws in the manner before expressed Which Supremacy in the Church since some body in each Prince's Dominion where Christians are ever had here on Earth under Christ I say ever not only after that Princes became Christian but before Arch-Bishop Cranmer rather than that he would acknowledge it at any time to have lain in the Church said that before the first Christian Emperors time it resided in the Heathen Princes
ex hac altaris participatione Sacro-sanctum Filii tui corpus sanguinem sumpserimus omni benedictione c. repleamur seems to be thus changed because Christ's body and blood were held by some only to be present to and received by the worthy Communicant and not to the Symbols And altho we be unworthy c. to offer unto thee any Sacrifice yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service and command these our Prayers and Supplications put instead of panis sanctus calix salutes by the ministery of thy Holy Angels to be brought up into thy holy Tabernacle formerly Altare before the sight of thy Divine Majesty c. § 149 Thus were things mended in the first Form of King Edward 2 Concerning the further alterations in the second Common-Prayer Book in relation to the same Sacrifice Stat 5 6. Edw. 6.1 c. But in the latter Common-Prayer Book which came out a new-reformed three years after there is no oblation at all made nor no petition put up be tween the Consecration and the receiving of the Holy Mysteries but the one immediately follows the other The Collect of humble access We do not presume to come c. and the Lord's Prayer with its Preface Divinâ institutione formati audemus dicere and the Memorial or Prayer of Oblation which are put according to the manner of the Mass after the consecration of the holy Mysteries and before the receiving of them in the first Form are all removed in the second and the first placed before the Elements begin to be consecrated and the other two placed after the holy Mysteries are removed from the Altar or Table and are distributed to the Communicants and in the Prayer of Oblation the first part thereof We do celebrate and make the Memorial c. is omitted The reason of which alteration seems to be That so the new Service might still appear more remote from making any oblation to God of the consecrated Mysteries remaining on the Table or from making any request to God in the vertue of the Body and Blood of our Saviour there present § 150 But 3. Coucernâ—â—g the reduction of sâ—ne things â—ouching this matter in the new Cömon Prayer Book prepared for Scotland to the first Form of K. Edward again in the last English Liturgy prepared for Scotland the sober moderation of those who governed the Church at this time thought fit to reduce things as far as without offence they might to the first Form of King Edward restoring all these Prayers to their former place again and re-inserting the Memorial in the Front of the Prayer of Oblation Moreover in the Prayer for the State of the Catholick Church adding these words We commend especially unto thy merciful goodness the Congregation here assembled to celebrate the Commemoration of the most precious death and sacrifice of thy Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ before which Prayer also they order an oblation to be of the Bread and Wine prepared for the Sacrament upon the Lord's Table All which they seem to have done as regretting the mistaken zeal of their Fore-fathers mis-led by Calvin and other forreign Reformers but not finding as yet a season for a more compleat reduction of the Reformation to the former universal practice of the Church of God § 151 Much complained of in Laudensium autocatacrisis Of all which things thus complains the contrary Party who looked upon their alterations with a zealous eye in Laudensium Autocatacrisis p. 109. As for that wicked Sacrifice of the Mass which the Canon puts at the back of the Consecration the English i. e. the later Reformation of Common-Prayer Book under King Edward banisheth it all utterly out of their Book But the faction to shew their zeal in their reforming the Errors of the English Church their Mother 1. puts down here in our Book the Book sent to Scotland at the back of the Consecration their Memento and Prayer of Oblation 2. That Prayer of Thansgiving beginning O Lord c. we thy humble servants entirely desire which the English sets after the Communion in a place where it cannot be possibly abused as it is in the Mass for a propitiatory Sacrifice of Christ's body and blood they transpose and set it just in the old place where it stood in the order of Sarum at the back of the Consecration and before the Communion 3. The clause of the Missal which for its savour of a Corporal presence the English put out of this Prayer may worthily receive the most precious body and blood of thy Son Christ Jesus they have here restored 4. That we may plainly understand that this Prayer is so transplanted and supplied for this very end that it may serve as it did of old in the Missal for a Prayer of Oblation of that unbloody Sacrifice by the Priest for the sins of the world behold the first eight lines of it which of old it had in the Missal but which in the Reformation the second Reformation under Edward were scraped out are plainly restored wherein we profess to make and over again to make before God's Divine Majesty a Memorial as Christ hath commanded Which making not only the Papists but Heylin speaking from Canterbury expounds far otherwise than either Andrews Hooker Mountague or the grossest of the English Divines for a true proper corporal visible unbloody sacrificing of Christ for which sacrificing first the Apostles and then all Ministers are as truly Priests tho Evangelical and after the order of Melchisedech as ever the Sons of Aaron were under the Law and the Communion-Table as true and proper an Altar as ever was the Brasen Altar of Moses you may see Dr. Heylin 's words in Antid p. 6. § 2. 5. After the Consecration and Oblation they put to the Lord's Prayer with the Missals Preface Audemus dicere Where the Papists tell us that the Priest having offered up in an unbloody Sacrifice the body of Christ for the reconciling of us to the Father becomes bold to say with a loud voice Pater noster The English to banish such absurdities put away that naughty Preface and removed the Prayer it self from that place But our men to shew their Orthodoxy repone the Prayer in the own old place and set before it the old Preface 6. The first English Prayer We do not presume c. which stood before the Consecration where the passages of eating Christ's Body and drinking Christ's Blood could not possibly be detorted to a corporal presence yet now in our Book must change the place and be brought to its old Stance after the Consecration and Oblation immediately before the Communion as a Prayer of humble access Thus Autocatacrisis sounded the Trumpet not without a sad storm falling afterward upon the heads of the English Clergy § 152 Aad the Câ—lemation of the Eucharist prohibited whâ—n note other to communicate wiâ—h the Priest All use of the Eucharist as a
the Primers the sentences of Invocation or Prayer to Saints be blotted and clearly put out of the same And this contrary to the former universal practice of the Catholick Church See Chur. Govern 4. Par. 98. § § 155 Aâ—d the necessity of Sacerdotal Coâ—fession relaxed Besides this in the same new Form is remitted the necessity of Sacerdotal Confession and the performing of such penitence and humiliation as the Priest shall judge meet and the receiving of his absolution and reconciliation for those who are conscious to themselves of mortal sins or grievous crimes before they may presume to approach to Gods Altar and to the holy Communion of Christs body and blood contrary to the former decrees of superior Councils and practice of the Church Catholick Instead whereof it is only here ordered That if any be an open and notorious evil liver so that the Congregation by him is offended or have done any wrong to his Neighbors the Curate shall not admit him to the Communion before his giving satisfaction of his repentance to the Congregation and at least declaring his full purpose to recompence the party wronged And before the Communion Fol. 123. a general exhortation made That if any be a blasphemer adulterer or be in malice or envy or any other grievous crime he should not come to that holy Table except he be truly sorry therefore and earnestly-minded to leave the same vices and do trust himself to be reconciled to Almighty God and in charity with all the world This is said indeed in the second Exhortation Fol. 124. If there be any whose Conscience is troubled or grieved in any thing lacking comfort or counsel let him come to me or to some other discreet and learned Priest taught in the Law of God and confess and open his sin and grief secretly that he may receive such ghostly counsel advice and comfort that his conscience may be relieved and that of us as of the Ministers of God and of the Church he may receive comfort and absolution to the satisfaction of his mind and avoiding of all scruple and doubtsulness But the words following viz. Requiring such as shall be satisfied with a general Confession not to be offended with them that do use to their further satisfying the auricular and secret Confession to the Priest nor those also which think needful or convenient for the quietness of their consciences particularly to open their sins to the Priest to be offended with them that are satisfied with their humble confession to God and the general confession to the Church I say these words which are omitted in the second reformed Common-Prayer-Book I suppose as speaking too favourably of the use of Auricular Confession do argue that thenceforth no necessity of Sacerdotal Confession was imposed upon any for any crime Likewise in the Visitation of the Sick it is said Here shall the sick person make a special confession if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter which is also retained in the second Form of Common-Prayer But here such Confession is commanded only hypothetically not if he have committed but if his Conscience be troubled with any weighty matter which he hath committed Which unfortunate If as experience hath shewed quickly ruined the practice of Sacerdotal Confession § 156 And indeed with your leave to digress a little when grievous sins are committed this If might well have been spared For 1. every one that hath committed such sin as is supposed to have put him out of the State of Grace and out of his Baptismal Regeneration for which only the Church requires Sacerdotal Confession either hath or ought to have and probably would have if the Clergy taught him so his Conscience troubled till he hath obtained a new reconciliation to God by those whom God hath appointed to do this office for him 2. But if his private repentance when this is done proportionably to his offence is sufficient for his reconciliation yet what grievous sinner after much repentance ought not still to be troubled concerning the unworthines of it till he hath consulted in such an hazard his spiritual Father much more knowing therein than himself And then if all such ought to be troubled all ought to confess Indeed le ts trouble of mind is many times a sign of less penitence and of such high offenders those have most need of the Priest's cure who are least troubled And those who are least troubled ought to be so much the more troubled that they are so little troubled and ought to go to the Priest and confess such sin that he may excite them to greater trouble and sorrow for it and may put them to some pain in searching their wound to the bottome that so it may be more capable of cure And on the other side those who in and after long penitence and even from all their life are much troubled for such their crimes are likely to be the best penitents and consequently to have least need of Sacerdotal Confession for the examining of their repentance which examination and not consolation I imagine is the chief end and design of the Reformed's prescribing such Confession to those who are troubled 3. But then add to this that when once such Sacerdotal Confession for great sinners is commanded by the Church i. e. by a lawful superior Council to be observed as necessary jure divino or by divine Institution Now it comes to pass that tho such Confession were supposed not necessary to be observed or practised from any such divine institution yet after decreed by such a Council as who have authority to impose it also upon several other motives from which they think it the most beneficial and the securest course for such sinners so to do it becomes necessary to be practised and observed as the Church's constitution even by those who think it not necessary jure divino 4. But yet further were not such Church-constitution in this respect obliging yet when as a thing is so far disputable and doubtful whether jure divino as that such a judgment as this of a superiour Council hath declared it so and whenas on the otherside we our selves grant thus much that such thing if not necessary is very beneficial and may upon this title be lawfully enjoyned by the Church's Superiors reason will dictate here that it is the most prudent way both for the Subjects of a particular Church to observe it and for the Superiors of such Church to enjoyn it upon pain of incurring their censures to be observed But now to return to our business CHAP. X. Of the Second Change of the Publick Liturgy in his time § 157 Ia setting forth a second Form of Common Prayer than which the first was in many things much more moderate THus much concerning the Reformation made in the first new Form of the Publick Service under King Edward to say nothing here of the first additions to the Mass made
where they could be secure of no breach in greater matters § 119 To η. Where concerniâ—g the Clergy's concurrence and consent to the Kings Reformations To η. That the words urged out of the charge against Winchester prove not the Clergy's reception of or submission to all the Kings Injunctions touching the Reformation but only to the first Injunctions That whether they be extended to the first or to all they must be understood in some such sense as this That at that time when this charge against Winchester was drawn there were as yet none other known to the Council that did by open Protestation and Letters as it follows in that charge shew a wilful disobedience thereto c. Or else the verity of them will not consist with the story of those times which often signify a great opposition and averseness in many of the Clergy besides Winchester to the Kings proceedings in the alteration of Religion so far as that many were silenced suspended imprisoned ejected out of their Spiritual Preferments for this cause § 120 For evidencing which see first in Fox p. 1192. Bishop Bonner's protestation concerning these first Injunctions and Homilies when they were tendered unto him by the Commissioners which protestation was so far from being interpreted an obedient reception or reverent observance of them that for it he was sent to the Fleet. And what was done by Gardiner and Bonner leading Bishops that it was done also by many others I pray you review Mr. Fox's words before recited § 107 That for the most part the Bishops of Churches and Diocesses were changed which you may compare with what is said before § 107. of the many new Bishops made by King Edward That Learned Men were sent for out of forreign Countries surely not because the Leaders of the Universities were not so well studied see their Disputations but because not so conformable to the new prescriptions That of the old Bishops some were committed to one ward some to another where he names Bonner Gardiner Tonstal but might have mentioned also Heath Day Vesy that we know of And to the same purpose much-what speaketh Godwin p. 223. A. D. 1548 who after having commended Day and Tonstal for very learned Pre lates saith That the drift of the punishments of such men when in Henry's time they were accounted the chief Lights of our Church he conceives to have been that the rest of that Order might by their Example be admonished without dissimulation either to resign their Bishopricks to others that were thought by the present times more worthy or be induced by this terror to conform themselves to the present Reformation of the Church according to the prescript of the Laws in that behalf lately enacted i. e by Parliament Thus he But that the imprisonment of these or of some other Clergy as also that the dissent of many others to the Kings Injunctions who were not as yet imprisoned for it preceded the confirmation of these Injunctions by any Act of Parliament or Convocation appears from the very Act it self 2. Edw. 6.1 c. Where the Parliament desires of the King That all persons that have offended in the Premises i. e in refusing the Form of common-Common-Prayer or at least of the Mass Fox p. 1184 imposed by the King before this Act other than such person or persons as now be and remain saith the Act in the ward of the Tower of London or in the Fleet may be pardoned thereof Some Clergy therefore were imprisoned for this cause before this Act and more also had offended in this matter than those who were imprisoned whose pardon here was begged by the Parliament § 121 Which reluctance of the Clergy may be seen also in what Mr. Fox relateth p. 1184 who after he hath first told us how a new Form of Communion was agreed on by certain learned men appointed by the King which Form you must know was not allowed or seen by the first Parliament of King Edward which Parliament appointed Communion in both kinds indeed but this might have been observed without altering or adding one Syllable to the Mass and enjoined by the Council to be duly executed both by the Bishops and their subordinate Clergy thus complains Nevertheless saith he as at no time any thing can be so well done of the godly but that the wicked will find some means to deface the same so likewise at this present thro the perverse obstinacy and dissembling frowardness of many inferiour Priests and Ministers of Cathedral and other Churches of this Realm there did arise a marvellous Schism and variety of fashions in celebrating the Common Service and administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church For some zealously allowing the Kings proceedings did gladly follow the order thereof and others though not so willingly admitting them did yet dissemblingly and patchingly use some part of them but many carelesly contemning all would still exercise their old wonted Popery i. e in other language would still retain the former solemn Church Service Thus He. Now this variety of fashions only mentioned by Fox if you desire more particularly to know we find a more punctual relation thereof in Parsons 3. Convers of England 2. Part 12. Chapter What a Babylonical confusion saith he in the two first years of the Kings Reign ensued upon these innovations in all Churches is wonderful to recount For some Priests said the Latine Mass some the English Communion some both some neither some half of the one half of the other This was very ordinary to say the Introitus Confiteor in English and then the Collects and some other parts in Latine after that again the Epistles and Gospels in English and then the Canon of the Mass in Latine and lastly the Benediction and last Gospel in English But that which was of more importance and impiety some did consecrate Bread and Wine others did not but would tell the people before-hand That they would not consecrate but restore them their Bread and Wine back again as they received it from them only adding to it the Church's benediction And those that did consecrate did consecrate in divers forms some aloud some in secret some in one form of words some in another And after Consecration some held up the Host to be adored after the old fashion and some did not and of those that were present some did kneel down and adore others did shut their eyes others turn away their faces others run out of the Church crving Idolatry Hitherto Parsons View also Dr. Heylin's Hist. of Reform p. 63.74 concerning this-matter Whereby we see how averse and unsatisfied divers of the Clergy were with the Kings alterations § 122 And this not only before his new Liturgy is said to be confirmed by Act of Parliament and Convocation but after also For afterward we find the King and his Council in their Letter to the Bishop of London Fox p. 1186. complaining That it
repugning as they might well against the late spoyl of the Church-goods taken away only by commandment of the higher powers without any law or order of Justice and without request or consent of them to whom they did belong And Calvin in a Letter to Arch-Bishop Cranmer written about An. Dom. 1551. giving a reason why the English Church was so ill stored with good Pastors hath these words Vnum apertum obstaculnm esse intelligo quod praedae expositi sunt Ecclesiae reditus So early you see even together with the first dawning of the Reformation began that Sacriledge to be committed on some Bishopricks which our days have seen accomplished on the rest Lay menders of Religion ordinarily terminating in these two things the advancing of their carnal Liberty and temporal Estates § 140 In defacing of Images By vertue of such Supremacy He caused to be removed out of Churches and to be defaced and destroyed all Images of Saints Concerning which Reformation his Council writes to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in this stile We have thought good to signify unto you that his Highnesse's pleasure with the advice and consent of us the Lord Protector and the rest of the Council is that immediately upon the sight hereof you shall give order that all the Images remaining in any Church within your Diocess be taken away and also by your Letters shall signify unto the rest of the Bishops within your Province this his Highnesse's pleasure c. Fox p. 1183. See likewise Stat. 3. and 4. Edw. 6.10 c. This he did when as the second Nicene Council not only had allowed but recommended the use of them But he proceeded also further than this and declared the worshiping and veneration of any such Images or Relicks to be repugnant to Gods word and unlawful superstitious idolatrous See the 22 of the 42 Articles and Article to Winchester 11 and the Doctrine of his Homilies § 141 By vertue of such Supremacy He imposed An. Dom. 1547 a Book of Homilies not approved by any Synod before nor after till 1552 if then in which Book were stated several Controversies of Divinity See Article 11 of the 42 referring to these Homilies for the stating of Justification ex solâ fide the King forbidding the Clergy to preach any Doctrine repugnant to the same Homilies under pain of being silenced or otherwise punished § 142 â—â—injoyning administration of the Communion in both â—inds See before § 108. Winchester Articles 15. Fox p. 1255. By vertue of such Supremacy He laid a command upon the Clergy to administer the Communion to the people in both kinds Stat. 1. Ed. 6.1 c. Coâ—cil Constant 13. sess See before §. 118. contrary to the Injunction of the Council of Constance and without any preceding confutation of a National Synod and notwithstanding the former late decree concerning the non-necessity thereof by the same National Synod in Henry the Eighth's days in the second of the Six Articles § 143 In suppressieg the former Church Liungies Ordiaals and other Rituals By vertue of such Supremacy He caused to be removed and suppressed the former Church Liturgies and Rituals for the publick Prayers for the celebration of the Communion and other Sacraments for the Ordinations of the Clergy See Fox p. 1211. The King saith he with the body and state of the Privy Council then being directed out his Letters of request and strait commandment to the Bishops in their Diocess to cause and warn all Parsons Curates c. to bring in and deliver up all Antiphoners Missals Grailes Processionals Manuals Legends Pies Ordinals and all other Books of Service the having whereof might be any let to the Service now set forth in English charging also and commanding all such as should be found disobedient in this behalf to be committed unto ward Saying in the Articles sent to Winchester That the Mass was full of abuses Fox p. 1235. and had very few things of Christ's institution besides the Epistle Gospel and the Lord's Prayer and the words of the Lord's Supper that the rest for the more part were invented and devised by Bishops of Rome and by other men of the same sort i. e. by Ecclesiastical Constitution and therefore were justly taken away by the Statutes and Laws of this Realm this being the perswasion of those times That the King as Supreme might change as to him seemed good any thing established only by humane tho it were Church authority And see Stat. 3 4. Edw. 6.10 c. Whereas the King hath of late set forth and established an uniform Order of common-Common-Prayer and whereas in the former Service-Books are things corrupt untrue vain and superstitious Be it enacted by the King the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament assembled that all Missals Ordinals c. heretofore used for Service of the Church shall be utterly abolished extinguished c. § 144 And injetting uâ— new Forms of celebrating the Communion But you must observe that all was not done at once or at the first but by certain steps and degrees For Example The Form of administring the Communion suffered three Alterations or Reformations one after another the later still departing further from the ancient Form used in the Church than the former First the King assembled certain Bishops and others at Windsor in the first year of his Reign such as he pleased to appoint to compile a new Form of celebrating the Communion according to the Rule saith Fox p. 1184 of the Scriptures of God and first usage of the Primitive Church Yet the Bishops at this time so ordered and moderated the matter which perhaps may be the reason of those words in Fox see before § 125. See Heylin Hist. of K. Edw. p. 57. That the Protector at Windsor in the zealous defence of Gods truth opposed the Bishops that the whole office of the Mass should proceed as formerly in the Latine even to the very end of the Canon and the receiving of the Sacrament by the Priest himself Which done the Priest is appointed to begin the exhortation in English We be come together at this time Dearly Beloved c. as it is in the present English Liturgy After which follows also the disswasion of great offenders impenitent from receiving the General Confession and Absolution the Prayer We presume not c. and so the administration of the Eucharist to the people in both kinds The words of the Rubrick in that first Order of the Communion reprinted at London 61 are these The time of the Communion of the people shall be immediately after that the Priest shall have received the Sacrament without the varying of any other Rite or Ceremony in the Mass until other order shall be provided But as heretofore usually the Priest hath done with the Sacrament of the Body to prepare bless and consecrate so much as will serve the people so it shall yet continue still after the same manner
Bishoprick See Heylin's Hist of Reform p. 65. quoting the Register of Petworth was authorized by Act of Parliament and at the same time consented to as it seems by what is urged above § 110 by a Convocation of the Clergy of which see what is said §. 126 And the pretence of making this new Form in the Preface of that Act is this That whereas of long time there had been in the Realm divers Forms of Common Prayer the use of Sarum of York of Bangor and Lincolne and besides the same now of late much more divers and sundry Forms and Fashions have been used c to stay Innovation and Rites concerning the Premises his Highness being pleased to bear with the frailty and weakness of his subjects in that behalf hath appointed the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury c. having as well respect to the most pure Christian Religion taught by the Scripture as to the usages in the Primitive Church to draw and make one convenient and meet order rite and fashion of common-Common-Prayer and Administration to be had and used in his Majesty's Realms Thus the Act. But to remedy these innovations or diversities of Forms how easy had it been to establish any one of the ancient Forms Or at least reasonable to retain in the new draught those things wherein all the former Church-Services agreed And not themselves to innovate for the hindering of innovations But the fact discovers the intention § 147 Out of which was ejected the Sacrifice of the Mass For in this new draught was ejected and left out the Sacrifice of the Mass or the oblation to God of the Holy Eucharist as propitiatory or impetratory of any benefits to the living or to the dead contrary to the belife of former Church and Councils as is mentioned before § 118. And for this reason were the Altars in Churches commanded to be changed into Tables that the eating might be thought on but not the offering Whenas Hooper had preached before the King That so long as Altars remained both the ignorant people and the ignorant and evil-perswaded Priest would always dream of Sacrifice and besides the great men about the Court saith Dr. Heylin Hist of Reform p. 95. had promised themselves no small hopes of profit by the dis-furnishing these Altars of the Hangings Palls Plate and other rich Utensils The leaving of one Chalice to every Church with a Cloth or covering for the Communion-Table being thought sufficient Upon the same excuse were the Chaunteries Free-Chappels c. seized on as chiefly erected for the relieving of the deceased with the offering of this Sacrifice and the Alms and Prayers accompanying it of which see before § 138. The benefit of which Sacrifice for the dead was yet a thing the more maintainable in those days because the new Form still retained this manner of praying for the dead Grant unto this thy Servant that the sins which he committed in this world be not imputed unto him but that he escaping the gates of Hell and pains of eternal darkness may ever dwell in the region of light with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the place where is no weeping sorrow nor heaviness c. See the Order for Burial Fol. 28. § 148 For the exclusion of this Sacrifice Where 1. Concerning the alterations in the first Common-Prayer Book if K. Edward's in relation to the Sac ifice of the Eucharist you may find in the new Communion see Communion Fol. 128. all those expressions in the former Liturgy that signify it diligently cancelled forbidding also the elevation of the Host after Consecration as these following In the Canon before Communicating Te supplices rogamus ac petimus uti accepta habeas benedicas haec dona haec munera haec sancta sacrificia illibata inprimis quae Tibi offerimus pro Ecclesiâ tuâ sanctâ Catholicâ c. And Memento Domine famulorum c pro quibus tibi offcrimus hoc sacrificium laudis pro redemptione animarum suarum pro spe salutis incolumitatis suae c. And Memores ejusdem Christi filii tui tam beatae passionis c. offerimus praeclarae Majestati tuae de tuis donis ac datis Hostiam puram Hostiam sanctam Hostiam inmaculatam panem sanctum vit◠aeternae calicem salutis perpetuae supra quae propitio ac sereno vultu respicere digneris accepta habere sicuti accepta habere dignatus es munera pueri tui justi Abel sacrificium Patriarchae nostril Abrahae quod tibi obtulit summus sacerdos tuus Melchisedech sanctum sacrificium immaculatam hostiam Jube haec perferri per manus Sancti Angeli tui in sublime altare tuum in conspectu Divinae Majestatis tuae ut quotquot ex hac altaris participatione sacrosanctum Filii tui corpus sanguinem sumpserimus omni benedictione caelesti gratiâ repleamur And that in Post-Communion Praesta ut sacrificium quod oculie tuae Majestatis indignus obtuli Tibi sit acceptabile omnibus pro quibus illud obtuli sit te miserante propitianile These Expressions I say are cancelled and instead of these the new Form makes an oblation to God not of the consecrated Gifts or Sacrament at least expresly but of our thanks and of our own persons and service But this Oblation in imitation of the former it brings in immediately after the Consecration and before Communicating whilst the conescrated Elements yet remain upon the Table This new Form I thought good to transcribe because perhaps you may not have the Book Wherefore O Lord and heavenly Father according to the institution of thy dearly beloved Son we do celebrate and make here before thy Divine Majesty with these thy holy Gifts the Memorial which thy Son hath willed us to make having in remembrance his blessed Passion c. where whether some of the Composers who were of different perswasions see before §. 127 128. retaining the former intentions under an only-varied expression might not extend these ambiguous words to an offering of the holy misteries to God the Father as a commemorative Sacrifice of that of his Son upon the Cross I cannot say but thus it goes on Rendring unto thee most hearty thanks for the innumerable benefits procured unto us by the same Entirely desiring thy Fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our Sacrifice of praise and thansgiving Most humbly beseeching thee to grant that by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ We and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins and all other benefits of his Passion And here we offer and present unto thee O Lord our selves our souls and bodies to be a reasonable holy and lively Sacrifice unto Thee humbly beseeching thee that whosoever shall be partakers of this Holy Communion may worthily receive the most precious body and blood of thy Son Jesus Christ and be fulfilled with thy grace and heavenly benediction the ancienter Form Ut quotquot
Sacrifice being thus dis-avowed by King Edward's Reformation and no benefit acknowledged of this high Service save to the Communicants in their receiving it and in the Priests distributing of it to the people in the next place the Priest was prohibited the celebration thereof whensoever there were no other Communicants besides himself Tho this communicating of the Priest alone is no designed but a casual thing as hath been said and can only be charged upon the peoples neglect and fault who having the same need thereof and benefit thereby as the Priest might being many at least by turns accompany him in the dayly breaking of that celestial Bread if it were so hainous a thing for him to feed thereon alone rather than that this the most honorable part of the divine Service should be discontinued in the Church See before §. 118 contrary to the former universal practice of Christianity and also the late judgment under Henry the Eighth of the English Clergy It was ordered therefore that all those called private Masses should be suppressed add that on the Litany-days Wednesdays and Frydays and all other solemn days of worship when there was none disposed to communicate with the Priest he after the Litany ended should put upon him a plain Albe or Surplice with a Cope and say all things at the Altar appointed to be said at the Celebration of the Lord's Supper See K. Edw. first Common-Prayer Book Rubifol 133. until after the Offertory and then letting alone the foresaid Celebration add one or two of the Collects which are annexed to the Communion and then turning him to the people shall let them depart with the accustomed Blessing § 153 And thus first began the Christian Sacrifice See the first Com. Prayer Book of Ed. 6. fol. 133. that never ceased formerly in the Church every day or at least on all solemn days to be offered by certain degrees to be omitted in this purified Church the practice thereof decreasing from once a day to once a week from once a week to once a month from this to once a year and of late in many Churches not to be had at all Tho they who in these days of King Edward made the first breach upon the Church's former practice as it were foreseeing this evil endeavoured in some part to remedy or prevent it by enjoyning That in all Cathedral and Collegiate Churches where they suppose that there should be still dayly Communion See King Edward 's first Common-Prayer-Book Fol. 113 compared with Fol. 123. there should always in them some communicate with the Priest that ministreth And that in Parish-Churches whereas the Parishioners of every Parish were ordered in such a course as they were wont to find the holy Loaf formerly now to offer every Sunday at the time of the offertory the just valor and price of the holy Loaf with all such money and other things as were wont to be offered with the same out of which the Pastors were to provide sufficient Bread and Wine for the weekly Communion In these Parish-Churches I say it was enjoyned that some one at the least for one besides the Priest was as yet sufficient of that house in the Parish to which by course it appertained to offer for the charges of the Communion should on that Sunday receive the Holy Communion with the Priest Which saith the Book may be better done for that they know before when their course cometh and may therefore dispose themselves to the worthy receiving of the Sacrament And by this means the Minister having always some to communicate with him may accordingly solemnize so high and holy mysteries with all the suffrages and due order appointed for the same But in the second reformed Book these Orders are relaxed the weekly offering by turns for the charges of the Communion now remitted the Celebration of the Lord's Supper or Communion required in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches every Sunday and that in Parish-Churches it should be celebrated at least three times in a year and that it should be celebrated in no place at no time unless there be three to communicate besides him that officeates By which when none or only fewer than three offered to communicate with the Priest he was necessitated to omit this Service as well in Cathedral as Parish-Churches notwithstanding any Injunction of frequentation But the first Innovators might have prudently discerned that when as the Celebration of this Service thus would depend only on the peoples devotion either a reception of the mysteries by the Priest alone must some times be permitted or this Sacrifice many times omitted There are two Injunctions indeed wherein these Reformers seem to have endeavoured to some degree the preservation of the former Devotion of the Clergy in Prayer and Communion The one See the Rub. after the Communion this forementioned That in Cathedral and Collegiate Churches where be many Priests and Deacons they-should all receive the Communion with the Minister every Sunday at the least except they i. e. some not all of them had a reasonable cause to the contrary See the Pâ—â—face to the Com. Prayer Book The other this for saying their office dayly as formerly That all Priests and Deacons shall be bound to say dayly the Morning and Evening Prayer yet how short this in respect of the office they quitted either openly in the Parish Church or Chappel if at home and not being otherwise reasonably letted or privately except they be let by Preaching studying of Divinity or some other urgent cause But here also the two exceptive Clauses annext Except they have a reasonable cause to the contrary in the former and Except they be let by Preaching studying of Divinity or some other urgent cause in the latter have rendered these Injunctions as to the general without vigour and effect or practice in this Church Which the Prudence of those who contrived the Scotch Liturgy well observing thought fit thus to qualify the latter Exception See the Preface to the Scotch Liturgy Of which Cause say they if it be frequently pretended they are to make the Bishop of the Diocess or the Arch-Bishop of the Province the Judge and Allower § 154 Aad Invocation of Saiats expunged out of the Litanies Besides the Sacrifice of the Mass thus removed out of the second new Form of the Communion the Invocation and Suffrages of the Saints were also expunged out of the publick Litanies When-as even in the first English Litany put out under King Edward after O Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity c. have mercy upon us it followed thus Holy Virgin Mary Mother of God our Saviour Jesus Christ Pray for us All holy Angels and Arch-Angels and all holy orders of blessed Spirits pray for us All holy Patriarchs and Prophets Apostlet Martyrs Confessors and Virgins and all the blessed company of Heaven Pray for us Likewise in the Parliament-Act 3 4. Edw. 6.10 c. it is commanded That in
at Windsor much more temperate and less varying from the former Service than the present is as ordinarily things do not on a suddain move from one extreme to another In which Book also it is to be noted that many of the alterations which were made were only omissions As of the Sacrifice of the Mass of Invocation of Saints of Auricular Confession of Elevation of the Eucharist Adoration being not-prohabited c. without tying any to professing his faith to be contrary to such things as were omitted which I impute to the wariness and moderation of some of the Composers who retained a different perswasion from the rest See before § 127. And again that in it were many former usages of the Church still retained which gave great offence to the forreign Reformers and to other Precisians here who had been nursed abroad under their Discipline Amongst which usages retained may be numbred these At the Communion in the Prayer for the estate of the Church Catholick a solemn Commemoration of the Saints and other faithful departed Fol. 128. which was thought fit by the late Composers of the Scotch Liturgy to be restored again in part into the same Prayer where is made a distinct and different Commemoration of other faithful deceased and of the Saints deceased Prayer for the dead and that in the same manner as formerly See Burial of the dead Fol 28. as supposing some of them in a state purgative or betterable by such Prayers See before § 147. Exorcisme I command thee unclean Spirit that thou depart c. Fol. 2. and anction of Infants in Baptisme Fol. 4. Sanctifying or Benediction of the Water in the Font before it be used in Baptisme Fol. 8. resumed by the Scotch Liturgy Extrcam Vnction also still retained Consecrating only so much Bread and Wine as shall suffice for the persons appointed to receive the Holy Communion And mingling Water with the Wine Fol. 126. Reservation of the Sacrament after publick Communion to be carried home to the sick if there be any that day to be communicated which reservation were it made for some longer time I see not how this difference can alter the lawfulness thereof Visit Sick fol. 22. The quotidian Celebration of the Eucharist in all Cathedral and Collegiate Churrches as yet practiced tho not enjoined Fol. 21. See Ruhr Fol. 123. The Altars still left in the same Position and with the same furniture as formerly The Communion-bread made in the same Figure as formerly only to be somewhat thicker and without any print upon them The same Holy Vestments Albes Copes still retained The Oblation made after Consecration before receiving spoken of before And chiefly the retaining still in the Consecration and other passages of the Communion all those former expressions of the Mass which imply whether by Trans or Con-substantiation a corporal presence For such presence was not a thing declared against till the Fifth year of King Edw. in Art 28. and then declared against upon this Philosophical reason because ejusdem hominis corpus in multis locis simul esse non potest But this part against real or corporal Presence with its reason was afterward thought fit to be cast out of this Article when they were reviewed by Queen Elizabeth 's Synod 1562. The Obligation of Henry the Eighth's Six Articles being voided all persons in this point were then left as it were to their own opinion amongst whom as some were Zuinglians so a major part seem to have been in the former days of King Edward either of the Roman or Lutheran perswasion Neither is there any mention concerning the manner of Christs Presence in the Eucharist in the Articles proposed to Winchester or in any other of the Kings Injunctions and therefore Bonner and Gardiner when forced to preach in publick to the great offence of some of their Auditors made this the chief subject of their Sermons and many in the publick Disputations had in Oxford and Cambridge about this matter freely and ex animo maintained such corporal Presence See before § 107. And Cranmer himself also for a long time was a Lutheran in his opinion till at last he was otherwise perswaded by Ridley Fox p. 1115. and p. 1703. Neither was there such agreement between Ridley and Peter Martyr at first but that the one in the Oxford Disputations held a change after Consecration in the substance of the Bread and Wine which the other denyed in Cambridge Fox p. 1255. § 158 Thus stood things somewhat moderated in the first Form In which second Book are rectified and removed many thing which gave offence in the former against which therefore were made many complaints Calvin writ to the Protector soon after it was set forth where he incites him to a new Reformation thereof and after having found fault with Prayer for the Dead he goes on Sunt alia non perinde damnanda fortasse sed tamen ejusmodi ut excusari non possint Illa omnia abscindi semel praestiterit ut nihil in Ecclesiâ Dei usurpetur quod non ipsius verbo conforme sit ad Ecclesiae aedificationem pertineat ita verò tolerandi sunt infirmi ut ad meliora promoveantur After this about 1551. Epistle p. 135. he writ thus to Arch-Bishop Cranmer Sic correctae sunt externae superstitiones ut residui maneant innumeri surculi qui assiduè pullulent Imò ex corruptelis Papatus audio relictam esse congeriem quae non obscuret modò sed propemodum obruat purum genuinum Dei cultum Writ likewise to Bucer then a Teacher of the reformed Religion in Cambridge that he should solicite this matter telling him that he was censured for too much moderation and might thus free himself from such an aspersion Epistle p. 107. Dominum Protectorem ut volebas conatus sum hortari ut stagitabat praesens rerum status tuum quoque erit modis omnibus instare praesertim verbo ut ritus qui superstitionis aliquid redolent tollant ur e medio Hoc tibi nominatim commendo 〈◊〉 te invidiâ liberes quâ te falso gravar◠apud multos non ignoras nam modiis consiliis te vel authorem vel approbatorem semper inscribunt Scio hanc quorundam animis suspicionem altius infixam asse quam ut eam revellere facile sit eciamfi nihil omittas Bucer thus excited by Calvin and also requested by Cranmer having the Book translated in to Latine An. 1551. writes a censure thereof wherein he desireth the alteration or omission of many things even to the disallowing of the use of the Surplice and of such other vestments as are there appointed of saying of the second Service at the Altar of the Presbyter's taking the bread in his hand and the using of the sign of the Cross in the Consecration besides greater matters of praying for the dead c. Yet of several of those things which he would have to
Quod in Missâ offertur verum Christi Corpus verus ejusdem Sanguis Sacrificium propitiatorium pro vivis defunctis 4. Item Quod Petro Apostolo ejus legitimis Successoribus in Sede Apostolicâ tanquam Christi vicario data est suprema potestas pascendi regendi ecclesiam Christi militantem fratres suos confirmandi 5. Item Quod authoritas tractandi definiendi de iis quae spectant ad fidem Sacramenta disciplinam ecclesiasticam hactenus semper spectavit spectare debet tantum ad Pastores ecclesiae quos Spiritus Sanctus in hoc in ecclesiâ Dei posuit non ad Laicos In which Article penned with some tender sense of the invasion which formerly in King Henry and King Edward's days had been made upon the Clergy-rights both the Regal and Parliamentary power being excluded totally by a tantum ad Pastores not only a definiendo but a tractando not only quae ad fidem but quae ad disciplinam ecclesiasticam spectant I suppose made the University so cautious to subscribe thereto Quam nostram assertionem affirmationem fidem nos inferior Clerus praedistus vestris Paternitatibus tenore praesentium exhibemus humiliter supplicantes ut quia nobis non est copia hanc nostram sententiam intentionem aliter illis quorum in hac parte interest notificandi Vos qui Patres estis ista superioribus ordinibus significare velitis Quâ in re officium charitatis ac pietatis ut arbitramur praestabitis saluti gregis vestri ut par est prospicietis vestras ipsi animas liberabitis § 176 These were the last words and testament as it were of the ancient Clergy now expiring seeing their definitive authority assumed by the Laity and upon this a flood of innovations coming upon them Which Protestation of theirs remaineth upon record to all generations to shew that in the Reformation the Laity deserted their former Guides and Spiritual Fathers the Clergy in Henry the Eighth's and Queen Mary's days all constant to the ancient Church-doctrines saving only Supremacy for King Henry's time and also in King Edward's days the major part of this Clergy tho externally guilty of some dissimulation yet inwardly retaining the same judgment as may be seen by what is acknowledged above § 122. c. and 127. § 177 This Declaration of the Clergy and Universities was ended in the Queens proposal of a Disputation in Westminster Church A Disputation between the Bishops and the reformed Divines between some of the Bishops and others of Queen Mary's Clergy and some of the reformed Divines lately returned home from beyond Sea Of which Disputation the Lord Keeper Bacon one of the Protestant Religion was appointed the Moderator The three Questions which were proposed by the reforming party to the Bishops to be the subject of the Conference were these 1. It is against the word of God and the Custome of the ancient Church to use a tongue unknown to the people in common-Common-Prayer Fox p. 1924. and the administration of the Sacraments 2. Every Church hath authority to appoint take away and change Ceremonies and Ecclesiastical Rites so the same be to edification 3. It cannot be proved by the word of God that there is in the Mass offered up a Sacrifice propitiatory for the quick and dead Of which questions to pass by the first there being nothing either in the former Convocation-Articles or in any decree of former Church against the lawfulness of having the Divine Service in a known tongue which is all that the Reformation desires in this matter and which could be no occasion of difference among Christians were all other Controversies of Doctrine well composed In the second Question it seems to me somewhat strange that whereas the Convocation speaks chiefly of the authority of defining points de fide and contends that the authority of defining such points belongs not to the Laity or to any Civil Power but only ad Pastores and whereas also the main of the Reformation consists in altering such Doctrines belonging to Faith and not in altering some Rites and Ceremonies yet the question here stretcheth no further than to Rites and Ceremonies and then speaks of these as alterable not by the Laity or a Civil Power but by a particular Church i. e. as I suppose by the Clergy thereof And then leaves us in the dark also whether this particular Church be put here as contradistinct only to other particular Churches on which it is independent and hath this power granted to it by all or be put as contradistinct to the Church Vniversal or to Superior Councils on which surely it hath some dependance Again in the last question it seems as strange that whereas the Convocation in their Preface founds this Article together with the rest on Primitive and Apostolical Tradition as well as on Scripture Publico christianarum gentium consensu c. atque ab Apostolis ad not usque c. And whereas the reformed in the first question where seemed some advantage add the custome of ancient Church to the testimony of the Scriptures and in their Preface promise adherence to the Doctrines and Practice of the Catholick Church unless there be some evasion in the limitation there used Fox p. 1930. where they say by Catholick Church they mean that Church which ought to be sought in the holy Scriptures and which is governed and led by the Spirit of Christ Yet here they use that restraining Clause it cannot by the word of God be proved the judgment of the ancient Church the authoritative expounder of the word of God being indeed in this matter very clear against them See Discourse of Eucharist § 92.111 c. § 178 If you would know what end this Disputation had it is thus set down in Cambden Hist. Eliz. An. Dom. 1559. That all came to nothing for that after a few words passed to and fro in writing they could not agree about the manner of disputing The Protestants triumphing as if they had gotten the victory and the Papists complaining that they were hardly dealt withal in that they were not forewarned of the questions above a day or two before and that Lord Keeper Bacon a man little versed in matters of Divinity and a bitter enemy of the Papists sate as Judge whereas he was only appointed as Moderator or keeper of Order But the very truth is that they weighing the matter more seriously durst not without consulting the Bishop of Rome call in question so great matters and not controverted in the Church of Rome exclaiming every where When shall there be any certainry touching Faith Disputations concerning Religion do always bend that way as the Scepters incline and such like And so hot were the Bishops of Lincolne and Winchester that they thought meet that the Queen and the Authors of this falling away from the Church of Rome should be stricken with the censure of Excommunication But
Us who has invited us to his House to a Volume of satisfactions that the Alienation of Church-Lands consists with the principles of that Church But 't is said King Edward went farther and declar'd Monastic Vows to be unlawful superstitious and unobliging The Reformers have always declar'd the same and must continue to do so till some reasons are brought to convince Us of the falshood of such a Declaration Those which are offer'd in the Discourse of Caelibacy are not demonstrative King Edward seiz'd upon Chauntries Free-Chappels c. his pretence being the Unlawfulness of offering the sacrifice of the Eucharist or giving alms for the defunct The unlawfulness of these is not pretended by the Reformation but prov'd The Chauntries were dissolv'd that the provisions for them might be converted to more pious Uses this was the design of the Act of Parliament for which only We can be thought oblig'd to answer how ever it might be defeated For the statute expressly provides that they be converted to good and Godly Uses as in erecting Grammar-Schools for the Education of Youth in Virtue and Godliness the farther augmenting of the Universities and better provision for the poor and needy § 139 In this he went beyond his Father that He began the taking of Bishop's Lands also This must be reckon'd an Act of the Reformation tho' he knows it is as pathetically lamented by our Writers as by his own He cites the complaints of three Protestant Bishops Cranmer Ridley and Godwin and a Protestant Dr. Heylin to prove this charge and yet at the same time has the boldness to charge it on the Reform'd Sure saith he foul things were done in this kind because I find even King Edward's favourite Bishops highly to dislike them If Cranmer and Ridley and other King Edward's favourite-Bishops disliked the spoyl of the Church-goods why is the Odium of this cast upon the Reformers Or why must very foul things be done before these declare their dislike when it will be found upon History that Cranmer and Ridley were more inveterate Enemies to robbing of the Church then Gardiner and Bonner He shuts up this Paragraph with a remark that Laymenders of Religion ordinarily terminate in these two things the advancing of their carnal Liberty and temporal Estates Sure this Author thinks that We know nothing beyond the Alps that we never heard of the rich Nephews of Popes which are flagrant evidences that Carnality and Avarice are not only Lay-vices But perhaps he may object that Popes are no menders of Religion § 140 By Virtue of such Supremacy he remov'd Images out of Churches and this when the Second Nicene Council had recommended the Use of them This Second Nicene Council is often appeal'd to by this Writer there is a Second Divine Commandment or at least there once was such a Commandment which will deserve his Consideration What Reverence we pay to this Council he may have learnt from a late a Reply to the 2 Disc Oxon. Reply where the Reader will find a just Character of this celebrated Assembly § 141 By Virtue of such Supremacy he impos'd a Book of Homilies i. e. He took care that the people should be instructed in things concerning their Salvation who before had been kept in ignorance § 142 He laid a command upon the Clergy to administer the Communion in both kinds to the people Which Command had been laid upon them by our Savior Contrary to the Injunction of the Council of Constance Which Injunction was made with a non-obstante to the Institution of Christ Without any preceding consultation of a National Synod But b Bur. V. 2. p. 50. others tell us it was agreed to by the Convocation which sat with that Parliament and particularly that in the lower House it did not meet with a Contradictory Vote § 143 The succeeding Paragraphs to the 164th treat at large of the Suppression of the former Church-Liturgies Ordinals and other Rituals the setting up of New Forms of Celebrating the Communion Ordination and Common-prayer the alterations of King Edward's first Common-Prayer-Book in his Second and the reduction of some things in the Scotch Liturgy to the first Form of King Edward and the complaints concerning this in Laudensium Autocatacrisis But the Reader will excuse me if I think a defence of our Liturgy at this time of day needless the unlawfulness of the Mass and Invocation of Saints and the non-Necessity of Sacerdotal Confession have been defended in Volumes besides that this which is here said is only a Second Edition of the two Discourses concerning the Adoration c. Where this change of the Services is animadverted on So that this has been already consider'd and any farther Reply is superseded by the two Learned Answers from London and Oxford to those Discourses § 146 By Virtue of such Supremacy the King conceiv'd he had a power to alter and reform the Ecclesiastical Laws This is the 4th time that this Reformation of the Laws has been insisted on it is here confest that this Rerformation of them was never ratified by King Parliament or Convocation i. e. that it was no Act of the Reformation Nothing is urg'd against it but that these Laws were establish'd by former Superior Councils and the Reader e're he can be satisfied of that must be at the charge of four more Volumes of Church-Government By such Supremacy he abrogated all former Church-Laws concerning days of fasting or abstinence and appointed those he thought fit by his own and the Parliament's Autority The Canon-Laws which he call's the Church-Laws for fasting were full of mockery and superstition Religion was plac'd in those Observances and yet Sensuality was consistent with them It was adviseable therefore to take off those Laws and yet to keep up such as might make Fasting and Abstinence agreeable to their true End Which is to be a means to Virtue and to subdue men's Bodies to their Soul and Spirit the End expressly provided for in the Statute There is no Obligation he saith for the Observation of either Fasting or Abstinence by any express Canon of this Church Reformed but only by Act of Parliament The days of Fasting are prescrib'd in the Liturgy which has the Autority of Convocation Fasting is enjoyn'd in the Homilies which have the same Autority It is there recommended from precepts of Scripture from the Example of Christ and from the Constitutions of the Primitive Councils It is defin'd to be a with-holding from all meat and drink and all manner of Natural food in contradiction to this Author who saith that not Fasting is enjoyn'd us but only Abstinence from Flesh He might with as good reason have urg'd that Praying to God and believing in Christ are not enjoyn'd by the Church as that Fasting is not For if by Canons he means those which are properly so call'd neither is there any Canon that I know of which enjoyns such Prayer or such Belief § 165 By Virtue of such Supremacy