be proposed but much more how they ever came to be received in the World For what can be more ignorantly Blasphemous than to say God raised up Men to restore his Church who yet could by no means Agree among themselves in matters of Faith as hereafter will appear and whose Followers do at this day pursue each other with Excommunications and Anathema's If Calvin was the Messenger of God then was Luther a Sacrilegious Impostor if the Church of England be Orthodox then were Luther and Calvin both Impostors and if any other of the Reformers were in the right the Church of England is in the wrong Which then of the Dissenting Protestants Doctrin shall we say was the belief of the Primitive Church Were all these at once the Primitive Faith. or was some one Denomination of Protestants the primitive Believers and those of all other Denominations in the wrong It being impossible as I have proved that the True Faith should ever be Invisble at any time if therefore Protestancy had ever been professed it could never have been totally extinguish'd Though most certain it is that no footsteeps of any of the Reformers Principles were known for almost 1500 years in the Christian World except in some Heresies condemned in several Ages of the Church which do indeed much resemble the Innovations of our Modern Reformers as their Doctrine of the Sacrament in the Heresie of Berengarius of Invocation of Saints in the Heresie of Vigilantius of Prayer for the Dead in Aerius of Images in Xenias and the Iconaclasts of Confession in the Novatianus their practice of no mingled Chalice in the Heresie of the Armenians and of Priests Marriages in Jovinian as Luthers Marrying a Nun borrowed from Marcions corrupting a Virgin and to add no more their Famous Naggshead Consecration copied from Novatus that was made a Bishop in a Tavern and deposed by Cornelius And now for the Church of England she must ever stand or fall on her own Bottom having so notoriously condemned all other parts of the Reformation That the Lutherans are condemn'd by the Church of England every body knows and that the Calvinists are so too I will in one word plainly shew A Protestant Parson that comes from France from Holland or Geneva to be Beneficed in England cannot be admitted to Preach nor Administer the Sacraments after the Rites of the English Church till he has renounced that Mission he had before and taken new Orders according to the form of the Church of England which to all Men of sense implies that the Church of England does assuredly believe the Calvinist Teachers are false Imposters that they have no Mission no Authority no Ordination and by consequence no Sacraments being in their conceits purely Lay-men From hence I take the liberty to ask the Doctors of the English Church how they can in honour and conscience call them their Brethren as they do of the Reformation from whom they have seperated at so great a distance as to reject all their Ordinations at once as null and void and how they can suffer the French and Dutch Hugonots to have Churches and free exercise of their Religion here and some of them also the Church of Englands Liturgy at the same time as they believe them neither to have Priesthood nor Sacraments and by consequence no such thing as a Church at all Seeing then the Church of England look on themselves as the only Church of the Refonmation it follows that she must accordingly prove her self the true Church and shew how that Sum of Christian Doctrin which she now holds has been constantly held in all past Ages of the Church which I am sure all the English Doctors in the World will not make out nay I think they do not so much as pretend to For to end all Controversies let them shew but one Service-Book in all the 1500 years before Luther in any one vulgar Tongue which agreeth with their Service Book and for that one Book sake we will submit the cause no they say contrariwise that for about 1000 years Popish Superstition was the only Religion known in the World Which Superstition as they call it I shall now endeavour to prove to be that true Religion which has been from our Saviours time and which must Infallibly last to the end of the World. The Arguments by which I have briefly and I hope evidently shewn that the Protestant Church neither single nor aggregate can be the true Church do at the same time as evidently prove the Church of Rome to be so For as the Protestant Churches want of Antiquity their not having been from the beginning of Christianity nor Visible till within 200 years proves them not to be the Catholick Church so the Antiquity of the Church of Rome her having been from the beginning and continuing still Visible by propagating the Gospel and Administring the Sacraments in all Ages since Christ does as plainly evince her to be the only true Church the spouse of Christ and Pillar of Truth I demand has not this Church in all Ages had a visible Succession of Bishops a settled Government with a visible Head from St. Peter to this very day Has not this been the only Church that has duly planted the Faith and as duly suppressed Heresie and Schism Is not this the Church that has held all General Councils and has not the Bishop of Rome Presided in the four First seemingly allowed of by the Church of England Is not this the only Church that has sent Apostles and Missionaries out to plant the Gospel in all the Infidel corners of the Earth and from whence England first received the Christian Faith Is there any other Church that can pretend to have been assisted by God Almighty in the working of Miracles and in the Conversion of Nations What other Church can shew an Army of Martyrs and Confessors a number of Men that lead most Holy and Austere Lives forsaking the World to follow Christ What other Church in the World can pretend either to Unity or Universality to be every where the same and to have all her Children at perfect Agreement in matters of Faith and Doctrine for the disputes of Catholicks are about matters not defin'd and so controvertable but never about a Doctrine that has been once determined in a General Council These are the Marks and essential ones of the true Church but these agree to no other Church but that of Rome the Church of Rome is therefore the only Church Whatever the Grecian or the Abyssine Churches have to say in answer to this which does not much concern us sure I am the Church of England has nothing plausible to excuse her Schism and Rebellion against her Mother Church and under whose subjection she has been bred and maintained for many Ages in the World. Every one knows and no Church of England Man can deny that this National Church was in all Ages subject to and a part of the Western
deny all the Tenets they now believe l In replic ad Hardingum we may and it will be a pious Godly action to belive them and make as many Acts of Parliament for them as now we have against them This is an evident sequel out of that Principle and whereas there is not one Tenet of all those which I rehearsed whether they concern Doctrin or Manners but was judged by the Doctors which I cited for it to be the Doctrine of Scripture it follows unavoidably that there is not one Tenet of them but is the Doctrine of the Reformation Therefore you must be forced to either of these two either to say that our Rule of Faith by which such Doctrines are warranted is naught wicked and scandalous of all those I rehearsed you cannot deny but that it was taught by the Author I quoted for it and judged by him to be the Doctrin of Scripture And if no Doctor hitherto had believed you or I or some other person of sound judgement may judge it to be the Doctrine of Scripture either of both then you must be constrained to grant Or that the Doctrine of the Reformation is not what each person of sound judgement understands to be the doctrine and sense of Scripture which is as much as to say that our Rule of Faith must not be Scripture as we understand it but that we must believe against our Judgement and Conscience what others say is the doctrine and sense of Scripture Or you must grant that all and each of those Tenets I rehearsed is the doctrine of the Reformation though you or this or that Man may judge them to be blasphemies and scandals I confess our Rule of Faith in the Reformation is Scripture as each person understands it for all our Reformed Churches do gives us this Rule of Faith. And in case the Church of England France or Germany judge a doctrine to bo blasphemous and against Scripture and Luther or Calvin or I or another judge it is good doctrine and conformable to Scripture to which judgement must I stand Must I believe what I judge in my Conscience to be Scripture and not what others judge if they judge the contrary When Luther began the Reformation did not almost all Christians and the whole Church believe Purgatory and Prayers to Saints to be the doctrine of Scripture And did not he very commendably deny it against them all because he judged by Scripture it was not Will a Presbyterian believe Episcopacy because the Church of England says it is the doctrine of Scripture No but deny it because himself judges It is not For let a Man be ever so leared and Godly if he gives an Interptetation of Scripture which is denied by all the Church he must not be followed Since when is it commendable to constrain Mons Judgements to believe not what each one thinks best but what the Church thinks may be safely believed Was this Commenble in the beginning of our Reformation when our blessed Reformers began to teach their private Judgements against the Church then establish'd If it was then the Church of Rome is to be commended for persecuting and Excommunicating our first Reformers and if this was not nor is not commendable in the Church of Rome why is it commendable in the Church of England This is a piece of Popery whereof the Church of England is guilty and for which all our Congregations are jealous of her I confess other Congregations will admit no such Curb or Bridle on their Judgements but follow Scripture as they understood it but the Church of England has a reverent regard for the sense and Interpretation of it given by Primitive Ages Fathers and Councils and that we prefer before the private Interpretations of particular Persons The Sense and Interpretation of primitive Ages Church and Fathers must be preferred before the Interpretation of any private person or Congregation and what think you of our whole Reformation which allowes no other Rule of Faith but Scripture as each person of sound Judgement understands it What say you of Luther Calvin Beza and the rest of our Reformers who preferred their own private sense and Interpretation of Scripture before that of the whole Church What say you to the Presbyterians who prefer their own sense and Interpretation of the Bible before that of the Church of England I grant there ought to be a respect for the judgement and Interpretation of the Text given by the Primitive Church and Fathers but if a Doctor or a Man of sound Judgement replenisht with Gods Spirit read Scripture with an humble Heart and pure Intention and judges by it that Bigamy is lawful that there is no Mystery of three persons is one divine Nature or that Christ despaired on the Cross c. Tho these doctrines be quite against the Judgments of Fathers Church and Councils he may believe them and be still a true Reformed Child because he follows our Rule of Faith if he must deny these Articles because others decry them then he must go against his own Judgement and Conscience for to conform himself to them and his Rule of Faith must not be Scripture as each Man of sound judgement understands it but as the Primitive Ages Church and Councils understand it and this is Popery Is it not generally believed in our Reformation and most strongly proved of late by that incomparable Wit and Pen-man Doctor Stillingfleet that Popery has as much Idolatry as Paganism Our Land therefore had in Paganism as good a Religion as it received by Austin in Popery does not this our noble Champion and most of the Scribes of the Church of England teach That Popery is a saving Religion that we may be saved in the Church of Rome if Popery notwithstanding it be Idolatry as they say by a saving Religion how can they deny but that Paganism is also a saving Religion what need therefore had our Fore-fathers to abandon Paganism why was it not left in the Land If England had been as well informed of the merit of Paganism when first Christianity was Preached it had never exchanged the one Idolatry for the other Dr. Stillingfleet in his Charge against the Church of Rome pag. 40. and 41. says plainly That the Pagans are charged with more than they are guilty of pag 7. says that Jupiter adored by the Pagans was so far from being an Arch-devil in the opinion of St. Paul that he was the true God Blessed for evermore that the Pagans adored but one Supream and Omnipotent God which they called Jupiter and which they did believe to be neither a Devil nor a Man but a true and the first and chiefest of the Gods and that the rest of the Gods which they adored they looked upon them as Inferiour deities and gave them no other Adoration Dr. Stillingfleet and Dr. Burnet and other Reformed Writers prove convincingly as to their Sentiment that Paganism is no more Idolatry than Popery and
assured and persuade your selves that you have not sufficient Authority to make her Highness Supream Head of the Church of Christ here in this Realm The Second Point of Spiritual Government is gathered out of these words of our Saviour Christ spoken to St. Peter in the 20th Chapter of St. John's Gospel Pasce Pasce Pasce That is Feed my Lambs feed my Lambs feed my Sheep Now whether your Honours have Authority by this Court of Parliament to say unto our Sovereign Lady Pasce Pasce c. That is to say Feed you the flock of Christ you must shew your Warrant and Commission for it An further it is evident that Her Majesty being a Woman by Birth and Nature is not qualified by Gods word to feed the Flock of Christ appears most plainly by St. Paul in this wise Taceant Mulieres in Ecclesus sicut lex dicit Let Women be silent in the Church for it is not Lawful for them to speak but to be in subjection as the Law saith And it followeth in the same place Turpe est enim Mulieris loqui in Ecclesiâ that is for that it is not seemly for a Woman to speak in the Church And in his Second Epistle to Timothy Dominari in virum sed esse silentes that is to say I allow not that a Woman be a Teacher or to be above her Husband but to keep her self in silence Therefore it appears likewise as your Honours have not Authority to give her Highness this second Point of Spiritual Government to feed the Flock of Christ So by St. Pauls Doctrine her Higness may not intermeddle her self with the same And therefore She cannot be Supream Head of the Church here in England The Third chief Point of Spiritual Government is gathered out of those words of our Saviour Christ spoken to St. Peter in the 22th Chapter of St. Lukes Gospel Ego rogavi pro To ut non deficiat fides Tua Tu aliquando conversus confirma fratres Tuos That is I Prayed for Thee that thy Faith shall not fail and thou being converted Confirm thy Brethren and ratifie them in wholesome Doctrine and Administration of the Sacraments which are the Holy Instruments of God so Instituted and Ordained for our Sanctification that without them his Grace is not to be received But to Preach or to administer the Sacraments a Woman may not be admitted to do neither may she be Supream of Christ's Church The Fourth and Last chief point of Spiritual Government which I promised to Note unto you doth consist in Excommunication and Spiritual Punishment of all such as shall approve themselves not to be the Obedient Children of Christ's Church Of which Authority our Saviour Christ speaks in St. Matthew's Gospel in the 18th Chapter saying If your Brother offending will not hear your charitable admonition whether secretly at first or yet before one or two Witnesses then we must complain of him to the Church and If he will not hear the Church let him be taken as an Heathen or Publican So the Apostle did Excommunicate the notorious Fornicator that was amongst the Corinthians and by the Authority of his Apostleship unto which Apostles Christ Ascending into Heaven did leave the whole Spiritual Government of his Church as it appears by those plain words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians Chap. 4th saying Ipse dedit Ecclesiae suae c. He hath given to his Church some to be Apostles some Evangelists some Pastors and Doctors for consummation of the Saints to the work of the Ministry for edifying of the Body of Christ But a Woman in the degrees of the Church is not called to be an Apostle nor Evangelist nor to be a Pastor as much to say a Shepheard nor a Doctor or a Preacher Therefore she cannot be Supream Head of Christ's Militant Church nor yet of any part thereof For this high Government God hath appointed only to the Bishops and Pastors of his People as St. Paul plainly witnesseth in these words in the 20th Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles saying Attendite vohis universo gregi c. And thus much I have here said right Honourable and my very good Lords against this Act of Supremacy for the discharge of my poor Conscience and for the Love and Fear and Dread that I chiefly owe unto God to my Sovereign Lord and Lady the Queens Majesties Highness and to your Honors All. Where otherwise without mature consideration of all these Premises your Honors shall never be able to shew your faces before your enemies in this matter being so strange a spectacle and example in Christ's Church as in this Realm is only to be found and in no other Christan Realm Thus humbly beseeching your Honors to take in good part this my rude and plain Speech which here I have used out of much Zeal and fervent good will And now I shall not trouble your Honors any longer Thus at to this Speech But notwithstanding this Speech or whatever else could be said against it the Act passed and this Supremacy was granted to the Queen A further Prosecution of the Settlement of this Change of Religion Established by Parliament and of the Opposition of the Catholick Clergy against this strange Innovation By which my dear Country-men may see as is prov'd by their own Histories how you are seduced into Erronious Religions endangering thereby no less than their Salvation Dr. Heylyn pag. 108. NOw for the better exercising and enjoying the Jurisdiction thus acknowledged in the Crown there was this Clause put into the Act That it should be Lawfull for the Queen to give Power to such as she thought fit to exercise all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction and to vist reform redress order correct and amend all kind of Errors Heresies Schisms c. With this Proviso notwithstanding that nothing should from henceforth be accounted Heresie but what was so adjudged the Holy Scripture or in one of the four four General Councils or in any other National or Provincial Council determining according to the word of God or finally which should be adjudg'd for the time to come by the Court of Parliament This was the first Foundation of the High-Commission Court And from hence issued that commission by which the Queens ministers proceeded in that visitation in the first year of her Reign for rectifying all such things as they found amiss There also pass'd another Act for recommending and imposing the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of Sacraments according to such Alterations and Corrections as were made therein by those that were appointed to review it In performance of which service there was great care taken to expunge out of all such passages in it as might give an Scandal or Offence to the Papists or be urg'd by them in excuse for their not coming to Church In the Litany first made and published by King Henry the Eighth and afterwards continued in the two