teach his Body the Church all things and should continue with them unto the end of the World § For soon after his Ascention the Apostles together with the rest of the Body being met together in a great Assembly and after they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and great Grace was upon them all 4. Act. 31.32.33 and accordingly the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withal to one the Word of Wisdome to another the Word of Knowledge to another faith c. and all by the same Spirit 1. Cor. 12.7.8 and all these for the edifying of the Body of Christ 4. Eph. 12 For though the Body be one yet hath it many Members and all the Members of that one Body being many are one Body whereof Christ is the head 1. Cor. 12.12 In the visible Government of the Church Christ appointed and instituted a Priesthood in which likewise it is dissimilar to all temporal Governments which quodam sensuis Independent of the Church though touching the application of the Authority to the Person it is elective and depending of the Body of the Church under this Priesthood is comprehended Bishops and Presbiters now what their Authority and Powers are vide their Commission 28. Mat. 19.20 go teach all Nations Baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loe I am with you always unto the end of the world other Powers besides these and laying on of hands especially coercive I know none derived unto them by any text of Scripture These Bishops these Presbiters these Ministers or Pastors are not Lords and Masters as in the Roman Church but are Servants to the Body of the Church For we preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your Servants for Jesus sake 2. Cor. 4.5 and these Authorities are not coercive but are given them to exhort reprove rebuke beseech intreat for Christs sake and by the mercies of God c. 12. Rom. 3. chap. 15.30 1 Thes 4.1 according to the Doctrines Precepts Rules and Commands set down in Scripture which are able to make us wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus and which is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for Correction for instruction in righteousness that the Man of God may be perfected throughly furnished to all good works 2 Tim. 3.16.17 These and such like only are all the Powers that belong unto the Priesthood by any Law of God and there is no need of any other for what concerns punishment for Sins or the breach of moral Duties or municipal laws the Body hath Power to make laws and ordain punishments for any of its Members § I know that they have a long time hooked in by Head and shoulders a kind of coercive Power Excommunication by usurping to themselves the Power of Excommunication a thing I must confess that hath made a great noise and buzz in the world but in truth a magnificum nihil a meer ignis fatuus there being no such thing in the whole new Testament as now used and that which Pope and Presbiter would have to be it is as much in the Power of the Laicks against them as in them against the Laicks and most truly in the Body of the Church In the Romish Church the Bishop or his Vicar excommunicateth without the advice or participation of any many times also the Register only and that which is most important by Authority deligated a Clark of the first Tonsure deputed Comissary in some slight Cause doth excommunicate a Priest Yea Leo. 10. in the Council of Lateran in the 11. Session by a perpetual constitution of his hath granted faculty to a secular person to excommunicate the very Bishops and that which doth more import Navar saith c. 27 no. 11. that if any man shall obtain an excommunication of some Prelate if the obtainer shall not have an intent that the party be excommunicated he shall not be excommunicated moreover he saith ch 23. num 104. that the excommunication pronounced by the Law it self against him that payeth not a Pension for example sake on the Vigil of the Nativity is not incurred by him that payeth it not no not in many month's and years after if the Creditor thereof would not have it incurred But if on the other side after many Month's or Years he would have it incurred it is reputed to have been incurred from the day of the debt from the Vigil of the Nativity and so is the stile of the Court but the Council of Trent hath now expresly provided otherwise Ses 25. c. 3 forbidding secular Princes that they hinder not Prelates to excommunicate nor command that any excommunication be revoked considering that this is no part of their Office by this you may in little see what a nose of wax is made of excommunication and all this and much more grounded and occasioned from wrong Glosses put upon plain Texts But of this more fully hereafter § Though the Congregational men have not fully modelled out unto us the Platform of their Government and Discipline as the Presbyterians have done yet in general they do affirm Independency and Church-Government that to each gathered Church Christ hath given all Power and Authority requisite unto that Order and Discipline which he hath instituted for them to observe and to execute the same with Commands and Rules as before And negatively that there is not instituted by Christ any person or Church more extensive or Catholick entrusted with Power over other Churches and that each particular Church consists of Officers and Members which Members they call Brethren and the Officers they stile Pastors Teachers Elders and Deacons and that there are no stated Synods in a fixed combination of Churches nor any Synods appointed by Christ in any way of sub-ordination to one another nor no one Church to have Power of Censures but of inspection only over other Churches and Members thereof that Counsel and Advice might mutually be communicated That it was so in the days of the Apostles and continued so for some Generations after every Individual gathered Church every Christian Societie as it is natural to all Societies as well Christian as Civil governing it self by its own Laws and Constitutions whithout being obliged to any other superintendency hapily is so manifest that it would not be gainsaid But when the Church became planted and spread its Branches and took root in divers Nations and whole Common-wealths became Christian and Kings and Queens and other Civil Governments became Nursing-Fathers and Mothers of the Church then of necessity for the quiet state of the whole the case came to be altered it being then impossible that every individual Member or Brother of any Christian Kingdom or Common-wealth should personally meet to make Laws
Policarpus Nicomedes Lucianus Successus Sedatus Fortunatus Januarius Secundinus Pomponius Honoratus Victor Aurelius Satius Petrus Alius Januarius Saturninus Alius Aurelius Venantius Alius Saturninus Vincentius Libosus Geminius Marcellus Jambus Adelphius Victoricus Paulus Faelici Presbitero plebibus consistentibus ad legionem Asturicae c. And certainly all these could not be mistaken in so plain matter of fact Besides it is not this Epistle only that asserts this subject matter but St. Cyprian hath divers others Epistles of the same Purport and Tenor viz. 5.11.13 26.27.28.29.30.41.42 c. Written upon several the like occasions but the Epistle of 36 Bishops to the People of Leon Asturia and Emerita a shrewd argument of its universal practice in those more pure times so near the Apostles And it cannot be collected out of any place of Scripture that Christ instituting pastors in the Church hath exempted them from the Churches obedience she being the common Mother of all Christians as well Ecclesiastical as Secular the practice of those times which were freest from corruption even when the holy Martyrs were Bishops was that Pastors were subject to the Censures of the Church whereof St. Cyprian gives abundant testimony Ibid. ep 68. pag. 113. The same is to be held of Excommunication seeing it behoveth the Christian Multitude to avoid the Fellowship of the Excommunicated not only in the course of Religion but even in common and familiar conversation the rights of Nature Family and Common-wealth ever kept inviolate and that whom yesterday we were to repute a Brother near and dear in Christ to morrow we must hold as an Heathen and Publican and as for destruction to the flesh delivered to Sathan 18. Mat. 1. Cor. 5. who is so unequal a Judg as not to think it a most equal thing that the Multitude should clearly and undoubtedly take knowledge both of the heynousness of the crime and the Incorrigible contumacy of the person after the use of all means and remedies for the reclaiming them If this be not allowed to the Brethren then doth the Church not herein live by her own but by her Officers Faith neither are her Governours to be reputed as Servants but as Lords over her contrary to 2. Cor. 4.5 neither do they exercise their Office for the good of the Brethren in the Church as they ought but tyrannically as they ought not of this opinion is Chrysost in Epist ad Titum and Celestine decreed that no Bishop should be ordained against the Will of the People but that the consent of the Clergy nd the People was requisite In the primitive times all Christians that lived in the Communion of the Catholick Faith were called ecclesiasticks but now it is most though abusively appropriated unto Church-Men both at Rome and elsewhere though no tolerable reason can be given why Princes and their People should be esteemed so inconsiderable and as it were of no value and concern in the esteem of the ecclesiasticks For if the variety of opinions of the vulgar their meanness of knowledge their passions and the like the usual and scornful objections of Papists against the Laicks be urged to render them uncapable and unfit these very objections if allowed for currant may possibly exclude the greatest part of the Clergy also from the Authority which they lay claim unto in this particular For it cannot be denied but that diversities of opinions malice ignorance animosities pride ambition selfconceitedness covetousness excess of exhorbitant passions have generally as great a share amongst the Clergy as the People nay often times many among the ordinary sort of Christians in a Church are more considerable for their Learning Piety Temper and meekn ss than their Pastors St. Ambrose serm 17. T. 4. p. 725. Plerunque clerus erravit Sacerdotum nutavit sententia divites cum seculi istius terreno rege senserunt Populus fidem propriam servavit hath informed us that many times the Clergy have erred the Bishops have wavered in their opinions the Rich men have adhered in their judgment to earthly Princes of the World mean while the People alone preserved the truth intire And it is well known that whole Nations have been converted by Laymen and women Soozm lib. 2. c. 14. Niceph. lib. 14. c. 10. Socrat. lib. 1. c. 19.20 seeing then that what hath happened may happen again that the Clergy hath held erroneous and heretical opinions whilst the People hath held the truth It is very evident that the Opinions and Councils and Advisoes of the Laity ought not so wholly to be neglected and slighted Certainly Divines only are not inspired from God nor only understand holy Mysteries Laicks in all ages have been that wanted neither Learning nor Piety St. Cyprian records that in the Council at Carthage where the question touching the Baptism of Hereticks was debated the greatest part of the People were present Praesente etiam plebis maxima parte f. 282 the like for the real presence confitentur alii quod sides sua qua astruunt quod panis vinum remanent post consecrationem in naturis suis adhue servatur Laicis antiquitus servabatur Jo. Tissington in Confessione cont Jo. Wiclisf quam MSS. habeo Vsher Serm. f. 24. This is no new nor yet strange Doctrine for in the very first Synod which of all others ought to be a rule and a Pattern for that it began in the life time and presence of the Apostles to decide whether the converted Gentiles were bound to observe Moses Law was composed by a meeting in Jerusalem of 4. Apostles and of all the Faithful that were in the City An example which in regard of Antiquity and Divine Authority is of more credit than all those that have succeeded take them all together and by which example the various doubts and differences relating to the Church which afterwards sprang up in every Province for the space of 200. years and more even all St. Cyprians time whom Chronologers have computed to have been created Bishop about Anno. Dom. 248. and longer the Bishops and chiefest of the Churches assembled themselves to qualify and compose them and I do not find that the right of assent and suffrage in elections of Church-men was taken from the People till about the year 870. Distinct. c. 36. § Let us look a little farther and trace matter of fact in point of Election of Priests and Bishops who were chosen either 1o. by Lots 2o. by voices or 3º by the Spirit of Prophesie Of these Three the First and the Third were by God himself which Use ceased with the Apostles who indeed found none fit but qualified them for the Work The Second to wit by Voices of all the Faithful only remaining In Scripture there is no Precept but Example for the same it is manifest that God committed and left this Point among others to the Body of the Church to whom he gave power to govern it self with other general Precepts of
then had nothing to do with the Revenues but to govern them and consign them to another In progress of Time the Commendataries not without divers pretences of Honesty and Necessity made use of the Fruits and to enjoy them the longer sought means to hinder the Provision For remedy whereof Order was taken that the Commenda should not last longer than six Months but the Popes by the plenitude of their Power did pass these Limits and commended for a longer time and at length for the Life of the Commendataries giving him power to use the Fruits besides the necessary Charges This good Invention so degenerated was used in the corrupted times for a Cloak of Pluralities observing the words of the Law to give but one Benefice to one Man contrary to the Sence in regard that a Commendatary for Life is the same in reality with the Titular Great Exorbitancies were committed in the number of the Benefices Commended so that after the Lutheran Stirs began and all men demanded Reformation Clement the Seventh in the Year 1534. was not ashamed to commend unto his Nephew Hippolitus Cardinal de Medicis all the Benefices of the World Secular and Regular Dignities and Parsonages simple and with cure being vacant for Six Months to begin from the first day of his possession with power to dispose of and convert to his use all the Fruits This exorbitancy was the height of all which in former times the Court did not use though it gave in Commenda a very great number unto one Therefore the Union formerly invented and used for a good end was now made use of to palliate Plurality This was practised when a Church was destroyed or the Revenues usurped that little which remained together with the Charge being transferred to the next and all made one Benefice the Industry of the Courtier found out that besides these respects Benefices might be united so that by Collation thereof Plurality was wholly covered though in favour of some Cardinal or great Person 30 or 40 in divers places of Christendom were united But an Inconvenience did arise because a number of Benesices did decrease and the favour done to one was afterwards done to many without merit or demand to the great dammage of the Court and Channery And this was remedied with a subtle and witty Invention to unite as many Benesices as pleased the Pope only during the Life of him on whom they were conferred by whose death the Vnion was understood to be dissolved ipso sacte and the Benefices returned to the first state so they shewed the world their excellent Inventions conferring a Benesice which was but one in shew but many indeed Hist. Coun. Fr. Pâ—iro Soave Polano Trattato delle Benesiciare These things thus premised it is obvious to all even to those of the smallest understandings that it hath not been without grand Reason of State-Ecclesiastick that the Clergy have thus Magisterially Monopolized unto themselves the Name and Goods and Estate of the Church All which considered it is demonstrable that the Popish Clergy have under pretence of Piety cleverly cheated their Laity of their proper Goods Rights and Prerogatives for which their so doing they are more properly to be accounted Sacrilegious than H. 8. for retaking Abbeys and other which they called Church-Lands into his own and his Parliaments disposal to whom of just Right they did more properly belong than unto Popes and Popish Clergy I have examined all the most considerable Places or Texts of Scripture 〈…〉 wherein the Word Church is mentioned and I cannot understand that any one of them no not that famous and so much magnified and so much insisted upon place Matth. 18.15 20. whereof by wresting it from its genuine Sence so much ill use hath been made ought to be construed or restrained to the Pope no nor yet unto the Clergy only nay so far from it that most of them do strongly seem to intimate the whole Congregation of Believers distinct though not exclusive the Clergy to be the Church and yet such hath been the Pride and Ambition of Popes as to impose the scornful Name of Laity upon those that are not of the Clergy To use the Terms of Laity and Clergy as Terms distinguishing the Pastors from the Flock is acceptable and useful but when they will make so ill use thereof by affixing and thereby appropriating the Title of the Church and power thereof to themselves only that certainly is neither in the Text nor yet in their Commission but is very injurious to the rest of Gods Heritage it being manfest that the Popish Clergy having by Insinuations Tricks and Cheats devested the Church i.e. the Body of the Brethren of their primitive Right and Power it is evident to all the world what abominable abuses they have brought thereby into the Church whereas the Clergy in Apostolical sense are more truly they whom they call the Laity the Word Clerus being observed to be but only once used in the New Testament and there in that very sense and signification 1 Pet. 5.3 Where he admonisheth the Priests neque ut dominantes Cleris sed ut qui sitis exemplaria gregis viz. That they should not be as Lords over Clerum Domini i.e. Gods Heritage not Priests whereby is meant all the faithful flock of Christ as it follows but be examples of the Flock Now having once robb'd them of the Title it was but very convenient and sutable to their ambitious ends and purposes to strip them also of their Power for without peradventure all the Churches Power is vested in and doth of just Right belong to the Body of the Church to the Congregation of the Faithful Moreover in the very Ordination of Priests and Bishops it will be marvellous difficult clearly to prove whether the laying on of the Bishops hands or the lifting up of the hands of the Congregation conferred most for certainly in the most pure times they were jointly used Bellarmine indeed saith that the Holy Scripture doth no where give the Church power over the Pastors much less over the Supreme Pastor But Gerson affirmeth that Christ sent St. Peter to the Church when he said unto him Die Ecclesiae and he was as Learned as Bellarmine and if they cannot agree among themselves what shall their Flocks do or whom shall they believe It is confest that Christ hath given great powers to his Church truly so called and instituted Pastors to feed them with Knowledge and Vnderstanding and they are so well taught that they understand very well that Christ hath no where exempted Bellarmines Supreme Pastor our Supreme Vsurper from the Obedience of his Church but hath subjected him to the Censures of the Church § As to the Text it self Mat. 18.15 16 20. If there were no more in it than this that the Expositors themselves do much disser about the true Sence and Meaning thereof acknowledging it to be very hard to hit by reason that the state of
to seed his Fock No no Ezekiel shews that their duty is to strengthen the Diseased to heal the Sick to bind up the broken to bring again that which was driven away and to jeek that which was lost this also is consonant to the Doctrine of St. Peter 1. Ep. 2 3. Feed the Flock of Christ taking the oversight thereof not for filthy Lucre but of a ready mind neither as being Lords over Gods Heritage but being Examples to the Flock Besides it can never be proved by Scripture that Christ's instituting Pastors in the Church did at any time exempt them from obedience to the Church she being the Common Parent of all Christians both Ecclesiastical and Secular and the Practice was so in the purest times as may appear by St. Cyprian Lib. 1. c. 4. Moreover when Christ ascended on high tho he led Captivity Captive and gave gifts unto men yet he did not divest himself of all power of Governing his Body the Church Militant here on Earth devolving it on the Pope but doth still continue to govern it internally and Spiritually by the secret influences and illapses of his Spirit and so will do until time shall be no more And altho the Popes have nothing at all to do with this kind of Government nor as yet in terminis have laid any claim thereunto yet their Illustrissimo Bellarmine hath had such effronted Impudence as to aver that the Pope is able to do all that which is necessary to the Conducting of Souls to Paradise unto which end certainly Divine Inspiration is most necessary and can take away all Impediments which the World or the Devil with all their force or Crast are able to oppose which doth covertly insinuate and attribute the same Spiritual Invisible power to be also in the Pope hoping it will not be seen but it is discovered for without such Insluences and assistances it is very improbable if not altogether impossible to be conducted to Heaven and if Bellarmine's Doctrine be good what need of petitioning Heaven for Graces it is but going to Rome a pleasant Journey where we may have all things necessary for our Journey to Paradise for asking for some merry Pence Romae omnia venalia As to the external Government of his Body and Church Militant here on Earth it consists here of visible men The Church to be Governed by its own Body So Christ himself would that it should be governed by visible men without divesting himself of his Spiritual influences and in order thereunto he appointed Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the Edifying of the Body of Christ Ephes 4.8 11 12. Who having in his life-time endowed them with power and commands to teach all Nationis Baptizing c. Matth. 28.19 which is all the Authority that ever Christ gave or bequeathed unto them and which is purely Spiritual without any mixture Temporal and that only as Ministers and Servants not as Lords of his Body which power tho it may be peculiar to the Clergy of the Church as chief Officers and Ministers thereof yet the application of the same Authority to the person is purely elective and depending on the Body hence it follows that the Body or Sheep having chosen their Bishop or Pastor he is now become subject to the Body and not the Body to him which Authority of choosing them a good or of Judging or of censuring a wicked Pastor being given them of Christ their Head and Father they cannot wave or devolve the same without committing great offence against God and if they should yet they cannot wholly divest themselves thereof Besides in disputes among themselves whether the Pope be above a Council very many of the most Learned of them do argue and agree that as the Head or Superior of the Inquisition is not Superior to the whole Congregation of the Inquisition being assembled nor do they admit that the rest of the Body hath no power over the Head especially being such a Head as the Body it self hath constituted They argue the like also from the examples of Kings and Kingdoms of which I shall make this use only that if these be good instances among themselves to prove a Council to be above the Pope it will hold also in minor collective Ecclesiastical Bodies Thus do they abuse all places of Scripture by wresting them from their proper meaning and intendment The Popes claims first modest then Impudent as I have hitherto shewed and therefore the Readers may do well to bear in their memories the Cautions and Observations laid down in the Paraenesis forementioned The pretensions of the Popes were at first modest as I have shewed you in Gregory in respect of that height of Impudence they have now arrived unto They claimed only precedency or Primacy not Supremacy but now their Judgments are Infallible their Jurisdiction Infinite their Empire boundless fetching in and Monopolizing all Churches and Kingdoms All Bishops but their Curates All Kings and Emperors but their Vassals for of the Pope was meant Gens regnum quod non servierit tibi eradicabitur and this Bellarmine Baronius and others of the same Leaven plead for not out of the Decretal Epistles or Constantine's Donations but out of Scripture The first and best Bishops of Rome thought more of their Martyrdom than of an Universal Monarchy expounding Scripture with contentedness according to the natural sence of the Text without racking or torturing it unto wrong ends and purposes But their Successors lost by degrees first conscience then Learning and now at last all Grace and Modesty This their Babel as it now stands was not built in a day but as the itching desires of this or that proud and haughty Pope of enlarging their Fringes and Phylacteries did increase so their claims and pretentions increased therewith At first they claimed a Primacy of Order or at most of Honor not of power among their Brethren only not over them And these contestations were with Bishops not yet with Emperors they medled yet only with the Keyes not with the Swords owning all their power to be meerly and purely Spiritual for the benefit of Souls nothing at all directly or indirectly temporal But when once they had put a Padlock on the Scriptures and Preached Ignorance up to be the Mother of Devotion then the Mystery of Iniquity became quickly advanced to that monstrous height which at this day we see but cannot remedy And the better to set out this Pageant not only some scraps and shadows of old Fathers and Councils but the Scripture it self our Lord Christ and St. Peter are brought upon the Stage and rackt and tortured to do obeysance unto this Monster of Iniquity whereas we may safely swear that there is not one word or Syllable of the Pope or his Power in all the Scripture Old or New but what is due to all Bishops in Common with him save only as he is described
Election of Bishops purporting that a Cathedral being vacant the Metropolitan should write unto the Chapter the Name of him who was to be promoted who should afterwards be published in Pulpit in all the Parish-Churches of the City on Sunday and hanged on the Door of the Church and afterwards the Metropolitan should go to the City vacant and examine Witnesses concerning the Qualities of the Person and all his Letters Patents and Testimonials being read in the Chapter every one should be heard that would oppose any thing against his Person of all which an Instrument should be made and sent to the Pope and read in the Consistory But such a Decree was too good to pass in that Packt Council which having too much publick respect to the publick Good even of their own Catholick Church Protestant Churches having not the same reasons to complain was oppsed by all Arts and Industry by the Bishop of Bertinoro General Laynez and by all the Pentioners and Favourites of the Court of Rome which by much was the major part for the many and great inconveniences that would ensue thereby And what were they Forsooth that such a Decree would be a Cause of Calumnies and Seditions and that thereby some Authorities long since taken away would be restored to the People Vâ—â— Ao 870. Distinct 73. Padre Paolo Defence 75. with which they would usurp the Election of Bishops which formerly they were wont to have that this was to bind the Authority of the Pope that he could not gratifie any one Just and pregnant Reasons I must confess to perswade unto Usurpation of the Right of others and therefore it could not pass The like Opposition was made against the Article concerning those who were to be promoted to the greater Orders in which it was also said that their Names ought to be published to the People three Sundays and affixed to the doors of the Church and that their Letters Testimonial ought to be subscribed by four Priests and four Laicks of the Parish alledging that no Authority ought to be given to the Laicks in these Affairs which are purely Ecclesiastical 725 726. what Right soever they had unto them In the Discourse also of the Reformation of Cardinals a Congregation was ordained on purpose to consult and find a means that Princes might not intermeddle in the Conclave in the Election of the Pope so jealous and unwilling are they to have any Laick great or small to come within their Verge their Scrinia sacra or to intermeddle in such their Concerns though they have none de Jure but their Priesthood but what they have either obtained by Power or usurped by Fraud or by the Supineness or Favours of Pious Princes But when some of the Council thought in order to Reformation to make a Constitution that no Bishop should have any Temporal Offices either in Rome or in the Ecclesiastical Dominions that even that also would be a great prejudice to the Ecclesiasticks of France Polonia and of other Countries and Kingdoms where they are Councellors of Kings and have the Principal Offices of which they would soon be deprived by the instigation of the Secular Nobility for their own Interests and therefore that String was not to be touched upon but left unto the Popes ordering Furthermore the Bishop of St. Mark in the Dispute about the Title of the Council of Trent had the boldness to aver that the Laicks are most improperly called the Church for that the Canons determine that they have no Authority to command but Necessity to obey and that the Council ought to Decree that the Seculars ought humbly to receive the Doctrine of Faith which is given them by the Church without disputing or thinking of it Petro Soave Polano 141. That is in Romish understanding that that Religion which the Pope Obedience unto him being made by them a true Mark of the Church doth please to give them ought to be embraced by the Laicks without dispute What is this else but plainly and grosly to mock the world and to think all men Fools and Cuddens but themselves and to perswade themselves that all their Absurdities should be believed without more ado What is this less than to perswade Rational men that they are Bruits Horses or Asses void of all understanding or that hearing they do not hear or that seeing they do not see or that perceiving they do not understand Qui vult decipi decipiatur § Thus have I unto the meanest Capacities made plain and evident both by Precept and Practice out of the Word of Truth the Title and Interest which the whole Congregation of Believers have unto the Appellation and Powers of the Church and unto Ecclesiastical Concerns without wresting or perverting any one Text of Scripture § Now the Pope would very much oblige us if he would vouchsafe unto us but only one plain Text to warrant the Powers he exerciseth and lays claim unto over the Laity or how he comes to be so essential to the Church as to be put into the very definition thereof It being plain downright nonsence if it be good manners to say so to aver that any one single person alone how great soever can suffice to make a Church a Congregation for that at least two or three are necessarily required to make an Assembly or Congregation Ecclesia or the Church even in its Natural and Grammatical Construction signifying a Plurality or Multitude be it Civil or Ecclesiastical And as it is a new so it is an absurd kind of Trope devised by the Romanists to make the Pope a single person to signifie the Church I know the Papalins are most excellent Artists most rare Alchymists surpassing even those our Brethren Roseae Crucis who are modest Mountibanks in respect of these Audaces Jesuitae for they took the whole Book of Genesis to found their Phanatick Chymaeraes upon but these can extract their extravagancies out of two or three words only viz. Pasce oves meas i.e. Feed my Sheep out of this Word Pasce Bellarm. hath extracted so many Quintessences so many Elixirs so many Legions of Diabolical or Antichristian Arguments for the Popes Pride and Grandeur that he can hardly desire any thing that these would not afford him will he be a King as well as a Bishop and will he have Temporal Power to be as extensive as his Spiritual Bellarmine assures him that it is so for that Christ said to Peter Pasce i.e. Regio more Impera Play the Rex at pleasure In the ancient Church when any Heresie disturbed the Truth and publick Peace a grave Assembly of Bishops and others were called and the Book of God fairly laid open before them and out of it were all Doubts determined Now Scriptures and Councils are needless Will the Pope be supreme Judge of all Controversies Lib. 4. De Rom. Pontif. C. 1. C. 3. Bellarmine thinks the Claim to be well grounded upon this Pasce Joh. 21.17 And it is
Teachers and Fathers of the Church met together in the Name and Fear of God which is not without the Promise Mat. 18.20 of a Blessing with Prayers and Supplications inventing divising and ordaining for the Glory of God and real good of the Souls of Men have solemnly appointed to be gathered into an excellent Form and Method called a Liturgy to be solemnly read for Gods Glory and the Peoples Good when as Reading is as truly the Ordinance of God as preaching Deut. 31.11 12 13. Indeed if Liturgies did contain like stuff as that of the Alcoran or of the Romish Services or Credenda or Agenda Matters of Belief and Worship contrary unto Divine Worship Truths and Institutions then indeed they may justly be called Humane Inventions worthily to be condemned and demand who required these things And so to Worship and so to Sacrifice were no more acceptable to God than to slay a Man or to cut off a Dogs Neck or to offer Swines Blood Isa 66.3 or to bless an Idol And then indeed it might justly be said That they have chosen their own Ways their own Inventions and that they that delight in such Liturgies delight in their own abominations But for such like we contend not Ecclesiae non licet quisâ—â—â—â— instituere quâ—d Verbo Dâ—i scripto adâ—er setur nay against such our Church hath provided in terminis in the 20 21. Act made 1552. in the Innocent Time of King Edw. 6. viz. It is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing ergo not Liturgies that is contrary to Gods Word written c. nor to enforce any thing beside the same to be believed for necessity of Salvation nay the very same Josiah-like-Prince in his Injunctions set forth in the second Year of his Reign 1547. commands his Bishops and other his Clergy at least four times in the Year to preach against Works devised by Mens Phantasies besides Scripture so far were our Pastoral Fathers of that time from countenancing Humane Inventions or putting any such thing into the Liturgy that they commanded that they should be preached against by all the Clergy and so did Queen Elizabeth in her Injunctions Anno 1559. which have been observed ever since § That Liturgies are a Provision of Means exclusive of that Provision of Means for the Accomplishing of those Ends in the Worship of God for which Jesus Christ hath made and doth continue to make Provision and therefore not allowable and are unlawful This Argument alone I must confess if true were enough of it self to confound and overthrow all Liturgies whatsoever there would need no other and therefore he labours hard to make it good alledging That the Administration of Gospel Ordinances in the Church consists in Prayer Thanksgiving Instructions and Exhortations sutably applied c. that he appointed Persons viz. Pastors and Teachers for the Regular Administration of them that the Furniture and Provision that Christ made for the performance of them is his bestowing of Gifts on such Persons called according to his mind to the Office of the Ministry enabling them unto and to be exercised in that Work But the Provision that Liturgies make is by a precise reading and pronouncing of the Words set down therein without Alteration Diminution or Addition and that toties quoties let so much go for currant and therefore exclusive the former unless it can be made appear that an Ability to read the prescribed words of the Liturgy be the Gifts promised by Christ for the discharge of the Work of that Ministry § This I conceive is no good Sequel and must be inquired into that those that composed our Liturgy or those that may compose a new one either were or may be Persons qualified and gifted for the Work of the Ministry and for edifying of the Body of Christ and consequently without exception and that the Subject and Matter of our Liturgy is or the Matter and Contents of another Liturgy may be either is or may be will make good my Assertion for Liturgies in general both for the Credenda and Agenda for Prayers Thanksgiving Instructions and Exhortations according to the Doctrine of the Gospel I think no sober Man will deny Now if the Persons and Matter be granted to be such then I conceive that it can be as little gain-said but that the composing of such Forms by such Persons is as truly a Gift and an Exercise of some parts of the Gifts of the Work of the Ministry as their composing of Prayers and Sermons and afterwards praying and preaching them without Book is by the several Ministers of the Gospel This or that Form of words and without Book or within Book cannot alter the Case For that which giveth the very Being to Sermons conceived Prayers c. is the Wit and Vnderstanding of Man and consequently they are many times corrupt and it is the like Wit and Understanding of Man that gives Being to Liturgies jam sumus ergo pares in this though happily they may have their reciprocal Excellencies and Preheminencies one over the other in this or that particular consideration I hope and am verily perswaded that this Author when he penned this Conclusion and Exception viz. And therefore exclusive the former unless that it can be made appear that an Ability to read the prescribed words of the Liturgy be the Gifts promised by Christ for the discharge of the Work of the Ministers did not intend to put tricks upon or abuse his Readers by equivocally wording of it For a Child or Heathen or Infidel or any other not called to the Ministry that hath newly learned his Horn-Book may have an Ability to read the prescribed Words c. And in such it cannot be expected that an Ability to read c. should be the Gifts promised And therefore he is not to be understood barely of an Ability to read which any Infidel or Child may do but of reading the publick Service of God by those whom God hath appointed and gifted to administer in his Temple and Church and by the Gifts that he doth not intend all the Gifts promised nor yet that reading is the Gift 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all other Gifts which are many and therefore cannot reasonably be intended that any one or if he mean all or more than one Gift should be instar omnium either instead or above all the other It 's enough for me if I can make it out that publick readings of the publick Service of God by the Pastors of the Church be one of his many Gifts or that it be an Ordinance appointed by God himself and that it is quodam sensu preaching or tant a monte I shall not in the least trouble my self to prove reading to be a Gift presuming that it will not be denied either by our Author or any other But I shall endeavour to make it appear that such reading such reading as we both do or should mean is an Ordinance
abominable Irreverent practices are prevented and thereby care is taken according as the Council of Milevis Can. 12. decreed Ne forte aliquid contra sidem vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit compositum Lest by chance either through ignorance or want of due Study and Consideration Heterodox or unsound Tenets be Broached or unreverend practises used Moreover Calvin himself adviseth it with his Valde Probo Ep. ad Protect I do exceedingly approve of it 1º ut consulatur quorundam simplicitati imperitiae As a means to help and supply the simplicity and unskilfulness of some 2º ut certus constet Ecclesiarum omnium inter se consensus that the consent and harmony of all Churches under one Government may the better be ascertained 3º ut obviam eatur desultoriae quorundam levitati qui Novationes quasdam affectant That the Capriccious giddiness and Levity of such who like nothing but Changes and Innovations may be obviated Nay the same Calvin inforceth it farther with an Oportet statam esse oportet Sacramentorum celebrationem Publicam item precum formulam Epist Protectori There is no other remedy an established set Form there must be for Celebration of the Sacraments and also for Common Prayer which Opinion of his I doubt the Discourser doth not favour § It 's a strange Phanatick Opinion that hath long possessed the minds of some that nothing may be Lawfully done or used in the Churches of Christ unless there be express Command or Example for it in Scripture which Tenet is unsound in it self and pernicious in its consequences upon which also the great Doctors and Patrons of Liberty do graft another viz. that without some express Command from God there is no Power under Heaven which may presume by any Law to restrain the Liberty which God hath given which Opinions shake nay overthrow the very Fabrick and Foundation of all Governments and tend only to Anarchy and Confusion and to dissoâ—â—e all Families Cities Corporations Kingdoms Churches leaving every Man to the freedom of his own mind to the Quakers Light within them in such things as are not either Commanded or Prohibited by the Law of God and because only in these things the positive Precepts of Men have place which Precepts cannot possibly be given without some abridgement of their Liberty to whom they are given whereas in truth the Diametrically opposite Opinion is only Infallibly true viz. those things which the Law of God leaveth Arbitrary and at Liberty and whereof the Scriptures are silent are all subject to the positive Laws of Men which Laws for the common benefit may abridge particular Mens Liberty in such things as far as the Rules of Equity and common good will suffer If this be not sound Doctrine adieu to all Societies and all Government the World must be turned topsi turvy Of this so Poysonous root and branch I shall say no more but shall leave our Anti-Liturgists our Non-Assenters to consider if these late dayes of Liberty have not in very great part brought their own Axiomes home to themselves for as in the dayes of Yore the Non-Conformist asked our Prelates and Conformists what Command or Example in Scripture have you for kneeling at the Communion for wearing a Cap Hood Surplice For Lord Bishops or for their wearing of Lawn sleeves or of Pleated Velvet or Taffaty Hats For a Liturgy or keeping Holy-dayes so now Phanaticks Quakers and others to them where are your Lay-Presbiters your Congregational Classical Provincial Synodical and National Assemblies your Parochial and Classical Elderships c. to be found in Scripture where your Steeple Houses your National Churches your Tyths and Mortuaries your Infant Sprinklings Nay where your meeter Psalms your two Sacrantents your weekly Sabbaths nay your Ministery your Church shew us say they Command or Example for them in Scripture now seeing the one have lent the other their Premisses I shall leave them to wrangle among themselves about the Conclusion which in Sum is no other but to exchange with each other a Rowland for an Oliver Whilst one throws Stones at the Innocent Ceremonies used in the Sacraments and Church Administrations another strikes at the very Sacraments themselves whilst one Disputes against the comely Habits and reverend Titles of the Clergy the other by the same Logick Questions the very Functions of Bishops and Priesthood the one seeks to abolish the Festivals of the Saints and the other even that of the Lords-day the one would have no Churches nor Priests the other no Scriptures all which with divers others of the same Leaven are but the Spawn and Fruits of Idol-liberty so that the Dernier result must end in a sad Catastrophe Confusion disorder and every evil work Before I conclude this passant observation I will make by the way of all viz. that they are not so peremptory in demanding and peevish in insifting upon Scripture Precepts and Examples for things they like not to yield obedience unto as they are negligent in the use of other things for which there are far more plain Precepts and Example even of Christ himself and that with his own debet stampt upon them witness the Administration of the Sacrament which Christ Administred in the Evening first rising from Supper laying aside his Garments girding himself with a Towel powring Water into a Bason Washing his Disciples Feet and wiping them with a Towel wherewith he was Girded then taking his Garments and sitting down again and saying ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well for 〈◊〉 I am if I then your Lord and Master have washt your Feet ye also ought to wash one anothers Feet for I have given you an example that ye would do as I have done unto you Verily I say unto you the Servant is not greater than his Lord neither he that is sent greater then he that sent him if ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them John 13.4.5.12.17 what more plain Precept greater Example or stronger inforcements for his Successors his Ministers to do the like can ye have and yet how little of this is performed by them is not unknown to any Greet one another with a Holy Kiss is a Precept likewise Apostolical 1 Pet. 5.14 and was in Customary use before their approaching the Lords Table until the dayes of Justine Martyr Apoll. 2 and Tertullian blames the Omission of that Right grown upon the Church in times of the Solemn Fastings and Prayers Then they withdrew that Osculum pacis when in his Judgment it was most convenient and necessary de Oratione When Widdows are to be chosen for the Service of the Church this Qualification is required She must be one that had Washed the Saints Feet 1 Tim. 5.10 and our Saviour by his Precept and Example Commends to his Disciples Washing each others Feet John 13.14 15. may not much of the like nature be said for the disuse of Anoynting Love Feasts c. but I forbear
acquiesce till then we are justly to be excused and I hope you will not blame us if we prefer the universal judgment of the Primitive Church touching the Church Government by Bishops before particular and late dreams They were nearer the Apostles times than Calvin whom for his other great pains and Abilities for the good of Christ's Flock I do much honour who broached not his new Church Polity until about Anno 1500. Was it possible I appeal to your selves that all the Churches of Christ dispersed far and near over the face of the Earth should at one time and that immediately after the last surviving Apostle and as it were Momento temporis joyn or jump in one and the self same Government Episcopal had it not been delivered and setled by the Apostles and their Disciples that converted the World We construe the Apostles Writings by their doings others measure the Scriptures by their own humours first framing Churches to their fancies and then conceit that the Scriptures answer and favour their Chimaera's and by their so doing come within the Verge of the Paroenesis If Bishops claim or usurp more than is their due or abuse the power which Gods Law or the favour of Princes justly alloweth to them and Pastors in Nomine Dei spare them not let the world know it but do not attempt to put out the lights of our Firmament because Phanatics and Men intoxicated stumble or miss their way whilst they shine § Gods promise to his People is Dabo vobis Pastores juxta cor meum 3 Jer. 41. pascent vos scientia doctrina It is evident that the firm of all Pastoral charge consisteth in preaching of the Gospel in administration of Sacraments and by mistake according to some in the punishment of such offences as absolutely exclude us out of the Kingdom of God These being the main things which Christ recommended to his Apostles committing them to their charge the which things only were practised by them as also by their immediate Successors and I hope our Bishops will not be found insufficient for these great Mysteries nor will be found to have warped or swerved from them though we have not wanted Coblers of Glocester the vanity of the present Churches and many other Ichabods heavily complaining § Besides for great and just reasons of State Concerning Innovators in general prudent Magistrates ought to be very circumspect and jealous and to fear the sequels of Church Innovations and Combinations even beyond all apparent cause of fear for that they who believe the Attempts for new Discipline without the licence of Civil Powers are lawful as most Innovators and Men given to change do and that not without some design as well to remove some persons out of the Saddle that themselves might be therein seated as to reform some errors will easily dispute what may be attempted against Superiors which will not have the Scepter of their new Discipline to rule over them For they that will not stick to affirm Amat â—ai ranam ranam nuit else Dianam That the Discipline which they say they have and we want is one of the essential parts of Gods Worship and therefore the better to introduce a good opinion of their own Diana they have not stuck andaciter calumniari and to style Episcopal Regiment Antichristian will as little scruple to affirm withal That the People themselves upon peril of Salvation without staying for the Magistrate may gather themselves into it always having in a readiness to say that they never found that God ever made any Precept or Command which to perform we must needs have leave of another § Moreover as every order of Religious men so every Form of Church-Government that only excepted which Christ instituted besits not every Civil Government nor Kingdom nor every State and therefore the Kingdom of France and renowned State of Venice for great reasons of State banished the Jesuits And we have an excellent example of this in the famous Government of the Kings of Castilia where without the Kings licence no new Religious Order and of such nature is every differing Church-Discipline from the Discipline by Law established could have entrance into those Kingdoms and therefore the Capuchin Friers could not be admitted thither The Foundations of these and the like Decrees are no less equal reasonable and lawful than most necessary and most antient For Cicero in oratione pro domo sua sheweth that no man could consecrate an Altar injussu populi so that the equity of such Laws hath time out of mind been apparently known unto the World And Mecoenas his counsel to Augustus in Dione was very prudent Eos qui in divinis aliquid innovant odio habe coerce non Deorum solum causa sed quia nova numina hi tales introducentes multos impellunt ad mutationem rerum unde conjurationes seditiones conciliabula existunt res profecto minime conducibilis-principatui legibus quoque expressum est quod in religionem committitur in omnium sertur injuriam For it would not in any wise be permitted to a great Number of a strange State and such are all Papists having sworn obedience to another Head contrary to their customs of life and divers ends from those of the present Governments to enter into the state of such a Common-wealth Gather themselves together into one or divers places to make amongst them one or more Heads or Governors and in secret to practise with the Princes Subjects seeing this would be presently accounted as one or more Conventicles of very dangerous consequence and accordingly would be prohibited and interrupted so under the pretext of some new Church Polity be it Popish Presbyterian or Quaking all alike as to the thing in question not by that State established many very many not only of the same but of other Nations also may frequently assemble and gather together under one or more Heads Presbyters or Teachers contrary in Customs and Affections to the established Church-Discipline and perhaps unto true Doctrine also and the many opportunities they have through Confessions Meetings Sermons and other spiritual Conferences insinuating with the Princes Subjects they may by such secret vast diffused scarcely to be discerned and powerful means and opportunities corrupt them in their sidelity and withdraw them from their Allegiances of which we are not without sad experience of elder and later days both from Papists and others not a few of several perswasions And the danger of union in an united confederacy or conspiracy is to be avoided for that it prevails more than number besides discontented minds in the beginning of tumults when any happen occasioned by themselves or others will easily agree though their ends be divers each one hoping thereby to get uppermost or to turn up that Trump that they have most mind to follow and so endanger the State For these many excellent causes all Church Congregations ought very diligently and narrowly to be
Command or Power so to do If he have Power why so angry that he makes use of it If you know a better way teach it if not submit to this and acquiesee This our Author seems to contradict by opposing experience to the contrary and therefore f. 63. he desires that none would be offended if as his own apprehension he affirms that the Introduction of Liturgies was on the account insisted on the principal means of encreasing and carrying on that sad defection and apostacy in the guilt whereof most Churches in the World had enwrapped themselves A bold Charge I confess but not against us and much they have to answer for that impose and use such Liturgies and therefore I shall not be offended at this his Affirmation but shall grant him his desire and conclude upon the truth of it that if Idolatrous Superstitious erroneous and Heretical Liturgies Mass-Books call them what you will for such he must mean have been so powerful and effectual to keep out Truth and prevent the true Worship of God through most Churches in the World what should hinder but that Liturgies teaching nothing but what the Word of God teacheth nor prescribing any thing in the Worship of God but what is according to Scripture I must mind him that I plead for no other should be as powerful and as effectual for the keeping out of Heresie Idolatry Superstition and what ever is contrary unto sound Faith and Doctrine And that they have been so is as certainly verified and as plainly to be demonstrated in all Places where such Liturgies nay though happily not altogether such though I wish they were all reduced to such have been used as that which he affirms of erronious Liturgies § At the Conference that was before King James at Hampton-Court the Bishop of London put His Majesty in mind of what Monsieur Roguë the French Ambassador gave out concerning our Service and Ceremonies upon the solemn view and audience of them viz. That if the Reformed Churches in France had kept the same order among them which we have he was assured that there would have been many thousands of Protestants more there than now there are f. 38. If some Innocent Ceremonies were not commanded and others not so Innocent abolished what could hinder but that Shrines covering of Shrines Trindilles Rolls of Wax Pictures Painting and all other Monuments of feigned Miracles Pilgrimages Idolatry and Superstition long since razed out of the Walls and Glass Windows might be brought into use again If no Liturgies were established and imposed what should hinder but the use of the Service of Th. Becquet and Prayers having Rubricks containing Pardons or Indulgences and all other Superstitions Legends and Prayers should be again introduced And also the use of Hallowing Water Bread Salt Bells Candles on Candlemas-day Ashes on Ash-Wednesday Palms on Palm-Sunday the Font on Easter Eve Fire on Paschal and a Sepulcher on Good-Friday and several Masses contrary to the Form and Order of the Book of Communion all long since abolished in Edw. 6. and Queen Elizabeth's days and we may conclude confidently yet without Arrogancy that such Liturgies are warrantable and profitable and that as many as do walk according to such Liturgies neither overthrowing that which they have built by superinducing any damnable Heresies thereupon nor otherwise vitiating their Holy Faith with a lewd and wicked conversation Peace shall be upon them and Mercy and upon the Israel of God and I appeal to all that shall read this if I may not with as good a Warrant affirm that our Liturgy hath kept out Popery and its Trinkets as he affirm as he doth and certainly they are both equally and alike powerful towards the encreasing and suppressing of true and false Faith Doctrine and Worship And it cannot be denied but that since 1640. since our Liturgy hath been thus vilisied set at naught and disused but that whole swarms of Sectaries like the Frogs and Locusts in Egypt have overspread the Land and that open Profanation Blasphemy Atheisme more in vogue since than before We have hitherto been openly battering his Out-works his main and strongest Forts are yet behind Vide Act Vniform f. 82.140 Car. 2. viz. That Liturgies are a Humane Invention that they occasion neglect and disabilities 63. That they hinder the due exercise and improvement of Spiritual Gifts and it is accordingly done in the imposed Liturgy 67. It says expresly That the Ministers of the Gospel shall not use or exercise any Spiritual Gift in the Administration of those Ordinances for which provision is made in the Book 68. That the Imposition of a Liturgy to be used always as a Form in all Gospel Administrations which he says do consist in Prayer Thanksgiving Instructions and Exhortations sutably applied unto the special Nature and End of the several Ordinances themselves and the use of them in the Church 63. is an unwarrantable Abridgement of that Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and therefore sin in the Use and Imposition thereof And as it is a Sin in others to abridge us of the Liberty purchased for us by Jesus Christ so it is in us to give it up and not to suffer in our Testimony for it 69. and then concludes That the great Rule of Administrations is That all things be done to Edification And this is the main End of the Ministry it self in all the Duties thereof that are purely Evangelical and what ever is contrary unto or a hindrance of Edification ought not to be appointed or observed in the Worship of God and such is the state and condition of this Imposed Liturgy in Church-Administrations for the Reasons mentioned c. 10. f 65. § By which it appears that one great Objection in their Esteem though opprobrious only against Liturgies is That they are an Humane Invention Be it so what then Therefore nothing of Humane Invention be it never so consonant and advantagious unto the Truth or the true Worship of God is to be necessarily and indispensibly used in the publick Worship of God If so then by the same Rule and Reason we may conclude that no Man must teach in private or preach in publick for that such Sermons such Catechisings are as truly the Inventions of the Brains of every Individual Person as Liturgies are of the whole Church or its Representative for be it that the Forms of Liturgies were never instituted nor commanded by Christ no more were the Forms of any Sermon or Prayers preached or prayed by particular Men since the days of Christ and his Apostles It is enough that the Subject Matter both of the one and of the other be according to Holy Writ And we may rest assured that as God will bless the Gifts and Labours of private Men in publick Prayers and Sermons so will he also bless the publick delivery of his Word and Mind by such stinted Prayers and such selected portions of Scripture as many learned pious and gifted Pastors
that in many places it was irreverently used and cast out of the Church and many other Enormities committed which they seconded by oppugning the established Ceremonies and it is not improbable but that if the Liberty here pleaded for were granted but that the same disorders and confusions would also return and therefore for these also amongst many other reasons Antecedent also as for avoiding diversities of Formes and Opinions and for establishing Consent touching true Religion and Worship and for removing of some Offences taken by Calvin and his followers whose design it was to have this as well as other Churches to depend on his direction It was thought fit by our Learned and prudent Governors both of Church and State the better to settle peace and truth and to keep out Error and Superstition to Establish a Liturgy and Rubrick As Reformation was a Work most glorious so it was a work most difficult because it was to Null and cancel such Customs and usages in Divine Worship as tract of time Age after Age for many Generations had made so habitual and had taken such deep root and Impressions in the Hearts and Souls of the People of all sorts from Father to Son that in humane reason it appeared almost impossible And therefore a Work not to be undertaken by blew-Apron or Tradesmen nor yet by giddy Phanatick Multitude nor indeed by any but by the Supream Magistrate and therefore a Work fit only for a King and such a King only as was fit for such a Work fit to match the Empress of Abominations and of the World and such a King proved Henry the 8th Having great courage and great understanding and great resolution without which requisites he could never have done what he did § As our Author in his sixth Chapter hath given us his Account of the Reformation and of the Introduction of our Liturgy not without some unbeseeming reflections on so great so good a Work to make the better way for the design of his Book so I shall take leave to give you also a short account thereof for the better Justification of our Liturgy and leave the Reader to Judge and favour which he please Tho Henry the 8th from his Cradle lived in an Antichristian Age and Church so that he suckt in the very Milk of the Mother of Harlots and Abominations and tho he made great havock of the Blood of Saints and Martyrs scourging them to Death with his Six knotted-Whip of Articles And tho he made great havock of the Popes Power and Patrimony wrongfully so called and not excrescences For indeed Monasteries c. That he destroyed and took away were for the most part exempt from Episcopal Jurisdiction and wholly depended on the Pope who was not so much the rightful Head of the Church then as was this Henry the 8th and therefore were not so essentially belonging to the Church as were the Bishops and their Patrimony yet it cannot be denied but that he left the Officers and Fathers of the Church that were more truly so the Bishops in many respects in a better condition then he found it both in respect of the Polity and the Endowments of it and also in order to a Reformation of Doctrine and Worship the Polity was mended in that he banished the Power of the Pope and setled it on himself to whom it did more rightfully belong and on his Bishops moderated the extream Severity of the Six Articles abolished the superstitious usages observed on St. Nichola's day all which may abundantly be seen in the Church History and by his Proclamation of Sept. 19. 1530. by a Publick instrument of the Convocation dated March 22. after acknowledging him to be Supream Head of the Church of England as also by several Acts of Parliament viz. H. 24.8 c. 12.25 H. 8. c. 1.20 21. and 28. H. 8. c. 10. In Order to a Reformation H. 8. first permitted the Bible to be Translated by Mr. Tyndall Anno 1530. afterwards Martyr But some Bishops having ill Characterized him to the King it was afterwards suppressed But the Popes Authority declining about the year 1536. the King issued out an Order for a New Translation indulging in the Interim the use of a Bible then passing under a feigned Name of Mathews Bible not much differing from Tyndalls which came forth Anno 1540. which was called the great Bible and sometimes Coverdales Bible or Translation the publick uses thereof and of all other Translations was interdicted 1542. and so continued without leave of the King or Ordinary first had until Edward 6. repealed that Statute and introduced the publick use thereof again according to Miles Coverdales Translation which doth not much differ from Tyndalls from this Translation doth our Liturgy derive the Translations of the Psalms and other Portions of Canonical Scripture since which time we have had two other more exact and refined Translations one in Queen Elizabeth her time called the Bishops Bible another in King James's time that the Psalms and other Portions of Scripture in our Liturgy were not altered in Queen Elizabeths days according to the best Translation then extant was because it could not be done without altering the whole Frame of the Liturgy which the Sages of those times thought not prudent to endeavour by reason of the different temper of those Parliaments in which it had always some potent Enemies but why they were not lately altered with our Liturgy and as the Scotch Liturgy before had been I can give no account If the last Translation be the most perfect why were they not made Conformable to that and so compiled if it be not the best why is it commanded to be used at all H. 8. by his Injunctions 1536 and 1538. abolished Church Holy dayes and Holy dayes in Harvest time he banished the Popes Supremacy and asserted his own he forbade Images and Pilgrimages commanded Prayers in the Mother-tongue and every Parish to provide a Bible in English and to place it in the Quire for every Man to Read therein and no Man to be discouraged from it but to be exhorted thereunto the Lords Prayer to be Learned in English Sermons to be made Quarterly at least with Instructions not to trust in Works divised by Mens fantasies besides Scripture as in wandring to Pilgrimages offering of Money Candles or Tapers to feigned Reliques or Images or Kissing or Licking the same saying over a number of Beads not understood or such like Superstition and therefore all such Images to be pulled down that that most detestable offence of Idolatry may be avoided the commemoration of Tho. Becket to be quite omitted Fox 1247 1250. In farther Order to a Reformation in points of Doctrine he first caused his Convocation Anno 1537. to Compose a Book expounding the Creed the Lords Prayer the ten Commandments the Avy Mary and the seven Sacraments more agreeable to the truth then formerly and it was called the Institution of a Christian Man But this Book lay
which despiseth these things despiseth not Man but God but our Translation is he therefore that despiseth despiseth not Man but God And this despising God in his Vicar is called 1 Sam. 15.23 a kind of Idolatry Here are two very geat Clerks very opposite each to other How shall we poor Laicks now behave our selves when so great School-men cannot agree the point one accounting it a meritorious Act to resist and the other Rebellion and a kind of Idolatry not to obey Christ's Vicar First Gerson wrote 150 years before Bellarmine's answer came out being in a quiet and sedate temper not ingaged in any disputes and consequently without Bias and void of passion on the other side Bellarmine then living and deeply ingaged in that great Controversie between Rome and Venice about Temporal and Ecclesiastical Power and consequently more subject to passion and Interest very strong Biasses Let us now consider his Texts of Scripture and reasons the first is the part of the same Luke 10.16 as before and must in part receive the same Answer viz. he that despiseth you despiseth me which words were undoubtedly spoken to the Seventy Disciples which represented the Preachers which were to publish Christs Doctrine and not to Peter singly so that what power soever devolves by this Text on Christs Vicar it is but in common with the rest of his Fellow Priests and Bishops so that he can challenge nothing peculiar to himself from this Text. To this Text we will oppose and leave to their consideration Matth. 25.45 that at the day of Judgment Christ will say to the Reprobate Quatenus in as much as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me and likewise we shall oppose the 18. Matth. 6. But who so shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me it were better for him that a mill-stone were hanged about his Neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the Sea so that there is Authority of Scripture to shew that Christ takes it for an injury done unto himself that is done unto the least of his Faithful Servants But of Christs Vicar not one word not so much as once named in the whole Bible a term never heard of till about Anno 666. So that he which despiseth c. is alledged out of its natural sence by Bellarmine and in as much ye did it not c. alledged in its proper sence for that admonition or correction is indeed a work of Charity and incumbent on all Christians so it be done with prudence and with due observance of circumstances And on the contrary cum Authoritate imperare cum potentia is against Charity Besides the very construction of the words qui vos spernit c. cannot possibly bear it no more than Dic Ecclesiae can reasonably be understood of the Pope a single person for I never understood that Popes had Pigs in their Bellies tho I will not swear what Pope Joan had in her Weem when she was Delivered of a Son in the open Street as she went to St. John Laterans So that the 10. Luke 16. is to be understood of all Ministers in General among whom I will not deny His Holiness Quatenus a Priest or Bishop to have a right in Common with the rest of his Brethren but no other or greater For in the beginning Bishops and Priests were all one their Institution Commission Imploy and Duties were all one and the same and how when and by whom they came to be differenced and distinguished and an Ecclesiastical Regiment erected and regulated by * Canon Law Laws of their own making whereby they have Metamorphos'd it from a Democracy of all the Brethren together to an absolute Ecclesiastical Monarchy nay Tyranny of a Pope at Rome is not very hard to trace tho very hard to remedy If a Quaker like a bold Britain should Pilgrim it to Rome and there reprove and rebuke the Pope of Popish errors Superstitions and other false Doctrines and that by plain Scripture And the Pope should despise and scorn him not enduring sound Doctrine certainly at the day of Judgment qui vos spernit c. would be laid to the Charge of His Holiness and not unto the despicable Quaker assuredly whoever despiseth the word of truth tho in the mouth of the least of God's little ones despiseth Christ Teachings are not truth because uttered by the Supream Bishop Christ's Vicar the Head of all Christendom but because they are grounded on Scripture the word of Truth and so carry their own awe and warrant with them To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them Isay 8.20 but they that will not hear Moses and the Prophets as no perverters of Scripture will will not be perswaded tho one arose from the Dead Luke 16.31 If the Apostles or an Angel from Heaven Preach any other Gospel than that which they have preached may not only be despised but accursed Gal. 1.8 then may not the Pope be despised that thus troubles the Church and labors to pervert the Gospel of Christ The next Scripture which he useth at the same rate is Qui haec spernit non hominem spernit sed Deum 1 Thes 4.8 He that despiseth these things despiseth not Man but God who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit How is it possible that this citation can be to the purpose St. Paul assisted with the Holy Spirit applied qui haec spernit to such things there spoken by himself who could not erre v. 2 3 4 5 6 7. viz that ye should abstain from Fornication that every one of you should know how to possess his Vessel in Sanctification and honor not in the lusts of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God c. How then can it now be applied to the Pope who for certain hath no other assistance of the Holy Ghost than the rest of his Brethren Neither yet hath he said himself nor his Sycophants for him that he hath any extraordinary Assistance of the Holy Ghost saving only when he doth determine a matter de Fide ex Cathedra and not when he gives Orders in a Stable How can he then freely and righteously according to their own Doctrine in a Decree or an Extravagant which is not in a matter of Faith say qui haec spernit c. he that despiseth these things c. When the Pope shall teach and command Gods own Indubitable Precepts we will not complain of him if he add with all that he that despiseth c. but to equal Popes to St. Paul and their Decrees and Extravagants to Canonical Scripture and make them subservient to their Dictates and Expositions Is not this to make them lyable to the Plagues denounced against them that add or diminish from Gods word Rev. 22.18 And is it not a strange Phanatick presumption and