his Party yet he did overthrow all those Arguments against it that are brought in this Paper and shew'd they were of no force This Writing of his has not been yet Printed but I have perused it in the Manuscript Yet that this may not seem to be a declining of the task you have invited me to and because the Books I have mentioned are not perhaps in your hands I shall say as much in answer to it as I hope may fully satisfy you or any impartial Reader The Substance of the first argument to prove that our Ministers are not Priests is That by the form of our Ordination the Power of Consecrating the Sacrament of Christs most holy body and blood is not given the words only importing a Power to dispense the Sacraments which any Deacon may do Therefore the power of consecrating or making Christ's Body and Blood present being essential to the Priesthood and our form not expressing it and by consequence not giving it it wants one essential requisite to the Priesthood and therefore those that are ordained by it are not true Priests To which I answer 1. If our Form be the same in which Christ ordained his Apostles we may be very well satisfied that it is good and sufficient Now when our Saviour Ordained them S. Iohn tells us that he said Receive the Holy Ghost whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted to them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained this being that Mission which he gave them as the preceding words do clearly import As the Father hath sent me so send I you we can think no Form so good and so full as that he made use of It is true we do not judg any Form so essential as to annul all Ordinations that have been made by any other for then we should condemn both the Ordinations of the Primitive Churches and of the Eastern Churches at this day And this is the reason why even according to the ancient and most generally received Maxims of the Schools Orders can be no Sacrament tho in the general sense of the word Sacrament it being no term used in Scripture but brought into the Church we shall not much dispute against its being called so for by their Doctrin both Matter and Form of the Sacrament must be instituted by Christ and are not in the power of the Church Now they cannot but acknowledg that the Form of giving Orders in their Church was not instituted by Christ nor received in the Church for divers Ages which made Pope Innocent say that the Forms of Ordination were ordered and invented by the Church and were therefore to be observed otherwise it was sufficient in giving Orders to say Be thou a Bishop or be thou a Priest therefore though we do not annul Orders given by any other Form yet we have all reason to conclude that used by our Saviour to be not only sufficient but absolutely the best and fittest It is without all colour of reason that the writers of that Church will have the words our Saviour pronounced after he had instituted the Eucharist This do in remembrance of me to be the form by which he ordained them Priests for This do must relate to the whole action of the Sacrament the Receiving and Eating as well as the Blessing and Consecrating therefore these words are only a Command to the Church to continue the use of the Holy Sacrament in Remembrance of Christ. Nor do those of the Church of Rome think these were the words by which Christ ordained them Priests otherwise they would use them and think them sufficient but they use them not but instead of them say Receive thou Power to offer Sacrifice to God and to celebrate Mass both for the Living and the Dead 2. If this be ane essential defect in our Ordination then there were no true Priests in the Primitive Church for divers Ages and there are no true Priests at this day in the Greek Church and yet neither of these can be acknowledged by the Church of Rome for if they annul the Ordinations of the Primitive Church they likewise annul their own which are derived from them They do also own the Orders of the Greek Church to be valid as appears by their receiving them into their Communion at the Council of Florence and by their practice ever since which Morinus hath in the first part of his Work so fully proved from the decrees of Popes and Councils that the thing can no more be doubted and at this day there are Greek Churches at Rome maintain'd at the Popes charge in which Orders are given according to the Greek Pontificals as he informs us That in the Primitive Forms there were no express words of giving power to consecrate the Sacrament I appeal to the Collection of the most Antient Forms of Ordination that Morinus a Priest of that Church and a Penitentiary in great esteem at Rome has made where it will be found that for many Ages this power was not given expresly or in so many words The most ancient Rubrick about this is in the 4th Council of Carthage if those Canons be genuine When a Priest is ordained the Bishop blessing him and laying his hand on his head all the Priests that are present shall likewise lay their hands on his head about the Bishops hand Where we see that the Imposition of hands and the Bishop's blessing was all the matter and form of these Orders Denis called the Areopagite tells us that the Priest that was to be Ordained kneeled before the Bishop who laid his hand on his head and did Consecrate him with a holy Prayer and then marked him with the sign of the Cross and the Bishop and the rest of the Clergy that were present gave him the Kiss of Peace Here we find nothing but imposition of Hands and Prayer Now there being no general Liturgies nor Ordinals then in the World but every Countrey or perhaps every Diocess having their own Forms it was never defined in what form of words this Prayer and Benediction should be used but was left indifferent so the substance of the Blessing were preserved It is true the Author of those Constitutions that are ascribed to the Apostles sets down the Prayer of Ordination for which he vouches Saint Iohn Author which is That the Priest might be filled with the spirit of Grace and Wisdom to help and govern the Flocks with a pure heart that he might meekly teach the people being full of healing Operations and instructive Discourses and might serve God sincerely with a pure mind and willing soul and might through Christ perfect the sacred Services for the people in which there is nothing that gives in express words the power of Consecration In the most ancient Ritual that Morinus could find which belonged to the Church of Poictiers and has been composed about the middle of the 6th Century there is no mention in the
years Old agrees with the former in the forementioned Rites and Collects but has this Addition that the Bishop lays on his hands on the Priests and says Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye remit they are remitted to them and whose sins you retain they are retained But in two other Pontificals which Morinus believes are of the same Age these words and that Rite are wanting In the Ordo Romanus which some believe is a work of the Ninth Century others that it is of the Eleventh Century there are set down first some Questions and Answers to the Priests to be Ordained then the two Collects with the Prayer of Consecration follow as in the Rituals before set down only it is marked in the Rubrick that the Bishop and Priests lay on their hands at the first Collect then follow all the other Rites of Giving the Vestments annointing and delivering the sacred Vessels but the last Imposition of hands with the words Receive the Holy Ghost are not in it From all which it clearly appears what must be Essential to Ordination and what not none of those Rites that are only found in Later Rituals are essential for the Ordinations were good and valid before these were added But that in which all these Rituals agree must be acknowledged of greatest weight and chief Importance and that is the Prayer of Consecration with the two Collects that go before it For in those they all agree but vary in every thing else and therefore Morinus thinks the former of these Collects is now the form of Priestly Orders for which He has another strong Argument which is that as he proves both by the ancient Canons and even by the Doctrine of the Council of Trent the Imposition of the Priests hands with the Bishop is necessary in these Ordinations and they only lay on hands with the Bishop when that Collect is pronounced from which he infers that then the Priests Orders are conferred But it is clear from all those Rituals that these Collects were Preparatory to the Prayer of Consecration which only is the form of these Orders according to those Rituals And thus far of the office of Ordaining Priests I shall next set down from those Rituals the Office Rubricks Rites and Prayers used in the Consecration of a Bishop The Office begins with an Exhortation to the people declaring the Necessity of substituting one Pastor to another and that therefore upon the former Bishops Death there is another chosen by the Priests and the whole Clergy with the advice of the Citizens and people who is well qualified for it therefore they are desired to approve of the Choice by their Voices and to declare him worthy of it Then follows Oratio Precis de Ordinandis Episcopis ORemus Dilectissimi nobis ut his viris ad utilitatem Ecclesiae providendis benignitas omnipotentis Dei gratiae suae tribuat largitatem per dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Alia Benedictio Episcoporum EXaudi Domine supplicum Preces ut quod nostrum gerendum est ministerium tua potius virtute firmetur Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Alia PRopitiare Domine supplicationibus nostris inclinatus super hos famulos tuos cornu gratiae Sacerdotalis Benedictionis tuae in eos effunde virtutem Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Coll. sequitur DEum totius Sanctificationis ac Pietatis actorem qui placationem suam sacrificia sacra constituit Fratres Dilectissimi deprecemur ut hunc famulum suum quem ex altari in Ecclesia seniorum Cathedra concordibus sua inspiratione judiciis effusis super plebem suam votis fidelibus ac vocum testimoniis voluit imponi collocans eum cum principibus populi sui ad eorum nunc precim universam eundem summum sacerdotium debita honoris plenitudine Charismatum gratia sanctificationum ubertate hac praecipue humilitatis virtute locupletet ut Rector potius non extollatur sed in omnibus se quantum est major humilians sit in ipsis quasi unus ex illis omnia judicii Domini nostri non pro se tantum sed pro omni populo qui solicitudinis suae creditur contremiscens ut qui meminerit de speculatorum manibus omnium animas requirendas pro omnium salute pervigilet pastorali erga creditas sibi oves Domini diligentiae ejus semper se flagrantissimum adprobans Te dilectorum adigitur praefuturus ex omnibus electus ex quibus universis sacris sacrandisque idoneus fiat sub hac quae est homini per hominem postrima benedictio confirmata atque perfecta suae consecrationis nostrae supplecationis adtentissime concordissimisque omnium precibus adjovemur omnium pro ipso oratio incumbat cui exorandi pro omnibus pondus imponitur Impetret ei affectus totius ecclesiae virtutem pietate sanctificationem caeteras summi Sacerdotii sacras dotes universae ecclesiae profuturas Domino Deo nostro qui Sacrorum numerum profluus fons est qui dat omnibus affluenter quod Sacerdoti pro affectu poscitur ad exundandam in omnibus sanctificationem suorum omnium promptissimè ac plenissimè conferentem Per Dominum nostrum A Collect and Prayers for the Bishops to be Ordained BEloved let us pray that the bounty of Almighty God may give of the fulness of his Grace to those men who are to be provided for the use of the Church Through our Lord. HEar O Lord the Prayers of thy Supplicants that the Ministry which we are to bear may be confirmed by thy power Through our Lord Iesus Christ. BE favourable to our Supplications O Lord and put upon these thy Servants the horn of thy Priestly Grace and pour upon them the vertue of thy blessing Through our Lord Iesus Christ. BEloved Brethren let us pray to God who is the Author of all Holiness and Piety who appointed Sacrifices and holy Offices by which he is pleased that he would upon the Prayer of all his people enrich this his Servant whom he has appointed by the agreeing voices according to his Inspiration and the faithful desires which he has infused in the people and the testimony of their voices to be raised from the Altar in the Church and the seat of the Elders placing him with the Princes of his people with the fulness of the honour of the High-Priesthood and the Grace of sanctifying Gifts in great measure and chiefly with the vertue of Humility that being a Governour he be not lifted up but that in all things he humble himself the greater he grows and be among others as one of them trembling at all the judgments of God not only for himself but for all the people trusted to his care remembring that all their souls shall be required at the hands of the Watchmen and therefore may watch for all their safety approving himself always most inflamed with Pastoral diligence about the Lord's Sheep trusted
to him I cannot make sense of the rest for this Collect is in no other Ritual and the Copy out of which it is printed as it is very Ancient so it has been most uncorrectly written CONSECRATIO DEus honorum omnium Deus omnium dignitatum quae gloriae tuae sacris samulantur honoribus Deus qui Moysen samulum tuum secreti samiliaris affectu inter caetera coelestis documenta culturae de habitu quoque indumenti Sacerdotalis instituens Electum Aaron Mystico amictu vestire inter Sacra jussisti ut intelligentiae sensum de exemplis priorum caperet secutura Posteritas ne eruditio Doctrinae tuae ulli deesset aetati cum apud veteres reverentiam ipsam significationum species obtineret apud nos certiora essent experimenta rerum quam aenigmata figurarum Illius namque Sacerdotii anterioris habitus nostrae mentis ornatus est Pontificalis Gloriae non jam nobis honorem commendat vestrum sed splendorem animarum Quia illa quae tunc carnalibus blandiebantur obtutibus ea potius quae ipsis erant intelligenda poscebant Et idcirco famulis tuis quaesumus quos ad summi Sacerdotii sacerdotium elegisti hanc quaesumus Domine gratiam largiaris ut quidquid illa velamina in fulgore auri in nitore gemmarum multimodi operis varitate signabant hoc in horum moribus claresoat *** Comple Domine in Sacerdotibus tuis mysterii tui summam ornamentis totius glorificationis instructum coelestis unguenti flore Sanctifica *** Hoc Domine copiosè in eorum caput influat hoc in oris subjecta decurrat hoc in totius corporis extrema descendat ut tui Spiritus virtus interiorum ora repleat exteriora circumtegat Abundet in his constantia fidei puritas Dilectionis sinceritas pacis Sint speciosi munere tuo pedes horum ad Evangelizandum pacem ad Evangelizandum bona tua Da eis Domine mysterium reconciliationis in verbo in virtute signorum prodigiorum Sit sermo eorum praedicatio non in persuasibilibus humanae sapientiae verbis sed in ostensione Spiritus virtutis Da eis Domine claves Regni coelorum Utantur neâ—… glorientur Potestate quam tribuis in aedificationem non in destructionem Quodcunque legaverint super terram sit legatum in coelis Et quodqunque solverint super terram sit solutum in coelis Quorum detinuerint peccata detenta sint quorum demiserint tu demittas Quibenedixerit eis sit benedictus qui maledixerit eis maledictionibus repleatur Sint servi fideles prudentes quos constituas tu Domine super samiliam tuam ut dent illis cibum in tempore necessario ut exhibeant omnem hominem perfectum Sint solicitudine impigri sint spiritu serventes oderint superbiam diligant veritatem nec eam unquam deserant aut lassitudine aut timore superati Non ponant lucem ad tenebras nec tenebris lucem non dicant malum bonum nec bonum malum Sint sapientibus insipientibus debitores sructum de prosectu omnium consequantur Tribuas eis Domine Cathedram Episcopalem ad regendam Ecclesiam tuam plebem universam Sis eis autoritas sis eis Potestas sis eis firmitas Multiplices super eos benedictionem gratiam tuam ut ad exorandam semper misericordiam tuam munere idonei tua gratia possint esse devoti per Dominum nostrum c. The CONSECRATION O God of all the Honours O God of all the Dignities that serve in the Holy offices to thy glory O God who when thou instructedst Moses thy servant with a secret and familiar affection among other Instructions of the heavenly Ornaments didst teach him the Priestly Garments and commandedst him to cloath Aaron thy Chosen when he did officiate that the following ages might be instructed by those who went before them that the knowledge of thy Doctrine might be wanting in no age the appearance of the things signified being Reverenced among the Ancients but among us the real Experiments are more certain than the riddles of figures For the habit of the former Priesthood in us is the Ornament of our minds and it is not the shining of our Cloaths but of our Souls that commends in us the honour of the Priestly Glory because they did more desire those things that pleased their carnal eyes than the things they should have understood by them And therefore we beseech thee O Lord grant this grace to those thy Servants whom thou hast chosen to the Ministry of the High Priesthood that whatever those garments signified in the shining of the Gold in the brightness of the Gems and in the curiousness of the Workmanship all that may appear in their Manners ** Accomplish O Lord in thy Priests the fullness of thy Mystery and having adorned him with all the Ornaments of Glory Sanctifie him with the flower of the heavenly Oyntment ** Let that O Lord fall plentifully on their head and run down the rest of their face and descend to the extremities of their body that the vertue of thy Spirit may fill them inwardly and compass them about outwardly Let the Constancy of Faith the Purity of Love and the sincerity of peace abound in them Let their feet through thy favour be beautiful to preach peace and to preach thy good things Give them O Lord the ministry of Reconciliation in word and in power in signs and wonders Let their Discoursâ—… and Preaching be not in the perswading words of human Wisdom but in the Demonstration of the Spirit and of Power Give them O Lord the Keys of the Kingdom of heaven Let them use but not glory in their Power which thou givest them to Edification and not to Destruction Whatsoever they shall bind on earth let it be bound in heaven and what they shall loose on earth let it be loosed in heaven whose sins they retain let them be retained and whose they remit do thou remit Who blesses them let him be blessed and who curses them let him be filled with Curses and let them be faithful and wise Servants whom thou shalt appoint over thy houshold to give them meat in due season that they may present every man perfect Make them diligent in business and fervent in Spirit Make them hate pride and love truth and let them never forsake it either through weariness or fear Let them not put light for darkness nor darkness for light nor call evil good nor good evil Let them be debtors both to the wise and unwise that they may gather fruit from the profiting of all men Give them O Lord an Episcopal Chair for the Governing of thy Church and whole people Be thou to them Authority Power and Strength Multiply upon
fulfilled which was the rule of the Primitive Church Absolution was granted immediatly upon Conâ—…ession without more ado as Arnaud has fully discovered to the world Certainly every body that considers these things must discern what merchandise the Roman Clergy have made of the power of the Keys to make themselves Masters of all mens secrets and of their Consciences then was the necessity of secret Confession set up tho there be nothing in Scripture that favours it any places that look that way being only meant of Confessing our Faults to those against whom they are Committed or of a publick Confession in the Cases of publick Offences Nor can it be pretended with any Colour of truth or reason that the Primitive Church did set up or Authorise Confession in any other way than as our Church does recommending it only as an excellent mean towards the quieting the Conscience and the avoiding of all Scruple and Doubtfulness Penitence is also a mean for humbling the sinner more for possessing him with deeper apprehensions of the guilt and evil of sin and of the Iustice of God and for ingaging him to more diligence and watchfulness for the future and by these Rules all the Primitive Discipline was contrived and managed that it might be a wholsome Medicine for the reforming the World and every honest Priest ought to consider these as the end he must drive at in all his dealings with Penitents and for this end the Absolution is to be withheld till it appears that the person is truely penitent and that both for the Priests sake that he may not give the Comforts of the Gospel nor make use of his Ministerial power of loosing sins without good grounds and also for the sinners sake that he may be kept under the fear of the wrath of God and be excluded from the comfortable Priviledges of the Christian Church till he had given some convincing proofs that he is a penitent indeed For if he be freed from these fears by a hasty absolution it is very like he will be slight in his Repentance There must be also some proportion between the penance and the sin committed such as fasting for sins of Intemperance bodily severities for Inordinate pleasures Alms-giving for sins of Covetousness great and frequent Devotions for sins of Omission that so the penance may prove Medicinal indeed for purging out the ill humours and recovering the sinner and to make the sin more Odious to him Therefore such slight penances as saying the Penitential Psalms and abstaining from some meats with other trifling things of that Nature are a betraying the power of the Keys which was given for Edification and not for Destruction and tend to an exposing of Religion and the Priestly Function to Contempt These practices are common and avowed in that Church and by these and such like have the Iesuites got all the world to make their Confessions to them of which such discoveries have been made by the Writers of the Port-Royal that we need say nothing but only look on with Astonishment and see the Impudent partiality of the Court of Rome and how obstinately they are resolved to reform nothing For tho the practice of the whole Church in all the Councils that were held for many ages be clearly of the side of the Iansenists yet they must be condemned their Books censured and the practices of the Iesuites encouraged and supported After all this of what Undanted Consciences must they be who charge our Church as opening a Sanctuary for Vice and Impurity because we retain not the necessity of secret Confession and Absolution Which whatever they may prove if well managed are according the practices of that Church and the Casuistical Divinity that is in greatest Credit there and by which their Priests are directed Engines for beating down all Religion and common Honesty But our Church owns still the power of the Keys which is not only Doctrinal when the Mercies of God are declared or his Iudgments denounced but is also Authoritative and Ministerial by which all Christians are either admitted to or rejected from the Priviledges of Church-Communion and their sins are bound or loosed With this we assert the Pastors of the Church are Vested For the Rites of our Ordinations we still retain those which are mentioned in the Scriptures which are Imposition of Hands and Prayer As for the forms of Prayer the Catholick Church never agreed on any nor decreed what were to be used Every Church had their own forms And though the Church of Rome did unmercifully enough impose divers things on the Greek Churches and because they would not yield to her Tyranny she left them to be a Prey to the Turk and did not interpose her Authority with the Princes of the West over whom she was then Absolute to arm them for the assistance and defence of the Greeks yet amidst all this desire of Rule they were never so unreasonable as to impose their Liturgies Rituals or Missals on them but in these they left them to their own Forms and so continue to do to this day Anciently they had no more Iurisdiction over the British Churches than over the Greek Churches So that by the division of Provinces confirmed by General Councils and by a particular decree of the Council of Ephesus no new Authority over any other Churches was to be assumed by any See but all were to be determined by the former practices and customs of the Church It is certain that before that time the Bishops of Rome had no Patriarchal Iurisdiction in Britain so that if the Decrees of General Councils will bind them they ought not to claim any Authority over us But if the Popes build new Pretentions on Austin the Monk's being sent hither by Pope Gregory the Great We are ready to refer this matter to his decision and will stand to his award for he being consulted by Austin about some particulars one of these was Since there is one Faith how comes it that the Customs of the Churches are so different and that one form of Missals is in the Roman Church and another is in the Churches of the Gaules or of France From this Question it appears that even France which was undoubtedly within the Patriarchat of Rome had Forms different from those used in Rome But let us now hear what Answer is given by Pope Gregory which may be reasonably believed ex Cathedra and so of great Authority with all who acknowledg the Infallibility of that See You know the custom of the Church of Rome in which you were educated but my opinion is that whatever you find either in the Holy Roman the Gallican or any other Church that may be more pleasing to Almighty God you shall diligently choose out that and infuse in the English Church which is yet but young in the Faith by careful Instruction what you can gather from many Churches for we ought not to love things for the
tolerable shew of Learning and Honesty then they spread it about that there is an Answer ready but the Visitors of the Press are so careful that nothing can escape their diligence But if either their Papers be too barefaced to be owned or if they know them to be so weak that they dare not put them to a tryal then instead of Printing them they Copy them out and give them about Of the former sort the World has got a good Evidence in the Discourses lately published about the Oath of Allegeance which they intended to whisper in corners but are now Proclaimed openly And of the latter sort is the following Paper which begins and ends with the highest confidence that is possible but is so extreamly defective in the point of Argument that they did very wisely not to adventure on publishing it But they must write and do somwhat to keep Spirit in their party and since the defending their own Church has succeeded so ill with them they do wisely to change the Scene and carry in the War to our own Church and make her the Scene of it but they are as ill at attacquing as defending and if we be but safe from their Mines we need not fear their Batteries but their under-ground work is a better game and if they cannot wast us with Destruction at Noontide nor make their Arrows fly by day then they study to infect us with a Pestilence that walketh in darkness and by secret Contrivances and Concealed Papers to compass that which they know can never be brought about by fairdealings and avowed practices But truth is great and the God of truth is greater and will prevail over the fraud of the Serpent as well as the force of the Lion And if we study to adorn our Profession and walk worthy of our Holy Calling we need not fear our Cause nor all the endeavours of those that study to defame us Without this the most laboured Apologies will not signifie much to support our Credit for the World is more affected with lively Instances and great Examples than with the most Learned Composures Every Man's Understanding is wrought on by the one the other only prevail on considering and judicious persons And any charge that is put in against the Pastors or Orders of a Church will be but little regarded when those that bear Office in it chiefly in the highest degrees are burning and shining Lights few will then stumble or be shaken with any thing that can be said to Eclipse their brightness 'T is for the most part want of Merit in Churchmen that recommends any Arguments that are levelled at their persons or functions to the World And though Malice and Spite ferments with the more rage the worthier the persons are against whom it works yet all attempts must needs be not only unsuccessful but fall back with shame on the Authors when all the World sees the Unjustice of them The Contents ARguments to prove the Invalidity of the Orders of the Church of England page 2. A Vindication of the Ordinations of the Church of England in Answer to the former Paper p. 19. An Appendix about the Forms of Ordaining Priests and Bishops in the Latin Church p. 107. Errata The first Paper is printed exactly according to the Copy that was sent me but these that follow seem to be the errors 〈◊〉 the Transcriber PAge 3. line 24. for such a Form Read to such a Poweâ—… p. 8. l. 27. for 1662. r. 1558. Page 28. l. 19. dele and p. 29. l. 26. for of r. for p. 38. l. 4. for are r. were p. 87. l. 15. for too soon r. too late p. 105 l. 25. after ground r. for p. 112. l. 19. for leges r. legis l. 22. for divum r. Deum p. 123. l. 12. for Sanctifica r. Sanctificatâ—… p. 126. l. 8. for novis r. novei p. 133. l. 26. dele as ARGUMENTS To prove the Invalidity of the ORDERS OF THE Church of England FIRST then I prove that the Ministers of the Church of England are no Priests through the defect of the Form of Ordination which was this pronounced to every one of them when they came to be Ordained Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins thou forgivest they are forgiven whose sins thou retainest they are retained and be thou a faithful Dispenser of the Word of God and his Holy Sacraments in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen After which the Bishop delivers a Bible to him saying Take thou authority to Preach the Word and Minister the Holy Sacraments in the Congregation where thou shalt be so appointed And my first Reason is Because this Form wants one essential part of Priesthood which is to Consecrate the most Holy Sacrament of Christs Body and Blood giving only power to Administer this Sacrament which any Deacon may do That to Consecrate and make present Christs Body and Blood is necessary Dr. Bramhal the Bishop of Derry one of the chief Abettors of the Protestant Ordination grants in his Book of the Consecration and Succession of Protestant Bishops saying The Form of words whereby men are made Priests must express Power to Consecrate or make present Christs Body and Blood And a little after They who are Ordained Priests ought to have Power to Consecrate Christs Body and Blood that is to make it present page 226. which it is evident by the very terms themselves that this Form expresses nor gives not having not one word expressing that Power which it cannot give without expressing it Secondly Because it wants another essential part which is to offer Sacrifice which the Apostle requires Heb. 5. 1. saying Every High Priest taken from among men is Ordained for men in things pertaining to God that he may offer both Gifts and Sacrifice for sins Even according to the Protestant Bible and which cannot be meant only of Christ as some Protestants would have it for in the 3. verse he says And by reason hereof he ought as for the people so also for himself to offer for sins whereas Christ had no sins of his own to offer for Thirdly Because those words Whose sins c. at most gave Power to forgive sins and not to Consecrate and offer Sacrifice having nothing to signifie that which is the chief Office of Priesthood Fourthly Because none could Institute the Form of a Sacrament to give Grace and Power to make present the Body and Blood of Christ but the Author of Grace and who had power over that Sacred Body and Blood But those that Instituted this Form were neither Authors of Grace nor had power over the Sacred Body and Blood therefore they could not Institute such a Form That they who Instituted this Protestant Form had no such Power is proved by the Act of Parliament the 3. 4. of Edward the VI. Cap. 12. which could not pretend such a 〈◊〉 in these words Forasmuch as to Concord and Unity to be
Bishop should be delayed then he should be Consecrated by two Bishops appointed by the King and then in the same Statute grants further that all recourse be forbidden to Rome and Archbishops and Bishops be Confirmed and Consecrated by Bishops to be assigned by the King Secondly Out of the Act of 8. Eliz. 1. made purposely to set forth the Authority next under God by which Matthew Parker and the other first Protestant Bishops in the beginning of the Queens Reign were made by reciting how they were made by the Authority of her Majesty and how she was authorized to that end by the aforesaid Statute of Henry VIII and the Statute of 1. Eliz. 1. in these words First It is well known to all the degrees of this Realm that the late King Henry the Eighth was as well by all the Clergy then of this Realm in their several Convocations as also by all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in divers of his Parliaments justly and rightfully recognized and acknowledged to have the Supreme Power Jurisdiction and Authority over the Ecclesiastical State of the same and that the said King did in the twenty fifth year of his Reign set forth a certain order of the Manner and Form how Archbishops and Bishops should be made c. And although in the Reign of the late Queen the said Act was repealed yet nevertheless at the Parliament 1. Eliz. the said Act was revived and by another Act they made all Jurisdiction Priviledges c. Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power or Authority hath hitherto been or lawfully may be used over the Ecclesiastical State of this Realm is fully and absolutely by Authority of the same Parliament mark by what Authority united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm mark here how she is made Pope and by the same Statute there is also given to the Queen mark Given Power and Authority by Letters Patents to Assign and Authorize such Persons as she shall think fit whether Clergy-men Lawyers Merchants Coblers or any other so they be naturally born Subjects of the Realm for the Statute requires no more to exercise under her all manner of Jurisdiction in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual Jurisdiction in this Realm Whereupon the Queen having in her order and disposition all the said Jurisdictions c. hath by her Supreme Authority caused divers to be duly made and consecrated Archbishops and Bishops according to such Order and Form and with such Ceremonies in and about their Consecration as were allowed and set out by the said Acts c. And further her Highness hath in her Letters Patents used divers special words whereby by her Supreme Authority she hath dispensed with all causes and doubts of imperfections or disability c. as is to be seen more aâ—… large in the same Act. In which you see declared by the Queen Matthew Parker himself and the whole Parliament That Matthew Parker the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury was made Archbishop as all the other Protestant Bishops in her time were by Authority of the Queen and that she had her Authority for it from the Statutes 25. Henry 8. 20. and 1. Eliz. 1. from whom all our Protestant Bishops since spring and descend and derive all the Power and Authority that they have From which you see clearly that Protestant Bishops have no Authority to teach Preach or to be Bishops but what originally they have from the Parliament Which is still more evidently confirmed by this Parliament now in being which in the year 1662. by the Act of Uniformity annulled the forementioned Forms of Ordination of Priests and Bishops as being deficient and appointed new ones by their own Authority So from the first to the last all the Protestant Priests and Bishops both heretofore and at this present are only Parliamentary Priests and Bishops and not so from Christ and his Church but only from their Kings Queen and Parliaments I must confess this present Parliament may easily answer the Parliaments of Edward the VI. and Queen Elizabeth why it hath lately altered the Form of Ordination instituted and used by them to wit because their Forms were null and invalid but what Authority either of them had to make alter or use any Form of Ordination or to give Power to Teach Preach Minister Sacraments or the like of themselves without Authority from Christ our Saviour there I must leave them to answer him From the Premisses I infer First That they being no Priests nor Bishops theirs is no Church as Mr. Mason and St. Jerom grant Secondly If no Church no part of the Catholic Church out of which and without whose Faith kept entire and inviolate no man can be saved as their own Common-Prayer-Book affirms Thirdly They can never eat the Flesh of Christ our Lord nor drink his Blood without which they cannot have life in them John 6. 54. Fourthly They commit a most hainous Sacriledge as often as they attempt to Consecrate or Minister the most Holy Sacrament having no such Power Fifthly They commit the like Sacriledge in presuming to hear Confessions or forgive Sins Sixthly All that Communicate with them and follow the same Religion are involved in the same sins so that the blind leading the blind they must necessarily both fall into the ditch of eternal perdition foretold by our Saviour Matth. 15. 14. Lastly It is to be noted that although I conceive I have clearly proved the Ordination and Iurisdiction of their Priests and Bishops to be invalid by every argument I have used to those ends yet to my purpose it is sufficient to have proved it by any one For as to prove a man to be a Thief or Forger it is sufficient to prove he has stoln one Horse or forged one Deed to hang him for the one or set him on the Pillory for the other so to prove by one argument alone that they are no Priests nor Bishops nor have any Iurisdiction is sufficient to prove them guilty of Sacramental Forgery and by that means of deluding and stealing away innumerable souls A VINDICATION OF THE ORDINATIONS OF THE Church of ENGLAND In answer to the former Paper THis Paper which you sent me being only a Repetition of those Objections which were long ago refuted by Master Mason with great learning and judgment and more lately by the most Ingenious Lord Primate of Ireland D. Bramhall there needs nothing else be said to it but only to refer the Reader to those learned and solid Writings on this Subject The same Plea was again taken up by the Writers of two little Books published since his Majesties Restauration entitled Erastus Senior and Erastus Iunior which was thought so unreasonable even to some of that Communion that one of the learnedst Priests they had in England did answer them and though he did not adventure on saying our Ordination was good and valid knowing how ingrateful that would have been to