him but whether these were foisted in or not I cannot judge Now these Rites were afterwards a ball of Contention for the Emperours and Kings did give the Investiture by them which had they been given with our such words they might have more easily kept up their pretension but the words joyned with them relating wholly to Spiritual things were no doubt made a great Argument for taking them out of their hands Since it seemed very incongruous for a Secular and Lay person to pronounce them or perform a Rite to which such words were added The Fifth Ritual has only the Collects Adesto and Propitiare and the Prayer of Consecration without the Rubrick for giving the Chrism and the Collects Super Oblata leaving out in the Prayer of Consecration what is left out in the two former Rituals The Sixth Ritual has the Collects Adesto and Propitiare with the Prayer of Consecration as in the first in which the Rubrick about putting the Chrism on the head is also then follows a new Prayer that is in no other Ritual for the Bishop thus Ordained after which there is a Blessing called De septiformi Spiritu For the sevenfold Grace of the Holy Ghost then are the hands of the Bishop Consecrated with holy Oyl and the Chrism with these words Consecratio manuum Episcopi ab Archiepiscopo Oleo sancto Chrismate UNgantur manus istae sanctificentur in te Deo Deorum ordinentur Ungo has manus oleo sanctificato Chrismate unctionis purificato sicut unxit Moyses verbo oris sui Manus S. Aaron Germani sui sicut unxit Spiritus Sanctus per suos flatus manus suorum Apostolorum ita ungantur manus istae sanctificentur consecrentur ut in omnibus sint perfectae in nomine tuo Pater Filiique tui atque aeterni Spiritus S. qui es unus ac summus Dominus omnium vivorum mortuorum manens in Saecula Saeculorum LET these hands be annointed and Sanctified and Ordained for the God of Gods I annoint these hands with Sanctified Oyl and the purified Chrism of annointing as Moses by the word of his mouth annointed holy Aaron his brother and as the Holy Ghost by his breathings did annoint the hands of his Apostles so let these hands be Annointed Sanctified and Consecrated that they may be perfect in all things in thy name O Father and in thy Sons and thy Holy Spirit 's who art the only and great God of the quick and of the dead for ever and ever Amen Then his head is annointed with the following words Hic mittatur oleum super ejus UNgatur Consecretur caput tuum coelesti benedictione in Ordinem Pontificalem in nomine Patris Filii Spiritus Sancti LET thy head be annointed and Consecrated with a heavenly Blessing for the Pontifical Order in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Then the Staff is Blessed in these words in Verse Tu Baculus nostrae Rector per saecula vitae Istum sanctifica pietatis jure Bacillum Quo mala sternantur quo semper recta regantur Thou who art the Staff of our Life and our guide for ever sanctify this Staff by which ill things may be beaten down and right things always guided Then the Staff is given and after that the Ring almost with the same words that are in the Fourth Ritual then follows a Prayer that he may ascend the Episcopal Chair then he is put in the Chair and a Prayer is made for him that he may resemble the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and Saints and in the end he is Blessed in these words Benedictio ejusdem Sacerdotis POpulus te Honoret adjuvet te Dominus quidquid petieris praestet tibi Deus cum honore cum castitate cum scientia cum largitate cum Charitate cum Nobilitate Dignus sis Iustus sis Humilis sis Sincerus sis Apostolus Christi sis Accipe Benedictionem Apostolatum qui permaneat in die ista in die sutura Angeli sint ad dexteram tuam Apostoli Coronati ad sinistram Ecclesia sit mater tua altare sit Deus Pater tuus sint Angeli amici tui sint Apostoli sratres tui Apostolatus tui gradum custodiant Confirmet te Deus in Iustitia in Sanctitate in Ecclesia Sancta Angeli recipiant te pax tecum indiscrepabilis per Redemptorem Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum qui cum Patre Spiritu Sancto vivit regnat in saecula saeculorum Amen MAY the people Honour thee may God assist thee and grant thee whatsoever thou shalt ask of Him with Honour Chastity Knowledg Bounty Charity and Nobility Be thou Worthy Just Humble Sincere and an Apostle of Christ. Receive a Blessing and an Apostleship which shall continue for this time and that which is to come Let Angels be at thy right hand and crowned Apostles at thy left Let the Church and the Altar be thy Mother and God thy Father Let the Angels be thy Friends and the Apostles thy Brethren and guard the degree of thy Apostleship May God strengthen thee in Justice in Holiness and in the Holy Church and may Angels receive thee and inseparable Peace be with thee Through our Lord Iesus Christ who with the Father and the Holy Spirit reigns and lives for ever and ever Amen The Seventh Ritual has first the second Canon of the Fourth Council of Carthage then the Exhortation to the people then the Collects Oremus Adesto and Propitiare then the Prayer of Consecration and then the annointing of the hands then follows the Communion Service The Eighth Ritual begins the Office of Consecrating a Bishop with the Collect Adesto Then follows a new Rite of giving the Gospel with these words ACcipe hoc Evangelium ito doce omnes Gentes REceive this Gospel and go and teach all Nations Then follows the Propitiare and the Prayer of Consecration and the Giving the Staff and Ring without any more This Rite of delivering the Gospels it seems was never generally received for it is in none of the other Rituals published by Morinus but is now in the Roman Pontifical The Ninth Ritual begins this Office with the Form in which the Kings of France did then choose their Bishops then follows an Oath of Obedience to the Patriarchal See no mention being made of the Pope or See of Rome then the Ring is Blessed with a particular Benediction and it is given with the words in the Fourth Ritual The Staff is next Blessed as in the Sixth Ritual and given as in the Fourth Ritual Then follow the Collects Oremus Adesto and Propitiare then the Prayer of Consecration as in the First Ritual then follows another long Prayer after which follows the Annointing of the hands and head and the Blessing for the sevenfold Grace of the Holy Ghost Then follows the Communion Service The Tenth Ritual has only the
sake of a place but places for the sake of good things therefore choose from all Churches the things that are Pious Religious and Right and gather all these in one bundle and leave them with the English that they may become familiar to them It will be hard for the Agents of that Church to find out a Reason why Austin Bishop of Canterbury might make such changes in the Liturgies by gathering out of the several Rituals that were then in the World what he thouhgt fit and yet to deny the same power to Arch-Bishop Cranmer and the Bishops in King Edward's days why might not they as well as Austin the Monk compare the Rituals of the Church of Rome with other more ancient Forms and gather together what they found most Pious Religious and Right not loving things for the sake of a place whether Rome or Sarum but loving places rather for the sake of good things So that in this we have on our side the decision of a Pope who was both more learned and more pious than any of all his Successors but this is not the only particular in which they will decline to be tryed by his Iudgment And in the changes that were made iâ—… is very clear that our Reformers did noâ—… design to throw out every thing that was in the Roman Rituals right or wrong but made all the good use that was possible oâ—… the Forms that were then received in thâ—… Western Church and in this our Church followed our Saviours method who thougâ—… he had the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him and was to Antiquate the Jewisâ—… Religion and to substitute his more Divine Precepts to those of Moses Yet he did accommodate his Institutions as near aâ—… could be to the Customs of the Jews not only in lesser matters but even in those two great Sacraments by which his Church is knit together as hath been fully made out by many learned Writers If then the customs of a Religion that was ready to perish were made use of and by new and more sacred Benedictions were consecrated to higher ends Our Church shewed her Prudence and Moderation in not destroying Root and Branch but reserving such things as were good and by being cleansed from some Excrescencies might prove still of excellent use This though it has given some colour to many peevish complaints yet is that in which we have cause still to glory This care and caution does eminently appear in our Ordinal the Ceremonies which were invented by the latter Ages we laid aside the more Ancient and Apostolical are retained And for the formal words used in the Imposition of Hands though the saying Receive the Holy Ghost was a latter addition without any Ancient Authority yet because this comes nearer the practice of our Saviour it was retained as the form of giving Orders For since it is consest on all hands that the Form of Orders is in the power of the Church we had good reason to prefer that which our Blessed Saviour made use of to any other and it had been a sullen and childish peevishness to have changed this because it was used in the Church of Rome So that I cannot imagine what should move them to shew so much dislike to our Forms except it be the old Quarrel of hating them because they are better and their own are worse and so because their deeds are evil they envy and revile us In this whole matter we are willing to be tryed both by the Scriptures and the first eight Ages even of the Roman Church by the Greek Church to this day and by the Doctrine that is most commonly received even in their own Church There is but one Objection that may seem to have any force in it which can be made from the practices of the Primitive Church against the Ordinations in this Church which is that we have not the inferior degrees of Subdeacons Acolyths Exorcists Readers and Porters in our Church and indeed if the Popes Infallibility be well proved this will be of force sufficient to invalidate our Orders The case of Photius Patriarch of Contantinople is well known whom Pope Nicolaus denyed to be lawfully Ordained because he was suddenly raised up from being a Layman to be made a Patriarch and though he passed through the Ecclesiastical Degrees yet that was not thought sufficient by that Pope who certainly would have been more severe to us who have none of these Degrees among us But these Orders cannot be looked on as either of Divine or Apostolical Institution the Scripture mentions them not St. Clemens St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp say nothing of them Justin Martyr and Irenaeus are as silent about them so that till the third Century we find no footsteps of them the first mention that is made of them is in the Canons and Constitutions called Apostolical of whose Antiquity I shall now say nothing In the Canons mention is oft made of the rest of the Clergy as distinct from Bishops Priests and Deacons and particularly they mention Readers Subdeacons and Singers In the Constitutions there are Rules given about thâ—… Ordination of Subdeacons and Readers And though there is mention made of Exorcists yet it is plainly said there that they were not Ordained but were believed to have that power over Spirits by a free gift of God and that they were then Ordained when they were made Bishops and Priests Firmilian who lived in the midst of the third Century speaks of Exorcists but it does not appear from his words if they were a distinct or an inferior Order of Church-men and they may be well enough understood of such as had an extraordinary power over Spirits Yet in the beginning of the fourth Century we find in the Greek Church more inferior Orders for the Council of Laodicea reckons up Servants who it is like were Acolyths Readers Singers Exorcists Porters and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were it seems Monks or some persons that were imployed in servile works such as the diggers of Craves And by the Council of Antioch the Chorepiscopi might Ordain Subdeacons Readers and Exorcists And if the Epistle to the Church of Antioch said to be writen by Ignatius was forged in the same Century by it it appears that there were then in the Greek Church Subdeacons Readers Singers Porters and Exorcists for all these are saluted in that Epistle from which it appears that all these Orders were then in the Church of Antioch But there is no small difficulty about these Orders in the Greek Churches for in all their Rituals we find no inferior Orders but Subdeacons and Readers to whom in some Churches they have added Singers upon which it is that Morinus confidently pronounces there were never any other inferior Orders in the Greek Church but these two but it does not appear that he had considered well those Canons of Laodicea and Antioch which mention other Orders Abraham Ecchellensis
had within the Kings Majesties Dominions it is requisite to have one Uniform fashion and manner for making and Consecrating Bishops Priests c. Be it therefore Enacted by the Kings Highness with the Assents of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons of this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same mark by which Authority they are made that such Form and manner of making and Consecrating of Archbishops Bishops Priests c. as by six Prelates and six other men of this Realm learned in Gods Law by the Kings Majesty who was but a Child to be appointed and assigned or by the most number of them shall be devised for that purpose and set forth under the Great Seal of England before the first day of April next coming and shall by vertue of this present Act see what vertues be lawfully exercised and used and none other any Statute Law or Usage to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding By Authority whereof those Prelates and meâ—… learned in the Law invented and made thâ—… Form before mentioned never heard of before either in Scripture or Church of God From which I thus argue and prove my Minor They that instituted the Form were thâ—… King and Parliament 3. 4. Edward VI. Buâ—… that King and Parliament were neither Authors of Grace not had power over the Body and Blood of Christ therefore they that Instituted this Form were neither Authors oâ—… Grace nor had power over the Body and Blood of Christ nor consequently could make it present Fifthly They are no true Priests because the Bishops that made them were no true Bishops nor so much as Priests and no man can give power to another which he hath not himself That they were no true Bishops nor Priests who pretended to make these Priests which shall be the second part of my Discourse I prove thus PROTESTANT BISHOPS NO BISHOPS NOR SO MUCH AS PRIESTS First They are no Priests because made by the same Form which other English Ministers were which I have clearly proved to be null That they are no true Bishops I prove first out of this very Principle already laid because they are no true Priests for as Master Mason a chief Champion of theirs says Epist. Ded. ad Episcop Paris Seeing he cannot be a Bishop who is not a Priest if it can be proved we are no Priests there 's an end to our English Church And the great Doctor of the Church St. Jerom Dial. cum Lucifero cap. 8. says Ecclesia non est quae non habet Sacerdotem It is no Church that hath no Priests The Protestant Bishops therefore being no Priests can be no true Bishops nor their Church a Church at all Secondly They are no Bishops because their Form of Ordination is essentially invalid and null seeing it cannot be valid no more than that of Priesthood unless it be in fit words which signifies the Order given as Mr. Mason says in his Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae lib. 1. c. 16. n. 6. in these terms Not any words can serve for this Institution but such as are fit to express the power of the Order given And the reason is evident because Ordination being a Sacrament as the same Author says lib. 1. n. 8. and Doctor Bramhal page 96. of the Consecration of Protestant Bishops that is a visible sign of invisible Grace given by it There must be some visible sign or words in the Form of it to signifie the Power given and to determine the matter which is the Imposition of hands of it self a dumb sign and common to Priests and Deacons Confirming Curing c. to the Grace of Episcopal Order otherwise it were sufficient to say at the Imposition of hands Be thou a Constable or God make thee an honest man But there is no such visible sign or words in the Protestant Form expressing this Episcopal Power given therefore no such power is given That there is no such sign or words in the Protestant Form I prove out of the Form it self which is this made in King Edward the VI. time and continued till the happy Restauration of his Majesty that now is Take the Holy Ghost and remember that thou stir up the Grace of God that is in thee by Imposition of hands for God hath not given us the Spirit of Fear but of Power and of Love and Soberness In which is not any word signifying Episcopal Power or Ordination and therefore for this defect in their Form they are no true Bishops Against what has been said you will object first That I prove them to be no Priests because they are no Bishops that made them and on the other side I prove them no Bishops because they are no Priests which is a vicious Circle But I easily answer this because I first prove à priori that is from the essential which ought to give being to each of them tat they are severally null and each of them being null for that reason it is evident that it is a cause of Invalidity in the other for as he can be no Bishop who is proved to be no Priest so he can make no Priest who is proved to be no Bishop Secondly You will object and salve up all the Defects afore-mentioned in one word to wit That although the Form used in the Church of England were invalid in King Edward ' s Queen Elizabeth's King James ' s and King Charles the First 's time for want of a valid Form of Ordination yet now it is valid in our Sovereign King Charles the Second's with whom the Parliament now sitting hath appointed a true Form Enacting that for the future to wit after St. Bartholomew's Day 1662. the Form of Ordaining a Priest should be Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office of a Priest and of a Bishop Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and work of a Bishop But to this I 'le answer you in another word That the salve is worse than the sore because by this change of the Form before established they acknowledge it to be null for why else need they change it Secondly By it they in effect acknowledge all their Bishops and Priests till that time to be null because Ordained by a Form that was null and could not give Power it had not nor signified Thirdly Because being no Bishops already they cannot Ordain validly by any Form whatsoever for no man can give what he has not as has been said before Lastly Whatsoever Power this Act gives to Ordain is from the Parliament and not from Christ which is what I first undertook to show and destroys their Orders root and branch Now although the Bishops of the Church of England and their Ministers grant this change of their Form of Ordination yet if any one should deny it you need only look upon the Form of making Bishops and Priests made 〈◊〉 and which was only used in the Church of England for an hundred years to be found in every
800 years before this was used And to this day in the Greek Church there is no power given by the Consecration to offer propitiatory Sacrifices for though in the second Prayer said in Ordinations in which God's Holy Spirit is prayed for upon the Priest That he may be worthy to stand before the Altar of God without blame and may preach the Gospel of his Kingdom and holily administer the Word of his Truth It is added And may offer to thee Gifts and Spiritual Sacrifices but there is no reason to gather from these words that they give power for offering Propitiatory Sacrifices We acknowledg that we offer Gifts and Sacrifices in the Holy Eucharist but we reject Propitiatory ones and these words do not at all import them And the truth of it is when the Writers of the Roman Church are pressed with the Arguments before mentioned that the Eucharist can be no Propitiatory Sacrifice Since 1. there no Blood shed in it 2. No Destruction is made of the Sacrifice for it is only the Accidents and not the Blessed Body of Christ that the Priest consumes 3. That Christ's Cross is called one Sacrifice once offered 4. That his being now exalted at the Father's right hand shews his Body can no more be subject to be Sacrificed or mangled When these with many Authorities from the Father's are brought they are forced to fly to some Distinctions by which their Doctrine comes to differ little from ours but still those high and indecent Expressions remain in their Rituals and Missals which they are forced to mollifie as they do those Prayers in which the same things and in the same manner and words are asked of the Blessed Virgin and the other Saints which we ask of God And though they would stretch them to a bare Intercession which the genuine sense of the words will not bear yet they will never change them for it is the standing Maxim of that Church never to confess an error nor make any change to the better The third Reason against our Orders of Priesthood is a Repetition of the first and is already answered The fourth Argument is That none can Institute the Form of a Sacrament to give Grace and make present Christ's Body and Blood but the Authors of Grace and those that had power over his Body and Blood but they that Instituted this Form had only their Authority from the Parliament as appears by the Act it self by which some Prelates and other Learned men being impowered did Invent the Form before mentioned never before heard of either in Scripture or the Church of God To this I Answer First It is certain the Writer of this Paper did never think it would have been seen by any body that could examine it but intended only to impose on some Illiterate persons otherwise he would never have said that a Form which Christ himself used when he ordained his Apostles and which is used in their own Church as the proper Form of Ordination was never before heard of in the Scripture or the Church of God Secondly Those who compiled the Liturgy and Ordinal had no other Authority from the Parliament than Holy and Christian Princes did before give in the like cases It is a common place and has been handled by many Writers How far the Civil Magistrate may make Laws and give Commands about Sacred things 'T is known what Orders David and Solomon Iehosaphat Hezekiah and Iosiah gave in such cases They divided the Priests into several Courses gavâ—… Rules for their attendance turned out â—… High Priest and put another in his stead sent the Priests over the Cities to teach the People gathered the Priests and commanded them to Sanctifie themselves and the house of the Lord and offer Sacrifices oâ—… the Altar And gave orders about the Forms of their Worship that they should praise God in the words of David and Asaph and gave orders about the time 〈◊〉 observing the Passover that in a case oâ—… Necessity it might be observed on the second Month though by their Law it wâ—… to be kept the first Month. And for the Christian Emperors let the Code or the Novels or the Capitulars of Charles the Great be read and in them many Lawâ—… will be found about the Qualificationâ—… Elections and Consecrations of Church-men made by the best of all the Roman Emperors such as Constantine Theodâ—… sius c. They called Councils to judâ—… of the greatest points of Faith which met and sate on their Writ whose determinations they confirmed and added the Civil Sanction to them And even Pope Leo though a higher spiriteâ—… Pope than any of his Predecessors were did intreat the Emperor Martian to annul the second Council of Ephesus anâ—… to give order that the Ancient Decrees of the Council of Nice should remain in Force Now it were a great Scandal on those Councils to say that they had no Authority for what they did but what they derived from the Civil Powers So it is no less unjust to say because the Parliament Impowered some Persons to draw Forms for the more pure Administration of the Sacraments and Enacted that these only should be lawfully exercised in this Realm which is the Civil Sanction that therefore these persons had no other Authority for what they did Let those men declare upon their Consciences if there be any thing they desire more earnestly than such an Act for Authorizing their own Forms and would they make any Scruple to accept of it if they might have it Was it ever heard of that the Civil Sanction which only makes any constitution to have the force of a Law gives it another Authority than a Civil one and such Authority the Church of Rome thinks fit to accept of in all States and Kingdoms of that Religion Thirdly The Prelates and other Divines that compiled our Forms of Ordination did it by vertue of the authority they had from Christ as Pastors of his Church which did empower them to teach the people the pure Word of God and to administer the Sacraments and perform all other holy Functions according to the Scripture the practice of the Primitive Church and the rules of Expediency and Reason and this they ought to have done though the Civil Powers had opposed it in which case their duty had been to have submitted to whatever severities or persecutions they might have been put to for the Name of Christ and the Truth of his Gospel But on the other hand when it pleased God to turn the hearts of those that had the chief Power to set forward this good Work then they did as they ought with all Thankfulness acknowledg so great a Blessing and accept and improve the Authority of the Civil Powers for adding the Sanction of a Law to the Reformation in all the parts and branches of it So by the authority they derived from Christ and the Warrant they had from Scripture and the Primitive Church these Prelates and