Book might be approved by Our Authority and withal in a copious Oration manifested unto Us that as your Majesty hath confuted the notorious Errors of the same Martin Luther from true and convincing Reasons and unanswerable Authorities of the holy Scriptures and Fathers so that you will be ready with all the Forces and Arms of your Kingdom to punish and prosecute all such as shall presume to follow or defend any of the said Opinions Whereupon we have with all care and diligence perused the same Book and finding it to contain admirable Doctrine and full of the Spirit of God do give God infinite thanks from whom proceeds every good and perfect Gift for having thus inspir'd your mind and enabled you by his Grace to compose this Work for the defence of his holy Faith against this raiser up of old condemned Errors and to the inviting of other Kings and Christian Princes to follow your example in protecting Orthodox Faith and Evangelical Truth now expos'd to great danger and many oppositions We upon this likewise judging it just and reasonable to confer all Honour and Praises upon such as have employ'd their pious Labours in the defence of the said Christian Faith do not only extol and magnifie approve and confirm by Our Authority what your Majesty hath with so much solid Learning and Eloquence written against the same Martin Luther but do likewise confer upon your Majesty such a Title of Honour that by it all the Faithful may understand both now and for all future times how grateful and acceptable this your Majesties Gift hath been unto Us especially offered at this time We who are the true Successor of St Peter whom Christ ascending up to Heaven lest as his Vicar upon Earth committing to him the care of his Flock We I say sitting in this holy See having with mature Deliberation considered of this business with Our Brethren do with their unanimous Counsel and consent grant unto your Majesty the Title of Defender of the Faith which We do by these presents confirm unto you commanding all the Faithful to give your Majesty this Title and when they write unto you after the word King to annex this other of Defender of the Faith And assuredly if the excellency and dignity of this Title and your singular merits be well weigh'd and considered We could not have thought of any name more Noble nor better agreeable to your Majesty then this which as often as you hear and read you will have occasion to reflect upon your own Virtue and Merit not becoming more proud thereby but according to your wonted Prudence rather more humble and more establish'd in the Faith of Christ and respect towards this holy See rejoycing in our Lord the Giver of all Good things and leaving unto your Posterity this perpetual and immortal monument of your Glory shewing them the way that if they desire to possess this Title they labour to do works of this kind and to imitate your Majesties example who having deserv'd so much from Us and this See We give you Our Benediction and also to your Wife and Children and all that shall be born of them In the name of him from whom We have receiv'd this Power Beseeching the Almighty who said By me Kings reign and Princes command and in whose Hands the Hearts of all Kings are that he will confirm you in this holy Resolutiand encrease your Devotion and make your Actions for the preservation of Faith so illustrious throughout the whole World That no Man may have occasion to judge that this Title is confer'd upon you in vain And lastly Our Prayer is That your Majesty having happily pass'd the course of this present life may be made partaker of Eternal Glory Dated at Rome at St. Peters c. Thus far my Lord Herberts History I will now relate some other favours shew'd to him by Popes HE receiv'd from Pope Clement a Rose of Gold for a Present The reception of it is thus related by Sir Rich. Baker page 391. Doctor Thomas Hannibal Master of the Rolls was receiv'd into London by Earls Bishops and diverse Lords and Gentlemen as Embassador from Pope Clement who brought with him a Rose of Gold for a Present to the King and on the day of the Nativity of our Lady after a Solemn Mass sung by the Cardinal of York the said Present was delivered to the King which was a Tree forged of fine Gold with Branches Leaves and Flowers resembling Roses Thus far Sir Rich. Baker ANother Present was sent him by Pope Julius whereof there is this Relation in the same History page 376. Pope Julius the second sent to King Henry a Cap of Maintenance and a Sword and being angry with the King of France tranferred by Authority of the Lateran Council the Title of Christianissimo from him upon King Henry which with great solemnity was published the Sunday following at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul Thus far Sir Rich. Baker CHAP. I. The First Ground of the change of Religion in England was the business of the Kings Divorce from Queen Catherine which when it came to be publickly examined the Queen made this following Speech THe Queen according to the Form being called upon to come into the Court made no Answer but rose out of her Chair and came to the King kneeling down at his Feet to whom she said The Queens Speech SIR IN what have I offended you or what occasion of displeasure have I given you intending thus to put me from you I take God to be my Judge I have been to you a true and humble Wife ever conformable to your Will and Pleasure never contradicting or gain-saying you in any thing being always contented with all things wherein you had any delight or took any pleasure without grudge or countenance of discontent or displeasure I lov'd for your sake all them whom you lov'd whether I had cause or no whether they were my Friends or my Enemies I have been your Wife these twenty years or more and you had by me divers Children and when you had me at first I take God to be my Judg that I was a Maid and whether it be true or no I put it to your own Conscience If there be any just cause that you can alledge against me either of dishonesty or matter lawful to put me from you I am content to depart to my shame and confusion and if there be none then I pray you to let me have Justice at your Hands The King your Father was in his time of such an excellent Wit that he was accounted amongst all men for Wisdom to be a second Salomon and the King of Spain my Father Ferdinand was accounted one of the wisest Princes that had reign'd in Spain for many years It is not therefore to be doubted but that they had gathered as wise Counsellors unto them of every Realm as to their Wisdoms they thought meet and I conceive that there were in
Auricular Confession is expedient and necessary to be retained and continued used and frequented in the Church of God For the which most Godly study pain and travel of His Majesty and determination and resolution of the Premises His humble and obedient Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled not only render and give unto His Highness their most high and hearty Thanks and think themselves most bound to Pray for the long continuance of his Graces most Royal Estate and Dignity And being also desirous that his most Godly enterprize may be well accomplished and brought to a full end and perfection and so Established that the same might be to the Honor of God and after to the common Quiet Unity and Concord to be had in the whole Body of this Realm for ever Do most humbly beseech His Royal Majesty that the Resolution and Determination above written of the said Articles may be established and perpetually perfected by the Authority of this present Parliament It is therefore Ordained and Enacted by the King our Sovereign Lord and by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and by the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That if any Person or Persons within this Realm of England or in any other of the Kings Dominions do by Word Writing Printing Ciphering or any otherwise Publish Preach Teach Say Affirm Declare Dispute Argue or Hold any Opinion 1. That in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar under the Form of Bread and Wine after the Consecration thereof there is not present really the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary or that after the said Consecration there remains any Substance of Bread or Wine or any other Substance but the Substance of Christ God and Man or likewise to Publish Preach Teach Say Affirm Declare Dispute Argue or Hold Opinion that in the Flesh under the Form of Bread there is not the very Blood of Christ or that with the Blood under the Form of Wine there is not the very Flesh of Christ as well apart as though they were both together or by any the means abovesaid or otherwise do Preach Teach Declare or Affirm the said Sacrament to be of other Substance than is abovesaid or do by any means Contemn Deprave or Despise the said Blessed Sacrament that then such Person or Persons so offending shall be deemed and adjudged Hereticks and that every such offence shall be judged manifest Heresie and that every such Offender and Offenders shall therefore have and suffer Judgment Execution Pain and Pains of Death by way of Burning without any Abjuration Clergy or Sanctuary and their Estates to be Confiscated to the King as in Cases of High Treason 2. And moreover if any do obstinately Affirm Uphold Maintain or Defend that the Communion of the Blessed Sacrament in both kinds that is to say in Form of Bread and also of Wine is necessary for the health of Man's Soul or that it ought or should be Given and Administred to any Persons in both kinds or that it is necessary so to be taken or received by any Person other than Priests being at Mass and Consecrating the same 3. Or that any Man after having received the Order of Priesthood may marry 4. Or that any Man or Woman who hath advisedly vowed or professed Chastity or Widowhood may marry 5. Or that Private Masses be not lawful or not laudable or should not be celebrated had nor used in the Realm nor be not agreeable to the Laws of God 6. Or that Auricular Confession is not expedient and necessary to be retained and continued used and frequented in the Church of God Such Persons are to suffer pains of death as in cases of Felony without any benefit of Clergie or Priviledge of Church or Sanctuary and shall forfeit all their Lands and Goods as in cases of Felony Thus far out of the same Book CHAP. IV. Of another Effect of this Change which was a horrid Effusion of Blood QUeen Anne Boleign who had been the first occasion of this Change of Religion was beheaded Whereof there is this Relation Baker pag. 407. It was now the Twenty eighth year of King Henries Reign When there were solemn Justs at Greenwich from whence the King suddenly departed and came to Westminster Whose sudden departure struck amazement into many but to the Queen especially And not without cause For the next day the Lord Rochford her Brother and Henry Norris were brought to the Tower Prisoners Whither also the same day was brought Queen Anne her self Who at the Tower-gate fell on her knees beseeching God to help her as she was innocent of that whereof she was accused Soon after this she was arraigned in the Tower and found guilty and had Judgment pronounced Immediately the Lord Rochford her Brother was likewise Arraigned Who together with Henry Norris Mark Smeton William Brierton and Francis Weston all of the King's Privy-Chamber about matters touching the Queen were beheaded on Tower-hill Within Two days Queen Anne her self on a Scaffold upon the Green within the Tower was also beheaded At her death she spake these words God save my Master and Sovereign the King the most Goodliest Noblest and Gentlest Prince that is and grant him that he may long Reign over you which words she spake with a smiling countenance which done she kneeled down and the Hangman of Calais smote off her head at one stroke For her Religion she was an earnest Professor and one of the first Counternancers of the Gospel The Crimes for which she died were Adultery and Incest She had many Enemies as being a Protestant and perhaps in that respect the King himself not greatly her Friend For though he had excluded the Pope yet he continued a Papist still Her Death cast upon King Henry a dishonorable Imputation Insomuch that whereas the Protestant Princes of Germany had resolved to chuse him for Head of their League after they heard of this Queens Death they utterly refused him Thus far Sir Rich. Baker The next day after her Death the King Married the Lady Jane Seymour Stow Page 573. In the next place Thomas Cromwel who had been the grand Promoter of this business was likewise beheaded Whereof thus writes Howes upon Stow page 508. THomas Cromwel Earl of Essex being in the Council-Chamber was suddenly apprehended and committed to the Tower of London and soon after attainted of Heresie and High Treason When he was brought to the Scaffold on Tower-hill to be executed he spake these words I pray you that be here to bear me witness that I die in the Catholick Faith not doubting in any Article of my Faith or in any Sacrament of the Church Many have slandered me and reported that I have been an A better of such as have maintained evil Opinions which is untrue But I confess that like as God by his holy Spirit does instruct us
She nor any of her Servants would be there to hear him Madam said he I hope you will not refuse to hear God's Word To which she answered That she could noâ—… tell what they called God's Word it not having been accounted such in the days of her Father After which falling into many different expressions against the Religion then Established She dismissed him thus My Lord said she For your Kindness to visit me I thank you But for your offer to Preach before me I thank you not Which said he was conducted by Sir Thomas Wharton to the place where they dined by whom he was presented with a Cup of Wine which having drank and looking very sadly on it Surely said he I have done amiss in drinking in that place where God's Word offered was refused Whereas if I had done my duty I ought to have departed immediately and to have shaken the dust from off my feet in testimony against this House in which the Word of God could not find admittance Which words he spake with such a vehemency of Spirit as made the hair of some of those who were present to stand an end as themselves afterwards confessed Of this behaviour of the Princess the Bishop much complained in a Sermon preached at Paul's Cross July 16. Anno 1553. in which he was appointed by the Lords of the Council to set forth the Title of Queen Jane to whom the Succession of the Crown had been transferred by King Edward Of whose Death the Princess being secretly advertised dispatched Letters to the Lords of the Council requiring them not only to acknowledge Her Just Title to the Crown but likewise to cause Proclamation to be made in the usual Form which was accordingly done Thus Dr. Heylyn And thus far concerning Her before She came to the Crown we will now proceed to make a brief Relation of Her Reign as to matters of Religion CHAP. I. Of the putting to Death of the Duke of Northumberland and some others who had been chief Actors against Her Anno Reg. Mar. 1. THE Lady Mary being Proclaimed Queen gave on the same day Eight-pence to every poor Housholder in London Thus Howes upon Stow pag. 613. Dr. Heylyn pag. 18. The Duke of Northumberland the chief Actor against Her was soon after this condemned to die In that short Interval which past between the Sentence and the Execution he was frequently visited by Dr. Heath Bishop of Worcester He having made it his Request to the Lords That some Godly and Learned man might be licensed by the Queen to repair to him for the quiet and satisfaction of his Conscience When he was on the Scaffold turning himself to the People he made a long Oration to them touching the quality of his offence and his fore-passed life and then admonished the Spectators To stand to the Religion of their Ancestors rejecting that of later date which had occasioned all the Misery of the foregoing Thirty years and that for the prevention of the future if they desired to present their Souls unspotted in the sight of God and were truly affected to their Country they should expel those Trumpets of Sedition the Preachers of the Reformed Doctrine That for himself whatever had been otherwise pretended he professed no other Religion than that of his Fathers for testimony whereof he appealed to his good Friend and Ghostly Father the Lord Bishop of Worcester and finally that being blinded with Ambition he had been contented to make rack of his Conscience by temporizing For which he professed himself sincerely repentant and so acknowledged the justice of his Death Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the Death of this Duke Here follows another Relation of this Duke's Death By Howes upon Stow pag. 614. WHen he came upon the Scaffold he said to the People Though my death be terrible to Nature yet I pray you judge the best in God's works for he doth all for the best And as for me I am a wretched sinner and have deserved to die I forgive all Men and I pray God to forgive them And if I have offended any of you here I pray you and the World to forgive me And most chiefly I desire Forgiveness of the Queens Highness whom I have most heinously Offended And I pray you all to bear me witness that I depart in perfect Love and Charity with all the World and I beg that you will assist me with your Prayers at the hour of my Death And when he had made a Confession of his Belief he added these words And here I do protest to you unfeignedly even from the bottom of my Heart that this which I have spoken is of my self and not moved thereto by any Man nor for any flattery or hope of Life And of this I take to witness my Lord of Worcester my old Friend and Ghostly Father that he found me in this mind and opinion when he came to me Wherefore be assured that I have declared this only upon my own mind and affection and for the Zeal and Love that I bear to my Natural Country I could rehearse much more even by experience that I have of this Evil that hath happened to this Nation by these occasions But you know I have another thing to do whereunto I must prepare me for that time draws near After he had thus spoken he kneeled down saying to them that were about him I beseech you all to bear me witness that I die in the true Catholick Faith And then said the Psalms of Miserere and De Profundis his Pater Noster and six of the first Verses of the Psalm In Te Domine Speravi ending with this Verse Into thy hands O Lord I commend my Spirit and when he had thus ended his Prayers the Executioner asked him forgiveness to whom he said I forgive thee with all my Heart and do thy part without fear And bowing towards the Block he said I have deserved a thousand Deaths and then laid his Head upon the Block and so was Beheaded whose Body with the Head was buried in the Tower by the Body of Edward late Duke of Sommerset So that there lies before the High Altar in St. Peter's Church Two Dukes between Two Queens to wit the Duke of Sommerset and the Duke of Northumberland between Queen Anne and Queen Catherine All Four beheaded At the same time and place also were likewise beheaded Sir John Gates and Sir Thomas Palmer Sir John Gates being upon the Scaffold spake these or the like Words My coming hither this day is to die whereof I assure you all I am well worthy for I have lived as viciously and wickedly as any Man hath done in the World I was the greatest reader of Scripture that might be of a Man of my degree and a worse follower thereof there was not living For I did not read to be edified thereby nor to seek the Glory of God but contrariwise arrogantly to be Seditious and dispute thereof and privately to interpret it
vertue of Christ's Assistance after the words of Consecration are duly pronounced by the Priest the Natural Body of Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary is really present under the species of Bread and Wine As also his Natural Blood Secondly That after the Consecration there remains not the Substance of Bread and Wine nor any Substance but the Substance of God and Man Thirdly that the true Body of Christ and his Blood is offered for a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Quick and Dead Fourthly That the Supream Power of Feeding and Governing the Militant Church of Christ and of Confirming their Brethren is given to Peter the Apostle and to his lawful Successors in the See Apostolick as unto the Vicars of Christ. Fifthly That the Authority to handle and define such things as belong to Faith the Sacraments and Ecclesiastical Discipline hath hitherto ever belonged and only ought to belong unto the Pastors of the Church whom the Holy Spirit hath placed in the Church and not unto Lay-men These Articles they caused to be Engrâ—…ssed and so commended them to the Care and Consideration of the Higher House presented by Boner to the hands oâ—… the Lord Keeper Bacon by whom they were candiâ—…ly received But they prevailed no further with the Queen or House of Peers when imparted to them than that possibly they might help forwards the aforementioned Disputation It was on the Four and twentieth of June that that the 〈◊〉 Liturgy was to be officiated in all the Churches of the Kingdom In the performance oâ—… which service the Bishops giving no encouragement and many of the Clergy being backwâ—…d in it it was thought fit to put them to a Final Tâ—…st and either to bring them to Conformity or to bestow their â—…laces and 〈◊〉 on mâ—…re â—…actable Pâ—…sons The Bishops at that time were reduced into a narrowâ—… 〈◊〉 than at any other time befâ—… â—…ere being no more than Fifteen of that 〈◊〉 Order 〈◊〉 alive These being â—…alled by certain of the Lords of the 〈◊〉 were required to take the Oath of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Landaff only takes it who having â—…merly submitted to every Change resolved to shew himself no Changâ—…ing in not conforming to the pleasures of the Higher Powers By all the rest it was refused Whereupon they were deprived of their Bishopricks The Bishops being thus put out the Oath is tendred next to the Deans and Chapters and lastly to the rural Clergy Thus â—…r Heylyn It is here to be noted That during the forementioned Convocation there came from both the Universities a Writing signed by a publick Notary by which they both signified their concurrence to the aforesaid Articles only with a little alteration of the last But these Declarations and Protestations of the whole Representative Clergy and Universities were not like to signifie much since a Change of Religion was absolutely resolved on CHAP. V. Of an Ignorant and Illiterate Clergy and a medley of Calvinists introduced to Govern this New Church and of some other particulars concerning the Settlement of it Dr. Heylyn pag. 115. BY the Deprivations of these Persons and the death of so many in the last years sickness there was not to be found a sufficient number of Learned men to supply the Cures Which filled the Church with an Ignorant and Illiterate Clergy Whose Learning went no further than the Liturgy or the Book of Homilies but otherwise conformable which was no small felicity to the rules of the Church And on the otherside many were raised to great preferments who having spent their time of 〈◊〉 in such Forreign Churches as followed the Platform of Geneva returned so disaffected to Episcopal Government and unto the Rites and Ceremonies here by Law established as not long after filled the Church with most sad disorders not only to the breaking of the Bond of Peace but likewise to the extinguishing the Spirit of Unity And not to speak of private Opinions nothing was more considered in them than their zeal against Popery On which account we find the Queens Professor at Oxford to pass amongst the Non-Conformists though some-what more moderate than the rest And Cartwright at Cambridge to prove an unextinguished Fire-brand to the Church of England Wittington the chef Ring-leader of the Frankfort-Schismaticks preferred unto the Deanry of Durham From thence encouraging Knox and Goodman in setting up Presbytery and Sedition in the Kirk of Scotland Sampson advanced to the Deanry of Christ's-Church and within a few years after turned out again for an incorrigible Non-conformist Hardiman one of the first Twelve Prebends of the Church of Westminster deprived soon after for throwing down the Altar and defacing the Vestments of the Church The Pope being informed of these proceedings labours to Perswade the Queen from going on with these Alterations in Religion But that not succeeding She sent out by the Advice of her Council a certain Body of Injunctions the same in effect with those which had been published in the First of King Edward but more accommodated to the temper of the present time Nothing more singular in them than the severe course taken about Ministers Marriages But this was long since worn out of use and not much observed when it first came out As if it had been published only in way of Caution to make the Clergy-men more wary in the choice of their Wives rather than with any purpose of pursuing it to an Execution Concerning the Position of the Holy Table it was ordered thus by these Injunctions viz. That no Altar should be taken down but by over-sight of the Curate of the Church or the Church-wardens or one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at least wherein no riotous or disordered manners were to be used And that the Holy Table in every Church should be decently made and set in the place where the Altar stood and there commonly covered as thereto belonged and as should be appointed by the Visitors And so to stand saving when the Communion of the Sacrament was to be Administred At which time the same should be placed within the Quire or Chancel as whereby the Minister might be more conveniently heard of the Communicants in his Prayer and Administration and the Communicants also more conveniently and in more number Communicate with the said Minister And after the Communion done from time to time the said Table to be placed where it stood before By these Injunctions she made way for her visitation regulated by the Book of Articles By which Articles all Images were removed out of the Church and all the Roods and other Images which had been taken out of the Churches were burnt in St Paul's Church-Yard Cheapside and other places of the City And in some places the Copes Vestments Altar-cloths Books Sepulchers and Rood-lofts were burnt altogether Thus far Dr. Heylyn concerning the first progress of this Change of Religion established by Parliament A short Note conclâ—…g the Occurrences of this year I Will end the Occurrences of this year with the Relation of a
Out of this Church neither the Title of Christian secures any one neither doth Baptism confer Salvation neither doth any man offer a Sacrifice agreeable to God neither doth any man attain to Eternal Life For there is one only Church one only Dove one only Well-Beloved one only Spouse And again in his Book De Fide ad Petrum cap. 39. Hold this saith he most firmly and doubt not of it in any wise That every Heretick and Schismatick whatsoever Baptized in the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost if before the end of his Life he be not Reunited to the Catholick Church let him bestow never so many Alms yea though he should shed his Blood for the Name of Christ he cannot obtain Salvation Likewise St. Prosper says Lib. de Prom. Praedestinat Dei p. 4. cap. 5. He who does not Communicate with the Universal Church is an Heretick and Antichrist See Athanasius in the beginning of his Creed Whosoever expects to be saved must necessarily before all things Assent to and retain the Catholick Faith which unless he preserves intire and inviolate that is entirely submits to it without all question he will perish everlastingly And again at the end thereof thus This is the Catholick Faith which except a Man believe Faithfully he cannot be saved See St. Augustin writing upon this Beatitude Blessed are those that suffer Persecution for Justice Lib. 1. de Sermone Domini in Monte. It is not the suffering these Things saith he that makes men Blessed but the undergoing them for the Name of Christ not only with an equal mind but likewise with joy and much satisfaction For many Hereticks deceiving Souls under the name of Christians have suffered many of these things But they are therefore excluded from this reward of being Blessed because it is not here only said Blessed are those which suffer Persecution but it iâ—… further added for Justice Now where Faith is not sound and entire there can be no perfect Justice since the Just man lives by Faith Neither can Schismaticks promise to themselves any thing of this reward because likewise where there is no Charity there can be no Justice For the love of our Neighbor cannot design any thing that is evil or unjust against him Hence it is manifest that if they had such Charity they would not seek to rent and tear in pieces the Body of Christ which is his Church Likewise the same Father in his Fourteenth Sermon De verbis Domini proves in general against all Hereticks and Schismaticks That whatsoever in particular their opinions are yet since they profess otherwise than the Church does and requires of them to do they are in a damnable Estate because thereby they virtually renounce one Fundamental Article of Faith viz. of the Authority and Unity of the Catholick Church And therefore if they break Communion though but for one Doctrin and that of it self of no great importance their Orthodoxness in all other Points will not avail them wanting Truth and especially renouncing Charity and Obedience to the Universal Church Hereupon the same Father in Psal. 54. saith of the Donatists We have each of us one Baptism in This they were with me We celebrated the Feasts of the Martyrs in This they were with me We frequented the Solemnity of Easter in This they were with me But they were not in All Things with me In Schism they were not with me In Heresie they were not with me In many Things they were with me and in some few Things they were not with me But in those few Things in which they were not with me those many Things do not profit them in which they were with me So again the same Father speaking to the same Donatists Epist. 48. saith You are with us in Baptism in the Creed and in other Sacraments of the Lord But in the spirit of Unity in the bond of Peace and finally in the Catholick Church you are not with us To the same purpose writeth St. Cyprian in his Book De Unitate Ecclesiae One Church saith he the Holy Ghost in the Person of our Lord designeth and saith One is my Dove This Unity of the Church he that holdeth not doth he think that he holdeth the Faith He that withstandeth and resisteth the Church He that forsaketh Peters Chair upon which the Church was built doth he trust that he is in the Church When the Blessed Apostle St. Paul also sheweth this Sacrament of Unity saying One Body and one Spirit Ephes. 4. 4. Which Unity we Bishops especially that Rule in the Church ought to hold fast and maintain that we may prove the Bishoply Function also it self to be one and undivided And again in one of his Epistles Epist. 40. There is one God and one Christ and one Church and one Chair by our Lord's Voice founded upon Peter Another Altar to be set up or a new Priesthood to be made besides one Altar and one Priesthood is impossible Whosoever gathereth elsewhere scattereth It is adulterous it is impious it is sacrilegious whatsoever is instituted by mans Fury to the breach of God's Divine Disposition Get ye far from the contagion of such men and fly from their speeches as from a canker and pestilence Our Lord having premonished and warned us beforehand saying they are Blind leaders of the Blind Matt. 15. 14. St. Hilary likewise Libro ad Constant. August thus applieth this same place of the Apostle Ephes. 4. 4 5. against the Arians as we may do against the Calvinists Perillous and miserable it is saith he that there are now so many Faiths as Wills and so many Doctrins as manners whiles either Faiths are so written as we will or as we will so are understood And whereas according to one God and one Lord and one Baptism there is also one Faith we fall away from that which is the only Faith and whiles more Faiths be made they begin to come to that that there is none at all Noah's Ark is an acknowledged Type of the Church as it appears by St. Peter 1 Pet. 3. 20 21. Wherefore as All perished Temporally by the Deluge that were not in the Ark so all perished Eternally who are out of the Church Witness St. Cyprian whose words are these Cyprian lib de Unitat. Ecclesiae Whosoever separates himself from the Church is separated from the Promises of Christ. Whosoever forsakes the Church is an Alien an Enemy a prophane Person He cannot have God for his Father who will not have the Church for his Mother Could any escape drowning being out of the Ark So neither shall any one escape Damnation out of the Church They cannot abide with God who refuse to continue with one accord in his Church Though they be cast into the Fire and burnt though they be devoured by wild Beasts c. yet shall not that be any Crown of their Faith but a punishment of their perfidiousness Such an one may be killed he shall
Patriarchal Councils yea of Oecumenical Synods are called into Examination All their Laws so far as to them seemed meet reformed the whole regard that England had to all other Catholick Churches as a Member of the whole is utterly broken by one National Church Nay not so much By one Luxurious King By one Child and by one Woman Even when the whole Body of the Clergy protested against it Let the world now be judge Whether this Action can be justified Thus of the Schism of the Church of England CHAP. VII The Assertions of some Protestants concerning Church-Authority And of some of them concerning the Dignity and Authority of the Church of Rome SChism and Heresie being here so evidently demonstrated to consist in denying Obedience to Church-Authority it may seem strange to find any Protestants so much to their own condemnation to write any thing in defence of such Church-Authority and particularly of the Authority of the Church of Rome from which they have separated totally casting off all obedience to it But yet this they have done as will appear by these following Testimonies of some very Eminent amongst them See Sir Edwyn Sands in his Europae Speculum Numb 12. where he has this following Discourse of the Security in submitting to the Authority of the Church of Rome Which although he delivers in the Person of a Catholick yet it is without Reply or seeking to deny the Truth of any thing here said The Discourse then is this SInce Christianity is a Doctrin of Faith a Doctrin whereof all Men are capable as being in gross and in general to be believed by all and since the high Vertue of Faith is in the Humility of the Understanding and the Merit thereof in the readiness of Obedience to Embrace it and withal since of outward proofs of our Faith where the true sense of Scripture is disputed the Churches Testimony whether for declaring to us the sense of Scripture or the judgments of the Ancients is a proof of most weight What madness were it for any man to tire out his Soul and to wast away his Spirits in tracing out all the thorny paths of the Controversies of these days wherein to err is no less easie than dangerous what through forgery of Authors abusing him what through sophistry beguiling him what through passion and prejudice transporting him and not rather betake himself to the right path of Truth whereunto God Nature Reason and Experience do all give witness And that is to associate himself to the Church whereunto the custody of this Heavenly and supernatural Truth hath been from Heaven it self committed To weigh discreetly which is the true Church and that being once found to receive faithfully and obediently without doubt or discussion whatsoever it delivers Now to discover this let him reflect that besides the Roman Church and such others as are United with it he finds all other Churches to have had their end or decay long since or their beginning but of late This Church was founded by the Prince of the Apostles with a promise to him from Christ That Hell Gates should never prevail against it Matt. 16. 18. And that himself would be assistant to it to the Consummation of the World It hath now continued Sixteen hundred years with an Honorable and certain Line of near Two hundred and forty Popes Successors of St. Peter both Tyrants Traytors Pagans and Hereticks in vain wresting raging and undermining it All the Lawful general Councils that ever were in the World have from time to time approved and honored it God hath so miraculously blessed it from above that many Learned and wise Doctors have enriched it with their Writings Armies of Saints with their Holiness and Virtues Armies of Martyrs with their Blood and of Virgins with their Purity have sanctified and embellished it And even at this day in such difficulties of unjust Rebellions and unnatural Revolts of her nearest Children yet she stretcheth out her arms to the utmost corners of the World newly embracing whole Nations into her bosom Lastly in all other opposite Churches there are found inward dissensions and contrarieties change of opinions uncertainty of resolutions with robbing of Churches rebelling against Governors confusion of Order Whereas contrariwise in this Church there is the Unity undivided the resolutions unaltered the most heavenly Order reaching from the hight of all Power to the lowest of all Subjection all with admirable Harmony and undefective correspondence bending the same way to the effecting of the same work all which do promise no other than a continual encrease and victory Wherefore let no Man doubt to submit himself to this glorious Spouse of Christ. This then being accorded to be the true Church of God it follows that she be reverently obeyed in all things without further inquisition she having the warrant that he that hears her hears Christ and whosoever hears her not hath no better place with God than a Publican or Pagan And what folly were it to receive Scriptures upon the credit of her Authority and not to receive the interpretation of them upon her Authority also and credit And if God should not always protect his Church from Error and yet peremptorily command Men always to obey her then had he made very slender provision for the Salvation of Mankind which conceit concerning God whose care of us even in all things touching this transitory Life is so plain and evident would render us very ungratefully impious And hard were the case and mean had his regard been of the vulgar People whose wants and difficulties in this life and whose capacities will not suffice to sound the deep and hidden Mysteries of Divinity and to search the truth of intricate Controversies if there were not others whose Authority they might safely follow and rely upon Blessed are they who believe and have not seen Joh. 20. 29. The merit of whose Religious Humility and Obedience exceeds perhaps in honor and acceptation before God the subtle and profound knowledge of many others Thus Sir Edwyn Sands To the same purpose Dr. Jeremy Taylor in his Treatise of the Liberty of Prophesying These following Considerations says he may very easily perswade persons of much reason and more Piety to maintain that which they know to have been the Religion of their Fore-fathers which had actual possession and seizure of Mens minds and understandings before the opposite Professions had a name As first its Doctrin having had a long continuance and possession of the Church Which therefore cannot easily be supposed in the present professors to be a design since they have received it from so many Ages And it is not likely that all Ages should have the same purposes or that the same Doctrin should serve the several ends of divers Ages Secondly its long prescription which is such an advantage that it cannot with many Arguments be retrenched as relying upon these grounds to wit that Truth is more Ancient than Falshood and that God would not