were reformed in the last Age were Erroneous or Idolatrous than any supposed Irregularities that might be in the way of managing it can never blemish that Work. It is certain that all Rules are only for quiet times in the days of Peace and Order the transgressing of established Rules is without doubt a very censurable thing but this must not be applied to all times For tho in a setled time we know how much respect we owe to Judges and Ministers of State yet if these very Persons will go to set on a Rebellion and authorize it all that respect ought presently to be thrown off CHAP. II. Some general Considerations upon what is alledged of the uncanonical Proceedings in the Progress of our Reformation IT hath a very ill Grace to see a man of the Roman Communion talk so highly of the Obligation to obey the Canons of the Church so as almost to Vnchurch us upon some supposed Irregularities in our Reformation For what is the whole Constitution of the Papacy but one continued Contradiction to all the Ancient Cannons And what is the whole modern Canon Law but the Exaltation of the Papal Authority above all the Canons of the Church Is there any thing clearer in the Primitive times than the establishing the Authority of Metropolitans that was confirmed by the Council of Nice the equalling the Bishops of Constantinople to the Bishops of Rome which was done by the 2d and 4th General Council the establishing the Independency of those Churches that were in Possession of it and so freeing them from all Subordination to other Sees which was done by the 3d General Council And yet tho here we see the four first General Councils all concurring to establish this form of Government the Papal-power is no other than a breaking in upon all these Canons What is more uncanonical than the establishing Legatine Courts the receiving of Appeals the obliging of Bishops to sue for their Bulls in the Court of Rome the dispensing with all the Canons of the Church the exempting all the Regulars from Obedience to their Bishops which is not only contrary to the express Canon of the Council of Chalcedon but is plainly contrary to that Authority that Bishops derive from Christ to govern the Flocks committed to their care In short the whole System of the Church and Court of Rome is so direct a revolt from all the Primitive Canons that it is a degree of Confidence which I do not envy in our Author for him to talk of uncanonical Proceedings Canons are Rules established either by Provincial Synods or more General Councils which import no more but that they ought to be commonly observed for it is plain that there is no Church in the World that hath looked on the Canons of the former times as things so sacred and unalterable that they could never be dispensed with The Schism of the two Popes at Rome and Avignon and all that was done in consequence of it was uncanonical with a Witness and yet how was all that buried by the Council of Constanâ—â— And tho one of the two Obediences was certainly in a state of Schism yet all that was passed over and without any Submission of either side all was healed up The whole Constiution of Metropolitans with their Provincial Synods which was the ancientest and clearest of all the Primitive Rules arises only out of the several Divisions of the Provinces of the Roman Empire when then the Civil Constitution of all Europe is so much altered from what it was then all that Fabrick subsists now rather upon a respect to ancient Rules than from the Authority of those Canons which can no more remain the ground upon which they were built being now removed And one may as well pretend that we are bound to obey the old Roman Law or the Feudal Law because those Laws were once received amongst us as to tell us that we are bound to obey all the ancient Canons especially those that had a visible Relation to the Constitution of the Roman Empire Therefore the Subordination of Churches of Synods and Metropolitans and Patriarchs that was only the knitting into one Body and under several degrees of Subordination a Church that was all under one Civil Society and Empire hath sunk with the Roman Empire So that the tearing that Empire in pieces hath quite put an end to all that Ecclesiastical Subordination And if there is any thing of that yet kept up amongst us it is rather for the preserving of Order than that we are under any Obligation of Conscience to submit to such Constitutions And therefore as oft as a great Conjuncture of Affairs carries along with it considerations that are of more weight than the adhering to ancient Forms then all these may be well superseded For all Rules are temporary things and made according to several Emergences and Occasions which altering frequently it were a very unreasonable thing to expect that every Church should at all times conform it self to them And tho we condemn that Dissolution of all the Canons which the Church and Court of Rome hath brought into the World yet on the other hand we cannot acknowledg any such binding Authority in them that they can never be dispensed with The methods of those men with whom we deal are wonderful Now they reproach our Church with a Violation of ancient Canons and yet when we lay to their charge some of the Canons that their Councils have made in these later Ages such as those of the Lateran for the Extirpation of Hereticks and for the Pope's power of deposing Heretical Princes they tell us that great difference is to be made between the Decisions of the Church in the Points of Faith and the Decrees that are made in matter of Discipline since tho they assert an Infallibility in the one yet the other are transient things in which we ought not to admit of so absolute an Authority This is false with relation to Decrees that declare a Christians Duty or a Rule of Morality For Decrees in such matter do import an Article of Faith or Doctrine upon which they are founded And therefore a Church may indeed even in the Opinion of those who believe her Infallible err in a particular Judgment against such or such a Heretical Prince for that being founded on a matter of Fact she may be Infallible still even tho she were surprised in matters of Fact. But she cannot be Infallible if in declaring the Duty of Subjects towards Heretical Princes or of the Popes Authority in those cases she hath set Rules contrary to the Word of God. In such matters as these are I do acknowledg the Decrees of the Church are for ever Obligatory upon all those who believe her Infallible Therefore since our Author urges so much the Authority of the Canons I would gladly know what he thinks of these which are not I confess Ancient yet they were enacted by the Supream Authority of that Body
Independence upon any other superior Sees which was past Prescription We had likewise superior Councils justifying us in many of the Branches of our Reformation If we must seek the Sense of the Universal Church in her publick Liturgies then we have the Liturgies of the Greek Church for us in many other Points and the Corruptions of the Liturgies of the Roman Church were so gross that they themselves have been ashamed of a great many of them and have thrown them out tho a great many more remain still to be reformed And if the publick Liturgies are to be considered as the Standards of the Sense of the present Church as no doubt they are then all those Expositions and Representings that are now obtruded on us are to be thrown out of Doors and we must seek the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in her publick Liturgies The 5th Thesis That a Synod wanting part of a National Clergy unjustly deposed or restrained and consisting partly of Persons unjustly introduced and partly of Persons who have been first threatned with Fines Imprisonments and Deprivation in case of their Non-conformity to the Prince's Injunctions in matters merely Spiritual is not to be accounted a lawful National Synod nor the Acts thereof free and valid All this falls to the ground if the Reasons upon which such Persons were turned out were just And in that case such Vacancies may be justly filled But it is an impudent thing to found much on this when the number of those who were turned out was so very inconsiderable as it was in K. Henry's and K. Edward's time and if such a small terror as the loss of a Benefice is thought by our Author so dreadful a thing as it may be well judged by the operation it had upon himself for 25 years so that this derogates from the freedom of an Assembly then there never was any free even that at Nice not excepted For it is the same fear whether one is threatned with it before such a decision is made or if they knew that it must follow upon it Now this formidable business of losing a Benefice and a banishment upon the back of it was really the case of the Council of Nice since this was the condition of those who refused to subscribe their Definition So the Principle laid down by our Author taken from fear must either be false or this will annul all the Ecclesiastical Meetings that ever were The Sixth Thesis is That the Iudgment of the smaller part of the Clergy even tho the Metropolitan were of that number cannot be called the Iudgment of the Clergy of that Province and a Prince that follows the Directions of a few of his Clergy cannot be said to be guided by his Clergy but to go against it This is very true but yet Theodosius thought fit to give his Sanction to the Faith of two Bishops upon which all the Arrian Party might have as justly said that he acted against his Clergy for they were then by far the more numerous The Civil Power is bound to follow those whom they think are in the right and tho in common matters and in setled times it is fit to leave things to the majority yet if it is visible that the greater number is both ignorant and corrupt and that the matters under dispute are chiefly such things that are of great advantage to the Clergy both for encreasing their Wealth and for advancing their credit then the Secular Power hath just reason to be jealous of the greater number of the Clergy since Interest gives a mighty byass and their following the lesser number in such a case is very justifiable for humanely speaking it were impossible to find the greater number willing to go into such a change The Seventh Thesis is That tho Secular Princes had a decisive Power in such matters of Faith as are no ways formally determined yet in such Points as have been formerly determined no Secular Prince can define any such things contrary to those Councils or contrary to a National Synod It is not so much as pretended that a Secular Prince hath any Power to decide in matters of Faith whether they are already determined or not but as for the giving the Sanction of a Law and all secular encouragements a Prince must have a Judgment of Discretion by which he ought to determine himself for when he hath given his Sanction he hath made no sort of Decision in the matter which is neither more nor less to be believed than it was before but it is now become legal and all Princes must proceed in this matter according to the conviction of their Consciences It is not long since some of this Gentleman's Friends thought to have carried the King of the Abyssens to change the Doctrines and Rites of that Church upon the private suggestion of a few Missionaries against the whole Body of his Clergy upon which that Kingdom became a Scene of Rebellion and Bloodshed till the King himself grew to conceive a horror against those who had push'd him on so violently to overthrow the Laws and Establish'd Customs of that Church So that a Reformation effected by the King's Authority tho managed with ever so much fury and violence is yet driven on by these men when it is on their side and for their advantage The Eighth Thesis is That neither National Synod nor Secular Power can make any new Canons concerning the Government of the Church contrary to the Ecclesiastical Constitutions of former superior Councils nor reverse those formerly made by them This is such a crude Assertion that one would think that he who made it knew neither the History of Councils nor the nature of Canons and Constitutions which are all variable and are made upon such particular occasions as required them to be put in practice and another Scene of Affairs may make it as necessary to reverse them as ever it was to establish them The main subject of the Ancient Canons are Penitentiary Rules relating to the Censure of Offenders the Subordination of Churches founded on the division of the Roman Empire and the Duty and Behaviour of Church-men Of these the first is quite laid aside in the Church of Rome and by their means we were so accustomed to be without that Yoke that we have not been able to bring the World to it But we have never repealed these only we let them sleep too long The Second relating to the Constitution and the Subordination of Churches is quite sunk with the fall of the Empire for if a Town that was the Center of a Province to which it was easie to have recourse by Letters and to which the Road and Carriages were regularly laid and where the Civil Government was also exercised should after many ages either be separated from the rest of the Province falling under another Master or should become a poor and neglected Town it is a needless adhering to Ancient Custom to affert
the Civil and Temporal Heads of our Church XXIV He tells us that the Monks could not give away that which they had only for term of Life I know not how this comes to be delivered by our Author at a time when the surrender of so many Charters to the King hath been judged Legal though it was made by men who had no Title to these and who were so far from having a Right to them for Term of Life that they had only the Administration of them in an Annual Magistracy so that our Author had best consider how he advances such Positions lest he doth as much hurt one way as he thinks to do service another In a word our Author hath pleaded the Cause of the Monasteries and hath arraigned the Suppression of them severely tho as he said concerning the burning of Hereticks he would not be thought to plead for it in this place XXV He accuses King Henry for giving Dispensations in matters of Marriage against Ecclesiastical Canons and because he declared all Marriages to be lawful that were not against Gods Law Here if in any thing the perverseness of the Church of Rome appears or rather their design to oblige the World to have oft recourse to them to pay them well and to depend much on them they have prohibited Marriage in many degrees that were not forbid by the Law of God and to ballance this they have suffered Marriages to be contracted in the Degrees forbid by God for the Pope's Power of Dispensing is promoted both ways they have added a new Contrivance of Spiritual Kindred and as the Prohibitions that they have set up were unknown to the Ancient Church so the Degrees that they have declared dispensable were believed by the Ancient Church to be moral and indispensable And yet after all this corruption of Ecclesiastical Discipline they are in great wrath at the Reformers because they thought it was fit to return to the Degrees forbid by the Law of Moses and to cut off these superadded Prohibitions which were inventions to bring grist to that Mill where all things were to be had so men will come up to the Price There follow here a great many Instances in which King Henry exercised his Supremacy which our Author aggravates all he can But the Considerations that were proposed in the first Part seem fully to satisfie all the difficulties that can be thought to arise out of them XXVI He tells us that such of the Privy Council as complied not with the Changes made in King Edward's Days were turned out after some time and names Bishop Tonstal Wriothesly the Chancellor and the Earl of Arundel and he adds That the King had but one Parliament continued by Prorogation from Session to Session till at last it ended in the Death of the King. Here are Matters of no great Consequence I confess but these shew how careless our Author was in examining the Story of our Reformation and how easy he was to take up any Reports that might blast it It will not appear a very extraordinary thing to see Privy Counsellors turned out that do not concur with the Designs that prevail Some such things have possibly fallen out in our own Time and Men have no great cause to complain of a severe Administration when this is all the Rigour that is shewed to those who oppose themselves to the Tide But our Author was misinformed in all these Particulars Tonstal went along with all that was done and was contented to protest in Parliament against some Laws but as soon as they were made he gave a ready Obedience to them and continued to be still in the Council during the Duke of Somerset's Ministry Wriothesly was not turned out till after some time but immediately upon King Henry's Death he had past an illegal Patent upon which to prevent a severer Sentence he resign'd his Place but he continued still to be of the Privy Council And the Earl of Arundel continued to be of the Privy Council for many Years and long after fell to be in ill terms with the Duke of Northumberland and upon that an Enquiry was made into his Administration and he was fined 12000 Pounds But it is no wonder to find our Author mistaken in matters of this Nature when in so publick a thing as that King Edward had but one Parliament in his whole Reign he hath not been at the pains to turn over the Book of Statutes for there he would have found that King Edward's first Parliament was dissolved the 15th of April 1552 and a Second Parliament was called and opened the First of March following and was dissolved the last Day of that same Month. So that there were two Parliaments in this Reign and the Second was dissolved by an Act of the King 's and not by his Death I do confess these are not great Matters yet this may be drawn out of them that our Author who pretends to have examined the Transactions of that Time with so much exactness took things upon trust without giving himself the trouble to enquire into them so critically as was necessary for one that was resolved to pass a Judgment upon them XXVII He expostulates upon the Inhibition of preaching put upon the Bishops except in their own Cathedrals which agrees ill with the Censure that Fox passes upon them as Dumb Prelates And after this there was a general Inhibition on the whole Clergy hindring them to preach till a Uniform Order of Doctrine should be set out in which some Bishops and other Learned Men were then employed by the King's Order As for this Inhibition upon Bishops to preach except in their Cathedrals it is a Fiction of our Author's for which he can give no Voucher they were not so much as restrained from giving Licences to preach much less to preach themselves over their Diocess The second and general Restraint as it was but for a very short while so the Thing is very doubtful and stands only on Fuller's Credit who was too careless a Writer to be appealed to in any Matter of Consequence XXVIII Our Author cites here the Discourse of Communion in one kind which by all appearance is that lately writ by the Bishop of Meaux This shews that the Author and the Publisher is the same Person though others pretend that the Author is dead many Years ago But it seems the Publisher thought fit at least to add some new touches and since he did that he might have thought it worth the while to have examined at least the Records published by Dr. Burnet and his History it self might have been considered as well as Mr. Fullers and Dr. Heylins But since it seems our Author thought the Discourse of the Communion in one kind fit to be recommended by him I will take the liberty to recommend the Answer to it in French by Monsieur Larroque and that lately writ in English in which the disingenuity of the Discourse
a present Interest is the motive but it is a degree of impiety of which one would hope there are few men capable to lye so long and so solemnly both to God and man. But I come now to look a little more narrowly into the matter of this Treatise I will not at all engage my self to examine a great many Passages that are cited in it out of some of our Authors and in particular out of Dr. Heylin and Mr. Thorndike When we object to those of the Church of Rome some things out of Erasmus or Cassander or for Historical Matters when we cite P. Paul or Thuanus we know with how much neglect they put by these Authorities as if they were not concerned in them tho these Persons lived and dyed in the Visible Communion of their Church And I do not see why we may not take the same liberty with such Writers that tho they have been in Communion with our Church yet have it seems continued in it with some difficulty And it will not appear very strange if at the end of our civil Wars those Persons who saw the ill effects of some ill Principles very apparently were carried by the impressions which those Confusions made upon them to oppose those disorders by an over-bending of their notions to the other Extream For this is an excess to which the humane nature is so liable that it were a wonder if all Writers especially men of warm Tempers that had been sower'd by ill usage had been preserved from it so that I will wholly wave all that he cites from these or any others of our Authors and will come to the matters themselves CHAP. I. Of the Importance of those Matters Objected to the Reformation supposing them all true THE Disputes that we had with the Church of Rome were at first managed with more sincerity by our Adversaries than they have been of late They justified their Church in those Points for which we accused her and objected the strongest things they could to ours but when they felt their Cause too weak to be maintained by fair methods then they betook themselves to others that were indeed less sincere but yet were more apt to make impressions on weak minds In France and among us Three new Methods have appeared of late Years The First was to take off men from entring into the merits of the Cause and to prepossess them with such prejudices against the Reformation as might lead them to condemn it without examining To a discerning mind this method furnishes the strongest of all prejudices against those who use it this shews such a distrust of the Cause it self and it discovers it self so plainly to be a trick that it gives every man a just ground of indignation against those who fly to it Besides that it affords a good Plea to all men to continue in the Religion in which they were born and bred without hearkning to any new discoveries for if the Grounds upon which the Reformation was made were good it signifies little to an Enquirer into Truth whether this Work was set on foot and managed with all the exactness and regularity that might have been desired or not Truth is always Truth from what hand soever it comes and the right way to find it out is to free our minds from all prejudices that so we may examine matters with unprepossessed understandings A Second Method is to perswade the World that we have not yet understood one another that Popery hath only appeared odious because it was Misrepresented to the world in false colours but that it will be found to be quite another thing if it is truly represented The Bishop of Meaux had the honour to begin this piece of Legerdemain our men of the Mission here have too slender a stock of their own and therefore they give us the French Mode in Controversie as well as our Gallants do it in Cloaths so they have thought to do wondrous feats with this method of Representing but the want of sincerity of that Prelate in this as well as in other things hath been so evidently made out that if some men had not a secret that makes them proof against all discoveries he would be a little out of Countenance and our Representers here are so exposed that nothing is wanting for their conviction but a sense of that shame with which they have been covered it is indeed a strange piece of confidence in men to come and offer to convince the World That after Disputes of 150 years continuance neither side hath understood the state of the Controversie and tho the same Decrees of Councils and the same Forms of Worship are still received yet all these things must of a sudden so change their nature that in defiance of all that which upon other occasions they say in behalf of Tradition a new discovery should be made giving us new senses of all those things but whatsoever success that Book may have had where a plundering Army managed the Argument yet it is become now as ridiculous here as it is pretended to have been successful beyond Sea. A Third Method is the setting up the Credit of Oral Tradition not upon the Authority of some passages of Scripture but upon this general Topic that one Age must needs have delivered the same Faith to the succeeding Age that it had received from that which went before it and by consequence that we must have in the present Age the same Doctrine which the Apostles delivered at first 17 Ages ago It was found That the Authority of the Church could not well be founded on passages of Scripture for then we must be allowed first to believe the Scripture and its Authority and Genuineness and then to inquire into the meaning of those Passages and to examine to which of all the different Churches that are in the world they do belong Now it was apparent That if it were once allowed that we may carry our enquiries so far as to be able to settle our selves in these points then this Infallible Authority is not so necessary to us as they would make us believe since we are supposed to have found good Proofs for believing the Scriptures and for discovering the true meaning of the hardest passages in them without its help Now this would spoil all and throw out those Arguments that perswade us of the necessity of an infallible Judg both for our finding out and for our expounding the Scriptures they are now sensible of all this and see that it is a very false Method of arguing to prove the Scriptures by the Church when the Church must be first proved by the Scriptures and therefore they do betake themselves to the Infallibility of Oral Tradition founding it upon this General Topic That all the men of one Age must needs have instructed the following Age in the same Faith that they had received from the former Age and upon this a great many imaginary Impossibilities are
been extremely arrogant and obstinate and zealous beyond knowledg and tho they had suffered for a good Cause yet suffering for it on good or reasonable grounds as neither themselves being any way learned nor pretending the Authority of any Church nor relying on any present Teachers but on the certainty of their own private Judgment interpreting Scripture as you may see And here some Instances are given but if this Period will close it self it may for our Author who seldom takes care of such small matters leaves it in this unfinished condition I will not examine the truth of this Maxim but will only take notice that since all Protestants agree in this that the Ground of our Faith is that which appears to us to be the Sense of the Scripture our Author hath by this Limitation of his former gentleness towards us delivered us all over to the Secular Arm and so God have Mercy on our Souls for it is plain he will have none upon our Bodies XI He quarrels with the Privy-Council for imprisoning of Bonner because he said he would observe the Injunctions that were sent him if they were not contrary and repugnant to Gods Law and to the Statute and Ordinance of the Church the fault imputed here to him I suppose being that he refused to obey any Injunctions of the King when repugnant to the Statute and Ordinance of the Church But since he had a mind to blacken that time he might have as well said that they found fault with him because he promised to obey the Injunctions if they were not contrary to Gods Law and that thereby it appeared that they preferred their Injunctions to the Laws of God as well as to the Laws of the Church and by our Author 's taking no notice of the first Branch of Bonner's Exception it may be inferred That all his Concern is about the Laws of the Church and so they be secured he troubles himself little what becomes of the Law of God But if he had weighed this matter as he ought to do he would have found that this Exception is very ill grounded When a Form of a Subscription is demanded there is no Government in the World that will accept of one that indeed signifies nothing at all for it is visible that a Subscription made with those Reserves signifies nothing therefore if Bonner had acted as became his Character he should have directly refused the Subscription of such Injunctions as he found to be contrary to the Laws of God or to such Laws of the Church as he thought bound his Conscience But the Protestation he made gave a very just ground to the Government to proceed against him according to Law. XII Our Author intending to aggravate the Proceedings against Gardiner shews his great Judgment in setting down the Article relating to the Kings Supremacy at full length whereas he had only named the others for he could have invented nothing that must needs render all his Exceptions to the King's Supremacy more visibly unjust than this doth which is in these Words That his Majesty as Supreme Head of the Church of England hath full Power and Authority to make and set forth Laws Injunctions and Ordinances concerning Religion and Orders in the said Church for repressing all Errors and Heresies and other Enormities and Abuses so that the same Alteration be not contrary or repugnant to the Scriptures or Law of God. This was no other than what Gardiner had over and over again both by his Oaths and his Writings advanced and the restriction set on it was so just that one would think there lay no possible Exception to it Here there is no claim to the declaring what were Errors and Heresies but only to the repressing them and this is done by the Secular Arm even where men are burnt for Heresie Besides the Power that according to our Author belongs to the Pastors of the Church is either founded on the Scriptures or it is not if it is not founded on the Scriptures there is no great regard to be had to it but if it is founded on it then it it clearly excepted by the words of this Article so it is hard to see of what use this is to our Author unless it be to shew him his Injustice XIII He tells us That all that which had been done under King Henry and King Edward was Annulled by an equal Authority under Queen Mary But tho I acknowledg he was both the Soveraign and the Parliament yet there was neither Justice nor Moderation in the Charge now made equal to what had been done before A great deal might be said concerning the Election of the Members of Parliament and the Practices upon them and of the turning out a Multitude of the Clergy before the Laws were changed The Disorders and Irregularities in the Disputes had nothing of that fair Dealing in them that had appeared in King Edward's time and whereas all the Severity of King Edward's days was the Imprisoning of three or four Bishops and the turning out some of the other Clergy he knows well how matters went under Queen Mary So that we cannot be denied this Glory that a Spirit of Justice and Moderation appear'd at every time that the Reformation prevail'd Whereas things went much otherwise in this sad Revolution in which our Author Glories so much So that if the good or ill Behaviours of the several Parties as they had their turns in the Administration of Affairs furnishes a just Prejudice even in favour of the Cause it self we have this on our side as fully as we can wish for XIV He tells us That the Bishoprick of Durham was first kept void in King Edward's days and last of all it was by Act of Parliament dissolved to increase the Kings Revenue If our Author had examined the Records of Parliament he would have found that the Act that related to the Bishoprick of Durham did not at all propose the Increase of the Kings Revenue but the dividing of one Bishoprick into two and the raising and endowing of a new Cathedral Church all which must have risen to about Four thousand Marks of old Rents which considering how long Lands were let near the Borders did certainly very near exhaust the whole Revenue of that See. This is indeed of no great Importance to the main Cause For if sacrilegious Men went into the Reformation hoping to enrich themselves by it this is nothing but what falls out in all great Revolutions And it is plain our Author took up general Reports very easily that so he might make a Clamour with them against our Church But if some that gave an outward compliance to the Doctrine of our Church were really a Reproach to it he of all Men for a certain Reason ought not to insist on it Since we are no more accountable for the Duke of Northumberland's Actions than we are for his own XV. He tells us That the Bishops turned out