Bishop should be delayed then he should be Consecrated by two Bishops appointed by the King and then in the same Statute grants further that all recourse be forbidden to Rome and Archbishops and Bishops be Confirmed and Consecrated by Bishops to be assigned by the King Secondly Out of the Act of 8. Eliz. 1. made purposely to set forth the Authority next under God by which Matthew Parker and the other first Protestant Bishops in the beginning of the Queens Reign were made by reciting how they were made by the Authority of her Majesty and how she was authorized to that end by the aforesaid Statute of Henry VIII and the Statute of 1. Eliz. 1. in these words First It is well known to all the degrees of this Realm that the late King Henry the Eighth was as well by all the Clergy then of this Realm in their several Convocations as also by all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in divers of his Parliaments justly and rightfully recognized and acknowledged to have the Supreme Power Jurisdiction and Authority over the Ecclesiastical State of the same and that the said King did in the twenty fifth year of his Reign set forth a certain order of the Manner and Form how Archbishops and Bishops should be made c. And although in the Reign of the late Queen the said Act was repealed yet nevertheless at the Parliament 1. Eliz. the said Act was revived and by another Act they made all Jurisdiction Priviledges c. Spiritual and Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power or Authority hath hitherto been or lawfully may be used over the Ecclesiastical State of this Realm is fully and absolutely by Authority of the same Parliament mark by what Authority united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm mark here how she is made Pope and by the same Statute there is also given to the Queen mark Given Power and Authority by Letters Patents to Assign and Authorize such Persons as she shall think fit whether Clergy-men Lawyers Merchants Coblers or any other so they be naturally born Subjects of the Realm for the Statute requires no more to exercise under her all manner of Jurisdiction in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual Jurisdiction in this Realm Whereupon the Queen having in her order and disposition all the said Jurisdictions c. hath by her Supreme Authority caused divers to be duly made and consecrated Archbishops and Bishops according to such Order and Form and with such Ceremonies in and about their Consecration as were allowed and set out by the said Acts c. And further her Highness hath in her Letters Patents used divers special words whereby by her Supreme Authority she hath dispensed with all causes and doubts of imperfections or disability c. as is to be seen more aâ—… large in the same Act. In which you see declared by the Queen Matthew Parker himself and the whole Parliament That Matthew Parker the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury was made Archbishop as all the other Protestant Bishops in her time were by Authority of the Queen and that she had her Authority for it from the Statutes 25. Henry 8. 20. and 1. Eliz. 1. from whom all our Protestant Bishops since spring and descend and derive all the Power and Authority that they have From which you see clearly that Protestant Bishops have no Authority to teach Preach or to be Bishops but what originally they have from the Parliament Which is still more evidently confirmed by this Parliament now in being which in the year 1662. by the Act of Uniformity annulled the forementioned Forms of Ordination of Priests and Bishops as being deficient and appointed new ones by their own Authority So from the first to the last all the Protestant Priests and Bishops both heretofore and at this present are only Parliamentary Priests and Bishops and not so from Christ and his Church but only from their Kings Queen and Parliaments I must confess this present Parliament may easily answer the Parliaments of Edward the VI. and Queen Elizabeth why it hath lately altered the Form of Ordination instituted and used by them to wit because their Forms were null and invalid but what Authority either of them had to make alter or use any Form of Ordination or to give Power to Teach Preach Minister Sacraments or the like of themselves without Authority from Christ our Saviour there I must leave them to answer him From the Premisses I infer First That they being no Priests nor Bishops theirs is no Church as Mr. Mason and St. Jerom grant Secondly If no Church no part of the Catholic Church out of which and without whose Faith kept entire and inviolate no man can be saved as their own Common-Prayer-Book affirms Thirdly They can never eat the Flesh of Christ our Lord nor drink his Blood without which they cannot have life in them John 6. 54. Fourthly They commit a most hainous Sacriledge as often as they attempt to Consecrate or Minister the most Holy Sacrament having no such Power Fifthly They commit the like Sacriledge in presuming to hear Confessions or forgive Sins Sixthly All that Communicate with them and follow the same Religion are involved in the same sins so that the blind leading the blind they must necessarily both fall into the ditch of eternal perdition foretold by our Saviour Matth. 15. 14. Lastly It is to be noted that although I conceive I have clearly proved the Ordination and Iurisdiction of their Priests and Bishops to be invalid by every argument I have used to those ends yet to my purpose it is sufficient to have proved it by any one For as to prove a man to be a Thief or Forger it is sufficient to prove he has stoln one Horse or forged one Deed to hang him for the one or set him on the Pillory for the other so to prove by one argument alone that they are no Priests nor Bishops nor have any Iurisdiction is sufficient to prove them guilty of Sacramental Forgery and by that means of deluding and stealing away innumerable souls A VINDICATION OF THE ORDINATIONS OF THE Church of ENGLAND In answer to the former Paper THis Paper which you sent me being only a Repetition of those Objections which were long ago refuted by Master Mason with great learning and judgment and more lately by the most Ingenious Lord Primate of Ireland D. Bramhall there needs nothing else be said to it but only to refer the Reader to those learned and solid Writings on this Subject The same Plea was again taken up by the Writers of two little Books published since his Majesties Restauration entitled Erastus Senior and Erastus Iunior which was thought so unreasonable even to some of that Communion that one of the learnedst Priests they had in England did answer them and though he did not adventure on saying our Ordination was good and valid knowing how ingrateful that would have been to
Pool to have been a righteous Arch-Bishop and so confesses Catholick Ordination and Jurisdiction to be lawful valid and good which was necessary by the Laws of England as appears from her Mandate in which she supplies any Defects they might have been under Now all the Authority the Queen had flowed from the Parliament which annexed all Jurisdiction Spiritual or Temporal over the Ecclesiastical State of this Realm to the Crown by which they made her Pope So that by the very words of the Act Matthew Parker had his Jurisdiction from the Queen and she hers from the Parliament Therefore the Protestant Priests and Bishops are only Parliamentary Priests and Bishops and are not from Christ and his Church but from their Kings Queen and Parliaments Here is such a heap of things so unjustly and weakly said that it must needs grieve all honest men to see a company of Priests going up and down the Kingdom studying to abuse weak and unlearned persons with such disingenuous Stories or Writings Which I hope will appear more fully if you consider the following particulars First It is certain that King and Parliament have the Supream Legislative Authority in this Realm and this they have from the Laws of God Nature and Society confirmed by the Gospel which commands us to be subject to the Higher Powers Therefore whatever they Enact that is within the Limits of their Jurisdiction is Law and if it be not sinful is to be obeyed if it be sinful it is to be submitted to For instance if they set up a false Religion by Law it does not make it a true Religion but adds the sanction of Law and is the civil Warrant and Security for the Subject therefore the Civil Power cannot change the nature of things to make Good Evil or Evil Good but only gives Authority and Security and in this they are restrained in things Civil as well as Spiritual for if they make unjust Laws in Civil things the case is the same with their unjust Laws about Spirituals Therefore it is to be concluded as the Fundamental Maxim of Civil Government that whatever may be done lawfully and without Sin ought to be done when the Supream Civil Authority commands it and that the Subjects ought to obey Secondly Whosoever is empowered by the King and Parliament to execute this their Supream Authority has a full Right and Title to apply that Power so given or committed to him having the execution of that Law put in his hands and if any shall without their Warrant or Authority from them usurp or assume any sort of Power or Jurisdiction within this Kingdom they are Intruders and Usurpers and the success they have in it does no more justifie that Force than a Robber's does his Title to Goods unjustly taken And although some weak Princes in hard times did yield it up to the Pope yet both the Clergy themselves and the Parliaments did often assert their own Authority which was most eminently done by King Edward the First and King Edward the Third So that the Popes power here had no just Title but was a violent Invasion for that they neither had it from Christ nor Saint Peter nor by any Decree of General Councils and that for 800 years after Christ it was never allowed them that they never had it in the Eastern Churches and that what they had in the Western Churches was only extorted by force and fraud from the Princes and States of Europe and that they had no Law for it in England are things so certain that for proof of this I shall refer my self to the Writers of their own Church De Marca Launoy and Balusius with many others And at this very day the Pope has neither more nor less power in the other Kingdoms of Europe than the Connivence of Princes or the Laws give him Therefore the Pope had no power in England but what was unjustly usurped from the King and Parliament Thirdly When the Supream Authority the King and Parliament have long endured an Encroachment upon them that gives no just Title to it nor hinders them from asserting their own Rights when they find a fit opportunity for it and neither devests them of their Authority nor the Subjects of their due Rights and Freedoms Therefore the Government of the Kingdom and all the exercise of coercive Jurisdiction being inseparably annexed to the Supream Authority it was incumbent on them to shake off all Forrein Jurisdict they should have done it sooner but could never do it too soon Fourthly The King and Parliament asserting their Authority in this Particular and condemning the Popes Usurpations they might commit the execution of it to whom they would Therefore they putting it into the Queens hands and her Successors she had a good Right to exercise it having a Law for it This then being annexed to the Imperial Crown of the Realm by the Supream Authority of King and Parliament the King hath the power of exercising it fully and only in his hands and is to be obeyed in all his Injunctions that are not sinful by the Laws of the Supream Authority in this Kingdom which comes from God and is confirmed by the Gospel Fifthly Though the power of the Ministers of the Gospel comes only from Christ yet the exercise of that Power and this or that person being put in this or that Living or Preferment and having the right to the Tythes and all the Jurisdiction of the Spiritual and Prerogative Courts being things not appointed in the Gospel the King having the Supremacy over the Ecclesiastical State does not exceed his Limits when he reserves to himself such power that no person shall be vested with the Legal Authority for those things but by his knowledg or upon his Order It is true he cannot make a man a Bishop or a Priest nor can he take away Orders for if Bishops should Ordain or Consecrate without or against his pleasure he may proceed against both the Ordainers and Ordained and can hinder their exercising any Function in his Dominions by Banishing or Imprisoning them but â—…he cannot destroy or annul their Orders So that the power of Ordination comes from Christ and has a Spiritual Effect whatever opposition the King may make but the exercise of that power must be had from him If the King commands an Heretick or a Scandalous person to be Elected or Ordained Churchmen may well demur and offer their reasons why they cannot give Obedience not for the want of Authority in the King but because the matter is Morally evil As they must also do if the King should command them to commit Theft or Murther So that all Consecrations in this Land are made by Bishops by the power that is inherent in them only the King gives orders for the execution of that their power Therefore all that the Queen did in the Case of Matthew Parker and the Kings do since was to command so many Bishops to exercise a power they
was not so much as disputed but when they grew insolent and factious it was declared by the General Council of Chalcedon that they were and ought to be subject to their Bishops and so it continues in the Greek Church to this day The same was also decreed in some Western Councils but when the Order of the Benedictines grew very considerable and many persons of Quality retired into it and it became a great piece of Religion to build and inrich Abbeys then the Founders moved their Kings to obtain Priviledges for them from their Bishops for the most ancient of these that I have met with is the Exempof the Abbey of St. Denis granted by the Bishop of Paris the next to that is the exemption of the Abbey of Corbie granted by the Bishop of Amiens which presidents were soon followed by a great many others By these Grants the Bishops did renounce their share of the Revenues of the Abbey of which according to the Ancient Division the fourth part did belong to the Bishop and for the further quiet of those Religious Houses the Bishops did exempt them from all Visitations and gave up the power they had over them wholly to the Abbot and these exemptions which at first were only for the Monasteries were afterwards extended further to all the Lands and Churches that belonged to the Abbeys of which some were exempted from the Visitations of the Arch-Deacons and the Bishops Vicars others were also exempted from the Bishops visiting in person But the Popes from the 8th Century downwards finding how much Abbeys wese enriched and it being a grateful thing in all places to favour the Monks they granted them fuller and larger Priviledges they gave many Abbots a right to a Miter and a Staff and declared them Prelates And the truth of it was the secular Clergy were for the most part both so ignorant and so corrupt that it was no wonder if all the World favoured the Monks whose vices being committed within their Cloysters were not so notorious and did not occasion so much scandal as the disorders of the Clergy did which were more publick And the very name Religious or Regular which the Monks took to themselves and the name Secular with which they loaded the Clergy did them great service for in ignorant Ages specious Titles and ill sounding Names affect the Vulgar mightily And the Monks of the Order of St. Austin being also possest of most of the Prebends from whence they were called Canons Regular those Chapterâ—… had exempted Iurisdictions given them From hence sprung all the peculiar Exemptions that are among us for in the suppressing of the Monasteries the Bishopâ—… were not fully restored to their Ancient Iurisdiction so that those Exemptionâ—… do still continue from whence the most scandalous disorders in our Clergy have risen So much are they mistaken who complain of the Episcopal Jurisdiction since the foulest Enormities among us flow from the want of it and from a Corruption brought in by the Popes which is not yet sufficiently purged out These Monasteries were so many separated and independent Congregations which did chose their own Pastors and this only difference in the point of Government is between our Modern Independents and them that these will depend on none in the rules of their Policy but upon Christ alone without acknowledging any superior Iurisdiction or Subordination and those did depend on Christ's Vicar without submitting to any other Authority But the Popes designing to subject the Episcopal Authority wholly to themselves used another Method toward that end which was to raise the Dignity of the Abbots very high and whereas by the Primitive Canons three Bishops were to concur in the Consecration of a Bishop the Popeâ—… brought in a custom of allowing two Mitered Abbots to assist a Bishop in those Consecrations which is acknowledged both by Binnius and Bellarmine And this with the Title Prelate and the use of the Miter and the Pastoral Staff raised them to an equality with the Bishops This was not all they were next brought to sit in General Councils Originally Abbots were but Laymen but now they must all be Priests yet it was never before heard of that Priests did sit in Oecumenical Councils It is true the Rural-Bishops or Chorepiscopi did subscribe the Canons of the Council of Nice and other General Councils but whatever Morinus and some others have said to prove that they were no more than Priests yet if it were not an impertinent Digression â—… think it could be easily made appear that they were Bishops so that it is most certain that no Priests did subscribe and siâ—… in General Councils for many Ages in their own Names for what they did by Proxy from their Bishops has no relation to this matter But when the Popes were setting up their Monarchy in the West they resolved to ballance the Votes of the Bishops by bringing in Abbots to vote in their General Councils who were obliged by their Interest to support the Exaltation of the Papal power and suppressing of Episcopal Iurisdiction In the first General Council that was held by Calistus the second in the Latâ—…ran Sugerius who was present says there were 300 and more Bishops but Pandulphuâ—… says there were present 997. partly Bishops partly Abbots so that above 600. of these must have been Abbots In the third Council of Lateran we hear of none but Bishops but to make amends for that the Writs that summoned the fourth Council of Lateran were sent to Abbots as well as to Bishops and a vast number of them came The Writs for the second Council of Lions were issued out not only to Abbots but to inferior Prelates by Pope Gregrory the Tenth and Aquinas and Bonaventure being then in great esteem were also called to that Council though they were only Friers But Pope Clement the Fifth took care to have a full Assembly when he called the General Council at Vienna for the Writs were not only to Patriarchs Primates Metropolitans Arch-Bishops Bishops and Abbots as had been done before but to all Priors Deans Provosts Archdeacons Archpriests and all other Prelates of Monasteries and Churches exempted and non-exempted And thus the Popes were sure to carry things in such Assembles as they pleased And it is no unpleasant thing to observe what were the Contests between the Popes and the Bishops which are plainly the same and have been managed by the same Arts and Intrigues that the Contests in Political matters between Prerogative and Privilege have been For near five Ages the matter was contested by the Prelates but the power of the Abbots and the other exemptions of the Deans and Chapters did much weaken the Bishops Authority and the Secular Princes did joyn with the Popes to bear down the Bishops who having great Revenues did generally joyn with the People for the asserting of publick Liberty But the Popes gave them up as Sacrifices to
Booksellers Shop authorized and commanded in the Act of Uniformity made 1662. to be only used to St. Bartholomew ' s Day of that Year and that other Enacted to be only used from thenceforward and Printed in the Common-Prayer-Books of Cathedral Churches out of which I have found it hard to be got the Bishops as most think suppressing it for shame and leaving it only in those places where it was necessary to be made use of and not permitting it to be otherwise dispersed abroad although the Act of Uniformity which made it commands upon forfeiture of 3 l. for every Month after St. Bartholomew's Day 1662. that every Church Chappel Collegiate Church College and Hall should have a true printed Copy of it Thus I hope I have fully proved that the Church of England has no true Priest or Bishop for want of Ordination Now I shall also show that they have no Iurisdiction or Authority to Teach Preach exact Tythes inflict Censures to be Pastors or to exercise any Ecclesiastical Function whatsoever from Christ but only from the Parliament and my third Conclusion is That Protestant Ministers and Bishops have no Power to Preach c. from Christ but only from the Parliament This I prove because they have no more Power than the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker had who was the Chief and from whom as it were the Conduit of all Iurisdiction was derived to the rest That he had no such Power or Iurisdiction I prove first because they that Confirmed and Consecrated him had no such Power to confer upon him of themselves to wit William Barlow late Bishop of Bath and Wells now Elect of Chichester John Scory late of Chichester now Elect of Hereford Miles Coverdale late of Exeter and John Hodgskins Bishop Suffragan who were none of them actual Bishops of any See but two Elect only and another quondam only and so had no actual Iurisdiction at all the fourth only Suffragan to Canterbury and who had no Iurisdiction but what he had from the Arshbishop of Canterbury much less Authority to give him Iurisdiction over himself and all the Bishops in the Land as the other three had no Power at all to give him much less so transcendent an one because none can give what he has not Secondly Because they had their sole Power from the Queen and she besides the incapacity of her Sex had no Power of her self but only according to the Statutes in that case provided as appears by her Letters Patent yet extant and to be seen in the Rolls in these words Elizabetha Regina c. Elizabeth Queen c. To the Reverend Father in Christ William c. Whereas the Archiepiscopal See of Canterbury being lately void by the natural death of my Lord Reginal Pool Cardinal the late and immediate Archbishop and Pastor of it at the humble Petition of the Dean and Chapter of our Cathedral and Metropolitan Church in Canterbury called Christs Church we did by our Letters Patents grant Licence to them to choose to themselves another for Archbishop and Pastor of the See aforesaid and they have chosen Matthew Parker c. We have given our Royal assent and favour to the said Election and we signifie this to you by the tenor of these presents requiring and by the fidelity and love wherein you are bound to us firmly enjoyning commanding you that you or four of you effectually Confirm the said Matthew Parker Archbishop and Pastor Elect of the said Church and Confirm the said Election and Consecrate him Archbishop and Pastor of the said Church and do all other things which in this behalf are incumbent on your Pastoral Office according to the Form of the Statutes in this case made and provided Out of which words first I note that the Queen here and all the Clergy with her acknowledge Cardinal Pool the true and rightful Archbishop of Canterbury by which they own Catholic Ordination and Iurisdiction to be valid lawful and good Secondly I note and confirm the main assertion That the Queen knowing the Common Law and ancient Laws of the Kingdom required the Authority Consent and Commission or Bull of the Pope to empower the Confirmers and Consecrators of the Archbishop of Canterbury as the only Superior of that See and withal that he would not grant and give it to make a Protestant Archbishop she by her Supreme Authority as Head of the Church of England not only authorized them that were to Confirm and Consecrate him but also Pope-like supplied all defects whether in Quality faculty or any other thing wanting and necessary in the Consecrators for that performance by the Laws of the Church or Kingdom for so it followed in the same Patent Supplying nevertheless by our Supreme Regal Authority if any thing in you or any of you or in your condition state or faculty to the performance of the Premisses is wanting of these things that by the Statutes of our Realm or the Ecclesiastical Laws in this behalf are requisite or necessary which she therefore supposed and knew well enough to be necessary and wanting for otherwise it had been in vain for her to supply them the condition of the time and necessity of things requiring it By which you see they could do neither of these Acts of Confirming or Consecrating him Archbishop of Canterbury without her Commission which was not only necessary to empower them but also to dispense with them and make their Acts valid non obstante notwithstanding the Laws of the Land That these Letters Patents Authorized them is clear out of the Instrument of his Confirmation to be seen in the Records at Lambeth in their own words following In the name of the Lord Amen We William Barlow Iohn Miles c. by the Queens Commissional Letters specially and lawfully deputed Commissioners c. by the Supreme Authority of the Queen to us in this behalf committed confirm the said Election of Matthew Parker c. supplying by the Supreme Authority of the Queen to us delegated if any thing be wanting in us or any of us or in our Condition State or Faculty to the performance of the Premisses of these things that by the Statutes of the Realm or the Ecclesiastical Laws in this behalf are requisite or necessary c. as above And whereas the Popes Commission or Bull used to be produced by authority of which all Archbishops of Canterbury were Consecrated and their Election confirmed Now in place of that says the Act of it upon Parker's Records Proferebatur Regium Mandatum pro ejus Consecratione The Queens Mandate or Commission for Consecrating him was produc'd as the Authority for what they did Lastly I prove that the Queen had her Authority from the Parliament First from the Statute 25. Henry 8. cap. 20. where the Parliament repeats out of another Act made that present Parliament That if any Elected by the King and presented to the See of Rome to be Archbishop or
the occasions of Cavilling is neither a change nor an annulling our former Orders Secondly The change of the Form of Consecration does not infer an annulling of Orders given another way for then all the Ordinations used in the Primitive Church are annulled by the Roman Church at this day since the forms of Ordination used by them now were not used in the former Ages and the Forms used in the former ages are not looked on by them now to be the Forms of Consecration but are only made parts of the Office and used as Collects or Anthems and yet here is a real change which by their own Principles cannot infer a nullity of Orders given before the Change made Thirdly If the addition of a few explanatory words invalidates former Orders then the adding many new Rites which were neither used by Christ nor his Apostles nor the Primitive nor Eastern Churches will much more invalidate former Orders especially when these are believed to be so essential as that they confer the power of consecrating Christ's Body and Blood and of offering Sacrifices and were for divers Ages universally looked on in that Church to be the Matter and Form of Orders as was already observed of the Rite of giving the Sacred Vessels with the words joyned to it which Pope Eugenius in express words calls the matter of Priestly Orders and the words joyned to them the Form in his Decree for the Armenians in the Council of Florence and even the Form he mentions is also altered now for the celebrating Masses are not in the Form he mentions but are now added to that part of the Office in the Roman Church Let the Pontifical be considered in the Ordination of Priests we find the Priestly Vestiments given both the Stole and the Casula then their hands are anointed then the Vessels of the Sacrament are delivered to them with words pronounced in every of those Rites besides many other lesser Rites that are in the Rubrick In the Consecration of a Bishop his head is Anointed then his hands then his Pastoral Staff is blessed and put in his hands next the Ring is blessed and put on his singer then the Gospels are put in his hands then the Mitre is blessed and put on his head next the Gloves are blessed and put on his hands and then they seâ—… him on his Throne Besides many lesser Rites to be seen in the Rubrick Now with what face can they pretend that our adding a few explanatory words can infer the annulling all Orders given before that addition when they have added so many material Ceremonies in which they place great significancy and vertue Is not this to swallow a Camel and to strain at a Gnat and to object to us a Mote in our eye when there is a Beam in their own eye Fourthly This Addition was indeed confirmed by the authority of Parliament and there was good reason to desire that to give it the force of a Law but the authority of these changes is wholly to be derived from the Convocation who only consulted about them and made them and the Parliament did take that care in the Enacting them that might shew they did only add the force of a Law to them for in passing them it was Ordered that the Book of Common-Prayer and Ordination should only be read over and even that was carried upon some debate for many as I have been told moved that the Book should be added to the Act as it was sent to the Parliament from the Convocation without ever reading it but that seemed indecent and too implicite to others and there was no change made in a Tittle by the Parliament So that they only Enacted by a Law what the Convocation had done As for what he adds that the Book of Ordination is not to found in every Edition of the Common-Prayer-Book with his gloss upon it that most think the Bishops for shame suppress it Really the Writer of this Paper must pardon me to say it seems he has no shame that can set down in writing such a disingenious Allegation Pray who are these most that think so Most in our Language stands for the greater part now how many can he find that agree with him in this Gloss I doubt very few for I am sure not all his own Party and not one of ours So that upon a Calculation those Most think will be found to be no more but himself and a very few ignorant persons on whom he has imposed this conceit Every body knows that when a Book is once printed by publick Authority and universally sold in the Shops those in Authority cannot out of shame study to suppress it But the use of the Book of Ordination not being so universal as are the other Offices of the Church the Stationers and Printers who do chiefly consider their Interest in the ready sale and vent of Books do not print so many of them as of the other there being at least 500 that use the Common-Prayer for one that needs the other and a Common-Prayer-Book without it will sell cheaper than with it therefore a great many Copies have it not This is not as Most think but as every body knows the true reason why in many Copies of the Common-Prayer-Book the Ordinal is wanting Let him name one Bishop that would not permit it to be dispersed abroad or let him be looked on as a bold and impudent Slanderer Thus far I have followed this Paper in the two first Conclusions and now I come to the Third which is That Protestant Ministers and Bishops have no power to Preach c. from Christ but only from the Parliament And this he proves because they have no more power than the first Protestant Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Matthew Parker had from whom all Jurisdiction was derived to the rest Now he had no power from Christ for first They that Consecrated him had no such Jurisdiction being no actual Bishops two of them were only Elect and not actual Bishops and a third only a quondam Bishop but had no actual Jurisdiction and a fourth was a Suffragan Bishop to Canterbury who had no Jurisdiction but what he had from the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury much less Authority to give him Jurisdiction over himself and all the other Bishops of the Land because none can give what he has not This I must confess is such a piece that no man can read it but he must conclude the Writer of it has no sort of Ecclesiastical Learning or else has very little Moral honesty I need not tell him that Matthew Parker was not the first Protestant Arch-Bishop of Canterbury he knows Arch-Bishop Cranmer was both a Protestant and Arch-Bishop of Canterbury but this may be easily passed over there being more material Errors in this period And First Does he believe himself when he says that none can instal a Bishop in a Jurisdiction above himself Pray then who invests the Popes with their Jurisdiction Do not
the Cardinals do it and are not they as much the Popes Suffragans as Hodgskins was Canterburiâ—… So that if inferiors cannot invest one with a superior Jurisdiction then the Popes can have none legally since they have theirs from the Cardinals that are inferior in Jurisdiction This also holds in all the Patriarchal Consecrations For Instance when Iohn commonly called Chrysostome a Priest of Antioch was chosen Patriarch of Constantinople and Consecrated by the Bishops of that Province according to the Canons if there be any force in this Argument it will annul his Orders as well as Arch-Bishop Parker's for the Writer must needs see the case is parallel Secondly Or if he insists upon their being Elect to others Sees and that one of them had no See at all Let me ask him if when St. Athanase was banished out of Alexandria and others thrust in his place or when Liberius was banished out of Rome and Felix whom they acknowledg a righteous Bishop put in his place they had ordained Priests and Bishops had these Orders been null because they were violently thrust out of their Sees Certainly Persecution and Violence rather makes the glory of Ecclesiastical Functions shine more brightly but cannot be imagined to strip them of their Character and to disable them for exercising the Offices of their function Thirdly There are two things to be considered in the consecration of a Primate the one is the giving him the Order of a Bishop the other is the investing him with the Jurisdiction of a Metropolitan for the former all Bishops are equal in Order none has more or less than another therefore any Bishop duly Consecrated how mean soever his Diocess be is no less a Bishop than the greatest the Bishop of Man is a Bishop as well as the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury so that the Consecrators of Matthew Parker being Bishops by their Order they had sufficient power and authority to Consecrate him By which it appears there can be no question made of his being truly a Bishop And as for his Jurisdiction Two things are also to be considered the one is The Jurisdiction annexed to that See The other is his being rightly cloathed and invested with it For the former it cannot be denied but the Jurisdiction of Metropolitans Primates and Patriarchs has no Divine Institution for all that any Bishop has by divine Institution is to seed the flock of his own Diocess but the Canons and practice of the Church and the Civil Laws have introduced a further Jurisdiction over the Bishops of a District or Province this did rise by Custom upon the division of the Provinces of the Roman Empire and was settled over the World before any general Council did meet to make Decrees about it And therefore the Councils of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon only approved what they found practised and confirmed some new Divisions of Provinces that were made by the Emperors and so the Kings in the Western Church did first give those Preheminences to some Towns and Sees for the original Dignity of Sees rose out of the Dignity of the Towns which appears clearly in all the Patriarchats chiefly in that of Rome and Constantinople This is a thing so fully inquired into by many but chiefly by the most Learned Petrus de Marca Arch-Bishop of Paris that I need say no more of it And the Dignity of the See of Canterbury was from King Ethelbert who first Erected that See It is true the Popes did afterwards usurp a new Jurisdiction over all Churches they took upon them to Judg of the Dignity of all Sees to send the Pall to have reserved Cases to grant Exemptions to the Regulars with many other Encroachments on the Episcopal Jurisdiction which has been very fully inquired into not only by Protestant Writers but by many of the Roman Communion chiefly those of the Gallicane Church and many of the Bishops at the Council of Trent studied to recover their Liberties that were troden under foot by the Court of Rome but the Intrigues and cunning of that Court were too hard for them The other thing in Episcopal Institution is the Installing or Inthroning the Metropolitan that this was always done by the Bishops of the Province is a thing so clear in Antiquity that I am sure no man ever questioned it Was not the famous Decision of the Council of Ephesus in the case of the Cypriotic Bishops a full proof of this when upon the pretension of the Patriarch of Antioch the thing was examined and it was found that he had never used to Ordain Bishops there and therefore the Rites of the Bishop of Constantia the Metropolitan were confirmed to him by that General Council nor can one Instance be shewed in the first three Ages of a Metropolitan coming to be Ordained by a Patriarch as was afterwards for Orders sake appointed And this appears more evidently by a Canon of the Council of Orleans where it was decreed That in the Ordination of Metropolitans the Ancient Custom should be renewed which was generally neglected and lost that a Metropolitan being Elected by the Bishops of the Province with the Clergy and the People should be Ordained by all the Bishops of the Province met together This was Anno 538. By which we see they thought not of any Bull or Confirmation from Rome but that Bishops though subject to the Metropolitan's Jurisdiction might Ordain him It is true afterwards the Patriarchs chose the Metropolitans but the Patriarchs were either chosen or at least confirmed by the Emperor and though they sent Circulatory Letters to the Pope and the other Patriarchs to confirm their Elections which the Bishops of Rome did likewise to them this was only for keeping up the Unity of the Church and for a more friendly and brotherly Correspondence but was not of necessity or as an homage which they owed the Pope much less did they delay their Consecrations till they obtained his Mandate or abstain from any Act of Jurisdiction till they had his Confirmation as is now appointed by the Pontifical till they get the Pall. I have not given you the trouble of enlarging on many Proofs for making these things out for they are so clear and uncontested that I am confident no man is so disingenuous as to deny them under his hand whatever some may whisper among illiterate persons who cannot contradict them And though there has been so much already written to make those particulars out that more needs not and indeed cannot be said yet if these things be questioned by any body I shall make them out fully And now I come to his Second Argument which is That Matthew Parker and all the other Protestant Bishops since his days had his power of Jurisdiction only from the Queen as appears by the Queens Letters Patents and the Form of his Ordination which was done upon the Queens Mandate without any Bull from the Pope in which she acknowledges Cardinal
fulfilled which was the rule of the Primitive Church Absolution was granted immediatly upon Conâ—…ession without more ado as Arnaud has fully discovered to the world Certainly every body that considers these things must discern what merchandise the Roman Clergy have made of the power of the Keys to make themselves Masters of all mens secrets and of their Consciences then was the necessity of secret Confession set up tho there be nothing in Scripture that favours it any places that look that way being only meant of Confessing our Faults to those against whom they are Committed or of a publick Confession in the Cases of publick Offences Nor can it be pretended with any Colour of truth or reason that the Primitive Church did set up or Authorise Confession in any other way than as our Church does recommending it only as an excellent mean towards the quieting the Conscience and the avoiding of all Scruple and Doubtfulness Penitence is also a mean for humbling the sinner more for possessing him with deeper apprehensions of the guilt and evil of sin and of the Iustice of God and for ingaging him to more diligence and watchfulness for the future and by these Rules all the Primitive Discipline was contrived and managed that it might be a wholsome Medicine for the reforming the World and every honest Priest ought to consider these as the end he must drive at in all his dealings with Penitents and for this end the Absolution is to be withheld till it appears that the person is truely penitent and that both for the Priests sake that he may not give the Comforts of the Gospel nor make use of his Ministerial power of loosing sins without good grounds and also for the sinners sake that he may be kept under the fear of the wrath of God and be excluded from the comfortable Priviledges of the Christian Church till he had given some convincing proofs that he is a penitent indeed For if he be freed from these fears by a hasty absolution it is very like he will be slight in his Repentance There must be also some proportion between the penance and the sin committed such as fasting for sins of Intemperance bodily severities for Inordinate pleasures Alms-giving for sins of Covetousness great and frequent Devotions for sins of Omission that so the penance may prove Medicinal indeed for purging out the ill humours and recovering the sinner and to make the sin more Odious to him Therefore such slight penances as saying the Penitential Psalms and abstaining from some meats with other trifling things of that Nature are a betraying the power of the Keys which was given for Edification and not for Destruction and tend to an exposing of Religion and the Priestly Function to Contempt These practices are common and avowed in that Church and by these and such like have the Iesuites got all the world to make their Confessions to them of which such discoveries have been made by the Writers of the Port-Royal that we need say nothing but only look on with Astonishment and see the Impudent partiality of the Court of Rome and how obstinately they are resolved to reform nothing For tho the practice of the whole Church in all the Councils that were held for many ages be clearly of the side of the Iansenists yet they must be condemned their Books censured and the practices of the Iesuites encouraged and supported After all this of what Undanted Consciences must they be who charge our Church as opening a Sanctuary for Vice and Impurity because we retain not the necessity of secret Confession and Absolution Which whatever they may prove if well managed are according the practices of that Church and the Casuistical Divinity that is in greatest Credit there and by which their Priests are directed Engines for beating down all Religion and common Honesty But our Church owns still the power of the Keys which is not only Doctrinal when the Mercies of God are declared or his Iudgments denounced but is also Authoritative and Ministerial by which all Christians are either admitted to or rejected from the Priviledges of Church-Communion and their sins are bound or loosed With this we assert the Pastors of the Church are Vested For the Rites of our Ordinations we still retain those which are mentioned in the Scriptures which are Imposition of Hands and Prayer As for the forms of Prayer the Catholick Church never agreed on any nor decreed what were to be used Every Church had their own forms And though the Church of Rome did unmercifully enough impose divers things on the Greek Churches and because they would not yield to her Tyranny she left them to be a Prey to the Turk and did not interpose her Authority with the Princes of the West over whom she was then Absolute to arm them for the assistance and defence of the Greeks yet amidst all this desire of Rule they were never so unreasonable as to impose their Liturgies Rituals or Missals on them but in these they left them to their own Forms and so continue to do to this day Anciently they had no more Iurisdiction over the British Churches than over the Greek Churches So that by the division of Provinces confirmed by General Councils and by a particular decree of the Council of Ephesus no new Authority over any other Churches was to be assumed by any See but all were to be determined by the former practices and customs of the Church It is certain that before that time the Bishops of Rome had no Patriarchal Iurisdiction in Britain so that if the Decrees of General Councils will bind them they ought not to claim any Authority over us But if the Popes build new Pretentions on Austin the Monk's being sent hither by Pope Gregory the Great We are ready to refer this matter to his decision and will stand to his award for he being consulted by Austin about some particulars one of these was Since there is one Faith how comes it that the Customs of the Churches are so different and that one form of Missals is in the Roman Church and another is in the Churches of the Gaules or of France From this Question it appears that even France which was undoubtedly within the Patriarchat of Rome had Forms different from those used in Rome But let us now hear what Answer is given by Pope Gregory which may be reasonably believed ex Cathedra and so of great Authority with all who acknowledg the Infallibility of that See You know the custom of the Church of Rome in which you were educated but my opinion is that whatever you find either in the Holy Roman the Gallican or any other Church that may be more pleasing to Almighty God you shall diligently choose out that and infuse in the English Church which is yet but young in the Faith by careful Instruction what you can gather from many Churches for we ought not to love things for the
their Princes till they forced them afterwards to seek to them for shelter from the severity of their Princes and then the Tables were turned All this was not a little set forward by the credit which the begging Friers got every where in the 13th Century for the Monks were then become as scandalous as the Secular Clergy had ever been and were generally very ignorant so that they could not serve the ends of the Papacy any more but the austere lives of the Franciscans their poverty and coarse Garments girt about with Ropes their bare Legs and seeming Humility gained them great esteem and the Zealous Dominicans whose course of life was not so severe yet were as poor and Preached much and Aquinas Scotus and Bonaventure brought in among the Friers the learning of the Schoolâ—… which was then in great esteem in the World all which concurred to dispose the People to receive them with great Veneration These were also imployed by the Popes every where and were also exempted from Episcopal Visitation and had Priviledges to build Churches and Seminaries to Preach hear Confessions and Administer the Sacraments every where and by these means the Episcopal Iurisdiction was quite overthrown and the Papacy became absolute and those Orders of Mendicant Friers were clearly a Presbytery they being a company of Priests that acknowledged no Episcopal Iurisdiction over them and their Great Chapter was their General Assembly and their Annual or Triennial Generals and Provincials who are chosen by them were like the elected Moderators of Provincial and National Assemblies In this only did that Presbytery differ from the Geneva Form that it was subject only to Christ's pretended Vicar the other claims to be only subordinate to Christ himself but both did equally rebel against their Bishops Yet the Schism of the Papacy had almost overturned all for the Bishops met in a General Council at Constance I call all those Councils General according to the style of the Church of Rome for I know there was not a Conncil truly General among them all and there they thought to retrieve their Authority and to be quit with the Popes for bringing in Abbots and other inferior Prelates they brought in Deputies from Universities to sit and judg with them and they thought they had made sure work of all by their Acts that regulated the Popes Election restrained his power subjected him to the judgment of a General Council and above all by their Act for a Decennial General Council with such provisions in it that one would think the Act for Triennial Parliaments was copyed from that Original But alas all this proved to no purpose for as Aeneas Sylvius wisely said that since all Preferments were given by the Pope and none by the Council he must certainly have the better of it at long run which as it made himself turn about so it brought off many more and at length the Pope became Master of All and at the Council of Florence the Generals of Orders were brought in to have Votes there There was another great Engine also made use of by which all the rules of the Primitive Church was overturned which was the Popes assuming a power to hear and judg all causes originally All that the Popes pretended to for many Ages was to be the highest Tribunal to which the last Appeal did lie And this was not only never yielded to by the Eastern Churches but even the African Churches though a part of the Latin Church would never submit to it and yet the receiving an Appeal had a very favourable plea that a person who had been oppressed by a faction perhaps in his own Countrey might find relief and protection elsewhere But after the 8th Century and that the forged and now universally acknowledged spurious Decretals were received they set up a new pretension of Iudging Causes Originally taking matters out of the hands of the Iudg Ordinary and bringing the Cognizance of them to Rome and setting up many reserved Cases which could only be judged by the Pope and the Canonists that were a servile sort of people who wrote chiefly for Preferment did upon all occasions find new Distinctions for enlarging the Popes power But because it was intolerable tedious and expensive to carry all such matters to Rome therefore that it might not be too heavy a burden to the World Legantine Courts were every where set up where all those Tryals were made By all these ways were the Primitive Rules broken and such a confusion was brought in upon all Ecclesiastical Offices that no Ancient Landmark or Boundary was thought so sacred that they did not either leap over or change it I will not enlarge further on this Subject and having already transgressed the bounds of a Preface I will not lay open the other Violations of the Sacred Offices at the full length but as the value of every thing is no less prejudiced by exalting it too high than by depressing it too much for a string over bended must crack So the Popes did as much wrong these Functions by exalting them out of measure as they had done by encroaching so far upon them And this was done by the Croissades Indulgences Privileged Places Iubilees and Redemptions from Purgatory with other things of that nature which the Monks and Friers did every where preach and proclaim these things did savour of Interest so palpably that it was no wonder if most people were so alienated from them that the first Reformers found all persons disposed to forsake the Communion of a Church that had so long deceived them by such gross Impostures Many had groaned long under all these Corruptions and of such the greater part received the Reformation others hoping to have got things brought about to a better pass continued still in that Communion but how little either Erasmus 〈◊〉 Câ—…ssander or many more such could prevail the event shewed for in the Council of Trent which was not obtained but after many years sute frequent Addresses not without threatnings at length extorting it how little could be carried appears even from Cardinal Pallavicini's own History two grand points upon which the Bishops that had honest designs intended to raise the Reformation of Discipline and Manners were the declaring the Episcopal Iurisdiction to be of Divine Right and that the Residence of all Ecclesiastical Incumbents was also of Divine Right but these could not be carried Lainez the General of the Jesuits and the whole Court Party appearing with great Vehemence against the first of these asserting that all Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction was wholly and only in the Pope And from this one thing it may appear how little Iustice or Fair-dealing was to be expected from that Council towards those whom they called Hereticks when the Bishops themselves being Iudges in a thing in which they were also parties I mean about the Divine Right of their own Iurisdiction they could not carry it for it was never heard of before that
where 〈◊〉 was both Iudg and Party he was cast And in the other trifling Reformations that were Enacted there what care was taken by Distinctions and Reservations chiefly that grand and General one of Saving the Dignity of the Apostolical See to leave a door open by which those very Corruptions which they seemed to condemn and cast out might be again taken up as most of them have been since So that the issue of that Assembly was to establish the Papal Authority to cut off all possible hopes of abating an ace of the errors of that Church when all controverted points were turned to Articles of Faith and the contrary Opinions condemned by Anathematisms to disover how in possible it is to get the Abuses of that Church effectually Reformed and in fine to cure all people of their expectations of any great good from such meetings for the future and this has since appeared very visibly For as it is not to be expected that the Popes should call any General Councils ex motu proprio so no Christian Princes have thought iâ—… worth the while to solicite that Court for a new Council And thus I have hinted at several particulars from which it may appear how much the Church of Rome has confounded those holy Functions how she has robbed some of them of the power and Iurisdiction which they have from Christ and has put a power in the hands of others which they never had from Christ. And if the vigour of Ecclesiastical Discipline is not set up among us as it ought to be we owe it for the greatest part to those Corruptions which they brought in and being once received are not easily to be rooted out of the minds of the people But to a great many all that can be said of the disorders that have been brought in or kept up in that Church by the Popes will seem sleight and of no force for they will plainly tell us that they do not all believe the Pope is Infallible but are satisfied there are many things done by him that are amiss and need to be amended they only adhere to the Catholick Church to whose definitions and decrees they submit and resign themselves and yet no body writes more sharply against the Reformation and the Protestant Churches than these men do charging them with Heresie and Schism and every thing that is hateful to mankind This way of writing was begun in the Sorbon and never more pompously than at this time by the Writers of the Port Royal and has been taken up here by some whom their adversaries call Blackloists who speak almost with equal indignation of the Court of Rome and the Reformation This I know works great effects on some and has a very specious appearance therefore I hope the Reader will pardon me if I hold him yet a little longer in the Preface to unmask this pretension of some which otherwise may impose upon him I shall then make it appear that the maintainers of these principle must either be men of no conscience at all and sucâ—… as stick not at mocking both God and man at perjury and the foulest kind of equivoâ—…tion or if they be true to these principles they must on many occasions do the samâ—… things for which they condemn us an count us Hereticks and Schismaticks An this I shall instance in three things whicâ—… are of the greatest consequence to a Church namely Doctrine Worship and Government For the first of these When the Poâ—… makes a decision in any controverted poinâ—… if I do not think him infallible I retaiâ—… still my own freedom to judge as I am con vinced and so I may perchance be of another mind but if the Pope will have 〈◊〉 Churchmen or all Bishops as was lateâ—… done in the case of the Five Proposition of Jansenius to condemn the contrary opinions or subscribe Formularies about iâ—… they must either do what is commanded and so act against their conscience â—… quivocate and be perjured or if they do it not they must be proceeded against first for contempt and contumacy and next for Heresie and then they shall be Hereticks as well as we are And if in one point a man reserves his private sentiments notwithstanding the Popes decision why not in a great many and if it be no fault to have different opinions then since a mans actions must be governed by his persuasions it will be no fault to maintain and teach them if they be of great importance at least it is a great sin to renounce and deny them Therefore if Pope Leo the X. was not Infallible Luther was no Heretick though condemned by him especially a great many of the Articles for which he was condemned having never been decided by any of their pretended General Councils nor do these men think that the present practice of the Church is a forcible Argument for those of the Port-Royal have both complained of it and studied to change it in the matter of Pennance and Absolution so that it will not be easie nay not possible for them to prove that Luther was a Heretick since he was never condemned by any Infallible power Therefore it is not the Authority of the condemnation but the merit of the cause that makes one a Heretiâ—…k which is what we plead for From which it is evident that let the Pope decree what he will all of that Communion must either acquiesce in it or they shall become Hereticks This to such as believe the Pope is Infallible is no matter of difficulty for if I be once perswaded of that all his decisions do captivate my reason but if I am not I must either subdue my Conscience to my Interest or be that Monster which is called an Heretick It is true both Civil and Ecclesiastical Government punishes all obstinate and refractory persons who stand out against publick conclusions but still the Subject if these Laws be Injust has a clear Conscience amidst his sufferings therefore this is not parallel to their Doctrine who make all that comply not with their decisions Hereticks which is a matter of great guilt before God Let them give an Argument that will make a Protestant a Heretick which will not infer the same against a Jansenist And if they go to the merits of the cause it is a tryal we have never declined So till these men learn to trie all their reasonings together there is no great account to be made of them The second particular in which I shall shew the fallaciousness of these mens Reasonings is in the matter of Divine Worship which of how great consequence it is needs not be made out it must be a sin of a high nature either to prophane the name of God by any piece of Worship which I judg sinful or to use any Devotions about which I am not at all or at least not fully perswaded Now the whole Worship of their Church coming Originally and onely from the Popes who have given
authority to what Offices they will have made Saints and added devotions to them as they pleased All persons in that Communion must either by a blind resignation accept of every thing in their Worship which the Pope imposes believing him infallible or if they are not of that perswasion but give themselves leave to examine the Offices whether they do it by the Scriptures the Fathers and Tradition or by the Rules of Reason they must needs see there are many injustifiable things in their Offices many Saints are in the Breviary about whose Canonisation they are not at all assured And in a word one shall not speak with one of these Principles but they will acknowledg there is great need of Reforming their Offices Yet they must worship God according to them as they are otherwise they are Schismaticks and fall under that same condemnation for which they are so severe upon us Therefore it must either be the merits of the Cause that makes a Schismatick or if a Condemnation for separating from Authorised Offices does it then they must resolve to be guilty of it or worship God contrary to their Consciences They have no rules for their Offices but the Popes pleasure for Councils never made any and indeed it is the most unreasonable thing that can be to put the direction of the whole worship of God in one Man or a succession of Mens power unless they be believed Infallible The last thing I shall mention to shew how unreasonable they are who deny the Popes Infallibility and yet condemn the Reformation so severely is in the point of Government which though it be not of so high nor so universal a Nature as the two former are yet it must be acknowledged to be of great Importance And that the Prelates of that Church are fast tied to the Pope without any Reserves or Exceptions unless it be that of saving my Order the sense whereof is not fully understood will appear from the Oath they make to the Pope before they are Ordained From the consideration of which it was that King Henry the 8th laid it out to his Parliament that they were but half his Subjects and by the Oath then taken by the Bishops of England as is set down by Hall it appears that since that time there are very considerable Additions made to that Oath which any that will compare them together will easily discern If men make Conscience of an Oath they must be in a very hard condition that believe the Pope to be Infallible and yet are so bound to him by such a Bond. If the Superior be Infallible the Subject may without any trouble in his Conscience swear Obedience in any terms that can be conceived But when the Superior is believed subject to error and mistake then their swallow must be very large that can swear to preserve defend increase and promote the Rights Honours Priviledges and Authority of the Holy Roman Church of our Lord the Pope and his Successors foresaid The Decrees Orders or Appointments Reservations Provisions or Mandates Apostolical I shall observe with all my strength and make them to be observed by others And I shall according to my power persecute and oppose all Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebells against the said our Lord and his Successors And I shall humbly receive and diligently execute the Apostolical Commands Which words being full and without those necessary and just reserves of the Obedience promised to Ecclesiastical Superiors in all things Lawful and Honest all the Prelates of the Roman Communion are as fast tied to the Pope as if they believed him Infallible for if they believed him such they could be tied to nothing more than absolute and unlimited Obedience Therefore they are in so much a worse estate than others be which hold that opinion because they have the saâ—… Obligation bound upon them by Oath And let the Pope command what he will theâ—… must either obey him or confess themselveâ—… guilty of breach of Oath and Perjurâ—… And I hope the Reader will observe whâ—… mercy all whom they account Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebels againâ—… their Lord the Pope are to expect at their hands who make their Bishops swear 〈◊〉 persecute all such according to their power so that we may by this be abundantly satisfied of their good Intentionâ—… and Inclinations when ever it shall be iâ—… their power to fulfil the Contents of thiâ—… Oath for let any of them speak ever 〈◊〉 softly or gently if he comes to be Consecrated a Bishop he must either be Perjured or turn a persecuter of all Protestants whâ—… are in their opinion the worst sort of Hereticks and Schismaticks And certainly it is much more reasonble to calculate what in reason we ought to expect from the Prelates of that Church if ever our sins provoke God to deliver us over to their Tyranny from the Oath they swear at their Consecration than from all the meek and good natured words with which they now study to abuse some among us which is so common an Artifice of all who aspire to Power and Government that one might think the trick should be tried no more but some love to be cheated a hundred times over From these Instances it is apparent that the Pope has every whit as much Authority in that Church and over all in it as if he were believed Infallible since both the Doctrine Worship and Government of their Church are determined by him to whose award all must not only submit but be concluded by it in their Subscriptions Worship and other practices So that the opinion of the Popes being fallible gives such persons no ease nor freedom except it be to their secret thoughts but brings them under endless scruples and perplexities by the Obligations and Oaths that are imposed upon them which bind them to a further obedience and compliance than is consistent with a fallible Authority And therefore their Principles being so Incoherent that they cannot maintain both their charge against us of Heresie and Schism and their opinion of the Popeâ—… Fallibility and keep a good Conscience withal There is one of three things to be expected from men of that Principle either that they shall quite throw off thâ—… Popes tyrannical Yoke and assert their own liberty reserving still their other Opinions as was done in the days of King Henry the Eighth or that they shall joynâ—… in Communion with us or that they shall continue as they are complying with every thing imposed on them by the Court oâ—… Rome preferring Policy to a good Conscience studying by frivolous Distinctions to reconcile these Compliances with their Principles which any man easily see are Inconsistent That those of the Port-Royal have done the last is laid to their charge both by Calvinists and Jesuits and as I am credibly informed by some of their own number who do complain of their subscribing Formularies and every thing else sent from Rome which they have opposed as long
had from Christ in such or such instances which command was just and good if the persons to be Ordained were so qualified as they ought to have been according to the Scriptures Sixthly Though the Command were unjust yet that cannot be imagined a sufficient ground to annul the Ordination for otherwise all the Ordinations appointed by the Anti-Popes of Avignon were null since done upon Mandates from a false Pope who had not power which will annul all the Ordinations of the Gallicane Church which did submit to these Popes And yet this cannot be admitted by the Church of Rome unless they also annul all the Eastern Bishops for the Patriarch of Constantinople is made by order from the Grand Signior and is upon that installed If this therefore invalidates our Ordinations it will do theirs much more except they will allow a greater power to the Turk than to the King So that this at most might prove the Church to be under an unjust violence but cannot infer an invalidating of Acts so done therefore if Matthew Parker was duely consecrated though it was done upon the Queens Mandate he was a true and lawful Bishop For let me suppose another case parallel to this if the Clergy should resolve they will no more administer the Sacraments upon the pretence perhaps of Interdicts Censures or some such thing And the Prince or State commands them to administer the Sacraments as was done by the Venetians in the time of the Interdict and by many Kings in the like cases can it be pretended that the Sacraments they administer upon such Commands are not the Sacraments of Christ but only of the King So in like manner Orders given upon the Kings Mandate by persons empowered to it by Christ and the Church are true Orders even though the Mandate for them were unjust tyrannical and illegal Seventhly Besides all that has been said it is to be considered that the power of choosing Bishops was in all Ages thought at most a mixed thing in which Laymen as well as Church-men had a share It is well enough known that for the first three Centuries the Elections were made by the people and the Bishops that came to assist in those Elections did confirm their Choice and Consecrate the person by them Elected Now whatever is a Right of the people they can by Law transfer it on another So in our case the people of this Realm having in Parliament annexed the power of choosing Bishops to the Crown by which their Right is now in the King's person Consecrations upon his Nomination must either be good and valid or all the Consecrations of the first ages of the Church shall likewise be annulled since he has now as good a Right to name the persons that are to be Consecrated as the people then had It is true the Tumults and other disscandal orders in those Elections brought great scandal on the Church and so they were taken away and Synodical Elections were set up but as the former Ordinations were good before these were set up so it cannot be said that these are indispensibly necessary otherwise there are no good Ordinations at at this day in the Church of Rome these being all now put down the Pope having among his other Usurpations taken that into his own hands Eighthly It is also known how much Christian Princes Emperors and Kings in all ages and places have medled in the Election of Bishops I need not tell how a Synod desired Valentinian to choose a Bishop at Millan when Saint Ambrose was chosen nor how Theodosius chose Nectarius to be Patriarch of Constantinople even when the second General Council was sitting Nor need I tell the Law Iustinian made that there should be Three presented to the Emperor in the Elections of the Patriarch and he should choose one of them These things are generally known and I need not insist on them It is true as there followed great confusions in the Greek Empire till it was quite over-run and destroyed so there was scarce any one thing in which there was more doing and undoing than in the Election of the Patriarchs the Emperors often did it by their own Authority Synodal Elections were also often set up at length the Emperors brought it to that that they delivered the Pastoral Staff to the Bishop by which he was invested in his Patriarchat but it was never pretended neither by the Latin Church nor by the contrary Factions in the Greek Church that Orders so given were Null And yet the Emperors giving the Investiture with his own hand is a far greater thing than our King 's granting a Mandate for Consecrating and investing them For proof of this about the Greek Church I refer it to Habert who has given a full Deduction of the Elections in that Church from the days of the Apostles to the last Age. For the Latin Church the Matter has been so oft examined that it is to no purpose to spend much time about it It is known and confessed by Platina that the Emperors Authority interveened when the Popes were created And Onuphrius tells that by a Decree of Vigilius the Custom had got in that the Elected Pope should not be Consecrated till the Emperor had confirmed it and had by his Letters Patents given the Elect Pope leave to be Ordained and that Licence was either granted by the Emperors themselves or by their Lieutenants or Exarchs at Ravenna And One and twenty Popes were thus Consecrated Pelagius the second only excepted who being chosen during the Siege of Rome did not stay for it but he sent Gregory afterwards Pope to excuse it to the Emperor who was offended with it it continued thus till the days of Constantine called Pogonatus who first remitted it to Benedict the second and the truth of it was the power of the Greek Emperors was then fallen so low in Italy that no wonder he parted with it But so soon as the Empire was again set up in the West by Charles the Great Pope Adrian with a Synod gave him the power of creating the Pope as is set down in the very Canon Law it self and of investing all other Arch-Bishops and Bishops and an Anathema was pronounced against any that should Consecrate a Bishop that was not named and invested by him This is likewise told by Platina out of Anastasius It is true though some Popes were thus chosen yet the weakness of Charles the Great 's Son and the divisions of his Children with the degeneracy of that whole Race served the ends of the growing power of the Papacy Yet Lewis laid it down not as an Usurpation but as a Right of which he devested himself but his Son Lothaire re-assumed it and did confirm divers Popes and Anastasius tells that they durst not Consecrate the Pope without the Imperial Authority and the thing was still kept up at least in a shadow till Hadrian the Third who appointed that the Emperors
Concurrence or Licence should not be thought necessary in the creating of a Pope And from Hadrian the First who dyed Anno 795. till Hadrian the Third there were 89 years and from Vigilius his days who dyed Anno 555. there were 330 years So long were the Popes made upon the Emperors Mandates Nor did the Emperors part easily with this Right but after that the Otho's and the Henry's kept up their Pretension and came oft to Rome and made many Popes and though most of the Popes so made were generally reckoned Anti-Popes and Schismaticks yet some of them as Clement the Second are put in the Catalogue of the Popes by Baronius and Binnius and by the late publishers of the Councils Labbee and Cossartius There was indeed great Opposition made to this at Rome but let even their own Historians be appealed to what a Series of Monsters and not Men those Popes were how infamously they were Elected often by the Whores of Rome and how flagitious they were we refer it to Barronius himself who could not deny this for all his partiality in his great Work But in the end Pope Gregory the Seventh got the better of the Emperors in this particular And now let the ingenuity of those Men be considered who endeavour to Invalidate our Orders and call our Priests and Bishops Parliamentary Priests and Bishops because they are made upon the King's Mandate according to the Act of Parliament When it is clear that for near 500 years together their own Popes were Consecrated for the most part upon the Emperors Mandate And it is certain the Kings of England have as much power to do the same here as the Emperors had to do it at Rome The Emperors were wont also to grant the Investitures into all the Bishopricks by giving the Ring and the Staff which were the Ceremonies of the Investiture and so they both named and invested all the Bishops and Abbots This Pope Gregory the Seventh thought was no more to be suffered than their creating the Popes both being done by the same Authority Therefore he resolved to wring them out of the Emperors hands and take them into his own and it was no wonder he had a great mind to bring this about for the Bishopricks and Abbeys were then so richly endowed that it was the Conquest of almost the third part of the Empire to draw the giving of them into his own hands Therefore he first disgraced these Laical Investitures by an ill name to make them sound odiously and called all so Ordained Simoniacks as he also called the Married Clergy Nicolaitans Now every body knows how much any thing suffers by a scurvy Nick-name raised on it But he went more roundly to work and deposed the Emperor and absolved his Subjects from their obedience What bloody Wars and unnatural Rebellions of the Children against the Father followed by the Popes instigation is well enough known In the end his Son that succeeded him was forced to yield up the matter to the Pope In Spain it appears both from the 12th and 16th Councils of Toledo that the Kings there did choose the Bishops which Baronius does freely confess And Gregory of Tours through his whole History gives so many Instances of the Kings of France of the Merovinian Race choosing and naming the Bishops that it cannot be questioned all the Writers of the Gallicane Church do also assert that their Kings gave the Investitures from the days of Charles the Great But the Popes were still making inroads upon their Authority for securing which Charles the Seventh caused the Pragmatic Sanction to be made It is true afterwards Pope Leo the Tenth got Francis the First to set up the Concordate in its place against which the Assembly of the Clergy at Paris did complain and appealed to a General Council and yet by the Concordate the King retains still the power of naming the Bishops In England there are some Instances of the Saxon Kings choosing Bishops and though so little remains of the Records or Histories of that time that it is no wonder if we meet but few Yet it is clear that King William the Conqueror and both his Sons did give the Investitures to the Bishops and though upon a Contest between King Henry the First and Anselm about them the King did yield them to him yet upon Anselm's death he did re-assume that power I need not say more to shew what were the Rights of the Crown in this matter nor how oft they were asserted in Parliament nor how many Laws were made against the Incroachments and tyrannical Exactions of the Court of Rome these are now so commonly known and have been so oft printed of late that I need add nothing about them Only from all I have said I suppose it is indisputably clear That if Ordinations or Consecrations upon the Kings Mandate be invalid which this Paper drives at then all the Ordinations of the Christian Church are also annulled since for many Ages they were all made upon the Mandates of Emperors and Kings By all which you may see the great weakness of this Argument I shall to this add some Remarks on a few particulars of less weight that are insinuated in this Argument First The Writer of it would infer from the Queens calling Cardinal Pool the late and immediate Arch-Bishop and Pastor of Canterbury that we acknowledg Catholick Ordination valid lawful and good If by Valid Lawful and Good be understood that which retained the Essentials of Ordination and was according to the then Law there is no doubt to be made of it but if he mean that all the Forms and Ceremonies of their Ordination are acknowledged to be Good he will never draw that inference from these words Secondly From the Clause of the Patents that is for supplying all defects considering the necessity of the times he would infer there was somwhat wanting in them which was thereby supplyed If by that Want he means an essential Defect there was none such for they were true Bishops If he means only that some things were not according to what the Law required it is of no Force for whoever makes a Law can also dispense with it Therefore the execution of these Laws being put in the Queens hands she might well dispense with some particulars all which the Parliament did afterwards confirm and any defect in the point of Law might make them liable to the Civil powers but it can by no means be pretended that this should annul the Ordinations though illegally gone about Thirdly He would infer from the Act of Parliament that the Queen is made Pope when he knows that both by one of the Articles of the Church and another Act of Parliament it is declared otherwise express words as follows where we attribute to the Queens Majesty the chief Government by which Titles we understand the minds of some slandrous folks to be offended we give not to our Princes the Ministry either
damnum me sciente nemini pandam Papatum Romanum Regalia Sancti Petri adjutor eis ero ad retinendum defendendum salvo meo ordine contra omnem hominem Legatum Apostolicae sedis in eundo redeundo honorificè tractabo in suis necessitatibus adjuvabo Iura honores privilegia auctoritatem Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Domini nostri Papae Successorum praedictorum conservare defendere augere promovere curabo neque ero in consilio vel sacto seu tractatu in quibus contra ipsum Dominum nostrum vel eamdem Romanam ecclesiam aliqua sinistra vel praejudicialia personarum juris honoris status potestatis eorum machinentur Et si talia à quibuscunque tractari vel procurari novero impediam hoc pro posse quanto citius potero significabo eidem Domino nostro vel alteri per quem possit ad ipsius notitiam pervenire Regulas Sanctorum Patrum decreta Ordinationes seu dispositiones reservationes provisiones mandata Apostolica totis viribus observabo saciam ab aliis observari Hae-reticos Schismaticos Rebelles eidem Domino nostro vel successoribus praedictis pro posse persequar impugnabo Vocatus ad Synodum veniam nisi praepeditus suero canonica praepeditione Apostolorum limina singulis trienniis personaliter per me ipsum visitabo Domino nostro ac successoribus praesatis rationem reddam de toto meo pastorali officio ac de rebus omnibus ad meâ—… Ecclesiae statum ad Cleri populi disciplinam animarum denique quae meae fidei traditae sunt salutem quovis modo pertinentibus Et vicissim mandata Apostolica humiliter recipiam quam diligentissime exequar Quod si legitimo impedimento detentus suero praefata omnia adimplebo per certum nuntiam ad hoc speciale mandatum habentem de gremio mei Capituli aut alium in dignitate Ecclesiastica constitutum seu alias personatum habentem aut his mihi desicientibus per diaecesanum sacerdotem clero deficiente omnino per aliquem alium Presbyterum saecularem vel Regularem spectatae probitatis Religionis de supradictis omnibus plenè instructum De hujusmodi autem impedimento docebo per legitimas probationes ad sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae Cardinalem proponentem in Congregatione sacri Concilii per supradictum Nuntium transmittendas Possessiones vero ad mensam meam pertinentes non vendam nec donabo neque impignorabo nec de novo inâ—…eudabo vel aliquo modo alienabo etiam cum consensu Capituli Ecclesiae meae inconsulâ—…o Romano Pontifice si ad aliquam alienationem devenero paenas in quadam super hoc edita Constitutione contentas eo ipso incurrere volo IN. Elect of the Church N. from this hour forward shall be faithful and obedient to St. Peter the Apostle and the Holy Roman Church and our Lord the Pope N. and his Successors that shall enter canonically I shall be in no Council Consent or Fact that they lose life or member or be taken with any ill taking or that violent hands be any way laid on them or any injuries be done them on any pretended colour And whatever Council they shall trust me with either by themselves their Nuntio's or Letters I shall knowingly reveal to none to their hurt I shall help them to retain and defend the Roman Papacy and the Royalties of Saint Peter against all men saving my own Order I shall treat the Legate of the Apostolick See honorably both in his going and coming and shall help him in his necessities I shall take care to preserve defend increase and promote the Rights Honors Priviledges and Authority of the Holy Roman Church of our Lord the Pope and his Successors foresaid I shall neither be in Council Fact or Treaty in which any thing shall be contrived against the said our Lord or the same Roman Church or any thing that may be prejudicial to their Persons Right Honor State or Power And if I know such things to be treated or procured by any body I shall hinder it all I can and as soon as is possible shall signifie it to the said our Lord or any other by whom it may come to his knowledg The Rules of the Holy Fathers and the Decrees Orders or Appointments Reservations Provisions or Mandates Apostolical I shall observe with all my strength and make them to be observed by others and I shall according to my power persecute and oppose all Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebells against the said our Lord and his Successors I shall come to a Council when called if I be not hindred by some Canonical Impediment I shall personally visit the thresholds of the Apostles every third year and shall give an account to our Lord and his said Successors of my whole pastoral charge and of all things that shall any way belong to the State of my Church and the Discipline of my Clergy and People and the salvation of the Souls committed to my trust And I shall on the other hand humbly receive and diligently execute the Apostolical Command And if I be detained by any lawful Impediment I shall perform the foresaid things by a special Messenger that shall have my particular Mandate being either of my Chapter or in some Ecclesiastical Dignity or in some Parsonage or these failing by any Priest of my Diocess or failing any of these by any Priest secular or regular of signal Probity and Religion who shall be fully instructed in all things aforesaid And I shall give lawful proofs of the foresaid Impediment which I shall send by the foresaid Messenger to the Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church that is Proponent in the Congregation of the Holy Council I shall neither sell give Mortage nor invest of new nor any way alienate the possessions that belong to my Table notwithstanding the consent of the Chapter of my Church without consulting the Pope of Rome And if I make any such Alienation I am willing to incur the penalties contained in a Constitution thereupon set forth The Inferences that may be drawn from this Oath are so obvious that I shall not trouble the Reader with any knowing that every one will easily make them FINIS See the 23. Art of our Church Hist. Interdict Venet Lib. de Fregn Comun Art 33. Act. 7. 3. Inter. Epist. 31. l. 12. Ind. 7. Can. 42. Lib. 8. cap. 21. and 23. Cap. 26. Inter Epi. Cypr. Ep. 75. Can. 64. Can. 10. Not. 18. in Can. Nic. Arab. See Nazianz Orat. in Bapt. Cyr. Pref. ad Catech. Balsam in Schol. in Con. Laod. Ant. Harmen in Con. Antioch a Ep. 24. 21. b Ep. 28. c Ep. 24. 33. 34. d Ep. 76. e Apud Eus. lib. 6. cap. 43. Grat. dist 77. cap. 1. 2. Can. 14. 62. a Can. 5. b Can. 6. c Can. 7. d Can. 8. e Can. 9. f Can. 10. Vit. Pontif in vita Silvestri Nove. 123.