greater disorder can be in the Church of God then when Antichrist shall come and sit in the place of God I know many are offended to hear the Pope pointed out for Antichrist and think it an uncharitable point of doctrine therefore I refrain to use any such names and only will report to you of others by what tokens Antichrist may be known when he cometh Gregory as it were in the Spirit of Prophesie writing against Iohn Bishop of Constantinople saith Rex superbiae prope est quod dicinefas est sacerdotum est praeparatus exercitus The king of pride is at hand and which is unlawful to be said an army of Priests is prepared by these tokens saith Gregory you may know him he shall be the Prince of pride and he shall have an army of Priests to wait upon him In another place he saith Quisquis se universalem sacerdotem vocat vel vocari desiderat in Elatione suâ Antichristum praecurrit Whosoever calleth himself the Universal Priest or desireth so to be called in the pride of his heart is the fore-runner of Antichrist When the woman of Samaria saw the Miracles that Christ had done and heard some men doubt whether he were the Messias or no Why quoth she when Messias shall come shall he do more signs then this man hath shewed So may we say by the Bishop of Rome when Antichrist shall come shall he work more signs then they of that See have done Shall he work more disorder in the Church Shall he do more to the dishonor of God and against Christ We desire you would at your leisure read page 480 481. of his Defence and page 365. where and in many other places you will find this Right Learned Prelate not so shie as in this Sermon to pronounce the Pope Antichrist And we put this Reverend Bishop in the scales with Gr. Williams Bishop of Ossorie and leave it to you to judge who weigheth heaviest in in this point If one be as you call him Right learned then the other must be Wrong Let us go on Sir with this Sermon page 8. Here saith he must I touch the causes that withhold men from the building of Gods Temple The first seemed to be despair of the cause for they saw it was a long travel from Babylon to Ierusalem Others charged them with sedition and said if these men may once recover their City they will pay no more tribute Look in your Chronicles and you shall find that the Jews have ever been traitors Even so when the man of God Luther was raised up by God to reforme the Church a friend of his said unto him O Father Luther you shall never be able to prevail the Pope and Princes and all the world are against you the matter is past recovery go into your study and say Deus misereatur nostri Even now that it hath pleased God to restore his Gospel they that are of the contrary part of which side are you Doctor cry out these men be rebels they would have no Magistrate they would have all things in common behold what they have done in Helvetia behold what they have done in Germany look out your Chronicles you shall find that all the uproars and seditions which have been these forty years have been stirred up by some one of them But all this discouraged not the good Prince Zorobabel some confess many things are out of frame but they say it is no time to fall a building we must look for a general Council Some others say it is not yet time the Bishops be they should redress the Church would to God they would for they should be lux mundi the light of the world they should be Shepherds and Watchmen they should be builders of Gods Church but what if the light become darkness What if the Shepherds become Wolves What if the Watch men lie asleep What if the builders become overthrowers Ieremy saith the Pastors have overthrown the Vineyard and is it likely they will reare it up again I pray God lighten their hearts with his holy Spirit and make them to be that they profess themselves to be the light of the world and true labourers in Gods Vineyard and faithful builders of his house Amen In the mean season let us remember that in the old Law whensoever the Bishop grew out of order God raised up sometimes Prophets sometimes Princes to reform the Church For the Prince is Keeper of the Law of God and that of both Tables as well of the first that pertaineth to Religion as of the second that pertaineth to good order By that authority Moses rebuked Aaron the Bishop Ioas redressed the riot of the Priests Salomon put down high Bishop Abiathar and set up Sadoc After the coming of Christ Constantine a godly Emperor threatned the Bishops if they would not be ruled he would take upon him to see them punished as having indeed authority and power over Bishops Other impediments there be that keep men from building of Gods house but that which God complaineth of by the Prophet is that every man fell to build his own house and left the house of God unbuilded Oh that Aggeus the Prophet were now alive and saw the rearing up of Gods Temple here in England he doth not mean the repairing of Pauls Church but teaching and feeding Gods people what think you he would say You build your own houses and leave the house of God forsaken nay he would say you build your own mansions and pull down the house of God The Masters of the work build Benefice upon Benefice and Deanry upon Deanry as though Rome note Sir were yet in England The poor flock is given over to a Wolfe the poor children cry out for bread the bread of life and there is no man to break it to them The Noble man or Gentleman the Patrons of Benefices give presentations of Benefices either to be Farmers themselves or else with exception of their own tenths or with some other condition that is worse then this The poor Minister must keep his house buy him books relieve the poor and live God knoweth how and so do you too O good my Lords and Brethren I come not hither to be a patron for money matters God seeth my heart before whom I speak it but I see Gods Temple by this means is forsaken There lack Ministers throughout the Realm to teach the people here is not a word Sir of the Liturgy and to build up the walls of Gods Church one poor hireling is driven to serve two or three Parishes If there be none to be found nor hope of any to be hereafter be you well assured good Doctor consider this that Acts of Parliament and Proclamations are not enough to content the conscience of the people and to build up the Temple Oh that the Queens Majesty knew the great scarcity and miserable need of Ministers that is abroad And I beseech you good my Lords and
with them that refuse either to go in your apparel or otherwise to shew themselves note Sir like unto you have age sufficient and can answer for themselves Notwithstanding thus much I may say in their behalf Neither do they commend any manner of apparel as holy nor do they condemn any apparel as unholy They say not therefore that the apparel is either holy or unholy but they may truly say the same apparel on your part hath been fouly abused to filthy purposes They may justly say they would not gladly in any appearance good Doctor note this shew themselves like unto them that have so untruly and so long deceived the world And herein they are not without sundrie Authorities and examples of the godly Fathers Saint Augustine saith his mother left bringing of Wine and Cakes to the Church but only for that she was warned it was a resemblance of the superstition of the Heathens and so she left it Saint Gregory speaking of the three sprinklings or dippings into the holy Font saith thus In unâ fide nihil officit consuetudo Ecclesiae diversa Tamen quod Haereticiid fecerint negant idem esse à Catholicis faciendum The faith being one but it is not so between us and Rome the diversity of customs hurteth nothing yet forasmuch as Hereticks have thus done they say the Catholicks may in no wise do the same Tertullian reasoneth vehemently That a Christian man ought not to go with a Laurel Garland upon his head and that for none other reason but only for that the Heathen used so to go Whereupon Beatus Rhenanus giveth this note Non solùm ab his remperandum fuit quae manifestam praese ferrent impietatem sed etiam ab illis quae possent indifferentia vocari hoc est quae essent neque bona neque mala Partim pray mark Sir ne quisquam infirmior ex Christianis offenderetur partim ne ethnici did not Calvin say the Papists would grow more insolent in suis erroribus confirmarentur dum rectius putant esse quod etiam Christianos observare vident It was meet for them to refrain not only from such things as have a manifest shew of wickedness but also from such things as might be called indifferent that is to say neither good nor ill Partly left any of the weaker Christians should be offended Partly also lest the Heathens we say Papists should be encouraged in their errors thinking that thing for that the Christians themselves do it to be the better You may read more to this purpose There is one particular which we know you will very much distaste and that is the Divine Right of Episcopacy which we deny and you with great confidence assert page 51. part 1. for there mentioning one Act of Parliament you say The contrivers of that Act did intend by degrees to weaken the authority of the Episcopal order by forcing them from their strong hold of Divine institution We hope Sir you will not assume so much upon you in the Divinity school wich is given to Aristotle in the Logick that your Dixit must suffice us We might produce the unanswered Treatise of Mr. William Prinne a fast friend to Monarchy and as earnest an Antagonist to your Ius Divinum in his unbishoping of Timothy and Titus to batter your strong hold but that learned and pious Gentleman being a Lawyer and also a sufferer under your Ius Divinum is very low in your thoughts and whatever comes to you in his name bath little credit with you as being lookt upon to be either the fruit of his ignorance or desired revenge And therefore we shall oppose the judgment of a Bishop an English Bishop one whom you in your History do very much extoll for his great learning from whom you say all Controversors have furnisht themselves being a Magazin of all sorts of learning page 131. part 2. with arguments it is Reverend Iewel from this Magazin we will take some weapons and Artillery to assault and batter your strong hold Sir you are no stranger to the distinction of Episcopus praeses and Episcopus princeps the former we allow as being for order and decency in the government of the Church but Episcopus princeps which is Prelacy and not Episcopacy this as you contend for so we to this oppose the judgment of Bishop Iewel Harding page 196. of the Defence pleading against the sufficiency of the Scriptures and for the credit of Traditions among these Traditions he reckoneth the distinction of a Bishop and a Priest and saith that they that denied this distinction between a Bishop and a Priest were condemned of heresie in the Margin over against these words in the letter R. Iewel saith it is an untruth that ever any were condemned for heresie for denying this distinction of a Bishop and a Priest for if it were so saith he both St. Paul and St. Hierome and other good men are condemned of heresie Afterward page 202. of the Defence having taken notice and answered what Harding had said against the sufficiency of the Scriptures and for Traditions he comes at last to the forementioned words and saith But what meaneth Mr. Harding here to come in with the difference between Priests and Bishops Thinketh he that Priests and Bishops hold only by Tradition he meaneth not the distinction but the office Or is it so horrible an heresie as he maketh it to say that by the do you see Doctor Scriptures of God a Bishop and a Priest are all one Or knoweth he how far and unto whom he reacheth the name of an heretick Verily Chrysostom saith Inter Episcopum Presbyter um interest ferme nihil Between a Bishop and a Priest in a manner there is no difference St. Hierom saith somewhat in rougher sort Audio quendam in tantam erupisse vecordiam ut Diaconos Presbyteris id est Episcopis anteforret cum Apostolus perspicue doceat eosdem esse Presbyteros quos Episcopos I hear say there is one become so peevish that he setteth Deacons before Priests that is to say before Bishops whereas the Apostle plainly teacheth us that Priests and Bishops be all one St. Augustin saith Quid est Episcopus nisi primus Presbyter hoc est summus sacerdos what is a Bishop but the first Priest that is to say the highest Priest So saith St. Ambrose Episcopi Presbyteri una ordinatio uterque enim sacerdos est sed Episcopus primus est There is but one confecration of Priest and Bishop for both of them are Priests but the Bishop is the first All these and more holy Fathers saith learned Iewel together with St. Paul the Apostle for thus saying by Mr. Hardings advice must be holden for Hereticks Doth not your strong hold shake if not fall before the face of these Authorities Doctor However we will charge once more see page 100 and 101. of the Defence But Mr. Harding saith the Primates had authority over other inferiour
instruct the people The Preachers abovementioned were more particularly instructed to perswade the people from praying to Saints for the dead from adoring of Images from the use of Beads Ashes and Processions from Mass Dirges praying in unknown languages All which was done to this intent That the people in all places being prepared by little and little might with more ease and less opposition admit the total alteration which was intended in due time to be introduced You mention also certain injunctions appointed for the Bishops that they should personally preach once a quarter in their Diocess that they should cause their Chaplains to Preach that they should Ordain none but such as were learned in the Scriptures There was also a Form of Bidding-prayer prescribed or bidding of the Beads as you say it was then commonly called in page 37. You lead us next to the Parliament page 47. which took beginning the 4. of November in which you tell us of packing the Cardes by Sir Ralph Sadler that this Parliament without any sensible alteration of the Members continued till the death of the King and you say page 48. a great part of the Nobility and not a few of the chief Gentry were cordially affected to the Church of Rome In the same page you tell us that several Acts were repeal'd which touched the Subject in life or liberty for matter of conscience by which repeal you say all men had a liberty of reading Scriptures and being in a manner their own Expositors which you scruple whether it may be counted for a felicity There was an Act you say in the same page and following page against such as spake against the Sacrament of the Altar and for the receipt thereof in both kinds with these Provisoes notwithstanding If necessity did not otherwise require as in the case of suddain sickness and other such like extremities that wine could not be provided for the use of the Sacrament nor the sick man depart this life in peace without it And secondly that the permitting of this liberty to the people of England should not be construed to the condemning of any other Church in which the contrary was observed The next great business you say page 50. was the receiving of a Statute made in the 27. year of Henry 8. By which all Chanteries Colledges Free-Chappels and Hospitals were permitted to the King during his life but dying before he had taken many of them into his hands the great ones of the Court not being willing to lose so rich a booty it was set on foot again and carried in this present Parliament And you say page 51. these Chanteries consisted of Salaries allowed to one or more Priests to say daily Mass for the souls of their deceased Founders and their friends But in the same page you say That which made the greatest alteration and threatned most danger to the State Ecclesiastical was the Act for Election of Bishops and what seals and styles should be used by Spiritual persons In the compounding of which Act you say in the same page there was more danger couched then at first appeared for you say it was the intent of the Contrivers to weaken the authority of the Episcopal Order by forcing them from their strong Hold of Divine Institution and making them no other then the Kings Ministers only his Ecclesiastical Sheriffs and such use was made of this Act that the Bishops were not in a capacity of conferring Orders but as they were impowered by especial Licence the tenour whereof you mention page 52. and in the same place you say The true drift of the design of this Act was to make Deans and Chapters useless for the time to come and thereby to prepare them for dissolution The next Church-business you mention is page 55. where you tell us the first heats of the Visitation beginning to cool there were two Orders sent forth for the taking down of Images Page 57. you tell us Some godly Bishops and other learned and Religious men were busily imploy'd in the Castle of Windsor appointed by the Kings Command to consult about one uniform Order for the administring the holy Communion in the English Tongue under both kindes of Bread and Winde according to Act of Parliament before mentioned You are in the dark who the persons were but you think they were the same which made the Liturgy in this Kings time and you say being convened together taking into consideration as well the right rule of Scripture as the usage of the Primitive Church How doth this appear good Dector agreed on such a form and order as might comply with the intention of the King and the Act of Parliament without giving note these following words good Sir any just offence to the Romish party for they so ordered it that the whole office of the Mass should proceed as formerly in the Latine Tongue even to the very end of the Canon and the receiving of the Sacrament by the Priest himself which being passed over they began with an exhortation Dearly beloved in the Lord ye coming to this holy Communion which afterwards remained in the publick Liturgy Then followed the invitation You that do truly repent c. proceeding to the general confession distribution of the Sacrament to the people upon their knees which godly Form you say was presented to the King and published by Proclamation which Proclamation you have at large page 58 59. The next care was you say page 59. to send abroad printed copies to the several Bishops But now you come to handle the chief Key to the whole work of Reformation the Liturgy as you phrase it page 65. and the same men which drew up the Order for the holy Communion were now again imploy'd as you confess page 64. Calvin being rejected though offering his assistance The Liturgy you say is finished accepted by the King Enacted by Lords and Commons then assembled in Parliament though you say the passing of the Act gave great offence to the Romish Party not that they could except against it in regard either of the matter or manner of it but because it was communicated to the people in the vulgar Tongue page 66. Which exception you take a great deal of pains to prove to be an error You tell us page 106. That the Reformation under King Edward proceeded more vigorously then before by reviewing the Liturgy and composing of a book of Articles You say page 107. Calvin and his followers had taken some offence at some parts thereof and did excite the King and Council to a further Reformation And you say he prevaild so far in the first two years that in the Convocation there were debates about such doubts as had arisen about some things contained in the Common-prayer book but you say page 107. and 108. not one alteration made in it For though you say it was brought under a review and being so reviewed was ratified by Act of Parliament