A VINDICATION OF THE ORDINATIONS OF THE Church of ENGLAND IN WHICH It is Demonstrated that all the Essentials of Ordination according to the Practice of the Primitive and Greek Churches are still retained in Our Church IN ANSWER To a Paper written by one of the Church of Rome to prove the Nullity of our Orders And given to a Person of Quality By GILBERT BURNET LONDON Printed by E. H. and T. H. for R. Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1677. IMPRIMATUR Hic Liber cui Titulus A Vindication of the Ordinations c. Guil. Iane R. P. D. Hen. Episc. Lond. à Sacris Domesticis THE PREFACE THE Agents of the Church of Rome studying to accommodate their Religion to every Man's taste and inclinations use their endeavours with all persons in those things wherein they think they may most likely succeed If they find some that love to live at their ease and to reconcile their hopes of pardon and Heaven with a lewd life then they offer to secure them by slight Confessions easie Penances cheap Pardons and Indulgences and the communication of the merits of other persons If they fall on others of a sowrer composition the severities of some Religious Orders and unmerciful Penances are laid before them If they meet with those that can easily believe every thing that is told them with much assurance then many Miracles and other wonderful Stories are mustered up If others seem not so tractable and credulous then they study to shew them there is no certainty at all about Religion if all their Traditions be not believed And so they can but shake them from our Church they carâ—… not whither such doubts may drive them were it headlong to Atheism If they finâ—… others that are fanciful and Enthusiâ—…stical in their Religion then they tell theâ—… of Visions Raptures and Ecstasies with out number Or if they fall on other that love the order and gravity of thâ—… Church then they think the Game is easâ—… and sure they tell them of the Antiquâ—…ty Universality and continued Succeâ—…sion of their Church and of the noveltâ—… the narrowness and want of Succession iâ—… ours And though the fallaciousness these Objections have been so oft laid pen that by this time it might have beâ—… reasonably expected men of ingenuity aâ—… probity should have been ashamed of coâ—…tinuing them yet these Gentlemen 〈◊〉 proof against all discoveries The Reader will easily discern hâ—… guilty the Writer of the following Paper 〈◊〉 of going in the beaten tract of assertiâ—… things confidently which if he be a man of learning he must needs know they have no strength in them And if he be not acquainted with Ecclesiastical Learning which in Charity to him I am bound to believe it is very presumptuously done of him to give out Papers of this Importance in a point that no man ought to engage in but he that has studied Antiquity to some competent degree For to charge any person much more a whole Church with the basest Sacriledg and Forgery unless one be well assured in his conscience that he is able to make it good is such a piece of uncharitableness and high presumption that I know no excuse it can admit of And if our Church be bringing Souls to Christ in the method proposed in the Gospel how much has the Writer of this Paper or any other that manages these Arguments to answer for that study to raise such scruples as tend to cross and defeat so good a design But this Paper weak as it is was thought fit to be copied out and given about and was brought to a person of Quality that had been educated under a deep sense of the reverence due to the Church and Churchmen So that they hoped if such a one could be once induced to believe that we had no Orders nor Church-men duly called among us it had been easie to have prevailed further But that Person being sincerely pious and devout and not easily shaken with every story that was made and being desirous to be fully satisfied in this matter conveighed the Paper into my hands and I was put upon the answering it I quickly saw that the Arguments were so weak and trifling that they were very easily answered Yet since I was to engage in such a subject I resolved to do it with as much care and industry as the importance of the Matters required And finding that for all that had been written on this Controversie there remained a great deal to be said I have so fully considered it as I hope no scruple will remain with discerning persons and for the endless doubtings of weaker minds and the restless endeavours of busie Emissaries nothing can satisfie or silence those It may seem too great a presumption in one that is a stranger in this Church to engage in a Question that so much concerns it But though I had not my Orders in this Church yet I derive them from it being Ordained by a Bishop that had his Ordination in this Church so that I am equally concerned in the issue of the Question And I am confident no body shall have cause to imagine that I engage in it with design to betray or give it up Among the many unjust and spiteful Calumnies with which the Clergy of the Roman Communion study to asperse and disgrace the Reformation there are none more frequently made use of than these That there are no Pastors Lawfully called or Ordained among us That we have not the Power of making God present on our Altars as they have nor the power of Absolving from sins much less of Redeeming Souls from the miseries they are under in another state They tell their Credulous followers that we were all at first no better than a Company of Tub-Preachers and that all the disorders we saw of that sort during the late Wars were as justifiable as the first beginnings of the Reformation And tho the ridiculous Fable of the Nags-head be so manifest a Forgery supported by no good Evidence and overthrown by the Authority of so many publick Records besides many other clear presumptions from the state of things and the time in which that was said to be done that one might very reasonably expect that all sober or discreet persons should be ashamed of so foul an Imposture yet it serves them still for many a good turn and so they will never lay it down tho I dare boldly say there is no matter of Fact of which there are no surviving witnesses that can be Demonstrated with clearer Evidences than the Regularity and Canonicalness of the Ordination of Arch Bishop Parker Others that are not so lost in impudence yet say that tho we have a shadow of a Succession among us yet we shew how little regard we have to Orders when we acknowledg the Protestant Churches beyond the Seas to be true Churches tho many of them do not so much as pretend to a continued succession of
Pastors For the foreign Churches they are able to speak for themselves nor is it needful for me here to shew what grounds there are for our Churches holding Communion with them But it must be acknowledged to be a high pitch of boldness and injustice to charge us as if we did not ascribe all due honour to holy Orders and the Succession of Pastors We know and assert That no man can take this honor of Priesthood to himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron so also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee We reject the extravagant and bold pretences of hot-headed or factious Enthusiasts and have learned out of the Gospel that a publick calling was necessary even to those who had the most extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost Our Savionr sent his Disciples as his Father had sent Him and laid his hands on them and gave them the Power of binding and loosing And tho God had by his Spirit called Saul and Barnabas to the Apostleship of the Gentiles yet they did not enter upon the discharge of that Function till by the direction of the Holy Ghost whether by a voice formed in the Air or by a secret Inspiration it matters not they were separated for the work of the Ministry by Prayer and Imposition of hands And tho Timothy was by some Prophesies marked out as a Sacred Person yet he was received into that Function by the Imposition of S. Pauls hands From these sacred Authorities backed with the constant Doctrine and practice of the Churches of God in all Ages we do hold a visible Vocation and Ordination of Pastors necessary in the Church But whether the Roman Pontifical or our Ordinal comes nearer the Rules and Instances in Scripture and the forms of the Primitive times for at least Eight hundred years any that will compare them will easily discern and it is the chief subject of the following Work fully to evince the advantage of our forms beyond theirs It is true we do not extol the Office of Priesthood to that height as to say the Priest can by a few words work the greatest miracle that ever was and can make God present as they love to Phrase it this we think is the honouring the Creature more than the Creator Nor do we exalt the Priest above Gods Vicegerent on Earth our Lawful Soveraign whom according to the Doctrine of the Primitive Church even when Persecuted by their Emperours we honour as next to God and one who is inferiour to God only And therefore we reject the Seditious comparing of the Dignity of the Priestly Office with the Kingly which has not satisfied the Ambition of the Romish Clergy since Hildebrands days but the one must be preferred to the other Nor do we pretend that our Character gives us an Immunity to commit Crimes and an Exemption from the Civil Courts when they are Committed This were to make the Altar a Sanctuary for the most Criminal and the house of Prayer a Den of Thieves and Robbers It is true Christian Princes granted these Immunities at first that Church-men might not be disturbed in their Callings nor vexed with troublesome suteâ—… But afterwards that would not suffice but the Doctrine of Ecclestastical Iurisdiction and Immunity was set up as a thing most sacred and no wonder was it that men durst not presume to lay hands on him who could bring down not only Legions of Angels but God himself with a word And in the beginning of this Century Italy had almost been imbroiled in a War of the Popes making for which he pretended this for one cause that the State of Venice had apprehended two notoriously lâ—…ud and flagitious Priests and were proceeding against them according to Law But he saw other Princes were not very ready to second him and yet he did not lay down the quarrel till the Frocess of the Priests was discharged and they were set at liberty Such Exemptions are very profitable for a corrupt Clergy but if any such be among us we claim no such Protection being willing to leave them to the Law We know as little ground for thinking the Priest by his saying Mass can bring Souls out of Purgatory the Scriptures have made no discoveries either of Purgatory or the ways to escape from it or get out of it The Primitive Church continued still as Ignorant as the Holy Pen-men had been but in the darkest Ages the night being a fit time for Dreams this other world was discovered which has brought greater returns of Power and Riches to that Prince under whose Protection the discovery was made than the world Columbus discovered has sent to the Crown of Castile And tho the trade is not of that advantage that it was yet in gratitude for past services it must never be neglected or as when the vein of a Mine fails they dig on through the hardest Rocks till they find it again for the works must still go on But we poor souls have nothing to do with that gainful Traffick and therefore the Glory of the discovery and the Monapoly of the Trade we freely resign up to them and acknowledg the profits of new Inventions by the Rules of all Government are only due to the Inventors so that they have no reason to quarrel with us for leaving this entirely to them For the power of binding and loosing we do assert that as our Saviour vested his Disciples with it so it is still in the Church but if the vigor and exercise of it be much weakened we have none to blame for it but the Church of Rome who have now in a course of many ages laid down all open and publick penance So that the world being once delivered from that which to licentious men seemed a heavy Bondage it is not to be wondred at if the Primitive strictness could not be easily retrieved 'T is true this is a defect in our Church it is confessed by her in the Office of Commination and she wishes it may be restored but the decay and disuse of it begun in the Church of Rome and every body knows that what is severe and uneasy to Flesh and Blood is not soon submitted to when the practice of it is for any considerable time intermitted But the Clergy of that Communion thought they had made a good bargain when the necessity of Auricular Confessors and private Absolution was received to which the Laity did more easily submit that they might be freed from the shame of open penance and they knew how to deal with their Priests when the penance was secret none knew either the heinousness of their sins or the nature of the penance so it was more safe for the Priest to enjoyn what he listed and give Absolution on what terms he pleased And then because it was painful to have the Absolution delayed till the penance was
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
his Party yet he did overthrow all those Arguments against it that are brought in this Paper and shew'd they were of no force This Writing of his has not been yet Printed but I have perused it in the Manuscript Yet that this may not seem to be a declining of the task you have invited me to and because the Books I have mentioned are not perhaps in your hands I shall say as much in answer to it as I hope may fully satisfy you or any impartial Reader The Substance of the first argument to prove that our Ministers are not Priests is That by the form of our Ordination the Power of Consecrating the Sacrament of Christs most holy body and blood is not given the words only importing a Power to dispense the Sacraments which any Deacon may do Therefore the power of consecrating or making Christ's Body and Blood present being essential to the Priesthood and our form not expressing it and by consequence not giving it it wants one essential requisite to the Priesthood and therefore those that are ordained by it are not true Priests To which I answer 1. If our Form be the same in which Christ ordained his Apostles we may be very well satisfied that it is good and sufficient Now when our Saviour Ordained them S. Iohn tells us that he said Receive the Holy Ghost whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted to them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained this being that Mission which he gave them as the preceding words do clearly import As the Father hath sent me so send I you we can think no Form so good and so full as that he made use of It is true we do not judg any Form so essential as to annul all Ordinations that have been made by any other for then we should condemn both the Ordinations of the Primitive Churches and of the Eastern Churches at this day And this is the reason why even according to the ancient and most generally received Maxims of the Schools Orders can be no Sacrament tho in the general sense of the word Sacrament it being no term used in Scripture but brought into the Church we shall not much dispute against its being called so for by their Doctrin both Matter and Form of the Sacrament must be instituted by Christ and are not in the power of the Church Now they cannot but acknowledg that the Form of giving Orders in their Church was not instituted by Christ nor received in the Church for divers Ages which made Pope Innocent say that the Forms of Ordination were ordered and invented by the Church and were therefore to be observed otherwise it was sufficient in giving Orders to say Be thou a Bishop or be thou a Priest therefore though we do not annul Orders given by any other Form yet we have all reason to conclude that used by our Saviour to be not only sufficient but absolutely the best and fittest It is without all colour of reason that the writers of that Church will have the words our Saviour pronounced after he had instituted the Eucharist This do in remembrance of me to be the form by which he ordained them Priests for This do must relate to the whole action of the Sacrament the Receiving and Eating as well as the Blessing and Consecrating therefore these words are only a Command to the Church to continue the use of the Holy Sacrament in Remembrance of Christ. Nor do those of the Church of Rome think these were the words by which Christ ordained them Priests otherwise they would use them and think them sufficient but they use them not but instead of them say Receive thou Power to offer Sacrifice to God and to celebrate Mass both for the Living and the Dead 2. If this be ane essential defect in our Ordination then there were no true Priests in the Primitive Church for divers Ages and there are no true Priests at this day in the Greek Church and yet neither of these can be acknowledged by the Church of Rome for if they annul the Ordinations of the Primitive Church they likewise annul their own which are derived from them They do also own the Orders of the Greek Church to be valid as appears by their receiving them into their Communion at the Council of Florence and by their practice ever since which Morinus hath in the first part of his Work so fully proved from the decrees of Popes and Councils that the thing can no more be doubted and at this day there are Greek Churches at Rome maintain'd at the Popes charge in which Orders are given according to the Greek Pontificals as he informs us That in the Primitive Forms there were no express words of giving power to consecrate the Sacrament I appeal to the Collection of the most Antient Forms of Ordination that Morinus a Priest of that Church and a Penitentiary in great esteem at Rome has made where it will be found that for many Ages this power was not given expresly or in so many words The most ancient Rubrick about this is in the 4th Council of Carthage if those Canons be genuine When a Priest is ordained the Bishop blessing him and laying his hand on his head all the Priests that are present shall likewise lay their hands on his head about the Bishops hand Where we see that the Imposition of hands and the Bishop's blessing was all the matter and form of these Orders Denis called the Areopagite tells us that the Priest that was to be Ordained kneeled before the Bishop who laid his hand on his head and did Consecrate him with a holy Prayer and then marked him with the sign of the Cross and the Bishop and the rest of the Clergy that were present gave him the Kiss of Peace Here we find nothing but imposition of Hands and Prayer Now there being no general Liturgies nor Ordinals then in the World but every Countrey or perhaps every Diocess having their own Forms it was never defined in what form of words this Prayer and Benediction should be used but was left indifferent so the substance of the Blessing were preserved It is true the Author of those Constitutions that are ascribed to the Apostles sets down the Prayer of Ordination for which he vouches Saint Iohn Author which is That the Priest might be filled with the spirit of Grace and Wisdom to help and govern the Flocks with a pure heart that he might meekly teach the people being full of healing Operations and instructive Discourses and might serve God sincerely with a pure mind and willing soul and might through Christ perfect the sacred Services for the people in which there is nothing that gives in express words the power of Consecration In the most ancient Ritual that Morinus could find which belonged to the Church of Poictiers and has been composed about the middle of the 6th Century there is no mention in the
Divines made those Alterations and Changes in the Ordinal and the King and the Parliament who are vested with the Supream Legislative Power added their Authority to them to make them Obligatory on the Subjects Which is all that is imported by the word Lawful in the Act of Parliament the ordinary use whereof among Lawyers is A thing according to Law The â—…th Argument against the Validity of our Priestly Orders is That we have them from those that are not Bishops which carries him to the next Conclusion that our Bishops are not Bishops But before I follow him to that I must desire you would consider with how much disingenuity this Paper is framed that would impose on the easy Reader the belief of our first Reformers not being true Bishops when the Writer cannot but know that Arch Bishop Cranmer was a Bishop as truly Consecrated and Invested as any of the Roman Church were and was confirmed by the Pope who sent him the Pall and to satisfy you that they knew him to be such they degraded him with the usuall Ceremonies before his Martyrdom So that he being the Fountain of our Clergy that succeeded him and being truly Consecrated himself all those he Ordained are by the doctrine of the Church of Rome Bishops or Priests since Orders according to their Doctrine leave an Indelible Character which can never be taken away So that by their Principles no following sentence could deprive him of the power of Ordaining It is true there were many disorderly practices of some Popes in the latter Ages in annulling Orders and re-ordaining those ordained by others for Pope Urban the second appointed those who were ordained Simoniacally to be re-ordained And Stephen the 4th in a Synod Decreed that all the Ordinations his predecessor Pope Constantine had made were null and void because he from a Layman was chosen a Pope and though he passed through the Intermedial degrees of Priest and Deacon yet he stopt not so long in them as was appointy by the Canons and upon the same account it was also judged that Photius the Learned Patriarch of Constantinople who in six days went through all the Ecclesiastical Decrees from a Layman to a Patriarch had no power of Ordaining lawfully and all the Orders he gave were annulled by Pope Nicolaus And to mention no more the Orders given by Pope Formosus were annulled by his Successor Pope Stephen the 6th upon the pretence of some Crimes and Irregularities with which he was charged these practices as they gave great Scandal so they gave occasion to much disputing about the Legality and Canonicalness of these proceedings for the Canonists and Schoolmen being generally very ignorant and prepossessed with an opinion of the Popes Infallibility studied to flatter the Court of Rome all that was possible Yet on the other hand there was so much to be said against these proceedings that as appears by Petrus Damiani Auxilius and other Writers of that time there was great perplexity and many different Opinions about them But the ignorance and passion of those Ages appears evidently in this particular for there is nothing more manifest than that the Ancient Church was of another opinion and as in the debate between Pope Stephen and Saint Cyprian about the re-baptizing of Heretiques the constant opinion and practice of the following Ages was against re-baptizing such as were baptized by those Heretiques who retained the essentials of Baptism So by the same parity of reason and upon the same Arguments they held the Ordinations of Heretiques valid that retained the essentials of Ordination In the case of Heretiques we have these Instances Faelix was consecrated Bishop of Rome by the Arians in the room of Liberius whose banishment they had procured and yet he was acknowledged a righteous Pope and his Ordinations were accounted valid In the General Council of Ephesus the Priests of the Messalian Heresie were appointed to be received into the Church and continue Priests upon renouncing their Heresie The same was also granted to Nestorians Pelagians Eutychians Monothelites and divers other Heretiques as Morinus proves at length And at this day though the Greek Church is condemned by the Roman as Heretical in the point of the Procession of the Holy Ghost yet they are received according to their Orders into their Communion when they renounce their Heresie And their great Vasques says that all the Schoolmen and Summists agree that an heretical Excommunicate or suspended Bishop has still the power of giving Orders for which he cites many Schoolmen and he likewise proves that a Bishop after degradation retains the same power And the case of Schismaticks is no less clear for to wave the Decision of the Council of Nice which seems somewhat dubious in the case of the Novatian Ordinations we find frequently in St. Austins Treatises and Conferences with the Donatists that they offered to them if they would return to the Unity of the Church to receive them according to their Orders So that they did not think Schism did take away the power of giving Orders And in the case of that long and scandalous Schism of the Papacy for fifty years together when the one sat at Rome and the other at Avignon though beside their Schism Depositions Excommunications and Censures of all sorts passed on both sides by each of those Popes against the other and it must be confessed that one of them was the Schismatick and by consequence the Censures fell justly on him Yet both their Ordinations were held valid and when the matter was setled at the Council of Constance the Ordinations on no side were annulled or renewed And though Petrus de Lunay who was called Benedict the 13th refused to submit to them and lay down his pretensions as the others did yet when they gave sentence against him there is not a word in it of annulling Orders given by him From all which it follows that neither the pretence of Heresie Schism nor Censures will according to the practice either of the Primitive Church or of the Church of Rome even in these latter Ages be of any force to invalidate our Orders Which was well seen by Morinus and though he does not write upon this head with so much ingenuity as he does on other points yet he lays this down as a Maxim That all the Ordinations of a Heretiques and Schismatiques made according the forms of the Church and where the Heretiques that gave them were also rightly Ordained according to the forms of the Church are valid as to their Substance and are not to be repeated though they be unlawful and both he that gave and he that received them sinned grievously nor is it in any case lawful for a Catholick to receive Orders from Heretiques or Schismatiques Therefore in those Ordinations if all other things be done according to the form of the Church and only the Crime of Heresie be charged on the Orders given the substance of
of God's Word or of the Sacraments the which thing the Injunctions also lately set forth by Elizabeth our Queen do most plainly testifie But that only Prerogative which we see to have been given always to all godly Princes in Holy Scriptures by God himself that is that they should Rule all Estates and Degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil doers So that there is nothing of the Spiritual much less of the Papal and Tyrannical Power given to the King by the Law Fourthly From the power given to the Queen to Authorize such persons as she shall think fit to exercise that Jurisdiction he infers they may be either Clergymen Lawyers Merchants or Coblers since the Statute requires no more but that they be born Subjects of the Realm But this is as well grounded as all the rest for though that Statute does not name the qualification of the persons yet the other Statutes that Enacted the Book of Common-Prayer and the Ordinal do fully specifie what sort of persons these must be and it is not necessary that all things be in every Statute Fifthly He in the end of this Paper pretends that the reason why this present Parliament altered the Ancient Forms was because they were null and invalid The weakness and injustice of which was before shewed so that nothing needs to be repeated And in fine it has been also proved that as both the Greek and Latin Churches have made many alterations in their Rituals so the Church of England which made these Alterations had as good an Authority to do it by as they had To which I shall only add the words of the Council of Trent concerning the power of the Church for making such Changes when they give the reason for taking away the Chalice The Church has power in the Sacraments retaining the substance of them to change or appoint such things which she shall judg more expedient both for the profit of the Receivers and for the Reverence due to the Sacraments according to the variety of things times and places Where by their own confession it is acknowledged the Church may make alterations in the Sacraments So that it is a strange confidence in them to charge on us an annulling of former Orders because of a small addition of a few explanatory words And so much for his Paper Now having sufficiently answered every thing in it I hope I may be allowed to draw a few conclusions in opposition to his And First We having true Priests and true Bishops are a true Church since we believe all that Christ and his Apostles delivered to the World Secondly We being thus a part of the Catholick Church every one that lives according to the Doctrine professed a mong us mayand shall be saved Thirdly We do truly eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood having the Blessed Sacrament administred among us according to our Saviour's Institution Fourthly We have as much power to Consecrate the Holy Sacrament as any that were Ordained in the Church for near a thousand years together Fifthly We have the Ministerial power of giving Absolution and the Ministry of Reconciliation and of forgiving Sins given us by our Orders Sixthly All men may and ought to joyn with us in the profession of the Faith we believe and in the use of the Sacraments we administer which are still preserved among us according to Christ's Institution and that whosoever repents and believes the Gospel shall be Saved Seventhly All and every of the Arguments he has used are found to be weak and frivolous and to have no force in them And thus far I have complied with your desires of answering the Paper you sent me in as short and clear terms as I could But I must add that this ransacking of Records about a succession of Orders though it adds much to the lustre and beauty of the Church yet is not a thing incumbent on every body to look much into nor indeed possible for any to be satisfied about for a great many Ages all those Instruments are lost So that how Ordinations were made in the Primitive Church we cannot certainly know it is a piece of History and very hard to be perfectly known Therefore it cannot be a fit Study for any much less for one that has not much leisure The condition of Christians were very hard if private persons must certainly know how all Ministers have been Ordained since the Apostles days for if we will raise scruples in this matter it is impossible to satisfie them unless the Authentick Registers of all the ages of the Church could be shewed which is impossible for tho we were satisfied that all the Priests of this Age were duly Ordained yet if we be not as sure that all who Ordained them had Orders rightly given them and so upward till the days of the Apostles the doubt will still remain Therefore it is an unjust and unreasonable thing to raise difficulties in this matter And indeed if we go to such nice scruples with it there is one thing in the Church of Rome that gives a much juster ground these than any thing that can be pretended in ours does which is the Doctrine of the Intention of the Minister being necessary to make a Sacrament Secret Intentions are only known to God and not possible to be known by any man Therefore since they make Orders a Sacrament there remains still ground to entertain a scruple whether Orders be truly given And this cannever becleared since none can know other mens thought or intentions Therefore the pursuing nice scruples about this cannot be a thing indispensably necessary otherwise all people must be per plext with endless disquiet and doubtings But the true touchstone of a Church must be the Purity of her Doctrine and the Conformity of her Faith with that which Christ and his Apostles taught In this the Scriptures are clear and plain to every one that will read and consider them sincerely and without prejudice which that you may do and by these may be led and guided into all Truth shall be my constant prayer to God for you AN APPENDIX About the forms of Ordaining Priests and Bishops in the Latin Church BEcause the decision of all the questions that can be made by those of the Church of Rome about the validity of our Orders must be taken from the Ancient Forms of Ordination as hath been fully made out in the foregoing Papers therefore I hope it will not be unpleasant to the Reader to see what the Forms of Ordinations were in the Latin Church for many Ages which he will more clearly understand when he sees them at their full Length then he can do by any Quotations out of them Morinus has published sixteen of the most Ancient Latin Rituals he could find composed from the end of the Fifth Century at which time he judges the most
according to his usual way of flattering the Court of Rome in all his Writings is not a little puzzelled with this he confesses that in the Greek Church they have no other inferior Orders but Subdeacons and Readers but says some thought those other lower degrees were included in the Order of Readers but he thinks they were included in the Subdeacons Orders and strains all the wit he had to give some colours for this conceit of his In summ it is clear Exorcists were an inferior Office in the Greek Church once and afterwards it was laid aside It were an impertinent digression here to give an account of their Office but in a word they were Catechists who prepared the Catechumens for Baptism and by the Catechisms in the Church all that came from Heathenism to be Christians were often adjured to renounce the Devil and all Heathenish Idolatry Which Adjurations were call'd Exorcisms and from these the Catechists were called Exorcists of which he that desires further satisfaction may be directed to it by what he will find in the Margin But when or upon what occasion this Office fell in disuse in the Greek Church does not appear I shall only suggest that it is reasonable to conclude that upon the general suppression of Heathenism in the Greek Empire when there were no more Catechumens there being no further use of Exorcists the Function was no longer continued It appears likewise from the Name Acolyth that it was begun in the Greek Church from whence it is probable the Latin Church had that Order In the Latin Church St. Cyprian is the first that speaks of these Inferior Orders and we find them frequently mentioned in his Epistles he speaks of Subdeacons Acolyths Readers and Exorcists and contemporary with him was Cornelius who giving an account of the Clergy of Rome says there were forty six Priests seven Deacons forty two Acolyths fifty Exorcists Readers and Porters So it seems there were no Subdeacons then in Rome nor does St. Cyprian mention the Porters So that in that Century all these these Orders were not looked on as necessary in the Western Church much less was there a certain number of years determined for every one of them as was afterwards done by the Popes who appointed that before any might be made a Priest he should be five years a Reader and Exorcist and fourteen years an Acolyth and Subdeacon In the fourth Council of Carthage we have the full Catalogue of the sacred Functions as they are called in the Apostolical Canons with the rules and forms of Ordaining them and there Subdeacons Acolyths Exorcists Readers Porters and Singers are set down But besides these we find another Order of Fossarii or the diggers of Graves mentioned by St. Jerome who calls them the first Order of the Clergy they are also mentioned in that supposititious Letter of St. Ignatius to the Church of Antioch and are spoken of by Epiphamus by which it appears they were reckoned among the Clergy both in the Greek and Latin Churches But there is no mention of them in any latter Writers We find mention of another office in an Author to whom indeed little credit is due who are called the Keepers of the Martyrs who had the keeping of the Vault or Burying-place where the Martyrs bodies were laid up in those Churches that were built to their honor but we meet with these no where else And though the Order of Singers continued for several Ages in the Western Church and is mentioned by most of the Writers on the Roman Rituals in Hittorpius his Collection and also in the Ordo Romanus yet is now left out in the Roman Pontifical From all which it appears that there was no settled Order agreed on or received in the Catholick Church about these Inferior Degrees some of them that were received in some Churches were not in other Churches and what was generally received in one Age was laid aside in another and therefore there is no Obligation lying on us to continue those still But as the number of these Orders was different so the ways of Ordaining were not the same In the Eastern Church they were and are to this day conferred by Imposition of Hands which was perhaps taken from the custome of the Jews among whom all Offices were given with that Rite But in the Western Church they were conferred by the delivery of a Book Vessel or Instrument that related to their Function which perhaps was taken from the Roman custom of granting Offices by the Tradition of somewhat that belonged to it as Trajan made the Prefects by giving them a Sword The occasion of setting up all these Inferior Offices was certainly very just and good that there might be taken in them a long and full probation of all such as were to be admitted to the Offices that were of Divine Institution and so none might be admitted to any of them before there had been a full tryal and discovery made of their merit and good behaviour and were indeed like degrees in Universities But after that Constantine granted such Immunities and Exemptions to Churchmen then it is probable that many who desired to share in these and yet had no mind to be Initiated in the Offices of Divine Appointment came and entered in these lower degrees to regulate which Justinian made a Law that none who had been Souldiers or had any Offices about their Courts Curiales and obstricti curiae might be Ordained till they had got their Dimission and had been fifteen years in a Monastery and perhaps some of these offices were laid aside because of the complaints the Prefects made of the Interruption of Iustice by the great numbers of the Clergy who pleaded the Exemptions that were granted to them Upon the whole matter it is clear that all these Orders were only of Ecclesiastical Institution So that the want of them cannot be charged on our Church as an essential defect and our Church had as good Authority to lay all these aside as other Churches had to lay down sometimes one sometimes more of them And in the Church of Rome though these are still kept up yet all except the Subdeacons are meerly for Forms-sake for Acolyths Exorcists Readers or Porters never discharge any part of the Service that belongs to their Office and the Exorcisms are quite taken out of the hands of the Exorcists and are made only by Priests So that this whole Objection comes to nothing But we have much more material Objections against the Church of Rome upon this head For whereas by Divine Institution and the practice of the Primitive Church all Bishops were equal both in Order and Iurisdiction They have robbed the Bishops of the greatest part of their Iurisdiction of which I shall give some Instances Monks by their Original were Laymen and were under the Iurisdiction of the Bishop of the Diocess this at first
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
had within the Kings Majesties Dominions it is requisite to have one Uniform fashion and manner for making and Consecrating Bishops Priests c. Be it therefore Enacted by the Kings Highness with the Assents of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons of this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same mark by which Authority they are made that such Form and manner of making and Consecrating of Archbishops Bishops Priests c. as by six Prelates and six other men of this Realm learned in Gods Law by the Kings Majesty who was but a Child to be appointed and assigned or by the most number of them shall be devised for that purpose and set forth under the Great Seal of England before the first day of April next coming and shall by vertue of this present Act see what vertues be lawfully exercised and used and none other any Statute Law or Usage to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding By Authority whereof those Prelates and meâ—… learned in the Law invented and made thâ—… Form before mentioned never heard of before either in Scripture or Church of God From which I thus argue and prove my Minor They that instituted the Form were thâ—… King and Parliament 3. 4. Edward VI. Buâ—… that King and Parliament were neither Authors of Grace not had power over the Body and Blood of Christ therefore they that Instituted this Form were neither Authors oâ—… Grace nor had power over the Body and Blood of Christ nor consequently could make it present Fifthly They are no true Priests because the Bishops that made them were no true Bishops nor so much as Priests and no man can give power to another which he hath not himself That they were no true Bishops nor Priests who pretended to make these Priests which shall be the second part of my Discourse I prove thus PROTESTANT BISHOPS NO BISHOPS NOR SO MUCH AS PRIESTS First They are no Priests because made by the same Form which other English Ministers were which I have clearly proved to be null That they are no true Bishops I prove first out of this very Principle already laid because they are no true Priests for as Master Mason a chief Champion of theirs says Epist. Ded. ad Episcop Paris Seeing he cannot be a Bishop who is not a Priest if it can be proved we are no Priests there 's an end to our English Church And the great Doctor of the Church St. Jerom Dial. cum Lucifero cap. 8. says Ecclesia non est quae non habet Sacerdotem It is no Church that hath no Priests The Protestant Bishops therefore being no Priests can be no true Bishops nor their Church a Church at all Secondly They are no Bishops because their Form of Ordination is essentially invalid and null seeing it cannot be valid no more than that of Priesthood unless it be in fit words which signifies the Order given as Mr. Mason says in his Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae lib. 1. c. 16. n. 6. in these terms Not any words can serve for this Institution but such as are fit to express the power of the Order given And the reason is evident because Ordination being a Sacrament as the same Author says lib. 1. n. 8. and Doctor Bramhal page 96. of the Consecration of Protestant Bishops that is a visible sign of invisible Grace given by it There must be some visible sign or words in the Form of it to signifie the Power given and to determine the matter which is the Imposition of hands of it self a dumb sign and common to Priests and Deacons Confirming Curing c. to the Grace of Episcopal Order otherwise it were sufficient to say at the Imposition of hands Be thou a Constable or God make thee an honest man But there is no such visible sign or words in the Protestant Form expressing this Episcopal Power given therefore no such power is given That there is no such sign or words in the Protestant Form I prove out of the Form it self which is this made in King Edward the VI. time and continued till the happy Restauration of his Majesty that now is Take the Holy Ghost and remember that thou stir up the Grace of God that is in thee by Imposition of hands for God hath not given us the Spirit of Fear but of Power and of Love and Soberness In which is not any word signifying Episcopal Power or Ordination and therefore for this defect in their Form they are no true Bishops Against what has been said you will object first That I prove them to be no Priests because they are no Bishops that made them and on the other side I prove them no Bishops because they are no Priests which is a vicious Circle But I easily answer this because I first prove à priori that is from the essential which ought to give being to each of them tat they are severally null and each of them being null for that reason it is evident that it is a cause of Invalidity in the other for as he can be no Bishop who is proved to be no Priest so he can make no Priest who is proved to be no Bishop Secondly You will object and salve up all the Defects afore-mentioned in one word to wit That although the Form used in the Church of England were invalid in King Edward ' s Queen Elizabeth's King James ' s and King Charles the First 's time for want of a valid Form of Ordination yet now it is valid in our Sovereign King Charles the Second's with whom the Parliament now sitting hath appointed a true Form Enacting that for the future to wit after St. Bartholomew's Day 1662. the Form of Ordaining a Priest should be Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office of a Priest and of a Bishop Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and work of a Bishop But to this I 'le answer you in another word That the salve is worse than the sore because by this change of the Form before established they acknowledge it to be null for why else need they change it Secondly By it they in effect acknowledge all their Bishops and Priests till that time to be null because Ordained by a Form that was null and could not give Power it had not nor signified Thirdly Because being no Bishops already they cannot Ordain validly by any Form whatsoever for no man can give what he has not as has been said before Lastly Whatsoever Power this Act gives to Ordain is from the Parliament and not from Christ which is what I first undertook to show and destroys their Orders root and branch Now although the Bishops of the Church of England and their Ministers grant this change of their Form of Ordination yet if any one should deny it you need only look upon the Form of making Bishops and Priests made 〈◊〉 and which was only used in the Church of England for an hundred years to be found in every
opinion and it is certain that the general Doctrine of the Church of Rome is that the last Imposition of hands is the Matter of these Orders and parallel to this is the Imposition of hands in the consecration of a Bishop with the words Receive the Holy Ghost which is undoubtedly the matter of Episcopal Orders Therefore that same Rite with these words is also the matter of the Priestly Orders And it is a foolish and groundless Conceit to pretend there are two distinct powerâ—… essential to the Priesthood to be conferred by two several Rites for then aâ—… who 〈◊〉 ordained by one of these Riteâ—… without the other as were all thâ—… Priests of the Christian World till within these 700 years had not the Priestly Office entire and compleat And further according to their own Principles the Character is an Indivisible thing anâ—… inseparably joyned to the Sacrament Therefore that which gives the Character gives the Sacrament Now according to their Doctrine the Character is given by the Imposition oâ—… hands Therefore the Sacrament consists in that And all the other Rites are only Ceremonies added to it which are not of the essence of it from which iâ—… follows that we who use Imposition oâ—… hands with the words Receive the Holy Ghost c. use all that according to the Doctrine of that Church is necessary to it and therefore they have no reason to except against the validity of our Orders even according to their own Principles Fourthly If by consecrating oâ—… making present Christ's blessed Body they understand the incredible Mystery of Transubstantiation we very freely confess there is no such power given to our Priests by their Orders But I shall not digress from this Subject to another therefore I may confine my Discourse to it I acknowledg that we do receive by our Orders all the power of consecrating the Sacraments which Christ has left with his Church First When we are ordained to be Priests there is given us all that which our Church declares inseparable to the Priesthood and such is the Consecrating the Eucharist Therefore it being declared and acknowledged on all sides what Functions are proper to the Priesthood if we be ordained Priests though there were no further Declaration made in the form of Ordination yet the other concomitant actions and offices shewing that we are made Priests all that belongs to that function is therein given tous this made Pope Innocent define that Be thou a Priest was a sufficient Form in it self Secondly The great end of all the Priestly Functions being to make reconciliation between God and Man for which cause Saint Paul calls it the Ministery of Reconciliation whatever gives the power for that must needs give also the means necessary for it therefore the Sacrament being a Mean instituted by our Saviour for the Remission of Sins which he intimated in these words This Cup is the New Testament in my Blood for the Remission of Sins and the death of Christ being also the great Mean in order to that end the power of forgiving sins Ministerially must carry with it the power of doing all that is instituted for attaining that end Thirdly The power of consecrating the Sacraments is very fully and formally given in our Ordination in these words Be thou a faithful dispenser of the Word of God and of his Holy Sacraments where they bewray great inconsideration that think Dispensing is barely the distributing the Sacrament which a Deacon may do the word is taken from the Latin and is the same by which they render those words of Saint Paul Stewards of the Mysteries of God or according to the Style of the Church of Rome which translates Mystery Sacrament Dispensers of the Sacraments of God Therefore this being a phrase wherein St. Paul expressed the Apostolical Function one might think it could serve to express the office of a Priest well enough so that Dispensing is more than Distributing and is such a power as a Steward hath who knows and considers every ones condition and prepares what is fit and proper for them therefore the blessing of the Sacraments being a necessary part of the Dispensing of them they being Blessed for that end and the Dispensing them including the whole Office in which the Church appoints the Sacraments to be dispensed of which Consecration is a main part these words do clearly give and manifestly import the power of consecrating the Sacraments Now the Question comes to this what is meant by the word Dispensing they say it is only to distribute the Elements we say it is to administer the Sacrament according to the Office If what we say be the true signification of it then the power of consecrating the Elements is formally given with our Orders And that this is the true meaning of it appears both from common use which makes it more than barely to Distribute and from the declared meaning of those who use it which is the only rule to judg of all doubtful expressions Now the declared meaning of our Church in the use of this word being so express and positive from thence it follows that by Dispense must be understood to give the Sacrament according to the whole office of the Church The same is also to be said of the words Take thou Authority to preach the Word of God and to minister the Holy Sacraments for tho Minister and Serve in the Greek Tongue be the same yet Minister in our common acceptation is all one with Administer only Minister is more usual when the thing Ministred is Sacred or Holy therefore this takes also in it the whole Office of the Sacrament And as in the former words the Power is given so in these words it is applyed and restrained in its exercise to a due vocation to cut off idle it inerant and for the most part scandalous Priests And thus far I have considered this first Argument at great length both because it is that of which they make most use to raise Scruples in the thoughts of unlearned persons and the clearing of it will make way for answering the rest Therefore leaving this I go to the second Argument which is That the offering of Sacrifice is an essential part of Priesthood So Heb. 5. 1. and 3. therefore we having no such power conferred on us cannot be true Priests To this I Answer First It is strange Inconsideration to argue from the Epistle to the Hebrews that the Pastors of the Christian Church ought to be Priests in the sense that is mentioned in that Epistle the scope of which is to prove That Christ is the only Priest of this New Dispensation And the notion of a Priest in that Epistle is a person called and consecrated to offer some living Sacrifice and to slay it and by the shedding of the blood of the Sacrifice slain to make reconciliation This being the sense in which the Iews understood it the Apostle among other Arguments to prove the
800 years before this was used And to this day in the Greek Church there is no power given by the Consecration to offer propitiatory Sacrifices for though in the second Prayer said in Ordinations in which God's Holy Spirit is prayed for upon the Priest That he may be worthy to stand before the Altar of God without blame and may preach the Gospel of his Kingdom and holily administer the Word of his Truth It is added And may offer to thee Gifts and Spiritual Sacrifices but there is no reason to gather from these words that they give power for offering Propitiatory Sacrifices We acknowledg that we offer Gifts and Sacrifices in the Holy Eucharist but we reject Propitiatory ones and these words do not at all import them And the truth of it is when the Writers of the Roman Church are pressed with the Arguments before mentioned that the Eucharist can be no Propitiatory Sacrifice Since 1. there no Blood shed in it 2. No Destruction is made of the Sacrifice for it is only the Accidents and not the Blessed Body of Christ that the Priest consumes 3. That Christ's Cross is called one Sacrifice once offered 4. That his being now exalted at the Father's right hand shews his Body can no more be subject to be Sacrificed or mangled When these with many Authorities from the Father's are brought they are forced to fly to some Distinctions by which their Doctrine comes to differ little from ours but still those high and indecent Expressions remain in their Rituals and Missals which they are forced to mollifie as they do those Prayers in which the same things and in the same manner and words are asked of the Blessed Virgin and the other Saints which we ask of God And though they would stretch them to a bare Intercession which the genuine sense of the words will not bear yet they will never change them for it is the standing Maxim of that Church never to confess an error nor make any change to the better The third Reason against our Orders of Priesthood is a Repetition of the first and is already answered The fourth Argument is That none can Institute the Form of a Sacrament to give Grace and make present Christ's Body and Blood but the Authors of Grace and those that had power over his Body and Blood but they that Instituted this Form had only their Authority from the Parliament as appears by the Act it self by which some Prelates and other Learned men being impowered did Invent the Form before mentioned never before heard of either in Scripture or the Church of God To this I Answer First It is certain the Writer of this Paper did never think it would have been seen by any body that could examine it but intended only to impose on some Illiterate persons otherwise he would never have said that a Form which Christ himself used when he ordained his Apostles and which is used in their own Church as the proper Form of Ordination was never before heard of in the Scripture or the Church of God Secondly Those who compiled the Liturgy and Ordinal had no other Authority from the Parliament than Holy and Christian Princes did before give in the like cases It is a common place and has been handled by many Writers How far the Civil Magistrate may make Laws and give Commands about Sacred things 'T is known what Orders David and Solomon Iehosaphat Hezekiah and Iosiah gave in such cases They divided the Priests into several Courses gavâ—… Rules for their attendance turned out â—… High Priest and put another in his stead sent the Priests over the Cities to teach the People gathered the Priests and commanded them to Sanctifie themselves and the house of the Lord and offer Sacrifices oâ—… the Altar And gave orders about the Forms of their Worship that they should praise God in the words of David and Asaph and gave orders about the time 〈◊〉 observing the Passover that in a case oâ—… Necessity it might be observed on the second Month though by their Law it wâ—… to be kept the first Month. And for the Christian Emperors let the Code or the Novels or the Capitulars of Charles the Great be read and in them many Lawâ—… will be found about the Qualificationâ—… Elections and Consecrations of Church-men made by the best of all the Roman Emperors such as Constantine Theodâ—… sius c. They called Councils to judâ—… of the greatest points of Faith which met and sate on their Writ whose determinations they confirmed and added the Civil Sanction to them And even Pope Leo though a higher spiriteâ—… Pope than any of his Predecessors were did intreat the Emperor Martian to annul the second Council of Ephesus anâ—… to give order that the Ancient Decrees of the Council of Nice should remain in Force Now it were a great Scandal on those Councils to say that they had no Authority for what they did but what they derived from the Civil Powers So it is no less unjust to say because the Parliament Impowered some Persons to draw Forms for the more pure Administration of the Sacraments and Enacted that these only should be lawfully exercised in this Realm which is the Civil Sanction that therefore these persons had no other Authority for what they did Let those men declare upon their Consciences if there be any thing they desire more earnestly than such an Act for Authorizing their own Forms and would they make any Scruple to accept of it if they might have it Was it ever heard of that the Civil Sanction which only makes any constitution to have the force of a Law gives it another Authority than a Civil one and such Authority the Church of Rome thinks fit to accept of in all States and Kingdoms of that Religion Thirdly The Prelates and other Divines that compiled our Forms of Ordination did it by vertue of the authority they had from Christ as Pastors of his Church which did empower them to teach the people the pure Word of God and to administer the Sacraments and perform all other holy Functions according to the Scripture the practice of the Primitive Church and the rules of Expediency and Reason and this they ought to have done though the Civil Powers had opposed it in which case their duty had been to have submitted to whatever severities or persecutions they might have been put to for the Name of Christ and the Truth of his Gospel But on the other hand when it pleased God to turn the hearts of those that had the chief Power to set forward this good Work then they did as they ought with all Thankfulness acknowledg so great a Blessing and accept and improve the Authority of the Civil Powers for adding the Sanction of a Law to the Reformation in all the parts and branches of it So by the authority they derived from Christ and the Warrant they had from Scripture and the Primitive Church these Prelates and
added for the more Solemnity but are not of the essence of Ordination according to what is now most generally received even in their own Church And Vasques does set down this very Objection against the form of their Episcopal Ordination as not sufficient because it does not specify the Episcopal power to which he answers that though the words express it not yet the other circumstances that accompany them do it sufficiently by which it appears that this Argument is as strong against their Ordination as ours and that they must make use of the same Answers that we give to it Fourthly The ancient Forms of Consecrating Bishops differing so much one from another and indeed agreeing in nothing but in an Imposition of hands with a convenient Prayer it has been already made out that there is no particular Form so necessary that the want of it annuls Orders and that the Church has often changed the words of these Prayers upon several occasions and it was ever thought that if the words do sufficiently express the mind of the Church there was no more scruple to be made of the validity of the Orders so given for if the Episcopal Character were begotten by any of those Rites which the Church of Rome has added of late such as the Chrism the giving the Gospels the Ring the Staff or any other set down in the Pontifical then there were no true Bishops in the Church for many Ages In the most Ancient Latin Ritual now to be found there is nothing in the Consecration of a Bishop but the Prayer which is now marked for the Anthem after the Consecration in the Pontifical In a Ritual believed to be 800 year old the anointing is first to be found but there is no other Rite with it in another Ritual somwhat later than the former the giving the Ring and the Staff were used which at first were the Civil Ceremonies of Investiture and in the Greek Church none of those Rites were ever used they having only an Imposition of hands and saying with it The Divine Grace that heals the things that are weakâ—… and perfects the things that imperfect promotes this very Reverend Priest to be 〈◊〉 Bishop Let us therefore pray that the grace of the Holy Ghost may come upon him then all that are assisting say thrice Kyrie Eleison Then the Consecratoâ—… lays the Gospels on the head and neck of him that is Consecrated having before Signed his head thrice with the sign of the Cross and all the other Bishopâ—… touch the Gospels and there is a Prayer said And thus it is clear that if those Rites in the Pontifical be essential to Episcopal Orders neither the Primitive Church nor the Greek Churches gave them truly which are things they cannot admit Therefore it is most disingâ—…nuously done of them to insinuate 〈◊〉 unlearned persons that our Orders anâ—… not good when in their Conscienceâ—… they know that they have all those Requisites in them which by the Principleâ—… of the most Learned men of their owâ—… Church are essentially and absolutely necessary to make them good and valid But I go next to see what Ingenuity there is in the Objections which he sets down in our Name against the former Arguments There is nothing in which any man that writes of Controversie shews his candor and fair dealing more than in proposing the Arguments of the adverse party with their full and just weight in them And it is a piece of Justice and Moral honesty to which men are obliged for to pretend that one brings what may be objected against his Opinion and then not to set down any strong and material Arguments but on the contrary to bring some trifling and ridiculous things that no Learned persons did ever make use of is to Lye and really I cannot think the Writer of this Paper has common honesty in him that will pretend to set down our Objections and yet passes them over every one Our Arguments are drawn 1. From Christ's own practices 2. From the practice of the Apostles and the Primitive Church 3. From the practice of the Greek Church at this day 4. From the Doctrine and the practice of the Church of Rome These are the Arguments on which our Cause does rest and upon these Authorities we are ready to put the thing to an Issue But he was wiser than to mention any of those for he knew he could not get ofâ—… them so well and therefore that he might deceive those that are ready to take any thing off his hands upon trust he brings Objections which he knows none of us will make To the first I need say nothing having I presume said enough already to shew that both our Priestly and Episcopal Orders are good and valid But his second is such a piece of foâ—… dealing that really he deserves to be very sharply reproved for it In it he makes us object That though the form of our Ordination since King Edward the 6th his days till his Majesties happy Restauration was invalid yet that is sâ—…lved by the Parliament that now sits that appointed the words of Ordination to be Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office of a Priest or for the office of a Bishop And having set up this Man of Straw he runs unmercifully at him he stabs him in at the heart he shoots him through the head and then to make sure work of him he cuts him all to pieces that he shall never live nor speak again and all this out of pure Chivalry to shew his valour He tells us the Salve is worse than the Sore that by the change the Form used before is confessed to be invalid else why did they change it He tells us Secondly By this we acknowledg all our Bishops and Priests till that time to be null Thirdly That they not being true Bishops cannot Ordain validly for no man can give what he has not And fourthly The power that Act gives is only from the Parliament and not from Christ and this destroys our Orders Root and Branch So there is an end of us we are all killed upon the spot never to live more Yet there is no harm done nor blood spilt all is safe and sound But to satisfie any person whom such a scruple may trouble Let it be considered First That we pretend not that there is any greater validity in our Orders since the last Act of Uniformity than was before for those words that are added are not essential to the Ordination but only further and clearer Explanations of what was clear enough by the other parts of these Offices before Therefore there is no change made of any thing that was essential to our Ordinations an Explanation is not a change for did the Fathers of the Councils of Nice and Constantinople change or annul the Faith and Creeds that the Church used before when they added Explanations to the Creed Therefore the adding of some explanatory words for cutting off
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
Ancient of them was written till within those last Four hundred years so that he gives us a clear view of the Ordinations of seven succeeding Ages of the Western Church His Book is scarce to be had and therefore I shall draw out of it what relates to the Ordination of Priests and Bishops Only as he has Printed these Forms Strictly as the Manuscripts were written without altering some things that are manifestly the Faults of the Transcribers so I shall set them down exactly as He has published them with the Emendations on the Margin from other Manuscripts and adde a Translation of them in English But I shall begin with the three first Canons of the Fourth Council of Carthage in which we have the fullest and earliest Account of the Ordidinations of Bishops and Priests in the Latin Church and from the Simplicity of these and the many pompous Rites that are added in the latter Rituals the Reader will both perceive how the Spirit of Superstition grew from Age to Age and will be able to judge whether the Church of England or the Church of Rome comes nearest the most Primitive Forms These I set down according to the MSS. published by Morinus and Collationed on the Margin with a MSS. belonging to the Church of Salisbury that is judged to be six hundred year old and also with that Published by Labbée in the Tomes of the Councils Sacrarum Ordinationum Ritus Ex Concilio Carthaginensi quarto depromptus CANON I. QUI Episcopus Ordinandus est antea examinetur si natura sit prudens si docibilis si moribus temperatus si vita castâ—…s si sobrius si semper suis negotiis cavens si humilis si affabilis si misericors si literatus si in lege domini instructus si in scripturam sensibus caâ—…tus si in dogmatibus Ecclesiasticis exercitatus ante omnia si fidei documenta verbis simplicibus asserat id est Patrem Filium Spiritum Sanctum unum Deum esse confirmans totamque Trinitatis Deitatem coessentialem consubstantialem coaeternalem coomnipotentem praedicans si singularem quamque in Trinitate personam plenum deum totas tres personas Unum deum Si incarnationem divinam non in Patre neque in Spiritu Sancto factam sed in Filio tantum credat ut qui erat in Divinitate Dei Patris ipse fieret in homine hominis Matris filius Deus verus ex Patre homo verus ex Matre carnem ex matris visceribus habens animam humanam rationalem simâ—…l in eo ambae naturae id est Deus Homo una persona unus filius unus Christus unus Dominus Creator omnium quae sunt autor Dominus Rector cum Patre Spiritu Sancto omnium creaturaram Qui passus sit vera carnis Passione mortuus vera corporis sui morte resurrexit vera carnis suae resurrectinoe vera animae resumptione in qua veniet judicarâ—… vivos mortuos Quaerendum etiam ab eo si Novi Veteris Testamenti id est leges Prophetarum Apostolorum unum eundemque credat autorem evâ—…m Si Diabolus non per conditionem sed per Arbitrium sit malus Quaerendum etiam ab eo si credat hujus quam gestamus non alterius carnis resurrectionem Si credat judicium futurum recepturoâ—… singulos pro his quae in carne gesserunt vel poenas vel gloriam Si nuptias non improbat si secunda Matrimonia non damnet si carnium perâ—…eptionem non culpet si poenitentibus reconciliatis communicet si in Baptismo omnia peccata id est tam illud originale contractum quam illa quae voluntate admissa sunt dimittantur si extra Ecclesiam Catholicam nullus salvetur Cum in his omnibus examinatus inventus fuerit plene instructus tunc cum consensu Clericorum Laicorum conventu totius provinciae Episcoporum maximéque Metropolitani vel Authoritate vel praesentia ordinetur Episcopus Suscepto in Nomini Christi Episcopatu non suae delectationi nec suis motibus sed his Patrum definitionibus acquiescat In cujus Ordinatione etiam aetas requiritur quam Sancti Patres in praeeligendis Episcopis constituerunt Dehinc disponitur qualiter Ecclesiastica Officia Ordinantur CAN. II. EPiscopus cum Ordinatur duo Episcopi ponant teneant Evangeliorum Codicem supra Caput cervicem ejus uno super eum sundente benedictionem reliqui omnes Episcopi qui adsunt manibus suis caput ejus tangant CAN. III. PResbyter cum Ordinatur Episcopo eum benedicente manum super caput ejus tenente etiam omnes Presbyteri qui praesentes sunt manus suas juxta manum Episcopi super caput illius teneat In English thus CAN. I. LET Him that is to be Ordained a Bishop be first Examined if he be naturally prudent and teachable if in his Manners he be temperate if chast in his life if sober if he looks to his own Affairs be humble affable merciful and learned if he be instructed in the Law of the Lord and skilful in the sense of the Scriptures and acquainted with Ecclesiastical Doctrines and above all things if he assert the Articles of Faith in simple Words that is to say affirms that the Father Son and Holy Ghost are one God and teaches that the whole Deity of the Trinity is Coessential Consubstantial Coaeternal and Coomnipotent and that every Person of the Trinity is fully God and all the Three Persons are one God If He believes that the Holy Incarnation was neither of the Father nor the Holy Ghost but of the Son only that He who was the Son of God the Father by the Godhead becoming a Man was the Son of his Mother very God of His Father and very Man of His Mother who had Flesh of the Bowels of His Mother and a human reasonable Soul And both Natures God and Man were in Him one Person one Son one Christ one Lord the Creator of all things that are and the Author Lord and Governour of all Creatures with the Father and the Holy Ghost Who suffered a true Passion in His Flesh and was dead by a true death of His Body and rose again with a true Resurrection of His Flesh and a true Re-assumption of His Soul in which He shall come to judge the quick and the dead It must likewise be asked if He believes that one and the same God was the Author of the Old and New Testament of the Books of the Law the Prophets and the Apostles If the Devil be not wicked by his will and not by his Nature And if he believes the Resurrection of this Flesh which we now carry and not of any other and the Judgment to come and that every one shall receive either punishment
years Old agrees with the former in the forementioned Rites and Collects but has this Addition that the Bishop lays on his hands on the Priests and says Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye remit they are remitted to them and whose sins you retain they are retained But in two other Pontificals which Morinus believes are of the same Age these words and that Rite are wanting In the Ordo Romanus which some believe is a work of the Ninth Century others that it is of the Eleventh Century there are set down first some Questions and Answers to the Priests to be Ordained then the two Collects with the Prayer of Consecration follow as in the Rituals before set down only it is marked in the Rubrick that the Bishop and Priests lay on their hands at the first Collect then follow all the other Rites of Giving the Vestments annointing and delivering the sacred Vessels but the last Imposition of hands with the words Receive the Holy Ghost are not in it From all which it clearly appears what must be Essential to Ordination and what not none of those Rites that are only found in Later Rituals are essential for the Ordinations were good and valid before these were added But that in which all these Rituals agree must be acknowledged of greatest weight and chief Importance and that is the Prayer of Consecration with the two Collects that go before it For in those they all agree but vary in every thing else and therefore Morinus thinks the former of these Collects is now the form of Priestly Orders for which He has another strong Argument which is that as he proves both by the ancient Canons and even by the Doctrine of the Council of Trent the Imposition of the Priests hands with the Bishop is necessary in these Ordinations and they only lay on hands with the Bishop when that Collect is pronounced from which he infers that then the Priests Orders are conferred But it is clear from all those Rituals that these Collects were Preparatory to the Prayer of Consecration which only is the form of these Orders according to those Rituals And thus far of the office of Ordaining Priests I shall next set down from those Rituals the Office Rubricks Rites and Prayers used in the Consecration of a Bishop The Office begins with an Exhortation to the people declaring the Necessity of substituting one Pastor to another and that therefore upon the former Bishops Death there is another chosen by the Priests and the whole Clergy with the advice of the Citizens and people who is well qualified for it therefore they are desired to approve of the Choice by their Voices and to declare him worthy of it Then follows Oratio Precis de Ordinandis Episcopis ORemus Dilectissimi nobis ut his viris ad utilitatem Ecclesiae providendis benignitas omnipotentis Dei gratiae suae tribuat largitatem per dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Alia Benedictio Episcoporum EXaudi Domine supplicum Preces ut quod nostrum gerendum est ministerium tua potius virtute firmetur Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Alia PRopitiare Domine supplicationibus nostris inclinatus super hos famulos tuos cornu gratiae Sacerdotalis Benedictionis tuae in eos effunde virtutem Per Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum Coll. sequitur DEum totius Sanctificationis ac Pietatis actorem qui placationem suam sacrificia sacra constituit Fratres Dilectissimi deprecemur ut hunc famulum suum quem ex altari in Ecclesia seniorum Cathedra concordibus sua inspiratione judiciis effusis super plebem suam votis fidelibus ac vocum testimoniis voluit imponi collocans eum cum principibus populi sui ad eorum nunc precim universam eundem summum sacerdotium debita honoris plenitudine Charismatum gratia sanctificationum ubertate hac praecipue humilitatis virtute locupletet ut Rector potius non extollatur sed in omnibus se quantum est major humilians sit in ipsis quasi unus ex illis omnia judicii Domini nostri non pro se tantum sed pro omni populo qui solicitudinis suae creditur contremiscens ut qui meminerit de speculatorum manibus omnium animas requirendas pro omnium salute pervigilet pastorali erga creditas sibi oves Domini diligentiae ejus semper se flagrantissimum adprobans Te dilectorum adigitur praefuturus ex omnibus electus ex quibus universis sacris sacrandisque idoneus fiat sub hac quae est homini per hominem postrima benedictio confirmata atque perfecta suae consecrationis nostrae supplecationis adtentissime concordissimisque omnium precibus adjovemur omnium pro ipso oratio incumbat cui exorandi pro omnibus pondus imponitur Impetret ei affectus totius ecclesiae virtutem pietate sanctificationem caeteras summi Sacerdotii sacras dotes universae ecclesiae profuturas Domino Deo nostro qui Sacrorum numerum profluus fons est qui dat omnibus affluenter quod Sacerdoti pro affectu poscitur ad exundandam in omnibus sanctificationem suorum omnium promptissimè ac plenissimè conferentem Per Dominum nostrum A Collect and Prayers for the Bishops to be Ordained BEloved let us pray that the bounty of Almighty God may give of the fulness of his Grace to those men who are to be provided for the use of the Church Through our Lord. HEar O Lord the Prayers of thy Supplicants that the Ministry which we are to bear may be confirmed by thy power Through our Lord Iesus Christ. BE favourable to our Supplications O Lord and put upon these thy Servants the horn of thy Priestly Grace and pour upon them the vertue of thy blessing Through our Lord Iesus Christ. BEloved Brethren let us pray to God who is the Author of all Holiness and Piety who appointed Sacrifices and holy Offices by which he is pleased that he would upon the Prayer of all his people enrich this his Servant whom he has appointed by the agreeing voices according to his Inspiration and the faithful desires which he has infused in the people and the testimony of their voices to be raised from the Altar in the Church and the seat of the Elders placing him with the Princes of his people with the fulness of the honour of the High-Priesthood and the Grace of sanctifying Gifts in great measure and chiefly with the vertue of Humility that being a Governour he be not lifted up but that in all things he humble himself the greater he grows and be among others as one of them trembling at all the judgments of God not only for himself but for all the people trusted to his care remembring that all their souls shall be required at the hands of the Watchmen and therefore may watch for all their safety approving himself always most inflamed with Pastoral diligence about the Lord's Sheep trusted
them thy Blessing and grace that being fitted by thy gift always to implore thy mercy they may be devout by thy Grace Through our Lord Iesus Christ. There follow some Collects that are called in the Rubrick Super Oblata which belong to the Office of the Communion and are Prayers for the Bishop and this is all in that Ritual that relates to the Ordination of a Bishop The Second Ritual in all things agrees with the former The Third Ritual begins that Office with the second Canon of the Fourth Council of Carthage about the Consecration of Bishops then follow the Collects Oremus Adesto and Propitiare as in the first then the Prayer of Consecration Deus Honorum omnium And at the word Comple the Bishop takes the Chrism and at the words Hoc Domine he pours it on the head of the person to be Consecrated but all from Sinceritas Pacis to Tribuas ei Domine is left out then follow the Collects Super oblata there is no more in that Ritual For the Annointing of Bishops tho it was neither used in the Eastern nor African Churches yet both Pope Leo and Gregory the Great mention it as a Rite then received in the Roman Church Amalarius gives an accout of it but cites no ancienter Author for it than Beda for some other Authorities that are brought to prove the greater Antiquity of this Rite are either Allegorical or relate to the Chrism with which all were annointed at their Confirmation The Fourth Ritual has first the Questions that are put to the Bishop that is to be Ordained which has begun it seems from the time of the fourth Council of Carthage where by the first Canon the Bishop was to be examined both about his Faith and Manners I shall only set down two of these the one is Vis ea quae ex Divinis scripturis intelligis plebem cui Ordinandus es verbis docere exemplis Wilt thou both by the words and example instruct the people for whom thou art to be Ordained in those things which thou dost understand out of the Holy Scriptures To which he answers I will And this alone were there no more may serve to justify those Bishops who got Orders in the Church of Rome and afterwards received the Reformation since by the very Sponsions given in their Ordination they had engaged themselves to instruct their Flocks according to the Scriptures Another Question is Vis esse subditus huic nostrae Sedi atque Obediens Wilt thou be subject and obedient to this our See Which was no other than what every Metropolitan demanded of all the Bishops under him and yet this is all the obedience then promised to the Pope far different from the Oaths which were afterwards exacted But I go on to give an account of the rest of the Office according to this Ritual in the Rubrick the Second Canon of the fourth Council of Carthage is set down to which is added Hoc facto accipiat patinam cum Oblatis Calicem cum vino det ei dicens Accipe Potestatem offerre Sacrificium c. Which being done he shall take the Paten with the Hosties and the Chalice with the Wine and shall give him saying Receive Power to offer Sacrifice c. So that this was used in the Consecration of Bishops long before it was in the making of Priests then follow Oremus Adesto and Propitiare as they are before set down then two new Rites are set down the Rubrick is Ad Annulum dandum MEmor sponsionis desponsationis Ecclesiasticae Dilectionis domini Dei tui in die qua assecutus es hunc honorem cave ne obliviscaris illius Accipe ergo annulum discretionis honoris fidei signum ut quae signâ—…nda sunt signes Et quae aperienda sunt prodas Quae liganda sunt liges quae solvenda sunt solvas utque credentibus per fidem baptismatis lapsis autem sed poenitentibus per mysterium reconciliationis januas regni coelestis aperias Cunctis verò de thesauro dominico nova vetera proferas ut ad aeternam salutem omnibus consulas gratia Domini nostri Iesu Christi cui cum Patre Spiritu Sancto est honor gloria in saecula saeculorum Amen For giving the Ring BEing mindful of the sponsion and Ecclesiastical wedding and of the Love of the Lord God in the day in which thou hast attained this honour beware least thou forget it Receive therefore the Ring the Seal of discretion and of the honour of Faith that thon maist seal the things that are to be sealed and maist open the things that are to be opened and maist bind the things that are to be bound and maist loose the things that are to be loosed and maist open the Gates of the heavenly Kingdom to the believers by the Faith of Baptism and to those that have fallen but are Penitent by the mysterie of Reconciliation and that thou maist bring forth to all Men out of the treasure of the Lord things new and old and that thou maist take care of all their Eternal Salvation Through the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ to whom c. Ad Baculum dandum ACcipe Baculum sacri Regiminis signum ut imbecilles consolides titubantes confirmes praves corrigas in viam salutis aeternae habeasque potestatem aâ—…trahendi dignos corrigendi indignos cooperante Domino nostro Iesu Christo cui cum patre in unitate Spiritus Sancti est virtus imperium per omnia saecula saeculorum Amen For giving the Staff REceive the Staff the sign of the sacred Government that thou maist strengthen the weak confirme them that stagger correct the wicked in the way of Eternal salvation and may have power to attract the worthy and correct the unworthy through the assistance of our Lord Iesus Christ to whom c. Then follows the Prayer of Consecration and at the words Hoc Domine the Rubrick appoints the Chrism to be put on his head and what is left out in the former Ritual is also left out in this after that Prayer follows the Collect Super Oblata and there is no more in that Ritual For these rites of the Ring and Staff the first I find that mentions them is â—…dore who both speaks of them and 〈◊〉 sets down some of the words used in the former Ritual Yet Alcuinus speaks not a word of it tho he entitles his Chapâ—…er The manner in which a Bishop is Ordained in the Roman Church But iâ—… seems he has only lookt on some more Antient Rituals in which there was no such Rite for it is most certain that it was used in his time Amalarius tho he does at a great length insist on the annointing of the Bishop yet speaks not a word of the Staff or Ring But Rabanus Maurus who lived in that time does mention it or rather sets down Isidores words without citing
Presbyterum ad onus Episcopatus sublevetis Reverend Father the Holy Church our Mother desires that you may raise this Priest to the burden of a Bishoprick Then the Consecration is made with the Collects Adesto Oremus and Propitiare said with a middle voice Then follows the other Prayer in which his head is annointed which in this Ritual is called a Preface tho in most of the former it be called the Consecration then follows the blessing of the Staff in the end the Blessing is given to the Bishop The Last Ritual agrees in all things with the Pontifical as it now is only the words Receive the Holy Ghost are in none of these Antient Rituals which Morinus saw tho the latest of those be not above three hundred years old To these I shall add an account of the Consecration of a Bishop as it is in the Ordo Romanus The Office begins with the Decree bearing the Election of the Bishop with a desire that he be Ordained as soon as may be directed to the Bishops of the Province then follows the First Canon of the Fourth Council of Carthage after which is the Metropolitans letter approving the Election and desiring the Bishop Elect to be brought to him when he is brought he is blessed in Order to his Consecration then the Antiphona and the Introitus are said after this follows the examination of his Faith and Manners as in the Eleventh Ritual Then the Epistle is read after which his Gloves and Sandals and his Dalmatica a Vestment in the fashion of a Cross first used in Dalmatia are put on and Collects are used in every one of these then follows the Exhortation that is in the antientest of Morinus his Rituals after which two Bishops lay the Gospels on his neck and Shoulders and all the Bishops lay on their hands on his head and the Ordainer says the Prayer Adesto then the Oremus which in the Rubrick is called Praesatio then the Propitiare which the Rubrick calls Oratio then follows the Prayer called in other Rituals the Consecration but in this it is called Praesatio which is the same that was set down in the antientest Ritual after Sanctifica the Chrism is poured on the Bishops head in the Form of a Cross with the words in the sixth Ritual Then follows the annointing of his hands after that the putting the Chrism on his Thumb then the Blessing and giving the Ring and Staff then follows the Blessing and Communion then follow the Letters that testify the Bishops Consecration called Literae Formatae then the Popes Edict to the Bishop Ordained containing very wholesome admonitions then there is a Sermon and an Exhortation which contain many excellent Instructions and Directions which deserve to be often read and well considered From all the Premisses it clearly appears that the Church of Rome did never tye these Offices to any constant unalterable Forms but that in all Ages there very great alterations were made And what was more antiently the Prayer of Consecration was of later times called Praesatio a Preface and what was in the antient Rituals only a Prayer for the Bishops that were to be Ordained is now the Prayer of Consecration for now in the Roman Pontifical all that is said in the Consecration of a Bishop when they lay hands on his head is Receive the Holy Ghost and then follows the Collect Propitiare So that it is very unreasonable and an impudent thing in the Emissaries of that Church to raise scruples about our Ordinations because we have changed the Forms since they have made many more and greater Alterations of the more Primitive and antient Forms With this I should end this Appendix which already grows too big but I will only add one Particular more about the Oath that is in the Pontifical to be sworn by all Bishops It is in none of all these antient Rituals nor ever mentioned by Morinus so that it seems though it was at first made by Pope Gregory the seventh yet it was long before it was generally received or put into the Rituals For the Readers further satisfaction I shall here set down all I can find about Oaths made to Popes At first there was nothing exacted but a Promise of obedience such as all Inferiours gave to Superiours Then there was a particular vow made by such as the Popes sent in Missions The first instance of this is an Oath which Boniface Bishop of Mentz who is called the Apostle of the Germans swore to Pope Gregory the second about the beginning of the Eighth Century which follows as it is among his Epistles In nomine Domini Dei Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi Imperante Domino Leone à Deo coronato magno Imperatore Anno sexto post Consulatum ejus Anno sexto sed Constantino Magno Imperatore ejus Filio Anno quarto Indictione sexta PRomitto Ego Bonifacius Gratia Dei Episcopus vobis Beato Petro Apostolorum Principi vicarioque tuo beato Papae Gregorio successoribusque ejus per Patrem Filium Spiritum Sanctum Trinitateminseparabilem hoc sacratissimum Corpus tuum Me omnem fidem puritatem sanctae fidei Catholicae exhibere in Unitate ejusdem fidei Deo cooperante persistere in qua omnis Christianorum salus sine dubio esse comprobatur nullo modo me contra Unitatem Communis Universalis Ecclesiae suadente quopiam consentire sed ut dixi fidem puritatem meam atque concursum tibi utilitatibus tuae Ecclesiae cui à Domino Deo Potestas ligandi solvendique data est praedicto vicario tuo atque successoribus ejus per omnia exhibere Sed si cognovero Antistites contra Instituta antiqua sanctorum Patrum conversari cum eis nullam habere communionem aut conjunctionem Sed magis si valuero prohibere prohibeam si minus vero fideliter statim Domino meo Apostolico renunciabo Quod si quod absit contra hujus promissionis meae seriem aliquid facere quolibet modo seu ingenio vel occasione tentavero reus inveniar in aeterno judicio Ultionem Ananiae Saphirae incurram qui vobis etiam de rebus propriis fraudem sacere vel salsum dicere praesumpserunt Hoâ—… autem Indiculum Sacramenti Ego Bonisacius exiguus Episcopus manu propria scripsi atque positum supra sacratissimum corpus tuum ut superius leguntur Deo teste judice praestiti Sacramentum quod conservare promitto In the name of God and our Saviour Iesus Christ in the sixth year of Leo the Great crowned by God Emperour the sixth year after his Consulat and the Fourth year of Constantine the Great Emperour his Son the Sixth Indiction I Boniface by the Grace of God Bishop promise to you St. Peter Princâ—… of the Apostles and to thy blessed Vicar Pope Gregory and his Successors by the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost the Inseparable Trinity
sake of a place but places for the sake of good things therefore choose from all Churches the things that are Pious Religious and Right and gather all these in one bundle and leave them with the English that they may become familiar to them It will be hard for the Agents of that Church to find out a Reason why Austin Bishop of Canterbury might make such changes in the Liturgies by gathering out of the several Rituals that were then in the World what he thouhgt fit and yet to deny the same power to Arch-Bishop Cranmer and the Bishops in King Edward's days why might not they as well as Austin the Monk compare the Rituals of the Church of Rome with other more ancient Forms and gather together what they found most Pious Religious and Right not loving things for the sake of a place whether Rome or Sarum but loving places rather for the sake of good things So that in this we have on our side the decision of a Pope who was both more learned and more pious than any of all his Successors but this is not the only particular in which they will decline to be tryed by his Iudgment And in the changes that were made iâ—… is very clear that our Reformers did noâ—… design to throw out every thing that was in the Roman Rituals right or wrong but made all the good use that was possible oâ—… the Forms that were then received in thâ—… Western Church and in this our Church followed our Saviours method who thougâ—… he had the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him and was to Antiquate the Jewisâ—… Religion and to substitute his more Divine Precepts to those of Moses Yet he did accommodate his Institutions as near aâ—… could be to the Customs of the Jews not only in lesser matters but even in those two great Sacraments by which his Church is knit together as hath been fully made out by many learned Writers If then the customs of a Religion that was ready to perish were made use of and by new and more sacred Benedictions were consecrated to higher ends Our Church shewed her Prudence and Moderation in not destroying Root and Branch but reserving such things as were good and by being cleansed from some Excrescencies might prove still of excellent use This though it has given some colour to many peevish complaints yet is that in which we have cause still to glory This care and caution does eminently appear in our Ordinal the Ceremonies which were invented by the latter Ages we laid aside the more Ancient and Apostolical are retained And for the formal words used in the Imposition of Hands though the saying Receive the Holy Ghost was a latter addition without any Ancient Authority yet because this comes nearer the practice of our Saviour it was retained as the form of giving Orders For since it is consest on all hands that the Form of Orders is in the power of the Church we had good reason to prefer that which our Blessed Saviour made use of to any other and it had been a sullen and childish peevishness to have changed this because it was used in the Church of Rome So that I cannot imagine what should move them to shew so much dislike to our Forms except it be the old Quarrel of hating them because they are better and their own are worse and so because their deeds are evil they envy and revile us In this whole matter we are willing to be tryed both by the Scriptures and the first eight Ages even of the Roman Church by the Greek Church to this day and by the Doctrine that is most commonly received even in their own Church There is but one Objection that may seem to have any force in it which can be made from the practices of the Primitive Church against the Ordinations in this Church which is that we have not the inferior degrees of Subdeacons Acolyths Exorcists Readers and Porters in our Church and indeed if the Popes Infallibility be well proved this will be of force sufficient to invalidate our Orders The case of Photius Patriarch of Contantinople is well known whom Pope Nicolaus denyed to be lawfully Ordained because he was suddenly raised up from being a Layman to be made a Patriarch and though he passed through the Ecclesiastical Degrees yet that was not thought sufficient by that Pope who certainly would have been more severe to us who have none of these Degrees among us But these Orders cannot be looked on as either of Divine or Apostolical Institution the Scripture mentions them not St. Clemens St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp say nothing of them Justin Martyr and Irenaeus are as silent about them so that till the third Century we find no footsteps of them the first mention that is made of them is in the Canons and Constitutions called Apostolical of whose Antiquity I shall now say nothing In the Canons mention is oft made of the rest of the Clergy as distinct from Bishops Priests and Deacons and particularly they mention Readers Subdeacons and Singers In the Constitutions there are Rules given about thâ—… Ordination of Subdeacons and Readers And though there is mention made of Exorcists yet it is plainly said there that they were not Ordained but were believed to have that power over Spirits by a free gift of God and that they were then Ordained when they were made Bishops and Priests Firmilian who lived in the midst of the third Century speaks of Exorcists but it does not appear from his words if they were a distinct or an inferior Order of Church-men and they may be well enough understood of such as had an extraordinary power over Spirits Yet in the beginning of the fourth Century we find in the Greek Church more inferior Orders for the Council of Laodicea reckons up Servants who it is like were Acolyths Readers Singers Exorcists Porters and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were it seems Monks or some persons that were imployed in servile works such as the diggers of Craves And by the Council of Antioch the Chorepiscopi might Ordain Subdeacons Readers and Exorcists And if the Epistle to the Church of Antioch said to be writen by Ignatius was forged in the same Century by it it appears that there were then in the Greek Church Subdeacons Readers Singers Porters and Exorcists for all these are saluted in that Epistle from which it appears that all these Orders were then in the Church of Antioch But there is no small difficulty about these Orders in the Greek Churches for in all their Rituals we find no inferior Orders but Subdeacons and Readers to whom in some Churches they have added Singers upon which it is that Morinus confidently pronounces there were never any other inferior Orders in the Greek Church but these two but it does not appear that he had considered well those Canons of Laodicea and Antioch which mention other Orders Abraham Ecchellensis