Bishop in his stead a Man saith Sozomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hist l. 4. c. 10. always reported to be firm to the Nicene Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and as to matters of Religion altogether blameless And yet when Liberius was recalled from his banishment Felix was forced to retire nay the People of Rome though requâ—sted thereunto by the Emperor would not so much according to Theodoret as suffer him to Hist l. 2. c. 17. remain Copartner with the other in the Bishoprick From whence it was evident let Mr. Hody say what he will to the contrary that there is something more required in a new Bishop than barely to be Orthodox in the Faith and Catholick in his Belief and that plainly is if the Canons of the Church which were of old looked upon in Sacredness and Authority next to the Evangelists may umpire and determine not to invade another Bishop's See the See not being forfeited made void or vacated by the Canons of the Church A rule of such Catholick Authority in the Church that the known Violaters of it were no less rejected from its Communion than were the Violators of the most holy and sacred Evangels and though otherwise never so deserving a Bishoprick adjudged ever after altogether unfit to preside and govern in the Church Nay I cannot but in the third place observe and still my eye is upon Mr. Hody Thirdly That when Heresy prevailed and made its Bishops and its Party the Canon against Intrusion was no less pleaded against them to render them uncanonical than was their Heresy Hence we find Julius of Rome after he was informed of the Invasion made by Gregory the Arian upon Athanasius Patriarch of Alexandria complaining no less of the irregularity thereof than as if there had been no Heresy at all in the case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where saith he in answer to his Letter from Antioch is there any such Ecclesiastical Athan. Apol. 2. p. 201. Canon or any such Apostolical Tradition That a Man who is a Stranger or a Foreigner should be made Bishop at Antioch and sent to Alexandria to be Bishop there introduced not by the Clergy of the City nor by the Bishops of the Province but by a Guard of Russians and Souldiers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole Church at that same time being at peace within it self and all the Bishops of the same in perfect Communion and Concord with Athanasius their lawfull and proper Bishop consider I pray you if such a thing had been acted against any of you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Would you not have inveigh'd against it Would you not have required satisfaction for so palpable a Breach of the Canons Believe me and I speak it saith he in the sincerity of my heart and as in the presence of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is no rihghteous doing not according to Equity nor according to Canon Nay so incensed were the Ecclesiasticks at this Invasion of his that none of them would go unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. Ep. ad Orthod p. 171. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 except some that were Hereticks like himself some that for their irregularities had been cast out of the Church and some few that had play'd the Hypocrite out of fear yea and so enraged were the People against him that being deprived of their lawfull Ministers so as to have none left either to baptize or to visit them in their sickness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they rather chose to hazard themselves and their Children than to have him and his Clergy to bless them I confess this might arise in a great measure from their disgust to him his dealings and his Arianism but withall something of it cannot but be ascribed to the aversion they had to this uncanonical Promotion for being afterwards under a far worse usage by Count Syrianus they applied themselves to Maximus the Praefect and other of the Magistrates telling them that if it were the Emperor's pleasure to have them persecuted they Pope Alex. Ec. Sub. Athan. p. 240. were willing and ready to be Martyr'd but if not then they that would be pleased to intercede for them that they might enjoy the most Reverend Athanasius whom God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the wonted succession of their forefathers had set over them to be their Archbishop and that no other contrary to such succession might be put upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which rather say they than suffer we have even unto death resisted A zeal that attended the Primitive Christians from the very first to the last and as hard to let go as the Faith it self And this in a manner is confess'd by Mr. Hody himself at least by his Prefacer Vide Pref. who tells us that at the time the Manuscript was wrote there was a Party of Men Friends to the deprived says he but perhaps more to the Discipline and Canons of the Church who adhering to him I suppose because uncanonically deprived gave out that the former was still their Genuine and Canonical Bishop and that it was sinfull to have Communion with the new one And this as he guesses was in the end of the Twelfth or the beginning of the Thirteenth Century It seems the Canon for one Bishop in a Church at a time and the inconveniency of having more unless the first be Canonically deprived even till then was retained in the minds of Men and endeavoured after for the good of the Church if possible to be received Nay I cannot but consider in the fourth place Fourthly That if there be Heresy in the case tho' rising from the more nice and speculative Doctrines of Christianity the deprived Bishops are then according to Mr. Hody to stand upon their Right and the People to adhere to them And if so then certainly much more when the practical Doctrines of Faith Justice and moral Honesty and the Commandments that enjoyn them are concerned which practical Doctrines and Commandments are as holy in themselves as dear to God and the Church as the more speculative Doctrines the consubstantial Doctrine not excepted and more than other nice Theories which occur in the Controversies concerning Eutychianism Monothelitism c. the believing contrary to which is called Heresy Insomuch that if a deprived Bishop in the Greek Church must and would have stood out against an Eutychian or Monothelite Successor and defended his Church against them much more our deprived Bishops to stand out against their Successors in defence of those moral Principles in adherence to which they suffered Deprivation Doubtless a virtuous and good Life was as much intended and promoted by our Saviour in the establishment of his Kingdom amongst us as a good Faith or a right Belief and his Apostles and Ministers to whom and to whose Successors the care of the Church was committed had it as much in charge to propagate the one as the other Dr. Sherlock hath been heard
in the Church about the Episcopal Office did thereupon constitute Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for the future ordered the Rule of Succession for them that when they themselves or the Bishops constituted by them should happen to dye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 other Persons of approved worth might be substituted in their places Irenaeus confirms the same for says he habemus annumer are eos qui ab Apostolis instituti sunt Episcopi in Ecclesiis Successores eorum we can name the very Men whom the Apostles Lib. 3. cap. 3. Basil 1528. made Bishops in several Churches and the Successors of them down to our selveâ— giving us thereby to know that the Office of Episcopacy was as truly of diâ—ine Institution as the Apostolate itself 4. And as there must be one Bishop to head and unite the several Christians into one so if primitive Institution and Practice may umpire in the case there ought to be but one single Bishop in one single Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is saith Ignatius but one Flesh of our Lord Ep. ad Philadelph cap. 4. and Saviour Jesus Christ one Bloud of his shed for us all one Bread broken to us one Cup distributed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but one Altar to a Church and one Bishop Deus unus Christus unus There is saith St. Cyprian but one God one Christ one Church one Chair Ep. 43. founded by our Lord another Altar besides that one Altar and Priesthood cannot be erected And again Christ warneth and teacheth us in his De unitat Eccles Gospel saying there shall be one Flock and one Sheepherd and can any man think aut multos Pastores aut multos greges there can be in one place either many Sheepherds or many Flocks The Bees saith St. Jerome Ep. ad Rust Mon. Edit Basil 1565. have their King the Cranes fly after one there is one Emperour one Judge of a Province singuli Ecclesiarum Episcopi one single Bishop to one single Church Were there many Bishops of one City saith St. Hom. 1 in Ep. ad Philip. Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by no means God saith St. Ambrose singulis Ecclesiis singulos Episcopos hath determined to 1 Cor. 12. every Church one proper Bishop It cannot be saith Theodoret that many Bishops should be at one and the same time Pastors of one and the same Church In 1 cap. ad Philip. Thus it was carefully provided against by the Fathers of the first Nicene Council 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That two Bishops should not be Can. 8. placed in one and the same City The like determination was made in the Council of Constantinople 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That no Bishop should be constituted in a Church where one that is alive and had not voluntarily resigned is presiding And so it was also decreed by the fifth Aurelian Council Nulli viventi Episcopo Can. 5. alius superponatur aut superordinetur Episcopus That no Bishop be ordained or placed over the Head of another whilst that other is living The like in the Cabilon Council ut duo in una Civitate penitus in uno tempore nec Can. 4. ordinentur nec habeantur Episcopi That two Bishops are not to be ordained and placed together in one and the same City at one and the same time To this Custome and particularly to the aforesaid Canon of the Nicene Council Pope Innocent had respect when writing to the Clergy of Constantinople he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soz. l. 8. c. 26. Edit Col. Allobr We never knew any such thing to be acted by our Forefathers but rather forbad that any should have power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to ordain another into the Place of one that is living 5. And this of one Bishop and but of one Bishop in a place was a Rule so generally known and so universally received in those early days of Christianity that Cornelius upbraids Novatus that Father of Puritanes and pretending Gospeller as he calls him for being ignorant of it Euseb lib. 6. cap. 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that but one Bishop ought to be in one Catholick Church As if it had been a Rule as necessary to be known and practiced for the well governing of the Church and for keeping it in lasting Peace and Unity as any one Canon throughout the Scriptures besides And therefore St. Augustin though it was his fortune to be ordained Bishop of Hippo whilst Valerius lived would by no means suffer Eradius and perhaps he at that time needed a Coadjutor no less than Valerius did to be superordained upon him because he then knew it to be an Act uncanonical his Words are these Scio quod scitis vos I full Ep. 166. Edit Paris 1531. well know what ye also know that Eradius is a deserving Man and every way qualified to be made a Bishop sed nolo de illo fieri quod de me factum est but I would not have that done to him which was done to me adhuc enim in corpore posito for I was made a Bishop with him whilst he was living and sate with him in the same See quod ergo reprehendum est in me nolo reprehendi in filio meo what therefore was reprovable in me I will not have to be blamed in Eradius my Son erit Presbyter ut est quando Deus voluerit facturus Epâ—scopus he shall continue a Presbyter in the station he is and when God wiâ—â— by taking me away he shall be a Bishop Whence we may observe 1. That he looked upon his being consecrated Bishop whilst Valerius his Father and Predecessor lived to be an act reprehensible in him and altogether uncanonical 2. That afterwards knowing the Canon he would not act contrary to it by having Eradius superordained upon him though his declining Age needed it and both Clergy and People desired it 3. That it was done at the Request of the Bishop of the Place with the approbation of the Primate of the Province and as Possidonius relates the matter non tam succedere quam Consacerdos accedere not to dethrone the former as now a days it s done but De vitâ Aâ—gust cap. 8. to come into the Copartnership of the Bishoprick with him and thereby to assist in his old Age that the Affairs of the Church might not be suffered to run to Ruine by reason of his Infirmities and Inabilities The onely Case perhaps wherein two Bishops may be allowed in one Church yea and not then neither as Gratian makes out the Matter unless the infirm one particularly requests it the Church rather chusing to Caus 7. q. 1. cap. 11. bear the Infirmity of oâ—d Age in a Biâ—hop than to force an Assistant upon him lest thereby Opposition should arise betwixt them Now the Reason of all this was to prevent the Mischief of Schism
find St. Ambrose in his Funeral Oration upon Satyrus his Brother approving and commending him for that he avoided the Luciferian Bishops their Churches and their Assemblies for though desirous of the Holy Sacrament non it a avidus fuit ut esset incautus he was not saith he so desirous of it as not to be Orat. in Fun. Frat. Tom. 3. p. 19. Edit Basil 1567. careful from whose hands he took it and therefore advocavit ad se Episcopum he calleth first the Bishop that was to administer it and asked him utrumnam cum Episcopis Catholicis conveniret whether he was one of those that were in Communion with the Catholick Bishops non enim putavit fidem esse in Schismate for he did not believe that a right Faith could be had in a wrong and Schismatical Profession No less a Zeal may be observed in those more Honourable Ladies and Worthy Matrons of Rome when Liberius their Bishop was banished and Felix put into his room they saith the Historian perceiving the lukewarmness or rather cowardice Theod. lib. 2. cap. 17. Edit Col. Allob. of their Husbands in the case dressed themselves as became their Quality went to the Emperor and besought him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he would take pity upon the City and restore to them their Bishop again or at least give them and others leave to follow him adding that though he had placed another over them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that neither they nor any other of the Citizens would ever enter the Church whilst he was in it And thus it was when Arsacius was thrust into the See of Constantinople in the place of St. Chrysostom nay so averse were the Citizens to receive him that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tho' they met him in the Streets they would not so much as vouchsafe to salute Theod. lib. 5. cap 35. him Neither were they more complying when Atticus was put upon them in the room of Arsacius none of them would communicate with him Nay though an Edict was procured for the Expulsion and Confiscation of the Goods of all such Bishops for the Deprivation of all such publick Officers and for the Banishment of all such Artificers and Tradesmen that would not communicate with him yet none saith Palladius but the In vit Chrys c. 10. p. 95 96. Edit Lut. Par. 1680. poorer Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and those that were weaker in the Faith went in unto them whereas the others despising the World and willing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to keep themselves upright and their Consciences undefiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some of them fled to Rome some of them to the Mountains and some to foreign Monasteries the People all the while that staid behind keeping up their Meetings in the open fields And thus it happened again at Rome in the time of the contention between Damasus and Vrsinus the tumult Lib. 4. c. 24. saith Socrates was great occasioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not about Faith or Heresie but whether of the two by right should be Bishop And here I pretend not to determine the Priority of Ordination to either and Praef. ad lib. precum Edit Oxon. 1678. yet I know that Marcellinus and Faustinus gives it to Vrsinus as well as Socrates and others to Damasus and perhaps if things were rightly weighed and duly examined Vrsinus that lost it might bid as fair for the Chair as Damasus that got and possessed it However the Vrsinians Loco citat buoyed up themselves with the precedency of a seven days Ordination would have nothing to do with the other Nay when Damasus had prevailed so far with the Emperor as to have Vrsinus banished and his Clergy imprisoned or sent after him so that none were left to officiate among them yet rather than go in to Damasus Populus timens Deum per coemiteria Martyrum stationes sine Clericis celebrabat the People that feared God more than the Emperor his Judges or the new made Bishop met at the Tombs of the Martyrs and held on their stations without them 19. Neither let the Apostatizing Clergy or the complying Laity who run along with those disorderly Bishops think that they for their so doing are under no Crime or deserve no Censure Abstinuimus communicatione Felicissimum Augendum item Repostum de extorribus Irenen Rutilorum Paulam Sarcinatricem Sophronium ipsum de extorribus Soliassum Budinarium We have saith Caldoâ—ius in a Letter to St. Cyprian Ep. 42. p. 81. according to your Order separated from our Communion Felicissimus and Augendus Repostus the Exile Irene the Radler Paula the Pedler as also Sophronius and with him Soliassus the Mulettor As for Felicissimus saith St. Cyprian he endeavours cum Episcopo portionem plebis dividere Ep. 41. Cyp. Cal. to share the People with his Bishop that is to divide the Sheep from the Shepherd and the Children from the Father and therefore decree him excommunicated As for Augendus nec Episcopum nec Ecclesiam cogitat he neither hath regard to his Bishop nor the Church but confederates and combines with the other and therefore let the same sentence pass upon him quisquis se conspirationi ejus adjuxerit and as for the rest that go on in the Faction with them let them also know that they are not to communicate with us in the same Church Now of these some were Clericks as Felicissimus and Angendus others Confessors as Repostus and Soliassus others common Christians as Irene Paula and perhaps Sophronius from whence we may justly infer that it is not the high Calling of the Clergy the meritorious sufferings of the Confessors the Simplicity and Plainness of the well-meaning Christian no nor the Trimming between both Parties flattering the one and holding Communion with the other whilst they herd with the Out-liers and be found in their Quarters that will excuse them from the foul guilt of Schism or the due Demerits of it The Confessors at Rome were very sensible of this videbamur quandam Communicationem cum Schismaticis haeretico homine habuisse We seemed say they to Cornelius to have held Communion Corn. ad Cyp. Ep. 45. with Novatian and his Schismatical followers for we frequented their Assemblies appeared amongst them in their Holy Offices of Religion sincera tamen mens nostra semper in Ecclesia fuit yet our Hearts and our Souls ever went along with the Church We knew there was but one God one Christ one Holy Spirit unum Episcopum in Catholica Ecclesia esse debere and that there ought to be but one Bishop in a Church However nos imposturam passi sumus we cannot but say we were imposed upon and do heartily pray ut abolerentur de memoria tollerentur that those things may be forgiven and forgotten and we received again into Communion with Cornelius our lawful Bishop Such there were that could run with the Hare and
made for as Baalam said to the Messengers of Balak How shall I Numb 23. 8. curse whom God hath not cursed Or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied How could we make him our Enemy or pray that God would confound his devices whom we durst not lift up our hands against nor so much as curse no not in our thoughts How could we upon our bended knees with our and eyes lifted up unto Heaven go along with the Priest and with a blessing to attend his Spirit when our Consciences in the interim told us that we must either say our Prayers backward or play the part of the greatest Hypocrites in the World Certainly it is better as King Charles the First said when they would suffer him to have no other Chaplains to pray with him in his Solitudes than what they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ch 24. put upon him to seem undevout and to hear no Mens Prayers than to be forced to comply with those Petitions to which the heart cannot consent nor the tongue say Amen without contradicting a Man's own Understanding or belying his own Soul Terms of Communion may happen to be so sinful and unjustifiable that a good and devout Christian ought rather to absent than to joyn in with them into this strait Grâ—tius was brought between the corruptions in the Roman and the want of Orders in the Reformed Church which made him to be Segrex a Separatist Watson Pref. Lib. 5. Ep. 27. and Devotee by himself And St. Ambrose was so incensed against the Bishops that took part with Maximus that had invaded the Empire and put by Valentinian that he did abstinere ab Episcopis withdraw from them and refused all Communion with them and if it once comes to that pass that we must either be alone or so communicate I think it much safer to use the words of the before recited Martyr to be condemned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ch 24. to the woe of a Vae soli than to that of Vae vobis Hypocritis by seeming to pray what we do not approve especially considering that of St. Cyprian solus non est cui Christus in fuga comes that he is never Ep. 58. Pleb Thib. alone nor without the benefit and blessing of publick Communion if driven thence for Religion sake who hath Christ along with him for his Companion nec sine Deo nor without God and the influences of his Spirit be he were he will if he do but keep himself free from the pollutions that defile the Temple of the Lord whose Temple ye are saith the Apostle speaking of those who would have nothing to do with the Temporizing Gnosticks their Doctrine and their Communion This was the 1 Cor. 3. 16 17. difficulty we laboured under then and should we now any longer consent and communicate with them seeing they have cut themselves off from their lawfull Bishops and turned Subjects to those that have usurped their Thrones we should unavoidably involve our selves in their Schism and there lie as open to the punishment thereof as they did who ran in unto Corah and took part with his Confederacy to cast off Aaron and set up a Priesthood against him St. Cyprian highly commends the Presbyters and Deacons who refused to communicate with Gaius a fellow and neighbouring Presbyter because he was found to be present at the Prayers of the Lapsi and tells them that by so doing they did act uprightly and Ep. 34. Presb. Diac. consonant to the Discipline of the Church Nor is it enough to plead as the Confessors did at Rome sincera mens nostra we liked well of Cornelius Cornel. Cyp. Ep. 49. and always went along with him in our hearts when at the same time they took in with Novatian and became followers of him and his Schism or as they in Athanasius's time did who came to him Nicodemus like in the night to beg pardon for their Apostacy Nos animo Synaxin cum Athanasio we are ever present with Athanasius and at his Synaxes with our Souls when upon all occasions they daily appeared in the Assemblies and Ep. ad solit vit Meetings of the Schismatical Gregory his Bishops and his Presbyters Neither can any peace be expected to be given to such unless the Schism be abjured His ita gestis these things being resolved on saith Cornelius Ep. 49. Cyp. concerning the returning Confessors Maximus Vrbanus Sidonius Macarius and many more qui se eis adjunxerant who had joyned themselves to them in their Schism in Presbyterium venerunt came into the Conistory and more earnestly beg'd that all their Schismatical compliances might be pardoned And at the same rate Arsenius Bishop of Hyppolita with his Presbyters Deacons and Followers submitted to Athanasius the Patriarch we say they diligentes pacem unanimitatem earnestly Athan. Apolog 2. coveting the Peace and Unanimity of the Church and willing according to the antient constitution to become obedient to the Ecclesiastical Canon do in the presence of God solemnly promise nos deinceps non communicaturos cum Schismaticis never henceforth to communicate with Schismaticks nor with any one else to whom the peace of the Church is denied be they Bishops Presbyters or Deacons nor have any thing to do with them neither send tâ— or receive Letters of pacification from them but for the future wholly to give our selves up to the Church's Canons and the direction of you our Metropolitane And indeed less than this cannot hope to speed ecce incolumis immaculata laudis integritas behold saith St. Cyprian that 's the unblemished and Praise-worthy Ep. 51. Cornel. repentance that 's the incorrupt and substantial return à desertoribus profugis recessisse to desert the deserters and to fly the fugitives to bid adieu to the betrayers of the Faith and the impugners of Catholick Unity And certainly the sooner this is done the better lest being once out of the Church and no longer assisted by the Spirit of Grace that goes along with it we be driven from Post to Pillar from one point of the Compass to another and go we shall provided Poverty or Disgrace Cross or Faggot be not in the way till we have made Shipwreck of the Faith and in the end finding our selves at the brink of the Precipice and not able to return or go farther we contentedly drop down and perish Thus it was with the Meletians non est sperandum ut Antichristo Meletiani resistant it 's now no longer to be hoped saith Athanasius Ep. ad sol vit that the Meletians should oppose Antichrist or resist his coming for they have thrown off all care of truth count it no sin to deny Christ but Camelian like transform themselves into all shapes and colours semper mercenarii always at the lure and beck of those they live under and throughout all preserring Ease before Verity till addicting themselves to Voluptuousness and
Humanity or so much as our Saviour's commands whilst the Church is under such disorder can be met with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bishops of Europe saith Theodorit so much detested the dealings and doings against John that they withdrew themselves from the Communion Hist l. 5. c. 34. of all those that wrought that mischief against him and with them all the Bishops of Illyrium did agree Nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though that excellent Doctor was dead the Western Bishops notwithstanding were so far from renewing Communion with the Bishops of Egypt of the East of Bosphorus and of Thrace that they would not so much as have a correspondence with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till they had entered the Name of that Divine Man into the Dyptichs of the Bishops that were dead And though Atticus one of the Intruders had often sent Ambassadors to them and as often requested the Peace of the Church at their hands yet they would never grant it till John was dead nor then neither untill he inserted his Name among the dead Bishops which being done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they from henceforth saith the same Thodorit received him into Communion and without doubt Ibid. thereby accepted and authenticated him and his Ordinations purging the Stream of Succession for the future so as that it might run pure and clean down to Posterity without taking their irregularities along with it And if so then the following instances of Maximian Proclus and the rest of Atticus his Successors will do Mr. Hody no good But grant that all which Mr. Hody and his Prefacer insâ—nuates was true that Chrysostom relinquished that Separation was contrary to his Spirit that the good Man seeing he was to be Deposed advised and charged the Bishops his Friends to keep Communion with his Deposers and not to rend and divide the Church for his sake telling them and their adherents that the Church could not be without a Bishop though it might be without him yet I pray you what would he or any other of the deprived Bishops have done under an Emperor which persecuted the Order and very Office of Bishops and would suffer no Bishops at all in the Church Put the case that the Emperor had deposed all the Bishops in one part of the Empire and had set up Schismatical Presbyters nay Pseudopresbyters who were and are professed Enemies to the Name and Order of Bishops in their place I am apt to think that John Chrysostom would not have submitted to an unjust Deprivation at such a time and by such an Emperor who had sacrificed the Order to his Interest in one part of the Empire and had no principle to keep him from doing it in the other when great and formidable numbers of all sorts would desire the deprivation and deposing of the whole Order certainly in such a case as this he would never have receded but continued his Order and Office though a thousand deaths had attended him methinks I hear him at the bare thoughts of it using the words he did when he was banished the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will the Empress banish Ep. 125. me let her banish me the Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof If she command that I be cut in pieces let me be sawn asunder the Prophet Esay was served so before me Will she throw me into the Sea I remember it was the fate of Jonas or into a fiery Furnace I shall have the three Children for my fellow Sufferers If she will cast me to wild Beasts I think how Daniel went the same way to the Lions If she command I should be stoned let it be so I have Stephen the Protomartyr on my side Will she have my Head Let her have it John the Baptist lost his Has she a mind to my Estate Let her have it naked came I out of my Mother's Womb and naked shall I return thither But as for my Office I will never forsake neither shall my Order perish as long as I have a Tongue and Hands to propogate it Thus I persuade my self his zeal would have inflamed him and how tamely soever he might otherwise have sat down when the Interest of the Church was not concerned yet at such a time as this he would have resumed his courage and his power and never have suffered the Church to have been ruined for want of his assistance And so I have done with Mr. Hody as far as I am concerned with him But how he will come off for shamming the World with part of the Manuscript for the whole I am not able to guess Mr. B. in his Preface to the English Translation tells us That there was a singular providence in the discovery of it at this juncture and if there were so then I hope the Collection of Canons which both of them have concealed may have as good a Title to that singular providence and as much 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the discovery of it as that part hath which they have thought fit to Print It is written in the same hand and follows immediately where the Printed Book concludes and Mr. Hody as I am informed having been told of it and asked the reason why he did not publish it answered That he believed it was not written by the same Author But put the case he did believe so had it not however been much the more for his honour and the interests of truth to have published it and given his reasons to the learned World why he did not believe it to be a part of the Manuscript or that it was written by the Author of it This had been fair dealing but instead of that both he and his Prefacer wholly concealed it though the Canons carry much more venerable Antiquity and Authority with them than the examples they have Printed and are indeed of that Antiquity and Authority which to use the Prefacer's words of us we profess to imitate and pretend to alledge I shall here set them down as they are translated into English from a Copy of the Original that was sent from Oxford and when the learned Reader hath perused them he will be shrewdly tempted to guess at the reason for which many learned Men suspect Mr. Hody hath concealed them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 31 Canon of the Apostles by a mistake for the 32. If any Presbyter contemning his own Bishop shall hold a separate Meeting and erect an opposite Altar having nothing werewith to charge the Bishop in matters of Piety and Justice let him be deposed as an ambitious affector of Government for he is an Usurper In like manner as many of the Clergy as shall joyn with him shall be deposed and the Laicks excommunicated But all this ought to be done after the first the second and third admonition of the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 6 Canon of the Synod of Gangra If any Man hold a private Meeting out of the Church and
Vnity of Priesthood Necessary to the Unity of Communion in a CHURCH With some REFLECTIONS ON THE OXFORD MANVSCRIPT And the PREFACE annexed ALSO Collection of CANONS part of the â—â—id MANUSCRIPT faithfully tranâ—ated into English from the Original but concealed by Mr. Hody and his Prefacer LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXCII THE CONTENTS 1. UNdertaken at the News of the new Bishops 2. Plurality of Bishops as fatal as plurality of Kings 3. The Church founded on Bishops 4. But one Bishop in a Church 5. A Rule generally known and practised .. 6. More makes a Schism 7. Novatianus at Rome did so 8. So did Meletius at Lycopolis in Egypt 9. Majorinus at Carthage and others elsewhere 10. Unity of Priesthood under the old Law 11. The second Bishop makes the Schism 12. His Ordination null 13. His Person and Office censured 14. Not sufficient to be of the same Faith with the first 15. Though an Assertor of and Sufferer for it 16. Is rejected by all 17. The Bishops renounce Communion with him 18. The Laity his Presidency 19. The Compliers guilty 20. The Ordainers worst of all 21. A Digression touching the Oath of Canonical Obedience 22. The Schism aggravated 23. Through the unjust Deprivation of the Bishops as contrary 24. To the Primitive Canons 25. To the Proceedings and Rescripts of Christian Emperours 26. To the Methods of England Saxon or Norman 27. Not innovated by the Reformation 28. State Deprivation a novel and wicked Invention 29. Through the Primate's being one of these Bishops without whom 30. Nothing is to be done in the Church 31. No Ordination counted valid 32. The Case of Abiathar considered 33. As to the being of two High Priests at once 34. As to his Deposition by Solomon 35. Regal Depositions fatal to the Church 36. They proved so to the Jewish 37. They proved so to the Greek 38. An Apology for both 39. The Case of the deprived Bishops not the same 40. With those in K. Edward the Vâ—th 's days as touching 41. Their Investitures 42. Their Crimes 43. The Manner of their Deprivations 44. Nor with those in Q. Elizabeth 's days 45. Preliminary Observations respecting the same 46. The number of the deprived 47. Their Titles faulty 48. Their Crimes inexcusable 49. The Authority unexceptionable 50. The Parliament cannot authenticate Schism 51. No Act of Submission to them 52. Ecclesiastical Matters out of their Sphere 53. Neâ—er more unhappy than when meddling in them 54. The Necessity of the present Separation evinced 55. Mr. Hody and his Prefacer detected and confuted Vnity of Priesthood Necessary to the Unity of Communion in a Church SIR 1. OF all the Ill News you have sent me since the beginning of the late Revolution none sits so close upon me nor hath created such deep Thoughts of Heart within me as the News of a new Primate and a new Bishop the old ones being living and neither canonically heard nor judicially deprived A Project utterly dissonant to all primitive Practice to the antient Constitutions and Canons of the Church and which if not timely compromised must necessarily beget and perhaps unavoidably propagate a lasting Schism among us ad natos natorum qui nascuntur ab ipsis 2. The antient Cry was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one God one Theodor. lib. 2. cap. 17. Hom. Iâ—id lib. 2. Christ one Bishop answerab le to that of the Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let there be but one King one Supreme intimating that it will be as fatal to the Church to have Bishop against Bishop as for the State to have opposite Kings The one ever fills a Nation with Bloodshed and Devastation the other the Church with Faction and Sedition The former ruines the Peace and disturbs the Quiet of the Common-wealth disposing it to most certain Anarchy and Confusion the other ever confounds the Unity and Concord of Christians till it turns the House of God into a Den of Thieves and of a Bethel makes it a Bethaven And if by either of these means we come once to be unsettled and to have our corner Stone displaced we mâ—y soon expect that Saying of our Saviour to be verified among us that an House divided against it self cannot stand Mark 3. 25. 1 Cor. 3. 4. This was the fate and sad condition of the Church of Corinth some were foâ— Paul others for Apollos and others again for Cephas which at length caused sâ—ch a Division among them that had not the Apostle come in 1 Cor. 4. 21. with his superintending Authority the Church it self had probably been overlaid and stifled in its Infancy 3. There might indeed be many subordinate Ministers and Assistants in a Church some â—or bringing in new Converts some for perfecting the oâ—d ones all for the Work of the Ministery and for the edifying of the Body of Christ Cornelius Bp. of Rome reckons up under him in his time no less than * Euseb Hist lib. 6. cap. 35. Edit Col. Allob. 1612. forty six Presbyters besides seven Deacons and many other ecclesiastical Officers Epiphanius tells us that at Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to every Church there was an appointed Haeres 68. S. 4. Presbyter but Bishop there could be but one to superintend and preside over the Church And therefore St. Cyprian tells us in his Epistle ad Florentium Puptanum That a Church is Pâ—ebs Sacerdoti adunata Pastori Ep. 66. suo grex adherens a People united to their Bishop and a Flock adhering to their Pastor and that Heresies and Schisms therefore arise quod Sacerdoti Ep. 59. Cornel. Edit Oxon. Dei non obtemperatur because the Bishop is disobeyed and not acknowledged to be the onely Bishop and the onely Judge for the time being under Christ in the Church Nay Ignatius makes this union between a Bishop and his People so absolutely and indefeasably necessary to a Church that he will not allow it to be a Church without it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without these says he Bishops and their Clergy there can be no Ad Fral c. 3. Church of God no Assembly of Saints no Congregation of Christians So doth the aforesaid St Cyprtan Scire debes Episcopum in Ecclesia esse Ep. 66. ad Flor. Ecclesiam in Episcopo you ought to know saith he that the Bishop is in the Church and the Church in the Bishop and that he who is not with the Bishop is not in the Church And again at Ecclesia super Episcopos constituatur That the Church was to be founded upon Bishops divina lege fundatum Ep. 33. lapsis and was a Sanction at first by the divine Law and by the various Series of Time and successive Ordinations handed down to us A Sanction designed by Christ from the beginning for saith St. Clemens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostles having beforehand fully learned Ep. ad Cor. 1. cap. 44. from Christ that there would arise a Contention
Chrysostom divides the Church Hom. 2 in Ep. ad Eph. Edit Paris 1621. sooner than the love of Preheminence and nothing provokes God more than to have his Church divided 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why do you therefore say there is still the same Faith and they are no less Orthodox than we But if so why are they not with us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is but one Lord one Faith one Baptism and if they are right we are wrong but if we are right they are wrong 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 do you think it sufficient they are Orthodox whilst they overlook and pass by the right of Ordination its Priority and Order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we ought certainly as much and as earnestly to contend for the one as for the other And not without good reason too for if every one may be ordained and made a Bishop in the Church in vain was the Altar ercted the Congregation appropriated and the Priests limited every thing then must come to Ruine and Confusion 15. And to no more purpose is the Eminency of their Learning the Excellency of their Parts their stout Defence of their Religion or their Sufferings for it pleadable in the Case What if they have Wrote well Preached well Disputed well Suffered well been Banished Imprisoned Tormented What if they have Converted some Confirmed others and when the foundations of the Earth were shaken and the Ark of God tottering they were seemingly such that kept the one from being removed and the other from falling Quisquis ille est qualiscunque est Christianus non est qui in Ecclesia Christi non est whosoever Ep. 55. p. 112. Antoniano and how great soever he be saith St. Cyprian of Novatian if he be not in the Church a Christian he cannot be jactet se licet for though he prides himself never so much for his Rhetorick and Eloquence though like Saul he appear for his Piety and Parts taller by the head than the rest of his Brethren yet since he retains not Brotherly Charity and Ecclesiastical Vnity quod prius fucrat amisit what soever he was before he is now lost as to it all and become no better than Salt that hath lost his savour And thus the Apostle long before had decreed Though I speak saith he with the Tongue of Men 1 Cor. 13. 1 2 3. and Angels and have not Charity though I understand all Mysteries and all Knowledge and have not Charity nay though I bestow my Goods upon the poor and give my Body to be burnt and have not Charity I am nay it profitteth me nothing Upon which words the aforesaid St. Cyprian thus discants Cum Deo manere non possunt they cannot be with God who hold not the Vnity of De Unit. Eccl. p. 114. his Church for though they suffer themselves to be thrown into the Flames though they expose their persons to Wild and Savage Beasts non erit illi fidei Corona sed poena perfidiae they shall receive the demerit of their perfidity and unfaithfulness but not the Crown due to their Faith occidi talis coronari non potest such an one may indeed be slain but he cannot be crowned Martyrdom is always within the Church esse Martyr Id. 113. non potest qui in Ecclesia non est Nay it may be Martydom to suffer rather than to divide the Church Hence Dionysius writing to Novatus Eusebii Hist l. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tells him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shouldest have suffered any thing rather than divide the Church Neither is that Martyrdom which is suffered for not divulging the Church of lâ—ss Glory than that which is suffered for not sacrificing to Devils 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nay in my opinion it is far greater For in the one Martyrdom is suffered for one Soul in the other for the Vniversal Church 16 Being thus far advanced and finding it no unprecented Case to have Bishops set over the head of Bishops it will be worth our pains to enquire how the Church resented thâ—m what Communion they held with them what Deference they paid them what Honour they gave them And I find 17. That the whole College of Bishops all the Christian World over that went not out with them ever rejected their Ordination would neither Communicate with nor be Communicated by them neither send to nor receive Letters encyclical from them Cum ad nos in Africam Legatos misisset when Novatianus that new made Bishop sent into Africa to us to be received into our Fellowship we saith St. Cyprian with the advices of many of our Colleagues returned him this answer se foris esse Ep. 68. p. 177. Stephano nec a quoquam nostrum sibi communicari that he was gone out from us and therefore could expect no longer to continue a Communion with us Neither did Maximus his Presbyter or Augendus his Deacon that first brought the news of his Ordination scape much better for illicitae contra Ecclesiam Catholicam factae Ordinationis pravitate commoti being provoked with the irregularity of the Ordination as being contrary Ep. 44. p. 85 86. Cornelio to the usuage of the Catholick Church we forbad them saith St. Cyprian our Communion and gave no other answer to their Embassy than that laying aside all dissension and strife they would consider what an Impiety it was to desert the Church their Mother and how Episcopo semel facto that after one Bishop was legally Constituted and Eustalled another could by no means be superinduced or put into the same Stall with him Damasus saith Optatus to Parmenian succeeded Liberius and Siricius Lib. 2. p. 36. who is at present our Colleague and fellow Bishop succeeded Damasus cum quo nobis totus orbis commercio formatarum in una Communionis Societate concerdat with whom as with us the whole Christian World by their Communicatory Letters continue in Society and Concord together a favour never afforded to the Donatists I own saith St. Augustine that Ep. 62. p. 140. I do write ad nonnullos Donatistarum primarios to certain of the chief Bishops and Leaders among the Donatists But it is to shew them their Errors privatas tantum qualibus vobis uti etiam ad Paganos licet however they are private Letters and such as are lawfull to send to Pagans non Communicatorias not Letters Communicatory quas jam olim propter suam perversitatem ab Vnitate Catholica quae toto orbe diffusa est non accipiunt which by reason of their long obstinacy and perverseness are denied them all the World over 18. And no more kind were the Laity to them for they remonstrated against their Election renounced their Precedency would have nothing to do with their Altars their Clergy or their Oblations nay such an abhorrency they had of them that they would into Banishment into Death rather than into Communion with them Hence we
hunt with the Hounds and such without doubt there will be amongst us my Prayer is that their number may be but small and like the before-mentioned Confessors they may soon see their Error and return 20. But of all the Sinners in the pack none more outrageously so than the Ordainers and their Complices those Bishops I mean that first dressed up the Ape set him in the Chair and bad God speed unto him Hence though Submission and Penance might reconcile the other Clergy yet nothing less than utter Deprivation and loss of their Sacerdotal Honour could attone for such Of the three Bishops saith Cornelius in his Synodical Epistle to Fabian that ordained Novatian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Hist lib. 6. cap. 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one of them repented and returned unto the Church and we received them into Communion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but no farther did we receive him than to the Communion of the Laity and as for the other two engaged with him in the Ordination we deposed them and ordained others in their room And so it faired with Trophimus one of those forward Bishops that received and congratulated Navatianus in his Election susceptus est Trophimus Trophimus upon his repentance was absolved and admitted but after all so admitted ut Laicus communicet non quasi locum Sacerdotis usurpet that he must thenceforth Cyp. 55. p. 105. communicate but as a Laick and no longer as a Priest or Bishop The severity of this Sentence came indeed afterwards to be more or less moderated wherefore Melchiades Bishop of Rome to whom the cause of the Donatists was referred would have none but Donatus himself quem totius mali principem invenerat whom he found as St. Austine records the matter chief Author of all the mischief to bear the burden alone offering Ep. 162. fol. 141. cap. 3. the rest upon their return to the Vnity of the Church the continuance of their Bishopricks and his Letters Communicatory though they had been ordained by Majorinus or any others in the State of Schism Ita ut quibuscunque locis duo essent Episcopi quos dissentio geminasset so that in all places where the Schism had caused two Bishops the prior ordained was to be established and the second removed to some other vacancy But then this was Sanitatis recuperandae optio with desire and design to heal the Breach and make up the Schism Thus again was Firminus Bishop of Istria admitted by St. Gregory without a deposition But then this was 300 years after the Greg. lib. 10. Indict 5. c. 37. Edit Paris 1551. Schism first commenced and at a time when it was grown inconsiderable the knot being broken almost 200 years before insomuch that some few scatterings onely were here and there remaining however not without due caution for the future for they were solemnly to swear se nunquam ad Schisma reversuros sed semper in unitate Ecolesiae Catholicae communione Romani Pontificis per omnia mansuros that they would never thenceforth depart from the Vnity of the Catholick Church and because more Greg. Iud. cad cap. 31. particularly belonging to the jurisdiction of Rome not from the Communion of the Roman See Such an Oath was not long after as Petrus de Marca in his Book de Concord Sacerdot Imp. informs us given to Adalbertus before L. 6. c. 3. n. 13. Edit Paris 1663. his Consecration by Hinemarus his Metropolitan Privilegio Metropolis Remorum Ecclesia ac ejus Praesulis secundum sacrosanctos Conciliorum Canones Decreta Sedis Apostolicae ex sacris Canonibus Legibus promulgata proscire posse absque dolo simulatione vel indebita pertinaci contradictione me obediturum profiteor I do promise from this time forward to the best of my skill and power without dissimulation and fraud and all manner of wilfull contradiction to be obedient to and observant of all the Rights and Priviledges of the Metropolitical Church of Rhemes of the Arch-Bishop thereof as they are established and set forth by the Holy Canons of the Church and by the Decrees of the Apostolical See therewith agreeing 21. An Oath much like that still in being and hitherto tendered by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to all his Suffragans at the Consecration of them and it were to be wished that such as have been Consecrated by Form of Conscr of Bishops him or by any of his Antecessors would seriously consider the obligation it lays on them in reference to which I make bold to propose two eminent instances the one of Ivo the other of our English Bishops Ivo Carnotensis one of the Suffragans to the Arch-Bishop of Sena as Petrus de Marca relates the matter was desired by Hugo Bishop of Lyons and L. 6. c. 3. n. 14. Legate to the Roman Pontife to assist him at the Consecration of the Bishop of Niverna a Suffragan properly belonging to the said Arch-Bishop without any consent or approbation had from him or by whose appointment according to the Canon of the Church he ought only to be consecrated Ivo utterly refuses to give his assistance answering that if he should engage in such an Ordination reus fieret violatae sponsionis quam Sedi Metropolitanae fecerat he should become guilty of the breach of his Oath made at his own Ordination to his Metropolitan The other instance shall be in our own Bishops in the time of King William the Second and I take it from the Author of a Discourse concerning the Illegality of the late Commission and for which he quotes Eadmerus the case thus Anselm Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was complain'd of by the King to the Page 17. Parliament with order to the Bishops his Suffragans to depose him the Bishops sensible of what Oath they had taken at the time of their Ordination instead of proceeding to a Deprivation declared they could not deprive him to whom they had promised Obedience These things I propose to their considerations and wish they would seriously apply them 22. The nature of Schism being thus set forth and laid at the doors of them that cause it my next work shall be to show the Heinousness and Injustice of the present Schism a Schism perhaps capable of as great or greater Aggravations than any that ever happen'd in the Church from the first rise of a Schism in it 23. It is not the manner of the Romans saith Festus concerning St. Paul to condemn any Man before that he who is accused have the accusers Acts 25. 16. face to face and have licence to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him nor no more hath it been the manner of the Church Videmus quae res coegit fieri Altare contra Altare let us examin saith St. Austin what first caused the Dâ—natists to raise their Altar Si Hypopâ—al cont Donat. Tom. 7. f. 2. malus erat Sacerdos deponendus erat ante
Vessels of Gold out of the Temple caused Onias the Ch. 4. v. 32. 2 Mac. 5. 15. deposed High Priest to be slain and was Guide to Antiochus when he went to the Temple to risle it of its holy Vessels A wicked and impious man saith Josephus who for his ambitious Desire of Authority had enforced Ant. l. 12. c. 15. our Nation to revolt from their Religion He was slain and succeeded by Alcimus who also is said to have defiled himself wilfully in the time of their 2 Mac. 14. 3 c. mingling with the Gentiles and was the cause of all that Mischief that afterwards happened to Judas Razis and the Temple The next Instance shall be in Herod and his Successors after he was by the Roman Emperor created King of the Jews In the Roman Times saith the Annotatour Ham. in Luc. c. 3 2. quoting Josephus for it it is manifâ—st that the Roman Prefect did ad libitum when he would and that sometimes once a year put whom he please into the Pontificate to officiate in Aaron 's Office instead of the lineal Descendant from him And this was as Bp. Overall in his Convocation-Book suggests Lib. 1. c. 34. to keep them from entring into Rebellion suspecting that if the Priesthood should have been held by Succession or for term of Life by the chief Persons of Aaron's Posterity it might have grown dangerous unto their Government The last Instance touching the Jews shall be of the Zealots not long before and hastening on the Destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple there They saith Josephus not respecting De Bell. Jud. l. 4. c. 5. the Families out of which it was onely lawfull to chuse the High Priest elected strange and base Persons to that sacred Dignity and such as would be Partakers of their Villanies and Impietieâ— for they who not deserving it attained to such Dignity were as it were obliged unto their Will in all things by whom they were so exalted A Fact says ne contrary to the most firm Custom that was amongst the People and onely a Device to get all Government into their hands From all which we may remark and inferr 1. That the Reason and End of such Actions is purely to serve the Interest of Government and to have such Persons in the Head of the Priesthood that will own their Actions and execute their Commands though never so wicked and sinful 2. That Religion is so far from gaining by it that it is generally forced to give place to Atheism Profaneness Heathenism 3. That it is a sad Prognostick and Forerunner of an utter Desolation to the Church and shews that her Enemies the Zealots on the one hand and the Romans on the other are either come or coming upon her which makes me with Faustinus almost to wish That since the high Dignities of the Church Libel Prec p. 21. Oxon. 1678. prove so tempting and do so debauch the Priesthood she had never been so richly endowed sed ut apostolico more vivens fidem integram inviolabiliter possideret but that her Clergy living more after the Apostolick Manner might the more inviolably hold the Apostolical Faith and not for the love of Honour or Wealth be rempted to decline or withgo it 36. The like Instance of this Abomination of Desolation may be taken from the Greek Church In Andronicus 's long Reign saith the Author of the Burnet c. 3. Edit 1682. Regalia many were put in and out to the great Scandal of the Church and he makes this Remark upon it from the Historian which he quotes That Niceph. Greg. lib. 7. Princes chuse such Men to that Charge who may be their Slaves and in all things obsequious to what they shall prescribe and lie at their Feet and not so much as have a Thought contrary to their Commands I might have told you before from Josephus that Onias had never been De Mac. c. 4. turned out of his Priesthood at least Jason not put in had it not been for an annual Payment of three thousand six hundreed and threescore Talents of Silver to Andronicus And from the Book of Maccabees That Menelaus 2 Mac. 4. 24. had never got over Jason's Head had he not promised three hundred Talents more than what Jason gave So bewitching are the Rewards of Divination when proferred by Kings that Balaam the Prophet though perhaps his Conscience doth boggle at them at first no less than his Ass afterwards did at the sight of the Angel yet rather than not be fingering of them he will remove from Mountain to Mountain from Hill to Hill to try whether from some place or other he may not venture to curse Israel Nay I am apt to think that if the chief Dignities of the Church come once to be sold by Inch of Candle all the burning and shining Lights thereof will soon be turned out of their Candlesticks for dim and stinking Snuffs to be put in their rooms and of what ill consequence this may prove to a Church without being a Prophet or a Prophet's Son we may easily guess The forementioned Author of the Regalia informs us of the Mischiefs and Misery it hath brought upon the Greek Church The Turks saith he having taken this matter into their Hands have so exposed Ch. 3. p. 99. all unto Sale and I may add Interest and have found so many base minded and ambitious Churchmen that are as ready to buy as they are to sell that those Churches which were once the Glory of the World are now become Dens of Thieves and Robbers adding that as those Miseries are to be lamented in them so we who hear of them ought to remember the words of our Saviour If these things be done in the green Tree what shall be done in the dry 37. But what need I aggravate the Mischiefs that attend these Alterations especially when continued and daily renewed There are none so blind but may see them none so hardy but must lament them none so senseless but as far as in them lies will endeavour to prevent them But say some what meaneth the Bleating of the Sheep and the Lowing of the Oxen we hear Why so much noise of Schisme Why such breaking of Communion Why such running from our Churches Must all be Schismaticks that take in with the new Bishops and follow them Is not this to make the Jewish Church schismatical after the High Priesthood became annual and the Greek Church too as often as the Grand Seignior changes the Patriarch Sure we are that our Saviour himself at that time communicated with the Jewish Church which we presume he would not have done if it had been schismatical and no Man for ought as we do know blames the Patriarch who succeeds nor yet the Church which receives him And yet though it be so I cannot see that either of these Cases run parallel to ours for the Jews for many years before had been under
disposition and that at the beginning of this Session she had conference therein with some of the Bishops and gave them in charge to see due Reformation thereof wherein as her Majesty thinketh they will have good consideration and if that the Bishops should neglect or omit their Duties therein then she by her Supreme Power and Authority would speedily see such good Redress therein as might satisfie the expectation of her loving Subjects to their good contentation Mr. Wentworth moved in the House of Commons for a Publick Fast and it was carried by fifty voices which being told to the Queen she sent Ann. 23. p. 284. a Message to the House shewing That her Highness had great admiration of the rashnesâ— of the House in committing such great and apparent Contempt of her express Command to put in execution such an Innovation without her privity or pleasure first known Whereupon Mr. Vicechamberlain moved the House to make an humble Submission to her Majesty acknowledging the said Offence and Contempt and to crave Remission for the same with a full purpose to forbear committing of the like So by the Suffrage of the whole House Mr. Vicechamberlain carried their Submission to the Queen accordingly which she accepted but with a Monition That they do not misreport the Cause of her Misliking which was not for that they Page 285. desired Fasting and Prayer but for the manner in presuming to indict a form of publick Fast without her Order and Privity which was to intrude upon her Authority Ecclesiastical Upon sundry Motions touching some Reformation in matters of Religion contained in the Petitions exhibited to the House of Commons it was resolved Page 201. by the whole House that Mr. Vicechamberlain c. by Order of this House and in the Name of the whole House should move the Lords of the Clergy to continue unto her Majesty the prosecution of the Purposes of Reformation and also farther impart unto their Lordships the earnest desire of the House for the Redress of such other Griefs contained likewise in the said Petitions But not finding the thing done to their liking they afterwards petitioned Page 303. the Queen and received for an Answer That as her Highness had the last Session committed the Charge and Consideration thereof unto some of her Clergy who had not performed the same so she would soon commit the same unto such others of them as with all convenient speed without remisness or slackness should see the same accomplished accordingly in such sort as the same shall neither be delayed nor undone The Lords of the upper House being pressed to join with the House of Commons for redressing some of the aforementioned Grievances answered Ann. 27. p. 345. That they were present when her Majesty gave Commandment not to deal in the House of Commons with Matters concerning Religion or the Church without her Highness's Pleasure first known and do take the same Commandment to extend as well to their Lordships as to the Commons and therefore have resolved That those of the Lords which are of her Majesty's privy Council do first move her Highness to know her Majesty's Pleasure therein before they proceed any farther in the Matter Mr. Leuknor Hulston Bainbridge and Cope were sent unto the Tower Ann. 28. 29. p. 412. for intermeddling with Matters touching the Church which her Highness had so often inhibited and Motion being made by Sr. John Higham for the setting them at liberty Mr. Vicechamberlain answered That perhaps they might be committed for somewhat that concerned not the Business or Privilege of the House Mr. Davenport moved for some Reformation in Church matters but Ann. 31. p. 438. this motion was check'd by Dr. Wolley because contrary to the Inhibition of the Queen The Ld. Keeper told the Speaker of the Commons That their Privilege Ann. 35. p. 460. was not to speak what cometh into their Brains to utter and that it was her Highness's Pleasure That if he perceived any idle Heads to meddle with reforming the Church by exhibiting Bills to that purpose that he received them not untill they be reviewed and considered by those who it is fitter should consider of such things and can better judge of them Mr. Speaker tells the Commons That it was not her Majesty's Pleasure that the Commons should meddle in matters of State or Causes Ecclesiastical Page 479. That she wondred that any should be of so high Commandment to attempt a thing so expresly contrary to that which she had forbidden and that her express commandment to him was that no Bill touching the said matters of State or Reformation in Causes Ecclesiastical should be exhibited charging him upon his Allegiance That if any such Bill be exhibited not to read it Mr. Morrice an Attorney of the Dutchey of Lancaster moved for reformation of Ecclesiastical proceedings Mr. Dalton answerd that Page 474. the Ecclesiastical Government was distinct from the Temporal and that her Majesty had commanded them not to meddle in such matters And Dr. Heylin tells us that the proceedings of this Morrice so angered Pres to Hist of Ref. the Queen that she caused the person of the said Attorney to be seized upon deprived him of his places in the Dutchey Court disabled him practising as a common Lawyer and finally shut him up in Tutbury-Castle where he continued till his death By which severity says he and keeping the like constant hand in the course of the Government she held so great a curb on the Puritan Faction the great disturber of the Ecclesiastical Settlement that neither her Parliaments nor her Courts of Justice were from thenceforth much troubled with them in all the rest of her Reign So that now lay all these Premises together how that no such Bills touching Ecclesiastical Affairs are to be received into the House of Commons without her Majesty's privity and pleasure or unless previously considered and liked by the Clergy that all proceedings tending thereunto are avowed injuries to the Queen's Supremacy and her Ecclesiastical Authority that the Bishops and Clergy are fitter persons to consult about and order such matters than the Parliament that the Ecclesiastical Government is distinct from the Temporal and the Penalties of the latter are only to abet and enforce the Results of the former that their attempts to gain a Superiour Jurisdiction have always been check'd and ended in disappointments and that the persons so attempting were some of them forbad the House others turned out of their Offices and others sent to the Tower though at the same time actual Members of Parliament without having their hard usage remonstrated against or their persons remanded that this was in the best of Reigns and soon after the Reformation was compleated nay finally that there was a present abrenunciation of all such Power made and as absolute a submission as ever had been made by the Clergy in K. Henry VIII's days and it will demonstratively appear
that the Parliament never had or at least cannot now pretend to have any such Power but that when they attempt to meddle and decree in such matters they are perfectly out of their Sphere and Bounds and so far forth too that their Acts can be no otherwise accounted of than encroachments and their Penalties little less than Oppression 53. Mistaken too often they are in their own affairs but never so much as when they arrogate to themselves the full command over Religion A sad instance whereof we have in the late Rebellious Parliaments whose Ordinances though but of small continuance proved far more bloody and undoing than all the Canons that had been made since the beginning of the Reformation Hence being Masters of the Sacerdotal as well as Regal Power they in the first place fell foul upon the Bishops the Fathers and Governours of the Church and not only took away the Lives of some the Liberties of most and the Estates of all but to the everlasting scandal of Christianity they voted away * Scobel Jun. 12. 1643. the whole Order of them sacrilegiously declaring †Oct. 9. 1646. their Government to be evil in it self justly offensivâ— and burthensome to the Kingdom and a great impediment to the Reformation though a Government coeval with Christianity universally received throughout the whole Christian World and continued down to the several Provinces thereof and in Britain as well as elsewhere without the least contradiction from the Apostles days unto our own And in their room and stead set up a company of Schismatical Presbyters supporting Aug. 29. 1648. them with a new Sect of Lay-Elders the former never permitted in the Catholick Church and the latter never heard of in the World for the first fifteen hundred years after Christ Thus advanced they next quarrel the Service Book * Jan. 3. 1644. vote it out of the Church and force the Church-Wardens †Aug. 23. 1646 to turn Traditors and deliver them up to the Committees of the respective Counties to be destroyed permitting the reading thereof soon after to be ranked ‡ Cromw Let. to Judge Gatford's Pâ—t 1655. with the horrid crimes of holding or maintaining Blasphemous and Atheistical Opinions of being guilty of Cursing Swearing and Perjury of Adultery Fornication Drunkenness and such other abominable Crimes with order to the Justices of the Peace to be as carefull to suppress the reading of the same as of Ale-houses and the before-mentioned abominations though a Book eminently ministering to the best Reformation that ever happened in the Church composed by Pious and Orthodox Men who stuck not to seal their Profession with their blood the laying aside whereof in Q. Mary's Reign was declared in the ensuing Reign by the united Wisdom of the Nation in their Parliament to be to the great decay of the due Honour of God and discomfort to the Eliz 1. cap. professors of the truth of Christ's Religion And all this to trump up their beloved Directory a Form of Worship plainly accusing the Primitive Church Direct c. its Pref. of indiscretion and which may be abused by the ignorance or malice of every one that uses it liable to Heresie and Blasphemy as well as to ridiculous Indecencies Folly and Profaneness an Office that never absolves Penitents hath no Blessing no Creed no Hymns no external Adoration no Amen and in truth a form of Prayer without a form or so much as a Prayer in it the Lord's Prayer it self being left to the Caprichio and Pleasure of him that officiates Thus engaged they hurry on to the turning out all the Regular Loyal and Conformable Clergy of the Land under the notion of scandalous delinquent Ministers which upon Aug. 23. 1647. Fowlis Hist of Pret St. l. 3. c. 1. trial proved so constant and steady that Zechary Crofton one of the Chieftains of the Party thought it matter enough to boast of that among the ten thousand Clergy in the Church they had gained six hundred of them a poor pittance God wot to comply and subscribe their Covenant And then rather than be without whosoever would they consecrated making the lowest of the People Priests of the high places The Author of the Dissenters Sayings represents us with a Page 8. Catalogue of some of them and by them you may guess at the rest Godly Painful and Laborious Preachers Fulcher the Egg-Man Hobson the Taylor Gree the Felt-maker Spencer the Coachman Potter the Smith Durance the Wash-ball-maker Debman the Cooper Heath the Coller-maker Rice the Tinker and Field the Bodys-maker Neither could much better upon the outing of the other be expected since the two Vniversities those Seminaries of the Church designed for the supply of Hist Oxon. Quaer Cant. the vacancies thereof were forced to run the same risque and to undergo the same fate as the constituted Clergy of the Land had done And no question like Preachers like Doctrine So leud extravagant and vile that many of themselves being by experience made sensible thereof thought sit to complain and when it was too late seek for redress you have most noble Senators saith Mr. Edwards done worthily against Ep. Ded. part 1. Gang. Papists Prelates and scandalous Ministers but what have you done against Heresy Schism Disorder What against Seekers Anabaptists Antinomians Brownists Libertines and other Sects You have made a Reformation but with the Reformation have we not a Deformation and worse things come upon us than before You have put down the Book of Common-Prayer you have cast off the Bishops you have taken away Ceremonies you have caused the Imagies to be broken down of the Trinity Christ the Virgin Mary and the Apostles and instead thereof there are those rose up among us who throw away the Scripture ridicule the Ministery cast away the Sacraments and overthrow the Trinity deny Christ undervalue the Virgin and disown the Apostles The Sects have been growing ever since the first year of your sitting and have every year encreased more and more and if Schism and Heresy c. be let alone and rise proportionably for one year longer we shall need no Enemy from without to undo us Thus it fared with our oppressed Church in those days till her King and Priests were despised her solemn Feasts and Sabbaths forgotten and the Sanctuary abhorred and I am afraid thus it will prove again if Erastus his Demagogues and his Party ever any more happen to dictate Religion to us 64. And thus I have freely delivered my thoughts concerning this Subject insomuch that if you or others will but seriously reflect and consider what hath been offered thereon from authentick and undeniable Testimonies you may readily perceive the reason why so many of us at present refuse the Communion of the new Bishops and perform our Devotions separate by our selves under the presidency of our old ones The Communion it self was difficult if at all tollerable before the rent was
said when he gave the Advice and upon that account as much to be presumed to be knowing to the Intent and Design of the Advice and Adviser as either Mr. Hody or his Prefacer can be presumed to be Secondly Neither was this the Humour of the People onely but of the Bishops as well as of them Hence Atticus Successor to Arsacius in the Usurpation Chrysostom being still alive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perceiving as Palladius relates the matter that De vit Chrys p. 95. none of the oriental Bishops would communicate with him and that the very People of the City where he was rejected his Communion procured the like Prescript of Severity as Arsacius his Predecessor had done before Id. p. 26. him which was either to communicate with him or to be deposed from their Bishopricks and to have their Estates and Goods confiscated But how little this Edict prevailed the Issue and Event thereof will shew Some of them saith Palladius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for continuing their P. 193 194. Communion with John were imprisoned and there dyed some were sent into Banishment of whom Palladius to whom the Advice was given was P. 66. one some of them were beaten and some slain Nay notwithstanding all the Severities that these Edicts occasioned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meetings of those that were Lovers of Chrysostom or rather of those that were Lovers of God were not at all lessoned but as it is written saith he in Exodus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 86. the more they slew the more they grew And certainly if these or any other of the Bishops to whom St. Chrysostom gave the Advice had thought that he had designed it should have took place before his Death or that it had been fitting it should they would never have lost their Bishopricks run such hazards or undergone such Difficulties for him Thirdly And that this and no other was the meaning of the Advice will appear from the Advisers own Behaviour in the case for being demanded De vit Chrys p. 81. by the Emperour to leave his Church Palladius tells us that he refused to do it answering 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I received this Church from Christ to take care of the Souls thereunto belonging and I must not relinquish it but the Care of the City is yours and if I must be gone force me thence by your Authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may have some Excuse at least from being absent from my Station Nay when driven away so far was he from seeming to have given up and from blaming others who adhered to him that writing to the Bishops and Clergy at Chalcedon who for his sake were there imprisoned he commends them for their undaunted Behaviour in their Sufferings and Chrys Ep. 174. encourages them to be constant and under all to concern themselves for the Good of the Church and for the allaying that Storm that was risen in it telling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that though their Care and Study might want Success it would not want its Reward at the hand of God And in another to them he not onely commends them but their Cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you says he for adhering to the Ep. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 4. p. 186. Laws and Constitutions of the Fathers which others invade and contaminate are made to suffer these things The like Letters he wrote to the Bishops sent from the West to procure a Synod for the further hearing more righteous determining his Cause with all Thankfulness acknowledging their Id. Ep. 157. c. pious Care and generous Charity for undertaking so tedious and dangerous a Voyage upon his Account The like also he wrote to the Bishops and Presbyters that attended them in their Journey the like to many other Bishops Id. Ep. 161 165 166. by name to all the Bishops throughout Macedonia thanking them all and every one in particular for the mighty Care and Compassion they had for him and telling them that not only he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 P. 149 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but all the Bishops throughout the East together with the Clergy and Laity of the several Cities thereof were mightily transported with their stout Behaviour in reference to him and the Church's Concerns the like Letter of Thanks he sent to Innocent Bp. of Rome one of the last saith Dr. Cave that ever he wrote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thus englished by the aforesaid Dr. Cave We cannot thank you enough for Vit. Chrys p. 522. Chrys Tom. 4. p. 684. that Kindness and Compassion you have shewed us beyond the tenderest Bowels of a Father for what in you lies you have taken care that all things be duly performed and rectified and run in a proper Chanel and neither the Laws be subjected to Contempt and Force nor the Constitutions of the ancient Fathers violated And though some have hindred your Designs from taking any effect that they now seem incurably disordered and uncapable of a Reformation yet I beseech you still endeavour to reclaimt hem and not give the Affair over in Despair considering of what mighty Importance it would be to bring it to an happy Issue and indeed in some measure the whole World is interessed and concerned in this Matter The Churches are wasted and brought low the People dispersed the Clergy subdued and trampled on the Bishops banished and the Ecclesiastical Canons trodden down Once therefore and again I beseech you to use your utmost Care and Diligence and the greater the Storm is let your Study and Endeavour be so much the more This methinks doth not look as if he had relinquished his Bishoprick or that he ever designed whilst living to give place to another nay I am apt to think that if he would have relinquished as Mr. Hody and his Prefacer would have him to have done he needed not to have been banished or sent out of the way for another to be put in 4. Nay I cannot find but that the foreign Bishops were as deeply concerned for his return and restauration to his Bishoprick as either himself or any of his own Bishops and Clergy were not regarding his advice or at least not thinking it sit or that ever it was designed to take place till he was dead and gone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the design of the Roman Church as it is in Palladius was not to commâ—â—icate p. 214 215. with the Oriental Bishops and more especially with Theophilus the Author of these Mischiefs till God should please to give place to an Oecumenic Council that the sores and wounds which are made in the Church might be healed for though John should sleep yet truth for which in quisition ought ever to be made will awake And I would says he faiâ— know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Where is the Priesthood for the present to be found where Religion Nay where common