in Baptism the Minister may be permitted to Baptize without it or if kneeling at the Sacrament the Person scrupling may have it delivered him in another Posture and so for God-fathers p. 15. Let a Rubrick be inserted before the Athanasian Creed signifying that the Creed may be read or may be let alone or with an alias this or the Nicene p. 21. Let the Litany be left to the discretion of the Minister to read or omit let it be left to his discretion one day to read one part and another day another that it be permitted in the Afternoon to leave out the first Lesson or the like p. 22. That it be left to liberty and discretion to use the Prayers without the Lessons and the Litany alone on Wednesdays and Fridays so Preface to the Directory complain'd that they were urged to read all the Prayers And after this manner we must have nothing six'd and settled but all our Rites and Prayers left indifferent which is so far from promoting Union and Peace that its the most likely way in the World to divide us perpetuate and establish Schism and make us an casie Prey to our Enemies Even the Author of naked Truth p. 23. saith That a Liberty left to add or detract Ceremonies or Prayers according to the various Opinions and Humours of Men will certainly cause great Faction and Division Again the length of our Liturgy is complain'd of Letter to the Convoc p. 18. It 's proposed that the Sunday Service be shortned p. 19. It s a tedious and prolix Service which tho it agreed with the complaints of the Presbyterians A. D. 1603. Who then desired the longsomness of the Service to be abridged yet doth so little suit with our later long-winded Presbyterians that at the Savoy 1660. p. 9. They complain of the Brevity of the Common-Prayer-Book and therefore desire to have leave to pray more copiously and p. 55. They complain'd of too many Prayers not too much so that should we in complyance with this Projector have shortned our Prayers we should have displeas'd not sweetned the Presbyterians to a Complyance If we look upon the most eminent Protestant Princes that we have had they were all for strict Conformity Queen Elizabeth would have the Discipline of the Church of England of all Men duly observ'd without alteration of the least Ceremony Life of Arch-Bishop Whitgift p. 29. And King James the First in his Proclamation the first Year of his Reign We admonish all Men that they shall not exâ—ect nor attempt any further alteration in the Common-Prayer We are not ignorant of the Inconveniences that arise in Government by admitting Innovations in things once settled by mature Delibaration and how necessary it is to use Constancy Such is the unquietness of some Dispositions affecting every Year new Forms Our frequent alterations of our Religious Rites hath been justly laugh'd at by Foreigners Erasmus for this very Thing derided the English in his time and Cardan in Tetrab c. 3. Tex 12. saith That the English are still changing their Rites and Manners of Religious Worship sometimes to the better and very often to the worse Not to mention what St. Austin Epist 118. adjan observ'd Ipsa mutatio consuetudines etiam quae adjuvat utilitate novitate perturbat i. e. The very change of a Custom tho to the better breeds a disturbance by its novelty Malum politicum bene positum non est movendum In sine give me leave to repeat what the Ingenious Lord Faulkland long since told us viz. That all Mutations are dangerous even where what is introduced by that Mutation is such as would have been very profitable upon a primary Foundation and it is none of the least Dangers of Change that all the Perils and Inconveniences that it brings cannot be foreseen and therefore such as make Title to Wisdom will not undergo great Dangers but for great Necessities such as cannot I presume be here pretended Upon all which Accounts its evident that the Convocations complying to make the Alterations proposed is the most probable way to displease most of the Foreign Protestants that are now in League with us and make us no longer esteem'd as we hitherto have been the very Center of Union I will add but one Reason why we should not make these Alterations for the sake of our own Dissenters and that is because they are resolved they wâ—â— have no Union with us but whensoever we are making Proposals to unite with them they run farther off and be sure make fresh Complaints of these very Changes and steps towards them For the Alterations made in 1660. Mr. Baxter likes things worse than before and hath declared frequently in Print That many of our old Episcoparian Divines had they been now alive would have been Nonconformists and that the new Impositions make the Ministerial Conformity harder than formerly Def. of Cure of Divis p. 55. The Presbyterians at the Savoy after p. 35. complain of the paucity of Concessions tho lately said to be 600 And again In one of your Concessions in which we suppose you intend to accommodate with us you rather widen than heal the Breach When about ten Years since some of our Church had a project of Comprehension the Presbyterians were farther off than before and under the Name of a Plea for Peace put out bitter Reflections upon the Church of England Dr. Stillingfleet unreas of Separat Pref. p. 36. In Scotland the Presbyterians administred the Solemn League and Covenant to the People and made them Swear never to hear the Orthodox Ministry more and gave them the Sacrament thereupon Ravil Rediv. p. 29. The like is said to have been lately done at Northampton and some other Places And how have they behaved themselves in this juncture we may take it from one of the great Promoters of Alterations in his Letter for the Bill of Union p. 4. I do own that in some of the Dissenters there is more then an appearance of Aversion to this Bill of Vnion or else Books levelled against Liturgy and Episcopacy would not come out as they do in this p juncture fresh from the Press In a Word There are two Things that have formerly made the Government very averse from favouring Dissenters 1. Their Disloyalty 2. Their readiness upon all Occasions to joyn with the Popish Interest against the Church of England as they famously did in the Year 1588. at the time of the Spanish Invasion and again 1688. in the late Reign of King James II. as appears from their numerous Addresses their Complyances with the Dispensing Power their Promises to take off the Test and Penal Laws their new Ordinations and their great neglect both in Pulpit and Press to defend the Articles of the Protestant Religion against the many Writings of the Papists two Tracts only amongst the numerous Dissenters having upon the severest computation been found publish't by them during the whole Reign of that King we had great reason to hope that these Failings had been both mended especially at a time that Popery was discouraged and the Government had been so kind to the Protestant Dissenters and yet behold quite contrary to all sober Mens Expectations tho there are but two Things required of all that are Hearers in Conventicles in order to a full Toleration 1. An Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity to the King and Queen 2. Making and subscribing a Declaration against Popery and so giving satisfaction to the Government in these two particulars yet they are still either so steddy to their old Principles of Disloyalty or so far managed by Popish Agents and withal so peevishly perverse and froward in opposing every thing that is commanded them by the Laws that to this day so far as I can learn there is not one in an Hundred of them that hath done either FINIS
Protestants abroad were much offended with the Rites and Offices of the Church of England Thus their great Founder T. C. in his Preface to the Admonition Out of the Realm they have all the best Reformed Churches in Christendom against them i. e. The Presbyterians against the Church of England In his Admonition he frequently appeals to the best Reformed Churches and particularly p. 286. Our Ordination by Bishops is strange from the use of all well reformed Churches in the World In the Solemn League and Covenant they all Swore To endeavour the Reformation of Religion according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches Ordinance of Parliament for taking away the Common-Prayer Jan. 3d 1644. Resolving to Reform Religion according to the Example of the best Reformed Churches Preface to the Directory The Liturgy of the Church of England hath proved an Offence to the Reformed Churches abroad That we may answer the expectation of other reformed Churches The Presbyterians assembled at the Savoy in the Year 1660 declare That in the Liturgy are things that have given offence to Learned and Judicious Drvines of other Reformed Churches In their Petition for Peace p. 9. And if you should reject which God forbid the moderate Proposals which now and formerly we have made we offer to your consideration what judgment all the Protestant Churches are likely to pass on your Proceedings And again p. 10 How strange must it needs seem to the Reformed Churhes to the whole Christian World c. p. 13. The Pastors of the most Reformed Churches take this Conformity to be Sin And after this manner they declare all the World on their side and that the Foreign Churches admire at the stiffness of the Church of England by which contrivance though never so false they raise the heats and clamours of the ignorant and unthinking part of the Nation against the Church of England And still they go on to clamour against us without any proof though they have been so often urged to it and I here challenge them all to produce any one Authentick Act of any National Reformed Church in the World which hath at the least Reflected upon or Censured the Established Church of England And yet all this however vile and base is no more than we might justly have expected from the Professed Enemies of our Peace and Establishment but that which raised the admiration and astonishment of all Sober Men was to see the Professed Sons of the Church of England Men of Rank and Dignity embark'd in the same bottom of mistake and error and pursuing the same hideous outcries against us a mistake they could not run into but for want of good Books or good Company which would have informed them better and too much consining their Studies and their Conversations to that ill sort of Men. So that now our Church may justly take up the complaint of David Psalm 55. 12 14 15. It is not an open Enemy that hath done me this dishonour for then I could have born it but it was even thou my Companion my Guide and mine own Familiar Friend We took sweet Counsel together and walked in the House of God as Friends Of this sort is the Discourse concerning the Ecclesiastical Commission p. 24. The Eyes of all the World be open upon us all the Reformed Churches are in expectation of something to be done which makes for Vnion and Peace And a Letter to a Member of Parliament in favour of the Bill for a Protestant Union p. 5 For them that have not Episcopal Orders there will be such a provision made as will satisfie all the Ministers of the Foreign Protestant Churches Again p. 6. And for French and German and other Foreign Christians of the Reformed Religion I am well assured by Letters sent from Holland Geneva Switzerland and other Places not to speak of the Churches of the Lutheran Communion which write the same that they esteem the Conditions proposed in this Bill which hath been communicated to them as Terms fit for uniting of Protestants Where by the way I cannot but admire at the speed and diligence of this Persons Correspondence the King had not accepted of the Government till February after this the Convention is declared a Parliament and then after some more necessary things for setling the Government a project is set on work for a Bill of Union and yet he had sent a Copy of the Contents of it to Germany Holland Geneva Switzerland c. and received their several Approbations of it in March for that Paper is Licensed April 1st And yet it 's more strange that even the Churches of the Lutheran Communion should approve the conditions of that Bill of Union It was not long before that an excellent Author of undoubted credit gave us an authentick account of a Letter from several Ministers in Germany That the greatest part of the Protestants of Europe have been extreamly scandalized at our Dissenters That the Dissenters ought by no means to have separated themselves for the form of Ecclesiastical Government nor for Ceremonies That the Bishops have justified themselves from the reproach of being Popishly affected and of Persecuting the Dissenters they have made it appear that they were only Calumnies invented by their Enemies to render them odious to Protestants How much better would it be for the Dissenters to re-unite themselves to the Bishops with whom they differ only in some Points of Discipline And now quite contrary all the Reformed Churches expect that we should comply and unite with the Dissenters But without crossing the Seas we may make a fair guess at the incredibility of all this Foreign Account by the very next Pretence which gives as strange an Account of our selves at Home I am not singular in this for amongst all those who have appeared in the Churches cause as well against Dissenters as Papists I do not know one single Person that is not a well-wisher to this Bill and I believe they will all tell you so The direct contrary being manifestly true not only in several of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners who were call'd together to consult of that matter but also in the far greater part of the whole Convocation And if that Author be mistaken in the Age he lives in we have great hopes to think he is as much mistaken in the Ages past for so it follows Arch-Bishop Usher Bishop Sanderson Dr. Hammond and a long Order of other most Worthy Men of the last Age whose Memory is most precious in our Church had they been now alive would with all Zeal have promoted this Bill of Vnion Which very Paragraph is the reverse of one of Mr. Baxters in his Answer to Dr. Stillingfleet I am past doubt that Richard Hooker Bishop Bilson Bishop Usher and such others were they now alive would be Nonconformists yea I can prove it c. and if so they would not be for the Bill of Union which hath been generally opposed by the Nonconformists
The Preface to the Directory runs in the same Style We have no intention to disparage our first Reformers of whom we are perswaded that were they now alive they would joyn with us in this Work And thus its evident that these Sons of Comprehension joyn with the Dissenters to cry it up that all the World is on their side and clamour against all that oppose them as the Thessalonians did against the Apostles Act. 17. 6. These Men would turn the World up-side down whenas their despising of us and magnifying of the Foreign Churches is like that which OEcolampadius tells us in his Epistles p. 177. Aliis OEcolampadius aliis Zuinglius sordebat atqui nos amici sumus fuimus semper nemo gratificatur nobis qui propter nos dissidium seminat i. e. Some despise OEcolampadius and some Zuinglius but we are and always were Friends nor doth any one please us that sowes Discord upon our Accounts Let us therefore take a short view of the judgment of the Foreign Divines and see what Opinion they have of this stiff vile sinful Church of England As the Reformation in general consists of Lutherans and Calvinists so I find that agreement betwixt them in the most material Things as that Calvin himself subscribed the Lutheran Confession of Ausburgh and a whole Synod of his Disciples at Charenton in France in the Year 1631. declared That there was no Idolatry nor Superstition in the Lutheran Churches and therefore the Members of their Churches might be received into Communion with them without renouncing their Opinions or their Practices so that tho Papists and indiscreet Fanaticks have endeavour'd to set these two great parts of the Reformation as far asunder as possible yet the more sober Protestants have thought them very reconcilable and always endeavour'd it Now the Church of England hath been Establish'd in a middle way betwixt both extreams and laid aside those things which on either hand gave the greatest Offence by which means our Establish'd Church hath been look'd upon by moderate Men as the very Center of Union and Harmony of all the Protestant Churches in the World For this very reason when Calvin offer'd his Assistance to Arch-Bishop Cranmer he was refused by him The Famous Dr. Humfrede who was one of those Learned Men that fled abroad in Queen Maries Reign in his Prax. Cur. Rom. p. 70. tells us Nos non sumus Calviniani nec Reformationem nostram Calvinismum dicimus We are not Calvinists in England nor do we call our Reformation Calvinism and yet this was the Religion establish'd by Queen Elizabeth when that great Man wrote and Sir Edwin Sandys who had made a diligent survey of all the Religions in Europe saith expresly p. 214. That no Luther no Calvin was the Square of our Faith Now for our Church thus happily establish'd to alter to either extream is so far from promoting the Union of the Reformed Churches that its the most likely way to hinder it If we look upon the Lutheran Churches they have either Bishops as Denmark Norway and Swedland or else Superintendants which is another Name for Bishops who have power of Ordination and Jurisdiction as our Bishops in England They have all set Liturgies and Forms of Prayer they observe Holy-days and set-Fasts have Organs Hymns and Anthems they wear Surplices use the Cross in Baptism receive the Communion kneeling and make use of all those Rites which have been objected against the Church of England so that to alter these must needs give Offence to all those Churches and set us at a greater distance from them And as these Alterations proposed can never tend to an Union among Protestants so they must needs look ill at this time when not only all these Churches are united to us in one common Alliance for the defence of our Religion but also the very next Branch of our Royal Family is so nearly related to them As for such as propose our Union with the reformed Churches of France Geneva and Holland let them consider that the first of these is not and so we have now less reason than formerly the second is only a particular City for the Swiss are generally Lutherans and it s a very unreasonable Project of Union to have three Kingdoms alter their Religion for conformity with one City when at the same time they set themselves at a greater Variance with so many Kingdoms of the Reformed Religion As for Holland it s well known that they allow of all sorts of Religions and its impossible that any setled Uniformity amongst our selves can ever bring us to an Union to such a mixture and variety The Christian Religion was first planted among them by an English Bishop and our Reformation was fix'd and setled here before theirs began But because the Dissenters boast that the Reformed Churches of France and Holland and Geneva were always on their side and joyn'd with them in their abhorrence of the Church of England I will next consider what Opinion the Learned Men even of those Churches have had of ours First for Geneva And for his Learning and Eminency I will begin with the Famous 1. Beza Who in his Letter to Arch-Bishop Whitgift hath these Words The English Church is the Harbour of all the Godly and the Preserver of all other Reformed Churches 2. Spanheim Professor there in his Epistle to Arch-Bishop Vsher and others I often call to mind those Fortunate Isles of yours That Beauteous Face of your Church That Reverence in the Publick Worship of God The Church of Geneva hath a great affection to the British Churches whose Bishops we admire for whose Prosperity we daily Pray that your Church may continue to praise God as it doth that the Bishops may continue in their Authority and your Church in Peace c. and this was Written A. D. 1638. Then for his Successor 3. John Diodate Professor at Geneva in his Answer to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster when they had desired his Opinion about their Proceedings England in the time of its Episcopacy was the very Eye and Excellency of all Churches Christs own choice and peculiar What a sad Spectacle is it to see that Church trodden under Feet An horrid thing that you have done and never before heard of amongst the Reformed Churches We are struck with Horrour at the change of the glorious Face of that Church may God restore your Churches to that high Estate and pitch of Holiness and Glory in which they have hitherto excell'd and out-shin'd all the Churches upon the Earth And this is the esteem Geneva had for the Episcopal Church of England and certainly we ought not to alter the best Church in the World to comply with that which by their Confession is not so good In the next place let us see the French Divines I will begin 1. with Casaubon in his Epistle to King James the I. The Church of England comes nearer the form of the flourishing Christian
Church of old than any other it hath taken a middle way betwixt those Churches which are amiss either through excess or defect If my Judgment doth not deceive me the most sound part of the whole Reformation is in England 2. The learned Bochart in his Epistle to Bishop Morley There are none of the reformed of France if they happen to be in England but willingly joyn with the Church of England as by Law establish'd and as soon as they can get a competent knowledge of the English Tongue are present at her Offices and receive the Holy Communion there which I have often my self done at London and at Oxford This is not only my Opinion but of all the Pastors of the Reformed Religion in France 3. Peter du Moulin in the Preface to his Fathers Answer to Perron The Church of England hath more of the Primitive and Apostolick Church-Government than any other Church in the rest of the world The French Protestants have the same good Opinion of it and desire to enjoy the same Government if they might be so happy 4. Monsieur Claude in his Letter published by Dr. Stillingfleet The Church of France hath always looked upon and considered the Church of England not only as a Sister but an elder Sister for which we have a respect and veneration and daily pray 5. Monsiur Le Moyne in a Letter published by Dr. Stillingfleet All the Protestants of France Geneva Switzerland Germany and Holland look upon the Church of England as a very Orthodox Church All the Protestant Churches have always had a very great respect for the Purity of the Church of England And in another Letter to Dr. Brevint published by Dr. Durell I praise God for our Reformation in France but I fear not to say that if we had kept Bishops and as many Ceremonies as would serve to fix the Attention of the People without Superstition we should have seen for certain far greater progress of the Reformation To which I cannot but add what Monsieur Ronee a French Embassador in England when he saw our Solemn Services and Rites told King James the First That if the Reformed Church of France had kept the same Order among them which we have he was assured that there would have been many thousands of Protestants more than now there are And this Observation is so undoubtedly true that it long since forc'd this Expression from one of our bitter Enemies Sanders de Schism Angl. p. 283. Queen Elizabeth in her Reformation kept many of the Rites and Manners of the ancient Church which very much conduced to the Firmness and Establishment of her Heresio for had things been left to the capriciousness of some of the new Clergy that talk'd much of the Gospel-Liberty it had all long since vanish'd into Smoke but by her Polity was strengthned and supported 6. Monsieur De L' Angle in his Letter publish'd by Dr. Stillingfleet p. 421. I am sure with what an exceeding Joy the Protestant Churches of France would enter into Communion with you i. e. the Church of England And in his Letter to Durel published by him p. 70 71. I rejoyced very much at the establishment of the Anglico-Gallicane Church i. e. the French Church with the English Common-Prayer and Rites that this may make known to the World the Communion that is betwixt us and that the Reformed Churches of France have not that aversion against the Discipline of the Church of England which some Men report they have I am certain my Collegues are of the same mind with me And again p. 143. My Heart did leap for joy when I heard that your Liturgy and ancient Discipline was restored i. e. in the year 1660. To these Testimonies I will add the Observation of Durâ—â— a French-man also p. 92. When the French Church in London was establish'd with the English Liturgy and Rites tho Providence brought over many Ministers from beyond the Seas some from Geneva some from France some from Germany some from Poland some from Lithuania some from Piemont and almost from all the Reformed Churches we have seen none of them that made any difficulty to assist at Divine Service and conform all of them received the Sacrament kneeling c. And I cannot but wonder with what Face the Men of this Age press us to make Alterations for the sake of other Reformed Churches when we see those of the Reformed Religion of France who are all Calvinists and who out of Zeal to God's Glory readily sacrificed all their Secular Interest to their Religion and come over to this Kingdom have universally joyn'd with the Church of England in her Liturgy and Rites received the Lords Supper on their Knees had their Children Baptized with Godfathers and signed with the Sign of the Cross c. and all this at a time when the Laws of this Kingdom gave them Liberty to joyn with what Communion they pleased Which was such an unanswerable Argument to our Dissenters God having as it were brought a Nation from another Kingdom to convince them that it was generally observed throughout all the Kingdom that the Dissenters were very cold in their Charity towards them If we look into the Churches of Holland 't is true all sorts of Religions are allowed but it 's evident that the great and Leading Men there have ever had a great Esteem for the Church of England witness the great Respect and Honour they had for the English Bishops in the Synod of Dort when they neither had nor desired any Representatives from our Presbyterians Witness the two Famous Vossius's Father and Son who always spoke with all Respect and Honour of the Church of England and so far approved of our Cathedral Service as that the Father was Prebendary of Canterbury the Son Prebendary of Windsor Witness the Famous Grotius who always admired the Church of England above all the Churches in the World and upon his Death-bed recommended it to his Wife and such others of his Family that were then about him obliging them to adhere firmly to it which was readily obeyed by them Bishop Bramhall ' s Vind. of Grotius cap. 2. Witness the two Junius's and many others but I shall only add the present Famous Living Instance his present Majesty King William who was born and always bred in that Church and yet from his first coming into England hath readily and constantly joyned with the Church of England used her Liturgy with great Devotion and Honour and observ'd all its Rites and Ceremonies as Kneeling Standing c. in their proper places and upon all occasions hath declared himself zealously and heartily in her Praise and Commendations and promised his Protection of it and all this at such times when the contrary Interest wasmost prevalent and he was daily beset with those that were no Friends to the present Establishment All which is an undeniable Argument how readily those of Holland would joyn with us As to the Northern Churches we have
the North of Tay thre never was above Three or Four Meeting-Houses and these too very little frequented At Perth where a Presbyterian Minister hath got the Church not One in Ten go to hear him not one of the Magistrates The like at Cowpar in Fife at st Andrews Sterling Burnt-Island c. Even in Edenbrough the Presbyterian Ministers are not so much frequented as the Regular Clergy Whatever Friends the Presbyterians there had a Year or Two agoe they arethis day diminished by a Third the People have enough of their Cant and are weary of their Sermons 2. Those Reformed Churches that are not governed by Bishops earnestly desire them To this purpose the Scottish Forbs in his Irenicum Printed A. D. 1629 p. 202 hath these Words Such was the condition of Protestants in many Foreign Parts that being forced by utmost necessity they allowed Presbyters to ordain they heartily wish'd that they might be ordained by Bishops but when they could not obtain that of the Bishops without wicked conditions c. nor could the prohibition of Popish Bishops hinder their Ordination from being valid since in those Countries the Presbyters and Pastors had the chief power over the Christian i. e. Reformed Churches This they did not out of any contempt of the antient Canons but out of absolute necessity as appears from the Apology of the Protestants for the Consession at Ausburg Art 14. We have often testified that we earnestly desire to retain the ancient Ecclesiastical Politie and degrees in the Church but the Bishops i. e. Popish compel our Priests to renounce their Doctrine c. Wherefore in some Places this Politie is destroyed which we heartity desired to keep this we declare before God and the World that it should not be imputed to us that we have no Bishops When at the Synod of Dort an English Bishop had set forth the usefulness of being governed by Bishops for repressing Heresy and Schism c. the President of the Synod made answer Nos non samus adeo felices i. e. We are not so happy Peter Moulin in his Preface to his Fathers Answer to Perron tells us that the want of Bishops in the French Church was the necessity of their condition that they desire the same Government we have in England if they might be so happy When they moved Cardinal Richlieu to allow them Bishops he flatly denied it them They could never get of the Civil Power a toleration of Bishops their Politick Statesmen would never give way to it nothing hath been more eagerly opposed by the Pope and his Creatures than that the Protestants should have Bishops The Apology for Protestants written by a French Divine p. 60. This may suffice to satisfy the Scruples of those that take offence at Episcopal Government we have cleared the Point of Episcopacy p. 62. The Ordination of Priests ought to be without all dispute the Bishops work p. 63. The Superiority of Bishops to Pastors has continued from the very time of the Apostles or their Disciples as is already made appear And therefore in England the Papists have always laboured the Destruction of our Bishops as zealously and heartily as the Presbyterians themselves That virulent Papist Sanders in his Book de Schism Angl. p. 167 confesseth that nothing would more gratify the Church of Rome than the pulling down of Bishops Deans and Prebendaries in England And Parsons in his Book of the Reformation of England see Moral Pract. of the Jes p. 313 proposeth this as the necessary Method to bring England to the Romish Religion And Cardinal Barbarini was so sensible of this that he said he could be contented that there were none of their Priests in England so there were no Bishops Dr. Stillingfleet Pref. to the Unreason of Separation p. 9. The Papists returned their Thanks to the Rump Parliament for having delivered them from the Tyranny of the Bishops Christian Moderator p. 32. And that the Papists had a chief Hand in pulling down our Bishops in England is confessed by Albius in his Exegesis p. 145. If Papists may not be believed in this matter I hope Mr. Baxter may and he declares in his Grotian Religion p. 95. That the Papists had a Hand in casting out our Bishops I shall end this undoubted Truth with the words of Two Eminent Persons of the Church of England Sir Henry Yelverton in his Preface p. 9. It 's now sufficiently known what wonder the casting out of Bishops was to the Reformed Churches abroad and what publick Triumph to the Roman Conclave Bishop Sanderson in his first Preface to his Sermons It 's well known what rejoycing the Vote against Bishops brought to the Romish Party how in Rome itself they sang their Io Paeans upon the Tidings of it and said Triumphantly now is the day ours now is the fatal blow given to the Protestant Religion in England Upon which account we have great reason to believe that the Romanists have used their utmost endeavours to hinder the Reformed of France from having Bishops as they heartily desired 3. Let us see what opinion the Eminent Divines of the Foreign Reformed Churches have of our English Bishops 1st Calvin in his Book de neces ref If they will give us such an Hierarchy in which the Bishops do not refuse to be subject to Christ have him for their only head i. e. in opposition to the Pope and be united to the truth of the Gospel then if there be any that do not reverence such Bishops and submit to them I confess there is no Anathema which they do not deserve and in his Epistle to the Duke of Somerset c. he commends our English Bishops as such 2d Bucer de Regno Christi We see by the perpetual Observation of the Church from the Apostles time that it pleased the Holy Ghost to have one Person set over the Presbyters to have the care of the Church and govern it and therefore he is called a Bishop And again in his Works p. 565. These Orders of Bishops Priests and Deacons have ever been in the Church by the appointment of the Holy Ghost And again in resp protest apud Goldast Tom. 2. which Bucer was the Author of How much mischief the Reformed Churches have suffered for want of Bishops no one can easily find Words to express Forbs p. 132. 3d. Beza in Ep. p. 18. Speaking of Bishops Priests and Deacons adds the Holy Ghost appointed those Orders Contra Sarav ad 518. Art 3. If England continue to keep her Bishops and Arch-Bishops let her enjoy that singular Blessing of God which I wish they may always have And again If there be any that reject all sort of Episcopacy God forbid that any but Mad Men should joyn with them 4th Spanheim in Epist ad dub Evang. Vol. 3. At Geneva they have a great esteem for the English Bishops and daily pray for their Prosperity 5th Le Moyne from Leyden published by Dr. Stillingfleet p. 405. As for the
Episcopal Government of England what is there in it that is dangerous or may alarm Mens Consciences and if this be capable to deprive us of Heaven who is there that entred there for the space of 1500 Years for all that time all the Churches in the World had no other Government c. 6th When the Presbyterians had in their Solemn League and Covenant condemned Episcopacy the Ministers at Charenton and of the other Reformed Churches in France the Professors Ministers and Consistory of Geneva and other Reformed Churches in those Part were so scandalized as that they feared it would bring an indelible Scandal upon the Reformed Churches c. King Charles's Large Declaration p. 75. 4. When any of the Eminent Men of other Reformed Churches censured the Church of England it was upon our being falsly represented to them What Calvin wrote against our Liturgy was only upon the sight of the first Edition of Edward the 6th's Common-Prayer Book and a Malicious Account he had received from some at Franck fort Beza in his Letter to Archbishop Whitgift March 8. 1921. Declared that in his Writings touching Church Government he ever opposed the Romish Hierarchy but never intended to impugne the Eccesiastical Polity of the Church of England nor to exact of them to frame themselves after the pattern of our Presbyterial Disciplene he wisheth that the holy College of our Bishops may for ever continue and maintain their Right and Title in the Churches Government c. And if Beza at any time wrote otherwise he was abused by slanderous reports which caused him to do it saith Bishop Bancroft in his Survey p. 141. And his Guess we have confirmed by a Letter from Gualter to the Bishop of Ely A. D. 1572. and Printed by Archbishop Whitgift We admonished your Adversaries not to move any Contention in the Church for matters of so small importance and we thought the matter had been Buryed when contrary to all Mens expectations there came Two English Men from Geneva and bring from Master Beza whose Ears they had before filled with forged Accusations Letters full of Complaints and desire that we would help the afflicted State of England and advised me to make a Journey to you to which was joyned the Report of these two who reported the same things to us that they had done at Geneva and set down in Writing many Superstitions which they said were now defended in England but afterwards Letters from D. A. a singular honest Man delivered you all from blame Since that time we have had nothing to do with those lying busy-bodies for not long after it plainly appeared that they went about and were the chief Authors of Disturbances in the Palatinate Churches and brought much trouble and disquiet to them Wherefore I beseech you that you would not have any ill opinion of Gualter who bears a singular affection to the English and is perswaded of our exact consent and agreement c. In our late Civil Wars Milton and Georgius Hornius under the Counterfeit Name of Honorius Reggius a Professour at Leyden and some others were hired to give a false and abusive account of the Church of England to the Foreign Churches and the very Assembly of Divines at Westminster wrote a Letter which was sent to the Belgick French Helvetian and other Reformed Churches to assure them that the King made it his business to root out the Protestant Religion and used all means possible to reduce the whole Nation to Popery Bibl. Regia p. 64. And of this we have as much reason to complain now as ever it being notoriously known that not long since a Gentleman of considerable quality made a Journey on purpose into France to represent the Bishops and Clergy of the Church of England as Popishly affected it being the lot of this Church to be misrepresented by Men of Designs and Malice for both Papists and Fanaticks as may best serve the turns of its Enemies in different Seasons 5. Let us see what opinion the Universal Church hath of such as in opposition to Bishops are ordained by Presbyters the 31st of those that are called Apostles Canons If any Presbyter despise his Bishop and set up separate Meetings let him be Deposed and the People Excommunicated The 5th Canon of the Council at Antioch decreed that if any Presbyter despising his Bishop separate himself from the Church and make Meetings of his own after the First and Second Admonition he ought to be condemned and not allowed to Preach and if he still go on to disturb the Church he ought to be punished by the Secular Power as a Seditious Person This Canon is received into the Code of the Canons of the Universal Church and was confirmed in the 4th general Council at Chalcedon Act 4. Athanasius in his 2d Apology tells us that Coluthus a Presbyter passing by the Bishop of Alexandria ordained several Persons all his Ordinations were declared void and all that he had ordained were reduced to the order of Laicks And I want an instance of any one Reformed Church in the World where Bishops are established that Ordination by Presbyters in opposition to them is allowed as valid and I think the Church of Rome is the only Church in the World that being governed by Bishops allows of Presbyterian Ordination not regularly and of course but by an extraordinary faculty from the Popes inexhaustible Power Of which see Willet in Synopsi Papis controv 16. q 2. Theol. Rhem. in 1 Tim. 4. 14. Forbesii Iren. p. 176 177 178 179. where he largely proves it from the Canonists Schoolmen c. I am sure the Papists have often objected it to us that we have no Priests because we have no Bishops Bancroft's Survey p. 166 and have taken a great deal of Pains to set about the Nags-Head Fiction and destroy the order of our Bishops which shews how glad they would be to have them all destroyed Lastly such Eminent Divines of the Foreign Churches that have come into England and had only Ordination by Presbyters and received Preferment here have readily and willingly received Episcopal Ordination and now it hath pleased God to send over so many French Ministers into our Kingdom I do not find but that they readily and chearfully comply with our present Establishment in this particular also From all which it 's evident that the Presbyterians will not comply with Hypothetical Reordination that in most of the Protestant Churches they are not ordained but by Bishops or Superintendants that where they have neither they heartily wish for them and desire them and account Ordination by Presbyters in opposition to Bishops to be Schismatical and not allowed in any Protestant Church in the World and by consequence our doing it in England cannot be a likely way to promote the Peace and Vnion of the Protestant Churches A set Form of Prayer was seriously opposed by the Presbyterians at the Savoy who p. 23. tells us that serious Godliness is like to
be extinguished if only Forms be allowed in the Church and p. 55. The Abatement of Ceremonies with the Exclusion of all Prayers but what are Read will not satisfie us The Author of a Letter to the Convocation would have many of our Prayers and Services left to the discretion and choice of the Minister p. 21 22. And the Lords and Commons A. D. 1644 and 1648 ordained That if any Person used the Common Prayer Book he shall forfeit for the 1st Offence 5 l. for the 2d 10 l. and for the 3d Offence a Years Imprisonment and every Minister that shall not strictly use the Directory shall forfeit the Sum of Forty Shillings and whoever shall Preach Write or Print against it shall forfeit betwixt 5 l. and 50 l. The Churches of Denmark Swedeland Saxony and all other of the Ausburg Confession have their set Liturgies and forms of publick Worship yea the Churches of France Geneva and Holland have their set Prayers composed by Calvin himself as Luther composed Prayers for the German Churches and Zuinglius for those of Zurick The Divines of Holland in Synops pur Theol. Disp 36. Sect. 33. declare set Forms not only lawful but very profitable The attention of Auditours is much helped by having a constant form Some of the Churches of Zealand thus declared themselves to our English Presbyterians We account it grievous to condemn all those Churches which from the Apostolical times and the Primitive Church to this day have celebrated the publick worship of God by prescribed Forms wherefore we blame the precise singularity of those who cast out all Forms out of Divine Worship In almost all the Reformed Churches Church-Liturgies and Forms of Prayers are approved as profitable and conducing to Edification Capellus Professour of Samurs in France in Theses Salm. A set Form of Liturgy is highly useful and necessary hath been always used in all the Christian Churches in the World for above 1300 Years and now is used every where except only by some Vpstarts in England c. The Greek Church Armenian Coptick Ethiopick and all the Eastern Churches have set Forms of Prayer Calvin Epist 87. I do very much approve of a set Form of Prayer and Ecclesiastical Rites that it be so certain as that the Ministers shall not recede from it that hereby the levity of some Innovators may be hindred there ought to be a set Form of Prayer c. Baxter himself in his Def. of the Cure of Divisions p. 55. He that separateth from all Churches amongst us on the account of the unlawfulness of our Liturgy doth separate from them on a reason common to all or almost all Christian Churches upon Earth As to the Prayer before Sermon Calvin constantly used the same Form faith Beza in his Life it 's Printed at beginning of his Sermons on Job so had St. Austine after Sermon The Ministers of France Geneva and Holland use a set Form before Sermon Lavater of the Rites of the Church of Zurich saith 'T is not the custom of that Church for the Preacher to contrive new Forms of Prayer and repeat them in the Publick Assemblies but to keep the usual one And Durell tell us that there is not one Minister in France but hath made to himself a set Form of Prayer which he constantly useth before Sermon and no other So that in this also our Presbyterians are singular that they affect Novelties and extempore Expressions and Variations in their Prayers before Sermons I say that are singular and different from the Pastours of most of the Reformed Churches in the World I know it 's objected against our Liturgy that it 's taken out of the Mass Book as if the Lord's Prayer the Creed or other parts of our Service were the worse for being found there also but yet those that have strictly examined this find the Objection false L'Estrange in his Alliance c. p. 30. The beginning of our Morning-Prayer Sentences Exhortations Confession Absolution rehearsing the Decalogue c. are not to be found in the Mass Book nor any Popish Service And Dr. Stillingfleet in Antiq. Br. ch p. 232. All these parts are retained in the excellent Office of our Church not from the Church of Rome as our Dissenters weakly imagine but from the consent of all the ancient Churches in the use of them c. And p. 237. From which discovery it will appear that our Church of England hath omitted none of those Offices wherein all the ancient Churches agreed and that wherein the Brittish and Gallicane Churches differed from the Roman our Church hath not followed the Roman but the other and therefore our Dissenters do unreasonably charge us with taking our Offices from the Church of Rome And therefore the Romanists have ever been as zealous in opposing our Common-Prayer as the Presbyterians themselves Mr. Harding John Ould and other Papists wrote Books against it Several of our Martyrs were put to Death in Queen Maries Dayss for using the Book of Common-Prayer saith Fox in Acts Mon. And the Author of Calvino Turcismus p. 360 hath these words The English Liturgy as to the substance of it is more corrupt than the Turkish Alcoran as to the Form it in great measure agreeth with it And it 's not probable that the Papists would thus abuse a Book that was so like to their own Mass as the Presbyterians would have it Our Common-Prayer Book is now printed in Ten several Languages which cannot be said of any other Liturgy in the World and so great was the esteem our Forefathers had of it that I find in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth Coppin and Thacker were both punished for publishing Brown's Book against the Common-Prayer And now if all the Protestant Churches in the World have their set Liturgies it must needs be a very improbable way to promote the Peace and Union of the Reformed Churches by destroying the Liturgy we have always used And to pass by other things most of the Reformed Churches have declared in their Confessions of Faith that no Separation ought to be made for different Rites and Ceremonies where there is an agreement in Doctrine See Praef. ad Confess Helv. Art 17. 27. Conf. Gallican Art 32. Bhoem c. 15. Argent c. 14. Augustana Art 7. Polon p. 220. Calvin Instit l. 4. c. 10. s 27. Is so far from condemning Rites and Ceremonies that he would have them in every Church be fix'd and certain without which the Nerves and Sinews of a Church will quickly be dissolved c. O Ecolampadius in his Epistles p. 169 177 182 184. Is vehement in pressing every particular Church to an Vniformity in Ceremonies that tho they are different in several Countries yet all that are subject to the same Goverment should be bound to the same Rites c. And how little these eminent Reformers agree with our new Modellers will appear from the Letter to the Convocation p. 9. If any of the Laity scruple the Cross