his History of Pretended Saints Ch. 3. which other observable Testimonies notoriously do verify Arch-Bishop Whitgift frequently traced their footsteps in the dust they themselves raised I am persuaded saith he †Def. of Answ to the Admon p 349 that Antichrist worketh effectually at this day by your Stirs and Contentions whereby he hath and will more prevail against this Church of England than by any other means whatsoever These Divisions the Character of a Carnal and Unspiritual Temper the Learned Mede ¶ V. Medes Life §. 44. p. 30. rightly judged At once weaken and dishonour the Protestant Cause and occasion the grand Enemy to triumph who seeing much of his Work done for him by those who would seem most averse from him while they bite and devour one another claps his hands saying Aha Aha our Eye hath seen it so would we have it The Lord-keeper Puckering spake of the unquiet Puritans in Queen Elizabeth's time who pretended to be at War with the Jesuits yet by their separation they did join and concur with the Jesuits in opening the door and preparing the way to the Spanish Invasion King James in his Letter to the Assembly of Perth * Dat. Aug. 25. 1617. took notice how many of the Discipline shook hands with the upholders of Popery King Charles I. of blessed memory declared truly It is possible that a Papacy in a multitude may be as dangerous as in one Bishop Sanderson in his excellent Preface to his Sermons saith It hath bin observed that where the Jesuits have bin most busy other Factions have bin most Insolent and that those who have lived in those Countries where there are the most rigid Presbyterians there are the most zealous Romanists for saith he they help together to pull down the same form of Government Our present Lord Bishop of Lincoln †Popish Principles c. p. 78. takes notice of the favour the Papists had under Oliver Cromwel and the freedom from the punishment of the Penal Laws more than ever they had before under King Charles the Martyr No Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy was pressed upon them our Liturgie and Common-Prayer were taken away so that there was no way then to discover or legally convict a Popish Recusant Notwithstanding the same Oliver in a Speech to one of his Parliaments 1654. Sept. 4. * V. Mr. Fowlis Hist of pretended Saints p. 13. profest that he could prove by witness that they had a Consistory and Council that ruled all the Affairs in England And in the Year 1647 when the King's Cause was at the lowest ebb then the Romanists by approbation of the Sorbon Doctors were ready to give such full satisfaction and assurances of their fidelity to the Civil and Political Government in the Kingdom whatsoever it shall be †P. Walsh p. 522. Which they refused to do when by the Moderation of the Government they had a Convocation permitted them for that purpose at Dublin since the re-return of his Majesty Then the Roman Leviathan had a fine time to play his Game and to sport among the People which are like many Waters Then they laid their fruitful Spawn of Divisions in the Church as well as Dissention in our Kingdom As Arch-Bishop Laud most truly on the Scaffold declared The Pope never had such an Harvest in England since the Reformation as he hath now upon the Sects and Divisions that are amongst us 3. The same experience which our Church and Nation hath had of the Conspiracy of the Sectaries and the Romanists at least in event other Churches and Nations have also observed * V. Lib. Ecclesiast p. 10 11. As in Switzerland the Anabaptists were animated by the Papists And in Bohemia some furious Divines carried on the Pope's Interest A Jesuit who suffered at Strasburg confest that he was one of the thirty Jesuits who was employed to be Agents for the Roman Cause in the late German Wars †V. Mr. Fowlis Hist of our pretended Saints p. 12. And Crucius ¶ De Doctr. Jesuit l. 4 in his Speech as we have it in Hospinian saith We are sent into Germany not only or chiefly that we might be Teachers and Preachers and Schoolmasters in the Schools and Churches but that we use all means that the Protestants do not encrease that we may join our mutual Endeavours Strength and Arms that more easily we may root them out And for our overthrow if they are our Incendiaries as it is believed we may say with reference to them what Pliny in his Natural Philosophy speaks of the nature of things considering their Principles and the Fires which break forth out of the Caverns of the Earth It is the greatest wonder of all that every day All things are not in a conflagration * Excedit profecto omnia miracula ullum diem fuisse in quo non cuncta conflagrarent Plin. Hist Nat. l. 2. c. 107. 4. That sundry of our Separation have bin thus acted hath bin often among us in fact deprehended together with the Confessions of those who have bin both Actors and acted by them Which is matter of such known discovery that it needs no repetition here Yea of this sometime they have suspected one another for one of the Independent * P. Sterry 5 Nov. 1650. Brethren said The same Spirit saith he which dwells in the Papacy when it enters into the purer form of Presbytery as fuller of Mystery so is fuller of despite and danger †Inter finitimos vetus atque antiqua simultas Juven Satyr 15. In the late Morning Exercise against Popery one saith ¶ Serm. 4. p. 103. The Papacy together with their Religion have had a Party and kept up an Interest among the Protestant Churches But because the Dissenters love to have it thought that those of our Church are more guilty herein as there seems to be insinuated Therefore § 11. Unto all this if any object and tell us of the Advice of Cardinal Allen to the Persons who undertook to reduce Ireland again to Popery Among other things they should apply themselves to the Conformists and possess them with the Factiousness Disobedience and Disorders of the Nonconformists that so they might be provoked to spend their fury on each other to their mutual ruin We answer We hope that the Church of England and her right conformable Clergy have bin so setled by the establishment of our Church as not to have had their Principles corrupted by Popish Influence As appears 1. from the constant and stout opposition which Popery hath had from the Fathers and Sons of our Church And 2. in that the many surmises of the contrary have proved upon the test very notoriously foolish and false Let any of them prove our Principles and Practices such as we are able to do theirs to serve the real Interest of Rome 3. Let them know that those who have bin most violently slandred as favourers of Popery
copulata S. Cypr l. 4. Ep. 9. Hierom and others of the Fathers fitly call the Church a Company united to their Pastor For the Administration of the power of the Church cannot belong to the body of this Society considered complexly but to those Officers in it whose care and charge is to have a peculiar over-sight and inspection over the Church and to redress the disorders in it Wherefore the Church is not improperly exprest by the Clergy which may be justly counted the Church representative that as S. Cyprian saith Every act of the Church may be governed by its Rulers g Vt omnis actus Ecclesie per praepositos suos gubernâ—tur S. Cypr. Ep. 27. For when we speak of the Church making Laws we must mean the governing part of the Church * Duâ— dub l. 3. ch 4. p. 589. In the form of Church Policy presented to the Parliament in Scotland 1578. by Andrew Melvill h V. Spots Hist l. 6. p. 289. it was agreed That sometime the Church was taken for them that exercise the spiritual Function in particular Congregations More certain it is that the Form of Christs Church is that outward disposition and order of superiour and inferiour communicating mutually to the conservation of the whole body and the edification and encrease of every member thereof Eph. 4. 15 16. Col. 2. 19. And in those things which concern the outward form and manner of Government in a National Church where the King is supreme in all Causes and over all Persons many matters necessarily and properly belong to the disposition of the supreme Power the people exhibiting their consent by the King upon these and the like good Foundations The third Canon declares the Church of England a true and Apostolical Church and the ninth Canon declares the same the Communion of Saints as it is approved by the Apostles Rules in the Church of England upon which account the Authors of Schisms in the same Canon are censured and the 139th Canon of the Church concerning the Authority of National Synods doth thus declare Whosoever shall affirm that the sacred Synod of this Nation in the name of Christ and by the Kings Authority assembled is not the true Church of England by Representation Let him be Excommunicated and not restored till he repent and publickly revoke that wicked Error § 2. Having now explained what is meant by Moderation and what by the Church of England we may more intelligibly proceed in justifying the Moderation of the Church of England of which some inartificial proofs may be premised The first of which may be the Confession and acknowledgments of our Adversaries on both sides Yea if the scattered Concessions which have been made by our Adversaries at sundry times and upon divers occasions should be gathered together in a bundle there is scarce any judgment or practice or constitution of our Church but hath been acknowledged sometime by some or others of them as reasonable and moderate Yea there is scarce any extravagance among themselves but hath been also confest and decryed by several of their own Communion so great is the force of truth upon the minds of men at some times when they are in a free humour to disclose themselves and it might make a very pleasant and useful Collection to have these well gathered and set together particularly they have in their lucid intervals acknowledged the Moderation of our Church sometime as really convinced thereof Notwithstanding saith one who left our Communion De Cressy 's Exomolog c. 9. the English Church hath been more moderate and wary than publickly to pretend to such a private spirit and by consequence hath left a latitude and liberty for them in her Communion to renounce it as many of the most Learned among them have done Another of them speaks thus of the Church of England k Conference between a Prot. and a Papist 1673. p. 6 7 8. I believe her Moderation hath preserved what may one day yet much help to close the breach betwixt us We observe that she and peradventure she alone has preserved the face of a continued mission and uninterrupted Ordination Then in Doctrines her Moderation is great In those of greatest concern hath exprest her self very warily In Discipline she preserves the Government by Bishops but above all we prize her aversion from Fanaticism and that wild error of the private spirit with which it is impossible to deal from this obsurdity the Church of England desires to keep her self free She holds indeed that Scripture is the Rule of controversy but she holds withal That it is not of private interpretation for she is for Vincentius his method But I see that moderate counsels have been discountenanced on both sides Others of the same denomination have appeared to acknowledge the Moderation of our Church but it is manifest they have done it upon design using that acknowledgment only as an Art either to Proselyte some uncertain ones of our Communion or else to divide us thinking by their publick owning our Moderation thereby to render us more odious to those of another immoderate extreme Yet the generality of both extreme adversaries join together in reproaching us for this Moderation and by their immoderateness in so doing do also justify the Moderation of our Church Thus do the great Bigots of the Church of Rome and the rigid Disciplinarians and other Novellists in their zeal count all merciful Moderation lukewarmness l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Med. 12. Wherefore these apply to us what the Spirit said to the Angel of the Church of Laodicea m Vid. Mr. Henderson 's 1. 2d. Paper Collegium Laodicensium est senatus Moderatorum hominum Brightman in Apocal. c. 3. p. 105. Antitypum est nostra nimirum Anglicana ibid. p. 101. Rev. 3. 16. Because thou art lukewarm and neither hot nor cold I will spue thee out of my mouth reproaching commonly our Moderation by the name of neutrality and want of zeal n Cesset igitur Anglia Medietatem suam quae mera neutralitas est sub titulo prudentiae moderationis palliare potiâ—â— serve resipiâ—ce Parker de Eccl. Pol. l. 1. c. 25. and when some temperate interpretations have been offered the Romanists o Scio enim ejusmodi Modificationes ubi aliquid temperatum offerebatur nihil aliud esse quà m Satanae dolos c. Ep. c. Bellarm ad Archipresb Anglic. they have received them with invidious reflexions lest any of their Company should be won over to us by the Moderation of our Church In the mean while none persue the Church of England upon this account so much as the rigid and severe of either extreme the hot heads among the Romanists with their Anathema's and the other Zelots with their Curse ye Meroz Whereas the learned men of other reformed Churches have not only observed frequently and admired the Moderation of our Constitution as Dr Durel in his View of the Reformed
principal motives why we rejected the Papacy was the constant Tradition of the Vniversal Church § 5. Concerning our Churches own Testimony Her Modesty and Moderation hath been always exemplary so far from assuming the Title of Catholick to her self only as St Austin tells us the Arians did and since them the Romanists c S. Aug. Ep. 48. ad Vincen. That she hath counted it a sufficient honour to be an humble and nevertheless for that eminent Member of the Universal Church and with her a Witness and Keeper of Holy Writ and though she vindicates to her self an authority to interpret the Holy Scripture within the bounds of her own Discipline for the edification of her own Family in Truth and Love and also asserts to her self an Authority in Controversies of Faith Article 20. namely for the avoiding diversities of opinions and for the establishing consent touching true Religion yet I cannot well omit to observe the wise modesty of our Church in her asserting her own authority in Controversies of Faith which expression I may have leave to illustrate from such another instance of Wisdom and Moderation in the recognition required to be made of the Kings Supremacy in our subscription according to the 36. Canon and in our Prayers wherein we acknowledge Him Supreme Governour of this Realm in all Causes and over all Persons It is not said over all Causes as over all persons forasmuch as in some Causes Christian Kings do not deny some spiritual power of Gods Church distinct from its temporal Authority which yet refers to the King as their Supreme Keeper Moderator and Governour Even so the Church declares her Authority in Controversies of Faith not that the Church of England or any other Church no not the Universal Church hath power to make any thing which is in controversy matter of Faith which God hath not so made The Church owns that she hath no power against the truth but for the truth Neither may it expound one place of Scripture that it be repugnant to another Article 20. But she hath power to declare her own sense in the Controversy and that I may express my own meaning in better words than my own d Pref. of Bishop Sparrow's Collection of Eccl. Records c. To determine which part shall be received and profest for truth by her own Members and that too under Ecclesiastical penalty and censure which they accordingly are bound to submit to not as an infallible verity but as a probable truth and rest in her determination till it be made plain by as great authority that this her determination is an error or if they shall think it so by the weight of such reasons as are privately suggested to them yet are they still obliged to silence and peace where the decision of a particular Church is not against the Doctrine of the Vniversal Not to profess in this case against the Churches determination because the professing of such a controverted truth is not necessary but the preservation of the peace and unity of the Church is is not to assert infallibility in the Church but authority Wherefore Mr Chilingworth e Chilingw Pres §. 28. had very just reason to declare Whatsoever hath been held necessary to salvation either by the Catholick Church of all Ages or by the consent of Fathers measured by Vincentius Lirinensis his Rule or is held necessary either by the Catholick Church of this Age or by the consent of Protestants or even by the Church of England That against the Socinians and all others whatsoever I do verily believe and embrace Whereas the Pope and Church of Rome do challenge to themselves an authority supreme over all Causes and Persons by their Infallibility by which they exclude all others from their peace and themselves from emendation Neither are their followers much in the way thereunto by what Card. Bellarmine doth assert of this supreme Authority If the Pope saith he f C. Bellarm de Pontif. Ro. l. 4. c. 5. should err in commanding any Vices or forbidding any Vertues The Church is bound to believe those Vices are good and those Vertues are evil unless it would sin against Conscience g In bono sensu dedit Christus Petro potestatem saciendi de peccato non peccatum de non peccato peccatum c. Bell. c. 31. in Barklaium However in his Recognitions h Locuti sumus de actibus dubiis viâ—tâ—tum aut vitiorum Recogn operum c. B. p. 19. he minceth the matter in a distinction of doubtful and manifest Vices and Vertues O Blessed Guides of Souls How did the Illustrious Cardinal miss being Canoniz'd for that glorious Sentence and to help him for a Miracle to qualify him for an Apotheosis why did not some cry out of it So many words so many Miracles Thus many of the Romanists make the Pope such a Monarch in the Church as Mr Hobbs doth his Prince in the State i Hobbesius de Cive c. 7. art 26. c. 12. art 1. The interpretation of Holy Scripture the right of determining all Controversies to fix the rules of good and evil just and unjust honest and dishonest doth depend on his authority in the power of whom is the chief Government But this Doctrine is as bad Philosophy as that of the Cardinals is Divinity Among these excesses let us not forget the Moderation of our Church which holds she may revise what hath slipt from her wherefore in her 19. Article she declares As the Church of Jerusalem Alexandria and Antioch have erred so also the Church of Rome hath erred a charge agreeable to the Moderation of our Church considering what might have been further said which by the same proportions of reason she supposeth true of her self and of all others viz. That they are fallible and may erre § 6. Of the use of Reason with Reference to divine matters there may be elsewhere occasions in this Treatise to discourse * Ch. 6. §. 9 10. Yet here it is to be observed our Church doth not make its own reason a rule of Faith nor the sole Interpreter of Scripture much less the reason of private men yet because mankind hath no reasonable expectation of Miracles especially when ordinary means are sufficient and abounding and because the Holy Spirit of God in the testimony of his Church hath all along certainly conveyed to us the sense of many places beside That what is most needful to be heeded is very plain our Church doth allow and suppose rational mens perceiveing the sense of Scripture by the due use of their understanding which practice must also necessarily engage such to a high regard of what was anciently received in the Catholick Church For as nothing is held among us more agreeable to reason than our Religion so in expounding our Religion and in interpreting Scripture our Church makes use of the best and the truest reasons as is manifest in what she declares and enjoins and
the great Wisdom and Moderation of the Church which in points doubtful and controverted hath propounded only that which no sober man can make matter of doubt or subject of controversy As in the 16th Article 't is said Not every deadly sin willingly committed after Baptism is sin against the Holy Ghost Now certainly this is in it self a most sound certain infallible plain and perspicuous Doctrine and being so the want of liberty to interpret one term of it deadly sin cannot render it doubtful for interpret it which way you will either all sins are deadly or say all sins are not deadly it will be equally true that every deadly sin is not the sin against the Holy Ghost In the like manner whether we may fall from grace totally and finally which hath a great doubt Without any question After we have received the Holy Ghost we may depart from grace given of that there hath never been any question In the third Article of Christs descent into Hell b Compare the Articles of K. Edw. 6. 1552. and those of 1562. The Church purposely hath waved all the Controversies thereof and plainly propounded the Article c Hujus Articuli verum genuinum sensum neque Apostoli â—â—â—dideruâ—â— neque Ecclesia definivit Rem itaque credimus modum nescimus Archiep. Spalat l. 7. c. 12. §. 125. In the 17th Article there is not one word of the horrible decree of absolute reprobation rather in the close of the Article there is a wholsome caution against extreme curiosity Furthermore we must receive Gods promises as they are set forth to us in Holy Scriptures and in our doings That will of God is to be followed which is expresly declared to us in the word of God and in the Homilies our Church d 2d Part of the Homily of falling from God takes notice of some who Hearing the loving and large promises of Gods mercy and so not conceiving a right Faith thereof make those promises larger than ever God did c. So evident is it that the Church of England was intent on Peace and Edification of her Sons Wherefore the Articles of the Protestant Church in the Infancy thereof were drawn up in general terms foreseeing that posterity would grow up to fill the same meaning that these holy men did prudently discover that differences in judgment would unavoidably happen in the Church and were loth to unchurch any and drive them off from an Ecclesiastical Communion for petty differences which made them pen the Articles in comprehensive words to take in all who differing in branches meet in the root of the same Religion e Historia quinque articularis Part 2. Ch. 8. So that I think the modest survey of Naked Truth f p. 4. did not fly one jot too high when he saith It cannot be denied but the Articles of our Church were compiled with the highest discretion and Moderation that ever was used by un-inspired men so that it is a most unreasonable charge on the Church of England to say she has tyrannically imposed many unnecessary conditions on her Members in point of Faith and Doctrine so large a Scope is left in our Church for mutual charity and the enquiries of the studious Bishop Bramhall was far from one of those which some called Latitudinarians yet he saith g Fair Warning Ch. 1. If it were not for this Disciplinarian humour which will admit no Latitude h Sunt ergo res aliquae ita comparatae ut benignam sibi interpretationem suo quodam jure concedi postulent quae sc non sit interclusa verborum angustiis sed cum quodam ut Ciceronis verbo utar Laxamento liberior De Juram oblig prael 2. §. 8. in Religion but makes each nicety a fundamental and every private opinion an Article of Faith which prefers particular errours before general truths I doubt not but all reformed Churches would easily be reconciled Wherefore in such points which may be held diversly of divers men salvâ fidei compage I i Chilingworth Pref. §. 28. would not take any mans liberty from him and humbly beseech all men that they would not take mine from me k Non per difficiles quaestiones nos Deus ad beatam vitam vocat S. Hilar. l. 10. de Trin. Sunt quidem nonnullae quaestiones è curiosis inquietis hominibus excitatae etiam doctis piis viris negotium faciunt in his ea Moderatio adhibenda c. Spalat de officio pii viri And here I think the Judgment of l Jur. praedest p. 21. Bishop Andrews may fitly be repeated as most agreeable with the Moderation of our Church I truly ingenuously confess I have followed the counsel of St Austin These mysteries which I cannot unfold I admire them shut and therefore for these sixteen years since I was made Priest I neither publickly nor privately have disputed nor Preacht of them and now I had rather hear than speak of them And truly since it is a slippery place and hath on either side its Precipices and since these places of St Paul are always esteemed among those which are hard to be understood and many of the Clergy are neither fit to explain them nor many of the people can be idoneous hearers I would e'ne perswade silence enjoin'd on both sides and truly I judge it more expedient that our people be taught to seek their Salvation in the plain way of a holy and upright life than in the hidden paths of the divine Counsels into which too curious inspection use to cause giddiness in their Heads and mists before their Eyes § 5. In persuance of the same design of the Church for Peace and Moderation it is very proper here to mention the seasonable and wise Declarations and Injunctions of our Kings of England to Preachers and all others to keep them within the bounds of the same peaceful Moderation In the Injunctions of King Edw. VI. 1547. Of Sermons It is injoin'd That they shall purely and sincerely declare the word of God and in the same exhort their hearers to the works of Faith Mercy and Charity especially prescribed and commanded in Holy Scripture In Queen Elizabeth's Articles for Doctrine and Preachers They are admonished to use sobriety and discretion in teaching the people namely in matters of controversy and to consider the gravity of their office and to foresee with diligence the matters which they shall speak to utter them to the edification of the Audience King James Jan. 18. 1616. sent instructions to the Universities That young Students in Divinity should be excited to study such Books as were most agreeable to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England and bestow their time in the Fathers and Councils and Schoolmen Histories and Controversies and not to insist too long on Compendiums and Abbreviations making them the ground of their study August 4. 1623. In his Letter to the Archbishop Whereas divers
Religion than the Holy and Divine inspired Scriptures with Melancthon and the Church of England I wish all Doctrines of Faith were brought to us derived from the Fountain of Scripture by the Channels of Antiquity otherwise what end will there be of innovation And thus our King James of Happy Memory did declare in the words of St Austin That what could be proved the Church held and observed from its first beginning to those Times That to reject He did not doubt to pronounce to be an insolent piece of madness So that the counsel and judgment of the Church of England seems to be moderated according to the Sentence of St Hierom in his Epistle to Minerva My purpose is to read the Ancients to prove all to hold fast what is good and never to depart from the Faith of the Catholick Church and conformably King Charles I. h His Majesties fifth Paper to Mr. Henders My Conclusion is That albeit I never esteemed any Authority equal to the Scriptures yet I do think the unanimous consent of the Fathers and the universal practice of the Primitive Church to be the best and most authentical Interpreters of Gods word For who can be presumed to understand the Doctrine and practice of the Christian Religion better than those who lived in the first and purest times Wherefore i Of Heresy §. 14. Dr Hammond reckons it among the piè Credibilia that a truly general Council cannot erre § 3. And because the Catholick Church is and hath been so much divided and the Monuments of the ancient Church Universally accepted do contain but a few determinations Therefore the Church of England moderately remits her Sons to the first four general Councils as in the 28th year of K. Henry 8. k Fullers Eccl. Hist ad An. 1536. it was Decreed That all ought and must utterly refuse and condemn all those opinions contrary to the said Articles contained in the three Creeds contained in the four Holy Councils that is to say in the Council of Nice Constantinople Ephesus and Chalcedon and all other since that time in any point consonant to the same So in the Institution of a Christian Man set forth 1537. and approved by the Convocation 1543. 't is there said A true Christian man ought and must condemn all those opinions contrary to the twelve Articles of the Creed which were of a long time past condemned in the four Holy Councils that is to say c. Isaac Casaubon also in the name of King James to Cardinal Perron saith l Primo R. Eliz. c. 1 The King and the Church of England do admit the four first Oecumenical Councils and following the judgment of the Church the Law of the Kingdom doth declare m Dicimus Ecclesiam Britannicam adeò venerari Concilia generalia ut speciali statuto caverit nè quisquam spirituali jurisdictione praeditus praesumat censuras suas Ecclesiasticas aliter distringere vel administrare aut quicquam Haereticum pronunciare quod non à scripturis Canonicis quatuor Conciliis generalibus aut alio quocunque Concilio pro tali judicatum fuerit J. B. de antiq libertate Eccl. Brit. Thes 4. That none however Commission'd shall in any wise have authority or power to order or determine or adjudge any matter or cause to be Heresy but only such as heretofore have been determin'd ordered or adjudged to be Heresy by the authority of the Canonical Scriptures or by the first four general Councils or any of them or by any other general Council wherein the same was declared Heresy by the express and plain words of the said Canonical Scriptures or such as hereafter shall be ordered judged or determined to be Heresy by the Court of Parliament of this Realm with the Clergy in their Convocation Thus the authority of the four first general Councils are placed by our Church in the superiour order of Tradition forasmuch as Spalatensis according to St Austin n A plenariis Conciliis tradita Quarum est in Ecclesiâ salubrâ—â—ima authoritas S. Aug. Ep. 118. speaks of such Councils they have obtained a wholsom authority because from the Apostolick Declarations faithfully received they have explained the Holy Scriptures and beside because they have been approved by the Universal Church which with great reason contradicts what Curcellaeus p Curcell Rel. Christianae Instit l. 1. c. 15. hath delivered to depreciate the honour even of the first four Oecumenical Councils So that Mr Cressy in Answer to Dr Pierce might very well cite the Protestant acknowledgments of the Authority of Councils as that of Ridley Acts and Mon. p. 1288. Councils indeed represent the Vniversal Church and being so gathered together in the name of Christ they have the promise of the gift and guiding of the Spirit into all truth To the same purpose are named Bishop Bilson Hooker Potter c. Instead of all these he might have owned if he had pleased the judgment of our Church it self giving all due honour to general and Provincial Councils whose wholsome Decrees she hath accepted and imitated Yea our Church maintains the right of Provincial Synods taken away by the See of Rome q Tertullianus veneratur Provinciale Concilium quasi esset Oecumenicam assentiente sc universali vel iis decernentibus secundùm universale quomodo fit repraesentatio totius nominis Christiani virtualiter tota Ecclesia Neither is this honour diminisht by the further Moderation which our Church hath shown in not taking those for Councils or general Councils which are not such as neither the Council of Florence nor Lateran nor of Trent and we know that our Articles though they are very moderately framed are many of them directly oppos'd to those of Trent being in those points of Doctrine wherein the Church of Rome hath departed from the Catholick Church and made her Doctrines of design more than truth the unjust conditions of Communion A truly free and general Council we look upon as the best expedient on Earth for composing the differences of the Christian World if it might be had but we cannot endure to be abused by meer names of Titular Patriarchs but real Servants and Pensioners of the Popes with Combinations of interested parties instead of general Councils r Dr. Stillingfleet's first Part of an Answer c. 284. When Pope Paul III. call'd a Council then to be held at Mantua and King Henry VIII refusing thither to send He defended his Protestation in a Letter to the Emperour and other Christian Princes 1538. In which the King declares t Acts and Monuments p. 11â—2 Truly as our Forefathers invented nothing more holy than general Councils used as they ought to be so there is almost nothing that may do more hurt to the Christian Faith and Religion than general Councils if they be abused to lucre to gains to the establishment of errors And verily we suppose that it ought not to be called a General
of the Church the Ministration of Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies but also the Doctrine and Religion set out by King Edw. VI. to be more pure and according to Gods word than any other used in England these thousand Years c. § 4. In all the Churches of this Kingdom Cathedral and Parochial the Church now hath moderately appointed the same Rules and Cautions and the same use among us every where and those few in number plain and easy to be understood f The Preface to the Common-Prayer Book Whereas the Rubricks and Orders of the Church of Rome are so innumerable intricate and various that scarce an Apprentiship may suffice to learn the practice of them which whether it suit with the simplicity of the Christian Gospel may without difficulty be judged Among us an easy Calendar is prefixt with few Canons and Prescriptions and those very intelligible wherein according to an excellent Moderation the People have their parts for excitation sake and to unite their affections although no where in what is properly ministerial § 5. The Moderation of our Church is sufficiently known to the whole World in requiring our Common Prayers to be in the vulgar tongue for the general benefit of all According to our 24. Article It is a thing plainly repugnant to the word of God and the Custom of the Primitive Church to have publick Prayer in the Church or to administer the Sacraments in a tongue not understood of the people Which Article is further confirmed and proved in the Homilies especially in that of Common-Prayer and Sacraments from the nature and end of Prayer Resolving also As for the time since Christ till that usurped power of Rome begun to spread it self and to enforce all the Nations of Europe to have the Romish Language in admiration it appeareth by the consent of the most ancient and learned Writers there was no strange tongue used in the Congregation of Christians Yet for the same reason that common people should have their Prayers in English among us those who have been educated in sufficient learning are allowed to use them in another tongue as in Vniversities and Colleges The use of the Latin Form of Prayers is also commended to the Ministers of the Church of England by Queen Elizabeth's Letters Dated April 6. 1560 g Bishop Sparrow's Collection and also the first Rubrick before the Preface of Ceremonies In all which the Moderation of our Church doth comply as the Queens Letters doth express it with the necessity of those who do not understand other tongues and the desire of those who de § 6. Notwithstanding the Church hath provided most excellent Prayers for the use of private devotion upon all general occasions and what is readily and properly applicable to more occasions particular yet the Moderation of the Church hath not thought fit any where to bind all who are of her Communion to the use of her Common Prayers in private Families or Closets The Rubrick which enjoins All Priests and Deacons to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer either privately or openly is set down with great Moderation Not being let by sickness or some other urgent cause In the Family or in Visitation of the sick if the particular condition of the one or the other do require it and in private and in the Closet It is not supposed by our Church but that every one may ask their own wants in what form of words he shall think fit h Dr Hammonds Pract. Cat. of Prayer The Consideration of which Liberty indulged by the Church caused I suppose another excellent Writer i Dr Patricks Devout Christian Preface thus also to express himself It is possible also that some may judge this whole work to be but a needless labour since they have the Book of Common Prayers at hand which they can use at home as well as at the Church With these persons I shall not contend but only deliver my opinion freely about this matter which is that the reverence due to that Book will be best preserved by employing it only in the publick Divine Service or in the private where there is a Priest to officiate However the design of it is not to furnish the people with Prayers for all those particular occasions wherein devout Souls would make their requests known to God and the constant opinions of pious Divines in this and other Churches we see by their Writings hath been that other Books of Prayers are necessary for the flock of Christ beside their publick Liturgy Though in the choice of such Prayers as are so accommodate to the occasions of humane Life and such Cases as are incidental to the spiritual needs and circumstances of Christian people there hath been sometimes wished some further advice and recommendation made common by Authority The 55. Canon thus directs That before all Sermons Lectures and Homilies Preachers and Ministers shall move the people to join with them in this Form or to this effect as briefly as conveniently they may in hunc aut similem modum The Title in the Latine Canons is Precationis formula à concionatoribus in Concionum suarum ingressu imitanda In the English Canons the Title is A Form of Prayer to be used by Preachers before their Sermon From all which I only note That the Moderation of the Church is certain and undoubted But the disagreeing variety in practice consequent thereon whether it be so convenient it remains for Superiours to judge § 7. Although some of the ancient Christians used the distinction of Hours of Prayer which at first was thought orderly and useful as a voluntary task and determining of the Christian Liberty of those who profess Gods Service is perfect freedom Yet our Church considering the common employment of most and the natural infirmities of all hath appointed and required only a daily Sacrifice of Morning and Evening Service as of constant observance not excluding but inviting other voluntary oblations of a sincere Devotion to God according to our leisure and opportunity But our Church doth no where countenance the novelties of those that put any trust in the bare recital only of a few Prayers k Dr Cosins of the antient times of Prayer or place any vertue in the Bedroll or certain number of them at such and such hours notwithstanding many of the said Prayers are also directed otherwise than Prayers should be § 8. Although according to the judgment of the Church and in truth the entire worship of God is complete in the Divine Service of the Church even as among the Jews Sacrifices Prayers and Thanksgivings made up the entire notion of Divine Worship so under the Gospel the Sacrifices of Prayer and Thanksgiving do absolutely compleat the worship of God yet our Church judgeth according to an excellent temper of the use and necessity of Sermons acknowledging their great use as occasion requires to convince reprove to excite and comfort
same with hath been much encreased by the extravagant practices of the Church of Rome in their Benedictions 1. To make way for their Exorcisms antecedent to their Benedictions they seem to suppose worse of Gods Creation than they need as if the Devil had such interest and possession in the salt and water and what else they commonly exorcise Sometimes they are as prodigal of their Blessings as at other times of their Curses imprinting thereby a servile and superstitious dread upon the minds of men whereby they suck no small advantage 2. By their multitude of Ceremonies they seem unavoidably to confound the People and divert their minds from the true author and cause of blessing How many Crossings and sprinklings with Holy-Water Incensings Exorcisms variety of actions of the Bishops and Priests frequent shifting of Vestments many utensils and materials do they make requisite Whereas the Church of England doth in a modest and solemn manner make use of that Commission it hath to dispense by its Ministers the Divine Blessing in the name of God because the less is blessed of the greater Heb. 7. 7. Being 1. Very careful to make her people plainly sensible from whom the Benediction by Prayer doth proceed 2. Our Church doth carefully declare the Divine Promises as they are made that the people may take more effectual care to be duly qualifyed for the Divine Blessing 3. Our Church doth not hold any Mediator for the Divine Blessing but what God hath appointed neither Saint nor Angel but only Jesus Christ our Lord. 4. Our Church doth rightly suppose its Ministers have authority given them to declare and pronounce the Divine Promises of blessing with the conditions of receiving the same and that they have a special Commission given them to pray for Gods people and bless them as the Priests under the Law had Commission to bless the people in the name of God Numbers 6. 22. Deut. 10. 8. 1 Chron. 23. 13. Which practice had nothing Ceremonial in it and peculiar to the Law Wherefore Christ put his hands upon the little Children and blessed them S. Mat. 19. 13. and Commanded his Apostles and Ministers to bless his people S. Mat. 10. 13. S. Luke 10. 5. and without all contradiction the less is blessed of the greater Heb. 7. 7. Wherefore for the dignity of the Episcopal Office the Church doth especially delegate that Power and Commission to her Bishops for Confirmation with imposition of Hands and in Ordination of Ministers c. Neither do our Religious Kings in our Church refuse the Benedictions of the Churches Ministers either as Christians or as Kings at their Coronations Yea our Church indeed ascribes more to Blessing and Prayer than the Church of Rome doth for by Blessing and Prayer our Church holds the Bread and Wine in the Holy Eucharist to be Consecrated which the Roman Priests do not till those words be pronounced Hoc est enim Corpus meum And here I cannot but add what the Archbishop of Spalato truly observed of the constant and ordinary blessing at Meals in England according to pious and Christian practice Blessings saith he y 〈◊〉 Erâ— Sâ—areâ—◠〈◊〉 §. 2â— and thanksgivings at the Tables of the Nobility Gentry Clergy and Laity at no time and upon no occasion omitted I never saw with such Religion and Piety performed as in England Yea among those of the Church of England the laudable Christian Custom is maintained of Parents blessing their Children and of Childrens humbly asking their Parents blessing whereby the authority of the Parent is maintained and each are put in mind of their respective obligation The same laudable custom is used to our Bishops To which may be added that the laudable Customs commonly in use in our Church as they are few which are generally received so are they such as are very suitable to this Moderation here commended But the Church z Canon 42. 36. 10 declares only such Customs to be laudable which are not contrary to the word of God or the Prerogative Royal. § 10. As the wisdom of our Church doth account it a reasonable service to offer up our Bodies a holy and acceptable sacrifice in the worship of God So she requires such reverend and becoming Gestures as are proper to betoken the awful thoughts of our minds Wherefore at our Prayers we are injoined meekly to kneel upon our Knees and at the Absolution also and repeating the Ten Commandements and at receiving imposition of hands because the same are accompanied with Holy Prayers and at our receiving the Holy Supper of our Lord the same being the most suitable posture to testify and promote our Humility our Thankfulness and our Reverent Worship of God To express also our Joy and praise of God as at the Psalms and to witness our stedfast and resolved and solemn profession of our Faith as at the Belief we use the posture of standing and also at the Gospels to express our outward Reverence to the Holy Scriptures especially because they generally contain the actions and words of our Blessed Saviour But in tender regard to the weakness and infirmity of many Christians such is the Moderation of our Church she alloweth sitting at the longer Lessons and Sermons and at the Epistles in accommodation to the reasonable ease of people after their long kneeling before § 11. Of that respect which is due to Churches and places for the Divine Worship and Service our Church hath determined according to great Moderation and Truth Keeping the middle way between the pomp of superstitious tyranny and the meanness of fantastick Anarchy a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 §. 27. Moreover saith the Homily the Church or Temple is counted or called holy yet not of it self but because Gods people resorting thereunto are holy and exercise themselves in holy and heavenly things Wherefore though our Church is most religiously careful that the incommunicable honour due unto God be attributed unto no Creature else yet because the inward honour due to God ought to express it self as well outwardly as it can therefore whatsoever is appropriate to the peculiar service of God our Church requires should be used with such a difference and distinction as may set forth our due and singular Reverence of God It is easy to note how the extreme of superstitious curiosity hath crept into the Church of Rome in so much that it may well vye with the Jewish for multitude and niceness of observances a just Volume would not contain the curious scruples of their nice observances in their Vestments Consecrations Sacramental Rites and indeed in the whole carriage of their religious devotions but surely I fear these are not more faulty in the one extreme than many Christians are in the other who place a kind of holiness in a slovenly neglect Who are apt to higgle with the Almighty and in a base niggardliness pinch him in the allowances of his Service b Of Holy decency in the worship
with the like the Articles of K. Edward 6. call Blind Devotion There is not consecrating and reconciling Church-Yards with so many Ceremonies and opinion of Efficacy and Necessity as in the Church of Rome ¶ V Form of Consecration of Churches Bishop Sparr Collect. 1675. The Bells which sound at Funerals among us are not appointed for any Superstition †Centum gravam 50. or to drive away Spirits from the Grave And because by Death all are made equal therefore all have the same Office for Burial All amongst us are deposited in the same general place of the Earth * Redditur Terrae Corpus ita locatum quasi operimento Matris obdusitur Cic. de leg l. 2. In other Circumstances Respect and Distinction is permitted according to the Custom of the Country and the condition of the Person deceased The Moderation of our Church is the same with that of the Christian Religion as it also leaves all Nations to their proper Usages and doth not oppose any Civil Laws or indifferent Customs of this or of any other Kingdom As it is observable That God himself tho he forbid the People of Israel ¶ Lev. 19. 28. Deut. 14. 1. to cut themselves or make any baldness upon themselves for the Dead or printing any Marks upon themselves which were the practices of that Idolatrous Nation Yet in such ancient Customes they had those which were Innocent referring to the manner of their Burial were permitted the same notwithstanding they had them from the Egyptians and other Heathen Nations Whereunto even also the Burial of our Blessed Lord Jesus was Conformable of which it is Recorded †John 19 4â— They took the Body of Jesus and wound it in Linnen with the Spices as the manner of the Jews is to Bury Among whom as hath been noted * Bishop â—earson on the Creed notes on Expos Art 4. there was a kind of Law that they should use no other Grave-clothes Notwithstanding it is all one ¶ Tabésne Cadavera solvat Aut rogus aut refert Capit omnia tellus Quae genuit coelo tegitur qui non habit urnam to our Bodies whether they are deposited in Linnen or in Woollen with Spices or without in the Earth or in any other Element whether we lie in S. Innocent's Church-yard where the Bodies soon consume or in the Sands of Egypt where they last longer or under the Moles of Adrianus And if the Minds of some seem uneasie in relation to one way of Burial more than another it convinceth us how great Tyrants Custom and Imagination are and perhaps in no Instance can it be confirmed more than in the late alteration referring to Burial Concerning which St. Austin's Comment might be of use †S. Aug. de Doct. Chr. l. 3. V. de civita Dei l. 1. c. 13. The Evangelist saith he doth seem to me not in vain to have said As the manner of the Jews is to Bury for so unless I am deceived he admonisheth in such offices of Piety which are exhibited to the Dead The Custom of every Nation is to be observed Wherefore our Church of England always leaves the Government of the Kingdom to have its Reasons to it self in what it appoints Instructing her Sons also how little soever the Matters are from thence to receive the greater honour of Obedience And because at so solemn a Providence as is the death of our Friends if some well-disposed Persons finding their Minds then more lifted up to the desires of Heaven and become more mortified to the World would take an opportunity of seriously commemorating the Death of our Lord who by Death overcame Death and opened the Gate of Heaven unto all Believers Therefore there is a brief peculiar appointment for the Celebration of the Holy Supper of the Lord at Funerals * Peculiaria quaedam in funeribus c. R. Eliz. V. Bishop Sparows Collections appointed 1560 with a Collect Epistle and Gospel which bears a part of the Reformed Liturgy which here is taken notice of as a proof how refined every part thereof is from Romish Superstition The like Instance of Inoffensive Moderation may be the public Office appointed by Q. Elizabeth for the Commemoration of Benefactors which is used in our Colleges and Vniversities which doth testify what worthy care we have of the memory of the deserving tho deceased and also doth shew how much purged these honourable Offices are from Superstition CHAP. XII Of the Moderation of our Church in what concerns the Power of the Church § 1. The Moderation of our Church owns the Power of the Church to be only Spiritual § 2. All other Power which Ecclesiastical Persons receive is readily acknowledged entirely depending on the favour of our Kings § 3. The Interests of the Kingdom and the Church are excellently accommodated in our Constitutions which is not done in other Models § 4. The pious Moderation of our King 's preserving their own rightful Supremacy and leaving to the Church the exercise of their Spiritual Power acknowledged by our Church § 5. The just Right of Kings shamefully invaded by other Sects pretending Divine Right Concerning which Claim the Moderation of our Church observed § 6. The dutiful Moderation of our Church in asserting Monarchy The first Canon 1640. justified § 7. All Interests of Humane Society especially of Subjects Allegiance in our Church abundantly secured which is not done by those in separation from her § 8. The Ordinances of our Church are framed with great Mildness and Moderation § 9. The same compared with the mild Obligation which Cardinal Bellarmine pretends the Church of Rome lays upon those of her Communion § 10. Sundry Instances of our Church's great regard to Equity § 1. THe Church of England always hath confessed That the Power of the Church is only Spiritual and Ministerial for the Head the Authority the Conversation of the Church is in Heaven Hence it is that the Appointments of the Church are not called Laws but Canons or Rules by which the Moderation of the Church rather leads than compels Yea In matter of Canons the Bishops and Clergy do but propound such Constitutions as they think useful and when they have done send them to his Majesty who perusing and approving them puts Life into them and of dead Propositions makes them Canons so are they the King's Canons not the Clergies * Bishop Hall's Remains p. 430. And the Inflictions Ecclesiastical the Church her self doth not call Punishments but Censures for Temporal Punishments are for Vengeance Spiritual for Discipline ¶ Bishop Lany on 1 Thess 4. 11. The Temporal Judg except he be Supreme in many things cannot pardon the Ecclesiastical Judg cannot but pardon upon Repentance as our Church doth express it self in the Canons if the Offender revoke that his wicked Error To this purpose St. Chrysostom †St. Chrys Homil 4. in Isaiam speaks The King remits the guilt of Bodies
and others that do not hold with them they do very much hazard their right and title to the said Catholic Church as much as by any thing CHAP. XVI Of the Moderation of the Church of England in her Reformation § 1. The Reformation of our Church as it had just grounds and was by just Authority so it was managed with due Moderation the Idea of our Reformation having bin impartial § 2. The whole manner of it so far as concerned our Church was with great temper § 3. She separated from the Romish Errors not from their Persons any more than needs must § 4. Our Charity exceeds that of the Church of Rome which denys Salvation to all who are not of her Communion § 5. The Preparation of our Church to submit to the Church Vniversal saves us from Schism § 6. The Reformation of our Church was the more Christian because not fierce but well governed § 7. Albeit the Moderation of our Church seems to have enraged her Adversaries yet because of this Moderation our Church is the better prepared to survive Persecution § 8. The Moderation of our Church in her Reformation was founded on Rules of absolute Justice as in sundry great Instances is made to appear § 1. THe moderate and orderly Reformation of the Church of England Bishop Bramhall well calls the Terror and Eye-sore of Rome * Answer to the Bp. of Chalcedon p. 244. because of 3 Conditions of a lawful Reformation well agreeing thereto viz. Just Grounds Sufficient Authority Due Moderation 1. Just Grounds Under which head I shall not take too large a compass to illustrate the Moderation of our Reformation either from the manifold Usurpations and Corruptions of the Church of Rome at that time nor from the invidious task of looking into the extreme Rigors of any other Models of Reformation Neither is it here necessary to reflect more particularly on Matters of Fact historically relating hereunto which have bin copiously set forth by a multitude of Writers both Ecclesiastical and Civil which abundantly justify this Reformation both in its Causes and Proceedings clearly manifesting how this Church was justified therein from the unjust conditions of Communion which the Church of Rome peremptorily insisted upon 2. That it might have Just Authority the said Reformation was manag'd by the Guides and Governors of the Church and was confirmed by Supream Authority and so in every particular was as legal as any Reformation could or ought to be as doth sufficiently appear from Matter of Fact recounted in the Histories and Monuments thereof Wherein the Princes acted their parts and the Clergie theirs they calling together the Bishops and others of the Clergie to consider of what might seem worthy Reformation and the Clergie did their part for being called together by Regal Power they met in a National Synod of 62 and the Articles were agreed on and were afterward confirmed by Acts of State and Royal Assent * Arch-Bp Laud §. 24. Any Reformation otherwise than Regular is as much against the Principles of our Church as any one can wish and had the Doctrine of our Homilies bin well regarded it might have prevented much mischief consequent on later Reformations Lest any Persons upon colour of destroying Images make any stir or disturbance in the Common-Wealth it must always be remembred that the redress of such public Enormities pertaineth to the Magistrates and such as are in Authority and not to private Persons In the Homilies against wilful Rebellion is set forth at large the sufficient reason of our Church's Reformation viz. the Intolerable Usurpations of the Bishop of Rome To the same purpose * Angli necessitate dirâ cogente secessionem fecerunt Casaub ad C. Per. the Apologie of the Church of England doth express it self more largely than need be repeated We did nothing rashly or insolently for the sake of any worldly pleasure or advantage but upon great advice and deliberation we shook off a Yoke which we had no obligation to endure †Postermò ab illo decessimus cui obstrecti non eramus ejusque jugum ac tyrannidem excussimus Apol. Eccl. Angl. §. 150 159 160 c. The Church of England did but behave her self as became a free Church enjoying the Rights of a Patriarchal See according to the Rules of the Universal Church it reformed it self when it had high need For as King Henry the 8th said in his last Letter to the Pope Better is it in the middle way to return than always to run forth head-long and do ill 3. The Due Moderation of our Reformation will appear if we consider 1. The Idea or Form of our Reformatation was neither taken from Luther nor Calvin as the Romanists love to speak of us * Impia mysteria instituta ad Calâ—ini praescriptum Bulla Pii 5. contra R. Elizab. Calvinicas aliquot deprecationes substituit De Schism Angl. p. 165. In illis Angliae legiâ—us quae alios actus Sacrilegos ut Participationem Calvinianae coenae similes Communicationes in eorum ritibus praecipiunt Suraii Def. l. 6. c. 11. nor from any other but from the Holy Scriptures according to the use of the Primitive Church which were only its measures according to which our Church practis'd the part of the Elective Philosopher and chose what she thought most agreeable among the rest she seemeth to come nearest the Augustan Confession and the Consultation of Herman Arch-Bishop of Colon which was also set forth in English 1548. Among others that have reformed their Churches I have often saith Saravia admired the wisdom of those who restored the true Worship of God to the Church of England who so temper'd themselves that they cannot be reproved for having departed from the Ancient and Primitive Custom of the Church of God and that Moderation they have used that by their Example they have invited others to reform and deterred none * Sarav Desins Praef. * Ea omnia sublata sunt quae nimium onerosa operosa sunt Lud Capel inter Thes Salmur 6. Between those who were loth to bid adieu to their Ceremonies and others whose Reformation had no bounds our Godly Reformers compiled the excellent Model of our Liturgie in so moderate and well-temper'd a Mode as neither part had Alliance of D. off c. 1. just cause to think themselves agrieved †So that the Church of England appears faithfully to have practised the same counsel which P. Gregory the Great gave unto Austin the Monk when he was sent over into England From all Churches chuse whatsoever things are Pious and Religious whatsoever things are Right and being gathered into one bundle commend them to the Minds of the English for their use ¶ B. Greg. Epistol ex registro l. 12. indic 7. For having laid their Ground that Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to Salvation Artic. 6. They do upon that * Huic Basi Reformationem Britannicam niti
of Women Burial-Service the Gloria Patri to come under the name of Popery Altho by no Instance was it ever made to appear That our Church agrees with the Romanist in any thing contrary to Scripture and the practice of the Primitive Church As she is truly also most remov'd from Fanaticism neither using nor encouraging any Enthusiastic way of Religion nor allowing any resisting of Authority under any Religious Pretences whatsoever Any one may be convinced that no formed Church in the Christian World is more truly Protestant than is the Church of England nor any which all things compared less compromiseth with Rome If they will but consider in our Articles Liturgy Canons Constitutions Practice Oaths of Supremacy c. how firmly our Church preserves and enforceth the Reformation Yea the Canons of 1640 did excellently take care for the suppressing the growth of Popery Canon 3. 6. and also of Socinianism Canon 4. Which Seeds of Socinianism have bin scattered amongst our Sectaries and have of late had great growth amongst them Yet nevertheless if such Friends as they should slip into greater Heresy so long as they are with them in the Schism there is a special respect due to them rather than to the close adherents of the Church of England who because they run not into the madness of their extremes and are not outragious too in that madness they are forward to clamour against our Church it self as Popish and turn their own silly Surmises into powerful Calumnies Neither do those who reproach our Constitution sufficiently call to mind what hath bin done all along since the Reformation by our Kings of England and the great Councils of the Kingdom and the Orders of the Church and the Industry of our Bishops for the suppression of the growth of Popery § 2. But as a sufficient Evidence that our Church according to its establishment doth in no sort favour Popery They must be very disingenuous and wanting to Truth who will not readily acknowledg that the Labours of our Bishops and our Conformable Clergy remain the most impregnable defence of the Reformation For who I pray have more strenuously and constantly opposed the Innovations and immoderate Extravagancies of the Church of Rome than our Bishops and the Learned Men in firm Communion with our Church even since Queen Mary's days when some were Martyrs and Confessors and whose Writings but theirs who have held firm Communion with our Church remain as the constant Bullwark of our Protestant Reformation Wherefore the Romanists keenest displeasure * Immortale odium nunquam sanabile vulnus Ardet adhuc Combos Tentyra Juven Sat. 15. and jealousie hath bin always against the Church of England because from Her they have always received as forcible repulses as any As nothing doth more stir up the anger of a Zealous Enemy than the equal behaviour of those they malign and a moderate carriage doth sometime provoke their sharpest hatred So certainly nothing hath more stir'd up the jealousy of the Romanists than the excellent temper which is observed in our Churche's Constitution 'T is for the sake of this poor Church alone said our most noble Lord Chancellor †that the March 6. 1678. State hath bin so much disturbed It is her Truth and Peace her Decency and Order which they labour to undermine and pursue with so restless a malice And since they do so it will be necessary for us to distinguish between Popish and other Recusants between them that would destroy the whole Flock and them that only wander from it As for those of our Separatists who have sometimes menaged Debates with the Romanists the cunning Adversary commonly lets them alone for how seldom do we see a Romanist write against or oppose a Nonconformist and be in much earnest against him Not merely because he thinks such inconsiderable but because these are doing their Work for them as fast as they can * Hoc Ithacuâ— velit Magno mercentur Atrida Whereas those Contests which have bin menaged upon the Principles of our Church's Reformation have given the Romanists greatest awe and have always exercised their utmost strength § 3. Wherefore those of the Separation who have bin concerned in these Clamours and Surmises of our Church favouring Popery have acted therein as appears first very falsly and then very imprudently in reproaching so excellent a Reformation and by joining with them in their opposing our Church they strengthen the hands of the Romanists whom they pretend to oppose to the great scandal of the Christian Religion and great mischief to the true Protestant Interest Which caused Bishop Morton in his Epistle to the Nonconformists to tell them Beside their notorious Scandals given to the Church of God it self of their breaking the Hedg of Peace and opening the Gap for the wild Bore out of the Romish Forest to enter in and root out that goodly Vine which many Pauls industrious Bishops many Apollo's faithful Martyrs have planted and watered Even as Josephus * notes the Divisions of the Jews laid †Prol. ad bel Jud. them open to their overthrow And by their several Divisions which they help to propagate among us they join with the Romanists in endeavouring to overthrow and destroy our Constitution While they are crumbling into Factions biting and devouring one another a vigilant Adversary who is intent upon his advantage and opportunities may when he spieth his time over-master them with much more ease and less resistance †Bishop Sanderson's Preface to his Sermons Ad rerum momenta cliens seseque daturus Victori And the more unreasonable and vehement they are in their clamours the more they help the Roman Engineer to confound and overturn Therefore Arch-Bishop Whitgift ¶ Arch-Bp Whitgift Answ to the Admon p. 55. See his Letter to Q. Eliz. Fuller's Hist l. 9. now above a hundred years since said I am persuaded you and they do the Pope great good Service and he would not miss you for any thing For what is his desire but to have this Church of England which he hath cursed utterly defaced and discredited to have it by any means over-thrown if not by Foreign Enemies yet by Domestic Dissention And what apter Instruments could he have for that purpose than you who under pretended Zeal overthrow what others have built under colour of Purity seek to bring in Deformity under cloâ—e of Equality would usurp as great Tyranny and Lofty lordliness over your Parishes as ever the Pope of Rome over the whole Church Which also was the judgment of the University of Oxford 1603. Verily these Men are like Sampson 's Foxes they have their heads severed indeed the one sort looking toward the Papacy the other to the Presbytery but they are tied together by the Tails with Fire-brands between them to the injury of the Church Who would ever have thought said Bishop Bancroft 1588 in a Sermon at St. Pauls that we should ever have lived