make no other account of the King of kings and of every thing that is called God who by their Principles and Practices shall be reduc'd to serve their private ends which are with them Superiour to them all The fate of the Church may be observ'd to follow that of the Crown and Empire it rose and fell of late years with the fall and Restoration of our last Kings we observed the like Sympathy in it towards the Brittish Crown heretofore Therefore all good Christians ought by their lives and Prayers to support our Brittish Monarchy that the Church and Religion may ever prosper in its safety 2 Tim. 2.12 The Civil Regality of our Kings cannot be destroyed but by a stronger Forreign Power or Domesticks broyls which God prevent And nothing ever hath and doth promote our divisions and rents and broyls more than the cherishing of Popery within our state which engenders Jealousies foments our Sects and sets on dissenters to affront and trouble our Church and Government and fits us for Invasion by division neither can their Ecclesiastical Regality be any way more Eclips'd or extinguished than by vitious scandalous living or Antichristian errours for how can he be a Head or Primate in Christ's Church who stands condemn'd and Excommunicate by its Laws from being a Member Truth and Holiness being as essentially requisite to the Church which is the ground and Pillar of truth 1 Tim. 3. and to every Member thereof as his being a Christian The neglect whereof destroyed our Brittish Church in Vortigern and its corrupt Princes heretofore as Subjection to the Pope depraved and enslaved the Conquering English and their Church all along Invasion and Captivity are best kept off by bolting out Popery and Debauchery A Prince that is Orthodox and Vertuous and Vigilant and Valiant a Quod pulchrius manus Deorun quam castus Sanctus diis similimus Princeps Plin. Paneg. is the greatest pledge and sign from Heaven of good weather in Church as well as State in such a Reign which therefore ought to be as it is order'd by the Church the daily Prayers of all good Christians throughout their lives The second point is how these Primacies or any of them ceased and discontinued and how Canterbury came to be erected and confirm'd in stead And first of the Imperial Primacy of York The See of York is conceived to have continued from Faganus or Wogan f being used for v by the Brittains the first Archbishop thereof in the time of King Lucius about 160 after Christ to the departure of Sampson about the year 500. from the Saxon fury into Armorica or little Brittain b Usher p. 74. 75. with Six or Seven of his suffragan Bishops with him whom after Ages called there the Seven Saints of Brittain whereof Maclovius was one who gave name to c Usher 533. Sâ— Maloes who were there received and preferr'd and Sampson made Bishop of Dole and Primate of little Brittain and above Tours as before But the Imperial Pall in time came to be over-rul'd by the Papall King Arthur recovering that Territory shortly after from the Saxons settles Pyramus his Chaplain Archbishop there about 522. whose successors there continued till Thadioc the last Archbishop was driven into Wales together with Theonus the last Archbishop of London about the time or little before the Arrival of Augustine the Monk as before an Argument of Romish foul play About the year 601. Pope Gregory takes order with Augustine to make d Bede lib. 1. c. 29. lib 2. c. 4. York with London Archbishopricks a new with dependance upon Rome Ad Eboracum civitatem te volumus Episcopum Mittere c. We would have you send a Bishop for the City of York whom you shall think fit to ordain but with this proviso that if that City and its Neighbourhood shall receive the word of God He may ordain 12 Bishops under him and enjoy the honour of a Metropolitan for We intend if God lend life to send him a Pall likewise by the help of God Neither shall he be any way Subject to the jurisdiction of the See of London the Priority of the one to the other shall be according to the Seniority of their Consecration When Edwin King of Northumberland in the year 627 after the death of Gregory and Augustine made Paulinus who Converted and Baptized him Archbishop here he was Ordain'd by Justus Archbishop of Canterbury with this Memorandum e Antiquit Eccles p 14. as Canterbury is Subject to Rome whence it had its Faith so is York to be Subject to Canterbury which sent to it its Bishops and Teachers thus they agreed to divide the spoyls But Paulinus was soon routed out of all the North by Cadwalhan upon King Edwins overthrow in 633. And the See manag'd afterwards by Bishops of Brittish Ordination and Principles Aidan Finan c. for 30 years who were f Usher p. 78. ex Sâ—eephan qui Aeddâ— Bedae â—quali â—im Dunelmenf Metropolitan Bishops of York yet had no Pall and chose to reside at Lindisfarne And Ceadda who was rightly Consecrated Archbishop there by Brittish Ordination was insolently and illegally laid aside by Theodorus as before whereby that Church recovering its Pall in Egbert became Subject to the Roman and so continued untill the time of our Protestant Restoration Conquests and Invasions of Countreys being common and tolerable amongst the Captains of the World and especially Heathen But the subduing and stealing of one another's Churches and Diocesses by Christians and Catholicks not so in the Church of God London continued a Metropolitan Church for 400 years and above from the time of King Lucius g Usher p. 69. ex Simonis Baldoc Episcopi Londinensis Chronico tabula pensili Ecclesiae St. Petâ—i in Cornhill to the Arrival of Augustine who Translated that its dignity to Canterbury against Law reason and the Canons of the Church Thean or Theonâ—s being her first Archbishop who is said to have built the Church of St. Peters Cornhill g Usher p. 69. ex Simonis Baldoc Episcopi Londinensis Chronico tabula pensili Ecclesiae St. Petâ—i in Cornhill in the time of King Lucius by the help of Cyranus the Kings chief Butler and Elwan her second before Embassadour with Dwywan and Medwin from the King to Pope Eleutherius who built a Library adjoyning to the said Church which continued for many Ages to the time of Leland who saw it And her last Brittish Bishop being Theonus likewise who was driven with Thadioc into Wales by a New Roman-Heathenish Persecution as afore Pope Gregory h Bede lib. 1. c. 29. c. 33. Antiq. Eccles p. 34. intended to settle his Romish Primacy at London where the Brittish was before as appears from his own Epistles to Monk Augustine and Mathew Westminster and Malmesbury and Polydor Virgil. But what induc'd Augustine to Translate it to Canterbury against the first Orders of his Pope or what
obedience and submission to Heathen Magistrates do command the same much more to Christian And manifestly condemn the Pope as Antichristian in denying it And as in the World or the Kingdom of God they were Gods Deacons or Liturgists as they are stiled Rom. 13.4 6. or his Ministers for the encouragement and discouragement of Vertue and Vice v. 4. So in the Church or the Kingdom of Christ they are Christs Ministers to serve him with their Authorities in maintenance of Holiness and Order which is vertue in its highest degree and extirpation of Scandals which is Vice and Confusion under greatest aggravation Which trust and supremacy they bore in the Church of God in all Ages under all dispensations in Old Israel or the Jewish Church and New Israel or the Christian Gal. 6.16 For so Aaron gave place to Moses and Nathan though inspir'd counts himself but the servant of his King nevertheless bowing himself with his face to the ground when he came into his presence as his deportment is recorded not for naught by the Spirit of God 1 King 1.23 27. And such was the power and influence of the Kings of Israel in matters Ecclesiastical that the whole state and face of the present Church and the fate and destiny of the land it self is usually comprised by Scripture in one word in the Character of the Kings heart that reigned whether it was right with God or not When it sayes that such and such Kings did that which is good or that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and what was like to follow from such example for no face or figure of Heaven can be more benigne or fortunate No Comet so portending and ill boding to a Nation as a wakeful or a supine Prince in Mercy or Judgment appointed over it that eyes all himself in his Charge or trusts too far to others The Prince is the first and Master wheel even in the Church that gives motion and Order to all the rest all will be at a stand or out of order when this is He is the Architect in the building and ordering both of Tabernacle and Temple according to his Pattern from God he sets all to their proper work and erects and dedicates both the one and the other and places Aaron and Levi in their several Stations each one afterwards to look to their own work and duties of Instructing Sacrificing attoning interceding that God may dwell in the Camp or State as the Life and Soul and Strength there of And their care of Gods Church was not a free will Offering or a generous work of Super-erogation in the Kings of Israel which was their praise and honour to mind and attend and not their guilt to neglect and leave to others but it was the principal indispensable point of their trust and charge For Old Israel might be said to be more a Church than a Kingdom being the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lot and Inheritance the Clergy or spiritual Kingdom of God The rest of the Heathen World being revolted from him and kept in slavery under the Prince of the power of the Air Ephes 2.2 And therefore the Governour of such a Nation was more the head of a Church than the King of a Countrey being truly both the one and the other the one supremacy being common to every Heathen Prince but the other proper and peculiar to Rulers in Israel For God himself by particular condescention was King of Israel 1 King 8.7 And men came to be Kings by his permission and allowance as his Vicars and Lieutenants to maintain his Worship and Honour wherein the peoples happiness as well as their Prerogative did consist In the World he was the best and completest Prince that had most of the Councellor or Captain in him to suppress all disorder and violence at home by Laws and all invasions and dangers from abroad by Arms and Courage But in Israel he was the best King that had most of the Priest and Bishop in him to win God of his side They conquered their enemies in the field then best when they served God best at home Their Victories and Successes depended not so much upon their Bow and Chariot or the Conduct of their Generals or the Courage and Number of their men as upon having the Lord of Hosts on their side to go along with their Armies which Blasphemous Lives never had the Happiness to procure that Rule of our Saviour that directs how to prosper in the World being true as well before as since his coming But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his Rightousness and all things shall be added unto you Mat. 6.33 For it was their sins that gave valour and prevalence to their enemies and despondency to themselves Then was there War in the gate when they sought after new Gods Jud. 5.8 The children of Ephraim carrying Bowes turn'd their backs in the day of Battel because they kept not the Covenant of God Psal 79.9 And it was their Piety and Repentance made them miraculously Victorious when over-match'd Yea the Heathen Historian observes and confesses the like touching the Roman Empire that its progress and success was founded in sincere zeal for their Gods as its decayes and overthrow to arise from profane remissness and easie Luxury Upon good reasons therefore as well of Conscience and Equity to approve themselves Faithful and Loyal to Gods Honour and Interest to whom Kings are immediate Subjects as they expected the like Fidedelity and Loyalty from their people appointed to be their Subjects as of publick wel-fare and prosâ—erity to their Nation obliging Arguments with riâ—ht Princely dispositions We find the best Kings of Israel and even Heathen Kings when sober chiefly to imploy their Royal Authority and Power about matters Ecclesiastical to suppress Idolatry to reform Abuses to settle wholesom Laws and Fences about Doctrine Worship and Discipline in Gods Church To put down high places Groves Idolatrous Altars Sodomites-houses and all strange Religion as did Josia 2 Kings 23.4 5 6 7. And other Kings to break in pieces the Brasen Serpenâ— though made by Moses when abused to Idolatry as did Hezechia 2 King 18.4 To send able Teachers throughout the Land as did Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 2.8 to Dedicate and Repaire and Purifie the Temple as did Solomon 1 King 8.29.6 and Joash 2 Chron. 24.4 and Hezechia 2 Chron. 5. To institute the Feast for the Dedication of the Temple as did the Macchabees 1 Macch. 4.56.59 which our Saviour honour'd with his presence Joh. 10.22 To restore the celebrating of the Passoever to its Ancient Rite 2 King 22.21 To appoint a Faâ—r to save his Nation as did the King of Niniveh with success Jon. 3.7 10. To decree Blaspheming Hectors to be cut in pieces as did the King of Babylon when converted Dan. 3.29 To appoint Judges in Causes Ecclesiastical as well as Temporal 2 Chron. 19.8 Amaria the Chief Priest in all matters of the Lord and
Zebadia the Ruler of the house of Juda for all the Kings matters v. 11. To assemble Synods and Councells about Sacred Affairs for settling the Ark as did David 1 Chron 13.2 For dedicating the Temple as did Solomon 1 Reg. 8. and reforming the Nation and bringing them back unto the Lord God of their Fathers as did Jehoshaphat 2 Chron. 19.4 To maintain their Command and Soveraignity in such matters not only over all the people in general 1 King 23.21 but over the High Priests themselves in particular by assigning their work and duty 2 King 22.8 12. Where Jehoshaphat layes command upon Hilkiah the High-Priest thrusting them out of their High-Priesthood for their Disloyalty as Solomon did Abiathar 1 King 2.27 And sparing them their Lives in courtesie to their Coat v. 26. And this their pious care and zeal for God and Religion which in the Popes account were little less than intermeddling in other mens rights is recorded in Gods account as their Eternal praise and honour and good service to their Countrey And like Josiah was there no King before him that turn'd to the Lord with all his heart and with all his Soul and with all his might Neither arose there any like him 2 King 23.25 And Jehoshaphat sought to the Lord God of his Father and walked in his Commandments and not after the doings of Israel Therefore the Lord established the Kingdom in his hands and all Juda brought to Jehoshaphat Presents and he had Riches and honour in abundance 2 Chron. 17.5 And the contrary neglect about the Worship of God in their wicked Kings and making their people to sin by their defection or ill example was the ruine of their Land 2 Chron. 36.17 And a Brand of Infamy upon their names in particular forever as the followers of Jereboam the Son of Nebat which made Israel to sin and therefore liker to Satan therein than to Gracious Kings and Fathers And what was thus their bounden duty and honour in the Kings of Israel to imploy their Authority and Government for God and his Church upon the like ground and proportion is the duty and interest of all Christian Kings for a Kingdom that becomes Christian becomes a Church thereby or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 3.5 the Heritage and Clergie of God a Christian Kingdom is a new Israel of God Gal. 6.16 and Christian Kings by consequence are heyres of the same Prerogative and Supremacy that did belong in Israel to the Kings of Israel where the High-Priests were subordinate in externals to the Kings and not the Kings to the Priests It is a contradiction to be a King and to be Subject wherein Popes are made Supreme Kings are made Subjects there cannot be two Supremes in the same Church or Kingdom and it were a great snare and Spiritual misery to be subjects under two contrary Soveraigns and to be bound in conscience to obey contrary injunctions and commands whereby inevitably their obedience to the one becomes their sin and transgression against the other Soveraign which is the condition of Roman Catholicks who own the Pope for supreme to the wrong of those Christians Soveraigns over them whose right it is whereby their conscientious Catholick obedience becomes unconscionable disobedience to their right Superiour It concerns and behoves them therefore and every other Christian subject in whom the word of Christ ought to dwell richly in all wisdom Col. 3.16 to be fully satisfied who is to rule them He that mistakes his Soveraign will mistake his Loyalty The Old and New Testament knows but two Soveraigns God or the King Christ or Caesar 2. Chron. 19.11 Math. 22.21 so the Jewish so the Ancient Christian Church so the Church of England held upon the Reformation when the whole Nation both Parliament and Convocation unanimously agreed that the Pope had no more to do in England than any other Bishop The Soveraignty of the Lord the Pope starting up when the Church began to degenerate strongly savours of a fifth Monarchy or an Antichristian erection Christ only is the Immediate Soveraign of the Inside of men in his Church Kings the Immediate Soveraigns of the outside in their Dominions the Pope or Prelate is Soveraign in neither Pet. 5.3 Rom. 13.1 therefore there is no obedience due from the heart and conscience to spirituall Governours but wherein they agree in their Doctrines with Christs mind and clash not in their outward order and Discipline with the rights of Christian Kings for delegates are to be obeyed in and for and not against their Principals and the soul is subject to none but to a supreme either the Lord Christ who is absolutely such or our Lord the King who is such in externals by Christs concession Prov. 8.15 subject also it is to Governours but for his sake and by his command that is to say it 's subject not to them but to him But it will be still objected what have Kings to do with Religion that wholly belongs to Spiritual persons and the Clergy and to the Pope the Patriarch in such matters and by consequence Supreme and it must still be answered and acknowledged That the substantial part of Christian Religion lyes out of the Horizon and Territory of Kings in another world as it were where yet none is Soveraign but Christ alone Popes and Bishops and Inferiour Priests being all officers and Ministers under him in this Kingdom all of equal degree and power without difference in their Authorities or Keys saving that in equity and merit they are foremost and chiefest who are most painful and faithful in this trust Kings well observe their bounds therein they do not as they ought not intermeddle in such matters between the soul and God as are of divine Institution or immortal importance they meddle not with the Priestly office and great would be the peace of Churches and of the world if the Pope did as little meddle with the Kingly they take not upon them to preach and publish the Laws and mind of Christ in his name and Authority nor to denounce wrath and War against offenders high or low nor of themselves to Excommunicate the unworthy from the Holy Society of Christs Church and all hopes of mercy till they repent and change nor to arbitrate as for Christ who are fit and worthy of Grace or pardon neither do they travel between Heaven and Earth upon messages between Christ and souls as the Angels upon the ladder being now Gods mouth to the people in wholsom Counsels and Instructions anon the peoples mouths to God in humble confessions or thanskgivings as neither did the Kings of Israel ever offer to enter the holy place or order the Shew Bread or Sacrifice or incense which might have been done with the same skill though not with the same Authority by Common persons as by Priests and hath been attempted by one or two but to their wo No under both Law and Gospel these offices did solely belong to
well as Apostatical from its right Guide and Rule as hath been shewed And the Elder and the Healthy hath some pretence to Govern the Younger but the Younger and Sickly no manner of colour to Govern his Sound and Elder Brother which brings me to the Third and Last Point to prove That the Church of Rome hath no Superiority or Mother-hood over our British Church in respect of its Extraction or first Plantation of the Gospel SECTION IV. Rome no mother Church to Brittain in respect of Extraction or Plantation of the Christian Faith but much Junior to it WHich it never had from Rome nor by its means but without it altogether and for a good space of time before it had any Chair to boast of Our Brittish Islands by remarkable Providence being exempt and distinct from all the world as to subjection though not to Communion (a) Ms. Bernesii Doctoris Pontificii apud Spelman Concil p. 28. not only in respect of its seperate scituation and the Supremacy of its Crown but the Antiquity and Independancy of its Sees But rather than to be dumb and confess and yield the cause the Romish Advocates will stand up and pretend some out of Simeon Metaphrastes that St. Peter himself made a long abode in Brittain and converted many and ordained Bishops Priests and Deacons amongst us and at the founding of Westminster his apparition and Ghost appeared to direct the Builders which Legend is not worth an answer not only for its suspected Author but for its ill conduct against its own Interest and forgetting its cause making Brittain no more Inferiour but equall and co-ordinate to Rome and Sisters from the same Spirituall Father St. Peter But others with more colour will object did not Augustine the Monk sent from Rome about the year 600 convert this land and especially the English to the Christian Faith Had they not quiet possession of their plantation for about a thousand years till they were wrongfully justled out by King Henry the Eighth in a Rebellious manner Is not the Chair of Canterbury which derives its descent from Rome and Austine Superiour by publick allowance to all the Chairs of Brittain besides to ascend higher to stop the mouths of the Ancient Brittains that plead more Antiquity in this Island than the English or Saxon can or do whose first landing here was not till about the year 449 Did not the Pope Eleutherius through Faganus and Dwywanus he sent hither with others Christen their King Lucius about the year 170 and convert and Baptize the rest of the Nation and settle Bishops and Arch-Bishops amongst them where Flamins and Arch Flamins were before as appears by their own Histories And is not this a sufficient Title that is 1500 years standing to prove the Church of Rome the fountain and Mother Church to Brittain and if a Mother where is the honour and Obedience that is due unto her But if it shall more fairly and truly appear 1 That the Church of Brittain was planted by the Immediate followers of our Saviour either Apostles or Apostolical men shortly after his Resurrection and before St. Peters Arrival at Rome whether that tradition be true or false and the same seed though sometimes in some parts of the Nation mixt with tars in other parts more purified from them continued among us without failer especially in the Northern and Western Parts of this Island from that day to this 2 If the whole passage by consequence between Eleutherius and King Lucius cannot be allowed for true which Savours of the latter Arts of Rome to compass Sveraignty contrary to the express words and tenor of Eleutherius his Epistle and answer to the King and the subsequent Practice of the Bishops of Rome for some hundreds of years after him while they continued good 3 If Augustine the Monks arrival here was a manifest Intrusion upon anothers Province without Invitation or consent of the Christians of the place to Invade and subjugate and destroy the Brittish Church by the help and means of Pagan Enemies then making War upon them as Jackcals and Vulturs follow Camps for Prey whereby he and all his Clergy stood depos'd and degraded of their Orders and all his party of Christian communion by the concurrent suffrages and Canons of all the Generall Counsels of the whole Catholick Church that went before him 4 If the Controversie between the Church of Brittain and Rome in those Early times was the same that is now maintained against it by the Protestant Church of England at this day touching its Superstitions and Arrogated Supemacy with this difference that there was no roome nor place then for those Sophismes now us'd where was your Church before Luther or Henry the Eighth but both still agreeing in their manner and temper of Proceeding now as then and then as it is now on the one side great learning and Truth and piety on the other as great Ignorance and Arrogance with lying wonders and Massacres 5 If the Gospel was Providentially planted amongst the English or Saxons by Brittish Ministry and not by Romish and the Church of Rome by its bewitching Power and Grandeur in degenerare times over all this part of the world did but invade and disturb both the English and Brittish Church and ravish their Sees and disorder their Consecrations and successions and Vnchurch it self thereby and attempt to enslave our Crown as well as Mitre 6 if Henry the Eights relief of both Crown and Church was just and Providentiall and also Brittish and not the unsettling of a Right Possessor but the lawful ejection of an old Intruder And the peace and Interest and Glory of this Nation is fairly pointed out by Providence to consist in pursuing this design 7 If the Primacy of the See of Canterbury be from the Grace and pleasure of our Kings and Laws who can alter it as they think fit and not from any Ecclesiastical Right of the Pope according to the Laws and Canons of the Universal Church but rather in contrariety unto them And Christian Subjects ought to submit to the supreme Magistrates Right and pleasure in ordering such external matters about the Church as clash not with Salvation If these seven points shall appear as clear from proof and evidence as they are in the model and supposition will it not inevitably follow that no English much less Brittish Christian subject of what perswasion soever can with any conscience or thankfulness to God renounce his Mother of Brittain to own a Forraign Church for his Mother or desert his Colours to list himself under the Conduct and Supremacy of Rome to Act against his own Church and Country without being apparently convict before God and the world as well as his conscience of being a Renegade to his Church and false unnatural to his Country and as our wise Laws upon good grounds declare and define a Perfidious Traitor against his Soveraign First then it may be affirmed what cannot and is not
Regions are parted from neighbouring Kingdoms by impervious Mountains and wild and inhospitable deserts or whether it were that the Ink then in use was Bloud and their best evidences and Records flames and Martyrdom Nevertheless the acknowledged increase of Religion over all the Land in King Lucius his time will attest the zeal and fidelity of this Age to their Principles when it shall appear from the Epistle of Eleutherius that Christian Religion is pre-supposed therein to be settled in this Land before and the King pre-instructed in it And the c Usher p. 141. great Vsher Marshalls about 20 or 30 Authors both Foreign and Domestick to confute and stop the mouths of some ignorant suggestions as if Religion had fail'd or expir'd in this Land between the time of its first planting and Dioclesians persecution For the third Age Origen and Tertullian early Fathers mention Religion to flourish here the one writing about the year 201. Brittannorum in accessa Romanis loca Christo vero subdita That Christ was received as Lord here where the Romans had much ado to enter the other that they were united to Christ in Brittain though divided from the rest by situation And Dioclesians persecution in the beginning of the fourth Age about the Year 303. largely proves the existence of the Christian Faith in this Land which it so fiercely endeavour'd totally to suppress but to little effect Yea to the more corroborating of Christianity here by the exemplary constancy of Martyrs St. Alban and Amphibalus and Julius and Aaron c. establishing it the more by their sufferings and d Bed lib. c. 7. Converting their Executioners with their invincible meekness and patience And occasioning its larger extent and the full Conversion of the Scots dwelling then in the Northwest of Scotland beyond Dunbritton Frith by the Brittish Culdees e Buchanan Rerum Scoticarum Regit ◠p. 122. Spotswood Hist lib. 1. retiring to those parts as Archbishop Spotswood and Buchanan acknowledge the Providential benefit from whose Cells the Ancient Scots denominated their Churches Who in after Ages were extruded saith the same Author e Buchanan Rerum Scoticarum Regit ◠p. 122. Spotswood Hist lib. 1. by a new sort of Popish Monks Tanto Doctrinâ pictate illis inferiores so much coming short of the other for Learning and Piety as they exceeded them in Riches and Ceremonies wherewith they affect mens Senses and infatuate their minds In the Year 313. when peace was restor'd by Constantine they begin saith Gildas f Gildas Epist to Re-build their Churches demolished to the ground and her exil'd Children dissipated into Corners gather themselves together into the bosom of the Church to Celebrate their Festivals and Triumphs over their Enemies to give God the Glory and to attend his Sacraments with pure heart and mind In the following year the Church being in good order we find the three Archbishops of Brittain taking their places and subscribing in the great Councel of Arles in France Eborius Ivor Arch-Bishop of York Restitutus Edrud Archbishop of London and Adelfius Brawdol Archbishop of Caerleon upon Vsk a Roman Colony where a Legion in the Brittish Leon kept their Garrison corruptly set down in the Council with several other places h Concil Arelat Edit Reg Paris Civitate Colonia Londinensium where an uniform Celebration of Easter was agreed upon and thereupon Constantine i Constantini Epist apud Spelm. Conc. p. 4. with good reason assures all the Orthodox Bishops that were not present at the Council of Nice which was held eleven Years before that of Arles that the Church of Brittain with others did agree with the rest of the World in the Orthodox observation of Easter In 347. in a Councel of about 400 Western Bishops we find the Bishops of Brittain to joyn in the Condemnation of the Arrian Heresie and the clearing of k Apol. 2. Athanasius as himself doth testifie About the Year 390. l Usher 787 St. Chrysostom likewise magnifies the Divine power of Christ from the Holy Faith and Life the Churches and Altars in Brittain as it were in another World In the latter end of this Age m Gildas Epist Maximus in this Island making for the Roman Empire exhausted the Nation of all its Fighting men and Arms and Treasure wherewith he Coped with two Emperours Gratian and Valentinian driving the one out of Rome the other out of his Life and leaving the Nation weak and open to the Incursion of its Enemies round about but made far more weak by Gods desertion upon the follies and ill life of Vortigern inviting the Saxons into his pay against the Scots and Picts and prefering the Beauty of Hengist's Daughter before his Faith and Countrey and his Christian Subjects after his example inter-marrying with the Saxon Infidells which was one o Ubbo Emmius Rerum Frisic Hist lib. 3. of the reasons brought over St. German and Lupus to disswade them from such wickedness but all in vain till God gave them and their Countrey over to be barbarously and mercilessly destroyed by their perfidious mercenaries Confederating with their enemies against them who were before too strong for them in their weakness yet God in his mercy rais'd them pious and Couragious Princes Aurelius Ambrosius and Vter Pendragon and the Renowned Arthur who by the strength of a Christian p Ubbo Emmius Rerum Frisic Hist lib. 3. League enter'd into with Picts and Scots made great slaughter upon the Infidels and subdued and chas'd them out of the Land And what further proves not only the continuation but the true temper and life of the Christian Faith amongst them our Brittains were zealous and successful to preach and plant the Gospel amongst their Enemies and Invaders As the most Reverend and Holy Bishop Ninian as Beda stiles him lib. 3. c. 4. about the year 412. Converted by his Preaching the Southern Picts dwelling then between the Frith of Edenburgh and the Hills having his See amongst his own Countreymen at Whitern or Candida Casa translated afterwards to Glasgow that Territory r Usher p. 663. from Dunbritton Firth down to Cumberland remaining then in the possession of the Ancient Brittains and the names of Rivers and Towns and Mountains are as Brittish as in the heart of Wales In the Year 432. the great St. Patrick a Brittain born whether about St. Davids in ſ Humph. Lhuid Frag. Britt p. 63. Wales as some say or at Kirpatrick t Usher p. 819 near Dunbritton as others will have it it matters not much the people and Language in the one place and in the other being then of the same Brittains whence he was stollen with about an hundred more by Irish Pirates and sold for a Slave whereby he had time to learn their Language and was enabled by God to Captivate the whole Nation to Christ both Princes and people and the Isle of ſ Hist Ch. Scot. lib. 1. Spotswood ascribes the
natural Allegiance of his consciâ—nce towards Christ and the Truth and his outward duty to his Governours and Fathers at home violating the fift commandment with a Pharisaical corban saying to their peculiar Fathers it 's given to Rome whatsoever you might be profited by us following uncertain traditions before Gods express Law and teaching for Doctrines the commandments of men as our Saviour himself hath timely detected and forwarn'd against this Holy fraud Math. 15.5 for by the same reason that every good wife is to know her own Husband from another and every good Subject his own King from a Forreigner or Usurper and every Souldier his own Commander and Colours by the same duty and conscience every English Christian is to follow his own Church in Christ before another for obedience misplac'd is but Godly transgression or Traiterous Loyalty to the disturbance of the publick besides its own shame and prejudice And by submission to Governours and Synods they were heal'd of the Pelagian Heresie which most annoyed this Church next to Romish Inroades that trode down the whole field and sowed their tares and superstitions from year to year among our best corn this made also our Church to under go several variations about the observation of Easter as times required As for the Arian Heresie and venome which began to Breath a little in these parts upon h Usher p 197. Gratians toleration of divers opinions in Religion it found not the air to agree with it neither did Pelagius or Morgan though born in Brittain and as it is said i idem p. 207. the same day St. Augustine was born in Africk suck k idem p. 215. 224. Pelagii Epist ad Demetr or Propagate his Heresie here but fell into it at Rome by finding Christians to come short of Heathens and abusing Grace to Libertinisme and Wantonness for otherwise he was in great esteem and veneration for his learning and Sanctity with the chief l Usher 221.214 Fathers of the East and West St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom and in the East m Usher p. 215. ended his days having never return'd to his own Country but his Heresie came to be spread here nevertheless in those parts especially that were reduc'd by the Saxon Conquerour by the means of n Bed lib 1. c 17. Agricola a French man the Son of Severianus a Pelagian Bishop and in the rooting of it out amongst the Brittains left behind in Lhoegr Germanus and Lupus French-men likewise did good service as by Neutrality they were better fitted as for instance their first and main success in disputation was about o M. Westm p. 446. St. Albans where Gildas and such as he durst not approach for the Enemy as his complaint is taken notice of by p Camden in St. Albans Camden there being their chiefest Champions sent hither from the Gallican at the request of the Brittish Church signifying her distemper and troubles quaâ—primum fidei Catholicae debere succurri that the Catholick Faith should be assisted as soon as might be such was the loving Communion then between this and that Church and still might be especially with the soundest and learned'st part thereof under frown for Orthodoxy if he who now letteth were once taken fully out of the way 2 Thess 2. But it recover'd it self again after Germanus his time till St. David newly ordained Bishop by the Patriarch of Jerusalem in a publick Synod whereto he was invited held in Wales against it gave it q Usher p. 474. its final overthrow and was made Arch-Bishop of St. David in the same Synod thereupon For the Easter Controversie which was the only materiall point Augustine had to object for the other about Baptism was meer Ceremony and since lost in oblivion it consisted of two parts Doctrinal and Astronomical Doctrinal as in the early Controversie between the Churches of East and West wherein it is most probable the Brittains followed the East before the Synod of q Concil Arelat Can. 1. Arles and Nice determined otherwise and Astronomical between Augustine and the Brittains at this time being much the same difference between stylo veteri stylo novo in our days which the Ignorance of Augustine made to be a Catholick tradition derived from St. Peter and the chief ground and pretence of quarrel to disturb our Churches St. Paul dehorts Christians from observing dayes and Months and times and years Gal. 4 10 very agreeably to the Christian Hypothesis whereby this present world or the old Creation hath its end and period in the death of Christ Sacramentally to our Faith and r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys T. 5. Edit Savil. Hom. 53. p. 357. time its Concomitant twinne hath the like end and period with it by consequence Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world why as though living in the world are ye Subject to Ordinances for properly a Christian as a Christian lives not in this world but in Eternity or to use the Apostles expression his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Conversation and Scene of living is not on Earth but in Heaven with Christ at the right hand of God Phil. 3 20. Col. 3.1 Which Doctrine highly Suits with the nature and genius of the immortal Soul all whose Acts of vice or virtue though as born in the body within the virge of time and place they are Temporal and transitory yet as they are the free-born off-springs of the Soul they carry the features and signatures of Eternity upon them being Eternal as their Parent in the memory of their guilt or merit Not as if the old Creation wherein we still live in the flesh 2 Cor. 10.3 were wholly consumed and transubstantiated in the sight of our rational faculties which a moral Philosopher would justly deride as madness in those that should maintain it but that the whole sublunary and moral nature of all its parts is to be elevated and consecrated to Heavenly uses in this state of Grace and nearer access to God wherein the Church as a new Creature by faith now stands Rom. 5.21 2 Cor. 5.17 Therefore old things are passed away behold all things are become new We Christians eate and drink and obey and rule and mourn and rejoyce and observe dayes and times and feasts as well as the Jews or Heathens did but in another World by faith between the heart and the Lord in whom times persons and degrees and differences of persons meet in one as the whole Hemisphere in the candle of the eye or Diameters in their Center In the World men are Greeks or Barbarians bond or free Male or Female but in the Church Christ is all and in all For as in a degenerate Church or false Christian the present World or his Interest and profit is all in all and Holy Church and Religion and God and Christ and Faith and Sacraments are all Hypocritically and profanely named and used in
from God and they that take this Augustine to be the Father of their Faith had need beware whom they take for Grandfather The names of his fellow workmen that were more eminent than the rest but Inferiour in parts in all probability to him their leader were Mellitus Justus Paulinus and whereas ignorance usually is as harmless as it is dull and flegmatick theirs was high and pernicious active and politick and Harpy-like inferiour to none in the dextrous suiting of their temptations to the several inclinations of the party who was to be brought about to serve their turnes His insolent swelling pride as Mr. l Perambulation of Kent p. 79 Lambard taxes it appeared towards the Brittish Bishops who intended him a respectful meeting beyond what he could merit for his honesty going about to erect a new Bishoprick in a Diocess that did not belong unto him as an Altar against Altar and upon another Altar against all Laws and Canons Being sure of one Archbishorick by the Conversion of Ethelbert King of Kent carrying a great stroak in it who was as good as preconverted by others m Polyd. Virg. lib. 4. p. 63. ministry before he sent for Augustine though Bede conceal that matter The next mark was another Archbishoprick for Paulinus that of the York where Elthelfred and Edwin the one elder the other younger are to be won to serve their Church by different Lures Old Ethelfred is toll'd out by his ambition and zealous enmity against Christianity to seise and destroy the borders of the Brittains in the first place and himself in the next Young Edwin is brought over to the Christian Faith by carnal attraction and a n Bed lib. 2. c. 9. marriage with King Ethelbert's Daughter and the addition of pre-acquaintance in dreams between him and Paulinus to dispose him to Christianity not unlike those between o Ibid. Paul and Ananias Act. 9. but in their Truth for Edwin could be no stranger to the Christian Faith being brought up from the Cradle to ripe years as p Histor Britt Galfr. the Brittish History relates Bede not disagreeing l. 2. c. 12. with Prince Cadwalhan of the same Age whom Bede calls Carduella or Cedwalla furious enemies afterwards to one another thanks to Augustine to the loss of many thousand lives sometimes the one and sometimes the other prevailing and killing and burning all before them Edwin in the end going by the worst and Paulinus q lib. 2. c. 20. forc'd to quit his new Archbishoprick and return with young Edwin's Queen to Canterbury q lib. 2. c. 20. Carduella non pepercit religioni eorum exortae jam c. Cadwalhan not sparing to root up his new plantation Northward for the reason before cited out of Bede And yet this old part of their Ministry in match-making and bestowing mens Kingdoms from them upon others to the disturbance of Nations and sometimes of themselves the Church of Rome is not out of love with to this day And had it not been for a subtile r Bed l. 2. c. 2. Miracle of Laurentius the whole plantation of these Italian adventurers had gone presently to wrack For London soon expell'd these Forreign propagators with Mellitus their new Bishop who never durst return any more Bede smothers the true reason of this usage and sayes in one place that Seberts Children then the Princes of London did it because Mellitus denyed them being unbaptiz'd the pure white ſ Idem c. 5. bread of the Eucharist which their eye long'd for to tast as if they had been inur'd but to brown-bread before In †Idem c. 6. another place Londonienses excludunt Mellitum Idololatris pontificibus servire gaudentes The Londoners sent him away preferring Heathenish Idolatry before the Roman Religion As if the Saxon Pagans of London had not the like noble disposition for the Truth as the Kentish but those had more Grace than these But takes no notice of the Majority of the people of London being Ancient Brittains reduc'd by treaty and Christians therefore by consequence which was a reason they had a Brittish Archbishop and Clergy residing amongst them from the beginning of Christianity and after the Saxon Invasion for an Age or two till they were †M. Westmin 586. expell'd to make room for Monk Augustine Who did not welcome Augustine himself though coming with his Pall from the Pope to be an Archbishop amongst them which is the reason Malmsbury intimates of his setling at Canterbury u G. Malmesb. de Gestis Pontif lib. 1. where he was better welcome and very probably was the fear and jealousy that mov'd him to make Laurentius his successor at Canterbury in his life time against the Canons to secure the succession least the Primacy after his death should devolve where it was before and who but London could raise this fear because of old Right Much less therefore would they welcome Mellitus as a bare Bishop over them or contribute to their own degradation as well as the Sacriledge and Schisme Bede therefore is right as to the fact though not the cause that the Londoners sent him on going which is confirmed by Malmesburie's x Idem Epis◠Lond. lib. 2. Penu◠ria Potestatis that Ealbald had not power enough to keep him there which cannot be understood of the opposition of the Sebarets who were his Cousins y Ibid. and at his Devotion but more probably of the body of the City as Christians better principled But then Eadbald who succeeded Ethelbert apostatizing from his Fathers Faith had like to have blasted the remaining part of his Nursery left at Canterbury had not Laurentius I say step'd in with a miracle being sorely z Bed l. 2. c. 6. scourg'd all over black and blew by St. Peter as he lay in Church the whole night before for having some thoughts himself to follow Mellitus and Justus Bishop of Rochester his Companions who in despair of doing any good here were resolv'd to go for France The sight and story whereof made a new alteration and a present compassion in the well meaning King and Justus and Mellitus to return to England shortly after but all to little purpose Edilred King of Mercia not many years after viz. Anno 676. coming upon them Maligno a Idem lib. 4. c. 12. exercitu with a Malignant Army for Mercia had now and before received the Christian Faith from Brittish Teachers laid all Kent wast saith Bede and demolish'd b Idem Ibid. all their Churches and Monasteries to the ground with the like irreverence to their Italian Religion as Carduella or Cadwalhan had in the North and the City of Rochester was destroyed in the same common ruine and calamity b Idem Ibid. Putta its Bishop retiring and ending his dayes with Sexwulf Bishop of Mercia His Church being destroyed and plunder'd of all it had Feigned Miracles like hot waters with the intemperate may a little
Gregorie's Epistles extant plainly shew he verily was an Apostle of Roman rites and ceremonies not of the Christian Faith or the word of God to the English Nation he taught them how to be Romans and Papists more than to be Christians or Believers And by the points in such hot and bloudy contest between him and the Brittains where there was little or nothing insisted on touching soundness of Doctrine or purity of life but all touching the domination and power of Rome and Romish rites and tonsures it plainly appears he was but a meer man of straw and f Ceremoniosus non relligiosus ceremony more than of God and Religion Where to stop the mouths of Ignorant Romanists that make a brag as if the English had received their faith from Rome he likewise shewes at large that Pope Gregory himself was no better than his Apostle Augustine for that he was not so good a man for life and pen as the Papists would pretend And g Antiquitates Ecclesiasticae p. 36. g Ibdem p. 36. again valde dolendum Anglorum conversionem in ista tempora incidisse in quibus collapsa Ecclesiae Doctrine atque disciplina c. It was a great misfortune that the English conversion fell out to be at such a time wherein the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church was quite fallen to the ground and wholly degenerated from its primitive purity and sobriety into vanity of errour and superstition and the matter it self proclaims too loud let Bede say what he please to the contrary that Augustine's chief work and business here was to instill some Roman Ceremonies amongst our Ancestors and not the Christian Faith yea Rome it self about that time and by the particular influence and endeavours of Pope Gregory was the spring and fountain of all such superstitions not only among us in England but in the rest of the World beside of which he makes a large proof with Instances Irrefragable of their superstition and ambition their Holy Water and Dreams and Legends and Divine lyes and Golden Vessells and a wooden Priesthood not that decent ceremonies that take not the heart from God are in themselves unlawful in Gods service as Christ himself hath shewed in the Institution of visible Sacraments as also of their pride and Antichristian design to enslave Kings and Churches and Nations under them and when all was done and they mounted themselves as high as they would or could the effect and product of all was no more but that ambition outed all good rule and Government Luxury good living Dreams and legends the Preaching of the word lamentable superstition Catholick Religion And that their first adventure and attempt to erect their Roman supremacy over souls and Churches was here in England and Augustine the Monk their forlorn hope that their ungodly success and Victory was about its height about the time of Charlemain about 140 years after lasting about 800 years to the the time of our Henry the eight h Antiq. Eccles p. 37. Et sane illa prima de Romanis ritibus per Augustinum excitata contentio quae non nisi clade sanguine Innocentium Britannorum poterat sedari ad nostra recentiora tempora cum simili pernicie eladeque Christanorum pervenit And verily that first and early contention and strife for rites and ceremonies begun here by Augustine which could not be exstinguished or abated but with the bloud and desolation of the Innocent Brittains is evidently carried down to our own times with fresh and daily tydings at our doors of the like destruction and Massacre of Christians for the like cause Thus that Eloquent and Judicious prelate an i Norwich Antiq. Eccl. p. 39. East-Angel by birth and a chief Father of our Church by place and merit And it is additionally remarkable that several of those Saxons Laws and Homilies bore date before the arrival of Augustine to this Land there being k M. Westm Anno 596. about 147 or 150 years from the Saxon invasion to his coming as before was said which is an invincible Argument that the Brittains as they had any opportunity Preach'd the Gospel in those dayes to the Saxons though their bloudy and perfidious Enemies to which those alliances and Intermarriages with them in their infidelity for which they stand blamed in story might by the ordering of Providence be Instrumental yet are taxed by Gildas if the passage be Authentick for neglect that they were not more vigorous and diligent in Communicating the Gospel to them whereby may be conjectured how great the Christian zeal of Gildas was and the Brittish Ministers of his stamp and Inclination as he confesses there were several who were so thirsty for the Salvation of the souls of their Enemies who thirsted for nothing more than their Lands and bloud SECTION X. That all or most of the Kingdoms and Churches in this part of Europe and Rome it self received their first Faith from Brittain yet Brittain pretends to no Supremacy over them upon that account and the Romanists Feloes de se in that kind of Plea IF the Church of Rome hath no better evidence for her propagation of the Faith and Supremacy thereby over other Churches of the world than is produc'd for Brittain it is plain and easy to discern its title is not founded in any reality or merit but a disease of the fancy only and that high-mindedness whereof she was early forwarn'd by her rejected Apostle Rom. 12.3 or a malady like that of the Athenian Merchant who imagin'd all the Ships that arrived at Harbour to be his own whose cure from this distemper had been their imaginary beggery and undoing The French Church at the Savoy or the Lutheran amongst us might far better pretend to a Primacy over York and Canterbury being more Orthodox and Learned and better understood by several that resort to them and acting with the leave of our Province and its Lawful Governours and not siding Barbarously with Pagan Enemies against Christian Brethren to destroy or adulterate the true Faith as did Monk Augustine who at least could be but Rector of Christ-Church Canterbury under his mighty Patron Ethelbert in defiance of his rightful Metropolitan Theonus which yet he could not supply himself for want of the tongue nor by any other by reason of the Schism and Irregularity Or to suppose more than can be asked or expected that Ethelbert who was King of Kent only was King also of Mercia and the East and the South and West-Saxons and compleate Lord over the whole Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury or London which then reached from Humber to Severn and Cornwall and now further over Wales and that he in such a right had lawfully nominated and elected our Augustine for his Arch-Bishop who thereupon had been regularly Consecrated and Install'd by the Clergy of the Province according to the Canons of the Church and by the consent and voluntary Cession of Theonus his predecessor without the help of Heathen
Bede lib. 3. c. 25. Key upon him in-displeasure and shut him out of Heaven whereupon Bishop Colman Wilfrids Respondent and the third from Aidan being discountenanced in his tradition by the Kings revolt retired with most of his Brittish Disciples to Ynis-bo-find in Ireland the Authority of his other Doctrines being much weakened and several scandalized at this victory of confident Ignorance over godly sincerity So well do our Romanists agree with their predecessors in Titus c. 1. v. 9 10. vain talkers and deceivers who subvert whole Houses Churches for filthy Lucres sake The Brittish planters however had continued in the North 30 years Aidan 20 Finan 7 Colman 3 a sufficient time and space for the sowing of the everlasting Gospel amongst those Nothern English throughly which continued as to its substance amongst them from that time to this But it was not enough thus to wound the Brittish Church but they had breaches in their own to heal and make up their Roman Plantion was so decayed and extirpated even in Kent its last retreat and their successions and Ordinations so fully defeated and interrupted that as we had occasion often to observe there was but one Bishop in all the k Bed l. 3. c. 28. Isle of Brâ—â—tain then and he afterwards a Simonaick that was not of Brittish Ordination A full demonstration of the recovery of the whole Brittish Church from the Roman yoak at that time before Theodore's arrival to be Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Anno 668. And herein Bede's disingenuity appears out of wonted envy to the Brittains that he hath not discovered who consecrated these new English-Brittish-Bishops over all the land whether Aidan or Finan who were Metropolitans of York all the while though they us'd no Pall and chose their residence in Lindisfarn or Helyge or Holy Island as the learned l Usher c. 5. p. 78. Vsherâ— proves out of Stephanus Bedes Cotemporary in Wilfrids life or whether they were Consecrated by Ced at London the old Metropolitan See which Canterbury had for some time invaded Therefore a new consultation is now to be taken for Rome's revival in England Oswi being now fully of the Roman way and Egbert King of Kent m W. Malmesbury de Gestis Angl. c. 3. Bed lib. 3. c. 28. lib. 4. c. 1. advise together and send to Rome for help to procure an Archbishop thence for Canterbury to ordain other Bishops throughout the Land of a Roman Race and Stamp Wiggard is sent as was said and never returned Then Wilfrid after him who is ordained by Agilbertus Archbishop of Paris bred in Ireland as afore who making too long a stay The meek and humble Ceadda Brother of Ced is sent to Deus Dedit at Canterbury to take his Ordination such as it was being himself Ordained and Consecrated but by one Bishop as afore who being dead before Ceadda could arrive at Canterbury he is over-rul'd to go to Winchester to Bishop Wini who though of the Roman way but French takes two Brittish Bishops to joyn with him in the Consecration of Ceadda to be Archbishop of York n Bed lib. 3. c. 23. there being no other Roman Bishops left then in the land Therefore the Pope makes hast to raise the Tabernacle of the english-roman-English-Roman-Church which was quite fallen to ground Adrian a Roman is pitch'd upon but refuses out of modesty but inward motives are as well discover'd by subsequent events as Italian pretences then Theodorus a Graecian of Tarsus St. Paul's City is pitch'd upon and Consecrated by Pope Vitalian which argued him to be wise in his Generation and design for all England receives and submits to him o Idem lib 4. c. 2. say our Histories and to none that came from Rome in like manner Eastern Theodore better suiting with the humour and hopes of the Brittish Chuâ—ch than Roman Adrian who comes to England nevertheless along with Theodore and is made Abbot of Reculver to be a Spy upon our Greek Archbishop lest he should comply too much with the Brittains who liked and used Greek Customs But Theodore forgets his own Church and Country which all men love for the sake of dignity and takes Roman Tonsure which occasioned his stay at Rome for some Months for the growing of the Hair on the forhead which the Greek Tonsure shav'd off and as it were to remove all suspition of his Inclination after Greek rites more than Roman becomes the fiercest persecutor of any other of our Brittish Customs and Ordinations sends for Ceadda before him questions him for his Consecration as unlawful because not from Rome But he meekly answers p Bed lib. 4. c. 2. Voce humillimà saith Bede si me inquit nosti Episcopatum non ritè suscepisse libenter ab Officio discedo quippe qui neque me unquam hoc esse dignum Arbritrabar sed obedientiae caus jussus subire hoc quamvis indignus consensi If you know saith he that I have not been made Bishop Arch-Bishop in right manner I am ready and willing to quit the Office for indeed I never judg'd my self worthy of it but out of meer obedience being commanded to under take it I yielded thereto though unworthy whereupon Theodore would not depose him but only complete his ordination after the Roman manner But Bede delivers not the truth therein for it s known to himself he was laid aside for this and q lib. 4. c. 3. Wilfrid put in his place to be Archbishop of York and he retir'd to his Monastery in the North from whence he was invited by Wolfer to be Jaruma's Successor at Lichfeild where a magnificent Church as likewise at Shrewsbury in the same Diocess bears his name and memory to this day But to observe the proportions of this Roman Reformation here pride overcomes humility and a slavish Forreigner turns an upright Native out of his Right and dignity by his holiness order and justice But Wilfrid was scarce warm in his seat but he was outed by Egfrid Oswi's Svccessor his Queen and the Clegy all joyning against him for his a G. Malmesb. de Gestis Pontific lib. 3. de Episc Eborac Spelm. Concil p. 157. avarice and pride and pompous retinue and pluralities of Abbeys and Gold and Silver Plate c. and Theodore his Creator joyning with the stronger side against him which shewed the root of his Apostacy and by what Lust and humour he was prevail'd upon by the Arts of Rome to trouble and subvert the Brittish Church and himself Heaven frowning upon this unhappy Revolution Anno 664. with Comets and total b Usher p. 1164. Bede lib. 4. c. 13.5 20. Eclipses and unheard of b Usher p. 1164. Bede lib. 4. c. 13.5 20. Plagues and Sickness and Famine 40 or 50. together b Usher p. 1164. Bede lib. 4. c. 13.5 20. tumbling themselves from Rockes into the Sea out of weariness of such a life And though Will. Malmesbury saith that England was c G.
to trust then Mahomet shall pass for as good a Prophet as St. Peter and the Alcharon be equal to the Bible for to the blind all colours are the same But regulated Conscience is not a private Spirit wherein God himself speaks who is greater than all the World where it is kept pure from Worldly ends and Idols for nothing is more publick and Catholick than Conscience or reason or right or duty or holiness or justice which are synonymous and carry universality and eternity in their conceptions by reason of the Divine Impression and Authority they partake and answer to And nothing constitutes more a private Spirit than private ends and carnal designs and self advantage and profit and filthy lucre made chief ingredients in duties Doctrines and Religions with which Worldly and sordid mixtures the Roman Faith in all its parts is too well known to abound which unworthy copulations are discernable by the weakest judgments and condemn'd and hated by the most universal suffrages and censures of God and men An Infant can discerne them in his neglectful Nurse an Elephant in his unjust Feeder Clownes in States-men and Politicians and are abhorr'd and declaim'd against by Heathen Philosophers in their Schools and Christian in Pulpits and are those moral wild beasts that all Laws humane and Divine and right Discipline and education and all rules of honour are mainly bent to discover and hunt and chase out of all Societies and converse and hearts Besides a private Conscience proceeding in all its converse according to Christs mind Interest and direction and doing nought that is disallowed by him is Christ himself by fiction personated and acted and defended which is as far from a private Spirit as the East is from the West or the will of God from the ends and lusts of man It being not more natural and congruous in Christ himself to delight in good men and to abhorre the Congregations of the wicked and carnal and scandalous than it is for his faithful Servants and Trustees and Representatives who bear their Masters person and concern and holiness upon them by such a fiction to express and imitate by their own Communion and election of Societies the mind and Inclination of their Lord and soon to discern who are his Friends or Enemies or Traitors and Loyal Subjects in his Kingdom and vigorously and and indispensably to embrace the one and shun the the other for Servants act according to an accountable trust the Master being Lord of his own rights to remit or indulge out of favour as he pleases which is not lawful for the Servant to presume And this skill and instinct and shadows of private judgment to discerne friends from strangers to their Masters is visible in Domestick Creatures emblemes of fidelity who are Courteous to acquaintance but severe and unsociable to such as are not so till by converse and familiarity they prove their unity and friendship and take away private judgment and discretion the distinction and difference between faithful and unfaithful Servants Subjects Christians Churches wholly falls to the ground and Christians and Catholicks are set below the Irrational Creatures And for the Church of Rome to blast good Consciences that find out its faults as private Schismatical Spirits and to extol their own Carnal designes and Trade and Merchandize of godliness as Catholick Religion holy pure and publick and eternal is too visibly one of the uniform symptomes of their Antichristianism whereby they confound Heaven and Earth the Church and the World and reconcile yea change Mammon into Christ and Christ into Mammon Withall equal and coordinate Churches or Christians as we now suppose Rome and Brittain to be are not judges of one another where they separate from one another for Par in parem non habet potestatem is a rule in Law but act severally therein according to their respective duties and allegiance to their own liege and Superiour who is Christ the head and judge of both in the other World and in this also by a free and general Council which both parts ought for peace and unity to submit to which thereby becomes Superiour to both either by Divine Institution and custom Ecclesiastical or by their own consent and agreement as in the Case of Arbitrators And accordingly such general Synods have censur'd and sentenced and Excommunicated persons Churches Provinces Priests Bishops Patriarchs and Popes themselves when they walk'd awry from Christ's Rule As the first General Council at Nice against Arrius Priest of Alexandria The second at Constantinople against Macedonius Arch-Bishop of that See The third at Ephesus against Nestorius another Constantinopolitan Arch-Bishop the fourth at Chalcedon against Eutyches Dioscorus c. Priests and the fift at Constantinople against Diodorus and Theodorus Bishops reviving Origens errours and the sixth Oecumenical or general Council in Trullo at Constantinople against other Bishops and amongst them against the whole Church of Rome its Clergy and Laity for departing from the Catholick tradition of the Church about their Saturday fast wherein the Brittish Church was ever Orthodox with the rest of the Ancient Christian World as was shewed But the Church of Rome will allow of no Council or Canons or Fathers that shall offer to check its errours nor Scripture it self but with its own sence and Interpretation thereof whereby it shall be sure not to cross its Interest Being a manifest and notorious example therein of disobedience and Irregularity to all its Superiours and the most Schismatical Church in the Christian World for Baronius a Spondan An. 692. n. 5. cannot deny that the Greek writers declare their sence that the breach of Communion between the Greeks or Eastern and the Latine or Western Church of Rome was upon the disobedience of the Popes to yield and submit to the Council in Trullo wherein it had all other Churches of the World and the Canons of the Apostles of its side and undoubted Apostolical tradition mentioned in most of the Ancient Fathers as b Idem An. 34. n. 47. Baronius cannot and doth not deny A Church therefore that deserves to be shun'd and disown'd as scandalous for that and its other innumerable corruptions and infamous Usurpations and gross Idolatries and particularly its Blind Obedience and Implicit Faith that allows and directs to put confidence in man the head and fountain of all its damnable errours and superstitions whereof all that communicate with it must be approvers and partakers by the terms and Injunctions of its Communion which requires them to be all receiv'd as Catholick Articles and Doctrines and all contrary Truths to be abjur'd as Heresies whereby it becomes impossible for any understanding sober Christian to be at the same time within her Communion and pale and out of the curse of God Esa 1.5 20. Therefore it were lost and needless labour as to them or our selves to go about to disprove all their imputation and charge of Schism against us or to prove on the
if Brittain had not an original and invioable Immunity and priviledge to its Sees and Metropolitical chaires which were constituted and Confirmed by its own natural Kings and Magistrates the one the first Christian King to any land the other the first Christian Emperour to the whole world k Polydor Virgil lib. 2. p. 45. Polydor Virgil an Italian is easily induc'd to believe that Constantine Brittannicâ matre genitus in Brittanniâ natus Imperator Creatus haud dubie magnitudinis gloriae suae natalem terram participem effecit Born of a Brittish Mother and in Brittain and there also made Emperour made Brittain no doubt the place of his nativity to partake in his Glory and Grandeur For from him and the after Emperours in Imitation of him we find all Patriarchal Sees erected or confirm'd or altered in Councils with reference to the place of their birth or the residence of their Empire Brittain having a far greater plea for its pre-eminence not only the birth and residence but the conversion of the first Emperour and all the rest in effect and consequence by his Mother Helena and her Brittish Chaplains who had before made no small Impression upon the Emperour Constantius Chlorus his Father Rome wanting such real merits forms a vast and an Universal supremacy to it self over all the Churches of Christ by a pretended and feigned donation of his upon his pretended Baptism by Pope Sylvester But Brittain who is sure of greater and reall merits and that by the acknowledgement of Popes themselves as was observ'd before must not enjoy its own liberties or Birth-right Constantinople which before was Subject to Heraclea was made a Patriarchal See equal to Rome it self in the Council of l Conc. Chalcedon Can. 12. 17. Const c. 3. Constantinople and Chalcedon by after Emperours because it was New Rome or the place and residence of the Empire m Con. Nicen c. 7. Upon no other ground Jerusalem the Mother of all Churches became Subject to its Metropolis of Caesarea as Caesarea to Antioch it being the right and prerogative of the Magistrate in this World to advance to honour and pre-eminence or to depress what persons or places he pleases what ever may be their merits and precedencies in the other Upon the like score was n Photii Nomocan Tit 1. c. 5. Justinianaea the place of the Emperour Justinian's birth in Bulgaria made a Metropolitical chair as another Justinianaea in Africa taking its name from his conquest and reduction whereas it cannot be doubted but that the exaltation of these were the depression of other Churches and the Glory of the new Patriarch a deduction from the Ancient enjoyed rights of other Ancienter Patriarchs and yet without wrong because by o Concil in Trullo Can. 38 Ecclesiastical Law and presidents being in the absolute dispose of the Emperours by the declared assent of General Councils and whereas before it was p Photii Nomocan Tit. 1. c. 20. adjudg'd mulctable and Infamous for any Bishop or Metropolitan to invade the Diocess of another by the General Council of q Balsam in Can. 17. Concil Chalcedon Chalcedon and that in Trullo the case was alter'd and provision made for the rights and Prerogatives of Emperours and the alterations made by them to be obeyd and submitted to without such prejudices or exceptions But as there is a natural and a positive right and order of erecting Metropolitical Sees which have both their derivation from the God of Order and were severally practiced in the first and best ages of the Church while it kept its soundness and purity as well before as after it had any Christian Magistrates so there is a third and a new found way practiced in the degenerate Roman Church for several ages which hath justled out the other two whereby Arch-Bishops have been made and invested by that mysterious clout call'd their Pall which from the strangeness of the delusions and gross cheats and oppressions attending it cannot be concluded to have its rise or derivation from God but only from Antichrist or the Devil For by the immoveable rules of the Roman Church r Innocentius Tertius de Officio missae lib 1. c. 51. Clem Pontifical p. 86. none can be Arch-Bishops or Metropolitans without having a Pall from Rome to invest them in that dignity whatever be their Rights or Titles from Kings or Emperours or General or Provincial Councils Neither is this Pall to be had for nothing And though this be a manifest Petitio Principii that none can be great Bishops in any part of the World without first greasing the Popes fist a rank and a ridiculous begging of the question strongly savouring of the stench of simony and sordid ends to the great wrong and abuse of St. Peters name to cloake the matter who abhorred such Practices Acts 8. yet so strong hath this delusion been by a just Judgement of God upon many a blind Metropolitan that it hath been for several Ages swallowed and submitted to to their ruin which arrived to its power and credit amongst Church men by these Gradations 1. Christians ſ Spondan An. 32. n. 94. of strict lives as the Greek Philosophers before them did use a distinct habit or cloake call'd Pallium in Tertullian 2. Kings t Sueton in Aug. § 98. and Emperours in former times whereof there are some footsteps in modern did use to bestow upon their Dignified Favorites Vests and Robes answerable to their degrees as likewise Palls of the like Nature upon Popes Patriarchs m Spond A. 492. n. 93. Platin. in vita liano Churches as a mark and token of their honour so in Constantine's feigned donation the Robes and Ensignes of n Donatio Constantini Imperial Majesty are conferr'd upon the Pope And the Emperour Valentinian gave such a Vest or Pall to the Church o Spond A. 492. n. 93. of Ravenna but Baronius is careful to assert the Dignity of that Church from the Popes graunt and favour rather than that Pall. Anthimius p Idem A. 536. n 17. Patriarch of Constantinople depos'd in the time of Justinian is said to restore back his Pall to the Emperour that gave it upon this score Sampson had a Pall at York when Brittain no way depended on the Pope And though Marcus Pope Sylvester's Successor is acknowledged by Baronius to be the q Idem A. 336. n. 17. first that is met in Story to bestow a Pall and that upon the Bishop of Ostia in the year 336. yet our Gregory that sent Monk Augustine hither in the year 600. is the the first that brought it into use to Install Archbishops by it to advance others over the heads and rights of other Bishops and to make them his Legates thereby and dependants upon that See It is he that sent his Pall to r Bede l. 1. c. 28 29. Usher p. 69. Monk Augustine for London and to r Bede l. 1. c. 28
who ever was uncircumcised was to be cut off from his people so all among Christians that live to their flesh in luxury and uncleanness in wordly pride and vain-glory and carnal security and give their heart from Christ to his Enemy to sin and Satan and the World contrary to the Christian vow cannot belong to Christ but are spiritually uncircumcised and to be for ever cut off from the hopes and priviledge of a Christian Israelite Some strongly led by their Carnal will which easily believes what it loves think their lusts and their Lord may agree and Salvation and a sinful life stand well together what advantage else hath a Christian by having a Saviour above a Heathen who hath none and is not this an honourable requital then to make Christ who came to destroy the works of the Devil a greater Patron for them than the Devil himself and to fortifie his temptations to sin with Indemnity Such suggestions and delusions are not to be answer'd but abhorr'd Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid Rom. 6.1 2. or to be seriously warn'd and monish'd with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Have a care be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolators nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with mankind nor Theeves nor Coveteous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6 9 3. To live with Christ in Heaven or to have our affection and Conversation in Heaven from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Phil. 3.20 Col. 3.2 For his affections cannot chuse but be with Christ if his heart be with him but his heart can never be with him till it be seâ—sible of his grace nor be sensible of his 〈…〉 see its danger and deliverance by him and 〈◊〉 he can never see without hearing Gods word and believing his Gospel Clear therefore it is Conscience it self being judge that where there is no pulse of Heavenly life and concomitancy of the heart after Christ in his Exaltation there is no belief and who hath no belief is no Christian He may pass for a Protestant or Catholick for his profession before men but God and his heart will pronounce him to be an Infidel and out of Christ at the last day and here great is the usefulness and service of a wary Conscience and a faithful Pastor to be its Adjutant and guide The second question is who are in Christ with a stronger title and firmer possession than others of their Brethren Or who they be that be no punies but compleat Graduates and of the highest form and degree in the Church of Heaven All men are ambitious of excelling their Brethren either in Riches or Honour or Precedency or Parts or Learning or Activity or Beauty or in their very Clothes And no where is their more scope or encouragement or praise and honour from God and man and Conscience and less danger of wrong or envy than in the honest ambition of being the greatest man with God in Heaven and surer of being saved than many others to be a Christian not in the Positive degree only but also in the superlative according as the Apostle Beseeches and exhorts all by the Lord Jesus that as they have received how they ought to walk and to please God so they would abound more and more 1 Thess 4.1 And Heroes and Worthyes and men taller than others by the Head belonging to the Heavenly Kingdom may be met and found on Earth amongst all Ages and Conditions and Degrees High and Low Young and Old Rich and Poor For Instance he is Princeps Civitatis a Grandee of this Heavenly City who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first mark with the Apostle to qualifie a man to be a Bishop 1 Tim. 3.2 there translated blameless but may well signifie one that is unsurprizeable in his Christian principles and profession and watch by any lust or temptation or worldly Allurement alwayes retaining his Baptismal vow and love and Allegiance and fear of God in his remembrance and esteem and that in all times and places and companies by an uniform healthy victorious sobriety and vigilance over his heart and fancy and senses subject to no Convulsion-fits or Spiritual Epilepsies or scandalous fallings But having Heaven ever present in his eye to the life to cure all weariness and fainting and to out-bid all Worldly and Carnal Allurements Keeping himself altogether with God or as near as may be to Him having no end or design ever in his heart that doth not finally reach his Lord no thought therein that his God doth disallow or take unkind no word in his mouth to be publish'd without His License no bargain or sale without his God to approve and supervise it to be just and keeps no Company but with the living Images of his God for every vertue Is inseparable from Church and Sacraments where he is sure to meet with his God by special promise and appointment And either Reads or Prayes without ceasing at all Intervals of business that he and his God may be ever within hearing of one another which is effected with success while God is ever speaking to him or he to his God Which is an infallible method to be ever with God that is to be in the Church of Heaven while he is on Earth by prefruition He is another great Prince or Peer that bears great sway and rule and hath large and fair Possessions and domaines in this Heavenly Territory that bears a Martyrial breast and a fixt Resolution to come off with Faith and a good Conscience in all his Tryals though not with life Being never touch'd or hurt but where his Interest and adherence to Christ where he computes his self and being wholly to be comes to be shaken and assaulted And feels no heat in flames no rubs in Persecution to prove his love and to make good his March and Progress under his Saviour's Flagg but dants all that stand in his way with his immoveable Innocence and Heavenly unconcernedness And makes all Tyrants and Atheists confess they have not strength and power enough to shock his constancy nor the whole World wrongs and vexations enough to overwhelm his patience and forgivenness For the World with all its terrours and preparations is but a dead Host already subdued and crucified to his hand in the Cross of his General through whom he is more than Conquerour and altogether inseparable from him by that love in his heart Which neither Tribulation nor distress nor Persecution nor Famine nor Nakedness nor Peril nor Sword nor Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature can divide from God but maintains his ground though but one against the whole World who may perhaps prevail to seperate his Body from his Soul but never his Soul and Heart from Christ nor from his love or Laws