the French King Hist Counc of Trent fol. 411. An. 1558. 4. He fancieth Ordination of Bishops was not to be had c. why so The Form c. how comes it to pass the Leases c. But if the Leases were adjudged not good yet consecrated Bishops they were for the goodness of a Lease depends on the Laws of a Kingdom the validity of Consecration is derived from the Law of Christ according to whose Institution they were Ordained But how is it the Leases were not good this doth not appear for Brooks doth not say adjudicatur but dicitur it vvas so suggested not it vvas so adjudged but if he and all the Temporal Judges had passed this Sentence and publick Judgment yet it vvas null in Lavv for sententia juris c. even a legal Sentence vvhen pronounced by an improper incompetent Judg is void in Lavv and it is certain they have no povver to determine either the Regularity or the Validity of either the Form or the Ordination it self It belongs to others to meddle vvith the Institutions of Christ Alas they did exceed their bounds in giving such a judgment Pope Paul and Cardinal Pool judged othervvise for their ratification of the Ordinations in King Edward's time could not be valid unless the Ordinations themselves vvere valid antecedently to the Pope's superfluous Confirmation It implies to confirm a Nullity and ratify a Nothing Hovvever N. N. is desired to declare his private Judgment hovv he liketh the publick Judgments vvhich have palled on his Fellovvs in and since Queen Elizabeth's time and so farevvel to N. N.'s publick Judgment and his private Judgment to boot 5. He conceiveth Queen Elizabeth endeavoured to employ his Catholicks c. as if none else could consecrate but they This is a false supposition in the judgment of his Catholicks as after vvill appear but this he vents at a venture for Mr. Harding vvho had reason to knovv more of this matter than N. N. could not say so the ancient Bishops said he were not required or else refused but if they did refuse yet her concern could not be prejudiced thereby for she had sufficient in readiness to perform that office N. N. acknowledgeth Landaff and others were named in the Queens Letters Patents if it had been for his interest he could have named those others those seven whereof six were Bishops one a Suffragan for whose Authority see Bell. de Sacr. Ord. lib. 1. c. 7. 6. He reckons Landaff among his Catholicks c. But a Friend of his told Mr. Harding we had but one Fool meaning Landaff and him they have gotten and at last many of his good Catholicks complied Bishop Jewel told Mr. Harding so and he could not gainsay it At first they subscribed against us with the very same hands with which not long before they had openly protested and solemnly sworn against the Pope and with which sithence they have received and embraced our whole Religion Bishop Jewel def Apol. f. 521. 7. He suggests they prevailed with Landaff c. But he did not meet with them neither did they meet for Dr. Parker's Consecration but his Confirmation at which he was not present himself being confirmed by his Proxy Dr. Bullingham 8. But Bonner terrified Landaff c. But he was secure enough from his thunderings he himself being then secured and imprisoned for his obstinacy and legally deprived of his Bishoprick But had he been at liberty and in power Landaff needed not to fear his Scarecrows for the Bishop of London hath no Authoritative Jurisdiction over the Bishop of Landaff they are Pares in all accounts of Power neither was Bow-Church subject to his Jurisdiction being a peculiar under the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and this was the place where the meeting was for Dr. Parker's Confirmation But why should Bonner forbid the exercise especially if he thought as N. N. seems to do that the performance of that action in that clandestine place and irregular manner renders the act invalid for Bonner would have rather connived at it that thereby he might take an occasion as a subtil enemy would do to make the scandal stick more close to them 9. He further adds they were deceived in their expectation But N. N. is deceived in his Relation which is false for 1. They had no need of Landaff neither did he refuse as that signifies an obstinate Recusancy such as is alledged in his Catholicks who as N. N. reports refused 2. He alledgeth they resolved to use Mr. Scories help c. If they did they resolved well for Mr. Scorie did not only bear the name of a Bishop but was a regular valid Bishop being Consecrated Aug. 30. 1551 by Canterbury London and Bedford But N.N. thinks they thought him to have sufficient power to perform that Office this is false too for there were three besides him ready to joyn with him in the performance who were all employed and did Act and he with others were sufficiently empowered by the Canons of the Church to perform that Office and yet if he alone had done it his Consecration had been as Canonical and valid as that of Pope Pelagius who was but a Deacon whom the Western-Bishops refused to Consecrate and had an un-canonical (g) Only by two Bishops and a Presbyter of Octia Consecration only and yet he passed for Pope And in some cases the performance of Consecration by one Bishop only is justifiable from good Precedents and the Authority of Gregory the Great to boot N. N. having cast off all scruples of Conscience adds sin to sin one lye to another in reporting he performed it in this sort having c. For he only did not perform it neither in that sort he suggesteth which is demonstrated by as good Evidences as are to be found in the Vatican for thus as appears by them it was performed On the 17th of Decemb. 1559 the Persons nominated in the Queens Letters Patents viz. Bishop Barlow Coverdale Scory and the Suffragan of Bedford assembled at Lambeth-Chappel for Arch-Bishop Parker 's Consecration where first Morning-Prayer was read then a Sermon Preached this Bishop Scory did and it was all he did along then the Sacrament of the Eucharist was Administred then they all four proceeded to the Consecration whereat the Prescript-form in the Book of Ordination was strictly observed not laying the Bible c. as N. N. falsely relateth though if so it had been done there is a Book-Case for it Conc. Carth. 4. C. 2. But delivering to him according to an old Roman rite neither saying only take thou Authority c. which N. N. only takes notice of but using the solemn formal words of Consecration Receive ye the Holy Ghost and then Remember c. according to the method of the Ritual 4. N. N. hath the ill-luck to be still out and deceived for whereas he surmiseth others were Consecrated when Arch-Bishop Parker was he is much mistaken For he only was Consecrated then the
Papal Dispensation SECT VII N. N. I Have spoken both with Catholicks and Protestants that remember near 80 years and acknowledg that so long they have heard the Nags-Head Story related as an undoubted Truth SECT VII J.S. DOughtily argued from the authority of the Common People who as they do not at all understand the matter so they as little concern themselves in such affairs and what they have take all on trust to conclude an undoubted Truth But if this will pass then the Papists were guilty of the Barbarous Murther of our late Glorious and Pious King though I am perswaded many of them abhorred the Fact and the Plot leading thereto because it hath been reported that they did devise and forward the Fact and when the villanous Act was done much rejoyced at it This Argument at the best is a Topick from vulgar Fame which as the Lawyers speak is praesumptie levis temeraria and so no proof in Law SECT VII N. N. THE Queens Dispensation seems to acknowledg it which Mr. Mason is willing to shadow with a distinction The Queen saith he did but dispence with the Trespass against her own Laws not essential points of Ordination but only accidental not in Substance but in Circumstance But if the Consecration was at Lambeth and according to the form of Edward the sixth what need was there of any Dispensation especially given not in conditional but in absolute termes since both Substance and Circumstance had been according to the Protestant Law SECT VII J S. THis is N. N's best seeming Argument but the best is it seems but so For 1. Dispensations are granted ex abundanti and in majorem cautelam even at the Court of Rome though the work it self be exactly performed sometimes they are used to obviate sleeping defects oft for better security and to prevent Mistakes and Cavils as in this Queens time it happened in another case for she passed a Bill for the restitution of Archbishop Cranmer's Children who needed none in strictness for their Father was not Condemned for Treason as some surmised but as Mr. Harding confesseth fol. 574. for Heresy which taints not the Blood nor makes any forfeiture of Estate yet because the Archbishop had formerly been accused for High-Treason the Act was useful to make sure work 2. He pretends the Dispensation respected Archbishop Parkers Consecration which is a mistake for it concerned only his Confirmation which was eight days before on December 19. 1559. 3. He suggests It was given not in conditional but c. This is False for the words are Si quid c. If any thing c. which heretofore hath always been taken for a conditional term SECT VIII N. N. BIshop Bonner excepted against his Indictment because the Oath of Supremacy was said to be tendered to him by Robert Horn Bishop or Winchester who was by no Law Bishop and thereupon had no Authority to tender him the Oath and upon his Plea was never more troubled any further See his Case Abridgment of Dier's Reports 7 Eliz. p. 234. SECT VIII J.S. 1. IF Bishop Bonner or N. N. by no Law mean the Law of Christ neither the Judges nor Jury could take Cognizance of it if they conceive the Law of the Realm which his reference only respected they might if the matter had been tried 2. The ground of Bishop Bonners Plea was that King Edward's form was not sufficiently received which by the way supposeth Dr. Horne was Consecrated by it by the Statute 1 Eliz. which a Friend to the Cause the Author to the Anker p. 4. and with him his Superiours who approved his Book hath acknowledged it was saying Queen Elizabeth renewed the Form of Common-Prayer Book much like that in King Edwards time and so hath N. N. his own dear self more than once and more fully 3. The Exceptions against this Indictment shew only that Bishop Bonner was put to a desperate shift for three of his Exceptions to this Indictment were excepted against and over-ruled by all the Court this indeed which was last which he kept for a reserve though it failed him too was allowed with a restriction and upon conditional terms which proves nothing till the supposition be validly asserted viz. That if the truth of the matter were so indeed that he was not Consecrated by King Edwards Rite he might Plead it and the Jury Try it which Resolution was according to Law But it never came to any issue for the Parliament cleared his Consecration and so stopped further Proceedings this being made good that he was legally Consecrated by the highest publick Judgment should stand good with N. N. and his Colleagues because he once but falsly pleaded an Inferiour publick Judgment for his own purpose and the credit of his Narrators 4. He alledgeth a reason for the goodness of Bishop Bonner's Exceptions for if it signifies not this it is impertinently inserted he was never troubled any further Most absurd for it is usual with Higher-Powers not to trouble those any further whom they have secured unless N. N. be as bloody as Bishop Bonner and his Comrades were who thought it was nothing to imprison those who refused Obedience to their Orders unless they burned them with Fire and Faggot Protestants are not so merciless and cruel as Papists and such was the Clemency of the then Higher-Powers which N. N. had he been ingenuous would have commended that they thought that Bishop Bonner being deprived and imprisoned for his Obstinacy greater severity was more than needful and would rather argue Revenge than Justice But whatsoever N. N. thinks some men in the world think that deprivation and continued imprisonment is trouble enough and would be thankful in such cases they were troubled no further SECT IX N. N. BUT to salve this sore Mr. Mason that quick-sighted Gentleman hath spied out Authentick Records which for fifty odd years lay in a Saint-Solitude invisible to Mr. Jewel Mr. Horne and others of those times who were severely taxed for the Nullity and Illegality of their Orders For questionless if any such had appeared in their days they would not have lost so great advantage by concealing them when the producing of them would have much foiled their Enemies if not absolutely routed them Mr. Fulk denies ordinary Calling to be always necessary which he would not have done if he had known the Records which if they had been authentical and extant would have saved him from that desperate shift SECT IX J. S. 1. THE Records were not hung out of the Registers Office as Haberdashers and Milleners do their Wares and so did not appear but when the Office was open at usual times or perhaps upon a sudden emergent at other times any who had a desire might with the usual Fee and perhaps without have seen them and so they did appear they were not concealed 2. Many Records by this account lie in a Saint-solitude for more than fifty years ten times told over as hereafter
the Roman Enclosure and so he fairly begged the Question and what he affirms he proves not for Dr. Harding he was taken with the same beloved fallacy which they always make use of when they are put to a pinch Thus their Argument proceeds they were not Ordained by Romish Bishops nor after the Rite then used in the Romish Church therefore they were not lawful Bishops which is all one with this Dr. Stapleton and Dr. Harding did not Commence Doctors at Oxon. or Cambridg therefore they were not lawful Doctors The Antecedent is granted and for this reason it vvas improper and impertinent to produce the Records for to what purpose is it to produce them in proof of that vvhich is confessed no more than for to produce the Registeries of Oxon. for a Doctor 's taking his Degree at Lovain but the Consequence is denied being impossible to be proved for there have been and there are novv lawful Bishops in the Christian World vvho vvere neither Ordained by Roman Bishops nor according to the Prescript of the Roman Church as confessedly the novv Bishops of the Greek Church are vvhom they all acknovvledg for lawful Bishops 2. Whereas he saith Bishop Jewel answered not a word to the main Point it vvill be found he searched the Point to the quick both in relation to his Priesthood being Ordained Priest the same time Mr. Harding vvas def fol. 125 and 129 and in relation to his Episcopacy saying Our Bishops succeed the Bishops that have been ever before our days being Elected Confirmed and Consecrated c. as they have been Further adding that Mr. Harding himself was one of his Electors none of this Mr. Harding could deny and therefore he fell to the old Game of Tergiversation turning his back from the main Question and starts a nevv one for a desperate shift having nothing else to say but this they vvere not forsooth Confirmed by the Bishop of Rome which is an implicit confession that all those recited Acts were performed only they wanted the Pope's Confirmation which yet the Bishop with great evidence of Reason and Primitive Authority proved to be unnecessary and is contrary to all Antiquity and the Practice of the Greek Church and withal told Dr. Harding in civil terms he would never give over that idle trade of begging Thus this Bishop Jewel maintained both the Regularity and the Legality both of his Priesthood and Episcopacy though not with express reference to the Records themselves yet implicitly to the Subject-matter thereof particularly Election Confirmation and Consecration to his Episcopal Dignity and Office and also propugned the Validity of both Orders from Scriptures and the perpetual Tradition of the Catholick Church pursuing Dr. Harding in all his shifts from Post to Pen till he drives him to his Non ultra 3. All that N. N. durst conclude from Dr. Harding is only that by his sharp Reply he directly affirmed the Nullity of Dr. Parker 's Consecration but Protestants are not so lame as to take every Affirmation of Mr. Hardings for a proof they expect he should make his bold Affirmation good by good Authority or Reason neither by N. N's good leave did any thing that he affirms affirm a Nullity what he alledged if it were true and home would only have rendred those Ordinations Irregular or Illegal but not Null his no lawful Consecration respected only the manner of the Catholick Church that is theirs in their usual restriction and such as they had used 4. Whether the Records were extant N. N. cannot affirm but in his indifferent judgment if they were then they were forged which in the judgment of all indifferent men will certainly pass for a desperate shift Just such a work Dr. Harding made about the (k) From his counterfeit Athanasius Bishop Jewel's Reply fol. 157. Nicene Canons they were burnt yet falsified they were falsified yet burnt c. Such a Blunder also Baronius made concerning a pretended Edict of the Emperor Justinian it was an Edict and it was not an Edict it was (l) Baron an 564. n. 3. an Edict put out by the Emperor in favour of the Aphthardokites who denied the Body of Christ to be subject to Passions and Death for these two Reasons the (m) Id. an 564. n. 1. Orthodox contemned it and the Emperor persecuted all those (n) Id. ib. n. 3. an 563. n. 12. vid. n. 3.8 9. who did oppose it and it was not an Edict it was only a Cabinet-paper for this Reason the Emperor indeed writ it but never (o) Id. an 565. n. 4. so Evagr. l. 4. Hist Eccl. c. 40. published it if so then no Edict the Popes as bad as they are make a Publication of their Decrees But this is all meer impostures for his Edict oppugned that Heresy of the Aphthardokites Edict Justin p. 492 495. which Pope Agatho witnesseth in his Epistle directed to the Emperor Constant Pogonat as it is to be seen Act. 4. Conc. gen 6th p. 21. which Baron himself confesseth An. 681. n. 21 24. n. 25. to be approved of the whole Roman Synod consisting of 125 Bishops 5. But N. N's Catholicks triumphed c. Did they so that is an old trick of their Men of War to do as Agesilaus commanded his Souldiers still to shout Victoria to brag when they are worsted which they must do to keep up their Credit with their deluded Partisans and Proselytes But who triumphed when his Grave and Learned Divines pitched a Field time place and order of Battel contrary to the rules of all Combatants yet like the Children of Ephraim who being harnessed and carrying Bows as if they would do strange seats of Chivalry who but they turned their backs in the day of Battel For did not your old Friends both challenge and order a Disputation 1 Eliz. upon the Points in Controversy and did not they upon the approach of the Enemy after a Pickeer or two face about and dastardly forsake the field How often have the Protestants triumphed over you with the story of Madam Donna Seamore Pope Joan Bishop Goodwin hath produced thirty several well-known Authors to attest the Story and it is not much above an hundred years since her Picture was standing in the Church of Sienna in Italy where (q) Papir Massin de Episc Vrbis l. 6. in Pio. 3. the Pictures of the Popes were set up which so moved Baronius his patience that he sollicited the Pope and Duke of Florence to take it down which accordingly at his intercession they caused (r) Florimund Fab. Joan. c. 22. n. 2. to be done Such an ancient Picture in confirmation of other reports is as good an evidence that there was such a Madam Pope as Baronius his ancient Coin in contradiction to all former Histories was to prove the determinate time of Maxentius his birth and had N. N. and his Narrators such a proof for their dusty weather-beaten Nags-head they would do wonders with
tied us to this nice scrupulous disquisition or commanded us to be Annalists and Historians though Christ hath promised there shall be a perpetual visible Church which yet in your sense of visibility you will never be able to prove yet did he never assure us there should be Histories and Records of Professors in all Ages neither did he ever command us to search and read them he hath commanded both you and us to search and read the Scriptures that we may be able to bring them in evidence You might if your leisure or somewhat else had permitted have remembred what hath been returned to this demand long before you proposed it It is your usual rant it is unanswerable you may know the contrary if not I shall inform you after I have premised some Considerations to clear the procedure 1. What do you mean by Protestant if you intend to hook in all who challenge that Appellative the return is short all that call themselves Catholicks and Saints are not such 2. What by Faith if every Doctrine which hath been maintained by some Protestants as a probable Opinion or as a pious profitable Truth then you trifle and sophisticate but if by Faith you understand the object of Faith or things necessary to be believed by all that they may be saved as it is usually taken in Scriptures Fathers and Councels then the Protestants assert their Faith is the Faith of all good Christians who lived before them who all professed to believe as they believe which they thus evidence 3. Protestants earnestly contend for the Faith which was once or at once delivered to the Saints Jude 3. Which you by the addition of your new super-numerary Essentials had corrupted and changed as Anthony of Valtelina a Dominican Friar affirmed in the Council of Trent and was seconded by the Bishops of five Churches therein Hist of Council of Trent ad An. 1562. Fol. 548 549. Their Reformation was not to compose a new but to retrieve the old Faith which you had so confounded and changed not to form a new Church but to free the old Church from your new Essentials The corruptible and incorruptible body are one in substance differing only in perfections and purities their Faith is the same in substance with the Faith of the whole Christian World differing from some part thereof in quality and goodness The end of the Reformation was to separate the pretious from the vile the chaff from the wheat to refine the Gold mixed with dross to dress the Garden overgrown with weeds to cure the body which was diseased to regain and recover that Faith which the Christian World had reputed and received for true and saving Faith even the same that hath the attestation of the universal Church in all Ages which is dispersed in the Scriptures but contracted and summed up in the Apostles Creed which was designed by them witness your own authorized Catechism to preserve Believers in the unity of Faith to be a badg and cognizance to distinguish Believers from Vnbelievers and Misbelievers This and nothing but this hath been professed always every-where by all persons ubique semper ab omnibus in Vinc. Lyr. Golden Rule of Catholicism This is evinced by Practice the Profession of this Faith and of this only was and is required of every person either by himself or Sureties before he be admitted into the Church by holy Baptism That Question and Answer doest thou believe I do believe had alwaies respect to this and no other into this and this alone both you and we are Baptized by this and this alone you and we are made Christians by this with the advantage of an holy Life according to the Precepts of Christ the Christians of all Ages have gone to Heaven for 1400 years without the knowledg or belief of your 12 new coined Articles For this they have the sentence and determination of the Ephesine Council which your Popes have been solemnly sworn to observe the judgment of the Ancient Fathers the concurrent suffrage of many of your Learned Divines and Schoolmen and which will weigh most with you the Remonstrance of your Trusty and Well-beloved Tridentine Assemblers who once in their good mood thought fit thus to express themselves The Apostles Creed is the shield of Faith by c. the firm and only Foundation against which the Gates of Hell shall never prevail This Protestants profess with the whole Christian World in its several Successions and Centuries this they believe too as it is sensed by the four first General Councels and the traditious interpretation of the universal Church And for us of the Church of England as we admit no new Creed so we reject all new senses of the Old which thus sensed they own for the true Catholick Apostolick Faith Indeed other Articles we have but they are Articles of Peace not of Faith not all of them to be respected as Essentials of saving Faith but as pious Truths which none of the Pastors of the Church are to contradict or oppose 4. To retort your Question the Protestants offer these Proposals to you to nominate successive Professors since the Apostles of the whole Faith of the present Roman Church or a succession of Professors who since the Apostles have received these 12 new distinct Articles which Pius the 4th added at the foot of the 12 old ones as Essentials of Faith absolutely necessary to be believed by all necessitate medii without which they could not be saved We are sure they were never reputed for such for 1400 years Prove those your late forged Articles at Trent to have any relation to or analogy with those of the Apostles that they are evidently concluded from them or virtually contained in them as conclusions in their premises Lastly that the Apostles did deliver or teach by Word or Writing your new-found Faith or passage to Heaven Till these be satisfactorily performed by you we desire you to be wise unto sobriety and to consider whence you are fallen Answer to the second Question 1. WHat mean you by Mission if Ordination to the respective Functions of Bishops and Priests c. then such a Mission our Bishops and Priests have if you have any 2. What by Lawful what you fancy or the Pope resolves to be so you know we neither value your conceits nor the Pope's by-Laws the English have received and rejected them at their pleasure take and leave as they like with us those things pass for lawful which are so by the Law of Christ which gives them validity or by the Laws and Constitutions of the Church which makes them Canonical or by the Laws of the Kingdom whereby they become Legal accordingly as we averr 1. The English Clergy hath a lawful that is a valid Ordination by the Institution of Christ for the English Church in conferring Holy Orders observeth all the Essentials of Ordination by Authority of Holy Scripture Matter and Form as some of your own fast Friends