be in a great esteem with us Ye see they do not understand by this Vnction or anointing signifying the Holy Ghost an immediate teaching or inspiration as by some Enthusiasme but immediately through the Ministery ordained for that end by a Metonymy as they say of the Adjunct the oyntment for the hand which applyes it or delivers it to you and the teaching you all things is meant of all things necessary to salvation the credenda and agenda which by the Ministery had bin so fully taught them that they needed not to be taught by Saint John again here If any shall object as it hath been unto me that of Saint Augustine lib. 15. de Trinit cap. 27. Quomodo ergo Deus non est qui dat Spiritum Sanctum imò quantus Deus est qui dat Deum neque enim aliquis discipulorum ejus dedit Spiritum Sanctum orabant quippe ut veniret in eos quibus manus imponebant non ipsi eum dabant quem morem in suis praepositis etiam nunc servet Ecclesia c. i. e. How should not he be God who gives the Holy Ghost nay how great a God who gives God for neither any of his disciples gave the holy Ghost they prayed indeed that it might come upon those on whom they imposed hands they did not give it themseles which custom the Church now observes c. Answ 1. In the words before these he speaks of a double giving of the Holy Ghost by our Saviour the one on earth after his resurrection the other from heaven after his Ascension upon the day of Pentecost now in relation to the latter in those extraordinary gifts of the spirit the words objected have their principal application which doth not concern that we have in hand which is only of the former being meant of successive ministerial authority for the ordinarie dispensing of the office Secondly whereas he saith the Church hath observed that custome in imposition of hands to pray for the persons reciving of it hath bin formerly acknowledged to be one sense of that clause viz. by way of impetration Take the gift of the spirit pro dono infuso so we use the words per modum impetrationis take it pro officio so we use it per modum collationis ministerially conferring the power of executing the office of a Minister there is no contradiction but that in the same act there may meet a collation of the office with authority to execute and an impetration for the persons receiving an assistance of the spirit in the executing of it which in the old injunction immediately followed in a prayer for the person ordained accordingly so that the custome and intention of our Church is no other then what was in Saint Augustines time not presuming to give the Holy Ghost in the latter sense only praying it might be given of God to him but only in the former So much for opening of the first clause in ordination Receive the Holy Ghost which rightly understood is not such a rock of offence as some have taken it to be in the disuse of it The second clause is whose sins thou forgivest they are forgiven whose sins thou doest retain they are retained At which as much if not more offence hath been taken then at the former as if it savoured of Popery which I shall give you the Primates sense of also That it may be retained in ordination and attributed safely to the office of the Ministery without the least savour that way which no man that knew him and what Popery is but will acquit him of the least grain of it Thus far it will be granted by all sober persons 1. The Ministers may be said to remit sins by way of preparative to it in being the instruments by preaching the word of reconciliation to dispose men towards it in bringing them to repentance whereby they are capable of it 2. By way of Confirmation in exhibiting the seales of remission in the Sacraments according as one well glosseth upon these words 'T is Gods act onely to forgive sins but the Apostles are said to do it (a) Non simplicitèr sed quia adhibent media per quae Deus remittit peccata haec autem media sunt verbum Sacramenta Fer. in loc not simply but because they apply the means appointed of God for that end viz. the word and Sacraments What is there more in forgivenesse of sins then in reconciliation of God and man now ye find this given to the Ministery 2 Cor. 5.18 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word or ministery of reconciliation Gods act onely authoritate propria by his own supreme authority the Ministers act potestate vicaria as a substitute in Christs stead and the word doth include the Sacraments also as in our usual speech the Letters Pattents doth the Seale affixed to them as the Ministery doth the whole ministerial office 3. Declaratively in testifying this grace of God and declaring Gods good pleasure accordingly upon repentance unto the person like that of Nathan to David or Saint Peter to his Auditory Acts 3. as Ferus saith (b) Non quod homo propriè remittet peccatum sed quod ostendet certificet adeò remissum neque enim alia est absolutio ab homine quam si dicat En tibi certifico te tibi remissa esse peccata Annuncio tibi te habere Deum propitium c. Ferus lib 2. Comment in Matth. cap. 9. edit Mogunt 1559. man doth not properly forgive sin but doth declare and certifie that it is remitted of God so that absolution received from man is as much to say behold my son I certifie thee that thy sins are forgiven thee I declare unto thee that God is at peace with thee which I relate the rather out of him both for his being a writer of the Chutch of Rome and that this passage is purged out of his book by them as erroneous as may be seen by comparing the Edition of Mentz with the Edition at Antwerp 1559 and 1570 Which agrees with that in the Articles of Religion of Ireland num 71. God hath given power to his Ministers not simply to forgive sinnes which prerogative he hath reserved only to himselfe but in his name to declare and pronounce unto such as truly repent and unfeignedly believe his Holy Gospel the absolution and remission of sins But that ye may the more fully understand the Primates Judgement in this point whose authority prevails much with all good men and how remote our Church is from that of the Papists in the use of those words in ordination I shall give you some brief collections out of that Answer of his to the Jesuite Malones challenge concerning this subject and the rather to satisfy the Reader against the injury which among others Doctor Heylene hath done him in this as if
of the Roman Empire should rise up in his stead and take his vacant dignity That these saith he are to be understood of the Bishop of Rome and are to be understood of him only we do affirm And for the name of Antichrist that most specially 't is appliable to him whether 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be understood by way of opposition to Christ a pretended substitution or a subordination in his stead c. Sect. 13. He hath made use of all sorts of instruments hypocrisies lies equivocations treacheries perjuries poison force and armes that he may well be said to have succeeded that beast like to a Leopard a Beare and a Lion Revel 13.2 by which the Roman Empire is signified whose Image he bare and brought it to passe whosoever would not worship the image of the beast should be put to death c. and concludes with a prayer that God would grant that the Church might be delivered from the fraud and tyranny of Antichrist And so much for the judgement of Arminius Now that the Divines of the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas do generally accord also in it need not to be inserted being sufficiently known such as Daneus Franciscus-Junius Tilenus Morneus Viguierus Rivetus Chamerus etc. The Reformed Church of France have made it one of their Articles in their confession as ye may find in Chamier Paustrat Cathol Tom. 2. lib. 16. de Antichristo cap. 1. where he gives you the words of the 31. Article conceived in Synodo Papinsensi owned by him to be the confession of the reformed Churches in France in these words following (t) Cùm Episcopus Romanus erecta sibi in orbe Christiano Monarchia dominationem usurpet in omnes Ecelesias pastores in tantam erectus superbiam 1. ut Deum se dicat Can. satis dist 96. lib. 1. Sacrar Cerem cap. de Benedictiensis velitqâ—e 2. adorari Concil Lateran ult Sess 1.3.9 10 omnemque tribui sibi potestatem in coelo in terra res Ecclesiasticas omnes disponat articulos fidei definiat Scripturarum authoritatem atque interpretationem à se esse dicat animarum mercaturam exerceat vota juramentáque dispenset novo Dei cultus instituat Tum in civilibus legitimam magistratâ—um authoritatem pedibus suâ—igat datis ablatis translâ—tiâ— Imperiis Credimus atque asserimus esse verum illum Gâ—rmanum Antichristâ—m perditionis filium pronunciatum in verbo Dei Meretricem purpuratam insidentem septem montibus in magna civitate quae regnum obtinebat in Reges terrae Expectamúsque dum Dominus prout promisit ac jam coepit conficiens eum spiritu oris sui tandem illustri adventu suo aboleat Whereas the Bishop of Rome having erected to himself a Monarchy over the Christian world doth usurp a Dominion over all Churches and Pastors and hath rose to such a height of pride as to call himself 1. God will be 2. adored and all power to be given him in heaven and earth disposeth of all Ecclesiastical things defines Articles of Faith saith the authority of the Scripture and the interpretation of it to be from him maketh Merchandize of soules dispenseth with vowes and oathes institutes new worships of God As also in civil affaires treads upon the lawful authority of the Magistrate in giving taking away translating of Empires We do believe and assert him to be the very proper Antichrist son of perdition foretold in the word of God the scarlet harlot sitting on seven mountains in the great city which hath obtained a rule over the Kings of the earth and we do expect when the Lord according to his promise and as he hath begun will destroy him with the spirit of his mouth and at length abolish with the brightnesse of his coming And Maresius in his preface to the Answer of Hugo Grotius his Observations upon the 2 Thes 2. and other places gives us the like Article agreed upon in Synodo Nationali Gapensi Anno 1604. which hath very little or no difference from the former and so needlesse to be repeated Which do fully agree with the Synod of Ireland by the Arch-bishops and Bishops and the rest of the Clergy there in the Convocation holden at Dublin 1615. num 80. viz. The Bishop of Rome is so farre from being the supreme head of the Vniversal Church of Christ that his works and doctrine do plainly discovar him to be the man of sin foretold in holy Scripture whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and abolish with the brightnesse of his coming The former Synod may possibly be undervalued with some by bearing the name of Presbyterian but seeing it consents with the latter which was Episcopal why may it not be an introduction to a further moderation betweene them in other matters And it stands but with justice that if Presbytery have had a hand in the match of Episcopacy with Popery which seems to have been without consent of parties it should upon this evidence be the more forward in assisting in the divorce Now in regard that above-said Article of the Church of Ireland confirmed by the judgement of the late Primate hath been objected against by Doctor Heylene for that as he saith there is no such doctrine in the book of Articles nor in any publick monument or record of the Church of England but the contrary rather I shall cite some passages out of the book of Homilies which are approved by the book of Articles as a larger declaration of the Doctrine of the Church of England and leave it to the Readers judgment In the third part of the Sermon of good works speaking against the Popish singing of Trentals and the superstitious Orders in the Church of Rome introduced to serve the Papacy these words are as followeth viz. Honour be to God who did put light in the heart of King Henry the eighth to put away all such superstitions and Pharisaical Sects by Antichrist invented c. which can be meant of no other but the See of Rome by the words not long after viz. Let us rehearse some other kinds of Papistical superstitions c. In the second part of the Sermon of salvation speaking against the Popish opinion of justification by works these words are as followeth Justification is not the office of man but of God for man cannot make himself righteous by his own works neither in part nor in the whole for that were the greatest arrogancy and presumption of man that Antichrist could set up against God etc. and so accounts it not the doctrine of a Christian that sets forth Christs glory but of him that is an adversary to Christ and his Gospel and a setter forth of mans vain-glory c.. And that passage in the third part of the Sermon against the perill of Idolatry p. 69. I leave to the Readers judgement if the sense can be understood otherwise then of the See of Rome in these words following viz. Now concerning popish
his judgement were opposite to the Doctrine of the Church of England First the Primate complains of the wrong done by the Papists in charging us with denying any power to be left by Christ to the Priests or Ministers of the Church to forgive sins being the formal words which our Church requireth to be used in the Ordination of a Minister and there states the question between them us That in the general it was ever the doctrine of our Church that the principal office of our Ministery is excercised in the forgivenesse of sins as the means and end of it The Question is of the manner of the execution and the Bounds of it which the Pope and his Clergy have enlarged beyond all measure of truth and reason We say that to forgive sinnes properly directly and absolutely is Gods propriety onely Esay 43.25 Psal 32.5 produced by our Saviour Matth. 9. to prove his Deity which is accordingly averred by all antiquity But the Papists attribute as much to the Bishop of Rome affirming (a) In summo Pontifice esse plenitudinem â—mnium gratiarum quia ipse solus confert plenam indulgentiam omnium peccatorum computet sibi quod de primo principe Domino dicimus quia de plenitudine ejus nos omnes accepimus de Regim Principum lib. 3. cap. 10. inter opuscula Thomae num 20. activè proximè efficit gratiam justificationis ut flatus extinguit ignem dissipat nebulas sic absolutio sacerdotis peccata c. Bell. de Sacram. libro 2. cap. 1. de poenitent libro 3. cap. 2. Attritio virtute clavium fit contritio Rom. Correctores Gloss Gratiani de poenitent dist 1. principio c. That in him there is a fulnesse of all graces and he gives a full indulgence of all sins that to him agrees that which we give to our Lord that of his fulnesse all we have received and not much lesse to the meanest Priest viz. That his absolution is such a Sacramental Act that it confers grace actively and immediately and effects the grace of Justification that as the wind doth extinguish the fire and dispell Clouds so doth his absolution sins and by it Attrition becomes Contrition We do not take upon us any such soveraignty as if it were in our power to proclaim warre or conclude peace between God and man at our discretion We remember we are but Embassadors and must not go beyond our commission and instructions We do not take upon us thus to be Lords over Gods heritage as if we had the absolute power of the Keyes This were Popery indeed No we only acknowledge a Ministerial limited one as Stewards to dispense things according to the Will of our Masters and do assent unto the observation which Cyrill Saint Basil Ambrose Augustine make upon these words of Ordination of the Apostle Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins ye forgive shall be forgiven viz. That this is not their work properly but the work of the Holy Ghost who remitteth by them for as St. Cyril saith (a) Cui enim praevaricatores legis à peccato liberare licet nisi legis ipsius autori in Joh. lib. 12. cap. 56. who can free transgressors of the Law but the Authour of the Law it self (b) Daturus erat D minus hominibus Spiritum Sanctum ab ipso Spiritu Sancto fidelibus suis dimitti peccata volebat intelligi nam quid es homo nisi ager sanandus vis mihi esse medicus mecum quaere medicum Homil. 23. Ex. 50. The Lord saith St. Augustine was to give unto men the Holy Ghost and he would have it to be understood that by the Holy Ghost himselfe sins should be forgiven to the faithfull what art thou O man but a sick man thou hast need to be healed wilt thou be a Physitian to me seek the Physitian togegether with me (c) Ecce per Spiritum Sanctum peccata donantur homines ministerium suum exhibent non jus alicujus potestatis exercent de Sp. Sanct. lib. 3. cap. 10. Saint Ambrose Lo by the Holy Ghost sins are forgiven men bring but their Ministerie to it they exercise not the Authoritie of any power in it Now having acquitted our Church of Poperie in retaining these words in Ordination the Primate proceeds in shewing the Ministers exercise of his function in this particular viz. Forgivenesse of sins in these four things 1. Prayer 2. Censures of the Church 3. Sacraments 4. The word preached 1. Prayer Jam. 5.14 15. If any be sick let him send for the Elders of the Church let them pray over him and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him and so shewes it to have been the judgement and practice of the Fathers and the ancientest of the Schoolmen that the power of the Keyes in this particular is much exercised in our being petitioners to God for the persons remission not excluding the prayers of the whole Church in assisting them with theirs for which cause in publick offences S. Augustine exhorts men to shew their repentance accordingly that the Church might pray with the Minister for them for the more sure imparting of the benefit of absolution And that before Thomas Aquinas time the form of absolution was by prayer for the partie that a learned man in his time found fault with that indicative form newly introduced Then the form being not I absolve thee but absolutionem remissionem tribuat tibi omnipotens Deus the Almighty God give unto thee absolution and remission c. unto which the antient Ritualls of the Roman Church as the Greeke according to that of Damascenes form yet retained doth agree and 't is the Primates observation that the ancient Fathers never used any Indicative form but alwaies prayer-wise as ye have heard according to which were the ancient Liturgies of the Latine and Greek Churches howsoever the Popish Priests now stand so much upon it that they place the very essence and efficacie of that their Sacrament in it in the first person and not in the third Indeed our Church to shew it stood not upon forms did in its Liturgie observe each 1. In the absolution after the general Confession it is only declarative At the communion 't is in the form of a prayer at the visitation of the sick 't is both Declarative Optative and Indicative 2. In the Censures of the Church there is an exercise of this part of our function which we maintain against the Montanists Novatians who deny any ministeriall power of reconciling of such penitents as had committed heynous sins and receiving them to the Communion of the faithfull which is contrary to that of Saint Paul as 't is generally expounded by antiquity Gal. 6.1 If any man be overtaken in a fault i. e. in a scandalous one you who are spiritual restore i. e. upon his repentance such a one in the spirit of meeknesse as in the particular of the Incestuous Corinthian
THE JUDGEMENT Of the late Arch-Bishop of ARMAGH and PRIMATE of IRELAND Of BABYLON Rev. 18.4 being the present See of Rome With a Sermon of Bishop BEDELS upon the same words Of laying on of hands â—eb 6.2 to be an ordained Ministery Of the old Form of words in Ordination Of a Set Form of PRAYER Published and enlarged by Nicholas Bernard D. D. and Preacher to the Honourable Society of Grayes-Inne London Unto which is added a Character of Bishop BEDEL And an Answer to Mr. Pierces Fifth Letter concerning the late PRIMATE LONDON Printed for John Crook at the Sign of the Ship in S. Pauls Church-yard 1659. TO THE Right Worshipfull Sir WILLIAM ELLIS BARONET His HIGHNES Sollicitor GENERALL The Readers and Benchers With the Ancients Barresters and Students Of the Honourable Society of Graies-Inne YEe are thus intituled to these Treatises The occasion of publishing the First was a Sermon preached by the late Arch-Bishop of ARMAGH in your Chappell of the same subject Nov. 5. 1654. who out of his old love to this society whereof he was a member intended it as his last the request then made to him for the permission of printing that he did satisfy in his consent to the publishing of this For the other some parts of them have been long agone preached before you by the Authour though now in another manner enlarged which as a testimony of his due observance and respect to this Honourable Society he desires may be accepted from him who is Grayes-Inne Octob. 27. 1658. Yours in the service of Christ N. BERNARD To the Reader HOw Popery and (a) Though of late it hath had that latitude as to comprehend Episcopacy yet in Ancient Records which I have seen it was limited to the Deans and Chapters For this was then the form of the Arch-Bishops Provinciall visitation declaring that he would visit Episcopum Praelatos clerum populum Prelacy came first to be contracted is not my enquiry but sure I am they are here very far asunder such as do apply that of Babylon Rev. 17. and the Man of sin 2 Thes 2. to the Pope can hardly be accounted Popish which you find affirmed by the late Archbishop of Armagh and Bishop Bedell in their discussing of the same words And who are supported in it by the most Eminent Bishops of England and Ireland since the Reformation Archbishop Whitgift Bishop Jewell Abbot Bilson Andrews Downham Morton Hall Davenant Prideaux with others who have unanimously given their votes the same way as is hereafter shewn And indeed it could not be otherwise expected from some of them who had been taught to put him into their (b) Common Prayer in Edw. 6. Letany From the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities Good Lord deliver us So that if any of later years professing themselves to be the sons of those old Prophets have so far favoured the See of Rome as to divert the stream of that application some other way it appears they have in it degenerated from their Ancestors The first Treatise being the Primates three positions concerning Babylon was wrot above 40 years agone which appears by the places of Scripture rendred according to the old Translation and sent to an Irish Jesuit in Dublin as I take it (c) The first that broached that figment of the Nagge 's head consecration in England after 45 yeares silence of any other Author which in Bishop Bedells Letters to Wadesworth p. 142. is confuted Christophorus à sacro bosco there called F. Halywood the summe of which having been delivered by the Primate in a Sermon which he preached at Grays-Inne Nov. 5. 1654. and being much desired by some of the Auditours to be published he did condescend to permit this with that other Letter following in their satisfaction The learned Sermon of Bishop Bedels being of the same subject I heard him preach it in Christ-Church Dublin 1634. before the Lord Deputy and Parliament The occasion of his giving a copy of it was at the request of a Papist to have shewen it to some learned men of his own Religion and my opportunity to have it was the near relation I had to him for divers years in that See which after these 22 yeares lying latent with me I have taken this fit occasion to publish it That which I have added is by way of confirmation from some grounds out of Ancient Fathers the successive votes both of the learned Writers in those ages who lived under the Tyranny of the See of Rome as of our eminent Bishops and Writers since that yoke was cast off in England with the concurrence of our book of Homilies severall Synods of our own and other reformed Churches the determination of the * Synops Theol. disp 4â— de Christo Antichristo conclus Ex quibus apparet Pontificem Papam Romanum revera Antichristum filium perditionis esse c. Dutch and French Divines It being very observable that whatsoever differences there are in the reformed Churches in other matters yet there is a marvellous unity in this To which is added the like judgement of Arminius and some of the Church of Rome continuing at least in that communion who professe it out-right others by way of consequence Their chief Writers who meet us halfe way granting the place only disputing the time contending as much as we that Babylon Rev. 17. must be meant Rome the difference between us whether Ethnick or Papall For that of the Primates judgement seconded by some eminent Writers what is meant Heb 6.2 by laying on of hands and of the sense of the old form of words in Ordination viz. Receive the holy Ghost whose sins thou forgivest c. and the use of them to be continued I had leave from himself for the manifesting and enlarging of it And I suppose the last subject concerning a Set Form of Prayer will passe with the lesse opposition by the concurring of divers eminent and worthy Persons whom the contrary-minded cannot but highly esteem of Having both in the former and this taken up Saint Pauls manner of arguing with the Athenians as certain also of your own have said c. or as elsewhere one of themselves even a Prophet of their own c. And surely the Primates appearing so much against the See of Rome in the first cannot but be a preparative to the hearkning unto him the rather in the two later For my self I have no other design in the whole but the peace and unity of the Church which we are all bound to seek and without which end and aim all gifts whatsoever coveted by us are of no value and I hope to have that interpretation from such as are so affected Two things which have been enlarged by way of Vindication of the Eminent Primate from the injuries of Doctor Heylene came so in my way that I could not passe them which else by his being in the esteem of
men so far above his reach there had been no need of He having in those and divers other aspersions which he hath cast upon him in his late book which may hereafter be fully cleared done himselfe the chiefest wrong I commend the whole to the Readers charitable and impartiall censure that no prejudicate opinion doe obstruct his right apprehension THE CONTENTS Of the Severall TREATISES The First consists of three POSITIONS 1. THat a great City called Babylon shall be a Seducer 2. That by this City is meant ROME 3. Not Heathen Rome but since it was freed from the Government both of Heathen and Christian Emperours and became the possession of the Pope The Second How the Papacy may be said to be the Beast that was and is not and yet is Rev. 17.18 The Third being Bishop Bedels Sermon on Rev. 18.4 Come out of her my people c. The Speaker our Saviour Christ His people those within the Covenant of Grace A paralleling the Speeches here with those of the Prophets Of Litterall Babell who meant by Mysticall Babylon The judgement of Bellarmine Salmeron Viegas to be the City of Rome How the title of Babylon the great and her reigning over the Kings of the earth rather agrees to Rome Papal then Heathen The Cup of inchantment whereby she hath deceived all Nations and one in speciall in imitation of literall Babell Dan. 1. applyed to that See Her Wantonnesse Pride sitting as a Queen glorifying her self the blood of Christians shed by the Papacy to be beyond that of Heathen Romes persecution his conclusion from the Premises That there are some of Gods people in Babylon That they are to goe out not only in affection but the place also Of Baptisme Grounds of the Catechisme Faith taught there of the doctrine of of merits What is to be thought of those that doe yet live there and cannot come out Whether the Church of Rome be a true Church rightly stated p. 83. Of the Ordination had there by the use of these words Whose sins ye remit c. That the Papall Monarchy is Babylon proved by arguments at the barre of Reason and from common principles of Christianity p. 89. Answer to that motive of staying in Babylon because they are told they may be saved in it An exhortation of such as are yet in that captivity to come out and of our selves to come further out Of Impropriations Dispensations c. with a conclusive prayer for the destruction of Babylon The Fourth A Confirmation of the abovesaid judgment From some grounds out of the Ancient Fathers consenting in an expectation that Rome must be the place and the successor of the Emperour there the Person A clear application of it to the See of Rome by the Fathers and Writers in successive ages before and after the tenth Century The Judgment of the eminent Bishops of England since the reformation the book of Homilies especially in 2 places calling the Pope Antichrist and the Babylonical beast of Rome A Synod in France as Ireland How far confessed by the prime writers of the Church of Rome The mistake of such as have diverted the application of it some other way an Answer of a passage of Doctor Heylenes concerning it in relation to the Primate and Articles of Ireland The Fifth Of laying on of Hands Heb. 6.2 Reasons why not confirmation but ordination Paraeus and Mr. Cartwrights concurrence in it with the Primate The necessity of an ordained Ministry The neglect of it as undermining the foundation Objections answered with a seasonable application to the present times The necessity of an external call The Authority not from the People That objection against our ordination being derived from Rome at large answered p. 218. That personal faults in the ordainers doth not null the ordination Some application The 6. Of the old form of words in Ordination Receive the Holy Ghost not meant of the sanctifying grace of the spirit nor extraordinary gifts of it but of ghostly or spirituall Ministeriall authority 1 Cor. 3. verse 3.6 and 1 John 2.20 The anointing teacheth you c. illustrated An objection out of S. Augustine answered Whose sins thou forgivest c. In what sense Ministers are said to forgive sins The Primates judgement in his answer to the Jesuits Challenge defended to be according to the doctrine of the Church of England which Doctor Heylene hath scandalized him in it The 7th Of a Set Form of Prayer The judgment of Calvine Dutch and French divines with their Practice Examples out of the Old Testament and New The pattern of our Saviour giving a form to his disciples taking one to himself and observing the set forms made by others That objection of Stinting the spirit answered An Vniformity in publique prayer a means of reducing unity in Church and State The full concurrence of Mr. Rogers Mr. Egerton Dr. Gouge Mr. Hildersham Dr. Sibbs Dr. Preston c. Of the length and gesture in prayer Mr. Hildersham of an outward reverence in the publick A Character of Bishop Bedell his industry at Venice and at home humility moderation government and sufferings An answer to Mr. Thomas Pierces fifth Letter wherein three Certificates have been published by him for the justification of a change of judgement in the late Primate of Ireland in some points ERRATA SOme omissions of Accents Pointing and number of pages the intelligent Reader may correct himself Page 39. l. 2. r. professed p. 40. l. 8. r. Lo-ammi p. 41. l. 18. r. ir p. 45. l. 9. for there t is related that p. 46. l. 15. d. and p. 48. l. 8. circun p. 49. l. 6. ly p. 63. l. 21. d. p. 59. l. 11. although p. 60. l. 4. her p. 63. l. 1. As gods l. 21. dis p. 64. l. 22. they they p. 70. l. 10. val p. 82. l. 20. d. p. 92. l. 6. may p. 160. l. 23. p. 161. l. 11. Padre p. 162. mar l. 8. justif p. 185. l. 2. baptizing p. 189. l. 2. mining p. 198. l. 6. of the p. 248. l. 22. mediatly p. 250. l. 22. 2. p. 278. l. 12 there p. 317. l. 8. Wethersfield p. 322. l. 18. prayer p. 329 l. 21. and Mr. p. 362. l. 12. d. following p. 378. l. ult d. which The judgement of the late Arch-bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland what is understood by Babylon in Apoc. 17. 18. Apoc. 18. v. 4. Go out from her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues IN these words we are straightly enjoyned upon our peril to make a separation from Babylon For the understanding of which charge these three Positions following are to be considered The first Position THat it is plainly foretold in the the Word of God that after the planting of the Faith by the Apostles the Kings and Inhabitants of the earth should be seduced and drawn into damnable errours and that the mother of all these Abominations of the Earth should
ever in the Priests Pharises Scribes Sadduces c. yet as he permitted their administring of some rites for himselfe whether of circumcision or the offering made for him in the Temple at the purification after the custome of the Law in his infancy so at his manifestation about 30 yeares after he sends those that were healed by him to the Priests to offer what Moses commanded ye see he did not determine against the office for the personal defilements of their Predecessors or themselves 3. Nay under the Gospel about four hundred years after our Saviour Christ was not the world so over-run with Arrians that it groaned under it as St. Jerom saith when they had the commands of the Pulpits ordaining of Preachers children were baptized by them men put to receive the communion of them as Hilary and Basil say the Orthodox were hatched under the wings of the Arrian Priests yet upon a reformation and the renouncing of that heresie we read not of any rejecting of the succeeding Ministers because they were derived through such hands which I conceive to have been as bad as the Bishop of Rome and his followers The Church then was so wise as to consider a jewel looseth not his vertue by being delivered by a foul hand so neither is this treasure of the Ministry to be despised because it hath passed through some polluluted vessels to us which is appliable for the saving harmlesse our ordination though transmitted through the Popish defilements of some persons so much in vindicating the ordination of the Church of England from the scandall of being Popish Antichristian with which by some ignorant and rash people it is frequently aspersed Let me conclude with this short admonition Be not hereafter so unworthy as to blurre that Ministery with being Antichristian by whom ye have received the knowledge of Christ both by their translating of the Scriptures out of the Originalls into your Mother-tongue for your reading and their labour in the exposition of them for your understanding by whom you and your fathers have been baptized and instructed Be not such ill birds as thus to defile your own nests do not side with the agents of the Bishop of Rome in thus detracting and lessening the reputation and esteem of them Let them not say in their hearts so would we have it nor you with your tongues unlesse in your hearts you are Romish your selves Is it not strange that those who have been so great opposers of the errors of Popery wrot so learnedly and fully against them who have applyed that in the 2 Epist of the Thessalonians concerning the man of sin and that of Babylon in 17. Revel to the Papacy as Bishop Downham Abbot Jewell and the late eminent Primate with divers others that now they should with their very calling and profession be styled Popish can we think otherwise but that the hand of Joab I mean the Jesuit is privily in it Is it not a wonder it should so come about that such as have been the greatest enemies to the See of Rome should be reckoned as members and friends of it and thus perpetually yoked together as twins nay trod under foot as unsavory salt upon that very account as being Episcopall Is this a just reward of their labour in the defence of your profession thus to be aspersed by you as Absolon to Hushay Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend Certainly those of the See of Rome cannot but smile within themselves that they have thus covertly deluded us and so closely taken a revenge of those their adversaries How true is that speech of our Saviour A Prophet is not without honour save in his own country other nations French and German magnifie the Clergy of the Church of England by what is transmitted over Sea in many of their works onely despised at home as the off-scouring of the world what a preparative this is to the expectation of the Papists an able learned ordained Ministery having been hitherto the stop to the introduction of ignorance and superstition which if removed might flow in the more easily which God in his mercy prevent And thus I have endeavoured to confirm the Primates judgement upon this place viz. that by laying on of hands is meant an ordained Ministery The Primates judgement of the Sense and Vse of the Form of words in the former Constitution at the Ordination of Priests or Presbyters defended and enlarged viz. Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins thou forgivest they are forgiven and whose sins thou doest retain they are retained Which as an Appendix to the former subject could not well be omitted THey are the words of our Saviour John 20.22 to the Apostles and why they may not be continued to their Successors who are to succeed in that office of the Ministery to the end of the world doth not yet appear and 't is possible that the late offence taken against them to the disuse of them may arise from a misapprehension of the sense of them The Primates judgement of which I think fit to manifest who in all his Ordinations constantly observed them They consist of two clauses 1. Receive the Holy Ghost 2. Whose sins thou forgivest they are forgiven and whose sins thou dost retain they are retained 1. For the first Receive the Holy Ghost We do not here understand the sanctifying graces of the spirit For the Apostles had received them before in that they were bid by our Saviour to rejoyce that their names were written in heaven the evidence of which is heaven wrot in the heart here and had his witnesse that they had believed and had kept his word for whom he had also also prayed in that sense Sanctifie them through thy truth John 17. And if this had been the gift there had been no particular thing given to them for all that will be saved must in some measure partake of it Rom. 8.9 If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his And though it be the testimony of a good Christian yet 't is not a sufficient warrant for him to take upon him the Ministery 2. Again it cannot be meant of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost viz. Gifts of tongues c. For in that sense the Holy Ghost was not yet given till fifty dayes after viz. the Feast of Pentecost but this was given upon the day of his Resurrection So that a third sense must be had which was the Primates as followeth 3. Receive the Holy Ghost i. e. receive Ministeriall power of officiating and dispensing those sacred Ministrations unto which the promise of the holy Spirit is annexed and through which as the Conduit-Pipes this holy water is conveyed not so much meant for their own benefit as the good of others In this he gave them power as the Stewards of God to be dispensers of holy and spiritual things to the benefit of such over whom the Holy Ghost had made them overseers which is
imponit manum subjecto reditum Spiritus sancti invocat indicta in populum oratione altari reconciliat c. advers Lucifer Jerome c. p. 96. He thus declares his judgement viz. As for the Ministerial sentence of private absolution it can be no more then a declaration what God hath done it hath but the force of the Prophet Nathan 's absolution God hath taken away thy sins then which construction especially of words judiciall there is nothing more vulgar For example the Publicans are said in the Gospel to have justified God the Jewes in Malachy to have blessed the proud man which sin and prosper not that the one did make God righteous or the other the wicked happy but to blesse to justifie and to absolve are as commonly used for words of judgement or declaration as of true and reall efficacy yea even by the opinion of the Master of sentences c. Priests are authorized to loose and bind that is to say declare who are bound and who are loosed c. Saint Jerome also whom the Master of the Sentences alledgeth directly affirmeth That as the Priests of the Law could only discern and neither cause nor remove Leprosies so the Ministers of the Gospel when they retain or remit sinnes do but in the one judge how long we continue guilty and in the other declare when we are clear or free Tom. 6. Comment in 16. Mat. So saith Mr. Hooker when conversion by manifest tokens did seem effected Absolution ensuing which could not make served onely to declare men innocent p. 108. When any of ours ascribeth the work of remission to God and interprets the Priests sentence to be but a solemn declaration of that which God himselfe hath already performed they i. e. the Church of Rome scorne it And so after much to this purpose he thus concludes p. 113. Let it suffice to have shewen how God alone doth truly give and private Ministerial absolution but declare remission of sinnes And thus I leave Mr. Hooker under Doctor Heylen's Censure who hath already concluded that forgivenesse of sins by the Priest onely declarativè doth not come up to the doctrine of the Church of England Though the reason he gives because it holds the Priest doth forgive sins authoritativè I do not see the force of The former supposing the latter for the Officer whose place it is solemnly to make Proclamation of the Kings pardon doth it authoritativè nay dares not do it unlesse he were authorized accordingly And so much for the Primates judgement of those words of Ordination Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins thou forgivest are forgiven whose sins thou retainest are retained The PRIMATES judgment of the Vse of a set Form of Prayer heretofore declared and now more fully enlarged and confirmed with the concurrence of the Votes of such eminent persons who are so esteemed by the contrary-minded THis Subject hath been so sufficiently discussed and determined by others that no new thing can be expected from me onely you have here the Judgement and Approbation of this eminent Primate which being of so great esteem with all good men 't is possible now upon near an even scale of mens opinions in it his may be of that weight as to give satisfaction First that the Vse of a set Form of Prayer is not a setting up of any new doctrine as the Athenians judged of Saint Paul appeares in that 't is the practise of the Belgick Churches for which ye have the determination of the Divines of Leyden Polyander Rivetus Walaeus Thysius in their (a) Disput 36. de cultu invocat Sect. 33. non tantum licitas sed valde utiler esse contendimus c. in magnis conventibus atientio auditorum per usitatas formulas non parum juvatur Synopsis Theologiae And the resolution of Mr. Aimes our countryman who lived and died a Professor of Divinity among them in his cases of conscience who saith 't is (b) Licitum hoc esse manifestum est ex approbata sanctorum praxi quam in praescriptis Psalmis benedicendi formulis scriptura nobis commendat Vtile etiam necessarium est quibusdam istiusmodi formam sequi quamvis ex libelloisit denotanda l. 4. cap. 17. de oratione mentali vocali lawfull from the approved practice of the Saints in the Psalmes and other Formes of blessing in the Scripture nay profitable and necessary for some though it be read out of a book Then for the judgement and practice accordingly of the Reformed Church of France Ludovicus Capellus gives us a sufficient account of who is Professor of Divinity in the University of Somer in one of his Theses lately published de Liturgiae formulis conceptis or a set form of a Liturgie where after hee hath answered all the pretended arguments against it which it seemes he had gleaned up out of some of our English Writers of late he concludes (a) Vbi sunt eâ—uditi Pastores S. Liturgiae publica formula est apprimè utilis necessaria ad communem Ecclesiae aedificationem c. earum usus jure damnari â—on potest nec debet cum semper ubique in universa Ecclesia Christiana toto terrarum orbe jam à plusquam 1300 annis perpetuo obtinuerit etiamque hodie ubique obtineat nisi apud novâ—tios c. Donec tandem nuperimè exorti sunt in Anglia c. de Liturg. concept form paâ—s 3. that 't is very necessary both for the most learned Pastors and congregations as unlearned and the edification of both being used throughout the Christian world in all ages at least for these 1300 years and is still at this day in all places excepting only as he saith some of late with us in England whose censure of them is so severe that it would be offensive in me to repeat it And surely the general custome and practice of the reformed Churches which Saint Paul urgeth 1 Cor. 11.16 cap. 14.33 cannot be contemned by any sober Christian unto which may be added the judgement of diverse pious and eminent men of onr own nation and so esteemed by such as have asserted the contrary whose judgements being too large to be inserted here I shall deferre them till the last who do very fully concurre with the Primate in it Calvin was a wise and learned man now as Beza tells us it was his constant practice to use a set form of Praier before Sermon without alteration So was it his advice in his Epistle to the Protector of England in Edward the sixth's time which hath bin mentioned elsewhere for the establishing of a set form of a Liturgy here from which it might not be lawfull for pastors to depart both for the good of the more ignorant preventing of an affected novelty in others and the declaring of an unanimous consent in all the Churches For which practice and advice he had sufficient warrant from the President of the Ancient
a price God must be glorified in both present your bodies as a living holy acceptable sacrifice to him Rom. 12.1 A second which is allowed is standing 2 Chron. 20.5 Jehosasaphat stood and prayed c. Nehem 9.14 At a solemn fast the Priests and people stood and confessed their sinnes allowed by our Saviour Marc. 11.25 when thou standest praying sitting is no fit gesture for it as even * Cas Cons de Orat. Amesius confirms it Sessio non est gestus orandi which is not justified by that of David 2 Sam. 7.18 who upon the Message from God by Nathan is said presently to have went in and sate before the Lord and prayed or that of the Israelites Judg. 20.26 Who at their solemn Fasts are said to have wept and sate before the Lord till Even because the same word is frequently and as properly rendred elsewhere to remain abide or tarry in a place as Genes 27.44 tarrying with him c. Lev. 4.8 he shall tarry abroad 1 Sam. 1.23 tarry till thou have weaned him c. cap. 20.29 thou shalt remain at the stone c. and so here both for David and the Israelites the sense is only they continued or remained before the Lord in prayer and fasting as that of Matth. 4. the people which sate in darknesse c. can be meant in no other Our Saviours sitting at the right hand of his Father hath as well the sense of standing according to Saint Stephens vision of him Acts 7.56 and that which is said of the Apostles at the Passover Mark 14.18 and as they sate and did eat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies rather a lying down leaning one upon another and according to the former instances may imply as well a standing which 't is probable was the ancient gesture so that sitting may be taken in the latitude of any other gesture used at their remaining there Nay standing is not so strictly limited but 't is sometimes taken for kneeling 2 Chron. 6.12 'T is said Solomon stood before the Altar and spread forth his hands towards heaven yet verse 14. he stood and kneeled down upon his knees and 1 Kings 8.54 he arose from kneeling on his knees That woman which is said to have stood at Jesus feet Luke 7.38 and kissed them and washed them with her teares and wiped them with the hair of her head must imply a bowing down at least to a kneeling A third which in Scripture was accustomed with both the former is the lifting up of the hands according to that of David in the Psalmes Let us lift up our hands unto God in the heavens Psal 28.1 Psal 1.41 hear my supplication when I lift up my hands towards thy holy Oracle c. which is referred to in the New Testament I will that man lift up pure hands 1 Tim. 2.8 signifying that of David unto thee do I lift up my soul To which we may adde the lifting up of the eyes to heaven according to the example of our Saviour John 17. cap. 11.41 Mat. 14.19 Other unseemly postures of the hands eyes face and the like hath no example in Scripture and even mens hiding or covering of the face at publick prayer seems to be against the order of the Apostle and the then custome of the Churches 1 Cor. 11.7 for by the head there is not meant the hairy scalp but the face both by several circumstances in it and the acceptation of the word elsewhere 2 Sam. 15.30 David wept as he went and had his head covered and all the people that were with him covered every man his head weeping as they went c. here by the head must be understood the face after the manner of mourners as on the contrary that of our Saviour to his Disciples in token of joy lift up your heads must be meant accordingly And the face being the seat of shame the head must be so taken Jer. 14.3 4. they were ashamed and confounded they covered their heads c. unto which some passages out of Tertullian might be given by way of confirmation Now for the better reception of this latter part of the Primates judgement concerning our outward reverence in the publick worship of God whether at hearing of the Word or Prayer so much neglected in these times I shall here adde what I find in the foresaid Mr. Arthur Hildersham in his Lectures upon John 4. In the 26. Lecture he speakes much for the outward reverence of Gods publick worship in the Church viz. That we should neither come into that place nor go out of it as ye would in or out of a danceing-schoole But in our very comeing in and going out and whole outward carriage we should give some signification of the reverence that we bear to this place and that we do indeed account it the house of God Exhorts men to come to the beginning of the then publick worship or before it begins and tarry till all be done to be present at the Administration of Baptisme and at the blessing pronounced by Gods Ministers Affirmes that there was nothing then done in Gods publick worship among us but it was done by the Institution and Ordinance and Commandement of the Lord the particulars of which he mentions In his 27. Lecture he exhorts to a reverend gesture in prayer kneeling as the fittest or standing not sitting And commending the reading of the Scriptures in publick he saith At the hearing of the word read some further gesture and outward signification of reverence is to be used then is required at the hearing of the Sermon which he confirmes by proofes out of Scripture and reasons too large to be related here But he thus concludes viz. So you see the custome of our Churches in sitting bare while the Word is read is grounded upon good reason and warrant from the word of God and such as it well becomes every one of Gods people to conform themselves unto Lect. 29. he complains of that irreverence thus Some will not vouchsafe to be bare at the reading of the Word some will be bare at the Psalmes not at the Chapters and if they could justly pretend infirmity for it they were to be excused but they will not be bare many of them so long as the Text is in reading yea every youth and boy in our Congregations are wont to be covered while the Word is read But the chief abuse is the neglect of kneeling in prayer many that will kneel at their own private prayers which they make at their coming into the Church can never be seen to kneel at the common and publick prayers Many that will kneel at the Lords prayer will kneel at no other wherein though the Lords prayer be in sundry respects more excellent then any other yet there is as much reason we should kneel at any other prayer as at it for the reason of our kneeling is not the excellency of the words used in prayer but the reverence and