have confessed Imposition of Hands and the solemn words of Investiture Receive ye the Holy Ghost The Scripture knows no other Essentials but these which is also acknowledged by some of your Learned Partizans and these are constantly used by our Bishops who received their Ordinations from their Predecessors by an uninterrupted line of succession whether from British or French or Roman Bishops is not material because each of these had their Mission in your expression by a continued succession from the Apostles who planted the Faith and laid hands on their first Successors of these Nations Cardinal Pole the Papal Legat by his Dispensation and Pope Paul the 4th by his Ratification setled the Ordinations in King Edw. the 6th his Reign with this only Proviso that those then so Ordained would return to the Vnity of the Church that 's sure in their and your sense to adhere to the Pope and acknowledg his begged Sovereign Monarchical Power This they could not have granted neither would they if they had suspected any defect in the Essentials of their Ordination It is not in the power of the Pope or Cardinals to ratify their Orders who had none or dispence with them to execute any Function in the Church who had no Authority from Christ or his Apostles for it if they did your Church hath concluded the Act sacrilegious and null if we may believe some of your Controvertists 2. By the Constitutions of the Church what hath been universally observed and was decreed by the Councel of Carthage in St. Aug. time hath been and is still retained in the Church of England 3. By the Laws of the Kingdom both this and the others will appear by the Records upon both these accounts Bishop Jewel defended this Church against Mr. Harding Fol. 129. I am a Priest by the same Order c you were and after our Bishops succeed the Bishops before our days being Elected Confirmed Consecrated and admitted as they were Mr. Mason hath proved this beyond all cavil your own Associates Mr. Higgins Mr. Hart Father Garnet and Father Old-corn took the pains to search the Registers and after that Arch-Bishop Abbot caused them to be shewed to four more who after they had perused did acknowledg them Authentical and undeniable Ex abundanti Cudsemius the Jesuit Lib. 11. de Desp Cal. causa hath freely confessed the English Nation are not Hereticks because they remain in a perpetual succession of Bishops Monsieur Militiere in his Letter to his Majesty Charles the Second hath declared the same Lastly look to your own Succession in which by your own Laws there be several Nullities by Vacancies Schisms and Simonies which if they were fully charged upon you would puzzel you to clear Having dispatched your Questions the Texts of Scripture are to be considered No man taketh this Honour c. True but this Honour is to be had in any Apostolical Church as well as yours which hath Elder Sisters particularly the British here in England confitente Baronio Faith cometh c. Very good But the Object of Hearing is not the Pope's decrees or Trent definitions but the word of Faith as before Gal. 118. The rest were true before there was a Church at Rome were true when she became an holy Church are true now it is an unsound rotten member of the Church would be eternally true if there were no Church at Rome nor Roman Bishop The Church shall not fail but Christ never setled this priviledg on the Roman or any Church of one denomination Christ's Church never faileth so long as there are Confessors through the World who contend for the Faith once delivered to the Saints BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS FINIS Some Books Printed for Henry Brome in Defence of the Church of England since the Year 1666. A Companion to the Temple or an Help to Devotion being an Exposition on the Common-Prayer in two Voll By Tho. Comber A. M. Lex Tallionis or an Answer to Naked Truth The Popish Apology reprinted and Answered A Seasonable Discourse against Popery and the Defence on 't The Difference betwixt the Church and Court of Rome considered Considerations touching the true way to suppress Popery to which is added an Historical Account of the Reformation in England Friendly Advice to the Roman Cath. of England enlarged Dr. Du Moulin's Answer to the Lord Castlemain his Papal Tyrannie in England With two Sermons on Novemb. 5th Fourteen Controversial Lords for and against Popery in quarto Beware of two Extremes Popery and Presbytery octav The Reformed Monasterie or the Love of Jesus or a Sure Way to Heaven A Guide to Eternitie by John Bona. Extracted out of the Writings of the Holy Fathers and Ancient Philosophers
Antichristian c. therefore he full well knew the Story to be true and the English Ordinations naught whereas their words were direct proper Answers to the Romish Objections against them viz. They were not Ordained by Romish Bishops after the Romish Rite and import no more but this Bishops and Priests are lawfully Ordained who were not Ordained after the Roman Rite and by Romish Bishops which is an undeniable truth assented to by the Romanists themselves 3 To confirm this N. N. is admonished to hear this Judgment concerning Episcopacy and Ordination Bellarmine Objects against Protestants that they had taken away Bishops Dr. Whitaker Contr. 2 de Eccles q. 5. c. 3. makes so bold with Bellarmine as to give him the Lye saying We do not condemn the Order of Bishops as he falfely slanders us but only those false Bishops of the Church of Rome near the same place condemning the antient Constitution that three Bishops be present at the Ordination of a Bishop for a Godly Sanction Dr. Fulk in Tit. 1. fol. 781. speaks as fully Among the Clergy for Order and seemly Government there was always one Principal to whom the name of Bishop was c. which in his defence against Gregor Martin c. 6. Sect. 20. p. 182. he thus expresseth That the Title of the Bishop was a very old time used to signify a degree Ecclesiastical higher than Presbyter or Priest or Elder we did never deny we know it right well and then will any man of an indifferent judgment ever believe N. N. to be a lover or reporter of Truth when he hath broached so prodigious a Lye that most of the Clergy of England in those times were Puritans these two Prime Protestants were not who thus apologized for themselves and their Brethren the Clergy But because N. N. will have them Puritans let him know that English Protestants are as far from being Puritans as he himself aterwards confesseth as his Catholicks are and the rather because they beg their Principles of Rebellion and Sedition against the King and their Schism against Bishops from the rest of the Papists the Jesuites and whatsoever else they hold contrary to sound Doctrine either from Regulars of another Order or from some of their Schoolmen But because perhaps he will except against these two Prime Protestants for his further satisfaction let him 4. Hear the judgment of the two Prime Pontificians Cudsenius (w) De desperata Calvini causa c. 11. the Jesuite ingeniously confesseth The English Nation are not Hereticks because they remain in a perpetual succession of Bishops which Confession totally destroys all N. N's Fabrick Monsieur (x) To the King of Great Britain p. 6. Charles the second Militiere is not much short of him saying The English Nation retaining the antient Order of Episcopacy which is utterly inconsistent with the contempt and rejection of Consecration as a Rag of Rome and there being contented with the extraordinary Calling of God and the Spirit as instituted by Divine Authority have thereby preserved the Face and Image of the Church Catholick SECT XIII N. N. AS to the Opinion of forgeing so many Records in several Courts it is easily answered that is no more than that the Consecrators and others concerned should have conspired to have given in a false Certificate that the Consecration was performed with due Ceremonies and Rites and thereby deceive the Courts or make them dissemble and this is a thing more possible and probable Protestants being so dexterous in falsifying of Scriptures as appears by Gregory Martin's Discovery of Corruptions than that all the Protestant Clergy should have conspired not to produce the Registers when they were so hardly pressed by their Adversaries or that so many Catholicks should be so foolish to invent and maintain the Story when if it had been false they might have been convinced by Thousands of Witnesses or that so many grave and learned Divines who for Conscience sake lost all should without fear of Damnation engage themselves and Posterities in damnable Sacriledg by occasioning so many sacrilegious Ordinations upon their charging Protestants with no Ordination No moderate or prudent man can suspect such Persons should damn their Souls out of meer spight to the Church of England If we Catholicks should reordain Protestant Ministers which after their Conversion have been made Priests upon the title of Heresy and not of their known Invalidity we should also reordain the Grecian Priests which is against our known Practice and Tenents insomuch as we hold our selves obliged to examine with all diligence whether there be any probability of the Persons receiving valid Orders and finding but my probable appearance thereof the Practice is and hath been for divers Ages to give Orders not absolutely but conditionally whereas it is notorious that all such Ministers receive their Orders in absolute terms without any condition adjoyned in the same manner we use in the Ordination of Lay-men SECT XIII J. S. part 1. THis is N. N's last and worst Medium for his Fable such as if it held would destroy all human Faith and the best assurance that can be had for the confirmation of the Truth in matters of Fact But 1. This hath been an Old desperate shift of disingenuous Papists who have forfeited all Christian Meekness and Modesty when they are hardly pressed by their Adversaries with a pinching Authority to cry Forgery Protestants assert Pope Honorius the first was an Heretick because they find him condemned of Heresy by the sixth General Council under the Emperour Constantius Pogonatus to which Authority many learned Romanists have given credit But the more rigid sort have taken N. N's easy Answer for a subterfuge Forgery was used for this Condemnation was maliciously inserted into the Acts of the Council by the order of the Emperour who having the Original in his hand by a Conspiracy with the Actuaries consented to their satisfaction Pighius is (y) Hier. l. 4. c. 8. Sed quoniam resolute it must be so for the Pope in despight of all evidences to the contrary must be Infallible for he would have it so A certain learned man wished (z) Pighius diatrib in Epist ad lectorem Pighius to recant and draw in his easy Answer but he falls (a) Id. ib. de act sextae Synodi a-fresh on the matter and scorning to retract what he formerly had said still puts in the same easy Answer whereupon (b) Bannes 22. qu. 1. art 10. Dub. 2. Bannes being troubled at the obstinacy of the man jeers him for his ready Invention that after Nine hundred years Pighius being but a man of yesterday could find all those Witnesses which were produced against him to have been Conspirators in a Forgery and (c) Loc. l. 6. c. 8. ad 11. Canus puts this Question to him How can Pighius clear him whom Usellus Epiphanius and Pope Adrian c. affirm to have been an Heretick At this Baronius (d)
nothing less than Spite in your Popes to thunder out their Interdicts and publish their seditious and malicious Bulls against this Church and State It might be error or mistake in your Grave Learned Divines to pronounce Protestants Hereticks and Schismaticks but it was the extremity of Spight to condemn them to Fire and Faggot without benefit of the Clergy and doom them to Eternal Flames without the priviledg of Purgatory Indeed the main spight of the whole Sect is against the Church of England down with it cry they and the Puritan-rabble will soon be crushed and quelled and the little undersets which spring from them either dwindle away into nothing or drop into their hands 5. He assures us upon his word which is not worth a rush they hold themselves obliged to hold to their known Tenents and Practices this is tattle and empty talk According to their Tenent the Character is indelible yet Pope Stephen nulled the Orders of Formosus and caused all those Ordained by him to be Re-ordained He tells us it is their Tenent and Practice to Ordain Lapsed Ministers in absolute terms as Lay-men are upon the sole account of the invalidity of their former Ordinations but Pope Paul and Cardinal Pool either thought or practised otherwise when they confirmed and settled the Ordinations made in Edward the sixth's time He saith 't is their Tenent to allow those to officiate who have not valid Orders is to commit damnable Sacriledg but the Pope and the Cardinal did allow those who were Ordained as they speak qui ampullas jactant in the time of Schism to officiate and therefore either did think their Orders valid or committed damnable Sacriledg N. N. dare not affirm the latter if he take to the former then all his confused heap of Possibles Probables and Credibles are at once blown up with a Puff of the Popes breath and are driven away like Down It hath been the Practice of their Grave and Learned Divines when any Protestants revolted to exercise them as if they had been possessed for thus was the Form The Revolter was brought to a Bishop and falling down on his Knees before him the Bishop said I adjure thee thou unclean Spirit by the name of God to depart out of the Man If thus they practised now they would mar their market and a half-gained Proselite before he was thus charmed would either start aside or wheel about Whatsoever their Tenents or Practices be or have been which yet are not heeded by Protestants there is an old Sitter at Rome who can change them at his pleasure which when he is disposed to do all that N. N. or his Fellovvs dare do is to Bless themselves holding up their hands and some crying Benedicite others after the old Mumpsimus mode bennistee or vvhich is all one make use of a grave Nod or discontented Shrug and so sit dovvn in silence This is no more than for the Pope to give out Orders to the contrary or impose Silence by a Decree of Taciturnity then let the Tenent and Practice be vvhat it vvill all is quashed they are the Popes Vassals and must most tamely obey his Orders CHAP. IV. SECT I. N. N. goes on BUT suppose their first Bishops were ordained by Catholicks another Nullity is found in the Form of the Consecration To wave the Matter of Ordination let us examine the Form prescribed in the Protestants Ritual It is a known Principle common both to Protestants and Catholicks that in the Form of Ordination there must be some words expressing the Authority and Power given to the Ordained The intention of the Ordainer expressed by general words indifferent and applicable to all or divers degrees of Holy Orders is not sufficient to make one a Priest or a Bishop As for example Receive ye the Holy Ghost These words being indifferent to Priesthood and Episcopacy and used in both Ordinations are not sufficiently expressive of either in particular unless Protestants will now at length profess themselves Presbyterians making no distinction betwixt Priests and Bishops but they are as far from that as we Catholicks In the Form whereby Protestants Ordain there is not one word expressing Episcopal Power and Authority The Form is Take the Holy Ghost c. Let Protestants search all the Catholick Rituals not only of the West but of the East they will not find any Form of Consecrating Bishops that hath not the word Bishop in it or some other expressing the particular Power and Authority of a Bishop distinct from all other Degrees of Holy Orders See Joh. Morin de Sacr. Ord. Par. 1655. SECT I. J. S. 1. IT seems N. N's former tedious Harangue at length comes to this Arch-Bishop Parker c. were not Ordained by his Catholicks which is one Nullity But this is contrary to the Tenents of his Church witness Bellarmine who Lib. 1. de Sacr. in Gen. c. 21. determines that Sacraments administred by Hereticks are valid and to its Practice allowing the Ordinations of the Arrians and Bonasiosi and these of Acacius see in Morin de Sacr. Ord. and of the Greeks witness N. N. ut supra 2. The other Nullity lies in the Form he being contented to wave the Matter but why so this hath alwayes been accounted an essential part of Ordination Bellarm. lib. 1. de Sacr. Ord. c. 9. Sect. ex his truly relateth Concilium c. The Council of Carthage makes mention only of Imposition of hands His quarrel then being with the Form it is to be considered after some use made of his Concession in this Paragraph which will by good consequence destroy his whole former discourse for he confesseth 1. That Protestants have a Form or Ritual then undoubtedly they would use it and not Bishop Scories extempore Spirit 2. They are as far from being Presbyterians as his Catholicks then they were not Puritans unless his Catholicks be so too then they rejected not Consecration as a Rag of Rome nor were they contented with Extraordinary Calling then they are as much for Bishops and regularly Consecrated Bishops as his Catholicks 3. This Form is prescribed and thereby they Ordained therefore they did Ordain by their Prescript Form and not as N. N. surmiseth and suggesteth 4. The Form hath these words Receive ye the Holy Ghost therefore N. N's feigned Form was not used at Arch-Bishop Parker's Consecration 5. The Form requires the Consecration of a Bishop to be publick in the Church therefore his suggestion of a Clandestine Consecration is a Calumny 6. The Form hath the word Bishop in it therefore it hath sufficient to express the particular Power and Authority of a Bishop 7. The Form requires three Bishops to the Consecration of a Bishop therefore they did not think the help of one was sufficient yet this is the Form N. N. is pleased to quarrel with For 3. He pretends there is a known Principle common c. But this he misrepresents this Form must be used and no other Bell. inclines
Testimonies that can be devised not only of this World but of God of Angels and Glorious Souls of Devils and Damned Spirits in Hell the fittest Witnesses of all and here he stops his Carreer Other puling Hereticks have boasted of this or that Council or of some few Fathers but these have attained to that pitch of Impudency that all makes for them all is theirs when upon a just examination none at all appears for them Heresy is alwayes accompanied with Vanity and Insolency but this exceeds all Parrallel but that we find it the constant custom of the Romish Hectors SECT III. N. N. AFter Edward died his Sister Queen Mary Reigned who being a Catholick restored Religion by Act of Parliament Cardinal Pole the Popes Legate absolved the Kingdom from the Excommunication and Schism incurred Some Histories report that three thousand Sectaries all Strangers were Banished out of England and among the rest the two holy Apostles Peter Martyr and Bernard Ochine All King Edwards Bishops were Deposed and Imprisoned the Catholick Bishops set at liberty and restored to their Sees SECT III. J. S. 1. QVeen Mary did reintroduce Popery but this she did contrary to the solemn Promise made to the Gentry of Norfolk and Suffolk to violate such an obligation will scarce be proved either Honourable or Religious 2. She did not regularly restore her Religion but confusedly shuffled it up as hath been before declared that if any Protestant Prince had done the like an hideous Hubbub would have been raised Bishop Jewel relates the manner thus (a) Reply to Harding Art 13. fol. 358. The Papists first scattered it and forced their Mass against a Law then in force against them then established it by Law and next after had a Solemn Disputation at Oxford to try whether the Law were good or no. This saith he Mr. Harding is your Lidford Law for in order of nature the Disputation should have been first then the Law then the Execution thereof but as Tertullian saith Haeretici ex Conscientia infirmitatis suae nihil tractant ordinarie 3. He cannot but his hand must slip though he have no visible advantage by it for all King Edwards Bishops were not Deposed the Bishops of Lincoln and Hereford were not the Bishops of Litchfield Salisbury Norwich Bangor St. Asaph and Landaffe complyed 4. If the deposed Bishops were but pretended Bishops then your restored Bishops were so too for some of these received their Ordination from them and those who ordained them But now the Originist after all these Sallies falls afresh on his great work on which he spends much Paper and time wherein he most triumphs and glories and thus he makes his first approach and onset CHAP. III. SECT I. N. N. QUeen Mary deceased without issue her Sister Elizabeth is proclaimed Queen The Reformation is established by Act of Parliament notwithstanding the great opposition made by all the Bishops and others in the Upper-house The Queen was resolved to pull down Catholick Religion because Cecil and others of her Council perswaded her she could not be secure as long as the Pope's Authority was acknowledged in England seeing the Apostolick See had declared her a Bastard and all Catholicks looked upon the Queen of Scots as true Heir to the Crown Nevertheless it was judged expedient for her quiet and the peace of the Realm to keep always a Resemblance of it in the Clergy as the best remedy against Puritanism which was thought by her Majesty dangerous to Monarchy The titles therefore of Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans and Chapters were retained as also in her own Chappel some Images the Altar and a Crucifix upon it But what will they do for Ordination That Form which was instituted in Edw. the sixth's time was judged invalid by publick Judgment in Queen Marie's days insomuch that Leases made by King Edward's Bishops though confirmed by Dean and Chapter were not esteemed good because saith the Sentence they were not consecrated nor Bishops see Brook's Novel Cases Plac. 463. fol. 101. impress London 1604. Seeing therefore it concerned the Queen to have consecrated Bishops she endeavoured by all means to have such as she named for Bishopricks consecrated by Catholicks but they all resolved not to make Bishops in the Church whereof themselves refused to be members The Queen notwithstanding the reluctancy of Catholick Bishops named in her Letters Patents Kitchin Bishop of Landaff among others to consecrate Mr. Parker and his Fellows he being the only man among all the Catholick Bishops that took the Oath of Supremacy in her Reign But many others who complied with Henry the eighth in that particular refused now to consecrate and Landaff was resolved to do the same yet at last by fair words and promises they prevailed with the old man to give them a meeting at the Nags-head in Cheapside where they hoped he would have ordained them Bishops despairing that ever he would do it in a Church because that would be too great and notorious a scandal to Catholicks among whom Landaff desired to be numbred Bonner Bishop of London hearing of this sent Mr. Neal his Chaplain to forbid the exercise of giving Orders in his Diocess under pain of Excommunication wherewith the old man being terrified and otherwise also moved in his Conscience refused to proceed in that Action alledging chiefly for reason of his forbearance want of sight This excuse being interpreted an evasion by Mr. Parker and his Fellows lessened his entertainment some of them reviling him and saying this old Fool thinketh we cannot be Bishops unless we be greased alluding to the Catholick manner of Episcopal Vnction Being thus deceived in their expectation they resolved to use Mr. Scories help an Apostate irreligious Papist who had born the name of Bishop in King Edward's time and was thought to have sufficient power to perform the Office he having cast off with his religious habit all scruple of Conscience willingly went about the matter which he performed in this sort having the Bible in his hand and they all kneeling down before him he laid it upon every one of their heads and shoulders saying Take thou Authority to Preach the Word of God sincerely and so they rose up Bishops of the new Church of England SECT I. J. S. TO this long lying Section the fittest method will be to discover the several falsities and vain conjectures as they lie in order First He vainly surmiseth great opposition was c. This is one misadventure for there was but fourteen Bishops then living whereof four were absent and then a Question may be made whether all those ten who were present did oppose it for some of them had learned the Art of compliance so exactly that they could suit to the times without any opposition for the others there was but one Abbot of Westminster and only two Lords Temporal the Earl of Shrewsbury and Viscount Montacute who did oppose it these thirteen if they had all combin'd could not make any great opposition
shall appear from a pretended discovery of Turrians who brought to light that which lay in darkness for a good store of hundred years 3. Bishop Jewel and other Protestants of those times were not required to produce the Records by Dr. Stapleton Dr. Harding Mr. Rascal and other Romanists of those times who never urged any thing in defence of N. N's Story and to the prejudice of the Records 4. They were virtually and in effect produced by the Parliament in their reference to them and were alledged and mentioned in Dr. Parker's Life as N. N. acknowledgeth in the next Paragraph 5. The advantage got by producing them could only have proved their Legality and the advantage lost by concealing might have brought their Legality into dispute but could not destroy their Validity 6. The producing them would not have foiled their enemies for produce them unless it be to an ingenious Adversary the Sticklers have a despeâ—â—te shift they were forged if this be cleared they produce another desperate shift now most in request with them supposing say they there be materialâ— Mission in the Church of England yet it is not to the true intent and purpose or as some express it their Ordination doth not enable them to offer true substantial Sacrifice and so from one desperate shift unto another in infinitum 7. They did not produce them therefore they were not extant is another of N. N's absurd inconsequences for it is an Argument from Authority negatively which though in some cases it may hold yet here it cannot for it is as if we should thus argue Neither N. N. nor any of his Camrades were so quick-sighted as to spie such a Sentence in St. Aug. therefore there is not any such extant in his Writings 8. What he affirms of Dr. Fulk we are not directed where to find it probably if he had been at leisure he would have referred to his Answer to the Rhemish Annotators and if there it he then it is to be found in Rom. 10. Sect. 5. p. 471. where he hath so strongly proved his Position out of Ruff. Theodor. c. that all his Nags-head Narrators durst never undertake a refutation neither was this any desperate shift in him upon that pretended reason which N. N. hath alledged for this he had bassed in the foregoing Sentence which N. N. unworthily and purposely conceals saying No man ought to intrude himself into that Priestly Office without lawful Calling How lewd and desperate then was N. N. to tell the World he was put to desperate shifts when he giveth God thanks he had no temptation nor occasion to use any thing If it be suggested he bluntly declared any such expressions he will be found still to be the same man and of the same Judgment SECT IX N. N. DR Bristow Motive 21. what Church is that whose Ministers are very Lay-men unsent uncalled c. Mr. Rainolds Calv. Tarc l. 4. c. 15. There is no Herdman in all Turkie which doth not undertake the Government of his Herd upon better Reason Right Order and Authority than those your magnificent Apostles and Evangelists can shew for this Divine Office of governing of Souls Dr. Stapleton's Counterblast against Horn fol. 7 8 9. To say truly you are no Lord of Winchester c. Is it not notorious that you and your Collegues were not Ordained according to the Prescript I will not say of the Church but even of the very Statutes c. fol. 301. You are without any Consecration at all your Metropolitan himself poor man being no Bishop at all Dr. Harding in his detection against Mr. Jewel fol. 129. You tell not half my tale c. I ask you of your Priesthood and Bishoply Vocation and Sending c. These being my Questions you answor neither by what example hands were laid on you nor who sent you c. Those who took upon them to give Orders in King Edward's days were altogether out of order themselves and ministred them not according to the rite and manner of the Catholick Church as who had forsaken the succession of Bishops in all Christendom c. and had erected c. Mr. Jewel answers this with profound silence only he says without any proof our Bishops c. To this Dr. Harding replies your Metropolitan who should give authority to all your Consecrations himself had no lawful Consecration the Ancient Bishops were either not required or refused to Consecrate you which is an evident sign you sought not for such a Consecration as had ever been used but such an one whereof all the former Bishops were ashamed To this sharp Reply directly affirming the Nullity of Mr. Parker's Ordination and by consequence of all the English Clergy Mr. Jewel answers not one word to the main Point nor mentions Mr. Mason's Records what then can any man of an indifferent Judgment think in this case but the Records were not then extant or forged How is it they should not be produced by Horn Jewel Parker and the rest whom it specially concerneth to make proof of their own calling being so often and so earnestly urged thereto by their Adversaries triumphing over them for want of due Authentick proof thereof yet the Records were never mentioned by any of them If they were extant and not produced against the Catholicks it was because in Queen Elizabeth's time many were living who could have proved them to be forged so that the Act of Parliament and Parker's Life makes them more incredible than if no mention were made SECT X. J. S. TO this tedious nothing for N. N. hath now almost emptied his Budget of broken Wares which deserves no return in it self that shall be replied only which will discover how willing some Romanists are to fight with their own shadows and like drowning men to catch at sticks and straws to buoy up their sinking Cause 1. Those Authors he here mentions never touched at the Nags-head if they had known or heard of any such thing they would have divulged it with open mouth neither did they in all these Quotations ever so much as hint at or reflect upon the Records only Dr. Stapleton presumes they were not Ordained according to the Prescript of the Statutes themselves because he conceived as formerly hath been said that the Statute was not revived in Law primo Eliz. if otherwise he thought the Parliament may be presumed to be more knowing than he was in that Case and we may further and justly presume that those who left no stone unturned for the advantage of the good old Cause would not over-leap such Stumbling-blocks for the two first of these Authors they were so deep in rage that they quite stifled reason but Dr. Bristow met with his match one that paid him home in his own Coin for Mr. Rainolds he acted the part of a Renegado who would be sure by the fortiter calumniari his high calumnies to decline the shame of his Revolt Dr. Stapleton by Catholick Church meant
to the Affirmative Lib. 1. de Sacr. in gen c. 1. Sect. 2. 20. even the words are determinated saith he by God yet withal he tells us if they be corrupted as suppose the Priest after the old Mumpsimus rate should say In nomino Patria Filia Spirito Sanctu or interrupted as if the Priest at the Consecration of the Eucharist should first numble hoc est Cor and after a little pause cough out pus meum the Form would be good but Alex. Hales p. 4. q. 5. mem 2. art 1. states it otherwise The Forms saith he of Rome Sacraments are determinate the Forms of other Sacraments are not The Forms of Baptism and the Eucharist being appointed by Christ are kept inviolably without all change but touching the words of Form to be used in any other of the supposed Sacraments there is no certainty but they are diversly and doubtfully declared the reason whereof is because they were of human devising It is declared otherwise by Pope Innocent the Father of the Canonists saying The words of Form were instituted by the Church Hist Counc Trent fol. 594. But Protestants stand not upon words using only the Form which Christ instituted and is retained in (a) Both in Episcopal and Priestly Ordination Filicius tract 9. c. 2. ex Pontifical Rom. and in the Roman Catechism de Sacr. Ord. Bell. de Sacr. in gen c. 21. l. 1. de Sacr. Ordin c. 9. the Western Church in terms and in the Eastern to the sense For the Grace or Gift of God creating and promoting which is the Eastern Form is the same in substance with receiving the Holy Ghost for the Gift and Grace of God Eph. 3.2 8. 1 Cor. 15.9 10. 1 Tim. 4. Heb. 12. Tim. 1.6 is exactly the same with power from on high assured Lu. 24.49 and the promise of the Father c. Act. 1.4 5. which is the receiving this power and v. 8. These Protestants use and trouble not themselves with nice Disquisitions and Disputes 4. He affirms the intention of the Ordainer c. But it is very reasonable to presume the General words are sufficient upon N. N's grounds because they are used and applicable to all degrees of Holy Orders For if Episcopacy and Priesthood be only divers degrees of the same Order as he intimates and is declared in the Roman (b) Ib. n. 24. p. 266. Bell. de Sacr. Ord. c. 5. Sec. sequitur secunda only by the extension of the Character id ib. Sect. tertia Sect. seq with this only difference that the same efficacy is required to the extension of the character as to the first impression id ib. Sect. respond Catechism then the same Form will serve for both those disparate degrees of the same Order and the rather because in their opinion the higher Power compared to Bishops is only by extension of the Character and Protestants stick to this because it was only used in the Ancient Roman Church as it was only prescribed in the Old Pontifical and as the Church then answered the Sophisters of these times when this very Objection was writ against the Pontifical so do Protestants now the present Roman Cavillers who have taken it from them for thus the Church of Rome defends her self 1. The design was fully notified by words in the Pontificial to which of the respective Orders the Person presented was to be admitted 2. The manner of Imposition of hands did sufficiently discover the intention of the Ordainer and diversity the Act for in the Consecration of a Bishop divers Bishops impose hands but in the Ordination of a Priest one only Bishop with some assisting Priests This is the Judgment of both the Ancient Western and Eastern Church that that Form Receive ye the Holy Ghost which is the Form prescribed both for Priesthood and Episcopacy in the Protestant Ordinal is sufficient to confer Power and Authority to both Orders so that it being duly applied he that is presented to the Capacity of a Bishop is thereby enabled to do the Office and Work of a Bishop in the Church of God and he who is presented for Priesthood is thereby warranted and empowred for the Office and work of a Priest 5. He surmiseth these words Receive ye the Holy Ghost are not c. this is to oppose Christ's Institution and in effect to make his Form of Commissionating his Apostles defective and insufficient For if that Form was sufficiently expressive of Apostolical Power and Authority then is it of Episcopal and it is most properly applied to them because if not only yet principally they are the Apostle's Successors even in the Judgment of many Learned Romanists and therefore this Form sealed by imposition of hands Constitutes a Person presented to Episcopacy a full Bishop by the Law of Christ without the supplement of any other auxiliary Form Father Davenport (c) Expos Paraphr artic confess Angl. p. 322. ad 325. alias St. Clara. hath evidenced from great Authority their new Additionals to be unnecessary Expos Paraphr Art Confess Angl. p. 322. Alii putant c. Others think saith he Imposition of hands as the Matter and those words Receive ye the Holy Ghost as the Form is as much as is required by Divine Law to the Essence of Episcopal Ordination and this they think from the Authority of the Scriptures which often and only makes mention of these two as (d) Bell. l. 1. de Sacr. Ord. c. 9. saith we cannot convince Hereticks that Order is a Sacrament because we cannot prove the external Symbol thereof from Scripture which is not possible for him to do of their new additional either Matter or Form Arrudius largely proveth 6. He assumes In the Form whereby Protestants Ordain c. But this his Assumption is 1. Frivolous It is absurd to object that against Protestants which if it were granted would render all the Ordinations in the Romish Church for 800 years meer Nullities 2. Fallacious he equivocates in the word Form which is either taken largely for the whole Office of Administration exemplified in the Ordinal or strictly for an Essential part of his Discourse and in the Conclusion he useth the word Form in the most comprehensive sense for the whole Rite of the Ministery which hath in it for the more Solemnity Prayers Exhortations Interrogatories c. but in the Assumption and middle-part he taketh it in the restrained sense for the Essential words which are the Constitutive Form as Imposition of hands is concluded to be the Matter this is their own distinction 3. False for in the Form that is the Protestants Ritual there are and always were express words for the Authority given in the respective Functions of Bishops and Priests for whose Ordinations there are distinct Forms and distinct Words The word Bishop oftner than three times used in the Office appointed for his Consecration and the word Priest sometimes in that prescribed for his Ordination Just according
a Church For this reason the most eminent Protestants who still maintained the Divine Right of Bishops yet did they clear those Transmarine Churches which have not Bishops from sinning against Divine Right because their want was not through their own default but the Iniquity of the Times and Places they lived in which charitable construction should seem very reasonable to the Romanists for that the Court of Rome gave the first occasion of all the contests about Episcopacy by investing Priests with Episcopal Jurisdiction and Power by their Commissions and Delegations and without doubt Necessity is as strong Dispensation for these Pastors to execute the Ministerial Office as the Popes Mercenary Bulls granted upon unworthy avaritious ends can be for their Priests to exercise Episcopal Authority Those Churches therefore under this want are True though lame and maimed Members of the Catholick Church Just as Canus (n) Loc. l. 4. c. ult ad 10. determines of the Romish Church in a vacancy It is then left Lame saith he and diminished without Christs Vicar that one Pastor of the Church the Pope yet the Spirit of Truth should abide in it and vvithout doubt the Spirit of Truth will as certainly abide in those Churches which want Bishops as in their Church wanting a Pope at least they should think so because in their account the Pope is as necessary if not more to the being of a Church than Bishops are To clear this more distinctly some things are required to the Essence (o) This is Stapleton's distinction of a Church as the Doctrine of saving Faith in the Profession and Practice thereof some only to the Perfection and Integrity of a Church as the having Regular Pastors by a due Form of Ordination both these are necessary though not equally and in the same Degree the former absolutely and indispensably the latter de congruo possibili viz. it concerns the Church if possibly it can be obtained to have lawfully Ordained Pastors and every wilful Omission much more Rejection of the Catholick settled Order in this kind is Sacrilegious and Schismatical yet those Pastors who highly esteem Episcopal Ordination and much affect it but cannot obtain it through the Recusancy of Bishops in present Place and Power who will not Ordain them without sinful compliance and submission to gross Errours and Corruptions evidently contrary to the Law of Christ if they hold and divide the Word of Truth rightly may be accounted true Pastors though not in a real Mission yet by a moral designation as being deputed and separated to that Divine Office because in this case the Necessity is invincible which makes that allowable which otherwise would be unlawful as Dr. Cracken contr Spalet c. 4. observes from the Gloss and illustrateth from Scipio's Example who when the Questors denied him a supply of Monies out of the Publick Treasury because it was against Law presently replied Necessity hath no Law The Romanists confess the desire of Baptism is sufficient to excuse the want thereof and they have it in effect who have it in desire in all reason the want of an undoubted Sacrament is more dangerous than the want of a Sacramental can be especially where there is a Desire to have the Impediment removed The Jews were prohibited to build private Altars yet in case of Necessity when they were not permitted to go to Hierusalem the learned Jews determined the Prohibition ceased as to its present effect and every one knows a Negative Prescript is not so dispensable as an Affirmative It is the opinion of Cornelius a Lapide in Numb 20.26 that Eleazar was mâ—de High-Priest praeter legem morem otherwise than by standing Law and Custom he ought First because his Father was then living next in that the right only of putting on his Fathers Garment was used without any Solemn-Unction or Consecration to the Priesthood 5. He subjoyns a doubtful Clergy makes a Doubtful Church This is a Doubtful Proposition the most he can make of it is that a Doubtful Clergy makes a Doubtful Church only in Part not in the Whole for even Schismaticks in those things wherein they have made no separation from the Church otherwise the Romanists would be in a sad condition do so far still remain uncorrupted to the Church so that if that Doubtful Clergy keep the wholesom words of sound Doctrine if N. N. doubt of this he may remember there is a Clergy of a beyond-Sea Church which hath no Bishops hath made this good against the choicest Champions of the Roman See so far they are Catholicks 6. He is very positive a doubtful Church is no Church It is true he who harboureth a doubt which he will conclude Prudent because the issue of his own Imagination or the suggestion of some over-admired Teacher of that Church whereof he is a Member that Church to him is no Church but where such a doubt is entertained the Case is only disputable and questioning doth not disprove or destroy certainty and truth But such doubtful Propositions as N. N. hath here conjured up will without doubt damnify his good old Cause because thereby his Church will be concluded a no Church by the demonstrating Power of those many doubts and uncertainties which her chief Members have conceived and uttered against her instances of most important concern For Part 2. 1. It is a rule with them that a doubtful Pope is no (p) Crespet in verb. Papa Caran p. 827. Pope and that there cannot be two Popes at one and the same time etiam ex urgentissima causa as Jac. Castellon cites out of Navar verb. Papa p. 485. no not upon the most weighty Consideration because there is but one Monarch and one Monarchy only for Spiritual concerns by the appointment of Christ hence they generally conclude that all those who are not united to that one determinate Head are in the state of damnable Schism and those who are united to him are united to the true Catholick-Church viz. The Church is a Society of men united in the Profession of the same Faith and participating of the Sacraments under the Government of lawful Pastors chiefly of one Vicar of Christ upon Earth the Roman Pope This then is obvious at the first view from these Premises that an undoubted Pope is as fully and by the word chiefly in the definition more necessary to the being and Constitution of the Church than an undoubted Clergy and a doubtful Pope is as destructive to the Church as a doubtful Clergy from whence it necessarily follows that if a doubtful Clergy makes a doubtful Church a doubtful Pope must do so too and then if this be proved there hath been a doubtful Pope and no one undoubted Pope by N. N 's demonstration it is impossible the Roman can be the true Catholick and Apostolick Church but this is easily made evident from the many doubts and uncertainties which of the several pretending Popes hath been the one undoubted Pope
the Church of Epirus yet the Great Council of (m) Conc. penult 28. Act. 16. Chalcedon thought fit to remand this liberality and enstate them upon the Bishop of Constantinople upon this ground that then Constantinople was the Imperial City for thus the Order goes The Fathers orderly gave the Priviledg of Chiefty and Headship to the See of Old Rome because that Ally had the Empire and moved with like Consideration gave (n) Evagr. ◠◠c. ult the like Priviledges to the See of Constantinople thinking it agreeable to reason that the City of Constantinople being honoured with the Empire and Senate as Rome had been should enjoy the like Priviledges These Priviledges were not only some Honorary Titles and Dignities as some Romanists fancy but the like that Rome had which in express words is said to be a Priviledg of the Chiefty or Headship which some learned Romanists have observed and therefore render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (o) Anton. Salm. Dr. Ham. Schis disarm p. 94. Privilegia Dignitates Authoritates Priviledges Dignities and Authorities It is true the Precedency of Place which is meerly Honorary was reserved to the Bishop of Rome for which Respect and Honour there was great reason because the Church of Rome was a Metropolitical Church of long standing whereas the Church of Constantinople was not long before only a Suffragan This Canon hath put the Romanists to all their Shifts some pretending the whole last Action to be Spurious and Clandestine but why then did the Popes Legats oppose it a Spurious Act is of it self void and a Clandestine Act could not prejudice their Master and his Interest and why do they produce this Scandalous as they judg Act as a Proof for the Popes Plenitude of Power over that of a General Council These men will play at small game rather than stick out Counterfeit stuff must pass for the maintenance of the Papal Prerogative Others of them are so bold as to tell the World that after the Canon was passed the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Antioch for he of Alexandria was dead and that See vacant were ashamed to move it this is a most disingenuous shameless falsity for it is notoriously known and most certain they (p) Conc. Tom. 3. p. 475. E. both subscribed it others would make the World believe this Council was not then free and the Canon extorted by tumultuous importunity This is another scandalous Calumny for all the Fathers did own it as their (q) Ibid. p. 463. Act and Deed both by Subscriptions and Attestations before the Judges deputed by the Emperour to see that Synodal Order was regularly observed for confirmation whereof they published a Manifesto But they of all other Shufflers seem to have taken the wisest course who very cautiously and industriously have left it out of their Editions of the Councils which saved them the labour of beating their Brains to invent such handsom Excuses Cavils and Calumnies which yet were much more than needed for this Canon was not Operative but Declarative not Introductory but Confirmative in Confirmation of what fifty years before had passed at the first General Council of Constantinople which resolved That the Bishop of Constantinople ought to have the Honour of Primacy next after the Bishop of Rome for that Constantinople (r) Conc. Constant 1. c. 1 2 3. Soz. l. 7. c. 9. is new-Rome And if both these were suspected and failed or not extant yet there is another Canon of this Council of Chalcedon which the Roman Censors have not as yet traduced either as Spurious or Clandestine or Forced and is received in their Editions which will quite foil and rout out Monarchical Sovereignty It is this (s) Conc. Chalced. c. 9. Act. 15. Si vero c. If any have a Complaint against the Metropolitan of the Province let him either repair to the Primate of the same Diocess or chief Jurisdiction or to the Royal City of Constantinople and let him be judged there Caran approved by Bell. in his Annot. will have the Bishop of Rome to be the Exarch for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not a Primate but a Prince and the Roman High-Priest is that Prince This shift is refelled in the third Council (t) Conc. 26 juxt Car. of Carthage which determined The Bishop of the first See which the Bishop of Rome is acknowledged to be shall not be called Prince of the Bishops As for the word Exarch in the Ecclesiastical notion it is sometimes applyed to an Arch-Bishop thus in the Greek Euchologue Notice being given to the Patriarch that a Church was building and near finished he directed a Letter for its Consecration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Metropolitan thereof or in his absence to some of the Bishops in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Province but ordinarily or more frequently it is attributed to the (v) Dr. Ham. Ans to the Animad on the dissert p. 177. Primate as here which is confirmed by Anaclitus who in a Decretal Epistle received by the Romanists which therefore is of good Authority against them thus informs us viz. In the head of the Province Primates are placed by Divine Ecclesiastical Laws that to them the Bishops when it is needful may resort and make their appeals this also is entered into and recited in the Body of the Canon-Law approved and published by Gregory the thirteenth All which is perfectly consonant to the directions for Appeals given in the Council of Chalcedon Let Appeal be made from the Bishop to the Metropolitan from him to the Primate or Exarch and that Law of the Emperour Justinian Let Patriarchs according to the Laws and Canons hear and make an end But the Bishop of Rome cannot be this Exarch for here are two Plenipotentiaries appointed in the same Commission strengthned with equal Power and Authorized to act jointly and severally in taking Cognisance of the Appeal and to give Sentence upon it and the Pope was neither of these Plenipotentiaries or Commissioners but only in a reserved case when the Bishop complainant should appeal to him which Bishop too must be one of his own Diocess and so had no Power conferred on him but that which the rest of the Patriarchs enjoyed equally with him for the respective Bishops of their Diocesses might if they pleased (w) Conc. Constan 1. c. 3. Appeal to their own Primate or the Bishop of Constantinople it was at their discretion to choose which of these they liked to hear and determin their cause of Complaint and were tied to make choice of one of these two but not at all to Appeal to Rome and the Bishop agrieved though he were one of the Roman Patriarch's Diocess might vvave him and seek remedy from the Bishop of Constantinople and therefore the Bishop of Rome had but the same Povver vvhich the other Patriarchs enjoyed and the Patriarch of Constantinople had the like in a more ample manner than either
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
it and pursue it hotly with Hue and Cry from Country to Country 6. Though several Reasons have before been assigned and more might why our Writers in those times such as Bishop Jewel c. did not expresly appeal to the Records yet I take the Chief to be this The then Romanists did pretend to a mixt Succession but chiefly insisted upon the Moral and Doctrinal so Dr. Stapleton Graeca Ecclesia c. The Greek Churches though they have lineal Succession yet because of the Heresies which they hold and the Schism they make they have not lawful (Å¿) Staplet Princ. doctr l. 13. c. 6. Succession and again Successio de qua agitur c. The Succession of which we dispute is not of places and persons but of true (t) Id. relect c. 1. qu. 4. art 1. 2. notab 5. and sound Doctrine Thus also Mr. Harding def fol. 119. Did Capon Shaxton or ever any Bishop of that See before you teach your Doctrine whom have you succeeded as well in Doctrine as in outward sitting in that Chair To which Question if Bishop Jewel had appealed to the Records he had trifled because they are only evidences of meer matter of Fact not at all of Doctrines taught 7. But N. N. is a man of confidence he believes there were many living in Queen Elizabeth's time could have proved them Forged this is strange forgery is a work of darkness carried on by a few these are too many to be privy to the Fact and very closely with all the securities of secrecy and therefore a man of indifferent judgment will hardly be perswaded that many can be accessory and privy to a designed Forgery 8. On a sudden this great Undertaker grows dull for he supposeth that to make the Records more incredible which to all others makes them most credible To N. N. they are more incredible upon testimony of publick Authority which is indeed to destroy all human security and contrary to the common notices of mankind But N. N. is resolved to speak the Truth at last SECT XI N. N. THE truth is most of the Clergy of England in those times were Puritans and inclined to Zwinglianism they therefore contemned and rejected Consecration as a Rag of Rome and were contented with the extraordinary calling of God and his Spirit as all other Churches do who pretend to Reformation neither is it credible there was any other Consecration of Parker and his Camrades but that which passed at the Nags-head SECT XI J. S. THE truth is there is no truth in any of these Affirmations for 1. The Clergy of England then had a Liturgy with Rites and Ceremonies witness N. N. in what he said before which they orderly observed they did own and defend the three Orders (u) Bishop Jewel Apol. c. 3. divis 1. defence fol. 85. of Bishops Priests and Deacons witness the Ritual which N. N. also acknowledgeth to be the allowed Form of the Church of England to have been ever in Christ's Church since the time of the Apostles which the Puritans do not if they did the Romish Emissaries would lose some Proselytes and therefore N. N.'s suggestion that the Clergy then did condemn Consecration as a rag of Rome is a most malicious untruth 2. The Clergy then neither followed Zwinglius nor any other Person nor any Sect or Sectaries of Men farther than they followed the Scripture and the Practice of the Primitive Church these they took for their rule 3. If by Zwinglianism he intends as it is usually called Zwinglianism the rejecting that monstrous Figment of Transubstantiation they were therein followers of the Apostles and Doctors of the Catholicks if he conceive Zwinglius opposed Episcopacy he is deceived for he and the Helvetians did honour it What he adds of other Reformed Churches is most false for most of them have and do own Bishops either name or thing or both as in the Dominions of the King of Sweden Denmark and the most of them in High Germany even as many as subscribed to the Augustane Confession those under the Duke of Saxony Luxenburg the Marquess of Brandenburg the Prince of Anhault and many others and those of the Reformed Churches which have no Bishops account it their want an infelicity It is a bad Cause which must be underpropped with impious Frauds and is supported only with hideous and palpable Lies 4. In the close of this Section N. N. brings by head and shoulders his Nags-head again to shew he can write as well against common sense as without common honesty for his suggestion neither is it credible and is contrary to the apprehensions of all Impartial Judges for it is morally impossible the Fable should be credible because Dr. Parker's Consecration was performed as is before related in the presence of four of the most eminent Notaries Publick in the Kingdom one whereof was principal Actuary at Cardinal Pool's Consecration SECT XII N. N. HEar the Judgment of Whitaker and Fulk who lived in and about that time the English Ordinations were first called in Question I would not have you think saith Whitaker we make such reckoning of your Orders as to hold our own Vocation unlawful without them Cont. Dur. p. 821. Mr. Fulks more plainly you are highly deceived if you think we esteem your Offices of Bishops c. better than Laymen Ans to Counterf Cath. p. 50. and in his Retentive p. 67. with all our hearts we difie abhor detest and spit at your stinking greasy Antichristian Orders Is it credible these prime Protestants would answer thus if they had not known that the Story of the Nags-head was true SECT XII J. S. HItherto N. N. hath been a fabulous Romancer and Legendary he now falls under the suspition of a Plagiary for in all probability he hath by a trick of Legerdemain filched these Quotations from some Puritan Pamphleteers many of which have made use of them upon another design But 1. In the different Judgment of N. N. the Question was started in Arch-Bishop Parker 's time though not pursued indeed nor moved for many years after at which time Dr. Whitaker and Dr. Fulk were either but School-boys or Freshmen but when they were Writers the Romanists thought fit to let it lie in a Saint-solitude and smother it with profound silence hoping to get a better opportunity to market the Fable 2. Supposing the English Ordination was first questioned in their times by what Magick will N. N. infer his conclusion or prove his Fable credible His Argument â—â—us from the Staff to the Corner for thus he demonstrates Dr. Whitaker and Dr. Fulke defied and sleighted yea scorned the Popish Ordinations therefore they believe the jolly merry Fable Dr. Whitaker saith We hold our Vocation lawful without their Form and Orders N. N's wild inference from hence is Therefore he knew the Story to be true which if it had been so would have rendered it unlawful Dr. Fulk The Romish Orders are stinking greasy