truly Catholick was to extirpate all Innovations in Doctrine all transgressions of Discipline that swerved from the Decrees and Ordinations of the Church and no other 2. Surely the Doctor doth not think Christian Princes as such cease to be sons of the Church they must be saved as well as their Subjects and therefore are not dispensed from that speech of our Lord Qui vos audit me audit They are not Pastors but Sheep Yet Catholick Religion obliges us to acknowledge that their Civil power extends it self to all manner of causes though purely Ecclesiastical so as to make use of the Civil Sword in constraining even their Ecclesiastical Subjects to perform that duty which either the Moral and Divine Law according to the Churches exposition thereof or the Laws of the Church require Such a power yea a Supremacy in such a Power we acknowledge to be in Princes But withal we cannot find either in reason or Antiquity any ground to apply to Princes that Commission which our Saviour only gave to the Apostles and their Successors Sicut misit me Pater c. As my Father sent me so send I you Receive the holy Ghost c. Teach all Nations c. No promise hath been made to Princes that God's Spirit shall lead them into all Truth any other way then whilst they follow the direction of their Ecclestical Pastors to whom only that Promise was made 3. Nay that very Argument by which he would assert his cause is a Demonstration against him He sayes and that very truly Our Kings are as much as any in the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they hold their Regal Authority immediately from God without any dependence on any other authority on earth The like must be said of other absolute Princes too Now this independency of Princes demonstrates that the regulation of their power in Ecclesiastical matters must of necessity be made according to an Authority and Iurisdiction purely spiritual common to them all which is in the Church For otherwise being independent and absolute they may perhaps be able to preserve a kind of Unity in their respective Kingdoms by forcing from their Subjects an Obedience to a Religion and Church-policy framed by themselves contrary to the Law of the Catholick Church But how shall the whole Church be preserved in Unity by this means Other Princes are independent as well as they and therefore may frame a Religion which they may call Reformation as well as they So that if there be not a spiritual Director and Ecclesiastical Laws common to them all and submitted to by all what will become of Vnity Which of these Independents will make himself a Dependent on another Shall there be Patriarchicall or General Councils of Kings meet together Who shall summon them In such Royal Synods there must be order which of them shall challenge a Primacy even of Order Doctor Pierce may see what consequences naturally and unavoidably flow from his Positions 4. Touching the Code and Novels of Iustinian and the practice of Charlemain for the Emperor Zenos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we leave to himself he may please to cast a serious eye on their Laws and will find they were all regulated by the Law of the present Church in their Times The Churches Faith and her Canons for Discipline they reduced into Imperial Laws to the end their Subjects might be more obedient to the Church more averse from innovations in Doctrine and irregularity in manners And doth all this suit with the case of English Protestants Can he justifie King Henry the Eighths Oath of Supremacy and Head-ship of the Church or King Edward the Sixths Reformatio◠legum Ecclesiasticarum or Q. Eliz. new Articles and Canons by these Laws of the Code or Capitulare Let the Emperor Iustinian pronounce his Sentence in this matter Sancimus vicem Legum obtinere c We ordain and command that the holy Ecclesiastical Rules declared and established by holy Councils shall obtain the force of Laws For their Doctrines we receive as the Holy Scriptures themselves and their Rules we observe as Lawes Add again to shew that the Laws enacted by him touching Ecclesiastical matters were intended not as Acts of an absolute Ecclesiastical Supremacy but as consequences of the Churches Authority he saies Our Lawes disdain not to follow the holy and Divine Rules of the Church These were indeed Lawes of Reformation fit for glorious Princes devout Sons of the Church to make but surely very incommodious patterns for the Preachers purpose 5. What the late Emperours Fardinand the first and Maximilian the second did neither his Sermon nor Margin tell us but onely that something was done which he it seems thought for his advantage I 'le tell him what it was Their Reformers in Germany were grown very powerful yet not so but that they made a shew of hearkening to some composition Those worthy Emperors for peace sake made several consultations with learned and moderate Catholicks some indeed too moderate as Cassander c. how the Church Doctrines and Ordinances might be qualified Hereupon divers expedients were proposed Treatises written c. by which the Emperors were in hope debates might be ended But how By betraying the present Churches Faith By renouncing the Popes Iurisdiction or consent to a composition Far otherwise For when they saw no agreement would please the Lutheran Electors and their Divines but such as was derogating from the Authority of the Supream Pastor and prejudicial to the Lawes of the Church they surceased all motions of reconciliation rather chusing to expose themselves to all the dangers that might come from their arms and Rebellion 6. Touching the many Kings of England as he sayes in Popish times whose actions in his opinion shewed that the work of Reformation belonged especially to them in their Kingdom His Margin indeed quotes the Names of fourteen of our Kings since the conquest as if he would have the world believe the pure Reformed Religion were almost six hundred years old But what Reformations were made by any of them either in Religion or Church-Discipline neither I nor himself can shew except by the last King Henry the Eighth who was indeed a Reformer of the new fashion 'T is true the former Kings had frequent quarrels with the Court of Rome touching Investitures procuring of Bulls for determining causes belonging to the Kings Courts usurping a disposal of Bishopricks and other Benefices c. But what is all this to Religion Such debates as these he may see at this day between the Roman Court and the Kings of France Spain c. in all which commonly the Pope is but little a gainer yet notwithstanding all these he will not sure deny but that the Kings of France and Spain and 't is as certain that all those former Kings of England except one were perfect Roman Catholicks not any of them ever did believe that their Supremacy could allow them to alter the
Roman-Catholick Doctrines NO NOVELTIES OR AN ANSWER TO Dr. PIERCE'S Court-Sermon Mis-call'd The Primitive Rule of Reformation By S. C. a Roman-Catholick 1 PET. 3. 15. Parati semper ad satisfactionem omni poscenti vos rationem de eâ quae in vobis est spe cum modestiâ timore conscientiam habentes bonam ut in eo quod detrahunt vobis confundantur MDCLXIII TO THE Queen-Mother MADAM IT cannot be doubted but your Majesty has of late been a great Sufferer in being forced to hear frequent and loud Triumphs for a supposed Victory which by a Court-Sermon scarce an hour long the English Protestant Church at one blow and without any resistance pretends to have a gained over the Catholick But your sufferings were much more encreased when you saw the immediatly following effects of that and several other Sermons of the like stile which by concert at the same time proclaimed distruction to that very Christianity which first expelled Paganism out of our Nation Your Majesty has oftentimes heretofore been wakened and affrighted with such Alarmes But then the Trumpets were blown by men whose Profession and Religion obliged them to renounce all humanity towards us and all respect to Monarchy Whereas this last unexpected blast proceeded from those who even but yesterday promised us as a reward for our common sufferings a security from those our common Enemies whose malice and rage we only apprehended God forbid we should be astonish'd as if some strange thing hapned to us to see our Religion persecuted It is impossible it should be otherwise because the great Enemy of Truth and Charity wil never be reconciled to live at peace with either Yet when we see so wonderful and so sudden a change in formerly professed Friends when not only the hands but the voice of Jacob are become the voice and hands of Eâ—au And when we examining our selves can neither find nor suspect any demerit to provoke our Protestant Friends against us nor so much as imagin what advantage they can gain by our ruine but rather an apparent harm to themselves This being a Case of suffering for the entertaining which we have no Pattern to prepare us and for mitigating which all rational means are uneffectual we cannot forbid our selves a little to wonder at it Yet this great Blessing we may reap from it that thereby we are even forced to our own happiness by having recourse for comfort and deliverance to God onely who when the World goes farthest from us Himself approaches nearest to us and looking fixedly on him we shall discover by his Divine Light how our unexampled ingratitudes have extorted from him unexampled punishments So many years of oppressions and such vicissitudes in them have not diminished much less changed the constancy of our affections to Creatures we have passionately loved the World even when it was bitter to us When God called us to mourning and penitential humiliations we dissembled the taking notice of it In the midst of persecutions we contended in pride and vain jollities with our Oppressors Yet now we see how mercifully God deals with us lest our former miseries should prove beginnings of eternal ones he has brought upon us these new and unfore-seen afflictions for a last Tryal whether his mighty hand can humble us or no. He has seen that the fideliâ—y we perform'd to our Temporal Governors and the charitable assistance we afforded to our fellow suffring Brethren we perhaps expected should be recompensed by them in this life Therefore he will have us continue the same Duties more cordially now that we know and see that himself only must be our reward Our complaints and prayers which are so far from mitigating that they rather incense some spirits against us he will force us to addresse to himself onely which if we do as we ought and mend our lives under his correction we shal certainly pacify him and when he sees it for our good conciliate men to us also since for this last which onely can be doubâ—ed we have no lesse engagement than that of his own Word When the waies of a man please our Lord he will convert even his Enemies to him Madam these reflections I can with much more assurance represent to your Majesties consideration because though hitherto the too common in sensibility of Catholicks to God's Visitations has been much aggravated by our neglect to follow so Christian an example of humiliation penitential austerities contempt of worldly vanities and delight in solitary retraits to converse with God as your Majesty has afforded yet it is now at last to be hoped that in the present dispersion of Catholic Pastors if your Majesty could joyn your Authority with your Example they both together would prove forcible means to invite all Catholics to a serious compunction for their former miscarriages to an acknowledgment not only of the justice but even mercifulness of our Lord's Visitations to a willingness in suffring for him and an expectation of deliverance onely from him Never certainly did our Nation nor perhaps any other afford two Catholic Courts such perfect Schools of Piety in which there are two such Mistresses of most peculiarly Christian though seldom found to be courtly vertues such are Humility Mortification Penance zeal for true Religion equanimity in Suffrings assiduous and unwearied Devotions c. But in a Generation so perverse as this it must be somwhat more then Example that can render these vertues fashionable abroad also Insensible vain tepid and negligent Catholics must see themselvs reprehended by the severity of your Majesties looks and if need be condemned by your charitable reproofs Bravery and curiosity of Attires precious time mispent in vain Conversations and Visits magnificence in entertainments dissolution in dancing c. are justly to be esteem'd crimes unpardonable in those upon whom the hand of our Lord lies so heavy There is no joy now seasonable nor indeed excusable among Catholics but a Joy in suffring for truth and fidelity For we never had till now so comfortable a refreshment to our afflictions It is now made evident that â—ur only fault is that which is our greatest glory We are threatned more severely then ever whilst we are declared most innocent In former Edicts for execution of Laws the principal motives were a care for safety of his Majesties Person and the security of the State and Government Withdrawing of Subjects from their natural Allegiance contriving of Seditious and Treasonable practises maintaining of rebellious principles c. were formerly our pretended crimes Such was the stile in which the late desolating Parliament represented to our most Excellent King of glorious memory a necessity of persecuting and destroying his most faithful Catholic Subjects when God knowes both His safety and security of the Government was at the same time in design and shortly after in effect destroy'd only by the Representers themselves But now Treason is left out of our charge Nor is there any
itching to be as old as the Iulian period begun before the Protoplast Some of them perhaps may have heard of the Palladium of the Conclave but for the Embroidery of the Theopneust Aholiab or the Antiquaryes Keimeliah I believe the Ladies at least were a little puzled on the sudden how to understand them yet if those pompous Sounds were translated into plain English not one of them but would easily see the sense without other Dictionary than their own Cabinet 3. As for the Doctor 's profession in his Epistle Dedicatory That his Resolution was the Sermon should never have been expos'd to the World had not his Majesty commanded it I readily beleeve him for a Victory is easily and very cheaply got if a Controversie be to be decided by a flourishing Speech confidently pronounc'd by a Person in esteem for Learning and Sincerity in a Place where none must contradict especially when he protests he has Proofs unquestionable for all his Assertions But till those Proofs be examin'd the Conquest is only over the Hearer's passions not their reason It may be and I pray God this Sermon was not meant so a good preparation to usher in the Calvinistical zeal for executing severities on innocent Persons who sincerely abhor the crimes deserving such Rigors and the unchristian Principles the Fountains of those Crimes that is on Persons against whom the Law-givers themselves have publickly professed they never intended those punishments This kind of Iustice he may hope for from his Sermon but a rational conviction will never be the effect of it 4. Truly Doctor Pierce must not blame us if we fear he had some such thoughts in his mind when he preached this Sermon so differing from the style of Court-Sermons in the times of his Majesty of glorious memory and of the late as he styles him immortal Archbishop But have we since those dayes deserved such a change in the Tongues and Pens of any Protestants especially the Clergy By what crimes Is it because we have ever since been ready and are so still unanimously to sacrifice our Blood and Fortunes for his Majesty by which also their Church hath been maintained and setled against all the irreconcileable enemies both of monarchy and It Methinks they might forgive us this fault both for past and future For we shall fall into it again if they do not take care by destroying us to prevent it 5. This suspition of ours is much encreased when we reflect on that bitter passage in his Epistle Dedicatory where he sayes I suppose my discourse however innocent in it self will yet be likely to meet with many not only learned and subtile but restless Enemies men of pleasant insinuations and very plausible snares nay such as arâ— apt where they have power to confute their Opponents with fire and faggots Indeed it is possible his Sermon may somewhere fall into some such hands But unlesse he will renounce all Charity justice and humanity he must not impute particular mens actions to Catholic Religion and for their faults expose us to the common hatred and violence Let all the received Canons of the Church be searched and if one be found that justifies the shedding of blood simply on the account of Religion he may have some pretence for such an indefinite odious reflexion upon innocent suffering Christians Let all the practises of the World be examined and it will clearly appear 't is not Catholick Religion that 's chargable with these Excesses since in so many places both they are not where it is and are where it is not And though for some few of these later Ages the Civil Magistrates of some Countries have exercis'd a greater severity then anâ—iently was us'd Yet now even they have entertain'd a more calm and tractable Spirit and seem to hope by other Arguments sufficiently to secure their Religion However why must our England imitate the rigidest of other Nations against whom for that very reason we so loudly exclaim rather than the moderate proceedings of those who are nearer us both in scituation temper and interest Why thus continually be harping upon one string that jarres and never touch the rest that move in harmony 6. Our late unhappy wars have made the Preacher and many others besides him Travellers We appeal to their consciences and experience if they would be pleased to speak as Persons of honour and integrity Did they in any Catholick Countries even ROME it self though here much spoken against for cruelty ever apprehend any danger for their opinions or refusal to joyn in the exercise of Catholick Religion so they would abstain from publick scandalous affronts to the Church they had freedom not only with all quietnesse to enjoy their consciences but civilly to justifie their Doctrines All expressions of kindnesse tendernesse and compassion they received from their Catholick Opponents but surely not the least hard usage that might imprint terrour in their minds 7. Thus much may be permitted us to alledge in our own Defence upon this occasion gives us by the Preacher especially considering we are the onely persons expos'd to the publick hatred and rigour though we onely of all the Dissenters from the Religion of the Kingdom least deserve it For we are no Innovators but Professors of the same Religion that made this Nation Christian. A Religion though now too generally decryed yet in those times confirmed by great Miracles as even Protestants acknowledge A Religion which for almost a thousand years was onely known and professed here When the Reformation entred though almost all Subjects were Catholicks yet seeing the change was introduc'd by a Supream Authority no opposition was made to it by any other Aâ—mes but Prayers and Tears Whatsoever Treasons have been acted by a few wretched persons even our Princes themselves have acquitted the generality of Catholicks thereof and our Religion from allowing them There cannot be framed any Formes of professing or acknowledging due Supremacy and Allegiance to our Kings but we are ready to subscribe them in the same sense that the most learned Protestants themselves ordinarily say they intend them Publick atttestations of our fidelity and zeal in serving and defending our Princes and even the Religion of the Kingdom almost destroy'd by a Conspiracy of all other Dissenters have been made in our behalf even by some who now are most sharp against us Yet after all this of them who are not able to alledge any one of these excuses for themselves some are rendered in a capacity to Triumph over our Suffrings unrepentant Traytors are among our Accusers though it is known the thing which most enrages them is our fidelity their Invectives how false soever are believ'd and they hope to become popular for their attempts to destroy us CHAP. II. Eleven Novelties charged on Catholics Schism imputed to Catholics Why necessary the Sermon should be refuted by Catholics The Answerers protestation of sincerity 1. THe Doctours Sermon for as much as concerns us Roman
But he discourseth so as if the Christian Prince were herein infallible when yet he supposeth that all his Clergy may be herein deceived As if Queen Elizabeth understood the Scriptures and ancient Tradition aright in these Lawes whilst her Bishops and Convocation erred in both till she had new-moulded them Is not this a strange way to justifie a Church-Reformation For the Kings of Iudah it shall be spoken to by and by and as to what he urgeth concerning the power of Kings it is by no means denied that these have Supremacy proper to them to command obedience from all their Subjects and that as well from a Clergy-man as any other to the Lawes of Christ and his Apostles with the civil Sword and with temporal penalties a Supremacy to which the Church layes no claim But when any doubt or controversie ariseth what or which these Lawes be as there was in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Raign in many points Secular Princes as well as others are Sons of the Church and are to learn this from the Expositions of their Spiritual Fathers the Church-Men I mean that body of them which hath the just and Superior Authority of deciding such controversies And let this suffice to shew the legality of the first proceedings of the Reformation in opposition to the unanimous Votes of the whole Clergy or of those therein who clearly had the decisive power of Ecclesiastical Controversies either concerning the sense of Scriptures or Truth of ancient Tradition 12. Then comparing this Reformation with the Council of Trent in regard of worldly or carnal interests let any indifferent man judge between them Was not the liberty obtained by King Henry the Eighth to bring into his Bed a new handsom Wife instead of his former vertuous Queen a very carnal Interest Was not his invading all the possessions and treasure of Monasteries a great secular Interest was not the dividing the said Lands among the Nobility and Gentry at very easie rates a very great interest In King Edwards daies was not the Protectors seizing on the remainder of Church-spoils a great Interest Was not the freeing of Clergy-men from a necessity of saying daily and almost howerly long Ecclesiaâ—â—ical Offices from lying a lone without bedfellows c. Matters of great both carnal and secular Interests Was not the exempting of all both laity and Ecclesiasticks from the Duty of confessing their sins and submitting themselves to penitential satisfactions from rigorous Fasts out of Conscience and Religion and other austerities a matter of considerable interest to flesh and corrupt nature Can any such interests as these be proved to have been operative in the Council of Trent How far all these interests of the world and flesh had influence on the first godly Reformers we may rationally suspect but God only knows and themselves long before this time feel God is not mocked 13. By what hath been hitherto said appears but even too clearly how that Fundamental Rule of all Government and subordination was utterly neglected in England at the time that the pretended Reformation was contrived and executed Here is a new and thorow moulding of a Church both a Doctrines and Discipline called a Reformation wherein all the Synodical Acts of this Church since Christianity entred among us are as to any obliging power by their Authority reversed wherein all the Decisions of Patriarchical Councils yea of Oecumenical Synods are call'd into examination all their Laws so far as seemed meet reform'd the whole regard that England had to all other Catholick Churches as a Member of the whole is utterly broken by one National Church Nay not so much but by one luxurious King by one Child and by one Woman even when the whole Body of the Clergy protested against it And yet after all this if Doctor Pierce may be believed thus to reform was to write after the Coppy which had been set to the Reformers in his Text by the blessed Reformer of all the World which was so to reform as not to innovate and to accommodate their Religion to what they found in the Beginning In the mean time accusing the Church of Rome as he expresseth it but indeed the whole Catholick Church as he must and as others grant of not only horrible corruptions in point of Practise but hideous errors in matters of Faith too such as trench upon Foundations 14. But the Preacher must not expect his confident asseveration without proof can seduce the judgement of any considering man to believe him against evidence and experience Nothing is more plain then that the Catholick Church by observing the foresaid Fundamental Rule is and will be eternally free from danger either of causal or formal Schism And as plain it is that no Churches can be separate from the Catholick Communion but by transgressing that Rule For if Diocesan Churches and Synods would submit to Provincial and Provincial to National and these to Patriarchical and all to Oecumenical how could Unity be dissolved But on the contrary if subordinate Councils shall take on them to reverse the Acts and Decisions of Superior ones especially of Oecumenical how can Schisms possibly be avoided And with what shew of reason can any particular Churches thus breaking Ecclesiastical Orders charge other Churches with Schisms because they will not break them too CHAP. XXIII An Answer to the Doctor 's Proofs alledged to justifie the lawfulness of the English Separation As 1. From the Independent Authority of our Kings 2. From the Examples of Justinian and other Emperors 3. From the practises of fourteen of our Kings 4. From the Examples of the Kings of Juda. In what sense New Articles of Faith are made by the Church in the Council of Trent 1. IT remains now that I answer the examples produced by the Preacher to justifie their Separation to be no Schism he sayes That by the concessions of the most learned Popish Writers particular Nations had still a power to purge themselves from their corruptions as well in the Church as in the State without leave had from the See of Rome This is willingly granted But do those Writers concede such a purgation as their first Reformers administred to this Kingdom not only without but against the consent of the See of Rome nor only of Rome but of the whole Catholick Church A Purgation from the whole Faith and Discipline in any thing they judged fit to be rectified that by the Authority of Councils and Laws of Princes had been received and in force ever since the Nation was Christian and by which they declared themselves Members of the whole Catholick Church On the contrary from the beginning of Christianity he will not be able to produce one example either of States or Princes except profess'd Hereticks such as the Emperors Constantius Valens Zeno c. that ever made any Laws to repeal any Doctrines declared or Disciplines established in the Church The Purgations conceded and executed by Princes
authorized Conference in which the only Design may be by consent to enquire and set down clearly upon what terms a Reconcilement may follow and without which it must not nor ought to be expected Let us understand one anothers Churches let us know one anothers essential Doctrines If there be any mistakes any misinterpretations on either side let them be cleared But till this be done and it can only be effected by them they must pardon us if according to the temper of calamitous unjustly oppressed persons we suspect that this last seemingly moderate passage of his Sermon is in effect the most severe and bitter against us as declared to be persons with whom all Reconcilement is unlawful 5. Certain I am this zealous Preacher is far from the prudent temper of King Iames whose authority being his Supreme Governor in all spiritual things as well as temporal should surely have more then an ordinary influence over him That learned King in his before mentioned Speech hath these remarkable words I could wish from my heart it would please God to make me one of the Members of such a general Christian union in Religion as laying wilfulness aside on both hands we might meet in the midst which is the Center and perfection of all things For if they of the Roman Church would leave and be ashamed of such new and gross corruptions of theirs as themselves cannot maintain nor deny to be worthy of Reformation I would fâ—r my own part be content to meet them in the mid-way so that all novelties might be renounced on either side See the condescence of this great King and compare it with the stiff humor of this little Doctor He 'l not comply with the least of our defilements not he Softly good Sir do you not as ill when you comply with the Lutherans who surely are not without some little stains Do you not as ill when you comply with the Hugenots who are not at so perfect a harmony with you in your being clean Look soberly into your own rashness you began the Separation that hath bred so many wars and so much licenciousness both in faith and manners upon points which your selves confess are not fundamental and now you solemnly protest to continue it without complying in the least difference between us Go now and close your Sermon with a few soft words Your arms are open to embrace c. your hearts are wide open to pray to God to bind up the breaches c. of his divided defiled disgraced Spouse And when all 's done you 'l not stir an inch towards the peace you so gloriously talk of If this be Hypocrisie remember Doctor the woes that attend it if not express your self so sincerely hereafter that we may not suspect it For my part of all the faults in a Sermon to that of dissembling I here declare a Vitinian hatred as you learnedly call it Much more moderate were Vives and Cassander whom you commend for complaining of some abuses in the Church among other Authors which you there cite jumbling Protestants and Catholicks confusedly together for after all their zeal they dyed quietly in her bosom and did not like you tear in pieces the seamless Coat of our SAVIOUR and reject all terms of peace unless every pretence of yours be satisfied to a tittle I remember too a dogged word you gave us not far from the beginning of your Sermon where after you had reckoned up Socinians Antinomians Ranters Solifidians Millenaries Reprobratarians c. a fine Peal to make a Pulpit ring to all which you yield more antiquity then any will allow your Reformation you pass them over with the gentler names of Heresie and Usurpation but when you come to the Pontificians you immediately grow high and rage and resemble them to the Mahometans c. blind and impertinent Passion Do you not see abroad a civil and learned portion of Christians in Communion with the Bishop of Rome and are they no better than Mahometans Do you not see in your own Country and at Court too Persons so qualified that you should blush at your own unmannerliness to compare them to Mahometans 6. If their chief quarrel be against the Court of Rome for proudly treading upon Crowns and making Decrees with a non-obstante to c. This might perhaps have been more seasonable five or six hundred years since But surely they know Catholick Princes are wiser now and the Court of Rome too This needs not be the least hindrance to a Reconcilement On the contrary by a Reconcilement this Church and Kingdom would receive from the Court of Rome only what France Spain c. find extremely advantageous both to the honour and safety of their Churches and States And as for Decrees with a non-obstante he mistakes the terms of Apostolick Constitutions by which is intended Constitutions not made by the Apostles but former Popes And touching the Decree of the Council of Constance in his Margin let me ask him a Question or two Do not Protestants in Baptism use sprinkling instead of dipping non obstante that our Saviour and his Apostles instituted it otherwise Do they not think themselves obliged to communicate fasting non-obstante that our Saviour instituted the Sacrament after Supper Do they not without scruple eat Black-puddings non-obstante the Apostles gave a command to the contrary All this they do because they think these things not essential or unalterable but left to the prudence of their particular Church Let them permit therefore the same liberty to a General Council And here give me leave to insert some few Citations concerning the Protestant-acknowledgments of the Authority of Councils Mr. Ridley sayes Councils indeed represent the Vniversal Church and being so gathered together in the Name of Christ they have the promise of the Gift and guiding of the Spirit into all Truth Doctor Bilson plainly confesses the Presence and Assistance of the Holy Ghost for Direction of General Councils into all Truth And after fairly sayes The Fathers in all Ages as well before as since the Great Council of Nice have approved and prastis'd this of Councils as the surest means to decide Doubts Hooker professes The Will of God is to have us do whatever the Sentence of judicial and final Decision shall determin yea though it seem utterly to swerve from what is right in our opinion Their Authority General Councils is immediately deriv'd and delegated from Christ sayes Potter And if Doctor Peirce agree with these his Brethren I might say Fathers in this Point I shall not easily fall out with him about it but rather endeavour a further approach by offering this fair Proposal I will not require of him to hold that the Fathers meet in Council to make question of the matters of Faith for those they were taught from their Childhood but to consult about their adversaries proofs and what arguments should be alleadged against them to consult