the English Reformation then will they make you leave the French Reformation You fail against wind and tyde you think that the Governors you shall have hereafter will be like Sir Tho. Layton you are deceived Though this day you had compassed your wish to morrow or the next day after at your Governors pleasure all shall be marred again Finally the Ecclesiasticall Government which you aske hath no ground at all upon Gods word 'T is altogether unknown to the Fathers who in matter of Christian Discipline and censure of manners were more zealous and precise then we are But you cannot of all the learned and pious antiquity shew one example of the Discipline or Ecclesiasticall order which you hold as your Bishop in his book of the perpetuall government of the Sonne of Gods Church doth learnedly teach I pass over what I have my self written concerning it in my book De diversis Ministrorum gradibus and in my Defence against the Answer of Mr. Beza and more largely in my Confutation of his book De triplicigenere Episcoporum I cannot wonder enough at the Scotchmen who could be perswaded to abolish and reject the state of Bishops by reasons so ill grounded partly false partly of no moment at all and altogether unworthy a man of such fame If the Scots had not more sought after the temporal means of Bishops then after true Reformation never had Mr. Beza's Book perswaded them to do what they have done And I assure you that your opinion concerning the government of the Church seems plausible unto great men but for two reasons the one is to prey upon the goods of the Church the other for to keep it under the Revenues and authority of Bishops being once taken away For the form of your discipline is such that it will never be approved of by a wise and discreet supreme Magistrate who knows how to govern Ye see not the faults you commit in your proceedings as well Consistoriall as Synodals men well versed in the Lawes and in government do observe them But they contemn them so long as they have the law in their own hands and that it is far easier for them to frustrate them regard neither Consistorie nor Synodes then for you to command and make Decrees Were your Discipline armed with power as the Inquisition of Spain is it would surpass it in tyranny The Episcopall authority is Canonical that is so limitted and enclosed within the bounds of the Statutes and Canons of the Church that it can command nothing without Law much less contrary to Law And the Bishop is but the Keeper of the Lawes to cause them to be observed and to punish the transgressors of your Consistories and Synodes For the present I will say no more only take notice of this that it is not likely the King who knows what Consistories and Synodes be will grant that to the Islands which doth displease him in Scotland This Gentlemen and Brethren have I thought good to write vnto you intreating you to take it well as comming from him that loves the Islands and the good and edification of the Church of Christ as much as you can doe Upon this occasion I have thought fit to add thus much concerning Dr. Hadrianus Saravia HIs learning is sufficiently known by his works his judgement in relation to the Liturgy and Discipline of the Church of England is declared by this Letter which doth further appear by his Subscriptions following 1. In Queen Elizabeth's time the form required was in these words We whose names are here underwritten do Declare and unfainedly Testify our assent to all and singular the Articles of Religion and the Confession of the true Christian Faith and the Doctrine of the Sacraments comprized in a book imprinted intituled Articles whereupon it was agreed by the Arch-bishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy in the Convocation holden at London in the year of our Lord God 1562. according to the computation of the Church of England for the avoiding of the diversities of opinions and for the establishing of Consent touching true Religion put forth by the Queens Authority And in testimony of such our Assents we have hereunto subscribed our names with our own proper hands as hereafter followeth Unto this Doctor Hadrianus de Saravia the sixth Prebend of the Church of Canterbury being conferred upon him subscribes in these words Per me Hadrianum de Saravia Sacrae Theologiae Professorem cui sexta Prebenda in Ecclesia Cathedrali Christi Cantuariens conferenda est sexto December is 1595. Wherein I find he did immediately succeed Doctor Whitaker whose Subscription is in these words viz. Per me Gulielmum Whitaker sacrae Theologiae Doctorem ejusdemque Professorem Regium in Academia Cantabrigiensi cui sexta Praebenda in Ecclesia Cathedrali Chrstl Cantuarens conferenda est Decimo Maii 1595. According unto which I find Mr. John Dod of Hanwell in Oxfordshire who wrot upon the Commandements to have subscribed in these words Per me Johannem Dod in Artibus Magistrum praesentatum ad Ecclesiam de Hanwell Oxon. Dioces 28. Julii 1585. unto whom abundance more and about that time might be added Mr. Richard Rogers Doctor Reynolds of Oxford c. among whom it pleased me to find the hand of the Reverend and Learned Mr. Hooker thus subscribing Per me Richardum Hooker Clericum in Artibus Magistrum praesentatum ad Canonicatum et Praebendam de Neather-haven in Ecclesia Cathedrali Sarum 17. Julii 1591. 2. In King Jame's time and since the form of the Subscription was thus To the three Articles mentioned in the 36. Chapter of the Book of Canons First that the Kings Majesty under God is the only supreme Governor of this Realm and of all other his Highness Dominions and Countries as well in all Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall things or Causes as Temporall and that no foraign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminence or Authority Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall within his Majesties said Realms Dominions and Territories That the Book of Common Prayer and of Ordering of Bishops Priests and Deacons containeth in it nothing contrary to the word of God and that it may lawfully so be used and that he himself will use the form in the said book prescribed in publick prayer and administration of the Sacraments and none other That he alloweth the book of Articles of Religion agreed upon by the Arch-bishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the Clergy in the Convocation holden at London in the year of our Lord One thousand five hundred sixty and two And that he acknowledgeth all and every the Articles therein contained being in number nine and thirty besides the Ratification to be agreeable to the word of God To these three Articles Doctor Hadrianus de Saravia being instituted unto the Rectory of Great Chart in the Diocess of Canterbury anno 1609. subscribes in these words Ego Hadrianus
of words used by the Bishop in the Ordination of the Church of England His sufferings for it The right sense of that gradual superiority of a Bishop above a Presbyter His confirmation of Books tending to the Preheminency of Episcopacy 3. Of the Liturgy His dayly observing of the Book of Common-prayer At Drogheda the Service sung upon Sundays before him as in Cathedrais of England His observing of the Ceremonies and causing them so to be His pains in reducing and satisfying the scrupulous His Constancy in the above-mentioned to the last The falsehood of some Pamphlets since his death Some specialties observed in him as to decency and Reverence in the Church at publick prayer c. 4. The Constitutions and Canons c. His subscription to the 3. Articles in the 36. cap. of the book of the Canons of England The severity put in with his own hand in the first Canon of Ireland against such as should refuse to subscribe to the Articles of England Observation of the annual Festivals Good-Friday c. Confirmation of Children Church Catechisme Canonical decency of Apparrel in the Clergie Consecration of Churches c. IV. Mr. Hookers Judgment confirmed by the Primate 1. The Kings power in matters of Religion 2. Of his Power in advancement of Bishops to their Rooms of Prelacy 3. The King exempt from Censure and other Iudicial power V. Bishop Andrews Judgment as it is conceived of Church Government before and after Christ c. confirmed and enlarged by the Primate In the Old Testament 1. Before the Law 2. Under Moses 3. Among the Priests 4. Under Joshua 5. Under David where is much added by the Primate 6. Under Nehemiah A Recapitulation of the whole c. with some new enlargements by the supposed Author answering the objections made against having the like government now and giving reasons why it may be now In the New Testament 1. In the time of our Sáviour 2. In the dayes of the Apostles and after Of Deacons Evangelists Priests and Bishops Of the persons executing those Offices Of the promiscuous use of their names The use of the Bishops office and the charge committed to him The choice of persons to their Callings VI. A Letter of Dr. Hadrianus de Saravia to the Island of Garnzay Of the first Reformation in the Island Subjection to Episcopal Iurisdiction Difference in the Case between them and France and the Low-Countries Their Synodicall meetings not justifiable The Kings Power in making of a Law Of Ordination otherwise then by Bishops Of the Scotch Reformation D. Hadr. Saravia with other learned mens Subscriptions to the Articles and Liturgy of the Church of England A Pamphlet printed under the name of the late Archbishop of Armagh coucerning the Liturgy and Church Government declared to be none of his As he hath been also injured and is still by another Book intituled a Method of Meditation or a Manual of Divine Duties which though by his own direction in his life time 1651. I did in his name declare to be none of his but falsly put upon him and have done so twice since his death yet is still reprinted and sold up and down as his to the great injury of him The late Lord Primate Ushers Iudgment of the signe of the Cross in Baptisme confirmed by the Bishop of Lincoln in his Preface VII The Contents of the Sermon Regal Power of Gods Ordination That of 1 Pet. 2. 13. Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man c. Answered Sauls Election not by the People Difference in Religion quits not the due of Obedience The Novelty of the Doctrine of Resistance The Pharisies the first among the Iews The Arguments for it taken out of Bellarmine and the Jesuites which many other Writers of the Church of Rome do contradict The Antient Fathers Loyalty to the worst of Emperors 1. Constantly praying for them Tertullian c. 2. Not giving the least Offence in word or writing St. Hillary Nazianzen c. 3. Not stirring up the people in their own defence St. Augustines Commendation of the Christians under Julian Tertullians under Severus St. Ambrose Athanasius and others That Evasion viz. That the Christians then wanted Power to resist cleared out of Eusebius Tertullian St. Ambross Theodoret Rebellion always found the Ruine of the Actors The Speech of Rodolphus upon his mortal wound in taking up Armes against the Emperor A Conclusive Application An Animadvertisement SUch of the Bishops and Clergy as by Gods Mercy escaped with their Lives to Dublin in that Bloody Rebellion in Ireland Anno 1641. and 1642. did conceive fitting at a so great though sad meeting to have somewhat like a Commencement in that University The Doctors part pro gradu was the Concio ad clerum The Text Rom. 13. 2. was taken out of the Epistle appointed for the day being the Tuesday after the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany The day according to that account of the late Kings of Blessed Memory murder The Doctrine delivered was then so offensive to some potent persons newly landed that he was forced to send a Copy to the L. Primate Usher who gave his approbation of it And upon the Thirtieth of Ianuary last 1660. the day of Humiliation for the abovesaid Murder it was preached in English at the Honorable Society of Grayes-Inn London The Intention was to have published it in that Language it had its first being but by the Printers Experiment of the slowness of the Sale in that as the better suiting with these other Tracts and that the Profit intended would be of a farther extent the latter was resolved of ERRATA PAge 24. line 29. read the. p. 25. l. 8. r. 2. marg l. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 27. l. 3. r. him l. 4. thee p. 29. l. 19 r. thus p. 31. 10. Jehu p. 39. marg l. 1. r. Julianus l. 5. r iniquus p. 40. marg l. 27. r. fletibus l. 35. r. injuriam p. 45. marg l. 6. r. pontisicumque p. 43. l. 24. dele for marg l. 8. r. per regiam 52. l. 31. r. waited p. 56. l. 20. r. calls p. 60. l. 9. r. commendam p. 81. 6. r. consecratus l. 7. r. gratias p. 90. l. 9. r. scarce l. 10. r. inexcusablae p. 95. 11. r. Potiphera Job 1. 5. 42. 8. p. 96. l. 3. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 97. 16. r. fisties l. pen. Merari l. ult after these r. the. p. 100. l. 14 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 101. l. 5. r. camp l. 15. r. Asher p. 102. l. 12. r. Further. p. 103. l. 9. r. Gibethon p. 105. l. 2. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 107. l. 22. r. Gershon l. 23. r. Ethan l. ult 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 109. l. 12. r. Benaiah l. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 112. l. 7. r. Governors of the. p. 113. l. 25. r. Priest
Clavi Trabales OR NAILES FASTNED by some Great MASTERS of ASSEMBLYES Confirming The KINGS SUPREMACY The SUBJECTS Duty Church Government by BISHOPS The Particulars of which are as followeth I. Two Speeches of the late LORD PRIMATE USHERS The one of the Kings Supremacy The other of the Duty of Subjects to supply the Kings Necessities II. His Judgment and Practice in Point of Loyalty Episcopacy Liturgy and Constitutions of the Church of England III. Mr. HOOKERS Judgment of the Kings Power in matters of Religion advancement of Bishops c. IV. Bishop ANDREWS of Church-Government c. both confirmed and enlarged by the said PRIMATE V. A Letter of Dr HADRIANUS SARAVIA of the like Subjects Unto which is added a Sermon of REGAL POVVER and the Novelty of the DOCTRINE of RESISTANCE Also a Preface by the Right Reverend Father in God the Lord Bishop of LINCOLNE Published by Nicholas Bernard Doctor of Divinity and Rector of Whit-church in Shropshire Si totus orbis adversum me conjuraret ut quid quam moliret adversus Regiam Majestatem ego tamen Deum 〈◊〉 ordinatum ab eo Regem offendere temere non auderem Bern. Ep. 170. ad Ludovicem Regem An. 11â—0 London Printed by R. Hodkginson and are to be sold by R. Marriot at his Shop in St. Dunstans Church-yard in Fleetstreet 1661. THE PREFACE THese two learned Speeches of the late Lord Primate Usher have been by some prudent persons judged seasonable to be thus published together The one Of the Kings Supremacy may not only be instructive to those of the Church of Rome but to some of our own Communion who have been and are too scanty in the acknowledgment of it The other Of the duty of Subjects to supply the Kings necessities was occasioned by the slowness in Ireland of contributing to the King for the maintenance of the Army continued there for their own defence the great imprudence of which parsimony we felt to our own loss not many years after wherein that distinction in point of Loyalty made between those descended of the antient English race though differing from us in point of Religion and those of the meer Irish which is there much enlarged may be now worthy of observation The whole Speech is full of Loyalty Prudence and Learning for which as he had his late Majesties of Blessed Memory gracious thanks so he had as little from others who were then as backward in assenting to the like Propositions here conceiving he had pressed their duty too high in that point Both these Speeches thus tending to the defence of Regal Power and the duty of Subjects hath in submission to the judgments of those whom I much reverence occasioned the putting forth a Sermon of mine upon the like Subject which I have the rather adventured so near this eminent Primate as having had his approbation occasioned by the censure of some at Dublin anno 1642. when it was first delivered of which more is said in an Advertisement before it Hereupon I have been further induced unto a vindication of the said most eminent Prelate not only of His Judgment in this Subject but in point of Episcopacy Liturgy and Constitutions of the Church of England from the various misapprehensions of such who being of different opinions the great respect given him by the one hath been a scandal to the other But by this impartial relation of his Judgment and Practice in each it may be hoped that both sorts will be so fully satisfyed as to unite in the exemplary observance of that Piety Loyalty Conformity and Humility found in him And whereas some do much appeal to that Accommodation of his in relation to Episcopacy wherein he was not single proposed Anno 1640. which then they did not hearken unto they are herein remembred what was that which caused it even the pressing violence of those times threatning the destruction of the whole with the sole end of it a pacification whose readiness in yielding up so much of his own Interest then for the tranquility of the Church like Jonas willing to be cast overboard for the stilling of the Tempest would be worthy of all our Imitations now The appeale here is from that Storm unto what his practice was in calme and peaceable times which if followed would give a check to most of those disputes which have of late taken up so much time amongst us The Fruite expected to be reaped from this declaration besides the satisfaction of mine own mind which was not at rest without it is the due honor of him for whose I am oblieged to sacrifice mine own That as he is admired abroad so he may not want that love and general esteem he hath deserved at home And as the peace and unity of the Church was studied by him in his life time so there might not be the least breach continued by a misapprehension of him after his death And surely if such of us who think him worthy of being our copy would but now upon the sight of this writ after him the Arke of our Church would cease to be tossed too and fro in this floating uncertain condition and immediately rest upon firm ground Heretofore having an occasion to vindicate this most Learned Primate in point of Doctrine so unhappy often are persons of his eminency as after their deaths to be challenged Patrons to contrary partyes I had An. 1658. a Letter of Thanks from the late Reverend Bishop of Durham Bishop Morton in these wordes viz. I acknowledge hereby my obligation of Thankfulness to you not only for the book it self but especially for your pains in vindicating that admirable Saint of God and Starr primae magnitudinis in the Church of God the Primate of Armagh c. In which high esteem of the Primate the now Reverend Bish. of Durham succeeds him who hath often signified it in divers of his Letters which I receiued from Paris to that purpose Hereunto two other Treatises have been thought fit to be added mentioned in the foresaid vindication but then not intended to be published which the Eminent Primate had a hand in The one Mr. Hookers Judgment of Regal Power in Matters of Religion the advancement of Bishops and the Kings Exemption from censure c. Left out of the common copyes inlarged and confirmed by the Primate all the marginal notes of the quotations out of the Fathers being under his own hand are noted with this mark* The other a Treatise of the Form of Church Government before and after Christ c. The main aime of it is to shew that the Government of the Christian Church established by the Apostles under the New Testament was according to the pattern of that in the Old then which scarce any book in so little speaks so much for the preheminency of Episcopacy It first appeared Anno 1641. under the Title of the rude draughts of Bishop Andrews which though I was in doubt of by the contrary opinion of an
jus sit dicendum prima regnandi fecisse fundamenta but after an Oath of an Allegiance the bonds are deposited in Gods hand so that the whole argumentation is both unchristian and irrational and rejected by us as the Doctrine of some Romanists which such as are so afraid to come neer them in any thing else should be as much deterred in this In a word as Kings receive their power from God so are we to leave them only unto God if they shall abuse it not but that they may and ought to be prudently and humbly reminded of their duties for which we have the example of the Primitive Fathers Bishops to the Emperors Constantius Constans and others introducing Arianism but yet without lifting up our hands against them in the least resistance of them which is the Judgement also of most of our Modern Orthodox Divines and even divers of the Writers of the Church of Rome who have stiffey contradicted the Jesuites assertions of the contrary one of each shall suffice 1. For those of ours Franciscus Junius thus determines All good men should bear even the most cruel injury from the magistrate rather then enveigh against him by word pen or action to the disturbance of order and the publick peace according to which see Luther lob de offic magistr Tom. 2. Brentius Hom. 27. in cap. 8. lib. 1. Sam. Melanthon Bucer Musculus Mathesius Erasmus and others 2. For those of the Church of Rome Gregorius Tholosanus Governours saith he are rather to be left to the Judgement of God then to defile our hands by a Rebellion against them God wants not means whereby he can when he pleaseth remove or amend them If there be an evil Government farre be it from us to revenge it by an evil obedience or to punish the sins of the King by our own sins but rather by a patient bearing to mollify the wrath of God who governs the hearts of Kings with his own hands c. And surely if it be a terrible thing for any man to fall into the hands of the living God much more is it to them who are only accomptable to him and the Justice of God hath been often notoriously manifested upon them in sacred story Abimelec Jeroboam Baasa Ahab both the Herods In Ecclesiasticall story Anastasius Julian Valens and others So much for holy writ Now secondly let me demonstrate this out of the antient-Fathers and practise of the Primitive Church in these three things 1. After the example of Jeremiah and Daniel for Nebuchadnezzar and St. Paul for Nero. 1 Tim. 2. We find the antient Fathers praying for the Emperors though of a different Religion and persecutors of the true Now to be at the same time praying for them and conspiring in any combinations against their government are inconsistent Tertulliau who lived under Severus the Emperor saith this in the name of the Christians we pray daily for the health of the Emperors c. That of Marcus Aurelius distress in his expedition into Germany when by the prayers of the Christian Legion as it was acknowledged by the heathen Rain was obtained in a great Drought and consequently a victory is sufficiently known They called not for fire from heaven to consume him and his Army according to that advice of Sanders the Jesuit in the like case lib. 2. cap. 4. de visib Monarch but for water to refresh both The Letters of the Fathers Synodi Ariminensis written to Constantius an Arrian are observable who asking him leave to return to their severall Diocesses give this for their reason That we may diligently pray for thy health Empire and peace which the mercifull God everlastingly bestow upon thee And in their second Letters asking the same request of him they say thus Again most glorious Emperor we beseech thee that before the sharpness of the Winter thou wouldst command our return to our Churches that we may as we have done and doe earnestly pray unto the Almighty God for the state of thy might with thy people How are they then to be abhorred who to a Christian pious Orthodox King stained neither with Vice nor Heresie temperate meek prudent gracious instead of prayers have returned menacies for a dutifull subjection Arrogant language if he yield not to every particular of their peremptory demands You shall not find the antient Fathers either by word or writing giving the least offence to the Emperors though Hereticks St. Hillary wrote two books against Constantius the Arrian yet stiles him Gloriosissimum Beatissimum nay Sanctum i. e. Ratione Imperii Non Religionis c. Nazianzen is found of the like temper in his Orations against Valens and Valentinian which are written throughout with all the Reverence and subjection that can be ezpected from a Subject to a Prince and yet Valens burnt fourscore Orthodox Bishops and Presbyters together in a ship and did other horrid Acts which Socrates tells us Oh the distance between the spirits of some men now dayes and those of the antient Church even as as far those excelled these in sanctimony of life integrity of Conversation piety and truth of Doctrine You shall ever find them exemplary in their obedience and subjection to the Emperors never stirring up the people to the least resistance or mutiny but appeasing them Excellently is that of St. Augustine of the Christians under Julian An Infidel Emperor a wicked Apostate The Faithfull souldiers served a faithless Emperor when it came to the Cause of Christ then they acknowledged no other then him that sits in heaven but in Millitary affairs when he said unto them bring forth your forces into the field goe against such a Nation presently they obeyed they distinguisht the Lord who is aeternal from him that is only temporall and yet were subject to the temporall Lord for his sake who is aeternall Tertullian affirms it as a high honour to Christianity that they could never find a Christian in any seditious conspiracy We are saith he defamed in relation to his Imperiall Majesty but yet they could never find any of us among the Albiniani Nigriani or Cassiani who had been some seditious parties against the Emperor That of St. Ambrose was both becomming a good Bishop and a Loyall Subject when he was commanded by the means of Justina the Empress who was an Arrian to deliver up the Churches of Millain to the use of the Arrians returned this answer to his people and to the Emperor Willingly I shall never do it but if compel'd I have not learned to fight I can weep my Tears are my Arms I neither can nor ought to resist otherwise Indeed by the desire of the Orthodox party he refused to give up the chief Church or his Cathedral to them but the detaining of it was with all possible humble representation by way of Petition for it with all the solicitous care that might be of preventing
the least misinterpretation of contumacie and the people went into it with him and there continued night and day in fasting and prayer that God would move the Emperor not to disturb them which as some observe to prevent a weariness in it occasioned the use of Anthemes in these Western parts though long before in the East he offered all his own proper goods to the pleasure of the Emperor Were it my Land I should not gain-say it doth the Emperor require my Body I shall meet him would he have me to prison put me to death I am pleas d with it I shall not enclose my self with a guard of the multitude of the people nor will I take hold of the Altar to ask my life but I shall freely be sacrificed for the Altars or the Service of God Thus saith another Father many hundreds of years after him We will fight for our Mother the Church but with what arms not with Swords and Shields but with Prayers and Tears to God Athanasius was four or five times banished by several Emperors but in each he quietly yielded as conceiving it more consenant to the Religion professed by him to overcome that injury by a patient suffering then to have made his defence by an unwarranted seditious opposition by the people and therefore in his Apology ye shall not find a word tending that way but on the contrary upon any Tumult of them whose zeale to him might possibly have carried them beyond their Limits he ever exhorts them to be quiet and to retire to their homes telling them that for those of his order no ways was allowed them in their defence but preces fuga humiles supplicationes i. e. Prayers to God petitioning the Emperor or a flight and for Petitions to the Emperor ye have the example of Ebedmelech for Jeremiah to the King of Israel Esther for her Nation to Ahasuerus Jonathan for David to Saul In Ecclesiasticall story Plinius Secundus for the Christians in the Province of Bythinia to Trajan And as each of these in some measure prevailed so can they be hardly rejected by any person who is not wholly a stranger both to piety and humanity For a flight when petitions will not prevail the same Athanasius in his Apologie for his from the Arrians produceth a great Catalogue of Examples Jacob from Esau Moses from Pharaoh David from Saul Elias from Jezabel St. Paul from the Conspirators against him at Damascus Acts 9. Nay the Example of our blessed Saviour in his fight from Herod into Egypt in his Infancy afterwards from the fury of the Jews and Pharisies and the other Herod till his time was come according to which is his command to his Disciples Mat. 10. When ye are persecuted in one City flye to another but no warrant or example from him or his for a resistance or in the Primitive times succeeding for many hundred years as Sigebert tells us that Doctrine or Heresie rather was a novelty in the world till the year 1088. after Christ. There is this one Evasion pretended against these Quotations of the Fathers which must be answered viz. that this their patience then was to be attributed rather to their b necessity then virtue their number and strength being so smal that they could not help it and so were compelled to yield This indeed is the very objection of the Jesuites Bellarmine against Barclay saith the same facultatibus non fuerint prediti satis idoneis i. e. they wanted sufficient forces to resist and would have that of Nazianzen Lachrymas solas superesse Christianis contra Juliani persecutiones c. i. e. That Tears was all the Christians had to defend themselves against the persecutions of Julian thus to be understood as if Julian had by his tyranny cut off all their forces which else it had been lawfull for them to have made use of against the Apostate against whom in that many of the Church of Rome have written Gregorius Thelosanus Bercliaus whom we named before Widringtonus This is the objection of Bellarmine But the Contrary is evident that the number and strength of the Christians was then very great not only to have resisted but overthrown and even shaken the foundations of the Empire They were as the Israelites in Egypt stronger then their enemies See what Eusebius saith that when Constantine the first professed to be a Christian who succeed Dioclesian that had made such havock of them the whole world rose with him and forsaking their Idols joyned themselves unto him Tertullian who lived an hundred years before him sets so th thus the number of the Christians in his time We fill the whole Empire your Cities Castles Corporations Councels your very Camps Courts of Justice Palaces Market-places your Senate with whom are not we able to make a warre who so willingly offer our selves to the slaughter but that our Religion teacheth us that 't is better to be killed then-to kill in such cases It was so in St. Ambrose his time the Army and people were at least the major part of them at his beck I saith he upon all occasions am still desired ut compecerem populum ego Tyrannus appellor plus quam Tyrannus The Emperor often tells his Courtiers he must doe what Ambrose will have him the whole implying the great number of the Orthodox Christians then and yet alwayes submitted to the Government Now no man can conceive that in this the Christians wanted courage That passage which Theodoret tels us of sufficiently satisfies viz. that when many of the Souldiers had been deluded by Julians impostures to have offered some incense to the Idols they ran to and fro the Cities offered not only their hands but their bodies to the fire that being polluted by fire they might be purged by the fire Can any in reason think that they who were so fearless of death in the profession of what they were taught by the Fathers if they had been also by the same teachers assured what a merit it had been to have fought for them and themselves against the Emperor and his Edicts made for their destruction can we think them so senseless and heartless as not to have appeared accordingly No it was only for the fear of God and this Text with-held them as Tertullian hath it Reprimebant manus quia non ignorabant quod leg ssent qui resistit potestati Dei ordinationi resistit c. There was then no such Jesuiticall doctrine known contrary to the doctrine of the Church of England that men may in the like cases take up Arms in Rebellion against their lawfull Princes And surely it not in case of Heresie i. e. if the Prince shall exemplo vel praecepto compel or endeavour to draw his Subjects to it which is the assertion of Bellarmine fideles heretico non obligari licite posse veneno aut quacunque ratione è
were of greater scandal to the Church then that aptitude habitually attained unto by some could be of profit His Judgment of the Articles of Religion and practice of the Eeclesiastical Constitutions of the Church of England THe Articles of the Church of England as the Primat had long agon subscribed them so have I often heard him highly commending them The reception of which Articles in the First Canon of Ireland Anno 1634. He drew up himself with his own hand with an addition of a very severe punishment to such as should refuse to subscribe them as may appear in it Anno 1614. He was a principal person then appointed for the collecting and drawing up such Canons as might best concern the Discipline and Government of the Church of Ireland taken out of Queen Elizabeths Injunctions and the Canons of England to be treated upon by the Arch-Bishops and Bishops and Clergy of that Kingdom some of which I have which were written then with his own hand and presented by him The two first of them were these 1. That no other Form of Liturgy or Divine Service shall be used in any Church of this Realm but that which is established by Law and comprized in the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of Sacraments c. 2. That no other Form of Ordination shall be used in this Nation but which is contain'd in the Book of ordering of Bishops Priests and Deacons allowed by Authority and hitherto practiced in the Churches of England and Ireland c. And in his subscription in relation to the above mentioned it is in these words viz. I do acknowledge the Form of Gods Service prescribed in the book of Common-Prayer is good and godly and may lawfully be used and do promise that I my self will use the Form in the said Book prescribed in celebration of Divine Service and administration of the Sacraments and none other I do also acknowledge that such as are consecrated and ordered according to the form prescribed in the Book of Ordination set forth by Authority have truly received holy Orders and have Power given them to exercise all things belonging to that Sacred Function whereunto they are called c. For the now more perfect Canons of the Church of Ireland constituted Anno 1634. in the Convocation there whereof I was a Member most of them were taken out of these of England and he being then Primate had a principal hand in their collection and proposal to the reception of them the methodizing of all which into due order I have seen and have it by me written with his own hand throughout whereby 't is apparent what his Judgment was in relation to them The Annual Festivals of the Church he duly observed preaching upon their several Commemorations On Christmas-Day Easter Whitsunday he never fail'd of Communions that excellent Treatise of his Entituled The incarnation of the Son of God was the substance of two or three Sermons which I heard him preach in a Christmas time Good-Fryday he constantly kept very strictly preaching himself then upon the Passion beyond his ordinary time when we had the publick prayers in their utmost extent also and without any thought of a superstition he kept himself fasting till the Evening Confirmation of Children was often observed by him the first time he did it when a great number were presented to him by me he made a Speech to the Auditory to the satisfaction of all sorts of persons concerning the Antiquity and good use of it The publick Cathechism in the book of Common-Prayer was enjoyned by him to be only observed in the Church a part of which for a quarter or half an hour was constantly explained by me to the people every Sunday before evening Prayer himself being present which was also accordingly enjoyned throughout his Diocess He was much for that decent distinctive habit of the Clergy Cassocks Gowns Priests-Clokes c. according to the Canon in that behalf provided to be used by them in their walking or riding abroad which himself from his younger years always observed And in Anno 1634. that Canon of England of the decent Apparrel of Ministers was by his special approbation put in among those of Ireland Lastly though in our Constitutions there is no form appointed for the consecration of a Church or Chappel yet he was so ready to apply himself to what had been accustomed in England that at his consecration of a Chappel not far from Drogheda in Ireland he framed no new one of his own but took that which goes under Bishop Andrews name and used it with little variation which I have in my custody And thus I have endeavored by this Declaration of his Judgment and Practice in these particulars to give satisfaction to all such who by their misapprehensions have had their various censures and applications to the great injury of him I shall only wish that not only they but all others that hear this of him were both almost and altogether such as he was Mr. HOOKERS Judgment of Regal Power in matters of Religion and the advancement of Bishops wholy left out of the common Copies in his eighth Book here confirmed by the late Lord Primate USHER'S marginal notes and other Enlargements with his own hand THe service which we do unto the true God who made heaven and earth is far different from that which Heathens have done unto their supposed Gods though nothing else were respected but only the odds between their hope and ours The office of piety or true Religion sincerely performed have the promises both of this life and of the life to come the practices of Superstition have neither If notwithstanding the Heathens reckoning upon no other reward for all which they did but only protection and favour in the temporal estate and condition of this present life and perceiving how great good did hereby publickly grow as long as fear to displease they knew not what Divine power was some kind of bridle unto them did therefore provide that the highest degree of care for their Religion should be the principall charge of such as having otherwise also the greatest and chiefest power were by so much the more fit to have custody thereof Shall the like kind of provision be in us thought blame-worthy A gross error it is to think that Regal Power ought to serve for the good of the body and not of the soul for mens temporal peace and not their eternal safety as if God had ordained Kings for no other end and purpose but only to fat up men like hogs and to see that they have their Mast Indeed to lead men unto salvation by the hand of secret invisible and ghostly regiment or by the external administration of things belonging unto Priestly order such as the Word and Sacraments are this is denied unto Christian Kings no cause in the world to think them uncapable of supreme
authority in the outward government which disposeth the affairs of Religion so farre forth as the same are disposable by humane authority and to think them uncapable thereof only for that the said religion is everlastingly beneficiall to them that faithfully continue in it And even as little cause there is that being admitted thereunto amongst the Jews they should amongst the Christians of necessity be delivered from ever exercising any such power for the dignity and perfection which is in our Religion more then theirs It may be a question Whether the affairs of Christianity require more wit more study more knowledge of Divine things in him which shall order them then the Jewish Religion did For although we deny not the forme of external government together with all other Rites and Ceremonies to have been in more particular manner set down yet withall it must be considered also that even this very thing did in some respects make the burthen of their spiritual regiment the harder to be born by reason of infinite doubts and difficulties which the very obscurity and darkness of their Law did breed and which being not first decided the Law could not possibly have due execution Besides in as much as their Law did also dispose even of all kind of civill affairs their Clergy being the Interpretors of the whole Law sustained not only the same labour which Divines doe amongst us but even the burthen of our Lawyers too Nevertheless be it granted that more things do now require to be publickly deliberated and resolved upon with exacter judgment in matters divine then Kings for the most part have their personal inhability to judge in such sort as professors do letteth not but that their Regal authority may have the self same degree or sway which the Kings of Israel had in the affairs of their Religion to rule and command according to the manner of supreme Governors As for the sword wherewith God armed his Church of old if that were a reasonable cause why Kings might then have Dominion I see not but that it ministreth still as forcible an argument for the lawfulness and expedience of their continuance therein now As we digrade and excommunicate even so did the Church of the Jews both separate offendors from the Temple and depose the Clergie also from their rooms when cause required The other sword of corporall punishment is not by Christs own appointment in the hand of the Church of Christ as God did place it himself in the hands of the Jewish Church For why he knew that they whom he sent abroad to gather a people unto him only by perswasive means were to build up his Church even within the bosome of Kingdomes the chiefest Governors whereof would be open enemies unto it every where for the space of many years Wherefore such Commission for discipline he gave them as they might any where exercise in a quiet and peaceable manner the Subjects of no Common-wealth being touched in goods or person by virtue of that spirituall regiment whereunto Christian Religion embraced did make them subject Now when afterwards it came to pass that whole Kingdomes were made Christian I demand whither that authority served before for the furtherance of Religion may not as effectually serve to the maintenance of Christian Religion Christian Religion hath the sword of spiritual Discipline But doth that suffice The Jewish which had it also did nevertheless stand in need to be ayded with the power of the Civil sword The help whereof although when Christian Religion cannot have it must without it sustain it self as far as the other which it hath will serve notwithstanding where both may be had what forbiddeth the Church to enjoy the benefit of both Will any man deny that the Church doth need the rod of corporall punishment to keep her children in obedience withall Such a Law as Macabeus made amongst the Scots that he which continued an excommunicate two years together and reconciled not himself to the Church should forfeit all his goods and possessions Again the custom which many Christian Churches have to fly to the Civil Magistrate for coertion of those that will not otherwise be reformed these things are proof sufficient that even in Christian Religion the power wherewith Eeclesiastical persons were indued at the first unable to do of it self so much as when secular power doth strengthen it and that not by way of Ministry or Service but of predominancie such as the Kings of Israel in their time exercised over the Church of God Yea but the Church of God was then restrained more narrowly to one people and one king which now being spread throughout all Kingdoms it would be a cause of great dissimilitude in the exercise of Christian Religion if every King should be over the Affairs of the Church where he reigneth Supream Ruler Dissimilitude in great things is such a thing which draweth great inconvenience after it a thing which Christian Religion must always carefully prevent And the way to prevent it is not as some do imagine the yielding up of Supream Power over all Churches into one only Pastors hands but the framing of their government especially for matter of substance every wher according to one only Law to stand in no less force then the Law of Nations doth to be received in all Kingdoms all Soveraigne Rulers to be sworn no otherwise unto it then some are to maintain the Liberties Laws and received Customs of the Country where they reign This shall cause uniformity even under several Dominions without those woful inconveniencies whereunto the State of Christendom was subject heretofore through the Tyranny and Oppression of that one universal Nimrod who alone did all And till the christian world be driven to enter into the peaceable and true consultation about some such kind of general Law concerning those things of weight and moment wherein now we differ If one church hath not the same order which another hath let every Church keep as near as may be the order it should have and commend the just defence thereof unto God even as Judah did when it differed in the exercise of Religion from that form which Israel followed Concerning therefore the matter whereof we have hitherto spoken let it stand for our final conclusion that in a free christian State or Kingdom where one and the self same people are the church and the common-wealth God through christ directing that people to see it for good and weighty considerations expedient that their Soveraign Lord and Governor in causes Civil have also in Ecclesiastical Affairs a Supream Power Forasmuch as the Light of reason doth lead them unto it and against it Gods own revealed law hath nothing surely they do not in submitting themselves thereunto any other then that which a wise and religious people ought to do it was but a little over-flowing of wit in Thomas Aquinas so to play upon the words of Moses in the old and of
Peter in the new Testament as though because the one did term the Jews a Priestly Kingdom the other us a Kingly Priesthood Those two Substantives Kingdom and Priesthood should import that Judaisme did stand through the Kings Superiority over Priests christianity through the Priests Supream Authority over Kings Is it probable that Moses and Peter had herein so nice and curious conceits or else more likely that both meant one and the same thing namely that God doth glorifie and sanctifie his even with full perfection in both which thing St. John doth in plainer sort express saying that Christ hath made us both Kings and Priests Wherein it is from̄ the purpose altogether alledged that Constantine termeth church-Officers Overseers of things within the church himself of those without the church that Hilarie beseecheth the Emperor Constance to provide that the Governor of his Provinces should not presume to take upon them the judgment of Ecclesiastical Causes unto whom commonwealth matters only belonged That Ambrose affirmeth Palaces to belong unto the Emperor but churches to the minister The Emperor to have Authority of the common walls of the city and not over holy things for which cause he would never yield to have the causes of the Church debated in the Princes consistory but excused himself to the Emperor Valentinian for that being convented to answer concerning Church matters in a Civil Court he came not That Augustine witnesseth how the Emporor not daring to judge of the Bishops cause committed it unto the Bishops and was to crave pardon of the Bishops for that by the Donatists importunity which made no end of appealing unto him he was being weary of them drawn to give sentence in a matter of theirs all which hereupon may be inferred reacheth no further then only unto the administration of Church Affairs or the determination of Strifes and Controversie rising about the matter of Religion It proveth that in former ages of the world it hath been judged most convenient for Church-Officers to have the hearing of causes meerly Ecclesiasticall and not the Emperour himself in person to give sentence of them No one man can be sufficient for all things And therefore publick affairs are divided each kind in all well ordered States allotted unto such kind of persons as reason presumeth fittest to handle them Reason cannot presume Kings ordinarily so skilfull as to be personal Judges meet for the common hearing and determining of Church controversies But they which are hereunto appointed and have all their proceedings authorized by such power as may cause them to take effect The principality of which power in making Laws whereupon all these things depend is not by any of these allegations proved incommunicable unto Kings although not both in such sort but that still it is granted by the one that albeit Ecclesiastical Councels consisting of Church Officers did frame the Lawes whereby the Church affairs were ordered in ancient times yet no Canon no not of any Councel had the force of Law in the Church unless it were ratified and confirmed by the Emperour being Christian. Seeing therefore it is acknowledged that it was then the manner of the Emperor to confirm the Ordinances which were made by the Ministers which is as much in effect to say that the Emperour had in Church Ordinances a voice negative and that without his confirmation they had not the strength of publick Ordinances Why are we condemned as giving more unto Kings then the Church did in those times we giving them no more but the supreme power which the Emperor did then exercise with much larger scope then at this day any Christian King either doth ar possibly can use it over the Church The case is not like when such Assemblies are gathered together by supreme authority concerning other affairs of the Church and when they meet about the making Ecclesiasticall Lawes or Statutes For in the one they only are to advise in the other they are to decree The persons which are of the one the King doth voluntarily assemble as being in respect of gravity fit to consult withall them which are of the other he calleth by prescript of Law as having right to be thereunto called Finally the one are but themselves and their sentence hath but the weight of their own judgement the other represent the whole Clergie and their voices are as much as if all did give personal verdict Now the question is whether the Clergie alone so assembled ought to have the whole power of making Ecclesiasticall Laws or else consent of the Laity may thereunto be made necessarie and the Kings assent so necessary that his sole deniall may be of force to stay them from being Laws If they with whom we dispute were uniform strong and constant in that which they say we should not need to trouble our selves about their persons to whom the power of making Laws for the Church belongeth For they are sometimes very vehement in contention that from the greatest thing unto the least about the Church all must needs be immediatly from God to this they apply the patern of the ancient Tabernacle which God delivered unto Moses and was therein so exact that there was not left as much as the least pin for the wit of man to devise in the framing of it To this they also apply that strict and severe charge which God so often gave concerning his own Law Whatsoever I command you take heed you doe it thou shalt put nothing thereto thou shalt take nothing from it nothing whether it be great or smal Yet sometime bethinking themselves better they speak as acknowledging that it doth suffice to have received in such sort the principall things from God and that for other matters the Church hath sufficient authority to make Laws wherupon they now have made it a question what persons they are whose right it is to take order for the Churches affairs when the institution of any new thing therein is requisite Laws may be requisite to be made either concerning things that are only to be known and believed in or else touching that which is to be done by the Church of God The Law of nature and the Law of God are sufficient for declaration in both what belongeth unto each man separately as his soule is the spouse of Christ yea so sufficient that they plainly and fully shew whatsoever God doth require by way of necessary introduction unto the state of everlasting bliss But as a man liveth joyned with others in common society and belongeth unto the outward politique body of the Church albeit the said Law of Nature and of Scripture have in this respect also made manifest the things that are of greatest necessity nevertheless by reason of new occasions still arising which the Church having care of souls must take order for as need requireth hereby it cometh to pass that there is
and ever will be so great use even of humane Laws and Ordinances deducted by way of discourse as conclusions from the former divine and natural serving for principles thereunto No man doubteth but that for matters of action and practice in the affairs of God for manner in divine service for order in Ecclesiastical proceedings about the Regiment of the Church there may be oftentimes cause very urgent to have Laws made but the reason is not so plain wherefore humane Laws should appoint men what to believe Wherefore in this we must note two things First that in matter of opinion the Law doth not make that to be truth which before was not as in matters of action it causeth that to be duty which was not before but it manifesteth only and giveth men notice of that to be truth the contrary whereunto they ought not before to have believed Secondly that as opinions doe cleave to the understanding and are in heart asserted unto it is not in the power of any humane Law to command them because to prescribe what men shall think belongeth only unto God corde creditur ore fit confessio saith the Apostle As opinions are either fit or inconvenient to be professed so mans Law hath to determine of them It may for publick unities sake require mens professed assent or prohibit their contradiction to speciall articles wherein as there happily hath bin controversie what is true so the same were like to continue still not without grievous detriment unto a number of souls except Law to remedy that evil should set down a certainty which no man afterwards is to gain-say Wherefore as in regard of divine Lawes which the Church receiveth from God we may unto every man apply those words of wisdom in Solomon Conserva fili mi praecepta patris tui My sonne keep thou thy fathers precepts Even so concerning the statutes and ordinances which the Church it self makes we may add thereunto the words that follow Et ne dimittas legem matris tua And forsake not thou thy mothers Law It is undoubtedly a thing even naturall that all free and independent societies should themselves make their own Lawes And that this power should belong to the whole not to any certain part of a politique body though happily some one part may have greater sway in that action then the rest Which thing being generally fit and expedient in the making of all Lawes we see no cause why to think otherwise in lawes concerning the service of God which in all well-ordered States and Common-wealthes is the first thing that Law hath care to provide for When we speak of the right which naturally belongeth to a Common-wealth we speak of that which must needs belong to the Church of God For if the Common-wealth be Christian if the people which are of it do publickly imbrace the true Religion this very thing doth make it the Church as hath been shewed so that unless the verity and purity of Religion doe take from them which imbrace it that power wherewith otherwise they are possessed Look what authority as touching Laws for Religion a Common-wealth hath simply Here this breaks off abruptly The Princes power in the advancement of Bishops unto the rooms of Prelacy TOuching the advancement of Prelats unto their rooms by the King Whereas it seemeth in the eyes of many a thing very strange that Prelates the Officers of Gods own Sanctuary then which nothing is more sacred should be made by persons secular there are that will not have Kings be altogether of the Laitie but to participate that sanctifyed power which God hath indued his Clergy with and that in such respect they are anointed with oyle A shift vain and needless for as much as if we speak properly we cannot say Kings do make but that they only do place Bishops for in a Bishop there are these three things to be considered The power whereby he is distinguished from other Pastors The special portion of the Clergy and the people over whom he is to exercise that Bishoplie Power and the place of his Seat or Throne together with the Profits Preheminencies Honors thereunto belonging The first every Bishop hath by consecration the second the Election invested him with the third he receiveth of the King alone Which consecration the King intermedleth not farther then only by his Letters to present such an elect Bishop as shall be consecrated Seeing therefore that none but Bishops do consecrate it followeth that none but they do give unto every Bishop his being The manner of uniting Bishops as heads unto the flock and Clergy under them hath often altered for if some be not deceived this thing was somtime done even without any election at all At the first saith he to whom the name of Ambrose is given the first created in the Colledg of Presbyters was still the Bishop he dying the next Senior did succeed him Sed quia coeperunt sequentes Presbyteri indigni inveniri ad primatus teneÌ„dos immutata est ratio prospiciente concilio ut non ordo sed merituÌ„ crearet episcopum multorum sacerdotum constitutum ne indignus temere usurparet esset multis scandalum In elections at the beginning the Clergy and the people both had to do although not both after one fort The people gave their Testimonie and shewed their affection either of desire or dislike concerning the party which was to be chosen But the choice was wholy in the sacred Colledg of Presbyters hereunto it is that those usual speeches of the antient do commonly allude as when Pontius concerning St. Cyprians election saith he was chosen judicio Dei populifavore by the judgment of God and favor of the people the one branch alluding to the voices of the Ecclesiastical Senat which with religion sincerity chose him the other to the peoples affection who earnestly desired to have him chosen their Bishop Again Leo nulla ratio sinit ut inter Episcopos habeantur qui nec a clericis sunt electi nec applebibus expetiti No reason doth grant that they should be reckoned amongst Bishops whom neither Clergy hath elected nor Laitie coveted in like soâ—t Honorius Let him only be established Bishop in the Sea of Rome whom Divine Judgment and universal consent hath chosen That difference which is between the form of electing Bishops at this day with us and that which was usual in former ages riseth from the ground of that right which the Kings of this Land do claim in furnishing the places where Bishops elected consecrated are to reside as Bishops for considering the huge charges which the ancient famous Princes of this Land have been at as well in erecting Episcopal Seas as also in endowing them with ample possessions sure of their religious magnificence and bounty we cannot think but to have been most deservedly honored with those Royall prerogatives taking the benefit which groweth out of them in their vacancy
de Saravia Sacrae Theologiae Professor cui Ecclesia Parochialis de Charta magna Cantuar. Dioces conferenda est his tribus Articulis supra scriptis omnibus singulis in iisdem contentis lubens ex animo subscribo vicessimo quinto die Mensis Februarii Anno Dom. juxta computationem Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1609. Hadr. de Saravia According unto which in succeeding years I find very many of our reverend Divines famous in their times for Learning and Piety have subscribed also which would be needless here to mention in regard their judgments are sufficiently known that way Only there are some other learned men and of a pious estimation whom the vulgar possibly have misapprehended I have thought fit to doe them that right as to vindicate them in it having found them there as fully and heartily subscribing also Each of which being various in some expressions I have put them down distinctly Mr. Nicholas Bifeild whose many pious works hath made him famous subscribes in these words Mart. ult 1615. Ego Nicholaus Bifeild verbi divini Praedicator admittendus instituendus ad vicariam de Isleworth in Comitatu Middlesex hisce tribus Articulis omnibus in iisdem contentis libenter ex animo subscribo Mr. Jeremiah Dike of Epping in Essex an able and constant Preacher and of great esteem in his time subscribes thus Mart. 21. anno 1609. Ego Jeremiah Dike in Artibus Magister legitime praesentatus ad Vicariam de Epping in Essex his tribus Articulis supra Scriptis omnibus in iisdem contentis lubens ex animo subscribo Which two I find subscribing accordingly twice Mr. Daniel Caudery April 25. 1616. Ego Daniel Caudery in artibus Magister admissus ad docendam Grammaticam in Ecclesia Parochiae de Berkin in Comitatu Essexiae his tribus articulis omnibus in iisdem contentis libenter ex animo non coactus subscribo Mr. William Jenkyn Jan. 2. 1640. Ego Gulielmus Jenkyn Clericus in Artibus Magister jam admittendus instituendus ad in Rectoriam sancti Leonardi in vico Colcestriae in Comitatu Essexiae hisce tribus articulis praescriptis antea a me lectis omnibus in iisdem contentis libenter ex animo subscribo Guil. Jenkyn Mr. Calamy Novemb. 9. 1637. Ego Edm. Calamy sacrae Theologiae Bacch jam admittendus instituendus ad in Rectoriam de Rochford in Comitatu Essexiae hisce tribus articulis praescriptis antea a me lectis omnibus in iisdem contentis libenter ex animo subscribo Edm. Calamy And what is here subscribed as to the book of Common-prayer was heretofore to my own knowledge as diligently attended by persons of the like eminency being so farre from absenting themselves that they were carefull to come to the beginning of it And it is also as fully defended by Mr. Hildersham in his 26. Lecture upon cap. 24. of St. John a man of as much learning and piety as any before mentioned to be according to Gods institution Ordinance and Commandement which in another Treatise I have more largely declared with the testimonies of divers others And in his 27. and 29. Lect. exhorts unto kneeling at it and being bareheaded even at the reading of the Psalms and Chapters as of the rest of Divine Service defends the custome of our Church therein as well becomming every one of Gods people to conform themselves unto it In the view of the Registry of Subscriptions of later years I find that till the year 1641. all subscribed as abovesaid and continued it to the Articles of Religion though with several expressions and provisoes In an 1643. thus Tertio Articulo praescripto c. or thus Articulis Religionis praescriptis juxta formam statuti in eodem Casu editi provisi i. e. To the Articles of Religion before written according to the form of a Statute or Ordinance in that case provided and published In 1644. the form was thus Articulis Religionis Ecclesiae Anglicanae juxta formam Statuti in ea parte editi c. quatenus non regugnant foederi Nationali c. i. e. To the Articles of Religion of the Church of England c. as far as they are not repugnant to the National Covenant c. And about 1646. thus Salvo foedere Nationali Then about Octob. 1648. that clause was left out there being it seems in the Covenant somewhat contradicting that horrid Act intended unto the late King of blessed Memory and the form was then only Artioulis Religionis Ecclesiae Anglicanae and so continued till this late happy change of Government when the subscriptions returned to the first form A POSTSCRIPT One thing more in relation to the Lord Primate Usher There hath been a Pamphlet of late revived which had been printed before in his name intituled The Bishop of Armaghs Direction to the Parliament concerning the Liturgy and Episcopal Government c. against which as himself had declared in his life time so have I since his death to be a false fictitious Paper yet notwithstanding it is reprinted and sold up and down as his and accordingly produced at this day by many upon all occasions to his great injury For the further clearing of which let the Reader take notice that in Anno 1640. when it came first out the Primate petitioned the House of Commons for the suppressing of it upon which this Order was conceived as followeth An ORDER of the Commons-House of Parliament for the suppessing of * another Pamphlet falsely fathered upon the said Arch-bishop of Armagh Die Martis 9. Feb. 1640. WHereas complaint hath been made unto us by James Lord Archbishop of Armagh and Priof all Ireland that a certain Pamphlet hath been lately most injuriously fathered upon him and spread under the false title of the Bishop of Armaghs Direction to the House of Parliament concerning the Liturgy and Episcopall Government It is this day Ordered in the Commons House of Parliament that the Master and Company of Stationers and all others whom it may concern shall take such course for the suppressing of the said Book that they shall not suffer it to be put in Print or if it be already Printed not permit the same to be divulged and if any man shall presume to print or publish the Book above mentioned that he or they shall be then lyable to the Censure of the said House H. ELSYNG Cler. Dom. Com. FINIS ☞ 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. John 20. 23. 1 Tim. 5. 17. Tit. 2. 15. Mat. 16. 19. 18. 18 Rom. 13. 4 Ezra 7. 26. Math. 20. 52. 2 Chron 26 18 1 Tim. 2. 2. * As on the other side that a Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall Government is exercised in Causes Civill or Temporal For is not Excommunication a main part of Ecclesiastical Government and Forest Laws a special branch of causes temporal yet we see in sententiâ lat◠super Chartas An. 12 R. H. 3. that
noted by the Primate throughout and some passages which the learned Author desired to be farther inquired into are at large perfected under the Primats own hand and I know no book more full for the preheminency of Episcopacy so that what he did or was willing to have yielded unto out of a calme temper of Moderation in such times of extremity to preserve the unity and peace of the Church then in great hazard to be shattered ought not in reason so to be stretched as to inferre it was his Absolute desire or free choice but only upon the present distress to keep the Chariot upon its wheels from a Precipice of a total overturning So much for Episcopacy 3. His Judgement and Practice of the Liturgy of the Church of England FOr the Liturgy of the Church of England he was a constant Assertor and observer of to the last At Drogheda in Ireland where I had the happiness for many years to live under him he had the Common-Prayer read twice every day in his Chappel from which nothing but sickness excused his absence And in the Church it was by his approbation as duly observed by my self we had there an Organ and a Quire on Sundayes the Service was sung before him as is used in Cathedrals in England Anthems were sung very frequenly and often instead of a Psalm before Sermon He came constantly to the Church in his Episcopal habit and preacht in it and for my self by his approbation when I officiated I wore my Surplice and Hood administred the Communion and at such occasions preached in them also The Surplice was accordingly observed constantly by the Reader and some of the Quire every Sunday And for all other Administrations they were fully observed in each Rite and Ceremony according to the Rubrick or Rule of the Book of Common-prayer which many years after his leaving of Ireland was according to his trust committed to me continued till my Church in that bloody storm of Drogheda 1649. was blown up with Gun-powder and for my refusing to obey the command of his Nephew Colonel Michael Jones sent by an Officer unto me in writing to forbear the use of the Common-prayer I had much thanks from the Primate being much displeased at his presumption in it though thereupon the little means I had remaining there was by the Colonels order taken from me and in the storme of the Town he did not forget it in his designing my death as I was assured by an Ear-witness And indeed while the Primate continued in Drogheda I doe not remember there were any Protestant Inhabitants there that so much as scrupled at the Crosse in Baptism or kneeling at the Communion with the like but in all things conformed and submitted to what they saw was approved by him and for such as were refractory in the Northern parts of Ireland where the Scotch had mingled themselves with the English he did his utmost to reclaim them in his Provincial Visitation which I was a witness of and imployed by his directions among them for that end Wherein craving leave for this short digression I have observed that such who had so geat a prejudice to the Liturgy as to run out of the Church when it was offered to be read out of the Book when I used the very same form in several Administrations by heart without the book Baptism Communion Matrimony Burial and the like they have highly commended it as conceiving they had been my own present conceptions the younger sort having never heard it and the other almost forgotten it which guile both at Drogheda when several Parliament Regiments were sent thither successively to suppress it like the Messengers of Saul to destroy David at Ramah they have accordingly Prophesied with us and in other places since my coming over I have continued who at first being praeingaged without the Book in the commendation of it the next time upon the use of it finding it to be the same they have confessed their former delusion and have been fully satisfied And what the Primates Practice had been in Ireland he continued in England to his last which in the Countess of Peterboroughs house where he lived and died I have been often a witness of And upon a false rumour raised of his remisseness that way he shewed me not long before his death what he then had written to an Eminent person who had told him of it signifying his high approbation and commendation of the said Book of Common-prayer And when after his being destroyed in Ireland the late King of blessed memory had for his subsistence given him the Bishoprick of Carlile in Commerdam He did at a Visitation of the Diocess unto which the remoteness of the place did not permit himself to travel writ a Letter unto the Ministers thereof charging them to use constantly the Book of Common-prayer and the publick Catechism in their several Churches Some Pamphlets which of late years have been published in his name containing as they pretended his opinion for the omission and change of divers things in it as I did at their first comming forth protest against them to be fictitious papers so I doe here confirm it and whatsoever he might now have yeilded unto for the peace and unity of the Church that we might all speak the same thing I can assure it if he were alive in these late disputes of it he would have been for the Defendant And for some other particulars observed by me of him at Drogheda may not be impertinent herewith to relate At the Creed he stood up constantly repeated it with the Minister alwayes received the Communion kneeling At the publick prayers he kneeled also At his entrance into the Pulpit he addressed himself with some short prayer unto God for his assistance not steping in irreverently with a rude confident boldnes as the manen of some is but rather with some fear and trembling At his entrance into his Seat both in the Church and in his Chappel he kneeled down with some short Prayer also and as he always came reverently into the Church and went out of it uncovered so did he continue all the time of Divine Service And though he had as great an ability as the chief Pretenders to an extemporary expression yet he constant ly used a set form of Player before his Sermon and that with a decent brevity which in private Families as most profitable he commended accordingly and even at their Tables which was his own practice also when he did not omit to pray according to the usuall Form for the Kings Majesty and Royal issue now commonly omitted In a wotd this was his often assertion that as the affecting and imposing of a daily sudden conception at Prayer was a Novelty and a singularity not being practised in any other Reformed Church so the immethodical impertinencies and other indiscreet extravagancies both for measure and matter frequently occasioned by it