determine what Intention was necessary because they could not agree about the efficacy of the Sacraments it being impossible there should be the same Intention of two who differ in their judgments concerning it The common Salvo was that the Intention to do as the Church doth was sufficient but this satisfied not the scruple because men â—â—ffered in opinion what the Church is and their opinions herein being different their Intentions in administring the Sacraments would also prove different To evade this it was pretended all the Priests had the same design but as it is impossible for any to know the things that is the purposes of Man save the Spirit of Man which is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 so it is unconceivable how they should have the same end and aim who have different Judgments Humours Passions and Interests At last they were driven to this shift perhaps there may be some such wretched Priest yet this case is rare To this the Bishop of Minori replied would God said he that the case was rare and that in this corrupt age we had not cause to doubt there were many but suppose there are but a few or one only let a Knave Priest Baptize who hath not an Intention to administer the true Baptism to a Child who being after a grown Man is created a Bishop of a great City so that he hath Ordained a great part of the Priests in his Diocess it must be said that he being not Baptized is not Ordained nor they Ordained who are promoted by him Behold Millions of Nullities of Sacraments by the malice of one (z) Histor Council of Trent fol. 241. Priest in one Act only 4. To give full measures of Doubts and uncertainties in the most mysterious act of their Religion Dr. Holden (a) Apendix of Schism p. 445. Refert Dr. Ham. dispatcher Preface p. 14. averreth All Roman Catholicks do believe and reverence the Sacrifice of the Mass as the most substantial Act of their Religion but if it be demanded wherein the substance of this Sacrifice doth consist no substantial Resolution can be expected from them their Doubts and uncertainties about the Nature and Essence thereof are so cross and various There are divers opinions concerning it saith (b) Azor. l. 10. c. 9. or part 2. l. 2. c. 14. Azor. There are six Acts of which it is doubted in which one or more of them the Essence of the Sacrifice consisteth saith (c) Tom. 3. dist 75. art 1 2. Suarez Some place it in the one Act of Consecration but the doubters dispute against it for say they Consecration belongeth rather to the nature of a Sacrament than a Sacrifice and every external Sacrifice such as the Mass is must be sensible but the Conversion made by the words of Consecration is not sensible for the real change is not and again if the Act of Consecration then the outward Elements only are the Hoast and matter offered but we may not say the Species are the Hoast others set it in the Oblation but the dissenting Brethren oppose this because Christ used no Sacrificial Act at his Last Supper and if Christ did not the Priest ought not though some of them grant it belongs to the intergrity of the Sacrifice But how the Trent-Divines were divided in their judgment herein may be read Hist Counc of Trent fol. 544 c. Some of them again conceive Consecration Consumption or Sumption to be the Essence this others contradict because then say they the Body and Blood of Christ must be destroyed for that which is Offered in Sacrifice is to be destroyed but Sumption can be no part thereof because the Act of Receiving is not for although Christ be not received after the Consecration yet is he truly said to be Sacrificed and Doctors doubt whether Christ did receive in his last Supper and the Priest receiving doth nothing in Christs person but his own others stood for Fraction but this the doubters easily disprove for it is say they an Act purely Sacramental not at all Sacrificial and Fraction being before Consecration the Substance of the Bread and Wine remaineth When N. N. hath solved all these Doubts and satisfied all these Doubters he may be more confident of the demonstrative Power of Doubts and uncertainties in the mean time he may apply them to his own Church in his own words Mutatis mutandis Therefore the Romanists before they can prudently believe themselves to have true Faith or be the Catholick Church must clear all Doubts and uncertainties not objected by Protestants but started and pursued by their own Divines concerning their Church their Head of the Church their Ordinations and the most Substantial Act of their Religion the Mass for though any Person should not c. 7. N. N. goes one step forward the step to Christian and Catholick belief is c. This hath nothing of usefulness to his Conclusion unless he prove that a Clergy not regularly ordained cannot believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith c. that the Protestant Church hath a doubtful Clergy in which his attempts have hitherto been unsuccessful and unlucky to him and his Church If his meaning be the well-grounded Credibility of his Church is the foundation of Christian belief this is to beg the Question and is false for Christian Faith is not an assent and adherence to the Objects thereof upon the bare Testimony of the Church but on that of God neither is its warranty derived from the Church's Proposition but Divine Revelation True Faith is founded on the writings of Moses and the Prophets of Christ and his Apostles Eph. 2.20 which moved Durand thus to define it It is an habit whereby we assent to the Doctrines of the Scripture for the Authority of God revealing them But if he intend only that the Church's Proposition is to her members the first motive and preparative of Faith it will not be gainsaid but then he must remember that a prudent Christian will not take the Church for well-groundedly credible till he find by the Rule of Faith She deserves to be so esteemed for it is impossible the Church can appear so to him till he know the Faith it proposeth which he cannot do but by applying it to the Rule for every intellectual and moral habit must be sufficiently known before the Acts resulting from them can be predicated of any subject capable to exercise them As I must know what Prudence is before I can truly affirm of any man that he is Prudent 8. That which N. N. mainly drives at is to seduce the members of the Church of England from her Communion and solicite them to Apostate to Rome To effect this he took as he conceived a seasonable opportunity to perplex the minds of men with his Doubts and uncertainties by reason of our late sad divisions Then the Romanists bent all their forces to perswade easy seduceable tempers This Church was either a dead or (d) Bishop
2. The Queen saith he did resolve c. This is most false for thus she expressed and declared her self (a) Cambden Ann. p. 35 36. England embraceth no new Religion nor any other than that which Christ hath commanded the Primitive and Catholick Church hath practised and the Ancient Fathers have always with one mind and will approved If N. N. hath another Catholick Religion let him keep it to himself 3. The Pope did declare her a Bastard c. Perhaps this may be true but if he did so he declared against his own Conscience if Guicciardine say true but whether this were so or no the Pope hath a faculty to determine and declare contradictions If once he did declare her a Bastard he hath a cleanly conveyance to call in his Declaration and pronounce her Legitimate Our English Authors of good account probably upon common report have written that Pius the fourth as he offered very large Concessions so if the terms could be agreed on which were proposed to revoke the â—cateace against â—rer Mothers Marriage This seems to Mr. Fuller to be a light conjecture but others as modest and more knowing than himself in that point have averred it Bishop Babington on Num. the seventh affirms of Clement the eighth and Bishop Andrews Tort. Torti p. 142. is very positive in it Certe illâ—â—d rentatum constat de cuteris si ut vero Primatus c. Mr. Fuller himself relates the Pope sent by his Nuntio the Abbot of St. Saviours a Letter to her in which he promised to grant her whatsoever she would desire for the establishing and confirming of her Princely Dignity and assured her having furnished the Abbot with secret Instructions he should deal more largely with her intreating her to give the same credit to his Speeches which she would do to himself If these Instructions contrived for that pretence and profer were not publickly to be seen this was but a piece of Pope-crafe for the matter was so to be managed that nothing was to be concluded till the Abbot certainly found the Letter would take and produce the designed effect But before this Paul the fourth promised though not so frankly yet home enough that if she would refer her self wholly to his free crooked disposition he would do whatsoever might be done with the (b) Hist Counc of Trent fol. 411. ad An. 1558. honour of the Apostolick See and we know that the Popes have ready inventions they can any time off-hand find an expedient to salve its honour This Pope in the year 1554 being a moderate good man by a Letter to Queen Mary whom he knew to be zealously addicted to the Papal Interest granted a close Dispensation to confirm and ratify the alienation of the Possessions and Revenues of the Church and forged six reasons to satisfy the World that such a Dispensation might be granted with honour and conscience This Letter with the reasons was found in the Offices of the King's Papers the original whereof was there preserved but the next year following the tender-conscienced man changed his mind and in private discourse often told the English Embassadors with deep protestations that he could not profane the things dedicated to God and that his Authority reached not so far as to approve Sacriledg and therefore under an Anathema restitution must be made of Church-Goods and Revenues adding withal they could not hope that St. Peter would open Heaven to them so long as they usurped his Goods upon Earth Hist Counc of Trent fol. 392 393. ad An. 1555. This was a pure piece of Pope-craft to get Peter-pence from the people and Annates from the Crown for himself which he gained by this Artifice and let the Church shift for her Rights as well as she could The Pope and his Adherents do generally charge the Greeks with Heresy and Schism yet by an accord the Greeks may have his good leave to be Hereticks and Schismaticks let them but acknowledg his Supremacy they may keep their Religion and be either Hereticks or Schismaticks but if they prove refractory and refuse then presently they are pronounced Hereticks and Schismaticks For in Ann. 1594 Articles were drawn and concluded betwixt the Pope and the Bishops of South-Russia the main whereof was he was to permit to them the liberty of the exercise of their Religion and they were in lieu of that to acknowledg his Supremacy which they submitted to but with special reservation of their Religion and Rites Brerewood Inquiries p. 138. taken out of Th. a Jesu What Arts the Popes have used to maintain their Reputation the Author of the Hist of the Couno of Trent hath reported for fine stories of Reconciliation fol. 382 and 383 which he truly and properly stiles shadows of Obedience For Saligniacus the Pope's Protonotary Itenr to 8. c. 2. refert Brerewood p. 161. expresly affirmeth that the Christians in Egypt never yielded obedience to the Pope Let the Pope's Interest be either bettered or secured he can with honour allow Heresy and Schism and so sober and moderate a man is he he will not stand with you upon the strict account of Religion Neither is N. N. certain that all the Catholicks did take the Queen of Scots to be true Heir to the Crown yea it is false for not those sure who concluded the Marriage of King Henr. the eighth with Katharine to be unlawful and Divorce lawful not those sure who owned Elizabeth their natural Liege-Prince as Heath Arch-Bishop of York and Oglethorp Bishop of Carlisle who Crowned her not those who judged the Act of Succession valid neither the Secular Priests who in their Book entituled Important Considerations Printed An. 1601 and now re-Printed An. 1675 bound with the other Treatises did acknowledg her their true and lawful Queen and themselves her Highness natural born Subjects p. 53. and 64 and as such did profess their Allegiance to her as highly as the most Loyal Subjects could or should do p. 85 86. Nay nor Father Parsons and his Comrades who entituled the King of Spain and the Infanta his Daughter to the Crown in his Book entituled Dolman and as the Secular Priests affirm Import Consid p. 82. Philip King of Spain treated with Queen Elizabeth to Marry his Son Charles which he would not have done if he either valued the Pope's Declaration (f) Which none of those Roman-Church and there are great store of them do who deny his Infallibility in matters of Fact and Right or thought the Queen of Scots to be true Heir unless he had been assured of a Dispensation and by vertue thereof disseize and debar the right Heir But this project failing he gave out words he would take her for his own Wife insomuch that the King of France feared a Marriage betwixt them which moved many of the more inquisitive and considering sort to believe that the reason why the Pope did not draw in his Declaration proceeded only from the practices of
ORIGO PROTESTANTIUM OR AN ANSWER TO A Popish Manuscript OF N. N's That would fain make the Protestant Catholick Religion Bear date at the very time when the Roman Popish commenced in the WORLD WHEREIN PROTESTANCY is demonstrated to be elder than POPERY To which is added a JESUITS LETTER With the ANSWER thereunto annexed By John Shaw Rector of Whalton in Northumberland and Preacher at St. Johns in New-Castle upon Tine Cypr. Pomp. contr Ep. Steph. Quod nunc facere oportet Dei Sacerdotes divina Precepta servantes ut in aliquo si nutaverit vacillaverit veritas ad Originem Dominicam Evangelicam Apostolorum traditionem revertamur inde surgat actus nostri ratio undè origo surrexit LONDON Printed for H. Brome at the Gun in St. Pauls Church-Yâ—â—â— 1677. TO The Right Worshipful Sir RALPH CARR MAYOR Sir ROBERT SHAFTO RECORDER THE ALDER MEN SHERIFF And the rest of the Members of the Ancient Town and County OF Newcastle upon Tine J. SHAW Humbly presenteth this ensuing TREATISE The Preface WHen it pleased God in his great goodness and mercy to this Persecuted Church and Harassed Kingdom by a miraculous Providence to restore his Sacred Majesty to his just Rights and the Church to her Legal and Primitive settlement I also who was before necessitated to seek shelter elsewhere till the Tyranny was overpast returned to my own Native Countrey where I found diverse whom I left professed Sons of our Church turned Renegades having forsaken their own Mother in the day of Trial and betaken themselves to that flattering Stepdame of Rome This I reflected on with much regret and so much the more because I found that with this defection from their Mother they were also grown cool in their Affection to the common Father of their Countrey our Sovereign Lord the King as being sowred with Republican or Protectorian Leaven infused into them by the so much admired Thomas de Albiis amongst others I observed further that the Romanists in these parts grew every day more insolently active to bring more Grist to their own Mill and List more men in the Popes Service not only by Printed Books but also by private Letters and Manuscripts The first whereof that came to my hands was the short Letter subjoyned to this Treatise to which I have upon my Friends request framed an Answer and here annexed to the Letter The next I met with was a Manuscript that would fain usurp the Title of Origo Protestantium sent me by a Gentleman for my opinion thereof which after having perused and transcribed it I returned to him again and have here endeavoured to refute and therein vindicate the English Reformation The Author seems to be a man in great request amongst them especially if he be the same N. N. who assisted in the late Conference if not he is probably that N. N. who was Second to Father Knott as S. W. or W. S. was to Mr. White Be the Author who he will you are to understand that as the design of the former was to seduce unstable Souls from our Church by suggesting it to be no true Church through the defect both of Moral and Personal Successions so also the great business of this latter is to prove the Nullity of our Church for want of Personal Succession therein chiefly upon the old Nags-Head Story which might have passed for current Roman Coin perhaps in 57 when Lilly's Almanack and Mother Shipton's Prophesy were in vogue But they are much out in their Politicks who think such like Riff-raff as fitly Calculated for 75 the World is grown a little Older and so much Wiser too than to believe all is Gold that Glisters and can discern between Legends and true History however the insinuating Jesuit would fain become again a Pearl for a Lady Other Scripts and Prints of this nature and to this effect are since come to my sight which perhaps I may when I have nothing else to do animadvert upon holding my self obliged to lend my poor endeavours in scouring these Northern Coasts especially of those Popish Pirats who count all Fish that comes to the Net and will break all Laws to compass one unlawful Prize Mean while the Reader is desired to Correct such Errata as he may possibly meet with in this Treatise in regard of the Author 's great distance from the Pres and he will thereby oblige His Humble Servant J. Shaw Origo Protestantium OR PROTESTANCY Before POPERY CHAP. I. SECT I. N.N. IN the year 1516 there was no other Religion in our Parts of the World acknowledged Catholick and Apostolick but that which the Protestants now call Popery SECT I. J.S. 1. PRotestants on the contrary assert that which now is called Popery though it was then the prevailing Faction in the Church yet it was not the acknowledged Catholick Religion in these our parts of the World Erasmus (a) Epist ad Godeshal Ros hath declared there was nothing in Luther but might be defended by good Authors he had good reason to say so for that the Pope and his Great Council did politickly devise and erect an expurgatory Office which they industriously advanced to expunge out those very Doctrines which the Protestants embrace Particularly the Doctrine of Merits in and about that time was not reputed Catholick In a Book entituled A form of Baptisme according to the Practice of the Roman Church Printed at Paris (b) But since Corrected in 6 places or otherwise prohibited by the Inquisitors of Spain p. 249. 1575. And in the Roman Pontifical Venet. 1585 (c) Reformed at Rome Ann. 1602. under this head Questions to be made to a dying man this is one Credis quod c. Dost thou believe that our Lord Jesus Christ died for thy Salvation and that none be Saved by their own Merits or by any other means but only by the Merits of his Passion And in a Book much elder than these called Hortulus Animae (d) Since forbidden Index lib. prohib p. 156. A Garden of health for the Soul there are several Questions of the same nature and import which were daily used by the Ecclesiasticks in their visitation of the Laicks The like are to be found in Breviloq Bonav in Gerson de Agon interrog Ansel published by Cassander commended by Caspar Vtembergius and confessed by Martin Eisingreene (e) Tract Apol. de cert gratiae pro vero Germano intellectu Can. 13. Sess 6. Conc. Triden c. 8. a learned man and Chaplain to the Emperour to be the ordinary form used at the visitation of the Sick in their last Agonies further relating that he found an old Book in the (f) Called Rhasme id ib. p. 484. Covent of the Augustine Friers wherein the same Questions were and further adds that such there were in Agendis veteribus the ancient Liturgies of Wittenburg Salsburg Mentz c. 2. That which Protestants call Popery and is the Fundamental of all
to be scandalous because he was of that Order To clear this Proposition N. N. thus sets out SECT II. N. N. ANno 1517. Leo the tenth granted Indulgences to such as voluntarily contributed towards the War against the Turk who at that time threatned all Christendom having added Syria and Egypt to the Ottoman Empire The business of divulging these Indulgences in Germany was committed to the Arch-Bishop of Mentz who appointed John Tetizel a Dominican Friar to Preach which Office long time before had been given to the Augustine Friars amongst whom Martin Luther a Famous Preacher expected the place but seeing his hopes frustrated he resolved now to write against Indulgencies and the Pope as he had prepared to Preach in favour of both before The first occasion which offered it self were certain abuses unavoidable in things which pass through many hands in the management of this affair against which or rather Indulgencies he framed certain Libels and Conclusions which were condemned and burnt as heretical by John Titzell his Competitor who then exercised the Office of Inquisitor in Germany This fire did so warm Luther and added such flames to his hot disposition that most part of Europe felt the smart of it for being once engaged and enraged by Titzell's declaration against him he would not recant his first error but added others denying Purgatory the Pope's Authority Merits the necessity of good Works c. SECT II. J. S. 1. THis Narrative concerns not the Church of England they who desire to be informed how the Affairs were managed in Germany may consult Sleidan and Guicciardine It will not be amiss to recite one testimony from him ad An. 1520. where he chargeth N. N's certain not as he suggesteth unavoidable abuses on Leo the tenth affirming he was the cause of what was done in Germany because he after complaint upon complaint that his Indulgencies and Bulls were sold in Shops the Buyers and the Sellers playing the money at Dice did not redress those faults nor attempted to redress them further adding all the World knew the Money was not gathered as was pretended to make War against the Turk but indeed to maintain the Pomp and Lust of the Pope's Sister Magdalen See the Author of the Hist. of the Council of Trent fol. 5. and withal reporting that Adrian the sixth immediate Successor to Leo the tenth intended to reform the abuses fol. 22. c. but first he would reform the corrupt manners of the Court of Rome because he saw all the World desired it earnestly fol. 26. 2. Be it so for once that Luther was engaged and enraged yet this was no bad Argument of the Cause he had undertaken for to satisfy N. N. that which engaged him was the sorry shifting defences the Indulgence-mongers framed for themselves for they finding themselves too weak for Luther in the particular case of Indulgencies which had no other foundation than the Bull of Clement the sixth made for the Jubilee an 1350. betook themselves for shelter to common-places such as the Pope's Authority the Churches Treasury of Merits the Doctrine of Penance and Purgatory (r) Hist Coun. Trent fol. 6. Thus Tetzel and Eckius managed their Plea and would have avoided Luther's objections but Sylvester Prierias (Å¿) Contra Lutherum Jewel def of Apol. fol. 49. Master of the Pope's Palace above all other gave Martin the occasion to pass from Indulgencies to the Authority of the Pope for he having upon a forced-put delivered that Indulgentiae scripturarum c. Indulgencies are not warranted by Authority of Scripture but of the Roman Church and Popes which is greater put Luther upon it to examine and discuss this bold Affirmation That which enraged Luther if it were so oppression maketh a wise man mad was that he knew very well what counsel Friar Hogostrate (t) Hist Counc of Trent fol. 7. had given to Pope Leo not to meddle with him by Argument but to confute him with Chains Fire and Flames and he knew this would be his Fate if he fell into the Pope's Power Neither could he expect to find further favour from Adrian his Successor for the Cardinal of Praenestâ— who had been employed in Civil Affairs in the Papacies of Alex. Julius and Leo and was then Adrian's Confident told him No man ever extinguished Heresies by Reformation the Council of Trent it seems was not convened for that end whatsoever was pretended but by Crusadoes and by exciting Princes and People to vote them out That Innocent the third did by such means a sure evidence of Usurpation by the known measures of Tyranny and that their Religion cannot endure a fair trial happily suppress the Albigenses in the Province of Languedock and the next Popes by the same means in other places rooted the Waldenses Picards poor people of Lions Arnoldists Speronists and Patavines so that now there remaineth no (u) Hist. Coun. Trent fol. 23. more of them but the name only And Adrian himself exhorted the Princes themselves assembled at the Diet of Noremberge 1522. to reduce Martin and his followers into the right way by fair means if they could but if not to proceed to sharp and fiery remedies to cut the dead members from the body as anciently was done to Dathan and Abiram to Ananias and Saphira to Jovinian and Vigilantius and finally as their Predecessors had done to John Huss and Hierom of Prague whose example in case they cannot otherwise do (w) Hist. Counc of Trent fol. 25. they ought to imitate The forementioned Cardinal declared no Reformation could be made that would not totally diminish the Rents of the Church for that if Indulgencies were stopped one quarter of the Revenues of the Church would be cut off there being but four Fountains whereof this was one CHAP. II. SECT I. N. N. HENRY the Eighth among others who writ against Luther composed a Learned Book in defence of the Seven Sacraments the Pope's Authority c. which gained him the Title of Defender of the Faith But being weary of his lawful Wife Q. Katherine despairing to have issue-male by her and enamoured of Ann Bullen cast off all obedience to the Pope because he would not declare his Marriage with Q. Katherine invalid and by Act of Parliament made it Treason to acknowledg any Spiritual Jurisdiction of the Pope in his Dominions himself being proclaimed Spiritual Head of the Church This was the occasion and beginning of the pretended Reformation in England Notwithstanding Henry the Eighth observed the old Religion in all Points except the Pope's Supremacy which he borrowed of the new to marry Ann Bullen and enrich himself by the spoils of the Monasteries and persecuted all other Novelties and Heresies in such degree that though many crept into England in his Reign yet very few durst profess them because as many as did were burnt by his command SECT I. J. S. TO this suggestion it will be seasonable to premise a general Narrative of
account among the common People In this Confusion the Protector calls a Parliament 1547 but the Common-Prayer Book did not then pass yet all former Statures made against Hereticks or Sectaries were recalled and annulled In the ensuing Parliament the Book was approved because it seemed in matter of the Sacraments to humour divers Sectaries who before had opposed it yet the Common People of England took Arms in defence of the Old Roman Catholick Religion complaining that most Sacraments were taken from them and they had reason to fear the rest This was King Edwards Reformation which could not be perfected because he lived but six years It is remarkable how in this Kings time it was resolved that whatsoever should be determined by six Bishops such as they were and six Learned men in the Law of God or the major part of them concerning the Rights Ceremonies and Administration of the Sacraments that only should be followed Never did any Sectaries before this time presume so far as ours did in preferring the judgment of seven men for that is the major part of twelve before that of the Christian World in changing the matter and form of Sacraments abolishing the Sacrifice of the Mass and ancient Rites and Ceremonies of the Church Catholick confirmed by so many General Councils and approved by all the Ancient Fathers Heresy is always accompanied with presumption but this exceeds all Parallel SECT II. J. S. HEre again something in General is to be premised to remove those prejudices which N. N. hath raised against the procedure of Edward the sixth It is granted that King was but a Child yet it must not be denied that the Laws of the Kingdom committing the exercise of Supreme Power in that case to a Protector what was regularly done by him ought to be deemed as valid as if the King had been of age and done it himself The Reformation made in Jehoash his minority 2 Chron. 23 though it was the immediate Act of his Uncle Jehojada was firm to all intents and purposes It is acknowledged also That Images were pulled down a Body of English Liturgy formed c. But what was done in these particulars was done without confusion or contradiction For it was done by Authority of the Supreme Power with the advice and consent of the major part of the Bishops not opposed by the Convocations but rather approved for that the Clergy in the respective Diocesses generally practised the prescribed form and after confirmed by Parliament This appears from the Provisional Injunctions 1 Edw. 6. and the Acts of Parliament 2 3 Edw. 6. to which the Bishops had so great a respect that as they practised themselves so they took care for the uniform observation of these Injunctions and Statutes requiring conformity to them from the Inferiour Clergy which accordingly they submitted to For we find a charge was drawn against Stephen Gardiner one Article whereof was He observed not the Book of Common-Prayer nor ordered the observation thereof in his Diocess to which charge he made this Answer to the Duke of Somerset with five others of the Council viz. That he having deliberately perused the Book of Common Prayer although he would not have made it so himself yet he found such things in it as satisfied his Conscience and therefore he would use it himself and see his Parishioners do so too the same in effect he said to the Lord Treasurer Secretary Peters and Sir William Herbert when they came to him with Articles from the King himself To confirm this procedure it is to be observed 1. The whole affair was managed by an approved Catholick Rule which was to reform what was amiss according to the Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures and usage of the Primitive Church not to form any New Religion but retrieve the Old and to reduce it into that state as Christ had left it the Apostles practised and the Primitive Church had received and observed as the King declared to the Romish Rebels 2. It was ordered as the Tridentine Assemblers thought most fit Decreto de Celebratione Missae in which Institutions were read concerning abuses to be corrected in the Celebration of the Mass the substance whereof was that the Bishops ought to forbid all things brought in by Avarice Irreverence or Superstition If it be alleadged the Bishops were so to do as Delegates of the See of Rome the Return is obvious Our Bishops as Commissioners of the Supreme Power might do what they did with better Authority and Warranty For 1. Learned Romanists do confess that particular Nations have a Power to purge themselves from Corruptions as well in Church as State without leave from the See of Rome This is acknowledged by Seren. Cressy in his Answer to Dr. Pierce's Sermon p. 285. But what if the Pope issue out a Prohibition and interdict the whole Nation very many of them do conceive it may be waved and opposed because no reason can be assigned why the Church should continue under known Corruption for the Popes reâ—lyeness to have them redressed Aeneas (l) De Conc. Basil l. 1. Silvius after Pius the second was once of this mind for that if the Popes recusancy may hinder the proceedings of a General Council to the disturbance of the Church corruptions of the Minds of Men and the destruction of their Soul all would thereby be undonne without remedy Cardinal (m) De concord Conc. l. 2. c. 12. l. 3. c. 15. Gusan goes yet higher affirming that the Emperour in duty was obliged by his Imperial Authority to Assemble a Synod when the great danger of the Church required it which determination was also resolved in the first (n) Conc. Pis impress Lutet 1612. fol. 69. Pisan Council Quintinus (o) A Lawyer and pablick Professor at Paris in repet lectione de Civitatis Christianae Aristocratia Heduus who lived in Henry the eighth's time hath aproved by many Canons that if the Pope command and the King forbid the King is to be obyed therefore when the King calls together the Prelats of the Church to reform the state thereof they are bound to obey though the Pope forbid it (p) Franc. praelect 4. a. 161. at this day a General Council may be called against the Popes mind by the Emperour and the Christian Princes whether he will or not Baron (q) Ad Ann. 553. n. 2. confesseth the second General Council is approved though Pope Damasus with might and main opposed it Vigilius though once he consented to the calling of the first General Council yet when he was called to give his personal appearance and afford his assistance and concurrence being commanded so to do by the Emperour and solicited thereto by twenty (r) Baron 553. n. 35. Metropolitans whereof three were Patriarcks the sturdy insolent Pope utterly refused whereupon the Emperour the necessity of the Church which was then in a general Tumult and Schism about the (s) Ibid. Ann.
Edward's time had passed their Authority to certain Persons Deputed by the King to make Spiritual Laws * Fox Act. Mon. So that though nothing appears apud Acta because perhaps not so carefully registred or not at all because it was the Personal Act of their Deputies or in that primo Mariae which is likely enough expunged and destroyed yet a Synod there was to carry on this work upon the foregoing Reasons to which may be added what Bishop Jewel def Apol. fol. 520 affirms which Mr. Harding (a) Scoffing at it as a small obscure meeting of a few Calvivinists Def. Apol. fol. 521. which Bishop Jewel farther avers Defen Apol. fol. 645. could not deny We have not done saith he what we have done altogether without Bishops or a Council the matter hath been treated in open Parliament with long Consultation and before a notable Synod and Convocation Having premised thus much the less shall be said to N. N's exceptions and reports and nothing at all to his angry scurrilous malicious invectives and expressions 1. Edward the sixth was a Child c. This is a close reflection on his incompetency to act in that kind but N. N. might have considered that Kings in the eye of the English Laws are never Minors and that though he was a Child in years yet not so in understanding for during the time of his Reign he kept a most exact judicious Journal of all the most principal (b) Haywards Ed. 6. affairs of State and his abilities were so great far beyond his years that he could encounter Gardan and disputed his new devised Paradoxes with so much acuteness and strength of Reason that Cardan reported his parts to be miraculous And as to his Knowledg in matters of Religion his Answer formerly related to the Romish Rebels sufficiently shews he was no Candidate thereof but a solid understanding Christian But if his being a Child be so great an offence to the Romish tender Consciences why should not their Universal Monarch's being a Child work the same effect in them Such they have had Benedict the ninth was a Lad almost ten years old John the eleventh a stripling and a Bastard to boot which one of their stout sticklers grants and makes a pleasant Phanatick (c) A. D. Soc. Jes in his Reply to Dr. White p. 289. Sect. to the seventh Apology for their youth viz. in these words The young years of our Bishops cannot be a hinderance to debar them of being Infallible Pastors and Universal Monarchs in the Church since out of the Mouth of Babes our Lord can work his own praise neither is Ignorance want of Learning or Discretion any lett when by the mouth of an Ass God can instruct a Prophet 2. They did vary as he runs on and so were in confusion The Antecedent is beggarly without proof and the consequence is naught every variation in judgment and opinion doth not infer or imply Confusion The members of the Trent-Assembly in far more and more importing Doctrines did vary almost at every turn yet I presume this man of confidence will not adventure to conclude that all was there in a Confusion But King Edwards Doctors did not vary for they were perfectly agreed and took an effectual course to prevent discord and confusion For 3. The Common-Prayer Book was not obstructed but generally and Religiously observed For in 1 Edw. 6. it was Authorized by Proclamation recommended to the Bishops by special Letters from the Lords of the Privy Council to see it practised and in 2. Edw. 6. a penalty was imposed by Act of Parliament on such as should deprave or neglect the use thereof if any disturbance therein it proceeded from the Popish party and their Preachers which occasioned a Proclamation to be issued out to silence them 4. He relates every one might Preach what he pleased c. This is false for a Proclamation was published none should Preach unless he were Licensed 5. Hugh Latimer saith he was in great esteem c. If so then probably the Common People would have sided with him for the Common-Prayer Book which he so highly esteemed that he judged all those who condemned it to be Factious and Seditious as in particular he charged Thomas Lord Seymour upon that account 6. He tells us the Common People took Armes c. Surely not those who so much respected Hugh Latimer they were some who affected Popery that is no news such should prove Rebels when they dare he might have spared this to save the Credit of his Old Religion This practice is sufficient to prove them no true Roman Catholicks for the Old Religion taught Subjects Submission and Suffering for Religion and forbad Resistance and Rebellion and taking up Arms against their lawful Sovereign 7. He supposeth Edward the sixth's Reformation could not be perfected c. In good time by the same reason Queen Mary's reduction of Popery could much less be perfected for she lived but five years 1. He presents his grand remarkable in this Kings time c. But he is so reserved and wary as not to specify the year of his Reign if he means 1 Edw. as is most probable he misseth one of the number for thirteen were appointed this is a pardonable mistake That which follows is a down-right Calumny as hath been sufficiently proved for those seven men had a real respect to the Judgment of the Christian World and Practice of the Catholick Church If he pitch on 2 3 Edw. 6. then 32 persons were nominated to examine Ecclesiastical Lawes viz. such as concerned the Jurisdiction and Rights of the Church in foro externo which indeed were but so many Regulators of the Canon-Law If he relate to 6 Edw. 6. only eight persons were named in the Kings Letters Patents with a power to call into their Assistance whom they pleased But this is remarkable that when N. N. lays claim to all the Christian World many General Councils and all the Fathers for their Matter and Form of Sacraments and their Sacrifice of the Mass he is then fallen into the braving humour of his old Thrasonical Bragadochio Colleagues Testor omnes patres omnia Concilia c. No less than all was the nothing Brag of Father Campian but the Author of the Apologetical Epistle published Ann. 1601 goes far beyond him in this swelling ranting ventosity That Faith which I defend is taught in all the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures and all ancient Glosses and Scholies on their Latine and Greek by all the learned Fathers Historians Antiquaries and Monuments by all Synods Councils Laws Parliaments Canons and Decrees of Popes of Emperours and Kings by all Martyrs and Confessors and Schools by all Friends and Enemies even Mahumetans Jews Pagans and Infidels all former Hereticks and Schismaticks All these he had carefully and with diligence studied and considered them this is a right Don Glorioso But somewhat is still behind his Faith is approved by all the