Archbish Whitg out of Master Foxe noteth that about the year 180. the three Archistamines of the Pagan Britain were changed into three Archbishoprickes the one of London the other of Yorke the third of Glamorgan none of Cant. Archb. Whitg reply to Master Cartwr pag. 323. It is like the most of England was under London the rest and Scotland under Yorke as Bishop Godwin writeth and under Glamorgan Wales Godw. Catal of Bish p. 181 182. London and Glamorgan or n See Godw. his Catal. of Bishops pag. 503 504. Saint Davids and for London it continued so from the yeare 300. or thereabout though Stowe say it was the same Archbishopricke with Canterburie onely locally changed untill Gregory his time who was Pope about the yeare 600. and the King may limit their Jurisdiction as he shall conceive to be most convenient Fourthly over the Archbishops of his dominions for the calling and governing of a o Nationale Concilium Patriarcha regni convocare debet Provinciale Archiepiscopus c. Praelud in Caranz sum concil cap. 3. p. 4. edit 1633. Nationall Councell hee may place a Patriarch and King James shewed himselfe well enough inclined to such a superiority when he said p King James his premonit to free Princes and States pag 366. Patriarchs I know were in the time of the Primitive Church and among them there was a contention for the first place and for my selfe if that were yet the Question and Papall Innovation in Religion put downe for that is his meaning though he doe not plainly expresse it I would with all mine heart give my consent that the Bishop of Rome should have the first seat I being a Westerne King would goe with the Patriarch of the West as the Churches of great Britaine of q By humane Institution wee suffered our selves to be ranged under the Church of Romes Patriarchall Authority as being the most famous Church of the West a matter of courtesie no necessity no spirituall obligation Bish Hall against Brownists sect 23. pag. 590. courtesie not of duty in former times were wont to doe And for each particular Prelate whether Archbishop or Bishop he is to bee regulated for his Courts and other Jurisdiction by Royall Authority and how farre they stand established in the Kings favour purpose or promise we cannot tell nor dare we sweare much lesse dare wee bee so peremptory concerning the power of Deanes or Archdeacons for to Deanes which have not Episcopall Jurisdiction hee may grant as much priviledge as the Deanes of Westminster or Windsor doe enjoy and by the same Authority that some may have more may others have lesse And for Archdeacons the doubt is more since their establishment consists in prescription as before hath been observed and that prescription in some respects may be a prevarication fitter to be abolished then established as appeareth by that of Spalatensis saying r Cum Archidiaconi jam passim supra Presbyteros collocentur id tandem nimiâ corum pertinaciâ Praelatorum conniventiâ eos evicisse meritò possumus affirmare Spalat de Repub. Eccles lib. 7. c. 4. pag. 273. 58. That the Archdeacons placing above the Archpresbyters is to be imputed to their pertinacy and to the Bishops connivence But in this Diocesse for many yeares past Jurisdiction hath not been so much as an unnecessary appendance to Archdeacons since all that while it hath been no appendance at all for untill very lately they had no Jurisdiction at all wee cannot then say much lesse sweare their Government is established since it was but newly erected and made up out of Rurall Deanries which is a fabricke like a Tent or Tabernacle newly set up and may bee quickly taken downe againe 3. Partic. As by right it ought to stand The 16. DOUBT What this Right is 16. Particular Doubt by which the Government is meant to stand THE REASON BEcause there bee some that thinke these words a limitation or restriction of the former as if the meaning were that we ought to approve of the establishment of this Government so farre as of right it ought to stand and no further but concerning that they that framed the Oath could make no doubt of any ones dissent and therefore in that sense would call for none assurance upon Oath It is more consonant to reason to conceive that they meant to have an acknowledgement not onely that the Government de facto is indeed established but that de jure also of right it ought to bee so but then Quo jure will be the Question whether the same or a diverse right If the same whether shall Bishops come downe to Deanes and Archdeacons and claime no better warrant for their dignity then they or shall Deanes and Archdeacons advance the Tenure of their Authority as high as Bishops doe to claime their preheminence and power by divine right that as in the case of the Boemians concerning the use of the Communion cup at the Councel of ſ Basiliense concilium concessit Boe miae utriusque speciei usum modo faterentur id sibi conce di ab Ecclesia non autem ad hoc teneri divino jure Bellarm. l. 1. de Sacram. in genere c. 2. sect 2. Basil but more justly then so may bee denied to them all when under some other title preheminence may be allowed unto them Some conceive the word Right was left at large in favour to Deponents that there might be a latitude for such as are of a scrupulous conscience to conceive such right as they could best approve of and especially that right which agreeth to them all to wit a Positive and Ecclesiasticall right by humane constitution or prescription But those that have better meanes to know the minds of the Composers of the Canons will have the Right diversified according to that to which it is applyed as that Bishops stand by divine Right the rest by Right Ecclesiasticall To this purpose we may bring in the saying of our Saviour Lo Lam with you to the end of the world Mat. 28.20 which is not to be understood in person but by assistance for neither he nor they his Apostles to whom hee spake were to bee in the world untill the worlds end and this assistance is divers infallible as to the Apostles but sufficient only to their successors so the Right may be conceived to be divine in respect of Bishops but humane to all the rest But of this tenet of divine Right though it be held by very t The Archb. that now is in his Speech in the Starre-chamber p. 6. Bishop Hall in his late booke intitled Episcopacy by Divine right great Prelates of our Church and by u Bish Andrewes in his Answer to the 18. Chapter of Perrons Reply p. 15. some said to be the Doctrine of our Church such a Doctrine and so fully delivered by the Apostles That there is not the tenth part of the Plea for the Lords day from their
sol 80. ad 90. See also the form of the sent of Excomm in certaine Canons of the Synod 1571. p. 29.30 Constitutions and Orders published by King Henry the eighth and King Edward the sixth and in the last Synod the case is much altered with Bishops in their Government for whereas formerly they were free to propound what Articles they thought good in their visitations o Can. 9. Now to prevent just aggrievances which may bee laid upon Church-wardens and other Sworn-men by impertinent inconvenient or illegall inquiries this last Synod hath caused a summary or collection of Visitatory Articles out of the Rubricke of the Service Booke and the Canons and warrantable Rules of the Church to be made which Bishops and other Ordinaries are to follow in their Visitations and none other And in divers particulars the Authority of Chancellours is p See the Confer at Hampt Court how their authority is altered by restraint pag. 77 78. particularly for Excommunication altered as may appeare by the 11 13 14 15 17. Canons of the late Synod And why another Synod may not if there bee cause make other alterations we know not and we beleeve they may and that there may be need they should doe so and therefore that we may not take an Oath that wee will not consent to alter that which is of an alterable nature Object If it be said that Government is here taken as distinguished from Discipline and that Discipline may bee altered while the Government is not wee say Answ 1. That we find no ground in the Oath for that distinction and wee have shewed before that in the former part they signifie as Synonyma the same things Secondly if wee take the Government for that of the Bishops preheminence over the Presbyters though Bishop Hall averre with a confidence belonging to the Creed q Bish Hall of Episcopacy part 2 sect 2. pag. 129. That the Government by Bishops is both universall and unalterable and so was r Ibid. p. 132 133. intended by the Apostles in their ordinance of them and therefore is Å¿ Ibid. p. 135. utterly indispensable and must so continue to the worlds end yet some who have been more exercised in the controversie of Episcopall Authority then hee if we may make our comparison by what is published in print and who thinke so well of that Prelation as to hold it as of Apostolicall Institution confesse t Bish Downh answ to the Preface of the Refuter of his Serm. p. 9. That the Government by Bishops is not generally perpetually and immutably necessary and it may be that which the Archbishop of Canterbury that now is hath said of Government in generall may have an application to this point in particular though hee meant it not so u Archb. Laud in his Epist De dic before his Starre-chamb Speech This saith hee I shall be bold to say and your Majesty may consider of it in your wisedome that one way of Government is not alwayes fit or safe when the humours of the people are in a continuall change Thirdly there is an alteration in Government when they that govern have lesse Authority then they have had as by the last Canons wee have observed both of Bishops and Chancellours Fourthly there may be yet a further alteration for the better without digression from the old way to Novelty or from the high way the right road way of such as are truly religious to Schisme which if the reverend Fathers will give us leave wee will undertake to shew by such evidence as in this case is of greatest weight Wee dare not then take an Oath against alteration lest therewith wee should forsweare a meet Reformation of the Church which any Church may need that hath lesse assistance of the Spirit then the Prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New and of all of them we must hold as the x The L. Archbish that now is in his Answ to A.C. pag. 91. Archbishop hath very well said in his answer to the Jesuit Such an assistance of Christ and the holy Spirit the Prophets under the Old Testament had and the Apostles under the New as neither the high Priest with his Clergie in the Old nor any company of Prelates or Priests in the New since the Apostles ever had 5. Partic. That though there should be an alteration we should never give our consent unto it The words of the Oath Nor will I ever give my consent c. Of these words we have a double Doubt The one DOUBT is Why we should sweare against consent to alter the Government of the Church 18. Particular Doubt THE REASON BEcause so the Government seemeth to be preferred before the Doctrine for for the Doctrine we must sweare onely that wee will not bring in or bee the Inventers or Leaders in the promoting of Popish Doctrine but for the Government wee must sweare that we will not consent though but as followers for what others bring in Now as it is a lesse offence to be a Follower then a Captaine in whatsoever is evill so it seemeth to shew a greater care of preservation of the Government of the Church by Archbishops c. then of the Doctrine of Religion by requiring as strict an Oath not to bee second in the change of the one as not to be first in corrupting the other The other DOUBT is Whether if we should thus sweare 19. Particular Doubt we should not be entangled with contradiction to our Governours and to our selves THE REASON BEcause first for our Governours we are bound in duty to yeeld our consents to their lawfull Constitutions though with some alteration of Government which we can have no heart to doe if we have sworne to the contrary Hereto some except and say If they alter we may alter with them but this we conceive to be too much ficklenesse and levity and liker to the Gipsie play of fast and loose then to the grave and solid Asseveration which belongeth to an Oath which is neither lightly to be taken nor to bee slighted when it is taken for so it would give none assurance to those that tender it who meant as wee see in the Preface of the Oath to give security by Oath for constancy to the Doctrine and Discipline established against Innovation but there would be little assurance of that if their meaning were this That they that sweare should not change till their superiours had changed before them Besides the chiefest of them hold the Discipline and Government by Bishops immutable and therefore some of them have said they would rather dye then yeeld to an alteration of Episcopall Government but wee beleeve it would bee more easie for a Logician to convince them that Episcopacy is not of Divine Right but of an alterable nature then for a Rhetorician to perswade them to change life for death this world for the next rather then to consent to
there were present 482. Bishops and 800. Abbots who saith he have lesse to doe then Presbyters in the government of the Church Wherein he implyeth that there should be many more then two Convocation Clerkes in a Diocesse to advise and vote at a Synod And in our Diocesan Synods which are yearly called according to the ancient p Concil Agethen an 440. Can. 40. fo 165. Caranz Canon and Custome wee are all summoned to appeare in the Consistory as in the name of a Synod But when we come thither we have so little power and liberty allowed us either for discussion or determination of any matter wherein Presbyters both in right and fact have had a freedome heretofore that most of us appeare rather as Delinquents standing at the Consistoriall Barre or at the best as Clients or Tenents paying a tribute of suit and service at the Courts of their Landlord So that we may take up the complaint of Duarenus the famous Civilian q Olim hi conventus indicebantur ut Episcopus simul cum Presbyteris de disciplina cleri de causis c. sed hujus honestissimi instituti vix umbram hodie videmus Fr. Duaren de Min. ◠1. c. 11. fol. 13. O fold Synods were called that the Bishops and Presbyters should treat of the Discipline of the Clergie of Ecclesiasticall causes and of divine Doctrine for there was no matter of any great weight which the Bishops without that Senate would determine but now saith hee wee can scarce discerne so much as a shadow of that most honest institution In the fourth Councell of Carthage about the yeare 401. besides many other Constitutions in the behalfe and in honour of Presbyters it was decreed r Concil Carth. 4. Can. 23. pag. 313. edit Fr. Longi That a Bishop should not determine any mans cause but in presence of his Clergie ſ Ibid. Can. 34. pag. 316. That the Bishop though in the Church and in the Assemblies of the Presbyters hee should sit in an higher place yet privately should use his Presbyters as Colleagues and sitting himselfe should not suffer a Presbyter to stand And as Presbyters were not to be disdained by the Bishops but to be taken into a respective society with them for the t Qui Episcopatum desiderat benum opus desiderat exponere voluit quid sit Episcopus quia nomen est operis non honoris intelligat se non esse Episcopum qui praeesse desiderat non prodesse Aug. de civ Dei l. 19. c. 19. tom 5. p. 1310. name of a Bishop was anciently rather a name of labour then of honour rather of duty then of dignity so were they so much to be honoured by the Deacons below them as u Diaconus ita se Presbyteri ut Episcopi ministrum esse cognoscat Concil Carthag 4. Can. 17. subordinate to them as well as to the Bishops x Nec sedere quidem licet medio Presbyterorum Diaconos Concil Nicen. 1. Can. 14. fol. 50. Ne Diaconus coram Presbytero sedeat Concil Aralat Can. 15. Tit. Can. fol. 70. Concil Constantinop 6. Can. 7. Diaconus quolibet loco jubente Presbytero sedeat Concil Carth. 4. Can. 39. That a Deacon might not sit among those that were Presbyters as was decreed in the first Councell of Nice And so it was observed at Rome as y In Ecclesia Romae Presbyreri sedent stant Diaconi licet paulatim increbescentibus vitiis absente Episcopo sedere Diaconos viderim Hieron cpi. ad Evagr. Hieron tom 2. pag. 334. Hierome hath noted untill vice increased And then saith he in the absence of the Bishop I have seene Deacons to sit in the presence of Presbyters And though in later times one Bishop hath had power enough to undoe many Presbyters for small matters yet heretofore in a criminall cause z Causa criminalis Episcopi à duodecim Episcopis audiatur causa Presbyteri à sex causa verò Diaconi à tribus cum proprio Episcopo Concil Carth. 2. Can. 10. fol. 111. a. A Presbyter could not bee condemned by fewer then six Bishops A Bishop indeed as an elder brother had a double portion to censure him for twelve were requisite for a doome against a Bishop and the Deacon as a younger brother to a Presbyter had but halfe so many to give judgement of him as the Presbyter had Now if with security of the publicke peace and the favour of our Superiours there should bee any alteration in the Ecclesiasticall Government wherein we might be assured to be dealt withall if not as Brethren as a Nos omnes Episcopi meminisse debemus Presbyteros omnes esse nostros fratres collegas in Ministerio non famulos non mancipia eosque jure divino non minorem habere in pascendo populo Dei potestatem quam nos habemus Spalat de Repub. Eccles l. 2. c. 9. pag. 284. some of the Episcopall order have professed and pleaded on our behalfe yet rather as sonnes to reverend Fathers then as servants to imperious Lords we dare not be such hypocrites as to forswear a consent to that which wee conceive to bee our right and cannot but be willing to enjoy THE OATH Nor yet ever to subject it to the usurpations and superstitions of the See of Rome The 20. DOUBT is Why in this part of the Oath mention is made rather of the See of Rome 20. Particular Doubt then of the Church of Rome THE REASON BEcause though an ordinary Reader observe no materiall difference betwixt them yet wee are taught by a * Mr. E. B. of the M. T. judicious Lawyer that there is as much difference betwixt the See of Rome and the Church of Rome as betwixt treason and trespasse and he proveth his position by the 23. of Elis cap. 1. where it is said That to be reconciled to the See of Rome is treason but to be reconciled to the Church of Rome is not treason For then saith he every Papist of the Church of Rome should be a Traitour being a member of that Church and therefore reconciled to it Now the See of Rome saith he is nothing else but the Papacy or Supremacy of the Pope whereby by vertue of the Canon unam Sanctam made by Pope Boniface the eighth he challengeth a superiority of Jurisdiction and coercion over all Kings and Princes upon earth and those persons which take Juramentum fidei contained in the Councell of Trent which acknowledgeth this Supremacy are said to be reconciled to the See of Rome But the Church of Rome is nothing else but a number of men within the Popes Dominions or elsewhere professing the Religion of Popery So the meaning of the Oath in this clause of it as hee conceiveth may bee this You must not subject the Church of England to the See of Rome but you may subject it to the Church of Rome That there might be some such subtle meaning in the choice of
we may justly expect from our Popish opposites or require more of us then any Church ever did hitherto Long before these Canons were set forth and h Queen Elisabeth began her reigne Novemb. 17. an 1558. and these were published ann 1561. soone after the reformation of Religion by Queene Elisabeth there were we confess certain protestations to be made promised and subscribed by them that were afterwards to be admitted to any office roome or cure in any Church or other place Ecclesiasticall But we conceive besides other differences to bee touched under another title that neither these protestations are equivalent to such a solemne oath as now is required of us nor that there is such need of it now as there was of them at that time Object If it be said that in these times there is such division and distraction among us that there is need to fasten us together by such a sacred bond as that of the Canon Answ Wee thinke it reasonable to reply That neither the want of such an oath was the cause of the distemper of the times nor that the urging of it will be a convenient cure thereof but rather the contrary since there is more agreement betwixt peace and love which may best be preserved where offensive things are not urged then betwixt love and compulsion especially if as of this oath it is conceived it incroach upon the conscience without any great need as from them that require it or without sufficient ground to satisfie such as should receive it And wee see by the operation of it already daily producing more and more dislike of it that it is not like to be a remedy against any malady already discovered but rather a meanes to exasperate the disease though this bee besides the intention of them that propound it whereof there was the lesse need because as our learned and religious brethren the Divines of Aberdene have observed i Generall Demands of the Ministers and Professors of Aberdene pag. 29. There bee other meanes more effectuall for holding out of Popery and so of any other unlawfull Innovation in which we ought to confide more then in all the vowes promises of men yea also more then in all the united forces of all the subjects of this Land to wit diligent preaching and teaching of the word frequent prayer to God humbling of our selves before him and amendment of our lives and conversations and arming our selves against our adversaries by diligent searching of the Scriptures whereby we may increase in the knowledge of the truth and in ability to defend it against the enemies of it These have been the chiefe meanes to advance both the Doctrine of truth and the Discipline of manners and they will be the best meanes to hold them up still with them there will be no need without them none aide by oaths of this kind There be some that say This Oath was framed for tryall how men stand affected to the present government and whether they be inclined to such a change in the Ecclesiasticall state for Doctrine or Discipline as tendeth to disturbance of the civill government also especially to derogation from his Majesties Authority this is partly implyed in the Preface of the Oath which beginneth thus This present Synod being desirous to declare their sincerity and constancy in the profession of the Doctrine and Discipline established in the Church of England and to secure all men against suspicion of revolt to Popery or any other superstition decrees c. and in this respect they conceive the Oath is of necessary use To such as thus plead for it we thinke it meet to make this answer 1. Concerning the venerable Synod that though some persons in it being suspected of unsound Doctrine of a Popish straine might doe very well to give all due and probable satisfaction to acquit themselves of that imputation wherein we are perswaded of some that they have been untruly traduced yet wee conceive this Oath not so pertinent to that purpose as is alledged because the third Canon which insisteth much in the discovery and pursuit of Papists and none else importeth more opposition to Popery then this sixth Canon doth which requireth the Oath since as wee shall manifest in another place it commeth with a deeper charge against those who are the greatest Adversaries of Popery then against Papists themselves Secondly for the other part of the Oath concerning Discipline or the government by Archbishops c. we apprehend no need of an Oath to declare the sincerity and constancy of the Synod in that respect for who maketh doubt but Archbishops Bishops Deanes and Archdeacons who carry most sway in all our Synods are willing enough to maintaine their dignity and authority and unwilling to subject either of them to Papall usurpations He is a man of little faith who will not take their bare word for that without an Oath or will require so much for no reasonable man can thinke otherwise of them though they say nothing For we cannot imagine if it were but for the Archbishops owne sake that he sitting as President of the Synod would ever submit to any usurpations of the See of Rome since hee knoweth and would have others know from him for hee hath published it in print that the Pope hath acknowledged k Pope Urbane the second accounted my worthy Predecessour Saint Anselme as his owne Compeere and said he was the Apostle and Patriarch of the other world So Archbish Laud in his relation of his conference with Fisher p. 171. Anselme a worthy Predecessour of his in the See of Cant. for his owne compeere the Apostle and Patriarch of the other world And hee sheweth himselfe willing enough to take his Holinesse at his word and to keep him out from all command over the Britaine Church alledging l Ibid. ex Guid. Pancirol that it was never subject to the See of Rome having a Primate of its owne and that Primate for the present is himselfe Thirdly for others this Oath can be no good Criterion to try mens sincerity to either Doctrine or Discipline for many things by divers may bee beleeved liked and preferred before any other of that kind so that they would bee loth to change them and yet may they be unwilling to take an Oath for constancy to them For instance wee beleeve kneeling at prayer to bee lawfull laudable and the best gesture wherein to present our devotions to God yet wee would not be put to sweare never to consent to a constitution for standing at prayer since for it there is first m Mar. 11.25 Luk. 18.11 Scripture secondly a Decree in the first n Consona conveniens per omnes Ecclesias custodienda constitutio est ut stantes ad orationem vota Domino reddamus Concil Nicen. 1. Can. 20. Nicen Councel thirdly a continued practice of it in the Church for o From before Tertullians time untill Anselme Archbish
Franciscus à Sancta Clara Provinciall of the minorite Friars who holdeth h Ubi nulli praeesse solent Episcopi deesse debent Presbyteri hos si domas quam miserenda quaeso horrenda sunt quae necessariò subsequentur nam ubi nulli sunt Presbyteri nulla erunt Sacramenta nisi fortè Matrimonium Baptismus Franc. à Sancta Clara Apolog. Episcop pag. 151. That where Bishops doe not rule there are no Presbyters where no Presbyters no Sacraments Hee excepteth according to the tenet of his Church Matrimony and Baptisme the former as a Sacrament the later as a Sacrament and more then that in the Popish opinion as necessary to salvation and hee so farre enforceth this necessity as to say i Episcoporum necessitatem inficiari nihil aliud est quà m Dominicae pasâ—ionis irritationem subintroducere nostrumque redemptionis piaculum evacuare Ibid. pag. 152. That to deny the necessity of Episcopacy is nothing else but to bring in the irritation of the passion of our Lord and to evacuate the vertue of his redemption which is in effect as Doctor du Moulin wrote to Bishop Andrewes k Hoc asserere nihil aliud esset quà m omnes nostras Ecclesias addicere Tartaro Pet. du Moulin cpist 2. Episc Wintonien pag. 173. opusc to damne the Reformed Churches of France and other Countries to the pit of Hell which being brought in as a consequence of the Bishops Tenet of the Authority of Bishops that reverend Prelate very wisely and religiously shunneth saying l Caecus sit qui non videat stantes sine ea Ecclesias ferreus sit qui salutem iis neget Episc Winton Resp ad epist 2. Pet. du Moulin pag. 176. opusc Hee wants his sight that seeth not Churches standing without that Discipline and hath an iron heart that consenteth not that they may bee saved and therefore our late learned Soveraign King James lest he should be mistaken in some of his speeches of some of those who had no good conceipt of the Discipline of the English Church when his monitory Preface wherein hee toucheth most upon such matters was published in Latine that hee might not bee thought to condemne the Churches whose Discipline is different from ours he expresly professed m Puritanorum nomine Ecclesias apud exteros reformatas earumveregimen non designari mihi est decretissimum rebus alienis me non immiscere sed illas reformatae Religionis libertati permittere sic ad fin Praefat. monitor in 8o. printed Lond. 1609. That by that hee had said therein hee intended neither reproach nor reproofe to the Reformed Churches or to their forme of Government but left them free to their Christian liberty And when the Bishop of Landaffe asserted the Ecclesiasticall Imparity of the Church of England at the Synod of Dort hee did not seeke to obtrude it as necessary to salvation but used this caution in the conclusion of his speech n Haec non ad harum Ecclesiarum offensionem sed ad nostrae Anglicanae defensionem The joynt attestation that the Discipline of the Church of England was not impeached at the Synod at Dort pag. 17. This I say said hee not to give offence to these Churches scil those whose Clergy assembled at that Synod but for the defence of our Church the Church of England And the Church of England surely at that time was farre from the conceipt of the Franciscan Friar fore-mentioned when hee and other learned Divines were sent to that Synod the most generall Synod of the Reformed side that hath been held since the reformation of Religion to assist with their consultations and to confirme with their suffrages and subscriptions the Decrees of that Synod wherein among many Presbyters there was but one Bishop and hee not President of that Assembly And when hee who hath pleaded for Episcopacy not onely as a pinnacle of honour but as a pillar of support to the Church wrote thus against the Brownists I o So Bishop Hall in his Apology against the Brownists sect 19. p. 588. reverence from my soule so doth our Church their deare Sister those worthy forraine Churches which have chosen and followed those formes of outward government that are every way fittest for their owne condition It is enough for you to censure them I touch nothing common to them with you which wee alledge not against the government of Bishops In a meet and moderate imparity as the same p Bishop Hall his prop of Church government added to his Irrefrag prop. pag. 6. Authour stateth their preheminence but onely against the necessity of their superiority to salvation which is the point wee have now in hand Whereto agreeth that of Epiphanius who conceived more necessity of a Deacon to a Bishop then of a Bishop to a Church saying q Ubi non est inventus quis dignus Episcopatu permansit locus sine Episcopo verùm sine Diacono impossibile est esse Episcopum Epiphan haeres 75. l. 3. tom 1. pag. 215. That where there was not a man of sufficient worth to bee a Bishop the place might be without one but it is impossible said hee that a Bishop should bee without a Deacon And the fifth Canon of the second Councell of Carthage decreeth r Placuit ut Dioceses quae nunquam Episcopos acceperunt non habeant quae aliquando habuerunt habeant Concil Carth. 2. Can. 5. That those places which never had Bishops shall have none at all and those that had them should have them still which they would not have done if they had conceived Episcopacy to be of necessity to salvation or of necessity to the being of a Church Quest But is there any cause to conceive that any of the late Synod imagined a necessity of Bishops either to save a Chrisian or to constitute a Church Answ Wee take not upon us confidently to impute that opinion to any nor can wee acquit the chiefest of them from such a conceipt for the Å¿ Archb. Laud in his relat of his conference with Fisher pag. 176. marg Archbish in his reply to A.C. having brought in a sentence out of Saint Hierome which is this t Ubi non est sacerdos non est Ecclesia Hieron advers Lucifer where there is no Priest there is no Church he taketh the word Sacerdos for one who hath the power of ordaining which in Hieromes owne judgement is no meere Priest but a Bishop only and thence concludeth so even with him no Bishop no Church which he so approveth as if some who professe more good will to Bishops then Hierome u See Doubt 16 pag. 80. and in the conference at Hampton Court pag. 34. are these words Hierome no friend to Bishops by reason of a quarrell betwixt the Bishop of Hierusalem and him elsewhere doth should say somewhat more or the same that he did with more confidence which to us seemeth little lesse and
the title page of his booke doth testifie setteth this Note upon that Article Touching this Article the greatest matter saith l Mast Rogers on the 35. Article of Relig. pag. 193. he is not Whether these Homilies meant and mentioned doe containe Doctrine both godly wholsome and necessary but whether Homilies or any Apocrypha writings at all may bee read in the open Church and before the Congregation Whereof in reason there needs no more refutation then the reading of the Article and the severall Titles and Contents of the Homilies annexed to it And though we like it well enough that his Testimony is sometimes excepted against as m By the Archbishop of Cant. in his answer to A. C. p. 47 48. proceeding from a private man yet since his glosse upon that authenticke Text hath commonly passed in the name and without the note of dislike of Authority it induceth us to doubt what Doctrine in those Bookes may be said to bee established in our Church and wee are the more unsettled in our conceipt thereof because wee see the Homily of the perill of Idolatry so little heeded and so much liberty of late taken to controll it with new Pictures in Churches that if the Homily were read in some of them it might be doubted by such as consider no more then what is presented to their senses whether there were not one Religion for the eares another for the eyes or whether the Lay-mens bookes or the Clergy mens were published with greater priviledge which hath been an occasion of Papists bragging n Charity maintained see Master Chil. Preface in answer to it p. 12. That our Churches begin to looke with a new face and their walls to speak a new language the face out-facing and the language contradicting the Doctrine of the Homilies We doe not meane hereby to charge those with Idolatry who have made it their care and have been at great cost to adde the beauty of henour in the walls and windowes of Gods house to the beauty of holinesse in the Communion of Saints who resort unto it and performe their solemn devotions in it wee doubt not but they are too wise to worship the worke of the pensill or any worke of mans hand yet wee beseech their wisedome to consider that the world groweth old and with age according to the Proverb becomes childish and children delight more to looke upon Babies then on the letters of their bookes or to learne their lessons and so that which by them was meant but for adorning the illiterate with the mutilation of a letter may turne to adoring and what was intended but to be a memorandum of History may be turned by some and taken by others as a memoriall of the mystery of Iniquity whereby the subtle may draw the simple from spirituall piety to sensuall superstition which was the evill effect feared by those grave and godly Divines who composed the Homily and for which cause they so zealously contested against all Images in Churches They had read no doubt with due regard the saying of St. o Malè vos parietum amor cepit malè Ecclesiam Dei in tectis aedificiisque veneramini Anne ambiguum est in his Antichristum esse sessurum Hilarius contra Auxent pag. 216. 217. Hilary against Auxentius Your love is fondly set upon faire walls you doe ill to make your respect of the Church by the outward splendour or statelinesse of structure know you not that Antichrist will set his Throne in such as these But this is his Quaere none of ours we goe on We had thought it had been the established Doctrine of the Church of England in the Homily of the time and place of prayer that it is a necessary and perpetuall duty by the fourth Commandement to celebrate one day in seven with religious observances but wee find that Doctrine publickly gain-said by divers and the Doctrine of the Popish Schoolemen as publickly maintained against it in divers Treatises in print And for the Articles of Religion themselves wherein chiefly wee conceive the Doctrine of our Church to be contained and by Authority both Civill and Ecclesiasticall to be established they are much impeached in the power and vigour of their stability by leaving such liberty for the points of free will predestination and possibility of keeping Gods Commandements as before hath been noted which by the 10.15 and 17. Articles are resolved against the opinions of the Papists and much more are they wronged by him who hath written a p Fran. à San. Clara his book called Deus natura gratia printed Lugdun 1634. Booke and therein hath laboured with much subtlety and diligence so to mince them by manifold distinctions and to wrench them from their proper to a Popish construction as if the Convocation that concluded them had had no mind or meaning to contradict the Councell of Trent and that now our 39. Articles were patient yea ambitious of some sense wherein they may seeme Catholick i. in their sense Popish as a late q See Master Chil. his Preface in answer to the Author of Charity maintained pag. 12. Papist with great boasting hath upbraided unto us So in the book called Charity maintained By expounding and applying of these Articles in a new way hath Franc. à Sanct. Clara troden out a new tracke though with many intricate turnings and windings in which men of equivocall consciences may send their faith to Rome while their affections keep close to their Interests in England and hath taught them to play fast and loose as to their Orthodox and Protestant sense so that as r Plutarch in the life of Alexander p. 110 Aristotle said to Alexander concerning his Physicks they were published and not published their words being read and their meanings not rought the Articles might be said to be established and not established established as a sacred Text but not established by meanes of an ambiguous Comment turning the Interpretation like a nose of waxe as easily to the left hand as to the right And how farre this cunning stratagem hath prevailed with some we cannot tell but as in charity we hope well of those of whom wee know no ill so in godly discretion wee dare not bee so confident in our good opinion as to sweare what we but thinke and wish to be true But though we cannot make faith upon Oath how farre our Doctrine is established as in opposition to Popery wee doe not deny but that our reverend Fathers and Brethren of the Synod might intend hereby more firmly to establish that Doctrine which is most repugnant to such opinions as they beleeved to bee properly Popish and the rather because wee have been credibly informed that the Oath was first proposed and so passed in the house of Convocation as an abjuration of Popery onely But a second time tendred as in a second edition it was augmented but as we conceive not amended when the Discipline or Government
by which they governe and some as the Deane and Canons of Christ Church in Oxford are leges loquentes speaking laws and therefore are very fitly called Canons or Rules governing according to the dictate of their owne discretion and conscience and so wee cannot in respect of such apply Bishop p Bishop Halls Corollary added to his Irrefrag propos pag. 7. Halls distinction betwixt Rules of government and Errours of execution to accept the one and reject the other nor can we swear to their Government though with distinction for that is uncertain to us both for rule and practise much lesse with confusion as in the Canon it is contained Thirdly the Jurisdiction of Deanes and Chapters may bee much augmented by Synodicall Constitutions for in the late r The Grant of the Benevolence by the Province of York p. 18 19. Grant of the Benevolence to his Majestie by the Provinciall Synod at Yorke and wee doubt not but it is so also in that of the Province of Canterbury though yet we have not seen it during the vacancie of any Bishopricke they have granted unto them Authority to exercise the Ecclesiasticall censures of suspension excommunication interdicts and sequestration against such as deny or delay to make payment of the Benevolence there concluded Fourthly some Deanes and Chapters have had so much Authority within themselves as to bee out of the reach of Archiepiscopall power and therefore have refused to be visited by the Archbishop It was so betwixt the ſ Master Foxe his Marryrolog tom 1. p. 458. Deane and Chapter of Durham and the Archbishop of Yorke many years agoe which exemption by some reluctant contestation of the Clerke sent from them to the last Convocation seemed neither forgotten nor forsaken by that Deane and Chapter Fifthly in the Booke of Reformation of Ecclesiasticall Lawes made by King Henry the eighth and King Edward the sixth which appeareth to be yet in force and was very lately reprinted for better Information touching the Government of the Church there is this rule set downe for Cathedrall Churches t Reform leg de Eccles Minist cap. 7. fol. 49. p. b. They shall keep their Statutes of their foundation pure and entire so farre as they shall not be found adverse to the Word of God nor to our Constitutions of Religion either already published or hereafter to be published Where to conclude this Doubt wee see so much diversity and in some respects contradiction touching the Government of Cathedrall Deanes and Churches for some have Episcopall Jurisdiction some have not some have Statutes some have none and besides all the doubt of that which already is in use so much uncertainty of what may be hereafter according to this Constitution that wee can find here no solid ground for a sacred Oath Of Deanes Rurall The 9. DOUBT is What is the Authority or Government of a Deane Rurall 9. Particular Doubt THE REASON BEcause under the name and title of Archpresbyters they have had much Authority in Government of the Church in former times whereof the most observable particulars are collected by a very learned u Doct. Field of the Church l. 5. c. 29. p. 507 508 509. Doctour of our Church and they are chiefly these These Archpresbyters or Deanes Rurall were to be chosen by the Clergie and x Episcopus nec Abbatem nec Archipresbyterum sine omnium suorum compresbyterorum Abbatum consilio de loco suo praesumat ejicere Conc. Turon 2. Can. 6. Caranz fol. 239. not to bee deposed by the Bishop without the consent of those that chose them they were to assist the Bishop in Government and that of such necessitie that hee must not bee without them Their office was to admonish both Laitie and Clergie of their dutie and to see that they did it They were to visit the Churches of their Precincts twice a yeare and if any of the y Si quis ex Secularibus institutionem aut comminationem Archipresbyteri sui contumacia faciente audire distulerit tam diu à limitibus Ecclesiae habeatur extraneus quà m diu tam salutarem institutionem adimplere distulerit Concil Antisiod Can. 40. Ibid. fol. 267. Laity were wilfully minded against their admonitions they were so long to bee excommunicated out of the Church untill they were reformed They were to have a Chapter of Parish Ministers who within a yeare after they were possessed of their Livings were to sweare to the Deane and so to bee admitted as brethren to sit in the Chapiter with him and to be bound to come to the yearly Chapiter and otherwise also when upon urgent cause the Deane should call a Chapiter which was ordinarily foure times in the yeare and to beare part of the charge In these Chapiters the Archipresbyters were to publish the Decrees of Provinciall and Episcopall Synods and to urge the execution of the same The limits of their power in Government were to suspend Laymen from the Sacrament and Clergie men from execution of their office hitherto they might proceed but no further But in practice partly by the connivence partly by the corruption of the Bishop they lashed out beyond their line for as a zealous Preacher complained in the Councell of Rhemes The z Archipresbyter circuit obedientiam sibi creditam vendit Homicidia Adulteria Incestus Fornicationes Sacrilegia Perjuria ad summum implet manticam suam famâ volante innotescit Episcopo talis quaestus c. Serm. cujusdam ad Cler. in Concil Rhem. in operib Bernard col 1736 Archipresbyter went about in visiting of his circuit selling all sorts of sinnes Murder Adultery Incest Sacriledge Perjury and thereby filling his purse the fame whereof coming to the eare of the Bishop hee sends for him that hee may have a share with him upon demand he denieth upon deniall they wrangle but at the last he knowing that if the Bishop be against him he must forgo his gaine hee yeeldeth him a part and so saith that Preacher are Herod and Pilate reconciled against Christ In later times especially in most Diocesses of England they have had lesse to doe and done lesse evill Doctor Cousins the Civilian setting downe the Deane Ruralls office maketh it to consist in little else then in calling a Decanos Rurales vocant atque plerumque ad hibentur ad convocandum suam classem ad significandum iis non nihil ab ordinario ut fit per literas ad inducendum in Beneficia vice Archidiaconi remotiùs agentis Doct. Cous de Polit Eccles Angl. c. 7. Classicall Assemblies that is those who are to assemble within his Deanry to signifie the mind of the Ordinary according to the tenour of letters received from him and in absence of the Archdeacon to induct into Benefices But in this Diocesse the Deanes for many yeares past have had a great part of Episcopall Jurisdiction shared among them and this by Patent for lives or yeares from the