Testimonies that can be devised not only of this World but of God of Angels and Glorious Souls of Devils and Damned Spirits in Hell the fittest Witnesses of all and here he stops his Carreer Other puling Hereticks have boasted of this or that Council or of some few Fathers but these have attained to that pitch of Impudency that all makes for them all is theirs when upon a just examination none at all appears for them Heresy is alwayes accompanied with Vanity and Insolency but this exceeds all Parrallel but that we find it the constant custom of the Romish Hectors SECT III. N. N. AFter Edward died his Sister Queen Mary Reigned who being a Catholick restored Religion by Act of Parliament Cardinal Pole the Popes Legate absolved the Kingdom from the Excommunication and Schism incurred Some Histories report that three thousand Sectaries all Strangers were Banished out of England and among the rest the two holy Apostles Peter Martyr and Bernard Ochine All King Edwards Bishops were Deposed and Imprisoned the Catholick Bishops set at liberty and restored to their Sees SECT III. J. S. 1. QVeen Mary did reintroduce Popery but this she did contrary to the solemn Promise made to the Gentry of Norfolk and Suffolk to violate such an obligation will scarce be proved either Honourable or Religious 2. She did not regularly restore her Religion but confusedly shuffled it up as hath been before declared that if any Protestant Prince had done the like an hideous Hubbub would have been raised Bishop Jewel relates the manner thus (a) Reply to Harding Art 13. fol. 358. The Papists first scattered it and forced their Mass against a Law then in force against them then established it by Law and next after had a Solemn Disputation at Oxford to try whether the Law were good or no. This saith he Mr. Harding is your Lidford Law for in order of nature the Disputation should have been first then the Law then the Execution thereof but as Tertullian saith Haeretici ex Conscientia infirmitatis suae nihil tractant ordinarie 3. He cannot but his hand must slip though he have no visible advantage by it for all King Edwards Bishops were not Deposed the Bishops of Lincoln and Hereford were not the Bishops of Litchfield Salisbury Norwich Bangor St. Asaph and Landaffe complyed 4. If the deposed Bishops were but pretended Bishops then your restored Bishops were so too for some of these received their Ordination from them and those who ordained them But now the Originist after all these Sallies falls afresh on his great work on which he spends much Paper and time wherein he most triumphs and glories and thus he makes his first approach and onset CHAP. III. SECT I. N. N. QUeen Mary deceased without issue her Sister Elizabeth is proclaimed Queen The Reformation is established by Act of Parliament notwithstanding the great opposition made by all the Bishops and others in the Upper-house The Queen was resolved to pull down Catholick Religion because Cecil and others of her Council perswaded her she could not be secure as long as the Pope's Authority was acknowledged in England seeing the Apostolick See had declared her a Bastard and all Catholicks looked upon the Queen of Scots as true Heir to the Crown Nevertheless it was judged expedient for her quiet and the peace of the Realm to keep always a Resemblance of it in the Clergy as the best remedy against Puritanism which was thought by her Majesty dangerous to Monarchy The titles therefore of Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans and Chapters were retained as also in her own Chappel some Images the Altar and a Crucifix upon it But what will they do for Ordination That Form which was instituted in Edw. the sixth's time was judged invalid by publick Judgment in Queen Marie's days insomuch that Leases made by King Edward's Bishops though confirmed by Dean and Chapter were not esteemed good because saith the Sentence they were not consecrated nor Bishops see Brook's Novel Cases Plac. 463. fol. 101. impress London 1604. Seeing therefore it concerned the Queen to have consecrated Bishops she endeavoured by all means to have such as she named for Bishopricks consecrated by Catholicks but they all resolved not to make Bishops in the Church whereof themselves refused to be members The Queen notwithstanding the reluctancy of Catholick Bishops named in her Letters Patents Kitchin Bishop of Landaff among others to consecrate Mr. Parker and his Fellows he being the only man among all the Catholick Bishops that took the Oath of Supremacy in her Reign But many others who complied with Henry the eighth in that particular refused now to consecrate and Landaff was resolved to do the same yet at last by fair words and promises they prevailed with the old man to give them a meeting at the Nags-head in Cheapside where they hoped he would have ordained them Bishops despairing that ever he would do it in a Church because that would be too great and notorious a scandal to Catholicks among whom Landaff desired to be numbred Bonner Bishop of London hearing of this sent Mr. Neal his Chaplain to forbid the exercise of giving Orders in his Diocess under pain of Excommunication wherewith the old man being terrified and otherwise also moved in his Conscience refused to proceed in that Action alledging chiefly for reason of his forbearance want of sight This excuse being interpreted an evasion by Mr. Parker and his Fellows lessened his entertainment some of them reviling him and saying this old Fool thinketh we cannot be Bishops unless we be greased alluding to the Catholick manner of Episcopal Vnction Being thus deceived in their expectation they resolved to use Mr. Scories help an Apostate irreligious Papist who had born the name of Bishop in King Edward's time and was thought to have sufficient power to perform the Office he having cast off with his religious habit all scruple of Conscience willingly went about the matter which he performed in this sort having the Bible in his hand and they all kneeling down before him he laid it upon every one of their heads and shoulders saying Take thou Authority to Preach the Word of God sincerely and so they rose up Bishops of the new Church of England SECT I. J. S. TO this long lying Section the fittest method will be to discover the several falsities and vain conjectures as they lie in order First He vainly surmiseth great opposition was c. This is one misadventure for there was but fourteen Bishops then living whereof four were absent and then a Question may be made whether all those ten who were present did oppose it for some of them had learned the Art of compliance so exactly that they could suit to the times without any opposition for the others there was but one Abbot of Westminster and only two Lords Temporal the Earl of Shrewsbury and Viscount Montacute who did oppose it these thirteen if they had all combin'd could not make any great opposition
do their duties in their several places and respective Functions which Power Mr. Hart in his Conference with Dr. Rainolds confesseth to belong to Kings in the judgment of St. Augustine and that no more was intended by that Title is evident from that King's Answer to the Convocation at York which at first scrupled to acknowledg him Supreme Head but upon his Declaration that he challenged no more by that seemingly-offensive Title than what Christian Princes in the Primitive times had assumed to themselves in their own Dominions they at last freely consented thereto 4. He quarrels with the Motives inducing him viz. 1. His despairing c. But if the King desirous to have Issue Male was enamoured on Ann Bullen in hopes thereof this cannot be objected against him as a crime for he being satisfied of the unlawfulness of marrying his Brothers Relict as it was not unreasonable to him to desire Issue male so there was a necessity he should be enamoured of some Lady for a Wife and if Ann Bullein were his choice why not she as soon as any other 2. His intention to enrich himself c. But this is more than N. N. knows or can prove The Post-fact does not always infer an Antecedent intention many at long last have done that which in the first attempt they never designed But supposing he did so intend this as it is extrinsecal to his rejection of the Popes Supremacy so the Pope without Demur could dispence with this provided he had a share in the spoils according to his Lust or that his Interest thereby be advanced He gave the example and encouragement to this ruine by consenting to Cardinal Wolsey's Request for the suppression and alienation of divers Religious houses 3. But to what end are these Motives urged If that which the King did in extinguishing the Popes usurped Supremacy and in the Divorce from Katherine were in themselves justifiable Acts both in respect of the matter thereof the competency of the Power and the manner of their management it matters not what moved him to do so or how inclinable he was to undo what he had done as some surmise for as it was honourable and just to defend his own Rights and Prerogative and to preserve his Subjects from Rapin and Oppression so it could not be a fault in him as the matter stood to desire Issue-male and for that end to be enamoured on a Lady 5. N. N. Fansieth this to be the occasion c. He guesseth amiss that which chiefly occasioned these Transactions was the Popes Dissimulation and his unjust Claimes The beginning came from Zealous Romanists with the concurrence of others who being sensible of the Popes indirect dealings and gross Usurpations sadly resented the condition of the King and Kingdom and therefore employed their Counsels and endeavours to redress and rectify those grievances under which they suffered But these were no Reformers nor this the Reformition for Reformation in the sense then used imported and respected only the redress of corrupt Doctrine and Manners or rectifying abuses in the Worship of God and therefore did not concern the Popes Supremacy further than it was conceived unjustly Usurped or tyrannically exercised by him But if N. N. will have that to be the beginning of the Reformation then his own Grave Learned and Conscientious Divines as he after stiles them were the first Reformers 6. He at last comes in with a cross observation Notwithstanding c. 1. This was rashly observed for hereby it is visible if Henry the eighth did any thing in favour of Papacy neither the Pope nor any of his Partisans will quarrel him for taking too much upon him but if he Act any thing in prejudice to the Pope and his Pretensions then it must be irregular and Sacrilegious But this is to be observed from the Author of the History of the Council of Trent fol. 90. That the Pope can blow both hot and cold with one breath It is to be marvelled saith he how the Pope who before thundered against that King upon the making the Edict for the six Articles was constrained to praise his actions and to propose him for an Example to the Emperour for his imitation So that a man's personal interest makes him commend and blame the same person 2. He observed That Henry the eighth observed his Old New Religion c. But this is contradicted by some of his old Friends The Author of the Book viz. Dr. Worthington entituled The Anker of Christian Doctrine Printed at Doway 1618. Permissu Superiorum is not so confident (i) Preface p. 4. and is evident by the Kings Injunctions maintaining still saith he in most that is not all except the Supremacy as this Originist fancieth points the Romish Religion But well-fare Saunders he speaks out at an high rate Haeretica (k) Sand. de Schism Angl. l. 1. p. 153 154. This may be one reason of the Popes Bull against him for therein he traduceth him for publishing Heretical Doctrine in his Kingdom Hist Trent fol. 89. multa tenebat c. He held many Heretical points for he affirmed there were only three Sacraments Baptisme the Eucharist and Penance and as to that Sacrament he denied Auricular Confession to be instituted by Christ and by no means would he allow the name of Purgatory If this be truth was the King in all points except Supremacy of N. N's Old Religion which is not yet full an hundred and twenty years old however this be either Saunders or N. N. deserves to be marked Next he enlargeth upon Edward the sixth SECT II. N.N. EDward the sixth a Child of nine years old succeeded his Father Lord Seymour his Uncle who enclined to Zwinglius his Heresy was made Protector of the King and Kingdom upon the sixth of March scarce 20 dayes after he was invested in the Protectorship he sent away Commissioners into all parts of the Realm to pull down Images and other Ecclesiastical Ornaments He also invited out of Germany divers Sectaries of what Religion soever especially Apostate Friars that had tied themselves to Sisters assuring himself they would be most for his purpose and so there came into England Martin Bucer who had been a Dominican Friar and an earnest Lutheran Peter Martyr a Canon Regular who inclined to Zwinglius yet came with an indifferency to teach what he should be appointed Bernard Ochine a Capuchin weary of that Austere life took a Woman and wrote a Book in defence of having two Wives at once but after Repented and died Catholick These three Apostles of the Reformation were distributed into the three Fountains of the Land London Oxford and Cambridg with these joyned Coverdale an Augustine Friar Ball a Carmelite Hooper and Roger with other Apostates who did so vary in their Doctrine that all was in confusion and the Common-Prayer Book which Cranmer Ridley c. were then composing obstructed especially after Hugh Latimer had sided with them who was of great
547. n. 29. three Chapters so requiring Commanded the Holy men assembled to protract (t) Inst Ep. ad Synod Collat. 1. p. 520. the time no longer in expectation of the Popes presence but to debate and deliver a speedy Judgment upon the Controversy depending before them which they readily submitted to and accordingly did discuss and (v) Ibid. Coll. 2. p. 524. determine the matter without the Popes Placet and contrary to his good liking and (w) Baron Ann. 553. n. 212. affections 2. The practice not only of Heathen and Jewish Kings do confirm this but of Christian also who have challenged and exercised this Power as their Original Right derived to them from God The first famously known Christian Emperour Constantine the Great said to his Bishops You are the Bishops of those things within the Church but I am appointed of God to be Bishop of those things without the Church meaning thereby that the oversight of the external Government of things belonging to the Church was by God committed to him as the administration of Holy things of God within the Church was deputed to them (x) Cited in the Book De vera differentia written An. 1634. King Edgar in an Oration to the Clergy required them to make a Reformation by a conjunction of his and their Power committing the whole affair to so many Bishops as he then nominated Charles the Great convocated the Bishops to him to Counsel him how Gods Law should be recovered and in the Preface of the Capitulary wrote thus to the Clergy of his Empire We have sent our Deputies to you c. Let no man censure this as a Presumption to correct what is amiss c. For we have read in the Book of Kings how Josiah restored the Service of God in the Kingdom which he had given him Maximilian in Ann. 1512. Declared though he of his clemency had tolerated the Pope and the Clergy as his Father Frederick had done yet it appertained to his Duty that Religion decay not that the Worship and (y) Abbot Vrspreg Grth. Grat. Easc Whereupon he with Lewis the twelfth of France and some Cardinals called a Council at Pisa and cited the Pope in it Onupher in vit Julii secundi Service of God be not diminished 3. It is the Duty of Soveraign Princes to do as Josiah did by the directions of faithful men though the majority of the Priests express their unwillingness and averseness For many Kings have been severely reproved for not reforming the Idolatrous abuses of Gods Worship in their Reigns which would never have been done unless they in Duty had been obliged to do it and obliged they could not have been unless God had settled a Power in them to do it of which because there is no revocation or limitation in the Gospel therefore the first Grant and Commission standeth good for the Gospel doth not destroy the Law but perfect it 4. Ad hominem did not Queen Mary in her huddled reduction of Popery exercise this Power Did she not introduce the Popish form of Solemn Mass which was then abolished by standing Laws Did not she to drive on her design imprison one Archbishop displace two and deprive eight Bishops Did not she with the consent of a sorry Convention which she called five dayes after her Coronation repeal some Statutes made by Henry then eighth and others by Edward the sixth Sir Henry Spelman in his larger History of Tithes c. 29. p. 170. tells us he had heard there was but twenty persons to give their voice with the Bill and yet carried it Did not she for a colour when the work was done some few dayes after call a Convocation which she soon after dissolved by her peremptory Mandate but not a word of this from our cunning Origenist because it was done for the advancement of the Catholick Cause Popish Princes may do what they like in order to the Good old Cause and never be checked or censured for it but Protestant Sovereigns must be bound up till the Popes License or a Vote in Convocation loose them 5. Although Synods be the most prudential and safe way to determine Church-matters yet without them Gods Worship may be Reformed and the Catholick Doctrine restored In the case of the Catholicks and Arrians Nazianzen ad Procopium complained he saw no good end of Councils certainly in those where Faction prevailed and Votes passed not by weight but number Not that he thought so absolutely and Universally but pro hic nunc in respect of the Times and Persons assembled For he knew if a Council had been called when the Arrians were the overruling party in the Church the Catholicks would be overpowered by multiplicity of Votes yet for all this He and other Catholicks did endeavour the suppression of Arrianism 6. Neither in such times and cases must the business be delayed till a General Council be summoned especially when he who pretends to have the sole Power of calling it and the parties called are aforehand agreed by Clandestine correspondencies they will do nothing towards a Reformation but either obstruct or baffle it Henry the eighth said well A General Council would do well where all may speak their Judgments but it cannot be called a General Council where they only are heard who are resolved to be on the Popes side in all matters and where the same men are Plantiffs Defendants Advocates and Judges Hist Conc. Trid. Angl. fol. 85. 7. Supposing there wanted a formal Synodical concurrence in this Transaction of Edward the sixth there was in effect that which to all intents and purposes is equivalent viz. a General submission and conformity to the Provisional Injunctions and Acts ef Parliament by the Clergy 8. There was a Synod to carry on this matter in Edward the sixths time for though the first Edition of the Liturgy was only framed by the advice and suffrage of Bishops and elected Divines which yet was afterwards revised and compleated with the addition of a form of Making and Consecrating Bishops Priests and Deacons but whether the Synod then in being composed and formed it or passed their Power which is more probable for the forming of it to the selected persons appointed by the King and so may properly enough be said to have done it because by those to whom they had consigned their Authority I shall not pretend to determine yet this may be safely resolved on a Synod there was which appears from the Statute-Book which makes mention of a Subsidy of six Shillings in the Pound granted by the Clergy unto the King 2 3 Edw. 6. and it is notoriously known such a Grant in those times passed not without a Convocation and it is certain mention was made of a Synod 1 Mariae held in King Edwards days and Mr. Philpot a member of the Convocation 1 Mar. maintained the Catechism exemplified in the Common-Prayer Book to be Synodical upon this account that the Convocation in King
the matter of Fact and then to discover the imperfections and mistakes therein It is the Papal Power which was challenged in Ecclesiastical Affairs and which was by Act of Parliament and Convocation cast out of this Kingdom but the method used therein was solemn and regular For it was debated in the Vniversities and chief Monasteries An aliquid Authoritatis c. Whether any Authority did of right belong to the Pope more than to any other Forreign Bishop in this Kingdom of England It was resolved in the negative which resolution was soon after concluded in (a) An. 1537. and validly asserted in a Book Entituled The Institution of a Christian Man the Convocation in which also a rude draught of Reformation was chalked out as may be seen in the (b) And the Kings Injunctions by the Lord Cromwel Fox Acts and Monuments in Henr. 8. p. 1104. Records whereupon some Superstitious abuses were suppressed For we find a Letter of Henry the eighth directed to the Archbishop of Canterbury in which he was commanded to suppress the Worship of Images Reliques and Superstitious Pilgrimages as being contrary to his Injunctions and accordingly the Images of the Lady of Walsingham and and the Lady of Ipswich were burned (c) Speed in Hen. 8. n. 100. and l. 6. c. 9. n. 13. Sand. de Schis Angl. l. 1. p. 165. 166. at Chelsey and more than so that King declared esse sibi c. He and the King of France were thinking to abolish the Mass in their respective Dominions About this time a Tract was written de vera differentia c. Of the true difference of Regal and Ecclesiastical Power Composed by John Stokesley Bishop of London Cuthbert Tunstal Bishop of Durham Stephen Gardiner of Winchester and Dr. Thirlby after of Westminster in which the Resolution of the Vniversities Monasteries and Convocation was asserted from the practice of the Saxon and first Norman Kings and then what was thus concluded and asserted was confirmed by Act of Parliament All which is agreeable to the Canon-Law which fully settles the Kings Supremacy Inter personas Ecclesiasticas intro Regni sui terminos Rex est Supremus Gubernator qui in Ecclesia summum potestatis culmen obtinet c. citante Drezouch de Script Jur. Jud. Eccles Part. 1. Sect. 2. p. 3. This being premised and the main of it acknowledged by Learned Romanists the cavils which N. N. hath framed are next to be considered 1. He tells us Henry the eighth first gained c. If by gaining he mean this Title was not assumed by the former Kings of England or that Henry the eighth acquired a right thereto by the bounty of the Pope he may be mistaken for our Kings have a right thereto (d) From a Parliament in the Conquerours time the first words of Magna Charta and the Kings Coronation Oath and Stat. of 24 Henr. 8. c. 12. Jure Coronae and it was anciently used by them as appears by several Charters by former Kings to the University of Oxford particularly that of Richard the second and long before in Ann. 435 Guithilinus Archbishop of London in his speech to Constantine then King of England stiles him the Defender and Restorer of the Faith assuring him he was Christs immediate Vicar and Vicegerent in his Kingdom by for and under whom he should Reign and Conquer as well as Constantine the great He that would be farther satisfied in this particular may consult Sir Isaak Wake his (e) And the Present State of England first Treatise p. 88. Rex Platonicus Certain it is all this King gained by this Complement of Pope Leo was just as much as his Daughter Queen Mary gained by the courtship and cunning of Paul the fourth who forsooth for her sake would undertake to form Ireland into a Kingdom which had been one long before and would bestow on her the Title of Queen of Ireland which her Father had assumed and her Brother enjoyed 2. He talks of his lawful Wife c. This is but one Doctors opinion he may give his betters leave to speak who were not of N. N's private judgment For this matter was debated at Oxon before the Bishop of Lincoln and at Cambridge before Stephen Gardiner and Dr. Fox who concluded the Kings marriage with Katherine to be unlawful so did the Universities of Paris Orleans Anjou Burges Padua but none of them more fully than that of Bononia the Popes retiring place and part of St. Peters Patrimony confidently averring the Marriage was horrible accursed and abominable c. and that the Pope had no power to grant a Dispensation in that case Our own Historians report that the Pope privately gave out a Bull to declare the Marriage unlawful if his Legat Cardinal Campeius could have obtained his desires from the King but the Author of the History of the Council of Trent fol. 68. confidently affirmes that there was a Brief framed in which the King was declared free from that Marriage with the most ample Clauses that were put into any Popes Bull. Whereas therefore N. N. saith King Henry borrowed of the New Religion his Supremacy to marry Ann Bullen it is most false For Stephen Gandiner assures us that whereas the Sentence of Gods Word that is the Old Religion had been sufficient in that affair yet his Majesty disdained not to use the censures of the gravest men and most famous Vniversities and Guicciardine (f) Lib. 19. p. 891. relates that the Pope himself thought that the Divorce of King Henry was lawful 3. N. N. is offended that the Popes Jurisdiction is taken away by the extinguishing Act. This he misunderstands That Power which the Pope was devested of was termed Spiritual but not in that sense that the Power of the Keys is Spiritual for this is properly and formally Spiritual extending only to the Conscience but in that sence the Courts of the Church are stiled Spiritual Courts because of their Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Those words in the Act No Forreign Prelate shall exercise any Spiritual Power c. any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction are not meant of Power properly such but external and coactive which as Rivet distinguisheth is Spiritual Objective though not formaliter That this is the true sense is evident from (g) 25 Hen. 8. cap. 21. provis 1. and in the extinguishing Act. 28 Hen. 8. c. 10. the Act it self which is a purely Political Ordinance framed upon reasons and respecting only such ends and uses as are meerly civil viz. to preserve this Realm from Rapin c. as it is declared Proviso the first Hereupon the Title of Supreme was (h) By the King 26 Hen. 8. c. 1. Staplet de tribus Thom. in Thom. Cant. complained and cryed out that Henry the second clandestinely demanded what Henr. 8. openly usurped reassumed by the King which signifies only a Political Governing Head as Saul was of the Tribes of Israel 1 Sam. 15.17 to see that all Subjects
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.