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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95762	The judgement of the late Arch-bishop of Armagh, and Primate of Ireland. Of Babylon (Rev. 18. 4.) being the present See of Rome. (With a sermon of Bishop Bedels upon the same words.) Of laying on of hands (Heb. 6. 2.) to be an ordained ministery. Of the old form of words in ordination. Of a set form of prayer. / Published and enlarged by Nicholas Bernard D.D. and preacher to the Honourable Society of Grayes-Inne, London. Unto which is added a character of Bishop Bedel, and an answer to Mr. Pierces fifth letter concerning the late primate.	Ussher, James, 1581-1656.; Bedell, William, 1571-1642.; Bernard, Nicholas, d. 1661.	1659 (1659)	Wing U189; Thomason E1783_1; ESTC R209661	108,824	393

two several times in the year in the Ancient Church set apart for it Easter and Pentecost called dies baptismatum which is Calvins and Bezaes or implying the double act in it the inward Baptisme of Christ and outward baptisme of John that is to say the Ministers which are Mr. (a) Answ t● Rhemist Comment on N. T upon this place Cartwrights words upon the place who also saith by a trope both Sacraments are here noted under one but I conceive that which we first gave is the best And 't is observable that the Apostle saith the doctrine of Baptismes 't is not the absolute want of it when it cannot be had but the rejecting of the doctrine of it that damnes 'T is possible that some of those three thousand converted by Saint Peters Sermon might have died before they could come to the water and yet be saved but if they had rejected the doctrine of it when they were bad to be baptized like the Pharisees rejecting the Counsel of God against themselves or like Naman who despised the river Jordan I question it A well ordered discipline is the ornament of the Church but upon the confession and doctrine of Saint Peter it was to be founded in which sence the Apostles and Prophets in their doctrines are called the foundation of it Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone and as some think is the sence of that Revel 21.14 that in the twelve foundations were the names of the twelve Apostles in relation to their doctrinals So much for that Now the next is the doctrine of laying on of hands Here is the great question What is meant by it That it is a Fundamentall cannot be denied if Baptisme be one this must be another see in the verse how like twins they are borne and bred under the same roof And 't is observable that in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the plural number doctrines referring to both In the search of several Authours I find these two expositions most worthy of consideration The first is Confirmation of children after Baptisme which hath somewhat of Antiquity for it most of the Writers of the Church of Rome incline that way and even Calvin is of that mind also and in his Comment upon this place stands much for it and wisheth it had not been laid aside hodie retinenda pura institutio superstitio autem corrigenda and produceth this custome of confirming of children in the Primitive times to be an argument they were then baptized but I conceive it cannot be the sence for this reason because 't is not a Fundamentall and hard to prove it was then like Baptisme and the rest esteemed to be of a necessary use and belief in the Catholick Church according to that of Vincentius Lyrinensis Magnopere curandum est ut id teneamus quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus creditum est hoc est enim verè propriè Catholicum contr haeresin cap. 3. That is to be held for a Catholick verity which hath been believed every where alwayes and by all And our Church saith children baptized have all things necessary to their salvation The Papists that hold it to be a Sacrament do not say 't is a Fundamentall and when it was observed by us we took it to be only an ancient laudable custome of the Church and whether it was so in Saint Pauls time in the Church of the Hebrewes it doth not appear The second Exposition is that it should be meant an ordained Ministery which clearly in Saint Paul's time we find was wont to be by laying on of hands This is Pareus his sense upon this place It was saith he (a) Initialis doctrina de ministerio Ecclesiae quia tum ordinabantur per impositionem manuum an initial doctrine concerning the Ministery of the Church then ordained by imposition of hands * Totum munus Propheticum c. Gualterus in his Comment upon this place saith In this is contained the whole function of Preachers c. designed unto it by imposition of hands But none so full as Mr. Cartwright in his answer to the Rhemists upon this place his words are these viz. By the imposition of hands the Apostle meaneth no Sacrament much lesse confirmation after Baptisme but by a trope or borrowed speech the Ministers of the Church upon the which hands were laid which appeareth in that whosoever believeth not that there ought to be a Ministery by order or Ordination to teach and govern the Church overthroweth Christianity whereas if Confirmation of children were a Sacrament as it is not yet a man holding the rest and denying the use of it might notwithstanding be saved And some lines after gives us summarily the sense of this verse viz. to be the doctrine of the Sacraments and of the Ministery of the Church Ye see in his opinion what a dangerous thing it is no lesse then the hazard of their own salvation to lay aside an ordained Ministery or to deny the doctrine of it which men now frequently presume And 't is observable the argument which he useth he produceth as a Maxime then in his time taken for granted not to be proved but supposed no man then so much as questioning the necessity of it for though there were then divers disputes about discipline and ceremonies in which this learned Authour then appeared yet both parties esteemed alike of Ordination to be a sacred institution none presuming to take upon them the office of the Ministery without it Well this I conceive to be the sence here of laying on of hands viz. That it was a Principle of the Catechisme taught to Christians at their first reception that there was to be a successive ordination or setting apart of persons for the Ministery for an authorative preaching of faith and repentance and administration of Sacraments called laying on of hands from the outward rite as the Lords Supper by breaking of bread And this was the judgement of the most Reverend and learned Father of our Church the late Arch-Bishop of Armagh which hath the rather emboldned me to employ my thoughts in the confirmation of it and surely if it be a fundamentall the knowledge of the sense of it is of a greater consequence then to be slighted First it is considerable how well this doth sute with Saint Pauls expression elsewhere speaking of Ordination 2 Tim. 1.6 Stirre up the gift of God that is in thee by the putting on of my hands 1 Tim. 4.14 neglect not the gift that is in thee given thee with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery both thus sufficiently reconciled Saint Paul was the principal the Presbyters were his assistants according to the constitutions and custome of our Church in Ordination The Bishop is not to do it alone but with the assistance of at least three or four of the Ministers which was after the patte●n of the Primitive times The injunction of

lanching into any deep and subtle Disputations we may keep us by the shore side And if you will be pleased to favour my indeavour with your religious Attention and the weaknesse of my voyce with your silence I will hold as straight a course as I can and without further preamble come to the matter it self of this Text. And first for the Connexion and Declaration of the Sence you shall be pleased to understand that in the former Chapter Saint John is shewed a sight whereat he wondered with great marvel Verse 3. A woman sitting upon a Scarlet coloured beast full of names of Blasphemy which had seven heads and tenn horns this woman had in her fore-head a name written Babylon the great the Mother of harlots and Abominations of the Earth And in the rest of the Chapter the Mystery of the Woman and the beast that bare her being largely declared and one thing amongst the rest that she sitts on seven hills Verse 9. the Conclusion is Verse 18. That she is the great Citie which raigneth over the Kings of the Earth In this Chapter Saint John proceeds in the same matter and tells how he saw first a mighty Angel descending from Heaven and proclaiming the fall of this Babylon Verse 2.3 and towards the end of the Chapter to confirm the matter wih a sign another mighty Angel takes up a Milstone and throwes it into the Sea with this word with like violence Babylon shall be thrown and no more be found Verse 21. In the middest between the Voyces of these two Angels is inserted a long Speech uttered also by a Voyce from Heaven begining at this fourth Verse which I have now read and extending to the twenty ninth partly admonishing Gods People to come out of this Babylon in time Verse 7. partly describing her pride and security going before her destruction partly bringing in as it were the Funeral Song Verse 10. that is sung for her by her followers and Lovers partly exhorting Heaven with those that dwell therein to rejoyce at her ruine Verse 20. This is the Order now for the meaning of the words that shall appeare best by resolving three Questions 1. Whos 's this Voyce is 2. To whom it speaks And 3. What We need not be long to seek Who it is that speaks For both those that speak before and after are expresly called Angels and he that now speaks lacks that Addition and the interest that he challengeth in those that are spoken to calling them My People sheweth plainly to use the words of our blessed Authour in his speech to Peter at the Sea of Tiberias It is the Lord. John 21.7 And albeit those relations between the Lord and his People are often mentioned in Scripture without any restraint to any one person in the blessed Trinity yet because he that here speaks telleth of the Lord Gods judgeing the great Citie Verse the 8. As of another and third person Strong is the Lord God that judgeth her And again Verse 20. Speaking to the Prophets and Apostles saith God hath avenged you on her It is evident that he who hear speakes is the Mediatour Our Lord Jesus Christ who carries his people not in his minde onely but in the Explication of his name Matthew 1.21 He shall save his People from their sinnes Whereto it fitly agrees that this Voyce is uttered From Heaven where our Lord Jesus is at the right hand of God We see the speaker now who are spoken unto Christs People There is no doubt but in some Sense all the World are Christs People His Inheritance his Possession Psalm 2.8 And so much is often expresly expressed Exod. 19.5 But yet the Scripture in many places intimateth that this phrase restraineth from the World to some particular and choice people namely Israel Deut. 7.6 Chap. 10.14 15. and Chap. 3. and 9. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a speciall people unto himselfe above all People that are upon the face of the Earth So Chapter 10. The Lords portion is his People Jacob the lot of his Inheritance Exod. 19.5 Ye shall be my peculiar Treasure above all People though all the Earth be mine Hence it is that these two My people and Israel are used indifferently in the same Sentence as Psalm 57 Heare O my people O Israel and so in many other places Isay 81.8.13 Micah 6 2 yet even amongst these there is some time a difference put for all that are of Isra●l are not counted Gods People to some of them it is said Isay 1.10 Hear the Word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodome give ear ye People of Gomorah And for an upbraiding of their continual rebellions against the Lord the Prophet Hosea is bidden to name one of his sons Hosea 1.9 Lo-mmi ye are not my people and when to all other their Rebellions they rejected yea crucified the Lord of Glory the Lord also rejected them and as he threatned by his Prophet Isa 65.15 called his servants by another name Christians Even these also are in a different manner so called sometimes all that are within the Covenant of Grace and the Sacraments thereof are called Christs People sometimes th●se that he hath foreknown and that are within the grace of the Covenant God hath not cast away his People whom he foreknew according Rom. 12.2 to that Jer. 31.33 I will put my Law into their inward parts and write it in their hearts I will be their God and they shall be my People And these are those here most properly spoken unto as appears because the Motives here used the fear of partaking in sinne and punishment most properly work upon these besides these being oppressed holden in Captivity by the mystical Babylon here spoken of are in the 6. Verse Exhorted to cry her quittance in the same words almost which the ancient Church of Israel useth concerning the old Babel Psal 137.8 O Daughter of Babylon which art to be destroyed happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us The third and last Point to be cleared remains what the people of God are commanded to doe goe out of her saith our Lord Iesus Christ That is doubtlesse out of Babylon before proclaimed Isa 21.9 to be fallen that is after the Prophetical phrase certainly to fall Babel is fallen is fallen whence this form is borrowed That Babel was a City in Chaldea standing by the River Euphrates where by the occasion of the presumptious Tower the Languages of Mankinde were confounded Genesis 11.10 The first seate of Nymrods Tyranny Chapter 10.10 Nebuchadnezer the King thereof carried thither Captive Jehoiakim and with him Daniel and his companions together with the vessels of the House of God about some twelve years after Zedekiah also was carried away Captive to the same place Jerusalem burnt the Temple desolated and the whole people in a manner carried

doctrine in it that it should be a scandall to us either And yet we were not then to seek for an ordained Ministery there having been for many hundreds of years before that a flourishing Church among us which the Saxons whom he came to convert had been the persecutors and destroyers of as Gildas tells us so that in that or the former sense the objection is not worth the answering Answ 4 But fourthly I suppose they mean of later Centuries when that complaint of the Prophet concerning Jerusalem might be appliable to Rome How is that faithful City become a harlot it was full of judgement righteousnesse lodgeed in her but now murderers c. i. e. Since the Bishop of Rome became corrupt in doctrine and worship For this first we thus answer While we were under the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome it doth not appear that he ordinarily usurped more then a mandatory nomination of the Bishop to be consecrated which out of a blind fear of his excommunication was assented unto but the consecration was not by him but other Bishops here within our selves And I account the ordination or consecration to be derived from such as gave imposition of hands not from the mandate for them to do it Henry the eight and the Kings succeeding assumed the like power in the nomination of the person which accordingly might not be gainsaid but from thence it cannot be argued that our ordination or consecration was deduced from them for the Kings mandate served not to give power to ordain which those Bishops had before intrinsecally annexed to their office but only was a warrant to apply this power to the person named in that Mandate Now this being all which was usurped by the Bishop of Rome in relation to the consecrations of our Bishops in England when we were under the Tyranny of the Papacy there is as little force for our deriving our ordination from him also And if those Bishops of Sidon which as Arch-Deacon * De Minister Anglican Mason tells us assisted in the first consecration in Hen. 8. as in Edward the sixth's time were not meerly Titular but had their consecration from the Greek Church which is altogether a stranger to the See of Rome it would take off somewhat from the pretence of a totall derivation from thence Object But still it may be objected that we have at least received our Ordination from such as professed the Religion of Rome Answ First it could not be called properly the Religion of Rome till the Councell of Trent which determined many years after our falling off from the See of Rome The Papists ask us Where was our Religion before Luther we might reply Where was the Popish Religion before that time 'T is true most of those poysonous errours were sowen up and down the world before but not collected fully into a body and so owned and headed by the Papacy till then For till that time scarce any point we hold now against them but there were some of their own Authours who held it also So that to speak properly the now Romish Religion in their new Creed with other appurtenances was established since our form of ordination 2. Suppose we received our ordination from such who were corrupted with Popish errours yet if they retained the Fundamentalls of Christian Religion their ordination may be valid those like some part of the barke of the tree uncut may convey the Sappe from the root to the preserving of life in the branches What Saint Augustine saith of the Donatists in some things mecum sunt they concurre with me in other things they are defiled may be applicable to the Church of Rome and if so why may we not receive through them what was of Christs remaining in them without being defiled with that corrupt part which is their own why may not there be in this a separation of the precicious from the vile And in our reformation we withdrew our selves no further from her then she hath declined from her self in the Apostles time and from the ancient state and condition of it then as one saith well Nostra Ecclesia ab hodierna Romana Ecclesia contaminata recessit ut ad pristinam puram Apostolicam Romanam accedere posset We forsook the present corrupted Church of Rome that we might be nearer a kin to the first pure Apostolical Roman Church in the primitive times 3. In a word we do affirme that neither their corruption in opinion or vitiosity of life do or did void it to the party ordained none doubts of the Baptisme of our fore-fathers administred by those of the like in the Church of Rome as if there needed any reiteration by them who survived our reformation neither do we renew the orders received in that Church when any Priest is converted and betakes himself to our communion and why should it be questioned here Let the Seal be of Silver or brasse the impression is alike valid if affixed by order to the deed Parents in generation convey to the child what is essentiall to humane nature not that which is accidentall A maimed Father begets a Son like himself as he was before he lost his arme as the circumcised did and doth an uncircumcised child the like application may be made to the transferring of ordination in such a wounded diseased Apostatized Church as the Roman now is and by such corrupted persons in life and doctrine continuing in it so they do observe the * See Bishop Bedels letter to Wadsworth p. 157. My defence for your Ministry is that the forme Receive the H●ly Ghost whose sins ye remit are remitted doth suciffiently comprehend the authority c. essentials in ordination other superstructures or corruption in the ordainers doth not null it either to the persons themselves or successors which might be further manifested by the p●actice of the Church in all ages 1. That Ministration under the Law the Priests of which the Jewish Writers say were consecrated by laying on of hands had as much cause to stand upon succession as any yet ye find often that the Priests the sons of Aaron and the Levites had corrupted their wayes were defiled with Idolatry in Ahaz and Manasses time and others as bad or worse then the See of Rome yet after a reformation the succession which was by their hands was not questioned Though the Priesthood ran through much filth yet retaining the essentialls of the Jewish Religion as circumcision c. they were owned of God again in a successive ministration See in the height of their Idolatry when they were offering their children by fire unto their Idols yet by retaining the Sacrament covenant of circumcision their children are called the Lords children Ezek. 16.20 Thou hast taken thy sons which thou hast borne unto me c. thou hast slayn my children in causing them to pass through the fire etc. 2. In our Saviour Christs time there was as bad a succession as

be in a great esteem with us Ye see they do not understand by this Vnction or anointing signifying the Holy Ghost an immediate teaching or inspiration as by some Enthusiasme but immediately through the Ministery ordained for that end by a Metonymy as they say of the Adjunct the oyntment for the hand which applyes it or delivers it to you and the teaching you all things is meant of all things necessary to salvation the credenda and agenda which by the Ministery had bin so fully taught them that they needed not to be taught by Saint John again here If any shall object as it hath been unto me that of Saint Augustine lib. 15. de Trinit cap. 27. Quomodo ergo Deus non est qui dat Spiritum Sanctum imò quantus Deus est qui dat Deum neque enim aliquis discipulorum ejus dedit Spiritum Sanctum orabant quippe ut veniret in eos quibus manus imponebant non ipsi eum dabant quem morem in suis praepositis etiam nunc servet Ecclesia c. i. e. How should not he be God who gives the Holy Ghost nay how great a God who gives God for neither any of his disciples gave the holy Ghost they prayed indeed that it might come upon those on whom they imposed hands they did not give it themseles which custom the Church now observes c. Answ 1. In the words before these he speaks of a double giving of the Holy Ghost by our Saviour the one on earth after his resurrection the other from heaven after his Ascension upon the day of Pentecost now in relation to the latter in those extraordinary gifts of the spirit the words objected have their principal application which doth not concern that we have in hand which is only of the former being meant of successive ministerial authority for the ordinarie dispensing of the office Secondly whereas he saith the Church hath observed that custome in imposition of hands to pray for the persons reciving of it hath bin formerly acknowledged to be one sense of that clause viz. by way of impetration Take the gift of the spirit pro dono infuso so we use the words per modum impetrationis take it pro officio so we use it per modum collationis ministerially conferring the power of executing the office of a Minister there is no contradiction but that in the same act there may meet a collation of the office with authority to execute and an impetration for the persons receiving an assistance of the spirit in the executing of it which in the old injunction immediately followed in a prayer for the person ordained accordingly so that the custome and intention of our Church is no other then what was in Saint Augustines time not presuming to give the Holy Ghost in the latter sense only praying it might be given of God to him but only in the former So much for opening of the first clause in ordination Receive the Holy Ghost which rightly understood is not such a rock of offence as some have taken it to be in the disuse of it The second clause is whose sins thou forgivest they are forgiven whose sins thou doest retain they are retained At which as much if not more offence hath been taken then at the former as if it savoured of Popery which I shall give you the Primates sense of also That it may be retained in ordination and attributed safely to the office of the Ministery without the least savour that way which no man that knew him and what Popery is but will acquit him of the least grain of it Thus far it will be granted by all sober persons 1. The Ministers may be said to remit sins by way of preparative to it in being the instruments by preaching the word of reconciliation to dispose men towards it in bringing them to repentance whereby they are capable of it 2. By way of Confirmation in exhibiting the seales of remission in the Sacraments according as one well glosseth upon these words 'T is Gods act onely to forgive sins but the Apostles are said to do it (a) Non simplicitèr sed quia adhibent media per quae Deus remittit peccata haec autem media sunt verbum Sacramenta Fer. in loc not simply but because they apply the means appointed of God for that end viz. the word and Sacraments What is there more in forgivenesse of sins then in reconciliation of God and man now ye find this given to the Ministery 2 Cor. 5.18 19. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word or ministery of reconciliation Gods act onely authoritate propria by his own supreme authority the Ministers act potestate vicaria as a substitute in Christs stead and the word doth include the Sacraments also as in our usual speech the Letters Pattents doth the Seale affixed to them as the Ministery doth the whole ministerial office 3. Declaratively in testifying this grace of God and declaring Gods good pleasure accordingly upon repentance unto the person like that of Nathan to David or Saint Peter to his Auditory Acts 3. as Ferus saith (b) Non quod homo propriè remittet peccatum sed quod ostendet certificet adeò remissum neque enim alia est absolutio ab homine quam si dicat En tibi certifico te tibi remissa esse peccata Annuncio tibi te habere Deum propitium c. Ferus lib 2. Comment in Matth. cap. 9. edit Mogunt 1559. man doth not properly forgive sin but doth declare and certifie that it is remitted of God so that absolution received from man is as much to say behold my son I certifie thee that thy sins are forgiven thee I declare unto thee that God is at peace with thee which I relate the rather out of him both for his being a writer of the Chutch of Rome and that this passage is purged out of his book by them as erroneous as may be seen by comparing the Edition of Mentz with the Edition at Antwerp 1559 and 1570 Which agrees with that in the Articles of Religion of Ireland num 71. God hath given power to his Ministers not simply to forgive sinnes which prerogative he hath reserved only to himselfe but in his name to declare and pronounce unto such as truly repent and unfeignedly believe his Holy Gospel the absolution and remission of sins But that ye may the more fully understand the Primates Judgement in this point whose authority prevails much with all good men and how remote our Church is from that of the Papists in the use of those words in ordination I shall give you some brief collections out of that Answer of his to the Jesuite Malones challenge concerning this subject and the rather to satisfy the Reader against the injury which among others Doctor Heylene hath done him in this as if