Against the Revolt to a Foreign Jurisdiction, Part 2 · Chapter 8
Chap. VIII Why the Papists abating their Innovations of the last Four hundred Years, or keeping them to themselves, will not make a Coalition lawful, as Archbishop Bromhall thought.
§ 1. AS to their keeping them to themselves and not imposing them on us, it leaveth them still as guilty of Rebellious, Heretical and Schismatical Doctrine as before: and as Antichristian in Usurping a Universal Soveraignty, or Legislative and Judicial Power: And therefore uncapable of our Coalition, more than an Impenitent Murderer is of Church Communion.
§ 2. And there are not a few nor small Matters that are above Four hundred Years old that found Protestants will never Unite with. And though Mr. Thorndike give us so much quarter as to say, that It is the Authority that must necessarily be owned, and not the Canons if that Authority will change them, 1. It is the usurped Authority that we most disown. 2. And we have no assurance what Canons that Authority will change; And Mr. Thorndike's, Mr. Dodwell's, and such Mens great rule of Unity is, that none of us must question whether any of the Canons of that Authority are contrary to God's Word, nor appeal to God and Scripture against them. (Multitudes of Papists themselves renounce such Doctrine.)
§ 3. I. And first, All this is built on the Sand: I have largely proved long ago in several Books, that it is impossible for them to certifie us who have this Authority? Who it is that we must hear as the Catholick Church, and take Universal Laws from, when there is no General Council? Or what Councils we may be sure are General or what not? (Besides none were General but of One Empire.) When they condemn each other: and when each call the other Heretical or Schismatical? and when as Great a Number were at one as at the other; and the same Authority chose and called both sorts? How shall we know which we must obey? Is it by Scripture, Reason or Authority of Councils themselves, that we must Judge? They cannot tell us.
§ 4. II. (The Cause which I am pleading against is exprest by their Champion the Lord Primate of Ireland, Archbishop Bromhall, in the words forecited, viz. [To wave their last Four hundred years Determinations is implicitely to renounce all the necessary Causes of this great Schism: And to rest satisfied with their Old Patriarchal Power and Dignity, and Primacy of Order (which is another part of my Proposition) is to quit the Modern Papacy, both Name and Thing.]
By this we see what the Protestant Church of England must be? or else be Schismaticks in the Judgment of these Learned Men.
I will here tell you why this will never Unite us, and why the old Church of English Protestants could not close with Rome on these mens terms.
§ 5. I. Salmasius de Ecclesiis Suburbicariis circa finem granteth them that by their Imperial Constitutions the Bishop of Rome was not a meer Patriarch, but more than a Patriarch, a Caput Ecclesiae: This was not Christ's Institution, but the Emperours and their Clergies in one Empire. But call it Patriarchal or what you will, it contained such Power as (Christ having not given and Dead men of another Kingdom being none of our Rulers) we are not obliged to obey; nor indeed lawfully can do.
1. A Patriarch and Primate hath some degree of Governing Power, or else wherein doth his Primacy consist? He calleth Councils, Precedeth, &c. And if he cannot command Archbishops, how can they command Bishops? And if they are not Commanders of Bishops, why do our English Bishops in their Consecration Profess, Promise and Swear all due Obedience to the Archbishops? And 1. We cannot yield to bring England under the guilt and brand of Perjury, by submitting to the Foreign Jurisdiction of a Roman Primate or Patriarch, contrary to the Oath of Supremacy. 2. We know already how many false Doctrines and Practices the Roman Church and Patriarch have espoused: And we can no more receive all these Errours from a Patriarch than from a Pope.
§ 6. II. But we will freely confess to you that we neither are nor can be such a sort of Protestants as the Regnant Church of France is, which persecuteth the Protestants, nor as these Men called the Church of England in such Proposals would have us be.
I will give you a Catalogue of some Determinations of above Four hundred Years old, which the Church of England before Bishop Laud could not receive.
§ 7. I. Mr. Thorndike also consenteth to rest in the Canons sent by Pope Adrian to Carol. M. about An. 773. And C. 23. ex Clem. is [That Arch-Bishop, Presbyter or Deacon taken in Fornication, Perjury or Theft, be deposed, but not Excommunicate.]
II. Can. 28. is [That a Bishop who obtaineth a Church by Secular Power be deposed.] And yet we are called Schismaticks for not obeying (alas, I dare not name the things) the Bishops that have many Score or Hundred Churches by Secular Power. And must we Unite in this?
III. Can. 11. is [Condemned Clerks shall never be restored, if they go to the Emperour.] And must we Confederate against such Bishops in England?
IV. C. Laodic. there recited 33. is that [None Pray with Hereticks or Schismaticks]: When we knowing how the Roman Party are counted (at the best) Schismaticks by Greeks, Syrians and Protestants, and all these counted Schismaticks by them, it will be but Schism, to separate from almost all Christ's Church on Earth as Schismaticks.
V. Ex Can. Sard. 2. [That a Bishop that by Ambition, changeth his Seat, shall not have so much as Lay Communion, no not at the end.
VI. Ex C. Afric. c. 15. That there be no Reordaining or Translation of Bishops.
VII. No man must receive the witness of a Layman against a Clergy-man.
VIII. The Second General Council at Nice setteth up the Adoration of Images, cursing all from Christ with Anathema that are against it, or doubt of it.
IX. Even the contrary Council at Constantinople of 338 Bishops anathematizeth all that do not with a sincere Faith crave the Intercession of the Virgin Mary as the Parent of God and Superior to every Creature visible and invisible. And all that confess not that all who from the beginning to this day, before the Law and under the Law, and in the Grace given of God, being Saints, are venerable in the Presence of God in Soul and BODY, and seek not their Intercessions.
Yet they conclude with the Conc. Nice 2. That Christ's Body Glorified is not proper Flesh, Def. 7.
X. The said Second Council at Nice saith [Every Election of a Bishop, Priest or Deacon which is made by Magistrates shall remain void, by the Canon which saith [If any Bishop use the Secular Magistrate to obtain by them a Church, let him be deposed and separated, and all that Communicate with him.]
Thus our English Bishops and Parish Ministers are deposed, and all their Communicants to be Excommunicated.
XI. Ibid. Can. 4. Those that for Gain or Affection of their own shut out any Ministers, or shut the Temples, forbidding the Divine Ministry, are sharply condemned (which would fall on Silencing Bishops).
XII. Can. 15. Forbiddeth one man to have two Churches, which would break our Clergy, specially the Bishops that have Hundreds.
XIII. Can. 7. Forbiddeth any Temple to be Consecrated without Relicts, and ordereth Temples that have no Relicts to be put down.
XIV. A Council of Bishops in France depose the best of Kings, Ludov. Pius.
XV. Another Council at Aquisgrane deposeth Lotharius.
XVI. Theodora's Council at Constantinople is again for Images.
XVII. They so far deceived Kings, that Carolus Calvas in a Council at Tullum saith, That no man may depose him without the hearing and judgment of the Bishops, who are called the Throne of God, by whom God decreeth Judgment, and to whom he subjecteth himself.
XVIII. An. 868. In a Council at Rome under Hadrian 2d. to detect the Thieves in Monasteries they are to be made receive Christ's Body and Blood.
XIX. An. 869. The Constantinople Council called by the Papists the 4th, and the 8th General one, C. 3. Curseth those that think Images are not to be Worshipped with the same honour as the Gospel, as teaching by colours what the Scripture doth by words,] saying, [They shall not see Christ's face at his second coming that adore not his Image.
Yet C. 8. They depose Bishops that made men Swear to be true to them. (And so our Bishops must be deposed for the Oath of Obedience to them.)
XX. The C. 11. is that [All Bishops bearing on Earth the Person and Form of the Celestial Hierarchy shall with all Veneration be worshipped by all Princes and Subjects; And shall not go far from Church to meet any Commanders or Nobles; Nor shall light from their Horses like Supplicants or Abjects that feared them; nor fall down and Petition them: Else the Bishop shall be separated a Year from the Sacrament, and the Princes, Dukes or Captains two Years.] Is this like the Law of Christ? Are all Princes under it?
XXI. C. 12. Princes as Prophane may not be Spectators of that which Holy Persons do: and therefore Councils are held without them.
(Who would think that our Bishops or Priests could subscribe to these, and to the 39 Articles, and the Oath of Supremacy also?)
XXII. Can. 14. saith, [That a Lay-man shall have no Power to Dispute by any reason of Ecclesiastical Sanctions,—For though a Lay-man excel in the praise of Piety and Wisdom, yet he is a Lay-man and a Sheep, and not a Pastor: But a Bishop, though it be Manifest that he is destitute of ALL VIRTUE OF RELIGION, yet he is a Pastor as long as he exerciseth the office of a Bishop: and the Sheep must not resist the Shepherd.] Princes and Parliaments must note this.
XXIII. An. 876. A Concilium Titin. maketh Charles Emperor against Ludovicus, the Popes expresly claiming the Power of electing, approving and making Emperours as his right. And Stephen 5 alias 6. with Bishops and Lords depose the Emperour (Carolus Crassus) after, as too dull. And the Pope telleth the Emperour Basil, that the Sacerdotal Dignity is not subject to Kings, and that Kings are authorized to meddle only with worldly Matters, and Popes and Priests with Spiritual; Therefore their Place is more excellent than Emperours, as Heaven is above Earth. And the Disciple is not above his Lord.
XXIV. An. 888. A Council at Mentz saith, [That a King ruling impiously and unjustly, is a Tyrant and not a King.]
XXV. Ibid. Whereas Clergymen were accused for getting their own Sisters with Child, it was decreed, that no Presbyter accuse a Bishop, nor any Deacon a Presbyter: And that no Prelate be Condemned but under Seventy two Witnesses, and that the chief Prelate be Judged of no Man; And a Cardinal Presbyter under Forty two Witnesses, and a Cardinal Deacon under Twenty six, and Sub-deacons, Acoluthes, Exorcists, Readers, Door-keepers, not under Seven Witnesses, and all these without Infamy having Wives and Children. (O secure Wickedness!)
XXVI. Ibid. The Punishment of one Murdering even a Priest is, To forbear Flesh and Wine, and not to be carried in a Coach, and not to come to Church in Five years, nor to the Sacrament in Twelve.
XXVII. An. 895. In Concil. Tribur. If the Bishop command the people to meet in one place, and the Magistrate in another, they must obey the Bishop, and not the Magistrate: He and all his Company shall obey the Bishop.
C. 10. No Bishop shall be deposed but by Twelve Bishops, nor no Presbyter but by Six Bishops.
XXVIII. An. 912. A Council at Confluence decree that none Marry within the Seventh degree.
XXIX. An. 1049. Leo 9th and his Council of Bishops sit at Rhemes, though the King forbad them. But they decree that no man be promoted to Church Government without the election of the Clerks and the People.
XXX. An. 1050. Two Councils condemn Berengarius and Jo. Scotus's Doctrine of the Sacrament. As others after did at Rome, and forced him to recant and profess Transubstantiation in sense.
XXXI. The Pope and Bishops An. 1055. Interdict the whole Kingdom of Castile, unless King Ferdinand submit to the Emperour Henry, where they require him.
The choice of Popes by Cardinals introduced.
No man is to hear Mass of a Priest that he knoweth to have a Concubine (a Wife).
Pope Alexander declareth King Harold a Usurper, and set up William the Conquerour as in Right.
He brings in the Payment of Peter Pence to the Pope.
XXXII. Greg. 7. Claimeth Presentations and Investitures: Excommunicateth and deposeth the Emperour in a Roman Council, and Excommunicateth all Bishops that were for him: Absolveth his Subjects from their Oaths of Allegiance: Saying, [It is meet that he be deprived of Dignity, who endeavoureth to diminish the Majesty of the Church:] Commandeth that no King dare to resist his Legates: Calls the King of France a ravening Wolf: Declares in Council their Power to put down Kings: Challengeth Spain as St. Peter's Patrimony: Threatens the ruine of the Prince of Calaris if he make not his Bishops shave their Beards: Challengeth Peter Pence of France.
I would transcribe out of Binnius the Pope's 27 Dictates or Determinations containing all the Papal Usurpations or most, but that it is tedious, and you may there see them, or in my Summary of the Bishops Councils, pag. 356 translated.
XXXIII. An. 1074. In a Council at Rome, Priests are not only forbidden Marriage, but commanded to put away their Wives.
XXXIV. An. 1078. A Roman Council pronounceth all Ordinations null, not made by the common Consent of Clergy and People]. (And must we agree to nullifie almost all the Church of England.)
XXXV. An. 1079. A Council forced Berengarius to Recant.
And An. 1080. another Excommunicateth and deposeth the Emperour.
XXXVI. An. 1085. A Council at Quintilenburg maketh the Emperour's Claim of Investitures, and not obeying the Pope to be Heresie, and calls it by the Name of the Henrician Heresie; that is Loyalty, or not being against Kings at the Pope's Command. And this Heresie is after oft Condemned.
XXXVII. Victor's Council, An. 1087. declareth that Simoniacks are Hereticks and Infidels, (and all Lay Patrons are Simoniacks with them that claim Presentations and Investitures) and not to be communicated with; and that it's better communicate with God only in secret than with such.
XXXVIII. An. 1090. A Council at Mel…ia decree that no Lay-man hath Right or Authority over a Clergy-man, or may invest any.
XXXIX. An. 1094. A Council at Constance decree against Married Priests.
XL. An. 1095. A Council at Clermont command that no Bishop or Priest make any Promise of Allegiance to a King or any Lay-man: And that every Lay-labourer abate or pay the Tenth of his Wages to the Clergy.
XLI. About 1100. a Council decreed that all Bishops of the Henrician Heresie (for Loyalty) be deposed; and if dead, dig'd up and burnt.
XLII. An. 1108. A Council at Benevent decree, that if any take a Benefice from a Lay-man's Presentation, the Giver and Taker shall be Excommunicate.
XLIII. An. 1180. A General Council (as they call it) at Laterane under Alexander the 3d, called the Eleventh General Council, condemning those whom they call Catharoi, Puritans, absolve Inferiours from all Duty and Fidelity to them; and promise Indulgence to those that fight against them.
XLIV. An. 1215. was the great Fourth Laterane General Council, under Pope Innocent 3d. which obligeth Princes to exterminate all that are against Transubstantiation, &c. and else deposeth, excommunicateth and damneth them.
Thus you see what must be the Protestant Religion, when our present Church of England is United with the Roman.
Obj. Some of these were but Provincial Councils.
Ans. And are you not in England for obeying Provincial Councils? I'le then omit transcribing Spelman's.