Concerning the English Liturgy, Discourse · Section 2 – Section 3

Concerning the English Liturgy · Discourse · Section 2 – Section 3

p. 7SECT. II.

His Errour (in calling Bonaventure a Seraphicall zealot, becauſe he caſtigated the Greek Church) refuted, and the right Reaſon ſhewed, why he was ſo called.

NOw for your Bonaventure, Sect. 2.whom you would have to be entituled a Seraphicall zealot, becauſe he did caſtigate the Greek Church, if you mean by caſtigating the Greek Church, 1. The oppoſing or refuting of the errours of the Greek Church, eſpecially in reſpect of their opinion of the Proceſſion of the holy Ghoſt (whereof the Schoolmen diſpute in the firſt Book of Sent. diſt. 11.) he ſhould not more be called a Seraphicall zealot for that, theniiPet. Lomb. …. 1. diſt. 11. p. 66. Aquin. part. 1. q. 35. art 2. ad prim. & 2^d & q. 36. art. 2. corp. artic. Scot. l. 1. diſt. 11. q. 1. vol. 1. p. 209. Dom Bannes in prim. part. Ib. art. 1. q. 2. Tom. 1 p. 376, 377. Eſtius in 1. Sent. diſt. 11. ſect. 2. p. 57. & p. 59. Bell. l. 2. de Chriſto c. 22. Tom. 1. p. 135. col. 2. & p. 139. col 1. many others who did the like, as well as he. 2. If you mean that Bonaventure did chaſtiſe the Greek Church with more vehemence and fierceneſs of ſpirit than other Writers did: I anſwer,

1. That cannot be proved, for though he accounted the Greeks in his time more erroneous then their Anceſtors, from kkNon dicit (ſcil Damaſc.) quod spiritus non ſit a filio ſed dicit non dioimus a filio quia Grae…i …on confitebantur nec tamen negabant. Bonav. in 1. Sent. diſt. 11. q. 1. Tom. 5. Operum Romae Excuſ. An. 1588. Ex typogr. Vatican. Damaſcen. docet spirit ſanct. non procedere ex filio ſed per filium Damaſc. de Orthod. fide l. 1. c. 11.Damaſcen (who flouriſhed in An. 730.) downward, called them anllSed modo eorum maledicta progenies addidit ad paternam dement…am & dicit quod non procedit a filio niſi temporaliter. Ibid. accurſed offspring of their progenitors, adding to their p. 8parents madneſs (who were wavering, neither confeſſing nor denying the Proceſſion of the holy Ghoſt from the Father and the Son) but holding, That the holy Ghoſt had only a temporall proceſſion from the Son; and formmId…o tanquam bareticos & ſchiſmaticos Romana damnat eos Eccleſia. Ib. this (ſaith he) the Church of Rome do…ms them hereticks and ſchiſmaticks. Yet the worſt he ſaith of them he ſaith not in his own Name, but in the Name of the Roman Church.

So that he ſhould be called a Seraphicall zealot, for that, no more than the Pope or any Cardinall, or Biſhop, or Doctor of the Church of Rome, who gives his conſent to the Popes Excommunication of them, and they were Excommunicated by Pope Martin, as is remembred againſt them in thennConcil. Lugd. 2^d Anno 1274. Fr. Long. Sum. Concil p. 842. col. 1. ſecond Councill of Lions. The truth is, as the Greek Nation had but an ill name of old among the antient Romans, ſo ſince Damaſcens time the Greek Church was much diſtaſted by the Latines, and they by them again. For 1. The Roman Orator (many hundred years before Benaventure was born) taxed them for ooOdium levium Graecorum, Cicer Orat. pro ligar. fol. 225.levity,ppFidem nunquam iſta Natio coluit.—Ʋnde illud d… mi…i teſtimonium mut…um, Cicer. Orat. pro Flacco fol. 141. b. unfaithfulneſs,qqInvitatio ut Graecorum more biberetur—poſcunt majoribus poculis. Cicer. act. 3. in verrem fol. 29. a. drunkenneſs. 2. That levity and unfaithfulneſs is charged upon the Greek Church, by the Roman Church; for in the 3^d Council of Latera… An. 1215. under Innocent the 3^d, the Greeks (afterrrConcil. Lateran. 3. c. 4. Tom. 7. Concil edit. Bin. part. 2. p. 808. reconciliation with the Latines)ſſIn tantum Graeci caeperunt abominari Latinos ut ſi quando Sacerdotes Latini ſuper eorum celebraſſe…t altaria non prius ipſi ſacrificare volebant in illis quam ca tanquam per haec inquinata laviſſent. Ibid. c. 4. became ſo adverſe to them, that they would not conſecrate upon their own Altars, after the Latines had uſed them, untill they had waſhed them.

And the children which the ttBaptizatus etiam à Latinis & ipſi Graeci rebaptizare auſ… temerario praeſum…bant. Ibid.Latines had baptized, they baptized again. And in the ſecond Council of Lions, Anno 1274. (to whichuuAlph. Villeg. the Life of Bonav. Vol. 2. of the lives of Saints, part. 2. pag. 47. Bonaventure was ſent by Pope Greg. 10.) though the**Concil. Ludg. 2. Fr. Long. Sum. Concil. pag 841. Col. 1.Col 1 Emperour Paleologus brought his Greeks to the Council, and they therein conſented to the Latines (in the Article, touching the proceſſion of the holy Ghoſt, from the Father and the Sonne) and ſubmitted themſelves to the p. 9Roman Church: yet as they had been ſo fickle and falſe (in what they undertook before that time) as to turn and revolt from what they had profeſſed, no fewer then thirteenxxTertiâ decimâ vice Graecos deficientes—Concil. Lugd. 2^d Fr. Long. Sum. Concil. p. 842. times, ſo it is not unlikely but that after this Council (when Bonav. was dead) even to the Council ofyyConcil Florent. Tom. 8. Concil. Bin. ap. 553. ad p. 1038. Florence, An. 1438. (when the Latines and Greeks were again reconciled) there were many breaches betwixt them, which might make many Romaniſts as great Seraphicall zealots againſt the Greeks, as ever Bonaventure was, yea or as thoſe before his time,zzNi…t. Choniates lib. de Iſaac & fil. ejus Alex. who uſed the Greeks more inhumanely at the taking of Conſtantinople, then the Saracens did the Chriſtians at their taking Hieruſalem: Therefore you have no reaſon from Bonaventures zeal againſt the Greek Church, to call him a Seraphicall zealot, as by a ſpeciall Title, yet a zealot he was, and Seraphicall too, and might well be called a Seraphicall zealot, (not as you miſtake the reaſon of title) but for ſuch as theſe: Becauſe,

1. He was of the Order of theaaIn the Life of Bonav. by Villeg. Vol. 1. part. 1. p. 42. Seraphicall Father S^t Francis, to whom that denomination was principally appropriated.

2. He was not only of this Order, but devoted to it by eſpeciall vow of his mother, confirmed by miracle, for being ſick (when he was a childe) ſhe vowed (if he recovered) to give him up to be a Franciſcan Friar; God heard her prayer to thebbIbid. admiration of the Phyſicians (as the writer of his Legend recordeth) and ſhe made good her vow.

3. He was when he came out of his minority (though ſtill a Minorite Friar) a great zealot for the honour of his Founder S^t Francis (and of his Order) For,

1.ccThe Life of S^t Francis by Villeg. vol. 2. part. 2. p. 182. He wrote his Life.

2.ddTom. 7 operum Bonav par. 3. He wrote of the ſix wings of the Seraph.

3.eeIbid. Tom▪ 8. operum part. 4. …puſc. A declaration of the rule of the Minorites.

4.ffIbid. Two Apologies againſt the calumniators of the Franſc. rule.

4. Becauſe, as Seraphicall S^t Francis himſelf,ggThe Life of S^t Fr. by Villeg. ubi ſupra at c. preached not with eloquent words, and worldly wiſdom, but with much fervour of ſpirit, (as the Romaniſts write of him (ſo did Bonav. p. 8duplicate page p. 9duplicate page p. 8duplicate page p. 9duplicate page p. 10utter not inſtant, earneſt words, buthhFlammantia non inſtantia verba profe…eb…t. Poſſev. Apparat. Sac. Vol. 1. p. 233. flaming words, as Poſſevi… noteth out of Abbot Tritemius.

SECT. III.

The Doctor justly termed a Seraphicall Zealot for the Service-book, his abſurd Elogium of it, and Calvins Cenſure upon it.

ANd in this ſenſe I might (as I did) well call you a Seraphicall zealot for the Service-book,Sect. 3. for your diſcourſe of it, and pleading for it, with me, hath been fierce and fie…y, (as when**Not many daies diſtant from the date of your letter, and in the Parſonage Hall, M. R. W. and my ſelf being preſent. you ſaid, If I preached againſt the Service-book in the forenoon, you would preach for it in the afternoon, if I would lend you my Pulpit) and your Letters, both this in Engliſh, and the other in Latine, ſhew rather how fondly, then how devoutly you are addicted to that: You ſay in this Letter, How it was for many years the Church of Englands chiefeſt robe, both for ornament among the Reformed, D. H.and for diſtinction againſt the unreformed Churches: And in your Latine Letter you call it, The moſt glorious houſhold ſtuff of your father.

1. Robe, Animadv. 2.Ornament and Diſtinction: Three brave words, very meanly and impertinently brought in, as I believe any man of ordinary apprehenſion will eaſily judge: The word Robe you know ſignifieth a garment, Hath the Service-book any reſemblance to that? If you had called the Surplice a Robe, you might have gone away with that word, without exception, though you might have met with a check at the next word Ornament, from ſuch as with much contempt and ſcorn uſed to call that a ragge: But (to let paſs that groſs foreign of calling the Service-book a robe) How was the Service-book an Ornament among the Reformed Churches? What Reformed Church out of England and Ireland (except the exiles in Queen Maries daies, and not all of them neither) ever took it for an Ornament? If they had they would ſure have adorned their p. 11Divine ſervice with it, and have ſpoken of it rather as Honourable, then but tolerable, and that for a time; asiiIn Anglica… qualem deſcribitis multas video fuiſſe tolarabiles ineptias. Calv Epiſt. Anglis Frankford, p. 158. Calvin did of the Engliſh Liturgie (ſaith he, writing to the exiles at Frankford) as you deſcribe it, I ſee many tolerable toies, trifles, follies, unfitneſſes; take which word you will to expreſs his Latine word ineptiae, you will have as much ado to gloſs or dreſs it up into an Ornament, as to make a Silver Pen of a Gooſe quill; unleſs you adde guilding unto it, or ſome other decking of the Artificer upon the leaves and cover.

But to ſave you that needleſs labour, Calvin preſently expreſſeth what he meaneth by theſe two words tolerabiles ineptiae, viz. kkHis duobus verbis exprimo non fuiſse …am puritatem quae opta…da fuerat quae tamen primo ſtatim die corrigi non poterant vitia cum nulla ſu…ſset manifeſta impietas ferenda ad tempus fuiſſe. Ibid.That the Liturgie was not ſo pure as was to be wiſhed, yet what faults could not be corrected the firſt day, (ſince they contain no manifeſt impiety) they were to be tolerated for a time, yet ſo, that itllDoctos tamen proboſ que & graves Chriſti miniſtros ultra eniti & aliquid limatius & purius quaerer… conſentancum foret. Calv. Ibid. meet (ſaith he) that the Learned, good and grave Miniſters of Chriſt do endeavour beyond it, to finde out ſomewhat more refined, more pure,mmNunc cum vobis fit Eccleſia inſtituenda & liberum fit formam qua…ad uſum & edificationem Eccleſiae maximè apta videbitur de integro componere quid ſibi velin… …eſcio quos faecis papiſticae reliquiae tantopere delectant. Calv. Epiſt. Anglis Frankford. p. 158. free to compoſe a new form of prayer, which may be moſt apt or fit for the uſe and edification of the Church: and ſaith, he knows not what to think of them to whom the dregs of Popery are ſo delightfull, as not to be pleaſed with a change for the better: Nor have they any othernnNam quae illis rixandi cauſ… nifi quia pudet melioribus cedere. Ibid. cauſe of quarrell (ſaith he) but becauſe they are aſhamed to yield to better men, and better things.