THE Ancient LIBERTY OF THE Britannic Church, AND THE Legitimate Exemption thereof from the Roman Patriarchate, Discoursed on four Positions, and asserted By Isaac Basier, D.D. and Chaplain in ordinary to His late Majesty of Great Britain, CHARLES the First. Three Chapters concerning the Privileges of the Britannic Church, etc. Selected out of a Latin Manuscript, entitled, Catholico-Romanus Pacificus, Written by F. I. Barnes, of the Order of St. Benedict, yet living [as is said] in the Roman Inquisition. Translated, and published, for Vulgar instruction, By RI. WATSON. London, Printed for john Mileson, to be sold by Elisha Wallis, at the Horse-shoe in the Great Old-Bayley, 1661. TO My Worthy good Friend Mr. Richard Watson, etc. At Caen. Sir, THe cause why the abundant satisfaction I inwardly conceived, at the receipt of your most obliging Letter, and reading of that excellent Diatribe of Doctor Basiers, which accompanied it (by Mr. Coventrie's favour) according to your direction, hath no sooner thus dilated itself on Paper, hath been that ingenious young Gentleman's absence these Holidays, as he himself will (I doubt not) for my further justification, testify; I do therefore, Sir, with all gratitude, acknowledge both Dr. Basier's, and your ample favours, in this whole design, no less relating to what is already so worthily performed, than to what is also so meritoriously projected and intended, as that I should do myself great wrong to refuse the annex of my name; where it should rather be my ambition to have it appear; But, on the other side, give me leave, Sir, to suggest one caution, that you take heed (since you intent it should pass currant in England) the stamp of my name do not, in regard of my Relation to my Royal Master, (I will not say, adulterate the coin, or abate the intrinseck value, but) make it less welcome to praeoccupated and mispersuaded Readers. The Doctor's English Letter, to me, I hold not only fit for the Press, as a testimony of the Author's eminent industry and merit, but also as it is useful to the public, indeed, such a one, written with so Apostolical a spirit, as that I have been often heard to say, that I could never read it, but as a kind of nine-and-twentieth of the Acts; Use therefore I beseech you, Sir, my name with all freedom, as you think good, you cannot entitle me to any thing of this kind, which doth not add, as to my honour, so to my obligation to you; whose prone, and undeserved, favour herein I shall, upon all occasions, ambitiously endeavour to requite by some more solid acknowledgement, than this bare signing myself, Most Worthy Sir, Paris, this first day of the year, 1658. which I heartily wish you most happy. Your most humble and obliged servant Richard Brown. To the Honourable, Sir Richard Brown, Clerk of the Right Honourable Privy-Council TO His Majesty of Great Britain, etc. Sir, THough I took the liberty, some years since, to publish the Latin Diatribe of the worthy Doctor, which I found in my * Lord Hopton. Lord's Cabinet, after his decease; yet I could not so well presume to address it, as, I am confident, intended by the Learned Author, unto your noble self; By my adventure in the Translation I have somewhat improved my Title, to a degree of propriety, and can so far justify yours, at least to what is mine, if you please to own a Patronage of the work, under so much disadvantage, as the change of Language puts upon it. Your approbation of it in the design gives me no full assurance of your satisfaction at sight and reading; but your ability to judge the difficulty of Englishing such matters, in such a stile as they require, and your encouragement of all that aims at the public good, yield me hopes of your acceptance, and dispensation with whatsoever unavoidable defects; That it was presented to you no sooner, you in part know the reason; until of late it hath been as hard to find a Press for any Treatise that vindicated our Church, as for a Dedicatory Epistle to any Resident of our King: But my long frustrated attendance for a Supplement from Mr. Justell was the first Dilatory it had, and very lately, I think, it hath been discountenanced by an aversion, if no more, of some private Inquisitours, where you are, from all that hangs the Church of England on this hinge of Primitive Antiquity, or the Authority of Ancient Councils. It waits on you now, accompanied with somewhat I communicated not before, obtained by the friendly industry of that * Mr. Thomas Coventry. ingenious Gentleman, who sent me F. Barnes' Manuscript, whence I selected what (and more than what) the Doctor directs us to, though he survives not to entertain the duplicate of my thanks, nor to take pleasure in the effect of his own pains, or mine, and to actuate further the most commendable quality, which happily discovered itself very early in him, a singular complacency in accommodating a private friend, and a generous promptitude to advance any thing wherein public interest was concerned. I must needs, in gratitude, do him the honour of laying this leaf of Laurel on his Hearse, which hath passed through several hands of our Reverend Clergy, and Gentry, * Paris. where he died, recommended, Sir, with your own serious condolence unto mine, That he acquired the character of a prudent exemplary young Gentleman in his life, and a very pious Christian in the self-discerned approaches to his death. Sir, for printing the Doctor's Letter, I should apologise (unto him) if you lent me not yours to countenance it; as your permitting it before to be read and copied, had signified your inclination to have some such right done to our Church, and him, which could not better be than in company with another work of his own, and what his approves. The advertisement you further gave me, that his additional Relations were addressed to Sir George Radcliffe, came too late for me to recover them, by the means I used, out of his Papers; as the notice of his death did for some other Letters that had passed, to my knowledge, between my Lord, and Sir George, upon Theological points of controversy, wherein they differed, and which they discussed with some little earnestness, yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; If the former be not irrecoverably disposed of, Sir, you have now a fair opportunity to secure them; though, if the good Doctor himself be living, the late misfortune befallen the Country learned * Dr. Basier Dr. Duncon Travellers, not to exercise their function where the duty of praying for the King should be prohibited; And a signal instance it was of Christian courage in our Reverend Author, when an Exile, to refuse the offer of a plentiful support, where that would not be allowed; yet it had been worth his journey to Smyrna, to convert the Consul, who now, I hope, hath more than the Merchant's argument (which many times is more prevalent with men of business, than the Divines) I mean, that of Interest, to convince him. Sir, The benediction the Doctor gives to you and yours, in allusion to that which issued from the Ark to Obed Edom's house, I have a very particular obligation to suffrage in, though so long after the date of his; It was testimonium Dei faventis, saith Grotius; and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith Philo, of the Propitiatory, or cover to it, a testimony or symbol of God's favourable and powerful Mercy to the good man; not so restrained to the presence, but, even after its removal to the City of David, no doubt, he and his family were blessed by it. Sir, the public exercise of our Liturgy, is the Antitype we reflect upon, which, by God's singular indulgence to you, hath, when chased out of the Temple, took refuge in your House, so that we have been forced many times to argue from your Oratory for a visibility of our Church; Your easy admission of me to officiate in it for some months, and your endeavours to have such an establishment made for me, as whereby, in the most difficult of times, I might have had a comfortable subsistence, and a safe protection under your sacred roof, beside the other graces and civilities I had from you, exact this open retribution of my thanks; as the character of my holy Order, impressed on me in your Chapel, may have consigned me, somewhat peculiarly, to be your Priest, when any emergent may require the Canonical performance of my Ministry within your walls; However, Sir, I shall not offer the holy Sacrifice at any of God's Altars (which are now again erecting by a most miraculous mercy to his King and People) but I shall commemorate, in your behalf, the little emblem you preserved of them, when they lay in their dust and ruins; nor shall the cloud of sacred incense ascend in the Sanctuary without the mixture of my breath, while I have it, to ask a return from Heaven, in showers of blessings to you, and your posterity, whose name, & memory, must be ever venerable to the English Clergy, as your person hath been most obliging to many of us, among whom, though the unworthiest of them, I pray assist and honour with the continuance of your patronage, Noble Sir, Your most grateful, and very humble servant, RI. WATSON. Caen, Aug. 12. 1660. POSITIONS. I Position. THe rights of Patriarchates. Custom introduced; Councils confirmed; Emperors established. TWO Position. The Britannic Church, as being always placed without the Suburbicaries of the Italic Diaecese, in the time of the Nicene Council, was in no case subject to the Roman Patriarchate, but enjoyed a Patriarchate of its own (as to the substance of the thing) so as did the other Churches placed in the rest of the free Diaeceses. III Position. The Britannic Church was, with very good right, restored by her Sovereign, to her ancient Ecclesiastical liberty, and that according to the Rule of the ancient Catholic Canons, by which the word) The Metropolitick Rights Custom hath introduced, appears from the very words in the sixth Canon of the first great Nicen Council, wherein the confines of the three chief Patriarches are determined, and the Origin of the Roman Metropolitan, as also the Alexandrian, Antiochian, and those of other Provinces (which at that time did alike enjoy, each its own.) I say, the Origin of every one of these, is referred by the Council ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to Custom; And moreover the Synod doth decree a Religious Observation of that Custom in these solemn words, which the Church truly Catholic did perpetually reverence as an Oracle, viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Let Ancient Customs be in force; commanding likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. That Churches should have their privileges preserved. The same is clearly evident from the words in the second Canon of the first Constantinopolitan Council, which most expressly commands each Church in every Diocese to be governed according to that Custom of the Fathers which had prevailed, the privileges being preserved which by the Nicen Canons have been granted to the Churches. The second part of the Position (viz. That Councils have confirmed the Rights of Patriarchates) is manifest both by the former Paragraph, and principally by that Illustrious Canon, which is the last save one of the Oecumenick Council at Chalcedon (that is the 206 Canon of the Universal Church) a This very 28th. Canon appears in all Greek Copies, and although controverted by Pope Leo, whom it seemed to concern, yet we have seen, and read the very same Canon likewise in an excellent Latin Copy, the quadrate Characters whereof, and other marks of Antiquity, argue the Book to be about one thousand years old. This Copy is in the rich Library of the famous ●ustell, who heretofore gave me the liberty of seeing it. There is also another ancient Latin Copy in the famous Library of the Noble Th●●●nus, wherein yet the same Canon is to be read; so that we may justly question the fidelity of the later Roman Copies, which have it expunged. neither the truth nor validity whereof hath any one questioned, unless carried away violently with an affection to the Roman party. The words of the said Canon are most emphatical. Behold the very marrow and vigour of it expressed. First, The Catholic Ancients do assert, that they in this decree, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and every where follow the definitions of the Holy Fathers. Secondly, That the Privileges of the Elder Rome, they say not (are founded by Christ, or by Peter, or by Paul, but) are indulged by the Fathers, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Thirdly, They adjust the reason of this Prerogative, and that not divine, nor indeed so much as Ecclesiastical, but merely secular, to wit (as we shall demonstrate in the third Paragraph) the Imperial Authority, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, because that City was Empress of the rest. Fourthly, The Fathers, moved by the same consideration, declare, That they (as much as lies in them) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, will communicate equal Privileges to the most holy Throne of New Rome. Rightly judging (they are the words of the very Canon) that Constantinople, which they call New Rome, being honoured both with Empire and Senate, may enjoy equal Privileges with the Elder Rome; and in Ecclesiastical affairs, no less than she, be extolled and magnified, as her second, or next unto her: hitherto the Canon, second, to wit, in order, but no way obnoxious in jurisdiction to Rome, as is plain by her equality with Rome, every way asserted in the Canon, and will afterward more clearly appear both out of the 8th. Canon of the first Ephesine Council, as also the ninth Canon of the Council of Chalcedon; both which Canons are cited and illustrated in the following Position. The third part of the Position, viz. The Rights of Patriarchates Emperors have established, is confirmed both by reason and by practice; and that first general, then special likewise. The general Reason, being as it were the foundation of this whole discourse deeper laid, is farther to be reached. First, Therefore we say, That Fathers of Families were at first both Princes and Priests. Moreover, as the supplicate of the whole gallic people, to * Acta inter Philip. Pulch. & Bonifac. 8. King Philip the Fair, almost four hundred years since, very rightly observeth against Pope Boniface, Melchisedec is expressly said to be King before Priest, and consequently the King taketh not from the Priest, nor aught to acknowledge that he owes unto the Priest his Crown, or the rights thereof (such as the external Regiment of the Church is proved to be afterward.) Secondly, We say, That by propagation of Families, and their amplification into Cities, and Communities, the Oeconomick Authority in process of time, became politic. Thirdly, We assert, That in the first institution of the Priesthood, Moses took away no part of the supreme jurisdiction from the Politic Authority; Therefore the Royal Power remained the same it was before, both Legislative and judiciary, as well in Sacred as Civil Affairs. For Moses, as * Deuter. 3●. 5. King in jesurun, was constituted by God himself, the keeper as well of † Numb. 10.1. both Trumpets, as Tables; now what pertained to Moses as King, is every Kings due. This very comparative Argument, as rightly consequent from Moses to Constantine the Great, after the revolutions of so many ages, Eusebius five or six times applies to establish the Imperial Authority about the Convocation and confirmation of the first Nicene Council. Fourthly, As Moses, not Aaron, delivered the Ceremonial Law: so, long after Moses, King David instituted the courses of the Priest, and Solomon thrust out Abiathar the High Priest. Fifthly, When Christ inaugurated his Apostles, he furnished them with great powers of his own, such as are the Administration of Sacraments, and power of the Keys; but all that Christ bestowed on his Apostles cumulatively, nought at all privatively: for indeed our Lord Christ would neither by the Evangelical Priesthood, nor his whole first Advent, have any thing detracted from the Jurisdiction or Authority of the Civil Powers; nor that Kings, because Christians, should have their Prerogative abated. Sixthly, We say, That Kings, as Kings, aught to be the Liturgick Officers of Christ; Rom. 13.6. and so far Kings in their degree may, yea ought to be Ministers of the Church, and, as it were, External Bishops of the Ecclesiastic Government, (as s You are Bishops as to the interior, I, as to the exterior. Constantine the Great said wisely of himself) That same the magnificent Title of Christ himself, Prince of the Kings of the earth, seems to erect for all Kings of right, although in fact most of Kings are not, yet by virtue of this title they are obliged all to be Christians. Seventhly, We say, That there are very many things pertaining to the external Polity of the Church, which although they belong properly and primarily to the King alone, yet in case of necessity, as they say, and secondarily are out of course devolved upon the Clergy. For instance, To call Synods; ordain Fasts or Festivals; distinguish Parishes into Dioceses, or Provinces; to fix and ratify the Hierarchical degrees of Bishops, so as this man is a Bishop, that a Primate, the third a Metropolitan; that this Bishop should be under the jurisdiction of that Metropolitan, and contrarily, upon some weighty or lawful either occasion, necessity, or public commodity of the Church, that this should be exempt from the other under whom he was before. These, and very many of like sort, according to the various state of the Church, pertain both to the King and Priest. For those two most different times of the Church's condition ought not to be confounded, I mean of persecution, and peace. Because in time of persecution under Infidel Kings, so long as Princes are altogether and every way disjoined from the Church, and the Church from Princes, the divine order ceaseth, and the Royal Succession suffers necessarily interruption (I say interruption, not abolition) For so long the case is plainly extraordinary, and, while so, the Woman is in the Desert, and the Church supplies this defect of Princes as she can. As when the Husband is absent or sick, the Matron governs the Family. But the divine Positive Order re-entering, the ordinary state of the Church returneth also; so soon as Kings resume the Christian Religion, the partition-wall presently falls down, and then by due right Kings take again their exterior power over the Christian Church. Otherwise we should say, that in order to the Government of the Church, there ought to be no difference between Pharaoh and Moses, between Nero and Constantine; nor, as to dominion in sacred Affairs and the right use thereof, that this Emperor communicates any more with the Church, than the other; which would be dissonant, not only from right Reason, but also from holy Scripture. Therefore the Emperor, Isa. 49.23. so soon as he becomes Christian, aught to obtain his restitution entire. And this in this Argument is the matter of right, or general Reason, which we lay down as the Base of that right which belongs to the Emperor in establishing the external limits of the Ecclesiastical Government. As to the matter of fact, or practice, that is both general or Catholic, and also special. The general practice (beside the assumption of the second Argument which was proved before) consists in an induction of Councils, as well General as Provincial, all which as they supplicate from the Emperor himself the very convocation of councils: so do they submit to the same Emperor every one of their decrees, even those in matters of Faith, which although, as to their intrinsec Authority, they depend only on the Word of God, and Truth itself; yet, as to their extrinsec Authority, they depend on the Imperial Sentence: but if those of Faith, how much more those which are only of the bare Regiment of the Church, such as is the establishment of Patriarchates, lie all under the Imperial decrees? to wit, in this sense, That the Canon of the Church may have the force of a Law, that wholly proceeds from the Authority of the Prince. Thence is it, that every one of the Ancient Councils, all the Ancient Catholic Bishops (even the Bishop of Rome himself) present them always to the Emperor to be supplied, amended, perfected; and so humbly petition from the Emperor, not a naked protection, or late execution; but an entire ratification and confirmation of every Council, without which, as to the external effect, they are to become unattired, void, and plainly of no force. Concerning this Truth, I appeal not only to the Councils of Cavalion, Mentz and Toures, with the rest of the less sort; but I produce the very four general Councils, concerning the first of which, viz. that of Nice, Eusebius expressly relates, that the Emperor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, confirming the decrees of the Synod, did fortify them, as it were with his seal. I appeal also to the first Council of Constantinople, and the very Epistle of the Council to the Emperor Theodosius, wherein all the holy Father's petition the Emperor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. to have the Suffrage of the Synod confirmed. Yea, I appeal to Leo himself Pope of Rome, (whom I believe not to have been of the most abject spirit among those in that Pontificate) who in every one of his † Lett. 23, 24, 25. Letters to three Emperors, humbly petitions (not commands, much less decrees▪ but) beseecheth, supplicates, that the Emperor would command, etc. But it may suffice to have declared these things, though somewhat at large, yet but by the way, to the evincing (by a general rule from the whole to the part) That the rights of Patriarchates introduced by Custom▪ confirmed by Councils, were established by Emperors, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which was the last lemme of our Position. The same will appear more evidently in the special practice of the Catholic Emperors. For by what Authority justinian the Emperor erected justiniana prima to a new Patriarchate, Achrida, now Ochrida. and indulged unto the same (they are the words of his eleventh Novel) the highest Priesthood, the highest authority, and ordained that that should have the place (not only Vicegerency, Novel. 131. c. 3. but place) of the Apostolical See, so as it should be, saith Nicephorus, a Free Church, and Head unto itself, with full power, etc. (what could be said more amply, what more magnificently of Rome herself?) so likewise by the same Imperial Authority, the very same Emperor justinian, Novel. 131. ch. 1. restored the African Diocese to its Ancient Patriarchal Prerogative (which the invasion of the Vandals had interrupted) And so by his Imperial writ did he constitute the Bishop of Carthage absolute Primate of whole afric. Lastly, This is the very thing which in the last age the Emperor of Britain King Henry the eighth by the like right imitated in his Diocese, viz. not by erecting it anew (which yet in the case of justiniana prima justinian did) but only restoring the same Britannic Diocese unto the Ancient Liberty it enjoyed in the Primitive times of the Ancient Oecumenick Councils, viz. the * Nicene Can. 6. Constantinop. can. 2. Ephesin. can. ult. Nicene, Constantinopolitan, and Ephesine (concerning which more hereafter) And thus much more than needs, of our first Position, because that is, as it were, the foundation laid for the rest that follow. The Second Position. 1 The Britannic Church 2 as being always placed without the Suburbicaries of the Italic Diocese, 3 in the time of the Nicene Council, was in no case subject to the Roman Patriarchate, but enjoyed a Patriarchate of its own (as to the substance of the thing) so as did the other Churches, placed in the rest of the free Dioceses. The Structure, or Proof. TO the first we must observe, that the Britannic Diocese was one of the thirteen, into which, according to the computation of some, the whole Roman Empire, Hierocl. Notit. Provinciar. Occidental. in Append. Geogr. Sacr. Carol. à S. Paul. edit. Paris. 1641. but the very Praefecture of Rome itself, was anciently a The ordinary jurisdiction of the Praefecture over the City was concluded within the hundredth mile from the City. distributed. We must also observe that the Britannic Diocese had been one of the six Dioceses of the Western Empire, among which it appears to have excelled out of Tacitus, Spartian, and the other more famous Roman Historians. To the second, we must mark, that by the Nicene Council every Province had its Metropolitick bounds set. Certain it is, I say, that therein were fixed the Ecclesiastic limits to the three chief metropolitans, that is, to the Roman, Alexandrian, and Antiochian, the right always of the other Provinces being preserved, which were no way subject to these metropolitans. b This difference seems to be between Patriarches and Primates; They [that is, the Patriarches] had ever the preference and precedence in Councils, when as out of the Councils was little other than an identity of their Offices. There are they who, in a strict way of speaking, will haw rather the rights of Metropolitans fixed in the Council of Nice; but those of the Patriarches after the Dioceses designed in the following Councils, and namely in the Council of Chalcedon. However that be, it nothing retards our opinion concerning the ancient exemtion of the Britannic, whether Metropolitan, or Patriarch. It matters not whether we call them Patriarches, or Primates (the Origin of which terms, as the amplitude of their office, we owe rather to the following ages) whether we call them Exarches, as the Council of Chalcedon, Can. 9 or Arch-Bishops, as justinian promiscuously, or Metropolitans, or only Bishops, as this very Nicen Council, all is one, so long as it effectually appears, That by Patriarches, we understand them to whose both ordination and jurisdiction the Provinces of entire Dioceses were attributed, and who had the hearing and judging of all Ecclesiastic causes in the last reference, so that, according to e The Exarches of Dioceses are Patriarches, to whom entire Dioceses were attributed. That Zonaras testifies upon this Canon. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Further, the definition of this Canon, concerning the order of Judgements justinian confirms. l. 46. C. De Episc. Et Cler. Et l. 2. C. de Episc. Audi Et Novel. 123. cap. 22. These things Chr. justell; the most famous searcher of Ecclesiastic Antiquities, learnedly observes, ad Can. 187. Concil. Chalcedon. justinian the Emperor, yea according to the very Oecumenick Council of Chalcedon from the Patriarchal sentence out of Council was allowed no regular appeal. We call, with the Lawyers, those Suburbicary Provinces, which were concluded in one Diocese, the Law term, because of the manifest coextension of both, being translated from the Republic to the Church. Thirdly, Let us grant (which yet is undetermined) that the Roman Patriarch had obtained an extraordinary or Patriarchal Jurisdiction over all the Provinces of the Italic Diocese, as his Suburbicaries, and that they were those ten in number, viz. the three Islands of Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia, and the seven other placed on the Continent. Which ten Provinces some do assign to the same Diocese, induced by that ancient Observation, from which it appears, that the Ecclesiastic Jurisdiction of the Dioceses, both for the beauty and benefit of order and unity, as also to insinuate a mutual harmony (which ought, as much as may be, to be cherished between the Church and Republic) in a certain accurate imitation, was so coextended with, and adjusted to, the temporal Regiment of the secular Vicars, that the Ecclesiastic Patriarchates or Primacies were not enlarged farther than the temporal Jurisdiction of the Vicars, that is, to the limits of those Dioceses, the Cities whereof, in which resided the Vicars, were Metropolies, where was fixed the Praetory itself, which was the highest Tribunal of all causes, and all appeals likewise in the Provinces subject thereunto. The very same government of the Church was retained for the conservation of Ecclesiastic Unity, unto which was had special regard by that singular and excellent subordination of the lesser Clerks to their Bishops in every City; of the Bishops unto their metropolitans in every Province; and of the metropolitans to their Patriarches in every Diocese. But in case either of Heresy or Schism, the Church was succoured by Councils, either Provincial, which were rightly called by the Metropolitan, or Patriarchal, which by the Patriarch, or lastly general, which by the Emperor himself. Now as this premised general coextension of the Ecclesiastic Jurisdiction with the Civil Government appears by comparing the second Canon of the Constantinopolitan Council with the very Code of the Provinces: so that particular definition of the Italic Diocese may be fetched out of Ruffinus d An Ancient Translation of these Canons hath mentioned those Suburbicaries expressly in a Latin Copy about eight hundred years old, which is also extant in the Library of the famous justell. The words of the Translation are, Ut Episcopus Romanus Suburbicaria loca gubernet. the best Interpreter of that very sixth Nicene Canon, who expressly mentions the Suburbicaries in that place, where he professedly interprets the said Canon; who being both an Italian, and near the age of the Nicene Council, was able clearly to distinguish the proper limits (as then fixed) of the Italic Patriarchate. Howsoever it is evident to any man, that even in this sense, from the Jurisdiction of all those ten Italic Provinces, as — Penitus loto divisos orbe Britannos. From the whole world the Britain's were divided. To the fourth, viz. That in the time of the Nicene Council the Britannic Diocese was subject neither to the Roman Patriarchate (as some of yesterday, grossly suppose) nor yet to any foreign Jurisdiction; shall presently appear, when we shall show, That the Britannic Churches enjoyed their own Primate or Patriarch. That being all matter of fact, is to be fetched out of the Britannic history itself, which is written by Venerable Bede, the chief Historiographer of the said Britain, and a Catholic Priest too. In him therefore we may read the huge difference of the Britannic Church (howsoever e That the British Nation had been converted to Christian Religion many ages before Augustin the Monk was sent into Britain by Gregory the Great, appears out of the Holy Fathers, as well Greek, as Latin, the chief of whom are Athanasius in secunda Epist. contra Arian. Tertul. advers. judaeos, num. 43. apud Pamel. It appears likewise out of the ancient Gildas de Exidio Britanniae; for he refers the birth of Christianism in Britain to the highest time of Tiberius, that is, about the year 135. according to the computation of Baronius, who confesseth that Britain was nine years elder than Rome, in her Christianism, Vid. Euseb. Pamphil. in Chronico. Moreover Augustin the Monk himself acknowledgeth the Bishops of the Britain's for truly Catholic, notwithstanding their difference in Rites from the Romans, yea, and that when they refused to subject themselves to the Roman Bishop. Beda lib. secundo Hist. cap. secundo. most Catholic in other things) from (that I say, not with the same Bede, contrariety to) the Roman Church, both in the different observation of Easter, wherein the Britain's following the use of Anatolius the Constantinopolitan Patriarch, and not that of the Bishop of Rome, conformed themselves to the Eastern, not Western Churches, as also in the different administration of holy Baptism, and in many other things (witness Augustin himself, who was Legate of Gregory the Roman Bishop) The same also appears out of the constancy of the Britain's in their rejection of the said Augustin, whom although sent Express by the Roman Pontifie, that he might preside over the Britain's; yet, saith Bede, All the Britain Bishops refused to acknowledge him for their Archbishop, as who had an Archbishop of their own; whosoever he then was, whom it would not be hard to know from the prerogatives of his Metropoly, and privilege of his seat in Councils. As for the state of the Britannic Churches, and their partition, it will be worth our pains to search it in the undoubted Records of the British Antiquity. From the very time therefore of Constantine the Great, and so of the Nicene Council, all Brittany was in times past cantoned into three only Provinces, * Beda Antiq. Britan. p. 11. & passim. over which were, after the Roman manner, in temporal affairs, three Roman Proconsul's or Precedents; as likewise in spiritual there presided as many Arch-Bishops commonly called Metropolitans from their Metropolies, or principal Cities wherein were resident both the secular and sacred Provost, or Metropolitan. The first of these three Provinces was called Maxima Caesariensis, the Greatest Caesarian [or inverted if either way to be Englished] the Metropolitan whereof was the Bishop of York. The second was called Britannia primo, the first Britain, the Metropolitan, of which was the Bishop of London. The third was Britannia secunda, the second Britain, called the Legionary Metropoly, and thereof the Is●ane Bishop, or Bishop of Ca●ruske in the Tract or County of Monmouth. That was the state of this Metropoly from Lucius unto King Arthur, in whose time the Metropolitical dignity was transferred to the Bishop of St. David's, to whom were subject, as Suffragans, the Welsh Bishops, until in the time of Henry the first, or as some will have it, Henry the third, the same Metropolitan was reduced under the obedience of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Now whatsoever either in the Provinces themselves, or Churches, was afterward irregularly parjeted from abroad, that cannot prejudice the Imperial authority, to which belongs, as we have before showed, both to dispense the external Government of the Church, and to establish the jurisdictions which it limits. Much less can a Usurpation, advanced by force or fraud, derogate from the Oecumenick decrees of the Ancient Fathers, or frustrate so many most grave Canons, venerable for their age, published thereupon, such as is the premised 6th Canon of the Nicene Council for the Ancient Prerogatives, and the second Canon of the Constantinopolitan, by which is charged, That no Bishop approach any Churches situate without his bounds (which most grave Canon I wish the Bishop of Rome had religiously observed, the Peace of the Church had been better assured) the Council goes on, commanding, that all be kept according to what was defined at Nice. And that these may not seem too remote from our Britain, the Canon concludes in a general Sanction, That all things ought to be done according to that custom of the Fathers in force. But that such had been the custom of the Britain's, as to have all weighty affairs Synodically disputed within themselves, appears out of Bede. † Bed. Hist. l. 2. c. 2. Moreover, to have been in use, that the Bishops of that Nation were consecrated by one Bishop, Baronius himself somewhere observes. At that time truly so beautiful was the state of affairs in Britain, until some ages after the Council of Nice, Augustin the Monk was sent by Gregory, who, what he could not by right, first by fraud, then by the armed assistance of Ethelbert, and his new-converted Anglo-Saxons, endeavoured to force the Catholic Bishops of Britain to acknowledge and receive him for their Archbishop; but they courageously replied, That they could not abandon their ancient Privileges, and subject themselves to the mandates of strangers. f There are not wanting very ancient Historians, who impute the slaughter of the Britain's to Augustine, by whose instigation they say Ethelbert slew one thousand two hundred of them, because they would not obey Augustine in the Council. Essebicus. Monach. in Merlin. Comment. Nicolaus Trivet. citat. a Do▪ Henr. Spelman. Concil. p. 111. Galfrid. Monumet. That any other custom had been in the sacred Government of the British Church, no man can ever evince out of genuine Antiquity. And so much concerning the second Position. The third Position bearing proportion to the second. The Britannic Church was 1 with very good right 2 restored by her Sovereign to her Ancient Ecclesiastical Liberty, 3 and that according to the Rule of the Ancient Catholic Canons, by which was confirmed for the future the entire Liberty of the Churches. TO the first, whatsoever the Rebels at this day on either side falsely allege to the contrary, it appears out of very many Histories, and the Authentic Chronicles, that the Kingdom of England hath been an Empire, and so accounted in the world, which was governed by one supreme Head, or King, both in Spirituals and Temporals, and that wholly independent of any foreign Prince or Supremacy whatsoever on earth. This is the very marrow expressed from the formal words of a statute at large set out to this purpose by the Assembly of Parliament, that is, of the whole Kingdom in the 24th. year of King Henry the eighth, chap. 12. At which time the three Estates of England, to wit, the Clergy, Nobility and Commons, willing to recall the Ancient Rights of the Kingdom, taken away rather by force and power, than any Rule of the Canons, decreed to have controversies ended within the bounds of the Kingdom, without any appeal to foreiners (which indeed is one principal prerogative of a Patriarchal Jurisdiction.) But upon this whole Britannic affair, the thing most worthy our observation is, That this decree, for the liberty of the Britannic Churches was not introductive of a new Law, as in spite to the Kings of Britain new upstarts calumniate, who are either ignorant of, or opposite to, the Britannic privilege: but the said decree was only declarative of an Ancient Custom, which had constantly prevailed in England, eight hundred years since, and so many ages before: yea and was entirely renewed as often as occasion required. Concerning this most g 1. The King is a mixed person with the Priest, because he hath as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal Jurisdiction Statut. Anno decimo H. 7. fol. 8. 2. Anno Christi 755. King Kenulphus exempteth the Abbot of Abbington from Episcopal Jurisdiction; and the fact of the Kings was judged for legitimate. 1. H. 7. fol. 23, 25. 3. Among the Laws of Edward the Confessor, chap▪ 19 It is said, That the King is constituted Chief Vicar, that he may rule the Kingdom and People of the Lord, and, above all, the Holy Church. 4. In the time of Edward the First, one had brought a Bull, derogatory to this right of the Crown, for which he was condemned to exile, and it was judged, that his crime had the nature of Treason. 5. 4 Ed 1. The King in Parliament (as they speak) himself expounded the Canon made at the Council of Lions, De Bigamis. 6. 16. Ed. 3. The Excommunication of the Archbishop of Canterbury was judged valid, notwithstanding the contrary sentence of the Roman Pontifie. 7. 17. Ed. 3.23. The King by his Supremacy ex-exempts the Archdeacon of Richmond from Episcopal Jurisdiction, as also all Ecclesiastic Colleges, and even Monasteries, which the King founded, were exempt by the same right. 8. 27. Ed. 3.84. The King and supreme Ordinary present by lapse. 9 33. Ed. 3. Aide du Roy. 103. King's anointed with sacred Oil are capable of spiritual Jurisdiction. 10. 11. H. 4 37. The Pope cannot change the Laws of England. 11. 12. Ed. 4.16. A Legate, coming into England, aught to take an oath, That he will attempt nothing in derogation to the rights of King and Crown. 12. 2. Rich. 3.22. The Excommunications and Judgements of the Roman Pontifie are of no force in England. 13. 1. H. 7.20. The Pope cannot erect the prviledge of a Sanctuary in England. 14. 25. Ed. 3. It is determined, That the Pope hath no right in England of conferring Archbishoprics or Bishoprics. 15. 27. Ed. 3. Whosoever, by Summons or Suit, shall trouble any of the subjects of the King of England, without the Realm of England, shall incur the loss of all his goods (which the Law of England calls Praemunire.) 16. 16. Rich. 2. cap. 5. It is provided by Law, That because the King of England holdeth his Crown immediately from God, therefore if any one shall pursue in the Court of Rome any translation whatsoever of process or excommunication, etc. he shall incur the same forfeiture of his goods, being beside put out of the King's protection. 17. 2. H. 4. It is decreed, That the Pope's Collectors, by virtue of his Bulls, have no authority nor jurisdiction in England; but that the Archbishops and Bishops of England are the King's spiritual Judges. 18. 11. H. 4.69.76. The Commission of Judges pronounceth with one mouth, That the premised Statutes are only affirmative of the Common Custom of England, but not introductive of a new Law. It were an easy thing to accumulate six hundred more of this sort, but these will be enough for the Reader nor prejudicated, yet hitherto perchance ignorant of these Statutes. just assertion, we attest the ample Margin filled with a long train of the Ancient Britannic Statutes, which the ingenuous Reader may be pleased at leisure to view and consider. Whence by induction of parts will appear, that this was no new enterprise, nor a single irregular act of Henry the eighth alone; but that long before the time of Henry the eighth, this had been the ancient Supremacy of all the Kings of England, over all persons, and in all causes whatsoever, so well Ecclesiastic as Temporal. We proceed to the second, and prove the Ancient state of the Church to have been such, out of the undoubted Monuments of the Britannic Church; where first we may collect out of the forecited * Hist. Eccl. l. 1. c. 27. Et 2. c. 4. ad annum 883. Venerable Bede, as also † Hist. l. 36. Henry of Huntingdon no less than the rest, That Augustine the Monk stirred up Ethelbert King of Kent against the Bishops of the Britain's, because they in behalf of the Ancient Britannic Liberty denied to subject themselves and their Churches unto the Roman Legate. Yet further, Huntingdon adds, that neither the Britain's nor Scots (that is the Irish) would therefore communicate with the English, and h Hence is that sad complaint [apud Bed. l. 1. c. 27.] of Gregory himself in his Epistle to Augustin. In Anglia, inqut, tu solus Episcopus, etc. In England, saith he, thou art the only Bishop. How the only? since out of the Historical context [Bed l. 2. c. 2.] it appears clearer than the Midday light, that there were at that time other Bishops in Britain beside Augustin; but yet in very deed Augustin was alone, because neither the Britain's, nor the Scots, would communicate with Augustin, as who accounted him a notorious violatour of the Ancient Ecclesiastic Liberties of the Britannic Island. Augustine their Bishop, more than with Pagans; the reason was, because Augustine did seem to deal uncanonically with them, by constraining them to receive him for their Archbishop, and subject themselves to the mandates of strangers; when as the Ancient manners of the Britannic Church required, that all things should be synodically transacted within themselves. Hence is it, that the Britain's did always celebrate their Ordinations within themselves, and this is also another honorary privilege of the Patriarchal Jurisdiction, and concerning this we again appeal unto * Bed. Histor. Eccl. l. 3. c. 3. Bede in his history of Aidan the Bishop; yea to Baronius himself, where quoted before, who relates, out of Lanfranke, the custom of the Kingdom to have been, that the Bishops thereof were consecrated by one single Bishop; but that these ancient Customs of Britain were abrogated by the force rather, and power of the Anglo-Saxons, than by any Synodical consent. The said † Lib. 3. c. 36. Bede testifieth the same, where he relates that Colman the Finanus' Successor in the Pontificate of the Northymbrians) with his fellows, chose rather to desert Episcopate and Monastery, than their Ancient Manners. Which fact of Bishop Colman is worth observation, lest, what some falsely pretend, only the Monks of Bangor may seem to have rejected Augustin, against whom, charged upon them, this was the Legitimate defence of the ancient Britain's, these being their very words out of * Lib. 2. c. 2. Beda before, That they could not abandon their ancient manners, without the consent and licence of their own Bishops. And truly this answer of the Britain's was grounded on very irrefragable, very Catholic reason, and that because this unwonted subjection had contradicted the sixth Oecumenick Canon of the Council of Nice, which expressly commands the Ancient Manners to be kept. This had also destroyed the eighth Canon of the first Ephesine Council, by which first such usurpation, to wit, in the case of the Cyprian Church, is called in Hypothesis, a thing innovated beside Ecclesiastic Constitutions and Canons of the Holy Fathers, which, as common diseases, therefore needs a greater remedy, because the damage is greater which it brings. Secondly, Therefore the Holy Synod (in Thesi, as they say, or in general) commands, that that should be observed in all Dioceses and Provinces wheresoever (Behold the Authentic Charter of the Britannic Liberty.) Thirdly, That no Bishop (the Roman not excepted) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should invade any other Province, which from the beginning hath not been under his, or his predecessors jurisdiction (as, for instance, did Augustin the Monk.) Fourthly, The Oecumenick Canon goes on, and a hundred and fifty years, more or less, before Augustins' invasion of the Britannic Church, as it were foreseeing it, by provision declares it to be void, in these most weighty words. That if any one shall invade it, and make it his own by force, he shall restore it. Fifthly, Yet further (for the following words are most emphatical, and which, as by and by shall appear, seem chiefly to regard the Roman Bishop himself.) The Holy Synod warneth, that the Canons of the Holy Fathers be not passed by, nor that the pride of secular power creep in under the specious pretence of administering sacred Affairs, and by little and little unawares we lose that Liberty which our Lord jesus Christ, the deliverer of all men, hath purchased for us by his blood. Yea the Holy Ecumenical Synod, for the greater enforcement, yet again repeats the decree. It hath therefore pleased the Holy and Universal Synod [to decree] that to every Province be preserved pure, and inviolate, the rights which it had from the very beginning, according to ancient Custom, every Metropolitan (and so the Britannic) having liberty to take Copies of the Act for his Security. Yet the Holy Synod concludes according to its Ecumenical Authority: If any one shall bring any Sanction (every word is most general) repugnant to those which now are defined, it hath pleased entirely the Holy and Universal Synod, that it be void. Hitherto for the Liberty of the Churches [extends] the most express Canon of the Catholic Church, which after the matter of fact first declared, completes the matter of right in favour as well of the Britannic, as Cyprian Church. For since, as out of the praemises appears, the Britannic Church in the West enjoyed the same privilege wherewith the Cyprian Church was honoured in the East, why may not she lawfully resume what is her own, in time of peace, which was taken from her, by tumult and force, in a turbulent time of the wars? The sum of the whole most Inculent Canon is this; The ancient and truly Catholic Church would have the rights of every Church preserved, not taken away, and if they be taken away by force or fraud, what Patriarch soever doth it, his fact is declared void, and moreover he is commanded to restore that Province which he hath made his own. Now that this Canon was established in a tacit opposition to the Roman Bishop himself, is, not obscurely, to be collected out of the * Tom. 2. Ephesin. Synod. append. 1. cap. 4. Ep. 18. Acts of that Council; for it is evident from them, that the Canon prevailed, notwithstanding the Epistle of Innocent the first to Alexander, wherein the Roman Bishop declared, that the Cyprians were not wise according to Faith, if they subjected not themselves to the Patriarch of Antioch, when as, notwithstanding, we see the decree of the Universal Synod plainly contrary to the Papal sentence, wherein namely it was judged that this was attempted by the Antiochian, beside the Canons, and that therefore all the letters brought by him against the Cyprians were of no effect. Hitherto the third Position. The last followeth. The Fourth and last Position. The Britannic Church persevering in its Primitive Exemption from the Roman Patriarchate, so far is it from that it ought, or can be therefore called Schismatical, that rather in the very same respect (before truly Catholic judges) that Church appears both to have been, and yet really to be, by so much the more every way Catholic, by how much that Church, more than others, is an Assertour of the whole Ancient Catholic Liberty, which by so many sacred Canons of four General Councils, the Nicene, Constantinopolitan, Ephesine and Chalcedonian, the Catholic Fathers have decreed, and antecedently declared to remain ratified for ever against all future usurpations. SInce the time that the ancient Liberty of the Britannic Church, was by right resumed (as before) with the solemn consent of the whole Kingdom, the i Let the Reader see if he can get Barnes' Manuscript, the title whereof is, Catholico-Romanus Pacificus chap. 3. De Insulae Magnae Brittanniae Privilegiis; for which his sober work that good Irenaeus, although he were of an unblameable life, and entire fame, yet some years since was, as they say, carried out of the midst of Paris by force, devested of his habit, and like a fourfooted Brute, in a barbarous manner, tied to the horse, and so violently hurried away, first into Flanders, afterward to Rome, where being first thrust into a dungeon of the Inquisition, and then into the prison for Madmen, he died. Yet those fierce people not content with his death, have endeavoured to extinguish his fame, boldly publishing, that he died distracted. Britannic Church (now truly Catholic in the rest) can by a like right retain the same without the loss of her Catholicism, without any brand of Schism, much less of Heresy. We do willingly owe the proof of this assertion to Barns, a most learned and peaceable man, at the same time [when he writ it] a Roman Priest; a Monk in the order of the Benedictins, a Britain, and therefore no unfit Arbiter of this Britannic Cause. First, Therefore, whether the causes of our withdrawing were sufficient, is no way a matter of Faith, but wholly matter of fact, whereto the Roman Bishop himself (that I may speak the truth as gently as may be) was at least accessary, and therefore can be no competent Judge of the cause, but rather, if the business would bear a controversy, it were to be presented to a truly Ecumenical or general free Council, rightly and legitimately called. Now so far is it from that the Britannic Church even refused to present herself, or her cause, before the Tribunal of such a Council, that the Britannic Church rather holds a general Council to be above any Patriarch (even the Roman himself) according to that pair of Councils held at Basil, and Constance. This the Britannic holds together with the Gallican Church, a renewing of the ancient concord with which Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, so far as conscience permits, were even at this time much to be wished, it being k Hence is it, That Wini being ordained by the gallic Bishops, is received by the Britain's, even then when they rejected Augustin the Roman Bishop. Witness Bede. Lib. 3. c. 7. manifest that above a thousand years since, much friendship passed between the Gallican and the Britannic Church, even at that time when the Britannic Church did not communicate with the Roman: and certainly if both parties would mutually understand one the other, without prejudice, and that of the two, which is in the extreme, would remit of its rigour, that consent of the Britannic Church with the Gallican would not be so improbable as it seems at the first aspect to them that are ignorant of both, or either. But this only by the way. To our purpose again. We say the Britannic Church doth so reverence the General Councils, that she hath provided by a special Statute, That not any one endued with spiritual jurisdiction, shall declare or administer his Ecclesiastical censures, or adjudge any matter or cause to be heresy, but only such as before had been determined, ordered, or adjudged to be heresy by the authority of the Canonical Scriptures, or by the first four General Councils, or any of them, or by any other General Council. This was in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth the very Catholic sense of the Britannic Church, and her due esteem of General Councils, which the old Parliament openly testified in the solemn Assembly of that whole Kingdom, for we disdain to make mention in this place of the Cabals or Conventicles now adays, which reign in the turbulent rebellious State of that Church and Republic: for those swarms of Sects are only the Cancers and impostumes of that lately famous Church, which no more belong to the sacred body of the Britannic Church, than a wen doth to the body natural: And truly if heretofore the great Mother of us all, the Catholic Church seemed almost universally to be utterly swallowed by a sudden deluge of l So that G. Nazianzens' Church was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Noah's Ark; and St. Hierom breaks out into these horrid words; Ingemuit orbis, & see Arrianum factum esse miratus est. The world groaned, and wondered, that she was become Arrian. Arrianism, what wonder is it if the Britannic Church, but one of her daughters, lie under the same fate for a time? This for the first point. Concerning the second, it is to be very much observed, That the Britannic Church, at the time of her withdrawing, was not truly in fact, much less by right, subject to the Bishop of Rome, having been— years before her reformation under Edward 6. altogether exempt from the Roman Patriarchate, to wit, by the Imperial Authority, and by that of Prince Henry the eighth, whom to have been empowered to do it by right appears before in the first Position. But what occasion soever of the withdrawing at that time shall be pretended, it cannot prejudice the Royal Right, or any way derogate from the ancient Custom of the Britannic Church. Nay, the British Nation could not have opposed either of the two, without being heinously guilty both of Rebellion and Schism, especially since that whole business of the Church's restitution was transacted with the express consent of the Britannic Clergy (than Roman) a Provincial Council of which alone, in defect of a General▪ was at that time the supreme merely Ecclesiastic tribunal of the Britannic Nation, whereunto, only, the Britannic Church ought to be, or indeed could be subject, because in that article of time, no Council, truly general, sat. As for that of Trent, which afterward followed, it was at highest only Patriarchal, to which consequently the Britannic Church, before exempt by lawful authority from the Roman Patriarchate, was no way subject. Whereas therefore the Britannic Church can be said to have opposed itself to no lawful Ecclesiastic Authority at all, which notwithstanding inseparably is of the essence of Schism, certain it is, that Church is no way Schismatical, but, on the contrary side, the Britannic Church, according to the singular moderation and Christian love she perpetually showeth toward all Christians, as she keeps off from her external Communion no Christian of what ever communion he be (so that he hold the foundation entire) but (unless a most just excommunication put a bar) opens her Catholic bosom, and draws forth her holy breasts to any genuine Nursling of the Catholic Church; so as well in Faith, as the internal Communion of Charity, as likewise in the external Communion of the Catholic Hierarchy and Liturgy, yea and Ceremonies also, she yet cherisheth and professeth an undivided peace and consent with the Catholic Church, from which the Britannic Church never did, nor ever will separate herself, as being always most tenacious of the whole truly Catholic foundation. For one thing it is (on the hinge of which just distinction is the whole state of this great controversy turned) one thing, I say, it is, to separate herself from the Catholic or Universal Church, and to form to herself a Congregation or Religion apart different from the Catholic Church, as in times past the Donatists did; another, not to communicate in all with some one particular Church (as for instance, the Latin) or rather to abstain from the external worship which is used by some persons, in some places, under an express Protestation (for thence is sprung the modest and innocent title of Protestants) under Protestation, I say, so soon as the occasion of scandal should be taken away, of reconciliation, and under a vow (not so much out of any absolute necessity, as for public peace, and Catholic unity's sake) of returning to the Communion of that particular Church, from which that the Protestants were estranged, yea in the latter age violently driven away by thunder, and sword, and fire, is better known out of history, than to want any proof, or further amplification. It appears therefore out of the Premises, that the Britannic Church constituted in this, as I may say, her passive state of separation from the communion of the Bishop of Rome, is wholly free from all blemish of Schism, by reason that the m For full ten years after the Reformation, under Queen Elizabeth, the roman-catholics, without scruple, communicated with the Protestants, until Pius the sixth by his interdictory Bull disturbed all. Bishop of Rome himself first of all interrupted Christian communion with the Britannic Church, and yet further inderdicteth the Britannic Church his communion, and in that again the Pope extolleth himself above a General Council lawfully called (unto which the Britannic Church hath ever attributed the decisive judgement) while in his n How well this new Interdiction agreeth with the ancient Oath of the Pope, the Reader may judge, when (as Cardinal Deus-dedit very well notes in his Collection of the Canons) the ancient form of the Pope's Oath, which is yet extant, Canon. Sanct. Dist. XVI. quia Papa jurabat, se 4. Concilia servaturum usque ad unum apicem, was that wherein the Pope sweared, He would observe the four Councils to a title. Whence the most learned Laschasserius very wittily infers, In Consult. Venet. thus, Non potest igitur Pontifex Romanus jure contendere, etc. The Roman Pontifie cannot therefore by right contend that he is superior to those Canons of the Councils, unless he will arrogate a power unto himself over the four Evangels. To this Oath of the Pope agrees the ancient Profession of Pope Zozimus, Can. Conc. Statut. 5. q. 5. To decree, or change any thing contrary to the Statutes of the Fathers, is not in the power or authority of this See. See more at large concerning this subject Barnes' Manuscript, quo supra, Paralipomen. ad ss. 2. De Conciliis, Papa, Schismate. Bull of the Lords Supper, he forbids an appeal from himself to a general Council. To all these add (what in conclusion is principally necessary) to wit, that the Britannic Church, after the very sacred Canon of the Scriptures (such as is defined in the † Conc. Laodic. Can. ult. ancient Councils) adheres closely unto tradition truly universal, as well Ecclesiastic as Apostolical, both which lean on the testimony or authority of the truly Catholic Church, according to that in Vincentius of Lirinum, his famed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or essay of ancient Catholicism, Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus, etc. That which every where, which always, which by all, etc. It appeareth that the Britannic Church bears upon these two Catholic principles, to wit, Holy Scripture, before and above all; and then Universal Tradition; not only because the general Council of Nice, wherein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ancient Customs are underset and established; but also the Britannic Church, in a * The first Synod. after her Articles of Religion were fixed. An. 13. Regin. Elizab. Provincial Council of her own, hath most expressly ordained by a special Canon. We conclude therefore, That the Britannic Church, such as she was lately under Episcopacy rightly constituted, was no way Schismatical, neither materially, nor formally, since that she neither erected unto herself Chair against Chair, which is the foul brand of Schismatics, in St. Cyprian; Nor did that Church cut herself off from Episcopacy, or made a Congregation at any time unto herself against her Canonical Bishops (which ever is the formal character of Schismatics, by the definition of the o Concil. Constantinop. 1. Can. 6. vel. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Woe call them Heretics which rend themselves from, and set up Synagogues, or Conventicles against, our Canonical Bishops, etc. Constantinopolitan Council) much less did she shake off her Bishops, and with the continued succession of Bishops, by consequence, the succession of her Priests, not interrupted (as I may say) from the very cradle of her Christianism. And as for lawful ordination (as well in the material part, the imposition of hands, as in the formal, wherein signally, by a set form of words, both prerogative of Ordination, and also jurisdiction is conferred on the Bishops) this her ordination, I say, rightly and canonically performed by the Catholic Bishops, she proves out of the very Records or Monuments of Consecrations: So that no man can by deserved right charge upon the Britannic Churches, that ancient reproach of Schismatics in p Matthew Parlour, a godly and learned man, etc. who was Chaplain to Henry the eighth, etc. being duly elected to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, after a Sermon preached, the Holy Spirit invoked, and the Eucharist celebrated, by the imposition of hands of three Bishops in former times, William Barloe of bath, john Scory of Chichester, Miles Coverdale of Exeter, and john Suffragan of Bedford, was consecrated at Lambeth; He afterward consecrated Edmund Grindal, an excellent Divine, to be Bishop of London, etc. See Camden's Annals of the Affairs of England, part. 1. ad an. 1559. Tertullian, Vos ex vobis nati est is; You are new Upstarts, born yesterday of yourselves. Nay so tenacious are the genuine Britain's of the ancient Religion, and by consequence of her Catholic Discipline, that for the entire restitution of their Bishops, their most Gracious King himself Charles, Emperor of Great Britain, chooseth rather to suffer so many, and so most undeserved injuries (even which is horrid to be spoken, to death itself, which in dishonour and contempt of all q In good earnest, this heinous fact so strikes at all Monarches through the side of one King of Great Britain, that unless it incense all Kings and Princes whatsoever, as to a most just indignation, so to a serious revenge▪ it may be feared that the contagion of such a damnable example, will diffuse its infection into Neighbour-Kingdomes, it so threateneth and menaceth the destruction and ruin of Monarchy itself; since that in the most seditious Epilogue of the perfidious Covenant, in most express words, they exhort and animate other Christian Churches, as they love to speak, which either groan under the yoke of Antichristian Tyranny, or that only are in danger of it, that they would join in the same, or like Association, and Covenant, with them, forsooth, to the enlargement of the Kingdom of jesus Christ, etc. You hear the words, ye Christian Princes, yea, and you see their deeds. It is the affair of you all that is acted, but of such among you especially, whom particularly they will seem to have marked out with that black character of Antichristianism, which in the sense of these Traitors, is not so common to every meridian, but that it seems to threaten some Region before other, with its malignity. God avert all of that nature portended by it. Christian Monarches, those most desperate Rebels threaten to their King, and not long since potent Monarch) then abolish Episcopacy, as mindful of that r At the Coronation of the King of England, the Archbishop consecrating, in the name of the whole Clergy, twice adjures the King in these words. ss. 1. † This is translated out of the Latin Copy. My Liege, Will you grant, conserve, and by your oath confirm the Laws, Customs, and Liberties, given unto your Clergy by the Glorious King, St. Edward your Predecessor? The King answers, I do grant, and take upon me to keep them. Also. ss. 5. The Archbishop advertiseth the King in these words. My Lord, the King, We beseech you, that you will conserve to us and the Churches committed to our trust, all Canonical Privileges— and that you will protect and defend us, so as every good King ought to be a Protector and Defender of Bishops, and Churches put under his Government. The King, almost in the same words promiseth, That he, to the uttermost of his power, God helping him, will keep the Canonical privileges of the Churches, and that he will defend the Bishops themselves. Afterward the King being lead to the Altar, there touching with his hand the Holy Bible, solemnly swears, That he will perform all these things, adding moreover this Imprecation to be trembled at. So help me God, and the contents of this holy Book. I thought fit to insert here this form of the King's Oath, taken out of the Royal Records themselves, that it may be made manifest to the whole Christian world, That His Majesty's magnanimity and constancy hitherto, is to be imputed not to pertinacy, but Religion, whatsoever otherwise is said by such as blaspheme, or reproach him with their 〈◊〉 language. Oath, to be trembled at, whereby he religiously bound himself to God and the Church at his Coronation. The Clergy, and likewise better part of the Nobility, as also the Britannic people, dispersed here and there (Rivals with their King in this part of his Religion) refuse not to undergo the loss of all their estates, persecutions, banishments, yea are ready to endure all kinds of extremity, to their very last breath, rather than consent to the Schismatics, in the extermination of Catholic Episcopacy, which under a most false pretence of Religion, stubborn traitorous persons, sworn enemies of the whole Catholic Church, of Religion itself, and Christian Truth, as also of all Empire and Monarchy, attempt by force of arms, abandoning the whole Royal Authority: Whom, the Best and Greatest God, the severe assertour of Catholic Unity, vouchsafe to disperse in his own time, and recollect at length the Britannic Church, heretofore a very illustrious part of the Christian world, yea, the whole Christian Universe itself, as one flock under one Shepherd. Amen. S. D. G. Can. VI Concil. Nicaen. I. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. A LETTER TO THE Right Honourable, THE Lord Hopton, Importing the Occasion of writing the foregoing TREATISE. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, THE LORD HOPTON, Baron of Straton, etc. My Lord, THe enclosed from Dr. Basier was left with me when he took his journey toward Italy; He acquainted me with part of the Contents, which may put your Lordship in present expectation of two Manuscripts, one of which is intended to Sir George Radcliffe; I shall avoid all occasions, I can, of detaining them, being loath to deprive your Lordship, for an hour, of the benefit which may be assuredly reaped by two Tracts, so good in their several natures; but the Doctor's commands, imposed upon another Gentleman and myself, to search, & secure, divers quotations in his own, and the liberty he granted of the other to be communicated for a time, necessitate me to crave your Lordship's pardon, and forbearance a little while, one of the Books cited by him, being not yet to be met with, and the transcription not to be done in haste. The occasion of the Doctors setting pen to Paper, was taken from a Work which Mr. Chr. justell (he who put out the Greek and Latin Councils your Lordship hath) is about, which he means to entitle Geographia Sacro-Politica, making clear the distinctions of several Dioceses, etc. and asserting the privileges of some Churches, exempted from the Supremacy of the Roman. The Doctor hath importuned him to enlarge somewhat about our Church, and I think (in my hearing) prevailed with him for a promise. This Diatribe hath prepared the way a little for him, & given him a sight of what he did not so particularly understand, in reference to us. The main business is, the parallel of our, with the Cyprian privilege, which I wish they may sufficiently prove, to the satisfaction of the World. I shall be very glad to hear your Lordship's approbation of what the learned Doctor hath done toward it, in the reading whose Book, if any scruple retard you, I may chance to remove it, knowing the Author's meaning by the daily conversation and conference I had with him. If I thought your Lordship had not the Lord Montrosse's History, and Sr. Balthasar jarbiers Vindication of the King (as he pretends) already dispatched to you by another hand, I would use all diligence to procure, and send you them, by the first, being very ready, wherein I may, to express myself, My Lord Your Lordships very faithful, and most obsequious servant, RI. WATSON. Paris, March 17. 1648. This Chapter is one of the three translated out of the said Manuscript, and herewith published. * Some of his own Order suppose him to be still living. * That Chapter is likewise herewith printed.