The Primitive Rule of Reformation. Delivered in a SERMON BEFORE His MAJESTY at WHITEHALL, Feb. 1. 1662. IN Vindication of Our CHURCH. Against the NOVELTIES of ROME. BY Tho: Pierce, D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY, and Precedent of Magdalen College in OXON. Published by His Majesty's special Command. The sixth Edition, more Correct than the London Impressions: by the consent of the Author. OXFORD, Printed by H. H. for Ric. Royston Bookseller to His Sacred Majesty, and Ric. Davis in Oxon. 1663. TO THE High and Mighty Monarch Charles the IIᵈ: By the Grace of God, KING of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith. Most Gracious and Dread Sovereign, THat which never had been exposed unto a wittily-mistaking and crooked world, but in a dutiful submission to Your Command; may at least for This, if for no other reason, be justly offered to Your Protection. And this is done with a steady, though humble confidence of success; because THE DEFENDER OF THE FAITH * Iud 3. which was once delivered unto the Saints, cannot possibly choose but be so to him, who does earnestly contend for the very same, because for no other Faith then That which was from the Beginning. Matth 19 8. If for This I have contended with as much earnestness from the Pulpit, as The Romanists from the Press do contend against it; I have not only the * jude. 2, 3. Exhortation and Authority of a Text, but the Exigence of the Time to excuse me in it. Now as the Romans in the Time of the second Punic War, could not think of a fitter way for the driving of Hannibal out of Italy, than Scipio's marching with an Army out of Italy into Africa, giving Hannibal a Necessity to go from Rome, for the raising of the Siege which was laid to Carthage; So could I not think of a fitter Course to disappoint the Pontificians in their Attempts on Our Church, than thus by making it their Task to view the Infirmities of their own. To which effect I was excited to spend myself, 2 Cor. 12. 15. and to be spent, (if I may speak in the phrase of our Great Apostle,) not from an arrogant Opinion of any sufficiency in myself, (who am one of the least among the Regular Sons of the Church of England;) But as relying on the sufficiency of the Cause I took in hand, & especially on the Help of the All-sufficient, 1 Cor. 1. 27. who often loves to make use of the weakest Instruments, 2 Cor. 10. 4. to effect the bringing down of the strongest Holds. I suppose my Discourse, however innocent in itself, will yet be likely to meet with many, not only learned and subtle, but restless enemies; Men of pleasant Insinuations, and very plausible▪ Snares; nay, such as are apt (where they have Power) to * Eo sanè loco Haereses sunt, ut non tan● arte & Industriâ, quam Alexandri glad●o, earum Gordius Nodus dissoivi posse, quas●que Herculis clauâ feriendae, quam Apoll●nis Lyrà m●tigandae videantur, Sta●l. ton. in Epist. Dedic. operis de juslis. sub fia●m. confute their Opponents by Fire and Faggot. But when I consider how well my Margin does lend Protection on to my Text, (for I reckon that my Citations, which I could not with Prudence represent out of a Pulpit, are the usefullest part of my whole Performance, because the Evidence and Warrant of all the rest;) I cannot fearfully apprehend, what Wit or Language (or ill used Learning) can do against it, so far forth as it is armed with Notoriety of Fact in its Vindication; and hath the published Confessions of those their Ablest Hyperaspistae, who cannot certainly by them of their own persuasion, with honour, or safety, be contradicted. If they are guilty in their Writings, it is rather their own, than their Readers Fault; Nor is it their Readers, but Their misfortune, if they are found So to be by their own Concessions. Nor can they rationally be angry at their Reader's Necessity to believe them; especially when they write with so becoming a proof of Impartiality, as that by which they asperse and accuse Themselves. If it finally shall appear, They are * Luke 19 22. condemned out of their mouths, (as Goliah's Head was cut off by David, 1 Sam. 17. 51. not with David's, but with Goliah's own Sword,) and that I am not so severe in taking Notice of their Confessions, as They have been unto Themselves in the Printing of them, (for I cannot be said to have revealed any secrets, by merely showing before the Sun, what They have sent into the Light,) I think, however They may have Appetite, They cannot have Reason to complain. I have entreated of many Subjects within the Compass of an hour, on each of which it would be easy to spend a year. But I have spoken most at large of the Supremacy of the Pope; as well because it is a Point wherein the Honour and Safety of Your Majesty's Dominions are most concerned, as because it is the chief, if not only Hinge, (I have * Etenim de quâ re agitur cum de Primatu Pontificis agitur? brevissimè dicam, de Summâ rei Christianae, id enim quaeritur, debeatne Ecclesia diutiùs consistere, an verò dissolvi, & concidere. Bellarm. in Praes. ad libros de Rom. Pontif. Bellarmine's assertion for what I say,) on which does hang the whole stress of the Papal Fabric. If herein, as I have obeyed, I shall also be found to have served Your Majesty, The sole Discharge of my Duty will be abundantly my Reward; because I am not more by Conscience and Obligations of Gratitude, then by the Voluntary Bent and Inclinations of my Soul, Your Majesty's most devoted and most Dutiful Subject and Chaplain, THOMAS PIERCE. MATTH. XIX. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. But from the beginning it was not so. THere are but very few things either so little, or so great, whether in Art, or Nature, whether in Polity, or Religion, which are not willing to take advantage from the mere credit of their Antiquity. First for Art; Any part of Philosophy penned by Hermes Trismegistus, any Script of Geography bearing the name of Anaximander, any Musical Composition sung by Amphion to his Harp, any piece of the Mathematics said to be writ by Zoroastres, any Relic of Carved work from inspired Bezaleel, Exod. 35. 30, 34. or any remnant of Embroidery from the Theopneust Aholiab, would at least for the honour of being reckoned to be the first, be also reckoned to be the best of any Antiquarie's Keimelia. And as it is in the Things of Art, so is it also in those of Nature. How do the Gentlemen of Venice delight themselves in their Antiquity? and yet they travel for their Original no farther back than the siege of Troy: whereas the Arcadians derive their Pedigree even from jupiter and Calisto, and will needs have their Nation exceed the Moon in Seniority. Nay, though Egypt (in the Judgement of *. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diodor. Sic. lib. 1. p. 9 Diodorus the Siceleote) hath better pretensions than any other, yet the Barbarians as well as Greeks have still affected a Primogeniture. Nay so far has this Ambition transported some, that they will needs have been begun from before the Protoplast, as it were itching to be as old as the julian period, 764 years before the beginning of the World. Thus Antiquity hath been courted in Art and Nature. If in the third place we come to Polity, we shall find Customs gaining Reverence from the sole merit of their Duration. And as a Custom by mere Continuance does wear itself into a Law; so the more aged a Law is grown, the less 'tis liable to a Repeal; by how much the more it is stricken in years, by so much the less it is decrepit: And that for this reason, because the longer it endures, the more it inclines to its perfection; that is to say, its immortality. Last of all for Religion, the Case is clear out of Tertullian. Tertul. adversus Martion. l. 4. c. 5. Id verius quod prius, id prius quod ab initio. That Religion was the truest, which was the first; and that the first, which was from the beginning. And as He against Martion, so justin Martyr against the Grecians, did prove the Divinity of the Pentateuch from the Antiquity of its Writer. The jews enjoyed the first Lawgiver † 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Justin. Mart. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. p. 7. by the Confession of the Gentiles. Moses preached the God of Abraham, whilst Thales Milesius was yet unborn. Nor was it a thing to be imagined, that God should suffer the Devil to have a Chapel in the world, before himself had any Church. And thence * Id teneamus quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est: quod ita demum fit, si sequamur Universalitatem, Antiquitatem, Consensionem. Vinc. Lir. adv. Haer. c 3. Vincentius Lirin●nsis, to prove the Truth of any Doctrine, or the Legality of a Practice, does argue the Case from a Threefold Topick; The Universality, the Consent, and the Antiquity of a Tradition. Which Rule if we apply unto the scope of this Text, as it stands in relation unto the Context, we shall have more to say for it then for most Constitutions, divine, or humane: For That of Marriage is almost as old as Nature. There was no sooner one man, but God divided him into two; And then no sooner were there two, but he united them into one. This is That sacred Institution which was made with Mankind in a state of Innocence; the very Ground and Foundation of all both sacred and civil Government. It was by sending back the Pharisees to the most venerable Antiquity, Matth. 5. 31, 32. that our Lord here asserted the Law of wedlock, against the old Custom of their Divorce. Whilst they had made themselves drunk with their muddy streams, He directed them to the Fountain, to drink themselves into sobriety. They insisted altogether on the Mosaical Dispensation; But He endeavoured to reform them by the most Primitive Institution. They alleged a Custom, b●t He a Law. They a Permission, and that from Moses; But He a Precept, and that from God. They did reckon from afar off; But not, as He, from the Beginning. In that one Question of the Pharisees, * Verse 7. Why did Moses command us to give her a writing of Divorce, and to put her away? they put a Fallacy upon Christ, called Plurium Interrogationum. For Moses only permitted them to put her away; but commanded the● (if they did) to give her a writing of Divorce. And accordingly their Fallacy is detected by Christ in his Answer to them. Moses (did not command, but merely) * Verse 8. suffered you in your custom of making unjustifiable Divorcements. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he permitted, that is to say, he did not punish it; not allowing it as good, but winking at it as the lesser of two great evils. He suffered it to be safe in foro Soli; could not secure you from the Gild, for which you must answer in foro Poli. And why did he suffer what he could not approve? Not for the softness of your heads, which made you ignorant of your Duties; but for the hardness of your hearts, which made you resolute not to do them: you were so barbarous and brutish upon every slight Cause, (or Occasion rather,) that if you might not put her away, you would use her worse. You would many times beat, and sometimes murder, sometimes bury her alive, by bringing another into her Bed. So that the Liberty of Divorce, however a poison in itself, was (through the hardness of your hearts) permitted to you for an Antidote: But from the Beginning it was not so. And you must put a wide difference betwixt an Indulgence of Man, and a Law of God. To state the controversy aright, you must compare the first Precept with your customary Practice; not reckoning as far as from Moses only, but as far as from Adam too; you must not only look forward from the year of the Creation 2400. but backward from thence unto the year of the Creation. The way to understand the Husband's Duty towards the Wife, (and so to reform, as not to innovate,) is to consider the words of God when he made the Wife out of the Husband. For * Gen. 1. 27. Matth. 19 4. He that made them at the beginning made them Male and Female, and said † Gen. 2. 24. Matth. 19 5. For this cause, shall a man leave Father, and Mother, and shall cleave unto his Wife, and they twain shall be one Flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. The Antecedent Command was from God the Father; the Command in the sequel from God the Son. And though the Practice of the jews had been contrariant to them both, by a Prescription almost as old as two thousand years; yet as old as it was, 'twas but an overgrown Innovation. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, from the beginning it was not so. Thus our Saviour, being sent to Reform the jews, made known the Rule of his Reformation. And the Lesson which it affords us is (in my poor judgement) of great Importance. For when the Doctrine or Discipline of our Church established here in England shall be attempted by the Corruptions of Modern * Romana Ecclesia se non tam matrem exhibet aliis quam Novercam. Sedent in eâ Scribae & Pharis●i, etc. Johan. Sarisburiensis (ad Papam Hadrianum 4.) in Polycratic. l. 6. c. 24. Pharisees, who shall assert against us (as these here did against our Saviour) either their foreign Superstitions, (to say no worse) or their domestic Profanations, (to, say no more;) we cannot better deal with them, then as our Saviour here dealt with the ancient Pharisees; that is, we cannot better put them to shame & silence, then by demonstrating the Novelty and base extraction of their Pretensions, whilst we evince at the same instant the Sacred Antiquity of our own. When they obtrude their Revelations, or teach for Doctrines of God the mere commandments of Men, we must ask them every one, how they read in the beginning. We may not draw out of their Ditches, be the Currents never so long, whilst we have waters of our own of a nobler Taste, which we can easily trace back to the crystal spring. And first of all it concerns us to mark the Emphasis, which our Ancient of days thought fit to put on the Beginning, that no inferior Antiquity may be in danger to deceive us. For there is hardly any Heresy or Usurpation in the Church, which may not truly pretend to some great Antiquity, though not so old as the Old man, much less as the Old Serpent. a Epiph. Haer. 75. p 904. Tom. 1. Ed. P●tav. The Disciplinarians may fetch theirs from as far as the Heretic ●●rius; who wanting merit to advance him from a Presbyter to a Bishop, wanted not arrogance and envy to lessen the Bishop into a Presbyter. But His Antiquity is a junior, as well to that of the Anabaptists, as to that of the Socinians. For the b August. contra Donat. Tom. 7. lib. 2. p. 396. Edit. Basil. Anabaptists may boast they are as old as Agrippinus, and the c Epiph. Haer. 62. p. 513. Socinians as Sabellius. The d August. Tom. 6. Haer. 54. p. 25. Solifidians and Antinomians are come as far as from Eunomius. The e Iren. lib. 1. c. 24. p 79. Excus. 1570. Ranters from Carpocrates. The f Euseb. l. 3. c. 33. p. 80. Colon. Allobr●gum 1612. Millenaries from Papias. The Irrespective g Iren. l. 1. c. 10. pag. 48, etc. Epiph. Haer. 66. pag. 617. Reprobatarians from Simon Magus and the Manichees. The Pontificians (like the mahometans) have such a Rhapsody of Religion, a Religion so compounded of several Errors and Corruptions, (which yet are blended with many Doctrines most sound and Orthodox,) that to find out the age of their several Ingredients, it will be necessary to rake into several times too. THe great Palladium of the Conclave, the famous point of Infallibility (which if you take away from them, down goes their Troy, it being absolutely impossible that the learned Members of such a Church should glibly swallow so many Errors, unless by swallowing this first, That she cannot err;) I say, the point of Infallibility (which is a very old Article of their very new Creed, a Creed not perfected by its Composers until the Council at Trent,) we cannot better derive then from the Scholars of a Iren. Advers. Haeret. l. 1. c. 9 p. 44. etc. Marcus in ●renaeus, or from the Gnostics in b— 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Epiph. Tom. 1 l. 1. Haer. 26. p. 9● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem. ibid. Haer. 27. ● 102. Epiphanius. They had their Purgatory from c Note, That Bellarmine having boasted, (Lib. 1. de Pargatoria, cap. 15.) That all the A●tie●s, both Greek and Latin, from the very time of the Apostles, did constantly affirm the doctrine of Purgatory, could not give an older instance, then in Origen and Tertullian, (Ibid. cap. 2. & 7. & 10.) but by recourse unto the Heathen. (Ibid. cap. 11.) Origen, (one of the best indeed in one kind, but in another one of the worst of our ancient Writers, not only an Heretic, but an Haeresiarcha,) or at the farthest from Tertullian, who had it from no better Author than the d Hoc etiam Paracletus (i e. Montanus) frequentissimè commendavit, etc. Tert. de Anim●, cap. ult. See Bellarmine contradicted by the Romanists themselves, E. G. Roffens. contr. Lutherum, Art. 18. Polydor. Virg. Inu. Rer. lib. 8. c. 1. p. 84. Edit. Basil. 1521. Suarez in Aquin. par. 3. q. 59 art. 6. sect. 1. p. 1159. Thomas ex Albiis East-Saxonum de Me. dio Animarum statu, per totum libr. speciatim Demens. 9 p. 369, 370, 371. Arch-Heretick Montanus. Nor does Bellarmine mend the matter, by deriving it as far as from Virgil's Aeneid, and from Tully in his Tale of the Dream of Scipio, and farther yet from Plato's Gorgias; unless he thinks that an Heathen is any whit fitter than an Heretic, to give Advantage to a point of the Roman Faith. Their Denial of Marriage to all that enter into the Priesthood, is dated by themselves but from Pope e Liquet item, in orientali & occidentali Ecclesiâ, usqu● ad tempus prohibitionis à Calixto factae, Sacerdotum conjugia licita suisse. Maximil. 2, apud Thu. an. l. 36. p. 305, 306. Calixtus. Their f An●e Lateranense Coacilium Transubstaatiatio non suit dogma Fidei. Scot in 4. Sent. Dist. 11. q. 3. Transubstantiation is from the Lateran Council. Their g N●gare non possumus, etiam in ●cclesiâ Lati●d suisse usum u. tri●sq●●sp●ciei, & usque ad tempora S. Thomae durasse. Vasq. in 3. Disput. 216. c. 3. n. 38. Half-Communion is no older than since the times of Aquinas; unless they will own it from the Manichees, to give it the credit of more Antiquity. Their public praying before the people in an unknown Tongue, may be fetched indeed as far as from Gregory the Great. Their Invocation of Saints departed is no doubt an aged Error, though not so aged as they would have it for the gaining of honour to the Invention; because St. Austin does h Suo loco & ordine Homines Dei nominantur, non tamen à Sacerdote qui sacrificat invocantur▪ August. de Civitate Dei lib. 22. cap. 10. pag. 1155. deny it to have been in his days. And (not to be endless in the beginning of such a limited Discourse, as must not presume to exceed an hour; though in so fruitful a field of matter, 'tis very difficult not to be endless;) i Pho● as iratus Cyriaco Episcopo Constantinopolitano, adjudicavit Titulum Oecumenici Pontifici Romano soli. Baronius ad A. C. 606. The Universal Superintendency or Supremacy of the Pope hath been a visible usurpation ever since Boniface the Third. And so our Adversaries of Rome have more to plead for Their Errors then all the rest, because the rest were but as Mushrooms in their several times, soon starting up, and as soon cut down; whereas the Errors of Rome do enjoy the pretence of Duration too. But touching each of those Errors, (I mean the Errors of their Practice, as well as judgement,) we can say with our Saviour in his present Correption of the Pharisees, (whose Error was older and more authentic, that is, by Moses his permission had more appearance of Authority, and more to be pleaded in its excuse, than those we find in the Church of Rome,) that fro●n the beginning it was not so; and we care not whence they come, unless they come from the Beginning. Indeed in matters of mere Indifference which are brought into the Government or outward Discipline of the Church, every Church has the Liberty to make her own Constitutions, not ask leave of her Sisters, much less her Children; only they must not be reputed as things without which there is no Salvation, nor be obtruded upon the People amongst the Articles of their Faith. We are to look upon nothing so, but as it comes to us from the Beginning. And this has ever been the Rule (I mean the warrantable Rule) whereby to improve or reform a Church. When Esdras was intent on the re-building of the Temple, he sent not to Ephesus, much less to Rome; he did not imitate Diana's Temple, nor inquire into the Rituals of Numa Pompilius; but had recourse for a Temple, to that of Solomon, and for a Ritual, to that of Moses, as having both been prescribed by God himself. And yet we know the Prophet Haggai made the people steep their joy in a shower of Tears, by representing how much the Copy had fallen short of the Original. The holy Prophets in the Old Testament, showing the way to a Reformation, advised the Princes and the People to ask after the old paths, and walk therein, as being the only good way for the finding of rest unto their souls, Jer. 6. 16. The Prophet Isaiah sought to regulate what was amiss amongst the jews, by bidding them have recourse unto the Law and the Testimony: should not a people ●eek unto their God? If any speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them, Isa. 8. 19 20. And accordingly their Kings, who took a care to reform abuses, are in this solemn style commended for it, That they walked in the ways of their Father David; that is, reformed what was amiss by what had been from the Beginning. So St. Paul in the New Testament, setting right what was crooked about the Supper of the Lord in the Church of Corinth, laid his line to that Rule which he was sure he had received from the Lord Himself, 1 Cor. 11. 23. And thus our Saviour in my Text, finding the Pharisees very fond of a vicious practice, which supported itself by an old Tradition, and had something of Moses to give it countenance in the world, (though indeed no more than a bare permission,) could not think of a better way to make them sensible of their Error, (and such an Error as was their Sin too,) then by showing them the great and important difference betwixt an old, and a primitive Custom; and that however their breach of Wedlock had been without check from the days of yore, yet 'twas for this to be reformed, that 'twas not so from the Beginning. In a most dutiful Conformity to which example, our Reformers here in England (of happy memory) having discovered in every part of the Church of Rome, not only horrible Corruptions in point of Practice, but hideous Errors in point of Doctrine, and that in matters of Faith too, (as I shall find an occasion to show anon;) and having found by what degrees the several Errors and Corruptions were slily brought into the Church, as well as the several times and seasons wherein the Novelties received their birth and breeding; and presently after taking notice, that in the Council of Trent the Roman Partisans were not afraid to make a Vide Concil. Trident. Sess. 13. Can. 2, 3. Sess. 21. Can. 1, 2, 3. Sess. 22. Can. 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 Sess. 23. Can. 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 Sess. 25. etc. quam conser cum Bullâ Pii Quarti. Edit. Bin. p. 444. Tom. 9 New Articles of Faith, whilst the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Doctrine of Purgatory, the Invocation of Saints, the Worship of Images, and the like, were commanded to be embraced under pain of damnation, (as it were in contempt of the Apostle's denunciation, Gal. 1. 8. by which that practice of those Conspirators made them liaable to a curse;) and farther yet, that in the Canon of the Fourth Session of that Council, the Roman Church was made to differ as well from her ancient and purer self, as from all other Churches besides herself, in that there were many merely humane (I do not say profane) Write, and many unwritten Traditions also, not only decreed to be of b Nec non ipsas Traditiones, ●um ad fidem tum ad mores pertinentes, tanquam vel à Spiritu Sancto diciatas, pari pictatis affectu ac reverentiâ suscipit ac veneratur (haec Sancta Synodus.) Trident. Conc. Sess. 4. sub. Paulo 3. Bin. Tom. 9 p. 354. equal Authority with the Scriptures, but with the addition of an * Siquis libros ipsos integros,— pro sacris & Canonicis non suscep. rit, & Traditiones praedictas sciens contempserit, Anathema sit. ibid. Anathema to all that should not so receive them: This (I say) being considered and laid to heart by our Reformers, (by our Kings, and our Clergy, and Laiety too, met together in their greatest both Ecclesiastical and Civil Councils,) they did not consult with flesh and blood, or expect the Court of Rome should become their Physician, which was indeed their great Disease; but having recourse unto the Scriptures and Primitive Fathers of the Church, they consulted those Oracles how things stood from the Beginning: And only separating from Them, whom they found to have been Separatists from the primitive Church, they therefore made a Secession, that they might not partake of the Roman Schism. And whilst they made a Secession for fear of Schism; (which by no other practice could be avoided,) they studiously kept to the Golden mean; neither destroying the Body out of hatred to the Ulcers with which 'twas spread, nor yet retaining any Ulcer in a passionate dotage upon the Body. One remarkable Infirmity it is obvious to observe in the Popish Writers: they ever complain we have left their Church; but never show us that jota, as to which we have left the Word of God, or the Apostles, or the yet uncorrupted and primitive Church, or the Four first General Councils. We are so zealous for Antiquity, (provided it be but antique enough,) that we never have despised a mere Tradition, which we could tract by sure footsteps from as far as the times of the purest Christians. But this is still their childish fallacy, (be it spoken to the shame of their greatest Giants in Dispute, who still vouchsafe to be guilty of it,) that they confidently shut up the Church in Rome, as their Seniors the Donatists once did in afric; and please to call it the Catholic Church, not formally, but causally, (saith Cardinal Peron,) because forsooth that particular doth infuse universality into all other Churches besides itself: The learned Cardinal forgetting, (which is often the effect of his very good memory,) that the preaching of Christ was to begin at a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Theod. Hist. Eccles. lib. 5. cap. 9 Concil. Constantinop. apud Baronium ad A. D. 382. suffragatur. jerusalem. So it was in the Prophecy, (Isa. 2. 3. Mic. 4. 2.) and so in the completion, (Luke 24. 47.) Nor was it Rome, but Antioch, in which the Disciples were first called Christians, (Act. 11. 26.) At b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, apud Chrysost. ad Populum Antiochen. Hom. 3. Antioch therefore there was a Church, before St. Peter went thence to Rome. Nay 'tis expressly affirmed by c Tempore, ut scimus summo Tiberii Caesaris al●sque ullo impedimen. to— radios suos primum indulget, id est pr●●cepta sua, Christus● G●ldas in Epist. de Excid. Brit. Sect. 6. Gildas, (an Author very much revered by the Romanists themselves,) that Christianity was in Britain in the latter time of Tiberius Caesar; some while after whose death, 'tis known that St. Peter remained in jewry. So that Rome which pretends to be a Mother, can be no more at the best than a Sister-Church, and not the eldest Sister neither. Neglecting therefore the pretended Universality of the Roman (that is to say, of a particular) Church; let us compare her Innovations with what we find from the Beginning. For this I take to be the fittest and the most profitable Use, that we can make of the subject we have in hand. And first, consider we the Supremacy or Universal Pastorship of her Popes: which is indeed a very old, and somewhat a prosperous Usurpation; an Usurpation which took its rise from more than a thousand years ago. But then, besides that it was sold by the Emperor a De Phocâ coeli●●s est dictum, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Cedrenus, p. 334. Phocas, at once an b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Idem. p. 332. Heretic and a Regicide, the Devilish Murderer of Mauritius, (who was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Royal Image or Type of our late Royal Martyr of Sacred Memory;) I say, besides that it was sold by the most execrable Phocas, that is to say, by the greatest Villain in the world, excepting Cromwell and Pontius Pilate; and besides that it was sold to ambitious Boniface the Third, whose vile compliance with that Phocas was the bribe or price with which he bought it: and besides that it was done, not out of reverence to the Pope, but in c Phocas iratus Cyriaco, Episcopo Constantinopolitano adjudicavit Titulum Oecumenici Pontifici Romano. Baron. Annal. ad A. Ch. 606. displeasure to Cyriacus of Constantinople, who (from john d Johannes Constantinopolitanus seize hinc efferens, se ubique Oecumenicum Patriarcham nominavit. Idem ad A. C. 595. his Predecessor) usurped the Title of Universal before any Pope had pretended to it: I say, besides, or without all this, it is sufficient for us to say, what our Saviour here said to the ancient Pharisees, That from the beginning it was not so. For looking back to the Beginning, we find The Wall of God's City had Twelve Foundations, and in them were the names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb. (Rev. 21. 14) Paul was equal at least to Peter, when he withstood him to the face, and rebuked him in public for his Dissimulation. (Gal. 2. 11, 12, 13, 14) Nay St. Peter himself, (as well as james and john, who were his Peers,) although he seemed to be a Pillar, yet perceiving the Grace that was given to Paul, gave to Barnabas and Paul the right hand of Fellowship (Gal. 2. 9) And reason good: For S. Peter was but one of the many Apostles of the jews; whereas St. Paul was much more, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, to whom the jews were no more than as a River to an Ocean. Saint Peter was commanded not to fleece, but to * John 21. 15, 16, 17. feed the flock: Nor was it ever once known that he did lord it over God's heritage, which himself had so strictly forbid to others, 1 Pet. 5. 3. Indeed a primacy of Order may very easily be allowed to the See of Rome: But for any one Bishop to affect over his Brethren a supremacy of Power and jurisdiction, is a most impudent opposition both to the Letter and the Sense of our Saviour's precept, (Mark 10. 42, 43, 44.) Ye know, that they who are accounted to rule over the Gentiles, exercise lordship over them, and their greaton●s exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: But whosoever will be great among you, shall be your Minister; and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be the servant of all. That the Apostles were every one of equal power and authority, is the positive saying of a Cyprianus ait pari omnes inter se su●sse potestate Apostolos; atque hoc idem suisse alios quod Petrus fuit. Tractat. 3. de S●mplicitate Praelatorum, (Edit, Colon. 1544.) p. 135. St. Cyprian, Pari consortio praediti & honoris & potestatis. And St. Jerome is as express, That b Si Autoritas quaeritur, Orbis major est Urbe, ubicunque fuerit Episcopus, sive Romae, sive Eugubii, sive Constantinopoli, sive Rhegii, sive Alexandria, sive Tanii, ejusdem Meriti, cjusdem est & Sacerdotii. Potentia Divitiarum & Paupertatis Humilitas vel subsimiorem v●l inserio●em Episcopum non facit. Caeterùm omnes Apostolorum successores sunt. Hieron. in Epist. ad Evagrium, (ex Edit. Basil. 156,.) p. 329. ●ive ex Edit. Paris. 1533 Tom 2. p. 117. all Bishops, in all places, whether at Rome, or at Eugubium, at Constantinople, or at Rhegium, are of the very same merit, as to the quality of their Office; how much soever they may differ in point of Revenue or of Endowments. Nay, by the Canons of the Two first General Councils, (Nice, and Constantinople,) every c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Concil. Nicae. Can. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Ibid. Can. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae Antioche●● Ecclesiae servari his Canonibus praecipiu●tur, ●ò pertinent, (inquit Justellus) ut Episcopus Antiochenus praeferatur Metro●litanis omnibus in Orientali Dioecesi. Nihil Juris illi attributum in Caetero● Metropolitanos, praeter Honorem Ordinis, non autem ut Metropolitani omnes D●oeces●os Orientis ●b ●o jure singulari ordinarentur, ut Innocentii primi Epis●ola ad Alexandr. Episcopum asserere videtur, contra mentem Synodi Nicaenae. Justell. p. 7. ex Edit. Gulielmi Voelli, A. D. 1661. Patriarch and Bishop is appointed to be chief in his proper Diocese; as the Bishop of Rome is the chief in His: And a strict d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc. Concil. Constantinop. Oecumen. 2. Can. 2. Quid hic Canon sibi velit per [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉] Justellus explicat paulò superiùs ad Can. Conc. Nic. 6. nihil Juris nimirum Antiocheno attribuendum in caeteros Metropolitanos, praeter Ordinem Honoris. Injunction is laid on all, (the Bishop of Rome not excepted,) that they presume not to meddle in any Diocese but their own. And the chief Primacies of Order were granted to Rome and to Constantinople, not for their having been the Sees of such or such an Apostle, e Confer justinian. Novel. Constit. 131. cap. 2. come Canone 3. Concilii Constant. but for being the two Seats of the two great Empires. Witness the famous Canon of the General Council at Chalcedon, f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et paulò post 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, &c Concil. Chalced. Can. penult. decreeing to the Bishop of Constantinople an equality of Privileges with the Bishop of Rome; not for any other reason, than its having the good hap to be one of the two Imperial Cities. Nay, no longer ago before Boniface the Third, (who was the first Bishop of Rome that usurped the Title of Universal,) I say, no longer before Him then his next immediate Predecessor Pope Gregory the Great, (for I reckon Sabinian was but a cipher,) the horrible Pride of succeeding Popes was stigmatised by a Prolepsis; by way (not of Prophecy, but) of Anticipation. For g Quis est isle qui contra Statuta Evangelica, contra Canonum Decreta, novum sibi usurpare nomen proesumit?— Novis & profanis vocabulis gloriaatur. — Absi● à cordibus Christianorum nomen illud Blasphemiae. Greg. Mag. Epist. 32. ad Mauritium Augustum. Gregory writing to Mauritius the then reigning Emperor (and that in very many Epistles,) touching the name of Universal, which the Bishop of Constantinople had vainly taken unto himself, calls it a wicked and profane and blasphemous Title; a Title importing, that the h Sed in hac ejus superbiâ quid aliud nis● propinqua jam Antichristi esse tempora designatur? Idem ad eundem in Epist. 34. times of Antichrist were at hand; (little thinking that Pope Boniface would presently after his decease usurp the same, and prove the Pope to be Antichrist by the Confession of a Pope.) He farther disputed against the Title by an Argument leading ad absurdum; i Si illud nomen in Ecclesiâ sibi quisquam arripuit, quod apud honorum omnium judicium fuit, Universa ergo Ecclesia (quod absit) à statu suo corruit, quando ●s qui appellatur Universalis cadit. Idem. ad Eund. Epist 32. Universalis autem nec etiam Romanus Pontifex appelletur, fatente Papâ Pelagio fecundo, apud Gratian Decretal. p. 1. dist. 99 cap. 4. Quis aute● illud pro indignitate rei stupeat, quòd novam quandam indebitamque Potentiam tibi usurpando arrogas, & c? Ita Papam allo ●uuntur Episcopi Germanici apud Goldast. Tom. 1. p 47. That if any one Bishop were Universal, there would by consequence be a failing of the Universal Church, upon the failing of such a Bishop. An Argument; ad homines, not easily to be answered, whatsoever Infirmity it may labour with in itself. And such an Argument is That, which we bring against the Pope's pretended Headship. For if the Pope is the Head of the Catholic Church, than the Catholic Church must be the Body of the Pope; because the Head and the Body are the Relative and Correlative; and being such, they are convertible in obliquo: And then it follows avoidable, That when there is no Pope at all, (which is very often,) the Catholic Church hath then no Head; and when there are many Popes at once, (which hath been sometimes the case,) then the Catholic Church must have at once many Heads; and when the Pope is Heretical, (as by the confession of the Papists he now and then is,) the Catholic Church hath such a Head as makes her deserve to be beheaded. k Multi Pontifices Romani errarunt; sicut Marcellinus, qui Idolis sacrificavit; et Liberius Papa, qui Arianis consensit; & Anastasius secundus propter Haeresis Crimen repudiatus suit ab Ecclesiâ: & alii etiam plurimi contra Catholicam fidem tenuerun●; ut Joannes vigesimus secundus, qui asseruit, quòd filius Dei sit Major Patre & Spiritu Sancto. Didacus Stella in Luc. cap. 22. vers. 31. p. 280. col. 1. Edit. Antverp. A. D. 1593. Ad Inquisitionis Hispaniae decreta ●rorsus elimatus, et summâ fide repurgatus. That Popes have been Heretics and Heathens too, not only by denying the Godhead of the Son, and by lifting him up above the other two Persons, but even by sacrificing to Idols, and a total Apostasy from the Faith, is (a thing so clear in the writings of Platina and Onuphrius, that 'tis) the Confession of the most zealous and partial Asserters of their Supremacy. I know that Stella, and those of the Spanish Inquisition, do at once confess this, and yet adhere to their Position, † Ubi suprà, verbis immediate subsequentibus. That (with his College of Cardinals) the Pope cannot err, and is the Head of the Church. But St. Hilary of Poitiers was so offended at Pope Liberius his espousing the Arian Heresy, that he affirmed the true Church to have been then only in France. * Hilar. Pictav. de Synodis, p 287. & paulò post— Quidam ex vobis firmissimâ fidei constantiâ intra communionem se meam continentes, se à caeteris extra Gallias abstinuerunt. Idem. ib. 288. Ex eo inter nos tantùm Communio Dominica continetur. So ill success have they met withal, who have been Flatterers of the Pope or the Court of Rome. To conclude this first Instance in the fewest words that I can use: Whosoever shall read at large (what I have time only to hint) the many Liberties and Exemptions of the Gallican Church, and the published Confessions of Popish writers, for more than a thousand years together, touching the Papal Usurpations, and Right of Kings, put together by Goldastus in three great Volumes; he will not be able to deny, (let his present persuasion be what it will,) that the Supremacy of the Pope is but a Prosperous Usurpation, and hath this lying against it, that 'twas not so from the beginning. Secondly 'Tis true that for several Ages, the Church of Rome hath pretended to be infallible; as well incapable of error, as not erroneous. But from the beginning it was not so. For, (besides that Infallibility is one of God's peculiar and incommunicable Attributes,) where there is not Omniscience, there must be Ignorance in p●rt; and where Ignorance is, there may be Error. That Heresy is Error in point of Faith, and that Novatianism is Heresy, all sides agree: And 'tis agreed by the Champions of the Papacy itself, (such as a Baron. Tom. 2. An. 254. pag. 498, 499. & seq. Baronius, b Pamel. in Cyprian. Epist. 41. & 73. Pamelius, and c Petau. in Epiphan. ad Haeres. 59 quae est Novatianorum, pag. 226. Petavius,) that Rome itself was the Nest in which Novatianism was hatched; and not only so, but that there it continued from d Onuph. in Notis ad Plat. in v●tâ Cornelii. pag. 29. Col. 2. Vide Euseb. l. 6. & 7. Cornelius to Celestine, which wants not much of two hundred years. To pass by the Heresies of the Donatists and the Arians, (which strangely prospered for a time, and spread themselves over the world, the former over the West, the later over the East, and as far as the Breast of the Pope himself;) one would have thought that the Tenet of Infallibility upon Earth had been sufficiently prevented by the Heresy e Vide Bellar. Chronolog. ad ●. C. 132. & Euseb. H●st. Eccles. l. 3. c 39 of the Chiliasts, wherewith the Primitive Church herself (I mean the very Fathers of the Primitive Church, for the two first Centuries after Christ,) was not only deceived by Papias, who was a Disciple of St. john, but (for aught I yet learn) without the least Contradiction afforded to it. Nay the whole Church of God (in the opinion of St. a Non potest proba●i ●um [i. e. Augustinum] existimasse hîc de Eucharistiâ non agi, cum tam multis locis aliis probet ex hoc Johannis Testimonio, Eucharistiam etiam Infantibus esse Necessariam; idque non ut opinionem suam sed ut Fidei & Totius Ecclesiae Dogma: ad res●llendos Pelagianos dicat: & paulò post— Missam facio Augustini & Innocentii primi sententiam, quae sexcentoes circiter annos viguit in Ecclesiâ, Eucharistiam etiam Infantibus necessariam. Res jam ab Ecclesiâ, & Mul●orum seculorum usu, & Decreto Synodi Tridentinae explicata est, non so●ùm necessariam illis non esse, sed ne decere quid●m dari. (Sess. 21 c. & Can 4.) Maldonat. (Excus. Mussiponti, A. C. 1596.) in Joh. 6. 53. p. 717, 718, 719. Austin and Pope Innocent the third,) and for six hundred years together, (if a Non potest proba●i ●um [i. e. Augustinum] existimasse hîc de Eucharistiâ non agi, cum tam multis locis aliis probet ex hoc Johannis Testimonio, Eucharistiam etiam Infantibus esse Necessariam; idque non ut opinionem suam sed ut Fidei & Totius Ecclesiae Dogma: ad res●llendos Pelagianos dicat: & paulò post— Missam facio Augustini & Innocentii primi sententiam, quae sexcentoes circiter annos viguit in Ecclesiâ, Eucharistiam etiam Infantibus necessariam. Res jam ab Ecclesiâ, & Mul●orum seculorum usu, & Decreto Synodi Tridentinae explicata est, non so●ùm necessariam illis non esse, sed ne decere quid●m dari. (Sess. 21 c. & Can 4.) Maldonat. (Excus. Mussiponti, A. C. 1596.) in Joh. 6. 53. p. 717, 718, 719. Maldonate the jesuit may be believed) thought the Sacrament of Eucharist to have been necessary to Infants, as well as to men of the ripest Age: and yet (as Maldonate confesseth at the very same time,) it was so plain and so gross an Error, that notwithstanding St. Austin did endeavour to confute the Pelagians by it, as by a Doctrine of Faith, and of the whole Church of God; yet the Council of Trent was of a contrary mind, and did accordingly in a Canon declare against it. 3. Pass we on to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, which (if its Age may be measured by the very first date of its Definition,) may be allowed to be as old as the Lateran * Cujus corpus & san●guis in Sacramento altaris sub speciebus P●nis & Vini veraciter continentur, transubstantiatis Pane in Corpus, & Vino in sanguinem, potestate divinâ. Conc. Later. c. 1. In Synaxi serò Transubstantiationem definivit Ecclesia. Diu sa●is erat credere, sive sub Pane consecrato, sive quocunque modo adesse verum Corpus Christi. Erasm. Annot. in 1. Cor. 7. Saltem ab annis 500 dogma Transubstantiationis sub Anathemate stabilitum, ut ait ipse Bellarminus de Eucharist. l. 3. c. 21. Cujus etiam confessionem videre est, l. 3. c. 23. Council, a Council held under Pope Innocent the Third; since whom are somewhat more than 400 years: But from the beginning it was not so. For besides that our Saviour, just as soon as he had said, This is my Blood, explained himself in the same Breath, by calling it expressly the fruit of the Vine, and such as He would drink new in the Kingdom of God, (Mat. 26. 29. Mark 14. 15.) there needs no more to make the Romanists even ashamed of that Doctrine, than the Concession of Aquinas, and Bellarmine's Inference thereupon. a Corpus Christi non est co modo in ●oc Sacramento sicut Corpus in loco, quod suis Dimensionibus loco commensuratur; sed quodam special● modo, qui est proprius huic Sacramento. Unde dicimus, quòd Corpus Christi est in diversis altaribus, non sicut in diversis locis, sed sicut in Sacramento. Nullo enim ●odo Corpus Christi est in hoc Sacramento localiter, quia si ●sset, divideretur à scipso. Aquin. Oper. Tom. 12. S●m. part. 3. q. 75. art. 1. ad 3. p. 23 2. col. 2. et q. 76. art. 3 et 5. ex. Edit. Antwerp. 1612. Aquinas so argues, as to imply it is Impossible, and imports a Contradiction, for one body to be locally in more places than one, and in all at once. But b Si non posset esse unum Corpus local●ter in duobus locis, quia di●ideretur à ●eipso, profectò nec esse posset Sacramentaliter eâdem ratione. Bellar. de Eucharistiâ, lib. 3. cap. 3. p. 511. Tom. 3, Controvers▪ ex Edit. Paris. A. C. 1620. Bellarmine (at this) is so very angry, that in a kind of Revenge upon Aquinas, (though held to be the Angelical Doctor,) he needs will infer 'tis as Impossible, and equally implies a Contradiction, for any one body at once to be so much as Sacramentally in more Places than one. And therefore it cannot now be wondered concerning Transubstantiation, if so long ago as in the time of Pope Nicolas the Second, either the Novelty was not forged and hammered out into the shape in which we find it, or not at all understood by the Pope Himself. For one of the two is very clear by the famous c Coactus es● Berengarius publicè profi●eri, Panem & Vinum, quae in altari ponuntur, post consecrationem non solùm Sacramentum, sed etiam verum Corpus & Sanguinem Domini nostri Jesus Christi esse: & sensualiter non solùm Sacramento, said in veritate manibus sacerdotum tractari, frangi, & fidelium dentibus atteri, Confer Floriacens. Histor. fragmenta à P. Pichaeo edit. inter Franc. Script. (Excus. Francof. A. C. 1596.) p. 86. cum Lanfranc. lib. cont. Berengar. & Guitmund. de Sacram. l. 1. & Alger. de Sacram. l. 1. c. 19 Submission of Berengarius, wherewith he satisfied the d Sigon. de Regno Ital. l. 9 A. 1509. Synod then held at Rome, (and in which were 113. Bishops,) though not at all unto a Trans, but rather a Consubstantiation. Which divers e Nisi sanè intelligas verba Berengarii, in majorem incides Haeresin, quam ipse habuit: & ideo omnia referas ad species ipsas, nam de Christi Corpore partes non facimus. Johan. Semeca Glossator in Gratian. de Consecrat. Dist. 2. cap. Ego Berengarius. Romanists themselves have not been able not to Censure, though it was penned by a f A Cardinale, scil. Humber●e●to Sylvae Candidae Episcopo. Guitmundus ubi supra. Cardinal, and approved of by a Council, and very glibly swallowed down by the Pope himself. 4. 'Tis very true that their withholding the Cup of blessing in the Lord's Supper from the secular part of their Communicants, hath been in practice little less than 400 years. But from the beginning it was not so. For in our Saviour's Institution we find it intended for g Concil. Constant. Can. 13. p. 88●. In Ecclesiâ Latiná 1000 amplius annis ten●it, ut tam Populo quam Clero in celebratione Massarum post mysteriorum consecrationem scorsum Corpus & seorsum Sanguis Domiai praeberetur. Cassan. Consult. 22. Vasque. cap. 3. Disp. 216. c. 3. n 38. Secundum antiquam Ecclesi●e co●su●fudinem, omnes sicut communicabant Corpori, it a communicabant & Sanguini, quoth etiam adh●c in quibusdam Eccles●is servat●●. Aquinas in Comment. in Joh. 6. every Guest. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the word, Drink ye all of this Cup. (Mat. 26. 27.) And S. Paul to the Corinthians (consisting most of Laymen) speaks as well of their drinking the mystical blood, as of their ●ating the Body of Christ (● Cor. 11. 26, 27, 28, 29.) Nay 'tis confessed by learned Vasquez (as well as by Cassander, and Aquinas Himself, to be a Truth undeniable, That the giving of both Elements in the Roman Church itself, until the time of Aquinas, did still continue to be in use. 5. The Church of Rome for several Ages hath restrained the Holy Scriptures from the perusal of the People. But from the beginning it was not so. For Hebrew to the jews was the Mother-Tongue, and in that 'twas read weekly before the People. It pleased God the New Testament should be first written in Greek, because a Tongue the most known to the Eastern world. And to the end that this Candle might not be hid under a Bushel, it was translated by St. Jerome into the daggar Sixt. Senens. Bibliothec. l. 4. Ipse Hieron. in Epist. ad Sophron. Tom. 3. Dalmatick Tongue, by Bishop Vulphilas into the * Socrat. Hist Eccles. lib. 4. c. 17. Niceph. Hist. Eccles. l. b. 11. c. 48. Bonav. Vulcan. in Praefat. d● Liturg. & linguâ Getarum. Gothick, by St. Chrysostom into a Roccha in Biblio. thecâ Vatican. p. 155, 157. Armenian, by Athelstan into Saxon, by b Aventin. Annal. lib. 4. Methodius into Sclavonian, by jacobus de Voragine into c Sixt. Senens. Bibl. ●▪ 4. Italian, by Bede and VVicl●f into d Vide Authores citat. apúd Brerew. Inqu. c. 26. p. 192. English. And not to speak of the Syriack, Aethiopick, Arabic, Persian, and Chaldee Versions, (which were all for the use of the common people of those Countries,) the * Confer. Blond. Ital. Illustrata, in Marchia Trivisana, & Tinto de la Nobiltà di Verona, lib. 2. cap. 2. cum Hieronymi Temporibus apud Bellarm. de Script. Eccles. p. 104. Vulgar Latin was then the Vulgar Language of the Italians, when the Old and New Testament were turned into it. 6. The public Prayers of the Romanists have been a very long time in an unknown Tongue, (I mean unknown to the common People,) even as long as from the times of Pope Gregory the Great. But from the beginning it was not so. For 'tis as scandalously opposite to the plain sense of Scripture, as if it were done in a mere despite to the 14th Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, especially from the 13. to the 17. ver. Not to speak of what is said by the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Origen. contra Celsum (ex Edit. Ho●schelii, Augus●ae Vindelicorum, 1605. glib. 8. p. 414. Primitive Writers: † Cum Aquinate & Ly●â confer Cajetanum in 1 Cor. 14. sententiae nostrae suffragantem. Aquinas and Lyra do both confess upon the place, That the common Service of the Church in the Primitive times, was in the common language too. And as the Christians of a Angelus Roccha in Bibl. Vatic. p. 157. Dalmatia, b Biblioth. Vet. Patrum, Tom 6. p. 55. Habassia, c Bellonius in Observ. l. 3. c. 12. & Vitriacus in H●st. Orient. cap. 79. Broca●dus non ●ullibi in su● Descriptione Terrae Sanctae. Armenia, d Pos●ev●nus de Reb. Mose p 4. And. Thevetus Cos. l. 19 c 12. Muscovia, e Bapt. palate. de rat. Scrib. Ang. Roccha B●blioth. Vatic p. 162. Sclavonia, d Pos●ev●nus de Reb. Mose p 4. And. Thevetus Cos. l. 19 c 12. Russia, and all the Reformed parts of Christendom, have the Service of God in their vulgar Tongues, so hath it been in divers Places by f Aventin. Annal. 1. 4. Aeneas Silvius in Hist. Bohem. cap. 1 ●. Council Bin. Tem. 3. ●. 9●0. Vide e●iam Decret. l. 1. Tit. 31. cap. 14. et quicquid Authorum videre est in 〈◊〉. laq●. c. 26. Approbation first had from the Pope himself. 7. Another Instance may be gi●en in their Prohibiting of Marriage to men in Orders, which is derived by some from the third a Nempe à Papi Calixto, qui. floruit A▪ D. 2●0. Consul Thuanum. in●●. 36. p. 305. Century after Christ; by b Bishop Hall, 3. Epist. 2. Decad. others from the eighth; and in the rigour that now it is, from Pope Gregory the Seventh. But from the beginning it was not so. For Priests were permitted to have wives, both in the Old and New Testament; (as Maximilian c Ubi supra apud Thuanum, p. 305. & 306. the Second did rightly urge against the Pope:) And the blessed Apostles (many of them) were married men: for so I gather from d Euseb. l. 3 c. 13. Eusebius out of Clemens Alexandrinus: and from the e Constat Apostolos ipsos, paucis exceptis, co●juges habuisse. Ubi supra apud Thuanum. Letter of Maximilian, who did not want the Advice of the learnedst persons in all his Empire; and from 1 Cor. 9 5. where Saint Paul asserts his liberty to carry a Wife along with him, as well as Cephas. And 'tis the Doctrine of that Apostle, that a Bishop may be an Husband, although he may not be the Husband of more than one Wife. (1 Tim. 3. 2. Tit. 1. 6.) Besides, the Marriage of the Clergy was asserted by f Ibid. apud Thuanum. P●phnutius in the Council at Nice; and even by one of those g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Canon. Apostol. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Zonara's in Can. Apost. 5. p. 4. Edit. Pari. 1618. Canons which the Romanists themselves do still avow for Apostolical. And the forbidding men to marry (with Saturninus, and the Gnostics,) is worthicalled by God's Apostle, The Doctrine of Devils. (1 Tim. 4. 1. 3.) h Irenaeus, l. 1. c. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 3. 8. I shall conclude with that Instance to which our Saviour in my Text does more peculiarly allude; I mean the Liberty of Divorce betwixt Man and Wife, for many more Causes than the Cause of Fornication. For so I find it is k Siquis dixerit Ecclesiam errare, cum ob multas Causas separationem inter conjuges quoad totum, seu quoad cohabitationem, ad certum incertumve tempus, fieri ●osse decernit, Anathema sit. Concil. Trident. Sess. 24. Can 8. p. 411. Edit. Bin. Tom. 9 Paris. decreed by the Church of Rome, with an Anathema to all that shall contradict it. But from the Beginning it was not so. For 'tis as opposite to the will of our Blessed Saviour revealed to us without a Parable, (in the next verse after my Text) as if they meant nothing more, than the opening of a way to rebel against him. For besides that in the Canon of the Council at Trent, a Divorce quoad Torum/ Totum ob multas Causas was decreed to be just in the Church of Rome, although our Lord had twice confined it to the Sole Cause of Fornication, (Matth. 5. 32. & 19 9) And besides that the word Totu●n was constantly retained. in l Scil. (praeter Edit. jam nomivatam) Edit. Col. Agasp. Tom 4. part 2. p. 332. Sum. Concil. Edit. Franc. Longii à Coriolano, Antverp. A. C. 1623. p. 1024. Item Concil. General. Pavii Quinti Auctorit. Edit. Romae, A. C. 1628. Tom 4. p. 273. four Editions, (particularly in That, which had the Care and Command of Pope Paul the Fifth,) Let it be granted that the Council did mean no more, than a mere Sequestration from Bed and Board, to endure for a certain or uncertain time; and not an absolute Dissolution of the Conjugal Knot; yet in the Judgement of Chemnitius, yea and of Maldonat Himself, (who was as learned a jesuit as that Society ever had,) it would be opposite (even so) to the Law of Christ. For he m Si ob aliam Causam quam ob Fornicationem dimiserit, quamvis aliam non duxerit, moechatur; quia uxorem suam moechari facit. Maldonat. (excus▪ Mogunt. A. D. 1624.) in Matth. 19 9 p. 392. who putteth away his Wife for any Cause whatsoever, besides the Cause of Fornication, commits Adultery (saith the jesuit) even for this very reason, because he makes Her commit it, whom he unduly putteth away. n Atqui in Ponti●icid illâ Separatione (nempe à Toro & Mensâ, ad certum ince●tumve▪ tempus,) Vinculum Conjugii mul●is & variis modis solvitur & disrumpitur. Nam ad Vinculum Matrimonii pertinent hae sententae. Et adhaerebit Uxori suae. Faciamus ei adjutorium quod sit coram ipso. Mulier non habet potestatem sui Corporis, sed vir. Iterum convenite, ne tentet vos Satan, propter Incontinentiam vestram. Non sunt Duo, sed una Caro. Et ipsum Matrimonium d ●initu●, Individuâ vit● Consuetudine. Haec v●ro vincula Co●jugii in Pontisiciâ separatione, quoad Tor●● et Cohabitationem, solvuntur et dirumpuntur. Homines igitur, contra Decretum Div●nitatis. separant, quod Deus conju●xit. Chemn●t. in Exam. Concil. Tr●dent. (Excus. Genev. A. D. 16▪ 4▪) p. 437. Nay, Chemnitius saith farther; That the Papal Separation from Bed and Board, is many ways a Dissolution of the Conjugal Tye. Nor does he content himself to say, or affirm it only, but by a Confluence of Scriptures does make it good, That against the Command of our blessed Saviour (in the verse but one before my Text,) That which God hath joined together, the men of Rome do put asunder. By these and many more Corruptions in point of Practice and Doctrine too, which were no more than Deviations from what had been from the Beginning, and which the learned'st Sons of the Church of Rome have been forced to confess in their public writings; the awakened part of the Christian world were compelled to look out for a Reformation. That there was in the See of Rome the most abominable Practice to be imagined, we have the liberal o Vix ull●m peccatum cogitari potest, (solâ Haeresi exceptâ) quo illa sedes turpiter maculata non fuerit, maximè ab Ann: 800. Staplet. Oper. Tom. 1. Cont. 1. q. 5. art. 3. pag. 597. excus. Paris. 1620. Confesson of zealous Stapleton himself; and of those that have published their p Consul Canonas Poenitentiales Romanas, Bedae, Rabani Mauri, etc. cum notis Antonii Augustini; Archiepiscopi Tarraconensis, Excus. Venetiis, 1584. Penitentials. We have the published Complaints of Armachanus, and Grostead, and Nicolas de Clemangis, john of Hus, and Jerome of Prague, Chancellor Gerson, and Erasmus, and the Archbishop of Spalleto. Ludovicus Vives, and Cassander, who are known to have died in the same Communion, did yet impartially complain of some Corruptions. q Ludou. Vives in St. August. de Civit. Dei, l. 8. c. 27. Vives of their Feasts at the Oratories of Martyrs, as being too much of kin unto the Gentiles Parentalia, which in the judgement of r Parentatio Mo●tuis species est Idololatri●, quoniam & Idololatria Parentationis est species. Tertul. de Specta●. cap. 12. Tertullian made up a species of Idolatry. And Cassander s— Ita ut ad Summam adorationem, quae vel à Paganis ●uis simulacris exhiberi consuevit, & ad extremam vanitatem quam Ethnici in suis simulacris exornan ●is admiserunt, nil à nostris reliqui factum esse ●ideatur. Geo. Cassander in Consult de Imag. & Simulacris m●hi pag. 175, 176. confesses plainly, that the People's Adoration paid to Images and Statues, was equal to the worst of the ancient Heathen. t Thuan. l. 25. pag. 760, etc. So the buying and selling of Papal Indulgences and Pardons ('tis a little thing to say of Preferments too) was both confessed and inveighed against by Popish Bishops in Thuanus. Now if with all their Corruptions in point of Practice, which alone cannot justify a People's Separation from any Church, (though the Cathari and the Donatists were heretofore of that opinion,) we compare their Corruptions of Doctrine too, and that in matter of Faith, (as hath been showed,) Corruptions entrenching on Fundamentals; it will appear that That door which was opened by Us in our first Reformers, was not at all to introduce, but to let out * De Hildebrando in haec verba sententiam ●erunt Episcopi Germanici qui Concilio Wormatiensi inter●uerunt. Dum profanis studes Novitatibus, dum magis amplo qu●m bono nomine delectaris, dum inaudita Elatione distenderis, velut quidam Signifer Schismatis, om●ia membra Eccl●sia superbâ crudelitate & crudeli superbiâ lacerasti: flammasque Discordiae quas in Romana Ecclesia diris factionibus excitasti, per omnes Ecclesias Italiae, Galliae, & Hispaniae, furiali dementia sparsisti.— Per gloriosa tua Decreta (quod sine lachrymis dici non potest) Christi serè nomen per●it. Imperial. Statut. à Goldasto edit. Tom. 1. p. 47. Schism. For the schism must needs be Theirs who give the Cause of the Separation, not Theirs who do but separate when Cause is given. Else S. Paul had been to blame, in that he said to his Corinthians, Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate. (2 Cor. 6. 17.) The actual Departure indeed was Ours, but Theirs the causal; (as our immortal Archbishop does fitly word it:) we left them indeed when they thrust us out; (as they cannot but go whom the Devil drives;) But in propriety of speech, we left their Errors, rather then Them. Or if a Secession was made from them, 'twas in 〈◊〉 very same measure that they had made one from Christ (Whereas they, by their Hostilities and their Excommunications, departed properly from us, not from any Errors detected in us. And the woe is to them by whom the offence cometh, (Matth. 18. 7.) not to them to whom 'tis given. If when England was in a Flame by Fire sent out of Italy, we did not abstain from the quenching of it, until water might be drawn from the River Tiber; it was because our own Ocean, could not only do it sooner, but better too; that is to say (without a Figure,) It did appear by the Concession of the most learned Popish Writers, that particular Nations had still a power to purge themselves from their corruptions, as well in the Church, as in the State, without leave had from the See of Rome; and that 'twas commonly put in practice above a thousand years since. † Ex co quo Willielmus No●manaiae Comes Terram illam debella●do sibi subegi●, N●mo in ●d Episcopus vel Abbas ante Ans●lmum f●ctus est, qui non primo suerit Homo Reg●s, ac de manu ill●us E●iscopatús vel Abbatiae Investituram per dationem Virgae Pastoralis suscepit, etc. Eadmerus Monach. Cant●in Praef. ad Hist. Nou. pag. 2. Sed nec ex co solùm t●mpore mos hic obtinuit; Nem ante Norma●no um etiam adventum hic ●sitatissimus, ut majorum Gentium Antis●ites sacri, Episco●i nimirum & Coenobiarchae (qui sal. tem in 〈◊〉 Regiâ) à Sacris Eccl●siarum Co●oribus ●lecti, quin saepius etiam, spretis omninò Corporum Sacrorum suffragiis, in Aulâ designati, Annuli & Bac●● Pastorals, ●ive Pedi traditione, in Dignitatis Possessionem à Regibus nostris, 〈◊〉 av●●o nixis, 〈◊〉. Joh. Selden. in suis ad Eadmer. Notis et Spicilegio, p. 142. Hujus rei exemplum vider● est apud G Malmesburiensem de Jests Regum, lib 2. cap 8. Quin et illud aliquando vid●tur dignius quod hoc in loco notetur. Pontifici Hilde●rando Fidelitatis juramentum, à Guilielmo No●manno, exigenti, Guilford elmum Regem respondisse— Fi●elitatem facere non volo, quin nec ego promisi, nec Antecessores meos Antecessoribus tuis id fecisse ●omperio. Baron. Ad An. 10●6. Guilielmus Rufus pros●ssus est, Quod nullus Arch. episcopus aut ●piscopus Regni sui, Curiae Romanae vel Papae subesset. Matth Paris. Hist An. 1094. Vidésis etiam, ●●peratores, et Reges Galliarum, jura sua asser●ntes, apud Othonem Frisingensem, S●gibertum, cosque 〈◊〉 Historicos qui Res H●nrici Quarti Imperatoris, et ejusdem nominis Primi R●gis Anglorum con●ipsêre. Inprimis verò Sigon●um de Reg Ital. l. 4, 9, 10, et 11. Baron. Tom. 11. A C. 1077. Cherubi●m de Nar●ia in Bul●arii Tom. 1. p. 16. et 17. Been Concil. Tom. 3. part. 2. in U●bano, Calixto, et ●schall Secundis. Renatum Choppinum de Domanio Franciae, l. 2. tit. 1 sect. 6, etc. Et de Sacra ●●tiâ, l 1. tit. 7. Sect. 22, ●t 23. ad haec, Theodor Balsamon Patriarch. Antioch. in Concil. Chalced. ●n. 4. Joh. Naucler. Chronograph. Generate. 39 et H. Mutium Chron. German. l. 18. It did appear that the Kings of England (at least as much as those of Sicily,) were ever held to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and that by the Romanists themselves; until by gaining from Henry the First, the Investiture of Bishops; from Henry the Second, an Exemption of the Clergy from Secular Courts, and from easy King john, an unworthy Submission to foreign Power; the Popes became strong enough to call their strength the Law of justice▪ And yet their Encroachments were still opposed, by the most pious and the most learned in every Age. Concerning which it were easy to give a satisfactory account, if it were comely for a Sermon to exceed the limits of an hour. In a word, it did appear from the Code and Novels of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. etc. Justin, Novel Const. 131. cap. 2. Vide etiam de mandatis Principum, Tit. 4. Novel. 17. c. 7 & 11. justinian, from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 set out by the Emperor b Evagr. l. 3. c. 14. in Mag. Biblioth. Vet. Patr. Tom. 6. Part. 2. p. 655. Zeno, from the practice of c Sigon de Reg. Ital. li. 4. ad A. C. 801. & Eginhard in vit. Car. Mag. & Baron. Annal. Tom 9 ad A. C. So● p. 542. ad 545. & Tom. 10. ad A. C. 845. p. 34. Excus. Colon. Agrip. 1609. Charles the Great, (which may be judged by the Capitulars sent abroad in his Name,) from the designs and endeavours of two late Emperors, Ferdinand the First, and Maximilian the Second, from all the commended Kings of judah, from the most pious Christian Emperors as far as from Constantine the Great, and from many Kings of England in d Edward the confessor, William 1. H. 1. H 3. Edw. 1. Edw. 2. Edw. 3. Rich. 2. H●n. 4. H. 5. H. 6. Edw. 4. Rich. 3. Hen 7. H. 8. for all which at 〈◊〉, See Coke's Reports, par. 5. fol. 1. Caudre●'s Case, or De Ju●e Regis Ecclesiastico. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Balsam. in Conc. Ca●th. Can. 16. Popish times too; that the work of Reformation belonged especially to them in their several Kingdoms. And this is certain; that neither Prescription on the Pope's side, nor Discontinuance on the Kings, could add a Right unto the one, or any way lessen it in the other. For it implies a contradiction, that what is wrong should grow right, by being prosperous for a longer or shorter season. Had the Pope been contented with his * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Concil. Constantinop. Oecu●. 〈◊〉 Can. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Justinian. Imp. Novel. Const. 131. c. 2▪ Primacy of Order, and not ambitiously affected a Supremacy of Power, and over all other Churches besides his own; we never had cast off a Yoke which had never been put upon our Necks: And so 'tis plain that the Usurper did make the Schism If Sacrilege anywhere, or Rebellion, did help reform Superstition; That was the Fault of the Reformers, not at all of the Reformation; not of all Reformers neither. For the most that was done by some, was to write after the Copy which had been set them in my Text, by the Blessed Reformer of all the World; which was so to reform, as not to innovate, and to accommodate their Religion to what they found in the Beginning. Nay, if I may speak an Important Truth, (which being unpassionately considered, and universally laid to heart, might possibly tend to the Peace of Christendom;) seeing it was not so much the Church as the Court of Rome, which proudly t●od upon Crowns and Sceptres, and made Decrees with a * Apostolicâ Potestate declaramus & definimus, et ab omnibus judicari d●bere mandamus atque statuimus, decernentes irritum et 〈◊〉, fi quid secus à quoquam quacunque Dignitate, Auctoritate, 〈◊〉 Potestate praedito co●tig●r●● iudicari, Non obstantibus Constitut. onibus et Ordinationibus Apostol●cis, A●isque in sword facicutibus Qui●useunque. Vule I●ullam Piiquarti, Concil. Bin. Edit. Par●● Tom 9 p. 444. 〈◊〉 Christus post C●nam instituerit, et suis Discip●lis administraveri● sub u●raque speci● 〈◊〉 et Vini ●oc 〈◊〉 Sacrementum, 〈◊〉 hoc non obstante, etc. Licet in Primiti●â Ecclesiá 〈◊〉 s●odi Sacramentum reciperctur à Fidelibus sub 〈◊〉 sp●●ie; 〈◊〉 à confici●●●ibus sub 〈◊〉, et à laicis tantummodo sub specie Panis suscipi●tur. Concil. Constant. Bin. Tom. 3. Pa●t. 2. Sess. 13. p. 880. excus. Colon. Ag●ippinae, 1618. non obstante to Apostolical Constitutions, or whatsoever had been enacted by any Authority whatsoever, (the Commandments of Christ being not excepted;) we originally departed with higher Degrees of Indignation, from the Insolent Court, than Church of Rome. Nor protested we so much against the Church, (though against the Church too,) as against the Cruel Edict first made at daggar; Ibi (i. e. Spirae, ubi erat Conventus ordinum Imperii;) Decretum factum est, ut Edictum Wormatiense observaretur contra Novatores, ut omnia in ●ategrum restituantur. Contra hoc Edictum solen●is fait Protestat. o, April: 16. A. D. 1529. & hinc ortum pervulgatum illud nomen Protestantium. Sethus Calvis. in Chron. ad A. C. 1529. Lutherus impulit johannem Saxo●iae Sep●emvirum, aliosque Principes Germanicos, protestaricont●a Decreta Ratisbonae & Spirae de Religione ●acta. U●de Nomen Protestantium crevit. Cluverius ad A. C. 1529. p. 705. Worms, and after cruelly reinforced at Spire and Ratisbone, for the confirming of those 1 Corruptions from which the 2 Church was to be cleansed. To the 1 former we declared a Vatinian Hatred; but to the 2 latter of the two, we have the Charity to wish for a Reconcilement. That we who differ upon the way in which we are walking towards jerusalem, may so look back on the Beginning from whence at first we set out, (and from which our Accusers have foully swerved,) as to agree in our Arrival at the same journey's end. But God forbid that our Love to the Peace without, should ever tempt us to a loss of the Peace within us. God forbid we should return with the Dog to his vomit, or with the Sow in the Hebrew Proverb (which is cited by S. Peter in his Epistle, 2. Pet. 2. 22. ) to her wallowing in the mire. When I wish for a Reconcilement, I do not mean by our Compliance with any the least of their Defilements, but by their Harmony with us in our being Clean. On this * Ab Ecclesiâ Romanâ non alio discessimus animo, quam ut, si correcta ad Priorem Ecclesiae sormam redeat, nos quoque ad Illam rev●rtamur, & Communionem cum Illâ in suis porrò Coetibus habeamus. Apud Grot: Discuss. p. 14▪ & apud ipsum Zanch. in Confess. Art. 19 p. 157. Condition and Supposal; Our Church is open to receive the bitterest Enemies of our Church. Our Arms are open to embrace●hem ●hem, with Love, and Honour. Our Hearts and Souls are wide open in fervent Prayers and Supplications to the God of Purity and of Peace, ●hat (in his own good time) he will up●he ●he Breaches, and wipe off the stains, and raise ●p the lapsed Reputation, of his divided, defiled, ●●sgraced Spouse; And all for the Glory, as well ●s Merits, of the ever-blessed Bridegroom of all ●ur Souls, To whom, with the Father, in the Unity of ●he Spirit, be ascribed by us, and by all the World. Blessing, and Glory, and Honour, and Power, ●nd Wisdom, and Thanksgiving, from this time forward for evermore. FINIS.