THE Church-Papist (SO CALLED;) HIS RELIGION AND TENETS Fully Discovered: IN A serious Dispute, which long since happened between a (then) reputed Papist and an open professed Romanist, whereby the common (and trite) Arguments of pretended Visibility, Succession, Universality, etc. of the Roman Church, Travelling the Nation to amuse and stagger the Weak, and to seduce and pervert the unstable sort of People, are briefly Confuted. WHEREUNTO IS ADDED, A short Discourse, Proving Episcopacy to be of Divine Institution, Kingly Government of Gods setting up, and the Religion of the Church of England, to be the best in the World. By one of the Children of the late Captivity, 1680.  
LONDON, Printed for Robert Hartford, at the Angel in Cornhill, near the Royal Exchange. 1680.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY Lord Jermyn, EARL OF St. Alban, BARON of BURY St. edmond's, and KNIGHT of the most Noble ORDER of the GARTER.  
MY LORD,  
THE Occasion of the following Tract happening in your Country, your Native Country, between your Countrymen discoursing of Religion, and particularly the one defending that Religion wherein your Lordship is most eminently Principled; and of your exemplary Piety and Devotion therein, the eyes of your Country have been often witnesses, hath encouraged my presumption to this Dedication: Nor will your Lordship deem the Patronage of these few Leaves a diminution to your Glory, seeing you have made it the Glory of your Honourable Person and the Admiration and Joy of all Protestant Professors in the Church of England, that amidst and after so many Trials and Temptations in foreign parts (where you have resided) you should still remain unshaken in your Faith, that no self or private Conveniences, no politic respects to Times or Places could allure you from the public profession of the Religion of the Church of England; of that pure Religion confirmed to be the truest on Earth by the most signal proof under Heaven, even by the crimson Stream of the dear blood of God's Vicegerent, who for the Church suffered many and bitter Agonies of Life, as if the Thorns which once surrounded the Temples of our Saviour, had been plaited anew on the Brows of this holy Martyr.  
We often read of an innocent Lamb without spot offered in Sacrifice, but here a spotless Shepherd more innocent than his Sheep, became an Oblation for his Flock; a Royal Shepherd too, whose Holiness entitled him to an Alliance with the Majesty of Heaven, and made him truly a God on Earth, and Son of the Most High. It cannot be denied, but in his sufferings for the Church, this great Patron of Religion came near to those of the Eternal Saviour of Mankind, whom the Jews put to Death for planting Religion in the World; and a People, worse than Jews, slaughtered this good King for defending the same Religion & Church which was nailed to the Cross in Mount Calvary; his own people too imitated the Jews in perpetrating the horrid Villainy, that here is a Testimony and Reputation to the Protestant Profession transcending all the Testimonies of former Ages, and the greatest that ever Age or Nation could boast of. In all the Romish Calendar of Canonised Saints, in their whole Roll of pretended Martyrs, where is there one, since the Apostles time, worthy to have been a Torch bearer or born a Flambeaux at his Grave? Had Rome, for their Faith, such a glorious Name to boast of, what Pilgrimages from their utmost Confines, what Processions from all parts of their Territories would be made to his Shrine? Even Divine Adoration would be given at his Tomb; (and indeed such Devotion would come nearer to true Worship there, than at all the profane Altars they have before bowed.) And as in the Infant Plantation of Christ's Church, the holy Shepherd (the Lord of Life) was smitten, and the Sheep were scattered, hid, and concealed for a space; so likewise as if true Religion had not only been deposed, but Crucified too with this Martyr on the Scaffold, the true Church was forced to walk invisible (as to the knowledge of her Enemies) in this Land, and not to be found but in Cells and silent places; for than were Instructions to right Faith and good Life chained up, and temptations to Atheism Irreligion, and Profaneness let lose upon men: Then holy Guides and Pillars of the Church suffered, some Death, some a barbarous Captivity; Persecution raged on all her Children; then Treason triumphed, Rebellion was rampant, and with Faction and Sedition became the Epidemical Tutors of the times; then nothing was dangerous for men to practise but Loyalty and Virtue, or to profess but the old Protestant Religion: Thence followed the fatal Necessity forevery true Protestant to be his own Priest, and to fortify himself by consulting the Divine Oracles and Writings, which the Saints (of old) & Fathers of the Church had left to Posterity, for our strengthening against the Assaults of Schism. And then it was that I applied myself to a sedulous examination of those Principles in Religion which Education had instilled, and to search the bottom on which my profession of Faith was founded; and it was then that I found the best direction for my task and purpose from that most excellent Advice (which I apprehended might well serve every Subject as the Son of a King) of that glorified Saint (and holy Martyr for the same Faith) left to his Son, than Prince of Wales, which is able to rivet the most wavering Spirit on the rock of Assurance Indeed, who can remember his holy Life in that Faith, and his submission to Death for the same, or read his Divine Writings, and be faithless? And who can be so merciless to himself as not to contemplate the former and read the latter for his Confirmation in Religion, in the Religion of his King, the best of Kings, in the Religion proved, by undeniable Authority, to be the best in the world.  
The King of Kings preserve his Sacred Majesty our Sovereign, and the Royal Progeny, and their Posterity, in the perseverance of the same profession of Religion, to the perpetual honour of their Names and Crowns, the safety and glory of the Church and Kingdoms. And the same Divine Providence bless your Lordship with long and happy days, to be still a Light in your Sphere by your Zeal and Constancy in the Protestant Profession, to the still Confusion of Face of those enemies of God's Church, whose malicious Impudence continually asperse the Devotion of great and (cast a suspicion on the Religion of) good men; and as you have fervently imitated our grand Master (of adored and blessed memory) in his transcendent unimitable Constancy in the true Faith, which set him (not as his Enemies machinated, in a Cloud) a Sun in full glory, ever shining after death, so your Lordship (after Life on Earth finished) may be a Star of the next Magnitude with him in the Firmament of Glory, is the fervent Prayer of,  
My Lord, Your Lordship's most Humble, and most Devoted Servant, John Underwood.   


THE CHURCH-PAPIST So Called.  
A Church-Papist, or (Stilo Novo) more modernly, a Papist in disguise, is one who holds Unity and Communion with the Church of England in a strict compliance, subscribes to all the Protestant Professions of Faith, and received Principles in the same, yet in heart adheres (also) to the Church of Rome, in all such Points and Doctrines as are agreeable to Scripture, and the Apostolic Faith. He is known by his high Conformity to the Liturgy, Doctrine, and Discipline of the Church, and noted for his devout observance of all the Rights and Ceremonies used in public Worship; nor can the Church impose the thing (not thwarting the Canon of holy Scripture) to which he thinks it not his duty to incline his Obedience: He cannot be brought to countenance those who would diminish (or so much as dispute) her Authority, or labour to introduce Novelties, and schismatical Fangles into her Government, accounting such as wild Boars breaking into the Vineyard to root it up, nor will he be justled out of his belief, of what the cruel Experiment of the late Times have shown him, that the Lambskin of Reformation harbours Wolves for Desolation. He is one who will and doth take lawful Oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy, Test, etc. tendered him; and is obstinate in nothing more than in keeping them. He peaceably submits to the Government without dishonourable Reflections on Church or State, and in defence of both dares and will venture his All: He is one who esteems Obedience better than Sacrifice, and prefers performing his Duty before his Life; He looks upon the Governors of the Church, as those whom God hath sent, and through whose words we are to believe in Christ, St. Joh. 17.20. and upon the Magistrate and Temporal Rulers, as Ministers of God to us for our good, and knoweth that the Powers that be, are ordained of God, and that to resist the Power is to resist the Ordinance of God, and will not incur Damnation by resisting. He is the same man who (stilo veteri) in the late Usurpation, would not swallow the several unhallowed Bits (against Law and Honesty) tempted on him, not the Vow and Covenant, nor subscribe the Association, public Protestation, not take the League and Covenant, Abjuration (of certain Doctrines) Oaths, etc. contradictory one to another, and contrary to former lawful Oaths; nor close with the Engagement contrary to them all: He was the chief sufferer in those times, and still is the Butt at which envenomed Arrows, from all corners, are shot, and principally aimed at (by the Enemies of the Church) for the first Destruction. Under the like denomination of Church-Papists, were then the best of men delivered to popular ignominy and Contempt, (preparatives for Ruin, and Forerunners of all Confusion) so exposed were the greatest and best of men, the Church or Nation of England ever produced; pretended fears and Jealousies (of being Popishly addicted) assaulted the Throne, and pretences of Hypocrisy in Religion, made many Martyrs for the true one. The Sluice of Blood first opened in the best Counsellor of State, many Torrents followed; the Veins of Royal Majesty itself, of the great Patriarch of our Reformed Church, of the most Religious of the Nobility, and of many prime Christians of the Protestant Profession were launched, and flowing in many streams made up a Red Sea.  
Under such an Appellation and Reproach was the Author of this Paper, in the same usurped Times particularly numbered and persecuted; and by the cruelty of the pretended Reformers suffered many Calamities, Plunderings, Imprisonments, Loss of Employment, etc. narrowly escaping with life; and so strong was the Calumny (which took away the Lives of the best Protestants in the world) cast on the Churchmen, that it prevailed on the belief of many (who were innocent of the malicious Project) that we were Papists indeed, even the very Papists themselves were beguiled thereby, and believed us of their persuasion, insomuch that soon after the blessed Restauration of the Government, the Author was accosted with their Salutes, expressing their amazement, in that (now persecution ceased, and a door opened for more freedom, as they said (he communicated not with them in worship; but his refusal of their solemn invitation showing them their mistake, one of them (no mean one) set upon him, and made it his business to gain a Proselyte, engaging him to comply with (or answer) the Arguments he soon after delivered in Writing, which put the Author upon a serious Scrutiny and Study to know his own Religion aright, and to defend it; (for he being a Layman, had then read little of Controversy upon the Points.) He happened at the very first on the best Lights, the Word of God, and the Word of the King, Authorities rightly understood and aptly applied, not to be withstood by any in the world. The best direction to understand the former, he received from the later, even from that best of Christians and King of Protestants, in his ΕΙΚΩΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΗ by which were framed the following Answers, which have slept these many years (from their first Conception) and might have been dumb till the Papers had turned to (Ashes, had not the now revived term of disguised Papist been clamorous, and awakened them to face the world, that the well meaning Christian may not in thought join with the Deceiver to reproach the Innocent, that the old Intrigue and Stratagem now on foot, may not proceed again to trapan the Nation into an Uprore and Confusion, by first rendering a man criminal by aspersion (to fit him for a destruction without pity) then cruelly destroy him for a Crime, of which he is not guilty.  
See here, then, such a Church Papist dissected, and behold him and his Religion in the following Pages.  

The aforementioned Arguments of Dr. R. S. are four in number: The First, from the perpetual Visibility of the Church of Rome, viz. 

1. That Church only that is Visible in all Ages, is the true Church;  
But, only the Roman Church is Visible in all Ages,  
Ergo, only the Roman Church is the True Church.    
The Proof, THe Major is manifest, which I prove by St. Matth. 18.17. Dic Ecclesiae, Tell the Church: But how can we tell the Church if it be invisible, tanquam Idea Platonica, Ergo, The Church is Visible in all Ages.  
The Minor is clear by all Church Histories, Councils, Fathers, that the Roman Church only is Visible in all Ages, for no other Church can show her Visibility in any Kingdom, City, or Village, from the Apostles time to Luther, Ergo, only the Roman Church is the True Church.   

The Second Argument from Succession, viz. 

2. That Church only that hath lawful Succession, is the True Church;  
But, only the Roman Church hath lawful Succession,  
Ergo, only the Roman Church is the True Church.    
The Proof, THe Major is proved by St. August. That Church (saith he) in which is Succession, is the Rock against which Hell-Gates cannot prevail. And Irenaeus saith, Successione confundimus: omnes, Succession confound all Heretics; but only the Roman Church have lawful Succession; Numerate Sacerdotes vel ab ipsa Petri sede, & in illo ordine Patrum quis cui successit videte, as, saith St. August. In hoc ordine successionis nullus Donatista Episcopus invenitur: And our English Bishops had no succession from Roman Catholic, for immediately after their Consecration, Stapleton, Harding, etc. told them to their faces they were no Bishops; Ergo, only the Roman Church have lawful Succession.   

The Third Argument from pretended peculiar Privileges belonging to the Roman Church, viz. 

3. That Church only that have confuted, and anathematised all Heretics, converted Nations, deprived Schismatical Bishops, restored Orthodox Bishops, called Councils, etc. that is the True Church.  
But only the Roman is such,  
Ergo, only the Roman is the True Church.    
The Proof, THe Major is plain, because these Privileges belong to the Authority of the Mother Church, which is Matrix & Radix omnium Ecclesiarum.  
The Minor is proved, for, In Ecclesia Romana semper viguit Apostolicae Cathedrae Principatus; therefore in the Oriental Councils, when some Bishops would not agree, divers cried out Romam ambulent, Let them go to Rome: Name a Petro (inquit August.) ipse Episcopatus & tota Authoritas nominis hujus emersit, and 'tis manifest no Protestant Church ever confuted Heretics, converted Nations, deprived Schismatics, restored Orthodox Bishops, but slept Endimion's Sleep for above a thousand years, or like a Didopper dived in the Apostles time, and never risen again until Squire Luther, that second Elias, that fift Evangelist.   

The Fourth Argument, from Universality of the Roman Church, viz. 

4. That Church is only Catholic, which is dispersed through all Nations.  
But only the Roman is dispersed through all Nations,  
Ergo, the Roman Church only is the Catholic Church.    
The Proof, THe Major is proved, for Universality is an evident mark of the Catholic Church: Si vestra Ecclesia (saith St. August.) sit Catholica, ostendite per universam terram ramos suos copia ubertatis extendere; for no Heresy can be Universal, no Heretic can be Catholic, Protestants are so far from Universality, that 'tis as hard a matter to find a Protestant in fifteen hundred, as motum in vacuo.  
The Minor is as evident, that the Roman Church was dispersed through all Nations, by St. Paul to the Romans, 3.8. where he faith, that the Roman Faith was Preached in all the World, that is Peter's Faith; and what Faith the Romans had then, the very same they have at this present; for the Roman Church is not to be new bottomed, neither to be reform of new Calciners: Fidei enim Regula una omnino est, sola, immobilis, irreformabilis (as Tertullian) the Doctrine of Faith once delivered to the Apostles by the prime verity, Jesus Christ, and assisted by the Holy Ghost for ever, cannot be altered, and the Church being built upon a Rock, need no repairing of new Masons: Soliditas illius Petrae, quae Apostolorum Principe est laudata, perpetua est: & sicut Petra permanet quod in Christo Petrus credidit ita permanet quod PetrO Christus instituit. Here St. Leo saith, the Church is Perpetual, and cannot fail so long as Christ is the Son of the Living God: And although the Protestant Church be fallible, yet the Roman is infallible; therefore, Vivat Fides Catholica, Vivat Ecclesia Romana; quae fuit tempore Apostolorum, & est eritque per secula sempiterna.    


THE ANSWER.  
SIR,  
I Derive not my Faith from Luther or Calvin, as Beginners of it, yet do confess with St. Paul, (Acts 24.14.) that aften the way which they call Heresy, so worship I the Lord God of my Fathers; I mean, as those Fathers did, whom Justin Martyr calls Patres Patrûm, professing the Ancient Catholic Faith; all the Articles of my Faith being grounded on Scripture, and the constant belief of Fathers and Couneils in the Church of Christ the first four hundred years. 
Antiqua Ecclesia primisquingentis Aunis vera Reclssia fuit. Bell. lib. 4. de not. Eccl. c. 9  The Opinions of any Posterior Fathers, where they vary from the Doctrine of the First, I think it unsafe to follow. For St. Hierom teacheth me well; Nec Parentum nec majorum Error sequendus est; sed Authoritas Scripturarum & Dei docentis imperium; nam Judaei post Baalim abierunt quos didicerunt a Patribus (In Jerem. ca 9) We are not to take error by Tradition from our Fathers or Ancestors, but the true sense of holy Scriptures is to be followed, and the Power of God instructing us in them, for the Jews went after Baal by the example of their Fathers: As your Fathers did, so do ye: Acts 7.51. I am of the Apostles belief, and I am sure they were no Papists; rather Protestants, protesting the Truth and sincerity of Faith against Error and Schism: So we by receiving the true Sacraments (which are called Visible Signs protesting the Faith) protest against those which are corrupted, and against all Doctrines contrary to Scripture and the Apostolic Faith, etc. and so in that sense you may call me Protestant. Now to prove only the Roman Church to be the True Church, you say: That Church only that is Visible in all Ages is the True Church; but only the Roman Church is Visible in all Ages, Ergo, only the Roman Church is the True Church. And to prove the Major, you instance the words of St. Matthew, Dic Ecclesiae To which I answer, that 'tis not said Dic Romanae Ecclesiae, (Tell it to the Roman Church) therefore makes no more for Rome than for Greece, or any other place where the Church is, hath been, or shall be. And to prove the Minor, you only say 'tis clear by Church Histories, Councils, and Fathers, that the Roman Church only is Visible, but bring not one particular proof from any of them to make it evident, and evince that the Church was not where else Visible; for History also tells us that the East or Greek Church, though often in great misery and persecution, was, and is a Church from the Apostles time: So that Argument which is common to others, you cannot appropriate only to the Roman; seeing it makes as much for the Greek Church (in whose Language the Oracles of the Son of Ged were written) as for it: The Greek Church was first honoured with the Original written Gospel, and the Latin Church had it only by Franslation from it.  
That there was and is a Church constant in all Ages (though not apparently flourishing, and visible at all times to all the world) I not deny; but that there is no Church where 'tis not Splendid and Visible to all eyes, you have not yet made any ways apparent: Certainly the Ark of God was not less an Ark, in being in Dagon's Tent and the Hands of the Philistines. Persecution (the fare of the Church Militant) obscured the Church's Rays in many Nations, and sometimes so totally Eclipsed her, as she was not visible to Humane Eyes: Besides, your Position, that Visibility is the only mark of the true Church, you have not proved to be granted be Churches differing from the Roman, therefore is a Principle of your own, and a begging of the Question. I deny it to be the only mark, for a mark must be infallible, and 

That mark which may possibly deceive, and is common both to a True and a False Church, and may as probably lead to the one as the other; is no certain infallible mark to find the true Church.  
But Visibility may deceive, being common to both; and may as readily lead to a False as a True Church.  
Therefore Visibility no sure mark and unerring Rule to find the True Church.    
The Major is undeniable, bearing its own Proof, Truth, and Reason in itself. The Minor is apparent in all Ages, even from the beginning of the World to this day: Go up into Paradise, the Garden of Eden, there was Truth and Falsehood, even as soon as God had laid his Church, the Devil began to build a Chapel; for (in Genesis) not long after, Et Deus dixit (And God said, etc.) the Devil was busy to set up a false Worship and wrong Obedience; and then comes, Et Serpens dixit, And the Serpent said, which visibly and miserably deceived our first Parents. The Church was with Moses in Egypt, there were Magicians and mock Miracles; Falsehood ever followed the Truth, or Truth found it where it went: There were Calves in Dan and Bethel, there were worshippers of Baal; Error is almost as old in the world as Truth: No sooner went the Apostles out to Preach, but a false Doctrine appeared in Simon Magus, and his Followers, Acts 8.14. In one place or other Erroneous and false Churches have been always Visible to this day, (even when the true Church have been obscured by Persecutions) for so it must be according to the saying of St. Paul, 1 Cor. 11.19. Oportet esse Haereses; Were the idolatrous People in the time of Elias, Achas, Manasses, and others, the True Church, because they only were Visible to the World? For where was Visibility of the True Church, when the Prophet cried out and complained (1 Kings) He only was left alone? (so a true Church may be, though not visible, for there were seven thousand true Worshippers which he knew not of.) Where was Visibility when the Shepherd was smitten, and the Sheep scattered, hid, and concealed? Zach. 13.7. Joh. 16.32. Where was Visibility of the True Church in the time of Dioclesian the Emperor, when neither Church, Book, nor Men escaped? Was she not as St. Joh. testifieth, Revel. 12.6. fled into a Desert where she should not be found for a space, etc. And St. Chrysostom (in Math. 24.) saith, In the time of Abomination of Desolation, (viz. of wicked Heresy,) Nulla probatio potest Christianitatis, etc. No proof of Christianity can be made, or refuge found for Christians to know the true Faith, but only the Divine Scripture: So the Church of Antichrist may be Visible and Flourishing, when the true Church of Christ is in obscurity and hath no Lustre. Therefore Visibility is not in all Ages and all times an infallible mark of the true Church, but is a mark also of a false one; and so a true Church hath been, and may be, though not Visible to Humane Eyes, etc. Your next Position is from Succession, viz.   


2. That Church that have lawful Succession is the True Church;  
But only the Roman have lawful Succession,  
Ergo, only the Roman Church is the True Church.   
To prove the Major you twice instance St. Augustine, but direct to no place where; therefore I know not whether he speaks as you represent him; or if he doth, whether he denotes a Succession in Place, of Persons, or of Doctrine; and you bring in Irenaeus to say, Successione Confundimus omnes, etc. but there is no such saying in the manner you mention, found in Irenaeus; 'tis only corruptly quoted by Bellarmine, (Bellar. li. 4. de notis Eccles. ca 8. Sect. 2.) nor have I heard or found Irenaeus, or any other Father make Local, Personal, Visible, and Continued Succession, a necessary Sign or Mark of the True Church in any one place, (as though a True Church could not be in any place without it,) yet the Faith was delivered over by Succession in some places or other to their time, and is to our time, and shall be till there be no time; for a True Church may be, hath been, and is in places, where there hath not been Continued, Visible, Personal Succession. Were not Jerusalem, Antioch, etc. and others in the Primitive times true Churches, yet Succession of Bishops hath not continually succeeded in them to this day, and later Churches are true likewise: Constat omnem Doctrinam quae cum illis Ecclesiis Apostolicis Matricibus Originalibus Fidei conspiret Veritati deputandam: So saith Tertullian, De prescript. advers. Haeret. c. 21. And in the same place, Ecclesiae posteriores non minus Apostolicae deputantur pro consanguinitate Doctrinae: The Succession Irenaeus stood upon, was of the Churches then in Asia, and of Smyrna, where Polycarpus sat Bishop, as that of Rome. Testimonium his perhibent quae sunt in Asia Ecclesiae omnes, & qui usque adhuc successerunt Polycarpo, Iren. l. 3. advers. Haeret. ca 3. And St. Hierom tells us, Ecclesia non in parietibus consistit, (in Psal. 133.) So Succession in the Father's Account is not tied to Place, or Person, but to the verity of Doctrine; as Tertullian (de prescript. c. 32.) Ad hanc formam provocabantur ab illis Ecclesiis, quae licet nullum ex Apostolis, vel Apostolicis Authorem suum proferunt, ut multo posteriores, quae denique quotidie instituuntur, tamen in eadem fide conspirantes; non minus Apostolicae deputantur pro cansanguinitate Doctrinae; showing that modern Churches, such as are daily instituted and set up agreeing and linking together in the same true Faith, are no less to be esteemed Apostolical for their nearness and consanguinity of Doctrine; and to that we have as good Succession as any Christian Church this day in the whole Catholic Body, the Religion professed in the Church of England being nearest of any Church now in being, to the Primitive Christian Church. Churches that have Doctrine, that is not allied in Blood, to that of Christ and his Apostles, have no lawful or good Succession; for Consanguinitas Doctrinae is required: Irenaeus speaks plain, Illis Presbyteris obediendum est, qui cum Episcopatus Successione Charissima acceperunt veritatis. Iren. l. 4. ca 43. We are to obey those Priests, who with their Succession in the Office of Bishop have received the Pledge or Gift of Truth: whereupon Stapleton (Relic. count 1. q. 4. A. 2. Notab. 1.) is forced to confess, successio nec locorum tantum est neo personarum, sed etiam verae & sanae Doctrinae. And why it cannot be of Pastors he again tells us (Notab. 4. ibid.) name Pastore Lups fleri potest; which is true, many great men have turned Heretics; Judas changed from an Apostle to a Devil, so 'tis the easy for others to change from Shepherds into Wolves. Nor can the Roman Prelates pretend they have only this veràm et sanam Doctrinam, or claim a lawful succession of Pastors continually holding entire the Unity and the Eaith, for they have not kept the Unity of the Church, but have had more Schisms among them than any other Church, above thirty acknowledged by their own Chronologer Onuphrius; Even Popes themselves have many of them (by confession of several Romish Authors who have written of their Lives) been very vile, erroneous, Heretical, etc. So 'tis clear Rome hath no lawful Succession, by confession; they have only a Succession of gross Superstitions and Errors for a bout a thousand years, for which they can show no Practice on Warrant from the Apostles. You further say, That our English Bishops had no Succession from Roman Catholic, for immediately after Conscoration, Stapleton, Harding, etc. (your own men) told them to their faces they were no Bishops, Ergo, only the Roman Church have lawful Succession.  
I see you are put to hard straits for proof, that, seeing the Fathers will not speak for you, you are forced to be your own Testimony, which with me is less than nothing (for who will or can take an Adversary's bare objections for a sufficient confutation of a matter in question) for by this your Argument and Rule of proof, should I tell you that any of our Party say Stapleton, Harding, etc. were no Scholars (though indeed they were great Clarks) and should I say they were damnable Heretics and forsakers of the Truth (as in truth they are) you ought to admit it as a convincing Testimony (else why do you obtrude your say for proof?) but let that pass. You confess English Bishops had Consecration from the Roman, and so enabled and qualified for the service of the Church; If then the Roman had any lawful power to consecrate (which I deny not) I do not question but their Consecration is valid enough and hold good, notwithstanding Stapleton and Hardings words to the contrary; for such say do not unordain, and so we have your Succession and Consecration to boot. But whether ordinary Mission or Ordination be so absolutely necessary to the being of Truth, as though Truth could nor be without it, is with me a question, seeing Christ encouraged the Faithful that did wonders in Christ's name and was not sent, (St. Mark 9.39, 40.) forbidden him not he is on our part, etc. nor did I ever conceive a necessity lay on the English Church to receive Orders from Rome, more than on the Roman to receive Orders from it, seeing we were a Church Apostolic assoon, yea were a Church before any settlement of a Church in Rome. The Religion of Christ was received in Britain, tempore (ut scimus) summo Tiberii Caesaris, in the latter time of Tiberius Caesar, as saith St. Gildas (de excid. Brit.) the same is acknowledged by your own man Baronius; whereas St. Peter kept in Jury long after Tiberius his death: And (as Theodoret and Sophronimus Patriarches of Jerusalem affirm) the Apostle St. Paul first taught in Britain; Also Aristobulus mentioned Romans 16. came to this Isle and discharged the Office of a Bishop, as Dorotheus witnesseth, and in his Synopsis also averreth Simon Zelotes Christum praedicavit in Britannia ubi crucifixus occisus et sepultus est; The same also affirmeth Nicephorus lib. 2. cap. 40.) Simon Zelotes Evangelii Doctrinam ad occidentalem Oceanum Insulasque Britannicas perfert. And Joseph of Arimathea An. Dom. 53. taught the Gospel in Britain as Baleus Flemingus and others affirm, likewise Tertullian who lived An. Christi 200, saith, Britanorum loca Romanis inapoessa Christo subdita sunt (advers. Judaeos cap. 7.8;) After him Origin An. Christi 260. witnesseth Britanniam in Christianam consentire Religionem. So it is evident and most clear that Apostles and Apostolic men delivered over the Faith to us, and were the first Planters; we had many Waterers after of this Plantation, and a succession of Doctrine by confession on all sides. St. Jerom also Anno 405. records Gallia, Britanniá, Africa, etc. unum Christum adorant, unam observant Regulam veritatis: In which time Bellarmine confesseth the Church was a true Apostolic Church, Antiqua Ecclesia primis quingentis Annis vera Ecclesia fuit, etc. (Bel. l. 4. the notab. Eccl. cap. 9) and then, viz. the first four hundred years we and Rome were of one joint Belief and Faith from one Fountain (Christ Jesus and his Apostles) and the same faith we had then, the same we have now, we hold to the old Foundation, the Scripture, Creed, and, ractice of the general Church in those times; so are we a true Church and a right Member of the Catholic, having lawful succession of Doctrine, conveyed to us (as before is proved) from Apostles and Apostolic men; whereby it's evident we are no Novelists nor any of our Profession, the Antiquity whereof our very Enemies do acknowledge.  
Reinerus a Roman Inquisitor (above three hundred years since) speaking of the Professors at Lions, calling them Valdensae, Leonistae, etc. in contempt, saith, they are more pernicious to the Church of Rome than all other Sects for three causes; First, being of longer continuance than any other, the Sect enduring ever since the Apostles. Secondly, It is general, creeping into all Lands. Thirdly, It hath a great show of Godliness, they live justly, believe all things well concerning God, and all the Articles contained in the Creed, only they Blaspheme in hating the Church of Rome, etc. He calls us indeed a Sect, as of old, the Priests of the Jews called the Church of Christians, a Sect of Nazarites, Acts, 24.5. but you see, by Confession we had our Doctrine in former Ages, and were a Church from the Beginning, and are not estranged from the Church of Rome where she holds the Truth, but she from us and the true Catholic Church of Christ; nor do we departed from her (as they charge us) or are any further remote from her, than she herself is from her primitive Purity, ancient Principles, from Scripture, Reason, Charity, Antiovity, and from what she was in her best of times: our present Church of England (though often have been under clouds and heavy persecutions) still retaining the primitive verity to this day. So your second Argument is invalid in that you have not proved (nor can prove) that the Church of Rome hath this lawful Succession of uncorrupted Doctrine and Principles, or that succession of Pastors is necessarily tied to one particular place for ever to make the being of the Catholic Church, as though the universal Church of Christ could cease to be, if Rome and her Prelates were extinct and turned to Ashes.   

Your third Argument from pretended Privileges belonging to the Roman Church, viz. 

3. That Church only that have confuted and anathematised all Heretics, converted Nations, deprived and restored Bishops, called Councils, etc. that is, the true Church.  
But only the Roman is such;  
Ergo, only the Roman is the true Church.    
The Major (you say) is plain, because these Privileges belong to the Authority of the Mother-Church, which is, Matrix & Radix omnium Ecclesiarum.  
I answer, you should first have proved her to be the Mother-Church & Radix, etc. before you exercise (or can claim) the Authority of a Mother; I would fain know what Church is the Mother of the Roman; or is Rome itself Motherless; for I deny her to be the Mother of the universal Church of God: yet do agree that those Privileges (you mention) do belong to the Authority of the Catholic Church; but 'tis an insolent and intolerable usurpation (of the Rights and Privileges of the Universal Church) for any particular Church to confine all the Catholic Privileges to her particular self, I am sure she hath not this power from Christ to judge and condemn her Sisters; for she is not Matrix & Radix omnium Ecclesiarum (as you say) there were elder than she (therefore she at best but a Daughter Church, and Sister to others) Jerusalem (if any particular) was it, as was prophesied of old, Mic. 4.2. and fulfilled, Luke 24.47. and so Theodoret, lib. 5. Hist. Eccl. cap. 9) tells us, Ecclesia Hierosolymitana quae aliarum omnium Mater: And Men were first called Christians (not at Rome but) at Antioch, Acts. 11.26. St. Gregory Nazian. saith, The Church of Caesaria was Mater prope omnium Ecclesiarum, meaning of neighbouring Churches, not of the whole Catholic Church: Et Constantinopolitana Ecclesia dicitur omnium aliarum caput; so in that sense, and no other, Rome may be called Head of those Churches in her Patriarchat. Every particular Church that teacheth the Catholic Doctrine may be called Catholic, (as a Member of the universal) and so was the particular Roman whilst it held all things true concerning the Faith; but never was she Mater & Radix omnium Ecclesiarum, for the Universal Church hath no particular or local Root of its being, Jerusalem, as I said before, if any, was it. Or if you will have a particular Root of the Catholic Church, 'tis in the East, not in the West at Rome— se praecisam esse a Radice orientalium Ecclesiurum, etc. St. August. Epist. 170, But the Head, Root, Matrix, Fountain, etc. of Rome and all other particular Churches, is the Catholic Church and her Unity, and to break her Uunity by usurping a Power or Priority, which Christ never gave, is at the least abominable, if not certainly damnable; 'tis against a command too, The Text is clear, There was a strife among the Apostles which should be greatest, St. Luke, 22.14. Christ answered them, The Princes and Rulers exercise Dominion, etc. but it shall not be so with you; He that will be greatest, etc. St, Matt. 20.26. There is no Priority much less Superiority given to Churches National; Tertullian tells us, Omnes Primae, & omnes Apostolicae, dum unam omnes probant unitatem (de prescript. advers. Haeret. cap. 20.) Porro unam esse primam Apostolicam ex qua reliquae hanc nulli loco affigit B. Rhenanus: therefore not at Rome. And it is to be observed, that Tertullian, long since, numbering the then Apostolical Churches reckons Rome last of them, (Tertull. ibid. cap. 32.) and Pamelius lately puts Rome after others (cap. 21. num. 129.) what you speak out of St. Augustin, In Ecclesia Romana semper viguit Apostolicae Cathedrae Principatus, that in Rome there did always flourish the Principality of an Apostolic Chair (in relation to the West and South parts of the Church, all the other four Apostolical Chairs being in the East) doth not give Rome, nor the Pope thereof, power to exercise this Principality (beyond his Limits, out of his own Patriarchate) over the whole Church of Christ: for in the same Epistle of St. August. (Epist. 162.) Melciades then Bishop of Rome had leave granted him to hear a matter of the Donatists adjudged by the African Bishops, and other Bishops by the Emperor were sent Judges to determine with him, for if he had done it without leave the Epistle tells us it had been an usurpation, seeing (ad cujus curam, etc. ibid.) it belonged to the Emperor's care and charge, and that he is to give an account to God for it. Yea a Pope himself saith 'tis Antichristian to be styled universal Bishop, St. Greg. l. 4. Epist. 78 monstrous and blasphemous, Absit a cordibus Christianorum Nomen illud Blasphemiae, ibid. Epist. 76: and further, (St. Greg. Epist. 83.) In isto scelesto vocabulo consentire nihil aliud est quam fidem perdere. So the Roman was not then universal Bishop, had no power over Patriarches and National Bishops, no Monarch over the whole militant Church for near six hundred years after Christ: and Britain in those times was never subject to the See of Rome, for it had a Primate of its own (Et a Patriarcha non datur Appellatio, saith the Civil Law) from whom lies no Appeal. Now than the general power of anathematising Heretics, depriving Schismatics, restoring Orthodox Bishops, &c, belong to the Catholic Church Militant, and her Authority in general Councils lawfully by her called and constituted; and that the Catholic Church is our Mother no man will deny that accounts God to be his Father. But this Holy Catholic Church (mentioned in the Apostle's Creed) is not the Church of Rome, nor any other particular Church on Earth: The Holy Catholic Church there spoken of contains not only the whole militant Church on Earth but the whole Triumphant alive in Heaven; for so St. August. Euch. cap. 56. Ecclesia hic tota accipienda est, non solum ex parte quae peregrinatur in terris, etc. verùm etiam ex illa quae in Caelis: And who converted Nations originally? Did not Christ send out his Apostles, and seventy Disciples at another time, and then after sent many more? were not then Apostles Apostolic men, and the general Church they that converted and confuted Nations and planted the Church of Christ in the World? Now this Holy Catholic Church, before ever Rome was a Church, is Matrix & Radix omnium Ecclesiarum, of Rome as well as other. The Catholic Church was ever one and the same Church, (viz. the Church of God spread over the whole World (and as before described by St. August.) Rome could never be it, for if Rome, a particular Church, can be now the Catholic Church, then by the same Rule (if it be not out of Rule) some other particular Church, before it, was the Catholic Church; and how came that to lose it and Rome to get it, that it is now, as you say, translated to Rome; and doth it not follow by the same rule that Rome (also) may transire in non Ecclesiam, pass way in no Church; for what Patent or holy Charter from Heaven hath Rome above the former, and above other particular Churches that it shall there remain to the end of the World? Nay, they that most stand for it, even the greatest Champion Rome hath, can only say, 'Tis a pious and probable Opinion to think, Cathedram Petri non posse seperari a Roma & proinde Romanam Ecclesiam non posse errare vel deficere. (Bellar. de Ro. Pont. cap. 4.) so 'tis but pretended probality, and that is no proof able to convince: However, he that thinks the contrary, viz. that the particular Church of Rome can err and fall away from the Faith (which the true Church can never do, I mean the Catholic Church before described can never fall away from the Faith) and St. Peter's Chair be severed from Rome, is by Bellarmine's own confession no Heretic, for he adds, Contraria sententia nec est Haeretica nec manifesta erronia (Bellarm. ibid.) And if the Apostolic Chair can be removed from Rome, and the Roman Church fall away from the Faith, than it is so far being the only Catholic, that it ceaseth to be a part of the Catholic Church; where it appeareth that Rome never was, is, or can be, The only Catholic Church of Christ.   

Your fourth Argument, from Universality of the Roman Church, hath its Answer already in a great measure: But something more I shall particularly answer to the same, which you propound, thus. 

Arg. 4. That Church is only Catholic which is dispersed through all Nations.  
But only the Roman is dispersed through all Nations,  
Ergo the Roman only is the Catholic Church.    
And how comes the denomination of the Church to be changed from Christian to Roman; certainly 'tis no small felony to rob the Church of the more honourable Appellation and give it your own name. Men were first called Christians at Antioch; and yet the Universal Church was never styled Antiochian.  
If you make a difference between the Christian Faith and the Roman, speak out and confess it; If you mean the Christian Faith, why do you not say so? alter your Minor Proposition and the conclusion will follow for the Church of Christ, and I'll assent to it without more ado, for then your Proposition will be true and you will contend without an Adversary. But have you any other Doctrine can parallel this Sacrilege in taking away the Christian Name from the universal Church of Christ? As though the Spouse of Christ could become Anabaptist, forget her Virgin Name and change her Beloved. Is Christ and Rome convertible? Is the Gospel of Christ become the Gospel of the Pope? or hath the Pope a Gospel of his own that is spread over the World? was there not a true Church (that had Radix Essentiae, and is the Root, Essence and Being to Rome and other particular Churches) before Rome received the Faith? And what was that Church called? not Roman surely: And why did you not say the Church of Jerusalem or the Church of Antioch, etc. (where the first Plantation was) is dispersed through all Nations; Ergo, the Church of Jerusalem, Antioch, etc. only is the Catholic Church? it had been more tolerable though as little to sense. The first Appellation (before ever Rome was a Church) viz. Christian, shall stand with me for ever: I dare not change from Christian to Roman, in as much as Christian Religion is elder and was before ever Rome was converted; therefore Christian, not Roman, is the primitive and right term and name of the universal Church. Besides, How the Roman (or any particular Church) can be the Catholic (for at best she was but a Catholic) Church, is no ways apparent. St. Cyril tells us, Catholica est illa quae diffusa est per universum Orbem; Rome is not the universal (but the Christian Church is) so not Catholic in extent. Romana Ecclesia particularis confesseth Bellarmin, (lib. 4. de R. Pont. c. 4.) so not the Catholic Church; Rome itself must be judged by Scripture and the Catholic Church (and is right no further than it agrees with the Catholic) and not the Catholic Church by it. Our fierce Adversary Stapleton, pours out his Reason why Roman is esteemed Catholic, Quia ejus Communio erat evidenter & certissimè cum tota Catholica; So you see the Communion of the Roman was with the Catholic, not of the Catholic with it: And St. Cyprian in the rent and open Schism between Cornelius and Novatian employed his Legates, etc. Elaborarent ut ad Catholicae Ecclesiae unitatem scissi sorpor is membra componerent: Now the members of this torn Body were they of Rome, then in open Schism between Cornelius and Novatian, (St. Cypr. li. 2. Ep. 10.) And St. Cyprian endeavoured to bring Rome to the Unity of the Catholic; so Rome then was not The Catholic, nor is the Radix, etc. or can she be her own Original. There is a double Root, (as one learnedly observes) Radix Essentiae, which gives Essence and Being to Rome and all other particular Churches, and there is Radix Existentiae, as Rome with all other particular Churches (and no more than other Patriarchal Churches) which was and is the Root of the Church's Existence, agreeable to that known and received Rule in Art, that Universals give Essence to their Particulars, and Particulars supply their Universals with Existence. But to shut up and confine the Universal Church of Christ, (as it is now spread) in the narrow compass of Rome only, is ridiculous Nonsense. Ecclesia non in parietibus consistit, saith St. Jerom, in Psal. 133. The Church is every where, ubi fides vera, etc.  
You bring in St. Paul to say, (Rom. 1.8.) that the Roman Faith was preached in all the World: But you abuse St. Paul, for 'tis not said preached; nor is it said Roman Faith. Their Faith was spoken of (as his course was to commend and encourage the faithful in every place) St. Paul intending to impart to them some spiritual gift, for they were not then established: He only commended then the Faith of the Saints then in Rome (which they had newly received) viz. the Christian Faith (never called it the Roman Faith) and so much he spoke, and more, of the Faith of other Nations and Persons to whom he wrote, and yet never any Nation or Person usurped a Style was never given them. St. Paul, Thess. 1.8. witnesseth that, From the Church of Thessalonica sounded out the Word of the Lord, and in every place the Faith of the Thessalonians was spread abroad; and were ensamples to all that believe, etc. ver. 7. ibid. (which was a true Faith) and yet they never nicknamed the Universal Christian Church Thessalonian, nor did they ever arrogantly and audaciously adopt the Universal Church of Christ as their own Offspring and Issue, (or that they only were the Catholic) as Rome doth in your Position. St. Paul did commend the Faith then in Rome, but now 'tis changed and not worthy commendation. You say that is St. Peter's, and why not St. Paul's Faith; was not his as good, and the other Apostles the same that St. Peter taught? Was there no true Faith but what came from Rome? (and 'tis yet a question whether St. Peter was ever there, Rome could never yet make it appear) Was all the Doctrine of the other Apostles invalid? Was not their power equal? (Matth. 28.19, 20. and 18.18. Joh. 20.22, 23.) 'Tis most sure one was not above another (as before is proved) Christ's Word was delivered to all to Preach; from which our very greatest Adversary is forced to confess, Summa Potestas Ecclesiastica non solum data est Petro sed etiam aliis Apostolis, (Bellarm. li. de Ro. Pont. ca 1.) all are Supreme: Then they who pretend to be St. Peter's Successors, have not Supreme Ecclesiastical Power any more than the Successors of the other Apostles; for St. August. (Tract. 50. in St. Jo.) saith, Si hoc Petro tantum dictum est non facit hoc Ecclesia. The Keys were given to St. Peter and all the rest in a Figure of the Church (as one saith) to whose power and to whose use they were given; not to one to Lord it over the rest: It shall not be so with you, etc. (as before.) And St. Augustin, (de Agon. Chri. ca 30.) Petrus Personam Ecclesiae Catholicae sustinet, & huic datae sunt Claves quum Petro datae, so the Power is in the Catholic Church, not any single Person, as is evident by the practice of the Primitive Church many hundred years after Christ, when was no Universal Bishop (as before is proved) to St. Gregory's time. St. Peter's Faith, not his Person, is the Rock against which, etc. for afterwards to his Person Christ said, Get thee behind me, Satan, etc. And a Temptation did too much prevail on him when he most horribly fell in a personal and shameful denial of his Master (which cost him many bitter Tears.) Epiphanius, (li. 2. Heres. 59) tells us 'tis his Faith, Super hanc Petram solidae Fidei edificabo Ecclesiam meam: So St. Greg. Nyssen also, Haec sides Ecclesiae fundamentum est (de Trin. adver. Judaeos.) The same Interpretation gives St. Hilar. (li. de Trin.) Super hanc igitur confessionis Petram Ecclesiae edificatio est. And this Faith the whole Catholic Church hath, which is the Rock against which Hell Gates shall not prevail, to cause the Church to fail fundamentally.  
If any were supreme why not the beloved Disciple, to whom it was never said, Get thee behind me Satan, and who never denied his Master: Or St. Paul, though none of the twelve, yet an Apostle for whom there is more colour, for He had the Right Hand of Fellowship given him, Gal. 2.9. And he himself owned expressly an Authority, 1 Cor. 7.17. And so ordain I in all Churches.— In all Churches, in the Roman as well as other (if Rome was then a Church.) Sollicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum, The Care of all the Churches, he saith, 2 Cor. 11.28. And where was St. Peter's Supremacy, yea where was his Infallibility, when St. Paul rebuked and opposed him to his face, in that He walked not uprightly according to the Truth of the Gospel? (Gal. 11.3.4.) And where was his Supremacy when he was sent on Errands by the Church, viz. by the other Apostles, Acts 11.3, 4. and Acts 15.13. And how can St. Peter's pretended Successors claim a Supremacy, that St. Peter had not himself. If any succeeded our Lord in the Principality of the Church, Epiphanius twice tells you it is St. James the Lord's Brother; Ille primus Episcopalem Cathedram cepit, quum ei ante caeteros omnes, suum in terris Thronum Dominus tradidisset, (Epiphan. l. 3. Haeres. 78. Page 103.)  
You go on and say, What Faith the Romans had then, the very same they have at this present, etc.  
Not so neither, for Rome was a right Church, and is now a wrong; Their Faith is changed, at lest what Faith they have now, they had not then; the true Church then (and many hundred years after) knew not your present Errors and Superstitions, not your prayer (in the Church) in an unknown Tongue, as St. Paul witnesseth, 1 Cor. 14. The Church owned no supreme Prelate, no Pope above his fellows, usurping a power to depose Princes, no worshipping of Images, no invocation of Saints, no adoration of the Bread in Sacrament, no breaking of Christ's Institution in the Eucharist, giving the holy Sacrament but in one kind, no Purgatory, no Decretal Epistles and Canons against Scripture to be believed as Scripture, No Doctrine of Devils, etc. Tim. 4.1, 2, 3.  
St. Augustin (whose memory is honoured through the whole Christian world in all Churches) was of the true Catholic Church, no man will deny, and yet he was no Romanist in Opinion; for he was in the separation of the Africa Church from Rome, with many other Bishops, and died therein. Ergo, 'tis possible to be of the true Catholic Church, and yet out of the Roman.  
We are taught by St. August. (de Bap. con. Don. ca 4.) Evident Scripture before all things must take place, for it is, as your own man, Stapleton, confesseth, (Relict. con. 4. q. Ar. 3.) the Foundation and Pillar of Faith: (Scripturam Fundamentum esse & Columnam Fidei fatemur) Then I shall not easily be led away from the Foundation by the subtle tradition of men, seeing St. Paul gives more warning (Coloss. 2.8.) Beware lest any man spoil you through Philosophy and vain Deceit, after the Tradition of men. Now what my Faith is I have told you in the beginning of my first Paper, which I take to be the Faith of the present Church of England. I embrace the Faith which the Apostles delivered, I believe the holy Scripture and the Creeds, and these in the sense of the ancient Primitive Church: I submit in all humility to the four great General Councils, (so much magnified throughout Christendom) their Determinations and Interpretations; and I do believe all points of Doctrine generally received, as fundamental in the Church of Christ. This I confess and subscribe to, and seeing I so do, you are bound in charity to believe me, for you have all the proof that can be had, or that ever Man or Church required. Now show me where I do departed from the Foundation, and yet I am no Papist, or show me (if you can) where the Church of England doth fail in any one point fundamental in the Faith.  
We do not, Hominis consuetudinem sequi sed Dei veritatem, as St. Cypr. (l. 2. Epist. 3.) teacheth, for Consuetudo sine veritate vetustas est Erroris, ibid.  
We are bid to go to the Law and the Testimony; The Word is a Light unto our Feet, and Lantern to our Paths: we are taught to Search the Scripture, which is able to make the man of God perfect, (saith St. Paul.) It was proclaimed from Heaven by God the Father first at Jordan, then at Mount Tabor, This is my well beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him; and to hear him is Life: And I know, They committed two Evils that forsook the Fountain of Living Waters, to hue out to themselves Cisterns, broken Cisterns that can hold no water, Jer. 2.13.    

That Episcopal and Kingly Government are inseparable in England, and the Establishment of both are, Jure Divino.  
WE have in the late Tragical Revolutions been too severely taught, that no Project of Government either in Church or State, Episcopacy excluded, is consistent with England's happiness; and that Episcopacy and Monarchy are inseparable, and the only props of this Nation's Peace, we, by the same cruel Experience have been made sensible; whereby it appears that 'tis England's great Interest to uphold both for her safety, and that the one cannot subsist without the other, was well understood by that second Solomon, King James of blessed memory, from whom we have the Maxim (in his Basil. Do.) Sublato Episcopo tollitur Rex, no Bishop, no King: And no Faction or Profession (though nick-naming themselves Protestant's) deviating from the Principles in Doctrine, and Practise in Worship, from the present Church of England, can stand with Monarchy. A right Protestant of the English Church, protests not only against the errors of Rome, but against all Schism and errors of every Sect, and against all Doctrine not agreeing with the Primitive Profession, and Practise of the ancient Church of Christ.  
There are sorts of People that are ever clamorous, and designing to Reform the Reformed, and even to amend Reformation itself, chief plotting a great alteration (which is more than a Reformation) of Church Government, by removal of Bishops from the Government; but these are enemies to good Reformation, for no good Reformer ever held Episcopacy unlawful, the Order doth emanare ab Apostolis. The Government is of Divine Right, of which Christ himself (the Great Highpriest, Heb. 4. v. 14. and Bishop) laid the Foundation, was Bishop over all, and the Apostles were Ministers; After him every Apostle had his Charge, many of them a Diocese, and was Overseer, that is, Bishop over many Churches, and they left this way of Government a Pattern for all Posterity to follow. So it is manifest that Church-Government by Bishops is as old (and universally practised) as Christian Religion, and Christian Faith was received in England soon after the Crucifixion of our Saviour, and the Government of the Church by Bishops entered with it, as well it ought; for there was no other Government, Order, or Constitution in the Primitive Church: Apostles, Angels, Bishops, Patriarches, etc. are Synonimons, one Office under several Denominations. St. Paul an Apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by God, was a great Apostle or Bishop: Timothy had a Jurisdiction over the Ephesians, and was ordained Bishop (Tim. 3.22.) and so was Titus Bishop of Crect, and had many Ministers under them. Thus entered Episcopacy and that Order of Priesthood to the Government of the Church in the beginning. There was an order of Priesthood in the old Law, of which the high Priest was chief, and there were Priests and Levites: so in the new it seemed meet to the Eternal Builder of the Church to leave, (by the example set by his Apostles) an Order and Method of Government therein; and this divine Emanation the Universal Church hath in all Ages embraced, and this Orders best keeps the Presbyters and Clergy in Unity one with another, and in an Union of Doctrine and Worship in the Church throughout, which otherwise, the order of Church-Discipline left to every Presbyter's private fancy to use after his own modelling, would greatly hazard the introducing as many Novels (may be Schisms and Factions) as there are parochial Churches in the Land; what a Medley! what a Confusion! what a Hydra! what a Babel! what an open Mockery as it were, of God would there be throughout the Nation to the scandal thereof; so the Church in England would have no appearance, no face and constant dress to be known by; Strangers would be at a loss for the true English Church, finding here a Hydra of many faces not one like another.  
But who, and what generation of men, are wiser and more holy than the Apostles and Fathers of old, to set up a new way of Government (of their own contriving) in Christ's Church? what Power on Earth can abrogate that Government by divine Institution reared, and continued by the same right all Ages in the Church of God? And what necessity is here of a change or alteration of Government in the Church from that which is Apostolical to that which peradventure may prove Diabolical? for what good can be expected by pulling down that which is of Gods setting up and introducing a new (we know not what) of Man's absolute devising? But if perchance, any Irregularities have crept in, or undue practices, contrary to the established Order, have been committed in any part of this Government which should call for (or minister a Necessity of) Reformation; surely not unhallowed hands of the profane Laity (who should be governed by the Church and not the Church corrected by them) are fit Instruments of this Work, especially in a Nation that hath so lately felt the dire Effects and Issues of a popular (pretended) Reformation, and wherein those men have shown to the World what ill Workmen they are. Let the people reform their own Manners; This reforming part of what is amiss in the Church belongs only to them to whom the Holy Spirit said, I will be with you always to the end of the World; with the Church, i. e. with the Apostles, (whose personal continuance lasted not in the World) and their Successors in the Office of Apostles, Bishops, Pastors, Patriarches, etc. in the Church, who shall have the assistance of the Holy Spirit for ever, As my Father sent me so send I you: And as Christ sent them so they sent others; so what shall seem meet to the Holy Spirit and to them whom Christ hath sent and through whose word we are to believe in Christ, (St. Jo. 17.20.) the Governors of the Church successively, to whom Christ hath promised to be with, and in whom only the Jus Divinum remains, may reform and alter what they judge convenient; for it is of the same power that changed the Sabbath from the last to the first day of the week, and 'tis from and by the same Power and Divine Authority that the Church conveys all the Ordinances, Sacraments and Holy things of God to his People from Generation to Generation. These Pastors and Governors with whom Christ according to his word is always present to the end of the World may (I grant) transfer the Government (should they deem a necessity) into more hands, under other names than that of Bishop; which (note) will still be but Episcopacy degenerated into another denomination, the Power will be the same, not altered but translated from one to many, in whom the Supremacy and Jus Divinum will remain: In all this the Church loseth not her Right; But to take away the Government by Bishops from the Church, without her Authority or Consent, is to cut off great part of herself, and to deprive her of much of her Being; And for Laymen to encroach upon her Government and force it from her, is to rifle her of her Divine Right devolved to her as aforesaid. The Authority came not from the Laity, so they have nothing to do therewith, and no Authority to disturb it: For who can touch the Ark of God (though in their Judgement it should seem to totter) and be guiltless, when Uzziah's indiscreet Zeal was so severely punished? and what misery did such misguided popular Zeal lately bring on this Nation in rudely meddling with God's Ark, the Church, and pulling down that Government and those Governors they should Religiously have obeyed; And if Uzzah's fault (whose fervent Zeal was to uphold not overthrow the Ark) was followed with so great destruction on his body, what punishment may they from Divine Justice expect who through Malice, Avarice and Ambition, seek to destroy the Government and Authority of the ancient Church of God?  
Think not then, Oh thou perverse Enemy of the Apostolical Government of God's Church, that your expectation of a change in this Age can have any foundation; that they who enact just Laws can propose unjust things to be enacted, that any one Member of the whole Community, any one of the Representatives of us Laymen in this Lay-Parliament will adventure to lay violent hands on the Church of Christ, by endeavouring to pull down her Governors from their Seat to lay her desolate, to bid defiance to the Spouse of Christ, and so make War again, against the Soul of the Lords anointed; for rothing can pass into a Law but by Royal Assent, and what unhallowed Lip dare offer at a motion savouring of abolishing that radieated Government which his Majesty, not only by his Education and choice hath received, and (following the Wisdom and Piety of his Forefathers and Predecessors) hath approved and confirmed as most Catholic and Sacred, but obliged by solemn and sacred Tie of an Oath at his Coronation to preserve and maintain with all the Legal Rights of the Church. Who can be so impious to lay a snare for his precious Soul, or so vile to imagine to prevail in endeavouring to wheadle him to so great a Transgression as the horrid sin of Perjury, and to betray his Mother the Church to be worried again by her inveterate Enemies, and so consequently himself at last to be at the discretion and mercy of the same Gang, who have been as ready to unhinge the State as unsettle the Church, and do assuredly expect the one from the other, that 'tis more than likely the old Design is now a new on foot; for every stroke that hurts the Church doth wound the State.  
It would be strange and savour much of Satanism if any should advise a Son from inheriting his Father's Virtues, to set at nought the Holy Counsel of so great a Saint in Heaven, not to observe the pious Injunctions and Admonitions of a Religious King and Father, whose dying Speeches, as if he had bequeathed his Piety and Religion, his Zeal and Honour for the Church to be a Portion for his Children and a Glory to the Crown in his Successor obliged the Prince of Wales (our present Sovereign) by a sweet invitation of Reason and Righteousness to stand firm to the Religion in which he was educated; amongst his admirable Instructions, divine Admonitions and Advices he saith— Above all, I would have you, as I hope you are already, well grounded and settled in your Religion: The best Profession of which I have esteemed that of the Church of England, in which you have been Educated: Yet I would have your Judgement and Reason now Seal to that Sacred Bond which Education hath written, that it may be judicially your own Religion, and not other men's Custom or Tradition which you profess. In this I charge you to persevere, as coming nearest to God's Word for Doctrine, and to the primitive examples for Government. And in another place he adds: I do require and entreat you as your Father and your King, that you never suffer your heart to receive the least check against, or disaffection from the true Religion established in the Church of England. I tell you I have tried it, and after much search and many Disputes, have concluded it to be the best in the World; not only in the Community as Christian, but also in the special notion as Reform, keeping the middle way between the pomp of superstitions Tyranny, and the meanness of fantastic Anarchy.  
Now behold, Oh ye Enemies of the Reformed Church of England, yea all the World behold, the Profession of this pure Religion is confirmed to be the truest on Earth by the most signal and Authentic Proof under Heaven, a Proof that bears Majesty, yea Divinity in it, 'tis descended from on High; Kings are Gods on Earth; The King, the most Sacred of Kings hath tried it, (and 'tis the Honour of a King to search out a Matter, Prov. 25.2.) God's Vicegerent made it the great Business and work of his Life to search for Truth and pure Profession of Religion, and in the controverting confounded all the Arguments and Argumentators against God's Church, to their Amazement and Confusion. He in the Decision would not part with one jot of Truth to betray or oppress the Church: His Righteousness he held fast and would not let it go, Job. 26.6. for when he was in the cruel hands of his implacable Enemies (oven a Captive at their dispofal) at Newcastle, far from the Aid of good Men or Books to assist and comfort him, at this disadvantage (as if God had delivered him as he did Job to be buffeted by Satan, and winnowed) their great Champion of their new Gospel, Dr. H. the deputed Tempter of the Synod and Commons House, furnished with all the ensnaring Arguments Sedition and Treason could invent, was sent to captivate the Soul of his Sovereign, and ruffle him out of his Faith (thereby to lay a stone for their new Babel) but met with such Divine and convincing Reasons from the King, who so concisely and sweetly answered every point of their long studied and tedious Sophisms, as overcame the Giant and all his Host of sophistrated Arguments, that returning in high discontent to those who sent him, in great discomposure of Spirit furiously cried out, Never man spoke as the King spoke, and argued as the King argued, he is able to confound ye all, etc. and being enraged that he was vanquished, fell into a Conflict of Spirit, and not long after finished his days. Kings represent God, are Children of the Most High, Sat upon God's Throne; the King hath tried it, (and where was there ever, or can be found on earth, a Prince, for Piety, Religion, and Wisdom, his equal, or one like him) and who can be more concerned for a Child than a Father, for a People than their King? The King hath tried it, and whom can we trust but those that have tried? and whom can a Child better trust than a Father? and whom can we, a People, better trust than the Father of our Country, our King, a Nursing Father, who had no end but the salvation of his Child, the salvation of his People, and to preserve them from Apostasy in the time of Trial and Persecution they might meet with? A King, who was able to try, laborious in the search, judicious to discern, and most wise and learned to judge, who took care of us all as for his own soul, was faithful (before the Lord) unto the death, preferring his Religion before his Crowns and Life, the Church and his People before his own safety; no torment inflicted on his Body, could make a Conquest of his Soul, for his unvanquished Fortitude after many hard Conflicts, bitter Afflictions and Indignities heaped on him, witnessed the truth of the holy Faith and Religion of the Church of England, by giving up his Life for the same, so imitating his Saviour, subscribed and signed the Truth with his last blood.  
King's are Divinely inspired (as by the Actions and Writings of this Holy One is sufficiently evidenced) The Eyes of God are with Kings on their Throne, Job. 36.7. The King is an Angel of God to discern good and bad, 2 Sam. 14.17, 20. An Angel of Light; and to whom then should we repair for Righteous Judgement, but to him who sees with God's bees, to the Angel of Light, to the Light of Israel, 〈◊〉 Isiah. 8.19. Never was there a Test in any Age or Nation like it, what doubt can there be of the purity and truth of the Profession, but that every man may safely take and subscribe to our Religion upon this Trial, and Centre his Trust upon this Testimony and Evidence, and Author it here for ever? What better proof can the whole World produce? Is it not worth ten thousaend? 2 Sam. 18.3.  
Yet not wholly to take it upon the trust of others, and be led to implicithess, barely to take our Profession of Religion from other men's Custom or Tradition (as he said) this good King hath given us a light, and marked us out a way to confirm ourselves in it, to make it our own by Election, in weighing it with sound Reason and Judgement (though hodietter Lessons than) from his Divine Truths and Testimony can be offered to the World) and so hath put us to School to the most Choice, Learned, Religious, and Rational Treatises of holy Churchmen upon the point; that we must acknowledge, though we are owing to Education for initiating and first Principling us in our Religion, we are wholly owing to his Directions, convincing Arguments, and Divine Testimony for the Confirmation of us in it; in it, in the best Religion in the world, which he hath taken by Divine Inspiration from above, not sole Infusion beneath, by Revelation from Heaven, not Education; Seducement, or Custom on Earth; and Heaven itself hath hallowed and approved it, by the late miraculous replanting the same Profession of Religion and Faith in this Land, and restoring the Royal Defender thereof in peace. Hope not then (Oh thou full of wicked Imaginations) that any Branch of that Royal and Holy Stem can be of any other Religion than the best in the world, even the Reformed Religion professed and established in the Church of England, Thou shalt not Revile the Gods, nor speak evil of the Ruler of thy People, Exod. 2.21 Acts 23. Think not then that any Child of so pious and sacred a Parent, can despise the Admonition of an Angel of Light, (and his Book as Heretical) and abandon that Religion the best Religion so recommended, so proved, and the Truth thereof so confirmed, but will Religiously observe such Divine Admonitions and Holy Injunctions, and will Bind them for a Sign upon his Hands, and to the as Frontlet's between his Eyes, always before him, Deut. 6. that it may be well with him for ever; and not by following strange Gods, and those ways he was warned to avoid and beware of, Rob the dead, the most innocent dead, his Royal Father, of the Glory of his Sufferings, of his Crown of Martyrdom; for this were to unsweeten the memory of the purest Innocence (next the Saviour of the world) that ever was born of a Woman. This were (which is a most malicious wickedness but to imagine) not only to Countenance his Enemy's cruelty that murdered his Body, but more barbarously against all Humanity and bonds of Nature to crucify his Honour, to slay his everlasting Name and Memory, to render him Inglorious, his Death a Reproach, to defile his Sacred Dust, to raise a Persecution against him in his Grave worse than all the smarts and horrid terrors of his Life, to render his Religion (that Religion which he watered with his Blood) a Heresy, and himself a most grand Heretic, so consequently to die deservedly, and the destruction of him and his faithful Subjects (in defence of him and the Church) to be Righteous; as if his Enemies depriving him of his Crowns on Earth, were not sufficient, but his dear Offspring to ravish from him also that which he hath in Glory; to help the Popish and Fanatic Enemies to dethrone a Saint, and unsaint a Martyr that is Canonised in Heaven, to pull him from thence, and as much as in them lies to tear his precious Name out of the Book of Life; to make blacker his days on Earth, than all the malice of his Enemies could ever make it, to take his blessed Memory out of the Calendar of Time, to eraze it out of the Rubric, to repeal and make scandalous the Statute of the Realin that hath ordained his day, his day of Glory, his day of sufferings for the Church (the Thirtieth of January) to be observed for even; to ravish his Name from the number of the Good and Virtuous on Earth, to take the Head of the grand Rebel, O. C. from the Pole of Infamy, and to rank that Usurpers Bones again amongst the Shrines of Kings, and even to marble his Hearse into a Statue amongst the Worthies of England. But never can the blessed Name and Honour of Holy Charles be thus stormed, whilst the Earth shall bear any Successor on the British Throne, descended from his sacred Loins, and God grant his Race to Sway the Sceptre, may be as lasting as the Sun and Moon.— Repent therefore (Oh thou Dissenter from all Charity and Goodness) of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.  
No Insidel that had seen the Finger of God in the late great Restauration of Church and State, but would have embraced the Faith of the Church of England in the Notion and Manner as Religion is here Established upon the account of the Miracle only, as may well be concluded from that credible Relation given of a great Prince or Vizier in the Ottoman Territories, who hearing the Story of the Stupendious Miracle of restoring the King of England to his People, and the Protestant Religion to the Nation, even the sudden Redemption from Banishment, and returning the Captivity of Church and People in peace, in the midst of Armies without bloodshed, was startled into an Amazement and holy Rapture, and in the high Transport passionately cried out; Oh had I the happiness to be acquainted with that blessed Prince, His Religion should be my Religion, His God should be my God.  
It is no new thing that Miracles have Converted Nations, but 'tis a strange thing that there should be so stupid and benumbed a Generation of Men in any Nation, whom Miracles move not, even this wondering of the Mahometan (like Nabuchadnezzar, Dan. 3.29. There is no other God can deliver after this sort) in a holy Reverence to this power of the Almighty, and work of his Mercy; is a kind of Adoration of the God of the Protestants of England, and as much as in him lies, a embracing of the Faith in his Heart.— Can than any Christian of England forget these Magnalia Caeli, (or forsake that Faith, Doctrine, Worship, and Discipline, which not the Arm of Flesh, but the Might of Providence hath so amazingly Replanted and Sceptred in this Land) and be good?  
This Profession of the Church of England is apparently owned by God himself to be his own Church, for lately taking of his Rod of Correction, and, in his good time, ceasing Chastising his People, whom he for their sins had afflicted; he dissipated all Sects from Government, and every Religion from Establishment, but that which he called back from Captivity, which he Redeemed from Thraldom to Liberty; and to him who continued his Faith, he restored his Kingdoms; for the sake of the Church he re-inthroned the King in his Rights, and for the sake of the King he re-Established the Church.  
Oh the Majesty and Divinity of Kings, whose Government is Ordained by God himself! By me Kings Reign, etc. Diadema Regis in manu Dei, Isa. 62.3. The Lord doth set the Crown upon the King's head, Psal. 21.3. King's are of Gods setting up, 1 Sam. 9.10, 17. 1 Sam. 10.24. See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen, and ought not to be of the People's pulling down. They are Christi Domini, the Lords Anointed, Touch not mine Anointed, etc. And who can stretch forth his Hand against the Lords Anointed, and be guiltless? 1 Sam. 26.9. Every man's right, the property of every English Man is preserved to him by the Law, per Magnum Chartam Anglia, so the Right of Kings is conveyed and confirmed to them by the great Charter of Heaven, an indelible Law (greater than that of the Medes and Persians) that no man may presume to attempt to alter: Kings have their Titles from above, and hold their Kingdoms under God, for all Kingdoms are his, (and not the People's) He establishes Thrones and Kingdoms for ever, 1 Chron. 28.4, 5. and Chap. 29. v. 23.2 Sam. 7.13. Psal. 89. A King is more honoured than the Angels, hath Gods more peculiar Divine Stamp upon him, and is made the Son of God: I have chosen him to be my Son, and I will be his Father, Chron. 28.6. 2 Sam. 7.14. And who can without highest Rebellion to the King of Heaven, attempt to deface this holy Stamp, by approaching to hurt God's Son and Vicegerent, in Office or Person. The Persons of Kings are sacred, invested with Divinity, which strike an Awe on all good men: This David, when a Subject, well knew and felt, and Adored the Divinity; David, the most undaunted Courage of the Earth, the great Champion of Israel, whom no danger could affright, that encountered the mighty Goliath in the Head of the puissant Army of the Philistines, was the most Valiant of the World, that slew his ten thousands, yet when his King (though a single Person) became his Enemy, and sought his Life (causelessly) to take it away, he could not lift up a hand against his Person, when it seemed easy to have destroyed him in the Cave; dread fell upon David, and his heart smote him but for cutting off the Skirt of Saul's Garment, 1 Sam. 24.5. and said, The Lord forbidden that I should do this thing unto my Master, the Lords Anointed, to stretch forth mine Hand against him, seeing he is the Anointed of the Lord, v. 6.10. And David, though he knew he was to succeed Saul in the Throne, and be King after him, and had a second opportunity to have been avenged of his Enemy Saul, (who again pursued after his Life) and might have slain him in his Trench, and put to the Sword his whole Guard of Armed Men whilst they lay sleeping, yet he became afraid to unsheathe a Sword against his Enemy to cut him off, and would not permit any man to hurt the Lords Anointed, but saved him from danger, 1 Sam. 26.9, 11. Yea sharply robuked the King's Guards for being no more watchful over their Charge, telling them what they, for their Carelessness justly deserved: Ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your Master the Lords Anointed, v. 16.  
Now to escape meriting this Sentence of David, let all English Spirits unite in a vigilant Care to preserve his Sacred Majesty, our Royal Master, the Lords Anointed, the Protector and Defender of us all; Let every good Subject and Son of the Reformed Church, the Protestant Church of England, still Fear God and Honour the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change, Prov. 24.21. Vigeat Ecclesia Anglicana verè Catholica, & Vivat Rex Angliae Regum Protestantissimus; Exurgat Deus, And let the Enemies of both be for ever dispersed. Amen.  
FINIS.