5178 
 
 I 688, 
 
 /, Vindication of .9 Sheet Con- 
 cerning the Orders of the 
 Church of England. 
 
 By 
 Thomas Fairfax
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES
 
 A 
 
 VINDICATION 
 
 Of a Sheet, concerning the 
 
 OR DERS 
 
 O F T H E 
 
 Againft feme 
 
 REASONS, 
 
 Printed at 
 
 
 July 7. 
 
 Imprimatur, 
 A Vindication of a Sheet, tor. 
 
 GuiL Needbam. 
 
 LONDON: 
 j Printed for John Howell, Bookfeiler in Oxford. 1688.
 
 ( I ) 
 
 VINDICATION, 
 
 Ince Pophla Pamphlets of late have found fo ill 
 reception, and the dreadful Names of Henry 
 Hills, and Henry Crutt ende w, in the Title- page> 
 have been a fair warning to the Reader not to ven- 
 ture any farther, it has been thought convenient, left 
 the Works of this Author, which fill four whole Pa- 
 ges, fhould perifh, to try whether tfce World will 
 condefcend fo far as to read them for the fake of the 
 following Reflections. For tho' any confederation 
 of fo mean a Paper muft be confeft to require an Apo- 
 logy, yet this being the Authors firft attempt,and he 
 giving fome fufpicion of fenfe in daring to Print his 
 Trifle in Oxford, a few flight Remarks may upon thefe 
 grounds be excufable : But for the- future, unlefs he 
 gives a cleaner Glove, he muft not expedfc the Ho- 
 nour of an Anfwer. 
 
 I fhall not enquire why our Author tacks his Some 
 Reafons, to another Mans Twenty One Conditions : 
 The coherence of the matters treated of is not very 
 apparent : This may be done, perhaps, out of a 
 complaifant imitation of a Popifi Syllogifm, where 
 the conclufion commonly fcorns any acquaintance 
 with the Premises. As for the Rigorous Demonftra- 
 tor, what he has ofTer'd at fecond hand in Confutation 
 of Dr. Hammond, andBifhop Bramhal, has by them 
 been long fmce confuted, and a juft Reply might 
 A ^ from 
 
 297635 
 
 VH
 
 (O 
 
 from their Volumes be eafily Re print eel, were it not 
 an injuftice to thofe Stationers who are owners of 
 the Copies. But what at prefent I have in hand, is 
 entirely new ; the Defign pretends to humour, the 
 Folfy is peculiar, and the Title fantaftical. 
 
 " Some Reafons, &c. Church of England. 
 
 We exped: a Reafontr, and meet with a Buffoon : 
 He pretends to vindicate the Reverend Licevfer, 
 who would fooner pardon him a Satyr, than an f 
 Apology. Had he been really traducd, if his weigh- ' 
 tier Occafions, and greater Zeal for the Service of 
 his Church than for his own Fame, had hinder'd him 
 from defending- himfelf, hundreds of Proteftant Pens 
 had been ambitious. of the Employment ; for Senfe 
 would be defended by Senfe, and Learning difdains 
 the Patronage of Ignorance. A Vindication of Father 
 ?/VWmight have become this Author, and the brisk 
 attack of the Proteftant Footman has made it necefla- 
 ry. But here a Bill is given out for Impartial Perfons, 
 to come and fee a Combat betwixt a Jefuit and a Chi-. 
 rn<zra;znd an huge duft muft be rais'd in a Vacuum be- 
 twixt a Traducer, who is , No-body, and a Defender $ 
 who fays Nothing- This Author neither did perfwade 
 himfelf, nor could hope to perfwade others, That 
 Dr. Maurice was not the Licenfer : Yet his Sincerity 
 prompted him to infinuate, what he knew to be /#//, 
 and his Prudence put him upon the attempt, of 
 what he defpair'd ever to effeft. 
 
 " $ i. Dr. Maurice is not, &c. as approv'd by Dr. 
 Maurice. 
 
 i. Beit allow'd, that this Author after his Li- 
 beral Education in a Foreign Seminary can count Six. 
 z. We own that it isfalfe, that Schifmaticks, or Here- 
 r, cannot ordain, for Proteltants have more than 
 
 once 
 

 
 dnce prov'd it to be fo. But there are Tome Reafons, 
 why a Roman Catholick ought not to have branded 
 this as a notorious falfhood. 
 (a) Peter Lombard found 
 
 the Doctors tO be divided tradcre facros Ordines, & fi'ab eis 
 
 okrmt- it- . HP irknnw- ordina tiredeutKesadEcc!efiaeuni- 
 
 abOUt It , He aCKnOW- tatem, debeant reordinad. Hanc 
 
 ledges the ^ueltion tO queftionem perplexam ac pene in- 
 
 be intricate, and leaves folubi km faciunt Doftorum vev- 
 it undecided. It is to 
 Protejlants one Argument 
 of its being a notorious 
 Popes have after ted it-; 
 but a Jefiit ought not 
 "to have given the flat lie 
 to Infallibility. 3. If now 
 it le falfe, that Papifls ar- 
 gue from the Schifm or He- 
 re fie of the Ordainer s, that 
 
 the power of conferring Or- --.-,. - ,.,.--. *.- 
 
 , ' . j r ~ n i i Vml in dsnre erat^ quoa ille polltt ac- 
 
 dtrs is null^ it muft be al- e ;p ere . E P . 12 . ibid, p 581. So 
 
 lOw'd US that a great part again ^o/; the mh. forc'd them 
 
 r T r J r\ %*. J who wereordain'd by Leothe 8th. 
 
 Of Lombards Doctors, and a Schifmatical Anti-pope, to fay, 
 
 the fore- cited Popes Were Parermeusnibilbabuitfibi,nibitmi- 
 
 s 4. The Read- b \ dedlt - Bin * Tom< 3-P-. IQ ^-. 
 
 ..-,,' , .' . .1 So Nicholas the iff. Gregoriw qui 
 
 Will by this time judge canmice ac Synodic? depofnus, atque 
 
 tO Whom the weaknefs. //- J**tbemei&tt erat, quern ad- mo- 
 
 7^ r r -///* dumpoffitprovetiereielbenedicerenul- 
 
 Itteratenefs, forgery, falf- ia ratio dout : ighumibu ebotiu* <i 
 
 hood) and the hard fore- Gregorio accepit, nifi quantum (7rr- 
 
 head, which we meet 
 
 ui plurimum diflentire viden- 
 tur. Lmb.l.^.Piji.zZ. 
 
 that fome 
 
 (b) So Innocent the iff. Non 
 vidttur Clericos eorum (slnar.orttr/i) 
 cum Sacerdoiii Mt Minijlerii cuju\- 
 piam fufc'ipt debere dijrnitate t qumiam 
 quibus folum Biiptifmum ratum efle 
 permwimus. Ep. 18. apud Bin. 
 
 qui bonorem ami/it, bonorem dare non 
 
 manus impofitione, & in-vocAtionem dabatur Spiritus Santtus, qui nwerant 
 tnunda? ad Dominum manus levare j laterum Gregorius, qui tranfgreflor, 
 faftus eft Legis ad. iracundiam fui, mtgis quim ad. confer ationem alicujus Spi- 
 rhumSanftum $s* impofitionem ftut maws fine ditbio provQCtvit, &c. Bin. 
 Tom. 3. p. ^8, 699, Ed. Col, Agrip. 1606, 
 
 with
 
 (4) 
 
 with in this Paragraph do of right belong. 
 
 " ^ x. Dr. Maurice knows, &c. refponfible for 
 any fuch. 
 
 i. Lamletb Ordination depends not on the Vera- 
 city of Dr. Parker, but on Authentick Regifters, 
 upon the fight of which the more (c) Ingenious Pa- 
 pifts have confeft themfelves fatis- 
 
 (c) Bilhop Bram- / j rc r i r> 
 
 ^fsConfecr.ofProt. ed - <i - one of his Society, m 
 Biihops vindicated, a good Caufe, may tell us He has 
 
 JS'lrtf-^* heard what he never heard, and 
 a Popifh aflurance has often pre- 
 tended to prove, what never cou'd be prov'd, then 
 this hearfay of a pretence of a proof is but a weak 
 foundation for fo fevere a charge on the Memory of 
 that Venerable Primate : Pope I would have call'd 
 him, but that that N me has been abus'd. 3. To 
 prove that Dr. Parker was a corrupter of Records, 
 will require more Induftry than he allow'd to this 
 Paper, and will not be perform'd as he bragg'd this 
 was at one fitting : But after all, it will remain to be 
 prov'd that He corrupted this particular Record of 
 the Lamleth Confecration, and here he will meet with 
 Antagonifts of his own Fraternity, who will have 
 thefe Records to be fcrc'd feveral Years after Parkers 
 death, and firft produc'd by Mr. Mafon: And here 
 it may be no ill Advice to the Fathers to lay their 
 Heads together, and to agree upon a falfe VerdicT:. 
 4. Our Primates leave the glory tf forging Records to 
 that BifhopjWho, not content with his Diocefs, would 
 by thefe means extend his Vfurp'd Jurifdiflion : The 
 ill fuccefs which the fpurious Canon of Nice, and 
 Gonftantines donation have found, would deter Men 
 of Conduct, tho' they had no fenfe of Religion from 
 fuch vile and Popifh practices. 5. If four true Bifhops 
 
 be
 
 (5) 
 
 be more than three, it has often been made out that 
 Bifhop Parkers Ordainers were more than three true 
 Bi/hops : The A&s of his Confecration prove them to 
 have been 4 in number ; and the truth of their refpe- 
 &ive Orders is evident from other Records, which 
 have been produc'd. 6. Dr. Maurice finds in the Ar- 
 chives of Canterbury the Record for which the Mini- 
 fter makes himfelf refponfible ; and when this Au- 
 thor can bring Certificates for his Honefty, I doubt 
 not but he may be indulg'd a fight of the Originals : 
 That Copies of thefe Ads, both from the Regiflerat 
 Lambeth, and from the Memoire of CorpW'Chritfi- 
 College in Cambridge, are in all hands ; he in all pro- 
 bability might have known, had he not to his other 
 'vows added that of Ignorance. 7. Our Author has 
 promis'd upon this to be an Sternal Mute ; and if he 
 takes Sweden in his way to Turky, he will by that 
 time qualifie himfelf for an Office in the Serail. 
 
 "^ 3. A 11 know, &c. prov'd at all. 
 
 i. The Proteflants have Succeffion in Doctrine, 
 tho' the Arrians had it not. The Papifts fay our 
 Plea is no better than theirs; but are content barely 
 to fay fo. When he (hall produce as good Authority 
 from Scripture, and as Univerfal a Tradition from 
 the Fathers for the Articles of the Trent-Council, as 
 the Reverend and Learned Dr. Bull has fhewn us in 
 favour of the Orthodox againfl the Arrians, we'll ad- 
 mit the Comparifon : In the mean time Nice and 
 Trent do not found well in one Period : There a 
 Chriftian Emperor prefided, here an Anti-Chriflian 
 Pope: There the Canonical Privileges of Patriarchs 
 wereailerted ; here the Divine Right ofEpifcopacy 
 was trampled on by an upflart Order : There the 
 Holy-Ghoft was call'd down by Prayers 5 here the 
 
 Roman
 
 (6 ) 
 
 Roman Catholicks obferv'd it was difpatch'd to the Con- 
 venticle in a Cloak-bag. 2,. The diftindtion betwixt 
 Sncce/wn of Doctrine, and of Pcrfons, was in thisdif- 
 pute necellary, but the latter only was to be infifted 
 on : That we have Succe/wn ofDottrine may at this 
 time be boldly faid, fmce it has been fo often vigp- 
 roufly provd. 
 
 " 4. If then it be uncertain &c. which dothfo. 
 
 i. Whether the C, of England, pretend to a Perfonal 
 Infallibility, or not, we are ready to prove there fits 
 as much Infallibility at Lambeth, as at Rome, and that 
 the more va!uable,becaufe it refidesin one that can read 
 Latin. -L. As for the Succeffion of our Bifhops to the 
 Reformation, He is as much concern d in it, as We : 
 As for the continuance of it thence down-wards I 
 fend him to Mr. Mafon for fatisfa&ion. 3. Since he 
 is inquifitive concerning the fouxclatiox of ourChurch, 
 he may know that our Church is Founded on a Rock, 
 and that Rock is Chrift. 4. The Minifter doth not 
 fay, it is not Heceilary to prove afucceffion ofPerfons, 
 but gives reafons, why it is not neceflary to Ihew a 
 compleat Catalogue of the particular Succeflbrs. 
 The Paragraphs, wherein thefe Reafons are given, 
 are pafsd over by the Author, becaufe there are 
 hard words in them. Tbejjalonica and Epbefus are 
 places He is a Stranger to ; but fure by his Complexion 
 he has fome Relation to Corinth. Clef us and Anacle- 
 lus he might have took notice of, becaufe it was ob- 
 lerv'd, that thefe two make up one of his Popes. 
 5. Prove and approve in Italian Characters Ihew that 
 his Talent doth not lye fo much towards trailed 
 Hiftory, as Jbeer Wit. 
 
 " $ 5-. If thefe We fern Fathers &c. expofe his CIi. 
 
 j. The Weftern Fathers prov'd innovation up- 
 on
 
 (7) 
 
 on Hereticks, becaufe they wanted true Succefllon both o f 
 Doctrine, and Perfons. Their Plea of Succejfion ofDoftrine, 
 excus'd them not, becaufe not prov'd. When the Fathers 
 charg'd them with want of SuccefTion of Perfons, they did 
 not take advantage from the lofs or defect of Records, but 
 from their never having had a line of Bifliops to be record- 
 ed. They requir'd the proof of a PerfinalSttcce/ton, which we 
 havejthey did not exati Compleat Cafalogues,which the Mini- 
 fter has prov'd unneceflary, and which yet we are as able 
 to iliew as any Church in Ckriftendom. 2.. That this Reve- 
 rend Miniflerdoth not in a Sheet Printed for the ufe of his 
 Parifh trouble the Heads of his Pariflioners with a Catalogue 
 of Names,gives no juft Occafion to any Papift to think that 
 our Succeffion cannot be made out ; That it can be done, 
 We have one good Argument that it has been done ; and this 
 our Author, if he had not been a Tefler Jay-Man in Books, 
 cou'd not have been ignorant of. Even the Catkolick- Alma- 
 nack it felf deduces our Arch-Bi(hops of Canterbury from 
 Auftin to Warham: Cranmer indeed is left out, as if his fup- 
 pos'd Herefie or Schifm could Hot out the indelible Cha- 
 rader. What tho' he finds no Bifliops there fmce the Refor- 
 mation ? Neither will he find any Princes there fmce Henry 
 the 8th. An Index expurgatorius has pad upon the Royal 
 Line, as well as the Epifcopal. Even Q; Mary could not me- 
 rit a place in this Catalogue, tho 7 Cranmer' s Memory is Sa- 
 crific'd as his Perfon was heretofore, to make room for Pote, 
 her Contemporary. Proteftant-Calendars bring down the 
 Regal Table to K. James the xd. and honeflly conclude with 
 a Godyrant him long to Reign ; but the Printer to the King's 
 mod Excellent Majefty, forgets his Royal Mafter, and his 
 glorious Progenitors,as he would have done the late King, if 
 he had Printed an Almanack before (ixty. 
 
 " $ 6. He approves not that Aphorifm, &c. Dr. Maurice 
 did. 
 
 B i. He
 
 (8) 
 
 r. He diverts himfelf here with a pitifidfopb/fm upon the 
 v\ T ord power , which He will needs take in another fenfe 
 than it was meant. Neither yet doth his bantering elude the 
 force of the Minifter's Argument : For ftill an umrdahcd 
 may as well ordain, as an iwlaptizd may Baptize; and if 
 Orders are not the power ofOrdainingj^as 'tis agreed Sacer- 
 dotal Orders are not) then according to him, one not or- 
 dain'd., may have the Power of Ordaining, and if he exer- 
 cifes this power, He doth not confer a Power, on another, 
 which he has not himfelf. a. None but a malicious Inter- 
 preter could find any fuch Innuendo as he pretends to fear 
 in the Minifter's Argument : The Papiftsare fo impudent 
 as to tell us, we had our Orders from Laymen ; and we, whom 
 Solomon z&v\fes to wfwer Fools ace or ding to their Folly, fliew 
 that this Objection tho' it cou'd be prov'd, ought not ac- 
 cording to their own Principles to be infrfted on. 3. He 
 that faith that Mr. Savagei&ows that our Biihops had their 
 Orders from Laymen, mufl himfelf allow, if he knows the 
 defign of Mr. Savage- 1- Book, that Popifli Bifhops are Lay- 
 men. 4. As for the Novelty of our Church, tho' we fhould 
 grant it to be no Ancienter than the Reformation, yet ftill. 
 it mud be own'd that Q Elizabeth livid betore the Biihop 
 of Condom, 
 
 " 7. He fays that drift, &c. faying he did not. 
 
 i . When the Queftion is concerning an Inftitution of our 
 Saviour, he that holds there was fuch an one muft prove it. 
 It is Argument enough to us who hold the Negative, that 
 there is no fuch Inftitution to be found in Scripture. 
 ^. Chrift Inftituted no Form of Words as abfolutely 
 neceflary; thofe which he us'd in the Miflion of the 
 Apoftles we think the fitteft,and therefore as fuch, ufe them 
 in our Ordinations : But for that Form which the Ch- of 
 Ro-me ufes, there is no fhadow of proof in Scripture, or An- 
 tiqmty. 3. The delivery of tke Veffch is ib far from being. 
 
 inftitu-
 
 C 9 ) 
 
 infiituted by Chrift, that it is by theRomanifls (/) tliem- 
 felves, acknowledge! a Novelty. 4. If he f 
 
 wants to meet a MM, who would evidently and i^/iLffln'S 
 prove to him that Chrift gave no power <& Book vl cor.cor- 
 to offer Sacrifice, for the Q,,ick and the &fc*&g 
 Dead, I know none who has managdthis Eud.$ohaanesdeSoc, 
 Caufe more for the Proteftants advantage, 3*1- Ed - 1*** 6 * 
 than the infpir'd Writer of the Epiftle to the Hebrews. 
 
 " 8. The Title fays he, &c. concern'd in it. 
 
 i. A candid Reader who wou'd have weigh'd Arguments, 
 and not cavill'd at words, would have eafily underftood the 
 Miniftefs meaning, when he alls Impoftion of Hands, that 
 Form which the Apoftolical Church us'd in giving Orders. 
 It is palpable he could not mean a Form of words, but only 
 a Rite of Ordination. The Objection was, That we had no 
 true Form of Orders : The Anfwer is, That by Form, is ei- 
 ther meant firft a Form of words, and of that it is faid that 
 Chrift Inftituted none ; or fecondly, fome Rites usd tn Or- 
 dinatzon,a.nd of thofe it is fhe w'd that We ufe that which was 
 us'd by theApoftles,byAntiquity,and by theGreekChurches. 
 2,, Tho' this Reverend Mintfter is alfo an able Divine, yet 
 he ought not to build upon fuch Confequences. May not a 
 Man be an Italian B'jfhop, who is nothing elfe but a bad 
 Canonift ? May not a Cardinal domineer over Arch-bidiops 
 and Patriarchs, tho' he be no more than a School-boy ? 
 Was(e) Innocent the loth no Pope, becaufe when the Jan- 
 ftnifts brought their Controverfie to him, 
 he diverted the difcourfmg of it with fay- 
 ing, // is none of my Profejfion, I aw Old, I 
 have never tf uclied Divinity. 3. His Latin Scrap may be 
 counted Learning in a Papift, but we Proteftatirs look upon 
 it as Pedaxtrj. Rifum teneatis Theolo^i might have ferv'd 
 for the end of an Hexameter at the Savoy ; but at Dr. Teni- 
 fons School a Boy would be whipp'd for it- When he was 
 picking a Flower out of Horace, lam glad he did not light 
 
 297(>
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 1 1 1950 
 
 Jhl 
 
 -a- 
 
 Fagary of his own. 4. Did I believe this Dodrine, tiio' I 
 were a Rowan Catholick, I fliould be afraid to adore where 
 this Man Covfecrafesjtvho has given.us a flirewd fufpicion b; 
 the Management of this Sheet that it is difficult for him in 
 anv thing to be intent. 
 
 /v/' N I S.
 
 BX 
 5178 A vindlcatioi 
 
 V74 _L_~" 
 
 concerning 
 
 o: 
 
 BX 
 
 5178 
 
 V74 
 
 1688