THere are but very few things either so little, or so great, whe­ther in Art, or Nature, whether in Politie, or Religion, which are not willing to take advan­tage from the meer credit of their An [...]iquity.

First for Art; Any part of Philosophy penn'd by Hermes Trismegistus, any Script of Geography bearing the name of Anaximander, any Musical Composition sung by Amphion to his Harp, any piece of the Mathematicks said to be writ by Zoroastres, any Relique of Carved worke from inspir'd Bezaleel, Exod. 35. 30, 34. or any remnant of Embroi­dery from the Theopneust Aholiab, would at least for the honor of being reckon'd to be the first, be also reckon'd to be the best of any An­tiquarie's Keimelia.

[Page 2] And as it is in the Things of Art, so is it also in those of Nature. How do the Gentle­men of Venice delight themselves in their Antiquity? and yet they travel for their O [...]iginal no farther back then the siege of Troy: where­as the Arcadians derive their Pedigree even from Iupiter and Calisto, and will needs have their Nation exceed the Moon in Seniority. Nay, though Aegypt (in the Judgment of. [...] Diodor. Sic. lib. 1. p. 9. Di­odorus the Siceleote) hath better pretensions then any other, yet the Barbarians as well as Greeks have still affected a Primogeniture. Nay so far has this Ambition transported some, that they will needs have been begun from before the Protoplast, as it were itching to be as old as the Iulian period, 764 years before the begin­ning of the VVorld. Thus Antiquity hath been courted in Art and Nature.

If in the third place we come to Politie, we shall find Customs gaining Reverence from the sole merit of their Duration. And as a Custom by meer Continuance does wear it self into a Law; so the more aged a Law is grown, the less 'tis liable to a Repeal; by how much the more it is stricken in years, by so much the less it is decrepit: And that for this reason, be­cause the longer it endures, the more it inclines to its perfection; that is to say, its immorta­lity.

[Page 3] Last of all for Religion, the Case is clear out of Tertullian.Tertul. adversus Mar­cion. l. 4. c. 5.Id verius quod prius, id prius quod ab initio. That Religion was the truest, which was the first; and that the first, which was from the beginning. And as He against Marcion, so Iustin Martyr against the Grecians, did prove the Divinity of the Pentateuch from the Anti­quity of its VVriter. The Iewes enjoy'd the first Lawgiver [...]. Justin. Mart. [...]. p. 7. by the Confession of the Gentiles. Mo­ses preached the God of Abraham, whilst Thales Milesius was yet unborn. Nor was it a thing to be imagin'd, that God should suffer the Devil to have a Chappel in the world, before himself had any Church. And thenceId teneamus quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus cre­ditum est: quod ita de­mum fit, si sequamur Universalitatem, Anti­quitatem, Consensio­nem. Vinc. Lir. adv. Haer. c 3. Vin­centius Lirin [...]nsis, to prove the Truth of any Doctrine, or the L [...]gality of a Practice, does argue the Case from a Threefold Topick; The Universa­lity, the Consent, and the Antiquity of a Tradition.

Which Rule if we apply unto the scope of this Text, as it stands in relation unto the Context, we shall have more to say for it then for most Constitutions, divine, or humane: For That of Mariage is almost as old as Nature. There was no sooner one man, but God divided him into two; And then no sooner were there two, but he united them into one. This is That sacred Institution which was made with Mankind in a state of Innocence; the very Ground and Foundation of all both sacred and [Page 4] civil Government. It was by sending back the Pharisees to the most venerable Antiquity, Matth. 5. 31, 32. that our Lord here asserted the Law of wedlock, against the old Custom of their Divorce. Whilst they had made themselves drunk with their muddy streams, He directed them to the Foun­tain, to drink themselues into sobriety. They insi­sted altogether on the Mosaical Dispensation; But He endeavour'd to reform them by the most Primitive Institution. They alledged a Custom, b [...]t He a Law. They a Permission, and that from Moses; But He a Precept, and that from God. They did reckon from afar off; But not, as He, from the Beginning.

In that one Question of the Pharisees,Verse 7.VVhy did Moses command us to give her a writing of Divorce, and to put her away? they put a Fal­lacy upon Christ, call'd Plurium Interrogationum. For Moses onely permitted them to put her away; but commanded the [...] (if they did) to give her a writing of Divorce. And accordingly their Fallacy is detected by Christ in his Answer to them. Moses (did not command, but meerly) Verse 8. suffer'd you in your custom of making un­justifiable Divorcements. [...], he per­mitted, that is to say, he did not punish it; not allowing it as good, but winking at it as the lesser of two great evils. He suffer'd it to be safe in foro Soli; could not secure you from the [Page 5] Guilt, for which you must answer in foro Po­li. And why did he suffer what he could not approve? Not for the softness of your heads, which made you ignorant of your Duties; but for the hardness of your hearts, which made you resolute not to do them: you were so barba­rous and brutish upon every slight Cause, (or Oc­casion rather,) that if you might not put her a­way, you would use her worse. You would many times beat, and sometimes murder, some­times bury her alive, by bringing another into her Bed. So that the Liberty of Divorce, how­ever a poyson in it self, was (through the hard­ness of your hearts) permitted to you for an An­tidote: But from the Beginning it was not so. And you must put a wide difference betwixt an Indulgence of Man, and a Law of God. To state the controversie aright, you must com­pare the first Precept with your customary Pra­ctice; not reckoning as far as from Moses onely, but as far as from Adam too; you must not one­ly look forward from the year of the Creation 2400. but backward from thence unto the year of the Creation. The way to understand the Husband's Duty towards the VVife, (and so to reform, as not to innovate,) is to consider the words of God when he made the VVife out of the Husband. ForGen. 1. 27. Matth. 19. 4. He that made them at [Page 6] the beginning made them Male and Female, and saidGen. 2. 24. Matth. 19. 5. For this cause, shall a man leave Father, and Mother, and shall cleave unto his Wife, and they twain shall be one Flesh. VVhat therefore God hath joyn'd together, let not man put asunder. The Antecedent Command was from God the Father; the Command in the sequel from God the Son. And though the Practice of the Iewes had been contrariant to them both, by a Prescription al­most as old as two thousand years; yet as old as it was, 'twas but an overgrown Innovation. For [...], from the beginning it was not so.

Thus our Saviour, being sent to Reform the Iews, made known the Rule of his Reformati­on. And the Lesson which it affords us is (in my poor judgment) of great Importance. For when the Doctrine or Discipline of our Church esta­blisht here in England shall be attempted by the Corruptions of ModerneRomana Ecclesia se non tam matrem ex­hibet aliis quàm No­vercam. Sedent in eâ Scribae & Pharis [...]i, &c. Johan. Sarisbu­riensis (ad Papam Hadrianum 4.) in Polycratic. l. 6. c. 24.Pharisees, who shall as­sert against us (as these here did against our Sa­viour) either their forreign Superstitions, (to say no worse) or their domestick Profanations, (to, say no more;) we cannot better deal with them, then as our Saviour here dealt with the ancient Pharisees; that is, we cannot better put them to shame & silence, then by demonstrating the No­velty and base extraction of their Pretensions, [Page 7] whilst we evince at the same instant the Sacred Antiquity of our owne. When they obtrude their Revelations, or teach for Doctrines of God the meer commandments of Men, we must aske them every one, how they read in the beginning. We may not draw out of their Ditches, be the Currents never so long, whilst we have waters of our own of a nobler Taste, which we can easily trace back to the crystal spring.

And first of all it concernes us to marke the Emphasis, which our Ancient of dayes thought fit to put on the Beginning, that no inferior An­tiquity may be in danger to deceive us. For there is hardly any Heresie or Usurpation in the Church, which may not truly pretend to some great Antiquity, though not so old as the Old man, much lesse as the Old Serpent. Epiph. Haer. 75. p 904. Tom. 1. Ed. P [...]tav. The Disciplinarians may fetch theirs from as far as the Heretick [...]rius; who wanting merit to advance him from a Presbyter to a Bishop, wanted not arrogance and envy to lessen the Bishop into a Presbyter. But His Antiquity is a Iunior, as well to that of the Anabaptists, as to that of the Socinians. For theAugust. contra Donat. Tom. 7. lib. 2. p. 396. Edit. Basil. Ana­baptists may boast they are as old as Agrippinus, and theEpiph. Haer. 62. p. 513. Socinians as Sabellius. TheAugust. Tom. 6. Haer. 54. p. 25. Soli­fidians and Antinomians are come as far as from Eunomius. TheIren. lib. 1. c. 24. p 79. Excus. 1570. Ranters from Carpocrates. TheEuseb. l. 3. c. 33. p. 80. Colon. Allobr [...] ­gum 1612. Millenaries from Papias. The Irre­spective [Page 8] Iren. l. 1. c. 10. pag. 48, &c. Epiph. Haer. 66. pag. 617. Reprobatarians from Simon Magus and the Manichees. The Pontificians (like the Mahumetans) have such a Rhapsody of Religion, a Religion so compounded of several Errors and Cor­ruptions, (which yet are blended with many Doctrines most sound and Orthodox,) that to find out the age of their severall Ingredients, it will be necessary to rake into several times too.

THe great Palladium of the Conclave, the famous point of Infallibility (which if you take away from them, down goes their Troy, it being absolutely impossible that the learned Members of such a Church should glibly [...]wal­low so many Errors, unless by swallowing this first, That she cannot erre;) I say, the point of Infallibility (which is a very old Article of their very new Creed, a Creed not perfected by its Composers until the Council at Trent,) we can­not better derive then from the Scholars ofIren. Advers. Hae­ret. l. 1. c. 9. p. 44. &c. Marcus in [...]renaeus, or from the Gnosticks in — [...], Epiph. Tom. 1 l. 1. Haer. 26. p. 9 [...] [...] Idem. ibid. Haer. 27. [...] 102. Epiphanius. They had their Purgatory fromNote, That Bellar­mine having boasted, (Lib. 1. de Pargatoria, cap. 15.) That all the A [...]tie [...]s, both Greek and Latine, from the very time of the Apostles, did constantly affirm the doctrine of Purgatory, could not give an older instance, then in Origen and Tertullian, (Ibid. cap. 2. & 7. & 10.) but by recourse unto the Heathen. (Ibid. cap. 11.) Origen, (one of the best indeed in one kind, but in another one of the worst of our antient Writers, not onely an Heretick, but an Haeresiarcha,) or at the farthest from Tertullian, who had it from no better Au­thour [Page 9] then theHoc etiam Para­cletus (i e. Montanus) frequentissimè com­mendavit, &c. Tert. de Anim [...], cap. ult. See Bellarmine con­tradicted by the Ro­manists themselves, E. G. Roffens. contr. Lutherum, Art. 18. Polydor. Virg. Inv. Rer. lib. 8. c. 1. p. 84. Edit. Basil. 1521. Suarez in Aquin. par. 3. q. 59. art. 6. sect. 1. p. 1159. Thomas ex Albiis East-Saxonum de Me. dio Animarum statu, per totum libr. specia­tim Demens. 9 p. 369, 370, 371. Arch-Heretick Montanus. Nor does Bellarmine mend the matter, by de­riving it as far as from Virgil's Aeneid, and from Tully in his Tale of the Dream of Scipio, and farther yet from Plato's Gorgias; unless he thinks that an Heathen is any whit fitter then an Heretick, to give Advantage to a point of the Roman Faith. Their Denial of Marriage to all that enter into the Priesthood, is dated by themselves but from PopeLiquet item, in ori­entali & occidentali Ecclesiâ, usqu [...] ad tem­pus prohibitionis à Ca­lixto factae, Sacerdotum conjugia licita suisse. Maximil. 2, apud Thu. an. l. 36. p. 305, 306. Ca­lixtus. TheirAn [...]e Lateranense Coacilium Transub­staatiatio non suit dog­ma Fidei. Scot. in 4. Sent. Dist. 11. q. 3. Transubstantiation is from the Lateran Council. TheirN [...]gare non possu­mus, etiam in [...]cclesiâ Lati [...]d suisse usum u. tri [...]sq [...]sp [...]ciei, & us­que ad tempora S. Tho­mae durasse. Vasq. in 3. Disput. 216. c. 3. n. 38. Half-Commu­nion is no older then since the times of Aqui­nas; unless they will own it from the Mani­chees, to give it the credit of more Antiquity. Their publick praying before the people in an unknown Tongue, may be fetcht indeed as far as from Gregory the Great. Their Invoca­tion of Saints departed is no doubt an aged Er­ror, though not so aged as they would have it for the gaining of honour to the Invention; be­cause St. Austin doesSuo loco & or­dine Homines Dei no­minantur, non tamen à Sacerdote qui sacrificat invocantur▪ August. de Civitate Dei lib. 22. cap. 10. pag. 1155. deny it to have been in his days. And (not to be endless in the begin­ning of such a limited Discourse, as must not presume to exceed an hour; though in so fruitfull a field of matter, 'tis very difficult not to [Page 10] be endlesse;)Pho [...] as iratus Cy­riaco Episcopo Constan­tinopolitano, adjudica­vit Titulum Oecu­menici Pontifici Ro­mano soli. Baronius ad A. C. 606. The Vniversall Superintendency or Supremacy of the Pope hath been a visible usurpation ever since Boniface the Third. And so our Adversaries of Rome have more to plead for Their Errours then all the rest, because the rest were but as Mushroms in their severall times, soon starting up, and as soon cut down; whereas the Errours of Rome do enjoy the pretence of Duration too.

But touching each of those Errours, (I mean the Errors of their Practice, as well as Iudg­ment,) we can say with our Saviour in his pre­sent Correption of the Pharisees, (whose Er­ror was older and more authentick, that is, by Moses his permission had more appearance of Authority, and more to be pleaded in its ex­cuse, then those we find in the Church of Rome,) that fro [...]n the beginning it was not so; and we care not whence they come, unlesse they come from the Beginning.

Indeed in matters of meer Indifference which are brought into the Government or outward Discipline of the Church, every Church has the Liberty to make her own Constitutions, not asking leave of her Sisters, much less her Children; onely they must not be reputed as things without which there is no Salvation, nor be obtruded upon the People amongst the Articles of their Faith. We are to look upon [Page 11] nothing so, but as it comes to us from the Be­ginning.

And this has ever been the Rule (I mean the warrantable Rule) whereby to improve or reform a Church. When Esdras was intent on the re-building of the Temple, he sent not to Ephesus, much lesse to Rome; he did not imi­tate Diana's Temple, nor enquire into the Rituals of Numa Pompilius; but had recourse for a Temple, to that of Solomon, and for a Ritual, to that of Moses, as having both been prescribed by God himself. And yet we know the Prophet Haggai made the people steep their Ioy in a showre of Tears, by representing how much the Copy had faln short of the Original. The holy Prophets in the Old Testament, shewing the way to a Reformation, advis'd the Princes and the People to aske after the old paths, and walk therein, as being the onely good way for the finding of rest unto their souls, Jer. 6. 16. The Prophet Isaiah sought to regulate what was amisse amongst the Iewes, by bid­ding them have recourse unto the Law and the Testimony: should not a people [...]eek unto their God? If any speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them, Isa. 8. 19 20. And ac­cordingly their Kings, who took a care to re­form abuses, are in this solemn style commen­ded for it, That they walked in the ways of their [Page 12] Father David; that is, reform'd what was a­misse by what had been from the Beginning. So St. Paul in the New Testament, setting right what was crooked about the Supper of the Lord in the Church of Corinth, laid his line to that Rule which he was sure he had receiv'd from the Lord Himselfe, 1 Cor. 11. 23. And thus our Saviour in my Text, finding the Pharisees very fond of a vicious practice, which supported it self by an old Tradition, and had something of Moses to give it countenance in the world, (though indeed no more then a bare permission,) could not think of a better way to make them sensible of their Error, (and such an Error as was their Sin too,) then by shewing them the great and important difference be­twixt an old, and a primitive Custome; and that however their breach of Wedlock had been without check from the days of yore, yet 'twas for this to be reform'd, that 'twas not so from the Beginning.

In a most dutifull Conformity to which example, our Reformers here in England (of happy memory) having discover'd in every part of the Church of Rome, not onely horrible Corruptions in point of Pra­ctice, but hideous Errors in point of Doctrine, and that in matters of Faith too, (as I shall find an occasion to shew anon;) and ha­ving [Page 13] found by what degrees the severall Errors and Corruptions were slily brought into the Church, as well as the several times and seasons wherein the Novelties received their birth and breeding; and presently after taking notice, that in the Council of Trent the Roman Par­tisans were not afraid to makeVide Concil. Tri­dent. Sess. 13. Can. 2, 3. Sess. 21. Can. 1, 2, 3. Sess. 22. Can. 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 Sess. 23. Can. 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9. Sess. 25. &c. quam conser cum Bullâ Pii Quarti. Edit. Bin. p. 444. Tom. 9. New Ar­ticles of Faith, whilst the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Doctrine of Purgatory, the Invocation of Saints, the Worship of Images, and the like, were commanded to be embraced under pain of damnation, (as it were in contempt of the Apo­stle's denuntiation, Gal. 1. 8. by which that practice of those Conspirators made them lia­able to a curse;) and farther yet, that in the Canon of the Fourth Session of that Council, the Roman Church was made to differ as well from her ancient and purer self, as from all other Churches besides her self, in that there were many meerly humane (I do not say profane) VVritings, and many unwritten Traditions also, not only decreed to be ofNec non ipsas Tra­ditiones, [...]um ad fidem tum ad mores pertinen­tes, tanquam vel à Spi­ritu Sancto diciatas, pari pictatis affectu ac reverentiâ suscipit ac veneratur (haec Sancta Synodus.) Trident. Conc. Sess. 4. sub. Pau­lo 3. Bin. Tom. 9. p. 354. equal Authority with the Scriptures, but with the addition of an Siquis libros ipsos integros,—pro sacris & Canonicis non susce­p. rit, & Traditiones praedictas sciens con­tempserit, Anathema sit. ibid. Anathema to all that should not so receive them: This (I say) being consider'd aud laid to heart by our Reformers, (by our Kings, and our Clergy, and Laiety too, met together in their greatest both Ecclesiastical and Civil Coun­cils,) they did not consult with flesh and bloud, [Page 14] or expect the Court of Rome should become their Physician, which was indeed their great Disease; but having recourse unto the Scri­ptures and Primitive Fathers of the Church, they consulted those Oracles how things stood from the Beginning: And onely separating from Them, whom they found to have been Separatists from the primitive Church, they therefore made a Secession, that they might not partake of the Romane Schisme. And whilst they made a Se­cession for fear of Schism; (which by no other practice could be avoided,) they studiously kept to the Golden mean; neither destroying the Body out of hatred to the Ulcers with which 'twas spred, nor yet retaining any Ulcer in a passionate dotage upon the Body.

One remarkable Infirmity it is obvious to observe in the Popish Writers: they ever com­plaine we have left their Church; but never shew us that Iota, as to which we have left the Word of God, or the Apostles, or the yet uncor­rupted and primitive Church, or the Four first Generall Councils. We are so zealous for Anti­quity, (provided it be but antique enough,) that we never have despised a meer Tradition, which we could track by sure footsteps from as far as the times of the purest Christians. But this is still their childish fallacy, (be it spoken to the shame of their greatest Giants in Dispute, who [Page 15] still vouchsafe to be guilty of it,) that they con­fidently shut up the Church in Rome, as their Seniors the Donatists once did in Africk; and please to call it the Catholick Church, not for­mally, but causally, (saith Cardinal Peron,) be­cause forsooth that particular doth infuse uni­versality into all other Churches besides it self: The learned Cardinal forgetting, (which is often the effect of his very good memory,) that the preaching of Christ was to begin at [...], &c. Theod. Hist. Eccles. lib. 5. cap. 9. Concil. Constantinop. apud Baronium ad A. D. 382. suffragatur.Ierusalem. So it was in the Prophesie, (Isa. 2. 3. Mic. 4. 2.) and so in the completion, (Luke 24. 47.) Nor was it Rome, but Antioch, in which the Disciples were first call'd Christians, (Act. 11. 26.) At [...], apud Chrysost. ad Po­pulum Antiochen. Hom. 3. Antioch therefore there was a Church, before St. Peter went thence to Rome. Nay 'tis expresly affirm'd byTempore, ut scimus summo Tiberii Caesaris al [...]sque ullo impedimen. to—radios suos pri­mum indulget, id est pr [...]cepta sua, Christus [...] G [...]ldas in Epist. de Excid. Brit. Sect. 6. Gildas, (an Author very much revered by the Roma­nists themselves,) that Christianity was in Bri­tain in the latter time of Tiberius Caesar; some while after whose death, 'tis known that St. Peter remain'd in Iewry. So that Rome which pretends to be a Mother, can be no more at the best then a Sister-Church, and not the el­dest Sister neither.

Neglecting therefore the pretended Uni­versality of the Roman (that is to say, of a par­ticular) Church; let us compare her Innova­tions with what we find from the Beginning. [Page 16] For this I take to be the fittest and the most pro­fitable Use, that we can make of the subject we have in hand.

And first, consider we the Supremacy or Universall Pastorship of her Popes: which is in­deed a very old, and somewhat a prosperous Vsurpation; an Usurpation which took its rise from more then a thousand years ago. But then, besides that it was sold by the Emperour De Phocâ coeli [...]s est dictum, [...], &c. Cedre­nus, p. 334. Phocas, at once an [...]. Idem. p. 332. Heretick and a Regi­cide, the Devillish Murderer of Mauritius, (who was the [...], the Royall Image or Type of our late Royall Martyr of Sacred Me­mory;) I say, besides that it was sold by the most execrable Phocas, that is to say, by the greatest Villain in the world, excepting Cromwell and Pontius Pilate; and besides that it was sold to ambitious Boniface the Third, whose vile compliance with that Phocas was the bribe or price with which he bought it: and besides that it was done, not out of reverence to the Pope, but inPhocas iratus Cy­riaco, Episcopo Con­stantinopolitano ad­judicavit Titulum Oecumenici Pontifici Romano. Baron. Annal. ad A. Ch. 606. displeasure to Cyriacus of Con­stantinople, who (from Iohn Johannes Constan­tinopolitanus sese hinc efferens, se ubique Oe­cumenicum Patriar­cham nominavit. Idem ad A. C. 595. his Predeces­sor) usurpt the Title of Vniversall before any Pope had pretended to it: I say, besides, or without all this, it is sufficient for us to say, what our Saviour here said to the ancient Pha­risees, That from the beginning it was not so. For looking back to the Beginning, we find The [Page 17] Wall of God's City had Twelve Foundations, and in them were the names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb. (Rev. 21. 14) Paul was equal at least to Peter, when he withstood him to the face, and rebuked him in publick for his Dissimulation. (Gal. 2. 11, 12, 13, 14) Nay S^t. Peter himself, (as well as Iames and Iohn, who were his Peers,) although he seemed to be a Pillar, yet perceiving the Grace that was given to Paul, gave to Barnabas and Paul the right hand of Fellowship (Gal. 2. 9.) And reason good: For S. Peter was but one of the many Apostles of the Iewes; whereas S^t. Paul was much more, the great Apostle of the Gen­tiles, to whom the Iewes were no more then as a River to an Ocean. Saint Peter was com­manded not to fleece, but toJohn 21. 15, 16, 17. feed the flock: Nor was it ever once known that he did lord it over God's heritage, which himself had so strictly forbid to others, 1 Pet. 5. 3. In­deed a primacy of Order may very easily be allow'd to the See of Rome: But for any one Bishop to affect over his Brethren a suprema­cy of Power and Iurisdiction, is a most impu­dent opposition both to the Letter and the Sense of our Saviour's precept, (Mark 10. 42, 43, 44.) Ye know, that they who are accounted to rule over the Gentiles, exercise lordship over them, and their greaton [...]s exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: But whosoever will [Page 18] be great among you, shall be your Minister; and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be the servant of all.

That the Apostles were every one of equal power and authority, is the positive saying of Cyprianus ait pari omnes inter se su [...]sse potestate Apostolos; atque hoc idem suisse alios quod Petrus fu­it. Tractat. 3. de S [...]mplicitate Praela­torum, (Edit, Co­lon. 1544.) p. 135. St. Cyprian, Pari consortio praediti & honoris & potestatis. And St. Ierome is as expresse, ThatSi Autoritas quae­ritur, Orbis major est Urbe, ubicunque fuerit Episcopus, sive Romae, sive Eugubii, sive Constantinopoli, sive Rhegii, sive Alexan­driae, sive Tanii, e­jusdem Meriti, cjus­dem est & Sacerdotii. Potentia Divitiarum & Paupertatis Humi­litas vel subsimiorem v [...]l inserio [...]em Episco­pum non facit. Cae­terùm omnes Aposto­lorum successores sunt. Hieron. in Epist. ad Evagrium, (ex Edit. Basil. 156,.) p. 329. [...]ive ex Edit. Paris. 1533 Tom 2. p. 117. all Bishops, in all places, whether at Rome, or at Eugubium, at Constantinople, or at Rhegium, are of the very same merit, as to the quality of their Office; how much soever they may differ in point of Revenue or of En­dowments. Nay, by the Canons of the Two first General Councils, (Nice, and Constantinople,) every [...]. Concil. Nicae. Can. 6. [...]. Ibid. Can. 7. [...] quae Antioche [...] Ecclesiae servari his Canonibus praecipiu [...]tur, [...]ò pertinent, (inquit Justellus) ut Episcopus Antio­chenus praeferatur Metro [...]litanis omnibus in Orientali Dioecesi. Nihil Juris illi attributum in Caetero [...] Metropolitanos, praeter Honorem Ordinis, non autem ut Metropolitani omnes D [...]oeces [...]os Orientis [...]b [...]o jure singulari ordinarentur, ut Innocentii primi Epis [...]ola ad Alexandr. Episcopum asserere videtur, contra mentem Synodi Nicaenae. Justell. p. 7. ex Edit. Gulielmi Voelli, A. D. 1661. Patriarch and Bishop is appointed to be chief in his proper Diocese; as the Bishop of Rome is the chief in His: And a strict [...], &c. Con­cil. Constantinop. Oecumen. 2. Can. 2. Quid hic Canon sibi velit per [ [...]] Justellus explicat paulò superiùs ad Can. Conc. Nic. 6. nihil Juris nimirum Antiocheno attribuendum in caeteros Metropolitanos, praeter Ordinem Honoris. In­junction is laid on all, (the Bishop of Rome not [Page 19] excepted,) that they presume not to meddle in any Diocese but their own. And the chief Primacies of Order were granted to Rome and to Constantinople, not for their having been the Sees of such or such an Apostle, Confer Iustinian. Novel. Constit. 131. cap. 2. cum Canone 3. Concilii Constant. but for being the two Seats of the two great Empires. Witness the famous Canon of the Generall Coun­cil at Chalcedon, [...]Et paulò post [...], &c Concil. Chal­ced. Can. penult. decreeing to the Bishop of Constantinople an equality of Priviledges with the Bishop of Rome; not for any other reason, then its having the good hap to be one of the two Imperial Cities. Nay, no longer ago before Boniface the Third, (who was the first Bishop of Rome that usurpt the Title of Universal,) I say, no longer before Him then his next immediate Predecessor Pope Gregory the Great, (for I reckon Sabinian was but a Cypher,) the horrible Pride of succeeding Popes was stigmatiz'd by a Prolepsis; by way (not of Prophecy, but) of Anticipation. ForQuis est isle qui contra Statuta Evan­gelica, contra Cano­num Decreta, novum sibi usurpare nomen proesumit?—Novis & profanis vocabulis gloriaatur. —Absi [...] à cordibus Christianorum nomen illud Blasphemiae. Greg. Mag. Epist. 32. ad Mauritium Augustum. Gregory writing to Mauritius the then reigning Em­perour (and that in very many Epistles,) touching the name of Universal, which the Bishop of Constantinople had vainly taken unto himself, calls it a wicked and profane and blas­phemous Title; a Title importing, that the Sed in hac ejus superbiâ quid aliud nis [...] propinqua jam Antichristi esse tempora designatur? Idem ad eundem in Epist. 34. times of Antichrist were at hand; (little thinking that [Page 20] Pope Boniface would presently after his de­cease usurp the same, and prove the Pope to be Antichrist by the Confession of a Pope.) He farther disputed against the Title by an Ar­gument leading ad absurdum; Si illud nomen in Ecclesiâ sibi quisquam arripuit, quod apud honorum omnium ju­dicium fuit, Universa ergo Ecclesia (quod absit) à statu suo cor­ruit, quando [...]s qui appellatur Universalis cadit. Idem. ad Eund. Epist 32. Universalis autem nec etiam Romanus Pon­tifex appelletur, fa­tente Papâ Pelagio fecundo, apud Gra­tian Decretal. p. 1. dist. 99. cap. 4. Quis aute [...] illud pro indignitate rei stupe­at, quòd novam quan­dam indebitamque Potentiam tibi usur­pando arrogas, &c? Ita Papam allo [...]uuntur Episcopi Germa­nici apud Goldast. Tom. 1. p 47. That if any one Bishop were Universal, there would by con­sequence be a failing of the Universal Church, upon the failing of such a Bishop. An Argu­ment; ad homines, not easily to be answer'd, whatsoever Infirmity it may labour with in it selfe. And such an Argument is That, which we bring against the Pope's pretended Head­ship. For if the Pope is the Head of the Ca­tholick Church, then the Catholick Church must be the Body of the Pope; because the Head and the Body are the Relative and Correlative; and being such, they are convertible in obliquo: And then it follows unavoidably, That when there is no Pope at all, (which is very often,) the Catholick Church hath then no Head; and when there are many Popes at once, (which hath been sometimes the case,) then the Ca­tholick Church must have at once many Heads; and when the Pope is Heretical, (as by the confession of the Papists he now and then is,) the Catholick Church hath such a Head as makes her deserve to be beheaded. Multi Pontifices Romani errarunt; si­cut Marcellinus, qui Idolis sacrificavit; et Liberius Papa, qui Arianis consensit; & Anastasius secundus propter Haeresis Cri­men repudiatus suit ab Ecclesiâ: & alii etiam plurimi contra Catholicam fidem te­nuerun [...]; ut Joannes vigesimus secundus, qui asseruit, quòd filius Dei sit Major Patre & Spiritu Sancto. Didacus Stella in Luc. cap. 22. vers. 31. p. 280. col. 1. Edit. Antverp. A. D. 1593. Ad Inquisitionis Hispaniae decreta [...]rorsus elimatus, et summâ fide repurgatus. That Popes have [Page 21] been Hereticks and Heathens too, not only by denying the Godhead of the Son, and by lifting him up above the other two Persons, but even by sacrificing to Idols, and a totall Apostacy from the Faith, is (a thing so clear in the wri­tings of Platina and Onuphrius, that 'tis) the Confession of the most zealous and partial Asserters of their Supremacy. I know that Stella, and those of the Spanish Inqui­sition, do at once confesse this, and yet ad­here to their Position,Ubi suprà, verbis immediate subsequenti­bus. That (with his Colledge of Cardinals) the Pope cannot erre, and is the Head of the Church. But St. Hilary of Poictiers was so offended at Pope Liberius his espousing the Arian Heresie, that he affirm'd the true Church to have been then onely in France. Hilar. Pictav. de Synodis, p 287. & paulò post—Qui­dam ex vobis firmissi­mâ fidei constantiâ intra communionem se meam continentes, se à caeteris extra Galli­as abstinuerunt. Idem. ib. 288. Ex eo inter nos tantùm Communio Do­minica continetur. So ill success have they met withal, who have been Flatterers of the Pope or the Court of Rome.

To conclude this first Instance in the fewest words that I can use: Whosoever shall read at large (what I have time onely to hint) the many Liberties and Exemptions of the Gallican Church, and the published Confessions of Po­pish writers, for more then a thousand years to­gether, touching the Papal Usurpations, and Right of Kings, put together by Goldastus in three great Volumes; he will not be able to [Page 22] deny, (let his present perswasion be what it will,) that the Supremacy of the Pope is but a Prosperous Vsurpation, and hath this lying a­gainst it, that 'twas not so from the beginning.

Secondly 'Tis true that for severall Ages, the Church of Rome hath pretended to be infal­lible; as well incapable of error, as not erroneous. But from the beginning it was not so. For, (be­sides that Infallibility is one of God's peculiar and incommunicable Attributes,) where there is not Omniscience, there must be Ignorance in p [...]rt; and where Ignorance is, there may be Error. That Heresie is Error in point of Faith, and that Novatianism is Heresie, all sides agree: And 'tis agreed by the Champions of the Papacy it selfe, (such asBaron. Tom. 2. An. 254. pag. 498, 499. & seq. Baronius, Pamel. in Cyprian. Epist. 41. & 73. Pamelius, andPetav. in Epiphan. ad Haeres. 59 quae est Novatianorum, pag. 226. Peta­vius,) that Rome it self was the Nest in which Novatianism was hatcht; and not onely so, but that there it continued fromOnuph. in Notis ad Plat. in v [...]tâ Cor­nelii. pag. 29. Col. 2. Vide Euseb. l. 6. & 7. Cornelius to Cae­lestine, which wants not much of two hun­dred years. To passe by the Heresies of the Do­natists and the Arians, (which strangely prosper'd for a time, and spread themselves over the world, the former over the VVest, the later over the East, and as far as the Breast of the Pope himself;) one would have thought that the Tenet of Infallibility upon Earth had been sufficiently prevented by the Heresie Vide Bellar. Chro­nolog. ad [...]. C. 132. & Euseb. H [...]st. Ec­cles. l. 3. c 39. of the Chiliasts, wherewith the Primitive [Page 23] Church her self (I mean the very Fathers of the Primitive Church, for the two first Cen­turies after Christ,) was not onely deceiv'd by Papias, who was a Disciple of St. Iohn, but (for ought I yet learn) without the least Contradiction afforded to it. Nay the whole Church of God (in the opinion of St.Non potest pro­ba [...]i [...]um [i. e. Augu­stinum] existimasse hîc de Eucharistiâ non agi, cum tam multis locis aliis probet ex hoc Johannis Testi­monio, Eucharistiam etiam Infantibus esse Necessariam; idque non ut opinionem su­am sed ut Fidei & Totius Ecclesiae Dog­ma: ad res [...]llendos Pelagianos dicat: & paulò post—Missam facio Augustini & Innocentii primi sen­tentiam, quae sexcen­tos circiter annos viguit in Ecclesiâ, Eu­charistiam etiam In­fantibus necessariam. Res jam ab Ecclesiâ, & Mul [...]orum seculorum usu, & Decreto Synodi Tridentinae explicata est, non so [...]ùm necessariam illis non esse, sed ne decere quid [...]m dari. (Sess. 21 c. & Can 4.) Maldonat. (Excus. Mussiponti, A. C. 1596.) in Joh. 6. 53. p. 717, 718, 719. Au­stin and Pope Innocent the third,) and for six hun­dred years together, (ifNon potest pro­ba [...]i [...]um [i. e. Augu­stinum] existimasse hîc de Eucharistiâ non agi, cum tam multis locis aliis probet ex hoc Johannis Testi­monio, Eucharistiam etiam Infantibus esse Necessariam; idque non ut opinionem su­am sed ut Fidei & Totius Ecclesiae Dog­ma: ad res [...]llendos Pelagianos dicat: & paulò post—Missam facio Augustini & Innocentii primi sen­tentiam, quae sexcen­tos circiter annos viguit in Ecclesiâ, Eu­charistiam etiam In­fantibus necessariam. Res jam ab Ecclesiâ, & Mul [...]orum seculorum usu, & Decreto Synodi Tridentinae explicata est, non so [...]ùm necessariam illis non esse, sed ne decere quid [...]m dari. (Sess. 21 c. & Can 4.) Maldonat. (Excus. Mussiponti, A. C. 1596.) in Joh. 6. 53. p. 717, 718, 719. Maldonate the Iesuit may be believ'd) thought the Sacrament of Eu­charist to have been necessary to Infants, as well as to men of the ripest Age: and yet (as Maldo­nate confesseth at the very same time,) it was so plain and so grosse an Error, that notwithstand­ing St. Austin did endeavour to confute the Pe­lagians by it, as by a Doctrin of Faith, and of the whole Church of God; yet the Council of Trent was of a contrary mind, and did accor­dingly in a Canon declare against it.

3. Pass we on to the Doctrine of Tran­substantiation, which (if its Age may be mea­sur'd by the very first date of its Definition,) may be allow'd to be as old as the LateranCujus corpus & san [...]guis in Sacramento altaris sub speciebus P [...]nis & Vini veraci­ter continentur, tran­substantiatis Pane in Corpus, & Vino in sanguinem, potestate divinâ. Conc. Later. c. 1. In Synaxi serò Transubstantiationem definivit Eccle­sia. Diu sa [...]is erat credere, sive sub Pane consecrato, sive quocunque modo adesse verum Corpus Christi. Erasm. Annot. in 1. Cor. 7. Saltem ab annis 500 dogma Transubstantiationis sub Anathemate stabili­tum, ut ait ipse Bellarminus de Eucharist. l. 3. c. 21. Cujus etiam confessionem videre est, l. 3. c. 23.Council, [Page 24] a Council held under Pope Innocent the Third; since whom are somewhat more then 400 years: But from the beginning it was not so. For besides that our Saviour, just as soon as he had said, This is my Blood, ex­plain'd himself in the same Breath, by calling it expresly the fruit of the Vine, and such as He would drink new in the Kingdom of God, (Mat. 26. 29. Mark 14. 15.) there needs no more to make the Romanists even asham'd of that Do­ctrine, then the Concession of Aquinas, and Bel­larmine's Inference thereupon.Corpus Christi non est co modo in [...]oc Sa­cramento sicut Corpus in loco, quod suis Dimensionibus loco commensuratur; sed quodam special [...] modo, qui est proprius huic Sacramento. Unde dicimus, quòd Corpus Christi est in diversis altaribus, non sicut in diversis locis, sed si­cut in Sacramento. Nullo enim [...]odo Cor­pus Christi est in hoc Sacramento localiter, quia si [...]sset, dividere­tur à scipso. Aquin. Oper. Tom. 12. S [...]m. part. 3. q. 75. art. 1. ad 3. p. 23 2. col. 2. et q. 76. art. 3 et 5. ex. Edit. Antwerp. 1612. Aquinas so ar­gues, as to imply it is Impossible, and im­ports a Contradiction, for one body to be locally in more places then one, and in all at once. But Si non posset esse u­num Corpus local [...]ter in duobus locis, quia di [...]ideretur à [...]eipso, profectò nec esse posset Sacramentaliter eâdem ratione. Bellar. de Eucharistiâ, lib. 3. cap. 3. p. 511. Tom. 3, Controvers▪ ex Edit. Paris. A. C. 1620. Bellarmine (at this) is so very angry, that in a kind of Revenge upon Aquinas, (though held to be the Ang [...]lical Doctor,) he needs will inf [...]r 'tis as Impossible, and equally implies a Contradiction, for any one body at once to be so much as Sacramentally in more Places then one. And therefore it cannot now be won­der'd concerning Transubstantiation, if so long ago as in the time of Pope Nicolas the Second, either the Novelty was not forg'd and hammer'd out into the shape in which we find it, or not at all understood by the Pope Himself. For one [Page 25] of the two is very clear by the famousCoactus es [...] Beren­garius publicè profi [...]e­ri, Panem & Vinum, quae in altari ponun­tur, post consecrationem non solùm Sacramen­tum, sed etiam verum Corpus & Sangui­nem Domini nostri Jesu Christi esse: & sensualiter non solùm Sacramento, sed in ve­ritate manibus sacer­dotum tractari, frangi, & fidelium dentibus atteri, Confer Floria­cens. Histor. fragmenta à P. Pichaeo edit. inter Franc. Script. (Excus. Francof. A. C. 1596.) p. 86. cum Lanfranc. lib. cont. Berengar. & Guitmund. de Sacram. l. 1. & Alger. de Sacram. l. 1. c. 19. Sub­mission of Berengarius, wherewith he satisfied theSigon. de Regno Ital. l. 9. A. 1509. Synod then held at Rome, (and in which were 113. Bishops,) though not at all unto a Trans, but rather a Consubstantiation. Which diversNisi sanè intelligas verba Berengarii, in majorem incides Haeresin, quàm ipse habuit: & ideo omnia referas ad species ipsas, nam de Christi Corpore partes non facimus. Johan. Semeca Glossator in Gratian. de Consecrat. Dist. 2. cap. Ego Berengarius. Romanists themselves have not been able not to Censure, though it was pen'd by a A Car­dinale, scil. Humber [...]e [...]to Sylvae Candidae Episcopo. Guitmundus ubi supra. Cardinal, and approved of by a Council, and very glibly swallow'd down by the Pope himself.

4. 'Tis very true that their withholding the Cup of blessing in the Lord's Supper from the se­cular part of their Communicants, hath been in practice little less then 400 years. But from the beginning it was not so. For in our Saviour's Insti­tution we find it intended forConcil. Constant. Can. 13. p. 88 [...]. In Ecclesiâ Latiná 1000. amplius annis ten [...]it, ut tam Populo quam Clero in celebratione Massarum post mysteri­orum consecrationem scorsum Corpus & se­orsum Sanguis Domiai praeberetur. Cassan. Consult. 22. Vas (que). cap. 3. Disp. 216. c. 3. n 38. Secundum antiquam Ecclesi [...]e co [...]su [...]fudinem, omnes sicut communicabant Corpori, it a communi­cabant & Sanguini, q [...]od etiam adh [...]c in quibusdam Eccles [...]is servat [...]. Aquinas in Comment. in Joh. 6. every Guest. [...] is the word, Drink ye all of this Cup. (Mat. 26. 27.) And S. Paul to the Corinthians (consisting most of Lay-men) speaks as well of their drinking the mystical blood, as of their [...]ating the Body of Christ. ( [...] Cor. 11. 26, 27, 28, 29.) Nay 'tis confest by learned Vasquez (as well as by [Page 26] Cassander, and Aquinas Himself, to be a Truth undeniable, That the giving of both Elements in the Roman Church it self, until the time of Aquinas, did still continue to be in use.

5. The Church of Rome for several Ages hath restrain'd the Holy Scriptures from the perusal of the People. But from the beginning it was not so. For Hebrew to the Iews was the Mother-Tongue, and in that 'twas read weekly before the People. It pleased God the New Testament should be first writen in Greek, because a Tongue the most known to the Eastern world. And to the end that this Candle might not be hid under a Bushel, it was translated by St. Ierome into theSixt. Senens. Bib­liothec. l. 4. Ipse Hieron. in Epist. ad Sophron. Tom. 3. Dalmatick Tongue, by Bishop Vulphilas into theSocrat. Hist Eccles. lib. 4. c. 17. Niceph. Hist. Eccles. l. b. 11. c. 48. Bonav. Vulcan. in Praefat. d [...] Liturg. & linguâ Getarum. Go­thick, by St. Chrysostom intoRoccha in Biblio. thecâ Vatican. p. 155, 157. Armenian, by Athelstan into Saxon, byAventin. Annal. lib. 4. Methodius into Scla­vonian, by Iacobus de Voragine intoSixt. Senens. Bibl. [...] ▪ 4. Italian, by Bede and VVicl [...]f intoVide Authores citat. apúd Brerew. Inqu. c. 26. p. 192. English. And not to speake of the Syriack, Aethiopick, Arabick, Persian, and Chaldee Versions, (which were all for the use of the common people of those Coun­tries,) theConfer. Blond. Ital. Illustrata, in Marchia Trivisana, & Tinto de la Nobiltà di Verona, lib. 2. cap. 2. cum Hieronymi Temporibus apud Bellarm. de Script. Eccles. p. 104. Vulgar Latine was then the Vulgar Language of the Italians, when the Old and New Testament were turn'd into it.

[Page 27] 6. The publique Prayers of the Romanists have been a very long time in an unknown Tongue, (I mean unknown to the common People,) even as long as from the times of Pope Gregory the Great. But from the beginning it was not so. For 'tis as scandalously opposite to the plain sense of Scripture, as if it were done in a meer despight to the 14^th Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, especially from the 13. to the 17. ver. Not to speak of what is said by the [...]. Origen. contra Celsum (ex Edit. Ho [...]schelii, Au­gus [...]ae Vindelicorum, 1605. [...]lib. 8. p. 414. Pri­mitive Writers:Cum Aquinate & Ly [...]â confer Cajeta­num in 1 Cor. 14. sententiae nostrae suf­fragantem. Aquinas and Lyra do both con­fess upon the place, That the common Service of the Church in the Primitive times, was in the common language too. And as the Christians of Angelus Roccha in Bibl. Vatic. p. 157. Dalmatia, Biblioth. Vet. Patrum, Tom 6. p. 55. Habassia, Bellonius in Observ. l. 3. c. 12. & Vitriacus in H [...]st. Orient. cap. 79. Broca [...]dus non [...]ullibi in su [...] Descriptione Terrae Sanctae. Armenia, Pos [...]ev [...]nus de Reb. Mose p 4. And. Thevetus Cos. l. 19. c 12. Muscovia, Bapt. Pa­lat. de rat. Scrib. Ang. Roccha B [...]blioth. Vatic p. 162. Scla­vonia, Pos [...]ev [...]nus de Reb. Mose p 4. And. Thevetus Cos. l. 19. c 12. Russia, and all the Reformed parts of Christendom, have the Service of God in their vulgar Tongues, so hath it been in divers Places byAventin. Annal. 1. 4. Aeneas Sylvius in Hist. Bohem. cap. 1 [...]. Concil Bin. Tem. 3. [...]. 9 [...]0. Vide e [...]iam Decret. l. 1. Tit. 31. cap. 14. et quicquid Authorum videre est in [...]. laq [...]. c. 26. Approbation first had from the Pope himself.

7. Another Instance may be gi [...]en in their Prohibiting of Marriage to men in Orders, which is deriv'd by some from the thirdNempe à Papi Ca­lixto, qui. floruit A▪ D. 2 [...]0. Consule Thu­anum. in [...]. 36. p. 305.Cen­tury after Christ; byBishop Hall, 3. E­pist. 2. Decad. others from the eighth; and [Page 28] in the rigour that now it is, from Pope Gregory the Seventh. But from the beginning it was not so. For Priests were permitted to have wives, both in the Old and New Testament; (as Maximilian Ubi supra apud Thuanum, p. 305. & 306. the Second did rightly urge against the Pope:) And the blessed Apostles (many of them) were married men: for so I gather fromEuseb. l. 3 c. 13. Eusebius out of Clemens Alexandrinus: and from theConstat Apostolos ip­sos, paucis exceptis, co [...]juges habuisse. Ubi supra apud Thua­num. Letter of Maximilian, who did not want the Advice of the learnedst persons in all his Empire; and from 1 Cor. 9. 5. where St Paul asserts his liber­ty to carry a VVife along with him, as well as Cephas. And 'tis the Doctrine of that Apostle, that a Bishop may be an Husband, although he may not be the Husband of more then one Wife. (1 Tim. 3. 2. Tit. 1. 6.) Besides, the Marriage of the Clergy was asserted byIbid. apud Thua­num. P [...]phnutius in the Coun­cil at Nice; and even by one of those [...], Canon. Apo­stol. 5. [...]. Zonaras in Can. Apost. 5. p. 4. Edit. Pari. 1618. Canons which the Romanists themselves do still avow for Apostolical. And the forbidding men to marry (with Saturninus, and the Gnosticks,) is worthi­call'd by God's Apostle, The Doctrine of Devils. (1 Tim. 4. 1. 3.)Irenaeus, l. 1. c. 22. [...]. Clem. Alex. Strom. l. 3.

[Page 29] 8. I shall conclude with that Instance to which our Saviour in my Text does more peculiarly allude; I mean the Liberty of Divorce betwixt Man and Wife, for many more Causes then the Cause of Fornication. For so I find it isSiquis dixerit Ec­clesiam errare, cùm ob multas Causas se­parationem inter con­juges quoad totum, seu quoad cohabita­tionem, ad certum incertumve tempus, fieri [...]osse decernit, Anathema sit. Con­cil. Trident. Sess. 24. Can 8. p. 411. Edit. Bin. Tom. 9. Paris. decreed by the Church of Rome, with an Anathema to all that shall contradict it. But from the Beginning it was not so. For 'tis as opposite to the will of our Blessed Saviour revealed to us without a Parable, (in the next verse after my Text) as if they meant nothing more, then the opening of a way to rebel a­gainst him. For besides that in the Canon of the Council at Trent, a Divorce quoad Torum / Totum ob multas Causas was decreed to be just in the Church of Rome, although our Lord had twice confin'd it to the Sole Cause of Fornica­tion, (Matth. 5. 32. & 19. 9.) And besides that the word Totu [...]n was constantly reteined. inScil. (praeter Edit. jam nomiuatam) Edit. Col. Ag [...]p. Tom 4. part 2. p. 332. Sum. Concil. Edit. Franc. Longii à Coriolano, Antverp. A. C. 1623. p. 1024. Item Concil. General. Pauii Quin­ti Auctorit. Edit. Romae, A. C. 1628. Tom 4. p. 273. four Editions, (particula [...]ly in That, which had the Care and Command of Pope Paul the Fifth,) Let it be granted that the Council did mean no more, then a meer Sequestration from Bed and Board, to endure for a certain or un­certain time; and not an absolute Dissolution of the Conjugal Knot; yet in the Judgment of Chemnitius, yea and of Maldonat Himself, (who was as learned a Iesuite as that Society ever had,) it would be opposite (even so) to [Page 30] the Law of Christ. For heSi ob aliam Causam quàm ob Fornicationem dimiserit, quamvis aliam non duxerit, moechatur; quia ux­orem suam moechari facit. Maldonat. (ex­cus▪ Mogunt. A. D. 1624.) in Matth. 19. 9. p. 392.who putteth away his VVife for any Cause whatsoever, besides the Cause of Fornication, commits Adultery (saith the Ie­suit) even for this very reason, because he makes Her commit it, whom he unduly putteth a­way. Atqui in Ponti [...]icid illâ Separatione (nem­pe à Toro & Mensâ, ad certum ince [...]tum­ve▪ tempus,) Vincu­lum Conjugii mul [...]is & variis modis solvi­tur & disrumpitur. Nam ad Vinculum Matrimonii pertinent hae sententae. Et adhaerebit Uxori suae. Faciamus ei adjutorium quod sit coram ipso. Mu­lier non habet potestatem sui Corporis, sed vir. Iterum convenite, ne tentet vos Satan, propter Incontinentiam vestram. Non sunt Duo, sed una Caro. Et ipsum Matrimonium d [...]initu [...], Individuâ vit [...] Consuetudine. Haec v [...]ro vincula Co [...]jugii in Pontisiciâ separatione, quoad Tor [...] et Cohabitationem, solvuntur et dirumpuntur. Homines igitur, contra Decretum Div [...]nitatis. se­parant, quod Deus conju [...]xit. Chemn [...]t. in Exam. Concil. Tr [...]dent. (Excus. Genev. A. D. 16▪ 4▪) p. 437. Nay, Chemnitius saith farther; That the Papal Separation from Bed and Board, is many ways a Dissolution of the Conjugal Tye. Nor does he content himself to say, or affirm it only, but by a Confluence of Scriptures does make it good, That against the Command of our blessed Saviour (in the verse but one before my Text,) That which God hath joyned together, the men of Rome do put asunder.

By these and many more Corruptions in point of Practice and Doctrine too, which were no more then Deviations from what had been from the Beginning, and which the learned'st Sons of the Church of Rome have been forced to confess in their publick writings; the awakened part of the Christian world were compell'd to look out for a Reformation. That there was in the See of Rome the most abomi­nable Practice to be imagin'd, we have the [Page 31] liberalVix ull [...]m peccatum cogitari potest, (solâ Haeresi exceptâ) quo illa sedes turpiter ma­culata non fuerit, maximè ab Ann: 800. Staplet. Oper. Tom. 1. Cont. 1. q. 5. art. 3. pag. 597. excus. Paris. 1620. Confesson of zealous Stapleton himself; and of those that have publisht theirConsule Canonas Poenitentiales Roma­nas, Bedae, Rabani Mauri, &c. cum notis Antonii Augustini; Archiepiscopi Tar­raconensis, Excus. Venetiis, 1584. Peniten­tials. We have the published Complaints of Armachanus, and Grostead, and Nicolas de Cle­mangis, Iohn of Hus, and Ierome of Prague, Chancellor Gerson, and Erasmus, and the Arch­bishop of Spalato. Ludovicus Vives, and Cassan­der, who are known to have died in the same Communion, did yet impartially complain of some Corruptions.Ludov. Vives in St. August. de Civit. Dei, l. 8. c. 27.Vives of their Feasts at the Oratories of Martyrs, as being too much of kin unto the Gentiles Parentalia, which in the judgment ofParentatio Mo [...]tuis species est Idololatri [...], quoniam & Idololatria Parentationis est speci­es. Tertul. de Specta [...]. cap. 12. Tertullian made up a species of Idolatry. And Cassander —Ita ut ad Summam adorationem, quae vel à Paganis [...]uis simula­cris exhiberi consuevit, & ad extremam vani­tatem quam Ethnici in suis simulacris exor­nan [...]is admiserunt, nil à nostris reliqui fa­ctum esse [...]ideatur. Geo. Cassander in Consult de Imag. & Simulacris m [...]hi pag. 175, 176. confesses plainly, that the Peoples Adoration paid to Images and Statues, was equal to the worst of the ancient Heathen. Thuan. l. 25. pag. 760, &c. So the buying and selling of Papal Indulgences and Pardons ('tis a little thing to say of Preferments too) was both confest and inveigh'd against by Popish Bishops in Thuanus.

Now if with all their Corruptions in point of Practice, which alone cannot justifie a People's Separation from any Church, (though the Ca­thari and the Donatists were heretofore of that opinion,) we compare their Corruptions of Doctrine too, and that in matter of Faith, (as [Page 32] hath been shewed,) Corruptions intrenching on Fundamentals; it will appear that That door which was open'd by Vs in our first Reformers, was not at all to introduce, but to let out De Hildebrando in haec verba sententiam [...]erunt Episcopi Ger­manici qui Concilio Wormatiensi inter­ [...]uerunt. Dum pro­fanis studes Novitati­bus, dum magis amplo qu [...]m bono nomine de­lectaris, dum inaudita Elatione distenderis, velut quidam Signifer Schismatis, om [...]ia membra Eccl [...]sia super­bâ crudelitate & cru­deli superbiâ lacerasti: flammasque Discordiae quas in Romana Eccle­sia diris factionibus excitasti, per omnes Ec­clesias Italiae, Galliae, & Hispaniae, furiali dementia sparsisti.—Per gloriosa tua Decreta (quod sine lachrymis dici non potest) Christi serè nomen per [...]it. Im­perial. Statut. à Gol­dasto edit. Tom. 1. p. 47. Schism. For the schism must needs be Theirs who give the Cause of the Separation, not Theirs who do but separate when Cause is given. Else S. Paul had been to blame, in that he said to his Co­rinthians, Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate. (2 Cor. 6. 17.) The actuall De­parture indeed was Ours, but Theirs the causal; (as our immortal Arch-Bishop does fitly word it:) we left them indeed when they thrust us out; (as they cannot but go whom the Devil drives;) But in propriety of speech, we left their Errors, rather then Them. Or if a Secession was made from them, 'twas in [...] very same measure that they had made one from Christ. (Whereas they, by their Hostilities and their Excommunications, departed properly from us, not from any Errors detected in us. And the wo is to them by whom the offence co­meth, (Matth. 18. 7.) not to them to whom 'tis given. If when England was in a Flame by Fire sent out of Italy, we did not abstein from the quenching of it, until water might be drawn from the River Tiber; it was because our own Ocean, could not only do it sooner, but better too; that is to say (without a Figure,)

[Page 33] It did appear by the Concession of the most learned Popish Writers, that particular Nations had still a power to purge themselves from their corruptions, as well in the Church, as in the State, without leave had from the See of Rome; and that 'twas commonly put in practice above a thousand years since.Ex co quo Williel­mus No [...]manaiae Co­mes Terram illam de­bella [...]do sibi subegi [...], N [...]mo in [...]d Episcopus vel Abbas ante Ans [...]l­mum f [...]ctus est, qui non primo suerit Homo Reg [...]s, ac de manu ill [...]us E [...]iscopatús vel Abbatiae Investituram per dationem Virgae Pastoralis suscepit, &c. Eadmerus Monach. Cant [...]in Praef. ad Hist. Nov. pag. 2. Sed nec ex co solùm t [...]mpore mos hic obti­nuit; Nem ante Nor­ma [...]no um etiam ad­ventum hic [...]sitatissi­mus, ut majorum Gen­tium Antis [...]ites sacri, Episco [...]i nimirum & Coenobiarchae (qui sal. tem in [...] Re­giâ) à Sacris Eccl [...]si­arum Co [...]oribus [...] ­lecti, quin saepius etiam, spretis omninò Corporum Sacrorum suffragiis, in Aulâ designati, Annuli & Bac [...] Pastoral [...]s, [...]ive Pedi traditione, in Dignitatis Possessionem à Regibus nostris, [...] av [...]o nixis, [...]. Joh. Selden. in suis ad Eadmer. Notis et Spicilegio, p. 142. Hujus rei exemplum vider [...] est apud G Malmesburiensem de Gest [...]s Re­gum, lib 2. cap 8. Quin et illud aliquando vid [...]tur dignius quod hoc in loco notetur. Pontifici Hilde­ [...]rando Fidelitatis Iuramentum, à Guilielmo No [...]manno, exigenti, Guil elmum Regem respondisse—Fi­ [...]elitatem facere non volo, quin nec ego promisi, nec Antecessores meos Antecessoribus tuis id fecisse [...]omperio. Baron. Ad An. 10 [...]6. Guilielmus Rufus pros [...]ssus est, Quod nullus Arch. episcopus aut [...]piscopus Regni sui, Curiae Romanae vel Papae subesset. Matth Paris. Hist An. 1094. Vidésis etiam, [...]peratores, et Reges Galliarum, jura sua asser [...]ntes, apud Othonem Frisingensem, S [...]gibertum, cosque [...] Historicos qui Res H [...]nrici Quarti Imperatoris, et ejusdem nominis Primi R [...]gis Anglorum con­ [...]ipsêre. Inprimis verò Sigon [...]um de Reg Ital. l. 4, 9, 10, et 11. Baron. Tom. 11. A C. 1077. Cherubi­ [...]m de Nar [...]ia in Bul [...]arii Tom. 1. p. 16. et 17. Bin Concil. Tom. 3. part. 2. in U [...]bano, Calixto, et [...]schall Secundis. Renatum Choppinum de Domanio Franciae, l. 2. tit. 1 sect. 6, &c. Et de Sacra [...]tiâ, l 1. tit. 7. Sect. 22, [...]t 23. ad haec, Theodor Balsamon Patriarch. Antioch. in Concil. Chalced. [...]n. 4. Joh. Naucler. Chronograph. Generat. 39. et H. Mutium Chron. German. l. 18. It did appear that the Kings of England (at least as much as those of Sicily,) were ever held to be [...], and that by the Romanists themselves; until by gaining from Henry the First, the Investiture of Bishops; from Henry the Second, an Exemption of the Clergy from Secular Courts, and from easie King Iohn, an unworthy Sub­mission to forreign Power; the Popes became strong enough to call their strength the Law of Iustice▪ And yet their Incroachments were still oppos'd, by the most pious and the most learned in every Age. Concerning which it were [Page 34] easie to give a satisfactory account, if it were comely for a Sermon to exceed the limits of an hour. In a word, it did appear from the Code and Novels of [...]. &c. Justin, Novel Const. 131. cap. 2. Vide eti­am de mandatis Principum, Tit. 4. Novel. 17. c. 7 & 11. Iustinian, from the [...] set out by the EmperourEvagr. l. 3. c. 14. in Mag. Biblioth. Vet. Patr. Tom. 6. Part. 2. p. 655.Zeno, from the practice ofSigon de Reg. Ital. li. 4. ad A. C. 801. & Eginhard in vit. Car. Mag. & Baron. Annal. Tom 9. ad A. C. So [...] p. 542. ad 545. & Tom. 10. ad A. C. 845. p. 34. Excus. Colon. Agrip. 1609. Charles the Great, (which may be judged by the Capitulars sent abroad in his Name,) from the designs and endeavours of two late Emperors, Ferdinand the First, and Maximilian the Second, from all the com­mended Kings of Iudah, from the most pious Christian Emperours as far as from Con­stantine the Great, and from many Kings of England inEdward the co [...] ­fessor, William 1. H. 1. H 3. Edw. 1. Edw. 2. Edw. 3. Rich. 2. H [...]n. 4. H. 5. H. 6. Edw. 4. Rich. 3. Hen 7. H. 8. for all which at [...], See Coke's Reports, par. 5. fol. 1. Caudre [...]'s Case, or De Ju [...]e Re­gis Ecclesiastico. [...]. Balsam. in Conc. Ca [...]th. Can. 16. Popish times too; that the work of Reformation belong'd especially to them in their several Kingdoms. And this is certain; that neither Prescription on the Pope's side, nor Discontinuance on the Kings, could add a Right unto the one, or any way lessen it in the other. For it implies a contradiction, that what is wrong should grow right, by being prosperous for a longer or shorter season.

Had the Pope been contented with his [...]. Concil. Constantinop. Oecu [...]. [...] Can. 3. [...]. Justinian. Imp. Novel. Const. 131. c. 2▪ Primacy of Order, and not ambitiously af­fected [Page 35] a Supremacy of Power, and over all other Churches besides his own; we never had cast off a Yoke which had never been put upon our Necks: And so 'tis plain that the Usurper did make the Schism If Sacrilege anywhere, or Rebellion, did help reform Superstition; That was the Fault of the Reformers, not at all of the Reformation; not of all Reformers neither. For the most that was done by some, was to write after the Copy which had been set them in my Text, by the Blessed Reformer of all the World; which was so to reform, as not to innovate, and to accommodate their Religion to what they found in the Beginning.

Nay, if I may speak an Important Truth, (which being unpassionately consider'd, and universally laid to heart, might possibly tend to the Peace of Christendom;) seeing it was not so much the Church as the Court of Rome, which proudly t [...]od upon Crowns and Scepters, and made Decrees with aApostolicâ Potestate declaramus & defini­mus, et ab omnibus judicari d [...]bere man­damus atque statui­mus, decernentes irri­tum et [...], fi quid secus à quoquam quacunque Dignitate, Auctoritate, [...] Potestate praedito co [...]tig [...]r [...] iudicari, Non obstantibus Constitut. onibus et Ordinatio­nibus Apostol [...]cis, A [...]isque in [...]word facicutibus Qui [...]useunque. Vule I [...]ullam Piiquarti, Concil. Bin. Edit. Par [...] Tom 9 p. 444. [...] Christus post C [...]nam instituerit, et suis Discip [...]lis administra­veri [...] sub u [...]raque speci [...] [...] et Vini [...]oc [...] Sacrementum, [...] hoc non obstante, &c. Licet in Primiti [...]â Ecclesiá [...] s [...]odi Sacramentum reciperctur à Fidelibus sub [...] sp [...]ie; [...] à con­fici [...]ibus sub [...], et à laicis tantummodo sub specie Panis suscipi [...]tur. Concil. Constant. Bin. Tom. 3. Pa [...]t. 2. Sess. 13. p. 880. excus. Colon. Ag [...]ippinae, 1618. non ob­stante to Apostolical Constitutions, or whatsoever had been enacted by any Authority whatsoever, (the Commandments of Christ being not excepted;) [Page 36] we originally departed with higher Degrees of Indignation, from the Insolent Court, then Church of Rome. Nor protested we so much against the Church, (though against the Church too,) as against the Cruel Edict first made atIbi (i. e. Spirae, ubi erat Conventus or­dinum Imperii;) De­cretum factum est, ut Edictum Wormati­ense observaretur contra Novatores, ut omnia in [...]ategrum re­stituantur. Contra hoc Edictum solen [...]is fait Protestat. o, April: 16. A. D. 1529. & hinc ortum pervulgatum il­lud nomen Protestan­tium. Sethus Calvis. in Chron. ad A. C. 1529. Lutherus impulit Io­hannem Saxo [...]iae Se­p [...]emvirum, aliosque Principes Germanicos, protestaricont [...]a Decreta Ratisbonae & Spirae de Religione [...]acta. U [...]de Nomen Protestantium crevit. Cluverius ad A. C. 1529. p. 705. VVorms, and after cruelly re-inforced at Spire and Ratisbone, for the confirming of those 1 Corruptions from which the 2 Church was to be cleans'd. To the 1 former we declar'd a Vatinian Hatred; but to the 2 latter of the two, we have the Charity to wish for a Recon­cilement. That we who differ upon the way in which we are walking towards Ierusalem, may so look back on the Beginning from whence at first we set out, (and from which our Accusers have foulely swerv'd,) as to agree in our Arrival at the same Iourney's end.

But God forbid that our Love to the Peace without, should ever tempt us to a loss of the Peace within us. God forbid we should return with the Dog to his vomit, or with the Sow in the Hebrew Proverb (which is cited by S. Peter in his Epistle, 2. Pet. 2. 22.) to her wallowing in the mire. When I wish for a Reconcilement, I do not mean by our Compliance with any the least of their Defilements, but by their Harmony with us in our being Clean.

[Page 37] On thisAb Ecclesiâ Romanâ non alio discessimus animo, quàm ut, si correcta ad Priorem Ecclesiae sormam re­deat, nos quoque ad Illam rev [...]rtamur, & Communionem cum Illâ in suis porrò Coe­tibus habeamus. Apud Grot: D [...]scuss. p. 14▪ & apud ipsum Zanch. in Confess. Art. 19. p. 157. Condition and Supposal; Our Church is open to receive the bitterest Enemies of our Church. Our Arms are open to embrace [...]hem, with Love, and Honour. Our Hearts and Souls are wide open in fervent Prayers and Supplications to the God of Purity and of Peace, [...]hat (in his own good time) he will bind up [...]he Breaches, and wipe off the stains, and raise [...]p the lapsed Reputation, of his divided, defiled, [...]sgraced Spouse; And all for the Glory, as well [...]s Merits, of the ever-blessed Bridegroom of all [...]ur Souls,

To whom, with the Father, in the Unity of [...]he Spirit, be ascribed by us, and by all the World.

Blessing, and Glory, and Honour, and Power, [...]nd Wisdom, and Thanksgiving, from this time [...]orwards for evermore.