BEcause you seem to resent my not taking notice of your Discourse annexed to the Defence of the Vindication , to deal plainly with you , I had so far consider'd it , that I did not think it worthy of regard . You have in those Books , in my apprehension , done like a Mercenary Advocate , who will maintain the Cause he is retained in , as well , and as far , as he can , be it good or bad : for you were ingaged in two very different Causes ; the one , very good , and that you manage very well ; and there is no standing against you : the other , very bad , false and deceitful ; and therein you are like Sampson , when his Locks were shorn by an Harlot ; you do what you can , but your Strength is departed ; you can make nothing on 't , but only talk , and furnish Talk for Tatlers ; or , it may be , to amuse the Vulgar ; but not to satisfie any Man of competent Judgment . This indeed was my apprehension upon my first Inspection into them ; which my farther Perusal hath only more confirmed . And therefore since you are so concerned for a Reply to your Reasons , I am very free to serve you even beyond your desire , and , if possible , not only to satisfie your self , but undeceive such as you may have either misled into , or confirm'd in Error ; and so prevent what I can of the Evil which from others might recurr upon your self .

You have so well asserted the Rights of the Catholick Church , and of all Particular Churches , which are true Members of it , against the Usurpations of the State , that you had driven your Adversaries for their last Refuge to the meanest of all Arguments , a spiteful Argumentum ad hominem , to stop your Mouth with that : and , in my Opinion , you had done much better to have held your hand there , than to have disparaged so commendable an Atchievement by so inexcusable an Undertaking of so indefensible a Cause , and left that to the Management of your defeated Adversaries , who are as much concerned to defend it as your self . But , blessed be God , who hath extorted so much Truth from such as detained it in Unrighteousness , and , I hope , will rescue the rest , and detect the Fallacies wherewith the common Adversary had disguised it , and deceived so many poor Mortals of these and other Nations .

Two things are objected to you ; the Oath of Supremacy , and the Deprivation of the Bishops , by the same Act of Parliament , 1 Eliz. c. 1. As to the Oath , you labour hard to make that tolerable by Exposition , which you think intolerable in the Expression , and imploy no less than 20. pages on that Service : But when all 's done , there 's no more expressly excepted out of the meaning of the Oath by the Queen's Injunction or Admonition , than Power of Ministery of Divine Service in the Church , which , being maliciously collected from it by some , was the only Occasion of the Admonition ; but was never practised by her Father , or Brother . But all manner of Jurisdiction , Spiritual or Ecclesiastical , is retained by Stat. 1 Eliz. c. 1. contained in the Oath , and all Authority challenged and used by them , declared by Stat. 5 Eliz. c. 1. to be intended in it , and is sufficiently expressed by the Words , Rule over all manner of Persons , either Ecclesiastical or Temporal , in the Admonition it self ; and besides all , is continued in Practice all along , as may be observed in divers instances besides those mentioned by you , as the † † This alone spoils the Exposition , and the first of them granted immediately after the Injunctions disproves it . v. Burnet , p. 387 , 397 , 400. and Record . 7 p. 350. High Commissions , Commissions of Delegates , Calling of Synods , Authorizing Canons , Ordering and Authorizing Publick Prayers , Elections of Bishops : And what are ‖ ‖ The first Act , to try their Disposition , an Act of Sacrilege . v. Burnet , p. 382. First Fruits and Tenths , but Solemnities of Recognition of Ecclesiastical Supremacy ? And when I see such Facts , what do all your Words signifie ? I confess I have been deceived my self by that Injunction ; which might have been well enough till the next Parliament ; but if what you conceive had been well intended , Why was not the Form of the Oath ordered accordingly in all this time ; but so great a part of the Nation must swear one thing in Words , and be authorized to think and intend another like their Grand-Father Cranmer's swearing to the Pope , and solemnly protesting he intended no such matter . No wonder if after such Precedents the whole Nation be so involved in Perjury , as there is reason to believe it is .

But our principal Business is , the two Lay-Deprivations , either both valid , or neither valid : but if either alone be invalid , it must certainly be the first : for they were both by Act of Parliament ; but to the first , divers of the Bishops * * V. Burnet , p. 385 , 386. The Bishops made Speeches against it in the House . actually opposing , and none consenting ; so that that was a meer Lay Act : but to the latter , divers consenting and voting for it , and none , for ought I know , actually opposing : so that that was not a meer Lay-Act , but a mixt Act , and as much Ecclesiastical as some so reputed among the Ancient Christians , and divers anciently of this Nation . But my Business here is not to inforce your Adversaries Argument , but a Reply to your Reasons for the Validity of that Deprivation , which , if invalid , makes the Original of your Succession invalid and schismatical .

And first you say , the Royal Commissions taken out by Bishop Bonner , and as many as followed his Example , &c. will afford a sufficient Reason for the Lay-Deprivation of those Bishops . Certainly an unhappy beginning with so gross an act of Disingenuity , as needlessly shall I say , or maliciously , or falaciously ; but however to charge that upon Bonner for setting the Example , which you know is by an Author you commend , and in the very page you cite disprov'd , and charg'd upon Cranmer with good proof , whose Project it is most † † Nay , most certainly , as both Form and Time clearly evince . Bonner was not so much as Bishop when Cranmer and others took their Commissions . likely it was . Nor more lucky is your first Reason . For those Commissions were out of doors in Queen Mary's days : There were none who held by Commission then , but all were in upon the old and proper Title : Nor was any one outed upon any such pretence in Queen Elizabeth's time : So that this is a meer shift to help a lame Cause , a meer Colour , that hath nothing in it . And you needed not have insisted on it , or indeed mentioned it for no better Service to your Cause : but since you have , it will be but just to shew you the Consequence of those Commissions , to invalidate all your Pretensions . Cranmer , you know , took a Commission in Octob. 1535. Barlow was made Bishop of St. Asaph , Feb. 1535. and Commissions being then brought in , no doubt but he * * And his Consecration has been much questioned . took one too , and he was the first promoted by Patent from Ed. 6. and Story and ‖ ‖ Intruded into the place of Vesey frighted out . v. Harmar , p. 100 , 129. Coverdale also held by Patent from Ed. 6. These also were ordained by Cranmer , and you know they could receive no more from him , than what he did intend actually to give , ( c. 22. Of Schism , §. 6. ) and by his Commission could give . Nor could they give more to Mat. Parker than they had received . So that all depends upon Cranmer's presumable Intention , which is sufficiently manifest , by his Principles , and Commission , to have been only an Authority derived from the King and dependent upon him . His Acceptance of a Commission was an implicit Renunciation of his former Authority , and whether not a great Sin , and displeasing to our Lord , I leave others to judge . But their Original Authority was by Commission , and what more was done was then looked upon but as a Formality . It is apparent enough by the Act , 1 Ed. 6. c. 2. that no Bishops of his time could be made or promoted but by Patent ; and there were no less than Seven of them at a dash deprived upon that account in the beginning of Queen Mary's Reign , what-ever is pretended of special favour to the Protestant Bishops , which could be no more than to hold quam diu , instead of durante bene placito . But none held by Commission in Q. Mary's time , after she had repealed the Acts of her Father and Brother , and restored all again to the old Posture . And this , I hope , is a sufficient Reply to your first Reason , and something more for you to consider .

Your next Reason is such another , that those Bishops were then notoriously of another Communion different from the Protestants : But , 1. there were then no Protestant Bishops in being ; but those now mentioned , such as they were , and of them one had resigned , and the other two were actually deprived , and justly according to your former Reason . And , 2. there could therefore then be no Communion of Protestants , but Schismatical . The Bishops then in Possession were all compleat Bishops without all question , and their Possession good and lawful also beyond all question : Their Deprivation was by meer incompetent * * In both Execution and Constitution without Spiritual Sentence . Lay-Authority , and for an unjust and wicked Cause in them who deprived them , but a just and glorious Cause in them who suffered , for their refusal of an † † Nor of Fidelity to the Prince , but of Unfaithfulness to the Church . Oath , which you your self cannot think tolerable in the plain sense of the words , or without such Exposition , as with all your Skill and Pains you cannot so prove as to satisfie a conscientious , intelligent Person , who well considers it . And for this Cause , and by such Authority , were all the Bishops of England and Wales , except one despicable Temporizer , besides Deans , Prebends , and other of the Clergy , &c. deprived , and others put in their Places , by no commendable or justifiable Election , or other Consecration than as aforesaid , and so questionable , and questioned at that time , that 7 or 8 years after , by reason of divers Questions then grown upon the Making and Consecrating Arch-Bishops and Bishops , it was thought convenient to make a new Act to justifie and ratifie the same . 8 Eiz . c. 1. So that here was not only Schism , but ‖ ‖ It may well be questioned , whether the Dissenters Ordinations be not as good as yours . Ordination invalid in it self besides , in this Case . And was this such a different Communion , as might make the Judgment of a Synod needless , and justifie the Lay-Authority in driving away ( as you call it ) Catholick Bishops and Clergy ? What Communion of Schismaticks hath ever appeared since the Apostles more gross and notorious than this ? What Persecutions of Arians , or Donatists , or what you will , but may be thus defended , excused , and justified , as well as this ?

In what I have already said is the Summ of the Cause , and the Principles and Grounds of all the rest that is to be said ; and therefore , as I think it needless to proceed farther in my Reply to a Man of Learning and Parts , who by what is already said may perceive what is farther to be said ; so I am willing to spare my Pains , not only for my own sake , but for yours : for I am sorry that you , who have deserved so well in the former Cause , should be so unhappily ingaged in this , and expose your self in Defence of what may afford matter for Exercise of Wit and Skill , like Carneades disputing against Justice , but nothing for Demonstration of more commendable Qualities , unless you will generously give up the Defence , and ingenuously declare the Truth . And , in good earnest , if you will believe me to be so much your Friend , as really I am , I can give you no better Advice for the Recovery of your Credit and just Esteem among Men , and for Expiation of that unhappy Fault before God , than to do so , and save me the Labour of any farther Reply , by doing it your self , which , 't is like , will then be more accurately perform'd , than possibly I should have done it . For so that Truth be promoted , I care not by what hand it be : And for that purpose I shall here leave it to you : But if you dislike the Motion , and desire my farther Pains , I shall be ready to serve you in it as well as I can .