an acceptation of those proffers for Treaty towards accommodation which he so often makes and in case they shall be by any pertinaciously refused joyn themselves with his Sacred Majesty in his just defence Having thus done with the Introduction it follows that we examine the Discourse it self which proceeds in this method First to propound the motives to perswade men to take the Covenant Secondly to answer the objections or scruples which might hinder c. Here before we begin to examine the strength of the motives themselves we observe the different apprehensions of the framers of it for whereas he who framed the Introduction did it seems imagine that the taking of the Covenant might be enforced from the positive Law of God and the Law of Nature the other who was to lay down the Motives was so farre from that as to esteem it necessary towards the same end in the first place to insinuate the example of themselves of the Assembly and others who had already taken it The strength of their perswasive Arguments is this First This Covenant is already taken by the two Houses of Parliament by the Assembly of Divines the City of London and the Kingdom of Scotland Secondly It hath been already seconded from Heaven by blasting the Counsels c. Thirdly It carries in it self such a convincing evidence of Equity Truth and Righteousnesse as may raise in all enflamed affections to take it which is proved because There is almost nothing in this Covenant which was not for substance either expressed or manifestly included in the Protestation of May 5. 1641. Ergo whosoever are not wilfully ignorant or miserably seduced must infallibly take this Covenant For the first of these Arguments First in generall we do not see how the example of either party can reasonably be alledged to direct the Conscience in any controversie Secondly we have reason to believe that farre the greater number both in the City of London and the Kingdom of Scotland could not take this Oath in judgement as being not able to discern of the righteousnesse or iniquity of some of the Articles especially that which concerns Episcopacy so that a chief strength of this Argument from Example consists in the example of themselves who are of the Assembly and made this Exhortation And then we conceive they cannot justly accuse us either of immodesty or presumption if we shall openly professe that they have not in this first Essay of theirs at least which we know to have been published given evidences of so great Judgement Learning or Integrity as may warrant or encourage us in matters of Religion and cases of Conscience to subscribe to the authority of their example To the second Argument which is That it hath been seconded from Heaven c. it cannot conclude to the Conscience till it be sufficiently proved neither can that be without a revelation of the Counsels of God which if the Composer of this part hath obtained it was requisite to the end propounded that he should have made it appear till when it may be beleeved that those instances where the signature of Gods Judgements may the most plainly have been discovered have fallen upon those who have had the greatest share in the raising and managing of those Arms for the maintaining of which this Covenant is ordained So then the whole force of their perswasion will depend upon the third Argument and the proof of it which to avoid any errour in examining shall be again propounded There is almost nothing in this Covenant which was not for substance either expressed or manifestly included in the Protestation May 5. 1641. Therefore this Covenant goeth forth in its own strength with such convincing evidence of Equity Truth and Righteousnesse as may raise in all not wilfully ignorant or miserably seduced inflamed affections to joyn in the Covenant Resp. 1. We are not able by all those wayes of reasoning to which we have hitherto been used to discover the inference which is here made If by the strength of their solid reason it may possibly be made to appear yet we are confident the dependence is so deep and secret that it ought not to the end for which this discourse is declared to be intended have been left unrevealed 2. Whereas the Argument of the evident Equity Truth and Righteousnesse of this is taken from the agreement of it with that Protestation we will assume the matter of that Protestation to have been in the judgement of this Assembly Equall True and Righteous from whence it will follow that if this should according to their principles either immediately or by necessary consequence contradict that Protestation therein they must confesse it to be unequall false or unrighteous and wherein soever it doth positively dissent from it there the Truth Equity and Righteousnesse of it must be confessed to be here no way proved this being premised let us compare together this Covenant and that Protestation There we protested that we would with our lives c. defend the Doctrine of the Church of England indefinitely which is undoubtedly contained in the 39. Articles which in the further Articles of impeachment Jan. 17. 1643. by the Commons assembled in Parliament against the Archbishop of Canterbury are stiled The 39. Articles of the Church England established by Act of Parliament and in the six and thirtieth of those Articles it is avouched that the Book of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops and ordering of Priests and Deacons confirmed by Authority of Parliament doth contain all things necessary to such Consecration and Ordering and hath nothing in it ungodly This book asserteth that it is evident to all men diligently reading holy Scripture and ancient Authors that from the Apostles times there have been these Orders of Ministers in the Church Bishops Priests and Deacons which Officers were evermore bad in reverent estimation Wherefore we there protested with our lives c. to defend that it is not ungodly therefore not false Doctrine to say That diligent reading of the Holy Scriptures will help to make it evident that from the Apostles times there have been Bishops which could not be unlesse the Scriptures did testifie that in the Apostles times they were One of the Prayers also lex orandi lex docendi thus begins Almighty God giver of all good things which by thy Holy Spirit hast appointed divers orders of Ministers in thy Church mercifully behold this thy servant now called to the work and ministery of a Bishop and the elected Bishop is afterward required to professe That he is perswaded that he is truly called to this Ministration according to the will of our Lord Iesus Christ And by consequence we there did protest to defend that also and consequently upon their own principles it is unequall and unrighteous to swear to the extirpation of them Again in that Protestation there was nothing concerning the endeavouring the preservation of the Doctrine Discipline and Worship of the Church of
our Church-government as it now stands in aggregate whether might this Oath be taken had they also been included Lastly is not their practise for whose satisfaction this Covenant should be taken a added to the common sense of mankind in the like manner of speaking or understanding such speeches evidence enough to us that we cannot take this Oath and Covenant unlesse we will swear to endeavour the extirpation of Church-government by Bishops If this be so we desire to know first whether it be lawfull for subjects to swear such a Covenant as directly contradicts the oath of their Soveraigne at his Coronation as this second branch of the Covenant doth binding us to endeavour the extirpation of the government of our Church by Bishops For that our Soveraign hath taken as contradictory Oath is evidently manifest by the last clause of the oath which the Kings of England take at their Coronation when after many other gracious promises wch the King makes to his people one of the Bishops reading to the King before the people concerning the Canonicall priviledges of the Church and beseeching him that he would be the Protectour and Defender of the Bishops the Churches under their government the King answereth in these words With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my pardon and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches committed to your charge all canonicall priviledges and due Law and Iustice and that I will be your Pretectour and Defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good King in his Kingdom in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their government Then the King ariseth and at the Communion Table makes a solemn Oath in the presence of the people to observe the premisses and laying his hand upon the book saith The things which I have before promised I shall perform and keep so help me God and the contents of this Book How can this Oath then for the extirpation of Church-government by Bishops be consistent with the Oath or Honour of our Soveraign which we have so solemnly protested to defend in the late Protestation How can we with a solemn Oath enter into such a Covenant to which we may neither swear without our Soveraigns consent nor yet can lawfully desire nor have his consent How sad were our condition were the King willing of himselfe to violate this Oath But what should we have to answer should we by taking such a Covenant this way necessitate so far as in us lies His sacred Majesty to violate his Oath so solemnly sworn at his Inauguration Secondly that to endeavour the extirpation of Church-government by Bishops is a sin against Divine Law all those Arguments and Authorities convince which prove that Bishops are of Apostolicall institution and unalterable and consequently Divine which we shall unfold in these Propositions First that their institution stands grounded upon our Saviours own Action and Institution of the Apostles Secondly that Christ and his holy Spirit by his Apostles appointed Bishops Thirdly that Christ the Sonne of God and the Holy Ghost afterward confirmed and approved Bishops and their Commission and power which the Apostles had appointed For the first we say their institution is grounded upon our Lords own instituting and ordaining twelve Apostles above seventy Disciples who saith to these his Apostles As my Father hath sent me even so send I you a St. Joh. 20. 21. As in other ends of his mission so how not in this which we know they did according to his pattern As he was sent by his Father therefore to ordain one order of Teachers of the Gospell superiour to another which we know because he did so ordain So also sent he his Apostles to ordain which accordingly they did and whatsoever they did by Christs example therein they did by his Commission here given in an imparity Bishops succeeding the Apostles above Presbyters subordinate as the seventy a That Bishops succeeded the Apostles in the ordinary part of their function as it is the judgement of the most ancient godly Fathers b that Bishops we say as contradistinct to Presbyters were the successours of the Apostles so is it manifest from Scripture since power Episcopall as it is now taken in this dispute which we shall prove to have been given by the Apostles to Bishops and to them onely after the Apostles was undeniably in the Apostles and for a while held in their own hands without communicating it to others That the Bishops were afterwards instituted by the Apostles themselves which so many ancient Authous have averred c And namely by the Apostolicall Authority of St. Paul and their institution part of holy Scripture is made good in that the power and Office of a Bishop as the word is now taken in the Ecclesiasticall notion is prescribed in the three Epistles of St. Paul to those two famous Church-governours Timothy and Titus particularly the Office and power of a Bishop as it is now taken contradistinctly to the Office of a Presbyter in these Texts 1 Tim. 1. 3. 1 Tim. 5. 19 20 21 22. 2. Tim. 1. 6. Tit. 1. 5 11. Tit. 3. 9. 10 and some others and these Texts thus interpreted by Antiquity d And as the office prescribed there is Episcopall so these two appointed to this prescribed office of a Bishop by St. Paul himselfe 1 Tim. 1. 3. 2 Tim. 1. 6. Tit. 1. 5. Yea by the holy Ghost say Chrysost. Theophyl Oecumenius by divine Revelation saith Theodoret of Timothy And that these two were Bishops according to the Ecclesiasticall notion of the word now used ancient Fathers plentifully witnesse b Moreover this superiority to office Episcopall to have been fixed and continued to the day of death is evident as from Church-history so also from 1 Tim. 6. 14. where {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is the same with {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in the beginning of the Epistle 1 Tim. 1. 18. and includes in it the whole charge given by St. Paul to Timothy in this Epistle c From which Text also it is manifested that his Office prescribed was not personall onely but to descend by succession unto the comming of Christ d Thirdly this Office and power Episcopall that it was afterward approved and confirmed by the Sonne of God himselfe immediately and by the holy Ghost will be proved from Revel. c. 1. 2. 3. Where by the seven Stars the Angels of the seven Churches according to all reason from the Text it selfe and by the testimony of Antiquity e are seven Bishops of those seven Churches understood which Ecclesiasticall story mentions to have been in the Church long before this time as so many Angels and Apostles f of the Churches such as was Polycarp the Angell the Bishop of the Church of Smyrna made Bishop of that place by the Apostles themselves thirteen
thought necessary long within the Apostles times even as early as it was said by some I am of Paul I am of Apollo c. and therefore saith in his Dialogue Adversus Luciferian Ecclesiae salus in summi Sacerdotis dignitate pendet cui si non exors quaedam ab omnibus eminens detur potestas tot in Ecclesiis efficientur schismata quot Sacerdotes S. Cyprian also Epist. 55. Non aliunde haereses obortae sunt aut nata sunt schismata quam c. and so also lib. 4. epist. 9. Unde enim Schismata Haereses obortae sunt oriuntur nisi dum Episcopus qui unus est praesumptione contemnitur c. Master Calvin also himself upon Philipp 1. 1. Fateor quidem ut sunt hominum ingenia mores non posse ordinem stare inter verbi Ministros quin reliquis praesit unus So that we cannot apprehend the abjuration of Episcopacy to be a meane to that unity in this Article mentioned That the Lord may be one and his Name one amongst us but rather the continuation thereof according to the counsell of the holy Martyr S. Cyprian Unus Deus unus Dominus unus Episcopus and that of Ignatius ad magnes b Subjecti estote Episcope vobis mutuè ut Christus Patri ut inter vos divina quaedam sit unio Next Prophanenesse is here also to be cast out with Episcopacy yet who may not fear Gods Judgements if he deny the detestable growth of prophanenesse since the contempt of that Apostolicall institution of Episcopacy So that this Article as to Bishops extirpation we must refuse upon that close upon which others take it lest as it is said we should partake in others sin and consequently in their plagues Thirdly because neither can we swear to endeavour the extirpation of that part of this Church-government by Archbishops an Ecclesiasticall constitution so confessedly ancient nor that part of this Church-government by Deanes and Chapters that is a society of grave Divines of Presbyters joyned to the Bishop in his see of residence as assistants in Councell and Government as James Bishop of Ierusalem had his resident Presbyters Acts 21. 18. and consulted with them vers. 20. According also to the ancient generall and continued custom of the Church of God ever since the first Christian Emperours time and moreover endowed with means given to them by the last Wils and Testaments of many which it is not lawfull for us to endeavour to annull Hebr. 9. 17. and by the gifts of many other Donors who had true propriety in their goods and might and did transfer the undoubted property to those to be enjoyed by the right and liberty of the Subject especially such endowments having been consecrated and devoted unto God for pious uses and which may not therefore by us as we conceive be endeavoured to be alienated Prov. 20. 25. Numb. 16. 38. And as to the exercises of piety so also to the encouragement of the most excellent part of learning the study of divinity and of holy Scripture We shall with the same sincerity reality and constancy in our severall Vocations endeavour with our estates and lives mutually to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the Parliaments and the Liberties of the Kingdoms and to preserve and defend the Kings Majesties Person and Authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms that the world may beare witnesse with our Consciences of our loyalty and that we have no thoughts or intentions to diminish His Majesties just power and greatnesse Because in the third Article whereas we are required and that in the first place to binde our selves absolutely without limitation expressed To preserve the Rights and Priviledges of Parliaments and the Liberties of the Kingdoms and were likewise tied simply and indefinitely to defend the Kings Person State and Honour by the Oath of Allegiance and the late Protestation here when we are bidden to swear to defend his Majesties Person and Authority it is added In the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms therefore this manner of swearing we dare not admit till it be publikely declared by the Imposers that the meaning of those words is not as to some it may sound that I binde my selfe to preserve and defend his Majesties Person and Authority so farre forth as he shall preserve and defend true Religion and the Liberties of the Kingdoms Since by the holy Scriptures of the old and new Testament by the Law of Nature and Nations by the Oath of God and by true Religion we are bound to endeavour the preservation and defence of his Person and Authority though he were a persecutor of the true Religion and an abridger of our Liberties such as were Saul and Nero in their times And surely a larger Declaration of our endeavours simply to defend his Person is at this time necessary when through the divisions of the Kingdom his sacred Majestie is so endangered and that his Majesty hath often complained of affronts offered to his person and hath complained also that some have endeavoured to kill his Person in two set battails and that there is nothing more frequent in the minds and mouths of some Shimei's then that the King is popishly affected A Papist in his heart and therefore some furious Zelot may not onely upon these surmises conclude himselfe exempted in case from the duty of preservation and defence of his Royall Person but also mistake it as a debt to this Covenant even to offer violence to his sacred Majestie May not therefore some such fuller Declaration and explication of our duty when we will by Oath professe it seem necessary to the end here proposed That the world may bear witnesse with our Consciences of our loyalty We shall also with all faithfulnesse endeavour the discovery of all such as have been or shall be Incendiaries Malignants or evill Instruments by hindring the reformation of Religion dividing the King from his people or one of the Kingdoms from another or making any Faction or parties amongst the people contrary to this League and Covenant that they may be brought to publike triall and receive condign punishment as the degree of their offences shall require or deserve or the supream Indicatories of both Kingdoms respectively or others having power from them for that effect shall judge convenient Whether are not all those to be accounted to us as Malignants c. by hindring reformation of Religion and consequently to be discovered that they may receive condign punishment whom we know to endeavour in their places and callings the continuation of Church-government by Bishops and the preservation of the whole frame of government as it now stands by the known Laws of this Kingdom established administred according to the right intent of those Laws against all alteration till it be by act of Parliament enacted by his Majesties