diuerse Heads and Diuisions that Decencie and Order might be preserued and Confusion shunned This superioritie of Priesthood continued till the new Couenant of Grace in all which time if equalitie of Priests had beene conducible to the Weale of the Church without doubt the Lord of the Church would haue established it Secondly after this Ceremoniall Law our Sauiour Christ ruled his Church as chiefe Bishop of our Soules hee adioyned no Elders to himselfe at his death hee gaue command to his Disciples to rule the Churches where they should gouerne throughout the World Wee reade that they did excommunicate alone that they did ordaine Ministers alone and did by supreme Authority rule both the Affaires and Goods of the Church Beza confesseth that Peter alone strucke Ananias and Saphira that Paul ordayned Timothie and Titus that hee prescribed Lawes to them and their Churches this plat-forme of Paritie was not so much as heard of in the time of Persecution Saint Paul did write to the Bishops of Ephesus and Smyrna and to seuerall Bishops of other Churches to them hee giueth Directions and them hee reprooueth which had beene very vnfitting if his Authority had not beene aboue other Ministers All Records witnesse that seuerall Bishops succeeded the Apostles at Rome Constantinople Ierusalem Antioch Alexandria and other places All the Councells giue preheminence to Bishops and to the Councells the Fathers consent To come to later times they whom you magnifie aboue all others did protest by their Writings That if Bishops would leaue Superstition and embrace the true Religion they would most willingly submit themselues to their Episcopall Iurisdiction as most godly and expedient for the Church Melancthon did testifie much to this purpose saying That if the Authoritie of Bishops were reiected a greater Tyrannie would follow Zancheus greatly extolled Bishops Bullinger Glocer and diuerse other Learned Protestants in Swethland and Germanie with Camerarius and Sturmius did the like Beza himselfe complayneth That his wordes against Roman Bishops were wrested against our Bishops But suppose that Beza Daneus Carpenter Golart Perot Tauergues Polan Snecan and the like haue written all which you would haue maintayned or doe yet hold shall the Church of Great Brittaine allow what they haue written for Oracles No there is no reason they should For who would not bee ashamed to oppose those and their followers to the practice of the Primitiue Church of Iesus Christ his Apostles Fathers Councells Canons to all Writings of Antiquity and to the most part of our owne Times All these by Practice or Decrees haue annulled Paritie and consequently all kinde of Gouernment grounded vpon it All Legall Courses haue censured against you the Parliaments the most Honourable Courts in the I le of Great Brittaine or else-where haue declared against you the Church Assemblyes wherein as Members you had Voyces haue found the nullitie of your cause and all these ioyning in one haue enioyned you to obedience and conformitie There resteth nothing on your side but exclayming bragging and libelling which will neuer be otherwayes censured by the Wise then the fumosities of idle Dreame-venting Braynes who assuming to themselues an vncontrouled Liberty leaues all Lawes without defence and exposeth Magistracie to Obloquie at their pleasure But as all Legists and Schoole-men determine priuate much lesse publike Lawes are neyther grossely to bee ieasted at carelesly disgraced or fondly to bee dealt withall Consider warily of this Point least Iustice correct such by Roddes as will not bee ruled by Reason So I come to the Third Part of my Taske and then to an end THE THIRD PART I Haue shortly leuelled at if not hit the most materiall Accidents and Circumstances of the Controuersies which long haue troubled the Peace of our Church of Scotland with their bad Effects and how contrary your opposition is to the best Institutions of former times Now after I haue runne poste through the Fauours of your gracious Soueraigne I will vnfold my sincere Wishes and so close vp all His Maiesties prouident care fore-seeing that your violent Platformes would in the end procure the ouerthrow of your cause did so long giue way to your inconsiderate proceedings till without greater inconuenience to the Church and State hee could not forbeare to represse them in which course I pray you consider with mee what Legall course hath his Maiesty taken what Lenitie hath hee vsed what mollifying Balmes of louing Admonition hath hee applyed to so long festred Sores Hee hath called many Generall and Prouinciall Assemblyes for settling or remoouing many needlesse Controuersies amongst you Hee hath in Royall Person beene present with you perswaded you by many Learned Orations graue Exhortations and Princely Admonitions Hee hath oft times confuted your vngrounded Assertions with Reason when hee might haue repressed them by his Royall Authority What vnseemely misdemeanour wee haue seene in the presence of such a King my Penne without blushing is not able to expresse Yet these hath his more then Humane Clemencie ouerpast and by the Load-stone of infallible Demonstrations and inuincible Arguments hath drawne the most Iudicious and Learned amongst you to assent to the Truth and leaue such factious courses Witnesse hereof were Learned Master Rollocke Master Nicholson and Master Cooper whose Workes will pleade their cause The first of these vpon his Death-bed did expostulate with his dearest Friends how much your hard censure of his honest Labours in the Affaires of the Church had shortened his dayes The last two after they were preferred to the place of Bishops and euer before had painefully laboured in the Lords Haruest were so detracted by your vniust Calumnies and profited so little in their sincere Intentions that very Griefe in the Autumne of their age did consummate their dayes But yet if I should insist vpon his Maiesties Clemencie towards you I should exceede my limitted Taske Hee hath spared the Liues of such of you as were guilty of High Treason hee hath vpon submission recalled such as were banished and eyther restored them to their owne or better Places Finally hee hath left nothing vndone that may make his Kingly Wisedome admired his Mercie aduaunced and you in case of further Contumacie vncapable of the like Royall Fauour hereafter I speake not this to aggrauate your Faults neyther fawningly to insinuate vpon Maiestie but least any of you should surmise that you haue beene wronged that the Lawes haue beene rigorously extended against you or that his Maiesties proceedings hath beene iniurious towards you But as I am in good hope of you so my earnest Wishes are that my friendly counsaile may seize on your future actions You know or may know that hitherto you haue onely procured a fruitlesse Reformation and in the end without doubt you will bee the cause of greater Euils if by more wholesome aduice you obuiate not the Dangers to which your inconsiderate Zeale hath subiected you the Axe of Iustice threateneth the Roote of the fruitlesse Tree of your disobedience and eminent
Coast they haue many different Enemyes some ready to slander them some more ready to amplifie such scandall and some most ready to beleeue it Magnes mendacij credulitas Credulitie is the Load-stone of Lyes and Enuie will creepe where it dare not goe But if any haue lost their first Loue if any be neyther hot nor cold if any haue stumbled at the Threshold in such sort that they cannot sit well that entred ill it is time they returne whence they are fallen and confirme the things that remayne Great is the weight of their fault eorum causa abhorrebant a Sacrificio Domini It is the weakenesse of humane frailtie rather to take poysonable Receits out of Gold-glistering Boxes then wholesome Medicines from course cleanely Vessels of Clay But it were better wee had Elias Hunger or Samsons Thirst in taking our Meat from a Rauen or our Drinke from the Iaw-bone of an Asse rather then to deface them or cast contempt vpon their Calling The holy Angell would giue no sentence of Blasphemie against the common Slanderer but increpet te Dominus It is noted in the Ecclesiasticall Historie That the ancient Synods when they depriued any Bishops neuer recorded the Offence but buried it in perpetuall silence C ham purchased his Fathers Curse for reuealing his Fathers disgrace Many good Fathers spoke seuerely against the vnworthinesse of Bishops One sayth Sacerdotes nominamur non sumus another sayth Nisi bonum opus amplectaris Episcopus esse non potes but these nor no other euer did put doubt of the lawfulnesse of the Calling and Ordination of Bishops The second cause of Controuersies is in multiplying of them by men whom the Church neuer wanteth and who loues the salutation of RABBI not so much in Ceremonie and Complement as in inward Authoritie which they seeke ouer mens Mindes in drawing them to depend vpon their Opinion and to seeke Knowledge at their Lippes These are the true Successors of Diotrephes Louers of Preheminence and doe delight vpon another sort of Spirits which doe adhere to them Quorumque gloria in obsequio stiffe Fellowes who in zeale follow mightily after those vpon whose Oracles they depend and are for the most part men of young Yeeres or superficiall Vnderstanding or both and carryed away with enticing apparencie of Singularitie Goodly Names and Pretences Pauci res ipsas sequuntur plures nomina rerum plurimi Magistrorum the matter controuerted is least thought vpon Yet about these Controuersies are wreathed and interlaced such accidentall or priuate Emulations and Discontentments as ioyned together breake foorth into such contention as violates eyther Truth Sobrietie or Peace Some will be no longer ex numero others side themselues before they know the right hand from the left Transeunt ab ignorantia ad preiudicium they leape from Ignorance to a preiudicate Opinion and neuer take sound Iudgement in their way so that inter iuuenile consilium senile preiudicium omnis veritas corrumpitur when such are indifferent and not partiall then is their Iudgement weake and vnripe through want of yeeres and when it groweth to strength it is so forestalled by preiudicat opinions that it is made vnprofitable Betweene these two the Truth is encroached vpon Supreme Powers contemned and the Honorable Names of Puritie Reformation and Discipline are trampled vpon and made the subiects of contention The third occasion as I obserue of our Controuersies is an extreme vnkind detestation of some former Heresie or Corruption already acknowledged or conuicted Vpon this Root haue most of the Heresies and Schismes of the Church sprung whilest men haue grounded their Zeale and measured the bonds of most perfect Religion by the furthest distance from the Errors last condemned but these be Posthumi Haeresium filij Heresies or Schismes that arise from the ashes of such as are already extinct Some thinke it the true Load-stone to try which Doctrine is good and sound by measuring which is more or lesse opposite to the Church of Rome be it Ceremonie Pollicy or Matter of Gouernment yea if it be matter of greater moment that is euer most perfect which is remooued most degrees from that Church and that euer polluted or blemished that participateth in any apparencie with it But is it reason I pray you because wee differ from the Roman Church in the adoration of the Elements and substance of the Eucharist shall wee also abandon the reuerent modest comely and commendable receiuing thereof vpon our knees No wee must keepe the good and reiect the bad It is a consideration of much greater wisdome and sobriety to bee well aduised Whether in the generall demolition of the Church of Rome in Scotland all mens actions being imperfect some good was not purged with the bad The Husbandman doth not disclayme his heape of Corne because it is mixed with Chaffe neyther doth the Fisherman refuse his Draught of Fish because there is some Weeds in the Net or doth God separate himselfe from the faithfull Soule because it is polluted with humane corruptions It was the ancient custome of the Fathers saith Augustine to approue rather then reiect the good things which they did find in the very Heresies and Schismes The fourth cause of our Controuersies I take to be the partiall affectation and imitation of Geneua and forraine Churches a matter which in former times hath much troubled the Church for many of our Ministers in the time of their Persecution as they call it or rather Prodigals flight hauing been conuersant with the Churches abroad and receiued a great impression of the Gouernment there maintained violently seeke to intrude the like into our Churches But conueniamus in eo quod conuenit non in eo quod receptum est alibi let vs not apishly imitate euery new coyned Custome Non quod optimum sed e bonis quod proximum est eligendum of good things not that which is best but sometimes that which is readiest is to be chosen I wish wee might striue with other Churches as the Vine with the Oliue which of vs beareth best Fruit not with the Thistle and Brier which of vs is most vnprofitable Our Church in the I le of Great Britaine praysed be God is not to plaint it is established and setled in the fulnesse of Peace in the sinceritie of Doctrine and in the Wisedome of Policie and Discipline The Word is truely preached by many godly learned and famous Pastors the Policie Discipline established by the Ciuill Magistrat in former times in most parts of this I le now confirmed by a Religious and Learned King who from his Cradle hath laboured to see the Church flourish in vnitie and peace Shall then the affected paritie of a few transported with wrong ends disturbe this Peace God forbid Or shall the Gouernment of the Church bee committed to the confused Synods Presbyteriall Meetings and Parochiall Sessions of those whose Voyces are numbred not weighed Talia consilia non minuunt malum
punishment of your scandalous behauiour hangeth ouer your heads there resteth nothing then but that you lay aside all such deceiuable Opinions and priuate Affections as taints you eyther with Schisme or Disloyaltie that you say to the Church You are our Mother wee owe you Honour to the King You are our Soueraigne and Gods Vice-gerent wee owe you Allegeance In so doing you shall find that some few ensuing yeeres shall produce more profitable and plentifull Fruit in Church and Common-wealth then all the Brawles and shewes of Puritie haue done these fiftie yeeres past Examine well what I haue sayd and my hopes are that the most Factious amongst you will bee reclaymed to the right way which is all that I desire and that the peaceable maintenance of the State enforceth But if you will paue your hearts with the insensibilitie of what you ought to doe by seeking the disturbance of the Church and vnquietnesse of the State then iudge impartially and you will easily perceiue what must follow It is as cleare as the Sunne that such insolencie is not longer to be suffered That the chiefe Tenents of your Opinions are eyther wilfully blinded or naturally ignorant That by maintayning these singular or fond conceptions you abandon the Truth trouble the Peace of the Church are offensiue to the State and are lyable to the seuerity of Iustice Remember that the purity of substance of our Religion consisteth in our Faith and Baptisme not in our Ceremonie or Policy about which you haue so long with losse contended If you will consider the slownesse to speake so much commended by Saint Iames our long entertayned Controuersies would grow together but more specially if you would leaue the singular and ouer-weening Opinions of these Times and renew the blessed Proceedings of the Apostles and Fathers of the Church which was in the like or greater Cases not to enter into Assertions and Positions but to deliuer Councell and Aduice wee should neede no other remedy at all Si eadem consulis frater quae affirmas debetur consulenti reuerentia cum non debeatur fides affirmanti Heathen Pericles when hee intended to speake publikely entreated his Gods not without reason That no vnprouident Word might escape his mouth for the Lunacie of Wit is better purged the Inflamation of the Tongue better cured and the Venome of the Heart more exhaled with one Ounce of Good Thought and a Scruple of Pythagoricum Silentium then with all the Turbith Agaricke Sarco colla and Scammonie of Dioscorides Rheubarbe of Pontus Manna of Calabria yea then with all the contentious babbling of Babel Wherefore my deare Countreymen and Brethren since the Accidents are the things that breede the Perill and not the Substance That the Truth is scandalized the long patience of a mercifull and Religious King abused and that in your former obstinacy your wilfulnesse hath betrayed your Wits and in the end will draw on your ouerthrow vpon your Enemyes Triumphs it is time you yeeld your selues conformable to the Ordinances of the Church established by Supreme Power that there were an end of such vncharitable Censure and vnedifying Doctrine wherewith the most part of your Pulpits haue been long loaden of such immodest deformed maner of Writing wherewith idle Pamphlets haue beene dayly so stuft that matters of Religion haue been handled with irreligious hands in the Stile of Stage all reuerent compassion towards Euils forgotten Religion turned into a Comedy or Satyre But alas to lance wounds with a laughing countenance to intermixe Scripture and scurrility sometime in one sentence is a thing farre from the deuout reuerence of a Christian and scarce beseeming the regard of a sober man Non est maior confusio quam seâ—ij ioci The Maiesty of Religion and the contempt of things ridiculous are things as farre distant as may be Two speciall causes of Atheisme haue I euer obserued to be curious Controuersies and Prophane Scoffing by the one appeareth the Miserie of the Curious and by the other the Marks of the Foolish What progression these two ioyned in one will make iudge you As I allow neyther the one nor the other so doe I not commend such as fight with eyther of them at their owne Weapon For I esteeme it Wisedome and Religion that a Foole is to bee answered but not by becomming more foolish and like vnto him That the Matter which is handled is to be valued and not the Person Dum de bonis contendimus in malis consentimus If Disgraces to your owne Persons jibbing at your owne Writings so mightily mooue you imagine that in others which you feele in your selues and if you take felicitie to heare well remember how to speake well If I were asked of two contentious persons who were most to bee blamed I should perhaps remember the Prouerbe That the second Blow maketh the Fray or the saying of an obscure Fellow Qui replicat multiplicat But I would determine the question with alter principium dedit alter modum abstulit by the one wee haue a beginning and by the other wee shall neuer haue an end I know the most part or all the Bishops and Learned Clergy neyther allow of such fierie Sermons and scandalous Libels as haue been too commonly vented or if any fawning person haue mistaken the humours of men in Authority they haue sacrificed Veneri suem and haue sought to gratifie them with that which they most dislike As it had beene good that such Births had beene choakt at first and neuer seene the Sunne so the next is That such as hereafter be hatched in corners and put abroad bee censured by all of Vnderstanding and Conscience as the extrauagant Councels of light Persons That men be warie how they bee conuersant in them except they will depriue themselues of all sense of Religion That as sinister imitation or other wrong ends haue brought them to delight in that vaine so the loathsome sight and reprochfull effects may moue shame and forbearance Lastly I doe exhort you to remooue all Blockes that may encounter your conformitie specially that reasonlesse Reason That you are tyed by Oath to maintaine your former Discipline in all controuerted Differences You know if you would know that all such Oathes were taken for the maintenance of the true Religion in the puritie of Substance and not in the indifferencies of Pollicy and Ceremonies which then in regard of the time were out of frame for accidentall Ceremonies and externall matters of Pollicy are not to be tyed to perpetuitie eyther in Ecclesiasticall or Ciuill Estate but may bee promoued or altered at all times from worse to better according to the difference of Times and discretion of wise Gouernours Besides if you disclayme not that Oath you belye Iohn Knox who published by Writing to the Nobility and Communalty of Scotland That vnlawfull Oathes are not to bee kept as indeede they are not If hee by wresting that Text did free subiects from their