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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A36871	The history of the English and Scotch presbytery wherein is discovered their designs and practices for the subversion of government in church and state / written in French, by an eminent divine of the Reformed church, and now Englished.; Historie des nouveaux presbytériens anglois et escossois. English	Basier, Isaac, 1607-1676.; Du Moulin, Peter, 1601-1684.; Bramhall, John, 1594-1663.; Playford, Matthew.	1660 (1660)	Wing D2586; ESTC R17146	174,910	286

who have particularly courted and invite● 〈◊〉 to Covenant with them and that your Churches are ●lemished in reputation onely because these men have dared to addresse their infamous complements to you a thing neverthelesse which ye could not prevent how great soever your aversion were from their wicked actions wherefore we beseech you as you love your subsistance and the honour of the Gospel which ought to be dearer to you then your lives that you exhort the general of your Churches to declare readily and vigorously by a publick Act against these false brethren and their pernicious Maximes for fear least the crime of men be imputed to Religion and that the innocent suffer not for the guilty Let it appear to the State under which ye live that the Reformed Religion for conscience sake upheld Kingly Authority and that it is the true Doctrine that maintains subjects in their duty and a Kingdome in peace You may also boldly advise the Gentlemen at Court to beware of them and that they give order to prevent that inundation that is threatned from our Ilands and let them be most assured that the Independent Armies have not lesse ambition to cause all people to rise and overthrow all the Monarchs of Christendom that to this effect Cr have often declared his intentions all the popular tumults in France are the productions of this Artist ever in motion infatigable swoln with successe who h●●h his eyes and hands every where and gains in all places either by the sword or gold now in all changes of the State whosoever gains the Church loseth and the filth in all inundations resteth upon the vallies We are so near neighbours that the contagion of our evils cannot but passe to you therefore ye shall do prudently and Christianly to keep your selves from the contagion of our evils and since those of the Reformed Religion are better instructed then the other it is therefore for them first to begin to do their duty And 〈◊〉 ●his the considerations in this ensuing Treatise will enc●●rage you and our adversities will furnish you with better Councels then the prosperity of our persecutors Agr●e Fortunae sana Concilia we hope that this true and lively pourtraiture of their Rebellious Covenant that we present unto you will so strike the spectators with horror that they will become good Christians and good subjects by Antiperistisis THE ARTICLES OF RELIGION of the CHURCH OF ENGLAND I. THere is but one living and true God everlasting without body parts or passions of infinite power wisdom and goodnesse the Maker and preserver of all things both visible and invisible And in unity of this Godhead there be three persons of one substance power and eternity the Father the Son and holy Ghost II. THe Sonne which is the Word of the Father begotten from everlasting of the Father the very and eternall God of one substance with the Father took mans nature in the womb of the blessed Virgine of her substance so that two whole and perfect natures that is to say the Godhead and manhood were joyned together in one person never to be divided whereof is one Christ very God and very man who truly suffered was crucified dead and buried to reconcile his Father to us and to be a sacrifice not onely for Originall guilt but also for actuall sinnes of men III. AS Christ died for us and was buried so also is it to be beléeved that he went down into hell IV. CHrist did truly rise again from death and took again his body with flesh bones and all things appertaining to the perfection of mans nature wherewith he ascended into heaven and th●re sitteth untill he return to judge all men at the last day V. THe holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Sonne is of one Substance majesty and glory with the Father and the Son very and eternall God VI. HOly Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be prooved thereby is not to be required of any man that it should be beléeved as an Article of the faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation In the name of the holy Scripture we do understand those Canonicall Books of the Old New Testament of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books GEnesis Exodus Leviticus Numeri Deuteronomium Josue Judges Ruth The 1. Book of Samuel The 2. Book of Samuel The 1. Book of Kings The 2. Book of Kings The 1. Book of Chronicles The 2. Book of Chronicles The 1. Book of Esdras The 2. Book of Esdras The Book of Hester The Book of Job The Psalmes The Proverbs Ecclesiastes or Preacher Cantica or Songs of Solomon 4. Prophets the greater 12. Prophets the lesse And the other Books as Hierome saith the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine Such are these following The 3. Book of Esdras The 4. Book of Esdras The Book of Tobias The Book of Judeth The rest of the Book of Hester The Book of Wisdom Jesus the son of Sirach Baruch the Prophet The song of the three Children The Story of Susanna Of Bell and the Dragon The Praye● of Manasses The 1. Book of Maccabees The 2. Book of Maccabees All the Bookes of the New Testament as they are commonly received we do receive and account them Canonicall VII THe Old Testament is not contrary to the New for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ who is the onely Mediator betwéen God and man being both God and man Wherefore they are not to be heard which feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory promises Although the Law given from God by Moses as touching Ceremonies and Rites do not bind Christian men nor the civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to bée received in any Common-wealth yet notwihstanding no Christian man whatsoever is frée from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Morall VIII THe thrée Creeds Nice Creed Athanasius Creed and that which is commonly called the Apostles Créed ought throughly to be received and beléeved for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture IX ORiginall sin standeth not in the following of Adam as the Pelagians do vainly talk but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is ingendred of the off-spring of Adam whe● by man is very far gone from originall righteousnesse and is of his own nature inclined to euil so that the flesh lusteth alwaies contrary to the spirit and therefore in every person born into this world it deserveth Gods wrath and damnation And this infection of nature doth remain yea in them that are regenerated whereby the lust of the flesh called in Gréek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some do expound the wisdome some sensuallity

us these scourges for our sins by this our impatience will be bridled by Humility Moreover le ts remember that it is not for us to remedy these evils and that all that we have to do is to beg help of God in whose hands the hearts of Kings and motions in Kingdoms are He said a little before That the Word of God bound us not only to be subject to Princes that are worthy of our duty but to all Princes whatsoever and howsoever they came to the Soveraignty and although they do nothing less then perform the duties of good Soveraigns In his Commentary upon Daniel Let us learn saith he by the example of the Prophet to beseech God for Tirants if it shall please him to subject us to their inordinate pleasure for what though they be unworthy of all Offices of Humanity yet neverthelesse because it is by the will of God that he commands it s our duty to bear the yoke patiently not only because of wrath as Saint Paul admonisheth but also for Conscience sake otherwise we are not only Rebels against them but against God This Lesson is of the same Authors Let this be ever in our memory that the same Divine Authority that gives Authority to Kings establisheth also the most wicked Kings Oh let never these seditious thoughts enter into our spirits that we should deal with the King as he deserves and that it is not reasonable to yield the duty of Subjects to him who will not perform the duty of King to us Which is notwithstanding the arguing of the Covenanters Peter Martyr an Italian but a Minister in those Churches our enemies invite to associate with them is not less contrary to them Expounding that place of the Proverbs By me Kings reign saith That under the name of Kings the Text understands also Tyrants Whence he collects this consequence Therefore learning hence that thy K. is established by God beware thou never conspirest any seditious thing in the State all that thou must do when thou art oppressed is to appeal to the Tribunal of God there being no other superiour power to whom a Tyrant ought to obey He saith also very pertinently worthy our best observation That then when God Would chastise the Kings of Judah for their sins he did not do it by the Jews but by the Babylonians Assyrians and Egyptians shewing by the conduct of his justice and providence that it is not for subjects to take knowledge of the faults of their soveraigns but that they ought to leave them wholly to God who hath other means in his hand to punish them and reduce them to their duty Surely if Calvin and Martyr had lived in these days and were benificed in England they would eject them out of their benefices for this troublesom doctrine which hinders the progress of the holy Covenant and fils their consciences full of scruples whom they instruct to rebel against their Soveraign for the Lords sake And above all Monsieur Deodat● would be very ill dealt with by them for being Author of that excellent Epistle sent from the Church of Genevah to the Ecclesiastical Assembly at London in which your good King is highly prais'd for the justice and clemency of his proceedings in this present quarrel the popular tumults condemned which forced him to retire from his Parliament and these Gentlemen earnestly entreated to dispossess their spirits of all factious inclinations and to wash off this foul spot by which they have and do defame the pure profession of the Gospel giving occasion for the world to believe that the reformed Religion hath a secret hatred and antipathy against the Majesty of Kings and soveraign authority against this Epistle our enemies vomited out many outragious words in their books maintaining that it was supposititious and invented by some prophane Atheist Behold here the thanks that this great and learned person and the reverend Ministers his brethren received for their charitable and truly Christian counsel And this is further to be observed that the Assembly at London having sent their Epistle and Oath of their Covenant to seventeen forraign Churches whereof the Churches of France made but one they make no noise of the Answers they received which doth evidently testifie they did not satisfie them and that they durst not produce them for fear of making it appear that the generality of the reformed Churches were ashamed of their actions and condemned the insurrections of Subjects against their Soveraign under pretence of reformation This Divinity of Rebellion being founded upon one only Maxime that the power of Kings is of humane and not divine right and that their right to the Kingdom is but a paction between them and the people It s much to purpose to produce here what the Churches of France hold hereupon and how they refuse the reasons of the Jesuits which are the same with the Covenanters Behold the last Chapter of the Buckler of Faith which is a garment so fit for the size of both parties that after the one hath made use of it the other may put it on they need change nothing but the persons Thomas the Prince of the School Divines saith that the power of Princes and Lords is but of humane institution and comes not from God to whom we may joyn Cardinal Bellarmine in his Book against Barkley and Monsieur Arnoux who upon the second Article of our confession cals the power of the Magistrate a humane law conformable to the Apothegme of reverend Father Binet the Jesuit who told Mr. Casaubon that it were better all Kings were killed than a confession should be revealed because the power of Kings is but an humane right but confession is of Divine right The Reasons they bring for this opinion are 1. That the first King that was raised in the world namely Nimrod was raised by violence and not by the ordinance of God 2. That the most part of the Empires and Kingdoms that ever have been came by conquest one Nation overcoming the other or by some Prince whose ambition moved him to pick an unjust quarrel with his Neighbour 3. That Emperors and Kings are established by humane ways whether they come to the Crown by hereditary succession or by election since there is no extraordinary revelation nor no rule in the Word of God that a Nation are bound to follow rather Succession which is hereditary than that which is by Election 4. That there is no express command of God to obey Henry rather than Lewis or to acknowledge this man rather than that for King 5. That for these considerations the Apostle St. Peter calls our obedience to Kings an Ordinance of man saying Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as supream or unto Governours c. 1 Pet. 2.15 These are the ordinary reasons of the Covenanters if they should disavow them their Books would witness

And a little after he gives the reason why the French Churches do not follow their example Because living in a Country where Superstition abounds the people would be easily drawn to abuse them and be tainted with the common contagion The Prudent and Religious acknowledge with him That in this the Churches have liberty to govern themselves according to the exigencies of time and place and that if in the English Calender there be some festivals which might well be passed by and whereof there might be some fear of the consequence these things ought to have been fairly represented with the humility of subjects and the charity of Christians and not defame the reputation of the English Church as idolatrous and a member of Antichrist nor reform the Church and the King by the Sword since the Reformed Churches in this point acquits them and the example of the Primitive justifies them But although they make a great shew of their agreement with other Churches they make but use of them in some points where they like and approve of and spare not to accuse them of idolatry as well as others when they please 'T is that which they do without naming them then when they reject as gross idolatry the observation of the memory of the daies dedicated to the Nativity Passion Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and the sending of the Holy Ghost into the Church Behold here the Opinion and Practise of the Reformed Churches declared by that Godly and Learned Festus Hominius It s a thing of very great profit to the edification of the Church to commemorate and press solemnly to the people at certain ordinary times the principal manifestations of God and his most signal Benefits to his Church since that the Primitive Church even in the times of the Apostles dedicated certain daies to the Anniversary Celebration of the Nativity Death Resurrection and Ascension of Christ and sending of the Holy Spirit It s very well done to retain the practise of the ancient Church in a thing which is not simply indifferent but singularly profitable to edification provided that none attribute superstitiously any Sanctity to be in the daies and impose not upon the consciences of Christians a yoke of absolute necessity contrary to the Liberty of the Gospel Our new Reformers cannot affirm in sincerity that the Clergy of England attributed any Inherent Sanctity to be in the daies or made use of them to impose a yoke of absolute necessity upon their consciences there was no need then to abolish them with such rigour not to scandalize so many pious souls nor resist a vain fear of superstition by insolence and prophaneness which is a remedy worse then the evil The day of the Nativity in the year 1644 was changed by an express publick Order into a Fast which was the first time since the Apostles that there was any Fast kept that day in the Christian Church and because many would not Fast they sent Souldiers into their houses a little before dinner to visit their Kitchins and Ovens who carried away the meat and eat it though it was a fasting day who were exempted from fasting provided they made others fast such insolencies were ordinary if we may call them insolent actions which were done by Authority And as for Easter day on which and the daies following the people are enjoyned by Act of Parliament to receive the Blessed Sacrament the devotion of the people in many places have been opposed by violence We have heard of a Parish where by main force the Bread and Wine was taken away from the people who were assembled at Church for this holy action Behold their wayes to change the times and to reform abuses which is to resist a supposed superstition with a true and manifest one and to make Sacriledge fight for Religion Le ts pass to other differences The Reformed Churches do not believe as they that all significant ceremonies excepting in the Sacraments are unlawful for then it would follow that to keep off the Hat and kneel at Prayer should be unlawful for these are ceremonies which signifie reverence whence many of the Covenanters for this reason refuse to put off their Hats or kneel at prayer without being taken notice of and reproved by authority Also the Reformed Churches do not believe as they that to be tyed to written prayers or forms of prayers in the Administration of the Sacraments is to binde the Spirit of God many of the Covenanters are come so far as to call the usage of forms of prayer idolatry yea even the use of the Lords Prayer which the most part of this faction refuse to say although by a special priviledge it s permitted the Minister by their Directory to make use of it if he please for it s not commanded him According to this Directory as they call it that is to say an instruction how the Minister should govern himself in the Church The Minister must not say the Apostles Creed nor repeat the ten Commandments of God whereby the people shall be without any form of what they are to believe or what they are to do therefore in the families of most part of this faction they reach no● their children neither the Creed the Lords Prayer nor the ten Commandments and as for the children which have learned these holy forms they teach them to forget them Above all things they take a special care that the Minister tyes not himself to any form of words as a thing of dangerous consequence and which hath a taint of Antichrist Henceforward then there will be no uniformity in the Divine Service nor no more help for the infirmity of aged Ministers nor for the understanding and memory of simple and dull Auditors who cannot comprehend at the first aboard what the Minister saith but had need to be well accustomed to him Also there will be no more bounds to devour phantastical spirits which is the principal vice of this Nation Every Church will have a particular Order or rather will have none at all for the Pastor hath liberty to alter it every time he pleases nothing being forbidden but to make use of the long established forms by the Authentical Acts of many Parliaments sanctified by the publick devotion of so many years and composed by the first Reformers persons excellent in piety and wisdome whose books these are not worthy to carry after them If these Directors had had any fear of scandalizing the Churches whom they invited to associate with them they would never have abolished the custome received in all the Reformed Churches and generally in all the Christian Churches of the World who have certain forms for the publick Service of God If they had born any respect to Antiquity and to the universal consent of the Christian Church in all ages and in all places they would not have begun in this age a custome so prodigiously singular as to banish out of the Church all forms