continue in labour and the Courtier cannot alwayes wait in the same posture nor the Scribe alwayes write nor the Divine alwayes Change of labour is a kinde of recreation study but there must be an exchange of his actions for the better performance of his chiefest imployment and that time which either some Gentlemen Citizens or Courtiers spend in playing hawking or hunting onely for their recreation the better to inable them to discharge their offices why may not the Divine imploy it in the performance of any other duty different but not destructive or contradictory to his more special function especially considering that the discharging of those good duties to give counsell to do justice to releive the distressed and the like are more acceptable recreations unto them as it was meate and drink to Christ to do his fathers will then the other fore-named John 4. 34. exercises are or can be to any others and considering also that where the Bishop or Pastor hath great affairs and much charge he may have great helpes and much aid to assist him You will allow us an hour for our recretion why will you not allow us that hour to do justice 2. If you say they are spirituall men and therefore cannot have so great a Ob. 2 care of the temporall State and Common-wealth I answer that as now the Common-wealth is the Church and the Church is Sol. 1. The ability of the Clergy to manage civil affaires Ignat. Epist ad Ephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Common wealth and have as good interest therein and better we hope then many of the Common-wealth have in the Church and they should be as able to understand what is beneficiall to the Common-wealth as any other for Ignatius saith that Kings ought to be served by wise men and by those that are of great understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not to be attended upon by weak and simple men and if Kings must be served by such men then certainly the service of God is not to be performed by Weavers and Taylors and others like Jeroboams Priests but it will require men of great abilities learning and understanding in all businesses whatsoever such as are indeed well able to discourse De quâ—â—â—bet ente And they have very unprofitably consumed themselves with their time in their head-pain vigilâ— and heart-breaking studies in traversing over all the Common-wealths of the world if they have learned nothing whereby they may benefit their own Common-wealth The Clergy of better abilities to benefit the Common-wealth then many others that now sway it or do understand less what belongeth unto the good of their Countrâ—y especially in matters of equity and right then illiterate Burgesses and meere Chapmen for if you read but the bookes of the Prophets you shall finde how plentifull they are in the precepts of peace in the policies of war and in the best counsels for all things which concern the good of the Common-wealth and do not the Divines read the Histories of all or most other Common-wealths how else shall they be inabled to propose unto their people the example of Gods justice upon the wicked and his bounty and favour unto the observers of his Lawes throughout all ages and in all places of this world and will deprive the King of the assistance of such instruments for the government The imployment of the Bishops in civil affaires is the good of the Common wealth of his people that are stronger then any one man can rule and would quickly despise Heaven and destroy the earth if their consciences were not awed with Religion or would you damme up the channels of those benefits that should flow from them to the Common-wealth for it is not the additon of any honour to the calling of a Bishop but the King's interest and the peoples good that is aimed at when we assert the capacity of the Clergy to discharge the offices of the most publique affaires because as Petrus Blesensis saith it is the Petrus Blesensis ep 84. office of the Bishops to instruct the King to righteousness to be a rule of Sanctity and sobriety unto the Court to mix the influencies of Religion with the designes of State and to restrain the malignity of the ill-disposed people and all histories do relate unto us that when pious Bishops were imployed in the King's Counsels the rigour of the Lawes was abated equity introduced the cry of the poor respected their necessities relieved the liberties of the Church preserved pride depressed religion increased the devotion of the Laity multiplied the peace of the Kingdom flourished and the tribunals were made more just and merciful then now they be And therefore the sacred histories do record of purpose how the people of God never adventured upon any action of weight and moment before they had well consulted with the Priests and Prophets as you see in the example of Ahab No Nation attempted any great matter without the advice of their Priests that was none of the best Kings yet would not omit this good duty and such was the custom of all other Countries wheresoever there was any religion or reverence of God Quae enim est respub ubi ecclesiastici primum non habeant locum in comitiis publicis de salute reipub deliberationibus for which is that Common-wealth where the Ecclesiastical persons had not the first place in all meetings and publique consultations about the welfare of the Common-wealth as in Germany the three spiritual Electours are the first in France the three Ecclesiastical persons were the first of all the Peers in England till this unhappy time the two Archbishops and in Poland as many were wont to have the chiefest place and not unworthily quia aequum est antestent in concilio Apud Euseb Pamphilum l. 11. Strabo l. 4. Caesar de bello Gallico lib. 6. qui antestant prudentiâ nec videtur novisse res humanas nisi qui divinas cognitas habet as the Indian said unto Socrates and therefore the Chaldaeans the Aegyptians the Graecians the Romanes the French and the Britons thought it alwayes ominous to attempt any notable thing in the Common-wealth without the sad and sage advice of their Priests and Prophets for they knew the neglect of God was never left without due revenge and though their false gods were no gods yet the true God was found to have been a sharp revenger of the contempt of the false gods because that to them they were proposed for the true gods and they believed them so to be as Lactantius sheweth and therefore all antiquity that bare any reverence to any Deity shewed all reverence and respect unto the teachers of his religion but now men desire to throw learning over the Bar because it should not discover the ignorance of the Bench or rather piety is excluded because it should not reprove their iniquity And the Clergy must not sit on the seat of
and to prevent civill dissentions to govern them according to the rules of justice and equity which all other Kings are bound to do but neither did nor can do it so fully and so faithfully as the Christian Kings because no Law either Solons Lycurgus Pompilius or any other Greek or Latine nor any Politique Plato Aristotle Machievle or whom you will old or new can so perfectly set down and so fairly declare quid justum quid honestum as the Law of Christ hath done and therefore seeing omnis honos praesupponit onus the honour is but the reward of labour and that this labour or duty of Kings to maintain true Religion well performed and faithfully discharged brings most glory unto God and the greatest honour to all Kings when it is more to be with Constantine a nursing father to Gods Church then it is to be with Alexander the sole Monarch of the known world I will first treat of their charge and care and the power that God hath given them to defend the faith and to preserve true Religion And 1. Care of Kings to preserve true Religion Aug. de utilitate credendi cap. 9. 1. Religion saith a learned Divine without authority is no Religion for as Saint Augustine saith no true Religion can can be received by any means without some weighty force of authority therefore if that Religion whereby thou hopest to be saved hath no authority to ground it self upon or if that authority whereby thy Religion is settled be mis-placed in him that hath no authority at all what hope of salvation remaining in that Religion canst thou conceive but it is concluded on all sides that the right authority of preserving true religion must reside in him and proceed from him by whose supreme power and government it is to be enacted and forced upon us and therefore To whom the charge of preserving religion is committed 3 Opinions now the question is and it is very much questioned to whom the supreme government of our Religion ought rightly to be attributed whereof I finde three several resolutions 1. Papistical which leaneth too much on the right hand 2. Anabaptistical which bendeth twice as much on the left hand 3. Orthodoxal of the Protestants that ascribe the same to him on whom God himself hath conferred it 1. That the Church of Rome maketh the Pope solely to have the supreme 1. Opinion government of our Christian Religion is most apparent out of all their writeings Vnde saepe objictunt dictum Hosii ad Constantium Tibi Deus imperium commisit nobis quae sunt ecclesiastica concredidit Sed hic intelligitur de executione officii non de gubernatione ecclesiae Sicut ibi manifestum est eùm dicitur neque sas est nobis in terris imperium tenere neque tibi thymiamatum sacrorum potestatem habere i e. in praedicatione Et an gelii administratione Saâ—ramentorum similibus and you may see what a large book our Country-man Stapleton wrote against Master Horn Bishop of Winchester to justifie the same And Sanders to disprove the right of Kings saith Fatemur personas Episcoporum qui in toto orbe fuerunt Romano Imperatori subject as fuisse quoniam Rex praeest hominibus Christianis ver ùm non quia sunt Christiani sed quia sunt homines episcopis etiam ex ea parte rex praeesset So Master Harding saith that the office of a King in it self is all one every where not onely among the Christian Princes but also among the Heathen so that a Christian King hath no more to do in deciding Church matters or medling with any point of Religion then a Heathen And so Fekenham and all the brood of Jesuites do with all violence and virulency labour to disprove the Prince's authority and supremacy in Ecclesiastical causes and the points of our Religion and to transfer the same wholly unto the Pope and his Cardinals Neither do I wonder so much that the Pope having so universally gained and so long continued this power and retained this government from the right owners should imploy all his Hierarchy to maintain that usurped authority which he held with so much advantage to his Episcopal See though with no small prejudice to the Church of Christ when the Emperours being busied with other affairs and leaving this care of religion and government of the Church to the Pope the Pope to the Bishops the Bishops to their Suffragans and the Suffragans to the Monkes whose authority being little their knowledg less and their honesty least of â—all all things were ruled with greater corruption and less truth then they ought to be so long as possibly he should be able to possesse it But at last when the light of the Gospel shined and Christian Princes had the leisure to look and the heart to take hold upon their right the learned men opposing themselves against the Pepe's usurped jurisdiction have soundly proved the Soveraign authority of Christian Kings in the government of the Church that not onely in other Kingdoms but also here in England this power was annexed by divers Laws unto the interest of the Crown and the lawful right of the King and I am perswaded saith that Reverend ArchBishop Survey of Discip c. 22. p. 251. Bancroft had it not been that new adversaries did arise and opposed themselves in this matter the Papists before this time had been utterly subdued for the Devil seeing himself so like to lose the field stirred up in the bosom of Reformation How the Devil raised instruments to hinder the reformation a flock of violent and seditious men that pretending a greaâ— deal of hate to Popery have notwithstanding joined themselves like Sampson's â—oxes with the worst of Papists in the worst and most pernicious Doctrines that ever Papist taught to rob Kings of their sacred and divine right and to deprive the Church of Christ of the truth of all those points that do most specially concern her government and governours and though in the fury of their wilde zeal they do no less maliciously then falsly cast upon the soundest Protestants the aspersion of Popery and Malignancy yet I hope to make it plain unto my reader that themselves are the Papists indeed or worse then Papists both to the Church and State For 2. As the whole Colledge of Cardinals and all the Scholes of the Jesuites 2 Opinion Of the Anabaptists and Puritans do most stifly defend this usurped authority of the Pope which as I said may be with the less admiration because of the Princes concession and their own long possession of it so on the other side there are sprung up of late a certain generation of Vipers the brood of Anabaptists and Brownists that do most violently strive not to detain what they have unjustly obtained but a degree far worse to pull the sword out of their Prince his hand and to place authority on them
professed in Q. Elizabeth's times that was established by the Lawes justified by the paines and confirmed by the bloud of so many worthy men and faithful Martyrs but a new religion first hatched in Amsterdam then nourished in New-England and now to be transplanted into this Kingdom 3. Who are the persons that are imployed in this war he first of all that 3. Meet Members is the more disloyal because he was a person of honour that had so much honour conferred upon him by His Majesty and so much trust reposed in him and would notwithstanding prove so unthankful as to kick with his heeles against his Master and so follow whom you know passibus aequis whose example any other man that were not rob'd of his understanding would make a remora to retain him from rebellion and what are the other heads but a company either of poor needy and mean condition'd Lords and Gentlemen Who the Rebels are and what manner persons they be or discontented Peers that are misled or such factious Sectaries whose blind zeal and furious malice are able to hurry them headlong to perpetrate any mischief for their Captains and their Officers I believe they fight neither for the Anabaptists creed nor against the Romane faith nor to overthrow our Protestant Church but for their pay for which though they cannot be justified to take their hire for such ill service to rebel against their King and to murder their innocent brethren Yet are they not so bad as their grand Masters and for their common Souldiers I assure my self many of them fight against their wills many seduced by their false Prophets others inticed by their factious Masters and most of them compelled to kill their brethren against their wils and therefore in some places though their number trebled the Kings yet they had rather run away then fight and what a miserable and deplorable case is this when so many poor soules shall be driven unto the Devil by Preachers and Parliament against their wills 4. If you consider quâ authoritate by what authority they wage this war 4. The supreme authority they will answer by the Authority of Parliament and that is just none at all because the Parliament hath not the supreme authority without which the war is not publique nor can it be justified for a war is then justifiable when there is no legal way to end the controversie by prohibiting farther appeales which cannot be but onely betwixt independent States and several Princes that Albericus Gentilis de jure belli l. 1. c. 2. Subjects can never make a lawful war against their King have the supreme power in their own hands and are not liable to the censure of any Court which power the Parliament cannot challenge because they are or should be the King 's lawful Subjects and therefore cannot be his lawful enemies but they will say Master Goodwin Burroughs and all the rest of our good men zealous brethren and powerful Preachers do continually cry out in our eares it is bellum sanctum a most just and holy war a war for the Gospel and for our Lawes and Liberties wherein whosoever dies he shall be crowned a Martyr I answer that for their reward they shall be indeed as Saint Augustine saith of the like Martyres stultae Philosophiae when every one of them may Res dura ac plena pericli est regale occidisse genus be indicted at the bar of God's justice for a felo de se a Malefactour guilty of his own untimely death and for their good Oratours that perswade them to this wickednesse I pray you consider well what they are men of no worth rebellious against the Church Rebels against the King factious Schismaticks of In what condition their Preachers are and of what worth no faith of no learning that have already forfeited their estates if they have any and their lives unto the king and will any man that is wise hazard his estate his life and his soul to follow the perswasions of these men my life is as deare to me as the Earle of Essex his head is to him and my soul dearer and I dare ingage them both that if all the Doctors in both Vniversities and all the Divines within the kingdome of England were gathered together to give their judgement of this War there could not be found one of ten it may be as I beleive not one of twenty that durst upon his conscience say this war is lawful upon the Parliament side for though these Locusts that is the German Scottish It is contrary to the doctrine of all the Protestant Church for Subjects to resist their king and the English puritane agreeing with the Romane Jesuite ever since the reformation harped upon this string and retained this serpentine poison within their bosome still spitting it forth against all States as you may see by their bookes Yet I must tell you plainly this doctrine of Subjects taking up armes against their lawful King is point blanck and directly against the received doctrine of the Church of England and against the tenet of all true Protestants and therefore Andreas Rivetus Professor at Leyden writing against a Jesuite Paraeus in Rom. 13. Boucher l. 2. c. 2. Kecâ—erm Syst pol. c. 32. Jun. Bruâ— q. 2. p. 56. Bellar. de laic c. 6. Suar. de fid cathol c. 3. Lichfield l. 4. 19. sect 19. Field l. 5. c. 30. that cast this aspersion upon the Protestants that they jumpe with them in this doctrine of warring against and deposing kings saith that no Protestant doth maintain that damnable doctrine and that rashness of Knox and Buchanan is to be ascribed praefervido Scotorum ingenio ad audendum prompto Juel and Bilson and all the Doctors of the Church are of the same minde and Lichfield saith no Orthodox father did by word or writing teach any resistance for the space of a thousand yeares and Doctor Field saith that all the worthy fathers and Bishops of the Church perswaded themselves that they owed all duty unto their kings though they were Hereticks and Infidels and the Homilies of the Church of England allowed by authority do plainly and peremptorily condemne all Subjects warring against their King for Rebels and Traytors that do resist the ordinance of God and procure unto themselyes damnation and truely I beleive most of their own consciences tell them so and they that thinke otherwise I would have them to consider that if they were at a banquet where twenty should aver such a dish to be full of poyson for every one that would warrant it good would'st thou venture to eate it and hazard thy life in such a case O then consider what it is to hazard thy soule upon the like termes So you see the justness of the War on the Parliament side But. 1. On the Kings side it cannot be denied but his cause is most just for his own defence for the maintenance of the
obliged to perform such a promise or to keep such an oath to tell you mine own judgement I think he ought not to perform it and our own Law tels us what grants soever are obtained from the King under the broad Seal by fraud and deceit those grants are void in Law therefore seeing the Act for the perpetuity of this Parliament was obtained dolâ— pessimo to the great dishonour of God and the ruine both of Church and State when their pretence was very good though the goodness of his Majesty in the tenderness of his conscience was still loath to allow himself the liberty to dissolve it until he had other juster and more clear causes to pronounce it no Parliament as the abusing of his grant to the raising of an Army and the upholding of a Rebellion against their Soveraign yet I believe he might safely have done it long agone without the least violation of God's Law when their evil intentions were openly discovered by those Armies which they raised For I doubt not to affirm it with the Authour of The sacred Prerogative of Christian Kings p. 144. if any good Prince or his royal Ancestors have been cheated out of their sacred right by fraud or force he may at the fittest opportunity when God in his wise providence offereth the occasion resume it especially when the Subjects do abuse the King's concessions to the dammage of Soveraignty so that it redounds also to the prejudice either of the Church or Common-wealth 3. When the King through fear not such as the Parliaments fear is who 3. Grants gotten by force not to be observed were afraid where no fear was and were frighted with dreames and causelesse jealousies but that fear which is real and not little but such as may fall in fortem constantem virum doth passe any Law especially that is prejudicial to the Church and injurious to many of his Subjects I say that when he shall be freed from that fear he is not onely freed from the obligation of that Law but he is also obliged to do his uttermost endeavour to annul the same it is true that his fear may justly free him from all blame at the passing of it as the fear of the thief may clear me from all fault in delivering my purse unto him because these are no voluntary acts and all acts are adjudged good or evil according to the disposition of the will the same being like the golden bridle The will must never consent to forced acts that are unlawful His Majesties answer to the Petition of the Lords and Commons 16. Julii p. 8. that Minerva was said to put upon Pegasus to guide him and to turn him as she pleased but when his fear is past and God hath delivered him from the insurrection of wicked doers if his will gives consent to what before he did unwilling who can free the greatest Monarch from this fault Therefore His Majesty confessing which we that saw the whole proceedings of those tumultuous routs that affrighted all the good Protestants and the Loyal Subjects do know that it could not be otherwise that he was driven out of London for fear of his life I conclude that the act of excluding the Bishops out of Parliament being past after his flight out of London can be no free nor just nor lawful act and the King when he is more fully informed of many particulars about this act that is so prejudicial to the Church of Christ and so injurious to all his servants the Clergy whose rights and priviledges the King promised and sware at His Coronation to maintain cannot continue it in my judgement and be innocent But this is answered by the answerer to Doctour Ferne that he is no more Ob. Pag. 31. bound to defend the rights of the Clergy by his oath then the râ—st of the Lawes formerly enacted whereof any may be abrogated without perjury when they are desired to be annulled by the Kingdome To which I say that as His Majesty confesseth there are two speciall questions Sol. His Majesties answer to the â—eâ—onstrance or declaration of the Lords and Commons 26. of May 1642. demanded of the king at His Coronation 1. Sir Will you grant and keep and by your oath confirm to the people of England the Lawes and Customes to them granted by the Kings of England your lawfull and religious predecessors And the king answereth I grant and promise to keep them 2. After such questions as concerne all the commonalty of this kingdome both Clergy and Laity as they are his Subjects one of the Bishops reads this admonition to the king before the people with a loud voice Our Lord and King we beseech you to pardon and to grant and to preserve unto us and to the Churches committed to our charge all Canonicall priviledges and due law and justice and that you would protect and defend us as every good King in His Kingdome ought to be the protector and defender of the Bishops and the Churches under their Government And the king answereth With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my pardon and that I will preserve and maintaine to you and the Churches committed to your charge all Canonicall Priviledges and due law and Justice and that I will be your Protector and defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good king in His kingdome in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government The Kings Oath at His Coronation two-fold Then the king laying his hand upon the book saith the things which I have before promised I shall performe and keep so helpe me God and the contents of this Book Where I beseech all men to observe that here is a two-fold promise and so a two-fold oath 1. The one to all the Commonalty and people of England Clergy and Laity The first part of the Oath Populâ— Anglicaâ—o Vide D. p. 165. and so whatsoever he promiseth may by the consent of the parties to whom the right was transferred be remitted and altered by the representative body in Parliament quia volenti non fit injuria and the rule holds good quibus modis contrahitur contractus iiâ—dem dissolvitur and therefore as any compact or contract is made good and binding so it may be made void and dissolved mutuo contrahentium â—ssensu by the mutuall assent of both parties that is any compact where God hath not a speciall interest in the contract as he hath in the conjugall contract betwixt man and wife and the politicke covenant betwixt the Contracts wherein God is interessed cannot be dissolved without God King and His Subjects which therefore cannot be dissolved by the consent of the parties untill God who hath the cheifest hand in the contract gâ—ves his assent to the dissolution and so when things are dedicated for the service of God or Priviledges granted for his honour neither donor nor receiver can alienate
so likewise yet I blame them no wayes if they see good reasons and just cause to do otherwise Quia plus vident oculi quam oculus and I were too sawcy and peremptory if I thought my self wiser or juster than my Brethren Jehovae Liberatori FINIS The Authour of the foregoing Treatises hath Published another Book Entituled the Best Religion wherein is largely handled the Texts of Scripture following which do contain the Fundamental Points of Christian Religion Sold by Ph. Stephens at the Gilded Lion in S. Pauls Church-Yard 1 THe Mysteries of the Rainbow Preached before the King upon Gen. 9. 13. I do set my Bow in the Cloud c. 2 Gods Love to the World Preached before the King upon John 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. 3 The worthiest Saying Preached before the King upon 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ c. 4 The Best Helper Preached before the King upon Rom. 8. 31. If God be for us who can be against us 5 The Way to happiness Preached at Westminster upon Matth. 11. 28 29 30. Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden c. 6 The fruitful Knocking Preached at Westminster upon Rev. 3. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voyce c. 7 The Celestial Fire Preached before all the Judges upon Luke 12. 49. I came to send fire upon the earth 8 The Necessity of Repentance Preached at White-Hall upon Luke 13. 5. I tell you nay but except ye repent c. 9 S. Peters Charge Preached at Westminster upon John 21. 21 22. Peter seeing him saith to Jesus Lord what shall this man do c. 10 The Royal Feast Preached at Westminster upon Matth. 22. 11 12 13. And when the King came in to see his guests c. 11 The Paschal Sacrifice Preached at Westminster upon 1 Cor. 5. 7. For Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us 12 The three chiefest Graces Preached before the King upon 1 Cor. 13. 13. Now remain faith hope and charity these three c. 13 The Foolish Builders Preached at White-Hall upon Mat. 7. 26 27. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine and doth them not c. 14 The weeping woman Preached before the King upon John 20. 11. But Mary stood without at the Sepulchre weeping 15 The Dove like Wings Preached before the King upon Psal 55. 6. O that I had wings like a Dove then would I flie away and be at rest 16 The Resolution of Pilate first Preached at S. Pauls Cross afterwards enlarged upon John 19. 22. What I have written I have written 17 The Delights of the Saints first preached at S. Pauls Cross afterwards enlarged upon Rom. 1. 7. To all that be at Rome beloved of God c. 18 The Misery of Man Preached at S. Pauls Cross upon Rom. 6. 23. The reward of sin is death 19 The Knowledge of God Preached before K. James upon Exod. 34. 6 7. The Lord the Lord strong merciful and gracious c. 20 The Incarnation of the Word Preached at S. Maries in Cambridge upon John 1. 14. And the Word was made flesh 21 The Passion of the Messias Preached within the Cathedral Church of S. Paul upon Luke 24. 46. Thus it behoved Christ to suffer 22 The Resurrection of Christ Preached within the Cathedral Church of S. Paul upon Mat. 28. 5 6. He is not here for he is risen c. 23 The Ascention of our Saviour and Donation of the Holy Ghost Preached at S. Maries in Cambridge upon Eph. 4. 5. Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive c. 24 The Duty of Christians Preached before K. James upon 1 Thes 5. 28. Brethren pray for us