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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43681	The spirit of popery speaking out of the mouths of phanatical-Protestants, or, The last speeches of Mr. John Kid and Mr. John King, two Presbyterian ministers, who were executed for high-treason and rebellion at Edinburgh, August the 14th, 1679 with animadversions, and the history of the Archbishop of St. Andrews his murder, extracted out of the registers of the Privy-Council, &c. / by an orthodox Protestant.	Hickes, George, 1642-1715.; Kid, John, d. 1679.; King, John, d. 1679.	1680 (1680)	Wing H1874; ESTC R6348	165,592	93

Prosper But then when things fell not out according to the prediction of these false Prophets but quite contrary then they had another Scripture to quiet their Disciples viz. That the Righteous ought not to be afraid of evil tidings but that their hearts should be established trusting in the Lord and that they should not be afraid untill they had seen their desires upon their Enemies Psalm 112. 7 8. Therefore they ought to get their Spirits quiet in a recumbency on God and to trust his Testimony more than their own Hearts because there was then a most sensible outgate when there was least of Sense Fulfil of Script pag. 50. and most of Faith that when their Cause was lowest then God called them to throw themselves on the promise and that their most desperate venture of Life Estate and Credit upon the Promises of God hath usually had the richest Incom and that those who have been most Friends to Faith have had Faith most a Friend to them And then if through Faction of great men or secret favour of Fanaticks in Power any thing happened for their advantage then there was another comfortable Triumphant Text to be applyed to them to make them expect greater matters yet viz. Because I said unto thee I saw thee under the Fig-Tree believest thou Thou shalt see greater things than these Joh. 1. 50. Therefore is it good with Caleb to take part with the promise against the discouraging reports about the Anakims for believing doth always make way for sense so that it is good to trust in God in a day of streights seeing his returns have been not only according to Faith but have often exceeded their belief Then whatsoever happens for the Interest of the Cause is not only the reward of their Faith but the answer of their Prayers for the People of the Lord can testifie by experience that when they have oft with Hannah gon in before the Lord in the bitterness of their Spirit they have been made to return with a sensible and marvellous change in their case For God is near unto his People in what they call upon him according to his Word Those who have a desire to see more of their Blasphemous applications of Scripture may consult the foresaid Book out of which I have taken these See also Notes e. h. o. Fear not be not dismayed I am with thee I will strengthen thee I will uphold thee by the right hand of my righteousness Isa. 41. 10. I thank the Lord he never gave me leave so much as to have a thought much less to seek after any d Yet when he was charged by authority for having born Arms in the late Rebellion he denyed it Upon which one or more of those who apprehended him being called Swore that they took him with Swords and Pistols to which being asked if that was not to bear Arms he said that he meant he never bore Arms in an Hostile manner viz. in his hands Shift that might have been in the least sinful I did always and yet judge it better to e The Posterity of Abraham were made Gods Segoulah or peculiar People by vertue of that particular Contract which he was pleased to make with the Father of the Faithful and seal with the Sacrament of Circumcision and therefore if Moses when he came to years of Discretion had owned himself for the Son of Pharaohs Daughter and so had succeeded to Pharaohs Imperial Throne he had virtually abjured the Blood of Abraham and thereby renounced God his only Church and People and that holy Covenant to which were annexed so many Promises and Priviledges as singular Prerogatives of that People and particularly that of them as concerning the Flesh Messias himself should come In this therefore the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews commends the Faith of Moses that he chose rather in a time of Persecution to own his Brethren the only Church and People of God and the Covenant by which they were espoused to him than to enjoy the Temporal pleasures of a Crown to which he could not have succeeded without renouncing of Abrahams Blood But what is this to the case of this Deceiver who was hanged for rebelling against his natural Prince Yes it was a brave Text to induce the People to believe that he was a great Prophet and the Familiar Friend of God as Moses was and that the Covenanters are Gods People and the People of the Episcopal Churches but as Egyptians whom it is Lawful and Meritorious to Rob and Kill suffer affliction with the People of God than to enjoy the pleasure of sin for a season Therefore I am come hither to Suffer and to lay down my Life I bless the Lord I dye not as a Fool though I acknowledge I have nothing to boast of in my self I acknowledge I am a Sinner and one of the chiefest that has gone under the name of a Professor of Religion yea amongst the unworthiest of those that have Preached the Gospel f See note on h. in the first Speech My Sins and Corruptions have been many I have defiled me in all things and even in the following and doing † By Duty here I suppose he means Prayer which the Presbyterian Writers Emphatically call by that name And as in other things so especially in this they use to perplex and enslave the consciences of men by representing the natural infirmities of human nature for great sins which either are not sins at all as those first motions of the appetite which the Schoolmen call motus primo primi or else but common irregularities of our corrupt nature which God will never lay to our charge unless we indulge and promote them Such as are extravagant thinkings which proce●● from the nimble and disultory nature of the imagination which will make Excursions when the mind is most serious and intent No man can be so intent upon a Mathematical demonstration but wandring thoughts will interpose whether he will or no and inspite of his uttermost attention so interrupt him that he will sometimes loose the connexion and be forced to begin his demonstration again Besides some things and accidents will make such deep impressions upon our phancies do what we can to resist them that our minds will rave upon them in our Studies and Prayers and in such cases God who knows whereof we are made better than we know our selves will be so far from imputing them unto us that if we manfully resist them he will pity our infirmities and accept of the will for the deed I make this remark because there is nothing more common than to find our modern Pharisees with their Mouths full of tragical lamentations and complaints of the common infirmities of human nature without taking notice of their own on their Parties presumptious sins Like this deplorable wretch who heretakes pains to confess that he wanted not infirmities in doing of Duty which no meer man ever yet wanted

THE Spirit of POPERY Speaking out of the Mouths of Phanatical-Protestants OR THE LAST SPEECHES OF Mr. JOHN KID And Mr. JOHN KING Two Presbyterian Ministers Who were Executed for HIGH-TREASON and REBELLION At Edinburgh August the 14th 1679. With ANIMADVERSIONS and the History of the Archbishop of St. Andrews his Murder extracted out of the Registers of the Privy-Council c. By an Orthodox Protestant 1 Pet. 4. 15 16. But let none of you suffer as a Murderer or as a Thief Yet if any Man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but glorifie God on this behalf Matth. 23. 13. 16 17. 27. 31 32. Wo unto you Hypocrites who for a pretence make long Prayers Ye fools and blind ye blind Guides you are like unto beautified Sepulchres fair without but full of dead mens bones and uncleanness within Fill ye up the measure of your Fathers for you are the Sons of them who killed the Prophets Luke 11. 49 50 51. Some of them they shall Slay and Persecute that the blood of all which was shed from the blood to the blood may be required of this Generation Matth. 7. 15. Beware of False-Prophets which come to you in Sheeps Cloathing but inwardly are Ravening-Wolves Gen. 49. 6. O my Soul come not thou into their Secret nor unto their Assembly for in their anger they Slew a Man 2 Tim. 3. 2 3 4 5. Boasters Proud Blasphemers Unthankful Unholy False-Accusers Incontinent Fierce Traitors Heady High-minded having the outward appearance of Godliness but denying the Power thereof from such turn away Dehinc ut quiescant porro moneo desinant maledicere malefacta ne noscant sua LONDON Printed by H. Hills and are to be Sold by Walter Kittleby at the Bishops-head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1680. THE PREFACE Wherein the Author of the Animadversions addresseth himself to the English-Dissenters especially the Presbyterians and shews the Jesuitical Tricks that have been used in the former Edition of these Speeches IN Writing the Animadversions upon these two treasonable and blasphemous Speeches and the History of the Archbishops Murder as a further Commentary upon them I have had a double regard to the English and Scottish Reader and have consequently said some things in both of them with respect to the one which may seem superfluous to the other The consideration I had to the former obliged me to cite and exemplifie many Scottish Acts of Parliament Orders and Proclamations of the King by his Privy-Council which had been needless but that without them it was not possible for any but a Scotsman fully to understand the meaning of those passages in the Speeches to illustrate which they are produced And the consideration I had to the latter hath made me insist much on the invalidity of the Kirk-Ministery and the Divine Institution of Episcopacy in doing of which I have cited the Latin Fathers in the Original and the Greek in Latin because this Language in Scotland among the men is almost as common as their Mother-Tongue But besides those things upon which I have largely insisted for the sake of the one of which the other had not so much need I have purposely insisted on other useful things upon the common account of both Particularly I have been elaborat in explaining most of those Texs of Scripture which the two Malefactors misapplied to themselves or their own Party and in citing out of the Kirk-Writers their Papal Jesuitical Murderous Schismatical and Rebellious Principles in doing of which I protest I have not said the fourth-part of what I was able to produce I have also here and there exemplified their Principles with their Practices and all this I have done without any at least without any material reflections upon the English-Dissenters for whose sake especially I have undertaken this small but tedious work For the conforming part of both Churches generally know enough to make them detest the Principles and Practices of our Jesuitical Separatists and so will read things of this nature not so much for instruction as delight and for our Scottish-Nonconformists especially those of the Field-Separation it would be lost labour to write Books for them who lye under as strong a prejudice against the Church-Writers as the most bigoted Papists do and like them are also terrified and prohibited by their Jesuitical Preachers from reading of any thing that is written by an Orthodox Protestant Pen. Therefore the principal design which I had in Publishing all this was for your sakes O ye Nonconformists from our Sister Church of England who have more ingenuity and who I cannot but believe are ignorant of the nature of our Separatists and their Separation because upon all occasions you appear as much concerned for them as if you thought that their Cause and yours were the very same Did you not take them for a more rational and innocent Sect than they are you would I am confident be ashamed to Correspond with them who are the shame of the Presbyterian Name You would not if you rightly understood them Defend their Separation Apologize for their worst Actions By sundry Libellous Pamphlets and most false and Seditious Discourses sent from Scotland and dispersed purposely in this our Kingdom of England especially in our City of London that the cause of these Disorders is sought to be shifted off the Rebels in Scotland and most unjustly cast upon King Charles 1st his lesser Declarat 1640. pag. 2. disperse their Calumniating and lying Stories and with your Interests and Purses support their tottering Cause You would not defend their unrighteous dealings rail at those who bring them to Condign Punishment and call their Fineings Imprisonments and Executions Persecution although they are Condemned upon the very same Account and Suffer for the very same Principles and Practices for which you rejoyce to see the Papists but especially the Jesuits Dye by the Executioners hand If you will not believe me read this little Book nay read but the Speeches and the History and if you please let the rest alone and then if you do not find that I Charge them truely expose me in Print for a Calumniator or Post me up for a Knave But if you find that the Presbyterian Sect of which these two Malefactors and the Archbishops Murderers were profess a Papal Soveraignty over your Native Prince and most of all the Doctrines if not all for which the Jesuits are Secluded both Kingdoms by Capital Laws then I beseech you nay I conjure you as you would be thought true and impartial Protestants or men of common Ingenuity not to favour or approve in the Presbyterian what you abhor in the Popish Priests and People nor to call the Execution of wholsom and necessary Laws Tyranny and Persecution with respect to the one which you declare to be Laudable Justice on the other How have both you and the Conforming-Protestants applauded the Zeal and Justice of your Magistrates in Executing your Laws upon the former and yet you

Ecclesiastical within the Kingdom of Scotland was asserted by the first Act of the Second Parliament began at Edinburgh Octob. 19. 1669. The Kirk-Ministers have ever since rail'd against this Act above all the rest saying that Jesus Christ is quite exauctorat and unkinged by it that it hath overthrown his Prerogative Royal and made the King Supreme in the house of Christ. That the Three Estates have thereby Blasphemously declared that they have no King but Caesar that it is most expresly contrary to the 2d Psalm and that by subjecting all Ecclesiastical matters to the Imperial Scepter they have given a sinful mortal power to King it over the house of God Insomuch that Iesus Christ hath neither name nor thing of Kingly power left him by this Cursed Act by which all power Ecclesiastick is declared to be the intrinsick and inherent Prerogative of the Crown In particular the Author of the Poor Mans Cup c. saith that he admires the Patience of God that the Nation wherein such a wickedness was decreed hath not before this Perished from under heaven and saith that the Question is put by the Governours to the followers of Christ in the fields with greater contempt than Pilate put it What is Iesus than your King And then he crys Oh noble Cause Oh who would not rejoyce to enter the List of contradiction with these his enemies and have once an opportunity to say Yes he is a King and will be a King when you are gone and will prove himself higher than the Kings of the Earth by rescinding your Supremacy that Idol of his jealousie and indignation and object of his revenge Nay he saith that it is a pure perfect and unparallel'd contradiction to the Doxology of the Lords Prayer and that never any thing was so like it in Sence and Sound as what is Recorded by the Holy Ghost of the King of Babylon Isa. 14. 13 14. I will ascend into Heaven I will exalt my Throne above the Stars of God I will sit also upon the Mount of the Congregation in the sides of the North I will ascend above the heighths of the Clouds I will be like the most High Supremacy and every thing Original upon and derivate from it 3ly I can but make mention of that honorable and noble practise that this Land was priviledged with viz. that after both defections the Lord put it in the heart of Christs Church and State to renew those Covenants again with the National and Solemn League and Covenants together with an acknowledgment of sin and an engagement to Duty and that in the close of that year which performance was attended with so much of the z So he Blasphemously calls a National Fascination to Rebellion and Schism Lords power and presence that it was like a Resurrection from the Dead to all that were Witnesses thereof both Speakers and Hearers that many were forced to Cry out The joy of the Lord is our strength God of a truth is here 4ly I dare not but add this in the case wherein I now stand viz. I dare not but add my Concurrence with and Adherence to all these publick Testimonies Protestations and Declarations that have been owned evinced and remitted by all the Presbyterian Ministers and Professors that appeared against the publick resolutions for taking in the Malignant Party into Judicatories and Armies as also I joyn my Cordial adherence to and with them that protested against the 2 general Assemblies at Saint Andrews who endeavored to approve what the Commission had done in the year 1650. and 1651. in reference to the intrusting of the Malignant Party which as was said by these protesting worthies laid the foundation of all that has come or may come upon us I hope this will not offend any 5ly I am bound in Conscience in the next place to testifie my dislike and abhorrence of that horrid cruel barbarous unheard of and unparalleld Deportment and practice of that 1 This is the 15th Act of the First Parliament begun at Edinburgh Ian. 1. 1661. whereby all the pretended Parliaments from 1640. to the end of 1648. and by consequence the Established Presbyterian Government were all rescinded and Annulled and they also rail as much against it as against the Act of Supremacy and burnt them like two Idols both together Act Recissory wherewith as at one Lash by an Act of that Precipitate Parliament they endeavored to Rescind Annul and Repel all those great and glorious things that the 2 So he Blaspemously calls a strong hand of Rebellion strong hand of the Lord had done in Scotland for more than 20 years bygone over the belly of so much opposition and standing contradiction of proclaimed and avowed Adversaries upon all hands yea I proclaim my abhorrence of all the Confusion 3 He means the Blood first of those who were Executed soon after his Majesties Restauration as of Wariston Guthrie c 2ly of those who were Executed for the Rebellion at Pentland-Hills 1666 who in Naphtali and Ius populi vindicatum are called Worthies precious Saints and Martyrs c. and lastly the Blood of Mitchel who suffered for attempting the Murder of the late Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews since effected by them whom the Author of the Poor Mans Cup hath Canonized for a Saint and Martyr in this Parallel with Samson which I shall set down in his own words pag. 35. First Samson was a Rackel and Rough handed Saint ready to Pelt the Philistines on all occasions yet Secondly the Holy Ghost for all the faults that followed him hath Recorded his name and Enrolled him in the number even while the names of many others are left out of those Eminent Worthies Heb. 11. And so he hath made the name of Mr. Mitchell Savory 〈◊〉 ●s he took many Testimonies from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his appearances to the Cause so he owned him in the end and honoured him to die Witnessing a good Confession which will be on Record to Posterity Thirdly as Samson did more mischief to the enemies of the people of God at his death than in all his life for when they sent for him to make themselves merry at a sight of his misery the Lord helped him to spoil their Sport So I judge it is beyond question with every Sober man that Mr. Mitchells death hath done more hurt to its Contrivers and furious drivers than ever his life could have done even though he had shot again and hit that unhallowed Mark c. Blood murder Fineing Confineing Imprisonments Stigmatizing with other unexpressible Cruelties that has issued 〈◊〉 that Cursed Generation there ●9 years by gone and moreover I leave my Testimony against all other Confusions Imprisonments and Blood that is or may be intended against these in the Land who design to 4 He means from Idolatrous revolting from God into the Episcopal Church which is not the house of Christ as they Sacrilegiously teach keep their garments clean whether in

but says nothing by way of contrition for his Treasons Schisms and Rebellions which is in plain English Pharise-like to swallow a Cammel and strain at a Gnat. of Duty I have not wanted my own sinful infirmities and weakness So that I may justly say I have no righteousness of my own all is like filthy Rags But g What Episcopal Protestant doth not think himself bound to bless God upon the same account or doth not believe the same things of Jesus Christ or hath not the same trust and affiance in him though I hope better grounded than his is but he must make himself talk at this rate to insinuate to the People that he Suffered for preaching these Gospel-Truths blessed be God that there is a Saviour and an Advocate Jesus Christ the righteous and I do believe that Jesus Christ is come into the World to save Sinners of whom I am the chief and that through Faith in his Righteousness I have obtained Mercy and that through him and him only I desire to have a happy and glorious Victory over Sin Satan Hell and Death and that I shall attain unto the Resurrection of the Just and be partaker of Eternal Life I know in whom I have believed that h By citing part of this passage 2 Tim. 1. 12. he Jesuitically insinuates as if the whole were applicable to him and by consequence that he Suffered for the same cause as the Apostle did viz. for Preaching of the Gospel For the Verse begins thus For the which Cause I also suffer these things nevertheless I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him he means either his Preaching or the Rebellious People to whom he Preached against that day as if he were put to Death for Preaching and they were persecuted for hearing the Gospel Preached he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day I i And do not Protestant-Bishops and their Clergy Preach Salvation in Christs name and Christs alone have in my poor Capacity Preached Salvation through his Name and as I have Preached so do I believe and with all my Soul I have Commended and yet I do Commend to all of you the riches of k See note i in the first Speech his free Grace and Faith in his name as the alone and only way whereby ye can be saved It may be many may think but I bless the Lord without any l Is there then no sollid ground to believe that a man who Blasphemously Preached Rebellion in the name of God and who preached it in Assemblies of Armed men in the Fields and who preached those Assemblies into a Marching Army and who Marched himself along with them in Arms I say is there no sollid ground to believe that such a man Suffered as an Evil Doer and not as a Martyr for Christ solid ground that I Suffer not as an Evil Doer and as a busie Body in other ●ens matters but I reckon not much upon that having the Testimony of my Conscience for it was the m Is it not great Blasphemy in this Traitor to compare his Lot first with the Lot of Christ who was put to Death for asserting that he was Messias and the Son of God And 2ly with the Lot of his faithful Witnesses who were put to Death by the Jews for maintaining that Jesus whom they had Crucified was the Messias and that God had Raised him from the Dead and had made him the only Mediator betwixt God and Man and that Salvation was to be had in no other name but his And likewise Suffered by the Gentiles for preaching against Idolatry declaring unto them That God who made Heaven and Earth was the only true God and that Jesus whom the Jews Crucified was raised from the Dead and was the great piacle for the sins of the World c. For which of these Truths or for what other Article of the Creed or for what Doctrine of the Gospel professed by the Catholick Church did this Blasphemer Suffer that he durst compare his Lot to that of Christ and the primitive Christians It is not the Suffering but the cause for which any man Suffers that can justify such a parallel otherwise all Malefactors might take the confidence to Baspheme as well as this Traitor and his Brethren who pretend to suffer for Christ and be conformed unto him in his Sufferings when they are put to Death for most Hainous crimes So that Execrable wretch † In Ravilla● Redivivus Mitchel declared in the Speech which he threw among the Spectators That he died a Witness for Christs despised Truth and Interest which God called him to seal with his Blood So Naphtali page 226. brings in those who were hanged at Edinburgh Decemb. 7. 1666. for the Rebellion at P●●tland-hills speaking thus We are Condemned by Men but this is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Conscience that we Suffer not as Evil Doers but for Righteousness for the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ. Would you know the Righteousness for which they Suffered It was their Covenant the Presbyterian Government and the Supremacy of the King in Sion Things and notions which the Primitive Christians never knew nor heard of nor whereof one title is to be found in their Writings or in the Word of God Lot of our blessed Lord himself and also the Lot of many of his eminent and precious Servants and People to Suffer by the World as Evil Doers yea I think it I have so far ground not to scare at such a Lot that I count it my Non-such honour and Oh what am I that I should have been honoured so when so many Worthies have n If the Worthies of the cause pant after this incomparable honour why doth not their mighty zeal and ambition render them impatient like some of the Primitive Christians who not being able to stay till God called them presented themselves before the criminal Tribunals fearing lest they might want an opportunity to dye for the name of Christ. Did the Covenanters so pant after the honour of Martyrdom we should see the Rebels render themselves in Troops to Authority and here men not Arraigned cry out in the chamber of criminal Justice and we were at Bothwel-Bridge we should see them throng to bear their Testimony at the Cross or in the Grass-Market of Edinburgh where Mr. Welsh hath foretold and I hope in this he is a true Prophet that he must glorifie God panted after the like and have not come at it and my Soul rejoyceth in being brought to a Conformity with my blessed Lord and Head and so blessed a Company in this way and Lot And I desire to pray that I may not be to any of you to day upon this account a o In the Scripture every thing or Person that is an occasion of a

Christians forsaking or falling off from Christ or the Christian Religion is Metaphorically called a Scandal a Stone of Stumbling and a Rock of Offence and any man even our blessed Redeemer who spoke did or suffered any thing that accidentally deterred others from believing in Christ or that gave him occasion to desert him or his Doctrine is said to have offended or Scandalized them or given them offence in which sense 1 Cor. 1. 23. Christ is said to be a Scandal or Stumbling-block to the Jews and Luk. 7. 23. saith our Saviour Blessed is he that shall not be offended in me i. e. who shall not take occasion to disert or deny me at the time of my Sufferings see also Matth. 17. 27. 18. 6. 26. 31. 33. Therefore this Basphemer here applyes to himself the very words of the Apostle speaking of Christ crucified nay the very words of Christ himself to induce the poor People to believe that the very cause of the Covenanters is the very cause of Christianity and so deter them upon the Execution of the Rebels from quitting the cursed Rebellious cause Stone of Stumbling or a Rock of Offence and blessed is he that shall not be offended in Christ and his poor Followers and Members because of being Condemned by the World as evildoers As for those things for which Sentence hath passed against me I bless the Lord my p Is not this in effect to assert with the Jesuits That a good intention or meaning doth hallow a bad Action heart doth not Condemn me Rebellious I have not been neither do I judge it to be Rebellion for me to have indeavoured in my capacity what possible I could for the born-down and q He means by Episcopacy and Supremacy with respect to the former of which the Interest of Christ was universally ruined from the time of the Apostles till the French-Reformation and with respect to the latter from the time of Constantine the first Christian Emperour till the time when the Popes under the pretended Vicarship of Christ the King of Sion Subjected the Empire unto the Church And therefore good Christian People is not this a blessed cause which must have obliged Christians to separate from the Catholick Church in the purest times the age of the Apostles for they were Bishops and the age next unto them and to have rebelled under a pretence of Religion and defending the Interest of Christ against the first Christian Emperors to whom the Greek and Latin Churches attributed as much Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Matters and over Ecclesiastical Persons as the English and Scottish do to the King They a 1 Con. Nicen. by Constant. 1 Con. Constantinop by Theodos. Sen. Con. Eph. by Theodos. Junior Con. Chalced by Marcion convocated general Councils fat in them among the Patriarchs Bishops and Presbyters made b Syn. Oecumen Octava Where are the Speeches and Subscriptions of Basilius the Emporor and Leo. Or●tions upon Ecclesiastical matters to them and by their c Syn. Oecumen Octava Where are the Speeches and Subscriptions of Basilius the Emporor and Leo. Subscriptions consented to and confirmed what was determined therein And Councils wherein they did not sit used always to beseech them to d Epist. Concil Constantinop 1. ad Theodosium ratify their Decrees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They had power to e Can. 12. and 16. Concil Chalced. Balsam in 16. can Concil Carthag erect new Bishopricks to abolish old ones to f As Theodosius in the Election of Nectarius dispense with the Ecclesiastical Canons and to order many things in Church-Matters which were not defined therein as is plain out of the Code and Novelles and the Capitularia of the ancient French Kings They were Priviledged to come to the g 69. Can. Concil Sexti in Trullo Altar when all other Laies were forbidden and the Clergy to shew how sacred their Persons were and that the concerns of the Church ought to be their chief care h Grot. de imperio summar potest c. 2. 7. called them Priests and Bishops which in these days would pass for Episcopal tantivies as the traiterous Author of the Appeal thinks he wittily speaks There consent was requisite to the Election of Bishops nay they often nominated the Persons to be Elected and had power to i Novil 3. c. 1. Sancimus igitur The reason which the Emperor Justinian gave for that Law was the excessive number of the Clergy which was disproportionate to the Places and Revenue of the Church The Law and the Preface to it deserves to be considered by the Right Reverend and worthy Fathers of our Church forbid the Bishops to Ordain which by the leave of the Romish and Kirk-Writers I take to be a Privative power Lastly They had a power to suspend † Novil 123. c. 1. Sancimus igitur quoties Episcopum opus fuerit ordinari sed etiam illum qui praeter hoc persumpserit ordinare segregari uno anno a sacro ministerio Bishops and Presbyters and also to k Cod. l. 1 Tit. 1. 6. Anathematizamus Nestorium 2. Eutychetem 3. Apollinarium Anathematize Hereticks which signified a power of pronouncing them rightly and duly Anathematized and of doing many other things with respect to the Church-matters and Church-men and because the two Sister-Churches and their Clergy assert as much power to be due to the King in such Causes as the Kings of Judah and the Christian Emperors had therefore the Kirk-Preachers call them l The Author of the Apology Episcopal-Erastian Churches and their Ministers and Bishops Court-Parasites and when they argue from the example of the best Judaean Kings and the most Pious Christian Emperors m Calder-Woods altare Dam●scenum Naturâ insitum est omnibus regibus odium in Christum The same is to be found in Rutherfords Lex Rex They can tell them by Authority that in all Kings there is a natural enmity against Christ nay they tell the People that the Bishops and their Clergy have ruined the Interest of Christ and that if they will have Christ for their King they must rise up to destroy the Idol of Supremacy and Antichristian Prelacy which supports it and therefore this miserable Wretch being conscious to himself of so good a Cause saith His heart did not condemn him of Rebellion for having endeavoured in his poor capacity to uphold the born-down and ruined Interest of Christ. I once had the diversion to hear a Kirk-Disciple rail at the Rescinding Act and Act of Supremacy which gave me occasion to shew what great power the Greek and Latin Churches granted to be due to the Christian Emperors in Church-matters to which he answered me That it was always natural to Clergy-men to flatter Kings and Emperors and great men just as I have read in one of the Letters which Mr. sent to all the Bishops of Scotland That Pride was always a natural sin to the Clergy which he spoke upon the