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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	believe_v	faith_n	lord_n	1,391	5	3.9699	3	false

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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

which a wild melancholy renders fearful superstitious suspitious and cruel and when all these ingredients meet together ignorance superstition presumption and wilfulness and a flitting and imperious humour all steeped in a black and hot melancholy they make the most malignant composition of the world pernicious to Church and State to families and all societies causing every where ruine and combustion like a Granado fired that makes all fly a pieces that is near it CHAP. XVII How the Covenanters labour in vain to sow dissention between the Churches of England and France upon the point of discipline Of the Christian prudence of the French Reformers and of the nature of discipline in general HItherto we have found no such conformity as might induce the Covenanters of England to invite the Reformed Churches to espouse their quarrel for they every where carefully administer the Lords Supper they take order that Infants be baptized they suffer none to be re-baptized they suppress heresies scandals the liberty of fanatique spirits they repeat to the people the ten Commandments of God the Articles of the Christian Faith they make use of certain forms of prayer in administring the Sacraments and other parts of the Divine Service They teach the people to submit to every Ordinance of man for the Lords sake and not to resist Supreme Powers but to suffer for righteousness sake they are free from a capricious weakness in matters of indifferency which are peculiar to our enemies also these Churches approve of the English Liturgy and without scruple joyn with it in prayer when occasion serves what is there then which should oblige them to associate together The Reformed Churches say they have no Bishops but we demand of them whether all those Churches which have Bishops are not Reformed They incline doubtless to this opinion for in the title of their Epistle to the Reformed Churches they name but those of France the Low Countries and Switzerland they let the other pass under an c. If that be their opinion they have much forgot themselves in their Copies which they sent to particular States for they writ to the Churches of Hesse and those of Anhalt which are governed by Superintendents that is to say in our Language Bishops In all those Countries subject to the Crowns of Denmark and Sweden The Episcopal degree is kept so almost through all Germany this degree is preserved under the name of Superintendent and in some places as in Brene the name of Bishops remain although part of these Churches be Lutherans we will not refuse them the name of Reformed there wanting but a little charity in them to make both them and us to accord So likewise in the large Territories of Bohemia Polonia and Transylvania the Evangelical Churches are governed by Seniors as they call them who have Episcopal power They should not then boast of the consent of the Reformed Churches nor complain to them that the King would not admit a Reformation which pretends to abolish the Episcopal degree as an appurtenance of Antichrist which is in effect to condemn all Churches where there is any preheminence amongst the Clergy I forbear to speak of the Churches of Russia Grecia and India and of the rest of the world whose Doctrine is less known to us then the point of their Discipline which are all governed by Bishops But the Covenanters Magisterially prescribe their Discipline to all the World although they themselves have none vaunting themselves of a piety without pair and yet will not leave to other Churches any liberty Therefore their Declarations give all to understand that after they have planted it in England they will go and do as much beyond the Seas The Donatists shut up the Church within the confines of Africa which then was a small thing unfitly applying that Text of the Canticles Tell us where thou feedest where thou makest thy flocks to rest at noon Cant. 1.7 but the French translation re●deth to rest towards the south At present the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is in danger to be confined within England whither other Nations must come and search it saying Tell us where thou feedest where thou makest thy flocks to rest towards the North. It 's easie to make the consent of the Churches named in the title of the Epistle to sound high because they have no Bishops but to prove their agreement with the Covenanters in this point they should do well to make these two things to appear the one that these Churches condemn the Episcopal Order as unlawful and Antichristian the other that these Churches do conform to the discipline of the Covenanters things which they will find false As for the first we see not that the other Churches quarrel at the Church of England hereupon but pray God to bless them in the order against this it matters not to alledge the thirtieth Article of the Churches of France confession of Faith We believe that all true Pastors in what place soever they be have the same authority and equal power under one head Jesus Christ and that for this cause no Church ought to pretend any dominion or Lordship over the other He that speaks for the General expounds this Article Ye must know saith he that the equality of Pastors in that which is of Authority to declare the Gospel and administer the Sacraments and for the use of the keyes is held necessary amongst all for Baptism the Lords Supper and the declaring of the remission of sins is of equal dignity in the mouth of Pastors whether they be of great or little Authority But as for Ecclesiastical policy we do not hold the equality of Pastors absolutely necessary we do not account this Order a point of faith nor a Doctrine of salvation we live God be thanked in brotherly concord with our neighbour-Churches which follow another form and where the Bishops have superiority In his disputations of Divinity in the University of Sedam this is one of his Theses We maintain that the Bishops of England after their conversion to the faith and their abjuration of Papistry were faithful servants of God and ought not to forsake neither the name nor title of Bishops Calvin himself spake as much before in his Epistle to Cardinal Sad●let speaking of the Church of Rome Let them saith he establish such an Hierarchy where the Bishops having the dignity refuse not to submit themselves to Christ and depend of him as their onely Head and refer themselves to him and let them maintain amongst them such a brotherly society which is not entertained but by the bond of truth Then if there be found any persons who refuse to respect such an Hierarchy with reverence and Soveraign obedience I acknowledge and confess him worthy of al sorts of Anathema's This passage serves for the Episcopal degree in general This other of Jacobus Lectius Professor at Geneva hath a singular regard to the Bishops of England He saith That those Bishops only were

found it good since it had been easie for him to have raised mighty Armies being designed the Successor of Saul in the Kingdom for people naturally adore the Rising Sun David retired into Keilah and having heard that Saul had an intention to come thither to take him enquired of the Lord if those in the City would deliver him up to Saul and God having answered him that they would deliver him fled from thence the Ministers therefore of the Covenant infer that David had a desire to fortifie Keilah and to endure a siege But all which they can gather from that Passage is that David was not safe in that retreat and that God advised him to seek another for the Inhabitants of Keilah might have delivered him to Saul without attending a siege but when they shall have proved that David would have fortified Keilah it makes nothing for them since God declares by his Answer that it was not pleasing to him We would beseech the Gentlemen of the Covenant to hold themselves to this example which they have chosen that they would cashier their great Armies for David had but a few people with them 1 Sam. 25.16 that they would not rob the Subjects of their King of their Goods but imitate the Souldiers of David who were a wall both by night and day to the Flocks and Herds of Nabal That having seized upon the Arms of the King let them peaceably restore them again as David and not with the points forward Let their Conscience strike them and make them cry out The Lord forbid that I should do this thing against my Master the Lords Anointed for who can stretch forth his hand against him and be guiltless Words which beside the example carry with them a perpetual and express command and shall one day be produced in judgment against those that defend the late Commotions by the example of David and if their continuance in the Kingdoms of his Majesty is either displeasing or dangerous to them in stead of opposing him let them retire into some strange Country as David did to King Achis let them also imitate his sincerity in making use of strangers onely for his protection and not to invade his Country and raise his Subjects against their King which is that use the Covenanters imployed the Scots In one point onely they imitate and surpass David in that he fained himself a Fool for they indeed act the Fools in good earnest In brief the Example of David which they alledge is so contrary to the Actions of the Covenanters that they have great reason to fear least God alledge this at the dreadful day of Judgement against them saying Out of thy own mouth will I judge thee then wicked servant Luke 19.22 The other passages of Scripture are most ridiculously alledged and serve only to shew their great weakness They bring the action of the Army of Saul that saved Jonathan against the Oath of his Father 1 Sam. 14.45 but to what purpose is this Doth this Army draw their sword against the King Use they any violence either against his Person or Estate If a Ki●g would put to death his Innocent Son those faithful Subjects whom the King employs in this Execution do well not to do it and to refuse giving obedience to so unjust a command They make use also of the example of Ehud who slew Eglon King of Moab who kept the Israelites in slavery Judg. 3.21 we have often heard this example pressed with much vehemency in Pulpits The Preachers compared Eglon to the King affirming that Eglon was the lawful King of Israel and that it is lawful to kill a legitimate King if he oppress the people of God all this is false and proper to be refuted only by the Hangman to whom we leave them The Example follows of the City of Libnah which appertained to the Levites which revolted from the obedience of Jehoram because saith the Text he had forsaken the Lord God of his Fathers the Covenanters apply the word Because to the intention of the Inhabitants of Libnah and not to the judgement of God whence these Gentlemen conclude That it is lawful for the people to shake off the yoke of their Prince when the Prince forsakes God of which they will be Judges Although Libnah should revolt for this reason yet it follows not that the reason is of strength or that it ought to be turned into example a thing which requires a new proof of Scripture but the drift of the Text is to assign the cause of this revolt to the Justice of God and not to that of men Take the whole Text 2 Chron. 21. ●0 So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day The same time also did Libnah revolt from under his hand because he had forsaken the Lord God of his Fathers Having consulted with the Original we find that the revolt of Edom and of Libnah were both together without the least distinction but between the discourse of these two Revolts and the reason adjoyned there is there the usual mark for the distinction of half periods which shews that this reason serves equally for both the Revolts and the sense of the Text carries it evidently that the Idumeans and those of Libnah revolted for the same cause and that these Idumeans which were Idolaters had no ground to revolt from the King of Judah because at that time he was also fallen into Idolatry it s therefore the Divine justice that the Text regards and not the Motives of second Causes Also the same Author saith that Pekah the Son of Remaliah slew in Judah 120000 in one day which were all valiant men because they had forsaken the Lord God of their Fathers In these two passages the sense is alike and the reason of the punishment couched in the same terms now it s most evident that the Syrians had no Quarrel against the Jews for forsaking God because they did not believe in him wherefore we are to look to Justice of the King of Kings who for the sins of Princes suffers them to lose the obedience of their Subjects for God serve● himself of the wickedness of men whereof he is not the cause for to execute his just judgments but that excuseth not the Rebellion of Subjects for it is their part to consider what they owe to their King and not what their King deserves of the Justice of God They add the example of Jehu who exterminated the King of Israel and all the posterity of Ahab 2 Kings 9. in which wi●hout doubt he did very well because God commanded him but the Covenanters did very ill in persecuting their King because God had forbidden them After this they bring the Execution of the Queen Athaliah by the Command of Jeho●adah the High Priest 2 Chron. 26.18 which no more then the former toucheth the Question for not only Jeho●adah but all other people might have done as much because there was a lawful

wealthy families of the Kingdome were wholly ruined not by the insolent souldiers pillaging in hot blood but by the extorsion of a new Committee and robbery which was done upon the carpet and in cool blood Of these grand revenues they accommodated themselves in the first place and then those who have served them assigning for a recompence to their instruments persons of no worth and newly raised from the dust the antient rights and revenues of Lords and Gentlemen they wanting nothing to be such but blood and generosity The Covenanters party often celebrate the feasts of Saturn where the servants sit at the upper end of the table and are served by the Masters and this fanatick insolence proceeded so far that these spoilers esteemed themselves as lawfully invested in the inheritances of their superiours and country-men as the Israelites were of the lands of the Amorites There is but this difference the Israelites took possession by the command of God these against his command Now by the special favour of the Gentlemen at Westminster it was ordered that the fifth part of the revenues should be for provision for the wives and children of Delinquents such they call them who so little respected the Majesty of the House of Commons that they were faithful to their Soveraign Thus their wives sometimes were admitted to be Farmers of their husbands estates and reserving themselves the fifth part paid the rest to the State But at last even the Delinquents were admitted to compound for their estates those who were best dealt with paid two years value of their rents others this double if such be their compassions what is their severity Is not this for them to comment upon the saying of Solomon which saith The mercies of the wicked are cruel But moreover these favours were not granted to all there being many who were never admitted to farm their estates no neither to redeem them by composition and whose wives and children have scarce bread nevertheless the confiscation of their estates their perpetual banishment the sentence of death pronounced against them are honorable marks of their great and loyal services to their Soveraign Of all those who suffered in this quarrel the Ministers of the Gospel were the most barbarously dealt with and for the least cause very few amongst them who ingaged themselves in the war The Bishops whom the Laws gave the precedency in the House of Lords have wholly lost their places through the violence of the House of Commons assisted with the seditious multitude their Houses and Ecclesiastical revenues have been sold and are torn from the Church for ever their persons a long time imprisoned and the most eminent of them had his head cut off upon a Scaffold This cruelty executed upon the heads descended upon the members all the revenues of the Dean and Chapiters through the Kingdome are become the prey of sacriledge and of lazy bellies which cram and fill themselves with the patrimony of the Church the lawful possessors without any distinction good or bad were dispossessed whereby the gentlemen of the Covenant clearly shew that it was not the amendment of the Clergy but their own enriching with the spoils of the Church was the mark and scope of this Reformation In the ninety seven Parishes within the walls of London there were found upon account that there were fourscore and five Ministers driven by violence from their Churches and houses and to number the Suburbs and Parishes adjoyning to London the number of the Ministers were a hundred and fifteen without comprising those of S. Pauls and Westminster where the Deans and Prebends ran the same fortune of this number twenty were imprisoned and of those who are dead by distress and anguish in divers prisons in the holds of ships and banishment they reckoned five years since twenty two but this number is almost doubled since and the others dispersed and fled into strange countries or otherwise oppressed and ruined are left to meditate upon this of the Psalmist The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance he shall maintain me for any other of the Church it s denied them In the other parts of the Kingdom many faithful Ministers to the King had the like usage especially those who possessed the fairest and best benefices for this was an unpardonable crime and some of them were massacred by the furious Anabaptists as a Sacrifice well pleasing to God Now whereas some other Delinquents have liberty to dwell in their houses to farm their rents and to compound for the principal to the Clergy nothing like this is accorded but they are turned out in their shirts condemned to a total ruine without resource There is indeed an Ordinance of Parliament that the wives and children of ejected Ministers should have the fifth part of the revenues of their benefices but it is very ill observed for the new incumbents into these benefices carry themselves with such pride and inhumanity to these poor women refusing to obey the Ordinance constraining them to plead before Judges their adversaries who instead of speedily relieving them delay them with length of time and make them consume in Suits that which they borrowed to plead their Cause So that these poor desolate persons through the greatness of the expence and tediousness of delays are constrained to desist their prosecution and many being ejected out of small benefices dare not present their petitions for the fifths because the expences will amount higher then the principal Certainly if there were any charity or sincerity in the Authors of this Ordinance they would cause it to be strictly observed they would not permit that the poor wives and children whom they have ruined should be shufflled off with litigious and crafty tricks and oppressed with charges when they come to demand that small alms which is granted them out of their husbands estates they should not deny them that in retail which they have accorded them in gross Moreover you must know that this pretended gratuity is but for the wives and children but as for the Ministers who have neither the one nor the other they are accounted unworthy to live and not any part of their Estates is given to them and thus they have rendered the Ministers of the Gospel conformable to their Master who had not where to lay his head and Jesus Christ is yet persecuted in his servants But the persecution staid not at those whom they Ejected Behold a new invention to ●oot out at one stroak all those who remained loyal or Orthodox in the Church and State It was ordered that all who had any office either in Church or State should subscribe to be faithful to the present constitution of Government by the House of Commons without King or Lords but the principal aim was to pick a quarrel with the Ministers of the Gospel upon their refusing and to abolish the Ministry for which they had already prepared the people having appointed a Committee to displace