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cause_n	bishop_n	church_n	presbyter_n	1,664	5	10.2707	5	false

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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

before them and craving their pardon that he had accepted of it as † The Epistle Dedicatory to Bishops Halls Episcopacy Graham Bishop of Orkney did his forsaking of his Negative power by a contract with his Presbyters and committing all Church-Affairs to their sole management not to mention the remitting of their Canonical Oath would have been as Sacrilegious a concession as a Bishop quatenus such could make He had thereby virtually reduced himself into a Presbyter which the Primitive Church did abhor as † Can. 29. Concil Chalced Math. Blastar Cap. 28. in E. Sacrilege and would undoubtedly have deprived and Excommunicated if not Anathematised any Bishop that durst have been so perfidious to the Apostolick cause But yet though beyond all example he cut the very Nerves of Episcopal Jurisdiction in these Articles of Accomodation the Nonconform Ministers scornfully rejected them and wrote against them in a book intituled The Case of Accomodation c. Printed in 4 o 1671. the Godly and 17 There is not one Learned man among them unless he be a Priest for so custom emphatically calls the Romish Presbyters or a Jesuit in Masquerade Learned that are of another judgment I judge it fit likewise in this case to leave my Testimony 18 Last Summer was Twelve-month the Convention of Estates gave his Majesty a Five-months Tax or 30000l Sterling a year for five years successively to maintain a Regiment of Foot and 3 Companies of Dragoons and 3 Troops of Horse for suppressing of the Field-Conventicles This Act was like to be such a Blow to the Cause made up of Faction and Schism that it was vigorously opposed under some colour or other by an insignificant contrary Party who were not the Sixth part of the House And as soon as it was passed the Field-Preachers who had told the people before that the Convention would come to nothing fell immediately to Preach against the Five-months Tax telling them that it was given by the enemies of Christ to drive him out of the Kingdom and that it would be as great a sin to pay it as it was to Judas to betray Christ. Nay they told them that this was the day of Christs enemies and the power of darkness and the very Nick of temptation which God permitted to trie whether they would have Christ for their King or no and charged them as they would answer it before them at the great day not to forsake him contrary to their Holy Covenant by sinfully complying with such an Antichristian Act. Their people upon this were so affrighted that many of them rather than pay the Cess will suffer distreint and in particular the Earl of Dundonalds chief servant fell perfectly distracted by trouble of Conscience for having assisted his Lord at Renscot in laying the Cess upon that Shire And the very same Sanctified Ruffians who murdered the Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews in Fife had several days before laid wait for the Collectors of this Tax against the stent taxation cess that hath been so unjustly imposed so irrelevantly founded and vigorously caried on by the late Convention of Estates and meerly upon no other account imaginable but to make a final extirpation 19 i. e. of Christ as King in Sion of the Covenant of the Presbyterian Government that Pattern in the Mount of Christ his Gospel and Ordinances out of the Land and how lamentable it is to consider how many Professors did willingly pay it and were most forward for others to do the same In the next place though to many I die desired yet I know not to a few my death is not desired and it s the rejoycing of my heart that I die in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath loved me and given himself for me and in the Faith of the Apostles and Prophets and in the Faith that there is not a name under Heaven by which men can be Saved but by the name of Jesus and in the Faith of the Doctrine Worship and Government of the Kirk of Scotland as it is now Established according to the Word of God Confessions of Faith Catechisms larger and shorter like as I leave my Testimony against Popery Perjury Prophanity Prelacy Heresie and every thing contrary to sound Doctrine In the close as a dying Person and as one who hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be Faithful I would humbly leave it on the Godly Ministers to be faithful for their Lord and Master and not to hold their peace in such a day when so many ways are taken for injuring him his Name nay his Sanctuary Ordinances Crown and Kingdom 20 Well threatned false Prophet I hope there will be found a Party in this Land that will contend for him and his matters upon all hazards and as faithfulness is called for in Ministers so Professors would concern themselves that they countenance not nor abate any thing that is inconsistent with their former principles and practices I have a word to add further that God is calling persons to repentance and to do their 21 To assert the Covenant first Works O that Scotland were a mourning Land And O that Reformation were our practice according as we are Sworn in the Covenant Again Christians of grace and experience would study more stability and straightness in this day when so many are turning to the right hand and so many to the left 22 Consider how Blasphemously he applies this Scripture He that endures to the end shall be saved he hath appointed a Kingdom for such as continue with him in his temptations Next as ever ye would expect to have the Form of the house of God shewed you in all the Laws thereof goings 23. Of the Presbyterian Government Discipline out thereof and comings in thereof then think it no shame for you for all that hath been done sitting down on this side Jordan is like to be our bane Oh when shall we get out and run after him with all our hearts and never rest till he return I commend my Wife and poor young ones to the care and Faithfulness of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God that hath led me to this day and who is the God of my Salvation be their God and my God their Father and my Father I am also hopeful that Christian Friends and Relations will not be unmindful of them when I am gone Lastly I bear my Testimony to the Cross of Christ and Bless him that ever he counted me worthy to appear for him in such a Lot as this Glory to him that ever I heard of him and that ever he fell upon such a method of dealing with me as this And therefore let none that loves Christ and his righteous Cause be offended at me and as I lived in the Faith of this that the three 24 Married to God by the Solemn League Covenant See more in Notes upon W. Kingdoms are married Lands

eos quos baptizaverat suos putabat esse non Christi in toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus super poneretur caeteris ad quem omnis Ecclesiae cura pertinere● schismatum semina tollerentur Having now shewed that the Primitive Christians believed the Function of a Bishop to be distinct from that of a Presbyter and Superior to it and that the Bishops were the Successors of the Apostles and of Christs institution as they were I hope it is plain that this Antiepiscopal Deceiver dyed not in the Faith of the Primitive Christians as he hath the impudence here to profess From what I have here said of the Episcopal Office and Authority I may draw some Corollaries First that the Primitive Catholick Church acted in Conformity to its own Profession in declaring Aerius as an Antiepiscoparian an Heretick Secondly that Church-Government is not indifferent but that the † Episcopos esse in Ecclesiâ debere tanquam institutionem Apostolicam ac ordinationem proinde divinam contra Puritanos contraque Bellàrminum semper sensi qui negat Episcopos à deo immediatè suam jurisdictionem accepisse Sed nihil mirum à Puritanis eum stare quum Jesuitae nihil quàm Puritano-papistae ●int This was the Judgment of King James as is observed by Becanus de Prim. regn Angl. c. 7. Jacobi regis praefat Monar Episcopal is immediately of Apostolical and mediately of Christs institution and by consequence at least as unalterable as the Baptism of Infants and observation of the Lords-Day which the Presbyterians with good reason declare that the Magistrate ought not to change or take away Thirdly that it is Blasphemy to say that Episcopacy is an Antichristian usurpation over the Church Fourthly that to assert with the Covenanters that the Presbyterian-Government is of Divine institution is an Unscriptural Heretical and absurd Doctrine contrary to the Word of God and the practice and profession of the Holy Catholick Church And as this Jesuited Presbyterian died not in the Faith or Profession of the Primitive Christians so he died not in the Faith of the Reformed Churches First not of the Church of England which is Governed by Bishops like the Primitive Churches and after the warrant of their example hath Instituted Ceremonies and worships God by Liturgical Forms Nor secondly of the Reformed Church of France which submits to the regulation of the Edict of Nantes which is a pure and Secular Edict and which hath always worshipped God by a Common-Prayer-Book and observes Holy-days as Christmas Easter and Whitsunday and which reverences Protestant Bishops after the example of Calvin and Beza their first Reformers and owns Ministers Ordained by them and are never without some such in their Church And whos 's † The Kings larger Declaration pag. 75. Pastors especially those of Charenton were offended at the Solemn League and Covenant as an indelible Scandal to the Protestant Cause as also the Professors Ministers and Consistory of Geneva and their neighbour Reformed Churches as was certified to King Charles the First by his Publick Ministers abroad Nor lastly died he in the Faith of the Reformed Church of Scotland which never professed Episcopacy to be an unlawful or Antichristian Constitution c. as may be seen in the Larger and Lesser Scoticane Confession in the Harmony but I suppose he means the Covenanted Reformed Church that Schismatical Military Church which was and is the Reproach of the Protestant or Reformed Name by the mighty 9 So he calls the incurable obstination of the Presbyterian Party in Schism against the Episcopal Church and Faction and Rebellion against the State Power Goodness and Wisdom of God I bear my witness and Testimony to the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Kirk of Scotland by 10 A great * Presbyteries Tryal pag. 50. Apostle of the Covenant said in the Pulpit that the Angels and Saints of heaven if they could leave the sight of God would be glad to come down and see the admirable order of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland by Kirk-Sessions Presbyteries and Synods Which Platform being no where to be found in the Scripture made many that had cryed up the Presbyterian Discipline for a Divine Institution tu●● Independents Quakers and Atheists and condemn it as in truth it is for a meer human invention Which if Mr. Calvin had not hit upon and set up in that exigence in Geneva had never been known to the Western no more than to the Eastern parts of Christendom at least to great Britain where it hath been taught in both Kingdoms without any ground in the Scriptures or Antiquity for the sole indispensable government of the Church † King Charles his larger Declarat pag. 67. The National Covenant is that which in the Harmony is called Generalis Confessio it was first Subscribed by King James of blessed Memory and his Household 1580. and by Persons of all Ranks 1581. by an Ordinance of the Privy-Council and Act of General-Assembly It was Subscribed again by all sorts of Persons 1590. by a new Ordinance of Council at the desire of the General Assembly with a general Bond for maintaining the true Religion and the Kings Person and so far Authority permitting or commanding it all was well But then afterwards in † See the Declaration in w. on the first Speech and the Kings larger Declarat pag. 68 69 70. 1638. without the Kings Authority or Commission from his Council they imposed it again according to a new Interpretation of their own although no Authority can interpret any Oath Law or Rescript but that which made it or those whom they who made it have Constituted Interpreters and Judges thereof The new Interpretation was That this Confession was to be interpreted and understood against all the pretended Innovations as if every one of them had been expressed therein viz. The Five Articles of Perth the Service Book the Book of Canons the High-Commission and Episcopacy it self although these things were neither named nor hinted at in that Confession whereof the first Framers only abjured in it those Romish Corruptions which in their time had infected the Church Besides all this they altered the Bond which was annexed to the former Confession by adding these words without authority A mutual defence of one another against all Persons whatsoever by which what they meant the King by woful experience found The Copy of this Confession may be seen in the forecited larger Declaration of the King Kirk-Sessions Presbyteries Synods and General-Assemblies Also I bear my Witness and Testimony to our Covenants † National and Solemn-League betwixt the three Kingdoms which Sacred and Solemn Oath I believe cannot be dispensed with nor loosed by any person or Party upon earth but are fully binding these Nations and will be so ever hereafter Also I bear my Testimony to our publick Confessions of Sin and engagements to Duty and that either as to what concerns

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

King out of Prison and in Prosecuting this Act Mr. William Colvill was deposed though he was a most learned and worthy man for not reading the Causes of a Fast which they appointed which puts me in mind of what Queen Mary Stuart was used to say That she was as much afraid of a Fast of the Ministers as of an Army of Souldiers In another Act of Assembly July 20. 1649. they Ordained that all that had been accessory to the Engagement 1648. should be processed and made solemnly to renounce it as sinful and unlawful and in their Seasonable warning July 27. 1649. They call the Defeat of this noble and pious Design by Cromwell a great mercy to the People of God and say it ought to be perpetually remembred and that all men ought to bless God for it and page 10. they say That if the King or any for him shall Invade this Land in order to his Establishment it will be a necessary Duty to resist and oppose him and page 11. so long as the King refuses to hearken to the desires of the Kirk and State it is consonant to the Scripture Reason and the Laws of the Kingdom to refuse to admit him to the Exercise of his Government till he give satisfaction in these things and in their Letter to the King page 30. they say That his refusing to satisfie their desires was nothing else but an Opposing of the Kingdom of the Son of God and a Refusing to let him Reign over him and his Kingdoms and That his Entertaining of James Graham will bring on him and his Throne the guilt of all the Blood that be and his Accomplices had shed and page 31. they exhort him to lament for the iniquities of his Fathers House and especially for his opposition to Religion and the Cause of God the permitting and practising of Antichristian Prelacy in the Royal Family it self and the Shedding of so much Blood of the People of God In one of their Acts they inhibit the Lords Supper to be Administred to any Person but who should first subscribe the Covenant which they also forced young Students and fresh men in the Universities to take and if any of them who were insnared in it in their youth chance to be Clergy-men especially Bishops then the Covenanters have a just ground to conspire their Destruction for being Apostates from the Cause They here I include their Predecessors Persecuted Queen Mary King James threatning to Excommunicate him and his whole Council King Charles the First of blessed Memory and his Majesty who now Reigns and whom God preserve from Falling into their hands again knows by former and latter experiences what a Persecuting spirit they are of What cruelty did they use against all those who refused to sign the Covenant or who broke it upon being convinced what a bond of iniquity it was They were declared to be Rebels and denounced Enemies both to God and Man Their Persons were Seized their Goods Confiscate and in Novemb. 1643. when some of the most Eminent Nobility refused to Seal it Commissions were given to Soldiers to bring them in Prisoners and to kill them if they made Resistance What bloody Tribunals were Erected at St. Andrews Glascow and Edinburgh How many Noblemen and Gentlemen of good Quality were most Barbarously Murdered especially the Heroick Montross for obeying their Sovereign's Commission and how did the Covenanters rejoyce when the Scaffolds were reeking with their Blood One of their Ministers Preached then That the work of Reformation went Bonnily on Another in his Prayer Blasphemously said Lord send us more Scaffold-Work A Fanatical Lady in the West said That the Covenant could not be Advanced but by Blood And many Ministers were then Deposed for not Preaching for it and for speaking Civilly to Montross and Praying with him by name Mr. Robert Tran of Eglesholm and many others as their own Registers yet do shew And then for the Rump of the old Faction still remaining how do They Persecute the Church and her Clergy with their utmost Malice and Power There was an Act of Parliament expressly made for Securing the Persons Families and Goods of Ministers 1669. and another against Assaulting of Ministers 1670. And the Author of Naphtali pag. 134. Exhorts all People To acquit themselves like Men and pull the Bishops out of the Sanctuary that the Wrath of God may be averted in the Righteous Punishment of those wicked Men. Accordingly Mr. James Mitchel attempted to Murder the late Archbishop of St. Andrews and in his larger Speech in Ravillac Red. he saith They are all Blessed that shall take the Proud Prelates and dash their Brains against the Stones And what he attempted was at last Successfully Effected by † Viz. by John Balfour of Kinlock David Haxton of Rathillet George Balfour in Gilston James Russel in Kettle Robert Dingwall in Caddam Andrew Guillan in Balmerinoch Alexander Henderson and Andrew his Brother in Kilbrachmont George Fleming in Balbuthy 10. Field-Zelots of the same Principles whereof some had Ridden a long time in the Field-Preachers Guards And in the middle of last October Three Fanatick Ruffians knocked down one Mr. Malne a Church-Minister in the Streets of Glascow when the Justice-Eyre was Sitting there And I profess when I consider in what a Persecuted Condition the Bishops and Clergy of our Sister-Church are my heart bleeds for them and methinks I hear them now crying out with one Voice to his Sacred Majesty as the Disciples cry'd to our Saviour in the Storm Save us or else we Perish Persecuted not only in their Liberties Priviledges and Persons but also in their Lives therefore it was that I joyned with a s Or as some of their great Apologists and Patrons were pleased to represent them at London A Poor Innocent Peaceable fort of People who only desired to serve God according to their own Consciences and truly so they do when they rebell and Murder but how well they deserved this Character the World saw and his Majesty Felt as soon as they got into their great Evangelist Naphtalis probable capacity and had they won the first Battel we should have seen and felt more poor handful The Lord knows who is the searcher of hearts that neither my Design nor Practice was against his Majesties Person and just t No Not against his Majesties Person but against his Evil Counsellors as he would have spoken in the Covenanting Style and not against his Just Government but against his Supremacy and his Legislations against the Covenant which make his Government Unjust and himself a Tyrant an Idolater and an Enemy to Christ and then how the People ought to deal with him under that Notion and Character will be worth the while to see Buchanan in his Dialogue de jure Regni saith That it is as Lawful and Meritorious to kill Tyrants as Wolves and Bears and their Whelps and that those who do such noble Acts ought to be rewarded by all

portae inferorum non vincent eam tibi dabo claves c. inde per temporum successionum vices Episcoporum ordinatio Ecclesiae ratio decurrit ut Ecclesia super Episcopos constituatur omnes actus Ecclesiae per eosdem praepositos gubernetur cum hoc itaque divina lege fundatum sit miror Epist. 68. he calls the Ordination of a Bishop sub populi assistentis conscientiâ traditionem divinam Apostolicam observationem and instanceth in Act. 1. 15. and Epist. 65. upon occasion of a Deacon reproaching Rogatianus his Bishop Pro solitâ tuâ humanitate fecisti ut malles de eo nobis conqueri quum pro Episcopatus vigore Cathedrae autoritate haberes potestatem quâ posses de illo statim vindicari Meminisse autem diaconi debent quoniam Apostolos id est Episcopos propositos dominus elegit diaconos autem post ascensum domini in coelos Apostoli sibi constituerunt Episcopatus sui Ecclesiae ministros And Epist. 42. to Cornelius Bishop of Rome Hoc enim vel maximè frater laboramus laborare debemus ut unitatem à domino per Apostolos nobis successoribus traditam quantum possumus obtinere curemus Epist. 69. Christi qui dicit ad Apostolos ac per hoc ad omnes praepositos qui Apostolis vicarià ordinatione succedunt qui audit vos me audit Faith of the Apostles and 6 Not in the Faith of the holy Scriptures which command every Soul to be Subject to the higher Powers and which neither teach directly nor indirectly That the Episcopal Government is an Antichristian or the Presbyterian by Kirk-Sessions Presbyteries and Synods a Divine Institution or that the Magistrate hath no privative Power over Ecclesiastical Persons or in causes Ecclesiastical or that Passive Obedience to an unjust Sentence is as great a Sin as Active Obedience to an unrighteous Command c. Primitive Christians and 7 Not in the Faith of the holy Scriptures which command every Soul to be Subject to the higher Powers and which neither teach directly nor indirectly That the Episcopal Government is an Antichristian or the Presbyterian by Kirk-Sessions Presbyteries and Synods a Divine Institution or that the Magistrate hath no privative Power over Ecclesiastical Persons or in causes Ecclesiastical or that Passive Obedience to an unjust Sentence is as great a Sin as Active Obedience to an unrighteous Command c. Protestant Reformed Churches and particularly of the 8 Not in the Faith of the holy Scriptures which command every Soul to be Subject to the higher Powers and which neither teach directly nor indirectly That the Episcopal Government is an Antichristian or the Presbyterian by Kirk-Sessions Presbyteries and Synods a Divine Institution or that the Magistrate hath no privative Power over Ecclesiastical Persons or in causes Ecclesiastical or that Passive Obedience to an unjust Sentence is as great a Sin as Active Obedience to an unrighteous Command c. Church of Scotland whereof I am a poor Member that has been so wonderfully Carried on against so much Opposition Athanasius who flourished Anno Dom. 326. writing to Dracontius Elected to a Bishoprick and refusing it saith Quod si nullam omnino mer●edem Episcopi functioni destinatam credis servatoremque ●ui eam ita instituit contemnis Damasus who flourished Anno Dom. 367. Epist. 4. de chorepiscopis Nullus ex Septuaginta discipulis quorum speciem isti gerunt nil de hoc quod Apostolis eorumque successeribus Episcopis specialiter debebatur legitur assumpsisse Epiphanius who flourished Anno Dom. 360. Haeres 75. writes thus Docet divinus Apostoli sermo quis sit Episcopus quis Presbyter cum dicit ad Timotheum qui erat Episcopus Presbyterum ne objurges Ambrosd de dignit sacerdot writes thus Claves illas regni coelorum in beato Petro cuncti suscepimus sacerdotes i. e. Episcopi for in the following Chapters he asserts That the Bishops in St. Peter received the Keys from Christ and the Presbyters from them Augustin ad Quod vult deum de haeresibus among other Heretical Opinions of Tom. 6. Aerius reckons this for one Quod docebat Presbyterum ab Episcopo nullâ differentiâ debere discerni De verbis dom Serm. 24. Dicit ergo qui vos Spernit meSpernit Si solis Apostolis dixit qui vos spernit me spernit Spernite nos si autem sermo ejus pervenit Tom. 10. ad nos vocavit nos in eorum loco constituit nos videte ne spernatis nos ne ad illum perveniat injuria quam nobis feceritis Ad Crescon Grammat l. 1. Attende etiam quod quemadmodum ad Titum cum explicaret Paulus qualis esse Episcopus debeat there he asserts Titus to have been a Bishop Non ergo solos qui ex circumcisione sunt sed eos maximè tales esse ait oportere tamen in doctrinâ sanâ redargui refellique ab Episcopo vaniloquos mentis seductores indubitatâ praeceptione firmavit There he saith That St. Paul commanded all Bishops in Titus to exhort and convince Gainsayers And in the next words he saith He looked upon that Precept as given to himself Unde hoc etiam mihi jussum esse cognosco hoc pro viribus ago Enarrat in Psalm 44. in our Translation the 45. 16. v. Pro patribus tuis nati sunt tibi filii Quid est pro patribus tuis nati sunt tibi filii patres missi sunt Apostoli pro Apostolis filii nati sunt tibi Constituti sunt Episcopi Hodie enim Episcopi qui sunt per totum mundum unde nati sunt ipsa Ecclesia patres illos appellat ipsa illos genuit ipsa illos constituit in sede patrum Apostolórum non ergo te putes desertam quia no vides Petrum quia non vides Paulum quia non vides illos per quos nata es de prole tua tibi crevit paternitas Contra literas Petil. lib. 2. c. 51. Cathedra tibi quid fecit Ecclesiae Romanae in quâ Petrus sedet in quâ hodie Anastasius sedet vel Ecclesiae Hierosolymitanae in quâ Jacobus sedit in quâ hodie Johannes sedet quare appellas Cathedram Pestilentiae Cathedram Apostolicam Chrysostome in his Homily on Ignatius saith he was Successor to St. Peter in the See of Antioch ordained by the Apostles ut tanto principatu dignus and in his Homilie● on Timoth. and Titus he expresses his opinion of Bishops as of an Apostolical Institution Perhaps it may seem superfluous to shew further how effrontedly this Antiepiscoparian speaks in saying He died in the Faith of the Primitive Christians but because the Presbyterians have the confidence to represent Hierom as a Patron of their Cause I will take a little more pains to shew how they have abused the World by this pretence in demonstrating that this Father held the

authority of Bishops to be above and distinct from that of Presbyters and also a Divine Institution For in his Catalog Script Ecclesiast 3. † Gal. 1. 18. 19. Acts 12. 17. Gal. 2. 12. Acts 21. 18. Acts 15. Jacobus frater Domini cognomento Justus post passionem Domini statim ab Apostolis Hierosolymorum Episcopus ordinatus Hegesippu● vicinus Apostolicorum temporum in quinto commentariorum libro de Jacobo narrans ait Suscepit Ecclesiam Hierosolymae post Apostolos frater Domini Jacobus cognomento Justus 11 Timotheus autem † Euseb. l. 3. c. 4. Ephesiorum Episcopus ordinatus à beato Paulo 12 Titus Episcopus Cretae 27 Polycarpus Johannis Apostoli discipulus ab eo Smyrnae Episcopus ordinatus totius Asiae princeps fuit Com. in Galat. 1. 19. Paulatim procedente tempore alii ab his quos dominus elegerat ordinati sunt Apostoli sicut ille ad Philippenses sermo declarat dicens necessarium existimavi Epaphroditum Here he asserts That the Apostles who were chosen by Christ Ordained other Apostles as Epaphroditus Phil. 2. 25. and Mark Catal. Script Eccles. 15. Marcus discipulus interpres Petri primus Alexandriae Christum annuncians Bishops proved to be a distinct Order from Presbyters constituit Ecclesiam And Prooem in Matth. Marcus interpres Petri Apostoli Alexandrinae Ecclesiae primus Episcopus Here by the way it may be observed in answer to NAKED TRUTH That St. Hierom saith That such and such persons were Ordained Bishops by the Apostles and surely in saying so he meaneth that they had a new Ordination distinct from that of Presbyters for it 's most reasonable to suppose that the Father used the word in the signification it had in his own time when and long before there was a distinct Ordination of Bishops by a new imposition of hands by three Persons of the Episcopal Order So in Euseb. l. 6. c. 4. 3. Cornelius Bishop of Rome Anno Dom. 255. writes to Fabius touching the Ordination of Novatianus Hosce tres accitos Episcopos manuum impositione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Episcopatum ei dare coegit And the same Bishop to St. Cyprian Epist. 46. Tantummodo circumductos se quoque commisisse schismatica ut paterentur ei manus qu●si in Episcopum imponi And Cyprian Epist. 68. plainly distinguishes the Ordinations of Bishops Priests and Deacons each from other Nec hoc in Episcoporum tantum Sacerdotum sed in diaconorum ordinationibus observâsse Apostolos animadvertimus and afterwards Ut ad ordinationes ritè celebrandas ad eam plebem cui Praepositus ordinatur Episcopi ejusdem provinciae proximi quique conveniant Episcopus deligatur plebe praesente quae singulorum vitam plenissimè novit uniuscujusque actum de ejus conversatione perspexit quod apud vos factum videmus in Sabini Collegae nostrae ordinatione ut de universae fraternitatis suffragio de Episcoporum qui in praesentiâ convenerant quique de eo ad vos literas f●cerant judicio Episcopatus ei deferretur manus ei in locum Basilidis imponerentur See also Cyprian Epist. 52. and Eusebius l. 5. c. 6. of the like Ordinations and Can. 1. and 2 Apost Episcopi à duobus vel tribus Episcopis ordinentur Presbyter ab uno ordinetur diaconus reliqui clerici From all which it is plain that Bishops before St. Hierom's time had a different Ordination from Presbyters and if so then the new Ordination must infer a new Authority and the same Authority which this Father understood to have been conferred on Timothy and Titus Bishops by the Apostles the same he understands to have been conferred on Polycarp and Epaphroditus and the other Bishops and hence it appears that That notion of Blondels which Mr. Baxter hugs so much in his Nonconformists plea of the Senior Presbyter's being a Bishop without new Ordination is a meer Phancy and Shift But to go on with St. Hierom in the conclusion of his Epist. to Evagrius which the Presbyterians rely so much upon Ut sciamus traditiones Apostolicas sump●as de veteri testamento quod Aaron filii ejus atque Levitae in templo fuerunt hoc sibi Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi in Ecclesiâ sibi vendicent Epist ad Nepotianum esto subjectus Pontifici tuo quasi animae parentem suscipe quod Aaron filios ejus hoc Episcopum Presbyteros esse noverimus and Epist 54. speaking of the Bishops of his own Age he saith Apud nos Apostolorum locum tenent Episcopi And in Psalm 45. 16. Nunc quia Apostoli à mundo recesserunt habes pro his Episcopos filios sicut hi patres tui quia ab ipsis regeris And Epist. 1. ad Heliodor speaking of the Modern Bishops he saith Stant loco Pauli tenent locum Petri and Epist. ad Riparium adversus Vigilantium Miror Sanctum Episcopum in cujus parochiâ esse presbyter dicitur acquiescere furori ejus non Virgâ Apostolica confrigere vas inutile tradere in interitum carnis Here he plainly asserts the Bishops Apostolical Rod or Authority in Excommunicating a Presbyter and by that expression Quid enim facit exceptâ ordinatione Episcopus quod presbyter non faciat he asserts That only Bishops had power of Ordination and from this Expression compared with the † Those who desire to see more may consult Dr. Hammond di●●ert 2. Cap. 29. forecited passages I appeal to any Presbyterian in the World whether they think that this Father durst have undertaken to have Ordained a Presbyter himself or durst have owned any Presbyter for such made such only by the Imposition of Presbyters hands Nay in this very Epistle Ad Evagr. he saith That the Greatness or Littleness Richness or Poverty of Diocesses makes not one Bishop above another but that they are all Ejusdem Meriti sacerdotii Apostolorum Successores And in his Prooem to St. Matth. speaking of St. Johns Gospel he saith The Apostle wrote it against the Cerinthians and Ebionites Coactus ab omnibus pene tunc Asiae Episcopis multarum Ecclesiarum legationibus The truth is this Father being offended at the arrogance of the Deacons of his time and especially of those of Rome wrote this Epistle to E●agrius Contra eos qui diaconum Presbytero aequabant and had no ill design at all upon the Apostolical or Episcopal Office but only he scrued up the dignity of the Priests Office to as high a pitch as he could which made him contradictory to himself in asserting the original Identity of Bishops and Presbyters in that Epist. and his Commentaries upon Titus 1. 5. where he writes Idem est ergo Presbyter Episcopus antequam diaboli instinctu Schismata in religione fierent dicerent in populis ego sum Pauli ego Apollo ego autem Cephae communi Presbyterorum consilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur postquam vero unusquisque