shall not be such enemies to it in time to come Moreover your pie fraudes have not a little advanced your courses for though the generall cause of all this uproare was pretended to be for defence of religion lawes and liberties yet to speake under the Râ—se it flowed from private causes and respects for not to speak of the contempt of Monarchy nor of private frettinâ— against Soveraignty by malecontents the course his Majesty was taking with the tythes to deliver the ministry and meaner sort of the Laitie from that which was counted bondage and slaverie made many fret to see themselves robbed of that clientely and dependance of the Clâ—rgie and Laitie and of that power command and superiority which by the tye of tythes they did enjoy Some had their private quarrels against the Bishops many could not abide to see them preferred to be on his Majesties ounsell c. And a great hatred was working against them for being the chiefe instruments that the Ministers maintenance was augmented and many of the Tythes restored backe againe which made many thinke that in the end all the tythes and Church-lands would returne to the ancient owner whereby many would be brought to a poore estate if the tythes were taken from them and some who have made Churches their habitation would not have a dwelling place at all and some others being ambitious of preferment both in Church and Policie were no small causes of all this uproare Now howbeit from those and such like other motives this disorder hath come yet it s well dissembled by you in taking this opportunity to work your private intended ends by making the multitude believe that all is for defence of Religion Lawes and liberties which otherwise would be destroyed His Holinesse our Pope did never laugh more heartily than when it was told him that you made the people believe that the book of Common Prayer was penned at Rome and sent to the King and that it was nothing but the masse turned into English and that the King was a Papist and intended to change the Religion That your Bishops were Pensioners to the Pope and that all who would not subscribe your covenant are Papists truly he commended your Policie to catch children with wiles and men with lies The aspersions you have cast upon King Bishops and Anticovenanters will make you noble It 's a good policie still to complaine of Court and State and to prie into great mens lives to picke out some fault and to make faults where we finde none still with Absalom saying The men who have good and right causes 2 Sam. 15.3.4 have no man to heare them Oh that I were made Iudge in the land that every man which hath any sâ—it or cause might come unto me and I would do him justice Thus the silly multitude will lightly apprehend that you are blamelesse who doe so narrowly trie and crie out against the faults of others whom howbeit you do not wound yet in the vulgar opinion you do greatly staine and blot them Finally we have both suffered much of our enemies for our practise against Kings and Princes in cutting them away that are enemies to the religion We need not be ashamed to confesse that the armour wherwith such kings are killed are forged in our shop you know that Hackes and Coppinger who wrote to Scotland to Iames Gibson that he with the advise of the brethren might tell their opinion concerning the spirit that moved them the act that they had in hand to be done for the delivery of T. Cart wright out of prison and killing of all their withstanders That which Ravillack did effectu was no more praise-worthy than that which they did affectu all those our works are not to be accounted points of treason but onely sensible expressions of our Heroicall Zeale to the defence of Religion which ought to be more deare to us than Kings or Princes father or mother brother or sister all those cords must be broke and bonds cast from us when we see them to set themselves to take counsell against the Lords Annointed Such men of courage who put their life in their hand and cut off such wicked men ought to be so farre from being counted traitors that they should be rewarded for doing it as your Buchanan sayes Knox in his history of Scotland commends the privie murdering of the Cardinall of S. Andrewes perpetrated by Norman Lesley sonne to the Earle of Rothsey and Iames Melvin cals it a godly fact and propones it as an example to be followed by the posterity In your Zions plea and other papers you speak excellently of that Heroicall fact of Felton your Martyr Du. Buck. and pathetically exhort the Nobles of the Land to follow his footsteps saying God hath chalked out the way unto you God having offered himself to guide you by the hand in giving this first blow will you not follow home the sprinkling of the blood of the wolf if we can fâ—llow the Lord in it may prove a meanes to save us The counsell of Hushai to Absalom forteth well with this businesse that all Israel should be gathered from Dan to Beersheba as the sand on the sea in number who may with the ropes of their Prayers joyned to the power of your hands draw the city of their Babel into the river of destruction untill there be not one small stone found You have most zealously embraced this profitable exhortation and albeit your intended work tooke but small successe yet let not this interruption bequench your zeale nor cause your heroicall spirits to saile but be forward in this cause and let all your words be spoken by Talents that authority may see that you do not scare it Let our example encourage you and your example encourage us It was to this purpose manfully said by one of you Payne epist to F. Our zeale to Gods glory our love to his Church and the due planting of the same in this horeheaded age should be so warm and stirring in us as not to care what adventure we giâ— and what censure Wee abide c. The Iesuites and Seminaries their diabolicall bolanesse he wrongs us in his epithet seing he followeâ— our way will cover our faces with shame It s true indeed so long as we are not able to resist and make out party good by strength of hand there is a necessity that we must suffer and like the poore man we must use entreaty for it s our wisdome to consider the times when we may be forward and when not Hence it was that in the dayes of Queene Elizabeth when your power was little that your answer was humble for when the State and Clergie of England charged your sort of men with faction sedition and schisme and iudged that if you were curbed betimes you would bring desolation on Church policie your answer was mild though it might seeme to your adversaries mixt with passion pride and
themselves so that in certaine cases they may actually take it from him againe Let all Protestant Doctors condemne this yet let it never repent you to have received light from us The best works that ever Augustixe wrote were the books of retrectations and the best workes that you can doe is to forsake your errors You say the people makes the Magistrate and may be without him and have been many a yeare without him The Majesty doth remaine in the people and therefore as it is said in the Gospel May I not doe with my owne what I please Bell de cleâ—ie lib. 3. 〈◊〉 6. So say wee Potestas immediate est tanquam in subjectâ— in tota multitudine si causa legitimè adsit potest multitudo mutare regnum in Aristocratiam Democratiam The power is immediately as in the subject in the multitude and if there be a lawfull cause the multitude may change the Kingdome into an Aristocracie or Democracie When the King becommeth an enemy to the Common wealth hee ought to be removed Melius est ut pereat unus quam unitas And therefore you may not without reason say as in your Sions Plea to his Majesty Wee must not lose you and the Kingdome by proferring your fancies and groundlesse affections before sound reason You should complain to the heart that the head is much distempered The Lyon must be cured of the Kings evill The Potter may destroy the vessell which hee hath made himselfe But I pray you let this be spoken under the Rose for if we too much divulge it it will make both you and us most odious to all princes who will keepe us at such a low ebbe that we shall never be able to rise against them when wee thinke it necessary When the shepheard becommeth a Wolâ—e let the dogs chaâ—e him away he is for the people and the people is not for him when he turnes to their hurt let one who is for thâ—â—r good be put in his place for you know who said Virtuti non generâ— debetur regnum And it is better to have Kings by election then succession And therefore you doe mosâ— learnedly reason from the unreasonableness and absurdities of those Court Parasites in your learned informations for Defensive armes against the King who attribute such illimited power to their Kings Covenanters inâ—â—â— at for Dâ—â—â—nsive â—â—g 1. that they loose all the bonds of civill society against all the bonds of oathes and lawes suffering the Prince to doe what he pleaseth to the ruine of Religion the Church and Kingdome and the people shall do nothing but suffer themselves to be massacred or else stie which is impossible In parallel to this we say thus The danger is so evident Desâ—â—â—â— of 〈◊〉 Cathâ—â—â—â— 5. â—evitable that God hath not sufficiently provided for our salvation and the preservation of the Church and holy Lawes if there were no way to restraine such wicked Princes c. 〈…〉 this were as you say to expone all to the fury of the Prince Ibid. And therfore we conclude in the same place with those words The bond and obligation wee haue entered into for the service of Christ and his Church far exceeds all other duties which wee owe to any humane creature therefore where the obedience to the inferiour hindereth the service of the other which is superiour we must by law and order discharge our selves of the inferiour Covenanters inform for Defensive This our conclusion is most consonant to the words and sense of your second and fourth argument for war And since you were put to this necessity to take up armes for your defence notwithstanding of your Kings specious pretences who could condemne you to presse and urge the people by your reasons to take up armes to resist the violence of your King Covenanters inform for Defensive 57. Sigebert in anno 1088. who was furiously inveding you as you say and to thrust all away from their places that did withstand you as traitors to you the Church and Countrey and unworthy of your society I do not regard neither need you to be offended at that idle speech of Sigebert neither would I heare him if he did not aske leave of all good men from which number I will not be excluded to speake while he sayes thus â—o speak with the leave of all good men this onely novelty I will not say heresie was not crept into the world before the dayes of â—elldebrand that Priests should teach the people that they owe no subjection to evill Kings and that although they have sworne fidelitie to him yet they must yeeld him none neither may they be counted perjured for holding against their King but rather he that obeyeth the King is excommunicate and he that rebelleth against the King is absolved from the blemish of disloyaltie and perjurie c. Thus he And is this a matter to be condemned I pray you Doe we not cleerely see this performed among your selves the King himselfe will approve of it for you are confident of it while you say Wee are very confident of his Majesties approbation to the integritie of our hearts prâ—â—eâ—â—â—â—se Sâ—pâ—â— 1633. and peaceablenesse of our wayes and actions all this time past and doe protest that we will still adhere to our former proceedings mutuall defence c. And good reason for rebellion for such an important businesse against a King cannot bee disloyaltie and they that have not followed your course justly deserve Excommunication and Banishment Athanasius was but too silly a man being under the tyrannie of Constantius the Arrian Hereticke that did not incite the people to rebellion or to promove the designes of the Emperours brother who was Orthodoxe and worthier of the Crown Which if he had done he might have made a better Apologie to the Emperour Constantius who charged him with the same as if he had stirred up his brother and the people against him If he had done so he might have made Peters Apologie It s better to obey God then man But because he did it not hee makes an Apologie most beseeming a coward who did not as you did with counsell and courage lead the people to war against their Prince but sayes thus Vincat quaso apud te Ad anâ—siâ— Apoâ—â—â— aâ— Constant veritas ne relinquas suspicionem contra universam ecclesiaÌ„ quasitalia ant cogitentur aut scribantur à Christianis 〈◊〉 potissimum Episcopis Let truth I pray thee prevaile with thee and leave not a susâ—â—cion against the Catholick Church as if such things were either thought or written by Christians and especially by Bishops I am not so mad I am not beside my selfe O Emperour that thou shouldst suspect I had any such thought I am not so mad neither have I forgotten the voyce of God which saith Curse not the King in thy heart nor backbite the mightie in the secrets of thy chamber for the birds
to submit themselves obediently to follow their Leaders Covenanters inform for Pesâ—nâ—ive whom God at this time hath largely furnished with counsell and courage for the good of his Church and Kingdome The reason why they should follow them and not be carried away with the Kings Proclamations quia potestas civilis subjecta est potestati spirituals quando utraque pars est ejusdem reipub Bâ—â—â— de 〈…〉 lâ—b 〈…〉 Christianae A fourth error which you with good successe have abolished that you deny the power of convocating and distrâ—ssâ—ng of Assemblies to belong to the Supreme Magistrate In the Protesâ—ation in July 1638. you maintaine your power of convocating Assemblies therefore in the 27. August 1638. it was well put in among your Instructions before the Assemblies VIII Instruâ—â— that the ablest man in each Parish should be provided to dispute Depotestate supremt Magistratús in Eccclesiasticis praesertim in convocandis Conciliis It s your wisdome to assemble when hee commands you so long as it is conducible for your ends but yet you have power to assemble in a Nationall Assemblie in what place of the Kingdome you please Sâ—â—ratâ—â—◠〈…〉 Socrates did smell too much of a Court Parasite while he said we make mention of Emperors throughout this History for that since they became Christians â—cclesiastical matters depend on them the greatest Synods have been and yet are called by their appointment He offended you who said that as Moses is custos utriusque Tabulae so is he custos utriusque tubae as the civill Magistrate is keeper of both the Tables so hee is keeper of both the silver Trumpets for war for calling of Assemblies and dismissing of them and that you would but blow the Trumpet of Sedition it without the Kings authority you should convocate Assembles either for peace or for warre The Marquesse of Hamilton was too presumptuous being called with the Kings Authoritie to discharge your last Assembly which as you said well was to raise Christ's Court and therefore it was not ill advised by one of you that seeing the Marquesse was faithfull to his Master the King so you ought to be faithfull to your Master the King of kings Jesus Christ and to defend his Royall prerogative above all the Kings of the earth In your answer to the Marquesse of Hamilious Declaration you affirme that your Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is independent and in your Zions Plea you say that your Presbyterian discipline is the Scepter of Christ swaying his own house according to his hearts desire the soul the chief Commander in the câ—mp Royall and your â—ravers sayes De disâ—â—p E â—cl sâ—â—â—g 142. Huic disciplinae omnes orbis Principes Monarchas fasces suos submittere parere necesse est There is a necessity that all the Princes and Monarchs should submit their Scepters and obey this discipline And your Mae Lellan whom some call a foole spake not foolishly while he preached that the King had no more to do to meddle with your Assemblies then you have to meddle with his Parliaments It was wisely then dont by you in rejecting any protestation or appellation from your Assemblie by the Bishops and their adherents to the Kings Majestie for such appellations ought not to be seeing there is none Supreme above your Nationall Assemblies And therefore as you have not hitherto regarded their protestation and appellation but have proceeded against them to deposition and excommunication so continue and be not dismaid though they should renue their protestations and appellations even in the words of Athanasius in protesting against and appealing from the partiall coun ell of Tyrus Athanasâ— poloâ— cap. 2. which appellation and protestation of Athanasius and the rest of the orthodox Bishops was in these words Because we see many things spitefully contrived against us and much wrong offered the Catholik Church under our rames we be forced to request that the debating of our matters may bee kept for the Princes most excellent person We cannot beare the drifts and injuries of our enemies and therefore require the cause to be referred to the most religious and devout Emperour before whom we shall be suffered to stand in our own defence and plead the right of the Church c. If those your Bishops flying to the King as Athanasius and the rest of the orthodox Bishops did to the Emperour shall procure an edict or command from the King as those did from the Emperor to charge you all to appeare before him to plead your cause you ought not to appeare as that miserable Synod of Tyrus did The Edict was so peremptory that they durst not resist The Edict was in these words Your Synod hath decreed I know not what in a tumult and uproare while you seeke to pervert truth by your pestilent disorder for hatred against your fellow Bishops But the divine providence will I doubt not scatter the mischiefe of your contention and make it plaine in our sight whether your Assembly had any regard of truth or not You must therefore all of you resort hither to shew the reason of your doings for so doth it seeme good and expedient to me to which end I willed this rescript to be sent you that as many of you as were present at the Councell of Tyrus without delay repaire to the place of our abode there to give an account how sincerely soundly you have judged that before me whom your selves shal not deny to be the sincere Minister of God in such cases c. I say then if you shall receive such a charge from your King you should not obey for in your sense that is To betray the Royall prerogative of your King Jesus Christ but returne the answer of Core Dathan and Abiram with ingemination We will not come nâ—m 16.12 14. Jâ—r 2 31. we will not come or your Lords Lay-Elders may return that of Jeremy We are Lords We will no more come unto thee And if your King will not be content with your answer prosecute your begun course with all diligence and earnestnesse having begun in the spirit end not in the flesh but go on with that which they call disorders till you get the King in your power and then he shal know what subjects you will be If the people of one citie falling in sedition for matters of Religion so prevailed passed all power of resisting 〈◊〉 lib. â— câ—p â—4 that Anastasius the Emperour was fain to come to an open place without his Crown by Heraulds to signifie to the people that he was readie with a very good will to resigne the Empire into their hands how much more may you who have many cities by coÌ„tinuing your courses force your King to resigne his Crown of Scotland And howbeit the people of that citie seeing the Emperor in so pitiful a case were moved with the spectacle changed their minds besought the Emperour to keep his Crown
and promised for their parts to be quiet yet do not you so till your King shall performe all your demands From that which hath been done by you 5.6 and repeated by me I see other two errours banished which I conjoyn for brevities sake lest my Epistle should encrease to a Treatise viz. That the King is no more to be President nor supreme Governour in causes Ecclesiasticall It is the folly of your Divines to make the Moderator of your Assemblies to be unto the King or his Delegate in Assemblies as the Chancelor in the Parliament is to the King or his Deputy in Parliaments But I extoll your courage who now conclude with us Bellarminâ— Ad Regium officium pertinet ut legibus edict is suis â—am fidem teneri quam sacerdotes tenendam docent c. It s the duty of Kings by their Lawes Edicts to cause that faith to be kept which the Priests teach should bee kept For the spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets But is Saul also among the Prophets Is it true that the Anticovenanter sayes that in your Ecclesiasticall judicatories called 1 Sessions 2 Presbyterles and 3 Synods there wil be in the first sometimes twelve sometimes sixteene in some places 24. Lay-Elders for one Priest Secondly in your Presbyteries Lay-elders of equal power and number Thirdly in your Synods as many Lay-elders with their Assessors as there is Priests all which Lay-elders have as great power in matters of Doctrine and Discipline as the Priests themselves to judge and passe Definitive sentence c. But I trust it is not so for I heare that they are offended to be called Lay-elders and will be called Ruling-elders and Ecclesiasticall persons and so I doubt not but they have received orders from you And therefore seeing Ecclesiasticall persons among you have the managing of Church-affaires the civil Magistrate must be content to execute what you decree neither ought he to judge otherwise then you judge neither can he hinder you to make Lawes in the Church For as Stapleton sayes very learnedly with you Oves non possunt judicare pastores Let the sheep-heards judge of the sheep who must follow them as Christs sheep heard his voyce and followed him Therefore you have most valiantly shaken off that yoke of the Kings supremacie in causes Ecclesiasticall Novembâ— 29. 1638. Proâ—â—t in Juhi 1638 5 5. and at the Crosse of Glasgow proclaimed to the world against the Kings Proclamation for raising the Assembly that your Assemblies are the supreme judicaterie in all causes ecclesiasticall and since supreme its independent from the King 〈◊〉 appeale from 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 Câ—â—â—â—â—ll â—oâ—â—e generall Assembly and Parliament 〈…〉 3. and your reason is good for that which is superiour cannot be subject to that which is inferiour Now as Bellarmine also sayes Regimen Ecclesiasticum sublimius est Politico The Ecclesiasticke government is higher then the Politicke for Principatus politieus institutus est ab hominibus de jure gentium at principatus ecclesiasticus est à solo Deo de jure divino The Politicke Government is institute by men and of the Law of Nations but the Church Government is from God alone and of Divine institution Therefore you conclude right that the king hath no more power to appoint officers in the Church then you have power to appoint officers of state for his Court. In Zions Plea pag. 289. You answer well to the Protestants objection thus If any object the Magistrates interposed anthority it 's quickly answered That his power is not to weaken any ordinance of God but for guarding and making good all Gods ordinances with the Sword And in your protestation at Edenburgh 18. December 1638. you bring from your Booke of Discipline a full and perfect description of the Kings authority in Church matters which is this To assist and maintaine the discipline of the Kirk and punish them civilly who will not obey the censures thereof And in your answer to the Marquesse of Hamilton his Declaration you say That the Supreme Magistrate as a Son of the Kirke ought to receive the true meaning of the Kirke and cause it to be received by those whom God hath subjected unto him Yea it is so fâ—rre from being a prerogative due to the Supreme Magistrate to bee Supreme governour in causes Ecclesiasticall that it is a favour granted unto him to have any precedencie in Synods without voycing except hee would become a ruling Elder and have accommission to come Therefore it is most remarkable which you say in your Protestation 29. Novem 1638. at Glasgow After 39 Nationall Assemblies of this Nationall Church where neither the Kings Majesty nor any in his name was present At the humble and earnest desire of the Assembly His Majesty graciously vouchsafed His presence either in His owne Royall person or by a Commissioner not for voiting or mukiplying of voyces but as Princes and Emperours of old in a Princely manner to countenance that meeting and to preside into it for externall order c. And this is all that wee grant to Emperors and Princes in our Disputes against Protestants And I pray you what Royalist can answer the Arguments which you have borrowed from us all their answer is that they exclaime that you do borrow your Arguments from your enemies yet not so great enemies as they suppose for the Jesuite is called the Popish Puritan and the Puritan is called the Protestant Jesuite and I trust that the like may be said of us which is said of Christ and Franciscus Turs lâ—â— Exue Franciscum tunica laceroque cucullo Qui Franciscus â—rat jam tibi Christus erit Francisci exuviis si qua licet indue Christum Jam Franciscus â—rit qui tibi Christus â—rat And wee are both by Papists and Protestants though unjustly branded with these vile Epithers Ludavâ—de Câ—â—zam to bee called Holy Divels the Standard-bearers of persidionsnesse the Architypes of Rebellion the Bellows of Sedition the Emissaries of the Divel the Kings evill and the Incendiaries of the whole world c. and our Thuan is so farre out of Love with us that hee sayes our Societie is Nata Magistratum convellere nata ministris Subtrahere obsequium Praesulibusque suum But albeit there were some odâ— between us what is that to them since they bee good for you who found fault with him who said Mutemus clypeos Danaumque insignia nobis Aptimus Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat Who can blame you while you say Protestat 18 Novemâ—â— 1638. that if Princes shall have such power in Assemblies and in matters of Religion then all Religion and Church-government should depend absolutely upon the pleasure of the Prince and hee may change it as he will So sayes learned Stapleton in his dispute against the Protestant Doctrine Posita hac potestate nec in una provincia velregno din erit fidei unitas
gods and men But I like not to trouble my selfe with such men but proceed to another head Which is concerning the power of your Discipline in temporall things wherein is a question whether our or your discipline the chiefe Commander in the Camp royall have the greatest power You do learnedly hold Answer to the Marquess Hamillons Declaration that the Kings high Court of Parliament cannot hinder you to make Lawes Ecclesiasticall seeing your Ecclesiasticall government is independent Yea you doe hold that your Assemblies may repealâ— and adnull even the Ecclesiasticall lawes that are confirmed in Parliament so that upon your re-calling them the sanction of the Parliament is nullitated and of no effect Your own words are Emphaticall Ibidem Albeit acts of generall Assemblies bâ—â— ratified in Parliament yet a generall Assembly may re-call those confirmed acts which being adnulled the civil ratification and sanction falls ex consequenti Certainely I dare promise you the Popes blessing for this most learned Thesis for now a door is opened to let in all Popery whether the King will or no so that I trust as I said at the beginning our Union shal be full For since your Assemblies have such power over Parliaments as to adnull all ecclesiasticall lawes confirmed therein as you have done already with Episcopacy and the articles of Perth which stand ratified and confirmed by divers acts of Parliament then it shal be easie for you at any Assembly when or where you wil to repeal and adnull all the ecclesiasticall lawes ratified and confirmed by Act of Parliament in favour of the Protestant Religion and to establish new lawes for our Roman Religion in stead of it though the King Parliament and Councell should resist you You haue good reason for it for as Bellarmine sayes Bâ—ll de â—lericis lib. 1. cap. 29. Habet se potestas ecclesiastica ad secularem quomodo Spiritus se habet ad carnem quam regit moderatur aliquando cohibet Caro autem nullum habet imperium inspiritum neque illum ulla in re dirigere vel judicare vel coercere potest Sic igitur potestas ecclesiastica quae spiritualis est as per hoc naturaliter seculari superior secularem potestatem cum opuâ— est dirigere judicare coercere potest ipsam verò à seculari dirigi vel coorceri nullâratione permittitur The ecclesiasticall power is to the secular power as the spirit is to the flesh which rules moderates and sometimes restrains But the flesh hath no command over the spirit neither can it direct or judge or restrain it in any thing So then the ecclesiasticall power which is spirituall and therefore naturally superiour to the secular may direct judge and restrain the secular power when it is needfull But by no reason is it permitted to bee directed or restrained by the secular power and therefore when your King did by his Proclamation discharge your Assembly at Glasgow which ought to direct him and not bee cohibited or restrained by him you did well to sit still and adnull divers acts of Parliament And in your Protestation against the Kings Proclamation for raising your Assembly Protestat Novemb. 29. 1638. as it was your wisdome not to enter into direct action with his Majesty so it was your courage to summon all the Lords of his Majesties Councel who consented to the Proclamation to appear before the Parliament the 25 of May 1639. There to be punished for giving the King evill councell viz to raise the Assemblies When the K. commands one thing by acts of Parliament or by his Proclamations you may protest against the same and command the contrary in your protestations and acts of Assemblie for as we say well Autor lib. ad persâ—cuâ— Angl. fol. 336. pâ—â—et ecclesia praposites facultas est amplissiâ—a interdicendi nobis ne reges obedientâ—â absequio nestre honoremus These that are set over us in the Church have a very large power given them even to interdict us that we honour not our Ks. with our obedience So the Councell of Trent coÌ„mands all to receive the decrâ—â—â— without regard to their Princes consent and denounceth ex communication in case of refusall requires an oath of obedience approveth violence in rooting out of heresie ordains the Inquisition for them Therfore when the King by his Proclamation did command that the Covenant of K. James as it was in 1581. yeer of God should be subscribed you by your authority did prohibite any to subscribe it but will have your own subscribed For this cause in your general Assembly you have set down An act discharging subscription to the Covenant which was subscribed by the Kings Commissioner and Lords of the Councell which his Majesty in his marginall note calls a traitorous act You have another excellent Act discharging all Printers in Scotland to print any thing in Ecclesiasticall affaires without the warrant of Jhonsâ—on your Clerk You have Acts also concerning mills salt pans and market dayes on Munday and Saturday And especially your Assembly hath adnulled his Majesties Court of high Commission all this we see in the Index of your Acts all is well done though it encroach upon the civill power for in temperalibus Ecclesia non solù◠praecipit dirigit Odoard VVest in Sanctuâ—r juris Pontis â— 6 sed coercet disponit virtute potestatit gubernativa In temporall things the Church not only commands directs but restrains dispones by vertue of her gubernative power And you know we do not maintain a direct power in temporall things but an indirect power in ordius ad spiritualia for we stand not upon words when we are sure of the matter it self and may bring all temporality within the compasse of our power But I pray you why did you forget to adnull the Acts of Parliament that doe ratifie the Kings Supremacy especially in spirituall things since you have adnulled other Acts of Parliament why have you prejudged your selves so much as to leave those acts for Supremacie uncancelled If you had remembred the complaint of your holy brethren in former times you would not have forgotten this but as you have de facto taken it away so de jure you would have declared the same an unlawfull act for as your predecessors said If the King have supreme power in causes Ecclesiasticall Thinus addition to Holinshed pag 446. then there is nothing left of the whole antient forme of Justices and policies in the spirituall estate but a naked shadow I goe on to a tenth Parallel which is your dispensation with oaths even with the oath of Allegeance and Supremacy with the oath of Canonicall obedience You will not upbraid us again with this as if we were only enemies and traiters to Kings For we dispence with no Subjects oath of Allegeance so long as they defend the religion but if they either fall from the religion themselves or will not defend
apud omnes gentes ad omnem posteritatem excusabit nos ne nobis imputari possit quod episcoporum authoritas labefactetur Here againe wee will have it testified that we shall willingly keep still the Ecclesiasticall and Canonicall policy if so be the Bishops will forbeare to rage against our Churches This is our will and it shall excuse us before God among all Nations to all posterity that it cannot be imputed to us that the authority of Bishops is decayed Ibid de potest Eccles And againe in that same confession they say Saepe jam testati sumus noâ— von solùm potestatem Ecclesiasticam quae in Evangelio instituta est summâ pietate venerari sed etiam Ecclesiasticam politiam gradus in Ecclesia magnopere probare quantum in nobis est conservare cupere non detractamus authoritatem Episcoporum modò non cogant facere contra mandatum Dei. Hac votuntas liberabit nos coram Deo judicio universâ—â— posteritatis né jâ—dicomur reâ— hujus schismatis quod initio excitatum est injustâ damnatione doctrinae Lutheri We have already oftimes testified that we not onely with the greatest piety that can be do reverence that Ecclesiasticall power instituted in the Gospell but also do very much approve the Ecclesiasticall policie and degrees in the Church and desire to keep it as much as we can We do not refuse the authority of Bishops if so be they doe not compell us to do against the Command of God This our will shall deliver us before God and in the judgement of all our posterity that wee bee not judged guilty of that Schisme which at the beginning was raised by the unjust condemning of the Doctrine of Luther O how farre do those Covenanters differ from those Reformers How can they cleare themselves before God the Reformed Churches and the ages to come who have made this great Schisme They not onely have condemned that which all reformed Churches do commend but also study to hatch the cockatrice egge and bring forth serpents Schismes and Rebellions in other calme Churches who live at peace Looke now farre these Reformers did tender Episcopacio as much do these Covenanters hate it It is not sufficient to them to have thrust from them without any cause their Bishops except it be that the Bishops have carried themselves to them as David did to Adonijah 1 King 1.6 And his father did not displease him at any time in saying Why hast thou done so by which too gentle dealing they gave them occasion to rise up against them but they themselves must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 busie Bishops in another mans Diocesse yea be universall Bishops within the Kings Dominions by their seuslesse yet malicious libels and letters to his Majesties good Subjects in England and Ireland labouring to produce the like Disorders among them that they should not remaine alone filthy and deformed in the Church of God Howbeit all good and learned men even among those who have not Episcopall government doe declare their dutifull and reverent respects to Bishops yet for the accomplishing of their bad ends it hath beene their chief labour first and last to make Bishops most odious and contemptible to all men Thus Cant at Glasgow in his Sermon because the Bishop of Glasgow did dwell in the Castle neare to the Cathedrall Church told the people that Satan had his dwelling among them and Antichrist had a nest among them and cried pull downe pull downe Antichrists nest with many other expressions more worthy of the speaker than of the Hearers there wanted nothing to draw the multitude to the perpetrating of a mischief against that old reverend Father but that God suffered not any to be a head to the furious multitude Thus they have too obsequiously observed the direction of their book entituled Sions Plea pag. 196. Sions Plea Where it 's said Ministers and Magistrates mast labour and cause others to labour for an holy hatred of Prelates and their brethren with an holy hatred to dash the braines of the Babylonish Prelacie against the stones And according to Luke 19.27 But those mine enemies that would not that J should raigne over them bring hither and slay them before me And strike that Hazael in the fifth rib yea if father or mother stand in the way away with them Strike the Basiliske veine for nothing but this will cure the plurifie of this our state This is a notable policie and as well learned by the Covenanters as taught by their masters and have made such proficiencie herein that they stand in more need of a bridle than of a spurre they have by lies and calumnies with the changeable multitude so prevailed that they have not so much as any being among them but as they say Have swept the dirt and dust out of Gods house and sent them to the land of Nod. But yet Thanks be to God notwithstanding of their throwing stoneâ— at them they have not dasht their braines against the stones and for Haâ—aelâ— fift rib they have onely smote a Bishops coach-horse And as for this Basiliske veine which they would have striken it 's of a higher nature than the killing of Bishops for it 's borrowed from the Iesuites who by that phrase understand the killing of Kings and Princes Wherefore one of them said Erratum valac fuissâ— in fisto Bartholomai Carol. Scribâ—n quòd scciâ— non fâ—â—rit vena Basilica id est quòd parcitum fuit regi Navarra principi Condensi It was a great sault that in the feast of Bartholomew the Basiliske veine was not striken that is to say that the King of Navarre and the Prince of Coâ—diâ— was let alone But they have done as much as they can to strike at this Basiliske veine through the Bishops sides For I remember when at the beginning of these disorders many did ask why they did make the Bishops their adversaries and complaine upon them since they did never require any thing but by warrant of his Majesties authority whom they ought to obey it was usually answered Some man must be whipped and rather the Bishops than any God knowes how foule a Commenter this might suffer And as for those calumnies filthy ballads which these men set out to the disgrace of themselves rather than of those whom they hate they deserve no other answer than that of the Prophet The vile person will speake villany and his heart will worke iniquity Esa 3â— 6 to practise hypocrisie and to utter errour against the Lord c. And in particular this sentence doth justy appertaine to that vile person Alexander Sempill who for whoredome drunkennesse and all kinde of Licentiousnesse hath not a second in Scotland and now by meanes of whorish Women Prov. 6.16 is brought to a piece of bâ—ead and extreme poverty having nothing left but a decrepit body an intoxicate braine and railing tongue so that I wonder who could be so base
for lorne brother of our society Abernethie hath done our Church any service among you in the farthering and promoving this your happy return to us he hath sowell deserved that there is hope for him to be received of us againe Howbeit his crimes were so ugly that we did exclude him from our Church and orders 2. Cor. 2 6. yet sufficient to this man is the punishment inflicted upon him by many For he hath reconciled himselfe as the people of Gath feared David would do with your heads and hearts in enlightening your braine with the knowledge your hearts with the love of many principall points of our doctrine 1 Thes 2.17 Exhort him to continue unto the end I endeavoured my selfe to have come unto you I desired to see you earnestly and would have come unto you once and againe but Satan hindered me Though in this my Congratulatorie Epistle I have sometimes inserted my counsell and exhortation unto you let not this displease you as if I thought you deficient herein or that you had need of spurs who run with born-down-head For all my exhortations are nothing else but a pleasant repetition of your doings and a sympathizing expression of our conjunct approbation thereof So that my recommendation of that to your practise which you are doing is so farre from insimulating you of negligence that it is rather a commendation of your actions according to that of the Poet. Qui menet ut facias quod jam facis ipse monendo Laudat hortatu câ—mprobat ipse suo Salute all our friends and especially at your night-meetings for devotion salute the sisters with a holy kisse To whom you doe but your duty when you acknowledge your cause much obliged unto them and that in those your Esthers and Judiths your work had but a small beginning and when men durst not resist the beginnings it 's wisely observed by you that God moved the spirit of those holy women to scourge the buyers and sellers out of Gods house and not to suffer the same to be polluted with that foule Booke of Common Prayer Those holy Matrons who wast themselves with Fasting have deserved so well at your hands that you should exhort them as Paul did Timothy to take a little wine to comfort them and to incourage them to proceed zealously in your cause for they are the weaker vessels and wine will strengthen them Read 1 Esdras chap. 3. ver 21. Where it is said thus Wine is exceeding strong it makes every heart rich so that a man remembreth neither King nor Governour and it maketh to speak all things by talents And when they are in their cups they forget their love both to friends and brethren and a little after draw out swords c. Albeit this be a passage out of Apocrypha yet your practise sayes it is not false Our women here carie a sinistrous opinion of your women whom they call virago's and monsters of women a disgrace to their sex man-like-women and a new kind of Hermaphrodits because of their violent and turbulent carriage as they call it in abusing all men that are contrary minded they say Non metuunt leges sed cedit viribus aequum Quámque lupi saevae plus firitutis habent That is they feare no Lawes but equity giveth place to force and they have more savage cruelty in them than the very Wolves But our Ladies are mistaken not knowing that this proceeds from Zeal Impetus hic sacrae semina mentis babet This violence of theirs hath the feeds of a holy minde And they being free citizens ought to have full freedome their tongues are their owne what Lord can them controll If Tyberius when he was railed upon in the city tooke it patiently saying In libera cevitate oportet linguam esse liberam Why should not free Subjects in a free kingdome have free tongues and free hands too especially of Women when religion is in question Gutlielmus Postellus set out a book which he entituled Of the victory of women I would have the like done by some of you especially by him who gave his ghostly blessing to those manfull women who shew their valour against their adversaries in beating them and their books out of Gods house My blessing light upon you all my deare Bird all Break not off your nocturnall devotions and assembling together for the better and not for the worse But doe it more secretly than Andrew Lesley of whom they say that hee forsooke Ireland to go to the Covenant the first fruits whereof was to forsake his wife to joyne himselfe with an harlot The good old Matron of the holy Sisters of Edinburgh did more cunningly cover her daughters infirmity of the flesh R. A. who as she said to her sisters at their meetings had fallen in a holy fornication with a brother not out of Lust but Love and therefore decreed that she should not confesse it before the congregation lest the Gospell should be scandalized and that it was better to fall in the hands of God by swearing that she did not know the man than to fall in the hands of men by confessing her carnall fact We say well to this purpose Toâ—â—t liv 3. cap. 9 Mentiri in confession non semper est peccatum mortale To lie in confession is not ever a mortall sin but it was a pitie that shortly after she had sworne her swelling belly belied her and yet here the shame and scandall of your devout profession was more than your sin for that kind of sin is but a weaknesse and infirmity and if it be acted for good ends and intentions it is no sin at all Therfore it 's well said by a father of our Society Si quis pollutionem desideraret ob bonum finem I lem lib. cap. 13. scilicet sanitatem vel ad levandas tentationes quibus interdiu assligâ—tur non est peccatum If any desire c. for a good end to wit for their health or to put away the tentations wherewith they are troubled all the day long it 's not a sin And therefore it 's thought when those holy Sisters are longest out at their night-devotions they are much amended in their health the next day And we do also hold * De judicili l. 2. Decret 6 Cap. â— Et Châ—ici Adulterium inter minora crimina censendum esse That Adulterie is to be esteemed among the smaller crimes †Caus 31. qv. 1. Cap. Hac ratione esse aliquam honestam fornicationem and that there is some honest fornication Or as that Matron called it holy fornication But this is very ominous which I heare that many husbands will not suffer their wives to frequent those night-meetings as they were wont to do That is a fearefull presage that that order and societie shall be cryed down except they get it confirmed by assembly For we had a Societie of Sisters called Congregatio Iesuitissarum suppressed by