would have strucke in for their defence and engaged themselves in the same quarrell France it selfe would not have suffered them to be made such an easy prey to the house of Austria But all things seemed to conspire the ruine of that State which to the prejudice of it's owne particular interests the interests of Christendome and of all those of the North who had declared themselves both against Rome and against all such as aim'd at an universall Monarchy would needs set on foot new maximes and pursue the project of a reformation from which it had so many visible evills to feare I have long since exceeded the bounds of a Letter and contrary to my first thoughts have well-nigh swelled it into a Volume The feare I have to trespasse upon your patience makes me passe by a whole cloud of our first Reformers all jointly subscribing to the same conclusion And besides the small remnant of time behind will not suffer me to recall into your memory what those of our Age determine upon the Question I have scarce heard of any able and judicious Divine with us who values not this Ancient Order as the band and instrument of that peice which Christ preached I know very well that all your narrow and popular Judgements doe leane another way and that the number of these exceeds by much that of the more knowing sort Nor am I ignorant that there be some able malicious heads amongst us which clearely see the truth but cannot affect it they are so transported with the love of an unlawfull and counterfeite liberty that they never busy themselves about the prevention of that disorder which it will inevitably sooner or later pull upon them and all such as adhere to them Mounsieur du Mouliâ— is none of that number This gallant man whom God honoured with so many eminent gifts above all that were either the Authors or Abettours of such corruptions as had crept into the Church is peremptory in the point appealing to the generall suffrage of Ecclesiasticall story that immediately after the times of the Apostles or indeed while they were yet living there begun in every City to be one of the Pastours set over the rest distinguished by the Title of Bishop and invested with a power above his fellowes to prevent that confusion which ordinarily flowes from equality this institution met with a generall approbation whence saith He we cannot excuse Aërius for opposing the determination of the Church in his time when the difference stood onely in point of Discipline A little after he concludes that in England God made use of certaine Bishops out of the Church of Rome for accomplishing that glorious worke of the Reformation whereupon the name and dignity Episcopall hath beene derived successively unto such his Ministers whom he hath raised up to discover the errours and corruption of men That in other places where God made choice of Presbyters and Doctours the Pastours of the Church are barely stiled Ministers the People with us being not able to digest the names of Preists and Bishops the bad conversation of such as went under that name having rendred them so extreamely â—dious Which yet is but a slender ground for their extirpation as I shall cleare anon Antonius de Dominis an able mâ—n without question and a professed adversary to the Romish Tyranny under which in fine he perished maintaines with great force of reason that the Election of Ministers to wit of Bishops and Preists was made by the Apostles according to the institution of Christ that the Church hath alwaies acknowledged and professed a difference betwixt them the diversity of their functions and the generall practice of antiquity having ever ranked Bishops before Presbyters And in the same place he takes the paints to collect and salve the severall passages of Scripture which seemingly speake the contrary as also those in the Fathers and Canons of Councels Whereupon he gives us a very remarkeable observation which I gave you a light touch of before and 't is this That all such as forsooke the Communion of the Catholicke Church as the Novatians and Donatists would yet still retaine their Bishops knowing very well that the Church could not possibly subsist without them as being absolutely necessary in the Catholique Church of which every one in particular would pretend to be a Member And hence is it that in Rome there have sometimes beene three at once one of the Catholiques who was the lawfull and true one the other two of those two bodies or rather dismembred peeces of the Church which they set up for no other reason but because they would otherwise have beene convicted to be without the pale of the Church of Christ I hope Monsieur Blondell and Salmasius when they have once purged Episcopacy from such corruptions as the spirit of lying had fastened upon it on purpose to render it as pernicious in the use is it was sacred in the institution will no longer keepe aloose in thâ—â— opinions from us â—ut sadly laying to heart the evills which will inevitably oppresse the whole Church if once it be deprived of it's ancient forme of government they will contribute such advice to this miserable Country as their knowledge and honesty shall suggest unto them nor continue to stifle a knowne truth as many at this day strangers to neither of us so unconscionably doe Let the Monkes grumble as long as they please against that Order to which they cannot endure their owne extravagant rules should be any way subordinate Let the insolent and saucy Jesuite oppose their authority and slinke out of their sight for feare they should take notice of his Corruption But let us whose thoughts ought to be most pure and actions most regular submit unto those maximes to which these fifteen last Centuries have paid an universall obedience Who knowes not that if the Power delegated to the Ministers of the Gospell should be equally shared amongst all Confusion and Division must needs be the issue Had not the Jewes who were but an inconsiderable Body in respect of us Christians their High Preist answerable to our Bishop in every particular Church who marched before the rest enjoyed divers peculiar prerogatives above his Brethren and had certaine distinct functions in point of Religion apperteining to him Doth not even reason informe us that 't is impossible for any Congregation or Society of men to keepe long together if there be not some one set over the rest that like an indissoluble chaine is to restraine the severall members how different and disagreeing soever among themselves within the limits of their proper callings What would be the issue of all our Assemblyes had they not a president over them by meanes whereof we still retaine an Idea of that Churches practise which we have abandoned for it's impurities And this indeed is the onely Antidote for all sores and distempers in the Church no remedy so present and Soveraigne it being impossible for the
A BRIEFE RELATION OF the present Troubles in ENGLAND VVritten from LONDON the 22. of Ianuary 1644 to a Minister of one of the Reformed Churches in FRANCE VVherein Is clearely set downe who are the Authours of them and whereto the Innovations both in Church and State there doe tend Faithfully translated out of the French OXFORD Printed by HENRY HALL Printer to the UNIVERSITIE 1645. A LETTER CONCERNING the present Troubles in ENGLAND VVritten from LONDON the 22. of Ianuary 1644. to a Minister of one of the Reformed Churches in FRANCE VVherein Is clearly set downe who are the Authours of them and whereto the Innovations both in Church and State there do tend Faithfully Translated out of the French OXFORD Printed by HENRY HALL Printer to the UNIVERSITIE 1645. To the READER NO sooner did this Letter fall into my â—ands but straight I had a thought to publish it to the end that all the world might be acquainted with the deportment of that Faction in England which for these three or foure yeares together hath caused the effusion of so much bloâ—d there Some happily of our religion in France will at first glance disrelish my designe but after they have throughly weighed it I am confident they will all joyntly acknowledge their engagements to me for presenting them with a worke which undeceives their credulity who strongly fancy that we countenance their irregular proceedings and meet in the same thoughts with those that have beene the unhappy contrivers of them And it may be also that some among the Catholiques will be ready to say this is but the opinion meerely of some one particular Person and that all Protestants will not subscribe unto it But I protest before God that I never heard of any knowing judicious man with us whose discourse agrees not with that of the Author here and it were to be wished that the whole world would conforme it selfe to the example of the Reformed in France Were it so there should no Prince stand in need of guards or be forced to levy Armies for the defence of his Person against the insolence and Rebellion of Subjects There would be no more undermining the peace of the Church which would now cherish a compleat union absolute correspondency betwixt its owne and the secular government confining it selfe to its proper limits and having still a speciall regard to that subordination which is required of it I speake this Reader because it is true though sundry conceive otherwise of it either meerely out of a custome they have embraced wholly to surrender themselves unto the sway of other mens judgement or because they have a strong prejudice against the Discipline we practice as if it were not altogether so agreeable with Monarchy Iudge of it by the grounds thereof and pause a while in comparing our actions with our doctrine without resting upon any other consideration and thou canst not but conclude that the sole drift of our intentions hath ever beene to defend our selves rather by the weapons of the Spirit then those of the flesh and that we joine in an unanimous detestation of all such as maintaine it lawfull to make use of temporall violence for promoting the truth of the Gospell This Letter I here present thee with is cast in the mould of the true Protestants It appeares in defence of their doctrine touching the power of Kings and the obedience of Subjects withall condemning their proceedings who under a pretence of purging the Church from its errours and enormities and reinstating Christians in their lost Liberty maske a designe of engaging the whole world in a horrible confusion I cannot informe thee who is the author of it Thus much only thou maiest know that sojourning in England a certaine Minister a freind of his and a man of great abilities requested of him a large account in writing of the present distempers there He hath done it thou seest He paints them in their proper colours points out the contrivers of them and their aimes He makes it legible to the world that this Parliament is nothing in generality but a seditious Crew bending all their indeavours against the Lawes of the Realme with a designe to turne all â—opsieturvy nor this Synod but for the greatest part also an Assembly of Heretiques and Ignoramusses that trample upon all the maximes of Christianity and entertaine no thoughts but of an Epidemicall confusion That the People in grosse are wholly set upon Anarchy being cosened by a consent wrought in them by the Parliament touching the Tyranny as they phrase it of Kings and intoxicated by the Synod with the hopes of a most blessed condition were they but once freed from that insupportable yoake of the Clergy If happily out of this throng God hath sequestred some well-affected persons for himselfe they are so thinne a company that they dare not declare themselves for feare of being overborne by the malice and number of the rest as divers have already beene Weigh by this Reader if the malady be not great the remedy difficult A LETTER CONCERNing the present troubles in England Sir WHEN I had the Honour to give you an account in writing of my abode here in England I had not the least intention to acquaint you with all my thoughs touching the present distempers of the same Not that the feare of any censure could amate me although I am not ignorant that he who would give a faithfull indifferent relation thereof must oppose himselfe to those ordinary impressions which men have already entertained concerning them And if this amuse them as no doubt but it will that I cannot prevaile with my selfe to nousâ—e them on in an errour whereinto the malice or ignorance of their misinformers hath so deeply plunged them I shall for a long time runne the hazard of their disfavour as being resolved not to write any thing but of what I have beene an eye-witnesse and which you will finde to beare no great harmony with the common voice It is undoubtedly a matter of no triviall concernment to provide that the world be herein disabused and that the truth of a businesse of this nature be no longer liable to misapprehension Wherein you are somewhat interessed your selfe by that common profession you make in the list of such conscientious Persons as are designed to superintend the good of People and to steere their Consciences aright And I hope you with many moe besides will not be wanting to give the world satisfaction what a disparity you conceive betwixt the proceedings of most of these Novell Reformers and of those who in former ages attempted to rescue the Church from that Tyranny under which for so long a time it groaned For my part I finde so little conformity in these latter to our first Reformers that I thinke it concernes them to guild over with some specious pretext the poison they diffuse as being their Enemies not their Followers or if perhaps they make a shew of treading the same
path 't is not out of any intention to joine and associate with them but rather to marre and undoe the worke which by their meanes was set on foote in the world And in truth Sir what can be hoped for from such a Rabble as this naturally so insolent and head-strong but the markes of Rebellion both against God and Man it being their sole employment to advance factions and fidings when ever the affaires either of Religion or Policy are brought into agitation So that if you abate hence all who have either out of haughtines and unbridlednesse of Spirit combined against their Prince or nourished the Schismes and ruptures of the Church in broaching their empty and wild Fancies I dare not promise that the residue shall afford you either a Body of Subjects or a Congregation of Christians I intend not to discourse of those of the King's Party wherein 't is true there be some apparently culpable but yet more of such as I may call really unfortunate those alone I meane that make up the greatest number of Reformed and Honest men in that Kingdome I shall confine my Discourse to those who beare the World in hand they are at oddes with nothing but Popery which in their jealous apprehensions was taking roote in England againe With this pretty cheate they have got the approbation of not a few Protestants who without sifting their designe are by this meanes engaged to applaude a paâ—â—icidiall attempt upon the Soveraigne Majesty and a villainous plot against the Sacred Overseers of the Church Either of which two crimes is doubtlesse one of the most essentiall notes of reprobation nor is it possible for him to make good the profession of Christianity who complies or holds any the least correspondence with such as are knowingly guilty of the same Your new-fangled Ministers of London are mostly involved in the equall guilt of both For who knowes not how at the very first rise of these troubles they preached openly to the People That Kings are not to be obeyed if once they assault their Liberties and Priviledges which in their construction is the first steppe to Tyranny or taking upon them to intermeddle in Church affaires they fall upon any absurd impious opinion Wherein they came nothing short of Cardinall Bellarmine who writes That if Princes shall once apply themselves to the protection of Heresy or exercise of Tyranny they are left to the mercy of the Pope and the Church who are first to excommunicate them then to absolve the Subjects from the Oath of Allegiance and they upon this discharge assoone as they can be provided of a competent strength are to employ it against them to expose them to punishment and by all meanes feisible to dethrone them A wonderfull thing that they who are such professed enemies to the Jesuites that use their persons when they seize them with so much inhumanity and for the continued revolution of so many yeares have exposed their bodies quartered to all passengers as a spectacle of horrour upon their most eminent Gates should notwithstanding shake hands with them in a point for the which at first they did so much abhorre them Would you not conclude that they are all alike the Disciples of Mariana and the Agents of a Boniface what affinity is there betwixt these Doctours and Saint Ambrose when this great Saint this reall Christian perceived that the Arians were about to possesse themselves of the Church in Milan with the approbation of the Emperour Valentinian he addressed himselfe unto that Prince in these tearmes Royall Sir we intreate we presume not to fight If the Prince will needs make use of his Supreame power I am ready to discharge the duty of a Prelate I shall stand upon my defence but 't is in the petitions of the poore I can â—emoane me I can weepe I can â—igh but against Armes against Souldiers against the Gothes my onely weapons are teares nor ought I to use any other manner of resistance whatsoever And in another place If the Kingdome shall lye panting under the pressures of Tyranny I am ready to suffer any kind of violence even Death it selfe Besides that universall injunction laid upon Christians to put up injuries with patience God having reserved unto himselfe the right of revenging by the power of his Justice as Saint Gregory upon Job speakes Man being uncapable of performing it but with a heart fraught with malice he knew I say besides this what David once sung to God against thee onely have I sinned upon which passage in the Apology he compiled for him he thus comments He was a King and so not within the reach of the Lawes Viâ—â—â—lis delictorum liberi sunt reges if I may borrow the attestation of so divine a pen. Now if David were not mistaken if Saint Ambrose spake reason in this point with Saint Chrysostome who assures us so punctually that Kings are above the Lawes What shall we thinke of our upstart Reformers that have placed Kings below their People and stirre up the People against their Kings It is a pregnant evidence they are swayed by that spirit of rebellion which heretofore animated the Gregories the Bonifaces the Mariana's the Bellarmines to attempt upon the Honour and life of Kings rather then by that spirit of wisedome and meekenesse which moved Solomon to leave this divine precept behind him equally obliging all that have not forfeited their reason never to divorce the respect due unto Kings from that which they owe unto God himselfe and in case they shall presume to do otherwise associating themselves with such Libertines as refuse to pay the tribute of obedience to be afraid their calamity doe not arise suddainly The Pulpits here are full of none but Preachers of discord and division betwixt the King and his Subjects In lieu of praises magnifying the name of God Invocation of the Holy Spirit Confession of Sinnes sighs and groanes for the commission thereof here is nothing to be heard but reproaches revilings and accusations Charity in all other places throwes her skirt over the Errours she discovers be they as great and numerous as can be 'T is charity here to lay them naked in the view of the world and if there be no reall ones to devise some that so they may never be destitute of a forgery wherewith to traduce their Prince His Person and Actions are both exposed to publique reproaches The Churches Ring of nothing but declamations against Him and if happily some small relickes of shame have ever slacked the heate of those bawling Predicants or railing Scriblers impudence makes others in compensation to double the Cry This yet is nothing in comparison of their usuall Execrations as if that Law pronounced by the mouth of God himselfe which forbids to curse the Prince of his People no not so much as in thought did not at all concerne them That detestable League which in the memory of our Fathers was attended with such tragique effects in
three or foure of our Kings raignes and against which our Protestants have alwaies so eagerly declaimed laying their grounds upon certaine proofes drawne from the corruption of Rome which gave life unto it had nothing in it of more venimous consequence then this we see here save that the Emissaries and Boute-feus of the English Confederacy have not as yet imbrued their hands in the bloud of their King And can it suite with their profession who talke so much of reducing Christian Religion to it's primitive purity and reviving the Innocence and Simplicity of the Apostolique times who call him their Master that reconciled the world to God and united men in the same mutuall affections who are not ignorant that Peace and Concord are the essentiall characters of a Christian and that such should never be the occasioners of warre to employ the sword in such a manner as this I cannot thinke there 's any man so credulous as to beleive that such courses can finde any welcome among those that are Protestants indeed they may with many who are such in shew onely of which sort are all the opposers not of monarchy alone but indefinitely of any secular authority whatsoever There were some in the infancy of the Church who strained Christian liberty so farre that they condemned it as unjust for the Enfranchised of God and such as were guided by his spirit to be subject to the command of any creature The Donatists sucked the same poison from them which afterwards diffused it selfe among the Anabaptists and in fine reached us also by meanes of some who gave a second birth to this Heresy which now walkes up and downe here in great bravery under pretences very specious in the apprehension of some shallow Judgements And though I conceive this will not be to the generall prejudice of the Reformed Churches in Europe by reason of that just jealousy which Princes ought to entertaine that they hold no intelligence amongst themselves and that they doe not all bandy togethr against the rights and prerogatives of their respective dominions Yet it must needs 〈◊〉 to their shame atleast if they doe not openly declare against the villany of their proceedings and the iniquity of their designes especially since they have had the impudence to invite them to an imitation of their example and to steppe in for the support of their faction I am not ignorant what grounds we goe upon and how little resemblance ours â—eare to theirs but the world will not passe sentence upon us by our positions but either by our actions or by our silence For if we be silent when they are bragging of 〈◊〉 with us and yet appearing in the field against their Soveraiâ—â— who will not be ready to conclude that had we the like power â—â— our hands we would do as much every wâ—â—it our selves â— but if 〈◊〉 the contrary we speake our mindes condemning the unlawfullnesse and horridnesse of their designe our actions suiting still with 〈◊〉 doctrine in stead of exasperating the secular powers we shall 〈◊〉 them for it cannot be but they will take part with us and 〈◊〉 off such as make them so subordinate either to the people in groâ—â—â— or to some select parcell of the whole body who let them talke what they will are no lesse Subjects then the rest In breife â— need but demand whether of the two are the better Christians those that wast so much bloud to subvert the right of Kings and to cherish a warre under counterfeit pretences for the suppression of all order and engaging the whole world to the same common confusion Or they of the Primitive times who maintained that to shâ—â— bloud was to violate Christianity to oppose Kings was to disobey God and to contest with Superiours was to fight against that Order which he established I beleeve they will hardly be swayed by examples lesse by reason nor that they put any great value upon the authority which the practise of the first ages may challenge over us If they do I would exhort such preachers of fire and sword to call to minde how the ancient disciplien of the Church denied their communion to such as had slaine an Enemy in a lawfull warre and that they would hence collect how those times stood affected to such as voluntarily embroyled themselves in an unlawfull and unjust one See Sir in part what I have to say to you upon this argument It will not be amisse if in the next place I acquaint you with the innovations they make in Religion and what fruits Christianity is like to reape from the labours of such doughty Reformers 'T is a truly impious designe to perâ—ue a Reformation in such manner as these men do and which tends onely to the subversion of an order established by God under a pretence of pulling downe one devised by man which they call Tyranny because indeed it is the onely meanes whereby to check them in that full caâ—câ—â—â— of unbridled licentiousnesse unto which they are naturally so much devoâ—â—â— Not but that there is alwayes matter enough for a reformation both in manners and government and that it is extreamely necessary to correct the evills and disorders of the present times and withall to prevent that corruption which may be feared from the future But who will be the fittest to go through with this taske will the Parliament no in as much as the Bishops that is the Clergy are no longer a part of it Will the Synod be able to supply this defect no not they because the whole body is composed of persons interessed besides that ignorance and blindenesse are there for the most part in their greatest exaltationâ— or if perhaps there be some knowing there is a great dearth of honest men most of them being possest with the spirit of division which hath drawne them into the by-paths of Hereticks as well ancient as moderne Well then shall the People beare the burthen this is altogether impossible unlesse first there be made an universall resignation of all sence and reason because of themselves they are uncapable of all manner of order and conduct Neither can the King assisted only by his Counsell and Magistrates be thought a â—it instrument to mannage the businesse for feare he make Religion waite upon his owne private interest and by consequent bring the spirit under the command of the Flesh The issue then will be to finde out a just and lawfull way for the advancing of this Reformation which in my opinion can be no other then that of a generall Assembly indicted by the Prince wherein the Boroughs shall have their Deputies whose voices are to be heard and their suffrages admitted The Church it's Bishops and Doctors The Parliament diverse of the Nobility which they may chuse out of their severall Houses and the King his principall Officers And to make the action more Authentique to establish in the Church that uniformity which ought to be in a body in which
with us and we obliged as much thereupon to maintaine it I intend not at this time to discusse either of these two questions that taske hath already beene so amply performed by sundry eminent writers of this age that there remaines little more to be done to it Nor will I deliver my owne opinion I shall onely insist upon two others Saint Hierome saith that Episcopacy was instituted as the onely meanes to stoppe the current of those Divisions which sprung at first among Christians Before saith he that by the instigation of the Devill there were any fidings in Religion and People began to say I am of Paul and I of Cephas and I of Apollos the Churches were ruled by the joint resolutions of Preâ—sbyters But when every one began to fancy that those he baptized were his owne and not Christ's it was ordained throughout the whole world that there should be one chosen out of the rest with whom the cure of the Church was to be entrusted for the rooting up of Schismes and taking away all matter of dissention What this great Doctor spake so punctually of the Baptisme of Paul of Cephas and Apolloâ— is nothing in my judgement but an allusion to what we reade in one of the Epistles to the Corinthians and ought to be construed of all those seeds of division which the Devill scattered among Christians in the infancy of the Church and such as he hath throwne amongst them ever since Thus we see so many monstrous Heresies have beene strangled by meanes of this Order some â—â—â—oone as they saw the light others after they had in a sort empoisoned the whole Earth And if still there have continued some in the World or any slips of the old roote have beene remaining it hath generally happened in such places where Episcopacy had not it's full force and where Councells have not enjoyed their due liberty as in some of the Southerne and Easterne Countries and some also of the North where Christian Religion hath suffered either a totall extirpation or at least some notable alteration by 〈◊〉 If then Episcopacy hath produced fruits answerable to their hopes who did first institute it as beyond all contradiction it hath to what course shall we betake our selves in these distractive times wherein the Devill is so busy at his old game inâ—omenting Divisions among all those whom the Spirit of God hath freed from the yoke and slavery of Rome now especially when there are so many visible Factions amongst us some siding with Luther others with Calvin and most of the rest following no other guides then their owne apish unruly Fancies what course I say shall we now fly to for remedy but the example of all antiquity in tracing their Steps and conforming to their rules withall applying our selves to those Antidotes wherewith they healed the like distempers we suffer and are upon the point to perish under In those times the unity of the Head begat an Unity of Mission this an Unity of Doctrine and both together an Unity of all the Faithfull among themselves But in these dayes of ours from the multitude of Pastours equall in authority there flowes a diversity of Mission from this a repugnancy of Doctrines and from both jointly the Schismes and sidings of People which could never have befallen us had men contented themselves with a meere Reformation of Episcopacy and not utterly abolished it Or if during their Division they had established it in such places as they had made themselves Masters of or where they enjoyed a Toleration This is cleare from the example of Rome whose Disciples are never at oddes with themselves but still keepe the Body close and well compacted in all it's Members through the skill of their Conductours who have the sole power of deciding controversies amongst them and they neither have authority nor any the least badge thereof but what they derive from their Heads So that it is a rare thing to behold any Innovation of Religion with them either in Doctrine or Discipline and if any should arise that Order doth so hedge it in that it cannot proceed a steppe further then they please themselves If examples borrowed from our Enemies be odious let us insist onely upon that of England So long as the Bishops were not molested in their Functionâ— that Kingdome was not disquieted with any Schismes or disorders in the Church There durst not a Sectarie shew his head till those Christian Guides were overborne with violence and all superiority among Pastours decryed Now if their conjecture be sound who say that Saint Hierome builds not a bare allusion upon the words of Saint Paul but a cleare observation that immediately after the Apostles times there arose certaine jarres among their Disciples some pretending to a right of greater preheminence by reason of some better endowments which every one in particular ascribed to him who had baptised and instructed him and that upon this foundation the Devill attempted to build a multiplicity of bodies and prevailed so farre that he seemed to have got a share in the Church then in her Infancy have not we reason every moment to feare the like now from so many upstart Doctrines 〈◊〉 Religion and so many different sects in Europe resulting from that variety of Opinionâ— which is every where to be seene amongst out Teachers The malady is so great that it seemes to be arrived at its height and so little care is taken of applying a remedy as if men had a designe palpably to betray the cause of God The greatest mischeife I finde herein is that so long as our exteriour government shall continue in the same posture it is at this present it will be impossible to heale the distemper and if we go about to alter the Order established it must needes be from better to worse in as much as every sect will be busy in tempting others after it and so make a rupture in the Body and teare the Church in peeces Let us once more reflect a little upon Antiquity Had there beene ought amisse in the first institution of Episcopacy and had not indeed the spirit of God beene the sole contriver of it for the common benefit of the Church could his providence have given way to that generall unanimous approbation it received from Christians in every corner of the Universe We see clearely that of all the new Lawes and severall alterations devised by the wisedome and prudence of man there is not any one but hath beene opposed in some part of the world or other Witnesse what 〈◊〉 hath beene â—â—â—â—uded upon the Church either against the custome of Antiquity or the rules of Scripture such as arâ— the Supreme authority of one Person in cases spirituall the severall teâ—â—â—s about the Encharist Invocation of Saints worshiping of Images with many other But this decree which enables one of those that are imployed in the dispâ—â—sâ—tion of the Heavenly treasures with a power above his fellowâ—â— hath continued
inviolable among all the Nations of the earth for well nigh the space of fourteene hundred yeares together not a man in all this time opening his mouth against it what ever difference of opinions Schismes and Heresies the Spirit of blindenesse introduced within the pale of Christianity till this age of our Reformers who perswaded themselves they could by humane prudence setle among the Ministers of the Gospell an equality of merit of zeale of charity and affection by ordaining an equality of Power and Authority and were further confident by this meanes to cut the throate of that Tyranny under which our Fathers for so long a time had groaned as also to re-invite into the world that sweetnesse and â—ffability wherewith the founders of the Church so expressely charged it should be governed And lastly they presumed that if the Prelates were once outed integrity innocence and good manners would be restored to their place in the Church againe nor should luxury incontinence or any other kinde of leudnesse usurpe their Roomes any more for ever These indeed were good wishes and desires but the meanes of persuing them starke naught Neither did they meet with a generall likeing divers having rejected them as fighting with that successe which others had promised themselves in the use of them Did not Germany which first threw the Pope out of the Saddle and where the purity of the Gospell was first restored to its ancient Liberty retaine still in her Churches that superiority against which they declaime here 'T is inviolably maintained in most countries of the North. Did the Patriarch of Constantinople abjure or condemne it Cyrill when he reformed himselfe after the example of the Protestants in the West Or dare any of us deny him our Communion because he retained it Nay was he ever so much as advised to forgoe it The lustre and majesty of the title he bare was no impediment to him from being both a confessour and a martyr of the same Christ we worship But let us herein consult with our most eminent Reformers Luther a most violent opposer of the Authors of ruine and corruption in the Church after he hath spent himselfe in heaping reproaches upon the Bishops calling them Idolls and dumb Statues idle puppets deceitfull maskes trunkes without branches or rootes empty shadowes stage-players such as were so farre from knowing the honour of their Function and how to discharge it aright that they did not understand the Etymology of the name they bare wolfes breifly trayâ—ours 〈◊〉 murtherers the monsters of the Vniverse the burden of the earth the Apostles of Antichrist moulded and fitted for the destruction of the world and extinguishing the light of the Gospell at last he comes to himselfe againe and tells us that he inveighs onely against the corruption of their liver and their palpable Ignorance as for the râ—st thâ— he harboured not a thought against the Order and frame of the Church and that nothing he had spoken of those idle drousie Animalls and filthy belly 〈◊〉 Gods ought to be applyed to the honest Pastours and reall Bishops whom he there calls the Headâ— and Over-seers of the Christian Church In other places as namely in his Captivity of Babylon he overthrowes the sacrament of Order and rejecteth as a groundlesse fancy their indelible character But he quarrells not there with Bishops alone but even with Preists and Deacons avouching all the faithfull equally to be Preists and Deacons and endowed with equall Authority Notwithstanding recollecting himselfe he concludes for the exellency of Episcopacy acknowledging the name thereof to be sacred and ancient and that if he deny it those against whom he declaimes 't is because he thinks it unlawfull to bestow it on such whose corruption and filthinesse vendors them so unworthy of it In the Tract he compiled for the instruction of Ministers he closeth hiâ— reformation with an establishment of Bishops to which he would have the Cities of Bohemia conforme themselves in electing one or two and enabling them with Authority over the rest to goe in visitation about the Churches after the example of Saint Peter in the Acts which he stileth a lawfull and Evangelicall Archiepiscopacy But if men â—e so vainely timerous that they dare not adventure upon the reestablishing of an Apostolicall Institution he permits them to retaine the custome of Rome in having Bishops to call ordaine and confirmâ— such a they shall finde capable according to the platforme and Doctrine of Saint Paul So likewise you may see divers examples of that age which testify that the opinions of those times were much different from ours about the point in Question We finde in one of Peter Martyrs Epistles to Beza that a certaine Bishop of Troy making a scruple of continuing in that profession after his conversion to the Reformation was unanimously received and acknowledged of all for a lawfull Prelate whose Authority together with his Piety prov'd a maine advancement of the Churches good This worthy Author not condemning Episcopacy in generall passeth only this verdict upon it that in as much as none are raised to that dignity but by the favour of Princes Christians can have but faint hopes of reaping any great benefit thereby In the same place he concludes for the necessity of their visitations as a present remedy to curethe naturall infirmity of man who is ever declining from bad to worse and be speakes there of Primates and Arch-bishops as of those who for Sanctity of life and Purity of Doctrine were designed to this Function in the severall Cities and Sees of greatest note withall condemning those who intrude at their owne pleasures into the Ministery concludeing it is not without some emphaticall ground that in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus the severall conditions and qualifications of Bishops Preists and Deacons are so punctually described Where it is worth your observation that he marshalls all three in their proper ranks a pregnant evidence that he made more then two degrees of Ecclesiasticall Order And so likewise doth the Author of our reformed discipline in France who in the first Article acquaints us with three sorts of Ministers Bishops or Pastours Deacons and Presbyters quoting to this purpose the same Epistles with Peter Martyr Where two things deserve our notice first the name of Bishops and next that of Presbyters As for the former I cannot but wonder why he should confound it with that of Pastours then after distinguish both from Presbyters if it be true as many would have it that Presbyters Pastours and Bishops were but one and the selfe same thing in the Primitive Church As for the name of Presbyters it is misapplyed with us to such whose Function speakes them to be no more then Deacons A thing utterly repugnant to the practice all ages Whence it appeares that he was somewhat ashamed to baulke an Order which he knew the Primitive and purer Christians held in such singular estimation and the Church maugre the
severall corruptions in it hath ever since maintained At least we may shrewdly suspect that he afforded this name a place there as the print or shadow at least of a Function which had beene before and the seed or basis of that which ought to have beene established among the Churches in his time then especially when it might be done with the least prejudice to manners or doctrine both which it was constantly beleeved were most of all undermined by Episcopacy The truth is all the Divines of greatest note with us have beene driven upon this conclusion whensoever they have fallen upon the same Question They all joyntly condemned with extreamest rigour the corruptions which in their times were in a sort the individuall companions of that Profession but they never deny it its due reverence considered abstractively in it selfe Calvin after he himselfe had executed the Office of a Bishop in Geneva * Instit l. 4. c. 4. § 4. discourseing of the ancient institution of Bishops in Cities of Arch-Bishops above them in Provinces and in fine of Patriarchs advanced at the Councell of Nice above both the former saith that this was done â—â— order to the discipline of the Church and withall acknowledgeth that Antiquity notwithstanding such innovations had not the least thought of obtruding upon the Church any other forme of government then what God himselfe had prescribed in his word That howsoever they bestowed on that forme of their owne the name of Hierarchy a word not extant in Scripture yet we are not to dwell upon the notion but to weigh the nature of the thing it selfe By which passage Sir you may easily inferre how this worthy Author stood affected to the Order we speake of That of Beza an able judicious writer if we reflect upon the times he liv'd in is no lesse for our purpose then the former He grants in one place that Episcopacy was usefull in the Church and that the distinction of Bishops and Arch-bishops was first instituted for the readâ—er convâ—â—â—ing of Synods and managing the affaires of the Church with more steadinesse To wave what this able Auth or hath farther delivered upon the Question who will not hence conclude if he cast but an eye upon the many difficulties they meet with that are to steere the inclinations of men either in Religion or Policy that he was so farre from disallowing Episcopacy that on the contrary he approv'd it as an Institution of highest consequence to Christianity And in the particular case of England every body knowes that these two eminent Persons absolutely subâ—â—â—ibed to its continuance there The one of which hath published so much to the world in a Tract against Saraviaâ— and doth not the other also speake expressely in behalfe of those in that Kingdome which the men of this generation would quite extirpate But let us farther examine their opinion who speake of the thing in generall Polâ—â—â—â— is peâ—emptory that to make up those breathes in the Church which happened after the Apostles times there was one set ever the rest of the Presbyters and call'd by way of eminence Bishop whereto he subjoyneth that in relation to that primitive order and discipline of the Church there hath ever beene one ranked before the rest of his Brethren to keepe them within compasse and to prevent the broaching of any new doctrines Melanchton is yet more expresse The policy of the Church saith he that is the exteriour face thereof is compounded of two ingredients The first is the Ministery a thing of Gods owne immediate institution and it containes five parts 1. The right of calling and ordaining Ministers 2. The injunction to preach the Gospell 3. The power of remitting sinnes 4. of administring the Sacraments and 5. The right of exercising Jurisdiction upon Offenders by excommunication The second is the humane Constitutions of Bishops and Councells who are to regulate the degrees of Ministers and the difference of time and place when and where to execute their Functions Now saith he those constitutions are to be maintained for the cherishing of good Order yet so as they be drained from all tincture of superstition And he gives the reason because they have a kinde of right naturall the very law of nature obligeing us to the constant observation of good order in the conduct of our lives A passage very part for Episcopacy as noting unto us the impossibility of composing any Church disorders without it For the Members will then teare one another in peices and the body which kept them together in so close and strict an union cannot long malâ—taine the peace and harmony which that order as the soule infused into them as Saint Basil somewhere speaketh I cannot wave neither a passage I have sometimes read in Hierome Savanarola a bitter enemy to the corruption of the Clergy and one that vehemently declaim'd against the disorders of the Church If faith he in his booke de veritate Fidei there shall happen any knoâ—ty difficult scruple in the Assemblies of the faithfull the Bishops are they that must decide the Question which must needes be construed of that superiority whereby they are to bridle the boldnesse and insolence of such as being hurried on with a spirit of confusion disquiet â—he Church with maladies hard to be cured This mov'd the other Hierome about 1200 yeares agoe to avouch that the prosperity of the Church did so mainely depend upon the superiour Minister that were it otherwise there would be as many Schismes among Christians as Presbyters Which consequent saith the Arch-bishop of Spalata is manifestly seene in such of the reformed Churches as have abandoned Episcopacy This was the reason why the Princes and all those of the Clergy that subscribed to the Ausburge Confession did joine in such an open Protestation before God and Man that they sought not for the extirpation of it They were as well acquainted as we with the corruption of the Bishops and had as much at least to feare from their continuance as we can possibly have And yet to prevent the unavoidable necessity of that confusion into which they would otherwise have fallen they unanimously agreed upon the defence of that Ancient Order and to oppose with all eagernesse such as should endeavour the abolition of the same This they hotly pursued not barely in order to Religion which they laboured to rescue from Romish slavery but also for some secular considerations intwisted with Religion it selfe as the union and concord of the People without which it would be a very hard taske for them to preserve their severall Rights and Prerogatives entire This also is the reason why the succeeding Emperours made so many attempts to bereave the German Protestants of this Order being taught by experience that Episcopacy keepes them closer together and that this union of the People is the greatest obstacle to their ambitious designs Had there been any Bishops in the Palatinate all the rest of the reformed parts in Germany
horrible thing that they should plot the destruction of Her soule and endeavour to extend the fruits of their Rebellion against Her in another world Will you not say it had beene enough to persecute Her in thiâ— but I have not yet told you all They have also basely and insolently stained Her Reputation and in a way which all honest men will account no better then parricide attempted to murther a Princesse a Daughter of France to whom the winds and the sea had shewed more pitty but an houre before And yet forsooth they must needs have all the Reformed Churches to make them their Precedent inviting us whom they ranke among such as groane under the yoake of Anti Christian Tyranny to The expresse words of the Covenant joine with them in the same or like Association and Covenant and to use our utmost endeavours for the recovery of Peace and quiet in every part of Christendome What is this but to sollicite us to shake off the yoake of Soveraignty to deny all subjection to our Princes and at once to destroy both their Authority and their Persons For all which they pretend the Advancement of the Kingdome of Christ 'T is indeed mightily advanced since these men who call themselves his Disciples have subverted all secular Authority amongst them scattering abroad such positions as ought to render them odious to us in as much as they convince them before all the Powers of God's establisHing to be sowers of sedition Libertinisme and Rebellion But granting them that all this combustion they make in the world is to advance the Kingdome of Christ Have they any warrant from the example of the Primitive Christians to pursue that â—nd by such meanes no it was never in their thoughts to arme themselves so much as against those Pagan Monsters whose calmest dâ—meanour towards them farre surpassed in rigour and cruelty all the outrage and persecution which we can be imagined to have sâ—ffered from any of our Princes for above five hundred yeares together Saint Peter was reprov'd for presuming to defend his Master with the sword This example l'me sure is authentique nor is that of the Christians under the Emperour Juliaâ— much inferiour to it Their number was great and their power formidable but their Religion restrained them from employing it against their Prince though in their owne defence Please you to call to minde the Theban Legion Doubtlesse they had all heard and weighed that injunction of our Saviour But I say unto you that ye resist not evill They had learned also that the Powers are ordained of God and that whosoever resisteth the Power resisteth the ordinance of God Not as if that prohibition to resist Princes implyed a Command of obeying them against Conscience All that can be deduced thence is this That in case they shall persecute their Subjects out of any considerations whatsoever whether sacred or civill it were better to endure a thousand deaths then to lift up a hand against them The crime of these men will appeare farre more horrid if notice be taken that the King against whom the combination is made did never attempt the least innovation either in Religion or Liberty I speake onely of England As for Scotland I am not ignorant what hath passed there of which I intend to give you a particular relation They cannot produce any innovation here Indeed the a It is to be presumed that the Author being a stranger was too faire transported with the vulgar outcryes against this worthy Prelate whose many pious actions the sincerity of whose intentions had he truly known he would readily have given another character of him And when he shall understand and consider his constant perseverance to Death in the same resolutions of zeale for the true Protestant Religion and exemplary loyalty to his King for which he became a willing sacrifice no doubt but he â—ill be as ready to retract this rash censure as we to admonish Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was shrewdly suspected to have beene contriving some That weake ill-temperd and fondly ambitious soule would perhaps have presumed to be tampering had he continued longer in place which is therefore now the principall charge against him But as for the King what signall demonstrations hath he not ever given the world of an extreame a version from Popery How many Protestations hath he made of sticking close to the Protestant Religion How carefull is he to performe all those duties to which the Faith he professeth obligeth him He hath filled the Churches and Sees with men whose piety knowledge and conversation are patternes worthy the imitation of the most Orthodox Christians His house hath ever abounded with men of Learning and Honesty Besides what would it advantage him to reestablish Popery Is he weary of being a free Monarch Would he do homage againe to Rome and acknowledge a Soveraignty above his owne The Interests of his Crowne as well as those of his Conscience would not suffer him to entertaine such a thought But this is not all he would have cause to feare a farre greater mischeife from Scotland which all the advantages he could hope for from all the Papists in the world would never be able to counterpoise He must further shake off them of the Palatinate and in doing that forfeit all his reputation in Germany He must breake with Denmarke Nay he must not entertaine any commerce either with his nearest allyes or his dearest freinds The marrying of his Daughter to the Prince of Orange's Sonne is a pregnant evidence of his affection to the Protestant Religion But to make good their Calumny they accuse him of favouring Papists and yet who knowes not that the exchequer was never fuller with their composition-money then now In the Reignes of King Edward Queene Elizabeth and King James they were not used with halfe the rigour When this King shewed them most favour it came short of what they have done But I pray by what principle of Christianity are we bound to destroy such as are of a different Religion There is no forceing of any man's beleife none that can subdue the Liberty of the soule God onely excepted Our French Kings are well instructed in this point they might with a like equity destroy or banish us as here they do Papists did they not know that the conscience neither can nor ought to be forced Most true it is that the Protestants in France never attempted any thing upon the persons of their Princes what violence soever hath beene practic'd upon them by such as abused their Authority on the contrary for all their sufferings they have made it legible to the world that they would rather part with all the bloud in their veines in their defence then hazard the least drop to be revenged of them even then when some strange counsells had prevailed with them to signe their destruction A very pressing consideration wherewith to refute all pretended interests of Religion and to procure
the Spirit of Union and Concord is the Moderatour as that of Christians is there may be called thither the most eminent Protestants from forraigne parts by whose assistance all doubts and scruples may be solved This in my judgement is the way to maintaine the severall rights of each order in the State of England as also in the whole body of Christendome entire I know none that can dislike the project but your new Independants and the fanatique Illuminatâ—es commonly called Brownists who in truth are no other but the Brats or Brethren of the Munster-Faction These men have fancied to themselves a monstrous Common-wealth an absurd and motley State in which there should not be the least cognizance of civill Authority nor any other spirituall power acknowledged but such as the Sonne of God should by an insensible and â—idden influence exercise over them Collect now from these Premises how such kinde of people stand affected to Royalty and then what reckoning they make of Councels and the Persons they consist of Their aime indeed is to ruine both to have no Rulers or Overseers at all either Temporall or Spirituall Secular or Ecclesiasticall They want no specious colours to blanch the blacknesse of their Designe They make their King a Demy-Apostate and little better then a Tyrant They proclaime to the world that he had a resolution to violate Religion and to destroy their Liberties and Priviledges That he hath supplanted the Fundamentall Lawes of the Realme and falsified the Oath made to his Subjects the observation of which alone must entitle him to a Dominion over them As for the Overseers of the Church it hath no need say they of any at all in as much as the Founder and Head thereof hath skill enough to governe as he had to establish it That 't is enough if there be meere Pastours only to preach without being lifted above others or others above them Such be the Authors and Abettours of this Fancie who gave the first blow at Episcopacy A strange thing that some even of the honester sort should so rashly mingle with the enemies of that Order transported in the simplicity of their hearts by this groundlesse conceit that 't is the Prelates alone who have opened the gap to wickednesse in the Church as if where there are no Bishops at all Innocence and purity bare an absolute and soveraigne command in the Soules of men Ferrier Pâ—tes with many more besides in France will be perpetuall attestours to the world that your Church Government lyes no lesse open to the assaults and stratagems of the Devill then that which hath beene setled from all Antiquity Were it my drift to search it to the bottome it would be easie to demonstrate this with advantage and that had it beene a few yeares elder and liv'd in a Country where the Lawes of the Prince are not so rigorous against Innovatours as they be in France which permits but two sorts of Religion or at least if God had not from time to time raised some eminently guifted Persons therein in which respect I must needs confidently affirme that it flourisheth now more then ever there could not have wanted matter through the many visible inconveniences thereof to embroyle the Church in a tedious and perpetuall taske I shall but point at one 't is the equality of Pastours which indeed at first blush presents you with a comely glosse and hath a wonderfull influence upon the fancy when it beholds it at a distance but in truth is the source of disorder the fountaine of negligence and the bane of that laudable emulation among the virtuous to out-strip one another in goodnesse It is to shut the doore against the perfection of life in denying the strictest observers of their masters injunctions those advantages and prerogatives which himselfe hath designed them What a block is it in the way to all those eminent persons without who were a coming toward us You know better then I how memorable to this purpose is the example of the Arch-bishop of Spalata Being to be honoured with no ranke at all above others can you thinke they will quit that which they enjoy where they are There can be no humility so great but may justly take offence at this How can any Genius acquainted thoroughly with it selfe and borne to a preheminence over others with some singular endowments of Nature be allured over to a profession whose sweetest baiâ—e is but a voice with the meanest and where its resolutions shall be valued as cheape as those of any other particular Personâ— The world is not to learne what a traine of inconveniencies attend these kind of suffrages and Deliberations and how there must needes follow many farre worse upon the neck of those so long as there is nothing but a baâ—â— supputation of Votes without any endowed with Power and Abilities to poyse them Put case their Assemblies consist of a hundred Persons will there in truth be found ten who will not rather be opinionate to cover their severall defects then be conformable to the example of their fellowes or endeavour to better themselves by their Counsells Such is that selfe-love and radicall inclination we have to sooth our selves that we do not easily hearken to the commands of reason till we be awed thereunto And seeing this distinction of degrees is so necessary for the good of the Church how shall that end be obtained if there be not some delegated both in and out of those Assemblies to represent the power of the whole to exact upon all emergencies an account of their proceedings to have the right of proposing and collecting Votes of ratifying Decrees of promulgating and putting them in execution and daring to the field whatsoever opposers of the same Is this feisible without a Bishop seeing that in such Synods as ours all enjoy an equality of Power and Authority and where according to that proverbiall censure of the Assemblies of Carthage The greater number carries it from the better Besides when the Synod is dissolved each Minister is left to his owne liberty to do what his fancy shall suggest unto him Put case he be found hipping either in manners or Doctrine he iâ— accountable to none but those of his owne Consistory who are allwaies in readinesse like so many rotten Pillars to support a crazie Wall or so many blinde guides that will needes undertake to reduce straglers into the way or such as leade men upon a praecipice So that by this meanes the offender wants no invitations nor advantages to invâ—igle those that lend an care to him he being no way accountable but to another Assembly In the interim he is proling for parties to his crimes and Abettours to his Opinions so that instead of fearing the rigour of a Judge in the Synod he is often provided of an Advocate which would be altogether impossible were there one enabled to stifle such disorders in the wombe This hints me of what I have read in