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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85184	The league illegal. Wherein the late Solemn League and Covenant is seriously examined, scholastically and solidly confuted: for the right informing of weak and tender consciences, and the undeceiving of the erroneous. Written long since in prison, by Daniel Featley D.D. and never until now made known to the world. Published by John Faireclough, vulgò Featley, chaplain to the Kings most Excellent Majesty.	Featley, Daniel, 1582-1645.; Featley, John, 1605?-1666.; England and Wales. Sovereign (1625-1649 : Charles I)	1660 (1660)	Wing F591; Thomason E1040_8; ESTC R199	47,903	77

Intendents and Super-intendents in Germany Presidents in the Reformed Synods in France and Masters Provosts and Heads of Colledges and Hals in our Universities who have a kind of Prelacy and Authority over the Fellows and Students whereof the major part are Divines and in holy Orders Here I conceive it will be said That none of these are aimed at but only Diocesan Bishops already banished out of Scotland And Prelates indeed they are in a more eminent degree and if Prelacy be restrained to them it is Episcopacy that is principally shot at to the Extirpation whereof I dare not yield my Vote or Suffrage lest this New Oath intangle me in perjury For both my self and all who have received Orders in this Kingdom by the Imposition of Episcopal hands have freely Engaged our selves by Oath to obey our Ordinary and to submit to his godly Judgement and in all things lawful and honest to receive his Commands If then we now swear to endeavour the Abolishing of Episcopacy we Swear to Renounce our Canonical Obedience that is as I apprehend we swear to forswear our selves It is true that the Dr. was furnished with many other Reasons for Episcopacy besides these and of some he gave a hint in the Assembly it self upon other occasions as namely these that follow Dr. Featley's Sixteen Reasons FOR Episcopal Government Which he intended to have delivered in the Assembly immediately after his precedent Speech but was not permitted 1. THat the name of Episcopacy even as it signifieth a degree of Eminency in the Church is a Sacred and Venerable Title first in holy Scripture ascribed to our blessed Redeemer who as he is Dominus Dominantium Lord of Lords so also Episcopus Episcoporum Bishop of Bishops the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls next to the Apostles whose office in the Church is styled by the holy Ghost Episcope a Bishoprick Let another take his Bishoprick though it be translated Let another take his Office yet the Original signifies not an Office at large but an Episcopal function that Office which Judas lost and Matthias was elected into which was the Office and Dignity of an Apostle * lastly to those whom the Apostles set over the Churches as namely to Timothy and Titus who in the Subscription of the Apostles Letters Divinely inspired are styled Bishops in the restrained sense of the word 2 Tim. 4. written from Rome to Timotheus the first Bishop elected of the Church of Ephesus and to Titus the first elect Bishop of the Church of the Cretians How ancient these Subscriptions are it is not certain among the Learned If they bear not the same date with the Epistles themselves the contrary whereof neither is nor can be Demonstrated yet they are undoubtedly very ancient and of great Authority And in them the word Bishop cannot be taken at large for any Minister or Presbyter but for a singular person in Place or Dignity above other Pastors for there were many other Presbyters in Ephesus both before and besides Timothy Act. 20. 27 28. and in the Island of Creet or Candie there must of necessity be more then one Pastor or Minister Besides St. Paul investeth Timothy in Episcopal power making him a Judge of Presbyters both to rebuke them 1 Tim. 5. 1 and to prefer and reward them vers. 17. and to censure them ver. 19. Against an Elder receive no accusation but under two or three witnesses and giveth to Titus exp●esly both potestatem ordinis jurisdictionis of O●der and Jurisdiction of Order in these words Chap. 1. 5. That thou shouldst ordain Elders in every City and of Jurisdiction I left thee in Creet that thou shouldst continue {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to correct or red esse the things that remained or those things which the Apostle before intended to amend but had not redressed 2. The Angels of the seven Churches Apoc. 10. 20. were no other in the judgement of the best Learned * Commentators both Ancient and Later then the Bishops of those Sees for in those Provinces or Territories there cannot be conceived to be lesse then many hundred ordinary Preachers and Pastors yet there were but seven precisely answering to the seven golden Candlesticks Seven Candlesticks seven lights burning in them these can be no other then seven prime Pastors who had the oversight of the rest for the Errors and Abuses in all those Churches are imputed to them and they reproved for not redressing them Chap. 2. 14. Thou hast them that maintain the Doctrine of Balaam and vers 20. Thou sufferest the * woman Jezebel to teach c. 3. It is confessed by Molinaeus and other Learned Patrons of Presbyterial Government themselves that Episcopacy is a plant either set in the Church by the Apostles themselves or their immediate Successors in the first and best ages of the Church and is it agreeable to Piety to swear the Extirpation of such a plant 4. It cannot be denyed that when the Church most flourished and was of far larger extent then now it is over the face of the Christian World there was no * other Government then Episcopacy regulated by Divine precepts and Ecclesiastical Canons and shall we swear to Extirpate that Government under the which the Church most thrived and slourished Shall we swear against our Prayers viz. for the rooting out of that upon which we are enjoyned to pray God to pour down the dew of his blessing Surely the dew of heaven burns not the root of any Plant upon earth but waters it and makes it grow 5. They were Bishops who had the chiefest hand first in the plantation of Christian Religion in the dayes of Lutius King of Britan and after in the restitution in the dayes of Etheldred King of Kent and in the Reformation of it in the Reign of Edward the sixth and Queen Elizabeth and is it a Religious act to eradicate that Government and Power which both planted and pruned Religion it self 6. Christ died not intestate he made his last Will and Testament and by it bequeathed many Legacies to his Church and among them not onely Catholike Doctrine but Discipline also This Discipline if it be not Episcopal Government moderated by Evangelical and Apostolical Rules the whole Church is guilty of the losse of a Sacred and Precious Jewel for certain it is out of Records of all ages of the Church that no other was ever retained or can be found save this before the Religious Reformer and Magistrates of Geneva having banished their Popish Bishops were after a sort necessitated to draw a new Plat-forme of Ecclesiasticall Discipline by Lay-Elders Christ as the Apostle teacheth us was faithfull in the house of God as Moses and if Moses after his forty dayes speech with God on the Mount received a Patern from God and delivered it to the Jewes not only of Doctrine but of Dicipline also which continued till Christs coming in the flesh it cannot be conceived

keep his Oath sincerely and intirely But in this Covenant and Oath there are many Ambiguities For what is meant in the first clause by common enemies Either the world the flesh and the Divel which indeed are as it were sworn enemies to all true Religion or Papists or Independents who are both enemies to the Discipline and Government of the Scotch Church In the second clause what is meant by Church government by Archbishops Bishops c either all government by Bishops or the present Government only with the late Innovations and abuses thereof If all government by Bishops then in taking this Oath we condemn not only the perpetual Government of the Church from the Apostles time till the reformation of Religion in the dayes of Hen. 8. but also the reformed Churches in England Ireland Denmark Swethland Poland Saxonie and other parts of Germany where either they have Archbishops and Bishops or tantmount Intendents and Superintendents If the present government only with innovations and abuses let them explain what are the innovations and abuses we swear against else we cannot swear in judgement What is meant by Hierarchy the word signifieth holy Government being derived from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} holy and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} rule or government And is it fit crudely without any glosse to forswear all holy Government In the third clause what is meant by defending the Kings person in the defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms Is it a limitation or not If it be no limitation what doth it there There ought to be no idle and if I may so speak hang-by words in an Oath for the Wiseman teacheth us when we speak to God our words must be few If it be a limitation how doth this Covenant agree with the Oathes of Supremacy and Allegiance by which we are absolutely bound to defend the Kings person royal Dignities and Prerogatives of the Crown without any if or of restriction or qualification In the fourth clause what is meant by Malignants or evill instruments a word never used till of late in any Statute Law or Ordinance and never so much abused as at this day In the sixth clause how far extend these words I will assist and defend all those that enter into this League and Covenant in the maintaining and persuance thereof Doth it reach to giving battle to the King Sequestring Estates plundering houses and trampling all Laws under foot and to the justifying all the outrages committed in the maintaining and pursuing this League If not why is it not circumscribed with that limitation in the first Protestation By all good and lawful means or so far as lawfully I may There being so many Amphibologies Ambiguities and riddles in this Oath we must have some Oedipus of the Synod to read and clearly expound them before we can safely engage our conscience by Oath to perform them No Covenant may be made or Oath taken which implyeth in it contradictions for in such an Oath or Covenant we play fast and loose say and unsay and overthrow the nature of an Oath and take Gods name in vain The Schools and ancient Doctors constantly maintain that it exceedeth even Divine Omnipotency to reconcile Contradictions which are amongst those many things St. Augustine speaketh of which God therefore cannot do because he is Omnipotent But there are apparent contradictions in this Covenant and Gordian knots which cannot be untied For First It is said in the Preface that the Noblemen Barons c. enter into this Covenant according to the commendable practice of these Kingdoms in former times and yet Mr. Nye in his Speech published by special order of the House upon the very day the Covenant was read and sworn unto and subscribed by the Honorable House of Commons and Reverend Assembly of Divines Sept. 25. saith p. 12. That such an Oath for matter persons and other circumstances hath not been in any age or oath we read of in sacred or humane stories And Mr. Coleman in his Sermon commanded to be printed by the Commons of the House of Parliament Sept. ult. 1643. p. 18. Ask your Fathers consult with the aged of our times whether ever such a thing were done in their dayes or in the dayes of their Fathers before them And in his Epistle Dedicatory An Oath if vain makes the Land to mourn an Oath if weighty makes it rejoyce This is a new thing and not done in our Land before and I hope will have a new effect not seen by our people before We are to swear in the first branch That we will really and constantly endeavour the preservation of the reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government and yet in the same branch we swear to endeavour to bring the Churches of God in these three Kingdoms of which Scotland is one to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in form of Church Government according to the Word of God and the example of the best reformed Churches But this cannot be done if Scotland be preserved in her present Directory for Worship Discipline and Government for the Government in the Church of England Ireland Denmark Swethland Poland Saxony and in all the Churches of the East not subject to the Pope is Episcopal and that is proved to be most conformable to the Word of God by the writings of Bilson Downham Armagh never yet answered by any We swear in the same branch That we will endeavour to reform the Doctrine of the Church of England according to Gods Word and yet preserve the reformed Religion in Scotland in Doctrine whereas the Doctrine of the Church of England and Scotland is all one as appears by the Confession of the one and Articles of the other All the difference between the Church of England and Scotland is concerning Discipline and Liturgie not Doctrine as it is distinguished from them We swear in the second branch That we will endeavour the extirpation of Prelacy and Schisms whereas Prelacy hath been ever and is the special if not only means to extirpate Schisme If Prelacy be taken away saith St. Jerome ad Luc. and the preeminencie of one Presbyter above another tot Schismata erunt quot Sacerdotes That is to extirpate Church-government by Archbishops Bishops c. and yet in the third branch we swear to preserve the rights and priviledges of the Parliament and liberties of the Kingdoms among which liberties of the Kingdom of England and priviledges of the Parliament are the contents of Magna Charta and Petition of Right in which the Government of Archbishops and Bishops and the rights and priviledges of the Church are comprised In the third branch we swear to preserve and defend his Majesties Person and Authority without any diminution of his just power and greatness and yet in the sixth Article we swear to assist and defend all those that enter into this League and Covenant in

the Statute of the 25th Year of King Edward the third And We do likewise hereby forbid and inhibit all Our Subiects to impose administer or tender the said Oath or Covenant And if notwithstanding this Our Gracious Proclamation any person shall presume to impose tender or take the said Vow or Covenant We shall proceed against him or them with all severity according to the known Laws of the Land Given at Our Court at Oxford the One and Twentieth day of June in the Nineteeth Year of Our Reign God Save the KING a Malach. 4. 2. b Psal. 13. 43. c Sat. 8. d M. T. Cic. in Tusc. qu. l. 2. e Max. Serm. de benef. f Aelius Lamgrid g Plut in apoph h See his Life and d●ath in a bo●k entituled 〈◊〉 {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Hos. 13. 9. Mar. 5. 26. Sen. de benef. Psal. 126. 5. Aug. Serm. de Johan Bap. Cyprian Se●n l. 4. de im nort Mat. 8. 24 25. Mat. 16. 26. Mat. 13. 46. Mr. Nye p. 21. Our last refuge Tabula post naufragium Hendersons Speech p. 32. Were this Covenant written on the plaster of the wall over against the Pope Beshazzar-like in his sacrilegious pompe it would make his heart to tremble his countenance to change his head and Miter to shake his joynts to loosen and all his Cardinals and Prelates to be astonished at it E. W. his Preface to the Solemn League It is the cleerest that ever was penned here below the finger of God is in it too By help of that hand which wrote the Ten words first this was indicted and written sure enough for truly it is as the good Word of God The Covenanters answer Reply See Mr. Coleman his Sermon The Covenanters answer Coleman serm. p. 21. Nye's Speech p. 15. Reply 1. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Eccles. 5. 1. The Covenanters answer Mr. Case serm. p. 42. Ch. 10. 28. Mr. White in a Sermon at Lambeth Reply 1. Ch. 10. 28. See the Assembly at Perth Cic. off Eras. Adag. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The Covenanters answer Eras Adag. de tripode dictum Jam. 3. 11. The Covenanters answer See exhortation to the taking of the Solemn League p. 4. Article 36. Heb. 13. 7. The Ordering of Priests Quest Will you reverently obey your Ordinary and other chief Ministers unto whom the Government and Charge is committed over you following with a glad minde and will their godly Admonitions and submitting your selves to their godly judgements Answ I will so do the Lord being my helper Ob. Sol. Ob. Sol. Math. 7. 1. Gal 5. 15. Gal. 6. 2. Divin. Instit. lib. 5. c. 20. Mat 26. 52. 1 Pet. 2. 25. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Act. 1. 20. * Ambros. com in Ephes. cap. 4. v. 10. Apostoli sunt Episcopi Jerom. ad Marcel Apud nos Apostolorum locum tenent Episcopi Cyp. c. 7. l. 3. Apostolos ●d est Episcopos praepositos Dominus elegit August in Psal. 45. loco patrum erunt silii id est Apostolorum Episcopi Et ibid. Dilatatum est Evangelium in omnibus sinibus mundi in quibus principes Ecclesiae id est Episcopi sunt constituti * Aug. Ep. 162. Comment in Apoc. hom 2. Ambrose 1 Cor. 11. 16. Occumenus Arethas Marlorat Pareus in Apoc. c. 1. 2. Policarp Episcopus Smyrnae Onesimus Ephesi Antipas Pergami c. * Edit Teclae it is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} thy wif which demonstrateth that the Angell there signifieth one singular man of Authority in the Church and not the whole Clergy of that place Ep. ad Episc. Winton * Concil. Nice Can. 5. Conc. Antioch Can. 6. Concil. Sard. Can. 14. Conc. Chal. Act. 15. c. 29. Ignatius in Ep. ad Philad. Irenaeus l. 3. c. 3. Tertul. l. de baptismo Euseb. l. 6. c. 40. Jerom ep ad Nepot Optatus l. 1. cont. Parmen. Amb. in Eph. cap. 4. Basil Eph. 70. * Epiphanius Haeres 75. p. 295. Aug. ad quod vult Deum Aëriani ab Aërio quodam sunt nominati qui cum esset Presbytr doluisse fertur quod Episcopus non patuit ordinari dicebat Presbyterum ab Episcopo nulla differentia debere discorni Hieron. in Tit. Con. 1. Art 15. c. 29. Episcopum in Presbyteri gradum reducere est sacrilegium Anatolius Constant Episcop dixit ij qui dicuntur ab Episcopali dignitate ad Presbyteri ordinem descendisse si justis de causis condemaantur nec Presbyteri honore digni sunt See Art 36. l. de Consecrat It is evident to all men reading holy Scriptures and ancient Authors that from the Apostles time there have been these three Orders in the Church of Christ and that a Bishop ought to correct and punish such as are unquiet criminous and disobedient within his Diocess according to such authority as he hath by the word of God * Vide Record in Exchequer I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches committed to your charges all Canonical Priviledges and I will be your Protector and Defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good King in his Kingdom in right ought to defend the Bishops and Churches under their Government c. Then laying his hand on the book on the Communion Table he saith The things which I have before promised I shall perform and keep so help me God and by the contents of this book * Cic. Tusc. quast Ob. Sol. * Pro Mur. tolle nomen Catonis * Statut. Edw. 3. Ann. 25. The Church of England was founded in the state of Prelacy c. for we ow to it our best laws made in the Saxon times and Charta Magna it self The enion of the two Roses York and Lancaster the marriage with Scotland and above all the Plantation and Reformation of true Religion See Vindication of Episcopacy pag. 23 24. See also the Statute book of 16 Rich. 2. where the Commons shew That the Prelates were much profitable and necessary to their Soveraign Lord the King and the Realm c. † Jerome Advers. Luc. c. 4. Ecclesiae salus à summi sacerdot●s dignitate pendet cui si non exors quaedam ab omnibus eminens detur protestas tot in Ecclesia efficientur Schismata quot sacerdotes Cypr. Ep. 3. Non aliunde Haereses abortae sunt aut nata Schismata quan inde quod sacerdoti Dei non obtemperatur nec unus in Ecclesia ad tempus sacerdos al tempus judex vice Christi cogitatur * Athanas Apol. 2. Colithus quidam presbyter in Ecclesia Alexandrina alios Presbyteros ordinare praesumpserat sed rescissa fuit ejus Ordination omnes ab ●o constituti Presbyteri in laicorum ordinem redacti See Epiph. Haer. 75. The order of Bishops begets Fathers in the Church but the order of Presbyters Sons in Baptism but no Fathers or Doctors See also G. Abbot in his Tract of the Visibility of the Church and in his Answer to Hill * Apol. Confess Augustan c. de numero usu Sacrament Not saepe protestati sumn● summa cum voluntate conservare politiam Ecclesiasticam gradus in Ecclesia factos etiam summa authoritate scimus enim utili consilio Ecclesiasticam disciplinam have mode quo veteres eam describunt constitutam * Luther Tom. 2. p. 320. Nemo contra statum Episcoporum veros Episcopos vel bonos pastores dictum putet quiquid contra hos tyrannos dicitur † Gerard de Ministerio Eccles. Nemo nostrum dicit nihil imeresse inter Episcopum Presbyterum sed agnoscimus distinctionem graduum propter {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Ecclesiae ut concordia conservetur * Calv. de necess reform Ecclesiae Talem nobis Hierarchiam si exhibeant in qua sic emin●ant Episcopi ut Christo subesse non recusent ut ab i●o tanquam unico capite pendeant ad ipsum referantier in qua sic inter se fraternam societatem colant ut non alio modo quam e●us verit●te sint colligati tum vero nullo non anathemate dignos fateor si qui erunt qui noa eam reverenter summaque obedientia observent † Beza de grad. Minist. Evang. c. 18. Sess. 3. Quod si nunc Ecclesiae instauratae Anglicanae suorum Episcoporum Archi episcoporum authoritate suffultae perstant quemadmodum hoc illis nostra memoria contigit ut ejus ordinis homines non tantum insignes Dei Martyres sed etiam praestantissimos Doctores Pastores habuerit c.

inconveniency and mischief in the Church hath grown from the corrupt and ill execution of the Laws which may be removed by a Reformation of the Bishops and inferiour Officers without any change of the Law No man is prohibited from indeavouring the abolition of any Law by lawful means But this entring into Covenant and swearing the extirpation of Bishops themselves and abrogation of the Laws made in favour of them without and against the Kings Command will never be proved a lawfull means of alteration of Laws either by the Law of God or the Land Whereas they lispe but dare not speak out That the Oaths which Ministers take at their Ordination and Institution are unlawful and call for Repentance I demand of them Whether they are yet unresolved concerning the unlawfulness of their Oaths taken at their Ordination If they are not resolved will they take a contrary Oath and so run the hazard of Perjury If their belief of the lawfulness of that Oath be pendulous and wavering so must needs be their belief of the lawfulness of their Ordination and entring into the Ministery For they hang both upon the same string if the one slip the other fals down to the ground Have they not subscribed the Articles of Religion whereof one is The justification of the forme of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops and of the Ordination of Priests and Deacons Is it not an expresse Canon of the Apostle Obey them that have oversight of you in the Lord and is there any colour of pretence to question the lawfulness of obeying them in licitis honestis that is in things lawful and honest Let us hear what they can say to this Dilemma Either the form of Consecration of Archbishops and Bishops and Ordination of Priests and Deacons confirmed together with the Articles of Religion by Act of Parliament is a lawful form and agreable to Gods word or not If lawful and agreable to Scripture then the Oath they take at their Ordination to Obey their ordinary and submit to his godly Admonitions and just Censures God being their helper bindeth their conscience from taking this in which they vow their utter extirpation If it be an unlawful form and repugnant to holy Scriptures then no Bishops or Ministers have been lawfully made or by a lawful form since the first Reformation in England which to aver were to cast such a fowl blurre upon the Church as cannot be fetched out with the tears no nor with the bloud of those who so slander the Queen of all the reformed Churches This Dilemma with the two horns of it wounds them which way so ever they go Some flie to an extraordinary Calling but there they are stopt with a counter demand viz. What miracles do they whereby they may prove their extraordinary Calling for an extraordinary Calling must be extraordinarily proved Others say That Oath was tyrannically imposed upon them by the Bishops and therefore bindeth not their Conscience But they cannot escape this way neither for Oaths imposed by a lawful Authority though tyrannically abused binde the conscience if the thing promised be lawful not because such an Oath is imposed but because Gods name is interposed by whom they ingage themselves to the performance of what they have sworn so it be not malum in se Besides it is not true that this Oath was imposed by Bishops for it was appointed by Act of Parliament in which the Articles are confirmed neither are any Ministers inforced to take Orders but they offer themselves to the Bishop and humbly desire him to lay his holy hands on them and freely and voluntarily submit to the taking of this Oath of Obedience to their Ordinary A third sort answer That indeed they took the Oath of Canonical obedience to their Bishops but they have long ago repented of such an Oath But these are crushed in their flight and driven to the wall For if they repent of that Oath taken at their Ordination they must repent also of their Orders given them by Bishops For their Orders were given them upon the undertaking to perform that and other Conditions assented to by them with this clause so God help me or God being my helper Again To repent of a lawful Oath taken and such I have proved it to be even now is in plain English and down right terms To confesse themseves perjured And if such an answer might passe for currant no Oath would be any tie upon the conscience for they might say as these Ministers do That they indeed took such an Oath but they repent the taking it A fourth sort answer with some more colour of probability That the Oath made to Bishops expired with them and that Bishops now if they are not dead yet they are dying and breathing out their last gaspe for both Houses have voted them down But these Brethren should have weighed with themselves and communed with their own hearts before they put their hands to this new Covenant Whether the present Votes of both houses can dispense with a lawfull and solemn Oath taken at their Ordination and signed with Christs bloud at the Communion which they immediately receive from the hands of the Bishop after he hath laid hands on them 2. Dalo et non concesso granting that in regard of those precedent votes and this new Covenant taken by both Houses for the extirpation of Episcopacie Bishops might be said to be dying What then doth this discharge them of their Oath No more then it will a Wife for withdrawing her duty and loyaltie from her Husband while he is a dying and looking for a good houre The Ceremonial Law was dying as soon as Christ was born yet till it was dead and buried too both he and his Apostles observed it Therefore till Episcopacie is dead and buried this Oath may not be lawfully taken by any ordained by them Nay nor then neither by their leave for how know they whether it may not be revived and raised up again by future Acts of Parliament in times as well affected to the Clergie as these are ill And if it be so the wounds of their Consciences will bleed afresh No man can doubt but that Episcopacie better sorteth with Monarchie then Presbytery or Independency and it is certain that Episcopacie concurring with Royal Majesty and the Authority of the Peers first constituted Parliaments and it hath likewise been confirmed by Parliaments in all succeeding Ages It is a plant which either Christ himself planted or his Apostles as is demonstratively proved in Bilson his perpetuall government of the Church Downams answer to Paul Bains Dr. Reynolds his letter commented upon by the Primate of Armagh and Bishop Andrews his Opusc. It sprung up together with the gospell in this Nation and hath ever since growne by it as a succour They were Arch-bishops and Bishops who had a hand in platting the Garland of our peace and safety by uniting first the two Roses

but that Christ left a Pattern of Government to his Church to continue till the end of the world and doubtlesse his Apostles with whom he conversed forty dayes after his Resurection speaking of those things which appertain to the kingdom of God Act. 3. 1. delivered that to the Church which they received from their Master What Government or Discipline was that There can be conceived but three formes of Government Episcopal most conformable to Monarchy Presbyterial to Aristocracy and Independent as they tearm it to Democracy Presbyterial or Independent it could not be for Presbyterial is no Elder then the Reformation in Geneva and the Independent no Elder then New-England whereas Episcopal Government hath been time out of mind not in one but in all Churches A and sith it was not first constituted by any Sanction of a General Counsel it follows necessarily according to St. Augustins observation that it must needs be an Apostolical Institution For what not one Church but all Churches not in one age but all ages hath uniformly observed and practised and no man can define who after the Apostles were the beginners of it must needs be supposed to be done by Order or Tradition from them 7. This form of Government was not only generally received and embraced by Catholicks but even by Hereticks and Schismaticks who though they severed from the Communion of the Church in Doctrine yet not in Discipline For the Novatians and Donatists had Bishops of their own from whom they took their names only * Aerius who stood for a Bishoprick and missed it out of discontent broached that new Doctrine wherewith the heads of our Schismaticks are so much intoxicated viz. That there ought to be no distinction in the Church between a Bishop and a Presbyter and for this confounding those Sacred Orders was himself ranked among Hereticks and stands upon record in the Bedrolls of them made by Epiphanius Angustin and Philastrius It is true he had other brands on him but this was the proper mark put upon him by those ancient Fathers who mention this Tenet of his as Erroneous and Heretical I grant some of the ancient Doctors affirm That in the beginning till the prevention of Schism made this distinction between Bishops and Presbyters they were all one in name as now they are in those essential parts of their function viz. Preaching of the Word and administration of the Sacraments But Aerius was the first who professedly oppugned the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy maintaining That there ought to be no difference and distinction between Bishops and Elders 8. This assertion of Aërius as in the Doctrine thereof it was defined by the Doctors of the Church to be Heresie so in the practise thereof it is condemned by the great Councel of Chalcedon to be Sacriledge To confound say they the Ranks of Bishops and Elders and to bring down a Bishop to the inferior degree of an Elder is no lesse then Sacriledge Now I would fain know how that comes to be truth now which was condemned for Heresie and to be Piety now which was branded for Sacriledge above 1200 agoe 9. Neither were the Fathers of the Councel of Chalcedon only zealous in this cause which so much concerned the honour of the Church but the other three also whose authority St. Gregory held to be the next to the four Evangelists and the Doctrine thereof is after a sort incorporated into our Acts of Parliament Eliz. 1. In these Councels which all consisted of Bishops Episcopacy it self is almost in every Canon and Sanction either Asserted or Regulated 10. Next to the Primitive Church we owe a reverend respect to the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas who either have Bishops as in Poland Transilvania Denmark and Swethland or the same function is in Nature though not in Name to wit Intendents and Super-intendents as they would have them if they could as I understood from many Ministers in France or at least approve of them as appeareth by the testimony of Beza Sadiel Scultetus and others 11. What should I speak of the Articles of Religion ratified by a Sequence of Religious Princes succeeding one the other and confirmed by Act of Parliament to which all Beneficed men are required under pain of losse of their livings within a moneth to professe their assent and consent in which both the Power and Consecration of Bishops and Ministers is expresly asserted and their distinction from Presbyters or of the Statute of Carlile the 15. of Edw. 2. and the first of Qu. Eliz. with very many other unrepealed Acts in which Episcopall Government is either related unto or regulated and confirmed in such sort that quite to abolish and extirpate it would bring a confusion and make a stop as well in Secular as Ecclesiastical Courts And therefore our zealous Reformers if they think themselves not too good to be advised by the Great Counsellor ought to take heed how they rashly and unadvisedly pluck up the tares as they esteem them of holy Canons and Ecclesiastical Laws ne simul eradicent triticum lest together with those tares as they count them they pluck up by the roots the good wheat of many profitable and wholesome Laws of the Common-wealth and Acts of Parliament 12. But if the Authority of both Houses could soon cure these sores in precedent Acts of Parliament yet how will they make up the breaches in the Consciences of all those who in the late Protestation and this New Covenant have taken a Solemn Oath to maintain the Priviledges of the Members of Parliament and the Liberties of the Subject The most Authentical evidence whereof are Charta Magna and the Petitionof Right in both which the Rights of the Church and Priviledges of Episcopal Sees are set down in the Fore-front in Capital Letters 13. To strain this string a little higher the power of granting Congedeliers together with the investitute of Archbishops Bishops and Collation of Deanries and Prebends with a setled Revenue from the First-fruits and Tenths there is one of the fairest flowers in the Kings Crown and to rob the imperial Diadem of it considering the King is a Person most Sacred is Sacriledge in a high degree and not Sacriledge only but Perjury also in all those who attempt it For all Graduates in the University and men of Ranck and Quality in the Common-wealth who are admitted to any place of eminent Authority or Trust take the Oath of Supremacy whereby they are bound to defend and Propugne all Preeminences Authorities and Prerogatives annexed to the Imperial Crown whereof this is known to be one inherent in the King as he is Supreme head of the Church within his Realms and Defender of the Faith 14. Yet for all this admit that Reason of State should inforce the Extirpation of Episcopacy thus rooted as it hath been said both in the Royal Prerogative and Priviledge of the Subject and in the Laws of the Land it is a golden Maxim of Law