Mark the first Bishop of Alexandria in Prooem. in Matth. who died six yeers before Saint Peter or S. Paul saith Saint Hierom. though therein he dissent from Irenaeus lib. 3. 35. yeeres before Saint Iames the Apostle besides therefore nine recorded as Bishops in holy Scripture Timothy and Titus Bishops of Ephesus and Crete and the seven of the seven Churches in Asia besides two Apostles Bishops viz. Iames of Ierusalem and a Peter of Antioch b and one Evangelist Mark of Alexandria c there are also nine other in all 21. recorded in holy Scripture all which except two of the seven Angels are there registred for Saints who if we will beleeve as credible records of Christians as any other humane Records whatsoever were Bishops before they died viz. Clemens d and e Linus made Bishops of Rome successively by Peter and Paul Evodius f Bishop of Antioch by Peter and Paul Dionysius the Areopagite Bishop of Athens g Archippus h Bishop of the Colossians Epaphroditus i Bishop of the Philippians Epaphras k Bishop of the Colossians Gaius l also Bishop of the Thessalonians Trophimus m Bishop of Arles To which you may adde the two and twentieth Antipas Bishop of Pergamus if we will beleeve Paraeus in Apoc. 2. proving it out of Arethas Caesariensis in Apoc. 1. and Onesimus Bishop of Ephesus n if he were not the forementioned Angel of the Church of Ephesus when Saint Iohn wrote his Revelation To omit to speak here of other Bishops who were Schollars and Auditors of the Apostles Ignatius of Saint Iohn o made Bishop of Antioch by Saint Peter Papias p Saint Iohns Schollar Bishop of Hierapolis Publius and Qâ—adratus q Bishops of Athens Disciples of the Apostles Simeon the son of Cleophâ—â— r Bishop of Ierusalem after Iames and the Kinsman of our Lord This order of Bishops which began though the first we read of in Scripture be Timothy and Titus in Saint Iames of Ierusalem or Saint Mark of Alexandria continued thorowout all the following ages of the Churches of God in which Bishops have been the most reverend Martyrs such as Ignatius Polycarp Irenaeus Bishop of Lions Cyprian of Carthage and more then 30. of the first Bishops of Rome successively both in Episcopacy and Martyrdom Of Bishops also especially did consist the first four generall Councels received by all the reformed Churches the confounders of the maine heresies touching the second and third persons in the blessed Trinity and by an Act of Parliament 1. Eliz. cap. 10. next to the canonicall Scriptures made the rule of judging Heresies who also in Councell gave judgement for the inviolable practice of the Church in this order the generall Councell of Nice providing Ne in unâ civitate duo sint Episcopi Cant. 8. The generall Councell of Constantinople adjudging to Bishops the power of Ordination Can. 2. and Can. 4. in the case of Maximus The generall Councell of Ephesus distinguishing betwixt the Bishop and the rest of the Clergy Can. 7. and confirming the Bishops jurisdiction Can. 5. The generall Councell of Chalcedon determining Can. 29. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} For as much then as in the first Article we are required to swear to endeavour the reformation of Religion according to the Word of God and the examples of the best reformed Churches surely we may not in the second Article swear to endeavour the extirpation of Church-government by Bishops and so to forsake the government grounded on the Word of God and to forsake the example of all the ages of the Primitive Churches then which we conceive no late reformed Church will pretend to be more pure and to whose examples they do or ought to endeavour to reform themselves But after all this it will be said that this government by Bishops is ejured onely as it interprets Prelacy which word if it have been translated Regimen Tyranicum the Translation as farre exceeds the truth of Grammar as the Prelates are accused to have exceeded their lawfull power forasmuch as Prelacy in its originall and acception of ancient Authors Praelati we say not elati imports but lawfull preeminence and power So is Timothy called by Gregory de Cura pastor p. 2. c. 11. Praelatus Gregi and the word Prelate is often honourably mentioned in our Lawes 9 Ed. 2. 24 Hen. 8. and is no more then the Title Praepositi mentioned also with honour by St. Cyprian Epist. 10. 55. 65. Augustin de civitate Dei l. 20. c. 9. or Antistites S. Cypr. ep. 69. Sancti Antistites S. August ep. 162. and divers words in Scripture used signifying equivalently such preeminence but let it not be told indeed in other Churches that any other is here abjured then Regimen Tyrannicum But are we warranted by the following stile of Hierarchy Doth that word import originally and anciently any other then a sacred government was it not accepted and approved in it selfe by Mr. Calvin lib. de necessitate Eccl. reformandae Talem si nobis Hierarchiam exhibeant in quâ sic emineant Episcopi ut Christo subesse non recusent c. ut ab illo tanquam uno Capite pendeant ad ipsum referantur c. tum verò nullo non anathemate dignos fateor qui non eam reverentèr summâque obedientiâ observent Moreover how can we in the same Article abjure Church-government by Bishops with Heresie Schisme and Prophanenesse as there it follows yea Prelacy even before Schisme and Heresie c. when as Bishops have been in all ages the chief confounders of heresie and heretickes such was Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria of the heresie of Arrius Cyril of Alexandria of the Nestorian heresie Caelestine Bishop of Rome Augustine Bishop of Hippo Prosper Bishop of Rhegium Fulgentius Bishop of Ruspi of the Palagian heresie and many more in all ages of the Church before and since Nor was there found any one Christian thorowout all the Primitive and purest times of the Church for above five hundred yeers after Christ who thought it fit to abolish Church government by Bishops much lesse to ejâ—re it save onely one heretick Aerius so censured by Epiphanius Haeres 75. and by Saint Augustine Haeres 53. whose speech savoured of madnesse saith Epiphanius for he had said What is a Bishop differing from a Presbyter a and the occasion of it Saint Augustine lets us know lib. de Haeres c. in Aerium Aerius being a Presbyter is said to have been vexed because he could not get to be ordained a Bishop and thence arose his envy Epiphanius witnesseth as much Haeres 75. Secondly as to Schism Saint Hierom the one and onely Father alledged as denying the divine Institution of Bishops yet held them necessary to represse Schism and then surely most necessary when Schism doth as in these our dayes most abound For avoiding of Schism Saint Hierom witnesseth Episcopacy was
yeers before this book of the Revelation of St. John was written and Onesimus probably the then Bishop the Angell of the Church of Ephesus Their Office Power and Commission are there intimated to have been Episcopall and charged upon them by Christ in that five of the Angels are charged as blameable and accomptable for the faults of both Presbyters and people and therefore surely were trusted with authority over Presbyters and people to have corrected and censured them Particularly Episcopall power is intimated there chap. 2. of the Revel. vers. 20. and that power of excommunication is sufficiently grounded on the 14 verse Mr. Perkins in locum affirmeth Their mission to that office also as it is there confirmed by the Sonne of God and by the holy Spirit So also to have been at first from God is in their title implied For Angels sent forth for the Churches sake are never said in holy Scripture to be any's Messengers but Gods and if his Messengers or Angels then sent by him That their superiority was fixed not weekly or annuall is clear as from the Ecclesiasticall History of Polycarp and Onesimus so also from the Text it self c. 2. 10. Where the Angell of the Church of Smyrna as Angell of the Church is bidden to be faithfull in his Office surely untill death b Nor was it personall onely but describing the Office of the Angell of any Church in like laudable or blame-worthy state unto the comming of Christ as it is implied v. 24. 25. of the second chapter For what is said to them so long as there is any that hath an eare to hear he must hear c. 2. v. 3. Nor did the personall blameworthy carriage of the Angell of the Church of Sardis c. 3. v. 1 c. or of the Angell of the Church of the Laodiceans v. 14. 16. hinder Christs approbation of their Office who are in regard of their Office not of their personall Excellency stiled the Angels of the seven Churches and the Stars in the right hand of the Son of man both which stiles that they are there singularly appropriated to these successours of the Apostles ought not to seem strange since the twelve Apostles are confessedly meant by the crown of twelve Stars Apoc. 12. 1. And St Paul the Apostle of us Gentiles speaks of himself received as an Angell of God Galat. 4. 14. Summarily therefore out of holy Scriptures thus we reason Many Presbyters and Preachers in one Church and one chief having eminency and power over all Presbyters and people therein proveth the Office of a Bishop but so holy Scripture witnesseth were in Ephesus many Presbyters Act. 20. 17. or if they were Bishops in the sense now disputed some of them at least as Irenaeus thought l. 3. c. 14. we need go no further in the argument and more afterwards surely and yet one chiefe Pastor or Bishop over all such as was Timothy in his time and the Angel of that Church whosoever he was mentioned Rev. 2. 1. So also in the Church of Pergamus there were divers Teachers true and false c. 2. v. 13 15. one Angel Governour in chief v. 1. For be it that all the Presbyters of each of the Churches might well have been called Angels c yet that one among them in each Church in such a compatible community of name is so called by way of eminency proves an eminency in the one so called which must either be of personall excellency above all the rest and this who can shew us in the Angel of the Church of Sardis Laodicea or Thyatira or else and rather of Office and power so as Iohn Baptist was called an Angel Malac 3. who was more then a Prophet and St. Paul received as an Angell Gal. 4. 14. who was more then a Minister and our Saviour Christ is called Michael Apoc. 12. 7. with his Angels fighting under him One objection more we shall take notice of viz. the pretended necessity of understanding by each of the Angels there a collective body from c. 2. v. 10. 24. But this is manifestly clear to be no necessity at all from the like manner of speaking of the holy Ghost 2 Chron. 28. 1. to the 5. Compare and judge And therefore it is not lawfull without any necessary reason to depart from the literall and determinate individuation of one chief spirituall Church-governour in each of the seven Churches for otherwise as Tertullian speaks lib. de carne Christi cap. 13. Omnia periclitabuntur alitèr accipi quà m sunt amittere quod sunt dum alitèr accipiuntur Yea there is not onely no necessity but much in the Text which doth resist such an interpretation of a collective body for it should be either an Angel put for the whole particular Church and this cannot be seeing the Angels and the Churches are accurately distinguished c. 1. v. 20. Or an Angel put for the whole collection of the Presbyters but neither may this be admitted inasmuch as in the same 20 verse the Angels are called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} seven no more and {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} stars not constellations as Suidas distinguisheth the words You have our reasons from these Scriptures why to us it seems that to swear to endeavour the extirpation of Church-government by Bishops is to swear to endeavour the extirpation of that whose Root is in holy Scripture and to swear to endeavour which we tremble to think of to wrest these Stars out of the right hand of the Sonne of man who is also the Son of God For in his right hand are they held the Angels of the Churches Revel. 1. 16 20. As Church-government by Bishops hath been evidenced by holy Scripture so was it also the judgement of the ancient godly Fathers that it was an institution Apostolicall and Divine {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} saith Theodoret l. 4. c. 18. by St. Cyprian ep. 55. the power of Episcopacy is exegetically called Ecclesiae gubernande sublimis divina potestas epist. 27. Dominus noster Episcopi honorem disponens in Evangelic And anon after ut omnis actus Ecclesiae per Episcopos gubernetur cum hoc itaque divina lege fundatum sit miror quosdam audaci temeritate c. epist. 65. Episcopos Praepositos Dominus elegit And anon after Deus Episcopos facit Athanasius epist. ad Dracontium saith that he who contemns the function of a Bishop {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and that the Office is of those things {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Ignat. epist. ad Magnes {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Idem Ignat epist ad Ephes. Oecumen. c. 9. in Tim. 4. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Theophylact. and Oecumenius found Bishops upon Ephes. 4.11 and on Hebr. 13.17 Oecumenius and
our Church-government as it now stands in aggregate whether might this Oath be taken had they also been included Lastly is not their practise for whose satisfaction this Covenant should be taken a added to the common sense of mankind in the like manner of speaking or understanding such speeches evidence enough to us that we cannot take this Oath and Covenant unlesse we will swear to endeavour the extirpation of Church-government by Bishops If this be so we desire to know first whether it be lawfull for subjects to swear such a Covenant as directly contradicts the oath of their Soveraigne at his Coronation as this second branch of the Covenant doth binding us to endeavour the extirpation of the government of our Church by Bishops For that our Soveraign hath taken as contradictory Oath is evidently manifest by the last clause of the oath which the Kings of England take at their Coronation when after many other gracious promises wch the King makes to his people one of the Bishops reading to the King before the people concerning the Canonicall priviledges of the Church and beseeching him that he would be the Protectour and Defender of the Bishops the Churches under their government the King answereth in these words With a willing and devout heart I promise and grant my pardon and that I will preserve and maintain to you and the Churches committed to your charge all canonicall priviledges and due Law and Iustice and that I will be your Pretectour and Defender to my power by the assistance of God as every good King in his Kingdom in right ought to protect and defend the Bishops and Churches under their government Then the King ariseth and at the Communion Table makes a solemn Oath in the presence of the people to observe the premisses and laying his hand upon the book saith The things which I have before promised I shall perform and keep so help me God and the contents of this Book How can this Oath then for the extirpation of Church-government by Bishops be consistent with the Oath or Honour of our Soveraign which we have so solemnly protested to defend in the late Protestation How can we with a solemn Oath enter into such a Covenant to which we may neither swear without our Soveraigns consent nor yet can lawfully desire nor have his consent How sad were our condition were the King willing of himselfe to violate this Oath But what should we have to answer should we by taking such a Covenant this way necessitate so far as in us lies His sacred Majesty to violate his Oath so solemnly sworn at his Inauguration Secondly that to endeavour the extirpation of Church-government by Bishops is a sin against Divine Law all those Arguments and Authorities convince which prove that Bishops are of Apostolicall institution and unalterable and consequently Divine which we shall unfold in these Propositions First that their institution stands grounded upon our Saviours own Action and Institution of the Apostles Secondly that Christ and his holy Spirit by his Apostles appointed Bishops Thirdly that Christ the Sonne of God and the Holy Ghost afterward confirmed and approved Bishops and their Commission and power which the Apostles had appointed For the first we say their institution is grounded upon our Lords own instituting and ordaining twelve Apostles above seventy Disciples who saith to these his Apostles As my Father hath sent me even so send I you a St. Joh. 20. 21. As in other ends of his mission so how not in this which we know they did according to his pattern As he was sent by his Father therefore to ordain one order of Teachers of the Gospell superiour to another which we know because he did so ordain So also sent he his Apostles to ordain which accordingly they did and whatsoever they did by Christs example therein they did by his Commission here given in an imparity Bishops succeeding the Apostles above Presbyters subordinate as the seventy a That Bishops succeeded the Apostles in the ordinary part of their function as it is the judgement of the most ancient godly Fathers b that Bishops we say as contradistinct to Presbyters were the successours of the Apostles so is it manifest from Scripture since power Episcopall as it is now taken in this dispute which we shall prove to have been given by the Apostles to Bishops and to them onely after the Apostles was undeniably in the Apostles and for a while held in their own hands without communicating it to others That the Bishops were afterwards instituted by the Apostles themselves which so many ancient Authous have averred c And namely by the Apostolicall Authority of St. Paul and their institution part of holy Scripture is made good in that the power and Office of a Bishop as the word is now taken in the Ecclesiasticall notion is prescribed in the three Epistles of St. Paul to those two famous Church-governours Timothy and Titus particularly the Office and power of a Bishop as it is now taken contradistinctly to the Office of a Presbyter in these Texts 1 Tim. 1. 3. 1 Tim. 5. 19 20 21 22. 2. Tim. 1. 6. Tit. 1. 5 11. Tit. 3. 9. 10 and some others and these Texts thus interpreted by Antiquity d And as the office prescribed there is Episcopall so these two appointed to this prescribed office of a Bishop by St. Paul himselfe 1 Tim. 1. 3. 2 Tim. 1. 6. Tit. 1. 5. Yea by the holy Ghost say Chrysost. Theophyl Oecumenius by divine Revelation saith Theodoret of Timothy And that these two were Bishops according to the Ecclesiasticall notion of the word now used ancient Fathers plentifully witnesse b Moreover this superiority to office Episcopall to have been fixed and continued to the day of death is evident as from Church-history so also from 1 Tim. 6. 14. where {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is the same with {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in the beginning of the Epistle 1 Tim. 1. 18. and includes in it the whole charge given by St. Paul to Timothy in this Epistle c From which Text also it is manifested that his Office prescribed was not personall onely but to descend by succession unto the comming of Christ d Thirdly this Office and power Episcopall that it was afterward approved and confirmed by the Sonne of God himselfe immediately and by the holy Ghost will be proved from Revel. c. 1. 2. 3. Where by the seven Stars the Angels of the seven Churches according to all reason from the Text it selfe and by the testimony of Antiquity e are seven Bishops of those seven Churches understood which Ecclesiasticall story mentions to have been in the Church long before this time as so many Angels and Apostles f of the Churches such as was Polycarp the Angell the Bishop of the Church of Smyrna made Bishop of that place by the Apostles themselves thirteen
Nazianzen in Apologet in 1 Pet. 5. vide Hegesippum apud Euseb. lib. 4. cap. 22. and Chrysostom in Tit. 1. Hom. 2. Saint Ambrose de dignitate Sacerdot c. 2. 6. Isidor Pelusiot lib. 2. ep. 125. Further out of the holy Scripture we might alledge according to Saint Hieroms interpretation that this distinction between the Bishops and his Presbyters was signified in Moses and the 70. So Hierom in Tit. 1. the distinction of Presbyters and Deacons to be that which was under the Law of the high Priest Priests and Levites So S. Hieron. Ep. 2. ad Nepotianum Ep. ad Evagrium and before him Ignat. ad Philadelph Clement ep. ad Corinth Chrysost. Hom. 20. ad pop. Antioch and after Leo ep. 66 Isidor Hisp. de officiis Eccles. l. 2. c. 5. 7. That the eminent dignity and office of Bishops was prophecied of Psal. 45. 16. where Bishops are meant say S. August in loc. Comment. called S. Hieroms in locum S. Cyril of Alex. in loc. Theodoret in locum Ruffinus in locum as the other of Presbyters and Deacons were prophecied of Isaiah 66. 21. And further for imparity of Teachers in the new Testament that answerably to Prophets in the old and sons of the Prophets among some that served in the Gospell some were as Fathers others serving with them as sont So also that we read of Builders and Master-builders in Gods building 1 Cor. 3. and we read also among those builders of {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} c. 1 Cor. 12. 28. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Hebr. 13. 17. and under them {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Luc. 22. 27. But for the confirmation by Scripture of the office of a Bishop we adhere especially to the Epistles to Timothy and Titus and those seven Epistles Apoc. 1 2 and 3. And if it be acknowledged of institution Apostolicall and approved by God but temporary onely the contrary will be made manifest as from the proper light of the Texts alledged and from the forecited Text 1 Tim. 6. 14. So also from this Proposition which we avow No Constitution Apostolicall received by the universall Church perpetually in all ages unto this age of this controversie can without scandall and dangerous consequence be called Temporary the universall practice of the Church practising continually and perpetually an Apostolicall Institution being a most sure Commentary that it was no temporary institution Forasmuch as we are taught by the holy Ghost in divine Scripture that contention in what the Law of God is pretended not to be expresse may be warrantably taken off by the custome of the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11. 16. See Theophylact. in locum Custom I doe not say any but of the Churches of God i.e. Primitive also Universall Perpetuall interpreting the controverted Law of God whether Naturall as vers. 14. or Positive by no lesse reason Whereunto agreeth well the rule of S. Augustine contra Crescon. lib. 1. c. 32. contra Donat. l. 4. c. 24. Quod universa tenet Ecclesia c. ep 86. ad Casul epist. ad Januarium 118. si quidtota hodie c. Vincent Lyrin adversus haereses c. 2. c. 3. Quod ubique quod semper quod ab omnibus c. And if not by such traditive interpretation from the custom of the Churches of God according to the Apostles rule how shall we convince contentious gainsayers that the sense of those Texts Goe and teach all Nations baptizing them c. Matth. 28. and those other of baptizing the houshold of Stephanus and of the keeper of the prison 1 Cor. 1. Acts 16. or any other Scriptures to be a divine warrant as they are for Baptisme of Infants Or the sense of hoc facite c. Luk. 22. to imply a divine right of Presbyters onely to consecrate the Elements of the blessed Sacrament or the sense of those Texts Iohn 20. 1 19 26. Acts 20. 7. 1. Cor. 16. 2. Revel. 1. 10. or Psalm 118. 24. or of any other Scriptures to be a divine warrant for the translation of our one day in seven from the seventh day of the week to the first Or on the other side how shall we convince those of the Church of Rome that that Apostolicall divine Precept Iames 5.14 as to the anointing the sick with oil was a temporary Precept onely but negatively from the interpretation of the custom of the Churches of God Since miraculous gifts were also conferred by the laying on of hands which yet was not temporary Heb. 6 2. Now that this Apostolicall institution hath been universally practised and perpetually in the custom of the Churches of God of all times and places excepting onely some narrow place and time of this age of this controversie and that in Churches founded by different planters by all the severall Apostles and others sent by them as well those Churches which have in severall ages rejected the Antichristian Monarchy of the Bishop of Rome over all the Church as others and that order preserved by God from extirpation thorow all the ten persecutions and descending in each Church or City by particular continued succession as for example 27 Bishops from S. Timothy to the time of the Chalcedon Councell as was declared there act 11. that in all times primitive and following Bishops have been chief in Ecclesiasticall government in Councels in Martyrdom in Piety in Learning in the conversion of Nations in the mighty confounding of Heresies and Heretiques we beleeve we are able if any deny to make good And first here for the Primitive Churches we alledge all the forecited Testmonies of Antiquity proving Bishop to have been instituted by the Apostles themselves vide supra Yea and early within the Apostles times there having been not onely three Bishops of Rome successively Linus Cletus and Clemens and within Saint Johns time of life four Bishops of Alexandria successively Saint Mark Anianus Abilius and Cerdo three Bishops of Antioch Saint Peter Evodius and Ignatius two of Jerusalem Saint Iames and Simeon all while Saint John the Apostle yet lived Euseb hist eccles. lib. 3. cap. 12. But also Saint Iames made Bishop of Ierusalem soon after the passion of our Lord saith Saint Hierom. de Script Eccles. After the Ascension of our Saviour saith Euseb. lib. 2. cap. 1. before Saint Stevens Martyrdom for Saint Steven was Deacon to Iames Bishop of Ierusalem saith Ignatius epist. ad Trall and the ancient Author of the Epist. ad Heronem under his name and that James himself was martyred after he had governed the Church of Ierusalem 30. yeers saith Saint Hierom. de Script Eccles. And as Saint Hierom affirmeth Iames the Apostle to have been the first Bishop of Ierusalem in Gal. 1. So also Peter to have been the first Bishop of Antioch in Gal. 2. And
thought necessary long within the Apostles times even as early as it was said by some I am of Paul I am of Apollo c. and therefore saith in his Dialogue Adversus Luciferian Ecclesiae salus in summi Sacerdotis dignitate pendet cui si non exors quaedam ab omnibus eminens detur potestas tot in Ecclesiis efficientur schismata quot Sacerdotes S. Cyprian also Epist. 55. Non aliunde haereses obortae sunt aut nata sunt schismata quam c. and so also lib. 4. epist. 9. Unde enim Schismata Haereses obortae sunt oriuntur nisi dum Episcopus qui unus est praesumptione contemnitur c. Master Calvin also himself upon Philipp 1. 1. Fateor quidem ut sunt hominum ingenia mores non posse ordinem stare inter verbi Ministros quin reliquis praesit unus So that we cannot apprehend the abjuration of Episcopacy to be a meane to that unity in this Article mentioned That the Lord may be one and his Name one amongst us but rather the continuation thereof according to the counsell of the holy Martyr S. Cyprian Unus Deus unus Dominus unus Episcopus and that of Ignatius ad magnes b Subjecti estote Episcope vobis mutuè ut Christus Patri ut inter vos divina quaedam sit unio Next Prophanenesse is here also to be cast out with Episcopacy yet who may not fear Gods Judgements if he deny the detestable growth of prophanenesse since the contempt of that Apostolicall institution of Episcopacy So that this Article as to Bishops extirpation we must refuse upon that close upon which others take it lest as it is said we should partake in others sin and consequently in their plagues Thirdly because neither can we swear to endeavour the extirpation of that part of this Church-government by Archbishops an Ecclesiasticall constitution so confessedly ancient nor that part of this Church-government by Deanes and Chapters that is a society of grave Divines of Presbyters joyned to the Bishop in his see of residence as assistants in Councell and Government as James Bishop of Ierusalem had his resident Presbyters Acts 21. 18. and consulted with them vers. 20. According also to the ancient generall and continued custom of the Church of God ever since the first Christian Emperours time and moreover endowed with means given to them by the last Wils and Testaments of many which it is not lawfull for us to endeavour to annull Hebr. 9. 17. and by the gifts of many other Donors who had true propriety in their goods and might and did transfer the undoubted property to those to be enjoyed by the right and liberty of the Subject especially such endowments having been consecrated and devoted unto God for pious uses and which may not therefore by us as we conceive be endeavoured to be alienated Prov. 20. 25. Numb. 16. 38. And as to the exercises of piety so also to the encouragement of the most excellent part of learning the study of divinity and of holy Scripture We shall with the same sincerity reality and constancy in our severall Vocations endeavour with our estates and lives mutually to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of the Parliaments and the Liberties of the Kingdoms and to preserve and defend the Kings Majesties Person and Authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms that the world may beare witnesse with our Consciences of our loyalty and that we have no thoughts or intentions to diminish His Majesties just power and greatnesse Because in the third Article whereas we are required and that in the first place to binde our selves absolutely without limitation expressed To preserve the Rights and Priviledges of Parliaments and the Liberties of the Kingdoms and were likewise tied simply and indefinitely to defend the Kings Person State and Honour by the Oath of Allegiance and the late Protestation here when we are bidden to swear to defend his Majesties Person and Authority it is added In the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms therefore this manner of swearing we dare not admit till it be publikely declared by the Imposers that the meaning of those words is not as to some it may sound that I binde my selfe to preserve and defend his Majesties Person and Authority so farre forth as he shall preserve and defend true Religion and the Liberties of the Kingdoms Since by the holy Scriptures of the old and new Testament by the Law of Nature and Nations by the Oath of God and by true Religion we are bound to endeavour the preservation and defence of his Person and Authority though he were a persecutor of the true Religion and an abridger of our Liberties such as were Saul and Nero in their times And surely a larger Declaration of our endeavours simply to defend his Person is at this time necessary when through the divisions of the Kingdom his sacred Majestie is so endangered and that his Majesty hath often complained of affronts offered to his person and hath complained also that some have endeavoured to kill his Person in two set battails and that there is nothing more frequent in the minds and mouths of some Shimei's then that the King is popishly affected A Papist in his heart and therefore some furious Zelot may not onely upon these surmises conclude himselfe exempted in case from the duty of preservation and defence of his Royall Person but also mistake it as a debt to this Covenant even to offer violence to his sacred Majestie May not therefore some such fuller Declaration and explication of our duty when we will by Oath professe it seem necessary to the end here proposed That the world may bear witnesse with our Consciences of our loyalty We shall also with all faithfulnesse endeavour the discovery of all such as have been or shall be Incendiaries Malignants or evill Instruments by hindring the reformation of Religion dividing the King from his people or one of the Kingdoms from another or making any Faction or parties amongst the people contrary to this League and Covenant that they may be brought to publike triall and receive condign punishment as the degree of their offences shall require or deserve or the supream Indicatories of both Kingdoms respectively or others having power from them for that effect shall judge convenient Whether are not all those to be accounted to us as Malignants c. by hindring reformation of Religion and consequently to be discovered that they may receive condign punishment whom we know to endeavour in their places and callings the continuation of Church-government by Bishops and the preservation of the whole frame of government as it now stands by the known Laws of this Kingdom established administred according to the right intent of those Laws against all alteration till it be by act of Parliament enacted by his Majesties
us contrary to our consciences so informed which is impossible What if as now the King so future Parliaments disallow this Covenant and oppose it shall we then be obliged to continue therein and to assist and defend all those that so continue against all opposition though it shall be contradicted by the same Authority by which it is now imposed upon us Thirdly Where we are required to bind our selves never to make defection to the contrary part whether by the contrary part is not to be understood all that are against this Covenant If so will not these words following Against all opposition against all lets and impediments whatsoever include His Majesties opposition And then as we have said we are in the close impliedly supposed That we will endeavour to do what we are able to suppresse and overcome any part whatsoever of the contrary part opposing it self which since it seems not to except His Sacred Majesty how will this be consistent with the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy and the Laws of the Land 5 H. 4. 25 Edw. 3 Secondly how with the Word of God when we are taught by St. Paul Rom. 13. That whosoever shall resist the higher Powers shall receive to himself Damnation and in case of contrary conflicts of these higher Powers among themselves from the reason included in the object the damnation will be without repentance to those that resist the Highest and among the higher powers if St. Peter may interpret St. Paul the King is Supream and all other Governours are sent by Him 1 Pet. 2. 14. a For our selves therefore if His Majesty should use the Sword committed to him unjustly we must take up St. Ambrose's words conc. 1. contra Auxentium Dolere potero flere potero potero gemere adversus arma milites Gothos quoque Lachrymae miae Arma sunt talia sunt munimenta Sacerdotis aliter nec debâ—o nec possumresistere Fourthly were there nothing in the Law of God or of this Land forbidding us of the Kingdom of England to enter a Covenant of mutuall assistance and defence without and against the allowance of the King yet it would be unlawfull for us to joyn in this Covenant since we are required here not onely to joyn with one another but with the Scots also in a Covenant of mutuall assistance and defence to whom if by a law of their Land all such Covenants and Leagues be forbidden as seditious we if we knowingly covenant to assist and defend them in such a League contract to our selves the guilt of sedition Now to the Scots in the second part of that Act of Parliament holden at Linlithgow anno 1585. are forbidden all leagues or bonds of mutuall defence which are made without the privity and consent of the King under the pain to be holden and execute as movers of sedition and unquietnesse This we read objected by the Divines of Aberdeen but could never yet see any satisfying answer made thereunto Fiftly Whether will not men think themselves bound by this part of the Covenant all the daies of their lives to continue so farre zealously united against the contrary part as to reject all overtures of Accomodation and reconciliation till they be suppressed or overcome and so our wounds become incurcable Sixtly This Covenant as we conceive under correction cannot be wisely taken by any man affected to this cause for should they not here swear never to yeeld themselves though debelled and unable to withstand the common Enemy viz. the Forces raised by the King nor ever to lay down Arms or cease active resistance But if it should please God to give the foresaid contrary part power of conquest and consequently Ius victorie should they not bind themselves by this Covenant never to submit themselves to Gods Will and Judgement against them and so exclude all Christian patience and suffering in afflictions and tie themselves though unable actively to resist plot disturb and overthrow all such who shall so have power over them hereafter all such Governours and governments which it may please God as they must confesse for a punishment of their sins at least to place over them which thing we conceive to be against the Law of God reason and Nations And because these Kingdoms are guilty of many sins c. What the Conclusion suggests we have also considered and professe our selves ready to joyn with our brethren in the necessary humbling of our selves under the mighty hand of God and in the confession of our sins though in a publique set form prescribed such as we conceive this former part of the Conclusion to be our purpose also desire endeavour through the grace of God to amend our lives and touching those words here mentioned In all duties we owe to God and man we professe and declare that did we believe in our consciences the above-written Articles of the Covenant not to be repugnant to our duties which we owe to God and man in the particulars specified relating to His Majesty and to the Bishops of our Churches by God set over us and otherwise we should gladly have gone along with our brethren therein Secondly since this Oath expresly professeth what also all lawfull promisory oaths must include that it is to be made in the presence of Almighty God the searcher of all hearts with a true intention to perform the same as we shall answer at the great day we trust our just refusall will or ought to be better interpreted even by the Imposers themselves then those mens detestable hypocrisie who enter this League and make this Oath with mentall reservation others as far as lawfully they may and saving all former Oaths yet others as far as it is agreeable to Gods Word or in their own sense or according to the sense of the Preacher scandalizing thus our Christian and reformed Religion with Jesuiticall mentall reservations reserving in their minds a sense contrary to their words which are instituted to signifie our minds and contrary to the mind of the Imposers even in the judgement of their own minds sufficiently signified in the words of the Covenant and indeed mentem injuratam gerunt reserving this Popery in thus swearing while they swear to extirpate Popery We professe to know no other legitimate sensing of our Oaths but mens deferentis a and that declared before the taking of the Oath not in a post-Declaration and the Grammaticall common sense of the words without limitation other then what is expressed according to the rule of St. Augustin Juramentum debet esse pressum expressum By thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned How also can any lawfully take an Oath the matter whereof he judgeth to be unlawfull so far as lawfally he may Be we not deceived God is not mocked May we swear to lie steal or commit adultery so far as lawfully we may Is it more sinfull to go about to do it
without the Kings consent viz. an allowance of Subjects joyning in Arms against their Soveraign which they would warrant from the actions of Q Elizabeth K. James and our gracious Soveraign Here we must indeed ingenuously professe that we have not been sufficiently exercised in passages of State to give a full satisfaction in all these particulars wherefore we shall not of our selves interpose at all onely briefly speak to their instances 1. As concerning the assistance of and the confederacy with the united Provinces we shall transcribe for satisfaction a part of a Declaration of Q. Elizabeth who first entered upon their Assistance the Declaration is entituled A Declaration of the causes moving the Q. of England to give ayd to the defence of the people afflicted and oppressed in the low Countries This Declaration was put sorth 1585. and in the 8 9. pages it hath these words And furthermore as a good loving Sister to him and a naturall good Neighbour to his Low Countries and people we have often and often again most friendly warned him that if he did not otherwise by his wisdom and Princely clemency restrain the Tyranny of his Governours and cruelty of his men of war we feared that the people of his Countrys should be forced for safety of their lives and for continuance of their native Countrey in their former state of their liberties to seek the protection of some other forraign Lord or rather to yield themselves wholy to the Soveraignty of some mighty Prince as by the ancient Laws of their Countreys ' and by speciall priviledges granted by some of the Lords and Dukes of the Countries to the people they do pretend and affirm that in cases of such generall injustice and upon such violent breaking of their priviledges they are free from their former Homages and at liberty to make choice of any other Prince to be their Prince and Head The proof whereof by examples past is to be seen and read in the ancient Histories of divers alterations of the Lords and Ladies of the Countries of Brabant Flanders Holland and Zealand and other Countries to them united by the States and People of the Countries And that by some such alterations as the Stories do testifie the Duke of Burgundy came to his Title from which the King of Spains interest is derived Upon these principles it it evident that then the Queen and Kings of England in joyning to the assistance of or confederacy with the low Countries have not joyned with Subjects in Arms either against or without the consent of their true undoubted Monarch 2. As touching the assistance of the French Protestants of Rochell by our gracious Soveraign that now is we shall onely reply not insisting upon the Charter of Rochell granted to them by Lewis the 11. that we are fully satisfied that no argument can be drawn from thence except by those who would raise a dispute of His Majesties Title and Interest in the Kingdom of France 3. As for the Scots we expected that all further mention of their former actions should have been prevented by the Act of Oblivion Yet seeing these men have undertaken to make an advantage against His sacred Majesty even out of His acts and expressions of Grace and Clemency we answer That forms of Pacification and reconciliation are not to be interpreted any further then to the reputation of the party to whom the reconciliation is made you have not done so or so i.e. you shall be to me as if you had not so as out of His Majesties expressions in the late pacification with the Scots to conclude his approbation of the course then taken by them or to take a warrant for their present undertaking seems to be alike as if they should conclude that it was lawfull for other Churches to use St. Paul as the Galathians had done by accounting him their enemy because by his own confession they had done him no injury and should gather that out of his Act of pacification with them Gal. 4. 12. Brethren I beseech you be as I am I am as ye are ye have not injured me at all The sum of all is this The Assembly of Divines in their exhortation have neither concluded any thing positive for a lawfulnesse or necessity of taking this Covenant nor taken away any of those scruples which they propounded to themselves they have neither proved that Bishops must or may be extirpated nor taken off the scruple from the Oath of Canonicall obedience They have neither cleared the objection from the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy nor proved by any example recorded in Scripture or by any undoubted warrantable practise that it is lawfull in any case whatsoever without the Kings consent to enter into any whatsoever League and Covenant So far have they been from proving that it is necessary or lawfull to enter into this League the state of the question being such as we in the beginning have evinced it to be So that should we enter into this covenant it would be impossible to conclude our innocency therein from the innocency of Mordecai and the lewes here mentioned out of Esther 9. Their innocency was clear indeed but how would ours be so in that they resisted not the higher power or the Arms commanded by him otherwise then by Fasting and Prayer untill the King granted them leave to gather themselves together and to stand for their lives which before they did not assume for no want of sufficient strength to have defended themselves as is usually in the like cases objected which is evident from their after sufficient strength by themselves to defend themselves cap. 9. Thus having examined the strength of their Reasons and Allegations we think it still true not onely pretended as the Exhortation hath it that Clergy men above all others may not covenant to extirpate Church government by Bishops both because of their Oath as hath been proved and simply considering the nature of the thing in respect of the Reasons already by us alledged and because Presbyters if here they erre they erre most dangerously and arrogantly swearing in effect to endeavour to extirpate all order of spirituall Church Governours above themselves to endure none such if they can help it superiour to themselves The danger we had rather such should hear from St. Cyprian Epist. 10. Quod enim non periculum metuere debemus de offensa Domini quando aliqui de Presbyteris nec Evangelii nec loci sui memores sed neque futurum Domini Iudicium neque nunc sibi praepositum Episcopum cogitantes quod nunquam omnino sub Antecessoribus factum est cum contumelia contemptu praepositi totum sibi vendicent What also will they think of that ancient and reverend Canon the 35. among those 50. commonly called The Canons of the Apostles {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} If any one ordained Bishop be not received not through his own will but through the wickednesse of