and that these places of Scripture 1 Tim. v. 22. Tit. i. 5. 1 Tim. v. 19. Titus 3. 10. do prove that Timothy and Titus had power to ordain Presbyters and Deacons and to exercise censures over Presbyters and others and that the second and third Chapters of the Revelation do prove That the Angels of the Churches had power of governing of the Churches and exercising Censures But that either the Apostles or Timothy and Titus or the Angels of the Churches were Bishops as Bishops are distinct from Presbyters exercising Episcopal Government in that sense or that the Apostles did commit and derive to any particular persons as their Substitutes and Successors any such Episcopal Government or that this is proved in the least measure by the Scriptures alledged we do as fully deny And therefore do humbly deny also That Episcopal Government is therefore most consonant to the Word of God and of Apostolical institution or proved so to be by these Scriptures None of these were Bishops or practised Episcopal Government as Bishops are distinct from Presbyters Neither is such an Officer of the Church as a Bishop distinct from a Presbyter to be found in the New Testament by which we humbly conceive that our Faith and Conscience touching this point ought to be concluded The Name Office and Work of Bishop and Presbyter being one and the same in all things and never in the least distinguisht as is clearly evident Tit. i. 5 7. For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and ordain Presbyters in every City as I had appointed thee For a Bishop must be blameless In which place the Apostle his reasoning were altogether invalid and inconsequent if Presbyter and Bishop were not the same Office as well as they have the same Name The same is manifest Acts xx 17 28. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the Presbyters of the Church to whom he gave this charge verse 28. Take heed therefore unto your selves and to all the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to feed and govern the Church of God Where we observe That the Apostle being to leave these Presbyters and never to see their faces more verse 28. doth charge them with the feeding and governing of the Church as being Bishops of the Holy Ghost's making But that the Holy Ghost did make any superior or higher kind of Bishops than these common Presbyters is not to be found in that or any other Text. And that under the mouth of two or three witnesses this assertion of ours may stand we add to what we have already said that in 1 Pet. v. 1 2. The Presbyters which are among you I exhort who am also a Presbyter Feed the flock of God which is among you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 performing the office of Bishops Where it appears plain to us that under the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in this place is expressed whatsoever work the Presbyters are to do Neither can Bishops so called as above Presbyters do more for the government and good of the Church otherwise than is there expresly enjoyned unto Presbyters By all which that hath been said the point is rendred to be most clear to the judgement of most men both ancient and of later times That there is no such Officer to be found in the Scriptures of the New Testament as a Bishop distinct from a Presbyter neither doth the Scripture afford us the least notice of any qualification required in a Bishop that is not required in a Presbyter nor any Ordination to the Office of a Bishop distinct from a Presbyter nor any work or duty charged upon a Bishop which Presbyters are not enjoyned to do nor any greater honour or dignity put upon them For that double honour which the Apostle speaks of 1 Tim. v. 17. as due to Presbyters that rule well is with a note of especially affixed to that Act or work of labouring in the word and Doctrine which is not that Act wherein Bishops have challenged a singularity or peculiar eminency above the Presbyters To that which Your Majesty doth conceive That Episcopal government was practised by the Apostles themselves we humbly answer That the Apostles as they were the highest Officers of the Church of Christ so they were extraordinary in respect of their commission gifts and Office and distinguisht from all other Officers 1 Cor. xii 28. God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers Ephes iv 11. Christ gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers Where the Apostles are distinguished from Pastors and Teachers who are the ordinary Officers of the Church for Preaching the Word and Government That they had power and authority to ordain Church-Officers and to exercise Censures in all Churches we affirm and withal that no other Persons or Officers of the Church may challenge or assume to themselves such power in that respect alone because the Apostles practised it except such power belong unto them in common as well as to the Apostles by warrant of the Scripture For that Government which they practised was Apostolical according to the peculiar commission and authority which they had and no otherwise to be called Episcopal than as their Office was so comprehensive as they had power to do the work of any or all other Church-Officers in which respect they call themselves Presbyteri Diaconi but never Episcopi in distinct sense and therefore we humbly crave leave to say that to argue the Apostles to have practised Episcopal Goverment because they ordained other Officers and exercised Censures is as if we should argue a Justice of Peace to be a Constable because he doth that which a Constable doth in some particulars It 's manifest that the Office of Bishops and Presbyters was not distinct in the Apostles They did not act as Bishops in some Acts and as Presbyters in other Acts the distinction of Presbyters and Bishops being made by men in after-times And whereas Your Majesty doth conceive that the Episcopal Government was by the Apostles committed and derived to particular persons as their Substitutes or Successors therein as for ordaining Presbyters and Deacons giving rules concerning Christian discipline and exercising censures over Presbyters and others seeming by the alledged places of Scripture to instance in Timothy and Titus and the Angels of the Churches we humbly answer and first to that of Timothy and Titus We grant that Timothy and Titus had Authority and Power of ordaining Presbyters and Deacons and of exercising Censures over Presbyters and others though we cannot say they had this power as the Apostles Substitutes or Successors in Episcopal Government nor that they exercised the power they had as being Bishops in the sense of Your Majesty but as extraordinary Officers or Evangelists which Evangelists were an
Doctor Reynolds against Hart and by other Writers 4. You affirm but upon very weak proofs that they were from Ephesus and Crete removed to other places Some that have exactly out of Scripture compared the times and orders of the several journeys and stations of Paul and Timothy have demonstrated the contrary concerning this particular 5. Whereas you say it is manifest from the 2. Tim. iv 9. and Tit. iii. 12. that they were called away from these places it doth no more conclude that they were not Bishops there or that they might as well be called Bishops of other Churches than it may be concluded from the attendance of the Divines at Westminster that they are no longer Parsons or Vicars of their several Parishes Lastly for the Postscripts of these Epistles though His Majesty lay no great weight upon them yet He holdeth them to be of great antiquity and therefore such as in question of fact where there appears no strong evidence to weaken their belief ought not to be lightly rejected Neither doth His Majesty lay any weight at all upon the Allegory or Mystery of the denomination in the next point concerning the Angels of the Churches as you mistake in your Answer thereunto wherein His Majesty finds as little satisfaction as in the last point before The strength of His Majesties instance lay in this That in the Judgement of all the Ancient and the best Modern Modern Writers and by many probabilities in the Text it self the Angels of the Seven Churches were personoe Singulares and such as had a Prelacy as well over Pastors as People within their Churches and that is in a word Bishops And you bring nothing of moment in your Answer to infirm this You say truly indeed That those Epistles were written in Epistolary style and so as Letters to collective or representative Bodies use to be directed to one but intended to the Body Which when you have proved you are so far from weakning that you rather strengthen the Argument to prove those Angels to have been single persons as when His Majesty sendeth a Message to His two Houses and directs it to the Speaker of the House of Peers His intending it to the whole House doth not hinder but that the Speaker to whom it is directed is one single person still Yet His Majesty cannot but observe in this as in some parts of your Answer how willing you are versari in generalibus and how unwillingly to speak out and to declare plainly and directly what your opinion is concerning those Angels who they were whether they were as the great Antagonist of Episcopacy Salmasius very peremptorily sit ergo hoc fixum c. affirmeth the whole Churches or so many individual Pastors of the gathered Churches in those Cities or the whole College of Presbyters in the respective Churches or the singular and individual Presidents of these Colleges for into so many several Opinions are those few divided among themselves who have divided themselves from the common and received judgement of the Christian Church In the following discourse you deny that the Apostles were to have any Successors in their Office and affirm that there were to be onely two Orders of ordinary and standing Officers in the Church wiz Presbyters and Deacons What His Majesty conceiveth concerning the Successors of the Apostles is in part already declared viz. That they have no Successors in eundem gradum in respect of those things that were extraordinary in them as namely the measure of their Gifts the extent of their Charge the infallibility of their Doctrine and which is sundry times mentioned as a special Character of an Apostle properly so called the having seen Christ in the flesh But in those things that were not extraordinary and such those things are to be judged which are necessary for the service of the Church in all times as the Office of Teaching and the power of Governing are they were to have and had Successors and therefore the Learned and Godly Fathers and Councils of old times did usually style Bishops the Successors of the Apostles without ever scrupling thereat And as to the standing Offices of the Church although in the places by you cited Phil. i. 1. i Tim. iii. 8. there be no mention of Bishops as distinct from Presbyters but of the two Orders only of Bishops or Presbyters and Deacons yet it is not thereby proved that there is no other standing Office in the Church besides For there appear two other manifest reasons why that of Bishops might not be so proper to be mentioned in those places the one because in the Churches which the Apostles themselves planted they placed Presbyters under them for the Office of Teaching but took upon themselves the care and reserved in their own hands the power of Governing in those Churches for a longer or shorter time as they saw it expedient for the propagating of the Gospel before they set Bishops over them and so it may be probable that there was as yet no Bishop set over the Church of Philippi when Saint Paul writ his Epistle to them The other because in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus the persons to whom he wrote being themselves Bishops there was no need to write any thing concerning the choice or qualification of any other sort of Officers than such as belonged to their ordination or inspection which were Presbyters and Deacons only and not Bishops Concerning the Ages succeeding the Apostles 1. His Majesty believeth that altho Faith as it is an assent unto Truth supernatural or of Divine revelation reacheth no further than the Scriptures yet in matters of fact humane Testimonies may beget a Faith though humane yet certain and infallible as by the credit of Histories we have an infallible Faith that Aristotle was a Greek Philosopher and Cicero a Roman Orator 2. The darkness of those times in respect of the History of the Church is a very strong Argument for Episcopacy which notwithstanding the darkness of the times hath found so full and clear a proof by the unquestioned Catalogues extant in ancient Writers of the Bishops of sundry famous Cities as Jerusalem Antioch Alexandria Rome Ephesus c. in a continued succession from the Apostles as scarce any other matter of fact hath found the like 3. In Clement's Testimony cited by you His Majesty conceiveth you make use of your old fallacy from the promiscuous use of the words to infer the indistinction of the things for who can doubt of Clement's Opinion concerning the distinct Offices of Bishops and Presbyters who either readeth his whole Epistle or considereth that he himself was a Bishop in that sense even by the confession of Videlius himself a man never yet suspected to favour Bishops who saith that after the death of Linus and Cletus Clemens solus Episcopi nomen retinuit quia jam invaluerat distinctio Episcopi Presbyteri And for Ignatius Epistles though some of late out of their partial
was affirmed we humbly conceive that we should not be interpreted to have in effect denied the very same thing which we had before granted or to have acknowledged that the several Scriptures do prove the thing for which they are cited by Your Majesty And if that which we granted were all that by the Scripture cited in Your Margin Your Majesty intended to prove it will follow that nothing hath yet been proved on Your Majesties part to make up that Conclusion which is pretended As then we stood upon the Negative to that Assertion so we now crave leave to represent to Your Majesty that Your Reply doth not infirm the Evidence given in maintenance thereof The reason given by Your Majesty in this Paper to support Your Assertion That the persons that exercised the power aforesaid were Bishops in distinct sense is taken from a description of Episcopal Government which is as Your Majesty saith nothing else but the Government of the Churches within a certain Precinct commonly called a Diocess committed to one single person with sufficient authority over the Presbyters and people of those Churches for that end which Government so described being for substance of the thing it self in all the three forementioned particulars Ordaining giving rules of Discipline and Censures found in Scriptures except we will contend about names and words must be acknowledged in the sense aforesaid to be sufficiently proved from Scriptures And Your Majesty saith farther that the Bishops do not challenge more or other power to belong to them in respect of their Episcopal Office as it is distinct from that of Presbyters than what properly falls under one of those three We desire to speak both to the Bishops Challenge and to Your Majesties Description of Episcopal Government And first to their Challenge because it is first exprest in Your Majesties Reply The Challenge we undertake in two respects 1. In respect of the Power challenged 2. in respect of that ground or Tenure upon which the claim is laid The Power challenged consists of three particulars Ordaining giving Rules of Discipline and Censures No more no other in respect of their Episcopal Office We see not by what warrant this Writ of partition is taken forth by which the Apostolical Office is thus shared or divided the Governing part into the Bishops hands the Teaching and administring Sacraments into the Presbyters For besides that the Scripture makes no such inclosure or partition-wall it appears the challenge is grown to more than was pretended unto in the times of grown Episcopacy Jerome and Chrysostom do both acknowledg for their time that the Bishop and Presbyter differed only in the matter of Ordination and learned Doctor Bilson makes some abatement in the claim of three saying the things proper to Bishops which might not be common to Presbyters are singularity of Succeeding and superiority in Ordaining The Tenure or ground upon which the claim is made is Apostolical which with us is all one with Divine Institution And this as far as we have learned hath not been anciently openly or generally avowed in this Church of England either in time of Popery or of the first Reformation and whensoever the pretension hath been made it was not without the contradiction of learned and godly men The abettors of the challenge that they might resolve it at last into the Scripture did chuse the most plausible way of ascending by the scale of Succession going up the River to find the Head but when they came to Scriptures and found it like the head of Nile which cannot be found they shrouded it under the name and countenance of the Angels of the Churches and of Timothy and Titus Those that would carry it higher endeavoured to impe it into the Apostolical Office and so at last called it a Divine Institution not in force of any express precept but implicite practice of the Apostles and so the Apostolical Office excepting the gifts or enablements confest only extraordinary is brought down to be Episcopal and the Episcopal raised up to be Apostolical Whereupon it follows that the Highest Officers in the Church are put into a lower orb an extraordinary Office turned into an ordinary a distinct Office confounded with that which in the Scripture is not found a temporary and an extinct Office revived And indeed if the definitions of both be rightly made they are so incompetible to the same subject that he that will take both must lose that one aut Apostolus Episcopatum aut Apostolatum Episcopus For the Apostles though they did not in many things act aliud yet they acted alio nomine alio munere then Presbyters or Bishops do and if they were indeed Bishops and their Government properly Episcopal in distinct sense then it is not needful to go so far about to prove Episcopal government of Divine Institution because they practised it but to assert expresly that Christ instituted it immediately in them For Your Majesties Definition of Episcopal Government it is extracted out of the Bishops of later date than Scripture-times and doth not sute to that Meridian under which there were more Bishops than one in a Precinct or Church and it is as fully competent to Archiepiscopal and Patriarchal Government as Episcopal The parts of this definition materially and abstractly considered may be found in Scripture The Apostles Timothy and Titus were single persons but not limited to a Precinct The Government of the Angel was limited to a Precinct but not in single persons In several Offices not to be confounded the parts of this definition may be found but the aggregation of them all together into one ordinary Officer cannot be found And if that word ordinary and standing Government had made the Genus in your Majesties Definition as it ought to be we should crave leave to say it would be gratis dictum if not petitio principii for the Scripture doth not put all these parts together in a Bishop who never borrowed of Apostles Evangelists and Angels the matter of Governing and Ordaining and left the other of Teaching dispensing Sacraments and dealing only in foro interno to Presbyters until after-times By this that hath been said it is manifest enough that we contend not first de nomine about the Name of Episcopal Government which yet though names serve for distinction is not called or distinguished by the name in Scripture nor secondly de opere about the Work whether the work of Governing Ordering Preaching c. be of continuance in the Church which we clearly acknowledg But thirdly de munere about the Office it being a great fallacy to argue That the Apostles did the same work which Bishops or Presbyters are to do in ordinary Therefore they were of the same Office For as it is said of the liberal and learned Arts one and the same thing may be handled in divers of them and yet these Arts are distinguisht by formalis ratio of handling of them so we say of
Offices they are distinguisht by their Callings and Commissions though not by the work as all those that are named Eph. iv ii Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Teachers are designed to one and the same general and common work the work of the Ministry ver 12. and yet they are not therefore all one for it 's said some Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers A Dictator in Rome and an ordinary Tribune Moses and the subordinate Governors of Israel the Court of Parliament and of the Kings-Bench an Apostle and a Presbyter or Deacon may agree in some common work and yet no confusion of Offices follows thereupon To that which Your Majesty conceives that the most that can be proved from all or any of those places by us alledged to prove that the Name Office and Work of Bishops and Presbyters is one and the same in all things and not in the least distinguisht is That the word Bishop is used in them to signifie a Presbyter and the consequently the Office and Work mentioned in those places as the Office and Work of a Bishop are the Office of a Presbyter which is confessed on all sides we make this humble return That though there be no supposition so much as implied that the Office of a Bishop and a Presbyter are distinct in any thing for the names are mutually reciprocal yet we take Your Majesties Concession that in these times of the Church and places of Scripture there was no distinct Office of Bishops and Presbyters and consequently that the identity of the Office must stand until there can be found a clear distinction of division in the Scriptures And if we had argued the identity of Functions from the Community of names and some part of the work the Argument might have been justly termed a fallacy but we proved them the same Office from the same work per omnia being allowed so to do by the fulness of those two words used in the Acts and S. Peter his Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the force of which words the Bishops claim their whole power of Government and Jurisdiction and we found no little weight added to our Argument from that in the Acts where the Apostle departing from the Ephesian Presbyters or Bishops as never to see their faces more commits as by a final charge the Government of that Church both over parricular Presbyters and people not to Timothy who then stood at his elbow but to the Presbyters under the name of Bishops made by the Holy Ghost whom we read to have set many Bishops over one Church not one over either one or many And the Apostles arguing from the same Qualification of a Presbyter and of a Bishop in order to Ordination or putting him into Office fully proves them to be two names of the same Order or Function the divers orders of Presbyter and Deacon being diversly characterised Upon these grounds we hope without fallacy we conceive it justly proved that a Bishop and a Presbyter are wholly the same That Timothy and Titus were single persons having authority of Government we acknowledge but deny that from thence any argument can be made unto either single Bishop or Presbyter for though a singie Presbyter by the power of his Order as they call it may preach the Word and dispense the Sacraments yet by that example of the Presbytery their Laying on of hands and that Rule of Telling the Church in matter of scandal it seems manifest that Ordination and Censures are not to be exercised by a single Presbyter neither hath Your Majesty hitherto proved either the names of Bishops and Presbyters or the Function to be in other places of Scripture at all distinguished You having wholly waved the notice or answer of that we did assert and do yet desire some demonstration of the contrary viz. That the Scripture doth not afford us the least notice of any Qualification any Ordination any work or duty any honour peculiary belonging to a Bishop distinct from a Presbyter the assignment of which or any of them unto a Bishop by the Scripture would put this Question near to an issue That God should intend a distinct and highest kind of Officer for Government in the Church and yet not express any qualification work or way of constituting and ordaining of him seems unto us improbable Concerning the signification of the word Episcopus importing an Overseer or one that hath a charge committed to him for instance of watching a Beacon or keeping sheep and the application of the name to such persons as have inspection of the Churches of Christ committed to them in spiritualibus we also give our suffrage but not to that distinction of Episcopus gregis and Episcopus pastorum gregis both because it is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or point in question and also because Your Majesty having signified that Episcopus imports a keeper of sheep yet You have not said that it signifies also a keeper of shepherds As to that which is affirmed by Your Majesty that the peculiar of the Function of Bishops is Church-Government and that the reason why the word Episcopus is usually applied to Presbytery was because Church-Governors had then another title of greater eminency to wit that of Apostles until the Government of the Church came into the hands of their Successors and then the names were by common usage very soon appropriated that of Episcopus to Ecclesiastical Governors that of Presbyter to the ordinary Ministrrs This assertion Your Majesty is pleased to make without any demonstration for whom the Scripture calls Presbyters Rulers and Pastors and Teachers it calls Governors and commits to them the charge of feeding and inspection as we have proved and that without any mention of Church-Government peculiar to a Bishop We deny not but some of the Fathers have conceived the notion that Bishops were called Apostles till the names of Presbyter and Episcopus became appropriate which is either an allusion or conceit without Evidence of Scripture for while the Function was one the names were not divided when the Function was divided the name was divided also and indeed impropriate but we that look for the same warrant for the division of an Office as for the Constitution cannot find that this appropriation of names was made till afterwards or in process of time as Theodore one of the Fathers of this conceit affirms whose saying when it is run out of the pale of Scripture time we can no further follow From which premisses laid all together we did conclude the clearness of our assertion that in the Scriptures of the New Testament a Bishop distinct from a Presbyter in Qualification Ordination Office or Dignity is not found the contrary whereof though Your Majesty saith that You have seen confirmed by great variety of credible Testimony yet we believe those Testimonies are rather strong in asserting than in demonstrating the
neither doth the text clearly prove that Timothy was so 1. The name of Bishop the Scripture neither expressly nor by implication gives to either the work which they are injoyned to do is common to Apostles Evangelists Pastors and Teachers and cannot of it self make a character of one distinct and proper Office But that there was such an Order of Officers in the Church as Evangelists reckoned amongst the extraordinary and temporary Offices and that Timothy was one of that Order and that both Timothy and Titus were not ordained to one particular Church but were companions and fellow-Labourers with the Apostles sent abroad to several Churches as occasion did require it is as we humbly conceive clear enough in Scripture and not denied by the learned defenders of Episcopal Government nor as we remember by Scultetus himself during the time of their travels 2. To that which Your Majesty secondly saith That we cannot make it appear by any Text of Scripture that the Office of Evangelist is such as we have described his work seeming 11 Tim. VIII 4 5. to be nothing else but diligence in preaching the word notwithstanding all impediments and oppositions we humbly answer that exact definitions of these or other Church-Officers are hard to be found in any Text of Scripture but by comparing one place of Scripture with another it may be proved as well what they were as what the Apostles and Presbyters were the description by us given being a Character made up by collation of Scriptures from which Mr. Hooker doth not much vary saying that Evangelists were Presbyters of principal sufficiency whom the Apostles sent abroad and used as Agents in Ecclesiastical Affairs wheresoever they saw need And that Pastors and Teachers were settled in some certain charge and thereby differed from Evangelists whose work that it should be nothing but diligence in preaching c. which is common to Apostles Evangelists Pastors and Teachers and so not distinctive of this particular Office argueth to us that as the Apostles Office was divided into Episcopal and Apostolical so this also is to be divided into Episcopal and Evangelistical Ordination and Censures belonging to Timothy as to a Bishop and diligence in Preaching only being left to the Evangelist which division as we humbly conceive is not warranted by the Scripture Thirdly Your Majesty faith that that which we so confidently affirm of Timothy and Titus their acting as Evangelists is by some denied and refuted yea even with scorn rejected by some rigid Presbyterians and that which we so confidently deny that they were Bishops is confirmed by the consentient testimony of all antiquity recorded by Jerome himself that they were Bishops of Paul's ordination acknowledged by very many late Divines and that a Catalogue of 27 Bishops of Ephesus lineally succeeding from Timothy out of good Record is vouched by Dr. Reynolds and other Writers Our confidence as Your Majesty is pleased to call it was in our Answer exprest in these words We cannot say that Timothy and Titus were Bishops in the sense of Your Majesty but extraordinary Officers or Evangelists in which opinion we were then clear not out of a total ignorance of those Testimonies which might be alleged against it but from intrinsick arguments out of Scripture from which Your Majesty hath not produced any one to the contrary Nor is our confidence weakned by such replies as these The Scripture never calls them Bishops but the Fathers do The Scripture calls Timothy an Evangelist some of late have refuted it and rejected it with scorn The Scripture relates their motions from Church to Church but some affirm them to be fixed at Ephesus and in Crete The Scripture makes distinction of Evangelists and Pastors but some say that Timothy and Titus were both We cannot give Your Majesty a present account of Scultetus and Gerard's Arguments but do believe that Mr. Gillespy and Rutherford are able with greater strength to refute that opinion of Timothy and Titus their being Bishops than they do if they do with scorn reject this of their being Evangelists As for Testimonies and Catalogues tho we undervalue them not yet Your Majesty will be pleased to allow us the use of our Reason so far as not to erect an Office in the Church which is not found in Scripture upon general appellations or titles and allusions frequently found in the Fathers especially when they speak vulgarly and not as to a point in debate for even Jerome who as Your Majesty saith doth record that Timothy and Titus were made Bishops and that of St. Paul's Ordination doth when he speaks to the point between Your Majesty and us give the Bishops to understand that they are superior to Presbyters consuetudine magis quam Dominicoe veritatis dispositione For Catalogues their credit rests upon the first witnesses from whom they are reported by tradition from hand to hand whose writings are many times supposititious dubious or not extant besides that these Catalogues do resolve themselves into some Apostle or Evangelist as the first Bishop as the catalogue of Jerusalem into the Apostle James that of Antioch into Peter that of Rome into Peter and Paul that of Alexandria into Mark that of Ephesus into Timothy which Apostles and Evangelists can neither themselves be degraded by being made Bishops nor be succeeded in their proper Calling or Office and it is easie for us to proceed the same way and to find many ancient rites and customs generally received in the Church counted by the ancients Apostolical traditions as near the Apostles times as Bishops which yet are confessedly not of Divine Institution And further if Timothy and the rest that are first in the catalogue were Bishops with such sole Power of Ordination and Censures as is asserted how came their pretended Successors who were but primi Presbyterorum as the Fathers themselves call them to lose so much Episcopal power as was in their Predecessors and as was not recovered in 300 years And therefore we cannot upon any thing yet said recede from that of our Saviour Ab initio non fuit sic from the beginning it was not so 4. Your Majesty saith that we affirm but upon very weak proofs that they were from Ephesus and Crete removed to other places the contrary whereunto hath been demonstrated by some who have exactly out of Scripture compared the times and order of the several Journeys and Stations of Paul and Timothy It is confessed that our assertion that Timothy and Titus were Evangelists lies with some stress upon this that they removed from place to place as they were sent by or accompanied the Apostles the proof whereof appears to us to be of greater strength than can be taken off by the comparison which Your Majesty makes of the Divines of the Assembly at Westminster We begin with the travels of Timothy as we find them in order recorded in the Scripture-places cited in the Margin and we set forth from Beraea where we find
Timothy then next at Athens from whence Paul sends him to Thessalonica afterwards having been in Macedonia he came to Paul at Corinth and after that he is with Paul at Ephesus and thence sent by him into Macedonia whiter Paul went after him and was by Timothy accompanied into Asia who was with him at Troas and Miletus to which place S. Paul sent for the Presbyters of the Church in Ephesus and gave them that solemn charge to take heed unto themselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them Bishops not speaking a word of recommendation of that Church to Timothy or of him to the Elders And if Timothy was Bishop of Ephesus he must needs be so when the first Epistle was sent to him in which he is pretended to receive the charge of exercising his Episcopal power in Ordination and Government but it is manifest that after this Epistle sent to him he was in continual Journeys or absent from Ephesus For Paul left him at Ephesus when he went into Macedonia and he left him there to exercise his Office in regulating and ordering that Church and in ordaining but it was after this time that Timothy is found with Paul at Miletus for after Paul had been at Miletus he went to Jerusalem whence he was sent prisoner to Rome and never came more into Macedonia and at Rome we find Timothy a prisoner with him and those Epistles which Paul wrote while he was prisoner at Rome namely the Epistle to the Philippians to Philemon to the Colossians to the Hebrews do make mention of Timothy as his companion at these times nor do we ever find him again at Ephesus for we find that after all this towards the end of St. Paul's life after his first answering before Nero and when he said his departure was at hand he sent for Timothy to Rome not from Ephesus for it seems that Timothy was not there because Paul giving Timothy an account of the absence of most of his companions sent into divers parts he saith Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus Now if Your Majesty shall be pleased to cast up into one total that which is said the several journeys and stations of Timothy the order of them the time spent in them the nature of his employment to negotiate the affairs of Christ in several Churches and places the silence of the Scriptures as touching his being Bishop of any one Church you will acknowledg that such a man was not a Bishop fixed to one Church or Precinct and then by assuming that Timothy was such a man you will conclude that he was not Bishop of Ephesus The like conclusion may be inferred from the like premisses from the instance of Titus whom we find at Jerusalem before he came to Crete from whence he is sent for to Nicopolis and after that he is sent to Corinth from whence he is expected at Troas and met with Paul in Macedonia whence he is sent again to Corinth and after all this is near the time of Paul's death at Rome from whence he went not into Crete but into Dalmatia and after this is not heard of in the Scripture And so we hope Your Majesty doth conceive that we affirm not upon very weak proofs that Timothy and Titus were from Ephesus and Crete removed to other places In the fifth exception Your Majesty takes notice of two places of Scripture cited by us to prove that they were called away from those places of Ephesus and Crete which they do not conclude much of themselves yet being accompanied by two other places which Your Majesty takes no notice of may seem to conclude more and these i Tim. i. 3. Titus i. 5. as I be sought thee to abide still at Ephesus for this cause left I thee in Crete in both which is specified the occasional employment for which they made stay in those places and the expressions used I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus I left thee in Crete do not sound like words of instalment of a man into a Bishoprick but of an intendment to call them away again and if the first and last be put together his actual revocation of them both the intimation of his intention that they should not stay there for continuance and the reason of his beseeching the one to stay and of his leaving the other behind him which was some present defects and distempers in those Churches they will put fair to prove that the Apostle intended not to establish them Bishops of those places and therefore did not For the Postscripts because your Majesty lays no great weight upon them we shall not be solicitous in producing evidence against them though they do bear witness in a matter of fact which in our opinion never was and in Your Majesties Judgment was long before they were born And so we conclude this discourse about Timothy and Titus with this observation that in the same very Epistle of Paul to Timothy out of which Your Majesty hath endeavoured to prove that he was a Bishop and did exercise Episcopal Government there is clear evidence both for Presbyters imposing hands in Ordination and for their Ruling In the next point concerning the Angels of the Churches tho Your Majesty faith that you lay no weight upon the Allegory or Mystery of the denomination yet you assert that the persons bearing that name were personae singulares and in a word Bishops who yet are never so called in Scripture and the allegorical denomination of Angels or Stars which in the Judgment of ancient and modern Writers doth belong to the faithful Ministers and Preachers of the Word in general is appropriate as we may so say to the Mitre and Crosier-staff and so opposed to many express testimonies of Scripture And if Your Majesty had been particular in that wherein You say the strength of Your instance lies viz. the Judgment of all ancient and of the best modern Writers and many probabilities in the Text it self we hope to have made it apparent that many ancient and eminent modern Writers many probabilitirs out of the Text it self do give evidence to the contrary To that which is asserted That these singular persons were Bishops in distinct sense whether we brought any thing of moment to infirm this we humbly submit to Your Majesties Judgment and shall only present to You that in Your Reply You have not taken notice of that which in our Answer seems to us of moment which is this That in Mysterious and prophetick writings or visional representation such as this of the Stars and golden Candlesticks is a number of things and persons is usually exprest in singulars and this in Visions is the usual way of Representation of things a thousand persons making up one Church is represented by one Candlestick many Ministers making up one Presbytery by one Angel And because Your Majesty seems to
viz. because it was not The one Reason given by Your Majesty is because in the Churches which the Apostles themselves planted they placed Presbyters under them for the Office of Teaching but reserved in their own hands the Power of Governing those Churches for a longer or shorter time before they set Bishops over them Which under Your Majesties favour is not so much a reason why Bishops are not mentioned to be in those places as that they indeed were not The variety of Reasons may we say or Conjectures rendred why Bishops were not set up at first as namely because fit men could not be so soon found out which is Epiphanius his reason or for remedy of Schism which is Jerome's reason or because the Apostles saw it not expedient which is Your Majesties reason doth shew that this Cause labours under a manifest weakness For the Apostles reserving in their own hands the power of Governing we grant it they could no more devest themselves of power of Governing than as Dr. Bilson saith they could lose their Apostleship had they set no Bishops in all Churches they had no more parted with their power of Governing than they did in setting up the Presbyters for we have proved that Presbyters being called Rulers Governors Bishops had the power of Governing in Ordinary committed to them as well as the Office of Teaching and that both the Keys as they are called being by our Saviour committed into one hand were not by the Apostle divided into two Nor do we see how the Apostle could reasonably commit the Government of the Church to the Presbyters of Ephesus Acts 20. and yet reserve the power of Governing viz. in Ordinary in his own hands who took his solemn leave of them as never to see their faces more As concerning that part of the power of Government which for distinction sake may be called Legislative and which is one of the three fore-mentioned things challenged by the Bishops viz. giving Rules the reserving of it in the Apostles hands hindred not but that in Your Majesties Judgment Timothy and Titus were Bishops of Ephesus and Crete to whom the Apostle gives Rules for Ordering and Governing of the Church Nor is there any more reason that the Apostles reserving that part of the Power of Governing which is called Executive in such cases and upon such occasions as they thought meet should hinder the setting up of Bishops if they had intended it and therefore the reserving of Power in their hands can be no greater reason why they did not set us Bishops at the first than that they never did And since by Your Majesties Concession the Presbyters were plac'd by the Apostles first in the Churches by them planted and that with Power of Governing as we prove by Scripture You must prove the super-institution of a Bishop over the Presbyters by the Apostles in some after-times or else we must conclude that the Bishop got both his Name and Power of Government out of the Presbyters hand as the Tree in the wall roots out the stones by little and little as it self grows As touching Philippi where Your Majesty saith it may be probable there was yet no Bishop it is certain there were many like them who were also at Ephesus to whom if only the Office of Teaching did belong they had the most laborious and honourable part that which was less honourable being reserved in the Apostles hands and the Churches left in the mean time without ordinary Government The other Reason given why only two Orders are mentioned in those places is because he wrote in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus to them that were Bishops so there was no need to write any thing concerning the Choice or Qualification of any other sort of Officers than such as belonged to their Ordination or Inspection which were Presbyters and Deacons only and no Bishops The former Reason why only two Orders are mentioned in the Epistle to the Philippians was because there was yet no Bishop this latter Reason why the same two only are mentioned in these Epistles is because there was no Bishop to be Ordained We might own the reason for good if there may be found any rule for the Ordination of the other Order of Bishops in some other place of Scripture but if the Ordination cannot be found how should we find the Order And it is reasonable to think that the Apostle in the Chapter formerly alledged i Tim. iii. where he passes immediately from the Bishop to the Deacon would have distinctly exprest or at least hinted what sort of Bishops he meant whether the Bishop over Presbyters or the Presbyter-Bishop to have avoided the confusion of the Name and to have set as it were some matk of difference in the Escocheon of the Presbyter-Bishop if there had been some other Bishop of a higher house And whereas Your Majesty saith there was no need to write to them about a Bishop in a distinct sense who belonged not to their Ordination and Inspection we conceive that in Your Majesties judgment Bishops might then have Ordained Bishops like themselves for there was then no Canon forbidding one single Bishop to ordain another of his own rank and there being many Cities in Crete Titus might have found it expedient as those ancient Fathers that call him Arch-bishop think he did to have set up Bishops in some of those Cities So that this Reason fights against the Principles of those that hold Timothy and Titus to have been Bishops For our part we believe that these Rules belonged not to Timothy and Titus with strict limitation to Ephesus and Crete but respectively to all the places or Churches where they might come and to all that shall at any time have the Office of Ordaining and Governing as it is written in the same Chapter i Tim. iii. 14 15. These things I have written unto thee c. that thou mayest know how to behave thy self in the House of God which is the Church And therefore if there had been any proper Character or Qualification of a Bishop distinct from a Presbyter if any Ordination or Office we think the Apostle would have signified it but because he did not we conclude and the more strongly from the insufficiency of Your Majesties two Reasons that there are only two Orders of Officers and consequently that a Bishop is not superior to a Presbyter for we find not as we said in our Answer that one Officer is superior to another who is of the same Order Concerning the Ages succeeding the Apostles Your Majesty having in Your first Paper said that You could not in Conscience consent to Abolish Episcopal Government because You did conceive it to be of Apostolical Institution practised by the Apostles themselves and by them committed and derived to particular persons as their Successors and hath ever since till these last times been exercised by Bishops in all the Churches of Christ we thought it necessary in our Answer to
Church-Government could have pretended to such institution it had been the most impossible thing in the world when there neither was any outward coercive power to inforce it nor could be any General Council to establish it to have introduced such a Form of Government so suddenly and quietly into all Christian Churches and not the Spirit of any one Presbyter for ought that appeareth for above Three Hundred years to have been provoked either through Zeal Ambition or other motive to stand up in the just defence of their own and the Churches liberty against such an Usurpation His Majesty believeth that whosoever shall consider the premisses together with the Scripture-evidences that are brought for that Government will see reason enough to conclude the same to have something of Divine Institution in it notwithstanding all the evasions aad objections that the subtil wit of man can devise to perswade the contrary And therefore His Majesty thinketh it fit plainly to tell you that such Conjectural Interpretations of Scripture as He hath yet met with in this Argument how handsomly soever set off are not Engines of strength enough to remove Him from that Judgment wherein He hath been setled from His Childhood and findeth so consonant to the Judgment of Antiquity and to the constant Practice of the Christian Church for so many hundred years which in a matter of this nature ought to weigh more than mere Conjectural Inferences from Scripture-Texts that are not so attested Which having now once told you His Majesty thinketh Himself discharged from the necessity of making so large and particular an Answer to every Allegation in the sequel of your Reply as hitherto He hath done As to the Apostles Mission and Succession To make His Answer the shorter to so long a discourse His Majesty declareth that His meaning was not by distinguishing the Mission and Vnction of the Apostles so to confine them as if they should relate precisely and exclusively the one to the Office the other to the Abilities but that they did more especially and eminently so relate For the Apostles after their last Mission Matth. xxviii 19 20. whereby they were further warranted to their Office and Work were yet to wait for that promised anointing Luke xxiv 49. Acts i. 4. the special effect whereof was the enduing them with Gifts of the Holy Ghost for the better and more effectual performing of that their Work and Office Nor was it His Majesties meaning to restrain the Extraordinaries in the Apostolical Office to those Gifts only for His Majesty afterwards in the same Paper mentioneth other Extraordinaries also as before is said but only to instance in those Gifts as one sort of Extraordinaries wherein the Apostles were to have no Successors But His Majesties full meaning was that the whole Apostolical Office setting aside all and only what was personal and extraordinary in them consisted in the work of Teaching and Governing which being both of necessary and perpetual use in the Church to the worlds end the Office therefore was also to continue and consequently the persons of the Apostles being mortal to be transmitted and derived to others in succession And that the Ordinary Successors of the Apostles immediately and into the whole Office both of Teaching and Governing are properly the Bishops the Presbyters succeeding them also but in part and into the Office of Teaching only and that mediately and subordinately to the Bishops by whom they are to be ordained and authorized thereunto which His Majesty taketh not to be as you call it a dissolving of the Apostolical Office Now the ground of what His Majesty hath said concerning the manner of Succession to the Apostles that it may appear not to have been said gratis is this The things which the Scriptures record to have been done by Christ or his Apostles or by others at their appointment are of three sorts some acts of Power merely extraordinary others acts of an ordinary power but of necessary and perpetual use othersome lastly and those not a few Occasional and Prudential fitted to the present condition of the Church in several times To the Apostles in matters of the first sort none pretend succession nor are either the Examples of what the Apostles themselves did or the directions that they gave to others what they should do in matters of the third sort to be drawn into consequence so far as to be made necessary Rules binding all succeeding Church-officers in all Times to perpetual observation So that there remain the things of the middle sort only which we may call Substantials into which the Apostles are to have ordinary and standing Successors But then the difficulty will be by what certain marks Extraordinaries Substantials and Prudentials may be known and distinguished each from other Evident it is the Scriptures do not afford any particular discriminating Characters whereby to discern them the Acts of all the three sorts being related in the like narrative forms and the directions of all the three sorts expressed in the like preceptive forms Recourse therefore must of necessity be had to those two more general Criterions the Laws of all human actions Reason and Common Usage Our own Reason will tell us that instructing the People of God in the Christian Faith exhorting them to Piety and good Works administring the Sacraments c. which belong to the Office of Teaching that Ordaining of Ministers Inspection over their Lives and Doctrines and other Administrations of Ecclesiastical Affairs belonging to the Office of Governing are matters of great importance and necessary concernment to the Church in all ages and times and therefore were to be concredited to standing Officers in a Line of succession and accordingly were judged and the continuance of them preserved in the constant usage of the Churches of Christ But that on the other side the decrees concerning Abstinence from Blood and Strangled Acts xv the Directions given for the ordering some things in the Church-Assemblies i Cor. xiv for making Provisions for the Poor i Cor. xvi 1. for the choice and maintenance of Widows i Tim. v. for the enoiling of the sick James v. 14. and other like were but Occasional Prudential and Temporary and were so esteemed by the Churches and the practice of them accordingly laid aside So for the Succession into the Apostolical Office we find in the Scriptures Evidence clear enough that the Apostles committed to others as namely to Timothy and Titus the Power both of Teaching and Governing the Churches And common Reason and Prudence dictating to us that it is good for the edifying of the Church that there should be many Teachers within a competent precinct but not so that there should be many Governours and the difference of Bishops and Presbyters to the purposes aforesaid having been by continual usage received and preserved in the Christian Church down from the Apostles to the present times His Majesty conceiveth the succession of Bishops to the Apostles into so
Majesty believeth it cannot be proved either from clear evidence of Scripture or credible testimonies of Antiquity that ever any Presbyter or Presbytery exercised the power either of Ordination at all without a Bishop or of that which they call Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in ordinary and by their own sole Authority or otherwise than as it was delegated unto them upon occasion and for the time by Apostles or Bishops For that place of Phil. 1. 1. in particular His Majesties purpose being not to interpret the place a work fitter for Divines but to manifest the inconsequence of the Argument whereby you would conclude but two standing Officers only because but two there named He gave this as one probable conjecture why there might be no Bishop in distinct sense there mentioned because possibly the Apostles had not as yet set any Bishop over that Church which His Majesty did not propose as the only no nor yet as the most probable conjecture for which cause He delivered it so cautiously saying only It might be probable but as that which for the present came first into His thoughts and was sufficient for His purpose without the least meaning thereby to prejudice other interpretations as namely of those Expositors who take the words with the Bishops and Deacons as belonging to the persons saluting and not to the persons saluted to this sense Paul and Timotheus the servants of Jesus Christ with the Bishops and Deacons to the Saints at Philippi c. or of those who affirm and that with great probability too that Epaphroditus was then actually Bishop of Philippi but not to be mentioned in the Inscription of the Epistle because he was not then at Philippi but with Saint Paul at Rome when that Epistle was written Any of which conjectures if they be true as there is none of them utterly improbable that place of Phil. 1. 1. will not do you much service in this Question In the Epistles to Timothy and Titus the Apostle directeth and admonisheth them as Bishops particularly concerning Ordination of Ministers that they do it advisedly and ordain none but such as are meetly qualified for the Service of the Church which Directions and Admonitions His Majesty believeth for the substance to belong to all Bishops of after-times as well as unto them But His Majesty seeth no necessity why in those Epistles there should be any particular directions given concerning the Ordination of Bishops at least unless it could be made appear that they were to ordain some such in those places nor perhaps if that could be made to appear inasmuch as in those Epistles there is not the least signification of any difference at all between Presbyters and Deacons in the manner of their Ordination both being to be performed by the Bishop and by Imposition of Hands and so both comprehended under that general Rule Lay hands suddenly on no man but only and that very little and scarce considerable as to the making of distinct Offices in the qualification of their persons The Ordination therefore of Bishops Presbyters and Deacons being to be performed in the same manner and the same Qualifications after a sort saving such differences as the importance of their several Offices make which is more in the degree than in the things being required in both it had been sufficient if in those Epistles there had been direction given concerning the Ordination and Qualification of but one sort of Church-Officers only as in the Epistle to Titus we see there are of Presbyters only and no mention made of Deacons in the whole Epistle whence it may be as well concluded That there was to be no other standing Officer in the Church of Crete but Presbyters only because Saint Paul giveth no directions to Titus concerning any other as it can be concluded That there were to be no other Officers in the Church of Ephesus but Presbyters and Deacons only because Saint Paul giveth no direction to Timothy concerning any other As to the Ages succeeding the Apostles Concerning the Judgment of Ecclesiastical Writers about the Divine Right of Episcopacy His Majesty conceiveth the difference to be more in their Expressions than in their Meaning some calling it Divine others Apostolical and some but not many Ecclesiastical But that the Superiority of Bishops above Presbyters began in the Apostles times and had its foundation in the Institution either of Christ himself or of his Apostles His Majesty hath not heard Aerius exceped that any till these latter Ages have denied For that which you touch upon concerning the word Infallible His Majesty supposeth you knew His meaning and He delighteth not to contend about words As for the Catalogues some uncertainties in a few a frailty which all human Histories are subject to His Majesty taketh to be insufficient to discredit all Differences there are in Historiographers in reciting the Succession of the Babylonian Persian and Macedonian Kings and of the Saxon Kings in England And we find far more inextricable intricacies in the Fasti Consulares the Catalogues of the Roman Consuls notwithstanding their great care in keeping of the publick Records and the exactness of the Roman Histories than are to be found in Epistcopal Catalogues those especially of the chiefest Cities as Jerusalem Rome Antioch Alexandria Ephesus c. Yet as all men believe there were Kings in those Countries and Consuls in Rome in those times so as you might well foresee would be answered the discrediting of the Catalogues of Bishops in respect of some uncertainties although His Majesty doubteth not but many of the differences you instance in may be fairly reconciled tendeth rather to the confirming of the thing it self That which you say in Answer hereunto that the Ecclesiastical Writers called them Bishops in compliance to the Language of their own Times after the names of Presbyters and Bishops were distinguished but that they were not indeed Bishops in the proper sense now in Question His Majesty who believeth the distinction of those names to have begun presently after the Apostles times if not rather whilst some of them were living doth consequently believe that as they were called so they were indeed Bishops in that proper sense It appeareth by Ignatius his Epistles every where how wide the difference was in his time between a Bishop and a mere Presbyter If Hierom only and some a little ancienter than he had applied the name Bishop to persons that lived some Ages before them there might have been the more colour to have attributed it to such a compliance as you speak of but that they received both the Name and the truth of their relations from unquestionable Testimonies and Records His Majesty thinketh it may be made good by many instances For example to instance in one only Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna who is thought to be the Angel of that Church in the Revelations Ignatius who was contemporary with him wrote one Epistle to him and sends salutation to him in another as
from the effects of blind Zeal and over-bold Devotion XVII Of the Differences between the KING and the Two Houses in point of CHURCH-GOVERNMENT TOuching the Government of the Church by Bishops the common Jealousie hath been that I am earnest and resolute to maintain it not so much out of Piety as Policy and reason of State Wherein so far indeed reason of State doth induce Me to approve that Government above any other as I find it impossible for a Prince to preserve the State in quiet unless he hath such an influence upon Church-men and they such a dependance on Him as may best restrain the seditious exorbitancies of Ministers tongues who with the Keys of Heaven have so far the Keys of the Peoples Hearts as they prevail much by their Oratory to let in or shut out both Peace and Loyalty So that I being as KING intrusted by God and the Laws with the good both of Church and State I see no reason I should give up or weaken by any change that power and influence which in right and reason I ought to have over both The removing Bishops out of the House of Peers of which I have elsewhere given an account was sufficient to take off any suspicion that I encline to them for any use to be made of their Votes in State-affairs Tho indeed I never thought any Bishop worthy to sit in that House who would not Vote according to his Conscience I must now in Charity be thought desirous to preserve that Government in its right constitution as a matter of Religion wherein both my Judgment is fully satisfied that it hath of all other the fullest Scripture grounds and also the constant Practice of all Christian Churches till of late years the Tumultuariness of people or the Factiousness and Pride of Presbyters or the Covetousness of some States and Princes gave occasion to some mens wits to invent new models and propose them under the specious titles of Christs Government Scepter and Kingdom the better to serve their turns to whom the change was beneficial They must give Me leave having none of their temptations to invite Me to alter the Government of Bishops that I may have a title to their Estates not to believe their pretended grounds to any new ways contrary to the full and constant testimony of all Histories sufficiently convincing unbiassed men that as the Primitive Churches were undoubtedly governed by the Apostles and their immediate Successors the first and best Bishops so it cannot in Reason or Charity be supposed that all Churches in the world should either be ignorant of the Rule by them prescribed or so soon deviate from their Divine and Holy Pattern That since the first Age for fifteen hundred years not one Example can be produced of any setled Church wherein were many Ministers and Congregations which had not some Bishop above them under whose Jurisdiction and Government they were Whose constant and universal practice agreeing with so large and evident Scripture-Directions and Examples as are set down in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus for the setling of that Government not in the Persons only of Timothy and Titus but in the Succession the want of Government being that which the Church can no more dispense with in point of well-being than the want of the Word and Sacraments in point of being I wonder how men came to look with so envious an eye upon Bishops power and authority as to oversee both the Ecclesiastical use of them and Apostolical constitution which to Me seems no less evidently set forth as to the main scope and design of those Epistles for the setling of a peculiar Office Power and Authority in them as President-Bishops above others in point of Ordination Censures and other acts of Ecclesiastical Discipline than those shorter characters of the qualities and duties of Presbyter-Bishops and Deacons are described in some parts of the same Epistles who in the latitude and community of the name were then and may now not improperly be call'd Bishops as to the oversight and care of single Congregations committed to them by the Apostles or those Apostolical Bishops who as Timothy and Titus succeeded them in that ordinary power there assigned over larger divisions in which were many Presbyters The Humility of those first Bishops avoiding the eminent title of Apostles as a name in the Churches style appropriated from its common notion of a Messenger or one sent to that special Dignity which had extraordinary Call Mission Gifts and Power immediately from Christ they contented themselves with the ordinary titles of Bishops and Presbyters until use the great arbitrator of words and master of language finding reason to distinguish by a peculiar name those Persons whose Power and Office were indeed distinct from and above all other in the Church as succeeding the Apostles in the ordinary and constant power of governing the Churches the honour of whose name they moderately yet commendably declined all Christian Churches submitting to that special authority appropriated also the name of Bishop without any suspicion or reproach of arrogancy to those who were by Apostolical propagation rightly descended and invested into that highest and largest power of governing even the most pure and Primitive Churches which without all doubt had many such holy Bishops after the pattern of Timothy and Titus whose special power is not more clearly set down in those Epistles the chief grounds and limits of all Episcopal claim as from Divine Right than are the characters of these perilous times and those men that make them such who not enduring sound Doctrine and clear testimonies of all Churches practice are most perverse Disputers and proud Usurpers against true Episcopacy who if they be not Traitors and Boasters yet they seem to be very covetous heady high-minded inordinate and fierce lovers of themselves having much of the Form little of the power of Godliness Who by popular heaps of weak light and unlearned Teachers seek to over-lay and smother the pregnancy and authority of that power of Episcopal Government which beyond all equivocation and vulgar fallacy of names is most convincingly set forth both by Scripture and all after-Histories of the Church This I write rather like a Divine than a Prince that Posterity may see if ever these Papers be publick that I had fair grounds both from Scripture-Canons and Ecclesiastical Examples whereon my Judgment was stated for Episcopal Government Nor was it any Policy of State or obstinacy of Will or partiality of Affection either to the men or their Function which fixed Me who cannot in point of worldly respects be so considerable to Me as to recompence the injuries and losses I and My dearest Relations with My Kingdoms have sustained and hazarded chiefly at first upon this quarrel And not only in Religion of which Scripture is the best rule and the Churches Universal Practice the best commentary but also in right Reason and the true nature of Government it cannot be thought
be applied to them as inferior Pastors in relation to their Flocks under their charge and oversight the Flock being in both the places expresly mentioned which hindreth not but that the same words may in a more particular manner be appropriated to Bishops in respect of that Authority and oversight they have even over Presbyters themselves also That still granting your own interpretation of the word Bishop in that place to Titus it can prove no more than that the two names in that place are given to the same Function That from all the Premisses in your Paper there laid together and supposed true His Majesty doth not conceive it justly proved That the Office of a Bishop and Presbyter is wholly the same but at the most That the Offices were not in those places distinguished by those Names Thirdly if the Assignment of any particular Qualification work or duty unto a Bishop distinct from a Presbyter by the Scripture would as you say put this question near to an issue His Majesty should well have hoped that it might soon be brought to a near point and that from the evidence of the Epistles onely of St. Paul to Timothy wherein as he particulary expresseth the qualification work and duty of Presbyters and Deacons that Timothy might know what persons were fit to be ordained unto those Offices so in the directions given to Timothy throughout those Epistles he sufficiently describeth the qualification work and duty of a Bishop that Timothy might know how to behave himself in the exercise of his Episcopal Office as well in Ordaining as in Governing the Church As to the signification of the word Episcopus the primary signification thereof and the application of it to Church-Officers you acknowledge and that the same was after by Ecclesiastical usage appropriated to Bishops you deny not But the distinction of Episcopus Gregis and Episcopus Pastorum you do not allow If you disallow it for the unfitness of the word as may seem by that passage where you say that His Majesty hath said that Episcopus signifieth a Keeper of Shepherds His Majesty thinketh you might very well have spared that exception For if there be a person that hath the oversight of many Shepherds under him there is no more impropriety in giving such a person the style of Episcopus Pastorum than there is in using the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or in calling Doeg the Master of Saul's Herdsmen And for the thing it self it cannot be denied but that the Apostles and Timothy and Titus by what claim ordinary or extraordinary as to the present business it matters not had the oversight and authority over many Pastors and were therefore truly and really Episcopi Pastorum The appropriation of the names of Episcopus and Presbyter to these distinct Offices considering that it was done so early and received so universally in the Church as by the writings of Clemens Ignatius the Canons commonly called of the Apostles and other ancient evidences doth appear His Majesty hath great reason to believe that it was done by consent of the Primitive Bishops merely in honour of the Apostles out of their respect and reverence to whose persons and personal Prerogatives they chose to call themselves Bishops rather than Apostles in common usage although they made no scruple to maintain their succession from the Apostles when they spake of things proper to their Episcopal Function nor to use upon occasion the terms of Apostle and Apostolical in that sense The truth of all which is to be seen frequently in the writings of the Ancients The Testimonies of so many Writers ancient and modern as have been produced for the Scripture-original of Bishops His Majesty conceiveth to be of so great importance in a question of this nature that He thinks himself bound both in Charity and Reason to believe that so many men of such quality would not have asserted the same with so much confidence but upon very good ground The Men respectively of high estimation and reverend authority in the Church worthily renowned for their Learning and Piety of moderate and even Passions of Orthodox belief sundry of them uninteressed in the Quarrel and some of them of later times by interest and education byassed the other way Their assertions positive peremptory and full of assurances Constat nemo ignorat it is clear none can be ignorant and other such like expressions namely That Christ constituted Bishops in the Apostles That it was founded upon a divine Law That Episcopacy is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ordinance of God That it seemed good to the Holy Ghost so to order it c. Insomuch as they accounted Aerius an Heretick for holding the contrary And this their Judgment they delivered as led thereunto by evidence of Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God's Word teacheth it apertis Scripturae testimoniis it appeareth by plain testimonies of Scripture discimus ex hoc loco from this place we learn and the like Which testimonies should they be encountred as His Majesty doth not yet believe they can be with a cloud of Witnesses to the contrary for number and in every other respect equal thereunto yet should not the Authority of their evidence in reason be much lessened thereby inasmuch as one Witness for the Affirmative ought to be of more value than ten for the Negative and the testimony of one person that is not interessed than of an hundred that are And whereas you seem in this Question to decline this kind of trial because matter of Right is properly triable by Scripture His Majesty conceiveth this present Question in what terms soever proposed to be yet in the true stating of it and in the last Resolution clearly a Question of Fact and not of Right For what Right soever the Bishops have or pretend to have must be derived from the Fact of Christ or his Apostles Which matter of Fact if it be not in the most plain Historical manner that may be related in the Scriptures but is to be deduced thence by topical remote inferences and probability of Conjectures the most rational and proper expedient for the finding out of the Right is to have recourse to the Judgment but especially to the Practice of the nearest and subsequent times according to the received Maxims Lex currit cum Praxi Consuetudo optimus interpres Legum Now he that shall find by all the best Records extant that the distinction of Bishops from and the Superiority over Presbyters was so universally and speedily spread over the face of the whole World and their Government submitted unto so unanimously by the Presbyters that there never was any considerable opposition made there-against before Aerius and that cryed down as an Heresie nor since till this last Age and shall duly consider withal that if Episcopal Government had not then been conceived to have had its institution from the Authority of Christ or his Apostles or if any other form of
in the behalf of Episcopal Superiority are so clear and frequent in his Writings that altho he of all the Ancients be least suspected to favour that Function overmuch yet the Bishops would not refuse to make him Arbitrator in the whole business As for the Catalogues there will be more convenient place to speak of them afterwards Fifthly your long Discourse concerning the several stations and removes of Timothy and Titus Sect. 13 14. and their being called away from Ephesus and Crete Sect. 15. His Majesty neither hath time to examine nor thinketh it much needful in respect of what He hath said already so to do It is sufficient to make His Majesty at least suspend His Assent to your Conjectures and Inferences First that He findeth other Learned men from the like Conjectures to have made other Inferences as namely that Timothy and Titus having accompanied Paul in many journeys postea tandem were by him constituted Bishops of Ephesus and Crete Secondly that supposing they were after the times of the several Epistles written to them sent by the Apostles to other places or did accompany them in some of their journeys even for a long time together it cannot be concluded thence that they were not then Bishops of those Churches or that the Government of those Churches was not committed to their peculiar charge If it be supposed withall which is but reasonable that their absence was commanded by the Apostle and that they left their Churches cum animo revertendi Thirdly that the places which you press again of i Tim. i. 3. and Titus i. 5. weigh so little to the purpose intended by you even in your own judgments for you say only They put fair to prove it that you cannot expect they should weigh so much in His as to need any further Answer save only that His Majesty knoweth not what great need or use there should be of leaving Timothy at Ephesus or Titus in Crete for ordaining Presbyters and Deacons with such directions and admonitions to them for their care therein if they were not sent thither as Bishops For either there were Colleges of Presbyters in those places before their coming thither or there were not if there were and that such Colleges had power to ordain Presbyters and Deacons without a Bishop then was there little need of sending Timothy and Titus so solemnly thither about the work if there were none then had Timothy and Titus power of sole Ordination which is a thing by you very much disliked Those inconveniences His Majesty thinketh it will be hard wholly to avoid upon your Principles That Discourse you conclude with this Observation That in the very same Epistle to Timothy out of which he is endeavoured to be proved a Bishop there is clear evidence both for Presbyters imposing hands in Ordination and for their Ruling Yet His Majesty presumeth you cannot be ignorant that the evidence is not so clear in either particular but that in the former very many of the Latin Fathers especially and sundry later Writers as Calvin and others refer the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the remoter Substantive Grace or Gift and not that of Imposition of Hands and so understand it as meant of the Office of Presbytery or as we were wont to call it in English by derivation from that Greek word of Priesthood in Timothy himself and not of a Colledg or Company of Presbyters collectively imposing hands on him and that the Greek Fathers who take the word collectively do yet understand by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there a Company of Apostles or Bishops who laid hands on Timothy in his ordination to the Office of a Bishop as was ordinarily done by three joyning in that act in the Primitive and succeeding times and not of a College of mere Presbyters and that in the latter particular to wit that of Ruling the place whereon His Majesty conceiveth your Observation to be grounded hath been by the Adversaries of Episcopal Government generally and mainly insisted upon as the only clear proof for the establishing of Ruling-Lay-Elders which interpretation His Majesty knoweth not how far you will admit of As to the Angels of the Churches His Majesties purpose in naming these Angels in His first Paper sufficiently declared in His second required no more to be granted for the proving of what He intended but these Two Things only First That they were Personae singulares and then That they had a Superiority in their respective Churches as well over Presbyters as others which two being the Periphrasis or Definition of a Bishop His Majesty conceived it would follow of it self That they were Bishops That the Epistles directed to them in their respective Reproofs Precepts Threatnings and other the contents thereof did concern their fellow-Presbyters also and indeed the whole Churches which in your last you again remember His Majesty did then and doth still believe finding it agreeable both to the tenor of the Epistles themselves and to the consentient judgment of Interpreters Only His Majesty said and still doth That that hindreth not but that the Angels to whom the Epistles were directed were Personae singulares still This His Majesty illustrated by a Similitude which tho it do not hold in some other respects and namely those you observe for His Majesty never dreamt of a four-footed Similitude yet it perfectly illustrates the thing it was then intended for as is evident enough so that there needeth no more to be said about it That which you insist upon to prove the contrary from Revel xi 24. But I say to you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plurally and the rest in Thyatira is plainly of no force if those Copies in which the copulative conjunction is wanting be true for then the Reading would be this But I say to you the rest in Thyatira But following the ordinary Copies the difficulty is not great such manner of Apostrophes by changing the number or turning the speech to another person being very usual both in Prophetick Writings such as this Book of Revelation is and in Epistles of this nature written to one but with reference to many others therein concerned Beza expoundeth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to you that is the Angel as President and his Collegues the other Presbyters and to the rest that is to the whole flock or people which manner of speaking might be illustrated by the like forms of speech to be used in a Letter written to a Corporation wherein the Mayor and Aldermen especially but yet the whole Town generally were concerned but directed to the Mayor alone or from a Lord containing some Orders for his own houshould especially and generally for the whole Township but by the Inscription directed to his Steward only or the like The Consent of ancient and later Writers was produced by His Majesty for the proof of the two things before named only but especially of the first viz. That the Angels were Personae singulares
of the Archbishop Abbot who was then with the Prince and the Duke and other of the Nobility waiting in the Privy Chamber for the King 's coming out on his Brother's head adding That if He continued a good Boy and followed His Book he would make him one Day Archbishop of Canterbury Which the Child took in such disdain that He threw the Cap on the Ground and trampled it under His Feet with so much eagerness that he could hardly be restrained Which Passion was afterward taken by some over-curious as a presage of the ruine of Episcopacy by His Power But the event shewed it was not ominous to the Order but to the Person of the Archbishop whom in his Reign he suspended from the Administration of his Office An. 1611 In his eleventh Year he was made Knight of the Garter An. 1612 and in the twelfth Prince Henry dying Novemb. 6. He succeeded him in the Dukedome of Cornwal and the Regalities thereof and attended his Funeral as Chief Mourner on Decemb. 7. On the 14th of Feb. following He performed the Office of Brideman to the Princess Elizabeth his Sister who on that Day was Married to Frederick V. Prince Elector Palatine the Gayeties of which Day were afterwards attended with many fatal Cares and Expences His Childhood was blemished with a supposed Obstinacy for the weakness of his Body inclining him to retirements and the imperfection of His Speech rendring Discourse tedious and unpleasant He was suspected to be somewhat perverse But more age and strength fitting Him for Manlike Exercises and the Publick Hopes inviting Him from his Privacies He delivered the World of such Fears for applying Himself to Action he grew so perfect in Vaulting riding the great Horse running at the Ring shooting in Cross-bows Muskets and sometimes in great Pieces of Ordnance that if Principality had been to be the Reward of Excellency in those Arts He would have had a Title to the Crown this way also being thought the best Marks-man and most graceful Manager of the great Horse in the three Kingdoms His tenacious humour He left with his Retirements none being more desirous of good Counsel nor any more Obsequious when he found it yea too distrustful of his own Judgment which the issue of things proved always best when it was followed When he was sixteen Years old An. 1616 on Nov. 3. He was created Prince of Wales Earl of Chester and Flint the Revenues thereof being assigned to maintain his Court which was then formed for Him And being thus advanced in Years and State it was expected that He should no longer retain the Modesty which the Shades of his Privacy had accustomed Him unto but now appear as the immediate Instrument of Empire and that by Him the Favours and Honours of the Court should be derived to others But though Providence had changed all about yet it had changed nothing within Him and He thought it Glory enough to be great without the diminution of others for He still permitted the Ministry of State to His Father's Favourites which gave occasion of Discourse to the Speculativi Some thought He did it to avoid the Jealousies of the Old King which were conceived to have been somewhat raised by the popularity of Prince Henry whose breast was full of forward Hopes For Young Princes are deemed of an impatient Ambition and Old ones to be too nice and tender of their Power in which though they are contented with a Successor as they must have yet are afraid of a Partner And it was supposed that therefore King James had raised Car and Buckingham like Comets to dim the lustre of these rising Stars But these were mistaken in the nature of that King who was enclined to contract a private friendship and was prodigal to the Objects of it before ever he had Sons to divert his Love or raise his Fears Some that at a distance looked upon the Prince's actions ascribed them to a Narrowness of Mind and an Incapacity of Greatness while others better acquainted with the frame of his Spirit knew His prudent Modesty enclined Him to learn the Methods of Commanding by the practice of Obedience and that being of a peaceful Soul He affected not to embroil the Court and from thence the Kingdom in Factions the effects of impotent minds which He knew were dangerous to a State and destructive to that Prince who gives Birth unto them that therefore He chose to wait for a certain though delayed Grandeur rather then by the Compendious way of Contrasts get a precocious Power and leave too pregnant an Example of Ruine Others conceived it the Prudence of the Father with which the Son complyed who knew the true use of Favourites was to make them the objects of the People's impatience the sinks to receive the Curses and Anger of the Vulgar the Hatred of the Querulous and the Envy of unsatisfied Ambition which he would rather have fall upon Servants that His Son might ascend the Throne free and unburthened with the discontents of any This was the rather believed because He could dispence Honours where and when He pleased as He did to some of His own Houshold as Sir Robert Cary was made Lord Cary of Lepington Sir Thomas Howard Viscount Andover and Sir John Vaughan Lord of Molingar in Ireland The Evenness of His Spirit was discovered in the loss of His Mother An. 1618 whose Death presaged as some thought by that notorious Comet which appeared Nov. 18. before happened on March 2. Anno 1618. which He bewailed with a just measure of Grief without any affected Sorrows though she was most affectionate to Him above all her other Children and at her Funeral he would be chief Mourner The Death of the Queen was not long after followed with a sharp Sickness of the King wherein his Life seeming in danger the consequences of his Death began to be lamented Dr Andrews then Bishop of Ely bewailed the sad Condition of the Church if God should at that time determine the days of the King The Prince being then only conversant with Scotch men which made up the greatest part of his Family and were ill-affected to the Government and Worship of the Church of England Of this the King became so sensible that he made a Vow If God should please to restore his Health he would so instruct the Prince in the Controversies of Religion as should secure His affections to the present Establishment Which he did with so much success as he assured the Chaplains who were to wait on the Prince in Spain that He was able to moderate in any emergent Disputations which yet he charged them to decline if possible At which they smiling he earnestly added That CHARLES should manage a Point in Controversy with the best-studied Divine of them all In His 19th Year An. 1619 on March 24. which was the Anniversary of King James's coming to the Crown of England He performed a Justing at White-hall together with several of
nor lavished on ambitious designs from all which destructions of Treasure no King was more free was but just sufficient for ordinary and necessary Expences of State and Majesty And though it was most just for Him to expect the Peoples Contribution to their own Safety who were never richer than now nor had they ever more Security for their Riches than they now had by his Concessions of Liberty yet knowing how powerful the Faction alwaies was to disturb the Counsels of Parliament He feared that from their Proceedings the common Enemies would be incouraged as formerly to higher Insolencies and the envious Demagogues would contemn their own safety to ruine His Honour He also accounted it a great unhappiness to be necessitated to maintain His State by extraordinary waies and therefore refused to renew Privie Seals and Loans the use of which He debarred Himself of in granting the Petition of Right Therefore consults His Atturney-General Noy whether the Prerogative had yet any thing left to save an unwilling people Noy acquaints Him with Ancient Precedents of raising a Tax upon the Nation for setting forth a Navie in case of danger and assures Him of the Legality of the way in proceeding by Writs to that effect Which Counsel being embraced there were Writs directed to the several Counties for such a Contribution that in the whole might build furnish and maintain Forty Seven Ships for the safety of the Kingdom And by these the King soon secured and calmed the Seas but the Faction endeavoured to raise a Tempest at Land They complained of Invasions on their Spiritual Liberties An. 1635 because the Bishops endeavoured in these years to reduce the Ceremonies of the Church to their primitive Observance of which a long Prosperity had made men negligent and time had done that to the Spiritual Body which it doth to the Natural dayly amassed those Corruptions which at length will stand in need of cure Therefore when they took this proper Method of reforming a corrupted State in bringing things back to their Original Institution both His Majesty and they were defamed with designs of Popery This Tax of Ship-money was pretended a breach to their Civil Liberties and contrary to Law because not laid by a Parliament Therefore those who sought the People's favour to alter the present Government by seeming the singular Patrons of their Rights An. 1636 refused to pay the Tax and stood it out to a Trial at Law The Just Prince declined not the Tryal and permitted Monarchy and Liberty to plead at the same Bar. All the Judges of the Land did justifie by their Subscriptions that it was legal for the King to levy such a Tax and their Subscriptions were enrolled in all the Courts of Westminster-Hall And when it came to be argued in the Exchequer-Chamber ten of them absolutely declared for it only two Crook and Hutton openly dissented from that Opinion to which they had formerly subscribed not without the ignominy of Levity unbeseeming their places And as the King was thus victorious in the Law so was He at Sea and having curbed the Pirates He also reduced the Hollanders to a precarious use of His Seas Amidst all these Difficulties and Calumnies the King hitherto had so governed that sober men could not pray for nor Heaven grant in Mercy to a People any greater Happiness than what His Reign did afford The British Empire never more flourished with Magnificent Edifices the Trade of the Nation had brought the Wealth of the Indies home to our doors Learning and all good Sciences were so cherished that they grew to Admiration and many Arts of the Ancients buried and forgotten by time were revived again No Subjects under the Sun richer and which was the effect of that none prouder Security increased the Husband-mans stock and Justice preserved his Life none being condemned as to Life but by the lawful Verdict of those of an equal Condition the Jury of his Peers The poor might Reverence but needed not Fear the Great and the Great though he might despise yet could not injure his more obscure Neighbour And all things were so administred that they seemed to conspire to the Publick good except that they made our Happiness too much the cause of all Civil Commotions and brought our Felicity to that height that by the necessity of Humane Nature which hath placed all things in motion it must necessarily decline And God provoked by our sins did no longer restrain and obstruct the arts and fury of some wicked men who contemning their present certain enjoyments hoped for more wicked acquisitions in publick Troubles to overwhelm every part of the King's Dominions with a Deluge of Blood and Misery and to commence that War which as it was horrid with much slaughter so it was memorable with the Experiences of His Majesties Vertues Confusions like Winds from every Coast at once assaulting and trying His Righteous Soul The first Storm arose from the North and the flame first broke out in Scotland where those Lords who feared they should lose their spoils of Religion and Majesty took all occasions to hasten the publick Misery which at last most heavily lay upon their Country the hands they had strengthned and instructed to fight against their Prince laying a more unsupportable slavery upon them then their most impious Slanders could form in the imaginations of the credulous that they might fear from the King by calumniating the King's Government raising fears of Tyranny and Idolatry forming and spreading seditious Libels The Author or at least the Abettor of one of which was found to be the Lord Balmerino a Traitor by Nature being the Son of one who had before merited Death for his Treasons to King James yet found that mercy from him as the Son now did from King Charles to have his Life and Estate continued after condemnation Yet this perfidious man interpreted the King's Clemencie for his own Vertue and he that had dared such a Crime could not be changed by the Pardon of it and as if he had rather received an Injury than Life he was the most active in the approaching Rebellion For the Rabble An. 1637 that delights in Tumults were fitted by this and other Boutefeus for any occasion of contemning the King's Authority though His designs that were thus displeasing to the Noblefs were evidently for the benefit of the Populacy and at last took fire from the Liturgie something differing from ours lest a full consent might argue a dependency upon the Church of England which some Scotish Bishops had composed and presented to the King for the use of their Church which the King who was desirous that those who were united under His Command might not be divided in Worship confirmed and appointed to be first read July 13. at Edinburgh a City always pregnant with suspicions and false rumours But it was entertained with all the instruments of Fury that were present to a debauched multitude for they flung Cudgels and Sticks at
Patience was not overcome nor his nature changed by the Reproaches of his Accusers answers with so brave a Presence of Spirit such firm Reasons and so clear an Eloquence that he whom the mercenary Tongues of their Lawyers had rendred as a Monster of men could not be found guilty of Treason either in the particulars or the whole So that his Enemies were filled with madness that their Charge of Crimes appeared no other then a Libel of Slanders and the dis-interessed Hearers were besides the pleasure they received to find so great Endowments polluted with no hainous Crimes sensible of the unhappiness of those who are Ministers of State among a Factious people where their prosperous Counsels are not rewarded and unsuccessfull though prudent are severely accused when they erre every one condemns them and their wise Advices few praise for those that are benefitted envy and such as are disappointed hate those that gave them And such seemed the Fate of this Excellent Counsellour whom nothing else but his great Parts his Master's Love and Trust had exposed to this Danger The Faction being obstructed this way by the Earl's Innocency and Abilities from taking away his Life move the House to proceed by a Bill of Attainder to the making a Law after the Fact whereby they Vote him guilty of High Treason yet adde a Caution that it should not be drawn into a Precedent seeking to secure themselves from a return of that Injustice upon themselves which they acted on him intending to prosecute what they falsly charged him with the Alteration of Government Which yet passed not without a long debate and contention for many that had none but honest hopes disdained to administer to the Interest of the Faction in the blood of so much Innocent Gallantry and those that were prudent saw how such an Example opened the avenues to ruine of the best Persons when once exposed to publick hatred Therefore they earnestly disswaded such a proceed And fifty nine of the most eminent openly dissented when it came to the Vote whose Names were afterwards posted and marked for the fury of the Rabble that for the future they might not oppose the designs of the Factious unless they desired to be torn in pieces In two dayes the Lower House past the Bill so swift were the Demagogues to shed blood but the Lords House was a little more deliberative the King having amongst them declared His sense of the Earl's Innocency of whose slow Resolves the Faction being impatient there came a seditious rabble of about 5 or 6000 of the dreggs of the people armed with Staves and Cudgels and other Instruments of Outrage instigated by the more unquiet Members both of the House of Commons and the City to the Parliament doors clamouring Justice Justice and the next day to raise their Fury there was a report spred among them of some endeavours to prepare an Escape for the Lieutenant of Ireland therefore with more fierceness they raised their clamours some objecting Treason to him others their Decay of Trade and each one either as he was instructed for some of the House of Commons would be among them to direct their Fury and to give some order to their Tumult that it might appear more terrible or the sense of his own necessities and lusts led him urged his different motives for Justice and at last heated by their own motion and noise they guard the doors of the House of Peers offer insolencies to the Lords especially the Bishops as they went in and threaten them if their Votes disagree from their clamours And when they had thus made an assault on the Liberty of the Parliament which yet was pretended to be so Sacred they afterward set upon the neighbouring abbey-Abbey-Church where forcing open the doors they brake down the Organs spoiled all the Vestments and Ornaments of the Worship from thence they fly to Court and disturb the Peace of it with their undecent and barbarous clamours and at last were raised to that impudency as to upbraid the King who from a Scaffold perswaded them as they passed by to a modest care of their own private affairs with an unfitness to reign When some Justices of the Peace according to the Law endeavoured to suppress those Tumults by imprisoning the most forward and bold Leaders they themselves were imprisoned by the Command of the Commons upon pretext of an injury offered to the Liberties of the Subject of which one was as they then dictated That every one might safely petition the Parliament yet when the Kentish men came to petition for something contrary to the Gust of the Faction they caused the City Gates to be shut upon them and when other Counties were meditating Addresses for Peace by threatnings they deterred them from such honest undertakings And when some prudent Persons minded the Demagogues how dishonourable it was for the Parliament not to suppress such Mutinies they replied that their friends ought rather to be thanked and caressed By these and other Arts having wholly overthrown the freedom of that Council and many withdrawing themselves from such Outrages when scarce the third part of the Peers were present the Faction of that House likewise passed the Bill the Dissenters being out-voted only by seven Voices Yet all this could not prevail upon the King though the Tumults were still high without and within He was daily sollicited by the Lords of his Palace who now looked upon the Earl as the Herd doth on an hurt Deer and they hoped his Blood would be the Lustration of the Court to leave the Earl as a Sacrifice to the Vulgar rage Nor did the King any ways yield till the Judges who were now obsequious to the pleasures of the Parliament declared he might do it by Law and the Earl by his own Letters devoted himself as a Victime for the publick Peace and His Majesty's safety and then overcome with Importunities on all hands and being abused by bad dealing of the Judges as Himself complained to the Bishop of London who answered That if the King in Conscience found him not guilty He ought not to pass the Bill but for matter of Law what was Treason he referred Him to the Judges who according to their Oath ought to carry themselves indifferently betwixt Him and His Subjects but the other four Bishops that were then consulted Durham Lincoln Carlisle and the Archbishop of Armagh were not so free as the Bishop of London was and therefore the King observed a special blessing of God upon him He at last with much reluctancy signed a Commission to some Lords to pass that Bill of Attainder and another for Continuation of the Parliament during the pleasure of the Two Houses The passing of these two Bills as some thought wounded the King's Greatness more than any thing He ever did The first because it cut off a most exquisite Instrument of Empire and a most faithful Servant and none did more make use of this to pollute His
at first secretly they whispered and at last publickly imputed that horrid Massacre Which Slanders were coloured by the Arts of the Irish Rebels who to dishearten the English from any resistance bragged that the Queen was with their Army That the King would come amongst them with Auxiliary Forces That they did but maintain His Cause against the Puritans That they had the King's Commission for what they did shewing indeed a Patent that themselves had drawn but thereto was affixed an Old broad Seal that had been taken from an obsolete Patent out of Farnham Abbey by one Plunckett in the presence of many of their Lords and Priests as was afterwards attested by the Confession of many That the Scots were in Confederacy with them to beget a Faith of which they abstained from the Lives and Fortunes of those of that Nation among them On the other side to incourage the Natives of their own Party they produce fictitious Letters wherein they were informed from England that the Parliament had passed an Act that all the Irish should be compelled to the Protestant Worship that for the first offence they should forfeit all their Goods for the second their Estates and for the third their Lives Besides they present them with the hopes of Liberty That the English Yoke should be shaken off that they would have a King of their own Nation and that the Goods and Estates of the English should be divided among the Natives And with these hopes of Spoil and Liberty and Irish were driven to such a Fury that they committed so many horrid and barbarous Acts as scarce ever any Age or People were guilty of In the mean while nothing was done for the relief of the poor English there but only some Votes passed against the Rebels till the King returned to London which was about the end of November where He with the Queen and the Prince were magnificently feasted by the Citizens and the chief of them afterwards by Him at Hampton-Court For he never neglected any honest Arts to gain His Peoples love to which they were naturally prone enough had not His Enemies methods and impulses depraved their Genius But this much troubled the Faction who envied that Reverence to Majesty in others which was not in themselves and they endeavoured to make these loves short and unhappy for they discountenanced the prime advancers of this Honour of the King and were more eager to render Him odious For having gotten a Guard about them they likewise insinuated into the people dangerous apprehensions as the cause of that Guard and every day grew more nice and jealous of their Priviledges and Power The King's advices to more tenderness of His Prerogative or His Advertisements of the scandalous Speeches that were uttered in their House they interpret as encroachments upon their Grandeur and upbraided the King for them in their Petitions to Him But their greatest effort upon Majesty was the Remonstrance after which they took all occasions to magnifie the apprehensions of those Fears which they had falsly pretended to in it This the Faction had before formed and now brought into the House of Commons where it found a strong opposition by those wise men that were tender of the publick Peace and Common Good though those who preferred their Private to the General Interest and every one that was short-sighted and improvident for the future were so fierce for it that the Debates were continued all Night till ten a Clock the next Morning so that many of the more aged and Persons of best Fortunes not accustomed to such watchings were wearied out and many others not daring to provoke the Faction in this their grand Design left the House so that at last they carried it yet but by eleven Votes Which they presented with a Petition to take away the Votes of Bishops in the House of Lords and the Ceremonies in the Church and to remove those Persons from His Trust which they could not confide in yet named none but only accused all under the name of a Malignant Popish Party Which they had no sooner delivered than they caused it to be published in print To which the King answers in another publick Declaration but so much to the Discontent of the Demagogues to find their Methods of Ruine so fully discovered as they were in His Majesties Answer that they had recourse to their former Sovereign Remedy which sober men accounted a Crime and an indignity to Government the Tumults of the Rabble Who in great numbers and much confusion came up to Westminster some crying out against Bishops others belching their fury against the Liturgy and a third Party roaring that the Power of the Militia should be taken out of the King's hands To their Clamours they added rude Affronts to those Lords whom their Leaders had taught them to hate and especially to the Bishops at their going in or coming out of the House and afterwards drawing up to White-Hall they appeared so insolent as it was evident they wanted only some to begin for there were enough to prosecute an assault upon the King in His own Palace The Bishops thus rudely excluded from their Right and Liberty of coming to the Parliament Twelve of them afterwards protest against the Proceedings of it during their so violent Exclusion Which Protestation the Commons presently accused of High Treason and caused their Commitment to the Tower where they continued them till the Bill against their Votes in the Lord's House was past that they might not produce their Reasons for their Rights and against the Injustice offered unto them and then afterwards released them The King also saw it necessary to take a Guard of such Gentlemen as offered their Service for His Safety and to prevent the prophaning of Majesty by the rude fury of the People who used to make their Addresses acceptable at Westminster by offering in their passage some base Affronts at White-Hall But when the terrour of this Guard had reduced them to some less degree of Impudencie they then instructed by their Heads laboured to make it more unsafe to the King by seeking to raise the Rage and Jealousie of the whole City against Him For at Midnight there were cries out in the Street that all People should arise to their defence for the King with His Papists were coming to fire the City and cut their Throats in their Beds Than which though nothing was more false yet it found the effects of truth and the People by such Alarms being terrified from sleep the impressions of those nightly fears lay long upon their Spirits in the day and filled them almost with Madness The King therefore not alwaies to incourage these Violences with Patience but at last by a course of Justice to take off those whom He had found to be the Authors of these destructive Counsels the grand Movers of these Seditious practices and which was more the Inviters of a Foreign Force the Scotch Army into this Nation commands
took no notice of it although it was so weighty an Occurrence to have His prime Minister cut off in the busie Preparations for a great Design till He had finished His Addresses to Heaven and His Spirit was dismissed from the Throne of Grace to attend the Cares of that on Earth This was so clear an Evidence of a most fixed Devotion that those who built their Hopes upon His Reproaches slanderously imputed it to a secret Pleasure in the fall of him whose Greatness was now terrible to the Family that raised it which both His Majesties care of the Duke's Children afterwards as also the Consideration of His Condition did evince to be false and that the King neither hated him nor needed to fear him whom He could have ruined with a Frown and have obliged the People by permitting their Fury to pass upon him Besides His Majestie 's constant Diligence in those Duties did demonstrate that nothing but a principle of Holiness which is alwaies uniform both moved and assisted Him in those sacred Performances to which He was observed to go with an exceeding Alacrity as to a ravishing pleasure from which no lesser Pleasures nor Business were strong enough for a Diversion In the morning before He went to Hunting His beloved Sport the Chaplains were before Day call'd to their Ministry and when He was at Brainford among the Noise of Arms and near the Assaults of His Enemies He caused the Divine that then waited to perform his accustomed Service before He provided for Safety or attempted at Victory and would first gain upon the Love of Heaven and then afterwards repel the Malice of Men. Those that were appointed by the Parliament to attend Him in His Restraints wondred at His constant Devotions in His Closet and no Artifice of the Army was so likely to abuse Him to a Credulity of their good Intentions as the Permission of the Ministery of His Chaplains in the Worship of God a Mercy He valued to some of His Servants above that of enjoying Wife and Children At Sermons He carried Himself with such a Reverence and Attention that His Enemies which hated yet did even admire Him in it as if He were expecting new Instructions for Government from that God whose Deputy He was or a new Charter for a larger Empire and He was so careful not to neglect any of those Exercises that if on Tuesday Mornings on which Dayes there used to be Sermons at Court He were at any distance from thence He would ride hard to be present at the beginnings of them When the State of His Soul required He was as ready to perform those more severe parts of Religion which seem most distastful to Flesh and Blood And He never refused to take to Himself the shame of those Acts wherein He had transgressed that He might give Glory to His God For after the Army had forced Him from Holmeby and in their several removes had brought Him to Latmas an house of the Earl of Devonshire on Aug. 1. being Sunday in the Morning before Sermon He led forth with Him into the Garden the Reverend Dr Sheldon who then attended on Him and whom He was pleased to use as His Confessour and drawing out of His Pocket a Paper commanded him to read it transcribe it and so to deliver it to Him again This Paper contained several Vows which He had obliged His Soul unto for the Glory of His Maker the advance of true Piety and the emolument of the Church And among them this was one that He would do Publick Penance for the Injustice He had suffered to be done to the Earl of Strafford His consent to those Injuries that were done to the Church of England though at that time He had yielded to no more than the taking away of the High Commission and the Bishops power to Vote in Parliament and to the Church of Scotland and adjured the Dr that if ever he saw Him in a Condition to observe that or any of those Vows he should solicitously mind Him of the Obligations as he dreaded the guilt of the breach should ly upon His own Soul This voluntary submission to the Laws of Christianity exceeded that so memorable humiliation of the good Emperour Theodosius for he never bewailed the Blood of those seven thousand Men which in three hours space he caused to be spilt at Thessalonica till the resolution of St Ambrose made him sensible of the Crime But the Piety of King Charles anticipated the severity of a Confessor for those Offences to which He had been precipitated by the Violence of others This Zeal and Piety proceeded from the Dedication of His whole Soul to the Honour of His God for Religion was as Imperial in the Intellectual as in the Affectionate Faculties of it This Profession of the Church of England was His not so much by Education as Choice and He so well understood the Grounds of it that He valued them above all other Pretensions to Truth and was able to maintain it against all its Adversaries His Discourse with Henderson shews how just a Reverence He had for the Authority of the Catholick Church against the Pride and Ignorance of Schismaticks yet not to prostitute His Faith to the Adulterations of the Roman Infallibility and Traditions Nevertheless the most violent Slanders the Faction laboured to pollute Him with were those that rendred Him inclinable to Popery From which He was so averse that He could not forbear in His indearments to the Queen when He committed a secret to Her Breast which He would not trust to any other and when He admired and applauded Her affectionate Cares for His Honour and Safety in a Letter which He thought no Eye but Hers should have perused to let Her know that He still differ'd from Her in Religion for He says It is the only thing of Difference in Opinion betwixt Vs. Malice made the Slanderers blind and they published this Letter to the World than which there could not be a greater Evidence imaginable of the King 's most secret thoughts and Inward Sincerity nor a more shameful Conviction of their Impudence and damnable Falshood Nor did He only tell the Queen so but He made Her see it in His Actions For as soon as His Children were born it was His first Care to prevent the satisfaction of their Mother in baptizing them after the Rites of Her own Church When He was to Die a time most seasonable to speak Truth especially by Him who all His Life knew not how to Dissemble He declares His Profession in Religion to be the same with that which He found left by His Father King James How little the Papists credited what the Faction would have the World believe was too evident by the Conspiracies of their Fathers against His Life and Honour which the Discovery of Habernefield to whose relations the following practices against Him and the Church of England gained a belief brought to light They were mingled likewise
or the not few years that I have been setled in my Principles it ought to be no strange thing if it be found no easie work to make Me alter them and the rather that hitherto I have according to Saint Paul's rule Rom. 14. 22. been happy in Not condemning my self in that thing which I allow Thus having shewed you How it remains to tell you what I believe in relation to these miserable Distractions No one thing made Me more reverence the Reformation of My Mother the Church of England than that it was done according to the Apostles defence Acts 24. 18. neither with multitude nor with tumult but legally and orderly and by those whom I conceive to have the Reforming power which with many other inducements made Me alwaies confident that the work was very perfect as to Essentials of which number Church-Government being undoubtedly one I put no question but that would have been likewise altered if there had been cause Which opinion of Mine was soon turned into more than a confidence when I perceived that in this particular as I must say of all the rest we retained nothing but according as it was deduced from the Apostles to be the constant universal custom of the Primitive Church and that it was of such consequence as by the alteration of it we should deprive our selves of a lawful Priesthood and then how the Sacraments can be duly administred is easie to judge These are the principal Reasons which make Me believe that Bishops are necessary for a Church and I think sufficient for Me if I had no more not to give my consent for their expulsion out of England But I have another obligation that to My particular is a no less tie of Conscience which is my Coronation Oath Now if as S. Paul saith Rom. 14. 23. He that doubeth is damned if he eat what can I expect if I should not only give way knowingly to my Peoples sinning but likewise be perjured My self Now consider ought I not to keep My self from presumptuous sins and you know who saies What doth it profit a Man though he should gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Wherefore my constant maintenance of Episcopacy in England where there was never any other Government since Christianity was in this Kingdom methinks should be rather commended than wondred at my Conscience directing Me to maintain the Laws of the Land which being only my endeavours at this time I desire to know of you what warrant there is in the Word of God for Subjects to endeavour to force their King's Conscience or to make him alter Laws against his will If this be not My present case I shall be glad to be mistaken or if my Judgment in Religion hath been misled all this time I shall be willing to be better directed till when you must excuse Me to be constant to the Grounds which the King my Father hath taught Me. Newcastle May 29. 1646. C. R. II. Mr Alexander Henderson's First Paper For His MAJESTY SIR IT is Your Majestie 's Royal Goodness and not my merit that hath made Your Majesty to conceive any opinion of my Abilities which were they worthy of the smallest testimony from Your Majesty ought in all duty to be improved for Your Majestie 's satisfaction And this I intended in my coming here at this time by a free yet modest expression of the true motives and inducements which drew my mind to the dislike of Episcopal Government wherein I was bred in my younger years in the University Like as I did apprehend that it was not Your Majestie 's purpose to have the Question disputed by Divines on both sides which I would never to the wronging of the Cause have undertaken alone and which seldom or never hath proved an effectual way for finding of Truth or moving the minds of Men to relinquish their former Tenents Dum res transit à judicio in affectum witness the Polemicks between the Papists and us and among our selves about the matter now in hand these many years past 1. SIR when I consider Your Majestie 's Education under the hand of such a Father the length of time wherein Your Majesty hath been setled in Your Principles of Church-Government the Arguments which have continually in private and publick especially of late at Oxford filled Your Majestie 's ears for the Divine Right thereof Your Coronation Oath and divers State reasons which Your Majesty doth not mention I do not wonder nor think it any strange thing that Your Majesty hath not at first given place to a contrary impression I remember that the famous Joannes Picus Mirandula proveth by irrefragable Reasons which no rational man will contradict That no man hath so much power over his own Vnderstanding as to make himself believe what he will or to think that to be true which his Reason telleth him is false much less is it possible for any Man to have his Reason commanded by the will or at the pleasure of another 2. It is a true saying of the School-men Voluntas imperat intellectui quoad exercitium non quoad specificationem Mine own will or the will of another may command me to think upon a matter but no will or command can constrain me to determine otherwise than my Reason teacheth me Yet Sir I hope Your Majesty will acknowledge for Your Paper professeth no less that according to the saying of Ambrose Non est pudor ad meliora transire It is neither sin nor shame to change to the better Symmachus in one of his Epistles I think to the Emperours Theodosius and Valentinian alledgeth all those motives from Education from Prescription of time from worldly Prosperity and the flourishing condition of the Roman Empire and from the Laws of the Land to perswade them to constancy in the ancient Pagan profession of the Romans against the imbracing of the Christian Faith The like reasons were used by the Jews for Moses against Christ and may be used both for Popery and for the Papacy it self against the Reformation of Religion and Church-Government and therefore can have no more strength against the Change now than they had in former times 3. But Your Majesty may perhaps say That this is petitio principii and nothing else but the begging of the Question and I confess it were so if there can be no Reasons brought for a Reformation or Change Your Majesty reverences the Reformation of the Church of England as being done legally and orderly and by those who had the Reforming Power and I do not deny but it were to be wish'd that Religion where there is need were alwaies Reformed in that manner and by such power and that it were not committed to the Prelates who have greatest need to be reformed themselves nor left to the multitude whom God stirreth up when Princes are negligent Thus did Jacob reform his own Family Moses destroyed the golden Calf the good Kings of Judah reformed the Church
in their time but that such Reformation hath been perfect I cannot admit Asa took away Idolatry but his Reformation was not perfect for Jehosaphat removed the High places yet was not his Reformation perfect for it was Hezekiah that brake the Brasen Serpent and Josiah destroyed the Idol-Temples who therefore beareth this Elogie That like unto him there was no King before him It is too well known that the Reformation of K. Henry the VIII was most imperfect in the Essentials of Doctrine Worship and Government And although it proceeded by some degrees afterward yet the Government was never reformed the Head was changed Dominus non Dominium and the whole lims of the Antichristian Hierarchy retained upon what Snares and Temptations of Avarice and Ambition the great Enchanters of the Clergy I need not express It was a hard saying of Romanorum Malleus Grosthed of Lincoln That Reformation was not to be expected nisi in ore gladii cruentandi Yet this I may say that the Laodicean lukewarmness of Reformation here hath been matter of continued complaints to many of the Godly in this Kingdom occasion of more Schism and Separation than ever was heard of in any other Church and of unspeakable grief and sorrow to other Churches which God did bless with greater purity of Reformation The glory of this great work we hope is reserved for Your Majesty that to Your comfort and everlasting Fame the praise of godly Josiah may be made Yours which yet will be no dispraise to Your Royal Father or Edward the VI. or any other Religious Princes before You none of them having so fair an opportunity as is now by the supreme Providence put into Your Royal hands My soul trembleth to think and to foresee what may be the event if this opportunity be neglected I will neither use the words of Mordecai Esth 4. 14. nor what Savonarola told another Charles because I hope better things from Your Majesty 4. To the Argument brought by your Majesty which I believe none of your Doctors had they been all about You could more briefly and yet so fully and strongly have expressed That nothing was retained in this Church but according as it was deduced from the Apostles to the constant universal practice of the Primitive Church and that it was of such consequence as by the alteration of it we should deprive our selves of the lawfulness of Priesthood I think Your Majesty means a lawful Ministry and then how the Sacraments can be administred is easy to judge I humbly offer these considerations First What was not in the times of the Apostles cannot be deduced from them We say in Scotland It cannot be brought But that is not the Ben But not to insist now on a Liturgy and things of that kind there was no such Hierarchy no such difference betwixt a Bishop and a Presbyter in the times of the Apostles and therefore it cannot thence be deduced for I conceive it to be as clear as if it were written with a Sun-beam that Presbyter and Bishop are to the Apostles one and the same thing no majority no inequality or difference of office power or degree betwixt the one and the other but a mere Identity in all 2. That the Apostles intending to set down the Offices and Officers of the Church and speaking so often of them and of their gifts and duties and that not upon occasion but of set purpose do neither express nor imply any such Pastor or Bishop as hath power over other Pastors although it be true that they have distinctly and particularly exprest the Office Gifts and Duties of the meanest Officers such as Deacons 3. That in the Ministery of the New Testament there is a comely beautiful and Divine Order and subordination one kind of Ministers both ordinary and extraordinary being placed in degree and dignity before another as the Apostles first the Evangelists Pastors Doctors c. in their own ranks but we cannot find in Offices of the same kind that one hath majority of power or priority of degree before another no Apostle above other Apostles unless in moral respects no Evangelist above other Evangelists or Deacon above other Deacons why then a Pastor above other Pastors In all other sorts of Ministers ordinary and extraordinary a Parity in their own kind only in the office of Pastor an Inequality 4. That the whole power and all the parts of the Ministry which are commonly called The power of Order and Jurisdiction are by the Apostles declared to be common to the Presbyter and Bishop and that Matt. 15. 16 17. the gradation in matter of Discipline or Church censures is from one to two or more and if he shall neglect them tell it to the Church he saith not tell it to the Bishop there is no place left to a retrogradation from more to one were he never so eminent If these considerations do not satisfie Your Majesty may have more or the same further cleared 5. Secondly I do humbly desire Your Majesty to take notice of the fallacy of that Argument from the Practice of the Primitive Church and the universal Consent of the Fathers It is the Argument of the Papists for such Traditions as no Orthodox Divine will admit The Law and Testimony must be the Rule We can have no certain knowledge of the Practice universal of the Church for many years Eusebius the prime Historian confesseth so much the learned Josephus Scaliger testifieth that from the end of the Acts of the Apostles until a good time after no certainty can be had from Ecclesiastical Authors about Church matters It is true Diotrephes sought the preeminence in the Apostles times and the Mystery of iniquity did then begin to work and no doubt in after times some puffed up with Ambition and others overtaken with Weakness endeavoured alteration of Church-Government but that all the Learned and Godly of those times consented to such a Change as is talked of afterwards will never be proved 6. Thirdly I will never think that Your Majesty will deny the lawfulness of a Ministery and the due administration of the Sacraments in the Reformed Churches which have no Diocesan Bishops sith it is not only manifest by Scripture but a great many of the strongest Champions for Episcopacy do confess that Presbyters may ordain other Presbyters and that Baptism administred by a private Person wanting a publick Calling or by a Midwife and by a Presbyter although not ordained by a Bishop are not one and the same thing 7. Concerning the other Argument taken from Your Majesty's Coronation Oath I confess that both in the taking and keeping of an Oath so sacred a thing is it and so high a point of Religion much tenderness is required and far be it from us who deresi to observe our own Solemn Oath to press Your Majesty with the violation of Yours Yet Sir I will crave Your leave in all humbleness and sincerity to lay before Your Majesty's eyes this
my humble Opinion would be that they should draw the Minds Tongues and Pens of the Learned to dispute about other matter than the Power or Prerogative of Kings and Princes and in this kind Your Majesty hath suffered and lost more than will easily be restored to Your self or Your Posterity for a long time It is not denied but the prime Reforming power is in Kings and Princes quibus deficientibus it comes to the inferior Magistrate quibus deficientibus it descendeth to the Body of the People supposing that there is a necessity of Reformation and that by no means it can be obtained of their Superiors It is true that such a Reformation is more imperfect in respect of the Instruments and manner of Procedure yet for the most part more pure and perfect in relation to the effect and product And for this end did I cite the Examples of old of Reformation by Regal Authority of which none was perfect in the second way of perfection except that of Josiah Concerning the saying of Grosthed whom the Cardinals at Rome confest to be a more Godly man than any of themselves it was his Complaint and Prediction of what was likely to ensue not his desire or election if Reformation could have been obtained in the ordinary way I might bring two unpartial Witnesses Juel and Bilson both famous English Bishops to prove that the Tumults and Troubles raised in Scotland at the time of Reformation were to be imputed to the Papists opposing of the Reformation both of Doctrine and Discipline as an Heretical Innovation and not to be ascribed to the Nobility or People who under God were the Instruments of it intending and seeking nothing but the purging out of Errour and setling of the Truth 2. Concerning the Reformation of the Church of England I conceive whether it was begun or not in K. Henry the Eighth's time it was not finished by Q. Elizabeth the Father stirred the Humors of the diseased Church but neither the Son nor the Daughter although we have great reason to bless God for both did purge them out perfectly This Perfection is yet reserved for Your Majesty Where it is said that all this time I bring no Reasons for a further Change the fourth Section of my last Paper hath many hints of Reasons against Episcopal Government with an offer of more or clearing of those which Your Majesty hath not thought fit to take notice of And Learned men have observed many Defects in that Reformation As That the Government of the Church of England for about this is the Question now is not builded upon the foundation of Christ and the Apostles which they at least cannot deny who profess Church-Government to be mutable and ambulatory and such were the greater part of Archbishops and Bishops in England contenting themselves with the Constitutions of the Church and the authority and munificence of Princes till of late that some few have pleaded it to be Jure Divino That the English Reformation hath not perfectly purged out the Roman Leaven which is one of the reasons that have given ground to the comparing of this Church to the Church of Laodicea as being neither hot nor cold neither Popish nor Reformed but of a lukewarm temper betwixt the two That it hath depraved the Discipline of the Church by conforming of it to the Civil Policy That it hath added many Church-Offices higher and lower unto those instituted by the Son of God which is as unlawful as to take away Offices warranted by the Divine Institution and other the like which have moved some to apply this saying to the Church of England Multi ad perfectionem pervenirent nisi jam se pervenisse crederent 4. In my Answer to the first of Your Majesty 's many Arguments I brought a Breviate of some Reasons to prove that a Bishop and Presbyter are one and the same in Scripture from which by necessary Consequence I did infer the negative Therefore no difference in Scripture between a Bishop and a Presbyter the one name signifying Industriam Curiae Pastoralis the other Sapientiae Maturitatem saith Beda And whereas Your Majesty averrs the Presbyterian Government was never practised before Calvin's time Your Majesty knows the common Objection of the Papists against the Reformed Churches Where was your Church your Reformation your Doctrine before Luther's time One part of the common Answer is that it was from the beginning and is to be found in Scripture The same I affirm of Presbyterian Government And for the proving of this the Assembly of Divines at Westminster have made manifest that the Primitive Christian Church at Jerusalem was governed by a Presbytery while they shew 1. That the Church of Jerusalem consisted of more Congregations than one from the multitude of Believers from the many Apostles and other Preachers in that Church and from the diversity of Languages among the Believers 2. That all these Congregations were under one Presbyterial Government because they were for Government one Church Acts 11. 22 26. and because that Church was governed by Elders Acts 11. 30. which were Elders of that Church and did meet together for acts of Government And the Apostles themselves in that meeting Acts 15. acted not as Apostles but as Elders stating the Question debating it in the ordinary way of disputation and having by search of Scripture found the will of God they conclude It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and us which in the judgment of the learned may be spoken by any Assembly upon like evidence of Scripture The like Presbyterian Government had place in the Churches of Corinth Ephesus Thessalonica c. in the times of the Apostles and after them for many years when one of the Presbytery was made Episcopus Praeses even then Communi Presbyterorum Consilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur saith Jerome and Episcopos magis consuetudine quam Dispositionis Divinae veritate Presbyteris esse majores in commune debere Ecclesiam regere 5. Far be it from me to think such a thought as that Your Majesty did intend any Fallacy in Your other main Argument from Antiquity As we are to distinguish between Intentio operantis and Conditio operis so may we in this case consider the difference between Intentio Argumentantis and Conditio Argumenti And where Your Majesty argues That if Your opinion be not admitted we will be forced to give place to the Interpretation of private spirits which is contrary to the Doctrine of the Apostle Peter and will prove to be of dangerous consequence I humbly offer to be considered by Your Majesty what some of chief note among the Papists themselves have taught us That the Interpretation of Scriptures and the Spirits whence they proceed may be called private in a threefold sense 1. Ratione Personae if the Interpreter be of a private condition 2. Ratione Modi Medii when Persons although not private use not the publick means which are necessary for finding out the
as well as say it else you say little But that the conforming of the Church Discipline to the Civil Policy should be a depraving of it I absolutely deny for I aver that without it the Church can neither flourish nor be happy And for your last instance you shall do well to shew the prohibition of our Saviour against addition of more Officers in the Church than he named and yet in one sense I do not conceive that the Church of England hath added any for an Archbishop is only a distinction for Order of Government not a new Officer and so of the rest and of this kind I believe there are divers now in Scotland which you will not condemn as the Moderators of Assemblies and others 4. Where you find a Bishop and Presbyter in Scripture to be one and the same which I deny to be alwaies so it is in the Apostles time now I think to prove the Order of Bishops succeeded that of the Apostles and that the name was chiefly altered in reverence to those who were immediately chosen by our Saviour albeit in their time they caused divers to be called so as Barnabas and others so that I believe this Argument makes little for you As for your proof of the antiquity of Presbyterian Government it is well that the Assembly of Divines at Westminster can do more than Eusebius could and I shall believe when I see it for your former Paper affirms that those times were very dark for matter of fact and will be so still for Me if there be no clearer Arguments to prove it than those you mention for because there were divers Congregations in Jerusalem Ergo what are there not divers Parishes in one Diocess your two first I answer but as one Argument and because the Apostles met with those of the inferiour Orders for Acts of Government what then even so in these times do the Deans and Chapters and many times those of the inferiour Clergy assist the Bishops But I hope you will not pretend to say that there was an equality between the Apostles and other Presbyters which not being doth in My judgment quite invalidate these Arguments And if you can say no more for the Churches of Corinth Ephesus Thessalonica c. than you have for Jerusalem it will gain no ground on Me. As for Saint Jerome it is well known that he was no great Friend to Bishops as being none himself yet take him altogether and you will find that he makes a clear distinction between a Bishop and a Presbyter as your self confesses but the truth is he was angry with those who maintained Deacons to be equal to Presbyters 5. I am well satisfied with the explanation of your meaning concerning the word Fallacy though I think to have had reason for saying what I did but by your favour I do not conceive that you have answered the strength of my Argument for when you and I differ upon the interpretation of Scripture and I appeal to the practice of the Primitive Church and the universal consent of the Fathers to be Judge between us Methinks you should either find a fitter or submit to what I offer neither of which to My understanding you have yet done nor have you shewn how waving those Judges I appeal unto the mischief of the interpretation by private Spirits can be prevented Indeed if I cannot prove by Antiquity that Ordination and Jurisdiction belong to Bishops thereby clearly distinguishing them from other Presbyters I shall then begin to misdoubt many of my former Foundations as for Bishop Davenant he is none of those to whom I have appealed or will submit unto But for the exception you take to Fathers I take it to be a begging of the Question as likewise those great discoveries of secrets not known to former Ages I shall call new-invented fancies until particularly you shall prove the contrary and for your Roman Authors it is no great wonder for them to seek shifts whereby to maintain Novelties as well as the Puritans As for Church-ambition it doth not at all terminate in seeking to be Pope for I take it to be no point of humility to indeavour to be independent of Kings it being possible that Papacy in a multitude may be as dangerous as in one 6. As I am no Judge over the Reformed Churches so neither do I censure them for many things may be avowable upon necessity which otherwayes are unlawful but know once for all that I esteem nothing the better because it is done by such a particular Church though it were by the Church of England which I avow most to reverence but I esteem that Church most which comes nearest to the purity of the Primitive Doctrine and Discipline as I believe this doth Now concerning Ordination I bad you prove that Presbyters without a Bishop might lawfully ordain which yet I conceive you have not done for 2 Tim. 1. 6. it is evident that Saint Paul was at Timothie's ordination and albeit that all the Seventy had their power immediately from Christ yet it is as evident that our Saviour made a clear distinction between the twelve Apostles and the rest of the Disciples which is set down by three of the Evangelists whereof Saint Mark calls it an Ordination Mark 3. 15. and Saint Luke sayes And of them he chose Twelve c. Luk. 6. 13. only Saint Matthew doth but barely enumerate them by their name of distinction Mat. 10. 1. I suppose out of modesty himself being one and the other two being none are more particular For the Administration of Baptism giving but not granting what you say it makes more for Me than you but I will not engage upon new Questions not necessary for My purpose 7. For my Oath you do well not to enter upon those Questions you mention and you had done as well to have omitted your instance but out of discretion I desire you to collect your Answer out of the last Section and for your Argument though the intention of my Oath be for the good of the Church collective therefore can I be dispensed withal by others than the representative Body certainly no more than the People can dispense with Me for any Oaths I took in their favours without the two Houses of Parliament As for future Reformations I will only tell you that incommodum non solvit Argumentum 8. For the King my Father's opinion if it were not to spend time as I believe needlesly I could prove by living and written testimonies all and more than I have said of Him for His perswasion in these points which I now maintain and for your defensive War as I do acknowledge it a great sin for any King to oppress the Church so I hold it absolutely unlawful for Subjects upon any pretence whatsoever to make War though defensive against their lawful Sovereign against which no less proofs will make Me yield but God's Word and let Me tell you that upon such points
no question but there are always some flattering fools that can commend nothing but with hyperbolick expressions and you know that supposito quolibet sequitur quidlibet besides do you think that albeit some ignorant Fellows should attribute more power to Presbyters than is really due unto them that thereby their Just reverence and Authority is diminished So I see no reason why I may not safely maintain that the Interpretation of Fathers is a most excellent strengthning to My Opinion though others should attribute the Cause and Reason of their Faith unto it 2. As there is no question but that Scripture is far the best Interpreter of it self so I see nothing in this negatively proved to exclude any other notwithstanding your positive affirmation 3. Nor in the next for I hope you will not be the first to condemn your self Me and innumerable others who yet unblameably have not tied themselves to this Rule 4. If this you only intend to prove that Errours were always breeding in the Church I shall not deny it yet that makes little as I conceive to your purpose But if your meaning be to accuse the Universal practice of the Church with Errour I must say it is a very bold undertaking and if you cannot justifie your self by clear places in Scripture much to be blamed wherein you must not alledge that to be universally received which was not as I dare say that the Controversie about Free-will was never yet decided by Oecumenical or General Council nor must you presume to call that an Errour which really the Catholick Church maintained as in Rites of Baptism Forms of Prayer Observation of Feasts Fasts c. except you can prove it so by the Word of God and it is not enough to say that such a thing was not warranted by the Apostles but you must prove by their Doctrine that such a thing was unlawful or else the Practice of the Church is warrant enough for Me to follow and obey that Custom whatsoever it be and think it good and I shall believe that the Apostles Creed was made by them such Reverence I bear to the Churches Tradition untill other Authors be certainly found out 5. I was taught that de posse ad esse was no good Argument and indeed to Me it is incredible that any custom of the Catholick Church was erroneous which was not contradicted by Orthodox learned Men in the times of their first Practice as is easily perceived that all those Defections were some of them may be justly called Rebellions which you mention 6. I deny it is impossible though I confess it difficult to come to the knowledge of the Universal Consent and Practice of the Primitive Church therefore I confess a man ought to be careful how to believe things of this nature wherefore I conceive this to be only an Argument for Caution My conclusion is that albeit I never esteemed any Authority equal to the Scriptures yet I do think the Unanimous Consent of the Fathers and the Universal Practice of the Primitive Church to be the best and most Authentical Interpreters of God's Word and consequently the fittest Judges between Me and you when we differ until you shall find Me better For example I think you for the present the best Preacher in Newcastle yet I believe you may err and possibly a better Preacher may come but till then I must retain my Opinion Newcastle July 16. 1646. C. R. His MAJESTY's Quaere concerning Easter propounded to the Parliaments Commissioners at Holdenby April 23. 1647. I desire to be resolved of this Question Why the new Reformers discharge the keeping of Easter The Reason for this Quaere is I Conceive the Celebration of this Feast was instituted by the same Authority which changed the Jewish Sabbath into the Lord's Day or Sunday for it will not be found in Scripture where Saturday is discharged to be kept or turned into the Sunday wherefore it must be the Churches Authority that changed the one and instituted the other Therefore My Opinion is that those who will not keep this Feast may as well return to the observation of Saturday and refuse the weekly Sunday When any body can shew Me that herein I am in an errour I shall not be ashamed to confess and amend it till when you know my mind C. R. His MAJESTY's First Paper concerning Episcopacy At the Treaty at NEWPORT October 2. 1648. CHARLES R. I Conceive that Episcopal Government is most consonant to the Word of God and of an Apostolical institution as it appears by the Scripture to have been practised by the Apostles themselves and by them committed and derived to particular persons as their Substitutes or Successors therein as for ordaining Presbyters and Deacons giving Rules concerning Christian Discipline and exercising Censures over Presbyters and others and hath ever since to these last times been exercised by Bishops in all the Churches of Christ and therefore I cannot in Conscience consent to abolish the said Government Notwithstanding this my perswasion I shall be glad to be informed if our Saviour and the Apostles did so leave the Church at liberty as they might totally alter or change the Church-Government at their pleasure Which if you can make appear to Me then I will confess that one of my great Scruples is clean taken away And then there only remains That being by my Coronation-Oath obliged to maintain Episcopal Government as I found it setled to my hands Whether I may consent to the abolishing thereof until the same shall be evidenced to Me to be contrary to the Word of God Newport October 2. 1648. PRAYERS Used by His MAJESTY in the time of His Troubles and Restraint I. A Prayer used by His MAJESTY at His entrance in state into the Cathedral Church of Excester after the defeat of the Earl of Essex in Cornwal O Most glorious Lord God Father Son and Holy Ghost I here humbly adore thy most Sacred Majesty and I bless and magnifie thy Name for that Thou hast been pleased so often and so strangely to deliver Me from the strivings of my People Father forgive them who have thus risen up against Me and do Thou yet turn their hearts both unto Thee and to Me that I being firmly established in the Throne Thou hast placed Me in I may defend Thy Church committed to My care and keep all this Thine and My People in Truth and Peace through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen II. A Prayer drawn by His MAJESTY's special direction and dictates for a Blessing on the Treaty at Uxbridge O Most merciful Father Lord God of Peace and Truth we a People sorely afflicted by the scourge of an unnatural War do here earnestly beseech Thee to command a Blessing from Heaven upon this present Treaty begun for the establishment of an happy Peace Soften the most obdurate hearts with a true Christian desire of saving those mens blood for whom Christ himself
the eleventh of this month by which they will have understood the reasons which enforced Him to go from thence as likewise His constant endeavours for the setling of a safe and well-grounded Peace wheresoever He should be And being now in a place where He conceives Himself to be at much more Freedom and Security than formerly He thinks it necessary not only for making good of His Own professions but also for the speedy procuring of a Peace in these languishing and distressed Kingdoms at this time to offer such grounds to His two Houses for that effect which upon due examination of all Interests may best conduce thereunto And because Religion is the best and chiefest foundation of Peace His Majesty will begin with that particular That for the abolishing Archbishops Bishops c. His Majesty clearly professeth that He cannot give His Consent thereunto both in relation as He is a Christian and a King For the first He avows that He is satisfied in His Judgment that this Order was placed in the Church by the Apostles themselves and ever since their time hath continued in all Christian Churches throughout the world until this last Century of years and in this Church in all times of Change and Reformation it hath been upheld by the wisdom of His Ancestors as the great preserver of Doctrine Discipline and Order in the service of God As a King at His Coronation He hath not only taken a solemn Oath to maintain this Order but His Majesty and His Predecessours in their confirmations of the Great Charter have inseparably woven the Right of the Church into the Liberties of the rest of the Subjects And yet He is willing it be provided that the particular Bishops perform the several duties of their Callings both by their personal Residence and frequent Preachings in their Dioceses as also that they exercise no Act of Jurisdiction or Ordination without the consent of their Presbyters and will consent that their powers in all things be so limited that they be not grievous to tender Consciences Wherefore since His Majesty is willing to give ease to the Consciences of others He sees no reason why He alone and those of His Judgment should be pressed to a violation of theirs Nor can His Majesty consent to the alienation of Church-Lands because it cannot be denied to be a sin of the highest Sacrilege as also that it subverts the intentions of so many pious Donors who have laid a heavy Curse upon all such profane violations which His Majesty is very unwilling to undergo And besides the matter of Conscience His Majesty believes it to be a prejudice to the publick good many of His Subjects having the benefit of renewing Leases at much easier Rates than if those possessions were in the hands of private men not omitting the discouragement which it will be to all Learning and industry when such eminent rewards shall be taken away which now lye open to the Children of meanest persons Yet His Majesty considering the great present distempers concerning Church-discipline and that the Presbyterian Government is now in practice His Majesty to eschew Confusion as much as may be and for the satisfaction of His two Houses is content that the said Government be legally permitted to stand in the same condition it now is for three years provided that His Majesty and those of His Judgment or any other who cannot in Conscience submit thereunto be not obliged to comply with the Presbyterian Government but have free practice of their own profession without receiving any prejudice thereby and that a free Consultation and Debate be had with the Divines at Westminster twenty of His Majesties nomination being added unto them whereby it may be determined by His Majesty and the two Houses how the Church-government after the said time shall be setled or sooner if differences may be agreed as is most agreeable to the Word of God with full liberty to all those who shall differ upon Conscientious grounds from that settlement Always provided that nothing aforesaid be understood to tolerate those of the Romish profession nor exempting of any Popish Recusant from the penalties of the Laws or to tolerate the publick profession of Atheism or Blasphemy contrary to the Doctrine of the Apostles Nicene and Athanasian Creeds they having been received by and had in reverence of all the Christian Churches and more particularly by this of England ever since the Reformation Next the Militia being that Right which is inseparably and undoubtedly inherent in the Crown by the Laws of this Nation and that which former Parliaments as likewise this have acknowledged so to be His Majesty cannot so much wrong that trust which the Laws of God and this Land have annexed to the Crown for the protection and security of His People as to devest Himself and Successors of the power of the Sword Yet to give an infallible evidence of His desire to secure the performance of such agreements as shall be made in order to a Peace His Majesty will consent to an Act of Parliament that the whole power of the Militia both by Sea and Land for and during His whole Reign shall be ordered and disposed by His two Houses of Parliament or by such persons as they shall appoint with powers limited for suppressing of Forces within this Kingdom to the disturbance of the publick Peace and against foreign invasions and that they shall have power during His said Reign to raise Monies for the purposes aforesaid and that neither His Majesty that now is or any other by any Authority derived only from Him shall execute any of the said powers during His Majesties said Reign but such as shall act by the consent and Approbation of the two Houses of Parliament Nevertheless His Majesty intends that all Patents Commissions and other Acts concerning the Militia be made and acted as formerly and that after His Majesties Reign all the power of the Militia shall return entirely to the Crown as it was in the times of Queen Elizabeth and King James of blessed memory After this head of the Militia the consideration of the Arrears due to the Army is not improper to follow for the payment whereof and the ease of His People His Majesty is willing to concur in any thing that can be done without the violation of His Conscience and Honour Wherefore if His two Houses shall consent to remit unto Him such benefit out of Sequestrations from Michaelmas last and out of Compositions that shall be made before the concluding of the Peace and the Arrears of such as have been already made the assistance of the Clergy and the Arrears of such Rents of His own Revenue as His two Houses shall not have received before the concluding of the Peace His Majesty will undertake within the space of eighteen months the payment of four hundred thousand pounds for the satisfaction of the Army and if those means shall not be sufficient His Majesty intends to
come to Thee until I shall send some whom I may trust by word of mouth it being too much trouble to Us both to set them down in paper Copy to My Wife 22. Jan. 1644. XXIII To the QUEEN OXFORD Jan. 30. MDCXLIV V. Dear Heart SUnday last I received three Letters from Thee one a Duplicate of the 30. Decemb. another of the 6. Jan. and the last of the 14. Jan. and even now one Petit is come with a Duplicate of the last wherein as I infinitely joy in the expressions of Thy confident love of Me so I must extreamly wonder that any who pretend to be a friend to Our Cause for I believe Thou wouldst not mention any information from the other side can invent such lyes that Thou hast had ill offices done to Me by any or that Thy care for My assistance hath been the least suspected it being so far from truth that the just contrary is true For I protest to God I never heard Thee spoken of but with the greatest expressions of estimation for Thy love to Me and particularly for Thy diligent care for My assistance But I am confident that it is a branch of that root of knavery which I am now digging at and of this I have more than a bare suspicion And indeed if I were to find fault with Thee it should be for not taking so much care of Thine Own health as of My assistance at least not giving Me so often account of it as I desire these three last making no mention of Thy self Now as for the Treaty which begins this day I desire Thee to be confident that I shall never make a Peace by abandoning My Friends nor such a one as will not stand with My Honour and Safety Of which I will say no more because knowing Thy Love I am sure Thou must believe Me and make others likewise confident of Me. I send Thee herewith My Directions to My Commissioners But how I came to them My self without any others Digby will tell Thee with all the News as well concerning Military as Cabalistical matters At this time I will say no more but that I shall in all things only not answering for words truly shew My self to be eternally Thine The Portugal Agent hath made Me two Propositions first concerning the release of his Master's Brother for which I shall have 50000 l. if I can procure his liberty from the King of Spain the other is for a Marriage betwixt My Son Charles and his Master's Eldest Daughter For the first I have freely undertaken to do what I can and for the other I will give such an Answer as shall signifie nothing I desire Thee not to give too much credit to Sabran's Relations nor much countenance to the Irish Agents in Paris the particular reasons Thou shalt have by Pooly whom I intend for My next Messenger In the last place I recommend to Thee the care of Jersey and Gernsey it being impossible for us here to do much though we were rich being weak at Sea To My Wife 30. Jan. 1644. 5. by Legge Directions for My Uxbridge Commissioners First concerning Religion In this the Government of the Church as I suppose will be the chief question wherein two things are to be considered Conscience and Policy For the first I must declare unto you that I cannot yield to the change of the Government by Bishops not only as I fully concur with the most general opinion of Christians in all Ages as being the best but likewise I hold My self particularly bound by the Oath I took at My Coronation not to alter the Government of this Church from what I found it And as for the Churches Patrimony I cannot suffer any diminution or alienation of it it being without peradventure Sacriledge and likewise contrary to My Coronation Oath But whatsoever shall be offered for rectifying of abuses if any have crept in or yet for the ease of tender Consciences so that it endamage not the foundation I am content to hear and will be ready to give a gracious Answer thereunto For the second As the King's duty is to protect the Church so it is the Churches to assist the King in the maintenance of His just Authority Wherefore My Predecessors have been always careful and especially since the Reformation to keep the dependency of the Clergy entirely upon the Crown without which it will scarcely sit fast upon the King's Head Therefore you must do nothing to change or lessen this necessary dependency Next concerning the Militia After Conscience this is certainly the fittest subject for a King's Quarrel for without it the Kingly Power is but a shadow and therefore upon no means to be quitted but to be maintained according to the ancient known Laws of the Land Yet because to attain to this so much wished Peace by all good men it is in a manner necessary that sufficient and real security be given for the performance of what shall be agreed upon I permit you either by leaving strong Towns or other Military force in the Rebels possession until Articles be performed to give such assurance for performance of Conditions as you shall judge necessary for to conclude a Peace Provided always that ye take at least as great care by sufficient security that Conditions be performed to Me and to make sure that the Peace once setled all things shall return into their ancient Chanels Thirdly for Ireland I confess they have very specious popular Arguments to press this point the gaining of no Article more conducing to their ends than this and I have as much reason both in Honour and Policy to take care how to answer this as any All the world knows the eminent inevitable necessity which caused Me to make the Irish Cessation and there remain yet as strong reasons for the concluding of that Peace Wherefore ye must consent to nothing to hinder Me therein until a clear way be shewn Me how My Protestant Subjects there may probably at least defend themselves and that I shall have no more need to defend My Conscience and Crown from the injuries of this Rebellion Oxford Feb. 1644. Memorials for Secretary Nicholas concerning the Treaty at Uxbridge I. For Religion and Church-Government I will not go one jot further than what is offered by you already II. And so for the Militia more than what ye have allowed by Me but even in that you must observe that I must have free nomination of the full half as if the total number Scots and all be thirty I will name fifteen Yet if they I mean the English Rebels will be so base as to admit of ten Scots to twenty English I am contented to name five Scots and ten English and so proportionably to any number that shall be agreed upon III. As for gaining of particular persons besides security I give you power to promise them rewards for performed services not sparing to engage for places so they be not of great trust
touching which is a great deal of inconvenience Therefore I think it very necessary to lay before you the state of My Affairs as they now stand thereby to hasten not to interrupt your proceedings First I must remember you that there are two Armies in the Kingdom in a manner maintained by you the very naming of which doth more clearly shew the inconvenience thereof than a better tongue than Mine can express Therefore in the first place I shall commend unto you the quick dispatch of that business In the next place I must recommend unto you the state of My Navy and Forts the condition of both which is so well known unto you that I need not tell you the particulars Only thus much they are the walls and defence of this Kingdom which if out of order all men may easily judge what encouragement it will be to our Enemies and what disheartning to our Friends Last of all and not the least to be considered I must lay before you the Distractions that are at this present occasioned through the connivence of Parliament for there are some men that more maliciously than ignorantly will put no difference between Reformation and Alteration of Government Hence it cometh that Divine Service is irreverently interrupted and Petitions in an ill way given in neither disputed nor denied But I will enter into no more particulars but shew you a way of Remedy by shewing you My clear intentions and some Rocks that may hinder this Good Work I shall willingly and chearfully concur with you for the Reformation of all Innovations both in Church and Commonwealth and consequently that all Courts of Justice may be reformed according to Law For My intention is clearly to reduce all things to the best and purest times as they were in the time of Queen Elizabeth Moreover whatsoever part of My Revenue shall be found illegal or heavy to My Subjects I shall be willing to lay down trusting in their Affections Having thus clearly and shortly set down My intentions I will shew you some Rubs and must needs take notice of some very strange I know not what term to give them Petitions given in in the names of divers Counties against the present established Government of the Church and of the great threatnings against the Bishops that they will make them to be but Cyphers or at least their Voices to be taken away Now I must tell you that I make a great difference between Reformation and Alteration of Government Though I am for the first I cannot give way to the latter If some of them have overstretched their power and incroached too much upon the Temporalty if it be so I shall not be unwilling these things should be redressed and reformed as all other Abuses according to the wisdom of former times So far I shall go with you Nay further if upon serious debate you shall shew Me that Bishops have some Temporal Authority inconvenient to the State and not so necessary for the Government of the Church and upholding Episcopal Jurisdiction I shall not be unwilling to desire them to lay it down But this must not be understood that I shall any way consent that their Voices in Parliament should be taken away For in all the times of My Predecessors since the Conquest and before they have enjoyed it and I am bound to maintain them in it as one of the Fundamental Constitutions of this Kingdom There is another Rock you are on not in Substance but in Form yet the Form is so essential that unless it be reformed it will marr the Substance There is a Bill lately put in concerning Parliaments The thing I like well to have frequent Parliaments But to give power to Sheriffs and Constables and I know not whom to use My Authority that I cannot yield unto But to shew you that I am desirous to give you contentment â—n Forms which destroy not the Substance you shall have a Bill for this purpose so that it trench neither against My Honour nor against the ancient Prerogative of the Crown concerning Parliaments To which purpose I have commanded My Learned Counsel to wait on you My Lords with such Propositions as I hope will give you content For I ingenuously confess that frequent Parliaments are the best means to keep a right understanding between Me and My People which I so much desire To conclude I have now shewed you the state of My Affairs My Own clear intentions and the Rocks I wish you to eschew in all which you may perceive the desire I have to give you content as you shall find also by those Ministers I have or shall have about Me for the effecting of these My good intentions which I doubt not will bring peace and happiness to My Subjects and contentment to you All. Concerning the Conference you shall have a direct Answer on Monday which shall give you satisfaction XXV To the Lords and Commons in Answer to their Remonstrance about Papists Feb. 3. MDCXL XLI HAving taken into My serious Consideration the late Remonstrance of the Houses of Parliament I give you this Answer That I take in good part your care of the true Religion established in this Kingdom from which I will never depart as also your tenderness of My Safety and the Security of this State and Government It is against My mind that Popery or Superstition should any way increase within this Kingdom I will restrain the same by causing the Laws to be put in execution I am resolved to provide against the Jesuits and Papists by setting forth a Proclamation with all speed commanding them to depart the Kingdom within one Month of which if they fail or shall return then they shall be proceeded against according to the Laws Concerning Rosetti I give you to understand that the Queen hath always assured Me that to Her knowledge he hath no Commission but only to retain a Personal Correspondence between Her and the Pope in things requisite for the exercise of Her Religion which is warranted to Her by the Articles of Marriage which gave Her a full liberty of Conscience Yet I have perswaded Her that since the misunderstanding of that Persons condition gives offence She will within a convenient time remove him Moreover I will take a special care to restrain My Subjects from resorting to Mass at Denmark-House Saint James's and the Chappels of Ambassadors Lastly concerning John Goodman the Priest I will let you know the reason why I reprieved him that as I am informed neither Queen Elizabeth nor My Father did ever avow that any Priest in their times was executed merely for Religion which to Me seems to be this particular Case Yet seeing that I am pressed by both Houses to give way to this because I will avoid the inconvenience of giving so great discontent to My People as I conceive this Mercy may produce therefore I do remit this particular case to both the Houses But I desire them to take into their
and still must pursue those ends and undergo that Charge for which it was first granted to the Crown it having been so long and constantly continued to Our Predecessors as that in four several Acts of Parliament for the granting thereof to King Edward the Sixth Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth and Our blessed Father it is in express terms mentioned to have been had and enjoyed by the several Kings named in those Acts time out of mind by authority of Parliament And therefore upon these reasons We held it agreeable to Our Kingly Honour and necessary for the safety and good of Our Kingdom to continue the receipt thereof as so many of Our Predecessors had done Wherefore when a few Merchants being at first but one or two fomented as it is well known by those evil Spirits that would have hatched that undutiful Remonstance began to oppose the payment of Our accustomed duties in the Custom-house We gave order to the Officers of Our Customs to go on notwithstanding that opposition in the receiving of the usual duties and caused those that refused to be warned to attend at the Council-board that by the wisdom and authority of Our Council they might be reduced to obedience and duty where some of them without reverence or respect to the honour and dignity of that presence behaved themselves with such boldness and insolency of speech as was not to be endured by a far meaner Assembly much less to be countenanced by a House of Parliament against the body of Our Privy Council And as in this We did what in honour and reason was fit for the present so Our thoughts were daily intentive upon the re-assembling of Our Parliament with full intention on Our part to take away all ill understanding between Us and Our people whose loves as We desired to continue and preserve so We used Our best endeavours to prepare and facilitate the way to it And to this end having taken a strict and exact survey of Our Government both in the Church and Commonwealth and what things were most fit and necessary to be reformed We found in the first place that much exception had been taken at a book intituled Appello Caesarem or An Appeal to Caesar and published in the year 1625. by Richard Mountague then Batchelour of Divinity and now Bishop of Chichester and because it did open the way to those Schisms and Divisions which have since ensued in the Church We did for remedy and redress thereof and for satisfaction of the Consciences of Our good people not only by Our publick Proclamation call in that Book which ministred matter of offence but to prevent the like danger for hereafter reprinted the Articles of Religion established in the time of Queen Elizabeth of famous memory and by a Declaration before those Articles We did tie and restrain all Opinions to the sense of those Articles that nothing might be left for private fancies and innovation For We call God to record before whom We stand that it is and always hath been Our hearts desire to be found worthy of that Title which We accompt the most glorious in all Our Crown Defender of the Faith neither shall We ever give way to the authorizing of any thing whereby any Innovation may steal or creep into the Church but preserve that unity of Doctrine and Discipline established in the time of Queen Elizabeth whereby the Church of England hath stood and flourished ever since And as We were careful to make up all breaches and rents in Religion at home so did We by Our Proclamation and Commandment for the execution of Laws against Priests and Popish Recusants fortifie all ways and approaches against that foreign Enemy which if it have not succeeded according to Our intention We must lay the fault where it is in the subordinate Officers and Ministers in the Country by whose remissness Jesuites and Priests escape without apprehension and Recusants from those convictions and penalties which the Laws and Our Commandment would have inflicted on them For We do profess that as it is Our duty so it shall be our care to command and direct well but it is the part of others to perform the Ministerial Office And when We have done Our Office We shall account Our Self and all charitable men will accompt Us innocent both to God and Men and those that are negligent We will esteem as culpable both to God and Us and therefore will expect that hereafter they give Us a better accompt And as We have been careful for the setling of Religion and quieting the Church so were We not unmindful of the preservation of the just and ancient Liberties of Our Subjects which We secured to them by Our gracious Answer to the Petition in Parliament having not since that time done any Act whereby to infringe them but Our care is and hereafter shall be to keep them intire and inviolable as We would do Our own Right and Sovereignty having for that purpose enrolled the Petition and Answer in Our Courts of Justice Next to the care of Religion and of Our Subjects Rights We did Our best for the provident and well ordering of that aid and supply which was granted Us the last Session whereof no part hath been wastfully spent nor put to any other use than those for which it was desired and granted as upon payment of Our Fleet and Army wherein Our care hath been such as We chose rather to discontent Our dearest Friends and Allies and Our nearest Servants than to leave Our Souldiers and Mariners unsatisfied whereby any vexation or disquiet might arise to Our people We have also with part of those Moneys begun to supply Our Magazines and stores of Munition and to put Our Navy into a constant form and order Our Fleet likewise is fitting and almost in a readiness whereby the Narrow Seas may be guarded Commerce maintained and Our Kingdom secured from all forein attempts These Acts of Ours might have made this impression in all good minds that We were careful to direct Our counsels and dispose Our actions so as might most conduce to the maintenance of Religion honour of Our Government and safety of Our People But with mischievous men once ill-affected Seu bene seu malè facta premunt and whatsoever once seemed amiss is ever remembred but good endeavours are never regarded Now all these things that were the chief complaints the last Session being by Our Princely care so seriously reformed the Parliament re assembled the twentieth of January last We expecting according to the candor and sincerity of Our own thoughts that men would have framed themselves for the effecting a right understanding between Us and Our people But some few malevolent persons like Empiricks and lewd Artists did strive to make new work and to have some Disease on foot to keep themselves in request and to be imployed and entertained in the Cure And yet to manifest how much offences have been diminished the Committees
used that Power Iustly which unjustly he did Usurp Place this P. 241. The most high ruleth in the Kingdome of Men and giueth it to Whoâ—sâ—ever he will and setteth up over it the Basest of men Dan 4. v. 17. Ph. Fruitiers deliâ— Iac. Neeâ—â—s sculp 〈◊〉 DECLARATIONS AND PAPERS Concerning the Difference betwixt His MAJESTY AND HIS Fifth Parliament MDCXLI Decemb. 1. The House of Commons PETITION and Remonstrance of the state of the Kingdom with his Majesties Answers The PETITION of the House of Commons which accompanied the Declaration of the state of the Kingdom when it was presented to His MAJESTY at Hampton-Court Most Gracious Sovereign YOUR Majesties most humble and faithful Subjects the Commoners in this present Parliament assembled do with much thankfulness and joy acknowledge the great mercy and favour of God in giving Your Majesty a safe and peaceable return out of Scotland into Your Kingdom of England where the pressing Dangers and Distempers of the State have caused us with much earnestness to desire the comfort of Your gracious presence and likewise the Unity and Justice of your Royal Authority to give more life and power to the dutiful and loyal Counsels and Endeavours of Your Parliament for the prevention of that imminent Ruine and Destruction wherein Your Kingdoms of England and Scotland are threatned The duty which we owe to Your Majesty and our Country cannot but make us very sensible and apprehensive that the multiplicity sharpness and malignity of those evils under which we have now many years suffered are fomented and cherished by a corrupt and ill-affected party who amongst other their mischievous devices for the alteration of Religion and Government have sought by many false scandals and imputations cunningly insinuated and dispersed among the People to blemish and disgrace our proceedings in this Parliament and to get themselves a party and faction amongst Your Subjects for the better strengthening of themselves in their wicked courses and hindering those provisions and remedies which might by the Wisdom of Your Majesty and Counsel of Your Parliament be opposed against them For preventing whereof and the better information of Your Majesty Your Peers and all other Your loyal Subjects we have been necessitated to make a Declaration of the state of the Kingdom both before and since the Assembly of this Parliament unto this time which we do humbly present to Your Majesty without the least intention to lay any blemish upon Your Royal Person but only to represent how Your Royal Authority and trust have been abused to the great prejudice and danger of Your Majesty and of all Your good Subjects And because we have reason to believe that those malignant parties whose proceedings evidently appear to be mainly for the advantage and increase of Popery are composed set up and acted by the subtile practice of the Jesuites and other Engineers and Factors for Rome and to the great danger of this Kingdom and most grievous affliction of Your loyal Subjects have so far prevailed as to corrupt divers of Your Bishops and others in prime places of the Church and also to bring divers of these Instruments to be of Your Privy Council and other employments of trust and nearness about your Majesty the Prince and the rest of Your Royal Children And by this means have had such an operation in Your Council and the most important affairs and proceedings of Your Government that a most dangerous division and chargeable preparation for War betwixt your Kingdoms of England and Scotland the increase of Jealousies betwixt Your Majesty and Your most obedient Subjects the violent distraction and interruption of this Parliament the Insurrection of the Papists in Your Kingdom of Ireland and bloody Massacre of Your People have been not only endeavoured and attempted but in a great measure compassed and effected For preventing the final accomplishment hereof Your poor Subjects are enforced to ingage their Persons and Estates to the maintaining of a very expenceful and dangerous War notwithstanding they have already since the beginning of this Parliament undergone the charge of 150000. pounds sterling or thereabouts for the necessary support and supply of Your Majesty in these present and perillous Designs And because all our most faithful endeavours and engagements will be ineffectual for the peace safety and preservation of Your Majesty and Your People if some present real and effectual course be not taken for suppressing this wicked and malignant party We Your most humble and obedient Subjects do with all faithfulness and humility beseech Your Majesty 1. That You will be graciously pleased to concurre with the humble desires of Your People in a Parliamentary way for the preserving the peace and safety of the Kingdom from the malicious designs of the Popish party For depriving the Bishops of their Votes in Parliament and abridging their immoderate power usurped over the Clergy and other Your good Subjects which they have most perniciously abused to the hazard of Religion and great prejudice and oppression of the Laws of the Kingdom and just Liberty of Your People For the taking away such oppressions in Religion Church-Government and Discipline as have been brought in and fomented by them For uniting all such Your loyal Subjects together as joyn in the same Fundamental Truths against the Papists by removing some oppressions and unnecessary Ceremonies by which divers weak Consciences have been scrupled and seem to be divided from the rest For the due execution of those good Laws which have been made for securing the Liberty of Your Subjects 2. That Your Majesty will likewise be pleased to remove from Your Council all such as persist to favour and promote any of those Pressures and Corruptions wherewith Your People have been grieved and that for the future Your Majesty will vouchsafe to employ such persons in Your great and publick Affairs and to take such to be near You in places of trust as Your Parliament may have cause to confide in that in Your Princely Goodness to Your People You will reject and refuse all mediation and solicitation to the contrary how powerful and near soever 3. That You will be pleased to forbear to alienate any of the forfeited and escheated Lands in Ireland which shall accrue to Your Crown by reason of this Rebellion that out of them the Crown may be the better supported and some satisfaction made to Your Subjects of this Kingdom for the great expences they are like to undergo this War Which humble desires of ours being graciously fulfilled by Your Majesty we will by the blessing and favour of God most chearfully undergo the hazard and expences of this War and apply our selves to such other courses and counsels as may support Your Royal Estate with Honour and Plenty at home with Power and Reputation abroad and by our Loyal Affections Obedience and Service lay a sure and lasting foundation of the Greatness and Prosperity of Your Majesty and Your Royal Posterity in future times A REMONSTRANCE
If the time spent in this Parliament be considered in relation backward to the long growth and deep root of those Grievances which we have removed to the powerful supports of those Delinquents which we have pursued to the great necessities and other charges of the Commonwealth for which we have provided or if it be considered in relation forward to many advantages which not only the present but future ages are like to reap by the good Laws and other proceedings in this Parliament we doubt not but it will be thought by all indifferent judgments that our time hath been much better imployed then in a far greater proportion of time in many former Parliaments put together and the charges which have been laid upon the Subjects and the other inconveniences which they have born will seem very light in respect of the benefit they have and may receive And for the matter of Protections the Parliament is so sensible of it that therein they intend to give them whatsoever ease may stand with Honour and Justice and are in a way of passing a Bill to give them satisfaction They have sought by many subtle practices to cause jealousies and divisions betwixt us and our brethren of Scotland by slandering their proceedings and intentions towards us and by secret endeavours to instigate and incense them and us one against another They have had such a party of Bishops and Popish Lords in the House of Peers as hath caused much opposition and delay in the prosecution of Delinquents hindered the proceedings of divers good Bills passed in the Commons House concerning the reformation of sundry great abuses and corruptions both in Church and State They have laboured to seduce and corrupt some of the Commons House to draw them into Conspiracies and Combinations against the Liberty of the Parliament and by their Instruments and agents they have attempted to disaffect and discontent His Majesties Army and to engage it for the maintenance of their wicked and traiterous designs the keeping up of Bishops in their Votes and Functions and by force to compel the Parliament to order limit and dispose their proceedings in such manner as might best concur with the intentions of this dangerous and potent faction And when one mischievous design and attempt of theirs to bring on the Army against the Parliament and the City of London had been discovered and prevented they presently undertook another of the same damnable nature with this addition to it to endeavour to make the Scotish Army neutral whilst the English Army which they had laboured to corrupt and invenome against us by their false and slanderous suggestions should execute their malice to the subversion of our Religion and the dissolution of our Government Thus they have been continually practising to disturb the Peace and plotting the destruction even of all the Kings dominions and have employed their Emissaries and Agents in them all for the promoting of their devilish designs which the vigilancy of those who were well-affected hath still discovered and defeated before they were ripe for execution in England and Scotland only in Ireland which was farther off they have had time and opportunity to mould and prepare their work and had brought it to that perfection that they had possessed themselves of that whole Kingdom totally subverted the Government of it rooted out Religion and destroyed all the Protestants whom the conscience of their duty to God their King and Countrey would not have permitted to joyn with them if by God's wonderful providence their main enterprise upon the City and Castle of Dublin had not been detected and prevented upon the very Eve before it should have been executed Notwithstanding they have in other parts of that Kingdom broken out into open Rebellion surprized Towns and Castles committed murders rapes and other villanies and shaken off all bonds of Obedience to His Majesty and the Laws of the Realm and in general have kindled such a fire as nothing but God's infinite blessing upon the wisdom and endeavours of this State will be able to quench it And certainly had not God in his great mercy unto this Land discovered and confounded their former designs we had been the Prologue to this Tragedy in Ireland and had by this time been made the lamentable spectacle of misery and confusion And now what hope have we but in God when as the only means of our subsistence and power of Reformation is under Him in the Parliament But what can we the Commons without the conjunction of the House of Lords and what conjunction can we expect there when the Bishops and Recusant Lords are so numerous and prevalent that they are able to cross and interrupt our best endeavours for Reformation and by that means give advantage to this malignant party to traduce our proceedings They infuse into the People that we mean to abolish all Church-government and leave every man to his own fancy for the Service and Worship of God absolving him of that Obedience which he owes under God unto His Majesty whom we know to be entrusted with the Ecclesiastical Law as well as with the Temporal to regulate all the members of the Church of England by such rules of order and discipline as are established by Parliament which is his great Council in all affairs both of Church and State We confess our intention is and our endeavours have been to reduce within bounds that exorbitant power which the Prelates have assumed unto themselves so contrary both to the Word of God and to the Laws of the Land to which end we past the Bill for the removing them from their Temporal power and employments that so the better they might with meekness apply themselves to the discharge of their functions Which Bill themselves opposed and were the principal instruments of crossing it And we do here declare that it is far from our purpose or desire to let loose the golden reins of Discipline and Government in the Church to leave private persons or particular Congregations to take up what form of Divine Service they please for we hold it requisite that there should be throughout the whole Realm a Conformity to that Order which the Laws enjoyn according to the Word of God and we desire to unburthen the Consciences of men of needless and superstitious Ceremonies suppress innovations and take away the monuments of Idolatry And the better to effect the intended Reformation we desire there may be a general Synod of the most grave pious learned and judicious Divines of this Island assisted with some from foreign parts professing the same Religion with us who may consider of all things necessary for the peace and good Government of the Church and represent the results of their consultations unto the Parliament to be there allowed of and confirmed and receive the stamp of Authority thereby to find passage and obedience throughout the Kingdom They have malitiously charged us that we intend to destroy and discourage
Parliament being resolved that it should not be Our fault if all those particulars were not speedily provided for which seemed then to be the grounds of their desire Let all the World now judge what greater Obligations of Justice Favour Affection and Trust can a Prince lay upon His Subjects than We did upon both Our Houses of Parliament by these Acts and whether We did not in Our free Grace and Favour grant much more than had been asked of Us by that Petition presented to Us by some Lords at York in which was then thought to be contracted all that was grievous to Our People and all that was just and gracious for Us to do for them And in all the time in which these Acts were framing and passing though Our own personal Wants were notoriously known and unkindly unprovided for and themselves had asked leave to look into and settle Our Revenue which We consented to and therefore We might have expected some fruit of that pretended Care We never pressed them or made the least overture to them for Our own supply only desired them and 't was almost the only thing We did desire of them that they would use all possible expedition in the business of the Treaty that the two Armies might be speedily disbanded and Our Subjects eased of that heavy burthen which in time would grow insupportable and waste the whole stock of the Kingdom But We found the Faction We feared in the beginning grew still stronger and nothing converted or reconciled by all those Acts of Ours which would have made any Nation happy That whilst We were busie in providing for the publick they were contriving particular Advantages of Offices and Places for themselves made use under-hand of the former Grievances of the Subject in things concerning Religion and Law to change the Religion and Law of this Kingdom labouring that neither any thing the Subject had suffered from the Crown might be forgotten nor any satisfaction from the Crown to the Subject might be remembred And therefore in stead of acknowledging Our great Justice and singular Favour in passing those Acts they infused into Our People that We passed them unwillingly whereas We never made the least pause upon any of them but one that for the High-Commission Court and whether that was penned with that wariness and animadversion that there be not more determined by it than the major part of both Houses intended at the passing of it let themselves judge and that We meant not to observe them and grew so much confounded with the full measure of Our Favour that they would allow themselves no security of enjoying what We had freely given but by taking away any power from Us of giving more they must have a through alteration both in Church and State or else they should never enjoy the benefit of the Reformation We had willingly made Hereupon they oppose the disbanding of the Armies and give all delays to the Scots Treaty though the Commissioners for that Nation very earnestly pressed the hastning of it and in plain English declare That they cannot yet spare them that the sons of Zerviah were too strong for them And finding more haste to be made in the asserting the Civil Interests than they desired having a design to ingage this Kingdom into so vast a Debt that there might be no way of paying it but by the Lands of the Church and lest Our good Subjects might be too soon satisfied they hastned on to their design upon the Church which they at first disguised with a purpose only of removing the Bishops from their Votes in the Lords House This Bill passed the House of Commons in the House of Peers it endured several long free debates and in the end upon great and solemn deliberation was by the consent of very much the major part of that House absolutely rejected This was no sooner done but that Faction glad of the miscarriage of their former Bill the passing whereof they knew would have satisfied many of those whom they hoped now further to seduce produced a Bill to be tendred in the House of Commons for the abolition of Bishops out of the Church of England Root and Branch according to their first resolution as Mr. Pym told a Member of the Lords House by way of reproof That it was not enough to be against the Persons of the Bishops if he were not against the Function and for extirpation of all Deans and Chapters and reducing that admirable Frame of Government and support of Learning into a Chaos of Confusion that out of it they might mold an Vtopia no six of them had nor We believe yet have agreed on further than to destroy the present and out of the goodly Revenue which the pious Bounty and Devotion of former Ages had been so long in raising for the encouragement and advancement of Learning and Religion and which God hath blessed with so many eminent Men whose Learning and Lives have advanced the Doctrine of the Protestant Religion and many of them given their Bodies to the Fire as a Sacrifice to that Truth and Religion to erect Stipends to their own Clergy and to raise estates to repair their own broken fortunes And for the free passing of this Bill which to this hour they could never tell what to make of two Armies must be kept in the bowels of the Kingdom at 80000 pound a Month charge to the Commonwealth For about this Bill the House of Commons was so wholly taken up that in ten weeks none or very little other business could be thought of About this time or a little before after several Intimations of Treasons Plots and Conspiracies by the Papists of great Provisions of Arms by them and training Men under ground and many other false reports created spread and countenanced by themselves upon some general apprehensions of Designs against them a Protestation is made in the House of Commons for some union and consent amongst themselves to perform those Duties which if they had meant no more than they expressed had been sufficiently provided for by the Oaths they had already taken and what their former Duties obliged them to Hereupon a Protestation is framed and being put into such words as no honest Man could believe himself obliged by it to any unlawful Action was voluntarily taken by all the Members of the House of Commons and presently recommended to the House of Lords where it received the same countenance that is was looked upon as containing nothing in it self unlawful though some Members of that House refused to take it being voluntary and not imposed by any Lawful Authority Then 't is recommended to the City of London and over all the Kingdom by order from the House of Commons a strange and unheard-of Usurpation to be taken by all persons But in very few days upon conference amongst themselves and with those Clergy-men who daily solicite their unlawful and unwarrantable designs with the People they find
Miseries and the general Calamities of this Kingdom which must if this War continue speedily overwhelm this whole Nation take no Advantage of it But if you shall really pursue what you presented to Us at Colebrook We shall make good all that We then gave you in Answer to it whereby the hearts of Our distressed Subjects may be raised with the Hopes of Peace without which Religion the Laws and Liberties can no ways be settled and secured Touching the late and sad Accident you mention if you thereby intend that of Brainceford We desire you once to deal ingenuously with the People and to let them see Our last Message to you and Our Declaration to them concerning the same both which We sent to Our Press at London but were taken away from Our Messenger and not suffered to be published and then We doubt not but they will be soon undeceived and easily find out those Counsels which do rather perswade a desperate Division than a good Agreement betwixt Us Our two Houses and People MDCXLII III. The Proceedings in the late Treaty of Peace Together with several Letters of His MAJESTY to the Queen and of Prince Rupert to the Earl of Northampton which were intercepted and brought up to the Parliament With a Declaration of the Lords and Commons upon those Proceedings and Letters The humble Desires and Propositions of the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled tendred unto His Majesty Feb. 1. 1642. WE Your Majesty's most humble and faithful Subjects the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled having in our thoughts the Glory of God Your Majesty's Honour and the Prosperity of Your People and being most grievously afflicted with the pressing Miseries and Calamities which have overwhelmed Your two Kingdoms of England and Ireland since Your Majesty hath by the perswasion of evil Counsellors withdrawn Your Self from the Parliament raised an Army against it and by force thereof protected Delinquents from the Justice of it constraining us to take Armes for the defence of our Religion Laws Liberties Privileges of Parliament and for the sitting of the Parliament in safety which Fears and Dangers are continued and increased by the raising drawing together and arming of great numbers of Papists under the command of the Earl of Newcastle likewise by making the Lord Herbert of Ragland and other known Papists Commanders of great Forces whereby many grievous Oppressions Rapines and Cruelties have been and are daily exercised upon the persons and estates of Your People much innocent blood hath been spilt and the Papists have attained means of attempting and hopes of effecting their mischievous Design of rooting out the Reformed Religion and destroying the professors thereof in the tender sense and compassion of these evils under which Your People and Kingdom lie according to the duty which we owe to God Your Majesty and the Kingdom for which we are intrusted do most earnestly desire that an end may be put to these great Distempers and Distractions for the preventing of that Desolation which doth threaten all Your Majesties Dominions And as we have rendred and still are ready to render to Your Majesty that Subjection Obedience and Service which we owe unto You so we most humbly beseech Your Majesty to remove the Cause of this War and to vouchsafe us that Peace and Protection which we and our Ancestors have formerly enjoyed under Your Majesty and Your Royal Predecessors and graciously to accept and grant these most humble Desires and Propositions I. That Your Majesty will be pleased to disband Your Armies as we likewise shall be ready to disband all those Forces which we have raised and that You will be pleased to return to your Parliament II. That You will leave Delinquents to a Legal Trial and Judgement of Parliament III. That the Papists may not only be disbanded but disarmed according to Law IV. That Your Majesty will be pleased to give Your Royal Assent unto the Bill for taking away Superstitious Innovations to the Bill for the utter abolishing and taking away of all Archbishops Bishops their Chancellors and Commissaries Deans Subdeans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons Canons and Prebendaries and all Chanters Chancellors Treasurers Subtreasurers Succentors and Sacrists and all Vicars Choral and Choristers old Vicars and new Vicars of any Cathedral or Collegiate Church and all other their under-Officers out of the Church of England to the Bill against Scandalous Ministers to the Bill against Pluralities and to the Bill for Consultation to be had with godly religious and learned Divines That Your Majesty will be pleased to promise to pass such other good Bills for settling of Church-Government as upon consultation with the Assembly of the said Divines shall be resolved on by both Houses of Parliament and by them be presented to your Majesty V. That Your Majesty having exprest in Your Answer to the Nineteen Propositions of both Houses of Parliament a hearty affection and Intentions for the rooting out of Popery out of this Kingdom and that if both the Houses of Parliament can yet find a more effectual course to disable Jesuits Priests and Popish Recusants from disturbing the State or eluding the Laws that You would willingly give Your Consent unto it That You would be graciously pleased for the better discovery and speedier conviction of Recusants that an Oath may be established by Act of Parliament to be administred in such manner as by both Houses shall be agreed on wherein they shall abjure and renounce the Popes Supremacy the doctrine of Transubstantiation Purgatory worshipping of the consecrated Hoast Crucifixes and Images and the refusing the said Oath being tendred in such manner as shall be appointed by Act of Parliament shall be a sufficient Conviction in Law of Recusancy And that Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to give Your Royal Assent unto a Bill for the Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion That for the more effectual execution of the Laws against Popish Recusants Your Majesty would be pleased to consent to a Bill for the true levying of the Penalties against them and that the same Penalty may be levyed and disposed of in such manner as both Houses of Parliament shall agree on so as Your Majesty be at no loss and likewise to a Bill whereby the practice of Papists against the State may be prevented and the Laws against them duly executed VI. That the Earl of Bristol may be removed from Your Majesty's Counsels and that both he and the Lord Herbert eldest Son to the Earl of Worcester may likewise be restrained from coming within the verge of the Court and that they may not bear any Office or have any imployments concerning the State or Commonwealth VII That Your Majesty will be graciously pleased by Act of Parliament to settle the Militia both by Sea and Land and for the Forts and Ports of the Kingdom in such a manner as shall be agreed on by both Houses VIII That Your Majesty will be pleased
the composing and ending of those unhappy Differences and Distractions about which so much blood hath been already spilt which Treaty may by the blessing of God who is the disposer of all mens hearts and of all events be a means to produce a Peace and whereas it is the Duty and hath been the practice of Christians under Affliction to set apart some time for publick and solemn Humiliation and Prayer for removing of God's Judgments and particularly for a Blessing and good Success to the means conducing to their Deliverance We do therefore by this Our Praclamation appoint and streightly charge and command that on Wednesday being the 5. of February next ensuing a solemn Fast be kept in all places within Our Dominions whither the notice of this Our Proclamation shall or may come before that time that both Prince and People may then joyn together in a true Humiliation and Devout and earnest Prayers to God that He would be pleased so to bless and prosper this intended Treaty that it may produce a happy Peace in all Our Dominions such as may be for his Honour and the good of His Church and of Us and all Our Subjects And We do hereby charge and require all Our Subjects of what degree or condition soever they be which shall have notice of this Our Proclamation That they do religiously prepare and apply themselves to a due observation of the same by Fasting Humiliation and Prayer on that day and in hearing of God's Word as they will answer to God their neglect of this Christian Duty and as will Answer to Us their neglect of this Our just and necessary Command And for the better and more orderly observation of this Fast We do hereby appoint that the Form of Prayer and Service of God set forth in the Book heretofore published for the Monthly Fast with such Alterations and Additions as shall be prepared and fitted for this present purpose and published in Print before the said day shall be used in all Churches and Chapels where this Fast shall be kept Given at Our Court at Oxford this 27. day of January in the Twentieth year of Our Reign 1644. God Save the KING HIS Majesty having received an Account from His Commissioners of their proceedings in the late Treaty at Vxbridge to the end that all His People may be fully satisfied of His earnest and constant endeavours to procure the publick Peace whereby to put an end to these present Miseries hath commanded this full and plain Narrative of all the Passages concerning that Treaty to be made and published AFter His Majesty's Message from Evesham of the 4. of July last desiring and propounding a Treaty for Peace and His second Message from Tavestock of the 8. of September last renewing that desire at length on the 23. day of November last past the Earl of Denbigh and others repaired to His Majesty at Oxford with Propositions in these words following VVE Your Majesty's Loyal Subjects assembled in the Parliaments of both Your Kingdoms from the sense of that Duty we owe unto Your Majesty and of the deep Sufferings and many Miseries under which Your People of all Your Kingdoms lie bleeding in this unnatural War after long and serious consultation about the best ways and means of their Preservation and for settling Your Majesty's Throne and Your Subjects in Peace and Security have with common consent resolved upon these Propositions which we do humbly tender unto Your Majesty The humble Desires and Propositions for a safe and well-grounded Peace agreed upon by the mutual Advice and Consent of the Parliaments of both Kingdoms united by solemn League and Covenant to be presented to His Majesty I. That by Act of Parliament in each Kingdom respectively all Oaths Declarations and Proclamations against both or either of the Houses of the Parliament of England and the late Convention of Estates in Scotland or Committees flowing from the Parliament or Convention in Scotland or their Ordinances and Proceedings or against any for adhering unto them and all Indictments Outlawries and Attainders against any for the said Causes be declared Null suppressed and forbidden and that this be publickly intimated in all Parish-Churches within His Majesty's Dominions and all other places needful II. That His Majesty according to the laudable Example of His Royal Father of happy memory may be pleased to swear and sign the late solemn League and Covenant and that an Act of Parliament be passed in both Kingdoms respectively for enjoyning the taking thereof by all the Subjects of the three Kingdoms and the Ordinances concerning the manner of taking the same in both Kingdoms be confirmed by Acts of Parliaments respectively with such Penalties as by mutual Advice of both Kingdoms shall be agreed upon III. That the Bill be passed for the utter abolishing and taking away of all Archbishops Bishops their Chancellours and Commissaries Deans and Sub-deans Deans and Chapters Arch-deacons Canons and Prebendaries and all Chaunters Chancellours Treasurers Sub-treasurers Succentors and Sacrists and all Vicars Choral and Choristers old Vicars and new Vicars of any Cathedral or Collegiate Church and all other their under-Officers out of the Church of England and Dominion of Wales and out of the Church of Ireland with such Alterations concerning the Estates of Prelates as shall agree with the Articles of the late Treaty of the Date at Edenborough 29 of Novemb. 1643. and joint Declaration of both Kingdoms IV. That the Ordinance concerning the Calling and sitting of the Assembly of Divines be confirmed by Act of Parliament V. That Reformation of Religion according to the Covenant be settled by Act of Parliament in such manner as both Houses shall agree upon after Consultation had with the Assembly of Divines And for as much as both Kingdoms are mutually obliged by the same Covenant to endeavour the nearest Conjunction and Uniforminy in matters of Religion that such Unity and Uniformity in Religion according to the Covenant as after Consultation had with the Divines of both Kingdoms now assembled shall be joyntly agreed upon by both Houses of the Parliament of England and by the Church and Kingdom of Scotland be confirmed by Acts of Parliament of both Kingdoms respectively VI. That for the more effectual disabling Jesuits Priests Papists and Popish Recusants from disturbing the State and deluding the Laws and for the better discovering and speedy conviction of Recusants an Oath be established by Act of Parliament to be administred to them wherein they shall abjure and renounce the Popes Supremacy the Doctrine of Transubstantiation Purgatory worshipping of the consecrated Host Crucifixes and Images and all other Popish Superstitions and Errors and refusing the said Oath being tendred in such manner as shall be appointed by the said Act to be sufficient conviction in Law of Recusancy VII An Act of Parliament for Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion VIII An Act for the true levying of the Penalties against them
Members of either House of Parliament who have not only deserted the Parliament but have also Voted both Kingdoms Traitors may be removed from His Majesty's Councils and be restrained from coming within the verge of the Court and that they may not without the advice and consent of both Kingdoms bear any Office or have any employment concerning the State or Commonwealth And also that the Members of either House of Parliament who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof and not rendred themselves before the last of October 1644. may be removed from His Majesty's Councils and be restrained from coming within the verge of the Court and that they may not without the advice and consent of both Houses of Parliament bear any Office or have any employment concerning the State or Common-wealth And in case any of them shall offend therein to be guilty of high Treason and incapable of any Pardon by His Majesty and their Estates to be disposed as both Houses of Parliament in England or the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland respectively shall think fit 5. That by Act of Parliament all Judges and Officers towards the Law Common or Civil who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof be made incapable of any place of Judicature or Office towards the Law Common or Civil and that all Serjeants Councellors and Attourneys Doctors Advocates and Proctors of the Law Common or Civil who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof be made incapable of any practice in the Law Common or Civil either in publick or in private And that they and likewise all Bishops Clergy-men and other Ecclesiastical persons who have deserted the Parliament and adhered to the Enemies thereof shall not be capable of any preferment or imployment either in Church or Commonwealth without the advice and consent of both Houses of Parliament 6. The persons of all others to be free of all personal censure notwithstanding any Act or thing done in or concerning this War they taking the Covenant 7. The Estates of those persons excepted in the first three preceding qualifications to pay publick Debts and Damages 8. A third part in full value of the Estates of the persons made incapable of any imployment as aforesaid to be imployed for the payment of the publick Debts and Damages according to the Declaration 9. And likewise a tenth part of the Estates of all other Delinquents within the joynt Declarations And in case the Estates and proportions aforementioned shall not suffice for the payment of the publick engagements whereunto they are only to be employed that then a new proportion may be appointed by the joynt advice of both Kingdoms providing it exceed not the one moity of the Estates of the persons made incapable as aforesaid and that it exceed not a sixth part of the Estate of the other Delinquents 10. That the Persons and Estates of all common Souldiers and others of the Kingdom of England who in Lands or Goods be not worth 200 l. sterling and the Persons and Estates of all common Souldiers and others of the Kingdom of Scotland who in Lands or Goods be not worth 100 l. sterling be at liberty and discharged 11. That an Act be passed whereby the Debts of the Kingdom and the Persons of Delinquents and the value of their Estates may be known and which Act shall appoint in what manner the Confiscations and proportions before mentioned may be levied and applyed to the discharge of the said engagements XV. That by Act of Parliament the Subjects of the Kingdom of England may be appointed to be Armed Trained and Disciplined in such manner as both Houses shall think fit The like for the Kingdom of Scotland in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit XVI That an Act of Parliament be passed for the setling of the Admiralty and Forces at Sea and for the raising of such Moneys for maintenance of the said Forces and of the Navy as both Houses of Parliament shall think fit The like for the Kingdom of Scotland in such manner as the Estates of Parliament there shall think fit XVII An Act for the settling of all Forces both by Sea and Land in Commissioners to be nominated by both Houses of Parliament of persons of known Integrity and such as both Kingdoms may confide in for their faithfulness to Religion and the Peace of the Kingdoms of the House of Peers and of the House of Commons who shall be removed or altered from time to time as both Houses shall think fit and when any shall die others to be nominated in their places by the said Houses Which Commissioners shall have power 1. To suppress any Forces raised without Authority of both Houses of Parliament or in the Intervals of Parliaments without consent of the said Commissioners to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms and to suppress any Foreign Forces that shall invade this Kingdom And that it shall be high Treason in any who shall levy any Force without such Authority or consent to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms any Commission under the great Seal or Warrant to the contrary notwithstanding and they to be incapable of any Pardon from His Majesty and their Estates to be disposed of as both Houses of Parliament shall think fit 2. To preserve the Peace now to be settled and to prevent all disturbance of the publick Peace that may rise by occasion of the late Troubles so for the Kingdom of Scotland 3. To have power to send part of themselves so as they exceed not a third part or be not under the number of to reside in the Kingdom of Scotland to assist and Vote as single persons with the Commissioners of Scotland in those matters wherein the Kingdom of Scotland is only concerned so for the Kingdom of Scotland 4. That the Commissioners of both Kingdoms may meet as a joynt Committee as they shall see cause or send part of themselves as aforesaid to do as followeth 1. To preserve the Peace betwixt the Kingdoms and the King and every one of them 2. To prevent the violation of the Articles of Peace as aforesaid or any troubles arising in the Kingdoms by breach of the said Articles and to hear and determine all differences that may occasion the same according to the Treaty and to do further accordingly as they shall respectively receive Instructions from both Houses of Parliament in England or the Estates of the Parliament in Scotland and in the Intervals of Parliaments from the Commissioners for the preservation of the publick Peace 3. To raise and joyn the Forces of both Kingdoms to resist all Foreign Invasion and to suppress any Forces raised within any of the Kingdoms to the disturbance of the publick Peace of the Kingdoms by any authority under the great Seal or other Warrant whatsoever without consent of both Houses of Parliament in England and the
is prejudicial to the Civil State which we have often desired from you Lordships without effect and which are the Grounds upon which your Lordships propose the abolishing Episcopacy And we shall be very willing and are desirous to receive your Lordships Reasons in these particulars And how short soever the time allotted is for the Treaty for which we cannot be answerable being not bound up in point of time by His Majesty as your Lordships say you are by your Instructions and we should be glad that the same might be enlarged proportionably to the importance of the things to be Treated on we should be wanting to the great Trust reposed in us if we should consent to those Demands as they are proposed to us by your Lordships otherwise than as they are agreeable to our Consciences and Understandings And such an Answer your Lordships shall receive from us to your Demands concerning Religion upon which we hope a safe and well-grounded Peace by the blessing of God may be established Their Paper 13. Feb. WE did assure our selves that after so many days debate concerning Religion and our removal of whatever Objections have been offered by your Lordships and our making it appear how great a hinderance Episcopal Government is and hath been to a perfect Reformation to the growth of Religion and prejudicial to the Civil State that your Lordships would have been ready to have answered our expectation with the Grant of our Demands But if still your Lordships remain unsatisfied we conceive it cannot with any Justice be imputed unto us and therefore we again desire your Lordships full and clear Answer to what we have delivered unto you concerning Religion Upon this last Paper and after the several Debates between the Commissioners and Arguments by the Divines and consideration had of all that had been delivered concerning Religion His Majesty's Commissioners gave in these Four Papers following 13. February WE are not yet satisfied that the Bill insisted on by your Lordships which remains in His Majesty's hands for the utter abolishing of Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans and Chapters c. ought to be enacted believing it not to be agreeable to Conscience and Justice to alienate the Lands therein mentioned to Lay-uses and not understanding that the alienation thereof is necessary at all to the Reformation of Religion Besides that there is no certain provision made for any of those who are now legally vested in those possessions whereby they and their Families shall be in evident danger of want of bread And it appearing by your Lordships Propositions which relate to the Articles of the late Treaty of the date at Edenburgh 29. of Novemb. 1643. and the joynt Declaration of both Kingdoms to which you require our Assent as well as to the Bill that part of the Church-land may be after the passing this Bill assign'd to other uses than is exprest in the said Bill Upon these considerations and upon your Debate which hath passed between us upon this Bill whereby it hath appeared that there would be so great an Alteration in the Civil State by this Bill being enacted in the failure of Justice at the Common Law and otherwise in many several particulars of great importance to the Subjects of this Kingdom which for ought appears to us is not yet provided for and that by a particular Clause in the Bill His Majesty's ancient and undoubted power of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is wholly taken away besides it may be very considerable what inconveniencies would ensue by the passing this Bill now which looks back and is to begin from November was twelve-month whereby all those Acts of Jurisdiction exercised by Bishops since that time are already void which would produce great inconveniences and mischiefs touching the probates of Wills and Administrations throughout the Kingdom not to speak of the doubts which may arise in many consciencious Men who have been ordained by Bishops since that time which may seem to be likewise declared void by this Bill and so at least to discountenance all Acts which have insued by virtue of that Ordination and thereby many Questions may arise in Law concerning Marriages Legitimations and Descents of Inheritance and for many other reasons exprest in our Conference and Debate we conceive that your Lordships may be satisfied that this individual Bill ought not to pass For the matter then of the said Bill the Extirpation of Episcopacy we desire your Lordships to consider That it is evident and we conceive consented to on all parts that it hath continued even from the Apostles times by continual Succession in the Church of Christ till within these few years without intermission or interruption and then how perilous a thing it must be and prejudicial to the publick Peace to remove and destroy a Form of Government so long exercised in this Kingdom and under which we have enjoyed as great a measure of Happiness to say no more as any Nation in Christendom and which your Lordships have not pretended to be unlawful before we particularly see the Model of that Government and Jurisdiction which is to be established in the place thereof that thereby we may be assured that it be such to which as well those who like as all those who dislike the present Government will submit otherwise Peace which is the main end and pretence for Alterations cannot be established And therefore we very earnestly beseech your Lordships to consider and weigh whether without shaking Foundations it be not much better and more agreeable to Christian Prudence and Charity to remove those particulars from the present Government and make such Alterations therein as may most probably give satisfaction to all persons seriously disturbed or afflicted in their Consciences than by destroying the whole to give just Offence and Scandal to very many Pious and Religious Persons Under these Considerations and for the uniting and reconciling all Differences between us in the matter of Religion and procuring a blessed Peace we are willing That Freedom be left to all Persons of what Opinion soever in matters of Ceremony and that all the Penalties of the Laws and Customs which enjoyn those Ceremonies be suspended That the Bishop shall exercise no Act of Jurisdiction or Ordination without the consent and counsel of the Presbyters who shall be chosen by the Clergy of each Diocess out of the learned stand gravest Ministers of that Diocess That the Bishop keep his constant residence in his Diocess except when he shall be required by His Majesty to attend him on any occasion and that if he be not hindred by the infirmities of old Age or Sickness he Preach every Sunday in some Church within his Diocess That the Ordination of Ministers shall be always in a publick and solemn manner and very strict Rules observed concerning the Sufficiency and other Qualifications of those Men who shall be received into Holy Orders and the Bishop shall not receive any into Holy Orders without the
at Our Court at Tavestock the 8 th of September 1644. The Bill for Abolishing Episcopacy VVHereas the Government of the Church of England by Arch-bishops Bishops their Chancellors and Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-deacons and other Ecclesiastical Officers depending upon the Hierarchy hath by long experience been found to be a great impediment to the perfect Reformation and growth of Religion and very prejudicial to the Civil State and Government of the Kingdom Be it therefore Enacted by the King 's most Excellent Majesty and the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same That from and after the fifth day of November in the year of our Lord One Thousand Six Hundred Forty and Three there shall be no Arch-bishop Bishop Chancellor or Commissary of any Arch-Bishop or Bishop nor any Dean Sub-dean Dean and Chapter or Arch deacon nor any Chancellor Chaunter Treasurer Sub-treasurer Succentor or Sacrist of any Cathedral or Collegiate Church nor any Prebendary Canon Canon-Residentiary Petty-Canon Vicar-Choral Choristers old Vicars or new Vicars of or within any Cathedral or Collegiate Church or any other their Officers within this Church of England or Dominion of Wales and that from and afrer the said fifth day of November the Name Title Dignity Jurisdiction Office and Function of Arch bishops Bishops their Chancellors and Commissaries Deans Sub-deans Deans and Chapters Arch-deacons Canons and Prebendaries and all Chaunters Chancellors Treasurers Sub-treasurers Succentors and Sacrists and all Vicars-Choral and Choristers old Vicars and new Vicars and every of them and likewise the having using or exercising of any Power Jurisdiction Office or Authority by reason or colour of any such Name Title Dignity Office or Function within this Realm of England or Dominion of Wales shall thenceforth cease determine and become absolutely void and shall be abolished out of this Realm and the Dominion of Wales any Usage Law or Statute to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And that from and after the said fifth day of November no Person or Persons whatsoever by Virtue of any Letters-Patents Commission or other Authority derived from the King's Majesty His Heirs or Successors shall use or exercise any Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical within this Realm or Dominion of Wales but such and in such manner as shall be appointed and established by Act of Parliament And that all Counties Palatine Mannors Lordships Castles Granges Messuages Mills Lands Tenements Meadows Leasues Pastures Woods Rents Reversions Services Parks Annuities Franchises Liberties Priviledges Immunities Rights Rights of Action and of Entry Interests Titles of Entry Conditions Commons Courts-Leet and Courts-Baron and all other Possessions and Hereditaments whatsoever of what nature or quality soever they be or wheresoever they lie or be other than Impropriations Parsonages appropriate Tithes Oblations Obventions Pensions Portions of Tithes Parsonages Vicarages Churches Chappels Advowsons Nominations Collations Rights of Patronage and Presentation which now are or lately were of or belonging unto any Arch-bishop Bishop Arch-bishoprick or Bishoprick or any of them or which they or any of them held or injoyed in right of their said Arch-bishoprick or Bishoprick respectively shall by the Authority of Parliament be vested adjudged and deemed to be and shall be in the very real and actual possession and seisin of the King's Majesty His Heirs and Successors and He shall have hold possess and enjoy the same to Him His Heirs and Successors without any Entry or other Act whatsoever and that the King's Majesty His Heirs and Successors His and their Lessees Farmers and Tenants shall hold and enjoy the same discharged and acquitted of payment of Tithes as freely and in as large ample and beneficial means to all intents and purposes as any Arch-bishop or Bishop at any time or times within the space of two years last past held or enjoyed or of right ought to have held or enjoyed the same Provided nevertheless and be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all Leases Grants Gifts Letters-Patents Conveyances Assurances or Estates whatsoever hereafter to be made by the King's Majesty His Heirs or Successors of any the Mannors Lands Tenements Hereditaments which in or by this Act shall come or be limited or disposed of unto His Majesty His Heirs or Successors other than for the Term of One and Twenty years or Three Lives or some other Term of years determinable upon One Two or Three Lives and not above from the time as any such Lease or Grant shall be made or granted whereupon the accustomed yearly Rent or more shall be reserved and payable yearly during the said Term and whereof any former Lease is in being not to be expired surrendred or ended within three years after the making of any such new Lease shall be utterly void and of none effect to all intents constructions and purposes any clause or words of non obstante to be put in any such Patent Grant Conveyance or Assurance and any Law Usage Custom or any thing in this Act to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding And be it further Enacted and Ordained That all Impropriations Parsonages appropriate Tithes Oblations Obventions Portions of Tithes Parsonages Vicarages Churches Chappels Advowsons Nominations Collations Rights of Patronage and Presentation which now are or lately were belonging unto any Arch-bishop or Bishop Arch-bishoprick or Bishoprick and all Mannors Castles Lordships Granges Messuages Mills Lands Tenements Meadows Pastures Woods Rents Reversions Services Parsonages appropriate Tithes Oblations Obventions Pensions Portions of Tithes Parsonages Vicarages Churches Chappels Advowsons Nominations Rights of Patronage and Presentation Parks Annuities Franchises Liberties Priviledges Immunities Rights Rights of Action and of Entry Interests Titles of Entry Conditions Commons Courts-Leet and Courts-Baron and all other Possessions and Hereditaments whatsoever of what nature or quality soever they be or wheresoever they lie or be which now are or lately were of or belonging to any Sub-dean Dean Dean and Chapter Arch-deacon Chaunter Chancellor Treasurer Sub-treasurer Succentor Sacrist Prebendary Canon Canon-Residentiary Petty-Canon Vicars Choral Choristers old Vicars and new Vicars or any of them or any of the Officers of them or any of them which they held or enjoyed in right of their said Dignities Churches Corporations Offices or Places respectively shall by Authority of this present Parliament be vested adjudged and deemed to be and shall be in the very real and actual possession and seisin of Sir VVilliam Roberts Knight Thomas Atkins Sir John VVollaston John VVarner John Towes Aldermen of the City of London John Packer Esquire Peter Malbourne Esquire and they shall have hold possess and enjoy the same to them their Heirs and Assigns without any Entry or other Act whatsoever and that for themselves their Lessees Farmers and Tenants discharged and acquitted of payment of Tithes as freely and in as large ample and beneficial manner to all intents and purposes as any of the Persons or Corporations whose Offices or Places are taken away by this Act at
any time or times within the space of two years now last past held or enjoyed or of right ought to have held or enjoyed the same In trust and confidence nevertheless and to the intent and purpose that they the said Sir VVilliam Roberts Knight Thomas Atkins Sir John VVollaston John VVarner John Towes Aldermen of the City of London John Packer Esquire Peter Malbourne Esquire and the Survivors and Survivor of them his and their Heirs and Assigns shall satisfie and pay unto all and every Arch-bishop Bishop Dean Sub-dean Arch-deacon Chaunter Chancellor Treasurer Sub-treasurer Succentor Sacrist Prebendary Canon Canon-Residentiary Petty-Canon Vicars Choral Choristers old Vicars and new Vicars and other Officers and persons belonging unto or now imployed in or about the said Cathedral or Collegiate Churches such yearly Stipends and Pensions for so long time and in such manner as by the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled shall be ordered directed and appointed and shall dispose of all and singular the aforesaid Mannors Lands Tithes Appropriations Advowsons Tenements Hereditaments and other the Premisses and of every part and parcel thereof and of the Revenues Rents Issues and Profits thereof to the uses intents and purposes above and hereafter expressed that is to say for a competent maintenance for the support of such a number of Preaching Ministers for the service of every Cathedral and Collegiate Church and His Majesties free Chappel of Windsor as by the Lords and Commons shall be ordered and appointed and likewise for the maintenance of Preaching Ministers throughout the Kingdom of England Dominion of VVales and Town of Barwick in such places where such maintenance is wanting and for a proportionable allowance for and towards the reparation of the said Cathedral and Collegiate Churches in such manner and form and to such persons and for such other good uses to the advancement of true Religion and the maintenance of Piety and Learning as by this or any other Act or Acts of Parliament now or hereafter to be made shall be set down or declared And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all Leases Gifts Grants Conveyances Assurances and Estates whatsoever hereafter to be made by the said Sir VVilliam Roberts Knight Thomas Atkins Sir John VVollaston John VVarner John Towes Aldermen of the City of London John Packer Esquire Peter Mabourne Esquire the Survivors and Survivor of them or the greater part of them his and their Heirs and Assigns of any the Mannors Lands Tenements or Hereditaments which in or by this Act shall come or be limited or disposed of unto the said Sir VVilliam Roberts Knight Thomas Atkins Sir John VVollaston John VVarner John Towes Aldermen of the City of London John Packer Esquire Peter Malbourne Esquire other than for the Term of One and Twenty years or Three Lives or some other Term of years determinable upon One Two or Three Lives and not above from the time as any such Lease or Grant shall be made or granted whereupon the accustomed yearly Rent or more shall be reserved and payable yearly during the said Term whereof any former Lease is in being and not to be expired surrendred or ended within Three years after the making of such Lease shall be utterly void and of none effect to all intents constructions and purposes any thing in this Act to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding Provided nevertheless where no Lease hath been heretofore made nor any such Rent hath been reserved or payable of any the Lands Tenements or Hereditaments in this Act limited or disposed of unto the said Sir VVilliam Roberts Knight Thomas Atkins Sir John VVollaston John VVarner John Towes Aldermen of the City of London John Packer Esquire Peter Malbourne Esquire that in such case it shall be lawful for the said Sir William Roberts Knight Thomas Atkins Sir John Wollaston John Warner John Towes Aldermen of the City of London John Packer Esquire Peter Malbourne Esquire the Survivors and Survivor of them or the greater part of them his and their Heirs to make any Lease or Estate for the Term of One and Twenty years or Three Lives or some other Term of years determinable upon One Two or Three Lives and not above taking such Fine as they in their Judgments shall conceive indifferent and reserving a reasonable Rent not being under the Third part of the clear yearly value of the Lands Tenements or Hereditaments contained in such Lease And it is further Declared to be the true intent and meaning of this Act That all and every the Lessees Farmers and Tenants of all and every the said Persons and Corporations whose Offices or Places are taken away by this Statute now having holding or enjoying any Estate Term or Interest in possession by himself his under-Tenants or Assigns of or in any Mannors Lands Tenements Appropriations or other Hereditaments whatsoever shall and may be preferred in the taking and renewing of any Estates Leases or Grants of any such Mannors Lands Tenements or Hereditaments before any other Person the said Lessees Farmers or Tenants or other Parties interessed as aforesaid desiring the same and giving such Fines Rents and other considerations for the same as by the said Sir VVilliam Roberts Knight Thomas Atkins Sir John VVollaston John VVarner John Towes Aldermen of the City of London John Packer Peter Malbourne Esquires or the Survivors or Survivor of them or the major part of them his or their Heirs or Assigns shall be thought and held just and reasonable Provided also and be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all and singular Revenues Rents Issues Fees Profits Sums of Money and Allowances whatsoever as have heretofore been and now ought to be paid disposed or allowed unto or for the maintenance of any Grammar-School or Scholars or for or towards the Reparation of any Church Chappel High-way Causey Bridge School-house Alms-house or other charitable use payable by any the Corporations or Persons whose Offices or Places are taken away by this Act or which are chargeable upon or ought to issue out of or be paid for or in respect of the said Premisses or any of them shall be and continue to be paid disposed and allowed as they were and have been heretofore any thing in this present Act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding And to the intent and purpose the Parliament may be certainly and clearly informed of the Premisses to the end the same may be distributed applied and imployed to and for such pious and godly uses and purposes as is intended and herein declared Be it Ordained and Enacted That the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England for the time being shall by virtue of this Act have full Power and Authority and is hereby required to award and issue forth several Commissions under the Great Seal of England into all and every the Counties and Cities within the Kingdom of England and Dominion of VVales to be directed unto such and so many persons as by the
Lords and Commons in this present Parliament assembled shall be nominated assigned and appointed thereby authorizing and requiring them or any five or more of them and giving them full Power and Authority by the Oaths of good and lawful men as by all other good and lawful ways and means to enquire and find out what Mannors Castles Lordships Granges Messuages Lands Tenements Meadows Leasues Pastures Woods Rents Reversions Services Parsonages appropriate Tithes Oblations Obventions Pensions Portions of Tithes Vicarages Churches Chappels Advowsons Nominations Presentations Rights of Patronage Parks Annuities and other Possessions and Hereditaments whatsoever of what nature or quality soever they be lying and being within every such County or City not hereby limited or disposed of unto His Majesty do belong or appertain unto all every or any such Arch-bishop Bishop Dean Sub-dean Dean and Chapter Arch-deacon Chaunter Chancellor Treasurer Sub-Treasurer Succentor Sacrist Prebendary Canon Canon Residentiary Petty-Canon Vicar-Choral Chorister old Vicar or new Vicar in right of their said Dignities Churches Corporations Offices or Places respectively and what and how much of the same is in possession and the true yearly Value thereof and what and how much thereof is out in Lease and for what Estate and when and how determinable and what Rents Services and other Duties are reserved and payable during such Estate and also the true yearly Value of the same as they are now worth in possession as also what Rents Pensions or other Charges or other Sums of Money are issuing due or payable out of any the Mannors Lands or Premisses and to make an exact and particular Survey thereof and to take and direct and settle such course for the safe custody and keeping of all Charters Evidences Court-Rolls and Writings whatsoever belonging unto all or any the Persons Dignities Churches Corporations Offices and Places or concerning any the Mannors Lands Tenements Hereditaments or other Premisses before mentioned as in their discretion shall be thought meet and convenient and of all and singular their doings and proceedings herein fairly written and ingross'd in Parchment to make Return and Certificate into the Court of Chancery And to this further intent and purpose that speedy care and course may be taken for providing of a competent maintenance for supply and encouragement of Preaching Ministers in the several Parishes within the Kingdom of England and Dominion of VVales Be it likewise Ordained and Enacted That the same Commissioners and Persons authorized as above-said shall have full Power and Authority by the Oaths of good and lawful men as by all other good ways and lawful means to enquire and find out the true yearly Value of all Parsonages and Vicarages presentative and all other Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Benefices and Livings unto which any Cure of Souls is annexed lying and being within such Counties and Cities and of all such particularly to enquire and certifie into the Court of Chancery what each of them are truly and really worth by the year and who are the present Incumbents or Possessors of them and what and how many Chappels belonging unto Parish-Churches are within the limits of such Counties and Cities within which they are directed and authorized to enquire and how the several Churches and Chappels are supplied by Preaching Ministers that so course may be taken for providing both for Preaching and of maintenance where the same shall be found to be needful and necessary Provided always that this Act or any thing therein contained shall not extend to any Colledge Church Corporation Foundation or House of Learning in either of the Vniversities within this Kingdom And the said Sir VVilliam Roberts Thomas Atkins Sir John VVollaston John VVarner John Towes Aldermen of the City of London John Packer and Peter Malbourne Esquires and the Survivors and Survivor of them or the greater part of them his and their Heirs and Assigns are hereby directed and authorized to give and allow unto such Officers as by them shall be thought fitting and necessary for keeping of Courts collecting of Rents Surveying of Lands and all other necessary imployments in and about the Premisses and unto the Commissioners authorized by this Act and such others as shall be necessarily imployed by them all such reasonable Fees Stipends Salaries and Sums of Money as in their discretion shall be thought just and convenient And the said Sir VVilliam Roberts Knight Thomas Atkins Sir John VVollaston John VVarner John Towes Aldermen of the City of London John Packer and Peter Malbourne Esquires the Survivors and Survivor of them his and their Heirs and Assigns of their several Receipts Imployments Actions and Proceedings shall give an accompt and be accomptable unto the Lords and Commons in Parliament or such Person or Persons as from time to time by both Houses of Parliament shall be nominated and appointed in such manner and with such Power Priviledge and Jurisdiction to hear and determine all matters concerning such Accompts as by both Houses of Parliament shall from time to time be thought necessary to be given them and not elsewhere nor otherwise Saving to all and every Person and Persons Bodies Politick and Corporate their Heirs and Successors and the Heirs and Successors of them and every of them other than such Person or Persons Bodies Politick and Corporate whose Offices Functions and Authorities are taken away and abolished by this Act as to any Estate Right Title or Interest which they or any of them claim to have or hold in right of their said Churches Dignities Functions Offices or Places and other then the Kings Majesty His Heirs and Successors as Patrons Founders or Donors and all and every other Person and Persons Bodies Politick and Corporate as may claim any thing as Patrons Founders or Donors all such Right Title Interest Possession Rents Charge-Rent Service Annuities Offices Pensions Portions Commons Fees Profits Claims and Demands either in Law or Equity whatsoever and all and singular such Leases for Years Life or Lives as were before the twentieth day of January in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred forty two made unto them or any of them by any the Persons or Corporations above named acccording to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm and warranted by the same and all such Leases and Estates as having been heretofore made have been established or settled by any Judgement or Decree in any of the Courts at Westminster and have been accordingly enjoyed and all Duties and Profits whatsoever which they or any of them have or may claim or of right ought to have of in to or out of any the said Mannors Lands or Premisses whatsoever or any part or parcel thereof in such sort manner form and condition to all intents constructions and purposes as if this Act had never been made MDCXLIII IV. The Articles of the late Treaty of the Date Edenburgh the 29. of November 1643. Die Mercurii 3. Januarii 1643-44 Articles of the Treaty agreed upon betwixt the Commissioners of
Obedience to Our Commands We doubt not of your care in this wherein Our Service and the good of Our Protestant Subjects in Ireland is so much concerned From Newcastle June 11. 1646. The Propositions of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for a safe and well-grounded Peace Sent to His Majesty at Newcastle by the Right Honourable the Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery the Earl of Suffolk Members of the House of Peers and Sir VValter Earle Sir John Hippesly Knights Robert Goodwyn Luke Robinson Esquires Members of the House of Commons Die Sabbathi 11. Julii 1646. The Propositions of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament for a safe and well-grounded Peace May it please your Majesty WE the Lords and Commons assembled in the Parliament of England in the name and on the behalf of the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland in the name and on the behalf of the Kingdom of Scotland do humbly present unto Your Majesty the humble Desires and Propositions for a safe and well-grounded Peace agreed upon by the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively unto which we do pray Your Majesties Assent and that they and all such Bills as shall be tendred to Your Majesty in pursuance of them or any of them may be Established and Enacted for Statutes and Acts of Parliament by Your Majesties Royal Assent in the Parliaments of both Kingdoms respectively I. WHereas both Houses of the Parliament of England have been necessitated to undertake a War in their just and lawful defence and afterwards both Kingdoms of England and Scotland joyned in solemn League and Covenant were engaged to prosecute the same That by Act of Parliament in each Kingdom respectively all Oaths Declarations and Proclamations heretofore had or hereafter to be had against both or either of the Houses of the Parliament of England the Parliament of the Kingdom of Scotland and the late Convention of Estates in Scotland or Committees flowing from the Parliament or Convention in Scotland or their Ordinances and Proceedings or against any for adhering unto them or for doing or executing any Office Place or Charge by any Authority derived from them and all Judgments Indictments Outlawries Attainders and Inquisitions in any the said Causes and all Grants thereupon made or had or to be made or had be declared null suppressed and forbidden And that this be publickly intimated in all Parish-Churches within His Majesties Dominions and all other places needful II. That His Majesty according to the laudable Example of His Royal Father of happy memory may be pleased to swear and sign the late solemn League and Covenant and that an Act of Parliament be passed in both Kingdoms respectively for enjoyning the taking thereof by all the Subjects of the Three Kingdoms and the Ordinances concerning the manner of taking the same in both Kingdoms be confirmed by Acts of Parliament respectively with such Penalties as by mutual advice of both Kingdoms shall be agreed upon III. That a Bill be passed for the utter abolishing and taking away of all Archbishops Bishops their Chancellors and Commissaries Deans and Sub-deans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons Canons and Prebendaries and all Chaunters Chancellors Treasurers Subtreasurers Succentors and Sacrists and all Vicars Choral and Choristers old Vicars and new Vicars of any Cathedral or Collegiate Church and all other their under Officers out of the Church of England and Dominion of Wales and out of the Church of Ireland with such Alterations concerning the Estates of Prelates as shall agree with the Articles of the late Treaty of the Date at Edenburg 29. November 1643. and joynt Declaration of both Kingdoms IV. That the Ordinances concerning the Calling and sitting of the Assembly of Divines be confirmed by Act of Parliament V. That Reformation of Religion according to the Covenant be settled by Act of Parliament in such manner as both Houses have agreed or shall agree upon after Consultation had with the Assembly of Divines VI. Forasmuch as both Kingdoms are mutually obliged by the same Covenant to endeavour the nearest Conjunction and Uniformity in matters of Religion that such Unity and Uniformity in Religion according to the Covenant as after Consultation had with the Divines of both Kingdoms now assembled is or shall be joyntly agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament of England and by the Church and Kingdom of Scotland be confirmed by Acts of Parliament of both Kingdoms respectively VII That for the more effectual disabling Jesuits Priests Papists and Popish Recusants from disturbing the State and deluding the Laws and for the better discovering and speedy conviction of Recusants an Oath be established by Act of Parliament to be administred to them wherein they shall abjure and renounce the Popes Supremacy the Doctrine of Transubstantiation Purgatory Worshipping of the Consecrated Host Crucifixes and Images and all other Popish Superstitions and Errors and refusing the said Oath being tendred in such manner as shall be appointed by the said Act to be a sufficient Conviction of Recusancy VIII An Act of Parliament for Education of the Children of Papists by Protestants in the Protestant Religion IX An Act for the true levy of the Penalties against them which Penalties to be levied and disposed in such manner as both Houses shall agree on wherein to be provided that His Majesty shall have no loss X. That an Act be passed in Parliament whereby the practices of Papists against the State may be prevented and the Laws against them duely executed and a stricter course taken to prevent the saying or hearing of Mass in the Court or any other part of this Kingdom XI The like for the Kingdom of Scotland concerning the four last preceding Propositions in such manner as the Estates of the Parliament there shall think fit XII That the King do give His Royal Assent to an Act for the due Observation of the Lords Day And to the Bill for the suppression of Innovations in Churches and Chappels in and about the Worship of God c. And for the better advancement of the Preaching of God's holy Word in all parts of this Kingdom And to the Bill against the enjoying of Pluralities of Benefices by Spiritual Persons and Non-Residency And to an Act to be framed and agreed upon by both Houses of Parliament for the reforming and regulating of both Universities of the Colledges of Westminster Winchester and Eaton And to such Act or Acts for raising of Moneys for the payment and satisfying of the Publick Debts and Damages of the Kingdom and other Publick uses as shall hereafter be agreed on by both Houses of Parliament and that if the King do not give His Assent thereunto then it being done by both Houses of Parliament the same shall be as valid to all Intents and Purposes as if the Royal Assent had been given thereunto The like for the Kingdom of Scotland And that His Majesty give assurance of His consenting in the
Table at Hampton-Court Nov. 11. 1647. CHALLES R. LIberty being that which in all Times hath been but especially now is the common Theme and Desire of all men common Reason shews That Kings less then any should endure Captivity And yet I call God and the World to Witness with what Patience I have endured a tedious Restraint which so long as I had any hopes that this sort of My Suffering might conduce to the Peace of My Kingdoms or the hindring of more effusion of Blood I did willingly undergoe But now finding by two certain proofs that this My continued Patience would not only turn to My Personal Ruine but likewise be of much more prejudice then furtherance to the Publick Good I thought I was bound as well by Natural as Political Obligations to seek my Safety by Retiring My self for some time from the publick View both of My Friends and Enemies And I appeal to all indifferent men to judge if I have not just cause to free My self from the hands of those who change their Principles with their Condition and who are not ashamed openly to intend the Destruction of the Nobility by taking away their Negative Voice and with whom the Levellers Doctrine is rather countenanced then punished and as for their intentions to My Person their changing and putting more strict Guards upon Me with the discharging most of all those Servants of Mine who formerly they willingly admitetd to wait upon Me does sufficiently declare Nor would I have this My Retirement misinterpreted for I shall earnestly and uncessantly endeavour the setling of a safe and well-grounded Peace where-ever I am or shall be and that as much as may be without the effusion of more Christian Blood for which how many times have I desired prest to be heard and yet no ear given to Me and can any Reasonable man think that according to the ordinary course of affairs there can be a setled Peace without it or that God will bless those who refuse to hear their own King Surely no. Nay I must further add that besides what concerns My self unless all other chief Interests have not only a hearing but likewise just satisfaction given unto them to wit the Presbyterians Independants Army those who have adhered to Me and even the Scots I say there cannot I speak not of Miracles it being in My Opinion a sinful presumption in such cases to expect or trust to them be a safe or lasting Peace Now as I cannot deny but My Personal Security is the urgent cause of this My Retirement so I take God to witness that the Publick Peace is no less before My Eyes and I can find no better way to express this My Profession I know not what a wiser man may do then by desiring and urging that all chief Interests may be heard to the end each may have just Satisfaction As for example the Army for the rest though necessary yet I suppose are not difficult to content ought in My Judgment to enjoy the Liberty of their Consciences have an Act of Oblivion or Indemnity which should extend to all the rest of My Subjects and that all their Arrears should be speedily and duly paid which I will undertake to do so I may be heard and that I be not hindred from using such Lawful and honest means as I shall chuse To conclude let Me be heard with Freedom Honour and Safety and I shall instantly break through this Cloud of Retirement and shew My self really to be Pater Patriae Hampton-Court 11. Novemb. 1647. His MAJESTIES Message to both Houses with Propositions Novemb. 17. 1647. For the Speaker of the Lords House pro tempore to be communicated to the Lords and Commons in the Parliament of England at Westminster and the Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland CHARLES R. HIS Majesty is confident that before this time his two Houses of Parliament have received the Message which he left behind him at Hampton-Court the eleventh of this Month by which they will have understood the Reasons which enforced him to go from thence as likewise his constant endeavours for the setling of a safe and well-grounded Peace wheresoever he should be And being now in a place where he conceives himself to be at much more Freedom and Security then formerly he thinks it necessary not only for making good of his own Professions but also for the speedy procuring of a Peace in these languishing and distressed Kingdoms at this time to offer such grounds to his two Houses for that effect which upon due examination of all Interests may best conduce thereunto And because Religion is the best and chiefest foundation of Peace His Majesty will begin with that particular That for the abolishing Arch-bishops Bishops c. His Majesty cleary professeth that he cannot give his consent thereunto both in relation as he is a Christian and a King For the first he avows that he is satisfied in his Judgment that this Order was placed in the Church by the Apostles themselves and ever since their time hath continued in all Christian Churches throughout the World until this last Century of years and in this Church in all times of Change and Reformation it hath been upheld by the Wisdom of his Ancestors as the great preserver of Doctrine Discipline and Order in the Service of God As a King at his Coronation he hath not only taken a solemn Oath to maintain this Order but his Majesty and his Predecessors in their confirmations of the Great Charter have inseparably woven the Right of the Church into the Liberties of the rest of their Subjects And yet he is willing it be provided that the particular Bishops perform the several Duties of their Callings both by their personal Residence and frequent Preachings in their Dioceses as also that they exercise no Act of Jurisdiction or Ordination without the consent of their Presbyters and will consent that their Powers in all things be so limited that they be not grievous to tender Consciences Wherefore since his Majesty is willing to give ease to the Consciences of others he sees no reason why he alone and those of his Judgment should be pressed to a violation of theirs Nor can his Majesty consent to the Alienation of Church-Lands because it cannot be denied to be a sin of the highest Sacriledge as also that it subverts the intentions of so many pious Donors who have laid a heavy Curse upon all such profane violations which his Majesty is very unwilling to undergoe and besides the matter of Conscience His Majesty believes it to be a prejudice to the Publick good many of his Subjects having the benefit of renewing Leases at much easier Rates then if those Possessions were in the hands of private men not omitting the discouragement which it will be to all Learning and Industry when such eminent rewards shall be taken away which now lye open to the Children of meanest Persons Yet his Majesty considering the great present
and quietness and shall I now neither enjoy them nor Peace Have not My Subjects formerly obeyed Me and shall I now be obedient to My Subjects Have I not been condemned for Evil Counsellors and shall I now be condemned for having no Counsel but God These are unutterable Miseries that the more I endeavour for Peace the less My endeavours are respected and how shall I know hereafter what to grant when your selves know not what to ask I refer it to your consciences whether I have not satisfied your desires in every particular since this Treaty if you find I have not then let Me bear the burthen of the fault but if I have given you ample satisfaction as I am sure I have then you are bound to vindicate Me from the fury of those whose thoughts are filled with blood though they pretend zeal yet they are but Wolves in Sheeps cloathing I must further declare that I conceive there is nothing can more obstruct the long-hoped-for peace of this Nation than the illegall proceedings of them that presume from Servants to become Masters and labour to bring in Democracy and to abolish Monarchy Needs must the total alteration of Fundamentals be not only destructlve to others but in conclusion to themselves for they that endeavour to rule by the Sword shall at last fall by it for Faction is the Mother of Ruine and it is the humour of those that are of this weather-cock-like disposition to love nothing but mutabilities neither will that please them but only pro tempore for too much variety doth but confound the senses and makes them still hate one folly and fall in love with another Time is the best cure for Faction for it will at length like a spreading leprosie infect the whole body of the Kingdom and make it so odious that at last they will hate themselves for love of that and like the Fish for love of the bait be catch'd with the hook I once more declare to all My loving Subjects and God knows whether or no this may be My last That I have earnestly laboured for Peace and that My thoughts were sincere and absolute without any sinister ends and there was nothing left undone by Me that My Conscience would permit me to do And I call God to witness that I do firmly conceive that the interposition of the Army that cloud of Malice hath altogether eclips'd the glory of that Peace which began again to shine in this Land And let the world judge whether it be expedient for an Army to contradict the Votes of a Kingdom endeavouring by pretending for Laws and Liberties to subvert both Such actions as these must produce strange consequences and set open the flood-gates of Ruin to overflow this Kingdom in a moment Had this Treaty been only Mine own seeking then they might have had fairer pretences to have stopt the course of it but I being importun'd by My two Houses and they by most part of the Kingdom could not but with a great deal of alacrity concurr with them in their desires for the performance of so commodious a work and I hope by this time that the hearts and eyes of My People are opened so much that they plainly discover who are the Underminers of this Treaty For Mine own part I here protest before the face of Heaven that Mine own Afflictions though they need no addition afflict Me not so much as My Peoples Sufferings for I know what to trust to already and they know not God comfort both them and Me and proportion our Patience to our Sufferings And when the Malice of Mine Enemies is spun out to the smallest thred let them know that I will by the grace of God be as contented to suffer as they are active to advance My Sufferings and Mine own Soul tells Me that the time will come when the very clouds shall drop down vengeance upon the heads of those that barricado themselves against the proceedings of of Peace for if God hath proclaimed a blessing to the Peace-makers needs must the Peace-breakers draw down curses upon their heads I thank My God I have armed My self against their Fury and now let the arrows of their Envy fly at Me I have a breast to receive them and a heart possest with Patience to sustain them for God is My Rock and My shield therefore I will not fear what man can do unto Me. I will expect the worst and if any thing happen beyond My expectation I will give God the glory for vain is the help of man THE END AN APPENDIX CONTAINING THE PAPERS WHICH PASSED BETWIXT HIS MAJESTY And the Divines which Attended the Commissioners of the TWO HOUSES at the TREATY at NEWPORT CONCERNING CHURCH-GOVERNMENT In this APPENDIX are contained I. His MAJESTIES Reason why He cannot in Conscience consent to abolish the Episcopal Government October 2. 1648. p. 612. II. The Answer of the Divines to His MAJESTIES Reason Octob. 3. ibid. III. His MAJESTIES Reply to their Paper Octob 6. p. 616. IV. The Rejoinder of the Divines to His MAJESTIES Reply Octob. 17. p. 621. V. His MAJESTIES Final Answer concerning Episcopacy Nov. 1. 1648. p. 634. I. His MAJESTIES Reason why He cannot in Conscience consent to abolish the Episcopal Government CHARLES R. I Conceive that Episcopal Government is most consonant to the Word of God and of Apostolical Institution as it appears by the Scripture to have been practised by the Apostles themselves and by them committed and derived to particular Persons as their Substitutes or Successors therein as for Ordaining Presbyters and Deacons giving Rules for Christian Discipline and exercising Censures over Presbyters and others and hath ever since till these last times been exercised by Bishops in all the Churches of Christ And therefore I cannot in Conscience consent to abolish the said Government Notwithstanding this My perswasion I shall be glad to be informed if our Saviour and the Apostles did so leave the Church at liberty as they might totally alter or change the Church-Government at their pleasure Which if you can make appear to Me then I will confess that one of My great Scruples is clean taken away And then there only remains That being by My Coronation-Oath obliged to maintain Episcopal Government as I found it setled to My hands Whether I may consent to the abolishing thereof until the same shall be evidenced to Me to be contrary to the Word of God Newport 2. Oct. 1648. II. An Humble Answer returned to Your Majesties Paper delivered to us Octob. 2. MDCXLVIII May it please Your Majesty WE do fully agree without hesitation That these Scriptures cited in the margin of Your Paper Acts xiv 23. Acts vi 6. 1 Cor. xvi 1. 1 Cor. xiv 1 Cor. v. 3. iii John 9 10. do prove that the Apostles did ordain Presbyters and Deacons give Rules concerning Christian Discipline and had power of exercising Censures over Presbyters and others
Office in the Church distinct from Pastors and Teachers Eph. iv 11. and that they were Evangelists it appears by their being sent up and down by the Apostles or taken along with them in company to several Churches as the necessity and occasion of the Churches did require The one of them being expresly called an Evangelist 1 Tim. iv 5. and neither of them being any where in Scripture called Bishop Neither were they fixed to Ephesus and Crete as Bishops in the Churches committed to them but removed from thence to other places and never for ought appears in Scripture returned to them again And it seems clear to us that neither their abode at Ephesus and Crete was for any long time nor so intended by the Apostle For he imploys them there upon occasional business and expresses himself in such manner I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine 1 Tim. i. 3. For this cause left I thee in Crete Tit. i. 5. as doth not carry the fixing or constituting of a Bishop in a place as perpetual Governour And it is as manifest that they were both of them called away from these places ii Tim. iv 9. Do thy diligence to come to me shortly Tit. iii. 12. Be diligent to come to me to Nicopolis So that they may as well be called Bishops of any other Cities or Churches where they had any considerable abode as they are pretended to have been of Ephesus and Crete as they are called by the Postscripts of these Epistles the credit of which Postscripts we cannot build upon in this point Secondly to that of the Angels of the Churches The Ministers of the Churches are called Stars and Angels which denominations are metaphorical and in a mystery Rev. i. 20. the mystery of the seven Stars Angels in respect of their Mission or sending Stars in respect of their Station and shining And it seems strange to us that to so many express Testimonies of Scripture an allegorical denomination or mystery should be opposed These Angels being no where called Bishops in vulgar acceptation nor the word Bishop used in any of John's writings who calls himself Presbyter nor any mention of superiority of one Presbyter to another but in Diotrephes affecting it And as to that which may be said that the Epistles are directed to one we answer that a number of persons are in the mysterious and prophetick writings expressed in singulars and we humbly conceive that being written in an Epistolary style for they are as Letters or Epistles to the Churches these writings are directed as Letters to collective Representative Bodies use to be that is to one but intended and meant to that Body in meeting assembled which that they were so intended is clear to us both because there were in Ephesus Bishops and Presbyters one and the same to whom the Apostle at his farewel commendeth the Government of the Church and by divers expressions in these Epistles as Rev. 11. 24. To you and to the rest in Thyatira by which distinction of you and the rest we conceive the particular Governours which were more than one and the people to be signified And so cannot consent that any singular person had majority over the rest or sole power of exercising Church-Censures and Government spoken of in these Chapters Having thus as we humbly conceive proved by pregnant places of Scripture compared together that the Apostles themselves did not institute or practice Episcopal Government nor commit and derive it to particular persons as their Substitutes or Successors therein we shall in farther discharge of our duty to and for the more clear and full satisfaction of Your Majesty in this point briefly declare into what Officers hands the ordinary and standing Offices of the Church were transmitted and derived by and from the Apostles The Apostles had no Successors in eundem gradum the Apostolical Office was not derived by Succession being instituted by Christ by extraordinary and special Commission But for the ordinary and standing use and service of the Church there were ordained only two Orders of Officers viz. Bishops and Deacons which the Apostle expresseth Phil. 1. 1. To all the Saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the Bishops and Deacons and onely of them doth the Apostle give the due Characters of Officers 1 Tim. iii 2 8. From both which places of Scripture we conclude with ancient Expositors both Greek and Latine that Bishops are the same with Presbyters and besides Presbyters there is no mention of any other Order but that of Deacons Of both which Orders in the Apostles times there were in one City more than one as in Philippi and Ephesus And we humbly offer to Your Majesty as observable That though one Order might be superiour to another Order yet in the same Order of Officers there was not any one superior to others of the same Order No Apostle was above an Apostle no Evangelist above an Evangelist no Presbyter above a Presbyter no Deacon above a Deacon And so we conclude this part That since Church Officers are instituted and set in the Church by God or Christ Jesus and that Ordination by or in which the Office is conveyed is of no other Officers but of Presbyters and Deacons therefore there are no other Orders of ordinary and standing Officers in the Churches of Christ As for the Ages immediately succeeding the Apostles we answer first Our Faith reaches no farther than the Holy Scriptures No human testimony can beget any more than a human faith Secondly we answer That it is agreed upon by Learned men as well such as contend for Episcopacy as others that the times immediately succeeding the Apostles are very dark in respect of the History of the Church Thirdly That the most unquestionable Record of those times gives clear testimony to our assertion viz. The Epistle of Clemens to the Corinthians who reciting the Orders of Church-Officers expresly limits them to two Bishops and Deacons and them whom in one place he calls Bishops he always afterwards nameth Presbyters The Epistles of Ignatius pretend to the next Antiquity but are by some suspected as wholly spurious and proved by Vedelius to be so mixed that it is hard if not impossible to know what part of them are genuine Besides Bishop Vsher in his late observations on them chap. 18. pag. 138. confesses that of the twelve of his Epistles six are counterfeit the other six mixt and none of them in every respect to be accounted sincere and genuine Fourthly we grant That not long after the Apostles times Bishops in some superiority to Presbyters are by the Writers of those times reported to be in the Church but they were set up not as a Divine Institution but as an Ecclesiastical as afterwards both Arch-Bishops and Patriarchs were Which is clear by Doctor Reynolds his Epistle to Sir Francis Knowles wherein he shews out of
Bishop Jewel that Ambrose Chrysostome Jerome Augustine and many more holy Fathers together with the Apostle Paul agree that by the Word of God there is no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter and that Medina in the Council of Trent affirms not only the same Fathers but also another Jerome Theodoret Primasius Sedulius and Theophylact to be of the same judgment and that with them agree Oecumenius Anselme Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and another Anselme Gregory and Gratian and after them many others that it was inrolled in the Canon Law for sound and Catholick Doctrine and publickly taught by Learned men And adds That all who have laboured in the Reformation of the Church for these 500 years have taught that all Pastors be they intituled Bishops or Priests have equal authority and power by God's word The same way goes Lombard Master of the Sentences and Father of the School-men who speaking of Presbyters and Deacons saith The Primitive Church had those Orders only and that we have the Apostles precept for them alone With him agree many of the most eminent in that kind and generally all the Canonists To these we may add Sixtus Senensis who testifies for himself and many others and Cassander who was called by one of the German Emperors as one of singular ability and integrity to inform him and resolve his Conscience in questions of that nature who said It is agreed among all that in the Apostles times there was no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter For a conclusion we add that the Doctrine we have herein propounded to Your Majesty concerning the Identity of the Order of Bishops and Presbyters is no other than the Doctrine published by King Henry the 8. 1543. for all his Subjects to receive seen and allowed by the Lords both Spiritual and Temporal with the neather House of Parliament Of these two Orders only so saith the Book that is to say Priests and Deacons Scripture maketh express mention and how they were conferred of the Apostles by Prayer and Imposition of hands By all which it seems evident that the Order of Episcopacy as distinct from Presbytery is but an Ecclesiastical Institution and therefore not unalterable Lastly we answer That Episcopal Government which at first obtained in the Church did really and substantially differ from the Episcopal Goverment which the Honourable Houses of Parliament desire the abolition of The Bishop of those times was one presiding and joining with the Presbytery of his Church ruling with them and not without them either created and made by the Presbyters chusing out one among themselves as in Rome and Alexandria or chosen by the Church and confirmed by three or more of his Neighbours of like dignity within the same precinct lesser Towns and Villages had and might have have Bishops in them as well as populous and eminent Cities until the Council of Sardis decreed That Villages and small Cities should have no Bishops lest the name and authority of a Bishop might thereby come into contempt But of one claiming as his due and right to himself alone as a superior order or degree all power about Ordination of Presbyters and Deacons and all jurisdiction either to exercise himself or delegate to whom he will of the Laity or Clergy as they distinguish according to the Judgment and Practice of those in our times we read not till in the latter and corrupter Ages of the Church By all which it appears that the present Hierarchy the abolition whereof is desired by the Honourable Houses may accordingly be abolished and yet possibly the Bishops of those Primitive times be They are so far differing one from another In answer to that part of Your Majesties Paper wherein You require whether our Saviour and his Apostles did so leave the Church at liberty as they might totally alter or change the Church-Government at their pleasure we humbly conceive that there are Substantials belonging to Church-Government such as are appointed by Christ and his Apostles which are not in the Churches liberty to alter at pleasure But as for Arch-Bishops c. we hope it will appear unto Your Majesties Conscience that they are none of the Church-Governors appointed by our Saviour and his Apostles And we beseech Your Majesty to look rather to the Original of them than Succession Octob. 3. 1648. III. His MAJESTIES Answer to the Paper delivered to Him by the Divines attending the Parliament's Commissioners concerning Church-Government C. R. HIS Majesty upon perusal of your Answer to His Paper of the second of October 1648. findeth that you acknowledg the several Scriptures cited in the Margin to prove the things for which they are cited viz. That the Apostles in their own persons that Timothy and Titus by Authority derived from them and the Angels of the Churches had power of Church-Government and did or might actually exercise the same in all the three several branches in His Paper specified And so in effect you grant all that is desired For the Bishops challenge no more or other power to belong unto them in respect of their Episcopal Office as it is distinct from that of Presbyters than what properly falleth under one of these three Ordination giving Rules and Censures But when you presently after deny the persons that exercised the power aforesaid to have been Bishops or to have exercised Episcopal Government in that sense as Bishops are distinct from Presbyters you do in effect deny the very same thing you had before granted For Episcopal Government in that sense being nothing else but the Government of the Churches within a certain Precinct commonly called a Diocese committed to one single person with sufficient authority over the Presbyters and people of those Churches for that end since the substance of the thing it self in all the three forementioned particulars is found in the Scriptures unless you will strive about names and words which tendeth to no profit but to the puzling and subverting those which seek after truth you must also acknowledg that Episcopal Government in the sense aforesaid may be sufficiently proved from the Scriptures In that which you say next and for proof thereof insist upon three several Texts His Majesty conceiveth as to the present business that the most that can be proved from all or any of those places is this That the word Bishop is there used to signifie Presbyter and that consequently the Office and Work mentioned in those places as the Office and Work of a Bishop are the Office and Work of a Presbyter which is confest on all sides although His Majesty is not sure that the proof will reach so far in each of those places But from thence to infer an absolute Identity of the Functions of a Bishop and a Presbyter is a fallacy which his Majesty observeth to run in a manner quite along your whole Answer but it appears from the Scriptures by what you have granted that single persons as Timothy and Titus
for example had Authority to perform such Acts and Offices of Church-Government as his Majesty hath not yet found by any thing represented unto Him by you or any other from the Scripture that a single Presbyter ever had authority to perform which is enough to prove that the Community of Names in some places notwithstanding the Functions themselves are in other places by their proper work sufficiently distinguished But for the Name Episcopus or Bishop His Majesty hath long since learned from those that are skilful in the Greek tongue that it imports properly no more than an Overseer one that hath the charge or inspection of some thing committed unto him as hee that is set to watch a Beacon or to keep Sheep whence in the New Testament and in the Ecclesiastical use it is applied to such persons as have the Care and Inspection of the Churches of Christ committed unto them in Spiritualibus as both Bishops and Presbyters have in some sort but with this difference that mere Presbyters are Episcopi gregis only they have the oversight of the Flock in the duties of Preaching Administration of Sacraments Publick Prayer Exhorting Rebuking c. but Bishops are Episcopi gregis and Pastorum too having the oversight of the Flock and Pastors within their several Precincts in the acts of external Government so that the common work of both Functions is the Ministry of the Gospel but that which is peculiar to the Function of Bishops as distinguished from Presbyters is Church-Government It is not therefore to be wondred if it should happen in the New Testament the word Episcopus to be usually applied unto Presbyters who were indeed Overseers of the flock rather than unto Church-Governors who had then another Title of greater Eminency whereby to distinguish them from ordinary Presbyters to wit that of Apostles But when the government of Churches came into the hands of their Successors the names were by common usage which is the best Master of words very soon appropriated that of Episcopus to the Ecclesiastical Governor or Bishop of a Diocese and that of Presbyter to the ordinary Minister or Priest His Majesty had rather cause to wonder That upon such premises you should conclude with so much confidence as if the point were rendred most clear to the Judgment of most men both ancient and of latter times That there is no such Officer to be found in the Scriptures of the New Testament as a Bishop distinct from a Presbyter whenas His Majesty remembreth to have seen cited by such Authors as He hath no reason to suspect both out of the ancient Fathers and Councils and out of sundry modern Writers even of those Reformed Churches that want Bishops great variety of Testimonies to the contrary His Majesty is not satisfied with your Answer concerning the Apostles exercise of Episcopal Government which you would put off by referring it to their extraordinary Calling Our Saviour himself was the first and chief Apostle and Bishop of our Souls sent by the Father and Anointed by the Holy Ghost to be both the Teacher and the Governour of his Church By that Mission he receiv'd Authority and by his Unction ability for those works which he performed in his own person whilst he lived upon the earth Before he left the world that the Church might not want Teaching and Governing to the worlds end he chose certain persons upon whom he conferred both these Powers whereby they became also Apostles and Bishops by making them partakers both of his Mission before his Ascension As my Father sent me so send I you and of his Vnction shortly after his Ascension when he poured upon them the Holy Ghost at Pentecost The Mission both for teaching and governing at least for the substance of it was ordinary and to continue to the end of the world Matt. xxviii 18 20. and therefore necessarily to descend and be by them transmitted to others as their Substitutes and Successors But the Vnction whereby they were enabled to both Offices or Functions by the effusion of the Holy Ghost in such a plenteous measure of Knowledg Tongues Miracles Prophecyings Healing Infallibility of Doctrine discerning of spirits and such like was indeed extraordinary in them and in some few others though in an inferiour measure as God saw it needful for the planting of the Churches and propagation of the Gospel in those Primitive times and in this which was indeed extraordinary in them they were not necessarily to have Successors But it seems very unreasonable to attribute the exercise of that Power whether of Teaching or Governing to an extraordinary calling which being of necessary and continual use in the Church must therefore of necessity be the work of a Function of ordinary and perpetual use Therefore the Acts of Governing of the Church were no more nor otherwise extraordinary in the Apostles than the Acts of Teaching the Church were that is to say both extraordinary for the manner of performance in respect of their more than ordinary abilities for the same and yet both ordinary for the substance of the Offices themselves and the works to be performed therein and in these two ordinary Offices their ordinary Successors are Presbyters and Bishops Presbyters qua Presbyters immediately succeeding them in the Office of Teaching and Bishops qua Bishops immediately in the Office of Governing The instances of Timothy and Titus you likewise endeavour to avoid by the pretension of an extraordinary calling But in this Answer besides the insufficiency thereof if all that is said therein could be proved His Majesty findeth very little satisfaction 1. First you say that Timothy and Titus were by Office Evangelists whereas of Titus the Scriptures no where affirm any such thing at all and by your own Rule your Authority without Scripture will beget if that but a humane Faith neither doth the Text clearly Prove that Timothy was so 2. Setting aside mens conjectures which can breed but an humane Faith neither you cannot make it appear by any Text of Scripture that the Office of an Evangelist is such as you have described it The work of an Evangelist which Saint Paul exhorteth Timothy to do seems by the Context 2 Tim iv 5. to be nothing but diligence in preaching the Word notwithstanding all impediments and oppositions 3. That which you so confidently affirm That Timothy and Titus acted as Evangelists is not onely denyed but clearly refuted by Scultetus Gerard and others yea even with scorn rejected of late as His Majesty is informed by some rigid Presbyterians as Gillespy Rutherford c. And that which you so confidently deny that Timothy and Titus were Bishops is not onely confirmed by the consentient testimony of all Antiquity even Jerome himself having recorded it that they were Bishops and that of St. Paul's ordination and acknowledged by very many late Divines but a Catalogue also of 27. Bishops of Ephesus lineally succeeding from Timothy our of good records is vouched by
Scripture-Original of a Bishop which is declared against by a cloud of Witnesses named in the latter end of our former Answer unto which we should refer if matter of right were not properly triable by Scripture as matter of Fact is by Testimony We said that the Apostles were the highest Order of Officers of the Church that they were extraordinary that they were distinguisht from all other Officers and that their Government was not Episcopal but Apostolical To which Answer Your Majesty being not satisfied doth oppose certain Assertions That Christ himself and the Apostles received their Authority by Mission their Ability by Vnction That the Mission of the Apostles was ordinary and to continue to the end of the World but the Vnction whereby they were enabled to both Offices and Functions Teaching and Governing was indeed extraordinary That in their Vnction they were not necessarily to have Successors but necessarily in their Mission or Office of Teaching and Governing That in these two ordinary Offices their ordinary Successors are Presbyters and Bishops That Presbyters qua Presbyters do immediately succeed them in the Office of Teaching and Bishops qua Bishops immediately in the Office of Governing the demonstration of which last alone would have carried in it more conviction than all these Assertions put together Officers are distinguished by that whereby they are constituted their Commission which being produced signed by one place of Scripture gives surer evidence than a Pedigree drawn forth by such a series of distinctions as do not distinguish him into another Officer from a Presbyter Whether this chain of distinction be strong and the links of it sufficiently tackt together we crave leave to examine Christ saith Your Majesty was the Apostle and Bishop of our Souls and he made the Apostles both Apostles and Bishops We do not conceive that Your Majesty means that the Apostles succeeded Christ as the chief Apostle and that as Bishops they succeed Christ as a Bishop lest thereby Christ his Mission as an Apostle and Bishop might be conceived as ordinary as their Mission is said to be but we apprehend Your Majesty to mean that the Office of Apostle and Bishop was eminently contained in Christs Office as the Office of a Bishop was eminently contained in that of Apostleship but thence it will not follow that inferior Offices being contained in the superior eminently are therefore existent in it formally For because all Honours and Dignities are eminently contained in Your Majesty would it therefore follow that Your Majesty is formally and distinctly a Baron of the Realm as it is asserted the Apostles to have been Bishops in distinct sense That Mission refers to Office and Authority and Vnction only to Ability we cannot consent for besides that the breathing of Christ upon his Disciples saying Receive ye the Holy Ghost doth refer to mission as well as unction we conceive that in the proper anointing of Kings or other Officers the natural use and effect of the oil upon the body was not so much intended as the solemn and ceremonious use of it in the Inauguration of them So there is relation to Office in unction as well as to conferring of abilities else how are Kings or Priests or Prophets said to be anointed And what good sense could be made of that expression in Scripture of anointing one in anothers room To omit that Christ by this construction should be called the Messias in respect of Abilities only And although we should grant Your Majesties explication of Mission and Vnction yet it will not follow that the mission of the Apostles was ordinary and their unction only extraordinary That into which there is succession was ordinary that into which there is no succession for succession is not unto abilities or gifts extraordinary and so the Apostles were ordinary Officers in all whereunto there is properly any succession and that is Office They differed from Bishops in that wherein one Apostle or Officer of the same order might differ from another to wit in abilities and measure of Spirit but not in that wherein one order of Officers is above another by their Office To which we cannot give consent For since no man is denominated an Officer from his meer abilities or gifts so neither can the Apostles be called extraordinary Officers because of extraordinary gifts but that the Apostles Mission and Office as their abilities was extraordinary and temporary doth appear in that it was by immediate Commission from Christ without any intervention of men either in Election or Ordination for planting an authoritative governing of all Churches through the World comprehending in it all other Officers of the Church whatsoever and therefore it seems to us very unreasonable that the Office and Authority of the Apostles should be drawn down to an ordinary thereby to make it as it were a fit stock into which the ordinary Office of a Bishop may be ingrafted nor doth the continuance of Teaching and Governing in the Church more render the Office of teaching and governing in the Apostles an ordinary Office than the Office of teaching and governing in Christ himself renders his Office therefore ordinary The reason given That the Office of Teaching and Governing was ordinary in the Apostles because of the continuance of them in the Church we crave leave to say is that great mistake which runs through the whole file of Your Majesties Discourse for tho there be a Succession in the Work of Teaching and Governing yet there is no Succession in the Commission or Office by which the Apostles performed them for the Office of Christ of Apostles of Evangelists or Prophets is thence also concluded ordinary as to Teaching and Governing and the distinction of Offices Extraordinary and Ordinary eatenus destroyed The Succession may be into the same Work not into the same Commission and Office The ordinary Officers which are to manage the work of Teaching and Government are constituted settled and limited by warrant of Scripture as by another Commission than that which the Apostles had And if Your Majesty had shewn us some Record out of Scripture warranting the division of the Office of Teaching and Governing into two hands and the appropriation of Teaching to Presbyters of Governing to Bishops the question had been determined otherwise we must look upon the dissolving of the Apostolical Office and distribution of it into these two hands as the dictate of men who have a mind by such a precarious Argument to challenge to themselves the Keys of Authority and leave the Word to the Presbyters In our answer to the instances of Timothy and Titus which Doctor Bilson acknowledgeth to be the main erection of Episcopal power if the proof of their being Bishops do stand or subversion if the answer that they were Evangelists be good Your Majesty finds very little satisfaction though all that is said therein could be proved First because the Scriptures no where imply any such thing at all that Titus was an Evangelist
call upon us to be particular though we cannot name the Angels nor are satisfied in our judgment that those whom some do undertake to name were intended by the name of Angels in those Epistles yet we say First that these Epistles were sent unto the Churches and that under the expression of this thou dost or this thou hast and the like the Churches are respectively intended for the Sins reproved the Repentance commanded the Punishments threatned ate to be referred to the Churches and not to the singular Angels only and yet we do not think that Salmasius did intend nor do we that in formal denomination the Angels and Candlesticks were the same Secondly The Angels of these Churches or Rulers were a Collective body which we endeavoured to prove by such probabilities as Your Majesty takes no notice of namely the instance of the Church of Ephesus where there were many Bishops to whom the charge of that Church was by St. Paul at his final departure from them committed as also by that expression Rev. xi 24. To you and to the rest in Thyatira Which distinction makes it very probable that the Angel is explained under that plurality to you The like to which many expressions may be found in these Epistles which to interpret according to the consentient Evidence of other Scriptures of the New Testament is not Safe only but Solid and Evidential Thirdly These Writings are directed as Epistolary Letters to Collective Bodies usually are that is to One but intended to the Body which Your Majesty illustrateth by Your sending a Message to Your Two Houses and directing it to the Speaker of the House of Peers which as it doth not hinder we confess but that the Speaker is one single Person so it doth not prove at all that the Speaker is always the same person or if he were that therefore because Your Message is directed to him he is the Governour or Ruler of the two Houses in the least And so Your Majesty hath given clear instance that tho these Letters be directed to the Angels yet that notwithstanding they might neither be Bishops nor yet perpetual Moderators For the several opinions specified in Your Majesties Paper three of them by easy and fair accommodation as we declared before are soon reduced and united amongst themselves and may be holden without recess from the received Judgment of the Christian Church by such as are far from meriting that Aspersion which is cast upon the Reformed Divines by Popish Writers that they have divided themselves from the Common and received Judgment of the Christian Church which Imputation we hope was not in Your Majesties intention to lay upon us until it be made clear that it is the common and received Judgment of the Christian Church that now is or of that in former Ages that the Angels of the Churches were Bishops having Prelacy as well over Pastors as People within their Churches In the following Discourse we did deny that the Apostles were to have any Successors in their Office and affirmed only Two Orders of ordinary and standing Officers in the Church viz. Presbyters and Deacons Concerning the former of which Your Majesty refers to what you had in part already declared That in those things which were extraordinary in the Apostles as namely the Measure of their Gifts c. They had no Successors in eundem gradum but in those things which were not extraordinary as the Office of Teaching and Power of Governing which are necessary for the Service of the Church in all times they were to have and had Successors Where Your Majesty delivers a Doctrine new to us namely that the Apostles had Successors into their Offices not into their Abilities For besides that Succession is not properly into Abilities but into Office we cannot say that one succeeds another in his Learning or Wit or Parts but into his Room and Function we conceive that the Office Apostolical was extraordinary in whole because their Mission and Commission was so and the service or work of Teaching and Governing being to continue in all times doth not render their Office Ordinary as the Office of Moses was not rendered Ordinary because many works of Government exercised by him were re-committed to the standing Elders of Israel And if they have Successors it must be either into their whole Office or into some parts Their Successors into the whole however differing from them in measure of Gifts and peculiar Qualifications must be called Apostles the same Office gives the same Denomination and then we shall confess that Bishops if they be their Successors in Office are of Divine Institution because the Apostolical Office was so If their Successors come into part of their Office only the Presbyters may as well be called their Successors as the Bishops and so indeed they are called by some of the ancient Fathers Irenoeus Origen Hierome and others Whereas in truth the Apostles have not properly Successors into Office but the ordinary Power of Teaching and Governing which is setled in the Church for continuance is instituted and settled in the hands of ordinary Officers by a New Warrant and Commission according to the rules of Ordination and Calling in the Word which the Bishop hath not yet produced for himself and without which he cannot challenge it upon the general allusive Speeches used by the Fathers without scruple And whereas Your Majesty numbers the extent of their work amongst those things which were extraordinary in the Apostles we could wish that You had declared whether it belong to their Mission or Vnction for we humbly conceive that their Authoritative Power to do their Work in all places of the World did properly belong to their Mission and consequently that their Office as well as their Abilities was extraordinary and so by Your Majesties own Concession not to be succeeded into by the Bishops As to the Orders of standing Officers of the Church Your Majesty doth reply That although in the places cited Phil. i. 1. i Tim. iii. 8. there be no mention but of the two Orders only of Bishops or Presbyters and Deacons yet it is not thereby proved that there is no other standing Office in the Church besides Which we humbly conceive is justly proved not only because there are no other named but because there is no rule of Ordaining any third no Warrant or way of Mission and so Argument is as good as can be made a non causa ad non effectum for we do not yet apprehend that the Bishops pretending to the Apostolick Office do also pretend to the same manner of Mission nor do we know that those very many Divines that have asserted two Orders only have concluded it from any other grounds than the Scriptures cited There appear as your Majesty saith two other manifest Reasons why the Office of Bishops might not be so proper to be mentioned in those places And we humbly conceive there is a third more manifest than those two
subjoyn to that we had said out of the Scriptures the Judgment of divers ancient Writers and Fathers by whom Bishops were not acknowledged as a Divine but as an Ecclesiastical Institution as that which might very much conduce both to the easing of Your Majesties Scruple to consider that howsoever Episcopal Government was generally current yet the superscription was not judged Divine by some of those that either were themselves Bishops or lived under that Government and to the vindication of the opinion which we hold from the prejudice of Novellisme or of Recess from the Judgment of all Antiquity We do as firmly believe as to matter of fact that Chrysostome and Austin were Bishops as that Aristotle was a Philosopher Cicero an Orator though we should rather call our Faith and belief thereof certain in matter of fact upon humane Testimonies uncontroll'd than infallible in respect of the Testimonies themselves But whereas Your Majesty saith That the darkness of the History of the Church in the times succeeding the Apostles is a strong Argument for Episcopacy which notwithstanding that darkness hath found so full proof by unquestioned Catalogues as scarce any other matter of fact hath found the like we humbly conceive that those fore-mentioned times were dark to the Catalogue-makers who must derive the series of Succession from and through those Historical darknesses and so make up their of Catalogues very much from Traditions and Reports which can give no great Evidence because they agree not amongst themselves and that which is the great blemish of their Evidence is that the nearer they come to the Apostles times wherein they should be most of all clear to establish the Succession firm and clear at first the more doubtful uncertain and indeed contradictory to one another are the Testimonies Some say that Clemens was first Bishop of Rome after Peter some say the third and intricacies about the Order of Succession in Linus Anacletus Clemens and another called Cletus as some affirm are inextricable Some say that Titus was Bishop of Crete some say Arch-Bishop and some Bishop of Dalmatia Some say that Timothy was Bishop of Ephesus and some say that John was Bishop of Ephesus at the sametime Some say that Polycarpus was the first Bishop of Smyrna another saith that he succeeded one Bucolus and another that Aristo was first Some say that Alexandria had but one Bishop and other Cites two and others that there was but one Bishop of one City at the same time And how should those Catalogues be unquestionable which must be made up out of Testimonies that fight one with another We confess that the Ancient Fathers Tertullian Irenoeus c. made use of Succession as an Argument against Hereticks or Innovators to prove that they had the traduces Apostolici seminis and that the Godly and Orthodox Fathers were on their side But that which we now have in hand is Succession in Office which according to the Catalogues resolves it self into some Apostle or Evangelist as the first Bishop of such a City or Place who as we conceive could not be Bishops of those places being of higher Office though according to the language of after-times they might by them that drew up the Catalogues be so called because they planted and founded or watered those Churches to which they are Entitled and had their greatest residence in them Or else the Catalogues are drawn from some eminent men that were of great veneration and reverence in the times and places where they lived and Presidents or Moderators of the Presbyteries whereof themselves were Members from whom to pretend the Succession of after Bishops is as if it should be said that Caesar was Successor to the Roman Consuls And we humbly conceive that there are some Rites and Ceremonies used continually in the Church of old which are asserted to be found in the Apostolical and Primitive times and yet have no colour of Divine Institution and which is Argument above all other the Fathers whose Names we exhibited to your Majesty in our Answer were doubtless acquainted with the Catalogues of Bishops who had been before them and yet did hold them to be of Ecclesiastical Institution And lest Your Majesty might reply That however the Testimonies and Catalogues may vary or be mistaken in the order or times or names of those persons that succeeded the Apostles yet all agree that there was a Succession of some persons and so though the credit of the Catalogues be infirmed yet the thing intended is confirmed thereby We grant that a Succession of men to feed and govern those Churches while they continued Churches cannot be denied and that the Apostles and Evangelists that planted and watered those Churches though extraordinary and temporary Officers were by Ecclesiastical Writers in compliance with the Language and usage of their own times called Bishops and so were other eminent men of chief note presiding in the Presbyteries of the Cities or Churches called by such Writers as wrote after the division or distinction of the names of Presbyters and Bishops But that those first and ancientest Presbyters were Bishops in proper sense according to Your Majesties description invested with power over Presbyters and people to whom as distinct from Presbyters did belong the power of Ordaining giving Rules ahd Censures we humbly conceive can never be proved by authentick or competent Testimonies And granting that Your Majesty should prove the Succession of Bishops from the Primitive times seriatim yet if these from whom You draw and through whom You derive it be found either more than Bishops as Apostles and extraordinary persons or less than Bishops as merely first Presbyters having not one of the three Essentials to Episcopal Government mentioned by Your Majesty in their own hand it will follow that all that Your Majesty hath proved by this Succession is the Homonymy and equivocal acceptation of the word Episcopus For Clemens his Testimony which Your Majesty conceiveth to be made use of as our old fallacy from the promiscuous use of the words to infer the indistinction of the things we refer our selves to himself in his Epistle now in all mens hands whose Testimony we think cannot be eluded but by the old Artifice of hiding the Bishop under the Presbyters name for they that have read his whole Epistle and have considered that himself is called a Bishop Clement's opinion concerning the distinct Offices of Bishops and Presbyters or rather not doubt of it if only his own Epistle may be impanel'd upon the Inquest Concerning Ignatius his Epistles Your Majesty is pleased to use some earnestness of expression charging some of late without any regard of ingenuity or truth out of their partial disaffection to Bishops to have endeavoured to discredit his Writings One of those cited by us cannot as we conceive be suspected of disaffection to Bishops and there are great Arguments drawn out of those Epistles themselves betraying their insincerity adulterate mixtures and interpolations so
that Ignatius cannot be distinctly known in Ignatius And if we take him in gross we make him the Patron as Baronius and the rest of the Popish Writers do of such rites and observations as the Church in his time cannot be thought to have owned He doth indeed give testimony to the Prelacy of a Bishop above a Presbyter that which may justly render him suspected is that he gives too much Honour saith he the Bishop as God's high Priest and after him you must honour the King He was indeed a holy Martyr and his writings have suffered Martyrdom as well as he Corruptions could not go current but under the credit of worthy Names That which Your Majesty saith in Your fourth Paragraph that we might have added if we had pleased That James Timothy Titus c. were constituted and ordained Bishops of the forementioned places respectively and that all the Bishops of those times were reputed Successors to the Apostles in their Episcopal Office we could not have added it without prejudice as we humbly conceive to the truth for the Apostles did not ordain any of themselves Bishops nor could they do it for even by Your Majesties Concession they were Bishops before viz. as they were Apostles nor could any Apostle his choice of a certain Region or place to exercise his function in whilst he pleased render him a Bishop any more than Paul was Bishop of the Gentiles Peter of the Circumcision Neither did the Apostles ordain the Evangelists Bishops of those places unto which they sent them nor were the Bishops of those times any more than as Your Majesty saith reputed Successors to the Apostles in their Episcopal Office they came after the Apostles in the Churches by them planted so might Presbyters do But that 's not properly succession at least not succession into Office and this we say with a Salvo to our Assertion That in those times there were no such Bishops distinct from Presbyters Neither do we understand whether the words Episcopal Office in this Section refer to the Bishops or Apostles for in reference to Apostles it insinuates a distinction of the Apostles Office into Apostolical and Episcopal or that the Office Apostolical was wholly Episcopal unto neither of which we can give our consent for reasons forementioned To the testimonies by us recited in proof of two only Orders Your Majesty answers first That the promiscuous use of the names of Bishops and Presbyters is imported That which Your Majesty not long ago called our old fallacy is now Your Answer only with this difference we under promiscuous names hold the same Office Your Majesty under promiscuous names supposes two which if as it is often asserted was but once proved we should take it for a determination of this Controversie Secondly that they relate to a School-point or a nicety utrum Episcopatus fit or do vel gradus both sides of the questionists or disputants in the mean time acknowledging the right of Church-government in the Bishops alone It is confest by us that that question as it is stated by Popish Authors is a curious nicety to which we have no eye or reference for though the same Officers may differ from and excel others of the same order in Gifts or Qualifications yet the Office it self is one and the same without difference or degrees as one Apostle or Presbyter is not superior to another in the degree of Office they that are of the same Order are of the same degree in respect of Office as having Power and Authority to the same Acts. Nor doth the Scripture warrant or allow any Superiority of one over another of the same Order and therefore the proving of two Orders only in the Church is a demonstration that Presbyters and Bishops are the same In which point the Scripture will counter-balance the testimonies of those that assert three degrees or orders though ten for one But for easing of Your Majesty of the trouble of producing testimonies against those cited by us we make this humble motion that the Regiments on both sides may be discharged out of the field and the Point disputed by Dint of holy Scripture Id verum quod primum Having passed through the Argumentative parts of Your Majesties Reply wherein we should account it a great happiness to have given Your Majesty any satisfaction in order whereunto You pleased to honour us with this employment we shall contract our selves in the remainder craving Your Majesties pardon if You shall conceive us to have been too much in the former and too little in that which follows We honour the pious intentions and munificence of Your Royal Progenitors and do acknowledge that Ornamental Accessions granted to the Person do not make any substantial change in the Office the real difference betwixt that Episcopal Government which first obtained in the Church and the present Hierarchy consists in ipso regimine modo regiminis which cannot be clearly demonstrated in particulars until it be agreed on both sides what that Episcopacy was then and what the Hierarchy is now and then it would appear whether these three forementioned Essentials of Episcopal Government were the same in both For the Power under Christian Princes and under Pagan is one and the same though the Exercise be not And we humbly receive Your Majesties pious Advertisement not unlike that of Constantine's stirring us up as men unbiassed with private interests to study the nearest Accommodation and best resemblance to the Apostolical and Primitive times But for Your Majesties Salvo to the Bishops sole power of Ordination and Jurisdiction and that distinction of Ordination Authoritative in the Bishop and Concomitant in the Presbytery which You seem to found upon these two Texts 11 Tim. i. 6. 1 Tim. IV. 14. and which is used by Dr. Bilson and other Defenders of Episcopacy in explication of that Canon of the fourth Council of Carthage which enjoyns the joynt imposition of the Bishops and Presbyters hands we shall give Your Majesty an accompt when we shall be called to the inquisition thereof Albeit that we do not for the present see but that this Proviso of Your Majesty renders our accommodation to the Apostolical and Primitive times whereunto You did exhort us unfeisible We notwithstanding do fully profess our acknowledgement of subordination of the outward exercise of Jurisdiction to the Sovereign power and our accomptableness to the Laws of the Land As for Your Majesties three Questions of great importance Whether there be a certain form of Government left by Christ and his Apostles to be observed by all Christian Churches Whether it bind perpetually or be upon occasion alterable in whole or in part Whether that certain form of Government be the Episcopal Presbyterian or some other differing from them hoth The whole Volume of Ecclesiastical Policy is contained in them and we hope that neither Your Majesty expected of us a particular Answer to them at this time nor will take offence at us if
we hold only to that which is the question in order to the Bill of Abolition For we humbly profess our readiness to serve Your Majesty in Answering these or any other questions within our proper cognisance according to the proportion of our mean abilities For Your Majesties Condescension in vouchsafing us the liberty and honour of examining Your learned Reply cloathed in such Excellency of Style and for Your exceeding Candour shewed to such men as we are and for the acceptation of our humble duty we render to Your Majesty most humble Thanks and shall pray That such a Pen in the hand of such Abilities may ever be employed in a Subject worthy of it That your Majesty would please to consider that in this point under debate Succession is not the best Clue and most certain and ready way to find out the Original for to go that way is to go the furthest way about yea to go backward and when You are at the Spring viz. the Scripture it self You go to the Rivers end that You may seek the Spring And that the Lord would guide Your Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament by the right hand of his Counsel and shew You a happy way of healing our unhappy Differences and of settling the Commonwealth of Jesus Christ which is the Church so as all the members thereof may live under You in all Godliness Peace and Honesty V. His MAJESTIES Final Answer concerning Episcopacy Nov. 1. MDCXLVIII WHat you have offered by way of Reply to His Majesties Second Paper of October 6. in yours of October 17. in order to the further satisfaction of His Conscience in the point of Episcopacy His Majesty heard when it was publickly read by you with diligent attention and hath since so far as His leisure would permit taken the same into his private and serious Consideration Wherein His Majesty not only acknowledgeth your great Pains and Endeavours to inform His Judgment acording to such perswasions as your selves have in the matter in debate but also taketh special notice of the Civility of your applications to Him both in the Body and Conclusion of your Reply yet He cannot but observe withall that in very many things you either mistake His meaning and purpose in that Paper or at least come not up fully enough thereunto in this Reply Which to have shown will sufficiently remonstrate your present Reply to be unsatisfactory in that behalf without making a particular Answer to every passage in it which to a Paper of that length would require more time than His Majesty can think fit amidst the present weighty affairs to allow unto a debate of this nature Especially since His Majesty hath often found mutual returns of long Answers and Replies to have rather multiplied disputes by starting new Questions than informed the Conscience by removing former Scruples As to the Scriptures cited in the Margin of His Majesties first Paper It being granted by you that those Scriptures did prove the Apostles and others being single Persons to have exercised respectively the several powers in the Paper specified which powers by your own confession in this Reply Sect. 7. a single Person who is but a mere Presbyter hath no right to exercise and it being withall evident that a Bishop in the Ecclesiastical sense and as distinct from a Presbyter layeth claim to no more than to a peculiar right in the exercise of some or all of the said Powers which a mere Presbyter hath not the Conclusion seemeth natural and evident that such a Power of Church-Government as we usually call Episcopal is sufficiently proved by those Scriptures As to the Bishops Challenge First when you speak of a Writ of partition you seem to take His Majesties words as if He had shared and cantoned out the Episcopal Office one part to the Bishops alone another to the Presbyters alone and you fall upon the same again afterwards Sect. 6. Whereas His Majesties meaning was and by His words appeareth so to have been that one part of the Office that of Teaching c. was to be common to both alike but the other part that of Governing Churches peculiar to the Bishop alone Secondly you infer from His Majesties words That the Bishops Challenge appeareth to be grown to more than was formerly pretended to Which inference His Majesties words by you truly cited if rightly understood will not bear For having proved from Scripture the power of Church-Government in all the three mentioned Particulars to have been exercised by the Apostles and others His Majesty said but this only That the Bishops challenge no more or other power to belong unto them in respect of their Episcopal Office than what properly falleth under one of these three The Words are true for he that believeth they challenge not so much might safely say they challenge no more But the Inference is not good For he that saith they challenge no more doth not necessarily imply they challenge all that In the power of Ordination which is purely spiritual His Majesty conceiveth the Bishops challenge to have been much-what the same in all times of the Church and therefore it is that the matter of Ordination is most insisted on as the most constant and most evident difference between Bishops and Presbyters especially after the times of Constantine which His Majesty by your relating to Chrysostom and Hierom taketh to be the same you call the times of Grown Episcopacy But His Majesty seeth no necessity that the Bishops challenge to the power of Jurisdiction should be at all times as large as the exercise thereof appeareth at some times to have been the exercise thereof being variable according to the various conditions of the Church in different times And therefore His Majesty doth not believe that the Bishops under Christian Princes do challenge such an amplitude of Jurisdiction to belong unto them in respect of their Episcopal Office precisely as was exercised in the Primitive times by Bishops before the days of Constantine The reason of the difference being evident That in those former times under Pagan Princes the Church was a distinct Body of it self divided from the Commonwealth and so was to be governed by its own Rules and Rulers the Bishops therefore of those times tho they had no outward coercive power over mens Persons or Estates yet inasmuch as every Christian man when he became a Member of the Church did ipso facto and by that his own voluntary act put himself under their Government they exercised a very large power of Jurisdiction in Spiritualibus in making Ecclesiastical Canons receiving Accusations conventing the Accused examining Witnesses judging of Crimes excluding such as they found guilty of scandalous offences from the Lord's Supper enjoyning Penances upon them casting them out of the Church receiving them again upon their Repentance c. And all this they exercised as well over Presbyters as others But after that the Church under Christian Princes began to be
much of their Office as was ordinary and perpetual and such a distinction of Bishops and Presbyters as His Majesty hath formerly expressed needeth no further Confirmation from Scripture to such as are willing to make use of their Reason also which in interpreting Scripture upon all other occasions they are inforced to do nor any thing by you produced in this Paragraph any further Answer only that distinction of Eminently and Formally because you illustrate it by instancing in Himself His Majesty could not but take notice of which He either understandeth not or thinketh your Illustration thereof not to be very apposite for Actions and Operations flow from the Forms of things and demonstrate the same as Effects do their Causes The Apostles therefore acting in the ordinary exercise of Church-Government did act not Eminently only but Formally also as Bishops rather than Apostles As Concerning Timothy and Titus First Whether they were Evangelists or no His Majesty never meant to dispute Only because you often call for Scripture-proof His Majesty thought fit to admonish you that in your Answer you take two things for granted viz. that Timothy and Titus were Evangelists and that Evangelists were such Officers as you described neither of which if it should be denied you could clearly prove from Scripture alone without calling in the help of other Writers to attest it as in your Reply you have now done Master Hooker's neither have you indeed brought any thing in this Reply out of Scripture to prove either of both sufficient to convince him that were of a contrary mind Secondly you seem Sect. 12. to mistake that which was the Third Point in that part of His Majesties Paper which was not Whether Timothy and Titus were Evangelists or no concerning which His Majesty neither did nor doth contend but Whether in the Church-Government they exercised they acted as Evangelists as you affirm and so only as extraordinary Officers or not Zuinglius having said that the Name of a Bishop and Evangelist is the same thing proveth it from ii Tim. iv and concludeth Constat idem fuisse officium utriusque Bishop and Evangelist the same Office both Gerard saith the word Evangelist in that place is taken generally and not in the special sense that is to say for a Minister of the Gospel at large and the Context there indeed seemeth to import no more and not for an Evangelist by peculiar Office And Scultetus not only affirmeth that Saint Paul appointed Timothy and Titus to Ephesus and Crete not as Evangelists but as Church-Governours but saith further that the Epistles written to them both do evince it and also bringeth Reasons to prove it Upon what particular Reasons Gillespy c. reject the conceit of their acting as Evangelists His Majesty certainly knows not But if this be one of their Arguments as to their best remembrance from whom His Majesty had the Information it is That if whatsoever is alleged from the Scripture to have been done by the Apostles and by Timothy and Titus in point of Ordination Discipline and Government may be eluded by this that they acted therein as extraordinary Officers there will be no proof at all from Scripture of any power left in any ordinary Church-Officer to the purposes aforesaid His Majesty then recommendeth to your most sober thoughts to consider First how this Conceit of their acting as extraordinary Ministers only tends to the subversion of all Ministers as well as of the Bishops since upon this very ground especially the Socinians deny all Mission and Ordination of Ministers in the Church and Secondly if the contrary be proved by Gillespy c. by good Arguments that they acted as ordinary Officers in the Church then whether they have not thereby laid a better foundation for the claim of the Bishops viz. of Governing the Churches as single persons in Ordinary Office than either they or you are willing to acknowledg Thirdly His Majesty thinketh it a great liberty which you take in rendring the sense of His Reply as you have done viz. The Scriptures never call them Bishops but the Fathers do c. Whereas if you had followed His sense in that Paper you might rather have delivered thus The Scripture describeth them as Bishops and the Fathers call them so For that of yours The Scripture calls Timothy an Evangelist some of late have refuted it and rejected it with scorn you should have said rather The Scripture doth not any where affirm of Titus nor clearly prove of Timothy that they were by peculiar Office Evangelists but that in governing the Churches they acted as Evangelists or extraordinary Officers is by sundry late Writers the Evasion it self having been but of late time minted refuted and rejected For that of yours The Scripture relates their motion from Church to Church but some affirm them to be fixed at Ephesus and in Crete It should have been Neither doth their motion from Church to Church hinder but that they might afterward be fixed at Ephesus and in Crete neither doth their being Bishops of Ephesus and Crete hinder but that they might afterwards for propagation of the Gospel be by the Apostles appointment often imployed other-where For that of yours The Scripture makes distinction of Evangelists and Pastors but some say that Timothy and Titus were both It should have been The Scripture maketh no such distinction of Evangelists and Pastors but that the same persons might not only successively be both but even at the same time also be called by both Names Fourthly Tho you say You do not undervalue the Testimonies and Catalogues mentioned yet you endeavour which cometh not far short of undervaluing to lessen the reputation of both but too much Of those Testimonies by putting them off as if when they report Timothy and Titus and others to have been Bishops they speak but vulgarly or by way of allusion and not exactly as to the point in Debate But of Hierom upon whom you chiefly rely in this cause the contrary is evident who in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers wherein he was to deliver things Fide Historica and to describe the persons of such as are Registred in that Catalogue by their proper and known distinctive Titles and Styles expresly styleth Timothy Titus Mark Polycarp and others Bishops of such and such places and such on the other side as were but mere Presbyters Ecclesioe Antiochenoe or Alexandrinoe Presbyteri c. observing the difference so constantly and exactly throughout the whole Book that nothing can be more clear than that he understood the word Episcopus no otherwise than in the ordinary Ecclesiastical sense and as a Bishop is distinct from a Presbyter As for that passage you allege out of him by custome in the judgment of Learned men he must mean the practice of the Apostolick times and by Dominica dispositio the express Precept of Christ unless you will have himself contradict what himself hath written in sundry other places whose Testimonies
for the latter viz. That they were superiour to Presbyters also had been confessed by your selves in your first Grant before but was not produced to prove the Conclusion it self immediately viz. That they were Bishops in distinct sense altho sundry of their Testimonies come up even to that also But to the first point That they were Single persons the concurrence is so general that His Majesty remembreth not to have heard of any one single Interpreter before Brightman that ever expounded them otherwise And yet the same man as His Majesty is informed in his whole Commentary upon the Revelation doth scarce if at all any where else save in these Seven Epistles expound the word Angel collectively but still of one single person or other insomuch as he maketh one Angel to be Gregory the Great another Queen Elizabeth another Cranmer another Chemnitius and the like But generally both the Fathers and Protestant Divines agree in this That the Angel was a Single person some affirming plainly and that in terminis he was the Bishop some naming the very persons of some of them as of Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna and others some calling him the chief Pastor or Superintendent of that Church and those that speak least and were more or less disaffected to Bishops as Beza Doctor Reynolds the Geneva Notes and even Cartwright himself the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 President or chief among the Presbyters And this they do sundry of them not crudely delivering their Opinions only and then no more but they give Reasons for it and after examination of the several Opinions prefer this before the rest affirming That Doctissimi quique interpretes all the best learned Interpreters so understand it and that they cannot understand it otherwise vim nisi facere Textui velint unless they will offer violence to the Text. That which His Majesty said concerning the Subdivision of those that had divided themselves from the common received judgment of the Church was meant by His Majesty as to the Subdivision in respect of this particular of the Angels wherein they differ one from another as to the Division in respect of their dislike of Bishops wherein they all agree And truly His Majesty doth not yet see how either their Differences can be possibly reconciled in the former no accommodation in the world being able to make all the people of the whole Church nor yet a Colledg consisting of many Presbyters to be one Single person or their recess wholly excused in the latter their dissenting from the common and received Judgment and Practice of the Christian Church in the matter of Episcopacy and the evil consequents thereof having in His Majesties Opinion brought a greater reproach upon the Protestant Religion and given more advantage or colour at least to the Romish party to asperse the Reformed Churches in such sort as we see they do than their disagreement from the Church of Rome in any one controverted Point whatsoever besides hath done As to the Apostles Successors Here little is said the substance whereof hath not been Answered before His Majesty therefore briefly declares His meaning herein That the Apostles were to have no necessary Successors in any thing that was extraordinary either in their Mission or Unction That His Majesty spake not of Succession into Abilities otherwise than by instance mentioning other particulars withal which thing He thinketh needeth not to have been now the third time by you mentioned That in the Apostles Mission or Commission for His Majesty under the name of Mission comprehended both and consequently in the Apostolical Office as there was something extraordinary so there was something ordinary wherein they were to have Successors That Bishops are properly their Successors in the whole Apostolical Office so far as it was ordinary and to have Successors That therefore the Bishops Office may in regard of that Succession be said to be Apostolical That yet it doth not follow that they must needs be called Apostles taking the Denomination from the Office inasmuch as the Denomination of the Apostles peculiarly so called was not given them from the Office whereunto they were sent but as the word it self rather importeth from the immediateness of their Mission being sent immediately by Christ himself in respect whereof for distinction sake and in Honour to their Persons it was thought fitter by those that succeeded in common usage to abstain from that Denomination and to be styled rather by the Name of Bishops That if the Apostles had no Successors the Presbyters who are their Successors in part mediately and subordinately to the Bishops will be very hard set to prove the Warrant of their own Office and Mission which if not derived from the Apostles who only received power of Mission from Christ by a continued line of Succession His Majesty seeth not upon what other bottom it can stand As to the standing Officers of the Church You insisted upon Two Places of Scripture Phil. i. 1. and 1 Tim. iii. to prove that there were to be no more standing Officers in the Church than the two in those places mentioned viz. Presbyters who are there called Bishops and Deacons whereunto His Majesties Answer was That there might be other tho not mentioned in those places which Answer tho it were alone sufficient yet ex abundanti His Majesty shewed withall that supposing your interpretation of the word Bishop in both the places viz. to denote the Office of Presbyter only there might yet be given some probable conjectures which likewise supposed true might satisfie us why that of Bishop in the distinct sense should not be needful or proper to be named in those places His Majesties former Reason tho in Hypothesi and as applied to the Church of Philippi it be but conjectural yet upon the credit of all Ecclesiastical Histories and consideration of the Condition of those times as it is set forth in the Scriptures also it will appear in Thesi to be undoubtedly true viz. That the Apostles themselves first planted Churches That they were perpetual Governours and in chief of all the Churches whilst they lived That as the burthen grew greater by the propagation of the Gospel they assumed others in partem curae committing to their charge the peculiar oversight of the Churches in some principal Cities and the Towns and Villages adjacent as James at Jerusalem and others in other places sooner or later as they saw it expedient for the service of the Church That the persons so by them appointed to such peculiar charges did exercise the powers of Ordination and other Government under the Apostles and are therefore in the Church Stories called Bishops of those places in a distinct sense That in some places where the Apostles were themselves more frequently conversant they did for some while govern the Churches immediately by themselves before they set Bishops there and that after the Apostles times Bishops only were the ordinary Governours of the Churches of Christ And His
Bishop of Smyrna Many years after Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons in France whose Writings were never yet called in question by any not only affirms him to have been constituted Bishop of Smyrna by the Apostles but saith That he himself when he was a Boy had seen him a very old man Tertullian next a very ancient Writer affirmeth That he was Bishop of Smyrna there placed by Saint John After cometh Eusebius who in his Ecclesiastical History not only Historically reporteth of his being Bishop there as he doth of other Bishops but citeth also for it the Testimonies both of Ignatius and Irenaeus which by the way giveth good credit to Ignatius his Epistles too Then Hierom also and others lastly attest the same And it cannot be doubted but Eusebius and Hierom had in their times the like certain Testimonies and Grounds for sundry others whom they report to have been Bishops which Testimonies and Records are not all come to our hands For the Testimonies of Clemens and Ignatius His Majesty saith First That tho it be not reasonable that the Testimony of one single Epistle should be so made the adequate measure of Clemens his Opinion as to exclude all other proof from his Example or otherwise yet His Majesty since Clemens was first named by you and the weight of the main cause lieth not much upon it is content also for that matter to refer Himself to that Epistle Secondly That His Majesty could not but use some earnestness of expression in the cause of Ignatius against some who have rejected the whole Volume of his Epistles but upon such Arguments as have more lessened the Reputation of their own Learning than the Authority of those Epistles in the opinion of moderate and judicious men And yet Blondellus a very Learned man tho he reject those Epistles confesseth notwithstanding the Ancient Fathers gave full Credence thereunto The Apostles you say did not ordain themselves Bishops of any particular places and yet the Bishops of some particular places are reported in the Catalogues to have been Sucoessors to such or such of the Apostles and even the Names of such Apostles are entred into the Catalogues To this His Majesty saith That the Apostles were formerly Bishops by virtue of their Mission from Christ as hath been already declared but did neither ordain themselves nor could be ordained of others Bishops of such or such particular Cities Although His Majesty knoweth not but that they might without prejudice to their Apostleship and by mutual consent make choice of their several quarters wherein to exercise that Function as well as Saint Peter and Saint Paul by consent went the one to the Circumcision the other to the Gentiles But such apportionments did not intitle them to be properly called Bishops of those places unless any of them by such agreement did fixedly reside in some City of which there is not in the History of the Church any clear unquestionable Example If James the Lord's Brother who was certainly Bishop of Jerusalem were not one of the twelve Apostles as the more general opinion is that he was not yet did the Churches of succeeding times for the greater honour of their Sees and the memory of so great Benefactors enter in the Head of the Lists or Catalogues of their Bishops the Names of such of the Apostles as had either first planted the Faith or placed Bishops or made any long abode and continuance or ended their days among them yet doth not the true Title of being Successors to the Apostles thereby accrue to the Bishops of those places more than to other Bishops but all Bishops are equally Successors to the Apostles in two other respects the one for that they derive their Ordination by a continued Line of Succession from the Apostles the other for that they succeed into the same Apostolical Power and Function which the Apostles as ordinary Pastors had Your motion to reduce this whole Dispute to Scripture alone were the more reasonable if the matter in question were properly a Point of Faith And yet even in points of Faith as the Doctrine of the Trinity the Canon of Scripture and sundry other the uniform judgment of the Church hath been ever held of very considerable regard But being a matter of Fact as before was said which the Scriptures do not deliver entirely and perspicuously in any one place together but obscurely and by parts so that the understanding thereof dependeth merely upon conjectural Interpretations and uncertain probabilities nor assure any certain distinguishing Characters whereby to discern what therein is extraordinary what prudential and what of necessary and perpetual Obligation there seemeth to His Majesty to be a necessity of admitting the subsequent Judgment and Practice of the Christian Churches into the Trial. As to the Three Questions proposed by His Majesty His Majesty resteth very much unsatisfied that you have now again wholly declined the answering of those three Questions so clearly proposed by Him which your selves also consess to be of great importance upon this only pretence That the whole Volume of Ecclesiastical Policy is contained in them Whereas His Majesty did neither expect nor require from you any large or Polemical Discourse concerning those Questions but yet did conceive you were in order to His Satisfaction in your own Undertaking in some sort obliged to have declared in few words what your Judgment was therein with the grounds thereof that so His Majesty might have taken the same into His further Consideration than which nothing could have more conduced to the informing of His Judgment and the satisfaction of His Conscience which His Majesty also further conceives you might have done with the tenth part of that pains you have hitherto bestowed to other purposes and therein have given full as much satisfaction to His desires as he expected and in all likelihood better satisfaction to His Judgment than He yet findeth or can hope to find from you so long as you hold off from declaring your Opinions concerning those Questions For certainly until one of these three things can be clearly evidenced unto His Majesty viz. Either that there is no certain Form of Church-Government at all prescribed in the Word or if there be that the Civil Power may change the same as they see cause or if it be unchangeable that it was not Episcopal but some other His Majesty thinks himself excuseable in the judgment of all reasonable men if He cannot as yet be induced to give his Assent to the utter Abolition of that Government in the Church which He found here setled to His hands which hath continued all over the Christian World from the times of the Apostles until this last Age and in this Realm ever since the first plantation of Christianity as well since the Reformation as before which hath been confirmed by so many Acts of Parliament approved as consonant to the holy Word of God in the Articles of our Religion and by all the Ministers of
this That they would not suffer themselves to be over-aw'd with the Tumults and their Patrons nor compelled to abet by their suffrages or presence the designs of those men who agitated Innovations and Ruin both in Church and State In this point I could not but approve their generous Constancy and Cautiousness further than this I did never allow any mans refractoriness against the Priviledges and Orders of the Houses to whom I wished nothing more than Safety Fulness and Freedom But the truth is some men and those not many despairing in fair and Parliamentary ways by free deliberations and Votes to gain the concurrence of the major part of Lords and Commons betook themselves by the desperate activity of factious Tumults to sift and terrifie away all those Members whom they saw to be of contrary minds to their purposes How oft was the business of the Bishops enjoying their Ancient places and undoubted Priviledges in the House of Peers carried for them by far the major part of Lords Yet after five repulses contrary to all Order and Custom it was by tumultuary instigations obtruded again and by a few carried when most of the Peers were forced to absent themselves In like manner was the Bill against Root and Branch brought on by tumultuary Clamours and schismatical Terrors which could never pass till both Houses were sufficiently thinned and over-awed To which Partiality while in all Reason Justice and Religion my Conscience forbids Me by consenting to make up their Votes to Acts of Parliament I must now be urged with an Army and constrained either to hazard My own and My Kingdoms ruine by My Defence or prostrate My Conscience to the blind obedience of those men whose zealous Superstition thinks or pretends they cannot do God and the Church a greater service than utterly to destroy that Primitive Apostolical and anciently-Universal Government of the Church by Bishops Which if other mens Judgments bind them to maintain or forbid them to consent to the abolishing of it Mine much more who besides the grounds I have in My Judgment have also a most strict and indispensable Oath upon my Conscience to preserve that Order and the Rights of the Church to which most Sacrilegious and abhorred Perjury most unbeseeming a Christian King should I ever by giving My Consent be betrayed I should account it infinitely greater Misery than any hath or can befal Me inasmuch as the least Sin hath more evil in it than the greatest Affliction Had I gratified their Anti-episcopal Faction at first in this point with My Consent and sacrificed the Ecclesiastical Government and Revenues to the fury of their Covetousness Ambition and Revenge I believe they would then have found no colourable necessity of raising an Army to fetch in and punish Delinquents That I consented to the Bill of putting the Bishops out of the House of Peers was done with a firm perswasion of their contentedness to suffer a present diminution in their Rights and Honour for My sake and the Common-weals which I was confident they would readily yield unto rather than occasion by the least obstruction on their part any danger to Me or to My Kingdom That I cannot add my consent for the total Extirpation of that Government which I have often offered to all fit Regulations hath so much further tie upon My Conscience as what I think Religious and Apostolical and so very Sacred and Divine is not to be dispensed with or destroyed when what is only of civil Favour and priviledg of Honour granted to men of that Order may with their Consent who are concerned in it be annulled This is the true state of those Obstructions pretended to be in point of Justice and Authority of Parliament when I call God to witness I knew none of such consequence as was worth speaking of to make a War being only such as Justice Reason and Religion had made in My own and other mens Consciences Afterwards indeed a great shew of Delinquents was made which were but consequences necessarily following upon Mine or others withdrawing from or defence against Violence but those could not be the first occasion of raising an Army against Me. Wherein I was so far from preventing them as they have declared often that they might seem to have the advantage and Justice of the defensive part and load Me with all the Envy and Injuries of first assaulting them that God knows I had not so much as any hopes of an Army in my thoughts Had the Tumults been honourably and effectually repressed by exemplary Justice and the Liberty of the Houses so vindicated that all Members of either House might with Honour and Freedom becoming such a Senate have come and discharged their Consciences I had obtained all that I designed by my withdrawing and had much more willingly and speedily returned than I retired this being my Necessity driving the other my Choice desiring But some men knew I was like to bring the same Judgment and Constancy which I carried with Me which would never fit their Designs and so while they invited Me to come and grievously complained of my Absence yet they could not but be pleased with it especially when they had found out that plausible and popular pretext of raising an Army to fetch in Delinquents when all that while they never punished the greatest and most intolerable Delinquency of the Tumults and their Exciters which drave My self and so many of both Houses from their places by most barbarous indignities which yet in all Reason and Honour they were as loath to have deserted as those others were willing they should that so they might have occasion to persecute them with the Injuries of an Army for not suffering more tamely the Injuries of the Tumults That this is the true state and first drift and design in raising an Army against Me is by the sequel so evident that all other pretences vanish For when they declared by Propositions or Treaties what they would have to appease them there was nothing of consequence offered to Me or demanded of Me as any original difference in any point of Law or order of Justice But among other lesser Innovations this chiefly was urged The Abolition of Episcopal and the Establishment of Presbyterian Government All other things at any time propounded were either impertinent as to any ground of a War or easily granted by Me and only to make up a number or else they were merely consequential and accessary after the War was by them unjustly begun I cannot hinder other mens thoughts whom the noise and shew of Piety and heat for Reformation and Religion might easily so fill with Prejudice that all equality and clearness of Judgment might be obstructed But this was and is as to my best observation the true state of affairs between us when they first raised an Army with this design either to stop my mouth or to force my Consent And in this truth as to my Conscience who was God knows
their known Rule and wonted Practice to comply with the Humours of those men who aim to subdue all to their own Will and Power under the disguises of Holy Combinations Which cords and withes will hold mens Consciences no longer than Force attends and twists them For every man soon grows his own Pope and easily absolves himself of those ties which not the commands of God's Word or the Laws of the Land but only the subtilty and terror of a Party casts upon him either superfluous and vain when they were sufficiently tied before or fraudulent and injurious if by such after-ligaments they find the Imposers really aiming to dissolve or suspend their former just and necessary Obligations Indeed such Illegal ways seldom or never intend the engaging men more to Duties but only to Parties therefore it is not regarded how they keep their Covenants in point of Piety pretended provided they adhere firmly to the Party and Design intended I see the Imposers of it are content to make their Covenant like Manna not that it came from Heaven as this did agreeable to every mans palate and relish who will but swallow it They admit any mens senses of it tho divers or contrary with any Salvo's Cautions and Reservations so as they cross not their chief Design which is laid against the Church and Me. It is enough if they get but the reputation of a seeming encrease to their Party So little do men remember that God is not mocked In such latitudes of sense I believe many that love Me and the Church well may have taken the Covenant who yet are not so fondly and superstitiously taken by it as now to act clearly against both all Piety and Loyalty who first yielded to it more to prevent that imminent Violence and Ruine which hung over their heads in case they wholy refused it than for any value of it or devotion to it Wherein the latitude of some general clauses may perhaps serve somewhat to relieve them as of Doing and endeavouring what lawfully they may in their Places and Callings and according to the Word of God For these indeed carry no man beyond those bounds of good Conscience which are certain and fixed either in Gods Laws as to the general or the Laws of the State and Kingdom as to the particular regulation and exercise of mens duties I would to God such as glory most in the name of Covenanters would keep themselves within those lawful bounds to which God hath called them surely it were the best way to expiate the rashness of taking it which must needs then appear when besides the want of a full and lawful Authority at first to enjoyn it it shall actually be carried on beyond and against those Ends which were in it specified and pretended I willingly forgive such mens taking the Covenant who keep it within such bounds of Piety Law and Loyalty as can never hurt either the Church My self or the Publick Peace against which no mans lawful Calling can engage him As for that Reformation of the Church which the Covenant pretends I cannot think it just or comely that by the partial Advice of a few Divines of so soft and servile tempers as disposed them to so sudden acting and compliance contrary to their former Judgments Profession and Practice such foul Scandals and Suspicions should be cast upon the Doctrine and Government of the Church of England as was never done that I have heard by any that deserved the name of Reformed Churches abroad nor by any men of Learning and Candor at home all whose Judgments I cannot but prefer before any mens now factiously engaged No man can be more forward than My self to carry on all due Reformations with mature Judgment and a good Conscience in what things I shall after impartial advice be by God's Word and right Reason convinced to be amiss I have offered more than ever the fullest freest and wisest Parliaments did desire But the sequel of some mens Actions makes it evident that the main Reformation intended is The abasing of Episcopacy into Presbytery and the robbing the Church of its Lands and Revenues For no men have been more injuriously used as to their legal Rights than the Bishops and Church-men These as the fattest Deer must be destroyed the other Rascal-herd of Schisms Heresies c. being lean may enjoy the benefit of a Toleration Thus Naboth's Vineyard made him the only Blasphemer of his City and fit to dye Still I see while the breath of Religion fills the Sails Profit is the Compass by which Factious men steer their course in all seditious Commotions I thank God as no man lay more open to the Sacrilegious temptations of usurping the Churches Lands and Revenues which issuing chiefly from the Crown are held of it and legally can revert only to the Crown with My Consent so I have always had such a perfect abhorrence of it in my Soul that I never found the least inclination to such Sacrilegious Reformings yet no man hath a greater desire to have Bishops and all Church-men so reformed that they may best deserve and use not only what the pious Munificence of My Predecessors hath given to God and the Church but all other additions of Christian Bounty But no necessity shall ever I hope drive Me or Mine to invade or sell the Priests Lands which both Pharaoh's divinity and Joseph's true Piety abhorred to do So unjust I think it both in the eye of Reason and Religion to deprive the most Sacred Employment of all due encouragements and like that other hard-hearted Pharaoh to withdraw the Straw and encrease the Task so pursuing the oppressed Church as some have done to the Red sea of a Civil War where nothing but a Miracle can save either It or Him who esteems it his greatest Title to be called and his chiefest glory to be The Desender of the Church both in its true Faith and its just Fruitions equally abhorring Sacriledg and Apostasy I had rather live as My Predecessor Henry the Third sometime did on the Churches Alms than violently to take the bread out of Bishops and Ministers mouths The next work will be Jeroboam's Reformation consecrating the meanest of the People to be Priests in Israel to serve those Golden Calves who have enriched themselves with the Churches Patrimony and Dowry which how it thrived both with Prince Priests and People is well enough known And so it will be here when from the tuition of Kings and Queens which have been nursing Fathers and Mothers of this Church it shall be at their allowance who have already discovered what hard Fathers and Stepmothers they will be If the Poverty of Scotland might yet the Plenty of England cannot excuse the Envy and Rapine of the Churches Rights and Revenues I cannot so much as pray God to prevent those sad Consequences which will inevitably follow the Parity and Poverty of Ministers both in Church and State since I think it no less
that an orderly Subordination among Presbyters or Ministers should be any more against Christianity than it is in all secular and Civil Governments where Parity breeds Confusion and Faction I can no more believe that such Order is inconsistent with true Religion than good Features are with Beauty or Numbers with Harmony Nor is it likely that God who appointed several orders and a Prelacy in the Government of his Church among the Jewish Priests should abhor or forbid them among Christian Ministers who have as much of the Principles of Schism and Division as other men for preventing and suppressing of which the Apostolical Wisdom which was divine after that Christians were multiplied to many Congregations and Presbyters with them appointed this way of Government which might best preserve Order and Union with Authority So that I conceive it was not the Favour of Princes or Ambition of Presbyters but the Wisdom and Piety of the Apostles that first setled Bishops in the Church which Authority they constantly used and enjoyed in those times which were purest for Religion tho sharpest for Persecution Not that I am against the managing of this Presidency and Authority in one man by the joynt counsel and consent of many Presbyters I have offered to restore that as a fit means to avoid those Errors Corruptions and Partialities which are incident to any one man also to avoid Tyranny which becomes no Christians least of all Church-men besides it will be a means to take away that burthen and odium of affairs which may lie too heavy on one mans shoulders as indeed I think it formerly did on the Bishops here Nor can I see what can be more agreeable both to Reason and Religion than such a frame of Government which is Paternal not Magisterial and wherein not only the necessity of avoiding Faction and Confusion Emulations and Contempts which are prone to arise among equals in Power and Function but also the differences of some Ministers gifts and aptitudes for Government above others doth invite to employ them in reference to those Abilities wherein they are eminent Nor is this Judgment of Mine touching Episcopacy any pre-occupation of Opinion which will not admit any oppositions against it It is well known I have endeavoured to satisfie My self in what the chief Patrons for other ways can say against this or for theirs And I find as they have far less of Scripture grounds and of Reason so for Examples and Practice of the Church or testimonies of Histories they are wholly destitute wherein the whole stream runs so for Episcopacy that there is not the least rivulet for any others As for those obtruded Examples of some late Reformed Churches for many retain Bishops still whom necessity of times and affairs rather excuseth than commendeth for their Inconformity to all Antiquity I could never see any reason why Churches orderly reformed and governed by Bishops should be forced to conform to those few rather than to the Catholick example of all Ancient Churches which needed no Reformation and to those Churches at this day who governed by Bishops in all the Christian world are many more than Presbyterians or Independents can pretend to be All whom the Churches in My Three Kingdoms lately governed by Bishops would equalize I think if not exceed Nor is it any point of Wisdom or Charity where Christians differ as many do in some points there to widen the differences and at once to give all the Christian world except a handful of some Protestants so great a scandal in point of Church-Government whom tho you may convince of their Errors in some points of Doctrine yet you shall never perswade them that to compleat their Reformation they must necessarily desert and wholly cast off that Government which they and all before them have ever owned as Catholick Primitive and Apostolical so far that never Schismaticks nor Hereticks except those Aerians have strayed from the Unity and Conformity of the Church in that point ever having Bishops above Presbyters Besides the late general Approbation and Submission to this Government of Bishops by the Clergy as well as the Laity of these Kingdoms is a great confirmation of My Judgment and their Inconstancy is a great prejudice against their Novelty I cannot in charity so far doubt of their Learning or Integrity as if they understood not what heretofore they did or that they did conform contrary to their Consciences So that their facility and Levity is never to be excused who before ever the point of Church-government had any free and impartial debate contrary to their former Oaths and Practice against their obedience to the Laws in force and against My Consent have not only quite cried down the Government by Bishops but have approved and encouraged the violent and most illegal stripping all the Bishops and many other Church-men of all their due Authority and Revenues even to the selling away and utter alienation of those Church-lands from any Eclesiastical uses So great a power hath the stream of Times and the prevalency of Parties over some mens Judgments of whose so sudden and so total change little reason can be given besides the Scots Army coming into England But the Folly of these men will at last punish it self and the Desertors of Episcopacy will appear the greatest Enemies to and Betrayers of their own Interest for Presbytery is never so considerable or effectual as when it is joined to and crowned with Episcopacy All Ministers will find as great a difference in point of thriving between the favour of the People and of Princes as Plants do between being watered by hand or by the sweet and liberal dews of Heaven The tenuity and contempt of Clergy-men will soon let them see what a poor Carcass they are when parted from the influence of that Head to whose Supremacy they have been sworn A little Moderation might have prevented great mischiefs I am firm to Primitive Episcopacy not to have it extirpated if I can hinder it Discretion without Passion might easily reform whatever the rust of Times or indulgence of Laws or corruption of Manners have brough upon it It being a gross vulgar Error to impute to or revenge upon the Function the faults of Times or Persons which Seditious and popular Principle and Practice all wise men abhor For those Secular additaments and ornaments of Authority Civil Honour and Estate which My Predecessors and Christian Princes in all Countries have annexed to Bishops and Church-men I look upon them but as just Rewards of their Learning and Piety who are fit to be in any degree of Church-Government also enablements to works of Charity and Hospitality meet strengthenings of their Authority in point of Respect and Observance which in peaceful times is hardly payed to any Governors by the measure of their Virtues so much as by that of their Estates poverty and meanness exposing them and their Authority to the contempt of licentious minds and manners which persecuting
Times much restrained I would have such men Bishops as are most worthy of those encouragements and best able to use them If at any time My Judgment of men failed My good Intention made my error venial And some Bishops I am sure I had whose Learning Gravity and Piety no men of any worth or forehead can deny But of all men I would have Church-men especially the Governors to be redeemed from that vulgar Neglect which besides an innate principle of vicious opposition which is in all men against those that seem to reprove or restrain them will necessarily follow both the Presbyterian Parity which makes all Ministers equal and the Independent Inferiority which sets their Pastors below the People This for my Judgment touching Episcopacy wherein God knows I do not gratifie any design or Passion with the least perverting of Truth And now I appeal to God above and all the Christian World whether it be just for Subjects or pious for Christians by Violence and infinite Indignities with servile restraints to seek to force Me their KING and Soveraign as some men have endeavoured to do against all these grounds of My Judgment to consent to their weak and divided Novelties The greatest Pretender of them desires not more than I do that the Church should be governed as Christ hath appointed in true Reason and in Scripture of which I could never see any probable shew for any other ways who either content themselves with the examples of some Churches in their infancy and solitude when one Presbyter might serve one Congregation in a City or Countrey or else they deny these most evident Truths That the Apostles were Bishops over those Presbyters they ordained as well as over the Churches they planted and That Government being necessary for the Churches well-being when multiplied and sociated must also necessarily descend from the Apostles to others after the example of that power and superiority they had above others which could not end with their Persons since the use and Ends of such Government still continue It is most sure that the purest Primitive and best Churches flourished under Episcopacy and may so still if Ignorance Superstition Avarice Revenge and other disorderly and disloyal Passions had not so blown up some mens minds against it that what they want of Reasons or Primitive Patterns they supply with Violence and Oppression wherein some mens zeal for Bishops Lands Houses and Revenues hath set them on work to eat up Episcopacy which however other men esteem to Me is no less sin than Sacriledg or a Robbery of God the giver of all we have of that portion which devout minds have thankfully given again to him in giving it to his Church and Prophets through whose hands he graciously accepts even a cup of cold water as a libation offered to himself Furtheâ—more as to My particular engagement above other men by an Oath agreeable to my Judgment I am solemnly obliged to preserve that Government and the Rights of the Church Were I convinced of the Unlawfulness of the Function as Antichristian which some men boldly but weakly calumniate I could soon with Judgment break that Oath which erroneously was taken by Me. But being daily by the best disquisition of Truth more confirmed in the Reason and Religion of that to which I am sworn how can any man that wisheth not my Damnation perswade Me at once to so notorious and combined sins of Sacriledg and Perjury besides the many personal Injustices I must do to many worthy men who are as legally invested in their Estates as any who seek to deprive them and they have by no Law been convicted of those Crimes which might forfeit their Estates and Livelihoods I have oft wondred how men pretending to Tenderness of Conscience and Reformation can at once tell Me that My Coronation-Oath binds Me to consent to whatsoever they shall propound to Me which they urge with such Violence tho contrary to all that Rational and Religious Freedom which every man ought to preserve and of which they seem so tender in their own Votes yet at the same time these men will needs perswade Me that I must and ought to dispense with and roundly break that part of My Oath which binds Me agreeable to the best light of Reason and Religion I have to maintain the Government and legal Rights of the Church 'T is strange My Oath should be valid in that part which both My self and all men in their own case esteem injurious and unreasonable as being against the very natural and essential liberty of our Souls yet it should be invalid and to be broken in another clause wherein I think My self justly obliged both to God and Man Yet upon this Rack chiefly have I been held so long by some mens ambitious Covetousness and Sacrilegious Cruelty torturing with Me both Church and State in Civil dissentions till I shall be forced to consent and declare that I do approve what God knows I utterly dislike and in my Soul abhor as many ways highly against Reason Justice and Religion and whereto if I should shamefully and dishonourably give my Consent yet should I not by so doing satisfie the divided Interests and Opinions of those Parties which contend with each other as well as both against Me and Episcopacy Nor can My late condescending to the Scots in point of Church-Government be rightly objected against Me as an inducement for Me to consent to the like in my other Kingdoms for it should be considered that Episcopacy was not so rooted and setled there as 't is here nor I in that respect so strictly bound to continue it in that Kingdom as in this for what I think in my Judgment best I may not think so absolutely necessary for all places and at all times If any shall impute My yielding to them as My Failing and Sin I can easily acknowledg it but that is no argument to do so again or much worse I being now more convinced in that point nor indeed hath My yielding to them been so happy and succesful as to encourage Me to grant the like to others Did I see any thing more of Christ as to Meekness Justice Order Charity and Loyalty in those that pretend to other modes of Government I might suspect My Judgment to be biassed or forestalled with some Prejudice and wontedness of Opinion but I have hitherto so much cause to suspect the contrary in the Manners of many of those men that I cannot from them gain the least reputation for their new ways of Government Nor can I find that in any Reformed Churches whose patterns are so cried up and obtruded upon the Churches under my Dominion either Learning or Religion works of Piety or Charity have so flourished beyond what they have done in My Kingdoms by Gods blessing which might make Me believe either Presbytery or Independency have a more benign influence upon the Church and mens hearts and lives than Episcopacy in its right
constitution The Abuses of which deserve to be extirpated as much as the use retained for I think it far better to hold to Primitive and Uniform Antiquity than to comply with divided Novelty A right Episcopacy would at once satisfie all just desires and interests of good Bishops humble Presbyters and sober People so as Church affairs should be managed neither with Tyranny Parity nor Popularity neither Bishops ejected nor Presbyters despised nor People oppressed And in this Integrity both of My Judgment and Conscience I hope God will preserve Me. For Thou O Lord knowest my Vprightness and Tenderness As Thou hast set Me to be a Defender of the Faith and a Protector of thy Church so suffer Me not by any violence to be over-born against My Conscience Arise O Lord maintain thine own Cause let not thy Church be deformed as to that Government which derived from thy Apostles hath been retained in purest and Primitive times till the Revenues of the Church became the object of secular Envy which seeks to rob it of all the encouragements of Learning and Religion Make Me as the good Samaritan compassionate and helpful to thy afflicted Church which some men have wounded and robbed others pass by without regard either to pity or relieve As My Power is from Thee so give Me grace to use it for Thee And though I am not suffered to be Master of my other Rights as a KING yet preserve Me in that liberty of Reason love of Religion and thy Churches welfare which are fixed in My Conscience as a Christian Preserve from Sacrilegious invasions those temporal Blessings which thy Providence hath bestowed on thy Church for thy Glory Forgive their Sins and Errors who have deserved thy just permission thus to let in the wild Boar and subtile Foxes to waste and deform thy Vineyard which thy right hand hath planted and the dew of Heaven so long watered to a happy and flourishing estate O let Me not bear the infamous brand to all posterity of being the first Christian KING in this Kingdom who should consent to the oppression of thy Church and the Fathers of it whose Errors I would rather with Constantine cover with silence and reform with meekness than expose their Persons and Sacred Functions to vulgar contempt Thou O Lord seest how much I have suffered with and for thy Church make no long tarrying O my God to deliver both Me and It from unreasonable men whose counsels have brought forth and continue such violent Confusions by a precipitant destroying the ancient boundaries of thy Churches Peace thereby letting in all manner of Errors Schisms and Disorders O thou God of Order and of Truth in thy good time abate the Malice asswage the Rage and confound all the mischievous Devices of Thine Mine and thy Churches Enemies That I and all that love thy Church may sing Praises to Thee and ever magnifie thy Salvation even before the Sons of men XVIII Vpon Uxbridg Treaty and other Offers made by the KING I Look upon the way of Treaties as a retiring from fighting like Beasts to arguing like Men whose strength should be more in their Understandings than in their Limbs And tho I could seldom get opportunities to Treat yet I never wanted either desire or disposition to it having greater confidence of my Reason than my Sword I was so wholly resolved to yield to the first that I thought neither My self nor others should need to use the second if once we rightly understood each other Nor did I ever think it a diminution of Me to prevent them with expresses of My Desires and even Importunities to Treat It being an office not only of Humanity rather to use Reason than Force but also of Christianity to seek peace and ensue it As I was very unwillingly compelled to defend My self with Arms so I very willingly embraced any thing tending to Peace The events of all War by the Sword being very dubious and of a Civil War uncomfortable the End hardly recompencing and late repairing the mischief of the Means Nor did any success I had ever enhaunce with Me the price of Peace as earnestly desired by Me as any man tho I was like to pay dearer for it than any man All that I sought to reserve was Mine Honour and My Conscience the one I could not part with as a KING the other as a Christian The Treaty at Vxbridg gave the fairest hopes of an happy Composure had others applied themselves to it with the same Moderation as I did I am confident the War had then ended I was willing to condescend as far as Reason Honour and Conscience would give Me leave nor were the remaining Differences so essential to my Peoples Happiness or of such consequence as in the least kind to have hindred My Subjects either Security or Prosperity for they better enjoyed both many years before ever those demands were made some of which to deny I think the greatest Justice to My self and Favor to my Subjects I see Jealousies are not so easily allayed as they are raised Some men are more afraid to retreat from violent Engagements than to engage what is wanting in Equity must be made up in Pertinacy Such as had little to enjoy in Peace or to lose in War studied to render the very name of Peace odious and suspected In Church affairs where I had least liberty of Prudence having so many strict ties of Conscience upon Me yet I was willing to condescend so far to the setling of them as might have given fair satisfaction to all men whom Faction Covetousness or Superstition had not engaged more than any true Zeal Charity or love of Reformation I was content to yield to all that might seem to advance true Piety I only sought to continue what was necessary in point of Order Maintenance and Authority to the Churches Government and what I am perswaded as I have elsewhere set down My thoughts more fully is most agreeable to the true Principles of all Government raised to its full stature and perfection as also to the primitive Apostolical Pattern and the practice of the Universal Church conform thereto From which wholly to recede without any probable reason urged or answered only to satisfie some mens wills and phantasies which yet agree not among themselves in any point but that of extirpating Episcopacy and fighting against Me must needs argue such a softness and infirmity of Mind in Me as will rather part with Gods Truth than Mans Peace and rather lose the Churches Honour than cross some mens Factious humors God knows and time will discover who were most to blame for the unsuccessfulness of that Treaty and who must bear the guilt of after-calamities I believe I am very excusable both before God and all unpassionate men who have seriously weighed those Transactions wherein I endeavoured no less the restauration of Peace to My People than the preservation of My own Crowns to My Posterity Some men have that