vnto you that necessitie is laied vppon me to appeale from mine aduersaries and that yee are bound to heare my cause by the example of these noble men Jeremy was judged by his enemies worthy to dy and I assure my selfe it was not their falt that he was suffered to liue They wanted but power and opportunity to dispatch him They did what in them lay when they apprehended him and adjudged him woorthy to die for speaking against the State The princes hearing the greeuousnes of his accusation thought them selues bound to try out the matter and sitting in judgment heard the cause equally on both sides and so cleared the prophet Nowe had Ieremy done wel if hearing the greuous accusations of his enemies he would not haue taken th'oportunitie offered him by the lords prouidence to haue judgment at the hands of the princes he had not out of question or had the princes don wel in beleeuing th'accusations and slaunders of the prists and false prophets against him and so in permitting the prophet to be debarred of his libertie without any farther examination of the matter or had they done wel in sitting stil while the pore prophet and his mighty aduersaries tried out the matter They sawe an other duty to be required of them and therefore presently without delay they holpe him that was ready to perish The case is now with me as it was then with the prophet I am judged by th'Archb of Canterbury and others in commission with him to be a man vnworthy to liue in any State And I haue more cause to thanke the Lord for the peaceable gouernment of her right excellent majestie theÌ„ for any fauour of mine enemies that I now breath aboue the earth I must either appeale from them or be guiltie of mine owne blood I appeale therefore vnto the high court of Parliament and if ye therein assembled either credite the slaunders of mine aduersaries before ye know the cause or sit stil in rejecting my just Appellation and suffer them to persecute mee without a cause Festus an heathen Iudge and the princes of Iudâ—h will rise vp in judgment against you For the same God that required at their hands the deliuery of his seruants out of the handes of their rauening enemies requireth of you th' equall hearing of my cause And if ye suffer me to fall by their meanes you shall bring innocent blood vpon your owne selues and this whole kingdome My case at this time is the case of the poore the fatherlesse the stranger and the widdowe and therefore in that respect ye ought to haue a special consideration of it For not to deliuer the widdowe and the fatherlesse from the violence of the oppressor when it lieth in your power what is it else but for to oppresse the poore the widow and the fatherles concerning whome the Lord hath thus spoken If thou vex or trouble such so he cal and cry vnto me surely I wil heare his cry And then shal my wrath be kindled I wil kil you with the sword and your wiues shalbe widowes and your children fatherlesse Either then by graunting vnto me righteouse judgment ye of the parliament must deliuer me from oppression and wrong or I must be forced to account you among the number of mine oppressors And you knowe that being oppressed and troaden downe I am bound to cry to the Lord for aide otherwise I shal disobey his commaundement Psal 50. 15. Acquainting him with my griefe he hath promised to heare my suite what will followe thereof you cannot I am sure be ignorant For then he hath protested that his wrath wil be kindled against you that he will deuour you with the sword and cause your wiues to be widowes and your children fatherlesse doe ye not then see your selues bound to receiue mine appellation with such a bond as in wisdome ye ought to take heede that ye incurre not the danger thereof Although then I be a thousand degrees inferiour vnto mine aduersaries in regard of outward things yet by the mercies of the Lorde I haue the vpper hand of them in the goodnesse and equitie of my suite For I come vnto you in the name of God most humbly intreating and earnestly beseeching that in a good matter euen in my right I be not ouerthrowen by the power of vnconscionable enemies and therefore many waies I come not without th'vnreasonable support of my peticion I come euen with that warrant by the vertue whereof the poore the widowe the fatherlesse and the stranger are of due to haue their right against the mightiest potentate vnder the sunn And that is the commandement of the Lord of heauen and earth concerning th' administration of justice without partialitie you shal haue no respect of persons in judgment saieth the Lord but shal heare the small as the great you shal not feare the fuce of man for the iudgment is Gods And again you shal not doe vniustly in iudgment Thou shalt not fauour the person of the poore nor honor the person of the mightie but shalt iudg thy neighbour righteously These ye knowe are the commaundements of the land wherby ye are bound to heare me vnlesse ye think you may haue respect of persons in judgment for if the Archb. or any of his associats came vnto you to be heard against me you would easely condiscend vnto the motion The like fauor are ye bound to shewe vnto me because you are to heare the smal as well as the great and ought not to fauour the person of the mightie It is not vnknowne vnto you what the prophet Esaiah spake of the judges in his time because they would not help the fatherlesse to his right nor suffer the widowes cause to come before them would ye avoide the just desert of that reprehension Then I beseech you helpe me to my right and suffer my cause to come before you least it may be truely saide of you that you execute no judgment no not the judgment of the fatherles and oppressed And albeit you wil not doe this in regarde of my person which aâ— as the fatherlesse as the poore and as the stranger yet deny me not the same either in â—â—spect of the cause of God for the which I am tâ—oubled or in consideration of th' equity of mine aduersaries from whome I can neither hope for justice in my trial nor safety from danger The cause of this my trouble and perill as before hath bene briefly touched is only that the Lord vouchsafed me the fauour to motion a redresse of the great ignorance and corruption which at this day raigneth in the church within my country And because I doe not conceile that which in conscience I am bounde to lay open namely that the blindnes and ignorance of our blind ignorant guides the tiranny vnlawful bondage and vnjust oppression of Gods church by vngodly and tiranical Lord Bishops with the rest of th'vnlawful church gouernoures who
judge you euen as you judge his cause now offered vnto your consideration Wherefore as you will answer before him as you mean to haue any fauor at his hand deliuer the cause of his sonne Christ Iesus from this ignomie There is yet in this point another fault founde with the gouernment of Christe and another great reason alleaged why the hierarchie of Bb. shoulde be maintained and it is that the one of the 3. states vpon the authoritie whereof the lawes of England haue hitherto stood cannot without great inconuenience be now ouerthrowen Wherevnto the Lord replieth that the gospell of his sonne was brought into this kingdome by the 2. Estates to wit by the temporall Lords of the vpper and the commons of the lower house whereas since a thirde Estate vz. Lords spirituall as they are called was added vnto the 2. former little or no good hath bene enacted for the glorye of God by that counsell And if our State had bene contented according to the order of nature to stand vpon two legs it is not to be doubted but that all the wounds and sores of our church had bene healed and Christs discipline long ago established to our comfort and to the vnspeakeable good of our posterities Moreouer the Lord threateneth assuredly because of this monstrous and vnnatural leg wherevpon our lawes vnto this day are falsly said to haue stood and by the power whereof all the world knoweth this kingdom to haue withstood the right of his soone to laye our whole state euen with the grounde so that it shall haue nothing whereby it may be vpheld And L. Bb. haue no better interest to vphold our lawes then Lorde Abbots haue The state may as well want the one as the other and with as small inconvenience There is added as a conclusion of these inconveniences that it is dangerous to pick quarrels with lawes setled but there is no daunger to quarrell with the lawes of Christs kingdome They of all other princes lawes may be securely quarrelled with ouerthrowne and troaden vnder feete without all danger and yet in our state are they no quarrellers that abuse the sonne of God The time will come wherein it shall appeare that it had bene better for all such wretches that the wombe had beene their graue then that they should haue bene giuen ouer to runne into their owne destruction Our state hath well profited in religion that nowe after 31. yeares of the gospell enjoyed Iesus Christe in demanding his owne right is nowe accounted a daungerous quarreller against lawes setled This slaunder hath bene alreadie answered So hath the other set downe page 92. 93. of this booke concerning the likelihood of altering our ciuill gouernment into a popular state if Christ were once permitted to bear the ful sway therin The rest of the particuler cauils contained in som few pages of this book concerning maintenaunce of the minister by tythes the inconueniencie both of the ministers election by the people and also of excommunication by the whole Church are meer cauils and answered before in the generall and therefore here needlesse to be stoode vpon Now the high court of parliament hath heard of all the iniquitie that can be found in the Lord and his sonne Christ Iesus and you haue heard of all the reasons your careles and wilfull negligence to deal in the Lords matters onely expected whereby hitherto you haue bene enduced to refuse the church-gouernment which he himselfe hath laid downe prescribed in his word and to imbrace in steed therof a confused and an imperfect constitution of mans deuise whether these reasons set downe by our Bb. themselues will be a sufficient warrant vnto you in the day of judgement to refuse Christ Iesus to rule ouer you and your people to maintaine the popishe hierarchie of L. Bb. and to countenaunce their proceedinges who are wholy bestowed for the most part in persecuting and molesting those who open their mouthes in the cause of God and his people for the restitution of those lawes and liberties into our Church whereof they haue tyrannously bereaued it But if you thinke as the trueth is that these figge leaues issuing out of the dark vnderstandings of wicked men can serue you in no steed against the wrath of the lambe Enter more narrowly into this cause grant the same and those that stande in it justice against their enemies least it be layde to your charge that you haue called good euill and euill good and lest it be laid to your charge that you account your owne wayes equall and the wayes of the Lord vnequall that you haue executed no judgement no not the judgement which concerneth the sincere and true worship of the eternal Vnto the equitie of my cause which yet as ye see is not mine but the Lords let this also be joyned that mine aduersarie can lay nothing to my charge wherby I can be proued to haue brokē any penal law of the land I doe thinke my selfe in the cause wherin the Archbishop and the rest that are joyned with him are become mine enemies to haue incurred the penaltie of non of our laws inasmuch as I haue not transgressed the lawe of God For I suppose my selfe to liue in that state the laws whereof are to be accounted of no force which make him punishable whoe before the Lord is an innocent and guiltlesse The duty of a christian subiect draweth from me this perswasion that our state and gouernment vnder her maiestie established by the authority of this house wil not account any lawe to be forcible but that which is agreeable with the law of God and that non are punishable by any lawe in force amonge vs but those only who are offenders against the lawes of God For with what face can it be auouched that he is to be punished against whome the Lord doth not commaunde the sword to be drawne And thrise miserable is that state wherein these lawes are in force which commaund them to be smitten which are not euel doers Of which number non are to be accounted saue those only who by violating humane positiue lawes break also the lawe of God They that hold the contrary are not worthy to liue in a christian state They highly derogate from her maiesties credit and the good lawes of this kingdome And non can possibly hold such a position but those that vnder a pretence of authority either doe or would take occasion to oppresse and tiraunize ouer her maiesties subiects Nowe mine accusers cannot proue me to haue broken the lawe of God in seking the ouerthrowe of their places vntil they haue first prooued their own callings to be lawful according to the word vnto which time if I could haue bin assured of quietnes at their hands this mine appellation had bene needlesse Whereas nowe I am of necessitie constrayned thereunto as wel for the reason before mentioned as also because I can nether haue assurance of safety
being the cause of God his church and that against sinne against impietie against that which is likely to be the vndoing and ouerthrow of her Majestie and our state it desireth no fauor but to be heard and to cleare it selfe euen in the presence of the aduersarie that vpon good groundes you may either acquite it or condemne it It will prooue it selfe by Gods assistance to be the author of no tumulte no sedition nor treason It will also prooue that no danger or inconuenience can possiblie ensue the receiuing of it into any state that the bookes and writinges sincerely fauouring the same for any vnsound or any vnjustifiable bookes that haue bin published which might seem to yeeld any countenance vnto it the cause is not to answer haue not bene invented of late or stamped by mans brain but haue had their beginnings from the daies of our Sauiour Christe and his Apostles and were penned by the spirite of God himselfe On the contrarie side it offereth to conuince the aduersaries cause as an author of tumult and sedition from time to time both in Churche and common wealth as traiterous vnto the Majestie of Iesus Christe a dangerous enemy vnto princes and states and the fourtaine of all confusion and inconvenience not to bee repaired And it offereth to prooue this cause side of our Bb. to haue no other original and beginning then the good intents of mans invention not warranted by the word euen corruption it selfe And to be now supported and maintained onely by the vnlawfull institutions of man So that it is nowe manifested vnto your honors by how many waies you are bound before the Lord to accept and giue eare vnto this mine appellation and I to appeale Mine only hope is in you be not vnmerciful and pittilesse towards me I am persecuted and oppressed for the cause of God by those enemies that cannor possibly affoard me either vpright judgment or release from trouble without their owne likely ouerthrowe I desire but that which is most christian namely that I may not haue them both for mine acusers and judges who before any seate of justice dare not stand to their accusations against me and whome their proceedings with me and alwaies heretofore with the cause I defend doe manifestly conuince that all trueth and equitie is perished from among them Either the cause and their doings haue no trueth no strength and no equitie in them or else they wil now she we the same in your presence non haue authority to exammine their proceedings whether they dare this attempt or no. I do heere before Heauen and earth before hir maiestie and this assembly before euery estate in this land and al ages to come cleare my selfe and the cause I defend from the grieuous and vngodly slaunders whereby they doe continually loade the same I offer my selfe and my cause to be tried by any lawful authoritie so dare not mine aduersaries let them proue that I haue done any thing whereby in equitie I deserue punishment I will not grudge to sustaine the same So that mine aduersaries be not my judges and the judges of my cause vnto whom they cannot chuse but be vtter enemies I do not here set downe all that coulde be saide against them and their proceedings which are most Antichristian and intollerable diuers wayes I omit that they are fallen from euill to worse since the beginning of her Majesties raigne vnto this houre and that they are likely to proceed in this course without their restrainte vntill they haue brought the Lords hand to execute his vengeaunce against vs our land Their errours are growne intollerable euen in the maine pointes of religion and that contrarie not onely vnto the written word of God but euen to the writings that haue bene and are published by authoritie euen by themselues They allow a forme of morning prayer joyned vnto all printed Psalmes in meeter allowed also by publike authoritie Therein it is flatly and expresly set downe that it is not possible for anye man ordinarily to be saued but by preaching and yet behold these men euen our Bb. especially the Archb. of Cant. haue and doe maintaine that men may heare beleeue and so ordinarily be saued without preaching And by the practize of this monstrous errour contrarie to the word of God contrarie vnto the established priuiledged doctrine allowed and practized in this kingdom in the beginning of her Majesties raigne They are the verye knowne cause of the perdition without the Lordes secreete and vnreuealed mercies of infinit thousandes of soules in this land But although I say that in their vngodly proceedings they neither agree with the Lord and his word nor with themselues and the receiued and established doctrine in our Church yet I do here omit to make any catalog of their damnable errors and practises Onely in this pointe I wishe your Hh. to consider whether in trueth the words of the prophet Hosea may not be truely applied vnto our Bishops in England at this day the most that depend vpon them The prophet is a foole in all good waies the spirituall man is mad The watchman of Ephraim should be with God but the prophet is the snare of a fouler in al his waies and hatred in the house of God or whether with Zephaniah and Ezekiel you may not truely say vnto them that they are light and wicked persons such as haue poluted the sanctuary wrested the lawe that they are like the Foxes in the wast places and such as haue not risen vp in the gapps nor made vpp the headg for Englande to stand in the battel in the day of the Lord. And if you finde these things to be verified in our prophets and spiritual men then also vndoubtedly may it be saide vnto England the dais of thy visitacion 〈◊〉 England are come the daies of thy repentance are at hand and England shal knowe it Because thy prophets for the most part are fooles and thy spiritual men are madd thy watchmen are as the snare of a fowler in al their waies yea and they are the very cause that the house of thy God is so hated and detested of all estates as the building thereof is not regarded It remaineth now right honorable that I betake you vnto the almightie whose cause is nowe in hand and before whome one day you shall giue account of your dealings in it humbly beseeching and intreting you that herein and in all other matters of waight you would take the holy man Iob for a patterne that the same eternal blessing may fall vppon you which he enjoieth to his neuer ending comfort with whose words I wil end And when the eare hard me saith Iob it blessed me and when the eie saw mee it gaue witnesse to me for I deliuered the poore that cried and the fatherlesse and him that had none to help him the blessing of him that was ready to perish came vppon me and I caused the widowes hart to rejoice I put one iustice and it couered me my iudgment was a robe and a crown I was the eyes to the blinde and I was the feet to the lame I was a father to the poore and when I knewe not the cause I sought it diligently I brake also the chawes of the vnrighteous man and pluckt the pray out of his teeth Your most humble suppliant IOHN PENRI Master Edvvard Donlee Amos 7. If the high commissioners can justly charge me vvith anye crime I doe them a great benefite and greatly endammage my selfe in appealing vnto the parliament That I am bound to appeale and the Parliament to receiue mine Appellation Act. 25. Ierem. 26. 12. Iere. â—6 6. 7. It is no nevv thing to find the supposed pillers of the church to be the most pestilent enemies thereof They are to be accounted oppressors vvhich vvill not if they may deliuer the oppressed Exod. 22.23 Deut. 1. 17. Leuit. 19. 15 Esai 1. 23. 24 1. Pet. 5. 1. 2. Luk. 22. 25. D. Bridges page 284. T. C. pa. 135. 76. The crimes vvherevvith Gods trueth and his seruants haue bene charged in all ages are treason and sedition Act. 24. 5. Act. 17. 6. 7. The Bishops note Amos. 7. 11. 12. Ierem. 2. 6. Ezra 2. 19. 2. Infallible marks of the enemies of the trueth Ierem. 2. 6. 9. Iob. 5. 21. 24. The Bb. reasons in the defence of their hierarchie and against christs true gouernment examined T. C. Epist page 2. T. C. pa. 16. page 140. Before the Commination on Ashvvednesdaye T. C. page 8. This is a popish demand An ansvvere to the Bb. 3. 4. reasons Rom. 12. 6. 7. 8. Act. 20. 28. 14. 23. Phil. 1. T C. pag 82. Our Bb. 5. reason ansvvered T. C. pag. 16 Our Bb. 6. reason Luk. 13. 14. 14. 26. Matth. 16. 24 Mark 8. 35. T. C. pag. 8. T. C. pag. 87. It is reason that all states should be maintained sauing the estat of christs kingdome T. C. pa. 8â— T. C. p. 92. 93 In my supplication to the parliament Act. 23. 35. Act. 25. 16. The maner of administring justice at Lambeth Iohn 18. 30. M. Sharpe book binder of Northamton M. D. Some table page 3. line 20. M. D. Some Epist pag. 2 Page 53. M. D. Some pag. 185. line 3. 31. M. D. Some table pag. 4. Rom 10. 14. 1. Cor. 1. 21. Iam. 1. 21. Hosea 9. 7. 8. Zephan 3. 4. Ezek. 13. 4. Iob. 29. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15 16. 17.
reason wilbe because I hold it vnlawful for them to liue in popishe callings to be Lords ouer their bretheren to smother the trueth to rob Christ of his honor and his church of her libertie or to speake in their owne wordes because I dislike the gouernment of the church by L. Archb. and Lord Bb. established by the prerogatiue of hir majestie and the parliament Hereby in trueth declaring that in persecuting me a worm of the earth they are imployed in his cause with whom I feare me vnlesse they repent they shal haue their reward for speaking euill of the trueth For what else doe they in giuing out that I am a seditious person for oppugning the gouernment of Archb. and L. Bb. for maintaining the gouernement by Pastors Doctors Elders and Deacons but affirme the defence of Gods trueth to be sedition and the defence of the libertie of his Churche to be treason Will the parâ—iament then suffer the cause of God to be thus shamefulâ—y abused by wicked and prophane men Well my Ll. though you receiue not my Appellation in regarde of my selfe yet suffer the trueth to come before you Suffer not the cause of God and his Church for want of just triall to fall into ignomie and discredit Let it neuer be said that Festus an heathen Iudge should be more fauorable in supporting the credite of Gods trueth and the professors thereof then the parliament of England would be The spilling of my blood for this cause though it be a matter to be regarded of you that are in authoritie yet I thanke he Lorde it is not the thing that I feare For by his inestimable goodnes I finde my selfe an vnworthye wretche to be one of them who in this cause are not afraide of death when it commeth and one of them that may laugh at death and destruction because I knowe the beast stones of the fielde to be at league with me and that euerlasting peace for euer and euer shall be vnto me of the Lords free and vndeserued reward But the discrediting of the truth by my hard vsage is the thing that I regarde and the spilling of my blood for defending the trueth and writing against impietie is it that I feare me will make this lande an astonishment to our neighbors round about vs. Be it then that my complaint at this time were not the complaint of the oppressed and the straunger yet inasmuch as it is the cause of Christ Iesus for the which I am persecuted you are bound to receiue mine Appellation And here me thinks the Lord demandeth of you that are parlament meÌ„ as somtimes he did of the people of Iudah what iniquitie you finde in the Church gouernment by teaching Pastors and Doctors gouerning Elders ministring Deacons that you haue not onely committed two euils the one in refusing that gouernement th'other in chusing to your selues these broken pits I meane the gouernment of Archb. Lord Bb. which can holde in them nothing profitable to Gods Church but also think those that plead for Christs interest vnworthie your protection and countenance against the injust and cruell enemies and the cause wherein they stande vnworthie your defence The Lord I saye demaundeth what iniquitie you finde in the gouernment of his sonne that you haue thus altogether rejected and forsaken the same and cannot abide I speake now vnto such as are enemies therevnto to haue it consulted vpon in your meeting The best answere which in this point you can make are of late published by the publike authoritie of the Bishops theÌ„selues Let these reasons then be briefely examined see whether they will be a sufficient warrant for her Majestie and you in the day of Christe Iesus to refuse his gouernment and to imbrace this hierarchy of Bb. in steed thereof First it is saide that this hierarchie is established by the authoritie of her Majestie the parliament The Lord answereth that for this cause the Nauie of the Spaniarde of late threatned our destruction and that for this cause we haue had extreme famine in all our quarters deare yeares and many an vnseasonable haruest and that for this cause he threatened to take away our dread soueraign whom good Lord spare in thy mercies and crowne with eternal blessednes for thy sonnes sake by so many conspiracies as haue bene villanously attempted within our land and therefore warneth her Majesty you of this honorable courte that vnlesse you woulde feele his heauie hand vnto your destructioÌ„ that this wicked and pestilent gouernment of L. Bb. shoulde be no longer maintained by your prerogatiue Secondly it is alleaged that this gouernment by Pastors Doctors Elders and Deacons was inuented by they know not whom and that it is not yet proued that any such gouernment was in the primitiue Church VVhy this is more then shamelesse impudencie Is not that prooued in the 31. yeare of the raigne of Queene Elizabeth to haue bene at all in the primitiue Church which our booke of common prayer in the beginning of her Majesties raigne testified to haue beene therein and to shewe the necessitie thereof declareth that we are to wishe for the discipline then practized Thus you may see that our Bb. to saue themselues harmelesse take leaue when they thinke good to crosse the booke of Common prayer in that which is most true and which their owne writings graunt to be true whereas they crie treason treason when other men do not allow that which is amisse therein And you may also see howe fit they are to lead others in the way of life who are now growne so sharpe sighted as they will sweare that at noone dayes they can see no light whereas in the very morning they themselues sawe the vprising of the sun But to answer this point in a word the Lord maketh it knowne vnto the parliament of England that his sonne Christ Iesus was the author and ordainer of this Church gouernement whiche vncleane mouthes affirme to be inuented by they know not whome yea but our Bb. protest that the opinion which now thâ—y haue of their owne gouerment will not be shaken vntill they be resolued in two points whereof now they are ignorant First that a direct commaundement be brought out of the word to prooue that there should be in all ages and states of the church of Christ one onely forme of gouernement Secondly that some particular churches be set downe wherein the desired gouernment by Pastors doctors Elders Deacons was practised The high court of parliament is here soÌ„moned by the Lord of heauen to judg whether the iniquity of these men be to be borne with who blush not to speake euel of that vpright waie whereof they acknowledge them selues to be meetly ignorant why would they not require a resolution of their doubts before they had gainsaid the holy ordinance of the lord and accuse the same as traiterous vnto her maiesties gouernment and dangerous vnto the
state but concerning the former of their demaundes the Lord answereth that there is a direct commaundement in the word whereby the church in all ages and states is enjoined to acknowledg the Lord Iesus to be superior vnto Moses And therefore also that there is a direct commaundement in his word whereas by all adges and times are bound to haue on only outward forme of church gouernment The latter question though it be a popish interrogatorie is yet satisfied without any greate labour For the church of Rome Phillippi Ephesus Derbe Listra c. with many others mētioned in the word practised this gouernment by Pastors Doctors Elders and deacons And if Christ Iesus be as faithful in Gods house as Moses was it is cleare that no church as before was touched in what age or state soeuer can haue any lawful gouerment established but only this by Pastors Doctors Elders and Deacons because no church vnder the lawe could haue any lawful established gouerment but that prescribed by Moses Whereby the pretence that other churches professing the Gospel haue not this gouernment is euidently shewed to be nothing else but a profe that other churches haue their imperfections and are not as yet so farr built as the Lord requireth Asa was a godly King and reformed many things in the house of God yet the Idolatrous high places remained al his daies These high places were the blemish and imperfections of his gouernment Nowe were it any reason because he was a godly King that therefore the spots of the church vnder him should be the paterne of Iosiahs reformation and that the high places should stil be continued It must needs be so if our Bb. manner of reasoning against the Lords holy ordinances be good and allowable In the sixth place the inconueniences of receauing this gouernment of the Lords ordaining are saide to be so greate that the attempting thereof might bring rather the overthrowe of the Gospell heere amongst vs then the end that is desired If the receiuing of the Lordes discipline be inconuenient vnto any state that is not the fault of god his ordinance but the sinne of men which haue made their estate out of square as Christ cannot be wholly receaued thereunto without their likely detriment To gainsay the trueth because an inconuenience wil followe the embracing of it is an argument not to be heard of amongst christians For our Sauiour Christ him selfe affirmed it to be no light matter to enter into the kingdome of heauen and therefore declareth them to be vnfit disciples for him that wil not enter thereunto through manye tribulations yea and forsake all earthly comforts much lesse the maintenance of their outward estate rather then not to followe him in all the waies wherein he requireth their obedience To pretend inconueniences then in this cause bewraieth an hollowe hart vnto Gods glory And yet it is not halfe so inconuenient to bring in Christes gouernment as it was to expel popery If her maiestie and the parliament would agree to establish the same al inconueniences would be soone preuented The feare of ouerthrowing the Gospel by that meanes is a slaunderous surmise and vndutiful vnto her maiesty and the state vnlesse our Bb. be guiltie vnto them selues of some such purposes I knowe not why this should be aleadged The inconueniences are first the alteration of the whole state of the lawes of this realme as the vtter ouerthrowe of the studie of the ciuil lawe and the alteration of the ciuil and common lawe As though al these things coulde not be helped by one act of parliament Popery had more shew and coulor of trueth to reason thus for it selfe in the raigne of our late Soueraigne of famous memory King Henry the 8. So had heathen Idolatry in the daies of Iosiah or Hezekiah They that vse such arguments shew them selues to be giuen ouer to withstand the trueth I hope the Parliament wil admit of no such reason as these are Christ Jesus must not be allowed by his owne lawes to rule in state he must needes be decreede by our lawes inferiour vnto Moses and that because we wil not aulter the state of our lawes we wil not haue the studye of the ciuil lawe ouerthrowne We must not greatly wonder that papists and Mahometists doe kepe Christs holy and sacred verity out of their dominions seeing in a state professing the true God such godlesse men are found as tremble not to publish and vtter their vngodly conceits in this sort against Gods heauenly ordinances and especially seeing in a state professing the true God such pretences are of force to keepe out Christs soueraigne and kingly gouernement I hope that you who are parliament men see this kinde of reasoning to bee such as will stand in no account at the dreadfull day of judgement That which is spoken of Ciuillians is also slanderous For they liue by temporall courts and therefore it is not necessarie that their profession should decay when the Antichristian gouernement of Archb. and Lord Bb. is expelled out of our Churche Further our Archb. and L. Bb. vsurpe the determination of many ciuil causes in the deciding whereof Ciuillians might be well imployed And is it more reason in deede that the true Churche of God should want the vse of Christs holy lawes and statutes then the studie of the Ciuill law O most shamefull speeche to be conceiued much more to be published in print and that by Bishopps in the dayes of the Gospell But what dare not they publish who professe themselues to gainsay the way of trueth And therefore they are not ashamed to giue out that the desired alteration of Church gouernment would bring the judiciall law of the Iewes into our state This is a lewd slaunder For Christs gouernement necessarily requireth no part of the Iewishe lawe to be receiued into any common wealth but that which is morall It is further objected that the lawes maintaining the Queens supremacy in gouerning of the church and hir prerogatiue in Ecclesiasticall causes must be abrogated or els Christe cannot raigne in our state The reason whereof right honourable you haue heard before alleaged both by the Iewes vnto Pilate namely that our Sauiour Christe Iesus is a deadly enemie vnto Cesar and also by Rehum and the men beyond the riuer vnto Artaxerxes For as they noted the building of the true church of God cannot chuse but be an hindrance vnto princes For Ierusalem is knowne of olde to be a rebellious citie But remember then O my God if they belong not vnto thee that thus slander the trueth and the vpright ordinances of thy sonne Christ Iesus and if they be thine conuert them speedily My Lords you the rest of the parliament as you haue any care of the glory of your God see that the enemies of reformation may either decist from their forgerie against the trueth or prooue their accusations The Lord will