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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44334	The works of Mr. Richard Hooker (that learned and judicious divine), in eight books of ecclesiastical polity compleated out of his own manuscripts, never before published : with an account of his life and death ...; Ecclesiastical polity	Hooker, Richard, 1553 or 4-1600.; Gauden, John, 1605-1662.; Walton, Izaak, 1593-1683.; Travers, Walter, 1547 or 8-1635. Supplication made to the councel.	1666 (1666)	Wing H2631; ESTC R11910	1,163,865	672

and the coherance it hath with those things either on which it dependeth or which depend on it 8. The case so standing therefore my Brethren as it doth the wisdom of Governors ye must not blame in that they further also forecasting the manifold strange and dangerous innovations which are more then likely to follow if your Discipline should take place have for that cause thought it hitherto a part of their duty to withstand your endeavors that way The rather for that they have seen already some small beginnings of the fruits thereof in them who concurring with you in judgment about the necessity of that Discipline have adventured without more ado to separate themselves from the rest of the Church and to put your speculations in execution These mens hastiness the warier sort of you doth not commend ye wish they had held themselves longer in and not so dangerously flown abroad before the feathers of the Cause had been grown their Error with merciful terms ye reprove naming them in great commiseration of minds your poor Brethren They on the contrary side more bitterly accuse you as their false Brethren and against you they plead saying From your Brests it is that we have sucked those things which when ye delivered unto us ye termed that heavenly sincere and wholesom Milk of Gods Word howsoever ye now abhor as poyson that which the vertue thereof hath wrought and brought forth in us Ye sometime our Companions Guides and Familiars with whom we have had most sweet Consultations are now become our professed Adversaries because we think the Statute-Congregation in England to be no true Christian Churches because we have severed our selves from them and because without their leave or licence that are in Civil Authority we have secretly framed our own Churches according to the Platform of the Word of God For of that point between you and us there is no Controversie Also what would ye have us to do At such time as ye were content to accept us in the number of your own your Teaching we heard weread your Writings And though we would yet able we are not to forget with what zeal ye have ever profest That in the English Congregations for so many of them as be ordered according unto their own Laws the very Publick Service of God is fraught as touching Matter with heaps of intolerable Pollutions and as concerning Form borrowed from the Shop of Antichrist hateful both ways in the eyes of the most Holy the kinde of their Government by Bishops and Archbishops Antichristian that Discipline which Christ hath essentially tied that is to say so united unto his Church that we cannot account it really to be his Church which hath not in it the same Discipline that very Discipline no less there despised then in the highest Throne of Antichrist All such parts of the Word of God as do any way concern that Discipline no less unsoundly taught and interpreted by all authorized English Pastors then by Antichrists Factors themselves At Baptism Crossing at the Supper of the Lord. Kneeling at both a number of other the most notorious Badges of Antichristian Recognisance usual Being moved with these and the like your effectual discourses whereunto we gave most attentive ear till they entred even into our souls and were as fire within our bosoms We thought we might hereof be bold to conclude That sith no such Antichristian Synagogue may be accounted a true Church of Christ ye by accusing all Congregations ordered according to the Laws of England as Antichristian did mean to condemn those Congregations as not being any of them worthy the name of a true Christian Church Ye tell us now it is not your meaning But what meant your often threatnings of them who professing themselves the inhabitants of Mount Sion were too loth to depart wholly as they should out of Babylon Whereat our hearts being fearfully troubled we durst not we durst not continue longer so near her confines lest her plagues might suddenly overtake us before we did cease to be partakers with her sins for so we could not chuse but acknowledge with grief that we were when they doing evil we by our presence in their Assemblies seemed to like thereof or at leastwise not so earnestly to dislike as became men heartily zealous of Gods glory For adventuring to erect the Discipline of Christ without the leave of the Christian Magistrate haply ye may condemn us as fools in that we hazard thereby our estates and persons further then you which are that way more wise think necessary But of any offence or sin therein committed against God with what conscience can you accuse us when your own positions are That the things we observe should every of them be dearer unto us then ten thousand lives that they are the peremptory Commandments of God that no mortal man can dispense with them and that the Magistrate grievously sinneth in not constraining thereunto Will ye blame any man for doing that of his own accord which all men should be compelled to do that are not willing of themselves When God commandeth shall we answer that we will obey if so be Cesar will grant us leave Is Discipline an Ecclesiastical Matter or a Civil If an Ecclesiastical is must of necessity belong to the duty of the Minister and the Minister ye say holdeth all his Authority of doing whatsoever belongeth unto the Spiritual Charge of the House of God even immediately from God himself without dependency upon any Magistrate Whereupon it followeth as we suppose that the hearts of the people being willing to be under the Scepter of Christ the Minister of God into whose hands the Lord himself hath put that Scepter is without all excuse if thereby he guide them not Nor do we finde that hitherto greatly ye have disliked those Churches abroad where the people with direction of their godly Ministers have even against the will of the Magistrate brought in either the Doctrine or Discipline of Iesus Christ For which cause we must now think the very same thing of you which our Saviour did sometime utter concerning false-hearted Scribes and Pharisees They say and do not Thus the foolish Barrowist deriveth his Schism by way of Conclusion as to him it seemeth directly and plainly out of your principles Him therefore we leave to be satisfied by you from whom he hath sprung And if such by your own acknowledgment be persons dangerous although as yet the alterations which they have made are of small and tender growth the changes likely to ensue throughout all States and Vocations within this Land in case your desire should take place must be thought upon First Concerning the Supream Power of the Highest they are no small Prerogatives which now thereunto belonging the Form of your Discipline will constrain it to resign as in the last Book of this Treatise we have shewed at large Again it may justly be feared whether our English

wisely considered that the Body is of far more worth than the Rayment Whereupon for fear of dangerous inconveniences it hath been thought good to adde That sometimes Authority must and may with good conscience be obeyed even where Commandment is not given upon good ground That the duty of Preaching is one of the absolute Commandements of God and therefore ought not to be forsaken for the bare inconveniency of a thing which in the own nature is indifferent That one of the foulest spots is the Surplice is the offence which is giveth in occasioning the weak to fall and the wicked to be confirmed in their wickedness yet hereby there is no unlawfulness proved but only an inconveniency that such things should be established howbeit no such Inconveniency neither as may not be born with That when God doth flatly command us to abstain from things is their own Nature indifferent if they offend our weak Brethren his meaning is not we should obey his Commandement herein unless we may do it and not leave undone that which the Lord hath absolutely commanded Always provided That whosoever will enjoy the benefit of this Dispensation to wear a scandalous Badge of Idolatry rather than forsake his Pastoral charge do as occasion serveth teach nevertheless still the incommodity of the thing it self admonish the weak Brethren that they be not and pray unto God so to strengthen them that they may not be offended thereat So that whereas before they which had Authority to institute Rites and Ceremonies were denyed to have power to institute this it is now confest that this they may also lawfully but not so conveniently appoint they did well before and as they ought who had it in utter detestation and hatred as a thing abominable they now do well which think it may be both born and used with a very good Conscience before he which by wearing it were sure to win thousands unto Christ ought not to do it if there were but one which might be offended now though it be with the offence of thousands yet it may be done rather than that should be given over whereby notwithstanding we are not certain we shall gain one the Examples of Ezechias and of Paul the Charge which was given to the Jews by Esay the strict Apostolical prohibition of things indifferent whensoever they may be scandalous were before so forcible Laws against our Ecclesiastical Attire as neither Church nor Common-wealth could possibly make void which now one of far less authority than either hath found how to frustrate by dispensing with the breach of inferiour Commandments to the end that the greater may be kept But it booteth them not thus to soder up a broken Cause whereof their first and last discourses will fall asunder do what they can Let them ingenuously confess that their Invectives were too bitter their Arguments too weak the matter not so dangerous as they did imagin If those alleged testimonies of Scripture did indeed concern the matter to such effect as was pretended that which they should inferr were unlawfulness because they were cited as Prohibitions of that thing which indeed they concern If they prove not our attire unlawful because in truth they concern it not it followeth that they prove not any thing against it and consequently not so much as uncomeliness or incoveniency Unless therefore they be able throughly to resolve themselves that there is no one Sentence in all the Scriptures of God which doth controul the wearing of it in such manner and to such purpose as the Church of England alloweth unless they can fully rest and settle their mindes in this most sound perswasion that they are not to make themselves the only competent Judges of decency in these cases and to despise the solemn judgement of the whole Church preferring before it their own conceit grounded only upon uncertain suspicions and fears whereof if there were at the first some probable cause when things were but raw and tender yet now very tract of time hath it self worn that out also unless I say thus resolved in minde they hold their Pastoral Charge with the comfort of a good Conscience no way grudging at that which they do or doing that which they think themselves bound of duty to reprove how should it possibly help or further them in their course to take such occasions as they say are requisite to be taken and in pensive manner to tell their Audience Brethren our hearts desire is that we might enjoy the full liberty of the Gospel as in other reformed Churches they do elsewhere upon whom the heavy hand of Authority hath imposed no grievous burthen But such is the misery of these our days that so great happiness we cannot look to attain unto Were it so that the equity of the Law of Moses could prevail or the zeal of Ezechias be found in the hearts of those Guides and Governours under whom we live or the voyce of God's own Prophets be duly heard or the Examples of the Apostles of Christ be followed yea or their Precepts be answered with full and perfect obedience these abominable Raggs polluted Garments marks and Sacraments of Idolatry which Power as you see constraineth us to wear and Conscience to abhor had long ere this day been removed both out of sight and out of memory But as now things stand behold to what narrow streights we are driven On the one side we fear the words of our Saviour Christ Woe be to them by whom scandal and offence cometh on the other side at the Apostles speech we cannot but quake and tremble If I preach not the Gospel woe be unto me Being thus hardly beset we see not any other remedy but to hazzard your Souls the one way that we may the other way endeavour to save them Touching the the offence of the Weak therefore we must adventure it If they perish they perish Our Pastoral charge is God's most absolute Commandment Rather than that shall be taken from us we are resolved to take this filth and to put it on although we judge it to be so unfit and inconvenient that as oft as ever we pray or preach so arrayed before you we do as much as in us lyeth to cast away your Souls that are weak-minded and to bring you unto endless perdition But we beseech you Brethren have a care of your own safety take heed to your steps that ye be not taken in those snares which we lay before you And our Prayer in your behalf to Almighty God is that the poyson which we offer you may never have the power to do you harm Advice and counsel is best sought for at their hands which either have no part at all in the Cause whereof they instruct or else are so farr ingaged that themselves are to bear the greatest adventure in the success of their own Counsels The one of which two Considerations maketh men the less respective and the other the more

do admit which may be thought repugnant to any thing hitherto alledged and in what special consideration they seem to admit the same Considering therefore that to furnish all places of Cure in this Realm it is not an Army of twelve thousand Learned men that would suffice nor two Universities that can always furnish as many as decay in so great a number nor a fourth part of the Livings with Cure that when they fall are able to yield sufficient maintenance for Learned men is it not plain that unless the greatest part of the People should be left utterly without the publick use and exercise of Religion there is no remedy but to take into the Ecclesiastical Order a number of men meanly qualified in respect of Learning For whatsoever we may imagine in our private Closers or talk for Communication-sake at our Boords yea or write in our Books through a notional conceit of things needful for performance of each man's duty if once we come from the Theory of Learning to take out so many Learned men let them be diligently viewed out of whom the choice shall be made and thereby an estimate made what degree of skill we must either admit or else leave numbers utterly destitute of Guides and I doubt not but that men indued with sense of common equity will soon discern that besides eminent and competent knowledge we are to descend to a lower step receiving knowledge in that degree which is but tolerable When we commend any man for learning our speech importeth him to be more than meanly qualified that way but when Laws do require learning as a quality which maketh capable of any Function our measure to judge a learned man by must be some certain degree of learning beneath which we can hold no man so qualified And if every man that listeth may set that degree himself how shall we ever know when Laws are broken when kept seeing one man may think a lower degree sufficient another may judge them unsufficient that are not qualified in some higher degree Wherefore of necessity either we must have some Judge in whose conscience they that are thought and pronounced sufficient are to be so accepted and taken or else the Law it self is to set down the very lowest degree of fitness that shall be allowable in this kinde So that the question doth grow to this issue Saint Paul requireth Learning in Presbyters yea such Learning as doth inable them to exhort in Doctrine which is sound and to disprove them that gain-say it What measure of ability in such things shall serve to make men capable of that kinde of Office he doth not himself precisely determine but referreth it to the Conscience of Titus and others which had to deal in ordaining Presbyters We must therefore of necessity make this demand whether the Church lacking such as the Apostle would have chosen may with good conscience take out of such as it hath in a meaner degree of fitness them that may serve to perform the service of publick Prayer to minister the Sacraments unto the People to solemnize Marriage to visit the Sick and bury the Dead to instruct by reading although by Preaching they be not as yet so able to benefit and feed Christ's flock We constantly hold that in this case the Apostles Law is not broken Herequireth more in Presbyters than there is found in many whom the Church of England alloweth But no man being tyed unto impossibilities to do that we cannot we are not bound It is but a stratagem of theirs therefore and a very indirect practise when they publish large declamations to prove that Learning is required in the Ministry and to make the silly people believe that the contrary is maintained by the Bishops and upheld by the Laws of the Land whereas the question in truth is not whether Learning be required but whether a Church wherein there is not sufficient store of Learned men to furnish all Congregations should do better to let thousands of Souls grow savage to let them live without any publick service of God to let their Children dye unbaptised to with-hold the benefit of the other Sacrament from them to let them depart this World like Pagans without any thing so much as readd unto them concerning the way of life than as it doth in this necessity to make such Presbyters as are so farr forth sufficient although they want that ability of Preaching which someothers have In this point therefore we obey necessity and of two evils we take the less in the rest a publick utility is sought and in regard thereof some certain inconveniencies tolerated because they are recompenced with greater good The Law giveth liberty of Non-residence for a time to such as will live in Universities if they faithfully there labour to grow in knowledge that so they may afterwards the more edifie and the better instruct their Congregations The Church in their absence is not destitute the Peoples salvation not neglected for the present time the time of their absence is in the intendment of Law bestowed to the Churches great advantage and benefit those necessary helps are procured by it which turn by many degrees more to the Peoples comfort in time to come than if their Pastours had continually abidden with them So that the Law doth hereby provide in some part to remedy and help that evil which the former necessity hath imposed upon the Church For compare two men of equal meanness the one perpetually resident the other absent for a space in such sort as the Law permitteth Allot unto both some nine years continuance with Cure of Souls And must not three years absence in all probability and likelihood make the one more profitable than the other unto God's Church by so much as the increase of his knowledge gotten in those three years may adde unto six years travel following For the greater ability there is added to the instrument wherewith it pleaseth God to save Souls the more facility and expedition it hath to work that which is otherwise hardlier effected As much may be said touching absence granted to them that attend in the families of Bishops which Schools of gravity discretion and wisedom preparing men against the time that they come to reside abroad are in my poor opinion even the fittest places that any ingenious minde can with to enter into between departure from private study and access to a more publick charge of Souls yea no less expedient for men of the best sufficiency and most maturity in knowledge than the very Universities themselves are for the ripening of such as be raw Imployment in the Families of Noble-men or in Princes Courts hath another end for which the self-same leave is given not without great respect to the good of the whole Church For assuredly whosoever doth well observe how much all inferiour things depend upon the orderly courses and motions of those greater Orbes will hardly judge it either meet or good