invention are these privie articles which his Creature my Lord of Derry presents to diverse who take Orders from his holy hands We will passe these and such other effects which the remote rayes of his Graces countenance doe produce in so great a distance Onely behold How great an increase that unhappie plant hath made there in England where his eye is neerer to view and his hand to water it The Canterburians in England teach the first and second article of Arminianisme In the 25. yeare at the very instant of King James death D. Montagu with D. Whites approbation did put to the presse all the articles of Arminius in the same fearmes with the same arguments and most injurious calumniations of the Orthodox doctrine as Spalato and the Remonstrants had done a little before but with this difference that where those had dipped their pennes in inke D. Montagu doth write with venegar gall in every other line casting out the venome of his bitter Spirit on all that cometh in his way except they be fowles of his own feather for oft when he speakes of Iesuites Cardinals Popes hee annoynts his lips with the sweetest honey and perfumes his breath with the most cordiall tablets If any doe doubt of his full Arminianisme let them cast up his Appeale and see it clearly (k) Appeal p. 60. I professe my through sincere dissent from the faction of novellizing Puritans but in no point more theÌ„ in the doctrine of desperate predestination Ibid. p. 70. I see no reason why any of the divines of our Church present at the Synod of Dort should take any offence at my dissenting who had no authoritie that J know of to conclude me more then I doe at them for dâ—ffering from me in their judgment quisque abundet in suo sensu Ibid. pag. 71. I am sure the Church of England never so determined in her doctrine Ibid. pag. 72 at the conference of Hamptoun-court before his Majestie by D. Bancroft that doctrine of irrespective predestination was stiled against the articles of Lambeth then urged by the Purâ—tans a desperate doctrine without reproof or taxation of any Ibid. pag. 50 your absolute necessarie determined irresistible irrespective decree of God to call save and glorifie S. Peter for instance infalliblie without any consideration had off or regard unto his faith obedience repentance J say it truely it is the fancie of some particular men in the first and second Article of Election and Redemption he avoweth his aversnesse from the Doctrine of Lambeth and Dort which teacheth that God from eternitie did elect us to grace salvation not for any consideration of our faith workes or any thing in us as causes respects or conditions antecedent to that decree but onely of his meere mercy And that from this Election all our faith workes and perseverance doe flow as effects Hee calleth this the private fansie of the Divines of Dort opposite to the Doctrine of the Church of England For this assertion he slandereth the Synod of Lâ—mbeth as teachers of desperate doctrine and would father this foule imputation but very falsly on the Conference at Hamptoun Court (l) Ibid. pag. 61 64. I shall as I can briefly set downe what I conceive of this of Gods decree of predestination seâ—ting by all execution of purpose this farre we have gone and no word yet of predestination for how could it be in a paritie Tâ—ere must â—e first conceived a disproportion before there can be conceived an Election or dereliction God had compassion of men in the masse of perdition upon singulos generum genera singulorum and out of his love motu mero no oâ—herwise stretched out to them deliverance in a Mediator the Man Iesus Christ and drew them out that tooke hold of mercie leaveing them there that would none of him Againe he avoweth positively that faith goeth before Election and that to all the lost race of Adam alike Gods mercie in Christ is propounded till the parties free-will by beleeving or mis-beleeving make the disproportion antecedent to any divine either election or reprobation One of the reasons why King Iames stiled Arminius disciples Aâ—heists Why King Iames stiled them Atheists was because their first article of condiâ—ionall Election did draw them by an inevitable necessitie to the maintenance of Vorstian impiety For make me once Gods eternall decree posterior and dependant from faith repentance perseverance and such works which they make flow from the free-will of changeable men that decree of God will bee changeable it will be a separable accident in him God will be a composed substance of subject true accidents no more an absolute simple essence and so no more God Vorstius ingenuitie in professing this composition is not misliked by the most learned of the Belgick Arminians who use not as many of the English to deny the clear consequeÌ„ces of their doctrine if they be necessary though never so absurd However in this very place Montagu maintaines very Vorstian Atheisme as expresly as any can doe making the divine essence to be finite his omnipresence not to bee in substance but in providence (m) Appeale p. 49. the Stoicks among others held that paradox of old Deum ire per omne terras tractusmaris coelumque profundum They meant it substâ—ntially and so impiously Christians doe hold it too but disposively in his providence and so making God to be no Gâ—d This though long agoe by learned Featlie objected in print to Montagu lyes still upon him without any clearing Certainly our Arminians in Scotland were begun both in word and writt to undertake the dispute for all that Vorstius had printed I speake what I know and have felt oft to my great paines Arminianisme is a chaine any one linck wherof but specially the first will draw all the rest yet see the other also expressed by Montagu In the articles of grace and freewill They teach the third and fourth article not onelie he goes cleare with the Arminians teaching that mans will hath ever a facultie to resist and oftimes according to the Doctrine of the Church of England actually doth resist reject frustrate and overcoms the most powerfull acts of the spirit and grace of God even those which are employed about regeneration sanctification justification perseverance (n) Appeal p. 89. S. Steven in terminis hath the very word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you resist nay fall crosse with the holy Ghost not suffering him to worke grace in you If the Counsell meaned it de gratia excitante praeveniente operante I think no man will deny it de gratia adiuvante subsequente cooperante there is without question in the naturall will of a regenerate man so much carnal concupiscence as may make him resist and rebell against the Law of the Spirit And if a man justified may fall away from grace which is the doctrine of the Church of England then without question your selves being
challenges of divers of the learned to reprint their clear affections to the pope and Cardinalls and the whole Romish religion albeit truely this their ventorious boldnesse seemes not more marveillous then their ingenuitie commendable For they have said nothing for the pope or Rome but that which conscience would pouse any man upon all hazards to avow who was so perswaded in the particular heads of controversies betwixt papists and protestants as they professe themselves to bee to the end therefore that wee may see the former strange enough passages not to have dropped from their pennes by any inadvertance but upon plaine designe and deliberate purpose wee will set downe in the next rowme the affection they professe to the speciall heads of poperie very consonant to that which they have alreadie said of that which wee count the whole lumpe and universall masse of Antichristianisme The speciall heads of poperie are moe then I have leasure to relate or you can have patience to hear enumerate Take notice therefore but of some pryme articles which Protestants use most to detest in papists foure by name their idolatries their heresies their superstitions their abomination of desolation the masse If from their own mouth I make clear that in these foure they joyne with Rome against us it is like none hereafter shall wonder of any thing that yet they have done or said for the advancement of the popish party and the subverting of the protestants Churches either at home or over sea but rather embrace their sobrietie and moderation who being minded as they professe doe not break out in many moe both words and deeds for the destroying of the protestant schisme and bringing all back to the Catholick Apostolick mother Church of Rome unto the feet of his holinesse the Vicar of Christ the successor of Peter under whose obedience our holy and blessed antecessors did live and die CHAP. IIII. The Canterbuerians joine with Rome in her grossest idolatries THE acts of Romes Idolatrie be many and various None more open to the eye of beholders then these five their adoration of altars images relicts In the midst of their denyall yet they avow their giving of religious adoration to the very altar sacramentall bread and Saints departed For the first their worshipping of the stocke or stone of the altar if wee would impute it unto the Canterburians they will deny it allutterlie and avow that they may well worship God before the altar but to worship the altar it self to give to it that worship which is done before it to give to it any religious worship any cultus any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any adoration they do detest it as palpable idolatrie So his Grace so Pocklingtoune so Heylene so Lawrence so Montagu do oft professe But that you may see how little faith those mens Protestations do deserve and that all may know either their desperat equivocating or else their spirit of giddinesse which makes them say and unsay the same things in the same pages consider all of the five named authours for al their denyall printing with approbation and applause as much worshipping and adoration even of the altar as any Papists this day living Begin with his Grace you shal finde him in his Star-chamber speach for all his denyall yet avowing within the bounds of two pages once twyse thryse a) Pag. 47. A great reverence is due to the body and so to the throne where his body is usually present Ibid. pag. 49. Domino altari ejus to the Lord your God and to his altar for there is a reverence due to that too Ibidem pag. 45. Therefore according to the Service-book of the Church of England the priest the people both are called upon for externall and bodily worship of God in his Church Therefore they which doe it not innovat and yet the government is so moderat God grant it be not too loose that no mā is constrained no man questioned onely religiously called upon venite adoremus the giving of worship to the altar and that such worship which is grounded upon that place of Scripture Venite adoremus which we suppose none will deny to be Divine adoration But wee must understand that the King and the Church of England heere as in all things must beare the blame of his Graces faults that the King and his most noble Knights of the garter must be patrones to this practice and the English Lyturgie the enjoiner of it But his Grace and those that have the government of the church must bee praised for their moderation in not urging this practice upon all their brethren (b) Pockling altare pag. 160. I shall intreat the pious and judicious reader to consider with meet reverence what is recorded among the statuts of that most noble order non satis benè Deo atque altari reverentiam exhibuisse visi sunt ut Deo ejus altari proni facti debitum impenderent honorem quoties praetergredietur summum altare in honorem Dei debita genu flexione reverentiaque consalutabit Idem in his Sunday no Sabbath at the end If wee doe not onely bend or bow our body to his blessed board or holy altar but fall flat in our faces before his footstool so soone as ever we come in sight thereof what Apostle or father would condemne us for and not rather be delited to see the Lord so honoured D. Pocklingtoune with his Graces licence proclamed the bending of the bodie and the Prostration even to it Heylene comes up at last to his Masters back and tels us that the adoration before the altar is the honour of the altar it self and that filling downe and kissing of the altar for the honouring of the altar was a very commendable practise (c) Antidot Lincolne preface to the King altars were esteemeed so sacred that even the barbarous souldiours honoured them with affectionat kisses Ibid. Pag. 86. The altar being thought to be more sacred had a far greater measure of reverence and devotion conferred upon it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reverend salutation of the table 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he and Pocklingtoun both page 142. commends that exhortation of the patriarch of Constantinople in the fifth counsell Adoremus primum sacrasanctum altare Idem in his answere to Bourtoun page 137. If you look higher unto the use and practice of the ancient Church you can not misse a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an honour to the altar a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad ad geniculationem aeris Dei Laurence as he prints with Canterburies licence but undoubtedly by an impudent lee at the Kings speciall commandement doth maintaine not only veneration but religious worshipping adoration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all (d) page 25. We finde in Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a honour due to the altar and in Tertullian ad geniculari aris a kneeling to the altars and in the
the expresse words of that Apostle may not without aspersion of poperie be even openly and publickely maintained if there be no sense obtruded upon them which may crosse S. Pauls doctrine which M. Burtoun can never prove that they did whom he charged with that assertion but rather by swetning all with excuses seeme to vent their desire to have all swalllowed downe In the doctrine of the Sacraments In the doctrine of the Sacraments see their Poperie from Bellarmins third tombe they tell us first that the sacraments of the old testament differ from the new that the one confers grace the other fore-signifies grace to be conferred that the same distinction must be holden betwixt Iohns and Christs baptisme (ſ) Montag orig p. 72. de circumcisione quae ritur quam gratiam conferat primo ponitur non eo quod sit verum sacramentum veteris politiae in statu legis naturae ideo esse operativū illius gratiae qua ab luuntur peccata ut sit in baptismo novae legis 2 Si quaeratur an ut baptismus sic circumcisto quae figurat baptismum olim peccata visua sacramentali ex instituto divino opere operato vel opere operantis aut alio quovis modo abolere mundare poterat qua de resunt diversae sententiae Hereafter he hath brought at length the Fathers to prove that Sacramenta veteris testamenti non causabant gratiam sed eamsolum per passionem Christi dandam esse significabant nostra vero gratiam continent digne suscipientibus conserunt he closes manes sunt illa disputiones acerba contentiones nonnullorum qua apud scholasticos doctores nonnullos ventilantur quas sopitas optamus nos Ibem p. 390. Baptismus Ioannis rudimentarius ait Damascenus imperfectus isagogicus Cyrillus ut lex vetus itaque novum baptisma post illud necessarium inquit Augustinus post Iohannem baptizabat Paulus post haereticos non baptizat Ecclesia Christi baptismo actu remittebantur peccata non remittebantur actu post Iohannis Then in his own words quid ergo An dabat gratiam baptismus ille sic visum non nullis perperam omino nam ubi tum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 baptismatis Christi Sacramentorum novifederu quibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gratiam conferre quam significant preparatiore hoc agebat non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in spectantum cum re ipsa in Domini baptismo illud fiat ab hac sententia quae est communis omnium antiquorum si Calvinus recesserit cum sequacibus aetatem habent ipsi respondeant privati cujuscunque hominis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non est communi protestantium sententiae ascribendum Obtineat ergo per me Tridentinae synodi canon primus sessionis septimae Si quis dixerit baptismum Iohannis habuisse eandem vim cum baptismo Christi anathemasit 2. They tell us that all baptised infants as well reprobat as elect are in baptisme truely regenerat sanctified justified and put in that state wherein if those who are reprobat and there after damned should die they would be infalliblie saved (t) Montag apeal p. 35. We are taught in the Liturgi earnestly to beleeve Iest it should be left to mens charity that Christ hath received favourably these infants that are baptised And to make this doctrine the more sure against novellists it is again repeated in the Catechisme that it is certainly true by the word of God that children being baptised have all things necessarie for salvation and if they die before actuall sin shall be undoubtedly saved according whereunto all antiquity hath also taught us Let this therefore be acknowledged to be the doctrine of our Church Whit against the dialogue p. 95. avowes it as the doctrine of England that all infants baptised have the holy Spirit and are made the children of God by adoption pressing that of S. Austine of all infants baptised Quid dicturus est de infantibus parvulis qui plerique accepto in illa aetate gratiae sacramento qui sine dubio partinerent ad vitam aeternam regnumque coelorum si continuo ex hac vita emigrarent sinuntur crescere nonnulli etiam apostatae sunt Albeit this same Whyt makes this tenet in his conference with Fisher to be the judgement only of Papists and Lutherans p. 176. They differ from Lutherans and Pontificians first in that they restraine the grace of sanctification only the elect 2. In that they deny externall baptisme to be alwayes effectuall at the very instant time when it is administrate And on the other hand they avow that all those who die in their infancie without baptisme by whatsoever misse by whosoevers fault are certainly damned so far as men can judge For baptisme is the only ordinary meane which God hath appointed for their salvation which failing salvation must be lost except we would dreame of extraordinarie miracles of the which we have no warrand (w) Cant. relat p. 56. That baptisme is necessare to the salvation of infants in the ordinare way of the church without binding God too the use and means of that Sacrament to which hee hath bund us it is expresse in Saint Iohn chap. 3. Except a man be born againe by water he cannot enter no baptisme no entrance nor can infants creep in any other ordinary way And this is the received opinion of all the ancient Church infants are to be baptised that their salvation may be certain for they which can not help themselves must not be left only to extraordinary helps of which we have no assurance and for which we have no assurance and for which we have no warrant at all in scripture Shelfoord p. 66. I can shew you of none saved ordinarly without the sacraments in regard of our Saviours exception in the 3 of Iohn Except a man be born again of the water and the spirit he can not enter into the kingdome of heaven Montag orig p. 397. Adeo huic usui inserviunt aquae ut si tollatur lavacrum aquae alieni a Deo faedere promissionis aeternae excludantur illi in tenebras exteriores cum edicto divino statutum sit nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua spiritu sancto non introibit in regnum coelorum Scio hoc elusum à novatoribus sed Christi divinitatem ab haereticis negatam scio utrumque in contemptum Dei dispendium animarum 3. That the manifold ceremonies of papists in baptisme and all other sacraments are either to be embraced as pious ancient rites or not to be stood upon as being only ceremoniall toyes (x) Samuel Hoards sermon supra puts crosse in baptisme and sundrie other ceremonies of it among his rituall traditions Montag antid p. 16. vestis alb aoleum sal lac chrisma additamenta quaedam sunt ornatus causa Ib. p. 15. Cum concilio quodam nupero non veremur profiteri
more facilitating of their purposes they advance the secular power of Princes and of all soveraigne Estates above all that themselves either crave or desire alone for this end that their clerks may ride upon the shoulders of Soveraignitie to tread under the feet of their domination first the Subjects and then the Soveraignes themselves The tyrannous usurpation of the Canterburians are as many and heavie as these of the Romist Clergie How much our men are behinde the greatest tyrants that ever were in Rome let any pronounce when they have considered these their following maximes They tell us first that the making of all Ecclesiastick constitutions doth belong alone to the Bishop of the Diocesse no lesse out of Synod then in Synod That some of the inferior clergie may bee called if the Bishops please to give their advice and deliberative voice That the Prince may lend his power for confirming and executing of the constitutions made but for the work of their making it is the Bishops priviledge belonging to them alone by Divine right (a) Samuel Hoards sermons pag. 7. By the Chruch I meane the Churches Pilots who sit at the sterne Heads members divide all bodies Ecclesiasticall and civill what ever is to bee done in matters of direction and government hath alwayes beene and must be the sole prerogative of the heads of these bodies unlesse wee will have all common-wealths and churches broken in picees Ibid. pag. 8. The key of jurisdiction which is a power of binding and lousing men in foro exteriori in the coutts of justice and of making lawes and orders for the government of Gods house is peculiar to the heads and bishops of the church Ibid. p. 31. what was Ignatius and Ambrose if we look at their authoritie more than other bishops of the church That libertie therfore which they had to make new orders when they saw cause have all other prelats in their churches Edward Boughanes serm Pag. 17. Submit your selves to those that are put in authoritie by kings so then to Bishops because they are put in authoritie by Kings if they had no other clame But blessed bee God they hold not only by this but by a higher tenor since all powers are of God from him they have their spirituall jurisdiction what ever it be S. Paul therfore you see assumes this power unto himselfe of setting things in order in the kirk before any Prince become Christian 1 Cor. 11.34 The like power hee acknowledgeth to be in Titus 1.5 and in all bishops Heb. 15.17 Ibid. pag. 18. Kings make lawes and bishops make canons This indeed it was of necessitie in the beginning of Christianitie Kings made lawes for the State and bishops for the kirk because then there was no Christian Kings either to authorize them to make such lawes or who would countenance them when they were made But after that Kings became nourishing fathers to the Church in these pious and regular times bishops made no Canons without the assent and confirmation of Christian Kings and such are our Canons so made so confirmed Chounei collect pag. 53. Reges membra quidem filios Eccesiae se esse habitos reiecisse contempsisse nonnunquam audivimus obediunt simulque regnant Iura quibus gubernari se permittunt sua sunt vitalitatem nativam ex praepositis Ecclesiae tanquam ex corde recipiunt vivacitatem ex ipsis tanquam ex capitibus derivant Samuel Hoards pag. 9. Nor did they exercise this power when they were in Counsell only but when they were asunder also Speaking of apostles as they are paterns to all bishops 2. That in a whole Kingdome the Bishops alone without the privitie of any of the clergie of any of the laitie may abolish all the Ecclesiastick judicatories which the standing and unrepealled lawes which the constant customes ever since the reformation had setled and put in their rowme new forraigne courts which the kingdome had never known scarce so much as by their name (b) Our Chrurch Sessions our weekly presbyteries our yearly generall Assemblies whereof by our standing lawes wee have beene in possession are closse put downe by our book of Canons and in their rowme Church-wardens officiall courts synods for Episcopall visitation and generall Assemblies to bee called when they will to be constitute of what members they please to name are put in their place That at one stroke they may annull all the Acts of three or fourscore National Afsemblies and set up in their roome a Book of Canons of their own devysing (c) So is their book entituled Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiasticall gathered and put in forme for the governement of the Church of Scotland and ordained to bee observed by the clergie and all others whom they concerne That they may abolish all the formes used in the worship of God without any question for threescore yeares and above both in the publicke prayers in the administration of the Sacraments in singing of Psalmes in preaching the Word in celebrating of Marriage in visiting the sicke and in ordination of Ministers Neither this alone but that it is in their hand to impose in place of these accustomed formes foure new Bookes of their owne of Service of Psalmes of Ordination of Homilies All this our Bishops in Scotland have done and to this day not any of them to our knowledge can be moved to confesse in that deed any faile against the rules either of equitie or justice what ever slips of imprudence there may bee therein And all this they have done at my lord of Canterburies direction as wee shall make good by his owne hand if ever we shall be so happy as to be permitted to produce his owne authentick autographs before the Parliament of England or any other Judicatorie that his Majestie will command to cognosce upon this our alleadgance Readily Rome it self can not be able in any one age to paralell this worke which our faction did bring foorth in one yeare It is a bundel of so many so various and so heavie acts of tyrannie Certainly England was never acquaint with the like wee see what great trouble it hath cost his Grace to get thorow there one poore ceremonie of setting the Communion table altar-wayes for there themselves dar not deny that it is repugnant to the established Lawes of their church and state for any Bishop yea for all the Bishops being joined to make the poorest Canon without the voices of their convocation-house or Nationall Assemblie yea without the Parliaments good pleasure (d) VVhites examination of the dialogue pag 22. By the lawes of our kingdome and Canons of our Church many learned persons are appointed to be assistants unto bishops and in our nationall Synods in which all weightie matters concerning religion are determined nothing is or may be concluded but by the common vote and counsell of the major part of the convocation which consisteth of many other learned Divines besides Bishops Andrews sermons
without all occasion to keepe your selfe off the Irish oath â—ff these Scottish Ministers whom yee did banish from Ireland off the excessive praises of your patron the Deputie These and such other passages of your booke lift up your maske and lead any who will under the shaddow of the Jesuites hart to behold D. Leslies head that upon it without mistaking may be cast all the garlants of honour which the penning of so brave a piece in so necessary a time doth deserve But whoever you bee whether Leslie or Maxwell or Michell The laÌ„ds griefe is the CanterburiaÌ„s joy or who else of the faction certainly yee are a mirrie man in a very unseasonable time When the whole Yle is in sadnesse and dule in feare and trembling ye are upon your congratularie Epistles And why not These are the dayes yee have panted long for fire and Sword is your Element rather then Episcopall honour should lye in the dust fire water heaveÌ„ hel must all goe thorow other yet who knoweth but your singing in so foule weather may end in mourning to you and jot to all those who now are weeping for that black storme which ye his Grace your Prince have raised in our clemat If wee in one point our adversaries in an hundreth are Iesuited The onely point wherein yee make Covenanters draw neare to Iesuitisme is in their doctrine of the civill Magistrate which ye branch out in 16 particulars Is it not then your mind that whoever leaveth the Protestants in one head of doctrine doth give to the Iesuites matter of congratulation and a good ground to expect their totall apostasie to the popish religion This is the onely scope of your whole booke What then doe you thinke of your fellowes whom I have assayed to convince by their owne testimonies of a defection from the Protestantâ— to the worst of the Iesuites not in one head but so exceeding many that very few contraverted heads doe remaine wherein they are not joyned long agoe with the Jesuites Shall partialitie so farre predomine with you that we Covenanters for conformitie with Jesuites in one point alone must be reputed Apostates from the reformed church of Rome yet ye Canterburians though ye declare your conformitie with Rome in twentie in an hundreth yea well neare in all the contraverted heads of Doctrine yet no man without a great dash to a charitie may begin so much as to doubt of your full Protestanisme That one point wherein ye make us Iesuited is the doctrine of the Magistrate This to you is the head of the Protestant Faith and all their other teners but members following that head your practice is very consonant to this your profession for your new doctrine of the Magistrate is the first and most beloved article of your Creed which above all other ye preach and presse with extreame violence Your new stamped oath of alleadgeance and Supremacie whereby yee would set up the King in a place so farre above the ty of all Lawes divine and humane as his royall heart hath ever abhorred to be maâ—e such an idol Good Princes in this are like the Saints in glory all which giveth to them a degree of honour exceeding the Sphere of man and entrenshing upon Gods proper glorie they esteeme them as they are indeed nothing but flattering effronters of their sacred persons That which ye call the head of all Protestant Religion The bounds of Princes power and peoples subiectioÌ„ are points of state not oâ— Religion readily doth not concerne Religion at all Religion indeed doth oblige the conscience to give unto all Magistrates their due honour and obedience but the bounds and limits of that obedience which is the onely point ye speake off Religion meddleth not with them till the civill Lawes of States Empires have clearly defined them No Religion will oblige a Spaniard to be so farre subject to King Philip as a Grecian slave must be to the Great Turke neither doth any Religion equall the Polonish Subjection to their King with the Spanish to theirs Doth any Religion oblige the Electours of Germanie to be so much subiect to their Emperour as the Nobles in Pole are to their King or so little subject as the Venetian Senate is to their Duke or the States of Holland is to the Prince of Orange The civill Lawes and Customes set downe the limites both of the Soveraignes commanding and the subjects obedience Religion causeth these march-stones conscienciously to bee kept when once Policie hath fixed them It seemeth ye intend to make England quit their Priviledgâ— and burn their magna charta to make Scotland bury their Assemblies Parliaments that a blank may be put in Canterburies hand to write down what Lawes he will for the Church and State of both the Nations But thankes be to God that King Charles doth live to be judge betwixt you and us in so materiall a question Yee tell us further in your preambles The present danger of this Yle to fall in hands of the Pope Spaniard before ye come to your first paralell of Pope Vrbans hope to make Scotland return to Rome yee might have told us further from your companion Con who is more acquainted with Vrbans secrets then other men that the Pope hath a pretty confidence to joyne England to Scotland that so the reduction of the whole Yle your Iâ—eland with it to the Sea of Rome may be set up as an eternall trophee to the honour of this pâ—pes family Surely the ground-stones of this hope are laid on so deepe plots that except the hand of God and the king in this present Parliament pull them up Pope Vrban for all his age may yet live to putt the triumphall cope stone upon that building We grant you also that the Pope and Jesuites as yee say â—re hovering above the head of us all to fall upon the prey of â—ll Britaine when both parties which your mallice will compell to fight are wearied with mutuall wounds in this prophecie we thinke you but too true divines specially if ye will adde which all without the gift of prophecie may see to be consequent that when the Pope hath gotten the soules of those who out-live this warre for his part his Sons the French or Catholik King will not be quiet except for their share they gett the bodies The most hated of the covenanters proceedings their covenant it self is approved by the king the goods and liberties of all this poore Yle Your other gybes at the Covenanters proceedings yee might have holden in if the honour of the King had any wayes been deare unto you the worst of all our actions even that which ye were wont to proclaime our most vile and hellish rebellion Sedition Treason and what else ye could devise is now by our gracious Prince after a full search of it to the very bottome not onely absolved of all crime but so farre approved that by act of Assembly Counsell
lesse then Turkish If ye finde that I prove my offer I trust I may bee confident of your wisedomes that though Cicero himselfe with him Demosthenes as a second Orpheus with the enchantments of his tongue and harp as a third marrow should come to perswade yet that none of you shall ever be moved by all their oratorie to espouse the quarrels of so unhappie men If I faile in my faire undertaking let me be condemned of temeritie and no houre of your leasure be ever againe imployed in taking notice of any more of my complaints But till my vanity be found I wil expect assuredly from your Honours one hearing if it were but to waken many an able wit nimble pen in that your venerable House of Convocation Numbers there if they would speake their knowledge could tell other tales then ever I heard in an out-corner of the Isle far from the secrets of State and all possibilitie of intelligence how many affaires in the world doe goe It is one of the wonders of the world how many of the English Divines The silence of the English Divines is prodigious can at this time be so dumbe who could well if they pleased paint out before your eyes with a Sun-beame all the crimes I speake off in that head members It is strange that the pilloring of some few that the slitting of Bastwickâ—â— and Burtowns nose the burning of Prinnes cheeke the cutting of Lightouns eares the scourging of Lilburne through the cittie the close keeping of Lincolne and the murthering of others by famine cold vermine stinke and other miseries in the caves and vaults of the Bishops houses of inquisition should binde up the mouths of all the rest of the Learned England wont not in the dayes of hottest persecution in the very Marian times to bee so scant of faithfull witnesses to the truth of Christ wee can not now conjecture what is become of that Zeale to the true Religion which wee are perswaded lyes in the heart of many thousands in that gracious kirk we trust indeed that this long lurking and too too long silence of the Saints there shall breake out at once in some hundreths of trumpets and lampes shining and shouting to the joy of all reformed Churches against the camp of these enemies to God and the King that quickly it may be so behold I here first upon all hazards doe breake my pitcher doe hold out my Lampe and blow my trumpet before the Commissioners of the whole Kingdom offering to convince that prevalent faction by their owne mouth of Arminianisme Poperie and Tyrannie THE MAINE SCOPE And Delineation of the subsequent TREATISE CHAP. I. OUR Adversaries Our Adversaries decline to answer our greatest challenge are very unwilling to suffer to appeare that there is any further debait betwixt them and us but what is proper unto our Church and doe arise from the Service-Book Canons and Episcopacie which they have pressed upon us with violence against all order Ecclesiasticall and Civill In the meane least they become the sacrifices of the publick hatred of others in a subtile SophisticatioÌ„ they labour to hide the notable wrongs and effronts which they have done openly to the Reformed Religion to the Churches of England and all the Reformed Churches in the main and most materiall questions debated against the Papists ever since the Reformation for such as professe themselves our enemies and are most busie to stirre up our gracious Prince to armes against us doe wilfully dissemble their knowledge of any other controversie betweene them and us but that which properly concerneth us and rubbeth not upon any other Church In this their doing the Judicious may perceive their manifold deceit whereby they would delude the simple and many wittie worldlings doe deceive themselves First they would have the world to thinke that we obstinately refuse to obey the Magistrate in the point of things indifferent And therefore unnecessarily and in a foolish precisenesse draw upon our selves the wrath of the King Secondly when in our late Assemblies the order of our Church is made knowne and the seeds of superstition heresie idolatrie and antichristian tyrannie are discovered in the Service-Booke and Canons they wipe their mouth they say No such thing is meant and that we may upon the like occasion blame the Service-Booke of England Thirdly when by the occasion of the former quarrellings their palpable Poperie and Arminianisme are set before their eyes and their perverse intentions desires and endeavours of the change of Religon and Lawes are upon other grounds then upon the Service-Booke and Canons objected against them they stopp their eares or at last shut their mouthes and answer nothing This Challenge they still decline and misken they will not let it be heard let be to answer to it And for to make out their tergiversation and to dash away utterly this our processe they have beene long plying their great engine and at last have wrought their yond most myne to that perfection that it is now readie to spring under our wals By their flattering calumnies they have drawn the Prince againe to arms for the overthrow of us their challengers and for the affrighting by the terrour of armies on foot of all others elsewhere from commencing any such action against them As for us The scope of the Treatise truely it were the greatest happinesse wee doe wish for out of Heaven to live peaceably in all submission and obedience under the wings of our gracious Soveraigne and it is to us a bitternesse as gall as wormwood as death to be necessitated to any contest to any contradictorie tearmes let bee an armed defence against any whom he is pleased to defend Yea certainly it were the great joy of our heart to receive these very men our mortall enemies into the armes of our affection upon any probable signes in them of their sincere griefe for the hudge wrongs they have intended and done to their Mother-Church and Countrie But when this felicitie is denyed and nothing in them doeth yet appeare but induration and a malicious obstinacie going on madly through a desperate desire of revenge to move a very sweete Prince for their cause to shed his owne blood to rent his owne bowels to cut off his owne members what shall wee doe but complaine to GOD and offer to the worlds eyes the true cause of our sufferings the true grounds of this Episcopall warre or rather not Episcopall but Canterburian broyle for we judge sundrie Bishops in the yle to be very free of these mischiefes and beleeve that divers of them would gladly demonstrate their innocencie if so bee my Lord of Canterburie and his dependants were in any way to receive from the Kings justice some part of their deservings Howsoever that wee may give a testimonie to the truth of God which wee are like at once to seale with our blood wee will offer to the view of all Reformed Churches and above
to their owne ambition and greed that Soveraignitie being advanced to an numerasurable hight may be a statelier horse for them to ride upon in their glorious trivmphings above all that is called God For otherwise yee may see how farre they depresse all Soveraignes when they are layed in the ballance with them selves they tell us that the King can bee no more the head of the church then the boy that rubs their horse heeles (Å¿) Smart Sermon pag. 1. M. CouZins uttered these trayterous speaches in an open and affirmative manner that the Kings highnes is no more supreame head of the church of England then the boy that rubbs his horse heeles and this as we are credibly informed hath beene proved against him by the oathes of two sufficient witnesses 2. That the heart whence the native life vigour of the Ecclesiastick Lawes doeth flow is alone the Bishops and not the King (t) Chounaei collect supra cap. ult A 3. That Kings and Emperours ought to reverence yea to adore Bishops and to pay them tributes (w) Montagsupra cap. 3. O. 4. That every Bishop is a Prince and a Monarch as farre in dignitie above the greatest secular Prince as the soul above the body or God above man (x) Montag supra cap. tertio z FINIS Revised according to the ordinance of the generall Assembly by Mr. A. Ihonston Clerk thereto Edinb 1. of Aprile 1640. A Post-script for the personate Iesuite Lysimachus Nicanor GOod Father Lies-maker It is the common stratageme of the CanterburiaÌ„s to slander all their opposites with Iesuitisme you doe no new thing to paralell the Scotish Covenanters with Jesuites it is the old and oft rechanted song of your fellows to put Jesuites and Puritanes which name all must be content to beare who will not under your conduct be led back to Rome in one categorie to make them but two singulars under one spece both most furious rebels and by open profâ—ssion most seditious traitours yet with this difference that the one because more opposite to you must partake more of the nature of the spece The Puritane as ye must have leave in this season of your Kingdome to play the nomenclatâ—rs is growne so big a traitour that scarce any roome is left for the Iesuite to stand beside him Not long agoe it was the equitie of your brother Montagu to grant the Iesuite the favour to march with the Puritane under the same colours in the same ranke as devils equally furious unhappily borne and fostered to keepe Rome and England asunder Supra chap 7. A. A. But now it is the wisedome of your grand-father Laud to marshall them much better the Puritane must be farre advanced the Iesuite must stand at his back that so all stroakes all darts may light in the bodie of the one while the other escapeth without any wound so much as of a word In the very face of that honourable court of the Star-chamber his Grace dare be bold to avow his advice to the King to goe with the Puritanes beyond nose-slitting cheek-burning fining above their worth perpetuall prisoniâ—g But for the Iesuites his moderation his Christian patience must be proclaimed to the world hee must glorie before the King that hee counts it unbeseeming his Grace to serve them with so much as course â—â—guage let be to inteÌ„d their persecutioÌ„ in the least measure Chap. L.M. N. For hatred to the Puritanes the Canterburians are content to turne Jesuites Yee must therefore Master Lies maker bee content to want the honour of the invention of this parallell for the strategeme is old and now become triviall onely in this the rare quicknesse of your wit is to be applauded and the glory of some new invention here is not to be denyed to the singular dexteritie of your engine Yee are the first of the Canterburiane I know who for the hatred of their party was content avowedly to enter the Iesuites order and put on their habite that from under the maske of their broad hatt might bee spewed out on the face of the Covenanters such a spet of pestiferous venome as none would suspect could flow from any other fountaine then the heart of a very Iesuite Surely ye act the Iesuites part so well thaâ— it seemeth ye have much more of him then his hatt and habit By too curioâ—s imitation of his behaviour ye are so habituate in his nature that ye are not like in haste though ye would to lay it aside In this your pamphlet yee â—ent so much impudencie so many lies and slanders so much spight crueltie so high and disdainefull pride so salt and bitter scoffings mockings raisings and which is worst of all so profane and blasphemous abuse of holy Scripture for yee make it alway the channell where through your wicked humours must runne for the overwhelming of your enemies In these Iesuiticke arts yee prove so excelent that in the very first ye are of your noviciat yee may put in for promotions per saltum Sundrie Provincials have not all their dayes shewed such cunning as you already if yee make a proportionall progresse a few yeares may make you generall of the order if so be your minde can serve you to change your nation the third time And as ye have turned from Scottish to English from English to Irish yee can be content to sweare your selfe full Spaniard at least a devoute Servant to Philip the fourth The deciphering of the name Lisimachus Nicanor for advancement of his Catholick Monarchie though never so much to the prejudice of your old Master K. Charles and all Christendome beside Your name demonstrates your vanitie and pride qualities familiar to your order Yee must be no lesse then the câ—â—der of the plea and that by a victorie Truely ye come in good time to the Canterburian troupes no Christian can be so welcome to them as you if a Lysimachus will convoy them break the battell of the poore Covenanters without stroake or if some stroakes must be distribute yet it Nicanor be on their side it is the top of their desires But things are not alwayes correspondent to their names Etymologies are sometimes antiphrastick who before the fight must needs stamp their ensignes with stiles of victorie and triumph are compelled sometimes to see their too precipitat joy and gloriation end in disgracefull displeasure Or is this onely your vanitie in hiding of your name to proclaime it in Lysimachus to tell us you are D. Leslie in Nicanor that yee are B. of Dâ—nn and Conor though this had not beene put in the Frontispiece of your booke yet any who had perused your former schenick writs that comedie of your seven Sages that tragick harrang to your sillie priests which for the glorie of your name behoved to walk over-sea in a Latine gown might easily have guessed at your stile and humour in this your last writ Your professed abode over Sea your impotencie even
articles of Parliament it is commanded to be subscribed by the hearts and hands of all in this Kingdome without exception So that new there stands at the back of that long blasphemed Covenant among the first and most conspicuous hands not onely Roxburgh Lawder-dale Southâ—ke and others of the prime Counsellours but also Traquair the Kings great Commissioner for that effect We hope then that you and your like if there remaine any sparke of reverence in your breast towards that authoritie which oft yee pretend to adore will not onely for ever hereafter bridle your very loose tongues but also eate in againe or at last cover so farre as ye can for hidding of your shame these most false lies and unchristian railings which these two yeares by-gone in word writ Print ye have vomitted out against our proceedings especially that most hatred slandered passage of them the renewing of our Covenant The fi st point wherein ye parallell us with Jesuites 1. paralel Wee are for Monarchie but against Monarchical tyranny is in our opposition to Monarchicall government By Monarchicall government yee expreslâ— enough declare that ye understand such an absolute and illimitate power as exeemeth the Prince from the tye of all Law and puts in his hand the full libertie to make what Lawes he wâ—ll withâ—ut the advice let bee consent of Parliament of Counsell or of any others and taketh absolutely all Liberty from his Subjects though met together in Parliament to defend them elves by Armes in any imaginable oppression even such a Mâ—narchie as the great Turke or the Mâ—gor of Iâ—dia or the Châ—m of Taâ—tarie this day doth enjoy over their slaves even that strange kinde of government which in my last Chapter I descrived in the words of your brethren We confesse freely that our heart is much opposite to such a Mâ—narchie yet no more then our gracious Prince king Charles his glorious Father king Iames give us expresse warrant The one in his fore-cited writ of his Atturney Suprâ— chap 8. Q.R. abhorring these injurious flatterers who would impute unto him the making of Lawes without his Parliament the other in his Parliamentary Speach Page 531. A king governing in a setled kingdome leaveth to bee a King degenerateth in to a tiraÌ„t as soone as hee leaveth off to rule according to his Lawes Therefore all Kings that are no tyrants or perjured will be glad to bound themselves within the limits of their Lawes They that perswade them the contrarie are vipers and posts both against them and the Common-wealth making that Prince a perjured tyrant who would not gladly bound himself within the limits of his laws and these men to be taken for vipers pests and common enemies to Princes and people who would assay by their flatteries to loose Princes from their pactions made with their people at their Coronation and the setled lawes of their Kingdome yea we show that your own great Bishop Laud possibly as great a Royalist as is needfull goeth before us with his own mouth what ever he directeth you and many other of his followers to the contrary to teach that no statute Supra Cap. â— Q Law can bee made any where but in Parliament even in England let bee â—cotland where to this day never any conquerour did dwell But as for true Monarchie so high as the lowable lawes any where do make it we are in nothing opposite thereto for what have we to doe to condemne the setled state Lawes of any other Nation Certainly the royall authority of our owne gratious Soveraigne so far as the lowable lawes of our Kingdome doe extend it we are sworne in our Covenant heartily to the uttermost of our power to maintaine As for the lawfulnesse The lawfulnesse of defensive Arms of resistance in the present case of our invasion I may not enter in this short postscript in any such question onely ye may if ye please understand that it hath been the tenet of our Church since the reformation it hath been the right and practice of our Kingdome since the first foundation a number of instances thereof are approved in our standing acts of Parliament unrepealed to this day it hath been the practice of all the reformed Churches abroad wherein by Queen Elizabeth King Iames King Charles they have been all allowed and the most of them countenanced with powerfull assistance of men and money Your self cannot deny but in the judgement of reformed Divines resistance in many cases is lawfull even in Kingdomes where the Prince is tyed in the fundamentall lawes by paction to his people That this is the State of the kingdome of Scotland though ye may deny it yet King James who is like to have as great understanding in the rights of the Crowne and Kingdome of Scotland as you or your like gives us assurance that by a fundamentall law the King of Scotland is obliged at his coronation to paction under his great oath the preservation of the established Religion of the Lawes of the Kingdome of the Liberties and priviledges of the Subjects P. 105 In the Coronation our Kings give their oath first to maintaine the Religion presently professed punish al those that should alter or disturbe the profession thereof and next to maintaine the lowable good lawes made by their predecessours lastly to maintain the whole Countrie and every state therein And this oath in the Coronation is the clearest civill fundamentall Law whereby the Kings office is properly defined However we love your ingenuity who doe not dissemble but professe openly your minde that when a faction about a Prince by divine providence is permitted to take courses for the evident overthrow both of the Religion of the Lawes of the Liberties of the goods of the lives and all that is deare to an whole kingdome that in those or any other imaginable cases of tyrannie whole Parliaments may not proceed for their defence one step beyond teares prayers and flight That what ever is done more by whole and consentient nations against a faction of Court misleading the Prince is simplie unlawfull Your scoffes about the questions of Bishops and Elders deserve no answer Our Tenets about bishops and ruling Elders the king hath approved nothing doe we maintaine in them but what the assemblies of our church at our first reformation ordained and was in peaceable practice among us ever till men of your coat by fraudulent and violent wayes for their owne ambition and avarice set up their novations We have no other minde in those questions then the Church of Holland and France All our tenets are so well cleared by that Learned Hollander Gersome Bucerus as none of your partie hath yet beene bold after 22. yeares advisement to make any reply yea we maintaine no more in these questions then that wherewith our gracious Prince by his Commissioner and act of Counsell in our last generall assemblie hath declared himselfe to be well pleased but ye are a