wel ecclesiastical as civil in such sort as nothing is to be established among her subiects either in ecclesiasticall or civil causes publikl or privately but what belongeth vnto her power to correct order enact according vnto the written word of God and the rules of common equide and iustice So that it doth no whit infringe her royal power and authoritie to deny that she hath any warrant any power any sword granted her of God to establish either false Religion false Antichristian ordinances or yet any other vnwarrantable or vniust constitutiō Yet if of oversight she hath imposed any such thing vpon her subiects and inflicted a penaltie vpon them for not obeying that wherto they cannot yeeld any submissiō without the breach of Gods lawe I hold it to be the duty of private men to suller patiently the stroke of her sword and in no wise to withstand the power thereof either by open force or secret practises but only to betake themselves and their cause vnto the Lord God earnestly desiring him to passe by her oversight and to encline her heart and hand to embrace and mainteyue his truth and to suppresse all falshood violence and oppression Now if her Maiestie and this high Court require of vs that we resort vnto the publick assemblies of the land and so to enter as hath ben shewed into the tents of the Antichristian band continue therein I answer againe that this is against the written word of God and therfore that her Maiestie hath no power no authoritie from the Lord to require this at our hands We are punished for it we answer againe that the sword is given for our wealth and not for our hurt that it ought not to be drawen against vs for well doing yet we paciently and quietly bear the stroke we dare not resist we dare not rebel against the Powers Nay we intreat our God day and night for the prosperity of her Maiesties crowne desiring him in mercy to passe by this blemish of her government and not to lay it to her charge earnestly craving that her eyes and the eyes of your Honours may be opened to see our innocency and the truth wherein we stand admonishing both Her and you that although we for our parts knowe our selves bound even in nature to pacifie the hard dealing of our Prince and country towards vs by suffring and bearing of their iniuries as we would do our parents that yet the Lord God who iudgeth without respect of persōs is an avenger of al such things In respect wherof we dare notbut endeavour to the uttermost of our power to pull her and you from this consuming fire of his judgements that hang over your heads even for the maintenance of this Antichristian merchandise within this Land much more for pursuing vs that will not trafique and intermedle with the said wares Hitherto I have shewed the Parish-assemblies of the Land to be of a most feareful conspiracie against Iesus Christ and therefore to be dissolved by your Honours and avoided in the meane time by all the Servants of Christ But I would this preheminence that these forreigne Romish Captaines have over them were the only thing which maketh them vnclean vnto the Saints of God Their case in the next place then is now to be considered for the vnderstading wherof I am to set down these groūds following 1. That as the Lord hath appointed his word and trueth to be taught his Sacraments to be administred and the holy Order appointed by himself to be kept in his house and body so he hath ordeyned a Power and authoritie that is certaine offices by vertue whereof these things are to be done 2. Next that Christ Iesus being the head of his Church hath ill fulnes of power preheminence authority dwelling in himself in such sort as his body and spouse is to submit her self unto no power in religion save onely vnto that power which is derived from him that is her head So that as the Church is to receive no doctrines no sacraments no order but what the Lord hath anpointed to be in his house so also hee hath forbidden his said Church to receive be subiect vnto any power authority save onely unto the power which is derived frō the head therof For it is no lesse derogatory vnto the Majesty of Christ Iesus for the Church to submit her self vnto the power of another head though conveighing the truth with it then to receive the false doctrines and false sacraments of some other Religion or God 3. Thirdly that Satan in bringing the mysterie of iniquity to light and in advancing the sonne of perdition into his chaire of pestilence did not onely appoint false Sacraments false worship but also a false head and a false power that is false Offices by vertue wherof both those things were to be done as also the Lords true institutions and ordinances were to be violated in the Antichristian Synagogue 4. That those who preach the truth administer the sacraments of baptisme and the Lords supper and none other by vertue of any of the false offices invented and reteyned in the kingdome of the Romane Antichrist derive their power wherby they doe these things from Antichrist and not from Christ Iesus And therfore that such working by vertue of a false power is not to be received of the church of Christ Now to come to the Parish-assemblies of this land admit that ARCH BISHOPS LORD BISHOPS c. bare no such rule authority over them as now they do and that there were none but Preachers in them yet we demaund of these Preachers by what authoritie they preach baptize c that is we demand what office they have so to do whether this office of theirs be an office derived frō Chirst Iesus or a power left here by Antichrist I say that whatsoever they do they doe the same by vertue of an Antichristian power office and calling none other That is they do it either as they are Deacons Preists or as having a priviledged immunitie licence and dispensation counterveyling a Deaconry or a Preisthood I adde this priviledged License because some one among ten thousand it may be being neither Preist nor Deacon by vertue of a License from his Ordinarie doth serve a cure Yet if there be any such they are not capable of any charge and what they do they do it by this power of the beast And here because I deale in a matter of fact I call but day light and common sense to decide this whole controversie which is conteyned in these two points 1. Whether at the expelling of the Pope out of this Land by her Maiesties saves the Popish offices of Preists and Deacons were expelled also out of the Parish-assemblies or reteyned 2. Whether at the same tyme or sithence any of the true offices of the Church of Christ were instituted and ordeyned in the Parish-assemblies of the Land The case is cleere that
the Popish offices of Preists and Deacons were reteyned and that the offices of Christs kingdome were not restored And it is by vertue of the Popish offices of the Preisthood and Deaconrie that the whole worship of God is performed or rather polluted and prophaned in all the Assemblies of this Land for the proofe whereof I call not onelie her Majestie her lawes and this high Court of Parliament to witnes but also the cheifest mainteiners of the parish-Assemblies namely the forwardest Preachers of the Land who in times past confessed whatsoever they do now that the offices of Christ were not planted and therefore laboured to her Majestie and the Parlement to have them established in the parish assemblies In regard of her Majesties lawes the case is cleere that the State then being led by the sight of our fathers in king Edwards daies accounted the popish Church to be the Church of Christ though corrupt popish offices of Bishops Preistes and Deacons to be the offices of the Church of Christ and therfore retained them for so we find it set downe in the booke of ordering Bishops and Preistes made in King Edwardes time and established by her Majestes Lawes as the ground rule whence and according to the which all the Ministeriall offices of the parish meetings yea of the whole Land must be squared The book saith That it is evident to all men diligentlie reading the holie Scripture and the auncient authors In the Preface that from the Apostles time there have bene these orders of Ministers in the Church of Christ Bishops Preistes Deacons And therfore saith the booke to the intent that these orders should be stil continued reverentlie used esteemedin the Church of England it is requisite that no man not being at that present Bishop Preist or Deacon should execute any of them except he be tried examined admitted according to this booke Again no man in this Land can take a spirituall living either Parsonage Vicarage Curatship but by vertue of this Preisthood Deaconrie or a Popish licence equivalent unto this Preisthood so that if a Preacher be beneficed the same day that he denieth his licence his Preisthood his Deaconrie is he also deprived ipso facto if it please his Ordinarie and another may presentlie conveigh himselfe into his living if it were worth millions of gold Nay whosoever he be that wil cast of these Popish orders he is but a meere lay or private man and so not capable of anie office in anie of the assemblies of this land for so her Majesties lawes to wit the foresaid book doth conclude that these offices were evermore had in that reverend estimation that no man by his owne private authoritie might presume to execute any of them and consequentlie that all men should be called to the order of the Preisthood Deaconrie Prelacie according as this book doth allow He that is made a Minister in som reformed Church beyond the Seas is not capable of the Cure of a parish assemblie in this land except he shall receive a Deaconrie a Preisthood after the order of our land and yet he that receiveth orders in Rome is correspondent and answerable unto the pattern of our Deaconrie and Preisthood and so capable to buy sel that is to execute any publike function They are knowen cases that he who received his Preisthood or Deaconry in King Henrie the 8 his dayes is a Preist a Deacon under King Edward Queene Marie Queene Elisabeth by vertue of the same orders and he preacheth if he can preach being licensed therunto in King Henrie King Edward Queen Marie Queen Elisabeth their daies by vertue of the same Preisthood for the office is the same as both the booke and everie man for the most part doth account it He that hath received but primam tonsuram in King Henrie the VIII or Queen Maries daies being the first stepp of this abhominable order may by lawe performe those things under her Majestie which no lay man as they call him must presume to take in hand This case being cleer apparant if it be now demaunded why wee will not heare the truth taught by the preachers of the land why we wil not receive the Sacramentes at their hands we answere that this we refuse to do because we must not submit or consciences our soules and bodies being the temples of the holy Ghost to be wrought upō to be sat in unto any power in religion save only unto the power which is derived from our head Iesus Christ We answer that our head and Maister having all power dwelling in him hath this peculiar interest in vs being his members that he onely must sit in our Consciences by his ordinances This interest of his he will not communicate with any creature and therefore wee dare not though we should suffer a thousand deathes to transferre the same unto anie save unto himselfe alone and to joine with the popish assemblies of the Land If the preachers do seeke I ESVS CHRIST and his honour by their preaching they wil begin first with a lawful calling and office they wil derive their power from him by vertue of the offices that he ordeined in his word When they shall do this walk according to the doctrine which is according unto godlines wee will be the most willing to joine with them the most glad to hear them and to cōmunicate with them everie way to reverence them as the Ministers of Iesus Christ In the meane time let them not wonder that we hold this for undoubted truth namely That whosoever he be that sitteth in the temple of God that is worketh upon the consciences of men by vertue of an Antichristian power office and calling he is an Antichristian Minister whatsoever truth he bringeth with him The trueth which such Ministers do teach is but the bait whereby Satan in his mysticall delusion powerfull subtilties hideth the false power by meanes whereof hee in his ordinances ruleth over those that otherwise would yeeld him no subjection none obedience When he cannot utter his ordinances by falsehood he is glad to make them awaie by meanes of the truth And he ruleth in the consciences of men not onely by false doctrine but also by his false power and ordinances His kingdome of darknes consisteth not onelie in the lies and false doctrine and worship which he hath coined but also in the false and Antichristian ordinances which he hath invented for the ruling of his Idolatrous denne And therefore the children and Saintes of God avoyd both the one and the other We owe him none obedience in either of them and farre be it even farre be it I say that we should sinne so treacherouslie against our Lord Maister and so greivouslie against our owne soules to be subject unto Satan in either of them seing by the most precious bloud of Christ Iesus and by the power of his crosse and resurrection we have bene
entring in at the doore Wee detest their Anabaptistrie But to answer the word abused by them Paul was an Apostle and had his office thereunto before ever he saw the Corinthians yea he had his office from Iesus Christ before ever he preached This office of his he proveth unto us by the written word although he was in no wise to receive the same his office from the Church Now if the Corinthians or any other whom he had called unto the obedience of the Gospell should by the instigation of the false Apostles call his office into question under the pretense that they knew not whether he spake true in affirming that Christ with his own mouth appointed him thereunto because he was not able to produce any witnesses of this Commission given as the rest of the Apostles were Paul answereth this that they were an evident seale of his office and as touching any calling from men he was not to receive it They were I say the seale of his Apostleship For he was made conspicuous amongst them by signes by wonders by doing of miracles They were by his Ministerie indued with the giftes of healing of miracles of prophecie of strange tongues and in these things inferiours unto no Church So that although they would not beleeve his testimonie of him selfe the witnesse which Luke in the written word giveth of him yet these most excellent rare supernaturall giftes wherewith he had furnished them were a sufficient seale unto their consciences that he was the great Apostle of Iesus Christ. Other witnesses of his office was he to bring none besides his owne testimony warranted by the written word the great power of the Spirit accompanying his Ministerie in a powerfull sort For a calling unto this office of his by the Church was he to receive none Now are the Ministers of our Parishes Apostles When saw they Iesus Christ then when spake he with them what miracle can they work what strange tongues which they studied not can they spake whom have they healed whom have they indued with these rare giftes why take they the polluted calling of the Preisthood or Deaconry from men If they be not Apostles they must not onely shew us their gifts but also what office they have in the Church to execute the same Thinke they to refuse and cast of the calling and order of God in his Church by bragging of their operations If they think themselves bound to take an office of the Church as their Preisthood sheweth they do why will they not have us to turne over the booke of their genealogie that we may see whether they be of that line of Aaron or of the house of Corah Whereas they bragge of calling and opening the eies of any I would learn whereto they have called them to be Christians to the Church of Christ they will not I hope say that the people were unchristianed Panims that the Parishes were no Churches before they came among them Whence then have they called the people out of the tentes of Corah out of the kingdom of Antichrist why both they their people continue their still And yf they say they have taught them many truethes which they knew not so may the Papist-preachers say too And if they have furnished them with any of the giftes of the Spirit they do thereby but deck and adorne a strumpet in steed of the true spouse of Christ with the Iewel◠of the spouse And therefore if they wrought any knowledge in their people let that be manifested by bringing them out of these Conspiring Tentes and presenting them before the dore of the true tabernacle of Iesus Christ As to themselves if they wil be the Ministers of righteousnes let them not fly the light but prove their office out of the written word For are they disciples and wil they be greater then their Maister Are they servantes and wil they be greater then their Lord Shal we yeeld unto them that lawlesse unwrittn prerogative which our head and Maister would not claime at our handes nay which we durst not yeeld unto him that is shall we receive them having no warrant of the scripture no Cōmission from God to come unto us They preach they say and they administer the Sacraments be it so But we demaund of them by what power they do these thinges If by a power that is by vertue of an Office comming from heaven let them shew it as our Lord and maister Christ Iesus did If by a power cōming from men or from the bottomlesse pit our Saviour Christ telleth us nay even the book of Ordination her Majesties Lawes tell us that they are theeves and robbers and they come unto us in the name and by the power of another God whome we know not will not acknowledge And the Lord by his Prophet sayth unto us with amighty voice I have not sent these Prophets yet they ranne I have not spoken unto them and yet they Prophecie They preach the trueth they say and administer the sacraments Be it so but have they taken the honour unto themselves or hath it ben given unto them by him who onely hath power to say This day or at such a time have I given thee honour holy office of the Ministerie in my Church If they can name us the time shew us the office we wil beleeve them we will embrace them otherwise we say unto them that no man taketh this honour unto himselfe but he that is called of God as was Aaron that is no man taking it can have it for many would take it steal it c. if so they might come by the same This folly this presumption this collusion should not be heard of in Israel They preach and baptise they say We demand who sent them who said Go unto them If Iesus Christ let them shewe their commission from him that he hath said unto them as he did to the Apostles Go ye therfore c. If Antichrist by vertue of an office in his body hath said vnto them Go ye therfore c. they have power in deed to preach and to administer the Sacraments unto such as confesse themselves to be under that head But for our selves we refuse him and all his power his members his Officers If Antichrist saith vnto any All power over the assemblies of this Land is committed unto me and because many of the people would withdraw themselves from my jurisdiction if they had not the trueth taught vnto them Goe ye therefore preach that by meanes of your preaching they may remaine within my Tentes Shall we receive such Preachers God forbid And yet such are all the preachers of this Land Shall Antichrist say Goe shall we say Come vnto them Shall they derive their power from another head then from Christ Iesus shall we be in subjecttion vnto them They say that they are the Ministers of Iesus Christ but we demand by whose will by whose