fearing fled by night and when after many invitations hee would not returne the people shut the doore after him not for any difference of Religion but of State Yet the people being thus alienated from their Bishop was more susceptible of that change of Religion which hapned presently after by the comming of Farell and Viret In the mean while the Duke of Savoy being now strengthned with the Bishops right began to annoy them While they were thus tottering both in Religion and State Calvin came who having got great authority in the Citie took in hand the settling of that fluctuation A matter of great difficulty For to receive their Bishop they durst not fearing to indanger their Religion their Liberties and fall into the hands of their perpetuall enemie the Duke of Savoy To make another Bishop they would not and could not their old Bishop being alive Wherefore they chose to be without a Bishop and rule the Citie by the Syndics being perswaded that their Charter gave them no lesse power But whether they had any Charter to rule the Church with a mingled Consistorie of Clergie and Laitie without any Bishop ipsi viderint let them defend their own right My end is onely to shew that in that change of Discipline Necessity bare more sway then Counsell and Policie then Divinitie Howsoever their actions must not be imputed to the French Churches Geneva being a body apart and having interests of their own peculiar to themselves But the French Churches never unbishopped any Prelate and of them also it may be said that it was Necessitie not any Theologicall decision that made them frame a Church without Bishops For Calvin who had the greatest hand in their Discipline was more enclined to the Episcopacie In his Confession made in the name of the Churches of France and presented to the Emperour Anno 1562. hee professeth it Wee would not abolish saith hee the authoritie of the Church Calvin opuscul in confess Eccles Gallic Ecclesiae authoritatem vel Pastorum aut Super intendentium quibus Ecclesiae regendae provincia mandata est sublatam nolumus Fatemur ergo Episcopos sive Pastores reverenter audiendos quatenus pro suae functionis ratione verbum Dei docent that is of Pastours and Superintendents that have the government of the Church committed unto them Wee confesse then that Bishops or Pastours must be reverently heard as farre as they teach the Word of God according to their function Here is for you a publike Declaration of the French Churches that they disallow not the authoritie of Bishops and if they had power would not take them away In that Confession of faith presented to Francis the first of France I see nothing contrarie to the English Discipline if it bee candidly interpreted For the 30th Article that all true Pastors have equall power under their Universall Bishop Jesus Christ is confessed also by the Church of England for the power which Bishops and Priests have under their Universall Bishop Jesus Christ is equall as they are Priests A preheminence and authoritie indeed they have as Bishops and that by Apostolicall and therefore Divine institution But the power which Christ in the Evangelists immediately giveth to Pastours concerneth only the preaching of the Word and administring of the Sacraments and the power of binding and loosing in foro interiori Herein they are all equall and all Vicars of Christ No Bishop in England but in this sense will subscribe willingly to this Canon of the Councell of Carthage * Conc. Carthag Can. 8. Ut sublimior quidem sedeat sed tamen se collegam Presbyterorum agnoscat That the Bishop sits in a higher degree but yet acknowledges himselfe colleague to the Priests But although the Bishop in his consecration receive no new binding and loosing power in foro interiori besides that which he received when hee was made a Priest yet it is of Apostolicall right that great part of that power diffused in the collective bodie of the Clergie should bee confined to the Bishop lest the keyes of the Church being in too many hands should clash one against another and there should be playing at fast and loose And Calvin agreeth to it I never thought it usefull saith hee to commit the power of excommunication to every Pastor Calvin Epist ad Gasparum Lizetum Nunquam utile putavi jus excommunicandi permitti singulis Pastoribus Nam res odiosa est nee exemplum probabile facilis in tyrannidem lapsus alium usum Apostoli tradiderunt For it is an odious thing and an example not to bee approved and which would soone slip into tyrannie and the Apostles have delivered another custome It is true that Calvin in that Epistle will not have Lizetus to meddle alone with Ecclesiasticall censures and he is in the right since Lizetus was no Bishop But hee declareth plainly that the office of censures must be limited to certaine men not promiscuously used by every Clergy-man of his owne head Else there would bee soone as many petty spirituall Tyrants as there are peevish Ministers in the severall Parishes Had it been in the power of every Priest to receive accusations and pronounce excommunications Saint Paul would not have limited to Timothies knowledge the receiving of accusations nor made him alone Judge of the Priests Calvin indeed aimed at no such matter as the generall pulling downe of Bishops Hee acknowledgeth that in the Primitive Church the a Calvin lib. 2. Instit cap. 4. Art 2. Presbyteri ex suo numero in singulis civitatibus unum eligebant cuispecialiter dabant titulum Episcopi ne ex aequalitate ut fieri solet dissidia nascerentur Priests out of their number would chuse one in every Citie to whom they gave the title of Bishop lest that equality as it is ordinary should breed contentions And in his Epistle to the King of * Calvin Epist ad regem Pol. pag. 140. 141. Editionis Genevensis an 1576. Poland about the reformation of that Kingdome he sets downe to the King the order of the Primitive Church for a patterne where there were Patriarchs and Primats and subordinate Bishops to tye the whole bodie together with the bond of concord And adviseth the King to establish Bishops in every Province and over them an Archbishop and Primate of that great Kingdome And if the b Calvin instit lib 4 cap. 12. Art 6. Sanè si veri essent Episcopi aliquid eis hac in parte authoritatis tribuerem non quantum sibi postulant sed quantum ad Politiam Ecclesiae ritè ordinandam requiritur Popish Bishops were true Bishops hee would allow them some authoritie not as much as they challenge but as much as hee thinkes would serve for the right ordering of Church government That hee would not allow them as much power as they claime no man can wonder at it that knoweth the exemptions which they claime from Royall
authority and their incroachments upon the civill power and their pretended independencie from any but the Pope whereby they make regnum in regno another kingdome in every kingdome But although I would not clip their wings so short as Calvin would have yet I wish for your owne good that the Churches of Scotland would yeeld to Bishops as much power as Calvin doth even the power of censures and of presenting and ordaining Priests c Calvin tractat de necessitate reformandae Ecclesiae Potestatem nominandi ordinandi retincant justum illud serium doctrinae vitae examen restituant quod sanè multis saeculis obsolevit Let Bishops retaine the power of naming and ordaining Priests Let them restore that just and serious examination of doctrine and life which is growne out of use many ages agone It is not then the use but the abuse of Bishops that Calvin and the Reformed Churches of France reject And were it in their power they would not put downe Bishops They onely crave the reformation of Religion and are ready to submit themselves to Episcopall power Zanchius above all the Outlandish Writers is expresse upon that point who indeed is no Frenchman but of the like Discipline This is his Protestation That before God and in his conscience Hier. Zanch. Thesib de vera reformandarum Ecclesiarum ratione Testor me coram Deo in mea conscientia non alio habere loco quà m Schismaticorum illos omnes qui in parte reformationis Ecclesiarum ponunt nullos habere Episcopos qui authoritatis gradu supra fuos compresbyteros emineant ubi liquidò possunt haberi Praeterea cum D. Calvino nullo non anathemate dignos censeo quotquot illi Hierarchiae quae se Domino Jesu submittit subjici nolunt he holds them all for no better then Schismatickes that set this downe as a part of reformation of the Churches to have no Bishops that have any eminence of degree and authoritie above their true fellow-Priests where they may well be had And besides that he holds with * That place cited out of Calvin is in his Treatise de necessitate reformandae Ecclesiae Calvin that they are all worthy of any execration that will not submit themselves unto that Hierarchie that submitteth it selfe unto the Lord Jesus Christ Here is a coard with two strings the authority of two worthy men together The same Zanchius saith a little before Hee that will receive and follow the use and the opinion of the universall Church Ibid. Qui universalis ominium locorum temporum usque ad hanc aetatem usum sensum Ecclesiae certum habet sequiturque interpretem facilè intelligit diversos gradus Presbyterorum Episcoporum in gubernatione Ecclesiastica esse secundum Dei verbum semper fuisse Proinde ubi vigent non esse abolendos ubicunque iniquitas temporum eos abolevit aut non tulit esse restituendos in all times and places unto this age for a certaine interpreter of Gods word will easily understand that the severall degrees of Priests and Bishops in the Ecclesiasticall government are and ever were according to Gods word and therefore where they stand still they must not bee abolished And where the contrarietie of times hath abolished or not suffered them they must bee set up againe This was also the tenet of Martin Bucer who assisted the reverend Bishops of England in the reformation And although he lived in a Church where Ministers were equall hee delivereth himselfe plainly a Bucer tract de reformanda Ecclesia qui invenitur tom 11. constitut Imperial Annitendum itaque ut ea omnino procurationis Ecclesiasticae ratio ordinatio quam Canones Episcopis Metropolitanis praescribunt restituatur servetur We must endeavour that all the manner and distribution of Ecclesiasticall government which the Canons prescribe unto Bishops and Metropolitans bee restored and maintained Beza himselfe who preferred equalitie before superioritie in the Church yet hath declared his dislike of those that resisted Episcopall power where it was established For in an Epistle of his to some brethren of England that would bee ruled by him rather then their Bishops at home hee b Beza Epist 12. ad quosdam Anglicarum Ecclesiarum fratres Hortamur ut omni animorum exacerbatione depositâ salvâ manente doctrinae ipsius veritate sanâ conscientiâ alii alios patienter ferant Regiae Majestati clementissimae omnibus Praesulibus suis ex animo obsequantur exhorteth them that leaving all bitternesse as long as the truth of the doctrine and puritie of conscience was safe they would beare one another with patience and obey the Queenes most gracious Majestie and all their Prelates with a free heart And writing to Bishop Grindall hee commends his c Idem Epist 23. ad Episcop Grindal Quòd tu igitur quorundam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pertulisti Reverendissime vir in eo sanè insigne patientiae lenitatis Christianae specimen edidisti quo majore posthac poenâ digni erunt qui porro authoritatem tuam aspernabuntur Christian lenitie and patience for bearing with the selfe-conceited pride of some and saith that they shall deserve a greater punishment that will reject againe his authoritie I confesse this was much from Beza who was none of the best friends to the Episcopall degree but yet his desire of concord in the Church and obedience to publike order was greater then his aversion from Bishops And I wish that many among you were no worse disposed The latter Divines among the French are very expresse upon this point My Reverend Father Doctor Du Moulin in his * Peter Du Moulin in his Buckler of the faith upon the 30. Article of the French Confession Sect. 124. Buckler of the Faith is altogether for Episcopacie and proveth the Antiquitie of it and that it begun a yeere after our Saviours death And sheweth how the Apostles were the founders of that order sending the Reader to the 32 Chapt. of the booke of Prescriptions by Tertullian where hee reckoneth the Apostolicall Churches whose Bishops were established by the Apostles And whereas it is alledged against the Episcopall degree that there was in the Primitive Church two Bishops in one Towne hee tells you that in all the Antiquitie it is hard to find three or foure examples of two Bishops in one Towne Ibid. for the generall custome was against it as Theodoret Chrysostome and Hierome upon the first to the Philippians witnesse and Saint Austin in his 110th Epistle There also hee complaineth as farre as hee may of the disorders that follow equalitie relating and allowing the just objections of the English Clergie in these words They say AND THAT WITH GOOD REASON that no societie no family no common-wealth can prosper without some degrees of superioritie and that it is so among the Angels and in the government of the universall World That God established degrees
of superioritie in his Church under the Old Testament They say that to place a man of little capacitie and newly received into the Ministerie in like degree with an ancient Minister of the Church whom God hath endowed with more gifts and which hath served a long time in the Ministerie with commendation is the way to nourish pride in the younger and to dishonour those whom God hath honoured and to induce confusion As also that thereby the holy Ministery is become contemptible and that the superioritie of the Bishops of England hath been approved by the most worthy Pastours of our Churches How can one say more living under a different Discipline Any man may perceive that hee speaketh feelingly as one that had an especiall knowledge and experience of the inconveniences of his Discipline And that hee thinkes more yet then he saith In the conclusion hee craveth a favourable construction of all that the Reformed Divines of those Churches write against Bishops If sometimes saith he we speake against the authoritie of Bishops we condemne not Episcopall order in it selfe but speak onely of the corruption which the Church of Rome hath brought into the Episcopacie making it a temporall principalitie depending upon the Papall throne As hee teacheth that true doctrine in his bookes hee traineth his Scholars in the same This Thesis was lately defended by him in the Academy of Sedan where hee is Doctor of the Chaire * Petrus Molinaeus Thesib de notis Ecclesiae part 2. Thes 33. Episcopos Angliae post conversionem ad fidem ejuratum Papismum asserimus fuisse fideles Dei servos nec debuisse deseâ—ere munus vel titulum Episcopi Wee affirme that the Bishops of England after their conversion and abjuration of Popery were Gods faithfull servants and that they ought not to forsake the office or title of Bishop In his Bible full of marginall notes written with his owne hand hee expoundeth this Text Titus 1.5 Therefore I left thee in Greece that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and ordaine Elders in every Citie as I have appointed thee This is his comment upon it a Oportuit Tito datam aliquam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in caeteros symmystas jus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ut quod Timotheo dicitur Ne recipe accusationem contra Presbyterum dare videtur Timotheo tribunal supra Ministros Adde illud de Angelo Ephesi Nec si superioritas esset res mala Apostolis data esset potestas in caeteros This imports that some prebeminence was given to Titus above his other colleagues and the right of conferring orders As also that which is said to Timothy Receive no accusation against a Presbyter seemeth to give unto Timothy a tribunall over other Ministers The like is implyed in that Text of the Angell of the Church of Ephesus Revel 2.1 where there is but one Angell mentioned though there were many Priests in the Citie And if superioritie were an evill thing God would not have given power to the Apostles over the rest of the Clergie These are his private and serious thoughts upon that point wherein hee sought no mans satisfaction but his owne This is also the drift of learned Chamier in his Booke of the Papall Monarchie For hee runneth not to extremes as you doe As though because there must bee no Universall Bishop there must bee no Diocesan All his discourse comes to this c Chamier de Papali Monarchia lib. 3. cap. 14. Art 11. In Ecclesiis etiamsi singulos assignari Episcopos consultiùs existimetur tamen omnibus unum imponendum nulla ratio evincit That although it is thought more convenient to assigne Bishops unto the severall Churches yet it can bee proved with no reason that there must bee one set over all leaving that ground for granted that it is more convenient to assigne Bishops unto the severall Churches It is true he saith Lib. 10. cap. 5. that the government of the Church is not Monarchicall but Aristocraticall Lib. 10. cap. 7. Art 8. Aristocratia Episcoporum regimen quae ne tum quidem sublata est cum inducti sunt Metropolitani qui sibi subjectos Episcopos pro collegis habebant for he cals Aristocracie the government of Bishops which Aristocracie was not taken away when Metropolitanes were brought in that used the Bishops subject unto them as Colleagues He cannot more evidently condemne the Democracie of his Church than by saying that the government of the Church is Aristocraticall and the Bishops of England take not so much upon themselves as he ascribeth unto the first Bishops * Ibid. C. 5. Art 6 Constat igitur ne tum quidem cum hie Episcoporum à Presbyteris distinctorum ordo sive gradus est constitutus Episcopos fuisse tanquam Monarchas qui potestatem haberent in CleruÌ„ sed Principes Electos qui rebus deliberandis praeessent ficut necesse est in omni Aristocratia It is certaine saith he that even when the order or degree of Bishops distinct from that of Priests was established the Bishops were not like Monarchs having power over the Clergie but ELECTED PRINCES set over the deliberation and administration of businesses as it is necessary in all Aristocracies If you object since your countreymen are so good friends unto Episcopacie What is the reason that their practice is quite contrary Why have they no Bishops Why is parity of Ministers commanded in their Discipline Si licet et placidirationem admittitis edam I hope to shew to them that have some charity and equity that the French have such reasons for it which the Church of Scotland cannot borrow from them I. The Protestants of France were forced after a sort to dislike Bishops by the cruell usage which they received from them they will say with the Authour of the Apologie of the Confession of Auspurg Apolog. Confes August Art 14. Nos summâ voluntate cupimus conservare politiam Ecclesiasticam gradus in Ecclesia factos Sed Episcopi Sacerdotes nostros aut cogunt hoc doctrinae genus quod confessi sumus abjicere ac damnare aut novâ inaud itâ crudelitate miser os innocentes occidunt Hae causae impediunt quò minùs agnoscant hos Episcopos nostri Sacerdotes Wee desire with all our heart to preserve the Ecclesiasticall Policie and the degrees established in the Church But the Bishops either constraine our Priests to renounce and condemne the Doctrine of our Confession or kill the poore innocent men with new and unheard of cruelty These are the causes why our Priests will not acknowledge those Bishops And the reformed Churches may say of some of the Popish Bishops what S. Bernard was saying of those of his time * Bern. in Regist. Epist ad Maur. lib. 4. Epist 32. Heu heu Domine Deus Ipsi sunt in persecutione tua primi qui videntur in Ecclesm primatum diligere Alas alas
Lord God they are the formost in persecuting of thee that seeme to love primacie in thy Church It is the lesse wonder then if after the fearefull executions at Cabrieres and Merindol by the instigation of some Popish Bishops they were afraid of their very name II. It is most considerable that the reformation began in France among the people but in England it began in the Court The French reformers were Priests but the English reformers under the King were Bishops and the French Priests could not prevaile with their Bishops as the King and Bishops of England over their Clergie For the higher spheres are not carried by the inferiour but the inferiour by the superiour It was much that the French Priests could get some retrogradation by their owne course against the rapidity of the higher sphere The reformation began among the people and inferiour Clergie and there it stayed Therefore the Discipline is popular and it was not easie for them that were opposed by Bishops to make Bishops In England the sacred oyntment of the Gospell was powred upon the head and thence it fell about upon all the limbs and to the hemmes of the garment In France it was powred upon some limbs onely whence because it could not mount to the Head the Discipline also wants a Head Neither could that holy dew spread so well because it descended not from the hils Certainly the Discipline of France deserveth rather compassion than invectives And to speake properly they refuse not Bishops but they want Bishops If you say that the reformation in Scotland began also among the people You know that the worke was never perfected till your late great King put the last hand to it by reforming and restoring Bishops Which if you will not acknowledge for a perfecting I am sure the French with whom you claim conformity would in the like case III. Besides the reformed Churches of France want means to maintain Bishops and with much adoe maintaine poore Lectures For although the Episcopall power be spirituall yet without temporall means it cannot keep either power or respect and not so much as subsistance Whence they gather that it is better to want Bishops than to expose Episcopacie to the scorne of adversaries IV. Also it would provoke envie and jealousie if there were two Bishops in one Dioecesse and would but draw oppression upon the weaker side V. And if a generall conversion happened which God in his mercy bring to passe two Bishops should meet in one See and neither would yeeld to his fellow A consideration which would ever keepe the erroneous Bishop from his conversion VI. The reformed Church of France living under the crosse and expecting the generall conversion is better without Bishops for it is a body prepared for obedience whensoever the Popish Bishops shall reforme the Church and themselves And once they were brought to that tryall as you may read in an Epistle of Peter Martyr to Beza The Bishop of Troyes who was borne Prince of Melfe having abjured Popery began to preach the pure Word of God in his Cathedrall Church and sent for the Elders of the reformed Church to know whether they would confirme and acknowledge him for their Bishop Which they all with one consent did and submitted themselves unto his authority There is none I dare say of all the Churches of France but would doe as much in the like case None but would obey Bishops if Bishops would reforme and obey God Till God extend so much mercy upon that Kingdome the poore Churches will stay for the leisure of the Bishops and keepe themselves in an estate fit for obedience VII Neither would their King suffer them to chuse Bishops of their own if they would attempt it For since their Synods provoke jealousie a Bishops Court would provoke more jealousie and authority continued in one man would be more obnoxious to envie and obloquie then consultations of amultitude intermitted from Synod to Synod and under severall Presidents et ad tempus Had our gracious King Charles and his Counsell the same necessitie to tolerate the Papists as Henry the IV. of France had to reward the Protestants that were a strong body and by whom he had beene promoted to the Crown yet I think not that his Majestie would suffer them to have Bishops or admit of any jurisdiction but immediately depending upon him The reformed Churches of France have no jurisdiction and looke for none and if your Presbyteries of Scotland would containe themselves in the same modestie the Covenant would go down and the King should be obeyed Of all these reasons there is none that can serve your turne wherefore our want of Bishops cannot be a president for your putting down of Bishops Since you live under no crosse and have such a gracious Defender of the faith for your Soveraigne and both the Kingdoms of this Island professe the same holy Doctrine to frame another Ecclesiasticall Discipline besides that which his Majestie alloweth and the Church hath kept for many ages it is framing two livers in a body that hath but one head and one heart For of this Island the King is the head and Religion is the heart both the which would have but one Discipline as it were one liver to disperse blood and spirit into the severall parts of the whole body with one and the same Oeconomie eyere where Certainly if France had but one heart for Religion I am perswaded they would never sticke for a different Oeconomie of Discipline And the truth is neither you nor they have a setled Discipline and therefore both need lesse to stand upon it This is the last Article of the French Discipline These things which are here contained concerning the Discipline are not so decreed but that if the benefit of the Church do require it they may be altered Neither doe the French busie their heads about points of Discipline else it would be seene in their writings But wheresoever they like the Doctrine they embrace the Discipline In the yeare 1615. my reverend Father was sent for by King Iames of glorious and blessed memory some discontented brethren in London seeing him highly favoured by his Majesty came to him with a bill of grievances to be represented to the King which my Father having perused returned it unto them againe saying That their exceptions were frivolous For Ceremonies and other points of Discipline I doe not finde you conformable with the French Whether you celebrate the holy Communion with such reverence as they do in France let your owne consciences answer You know there are two gestures of praying practised from the beginning in the Church kneeling and standing The English pray kneeling at the Communion the French standing For they sit not at the Table like the Dutch wherein the French Church of London consisting most of Wallons followeth the Dutch but walke to the holy Table and there with a reverent congey receive the Sacrament which the people taketh not
in the dish as it is with the Dutch but the Minister delivereth it to every Communicant When I received in my countrey the Minister used these words It is the body of the Lord Iesus Christ which suffered for your sinnes It is the blood of the Lord Iesus Christ which was shed for your sinnes And it is an expresse Article of their Discipline That the due reverence belonging to the holy Communion Cap. 12. Art 12 be carefully maintained The distribution of the Cup by a Lay-Deacon is worne out of use among them and whereas it was brought in in the beginning and in time of persecution it was afterwards removed Cap. 12. Art 9. by a Canon of their Discipline and by way of fact in all the Churches And whereas at the first as in all beginnings of reformation every one taught his neighbour Jbid. and for want of Ministers Lay Deacons would catechize It was declared by an Article of their Discipline That the office of those Deacons is not to preach the Word of God nor to administer the Sacraments As for the power of their Lay-Elders it is little more than the office of Churchwardens in England Their office is to look to the disorders of the flocke and give account of it to the Consistory as Church-wardens put in their Presentments in the Spirituall Court A voice they have in the Censures but the determination and pronouncing of the Censure belongs to the Minister They and the people together may admit or refuse a Minister chosen by the Synod if the King give way to it And so it must needs be where there is neither Bishop nor Living nor right of Patronage Chamier Tom. 2. Lib. 5. c. 2. Nos certe praeter electorum Ministrorum approbationem vel reprobationem nullas esse partes plebis censomus in Ecclesiastico regimine We hold indeed saith Chamier that besides approving or refusing the Ministers chosen the Laity hath nothing to doe in the government of the Church This is all the power of the Laity No mention there of ruling Elders that have alwayes the casting voice Page 424. of his Majesties large Declaration of which his Majesty saith very truly That it is a course unheard of in any Church and in any age The notable difference betweene the French Elders and the Scottish In the Yeare 1631. was justified not long since by one M. Adam Stewart a Scottishman heretofore Reader of Philosophie in Sedan who finding there the Consistory ruled as it ought to be by the Clergie of the place kept a great coyle to raise the power of the Lay-Eldership which had no such ambition and grew so violent in his course that after a long forbearance and moderation of the Ministers they were forced to excommunicate him and crave the Princes helpe who banished him out of his dominions Being put out of Sedan he went to Paris where he offered to stirre the same matter but he had no better successe there Neither shall ye finde among the Protestants of France that aversion from the Spirituall Courts which is among you For although they have more reason to hate the Spirituall Courts of Popery by whom they have suffered much yet the Canons of their Discipline allow them to resort to the Spirituall Courts to sue for their right Cap. 14. Art 8.9 10. and Protestant Advocates are allowed to plead there And which is more Protestants are allowed to exercise jurisdictions and procurations under the Clergie of Rome Ibid. Art 10. if so be they do not concerne that which they call spirituality Also to be farmers of Tithes Art 2. Priories and Church-demeanes Which sheweth that when they forbid Pastors to possesse any land under the title of Pastors Cap. 1 art 40 it is not because they disallow that the Church should possesse demeanes But because in the present povertie and paritie if some few had Livings and the rest none they conceive it would breed envie and factions in the Church As for Holy-dayes they observe reverently the dayes of Christmas Easter Ascension and Pentecost And where they have Sermons upon Week dayes as at Charenton by Paris upon Thursdayes they will change the day when there is a Holy-day of some note in the weeke This is Calvins counsell upon that point I would have you constant in refusing Holy-dayes yet so Calvini Epistola ad Montbelgardenses In festis non recipiendis cuperem vos esse constantiores sic tamen ut non litigetis de quibuslibet sed de iis tantum quae nec in aedificanonem quicquam factura sunt superstitionem prima ipsa facie prae se ferunt Nam in papatu magna celebritate Conceptionem Ascensionem Virginis coluerunt that you picke not a quarrell with every Holy-day but with those onely that are not at all for edification and beare a stamp of superstition in the front And he giveth them for example the feasts of the Conception and Ascension of the blessed Virgin which are also refused by the English Church But generally of all Holy-dayes the French Discipline commandeth Cap. 14. Art 21. that No scandall shall bee committed by working on dayes appointed to rest according to the Kings Edict And it were to bee wished that the Scots were no more refractarie to their good King the pious Defender of their Faith than the French Protestants are to their Soveraigne though of contrary religion even in those points of Ecclesiasticall Discipline How they stand affected in all points of Ceremonies and outward Order you may see by their Confession presented to the Emperour and the Princes of Germanie Wee acknowledge that both all Churches Confess Eccles Gallicar inter Opuscula Calvini Fatemur tum omnes tum singulas Ecclesias hoc jus habere ut leges et statuts sibi condāt ad politiam communem inter suos const ituendam cum omnia in domo Dei ritè ordine fieri oporteat Ejusmodi porto statutis obedientiam deferendam esse modò ne conscientias astringant neque superstitio illis adhibeatur Qui hoc detrectent cerebrosi pervicaces apud nos habentur and every Church have that right to make Lawes and Statutes for themselves to establish a publike Order among their own people since all things must be done in the House of God decently and with order and that obedience must bee yeelded to such statutes so they doe not binde the consciences and no superstition be mingled with them Those that will doe against this we hold them peevish and stubborne people You have heard Beza before perswading the English brethren to obedience unto their Prelates In the same Epistle hee tells them That the Surplice is of no such importance that the Ministers should leave their function Blza ad quesdam Anglicar Ecclesiarum fratres Non videntur ista tanti momenti ut propterea vel Pastoribus deserendum potius sit Ministerium quam ut vestes