Prince is not bound to his own laws because no man doth command himself or impose a Law on himselfe Though this seeâ—e strange to ignorant men yet it is most true and therefore consider it well for it s grounded upon good reason for the Law is given by a Superior to an Inferior and no man can be inferior to himselfe and so can give no Law to himself and since he can give no Law to himselfe none of his Lawes can oblige him But what shall he be an Exlex a lawlesse man then I answer with the Schoolmen in two Aphorismes I. Princeps non potest servare legem suam ex affectu obedientiae quia nullum agnoscit Superiorem in republica sed tantum ex affectu illius virtutis in cujus materia collocatur id quod lege statutum est The Prince cannot keep his owne Law out of the affection of Obedience because he acknowledgeth none in the republike to be Superior to him But only he can keep his Law out of the affection he hath to that vertue in the matter wherof that which is ordained by Law is placed II. Aphorisme Princeps tenetur quoadvim directivam non quoad coactivam ac proinde tamâ—tsi peccet contra suam legem non tamen fit reus poenae per legem impositae quia nemo potest legitimè puniri nisi à Superiori The Prince is bound to his Lawes in so far as they have a vertue to direct him but not as they have any coactive power And therefore albeit he transgresse his Lawes yet hee doth not become guilty of the punishment of the Law because no man can be punished lawfully but by his Superior For this cause that saying of Cyrillus is remarkable Nemo leges regum impunè reprobat nisi reges ipsi in quibus pravaricationis crimen locum non habet Prudenter enim dictum est impium esse qui dixerit regi Iniquè agis No man can reject the Laws of Kings without punishment but Kings themselves in whom the crime of their transgression hath no place Thom. loc cit Suarâ—â—â—th 3. cap. 35. Laym in lib. 1. De â—â—â—th cap. 9. Decan cap. 6. de legel â—â—â—ana quaest 12. Syl. cit quaest 14. Vasquâ—â— cit cap. 3. for it is wisely said that he is an ungodly man who shall say to the King Thou dost wickedly As this is the judgement of the Fathers and Moderne Divines so is it the common judgement of all the Schoolemen as they say themselves Therefore since in Monarchicall government the supreme Prince hath such absolute power it were well done to change it into a mixt government If we had suffered the Roman Emperour to remaine an absolute Monarch as you do your King we had never gotten so much of our wils and his Holinesse the Pope would have been hindered from the fruition of his lawfull supremacie over Emperors and if you shall endure this your government it will bee a great impediment to the ends you aime at For this cause regimen temperatum ex Monarchia Aristocratia Democratia mitius estâ— it s a more milde government that is mixt of Monarchie Aristocracie and Democracie You doe well then to aime at it for it is our advice Bellarmine in that same place speaketh home to you It llar de Rom. Pont. lib. 1. c. 3. Prasides provinciarum vel civitatum ne sint regis vicarii aut annui judices sed veri principes qui imperio summi principis obediant interim provinciam vel civitatem suam non tanquam alieâ—am sed ut propriam moderentur Let not the Presidents of Provinces or cities be the Kings deputies or yeerely Judges but let them be true Princes who may both be obedient to the command of their chiefe Prince and in the meane time govern their province or citie not as it were another mans but as their own by this meanes both a kinde of Monarchie Aristocracie and Democracie may have place in the republicke Proceed therefore to the perfecting the good work which you have begun Consider the power you have had as absolute Lords over your Tenants and as Princes and Chiefe over your Clans every one of you being little Kings like Dionysius Corinthi commanding and ruling your Vassals as you pleased but see now how it is abridged by a new form of justice by introducing Justice of peace c. Which to say the truth though it tend to the settlement and peace of the Kingdome yet it mainly opposeth your former domineering makes your Vassals look more to the King and his Lawes then to you and your commands It is certain by our well grounded principles that there is no reason that your King of Scotland should be a more absolute Monarch then the Emperor of Rome he is not like your King an absolute Prince by succession but a conditionall prince by election tyed by such strict conditions which if he transgresse he may be thrust from them For first the Prince Electors may chuse whom they please to be Emperour by their Emperiall Lawes Secondly the Princes Electors have power to judge and cognosce upon the Emperors faultâ— Thirdly if they finde him worthy of deposition they may depose him And by the Emperour Elect his own consent it is statute and ordained that if the Princes Electors or the whole body of the Kingdome shall withstand or take arms against the Emperour it shal be accounted lawfull without any crime of rebellion Ex sanctione Henrici 7. aurea bulla Caroli 4. capitulatione Caesarta Read this capitulation in Melchior Goladast tom 3. pag. 424. which is thus Quòd si nos ipsi inquit Imperator quod absit aut quisquam successoruÌ„ nostrorum quod non speramus processu temporis aliquo huic nostrae statutioni aut ordinationi contravenire voluerit aut eam retractare aut alio quevis mode violare prasumserit praesentium literaruÌ„ autoritate quas mera nostra autoritate potestatis regiae plenitudine ex certa nostra Majestatis scientia nec non cum consensu bene placito praefatorum sacri Romani imperii principum Electorum in robur perpetuae firmitatis sancivimus ex tunc tam ipsi Electores quam caeteri Principes ecclesiastici saculares praelati comites barones nobiles communitates sacrinostri imperii universi ac singuli praesentes suturi licitum habeant sine rebellionis aut infidelitatis crimine resistendi ac contradicendi nobis successoribus nostris Romanorum regibus vel imperatâ—ribus in perpetuam libertatem And I wil assure you his Holinesse the Pope was not sleeping when the Emperour was thus clogged and albeit it may bee thought that this change of simple Monarchy in this mixt government hath beene a chiefe ground of all the bloudy war of Germany this long time by gone which would not have bin if it had remained an absolute Monarchy for while it so continued an absolute
you who did refuse obedience to that which is judged by all your prime Doctors to be lawfull Thus those two famous Doctors of yours Gualter Bullinger did write in an Epistle sent to the Schismaticks in England who had opposed themselves as you do to the Service-book of England If in case say they any of the people be perswaded that those things savour of Poperie let them be taught the contrary and perfectly instructed therein and if so be through the importunate crying out hereupon before the people by some men many be disquieted let them beware that do so that they bring no greater yoke upon their own necks and provoke Queen Elizabeth her Majesty and bring many Ministers in such danger as they cannot rid themselves again I will shew you an example hereof which fell out in Germanie at Magdeburge and within the Territories of Marquesse Albertus The Prince required the Ministers to follow the whole book of Augustan's confession where is a Liturgie that hath all that is in yours which you have condemned but some mâ—e ceremonies and doth retain the name of the Masse-book Refusall thereof was made by the Nobility Gentry Ministers and Citizens even as some of all this ranke among you have done The Court hereon ran upon another deliberation proposing Articles which doe not alter the doctrine and Liturgie but thrust upon them mâ—e Ceremonies which yet howsoever may well enough be borne sayes Melancton whom you call the light of Germanie adding withall a threatning that they who will not follow this prescription should depart the Land Upon this some too forward Ministers affirmed It were good to affright the Court with some terrible writing with the scare of Sedition and with this Scar-crow to represse and hinder further alteration Illâ—ricus Flaccius was chiefe man the Demetrius in this upreare crying out as your Ministers did That rather desolation should be made of the Church and Princes are to be frighted with terror of Insurrection But for my part said Melancton I will be author of no such soure advice Whereupon the â—est of the Ministers did slander Melancton as Anticovenanteâ—s say you doe them as Popishly affecâ—ed Couâ—â—h Melan. part 2 pag. 90.91.100 and was upon the plot to reduce Poperie and wrote to Calvin to this effect But truly I am of Beza's opinion that they accused him without cause as afterward Calvin knew more truely For sayes Beza at the beginning it was not knowne with what intention that evill spirit â—â—â—a 〈…〉 1â—â—0 and whole Troup of the Flaccinians raised so many tumults and now at this time doth hinder the work of God against Papists Thus Beza And it is true indeed that the Flaccinians who thus did combine against their Prince did more advance our cause then Melancâ—on and the remanent of your Doctors whose judgement was that the Church should not be troubled by refusing the Service book and as Melanctons words are to wrangle about a Surplesse or the like matter where wise-men will exclaime against us that we withstand and disobey Authority and nourish contention with a foolish forwardnesse Now seeing it hath pleased your King to deale thus with you to lay no heavier burdens upon you who have complained of a light one but to grant you all that hitherto you have pâ—titioned see if you can obtaine of him a change of the government But I pray you doe it with great prudence and circumspection laying such grounds as you may firmely build upon them For if at the first you declare your selfe and say plainely Sir wee desire your government changed he will resile and not grant it and to proceed suddenly from one extremitie to another is difficult Therefore first of all by such faire wayes as you can bee instant to take from him his negative voyce in Synods and Parliaments which is a thing so essentiall to Soveraigntie that it standâ—th anâ—â—alleth with it For he being destitute of this Pâ—llar if in Parliaments by pluralitiâ— of voyces it be carried that you will not have this man to raign over you of necessitie he muâ—â— be gone Secondly see if you can take from him the power of making Laws and let the Parliament and Synods bee the Law makers You have taken this de facto already in your large proâ—eâ—ation in Septemb. 1638. where you say in expresse terms that the Parliament and Syned are the Law-makers and the Law-interpreters As you have it de facto see if you can get it de jure established by Law which if you obtaine you may thinke you have attained your end for if not the King but Parliament and Synods be the Legislators hee must he subject to such Laws as it shall please them to make who are the two Supreme judicatories to which in your protestation you appeale from the King and his Councell thus subjecting your King to Parliament and Synod which is a thing that â—ee can hardly suffer But to please him withall appoint him to be the Executioner of the Laws and so let him have the name of a King But it may be â—hat if he have no more but the execution of your Lawes that he shall rid himselfe of that too if you grant him no more power because men will say He is not your King but your Officer or H c. Thirdly if so bee that he shall be content with what portion of authoritie you judge sufficient take heed that hee fall not upon you who have thus curbed him and execute the laws against you and therefore to make all cocke sure because he cannot doe all by himselfe but must have Officers under him let this bee granted to you also to be Chusers of his Officers and let those be such as you know most expedient for you and so they shall be rather your men then His. I heard that all this was motioned by you but you have not showne me what successe it hath taken I have dwelt long upon this necessary point of the change of Government and therefore I proceede to a second head where into wee fully conspire and it is a very fit preparative to this intended change Covenâ—â—teâ— inâ—â—â—m fâ—r dâ—seâ—siâ—e aâ—g 3. And I cannot but applaud you for rejecting that former errour to defend that Kings are of Divine Institution and doe now hold with us that they are of humane Institution by positive Lawes Inregnis hominum potestas regis est à popule Bell de Concilâ—lâ—â— 2. cap. 19. quia populus facit regem In the Kingdome of men the power of the King is from the people sayes Bellarmine and commends Navarre Qui non dubitat affirmare nunquam populum ita potestatem suam in regem transferre quin illam sibi in habitu retineat ut in certis quibusdam casibus etiam * Alâ—â— astu actu recipere potest Who doth not doubt to say that the people did never so transferre their power to the King but they did retaine it habitually
and promised for their parts to be quiet yet do not you so till your King shall performe all your demands From that which hath been done by you 5.6 and repeated by me I see other two errours banished which I conjoyn for brevities sake lest my Epistle should encrease to a Treatise viz. That the King is no more to be President nor supreme Governour in causes Ecclesiasticall It is the folly of your Divines to make the Moderator of your Assemblies to be unto the King or his Delegate in Assemblies as the Chancelor in the Parliament is to the King or his Deputy in Parliaments But I extoll your courage who now conclude with us Bellarminâ— Ad Regium officium pertinet ut legibus edict is suis â—am fidem teneri quam sacerdotes tenendam docent c. It s the duty of Kings by their Lawes Edicts to cause that faith to be kept which the Priests teach should bee kept For the spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets But is Saul also among the Prophets Is it true that the Anticovenanter sayes that in your Ecclesiasticall judicatories called 1 Sessions 2 Presbyterles and 3 Synods there wil be in the first sometimes twelve sometimes sixteene in some places 24. Lay-Elders for one Priest Secondly in your Presbyteries Lay-elders of equal power and number Thirdly in your Synods as many Lay-elders with their Assessors as there is Priests all which Lay-elders have as great power in matters of Doctrine and Discipline as the Priests themselves to judge and passe Definitive sentence c. But I trust it is not so for I heare that they are offended to be called Lay-elders and will be called Ruling-elders and Ecclesiasticall persons and so I doubt not but they have received orders from you And therefore seeing Ecclesiasticall persons among you have the managing of Church-affaires the civil Magistrate must be content to execute what you decree neither ought he to judge otherwise then you judge neither can he hinder you to make Lawes in the Church For as Stapleton sayes very learnedly with you Oves non possunt judicare pastores Let the sheep-heards judge of the sheep who must follow them as Christs sheep heard his voyce and followed him Therefore you have most valiantly shaken off that yoke of the Kings supremacie in causes Ecclesiasticall Novembâ— 29. 1638. Proâ—â—t in Juhi 1638 5 5. and at the Crosse of Glasgow proclaimed to the world against the Kings Proclamation for raising the Assembly that your Assemblies are the supreme judicaterie in all causes ecclesiasticall and since supreme its independent from the King 〈◊〉 appeale from 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 Câ—â—â—â—â—ll â—oâ—â—e generall Assembly and Parliament 〈…〉 3. and your reason is good for that which is superiour cannot be subject to that which is inferiour Now as Bellarmine also sayes Regimen Ecclesiasticum sublimius est Politico The Ecclesiasticke government is higher then the Politicke for Principatus politieus institutus est ab hominibus de jure gentium at principatus ecclesiasticus est à solo Deo de jure divino The Politicke Government is institute by men and of the Law of Nations but the Church Government is from God alone and of Divine institution Therefore you conclude right that the king hath no more power to appoint officers in the Church then you have power to appoint officers of state for his Court. In Zions Plea pag. 289. You answer well to the Protestants objection thus If any object the Magistrates interposed anthority it 's quickly answered That his power is not to weaken any ordinance of God but for guarding and making good all Gods ordinances with the Sword And in your protestation at Edenburgh 18. December 1638. you bring from your Booke of Discipline a full and perfect description of the Kings authority in Church matters which is this To assist and maintaine the discipline of the Kirk and punish them civilly who will not obey the censures thereof And in your answer to the Marquesse of Hamilton his Declaration you say That the Supreme Magistrate as a Son of the Kirke ought to receive the true meaning of the Kirke and cause it to be received by those whom God hath subjected unto him Yea it is so fâ—rre from being a prerogative due to the Supreme Magistrate to bee Supreme governour in causes Ecclesiasticall that it is a favour granted unto him to have any precedencie in Synods without voycing except hee would become a ruling Elder and have accommission to come Therefore it is most remarkable which you say in your Protestation 29. Novem 1638. at Glasgow After 39 Nationall Assemblies of this Nationall Church where neither the Kings Majesty nor any in his name was present At the humble and earnest desire of the Assembly His Majesty graciously vouchsafed His presence either in His owne Royall person or by a Commissioner not for voiting or mukiplying of voyces but as Princes and Emperours of old in a Princely manner to countenance that meeting and to preside into it for externall order c. And this is all that wee grant to Emperors and Princes in our Disputes against Protestants And I pray you what Royalist can answer the Arguments which you have borrowed from us all their answer is that they exclaime that you do borrow your Arguments from your enemies yet not so great enemies as they suppose for the Jesuite is called the Popish Puritan and the Puritan is called the Protestant Jesuite and I trust that the like may be said of us which is said of Christ and Franciscus Turs lâ—â— Exue Franciscum tunica laceroque cucullo Qui Franciscus â—rat jam tibi Christus erit Francisci exuviis si qua licet indue Christum Jam Franciscus â—rit qui tibi Christus â—rat And wee are both by Papists and Protestants though unjustly branded with these vile Epithers Ludavâ—de Câ—â—zam to bee called Holy Divels the Standard-bearers of persidionsnesse the Architypes of Rebellion the Bellows of Sedition the Emissaries of the Divel the Kings evill and the Incendiaries of the whole world c. and our Thuan is so farre out of Love with us that hee sayes our Societie is Nata Magistratum convellere nata ministris Subtrahere obsequium Praesulibusque suum But albeit there were some odâ— between us what is that to them since they bee good for you who found fault with him who said Mutemus clypeos Danaumque insignia nobis Aptimus Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat Who can blame you while you say Protestat 18 Novemâ—â— 1638. that if Princes shall have such power in Assemblies and in matters of Religion then all Religion and Church-government should depend absolutely upon the pleasure of the Prince and hee may change it as he will So sayes learned Stapleton in his dispute against the Protestant Doctrine Posita hac potestate nec in una provincia velregno din erit fidei unitas
gods and men But I like not to trouble my selfe with such men but proceed to another head Which is concerning the power of your Discipline in temporall things wherein is a question whether our or your discipline the chiefe Commander in the Camp royall have the greatest power You do learnedly hold Answer to the Marquess Hamillons Declaration that the Kings high Court of Parliament cannot hinder you to make Lawes Ecclesiasticall seeing your Ecclesiasticall government is independent Yea you doe hold that your Assemblies may repealâ— and adnull even the Ecclesiasticall lawes that are confirmed in Parliament so that upon your re-calling them the sanction of the Parliament is nullitated and of no effect Your own words are Emphaticall Ibidem Albeit acts of generall Assemblies bâ—â— ratified in Parliament yet a generall Assembly may re-call those confirmed acts which being adnulled the civil ratification and sanction falls ex consequenti Certainely I dare promise you the Popes blessing for this most learned Thesis for now a door is opened to let in all Popery whether the King will or no so that I trust as I said at the beginning our Union shal be full For since your Assemblies have such power over Parliaments as to adnull all ecclesiasticall lawes confirmed therein as you have done already with Episcopacy and the articles of Perth which stand ratified and confirmed by divers acts of Parliament then it shal be easie for you at any Assembly when or where you wil to repeal and adnull all the ecclesiasticall lawes ratified and confirmed by Act of Parliament in favour of the Protestant Religion and to establish new lawes for our Roman Religion in stead of it though the King Parliament and Councell should resist you You haue good reason for it for as Bellarmine sayes Bâ—ll de â—lericis lib. 1. cap. 29. Habet se potestas ecclesiastica ad secularem quomodo Spiritus se habet ad carnem quam regit moderatur aliquando cohibet Caro autem nullum habet imperium inspiritum neque illum ulla in re dirigere vel judicare vel coercere potest Sic igitur potestas ecclesiastica quae spiritualis est as per hoc naturaliter seculari superior secularem potestatem cum opuâ— est dirigere judicare coercere potest ipsam verò à seculari dirigi vel coorceri nullâratione permittitur The ecclesiasticall power is to the secular power as the spirit is to the flesh which rules moderates and sometimes restrains But the flesh hath no command over the spirit neither can it direct or judge or restrain it in any thing So then the ecclesiasticall power which is spirituall and therefore naturally superiour to the secular may direct judge and restrain the secular power when it is needfull But by no reason is it permitted to bee directed or restrained by the secular power and therefore when your King did by his Proclamation discharge your Assembly at Glasgow which ought to direct him and not bee cohibited or restrained by him you did well to sit still and adnull divers acts of Parliament And in your Protestation against the Kings Proclamation for raising your Assembly Protestat Novemb. 29. 1638. as it was your wisdome not to enter into direct action with his Majesty so it was your courage to summon all the Lords of his Majesties Councel who consented to the Proclamation to appear before the Parliament the 25 of May 1639. There to be punished for giving the King evill councell viz to raise the Assemblies When the K. commands one thing by acts of Parliament or by his Proclamations you may protest against the same and command the contrary in your protestations and acts of Assemblie for as we say well Autor lib. ad persâ—cuâ— Angl. fol. 336. pâ—â—et ecclesia praposites facultas est amplissiâ—a interdicendi nobis ne reges obedientâ—â absequio nestre honoremus These that are set over us in the Church have a very large power given them even to interdict us that we honour not our Ks. with our obedience So the Councell of Trent coÌ„mands all to receive the decrâ—â—â— without regard to their Princes consent and denounceth ex communication in case of refusall requires an oath of obedience approveth violence in rooting out of heresie ordains the Inquisition for them Therfore when the King by his Proclamation did command that the Covenant of K. James as it was in 1581. yeer of God should be subscribed you by your authority did prohibite any to subscribe it but will have your own subscribed For this cause in your general Assembly you have set down An act discharging subscription to the Covenant which was subscribed by the Kings Commissioner and Lords of the Councell which his Majesty in his marginall note calls a traitorous act You have another excellent Act discharging all Printers in Scotland to print any thing in Ecclesiasticall affaires without the warrant of Jhonsâ—on your Clerk You have Acts also concerning mills salt pans and market dayes on Munday and Saturday And especially your Assembly hath adnulled his Majesties Court of high Commission all this we see in the Index of your Acts all is well done though it encroach upon the civill power for in temperalibus Ecclesia non solù◠praecipit dirigit Odoard VVest in Sanctuâ—r juris Pontis â— 6 sed coercet disponit virtute potestatit gubernativa In temporall things the Church not only commands directs but restrains dispones by vertue of her gubernative power And you know we do not maintain a direct power in temporall things but an indirect power in ordius ad spiritualia for we stand not upon words when we are sure of the matter it self and may bring all temporality within the compasse of our power But I pray you why did you forget to adnull the Acts of Parliament that doe ratifie the Kings Supremacy especially in spirituall things since you have adnulled other Acts of Parliament why have you prejudged your selves so much as to leave those acts for Supremacie uncancelled If you had remembred the complaint of your holy brethren in former times you would not have forgotten this but as you have de facto taken it away so de jure you would have declared the same an unlawfull act for as your predecessors said If the King have supreme power in causes Ecclesiasticall Thinus addition to Holinshed pag 446. then there is nothing left of the whole antient forme of Justices and policies in the spirituall estate but a naked shadow I goe on to a tenth Parallel which is your dispensation with oaths even with the oath of Allegeance and Supremacy with the oath of Canonicall obedience You will not upbraid us again with this as if we were only enemies and traiters to Kings For we dispence with no Subjects oath of Allegeance so long as they defend the religion but if they either fall from the religion themselves or will not defend
THE EPISTLE CONGRATULATORIE OF Lysimachus Nicanor Of the Societie of JESU TO THE COVENANTERS IN SCOTLAND VVherin is paralleled our sweet Harmony and correspondency in divers materiall points of Doctrine and Practice JUDG V. XXIII Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord curse ye bitterly the Inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the Mightie JER I. X. See I have this day set thee over the Nations and over the Kingdomes to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw downe to build and to plant Anno Domini M.DC.XL LYSIMACHUS NICANOR of the Societie of JESU TO THE COVENANTERS IN SCOTLAND Wisheth full Union and Peace with us I Doe heartily congratulare with you most worthy Brethren of the holy League and also rejoyce in behalfe of our Mother-Church of Rome at your begun returne from your former errors and heresies This puts us in expectation that shortly your return shall be full for seeing in so short time and with so good successe you have forsaken the former erroneous Doctrine of the Protestants concerning the Civill Magistrate and have happily joyned with us you wil also betimes abjure all that yet remaineth You have so well begun at the Head the Civill Magistrate that wee trust you shall embrace the remanent members of our doctrine with a continued successe whereof you may justly glory Quod fortuna ratum faciat quis dicere falsum Audeat tantae suffragia vincere sortis I remember the saluation that was given to the Scots Protector who is now our holy Father Pope Urbanus about the time of his inauguration and consecration to be Pope Salve Protector Scotorum and of his answer Agnosco nomen omen And now hee is more ready to protect you then ever hee was since you draw so neere unto him And yet at your last defection to your King againe at the Camp wee feared your revolt to your rejected Protestant doctrine but this your last Protestation wherein you recollect your strength 1 Julii 1639. puts us in hope that you will not returne to your vomit And albeit the Anticovenanters thinke you so neere the height of impiety that they say Nil erit ulterius quod vestris moribus addat Posteritas Yet we thinke it is praise worthy that you are come to such degrees of perfection that your posterity shall be so farre from out-stripping you that they imitating you shall take you for their pattern To them it shall be sufficient glory seeing they cannot go beyond you to doe the same things which you have done eadem capient facientque minores And therefore you do most prudently in your Protestations defend your Covenanting without and against Authority lest acknowledging a fault herein you should defraud your posterity of the like remedy or to use your owne words Protestat in Sept. 1638. Reas 5. You should precondemne also the like laudable course in the like necessity to be taken by the Posterity And therefore it is your wisdome to stand to the justification of all your proceedings and to refuse an Act of Oblivion and accept of no lesse then an Act of Justification It is so farre from being a fault which you have done in taking the Kings Castles and thrusting out his other subjects out of their houses with your other actions that it is rather a meritorious work Protest 18. Decemb. 1638 and therefore you say well We deserve and expect approbation and thanks from his Majesty in his own due time for keeping his evill Counsellers and bad Patriots from putting hand in his best subjects And in your last Petition to his Majesty after your Assembly to desire your King to approve of your proceedings you say that you are assured of his justification of your actions and that you are afraid you should bee thought to have offended in nothing so much as in Lenity The Anticovenanters are no more offended with your writ printed Books which they call infamous Libells and Jesuiticall Pasquils then they doe please us not that wee delight in your contention as the Vultur in the Apologie beheld the strife of the Lion the Bore to snatch the prey from both parties but with an assured hope that within short time you shall become our fratres fraterrimi for your writings actions promise no less as being most conducible for our ends grounded upon our arguments You shall do us no small pleasure if you will cause to be drawn up such heads of Doctrine wherin we do now of late agree that setting those apart as not controverted wee may conferre with you in that wherein as yet wee differ and in the mean time as by your diligent perusall of our books our strong reasons have prevailed with you so I pray you be instant in reading of them which I hope shall produce the like effect in that which remaineth For a preparative to this work I will thankfully remember so farre as my weak memory will serve some points which by hearing and reading your papers I find first to be ours and from us wisely received by you First your dislike of Monarchical government doth please us very well for wee dislike it so much that to speak this under the Rose we cannot simply grant it to the Pope himselfe but with such restrictions and limitations that what we grant him now we may take it from him the next day to our selves as I might instance in many particulars but especially in his infallibility and temporall power which we give him with such distinctions limitations if you will consider our books that we intend for our selves that which we give him But more especially we agree with you in contemning the Monarchicall government of the civill Magistrate for as wee say by that great pillar of our Church Cardinal Bellarmine Billaâ— de Rom. Pont. li. 1. ca. 3. Haec gubernatio id requirit ut sit quidam in republica summus aliquis Princeps qui omnibus imperet nulli subjiciatur that is This government requireth this that there should be indeed in the republick some Prince that is Supreme both to command all be subject to none For this government hath this great inconvenience that when the Prince doth wrong his subjects as you protest your King doth you there is no remedy but patience for why all the Judges under him are but his Deputies and all the power authority they have of the Sword is the Kings it can never stand with sense or reason that his Majesties owne Power Authority can be used against Himselfe And hence it is that Princes being Legislators are above their Lawes may dispence with them as they think expedient To this purpose sayes the Prince of the Schoolmen Princeps non obligatur â—nis legibus quia nemo sibi imperat sibi ipsi legeÌ„ imponit Thoâ— quaest 93. a. 5. A
Monarchie in the Primitive Church their plea was Rogamus Caesar non pugnamus and aliter nec debeo nec possum resistere Ambrosâ—â—â—l contra Auxenâ— Yet let not this trouble Us for herein is fulfil'd the prophecy of Christ while he said He came not to send peace but the sword And againe this change is necessary for else his Holiness the Pope should be subject to the Emperor according to that of Paul Let every soul be subject to superior powers which he neither is nor ought to be Rom. 13.1 And therefore Bernard is herein deceived himselfe while he makes this a generall rule without exception Bernard Epist 42. saying Qui conatur ab haâ— regula excipere conatur decipere for both Pope with us and people with you must be a excepted The Church of God hath â—â—ter'd too much already in the Primitive times she hath been too long in the Category of Passion crying with teares Oramus non pugnamus she ought now to be in the predicament of action with Pugnamus oramus holding that I may use your own words a supplication in the one hand and a sword in the other To this purpose Master Andrew Ramsey Minister of Edenburgh said pretty well that it was Gods will that the Primitive Church should confirme the truth by suffering and that now the truth being confirmed it s his will that we defend the truth by action in resisting Tyrants and what war is better then that which is for Religion But here an Auticoveuanter wil reply perchance say Where did ever any suffer under Tyrants for defending of your Presbyteriall government of active or ruling-elders and of passive or ruled-elders which had its first beginning from Calvin in some sort but as you have it it was never in the world till the yeer 1638. For in Geneva it is only proper to the supreme Magistrate to chuse the Lay-â—lders for they are only Commissioners for the Seignioriâ— neither hath the Minister any voyce in their Election much lesse the Multitude and all that Calvin gave them is praesse moribus and in Church matters they are called ad consiliuÌ„ but not ad consensum But now in Scotland not only the whole Church takes the supreme power to it selfe but also every parish takes upon it to be an absolute independent society quire contrary to the practice of Geneva chusing their Ministers and Elders also without number and to those Elders equal power is given with the Minister in Presbyteries and Assemblies in giving decisive sentence in matters of faith and deciding of controversies whereof God knowes they are most ignorant and in a word they want nothing of the power of the Minister but that they preach not nor baptise in publike congregations yet its common to see Lay-men among them in private Conventicles to take upon them the calling of a Minister in preaching and praying Or where did any at any time suffer for abjuring Episcopacie as an antichristian government so this being a truth never yet confirmed by suffering must not now be defended by resisting according to Ramseyes own rule but being an Article of his negative faith it must first be confirmed by suffering I would enquire then sayes the Anticovenanter of Ramsey if he dare suffer for it and be the Protomartyr in this cause but he would be like the man that came to the marriage without the wedding garment dumb and speechlesse Or if he speak it would bee negative like his faith saying with Athanasius Quod non à patribus profectum est-sed nuper inventum quid de co aliud exist imari debeat quam illud ipsum cujus Paulus mentionem facit 1. Timoth. 4.1 But finding my self digâ—â—ssing I will return to the point which I was about concerning government Seeing this mixt government is most conducible for your ends it were requisite that your Nobles would assume to themselves Princely Authoritiâ— as is thought some of you have done make progresse in this good work For let me speake it between me and you till you Kings government be changed you shall never lawfully resist him For I have perused all your Divines and find them all condemning the lawfulnesse of resisting such a King as yours is but at the most they hold it lawfull in some cases only to resist conventionall or conditionall Princes Hence it was that the Ministers of Wittenberge were most opposite to our doctrine of resisting Princes â—pâ—â— Mâ—â—â—â— Wâ—â—â—â—h in their publike sermons but when they beheld upon what expresse conditions the Emperour was elected to the Empire to the which he was not borne then they said Docuimus quidem hactenus nullo modo resistendum esse Magistratui ignoravimus vero ex legum civilium praescripto id in certis quibusdam casibus etiam legitimè fieriposse We have hitherto taught that the Magistrate by no manner of way ought to be resisted for we did not know that by the prescript of the civill law it might in some certain cases be lawfully done So Pareus as you know was the last that wrote upon that subject whose opinion when it was condemned by your learned Divines his son Philippuâ— Pareus purposing to defend his fathers opinion yeelds his sword and giveth over the combate even at the entrie Append. aâ— 13. ad Rom. in those words Loquitur enim D. parens meus ut Theologicaeteri juxta cum politicis jurisconsultis iis quorum sententiam ac judicium in hoc argumento sequutus est parens noster non derege absoluta potestate indutâ— sed de principibus sub conditione admissis That is my father and the rest of the Theolognes Polititians and Jurisconsalts whose sentence judgement in this argument my father hath followed do not speake of a King endued with absolute power but of Princes who are conditionally admitted And therefore if you would make any lawfull resistance for time to come it s most necessarie that you labour for a change of government now and make your selves free We have Scripture for us But if thou mayest be made free use it rather 1. Cor. 7.26 Claudian did but deceive himself neither can I endure him while he saies Fallitur ogregio quisquis sub principe credit Servitium nunquam Libertus gratior extat Quam sub rege pio Nay I say Quam sub rege meo such a King as is mine so mine that I may un-make him againe whom I have made mine Try this at your Parliament see if your King will yeeld to this order which I have told you of the Roman Emperour to subject himself to you his Subjects that the Majesty may reside in you Audentes fortuna juvat Your successe may be gloryed of Your King hath yeelded so much unto you that you may bee confident to have this yeelded also If he had been a mercilesse Tyrant he had been so farre from granting you all your Petitions that he might have imposed moe burthens upon
themselves so that in certaine cases they may actually take it from him againe Let all Protestant Doctors condemne this yet let it never repent you to have received light from us The best works that ever Augustixe wrote were the books of retrectations and the best workes that you can doe is to forsake your errors You say the people makes the Magistrate and may be without him and have been many a yeare without him The Majesty doth remaine in the people and therefore as it is said in the Gospel May I not doe with my owne what I please Bell de cleâ—ie lib. 3. 〈◊〉 6. So say wee Potestas immediate est tanquam in subjectâ— in tota multitudine si causa legitimè adsit potest multitudo mutare regnum in Aristocratiam Democratiam The power is immediately as in the subject in the multitude and if there be a lawfull cause the multitude may change the Kingdome into an Aristocracie or Democracie When the King becommeth an enemy to the Common wealth hee ought to be removed Melius est ut pereat unus quam unitas And therefore you may not without reason say as in your Sions Plea to his Majesty Wee must not lose you and the Kingdome by proferring your fancies and groundlesse affections before sound reason You should complain to the heart that the head is much distempered The Lyon must be cured of the Kings evill The Potter may destroy the vessell which hee hath made himselfe But I pray you let this be spoken under the Rose for if we too much divulge it it will make both you and us most odious to all princes who will keepe us at such a low ebbe that we shall never be able to rise against them when wee thinke it necessary When the shepheard becommeth a Wolâ—e let the dogs chaâ—e him away he is for the people and the people is not for him when he turnes to their hurt let one who is for thâ—â—r good be put in his place for you know who said Virtuti non generâ— debetur regnum And it is better to have Kings by election then succession And therefore you doe mosâ— learnedly reason from the unreasonableness and absurdities of those Court Parasites in your learned informations for Defensive armes against the King who attribute such illimited power to their Kings Covenanters inâ—â—â— at for Dâ—â—â—nsive â—â—g 1. that they loose all the bonds of civill society against all the bonds of oathes and lawes suffering the Prince to doe what he pleaseth to the ruine of Religion the Church and Kingdome and the people shall do nothing but suffer themselves to be massacred or else stie which is impossible In parallel to this we say thus The danger is so evident Desâ—â—â—â— of 〈◊〉 Cathâ—â—â—â— 5. â—evitable that God hath not sufficiently provided for our salvation and the preservation of the Church and holy Lawes if there were no way to restraine such wicked Princes c. 〈…〉 this were as you say to expone all to the fury of the Prince Ibid. And therfore we conclude in the same place with those words The bond and obligation wee haue entered into for the service of Christ and his Church far exceeds all other duties which wee owe to any humane creature therefore where the obedience to the inferiour hindereth the service of the other which is superiour we must by law and order discharge our selves of the inferiour Covenanters inform for Defensive This our conclusion is most consonant to the words and sense of your second and fourth argument for war And since you were put to this necessity to take up armes for your defence notwithstanding of your Kings specious pretences who could condemne you to presse and urge the people by your reasons to take up armes to resist the violence of your King Covenanters inform for Defensive 57. Sigebert in anno 1088. who was furiously inveding you as you say and to thrust all away from their places that did withstand you as traitors to you the Church and Countrey and unworthy of your society I do not regard neither need you to be offended at that idle speech of Sigebert neither would I heare him if he did not aske leave of all good men from which number I will not be excluded to speake while he sayes thus â—o speak with the leave of all good men this onely novelty I will not say heresie was not crept into the world before the dayes of â—elldebrand that Priests should teach the people that they owe no subjection to evill Kings and that although they have sworne fidelitie to him yet they must yeeld him none neither may they be counted perjured for holding against their King but rather he that obeyeth the King is excommunicate and he that rebelleth against the King is absolved from the blemish of disloyaltie and perjurie c. Thus he And is this a matter to be condemned I pray you Doe we not cleerely see this performed among your selves the King himselfe will approve of it for you are confident of it while you say Wee are very confident of his Majesties approbation to the integritie of our hearts prâ—â—eâ—â—â—â—se Sâ—pâ—â— 1633. and peaceablenesse of our wayes and actions all this time past and doe protest that we will still adhere to our former proceedings mutuall defence c. And good reason for rebellion for such an important businesse against a King cannot bee disloyaltie and they that have not followed your course justly deserve Excommunication and Banishment Athanasius was but too silly a man being under the tyrannie of Constantius the Arrian Hereticke that did not incite the people to rebellion or to promove the designes of the Emperours brother who was Orthodoxe and worthier of the Crown Which if he had done he might have made a better Apologie to the Emperour Constantius who charged him with the same as if he had stirred up his brother and the people against him If he had done so he might have made Peters Apologie It s better to obey God then man But because he did it not hee makes an Apologie most beseeming a coward who did not as you did with counsell and courage lead the people to war against their Prince but sayes thus Vincat quaso apud te Ad anâ—siâ— Apoâ—â—â— aâ— Constant veritas ne relinquas suspicionem contra universam ecclesiaÌ„ quasitalia ant cogitentur aut scribantur à Christianis 〈◊〉 potissimum Episcopis Let truth I pray thee prevaile with thee and leave not a susâ—â—cion against the Catholick Church as if such things were either thought or written by Christians and especially by Bishops I am not so mad I am not beside my selfe O Emperour that thou shouldst suspect I had any such thought I am not so mad neither have I forgotten the voyce of God which saith Curse not the King in thy heart nor backbite the mightie in the secrets of thy chamber for the birds
of the ayre shall tell it and the fowles that she shall betray it Covenanterâ— inform for Dâ—fensive § 4. This man was too fearefull but you were of another spirit encouraging the people and dehorting them from being afraid of shadowes yea your Priests were good patterns to the rest to follow There was one of them who is worthy if you could permit Images to have his Statue ingraven in Marble Daâ—id 〈◊〉 to eternize him to the worlds end who went so stoutly to the Camp upon his horse with two Carabins at his Sadle two Pistols at his side with a broad Scottish sword those five weapons were like unto Davids sive smooth stones which he tooke out of the brooke to kill Goliah with This David no doubt would have killed sive English at the first encounter with his five deadly weapons and would have returned with triumph saying with Paul I have fought a good fight for 2 Tim. 4.7 Nehem. 6.11 should such a man as he flie But if any shall produce the Canons of divers generall Councels ordaining Clergie men that beare arms to be degraded and put from their place And that of Davenant Christâ—â— gladium verbi promittit non ferri Davenant deter quaest 4. fugam suadet non pugnam Christ promiseth to his Pastors the sword of the word and not the sword of Iron he perswades to â—lie but not to sight the answer is easie Those generall Councels though not intoto yet pro tanto are like your 6. generall or nâ—tionall Councels which you have condemned because they were against you and Davonant is a Bishop and so your adversary A third errour wherewith wee were formerly tossed by you is now removed it concerneth the Church-government which you at last being put to it doe acknowledge to belong to the Church not to the King What hath hee to doe there Let Kings take care of civill state Let Church of Church-matters debate This was the presumption and errour of Henry the 8. King of England Bell. de Rom. Pontis l. 1. ca. 7. as Bellarmine observeth Is enim se caput ecclesiae Anglicanae constituit eodem modo censuit alios principes capita suprema in suis ditionibus esse For he made himselfe Head of the Church and after the same manner judged other Princes to bee supreme heads within their owne Dominions And thus King Charles would also be therefore in your Pretestations you declare that it is your ancient grievance Protestat 18. Decemb. 1638. That his Majestie takes upon him that spirituall power and authoritie which properly belongeth to Christ as onely King and Head of his Kirk The ministery and execution whereof is onely given to such as beare Ecclesiasticall government of the same So that in his Majesties person some men presse to erect a Popedome And all your Protestant Divines do hold the same doctrine as so many Court Parasites The Fathers went too far on this way August contra lâ—â—â—â—â—â— Pâ—tiâ—â—ae lib. 2. c. p. 92. I will but name Augustine All men saies he ought to serve God by coÌ„mon coÌ„dition as men in another sort by several gifts offices by the which some do this some do that No private person could command idols to be banished cleane from amongst men which was so long before prophesied Idem contra Crâ—sâ— lib. 8. cap. 51. Therfore Kings beside their duty to serve God common with all men have in that they be Kings how to serve the Lord in such sort as none can do which are not Kings for in this Kings as they are Kings serve the Lord as God by David enjoyned them Psal 1. if in their Kingdomes they command that which is good and prohibite that which is evill not in civill affaires only but also in matters concerning Divine Religion c. This man is so confident that in his 50. Epistle he cryeth out Who being in their right wits dare alledge the contrary But truly the Donatists held the better part they durst alledge the contrary so dare We so dare you doe macti viri virtute novâ The fathers judgement in such state matters is not approved by his Holinesse the Pope Bellarmine our trustie Champion speaketh better for you That the civill Magistrate regit homines ut homines sunt magis ratione corporum quam animarum but on the contrary the Church Governour regit homines ut Christiani sunt magis ratione animarum quam corporum ille habet pro fine temporalem quietem salutem populi iste vitam sempiternam foelicitatem ille utitur naturalibus legibus institutis humanis iste legibus divinis The King governeth men as they are men and rather in regard of their bodies then their soules but the Church Governour governeth men as they are Christians and rather in regard of their soules then their bodies The end of the one is to procure the temporall quiet and safetie of the people the other hath for his end everlasting life and happinesse the one useth naturall Lawes and humane institutions but the other useth Divine Lawes And whereas your Doctors say that the King is the Keeper of the Tables and the Minister of God for our good and if for our good then chiefly for our principall good the good of our soules to have a care of Religion according to the examples of the religious Kings under the Law and Christian Princes under the Gospel c. Those and many such like idle arguments are not worthy that I should stand to answer them especially in an Epistle for there is no such need of Kings the people may well enough bee without them Covenanters informat for Defensive arg 3. for there was none till Cains dayes as you say The Church was well governed in the Primitive time while there was no Christian King Ad annos fermeè 30â— nullus fuit in Ecclesia Christianus Princeps secularis For the space of 300 yeers there was no secular Christian Prâ—nce in the Church sayes Bellarmine And therefore sayes he Bell. de laicis cap. 17. Christus Ecclesiam regendam Petro Episcopis commisit non Tyberio ejus Praefectis Hee committed the government of his Church to Peter and the Bishops not to Tyberius the Emperor and his Officers He said to Peter Feed my sheep not so to Kings but Doe my Prophets no wrong The Church-men must give an account to God of mens souls Kings have no such account to make as our Stapleton sayes well with you therfore concludes that not Kings but the Church is to be obeyed in Ecclesiasticall businesses according to that of the Apostle Obedite praepositit vestris Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves unto them for they watch for your soule Heb. 13 17. You doe then as it becommeth you not to regard the Kings words nor ohey his Proclamations but to perswade the people that I may use your own words
to submit themselves obediently to follow their Leaders Covenanters inform for Pesâ—nâ—ive whom God at this time hath largely furnished with counsell and courage for the good of his Church and Kingdome The reason why they should follow them and not be carried away with the Kings Proclamations quia potestas civilis subjecta est potestati spirituals quando utraque pars est ejusdem reipub Bâ—â—â— de 〈…〉 lâ—b 〈…〉 Christianae A fourth error which you with good successe have abolished that you deny the power of convocating and distrâ—ssâ—ng of Assemblies to belong to the Supreme Magistrate In the Protesâ—ation in July 1638. you maintaine your power of convocating Assemblies therefore in the 27. August 1638. it was well put in among your Instructions before the Assemblies VIII Instruâ—â— that the ablest man in each Parish should be provided to dispute Depotestate supremt Magistratús in Eccclesiasticis praesertim in convocandis Conciliis It s your wisdome to assemble when hee commands you so long as it is conducible for your ends but yet you have power to assemble in a Nationall Assemblie in what place of the Kingdome you please Sâ—â—ratâ—â—◠〈…〉 Socrates did smell too much of a Court Parasite while he said we make mention of Emperors throughout this History for that since they became Christians â—cclesiastical matters depend on them the greatest Synods have been and yet are called by their appointment He offended you who said that as Moses is custos utriusque Tabulae so is he custos utriusque tubae as the civill Magistrate is keeper of both the Tables so hee is keeper of both the silver Trumpets for war for calling of Assemblies and dismissing of them and that you would but blow the Trumpet of Sedition it without the Kings authority you should convocate Assembles either for peace or for warre The Marquesse of Hamilton was too presumptuous being called with the Kings Authoritie to discharge your last Assembly which as you said well was to raise Christ's Court and therefore it was not ill advised by one of you that seeing the Marquesse was faithfull to his Master the King so you ought to be faithfull to your Master the King of kings Jesus Christ and to defend his Royall prerogative above all the Kings of the earth In your answer to the Marquesse of Hamilious Declaration you affirme that your Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is independent and in your Zions Plea you say that your Presbyterian discipline is the Scepter of Christ swaying his own house according to his hearts desire the soul the chief Commander in the câ—mp Royall and your â—ravers sayes De disâ—â—p E â—cl sâ—â—â—g 142. Huic disciplinae omnes orbis Principes Monarchas fasces suos submittere parere necesse est There is a necessity that all the Princes and Monarchs should submit their Scepters and obey this discipline And your Mae Lellan whom some call a foole spake not foolishly while he preached that the King had no more to do to meddle with your Assemblies then you have to meddle with his Parliaments It was wisely then dont by you in rejecting any protestation or appellation from your Assemblie by the Bishops and their adherents to the Kings Majestie for such appellations ought not to be seeing there is none Supreme above your Nationall Assemblies And therefore as you have not hitherto regarded their protestation and appellation but have proceeded against them to deposition and excommunication so continue and be not dismaid though they should renue their protestations and appellations even in the words of Athanasius in protesting against and appealing from the partiall coun ell of Tyrus Athanasâ— poloâ— cap. 2. which appellation and protestation of Athanasius and the rest of the orthodox Bishops was in these words Because we see many things spitefully contrived against us and much wrong offered the Catholik Church under our rames we be forced to request that the debating of our matters may bee kept for the Princes most excellent person We cannot beare the drifts and injuries of our enemies and therefore require the cause to be referred to the most religious and devout Emperour before whom we shall be suffered to stand in our own defence and plead the right of the Church c. If those your Bishops flying to the King as Athanasius and the rest of the orthodox Bishops did to the Emperour shall procure an edict or command from the King as those did from the Emperor to charge you all to appeare before him to plead your cause you ought not to appeare as that miserable Synod of Tyrus did The Edict was so peremptory that they durst not resist The Edict was in these words Your Synod hath decreed I know not what in a tumult and uproare while you seeke to pervert truth by your pestilent disorder for hatred against your fellow Bishops But the divine providence will I doubt not scatter the mischiefe of your contention and make it plaine in our sight whether your Assembly had any regard of truth or not You must therefore all of you resort hither to shew the reason of your doings for so doth it seeme good and expedient to me to which end I willed this rescript to be sent you that as many of you as were present at the Councell of Tyrus without delay repaire to the place of our abode there to give an account how sincerely soundly you have judged that before me whom your selves shal not deny to be the sincere Minister of God in such cases c. I say then if you shall receive such a charge from your King you should not obey for in your sense that is To betray the Royall prerogative of your King Jesus Christ but returne the answer of Core Dathan and Abiram with ingemination We will not come nâ—m 16.12 14. Jâ—r 2 31. we will not come or your Lords Lay-Elders may return that of Jeremy We are Lords We will no more come unto thee And if your King will not be content with your answer prosecute your begun course with all diligence and earnestnesse having begun in the spirit end not in the flesh but go on with that which they call disorders till you get the King in your power and then he shal know what subjects you will be If the people of one citie falling in sedition for matters of Religion so prevailed passed all power of resisting 〈◊〉 lib. â— câ—p â—4 that Anastasius the Emperour was fain to come to an open place without his Crown by Heraulds to signifie to the people that he was readie with a very good will to resigne the Empire into their hands how much more may you who have many cities by coÌ„tinuing your courses force your King to resigne his Crown of Scotland And howbeit the people of that citie seeing the Emperor in so pitiful a case were moved with the spectacle changed their minds besought the Emperour to keep his Crown
vel cultus religionis conformitas quia finguli principes quod ipsis melius videbitur flatuent quoruÌ„ decretis siro sistatur perpetua erunt besla This power being granted to Kings then Unitie of faith and worship and conformity of religion will not remaine lorg in one province or kingdome because every Prince will ordaine that which see meth best in his eyes To whose decrees if resistance be made there will follow perpetuall warre But this power being granted to the Church which cannot erre in her Synodicall acts there shall ever be Unity of faith depending upon the infallibility of Church Assemblies For I see in the seventh place that you do acknowledge the infallibilitie of generall Councels or Assemblies For that Assembly which you did hold at Glasgow lately Covenanters inâ—â—â—at for Deâ—â—nsive § 7. is to you so infallible that long time before you doe professe that you did swear for judgement and practice to adhere to the determination of it And now of late Julii 1. 1639 do protest before God and the world that you will still adhere to it And you have good reason so to do for if generall Assemblies may erre then say we â—â—lâ— de auâ—â—â— coâ—â—â— or Cap. 4. Possent merito revocari in dubium omnes damnatae hareses concilia nullo honore digna essent All heresies which are condemned may againe be called in question and our Assemblies esteemed worthy of no honour And therefore you may justly feare upon this ground that your Assembly might erre and that you may be branded with errour in your decrees and have all called in question again which you have condemned As for us of Rome condemne your Assemblies who will we shall never doe it but rather desire that you may still appoint the same Commissioners for your future assemblies therein to confirme all which they had decreed in the former for your acts of abjuring Episcopacie the Articles of Perth Service book Book of Canons pleaseth us very well howbeit we doe not throughly approve the reason of your acts You have thrust away and excommunicated your Bishops because you think them Antichristian so doe we excommunicate your Bishops because they are Antichristian But you think them Antichristian because you make it an Article of your Negative faith that they are a part of the Popish Hierarchie And we thinke them Antichristian because they are not so neither doe they acknowledge the Pope for their Head but doe declaime against him and the greatest wound that ever we have received is from such Bishops as they are as Cranmet Latimer Ridley Hooper Jowell Bâ—lson Andrewes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stupor mundi Whitgift Babington Abbots King Downame Ussher Morton Davenant Montague Hall White and that Arch-enemie of yours and ours Canterbury with divers others whom I like not to recite In this particular King James is opposite to us both because as Becanus well observeth he holdeth Recan de prim Reg. Angl. ca. 7. Jacobi Regis praesa monit that Bishops have their jurisdiction immediately from God while he saith Episcopos esse in Ecclesia debere tanquam institutionem Apostolicam ac ordinationem proinde divinam contra Puritanos contraque Bollarminum semper sensi qui negat Episcopos à Deo immediatè suam jurisdictionem accepisse Sed nihil mirum à Puritanis cum stare cum Jesuitae nihil aliud quà m Puritano-papistae sunt I ever thought that Bishops ought to bee in the Church as an Apostolicall institution and therefore a divine ordinance against Puritans and against Bellarmine who deny that Bishops have their jurisdiction immediately from God but no marvell that Bellarmine takes the Puritans part seeing Jesuits are no other thing but Puritan-papists And in that same place the King sheweth that from a generall Councell convocated by Christian Princes for the settling of Religion he would have Jesuits and Puritans excluded whom he calleth by a common title novitios furiosos incendiarios and sayes Ibidem Mihi praecipuus labor fuit dejectos Episcopos restituere Puritanorum anarchiam expugnare My chief labour was to restore the Bishops that were cast downe and to overthrow the anarchie of Puritans Wee thanke you also for removing the Articles of Perth for they were not rightly established for your Church did esteeme those ceremonies to be onely things indifferent commended and commanded by Authoritie for Decency and Order The not observation whereof was held no damnable sinne if it were without contempt of Authority and without the case of scandall and at the most your Church did hold that those ceremonies were onely significant and not operative as we hold But if they had been rightly established you should have observed them as things necessary to salvation and as parts of Gods worship which under paine of damnation ought to be performed and that they are sâ—gns operater working grace in those who observe them And therefore seeing your Church did not hold this opinion of them they aâ—e not Popish Ceremonies and so not ours and whatsoever you have more that is not ours we request you to abjure it The condemning also of the Service-book is most acceptable unto us because it is not our Masse-book and that you may see how much we hate it Be it known to you that by venue of the Popes Bull many yeers agoe we will suffer no Roman Catholike to goe to the Church so long as the Service-booke is reading either in England or Ireland and yet we will permit them to goe to their Sermons and of all Sermons we sympathize best with yours So that it seemeth a most unfortunate booke having both us and you for its enemies And since I am fallen upon this point let me relate an Historie that passed between a Covenanter an Anticovenanter as it was reported to me concerning this booke that you may make yâ—ur use of it The Covenanter demanded the cause why he could refuse to joyne with them in a Supplication to his Majestie against the book of Common Prayer seeing there were so many hands of able Ministers subscribing the same and obliging themselves to make it good that it was 1. Superstitious 2. that it conteineth the maine essentiall parts of the Masse 3. that it openeth a doore to let in all Poperie The Anticovenanter answered thus or to this effect Because such unjust aspersions are cast upon that poore Book which doth not containe so many Lines as it doth suffer Lyes hated be all that love not truth Papists and Puritans striving who shall speake most against it I shall bee so farre from becomming a causlesse enemy to it that I cannot deny it my friendship and helping hand But because you are so furious and I for speaking but one word in its favour have beene hotly persecuted with tongues and hands too it will be better to be possessed with a Lethargie then to appeare in defence of this Lyturgie which the most part even of the Ministrie hath
Catholike Church hath holden which was not institute by Councels but ever kept in the Church that is most rightly beleeved to be an Apostolicall tradition and he brings for instances those holy daies which your Covenant abjures which hath ever been retained in the Church from the Apostles daies And albeit we could not prove Episcopacy from Scripture as wee may very wel prove it and is proved by those who defend the same yet this unquestionable rule of Augustine will bee sufficient to prove it to be of Apostolicall institution for you say it is not of Divine institution and I say it is not instituted by Councels and yet all that are but little exercised in antiquitie shall find that Episcopacie was ever in the Church from the Apostles dayes till this present time that it is called in question And beside that rule of Augustine consider that it is the generall tradition of the Catholik Church that Episcopacie hath ever been in it as an Apostolicall institution And by this generall tradition of the Catholike Church we are as certain that it is of Apostolicall institution as we are certaine of the received number of the Canonicall books of Scripture for we receive and take that number upon the continued generall tradition of the Catholike Church of Christ from age to age We reject and detest particular traditions of any present particular Church such as are those of the Church of Rome if they cannot shew those traditions to have been generally received at all times in the Catholike Church But there is no Protestant that doth not receive generall traditions of the Catholike Church such as is this concerning the definite number of the bookes of the Canonical Scripture and if I would assume a schismaticall humor I might with as good warrants deny that there are so many bookes in the Canon as the Catholike Church sayes there be as you deny Episcopacie to be of Apostolicall institution Thus have I briefly showne you the passages betweene the Anticovenanter and Covenanter which I leave to your consideration and returne to my purpose From this sweet harmonie in the preceding points especially of your independent power in Church matters there followeth another parallel by way of consequence viz. that you may excommunicate your King if hee doe not obey the Acts and Constitutions of your Assemblies Thus you threatned King James and his Councell both with excommunication if he would not execute your Acts of your Assemblie and good reason seeing it is the supreme judicatory and the King is a sonne of your Church from whom he ought to take the meaning And if hee bee refractarie why may not the Assembly excommunicate him as Ambrose did Thâ—â—dosius And as I have said already from your Travers of your government Huic disciplinâ— omnes Principes c. There is a necessity that all Princes Monarchs should submit their Scepter and obey this Discipline It s your chief Commander in the Camproyall Thomas Cartwright being asked whether the King himself might be excommunicated answered That excommunication should not bee exercised upon Kings I utterly mislike and so do we also yea albeit they be not Heretickes themselves yet if they doe not punish such as their Pastors commands them they may be excommunicate Potest ac debet Pastor regibus jubere ut puniant Haereticos Bellar. contra Barklaiunâ— c nisi fecerint etiam cogere per excommunicationem The Pastor may and ought to command Kings to punish Hereticks if they do it not even to compell them with excommunication But especially si sit Haereticorum vel Schismaticorum fautor Aâ—or insâ— moral part 2. l. 10. cap. 9. receptor vel defensor if hee be a favourer receiver or defender of Hereticks and Schismaticks If your Bishops be such men is not this your Kings fault your fault is that you use but too much lenity in not ascending from the Myter to the Crown for this may stand very well with your Tenent and Ours though Protestant Divines disclaim it for your Buchanan teacheth you that not only it is lawfull to excommunicate Princes but that they should both depose him Buchan de â—ure reg apud Scot. pag. 70. and destroy him for hee sayes Ministers may excommunicate Princes and he being by excommunication cast into Hell is not worthy to enjoy any life upon earth But truly Knox Buchanan are more rigid then we are herein for howbeit we grant that it 's lawfull to excommunicate Kings yet wee hold it not necessary that upon excommunication either deposition or killing should follow Indeed by our common Tenent it will follow that excommunication is an antecedent to deprivation or killing but we do not hold that deprivation or killing of Princes is a necessary consequent or effect of excommunication For say we quando talis effectus adjungitur Suaâ—ez de censur disp 15. sect 6. non est effect us ipsius excommunicationis sed specialis poena simul cum excommunicatione imposita When such an effect is joyned to excommunication it s not the effect of it but a speciall punishment imposed with it But it s wonderfull to see the wide difference between this our Tenent and yours and that which Protestants hold for they make the power of the supreme Magistrate Architectonicke and subject unto it all power civill Ecclesiasticall So that as in civill affaires they use the counsell and help of Politicians and Jurisconsults for establishing of Lawes according to reason so in Ecclesiasticall businesse they use the help and advice of learned Divines for establishing religion according to Gods Word which ought never to depart from their hands And it s most boldly said by them in the words of Bishop Davenant Reges non it a astringuntur Episcoporum vel Theologorum suorum opinionibus Daven deter quast 19. quin si adversentur legi divina cujus oportet reges studiosissimos peritissimos esse teneantur ex officio regio veram religionem illis omnibus licet reclamantibus tueri subditis suis proponere Kings are not so tyed to the opinions of their Bishops and Theologues but if they bee contrary to the Law of God of the which Kings ought to be great studiers and very well skilled they are bound by their Kingly Office to defend the true religion and set it before their Subjects albeit all those Divines should cry out against it But those men are Court Parasites as your usuall word is or as Beeanus calls those that defend the Kings Supremacie regios adulatores King-flatterers And I admire that Tertullian being under Heathen Emperours should be guilty of those flatteries while hee sayes in a Court-like complement Reges in solius Deipotestate sunt Tersul ad Scap. Ã quo sunt secunds post quem primiâ—ante omnes super omnes deâ—s homines Kings are only in the power of God from whom they are second after whom they are first before all and above all
your selves And lastly you are come so neere to Ferro perimere Protest at Edenburg 18. Decemb. 1938 that you have met him with offensive armes But I pray you what made you stand here what made you make a period where was no comma Can you think it unlawfull to kill a King and yet set your muskets pikes and Canons before the face of a King and shoot at randome it cannot be that you have learned Knox and Buchanan so ill and you deserve no reward Let that golden sentence of Buchanan never be forgotten Whiles he saies Buch de sure reg apud Scot. pag. 40. Suarez lib. 6. § 6. It were good that rewards were appointed by the people for such as should kill tyrants as commonly there is for those that have killed either Wolves or Beares or taken their whelps Your case was that which is supposed by Suarez Si suppâ—natur rex aggrediens civitatem ut illam injustè perdat cives interficiat vel quid simile tunc certè licebit principi resistere etiam occidendo illum si aliter fieri non possit defensiâ— tum quia si pro vita propria hoc licet multo magis pro communi beno tum etiam quia civitas ipsa tunc habet justum bellum defensivum contra injustum invasorem etiamsi proprius sit rex If it be supponed that the King is comming against a citie unjustly to destroy it and to kill the Citizens or any such like thing Then certainly they may resist the Prince even killing him if they cannot otherwise defend themselves both because if this be lawfull to be done for a mans owne life much more for the common good and also because the citie it selfe hath then a just defensive warre against an unjust invader albeit he were their owne King This Thesis hath beene well studied by you for it is the ground of all your learned arguments for warre But now since his Majestie is returned backe againe with his army and this first storm is gone without hurt be not you idle but labour for some friends at Court who may inform you of his Majesties Proceedings And if you send any to court let that be ever one of your instructions which you gave to the Earle of Dumfermling Novemb. 2. 1639. and the Lord London To have frequent and sure advertisement to you how affaires goe with their advise Amen And he still upon your guard and let the Flaccinian counsell take place with you if you heare that he shall refuse to approve of your proceedings to affright him with the terrour of insurrection againe And desire all that are doubtfull and scrupulous of this matter to read Knox Historie and Buchanans where they shall finde our doctrine very cleare The peoples power is great Populus rege est praestantior melior c. The people are better then the King and of greater authoritie For the people hath the same power over the King Buch. de jure reg pag. 61. Jdem pag. 50 that the King hath over any one person Populo juâ— est ut imperium cui vult deferat the people have power to bestow the crowne at their pleasure its not birthright nor succession nor propinquity of blood that must be respected Therefore Knox wrote to England and Scotland It s not birth-right only nor propinquity of blood that maketh a King lawfully to raigne above a people professing Christ Jesus fol. 77. Let his Majestie know that you are no Dunces but men of learning who know the greatnesse of your power and the smalnesse of his notwithstanding of the flatterie of Court Parasites But before I end this point I cannot but admire why you have not continued your Parliament even to the end but suffered his Majestie to adjourne it you professe that you follow the laudable example of your progenitors but if you doe as they did 1560. you would not grant his Majestie a Negative voice nor suffer the Parliament to be adjourned but to have done with it as you did with the Assembly at Glasgow Novemb. 29. 1638. to continue it to the end and then for the fashion to have sought his Approbation for the reason is alike as your assemblies are above him in spiritualibus so are your Parliaments in temporalibus and may bee holden though there bee neither Sword Scepter not Crown there For as Knox saith those things were rather pompous and glorious vaine Coremonies then any substantiall points of necessity required to any lawfull Parliament Knox hist of the Church of Scotland pag. 502. And therefore after you had kept that Parliament of your own accord in anno 1560. for the fashions sake you send to the King of France and your Scotch Queene his wife to desire them to ratifie the same But upon their refusall you spake as it became you of their ratification We little regarded it or yet doe regard Idem pag. 500. for all that we did was rather to shew our dutifull obedience then to beg of them any strength to our Religion If you goe not thus farre you come short in following the laudable example of your Progenitors And yet when I consider the instructions given by the body of the Parliament to the Earle of Dumfermling and the Lord Lowdon novemb 2. 1639. I perceive that you are not a foot behinde your Progenitors seeing you will not grant it to bee in the Kings power to prorogate the assembly except you all consent unto it for your sixth Article of the instructions is thus Item If the King will not condescendâ—â—â— goe on presently in Parliament that the King prorogate Parliament with consent of the states according to the conditions which you have I see further that if he prorogate the assembly it must not only be with your consent but also hee must grant your petition sent to his Majestie by the Earle of Kinoull from the Parliament before you will grant to any peaceable conclusion or prorogation of the Parliament for your sole Argument to have your petition granted in is these words Without this point be granted it is not possible to make a peaceable conclusion or that they can rest satisfied with the prorogation of the Parliament And lest that the people should rest satisfied herewith and your Democracie take no good successe the Ministers would be exhorted to doe their part not to suffer the people to settle upon their dregs but to hold them in perpetuall motion till it end to your perpetuall quietnesse This was the practise of the zealous Ministers your Predecessors in the dayes of Queene Regent Queene Many and in the tender age of King Iames who did both in private and publike oppone themselves to authoritie for the maintenance of our tenents concerning the civill Magistrate and our other Prerogatives This made King Iames our common enemie speake the truth in exceeding harsh termes while he said E ministerio homines nonnulli praecipites Basilic dâ—ron pag.
they were convinc'd in their consciences of the lawfulnes of such things The Scripture bids compel men to the wedding neither need you regard them who call your holy violence a Spanish inquisition Furthermore I am confident that you shall not bee such enemies to our workes of Supererogation as formerly you have beene For when the King urged you to subscribe the confession of Faith you refused it drawing your reason from the very ground which hath produced all our workes of supererogation which is this That a good worke which is done of a mans owne accord is more excellent then that which is done by command of a Superiour as you reason learnedly in your protestation in September 1638. and so conclude that you have done a more syncere worke and acceptable in covenanting without authoritie than if you should do it now at the command of your Superiour for as you say thus doing the more libertie the lesse hypocrisie and more synceritie hath appeared If this ground of yours be removed then both your Covenant and our Evangelicall Councels will perish And yet the Anticovenanter will say that the Scripture cals him the good servant that doth his Masters will and whosoever do more than they are commanded by their Masters get Affricanus thanks Non amo nimium diligentes I thought to have congratulated with you that you are most like unto us in Equivocation for your own ends to perswade the people to believ that which your own heart knoweth to be most false As for example to perswade the people before they did subscribe the covenant that it is for defence of the King against whom you say no man is bound by the covenant to rise up in desensive arms and that you are only bound to suffer if his Majesty were to invade you But when they have subscribed then you tell them that they must provide armour to resist the Kings comming to invade you This made many poor simple men complain that they were wronged and that they would at least be perjured if they should do so Yet the Scripture is plain for such equivocation for when the army sent by the King of Syria came to Dothan where the Prophet Elisha was to fetch him to the King the Prophet came out to them 2 King 6.19 and said This is not the way neither is this the city follow me and I will bring you to the man whom you seek But he led them to Samaria the quite contrary way But here is the difference between you and the Prophet that when he had misled them and brought them to Samaria he did not detain them as captives from their Masters but said Set bread and water before them that they may eat and drinke and goe to their Masters But you doe not so but keepe them in the net in the which they are taken that they cannot escape but must joyne with you against their Master to whom they shall not returne but with defensive armes such as are not shield and buckler but pike musket and canon I commend your policie herein for you know that the King doth not thinke that the common people did ever aime at the contents and consequents of the Covenant and so doth not impute any disloyalty unto them and when he sees that you have them so close tied unto you they become your buckler and defensive armes for whose sake he hath spared you whom he thinks to be heads of a faction against him so that here multitudo sociorum parit impunitatem criminum And to speak the truth seeing he condemnoth your zeal to religion as if it were rehellion against him and yet hath given you such way without curbing your course in the beginning we cannot but say that his innate Love to his ancient Kingdome wherof he hath given plentifull testimonies hath brought him to this strait that he hath neglected his Fathers direction which he was taught by experâ—â—ce and which King Charles will teach his Son by a double example Basthâ— Doron paâ— 14â— The direction was this Si ab initio clementians ostentes crescet in immensum delinquentium numerus crescet tui contemptus â—à m punire volueris major erit sontium quà m insontium numerus nec promptum erit discernâ—re unde facere oporteat initium panae At que it a multos perdes invitus quos tempestivâ pancorum poenâ servare potuisses Tu meo ex exemplo potes hic esse cautior â—am ego cum mansuetudine mea instituissem populum trahere ad legum obedientians contrà accidit ut omnia plena facta sint tumultibus Ego verò promercede né grates quidem retule im If at the beginning thou shew clemencie the number of delinquents will greatly increase and the contempt of thy selfe will increase and when thou wilt punish delinquents the number of the guilty will be more than of the innocent neither shall it be ready for thee to discern whereat thou must begin punishment And so thou shalt destroy many against thy will which thou mightest save by the timely punishment of a few In this point thou maist be more warie by my example For when I had purposed by meeknesse to draw the people to the obedience of the laws the contrary happened so that all was filled with uproares And as for me I got not so much as thanks for my reward But go you on and that you may more and more perswade them to adhere unto you tell them as you doe that if they shall come under the Kings power he will utterly destroy them and that his Proclamations and promises are not to be regarded since in your judgement â—e hath broken the oath at his Coronation when he sware to God to defend his truth but would now if you did not reâ—ist him destroy the religion the laws and liberties of this Church and Kingdome as your Protestations and Informations for warre do fully shew It was also a notable Equivocation whereby you thrust the simple people from subscribing the Kings Covenant commanded by his Majesty to be subscribed as it was professed in anno 1581. and not according to your new interpretation added unto it For in the 1581. it was a Covenant drawne up at his Majesties speciall Command and by his speciall authority the oath and subscription was prescribed to his Subjects and so they sware according to the meaning of the King that was the exacter of this Oath So that while his Majesty requireth it now to be subscribed as it was professed then he doth it in opposition to this present time wherein you have put a new Commenter upon it directly contrary to the meaning of King Iames who first prescribed it And it 's too evident that Iesuitisme and Puritanisme were both odious to him and that it was his chiefe labour as he sayes himselfe to hold up that which you are casting down so that one of you doth not erre while you call him your enemie in superlativo
our holy Father Pope Vrban the 8. anno 1631. Quia novum ordirâ—m instituerunt assumpto Jesuitissarum nomine qua per multa opera sexus Bulla Vâ—ban Papae 8. Roma edita 1631. ingenii imbecillitati modestiae muliebri virginali presertim pudori minimè comementia attentarunt exercuerunt Because they did institute a new order assuming the name of Iesuitisses who have attempted and exercised many works which do not become the weaknes of their sex and ingenie nor the modestie of women and especially most unbeseeming virginall shamefastnes The like case may befall your societie if it be not prevented if your Leâ—kie and his Collegues be not authorized it 's to be feared that the societie of those Sisters shall get a down-fall I have heard of the great controversie betweene him and some ministers of Sterling shire and that the matter was debated in your assemblie but what was done I was not fully informed only I heard of your moderation that you thought it not fit to discharge his new societie by act of assembly but by way of counsell but he rejects your counsell and though hee hath not an ordinary calling yet he tels that he hath an extraordinary calling from God and bids you behold it in the fruits of his labours But I am most of all affraid for our selvs though we have an ordinary calling and authority for our order We are so hated both by friend and foe at home and abroad that wee are daily perplexed especially since the â—dnulling of the Jesuinssaes order upon which some Poet by way of prophesie as is thought made those verses with a fiat Foemineus sexus sociis immixtus Iesu Transcendit sexus munia foeminci Non tulit hanc labem VRBANI vigilantia Papae Suppressit Socias mox Sociosque premet We have suffered already great hurt in divers places being hunted to and fro as if we were Malefactors And I doubt not but you know how weake we are in France we dare not deny the King of France his Supremacie and must acknowledge his Dominion to be independent in respect of men and that the King holds his Kingdome by vertue of Prov. 8.15 Per me reges regnant by me Kings raigne The Doctors of the Vniversity of Paris have done us much evill 2 Tim 4.14 the Lord reward them according to their workes They have condemned some of the workes of our Father Becanus in their Vniversities and have published the same to the world whether the Pope would or no and are also become Court-Parasites And their chiefe labour is by their doctrine in contradiction to you and us to corrupt all especially Noblemens children that come to their Vniversities and at least once a yeare make every one of them under their hands to professe the Kings independent power and authority Therefore now our holy League is wholly dead and death feeds upon it in the grave Psal 49.14 and we are become vile and herein are turned Saduceans to deny the resurrection of our holy League or any such insurrection so long as such doctors as the Sâ—rbonists shall thus infect the land and make noble and ignoble such Court Parasites But your case is far better than ours at this time for you have put away from your Vniversities such as withstood you and have placed such men in your Vniversities of Glasgow and S. Andrewes and Edenburgh who will cause the schollers to drink such a full draught of our doctrine that they shall vomit out all which your adversaries taught them We are not so happie our enemies prevaile daily against us But yours are dying especially the Archbishop of S. Andrewes to whom we wished no better death nor more honourable buriall then that Martyr and brother of our Societie Iohn Ogleby got whom he caused to be hanged at the Crosse of Glasgow because he stood to the defence of our doctrine which he brought within the compasse of Treason by the lawes of your kingdom which I pray you to abrogate D. Baron that great enemy of ours is also dead as they say in persecution At this we do both rejoyce as if we had found a great spoyle We had also great credit according to our hearts desire at Constaminople and among the Galathians and divers parts in the East but by the meanes of the King of great Brittane c. his ambassador and Cyrillus Patriarch of Constantinople who is of the Religion of the Church of England and disclaims the Popes jurisdiction even as the Bishops of England do We are all banished the Turks bounds and a Shipfull of us was sent home to Italy from Constantinople Since wee cannot get libertie to remain in the East we purpose to come to you in the West where there is neither Patriarch nor Bishop to trouble us as Cyrillus did at Constantinople But if King Charles follow the direction of his Father King Iames our common enemie your case will bee little better then ours was at Constantinople For after he hath directed his son to beware of Puritans as most pestilent followes both in Church and policie whom neither the Kings favours and bountie nor their own promises and oaths can make faithfull and loyall but being above measure arrogant they belch out nothing but calumnies and seditions and contrary to the Word of God follow their owne dreames and conceits as the only rule of their conscience he sayes most pathetically Basilic doron pag. 148 Testor illum magnum Deum nec testamentum condenti fas est mentiri nunquam inter montanos aut limitancos nostros latronos majorem ingratitudinem aut per fidiam reperiri posse quam inter hos phanaticos nebulones nee paterec si pacatè vivere decreveris ut hi eadem tecum patria fruautur nisi fortè patientiae experienda ergo ut Socrates vixit cum Xanthippo I take the great God to witnesse as if I were making my testament and it is not lawfull for him that maketh a testament to lye that there can never be more unthankfulnesse or perfidiousnesse found among our High-land and bordering robbers then among those brain-sicke villaines Neither do thou suffer them to enjoy that same countrey with thee if thou purpose to live peaceably unlesse perchance for the exercise of thy patience as Socrates lived with Xantippe This is a dreadfull advise and our case is so miscrable that it is our lot and destinie to be like Ishmael the wild man whose hands were against every man and every mans hands against him But let us not be dismaied not our hearts melt nor our hands be faint Gen. 16.12 but let us joyne hand in hand together Virtus unita fortior And we shall speake with the enemy in the gate And the righteous shall be delivered out of trouble and the wicked shall come in his stead Prov. 11.8 I have many other things to write to you which I will delay til I have the opportunity to write a second Epistle which shall be so soone as I heare what fruits this first Epistle shall produce Which I pray you cause to be printed among you for your common good because I could not get many copies sent to you being so far from you beyond sea If AS's Bridles was thought worthy to be printed by your authority in contempt of the Bishops why may not this my Epistle be printed for the edification of your Societie Let it not offend you that I have not railed in this my Epistle against authority in Church and policie for our Society hath been so oft reproved for railing that I doe now begin to forbeare it for the honour of our Order neither will we permit infamous Pasquils longer to come forth and it were good that you did so too and let us speak home to the purpose convincing our adversaries with evident reasons and make their errours and heresies known to the world rather then to vent our spleen against them with calumnies This doth but open the mouth of our adversaries but that will stop it this makes disgrace return upon our selves but the other makes us gracious If we raile when we should reason we get no answer but increpet te Dominus But when we reason without railing we beget in them dissentiendi pudorem veritatis timorem A bashfulnes to dissent from us and a reverence of the truth which in time will bring forth a profession of it Farewell From my study at Basileopolis The first of Ianuary 1640.