upon themselves a power of making and propagating others like themselves where they meet with officious Clients such as were willing to be made currant by their stamp it hath pleased our Legitimate Governours after a Jubilee of an happy restauration to prevent schism and confusion among Ministers that they may not claim from several Originals and so maintain divers interests and like Jacob and Esau struggle in the womb of the Church and endanger the rending of her bowels as those lay-Corinthians did whereas some cry'd up Paul some Apollos It hath pleased the wisdom of the foresaid Authority to command that all professing to take upon them the work of the ministry should pass under the hands of the Reverend Bishops according to the custom of this and the primitive Catholick Church that all might pronounce the same Shibboleth Who would think that any should be so refractory as to not comply with this peaceable and laudable design Epist ad Evagrium Saint Jerom did much advance the office of Presbyters yet when he comes to the business of Ordination he leaves that solely to the Bishop 1 Tim. 4.14 And so I understand Saint Paul though he mentions the laying on of the hands of the Presbyters as concurring with him in that work yet to shew that he was the principal and they but assitants he expounds his meaning afterwards 2 Tim. 1.8 by the laying on of his own hands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that place noting the chief causation as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the other signifies only a concurranceâ— Thus he appropriates this work also to Titus Bishop of Crete to Ordain Elders in every City Titus 1.5 I will not dispute what may be done in case of necessity when Bishops cannot be had I am not an absolute stranger to the judgment of Learned men when things are brought to this exigent nor am I ignorant that Edesius and Frumentius Preaching to the Indians are commended though they had no Ordination at all But I adore the goodness of God that did not suffer us to be plunged into that gulf in the worst of times he left us a seed of that apostolical Race some whereof Ordained many hundreds maugre all the thunderbolts of their malicious adversaries And I look upon them as shielded by a supernatural power in doing of this their duty when men wereso wrathfully displeased at them Therefore to such as say they could be ordained by none but Presbiters in those times and so plead necessity I must answer it was not absolute but contracted And whether such voluntary and forward revolting from the establish'd rule and method of Ordination climing up into the Lords sheep-fold some other way I say whether this irregular sending forth of Ministers hath not been a great occasion that so many sheep have been peel'd and scratch'd with the briars and brambles of wasting erros I leave to the sad thoughts of others Sure I am this hath been the subject of my pensive meditations when I saw so much hemlock and such daring luxuriant tares growing in the furrows of the Church God usually leaves those men to themselves blasts their enterprises and lets Satan loose upon them that leaves his good old paths to walk in wayes of their own invention Cheminitius judged Origen to have fallen into so many errors because he Preach't without ordination Cyprian notes the same of Donatus qui à seipso ordinatus Uport Gol. 23. And Bishop Durant sayes 'T is no wonder that those men preach what is false who never had any legitimate power at all Jer. 23.32 But I am most confirm'd by that of the Prophet Behold I am against them that Prophesie false dreams and cause my people to erre by their lies yet I sent them not nor commanded them therefore they shall not profit this people at all saith the Lord. It troubled Bilueh to the day of his death that he madea Collation in a place where there was no Minister before he himself was in Orders So tender was that good man of violating that Order which was in the Church Now whâ—â—â—â—â— you put on yâ—â—r Trâ—â—â—â—al Buskins and cry out if you should be reordain'd this were all one with renouncing your former ordination and proclaiming all your ministerial Acts perform'd by vertue thereof void I profess I neither see any coherence nor any sound inference at all in this logick neither is there any such declaration in the Act of Parliament but rather a great deal of tenderness and compassion for men in your condition a meeting only to set us all in a right posture that we might all be as an Army with Banners marching all one way that is with our faces towards Zinn under the conduct of the same Commanders Had those in Authority reduc't you into the state of lay-men concluded your ordination void and then applied this salvo to what you acted heretofore Fieri non debuit factum valet you might perhaps have complained the more yet they would not have wanted presidents and examples of councels to that purpose But they touch you with a soft hand only injoyning you to take Episcopal ordination as it were ad corroberandum titulum to make your former ordination Canonical Legal and Authentick This is evident from that proviso in the act it self That it shall not extend to those Ministers of the forraign reformed Churches allowed or to be allowed by the Kings Majesty his Heirs and Successors Therefore it follows in my logick that the compilers of this act did not account ordination by Presbyters to be absolutely void In his unBishoping Tâ—nothâ— and Titus However Master Prin is pleased to condemn Bishop Hall for reordaining Master Bury ordain'd before beyond the Seas which is matter of fact either without the compass of my remembrance or short of my observation Yet to shew our charity to the reformed Churches the letter of the Law is now express to the contrary Doth not this proceed from a spirit of condescention and moderation Yet in your anger you will say-all things are screw'd up to the utmost extremity without the least abatements whatever But though the Law thus bares with forreigners and is civil to strangers must you that are of the same Family claim the same priviledge and plead exemption from the discipline of your Mother For shame unlace your selves come in and renew your commission Those Officers that fought under the Earl of Essex received a new commission under the Lord Fairfax Were not many Kings in the old Testament anointed I Chron. 29.22 and inaugurated again and again As Solomon and David 1 Sam. 16.2 Were not the Apostles sent forth by Christ Yet they were separated and had hands imposed on them 2 Sam 2.4 by men and that not only once but Paul had hands laid on him first by Ananias Act. 9. and then by the Prophets Bishop Bilson P. 93. Acts 13. and Barhabas had hands imposed on him
Peter did so vehemently press obedience to thes Emperors As if subjects had as great a latitude as the Pope himself in ordine ad spiritualia I not this the same which Job inveighs against to contend for God 30. Others were so modest p. 258. The Devil of Rebellion doth commonly turn him self to an Angel of reformation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 297. as to say they fought not against the King but such bloody ruffianly Cavaleers as were commissionated by him As if the same God who commanded obedience to the King had not also commanded submission to those that are sent by him 40. Others told us quite contrary for like those false witnesses which came in against Christ they did not agree among themselves 't is true they fought against the Kings person Job 13.8 but it was by his own commission that is By vertue of his own Authority then residing in some Members of Parliament Good God! what pretences were invented what Jesuitical tricks and distinctions were now set on foot to palliate and gloss over a most rotten and devilish design Yet all too little too cover that cloven foot which appeared to men of piety peace and heavenly wisdom at the very first But afterwards this cloud of the bigness of a mans hand waxed bigger and bigger untill it darkned our English heavens and dissolv'd into a showr of Royal blood O hear and fear and do no moae so wickedly Let former experience disâ—ipline you into an abhorrency of war against the King and restrain you from all those methods and Premises which may infer the like catastrophe Who can blame the King if desiring to live long and to see good dayes former transactions considered to make a decree that it shall be declared to be unlawful to take up arms against himself or those that are commissionated by him upon any pretences whatsoever And since the lines of our peace and happiness as to Church and State do meet and concenter in him as our Common Father is it unreasonable for Subjects to swear they will not endeavour the alteration of Government in the Church and State Who would think that any Natives of a Land professing themselves the followers of Christ who in the dayes of his humiliation was obedient to Caesar that he wrought a miracle to give him his due and expecting protection from a lawful Prince should once demur whether they should make this declaration or take this Oath Qui deliberant desciverunt such as doubt of this have even shak'd off the yoke of subjection Mistake me not I am no virulent Tertullus to draw up an indictment against you I accuse you not But as Christ told the Jews there was one that accused them even Moses so there is one that accuseth you by upbraiding you bestowing on you some Caeca verbera and putting you sometimes into a cold sweat I mean your own Conscience I must tell you too before we part that if upon this account you court your own sufferings I would have you to consider whether ye suffer as Christians for righteousness sake And for well doing or whether you are buffeted for your faults Shall I commend you for this I commend you not If you expect a coronet or garland due to confessors if I might plat the wreaths they should be of Nettels and Hemlock I should as soon set the crown of martyrdom upon the head of Thomas a Becket or Sir Thomas More as adorn their foreheads who refused to put in caution for their fidelity and due subjection to their Prince If such persons would be accounted loyalists let them be so But then let me have leave to derive their pedigree or assign the reason of their denomination and that is because they are of their Father Ignatius Loyala It is a wonder to me that we should be adeo Histricasi to use Saint Jeroms words so prickley sharp and full of invectives against the Jesuits for maintaining the lawfulness of murdering protestant Princes and yet the same men should refuse to declare and swear That 't is unlawful to take up Arms against the King upon any pretence whatsoever I wish these recusants would consider what difference there is betwixt taking up Arms against the King if the success fall on their side and un Kinging I had almost said un manning of him I confess I have set my eyes as steddy as I could and I have strengthned them too with the spectacles of several Histories and I can discern but very little Not as if all that ingag'd in the last War had this design farre be it from me to be so uncharitable For as some followed Absolom against David in the simplicity of their hearts 2. Sam 15.11 so many through the prematurity of age and judgment perswasions of relations and the inchantments of fair pretences did purchase their own repentance p. 303. and they that are sensible of their former errors will no doubt be most faithful and loyal afterwards said the Father of our present Solomon I cannot but admire at Master Baxter who acquainting us with his activity in the late War tells us at last that 't is not his intent to determine which party was in the right Book of Rest p. 258. As if he had been fluctuating all that while twixt wind and water or at least did not then remember the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let every one be fully satisfied in his own mind Rom. 145 sure he was not ignorant of that maxime Suppose the case had been so doubtful as he makes it yet in doubtful cases praesumitur pro Rege lege and which is all one subdit tenentur in favorem legis judicrre Bee Bishop Bramhals vindication of the Church of England p. 112. Better obey than disobey doubtingly because as my Author quotes it out of Saint Austin Reum facit principem iniquitas imperandi Innocentem subditum ordo serviendi Had I been near this Gentlemen when he was in this libration of suspence I would have put the fifth commandment together with two or three choice texts out of Saint Paul and Saint Peters Epistles into the other scale and then questionless he would have been the better able to determine which party was in the right And since I have named Master Baxter if I durst I would Cum tanti viri venia be his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Jerom speaks in an Epistle of his and further his active industry in a double performance 10. To revâ—ew his political doctrines especially those that are gathered together by an eminent hand And if after a second scanning or weighing them in the ballance of the Sanctuary he finds them too light That he would deal with them as I presume he hath done with several of his Theological Aphorismes even abandon and dis inherit them What a glorious work would this be conducing to the benefit and edification of the Church un-deceiving and disintangling many
legerdemain is so gross and palpable that 't is discernable by clouted shooes The other is of a person as highly elevated for parts and piety as any that hath moved in the sphere of the Church these many ages The most reverend Bishop Vsher Who in a Sermon at Saint Mary Oxon before those loyal and faithful Parliament men that left Westminster and came thither in the late war in obedience to the Kings commands speaking of the Covenant whether it had any binding power he used these words My soul upon it that Covenant binds no more such as have taken it than Sampsons withes which he brake asunder and cast from him at his pleasure If the deliberate judgment of any man will weigh any thing in the scale of Conscience I should think the resolution of this Apostolical casuist should statuminate and settle any soul that fluctuates about the Covenant Had either a superstitious ignorance or a cowardly compliance ever betray'd me into this snare upon the hearing of this Angel I would have gone forth and wept bitterly that ever I had adulterated my soul by swallowing such a poysoned gobbet It would have been gravel in my belly untill I had vomited it up by repentance I should have accounted my self free from any obligation from thence for the time to come When I consider how this unshapen Monster was usher'd into the World by the Mid-wifery of an unnatural war what a strages or desolation hath been wrought by this flying Role How it hath devoured Royal Noble Common flesh and laid the Lords Vineyard waste I cannot chuse but say A bloudy Covenant hast thou been unto us Therefore such as wish well to the King Church Nation others and themselves will never go about to unty those grave-clothes wherewith Authority hath bound up this Malefactor or open a door to let out this Minotaure to sport himself again in our gore For although it is prefac'd with these plausible inchanting words After the commendable practises of these Kingdoms and the example of Gods people in other Nations Yet upon diligent search by the best Historians there 's none can be found to run paralel with it but only that Catholick cursed league contriv'd by the Guises in the kingdome of France It differs from all other Covenants and hath a special signature of its own They began but this ended in blood Heb. 9.18 The first Covenant was not dedicated without blood and the second was laid in the blood of the Paschal Lamb. In the Jewish Covenants there was a Beast slain and divided then the Covenanteers pass'd between those parts to shew that they deserved to be slain and cut into pieces if they violated their Covenant When Catalin conspir'd the ruine of Cicero together with the Roman Common-wealth and now I think I have found another paralel he first kill'd a little boy and then his confederates mutually bound themselves together by an oath taken over the bowels of that child But this Covenant was wrapt up in fair professions at first but afterwards it floated in blood and ended in bitterness Nabis an arrand tyrant of Lacedaemon had a wife called Apega Dion Cassius l. 37. who fleec'd the women as he did the men he loved her so dearly that he made her picture with costly garments and when he could not get mony by fair means Sr Walter Rawley p. 618. he told them he would bring them to his wife perhaps she might perswade them So the Image opened its Arms as to imbrace but the arms and bosome of it was so full of Iron nails that they tormented those poor men to death who refused to lay down their monies Just such an Idol was this Covenant It was habited in the dress of a religious Matron Mulier formosa superne doted upon as the great Diana of the Ephesians I mean such as plotted the overthrow of Church and State and when other engines could not draw on that design fast enough this Amazonian Virago expands her arms and courts us with her killing rhetorick But those arms were so full of nails that had not the providence of God rescued us out of her imbraces she would have exhausted our very heart blood and killed us with a seeming kindness This was like that sagacious Hyaena which was to hunt out a prey for the hungry Lyons But perhaps this discourse is too general to alienate and divorce your arnorous thoughts from this painted Helena Many of you have so espoused her to your selves that you count it all one to forsake the Covenant as to break wedlock Therefore I shall come closer yet and try whether 't is possible to perswade you that there is not that obliging power in the Covenant as you imagine I shall put the tryal upon this plaine Sillogism No unlawful Oath is obligatory The Solemn League and Covenant was an unlawful Oath Therefore the Solemn League and Covenant is not obligatory Major prop. No unlawful Oath can lay an obligation upon him that takes it The Prophet sharply reproves those idolatrous votaries which said they would surely perform their vows Jer. 44.25 which they had vow'd to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven Whoever swears an assertory Oath calls God to witness that what he sweares is true and by laying his hand upon the book before a Magistrate doth imprecate upon himself the judgments of God in that book renounces any share in those promises that are involved therein if he swears falsly And in a promissory Oath he must swear in righteousness and truth otherwise his oath will be a bond of iniquity He will swear to sin and so by consequence sin in swearing for he calls the God of righteousness to record upon his soul that he will deal unrighteously De jure belli l. 20 c. 13. Jurata promissio sayes Grotius When a man swears to do any thing unlawful in it self by the Law of God or man such an oath is null and without force Scelus est fides our fidelity in the performance of such a promise would be a double iniquity Saint Austin wonders that any should nick-name this obstinacy in what is evil with that excellent title of fidelity Si executio ejus quod est promissum sit contra legem Lessius de jura l. 2. p. 618.619 vel publicam utilitatem c. If we fulfil a promise which is contrary to the Law or publick welfare Juramentum promissioni adjectum non obligat That oath which confirms such a promise binds not at all And the Casuist gives a good reason because Obligat Conscientia non per se sed ratione legis quae aliud praecipit vel prohibet Baldwin Conscience binds not of it self but by vertue of some affirmative or negative Law Therefore 't is an infallible rule to me In malis promissis when we promise any thing that is wicked such a promise is not to be perform'd But that the best way to make amends
any violent or compulsive jurisdiction over their Brethren in exercising the power of the Sword He would have them to leave that to temporal Princes Therefore 't is said it shall not be so among you that is as it is with civil Magistrates Princes of the Gentiles punishing offenders with corporal stripes And accordingly our Bishops meddle not with criminal matters but as I am inform'd they go forth of the Parliament house when sentence of death is pronounced against Malefactours You might as well conclude that no men should be called Masters Fathers Lords because the Scripture sayes Be not called Masters Call no man Farher upon Earth There is but one Lord Jesus Christ But this word Lord is taken in a latitude of interpretation It carries with it respect and superiority Rebecca did so respect and reverence Abrahams servant that she sayes drink my Lord. Sarah called Abraham Lord. 1 King 18 Elias a Prophet is so called my Lord Elias so is Elizeus too 2 King 2. There is honour nay double honour due to those that wait at the Altar therefore methinks we may signifie that honour in our expressions Ambrosius de dig Sacer. c 3. If we must honour them with our hearts why not with our lips since Nihil sublimius Episcopis No calling is more sublime then that of the Bishops Bishop Bilson of the perpetual Government of the Church p. 63. I conclude this return with the very words of that excellent Bishop of Winchester God is my witness I smooth no mans pride I seek no mans favour I read as sincerely as my simple learning will suffer me I see no reason why it should trouble any godly mind to hear a Bishop called by that name with which Saint Peter willeth every woman to honour her Husband CHAP. V. An Answer to that popular clamour Godly meetings are disturb'd and Papists favour'd IT is no small rub in your way to hinder your advance towards us and does not a little open your mouthes against your Governours that you cannot be quiet in your private meetings but you are ferreted and disturb'd by the secular power so that Papists and drunkards are not so narrowly observed in their extravagancies as you are in the true worship of God Ad populum Phaleras This Topick does you much service whereby you perswade the credulous multitude that you suffer a great deal of wrong this is oppression and persecution in grain What must godly sober conscionable Ministers be more severely dealt withal then those that sing Dirges and say Mass Then those that flock to those seminaries of misdemeanours Alehouses and Taverns Far be it from me from being patron or advocate for either of these better my tongue should cleave to the roof of my mouth Yet comparatively and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 compose your countenances untill I come to a full period I mean in point of obedience to Government and so in respect of publick peace and tranquility I wish it may not be truly said that these very persons against whom you so bitterly declaim and sharpen all your invectives overwhelming them with showrs of stones from your slings as if none were sinners but they were not less dangerous to the welfare of the Kingdom then those reputed Godly men who with a sullen kind of sobriety like him in the Hystorian go about to destroy the common wealth Sober men did I call them Then who are those pernicious drunkards of whom the Prophet speaks who are drunk but not with wine Drunk with malice and revenge and drench'd in such furious passions that like Etna they belch forth nothing but flames There are some unclean spirits that walk in dry places Matth. 12.43 Now if spiritual sins are worser then carnal as partaking more of the will and the whole soul certainly this drunkenness which throws fire-brands into the roof of Government and longs to wallow in the ashes of a Kingdom is worse then his that rowles in his own vomit This degrades us below bruit beasts and that equals us to the very devils This hath more scandal before men but that hath more guilt in the sight of God Such as these may in time be brought to repentance but those are commonly hardned in their impiety that as Christ told the Preists and Elders that Publicans and Harlots should go into the Kingdom of Heaven before them so 't is easier to teach these prophane wretches their duty to 〈◊〉 their Prince and convince them of their exorbitant carriage then it is to turn those about whose webs are finer spun and their fardels wrapt up in Eliah's Mantle I hope you will not call this pleading for Baal and arguing for debauchery no more then Saint James pleaded for Devils when he sayes they beleive and tremble or our Saviour for Heathenism when he prefers the condition of Tyre and Sâ—don before that of Chorazin and Bethsaida A Serpent is a Serpent still though in some respect that is in looking to his head he is the emblem of wisdom But as the Moralities of Pagans and honest dealings of Turks do but aggravate the vices and cheatings of Christians and will rise up in judgment against them So that loyalty which is in profane persons doth the more condemn that disobedience which is in men professing Religion Are not you ashamed to violate the commands of Authority when Swearers and Drunkards are zealous for them and herein it is to wit in what is good that they deserve both favour and incouragement I pray study Metaphysiks better and do not confound and jumble together the notions of those things which ought to be distinguished abstracted and sever'd one from another These men are câ—untenanc'd 't is true as obedient subjects but not as Drunkards For so the Laws of the Land are severe against them if they were well executed 'T is an arrand fallacy to conclude absolutely and comprehensively when the premises are only to be understood of things in some particular respects and considerations Although I wish from my heart there were no need of such logical acceptations but that such as were loyal heretofore and do still keep their integrity did not blast their own vertue and give their enemies occasion by the looseness of their lives to traduce the goodness of their cause Now as to your darling private meetings whereby you contront the publick establish'd worship of God and would make men believe that God is served only in your corners That as Eliah once spake unadvisedly and with too much ostentation you are left alone that you are as a garden of Cucumbers that our Temples are profan'd with superstition Sirs be not angry if the supream Magistrate have a jealous eye upon your Assemblies as having paid dear already for the like method and procecdings Is there no cause for him to fear lest you should hatch such Harpy's as may in time devour him And what necessity I pray of this schism I can call it no better if