hotter otherwhere would have runn the hazard to licke the Bishops faults out of the fire I wish you had help'd me to a better bargain of your silence not forc'd me to give you this which I am loth to part with in exchange for your blabbing That if all be true that is in print which for your credit I hope is not Your Discipline had no other then a Sodomite for its patron some thinke you may take your choyce of French or Scot. How this abomination hath been propagated with your Discipline though by it no Disciple I leave them to relate who to shame you into some speachlesse civilitie have had reason to be your Domestike observers if they can frame it by chast language in a riddle Yet because your Presbyterie shall gaine no credit if I can helpe it by any counterfeit innocence I will returne you a line or two in Latin which may informe you that such an ill weed hath grow'n even where the sharpe sickle of the Eldership hath praetended to cut downe all wickednesse before it Hoc tamen dissimulare non possum in Palatinatu nulla prius scandala taâ—… atrocia incidisse quam ea sint quae seniorum illic constitutorum culpa acciderunt Et quis obsâ—…ro eos postea seret correptores qui sceleratissimâ—…m hominem Siculum Sodomitam eundem pestilentissimum calumâ—…iatorem you inherite at least the upper halfe of his qualities impune elabi passi sunt ne ad Iudices legitimos traberetur If you name Bishop Aderton in your next you will force me to breake the bond of modestie with my Readers make me lay this horrid scene nearer home If you will shew your self a better Christian or Scholar strengthen your arguments with the ruines of Bishops doctrines where you finde them not take up the rubbish out of some few sinnes or lapses in their lives you may write your pleasure without a blush expect the like ingenuitie on this side Pseudon syncolletes .... leptotaton leron hiâ—…reus Excuse me sir if Aristophanes at praesent furnish me with no more honorable titles to salute you by for your ingenuous meritorious demeanour in the next paragraph Wherein you are pleas'd to pervert all that the Bishop mean'd innocentlie writ temperatelie sacrifice your soule to the Father of lies to gaine the countenance of your brethren in Holland Historical â—…ruth I hope is no slander Nor can it be their shame to keep peace in their Churches turne seditioâ—…s incendiaries out of doores But while you plead for these your owne brethren among them the rest holding not that point of your discipline what respect you beare to their vigilant Magistrates whom you taxe for putting out of their cities men zealous in their doctrine pressing the true practice of pietic c. I leave to some interpreter to tell them But my selfe shall tell you by the way that they joyne not with you in rejecting our Episcopacie as Anti-christian Name you what booke of theirs or person of any note that hath done it I am sure since you your English mates fell to worke with root branch Spanheim their great divinitie professour in Leyden held up his hands wished that all had been such as Arch-Bishop Vssher Bishop Morton then the order with such men he acknowledg'd would passe here wel enough So that it should seem in the rest there wanted onelie a conformitie in some such thing as Calvins opinions to qualifie them for a tolerable communion with the Dutch What their zealous Ministers have preached for practice of pietic suppression of haeresie schisme the Bishop is farre from calling or accounting any crime But because you croud into their zealous preachments the sanctification of the sabbath-Sabbath-day in your Judaical sense If they pressed it in the rigour of your discipline their auditours use a large practical license to confute them To passe by their weeklie Sabbath mercatcs many publike faires one of which you I met with at the Hague I could have shewd you there the dancing on the ropes if not a dutch stage play for a need many other prettie sights to which you were invited with sounding of trumpets beating of drumes which is their businesse at this instant in another part of the reformed Provinces where I am I can tell you of several recreations I have observed beside playing on the ice obâ—…ected against the Ministers of St. Andrewes that were spectatours which I litle thought on when the poor Praelatical Clergie not many yeares since were cursed with Presbyterian bell booke candel for approving a narrower toleration in our Countrey Our persecutions have help'd us to this some other experience whereby we shall be hereafter enabled to unmaske your adventurous impudencie to the world Whether the streame of Presbyterian or Praelatical ermons have run clearer from contempt of piâ—…tie from silence flaterie c. may be seen by him that will looke into these last 12 yeares current of the times If the vigilant Bishops such as their Lordships of Derrie Downe purg'd their chanels from the filthie doctrines rebellious obstructions of Blaire Levingstone Hamilton Cuningham others they did it for the more even passage of pure Primitive reformation The zeale of these men was eating out the foundation of Gods house their swelling waters did overflow the bankes of government where they came Their impious doctrines made them first be turn'd out of Scotland where Blaire had been before expelled the Vniversitie of Glasgow by the Professours for teaching his scholars in his lectures upon Aristotle that Monarchicall government was unlawfull the lawfullnesse whereof Mr. Baylie accounts part of the Prelates profanitie errours Vpon the like misdemeanour the same justice overtoke them in Ireland but at a time as it hapened when Christs Covenanting Antimonarchical Kingdome began to be reedified in Scotland which wanting such bold pieces to supportit their blasphemous treasonables sermons to cement it they were very heartlie welcom'd praeferred to places of greatest eminencie in that Church What a singular difference there is in the point of exemption from secular jurisdiction between the Geneva Discipline yours the proceedings in the next paragraph will shew And what person convict of or notorious for those crimes that you reckon was ever priviledg'd by the spiritual Court you are to mention Your generals are aire the Bishop craves no favour of your extraordinarie charitie to conceale The Declaration 1584 might be penned by Mr. Patrike Adamson yet be King Iames's If his Majestie declin'd the acknowledgement thereof the yeare after when your Rebells had seiz'd upon his person at Sterlin that may very well be imputed to his feare Nor was that the onâ—…lie negative subscription you extorted from your prisoner that yeare who when at libertie afterward with the same hand blotted out that which when you had the
pensious If in no particular you actuallie proceeded to Church censureâ—… It was because you foresaw they would not restraine the corruption no more of the laitie then the Clergie then your menasing petitions sometime obtein'd strength from some partial or pusillanimous Parliament or when you praevail'd not you wrapt this up with the rest of your discipline put all to the processe of a warre And this was you know the mysterious sense of Knox's method upon good experience praescrib'd on his death bed First protest then denounce vengeance then to the execution thereof seeke redresse of God man Of God by fasting as you did order for this very cause wasting of the Church rents without remedie in the Assemblie at St. Andrewes 1582. Of man by rebelling which you practis'd noâ—… long afterward With which godlie advice that saint shut his teeth departed if not after a minutes repentance as I hope in litle better peace then he had liv'd To what followes in the Bishops charge the legislative power they praetend to To make â—…ules constitutions for keeping good order in the Kirke To abrogate abolish all statutes ordinances concearning Ecclesiastical matters that are found noysome unprofitable agree not with the time or are abused by the people And all this without any reclamation or appellation to any judge Civile or Ecclesiastical we have not one word in answer from Mr. Baylie And indeed being taken up so much with his seemings fallacious apparences he may sometimes overlooke the realities of what allegations he dislikes for this indeed he had very good reason knowing the natural inseparable connexion to be such between it the power of jurisdiction that to whomsoever belongs the supremacie of the one upon him necessarilie descends the praerogative of the other For the fourth objection If the Reviewer had minded the ill consequences upon the antecedent of Ecclesiastike jurisdiction by divine right he would not have held that conclusion at large without professing an infallible assurance that it is haereditarie to the Presbyterie Some danger there may be of drawing after it an adaequate right in that ominous Episcopal order which with no great difficultie may be prov'd from time to time to have executed this jurisdiction he meanes Howsoever this inconvenience he gaines by it That if it be such it is indispensable turnes all the confessed indulgence of the Scotish Assemblies into sinne for Nulli homini licet cuiquam juris divini gratiam facere What divines there have been in the world of another minde which are all except Donatus the haeretikes disciples among the rigid Papists Anabaptists Scotish Scotizing Presbyterians who demand as boldly as their Master Quid est Imperatori cum Ecclesia he may reade though I looke not that he nor all his brethren should muster up abilities to answer in the nineth chapter of the fore-cited famous Grotius's booke Vnder the safe conduct of whom the Bishop may travaile with the truth of these contradictionâ—… about him through all the Assemblies highway men of the Scots That all Ecclesiastike power flowes from the Magistrate ...... 〈◊〉 Ecclesiasticos judices per Archiepiscopos Episcopos derivata a Regia potestate jurisdictio Ecclesiastica consistit That the Magistrate may praescribe a rule how Ecclesiastike censures should be regulated in case of resistance see them executed by his power Constitutum fuit eis ergon tà krinomena parà ton episcopon agein tous archontas kai tous diaconoumâ—…nous autois stratiotas That all the officers praetended to be appointed by Christ for the Government of his Church if they governe it not according to his Apostolike example may be lay'd aside such a kind of Governers be put in their place as the Magistrate shall be pleased to appoint as more just upright stewards in that trust Non frustra gladium gerit potestas sed vindex est in omnes male agentes ergo etiam in eos qui circa 〈◊〉 delinquunt ...... Iurisdictionis enim est reâ—…egare è loco sive in locum That it is not yet universallie unquaestionablie defin'd that the spiritual sword Keyes are in any other then the hand of Christ. Nor that ever his Apostles Priests layd claime to an absolutelie intrinseâ—…al right to execute the power of either Vtinam exscindantur qui vos perturbant Videtur non imperantis sed optantis Apostoli That for the sword Sacerdos quidem officium exhibet sed nullius potestatis jura exercet That he cites out of St. Ambrose for the Keyes him I cite but doe not being not oblig'd assert any thing Your difference herein I meane the power of the Magistrate from the Warner is Donatisme an haeresie so great as deserv'd it seemes to be anathematized by the Catholike Church your practice schisme whereby you rend your selves from the Congregations of all the Reformed as Vedelius hath shew'd you And whether it be not rebellion by your lawes I leave to the verdict of your 15. Godfathers who gave it in to be such against your differing brethren at Aberdene Had Mr. Baylie in his answer to what he calls the last challenged principle tooke upon him to alter that axiom in Ethikes make it Nolenti non fis iâ—…juria the dispute had been onelie whether his authoritie or Aristotles should have caried it But when he deletes the commentarie upon it he conjures the sense into a circle of his owne by such language as none but himselfe his spirits understand Indeed for a madman to have his hands bound who were they at libertie would doe himselfe mischief For a sicke man to have physike forc'd into his stomake which may worke his recoverie otherwise desperate if his aversion be countenanc'd may be courteous violence improv'd to their good But to contervene a Magistrates commands praetending punctual obedience thereby if not an advancement of his power To wrest the sword out of his hands disarme him for the securitie of his person is a piece of invisible justice a favour left by all law and reason to be whollie at the disposal of the Discipline But in Scotland you say there is no such case c. Which must relate to mater of fact or right If to the former I must crave libertie to averre That scarce any one of your Synods proceedings was ever freelie justified by the consent of the Magistrate for the time That most were not I have shall sufficientlie prove here otherwhere If to the latter your selfe confesse that your booke of Discipline which includes the jurisdiction you have could not passe the Parliament 1590. Nor can you make appeare where ever after it did with an exception onelie against the chapter De Diaconatu In what followes you praetend too much acquaintance with the King to know what His Majestie â—…ontroverts in his thoughts with whom I have
from Christ or deputation at least to overrule both his Kingdomes upon the earth Your Ifs And 's about the necessitie of a warre in that moment of time when the British Monarchie Lay gasping for life demonstrates what good meaning you had to praeserve the Person or Government of Kings The constant proofe of that integritie you required in the officers must have been the covenant-proofe of their rebellion and wickednesse which if blemished from the beginning of the warres with no religious nor loyal impression no sincere pietie toward God nor real dutie to the King had marck'd them out for your Mammon Champions and Goliahs men most likelie to make good the interest you aim'd at This you were before practising in England where your Sectarian Masters that had set you on horsebacke mean'd not to take your bridle in their mouthes and be rid by your ambition to their ruine Though you advis'd them faire for 't in your Papers March 3. 1644. requiring to have the officers in their armie qualified to your purpose ... men know'n to be zealous of the reformation of religion and of that uniformitie Which both Kingdomes are obliged to promote and maintaine c. As in September the yeare before you told them you could not confide in such persons to have or execute place and authoritie in the armie raised by them who did not approve and consent to the Covenant Which I finde by one well acquanted with your meaning interpreted thus You desired to have zealous hardiâ—… men out of the North whose judgement about the Covenant and treatie had concurred so as to introduce your Nation to be one of the Estates of England to have a negative voice in all things who would have pleaded your cointerest with the Parliament of England in the Militia of the Kingdome disposal of places and officies of trust c. Having faild there of your cointerest with the Parliament you straine here for your cointerest with the King and would have the commanding power of his militant Kingdome in their hands that should have held His Majestie like a bird in a string which if he once stretch'd for recovering his own just liberties or his peoples they could have pluck'd him in to clip his troublesome wings or cage him at their pleasure The firmnesse of your Covenanting Commanders to the interest of God the Dispeller reveales in his experience of their striking hands with hell in cursing and swearing plundering and stealing which might have fill'd the hearts of the people had your poison not been administred under the guilt of wholesome advice with more rational jâ—…lausies and feares then any by past miscariages of them whose designe at that time was very hopefull and honourable otherwise then as it caried the fatal praetext of your Covenant before it To let the world know how long your mysterie of iniquitie hath been working in the bowells of the State the Bishop alledgeth ancient praecedents of 80. yeares standing from more impartial more credible relations then those in your Romance falselie intitled An Historical Vindication What you shovell in here about treacherous correspondence with Spaine is but an handfull of sand without lime adhaeres not at all to the Inquisitours troubling the Merchants in their religion nor that to your admonishing the people to be warie in their trade nor all at all to the truth which the Bishop tells you was a Synodical Act prohibiting their traffique under the rigid poenaltie of excommunication which all the art you have can not melt into a friendlie advertisement Those of the Merchants whom you say the Inquisitours seduced required no relaxation Nor were the rest so persecuted as to be discourag'd in their trade when they petition'd the King to maintaine that libertie where of your spiritual chaines had depriv'd them Therfore all your courteous mediation was but a disguis'd Imperious prohibition whereby you checkt the King and in ordine ad spiritualia tooke it for granted you mated him by the Merchants weake submission to your Censure Could we but once take it your Church in agrieving fit for her owne so publike profanesse in the daylie breach of the 5 6 other commandaments that follow we would tolerate her zeale though not commend her discretion in her will worship superstitious nicitie touching the violation of the fourth But when we finde her enlarging her conscience to laugh at rebellion murder c. We guesse her crocodiles teares to be more out of designe then compassion her mouth open for the destruction of them that are not through knowledge of her hypocritie delivered The profanation of the Sabbath is not so in conjunction with à Monday mercate but that à Saterdays journey with some sixpeenie losse or à Sunday nights watch and labour might separate them Your holie supplications were leven'd with Iudaisme which had not the Bishops in Christian libertie eluded as your advantage might lie the Parliament might have next been importund to Dositheus's follie to erect à rediculous statuarie Sabbath in your Countrey Though I heare all were not so hard hearted as you make them but that Patrike Forbes Bishop of Aberdene did translate the mercates which are none of the least in his diocese to wednesday as the provincial records of that place will testifie From the obstruction made by the rest to your petitions you can not inferre what you have formd in a calumnie about their doctrine example on that day What sorts of playes which were not all if you reckon right the most emminent Bishops either us'd or tolerated were such as consisted with and spirited the Dominical dutie of publike and private devotion wherein they had the authoritie and praecedent of otherguesse Christians then any scotish Assemblie praecisians and seconded with reason such as hitherto you never seriouslie and solidelie answered If they endeavoured to make the Sunday no Sabbath they did it in a farre better sense and on better grounds then Rob. Bruce could have changd it as you know he endeavoured to Wednesday or Friday and Lent from spring to Autumne on purpose to priviledge the pure brethren ' in the singularitie of their worship and free them from a profane communion though not in the time with Papists and Praelates If the Bishops had a designe to advance their Kingdome by such old licentiousnesse and ignorance as this innocent libertie might be feard to reduce We know to whom the Presbyters somewhere are beholding at least for their Sabbath policie though they thinke good to enlarge it beyond Episcopal sports and playes to publike mercates to brewing fulling grinding carying beer corne dung and indeed what not except opening whole shops and wearing old clothes For redressing which I doe not finde your compassionate prayers to god or advice to them which I remember you us'd so effectual as to make any amendment or gaine any proselytes to your circumcised severitie Therefore till you
if the learned the priviledge of which title every covie of Dunces challenge to themselves judge the person unable of the regiment he is set aside and they forced to take without violent intrusion they tell them whom the superintended Councel offereth to instruct them A Presbyterie exercing all jurisdiction without any appeale from themselves A Presbyterie feeding their flockes like swine with graine and huskes such divinitie as every brewer or hogheard can helpe them to never leading them through the green pastures of the ancient learned and devout Fathers nor to any other waters of comfort but such as the very fountaine whereof the foot of schisme or rebellion hath troubled This is Scottish Presbyterie in practice and such they would have it in law too if they could with all their Scripture collusions but once corrupt His Majesties judgement or by their sharpe-pointed swords two edged tongues affright him from a well grounded resolution into what his Royal Father esteem'd it a faint servile ungodlie and unkinglie consent The treasure you call for hath hitherto had God for its defense who hath made know'n and distributed those talents in Scripture which maintain'd the litle familie of the Church and discharg'd the itinerant Gospell of that time The greater mine hath been often discovered by them whose divina virgula hath stouped and put them upon the search of the veine that caried the Episcopal government through the 800. yeares of your account Your soon-shot bolts in many frivolous quaestions have been better feather'd with many wise mens answers and for all the horned impudence you hold out returned very often upon your heads one of whom I shall send you to who not to derogate from the happie endeavours of many others aswell of the learned Laitie as Reverend Clergie hath alone anticipated and fullie with much acutenesse and judgement answered allmost every particular you object Shewing that Christ himselfe hath made the office of Apostle or Bishop distinct from Presbyters Given them power to do some offices perpetuallie necessarie which to others he gave not Asof Ordination and confirmation And superioritie of jurisdiction Bishops by vertue of their office more then called observed as Lords in a more sublime sense then you mention And commended to the service of Kings Saint Chrysostom others imployed in Embasâ—…ies Saint Ambrose a Prâ—…fect and Dorotheus a Chamberlaine to the Emperour Many of them Councellers to Princes and Iudges aswell in ordinarie secular affaires as Chancllors in extraordinarie by appeale Treasurers at least of the Church revenue and undergoing what ever civile charge the conscientious favour of Princes put upon them which was not in gradâ—… impedimenti clericalâ—… Bishops with sole power of ordination and jurisdiction otherwise then as they thought good to call into their subordinate assistance or deputed Presbyters in their Dioceses Of officiâ—…ls and Commissaries I thinke he makes litle mention because he bends his discourse against all interest of Lay elders yet I doe not thinke he would denie that Civilians such as are our Officiali and Commissaries might be instrumental to the Bishops especiallie having some learned Presbyter authorized in cases to which the others lay propertie extends not Bishops when necessitie may require using solitarie ordination which is good in nature rei as may betaken for granted by that Canon of the Apostles which as it enjoines no more then one Bishop so makes no mention of any Presbyter which it had quaestionlesse done if of absolute necessitie to the businesse Bishops ordaining not with the fashional but caâ—…onical assistance of any two Presbyters that they please by choyce of their owne chaplaines or others where are many or taking any two that chance otherwise to be neare Bishops principal pastours of their whole Dioceses when commanded or countenanc'd by the King to waite at Court not obliged to feed their flockes in their persons which they doe by many learned and religious proxies themselves in the meane time feeding by word or sacrament or ghostlie counsel the great shepheard whose Royal soul is worth 10000. of the peoples All this in effect a great deale more then your Parkers or Didoclaves could have answered hath this one learned Doctour defended as know'n long before the Pope gave over to say his creed which he did surelie when he became the Anti-Christ you call him I could goe up yet once againe helpe you to a third turne from the top of your demands Shew you that the Warner and his friends give the King the same assurance that eâ—…they did that what they stand upon as unalterable in their order hath Scripture and Antiquitie for its warrant That upon the conversion of England to Christianitie the Ecclesiastike government there constituted was not Anti-Christian That a Bishop there is not a Lord in Parliament by vertue of his office as it may be to resolve spiritual doubts he ought to be but by the Baronie call which the favour of Kings hath annex'd unto it That in Scotland when it was decreed that Bishops should have no voyces in Parliament these your selfe-denying men desired of the King that such Commissioners as they should send to the Parliament and councel might from thence forth be authorized in the Bishops places for the Estate That not many protestant English Bishops have been High Treasurers not many Chancellars some that have you have litle reason to finde fault with That they are not bound in law to devolve all jurisdiction That all which in practice did it are not to be condemned where they found able honest men to exercise it in their names That those which erre must not praejudice the care and deligence in government of the rest That sositarie ordinations were very rare therefore not to be objected as so common Nor did halfe the Bishops live at Court nor most that did halfe their time All these particulars could I enlarge on but that I beleeve the Reader satisfied with the execution done before and hath some what else to doe then to stay to see you stript In what followes you take a great deale more then is given you naming that a donation from the Court divines conscience for which the Citie Divines chieflie of Edenburgh London forced the temple of God by such sacriledge to furnish the two tabernacles of robbers that then prospered too well in England and Scotland That Royal Saint that upon this most impious violence yeilded up so great a portion of his Ecclesiastike inheritance the Bishops civile imployment Arch-Bishops Arch-deacons with the c which might have been better spar'd did it in angusto comprehensus not upon any compunction of conscience Sed difficulter sed subductis supercilijs .... vix exeuntibus verbis And had not his paternal affection prompted him to what your unnatural disobedience litle deserved he had given you not onelie panem lapidosum as Fabius was wont to call a gift
these he calls Apostolici seminis traduces If they be Apostolical grafes good Mr. Baylie from what tree thinke you were they taken and of what may they without arrogancie beare the name Other of the Ancients call'd Timothie Bishop of Ephesus an Apostle among whom what enterfeering there was of these two termes you may reade in Theodoret upon 1. Tim. Jn the like sense may they be sayd to be Euangelists aswell as in the Revelation they are called Angels who praeside over the preaching of the Gospell and publication of it to them that have not heard Euangelion Kerygma being the same And they either are or should be Prophets in one kinde according to Saint Ambrose Scripturas revelances the ablest interpreters of Scripture or speakers of mysteries in the spirit to aedification exhortation and comfort though not foretellers of things to come Nam quicquid later sive id 〈◊〉 est sive praesens mysterium dicitur The reason why your adversaries pitch upon the fourth is to decline your trivial objections against the other three Your syllogisme that labours to prove Bishops no Pastours hath no doubt but a certaintie of falshood in the major which your argumentum a paribus comes some what improperlie to make good you having spoke of a confess'd imparitie but just before But for once a bargaine no bargaine pactum non pactum fit non pactum pactum quod vâ—…bis lubet It would be a rare invention surpassing Aristoles Logike if without a reserve you could get a conclusion to creep out of a single proposition for take it on my word your lucke is bad in majours which whether you play at even or odde are all pariter falsâ—… sicke of a disease and this here left desperate without any remedie to recover it No Apostle you say is superiour to an Apostle This is contrarie to what one Walo Messalinus whom under another name you mistake to be your friend hath frequentlie asserted That they were primi secundi majores minores The second and lesse subordinate in spiritual power to the first and greater This he gathers out of Theodoret and others The greater he explaines to be the twelve the lesse those deputed by them for teaching and governing Nay he discovers a third order inferiour to them both of which was Epaphâ—…oditus subordinate to Saint Paul who himselfe was but minor Apostolus being none of the twelve So that here being three degrees I tell you from him what I might from others or with them rather collect from the text That an Apostle is superiour to an Apostle As much might besayd for Euangelists whereof foure were principal or if not it is because they were by their office of the lower classe or Coadiutours to the Apostles Such were Titus Timothie Apollos c. Saint Hierom sayth all Apostles were Euangelists but not all Euangelists Apostles And so likewise that all pastours were Doctours but not vice versa The learned Grotius That Doctours were Bishops or Arch-Bishops rather the same with those call'd Metropolitans afterward Paeteres Kai didascaloi are Epiphanius titles for them To prove majour minor prophets under the new Testament is needlesse till you answer what I have brought about Apostles or strengthned the majour in your argument which I absolutelie denie And besides remit you to a learned Doctour who proves the word Pastor to be the Bishops peculiar among the Ancients and frustrates that imparitie from which you argue Your second reason out of Saint Matthew and Saint Paul hath a litle Philosophical Soul and forme in the majour but no divine one in in the minour and so according to your similitude in the moment of removal or separation must periâ—…h The first text 1. Tim. 4. 14. puts no power more then approbant or assistent of ordination in the Eldership a Bishop is as much a Presbyterie and no more a Presbyter I meane in your sense of diminution then Saint Paul who seemes to make that act of ordination solitarie and personallie his owne 2. Tim. 1. 6. And the Greeke Scholiasts say the Elders here were Bishops excluding interminis all presbyters from that power ou gar hoi Presbyteroi â—…heirotonoun ton Episcopon say both Theophylact and Oecomenius For the word which you will needes have to be classical not personal perchance some will say it may denote the order or office the Episcopate they meane and be put figurativelie here for the single person of the Apostle comparing these words together meta Epithescoos â—…oon cheiroon â—…ou Presbyteriou dia tes epithescoos â—…oon cheiroon mou But let it be what it will the power of ordination must continue in the Bishop so long as Christians keep to the New Testament and Fathers and fetch us not a fift Gospel or some newer Apostle from Geneva That the second Saint Matth. 18. puts the power of jurisdiction in the Church is gratis dictum your authoritie not so great as that your autos ephen will be able to carie it First therefore you are required to prove that excommunication the act of jurisdiction you meane is here at all intended and not rather no more then the three degrees of fraternal correption the highest whereof is that elegsis enoopiâ—…n pantoon a rebuke before all 1. Tim. 5. 20. Vt qui non potuit pudore Salvari Salvetur opprobrijâ—… sayth Saint Hierom he sayth not damnetur or eijciatur â—…nsuris That he which could not be saved by private shame might by more publike reproach Secondlie That the Church here was a judicial Assemblie call'd to that purpose or if met to other that a formal processe was brought before it And that they were not rather some greater number then the two or three witnesses upon what occasion soever met together which may very well be call'd Ecclessâ—… with out the signal meaning of the word Coram multis Lib. Musar Kata Koinon Justin tunc multis dicendum est in Saint Hierom. Nor is it likelie a deliberate judgement in Court into which a Christian Congregation converted should be after processe in hazard to be slighted or neglected by one Member delinquent â—…an paracouse Nor that to be such which relates rather to the person of the plaintiffe then Iudges estoo soi Let him be unto thee ... Thirdlie If it be such a Congregation or Church as you would have it whether the complaint were to be repraesented to them in general and not rather in their hearing to their superintendents or praesident above them Epi toon tes Ecclesias proedroon demofiseoson to ptaisma sayth Theophylact. Fourthlie That sit sicut Ethnicus publicanus Let him be unto thee as an heathenman and a publicane is undoubtedlie a sentence commanded to be pronounced by those superintendents or that Church or an injunction rather then permission to the partie injur'd to have no farther familiaritie or friendship to have no more to doe with him then
is enough a lone to také off your stomake yet that insipide colewort must be set upon your table while your table contimues a snare to catch your selves withall and that bill of fare though but one dish repeted till it choke the rebellious guerts of the Assemblies your paper of eight desires contained 8. very insolent demands in place of that submission which the Parliament sent for I can not say expected What justice and necessitie may be in them was not at any time by you nor by any at that time to be expostulated to the retarding that more just and necessarie designe If the Parliament counted upon any it reckoned withall the satisfaction it had render'd Wherin it had been rather too lavish then close handed and promis'd more upon the necessitie then thought on then some conceived in justice or conscience could he performed Securitie upon oath under hand and seale the Bishop tells you were harder termes then an Vsurers to a Bankrupt and it may be you tooke His Majestie for no other having goten though by no morgage his kingdomes in your possession And knowing what he had contracted with God before you would not part with them but upon the surest interest of his soul. If the quaestion were not for the thing that it should seeme you tooke for granted And then what methodical and scrupulous tray tours doe you blazon your selves to be to leave him languishing in a gaole while the order and some particle of the securitie must be thought an The qualification of the persons to have the managing of the warre being approved by the Parliament the highest Court in the Kingdome no law intimates an Assemblie or Iudicatorie competent to reverseit So that the Bishop hath sufficientlie inform'd himselfe that the knot of the differtnce lies onelie in some bulrush which you looke for to litle purpose And having attentivelie read your publike declarations drawes out of them no groundlcsse conjecture but an infallible assurance that no Historie mentions such Pharisaical Rebells upon the earth The Warner knowes very well that what you call the libertie of the Church is in truer language the license of the many schismatical hypocrites that disturbe it who by long custome of blaspheming God in guilded rhetorike and a spiritual figure translating his holie word but perverting the sense to sinfull ends in publike declarations have withdraw'n poor people from their dutie to their King into such feares confoederacies as the prophet Esai had in the place that you cite warning from the Lord with a strong hand instructions not to walke in The three Graces you bragge of had too many snakes dangling about their eares to be mistaken for other then the thre infernal furies which they were Your humilitie was pride and arrogancie to the height attributing more to your private fancies then to the publike counsels of a free Parliament the undenied repraesentative of the Kingdome Your pietie was but the will worship of your owne imaginations that you challeng'd And your wisdome craftinesse where in you will be taken in the end by your froward counsel caried headlong to your destruction The visibilitie of this might encourage the Engagers to run any adventure rather then to follow you in your wayer Such of them as fince the disaster have crouched to an acknowledgement of their loyaltie for an errour are poore Spirited fooles that have their eyes onelie in the ends of the earth are never likelie to be in the number of them who obteind a good report through fayth in their sufferings nor receive the promise of some beter thing that God had pro vided for them Did an Angel from heaven blow his trumpet and proclaime God speaking in your declarations the Warner and his partie were bound to stop their eares Or if the Prince of the power of the aire should clothe such wicked language in lightning or pervert some Boanerges to speake it in thunder by terrour to worke in children of disobedience we have Saint Pauls praescript to pronounce a double anathema against him Accursed Accursed let him be and in submission to God in his messenger the Apostle such men of gallant spirits should we be as in a Christian constancie or Romane if you will have it rather to perish with this last breath in our mouthes then by hearkening to counsels or walking in wayes so palpablie pernicious to Church and state with the ruine of both let the breath of our nostrils the Anoynted of the Lord be taken in their pits If the margin and text of your following paragraph were not so neare neighbours in my hast I might chance to have made no comparison and so escaped the contradicti on between them No offer to stop the leavie in the one and opposition so coldrife and small in the other will I thinke be reconciled by no logike but that which makes degrees varie species or argues from the third to the second adject and according to the vulgar proverbe makes that not to be at all which is litle or nothing to the purpose To the substance of your answer By enquirie I finde your oppsition as hot as your servent zeale and abilities could make it and if your actions drew in the same yoâ—…e with your words you that sweated it out in earnest be seechments exhortations and threats sate not still to see the effects of your papers but armed your selves to the worke of retardment if not to the retracting the designe Some few lines in a Declaration and warning from the Commission of your General Assemblie are enough to keep the Bishop from ignorance a transscript of them as they lie to discharge him from the malice you impute .... We doe earnestlie beseech and exhort all who live in this land that as they tender their solemne obligation and oath both by the National Covenant and by the solemne league Covenant as they love the honour of Iesus Christ and the Gospell .... Nâ—…y as they wish to eschew the heavie wrath and indignation of the Lord That they doe not give any countenance nor connivence to these wicked men in their wicked way much lesse to joyne with them in counsel or in armes And because it lies upon us to be faythfull in our station therefore as we have allreadie given warning unto these men that unlesse they doe speedilie destst from their evil way and repent that we will proceed against them with the dreadfull sentence of excommunication .... if any shall hereafter joine with them we will be necessitated impartiallie to proceed against them with the highest censures of the Kirke If this be câ—…ldrife and small opposition what tall fellowes are you when you are warme I Know nothing you could well doe beyond it unlesse with C. Caesar you would be so mad as in Homers language challenge Iupiter to an encounter e m' anâ—…eir ' e ego se which you are likelie enough to doe
both in the word of God religious reason And the praeface to the English Directorie telling you That their care hath been to hold forth such things as are of divine institution in every ordinance Were it not to tire out my Reader I could shew this to be your language ever since your Discipline was framed thought so necessarie a truth that your denial must make Christ not so wise as Solon or Lycurgus if he left it as a thing mutable by men or now after so many ages of his Church to be put to the vote in their Parliaments and Synods So sayth a friend of yours in these words Equidâ—…m non novi neque credam Christum qui Dei sapientia fuit remp suam que omnium ' est perfectissima arbitrio stultorum hominum religuisse agitandam .... quod ne Solon quidem aut Lycurgus aljusve quis pium Legislator pateretur For that and the rest of your religion your Confession of faith sayth That you are throughlie resolved by the â—…ord spirit of God that onelie is the true Christian sayth Religion pleasing God c. ... Gods aeternal truth ground of your salvation .... Gods undoubted truth and veritie grounded onelie upon his written word Nay afterwards you protest and promise with your hearts under the same oath c that you will defend the Kings person and authoritie in the defense of Christs Euangel and liberties of your Countrey which is or if it be not speake the same with Religion and liberties in your league Besides all which otherwhere you blasphemouslie compare both your confessions with the old Testament and the New That which followes wherein you moderate the first article of your Covenant imposing an endeavour to reforme onelie according to the word of God with out introducing Scotes Presbyterie or any other of the best reformed unlesse it be found according to that paterne though it served to palliate all blemishes and deformities that were in it To invite possiblie some well meaning people into your fraternitie who like harmelesse bees relishing that sweetnesse litle thought what poyson they left behinde for other venemous insectiles to sucke out To furnish others withan excuse a petiful one for using so bad meanes to so good an end and when it undeniablie proves the contrarie the same it may be they intended crie they were mistaken though now they can not helpe it Yet it may be shewed to be a dubious frivolous limitation the same commendation your friends gave it when translated into an oath tenderd in behalfe of Episcopacie by the King First infirming that member and so fâ—…r disinabling it from beaâ—…ing part in the mater of an oath as subjection is required unto the reforming power in a Church Secondlie Quitting all that swore it of their engagement every moment if they see cleaâ—…lie or judge erroneouslie your reforming Principals to digresse from that path Thirdlie either supposing your reformed religion in Scotland to be allreadie conform'd to that paterne or else enjoining to sweare contradictions Lastlie If leaving every man to judge what is according to the word and to endeavour according to that judgement imposing an oath productive of confusion there being as many mindes as men scarce two united in one touching Doctrine Worship Discipline and government The first might be illustrated argued from the fallibilitie and uncertaintie in the Reforming power a maim'd Parliament an illegitimate Assemblie then siting whom I could not be assured to have the spirit of God so illuminating their mindes as whereby jointlie to judge the same reformation according to Gods word Secondlie as uncertaine should I bee setâ—…ng aside all partialitie and passion that they would declare what they so judg'd against many of whom if not the most having a well grounded praejudice whether just or no maters not if not know'n to me I could not sweare de futuro a conformitie to their acts In which cases wisemen advise us to abstaine .... Ten apochen tou omnynai prostattei peri toon endâ—…chomenoon kai â—…oriston tes â—…baseoos â—…chontoon to peras Hierocl in Carm. Pythag. and â—…urans praesumitur certioratus deliberatus accedere ad â—…ctum super quo â—…urat sayth the Lawyer The second is strengthned sâ—…fficientlie by your words which oblige the Covenanter no farther then he findes your great worke proceeding according to Gods word The successe whereof if no beter then in your Discipline and the Directorie will keep no man in his Covenant Gods word praescribing many parts of neither The Third is evident from the very clauses in the article where first an oath must be taken to praeserve the reformed religion in Scotland which if not according to Gods word is contradicted in the next that enjoines reformation onelie according to the word And if it be then that is â—…t wherewith a uniformitie must be made and yet you tell us there is no such word nor any such mater in the Covenant About the last let every man speake his minde as freelie as I shall mine That I hold no Presbyterian government Scotish or other according to Gods word That I have read of much dissension among your selves in former times and heard of some in later That all Papists all orthodoxe persons in the Church of England are jointlie for Episcopacie in the order as according to Gods word and separatelie for it in the jurisdiction and discipline neither holding all parts of it exemplified in the word so not applicable unto it both not the same extensive particulars in the ordinance and exercise of the Church Besides such as you call Socinians Sectaries separatists whether individual or congregational All which having distinct opinions of Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the word if not concentred in the sense of the House or Assemblie but left to their several endeavours are sworne among them to delineate a pretie implicated diagramme of a Church But for a farther answer to this article of your covenant I remit you to the solide judgement of the Vniversitie of Oxford As likewise to that of several learned men in the Vniversitie of Cambridge who joined in one minde published their refutation of the whole treacherous league A. 1644. Onelie I must adde what persons of knowledge integritie say they will make good That your Covenant came into England with some such clause as this We shall reforme our Church in doctrine and Discipline conforme to the Church of Scotland Whereof Master Nye his Independent friends fairlie cheated you making that be rased out and this inserted which we treat of By which tricke they have pack'd Presbyterie away and yet pleade with you in publike That they still keepe the Covenant and goe on to reforme according to Gods word The second ground of the Bishops demonstration is no evident errour it being an evident truth That the principal Covenanters Noblemen Gentlemen and Ministers in Scotland