EPISCOPACIE BY Divine Right ASSERTED BY JOS. HALL B. of Exon. IN DOMINO CONFI 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by R.B. for Nathanael Butter at the Pide-Bull by S. Augustine's Gate 1640. TO THE KINGS Most Excellent Majestie our most Gracious Soveraigne Lord CHARLES By the Grace of GOD of Great Britaine France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith c. May it please your Majestie WHen about a year agoe I presumed to tender to your Royall hands some few short Propositions concerning Church-Government I little thought that either the publike or my own Dioecesan Occasions would have called on me for so large and speedy a pursuance of them as now I am invited unto Episcopacie since that time hath suffered in the north even to the height of patience and I have met with some affronts within my owne Iurisdiction All evils especially those of Schism◠〈◊〉 as the plâ—gâ—◠〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—ing and doe much mischiefe both in their act and the spreading It was therefore time for me to bend my best indeavours both to the remedy of what had happened in mine owne Dioecesse and prevention of what future mischiefe might ensue And long I sate downe and waited for the undertaking of some abler pen but seeing such a silence in so needfull a subject as one that might not be too long wanting either to the vindication of the common cause or the safety of my owne charge I have thus boldly rushed forth into the Presse I cannot be so weakly inconsiderate as to think that I could put my finger into this fire and not be scorched I doe well know never any man toucht upon this quarrell who was not branded with the deepest censure Yet I do willingly sacrifice my self herein to God and his Truth I confesse my heart burnes within mee to see a righteous cause thus martyred through unjust prejudice and to see some honest and well-minded Christians misled into a palpable error under the pretence of zeale and piety by the meere names of two or three late Authors not more learned and godly than in this point grossely mistaken If your Majesties great Cares of State could part with so much leisure as to peruse this short but faithfull relation of the first ground and originall of this unhappie division in the Church it might please your Majestie to be informed that when Petrus Balma the last Bishop of Geneva was by his mutining Citizens frighted and driven out of his place and that Church was now left headlesse Farell and Viret two zealous Preachers there devised and set up a new platforme of Church-Government never before heard of in the Christian World Themselves would supply the Bishop and certaine Burgesses of the City should supply his assistant Clergie and both these together would make up the body of an Ecclesiasticall Senate or Consistorie This strange bird thus hatched by Farell and Viret was afterwards brooded by two more famous successours and all this within the compasse of our present age Now had this forme being at first devised only out of need for a present shift contained it selfe within the compasse of the bankes of the Lemane lake it might have beene there retained with either the connivence or pitie of the rest of the Christian world but now finding it selfe to grow in some places through the fame of the abettors into request and good successe it hath taken the boldnesse to put it selfe forth to the notice and approbation of some neighbour Churches and some there are which I blesse my selfe to see that have taken such liking to it that they have affected a voluntary conformity thereunto and being weary of that old form of Administration which hath without contradiction continued in the whole Christian Church from the times of the blessed Apostles of Christ inclusively untill this present age are not onely eager out of their credulity to erect this new frame but dare venditate it to the world after fifteene hundred yeares deep silence for the very Ordinance and Kingdome of Christ whereas if any living man can shew any one lay Presbyter that ever was in the Christian World till Farell and Viret first created him let me forfeit my reputation to shame and my life to justice This is the true ground of this wofull quarrell wherein I cannot but heartily pitie the misguidance of many well-meaning soules of your Majesties subjects which are impetuously carried away in the throng by the meere sway of names and tyrannie of an ignorant zeale not being so much as suffered to know where they are or on what ground they goe the fervent desire of whose reclamation as of the settlement of others whom the ill condition of the time might cause to stagger hath put my pen upon this envious but necessarie taske whereto also my zeale was the more stirred by an information which I received from the late meeting at Edinburgh In the eight Session whereof it is reported that one M. G. Grahame Bishop of Orkney had openly before the whole body of the Assembly renounced his Episcopall Function and craved pardon for having accepted it as if thereby he had committed some hainous offence this uncouth act of his was more than enough to inflame any dutifull son of the Church and to occasion this my ensuing most just expostulation Only I had need to crave pardon of your Majestie for the boldnesse of this interpellation that I have dared to move your Majestie to descend so low as to take view of this on my part so confidently undertaken duell Although if the Combatants be single yet the Cause is so common as that the whole Church of God claimes her interest in it But your Majesties long-knowne goodnesse incourages me to this presumption And withall I could not but have some due regard to that right and propriety which your Majestie may justly challenge in all the labours of this kinde from whose pen soever as being under God appointed the great Patron of all divine truths the great Guardian and Protector of these parts of his Church upon earth whose true ancient and Apostolicall government is here questioned and whose deserved devotions and faithfull prayers shal be continually powred out to the God of heaven for your Majesties long and happy preservation amongst which shall be duly paid the daily tribute of Your Majesties most humble Loyall and zealously devoted Subject and Servant Ios Exon. The Contents The First Part. § 1 AN expostulatorie entrance into the question Page 1 § 2 The difference of the condition of forraigne Churches and Divines from those of our Northerne neighbours Page 6 § 3 The judgement of the German Reformers concerning the retention of Episcopacie Page 10 § 4 The attestation of forraign Divines to our Episcopacie Page 14 § 5 The particularity of the difference of our freedome and the benefit of a Monarchicall reformation Page 17 § 6 The project and drift of the treatise following Page 27 § 7 The first ground or Postulate That government whose foundation
registred by themselves which we must believe they did or enacted For doctrine necessary for salvation we are for him but surely for evidence of fact or rituall observation this is no better than absurd rigour than unchristian incredulity Where is there expresse charge for the Lords Day Where for Paedobaptisme Where for publike Churches Where for Texts to be handled in Sermons Where for publike Prayers of the Church before and after them and many such like which yet we think deducible from those sacred authorities That is true of Hierome Hieron Tom. 6. in Agge 1. Quae absque authoritate c. Those things which men either finde or feigne as delivered by Apostolike tradition without the authority and testimonies of Scripture are smitten by the sword of Gods Spirit But what is this to us who finde this which we challenge for Apostolicall recorded in the written Word of God Or with what conscience is this alledged against us which is directly bent against the hereticall doctrines and traditions of the Marcionites either utterly without or expresly against the Scripture §. 11. The two famous Rules of Tertullian and S. Augustine to this purpose asserted I May not baulke two pregnant testimonies of the Fathers wherewith this great Anthierarchist and his Northerne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is as much and justly troubled as our cause is advantaged not so much because they are the sentences of ancient Fathers which they have learned to turne off at pleasure with scorne enough as for that they carry in them such clearenesse and strength of reason as will not admit of any probable contradiction The former is Tertull. conâ—r Marcion c. 4. that of Tertullian Constabit id esse ab Apostolis traditum quod apud Ecclesias Apostolorum fuerit sacrosanctum That shall clearely appeare to be delivered by the Apostles which shall have been religiously observed in the Churches of the Apostles What evasion is there of so evident a truth Vbi supra Me seemes saith Parker that Tertullian understands onely those Churches which were in the very time of the Apostles not the subsequent for he saith not Quod est but Quod fuerit and thus it may be held true But this is to mocke himselfe and those that trust him and not to answer all the Fathers testimony The question must be what in Tertullian's time should be held to have beene Apostolike and therefore he saith Constabit not Constitit now if he shall speak to Parkers sense he shall say That which was religiously kept in the Church planted by the Apostles and in their own time is to be held Apostolike what is the reader ever the wiser since it were equally hard to know what their Churches then did and what they themselves ordained to be done were it not for the continued tradition and practice descending from them to the succeeding ages so as either they must trust the Churches then present for the deduction of such truth or els nothing would be proved Apostolike Neither is there any thing more familiar with the Fathers than to terme those the Churches of the Apostles even for some hundreds of yeares after their decease wherein they after some residence had established a government for future succession which had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Synesius speaketh as it were too easie to instance in a thousand particularities yea that it may appeare how Parker shuffles here against his owne knowledge there is a flat mention of the Churches after the time of Saint Iohn the longest liver of all that holy traine which he cals Ioannis alumnas Ecclesias Tert. l. 4. contra Marc. c. 5. So as this of Parkers is a miserable shift and not an answer The other is that famous place of Saint Augustine against the Donatists agiâ—ated by every pen Quod universa c. That which is held by the universall Church and not ordained by any Councell but hath beene alwayes retained in the Church is most truly believed to be delivered by no other than Apostolicall authority which Parker sticks not to professe the Achillaean argument of the Hierarchists Neither have they any cause to disclaime it the authority of the man is great but the power of his reason more For that which obtaineth universally must either have some force in it selfe to command acceptation or els must be imposed by some over-ruling Authority and what can that be but either of the great Princes as they are anciently called of the Church the holy Apostles or of some generall Councels as may authoritatively diffuse it through all the world If then no Councels have decreed the observation of an ordinance whence should an universall not reception onely but retention proceed saye from Apostolike hands No cause can work beyond his owne Sphere Private power cannot exceed its owne compasse Let not any adversary think to elude this testimony with the upbraiding to it the Patronage of the Popish Opinion concerning Traditions we have learned to hate their vanities and yet to maintaine our owne Truths without all feare of the patrocination of Popery We deny not some Traditions however the word for want of distinguishing is from their abuse growne into an ill name must have their place and use and in vaine should learned Chamier Fulk Whitakers Perkins Willet and other Controversers labour in the rules of discerning true Apostolicall Traditions from false and counterfeit if all were such and if those which are certainly true were not worthy of high honour and respect And what and how farre our entertainment of Traditions is and should be I referre my Reader to that sound and judicious discourse of our now most Reverend Metropolitan against his Iesuite A.C. Onwards therefore I must observe That whereas Chamier doth justly defend Cham. Panstrat de Traditionibus that the Evidence of these kind of Traditions from the universall receipt of the Church doth not breed a plerophory of assent he doth not herein touch upon us since his Opposition is only concerning points of faith Our defence is concerning matter of fact neither do we hold it needfull there should be so full a sway of assent to the testimony of the Churches practice herein as there ever ought to be to the direct sentence of the sacred Scripture Will none but a divine faith serve the turn in these Cases which Parker himselfe professes to bee farre from importing salvation Is it not enough that I doe as verily believe upon these humane proofes what was done by the Apostles for the plantation and settlement of the Church as I doe believe there was a Rome before Christ's Incarnation or that a Iulius Caesar was Emperour or Dictator there or Tully an Oratour and Consul or Cato a wise Senator or Catiline a Traytor Certainly thus much beliefe will serve for our purpose who so requires more besides the grounds of the Apostolike Ordinances recorded in Scripture thus seconded may take that counsell which boyes construe the Lapwing
onely could claime the whole world for their Dioecesse neither could they leave any heires behinde them of their Apostleship the succeeding Administrators of the severall Churches were fixed to their owne Charges having neither power to command in another mans division nor such eminence of authority as that their example should be a rule to their neighbours How then can any living man conceive it possible if there had not been an uniforme order setled by the Apostles that all the world should so suddenly meet in one forme of policie not differing so much as in the circumstances of government That which Parker thinks to speak for his advantage neque uno impetu disciplina statim mutata est Polit. Eccles l. 2. c. 8. sed gradatim paulatim that the discipline was not changed at once but by little and little as by insensible degrees makes strongly against him and irrefragably for us for here were no lingring declinations towards that government which we plead for but a present and full establishment of it in the very next succeeding hands which could not have been but by a supereminent and universall command If we doe but cast our eyes upon those Churches which now dividing themselves from the common rule of Administration affect to stand upon their own bottome do we not see our Countrimen of Amsterdam varying from those of Leiden concerning their government and in the New-English Colonie those of the Boston-leaders from the Westerne Plantation When we see drops of water spilt upon dry sand running constantly into one and the same streame we may then hope to see men and Churches not overswayed otherwise with one universall command running every where into a perfect uniformity of government especially in a matter of such nature and consequence as subordination and subjection is It was the singular and miraculous blessing of the Gospell in the hands of the first Propagators of it Psal 19.3 4. that There was no speech nor language where their voice was not heard Their line of a sudden went out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world The Sun which rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race could scarce out-goe them but as for their followers the very next to them they must be content to hold their own a much slower pace and by leisure to reach their journeyes end If therefore it shall be made to appeare that presently after the decease of the Apostles one uniforme order of Episcopall government so qualified as we have spoken was without variation or contradiction received in all the Churches of the whole Christian world it must necessarily be granted that Episcopacie is of no other than Apostolicall Constitution §. 14. The seventh ground That the ancientest histories of the Church and Writings of the first Fathers are rather to be believed in the report of the Primitive state than the latest Authours SEventhly I must challenge it for a Truth not capable of just denyall that the ancientest histories of the Church and Writings of the first Fathers are rather to be believed in the report of the Primitive State of Church-government than those of this present age A truth so cleare that a reasonable man would think it a shame to prove yet such as some bold leaders of the faction that would be thought learned too have had the face to deny Parker the late oracle of the schisme hath dared to do it in termes who speaking of the testimony of the Primitive times Park Polit. Eccles l. 2. c. â— Haecne Ecclesia illa est quae certum testimonium in causa disciplinaria praestitura nobis est Is this saith he in the high scorne and pride of his heart the Church that shall give us so sure a testimony in the cause of Discipline and every where disparaging the validity of the ancient histories preferres the present Is Eusebius mentioned who records the succession of Primitive Bishops from their first head Ibid. l. 2. c. 5. At Eusebio defuit c. But saith he Eusebius being carried away with the sway of that age wanted that golden reed which is given to the Historians of our times Apoc. 11.2 to measure the distance of times the difference of manners the inclinations of Churches and the â—rogresse and increases of the Antichristian Hierarchy c. Are any of the holy Fathers allâ—â—â—ed Alas poore men saith he they were much mistaken yet howsoever they are much beholden to him Ibid. c. 8. for saith he Non volentâ—s sed nescientes non per apostasiam aut contemptum sed per infirmitatem ignorantiam lapsi sunt Patres qui in disciplina aberrârunt The Fathers who erred in this matter of discipline did not offend out of will but out of want of knowledge not through apostasie or contempt but through infirmity and ignorance But can I now forbeare to ask who can indure to heare the braying of this proud Schismatick For the love of God deare brethren mark the spirit of these men and if you can think it a reasonable suggestion to believe that all ancient histories are false all the holy and learned Fathers of the Church ignorant and erroneous and that none ever saw or spake the truth not of doctrine onely but not of fact untill now that these men sprung up follow them and relie upon their absolute and unerring authority but if you have a minde to make use of your senses and reason and not to suffer your selves to be wilfully besotted with a blinde and absurd prejudice hate this intolerable insolence and resolve to believe that many witnesses are rather to be believed than none at all that credible judicious holy witnesses are rather to be trusted for the report of their own times than some giddy corner-creeping upstarts which come dropping in some sixteen hundred yeares after But what then will ye say to this challenge Quid autem Patres qui adversus nos c. Polit. Ecclesâ—l 2. c. 19. The Fathers saith Parker which by the favourers of Episcopacie are produced against us were for the most part Bishops so as while they speake for Episcopacie they plead for themselves Ecquis igitur eos credendos dicet Will any man therefore say they are to be believed Or will any man forbid us to appeale from them Blessed God! that any who beares the title of a Christian should have the forehead thus to argue Appeale To whom I pray To the succeeding Doctors and Fathers No they were in the same predicament to the rest of the whole Church They were governed by these leaders whither therefore can they imagine to appeale but to themselves and what proves this then but their owne case And if the Fathers may not be suffered to be our witnesses will it not become the house well that these men should now be the Fathers Iudges But the Fathers were Bishops the case was their owne true they were Bishops and it is our glory
and comfort that we have had such predecessours In vaine should we affect to be more holy and more happy than they Let them if they can produce such presidents of their parity But the case was theirs Had there been then any quarrell or Contestation against their Superiority this exception might have carried some weight but whiles there was not so much as the dreame of an opposition in the whole Christian world how could they be suspected to be partiall They wrote then according to their unanimous apprehension of the true meaning of the Scriptures and according to the certaine knowledge of the Apostolike Ordinances derived to them by the undoubted successions of their knowne predecessours Heaven may as soone fall as these evidences may faile us See then I beseech you brethren the question is whether a man may see any object better in the distance of one pace or of a furlong Whether present witnesses are more to be believed than the absent whether those which speake out of their own certaine knowledge and eye-sight or those which speake out of meere conjecture and if this judgement be not difficult I have what I would If I shall make it good that all ancient histories all testimonies of the holy Fathers of the Church of Christ are expresly for this government which we maintaine and you reject the Cause is ours §. 15. The 8th ground That those whom the ancient Church of God and all the holy Fathers of the Church have condemned for hereticall are no fit guides for us to follow in that judgment of the government for which they were so condemned EIghthly I must challenge it for an unquestionable truth that those men whom the ancient Church of God and the holy and Orthodoxe Fathers have condemned for erroneous and hereticall are not fit to be followed of us as the Authours of our opinion or practice for the government of the Church in those points for which they were censured It may fall out too oft that a man whose beliefe is sound in all other points may faile in one and proceed so farre as to second his error with contumacie The slips of the ancients are too well knowne and justly pitied but they passe as they ought for private oversights if any of them have stood out in a publike contestation as holy Cyprian did in that case of Rebaptizing the Church takes up his truth as her common stocke balkes his errour not without a commiserating censure Now if any man shall think fit to pitch upon the noted mis-opinions of the holiest authors for imitation or maintenance what can we esteeme of him but as the flye who passing by the sound parts of the skin fals upon a raw and ulcered sore And if the best Saints may not be followed in their faults how much lesse may we make choice of the examples or judgements of those who are justly branded by the whole Church for schisme or heresie What were this other than to run into the Prophets woe injustifying the wicked Esa 5.23 and taking away the righteousnesse of the righteous from them Is not hee like to make a good journey that chooses a blinde or lame guide for his way When the Spouse of Christ enquires after the place of his feeding Cant. 1.7 8. and where he maketh his flocke to rest at noone he answers her If thou know not O thou fairest among women goe thy wayes forth by the footsteps of the flocke and feed thy kids besides the shepheards tents what is his flocke but Christian soules and his shepheards but the holy and faithfull Pastors The footsteps then of this flock and the tents of these Shepheards are the best direction for any Christian soule for the search of a Saviour and of all his necessary truths To deviate from these what is it but to turne aside by the flocks of the Companions If then it shall be made to appeare that one onely branded Heretick in so many hundred yeares hath opposed the received judgement and practice of the Church concerning Episcopall government I hope no wise and sober Christian will think it safe and fit to side with him in the maintenance of his so justly exploded errour against all the Churches of the whole Christian world §. 16. The ninth ground That the accession of honourable titles and compatible priviledges makes no difference in the substance of a lawfull and holy calling NInthly It must be yeelded that the accession of honourable titles or not incompatible priviledges makes no difference in the substance of a lawfull and holy calling These things being meerely externall and adventitious can no more alter the nature of the calling than change of suits the body Neither is it otherwise with the calling than with the person whose it is The man is the same whether poore or rich The good Patriarch was the same in Potiphar's dungeon and on Pharaoh's bench Our Saviour was the same in Joseph's work-house and in the hill of Tabor Saint Paul was the same while he sate in the house with Aquila making of Tents that he was raigning in the Pulpit or disputing in the Schoole of Tyrannus As a wise man is no whit differently affected with the changes of these his outward conditions but looks upon them with the same face and manages them with the same temper so the judicious beholder indifferently esteemes them in another as being ready to give all due respects to them whom the King holds worthy of honour without all secret envie yet not preferring the Gold-ring before the poore mans richer graces valuing the calling according to its owne true worth not after the price or meanenesse of the abiliments wherewith it is cloathed If some garments be course yet they may serve to defend from cold others besides warmth give grace and comelinesse to the body there may be good use of both and perhaps one and the same vesture may serve for both purposes It is an old and sure rule in Philosophie That degrees do not diversifie the kinds of things The same fire that flashes in the Tow glowes in the Iuniper if one gold be finer than another both are gold if some pearles be fairer than other yet their kinde is the same neither is it otherwise in callings and professions We have knowne some Painters and in other Professions many so eminent that their skill hath raised them to the honour of Knighthood in the meane time their worke and calling is the same it was But what doe I go about to give light to so cleare a truth If therefore it shall be made to appeare that the Episcopacie of this Island is for substance the same with that of the first Institution by the Apostles howsoever there may have beene through the bounty of gracious Princes some additions made to it in outward dignity or maintenance The cause is ours §. 17. The tenth ground That those Scriptures whereon a new and different forme of government is raised had need
I beseech the reader in the bowels of Christ to lay most seriously to heart is the most manifestly-spick-and-spannewnesse of this devised Discipline for all wise and staid Christians have learned to suspect if not to hate noveltie in those things which are pretended to be the matters of God In matter of Evidence they are old Records that will carry is As the ancient of dayes is immutable and eternall so his truths are like him not changeable by time not decayable by age who was the father of this child I professe I know not otherwise than I have specified in my premonition to the Reader I am sure Calvin disclaimes it Calv. Epist ad SadoletuÌ„ Garâ—m Ego autem Saâ— olete c. who in his Epistle to Cardinall Sadolet hath thus I for my part professe to be one of them whom you do so hostilely in veigh against for although I was called thither i. to Geneva after the Religion was setled Tametsi enim constituta sam religione ac correcta Ecclesiae forma illuc vocatus fui quia tamen quae à Farello ac Vireto gesti erant non modò suffragio meo comprobavi sed etiam quantum in me suit conservare studueÌ„ ac confirmare separatam ab illis causam habere nequoo c and the forme of the Church corrected yet because those things which were done by Farell and Viret I did not onely by my suffrage allow but what in me lay laboured to conserve and ratifie I cannot hold my cause any whit different from theirs Thus he So as he professeth onely to be the Nurse-father of that issue which was begot by a meaner Parent It is true those other were men of note too but for ought I know as much for their exuberance of zeale as for any extraordinary worth of parts Farell indeed was called Flagellum sacrificulorum the scourge of Masse-Priests and what he did for the reformation of Religion I am as apt to acknowledge and applaud as the forwardest But that he preacht somewhere in the very streets Spâ—nhem Geneva Restituta and even Quam vis renitente magistratu in Saint Peters Church was not to be brag'd of by himselfe or his friends Fâ—emente interim an mâ—ginaÌ„ te plebe Ibid. And in his violent carriage in the animating of the people to the outing of their Bishop Pet Balms though perhaps faulty enough and the introducing of this new forme of government Natus Vapineâ— noto Delphinatus oppido Idem I wish he had lived and died in his Vapincum His Coadjutor in this worke was I perceive one Antho. Frumentius vehement young man who was set up by the people to preach upon a Fishstall and no doubt equally heartned his auditors to this tumultuous way of proceeding but then when Viret came once into the file here was at the least fervour enough The spirit of that man is well seene in his Dialogue of White Divels these were the founders of that Discipline men of eminence wee must believe but farre inferiour to Calvin who came into Geneva first as a Lecturer or Preacher and then became their Pastour insomuch as Zanchy reports when Calvin preacht at S. Peters and Viret at S. Gervases concurrent Sermons a Frenchman asked why he did not come somtimes and heare Viret Zanch. Epist ad Misc Citat in Surv. Disc answered Si veniret Sanctus Paulus qui eâdem horâ concionaretur quâ Calvinus ego relicto Paulo audirem Calvinum If Saint Paul should come and preach in the same houre with Calvin I would leave Paul and heare Calvin which was spoken like a good blasphemous zelote But it is not to be wondered at in men of such spirits Calvin Farello I told you before what Calvin himselfe writes to Farell There was one at Basil who professed to attribute non minus Farello quà m Paulo Not lesse to Farell than to Saint Paul O God whither doth mad zeale hurry men It appeares then that Farell and Viret rough-hew'd this statue which Calvin after polished wee now know Consulem ac Deim and I doubt not but some doe yet live who might know the man For me although I have not age enough to have knowne the Father of this Discipline yet one of the Godfathers of it I did know who after his peregrination in Germany and Geneva undertooke for this new-borne infant at our English Font under whose Ministrie my younger yeares were spent Trouble of the English Church at Frankfort in marg The zeale of A. G. The authour of that bitter Dialogue betwixt Miles Monopodius and Bernard Blinkard one of the hottest and busiest stickers in these quarrels at Frankfort So young is this forme of government being untill that day unheard of in the Christian world in which name Peter Ramus though a man censured for affecting innovations in Logicke and Philosophie is if we may credit his old friend Carpentarius said to dislike it and to frump it by the name of Talmud Subaudicum I cannot be ignorant of the common plea of the pretenders that so farre is this forme from novelty as that it was the most ancient and first modell of Churchr-government under the Apostles Thus they say and they alone say it All they have to say more in colour of reason for it is That the twelve Apostles themselves were all equall What then If their pretended forme were bred From thence where hath it lien hid all this while till now That they can tell you too Vnder the tyranny and usurpation of Antichrist Deare Christians I hope you now believe it that the very Apostles themselves who lived to see and act the establishment of Episcopacie would betray the Church at their parting to that man of sin That all the holy Fathers and Martyrs of the Primitive Church were either through ignorance or will guilty of this sacrilegious treachery that all the eyes of the whole world were blind till this City which was once indeed dedicated to the Sun and beares it still for her emblem inlightened them and if ye can believe these strange suggesters wonder ye at them whiles I doe no lesse wonder at you But with all give me leave to put you in mind that this is a stale plea for more vnholy opinions than one The Anabaptists when they are urged with the Churches ancient practice of baptizing of infants straight pretend that this ill guise was brought in by Popery and is aparcell of the mystery of iniquity Prolaeus Fesciculo c. the New-Arrians of our times hellish hereticks when they are pressed with the distinction of three persons in the Deity and one infinite Essence straight cry out of Antichrist and clamour that this doctrine was hatched under that secret mistery of iniquity the Father of the Familists H. N. Ibid. a worse divell if possible than they in his Evangelium Regni sings the very same note Evang. Regni for his damnable plot of doctrine and
in the town of Kirkwall The Superintendent of Rosse his Dioecesse shall comprehend Rosse Sutherland Murray and the North Isles called the Skye and Lewes with their adjacents his residence shal be the Canonry of Rosse The Superintendent of Argile his Dioecesse shall be Argile Kintire Lorne the South Isles Argile and Boot with their adjacents his residence is at Argile The like of the Superintendent of Aberdene the Superintendent of Breckin the Superintendent of Fiffe the Superintendent of Edinburgh the Superintendent of Iedburgh the Superintendent of Glasgow the Superintendent of Dumfreys all of them bounded with their severall jurisdictions which who desires to know particularly may have recourse to the learned Discourse of D Lindsey then Bishop of Brechen concerning the proceedings of the Synod of Perth Where he shall also finde the particularities of the function and power of these Superintendents Amongst the rest these That they have power to plant and erect Churches to set order and appoint Ministers in their Countreys That after they have remained in their chiefe townes three or foure moneths they shall enter into their Visitation in which they shall not onely preach but examine the life diligence and behaviour of the Ministers as also they shall trie the estate of their Churches and manners of the people They must consider how the poore are provided and the youth instructed they must admonish where admonitions need and redresse such things as they are able to appease They must note such crimes as are hainous that by the censures of the Church the same may be corrected And now what main difference I beseech you can you finde betwixt the office of these Superintendents and the present Bishops How comes it then about that the wind is thus changed That those Church-governours which your owne reformers with full consent allowed and set downe an Order for their Election in your Constitutions before the Book of Psalms in Meeter should now be cashiered There and then M. Knox himselfe whose name you professe to honour by the publike authority of the Church conceives publike prayer for M. Iohn Spotteswood then admitted Superintendent of Lothian in these words O Lord send upon this our Brother unto whom we doe in thy name commit the chiefe charge of the Churches of the division of Lothian such a portion of thy holy Spirit as that c. And in the name of the Church blesseth his new Superintendent thus God that hath called thee to the office of a watchman over his people multiply the gifts of his grace in thee c. Now I beseech you how is this Superintendency lost That which was then both lawfull and usefull and confessed for no other then a calling from God is it now become sinfull and odious Are we become so much wiser and more zealous than our first reformers as there is distance betwixt a Superintendent and no Bishop But what is it the stroake the Bishops have in government and their seat in Parliament which is so great an eye-sore Let me put you in mind that your greatest patrons of your desired Discipline have strongly motioned an Ecclesiasticall Commission for the over-looking and over-ruling your Consistories and even when they would have Bishops excluded both out of those Comitiall Sessions Moved also to the Lords of the Counsell in Q Eliz. time by the humble Mot. and out of the Church yet have moved such was Beza's device long since for Scotland That in the place of Bishops there might be present in the Parliament-house some wise and grave Ministers of speciall gifts and learning sorted out of all the land to yeeld their Counsell according to Gods heavenly Law even as the Civill Iudges are ready to give their advice according to the temporall Law and for matters of greater difficulty What a world is this Grave and wise Ministers and yet no Bishops Doth our Episcopacie either abolish our Ministery or detract ought from wisdome and gravity Away with this absurd partiality But these must be to advise not to vote in any case beware of that where then is the third estate Beza's Counsell we see is yet alive but it comes not home to the purpose Welfare that bold Supplicator to Q. Elizabeth which moved that foure and twenty Doctors of Divinity to be called by such names as should please her Highnesse might be admitted into the Parliament House and have their voices there instead of the Bishops O impotent envie of poore humorists Doctors but no Bishops Any men any names but theirs the old word is Love creepes where it cannot goe How much are we beholden to these kinde friends who are so desirous to ease us of these unproper secularities Even ours at home can nibble at these as they think ill-placed honours and services yours goe alas too roundly to worke striking at the root of their Episcopacie not pruning off some superfluous twigs of priviledge rather than not strike home not caring whom they hit in the way would God I might not say even the Lords Anointed whom they verbally professe to honour at whose sacred Crowne and Scepter if any of the sons of Belial amongst you do secretly aime whiles they stalke under the pretence of opposition to Episcopacie the God of heaven find them out and powre upon them deserved confusion But for you alas Brethren what hopes can I conceive that these pre-judged papers can have any accesse to your eyes much lesse to your hearts my very Title is barre too much But if any of you will have so much patience as to admit these lines to your perusall I shall beseech him for Gods sake and for his own to be so farre indifferent also as not upon groundlesse suggestion to abandon Gods Truth and Ordinance and out of meere opinion of the worth of some late Authour to adore an Idoll made of the earings of the people and fashioned out with the graving toole of a supposed skilfull Aaron Shortly after these poore well-meant howsoever I doubt ineffectuall endeavours my prayers shall not be wanting for your comfortable peace loyall obedience perfect happinesse Oh that the God of heaven would open your eyes that you may see the truth and compare what you have done with what you should doe how soone would you finde cause to retract your own decrees and to re-establish that true Ordinance of the living God which you have beene mis-induced to abandon §. 9. An exhortary conclusion to our brethren at home ANd for you my dearely beloved Brethren at home For Christs sake for the Churches sake for your soules sake be exhorted to hold fast to this holy Institution of your blessed Saviour and his unerring Apostles and blesse God for Episcopacie Doe but cast your eyes a little back and see what noble instruments of Gods glory he hath beene pleased to raise up in this very Church of ours out of this sacred vocation What famous servants of God what strong Champions of Truth and renowned Antagonists of Rome and her superstitions what admirable Preachers what incomparable Writers yea what constant and undaunted Martyrs and Confessours men that gave their blood for the Gospell and imbraced their fagots flaming which many gregarie Professours held enough to carry cold and painlesse To the wonder and gratulation of all forraigne Churches and to the unparallelable glory of this Church and Nation I could fill this page with such a Catalogue of them who are now in their heaven that come for the present to my thoughts besides those Worthies yet living both here and in Ireland who would be unwilling from my pen tO blush at their owne just praises as might justly shame and silence any gaine-sayer After that a malicious Libeller hath spit out all his poyson against Episcopacie and raked together out of all histories all the insolencies and ill offices which have in former ages been done by professedly Popish Prelates which do almost as much concerne us as all the Treasons and Murders of formerly male-contented persons can concerne him faine would I have him shew me what Christian Church under heaven hath in so short a time yeelded so many glorious Lights of the Gospell so many able and prevalent adversaries of Schisme and Antichristianisme so many eminent Authours of learned workes which shall out-bid time it selfe let envie grinde her teeth and eat her heart the memory of these worthy Prelates shall be ever sweet and blessed Neither doubt I but that it will please God out of the same rod of Aaron still to raise such blossomes and fruit as shall win him glory to all eternity Go you on to honour these your reverend Pastors to hate all factious withdrawings from that government which comes the nearest of any Church upon earth to the Apostolicall And that I may draw to Conclusion for the farther Confirmation of your good Opinion of the Bishops of your Great Britaine heare what Iacobus Lectius Iacob Lectius Prascriptionum Theologicarum l. 2. Nota. 2. the learned Civilian of Geneva in his Theologicall Prescriptions dedicated to the Consuls and Senate of Geneva saith of them De Episcoporum autem vestorum vocatione c. As for the calling of your Bishops saith he speaking to his Popish adversaries others have accurately written thereof and we shortly say that they have a show of an Ordinary Ministery but not the thing it selfe and that those onely are to be held for true and legitimate which Paul describes to us in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus Cujusmodi olim in magno illo Britanniarum regno extitisse atque etiamnum superesse subindeque eligi Episcopos non diffitemur Such kind of Bishops as we doe not deny but yeeld to have been of old and to be still at this day successively elected in the great Kingdome of Britaine Thus he when Geneva it selfe pleades for us why should we be our owne adversaries Let me therefore confidently shut up all with that resolute word of that blessed Martyr and Saint Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all things be done to the honour of God Give respect to your Bishop as you would God should respect you My soule for theirs which obey their Bishop Presbyters Deacons God grant that my portion may be the same with theirs And let my soule have the same share with that blessed Martyr that said so Amen FINIS