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A43681 The spirit of popery speaking out of the mouths of phanatical-Protestants, or, The last speeches of Mr. John Kid and Mr. John King, two Presbyterian ministers, who were executed for high-treason and rebellion at Edinburgh, August the 14th, 1679 with animadversions, and the history of the Archbishop of St. Andrews his murder, extracted out of the registers of the Privy-Council, &c. / by an orthodox Protestant. Hickes, George, 1642-1715.; Kid, John, d. 1679.; King, John, d. 1679. 1680 (1680) Wing H1874; ESTC R6348 165,592 93

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are obliged by our Religion not to Worship Daemons nor approach their Altars which are polluted with Blood Thou hast Commanded us to Sacrifice or every Tenth Man of us shall be put to Death Know assuredly that we are all Christians who as to our Bodies are thy Subjects but not as to our Souls which now look up to the Founder of our Religion Christ. Afterwards Exuperius the Standard-Bearer spoke unto them thus You see Fellow-Soldiers I bear the Eagle the Sign of Secular War but it is not to these Arms that I desire to provoke you nor in War of this nature That I would have you shew your Valour but in another way of Combating by which and not by your Swords you shall win the Kingdom of Heaven He left also this Message to be sent to the Emperor That Desperation which made all other men Valiant in Dangers could not prevail with them to use their Arms against his Majesty who had refused to Resist with their Swords in their hands because they had rather Die than get an unlawful Victory and perish in Innocency than Survive in Sin All which shews First That Passive Obedience is no Chimaera but a real Notion Secondly That it is the indispensible Duty of all Christians when they are Persecuted by Authority and Thirdly That it is so far from justifying Rebellion as the Author of Behem foolishly Asserts That it is the only Doctrine which can keep Subjects who are really Persecuted and Oppressed or phansie themselves to be so from Rebelling against their Sovereign and therefore the Popish and Presbyterian Jesuits who love to have it in their Power to trouble the Government of Christian Monarchs declare it to be as great a Sin as active Obedience to their unlawful Commands And now when all Sects whereof some are not Chistians with great confidence call themselves Protestants upon the account of their Opposition No Orthodon Protestants who deny the Doctrine of Passive Obedience whether real or pretended to Popery I freely declare That none of them are or ought to be esteemed so in a strict and Orthodox sence but such as Profess the Doctrine of Passive Obedience as strictly as it was both Professed and Practised in the Primitive Catholick Church Nay furthermore seeing there are some common Maxims of Christian Divinity which were always professed by the Church Universal for undoubted Truths although they are not set down expressly neither in the Scriptures nor in the Apostles Creed and the truth of which were never questioned but by some few Hereticks who had no proportion to the rest I also assert That no Man nor Society of Men how Antipapistical soever they may be ought to be looked upon as Orthodox Protestants unless they profess these common Notions of Christianity without the Belief and Profession of which none could be counted Orthodox Christians in the Primitive Catholick Church These common Principles wherein all Christian Churches agreed are these That the Scriptures are the Word of God That there are Three distinct Persons in the holy Trinity the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and that these Three † That Infant are to be Baptized are one God That Christ is both God and Man in the same Person That the Lords-Day or First Day of every Week ought to be kept Holy That a Solemn Yearly Commemoration of the Passion Resurrection and Ascention of our Lord and of the Descent of the Holy Ghost ought to be Observed and that the Church Universal is to be Governed by Bishops above and distinct from Presbyters There never was any Church from the Apostles and downwards for above Fourteen hundred Years which did not consent to the Truth of These and some other Doctrines and look upon them as the common Notions of the Christian Religion delivered down from its first Original with the Articles of Christian Faith And therefore as no Arrian Photinian Sabbatarian or Aerian how Opposite soever they were to the Jews and Heathens the common Enemies of Christianity were admitted for truly Catholick or Orthodox Christians in the Primitive times but were Condemned and Anathematized for Hereticks The true not on of Protestancy so now no Society of Antiscripturists Antitrinitarians Socinians Antidominicans for I will not call them Antisabbatarians Antipaedobaptists Antiepiscoparians of what Denomination soever and likewise no Society of men professing the Observation of the Apostolical Holy-days to be Superstitious and Idolatrous how opposite soever they pretend to be to the common Enemie of the Reformed Churches ought not to be considered as Orthodox Protestants who by that name are understood to Protest against the Errors Innovations Corruptions and Usurpations of the Romish but not against the Common Doctrines of the Primitive Catholick Church the Lord. And that I Preached at Field-Meetings which is the other ground of my Sentence I am so far from acknowledging that the Gospel Preached that way is a Rendezvouzing in Rebellion as it is so termed that I bless the Lord that ever counted me worthy to be Witness of such Meetings which have been wonderfully Countenanced and owned not only to the x The Delusion of many Thousands as their numerous Field-Meetings do shew Conviction but even to the Conversion of many Thousands yea I do y I observed before That the Covenant-Preachers are apt to speak mighty things of their Party So Naphtali speaking of the Covenanted-Army which rebelled at Pentland-Hills 1666. saith That there hath not been in Britain such another Company of men joyned in Arms for the Covenant and Cause of God for sound Judgment true Piety Integrity of Heart Fervent Zeal undaunted Courage c. Whereas they were for the most part Crack-Brained men of broken Fortunes and such as had been processed for Fornications and Adulteries as all those who went to Christs Standard out of the Parishes of Kilmarnock and Phimus were known to be being in all Twenty Persons And if any man will take the pains to enquire into their Morals they will find this Sect to be one of the wickedest People not only for Treason Schism and Rebellion but for Sensual Sins and Abominations that ever professed the name of Christ. They use all manner of Care and Secrecy to Conceal their Wickedness but yet so many undeniable Stories of their Privy Pranks are come to Light as make them the Scandal of the Christian name Lysimach Nicanor First Edition page 79. Tells us of one Andrew Lesly who forsook Ireland to come and take the Covenant after which he immediately left his own Wife to live with a Whore the Daughter of an holy Sister at Edinburgh who Blasphemously said That her Child was fallen into an holy Fornication with a Brother not out of Lust but Love and therefore resolved That she should not Confess it lest the Gospel should be Scandalized and that it was better to fall into the hands of God by False-Swearing than to fall into the hands of men by Confessing the Fact which appeared
authority of Bishops to be above and distinct from that of Presbyters and also a Divine Institution For in his Catalog Script Ecclesiast 3. † Gal. 1. 18. 19. Acts 12. 17. Gal. 2. 12. Acts 21. 18. Acts 15. Jacobus frater Domini cognomento Justus post passionem Domini statim ab Apostolis Hierosolymorum Episcopus ordinatus Hegesippu● vicinus Apostolicorum temporum in quinto commentariorum libro de Jacobo narrans ait Suscepit Ecclesiam Hierosolymae post Apostolos frater Domini Jacobus cognomento Justus 11 Timotheus autem † Euseb. l. 3. c. 4. Ephesiorum Episcopus ordinatus à beato Paulo 12 Titus Episcopus Cretae 27 Polycarpus Johannis Apostoli discipulus ab eo Smyrnae Episcopus ordinatus totius Asiae princeps fuit Com. in Galat. 1. 19. Paulatim procedente tempore alii ab his quos dominus elegerat ordinati sunt Apostoli sicut ille ad Philippenses sermo declarat dicens necessarium existimavi Epaphroditum Here he asserts That the Apostles who were chosen by Christ Ordained other Apostles as Epaphroditus Phil. 2. 25. and Mark Catal. Script Eccles. 15. Marcus discipulus interpres Petri primus Alexandriae Christum annuncians Bishops proved to be a distinct Order from Presbyters constituit Ecclesiam And Prooem in Matth. Marcus interpres Petri Apostoli Alexandrinae Ecclesiae primus Episcopus Here by the way it may be observed in answer to NAKED TRUTH That St. Hierom saith That such and such persons were Ordained Bishops by the Apostles and surely in saying so he meaneth that they had a new Ordination distinct from that of Presbyters for it 's most reasonable to suppose that the Father used the word in the signification it had in his own time when and long before there was a distinct Ordination of Bishops by a new imposition of hands by three Persons of the Episcopal Order So in Euseb. l. 6. c. 4. 3. Cornelius Bishop of Rome Anno Dom. 255. writes to Fabius touching the Ordination of Novatianus Hosce tres accitos Episcopos manuum impositione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Episcopatum ei dare coegit And the same Bishop to St. Cyprian Epist. 46. Tantummodo circumductos se quoque commisisse schismatica ut paterentur ei manus qu●si in Episcopum imponi And Cyprian Epist. 68. plainly distinguishes the Ordinations of Bishops Priests and Deacons each from other Nec hoc in Episcoporum tantum Sacerdotum sed in diaconorum ordinationibus observâsse Apostolos animadvertimus and afterwards Ut ad ordinationes ritè celebrandas ad eam plebem cui Praepositus ordinatur Episcopi ejusdem provinciae proximi quique conveniant Episcopus deligatur plebe praesente quae singulorum vitam plenissimè novit uniuscujusque actum de ejus conversatione perspexit quod apud vos factum videmus in Sabini Collegae nostrae ordinatione ut de universae fraternitatis suffragio de Episcoporum qui in praesentiâ convenerant quique de eo ad vos literas f●cerant judicio Episcopatus ei deferretur manus ei in locum Basilidis imponerentur See also Cyprian Epist. 52. and Eusebius l. 5. c. 6. of the like Ordinations and Can. 1. and 2 Apost Episcopi à duobus vel tribus Episcopis ordinentur Presbyter ab uno ordinetur diaconus reliqui clerici From all which it is plain that Bishops before St. Hierom's time had a different Ordination from Presbyters and if so then the new Ordination must infer a new Authority and the same Authority which this Father understood to have been conferred on Timothy and Titus Bishops by the Apostles the same he understands to have been conferred on Polycarp and Epaphroditus and the other Bishops and hence it appears that That notion of Blondels which Mr. Baxter hugs so much in his Nonconformists plea of the Senior Presbyter's being a Bishop without new Ordination is a meer Phancy and Shift But to go on with St. Hierom in the conclusion of his Epist. to Evagrius which the Presbyterians rely so much upon Ut sciamus traditiones Apostolicas sump●as de veteri testamento quod Aaron filii ejus atque Levitae in templo fuerunt hoc sibi Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi in Ecclesiâ sibi vendicent Epist ad Nepotianum esto subjectus Pontifici tuo quasi animae parentem suscipe quod Aaron filios ejus hoc Episcopum Presbyteros esse noverimus and Epist 54. speaking of the Bishops of his own Age he saith Apud nos Apostolorum locum tenent Episcopi And in Psalm 45. 16. Nunc quia Apostoli à mundo recesserunt habes pro his Episcopos filios sicut hi patres tui quia ab ipsis regeris And Epist. 1. ad Heliodor speaking of the Modern Bishops he saith Stant loco Pauli tenent locum Petri and Epist. ad Riparium adversus Vigilantium Miror Sanctum Episcopum in cujus parochiâ esse presbyter dicitur acquiescere furori ejus non Virgâ Apostolica confrigere vas inutile tradere in interitum carnis Here he plainly asserts the Bishops Apostolical Rod or Authority in Excommunicating a Presbyter and by that expression Quid enim facit exceptâ ordinatione Episcopus quod presbyter non faciat he asserts That only Bishops had power of Ordination and from this Expression compared with the † Those who desire to see more may consult Dr. Hammond di●●ert 2. Cap. 29. forecited passages I appeal to any Presbyterian in the World whether they think that this Father durst have undertaken to have Ordained a Presbyter himself or durst have owned any Presbyter for such made such only by the Imposition of Presbyters hands Nay in this very Epistle Ad Evagr. he saith That the Greatness or Littleness Richness or Poverty of Diocesses makes not one Bishop above another but that they are all Ejusdem Meriti sacerdotii Apostolorum Successores And in his Prooem to St. Matth. speaking of St. Johns Gospel he saith The Apostle wrote it against the Cerinthians and Ebionites Coactus ab omnibus pene tunc Asiae Episcopis multarum Ecclesiarum legationibus The truth is this Father being offended at the arrogance of the Deacons of his time and especially of those of Rome wrote this Epistle to E●agrius Contra eos qui diaconum Presbytero aequabant and had no ill design at all upon the Apostolical or Episcopal Office but only he scrued up the dignity of the Priests Office to as high a pitch as he could which made him contradictory to himself in asserting the original Identity of Bishops and Presbyters in that Epist. and his Commentaries upon Titus 1. 5. where he writes Idem est ergo Presbyter Episcopus antequam diaboli instinctu Schismata in religione fierent dicerent in populis ego sum Pauli ego Apollo ego autem Cephae communi Presbyterorum consilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur postquam vero unusquisque
but says nothing by way of contrition for his Treasons Schisms and Rebellions which is in plain English Pharise-like to swallow a Cammel and strain at a Gnat. of Duty I have not wanted my own sinful infirmities and weakness So that I may justly say I have no righteousness of my own all is like filthy Rags But g What Episcopal Protestant doth not think himself bound to bless God upon the same account or doth not believe the same things of Jesus Christ or hath not the same trust and affiance in him though I hope better grounded than his is but he must make himself talk at this rate to insinuate to the People that he Suffered for preaching these Gospel-Truths blessed be God that there is a Saviour and an Advocate Jesus Christ the righteous and I do believe that Jesus Christ is come into the World to save Sinners of whom I am the chief and that through Faith in his Righteousness I have obtained Mercy and that through him and him only I desire to have a happy and glorious Victory over Sin Satan Hell and Death and that I shall attain unto the Resurrection of the Just and be partaker of Eternal Life I know in whom I have believed that h By citing part of this passage 2 Tim. 1. 12. he Jesuitically insinuates as if the whole were applicable to him and by consequence that he Suffered for the same cause as the Apostle did viz. for Preaching of the Gospel For the Verse begins thus For the which Cause I also suffer these things nevertheless I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him he means either his Preaching or the Rebellious People to whom he Preached against that day as if he were put to Death for Preaching and they were persecuted for hearing the Gospel Preached he is able to keep that which I have committed to him against that day I i And do not Protestant-Bishops and their Clergy Preach Salvation in Christs name and Christs alone have in my poor Capacity Preached Salvation through his Name and as I have Preached so do I believe and with all my Soul I have Commended and yet I do Commend to all of you the riches of k See note i in the first Speech his free Grace and Faith in his name as the alone and only way whereby ye can be saved It may be many may think but I bless the Lord without any l Is there then no sollid ground to believe that a man who Blasphemously Preached Rebellion in the name of God and who preached it in Assemblies of Armed men in the Fields and who preached those Assemblies into a Marching Army and who Marched himself along with them in Arms I say is there no sollid ground to believe that such a man Suffered as an Evil Doer and not as a Martyr for Christ solid ground that I Suffer not as an Evil Doer and as a busie Body in other ●ens matters but I reckon not much upon that having the Testimony of my Conscience for it was the m Is it not great Blasphemy in this Traitor to compare his Lot first with the Lot of Christ who was put to Death for asserting that he was Messias and the Son of God And 2ly with the Lot of his faithful Witnesses who were put to Death by the Jews for maintaining that Jesus whom they had Crucified was the Messias and that God had Raised him from the Dead and had made him the only Mediator betwixt God and Man and that Salvation was to be had in no other name but his And likewise Suffered by the Gentiles for preaching against Idolatry declaring unto them That God who made Heaven and Earth was the only true God and that Jesus whom the Jews Crucified was raised from the Dead and was the great piacle for the sins of the World c. For which of these Truths or for what other Article of the Creed or for what Doctrine of the Gospel professed by the Catholick Church did this Blasphemer Suffer that he durst compare his Lot to that of Christ and the primitive Christians It is not the Suffering but the cause for which any man Suffers that can justify such a parallel otherwise all Malefactors might take the confidence to Baspheme as well as this Traitor and his Brethren who pretend to suffer for Christ and be conformed unto him in his Sufferings when they are put to Death for most Hainous crimes So that Execrable wretch † In Ravilla● Redivivus Mitchel declared in the Speech which he threw among the Spectators That he died a Witness for Christs despised Truth and Interest which God called him to seal with his Blood So Naphtali page 226. brings in those who were hanged at Edinburgh Decemb. 7. 1666. for the Rebellion at P●●tland-hills speaking thus We are Condemned by Men but this is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Conscience that we Suffer not as Evil Doers but for Righteousness for the Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus Christ. Would you know the Righteousness for which they Suffered It was their Covenant the Presbyterian Government and the Supremacy of the King in Sion Things and notions which the Primitive Christians never knew nor heard of nor whereof one title is to be found in their Writings or in the Word of God Lot of our blessed Lord himself and also the Lot of many of his eminent and precious Servants and People to Suffer by the World as Evil Doers yea I think it I have so far ground not to scare at such a Lot that I count it my Non-such honour and Oh what am I that I should have been honoured so when so many Worthies have n If the Worthies of the cause pant after this incomparable honour why doth not their mighty zeal and ambition render them impatient like some of the Primitive Christians who not being able to stay till God called them presented themselves before the criminal Tribunals fearing lest they might want an opportunity to dye for the name of Christ. Did the Covenanters so pant after the honour of Martyrdom we should see the Rebels render themselves in Troops to Authority and here men not Arraigned cry out in the chamber of criminal Justice and we were at Bothwel-Bridge we should see them throng to bear their Testimony at the Cross or in the Grass-Market of Edinburgh where Mr. Welsh hath foretold and I hope in this he is a true Prophet that he must glorifie God panted after the like and have not come at it and my Soul rejoyceth in being brought to a Conformity with my blessed Lord and Head and so blessed a Company in this way and Lot And I desire to pray that I may not be to any of you to day upon this account a o In the Scripture every thing or Person that is an occasion of a
King of his Church and with a sweet serenity of Soul have had confidence to offer their thanks to Him for being helped to witness a good Confession against the wickedness of this Invasion made by the Overtures o● his work upon his Royal Prerogative who built the House and must bear the Glory for it was either then or never that it was to have been done Secondly Let me ask Are they so very clear and confident in the case as they can not only in dealing with men hold up their face and affirm without hinck or hesitation that this is their rejoyceing even the testimony of their Conscience that in simplicity and Godly sincerity not with fleshly wisdom but the Grace of God they have had their Conversation before all men and more abundantly towards these backsliding Rulers before whom they appeared now declared Enemies to the Work of God and Invaders of His Throne and Prerogative But are they also content to be carried before the Tribunal of Christ with this acceptance from those who have exautorat their Lord and Master in their hand and to have the quality of their Love to the coming of His Kingdom and their Loyalty to Christ Jesus now opposed and put from the exercise of his Royal Government by the Party Indulging in this very Indulgence tri●d by such a Test It were fit sure to think on this and lay it to heart for each receiver may lay his count with it that soon or syne he shall be put to it Thirdly Let me ask though I put it out of doubt they do and far be it from me to think otherwise whether they believe that Christ who purchased His Church and bought his Crown with His precious Blood lives also to make Intercession and to plead his own Purchase and Procure by vertue of the Price He hath payed the execution of the written Vengeance upon all who will strive with him for State and Supremacy in ordering the Affairs of his House the Church of the living God or who will in their desperate dareing and rage revost and exautorat Him by their Law which is a legal and explicit bursting of His Bonds casting away His Cords from them and in contempt of and Contradiction to the Christ of God a formal taking of His house in Possession as our Rulers have done to the out-doing in this affront to Jesus Christ all that ever went before them or as if they were resolved never to be out-done by any who should come after them in a copeing with the Mediator and a down-right denial of Him to be King for now they have put Caesar in his Place sure the Indulged Brethren neither can nor will deny this Then they must give me leave to assert and subsume what hath been as oft upon my Soul as I thought upon their carriage at that appearance yea if they speak consequently to the supposed concession they must agree with me in it That with the same objective assurance I believe the Right that Christ hath bought to be Sole and Supream in regulating all the Affairs of His own House to have none to share with Him in the Autocratorick Architectonick and Magisterial Power of making Laws to oblige the Conscience of His Subjects nor to be in case to give a Ministerial Power besides himself And as I believe the firmness of the stipulation betwixt Jehovah and his Anointed to secure unto him his Throne and take Vengeance on all His Adversaries and as I belives he lieve to make Intercession so I must believe also that at that very instant when the Indulged stood before the Council and by their mouth made such a Harangue The Mediator who is set down at the right hand of God was interceeding and pleading by His Blood by His Wounds and Passion for the Execution of the purchased and promised Vengeance upon such who by the complex of this very deed in a defiance to the everlasting Decree whereby his Throne is Established declared they had taken unto themselves His House in Possession Ah my dear Brethren can the thoughts of such a discord and discrepancy betwixt His Intercession in Heaven and your Harangueing on Earth enter into your Soul and I give you the defiance to enter into the serious thoughts of the matter and hold them out or be reflected upon without Terrour Trembling Confusion of face Shame and Astonishment Now my reverend and very dear Brethren may I not upon this occasion make bold to fall upon you as prostrat and with the tear in mine Eye for I have confidence to say it I scarce see my Paper while by my Pen I make this Address unto you humbly and earnestly beg of you request beseech and obtest you for your blessed and glorious Masters sake who is now Crucified again amongst us from whose Head the Crown is taken for His Churches sake whereof he hath made you Ministers and so magnified you amongst men in sending you into the World under the Character of his Ambassadors for your poor broken hearted and bleeding Brethrens sake as ever you would be amongst the restorers of our breaches as ever you would again be as some of you were in times past as the Chariots and Horsemen of Israel as ever you would wish to be brought again to keep Viz. Parochial or Kirk-Sessions Presbyteries Synods and General Assemblier his Courts and to Judge his House and when that work is over to have a Place amongst them that stand by as you would not be the occasion of the rupture and utter ruine of the small remnant for God and all good and understanding-men will refound this distracting and remnant-destroying Division that is amongst us upon this Indulgence as you tender the good of the Posterity and would give an unquestionable evidence how intensely you desire that Jesus Christ may Reign and Rule without a competitor when you are gone As you love to live at peace with God and enjoy as feeding Pastors and faithful Witnesses to your Lord a sweet serenity of Soul Nay as ever you expect to go off the stage in good terms with God and have your Masters welcom of well done good and faithful Servants and be emolled when you are gone amongst the Confessors of his name and holders fast of the word of his Testimony and such as had obtained mercy to be valiant for the truth Let me I say upon all these and many other accounts make bold to beseech you without more debate without more delay to deliver your selves to deliver the Church to deliver your wounded weeping and overwhelmed Brethren and to deliver the Posterity from the snare of that Cause-Destroying Church-Ruining Remnant-Dividing Indulgence A Jesuitical Letter sent to the Covenanters in the West of Scotland who lately Rebelled I Have been much surprised to hear that almost all the Suffering Ministers of Scotland of late for formerly I never heard nor dreamed of such a thing begin to speak in favour of this Indulgence which to me ever