his action but rather to be charged upon the ignorance that was in him nothing that a man doth being in moral equity and fairness of construction chargeable upon him as his action but onely what his will and as far as his will was consenting unto in the doing of it according to that of the Apostle who is not wont to flatter himself or to extenuate or deny his sinful infirmities at any time Now if I do that which I WOVLD NOT it is NO MORE I that do it but sin that dwelleth in me Rom. 6. 20. Yet further the Ministers of whom we now speak by whom much real good was done to the souls of many in the Nation applyed themselves wholly and intirely to the work of Christ in preaching the Gospel and did not make merchandize of the word of God bywresting or perverting it at any time as if it any where spake to the heart of the Prelatique Interest or recommended any such Officer or Ruler unto the Church of Christ as a Prelate or Bishop in the by-sense or high sense of the word or gave him power to obtrude what and what numbers of Ceremonies and Apocryphal prayers and prayers only so called he pleased upon the people of God as well Ministers as others upon severe penalties to be inflicted on those whose Consciences were not wide enough to swallow them Now such Ministers who though having received their Office from Prelates yet shall in the course and work of their Ministry wholly and constantly wave and decline their cause from the one end of it to the other never opening their mouths to cast respects either upon their Office or any thing that hath so much as one lineament of their Image or one letter of their Superscription upon it and instead hereof shall zealously and faithfully preach up Jesus Christ in the glory of all his Offices as the Gospel asserteth and declareth them which consequentially is the preaching down of Prelacy as the bringing in of the Ark of God unto Dagon's Temple was the downfal and destruction of that Idol such Ministers I say that shall quit themselves in the way of their Ministry upon such termes as these do constructively and in effect and with as much advantage to the glory of God and edification of men renounce their Prelatical Ordination as if they should do it more litterally and formally So then all things weighed in the ballance of equity the Ministers unto whom God gave the honour to triumph in Christ as the Apostle's phrase is 2 Cor. 2. 14. and by whom to make manifest the savour of his knowledge amongst the Inhabitants of this Nation were not Ministers of a Prelatical Ordination in any compleat direct or thorough sence of the denomination but only in some such mysterious and obscure notion as that wherein the Beast is termed the Beast which is not and yet is Rev. 17. 8. They that were roundly right down without any abatement or need of explication such have amongst them in matters of true Religion sound knowledge and piety towards God reduced the generality of the Nation to a morsel of Bread All those Idolatrous and Superstitious conceits and practises all that bloody ignorance and prophanesse all that customary boldness in sinning that hatred of goodness and good men which are the nakedness and shame of the Land and render it obnoxious to divine displeasure may justly call this Generation of men either Fathers or Foster Fathers or both Argument V. Many learned and good men have been and many such at this day are very confident that ordination by Bishops in the high sense of the word is regularly founded on the Scriptures yea and that there can be no lawful or true Minister any where created where there is not the hand of such a Bishop to sanctifie the action and to raise it to that worth and dignity that it may be meet to yeild the sacred fruits of a Gospel-Ministry And it is generally known and acknowledged that Ordination of Ministers by Bishops in the upper signification of the word hath been very antiently and for many ages by-past practised in the Church scarce any man questioning or contradicting it Therefore why should the hearing of such ministers be now censured as unlawful Answer This Argument calleth for the consideration of sundry particulars for it's full and due satisfaction Others many have largely and substantially answered all that is pretended and pleaded from the Scripture in the behalf either of the Order or Office of Bishops in the sence of the word lately specified or of their Sole power of Ordination So that as unto these I shall be very cursory and brief chiefly pointing at the heads of some few Considerations whereby it will be made manifest that although all that the Argument saith and pretendeth unto should be granted as true yet all will signifie little or nothing as to the proof of what is intended Therefore 1. Learning is very neer of kin unto knowledge if it be not the same Now knowledge though it be a very useful and commendable endowment yet it hath one bad property which the Apostle himself taketh and giveth notice of 1 Cor. 1. 8. it puffeth up that is it is apt to lift men up into a confident conceit that there is more worth in them than in deed and in truth there is Neither will a very good degree of goodness in the same subject at many turns and in many cases prevent the operation of this evil property upon it Learned and knowing men though good men will too frequently assume more unto themselves than by the assignment of God or good reason cometh to their share The Apostle Paul plainly signifieth that God knew that he would have been exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations vouchsafed unto him if the excessive heat of his propension in this kind had not been corrected and allayed by a Messenger of Sathan sent and given unto him to buffet him 2 Cor. 12. 7. 2. When men of learning and knowledge more than ordinary shall reflect upon their own worth in this kind and hold intelligence with their great parts and abilities as the best of men thus accomplished are apt to do witness the great Apostle Paul himself who told the Corinthians that though he was rude in speech meaning as they thought and talked of him yet not in KNOWLEDGE 2 Cor. 11. 6. See also Eph. 3. 4. especially when they shall be conceited withal that their line of knowledge and understanding is raised higher than really it is which is a weaknesse frequently incident to the strongest of this Geration they are precipitately disposed to presume as our former translation read it or to be wise or to favour as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oft signifieth above that which is written 1 Cor. 4. 6. and so to embrace sometimes and to assert with great confidence such notions and tenents for truths which the Word of Truth diligently
used in these dayes and the sacrifice of the wicked being an abomination unto the Lord as the Prayer of the upright is his delight Prov. 15. 8. we have but a quick-sand for a foundation of any hope that Ministers Prelaticall ordained are sent forth unto the great work of the Gospel with a blessing and not rather under a curse Besides suppose we for argument sake that our Lord Bishops and their Chaplains who are the great if not the only doers in the Solemnities of their Ordination were lovers of God indeed and no wayes disaffected against persons truly holy and conscientious yet the Ministers ordained by them not being to serve or minister unto them in the most important affairs of their souls it is not like that their prayers for them or for the blessing of God upon their labours in preaching would be in any degree so effectually fervent as the prayers wherewith the Ministers who are by the particular Churches of the Saints chosen to serve them in the high concernments of their eternal salvation are by them solemnly assembled with prayer and fasting for the purpose presented unto God in the day of their Ordination That Charity is rate which keepeth not her self warmer at home than abroad CONSIDERATION XI Many who at first intended nothing more in hearing the Ministers we speak of but their own Christian Edification and Comfort and nothing lesse than to become Proselytes to their dead forms of imposed worship or to comport with them in their detestable things Ezek. 7. 20. I mean their Fanatick Ceremonies or to approve of their Hierarchical Mission into the Vineyard of Christ c. yet by a frequent and familiar converse with them in their Ministry have in time and some in a very short time been so transformed in their Judgements Consciences as to swallow all these Camels without straining and to make one spirit with them in all their Antichristian Principles and Practices The heat of that pleasure and contentment which we sometimes take in the commendable and worthy sayings or doings of men proves a snare unto us to fall in with them in sayings and doings of a contrary import and which are of a very dangerous if not destructive consequence unto us so that in this sense it is not only true that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evil homilies or discourses as the Apostle expresses himself with the heathen Poet 1 Cor. 15. 33. but even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good and worthy communications many times occasionally and from some kind of men corrupt good manners The unsound and rootten Doctrines of the Pharisees as of the Sadduces also were it seems of a leavening nature apt to Spread and to insinuate themselves into the minds and judgements and affections of men Our Saviour himself declareth this unto us partly by comparing them unto leaven but more plainly by admonishing the people yea his Disciples themselves over and over to look to themselves that they were not ensnared with them Then Jesus said unto them TAKE HEED and BEWARE of the leaven of the Pharisees c. Mat. 16. 6. See also Mark 8. 15. Now one main reason why their evil and unsound Doctrines were so catching and likely by little and little to gain in the approbations and consents of their Hearers was in all probability their frequent teachings and zealous pressings of many wholesome and savory Doctrines and Truths according to the tenour and true intent of Moses's Law for as many an Horse that is unserviceable and worth little by reason of some grand defect that is not easily discerned is yet bought and sold at a considerable rate Quod pulchri clunes breve quod caput ardua cervix by reason of some features that are curiously commendable in them In like manner many a mans Ministry may be approved swallowed root and branch head and tail by the brokery and mediation of some choice Sermons or points of Doctrine managed and handled effectually or however to the high contentment of the Hearer although this Ministry taken in the whole body or course of it be not so well and safely calculated for the saving of the Soul I have heard of and in in part known some to whom when they first became hearers of the Prelatical Clergy their imposed Common-Prayer their lumber of Ceremonies their Hierarchy with all their implements and trinkets c. were Hey Stabble and Wood yea or rather Dung and Filthiness who notwithstanding by the droppings of the tongues of these men into their ears became after no long time neither so bewitched in their Judgments and Consciences that all these were conceited by them as Silver Gold and precious Stones Good words are oft-times too hard for good meanings and lead men honestly disposed into a snare nor is there any Method more commodious or promising unto men whose design it is to work sober and good men out of a love and liking of some part of those Truths which at present they believe then by giving them their fill of satisfaction and contentment in some others of them CONSIDERATION XII Although we be in some strait yet to combine with any corrupt Interest or Correspondency for accommodation or help or to fall in with men who have not God amongst them however they may be otherwise of a very promising aspect unto us hath often if not alwayes been of dangerous consequence unto those that have attempted and expected the bettering of their condition in such a way When Amaziah King of Judah judging himself unable to wage war against the Children of Mount Seir with his own strength had hired an hundred thousand MIGHTY MEN OF VALOUR out of Israel for an hundred Talents of Silver there was sent unto him a Man of God with this message O King let not the Army of Israel go with thee for the Lord is not with Israel c. 2 Chron. 25. 6 7. So the People of God seeking for help first of the Assyrians and afterwards of the Egyptians even when they were in an afflicted and hard condition got nothing by these applications but sorrow and shame God threatned them by his Prophet Jeremy Thou shalt also be ashamed of Egypt as thou wast ashamed of Assyria Jer. 2. 36. The Scripture is pregnant with this Truth See Isa 8. 6 7. That the Prelatical Interest is Eccentrical to the Glory of God to the Cause and Kingdom of Jesus Christ runs in a Channel by it self a-part from and in opposition to these and consequently is carnal and corrupt and obnoxious to the displeasure of God needeth no anxious demonstration unto those the eyes of whose minds are not bewitched and blinded with it however somewhat hath been argued to the point already in these papers and somewhat more may be added before we conclude and the question if yet a question it must be hath been largely discussed and learnedly decided by others As for the late reviving of this Interest amongst us after it had lain
but under great dangers or penalties to assemble themselves together for their holy occasions openly Christ is not wont to bless them or do any great things for them in such promiscuous Congregations which are of a worldly complexion and constitution as well Priest as People and which upon this account are publickly countenanced and rejoyced in but his manner and good pleasure hath been in such hard seasons as these to allure them into the Wilderness and there to speak kindly and graciously unto them or to gather them together under his wings privately as a hen gathereth her chickens and so to communicate his heavenly warmth and vivifick influence unto them CONSIDERATION XXI They that keep the Word of Christ's Patience shall be kept by him from the hour of temptation which will come upon others to try them Rev. 3. 10. whereas they deprive themselves of the benefit and blessing of this precious Promise who shall betray forsake or decline this Word By the Word of Christs Patience though it be with some difference yet not great neither understood may with greatest probability as I conceive be meant any gospel-Gospel-Truth which is opposed with a strong and high hand in the place where we live and can hardly be owned and professed without suffering or at least without danger of suffering in one degree or other Such a Truth as this may be called The Word of Christ's Patience because he is the occasion by his charge upon men in that behalf why any man suffers for the profession and defence of it at any time or more briefly because it is for his sake that any man in any case whatsoever suffereth for it In a State or Nation professedly Pagan and where Christianity upon what terms soever professed is a reproach unto those that profess it or matter of deeper inconvenience the whole Gospel or Doctrine hereof in general is and may be called The Word of Christ's Patience In Kingdoms or States professing Christianity the Doctrine of the Gospel in general is never this Word because every man here may profess that he believeth this Doctrine in general without exposing himself to any danger of suffering But the Word of Christ's Patience in such Communities of men as these is alwayes some particular considerable and weighty Truth of the Gospel one or more which either plainly and in express words or else constructively and by clear consequence whether in opinion or practice or both is denied or opposed either by the Ruling Powers or by the Ministers and others reputed Learned and Orthodox or by the generality of the People here So that whoever shall keep this Word that is shall discover himself to own such a Truth or shall upon occasion openly plead the cause of it renders himself hereby obnoxious unto the hatred and ill-will of the one and the other and consequently unto all such sufferings both for nature and degree which they shall think meet and please to inflict upon him God permitting them so to do as on the contrary they may be said to let go sell or betray such a Truth and give it up as an Error into the hand of the enemy who being convinced in their consciences that it is a Word or Truth of Christ shall notwithstanding either dissemble or deny it when they ought and are called to give testimony unto it or shall comply with the Adversaries in their opposition to it Now concerning the Promise made by Christ unto those that shall keep the Word of his Patience in the sence given by being kept by him from the hour of temptation which will come or may come at one time or other upon the generality of Christians to try them throughly or with the greatest and forest tryal of all is meant That when other Professors of the Gospel shall in many places be tryed with a bloody persecution whereby they will be brought to this sad exigent either to waste their consciences by denying some manifest Truth or else either to lay down their lives or to undergo somewhat that will be bitter in the next degree to it they shall be kept or preserved from that storm So that this is the Rule of Equity by which Christ declares that he will walk towards those that profess his Name and Gospel They that shal shew themselves loyal faithful unto him in owning any of his Words when they are opposed although their faithfulness in this kind shal expose them unto or bring upon them lighter sufferings only and which are more easie to be born shall notwithstanding upon the account of such their faithfulness be excused or exempted by him from greater tryals and which are unto blood whereas those that shall faulter with him and turn their backs upon any of his Words or Truths when the danger of owning them is but little comparitively shall be in danger of being exposed and left by him unto temptations that are most fiery and grievous and exceeding difficult to be resisted Let us now apply the consideration of these things to the business in hand One of the Words of Christs Patience amongst us at this day and which for weight and moment hath the preheminence amongst some others that may passe under the same denomination is That Christ is not onely the Sovereign or Supream but the sole and onely Law-giver unto his Church and People in matters appertaining to the Worship of God Whether the open asserting and maintaining of this Truth in the terms now expressed and no further or otherwise will create danger or trouble unto any person amongst us or no I cannot affirme But certain I am that both an oral and practical maintaining of it in the right sense and import of the said words is of a threatning concernment amongst us For if the Legis-lative authority in matters of Divine worship and things requisite and necessary at all times and in all places hereunto be vested in Christ alone then they that shall keep own and give testimony unto this word must not consent unto or comply with either in word or deed any model or form of praying any ceremony one or more in or about the worship of God any Church-office for the regulating and ordering of this worship which Christ himself hath not prescribed ordered and appointed but are introduced imposed and commanded under mulcts and penalties by humane power and authority only For any thing by command made necessary in or for the worship and service of God and without which men are not permitted but at their peril to worship him hereby becomes essential to this worship and so somewhat and a part of it Those circumstances which God commanded in relation to any main part of his worship under the Law though they were in themselves considered things indifferent as that the beast to be sacrificed should be killed on the side of the Altar Northward Levit. 1. 11. that the crop and feathers of the fowles sacrificed should be cast besides the Altar on
you a taste though not of the letter or words this being a part that cannot be acted but on a larger Stage than we are now upon but of the spirit strength and substance of some of their chief arguings from the Scriptures by which you may give a neer guess how little their longsome dissertations and discourses upon the point signifie From Eph. 4. 8 11 c. they reason to no more purpose than thus Christ when he ascended up on high gave gifts unto men and he gave some Apostles some Pastors and Teachers c. Ergo he gave some Diocesan Bishops But if such Bishops as these were given by Christ at his Ascension why should the Apostle hide them either behind the Apostles or behind his Pastors as if he were ashamed of them For the Great Officers we now speak of are at a great loss amongst which of the Officers expressely named by the Apostle they should seek for their divine Institution or Donation by Christ unto the Church One while when their courage is up they claim high and will needs find their Institution in and together with the Apostles as their Predecessors under whom their Successors also as they plead who they cannot being so affectionately convinc'd through the in-evidence of the thing but presume themselves and all of their Order to be were comprehended in the same Institution with them Otherwhile fearing such a pretence as that to be too obnoxious to the incredulity of all considering and un-ingaged men they fall lower and judge it more passable to take up with Pastors and Teachers and content themselves with part and fellowship with them in their Institution Thus we see our Spiritual Lords wandring up and down to seek a divine Institution for their high Functions and Dignities but it is no marvel if they cannot find that which is not Notwithstanding they knock hard at several other doors for relief but none openeth unto them nay they are all made fast with bars of Iron against them From these words of the Apostle to Timothy 1 Tim. 1. 3. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia c. In conjunction with those Lay hands suddenly on no man c. 1 Tim. 5. 22. they conclude Therefore Timothy was made Bishop of Ephesus a Diocesan Bishop by Paul Whereas the express tenour of the words I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus riseth up as it were with manifest indignation against such an inference as might be shewed and proved at large but that this hath been lately done to the stopping of all mouths that have either ingenuity or conscience belonging to them Holy and zealous men in both which qualifications Timothy excelled need no beseeching or exhorting to abide or reside upon their Bishopricks or to attend the cure of souls committed unto them Or if they will understand the place either of Timothie's being made Bishop of Ephesus or of his accepting the Bishoprick hereof being offered unto him by Paul they shall do well and un-like themselves to follow his example and not to be made Bishops until they be sought unto and desired to accept of the honour Besides Timothy was an Evangelist 2 Tim. 4. 5. and so by vertue of his Office had a right of power to do all those Canonical actions as laying on of hands c. which our high assuming Bishops appropriate to their Apocryphal Functions Therefore neither doth this Scripture take any pity at all upon their miserable cause They shew themselves the Sons of impertinency also when they discourse unto us Titus 1. 5. as if this Text had somewhat to say for them the words being only these For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting and ordain or rather settle or place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elders in every City as I had appointed thee It is plain from the words that Titus was LEFT not seated or setled in Crete by Paul for such business or such services unto the Churches there which might be dispatched within the space of a few months And that he did not make his abode here many months at least with Paul's consent and that Paul intended to send for him away from hence the winter following or rather before is evident from Chap. 3. vers 12. And from other passages in the writings of this Apostle it appears that being called back by him from Crete he imployed him otherways sending him up and down to several Churches in several Countries upon occasion nor is there the least mention any where found of his returning again unto Crete at any time after nor is there indeed the least probability of it Therefore our Diocesan Advocates vex and trouble this Scripture also as they do several others to no purpose this with all the rest solicited in their cause crying aloud unto them with one voice Depart from us we know you not He that desire further conviction that neither Timothy nor Titus were ever made Bishops in the now-ruling sence of the word may receive it in abundance together with the knowledge of many other things concerning that Generation of men which would much enlighten the darkness of these times by the perusal of a Treatise lately published by Mr. W. Prynne Esquire under the Title of The Vn-Bishoping of Timothy and Titus c. This considered it is no great marvel that learned men more generally who bare good will more than enough to the Prelatical Interest and Cause not onely in a times of a more ancient date but even in latter years also yea within less than 140. years all the Bishops Arch-Bishops Arch-Deacons and Prelatical Clergy themselves in this very Nation esteemed it their wisdom to stick in the inferior tenure of Jus Humanum for the Episcopal Dignity fearing as it seems or however as they had cause to fear that Jus Divinum would be an adversary to it and overthrow it I crave leave upon the occasion before us to acquaint the Reader with a very memorable passage if he hath not heard it formerly of an Arch-Bishop in Scotland who in a Recantation publickly made in the Synod of Fisse Anno. 1591. Professed ex animo from his soul That Bishops and Ministers by God's Word were all equal and the very same That the Hierarchy and Superiority of Bishops over other Ministers hath no foundation at all in the Word of God but was a meer humane Institution long after the Apostles times from whence the Antichristian Papacy of the Bishop of Rome hath both it's rise and progress and that for 500. years la past it hath been the chiefest instrument of persecuting and suppressing the Truth and Saints of God in all Countries and Kingdoms as all Historians manifest The name of this Great Exemplar worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance was if my Author mistakes not Patrick Adamson But even this man though he was at last one of a
consulted and well understood absolutely disclaimeth yea and which sober and sound reason it self will not brook There is scarce any age but hath yielded instances more than enough to confirm the truth of this observation The best Records of Antiquity yea the most un-questioned writings of the most learned and devout Fathers themselves proclaim it aloud in which it appears that they did not alwayes build Silver Gold or Precious Stones upon the true foundation but sometimes hey stubble and wood in their stead Neither is the Scripture it self barren of sayings and passages of story which look the same way But my intended brevity forbids me to insist upon Quotations where they may be omitted with as little damage to the cause in hand as they may upon the present occasion and as for those which the works and writings of the Fathers afford upon the account they have been already drawn out and presented unto the world by others Yea who is there but either knoweth or hath heard from those who do know that seldom or never did any error that proved of any dangerous or sad consequence 〈◊〉 up amongst Christians but might call some person of choice parts aâ—â— learning Father The common saying which carrieth a truth in it worthy more consideration than is by many given to it is Nullum est magnum ingenium sine mixtura insaniae There is no great wit but hath a mixture or allay of madness in it So that men of great learning and parts are no infallible Oracles to consult about a dubious opinion whether it be an error or no. 3. The notion conceit or opinion of an Hyper-presbyterian Episcopacy is of such a calculation nature and import that without the assistance of or any monitory suggestion from Sathan it is as apt to breed and to be ingendred between a corrupt ambitious heart and an head rank of wit and learning as the Bull-rush is to grow out of the mire Some indeed have laid the mischievous brat at Sathan's door confidently avouching him by reason of the enormous and even supernatural antipathy in it unto God and true Godliness to be the Father of it But herein they rather flatter than accuse or charge that unhappy parcel of flesh and blood which first gave warmth and formation unto it in the womb of their brain And whereas some expert in the Records of Antiquity carry up the day of the dawning of it upon the Christian world to the year 140 after Christ or thereabouts others seeming as capable as they of the same pretension bring it down to about the year 300 the truth is that though both these calculations of the Nativity of it especially the former give it the oppornity and advantage of a long and specious prescription yet the bewitching complexion of it considered together with the amorous inclinations towards such objects so frequently found in pregnant wits and large endowments which are apt to afford men lively hopes of enjoying them it may rather seem strange that it is not more ancient than either of the dates mentioned will allow it to be and in respect of time nearer to some Apostolical Institution It seem's indeed that even in the dayes of the Apostles there was one whom the Apostle John call's Diotrephes Ep. 3. ver 9. that had an Episcopal Embryo an unform'd conception of a Bishoprick in his heart for he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 loved a Lordly Superiority over or amongst his Christian Brethren but for want of an artificial Head as is probable to give unto this natural conception its specifical and due form it proved an abortion and like the untimely fruit of a woman which never seeth the light of the Sun It is no where found that Diotrephes ever was a formal Bishop although he acted the part of a Bishop in not suffering the writings of an Apostle to take place against his own Interest in the Church John Ep. 3. vers 9. 4. The notion of Episcopacy in the lofty sense of the word being once started though by one person only in the Church and brought into consideration and discourse amongst Christians it was easie to prophesie Plures annabunt thynni cetaria crescent More tunies will come swimming to the bait and that the generality of men whose gifts and parts of learning wit c. were paramount to those of the ordinary sort of their Brethren understanding themselves more capable and likely than others to ascend the Throne of this honour in case it were once built and well setled in the Church would be very diligent and studious in finding out all colourable and plausible pretences to commend such an office unto the people and to perswade them that it would conduce much to their Christian welfare if they did live under it and subject themselves unto it And though there have been many both in ancient and later dayes conscientious and learned that had not the mettal in their foreheads wherewith the Prelatical Advocates amongst us have more generally at least steeled theirs to obtrude the Office we speak of upon the world under the high and indisputable title of Jus Divinum yet were they so far overcome with the enticing sweetness of the morsel as to swallow it as lawful though of humane preparation and contrivance Never did there a dead body or carkass falling on the earth by the scent and favour of it more effectually draw the Eagles together about it than the pleasant notion and conceit of the Episcopal dignity having once been named in the Christian Church allure and engage many persons of eminent gifts and abilities age after age in the maintenance approbation and commendation of it They are not like to speak evil of dignities who live in hope and expectation of enjoying them themselves So that all circumstances duely weighed the great multitude of learned Assertors of the cause of Prelacy is but a slender argument to prove either the goodness or lawfulness of it Who is he saith the Son of Sirach that hath been tryed by Gold and found perfect Ecclus 31. 10. 5. As for the Arguments and Grounds which these learned Disputers commonly levie and urge from the Scriptures to compel the judgments and consciences of men to a submissive and quiet acknowledgement that their high places and functions in the Church are of kin to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 19. 35. The Image which fell down from Jupiter and that they also came from Heaven and are supported by the stately and strong pillar of Jus Divinum the truth is that being weighed in the ballance I do not say of accurate reason but of common sense it self they would be found too leight to balace the floating vessel wherein that proud Lady Episcopacy with all her triobular accoutrements is imbarqued yea and were it not for some poor relief ever and anon brought in from the shattered and sophisticated Records of after ages scarce one decree above ridiculous I shall in few words give