and invested with the same power of feeding and governing the Church of God with the Bishop and none other is an order distinct from and subject to the Bishop so to be ruled by him and not to exercise his Office but by the Bishops License and at his pleasure and that the Presbyter is bound to swear obedience to the Bishop as his Ordinary That certain particular Priests or Deacons shuld by Papal constitution and Princely indulgence without the counsel and common suffrages of the Colledge of Presbyters bespeaking their conset or consent of the common people The force of Prelacy covenanted against be constituted a Colledge or Cathedral Council to the Bishop to advise with him and rule under him by the name of Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-deacon and Prebends to Elect the Bishop in vacancy and hold Courts constitute Canons and exercise all Jurisdiction over all Churches and Ministers not being so much as chosen by them or having their consent much less commission so to do That any one Minister or Bishop doth stand charged with all the Congregations and Pastors of them in one County or many Counties making one Diocess and be by vertue of office bound to the inspection and pastoral Correction and Government of them and that the several Bishops of a Kingdom be themselves subject to one Metropolitan Church and Arch-bishop to whom they shall swear obedience and shall be subject to be by him overseen ordered and corrected sure if the Word of God conclude such superiority over the Church in one Kingdom it will conclude a Catholick superiority over the universal Church and advance the Pope as warrantably above the Arch-bishops as the Arch-bishops are above the Bishops and the Bishops above the Presbyters for these are not differences of kind but of degree nor is there pleaded for Divine Right or Apostolical Institution of the one in the Church of England what is not pleaded for the other by the Fathers of the Council of Trent and by Bellarmine that Cardinal Popes Champion Bellarm. de Clericis lib. 1.5 cap. 14. and who can deny a quatenus ad omne c Lastly That Bishops and Ministers of the Gospel may exercise their Office and Function by Vicegerents and Deputies Commissaries or Chancellours or that by any Apostolical direction they may and have authority to Commissionate any such or that the determination and disposal of Civil Affairs Matters of Marriage and Administrations belong to them that they must by themselves or joyning unto themselves Professors and Students of the Civil Law keep Courts on which Proctors Apparitros and the like are dependent and so judicially rule and govern in these cases This is the Form of Government these learned Casuists must think is if not of Divine Right by immediate precept from God yet established by the Apostles according to the mind and after the example of their Master Jesus Christ and that by vertue of their power and authority as deputed Governours of the Church or otherwise their thoughts are very vain and impertinent for not an Episcopal Government wherein all the Bishops Ministers of the Church within any City Country or Kingdom invested with equal authority and dignity being all of the same Order do by common Council govern the Church but this specifical Prelacy presuming it self to be an Hierarchy or holy Government and chief Priest-hood not to be gain-sayed without high profaness or with-stood and destroyed without sacriledge formally existing in Arch-bishops super our Princes to Bishops Bishops Soveraign Lords to all Ministers or Presbyters and enjoying the standing Cathedral Council and subordinate Judges Deans Arch-deacons Deans and Chapter and transmitting their power and Episcopal authority to Chancellours and Commissaries and so ruling with all state and pompous attendants not only mens profession of Religion but their propriety of civil enjoyments is Covenanted to be extirpated I hope Sir that these serious men would not cozen their own Consciences and cheat the World by their observation the Covenant would bind us against Episcopacy and Bishops in general and not take notice how it is limited to one particular kind and then Sir I must be free to tell them That the Divine Right or Apostolical Institution of this Episcopal Government is but a think so of no more value than a dream for I not only think but am sure the libraries of learning in all that famous Univesity will never lay us down this Form of Government in the Church of Ephesus though I should grant Timothy to be a Bishop therein Antioch Philippi Creet or the seven Churches of Asia supposing their Angels to have been Bishops in all which I deny not a Government by Bishops and those made by the Holy Ghost to whom I will presume to think had I then lived and been invested with that Ministerial authority I now by Gods grace enjoy poor simple I might have stood up as a Peer or at least Bishop Suffragan and if they give not some Scripture instance I think Ecclesiastical story will never prove the Apostles established this Form of Government in the Church or at least not by their Apostolical power and authority as deputed by Christ governours of the Church and I am sure not after the example nor according to the mind of Jesus Christ their Master it being directly inconsistent with the quality of this Kingdom and dictated parity of his Ministers Sir with Reverence may I speak it I think it had been very sutable to the learning and gravity of this learned Assembly to have laid down in this case of conscience some clear Reasons for their conjecture of this Divine Right and Apostolical Institution and Establishment And the rather for that Pope Nicholas hath affirmed Omnes sive Patriarchae cujuslibet apicem sive Metropolean primatus aut Episcopatuum Cathedras vel Eccl siarum sive cujuscunque ordinis dignitatem instituit Romana Ecclesia That Rome appointed all Ecclesiastical Dignities of Bishops Arch-bishops Deans Arch-deacons c. And Pope * Apud Gratian. Dist 22. cap. 1. Lucius and Clement with whom agreeth Peter Lombard and our own Historians That King Lucius instituted three Arch-bishopricks and * Distinct 80. lib. 4. dif 24. Brit Hist lib. 4. pag. 126. Polichro lib. 4. c. 16. fol. 163. Pagets Christianography Foxe saith 28. chief Priests called Flammens Acts and Monuments p. 96. Fol. 59 60. twenty five Bishopricks in the room and stead of the three Archflamens and twenty five flamens And that Devotus the Bishop of Winchester falling into the seat of the flamen thereof had all the possessions within twelve Miles cmopass containing thirty two Villages conferred on him and his Clergy And the Archbishops Bishops and Clergy of England in their Institution of a Christian man dedicated to Henry the eighth have told all the World It is out of all doubt that there is no mention made neither in the Scripture neither in the Writings of any authentical Doctor or Auctor of
in Baptism Surplice in divine service supposed to be established Or those since pressed as the Bowing at the Name of Jesus Turning Tables into Altars and Bowing to them and placing on them Candlesticks and Tapers The Consecration of Churches and the like though I should which I confess I cannot admit what is pretended in the Preface to the Common-Prayer-Book that they are apt to stirre up the dull mind of man to the remembrance of his duty to God by some notable and special signification whereby he might be edified yet I must enquire by what authority are they appointed the highest pretended is the Church and I see no Commission the Church hath to appoint such things If I mistake not the power of the Church is declarative executive and Ministerial not judicial and magisterial She may publish the matter and prescribe the Order of Gods Worship but not constitute or ordain new matter though never so much tending to edification against which she is expresly barr'd by the 2d Commandment And if she hath power to continue our Ceremonies because significant why or how shall those be excluded which are more antient and significant Such as were the baptizing for the Dead putting Cream and Honey into the mouth of the baptized insufflation and spitting at the Devil and the World and coming to baptism in a white Garment which was left behind and profitably produced as a pledge against Elpidophorus when Apostatized from the Faith in which he had been baptized and many such like Tertul Coron mil. pa. 449. Contra Marcion lib. 7. p. 155. which Tertullian mentioneth as used in the Church in the Year of our Lord 62. in the times of the Apostles than which the use of the Cross cannot be more ancient nor is it indeed so ancient If then the Church have not a power to ordain them on what basis do all our Ceremonies stand save that prophane Maxime No Ceremonies no Bishop Before it be determined that these Ceremonies are agreeable to the Word of God I wish it may be determined whether the appointment and Religious exercise of matter significant and so in it self tending to edification not instituted by Jesus Christ be not the very formality of Superstition Seventhly and Lastly Is it agreeable to the Word of God in ordination to divide the work of the Ministry and give authority to apply one of the Sacraments and not the other to baptize but not administer the Lords Supper otherwise than as Assistant to him who hath ministerial power of consecration as it is done in the Ordering of Deacons Again is it agreeable to the Word to denominate Gospel Ministers Priests which properly relate to a Sacrifice and Altar If so why did our late Masters altar the Title into Presbyters in the Scotch Liturgy It is agreeable to the Word that the Ministers of Jesus Christ swear or Solemnly promise obedience unto their fellow Ministers under the notion of an ordinary and Cheif Minister It is reason they keep order and be subject to the Assembly but parity of Office and Authority admits not of obedience Is it agreeable to the Word that Bishops sweare or Solemnly promise obedience unto the Archbishops If so why not Archbishops to Cardinals or Patriarchs and they to the Pope Is it because the Sea bounds our Papacy Is it in the forme of ordination agreeable to the Word that the Bishop ordaining do Magisterially repeat the words of Jesus Christ who had a power and did effect it viz. Receive thou the Holy Ghost Whose sins thou dost forgive they are forgiven and whose sins thou dost retain they are retained as actually giving the Holy Ghost as a qualification for that Office and after this to give authority of administration with a Take thou authority to preach the Word of God and to minister the Holy Sacraments Is it agreeable to the Word of God by a special Solemn and Religious act to Consecrate unto a degree convenient and only necessary for the method and Order of an Assembly as if it were and indeed however others think by reason of the variation of the word I believe it was intended to be an actual Ordination to a distinct Office of Ministry in the Church like the Cheif Priest-hood among the Jews I am at a loss in Civil or Religious Policy to finde a warrant for so Sacred a forme in an advancement to a degree yet I will not deny the formalities of the Chaire Is it agreeable to the Word of God that excommunication the last and greatest of Censures do proceed without admonition and be inflicted ipso facto before obstinacy the proper and only ground of it be detected much lesse convicted and that so dreadful a Censure be denounced on the non-observance of Rites and Ceremonies declared indifferent and other light and frivolous occasions nay on the very discharge of duty As suppose an exercise in a Market-Town Canons of 1603. Can. 72. or a Fast kept in the Parish Church on the occasion of some special exigency of that Parish or by a Minister in a private family whose domestick concernments may call for the house and family to mourn apart and intreat the assistance of their special particular friends in prayer and yet in all these cases it is directed in the Canons made by the Convocation in London of which the Bishop of London sate President Anno 1603. Sir these things and such like in the Worship Discipline and Government of the Church of England are obvious and have been often urged as needing Reformation and as Reasons Apologizing for the Non-subscription of the Sober Learned and Pious Non-conformists ever since the Reformation as by Mr. Thomas Cartwright the Ministers of Devonshire and Cornwal the Ministers within the Diocess of Lincolne and many others whose Printed Books could not but have been seen by at least some of the Masters and Scholars of Oxford and might have convinced their judgments that they had done amiss by their personal subscription to approve that all things in the four specified particulars were agreeable to the Word of God Sixthly Their confidence that all things in these four specified particulars are agreeable to the Word of God and need no Reformation may well engage them to conclude that they are much better than those of Scotland which they wear to swear to preserve For the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government in the Church of Scotland differeth in all the particulars mentioned and so must needs be dissonant if these be AGREEABLE TO THE WORD OF GOD Yet Sir methinks the good grounds on which they thought so might for their clearer Apology and satisfaction of other souls called to swear the same Covenant have been specified and declared the rather for that they seemed to be in a strait when they pointed unto the accounting of Bishops Antichristian and indifferent Ceremonies unlawful the making their Discipline the mark of a true Church and the setting up thereof the erecting of the
Ingenuity for to him All things might be lawful but were not expedient was a Rule but their Reasons might restrain these learned men and they are five in number 1. They had by subscribing the 39. Articles testified their approbation of that government 2. Received orders from their hands 3. Petitioned the continuance thereof 4. Htld their Livelyhood under such titles and in the exercise of that Government or some part thereof 5. Had sworn as Members of such societies to preserve the immunities liberties and profits of the same Vnto all which I shall say very briefly 1 It is worth their enquity whether they subscribed the 39. Articles judiciously and judicially and so gave their approbation to this Government we grant that in the 39. Articles commonly published there is one viz. the 36. which relateth to the Book of Consecration of Bishops and Arch-bishops c. But that it affirmeth that Book to contain in it nothing contrary to the Word of God I find not in either the Latine or English Copy of these Articles which I have seen these learned men sure read these Articles with the Parliaments Remonstrance before mentioned and so misread them both but suppose the Article had so affirmed it had laid no bar to the alteration or extirpation of this Government for it might be as indeed all our Stattues do suggest a meer Political Civil constitution and so though an Adiaphoron not contrary any more than consonant to the Word of God and alterable at the pleasure of Englands Parliaments and then Sir with whatever judgment these Gentlemen subscribed this Article I am sure there is not much in pleading it as a Bar to the duty enjoyned by Parliament Yet I must confess I am not satisfied that the Books of ordering Priests and Deacons and Consecration of Bishops and Archbishops did contain in them nothing contrary to the Word of God for I not believe nor is it evident to me by Holy Scripture or ancient Authors that from the Apostles times there hath been these orders of Ministers in Christs Church Bishops Priests and Deacons for I find no Priests in the new Testament and conceive Presbyters and Bishops to be no more than different denominations of the same order and make not different orders any more than Pastours Teachers Stewards Angels Stars and the like and if there were these orders yet it is I think contrary to the Word of God to add a fourth Arch-bishops and if they be not an order how come they to have the same consecration with Bishops a contended for order of the Ministry and how come Bishops to swear unto them obedience neither the one nor the other is common to a gradual preheminence the Speaker of the Parliament or Lord Chief Justice hath no such like Solemnity I question whether the word will allow an Ordination to some part of the Ministry and give Authority to apply one Sacrament or Seal of the Covenant and not the other nor am I clear the Deacons Office doth at all consist in Ministry of Word and Baptism and assistance at the Communion the Scripture specially points them to the poor and to serve Tables I question whether mute service in a publick solemn Assembly be not contrary to the Word of God where all as well prayer as preaching ought to tend to Edification I question whether a Magisterial and Authoritative giving the Holy Ghost peculiar to Christ who did it in reality be not contrary to the Word of God or according to the words of the Article Superstitious and ungodly And whether Ministers swearing Caronical obedience to the Bishop or Bishops to the Arch-bishops be not plainly Papal and ungodly If these learned men considered and were convinced of the consonancy of these and the like things with the Word I hope they subscribed this Article judiciously yet I must enquire how judicially I imagine the Satute of Queen Elizabeth will nos be produced as their warrant for subscription to this Article for the Articles thereby enjoyned 13. Eliz. 13. do only concern the confession of the true Christian Faith and Doctrine of the Sacraments and this particle only is exclusive to Discipline and Government which by the whole current of our Laws are concluded to be Political in their nature only Ecclesiastical ratione objecti at the pleasure of the Magistrate and therefore could not be made an Article of the true Christian Faith I hope such as leave this Article out of their Creed shall not be shut out of the Christian Church Now Sir were there any force in this exception to the Covenant I would advise that subscription to be taken into second thoughts yet it is as ponderous as the next They received Orders from their hands and should ill requite them for laying their hands on them to lay to their hands to root them up and cannot tell for what That they should root them up who had laid their hands on them was not required they might continue Men Ministers it is like better Christians and more painful Preachers when they were not Bishops I hope Prelates and Prelacy were not inseparable that the one must be ruined in the removal of the other and our question is of the thing not person in which degradation was the worst they could do them who had they been affected with the dream of Richard Havering Arch-bishop of Dublin The Annals of Ireland in Cambd. Britan pag. 169. That a certain Monster heavier than the whole World stood eminently aloft upon his breast from the weight whereof he chose rather to be delivered than alone to have all the goods of the World when he waked he thought this was nothing but the Bishoprick of Dublin and so forthwith renounced it Or had they enjoyed the Spirit of Antoninus Elected Arch-bishop of Florence who refused on fear of hazarding his salvation to accept it and when thundred into it by the counsel of his friends frowns of the Magistrates and the Popes Bull kept only eight persons no stately furniture in his house no Coach and Horses and kept his usual method of devotion in his Family saying They should do him a special favour to thrust him fram his Bishoprick wherein he continued with very great Regret They would acknowledge a kindness done unto them and yet were it an unkindness these Gentlemen were acquitted from the ingratitude they have petitioned their continuance and were not able to withstand the pleasure of their Superiors on whose pleasure their whole enjoyments did depend nor had they been without Parallel if not a plea of Justice For the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of England Rochester excepted in the time of Henry the eighth had voluntarily without the command of the King or Parliament sworn to root up the Pope the Apex of this Episcopacy from whom they had received their Palls Properties Power Foxe his Acts and Monuments p. 564. 565 566 567. I had almost said Papacy Their third Reason I pass as an
signification yet by long and common appropriation as obvious to vulgar capacity to denote a special kind of government in the Church as tyranny in reference to the Common-wealth Yet it is restrained by a more particular denomination Hierarchy holy government by the order of holy high Priesthood as some do fancy and specifical description by its enumerated substantial parts Archbishops Bishops Deans Deans and Chapters in which it formally existed and separable adjuncts Commissaries Chancellors and other Officers depending thereupon so that these not in sensu composito that the removal of any one Officer might suffice but complexo the Government conaining all or any of these is the object sworne against appears to every unprejudiced Reader and so it squares with the Act expressed by the most significant word which could be devised viz. Extirpate which certainly every ordinary reader knoweth to amount unto more than mutation by dismembring some separable adjuncts thereupon dependent as Commissaries or Chancellors or by limitation and regulation which yet makes the Bishops holy hands essential to all acts of confirmation of Catechumenists or Ordination of Ministers or Jurisdiction in the Church though there be never so many grave learned and pious Presbyters and Pastors a few of whom may be his Lordships Council without any intrinsecal authority in themselves and without him whilst all men know to extirpate signifieth una cum stirpe evellere to pluck up by the very root In this point if the words of the Oath were not sufficiently clear and the Lawyers rule Lex currit cum praxi may point us to a Comment The Petition opposed by the * Bishop Hall Remonstrant defended by Smectymnuus presented to the Parliament the debates many speeches and resolves in the Houses which preceded and produced the advice of the Assembly of Divines Ordinances of Parliament and Oath of His most Sacred Majesty as King of Great Britain in pursuit of the Covenant which ensued upon the swearing the same hath written this sense in such legible Characters that all may run and read it And although I would not require any thing more I can take nothing lesse because God alloweth no abatements in an Oath than what hath been sworn though it should appear good and profitable but not necessary necessitate precepti divini However others may flagge and faulter or fall off from the Covenant I must tell the assertors of the Presbyterial Government that if they have no conscience they are hedged into the observance of it on the account of Credit Reasons of the present judgment of the University of Oxford concerning the Solemn League and Covenant Sect. 7 p. 21. for the University of Oxford as with them combin'd to their reproach from the Jesuites and Sectaries hath charged it to be their property to swear one thing in their words and in their own sense to mean another to invent Oaths and Covenants for the Kingdom dispence vvith them vvhen they please swear and forswear as the wind turneth like a godly Presbyter which if any of them will dare to verifie they shall give me leave to mourn alone for their iniquity for by Gods grace my soul shall not enter into the secrets of an Art so sinful and shameful before God and men but study that Rule Be vvise as Serpents but innocent as Doves Courteous Reader I have held thee too long in the threshold I shall stay thee no longer save to tell thee if in any thing I seem indiscreet it is in venturing something of Answer to the Reasons of the University of Oxford which every simple Anti-covenanter and scurrilous Pamphleter not able by the least Casuistical consideration to discharge the Covenant do revive and run into as the Gordian knot never to be loosed and to which my Antagonist Dr. Gauden beaten out of his own Divinity doth retreat as to his impregnable Castle of confidence which may indeed savour something of arrogancy in any single opponent by whose over-matched weaknesse the cause may suffer Give me leave to tell thee the dread hereof hath smothered in silence what is now drawn out by the reputation of unansvverable Reasons they have received amongst the enemies of the Covenant I cannot live by an implicite faith but in a case of conscience must examine the considerations of the most learned Society General Councils are more authoritative and authentick than any single University yet they have erred and their errors have been detected by single persons And how foolish soever I may seem I have so much wit as to know Timidi ignavi nunquam erigent Trophaeum Honor attends not Dastards And again Trophaeum ferre me à forti viro pulchrum est sin autem vincar vinci à tali nullum est probrum It is an honor to Scanderbeg to beat not any shame to be beaten by the numerous Turks If I be vanquished by their more learned pens it can be to me no disgrace nor to truth any great dammage whilst my being over-poured in so good a cause will engage more able men who have any zeal for or conscience of the Oath of God which lieth on us our King and Kingdom to appear for the relief and defence thereof In expectation of which I cast my self on thy candor and ingenuity Zach. Crofton ΑÎΑΛΗΨΙΣ ΑÎΕΛΗΦΘΗ The Fastning of St Peter's Fetters OR The Solemn League and Covenant and its Conscience-binding Power Asserted and Vindicated c. in an Epistle to the Right Worshipful Sir Lawrence Bromfield Knight and Colonel in LONDON The PREFACE Right Worshipful IF without suspition of blasphemy and irreverence towards Sacred men and Sacred writ I may pursue Dr. John Gauden's Metaphor I cannot but tell you mens prophane neglect and contempt of the Covenant did not a little perplex me but that Solemn and Sacred Oaths should be deemed St. Peters Bonds and that Protestant Divines dreaming of an Apostolical Priority should by Popish Arguments attempt his Release to the Re-establishment of the Papatum alterius mundi as it was is and must be owned of Episcopacy in Lawn sleeves exercising Paternal Authority over their brethren as the peoples * Dr. John Ganden's Analysis of the Covenant p. 17. equals and inferiors because in black coats did much more afflict my spirit Sir in sence hereof I did send out my Analepsis after the Doctors Analysis and made bold to withstand St. Peter to his face for he was to be blamed and indeed condemned as * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word in Gal. 2.11 doth signifie and brought him back to prison it must be so esteemed with silence hearkning for his joyful songs under Christ his Masters yoke and in those holy Stocks and resolved submissively to wait on God to perfect the peace and purity of his Church in England and plead the quarrel of the Covenant but the Grating Files of some more willing than able to dismiss my prisoner have disturbed my rest Truly Sir I love St. Peter better in
his train but will melt his feathers soon after the Fabrick must needs come tumbling down whose foundation is laid in perjury Surely Sir such as affectionately believe this doctrine cannot but passionately apply it to cry aloud and not spare Remember the Covenant I grow Sir not a little suspicious that the last stratagem of the Propogators of the Catholick Cause is by their Jesuitical Sophistry to strike England into the guilt of perjury and then to blaspheme our Religion and deride our Nation as did Agesilaus the Grecian Captain in his answer to Tissaphernes the Persian breaking the League he had made with him I give you no small thanks for that by your perjury you have made the gods angry with the Persians and favourable to the Grecians Sectio Secunda Second Propos The irregularities in the first making the Covenant will not discharge its obligation now it is made and sworn VVHilst we consent unto the common conclusion of the Canonists That Juramentum non est vinculum iniquitatis An Oath must not be the bond of iniquity and commend to all men their counsel as indeed a duty In malis promissis rescinde fidem In promises of evil make no conscience to keep nay make confcience to break your faith Yet we must consider and warily distinguish between the rem juratam and actum jurandi the act of swearing and the matter sworn For in respect of the last of these the Rule is to be understood and the obligation to performance doth thereon depend Such is the reverence of an Oath to all men Heathen or Christian that rashness and irregularities in obtaining and actually passing the Oath would never be admitted as sufficient to discharge its force The Rule of the School-men received by all Casuists and Civilians must here be observed Tho. Aquin par 22 ae quaest 89. Art 9. Juramentum promissorium non potest dispensari secundum se sed tantum ratione materiae indebitae A promissory Oath cannot be discharged by any reason but the unlawful matter of it And hereupon it is agreed on by all Divines That the ground on which an Oath shall lose its force must be intrinsecal of the body substance and matter of the Oath not extrinsecal and accessory to the Oath It must be the sinfulness of the thing and matter sworn not the circumstances conversant about the act of swearing which may be sinful and must be shunned Scnderson de Juramento but avail not to discharge the Oath when taken Well doth the Oxford Professor distinguish and tell us They are two several questions to be distinctly resolved according to the condition into which a man is cast The one is an hoc vel illudi juramentum sit licitum whether the Oath be lawful And the other an Juramentum hoc vel illud obligat whether the Oath do bind For that Oath may be unlawfully sworn which must everlastingly bind when sworn That sin is to be avoided in entring into a Covenant or Oath which may be repented of without retraction of the Oath when sworn The Name of God too many times is though it ought not to be taken in vain by rash swearing yet must not be blasphemed by forswearing An Oath is an obligation so sacred and permanent that many conditions are required unto a regular acting of it At first it should be the act of a deliberate not distempered mind not the effect of a distressed condition clearly propounded and rationally received not obtained by fraud nor imposed by force But where in any or all these and the l ke there is a defect and disorder or miscarriage that men with Jeptha rashly swear such a general Oath as may rob them of the dearest of their delights when it comes to performance Or with Zedekiah be besieged by Warres without and Tumults within to covenant and confirm by Oath conditions dishonorable and burdensome Or with Joshua and the Princes of Israel to the Gibeonites swear beyond their intention and almost the import of their expressions there being an apparent fallacy in the foundation and procuring cause of the contract yet in these and many the like cases the rule is most certainly to be admitted Quod fieri non debuit factum valet these things ought not to have been done but being done do bind the conscience I wonder how men can press this Rule in case of Baptism by Women or Children and Lay-persons in whom I humbly conceive it cannot hold and not regard it in an Oath whose nature is such as administreth a Reason for this Rule and makes it necessary Many instances in story might be given to amplifie this position but lest I should seem to leave the Road without Reason I shall onely offer the example of the Covenant with the Gibeonites for the clearness of its demonstration commonly produced by all Casuists in this very case Grotius out of Ambrose noting the surreptitious fraudulent obtainment thereof Gnotius de Jure belli pacis lib. 2. cap. 13. p. 220. doth note Decepti erant à Gabaonitis à regione longinqua se venire fingentibus Josua tamen pacem quam dederat revocandam non cenfuit quia formata erat sacramenti Religione ne dum alienam perfidiam arguit suamfide n solveret The Translation of which I shall offer by a reverend Bishop most acceptable to our Anti-covenanters who chargeth this deceit to have been the just effect of their sinful neglect to consult the Oracles of God and saith Josh Hall Bishop of Norwich Halls Contemp. p 918. The facility of Israel led them into a League and Oath for the safety of the Gibeonites and now within three days their neighbourhood and dece t. Joshua might have taken advantage of their own words to dissolve this League and have said Ye are come from a far Country these Cities are near these are not therefore the people to whom we engaged by our promise or oath and Israel had put in a direct Caveat of their vicinity so that it might seem questionable whether Joshua needed to hold himself bound to this Oath yet dare not Joshua and the Princes trust to shifts for the eluding of this Oath but must faithfully perform what they had rashly promised Joshua's heart was clear from any intention of a League with a Canaanite he gave his Oath to these disguised strangers yet he durst neither Repeal it himself neither do I hear him sue to Eleazer the High Priest to dispence with it but taketh himself tied to the strict words of his Oath not to his own purpose his tongue had bound his heart and hands so as neither might stir lest whilst he was curious of fulfilling the Will of God he should violate the Oath of God But Sir how dissonant to these dictates of this Reverend Father are those sons of the Church who strive for a Bishoprick by sinful casting off the Covenant on a protended inadvertency in swearing it at first and
purity of Doctrine the greatest help of this unity by the mercy of God was that with the Doctrine the Discipline of Christ and his Apostles as it is prescribed in the Word of God was by little and little together received and according to that Discipline so near as might be the whole government of the Church was disposed the Lord God of his infinite goodness grant unto the Kings Majesty and to all the Rulers of the Church that according to the Word of God they may perpetually keep that unity and the purity of Doctrine Unto these might be added the testimony of Arundel Hutton and Matthews three English Archbishops approving the order of the Church of Scotland and the joy of King James professed in the Assembly 1590. That He was born to be a King of the sincerest Church in the world All which might have brought to their knowledge a better account but they looked not so farre back but take it up by occurrents of those unhappy times in which I fear Scotland was not more full of perplexities than Oxford of passion and prejudice 3. But in what particulars are the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government much worse than that of England They should specifie these bad things for generalia non pungunt I confess in a Notion of Philosophy or question in Divinity the Say so of a University is of some Authority but of none in the case of an accusation which must be particularly charged and plainly proved if Englands Doctrine be doudtful and defective in respect of its clearness and certainty or sophisticated by the obtruded fancies and terms of private men as Mr. Prynn hath plainly charged in his Epistle to the late King prefixed to his Quench-coal and as the Ministers of sundry Counties in their Reasons for Reformation have suggested and Mr. Hamâ—lton in his modest answer to Dr. Peirson hath cleerly demonstrated it will be found as much better than the Doctrine of the Church of Sco land as its Worship Discipline and Government is worse than that of England And I hope if the one be as good though nothing better than the other there can be no great Scruple to swear to endeavour the preservation of it 3 Reason of this exception referred to the fifth Section of this Treatise 4th Reason of this exception But to proceed Their third Reason is a supposed contradiction in this first Article of the Covenant This shall be considered under another Head The fourth Reason why they could not swear the preservation of the Religion in Scotland is this Wherein we already find some things to our thinking tending towards Superstition and Schism which call for Reformation Here Sir they seem to specifie what in the 2d reason they had suggested in general terms But let it be observed 1. That they find not in the Church of Scotland any formal Superstition or Schisme but at the most something tending towards them I imagine many Oxford Masters will not willingly admit a Reformation or be denied a preservation of many things apparently tending towards Popery bua not Popery it self 2. The things they find do but to their thinking tend towards Superstition or Shisme but they have no certainty of it Must conjecture stand against the Covenant and conclusions of others Methinks Superstition and Schism should be so well known to the Scholars of Oxford that they might be able to conclude what things tend thereunto 3. What are the things they find in the Church of Scotland which tend in their thinking to Superstition and Schism They point us unto the Margine and there we find viz. in accounting Bishops Antichristian and indifferent Ceremonies unlawful this they refer to Superstition And viz. in making their Discipline ad Government a mark of the true Church and the setting up thereof the erecting of the Throne of Jesus Christ and this they referre to Schism Sure Sir they were in a great strait that made a shift to specifie these sad corruptions but yet they do not tell us where they find these laid down as the Doctrines of the Church of Scotland whether in their Confession or form of Discipline Whilst in their Confession of Faith they give unto general Assemblies authority about Ceremonies Corpus Confessi Conf. Scot. Art 20. p. 120 121. I cannot think they deem indifferent Ceremonies unlawful nor do I find that they as England hath done do any where make their Discipline a part of their faith that so they might damn Bishops as Antichristian I find indeed Artic. 8. p. 118. that they make Discipline rightly administred as is prescribed in the Word of God the note of a true Church but they do not appropriate it to their Discipline and Government as these learned men would have us read it I know indeed that the Scotch Divines do account English Bishops Antichristian and English Popish Ceremonies unlawful but they deny them to be indifferent but these are specials and far from the generals charged on them nor can these specials be condemn'd in them until Catherwoods Alâ—are Damascenum and Mr. Gillespies Dispute against the English-Popish Ceremonies which have passed with much approbation through all the Reformed Churches and I presume missed not Oxford be fully answered 4. But wherein lieth the tendency of these principles to Superstition and Schism that these learned men think of As to their nature they are negative and exclusive and I deem a denial of any of Gods appointments to be prophanenesse not superstition I am apt to think Superstition to be a positive innovation and erection of some new matter and action into the worship of God on mans meer will and invention without Gods institution I remember Mr. Blake denieth the baptizing of Bells or the Horse in Huntingtonshire to be Superstition and damns it as a prophane misapplication of Gods Ordinance How then the exclusion neglect or prophane esteem of Bishops and Ceremonies can tend to Superstition I confesse I see not Think you Sir the Learned men of Oxford did deem Bishops and indifferent Ceremonies to be such immediate institutions and essential parts of Divine worship that they think a profane contempt of them might tend by exclusion thereof to make way for some innovation in their room then I also will think they tend towards Superstition but must think they are not indifferent I wish Sir they have not mistaken the Scotch notion of a true Church Gent. 2da c. 2. col 109. which is opposed as well to a corrupt as falsely constituted Church the Magdeburgences do so oppose it in the very same case Vera enim ecclesia c. For a true Church as it retains pure Doctrine so also it keep simplicity of Ceremonies but an hypocritical Church for the most part changeth the Ceremones instituted by God and multiplieth to its own traditions And Bishop Halls Vere and vera Ecclesia is no stranger at Oxford and if then Scotland concluding her Government to be according to the
Word of God should say De specie It is the sign of a true that is a pure Church best Reformed because the erecting of the Throne of Christ doth it not tend more to provoke Reformation of Churches truly constituted but not compleated than to stirre up Schism For they do ot nor ever did deny communion with Churches herein defective and under male-administration of Discipline and Government Subsectio quinta We see Sir very little ground to stumble at the preservation of the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Church of Scotland let us try the strength of their exceptions against the endeavor of the Reformation of these in the Kingdom of England And to this they tell us They are not satisfied how they can swear to endeavour the Reformation of Religion in Doctrine Oxford exceptions to Reformation of England Worship Discipline and Government which without making a change therein cannot be done For this they urge three grounds or reasons which seem to be of weight The first whereof 1 Reason for this exception is Without giving manifest scandal to the Papist and Seperatist By Yielding the cause which our godly Bishops and Martyrs and all our learned Divines ever since the Reformation have both by their Writings and Sufferings maintained who have justified against them both the Religion established in the Church of England to be agreeable to the Word of God 2. Justifying the Papists reproach and scorne We know not where to stay what is our Religion and that it is a Parliamentary Religion 3. A tacite acknowledgement that there is something both in Doctrine and Worship whereunto their conformity hath been required not agreeable to the Word of God and so justifying the recusancy of the one and separation of the other 4. An implyed Confession that the laws and punishments of Papists for not joyning in that form of Worship which our selves as well as they do not approve of were unjust A very fair and specious exception To which Sir I say 1. That it is well Scandal is at length become an Argument of any force Had it been regarded when rightly pleaded by the Nonconformists enemies to separation as well as Popery there might not have been a Solemn League and Covenant to constrain its plea in a case wherein under correction it seems to have lost its force For if Sir we have through ignorance practised or wilfulness persisted in any sinful Superstitious course concerning which we have been admonished by some and declined by others and yet being armed with power did constrain a compliance with us so that a Recession from the same must be our shame and their scandal to whom we would not hearken I hope we must not for fear thereof go on in sin and refuse so much as to endeavour a Reformation If in this case scandal had been of any force how or when had Protestant Religion been effected by such who had burned for Hereticks all that were but suspected of inclining to it Were not the Papists then as much and more scandaâ—ized as now Is Scandal of any more force in the following degrees of Reformation than in the first act thereof Though it is a stop to sin and stay of violence in imposing things indifferent must it be of any strength to barre duty in the endeavors of Reformation I believe Sir professors of Physick and Chirurgery will not consent ill humors to go unpurged or festred incurable members uncut off because some will be scandalized that their advice was not sooner minded and others at the past real and now-seeming cruelty acted by the present change 2. It is to me strange to see Papists and Separatists conjoyned as objects of the same scandal I am sure the reason and ground must be directly contrary Continuance of corruption to the one and Removal thereof to the other the Separatist is offended that there were so many Popish Ceremonies retained and that so long when by him too rigidly resisted The Papist that there were so few and likely to be gone so soon But I presume they are supposed in aliquo tertio convenire to agree in some other capacity The things are now to be Reformed for non-observance of which they were both afflicted and then Sir 3. The Scandal seems to be a meer fancy springing from a fallacy in these words The Religion established in the Church of England which these serious Casuists with reverence may I note it do to me seem sophistically to understand in a sence different from the words of the Covenant which are these The Reformation of Religion in the Kingdom of England in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government It must therefore be observed that Religion as it denoteth the matter sabstantial parts and essential form of divine Worship is different from the Circumstances Ord r and Ceremonies annexed thereunto and only as appendants thereof deemed Religious which are conversant about and separable from Religion liable to alteration as the prudence of men doth direct and none but ignorant Idiots will deem the change of them a charge of Religion for these are different in the Reformed Churches whom yet I hope the Universitie of Oxford will own to be of the same Protestant Religion with the Church of England agreeing in the same faith though not subscribing the same formal individual Articles administring the same worship though not in the same order and with the same Ceremonies Again Sir we must distinguish between what is established and what is exercised in the Kingdom of England Though we do not justifie nay believe a necessity of Reformation in many particulars in the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government established yet we know in all these particulars many gross and absurd corruptions brought in and continued by a strong hand were exercised in the Kingdom of England and that in reference to all these particulars 1. For Doctrine as that auricular confession and pennance was necessary and profitable for Christian men and in Christs Church That Christians must have Altars and bow to them as towards Gods mercy-seat and the place of Christ his real presence on earth That Jesus Christ and his passion are offered up as a Sacrifice in the Sacrament of the Altar That Crucifixes Images and Pictures of Christ God and Saints may be lawfully and profitably used and set up in Churches That the Pope or Papacy is not Antichrist That there are Canonical houres of prayer which ought to be observed That Churches Altars Chalices and Church-yards ought to be consecrated That men had free-will of themselves to believe and repent That men might totally and finally fall from grace That Sunday is no Sabbath That Bishops have a Superiority of Order and Jurisdiction above other Ministers and that by Divine Right Nor can there be a true Church where there are not such Bishops These and many such like it is well known were publickly preached by Mountague Cozens Pocklington Shelford Dowe Reeves Adams and others and
the Preachers defended even in the University from censure for them nay these were Printed in several Books of the same Authors licensed and allowed by the Archbishop and his Chaplains and many of them asserted in the visitation Articles of some Bishops and yet were not established in the Church of England As in Doctrine so in worship many corruptions were innovated and exercised As Bowing at the Name of Jesus The turning Communion-Tables into Altars or Altarwise and Railing them in furnishing them with Candlesticks and Tapers Tying the Gospel the blessing and other parts of the publick service to that place enclosed and bowing to these Altars The making Crucifixes and Canopies pictures of God Christ the Holy Ghost Virgin Mary and other Saints in our Church-windows Consecration of Churches Fonts Bells and the like All which and many such were first innovated to the Chappel at Lambeth and ferried over to White-hall and so transmitted to all Cathedral and almost all Parish Churches and yet were not established by Law though enforced by the corruption of Discipline in the Visitation Articles of Bishop Wren Bishop Mountague Bishop Peircy Bishop Lindsey and Bishop Skinner and others in their several Diocesses and by the silencing suspension excommunication and imprisonment and High Commission vexation of Mr. Chauncey Vicar and Mr. Parker an Inhabitant of Ware Mr. Burros of Colchester and many others Nor was Government any more pure if we consider how it was exercised in the High Commission and Star-Chamber with all rigor cruelty and injustice and in Visitations Citations Probate of VVills Letters of Administration and Excommunication in the name and under the Seal of the Bishops themselves never authorized thereunto All which were evidently needful to be reformed as having been so publickly exercised and potently defended and might well enforce a covenanted endeavor to reform Religion in the Kingdom of England I well know Sir that the change of Religion makes a great sound in the world especially if established I cannot be insensible of the noise made by it against our first Reformation and must expect the Eccho to follow all after acts and degrees thereof for all changes are scandalous and many very dangerous If therefore these Masters and Scholars of Oxford could rationally conceive the Covenant to bind them to endeavor a change of Religion in the substance matter and essential parts and form thereof then I must confess their exception is very important for we cannot deny that our Bishops Martyrs and Learned Divines have by Suffering and Writing testified it to have been agreeable to the Word of God And that to resolve that into the power and pleasure of a Parliament who may direct and authorize the profession but not prescribe the matter or form were to make it a Parliamentary Religion and the change thereof must needs condemn our Laws and the punishment of Papists not joyning with us as unjust and so justifie Papist and Separatist the one in his recusancy and the other in his separation But Sir when I consider the Religion of Scotland to be preserved as the concomitant and provocation the VVord of God to be the Rule and the best reformed Churches professing the same substantial Religion though differing in administration and order propounded as the pattern I see not how right reason can render any such sence of it and the rather for that Reformation not alteration of Religion is the formal act which presupposeth the continuation of the subject about which it is conversant But Sir if they as they needs must by Religion understand the order and annexed Ceremonies appendant to Religion whether established as was the Cross in Baptism holinesse of dayes and order of the Liturgy and the like or only exercised and enforced by Prelates power and countenance as the corruptions before mentioned then we must say their exception is of no weight not the reason any thing worth for this change can be no such scandal as is conceived for we deny them to have been testified by our Bishops Martyrs and learned men by any Sufferings or Writings untill of late by the persons and such like before mentioned as agreeable to the Word of God and must put them to the proof of it we think we are able to produce Tindal Latimer Hooper Ridley Farrar and many other Martyrs by laying down their Bishopricks and other contests and sufferings to have testified against them and Mr. Cartwright Baines and many Devonshire Cornwal and Lincolnshire Ministers and others ever since the Reformation by Writing Petition Remonstrance Apology and Sufferings to have testified against not only the corruptions exercised against which our Jewel Fulk Whitaker Archbishop Parker Dr. Ward Dr. Brownrigge Dr. Bancroft and all sound and learned Divines not devoted to return to Rome have written but even the very Order and Ceremonies established as being not agreeable to the Word of God And if these learned Gentlemen had pleased to observe the Visitation and high Commission proceedings they might have found Prynn Burton Bastwick Layton Workman Langley Hind Nichols Ball and many others known learned men who were silenced suspended imprisoned stigmatized and in much Sufferings testified these appendants to our Religion whether established or exercised to be no way agreeable to the Word of God and I know not whom they can ment on as a Martyr for them unless it be Lawde the late Archbishop the grand Innovator of our Church 2. If therefore our Religion be by Papists or Prelates reproached as a Parliamentary Religion we will rejoyce in our reproach and bless God we had a Parliament that had zeal to improve their power about those things that were properly subject thereunto 3. Nor can this Reformation justifie the recusancy of the Papists because these things never became a Reason for their recusancy further than they occasioned their obduracy by assuring their hopes of Englands return to them Nor the Separation of the Separatists for that the corruptions established were never made such essential parts of worship as to make a sufficient ground for separation Witness Cartwrights defence of the Church service The Masters and Scholars of Oxford cannot have been so little observant as not to know that the sober zealous Non-conformists who groaned under the burden of these corruptions and for this Reformation were grieved by and greatly contended against the * Mr. Geree his Vindiciae ecclesiae Anglicanae shewing necessity of reformation not Separation And Mr. Balls two Books against Mr. Cann Separation as that which was without sufficient ground yet like Jesus Christ their Master kept Communion with a Church whose Doctrine and Worship was very much in need of Reformation and taught men so to do granting There was something in the Doctrine and Worship of the Church of England not agreeable to the Word of God and yet not enough to lay a ground for separation 4. Much less doth this endeavor judge the Law against and punishment of Papists as unjust which
the Church being within the time of the Apostles that Christ did ever make or institute any distinction or difference to be in the pre-eminence of Power Order or Jurisdiction between the Apostles themselves or between the Bishops themselves but that they were all equal in power authority and jurisdiction and that there is now and since the time of the Apostles such difference among the Bishops it was devised by the antient Fathers of the primitive Church for the conservation of good order and unity of the Catholick Church and that either by the consent and authority or else by the permission and suffering of the Prince and civil power for the time ruling the said Fathers considering the infinite multitude of Christians so greatly encreased taking examples from the Old Testament thought it expedient to make degrees among Bishops and to limit their several Diocesses bounds of Jurisdiction and Power And then Sir this Form of Government will seem to be more Jewish Papal Paganish or at best political and civil than Apostolical the last of which the Statutes of our Kingdom do declare it to be affirming that the Arch-bishops Bishops Arch-deacons and other Ecclesiastical persons have no manner of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical 26. Hen 8. cap. 26.31 Henr. 8. cap. 9 10.37 Hen 8 cap. 17. 1. Ed. 6 cap. 2 1 5 8. Eliz c. 1. but by under and from the Kings Royal Majesty and Patrick Adamson Arch-Bishop of Saint Andrews in Scotland Anno 1591. in his Recantation at the Synod at Fife professed sincerely ex animo That Bishops and Ministers are by the Word of God equal and the Hierarchy or Superiority of the Bishops nullo nititur verbi fundamento And I think it had been but Reason some satisfactory answer had been given to Gersom Bucer his Dissertationes de Gubernatione Ecclesiae Didoclavius his Altare Damascenum Cartwright's Exceptions Paul Bains his Diocesan Tryal Smectymnus and especially Mr. William Pryns publick and positive Challenge in the unbishoping of Timothy and Titus which I think will be ad Grecas Calendas before they think so of an University had been published as a stumbling Block to the peoples swearing of the Solemn League and Covenant when thereunto called by Parliament But it may be Sir I run too fast methinks their think so of Divine Right and Apostolical establishment is asserted very faintly and therefore it is restrained and limited with an Episcopal Aristocracy hath a fairer pretension and may lay a juster title and claim to a Divine Institution than Papal Monarchy Presbyterian Democracy or Independent Yet I must say fair pretension and comparative claims are very weak props against Parliamentary Resolves and the power of an Oath it must be plain and undeniable Divine Right must stand against them But what is that they call Episcopal Aristocracy Are not these learned men mistaken in their terms hath not Englands Episcopacy been ever deemed a Monarchy and of the same kind but lower degree with Papacy How can it be conformable to the Government of the Nation which these very men tell us is Merum Imperium an Empire Monarchy p. 11 and establish that Maxim no Bishop no King if it be an Aristocracy Whoever deemed Presbytery a Democracy Or on what colourable ground can it be so deemed doth not this Form fix the Government in the seniores and illustrior pars populi The Officers of the Church ordering all and ruling the whole Church excluding the Congregation from all Acts of Government save a shewing their just exception to any Order Office or Censure If Presbytery be a Democracy what can Independency be judged I find these learned men by the nicety of this distinction at a loss for its name as well they might and so I shall leave it and suppose a willingness in the University of Oxford to assent to Doctor Whitakers Thesis That Regimen Ecclesiae non est Monarchicum nec Aristocraticum nec Democraticum sed Democratica Monarchica Aristocratica That the Government of the Church is a Formal Aristocracy qualified with something of Monarchy which he means not to be the superiority of Prelates and Democracy by which is not meant the ruling power of the people let but this learned Doctor explain himself and Mr. Thomas Cartwright expound nay translate his words and we shall find a Government which will lay a very fair claim unto a Divine Right Si velimus Christum ipsum respiscere fuit semper Ecclesiae Regimen Monarchicum Whitak oper Tom. 2. de Rom. Pont. Quest 12. de Origin Eccles Cartwrights first Reply to Whitakers gift page 35 si Ecclesiae Presbyteros qui in Doctrina Disciplina suas partes agebant Aristocratioun si totum corpus Ecclesiae quatenus in Electione Episcoporum Presbyterorum suffragia ferebat ita tamen ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 semper Presbyteris servatur Democraticum which Cartwright thus renders The Church is governed with that kind of Government the Philosophers have affirmed to be the best for in respect of Christ the head not his Vicar or Superiority of single Prelates it is a Monarchy in respect of the Ancients and Pastours that govern in common all the Presbytery with like Authority among themselves not a Superiority over them it is an Aristocracy and in respect the people are not excluded but have their interest unto exception in Church-matters it is a Democracy If then these men will take down the towring power of Prelates and turn their Magisterial Throne into a Ministerial Chair and bring into the Cathedral Council of Deans and Chapters all the Presbyters and let these lofty persons stand amongst their Fellows till by common consent for common order one of them be set in the Chair to gather Suffrages regulate the Assembly declare their sentence and see to the execution of their Decrees and summon them together they shall constitute a Government which I think will not only fairly pretend unto but plainly appear to have an Apostolical Institution and Establishment and there are very many both ancient and moderne Authors of my opinion and then we need no more dispute the matter of extirpation of Prelacy for in this sense the Covenant will rather establish it Their think so of Divine Right turns into an assurance of universal uninterrupted succession of this Form of Government in all Kingdoms that have been called Christian for fifteen hundred years together without any considerable opposition save that of Aerius which sprang from discontent and gain'd him the reputation of an Heretick This is Sir the old only and usual guard of Prelacy I will not deny Antiquity its due Reverence though I put not on it The Antiquity of Englands Prelacy observed nor consent unto it an authority equal with or as the Papists Idolize it above the Scriptures I confess in matters of Fact it may give a clearer conviction than direction and assert things past done rather than that they should be done and continue It is well if