A CENTURY OF REASONS For Subscription and Obedience to the Laws and Government of the Church of England both ECCLESIASTICAL and CIVIL With Reasons against the COVENANT Justifi'd by Scripture Confirmed by the Laws of the Kingdom the Right and Power of Kings Ecclesiastical and Human Authorities with an Harmony of Confessions â—o which is annexed the Office and Charge belonging to the Overseers of the Poor c. Rex solo Deo minor caeteris omnibus major Tertul. Who can lay his hands upon the Lords Annointed and be guiltless 1 Sam. 26.9 W. Wasse School-master in Little Britain near unto Christ-church London Printed by W.W. for R.H. at the Bible in Heart in Little Britain 1663. To the most High and Mighty Monarch CHARLS the II. By the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King Defender of the True Catholick and Antient Faith c. Religious Renowned and most Gracious King THis Small Work that chiefly concerns Kings and perswadeth to Obedience unto them with all Humility and Submission I one of your meanest Subjects present unto your Sacred Majesty in whom Courtesie and Clemency with Authority are transcendently Eminent of whom O King of Peace I cannot but with the many ten-thousands of your Loyal and Royal hearted Subjects give in my Test that Your Sacred Majesty is not onely as David but as Solomon yea the Solomon of the world who having Reconciled Three Kingdoms to Your self at Home and most Nations of the World Abroad have also tied Peace to Your Sacred Person These Transcendent All-concluding and All-commanding Virtues fill Your Loyal and Royal Subjects hearts with confidence that our Eyes shall see in Your Peaceable days God's House finished and the Temples built again that have been destroyed And the rather have we this confidence sith that Your Royal Majesty hath broken down the Partition Wall of Rites and Ceremonies in the Church of England and in the Church of Scotland and now of Two made One And as it hath been usual to Unite Nations and common to call United Nations by one Name and in them to Establish but one Form of Government Ecclesiastical and Civil even so hath Your Sacred Majesty done whereby the Black Monarchy of the Prince of Darkness is now cast down for ever Most Serene and Powerful Prince the attractive Beauty of Your Government draws the very Hearts and Souls of Your Loyal and Royal hearted Subjects not onely to pay unto You what is due but also by a Practicable Example to go before others in Obedience for want of which many years past by and gone through unduely untempered Zeal multitudes of Your Subjects denied the Magistrates of their duty and Your Sacred Majesty the Head of all Government By means whereof for some small Differences a few Error-searching Singulars out-faceing and opposing Ever-famous Plurals uncharitably first set the House of God on fire and afterwards caused a General Conflagration throughout all Your Majesty's Dominions which without Art-exceeding Deploration cannot be remembred Therefore there is great reason why Your Sacred Majesty should beware of yielding hasty belief to the Robes of Sanctimony By their works you shall know them Most Dread Soveraign By this dimme Light of a small Candle I am come at Noon-day to give what Light I am able unto the dark corners where the Sun nor the Moon nor the Stars as yet appear notwithstanding the Eye-dazling lustre of them in the Firmament of our Church and State the Light of the least of them being able to guide the Wayless Traveller in the darkest night Great and Mighty King the Great God that hath made You thus Great and set You up the Oracle of Kings the Miracle of Ages and made You to Your Enemies as a Rock invincible against which they have and for ever shall dash themselves in pieces the same Great God give You the Conquest of all our Hearts and Wills that there may be an Harmony and Agreement of Soul and Spirit amongst all Your Subjects from Dan to Beersheba and that this entire Realm of Great Britain English Scottish and Welch now being framed into one happy Soveraignty it is the humble Prayer prostrate upon the knees of my heart that the Almighty Three in One would bring us to be perfectly One Your Majesty's Most Humble Loyal and Obedient Subject W. WASSE To the Right Reverend Father in God GILBERT By the Divine Providence Lord B p of LONDON Reverend Father in God THere is but one thing in the World hath moved me to this Publick Addressing my self unto Your Lordship and it is this The Misrepresentation of me and my Judgment concerning the Established Government of the Church of England by the False Government and the No-Government Faction and this onely occasioned from my Childish Non-conformity through their Instructions for which I humbly beg pardon for I did it ignorantly and since Years have taught me wisdom with the reasons which prove our Government Holy Just and Good as to the ends thereof being convinced as in duty bound and as an account of my Obedience which I owe I do in all Humility present unto your Lordship the Reasons of my Conformity Beseeching the. Merciful God and our Heavenly Father to increase his Graces more and more upon You to his Glory the Churches Freedom from Error and Heresie and Your Everlasting Comfort Your Lordship 's poor Beadsman to be commanded W. WASSE TO THE Right Honourable Sir John Robinson Knight and Baronet Lieutenant of his Majestie 's Tower of London and Lord Maior of the Honourable City of London AND To the Right Worshipfull Sir Richard Brown Knight and Baronet one of his Majestie 's Justices of the Peace and Major General of the same Right Honourable and Right Worshipfull IT is not the first nor second time I have Affected to make known the Uprightness of my Heart towards his Sacred Majestie 's Kingly Power the Ecclesiastical and Civil Government of the Church of England established in all his Majestie 's Dominions But never untill this time could I Effect it and I hope seasonably when the Grounds and Reasons are considered which with all Humility I offer in a particular manner unto Your Lordship and Worship and the rather unto you than to any other Citizens in as much as ye were so eminently Instrumental in the Restauration of his Sacred Majesty and since in His Preservation From whom I have received sufficient cause to give Publick testimony of my thankfull Heart which the whole Kingdome also hath and to whom I worthily Devote my Self who next under God and His Sacred Majesty have preserved me with the Loyal ten-thousands from Ruine and Destruction and unto whom the Power and Possession of my Person belongs and therefore none more meet than Your Lordship and Worship to whom I might after the retirement to my Books commit the Care of this small Compiled work which asserteth the Duty of Subjects unto Kingly Power Ecclesiastical and Civil Government especially the Duty
can hold any thing of Type or Figure but what is of a Moral equity as the Surplice Sanctity in the Minister to mind us of our first Estate a mark of an High-calling of the Dignity of the Person The Cross constancy in every Christian Baptized intimating also what the Congregation hope and expect afterwards from the Infant The Ring a token and pledge of sure performing and keeping the Vow and Covenant betwixt them made whereby the Man may be kept from the Flattery of the Tongue of a strange Woman and the Woman remembred that she forsake not the guide of her Youth neither forget the Covenant of her God The Act of Kneeling Humility in all faithfull Communicants every Communicant having a Prayer appointed for him in receiving Because our Church doth not deny our Ceremonies to have such matter and form as gives them the Essence of Religious Ceremonies or Appurtenances to bound Worship but doth deny them to have any such matter and form as gives them the Essence of Worship it self properly so called Because our Church doth not teach men to think that the Lord is better pleased with these Ceremonies even in themselves than he is without them or that they are as pleasing to him as if he had Commanded them Howsoever Ceremonies and a form of Liturgy is necessary yet not more necessary for Episcopal than Presbyterial Government Because to make a Conscience of things not forbidden as if God would else be offended is as much Superstition as to hold him necessarily pleased with that he hath not forbidden Because by Subscription I am required no more than to acknowledge those things Commanded to be Lawfull as not repugnant to the Word of God and obliged thereby not to resist or speak evil of those Lawfull Governours and Ordinances that preserve Peace Ex animo i. e. dare fidem dare igitur fidem magis est quam promittere Because our Subscription ex animo is but the faithfull Declaration of our hearts which by our Subscribing we Testifie to be real and sincere and by way of Tolleration to accept our Hands without Hearty approbation would but subtilly procure an outward Peace and when occasion should serve dangerously disturb the Church and State Nevertheless by whatsoever Art of words any Man sweareth yet God who is the witness of the Conscience accepteth it as he doth to whom the Oath is made Because the Church can make no new Articles of Faith nor no new Sacraments no new Kind of Worship to God properly so called yet is left at Liberty in matters of God's Worship to ordain Decencies for Edification of her self and as God's Embassadors have Power in Ecclesiastical matters Because we have the constant Judgment of all Churches in all Ages for our Government which is much to be Honoured and heard in all things that contradict not Scripture Because our Lord Jesus Christ did not fix any certain Fashion for the receiving of the Sacrament but ordained that which was Necessary and left the rest to occasion and choice which hath made the Law even by the Largeness of it the more Perfect and in respect of the Use the more Commodious Because the Church doth not Bow nor profess to Bow before and to the Holy mysteries in the Sacrament for respect of their Holiness which in that action the Church doth not look at as Creatures but as Divine Symbols signifying and sealing the Covenant of Grace to us Because the Cross in Baptism is not added to the Sacrament of Baptism but to the Solemnity thereof neither doth the Church esteem the Cross any Essential thing nor hold that it alters the Institution but as a thing Indifferent as a Lawfull outward Ceremony and Honourable badge of Christian Profession whereby the Infant is Dedicated to the Service of Jesus Christ which Sacrament of Baptism the Church doth hold to be perfect without Confirmation and that it adds not any thing to the virtue and strength thereof but receives it as an Apostolical Institution and as one of the particular points of the Apostles Catechism set down Heb. 6.2 which is confirmed by the Judgment of Mr. Calvin in these words Calvin in Heb. Hic unus locus abundè testatur hujus Ceremoniae originem fluxisse ab Apostolis This one place doth sufficiently evidence the beginning of this Ceremony to have been from the Apostles Because Ceremonies as they are not against the general rule of the Word of God so they are not determinable by every Voice and being setled not likely to be removed For what are we the State should be moved for us either this or that way especially considering it hath not imposed any thing Unlawfull or not Necessary but what is allowed by Fathers Councils c and St. Augustine saith St. Aug. That whatsoever the Universal Church hath held and doth hold and is not found in following Councils constituted but always retained is most rightly believed to be delivered by the Apostolick Authority Because our Ceremonies are not Private but Publick Sacred not Civil but yet Sacred by Application not by Divine Institution Mutable not Permanent Indifferent not Necessary ordained to be used necessarily in respect of Order Peace and Edification Because to Judge of Order and Peace of what is convenient and what not and to determine thereof belongeth only to those which together with the Power of doing what they shall well like of have the Scales of Wisdome and Judgment to weigh all Circumstances and so to make choice of the best way Because Non-conformity begets difference of Minds diversity of Opinions and hath brought forth Schism yea caused Heart Schism and this amongst such who know Non-conformity is Sinfull and cannot be Justified nor ought not to be Tollerated whereby each Non-conforming party become worse and worse and the more confirmed in their mistakings Because by In-conformity the main Duties of God's Worship are neglected and from Confidence fixed to an error of Opinion with the reputation of some few to be maintained the Bellows of strife are blown whence ariseth despising of Government and speaking evil of Dignities Because nothing is gained by the opposition of established Government but in the end the strictest pursuerts of Reformation fall to Vanity in their Writings to make others Laugh and in the mean while open a Door to Atheism and Prophaneness The sad consequences hereof would better become such to Study than thus to make themselves Popular by wilfull Disobedience to Lawfull Authority not because of the Unfitness of Ceremonies but of their Unwillingness to Obey Because by the extreme opposition of established Government we may incense Our Prince and Governour to courses inconvenient for us when as nothing but Fewel is brought to the Fire still nothing but what doth foment Strife Bandying one against another and against the established Government the Consciences of men say within them is not Unlawfull but ought to be Submitted unto Because the Law-givers are not restrained to
which he hath polluted by Perjury let him have no Communion with Christian men nor Portion with the Just but let him be Condemned with the Devil and his Angels eternally together with his Complices that they may be tied in the Bonds of Damnation which were joyned in the Society of Sedition Con. 4.5.6.10 Can. 74. VVhosoever of us or of all the People through all Spain shall go about by any means of Conspiracy or Practice to violate the Oath of his Fidelity which he hath taken for the preservation of his Country or of the King 's Life or who shall attempt to lay violent hands upon the King or to deprive him of his Kingly power or by Tyrannical presumption Usurp the Soveraignty of the Kingdom let him be Accursed in the sight of God the Father and of his Angels and let him be made and declared a Stranger from the Catholique Church which he hath prophaned with his Perjury The Oath of Supremacy I A. B. do utterly testifie and declare in my conscience that the King's Highness is the onely Supreme Governor of this Realm and of all other his Highness's Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal and that no Forein Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction Power Superiority Preheminence or Authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm and therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all Forein Jurisdiction Powers Superiorities and Authorities and do promise that from henceforth I shall bear Faith and true Allegiance to the King's Highness his Heirs and Lawful Successors and to my power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions Privileges Preheminences and Authorities granted or belonging to the King's Highness his Heirs and Successors or United and Annexed to the Imperial Crown of the Realm So help me God and by the Contents of this Book The Oath of Allegiance I A. B. do truly and sincerely acknowledge profess testifie and declare in my conscience before God and the World that our Soveraign Lord King CHARLS is Lawful and Rightful King of this Realm and of all other his Majesty 's Dominions and Countries and that the Pope neither of himself nor by any Authority of the Church or Sea of Rome or by any other means with any other hath any Power or Authority to Depose the King or to dispose any of his Majesty 's Kingdoms or Dominions or to authorize any Forein Prince to invade or annoy him or his Countries or to discharge any of his Subjects of their Allegiance and Obedience to his Majesty or to give License or Leave to any of them to bear Arms raise Tumult or to offer any violence or hurt to his Majesty 's Royal Person State or Government or to any of his Majesty 's Subjects within his Majesty 's Dominions Also I do swear from my heart that notwithstanding any Declaration or Sentence of Excommunication or Deprivation made or granted or to be made or granted by the Pope or his Succestors or by any Authority derived or pretended to be derived from him or his Sea against the said King his Heirs or Successors or any Absolution of the said Subjects from their Obedience I will bear Faith and true Allegiance to his Majesty his Heirs and Successors and him and them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all Conspiracies and Attempts whatsoever which shall be made against Him his or their Persons their Crown and Dignity by reason or colour of any such Sentence or Declaration or otherwise and will do my best indeavour to disclose and make known unto his Majesty his Heirs and Successors all Treasons and Traiterous Conspiracies which I shall know or hear of to be against Him or any of them And I do further swear that I do from my heart abhor detest and abjure as Impious and Heretical this damnable Doctrine and Position That Princes which be Excommunicated or Deprived by the Pope may be Deposed or Murthered by their Subjects or any other whatsoever And I do believe and in conscience am resolved that neither the Pope nor any Person what soever hath power to Absolve me of this Oath or any part thereof which I acknowledge by good and full Authority to be Lawfully ministred unto me and do renounce all Pardons and Dispensations to the contrary And all these things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear according to these express words by me spoken and according to the plain and common sense and understanding of the same words without any Equivocation or mental Evasion or secret Reservation whatsoever And I do make this Recognition and Acknowledgment heartily willingly and truly upon the Faith of a Christian So help me God Two things in special are to be observed in this Oath 1. That the King receiveth his Authority onely from God and hath no Superior to punish or chastize him but God alone 2. That the Bond of Subjects in Obedience to his Sacred Majesty is inviolable and cannot be dissolved Bracton 20. years Chief Justice in the time of King Henry 3. There are under the King Free-men and Servants are Subject unto his Power as also whatsoever is under him and he himself is Subject to no Man but only unto God and no Man may presume Judicially to Examine his doings much less to Oppose them by Force and Violence St. Ambr. Kings are not bound unto Law because Kings are Free from the Bond of Crimes and are not called unto Punishment by any Law being Safe by the Power of Command Anonymus The people manifest the King to be their King but do not give unto him the right unto his Kingdome which is of the Lord's appointment By me Kings Reign The outward Unction not enferring upon Kings their Authority but used as a sign of Soveraignty So that the People making a King is not by giving him the Right of his Kingdome but by putting Him into the Possession of his Kingdome to Reign over them Succession and Lawfull Conquest are but Titles whereby Princes receive their Authority they are not the Original and Immediate fountain of their Authority Tertull. Inde illis est porestas unde spiritus Thence have Princes their Power whence their Spirit Irenaeus Cujus jussu nascuntur homines ejus jussu constituuntur Principes By God's Appointment By whose Appointment they are born Men by his Appointment are they made Princes God only makes them Kings and God only can unmake them and deject them from their Thrones King James's Royal assent to Church-Government We of our Princely inclination and Royal care for the maintenance of the present Estate and Government of the Church of England by the Laws of this our Realm now Setled and Established having diligently with great contentment and comfort read and consiâ—ered of all these their Canons Orders Ordinances and Constitutions agreed upon as is before Expressed and finding the same such as We
have so deeply conceived a deep and strong perswasion of his Majesty's Princely Virtues and much renowned propension to Piety and Equity that they will urge their consciences to assent unto every thing which the King enjoyns as Right and Convenient Because abstaining from Christian Assemblies and publick Worship of God under pretence of employing their Talents for the good of the Church in private meetings is scandalous and an inductive to sin Because the Churches of God do hold with the Church of England the lawfulness of Absolution after satisfaction enjoyned by the Church when men have defiled themselves with Murther Idolatry or filthy Lusts and that formerly they were sever'd from mutual society and afterwards the Churches did not suddenly receive such offenders again though they did repent that it might be known that they did unfeignedly repent of their Murther Idolatry and filthy Lusts and ask pardon and for example sake that it might profit others for certain days Absolution was deferred 1 Cor. 5. that they might be seen to ask pardon publickly which publick satisfaction before the Church although in a sort Political yet may be referred to the Ecclesiastical Order and may altogether be distinguished from those punishments which are meerly Civil and from those which are to be inflicted by the Magistrate which the Churches doubt not is both acceptable to God and commodious for the edifying of the Church Because if a Minister be found guilty of crimen laesae Majestatis the King may punish whereupon by consequence will follow his falling from his Ecclesiastical Office and Dignity saith an Anonymus of Scotland And the Churches abroad with the Church of England say there must be publick Satisfaction and Absolution after Repentance before he can be received again into the Church of God because of Scandal given to the whole Church of God although the King do pardon him For as there ought to be diligent enquiry in the Synods touching the Life and Doctrine of the Ministers so those that offend are to be rebuked of the Seniors and to be brought into the way if they be not past recovery or else to be deposed and as Wolves to be driven from the Lord's Flock by the true Pastors if they be incurable For if once they be false Teachers they are in no wise to be tollerated saith the Harmony of Confessions And in publick Discipline saith the Church of Geneva it is to be observed that the Ministery pretermit nothing at any time unchastised with one kind of punishment or other And if Ministers shall do any thing which is Scandalous to the Congregation or punishable by Civil Authority then such a Minister shall be Suspended from his Ministery and it shall stand in the judgment of the Classis with us of the Bishops whether he deserves not to be deposed say the Synods of the Low-countries The sum of all to unsetled spirits is this to get a full perswasion of the mind concerning our establish'd Government and Governors because a full perswasion of the mind yea even where the judgment faileth touching matters not intrinsecally evil giveth rest to the conscience Especially when you have considered indeed that the judgment of all causes the deciding all controversies the censure of all men the sentence determining all actions are the Kings and in His performances rests the very Soul of the State and the life of a State 's flourishing whose Soul is of too fine and quick a Metall to love doing nothing And when the affections of the minds of men or any other humor usurps an overswaying Authority the body of the State languisheth and by refusing to obey men ruine one of the two best parts of man For whether a Prince cometh to Authority by Succession or just Election it is not lawful to practise against Him because he is the Lord 's Annointed The greatest motive to Moderation the onely stay of the reeling steps of Man's humanity and next unto that nothing should move us more to continue our Moderation than the great commiseration of our Prince towards us that were his enemies Arguments sufficient to make us love Him and not to contend with Him his Government or Governors much less to study to fetch the means of our supposed safety from false grounds which will prove a humor unsafe and most displeasing by the want of which Moderation we shall serve a wrong Master and by our strong affections and weak experience shew what folly governs us in resisting of His Authority Therefore let us give Him the love of our hearts it will make Him happy and us in Him For what we desire to make us happy and at peace is matter of thought onely without truth which kind of thoughts formerly hath led us into strange transgressions against a Divine Law besides other errors like wandring Empericks respiting pain and doubling the pain and danger afterwards or else like Women with child that like nothing but what is hard if not impossible to come by and so by an uncertain pleasure purchase certain loss and pain Wherefore let us hearken to the counsel of St. Chrysostom who observeth that the God of All hath given All but one House the world to be domesticos naturae The Houshold of Nature that Father of Lights hath light all but one Candle the Sun to be Filios lucis Just and unjust Children of that Light seeing he that spreadeth it out as a Curtain hath covered all but with one Canopy and roof of Heaven to be one Family of Love and seeing the Feeder of every living thing hath spread all but one Table the Earth at which Boord we are all Companions of one Bread and drink all of one Cup the Air doubtless this community of natural things should breed such a common Unity in nature as should make men in this common House to be of one mind and sons of one light and the family under one roof to walk in this House of God as familiar friends and companions at one Table to eat their meat together with singleness of heart And not with the Bramble affecting Superiority over the Cedars of Lebanon set on fire the Trees of the Forest or like that Wood in the Poet being shaken by the wind Sponte edidit ignem qui ipsam consumpsit Of it self gave fire which consum'd it all Which leads me to add a word or two unto you that will not conform Unto you I wish peaceable spirits with serious consideration of the Reasons which with me have prevailed to own and subscribe unto the establish'd Government of the Church of England notwithstanding those seeming Reasons Scriptures and Authorities brought by you to perswade that to subscribe and yield obedience to the established Government is sinful and unlawful and to joyn in Worship with the Church of England as it is now constituted a Church is to commit Idolatry But after long search and inquiry made I find your Scriptures Reasons and Authorities to fall short of
that truth I once believed to be in them and of no power to convince the Church of England doth err either in Doctrine or Discipline which while I did believe I did not conform in any Circumstantial supposed error but was a Non-conformist with you upon the Reasons Scriptures and Authorities by you Urged Preached and Printed yet have I not at any time knowingly risen up against the Powers that commanded and enjoyned Obedience as they are Powers but upon the grounds aforesaid which grounds I have considered upon in more ripe judgment and find them not to be sufficient to warrant disobedience to the Higher Powers or to joyn with you in your determined Non-conformity having the eyes of my understanding better enlightned by the Divine goodness by Scriptures Reasons and Authorities the Confessions and Professions of the Churches abroad the Laws and equitable Constitutions of the Kingdom of which I am an unworthy Member besides what I have learnt from your own Writings of which formerly I was ignorant From all which Grounds Reasons Scriptures Authorities Writings c. I see not any cause to make further appeal nor know not of any higher search that can be made for the discovery of the truth Now that ye may the rather weigh and consider of what I have here offered to publick view after the satisfaction given hereby to my own conscience know that I am not a person under any temptation neither have I any Ecclesiastical Promotion to lose nor one that hath ever sought after or doth seek after Honor Advancement or to be preferred in the world though I might have had it for Swearing subjection unto an Usurping Power no I am a person studying to get my daily bread with hard labour labouring under great unthankfulness unjust and vexatious sutes and all-devouring scandals not mounted upon the uncogged wheels of prosperous fortune no the Plutoes of the world sons of violence rapine and spoil have cogged every spoak in my wheels I mean men who by force and power and other unjust practices have possessed themselves of all I have and have possessed it for more than ten years without an accompt or restitution which puts me in mind of an Historical Example not utterly to be despised of them The example of injustice is reported by one Antonius de Florentia an antient Doctor who tells us of a certain man that would not make restitution of his unjust gain alleging if he should do so his Children might beg or be sent to the Hospital The Father dieth in the same estate his eldest Son succeedeth and likewise will not restore The younger Brother demandeth his part of those goods and restoreth after the rate of his portion the rest that remained he gave to the poor and entred into the state of a solitary life Shortly after the elder Brother dyeth whereupon was shewed to the younger Brother living in chast contemplation this Vision following He seeth his Father and his Brother in torment one cursing the other the Father saying the Son was the cause of his damnation because it was for the love of him and enriching of him that he did not make restitution The Son he cursed and said that his Father was the cause of his damnation because he left him these ill-gotten goods the keeping whereof hath wrought his perdition Let such as have gotten ill-gotten goods in their possessions or are intangled with the iniquity of them apply this Example before it be too late and consider of Thespesius Fable in Plutarch He Fableth an infernal Vision of Souls like Vipers hanging on together did bite and gnaw one another Ob memoriam injuriarum in vita actarum Remembring old grudges and wrongs done in their life time here on earth keeping their hatred for ever Ovid. nec mors mihi finiet iras Though we be dead our malice shall not die I am sure such Caitiffs are of that Family who at the hour of death Lavat remittunt culpam non poenam Odia inimicitias quasi per manus liberis suis tradunt haeredes paterni odii Senec. They say I forgive all and in the Will and Testament bequeath their hatred and malice by Tradition to the hands of their sons and make them heirs of their fathers hatred Et astutam vapido servant sub pectore vulpem They appear in Sheep's cloathing but inwardly they are ravening Wolves Tuta frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen Tuta frequensque licet sit via crimen habet A safe and common way it is by friendship to deceive But safe and common though it be it 's knavery by your leave Now I return to our purpose I find it recorded of Dionysius Hallicarnasseus who was never advanced to Magistracy in the Roman Re-publick that he hath Written farr more truly the History of the Romans than those which Flourished amongst them with Riches and Honour So I hope you shall find from an Obscure person more of the truth concerning our established Government and reasons for the same than you have ever heard delivered or seen Written by most in Honour and Esteem amongst you Many of them being like the Franciscans of Old who at the beginning professed Conscientia losing a Syllable and Honesty with it fell to Scientia and now having lost two Syllables remain pure Entia Stocks and Images Such as these may well despise and reject these Reasons as of no worth and disdain to read them much more to own them and in hatred of my Name consider my Person and not the Weight that is to be found in every sentence in them though of so great concern as wisely improved would put a stay to the Reeling steps of many thousand Ignorant Unstable and All-concluding Souls What I have Written is necessary though by disowning of your Principles I seem to savour of Levity and Inconstancy but my reward is with me I know and am prepared for the Slanderous tongues of an Ungratefull and Miskenning world I reckon not what becomes of me or my credit in this World or what I have that is most dear unto me so God may be Glorified in me and by me it is not what men can Speak or may Write will dismay me it were better their pains were bestowed about their own Everlasting peace as others had better in former times to have bestowed the Labour they took to prove and perswade the Church of England did err in taking care they themselves had not erred in Doctrine and joyned Practice with it Departing from the Truths of God Rejecting the Book of Common-prayer and Teaching others so to do with great Judgment purposely framed as I believe out of the Grounds of Religion which we profess and hold for Agreement sake and that Scandal might be avoided in our Christian Divine Worshipping of God By means of which in former times great Mischiefs were presaged which came to pass in our days besides Perjury which did accompany all our Evils to
J. Goodwin The Parliamentary Assembly in a Representative and Legal consideration is the whole Body of the Nation and of all the persons in it having the same Power and Authority by Law and in Conscience too to do every whit as much in every respect as the whole Nation and all the particular persons therein could have if they were met together All the Kingdom besides hath no such Power as they and things may be done very Lawfully and with a good Conscience by virtue of their Appointment and Command with the King's Consent which could not be done without it though a thousand times more men or persons than they are should command them Because the Council of the King consisteth onely of persons thereunto especially elected by Himself and thereunto sworn to serve Him with their faithful advice and counsel and whether they be Nobles or no it is not material seeing that the Calling cometh not by Birth Lambard but groweth by Election and be so incorporate with him as he speaketh by them and their Judgments are reputed to be His own Because the King and Governors substituted under him both Ecclesiastical and Civil excel in virtue by equity saving from injury and do maintain all in one indifferency of Right and Justice and therefore to be obeyed in what they shall command by all good Subjects J. Goodwin A man's consent to an Unlawful Power in an absolute and simple consideration is a meer Nullity and such a a Power never the more Lawfullized thereby Because the King in his own Kingdom is the onely Supreme Judge and bound by his Coronation Oath to be the onely Judge of his people as may appear by this one Question therein amongst others Lambard Facere fieri in omnibus judiciis tuis aequam rectam justitiam discretionem in misericordia veritate secundùm vires tuas Judiciis tuis vires tuas do more properly denote unto us his own doings than the doings of his subaltern Justices albeit their judgment be after a certain manner the Judgment of the King himself also from whence their Authority is derived Camero the Learned holdeth that in things pertaining to external order in Religion Kings may command what they will pro Authoritate and forbid to seek any other reason besides the Majesty of their Authority yea when they command frivola dura iniqua respectu nostri our consciences are bound not onely in respect of the end because scandal should possibly follow in case we obey not but also jubentis respectu because the Apostle bids us obey the Magistrate for conscience sake Eleutheriâ—s to K. Lucius Rex Dei Vicarius est in Regno suo The King is God's Vicar in his own Kingdom Because we have the testimony not onely of Antiquity but of Papists themselves in the days of Queen Elizabeth of ever blessed memory whose Church-Government was the same with ours now in being Guazzo If say they there be nothing to keep her meaning the Queen from Heaven but Her Religion no doubt but She shall go thither for I can tell you this that the most Learned men of the world are of this opinion that Her Religion is the high way to Heaven and if a Tree be known by its Fruits we doubt not but this Tree is good which bringeth forth such Fruits as the like are not to be found in the whole world again a Princess and now a Prince endued with such piety such purity c. that She and now He may be a pattern for all Princes to practise by Grave and Wise Counsellors referring all their thoughts and doings to God's glory their Prince's safety and their Country's commodity a well-disposed and orderly Commonalty ruled as much by Religion as Law obeying as well for conscience as fear continual peace and quietness which is a singular blessing of God and an undoubted sign that God liketh well of Her and now of His proceedings For as She so He banished Popery keeps the Ceremonies and maintaineth the Authority of Bishops To attempt to be the Authors of Combinations to extort by tumults the alteration of any part of the established Government Ecclesiastical or Civil is Treason and will lay such men open to the lash of the Law Stâ—w in vit H. 7. Bugnal Scot Heath and Kennington being Sanctuary men in St. Martins le Grand London had judgment to be hang'd drawn and quarter'd for setting up seditious Bills to the scandal of the King and some of his Council In vita Eliz. Penry Udal Barrow Greenwood Studley Billots and Bowdler were Condemned and three of them hanged for writing Treasonable and Seditious Books by which the Peace of the Kingdom might have been disturbed though no Rebellion followed Hollingshed in vit Eliz. Copping and Thacker were Hang'd at St. Edmonds-bury for publishing the Pamphlets writ by Robert Brown against the Book of Common-prayer How 's Chron. Mr. Williams Barrister of the Middle Temple was Executed in King James his Reign for writing a defamatory Book against the said King and his Posterity Because the Matter of Church-Government is far wide from every man's particular profession neither is it to be spann'd and fathom'd by the length and reach of ordinary discretion but requires great faithfulness gravity meekness and dexterity to restore Religion into her place and being placed there to keep it Because it is not a bare good intention or Zeal without knowledge that can justifie a good action much less an evil action it must be a mature knowledge that will warrant actions upon which our Customs are grounded now Customs are not to give place to men's Humors but men must resign their Humors to Custom nay to Government established by Law for our Government hath been long and often established and if there were a change we should never be at peace within our selves by reason of those humorous affections that are amongst us Because those that thwart the Government of the Church if left to themselves would be able to cross the King and encourage the people to Rebellion and thereby become unpeaceable proud obstinate disobedient self-will'd and contradict the Powers that be of God For can we expect Unity and Peace from those that have been so wofully divided amongst themselves and yet are unanimous against the Rites and Ceremonies Because it is a Jesuitical Opinion to hold that Princes must determine nothing in matters of Religion nor ought to encourage the Church For Riches tend much to strengthen the Clergy and preserve Religion but dissentions and divisions and exasperating of the King against the Bishops is the way to sow the seeds of another desperate War and by novelties and diversities make people grow weary and set loose to the practise of piety Paraeus Magistratus est Custos Religionis The Magistrate is the Keeper of Religion Cunaeus de Rep. Heb. Persaepe Spiritus Divinus Reges principesque Sacerdotes
appellat quia Ceremoniarum ad eos Religionumque cura tutela pertinet The Spirit of God doth very often call Kings and Princes Priests because the cust dy and care of Ceremonies and of Religion belongs to them Bilson Kings and Princes before Christ subverted Idolls Reformed Religion in their Realms by their Princely Power and Zeal Stat. 25. Hen. 8. It was Enacted by Parliament That no Canons or Constitutions should be made by the Bishops c. and by them Promulgated without the King's Command Records of Convocation The Clergy were forced to give up their Power of Executing any old Canons of the Church without the King's consent had before Heylins History All former Constitutions Provincial and Synodal though hitherto in force by the Authority of the whole Western Church Stat. 25. Hen. 8. were Committed to the Arbitriment of the King and of sixteen Lay persons and sixteen of the Clergy appointed by the King to be Approved or Rejected by them according as they conceived them Consistent with or Repugnant to the King's Prerogative as Head of the Church or to the Laws of God c. Stat. 26. Hen. 8. Authority was allowed to the King to Repress and Correct all such Errors Heresies Abuses and Enormities whatsoever they were which by any manner of spiritual Jurisdiction might Lawfully be repressed c. any thing to the contrary notwithstanding Ibid. All manner of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical was by Parliament acknowledged to belong to the King as Head of the Church So that no Bishop had any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction but by under and from the King Stat. 37. Hen. 8. c. 17. Supreme Power of dispensing with any Ecclesiastical Constitutions is ascribed to the King and Parliament as recognized Supreme Head of the Church Stat. 25. Hen. 8. c. 21. and the Arch-bishop made the King 's Delegate so that in Case he should refuse two other Bishops might be named to Grant such Dispensations And after all the King and His Court of Chancery are made the last Judge what things in such Dispensations are repugnant to Scriptures and what not Stat. 37. Hen. 8. Though the King did not Personally himself Exercise the Power of the Keys yet this Right He claimed that no Clergy man being a Member of the English Church should Exercise it in His Dominions in any Cause or over any Person without the Leave and Appointment of Him the Supreme Head Nor any refuse to Exercise it whensoever He should require Stat. 32. It was Enacted that whosoever should teach contrary to the Determinations which were set forth by the King Hen. 8. c. 26. should be Deemed and Treated as a Heretick Stat. 2.5.6 E. 6. An Act is made in which the King and Parliament Authorize Bishops c. by Vertue of their Act to take Informations concerning the not using the Form of Common-prayer then prescribed and to Punish the same by Excommunication c. Confirmed by 1 Eliz. cap. 1. 5 Eliz. cap. 1. 23 Eliz. cap. 1. Because in doubtfull matters the resolution of the Major part must be obeyed Now it hath been resolved by many Kings and Princes that our Government is not repugnant to the Word of God from whose Judgment there is no appeal but only to God by Prayer Because Schism did grow out of and arise from Presbyterian Government in the purest time which caused the Churches then to out it and to establish Episcopacy as the best Antidote against Schism and for the Restauration and Maintenance of the Churches Peace which was by Succession from the Apostles if not of Divine Institution The Apostles of Christ ordained Bishops in the Church Bullinger 5. Ser. Now it seems a desperate course to use Presbyterian Government as a soveraign Antidote in our time Lloyds prim Epis which had the effect of Poison upon the Churches in the Apostles time Because Contention is a deadly Enemy to Charity and Holy-living Now the refusing of Subscription and Obedience to Church-Government must needs kindle Contentions and why will you thus Contend seeing that the Government by Bishops is the Government of Christ and what better Government can we expect from Man A Government most of the Godly have Conformed to Baxter Most of the Godly able Ministers of England since the Reformation have Judged Episcopacy Lawfull or most Fit and most of them did Subscribe and Conform to Episcopal Government as a thing not contrary to the Word of God but as instituted by the Apostles to which all or the most of the Ancient Fathers do agree so that it is very Evident that it is very Consistent with a Godly Life to Judge Episcopacy lawfull and fit or else so many hundred of Learned and Godly men would not have been of that mind Because they ought to be under the Obedience of all Laws Ecclesiastical and Civil which that Prince commands under whom they Live Division in Government makes Division in a Kingdome and a Kingdome divided cannot stand Omne regnum in se divisum desolabitur Because the Grandest opposers of the Government of the Church of England have ever been of Unconstant principles though Violently zealous in opposing Indifferent things Which if simply Unlawfull they were sin why then do they not contend against them as sinfull but as formerly they did so now they can dispense with them under their own Cure in the Person of another and Subscribe themselves if they might be Dispensed with as to a Compliance in their own Persons which by the Act they are Enjoyned Nor do we find any great Opposition in the time of the Reign of our Immortal Queen Elizabeth untill Her Majesty Commanded Her Bishops and Her Bishops by Her Authority Commanded due Obedience to the Government of the Church which doth manifest it was not nor is not Conscience that doth raise this Opposition against them as if Unlawfull but as not Convenient for them that have been and still are Braindistempered opposers of them Because no Persons for the reason of inconveniency ought to reject what Publick Authority hath allowed Sith that it is apparent that the Composers of our Divine Service-book made choice of the best things out of the most Ancient Liturgies of the Churches which Flourished long before the Birth of Antichrist Because it hath not been manifested unto the Church of England by any Irrefragable positions that the Government of the Church is Unlawfull or the Ceremonies thereof Impure for which impurity the Church should lay aside the Practice of them being Warranted by the Word of God or not Dissonant from it And that they are Unlawfull hath not nor cannot be Proved though Disallowed by some whose Approbation makes nor the Government of the Church of England ever a whit the more Lawfull though Consented unto by them Because we have the Truths of Doctrine Christian Ordinances and a Holy People of the Church of England exercising themselves in the Holy Duties
them And although the Pope have corrupted the sound Doctrine defiled the Sacraments and uses Ceremonies for the most part blasphemous and Superstitions yet we have the sound Doctrine and wholesome use of the Sacraments with Ceremonies according to the rule serving unto Order Comeliness and Edification Because without Ceremonies which hurt not Faith and Charity we shall never have any setled peace and therefore men should study what will be the issue of untempered Zeal or rather Passion in opposing our Government of the Church as unlawful and to take heed lest they raise up dust with their own feet to blind their own sight Because the departure from Custom is unsafe and full of hazard and an Innovation is scarce effected without dislike opposition and danger if not ruine Tacitus All changes in Government commonly do cheat them most at last who at first most desire them Homil. against Rebellion Though not onely great multitudes of the rude Commons but sometimes also men of Wit Nobility and Authority have moved Rebellion against their lawful Princes though they should pretend sundry causes as the Redress of the Common-wealth or Reformation of Religion though they have made a great shew of Holy meaning by beginning their Rebellion with a counterfeit Service of God and by displaying and bearing about divers Ensigns and Banners which are acceptable unto the rude ignorant common people great multitudes of whom by such false pretences and shews they do deceive and draw unto them yet were the multitudes of the Rebels never so huge and great the Captains never so noble politick and witty the pretences feigned never so good and holy yet the overthrow of all Rebells of what number state or condition soever they were or what colour or cause soever they pretended is and ever hath been such that God doth thereby shew that he alloweth neither the dignity of any person nor the multitude of any people nor the weight of any cause as sufficient for which the Subjects may move Rebellion against their Princes If the King proceed not in His Government according unto Law and Right there is no Legal Remedy to be had against Him Bracton i. e. A. All that we have to do is that we do Petition Him for Relief and Remedy Because no man is to call the King's acts into question much less to go about to annull and void them by force and violence Anonymus There is no inferior Magistrate of what sort soever but as he is a publick person in respect of those that are beneath him so he is a but private person disabled utterly to resist his Soveraign or bear defensive Arms against him as well as any other of the common people For inferior Magistrates be no Magistrates at all as they relate unto the King the Genus summum in the scale of Government and therefore of no more Authority to resist the King or call the People unto Arms than the meanest Subject Plutarch It is resolved by Plutarch that it is contrary both to positive Laws and the Law of Nature for any Subject to lift up his hand against the Person of his Soveraign Cal. Instit l. 3. c. 10. Any private person whatsoever who shall lift up his hand against his Soveraign though a very Tyrant is for the same condemned by the voice of God Because the setling of Religion is to be looked upon as causal not as consequent to the peace and prosperity of the Kingdom All things require Order much more Government Now that there is order and settlement may appear from the purpose of our Church Rogers which is best known by the Doctrine which she doth profess the Doctoine by the thirty nine Articles established by Act of Parliament the Articles by the words whereby they are expressed and other purpose than the publick Doctrine doth minister and other Doctrine than in the said Articles is contained our Church neither hath nor holdeth and other sense they cannot yield than their words do impart and therefore the Sense the same the Articles the same the Doctrine the same and the purpose and intention of our Church still one and the same because her Doctrine and Articles for number words syllables and Letters and every way be the same And why an alteration and unsetling the foundation of our Church built upon the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and his Apostles Because violent censuring of the Doctrine of the Church the Government the Ceremonies thereof and spiteful contemning our Governors will never alter the Doctrine remove the Ceremonies or unsettle our Governors but make all the faster Because human Ceremonies improperly or respectively are and may be called parts of God's Worship although in them the Kingdom of God standeth not Because our Lord Jesus Christ hath left nothing absolutely to the will of his Officers but hath determined all things necessary unto Salvation and left ambulatory Rites to the Church's liberty under general rules which being imposed by lawful Authority become respectively necessary Because the same things which are originally and naturally grounded on human considerations when they come to be applied to Sacred actions for the comeliness thereof in that use are made Sacred in respect of the ends to which they serve Because all Ecclesiastical Orders and Constitutions serving to the external ordering of Religious actions although they are called Civil as made by men in opposition to Divine Institutions which properly bind the Conscience yet improperly or respectively they do also bind the Conscience Because the Church doth not hold that the Laws thereof do properly bind the Conscience or that Simple obedience is due unto them as unto the immediate Worship or Commands of God Because the Ceremonies of our Church be neither imposed or observed with Superstition or opinion of Necessity in themselves or of Worship as though we placed Religion in them much less with the Popish conceits of Merit or Efficacy Because our Ceremonies become necessary not by the particular Commandment of Man but by the general Commandment of God For notwithstanding they remain Indifferent in themselves and before God and so to be used with a free Conscience without placing any Religion in them yet am I bound to obey them as necessary by the General Commandment of God Not as Necessary in themselves but as being Indifferent and yet as necessary for the avoiding of Scandal or Contempt as well as for Concord sake Because our Ceremonies are necessary in their use Ministers are maintained Obedience is shewed to the King and his Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil Peace is in the Church of Christ free Preaching and Passage of the Gospel which are of great Necessity Because the Vestments used make not any man Godly or Wicked and although they were Inconvenient not being Unlawfull rather to be yielded to than refused for the Flock sake and Publick peace of the Church From the Moral Signification of our Ceremonies nothing is urged that
any particular Act but have Liberty to ordain such wholesome Laws Canons Orders Constitutions c. Ecclesiastical and Civil as are not repugnant to the Word of God which are binding to the Conscience and ought to be observed of every Man though not particularly enjoyned in the Scripture or written Word of God Because it is better to bear the Use of the Ceremonies and yield Obedience to the Government than occasion the Rending of the Church the Displeasure of our Governours the Loss of those Talents God hath entrusted any one with the Distress of a man's Family the Confirming of an error by Example and Condemning as Untollerable Sinfull and Unlawfull what God will Justifie as Lawfull in the Great Day For fear lest by my Disobeying the Lawfull Authority of a Christian Church and Magistrate whom I ought to obey for Conscience sake I Scandalize the weak or become an occasion to them that are weak to Contemn the Authority of the Magistrate and of the Church and the Ceremonies thereof which are appointed and by them thought convenient yea necessary that the External Glory of the Church should be in some measure proportionable to the Glory of the Kingdome Because as Subjects we are bound in Duty and Conscience to Submit which all may readily do with a free Conscience because whatsoever Laws are Imposed are Limited by the Word and the Law-makers are restrained from Commanding that which God Forbids Because the Peace of the Church is one of the sweetest rellished Mercies that we hold next unto the Graces of God's Spirit which by In-conformity is broken And the Punishment of the Omission or rather the refusal of Submission to the established Government is in respect of the neglect if not contempt of Lawfull Authority of the Churches Discipline and Peace and not because the meer Omission is Sin Because if the Ceremonies and established Government of the Church were Sinfull and Unlawfull why do Ministers themselves and not a few others who refuse to Conform to the Government in their own Persons quietly suffer it in their own Children do they not love the Salvation of their Children they shall be your Judges Because the Church of England receiveth its own Customs with difference from other Churches lest men should think that Religion is tied to outward Ceremonies which Customs our Clergy use as the Customs of the place wherein they Live Because those Laws which of their own nature are changeable be notwithstanding uncapable of change if he which gives them being of Authority so to do absolutely forbid to change them neither may they admit alteration against the Will of such a Law-maker Because Magistrates must Judge all causes and Govern the people whom all are to Honour Submit unto and Reverence in deed word and gesture as to the Lord Ainsworth For the Word of God is Committed to them and they therefore are called Gods And Subjection is due unto the King as to the Superiour unto the Governours as they are sent of him And this Subjection must be both openly and secretly even of Conscience and not for fear of wrath only And there is not a cause why either Princes should forsake their Places Titles Dignities or the People shake off their Subjection For seeing Magistracy is God's Ordinance none are meeter to Execute it to have his Word and Sword committed to them to carry his Titles and to Judge the people And seeing it is still his Ministery for the good of his people none can better perform this Duty and be Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers of the Church than Christian Kings in which Ministration they both maintain and conserve the true Religion of God according to his Word and reform things Amiss and also maintain Civil peace So that they are not only Ornaments of Common-wealths but their Safety and Strength under God and they are the Shields of the World to whom we owe Homage Service and Subjection and should allow them Maintenance pay them Tributes and other Duties in recompence of their Cares Labours and Imployments that so mutual Concord may all manner of ways be Conserved Because nothing is Commanded strictly to be observed but such things as are necessary and cannot be omitted without Disorder and Scandal unto the Obedience of which all have been and are still invited and sweetly drawn with yielding to the Conditions capacities and judgments of 〈◊〉 so farr forth as the Stamp which God hath set on those he hath called to Office and Command may be Preserved and not Debased And seeing that the Original occasion of Episcopacy doth very much commend it Lloyd it being brought in to Heal the evil of Schism and by preventing it for time to come to secure the Peace of the Church it should be the more acceptable to us From a desire by our example of Obedience to win others to the love of the Government and by our sweet behaviour to attract others to Virtue not to Disputations while they observe our Dispositions Manners Affections Aims and Intendments are to glorifie God and not being otherwise minded in all Humility to yield to reason not presuming upon our own strength but with patience bearing what is Commanded with all Long-suffering that we may be like our Heavenly Father Lest we seem to make our selves wiser than He. Because our Spiritual Governours are given unto us and set over us as those to whom the whole care of the Church belongeth and by whose Authority the honour of the Church is preserved which remaining safe Peace is safe therefore let us be followers of their Doctrine Living in Conformity to the Customs of the present times Imitators of wise Christians and such as are Patterns to be practised by considering that our Prince and Governours who are the true Patterns and Mirrours of God amongst us are not ignorant of any thing whatsoever which may tend to the quiet Religious and civil Government of us and the Kingdome Because Princes are Lords over Laws and enjoyn them to others of whom it is not Lawfull to invent or speak that thing which may turn to the Disgracing of the Laws and Government or Reproach of our Governours appointed by our Head and Superiour to whom we must and ought to yield Obedience by the Command of God in all causes whatsoever Because it is more meet that we follow the Counsel of many Learned Bishops who had the chiefest hand in Planting in the Restitution and Reformation of Religion in all Ages than that all of them should strike Sail to the fancies of a few inconsiderate Mushromes considering that the Power they have committed to them hath been and still is for the good of the Church and not for themselves which others that want Integrity Morality Charity Mercy and Judgment cannot exercise nor discharge suitable to the ends of Government Because the Churches abroad confess their Preachers have a great deal of wrong and injury offered them in that they are blamed as though they
sought to bring the Authority of Ecclesiastical Praelates to nothing when as they never forbad them that worldly Government and Authority which they have given unto them by Kings and Emperours for the civil Government of their Goods c. it being conferred upon them by Pious Princes out of their Love to Christ and his Ambassadors the better to preserve them from the contempt of the wicked and to inable them the better to maintain the great interest which in civil things belongs to the Ecclesiastical State and that the great Honour of a Christian Kingdome should not sit without giving the Ambassadors of Christ an Honourable place and Privilege amongst them Because the Churches abroad confess that so many as do despise Ecclesiastical Assemblies and separate themselves from them they are contemners of true Religion and are to be compelled by the Bishops and Godly Migistrates to surcease stubbornly to separate and absent themselves from sacred Assemblies Because the Churches abroad confess if any Church do Religiously celebrate the memory of the Lord's Nativity Circumcision Passion Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven and sending the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples according to Christian Liberty they do very well allow of it Because the Churches abroad confess no Religion doth keep every where the same Ceremonies although they admit and receive the self same Doctrine touching them For say they even they which have one and the self same Faith disagree amongst themselves about Ceremonies the Churches having always used their liberty in Rites as being things indifferent Because the Churches abroad confess Ceremonies brought in by good Custome are with an Uniform consent to be retained in the Ecclesiastical Assemblies of Christian People at the common Service of God according to the Doctrine of the Holy Apostles Let all things be done in the Church decently and in order For God is not the Author of confusion but of peace and no man by pretending a shew of Christian liberty should withdraw himself from such constitutions as be godly and serve to a good use Because the Churches abroad confess although their Preachers do not keep all Rites with other Churches yet they do not withstand or oppose themselves to any good and godly Constitutions neither are they so minded as that for the Ceremonies sake they would raise up any dissentions although they should think that some of them were not very necessary Because the Churches abroad confess their meaning is not to have Rule taken from the Bishops but teach that the true Pastors of the Churches may ordain Publick Rites in their Churches for good Order's sake and if they be broken with offence given there where the Churches are well ordered and there be not error in Doctrine let him that in such a place breaketh them know that he doth offend because he disturbeth the peace of the Church well ordered or doth withdraw others from the true Ministery Because the Churches abroad do profess Ceremonies invented by Man such as are seemly devised for Order may be observed without any opinion of Merit Worship or Necessity and confess they do both observe certain Ceremonies which are comely and made for good order and also teach that they ought to be observed even as men cannot live without good order Because the Churches abroad confess that it is lawful for the Bishops with the consent of the Church to appoint Holy-days Lessons and Sermons for edifying and for instruction in the true Faith in Christ Because the Churches abroad touching Traditions of the Fathers or such as the Bishops and the Churches do at this day ordain hold it as their opinion such as agree with the Scripture and were ordained for good manners and the profit of men although they be not expressed in the Scripture nevertheless in that they proceed from the commandement of Love which ordereth all things most decently they are worthily to be accounted rather of God than of man which no good Christian will refuse to obey no not unlawful Laws so they have no wicked thing in them Because the Churches abroad deny not the Churches Canons about Rites which serve for the publick order and edification of the Church but that the matter of the Canon warranted by God's Word doth bird Because the Churches abroad confess indeed they teach that the care of Religion doth chiefly appertain to the Magistrats and he that opposeth himself against the Magistrate doth procure the wrath of God against him and therefore condemn all contemners of Magistrates as Rebels enemies of the Common-wealth seditious Villains and all such as do either openly or closely refuse to perform those duties which they ought to do and confess all men of what dignity condition or state soever they be ought to be subject to their lawful Magistrates and obey them in all things which are not repugnant to the Word of God and condemn all those troublesome spirits who do reject Higher Powers and Magistrates overthrow Laws and Judgments that do abolish and confound all those Orders and Degrees which God hath appointed amongst men for Degrees and Vocations should not be confounded nor is it lawful for every man to start up into the Pulpit and there shew his mind and teach others openly Con. Tol. Solus ad sacra Dei mysteria tractanda accedat quem morum innocentia literarum splendor reddunt illustrem Let such an one alone undertake to handle the Divine mysteries of God who is renowned both for integrity of life and excellency of Learning and these Councils conclude Concil Mediolan Toledo Trident. Lateran Carthage Apostoli in quorum locum Episcopi successerunt satis nobis aperuerunt verbi Dei praedicationem esse praecipuum illorum munus qui in Episcopali sede collocantur The Apostles in whose room the Bishops come have made it sufficiently manifest unto us that the preaching of the Word of God is the principal function of those who are placed in Bishops Seas Because it were scandal not to give obedience to the Laws of the Church when they prescribe things necessary or expedient for eschewing of scandal and it were contempt to refuse obedience to them when we are not certainly perswaded of the unlawfulness or inexpediency of things prescribed Because in things which are in themselves indifferent and none of them inexpedient we ought to do that the Church requireth though our Brethren should exhort us unto the contrary being bound in conscience to obey the Ordinances of the Church except they be evidently unlawful and when the Authority of the Church doth ordain and the things be lawful and expedient we are bound by both saith an Anonymus of Scotland Because the Church of Scotland profess his Majesty shall ever find that he hath none more loyal and true Subjects who will more gladly imploy and bestow their Lives Lands Goods Houses Holds Gear Rents Revenues Places Privileges Means Moyeties and all in his Highness Service and maintenance of his Royal Crown and moreover
the undermining the Tribunals of Judgment and the Wofull disturbance of Church and State which the proudest Non conformist cannot Balk but must confess it is a Truth and that they have walked within the Enormous confines of their own Exorbitant desires and even as Atheistical Nullifidians have not regarded the Blood of a King like riotous Ruffians eating and drinking and taking pleasure therein adjoyning Criticks to justle out the truth of the Lawfull absoluteness of Kingly power practizing as the Scenical jesters do fast and loose without a Cordial subjection and obedience but being Covetous cried give give for a King to whom no Antheme was more pleasant than possession of 80000 l. Diotrephes like seeking for the Pre-heminence yet pretending to have the self-denying Virtue but Demas like did embrace the present now and at the same time while they did profess themselves lofty Favourites took a Pattern of Religion from Raviliack and cared not for a King so much as a Wildred promise a Promise that made a King of never Dying Virtues and Bishops of never Dying Fame troublesome to their queasie Stomacks The Devil they had rather have for their Father and Confessour by whom they were led to follow the bright Beams of Corruscant Gold and Silver that had with them Authority to make them turn Turn-coats yet ceased not Parasitically to profess and swear they Loved the King with all their Saul at that very time the Friperers of Power and Government were telling them so much Money as made those Mercenary Pensioners bow before they would break though they had a King of Power in their Hands able for ever to have made them and three Kingdoms happy if these were not Ideots going in the Pride and Presumption of their Hearts after the Gods of Gold and Silver let all Generations judge whose Faith was Spun so broad and whose Consciences were without Measure as the Corn in Egypt without Number let any who have had so great Convincing reasons as we have had Judge how likely they should be the only feeling and faithfull Members that made so great a Defection from Duty and Allegiance or with what Confidence we should rely upon their Pargetting Profession whose Pandects and Plagiaries have made their Mountainous thoughts to swell higher than any Mountain in their barren Country being a people more Lapped than Nichodemus who was ignorant of the Mysteries of the Gospel and came by night to Jesus for Instruction but these who professed they knew Jesus to be Christ the King of Jews and Gentiles came by night to their Annointed Soveraign Lord and King not for instruction but to betray him and Judas like sold him for Money the root of all Evil. Now consider if God was so severely wrath with David a King for the Death of Urias the Hittite that Dyed in Warr with others of his Subjects that God did threaten Him that the Sword should not depart from his House And tell me nay tell the whole World whether you think Private persons Subjects sworn in Allegiance to their undoubted Lawfull King if they shall treacherously Murther their King will go Unpunished of God shall not his Sacred blood be upon their Heads upon the Heads of those that have Slain a righteous King upon the Heads of those that put the Sword of Warr by their side at a time of tenders of Peace Can such be guiltless O tempora O Mores it is hard to Kick against the Pricks By this very thing let it be known to all Generations ye were Sons of Belial ye that might have prevented the Murther and did it not ye are guilty His blood be upon you and your Children and the Innocent let them be free Thus far I hope I have kept a good Conscience in what I have done and hope so to keep it whatsoever I suffer for this my Integrity when I was a Child I did as a Child and took the Covenant being traiterously mis-led by them that did pretend Zeal and Piety for which transgression I humbly plead the forgiveness of Our Dread Soveraign Lord King Charls the First I willingly forgive such mens taking the Covenant who keep it within such bounds of Piety and Loyalty as can neither hurt either the Church my Self or the Publick peace Otherwise than thus I have not kept it and therefore with humble boldness lay hold upon and plead my right unto and in the Act of Indempnity given and granted by Our Dread Soveraign Lord and King Charls the Second as my Salvo against all the false Rumours and Reports gone out against me unto which I humbly add the Admission under Seal from the Right Reverend Father in God Gilbert by the Divine Providence Lord Bishop of London which I doubt not but they are sufficient Indempnities for my first Oath that ever I took 1643. being in Nonage and under Servitude when I took it And when enlarged into freedome I took the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy 1648. and since never took any Oath in any kind whatsoever but in Obedience to His Sacred Majesty And therefore let those that would retort upon me the Covenant consider the time when it was taken by me and under what Jurisdiction I then was remember that one Grand objection against our Rulers brought by all Non-conformists as a reason to enforce the taking of it viz. that they were Wicked but now are Justified which Objection brought as a reason did much prevail upon the Hearts of multitudes of Ignorant Men Women and Children and upon my Self amongst others But had we been able wisely to have considered that the wickedness of the Rulers if any such there were did not make the truths of God a Lye and his Commandments of none Effect it might have been a good Premonition to us that profess our selves the true Members of the Church to have taken heed we had not fallen and carefully to have minded those that made it their business to creep into mens affections with entising Words and under pretence of Religious opposing Ceremonies and established Government Kill'd the power of Godliness Nevertheless as I have so still I do acknowledge many Godly men to be amongst those that do not Conform and sound Religion yet not more sound Religion as some formerly and now would perswade than is in them that Conform although some might then and may now seemingly be of a more holy Conversation Howsoever that was and is the Error of the Person not of the Government or Doctrine of the Church yet such themselves being Judges cannot but have Regret upon their Spirits for those desperate falls they have had in the Opposing of the Doctrine of our Church and our established Government The fall of Contempt and Disobedience unto that Divine Commandment Curse not the King no not in thy thought The breach of four great Commandments the 5 6 9 10. their joyning Violence with that they called truth and Cruelty with that they called righteousness too evidently