that 's the King's So that effectually the passing of a Bill is but the granting of a Request So much for Parliaments in propriety of speaking Now to the Power of the Two Houses by my Antagonist mis-call'd The Parliament of England upon which Bottom stands the Presbyterian Fabrick He tell us They Act in Two Capacities As Subjects or Petitioners first and Then as Sharers of the Soveraignty As if he said They are sent to Ask what they List and Take what they Please The Petitioning Capacity is not for the Presbyterians purpose wherefore he waves That and sticks to the Other What their Power is will best appear from the King 's Writ of Summons which both Commands and Limits them Pro QUIBUSDAM arduis urgentibus negotiis c. ORDINAVIMUS c. He states it otherwise and places a part of the Legislative Power in the Two Houses which is not Doctor-like For the Legislative Power is totally the King 's They do but make the Bill He makes the Law 'T is the Stamp not the Matter makes it current Nor do I comprehend what he can mean by Part of the Legislative Power to my thinking he might as well have said Part of an Indivisible Point This will come to a pretty Fraction Two Thirds of a Parliament shall make Two Thirds of a Law Is it not enough that the King can do nothing without the Two Houses unless they may do every thing without the King Grant this and of all people living we are the greatest Slaves as of all Constitutions ours is the most Ridiculous Touching the power of the two Houses to Redress Grievances and Question all Ministers of State and Justice The Power they have is either from Prescription or Commission To the Former I think Few will pretend and to the Latter None Never was the House of Commons at any hand reputed a Court of Justice They cannot give an Oath impose a Fine not indeed exercise any Empire but over their own Members 'T is true the Lords House hath in some Cases a Right of Judicature but Claiming by Prescription they are likewise Limited by Custom Further Both Houses are no Court of Judicature and with due Reverence to his Majesty the King himself in Parliament joyn'd with the Three Estates claim not a right of Judication but very rarely and with great Tenderness It is the proper business of a Parliament to Make Laws Alter or Repeal them not to Interpret them unless in matters of very great Importance That 's left to the Judges and to determine of their Validity For Acts of Parliament either Repugnant in themselves or of impossible Supposition or against Common Right are deem'd not Binding The Common and most specious shift of all the rest is that the Government of this Nation is in King Lords and Commons This must be swallowed with great wariness or 't will choak half the Nation By the KING Architectonicè and by the other TWO Organicè as Walker distinguishes it the King as the Architect and the Two Houses as his Instruments If there were neither Practice Law nor Interest in the Case me-thinks the very odds of Honor in the Deputation should be Enough to carry it The King is God's Representative They are but the Peoples Say I should now admit them all they challenge as Delegated by the People so tickle is the point yet that if any one single Person of the number should be illegally debarr'd the Freedom of his Vote that nicety avoids and nulls the whole Proceeding I can hardly think any thing clearer than the error of placing part of the Supreme Power in the two Houses It implies a Contradiction A part of a Thing with leave Impartible But Drowning men will catch at Straws However I perceive that his Majesty's best Friends and the Church's as they style themselves are resolved to serve both King and Bishops alike That is just as the Bishop is to rule in Consociation with his Presbyters so shall his Majesty with his Fellow-Princes the Presbyterian Members It cannot but exceedingly dispose the King to grant these people all DUE LIBERTY that will give him so much Crowns are but Troublesome and Government sits heavy upon the shoulders of a Single Person They 'l ease him of that Care and Weight and for the honor of their Prince and their Country's good divide the Glorious load among themselves This being past which heaven avert We may says the late King be waited on bare-headed we may have our Hand kiss'd the style of Majesty continued to us and the King's Authority declared by both Houses of Parliament may be still the style of your Commands we may have Swords and Maces carried before us and please our Self with Sight of a Crown and Scepter But soft the Man relents and tells us though the Law says the King can do no wrong That This part of the Supreme power is indeed capable of doing wrong yet how it might be Guilty of Rebellion is more difficult to conceive Observation Put case the two Houses should take up Arms against the King because he will not Banish the one half of his Friends and hang up the rest would not that be Rebellion I could start twenty Suppoâ—itions more but I 'll stop here and the rather because our Author professes that in this high and tender point it belongs not to him to Determine Yet he goes on and certainly believes that the world is divided into Fools and Presbyterians he would not otherwise have thrust upon us so gross a Juggle as that which I am now about to examine Touching the much debated point of resisting the higher Powers without passing any judgment in the great Case of England I shall onely make rehearsal of the words of Grotius a man of Renown and known to be neither Anti-monarchical nor Anti-prelatical which are found in his Book De jure Belli Pacis by himself dedicated to the French King Si Rex partem habeat summi Imperii partem alteram populus aut Senatus Regi in partem non suam involanti vis justa opponi poterit quia eatenus Imperium non habet Quod locum habere censeo etiamfi dictum sit belli potestatem penes Regem fore Id enim de bello externo intelligendum est cum alioqui quisquis Imperii summi partem habeat non possit non jus habere eam partem tuendi lib. 1. c. 4. s. 13. Observation Here we find Grotius cited to justifie that the Lords and Commons may make war against the King to defend their Title to the Supreme Power Pythagoras his opinion concerning Wild-foul had been as much to the purpose For the English Reader 's sake I 'l turn it and in this point desire a more than ordinary attention Where the Supremacy is in the King in some Cases in Others in the People or Senate That King invading the others Right may be lawfully resisted for his power reaches
the Scale of Order as a more regular Subordination of Duties and Relations Nature and Providence do not move by Leaps but by Insensible and Soft Degrees which give Stability and Beauty to the Universe Is not the World compos'd of Disagreements Hot and Cold Heavy and Light And yet we see those Oppositions are by the means of middle and Conciliating mixtures wrought into a Compliance 'T is the same case in Subject and Superior Higher and Lower betwixt Top and Bottom are but as several Links of one providential Chain where every Individual by vertue of this mutual Dependency Contributes to the Peace and Benefit of the Whole Some are below me and This sweetens the Thought that I am below Others By which Libration are prevented those Distempers which arise either from the Affectation of more Power or the Shame of having none at all As these Degrees of Mean and Noble are beyond doubt of Absolute Necessity to Political Concord so possibly the Closer the Remove the better yet as to the point of Social expedience provided that the Distances be such as to avoid Confusion and preserve Distinct Offices and Powers from enterfering Nor is this Gradual method onely suited to Humane Interest as being most accommodate to publick Quiet and to defend the Sacredness of Majesty from popular Distempers But 't is the very Rule which God himself Imposes upon the whole Creation Making of the same Lump one Vessel to Honor and another to Dishonor Subjecting by the Law of his own Will This to That That to what 's next above it Both to a Further Power all to Himself And here we rest as at the Fountain of Authority From God Kings Reign They appoint their Substitutes and so on to inferior Delegations All Powers derive from a Divine Original This Orderly Gradation which we find in Prelacy must needs beget a Reverence to Authority the Hierarchy it self depending upon a Principle of Obedience whereas our Utopian Presbytery advances it self upon a Level of Confusion It is a kind of Negative Faction united to dissolve a laudable and setled frame of Government that they may afterward set up they know not what We may have learn'd thus much from late and sad experience Let him that would know more of it read the Survey of pretended Holy Discipline I think it would be hard to shew one eminent Presbyterian that stickles not for an Aristocracy in the State as well as in the Church and he that said No Bishop No King gave a shrewd judgment not as implying a Princes absolute dependance upon Bishops but in effect the King's Authority is wounded through the Church the Reformation of what is amiss belonging to the Ruler not to the People I do not yet condemn all Presbyters nor justifie all Prelates We are told That in antient times and for a series of many Ages the Kings of England have had tedious conflicts with Prelates in their Dominions 'T is Right and the same cause is now espoused by our more than ordinary Papal Presbyterians to wit Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over the Civil Power But we are further Question'd If Presbytery and Rebellion be connatural how comes it to pass that those States or Kingdoms where it hath been established or tollerated have for any time been free from broils and commotions Observation It is as true that those places have been quietest where Presbytery hath gain'd footing as 't is that Presbyterians have never disclaimed or abandoned their lawful Prince that they have never ceased to solicite and supplicate his Regards and Favours even when their power hath been at the highest and his sunk lowest This is something which in good manners wants a name How far the Presbyterians have Abandon'd their Prince I shall not press but rather refer the Reader to examine how far and in what manner they have Solicited him Cujus contrarium His late Majesty after forty messages for Peace and a Personal Treaty finding himself most barbarously laid aside in a Declaration from Carisbrook Castle Dated Janu. 18. 1647. Expostulates the matter in these Termes Now would I know what it is that is desired Is it Peace I have shewed the way being both willing and desirous to perform my part in it which is a just Compliance with all chief Interests Is it Plenty and Happiness They are the inseparable effects of Peace Is it Security I who wish that all men would forgive and forget like Me have offered the Militia for My time Is it Liberty of Conscience He who wants it is most ready to give it Is it the right Administration of Justice Officers of trust are committed to the Choice of My two Houses of Parliament Is it frequent Parliaments I have legally fully concurr'd therewith Is it the Arriers of the Army Upon settlement they will certainly be paid with much ease but before there will be found much difficulty if not impossibility in it Thus all the world cannot but see My real and unwearied endeavours for Peace the which by the grace of God I shall neither repent me of nor ever be slackned in Notwithstanding My past present or future sufferings But If I may not be heard let every one judge who it is that obstructs the Good I would do or might do Where the right lies a Presbyterian may better Determine than a Royallist Question Magno se judice quisque tuetur Here 's the Testimony of a Pedant in Ballance against the Authority of a Prince He tells us by and by that Prophaneness Intemperance Revellings Out-rages and filthy lewdness were not at any time in the memory of the present age held under more Restraint than in the late distracted times by means of a Practical Ministery Observation These Generals spell nothing and to name Particulars were not so candid I could else make up Scot and Peters at least a score even out of the select Tribe of the Reformers and these I think are not as yet Canoniz'd for Saints 'T is no prophaneness is it to play the Hocus Pocus in a Pulpit with Rings and Bodkins to talk Treason by Inspiration and entitle the holy Ghost to Murther and Rebellion To appoint Mock-Fasts and thank God for Victories he never gave them To swear for and against the King in the same breath To convert Churches into Stables and for fear of Superstition to commit Sacrilege Nor is it Out-rage sure or Intemperance to seize the Patrimony of the Church the King's Revenues pillage and kill their fellow-Subjects To set up Ordinances against setled Laws and subject the Ten Commandements to the superior Vote of a Committee To justifie Tumults against Authority and suffer the most damnable Heresies to scape without reproof But what if there were Disorders by whom were they caused It is most unreasonable to object that the late wild postures extravagancies and incongruities in Government were the works of Presbytery or Presbyterians The Nation had never proof of
In 87. The Discipline was received and put in practise in Northampton-shire In 88. A Classical Assembly at Coventry In 89. A general Meeting in Cambridge and another at Ipswitch In 1590. Vpon the detection of the Premises they refused to answer upon Oath Being thus Associated they appropriate to their Meetings the name of the Church and use the style The Offices of the Lord Arch-bishops and Bishops c. says Martin Junior are condemn'd by the Doctrin of the Church of England By these degrees the Schismaticks advanced to a dangerous heighth and Boldness and of this temper and extraction are our Presbyterians After the aforemention'd discovery a stricter eye and hand was kept upon them divers of the Ring-leaders were imprison'd and the Covy broken Upon the coming in of King James they began to stir again but he knew them too well either to Trust or Suffer them How they behaved themselves towards the late King is to the eternal Infamy not onely of the Faction but of the Nation too notorious What they design toward the present Government That 's the Question And now I come to enquire Whether in Justice or Reason of State the Presbyterian Party should be Rejected and Depressed or Protected and Incouraged Before I fall upon the Question once again I explain my self By PRESBYTERIAN I intend a Faction that under colour of setling a Reform'd DISCIPLINE seeks to dissolve the frame of an establish'd Government And first I am to prove that Party so distinguish'd such a Faction which both from their own Practises Positions and from Common Observation and Authority I think I shall make good and that their last aim is to exercise that Tyranny themselves which they pretend to punish We 'l first examine how they treat the Civil Power If Princes be Tyrants against God and his Truth their Subjects are freed from their Oaths of Obedience Kings Princes and Governors have their Authority of the People and upon Occasion the People may take it away again Ministers ought not to obey the Prince when he prescribes Ceremonies and a Fashion of Apparel Evil Princes ought by the Law of God to be deposed Andrew Melvil being cited to answer for Treason delivered in a Sermon declined the judgment of the King affirming That what was spoken in Pulpit ought first to be tried and judged by the Presbytery and that neither the King nor Counsel might in primâ instantiâ meddle therewith although the speeches were Treasonable Strike the Basilique vein nothing but this will cure the Plurisie of our State Let us never give over till we have the King in our power and then he shall see how good Subjects we are Delivered in a Sermon It is lawful for Subjects to make a Covenant and Combination without the King But to come nearer Home to shew that the whole Gang is of the same Leaven Worse than all this was daily printed against the late King even by those Persons that were in pay to the Presbyterian Faction and yet at last those outrages are justifi'd against the Father by such as would be thought Loyal to the Son If Parliaments think to scape better they are deceived If the Brethren cannot obtain their will by suit nor dispute the Multitude and People must do the Feat One preached That though there were never so many Acts of Parliament against the Covenant yet it ought to be maintain'd against them all The Parliament can make no Law at all concerning the Church but onely ratifie what the Church decrees and after it hath ratifi'd it yet if the Assembly of the Church shall prohibite it and repeal that Decree of the Church all the Subjects are discharged from yielding obedience to that Act of Parliament An Assembly may abrogate Acts of Parliament if they any way reflect upon business of the Church Reformation of Religion belongs to the Commonalty Of the Parliament in the 24 year of the Queen says the Supplication if the desired Reformation be not granted There shall not be a man of their seed that shall prosper be a Parliament man or bear Rule in England any more Concerning Laws established They Fall in Consequence with the Power that makes them Presbyterians opinion of Bishops Let us see now with what modesty they treat the Church and first the Bishops They are Ordinances of the Devil Proud Popish presumptuous prophane paltry pestilent pernicious Prelates and Vsurpers Robbers Wolves Simoniacks Persecutors Sowers of Sedition Dragons and so to the end of the Chapter Their Clergy an Antichristian Swinish Rabble The Ministers are neither Proved Elected Called nor Ordained according to Gods Word The Ceremonies Carnal Beggerly Antichristian Pomps Presbyterian Reformation Hitherto the Faults of Governors and Government now their Proposals of Amendment and Reformation by what Rules and by what Means we may be Governed Better Thus then Let the whole Government of the Church be committed to Ministers Elders and Deacons Very good and to whom the Government of the State Why to Them too For the Church wherein any Magistrate King or Emperor is a Member is divided into some that are to Govern viz. Pastors Doctors and Elders and into such as are to obey viz. Magistrates of all sorts and the People The Question is next about the Extent of the Ecclesiastical Power and in what manner that Assumption hooks in all Civil Actions within their Cognisance In Ordine ad Spiritualia Forsooth by which rule nothing scapes them 'T is the desire of the Admonitor That he and his Companions may be deliver'd by Act of Parliament from the Authority of the Civil Magistrates as Justices and others and from their Inditings and Finings The Eldership shall suffer no leud customs to remain in their Parishes either Games or otherwise And further The Office of the Church-Governors is to decide Controversies in Doctrine and Manners so far as pertaineth to Conscience and the Church-censures Every Fault says Cartwright that tendeth either to the Hurt of a man's neighbour or to the hindrance of the glory of God is to be examined and dealt in by the Orders of the holy Church Nay Knox goes further yet The bare Suspition of Avarice or of Pride Superfluity or Riotousness in Chear or Rayment Even this Nicety falls within their Censure Now would I know what need of a Civil Magistrate when even our private thoughts are subjected to the Scrutiny of a Presbytery But will some say What signifies the intemperance of Particular tongues as to the General of the Party I am challenged by the Author of the Interest of England to produce their Actions and That 's my next immediate Business The Presbyter has now the Chair see how he manages his Greatness None of that Tyranny ye found in Bishops I warrant ye no groaning now under the Yoke of Antichrist the intolerable burthen of canonical Subscription the Imposition of
of Religion Laws and Liberties which are the very fundamentals of this Contract and Covenant may be controlled and opposed and if he set himself to overthrow all these by Arms then they who have power as the Estates of a Land may and ought to resist by Arms Because he doth by that opposition break the very Bonds and overthroweth all the Essentials of this Contract and Covenant This may ☜ serve to Justifie the proceedings of this Kingdom against the late King who in an hostile way set himself to overthrow Religion Parliaments Laws and Liberties I think this needs no Comment About the same time Smectymnuus was revived by Mr. Manton a most auspicious welcome doubtless to his Majesty wherein five Champions of the Cause take up the Cudgels against one Bishop on the behalf of scandalous Pamphlets and Tumultuary Petitions against Episcopacy This is the naked Truth what ever the Jolly Priest may tell the Reader of the Faction against which they dealt Five Orthodox Divines he says were the Authors Four of the Five I shall not mention the Fifth was Marshal of whose Divinity a Taste that by the sweet Agreement we may the better judge of Mr. Manton's In a Letter printed 1643. arguing for the Authority of the two Houses page 14. Thus. Let every soul in England be subject to King and Parliament for they are the higher Powers ordained unto you of God whosoever therefore resisteth King and Parliament resisteth the Ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation The man was no Conjurer yet he had wit enough when Presbytery went down to Court the rising Interest and ' though the Common-prayer was an Abomination to marry his Daughter by it for fear of After-claps But I suppose 't was huddl'd up as 't is in Mr. Manton's Church that no man might be able to make Oath 't was not the Directory If the Case had been concerning the Allowance of Christian Burial to a Gentleman that was Quartered for his Loyalty Or to determine in the great Point of the late Kings Death upon an Anniversary Fast whether or no 't was Murther Truly considering the potent Arguments brought on both sides 't is possible that Mr. Marshal would have contented himself as well as his Neighbours barely to put the Case and leave the point at last undecided to his Auditory Not to spend time and paper needlesly The whole stream of the Disciplinarians runs this way onely perhaps more or less Bold and Open according to the present strength or weakness of the Faction But to return Can any thing be more gentle then A Reformation and due Regulation of things in Church and State words smoother than Oyle yet are they very Swords First To Reform and Regulate belongs to the Supreme Magistrate if they intended That they were to blame Now to take it in a Qualifi'd and softer sense 't was a Due Regulation they intended To put this General notion in more Intelligible terms upon this point depends no less then all that 's dear to every honest man The Dignity of the King the Liberty of the Subject the Freedome of Parliaments and the Honor of the Nation God knows my thoughts I do not envy any man either the Benefit of his Majesty's Mercy or the Blessing of his Favour that hath the Grace at last not to Abuse it I look upon his Royal Act of Pardon with Reverence and upon every Soul within that pale as in a Sanctuary But yet I do not understand a Pardon for one Rebellion to be a Dispensation for another nor how the Argument lies from Fact to Right Under these two words Due Regulation Thus much is comprehended waiving less Differences and Greater 1. The transferring of the Power of chusing Great Officers and Ministers of State from the King to the Two Houses 2. All matters of State in the Interval of Parliaments must be Debated and Concluded by a Counsel so chosen and in number not above twenty five nor under fifteen and no Publick Act esteemed of any Validity as proceeding from the Royal Authority unless it be done by the Advice and Consent of the Major part of that Counsel Attested under their Hands And These too sworn to the sense of Both Houses 3. The Lords and Commons must be intrusted with the Militia 4. His Majesty may appoint but the Two Houses or the Counsel in such manner as aforesaid must Approve of All Governors of Forts and Castles Lastly No Peers hereafter made must Sit or Vote in Parliament unless Admitted thereunto by the Consent of Both Houses Upon these Terms his Majesty shall be supported in Honor and plenty by his most Humble and Faithful Subjects who have in their Thoughts and Desires nothing more precious next to the Honor and immediate Service of God than their just and faithful performance of their Duty to the King and Kingdom This is the Due Regulation they Intended for sure they Meant what they Proposed to our Late Soveraign I speak not this of Persons but of the Gross of the Party nor to reproach That neither but to remove a Scandal from the Ashes of that Blessed Martyr and to direct a Reverence towards his Successor What provocation have these restless People now to revive This Question but an unruly Impotency of Passion against the Government This is their way In Generals they justifie from first to last the Presbyterians Cause The multitude they look into Particulars and from those Injuries which the late King suffered draw Inferences Dis-honourable and Dangerous to this In the next Periode me-thinks he falls upon a Non-sequitur The Re-admission of the Secluded Members he says did necessarily draw after it the Restoring of King Lords and Commons according to the antient Constitution Not Necessarily under favour according to the antient Constitution I will not say nor probably but there were two shrewd Blocks cast in the way The First in the Militia where no Commissionated Officer was to Act that should not first acknowledge in these words viz. I do Acknowledge and Declare that the Warre undertaken by both Houses of Parliament in their defence against the Forces raised in the Name of the late King was Just and Lawful and that Magistracy and Ministery are the Ordinances of God The Second was in the Exclusion of the Royal Party from the next Choice as followeth Resolved that all and every Person who have advised or voluntarily aided abeited or assisted in any War against the Parliament since the first day of January 1641. his or their sons unless he or they have since Manifested their good affections to this Parliament shall be uncapable to be elected to serve as members of the next Parliament Now how a Choice thus limited in the House and Principled in the Field should Necessarily set us right does not to me appear Perhaps it was the most the Time would bear but God forbid That Declaration charging the Guilt and
up to the Prelatists in the height of their way With the King's leave had been good Manners yet By what Authority does Presbytery pretend to unseat the Hierarchy All the world knows as much as they know any thing of that Antiquity that Bishops are of Apostolical Extraction and we are not to Imagine that They died intestate and their Commission with them But Bishops have descended already and what was the event of it Truly it was as moderate an Episcopacy as heart could wish But as I remember their Revenues were not employed to maintain a practical Ministery The Rule is Si vis scire an velim effice ut possim nolle But see the moderation of the Man Some change he says in the outward Form and Ceremonies which are but a Garb or Dress is no Real Change of the Worship I thought we had differ'd upon point of Conscience about Ceremonies properly sacred and parts of Worship But now it seems 't is but the Garb or Dress we stick at The good-man has forgot himself And yet we had best be wary for 't is but an untoward hint he gives us Oftentimes says he moderate Reformations do prevent Abolitions and Extirpations Observation They do so often and sometimes they cause them that is Be the State never so distemper'd where Subjects turn Reformers the Remedy is worse than the Disease In fine when I look back I find the very same desires of Reformation originally pretended which after such descensions as never any Prince before the blessed Father of our Gracious Soveraign made to his Subjects proceeded yet to utter extirpation Root and Branch The present face of things looks so like Twenty years ago I cannot choose but fear the same Design from the same Method the same Effects from the same Causes Is not that likely to be a blessed Reformation where Faction dictates and Tumults execute But our Pacifick Moderator is of another Temper sure he onely advises a Yielding for fear of worse especially considering That the Party called Presbyterian may be Protected and Encouraged and the Episcopal not Deserted nor Disoblig'd which is his Resolution upon the Second Quaere Presbyterian Improvements are commonly a little Sinister or as a man may say over the left shoulder They have something an odd way of making a glorious King and a happy People But we shall not dispute the possibility of doing many things which may be yet of dangerous Experiment I do believe it possible for a man to flie yet set him upon Pauls and Lure him down upon the Trial 't is at least Six to Four he breaks his Neck Truly in my Opinion this Proposal is all out as Impracticable But 't is all one to Me. What if the Two Church-parties can Agree or what if they Cannot My business is to keep the Presbyterian from laying Violent hands upon the Civil Power and to convince a Party so denominated of Sedition not of Schism His third Enquiry follows Qu. III. Whether the upholding of both Parties by a just and equal Accommodation be not in it self more desirable and more agreeable to the State of England than the absolute exalting of one Party and the total subversion of the other And thus he Reasons That state of Prelacy which cannot stand without the subversion of the Presbyterians and that stands in opposition to regulated Episcopacy will become a mystery of a meer carnal and worldly state under a sacred title and venerable name of our mother the Church For in such opposition of what will it be made up but of Lordly revenue dignity splendor and jurisdiction with outward ease and pleasure What will its design be from age to age but to uphold and advance his own pomp and potency Read the Ecclesiastical Histories and you shall find the great business of the Hierarchy hath been to contest with Princes and Nobles and all ranks and degrees about their Immunities Privileges preheminences to multiply Constitutions and Ceremonies for props to their own Greatness but not to promote the spiritual Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in the hearts of People according to the life and power of Christianity Observation Let this serve for a taste of his Pedantique boldness Whether the Scandal or the Danger of these Liberties is the Greater may be One Question and whether the Usurper of this Freedom is the better Subject or Christian may be another If we respect the holy Order of Bishops together with the sacred Authority of Law by which they are here established how scandalous and irreverend is this Invective Or if the unsetled humor of the People how Dangerous If we reflect either upon Christian unity or Political Obedience how inconsistent is this manner of proceeding with what we owe to God and the King That State of Prelacy which cannot stand without the subversion of the Presbyterians c. 'T is very well And why the subversion of the Presbyterians How those that never were Vp should be thrown down I cannot imagine By what Law or by what Equity do these people pretend to any Interest of Establishment in England Those of the Presbyterian judgment that out of a real tenderness cannot comply in all particulars will beyond doubt receive from his Majesty such Favour and Indulgence as may abundantly suffice to their relief But that pretence doth not one jot entitle them to challenge a further influence upon the Government These wayward Appetites and Cravings are but the sickly longings of a peevish Woman A kind of voluntary and privileged Conscience they have which if it happens to take a fancy even to the Crown Monarchy it self must rather perish than these poor Wretches lose their longings Soberly I would advise them by any means to waive these troublesome and groundless pretences It starts a scurvy Question and makes men ask how these people came by the right they challenge For the rest Episcopacy is like to be well ordered when the Presbyterians have the Regulation of it There have been great contests no question mov'd by the Hierarchy but I suppose this Gentleman will not instance in many â—ince the Reformation derogatory to the Jurisdiction Royal Whereas the whole course of the Presbyterian Discipline hath been Tumultuous and their avowed Principles are more destructive to Royalty than even the Rankest of the Jesuites themselves Having at length Talk'd his Fill against the Pomp of Prelacy and Charg'd the arrogance of Presbyters upon the Bishops Thus he Concludes In very deed the State here described will never stand safely among a people that are Free Serious Searching and Discerning in matters of Religion Which to the Many sounds thus much This is the pride and Tyranny of Bishops and none but a Slavish and Besotted people will endure it He that makes other of it forces it Having by the spirit of natural Divination foretold the Effects which he himself intends to Cause he gives this Hint to the
a Bold seditious Faction bidding defiance to the Civil Magistrate under the Churches Colours I find not any thing so Sacred in the Name of Presbyterian as to protect a Turbulent Party assuming that Appellation It will be urg'd that they do as little Justifie the Seditious as I condemn the Sober Presbyterian But to agree that point I 'l prove that the same Party for whom they plead and against whom I engage are no less Enemies to the King and People than to Bishops and which is more from their own practises and positions I 'l make it good Yet one would hardly guess this from their following Character As concerning their main and rooted principles they admire and magnifie the holy Scriptures and take them for the absolute perfect rule of Faith and Life without the supplement of Ecclesiastical Tradition yet they deny not due respect and reverence to venerable Antiquity They assert the study and knowledge of the Scriptures to be the duty and priviledge of all Christians that according to their several capacities being skilful in the Word of Righteousness they may discern between good and evil and being filled with all goodness may be able to exhort and admonish one another Yet they acknowledge the necessity of a standing Gospel-Ministery and receive the directive authority of the Church not with implicite Faith but the Judgment of discretion They hold the teaching of the Spirit necessary to the saving knowledge of Christ Yet they do not hold that the Spirit bringeth new Revelations but that he opens the eyes of the understanding to discern what is of old revealed in the written Word They exalt divine Ordinances but debase humane Inventions in Gods Worship particularly Ceremonies properly Religious and of Instituted Mystical signification Yet they allow the natural expressions of Reverence and Devotion as kneeling and lifting up of the hands and eyes in prayer as also of those meer Circumstances of decency and order the omission whereof would make the service of God either undecent or less decent As they worship God in the spirit according to the simplicity of Gospel Institutions so they rejoyce in Christ Jesus having no confidence in a legal Righteousness but desire to be found in him who is made unto us Rigteousness by gracious Imputation Yet withal they affirm constantly that good works of piety towards God and of justice and charity towards men are necessary to salvation Their Doctrine bears full conformity with that of the Reformed Churches held forth in their publick Confessions and particularly with that of the Church of England in the nine and thirty Articles onely one or two passages peradventure excepted so far as they may import the asserting of Prelacy and human Mystical Ceremonies They insist much on the necessity of Regeneration and therein lay the ground-work for the practise of godliness They press upon themselves and others the severe exercise not of a Popish outside formal but a spiritual and real mortification and self-denyal according to the power of Christianity They are strict observers of the Lords Day and constant in Family prayer They abstain from oathes yea petty oathes and the irreverent usage of Gods Name in common discourse and in a word they are sober just and circumspect in their whole behaviour Such is the temper and constitution of this party which in its full latitude lies in the middle between those that affect a Ceremonial Worship and the heighth of Hierarchical Government on the one hand and those that reject an ordained Ministery and setled Church-order and regular Vnity on the other hand Observation Here is much said and little proved onely a Pharisaical Story of what they are not and what they are that they are not as other men are and their bare word for all The Tale is well enough told to catch the silly vulgar that look no further then Appearances But to a serious person how gross and palpable is the Imposture In the main points of Doctrine they fully agree with the nine and thirty Articles and 't is but peradventure that they differ in one or two passages so far as they may import the asserting of Prelacy and humane Mystical Ceremonies Behold the mighty Subject of an Holy War the goodly Idol to which we have sacrific'd so much Christian blood Can any man imagine this the true and conscientious reason of the Quarrel Or that the middle way our Presbyter steers betwixt Phanaticism and Popery is the just measure of the Case But hear him on and he 'l tell ye the Party is Numerous as well as Godly VVithin these extensive limits the Presbyterian Party contains several thousands of learned godly orthodox Ministers being diligent and profitable Preachers of the Word and exemplary in their Conversation among whom there are not a few that excel in Polimical and Practical Divinity also of the judicious sober serious part of the people in whose affections his Majesty is most concern'd they are not the lesser number By means of a practical Ministery this way like the Leaven in the Gospel-parable hath spread and season'd the more considerate and teachable sort in all parts of the Kingdom and especially in the more civiliz'd places as Cities and Towns Observation It had been well our Undertaker had put his Orthodox and Learned Thousands upon the List for that Party is a little given to false Musters How many forg'd Petitions and Remonstrances what Out-eries from the Press and Pulpit in the name of the People when yet the forti'th part of them were never privy to their own Askings Of ninety and seven Ministers within the walls of London fourscore and five were driven from their Churches and Houses at the beginning of our Troubles And notwithstanding the monstrous Clamours which occasion'd the Conference at Hampton-Court in 1603. Arch-bishop Spotswood tells us that of above nine thousand Ministers but forty nine appeared upon the Roll that stood out and were deposed for disconformity Such a noise will a few Disturbers cause in any Society where they are tollerated Touching his Practical Ministery I 'l grant the Cause is much beholden to the Pulpit and that without the aid of Seditious Lectures I do believe the strife had never come to Blood But yet these Preachments did not the whole Business Do not we know what Craft and Violence hath been used to Cheat and Force the People what Protestations Covenants and Negative Oathes have been imposed upon pain of Imprisonment Banishment Sequestration Have not all Schools and Nurceries of Piety and Learning been subjected to the Presbyterian mode and many thousands of Godly and Reverend Divines reduced to beg their Bread because they would not Covenant yet all too little to procure either a General Kindess or submission to their Principles For the Reasons afore-going the infringement of due Liberties in these matters would perpetuate most unhappy Controversies in the Church from Age to Age. Let the former times come in and
words comprises the Duty of Reasonable Nature without distinction either of Offices or Persons But these inviolable Fundamentals apart the Accidents of Worship the Modes of doing this or that The How When Where c. are left various and variable according to the several Requiries of Manners Times and Places at the Discretion of those Rulers whom God sets over us Where we find matters of this middle nature orderly setled and dispos'd we are commanded to submit to these Humane Ordinances for the Lords sake and not to Obtrude upon the Word for Conscience such Disagreements as effectually arise from Peevishness or want of due Enquiry But why do I talk to those that stop their Ears Their minds are fix'd in this Opinion after a long time of search and practice and are not like to be reduc'd to the practice of former times This is but Martin Junior Revived who says That it will be very dangerous to our State to maintain two contrary Factions That the Magistrates are then bound even for the quieting of our State to put down the one That those that stand for the Discipline neither can nor will give it over so as they will not be put down and that the said Magistrates cannot maintain the corruption of our Church namely Arch-bishops and Bishops without the discontentment of their Subjects Me-thinks the man of peace grows peremptory Will not this Argument from Search and Practice absolve them from Obedience to the King as well as to the Church Has not the Regal Power been scann'd and sifted as well as the Ecclesiastick or have their practises been more favourable to his Majesty than to the Clergy But their minds are fix'd and not to be reduc'd This is to say that if the Law and they cannot agree they 'l tug for 't upon this supposition thus he concludes That in all reason the imposing of such matters of Controversie as by so many are held unlawful and by those that have a Zeal for them judged indifferent not necessary cannot procure the peace of Church and Kingdom Observation I say on the Contrary That the peace of Church and Kingdom cannot be preserved where every private and Licentious spirit shall dare to Question the Authority of either In fine admit the Scruple truly conscientious It would be well yet that such as fault the present Government would Frame another that should be liable to no exceptions before they alter This. If that cannot be done let us Rest Here for if we are bound to change till all are pleas'd never must we expect to be at quiet Some Consciences will have no Magistrates at all Others will Govern those they have or Quarrel with them To Reconcile these Two in any end of Settlement is as Impossible as 't is Unsafe to put much power into the Hands of People so dangerously principled But to Destroy a Government none agree better and this we speak upon Experience From hence to his 40th page I find little but Rapture in commendation of the Presbyterians with now and then a snap at the late Prelates which is beside my purpose See now his Complement to the King Blessed be God for our gracious Soveraign who makes it his care and study to allay distempers and compose differences by his just and gracious Concessions already published concerning Ecclesiastical Affairs Observation For fear his Majesty's Concessions should be taken for a pure Act of Grace they are epitheted Just as well as Gracious to lessen the Favour by intimating the Duty what Return gives the Presbyterian Party for this Indulgence Are they not troublesome as ever both in their Writings and Contrivements That Declaration was no sooner publique but a Petition was exhibited from divers Ministers in and about London for more Liberty with some formalities indeed of Gratitude for That How many bold and scandalous Invectives since that time both from the Press and Pulpit against the Rites of the Church and the Episcopal Clergy Nay and against the Sacred Majesty of That very Person to whose Incomparable Clemency they owe their Heads and Fortunes One observation here to shew that onely severity can work upon this Faction The single imprisonment of Crofton hath quieted that Party more than all the multiply'd and transcendent Mercies of His Majesty That worthy Gentleman in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Liturgical Considerator tells us that The Common-prayer-book hath been expell'd by a lawful Authority referring to an Ordinance of January 3. 1644. If this be not Treason then Scot and Peters were no Traitors The Considerator further assures us Page 34. That very few Christians that know the Power of Godliness care for medling with the Liturgy I hope his Majesty may pass for one of those Few A great Assertor of his Principles is the Authour of the Covenanters Plea although in some Respects more plausibly couch'd in others Bolder treating His Majesty with a most unpardonable Insolence and with a Suitable regard all his Episcopal Friends as they fall in his way I should exceedingly wonder how he scap'd a lash from the last Convention especially Dedicating that reverend piece to the Commons then Assembled did I not consider that Those very Pamphlets whereof His Majesty complains in His Declaration touching Ecclesiastical Affairs were by my self at their first comming forth delivered to several Members of that Session which notwithstanding they were still sold in the Hall all the Interest I had being too little to get them suppressed But now return we to our Author who complains that The Presbyterians are loaded with many Calumnies as that they are against the Interest of Civil Magistracy especially of Monarchy That they are giddy factious schismatical domineering and what not But no such matter he assures us for They yield unto the Supreme Magistrate a Supreme political Power in all Spiritual Matters but they do not yield that he is the Fountain of spiritual power there being a spiritual Power belonging to the Church if there were no Christian Magistrate in the world They assert onely a spiritual power over the Conscience as intrinsecally belonging to the Church and acknowledge that no Decree nor Canon of the Church can be a binding Law to the Subjects of any Kingdom under temporal penalties till it be ratified by the Legislative power of that Kingdom And they do not claim for the Convocation or any other Ecclesiastical Convention an Independency on Parliaments if they did surely the Parliament of England would resent such a Claim Neither are they Antimonarchical Did the English or Scotish Presbyters ever go about to dissolve Monarchy and to erect some other kind of Government In no wise for in the Solemn League and Covenant they bound themselves to endeavour the preservation of the King's Person and Authority and declared they had no intent to diminish his Majesty's just Power and Greatness Observation How far their Principles comport with the Interest of Civil Magistracy or
every soul high and low to one divine Law and Rule perpetual and unalterable And therefore doth strongly plead the expedience of a due civil Liberty on the behalf of its Professors yet such a liberty as will not enfeeble Monarchy nor the Legal power of the Kings of England Observation Truly I think I have not seen words so well put together that signifie so little Because Religion is not variable but grounded upon an unchangeable and eternal Truth c. Therefore the Professors of it must have a due civil Liberty c. Is not a Due Liberty Due to all people Again What is civil Liberty to matter of salvation And yet again Why should the Presbyterians challenge that liberty to themselves which they refuse to others upon the very same Plea and not rather submit their Discipline to the Law then stoop the Law to their Discipline There is a Liberty which is a cloak for Maliciousness and I am afraid Theirs and That are much a-kinn One thing is very notable they never state what they would have their terms are general and indefinite hard to be understood because they are resolv'd not to be satisfi'd A Due Freedom a Due Civil Liberty The Legal Power What means all this but any thing they shall be pleased to make of it A King ruling a free People hath a Power much more noble and more free than he that ruleth over perfect Vassals that have no Propriety The power is more noble because it hath a more noble subject of Government it is more honorable to rule Men than Beasts and Freemen than slaves Likewise the power is more free For whatsoever Prince hath not his power limited by his people's legal freedom he will be bound up some other way either by the potency of subordinate Princes and great Lords within the Realm or by a veterane Army as the Turkish Emperor by his Janizaries and the Roman Caesars by the Pretorian Bands and the Legions Vpon which account to be a powerful Monarch over a free people is the freedome and glory of our Soveraign Lord above all the Potentates on earth Observation A King ruling a free people is a kind of Presbyterianism and sounds better in the mouth of a Lawyer than of a Divine The Correlate to Rule is Subjection nor will their Title to a Propriety yet justifie the common usage of the Term. 'T is of a dangerous Intimation and seems to give the people more than comes to their share I speak with reverence to the benignity of our English Laws and the Indubitable right which every Subject hath to the Benefits thereof That it is more honorable to Rule Free-men than Slaves is but a Complement For I can make those Slaves Free when I please whereas the other way of my power 's confin'd that is in Equity a Prince is bound to observe the Law as his own Act and if he fails the people may compel him to it if they can shew a Law for 't To end this point What Prince soever shall suffer every bubling brain to controvert the bounds of King and Subject the Royal Authority and the Peoples Freedom that Prince I say runs a great hazzard of his Soveraignty The very moving of the Question is to prophane the Sacredness of Majesty and by degrees begets irreverend and sawcy habits in the people But Rebellion he tells us and Disobedience is the loud out-cry of some against this Party And this were a crying sin indeed But let not sober minds be hurried into prejudice by such exclamations and out-cries It were to be wished for common peace and amity that the late publick Discords were eternally forgotten But seeing some in these times of expected Reconciliation will not cease to implead and condemn the honest minded and render them odious to the higher Powers a necessity is laid upon us to speak something Apologetical at least to mitigate the business and remove prejudice Observation Sure this loud out-cry of Rebellion aad Disobedience comes from within himself for truly I have a little watch'd the Press and since his Majesty's Return nay a good while before upon my conscience I have not met with one syllable of bitterness against that Party but Defensive Yet I dare undertake to produce forty Presbyterian Pamplets and Discourses of fresh date exceeding foul against the King and his Adherents It really makes me blush and tremble to consider how great a mercy they abuse how sad a vengeance they provoke Had but these people the least spark of natural affection and remorse the venerable ruines of a glorious Chuch and State would work upon them Or now and then a thought how matters stand betwixt God and their Souls But their great care of others make them neglect themselves and become true Anathemaes for a pretended publick good However they do well to cry Whore first and call that a Necessitated Apology which seems to me a palpable and causeless Slander We have heard much and often of the Presbyterians Loyalty and Religion we 'l look a little now into their Law which very fairly gives us to understand that the Vnbishopping of Timothy and Titus will not do their trick They are at work already upon the two main props of Royalty the King 's Negative Voice and the Power of the Sword A blessed Age the while when the Pulpit shall pretend to dispose of the Crown Kerve out the Government and every scribling Priest vent his seditious and crude Politiques to the People But now it works The Presbyterian Party in England never engaged under a less Authority than that of both Houses of Parliament I have read that the Parliament of England hath several capacities and among the rest these two First that it represents the People as Subjects and so it can do nothing but manifest their grievances and petition for relief Secondly That by the constitution it hath part in the Soveraignty and so it hath part in the Legislative power and in the final Judgment Now when as a part of the Legislative Power resides in the Two Houses as also a Power to redress grievances and to call into question all Ministers of State and Justice and all Subjects of whatsoever degree in case of Delinquency it might be thought that a part of the Supreme Power doth reside in them though they have not the honorary Title Observation Me-thinks we should do well to leave calling the Two Houses the Parliament of England having already paid so dear for that mistake Concerning the Power of the Parliament of England 'T is beyond doubt onely inferiour to the Fountain of all Power even God Himself But then an Agreement is imply'd neither King Lords nor Commons nor any Two of them can pretend to a Parliamentary Authority without the Third This is not to suppose Co-ordination neither The Two Houses are still Subjects Their Office being onely Consultive or Preparatory The Character of Power rests in the final Sanction and
fetch in Delinquents After which says his Majesty among other lesser Innovations this chiefly was urged the Abolition of Episcopal and the Establishment of Presbyterian Government As to the point of Imperial Honour wherein his Majesty may possibly concern himself more immediately It is a high excesse of goodnesse to make his Favours Common where they are look'd upon so cheap as here Witness these daily new Transgressions since his most Gracious Pardon Some men sayes the late King have that height as to interpret all fair Condescendings as Arguments of Feebleness and glory most in an unflexible stiffness when they see Others most supple and inclinable to them There remains yet a third Question under this Head of Honour that is How far his Majesties Generosity may extend it self in Favour and Protection of those persons that have serv'd him through all extremities till they have nothing left them beyond the hopes of honourable Epitaphs These people have Consciences too a sense of Duty and Religion They reverence the Episcopal Order and That which through the sites of Bishops was equally wounded The Order of Kings At last those that subverted the Former and usurped the Latter demand I think in reparation of their hazards a Presbyterian Government In which particular our Duty teaches us not to direct our Master only we take a sober Freedome to answer our Accusers and to professe to all the World that those who fought For King and Bishops were in our Opinion as honest men at least as they that fought against them To his Majesties honourable Consideration I think in this point we may claim a Right We have suffer'd for and with his Royal Father and Himself and the main Justice of the Cause betwixt the King and those that serv'd him is the same thing so that whoever strikes at Vs wounds our Soverein Lastly There is a Justice of Prudence wherein a man may frame a thousand reasons against the Encouraging of the Presbyterians not speculative and airy Notions but close and pinching Reasons grounded upon weighty Authority and a never-failing course of long experience Yet not to dictate to his Majesty to whose Will we submit our Reasonings First if their Desires were Modest the manner yet of promoting them is too rude and positive they Preach and Print their Grievances which is the way rather to stir a Faction than allay a Scruple Lord sayes Mr. Manton give us the Liberty of the Gospel before we go hence and be no more seen As if Episcopacy were Paganisme 'T is dangerous to grant more to those that take too much How do I reverence the Divine Spirit of his late Majesty The great Miscarriage I think is that popular Clamours and Fury had been allowed the reputation of zeal and the publick sence so that the Study to please some parties hath indeed injured all And again Take such a course as may either with calmness and charity quite remove the seeming differences and offences by impartiality or so order affairs in point of power that you shall not need to fear or flatter any Faction for if ever you stand in need of them or must stand to their courtesie you are undone the Serpent will devour the Dove you may never expect lesse of Loyalty Justice or Humanity than from those who ingage into religious Rebellion their Interest is always made Gods under the colours of Piety ambitious Policies march not only with greatest security but applause as to the populacy you may hear from them Jacobs voice but you shall feel they have Esaus hands To what I have said I shall be bold to add a Justice of Proportion and thereupon Two Questions 1. Why should the Presbyterians a Small Irregular party pretend to give the Law to the Supreme Authority the established Constitution and incomparably the greater Part of the Nation 2. Why should those people that with a more then Barbarous rigour press'd the Covenant ejecting sequestring imprisoning such as refused to take it and without Mercy or Distinction Those that in publick barr'd Non-Covenanters the Holy Communion in express Terms with Adulterers Slanderers and Blasphemers affirming in the Pulpit that all the Non-Subscribers to the Covenant were Atheists Why should I say those people that with so unlimited a Tyranny imposed upon the Nation a Rebellious League to the Engagement of their Souls in taking it their Liberties and Fortunes in refusing I say yet once again why should those People now at last demand an interest in that Government which Root and Branch they have laboured to extirpate or with what Face can they pretend a Right to an Authority where but by Mercy they have none to Life I speak of these late Libellers and their Abettors Let me be understood likewise by Presbyterians to intend those of the Scottish race to whom we are beholden for our discipline That Faction first advanced it self by Popular Tumult and Rebellion Knox learned the trick on 't at Geneva and brought it into Scotland We had our Agents too that did as much for us these Fellows conferr'd Notes set the Wheel going and we were never perfectly quiet since Vpon the whole matter aforegoing in the Gentleman 's own words we firmly build this Position That the Presbyterian party ought not either in Justice or Reason of State in any wise to be Encouraged but rather Rejected Neither ought they to be protected in any Inconformity to the Law but rather totally Depressed His second Quaere is soon dispatch'd viz. II. Qu. Whether the Presbyterian party may be Protected and Incouraged and the Episcopal not Deserted nor Dis-obliged First many things are possible which are neither Just nor Rational and therefore it matters not much to allow it the One if I prove it not to be the Other Imagine such a Contemperation of Episcopal and Presbyterian pretences as might atone their present Disagreements yet where 's the King The Interest that 's principal in the Concern is not so much as named in the Question The Quarrel was about the Militia not Lawn-sleeves and the Royal Party is to be taken in as well as the Episcopal The truth of it is This Gentleman does not find it convenient at present to move an utter Extirpation of Bishops but he proposes That which granted would most infallibly produce it A Consociation forsooth that for the better credit of the Project shall be called a Regulated Episcopacy which in good honest English is next Door to a Tyrannical Presbytery In fine The Episcopal Authority is Deserted and Disobliged by the admittance of a Presbyterian Competition Yet pardon me I have found a way to reconcile them Make but these squabling Presbyterians Bishops and the work 's done as Presbyters they are Encouraged and I dare say not disobliged as Bishops The plague of it is there 's neither Justice nor Reason of State for 't and so we are where we were again We shall make short work too with his Third Question for