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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	king_n	lord_n	westminster_n	3,206	5	9.6908	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A44854	Hē apostasīa, ho antichristos, or, A scriptural discourse of the apostasie and the Antichrist, by way of comment, upon the twelve first verses of 2 Thess. 2 under which are opened many of the dark prophecies of the Old Testament, which relate to the calling of the Jews, and the glorious things to be affected at the seventh trumpet through the world : together with a discourse of slaying the witnesses, and the immediate effects thereof : written for the consolation of the Catholike Church, especially the churches of England, Scotland, and Ireland / by E.H.	Hall, Edmund, 1619 or 20-1687.	1653 (1653)	Wing H325; ESTC R11943	203,833	222

ignorant how much those Worthies that maintained the protestant cause are by a bruitish rabble of degenerate protestants slandered and reproached and how much the cause of God suffers hereby to the causing of many a good Christian to stumble and fall dark providences are as dangerous as deep questions to a weak Christian both make him to stagger Prosperous apostates and successfull predominant hypocrites are like land-markes removed that shipwrack the ignorant marriner that steeres towards them In good truth our land-marks are removed and few Pilots this day are to be found to steere us into the harbour of truth and peace Some say loe here is Christ and others loe there is Christ Some say loe here is Antichrist and others loe there is Antichrist and hereby if 't were possible they would deceive the very Elect. Those called the Presbiterians are decryd by all opposite parties as the Antichristian party and they wittily quibble on one part and say their covenant which they made for the maintaining of Religion in doctrine and discipline against Popery on one hand and Schisme on the other together with the preservation of the Kings person and the fundamentall laws hath just 666 words in it the number of the beast and thence they conclude the Protestant Religion the King and the Fundamentall Laws to be Antichristian Others who seem more rational lay it to their charge as unwarrantable 1. In taking up Armes against the King and inciting the People thereto 2. in making a Covenant contrary to Law and imposing it on the Kings Subjects against his pleasure 3. In robbing of the Church of it's lands 4. In not establishing the King according to their former remonstrances when it was in their power Two things are here to be premised before we proceed 1. That Parliaments are of as great antiquity in a national Church as Monarks over that Church here 's the difference the one is an humane Institution approved of God the other the Monark is a divine Institution immediately ordained of God to be the Ruler of his people This is clear in Moses and the 70 under him chosen by him and afterwards approved by God 2. To our purpose The Parliament of England was called by the King chosen freely by the people assembled at Westminster and established by the King where they sate freely and voted freely Here they became formally our Rulers and Of the Rulers of the people we are not to speak evil Charity hopeth all things and is not easily provoked As to the Parliaments taking up of Arms the Question is whether they did it legally That a Parliament may leavie an Armie in the absence of the King is out of doubt legall for Commune periculum commune auxilium petit But to levie it against the King was absolutely illegall Now the Parliament in their Remonstrances Petitions and Applications to the King acquitted themselves of any such rebellious attempts making their War but meerly Defensive Now whether this were legall in the Parliament is very questionable many good men are divided about the question For say these of the Negative part when those of the Affirmative plead a necessity for what they did making Salum populi suprem●…m esse Legem say they There can be no necessity pleaded against a morall precept neither in the reallity of the thing was there any necessity only and at the most probability of evil to ensue if the King should come without resistance with an Army to London Nor by the rule of Charity was there so much as a probability for the King declared that he would preserve the Lawes the Religion and the Parliament of England as carefully as his own Family and why might not he be beleeved as well if not more and before the Parliament Further say they The Parliament as Subjects ought to keep to the Rule to act within their Spheere leaving the successe to God The King called them not thither to dispute his Authority nor could the people that chose them give them any such Commission Let the guilt of bloud or Injustice or Tyranny lie upon the King there was a righteous God would call him one day to a severe account for such actions when they as loyal Subjects suffering by him would be vindicated and justified in the eyes of all the people On the other side say they of the Affirmative part The Case is far otherwise for the Parliament kept to the rule they legally attached those persons of Treason who had endeavoured to overthrow the Magna Char●…a of the Kingdom and to overthrow the Protestant Religion these guilty persons fled from a legall trial prevailed with the King to remove himself from his Parliament that so he might be a Sanctuary to them The Parliament in their legall proceedings against them found resistance and perceived that these guilty persons under a false pretence of defending the Kings Person bandied themselves against their legall Iudges and gathered great numbers of armed men in a rebellious manner to oppose those two supreme Courts from whom they fled To suppresse and apprehend these persons the Parliament might command aid from the Kings Subjects otherwise wee shall deny that priviledg to the Parliament which the law in such a case allows a petty Constable For the King to protect such armed men is contrary to Law et quicquid contra legem fit pro infecto habetur say the most learned in our Laws in such a case the Kings Commission is invalid for Nihil potest Rex quam quod de jure potest saith Comines Who should protect the Magna Charta of England in the absence of the King but the Parliament of England and who should defend the Courts of Iudicature in the absence of the King against those of their prisoners that were broke from them and now making head against them but the Parliament and how should they defend them against men in arms but in raising men in arms against them Whereas 't is objected They raised men against the King They answer negatively and bid us read their Declarations their Remonstrances their Commissions to their Generals their Protestations and their Covenant which they solemnly swore to God with their hands lifted up to him to preserve the Kings P●…rson Honour and Estate 2. As to that of the ill●…gality of the Covenant in making it without the King and imposing it on his Subj●…cts against his will They answer that they did it to declare to his Majestie and the world how sincerely they were knit in loyal affection to his Person and Dignity that without any compulsion they would solemnly swear to God when they could not to him that they had no intention to diminish his just rights and that they never ordered that any should take that Covenant but such as entered into their service or were conversant with them that so all their servants might be the Kings true Subjects however some presumptuous Committees without any order from them and severall other

the title of Lord Bishop Dean Arch-Deacon Chancellor Vicar Generall Commissary Officiall Surrogate Register Promoter c. Of which our English Hierarchical politie was compacted were meerly humane titles and offices as appears upon record In 16 of Rich. 2. Chap. 1. we find the English Bishops first putting on the title of Spiritual Lords though as Barons long before in William of Normandy's time who conferred that temporall honor on them they claimed a place in the house of Peeres These acts of grace conferred by the Kings of England on their Clergy argued their piety and true affection to religion Nor did those honours they conferred on the Clergie make those persons much lesse their office as some foolishly affirm Antichristian only thus much it argues them mutable that civil power that changeth them so farre changeth not a divine institution So farre therefore as the alteration that the Parliament of England made in the Hierarchy of England was not against the primitive institution so farre for the matter of it it was lawfull but as for their manner of proceeding in it without and against the Kings consent let him that hath skill vindicate them I am sure none that know the duties of the second Table and are sincerely pious will dare to applaud it or once open their mouth to plead for it My aym is onely to vindicate the Parliaments Cause from that fowl aspersion of Antichristianisme cast upon it as for many of their particular acts they are inexcusable 4. Another great Scandall taken and given is that the Parliament not only took away the dignities of the Clergy but the estates of the Clergie What shall we make for an answer to this monstrous Crime Before we say any thing to this we wil make a step back to former times We shall find the house of Commons alm●…st as full of envie as of age against the Clergies wealth In the ninth of Hen. 4th We shall find the lower House exhibited a bill against the riches of the Clergie wherein they signifie to the King that he may possesse so much of th●… temporall possessions of the Clergie as will maintain One hundred and fifty Earles One thousand five hundred Knights six thousand two hundred Esquires and One hundred Hospitals had the King been as covetous as the Commons were base the Clergy had not been lef●… a prey to his successors In Henry the Eighth his raign the Lords and Commons fell upon the Clergy for their fleece took from them as saith Cambden in England and Wales Six hundred forty five Monasteries they dissolved ninety Colledges and of Chanteries and fire Chappels two thousand three hundred seventy four of Hospitals One hundred and ten The yearly value being 161100l. Besides the stocks of Cattel which the poor men and their families possessed which they took and sold. Also the timber lead bells the plate and other rich Ornaments of the Church which they robbed and spoiled the Church of And in the Reign of King Charles the last Parliament that that King called which was the gladding of the hearts of all the people of the Kingdom whose eyes were fixed upon them in hopes of enjoying some eminent good from them these alone without and against the consent of the King fell upon the Clergies Estates and swept all that away which King Henry left What shall we say here That we may not condemn the righteous with the wicked we answer 1. They never pretended at the first to any such thing Ab initio non ●…uit sic they convenanted no such thing and the most of those that were secluded and imprisoned were professed enemies to the alienating of the Church Lands from the Church and alwayes so declared themselves Lands given to the Church are sacred things and he that al●…enates them steals from God Indeed it is the part of the Civil Magistrate to restore to the widow the fatherlesse and the oppressed those Lands that the Clergie fraudulently got from them though they have long possessed them And also to restore that Land they have got●…en from the Crown But to take away by force the lawfull rights and possessions of the Church under pret●…nce of Reformation is both grosse Hypocrisie and abominable Sacriledg For my owne part I really beleeve That God is this day punishing the Royall Family for that sin of their Fore-fathers Henry the Eighth's sins are not yet forgot chiefly that of Sacriledg God will punish to the third and fourth generation except we repent of those sins by endeavouring a reformation And as for the Church-robbers of this age wait but a while and without their repentance you shall see misery and shame upon them God will find them out It hath been ●…bserved that scarce any prospered an age with the alienated Lands of the Church In Henry the Eighth's time many who before they griped it lived well after they got it decayed and were brought to beggery and great want That sacred flesh stollen from the Altar had a cole in it which burnt up their nests where their other store lay God grant the guilty of this age repentance for this crying sin otherwise let David's deprecation be fulfilled upon them Psalm 83. 11 12. Make them like Oreb and Zeeb as Zeba and Zalmunna who said Let us take to our selves the houses of God in possession c. As to that scandall That when the Parliament had an opportunity to declare to the world that all their Remonstrances Declarations Vows Protestations and Covenants proceeded from a sincere heart by establishing the King when they had drove evill Counsel from about him that then directly Contrary to those declarations and vows they began upon new termes with him they must have the sword put into their hands else they could not trust him and necessity and self preservation put them upon it The self same arguments that were used as a just judgement upon them in their overthrow which soon followed To this there is a double answer by divers persons a witty one and a pious one Some say that the King desired for the Satisfaction of all parties a treaty with his Parliament before he came to be reestablished and that upon the surest grounds of reason and policie it was on both sides thought most fit for to have it yet it had been most Religious in the Parliament and more for the honour of their cause if not for the safety of it to have kept to their former Declarations and performed their word and publick promises made therein Others more piously say and those formerly of the House God in justice hath overthrown our policie with others sinful policie God shews us our own sins in their lively pictu●…e acted by others against us God Punisheth our foregoing sins with these present sins as they dealt with others so others dealt with them they would not trust their superior and their inferiors would not trust them Thus have we wafted over a rough Sea wherein we have discov●…red

blesse not their mother to a generation that are pure in their own eyes yet not washed from their filthinesse a generation ô how lofty are their eyes and their eye-lids are lifted up a generation whose teeth are swords and their jaw-teeth knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from amongst men a generation of L●…custs the wonder of Solomon who having no King go forth all of them by bands Would we but incline our cares to Gods counsels and turne our feet into his paths he would soon subdue our enemies and turn●… his hand against our adversaries the haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves but that we were disobedient to the Commanaments of the Lord. Why is the Diadem fallen from our head but because wo unto us we have sinned Why do flattering lippes proud tongues and double hearts prevail against us to the oppression of the poor and the making of the needy sigh Why do the wicked walke on every side when the vilest of the sonnes of men are exalted but because weare sinfull our Cities and our Countreys and our families of all rankes and degrees have sinned Go forth therefore ye sons and daughters of the Church weeping gird your selves in sack cloth and put ashes on your head take to you words of lamentation and bewail the sins of your Kings of your Princes of your Nobles of your Ministers before the Lord. Let the Trumpet be blown in Zion let a Fast be sanctified and a solemn Assembly called gather the people assemble the Elders let the Bridegroom go forth of his chamber and the Bride out of her closet let the Ministers of the Lord weep between the Porch and the altar and let them say Spare thy people ô Lord and give not thine heritage to reproach that Heathens should thus rule over us So soon as the people of God are thus framed God will be jealous for the land and pity his people The Churches teares usually go before the black Funerall of their enemies their tears ascend like exhalations insensibly but return in thundering and lightning stormes upon their enemies We shall finde the Churches mourning and the enemies ruine to be Zach. 12. 3 4 10. a Gospel-connexion and what himself hath joyned we cannot pull asunder Since therefore preces lachrymae are our best weapons against our enemies let us take to our selves this spirituall armour and let us thus go forth for the cause of God with much affection rejoycing as a Bridegroom commeth forth of his chamber and as a strong man rejoyceth to run a race let us rejoyce that we are counted worthy to be in arms for so great a King let us with a holy scorn disdain the enemies of our Lord the King let us defie that power and strength they bring against him Let the Counter-motions of crosse providences which make it evening by the Apostates clock put forward the hand of your faith to make it the morning of deliverance doth the Antichrist tread down all before him and oppresse the Church of God exceedingly be of good cheer for thus it is written that Antichrist must do and the Witnesses must suffer and also 't is written that then he is neer to his ruine and the Church neer to a glorious and exceeding great deliverance which is the subject of one main part of the ensuing Discourse Be not then ô ye Saints of the most High either afraid or ashamed of your afflictions Can you chuse a better Master Can you fight under a more royall Standard then Christs or can you finde a baser enemy or more accursed then the Antichrist gird on then your spirituall armour with the girdle of sincerity be stedfast in your resolutions why do the latchets of the shoes of patience hang so loose Why do you f●…et and startle at the news of suffering as if the fiery triall which is to try you were the fire of hell to damn you sincerity rejoyceth in the triall how will you be known from loose professeurs if your sincerity be not tried by afflictions afflictions indured with patience for Christ are the seales of sincerity this was one of Pauls seals which passed him for current among the Saints Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Sufferings for Christ are an evident t●…ken of perdition to your enemies but to you of salvation and that of God Faith is the evidence of our salvation and sufferings are the evidence of our faith Rejoyce therefore inasmuch as yeare made partakers of the sufferings of Christ for when his glory shall be revealed ye shall be glad also with exceeding joy your reproaches for Christ render you happy inasmuch as thereby the Spirit of glory resteth on you though on your enemies part Christ is blasphemed yet on your part he is glorified We have indeavoured to clear the Church of England and to clear the reformation beg●…n and at last fi●…ished by the King Lords and Commons as Christs Church and Christs cause notwithstanding all those reproaches cast upon it let us then all of us that own the Church of England for a true Church and the reformation of that Church for a good cause prepare for sufferings and let us count them as so many scars of honour got in the field where the Royall Standard of our Lord the King is pitched which we shall wear forever our bodies shall lie down in the grave in the honour of them and at the Resurrection rise in the m●…jesty of them Let love to Christ and love to the Church of Christ constrain us to constancy let 's stop our eares against all the charmes of the Devill the world or the flesh let 's look to our Redeemer who when he was tempted upon the salvation of the chief Priests and Elders and upon the vindication of the Godhead to come down from the Crosse this seems to me to be the deepest temptation of hels forging for to destroy the work of Redemption for had Christ come down before he had died our Redemption had not been finished and we must all have been damned yet he continued in his shameful and grievous torments under all these blasphemons roproaches until the work of our Redemption was finished look up then to this great Captain of our salvation and as you have seen him do so do ye you must if you be Christs be made conformable to Christ your head by sufferings The faithful Christians of the three Kingdoms have suffered much ô let them not come down from the cross until the work be finished 't is supposed that there are sharper sufferings yet to come yet let us not ●…aint for there are more with us then are against us we have as that great person said A good Cause and a gracious God and so we have all the Angels and Saints on our sine we have the Trinity to trust to who is a strong h●…ld in time of trouble and knoweth every soul that trusteth in him Let love to the

other Nations Christian Burial was prohibited to those persons be they never so great that should deny the Popes Supremacy the Liturgy of the Church augmented and put into tune to be sung the Paxe injoyned to be kissed the usurped Title of the Vicar of Christ given to Popes and the Roman Emperors Authority contemned by them they making their leige Masters to kiss their feet Images were brought into the Church and Emperors not permitted to pull them down Rebellion against Emperors was taught upon this account so that the Emperors for withstanding Images lost the Roman Throne Sacrifices and Prayers were enjoined to be made for the dead Kings of forrain Kingdomes were by the Popes Usurpation dethroned Bishopricks as it were by a Conquest subjected daily to the Sea of Rome Bastards Bribers Rebels beastly Fellows Atheists and Magicians for the most part possessed the Episcopal Chair of Rome which makes Bellarmine call these times Saeculum insoelix The Sun and the Air were miserably darkned by these hellish locusts these times were full of ignorance and prophaneness whereby the Church was miserably eclipsed and deformed through the prevailing Factions of the scandalous Roman Clergy usurping the Roman Throne as well as the Pontifick Seat yet was not the Roman Church utterly defaced or unchurched hereby for notwithstanding the prevailing Faction in Rome gave themselves to such abominable wickednesse and persisted in it so that one in his Learned History of the Roman Bishops saith They proceeded from usurping Nimrods to luxurious Sodomites and from luxurious Sodomites to Egyptian Magicians and from Egyptian Magicians to devouring Abaddons and from devouring Abaddons to incurable Babylonians yet it is most probable that in Rome it self there were to be found Godly Ministers and people that were none of the time servers as it is manifest there were in other Churches where the Popes and their Faction usurped a Power This is most certain that in Rome it self until the Pope and his Faction became incurable Babylonians men might with freeness profess and practise the principles of true religion The Apostles Creed the ten Commandments and the Lords Prayer the sum of a Christians Faith Worship and Obedience were alwaies in profession maintained in the Roman Church though violently opposed by the wicked practices of the Pontifick Professors So that there was no absolute necessity for other Churches to renounce the Church of Rome but only the Vices and Corruptions and Heresies of a prevailing Faction in the Church of Rome which both the Kings and the Clergy of England since William the Norman Successor to the Saxons have in every Age manifestly done and not only England but other Churches also for when they as we said came to be incurable Babylonians the Churches in Germany and France and England cryed out aloud of them Guicciardine M●…ntuan Sanavarola and Machiavel all of them laid out to publick view the villany of the Papacy Machiavel was a discoverer of the hellish policie used by the Pope and his creatures not an allower or practitioner of that black Art he discovered And in Leo the Tenths time Budeus Mirandula Erasmus Stapulensis and others both learned and grave publickly derided and reproved the Roman Apostasie and corruption So far did Erasmus leave the Roman Church and cleave to the reformation beginning in Germany that a witty Popeling thus plays upon his name Si sit eras verbum mus nomen quid sit Erasmus Participium Signifying that he took part with the Chuch of Rome and part with the Protestants so called a little afterwards as a Participle doth part of a Verb and part of a Nown The German Churches gave no lesse then Centum gravamina to the Legate of Adrian 6. desiring a speedy redresse of them and the secular Estates both of the higher and lower sort of the Empire did beseech his Holynesse to remove those grievances or else they themselves would This Pope ingenuously confesseth that the Chair of Rome was very filthy in hac sede sancta saith he aliquot jam annis multa abominanda fuisse This stirring of the German States revived Luther who stomacking the Dominican pardon-seller Tercelius had w●…it against that sinfull trade in Leos time and now in Adrians time finding more friends then he expected he designes the abolishing of the Masse and the framing of a new Liturgie The Pope and his faction fearing to what this of Luthers might come writ to the Emperour and the German Princes to suppresse Luthers doctrines Thereupon a general councel was desired as the means of reconciliation which was at last granted and called to sit at Trent They had three severall meetings at Trent In the third Session of the first meeting they i. e. the Popes packt party decreed that the old Latine translation should only be used and authentick in Schools and Churches In the fourth Session they decreed that original sin was so taken away in Baptism that the concupiscence which remains after Baptism is not to be accounted a sin untill we consent thereto and farther they decreed as truth that the Mother of Christ was not conceived in original sin In the fifth Session they decreed that since the fall there remains a freedom in mans will to good which being excited concurrs with Gods grace In the seventh Session seven Sacraments were decreed after this the Pope removes the Councel to Bononia which discontents the Emperour which puts an end to the Councell for that time At the second meeting of the Bishops in the councell of Trent the King of France declared as the Queen of England before had done that neither he nor his Subjects were bound to obey a Convention of Bishops whose design was meerly thereby to advantage the private interest of the Pope to the generall disprofit of the Church At the second Session the doctrine of Transubstantiation was established At the third Session that pennance and extreme unction were new Testament Sacraments At this Session the Protestants would but were not permitted to bring in their confession of faith the Popes Legat withstanding them The warrs then breaking out in Germany the councel was dismissed Nine years after they met again the third time At the fifth Session whereof they decreed that it was in the power of the Pope to dispose of the Sacramentary elements as he saw expedient for the good of the people provided that the substance were kept Thus denying the cup in the Communion to the people At the sixth Session 't was concluded that the whole Mass was a propitiatory sacrifice for quick and dead and whoever should say otherwise should be accursed At the eight Session they pronounce him accursed who shall deny that the Church hath power to dispense with Gods Law Lev. 18. in giving liberty to incestuous matches against the word and forbidding lawful matches according to the word At their last Session they confirmed the doctrine of Purgatory Invocation of Saints bowing to images giving of indulgences and preserving

pragmatick fellows made it a snare to tender consciences of the Kings party by pressing it upon them and oppressing those that refused it This was doubtlesse a grosse sinne but it cannot properly be laid to their charge as if they thereby intended to make a party for themselves against the King but to make all within their Garisons and Commands both Ministers and People true Subjects to the King to the Lawes and the Protestant Religion Whiles this was strictly observed in the Parliaments Quarters Iesuites and Popish Priests were not so frequent nor so bold as since they have beene amongst us 3. As to that of throwing down of Bishops a double scandal is taken if not given thereby 1. In their manner of proceeding without and against the King which in it self was absolute usurpation for though they did send to the King to passe it yet they resolved upon his denyal to proceed which was an absolute denyall of his Negative voyce in which implicitely they denyed him to be their Soveraign 2. In throwing down the ancient Government of the Church by Bishops which Government hath continued in the Church since the Apostles time unquestioned until within these hundred yeers and then the Orthodox onely questioned their Persons not their Office onely the Anabaptists cryed down the Office as Antichristian Now for the Parliament under pretence of Reformation of Religion to cast off that primitive Government universally received in the Churches without and against the consent of the King and solemnly ingage others in the same thing seems to be a most rash and inc●…nsiderate act done out of blinde mislead zeale or an ungodly act done wilfully to bring to ruine the Protestant Church of England to rob the Church of its Maintenance and ruine the learned Clergie of the Nation Here we must answer le●…t both innocent persons and a good Cause suffer 1. The Parliament intended not by throwing down the English Hierarchie to throw down any Worship Discipline or Government according to the word of God for then their second Article would clash with the first in the Covenant so that their meaning is they will extirpate so much of Prelacy as shall be found contrary to the word of God and the Example of the best reformed Churches I suppose by Churches they meant the purest Primitive Churches for all these late Reformed Protestant Churches did before we thought of a Reformation yeild that we were better reformed then they We hold the Calvinists the best reformen Churches but saith learned Beza to the praise of the English Protestant Bishops Let the Church of England injoy this singular bounty of God which I wish may be hers for ever So far was he from thinking it a piece of Reformation to pull them down Calvin Bucer Luther Melancton Z●…nchy Chamier are all of them no enemies to Bishops though professed enemies to the Superstitious Idolatrous Practices of Bishops in that Age. Every solid Protestant is so far from thinking the Office of a Bishop to be Antichristian that he rather thinks it a high degree of Antichristianism to oppose that Office this is as we have shewed to deny the Father and the Son for he that denyeth an Apostle or the Successo●…s of an Apostle in the Office of the Ministry denyeth Christ and he that denyeth Christ denyeth God that sent him Charity therefore makes me hope that the sincere Protestants what ever other subtil Foxes designed intended no otherwise by that second Article in the Covenant then to reduce the Church of England to a Primitive Purity by removing Popish Prelates and all those humane Institutions depending on the English Hierarchy if through Error they were mis-led from the right means to this end the discovery of that Error may seasonably reduce them into a right way for wise men never think it a shame to repent It is most certain that the intent of the sincere Covenanters was to re●…ine not ruine the Ministry by pulling down the English Hierachy they struck not at the order of the Ministry but at the degree of Episcopacy they struck at the Discipline of the English Church therein more then at the Ministry for they pulled down Bishops as they were Superintendants over their brethren not as Ministers so that they took away their degree above their brethren but left them standing in their order as Ministers Bishops lost not their Order by the Covenant but their Degree for though they are in a distinct degree above the Presbyters which have ever been allowed them in the purest Churches since Christ time yet they never were a distinct order from the Presbyters neither the Scripture nor the Fathers make them so so that Aerius an ancient Writer in that saith truth a Bishop and a Presbyter are joined in the same Commission the Bishop imposeth hands so doth the Presbyter the Bishop administers the Sacraments and dispenseth the Ordinances so doth the Presbyter so that essentially there is no difference betwixt them what is is only gradual Now here lies the great question Whence they had this degree above their fellow Ministers in the Church If they had this from Apostolical Institution then without all doubt it was a grieveous sin in any Civil Power to pull it down and they that convenanted so to do did unadvisedly and foolishly But if this degree of Episcopacy be but an Ecclesiastical Institution though of great Antiquity the case is altered there cannot be an absolute necessity of its immutability Meer humane Institutions admit of alterations Hierom and Epiphanius say They were set up as a remedy against Schism and Heresie long after Presbytery But to come to the thing suppose this degree to be as probably it is an Apostolical Institution which continued unquestionable in the Church for many hundred years Yet here the question will still be Whether since the grand Apostasie that Paul prophesies of there hath not been an Apostasie from this Institution whether this Institution in the Apostasie did not contract much corruption This is granted by all the Protestant English Bishops especially by the late Lord Primate of England B. Laud in his Conference with Fisher Bishop Jewel and Bishop Downam hence these two latter conclude That the Hierarchy of Rome is so corrupted and apostatized from its Primitive Institution that it is become the Antichristian State nay more then that they call it the Antichrist That question then which concerns us is Whether the Hierarchy of England were so exactly conformable to the Primitive Institutution as that it needed no alteration These two things are granted 1. That the persons in that Hierarchy needed to be reformed for some of them were prof●…ssed Papists and the most of them bitter enemies to a powerful and a painful Orthodox Ministry 2. That whatsoever is built upon an humane foundation may upon humane or divine considerations be taken down again if so then those Titles Offices and Dignities conferred meerly by men may be taken away but