or not they thought it to bee vnlawfull Thirdlie Yee haue no warrand from our Replye to say that wee would not abstayne from private Baptisme and Communion altho our Nationall Assemblie should discharge them For as wee are verie vnwilling to omit anie necessarie Duetie of our Calling so wee carrie a singular respect to lawfull Authoritie and to the Peace and Unitie of the Church abhorring Schisme as the verie Pest of the Church But of this wee shall speake heereafter in the thirteenth Duplye 53. Next yee say if wee haue the same judgement of Kneeling in the receaving of the Communion and of Feastivall dayes it commeth to passe among vs which hath beene incident to the Church in former ages that thinges haue beene first brought in as indifferent then vrged as necessarie Certaynlie Brethren none are so guiltie of this as your selues and your associates for yee haue now made some thinges to be esteemed necessarie by your followers which haue beene accounted indifferent not onlie since the Reformation but these fifteene hundreth yeares by-gone And in some other thinges which the auncient Church did wyselie forbid yee doe now make the Libertie and Puritie of the Gospell to consist As for vs wee stand as wee stood before and doe yet thinke Kneeling in the receaving of the Sacrament and the fiue Feastivall dayes to bee Rites indifferent in their owne nature but indeede verie profitable and edificatiue if Pastors would doe their duetie in making their people sensible of the lawfulnesse and expediencie of them 54. Wee are of the same judgement concerning Confirmation which CALVIN wryting vpon HEBR. 6. 2. acknowledgeth To haue beene vndoubtedlie delyvered to the Church by the Apostles and with the same Author in the fourth booke of his Institut Cap. 19 § 14. wee wish That the vse of it were agayne restored so farre are we from that partiall dealing with the Articles of Pearth which yee object vnto vs. What hath moved our most Reverende Prelates to abstayne hitherto from the practising of it wee know not they can themselues best satisfie you in this poynt And wee modestlie judge that this omission hath proceeded from weyghtie regardable causes It was sufficient for vs to haue a care of our owne dueties in our particular stations But the vrging and pressing of that practise vpon the Bishops requyreth higher Authoritie than ours In the meane tyme ye know the Bishops never disclaymed the Authoritie of that Act of Pearth concerning Confirmation or of any other of these Acts as yee haue done who haue beene hitherto professed and avowed disobeyers of them all Wherefore wee wish you heereafter not to bring this omission of the Bishops in the matter of Confirmation as an Argument for that forbearance of Pearth Articles which yee requyre of vs for there is a great difference betwixt the omission of a duetie commanded by a Law and an avowed or professed yea sworne disobedience of the Law 55. Last of all whereas ye say that we by maintaining the necessitie of private Baptisme Cōmunion doe condemne the practise of this our Church frō the Reformatiō till Pearth Assemblie put no small guiltinesse vpon other Reformed Churches who vse not private Baptisme and Communion at all but abstayne from them as dangerous wee answere that wee haue in all modestie proponed our owne judgement concerning private Baptisme and private Communion neminem judicantes as CYPRIAN sayde of olde in consilio Carthag in praefat nor taking vpon vs to censure or condemne the practise eyther of this Church in tymes preceeding Pearth Assemblie or of other Reformed Churches Wee can not indeede denye but wee dissent from them and if this bee a condemning of them wee may no lesse justlie say to you that you condemne the Practise and Doctrine not onlie of our Reformers in the particulars mentioned before in this same DVPLYE but also of dyverse Reformed Churches and of the Ancient Church as wee declared in our sixt DEMAND and shall agayne speake of it in our sixt DVPLYE A DEFENCE OF OVR DOCTRINE and PRACTISE concerning the Celebration of BAPTISME and the LORD'S SVPPER in private places 56. Yee desire vs wyselie to consider whether the desire which our people haue of Baptisme and Communion in tyme of sicknesse bee not occasioned by prevayling of Poperie and through a superstitious conceat that people haue of these Sacraments as necessarie to salvation Wee are loath to come short of you in dueties of charitie espciallie in good wishes and therefore wee lykewyse wish you wyselie to consider whether the neglect of these Sacraments in the tyme of sicknesse which is in manie parts of the Kingdome proceede not from some want of a sufficient knowledge and due esteeme of the fruites of these High and Heavenlie mysteries 57. It is well that yee acknowledge that we minister these Sacraments in private as necessarie onelie by the necessitie of the commandement of GOD but with all yee conceaue that our people imagine or seeme to imagine them to bee so necessarie meanes as that GOD hath tyed his grace to them Wee desire you to judge charitablie of those who are vnknowne to you and with all wee declare that neyther wee doe teach our people nor doe they thinke for ought wee did ever know that Baptisme is so necessarie a meane vnto salvation that without it God can not or will not saue anie yea on the contrarie wee are confident that when Baptisme is earnestlie sought for or vnfeygnedlie desired and yet can not bee had the Prayers of the Parentes and of the Church are accepted by GOD in stead of the ordinarie meane the vse where-of is hindered by vnavoidable necessitie and so in this wee depart from the rigid tenet of Papistes On the other part wee lykewyse teach and accordinglie our people learne that BAPTISME is the ordinarie meane of our enterance into the CHVRCH and of our REGENERATION to the vse where-of GOD by His Commaundement hath tyed vs. 58. If the Commaundement of our SAVIOUR MATTH 28.19 Goe yee there-fore and teach all Nations baptizing them In the Name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holie Ghost tye not Parentes to seeke Baptisme to their Children and Pastors to administer when it is sought then haue wee no commaundement at all for baptizing of Infantes which is an Anabaptisticall absurditie But if Parentes and Pastors are tyed by this Commaundement then Parents ought to seeke Baptisme to their dying Children not baptized before for then or never and Pastors must accordinglie performe that Duetie then which is incumbent vpon them This is that which KING JAMES of blessed memorie in a Conference at Hampton-Court pag. 17 reporteth him-selfe to haue aunswered to a Scotish Minister whyle hee was in Scotland The Minister asked If hee thought Baptisme so necessarie that if it bee omitted the Chyld should bee damned No sayde the King but if you beeing called to baptize the Chyld though privatelie should refuse to come I thinke
Lawes there-anent The lyke wee may see in the 76 Canon of the fourth Councell of Carthage See Balsamon also vpon the 20 Canon of the Councell of Carthage where speaking of dying persons hee sayeth That the LORD'S Supper should bee carefullie administred vnto them and Baptisme if they bee not baptized Hence Bishop Jewell in his Dispute agaynst Hurdings PAG. 32. sayeth That certayne godlie persons both Men and Women in tyme of persecution or of sicknesse or of other necessitie receaved the Sacrament in their houses it is not denyed The Ancient Fathers also call this Sacrament viaticum or a provision for our journey So the Fathers in the fourth Councell of Carthage speake Canon 78. So Gaudentius in his second Treatise on Exodus So in Saynct Basill his Liturgie wee finde this PRAYER that the participation of these sacred things may bee the viaticum of eternall lyfe So Concil Vas 1. Can. 2. So Paulinus in vita Ambrosii Whence Causabon in his answere to the Epistle of Cardinall Perronâ— PAG. 49 sayeth The Church of England not onlie distributeth the mysticall bread to the faythfull in the publicke Congregation but also administrateth to dying persons this viaticum as the Fathers of the Councell of Nice and all Antiquitie call it 64. Learned Calvine was of this mynde Manie and weyghtie reasons sayeth hee Epist. 361. moue mee to thinke that the Communion should not bee denyed to sicke Persons ZEPPERVS in his first Booke of Ecclesiasticall policie and 12 Chapter hath these words of this matter One thing remayneth yet to bee resolved to wit concerning the Communion of sicke persons Albeit some thinke otherwyse yet it seemeth that the holie Supper may not nor ought not to bee denyed to them that seeke it For if it was appoynted for the confirming of our fayth and increase of our Communion with CHRIST if wee ought by the vse of it to testifie our fayth and studie of repentance why should they bee depryved of so great a good who fight with long dâ—seases or are in danger of their lyfe When doeth Satan labour more stronglie to shake and brangle our fayth than when wee are exercysed with bodilie diseases When doe our consciences tremble more and stand in neede of the most ample corroboration of fayth than when wee finde that death is knocking at the doore and that wee are called to compeare before the Tribunall of God HIERONYMVS ZANCHIVS is of the same mind Thus he wryteth in an Epistle of his to John Crato Physician to the Emperour I haue nothing to say of the question proponed by you but that I subscrybe to your judgement provyding this bee done when necessitie requyreth and it bee administred to them who through sicknesse cannot come foorth with others in publicke For since CHRIST denyeth this to none of his Disciples how can wee refuse it to sicke persons who desire it before they depart hence and that not out of anie Superstition but that their myndes may bee the more comforted and raysed vp MARTINE BVCER in the 22 Chapter of his fore mentioned censure considering that part of the LITVRGâ—E where-in the administrating of the Communion to sicke persons is set downe sayeth Thinges heere commanded are agreeable anough to holie Scripture for it avayleth not a little to the comforting of troubled Soules to receaue the Communion of the LORD Yea hee hath written a particular and most devote Treatise directing Pastors how to administer the Communion to sicke persons and yet wee trust yee will not call him a Papist since hee was so hatefull to Papists that after hee was dead they raysed vp his bones and burnt them PETER MARTYR wryting vpon the tenth Chapter of the first Epistle to the CORINTH speaking of the LORD'S Supper hath these wordes They say it must bee given to sicke persons I confesse sayeth hee but the mysterie may bee celebrated before the sicke persons It is to bee remarked also that often-tymes it falleth out that some persons are affixed to their beds by sicknesse for the space of fiue or sixe yea ten yeares or more And how can we denye the comfort of this holie Sacrament to those all that space especiallie when they earnestlie long for it 65. This doctrine and practise of ours tendeth not to the contempt of the Sacraments as yee would beare vpon it it is playne contrarie for by this practise wee show how much wee reverence the Commandement of GOD and how highlie wee esteeme of his ordinances which wee so earnestlie seeke after whereas on the other part the practise of others leadeth people to the contempt of the Sacraments because they are moved there-by to thinke that there is no such necessitie and efficacie in them as Scripture and the consent of Christians hath ascrybed there-vnto As for other abuses rehearsed by you as fruites of private Baptisme since you bring no proofe for what yee say in this wee oppone our just denyall to your bare and vnjust assertion 66. Lastlie yee advertise the Reader that yee thinke not the materiall Churches but the ordinarie meetinges necessarie to the lawfull administration of the Sacraments lest anie should conceaue that yee entertayne a Superstitious conceat of places Wee thinke yee might haue spared this advertisement for we finde that they who oppugne our doctrine and practise in this poynt are so farre from beeing in danger of the extremitie mentioned by you that on the contrarie they teach that the Church is a Place no more holie than anie other and that it may bee indifferentlie vsed to sacred or civill vses which in our judgment is not agreeable eyther to holie Scripture or to sound Antiquitie See Eusebius in his Ecclesiasticke Historie Lib. 10. Cap. 3. Chrysost homil 36. on the first Epistle to the CORINTHIANS S. Augustine in his first Booke of the citie of GOD Cap. 1. Codex Theodasianus Lib. 9. Titul 45. de his qui ad Ecclesias confugerunt Conc. Gangrens Can. 21. THE V. DVPLY THE indifferent Reader may perceaue by our former DVPLYE that your ANSWRE to our first exception taken from the obedience due to Authoritie and from our judgement concerning the administration of BAPTISME and the LORD'S Supper to dying persons in private places hath not given satisfaction 2. Wee asked of you in our fift DEMAND how wee can Subscrybe the Negatiue Confession as it is propounded by you without contradicting the Positiue Confession approved by Parliament holden Anno 1567 since the Positiue Confession CHAP. 21 declareth that Rites are changeable according to the exigencie of tyme and consequentlie that no perpetuall Law may or ought to bee made of them and the Negatiue Confession maketh a perpetuall Law concerning the externall Rites of the Church at least according to your judgement who vrge the Subscryving of this Covenant and Confession vpon vs Wee vrged farther in our Replye that the Late Covenant bindeth vs to the Olde Covenant made Anno 1581 for by your Late Covenant yee professe your selues bound
the Church to forbeare the practise of Pearth Articles rather than of other Rites of the Church except for some greater evill comprehended in them This will appeare more evident if wee shall consider the reason alleadged by you Pag. 17 wherefore wee ought now to forbeare the practise of these Articles to wit because in the case of Scandall and sensible feare of Superstition wee ought to doe so Now this case of Scandall is not in your judgement a temporarie but a perpetuall consequent of Pearth Articles For yee thinke it will ever scandalize the Papists as if we were approaching to them Lykewyse yee thinke everie one of them and especiallie Kneeling to bee inductiue to sinne ex conditione operis by the verie nature and qualitie of the worke it selfe Whence it followeth that they are necessarilie and immutablie scandalous for what-so-ever agreeth to anie thing in respect of the nature of it it agreeth to it necessarilie and immutablie If therefore wee in this respect sweare the forbearance of Pearth Articles wee shall bee holden to forbeare Pearth Articles not for a tyme but for ever 15. Next wee pray you consider what is meaned by the foresayde Novations in that part of your Covenant wherein yee promise to labour to recover the Libertie and Puritie of the Gospell as it was before the foresayde Novations Certaynlie these wordes can not bee vnderstood of Novations to bee introduced and which haue not as yet entred vnto our Church For the Libertie and Puritie of the Church is not as yet lost yea not impared by them and so needeth not to bee recovered by the removing of them They must then be vnderstood of the Novations mentioned in the Parenthesis of your Covenant that is of all Innovations alreadie introduced by Authoritie and their alleadged Consequentes which yee promise to forbeare vntill they bee allowed and tryed by a free Assemblie Hence anie man may conclude that altho in your Parenthesis yee promise onlie to forbeare these Novations for a tyme yet in the wordes immediatelie following yee condemne and abjure them For the recovering of the Libertie and Puritie of the Gospell as it was established before the foresayde Novations importeth manifestlie a removing of all these Novations which eyther in themselues or in respect of their consequents are contrarie to the Puritie and Libertie of the Gospell But all Novations alreadie introduced are in your judgement of this kynde and there-fore your Vowe of the Recovering the Libertie and Puritie of the GOSPELL importeth a removing of all the fore-sayde Novations 16. To conclude this Argument Yee may see that wee haue pryed no more narrowlie into the expressions of your COVENANT than wee had reason and haue laboured not to scarre our selues and others with meere shadowes as yee affirme Of our ARGVMENT Ad hominem and the weake Retorsion of it by the Answeres 17. Nowe wee come to our Argument or Syllogisme AD HOMINEM which hath so pinched you that yee haue not attempted to answere to anie of the Propositions of it Our intention in that Argument was to proue that whether Pearth Articles bee abjured in the Late Covenant or not Yet yee who came hither to giue vs satisfaction concerning the Covenant can not with a safe conscience averre or declare to vs that they are not abjured in it This wee did evidentlie proue reasoning thus What-so-ever Rites are abjured in the Olde Covenant they are also in your judgement abjured in the Late Covenant But Pearth Articles and Episcopacie are in your judgement abjured in the Olde Covenant ERGO they are in your judgement abjured in the Late Covenant and consequentlie if yee deale sincerelie with vs ye must averre that they are also abjured in the Late Covenant 18. To this yee say first that what-so-ever be your judgement as yee are particular persons yet at this tyme yee were to bee taken as Commissioners from the whole Companie of Subscrybers Truelie wee did take you so and did thinke that yee who were Commissioners from such a Multitude of good Christians would haue tolde vs your mynde sincerelie concerning the full extent of the Late Covenant and that yee would neyther haue affirmed anie thing as Commissioners which yee doe not thinke to bee true as yee are particular persons nor yet would haue laboured so to insnare vs as to haue bidden vs subscrybe a Covenant reallie and indeede in your judgement abjuring those thinges which wee with a safe conscience can not abjure For in your judgement PEARTH ARTICLES and EPISCOPACIE are most reallie abjured in the LATE COVENANT although yee playnlie affirme the contrarie in your Answeres to our fourth fift and sixt Demaund And which is much to bee noted in your Answere to our tenth Demaund yee affirme concerning your selues That yee in this Late Covenant haue promised onelie Forbearance of Pearth Articles Wee wonder much howe yee can say so For who-so-ever by their Oath haue tyed themselues to a Confession in the which they firmlie belieue Pearth Articles and Episcopacie to bee abjured those haue indeede abjured Pearth Articles and Episcopacie But yee in the Late Covenant haue tyed your selues by your Oath to the Little Confession or Olde Covenant in the which yee firmlie belieue Episcopacie and Pearth Articles to bee abjured Ergo in your Late Covenant yee haue abjured Pearth Articles and Episcopacie And not onelie yee but all those who are of that same mynde with you Whence wee inferred in that tenth Demaund That none of you can vote freelie in the intended Assemblie concerning PEARTH ARTICLES and EPISCOPACIE 19. Secondlie yee say that if others of the Subscribents who are of our judgement that is who are not perswaded that Pearth Articles and Episcopacie are abjured in the Olde Covenant had come as Commissioners at this tyme to vs our Argument AD HOMINEM had beene anticipated because it would not haue beene pertinent for them But yee are deceaved for wee haue ever looked principallie to these who were the first Contryvers of the Late Covenant or had speciall hand in it that is to your selues and to others who these manie yeares by-gone haue opposed Pearth Articles and Episcopacie as Popish corruptions abjured in the Olde Covenant and consequentlie haue in this Late Covenant in the which that former Covenant is renewed by your owne personall Oath abjured Pearth Articles and Episcopacie If then that other sort of Commissioners had come vnto vs wee would haue sayde to them that wee can not sweare the Late Covenant because Pearth Articles and Episcopacie are in it abjured And this wee would haue proved by the lyke Argumēt AD HOMINEM that is by an Argument grounded vpon the judgement of the contryvers of the Late Covenant as yee may easilie perceaue 20. Thirdlie yee say that wee haue perceaved the insufficiencie of our Argument because wee objected this to our selues that seeing wee thinke Pearth Articles and Episcopacie not to bee abjured in the Olde Covenant wee may Subscrybe the New Covenant in
Forbearance is both the Commaundement of Authoritie and also the Necessitie and Excellencie of some of the thinges commaunded besides that wee thinke them all Lawfull and Laudable What wee would doe at the Commandement of Authoritie in the Forbearance of the Practise of those thinges for the Peace of the Church and Kingdome shall bee declared in our DVPLY to your thirteenth ANSWERE where-in yee vrge this poynt agayne THE VIII DVPLY WHERE-AS yee doe remit the Reader to your former Answere and our Replye wee also remit him there-to and to our first Duplye hoping that hee shall rest satisfied there-with 2. Wee haue in those places aunswered your Argument concerning your Swearing the Defence of the King and his Authoritie with a Specification as yee call it and haue showne that what hath not beene looked to so narrowlie in this matter heere-to-fore is requisite nowe for the Reasons expressed in our eyght Replye and first Duplye Concerning the full Expression of the Loyaltie of your Intentions to mayntayne the King's Person and Honour whether or not yee haue given just Satisfaction to those who are nearest to the King's Majestie as yee saye wee referre you and the Readers to that which yee and they will finde neare the ende of our first Duplye Wee wonder greatlie yee should affirme that wee by craving Resolution doe wrong the King and our selues or that yee by giving of it should wrong them who are nearest his Majestie and also the Covenant and the Subscrybers there-of For our requyring of resolution in this matter of so great importance is a pregnant Argument of our loyaltie towards our dreade Soveraygne and of our care to haue alwayes our owne consciences voyd of offence towards GOD and towards Men. And your giving of satisfaction vnto vs woulde haue served for farther clearing of your Covenant and the subscriptions there-of Your pretence that by giving vs satisfaction yee should wrong them who are nearest his Majestie is grounded vpon a wrong supposition as if they had alreadie receaved satisfaction by your Declaration 3. GOD is witnesse wee doe not wittinglie and willinglie multiplie doubts for hindring a good worke or to oppose agaynst a shyning light as yee would haue the Reader to thinke of vs but in all humilitie and vprightnesse of heart doe declare our mynde and doe intimate our vnaffected scruples And wee thinke it verie pertinent at this tyme to craue resolution of them and to desire your Answere concerning this mayne duetie which is not fullie expressed in your Covenant where-as a more full expression of it had beene verie needfull at this tyme. 4. Lastlie Where-as yee complayne that wee tooke not sufficient notice of you whyle yee were amonst vs yee may easilie consider that our publicke Charges and Employmentes together with the shortnesse of the tyme of your abode heere doe sufficientlie vindicate vs from anie imputation of Neglect in that kynde and our doores were not closed if it had pleased you in Brotherlie kyndnesse to haue visited vs which wee ought rather to haue exspected of you seeing yee came vndesired to the place of our Stations to deale with vs and also to deale with our people agaynst our will before wee had receaved satisfaction THE IX DVPLY AS yee doe referre the Reader to your former Answeres so doe wee referre him to our former Replyes and Duplyes 2. The meaning of the Act of the Assemblie of Pearth citing the wordes of the PSALME 95 is not as yee doe interpret it anie perverting of the Text neyther tendeth it to inferre there-vpon absolute necessitie of Kneeling in all worshipping of GOD or in this part of His worship in the celebration of the holie Communion but onlie to inferre the Lawfullnesse and commendable Decencie of Kneeling in Divine Worship and that it is such a Gesture as our lawfull Superioures may enjoyne to bee vsed in GOD'S Worship and that Religious Adoration and Kneeling is to bee done to GOD onelie altho they sinne not who vse another Gesture where this is not requyred by Authoritie but another appoynted or permitted 3. Wee doe not kneele before the Sacramentall Elementes making them the Object of our Adoration eyther Mediate or Immediate neyther doeth the Act of Pearth Assemblie import anie such thing But all our Adoration both outward and inward is immediatelie directed to GOD onelie with Prayer and Thankes-giving at the receaving of so great a Benefite Where-fore your objecting of Idolatrie agaynst vs heere and in your other Treatises is moste vnjust Wee marvell also howe yee doe heere referre vs to those Treatises which in your twelfth Aunswere yee seeme to disclayme finding fault that anie of vs should laye holde on them or build anie thing vpon them As lyke-wyse yee heere alleadge That the Assemblie of Pearth made Kneeling necessarie in all poynts of GODS Worship and consequentlie in receaving the holie Eucharist not remembering that in your seaventh Aunswere yee sayde the Assemblie had concluded the fiue Articles as indifferent 4. Concerning the Service-Booke which now is not vrged wee haue alreadie answered Neyther find wee anie reason of your vncharitable construction of vs or of the disposition of the people as if they were now become Superstitious Nor doeth this tyme giue anie just cause of such feares as are sufficient to overthrowe the reasons of that Act of Pearth Assemblie 5. Wee did not in malice but in loue say that such a defence as yee professe heere according to your Protestation and such meetinges and conventions doe requyre the Kings consent and Authoritie to make them lawfull according to our judgement where-of some reasons wee haue expressed before in our second Replye which as yet yee haue not satisfied 6. It seemeth that yee are eyther not able or not willing to answere particularlie and playnlie to our intergatories proponed in our nynth Replye and wee would vnderstand some reason why yee doe so in such a free and brotherlie conference seeing altho yee doe otherwyse interprete our meaning yet truelie wee did not propone them to bee snares to you but to obtayne satisfaction to our selues and others for a peaceable ende As for your questions which yee throwe agaynst vs with playne profession to worke vs discontentment thereby we shall here make aunswere to them in meeknesse and evident demonstration of our peaceable disposition QVAEST Answered 7. YOur first Quaestion concerning the Service-Booke and booke of Canons is no-wayes pertinentlie proponed to vs. If wee did vrge vpon you the sayde bookes of Service and Canons as yee doe now the Covenant vpon vs wee should particularlie and punctuallie declare our mynde concerning them 8. To your second Question wee answere that it is our duetie to enquyre carefullie what is incumbent vpon vs by the law of GOD and man towards our Prince Wee doe not moue questions of state but doe answere to your propositions resulting vpon matters of state and wee doe labour as it well becommeth all good Subjects to bee well informed before wee put
our hand to anie thing which concerneth our due obedience to our Prince As for that which heere agayne yee alleadge of his Majesties Commissioner and wyse States-men as having receaved satisfaction from you wee referre you as before to our Answere made thereto in our first DVPLYE 9. To your third Question wee answere our assertion concerning the vnlawfulnesse of Subjects their resisting the Authoritie of free Monarchies by force of Armes even altho they were enemies to the Trueth and persecutors of the professors there-of can not in the judgement of anie reasonable man import that we haue the least suspition of our King that eyther hee shall change his Religion or shall fall vpon his religious and loyall Subjects with force of Armes Wee haue often declared in these our Disputes that wee are fullie perswaded of our King's Majesties constancie in profession of the true Religion and equitable disposition in mtnistration of justice And in testification heere-of we rest satisfied with his Majesties Proclamation agaynst which yee haue protested 10. To your fourth Question wee answere because that wee doe esteeme Subscription to your Covenant neyther to bee warrandable by GOD'S word nor to bee a convenient meane for pacification wee holde it our duetie both to with-holde our handes from it and to dehort our people from it 11. To your fift Question wee answere 1. Wee holde it a wrong supposition which yee make that the Prelates and their followers are labouring to introduce Poperie and to make a faction 2. Wee know our gracious King to bee so just and so wyse and so rype in yeares and experience that hee will not suffer anie of his Subjects to abuse his Majesties name in the execution of anie injustice 3. To make resistance by force of Armes agaynst the King's publicke standing Lawes and agaynst his Majesties publicke Proclamations is not in our judgement a convenient or lawfull way for defending of the Religion of the Liberties and Lawes of the Kingdome and of the Kings Authoritie but on the contrarie it bringeth Scandall vpon our profession See our Reasons in our second DVPLYE 12. To your sixt Question wee answere that in all free Monarchies there is nothing left to Subjectes in the case of persecution by their owne Soveraygne Princes but patient suffering with Prayers and Teares to GOD or fleeing from their wrath as wee haue at length proved in our second DVPLYE This doctrine did the people of Alexandria learne of their holie Bishop Athanasius as is evident by their owne wordes in their Protestation subjoyned to the Epistle of Athanasius ad vitam solitariam agentes If say they it bee the commandement of the Emperour that wee bee persecuted wee all are readie to suffer Martyrdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 1. Oper. Athanas pag. 868 Edit Paris 1627. As for the nature of the Government of this Kingdome of SCOTLAND reade the Booke of KING IAMES THE SIXT of Blessed Memorie entituled The true Lawe of free Monarchies and the Praeface of the first Booke of REGIAM MAIESTATEM where it is expresslie sayde of the KING of SCOTLAND that Hee hath no Superiour but the Creator of Heaven and Earth Ruler of all thinges This our Aunswere neyther proceedeth from Flatterie neyther from anie intention to stirre vp Princes agaynst their loyall Subjectes nor from anie ayme at other worldlie endes as yee doe vncharitablie judge but from our due Fidelitie to our KING from our true Loue to our Countrey and from our vpright Desire to the GLORIE of GOD and the Comfort of our owne Soules in the Day of our Accompts THE X. DVPLY ALTHO wee take you to bee of the number of those who penned the Late Covenant yet pardon vs to call your Glosses of it in question so long as yee doe not satisfie our Argumentes which prooue them to bee contrarie to the verie wordes of your Covenant Wee haue showne in our Replyes and nowe agayne in our fourth Duplye that the wordes of the Covenant importe a perpetuall adherence to the whole externall Policie of the Church as it was Anno 1581 and the remooving of Pearth Articles and Episcopacie as of thinges contrarie to the Libertie and Puritie of the Gospell Whence wee still inferre that these who haue sworne the Covenant are tyed by their Oath to vote agaynst Pearth Articles and Episcopacie and consequentlie can not without praejudice eyther dispute or giue out a decisiue sentence concerning them in the intended Assemblie 2. Yee saye Yee will not judge so vncharitable of vs as to thinke vs so corrupt that in our opinion since the tyme designed by vs no-thing hath entered into the Church beside Episcopacie and the Articles of Pearth which can bee praejudiciall to the Libertie and Puritie of the Gospell Wee are glad that altho yee judge vncharitablie of vs yet yee judge not so vncharitablie and altho yee thinke vs corrupt yet yee thinke vs not so corrupt as not to bee sensible of these thinges Wee tolde you our mynde before in our fourth DVPLY concerning these Abuses which yee thinke to haue beene occasioned by Pearth Articles and no we wee tell you that if Pearth Articles and Episcopacie for these their alleadged Consequentes bee alltogether remooved the benefite which yee thinke our Church may receaue by remooving of them shall not in anie measure aequall Her Great Losses THE XI DVPLY WEE complayned in our DEMAND of the vncharitablenesse of your Followers who calumniate vs as if wee were Favourers of Poperie And to showe howe vnjust this Calumnie is wee declared that wee are readie to sweare and subscrybe our Nationall Confession of Fayth ratified and registrated in Parliament to which Declaration wee haue nowe added our Oath which wee did sweare when wee receaved the Degree of Doctorate in Theologie and haue solemnlie agayne renewed it PAG. 15.16 In your Answere to that Demand yee slighted our Complaynt and did not so much as once mention it which made vs in our Replye to complayne also of you who haue showne your selues so vnwilling to giue vs that Testimonie of our Sinceritie in professing the Trueth which all who knowe vs thinke to bee due to vs. Wee exspected that in your second Aunswere to that Demaund this fault should haue beene amended But contrarie to our expectation wee perceaue not onelie that yee are insensible of the grievous injurie done to vs by the calumnious reportes of others but also that yee haue busied your owne wittes to enquyre as yee saye in matters to search and to trye our wayes and to expiscate what yee could agaynst vs by the vnfriendlie testimonie of some who perhaps are displeased with vs as Achab was with Micajah for the freedome of our Admonitions Charitie yee knowe thinketh no evill 1. COR. 13.5 and covereth a multitude of transgressions PROV 10.12 1. PET. 4.8 But vncharitable Inquisition and prying into other mens doinges not onelie discovereth those infirmities vnto which God will haue everie one of vs subject for humbling of vs