Sections and this is the result of all If every Pastor might be a Bishop in his Parish Independent and free from any Superiour to controul him if he may have an arbitrary power if they may be arbitrary in exercise of the power of the Keys without appeal such as he says p. 265. the Jews had where there was a Village of Ten Persons there was a Presbyter that had power of Judging Offenders Then we should be so far says he from using the controversie about the Divine Right of Episcopacy as a distinct Order from Presbyters to any Schisme or injury to the Church as hitherto they have done that we should thankfully contribute our best endeavours to the Concord Peace Safety and Prosperity thereof i. e. they would give the Bishops leave to exercise their Authority in Vtopia having provided that they shall have nothing to do in England But the Magistrates must yield to them also Might we be freed from Swearing Subscribing Declaring and Covenanting unnecessary things which we take not to be true and from some few unnecessary practices which we cannot justify And if they might have power of Ordaining such as they please and of Confirming the Adult not according to the Order of the Church of England for that comes too near to Popery but according to Mr. Baxters or Mr. Hanmers Model that is May the power of altering the Laws in Church and State then and not till then when these necessary terms are granted they will serve the Church so modelled in poverty and raggs But of so great a mercy says he experience hath made our hopes from Men to be very small and the Reason of the thing makes our hopes as small of the happiness of the Church of England till God Unite us on these necessary terms To what great streights do some Men reduce themselves that they cannot live unless they Rob and ruine their neighbours subvert whole Churches and Kingdoms and grasp all Power and Authority over the Bodies and Consciences of their Brethren into their own hands Did ever any Bishop aspire to such Tyranny as this the Pope only excepted is not the King and whole Nation greatly Culpable not to trust themselves with the Ingenuity of this people of whose Loyalty and Charity they have had such experience and is it not pitty that they should be constrained to attempt these things against Law when they so humbly desire to have them established by Law and when the reason of the thing i. e. their resolution to have it so it being their great concern as he calls it makes the hopes of the happiness of the Church of England to be very small which Men so resolved as they are may foretel as Mr. Baxter doth without a Spirit of Prophecy Sect. 2. p. 207. Mr. Baxter proceeds to the second part of Conformity which he calls Re-ordination and says it was either intended as a second Ordination or not If yea it is a thing condemned by the ancient Churches by the Canons called the Apostles c. If not then they take such Mens former Ordination to be Null and consequently all such Churches to be no Churches their Baptizings and Consecration of the Lords Supper c. to be Null Answ Although the Ordination by Presbyters alone especially when it hath been done in opposition to * P. 237. of the five Disputations We Ordain not presente but Spreto Episcopo and Contempt of Bishops hath been ever condemned in the Church and the validity thereof is still questioned yet granting it to be valid a Submission to Episcopal Ordination is no renouncing of that which was performed by Presbyters no more than the submission of the Disciples of John who had been Baptized by him with the Baptism of Repentance to the Baptism of Christ Nor doth the Law any where require them to declare that their former Ordination was Null because then it would have pronounced their Baptizings and other Ministerial Offices to be Null if therefore we did juge as charitably of our Legislators as we ought and Interpret the Laws by the practice we cannot find any such thing as Re-ordination intended For first the word is no where mentioned but the Ordination required is to qualify them for the exercise of their Ministry in the Church of England and to capacitate them for it Thus in the Preface to the Book of Ordination it is said None shall be taken as Ministers of the Church of England but who are so Ordained It denyeth not but they may be Ministers elsewhere and the Act for Vniformity renders them uncapable of any Parsonage Vicaridge c. in the Church of England But the same Act allows of the Ministers Presbyterially Ordained in other Reformed Churches to exercise their Ministry here by His Majesties Authority Yea the same Parliament permits them to meet and exercise many Ministerial duties so that the number above that of their own Families do not exceed Five and Mr. Baxter knows that the most eminent Divines of our Church ever held the Ordination by Presbyters in forraign Churches to be lawful 2. It is Mr. Baxters Opinion that the outward part of Ordination may be repeated Directory l. 3. Q. 21. And that the Ordainer doth but Ministerially invest the person with Power whom the Spirit of God hath qualified for it by the Inward Call now the Inward Call being the Essential part as he accounts and the Ministerial Investiture of the person with power being the outward part P. 311. of the Plea I see no reason why one Ordained by Presbyters may not submit to Episcopal Ordination by his own Argument Yea Mr. Baxter there affirmes That the mutual consent of the people and themselves may suffice to the orderly admittance into the Office especially if the Magistrate consent and the Ordainers should refuse For which see more in his Dispute of Ordination from whence I propose this case suppose a person fitly qualified for Parts and Piety Chosen and Ordained a Minister by an Independent or Anabaptistical people should afterward submit himself to Presbyterial Ordination I doubt not but the Presbyters would think it lawful to Ordain him and I believe they would not admit him into their Churches without such Ordination which may justifie our Superiours in requiring that they who will be admitted Ministers of the Church of England should be Episcopally Ordained For here is nothing repeated but the outward part or Ceremony of Investiture which by Mr. Baxters Confession may be repeated and is no more than the Marriage of such by a Minister who had been Married before by a Justice of Peace Or as he makes another Comparison it is no more than if a person very expert in Physick should practice without a License Upon which he tells you a story of his great success in Physick which he practiced many years gratis and saved the Lives of multitudes p. 78. of the Third part of the way of Concord and yet he there grants that it
Prognostication and some other of Mr. Baxters Books among the Almanacks for 1661. In perpetuam Rei oblivionem A FAREWEL TO Mr. Baxter IN the Preface to your late Book of Concord you desire That if you erre they to whom you write would faithfully detect your errour that you may repent before you die and may leave behind you a Recantation of all your mistakes and miscarriages as you say you intend to do upon Conviction You confess that by our differences Satan hath got great advantage in England against that Christian Love which is the Life and Character of Christs Disciples and to cause Wrath Envy Hatred and Strife that the honour and success of the Ministry is thereby hindered The Wicked and Infidels are hardned the weak scandalized the Papists incouraged to despise us all and many turn to them scandalized by our discord Sects are advantaged the Church and Kingdom by Division weakned and the King denyed the comfort which he might have in a loving united and Concordant people Now I beseech you lay your hand upon your heart and consider whether your actions and writings have not notoriously contributed to these mischiefs You confess that you were one that blew up the Coals of our unhappy Divisions and that if you had been for the King you had incurred the danger of Condemnation you gave several intimations that the King was Popishly affected as Bishop Bramhal affirms you incouraged great numbers to that War many of which perished in it You applauded the grand Regicide as one that prudently piously and faithfully to his immortal honour did exercise the Government you have since the establishment incouraged and defended separation notwithstanding you did sometime seem to oppose it And now at last you proclaim the terms of our Communion to be such as have increased an impossibility of Conforming And why may I not now expostulate with you as you do with those whom you thought guilty of the like evil p. 14. of your answer to Bagshaw Is it possible for any sober Christian in the World to take them to be blameless or those to be little sins what both the violating the person and the Life of so good a King and the change of the fundamental Government or Constitution and the Armies force upon the Parliament which they promised Obedience to the making their General Protector The making an instrument of Government themselves without the people The setting up their second Protectour The setting up the remnant of the Commons again the pulling them presently down again of whom he said that they had sworn and sworn and sworn again to be faithful to and to defend them and that they were the best Governours in all the World and such as 't is forbidden Subjects to oppose upon pain of damnation Was all this lawful and to do all this with dreadful appeals to God and as for God If all this was not Rebellion or Treason or Murder is there any such crime think you possible to be committed are Papists insulting over us in our shame are thousands hardned by these and such like dealings into a scorn of Religion are our Rulers exasperated by all this into the severities which we feel are Ministers silenced by the occasion of it are we made by it the by-word and hissing of the Nations and the shame and pitty of all our friends and yet is all this to be justified or silenced and none of it at all to be openly repented of I openly profess to you that till this be done we are never like to be healed and restored and that it is heinous gross impenitence that keepeth Ministers and people under their distress And I take it for the sad Prognostick of our future Woe and at best our lengthned affliction to read such writings against Repentance and to hear so little open profession of Repentance even for unquestionable heinous crimes for the saving of those that are undone by these scandals and for the Reparation of the honour of Religion which is most notoriously injured to see Men still think that their Repentance is the dishonour of their party and cause whose honour can no other way be repaired to see Men so blind as to think that the silencing of these things will hide them as if they were not known to the world That man or party that will justifie all those heinous crimes and still plead Conscience or Religion for them doth grievous injury to Conscience and Religion I have told you truly that Gods way of vindicating the honour of Religion is for us by open free Confession to take all the shame to our selves that it be not injuriously cast upon Religion And the Devils way of preserving the honour of the godly is by justifying their Sins and pleading Religion for them that so religiousness it self may be taken for Hypocrisie and wickedness as maintaining and befriending wickedness And p. 12. Is Repentance an unbecoming thing I hope the Act of Oblivion was not made to frustrate Gods Act of Oblivion which giveth pardon to the penitent doth it forbid us to repent of sin or to perswade our Brethren to repent where sin is hated Repentance will not be hated and if sin were as bitter as it must be Repentance would not be bitter if I was guilty of such sins as you affirm I do openly confess that if I lay in Sack-cloth and in Tears and did lament my sins before the world and beg pardon both of God and Man and intreat all Men not to impute it to Religion but to me and to take warning by my fall which had done such unspeakable wrong both to Christ and Men I should do no more than the plain light of nature assureth me to be my great and needful duty p. 17. Now all that Bagshaw accused Mr. Baxter of was p. 1. That he was as guilty of stirring up and fomenting that War as any one whatever concerning which if we take his own Confession and consider his circumstances being an Episcopal Ordained Minister whose Office was to Preach Obedience and Peace his applauding the first Boutefeus as glorious Saints in Heaven his vindicating the Authority and War of the Parliament against the King his pertinacious adhering to the Covenant crying down the Royal Martyr as a Papist after he had sealed the sincerity of his heart to the Reformed Religion by his blood and the crying up of his Murtherer for a prudent pious and faithful Governor His principles in his Holy Common-wealth and his present practices in defending Schism and so sowing Sedition and reproaching the established Laws and Government in Church and State if these do not prove him guilty of what Mr. Bagshaw accused him yet I am sure they cry aloud for his Repentance and Retractations which he once promised the world p. 26 27. of his Defence of the Principles of Love but never that I hear of hath been so ingenious to perform as he ought It is an ill diversion for such a
Solemn League and Covenant being read the King Swore that for himself and successors he should consent and agree to all Acts of Parliament injoyning the National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant c. in the Kingdom of Scotland as they are approved by the general Assembly of that Kirk and Parliament of that Kingdom And that he should give his Royal Assent to Acts and Ordinances of Parliament passed or to be passed injoyning the same in his other Dominions And in the Declaration set forth at Edinborough in His Majesties name 1650. But penned as it seems by the Covenanters He declares That if the Houses of Parliament of England sitting in freedom shall think fit to present unto him the propositions of peace agreed upon by both Kingdoms he will not only accord to them and such Alterations there anent as the Houses of Parliament in regard of the Constitution of Affairs and the good of his Majesty and his Kingdoms shall judge necessary but do what is further necessary for the Prosecuting the ends of the Solemn League and Covenant Especially in those things which concern the Reformation of the Church of England in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government And p. 107. He doth also declare his firm resolution to manage the Government of the Kingdom of England by the Advice of his Parliament consisting of an House of Lords and an House of Commons there All which His Majesty hath punctually performed and the Parliaments of both Kingdoms having rescinded the Covenant and condemned it as an unlawful Oath and settled the ancient Government of the Catholick Church I speak with all humble submission His Majesty is not at all obliged by that Covenant thus taken much less to make any alteration in the Government of the Church of England unless he would act not only contrary to the established Laws but contrary to that very Oath and Declaration by which the Non-conformists suppose him to be obliged which oblige him to agree to such alterations as the Houses of Parliament in regard to the Constitution of Affairs and the good of His Majesty and his Kingdoms should judge necessary and to manage the Government of the Kingdom of England by advice of his Two Houses of Parliament And this will answer the first Question in the Negative that neither the King who was injuriously and unlawfully as is acknowledged drawn to declare for it and consequently no other person that took it afterward are bound by it to make any alteration c. If any alteration be found necessary there are lawful means to be used for that end But there is no obligation from this Covenant being so repealed to use even lawful means much less such unlawful ones as the Covenant implies i. e. for Subjects to reform without and against the Magistrate and his Laws By this also a second question is resolved p. 215. which Mr. Baxter calls the main question Whether every Minister must or may become the Judge of all other Mens Consciences and Oligations in three Kingdoms For let it be remembred that the case is only whether they are obliged by the Covenant to endeavour any alteration c. Any lawful endeavours are not denyed but the Covenant being Condemned as an unlawful thing cannot lay an obligation on any to act against the Laws whereby the Church Government is established Against this a third question is urged whether this League and Covenant were a Vow to God and not only a League and Covenant with Men which cessante occasione and by consent of Parliaments doth cease Mr. Baxter affirms that it was a Vow to God and a League and Covenant of Men with one another that they will perform it and instead of Proof he says it is notorious to any Man that readeth it with common understanding Answ 1. The Title of it is a Solemn League and Covenant there is no mention of a Vow to God And in the Preface a mutual League and Covenant 2. And in the Renunciation it is to be declared that there lyes no Obligation from the Oath commonly called the Solemn League and Covenant If any part of it be a Vow to God that is not mentioned to be disclaimed for 3. The particular Case wherein its Obligation is to be disclaimed is to endeavour any alteration c. Now how can it consist with the nature of a Vow to God to make unnecessary alterations against the Laws of the Land Would not this cause the Christian Religion in a short time to be exploded out of all Kingdoms 4. It is notoriously known that the few things that make the Contract as Mr. Douglas calls it or Covenant between the Rebel Scots and English to seem as a Vow to God were used only as a pretence to draw on that part of the Covenant which is acknowledged to be unlawful and which is the greatest part of the Covenant the intent whereof was to strengthen the Rebellion against the King as by the negative Oath and the general actings of both Nations which followed doth evidently appear And what Rebellion or Heresie may not be Covenanted for under pretence of such Vows If therefore there had been any thing of a Vow to God in the Covenant it was a horrid Profanation of Gods name to make it subservient to such unlawful ends And it is rightly observed that it binds to the Extirpation of Bishops out of other Churches as well as out of ours alone 5. The most part of those who took the Covenant when it was first imposed had declared their approbation of the established Government and sworn Obedience to the Bishops so had generally all the Assembly and fixed Ministers and as I presume Mr. Baxter himself and whatever contrary Oaths they took afterward are rightly esteemed to be as Null the pretence of a Vow notwithstanding 6. It is inconsistent with the nature of a Vow to be forced as the Covenant generally was as hath been observed from Mr. Baxter That the Scots taking advantage of the straits to which the King had reduced the English Parliament brought in the Covenant as the condition of their help and that the House of Lords complained of the Parliament as Mr. Baxter calls the House of Commons which tyed them to meddle with nothing but what they offered to them And though the Covenanters pretended for this Vow the Example of Gods people in other Nations and the commendable practice of these Kingdoms in former times yet there never was the like Oath for matter and manner taken by any people fearing God in any Age of the World I conclude with a Concession of Mr. Baxters p. 213. of the Plea It is not in the Subjects power by Vows to withdraw themselves from Obedience to Authority which is proved from Numb 30. And the Reason of it is because Obligatio prior praejudicat posteriori God hath first injoyned Obedience to our Superiours They therefore lawfully requiring our submission to the established Government there can lye
being established it is his will the Truth should be defended by Action in resisting Tyrants and John Goodwin said as bad of the Doctrine of resistance Mr. Robert Blaire told his Auditors Beloved the Lord hath forsaken our King and given him over to be led by the Bishops the blind brood of Anti-Christ who are hot Beagles hunting for the Blood of the Saints Nor can I forget Mr. Douglas's Sermon at the Coronation who turned the Pulpit into a Scaffold and Acted the Martyrdom of the Father in the sight of the Son After these Scottish Pipes did too many English Presbyters dance whose Sermons were Satyrs and invectives against the best of Kings and his most Loyal Subjects Take the active Covenanters from the greatest to the least and as they thought it their duty so they made it their business to do more than dethrone the King I have said enough of Mr. Marshal already let him that would know more read his Sermon on Curse ye Meroz and not his only but the most of those Sermons Preached to the Parliament especially on their Solemn days of Thanksgiving Mr. Case in a Sermon to the Court-Marshal 1644. says God would have no Mercy shewn where the quarrel is against Religion and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ p. 16. These Men that would bring in Idolatry and false Worship to depose Christ from his Throne and set up Anti-Christ in his place such a generation Christ hath doomed to destruction Luke 19.27 As for these mine enemies bring them forth and slay them before me and p. 18. What severity will God expect from you who are called to judge for God between the Sons of Belial bloody Rebels and an whole Christian Church and State now resisting unto blood for Reformation Let me say to you as God said to Moses concerning the Midianites vex those Midianites and smite them for they vex you with their Wiles Numb 25.17 18. Mr. Th. Palmer said that God saw it good to bring Christ into his Kingdom by a Bloody way p. 13. Dr. Downing of Hackney in a Sermon to the Artillery-men It is lawful for defence of Religion and Reformation of the Church to take up Arms against the King And Mr. Calamy seconds him it is commendable to fight for Peace and Reformation against the Kings command Mr. Love who was chosen as the fittest person to assist at the Treaty at Vxbridge doth no doubt speak the Sense of the Juncto he calls Episcopacy and Liturgy two Plague Soares and tells the Commissioners that while their enemies are going on in wicked practises and they keep their principles they may as soon make Fire and Water to agree yea I had almost said quoth he Heaven and Hell And again it is the Sword not disputes that must end this controversie Wherefore turn your Plowshares into Swords and your Pruning-hooks into Spears to fight the Lords Battles to avenge the Blood of the Saints which hath been spilt it must be avenged by us or upon us See p. 7. and 26. of Englands distemper I have sometime feared always prayed that too much pitty and mercy in our State Physicians may not retard the healing of the Land p. 32. There are many malignant humours to be purged out of many of the Nobles and Gentry in this Kingdom before we can be healed It was the Lord that troubled Achan and cut him off because he troubled Israel O that in this our State Physicians would resemble God to cut off those from the Land who have distempered it would you know whom he means he speaks plainly melius pereat unus quam unitas Men that lye under the guilty of much innocent Blood are not fit persons to be at peace with till all the guilt of Blood be expiated and avenged either by the Sword of the Law or by the Law of the Sword else the peace can never be safe or just Are these the principles of Love or can they consist with holiness it will amaze any Christian to consider that though the hand of God might mind him of his sin by the nature of his punishment yet instead of declaring his Repentance a little before his death he professed his hatred to Malignants his opposing the Tyranny of a King saying I did it is true in my place and calling oppose the forces of the late King and were he alive again and should I live longer the cause being as then it was I should oppose him longer In his Speech Sect. 14. Yet how horrid soever this final impenitence appears to be too many that should know and do better things have little sense of it And it is very remarkable that Prideaux the Attorney General repeated most of these passages against Mr. Love at his Trial as Arguments that he ought not to have any mercy shewed him See the Printed Trial. What a sad thing is it saith Mr. Case to see our King in the head of an Army of Babylonians refusing as it were to be called the King of England Scotland and Ireland and choosing rather to be called the King of Babylon on Isa 43.4 p. 18. Those that made their peace with the King at Oxford were the Judas 's of England and it were just with God to give them their portion with Judas saith Mr. Calamy in a Sermon Preached Decemb. 25. 1644. p. 18. Mr. Herle in a Sermon to the Commons Novemb 5.44 Do Justice to the greatest Sauls Sons are not spared no nor may Agag or Benhadad though themselves Kings Zimri and Cosbi the Princes of the people must be pursued into their Tents This is the way to Consecrate your selves to God Strickland at the same time to the same tune You know the Story of Gods message to Ahab for letting Benhadad go upon Composition Brooks to the Commons Decemb. 26. 1648. Set some of those grand Malefactors a mourning that have caused the Kingdom to mourn so many years in Garments Rolled in Blood by the Execution of Justice But though many of those Sons of Thunder had done wickedly there is one exceeds them all as you may read partly in a submissive Petition of Mr. Jenkins and in a Sermon Preached Sept. 24. 1656. Who thus discovers his inward parts to be very wickedness Before the present Parliament Worthy Patriots you that are our Rulers in Parliament it is often said we live in times wherein we may be as good he might more truly have said as bad as we please wherein we enjoy purity and plenty praised for this be that God who hath delivered us from the impositions of Prelatical Innovations Altar-genuflections and cringes with Crosses and all that Popish Trash and Trumpery and truly I speak no more than what I have often thought and said the removal of these insupportable burdens contravailes for the Blood and treasure shed and spent in these late distractions nor did I as yet ever hear of any godly man that desired were it possible to purchase their friends or mony again at so dear
is meet for the safety of Mens Health that none practise Physick but a Licensed Physician And until there be a greater want of Divines or Physicians than now there is it is pitty that such as are not Licensed should be permitted The Third part of Conformity begins p. 208. concerning the Renunciation of the Covenant whereof he treats § 11. and 12. Ministers saith he must onely subscribe that there is no Obligation on me or any other person from the Oath c. to endeavour any change or alteration of Government in the Church to which he adds the Oxford Oath That we will never endeavour any alteration And the Articles for Prelacy the Ordination promise and Oath of Canonical Obedience Against all which he Objects that even those Non-conformists that are for the lawfulness yea the need and desireableness of Bishops and Arch-bishops are unsatisfied in these things That some Hundred of Parishes are without any particular appropriate Bishops and consequently are without the Discipline of such Bishops and so are no Churches but only parts of a Diocesan Church that the Bishops have more work than they can do and the Keys are to be exercised by Lay-men Answ I have already shewed Mr. Baxters judgment of Bishops and Lay-Chancellours and shall only add that the Laws which Impower the Ministry with the Exercise of Discipline are so full and exact that if each Minister did faithfully perform his duty there would be no need to complain for want of work or of authority to do it effectually Every Minister is to admonish his Parishioners not to delay the Baptism of their Children whereby they are entred into a Covenant with God and by their Sureties ingaged to Faith Repentance and new Obedience as soon as they come to years of Discretion they are to be instructed out of the Church Catechism every Sunday which Catechism Mr. Baxter himself commends to be better for its Method than most others Then upon their knowledg of the Principles of Religion and owning their Baptismal Vows whereof the Minister is to take cognizance and certify to the Bishop they are to be Confirmed and none but such are to be admitted Communicants and none but Communicants to be admitted as Godfathers c. The Minister ought both publickly and privately to admonish such as are scandalous and to deny them the Communion until they manifest their Repentance which is a kind of Excommunication He is constantly to Celebrate publick Worship to Preach the Word of God and Administer the Holy Sacraments frequently to visit his Parishioners that he may know the State of his Flock to instruct the Ignorant rebuke the Wicked incourage the Good to visit the Sick absolve the Penitent and to strengthen them by the Word of God and the Comforts of the Holy Sacrament against the fear of death If these things were duly done as they might and ought to be there would be no cause to complain either that the Bishop hath too much or the Pastor too little work the fault is not in the Laws or Constitution of Government but in the want of due Execution To omit the many impertinencies in the 12. § there are Three things only on which he grounds his Plea for the Covenant The First is p. 214. Whether when Charles the II. had though injuriously been drawn to take the Covenant it doth not oblige those that took it afterward and whether the King having taken it no one person be bound by it p. 143. Answ Mr. Baxter leads me by this Question to consider how His Majesty was dealt with by the Scots in this matter how they tortured him with various temptations of hopes and fears and so affronted him with many horrible Reproaches of his own Sins as well as of the Sins of His Father and Grandfather that he often attempted to leave them what Provocations he met with in private may be guessed at by their publick Actions The Thursday before the Coronation was set apart as a Solemn day of Humiliation throughout the Land for the Sins of the Royal Family Robert Douglas in the Coronation Sermon told the King That His Grandfather King James remembred not the kindness of them who had held the Crown upon his Head yea he persecuted faithfull Ministers he never rested till he had undone Presbyterial Government and Kirk Assemblies setting up Bishops and bringing in Ceremonies In a word he laid the foundation whereupon his Son our late King did build much mischief in Religion all the days of his Life 73. P. 52. He tells the King to his Face That a King abusing his Power to the overthrow of Religion Laws and Liberties which are the fundamentals of that Covenant may be controlled and opposed And if he set himself to overthrow all these by Arms they who have power as the Estates of the Land may and ought I suppose by obligation of the Covenant to resist by Arms because he doth by that opposition break the very Bonds and overthrow the Essentials of this Contract and Covenant This may serve says he to justify the proceedings of this Kingdom against the late King who in a Hostile way set himself to overthrow Religion Parliaments Laws and Liberties Thus was the Kings Crown lined with Thorns and he had Gall and Vinegar given him to drink instead of the Royal Unction which that prophane Scot thus derides p. 34. The Bishops behoved to perform this Rite and the King behoved to be Sworn to them But now by the Blessing of God Popery and Prelacy are removed let the anointing of Kings with Oyl go to the door with them and let them never come in again If the King ought by the Laws of the Kingdom to have been Sworn to the Bishops this may make void the Obligation of the Covenant for the Coronation Oath is a right of the Subject and concerns their interest and security and the King as Heir to the Crown is obliged to that Oath and if any subsequent Oath may violate that in one particular it may also in others and then farewel to Magna Charta the priviledges of Parliament and Liberty of the Subject See more in the Review of the grand Case p. 139. 140. P. 92. He tells the King That God in his Righteous judgments suffereth Subjects to conspire and rebel against their Princes because they rebel against the Covenant made with God and adds I may say freely that a chief cause of the Judgment upon the Kings House hath been the Grandfathers breach of Covenant with God and the Fathers following steps in opposing the work of God and his Kirk within these Kingdoms and probably too many do still think they may rebel again in Defence of the Covenant But I argue from the manner of the Kings taking the Covenant as it is related p. 75. c. that the King is not obliged by it to make any alteration in the Government of our Church for thus it is related That the National Covenant and the
no obligation on me or any other person to endeavour alteration of the Government If any fault be found in subordinate Governours we may in our places and callings endeavour a Reformation of them but the Government is a noli me tangere we may not undermine foundations But Mr. Baxter proposeth another question whether the Covenant as a Vow to God bind to things necessary Answ To all necessary things we are pre-ingaged by the Command of God and extraordinary means must not be used when ordinary may serve Mr. Baxter § 43. of his Directory says A Vow is as Null when the matter is morally or civilly out of our power as if a Child or Servant Vow a thing which he cannot do lawfully without the consent of his Parent or Master though the thing in it self be lawful for God having bound me to obey my Superiours in all lawful things I cannot oblige my self by my own Vows § 79. of his Directory Make not a Law and Religion to your selves which God never made by his Authority nor bind your selves for futurity to all that is a duty at present where it is possible the changes of things may change your duty And § 3. p. 19. The true nature and use of Vows is but for a more certain and effectual performance of our duties not to make new Laws and Religions to our selves From which concessions it will follow that the power of Reforming c. being in the King the Vow was Null And it is morally impossible for them to do that in their places and callings which they cannot do without Invading the Place and Office of their Superiours And therefore notwithstanding the pretence of a Vow yea though it were for things lawful which the alteration of the established Government is not we may declare that there lyes no Obligation c. P. 216. § 13. Mr. Baxter insists on the Declaration concerning taking Arms against the King c. Where he says the question is not of the first clause of taking Arms c. For he grants that a Popish King is to be obeyed in lawful things p. 77. but of the 2 d. viz. I abhor that Traiterous position of taking Arms by his Authority against his person or against those that are commissioned by him This as the Law of the Land hath declared to be Traiterous so hath the Law of God 2 Pet. 2.13 requiring submission to the King as Supreme and unto Governours sent or Commissioned by him The ground of this Declaration was for the security of the Kings Person against such as distinguishing between his publick and private capacity under pretence of his Authority detained his Towns and fought those Armies where the King was in person but when they had Conquered him they declared the Supreme Authority to be in themselves But Mr. Baxter pleads that Ministers are mostly ignorant of the Law not knowing what is called a Commission and what Seal makes it such and they dare not think that a Lord Chancellour or Keeper hath Power at his pleasure to depose the King by Sealing Commissions to any to seize on his Forts c. Nor yet to destroy the Kingdoms Cities Laws and Judgments and seize at pleasure on all Mens Estates or Lives This had been good Doctrine if Mr. Baxter had taught it when the Kings broad Seal was broken and by Virtue of a counterfeit one the Lives and Estates of the best Subjects were destroyed the Act of Parliament hath declared the Supreme Authority to be inseparable in the Kings Person so that we cannot doubt of the Legality of Commissions granted by him and his pretended ignorance against the known Laws being that Block on which the best of Kings fell I hope no good English-Man will stumble at it again But Mr. Baxter complains that these words against those that are Commissioned by him are unexpounded and have no limitations or exceptions It is not fit for private men to distinguish where the Law doth not or that an Usurper or Protector pretending Reformation and Liberty and that abused Maxim of Salus populi Suprema Lex should rather be obeyed than such as Act regularly by the Kings Commission and according to the known Laws Wherefore to seek evasions and to suppose extraordinary Cases that may never happen against plain and necessary duties ought not to be a Bar against this Declaration That which followeth § 14. Of deserting their Flocks and keeping Conventicles and § 15. of not residing within Five Miles of Cities and Corporations are not conditions of Conformity but consequences of their Non-conformity And I leave them to be read and considered by others who will perceive how well Mr. Baxter deserves the Character which the Reverend Bishop Sanderson gave of him That he never knew a Man of more pertinacious confidence and less abilities in all his Conversation A double minded Man is unstable in all his Ways An Answer to some passages in the Second Part of the Non-conformists Plea for Peace HAving reflected on as much of the First Part of the Non-conformists Plea as concerned the Ministerial Conformity I thought it not material to answer the many Impertinencies Printed in that Book But finding a Second Part extant published as the Authors say to save their Lives and the Kingdoms Peace from the false and Bloody Plotters who would first perswade the King and People that the Protestants and particularly the Non-conformists are Presbyterians and Fanaticks And next that it was such Presbyterians that killed his Father and next that our Principles are Rebellious and next that we are Plotting Rebellion and his Death c. On which particulars he enlargeth in the Preface where I find him thus to justify his party I desire those that seek our Blood and Ruine by the false accusation of Rebellious Principles to tell me if they can what Body or Party of Men on Earth have more sound and Loyal Principles of Government and Obedience and p. 109. of that Book We are far from designing any abasement of the Clergy nor do we deny or draw others to deny any due reverence or obedience to them I considered that very many of Mr. Baxters Readers are apt to believe him and therefore must needs be greatly incensed against those whom he accuseth to be the Persecutors of such a pious and peaceable party viz. the Bishops whom he calls Thorns and Thistles and the Military Instruments of the Devil p. 122. of the Book of Concord and p. 247. of the first part of the Plea and complains Popish Clergy-Men as if he were in Egyptian Bondage or the Popish Inquisition of tearing Engines Goals Starving and Bloody Persecution Ruine and Death Every good Man is sensible what Indignation such Cruelties practised upon innocent persons may raise in the hearts of our English Nation who are noted for their compassion to their Brethren in misery against the Authors of it and I suspect these suggestions are published to inrage them against their present Governours
in Church and State to prevent the mischievous consequences whereof I have made the ensuing inquiries And First their respect to the Conforming Clergy will appear in the Epistle before the first part of the Plea inscribed to the Conforming Clergy where he thus reproacheth them to their Faces It is now seventeen years since near 2000 Ministers of Christ were by Law forbidden the exercise of their Office unless they did Conform to Subscriptions Covenants Declarations and Practises which we durst not do because we feared God The reason of which Impositions it is God and not we must have an account of from the Convocation c. by which c. I suppose he means the Parliament that made those Laws He tells them of rendring odious them whom they never heard and urging Rulers to execute the Laws against them i. e. to Excommunicate silence confine imprison and undo them He says he is not so uncharitable as to impute all their false reports to Malignity and Diabolism but that it was strangeness i. e. ignorance of their case which wrath and cross interest kept them from hearing He says he had read the Books of Bishop Morley Mr. Stileman Mr. Faukner Mr. Fulwood Mr. Durel Mr. Fowlis Mr. Nanfen Dr. Boreman Parker Tomkins the Friendly Debate Dr. Ashton Mr. Hollingworth Dr. Good Mr. Hinckly the Countermine Mr. Lestrange Mr. Long c. And I think says he Mr. Tombes hath said more like truth for Anabaptistry the late Hungarian for Polygamy Many for drunkeness stealing and lying in cases of necessity than ever he yet read for the lawfulness of all that is there described viz. the terms of conformity He tells them if they will not hear those will whom God will use to the healing of his Churches He means such Reformers as were in 42. and 43. to whom this Patriarch gives the Blessing of Peace-makers and says they shall be called the Children of God as sure as the Incendiaries in the late War viz. Brook Pym c. are by him called glorious Saints in Heaven p. 83. of his Saints rest And thus reminding them of his pastoral Admonition if any of you be an hinderer or slanderer of Gods word c. he hath sufficiently evidenced what reverence he hath for the Conforming Clergy But how he hath discharged that which he professeth to be his duty p. 246. of his Plea part 1. Most of our acquaintance take it for their duty to do their best to keep up the Reputation of the publick conformable Ministry Let the Reader judge by bis deeds rather than his words seeing he continueth Conventicles himself and defends others in the same Practise And for his Admonition to us By their fruits ye shall know them I shall commend to him one Lesson from our Catechism to keep his Tongue from evil speaking lying and slandering The Second thing I observe in his Plea for the innocency of his party is That no Men on Earth have more sound and Loyal Principles of Government and Obedience Answ While they were Governours none exacted Obedience more severely or Ruled more imperiously but take them in the capacity of Subjects and their practices shew what their principles are But let us hear his Plea to the Accusations The first is that they are Presbyterians and Fanaticks 2. That they began the War in 42. and 43. 3. That they destroyed the King 4. That their principles are disloyal 5. That they are Plotting a Rebellion To the first he tells us what a Presbyterian is viz. such as hold Church Government not only without Bishops but also by Presbyteries consisting of two sorts of Elders Preaching and Ruling and over these Classes and over these a National Assembly consisting of the same two sorts That such a Government was intended by the Long Parliament appears by their Ordinances Anno 1643. for imposing the Covenant rooting out Episcopacy bringing all to an Uniformity with the Church of Scotland and January 44. For taking away the Book of Common-Prayer and establishing the Directory And June 5. 46. for setling without farther delay of Presbyterial Government in the Church of England And August 28. for Ordination of Ministers by Classical Presbyteries within their respective bounds which Form of Government to be used in the Church of England and Ireland was agreed by the Lords and Commons in Parliament after advice had with the Assembly of Divines The Assembly drew up an Exhortation for the taking of the Covenant where they declare that the Government by Bishops is evil justly offensive and burdensome to the Kingdom This Assembly was called by the Parliament 12 June 43. consisting of Lords Knights Esquires and some Divines who assented to the Ordinances above mentioned and therefore it will be very hard for Mr. Baxter to perswade us that they were Conformists of which more hereafter I shall account them Presbyterians And if ever a Child was like his Father our present Non-conformist is like the Presbyterian in 43. Sic oculos sic ille manus sic ora gerebat And what if as Mr. Baxter says they do not now exercise their beloved Discipline are those Lions no Lions which the King keeps within the Tower Have they not the same appetite to the Church and Crown Lands the same antipathy to Prelacy the same zeal for the Covenant and Directory Were they not generally Ordained by these Presbyterians non tantum absente sed spreto Episcopo as Mr. Baxter says these then I conclude to be Presbyterians and if Mr. Baxter will add the term Fanaticks I cannot help it they who plead aliquid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some impulses on their spirits moving them from ingulphing with this generation by reason whereof they cannot go back from that more spiritual plain and simple zealous Service of Almighty God in the way they are in and reformation they seek against the established Worship and Discipline See p. 9. of the Answer to Doctor Stilling fleets Sermon I say they who for want of reasons to defend their cause do plead impressions on their spirits do prove themselves to be Fanatick and I have proved them to be Presbyterians The Second Accusation is that we began the War in 41. and 42. To this he pleads 1. The King hath said so much for the Act of Oblivion that it is no sign of Loyalty and Peace to violate it Answ An Act of Pardon implies guilt though it exempt from punishment And Secondly God himself will pardon none but the penitent whatever the King may do 2. You plead that false reporters say that the Papists were the Kings party and the Presbyterians the Parliaments in the beginning of the English War Answ They are false reporters indeed that say the Papists were the Kings Party which were not an hundred part of his party and I wonder not that Mr. Baxter calls it a false report because it shews the Papists to have been more Loyal Subjects than the Presbyterians Yet wanted not a number of Papists
sole Command and disposition thereof is and by the Laws of England ever was the undoubted right of His Majesty and that both or either of the Houses of Parliament cannot nor ought to pretend to the same c. How then did the controversie between the Bishops and Conformists begin the War when the dispute of the Militia did it In truth there were as Wilson in his History of King James confesseth Regians and Republicans and the dispute in several Parliaments was between the Prerogative and Priviledges and as Mr. Baxter says where other Parliaments ended that of 40. began And is it not strange that there should be so few Non-conformists in 41. and 42. and yet in 43. when the Covenant was brought in all the Parliament and Assembly and Officers in any Court in the Army and in the Navy should generally take the Covenant for that was made the Test of all such as should be intrusted and we hear of very few that refused and I think there is no great difference between a Covenanter and a Presbyterian who still cry up the Scottish Discipline as the very Scepter and Kingdom of Jesus Christ to which all Kings and Scepters must bow or break The Third Accusation is the death of the King of which Mr. Baxter says that he proved in times of Usurpation that the Presbyterians detested it and that it was done by a Proud Conquering Army Answ Who rose that Army and carried on that War wherein the King perished it was not the last stroak given by the Independents that felled that Royal Oak there were many repeated blows at the very Root of Majestie given by others which cut all the Ligaments of his Power and Authority in sunder chopt off all the Branches his two great Ministers as Mr. Baxter calls them the whole Order of Bishops His power of the Militia Forts Garrisons and Navy and exposed the declining trunk to the fury of a Rascal party whom themselves had Armed to the Kings ruine I shall freely give you my thoughts of it in an answer to another writing of Mr. Baxters where he seeks more at large to excuse the Presbyterians from this horrid Crime Mr. Baxter says were it not for entring upon an unpleasing and unprofitable task I would ask you who that Juncto of Presbyterians was that dethron'd the King Answ The question I confess is very unpleasing for Infandum renovare jubes Baxtere dolorem Yet because it may be profitable to know the truth I say that the dethroning so good a King was a fact of an unparalled nature to which the Sins of the whole Nation contributed as well as yours and mine and whereof we ought still to repent and beg pardon notwithstanding the Act of Oblivion Yet there was a Select Juncto that had a more immediate influence into it and you ask me who they were though I believe you know them better than my self I will tell you my thoughts freely First they were the Men whom Mr. Baxter Canonizeth for Saints in his Everlasting Rest p. 83. in my Edition viz. Brook and Prin and Hambden and White c. For I suppose you could have named many more of your own Coat as precious Saints as they of whom you say with an Asseveration Surely they are now Members of a more knowing unerring well-ordered right-aiming self-denying unanimous honourable Triumphant Senate than this from whence they were taken or ever Parliament will be But what if they are gone to another place than what your Everlasting Rest intended have you not made a scurvy Reflection on your long beloved Parliament and some Men do fear they were never admitted into Gods everlasting rest because you that fancied them there were ashamed to continue them in yours being left out in your latter Editions Secondly I say it was that Juncto who procured great numbers of factious and tumultuous people in a rude and illegal way to affright the Loyal and most considerable part of the Parliament from their duties and trust reposed in them by God and Man such were the Kings Majesty and the Prince the Loyal Nobles the Bishops and chosen Gentry posting them up as Malignants and exposing them to the fury of the Rabble of which tumults one of your Saints Mr. Pym by name said God forbid that the House of Commons should dishearten their people to obtain their just desires in such a way Exact Collect p. 531. Mr. Baxter p. 474. of the Holy Common-wealth makes this Objection The tumults at Westminster drove him away to which he answereth Only by displeasing him not by indangering or meddling with him and another eminent Man of Mr. Baxters acquaintance in his Jehovah Jireth p. 65. says the Apprentices and Porters were stimulated and stirred up by Gods Providence Thousands of them to Petition the Parliament for speedy redress Whereas the Five Members and their favourers had inraged the multitude not so much to Petition the Parliament as to affront the King Thirdly It was that Juncto who against His Majesties Crown and Dignity against the known Laws and his express Proclamation to the contrary did contrive and impose under heavy penalties the Solemn League and Covenant upon the Nation whereby they did justify the Rebellion and avow the maintenance of it against the King and his Forces And having first vowed with their Lives and Estates to preserve the Rights and Priviledges of Parliament they add and to preserve the Kings Majesties Person and Authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and Liberties of the Kingdom Which experience sheweth they no more intended though it be here put in as it was in Essex's Commission than it was in Fairfax's where as I am informed they left it out and if they meant as they speak they had no great care of his person having actually deprived him of his Authority And besides that limitation they preserve the Kings Person in defence of the true Religion Covenanted to introduce another Religion in Doctrin and Worship in opposition to that which was established by Law and resolutely defended by his Majesty and to root out Episcopacy which as he had sworn to support so had it been a great prop to the Throne and therefore his Majesty declared concerning the 19. Propositions that he could not consent unto them without violating his Conscience and a total extirpation of that Government whose Rights they had a mind to invade and which was necessary to the well being of His Majesty as by many Arguments in the Chapter concerning Church Government it appears This certainly was one of the keenest Instruments that hewed down the Throne For the Speech without Doors defending Mr. Challoners Speech within Doors tells the Parliament that they are bound by their Covenant for bringing evil Instruments to Condigne Punishment to destroy the King and his Posterity and that they cannot justifie the taking away of Strafford's and Canterbury's Lives for Delinquency while they suffered the chief Delinquent to go
unpunished Oxford Reasons p. 22. And the Speeches within Doors spake no less for Sir H. Martyn told them the Kings Office was forfeitable and that the happiness of the Kingdom depended not on him or any of the Royal Branches of that Stock Exact Collect. p. 552. and Sir H. Ludlow that he was not worthy to be King of England That this was the sense which their own Creatures had of the Covenant appears by the Answer of the Army to the Scots Declaration 1648. Who pleading that they had Covenanted for preservation of the King reply in a Paper Printed for Robert White before the Kings death That it was conceived to be absurd and hypocritical to swear the Preservation of the Kings Person as a Man and at the same time to be ingaged in a War against him and he in the Field And Mr. Marshal had said long before That if the King had been so slain it had been none of the Parliaments fault for he might have kept himself farther off if he pleased p. 19. of his Letter The same Man said in his Sermon Jan. 8. 1647. The question is now whether Christ or Anti-Christ shall be King And in a Sermon to the Mayor and Aldermen 1644. These are miserable and accursed men Factors for Hell Satans Boutefeus and as true zealots are set on fire from Heaven so these Mens Fire is kindled from Hell whither also it carrieth them Mr. Arrowsmith in a Sermon 1643. It is not a Kingdom divided against it self but one Kingdom against another the Kingdom of Christ against Anti-Christ So my Countryman John Bond told them they fought against Babylon Dagon and Anti-Christ and exhorted them to pull it down though like Samson they dyed with it In a Sermon 1644. Joseph Boden said they were fighting for the Lamb against the Beast Anno 1644. And Mr. Marshal in his Meroz I pray look on me as one that comes to beat a Drum in your Ears to see who will come out to follow the Lamb. This use the Covenanters made of that limitation defending the Kings Person in the preservation of Religion and you know who says p. 423. of the Holy Common-wealth We are to believe that Men would kill them whom they fight against And doubtless if His Majesty had perished in the War the guilt had lain not only on the Souldiers but chiefly on those that gave them their Commission The Author of Bounds and Bonds spake home at that time If by the Covenant you thought your selves indispensably bound to preserve the Royal Person how comes it to pass that you thought your selves obliged by the same Covenant to wage War against him I have heard of a distinction saith he between his Power and his Person but never between his Person and himself And if the Covenant would have dispensed with any Souldier of England or Scotland to kill his Person by accident of War as his Life was oft in danger before he came to the Scaffold his death had been violent and the Obligation to preserve him had ended and yet according to this argument the Covenant had not been broken why then should those Men think the World so dull as not to understand plainly enough that the Covenant provided for his death more ways than one 4. They that permitted such Pamphlets to be published without controle as declared the King to be a Tyrant Oxford Reasons p. 21. That judged his Actions to be illegal and his Declarations false and scandalous and his suggestions as false as the Father of lies could invent Exact Collect p. 494. That banished the Queen as a Traitor Imprisoned the Bishops in the Tower That held him to such unreasonable Articles and Propositions at Newcastle and Carisbrook as His Majesty declared he could not consent unto without devesting him of his Authority That rejected all his offers for peace And in January 17. 1647. Voted no more Addresses and that they could repose no more trust and confidence in him which was a year before they were secluded the House which by the Army was understood of their intention to proceed in Justice against him They who deprived him of all the Comforts of his Life his Wife and Children his Counsellours and Chaplains as if with an Italian hatred they would have destroyed his Soul as well as his Body These were they that did diminuere Caput Regis as the Civil Law speaks and they who afterward finding him thus bound and fettered defamed and condemned did obtruncare Caput Regis were but the others Executioners What action was more barbarous than that of the Scots selling their Native Prince that cast himself upon them to his declared and avowed Enemies after which he was hurried up and down from one Prison to another and inhumanly treated till he was forcibly taken from them Whoever shall compare the Declaration of the Scots when they Invaded England upon their Covenant with the actings of the High Court of Justice against His Majesty may see what Coppy they wrote after and whose Journy-men they were in bringing him to the Block whom they had pulled out of the Throne They were Roman Souldiers that actually Crucified our Saviour but we know who Sold him and how long the Chief Priests and Elders took Counsel against him Matth. 27.2 And St. Peter tells the Men of Israel Acts 2.23 Him have ye taken and with wicked hands Crucified though the Roman Souldiers did it There is this only difference between the Graves and the Prisons of Kings that in the Prisons they dye daily or are buried alive in the Grave they are at rest from all their fears and sorrows But to this it may be replied that these were not Presbyters properly so called though they were a Juncto of Presbyterians I would therefore have it considered whose Scholars these were who taught and animated them to these practices and upon whose principles they acted I could set down such maximes of the Consistorian Brethren as the Jesuites would blush to own but I shall forbear to foul my Paper with such Collections as I have among my Adversaria The Reader may satisfie himself usque ad nauseam if he observe what is Authentickly mentioned in His Majesties large Declaration in Bishop Bancrofts dangerous positions in Bishop Spotswood and the Writings of the several Presbyteries of Scotland in the result of false Principles the Calvinists Cabinet and which is instar omnium the Holy Common-wealth What fruit could such bitter Roots produce but Wormwood and Hemlock as indeed they did in every Furrow of our Fields It was said of Cato that he did good not that he might appear to be good but because he could not do otherwise and some Men do espouse such principles that if they Act according to them they cannot do any thing but what is notoriously evil What shall we say of Mr. Andrew Ramsey that Preached That it was Gods will that the Primitive Christians should confirm the Truth by suffering but now the Truth