of Parliament and that inviolably by the 42 of Edw. 3. enacting that if any statute be made to the contrary it shall be holden for none and consequently the Act of Parliament so called against that Priviledge of the Bishops was ipso facto null and void by robbing the King of his Negative voice of his power in the Militia by making Ordinances without him yea against him and so practically denying what they verbally swore that he was the only supreme Governour in all Causes and over all Persons By their electing new members warranted only by a counterfeit Seal By their taking upon them to create new Judges Justices and other Officers without the Kings consent For Laws and Liberties says J. Jenkins p. 146. have not the prevailing party in the two Houses destroyed above an hundred Acts of Parliament and in effect Magna Charta and Charta de Forestâ which are the Common Laws of the Land And p. 135. The Writ of Summons to this Parliament is the Basis and Foundation of the Parliament if the Foundation be destroyed the Parliament falls The Assembly of Parliament is for three purposes Rex est habiturus colloquium tractatum cum Praelatis Magnatibus Proceribus super arduis negotiis concernentibus 1. Nos 2. Defensionem Regni nostri 3. Defensionem Ecclesiae Anglicanae The King says the Writ intends to confer and treat with the Prelates Earls Barons about the arduous affairs relating to 1. our Royal self 2. the defence of our Realm 3. the defence of the Church of England This Parliament says the Judge hath overthrown this Foundation in all three parts 1. Nos Our Royal self the King they have chased away and imprisoned at Holmbey they have voted no Prelates and that a number of other Lords about forty in the City must not come to the House and about forty more are out of Town the conference and treaty is made void thereby for the King cannot consult and treat there with men removed from thence 2. The defence of our Realm that is gone they have made it their Kingdom not his for they have usurp'd all his Soveraignty 3. The defence of the Church of England that is gone By the Church of England must be understood necessarily that Church that at the Teste of the Writ was Ecclesia Anglicana they have destroyed that too So now these men would be called a Parliament having quashed and made nothing of the Writ whereby they were summoned and assembled If the Writ be made void the Process must be void also The House must needs fall where the Foundation is overthrown thus he And all this was done before those Members of Parliament that were Presbyterian were many of them imprisoned and others forcibly secluded by the violence of the Army So that 't is very wonderful how this Rector of Bramshot could be either so ignorant or so impudent as to utter such an assertion especially since in his own following words which it seems he fancied to be a proof of its Truth a very considerable Argument is suggested to evince it an egregious Falshood For quoth he They had voted the Kings Concessions a ground sufficient for the Houses to proceed on to settle the Nation and were willing to cast whatsoever they contended for upon a legal security Now in that very Treaty at the Isle of Wight the Presbyterian party wrested such Concessions from the King as did in their own nature subvert the Fundamental Government of this Kingdom as is evident from the speech of Mr. Pryn himself concerning those Concessions 3. Edit p. 38. wherein he confesses that the Kings of England have always held two swords in their hands the sword of Mars in time of War the sword of Justice in time of Peace And p. 37. he tells us that in those Concessions the King had wholly stript himself his Heirs and Successors for ever of all that power and interest which his Predecessors always enjoyed in the Militia Forces Forts Navy Magazines p. 36. not only of England but Ireland Wales Jersey Guernsey and Barwick too so as he and they can neither raise nor arm one man nor introduce any foreign Forces into any of them by vertue of any Commission Deputation or Authority without consent of both Houses of Parliament and that he had vested the sole power and disposition of the Militia Forts and Navy of all these in both Houses in such ample manner that they should never part with it to any King of England unless they pleased themselves A security says Mr. Pryn so grand and firm that none of our Ancestors ever demanded or enjoyed the like nor any other Kingdom whatsoever since the Creation for ought that I can find and such a self-denying condescension in the King to his people in this particular as no Age can Precedent Thus the sword of Mars which themselves confess the former Kings of England always held was insolently wrested out of the late Kings hands and consequently the Fundamental Government of the Nation subverted in this particular Besides some Parliaments says he p. 40. in former times have had the nomination of the Lord Chancellor some of the Lord Treasurer some of the great Justiciary or some few Judges of England only but never any Parliament of England claim'd or enjoy'd the nomination and appointment of any the great Officers Barons Judges or Treasurers places in Ireland nor yet of the Lord Warden of the Cinque-Ports Chancellors of the Exchequer and Dutchy Secretaries of State Master of the Rolls or Barons of the Exchequer of England yet all these the King for peace-sake hath parted with to us And p. 41. we have the disposal he might have added Horresco referens of all these Officers in England and Ireland both Military and Civil of his sword of War and Peace his Justice his Conscience his Purse his Treasury his Papers his publick Records his Cabinet his Great Seal more than ever we at first expected or desired Thus horridly was the sword of Justice also wrested out of his Majesties hands and consequently the Fundamental Government of the Nation subverted in that particular likewise Another Concession was that no Peer who should be after that Treaty made by the King his Heirs and Successors should sit or vote in the Parliament of England without consent of both Houses of Parliament which says Mr. Pryn p. 43. gives such an extraordinary new power to the House of Commons as they never formerly enjoyed nor pretended to By which provision p. 44. the Commons are made not only in some sence the Judges of Peers themselves which they could not try or judge before by the express letter of Magna Charta cap. 29. and the Common Law but even their very Creators too And if the House of Commons might justly be term'd any part of the Fundamental constitution of our Nation what was this but to subvert the Fundamental Government By other Concessions the Houses were enabled p. 45.
THE Presbyterians Unmask'd OR ANIMADVERSIONS UPON A Nonconformist Book CALLED The Interest of ENGLAND IN THE Matter of RELIÌ„GION Nihil â—cci diciâ— 3 Iâ—o Nihil Fateris QVISEQVITUR ME NON AMBULAT IN TENâ—â—RIS Non Quis sed Quid. Not Who but What. LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to his most Sacred Majesty at the Angel in Amen-Corner 1676. THE PREFACE THough perhaps there have been several Junctures since 1661. wherein the publishing of these Animadversions which were then finished would have been judged more seasonable yet I must profess my self in the number of those men who believe nothing of this nature can come out unseasonably till either the Old cause cease to be thought good or else the good old cause cease to be on the Anvile And who can imagine but that it is so still when men still endeavour to support factious Parties in opposition to the Laws of the Land Nay have the impudence to inveigh even against the Laws themselves that were designed to secure the State for the future against the malignant influences and the disturbing pernicious attempts of Presbyterian as well as other Sectarian Spirits witness that late vile Letter from a Person of Quality to his Friend in the Countrey in which the able but more daring Author accuses the Act for regulating Corporations as keeping many of the wealthiest worthiest and soberest men out of the Magistracy of those places The Act which settled the Militia as establishing a standing Army by a Law and swearing us into a Military Government Whereas nothing does more justify the necessity of a standing Army of which such a jealousie is pretended than the cross-grain'd seditious humours of those men who exclaim most against it The Five-mile Oxford Act as imposing a most unlawful and unjustifiable Oath and the Act for Uniformity as that which rendered Bartholomew-day fatal to our Church and Religion in throwing out a very great number of worthy learned pious and Orthodox Divines In which glorious Titles the Presbyterian Divines were without doubt intended to have the greatest share and the Lay-Presbyterians in the forementioned character of the Wealthiest Worthiest and Soberest men 'T is a wonder he did not add and most loyal Subjects but it may be he was not so intimately acquainted with them as this John Corbet was who is so profuse and lavish of his praises as to commend Presbyterians Interest of England p. 66. 2. Edit even on this score too We affirm boldly says he that those for whom we plead viz. Presbyterians must needs be good Subjects to a Christian King and good members of a Christian Commonwealth The Man I confess has an excellent knack at whitening Aethiopians and putting Wolves into sheeps clothing But he must not be angry if we endeavour for our own and other mens security to strip them of that covering lest under the specious disguises of Religion Reformation and Liberty they once more rend and tear us and make us a prey to Atheism Confusion and Tyranny It concerns us to have the Presbyterian vizor taken off and these worthy learned sober serious Gentlemen of the padd exposed in their proper shape and features that so they may be too well known to be suffered to rob us any more of our Laws Government Order Peace and tranquillity And therefore he does a very good office who at any time gives men warning to take heed of these devouring Sepulchres And because this demure Author had taken so much pains to make them appear beautiful outwardly I thought it worth mine to pare away the grass and to set a fresh mark upon them that so honest men might not fall into them unawares nor permit themselves to be again defiled with Presbyterian uncleanness Imprimatur Maii 2. 1676. G. Jane R. P. D. Henr. Episcopo Lond. Ã Sac. Dom. ANIMADVERSIONS on a Book Entitled The Interest of ENGLAND in the matter of RELIGION THE Author having told us Page 16. 26. 2. Edit that among the various disagreeing Parties within this Kingdom two main ones appear above the rest viz. the Episcopal and Presbyterian and that the disunion between these Parties must be removed either by the abolition of one Party or by the coalition of both into one or by a toleration indulg'd to the weaker side he proceeds p. 17. 27. without staying to inform us how disunion of Parties may be said to be remov'd either by the abolition or toleration of one Party to that which he presumes the great case of the time and therefore proposes it as the subject of his discourse viz. in which of these three ways Abolition Coalition or Toleration the true Interest of the King and Kingdom lies And the first thing that he enquires into is Whether in Justice or reason of State the Presbyterian Party should be rejected and depressed or protected and encouraged Which Party he distinguishes from Prelatists by these Characters which p. 20. 30. he calls their main and rooted Principles 1. They admire and magnify the holy Scriptures and take them for the absolute perfect Rule of Faith and life without the supplement of Ecclesiastical Tradition yet they deny not due respect and reverence to venerable Antiquity 2. They assert the study and knowledge of the Scriptures to be the duty and priviledge of all Christians yet they acknowledge the necessity of a standing Gospel-ministery and receive the directive Authority of the Church not with implicit Faith but the Judgment of Discretion 3. They hold the teaching of the Spirit necessary to the saving knowledge of Christ yet they hold not that the spirit brings new Revelations 4. They exalt divine ordinances but debase humane inventions in Gods worship particularly Ceremonies properly religious and of instituted mystical signification yet they allow the natural expressions of reverence and devotion as kneeling and lifting up of the hands and eyes in prayer as also those meer circumstances of decency and order the omission whereof would make the service of God either undecent or less decent 5. They rejoyce in Christ Jesus having no confidence in a legal righteousness but desire to be found in him who is made unto us righteousness by gracious imputation yet withal they affirm constantly that good works of piety towards God and of justice and charity towards men are necessary to salvation 6. Their Doctrine bears full conformity with that of the Reformed Churches held forth in their publick confessions and particularly with that of the Church of England in the 39 Articles only one or two passages peradventure excepted so far as they may import the asserting of Prelacy and humane mystical Ceremonies 7. They insist much on the necessity of Regeneration and therein lay the ground-work for the practice of Godliness 8. They press upon themselves and others the severe exercise not of a Popish outside formal but a spiritual and real mortification and self denial according to the power of Christianity 9. They are strict observers of the Lords
dedit ea quae commoda ipsi visa erant instituendi praescribendi Ex hoc genere regimen Ecclesiasticum Ceremonias dicimus quia non simpliciter in Fundamento aut Verbo Dei ut perpetuò observanda traduntur sed arbitrio Ecclesiae Magistratuum relinquuntur Sic nos de his docemus tenemus persuasi sumus nihil usquam in sacris literis repugnans sed potius his consona reperiri Quòd si objicias multos inter nos socus sentire respondeo Generale hoc esse Ministrorum Ecclesiarum Anglicanarum de his Judicium etiamsi unus fortè aut duo ex centenis aut millenis secus opinentur These things viz. the Hierarchical Government and Discipline are truly said to be of Christ though they are not commanded and prescribed by Christ but the Church forasmuch as Christ hath given the Church Authority to institute and prescribe those things which to her seem expedient of this kind we affirm Ecclesiastical Government and Ceremonies to be because they are not simply and immediately founded on the Word of God or delivered there as immutable Constitutions but are left to the pleasure of the Church and Magistrates This is our Doctrine and opinion touching these things and we are perswaded that nothing can be found in sacred Writ repugnant but several passages agreeable to these sentiments And if it be objected that many among us are of another mind I answer That this is the Judgment of the generality both of the Ministers and Churches in England though perhaps one or two among a hundred or a thousand opine otherwise But now it seems the Presbyterian party is so variable and alterable from these its quondamopinions and principles as to imagine those Rites and Forms which the Church hath prescribed unlawful and that the Hierarchical Form of Church-Government ought to be extirpated And if they are now changed in their science and practice though to the worse from what they were heretofore why may we not hope that if not meerly length of time yet some afflicting contingencies may make them change hereafter for the better from what they are now I doubt I should rather enquire whether there be any thing besides this Authors bare word to secure us that they will not still grow worse and worse deceiving and being deceived Certain I am the more unalterable they are in these their Fancies the more mischief they are like to do in that State that encourages them But what kind of Argument is this The Presbyterians will not vary from themselves therefore they ought in justice and reason of State to be protected and encouraged by his Majesty Is not this as good The Jesuits will not vary from themselves those Principles of Science and practice which they own and are actuated by are of that firm and fixt nature that new contingencies will not alter them nor length of time wear them out Ergo Jesuits ought not in justice or reason of State to be rejected and depressed but protected and encouraged by our King and Kingdome One may suspect by this manner of arguing in the behalf of the Presbyterian party that the Author of it was either a Jesuit since his reasoning is so favourable to that society or an half-witted Presbyterian so dull as not to discern that several of his arguments conclude as forcibly for the encouragement of Jesuits among us as Presbyterians But in this P. 29. 39. 't is suggested that the Presbyterians are a numerous Party and that the imposing of such matters of Controversie as by so many are held unlawful cannot procure the peace of the Kingdom I might here ask whether the Anabaptists or Quakers are not altogether as numerous as that Presbyterian party which holds our Church-Ceremonies unlawful Nay are not the Independents themselves as numerous for I confess I am in good hopes that there are comparatively but very few Presbyterians given up to such blindness of mind such strong delusions as to believe our Ceremonies unlawful But my answer is this If that Party be indeed so numerous that the endeavouring to reject and depress them will probably prove pernicious to the King and Kingdom perhaps State-policy will dictate that it should not be endeavoured But I affirm withal that though they were twice as numerous yet unless their Practice contradict their Doctrine there is no such danger will accrue to the King or Kingdom by their rejection For if this Author does not grosly abuse and impose upon his Readers p. 54 55. The Presbyterians are such learned knowing creatures as to teach faith and holiness as also obedience active in all lawful things and passive in things unlawful injoyn'd by the higher power Now they that are resolv'd to be passively obedient will not be instruments of mischief in a Kingdome though they are never so numerous they will live peaceably neither railing with the Tongue nor smiting with the First of wickedness and therefore if the Presbyterians are indeed such good men and such good Christians in this particular they may notwithstanding their number be rejected and depressed in State-Policy because of their other perswasions repugnant to the publick profession of the Nation since their suppression will not prejudice the peace of the Church or Kingdome In p. 30. 40. after some non sensicalcontradictious canting in praise of Presbyterians for how can the inward spirit of Presbytery be said to actuate their whole body to knit them each to other and to remain in full strength and vigour if some principal members of that body fall off and turn praevaricators Our Author enquires what those great things are for which this sort of men contend Surely says he p. 31. 41. they are no other than the lively opening of the pure Doctrine of the Gospel the upholding of all Divine Institutions particularly the strict observation of the Lord's day a laborious and efficacious ministry taking hold of the conscience and reaching to the heart a Godly Discipline correcting true and real Scandals and disobedience in a word all the necessary and effectual means of unfeigned Faith and holy life that the Kingdome of God may come in power And for these things sake they are alienated from the height of Prelacy and the Pomp of Ceremonious worship Say you so It seems these godly Disciplinarians do not look upon disobedience to the Laws establishing Prelacy and Ceremonious worship as true and real disobedience nor the scandal arising from that disobedience as true and real Scandal or else they implicitely confess that the Presbyterians thus scandalously disobedient were not chastis'd by the Bishops so severely as they deserv'd It seems they fancy that Prelatists are enemies to the lively opening of the pure Doctrine of the Gospel to some divine Institutions to a laborious and efficacious ministery to Scripture-Discipline to some necessary and effectual means of unfeigned Faith and holy life whereas the only proof he offers of this Prelatical guilt is
guilt of bloud be expiated and avenged either by the sword of the Law or by the Law of the sword Mr. Love says that Author will not say that the King was not guilty of much innocent bloud left he should contradict himself neither will he say that bloud-guiltiness can be expiated but by bloud lest he should contradict the Scriptures neither can he say but the King was cut off either by the sword of the Law or by the Law of the sword Whence I conclude that according to those Principles of Mr. Love the King 's being put to death in that way of Tryal was neither contrary to the word of God nor the Principles of the Protestant Religion c. but a work fit and expedient to be done and 't will be well for English Presbyterians if when the secrets of all hearts shall be laid open it be not revealed to the world that the main reason why they deprecated the putting the King to death in that way of Tryal was because he was not tryed and condemned by Presbyterians nor for their advantage but by those men who hated Presbytery and would not suffer it to domineer any longer For these very men could notwithstanding both the word of God and the principles of the English Protestant Religion notwithstanding the protestation and Solemn League and Covenant yea notwithstanding the Fundamental Constitution of this Kingdom and the Oath of Allegiance I say maugre all these obligations to the contrary if at least one of them be such an obligation these very men could join with the Presbyterian Lords and Commons in making War against the King and send an Army to shed his bloud in the high places of the Field and therefore if Presbyterians be Protestants and their Religion the Protestant Religion 't was not their Loyalty but the divine goodness and providence wonderfully interposing for the Kings safety that in so many battels kept the Protestant Religion from being stained with the bloud of a King especially as to Edge-Hill-fight if that be true which is affirmed in Fabian Philips his Veritas inconcussa p. 79. that Blague a villain in the Kings Army had a great pension allowed him that he might give notice in what part of the Field the King stood that they might the better know how to shoot at him who accordingly gave notice of it and if God had not had a greater care of his Anointed than of their Rebellious pretences that Bullet from the Earl of Essex his Canon which graz'd at the King's Heels as he was Kneeling at his prayers on the side of a bank had taken away his life and the Presbyterian Religion such as it is had been stained with the bloud of a King And though the Presbyterians as the Apology for Bishops sitting and voting in Parliament tells us p. 69. would excuse themselves that they never intended the Kings destruction yet that is a frivolous and foolish excuse For as Sir Walter Rawleigh says truly Our Law doth construe all levying War without the Kings Commission and all force raised to be intended for the death and destruction of the King not attending the sequel and so 't is judged upon good reason for every unlawful and ill action is supposed to be accompanied with an ill intent The Lord Cook as the Apologizer goes on p. 70. speaking fully of all kinds and degrees of Treason 3 Institut p. 12. saith Preparation by some overt act to depose the King or take the King by force and strong hand and to imprison him until he hath yielded to certain demands is a sufficient overt Act to prove the compassing and imagination of the death of the King For this upon the matter is to make the King a Subject and to despoil him of his Kingly office of Royal Government and so it was resolved by all the Judges of England Hill 1 Jac. Regis in the case of the Lord Cobham Lord Grey and Watson and Clark Seminary Priests and so it had been resolved by the Justices Hill 43 Eliz. in the case of the Earls of Essex and Southampton who intended to go to the Court where the Queen was and to have taken her into their power and to have removed divers of her Council and for that end did assemble a multitude of people which being raised to the end aforesaid was a sufficient overt Act for compassing the death of the Queen The Presbyterians says he did offend in this kind notoriously and therefore committed Treason manifestly for they imprisoned the King in divers places and at length in a remote place in the Isle of Wight and all this done by them who were for the most part Presbyterians out of their design to compel the King to yield to their projects to overthrow the Bishops and to take their Lands and their revenues From this we may judge how agreeable Presbyterian actions were to the Constitution and Law of this Kingdom and how manifest it is that they must in Law be reckoned King-killers as well as the Army and if the Law of the Nation damn them to such a guilt and punishment on earth there is no Gospel that I know of will save them from Hell without a repentance proportionable to their Crimes which for ought I see they are hitherto so far from thinking a duty that they rather go about to justifie their former actings by returning again as far as they dare to the same follies that ushered in their former war and at first embrued the Nation in bloud Nor do I believe that they who took away the Kings life in that way of Trial acted upon any more treasonable and rebellious Principles than are owned and taught by some Presbyterian writers of the first magnitude both French Scotch and English The truth whereof I doubt will be very evident to him that can get and will peruse these Presbyterian Scripts Buchanan's de jure regni apud Scotos Knox's Appellation Vindiciae contra Tyrannos by Junius Brutus supposed to be either Beza or Hottoman David Paraeus his Commentary on Rom. 13. burnt at London and Oxford in King James his reign for its seditious Maxims Goodman an intimate Friend as 't is said of John Knox's his book of the same nature and tendency Rutherford's Lex Rex I find in Bishop Bancroft's Dangerous Positions B. 1. Ch. 2. speaking of Calvin's reforming at Geneva these words Since which time as I suppose it hath been a principle with some of the chief Ministers of Geneva but contrary to the Judgment of all other reformed Churches for ought I know which have not addicted themselves to follow Geneva that if Kings and Princes refuse to reform Religion the inferiour Magistrates or people by direction of the Ministry might lawfully and ought if need required even by force and Arms to reform it themselves And Ch. 4. This Position is quoted out of Knox that the punishment of such crimes as touch the Majesty of God doth not appertain to Kings and
chief Rulers only but also to the whole body of the people and to every member of the same as occasion vocation and ability shall serve to revenge the injury done against God That the people are bound by Oath to God to revenge to the utmost of their power the injury done against his Majesty That if Princes be Tyrants against God and his Truth their Subjects are freed from their Oath of obedience And out of Bucanan these That the people may arraign the Prince bestow the Crown at their pleasure that the Ministery may excommunicate him that an excommunicate person is not worthy to enjoy any life on earth that it were good that rewards were appointed by the people for such as should kill Tyrants And Ch. 5. To this objection God places Tyrants sometimes for the punishment of his people this answer given by the Reverend Bucanan so doth he private men sometimes to Kill them And this new Divinity says the Bishop of dealing thus with Kings and Princes is not held only by Knox and Bucanan but generally for ought I can learn by most of the Consistorians of chief name beyond the Seas who being of the Geneva humour do endeavour by most unjust and disloyal means to subject to their forged Presbyteries the Scepters and Swords of Kings and Princes as Calvin Beza Hottoman Ursin as he cometh out from Newstadt vindiciae contra Tyrannos Eusebius Philadelphus c. These also B. 2. Ch. 1. I find out of Goodman Evil Princes ought by the Law of God to be deposed and inferiour Magistrates ought chiefly to do it It is lawful to kill wicked Kings and Tyrants when Magistrates cease to do their duties in thus deposing or killing Princes the people are as it were without officers and then God gives the sword into their hands and he himself is become immediately their Head for to the multitude a portion of the Sword of Justice is committed And out of him and a Book of Obedience these If neither the inferiour Magistrates nor the greatest part of the people will do their Offices in punishing deposing or killing of Princes then the Minister must excommunicate such a King any Minister may do it against the greatest Prince God will send to the rest of the people who are willing to do their duty but not able some Moses or Othoniel by the word of God a private man having some special inward motion may kill a Tyrant Or otherwise a private man may do so if he be commanded or permitted by the Commonwealth Now if some inferiour Magistrate a handful of the people yea one man may kill a Tyrant an evil Prince one that refuses to reform Religion this implyes that the same person or persons may be a Judge or Judges whether such or such a King be a Tyrant an evil Prince a refuser to reform and consequently one that deserves death or no. Upon such wicked principles as these dictated and taught by Presbyterian Oracles in conjunction with this minor that the late King was a person so criminal as to deserve death which they that ordered his Trial took upon them to be Judges of as they might well by these now mentioned principles horrid Regicide was pathetically recommended to his Auditors at Vxbridge-Treaty by Mr. Christopher Love a Presbyterian Minister of London and long after that perpetrated by Order of a part of the people some Commons and the High Court of Justice who adjudged the King to be thus criminous and apologiz'd for by John Price Citizen of London in his Clerico-Classicum as an Act agreeable enough to the declared judgment of many protestant he means Presbyterian Divines in testimony whereof he quotes several passages out of Presbyterian Authors p. 32. to 35. which pamphlet if the Title-page deceive us not may serve as a brief answer to that Vindication of the London Ministers here spoken of And indeed 't is a discourse so abounding with strong and rational Arguments ad homines that I doubt 't is beyond the skill of a Presbyterian to give a solid and satisfactory reply to it From all which it follows that either the presbyterian Ministers of London must damn the now mentioned Principles and Tenents of those their presbyterian Ancestors and their own opinions also at the Vxbridge-Treaty if they were the same with Mr. Love's one of their Tribe or else they must justifie this inference That the taking away the life of the King in that then present way of Trial was rather a duty than a crime Which though it be a wretched and Traiterous conclusion yet is very regularly deducible from those principles And I appeal to any intelligent and ingenuous persons and desire them to tell me whether the murderers of the late King did infer that bloudy Corollary from any more treasonable and rebellious Theorems and Consectaries than these which I have now produced and whether Independents did not in justifying that horrid Fact write exactly after those Copies which Presbyterians both ancient and modern had set them And hence I think I may reasonably affirm that those principles of the Protestant Religion which are contrary to King-killing are no otherwise owned by such Presbyterians as I have now spoken of than as most Presbyterians say that Papists own some Articles of our Faith viz. damnably because they hold together with them other principles which consequentially overthrow those Articles And therefore 't was but a vanity in the London Ministers to vindicate themselves by speaking of those principles as opposite to that way of Trial a greater folly was it to produce the solemn League and Covenant which in the third Article talks so loosely and crudely of defending the Kings person and Authority that Presbyterians might without offering any violence to the words plunder him of all his Authority and both they and the Independents take away his life notwithstanding that Article whensoever they should think fit to determine that the true Religion and Libertie of the Kingdoms could not be defended and preserved unless the Kings person and Authority were destroyed But in the fourth Article there 's as clear and smooth a way opened to the commission of that heinous sin as the most forward Actors in it needed to desire for there the Covenanters are bound with all faithfulness to endeavour the discovery of all such as have been or shall be Incendiaries Malignants evil Instruments that they may be brought to publick Trial and receive condign punishment not only as the degree of their offences required or deserved but also as the Supreme Judicatories whether de facto or de jure we are not certified of both Kingdoms respectively or others having power from them for that effect should judge convenient So that since the men who ordered the Trial of the King were at that time de facto the supreme Judicatory of England and since they look'd upon him as an Incendiary and evil Instrument and therefore to be brought to publick Trial and the
men impowred by them judged it to be at least convenient to take away his life in that way of Trial their murdering of Him in that way was not contrary but agreeable enough to the Solemn League and Covenant Yea to imagine that by that League Scotland was bound to rescue the Kings person from the Parliament of England because of their Voting that no farther application or Addresses should be made to his Majesty under pain of High Treason is called a slandering of the Covenant in that humble Edenburgh-Remonstrance p. 45. Nor is either the Protestation of May 5. 1641. or the Oath of Allegiance or the word of God more wisely or pertinently urged by those London Ministers against those murderers since all those obligations do as much forbid and condemn fighting against the King and dishonouring and dethroning him which Presbyterians were abundantly guilty of as they do putting him to death which the Independents did 't is true but after the Presbyterians had first stript him of his honour and Royal State and so politically killed him All which considered 't is very admirable to me that those Presbyterian Ministers of London especially Mr. Love could so confidently talk thus in vindication of their own Innocency and in opposition to those Independent malefactors as also with what face they could as our Author tells us they did p. 52-62 warn and exhort men to pray for the King that God would restrain the violence of men that they might not dare to draw upon themselves and the Kingdom the bloud of their Soveraign To use his own words Let prudent men weigh things in the balance of reason and tell us whether it were not a piece of practical Non-sence and contradictious hypocrisie for those Priests who had imployed themselves so many years together in cursing those that fought not against the King and blessing those that did to warn and exhort men at last to pray that God would restrain the violence of men and not suffer them to draw upon themselves and the Kingdom the bloud of their Soveraign If they had exhorted men to put up such a petition in the time of the Wars would they not thereby have exposed themselves to the scorn and derision of their Auditors Yea would not their own Lords and Commons have treated them as Incendiaries Malignants evil Instruments or were they so sottish as to imagine that there 's so great difference between a Camp and a Scaffold between an Army of Rebels and a single Executioner that 't was a duty to pray to God to protect the King from the danger of the one but no duty to pray for his safeguard from the assaults of the other Or did they indeed believe if the King had been mortally wounded in the Field at Edge-hill Newbery or Naseby by one or more of the Presbyterian Souldiers that this had not been violence or that the Presbyterian Lords and Commons had not thereby drawn upon themselves and the Kingdom the bloud of their Soveraign I seriously profess that the more narrowly I search into these things the more reason I have to fear what indeed this very Vindication suggests that had the Kings life been taken away either by Presbyterian Armies in the Field the law of the Sword or by order of Presbyterian Judges on a Scaffold the Sword of their Law for the advancement of the Presbyterian Interest they would easily have believed such a manner of death or way of Trial agreeable enough to and consistent with all the obligations here spoken of even the Covenant it self as to which says Price in his Clerico-Classicum p. 27 28. We were bound to preserve and defend the Kings person when we first took this Covenant and at that time you Presbyterian Ministers of London know very well you stirred up the people to fight against his Army though his person was the leader thereof which presumes either 1. That you perswaded the people against the dictates of your own Consciences or 2. That you conceived that though his Person should be smitten into the chambers of Death by those that aid fight against his Army yet they did not break the Covenant If so then there is a case wherein the King's Person may be cut off without breach of Covenant Thus he and appositely enough and therefore I say again Let prudent men weigh things in the balance of Reason Our Author goes on and asks Is there any thing in the nature of Prelacy that frames the mind to obedience and loyalty or is there any thing in the nature of Presbytery that enclines to rebellion and disobedience A. If he means by the nature of Prelacy the principles of Prelatical Protestants and by the nature of Presbytery the principles of Presbyterians I maintain the affirmative in both Questions and suppose I have already abundantly evinc'd it as to Presbyterians both Scotch and English and as for Prelatical Protestants if this Author or any body else can produce any such enormous and seditious principles out of their Writings as I have here quoted out of Presbyterian Authors let those writings by my consent and together with them Mr. Pryn's Soveraign Power of Parliaments by which word Parliaments he means the two Houses without and against the King undergo the same Fate with David Pareus his Commentary and the Presbyterian League and Covenant and if any of their practises have been suitable let those mens persons also have the odious character of Rebellion and Disobedience affixt unto them But that any such Prelatical Protestant can be produced is more than I know or have any reason to believe Certain I am that English protestant Prelatists profess their assent to and practically own those principles mentioned p. 24 25. Which Principles do in their own nature and where they are cordially enbraced frame the minds of English Subjects to obedience and loyalty and therefore let this Author prove if he can that since a Protestant Prelacy was erected among us our Kings have had any such tedious conflicts with Prelates as he says they had in ancient times and for a series of many Ages As for the Popes Prelates they are so near of kin to Presbyterians that 't is no great wonder if they create trouble to Princes If says he Presbytery and Rebellion be connatural how comes it to pass that those States or Kingdoms where it hath been establisht or tolerated have for any time been free from broils and commotions One would think there were a sufficient answer comprehended in the words of the Question For those Presbyterians are rebellious with a witness that will embroil even those States and Kingdoms where their Form of Worship and Polity is either establisht or tolerated and yet the French Protestants are abused by a late Reflecter on the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance if notwithstanding this they are not too prone to Rebellion and that on account of their Principles What an exception says he p. 42. of his Reflexions terrible to
Princes the French Calvinistical Church hath made in their Confession of Faith speaking of obedience due to the Supreme Magistrate appears at least every Sunday in all their hands in Print where they acknowledge such Obedience due to them except the Law of God and Religion be interessed on condition that Gods Soveraignty remain undiminish'd which clause says he what it means their so many and so long continued Rebellions do expound What turbulent things Scotch and English presbyterians have been those very practises of theirs which these sheets have mentioned to which many more might be added are a competent Testimony But this Quaere shall not scape so let 's view it again If Presbytery and Rebellion be connatural how comes it to pass that those States or Kingdoms where it hath been establisht or tolerated have for any time been free from broils and commotions A. 1. It may be 't was because though their minds were always enclined by their principles to rebellion yet they had not power and opportunity to act suitably to those inclinations with hopes of success 'T were a sad thing indeed if Rebels should be able at all times to put their traiterous Designs in execution 2. It suffices in reference to the grand Question now disputed if Presbyterian spirits are prone to Rebellion in case their way of Worship be not either est ablisht or tolerated For they deserve not to be so much as tolerated in any Kingdom that will when they have power rebel against Kings if they be not tolerated 3. If this Quaere implies any good proof that Presbytery and Rebellion is not connatural by which he means I suppose not usually conjoyn'd it does as strongly imply that Jesuitism and Rebellion are not connatural since those States and Kingdoms where Jesuits have been tolerated have for some time been free from broils and commotions It follows Or how comes it to pass that Presbyterians have never disclaimed or abandoned their lawful Prince As if to let pass other Instances English Presbyterians did not disclaim and abandon the late King when they denied him to be in a condition to Govern H. of Comm. Decl. 28. Nov. 1646. when they denied him the exercise of that power in the Militia which themselves acknowledged did belong unto him Veritas inconcussa p. 147. 168. When they affirmed that the Soveraign power resided in both Houses of Parliament that the King had no Negative voice that whatsoever the two Houses should Vote was not by Law to be questioned either by the King or Subjects that it belonged to them only to judge of the Law Declar. of May 26. 1642. as if likewise they did not make others to disclaim and abandon him by making them swear that they would neither directly nor indirectly adhere unto or willingly assist the King in his War and Cause But he proceeds How comes it to pass that they have never ceased to solicit and supplicate his regards and favour even when their power hath been at the highest and his sunk lowest Whereas I read in Philips his Veritas inconcussa his Book that proves K. Charles 1. no man of bloud these words p. 124. Indstead of offering any thing which was like to bring peace they the Presbyterian Lords and Commons caused men and women in the first year of their war to be killed because they did but petition them to accept of a peace And in the third and fourth year of their war plundered and robbed them that petitioned them but to hearken to it And put out of Office and made all as Delinquents in the seventh year of their war that did but petition them for a Treaty with the King and refused all the Kings many very many messages for peace not only when he was at the highest of his success in the war but when he was at the lowest and a prisoner to them and conjured them as they would answer it at the dreadful day of judgment to pity the bleeding condition of his Kingdomes and People and send propositions of peace unto him and years and half-years and more than a whole year together after the battel at Naseby insomuch as their fellow-Rebels the Scotch Commissioners did heavily complain of it were at several times trifled away and spent before any propositions could be made ready Was this perpetually to supplicate their lawful Princes regards and favour And p. 126. We are told they were so unwilling to have any peace at all as that 6 or 7 Messengers or Trumpeters could come from the King before they could be at leisure or so mannerly as to answer one of them but this or that message from the King was received and read and laid by till a week or when they would after And p. 128 129. When they did treat they desired the granting of such propositions as were purposely contrived and stood upon to hinder a peace and were not to be asked or granted by any that could but entitle themselves to the least part of reason or humanity c. And p. 68. The King complains that although he had used all ways and means to prevent the distractions and dangers of the Kingdom all his labours had been fruitless that not so much as a Treaty earnestly desired by him could be obtained though he disclaimed all his Proclamations and Declarations and the Erecting of his Standard as against his Parliament unless he should denude himself of all force to defend him from a visible strength marching against him And when the business of the Treaty 1647 as I suppose came into discourse the Assembly of Divines quickly resolved all of them but four to be against it See considerations touching the present Factions in the King's Dominions p. 6. And yet this Brazen-face would perswade us that Presbyterians never ceased to solicit and supplicate the Kings regards and favour It seems their voting 1647 that they would receive no more messages from the King and that no man should presume to bring any from him and that they would make no farther applications and addresses to him was so far from being a disclaiming and abandoning him that 't was not so much as a ceasing to supplicate his regards and favour statuimus i. e. abrogamus what shall be done unto thee O thou false Tongue and ridiculous Flatterer The other part of his Quaere is How comes it to pass that the Presbyterians suffered themselves rather to be trodden under foot than to comply with men of violence in changing the Government A. 1. 'T was because they were unable to make their parts good against those men of violence here intended Independents had cheated them out of that power which before they had 2. Themselves were the men of violence that did first of all really change the Government by acting without and fighting against the Kings Person and Authority Independents took away the name King but Presbyterians had long before destroyed the thing 3. 'T were no great wonder if Presbyterians suffered
Practice But the latter clause that they teach obedience active in all lawful things and passive in things unlawful enjoyned by the higher power may justly make an impartial Reader that reflects upon their actions for several years together to wonder what this man means by the higher power by things unlawful by obedience active and passive If in the days of the Long Parliament Presbyterian Doctrines and practices in this point were suitable and correspondent the words must be thus paraphrasad Presbyterians taught obedience active in things unlawful enjoyned by the two Houses whom Mr. Herle's as 't is reported seditious invention made only co-ordinate with the King and disobedience active even to bloudy Rebellion in things lawful enjoyned by the King whom by Oath they acknowledged to be the only Supreme Governour of this Kingdom I have read in Philips his Veritas inconcussa p. 23. that in 1642 Presbyterian Pulpits flamed with seditious invectives against the King and incitements to Rebellion and that the people running headlong into it had all manner of countenance and encouragement but those Ministers that preacht obedience and sought to prevent Rebellion were sure to be imprisoned and put out of their places for it Was this for Presbyterians to preach either Faith or Holiness or Obedience active to the King or were those men so good Subjects so good Christians as either actively or passively to obey his Majesty or preach such obedience when they took themselves and exhorted others to take that Solemn League and Covenant which the King in his Proclamation against it calls a Traiterous and Seditious combination against himself and the establisht Religion and Laws of the Kingdom We do therefore says his Majesty strictly charge and command all our loving Subjects of what degree or quality soever upon their Allegiance that they presume not to take the said seditious and traiterous Covenant And we do likewise hereby forbid and inhibit all our Subjects to impose administer or tender the said Covenant as they and every of them will answer the contrary at their utmost and extremest peril What therefore was the taking of this Covenant and tendering of it to others was it obedience either active or passive to the King No but on the contrary 't was active disobedience to his Majesties command and the taking up Arms against the King in prosecution of this Covenant thus taken and cursing those that did not was Treason and Rebellion by the Lawes of the Land and damnable resistance by the Law of Christ And these and other Presbyterian practices were such a palpable contradiction to the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance that in some late reflexions on those Oaths 't is admired with what face presbyterians can now either take or urge them It 's a wonderful mystery p. 41. how it should come to pass that our English Presbyterians c. should especially now of late with so much willingness and greediness themselves swallow these Oaths and so clamorously urge them on others Is it because the Oath of Supremacy has so peculiar a conformity to their principles and that of Allegiance to their practices or that they are so ready and pressing to disclaim and condemn all that themselves have done these last twenty years And a little after Who ever heard or knew to flow from the Tongue or drop from the Pen of a Presbyterian so Christian a Position as is sincerely avouched both by English Protestants and the general body of Roman Catholicks viz. that even in case a Christian or Heathen Prince should make use of his Civil Power to persecute Truth that power ought not upon any pretences to be actively resisted by violence or force of Arms but though they cannot approve they must at least patiently suffer the effects of his mis-used Authority leaving the judgment to God only If this Rector can answer this Question in the affirmative and then prove it true of any one Covenanting Presbyterian Scotch or English within the compass of this last twenty years let him I shall be glad to see it Whether he can do so much or no I doubt as I do likewise whether that Reflecter can prove that that Position as he has worded it is owned by the general body of Roman Catholicks but that he cannot do it of Presbyterians generally or any considerable number of them I am pretty well assured if he can 't will follow that the generality of Presbyterians or a considerable number of them most wretchedly detained that Truth in unrighteousness and for several years together acted most horrid things contrary to their Light Knowledge and Conscience But 't is observable that this crafty Impostor instead of proving that Presbyterians teach obedience active in things lawful and passive in things unlawful enjoyned by the King's Majesty affirms only that they teach such obedience in things enjoyned by the Higher power not telling us whether they mean the higher power de jure or de facto only nor whether their Doctrine will not comprehend the higher power de facto though themselves acknowledge it no power de jure if so be that power will in the main comply with the advancement of the Presbyterian Interest What the presbyterians meant by the higher power in the late divisions was too evident by their practises viz. that parcel minor part of the Long Parliament which favoured Presbytery which opposed the King and made War against him which elected a multitude of new Members by vertue of a counterfeit treasonable Seal Prove that the King was the Higher power in the time of the Divisions says Mr. Baxter Pref. to his Holy Commonwealth p. 23. They declared May 26. 1642. that the Soveraign power resides in both Houses of Parliament as the Author of Veritas Inconcussa quotes them p. 29. who also p. 91. informs us That the Parliament could not be called a Parliament when they had driven away the King who is the Head and Life of it nor they be said to be two Houses of Parliament when there was not at that time when they first raised a War above a third part of the House of Peers nor the half part of the House of Commons remaining in them and what those few did in their absence was either forced by a Faction of their own or a party of Seditious Londoners for indeed the War rightly considered was not betwixt the Parliament and the King but a War made by a Factious and Seditious party of the Parliament against the King and the major part of the Parliament So that a factious seditious part of a parliament was heretofore owned by Presbyterians as the Higher power Nay the chief Presbyterian Advocate was such a learned man such a good Subject and Christian he did so fear God and honour the King as to be able and willing to distinguish between the supreme Governour and the supreme Power of this Nation Sover power of Parl. p. 104. and to teach that the King was indeed the
and Idolatry And in the New Testament that covetous Persons revilers extortioners are in the number of those unrighteous men that shall not inherit the kingdom of God that they also who are guilty of idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulation wrath strife fedition murder shall be excluded the kingdom of Heaven as well as adulterers fornicators drunkards and when 't is evident to us from your practises that you presbyterian Ministers have for many years been in a Scripture account Wizards and Idolaters because you have behaved your selves stubbornly and rebelliously against the command and Authority of God and the King contentiously wrathfully and seditiously against the inferiour Governours sent by him as the supreme that you have born false witness against those that were loyal and obedient Subjects as Traytors Incendiaries c. And then have manifested your selves so insatiably covetous of their goods and legal possessions that some of your party have enjoyed plundered goods and sequestred livings legally belonging to honest Royalists and besides all this you have prayed for the prosperity of Presbyterian Armies and encouraged them to fight against the King and cursed those that did not and the more of the Kings Friends your forces killed the more heartily you gave thanks to God and by such approving compliances are guilty of the bloud of thousands of the Kings Loyal Subjects and consequently of so many murders To kill any man in war without Authority derived from him or them that have legal power to make war being murder and that your Presbyterian Lords and Commons had no such power as to that war which they made and you abetted is evident enough from this that a Law of the Land 25 Edw. 3. c. 2. makes it Treason to levy war against the King in his Realm or to be adherent to the Kings enemies in his Realm giving them aid or comfort in the Realm or elsewhere Since also 't is no better than murder to kill or put those men to death whose lives as well as goods lands c. the Law hath taken special care to preserve you are by your approbation partakers of their sin who murdered such men That you approved the taking away their lives who adhered to the King in the late wars we presume you will not deny yea you covenanted to do them mischief under the Notion of Malignants Incendiaries and Evil Instruments That the Law of the Land saves them harmless is evident from 11 Henry 7. c. 1. Wherein 't is declared to be against all Laws Reason and good conscience that Subjects going with their Soveraign Lord in Wars attending upon him in his person or being in other places by his commandment within this land or without should lose or forfeit any thing for doing their duty or Service of Allegiance Wherein likewise 't was enacted that no manner of person or persons whatsoever that attend upon the King and Soveraign Lord of this Land for the time being in his person and do him true and faithful service of Allegiance in the same or be in other places by his commandment in his wars within this land or without that for the said deed and true duty of Allegiance he or or they be in no wise convict or attaint of high Treason nor of other offences for that cause by Act of Parliament or otherwise by any Process of Law whereby he or any of them shall lose or forfeit life lands tenements rents possessions hereditaments goods chattels or any other things but to be for that deed and service utterly discharged of any vexation trouble or loss And if any Act or Acts or other Process of the Law hereafter thereupon for the same happen to be made contrary to this Ordinance that then that Act or Acts or other Process of Law whatsoever they shall be stand and be utterly void Now you Presbyterian Preachers being thus guilty with what face can you reprove our prophaneness or judge us to Hell for those vices which are but motes in comparison of those beams which an ordinary sight may discern in your own eyes and tell us if you can why these practices of yours do not give us just cause to suspect that either you are very scandalously ignorant of the most material and concerning portions of holy Scripture or that you do not give any credit to them and then why do you seek to affright us from our intemperateness and lewdness with such mormo's as your selves are too sturdy to be scar'd with or else that you have some Salvoes and comfortable reserves which might keep us from despair and make us presume upon Heaven as well as your selves if you would please to acquaint us with them And therefore till your selves are more reformed and civilized and walk more orderly towards God and the King towards the Laws of Nature and Scripture and this Nation you cannot in modesty expect that your Sermons should prevail upon us to restrain our debauchery or convert us from dissoluteness and disorder And now let this Author prove if he can as strongly as he boldly affirms that the men whom he pleads for who are such bad Christians must needs be good Subjects But p. 56. The man goes on to prevaricate and abuse his Readers into a good opinion of Presbyterians Neither are they wandring starrs a people given to Change fit to overturn and pull down but not to build up they do not hang in the air but build upon a firm ground they have settled principles consistent with the Rules of Stable Policy Contrariwise Fanaticks truly and not abusively so called do build Castles in the Air and are fit Instruments to disturb and destroy and root out but never to compose and plant and settle for which cause their Kingdom could never hold long in any time or place of the World Vpon this ground Presbytery not Sectarian Anarchy hath been assaulted with greatest violence by the more observing Prelatists against this they have raised their main batteries This appeared formidable for 't is stable and uniform and like to hold if once settled in good earnest From which heap of words I gather 1. That the Presbyterian Lords and Commons were Fanaticks truly so called since they manifested themselves for several years together fit instruments to disturb and destroy and root out the Order Governours and Government establisht by Law but when they had so far disturbed things as to destroy by Force and Arms that Form of Policy in Church and State when they had done fighting against the King and had gotten him into their clutches instead of shewing their skill in composing planting and setling they employed their time in building Castles in the Air till the Independent Fanaticks out-witted them and cunningly jugled that power out of their hands which they had by force and violence wrested from the hands of his Majesty and the Laws 2. I gather that the principles of the Anarchical sectarians are more consistent with the Rules of Stable-policy than
in Scotland assume a power to abrogate and invalidate Laws and Acts of Parliament if they seem disadvantagious to the Church Church Assemblies says one of their Books of Discipline have power to abrogate and abolish all Statutes and Ordinances concerning Ecclesiastical matters that are found noysome and unprofitable and agree not with the times or are abused by the people The Acts of Parliament 1584. at the very same time that they were proclaimed were protested against at the Market Cross of Edenburgh by the Ministers in the name of the Kirk of Scotland The general Assembly of Glascow 1638. impugned Episcopacy and Perth Articles although ratified by Acts of Parliament and standing Laws then unrepealed And if Presbytery should chance to be established in England by a Law what shall assure us that English presbyterians also would not prove unruly and disobedient Subjects against both King and Parliament that shall prescribe any Rule to them in order to the preventing of their arrogant Tyranny Not their Oaths unless they had kept those of Supremacy Allegiance and Canonical obedience better But this Author has another remedy Moreover quoth he to cut off all occasions and prevent all appearance of domineering all political coercive jurisdiction in matters of Religion may be withheld if need require from Ecclesiastical Persons and that meer spiritual power alone by which he means Admonition and Excommunication may be left to their management The man sure would perswade us that he thinks there can be no occasion of domineering afforded by the granting nor appearance of it in the exercise of power meerly spiritual and then there is some hopes that he is not in the number of those who imagine that the Prelates heretofore did Tyrannically abuse that power But for all this he is unwilling that Presbyterians should have only spiritual power at their command and be wholly devested of political and therefore what he takes away with one hand he gives with the other in the following words And because spiritual censures appertaining only to the Conscience may be too little regarded when no temporal damage is annext unto them there may be a collateral civil power always present in Ecclesiastical meetings to take cognizance of all causes therein debated and adjudged in order to temporal penalties From which words we may gather 1. That the man is loth that all occasion of domineering should be cut off from Presbyterians and all appearance of it prevented 2. That he can well enough digest prelatical power and as many Ecclesiastical Courts in a County as there are Ecclesiastical meetings if so be Presbyterian Priests and Lay-Elders may have the management of that power and sit as Judges in those Courts which is another indication that ambitious affections rather than an impartial judgment make presbyterians exclaim so much against Prelacy viz. because they are not allowed to exercise that dominion themselves which they condemn in others as Tyrannical Vpon the whole matter says he aforegoing we firmly build this position That the Presbyterian Party ought not in Justice or Reason of State to be rejected and depressed but ought to be protected and encouraged And upon the answer to that matter contained in these Papers I firmly build this contradictory Position That the Presbyterian Party ought not in Justice or Reason of State to be protected and much less encouraged but to be rejected and depressed unless they will renounce the practises and principles here objected and laid to their charge and will disclaim that Covenant which otherwise will engage them in such turbulent and seditious practices as can never be justified but by such rebellious Principles THE END A Summary OF THE CONTENTS The Question proposed WHether in Justice or Reason of state the Presbyterian Party should be rejected and depressed or protected and encouraged The Character given of Presbyterians is considered and manifested to be very imperfect and deceitful p. 4 5 6 c. Of their zeal p. 13. their resembling the Anabaptists in Germany p. 14. their being called Fanaticks p. 15. Of their varying from themselves p. 20 21. their multitudes p. 24 25 Of the great things for which they are said to contend p. 26 c. Whether the Protestant Doctrine by Law established in the Church of England be owned by Presbyterians p. 29 c. Of the pure spiritual heavenly doctrine which they ought to be actuated by if they expect to be encouraged p. 33 c. Of Principles striking to the heart of Popery p. 37. Which sort of men are more pernicious in a Commonwealth Jesuits or Presbyterians p. 40 41 c. Whether Presbyterians ought to be protected and encouraged because of their averseness from Popish Idolatries and Innovations p. 44. Whether they erect Imperium in Imperio p. 47 c. Whether their principles and Government are Anti-monarchical p. 53 c. Of their unwillingness to come under any yoke but that of the Law of the Land p. 66. and to pay Taxes levyed without consent of Parliament p. 67 c. Of their valuing the native happiness of freeborn English Subjects p. 69. Whether they have any true knowledge or sense of the nature of the Christian Religion as it refers to the question discussed p. 71 c. Whether they were not guilty of rebellion in the late wars p. 76 c. Whether the Fundamental Government of this Kingdom was not subverted by the Presbyterian members of the Long-Parliament p. 95 c. The London Ministers vindication of themselves in reference to the Kings murder considered p. 104 c. The murderers of the King acted therein suitably to such principles as are owned by Presbyterian writers p. 109 c. and to the fourth Article of the Covenant p. 114. Of the Presbyterian Ministers exhorting men to pray that God would not permit the King to be put to death p. 115 c. Whether Presbyterians disclaimed their lawful Prince p. 120. Whether they suffered themselves to be trodden under foot rather than they would comply with Republicans p. 123 c. Whether they were more conscientious in their duty to God and man than Prelatists p. 130 c. The Plea that Presbyterians teach obedience active in all Lawful and passive in things unlawful enjoyned by the Higher power considered p. 137 c. Whether the restraint of profaneness intemperance c. in the late times ought to be attributed to the doctrine and orderly walking of Presbyterian Ministers p. 145 c. Of the inconstancy of Presbyterians their inconsistency with themselves and their unfaithfulness to their principles when their Interest tempts them to a change p. 153 c. In what sense they are willing to bring things to the capacity of political Government p. 170. Whether Sects and Schisms may justly be reckoned the off-spring of Presbytery p. 175. Of the Synod of Dort and its healing the breach in the Netherlands p. 176 177 c. Whether Presbytery is unjustly represented as Tyrannical and domineering p. 187 ad fin The ERRATA PAge 3. line 29. read particulars p. 11. l. 15. r. p. 1â— p. 28. l. 25. leave out So. p. 32. l. 26. r. approves p. 35. l. 18. r. to do your own p. 55. l. 9. r. Turner printed 1647. p. 56. l. 28. r. check'd p. 78. l. 8. r. the great Seal and. p. 81. l. 18. r. de Bereford p. 94. l. 25. r. shall conclude is 1. p. 99. l. 25. r. president p. 106. l. 26. r. sending p. 115. l. 3. r. in the humble Edenburgh Remonstrance of March 1. 1648. p. 118. l. 16. r. mentioned p. 29. 30. p. 121. l. 14. r. In stead p. 159. l. 1. r. p. 17. l. 2. r. constitution l. 3. r. Sermons alters and changes p. 165. l. 8. r. p. 63. l. 21. r. 99. l. 25. r. 96. p. 166. l. 29. after 85 add 96. p. 167. l. 31. r. 98. p. 175. l. 29. r. rumperet l. 30. r. tollerentur The inconvenient distance of the Author from London hath occasioned some Errata's more than ordinary to pass the Press which I shall desire the Reader to amend with his Pen. R. Royston Lately Printed for Richard Royston at the Angel in Amen-Corner THE Estate of the EMPIRE or an Abridgment of the Laws and Government of Germany farther shewing what Condition the EMPIRE was in when the Peace was concluded at Munster Also the several Fights Battels and Desolation of Cities during the War in that EMPIRE And also of the GOLDEN BVLL In Octavo The Sycillian Tyrant Or The Life and Death of AGATHOCLES With some Restections on our Modern Usurpers Octavo The ROYAL MARTYR and the Dutiful Subject In two Sermons By Gilbert Burnet In Quarto The Generosity of Christian Love Delivered in a Sermon by William Gould Quarto The Witnesses to Christanity By Sy. Patrick D. D. Octavo Dâ—ctor Dubitaâ—tium Or Bishop Taylors Cases of Conscience The Fourth Edition Folio The Life and Death of K. CHARLES the First By R. Perenchief D. D. Octavo A Modest Plea for the Church of England Octavo The Spiritual Sacrifice or Devotions and Prayers fitted to the main uses of a Christian Life by a late Reverend Author In 12o. Chirurgical Treatises By Richard Wiseman Serjeant-Chirurgion to his MAJESTY Folio