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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10190	Lord bishops, none of the Lords bishops. Or A short discourse, wherin is proved that prelaticall jurisdiction, is not of divine institution, but forbidden by Christ himselfe, as heathenish, and branded by his apostles for antichristian wherin also sundry notable passages of the Arch-Prelate of Canterbury in his late booke, intituled, A relation of a conference, &c. are by the way met withall.	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1640 (1640)	STC 20467; ESTC S115311	76,101	90

posterity and the whole Land from destruction and will find out some other way for the rooting out of the Hierarchy according to those Prophesies in the Revelation the full filling of which cannot be farre off Now the Lord Iesus Christ guide and govern the Kings heart to the love of God and of his truth and let him clearely see how miseraby he hath been abused by those notorious hypocrites his flattering and Sycophantising Prelates and so take off and divide his Noble heart from them that being reconciled to God in reforming the manifold and horrible abuses which the Prelates to the dishonour of God and of the King have been the Authors and Instruments of and being united to his loving and loyall People as the Head to the Body in this Body representative the Parliament he may long raigne over this Land and all his other Kingdomes in much peace and prosperity And the same Lord Iesus Christ so unite the hearts of this Parliament unto God and to the King and among themselves and so guide them by the wisdome of his Spirit and Grace that they may sit and consult and conclude such righteous Acts and Decrees as may be for the honour of God and of the King for the advancement of Christs Kingdome and the establishment of the Kings Throne upon the Pillars of good Government with justice and mercy● in punishing the wicked and relieving the afflicted and oppressed Innocents as David in that Psalme penned for his Sonne Salomon a type of Christ prayed saying * Give the King thy judgemens ô God and thy righteousnesse unto the Kings Son He shall judge thy people with righteousnesse and thy poore with judgement He shall judge the poore of the people he shall have the children of the needy and shall breake in pieces the oppressors Even as the Heathen also said of the duty of Kings which was Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos To spare his Subjects and the proud beat down And as they said of Iulius Caesar Caesar dando subl●vando ignoscend● gloriam adeptus est Caesar by giving relieving and pardoning got himselfe a glorious Name And lastly the same Lord Iesus Christ power his Spirit of Grace and Supplication upon all the people of the Land that being sensible both of their own Sins and of the Nationall Sins of the Land as also of the heavy yoake of Anticrhist and the burthens of Egypt wherewith those Taskemasters the Prelates have pressed them down and broken their backs and made their lives bitter unto them they may truly repent and reforme their lives and cry alowd to the Lord as his People in Egypt did against their Taskmasters and pray incessantly for the good successe of this Parliament that it may be as a Moses sent of God in the ‡ doubling of their Bricks to deliver them from the Spirituall Egyptian bondage of the Prelates and dayly to pray for the King their Soveraigne and for his happy and truly Religious Raigne over them that they may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honesty Amen Even so come Lord Iesus and helpe thy poore England and thy poore People therein Amen FINIS * 2 Thes. 2. 4. Histor. Concilii Trident. ‡ Conference pag. 176 177. Confe pag. 200. Confer. pag. * Confer pag. 183. * Mark 9. 32. Luke 9. 45. * Mark 9. 33 34. * Luk. 19. 16 17 18 19. Math. 25. 16 17 18 c. ‡ Psal. 16. 11. ‡ Luk. 6. 24 25 26. * Luk. 46 7. § Phil. 3. 18 19. † lam 3. 15. * Confer. pag. 176. * 2 Cor. 11. 13. ‡ 2 Thess. 2. 3. * Rev. 13. 14. ‡ ver. 12. * 1 Pet. 5. ‡ 2 Cor. 1. 24. ‡ Dan. 6. 7. § Dan. 3. * Euergétal Horat. ‡ Mat. 23. 8. 9 10. ‡ Bernard De Consider. ad Eugen. 4. lib. 4. c. 2. Phil. 2. 6 7 8 9 10 1. * ver. 5. * Sect. 16. ‡ Confer. pag. ●57 * pag. 157. ‡ pag. 220. 226. ‡ pag. 200. ● Tim. 3● 2. Tit. 1 7. * pag. 210 21. * lbid. ‡ Gal. 4. 29. * Confe Epist. Dedicatory pag. 376. * Ioh. 19. ● * pag 15. * Heb. 12. 15. ‡ Mat. 15. 13. ‡ Rom. ●●● § 2 Thess. 2. † 1 Iohn 2. * Ovid Meta. ‡ Dan. 2. * M●t. 15. 9. * 1 Cor. 5. 3 4 5. * Confer pag. 175 176. ‡ pag. 183. ‡ Heb. 5. 4 5. § Confer. pag. 177. † pag. 198 199. * ler. 23. 30 31 32. ‡ 1 Pet. 5. ‡ Hist. Concil. T●id * Confer. pag. 370. ‡ Revel. 17. 15. Vid Espencaeum in Tim. Gen. 10. 8 9. * Hist. Concil. Trid. * Eph. 4. 11. * 1 Tim. 3. 1. ‡ 1. Pet. 5. 2. ‡ Vides omnem Ecclesiasticum zelum fervere sola pro dignitate tuenda Ber. 1 Tim. 3. ● ‡ Confer. pag. 176. ‡ 1 Pet. 1 2 3 4. * Chap. 2. ‡ Confer pag. 298. * Confer. pag. 204. ‡ Socrat. Hist. Eccle. lib. 1. c 2. * ● Pet. 5. 1. ‡ ● Luk. 16. * Luk 21. 12. Mat. 24. 9. * Iob. 16. 2. ‡ Heb. 10. 27. ‡ 2 Tim. 4. 8. * 1 Cor. 9. 1. ‡ Iohn 16. 13. ‡ Act. 8. 26. 16. 6. § Mat. 28. 19. 20. † Act. 13. 2● ‡ Phil. 2. 25. * Revel. 1. 20. ‡ An. 26. 1● Col. 1. 23. * Mat. 28. 20. Objection Answer ‡ Gal 3. 2. Act. 10. 44. § Gal. 4. 19● * Aristot. D● Ortu in teritu lib. 2. * Rom. 8. 14● ‡ Ioh. 15. 7. § Iob. 16. 13. † Ioh 14. 26. * Isa. 8. 20. * Cap. 3. ‡ See the Prelates Relation Sect. 16. throughout § Esa. 8. 20. ‡ Ioh. 6. 53. ‡ 1 Cor. 11. 23 * Relation of the Conf. p. 136. ‡ As in Dr. Coosins Booke of Private Devotions or Canonicall Houres * Esa. 56. 10 11 12. ‡ Act. 8. * Verse 16 17. ‡ verse 8. ‡ v. 18. § v. 19. † v. 20. ‡ v. 14. * v. 22. * v. 8. ‡ v. 18. § v. 10. † v. 21. ‡ v. 2● * Con. pag. 261. ‡ Confer pag 226. 227. § Epist. Dedi● pag. 19. 20. * 1 Cor. 2. 9. 10. ‡ Rev. 13. 8. 2 Thes. 2. 10. § Mat. 24. 5. * Math● * Hist. Concil. Trid. lib. 1. ‡ In Platina of the lives of the Popes § Mat. 19. 24. * Psal. 82. * See the Apologie His Epistle to the Iudges His Sermons ‡ Gen. 3. 15. * Tit. 1. 9. * pag. 378. ‡ pag. 31. * pag. 80. 194. ‡ Lighius Hosius de expresso Dei Verbo ‡ 1 Cor. 3. 10. 17. 6. 19. 2 Cor. 6. 16. * Mat. 24. 5. Mark 13. 6. Luk. 21. 8. * Tit. 2. 16. ‡ Psal. 45. * 2 Tim. 4. 5. ‡ Hist. Concil. * Epist. Dedi pag. 20. 2 Cor. 11. 13. 14. Gal. 1. * Gen. 11. ‡ Ephes. ● 15 16. Socrat. Hist. Eccl. lib. 1. c. 35. Confer pa. 176. * Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. 2. c. 15 ‡ Ibid c. 14. ‡ Ibid c. 14. * Psal. 81. 1● 12. ‡ Psal. 5. 10. ‡ Psal. 2. 1 2 3 4. * ● Psal. 33. 10 11. ‡ v. 16 17. ‡ Pro. 20. 5. * Mat. 20. 25. Mark 10. 42. Luk. 22. 25. ‡ 2 Thess. 2. 4. 7. 3 loh 9 10. * Mat. 12. 25. ‡ 1 King 22. * Pro. 24. 6. ‡ Iudg. 6. 31. ‡ Iudg. 6. 31. * 2 Thess. 2● * 1 Sam. 22. * Psal. 72. ‡ Cum duplicantur Lateres tunc venit Moses 〈◊〉 2● 2.

and just Lawes and not by a Lawlesse Tyranny which it selfe is an Hierarchicall Tyranny and such as Tyranniseth over soules bodies and estates Or can Prelates be true Friends to Princes who under a false vizard of Friendship labour to corrupt them by their flattery to make them forget they are men to make them disaffected with their good Subjects to make them the Authors of Innovation in Religion by suppressing the Truth by their publicke Edicts which tends to fill the People with discontents and to stirre up Sedition and the like Can this be safe for Monarchie or peaceable for the Civil State or a thing in it selfe most Christian Nor is it so onely with our present Prelates Revolve all Histories since Antichrists exaltation and ye shall find that never any great Treasons have been either against the persons of Princes or their Civil States if they were but suspected of disaffection to the Papacy or Romish Religion but either a Prelate or some of his faction had his finger in it But there it may suffice that our eyes have been witnesses of the effects of Prelaticall pranks and practises in being so busie and bold to bring in againe the Romish Religion and after the Gospel had taken such deep rooting So as if our Kings wisdome had not been the greater in composing things in a peaceable way as foreseeing the dangerous Consequences that might have ensued in case he should have by a strong hand gone about to have reduced that Antic bristian Government into that Kingdome which it had now cast out God knows what wofull calamities such a Warre might have produced But blessed be God for preventing it Againe As the Pope lifts up himselfe above and against all Emperious Kings and Princes yea setting his feet on their necks causing them to hold his stirrop to lead his palfrey and doe such like Offices as his Holinesse Booke of Ceremonies and other Histories shew to hold their Kingdomes in Fee from him and the like and as his Cardinalls take place of Kings his Arch-prelates of Dukes his Prelates of Lords So our Prelates which come from them and pro●esse still to be of one and the same Church with them of one and the same Hierarchicall Catholicke Church of one and the same Faith and Religion as before is noted doe they not the like according to their proportion and degree Doe not Archprelates take place of Dukes and Prelats of Lords Nay doe they not set their feet upon the neck of the Kings Laws while they though as yet de jure they cannot yet de facto they doe exempt themselves from them in that they by their power in Court and threatnings in their own Courts so terrifie all Prohibitions that they dare not peep or shew their Faces in the High-Commission as the Author of the * Apologie and Two Sermons For God and the King hath observed though he hath payd dearely for his truth telling Thus doe they not u`praírethai highly exalt themselves above all that is called God as above Kings and Civil States while they dare thus withdraw their necks from under the obedience of their good and just Laws the benefit whereof the Kings good Subjects should enjoy in relieving themselves and their innocent Cause from the Prelates unjust and tyrannicall oppressions in the lawlesse proceeding in their Courts and so set their proud feet upon the Kings both Laws which are the sinews and loyall People which are the members of the same Body Politick whereof the King is the Head Do they not herein come neere their Father Pope who trampleth upon Emperours necks when they dare tread upon the Kings feet as ‡ the Serpent did upon Christs heele And for this Cause is the Hierarchie or Antichristianisme called by the Apostle the Mysterie of Iniquity Yea the Mystery tes a'nomías of Lawlessenesse for which cause the Head of this Mystery to wit the Grand Antichrist or the Pope is called o`anomos that Lawlesse one which our English turnes That wi●ked So as here may fitly come in Antichrists Fift Title o` a'nomos that Lawlesse one This the Pope proves himselfe to be as being subject to no Laws either of God or man So as he saith he hath all Laws folded up in the Cabinet of his own brest as being the great Oracle of the world and the onely infallible Iudge in matters of Faith at least when he Sits in Peters Chaire and that he can dispense with the Apos●●● and the like But how doth his agree with our Prelates Are they also such a'nomi such Lawlesse ones as to merit the next place to the Pope for the Title of Antichrist Yes surely they hold a correspondence with their Syre so as in all things they doe patrifare shew themselves to be his Sons Of their Lawlessenesse in regard of Subjection to Princes Laws we spake but now And now remaines to shew how they are Lawlesse in regard of Gods Laws First their Hierarch●e is 〈◊〉 at all nor in any thing as neither g●o●●ded so regulated by the Law of God and of C●●ist but meerly by their own Lawlesse Canons which are the Laws of their Lawlesse Kingdome Yea and when they list they have a Prerogative to goe either beyond or against their Canons in case their lust find not scope enough Secondly as is noted before they not onely can dispense with Gods Law but dare and doe annihilate it and make it of no authority For they doe unmoralize the 4th Commandement as concerning the Sabbath day for Christians they allow profane Sports thereon which Gods Law hath altogether forbidden they forbid preaching on that day which Gods word commandeth to be both in season and out of season they altogether forbid preaching of the Doctrines of Grace which Gods word commends unto us and commands to be preached they Suspend the sense of the Articles of Religion touching Gods free Grace thereby giving way to the contrary Errours which they forbid Preachers to confute flatly against * Gods Commandement they dispense with the fift Commandement dissolving the bond of obedience in Children and Servants to the Parents and Masters and stripping those Governours of their Authority over them while they give them liberty to Sport and run riot on the Lords day and threaten all that shall dare to controule them And herein also they destroy Mans Law for the Law of the Land no where either allows any such profane Sports on the Lords dayes but flatly forbids them or forbids Parents and Masters to restraine their youth from such profanati●ns or to correct them if they offend and will not obey then Lawfull Commands nor much lesse hath the Law of the Land given any such power and authority to any Civil Magistrate or other to punish those that shal be brought before them for exercising their lawfull authority over those under their charge And we all know that the Prelates had the chiefe hand not onely in penning but in publishing that Booke for Sports on

LORD BISHOPS NONE OF THE LORDS BISHOPS OR A SHORT DISCOVRSE WHERIN IS PROVED THAT PRELATICALL JURISDICTION IS NOT OF DIVINE Institution but forbidden by Christ himselfe as Heathenish and branded by his Apostles for Antichristian wherin also sundry notable passages of the Arch-Prelate of Canterbury in his late Booke Intituled A Relation of a Conference c. are by the way met withall MATH 20. 25 26. Iesus said to his Disciples ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise Authority upon them But it shall not be so among you But whosoever wil be Great among you let him be your Servant 1 Joh. 2. 18 19. Even as there are many Antichrists They went out from us but they were not of us BERN. Praelati Pilati non Pastores sed Impostores Printed in the Moneth of November 1640. TO THE HIGH AND HONOVRABLE COURT OF PARLIAMENT THE NOBILITIE AND GENTRIE NOVV Assembled in both the Houses Grace Mercy and Peace be multiplyed MOST Noble Senare and right worthy Pattiots who both feare your GOD and honour your King He who truly honours you and dayly prayes for a blessed successe of this your Meeting humbly presents you here with a Cause which well weighed in your maturest judgements may prove one of those greatest Parliament Businesses which your most pious and prudent thoughts and Consultations are taken up withall When you have perused this short Discourse concerning Prelaticall Authority whence it is and if it shall appeare by cleare evidence of Scripture justly compared with their Prelaticall properties and practises that they are the Seed of Antichrist the Mystery of Iniquity a more then Heathenish Tyranny over Soules bodies and estates a meere enmity but under the veile of Hypoerisie against Christ against his Word against his Ministers against his People and the Salvation of their Soulee yea against the peace and prosperity of Civil States by their Factious and Seditious practises and the like Your Wisdome your Piety your Zeale for GOD your Love to Christ your Loyalty to your King your tender compassion towards your poore Country your Christian care of your own Soules and of your Posterities will all of them call and cry for a serious Consultation and a speedy resolution what is to be done herein as you shall apprehend the Prosperity or Calamity of this whole Church and State and the happy or miserable issues of Parlliaments to depend upon it A word to the wise What I would further say I will turne into continuall Supplication to the Great President of Councels JESUS CHRIST that he will send his Spirit of Wisdome and Vnderstanding the Spirit of Councel and Might the Spirit of Knowledge and the Feare of the Lord that Antichrists throne being quite cast out and Christs alone set up the King may be established in perpetuall Peace and Prosperity to himselfe and Royall Posterity 'till the coming of Him who shall put an end to Times and Kingdomes and with whom all that truly serve him here shall raigne for evermore Your Honours and Worships faithfull Orator till death LORD BISHOPS NONE OF THE LORDS BISHOPS CHAPTER 1. Of the State of the Question Whether Bishops be de jure divino of divine Authority OF Bishops or Episkopoi Episcopi so called so commended in Scripture we doubt not but they are de jure divino But what are those Bishops Not Diocesan Lord Bishops so commonly called For of such we no where read of in Scripture as we shall fully prove anon But those whom the Scripture calleth Episcopos are Presbyters or Ministers of the Word lawfully Called and set over their severall Congregations respectively Such onely are Bishops jure divino But as for such as are Katagrestikoes abusively styled Bishops to wit Diocesan or Lord Bishops there is not so much as any one footstep of them in the Scripture And therfore as these have not the true Nature and Calling of a Scripture-Bishop So neither ought they to usurpe the Name and Title of Bishop But as they are of humane invention and institution onely yea of humane presumption as old Father Hierome saith and not of divine Institution So let them be known by such Titles onely as man hath given them as namely Prelates c. Prelati or Prelates are so called because they are preferred or rather preferre them selves before and above others that are GODS Ministers And thus they participate of the Prelacie of the Great Antichrist who is that * supereiromenos as the Apostle styles him he that exalts himselfe above all that is called God He is also called in the same place o a'ntikeímenos that Adversary called by Iohn o Antíkristos that Antichrist to wit that Adversary against Christ And agreeable hereunto is that other Title of Prelates namely Antistes in the Latine which they interpret a witnesse but it may rather be derived from the Greek Anti is not a Latine Preposition but Greeke and signifies against So as Antistes is one that stands against and it may answere to Antistasiastès one of the adverse Faction or on the contrary side as all Prelates are Antistasiastai adversaries against Christ or Antichrists which you will as will further appeare But we will content our selves with the Title of Prelate in this our whole insuing discourse as being none of the Scripture-Bishops Now concerning Prelates the learned Papists themselves are not cannot be resolved that they are jure divino of divine institution immediately but onely at the most mediately deriving their Prelacie from the Pope as all his Canonized Saints doe their Saint-ship saying that the Pope hath his Supremacie jure divino both as Christs Vicar and Peters Successor but all Prelates derive their Prelacie from no further a Fountaine then the Pope as from the well-head or the Head of the Hierarchicall body which gives them their lively motion as the Head to the naturall members This very point of Prelaticall Jurisdiction was canvased and controverted in the Councel of Trent and held by some learned there to be but jure Pontificio by Pontifician Authority resident in the Pope whom therefore they call Patrem Patrum the Father of Fathers as being the Father of the whole Paternity of Prelates And our Prelates of England may remember that till Hen. 8. cast the Pope out of England the Prelates held all their Jurisdiction from the Pope and their Authority was but translated from the Pope to the King So as passing from one man to another it was meerly humane still And the great Primate the now Champion of the Church of England as he beares himselfe in his ●a●e Book his Relation of the Conference confesseth thus much That among these to wit ‡ Bishops in their severall Dioces as there he names them there was effectuall subjection respectively grounded upon Canon and Positive Law in their severall Quarters Where by effectuall subjection he meanes subjection of the Prelates in every Province to the

they are Christs neere Kinsmen and so descending of the blood Royall And in hope the better to speed they get their Mother to speake who with Christ was not a little gratious But besides the absurdity of this their suit for Christ told them ye know not what ye aske they come in as unfit a season and upon as unsutable an occasion for such a suit as possibly could be For in the very next words going before Christ had but newly told them of his Death at Ierusalem saying Behold we goe up to Ierusalem and the Son of man shal be betrayed unto the Chiefe Priests and Scribes and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to Mocke and to Scourge and to Crucifie him c. And in the next words they come to make their suit Nor onely here but in other places of the Euangelists this is constantly noted of the Disciples that when Christ was telling them of his suffering and death they were still harping upon this string which of them should be the greatest As we may read Mark 9. ver. 30. to 34. and Luk. 9. ver. 43. to 46. Yea Luke 22. when they were at the Last Supper and Christ had newly told them that one of them should betray him they were instantly againe at their philoneikía a hotly contending about Prelacy as ver. 21. to 24. As if they would contend which of them should betray him So as still they took as bad a Season for their suit as might be But in Mathew Chap. 20. 19. Christ told them also of his Resurrection which might give him a faire hint for their suit But alas poore Soules they as yet * understood nothing at all either of his Crucif●ing or of his Rising againe And againe it is to be noted that after the Lord was risen againe and they had received the Holy Ghost they never made any such suit or had any such contention or ambition among themselves Then they were become other men never so much as thinking of any such vanity as a Prelacy they now saw that Christs Kindome in its military condition admitted not of Prelaticall Chaires to sit at their ease and to injoy their pomp pleasure and riches of the world Their contention was then which should be the greatest in paines taking in his Ministry and in undergoing greatest afflictions for Christ and the Gospell and in winning most Soules to Christ and the like But I say before Christ was risen againe they were carnall carnally minded they dreamed of a temporall and worldly Kingdome wherein they would be chiefe And such a Kingdome indeed is that which hath Chaires of Prelacy and Preeminence such as they blindly aymed at And yet as blind as they were their * Conscience made them ashamed to confesse to Christ what it was that they reasoned of by the way for they had been at it which of them should be the greatest Well we have heard of their suit now for Christs Answere Ye know not saith he what ye aske You know not the nature of that Kingdome of mine which in this world is not a Kingdome of externall pompe glory and greatnesse but a Kingdome of grace humility patience and wholly Spirituall a Kingdome not of ease and pleasure as to sit in Chaires of State but of paines-taking of labour and travell in your Ministry of contempt of the world and of suffering manifold afflictions and even death it selfe for my Names sake And therefore Christ addeth here Are ye able to drinke of the Cup that I drinke of c. And they answering We are he addes Ye shall indeed drinke of the Cup and be baptised with the Baptisme that I am baptised with that is you must thinke of other matters when you come into my Kingdome then of any such worldly greatnesse as you dreame of you must prepare your feet for the fetters your backs for the whip your bellies for hunger and thirst your bodies for nakednesse your stomacks to drinke and digest the bitter Cup of death and to be dipped over head and eares in floods and Seas of afflictions Are ye able to doe this Alas poore Soules as yet they were novices in Christs Schoole they would be of the highest forme before they had learned the very first Principles of the Catechisme or the A B C. of the Crosse of Christ But saith Christ Ye shall drinke of my Cup c. that is after ye have fullfilled your Ministeriall Course and suffered afflictions and drunke deaths Cup and therewith have been baptised then a place shal be proved for you in my Kingdome of glory such as my Father hath appointed for you and for all my Disciples so as in whom the greater improvement of the * Talents of Grace committed to your trust is found the greater preferment in Glory he shall have each according to his proportion yet so as every good and faithfull Servant shall enter into his Masters joy in ‡ whose presence is the fullnesse of joy and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore But for any such thing as you aske it is not mine to give I have no such Commission from my Father to bestow upon you any such thing as worldly Prelacy that 's no part of my Kingdome nor of the administration thereof But all that are found faithfull in the Kingdome of Grace shall in the Kingdome of Glory sit with me at my Fathers right hand for evermore Whereas on the contrary such as turne my Kingdome of Grace into a Kingdome of Pleasure pride and ease as they due which hunt after and injoy the preferments of the world to those I say ‡ Woe to you that are rich for you have received your Consolation Woe to you that are full for you shall hunger Woe to you that laugh now for ye shall mourne and weepe Woe unto you when all men shall speake well of you for so did their Fathers to the false Prophets Hence we may note by the way that Christ applyes this his whole Speech to such especially as are false Prophets that wallow in ease and pleasure as we know all Prelates doe who therfore shall be ranked among the voluptuous and salacious goates at Christs left hand when he shall say unto them Goe ye cursed c. For as one said Qui Praelatum quaerit in terris inve●●t confusionem in Coelis He that seeks Prelacy on earth shall find confusion in heaven And we see here that Christ hath no such Prelacie to give he convinces his Disciples of great blindnesse in such their ambition Christ then to be the Author and giver of any such Prelacie Prelacie therfore is not jure divino as from Christs Ordinance For Prelacie alwayes is attended with a long Silken Traine goodly Palaces rich revenews great Grace in Princes Courts and what not that the world can afford Quo jure then From what Title doe Prelates hold Namely from him who said *

also as in all the rest at least petty Gods Sitting in the Temple of God shewing themselvs to be so many Gods As for their materiall Princely Thrones in materiall Temples they have them set up in great State But this is nothing to that Throne which they have set up and wherein they sit and raigne over the Consciences and Soules of Gods people their multitude of Canons and Ceremonies being so many Laws by which they rule over them and so many bonds or Chaines whereby they hold them in Spirituall bondage And thus they sit also as God in the Timple of God shewing themselves to be God in saying they are Christs Vice-Roys and the Apostles Successors having Authority from Christ to exercise that their Iurisdiction and Power over Gods People who are the living Temples of the living God Thus we see all along how this Army of Priests as G●egory and others call them the Prelates do follow their Captain and King Antichrist step by step in all his properties here described by the Apostle The last thing we propounded here to speake of is That Apostacie must goe before to strow the way to the full revealation of the Mystery of Iniquity and so of Antichrist which Apostacie was partly and primarily the Prelacie I say partly and primarily For partly the removall of the Imperiall Seat from Rome to Constan●inople by Constantine and partly the decaying and declyning of the Empire and partly the defection of sundry Kingdomes from the Empire made way for Antichrists greatnesse to which he grew not but by degrees and that through many Ages Yet the prime foundation of his Babylonian Tower was layd in the Apostles own times they labouring to hinder it all they could but not prevailing herein they preached and writ against it and so forewarned Gods people to beware of it And this foundation so long agoe begun to be layd was the Prelacie or rather the Spirit of Prelacie which had a time of working even while the Apostles lived and became to be as it were an Embrio or little Masse but did not receice the forme of a body till afterwards and was long a growing up untill it came to the full stature Now I say the spirit of Prelacie was the very beginning of the Apostacie which was Antichrists way-maker But how doth it appeare that this spirit of the Prelacie began to worke in the Apostles dayes And then secondly how will it appeare that this spirit of the Prelacy was and is an Apostacie For answere First that the Prelacie began to get life in the Apostle time it is manifest by sundry places of Scripture As 2. Cor. 11. 20. Ye suffer saith the Apostle to the Corinthians if a man bring you into bondage if a man devoure you if a man take of you if a man exalt himselfe if a man smite you on the face Now the Apostle meanes here of those immediately mentioned before to wit false Ministers whom he calls false Apostles deceitfull work●rs is transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ v. 13. 15. These as young Prelates would be Apostolic●ll men and they have the qualities of Prelates they Captivate Gods people as before they devoure take exalt themselves smite● just Prelate-like And for brevity to omit sundry other places we find one pretty briske Prelaticall man in 3. Iob. 9. 10. his Name was Diotrephes and he did beare himselfe according to his Name as one of Iupiters nurslings his qualities are these 1. He loveth to have the preeminence 2. he receiveth not the Apostles and brethren 3. he prateth against them with malicious words 4. he neither receiveth the brethren and forbiddeth them that would 5. he casteth them out of the Church Loe here a pretty well grown Prelaticall Child a pregnant Sparke to make a Lord Prelate of For all his Properties are proper to a Prelate for a Prelate first loves the preeminence 2. though he pretend to Succeed the Apostles yet his deeds shew that he hates both their Doctrine and Example persecuting them in their true Successors 3. he receiveth not the brethren yea 4. he so hates the very name of holy brethren that he forbids all men to receive them and 5. he casteth them out of the Church he playes fy gib with his thunderbolt of Excommunication I might insist more and inlarge all these particulars but this may suffice to shew that the Spirit of the Prelacie was stirring in the wombe of the Church even while the Apostles lived Now for the Second it is no lesse true that the Spirit of the Prelacy was and is an Apostacy from Christ This first appeares by the Apostles former words of falling away first which made way for Antichrist And this began in the Prelacie for the Prelacy is the setting up of a new Church a new Kingdome turning Christs heavenly Kingdome into an earthly and the Spirituall into a carnall and the Kingdome of Grace into a Kingdome of terrene glory and the Church militant into a Church malignant and triumphant as before is noted and the true Catholicke Church which we beleeve to consist of all the Elect onely Christs living members into a new Catholicke visible Church of all nominall Christians tagge and ragge Papists and others and in a word the Church of Christ into the Church and Synogogue of Antichrist Is not here then a fearefull Apostacie and falling from Christ Time calls me off and therefore I must be very briefe I will adde therefore but one place more for the proofe of this That Prelacy is Apostacy from Christ It is in 1 Io. 2. 18. Little children it is the last time and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us Loe here is an Apostacie and it is of certaine Antichrists that were then sprung up even many Antichrists But how doth this concerne our Prelates Let us looke but a little lower and as before we found them wrapped in the Swadling Clouts of the Mystery of Iniquity So here we shall behold them in the very robes of Antichrist For v. 22. Who is a lyar but he that denyeth that Iesus is the Christ He is Antichrist c. Now what is it to deny Iesus to be the Christ Surely we must so take these words as we hold the Analogie of faith and so as they crosse not the Mystery of Iniquity which we shewed before to be a denying of Christ under a colour of confessing him Now then there is a twofold denyall of Christ one in words another in works So the Apostle saith of such * They porfesse that they know God but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient and unto every good worke reprobate So