It nothing preuailed me to shewe the high commissioners that I was a suitor vnto the highest court in the land and therefore not to be troubled by any inferior vnto them during the time of their assembly for the supplication which I had thereunto preferred Neither did it any thing auaile me to manifest it to be dishonorable vnto this house to their honors therein met together that they should not be the judges of those suits whereof they were entreated to consider The injury which at that time they offered vnto the liberties of this honorable court to commit their tiranny to me wards had not bene so intollerable vnlesse they who vsurped vnto them selues the deciding of my cause had bene al of them members of this house The persons then in commission were these Th' Archb. of Cant. the Bb. of London Winchester and Lincolne D. Lewine D. Coosins all parliament men at that instant Now judge whether it be not against all right that some fewe of the inferiour members in that house of which number in respect of manye I might justly account the men before named should extort vnto their priuat censure the judgement of a cause preferred publikely vnto the whole parliament The time hath beene wherein this high courte woulde not haue taken a meaner injurie offered vnto their liberties at the handes of anye prerogatiue within this kingdome whether it stands not with the honor and credit of parliament men amongst posterities not to haue their liberties thus infringed and diminished by inferior and baser courts it behoues them that loue their countrie and endeuor to maintaine the welth thereof to consider But whether this be behoofefull vnto the state or no I am sure it concerneth me not to be judged by that court wherein I may not answer vnto mine accusers being the second head of the injurious and intollerable dealing of mine aduersaries but must be enforced vpon mine oath to accuse my selfe I am readie to aunswere whatsoeuer they can laye to my charge and therein desire no other fauour at your Hh. hands then Felix a pagan judge and an infidell offered voluntarily vnto Paule th'apostle that is to aunswere vnto mine accusers This equall maner of triall which fellons enjoy at euery bar in this land cannot be denied vnto me with any reason And because our law affoordeth this equitie vnto knowne malefactors the tyranie of the high commissioners is vnspeakable in constraining men to accuse themselues Porcious Festus an heathen idolator when the Iewes woulde haue judgement against S. Paule before they had by witnesses conuinced him of any crime answered as the holy ghoste noteth that it was not the maner of the Romanes being Gentils and ignorant of the true God for fauor to deliuer any man to death before that he which is accused haue his accusers before him and haue place to defend himselfe concerning the crime And may not the men who professe they know God be ashamed in their own cause for the fauor which they vnjustly beare vnto themselues to imprison their bretheren professing the same religion with them because they will not be their owne accusers And yet all the justice that poore christians haue at Lambeth is this You are now sent for by Lords grace here vs her Majesties commissioners we grant in deed that as yet we know nothing wherewith you may bee charged For accusers you haue none neither were you sent for to answere vnto thē For it is our maner to deliuer men into bonds yea and to death if the cause so require though they haue no accusers to conuince them of any crime And therefore you must here be deposed vpon your oath to reueal whatsoeuer you know by your selfe or any other of Gods children her Majesties subjects Whereby it shall come to passe that you shall escape vs narrowly but ere you depart the court we will finde sufficient matter to imprison you and if you refuse the oath to prison you shall goe For we administer it Ex officio and so vpon your refusall we may imprison you And will the high court of parliament suffer this bloodie and tirannous inquisition to be practized any longer within this kingdom What can the murthering inquisitors of Spaine do more then by this snare inueigle mens consciences constraine them to spill their owne blood It is wel knowne that no such maner of iniquitie can be warranted vnto the high commission by the positiue lawes of this land For in a criminall cause they inforce no man to be his owne accuser And against the law of God by which no man shoulde be punnished vnder two or three witnesses and of nature all men knowe this manner of proceeding to be For admit that the law of blasphemie were now in force among vs that a man in the dayes of his iniquitie had blasphemed the God of Israel were it not both against the lawe of God and of nature the Lorde hauing vouchsafed him repentance of his sinn and in his prouidence so disposed of the fact as no witnesses could be produced against him were it not I saye both against the word and against nature for him in this case to accuse himselfe And yet the Archb. and his fellow officers would either imprison a man ex officio for denying the oathe in this point or compell him to be his owne vnnatural murtherer O miserable judges before whom a man must needes either transgresse the lawes of God and of nature or thrust himselfe into inevitable daunger If they say it is to be presupposed that without just cause of suspition they will put no man to his oathe therein they protest no more then the Iewes did in accusing our Sauiour Christ and the inquisitors of Spaine draw with them in the same line For the Iewes they thought much that Pilate should demand of them what accusation they coulde laye to our Sauiour Christes charge and therefore said vnto him if he were not an euill doer we would not haue deliuered him vnto thee Where we may euidently see the wisedom and discretion of the enemies of God and his seruauts to be such as they neuer accuse any man contrary vnto right equitie conscience And as concerning the Spanish inquisition it is well knowne that that holy house conuenteth no man without great suspition of heresie No more doe the high commission offer an oath vnto anye without great cause at the least without vehement suspition of his enimitie to Lord Bb. and their gouernment And they are not only most injurious in them selues but they commit the execution of their tiranical proceedings vnto those very often whiche an honest man would be ashamed to entertaine in his family To haue a warrant for the apprehending and touching of whomesoeuer it please you to suspect is a charge of greate waighte and ought not to be committed vnto any but vnto such as are known to haue a rare and choise gouernment ouer them selues
state but concerning the former of their demaundes the Lord answereth that there is a direct commaundement in the word whereby the church in all ages and states is enjoined to acknowledg the Lord Iesus to be superior vnto Moses And therefore also that there is a direct commaundement in his word whereas by all adges and times are bound to haue on only outward forme of church gouernment The latter question though it be a popish interrogatorie is yet satisfied without any greate labour For the church of Rome Phillippi Ephesus Derbe Listra c. with many others mētioned in the word practised this gouernment by Pastors Doctors Elders and deacons And if Christ Iesus be as faithful in Gods house as Moses was it is cleare that no church as before was touched in what age or state soeuer can haue any lawful gouerment established but only this by Pastors Doctors Elders and Deacons because no church vnder the lawe could haue any lawful established gouerment but that prescribed by Moses Whereby the pretence that other churches professing the Gospel haue not this gouernment is euidently shewed to be nothing else but a profe that other churches haue their imperfections and are not as yet so farr built as the Lord requireth Asa was a godly King and reformed many things in the house of God yet the Idolatrous high places remained al his daies These high places were the blemish and imperfections of his gouernment Nowe were it any reason because he was a godly King that therefore the spots of the church vnder him should be the paterne of Iosiahs reformation and that the high places should stil be continued It must needs be so if our Bb. manner of reasoning against the Lords holy ordinances be good and allowable In the sixth place the inconueniences of receauing this gouernment of the Lords ordaining are saide to be so greate that the attempting thereof might bring rather the overthrowe of the Gospell heere amongst vs then the end that is desired If the receiuing of the Lordes discipline be inconuenient vnto any state that is not the fault of god his ordinance but the sinne of men which haue made their estate out of square as Christ cannot be wholly receaued thereunto without their likely detriment To gainsay the trueth because an inconuenience wil followe the embracing of it is an argument not to be heard of amongst christians For our Sauiour Christ him selfe affirmed it to be no light matter to enter into the kingdome of heauen and therefore declareth them to be vnfit disciples for him that wil not enter thereunto through manye tribulations yea and forsake all earthly comforts much lesse the maintenance of their outward estate rather then not to followe him in all the waies wherein he requireth their obedience To pretend inconueniences then in this cause bewraieth an hollowe hart vnto Gods glory And yet it is not halfe so inconuenient to bring in Christes gouernment as it was to expel popery If her maiestie and the parliament would agree to establish the same al inconueniences would be soone preuented The feare of ouerthrowing the Gospel by that meanes is a slaunderous surmise and vndutiful vnto her maiesty and the state vnlesse our Bb. be guiltie vnto them selues of some such purposes I knowe not why this should be aleadged The inconueniences are first the alteration of the whole state of the lawes of this realme as the vtter ouerthrowe of the studie of the ciuil lawe and the alteration of the ciuil and common lawe As though al these things coulde not be helped by one act of parliament Popery had more shew and coulor of trueth to reason thus for it selfe in the raigne of our late Soueraigne of famous memory King Henry the 8. So had heathen Idolatry in the daies of Iosiah or Hezekiah They that vse such arguments shew them selues to be giuen ouer to withstand the trueth I hope the Parliament wil admit of no such reason as these are Christ Jesus must not be allowed by his owne lawes to rule in state he must needes be decreede by our lawes inferiour vnto Moses and that because we wil not aulter the state of our lawes we wil not haue the studye of the ciuil lawe ouerthrowne We must not greatly wonder that papists and Mahometists doe kepe Christs holy and sacred verity out of their dominions seeing in a state professing the true God such godlesse men are found as tremble not to publish and vtter their vngodly conceits in this sort against Gods heauenly ordinances and especially seeing in a state professing the true God such pretences are of force to keepe out Christs soueraigne and kingly gouernement I hope that you who are parliament men see this kinde of reasoning to bee such as will stand in no account at the dreadfull day of judgement That which is spoken of Ciuillians is also slanderous For they liue by temporall courts and therefore it is not necessarie that their profession should decay when the Antichristian gouernement of Archb. and Lord Bb. is expelled out of our Churche Further our Archb. and L. Bb. vsurpe the determination of many ciuil causes in the deciding whereof Ciuillians might be well imployed And is it more reason in deede that the true Churche of God should want the vse of Christs holy lawes and statutes then the studie of the Ciuill law O most shamefull speeche to be conceiued much more to be published in print and that by Bishopps in the dayes of the Gospell But what dare not they publish who professe themselues to gainsay the way of trueth And therefore they are not ashamed to giue out that the desired alteration of Church gouernment would bring the judiciall law of the Iewes into our state This is a lewd slaunder For Christs gouernement necessarily requireth no part of the Iewishe lawe to be receiued into any common wealth but that which is morall It is further objected that the lawes maintaining the Queens supremacy in gouerning of the church and hir prerogatiue in Ecclesiasticall causes must be abrogated or els Christe cannot raigne in our state The reason whereof right honourable you haue heard before alleaged both by the Iewes vnto Pilate namely that our Sauiour Christe Iesus is a deadly enemie vnto Cesar and also by Rehum and the men beyond the riuer vnto Artaxerxes For as they noted the building of the true church of God cannot chuse but be an hindrance vnto princes For Ierusalem is knowne of olde to be a rebellious citie But remember then O my God if they belong not vnto thee that thus slander the trueth and the vpright ordinances of thy sonne Christ Iesus and if they be thine conuert them speedily My Lords you the rest of the parliament as you haue any care of the glory of your God see that the enemies of reformation may either decist from their forgerie against the trueth or prooue their accusations The Lord will
judge you euen as you judge his cause now offered vnto your consideration Wherefore as you will answer before him as you mean to haue any fauor at his hand deliuer the cause of his sonne Christ Iesus from this ignomie There is yet in this point another fault founde with the gouernment of Christe and another great reason alleaged why the hierarchie of Bb. shoulde be maintained and it is that the one of the 3. states vpon the authoritie whereof the lawes of England haue hitherto stood cannot without great inconuenience be now ouerthrowen Wherevnto the Lord replieth that the gospell of his sonne was brought into this kingdome by the 2. Estates to wit by the temporall Lords of the vpper and the commons of the lower house whereas since a thirde Estate vz. Lords spirituall as they are called was added vnto the 2. former little or no good hath bene enacted for the glorye of God by that counsell And if our State had bene contented according to the order of nature to stand vpon two legs it is not to be doubted but that all the wounds and sores of our church had bene healed and Christs discipline long ago established to our comfort and to the vnspeakeable good of our posterities Moreouer the Lord threateneth assuredly because of this monstrous and vnnatural leg wherevpon our lawes vnto this day are falsly said to haue stood and by the power whereof all the world knoweth this kingdom to haue withstood the right of his soone to laye our whole state euen with the grounde so that it shall haue nothing whereby it may be vpheld And L. Bb. haue no better interest to vphold our lawes then Lorde Abbots haue The state may as well want the one as the other and with as small inconvenience There is added as a conclusion of these inconveniences that it is dangerous to pick quarrels with lawes setled but there is no daunger to quarrell with the lawes of Christs kingdome They of all other princes lawes may be securely quarrelled with ouerthrowne and troaden vnder feete without all danger and yet in our state are they no quarrellers that abuse the sonne of God The time will come wherein it shall appeare that it had bene better for all such wretches that the wombe had beene their graue then that they should haue bene giuen ouer to runne into their owne destruction Our state hath well profited in religion that nowe after 31. yeares of the gospell enjoyed Iesus Christe in demanding his owne right is nowe accounted a daungerous quarreller against lawes setled This slaunder hath bene alreadie answered So hath the other set downe page 92. 93. of this booke concerning the likelihood of altering our ciuill gouernment into a popular state if Christ were once permitted to bear the ful sway therin The rest of the particuler cauils contained in som few pages of this book concerning maintenaunce of the minister by tythes the inconueniencie both of the ministers election by the people and also of excommunication by the whole Church are meer cauils and answered before in the generall and therefore here needlesse to be stoode vpon Now the high court of parliament hath heard of all the iniquitie that can be found in the Lord and his sonne Christ Iesus and you haue heard of all the reasons your careles and wilfull negligence to deal in the Lords matters onely expected whereby hitherto you haue bene enduced to refuse the church-gouernment which he himselfe hath laid downe prescribed in his word and to imbrace in steed therof a confused and an imperfect constitution of mans deuise whether these reasons set downe by our Bb. themselues will be a sufficient warrant vnto you in the day of judgement to refuse Christ Iesus to rule ouer you and your people to maintaine the popishe hierarchie of L. Bb. and to countenaunce their proceedinges who are wholy bestowed for the most part in persecuting and molesting those who open their mouthes in the cause of God and his people for the restitution of those lawes and liberties into our Church whereof they haue tyrannously bereaued it But if you thinke as the trueth is that these figge leaues issuing out of the dark vnderstandings of wicked men can serue you in no steed against the wrath of the lambe Enter more narrowly into this cause grant the same and those that stande in it justice against their enemies least it be layde to your charge that you haue called good euill and euill good and lest it be laid to your charge that you account your owne wayes equall and the wayes of the Lord vnequall that you haue executed no judgement no not the judgement which concerneth the sincere and true worship of the eternal Vnto the equitie of my cause which yet as ye see is not mine but the Lords let this also be joyned that mine aduersarie can lay nothing to my charge wherby I can be proued to haue brokē any penal law of the land I doe thinke my selfe in the cause wherin the Archbishop and the rest that are joyned with him are become mine enemies to haue incurred the penaltie of non of our laws inasmuch as I haue not transgressed the lawe of God For I suppose my selfe to liue in that state the laws whereof are to be accounted of no force which make him punishable whoe before the Lord is an innocent and guiltlesse The duty of a christian subiect draweth from me this perswasion that our state and gouernment vnder her maiestie established by the authority of this house wil not account any lawe to be forcible but that which is agreeable with the law of God and that non are punishable by any lawe in force amonge vs but those only who are offenders against the lawes of God For with what face can it be auouched that he is to be punished against whome the Lord doth not commaunde the sword to be drawne And thrise miserable is that state wherein these lawes are in force which commaund them to be smitten which are not euel doers Of which number non are to be accounted saue those only who by violating humane positiue lawes break also the lawe of God They that hold the contrary are not worthy to liue in a christian state They highly derogate from her maiesties credit and the good lawes of this kingdome And non can possibly hold such a position but those that vnder a pretence of authority either doe or would take occasion to oppresse and tiraunize ouer her maiesties subiects Nowe mine accusers cannot proue me to haue broken the lawe of God in seking the ouerthrowe of their places vntil they haue first prooued their own callings to be lawful according to the word vnto which time if I could haue bin assured of quietnes at their hands this mine appellation had bene needlesse Whereas nowe I am of necessitie constrayned thereunto as wel for the reason before mentioned as also because I can nether haue assurance of safety