appellat quia Ceremoniarum ad eos Religionumque cura tutela pertinet The Spirit of God doth very often call Kings and Princes Priests because the cust dy and care of Ceremonies and of Religion belongs to them Bilson Kings and Princes before Christ subverted Idolls Reformed Religion in their Realms by their Princely Power and Zeal Stat. 25. Hen. 8. It was Enacted by Parliament That no Canons or Constitutions should be made by the Bishops c. and by them Promulgated without the King's Command Records of Convocation The Clergy were forced to give up their Power of Executing any old Canons of the Church without the King's consent had before Heylins History All former Constitutions Provincial and Synodal though hitherto in force by the Authority of the whole Western Church Stat. 25. Hen. 8. were Committed to the Arbitriment of the King and of sixteen Lay persons and sixteen of the Clergy appointed by the King to be Approved or Rejected by them according as they conceived them Consistent with or Repugnant to the King's Prerogative as Head of the Church or to the Laws of God c. Stat. 26. Hen. 8. Authority was allowed to the King to Repress and Correct all such Errors Heresies Abuses and Enormities whatsoever they were which by any manner of spiritual Jurisdiction might Lawfully be repressed c. any thing to the contrary notwithstanding Ibid. All manner of Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical was by Parliament acknowledged to belong to the King as Head of the Church So that no Bishop had any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction but by under and from the King Stat. 37. Hen. 8. c. 17. Supreme Power of dispensing with any Ecclesiastical Constitutions is ascribed to the King and Parliament as recognized Supreme Head of the Church Stat. 25. Hen. 8. c. 21. and the Arch-bishop made the King 's Delegate so that in Case he should refuse two other Bishops might be named to Grant such Dispensations And after all the King and His Court of Chancery are made the last Judge what things in such Dispensations are repugnant to Scriptures and what not Stat. 37. Hen. 8. Though the King did not Personally himself Exercise the Power of the Keys yet this Right He claimed that no Clergy man being a Member of the English Church should Exercise it in His Dominions in any Cause or over any Person without the Leave and Appointment of Him the Supreme Head Nor any refuse to Exercise it whensoever He should require Stat. 32. It was Enacted that whosoever should teach contrary to the Determinations which were set forth by the King Hen. 8. c. 26. should be Deemed and Treated as a Heretick Stat. 2.5.6 E. 6. An Act is made in which the King and Parliament Authorize Bishops c. by Vertue of their Act to take Informations concerning the not using the Form of Common-prayer then prescribed and to Punish the same by Excommunication c. Confirmed by 1 Eliz. cap. 1. 5 Eliz. cap. 1. 23 Eliz. cap. 1. Because in doubtfull matters the resolution of the Major part must be obeyed Now it hath been resolved by many Kings and Princes that our Government is not repugnant to the Word of God from whose Judgment there is no appeal but only to God by Prayer Because Schism did grow out of and arise from Presbyterian Government in the purest time which caused the Churches then to out it and to establish Episcopacy as the best Antidote against Schism and for the Restauration and Maintenance of the Churches Peace which was by Succession from the Apostles if not of Divine Institution The Apostles of Christ ordained Bishops in the Church Bullinger 5. Ser. Now it seems a desperate course to use Presbyterian Government as a soveraign Antidote in our time Lloyds prim Epis which had the effect of Poison upon the Churches in the Apostles time Because Contention is a deadly Enemy to Charity and Holy-living Now the refusing of Subscription and Obedience to Church-Government must needs kindle Contentions and why will you thus Contend seeing that the Government by Bishops is the Government of Christ and what better Government can we expect from Man A Government most of the Godly have Conformed to Baxter Most of the Godly able Ministers of England since the Reformation have Judged Episcopacy Lawfull or most Fit and most of them did Subscribe and Conform to Episcopal Government as a thing not contrary to the Word of God but as instituted by the Apostles to which all or the most of the Ancient Fathers do agree so that it is very Evident that it is very Consistent with a Godly Life to Judge Episcopacy lawfull and fit or else so many hundred of Learned and Godly men would not have been of that mind Because they ought to be under the Obedience of all Laws Ecclesiastical and Civil which that Prince commands under whom they Live Division in Government makes Division in a Kingdome and a Kingdome divided cannot stand Omne regnum in se divisum desolabitur Because the Grandest opposers of the Government of the Church of England have ever been of Unconstant principles though Violently zealous in opposing Indifferent things Which if simply Unlawfull they were sin why then do they not contend against them as sinfull but as formerly they did so now they can dispense with them under their own Cure in the Person of another and Subscribe themselves if they might be Dispensed with as to a Compliance in their own Persons which by the Act they are Enjoyned Nor do we find any great Opposition in the time of the Reign of our Immortal Queen Elizabeth untill Her Majesty Commanded Her Bishops and Her Bishops by Her Authority Commanded due Obedience to the Government of the Church which doth manifest it was not nor is not Conscience that doth raise this Opposition against them as if Unlawfull but as not Convenient for them that have been and still are Braindistempered opposers of them Because no Persons for the reason of inconveniency ought to reject what Publick Authority hath allowed Sith that it is apparent that the Composers of our Divine Service-book made choice of the best things out of the most Ancient Liturgies of the Churches which Flourished long before the Birth of Antichrist Because it hath not been manifested unto the Church of England by any Irrefragable positions that the Government of the Church is Unlawfull or the Ceremonies thereof Impure for which impurity the Church should lay aside the Practice of them being Warranted by the Word of God or not Dissonant from it And that they are Unlawfull hath not nor cannot be Proved though Disallowed by some whose Approbation makes nor the Government of the Church of England ever a whit the more Lawfull though Consented unto by them Because we have the Truths of Doctrine Christian Ordinances and a Holy People of the Church of England exercising themselves in the Holy Duties
in the judgment of the Law To alter the setled frame and constitution of the Government is Treason in any State Cicero Aut undique Religionem tolle aut usquequaque conserva Either take away Religion clean or preserve it in all points whole and sound Bracton l. 1. c. 8. The material Sword is put into the hands of the King by Almighty God lib. 2. c. 24. By the material Sword is meant Power and Right to look to the defence and preservation of the Kingdom and it is no less than Treason to enter into any Association or Confederacy without the King's Consent or against His Will By the KING His Majesty's Proclamation forbidding the tendring or taking the late Vow or Covenant c. WHereas We have lately seen a Vow or Covenant pretended to be taken by some Members of both Houses of Parliament whereby after the taking notice of a Popish and Traiterous Plot for the subversion of the True Reformed Religion and the Liberties of the Subject and to surprise the Cities of London and Westminster They do promise and covenant according to their utmost power to assist the Forces pretended to be raised and continued by both Houses of Parliament against the Forces raised by Us and to assist all other persons that shall take the said Oath which Oath as the same hath been taken without the least colour or ground the Contrivers thereof well knowing that there is no Popish Army within this Kingdom that We are so far from giving countenance to that Religion that We have always given and always offered Our consent to any Act for the suppression of Popery and the growth thereof and that the Army raised by Us is in truth for the necessary defence of the true Reformed Protestant Religion established by Law the Liberty and Property of the Subject and Our Own Just Rights according to Law All which being setled and submitted to or such a free and peaceable Convention in Parliament being provided for that the same might be setled We have offered and are still ready to Disband Our Armies and as the said Oath was devised onely to prevent peace and to pre-ingage the Votes of the Members of both Houses directly contrary to the Freedom and Liberty of Parliament and to ingage them and Our good Subjects in the maintenance of this horrid and odious Rebellion so it is directly contrary as well to their natural Duty as to the Oathes of Allegiance and Supremacy established by Law which obliges them to bear to Us Truth and Faith of life Members and Earthly Honor and to defend Us to the utmost of their powers against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever which shall be made against Our Person Our Crown and Dignity and to do their best Endeavours to disclose and make known to Us all Treasons and Traiterous Conspiracies which shall be against Us and to their power to assist and defend all Jurisdictions Privileges Preheminences and Authority belonging to Us or united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm And whereas We are informed that some desperate seditious persons do endeavour to perswade and seduce others of Our good Subjects to take the said Oath thereby to ingage them and this Kingdom into a continuance of these miserable and bloody distempers We do therefore out of Grace and compassion to Our people and that they may not by any craft or violence suffer themselves to be seduced against their Duty and Conscience warn them of their natural Allegiance and their Obligations by Oathes lawfully administred to them and with them to remember the great Blessings of God in Peace and Plenty which the whole Kingdom hath received whilst that Dâ—ty and those Oathes were carefully observed and the unspeakable miseries and calamities they have suffered in the breaking and violating thereof And we do streightly charge and command Our loving Subjects of what degree and quality soever upon their Allegiance that they presume not to take the said Seditious and Traiterous Vow or Covenant which indeavours to withdraw them from their Natural Allegiance which they owe unto Us and to which they are or ought to be sworn and are bound by the Laws of the Land albeit they are not sworn and engages them in Acts of High Treason by the express Letter of the Statute of the twenty fifth year of King Edward the Third And We do likewise hereby forbid and inhibit all Our Subjects to impose administer or tender the said Oath or Covenant And if notwithstanding this Our Gracious Proclamation any person shall presume to impose tender or take the said Vow or Covenant We shall proceed against him or them with all severity according to the known Laws of the Land Given at Our Court at Oxford the one and twentieth day of June in the nineteenth year of Our Reign God save the King Antiqua fert animus-dicere From his Majesty's command and because our Government hath been and stands established by Kingly power which power I am not to question but perform what is commanded for the King ruleth absolutely and commandeth his people at his pleasure as the World and all things contained therein are tied in subjection unto the will of the Highest King Because the Statutes and Acts of Parliament which banished Popery out of this Kingdom did establish our Church-Government with the Ceremonies as Lawful and if we through weakness or perversness make Lawful things to be Unlawful Baxter that will not excuse us in our disobedience our error is our sin and one sin will not excuse another sin Because the King as God's Vicegerent is bound to maintain and advance the true Religion so far forth as the light of Nature can manifest it or Divine Revelation doth make it known unto Him yea a Christian King is a Law-giver above the Ecclesiastical Law-makers for with Him is Wisdom Power Righteousness Meekness Justice and Judgment Therefore we ought to acquiesce in the unanimous Votes of the King's Majesty The Honorable Houses of Parliament And the Venerable Convocation and all Powers and Interests ought to be fully satisfi'd whether in the decision of Controversies in Religion making Ecclesiastical Canons c. or any the like Ecclesiastical matters because they are the conjunct Votes of all the concerned The General Assembly in Parliament is the Common-Council of the Realm called together by the King for advice in matters concerning the whole Realm of which Assembly Lambard some be Counsellors by birth as the Barons by Succession as the Bishops by Election as Knights and Burgesses the King as the Head to give life The Barony consisting of Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commonalty made up of the Knights and Burgesses be as the Body to deliberate confer and conclude So that forasmuch as every man from the highest to the lowest is there either in person or procuration therefore of right reason every man is said to be bound by that which doth pass from such an Assembly
J. Goodwin The Parliamentary Assembly in a Representative and Legal consideration is the whole Body of the Nation and of all the persons in it having the same Power and Authority by Law and in Conscience too to do every whit as much in every respect as the whole Nation and all the particular persons therein could have if they were met together All the Kingdom besides hath no such Power as they and things may be done very Lawfully and with a good Conscience by virtue of their Appointment and Command with the King's Consent which could not be done without it though a thousand times more men or persons than they are should command them Because the Council of the King consisteth onely of persons thereunto especially elected by Himself and thereunto sworn to serve Him with their faithful advice and counsel and whether they be Nobles or no it is not material seeing that the Calling cometh not by Birth Lambard but groweth by Election and be so incorporate with him as he speaketh by them and their Judgments are reputed to be His own Because the King and Governors substituted under him both Ecclesiastical and Civil excel in virtue by equity saving from injury and do maintain all in one indifferency of Right and Justice and therefore to be obeyed in what they shall command by all good Subjects J. Goodwin A man's consent to an Unlawful Power in an absolute and simple consideration is a meer Nullity and such a a Power never the more Lawfullized thereby Because the King in his own Kingdom is the onely Supreme Judge and bound by his Coronation Oath to be the onely Judge of his people as may appear by this one Question therein amongst others Lambard Facere fieri in omnibus judiciis tuis aequam rectam justitiam discretionem in misericordia veritate secundùm vires tuas Judiciis tuis vires tuas do more properly denote unto us his own doings than the doings of his subaltern Justices albeit their judgment be after a certain manner the Judgment of the King himself also from whence their Authority is derived Camero the Learned holdeth that in things pertaining to external order in Religion Kings may command what they will pro Authoritate and forbid to seek any other reason besides the Majesty of their Authority yea when they command frivola dura iniqua respectu nostri our consciences are bound not onely in respect of the end because scandal should possibly follow in case we obey not but also jubentis respectu because the Apostle bids us obey the Magistrate for conscience sake Eleutheriâ—s to K. Lucius Rex Dei Vicarius est in Regno suo The King is God's Vicar in his own Kingdom Because we have the testimony not onely of Antiquity but of Papists themselves in the days of Queen Elizabeth of ever blessed memory whose Church-Government was the same with ours now in being Guazzo If say they there be nothing to keep her meaning the Queen from Heaven but Her Religion no doubt but She shall go thither for I can tell you this that the most Learned men of the world are of this opinion that Her Religion is the high way to Heaven and if a Tree be known by its Fruits we doubt not but this Tree is good which bringeth forth such Fruits as the like are not to be found in the whole world again a Princess and now a Prince endued with such piety such purity c. that She and now He may be a pattern for all Princes to practise by Grave and Wise Counsellors referring all their thoughts and doings to God's glory their Prince's safety and their Country's commodity a well-disposed and orderly Commonalty ruled as much by Religion as Law obeying as well for conscience as fear continual peace and quietness which is a singular blessing of God and an undoubted sign that God liketh well of Her and now of His proceedings For as She so He banished Popery keeps the Ceremonies and maintaineth the Authority of Bishops To attempt to be the Authors of Combinations to extort by tumults the alteration of any part of the established Government Ecclesiastical or Civil is Treason and will lay such men open to the lash of the Law Stâ—w in vit H. 7. Bugnal Scot Heath and Kennington being Sanctuary men in St. Martins le Grand London had judgment to be hang'd drawn and quarter'd for setting up seditious Bills to the scandal of the King and some of his Council In vita Eliz. Penry Udal Barrow Greenwood Studley Billots and Bowdler were Condemned and three of them hanged for writing Treasonable and Seditious Books by which the Peace of the Kingdom might have been disturbed though no Rebellion followed Hollingshed in vit Eliz. Copping and Thacker were Hang'd at St. Edmonds-bury for publishing the Pamphlets writ by Robert Brown against the Book of Common-prayer How 's Chron. Mr. Williams Barrister of the Middle Temple was Executed in King James his Reign for writing a defamatory Book against the said King and his Posterity Because the Matter of Church-Government is far wide from every man's particular profession neither is it to be spann'd and fathom'd by the length and reach of ordinary discretion but requires great faithfulness gravity meekness and dexterity to restore Religion into her place and being placed there to keep it Because it is not a bare good intention or Zeal without knowledge that can justifie a good action much less an evil action it must be a mature knowledge that will warrant actions upon which our Customs are grounded now Customs are not to give place to men's Humors but men must resign their Humors to Custom nay to Government established by Law for our Government hath been long and often established and if there were a change we should never be at peace within our selves by reason of those humorous affections that are amongst us Because those that thwart the Government of the Church if left to themselves would be able to cross the King and encourage the people to Rebellion and thereby become unpeaceable proud obstinate disobedient self-will'd and contradict the Powers that be of God For can we expect Unity and Peace from those that have been so wofully divided amongst themselves and yet are unanimous against the Rites and Ceremonies Because it is a Jesuitical Opinion to hold that Princes must determine nothing in matters of Religion nor ought to encourage the Church For Riches tend much to strengthen the Clergy and preserve Religion but dissentions and divisions and exasperating of the King against the Bishops is the way to sow the seeds of another desperate War and by novelties and diversities make people grow weary and set loose to the practise of piety Paraeus Magistratus est Custos Religionis The Magistrate is the Keeper of Religion Cunaeus de Rep. Heb. Persaepe Spiritus Divinus Reges principesque Sacerdotes
any particular Act but have Liberty to ordain such wholesome Laws Canons Orders Constitutions c. Ecclesiastical and Civil as are not repugnant to the Word of God which are binding to the Conscience and ought to be observed of every Man though not particularly enjoyned in the Scripture or written Word of God Because it is better to bear the Use of the Ceremonies and yield Obedience to the Government than occasion the Rending of the Church the Displeasure of our Governours the Loss of those Talents God hath entrusted any one with the Distress of a man's Family the Confirming of an error by Example and Condemning as Untollerable Sinfull and Unlawfull what God will Justifie as Lawfull in the Great Day For fear lest by my Disobeying the Lawfull Authority of a Christian Church and Magistrate whom I ought to obey for Conscience sake I Scandalize the weak or become an occasion to them that are weak to Contemn the Authority of the Magistrate and of the Church and the Ceremonies thereof which are appointed and by them thought convenient yea necessary that the External Glory of the Church should be in some measure proportionable to the Glory of the Kingdome Because as Subjects we are bound in Duty and Conscience to Submit which all may readily do with a free Conscience because whatsoever Laws are Imposed are Limited by the Word and the Law-makers are restrained from Commanding that which God Forbids Because the Peace of the Church is one of the sweetest rellished Mercies that we hold next unto the Graces of God's Spirit which by In-conformity is broken And the Punishment of the Omission or rather the refusal of Submission to the established Government is in respect of the neglect if not contempt of Lawfull Authority of the Churches Discipline and Peace and not because the meer Omission is Sin Because if the Ceremonies and established Government of the Church were Sinfull and Unlawfull why do Ministers themselves and not a few others who refuse to Conform to the Government in their own Persons quietly suffer it in their own Children do they not love the Salvation of their Children they shall be your Judges Because the Church of England receiveth its own Customs with difference from other Churches lest men should think that Religion is tied to outward Ceremonies which Customs our Clergy use as the Customs of the place wherein they Live Because those Laws which of their own nature are changeable be notwithstanding uncapable of change if he which gives them being of Authority so to do absolutely forbid to change them neither may they admit alteration against the Will of such a Law-maker Because Magistrates must Judge all causes and Govern the people whom all are to Honour Submit unto and Reverence in deed word and gesture as to the Lord Ainsworth For the Word of God is Committed to them and they therefore are called Gods And Subjection is due unto the King as to the Superiour unto the Governours as they are sent of him And this Subjection must be both openly and secretly even of Conscience and not for fear of wrath only And there is not a cause why either Princes should forsake their Places Titles Dignities or the People shake off their Subjection For seeing Magistracy is God's Ordinance none are meeter to Execute it to have his Word and Sword committed to them to carry his Titles and to Judge the people And seeing it is still his Ministery for the good of his people none can better perform this Duty and be Nursing Fathers and Nursing Mothers of the Church than Christian Kings in which Ministration they both maintain and conserve the true Religion of God according to his Word and reform things Amiss and also maintain Civil peace So that they are not only Ornaments of Common-wealths but their Safety and Strength under God and they are the Shields of the World to whom we owe Homage Service and Subjection and should allow them Maintenance pay them Tributes and other Duties in recompence of their Cares Labours and Imployments that so mutual Concord may all manner of ways be Conserved Because nothing is Commanded strictly to be observed but such things as are necessary and cannot be omitted without Disorder and Scandal unto the Obedience of which all have been and are still invited and sweetly drawn with yielding to the Conditions capacities and judgments of 〈◊〉 so farr forth as the Stamp which God hath set on those he hath called to Office and Command may be Preserved and not Debased And seeing that the Original occasion of Episcopacy doth very much commend it Lloyd it being brought in to Heal the evil of Schism and by preventing it for time to come to secure the Peace of the Church it should be the more acceptable to us From a desire by our example of Obedience to win others to the love of the Government and by our sweet behaviour to attract others to Virtue not to Disputations while they observe our Dispositions Manners Affections Aims and Intendments are to glorifie God and not being otherwise minded in all Humility to yield to reason not presuming upon our own strength but with patience bearing what is Commanded with all Long-suffering that we may be like our Heavenly Father Lest we seem to make our selves wiser than He. Because our Spiritual Governours are given unto us and set over us as those to whom the whole care of the Church belongeth and by whose Authority the honour of the Church is preserved which remaining safe Peace is safe therefore let us be followers of their Doctrine Living in Conformity to the Customs of the present times Imitators of wise Christians and such as are Patterns to be practised by considering that our Prince and Governours who are the true Patterns and Mirrours of God amongst us are not ignorant of any thing whatsoever which may tend to the quiet Religious and civil Government of us and the Kingdome Because Princes are Lords over Laws and enjoyn them to others of whom it is not Lawfull to invent or speak that thing which may turn to the Disgracing of the Laws and Government or Reproach of our Governours appointed by our Head and Superiour to whom we must and ought to yield Obedience by the Command of God in all causes whatsoever Because it is more meet that we follow the Counsel of many Learned Bishops who had the chiefest hand in Planting in the Restitution and Reformation of Religion in all Ages than that all of them should strike Sail to the fancies of a few inconsiderate Mushromes considering that the Power they have committed to them hath been and still is for the good of the Church and not for themselves which others that want Integrity Morality Charity Mercy and Judgment cannot exercise nor discharge suitable to the ends of Government Because the Churches abroad confess their Preachers have a great deal of wrong and injury offered them in that they are blamed as though they
of Religion without any manifest known sin in the Manner of Worshipping of God or in the Matter and therefore our Government ought not to be Altered though Opposed by some that will not Conform because they are Commanded and yet confess Robinson Justific we ought and must obey the Ceremonies for the ends Commanded and as they tend to the Edification of our Selves and Others and that if they tend to the Edification of the Church and good Order they are Lawfull in the Commander Because the Officers of the Church as our Arch-bishops Bishops c. met together to Discuss and Consider of matters for the good of the Churches may be called a Church by the Judgment of the greatest Antagonist of the Church of England Robinson Because the Order of Bishops being of Divine Institution Ordination or Confirmation by the Apostles it follows that they are not of less Excellency than the Churches whose Servants they are but that the Churches are and ought to be in due proportion Inferior unto them The Man was not Created for the Woman but the Woman for the Man and as Ministers of the revealed Will of God they are infinitely above and Superior unto all saith our great Antagonist Robinson and for this Ambassage of God and Christ they are absolutely and simply to be Obeyed Because wearing the Surplice Cope Corner'd Cap Tippet Rotchet the use of the Ring in Marriage Signing with the Sign of the Cross in Baptism Kneeling Sitting or Standing in Divine Service are not Ceremonies in themselves but only when they are so Designed Appointed and Observed Dr. Burges A Bishop doth not wear the Judges Quoif the Counsellour a Surplice the Attourney a Ministers Garment a Lay man Parliament Robes an ordinary Citizen an Alderman's Badge it is one thing to wear a Garment to keep one Warm or for some other Service and another thing to wear it as a Distinctive cognizance of Authority of such and such a Degree Office Calling or Profession in which use it is a Ceremony otherwise not Dr. Burges a Ceremony external because internal actions of the mind being matters of substance cannot be duely called Ceremonies yet the institution or observation of an action or thing to express this or that to such an use as is Ceremonious makes it a Ceremony See Styleman's Peace-Offering Because meer Civility would teach though Religion were silent that men under Authority should obey and candidly forbear to intermeddle in matters of which they are not meet Judges though as Mint Annise and Cummin but Religion should teach them much more and put them in mind of the weighty things of the Law of Christ studying by all ways to gain some I became a Jew that I might gain the Jew saith that great Doctor of the Gentiles and was this by contradicting and gain-saying the Ceremonies of the Jewish Church Because God is a God of Order and Peace and hath ordained and commanded Peace and Unity between Ecclesiastical and Civil Power lest the Peace and Union both of Churches and Kingdoms be equally in danger of being broken Now that there is in the Church of England purity of Doctrine Order and Unity with Peace the Brethren themselves confess who do write about 1602. That in regard of the common grounds of Religion and of the Ministery we are all one we are all of one Faith one Baptism one Body one Spirit have all one Father one Lord and be all of one Heart against all wickedness Superstition Idolatry Heresie and that we seek with one Christian desire the advancement of the pure Religion Worship and Honor of God We are all Ministers of the Word by one Order we administer Prayers and Sacraments by one Form we preach one Faith and substance of Doctrine And we praise God heartily that the true Faith by which we may be saved and the true Doctrine of the Sacraments and the pure Worship of God is truly taught and that by publick Authority and retained in the Book of Articles Because the propounding of the true Doctrine the decision of Controversies making of Canons Orders Constitutions c. expedient and necessary to edification of the Church are Acts of Religion most proper to the Church and to make Laws to establish them to bestow Civil Gifts and Privileges upon the Church to ordain Civil Punishments for Offences committed against Christian Religion to erect Courts for the Cognizance of such Causes and the execution of the Laws is the peculiar and proper work of Christian Kings who are the onely Judges of their People Lambard Nevertheless Christian Kings though they may well do all these things without the help of the Church yet have they not done it but have made use of the Church for the more ample discharge of that great trust reposed in them Ut levior sit illis labor Because the Church hath power in Civil actions that draw scandal with them Ecclesiastically to censure yea the Church is to censure them Ecclesiastically in her members though the Magistrate pardon or pass them by except the Parties delinquent repent of them for then they are to be forgiven And what Usurpation is here upon the Magistracy The greatest enemy of the Church hath confessed this for a truth Robinson Because our Ceremonies are not immediate means of Worship neither do they terminate themselves in God who is worshipped Because the Church doth not give signification and effecting supernatural events to human Ceremonies as the Papists do K. James And no Church ought further to separate it self from the Church of Rome either in Doctrine or Ceremonies than she hath departed from her self when she was in her flourishing and best estate and from Christ her Lord and Head Because Ceremonies are ordained for those ends for which Rites may be ordained and are agreeable to those Rules which God's Word prescribes to wit Decency Order and Edification For Order and Uniformities sake Not any one Duty in all the Scripture so oft and so earnestly recommended as Unity which cannot be effected without some joint care to walk Uniformly in the Publick Worship of God Because the appointment of Ceremonies to be used as Ceremonies and not at all as Worship to God in themselves are no where condemned in the Scripture though not commanded Because our Ceremonies are of an indifferent nature and no Religion doth lie in the opposing of them but scandal and offence doth arise thereby causing even the good the Opposers might do to be evil spoken of and to become unprofitable Because our Ceremonies are not against Faith or a good life few and easie which Custome hath allowed and the not conforming to the Custom of a Church or State doth give occasion to Censures and Opinions and thereby cause suspition where a man might pass unquestion'd Because the Church of England never cast away all Ceremonies nor utterly abolish'd them but cast away all that which was properly Popish and corrupt in
them And although the Pope have corrupted the sound Doctrine defiled the Sacraments and uses Ceremonies for the most part blasphemous and Superstitions yet we have the sound Doctrine and wholesome use of the Sacraments with Ceremonies according to the rule serving unto Order Comeliness and Edification Because without Ceremonies which hurt not Faith and Charity we shall never have any setled peace and therefore men should study what will be the issue of untempered Zeal or rather Passion in opposing our Government of the Church as unlawful and to take heed lest they raise up dust with their own feet to blind their own sight Because the departure from Custom is unsafe and full of hazard and an Innovation is scarce effected without dislike opposition and danger if not ruine Tacitus All changes in Government commonly do cheat them most at last who at first most desire them Homil. against Rebellion Though not onely great multitudes of the rude Commons but sometimes also men of Wit Nobility and Authority have moved Rebellion against their lawful Princes though they should pretend sundry causes as the Redress of the Common-wealth or Reformation of Religion though they have made a great shew of Holy meaning by beginning their Rebellion with a counterfeit Service of God and by displaying and bearing about divers Ensigns and Banners which are acceptable unto the rude ignorant common people great multitudes of whom by such false pretences and shews they do deceive and draw unto them yet were the multitudes of the Rebels never so huge and great the Captains never so noble politick and witty the pretences feigned never so good and holy yet the overthrow of all Rebells of what number state or condition soever they were or what colour or cause soever they pretended is and ever hath been such that God doth thereby shew that he alloweth neither the dignity of any person nor the multitude of any people nor the weight of any cause as sufficient for which the Subjects may move Rebellion against their Princes If the King proceed not in His Government according unto Law and Right there is no Legal Remedy to be had against Him Bracton i. e. A. All that we have to do is that we do Petition Him for Relief and Remedy Because no man is to call the King's acts into question much less to go about to annull and void them by force and violence Anonymus There is no inferior Magistrate of what sort soever but as he is a publick person in respect of those that are beneath him so he is a but private person disabled utterly to resist his Soveraign or bear defensive Arms against him as well as any other of the common people For inferior Magistrates be no Magistrates at all as they relate unto the King the Genus summum in the scale of Government and therefore of no more Authority to resist the King or call the People unto Arms than the meanest Subject Plutarch It is resolved by Plutarch that it is contrary both to positive Laws and the Law of Nature for any Subject to lift up his hand against the Person of his Soveraign Cal. Instit l. 3. c. 10. Any private person whatsoever who shall lift up his hand against his Soveraign though a very Tyrant is for the same condemned by the voice of God Because the setling of Religion is to be looked upon as causal not as consequent to the peace and prosperity of the Kingdom All things require Order much more Government Now that there is order and settlement may appear from the purpose of our Church Rogers which is best known by the Doctrine which she doth profess the Doctoine by the thirty nine Articles established by Act of Parliament the Articles by the words whereby they are expressed and other purpose than the publick Doctrine doth minister and other Doctrine than in the said Articles is contained our Church neither hath nor holdeth and other sense they cannot yield than their words do impart and therefore the Sense the same the Articles the same the Doctrine the same and the purpose and intention of our Church still one and the same because her Doctrine and Articles for number words syllables and Letters and every way be the same And why an alteration and unsetling the foundation of our Church built upon the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and his Apostles Because violent censuring of the Doctrine of the Church the Government the Ceremonies thereof and spiteful contemning our Governors will never alter the Doctrine remove the Ceremonies or unsettle our Governors but make all the faster Because human Ceremonies improperly or respectively are and may be called parts of God's Worship although in them the Kingdom of God standeth not Because our Lord Jesus Christ hath left nothing absolutely to the will of his Officers but hath determined all things necessary unto Salvation and left ambulatory Rites to the Church's liberty under general rules which being imposed by lawful Authority become respectively necessary Because the same things which are originally and naturally grounded on human considerations when they come to be applied to Sacred actions for the comeliness thereof in that use are made Sacred in respect of the ends to which they serve Because all Ecclesiastical Orders and Constitutions serving to the external ordering of Religious actions although they are called Civil as made by men in opposition to Divine Institutions which properly bind the Conscience yet improperly or respectively they do also bind the Conscience Because the Church doth not hold that the Laws thereof do properly bind the Conscience or that Simple obedience is due unto them as unto the immediate Worship or Commands of God Because the Ceremonies of our Church be neither imposed or observed with Superstition or opinion of Necessity in themselves or of Worship as though we placed Religion in them much less with the Popish conceits of Merit or Efficacy Because our Ceremonies become necessary not by the particular Commandment of Man but by the general Commandment of God For notwithstanding they remain Indifferent in themselves and before God and so to be used with a free Conscience without placing any Religion in them yet am I bound to obey them as necessary by the General Commandment of God Not as Necessary in themselves but as being Indifferent and yet as necessary for the avoiding of Scandal or Contempt as well as for Concord sake Because our Ceremonies are necessary in their use Ministers are maintained Obedience is shewed to the King and his Laws both Ecclesiastical and Civil Peace is in the Church of Christ free Preaching and Passage of the Gospel which are of great Necessity Because the Vestments used make not any man Godly or Wicked and although they were Inconvenient not being Unlawfull rather to be yielded to than refused for the Flock sake and Publick peace of the Church From the Moral Signification of our Ceremonies nothing is urged that
sought to bring the Authority of Ecclesiastical Praelates to nothing when as they never forbad them that worldly Government and Authority which they have given unto them by Kings and Emperours for the civil Government of their Goods c. it being conferred upon them by Pious Princes out of their Love to Christ and his Ambassadors the better to preserve them from the contempt of the wicked and to inable them the better to maintain the great interest which in civil things belongs to the Ecclesiastical State and that the great Honour of a Christian Kingdome should not sit without giving the Ambassadors of Christ an Honourable place and Privilege amongst them Because the Churches abroad confess that so many as do despise Ecclesiastical Assemblies and separate themselves from them they are contemners of true Religion and are to be compelled by the Bishops and Godly Migistrates to surcease stubbornly to separate and absent themselves from sacred Assemblies Because the Churches abroad confess if any Church do Religiously celebrate the memory of the Lord's Nativity Circumcision Passion Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven and sending the Holy Ghost upon his Disciples according to Christian Liberty they do very well allow of it Because the Churches abroad confess no Religion doth keep every where the same Ceremonies although they admit and receive the self same Doctrine touching them For say they even they which have one and the self same Faith disagree amongst themselves about Ceremonies the Churches having always used their liberty in Rites as being things indifferent Because the Churches abroad confess Ceremonies brought in by good Custome are with an Uniform consent to be retained in the Ecclesiastical Assemblies of Christian People at the common Service of God according to the Doctrine of the Holy Apostles Let all things be done in the Church decently and in order For God is not the Author of confusion but of peace and no man by pretending a shew of Christian liberty should withdraw himself from such constitutions as be godly and serve to a good use Because the Churches abroad confess although their Preachers do not keep all Rites with other Churches yet they do not withstand or oppose themselves to any good and godly Constitutions neither are they so minded as that for the Ceremonies sake they would raise up any dissentions although they should think that some of them were not very necessary Because the Churches abroad confess their meaning is not to have Rule taken from the Bishops but teach that the true Pastors of the Churches may ordain Publick Rites in their Churches for good Order's sake and if they be broken with offence given there where the Churches are well ordered and there be not error in Doctrine let him that in such a place breaketh them know that he doth offend because he disturbeth the peace of the Church well ordered or doth withdraw others from the true Ministery Because the Churches abroad do profess Ceremonies invented by Man such as are seemly devised for Order may be observed without any opinion of Merit Worship or Necessity and confess they do both observe certain Ceremonies which are comely and made for good order and also teach that they ought to be observed even as men cannot live without good order Because the Churches abroad confess that it is lawful for the Bishops with the consent of the Church to appoint Holy-days Lessons and Sermons for edifying and for instruction in the true Faith in Christ Because the Churches abroad touching Traditions of the Fathers or such as the Bishops and the Churches do at this day ordain hold it as their opinion such as agree with the Scripture and were ordained for good manners and the profit of men although they be not expressed in the Scripture nevertheless in that they proceed from the commandement of Love which ordereth all things most decently they are worthily to be accounted rather of God than of man which no good Christian will refuse to obey no not unlawful Laws so they have no wicked thing in them Because the Churches abroad deny not the Churches Canons about Rites which serve for the publick order and edification of the Church but that the matter of the Canon warranted by God's Word doth bird Because the Churches abroad confess indeed they teach that the care of Religion doth chiefly appertain to the Magistrats and he that opposeth himself against the Magistrate doth procure the wrath of God against him and therefore condemn all contemners of Magistrates as Rebels enemies of the Common-wealth seditious Villains and all such as do either openly or closely refuse to perform those duties which they ought to do and confess all men of what dignity condition or state soever they be ought to be subject to their lawful Magistrates and obey them in all things which are not repugnant to the Word of God and condemn all those troublesome spirits who do reject Higher Powers and Magistrates overthrow Laws and Judgments that do abolish and confound all those Orders and Degrees which God hath appointed amongst men for Degrees and Vocations should not be confounded nor is it lawful for every man to start up into the Pulpit and there shew his mind and teach others openly Con. Tol. Solus ad sacra Dei mysteria tractanda accedat quem morum innocentia literarum splendor reddunt illustrem Let such an one alone undertake to handle the Divine mysteries of God who is renowned both for integrity of life and excellency of Learning and these Councils conclude Concil Mediolan Toledo Trident. Lateran Carthage Apostoli in quorum locum Episcopi successerunt satis nobis aperuerunt verbi Dei praedicationem esse praecipuum illorum munus qui in Episcopali sede collocantur The Apostles in whose room the Bishops come have made it sufficiently manifest unto us that the preaching of the Word of God is the principal function of those who are placed in Bishops Seas Because it were scandal not to give obedience to the Laws of the Church when they prescribe things necessary or expedient for eschewing of scandal and it were contempt to refuse obedience to them when we are not certainly perswaded of the unlawfulness or inexpediency of things prescribed Because in things which are in themselves indifferent and none of them inexpedient we ought to do that the Church requireth though our Brethren should exhort us unto the contrary being bound in conscience to obey the Ordinances of the Church except they be evidently unlawful and when the Authority of the Church doth ordain and the things be lawful and expedient we are bound by both saith an Anonymus of Scotland Because the Church of Scotland profess his Majesty shall ever find that he hath none more loyal and true Subjects who will more gladly imploy and bestow their Lives Lands Goods Houses Holds Gear Rents Revenues Places Privileges Means Moyeties and all in his Highness Service and maintenance of his Royal Crown and moreover
that truth I once believed to be in them and of no power to convince the Church of England doth err either in Doctrine or Discipline which while I did believe I did not conform in any Circumstantial supposed error but was a Non-conformist with you upon the Reasons Scriptures and Authorities by you Urged Preached and Printed yet have I not at any time knowingly risen up against the Powers that commanded and enjoyned Obedience as they are Powers but upon the grounds aforesaid which grounds I have considered upon in more ripe judgment and find them not to be sufficient to warrant disobedience to the Higher Powers or to joyn with you in your determined Non-conformity having the eyes of my understanding better enlightned by the Divine goodness by Scriptures Reasons and Authorities the Confessions and Professions of the Churches abroad the Laws and equitable Constitutions of the Kingdom of which I am an unworthy Member besides what I have learnt from your own Writings of which formerly I was ignorant From all which Grounds Reasons Scriptures Authorities Writings c. I see not any cause to make further appeal nor know not of any higher search that can be made for the discovery of the truth Now that ye may the rather weigh and consider of what I have here offered to publick view after the satisfaction given hereby to my own conscience know that I am not a person under any temptation neither have I any Ecclesiastical Promotion to lose nor one that hath ever sought after or doth seek after Honor Advancement or to be preferred in the world though I might have had it for Swearing subjection unto an Usurping Power no I am a person studying to get my daily bread with hard labour labouring under great unthankfulness unjust and vexatious sutes and all-devouring scandals not mounted upon the uncogged wheels of prosperous fortune no the Plutoes of the world sons of violence rapine and spoil have cogged every spoak in my wheels I mean men who by force and power and other unjust practices have possessed themselves of all I have and have possessed it for more than ten years without an accompt or restitution which puts me in mind of an Historical Example not utterly to be despised of them The example of injustice is reported by one Antonius de Florentia an antient Doctor who tells us of a certain man that would not make restitution of his unjust gain alleging if he should do so his Children might beg or be sent to the Hospital The Father dieth in the same estate his eldest Son succeedeth and likewise will not restore The younger Brother demandeth his part of those goods and restoreth after the rate of his portion the rest that remained he gave to the poor and entred into the state of a solitary life Shortly after the elder Brother dyeth whereupon was shewed to the younger Brother living in chast contemplation this Vision following He seeth his Father and his Brother in torment one cursing the other the Father saying the Son was the cause of his damnation because it was for the love of him and enriching of him that he did not make restitution The Son he cursed and said that his Father was the cause of his damnation because he left him these ill-gotten goods the keeping whereof hath wrought his perdition Let such as have gotten ill-gotten goods in their possessions or are intangled with the iniquity of them apply this Example before it be too late and consider of Thespesius Fable in Plutarch He Fableth an infernal Vision of Souls like Vipers hanging on together did bite and gnaw one another Ob memoriam injuriarum in vita actarum Remembring old grudges and wrongs done in their life time here on earth keeping their hatred for ever Ovid. nec mors mihi finiet iras Though we be dead our malice shall not die I am sure such Caitiffs are of that Family who at the hour of death Lavat remittunt culpam non poenam Odia inimicitias quasi per manus liberis suis tradunt haeredes paterni odii Senec. They say I forgive all and in the Will and Testament bequeath their hatred and malice by Tradition to the hands of their sons and make them heirs of their fathers hatred Et astutam vapido servant sub pectore vulpem They appear in Sheep's cloathing but inwardly they are ravening Wolves Tuta frequensque via est per amici fallere nomen Tuta frequensque licet sit via crimen habet A safe and common way it is by friendship to deceive But safe and common though it be it 's knavery by your leave Now I return to our purpose I find it recorded of Dionysius Hallicarnasseus who was never advanced to Magistracy in the Roman Re-publick that he hath Written farr more truly the History of the Romans than those which Flourished amongst them with Riches and Honour So I hope you shall find from an Obscure person more of the truth concerning our established Government and reasons for the same than you have ever heard delivered or seen Written by most in Honour and Esteem amongst you Many of them being like the Franciscans of Old who at the beginning professed Conscientia losing a Syllable and Honesty with it fell to Scientia and now having lost two Syllables remain pure Entia Stocks and Images Such as these may well despise and reject these Reasons as of no worth and disdain to read them much more to own them and in hatred of my Name consider my Person and not the Weight that is to be found in every sentence in them though of so great concern as wisely improved would put a stay to the Reeling steps of many thousand Ignorant Unstable and All-concluding Souls What I have Written is necessary though by disowning of your Principles I seem to savour of Levity and Inconstancy but my reward is with me I know and am prepared for the Slanderous tongues of an Ungratefull and Miskenning world I reckon not what becomes of me or my credit in this World or what I have that is most dear unto me so God may be Glorified in me and by me it is not what men can Speak or may Write will dismay me it were better their pains were bestowed about their own Everlasting peace as others had better in former times to have bestowed the Labour they took to prove and perswade the Church of England did err in taking care they themselves had not erred in Doctrine and joyned Practice with it Departing from the Truths of God Rejecting the Book of Common-prayer and Teaching others so to do with great Judgment purposely framed as I believe out of the Grounds of Religion which we profess and hold for Agreement sake and that Scandal might be avoided in our Christian Divine Worshipping of God By means of which in former times great Mischiefs were presaged which came to pass in our days besides Perjury which did accompany all our Evils to
manifest by which things alone I might easily be Convinced of the Equity of an established Government and the Iniquity of them that did and do oppose it who knowingly so horribly did Violate God's own Laws which here I use as an Argument for my own lawfull and just Defence especially when I consider that the first Opposing of established Government was but the beginning of Evils which gave scope to Bloody Seditions And therefore by this my contending for the established Government with Subjection and Obedience to the King is that I may go the right way to meet Peace that I may be clear from the Blood of all men pure then peaceable From whence I inferr that it is better to Contend against you who have preferred your own Humors and Opinions before the Commandments of God and the King than to be at Peace with you You who have occasioned dangerous Schisms Seditions and Bloody warrs by which you clearly Evidence and Justifie the Authority of a Law in Church and State Under which Law had we acquiesced we had not been wrapped in such evil snares but by our Obedience removed much Evil and prevented the shedding of much Blood besides the good we might have done to others others whose Consciences by strange Doctrine and unparalleld Practice have been made Bold Erring Presuming Secure if not Seared who under a pretence of good Meaning attempted Unlawfull nay Sinfull nay Damnable actions which cannot be Justified or Excused For if a good meaning did or could justifie or excuse evil actions then they who killed the Apostles might be justified and excused because in so doing they thought they did God good Service How farr any of ye that have been Leaders in the Church of God through your good meaning if I may so say have been or are from Soul ruinating Scandal though ye might not intend any such thing let your own Consciences and the fearfull Effects of the late Warr give in Evidence for Conviction as it doth clearly manifest the danger of yielding to the first beginnings of Evil as also the danger of opposing established Government and teaching others so to do by Doctrine or Example Ye could not swallow Gnats of Ceremonies but Camells of Blood went down O Bellua Multorum Capitum These these things we should lay to Heart and be humbled for 〈◊〉 great Provocations and Defections from our Covenant made in Baptism our Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy for the breach of less Oaths than these we find the Romans branded from the time of the third Punick Warr our opposing of the established Government of the Church of England our loss of the Practice of Piety and this with all our Hearts and according to all our Powers to endeavour to help the wounded Church of Christ the cause of our Religion which suffers much at home and much abroad by our strange Doctrines Opinions and more strange Actions and this with the loss of our Credits and all that is dear unto us endeavouring all of us in our Places and Callings for the time to come to keep the Commandments of God and the King without declining unto the right hand or the left that so the Evils felt or feared for our former Disobedience and Rebellion may be removed and prevented and our Persons find acceptance with God through the only Merits and Mediation of our Great High Priest the Lord Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament to whom be Honour and Glory ascribed of us and all the Churches of God now and for evermore Scriptures whereby the fore-going Reasons are inforced Gen. 13.8 And Abraham said unto Lot Let there be no strife I pray thee between me and thee and between my Herd-men and thy Herd-men for we be Brethren Gen. 47.22 Only the Land of the Priests bought he not for the Priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them wherefore they sold not their Lands ver 26. And Joseph made it a Law over the Land of Egypt unto this day that Pharaoh should have the Fifth part except the Land of the Priests only which became not Pharaohs Ex. 20.13 Thou shalt not kill Numb 8.14 Thus thou shalt separate the Levites from among the children of Israel and the Levites shall be mine ver 16. For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel ver 18. For I have taken the Levites for all the first-born of the children of Israel ver 19. And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel 26.9 Seemeth it but a small thing unto you that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself to do the service of the Tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them ver 10. And he hath brought thee near to him and all thy brâ—thren the sons of Levi with the and seek ye the Priesthood also Deut. 17.15 Thou shalt in any wise set him King over thee whom the Lord thy God shall chuse ver 18. And it shall be when he sitteth upon the Throne of his Kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this Law in a Book out of that which is before the Priests the Levites 23.21 When thou shalt Vow a Vow unto the Lord thy God thou shalt not slack to pay it for the Lord thy God will surely require it of thee and it would be sin in thee Josh 1.17 According as we hearkned unto Moses in all things so will we hearken unto thee 6.19 But all the Silver and Gold and Vessels of Brass and Iron are consecrated unto the Lord they shall come into the Treasury of the Lord. Judg. 17.26 In those days there was no King in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes 1 Sam. 15.17 And Samuel said When thou wast little in thine own sight wast thou not made the Head of all the Tribes of Israel and the Lord annointed thee King over Israel 16.9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by and he said Neither hath the Lord chosen thee 24.6 And he said unto his men The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my Master the Lord 's Annointed to stretch forth mine hand against him seeing he is the Lord 's Annointed 2 Sam. 5. And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said unto them Blessed be ye of the Lord that ye have shewed this kindness unto your Lord even unto Saul and have buried him ver 6. And now the Lord shew kindness and truth unto you and I also will requite you this kindness because ye have done this thing 1 King 7.51 So was ended all the work that King Solomon made for the House of the Lord 2 Chron. 15.8 9. And Solomon brought