Vulgar that a Hierarchy of this Nature hath a strong bias toward Popery No doubt and so had Monarchy Was not this Imputation by the same Party cast upon the late King and with the same measure of Confidence and Bitterness when yet we know that those that charged him with it did not believe themselves it was so rank and evident a Calumny Nor to insist upon the Dying Testimony of that Incomparable Prince which was but suitable to the Pious Practise and Profession of his whole Life That early Protestation of his Majesties before his receiving of the holy Eucharist at Christ-Church in Oxon 1643. will be more pertinent to my purpose His Majesty being to receive the Sacrament from the hands of the Lord Arch-bishop of Armagh used these publick Expressions immediately before his receiving the blessed Elements he rose up from his Knees and beckning to the Arch-bishop for a short forbearance made this Protestation My Lord I Espy here many resolved Protestants who may declare to the world the Resolution I now do make I have to the utmost of my power prepared my Soul to become a worthy Receiver and may I so receive Comfort by the Blessed Sacrament as I do intend the Establishment of the true reformed Protestant Religion as it stood in its Beauty in the happy days of Queen Elizabeth without any Connivence at Popery I bless God that in the midst of these publick Distractions I have still Liberty to Communicate and may this Sacrament be my Damnation if my Heart do not joyn with My Lips in this Protestation This was not yet enough to allay the clamour till with his Royal Blood he had seal'd this Protestation If the Objector can produce a fouler Injury either to Religion Duty Truth Honor or Humanity let it be done to save the credit of the Faction unless they reckon the Superlative perfection of their wickedness a point of Glory His next remark is not amiss Let it be well observ'd that the designs of suppressing Puritans and complying with Papists had their beginning both at once and proceeded in equal paces Observation Let it be here as well observ'd that if by Puritans be meant those of the Separation by Papists is intended such as kept their Stations These Squires of the Revolt esteeming as Anti-christian whatever stands in opposition to their heady purposes We have this both from Story and Experience that it hath been the constant practise of these unmannerly Apostates to speak evil of Dignities being fall'n off themselves it is but carnal prudence by damning of the Authority to justifie the Schism No wonder then if the designs of suppressing Puritans and complying with Papists had in his sense the same beginning and proceeded in equal paces To bring himself off he shifts it thus According to a vulgar sense we take Popery in the heighth thereof for the Heresies and Idolatries and in the lower degree thereof for the gross Errors and Superstitions of the Church of Rome And 't is against English Popery in the lower degree that he plants his battery arguing so formally against our going over to Rome that any Stranger to the Story would swear The Prelates and the Pope were more then half agreed already Having at length with great good-will advised the Church of England as to the Main he concludes that All approaches and motions towards Rome are dangerous But are not all recesses from Truth more dangerous Because in every thing we cannot agree with them must we in nothing To me this appears rather petulancy then pious reason We are to hold fast the Truth where-ever it lyes and to embrace what 's good and laudable in any Church without adhering to the contrary Did not St. Paul become all things to all men that by all means he might gain some But if we walk upon the Brink he tells us we may soon fall into the Pit These wary men forget that there 's a Gulf on the one hand as well as a Pit on the other and that the narrow way is that which leads to eternal happiness But as to Reason of State he says that enmity with Rome hath been reputed the Stability of England concerning which the Duke of Rhoan hath delivered this Maxime That besides the Interest which the King of England hath common with all Princes he hath yet one particular which is that he ought throughly to acquire the advancement of the Protestant Religâ—â—n even with as much zeal as the King of Spain appears Protector of the Catholick Allow this Maxime good in State he hath but found a Rod to whip himself The King of England ought to advance the Protestant Religion Content What now if these Disciplinarians prove no Protestants but rather a Schismatical and dividing Party driving an Interest of their own under that specious name and with great shew of Holiness opposing not only the practises and Rules of the Reformed Churches but even the fundamentals of Christianity it self By whom will they be tryed or on what Judgement and Authority will they rest They quarrel with the Order of Bishops the Common-Prayer the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church the Law of the Land with Customes and Antiquity In short with every thing but the Geneva Discipline They do by That too as our Gallants do by French-fashions The Court of France being the Standard of queint Mode and Dress to the one as is Geneva of Church order to the other What is there used though in it self extravagant enough our humour is to over-do and if the French wear but wide Breeches we forsooth must wear Petticoats Consult the learned and most eminent Assertors of their Discipline ask the grand Architect himself or indeed any of his Sectators of fair and honourable credit concerning the Subject of our present Controversie And 1. Whether it be a Protestant Opinion that the Hierarchy is Antichâ—istian II. Whether such Laws of Humane Institution as neither contradict the general Laws of Nature nor any Positive Law in Scripture be binding or no III. In case of Male-Administration either in Church or State Whether the People may take upon them to Reform But this they are not so stiff in as to maintain it but by blind inferences not worth regard This is the State of our dispute and if in these particulars our Anti-prelatists oppose the current of Reformed Divines to advance their Interest is to undermine the common Interest of the King Nation and the Protestant Cause Needs must it move many Revolts and keep off many Proselytes to see such principles declared of the Essence of Christian Religion as a good honest Pagan would be ashamed of Nor less repugnant are they to Rules of Society than of Conscience No Tyranny so cruel and Imperious no Slavery so reprochful Set up their Discipline and we 're at School again Methinks I see a Presbyter with his Rod over every Parish and the whole
Nation turning up their Tails to a pack of Pedants Yet hateful as it is even that it self establish'd by Authority might challenge our Obedience I have digress'd too far yet in convenient place I must say something further upon this Subject If our new fangled Polititian had consider'd that the Kings Interest leads him to support that which the Presbyterians strive to overthrow the Protestant Religion I am perswaded he would have spared the Duke of Rhoan in this particular The Maxime even as it lies before us affording matter of dangerous Deduction to his disadvantage but taken in Coherence nothing can be more sharp and positive against him That great and wise Captain the Duke of Rhoan discoursing upon what reasons of State Q. Elizabeth acted toward Spain France and the United Provinces tells us particularly how much she favoured the Protestants in France Germany Par toutes ces maximes dit il cette sage Princesse a bien fait comprendre a ses successeurs que outre l' interest que l' Angleterre a commun avec tous les Princes c. By all these Maximes says he this wise Princess hath given her Successors to understand that besides the Interest which England hath common with other Princes yet one particular it hath which is to advance the Protestant Religion with the same zeal the King of Spain does the Catholick Be it here noted that when the Queen was most concern'd and busie to promote the Protestant Cause even at that very time was She as much employ'd to crush the Presbyterian Faction viz. Cartwright Coppinger Arthington Hacket and their Confederates The First of these was imprison'd and fined for Seditious and Schismatical practises against the Church and State The Second starved himself in a Gaol The Third repented and publickly recanted The Fourth was put to Death for horrid Blasphemies These people talk'd of a practical Ministery too The Men are gone but their positions are still in being and only attend a blessed opportunity to be put in execution This may appear from divers late discourses which are effectually no other then Cartwrights Principles and Model couch'd in warier terms and other Authority than these or such as these I think the very Authors of them will scarce pretend to One Observation more Our Paraphrast renders the advancement of the Protestant Religion Enmity with Rome to the great scandal of the Reform'd Profession We have no Enmity but with Errour which in a rigid Puritan to us is the same thing as in a Papist But Popery he tells us hath been ever infamous for excommunicating murthering and deposing Princes I am no advocate for the Roman Cause but upon this account I think betwixt the Jesuite and the Puritan it may be a drawn Battel And yet he follows with an assurance that the Protestant Religion aims at nothing but that the Kings Prerogative and popular Liberty may be even Ballanced That is the Puritan the Presbyterian Religion as he explains himself a little lower I cannot call to mind one single passage in this whole Discourse concerning the Kings Power or the Peoples Liberty which is not either worded Doubtfully or with some popular Limitation upon the Royal Authority What does he mean by even Ballancing Cheek by Joul Or by what Warrant from the word of God does a Presbyters Religion intermeddle with Popular Liberty Unless the holy man intends to bring Homage to Kings within the compass of Ceremonies of Humane and Mystical Institution Yet once again The Presbyterian Principle he sayes is for subjection to Princes though they were Hereticks or Infidels and if they differ herein from the Prelatical Protestant I was afraid we had been all Papists it is only that they plead for Liberty setled by known Laws and fundamental Constitutiont Still ad Populum these are the Incantations which have bewitch'd this Nation This Charm of qualify'd Disloyalty and Conditional Obedience Behold the very Soul of the Faction in these five lines a fair profession first to his Majesty and with the same breath a seditious hint to the People What is that Liberty he talks of but a more colourable title to a Tumult That Legal Freedome to which both by the Royal Bounty and our own Birth-right we stand entituled we ought not to contest for with our Soveraign and God be prays'd we need not Now for another fit of kindnesse His Majesty our Native King may govern as he pleases without fear of Hazards by continuing to shew himself a Common Father Observation What 's this cause a kin to the third Article of the Covenant To preserve and defend the Kings Majesties person and Authority in the preservation and defence of the true religion and Liberties of the Kingdoms as who should say if he does otherwise let him look to himself The excessive Dominion of the Hierarchy with the rigorous imposition of humane Ceremonies was accounted much of the malady of former times which ended in those deadly Convulsions of Church and State Observation Since this pragmatical Levite will provoke a Controversie I am content to entertain it If the Bishops excesses were the Cause of War how came the Kings ruine to be the effect of it But 't is no new thing for a Presbyterian to saddle the wrong Horse Just in this manner did the Covenanters treat his late Majesty and by those very Troops that cryed down Bishops was the King murther'd Ridiculous Brutes to boggle at a Surplice and yet run headlong into a Rebellion The grand source of our Miseries was the Covenant by which as by a Spell in the Name of the blessed Trinity the people were insensibly bewitched into an aptnesse to work any wickednesse which the Interpreters of that Oracle should say was the Intendment of it The first notorious Rupture was in Scotland in 1637. attended with a COVENANT which without Question was formerly agreed upon by the confederate Faction of both Kingdoms as the most proper and least hazardous way of tasting the Kings patience and the Peoples humours That their design was laid and carried on by Counsels and Intelligence as aforesaid may be collected from the Consequent and brotherly Agreements and truly the Retrospect of the Act of Indemnity seems to hint no lesse for it commences from the first Scottish Broyls tho' four or five years before the War brake out in England what was begun by Covenant was so prosecuted By virtue of the Covenant the Kirk-party supply'd themselves with Men and Monies Armies were brought into the Field and beyond doubt many that truly loved the King not knowing what they did ingaged against him To keep up this delusion the Press and Pulpit did their parts and to deal freely after this advance I should as much have wondred if they had stop'd short of his death as I find others wondering how they durst accomplish it Death with a Bullet or an Axe is the same Mischief to him
Interest Mistaken OR THE Holy Cheat PROVING From the undeniable Practises and Positions of the Presbyterians that the Design of that Party is to enslave both King and People under the Masque of RELIGION By way of Observation upon a Treatise INTITULED The Interest of England in the Matter of RELIGION c. By ROGER L'ESTRANGE The Second Impression Aug. De Civ Dei Nullo modo his artibus placatur Divina Majestas quibus Humana Dignitas inquinatur LONDON Printed for Henry Brome at the Gun in Ivy-lane 1661. To the Honourable HOVSE of COMMONS Assembled in PARLIAMENT Most Honourable TO begg your Pardon or Protection were to suppose a Fault or Hazzard but in this Dedication finding neither I shall waive that Formality humbly submitting what I have to say my Reasons and my Self to your Authority and Wisdom without more Prologue or Apology There is a Faction which under the note of Presbyterian seems much concerned to stickle against Bishops Church-rites on the behalf of tender Consciences Their Writings and Opinions are with great Freedom Craft and Diligence dispers'd throughout the Nation to the great Scandal of the true Church and the Encouragement of those of the Revolt But this is yet the least part of the Mischief or in effect of their Design Their Ayme being to Tumultuate the People and make a Partie against the Civil Power Indeed their Pamphlets wear the Face of Church-disputes and Modells but he that reads them through and marques them narrowly shall find the King's Authority the Question That the late War against the King was Lawfull is a Position common to them all and this they publiquely maintain as the main Basis of the Cause By which assertion they cast the Bloud and Guilt upon His Majestie make his Adhaerents Traitors place the Supreme Authoritie in the two Houses subject the Law to an Ordinance the Government to a Faction and animate the Schismatiques to serve His Majestie in beeing as they did His Father This is the drift of their seditious Libells and of their Projects too if any judgement may be made upon their strict conformity of Argument and Methode to those that first embroyl'd us How farr this matter may require your Care becomes not me to meddle I thought it might be worth your Honours Knowledge and led by an Opinion of my Duty this state of the Affair such as it is I doe most humbly lay before you His Majesty had no sooner set Foot upon English ground but swarms of Pestilent papers were in a Readiness to enterteyn him Some of the sharpest of them I delivered to several Members of that Session with the Stationers name for whom they were Printed Smith at the Bible in Cornhill Croftons Agent but all too little to suppress them One Passage is this that Follows speaking of the limited Power of Kings This may serve to justify the proceedings of this Kingdom against the late King who in a hostile way set himself to overthrow Religion Parliaments Lawes and Liberties Hand in hand with this Pamphlet came forth Smectymnuus Reviv'd and recommended by Mr. Manton and since that time some Hundreds more of the same stamp whose common business 't is by Affronting of the Law and Flattering of the Rabble to cast all back into Confusiâ—n Among the many other Actours of Religion I find not any man playes his part better then the Author of That Treatise which hath extorted This who indeed abuses the People in very good terms Some hasty Observations I have pass'd upon him in favour of the easie and deceivable Vulgar which Prailties I submit to your Honours Charity but the main Equitie of the Cause I hope will stand the test of your severest Justice for doubtlesse much is due to the late King's Honour as well as to his Blood And somewhat with submission to your Wisdoms may be allow'd to his Partie at least sufficient to protect them from Popular contempt and the Infamous lash of every daring Libell I dare not trust my self further with my own thoughts and yet I take them to be such as very well consist with the Duty of Your Honours most Obedient and Humble Servant Roger L'estrange TO THE GOOD PEOPLE OF ENGLAND THe Cm mon good is the Common pretence of all seditious Combinations and it is no new thing for a Crafty Faction to impose upon a simple Multitude empty Appearances for Truths and Reason But our Reformers scorn to stop at this dull general method of Confusion The Law of God must be subjected as well as that of the Nation we must call Treason Loyalty and commit Murther as a point of Conscience No lesse than this is hinted in the Presbyterians Justification of the Scotish League and Quarrel nor have they any other aim than by procuring an Allowance of That War to make way to Another To this end they disperse their poysonous Infusions into all Quarters of the Kingdom under those very Forms of Piety and Tenderness by which they first betrayed us and by those very means do they now prosecute afresh their first Intentions That is they labour to promote the Cause by scandalous and rank Invectives against the Church and stirring up of Tumults to Reform it by a loud Pharisaical ostentation of their own Holyness a sour churlish Censure of all Others by sharp and sawcie Aspersions upon the Royal Party and by Reflections yet more bitter and Audacious upon his Sacred Majesty and his Murtherd Father To see these Libells passe with Freedom and Impunitie as if they were Authorized and to observe what foul Mistakes are grounded upon these grosse Allowances to the Kings Disadvantage and all without Controll or Confutation This and no other Reason so God blesse me that is of private Passion or Animosity of temper hath drawn this honest Folly from me I reckon it my Duty to my Prince and Country to my own Honour and to the Oath I have taken Where ever I find a publique Enemy to discover him And being thus Commissioned both by Authority and Conscience I proceed The Benefit of this Treatise is directed to the People and the Design of it is onely to lay open the Presbyterian Juggle that in one Age they be not twice deluded by the same Imposture My Arguments are Drawn from their own Practises and Positions from Presidents of Former times Cartwright and his Disciples from what hath passed within our own Experience from what these very men have done and from the very Logique of their own Writings what they professe they do intend to doe As the Delusion is apparent so is the Justice of Discoursing it Can it be thought that by the Act of Pardon his Majestie ever meant to subject all the Sober and Legal Interests of the Nation to be worried by a Faction Who of the Royal Party charges them Or if they did what has the Law done to offend them Or say the Law be sharp against them his Majesties unparalell'd Mercy has by
of the Nation I cannot Comprehend If they are so they should do well to cast their Cause upon a Popular Vote and try the Issue by the Poll. For Quiet sake no matter Many or Few there may be Equity where there wants Number We 'l rather see in point of Right what 't is they insist upon Which if exemption from Episcopal Authority in things Indifferent and of Humane Institution We must plead judgment of Discretion too as well as They A Freedom and Capacity to distinguish betwixt a Scandal Given and Taken betwixt a Dis-conformity proceeding from Conscience and from Passion Where the Dissent proceeds from Conscience a Toleration clears That Scruple but our good peoples Liberty consists in Burthening Others as well as Freeing Themselves and that 's Intolerable How many strange Indecencies are here one upon the neck of another I First here 's the Minor part imposing upon the Major Secondly a Novel and Vulgar Imagination bearing down an Apostolical Institution Thirdly a Private Opinion contesting with a Solemn and Publike Sanction and Finally the Subject of all this Earnestnesse in their own phrase is but a very Accommodable difference From what I have said I am perswaded that Severity to the Pertinacious Presbyter is the true interest of this Nation allowing yet Indulgence to the Conscientious Well but our Authour tells us that Abolition if possible is perillous and Toleration only an Imaginary Remedy Is not this to intimate that the Party makes less Conscience of a Tumult than of a Ceremony and to argue the necessity of Complying from the danger of Refusing What would these people do if they had Power that are so Bold without it And yet our Politician makes it the Kings Interest to Close with them He means perchance According to the Covenant The Coalition There of all Schisms and Heresies into One Interest was of great Reason and Important Service to the Commune work but we are now advising how to Settle not to Disjoynt a Government and to Incorporate Dis-agreements were to begin upon a Principle of Confusion As the Case stands with us in my weak Judgement Persons should rather be Indulg'd than Parties My Reason is this Some Individuals of that Perswasion have done His Majesty some Service but to the best of my Remembrance the Entire Party never any Yet one Reflexion more Allow these People all their Askings in what concerns their Discipline will they rest Quiet There without a further Hankering after more the Legislative Power perhaps the Militia or some such Trifle I am the more suspitious because I do not well remember where ever That Party was satisfied with less than All. Nor need I look far back for Instances to justifie my Fears But having in some measure hitherto Discovered his Foundation we 'l forward now and see what work he makes upon this Sandy Bottom taking his Title-page in my way for to my thinking he stumbles at the Threshold It runs thus The Interest of England In the Matter of RELIGION Unfolded in the Solution of these three QUESTIONS I. Qu. VVhether the Presbyterian Party should in Justice or Reason of State be Rejected and Depressed or Protected and Encouraged II. Qu. VVhether the Presbyterian Party may be Protected and Encouraged and the Episcopal not Deserted nor Disobliged III. Qu. Whether the Upholding of both Parties by a just and equal Accommodation be not in it self more desirable and more agreeable to the State of England Then the absolute Exalting of the one Party and the total Subversion of the other Written by J. C. Observation I would fain know what is meant by The Matter of Religion as it stands here related to Civil Interest Doctrine it cannot be for That were to advise a yielding upon a Principle of Policy in Opposition to a Rule of Conscience subjecting Interest of Religion which is Eternal Happiness to Reason of State which regards but Temporal Convenience If it be Discipline What 's that to the Interest of England Our Settlement depends upon a due Obedience to the Establish'd Law not the Encouraging of froward Humors by an Audacious and Mis-govern'd Zeal under pretext of Conscience to Affront it Let Authority Reform and Private Persons either Obey or Suffer we are to Answer for our own faults not those of the Government And in fine If the Hill will not come to Mahomet let Mahomet go to the Hill After a pleasant Breviate of the Story of our late Troubles handsomely Penn'd indeed in his tenth Page he takes his Biass At length says he a full Tide of Concurring Accidents carries him the Duke of Albemarle then General to a closure with the sober part of the Parliamentary Party who from first to last intended onely a Reformation and due Regulation of things in Church and State but abhorred the thought of destroying the King or changing the Fundamental Laws of the Kingdom Observation I thought the Act of Pardon and Oblivion had quieted all Animosities and silenc'd all Discourses of this Quality but 't is it seems The Interest of England in the matter of Religion to keep the Quarrel waking and by Asserting the proceedings of the two Houses in the late War to engage this King within the danger of his Fathers President To be as free with the Authour as he is with his Majesty I 'le put his meaning in a little plainer English Beside the Grand Division of the Nation into a Royal and a Popular Party that Party which he here calls Parliamentary is again Split and under this Subdivision are Comprised those which did Actually destroy the King and those which by good Fortune did it not Presbyterians and Independents The Sober part meaning the Presbyterian He justifies from first to last even to their very Intentions I must tread warily for I am here upon a narrow and a slippery path Not to Dispute the Gentlemans Intuitive Knowledge we 'l rather modestly believe that They mistook their way then He their meaning for certainly the Murther of the King was not the onely Unlawful violence Acted upon that Sacred Person and he that stops there does as much as nothing I would not touch upon this Subject were I not bound by Oath and Duty to discharge my Soul in what concerns the Honor and the Safety of my Prince Can the first Cause asserted by both Houses in opposition to his late Majesty be justifi'd and not the King condemn'd And is not the Honor and Safety of his Majesty that now is concern'd in these Indignities upon his Murther'd Father What was Then lawful is so still and he that but implicitly charges the Last King strikes at This. The Text will bear no other sense without a Torture But I shall by-and-by compare him with himself In the mean while we may explain one Presbyterian by another Douglas in 1651. preach'd the Kings Coronation-Sermon Which since his Majesties Return is over and over again Reprinted A King says he abusing his Power to the overthrow
every soul high and low to one divine Law and Rule perpetual and unalterable And therefore doth strongly plead the expedience of a due civil Liberty on the behalf of its Professors yet such a liberty as will not enfeeble Monarchy nor the Legal power of the Kings of England Observation Truly I think I have not seen words so well put together that signifie so little Because Religion is not variable but grounded upon an unchangeable and eternal Truth c. Therefore the Professors of it must have a due civil Liberty c. Is not a Due Liberty Due to all people Again What is civil Liberty to matter of salvation And yet again Why should the Presbyterians challenge that liberty to themselves which they refuse to others upon the very same Plea and not rather submit their Discipline to the Law then stoop the Law to their Discipline There is a Liberty which is a cloak for Maliciousness and I am afraid Theirs and That are much a-kinn One thing is very notable they never state what they would have their terms are general and indefinite hard to be understood because they are resolv'd not to be satisfi'd A Due Freedom a Due Civil Liberty The Legal Power What means all this but any thing they shall be pleased to make of it A King ruling a free People hath a Power much more noble and more free than he that ruleth over perfect Vassals that have no Propriety The power is more noble because it hath a more noble subject of Government it is more honorable to rule Men than Beasts and Freemen than slaves Likewise the power is more free For whatsoever Prince hath not his power limited by his people's legal freedom he will be bound up some other way either by the potency of subordinate Princes and great Lords within the Realm or by a veterane Army as the Turkish Emperor by his Janizaries and the Roman Caesars by the Pretorian Bands and the Legions Vpon which account to be a powerful Monarch over a free people is the freedome and glory of our Soveraign Lord above all the Potentates on earth Observation A King ruling a free people is a kind of Presbyterianism and sounds better in the mouth of a Lawyer than of a Divine The Correlate to Rule is Subjection nor will their Title to a Propriety yet justifie the common usage of the Term. 'T is of a dangerous Intimation and seems to give the people more than comes to their share I speak with reverence to the benignity of our English Laws and the Indubitable right which every Subject hath to the Benefits thereof That it is more honorable to Rule Free-men than Slaves is but a Complement For I can make those Slaves Free when I please whereas the other way of my power 's confin'd that is in Equity a Prince is bound to observe the Law as his own Act and if he fails the people may compel him to it if they can shew a Law for 't To end this point What Prince soever shall suffer every bubling brain to controvert the bounds of King and Subject the Royal Authority and the Peoples Freedom that Prince I say runs a great hazzard of his Soveraignty The very moving of the Question is to prophane the Sacredness of Majesty and by degrees begets irreverend and sawcy habits in the people But Rebellion he tells us and Disobedience is the loud out-cry of some against this Party And this were a crying sin indeed But let not sober minds be hurried into prejudice by such exclamations and out-cries It were to be wished for common peace and amity that the late publick Discords were eternally forgotten But seeing some in these times of expected Reconciliation will not cease to implead and condemn the honest minded and render them odious to the higher Powers a necessity is laid upon us to speak something Apologetical at least to mitigate the business and remove prejudice Observation Sure this loud out-cry of Rebellion aad Disobedience comes from within himself for truly I have a little watch'd the Press and since his Majesty's Return nay a good while before upon my conscience I have not met with one syllable of bitterness against that Party but Defensive Yet I dare undertake to produce forty Presbyterian Pamplets and Discourses of fresh date exceeding foul against the King and his Adherents It really makes me blush and tremble to consider how great a mercy they abuse how sad a vengeance they provoke Had but these people the least spark of natural affection and remorse the venerable ruines of a glorious Chuch and State would work upon them Or now and then a thought how matters stand betwixt God and their Souls But their great care of others make them neglect themselves and become true Anathemaes for a pretended publick good However they do well to cry Whore first and call that a Necessitated Apology which seems to me a palpable and causeless Slander We have heard much and often of the Presbyterians Loyalty and Religion we 'l look a little now into their Law which very fairly gives us to understand that the Vnbishopping of Timothy and Titus will not do their trick They are at work already upon the two main props of Royalty the King 's Negative Voice and the Power of the Sword A blessed Age the while when the Pulpit shall pretend to dispose of the Crown Kerve out the Government and every scribling Priest vent his seditious and crude Politiques to the People But now it works The Presbyterian Party in England never engaged under a less Authority than that of both Houses of Parliament I have read that the Parliament of England hath several capacities and among the rest these two First that it represents the People as Subjects and so it can do nothing but manifest their grievances and petition for relief Secondly That by the constitution it hath part in the Soveraignty and so it hath part in the Legislative power and in the final Judgment Now when as a part of the Legislative Power resides in the Two Houses as also a Power to redress grievances and to call into question all Ministers of State and Justice and all Subjects of whatsoever degree in case of Delinquency it might be thought that a part of the Supreme Power doth reside in them though they have not the honorary Title Observation Me-thinks we should do well to leave calling the Two Houses the Parliament of England having already paid so dear for that mistake Concerning the Power of the Parliament of England 'T is beyond doubt onely inferiour to the Fountain of all Power even God Himself But then an Agreement is imply'd neither King Lords nor Commons nor any Two of them can pretend to a Parliamentary Authority without the Third This is not to suppose Co-ordination neither The Two Houses are still Subjects Their Office being onely Consultive or Preparatory The Character of Power rests in the final Sanction and
his Royal Grace taken off the edge of it hazzarding himself to preserve these unthankfull People which are now practising upon that Authoritie that saved them And I beseech you what is the goodly Subject of the Controversie The Presbyterian Discipline forsooth and Ceremonies of Mystical and Humane Institution Touching the Former St. Augustine tells us that Aërius turn'd Heretique upon the misse of a Bishopprick the first assertor of Church-Parity I am affraid some of our Reverend Clergy are sick of his disease for their design is not so much to convert Bishops into Presbyters as to make every Presbyter a Bishop And then for Ceremonies they teaz and chafe the Common-people into a pettish scruple that would be well and quiet enough without them They make their Consciences like Skittish Jades that boggle at their own shadowes and start into a Precipice to avoid a Feather They tell us too of Number and press their Importunities in the Name of many thousands of the good people of the Nation so did the Kings insolent Judges and with as much truth the one as the other Let it be further noted that in this case the Factious and Schismatical Clergy are but with reverence Bawds to a State-faction A Tumult for Religion is within one step of Rebellion Nor do they only shape their loose Opinions to their lewd purposes but by all secret arts and practises they form their Parties But here I am confin'd All I design is only a fit Caution to all Well-meaning Subjects not to believe their Eares against their Reason If they can adde one Syllable of Weight to what they have already Promised and Broken I 'le give my self up to the Partie This is not yet to cast a general Blot upon all persons of that Judgement nor to excite any unquiet thoughts toward the rest but only to present a Modest and an Usefull warning to the people So far am I from a desire to move any distemper that I do positively affirm should the King which is impossible pick out of all his Subjects those very persons who upon twentie years experience have proved through all extremities how much they love his Cause and Person above their Lives and Fortunes should I say these be pick'd out by his Majestie and marqu'd for Slaves to those that with an equal Zeal and Steadynesse have opposed him Our Dutie were the same yet Severitie and Kindnesse may move us as Men but not as Subjects Obedience to Kings being a Divine Precept and not subjected to those accidents which work upon our Passions Nor shall this sense of my own Clearness betray me yet to a surprize for I fore-see a thousand mischiefs may befall me and all which either private Malice or open and bold Prejudice can cast upon me I am provided for To those of the Presbyterian perswasion that truly love the King I bear a more then Ordinarie Respect because it is a more then Ordinarie Virtue and for the rest I care not I am not now to learn the temper of the Rigid Presbyterians They did me once the Honour to Condemn me almost at Mid-night by a Pack'd Committee and without a Hearing well-nigh four years they kept me in Newgate upon that Account This was a pretty tast of their good Nature I do not now Complain but I Confesse it would have pleas'd me as well if the Bishop that Christens still by the Directory had chosen some other Chancellour instead of my Judge Advocate But I desire only to make a sober use of these Mistakes The King knowes nothing of them God Preserve his Majesty Convert his Enemies Comfort his Friends Farewell THE HOLY CHEAT PROVING From the undeniable Practices and Positions of the Presbyterians that the design of that Party is to enslave both King and People under the Masque of RELIGION c. IF the Authour of the Interest of England c. had meant fairly to the Question he would as well have told us the Good of Bishops and the Ill of Presbyters as he hath done the contrary and never have concluded For or Against Either from the Best Actions of the One and the Worst of the Other At least a man would think this partiality of Method might content him without the further service of those little Arts he uses to aid and recommend his Undertaking The Present state of things he represents quite other then it is and raises thence a Political expedience of doing This or That of Linking Interests never considering that he Himself Creates that Interest and gives Affairs the Face of that expedience Page the 16. he laies his ground-work In these following words Among the various dis-agreeing Parties within this Kingdom which seem to render it an indigested Mass of People two main ones appear above the rest of so large an interest that if by any means they might become no more twain but one they would take in and carry along the whole stream and strength of the Nation And these two are the Episcopal and Presbyterian Parties each of them highly laying claim to the Protestant Religion And undoubtedly whilst these two remain divided the Kingdom of England and the Protestant Religion is divided against it self This dis-union is removed either by the Abolition of one Party or by the Coalition of both into one The former if supposed possible cannot be accomplished but by violent perillous ways and means The latter is brought to pass by Accommodation or mutual yielding Moreover there is a third way imaginable Toleration indulged to the weaker side In which of these ways lies the true Interest of the King and Kingdom is the greatCase of the time and the Subject of this Discourse which presumes not to inform his Majesty but in subordination unto his declared Moderation and Condescention endeavours by shewing things as they are to convince and perswade Interessed persons that the Pacification begun for this Interim may be entire and perfect and fully setled for perpetual unity Observation Let it be here observed First what the Difference is Next betwixt whom In the Third place the Danger of it And Lastly the Expedient to remove it It seems the Episcopal and Presbyterian Parties United in Religion cannot Agree yet about Discipline and while These Two remain Divided the Publick is in Danger From hence results the Interest of Mutual Yielding his Coalition of both Parties into One Upon which Hinge moves the whole frame of his Design and in two Pages he gives the Presbyter possession of his Claim Deciding with exceeding ease the Case of King and Kingdom Opinion is a great Mistress for that which He so Magisterially Lays down and Challenges appears to me mis-stated and worse Managed I must confess his Reduction of all other Interests under Episcopal and Presbyterian is in some sense no ill Dichotomy that is intended of the two main Parties whereof the One's against the Law the Other for it But why the single Presbyterian should be Esteemed the Ballance
Monarchy shall have a place by it self yet I might very well content my self with what arises from his own words as they lie here before us to Prove what he Denies for in the same Breath he both Starts the Question and Resolves it Did not the English and Scotch Presbyters go about to dissolve Monarchy What is the Analysis of Monarchy but a Government by a Single Person and as I take it the Injur'd Father of our present Soveraign was That Person to whom of Right the Regal Dignity belonged Did not these Presbyters he talks of place the Supreme Power in the Two Houses and under Their Commission seize the King's Towns and Forts Levy Arms Tax the People Plunder and Kill their Fellow-Subjects Impose Oathes Share His Majesty's Revenues Persue and Jewishly sell and betray His Sacred Person If to do all this not onely Without but expresly Against the King's Commission be not to go about to dissolve Monarchy I know not what is Or if the Gentleman had rather dispute the Royal Prerogative than confess his own Mistake in this Particular we 'l look a little that way too but I doubt the Prospect will be none of the pleasantest Upon the Trial of Cook and Peters This was Delivered for Law See the Narrative Page 182 and 183. It is the Law of this Nation That no One House nor Both Houses of Parliament have any Coercive power over the King That the Imprisoning of the King is Treason And a little further Thus The King of England is one of those Princes who hath an Imperial Crown What 's That It is not to do what he will No but it is that he shall not be punished in his own Person if he doth That which is in it selfe Unlawful This is a short and clear decision of the Case nor will it serve the good man's turn to argue their Integrity from what they were bound to by their Covenant and Declarations It matters not what they Profess'd but what they Did. If this be all they have to say some Heads are now upon the City-Gates that said as much What was the Covenant but a Popular Sacrament of Religious Disobedience a Mark of Discrimination who were against the King and who were for him And this the Marquis of Montross soon found who being at first unwarily engaged in it with the Kirk-party quickly perceived his error and retired Living and dying the Honor of his Nation and of the Royal Cause Mark this His Loyalty was charged upon him at his Death for Breach of Covenant The Presbyterian Casuists would fain perswade the Nation to think themselves obliged by that Engagement Who Vnderstands it first And certainly we cannot be bound to do we know not what Next 't is impossible either to Keep or Break it 't is made up of so many Contradictions But once for All there is a Nullity in the Institution No man can oblige himself in things wherein he is subject without leave from his Superior And again The Oath of One who is under the power of Another without the others consent is neither Lawful nor Obligatory Thus the Reverend and Learned Bishop Sanderson Now to my Presbyterian again After the violent change of Government they came slowest and entred latest into those new Engagements imposed by the Vsurped Powers and some utterly refused even to the forfeiture of their preferments and the hazzard of their livelyhoods when the Nation in general submitted to the yoke and many of those who thus object against them did in temporizing run with the foremost The truth is the generality of Conscientious Presbyterians never ran with the current of those times Some more eminent among them Ministers and others hazzarded their lives and others lost their lives in combining to bring our Soveraign that now is to the rightful possession of this his Kingdom And those in Scotland adventured no more then all to uphold him and when he lost the Day they lost their Liberty and when he fell it was said by the Adversary Presbytery was fallen Where I must either leave the Story foul on the Kings side or prove it so on the Other my choice is pardonable but otherwise I shall be very tender of engaging the Honest Presbyterians with the Guilty That many of them lov'd His Majesty and suffer'd for him I will not question and that they all submitted most unwillingly to that Violent Change here mention'd I do as little doubt But I must needs say the Action had been Nobler and the Loyalty much Clearer had they consulted the Kings Security before they lost their own This does not yet oblige me to the same Charity for the Scotish Party who first during a Treaty with His Majesty basely and brutishly murthered Montrose and after that Treated the King himself liker a Prisoner than a Prince He urges that the Presbyterians first divided and then dissipated the Sectarian Party and so made way for his Majesties return in Peace Lambert and his Nine Worthies did as much I do believe him too that the sense of the Covenant quickned many men's Consciences in their allegiance to the King So did the Cock-crowing mind St. Peter of the denial of his Master But he went out and wept bitterly So does not every body Alas alas the Saints have no faults what should they weep for It may be peradventure said the Presbyterians would enervate Monarchy but surely says our Discourser I cannot find the rise of this Objection unless from hence that they were not willing to come under any yoke but that of the Law of the Realm or to pay Arbitrary Taxes levied without consent of Parliament Observation From hence these two Deductions First That the Subjects free from that which binds the King namely the Yoke of Law Suppose He breaks that Law by what Law can we question him At best 't is but to punish One Transgression by Another The Second Hint is Dis-ingenuous as if Arbitrary Taxes had been the subject of the Difference All the world knows before a blow was strook the King had stript himself to his Honour and his Conscience to gratifie his People But 't was the Government they aim'd at and that they fought for Here is yet another gentle slip What are Taxes to Presbytery But this is a Devil that will hardly be kept within his Circle Just so in their Practices do they reduce all Civil Actions under the Cognizance of their Courts of Conscience as he brings here by head and shoulders Arbitrary Taxes to Matter of Religion I confess says he there are none that more reverence their Liberties and value the native-happiness of the free-born Subjects of England And verily their true knowledge and sense of the nature of Christian Religion makes a due freedom exceeding precious For this Religion is not variable according to the will of man but grounded upon an unchangeable and eternal truth and doth indispensably bind
But I shall pass my bounds too far I 'll borrow one Maxim of the judicious Hooker upon thâ—t subject which shall serve for all Those things which the Law of God leaveth Arbitrary and at liberty are all subject unto positive Laws of men which Laws for the common benefit abridge particular mens libertie in such things as far as the rules of equity will suffer After the Quality of our Ceremonies the holy man will have one fling at the number of them If the English Ceremonies be warrantably used what hinders the use of divers other Ceremonies used in the Roman Church Is it said their multitude will become burthensome and inconvenient But who can determine the convenient number And however an exchange of one Ceremony for another were not unlawful For what reason may not some other Romish Rites in Baptism be used as well as the Cross seeing they are nothing less significant or inoffensive nay peradventure much more inoffensive because the Papists by giving divine worship to the Cross have abused it to gross Idolatry Observation Beggars must be no choosers Must we use all or none The English Church hath made election of the English Ceremonies what and how many being the proper Judge both in the point of Number and Convenience 'T is not for us to Question the Authority but to Obey it What if the Cross hath been abused So hath the Knee been bent the Hands and Eyes addressed to an Idol Are we because of this mis-application prohibited to worship the true God in the same manner and posture Now to the Liturgy again The Presbyterians are not satisfied in the present Liturgy but desire it may be laid aside or much reformed And what solid reason withstands the Equity of this desire This solid reason does withstand it They beg like sturdy Cripples for Christ's sake with a Cudgel And 't is not safe for Authority to give ground to a Faction Whosoever observes impartially shall find that political prudence was joyn'd with Christian Piety in composing the English Service-Book And the same Prudence is now joyn'd with the same Piety both in the Right and Interest of preserving it His next grief is a heavy one Canonical Subscription lately impos'd is a yoke of bondage Now mark him to be considered by all those that have a true regard to such Liberty in Religion as Equity and Necessity pleads for Observation Either this passage is seditious and to enflame the people against Authority or I am no Englishman The Canon says he requires a subscribing to the thirty nine Articles to the Common-Prayer-Book to the Book of ordering Bishops Priests and Deacons that all these contain in them nothing contrary to the Word of God This is unreasonable unprofitable and unnecessary Nay let us take in the third Article too To wit That the nine and thirty Articles are agreeable to the Word of God And now the form of Subscription viz. I do willingly and ex animo subscribe to these three Articles above mentioned and to all things that are contained in them This is the Yoke of Bondage which our Reverend Libertine complains of First to the unreasonableness of this subscription Touching the King's Supremacy asserted in the first Article he is silent and I suppose he would be thought consenting As to the rest what Reason is there that any man should be admitted into the Ministery without subscribing to the Constitution of that Church into which he seeks admitance If he cannot subscribe in Conscience he cannot be admitted in Prudence and if he refuses in point of stomach that man is not of a Gospel-temper In fine he that holds a fair opinion of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England may very reasonably set his hand to his opinion and he that does not may as reasonably be rejected because of such disagreement So much for unreasonable Neither is it unprofitable for such as have any spark either of Honor or Shame will in regard to such a Testimony be tender of giving themselves the Lye whatever they would do otherwise His third Cavil is that it is unnecessary so are his Exceptions Let any man consider when all these Bars and Limits are too little to restrain turbulent and sacrilegious spirits from dangerous and irreverent attempts what Seas of Schism and Heresie would break in upon us were but these Banks demolish'd But he hath found out an expedient how Unity in Doctrine and Uniformity in practise may be as well attain'd and far more kindly without this enforced Subscription that is If no Minister be suffered to Preach or Write any thing contrary to the establish'd Doctrine Worship or Discipline nor ordinarily for the main to neglect the establish'd Rule Observation This last passage appears to me most spitefully pleasant Not ordinarily for the main that is Always sometimes he would neglect the establish'd Rule If the Laws already in force against Revolters had been duly executed 't is likely the Interest of England in the matter of Religion had not been now the Question But still this supposition does not imply an absolute sufficiency of that strictness to all intents and purposes of Order and Agreement 'T is what we Think not what we Say the harmony of Souls more then of Forms which God regards without that sacred and entire consent of Judgment and Affections the rest is but a flat and cold formality Not to act contrary to prescribed Rules where we are bound up by a Penalty is but a Negative and Passive Obedience a compliance rather with Convenience than Duty unless joyn'd with a prone and full assent both to the truth and equity of those determinations For these and many reasons more Canonical subscription seems to me exceeding necessary But for those people to decline it upon pretence forsooth of Conscience that upon pain of Freedom and Estates nay and of Hell it self enforced the Covenant is most unequal A Presbyterian Preacher refused to pray for Sir William Nesbett late Provost of Edenburgh when he was lying upon his Death-bed onely because he had not subscribed the Covenant Let me be pardoned if I understand not this incongruous Holiness As for the Decrees and Canons of the Church what rightful Authority doth make them as the Law of the Medes and Persians that altereth not Observation Surely his Reverence over-shoots himself What rightful Authority The Kings and by a less Authority they cannot be discharged By that Authority that Licenses the Excommunication of the Impugners of the Rites and Ceremonies established in the Church of England the Opposers also of the Government by Arch-bishops Bishops c. By that Authority to which this Gentleman hath forfeited the Head he wears Well but he tells us The publick state of these differences is such that the Prelatists may and ought to descend to the Presbyterians in the proposed moderate way but the Presbyterians cannot come
that suffers it and the same Crime wilfully done in those that Act it No man can rationally allow one and condemn the other For if the Violence be Lawful why not as well in the Field as upon a Scaffold In this particular the Doctor is beside his Cushion He makes me think of the Marquiss of Newcastle upon a sawcy Clergy-man Why should I remember that he 's a Priest says my Lord if he forgets it himself His next argument against Prelacy is a Modest and as I take it a queint One Can the self same State sayes he and Frame of Ecclesiasticks be now revived after so great and long continued alterations by which the Anti-prelatical party is exceedingly increased and strengthned Surely this Gentleman has a mind to give his Brother Crofton a visit Cannot Prelacy be better restored after a Discontinuance then Presbytery erected where it never had a Being The very Laws are yet to make for the One and still in force for the Other But the great Obstacle is the Anti-prelatical party is exceedingly increased and strengthned Truly I think if his Majesty should lessen the Number of them by two or three of the Promoters of that Doctrine the Precedent might do some good upon the rest Can any thing be more feditious These hints upon fair grounds and given in private might very well become the gravity of a Churchman or the profession of a Loyal Subject But to the People these Calculations are Dictates of Sedition and only meant to engage the credulous and heady multitude in false opinions both of the Tyranny of Prelates and their own Power Thus far in Observation upon the first Part of The Interest of England in the matter of Religion c. The whole Structure whereof in his own words rests upon these Positions as its adequate foundation 1. That whilest the two forenamed Parties remain divided both the Protestant Religion and the Kingdome of England is divided against it self 2. That the Presbyterians cannot be rooted out nor their Interest swallowed up whilest the State of England remaineth Protestant 3. That their subversion if it be possible to be accomplished will be very pernicious to the Protestant Religion and the Kingdome of England 4. That the Coalition of both Parties into one may be effected by an equal accommodation without repugnancy to their conscientions Principles on either side in so much that nothing justifiable by Religion or sound Reason can put a Bar to this desirable Union The whole matter in Debate he tells us rests upon three main Enquiries I. Qu. Whether in Justice or Reason of State the Presbyterian Party should be Rejected and Depressed or Protected and Incouraged II. Qu. Whether the Presbyterian Party may be protected and incouraged and the Episcopal not Deserted nor Dis-obliged III. Qu. Whether the Upholding of both parties by a just and equal accommodation be not in it self more desireable and more agreeable to the State of England than the absolute exalting of the one party and the total subversion of the other Observation I shall now offer some further Reasonings of my Own upon this Subject therein proposing such Brevity and Clearnesse that both the Lazy and the Busie may find time to read it and the Weakest not want Capacity to understand it His first Position holds no further good then as the Presbyterians are first Protestants in the matter of the difference and then Considerable in the ballance of the Nation Religion led the Quarrel so let it the Dispute In using the word Protestant I follow Custome for I had rather call it Catholick but Protestant let it be I suppose by the Protestant Religion we understand That of the Reformed Churches to whose Decision we shall willingly submit the sum of our Disagreements which may be stated under a Reduction to these Two Questions I. Qu. Whether or no the Government of the Church by Archbishops Bishops be Antichristian or Unlawful II. Whether such Laws of Humane and Significant Institution as are orderly made and neither contradict the General Laws of Nature nor any positive Law in Scripture be Binding or not First concerning the Prelacy Luther himself distinguishes betwixt Popish Tyrants and True Bishops professing his Quarrel to them as Popish not as Bishops The Authors of the Augustane Confession leave it upon Record That they would willingly preserve the Ecclesiastical and Canonical Polity if the Bishops would cease to Tyrannize over their Churches Bucer advises by all means the restoring of such Ecclesiastical Governments as the Canons prescribe Episcopis Metropolitanis to Bishops and Metropolitans Melancthon to Luther You would not imagine says he how some people are netled to see Church-policy restored as if it were the Romish Soveraignty again Ita de Regno suo non de Evangelio dimicant socii nostri Calvin himself recommends the Hierarchy to the King of Poland and treating concerning the Primitive Church says That the Antient Government by Arch-bishops and Bishops and the Nicene constitution of Patriarchs was for Orders sake and good Government Ad Disciplinae conservationem pertinebat The same person being called to accompt by Cardinal Sadolet concerning the Geneva defection and for subscribing the Augustane Confession renders this Answer Cursed be such as oppose that Hierarchy which submits it self to Christ Jesus Nullo non Anathemate dignos censeo quotquot illi Hierarchiae qui se Domino Jesu submittit subjici nolunt Zanchi the Compiler of the Gallican Confession observes a Change of Name rather than of Office throughout most of the German Churches Bishops and Arch-bishops being onely disguised under the notion of Super-intendents and General-Superintendents acknowledging That by the consent of Histories Counsels and the antient Fathers those Orders have been generally Allow'd by all Christian Societies Beza the rigid Successor of Calvin being check'd by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury for intermedling beyond his Spheare We do not charge says he all Archbishops and Bishops with Tyranny The Church of England hath afforded many learned Men and many glorious Martyrs of that Function If that Authority be there still in Beeing may a perpetual Blessing go along with it Fruatur sane istâ singulari Dei beneficentiâ quae utinam illi sit perpetua This with all Ceremony was addressed Totius Angliae Primati To the Primate of all England and in the name of the whole Church of Geneva Saravia makes him him speak yet plainer who arguing for the Hierarchy out of the Apostles Canons receives from Beza this Reply This is no more then what we wish might be restored to all Churches Quid aliud hic statuitur quam quod in omnibus locis Ecclesiis restitutum cupimus Zanchi comes up to the very Case of England nay and a little further too not onely affirming Episcopacy to be agreeable to the Word of God But where it is in exercise that it ought to continue and where by violence it hath been abolish'd that it ought
In 87. The Discipline was received and put in practise in Northampton-shire In 88. A Classical Assembly at Coventry In 89. A general Meeting in Cambridge and another at Ipswitch In 1590. Vpon the detection of the Premises they refused to answer upon Oath Being thus Associated they appropriate to their Meetings the name of the Church and use the style The Offices of the Lord Arch-bishops and Bishops c. says Martin Junior are condemn'd by the Doctrin of the Church of England By these degrees the Schismaticks advanced to a dangerous heighth and Boldness and of this temper and extraction are our Presbyterians After the aforemention'd discovery a stricter eye and hand was kept upon them divers of the Ring-leaders were imprison'd and the Covy broken Upon the coming in of King James they began to stir again but he knew them too well either to Trust or Suffer them How they behaved themselves towards the late King is to the eternal Infamy not onely of the Faction but of the Nation too notorious What they design toward the present Government That 's the Question And now I come to enquire Whether in Justice or Reason of State the Presbyterian Party should be Rejected and Depressed or Protected and Incouraged Before I fall upon the Question once again I explain my self By PRESBYTERIAN I intend a Faction that under colour of setling a Reform'd DISCIPLINE seeks to dissolve the frame of an establish'd Government And first I am to prove that Party so distinguish'd such a Faction which both from their own Practises Positions and from Common Observation and Authority I think I shall make good and that their last aim is to exercise that Tyranny themselves which they pretend to punish We 'l first examine how they treat the Civil Power If Princes be Tyrants against God and his Truth their Subjects are freed from their Oaths of Obedience Kings Princes and Governors have their Authority of the People and upon Occasion the People may take it away again Ministers ought not to obey the Prince when he prescribes Ceremonies and a Fashion of Apparel Evil Princes ought by the Law of God to be deposed Andrew Melvil being cited to answer for Treason delivered in a Sermon declined the judgment of the King affirming That what was spoken in Pulpit ought first to be tried and judged by the Presbytery and that neither the King nor Counsel might in primâ instantiâ meddle therewith although the speeches were Treasonable Strike the Basilique vein nothing but this will cure the Plurisie of our State Let us never give over till we have the King in our power and then he shall see how good Subjects we are Delivered in a Sermon It is lawful for Subjects to make a Covenant and Combination without the King But to come nearer Home to shew that the whole Gang is of the same Leaven Worse than all this was daily printed against the late King even by those Persons that were in pay to the Presbyterian Faction and yet at last those outrages are justifi'd against the Father by such as would be thought Loyal to the Son If Parliaments think to scape better they are deceived If the Brethren cannot obtain their will by suit nor dispute the Multitude and People must do the Feat One preached That though there were never so many Acts of Parliament against the Covenant yet it ought to be maintain'd against them all The Parliament can make no Law at all concerning the Church but onely ratifie what the Church decrees and after it hath ratifi'd it yet if the Assembly of the Church shall prohibite it and repeal that Decree of the Church all the Subjects are discharged from yielding obedience to that Act of Parliament An Assembly may abrogate Acts of Parliament if they any way reflect upon business of the Church Reformation of Religion belongs to the Commonalty Of the Parliament in the 24 year of the Queen says the Supplication if the desired Reformation be not granted There shall not be a man of their seed that shall prosper be a Parliament man or bear Rule in England any more Concerning Laws established They Fall in Consequence with the Power that makes them Presbyterians opinion of Bishops Let us see now with what modesty they treat the Church and first the Bishops They are Ordinances of the Devil Proud Popish presumptuous prophane paltry pestilent pernicious Prelates and Vsurpers Robbers Wolves Simoniacks Persecutors Sowers of Sedition Dragons and so to the end of the Chapter Their Clergy an Antichristian Swinish Rabble The Ministers are neither Proved Elected Called nor Ordained according to Gods Word The Ceremonies Carnal Beggerly Antichristian Pomps Presbyterian Reformation Hitherto the Faults of Governors and Government now their Proposals of Amendment and Reformation by what Rules and by what Means we may be Governed Better Thus then Let the whole Government of the Church be committed to Ministers Elders and Deacons Very good and to whom the Government of the State Why to Them too For the Church wherein any Magistrate King or Emperor is a Member is divided into some that are to Govern viz. Pastors Doctors and Elders and into such as are to obey viz. Magistrates of all sorts and the People The Question is next about the Extent of the Ecclesiastical Power and in what manner that Assumption hooks in all Civil Actions within their Cognisance In Ordine ad Spiritualia Forsooth by which rule nothing scapes them 'T is the desire of the Admonitor That he and his Companions may be deliver'd by Act of Parliament from the Authority of the Civil Magistrates as Justices and others and from their Inditings and Finings The Eldership shall suffer no leud customs to remain in their Parishes either Games or otherwise And further The Office of the Church-Governors is to decide Controversies in Doctrine and Manners so far as pertaineth to Conscience and the Church-censures Every Fault says Cartwright that tendeth either to the Hurt of a man's neighbour or to the hindrance of the glory of God is to be examined and dealt in by the Orders of the holy Church Nay Knox goes further yet The bare Suspition of Avarice or of Pride Superfluity or Riotousness in Chear or Rayment Even this Nicety falls within their Censure Now would I know what need of a Civil Magistrate when even our private thoughts are subjected to the Scrutiny of a Presbytery But will some say What signifies the intemperance of Particular tongues as to the General of the Party I am challenged by the Author of the Interest of England to produce their Actions and That 's my next immediate Business The Presbyter has now the Chair see how he manages his Greatness None of that Tyranny ye found in Bishops I warrant ye no groaning now under the Yoke of Antichrist the intolerable burthen of canonical Subscription the Imposition of