There remains the fourth thing yet behind, which is an answering of the objections that are brought against this way of examination by Minister and Elders. But this, and divers other considerable things, which we shall propound, to perswade people unto a cheerful obedience to this part of Church-Reformation, so comfortably begun in many Congregations in this Kingdome; We shall leave, till we come to that part of this discourse, which we call, The EXHORTATION; to which we refer the Candid Reader, that desires further satisfaction.
And thus we have given you a short survey of the nature of the Presbyterial Government; together with an answer to the most material objections against it: which we have done only for this end, that so (as we have said) we might undeceive those, who look upon it as lordly and tyrannical; and by these bug-bears, are scared from submitting to it. And we beseech our several Congregations, to judge of it, as it is here represented, and to be willing to come under the yoke of it, which is light and easie, (being the yoke of Christ) and which will in a short time make our Congregations (if received into them) glorious for their unity, verity, and piety.
We are not ignorant, that it hath many Adversaries. The obstinately ignorant hates it, because it will not suffer him to go blindfold to hell. The prophane person hates it, because it will not suffer him to eat and drink his own damnation, by unworthy coming to the Sacrament. The Heretique hates it, because after two or three admonitions, it rejects him. The Jesuite hates it, because it is an invincible bulwark to keep out Popery. The Schismatique, because the main design of it, is to make all the Saints to be of one lip, one heart, and one way. And above all, the Devil hates it, because if rightly managed, it will in a short time blow up his kingdome.
But notwithstanding all these great and potent enemies, our comfort is, That this Government is the Government of Jesus Christ, who is the King of his Church, and hath given unto us the keyes of his Kingdom, hath promised to be with us, to protect and defend us to the end of the world; upon whose shoulders the government is laid; & though we be utterly unable, yet he that was able to bear the wrath of God upon his shoulders, is able to bear up this Government against the wrath of man. For this end and purpose, all power in heaven and earth is given unto him; and he is now sitting at the right hand of God, for the more effectual exercising thereof: and will there remain, till he hath made all his enemies his foot-stool. Whose priviledge it is, to rule in the midst of his enemies: And will one day say, Those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me. Be wise now therefore, O ye Kings, be instructed ye Judges of the Earth; serve the Lord with fear, and rejoyce with trembling. Kisse the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little; blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
THere remains the second particular yet behind; and that is the Vindication of our persons, (especially of such amongst us, who are teaching Elders,) from the slanders and cruel reproaches that are cast upon us; which we shall undertake, not so much for our own, as for our peoples sake, lest hereby our Ministry should be rendred useless and ineffectual; for (as [89]Austine saith) though a Ministers good conscience is sufficient for himself, yet his good name is necessary for his people: who ordinarily dis-esteem the Doctrine of him, whose person they dis-esteem. We thank God, we can say with the Apostle, with us, It is a very small thing that we should be judged of mans judgment: He that judgeth us is the Lord. We remember what the Apostle tells us in that little Book of Martyrs, of divers Saints, whose shoe-latchets we are not worthy to untye; who endured cruell mockings, yea moreover bonds and imprisonments, they were stoned, they were sawn assunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, &c. of whom the world was not worthy, and yet even they were not thought worthy to live in the world. And therefore we can with the more willingness, suffer our selves to be the But of every mans malice, and the subject of every dayes Pamphlet. We read, that even Elias himself was called the troubler of Israel, by him who was the chief troubler thereof. And that Saint Paul, who was wrapt up into the third heaven, was accused by Tertullus, to be a Pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world. And that the Primitive Confessors and Martyrs, famous for the holiness of their lives, were charged before the Heathen Emperors, to be the vildest of men; to be first murderers, and then eaters of their own children; to be guilty of incestuous marriages, and in their private meetings to commit uncleanness. And their Religion also was represented, as the cause of all the Earthquakes, famines, plagues, and other miseries of those times.[90]
We have formerly made mention of the reproaches which the Anabaptists of Germany cast upon Luther; and we might adde the horrible and prodigious lies & slanders raised by the Arians against Athanasius, that great Champion of Jesus Christ, and the hideous and strange reports, and bitter invectives of Michael Servetus and Bolseck, against Calvin. But that which doth quiet our spirits, more then all this, is, the consideration of Christ Jesus himself, who when he was here upon Earth, was accused to be an Enemy to Cæsar, a friend to Publicans and Sinners, a Glutton and a Wine-bibber, &c. It is enough for the Disciple that he be as his Master, and the Servant as his Lord; if they have called the Master of the house Belzebub; how much more shall they call them of his Houshold?
As for the particular accusations that are charged upon us, they are, we confess, very many, and very great; and if to be accused, were sufficient to make us guilty, we were of all men most miserable. But we hope it may be said of us, as it was once of Cato, That as he was 32. times accused, so he was 32. times cleared and absolved. And we trust, that the Lord will in due time, dispell all these thick mists and fogs which our adversaries have raised up against us, and bring forth at last our Righteousnesse as the light, and our judgment as the noon day. And we do here profess before the great God, that in all the great changes that have bin lately made amongst us, it hath been our great endeavour to keep our selves unchanged, making the unchangeable Word our Rule, and the unchangeable God our Rock. And we are confident, that no man will account us Apostatized from our principles, but such as are in a great measure Apostatized from their own professions. There are some men that Proteus-like, can transform them into all shapes, for their own advantage, according to the times wherein they live; and Camelion-like, can change themselves into any colour but white, can turn any thing, but what they should be. And because we cannot change our consciences with the times, as some do; therefore, and therefore only, are we counted Changlings. It is just with such men, as with men in a ship at Sea, that will not be perswaded, but that the shore they pass by moves, and not the ship wherein they are. As for Us, we are, and hope (through Gods grace) ever shall be fixt and immoveable in our first principles. We were not the causers of the first War, between King and Parliament; but were called by the Parliament to their assistance: and the ground of our ingaging with them was, The Propositions and Orders of the Lords, and Commons in Parl. Jun. 10. 1642. for bringing in of mony and plate, &c. wherein they assured us, that whatever should be brought in thereupon, should not at all be employed upon any other occasion, Then to maintain the Protestant Religion, the Kings authority and his person, in his Royall Dignity; the free course of justice; the Laws of the Land, the peace of the Kingdom; and the Priviledges of Parliament, against any force which shall oppose them. And in this we were daily confirmed & incouraged more and more, by their many subsequent Declarations and Protestations, which we held our selves bound to believe, knowing many of them godly and conscientious men, of publique Spirits, zealously promoting the good both of Church and State. The War we ingaged in by Authority of Parliament, was only defensive, (which not only [91]Bishop Bilson, and [92]Bishop Bedell, but divers others of the Prelatical way hold to be just and warrantable.) We never opposed the King further, then He opposed His own Laws: Our aym in all that great Undertaking (as the great Heart-searcher knows) was to secure Religion, to preserve the Government of the Kingdom, and to remove the Wicked from before the King, that his Throne might be established in Righteousness.
And this Act of ours, was not at all contrary to the Oath of Allegeance which we have taken; because the intent of that Oath can be no other, then to oblige to obey the King, according to the Laws of the Kingdome; and to our knowledg, we never disobeyed the King in his legall and political capacity; though we confess we did, and by the Law were allowed to deny obedience unto him in his personall capacity, when it did cross his legall. And therefore they that charge us so deeply, and reiterate their charge by their multiplyed Pamphlets, That we Ministers are the cause of all the Murders and Blood sheddings of these late years, and other horrid practices which we forbear to mention, have the greater sin.
But our comfort is, the witness of our Consciences, and the integrity of our Carriages; and we doubt not but we can truly appeal, as David, did when he was accused for seeking the life of Saul. The Lord judg between them and us, and plead our cause, and deliver us out of the hands of these cruell and unreasonable accusers. This is all we shall return in answer to the first War; As for the second War, we profess, we stand amazed at the impudency of that man[93], who is not afraid, even against his own conscience (we fear) to say of the Presbyterian Ministers, That they did separate their consecrated Lungs, for Bellows to blow up the Coals amongst the People this last Summer; That they were the Ghostly Fathers of all or the greatest part of those Anti-Parliamentary Barabasses, who so lately commenced Masters of Mis-rule in Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Essex, Wales, &c. That in stead of lifting up their voyces like Trumpets, to cause the People to know their abominations, they lift them up like Trumpets, to prepare them to commit abominations, &c. That Tumults, Insurrections, and Rebellions of the People against Authority, in order to the advancement of High Presbytery, seem lawfull, yea, and commendable practices unto many of them. To all which, and Multitudes of such like cruel invectives, we return the answer of the Archangel, Jude 9. The Lord rebuke thee. It is well known to all that are not wilfully and maliciously blind, what help the Presbyterian Ministers and People did contribute towards the quenching of those flames; and that in all probability, the Army had been utterly destroyed, had not the Presbyterian Forces in Lancashire, Suffolk, Essex, and in divers other places (incouraged by the Ministers) come in timously, and vigorously to their assistance. And the time was, when this was ingenuously acknowledged by one of the chiefest of the Army, though the forementioned Pamphleter, possessed with prejudice against us, will not remember any such thing; and though some of us be like to be dealt withall by way of recompence, just as M. Tullius Cicero was, who had his head cut off by Popilius Lænas, whose head he had saved from cutting off; or as Constans, the Son of Constantine the great was served, who was kil'd by one Magnentius, whose life he had formerly preserved.[94] And what the Ministers of London in particular did in this kind, is well known to all unprejudiced Citizens. We did not abet (as we are falsly accused) but abhor and detest, that horrid violence offered to the Parliament, upon that fatall Munday, July 6. 1647. We have always been, and still are friends to the Priviledges of Parliament, according to our Covenant. And for this very cause it is, even because we will not break the priviledges of Parliament, that we suffer so deeply from these kind of men at this day. Although we could (if recriminations were good answers) put them in mind of Pamphlets, not a few, written by them, and those of their way, in justification of as horrid acts of violence offered to the Parliament. When the Scottish Army came last into England, (though we are shamefully traduced, as if we had encouraged and invited them to come in,) yet our consciences do witness with us, and our Auditors can testifie for us, that we did unanimously oppose them, as men that pretended the Covenant, but acted quite contrary unto it. We profess, that in conscience we are bound, and in practice we shall endeavour to obey lawfull Authority in all lawfull things; and when we cannot actively obey, we shall be ready passively to submit. If our hearts deceive us not, we have no design but the glory of God, no interest like that of Religion. We desire more to sow spiritualls, then reap temporalls. And that Christ and his Gospel, may be exalted, though upon our ruines. Pardon us, that we become fools in glorifying, for ye have compelled us. We hunt not after tythes, and great Livings, but seek the salvation of our peoples souls; and had our enemies a window into our hearts, they would finde these our professions to be true and unfeigned. And yet we must crave leave to tell these men, That the design of taking away Tythes from the Ministry, was first invented by that cursed Apostate Julian, who (as Mr. Stock that Reverend, pious, and painfull Preacher hath observed[95],) by this means is noted, more to have overthrown the Church, then all the Persecuting Emperours before him. Because they took away Presbyters, and their Martyrs blood was the seed of the Church, but he took away Presbyterium, the Ministry it self, in withdrawing the maintenance from the Church, and so overthrew the Worship of God. As for our way of preaching, though we are far from justifying any indiscreet and passionate expressions, yet we conceive it to be very hard measure, to have our integrity arraigned and condemned for humane infirmities. And we hope we may, without boasting, say thus much; That the setled Ministry of England was never more censured, molested, impoverished and yet never more pious, peaceable, and painfull. And that our condition in this juncture of affaires, is just like that of the Romane, That had a suit commenced against him, because he did not receive the sword of his enemy far enough into his bowels. And that therefore it is that some men rail against us, because we will not break our Oaths and Covenants, and will not serve the times, but serve the Lord. It is a great refreshing to us, to consider the wise dispensation of God, in ordering the affaires of this Kingdome, so, as he hath thereby discovered the hidden hypocrisie and cousenage of many men, unto those who otherwise would not have believed it. And we earnestly intreat these men to consider, as in the sight of God, before whose dreadfull judgment Seat, both we and they must shortly give an account of all things done in these our mortall bodies; Whether in that dreadful day it will appear a righteous thing, If those who have cryed down Persecution so much, should now themselves become the greatest Persecutors. And if they who have formerly abhorred others, as men transported with an Antichristian spirit, but for a bare suspition, that if they got power into their hands, they would prove cruell and tyrannicall to poor tender consciences, should now actually attempt to do that themselves, the which upon bare suspition, they did condemn in others: And if any who have accused others for seeking great Offices, and places of gain and preferment, should now manifest themselves to be none of the least self-seekers. Alas! who knows, or can discern the deceitfulness of our hearts? and that if we give way upon meer outward occurrences, to change our principles, but that upon further changes, the Righteous Lord may leave us to Satans stronger delusions, to transport us further, then at present can come in our hearts to imagine; that so after all the glorious beginnings in the Spirit, we should fearfully Apostatize, and end in the flesh. For our parts, we tremble to think of those formidable Judgments of our Righteous God. And our prayer to God is, that he would keep us sincere in all changes, and that he would plead our cause for us. And our rejoycing, is the testimony of our consciences, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdome, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world. It is the integrity of our consciences, that carries us above all the reproaches and slanders that are cast upon us: and that makes us go on in doing our duties, maugre all opposition; and to commit the maintaining of his own cause, and the cleering of our callings and persons unto the Lord, who judgeth righteously.
[1] Ezra 4.15, 24.