To Prince James, Letter – Errata
To the right High and mightie Prince, IAMES by the grace of God, King of great Britannie, France, and Irelande, Defender of the faith, &c.
An humble Supplication for Toleration and libertie to enioy and observe the ordinances of Christ IESVS in th'administration of his Churches in lieu of humane constitutions.
Psal. 35.11.
Cruell witnesses did rise vp: they asked of me things that I knew not.
Dan. 6.22.
VntoUnto thee (o King) I hauehave done no hurt.
Act. 24.14.
But this I confesse vntounto thee, that after the way (which they call heresie) so worship I the God of my Fathers, beleeving all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets.
Tertul. ad Scapul.
Colimus Imperatorem vt hominem a Deo secundum, & solo Deo minorem.
1609.
To the right High and Mightie Prince, IAMES by the grace of God, King of great Britannie, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. An humble Supplication for a Toleration and libertie to enjoy and obserue the ordinances of Christ Iesus in the administration of his churches in lieu of humane constitutions.
Most gratious Soveraigne and mightie Prince,
HAving observed on th'one parte your Maiesties Princely inclination to distribute iustice and merciemercy amongst your people, and called to mind on the other parte the interest we have, as being your Subiects, to the worthie comforts & advantages which the King of Kings hath inclosed in your Royall Scepter, that you might deliver them foorth & dispose them according to the occasions presented: We your High. faithful servants the silēced and disgraced Ministers of the Gospel, together with sundrie others concurring in opinion and persuasion of religion with vsus, do in all humilitie presume to make tender vntounto your Ma. of an humble motion, such as concerneth the glorie of Christs Kingdome, the adorning of your Imperial Crowne, the service of the Churches amongst vsus, and the particular comfort of vsus the said Ministers and people in this time of our extraordinarie distresse. To the offer whereof wee have the rather imboldned our selfes, in that wee have out of your gracious proceedinges towards some of a Romish & disaffected spirit discerned a great and comfortable presumption, that it shalbe lawfull for each loyall and religious subiect without preiudice to his life or libertie, not only to sigh at home in the case of publike and private grievances, but (so farre as it may be done with all dew regarde and reverence) to crye also by way of Supplication in the eare of his Prince: who will (we do not doubt) out of an honorable respect to iustice, take notice of the weightie motions offered by his people: and whose sacred persone wee hope th'Almightie hath reserved and designed to be the proper meane and instrument, not only of further establishment, protection and beautie to the Churches amongst vsus, but also of a final ruine to that Dagon of Rome, and to all the appendants & pompe thereof. Wee acknowledge you are the Lords Lieu-tenent: wee finde you hauehave such care of matters ciuill, that you proceede in the managing of the same according to the commission you hauehave received from so high and glorious a Maiestie. And therefore wee can not otherwise apprehend but that you will performe the like in the cause of the Lords spirituall Kingdome: wherein if you shall answereably to the addresse and instructions you hauehave from him sway your royal Scepter, and approve vntounto him and to the people vnderunder your charge, that your care in this behalfe is so much the greater, by how much heaven is to be prized above earth, immortalitie aboue mortalitie, and the power of the spirit aboue all excellencie of the flesh: your Ma: shall greatly honour your selfe in the eye of your people, and establish the throne you sit on: so as neither your enemies shall adventure to attempt or plot ought against it, nor your most noble issue feare any impeachment or disturbance therein.
VnderUnder this hope of a gracious acceptatiō on your Ma: parte, and withall out of a perswasion of the equitie of the cause we pleade for (we resting as yet vnconvinced by the Prelates of any error) and out of a conscience of the integritie and dutiefulnes of our hearts to your High.Witnes the offer of Disputat. and other bookes yet vnanswered. having never intertained or harboured in them the least spark of*My L. of Salisburie in his answ. to certaine scādal. papers. disloyaltie to your Persone & Crowne; we prostrate our selves at your High. feete, most humbly intreating, That whereas the Prelates, our professed adversaries, and their officers, have not either for the nature of their offices, or for the qualitie of their proceedings any warrant from the word of the Lord IESVS, or the lawes of this Kingdome (as we, in case your Ma: shall vouchsafe vsus audience, are readie to iustifie) your Ma: would bee pleased that wee the saide Ministers and others may for the considerations hereafter mentioned, have allowed vntounto vsus by way of Toleration. First, the libertie of enioying and practising the holy ordinances enacted and left by the Lord for the perpetual direction and guiding of his Churches. Secondly, an entier exemption from the iurisdiction of the said Prelates and their officers. And lastly, this happines to live vnderunder the cōmaund & charge of any your subordinate civill Magistrats, and so to be for our actions and cariage in the ministerie accomptable vntounto them, and likewise liable vntounto all such duties and taxations, as are by the law and custome of this lande in any sort chargeable vponupon subiectes of our calling and condition.
The considerations that may induce your Ma: to yeeld vsus satisfaction herein, are in summe these. First, in that the church-governement solicited by vsus, is more compatible with your Imperiall Scepter and more advantageable thereto, then that of the said Prelates. Secondly, in that it standeth with the policie and reason of State to allow the Toleration and exemption desired by vsus. Thirdly, in that the courses held by the said Prelates against vsus, are for the extreeme rigour and partialitie of them such, as your Ma: vponupon dew information received, cannot but in iustice and commiseration affoord vsus reliefe and redresse.
Touching the first consideration, viz. That the Church-governement sollicited by vsus doth better sure with your Imperiall Scepter, and is of greater advantage thereto, then that of the Prelats. The truth hereof will appeare vntounto your Ma: in case you shalbe pleased to take knowledge in particular of the opinions and proceedings helde by the Prelats of this your Realme on the one side, and by vsus the Petitioners for the said Toleration on the other.
Whereas the State of England is free, intier and independent, holding immediatly from the Lorde of heaven each office and ministerie aswell in the Churches as the Common-wealth, & not deriving it, either in whole or in parte, frō any forreine Potentate & Governour on earth. It may please your Ma. to examine, whether Wee, your most humble Petitioners (who avow and professe that wee have and ought to have our whole spirituall office and power of administration at home and from among our selves) doe herein preiudice the saide free and independent State of England, or the Prelats, who hold their office and ministerle to be essentially derived and conferred vponupon them not by any authoritie domesticall and proper to the State, but by vertue of such ordination as was cōveyed to their predecessors from the Church of Rome. Wherein as the saide Prelats doe cast an apparent blemish and dishonour vponupon the Gospell professed by your Ma. and your people, as if from and by the meanes of Antichrist, the Churches of Christ should receive the assurance and warrant of their ministerie, and cōsequently of their faith and celestiall inheritance: so doe they in this particular disclayme the soveraine absolutenes and independencie of the State wherin they live, and make both your Maiestie and them selves tyed, in regard of their said ministerie so received, to acknowledge some obligation and homage to the sea of Rome.
We not finding either in the doctrine propounded in the Gospel, or in the practise observed by the Apostles in the churches planted by them, any warrant for Provinciall or Diocesan Bishops, doe hold their function and calling to be meere humane institutions; and therefore that it is in your Maiesties power to remove them from out your Dominions, and to confine them to Rome or Toledo. And this was the iudgement of the Prelates and Clergie in the dayes of King Henrie the 8. as may appeare by a Treatise intituled, The institution of a Christian man, published and dedicated to the said King. This also was the opinion of this whole State in the time of K. Edw. 6. and since of the late most worthie Queene: yea of Archbishop aPreface pag. 2 et pa. 8…. …17. 372Whitegift likewise, and R. Hooker, who spared not to divulge and notifie so much vntounto the world.bPag 133. 136. 139. 154. 155. 156. 159. 165. Herevnto doe subscribe the best reformed churches in Europe. But our Prelates on the contrarie, vnderunder pretext of deriving the title and birth of their functions and dignities from Christ and his Apostles, by the interposing of the Pope & church of Rome, doe absolutely denie vntounto your Ma. the saide power: and so abridging you in an high point of your supremacie, doe intercept and defalke a prerogative annexed to your Crowne.
Wheras we the said Ministers holde, that the Prelates both Provinciall and Diocesan ought (according to thec1. Eward. 6. cap. 12. Item anno. 1. Iacobi. cap. 25. Statutes provided in that behalfe) to derive by vertue of Letters pattents, their Episcopal iurisdiction and authoritie of keeping Courtes and sending forth processe from and in the name, & vnderunder the seale of armes of your Highnes and Successors: they, the said Prelates, on the contrarie have recourse to Provinciall and Diocesan Deanes and Chapters for this their imploymēt: and do in their owne names keepe Courtes, sende foorth processe, and execute other partes of iurisdiction ecclesiasticall: wherein whether they incoūter not your Ma. Soveraintie, Prerogative and Lawes, wee humbly leave vntounto you to be considered.
We the said Ministers take it as a certaine & vncontrolable Maxime, that it resteth in your Ma. to dispose of the temporalities of the Church. This was the iudgement of that worthie Iohn aWals histor. R. 2.Wickliffe. And the Emperour Frederick could say:bCatal. test. Veritat. in Frederic. Auferamus illis nocen tes divitias: hoc enim facere, est opus charitatis. For the doing wherof, he may seeme to hauehave received incouragement frōcAmbros. contra. Auxent. Ambrose, who approveth this course, and from a certendDecret p. 2. caus. 11. Q 1. c. 27. canon agreeing in iudgement with Ambrose. But the saideAdmonit against Mar tin Marprelat. Prelates accompting it a piece of Sacriledge to have drawen and resumed from them & their state what hath bin conferred vponupon them, will not allowe vntounto your Ma: this regall power.
We the said Ministers keepe our selves within the limites of our function Ecclesiasticall, wholy refusing all publique civill offices and governement: whereas the Prelates, disbanding them selves, as it were, from out the compasse assigned vntounto them, doe rancke their persons with, and before temporall Lords: and ioyne in commission for the managing of State affaires with the Nobilitie and Gentrie of the Realme: so farre foorth as they make no scruple and difficultie to professe, that in case by your Ma. and the State they should be discharged and secluded from all Civil power and office as persons incapable thereof, you should thereby doe vntounto them a manifest wrong, and expose the Church to the hazarde of ruine. Wherein as they greatly preiudice your Imperial Crowne: so they offer no meane indignitie and iniurie to the temporal State, by intercepting and feazing vponupon the Magistracie & charges, which are the proper right and interest of the Nobilitie and Gentrie: and doe likewise worke an extraordinarie impeachement and hurt to the publique good of your High. person, governement & kingdome, by withdrawing their personall indeavours and cares from informing your subiects in the dueties of obedience, to God and your Ma.
We hold that all Officers and Ministers of the Gospel ought to be subject to your High. and to all and everie your subordinate civill Magistrates. And that the civil Magistrates only ought to be the Overseers of Provinces and Dioceses, and of the severall Churches therein: And that it is a dutie enioyned them by God, and which your Ma. should by way of commission impose vponupon the Nobilitie & Gentrie in the severall Counties of your Kingdome, namely to sit in commission, and to take notice of al mis-government in persons Ecclesiastique, cōmitted either in the course of their life, or teaching: and so to proceede accordingly to censure & redresse. But the Prelates will not allow vntounto your Ma. this point of Regall supremacie: they cannot thus subiect and abase themselves. They must be, some of them great Primates: some Countie Palatines: most of them Commissioners for the peace: al of them of an eminent authoritie & power within their proper Dioceses: so as for persons of their rancke & qualitie to be subiect to the proceedings and censure of such, as in everie severall Countie carie the sword and authoritie civill vnderunder your Ma: is held by them no lesse intollerable, then for a Counseler of State to be subiect to a pettie Constable or Borsholder.
As we holde that your Ma. within your Dominions hath power to cal Synods & to dissolve them: so we hold likewise that ruling Synods and vnited Presbyteries exercising government and imposing Lawes & Decrees vponupon severall Churches, and the Pastors of them, are not onelyonly humane institutions, but in regarde of the said governement and authoritie of imposing lawes, altogether vnlawfull, and vsurping vponupon the Supremacie of the civill. Magistrate,Protest. of the Kings Suprem. pag. 4. sect. 8. in whose power only it resteth to enact & ordeine lawes ecclesiasticall for and over all the churches within his Dominions. And therefore they are not desired by vsus as a meane either to curbe & force the civill Magistrate (a course abhorred by vsus, and vtterly repugnant to our profession and practise) or to procure countenance and respect to our ministeriall function amongst others. We acknowledge (as hath bin above remembred) no other power & authoritie for the overseeing, ruling and censuring of particular Churches (how many soever in number) in the case of their misgovernement, thē that which is originally invested in your Royall person, & from it derived to such of your laitie, as you shall iudge worthie to be deputed to the execution of the same vnderunder you. So as the favour humbly sollicited by vsus, is, that whereas our Lord Iesus hath givē to each particular church or ordinarie congregation this right and priviledge, viz. to elect, ordeine, and deprive her owne Ministers, and to exercise all other partes of lawful ecclesiasticall iurisdictiō vnderunder him, your Ma. would be pleased to take order aswell that each particular church, that shalbe allowed to pertake in the benefite of the said Toleratiō, may hauehave, enioy, and put in execution and practise this her said right and priviledge: as that some your subalterne civill officers may be appointed by you to demand and receive of each church a dew and iust accompt of their proceedings. Here we doe humbly, intreat that we may not be so interpreted as if wee disclaymed all sortes of Synods. It is the ruling and not the deliberative and persuasive Synode which wee except against. That a Synode should inioyne vsus to receive and intertaine a cōstitution inacted by them selves, we hold it vnlawfull. To be moved thereto by way of persuasion grounded vponupon a cleare demonstration of vtilitie and advantage growing thereby to the churches, we doe in no sorte dislike. How farre in this question of Synods, the Prelates doe dissent frō vsus, both touching opinion and practise, it cannot be vnknowen to any, who are in any measure acquainted with the cariage of church affaires. They, the said Prelates for theaWhitegift pag. 436. calling of Synodes mainteine the necessitie of the office of an Archbishop:bBish. of Lincol. in his answ. to a catho. pag. 170. they assume to them selves the power of enacting lawes: and leave to your Ma. a bare commaund for the execution of them. The Synods held by them are of a large extent: their authoritie reaching from Dan to Beersheba, frō Dover in Kent to the Mount in Cornewall: and are withall of such power and readie execution, as where their Canons and Decrees encounter contradiction, there they proceed to the extremest censures. They imploy their apparitors to cite and commaunde appearance; they imprison: they deprive: they degrade: they excommunicate: they anathematize. Here we appeale to your Ma. humbly beseeching you to consider, whether the Prelates, whose spirituall arme is of an exorbitant strength, and reaching from the East of your Kingdome to the West thereof, and is able in sort to curb your Nobilitie and Gentrie: or wee the Ministers solliciting reformation, whose power is boūded within the limites of a poore parishe, and subiect to the authoritie and controlement of any your meanest Commissioners for the peace, doe exercise a iurisdiction and governement most compatible with your imperiall Scepter. It may please you to examine and weigh in your Princely apprehensions & thoughtes, to whom the title and name of Pope (so often obiected by our adversaries to a Parish pastor) may with best reason be appropriated, whether to a poore Minister (who of him selfe and without assistance from others, standeth disabled for matter of iurisdiction, and when he hath out of a cōcurrence from his Collegues with him an authoritie to proceed iudicially, yet cannot make it obligatorie & of validitie otherwise then with the cōsent and within the proper precincts of his particular congregation) or to a Prelate, who ruleth alone without check, and whose power of iurisdiction is not onelyonly spiritual but also civil: and not confined to a Parish but extended to whole Dioceses & Provinces. If your Ma. shal thinke meete for the clearing of this point of the appropriation of the title and name of Pope or popeling, to relye vponupon the iudgement of your greatest Prelates, you may readily be satisfied and resolved herein. For they hauehave by the mouth of Dr Downame preaching at Lambeth in favour and defence of Episcopall preheminence and authoritie concluded, and since cum privilegio vnderunder speciall allowance divulged & recommended to the world this theologicall and vndoubted Maxime, viz. That a Minister having supreme and sole authoritie in the Church and causes ecclesiasticall, or ruling alone without controlement, & not subiected to the authoritie of a Diocesan or Provinciall Bishop, ruleth as a Pope. The application of this Maxime we humbly leave to your Maiestie.
Lastly, whereas by their Canons they crosse the equall and proportionable distributiō of iustice enioyned by the lawes of the Land, in that they censure some enormous crimes lightly, and impose a severe punishment on some cariage that in the iudgement of the lawes of God & of this Realme, either runneth not in the accompt of a crime, or is in the nature of a light transgression. And whereas by the 53. Canon they take frō the subiect the libertie granted him by law divine and humane to deliver his opinion in a controverted point of Religion: and likewise by anotheraCanon 98 Canon all benefite of appeale allowed by the Lawes of this Kingdome. And whereas also they excommunicate such asbCanon 139. denie the Convocation to be the representative Church of the true churches of God within Englande, which said churches are in the true sense and intendement of our lawes iudged to consist not only of the Clergie but of the King, Nobilitie and Commons: wee doe in all hum litie beseech your Ma. to consider, whether the said Prelats doe in these severall points proceed with dew regarde vntounto your Ma. and the State.
Now forasmuch as the saide Prelats, By deriving their office and ministerie from the forrein power of the church of Rome: By denying vntounto your Ma: the authoritie of removing & abrogating the functions of Diocesan and Provinciall Bishops: By executing iurisdictiō Episcopall in their owne names, and vnderunder their owne Seale of armes, contrarie to the expresse letter of the Statutes provided in that behalf: By accompting it sacriledge that your High should by your regall authoritie dispose of the temporalties of the church: By vsurping and managing civill offices, and so withdrawing them selves from informing your Subiects in the dueties of obedience to God and your Ma: By exempting their persons, in regard of their eminent dignitie and charge both in church and common wealth, from vnderunder the iurisdiction and power of your subordinate civill Magistrats: By drawing into vse ruling Synods, such namely as whose power is extendable to the vtmost confines of this your Kingdome, and over such your Subiects, as are aswell of a Noble ranke and qualitie, as of a meane degree and condition: By taking and assuming to them selves the power of enacting lawes ecclesiasticall, & leaving to your Ma. a bare commande only to see them executed. Forasmuch as the saide Prelats doe, by these their proceedings grounded vponupon opinions in them answerable thereto, not a litle disadvantage your Ma. in the point of your regall power and soveraintie: We doe in al humblenes intreate that the consideration hereof may pleade with your High. in favour of vsus the said Ministers, who neither hold in opinion nor intertaine in practise any matter either preiudiciall to your royall State, Supremacie and Prerogatives (as our Adversaries doe) or pertaking of Confusion growing from the roote of that accursed paritie, which incoūtreth the subordinatiō of officers, which we, agreeably to the word of trueth, doe mainteine to be of as necessarie and worthie vse in the body of Christ, as in a body naturall: in which all members are not eyes, or heades or handes, but one is an heade, another is an hande, &c. so in the body of Christ one is Pastor, another Teacher, others Elders, others Deacons, &c. And yet we disclayme not such equalitie as betwixt distinct and separate churches the Spirit of all wisedome hath instituted & recommended: it being in them, as they are with respect of the one to the other considered, no more an incongruitie or disproportion, then parity in eminencie and power betwixt the several Kings and Kingdomes of Europe. As it would be a matter of infinite harshnes and of perillous sequele to sovereine Princes, if one amongst them should seaze vponupon the peculiar soveraintie of each, and so intercept that paritie in Scepter and governement, which the Prince of Princes hath betwixt them respectiuely ordeyned: so can it not succeed otherwise in the case of distinct churches, when that power, which is proper to each by divine institution, shalbe transferred and linked vponupon one. This Primacie in power of one Pastor and Church over the rest in the same Kingdome, would (where there be of Arch prelats sundrie and distinct Seas) be hardly with patience endured by them. With vsus the Arch-prelats of Canterbury and Yorke: in France of Rhemes and Lyons: in Germany of Coleyn and Mentz, can well brooke some subiection to their severall Princes. But a subordination of Yorke to Canterburie, of Rhems to Lyons, of Coleyn to Mentz, would happely prove in the stomacks of deintie Prelats a matter of such crudity and indigestion, as that Subordination would bee held by them the mother of Confusion and Paritie magnified as the authour of excellent beautie and grace in the church.
For a further inducement to your Ma. in this behalf, we are bold to adde herevnto, that it standeth with Policie and reason of State to allowe the Toleration and exemption desired by vsus. But here wee doe humbly beseech your Ma. not to thinke that by our sute for the said Toleration wee make an ouverture and way for Toleration vntounto Papistes, our Sute being of a different nature from theirs, and the inducements therof such, as cannot cōclude ought in favour of them, whose head is Antichrist: whose worshippe is Idolatrie, whose doctrine is heresie, and a profession directly contrarie to the lawfull State and Governement of free Countries and Kingdomes, as your Ma. hath truly and iudiciously observed. As we doe not herein give advantage vntounto Papistes, so doe wee not by way of Separation disclay me communion with such Churches amongst vsus, as in opinion of Ecclesiasticall regiment differ from vsus: being readie to communicate with them in the Lords worship, when without personall and voluntarie participation in sinne, wee may doe the same. For your satisfaction then in this point, vouchsafe vsus (most mightie and noble Prince) this princely equitie and patiēce, as to be informed of that which we doe here present.
May it therefore please your Ma. in the first place to be remēbred, that it is sutable with the wise proceedings of worthie Kings for the reducing of partialities & troubles in their States to a peaceable issue, to draw into practise that expedient and meane, which former experiēce hath proved to be of worthie vse to this purpose. If a Prince should make question hereof: the Physiciā & Navigator could resolve him herein: the one is in his cure, the other in sayling, ever holding that course, which observation & trial hath discovered to be fit and serviceable to the endes they ayme at. That the said Toleration is for pacifying contentions in the matter of religiō professed by vsus a readie meane, may appeare hereby, in that it removeth both the original cause & nourishment thereof: & in that it hath been for this excellent service intertained by great Monarchs and Potentats both in ancient times & of late yeres. VponUpon this ground did the Romane Empetours surcease their persecution of the Christians, granting vntounto thē the libertie not only to serve the Lord Iesus according to the holy Ordinances prescribed by him, but to erect also for the better accōplishment thereof convenient buildings & places. VponUpon this groūd did Athenagoras in his Apologie, persuade the Emperour Commodus thereto. There hath not yet passed much more then halfe an age, since Charles the fifth, a Prince of deepe & politike reach, permitted vntounto those in Germanie (whom hee had for the cause of Religion pursued with armes) as the fittest meane of pacification, the free vse of the Profession embraced by them. Herein was Charles a worthie patterne and precedent to Maximilian the Emperour, who at Vienna, and in the Cities descended vntounto him by inheritance, was out of the rule of Policie, well pleased to yeelde intertaynement to that Religion, which himselfe regarded not. It is knowen to sundrie yet living, that the French King Henrie the third, when he was to receive the Crowne of Poland, notwithstāding his zeale to the church of Rome, condescended to the observation and practise in that Kingdome, of the whole doctrine propounded in the writings of the Evangelistes and Apostles.Comment de stat. Relig. & Reip. sub Henr. 3.5. part. lib. 14. In the time of the said Henry the third, when the Prince of Condy and other Protestants of note and dignitie confederate with him, became suters for Toleration of Religiō, it is worthie to be considered what course was helde by Emanuel Duke of Savoy, being drawen to mediate with the said King in furtherāce of the Protestants sute. Though he, the said Duke, acknowledged all service and devotion to that Romish and Antichristian Sea, yet in the instructions delivered by him to his servant Molarius, whom for the purpose aforesaid he addressed into France, hee expresly charged him to pleade with all earnestnes for the grant of Toleration to the Protestants: and not only to propounde vntounto the King the exemple of the course held by him the said Prince for tolerating the introduction and exercise of Religion in sundrie parts of Savoy, but likewise to advertise him of the advantage and good succes he, the saide Duke, had in his particular experience discerned and founde of the Toleration allowed by him. And not satisfied herewith, he further enjoyned Molarius to treate in all serious maner with the Embassadours sent from the popish Cantons in Zuitserland, that they likewise would vrge and recōmend vntounto the French King the cause of Toleration. At the same time it pleased the late Queene Elizabeth, of happy memorie by her Ambassador D. Dale, to negotiate with the said King a pacification in the behalf of the Protestants, and to presse, as a special and worthy remedy of the present troubles, a grant on the Kings parte of libertie for thē to professe in publique & with securitie to their persons, honors & goods the Religion liked and followed by them. This course of Toleration is held by Henrie the fourth now reigning in France: by the present Emperour in divers parts of his Territories: by the King of Poland, and allowed off by the Spaniard in his late Treatie with the States of Holland, and other the vnited Provinces. The libertie of the Gospell and the free exercise of every part thereof both for Doctrine and Governement, is observed to be of so harmeles & peaceable a nature and cariage, and so farr from wronging any Monarch in his Soveraintie and publike interest, that the very Heathen, the Persian namely and the Turke, give passage and entertainement therevnto. What advantage the Princes above named doe receive therby, to the assuring of their Scepters, and to the advancement of the common good and honor of their estates: the same (O mightie Prince) may your Maiest. reape with the addition of a great glory to your person.
As the grant of Toleration persuaded by vsus, is accompanied with this vnvaluable effect of giving end to Controversies and Dissentions in a State, such as issue from difference in opinion touching points of our Religion: so in case your Ma. shall bee pleased to condescend therevnto, it will bee found not vnworthie the intertayning for matter of Commoditie. For whereas the Prelats by their Courts & their Officers and such proceedings as they observe likewise in private, doe yeerely, without all warrant from the word of God, drawe from the Subiect no lesse a proportion then a Subsidie or two amounteth vntounto, and so disable the Subiect to furnish the ordinarie payments & contributions of State: if it shalbe iudged meet by your High. to honor the people vnderunder your governement with so gracious a priviledge, as that so many of thē, as relish the Reformatiō vrged by vsus, may be exempted frō the power of the Rochet and Crozier, and allowed to live vnderunder the Governement and holy ordinances of the Lord Iesus, which will and ought to be in each parte of the Kingdome freely and without charge administred to the people: it will fall out that how much is defalked and withdrawen from the Courts of the Prelats, and intercepted from the fingers of their Officers, so much is reserved in the purse of the Subiect, whereby to inhable him for your Ma: service. Of what advantage and consequence this may grow to be to your imperiall Crowne and dignitie, and of what cōfort and satisfaction to your people now a long time harassed & wearied by Chancellors, Commissaries, Arch-deacons, Apparitors, and others of this Trade and Mysterie, we humbly pray to bee examined.
Further, we doe in all submissive sorte beseech your Ma. to call to minde & to weigh in your most wise and grave Deliberations, whether it bee not agreeable with the rule of sound Policie, that each Cōstitution and established order in a State should sorte & corresponde with the nature and disposition of the people living therein. The greatest Politickes have ever held it for a principle vndoubted & observeable. If your Ma. likewise shal so apprehend therof: may it please you thē to consider what correspondence the Canons and Constitutions Pontificall now in force against vsus the saide Ministers and others your loyall Subiects, have with the nature & qualitie of a great parte of the people within the Churches of Englande. It is not vnknowen that partly by the powerfull ministerie of the Gospell, partly by the Plots and attempts on the parte of the Romanists for supplanting the Gospell and the Professors thereof, many thousands of your people are wrought to a speciall distaste of such Constitutions and Orders of the Prelats, whereby both the faithfull Ministers of the Gospell are in all disgracive and vnworthy sorte (in regarde of their Inconformitie to Popish rites and ceremonies) discarded and removed from being any longer the Lords Sentinels and Watchmen: and the people also either forced to honor and approve by their presence & practise some the Devises and Institutions of the Romish Synagogue, left amongst vsus in the worship of the Lord, or drawen into question in the case of refusall to their extraordinarie trouble and expense. If then to no meane a multitude of your most dutifull and loving Subiects the saide Constitutions and Canons be for the respects above mentioned, as a Dose of wormewood and gall: Wee beseech you in your royall wisedome to consider, whether it sute not with the reason of State to limite and restreyne the execution of them, and so to regarde your people, that they may be discharged of al obligation on this behalfe, and allowed in the service of the Almightie, not to borrow ought from their sworne & capitall Adversaries the Idolaters of Rome, but to interteyne the ordinances enacted by Christ and his Apostles.
And whereas a Prince is, by vertue of his regall function and office, tyed to distribute in equall and proportionable sorte the testimonies of his love & care to the good of his people: it may please your Ma. to debate with your royall self. First whether it stande with the received Axiomes of Policie, to yeeld respect, countenance & support to one parte of your people vnderunder your governement, and to suffer the other (who is no lesse, if not more loyall then the former, and whose indeavours have been and are of excellent vse and service for the advancement of the Gospell) to rest exposed to vnmercifull censure and disgrace. And secondly, whether a proceeding of this nature and vponupon this grounde of inconformitie with Rome in her outwarde and ceremonial cariage, accompanied with a reproach in an high degree, wil not disaffect & discourage the Subiect (which in all hearty and affectionate sorte wee desire of the Lord, may never happen) though not in the point of loyaltie, yet in the cheerful course of duetie to his Prince. If now your Ma. shall discover that the saide proceeding may thorough the continuance thereof, fall out (which we trust shall never, and pray that it may not) to be of speciall inconvenience and disadvantage vntounto you in regard of the said discouragement and disaffection it may raise in the hearts of some your people: And that it is an error in Policie for a Prince to carie an vnproportionable and partiall hande towards those, who in matters which concerne the Gospel & the Lords worship, are equally to cōmunicate in the Demonstrations and pleadges of his favour. It may then please your excellent Ma. (if you finde it to be your owne cafe) to deliberate of redresse in this behalfe: and to affoorde the Lord that honor, your selfe that right, your people that contentement and comfort, as to confine and limite the iurisdiction of the Prelats, that it extend not to those who approove Reformation, but that they may in the service of the Lord Iesus be suffered to observe the Orders and Constitutions enacted by him.
Moreover, if no reason of State will allow the continuance of that course, which is specially affected and liked by our extreemest enemies, as being of great advantage vntounto them in the perill and hurt it worketh to the Churches of this Kingdome and to the profession of the Gospell imbraced by them. And if common sense and experience will advertise vsus, that the intertayning of those proceedings and practises, which are most distasted by our adversaries as being readie meanes to frustrate their hopes, will best assure vsus against their proiects & designes: then we presume your Ma. will call to minde how much it importeth you both to commaund a surcease on the Prelats parte of executing their authoritie in the silencing and deprivatiō of their fellow-servaunts the faithfull Ministers of the Gospell: and likewise to take order that the reliques of Antichrist, which have given life & grouth to the partialities and factions amongst vsus, being displanted, & removed, the holy Ordinances only of our blessed Redeemer and King may by way of Toleration receive passage and admittance into some Churches to be gathered by your Ma: speciall grace in some partes of this Kingdome. That the course helde by the Prelats against Reformation and the Ministers vrging the same, is of an excellent relish in the taste of the Papists, as the Papists them selves wil readily acknowledge: so the particulating of the effects issuing thereon will evidently cōvince. What is more pleasing and of greater contentement to a Romanist, then the disgracing and silencing of him, who laboureth the subversion of the Doctrine and Sea of Rome? When he shall withall discerne that by occasiō of the said Course, many Students of worthie parts, doe stay and divert them selves from imployment in the Ministerie: that there is nourished and fed in Romish Catholikes at home and abroad a speciall hope of restoring Poperie to her former reputation amongst vsus: that there is raised much splene betwixt the Laborers in the Lords harvest, much harshenes betwixt the severall favorers of either opinion, much disorder and dissolution of life: that there is an opportunitie presented vntounto Priests and Iesuits for passage hether, and to negotiate a reconcilement to the Church of Rome: whē a Romanist (I say) shall discerne this effect and issue of the saide course Pontificall, will it not cheere and refresh his danted spirits? will it not occasion him to chant a Te Deum in regard thereof? That the course solicited by vsus the said Ministers is detested by the Romanists, and that it is able to furnish vntounto a Prince the meanes of disappointing their hopes, and of securing his State against their plots and attempts, if it needed for the evidencing thereof anie further Discourse: we could not onelyonly cleare it, by laying forth the admirable power and fruits of the Lords sacred Ordinances practised in forme & maner as is prescribed in the worde, but verifie it also out of exemple and experience. If wee should by way of instance name onelyonly vntounto your Ma. your Kingdomes of England and Scotland, none knoweth so exactly as your noble selfe the malice conceived by Romanists against the Gospell and the securitie yeelded to your person & Crowne by the free and sincere exercise thereof.
Seeing then the free exercise of the Gospell, in sorte as is desired, is a meane to assure your Scepter imperiall against the conspiracies of your capitall & greatest Adversaries, the Admirers of that romane Arch-Priest and his triple Crowne: And sith the said course held by the Bishops is in regard aswell of the manifold hurtes growing thereby to the Churches of this Realme, as of the sundrie advantages rising therefrom to the Synagogue of Rome, exceedingly approoved and affected by your saide Adversaries: we hope your Ma. will call into deliberation this worthie Admonition: Neque tuae occasioni desis, neque suam hostides: and so resolve to give vsus contentment in this our iust Sute.
For your Maiesties further inducement whereto, let it not be vnpleasing vntounto you to hauehave it represented to your memorie, that where there bee two factions, the weakning of the one is the strengthening of the other. There is within this your Kingdome a faction of Romanists: for Number, Strength, Dependancie at home and abroad not to be contemned: for Watchfulnes and Readines to take the advantage of all occurrents and tymes, not vnworthy to be carefully eyed and observed: for Malice to the Gospell and the Professors thereof, vnsatiable: for Desire & secret indeavour to reestablish the authoritie of S t Peters chaire amongst vsus, most affectionate. Now this faction can not but grow so much the more renforced and potent, by how much the Protestant party shalbe infeebled, & lessened. And the Protestant party can not but diminish and languish, in case the aforesaid course of the Prelats be continued. For what hindereth the gaining of great numbers to the side of the Gospel, that must of necessitie impaire and distrengthen the same side. If it shalbe in favour of the Prelats replied, that no action can lye against them for any such regarde of hinderāce given to the winning and adding of any to the church. It may please your Ma. to remēber, that when the ordinarie meane fayleth of gaining to the true Churches of Christ, the act of gaining numbers thereto must determine: but by pursuing the course Pontificall aforesaid, the ordinarie meane of cōversion from Blindnes and Infidelitie to the Knowledge and Faith of the Gospel is and hath bin interrupted and crossed: not onelyonly in that humane ordinances in the Lords worship receive speciall intertainement amongst vsus, and Poperie findeth favour for venting and dispersing her infection in discourses from abroad, & in Sermons sometimes from our Pulpits at home, but likewise in that so many worthy Lights have thereby been removed from shining in the Church, so many able and well qualified Students discouraged from holding place and office therein, so many of good wit and spirit kept from the Vniversitie and disposed of to mechanicall imployments, and so many fitter to labour in the vineyards of Gascoine, then in the harvest of the Lord, obtruded to the church. For in turbis etiam prauus sortitur honorem: & quam dignitatis sedem quieta repub. desperat, eam perturbata se consequi posse arbitratur. If then the said course Pontificall worke in the party imbracing the Gospell a decay of strength, and consequently a further vigour and spirit in the opposite faction: we hope it wilbe iudged agreeable with the rule of wisedome, by grant of the Toleration desired to prevent the decay of the one, and to incounter the rising and grouth of the other.
Besides, if a surcease of vrging Conformitie and Subscription be for curing the disease of partialitie and contention in the churches of this Kingdome altogether needfull: then can there not against the Toleration sollicited by vsus any iust exception bee taken: the real vse and practise of the Lords Ordinances in his publique worship for the guiding of his Churches being of as great necessitie, as the disvse and reiection of humane devises & Romish Formalities in the same. That the present Conformitie & Subscription should in politique discourse and reason determine and not further be pressed, this consideration doth admonish vsus, namely, that whē the remedie, prepared to cure the disease of the State, doth in the application thereof augment and strenthen the maladie, we ought to forbeare all further recourse to the said remedie. Of this nature and effect we finde the vrging of the said Conformitie & Subscription to be. Wee are not ignorant that it is suggested vntounto your Ma. that, for silencing of Dissensions in the Church, the silencing of Inconformitans is an admirable and present meane. But the observed experience of sundrie yeares vnderunder your Ma. and your predecessor Q. Elizabeth, doth witnes and proclayme to the world, that for freeing the Church from the sickenes of Division and Faction, the vrging of the said Conformitie is no receipt of any soveraine vertue in that behalfe. It hath (wee see) been often administred by the Prelats and their serviceable Apothecaries: but ever with no better succes then an vnseasonable Medicine, which doth exasperate and not temper the humors. As therefore Physicians doe plus interdum quiete quàm movendo atque agendo proficere: so in the cure of infirmities and distempers of the State Connivere melius est, quàm intempestivis remedijs delicta accendere. The admonition of Moecenas to Augustus is worthy the drawing into practise. It is (saieth he to the Emperor) a point of speciall wisedome, not to suffer new names, or ought from whence discord may arise. For by interteyning matter of partialitie & discontentment amongst the people on the parte of the Governors, as the parties wronged finding no redresse, are easily inclined to decay in opiniō of their wisedome and affection towards them: so many advantages are offered to the common Adversarie, and sundrie opportunities of doing service to the State intercepted and lost. It can not be reputed a sufficient plea in the cause of pressing the present Conformitie and Subscription, to alleadge that the surceasing and the remove thereof is the abrogation of that which is allowed by the State, and hath the force of a Law. For first the State doth not impose the vse of the ceremonies as a Statute, prefixed to the booke of common Prayer & Preface of Ceremonies, but doeth tolerate them for the time. Secondly, the Statute 13. Elizab. requireth Subscription so farre as concerneth the doctrine of Faith and Sacraments only: which, who refuseth? Thirdly, in case the said Ceremonies were inioyned by Law, yet out of a regarde to a publique benefite and present necessitie, even good Lawes may, in the iudgement of Politiks, suffer derogatiō: how much more repelable then are such Constitutions, as authorise the vse of a scandalous and vnprofitable Conformitie? If there were in the said Cōstitutions some benefite to the publique: yet if the inconvenience of the Law be greater then the fruite reaped thereby, the said Law may with honor to the Statute be permitted to discontinue and expire. And forasmuch as the inferior Law ought to give place vntounto the superior: the Law of vnitie & peace in the Churches being of a nobler discent and ranke, thē that of outward Conformitie in humane Rites and Ceremonies: the Canon for the said Conformitie, in case it worke a disvnion in the cōfederate members of the Church, ought so farre to yeeld to the said Law of vnitie, as not to appeare or contest with it.
How agreable it is with the wisedome of a mightie Potentate to hold a course that will daunt the enemies of his State & Religion, & discourage them from practise & attempt against the same, no Prince knoweth so accurately as your Ma. Now whether the said Toleratiō be not a course of this consequēce and power, it may please your High to dispute with your most noble self. The lesse hope your professed Adversaries shall discerne of subverting the Gospel and of re-advancing Poperie amongst vsus, so much the more will they grow disharted and vnspirited for matter of proiect and conspiracie against your Person and Throne: But the more our Churches are purged from Romish Traditions & Reliques, & the more ground the Gospell winneth vponupon Antichrist by the vigilant and carefull indeavours of the Ministers thereof (two worthy effects accompanying the said Toleration) so much the lesse hope will the enimies of your Religion and State conceive of prevayling against the one and the other. And for that regarde if it shall vnderunder your royall approbation and protection, be lawfull for vsus to worship and honour the Lord Iesus according to the directions only left in his holy worde, and after the maner observed in the reformed Churches, which have so farre proceeded in their Separation from Rome, that they hold with it no Communiō, either in the proper Doctrine of that Sea, or in the Constitution, Rites and Formalities of the same: we trust that the Lord Iesus, in the behalf of whose kingdome we are humble suters, will so honor this your Ma. grant of the said Toleration, that Antichrist with the whole partie of his favorits and adherents, will out of dispaire renounce and disclaime all further plotting & attempting, either against the Kingdome of the Gospell or against your Crowne and Dignitie.
If the defect of Toleration and the holding of the said course Prelaticall, bee a meane to abridge your Ma. in the number of your serviceable and faithfull Subiects (in the multitude of whom consisteth the strength and glorie of a Prince,Proverb. 14 28. and amongst whom the losse, even of one ought to bee precious in your sight) and withall to cast vponupon the governement of the Churches of the Lord Iesus within this your Kingdome a double blemish and imputation, the one that it is fashioned not according to the patterne shewed to the true Prophet in the mount, but according to the mould of the false Prophet sitting on the 7. hilles: the other that it holdeth a proceeding of much sharpnes and rigour aswell for the silencing & removing frō out the Church no meane number of the worthiest Pastors within this Lande, as for the disgracing and …raducing of many thousands otherwise of your Ma. most loyal and best affected Subiects in regarde of their affection to the Reformation desired. May it then please your excellent Ma. to draw vnderunder the examination of your most politique and religious thoughts, what wee doe here propounde, and to deliberate with your noble heart seriously and vnpartially, whether to prevent the inconveniences now particulated and charged vponupon the said course Pontificall and the want of the said Toleration, it answere not the true principles of wisedome to cōdescend vntounto our iust & most duetifull Request: considering that it is enioyned to Princes by the Prince of Heaven & earth, both to prize as a singular blessing the multitude of faithfull subiects, and so farre to regarde the honor of his holy name in the governement of his Churches, as not to give cause of publike obloquie and reproach thereto.
If we shall impute to the defect of Toleration and to the said course Pontificall the Inconveniences aboue remembred: we shall (wee truste) offer to the Prelats no wrong in that behalfe. For we doe alreadie see that out of a care to worship the Lord according to his worde, and detestation to the rags & bages of Poperie (which are as yet with the scandalizing of the Lords people and with the confirming of the Romanist in his love to a forrein Priest, & in his disloyaltie to your Ma. reteined after a zealous sorte in our Churches) sundrie your High. Subiects have actually quitted the Realme. That many others vponupon the same grounds do performe asmuch, some in wish and desire, some in purpose and determination, is not improbable. That it is in the nature and reach of the said course held by the Prelats to strip your Ma. of the vse and service of many thousands of your most affectionate and devoted Subiects, may hereby appeare, in that the Prelats have or pretend to have power of excōmunicating and imprisoning, not some few but all such as shal refuse the Oath ex officio, Can. 3.4.5.6.7.8 27.139.disclayme Kneeling at the Sacrament, denie the Convocation to be the true representative Church of Christ within this Lande, give no allowance to al and every parte of the Leiturgy: withstand Conformitie and Subscription: affirme that the Ministers cannot yeeld to all these things with a good conscience, &c.
The authoritie then of the said Prelats being of this extent, incase it should be drawen into execution against so many of your Ma. Subiects, as are lyable to their censures in regarde of the above named and supposed offences & other transgressions iudiciable in their Courts: the holdes and prisons alreadie designed within this Realme to the personal restraint of delinquents, though they were for nūber doubled or trebled, yet would not be capable of so great a multitude, as should be sentenced thervnto. And doth not a Prisoner, during the time of his imprisonmēt, rest disabled for the service of his Prince? If for the tyme hee stand in the account of a persone vnserviceable and, as it were, dead to the Crowne and State: then if the said Pontificall course shall really and without partialitie be executed, it will in a measure vnsufferable abridge your Ma. in the number of your serviceable and loving Subiects.
Touching the imputation and dishonor, whereto the regiment of the Churches of the Lord Iesus amongst vsus, is by the said course Prelaticall exposed: for the iustifying hereof wee appeale, first to the iudgement of all the reformed Churches in forrein parts: and secondly, to the Papists themselves. The reformed Churches, namely those who hauehave purged the Lords publique worship from the pollutions of Antichrist in farre greater measure then wee hauehave done, and are growē into an hatred of his devises and trash, cannot (if they wilbe trew to their owne principles, and sutable in their proceedings) but condemne for Romish & Antichristian, what is from out the Synagogues of Priests and Iesuits transported into the holy Congregations of our Saviour Christ: they cannot but deplore the indignitie and wronge offered to the Churches of God amongst vsus, in the persons of those worthie and learned Ministers, who are for their love to Reformation, and for their vnconformitie to the rites and observances of Rome, silenced, deprived, and after an extraordinarie maner traduced and disgraced, yea in the letter and intendement of the Canons excommunicated and anathematized. they cannot but brande this proceeding with the marke of vnvsuall rigour, such as whereof no age can give an instance, as vsed by the true professors of the Gospell against their brethren and fellow-servants in the worke of the ministerie, vponupon this ground and pretext of the saide vnconformitie. Thus must the reformed Churches charge and cēsure the said Prelaticall course, or passe sentence against them selves.
And as for the Romanists: doe they not applaude the holding of the saide course by the Prelats? Is it not a matter of excellent contentement to their soules, that the Churchgovernement of Rome, & sundrie of the outward and proper Formalities thereof, should be honored in our Churches, & the impugners of the same, and seekers of Reformation in this behalfe pursued with reproach, imprisonement, excommunication, and ruine in their whole estate? If the Romanists the capitall enemies of your Imperiall Crowne, and of the Gospell professed by your selfe and your Subiects, doe thus exalt and triumph in beholding the proceedings on the parte of our Prelats, for the support of the Romish church-governement and the appendants thereto, and for the extirpation of such as sollicite the displanting & remove thereof: doth not this their triumphing proclayme to the world, aswel our readie and professed concurrence with them in their ecclesiasticall traditions and regiment, as their approbation of the rigorous measure and vexation offered vntounto vsus? And can there bee a greater reproach and imputation throwen vponupon the Governement and Officers of our Churches, then that we should concurre both in the one and the other with the fashions of Egypt and Babylon? that the one and the other should be condemned by the sincerest professors of Christ, and commended by the followers of Antichrist? censured by our best friends, and approoved by our greatest enemies?
If then the defect of Toleration and the holding of the said course Pontificall doe in the nature and reach of the Canons, in case they be really and vnpartially executed, aswell extraordinarily preiudice your Crowne and Dignitie in taking frō your Ma. the vse and service of so many thousands your most loyall Subiects, as expose the governement of the Churches vnderunder you to much imputation and dishonor. It may please you to remember how answereably your Ma. shall proceed to the Maxims of true Policy, in case you take order by the grant of the said Toleration, for the prevention & redresse of the abovementioned inconveniences. Whereto we hope your Ma. wilbe the rather induced, when you shall consider that the best reformed Churches of Europe, interteyning in opinion and practise the cause for which we suffer, are by the Prelats, in our persons and through our sides wounded and censured with all reproach, yea pursued with suspension, degradation, imprisonment, excommunications and anathemaes.
Hetherto we hauehave in all humilitie and reverence offered to your Princely view and consideration as pleading with your Ma. in favour of vsus, two important arguments: the one shewing that the Church Cōstitution and governement sollicited by vsus, doth better sort with your imperial Crowne then the governement of the Prelats: the other, that it standeth with the reason of State to allow the Toleration desired by vsus.
Wee are now in the third and last place most humblie to beseech your Ma. that you would vouchsafe to take notice of the vexation and rigorous measure offered vntounto vsus by the Prelats. Our purpose is not to enter into particularities, but to present your Ma. in briefe with a generall taste and view thereof, so farre as it may serve for some inducemēt to procure from your royall heart a commiseration of vsus.
The indignities and wrongs we have received from the said Prelats are manifold and of an high nature. They have not spared to wrong vsus in our Soules & Consciences: in our Callings and Functions: in our Bodies: in our Goods and Livings: in our good Names and Credite: in our Writings and Discourses, of which some they inlarge with additions for the gracing of their cause: some they shorten & dismember for the concealing of the truth.
The wrong we have received in our Soules & Consciences, doth in parte discover it self hereby, in that some vponupon vehement vrging on the parte of the Bishops of Subscription and Conformitie, having in the end yeelded thereto, have within few dayes after vppon a more serious conference with their owne Conscience, discerning their errour and miscariage herein, languished vntounto death. And wee doubt not but the present Subscribers and Conformers, when it shall please the Lord to shewe merciemercy to his poore Churches in honoring them with the libertie & vse of his holy Ordinances, will then crye with the Bishops of Asia: Nos non nostra voluntate, sed necessitate adducti subscripsimus, Evagr hist. lib. 3. cap. 9.non animo sed verbis dunt axat consensimus. Further, doe we not receive at the hands of our Prelats a deepe wound in our Soules, when they abridge vsus in the libertie of searching the truth for the satisfying of our Conscience? This doe they, when they require vsus to rest satisfied with the opinion of our Superiors, and menace Excommunication in the case of our refusall. This doe they, when they would enslave vsus to Antichrist by enioyning vsus to allow the Rites borrowed frō him:Prov. 22.7. and when they would subiect vsus to the wil & power of man, by pressing vsus to admit in matters of religion, the bare wil & pleasure of man, and to acknowledge in him, an absolute power for the ordering of things sometime indifferent (in the number wherof the things in cōtroversie are not) and for an vnproportionable distribution of punishments.
How iniurious they, the said Prelats are to vsus in our Callings & Functions, is not vnknowen at home or abroad. They assume vntounto themselves the name of the Church, the power of ordination to the ministerie, and the sole execution of censures: they exact fees in regard of these: they abādone vsus to the check of every Offician and Sumner. VponUpon our refusall to conforme or subscribe, they commande our appearance in their Courts: they poste vsus from one Tribunal to another: and from this Terme to the next succeeding. They tyre our bodyes and exhaust our purses And in the issue after wee have bin sufficientlie harassed and loaded with cōtumelies, they silence vsus and degrade vsus from our Ministerie: they exact bonds of vsus, whereby to restreyne vsus from all further intermedling in the same: and lest the world should censure them for too much partialitie & charitie towards vsus, they passe vsus over to Sathan by their thunder-bolts of Excommunication.
And not contented with proceedings of this qualitie against vsus, they, the said Prelats by their Officers breake open the dores of our houses and chambers: they seaze vponupon what pleaseth them: they dispatch vsus to the Gate house, or the Clinke, there to endure an vnlimited imprisonment, hunger and cold, chaynes and fetters sometymes: there to be shopped vp for a tyme in such sorte (in case wee stirre the humor in them) as that we shall see neither friend nor foe, neither Sunne nor Moone; and there likewise to spend our dayes & last breathing (as some hauehave done) vnlesse the Lord dispose their hearts to compassion.
To be thus wronged in our Soules, in our Callings, in our Bodyes, is a matter of surpassing indignitie & griefe: considering the nature of the cause for which we suffer: and specially considering there hath been not long since published for triall of these cōtroversies a most equall Offer of Disputation, M. Iacobs booke. The Abridgment of the Ministers of Lincolne Dioces. Whitenhall. 12. Arguments. Remooval. &c.which is no more answered by them, thē sundrie other our writings, which they passe over with silence. But yet they, the said Prelats, nothing regarding the same, & being vnsatisfied with their afore-remembred iniustice and violence, take vp other proceedings against vsus. They dispossesse and deprive vsus of our free holds and livings: they expose vsus, our wives and children to beggerie: they“Canō 76. barre vsus frō imploying our persons and industrie otherwise for the interteynement of our families, not afoording vntounto vsus the favor of reliefe, which at the dissolutiō of Monasteries, Monkes and Friers did finde amongst vsus: and which Theeves and Murtherers may now enioy through the charitable bequests of the dead. Hereto if we shall adde the forme they hold in their courses against vsus, their charitie towards vsus will appeare the more cleerely. They presse vponupon vsus the taking of an*Magna charta. cap. 18. vnlawful and irreligious Oath, such as is no where in vse, but in the Courts of popish inquisition: that we should fall to the accusation of our selfes, and to the detection of others, is a matter much affected by them: being parties, they take vponupon them notwithstanding to sitt in iudgement and to passe sentence against vsus. They intercept and take from vsus our possessions, not by the verdit of Iurors,Magna charta. cap. 29. as the law hath appointed, but by the sole authoritie and voyce of one man: whether the punishment they inflict exceed the offence in question they regarde not. The benefite of appeale, which the law ofaFascicul. rer repetend in appellar. Parisiens. fol 34. God, and each several Nation alloweth, theybCanon. 98. denye vntounto vsus. And bringing our cause before the civill Magistrate, lest he should yeeld vsus reliefe, they change (at their pleasure) the warrants of our commitment.
And lest we should in these discomforts and extremities gather comfort vntounto our selves from the consideration of the integritie of our cause & of our indeavour to approove the cariage of our actions to the Christians amongst whom wee converse: they cast not on vsus some light aspersion and blemish, but heape vponupon vsus the greatest imputations. To censure & reproach vsus for arrogancie and pride, for want of all good literature and knowledge, for men of factious and turbulent spirits, for Schismatickes and Puritans, is an ordinarie charitie we receiue from them, and such as being vncōpared with some other their calumniations of vsus, might easilie without contradiction and grieving be passed over. But as if we were altogether vnworthie to treade vponupon the earth, or to beholde the Sunne, and as if wee were compounded of impieties to God, and disloyalties to our Prince: they blush not to give forth that we plot the subversion of the State and Church: that we are enemies to your Ma. Crowne and Soveraintie: that *B of Lincolne in his answer to a Catholick gent. pag. 124.wee in bookes and practise hold it for a point of divinitie to depose Princes, surprise their persons, and renounce allegeance: that wee are worse then the antichristian Papists. Whereat, namely this later calumny, we doe not much mervell: they and the Papists being of so neare an affinitie and correspondence. Herevpon it is that towards them, the said Prelats, either forbeare the execution of the Law, or they performe it in a cariage of all favorable mitigation & temper: wheras in questions concerning vsus, they proceed with all extremitie, yea without, beyond, and contrarie to Law: they, the said Prelats being not able to shew by what Law of God or man, they dispatch vsus to prison, or keepe vsus vnderunder-restraint without limitation at their pleasure, & that sometimes in cold yrons and with threats of the rack. But here wee are not without this comfort in that your Excellent Ma. in your answere to Tortus, doth acknowledge our readines to the Oath of Supremacie:B. of Lincol in his answer to a Catholike pag 142. and the Bishop of Lincolne him selfe (so forcible is trueth) our loyaltie to your royall person.
Wherefore (most Noble, Mightie, and gracious Prince) sith these proceedings held against vsus by the Prelats, are for the manifold indignities and oppression offered in them vntounto vsus, and in our persons to the best reformed Churches in Europe, such as doe iustly inforce vsus with the dolefull cries of our distressed hearts to fill the eares both of God & men, for compassion towards vsus and redresse: And sith wee have made it appeare vntounto your Maiestie (as wee hope) that the governement and courses interteyned by the said Prelats, are not so compatible with your Scepter & State, as the nature and forme of the governement sollicited by vsus: And sith likewise the received Maxims of Policie doe perswade and warrant the grant of the favour wee doe desire: Let our humble Motion (most deare Soveraine) finde grace and regarde in your eyes: Let vsus taste of that Princely commiseration, which in other nations and in all ages both Popish and Ethnick Potentats hauehave shewed to persons of our profession and qualitie. So shall your Maiestie highly honour your selfe before God and the world, at home and abroade. All Protestant Churches shall reioyce at the hearing thereof, when they shall finde the Ordinances of Christ imbraced by them, to be countenanced and honoured by your Maiestie in our assemblies: their blessings, as the dew, shall fall vponupon your Highnes & your Posteritie. The heartes of those that sigh and grone vnderunder the burdē of the Prelacie, and who long to beholde the glorie and beautie of Christs Kingdome, shall ever admire and blesse you. All such your Subiects, as hauehave separated from Rome & imbraced the Gospell, shall make tender vntounto you of a most worthie acknowledgement, when they shall see partiality and faction remooved from out the severall Churches of this Lande: and in lieu thereof a cariage of mutuall amitie and respect interteined. The Prelats them selves shall be disburdened of that heavie weight of sinne against the Lord, of that continuall toyle, and of that great obloquie and reproach, which at home and in forrein parts by their irregular and rigorous proceedings against their fellow servants and brethren they doe frō time to time drawe vponupon them. Finally, Christ Iesus (who walketh as King in the midst of his Churches) beholding the merciemercy and compassion extended by you to his poore distressed and afflicted members, shall vouchsafe you the enioyance of the blessing desired by that good King Ezechias: Isa. 39.8.even Peace and truth in your Highnes dayes, and in the dayes of your posteritie for ever. Now the God of Heaven give vsus favour in your eyes this day. The Lord multiplie vponupon your royall selfe and your noble issue all honorable felicities. The Lord disappoint the proiects and attempts of your enemies, AMEN.
Your Ma. most loyall, faithfull and obedient Subiect, some of the late silenced and deprived Ministers and people consenting in iudgement with them.
Iob. 17.24.
Iudge not according to the appearance: but iudge righteous iudgement.
Iob 6.25.
How stedfast are the words of righteousnes? and what can any of you iustly reprove?
Iob 6.29.
Turne I pray you: let there be none iniquitie: returne I say: and you shall see yet my righteousnes in that behalfe. Is there iniquitie in my tongue? Doth not my mouth feele sorrowes?
Math 22.21.
GiueGive vntounto Casar the things which are Casars: and giuegive vntounto God those things which are Gods.
Pag. 21. lin. 2. put out is.
FINIS.
End of the text · Henry Jacob, To Prince James (1609)