The Pastor and the Prelate, Title page – Dedication
THE PASTOR and the PRELATE, OR REFORMATION and CONFORMITIE shortly compared By the Word of God, By Antiquity and the proceedings of the Ancient Kirk, By the nature and use of things indifferent, By the proceedings of our ovvne Kirk, By the vveill of the Kirk and of the peoples soules, And by the good of the commonvvealth and of our outvvard estate: with The Answer of the common & chiefest objections against everie part: shewing VVhether of the tvvo is to be follovved by the true Christian and Countrieman.
Joshua 24. 22. And Ioshuah sayd unto the people, Yee are witnesses against your selues, and they sayd, We are witnesses.
But 1 Kings 18. 21. it is sayd, And the people answered him not a word.
ANNO M.DC.XXVIII.
To the Christian Reader.
FOR no other is this intended: not for him that readeth not, but casteth it by, or cloaseth his eies least he see trueth, judging of things controverted by his ovvne conceits, or upon report, and not upon tryall. Neither for him that is either so Antichristian, that he hath not the patience to reade on page vvritten against Prelates and their Hierarchie, or that is so unchristian, that his earthly designes are his highest intentions, & esteemeth all motions about religion that crosse him, or comfort him not in these, to be either seditious commotions, or nothing but idlements of indifferencie. But for him vvho aboue all things loues to see the trueth, & aboue all things loueth the trueth, vvhen he hath seene it, that is euen for thy selfe (Christian Reader) hauehave vve entred into this Comparison of the Pastor and Prelate, and at thy hands do vve exspect the performance of tvvo christian duties: one is for thy ovvne good; That thou vvilt labour vvith thine heart for more feeling novv, then thou had faith at the first, vvhen it vvas often foretold from the vvord of God, and the vvoefull experience offormer times, That this transcendent Hierarchie of Lordly and lording Prelates, brought in upon the Kirk of Christ without precept or example from himselfe, would proue at last the ruine of Religion. Novv may be seen vvhat vvas said before, that aPerth assemblie Preface.the government of the Kirk and the vvorship of God are like the tvvinnes spoken of by Hippocr. and that the one of them dvvyning avvay, & dying amōg us, the vvhole face of the other looketh pale and pitifully proclaymeth (if the crye of our sinnes vvould suffer us to hear) that religion her self is sick at the hart: for vvhat are the dayly encrease of old papistrie, the spreading gangrē of nevv heresies, the scoffing at holines in stead of imitating, the laughing at sin in stead of lamentation, but the unseparable effects of this prelacie, and the ordinarie practises of our Prelats, the Symptomes of the sicknes of Christian religion, and the causes of this cloude of vvrath, that so long hangs and hovers aboue us. Consider that (according to Bernard his observation of these blind vvynding staires that leade dovvn to destructionbQuid non evertat consueiudo? quid non assiduitate duretur? quid nō usui cedar? Primū tibi importabile videtur aliquid, processu temporis, si assuescas, judicabis nō adeo grave, paulo post & leve senties, paulo post nec senties, paulo post etiā delectabit. Ita paulatim in cordis duritiam itur & ex illa in aversionem. Rernard. ad Eugen.) this Hierarchie vvhichwhich in the beginning seemed a vveight so insupportable, that they vvho tooke it upon them could not hold up their faces for sin, and for shame, did appeare soone aftervvard albeit heavie yet tollerable, of heavie it became light, of light insensible, of insensible delectable, & of delectable it is at last become a matter of gloriation. That vvhichwhich vvas a glorie is become a shame, and that vvhichwhich vvas a shame is accounted a glorie. Of late Ministers could not be found to fill the voyd places of prelacie: novv prelacies cannot be found to fill the voide hearts of the ministers: so farre hauehave vve turned from that vvhichwhich vve euen novv vvere, and in so fevv yeeres, that vvhichwhich vvas nothing els but a rope of disgrace, is vvonderfully changed into a chaine of pride. As thou lovest Jesus Christ, and thine ovvne soule, and vvould be loath to communicate in all the sinnes, and to involue thy self into the guiltines of all the evils that this Prelacie hath produced: take heede that thyne eye be not dazeled vvith the vernice and splendor that the vvorld hath put upon it (for in substance it is the same it vvas at the beginning, and in the fruits hath proved far vvorse then at the first vvas feared) labour to keepe thy judgement sound and affection sincere, still thinking of the painfull Pastor and proud prelate, as they vvere thought on since the reformation, and praying to God, as good men did of old, in the corrupt times of the Kirk.cExpurga Domin… Vineam tuam sentibus undi que & labruscis oppletam: fac ut olim slagellū de funiculis & de templo tuo sancto nummularios expelle, vendētes èjice, ementes exturba, cunctos impios mercatore…, nisi panitentiam egerint. Giezitas lepra percute, Simonitas altè volantes, Satana que ministerioin excelsum elevatos illide, ac dejice, &c. Nicol. Clemangis. That he vvould put to his hand, & purge his vineyard, That he vvould vvhip buyers and sellers out of his Temple: That he vvould strike Giezites vvith Leprosie, and that he vvould bring lovv such Simonites as novv are so high, being lifted up by the ministerie of Satan.
Another Christian dutie (Christian Reader) vve expect at thyne hands, for the good of the Kirk, That vvhatsoever be thy place, higher or lovver, farther or nearer unto his Majesties person, vvho gladly vvould acquainte his Majestie particularly vvith the estate of the Kirk, in his Majesties Kingdome of SCOTLAND, as vvhat it vvas once, vvhat it might hauehave been before this time, vvhat it is become of late, and vvhat it is like to be ere long: But either can not for vvante of occasion, or dare not for avve of the Prelates, vvhose courting is more to be feared then theire cursing: That thou vvould doe vvhat thou may to make this follovving Treatise come to his Majesties hands: for vvee his Majesties loving people of Scotland vvhodEphestion foreign, Craterus. foreign both louelove his Majesties person and Croune, acknovvledging the dutie vve ovve to his Majesty, commanded in the first Commandement after the first Table, to come nearest unto that religion and piety, vvhereby vve vvorship God himselfe,e1 Tim. 5, 4. vvho neither louelove Schismes in the Kirk, nor vvittie reconcilements of trueth and error, but vvould keep the trueth in peace, vvho neyther are Puritanes, nor Brovvnists, nor Anabaptists, nor seditious, as men calumniate: but Professors of the Religion as it vvas at the first reformed amongst us, and as it hath furnished unto us all the hope that vve hauehave of eternall happines, vve vvould shevve his gracious Majestie, that according to the saying of Salomon, When the righteous are in authoritie the people reioyce, &c. fProverb. 29. 2.Our hearts vvere filled vvith joy, and our mouthes vvith laughter, vvhen at the first beginnings of his raigne, vve did not onelyonly heare the fame of his princely Inclination to equitie & righteous judgmēt, but did perceiue the noble proofes thereof, in trying the trueth of things controverted, vvhile his Majestie, vvith that vvorthy King, kept still one eare shut for the other partie, & vvith that vvyser King, vvhen he declared that the vvisedome of God vvas in him to do judgment, vvould hauehave both parties to stand before him at once, that hearing both, they might speede best, and goe out most chearfull from his Majesties face, vvho had the best cause. By this vve vvere confident, that his Throne should be established, the Nations svveyed by his Scepter exalted, & our cause, vvhichwhich is no mans particular, but Christs ovvne cause, should be heard at last, and righteously determined, that everiething in the house of the God of heauen might be done after the vvill of the God of heauen, then vvhichwhich there can be nothing more reasonable, and vvhichwhich is the summe of all our desires. Our adversaries upon the contrarie, out of the experience they finde of his Majesties disposition to equitie, & out of the conscience they hauehave of the iniquitie of the cause that they maintaine, onelyonly because it maintaineth their greatnes, hauehave used all meanes to prevent his tryall, hauehave stopped so farre as may be, all vvaies of information, & (according to the craftie counsell giuen to Pericles) not beinggPericle dicente, non invenire se quo pacto ministery rationem redderet, at que ideo cōflictarie ergo inquit, Alcibiades, quare potius quemadmodum ratianem non reddas. Valer. Max. lib. 3. cap. 2. able to make account, hauehave done vvhat they can, that th…y be not called to account. When Commissioners vvere to goe to his Majestie, they vvould hauehave none but their ovvne, & vvhen some that vvere not their ovvne vvere chosen by a meeting of the Kirk, they vvould not hauehave them to goe. vvhichwhich hath made us after long vvaiting in silence and many essayes to resolue in ende, there being no other vvay left unto us, vvith all submission of minde, to send up our Pastor and Prelate in print, vvho hauehave been impeded by the Prelates to come together in person. Neither can it offend the Prelate, that the Pastor speak the trueth this one time for himselfe and the Prelate, since the Prelate so many times hath spoken his pleasure for both. Our silence and ceasing in the cause vvould giuegive greatest vvorldly ease to our selues, and greatest contentment to our adversaries, vvho novv crye nothing but peace, peace, that is, a peaceable possession of their honours and vvealth, and a cruell oppression of their brethren.hSi pacem non potest habere cum fratre nisi subdito ostē dit se non tam pacem cupere, quam sub pacis conditi…n vindictam. Hiero… ad Theop. But vvithall vvould proue us, to be unfaythfull, both to our God, and to our King, for beside the obligation that is commune to us vvith other reformed Kirks, vve stand bound by solemne oath, covenant and subscription, published to the vvorld, to defend the doctrin and discipline of this Kirk, and to oppose the Hierarchie, and all rites and ceremonies added to the vvorship of God. Silence in such a cause may be sinne to other Kirks, but to us it is perjurie in the sight of God, and vvould also proue us unfaithfull to our King. For hovvsoever the Prelates professe in publick, That no Ceremonie no Bishop, no Bishop no King, and doe suggest in secret the service that they can doe to Monarchie; they doe but minde themselues, and their ovvne Idoll. That government of the Kirk is most usefull for kings and kingdomes, vvhichwhich is best vvarranted by the Word of God, by vvhom Kings reigne, and kingdomes are established. The pillars of his Majesties Throne are of Gods ovvn making, Religion upon the right hand, & Righteousnes upon the left. The pompe of Ceremonies, and pride of prelacie are pillars artificially vvrought by the vvitte of man, for setting up and supporting the Popes tyranny, No Ceremony no Prelate, no Prelate no Pope. VVhen his Majesties vvisedome hath searched all these creitis of this controversie, let us be reputed the vvorst of all men, let us all be censured, silenced, consined, deprived or exiled, as some of us are, and hauehave beene for a long time. If the cause that vve maintain shall be found any other, but that vve desire that God beserved, & his house ruled according to his ovvne vvill, and if it shall not be found, that the Kirk of God perfect in order, and office-bearers vvithout Prelates and their ceremonies, may be governed upon a small part of their great rents, vvith more honour to God, vvith more heartie obedience to the Kings Majestie, vvith greater riches and glorie to the Crovvne, vvith greater contentment to the body of the vvhole kirk & kingdome, greater peace amongst our selues, and greater terror to Satan & all his traine of heresie, prophanesse and persecution, as vve shall be ready to demonstrate particularly (if this vvhichwhich follovveth be not sufficient) vvhensoever his Majestie shall be pleased to require: and vvhichwhich vve are assured his Majestie vvil perceiue upon small consideration, for a minde inclined by divine povver to religion and pietie, vvill not at first sight discerne, & be possessed vvith the louelove of the heauenly beautie of the house of God, they both proceeding from the same spirit. God alsufficient blesse his Majestie both in peace and vvarre, both in religion & justice, vvith such successe, as may be seene euen by the envious eye of the enemy, to be from the finger and favour of God, and may also make his happie gouvernment to be a matter of gratulation to the Godly, and to be admired and remembred by the posteritie, as the measure and example of their desires, vvhen they shall be vvishing for a religious and righteous King.