The True and Absolute Bishop, To the reader
The Epiſtle to the Reader.
COurteous and Chriſtian Reader, if the Title Page do pleaſe thee, (as perchance it may,) I am confident then that the enſuing Treatiſe will not diſtaſte at all, becauſe it tenders thee a ſalve for thy ſores, and a remedy for thy ſtraying thoughts. Should now the word [Epiſcopacy,] draw a diſlike upon thine affections, or like a blacke cloud darken thine impartiall eſteeme hereof, it is to be feared then, (for the preſent,) that all is not well within thee, for here thou haſt the abſoluteſt, the trueſt, and the moſt perfect Biſhop that ever was in all the Chriſtian world, whoſe Dioceſse alſo is from one end of the earth unto the other, and from the Sea unto the worlds end. This is the Metropolitan that governes Heavens Univerſe, and whoſe [See] as it is without all contradiction Univerſall, ſo in like manner is his [EPISCOPACIE] in all points uncontroleable. This is hee that was called from the Wombe hereunto, and from the bowels of his mother;Iſa. 49.1. Zach. 3.8. Mal. 3.1. unto whom all the Yles must liſten, and eke the people from farre; who is the branch of the Lord, and the meſſenger of the Covenant, who is like a refiners fire, and like Fullers ſope, and will purifie the ſons of LEVI, (meaning, all the Miniſters of his Word and Sacraments by what names or titles ſoever they be called,) and will purge them as Gold and ſilver, that they may offer unto the Lord, an offering in righteouſnes. I write not this now to barke at, or to bite at any in the world, for that Hoſtile and ſcurrilous humour both againſt Gods ſacred houſe, and Englands Kirk, I leave to our brawling and rayling tongues wherewithall our times abound, alaſſe and thrice alaſſe, too too much in every ſtreet and corner, nay I had almoſt ſaid, in every part and place; ſo that ſhould not the right honourable and bleſſed Parliament out of their heavenly diſpoſitions, forthwith ſilence the contumelious affronts with irrevocable cenſures, of ſuch black-mouthed Sanballats, as without all queſtion the plenitude …f their gracious judgement and undoubted religious goodneſſe will challenge the care hereof, both Zion then and all her ſonnes may ſit downe in the duſt and weepe. But I write, this [ſcribendo proficere, & proficiendo ſcribere,] to ſatifie the ingenuous reader with ſome notions of a right and abſolute Biſhop, and that upon his benefit and good liking I my ſelfe may receive ſome comfort. As for the matter here debated before thine eyes, (though it doe not come unto thee, in the beautifull and gracefull habit of excellent and learned rhetoricke, yet mayeſt thou finde therein many an wholeſome expreſſion, both for thy ſoules health, and lifes amendment,) I deſire thus much, that as thou doeſt not receive it with the reverence of a Father, ſo that thou wouldst not reject it, as the raveries of a child, for Apollo yeelded Oracles, as well to poore men, for their prayers, as to Princes, for their preſents. If thou haſt bin a ſtragler, from the flock and fold of Chriſt, here are diſcoveries for to enforme thy conſcience, and ſuch demonstrative Characters, to certifie thee of thy ſoules ſtate, and condition, in that particular, as that thou canſt not (unleſſe meerely blinded, and that God hath given thee over unto a reprobate ſence,) but ſee whether thou art in the fold of Chriſt or not, and whether alſo thy life be the life of grace, or the life of ſin. I ſhall not need to labour thee, in this Epistle, how thou art to demeane thy ſelfe, towards the great Biſhop of thy ſoule, for that cannot bee exploded thy meditations, if thou doſt but reade and view the matter; all that I ſhall adviſe thee, in the point propounded, is that with the laborious Bee, thou have a deſire hence to gather honey, and not with the venemous Spider, to ſucke nought ſave poyſon. The diſcourſe (for any thing I know to the contrary,) may put all the world in minde, what a moſt wretched and a moſt lamentable caſe thoſe extravagant ſinfull ſoules are in, that are out of Chriſts ſeverall, and out of Christs encloſure, ranging up and downe the world, in the wild and vaſt Commons, of all kinde of diſobedience; or elſe (which is as bad,) wandring to and fro, day by day, within the unfortunate pale of ſome particular enormitie. For thine owne part, (my Chriſtian brother,) I cenſure thee not at all; (for I beleeve to bee guilty that way, is an infallible demonstration, and a very brand and Symptome, of a carnall and a ranke hypocrite;) if therefore now thou art any kinde of way the better, for this my ſmall endeavour, bleſse the Biſhop, for it, I meane, the eternall Meſſias, who is the great Shepheard and Biſhop of thy ſoule; but if like a taunting Ammonite thou falleſt to malicious cenſurings, against the booke, and Authour, know, tis the Authors reſolution, more lightly to ſet by, and value thy ludibrious taunts, then thou canſt imagine thy diſdainfull nature, to be forward, in the miſchievous broching of the ſame: and beſides that, he hath found out thine abuſive and unchriſtianlike ſarcaſmes, many dayes agon, and that hee is now preparing a ſcourge for thy poyſonous tongue. What thou doſt object now out of an envious diſpoſition, my conſcience tells me, that in the minds of the well affected, it ſhall ſtand for nothing, becauſe they have determin'd at this preſent, that [dicetur veritas, & rumpetu… invidia,] that truth ſhall be ſpoken, and that envy ſhall breake its gall. But and if thou canst not abſtaine, from thine irreligious obloquie, ô be ſure then, that thy formality in religion, is but meere*Iam. 1.26. mockery, without Religion; and that in concluſion, whereas for a time, thou ſeemeſt to ſet on fire the whole courſe of nature, thou ſhalt at length be ſet on fire, even by the very*Iam. 3.6. hell it ſelfe. And thus gentle Reader, bidding thee heartily to take heed, I bid thee heartily farewell.
NICOLAS DARTON.