The Pastor and the Prelate

The Pastor & Prelate compared by the Word of God.

THat the Worship of God & the Government of the Kirk, which is the house of God, are to be learned out of his own Word: it is a truth against the which the gates of Hell shall never prevail. For we ought to give this glory to God, that all his books are full, and written on both sides; as the book of nature, the book of providence, and the book of conscience is perfect, so also the scripture, which is the book of grace, is perfect. We ought to give this glory to the son of God: that as he is a perfect high Priest for reconciliation, he is also a perfect Prophet for revelation, and a perfect King and lawgiver for ruling of his own Kirk and kingdom. We ought also to give this glory to the Spirit of God, that as he purposed to set down a Covenant, a Testament, and a perfect Canon, so in fullness of wisdom he hath performed his purpose. We ought humbly to acknowledge, that the Kirk hath no power (whether by translation of divine ordinances from the old to the new Testament, under pretext of piety, or by imitation of the enemy, seem it never so charitable, or by man's invention let it appear never so plausible) to make new laws, or to institute any new office or office-bearer, any minister, or part of ministration in the house of God. But that it is her parte to see the will of God obeyed, and to appoint Canons and Constitutions, for the orderly and decent disposing of things before instituted. We call here the Prelates and Pastors of Conformitie to a threefold consideration. FIRST that they agree not amongst themselves about the matters in question: some of them affirming, that their Hierarchy is warranted by divine authority; others confessing, it is only by ancient custom: and a third sort defending neither of the two, but that it is Apostolic. Again some of them make the form of Kirk government to be universal and perpetual, others holding it to be conformable to civil policy, as if man might prescribe unto God, what form of government is fittest for his house: for that which is highly esteemed amongst men, is abomination in the sight of God. He that hath the seven eyes seeth better in his own matter, then man that seeth nothing but by his light. Wisdom that hath built her house, and hewed out her seven pillars, cannot be content that man's wisdom should devise and hewe out the eight pillar. SECONDLY, they should consider, that the arguments and answers that we give to them against their Hierarchy & ceremonies, are the same that they are forced to use in defense of the truth against the Papists: and the answers and arguments that the Papists give them for traditions, for the Popes monarchy, and for their will-worship, they are forced to use them against us in defense of their cause: resting thus in their luke warmness, & halting betwixt two, for the love of the world. Which hath made the Papists to say, that the Prelates disputing against them are Puritans, & while they dispute against the Puritans they are Papists, & turn to their side. THIRDLY, they should consider, that the form of Government, and divine ceremonies under the Law, were not removed to give place to the inventions of man under the Gospel. What is beside the particular precepts of God in Scripture, is against the general Commandment: Thou shalt not add to the Word, that I have commanded, &c. And therefore let us say with Augustine: We are brethren, why strive we, Our father died not intestate, but made a Testament, and died and rose again: The father lieth in the grave without sense, and yet his words are in force, Christ sitteth in heaven, and his Testament is contradicted on earth, let it be read &c. Let the Pastor and the Prelate be presented before the Law and Testimony. Let the authority of the one and the other be pōdered, not in the weights of worldly avarice and ambition, but in the balance of the Sanctuary, and let us measure their callings and carriage, not by the cord of the Canon Law, but by the golden reed of the Temple, & we shall soon see, whether of the two hath warrant frō God.

J. THE PASTOR acknowledgeth no offices in the Kirk, after the extraordinary of the Apostles, Prophets & Evangelists, but the ordinary of Pastors, Teachers, Elders and Deacons, appointed by Christ, as sufficient for the well of the Kirk, and of every member thereof in all things spiritual and temporal.

The PRELATE setteth up one hierarchy of Archbishops & Lordbishops: having for the head the Roman Antichrist, and for the train Suffragans, Deans, Archdeacons, Officials, &c. never named in Scripture, nor known in the purer times of the Kirk, against the well of the Kirk, and of every member thereof, both in things spiritual and temporal.

2. The PASTOR, according to the Scripture, putteth difference betwixt the names of the Office-bearers in the New-Testament, never calling the ordinary by the name of the extraordinary, nor the inferior by the name of the superior, as the Pastor by the name of the Apostle or Evangelist: but never putteth difference at all betwixt a Pastor and a Bishop: making every Pastor to be a Bishop, and taking the Pastor and Bishop always for one.

The PRELATE maketh a confusion of names, that he may put himself in the place of the Apostle, as the Pope will be in the place of Christ: but against all Scripture will make so great difference betwixt a pastor and a bishop, that he will have no Pastor to be a Bishop, and that there be no bishop but the Prelate.

3. The PASTOR can see no Lord Bishop in Scripture, but the Lord's Bishop only, a name of labor and diligence, & not of honor and ease.

The PRELATE will admit no other bishop but a Lordbishop, which he hath made a name of honor and ease without labor or diligence.

4. The PASTOR is a bishop set over a flock, in respect whereof he is called a Bishop, & not in relatiō to other Pastors.

The PRELATE setteth himself as a Bishop over pastors, and in respect of them is called a Bishop, and not in relation to any flock.

5. The PASTOR is set over a particular flock, that may convene together in one place, amongst whō he is to exercise the whole parts of the ministry, as preaching, prayer, ministration of the sacraments & discipline, according to the trust cōmmitted to him by the Son of God, in whose name he is Embassador, frō whō he deriveth his power, on whō he depēds in th' exercise of his ministry, & to whō he must be coūtable, & to no other Past. or Bis.

The PRELATE both ordeyneth Pastors at large, without assignaiō of a particular flock (as if he were either making Masters of Art & doctors of physic, or as if ordination should go before election, which is as absurd, as first to crown a king, or install a magistrate, & then to choose him) and setteth himself as a proper pastor over a whole provinces, & over many kirks in divers provinces, as well of those that he never saw, as of that where his seat is, esteeming the pastors to be but his helpers & Substitutes, as having their power from him, being obliged to render account to him, and whom he may continue and displace at his pleasure.

6. The PASTOR, with his fellow presbyters, as he is put in trust with the preaching of the word, and ministration of the sacraments, hath received also of Christ the power of ordination of Pastors, where presbytery never used in the New Testament to signify the office of priesthood or order of a presbyter, can be no other thing but the persons, or company of pastors laying on their hands, and that not only for consent, but for consecration, of which number any one may pronounce the words of blessing.

The PREL. for the honor of the priesthood, that is, out of his ambitious humor, taketh the power of ordaining pastors to himself: denying that a whole presbytery without him may ordain a pastor; excepting the case of extreme necessity, as women are admitted to baptize; whereby in a manner he calleth in question the lawfulness of our ministry, these sixty years past, since the reformation.

7. The PASTOR hath committed to him by Jesus Christ not only the keys of the inward & private court of conscience, but also of the outward and public court of jurisdiction, for decyding controversies, making of constitutions, and inflicting of censures, they being both but one & the same power of binding and loosing. He hath the shephards staff in his hand, as well as the Shepherds pype at his mouth.

The PREL. keepeth the staff in his own hand, and arrogateth to himself, even amongst them who never heard him, all power of jurisdiction (whether Domgatick, Diatactick, or Crytick, as it is distinguished) which the Apostles themselves, notwithstanding their extraordinary gifts, would never do, but in all these parts of jurisdiction behaved themselves as presbyters.

8. The Pastor, findeth it to be so far against the word of God to claim any authority over his brethren, that albeit there be a divine order in the Kirk, whereby there is one kind of Ministry, both ordinary and extraordinary, in degree and dignity before another, as the Apostles before all others, the Pastor before the Elder and Deacon, yet he can find no Minister ordinary or extraodinarie, that hath any majoritie of power over other inferior Ministers of another kind: as the Pastor over the Elder and Deacon, far less over other Ministers of the same kind, as the Pastor or Bishop over the Pastor.

The Prelate, findeth it to be so far against his place to quite his authority over his brethren, that albeit he hath no warrat for any other kind, or degree of Ministry then the Pastor, yet he usurpeth majoritie of power over Pastors, and taketh upon him, both direction and correction, and that not social, but authoritatiue, to beat them at his pleasure.

9. The Pastor is separate from the World to the Kingdom of Christ, which is not of this World: He will not be called gracious Lord, nor strive for the right hand or the left, he should not follow the pomp of the world, but must shine in knowledge, diligence, and godly simplicity: he may not assume another ecclesiastical office, far less take upon him a secular charge: he may not divide the inheritance, nor burden himself with worldly affairs.

The Prelate is separate from the Kingdom of Christ, & thrusteth himself into the throng of the World, he would be called My Lord, and Your Grace, and without respect of age or gifts, preferreth himself to the most reverend Pastors: He robbeth the nobility and Magistrates of their places and dignites, and will have his Cuschion, his Coach, and his courtly train. He is a Lord of Parliament of Counsel and session, a Barone, a Steward, a Judge of civil and criminal causes: & why not Bishop of the order of the Garter, and Count Palatine, that at last he may have both swords, and the triple Crown, as the Abimelech-like brambles of the world have done before.

10. The Pastor taketh the sum and forms of prayer from the directions of God, from the Lord's prayer, & from the prayers of the godly in diverse places of Scripture, the particular arguments & petitions from the present purposes, persons, places, times, and occasions, which as the mouth of the congregation, according unto the grace given unto him from the H. Ghost, he presenteth before the throne of God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ.

The Prelate would tie the Pastor, albeit he had the tongue of an angel, and occasions never so contrary, to certain words, and a set form of Liturgy, and would divide the prayer betwixt Pastor and people, and by many idle repetitions, would bring both Pastor and people under the guiltiness of vain babbling, and popish superstition.

11. The Pastor thinketh it the principal part of his ministry to labor in the word & doctrine, because woe is unto him if he preach not the gospel. And when he preacheth he will have God's Word only to found in his own house, reading nothing but the Canonical text, & comparing Scripture with Scripture for edification, that he may save himself & those that hear him.

The Prelate thinketh of preaching as accessory, & would have it worn out of use by a long dead leitourgie. In reading he would have no difference betwixt the Apocrypha and the Canonical Scripture, and liketh best of such Sermons, as are stuffed with Philosophers, Poets, Orators, Scoolemen, and ancients in Greek and Latin, that he may preach himself, and be admired of those that hear him.

12. The Pastor loveth no Music in the house of God, but such as edifieth, and stoppeth his ears at instrumental music, as serving for the Pedagogie of the untoward Jews under the law, and being figurative of that spiritual joy, whereunto our hearts should be opened under the Gospel.

The Prelate loveth carnal and curious singing to the ear, more then the spiritual melody of the Gospel, and therefore would have Antiphonie and Organes in the Cathedral Kirks, upon no greater reason then other shadows of the Law of Moses, or lesser Instruments, as Lutes, Cithernes, or pypes might be used in other Kirks.

13. The Pastor ministereth Baptism in the place of the public assemblies of God's people, it being a note of our Christian profession, and a protestation of our faith, and therefore should be celebrate publicly, as well as ordination of ministers, excommunication, confession of converts, or reconciliatiō of penitents.

The Prelate hath given place to private Baptism, and thereby entertayneth the superstitious conceit of the necessity of Baptism, bringeth in the absurdity of conditional baptism, and maketh a ready way for private persons and midwives to baptize.

14. The Pastor, as the words of the institution prescribe, & after the example of Christ and his Apostles, hath a Table prepa • ed for the celebration of the Lord's supper: he sitteth down in a public communion with the congregation, in the most customable and comely form of sitting: far from all danger of Idolatry: when he hath given thanks, he breaketh the bread sacramentally when he delivereth the elements, he uttereth the words of promise: This is my body, This is my blood, demonstratively: The people distribute the bread and cup among themselves lovingly. They eat and drink in such measure, as they may find themselves refreshed sensibly. And as before the action they were prepared by diligent examination, and powerful sermons for trying themselves, so in the time of the action their ears & their hearts are filled with pertinent readings, & pithy exhortations, and after the action dismissed with joy, with strength, and with spiritual resolution, to the great honor of God, the enlargement of the kingdom of Christ, the terror of Antichrist, the peace of the Kirk, and unspeakable comfort of their own souls.

The PRELATE pretending the words of the 95 Psalm, & after the example of Antichrist and his followers, hath turned the Table into an Altar-like cupboorde, the table-gesture of sitting, into the adoring gesture of kneeling (with no better excuse of idolatry, then is expressed in the obscure terms of abstractive ab objecto, and objectum à quo significative ) the public communion into a private action betwixt him and the communicant, the sacramental breaking into a preparative carving before the action, the enunciatiue words of the institution into a form of a prayer or oblation, the Christian distribution into a stewardlike partition, the refreshment of eating and drinking into a pinched tasting, the preparatory examination and preaching into a schismatical disputation about kneeling and sitting, the spiritual exhortations in the time of the action, either in a dumb guyse, and comfortless deadness, or in a confusion of the Readers reading, and his own speaking at the giving of the elements, both at one time, and the spiritual joy, strength and resolution after the action, into terrors of conscience in some, the opinion of indifferency in all matters of religion in others, and of looseness of life in many, to the mocking of God, the reentrie of Antichrist, renting of the Kirk, obduring of the Papist, stumbling of the weak, and grief of the godly.

15. The PASTOR thinketh it no Judaism nor superstition, but a moral duty to observe the Sabbath: because first the observation of one day of seven, albeit it be positive divine, yet it is not ceremonial nor for a time, but unchangeable, and obligeth perpetually, as is manifest by the time when it was appointed before the fall, when there was no type of redemption by Christ, and by numbering it amongst the ten precepts of the moral law, written by the finger, and proclaimed by the voice of God, which cannot be said of any changable law. Neither can it be called perpetual and moral in this sense, that a certain time is to be allotted to divine worship, for then the building of the Tabernacle and temple, the new moons, and other legal festivities containing in them a general equity, might as well be accounted moral. Secondly, the change of the Sabbath from the last to the first day of the week, is by divine authority from Christ himself, from whom it is called, the Lord's day, who is Lord of the Sabbath, who did institute the worship of the day, and rested from his labors that day, whereon all things were made new by his resurrection, and sanctified it, even as in the beginning God rested from all his works on the seventh day, & blessed it. He thinketh it no more contrary to Christian liberty, then it was to Adam in his innocence to keep one of the seven, and therefore he laboreth to make the Sabbath his delight, observeth it himself, and by his doctrine, example and discipline teacheth others to do the like, and to cease uot only from all servill works, which require great labor of the body, but from all our own works whatsoever, drawing our minds from the exercises of religion, and serving for our own gain and commodity, except in the case of necessity, caused by divine providence. He would have it well considered, wherein the Jews were more strictly obliged then Christians, and what liberty we have, that they had not. Beside the Sabbath he can admit no ordinary holy days appointed by man, whether in respect of any mystery, or of difference of one day from another, as being warranted by mere tradition, against the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, but accounteth the solemn fasts and humiliations, unto which the Lord calleth, to be extraordinary Sabbaths, warranted by God himself.

The PRELATE by his doctrine, practice, example, and neglect of discipline, declareth, that he hath no such reverend estimation of the Sabbath. He doteth so upon the observation of Pasche, Zuile, and festival days, appointed by men, that he preferreth them to the Sabbath, and hath turned to nothiug our solemn Fasts, and blessed humiliations.

16. The PASTOR findeth that every parte of his office, and every name, whereby he is called in Scripture doeth call upon him to be personally resident, and where he resideth to be a terror to the wicked, and a comfort to the godly.

The PRELATE either waiteth upon Counsel, Session, or Court, or dwelleth so far from his charge, that 〈◊〉 • each of Caranza (proving the necessity of the personal residence of ••• ops) may be applied to him: He is a Bishop but without overseer • , an Embassador, but runneth where his errand lieth not, a •• ptaine & Soldier, but far from his station, a Father and steward, but suffereth the children to perish for want of food. Or if he happen to be resident, his Lordship is a protection to the Papist, to the carnal professor, and to the Idol-Minister and Idle-belly, and such a vexation to the vigilant Pastor, that he had much rather he were a Non-resident.

17. The PASTOR must be so unblameable, that he have a good testimony of them that are without, he must rule well his own house, having his children in subjection, with all gravity, not accused of riot, or unruly. He must be sober, not given to wine, he must not be greedy of filthy lucre, nor covetous: he must not be a brauler, a stryker, nor fighter.

The PRELATE mocketh at conscience, gravity, sobriety, modesty, patience, painfulnes &c. and calleth them Puritanizing.

18. The PASTOR laboreth to keep faith in a good conscience, and by the blessing of God upon his labors findeth the increase of the gifts of God in his old age, and the grace of God growing in the hearts of the people.

The PRELATE by loosing a good conscience maketh shipwreck of faith, and by the curse of God upon his sloth and defection may find himself like Balaam, who seeking horns did loose his ears, that is seeking preferment he lost the gift of prophesy, & may see grace decayed & worn out of the hearts of the people.

The Pastor & Prelate compared by Antiquity, and the proceedings of the Ancient Kirk.

WE reverence the hoary head, and name of Antiquite: but withal we know, that there is antiquity of truth, & antiquity of error, and therefore would make difference betwixt original antiquity, or that which was from the beginning, and of the first institution, and antiquity of custom, or that which is of long continuance. They that take themselves willfully to custom against the first institution resolve not unlike the Council of Constance, when they set down their blasphemous act, Non obstante. We do not misregarde the practice of the Primitive Kirk after the Apostles, especially it being compared with the ages following. But would have it in comparison of the Apostolical Kirk to be esteemed, but dirivatiue, as which admitted many changes from better to worse both in doctrine and discipline. We honor the Fathers, but so that we give the first honor to the Father of fathers, besides whom we have no father. To his son Jesus Christ the only Prophet, whom we should hear. To the Holy Ghost, who only teacheth us the truth, and to the Holy Scripture, which only carrieth their divine authority. Wishing all that are studious of the truth in the pointe of the controversy in hand, to take notice of these two things: First, that the maintainers of conformity many ways forget themselves in the matter of the authority of the Fathers. For albeit they daube us with the Fathers, the Fathers, the ancients, and all antiquity, yet they themselves will not hear the voice of the Fathers in their disputes: whether against Papists, whom they answer with the same exceptions against the Fathers, which we bring in this cause against them, or in their disputes with us, when the Fathers make against them: and thus while they profess that they honor the Fathers, they do but mock them, sometimes putting upon them the purple robe of authority, & at their pleasure pulling it off again. Next they forget thenselves in this, that albeit they know, that the witness and not the testimony is to be believed, they allege notwithstanding some counterfeit, some corrupted authors, and some late schoolmen, for the ancient Fathers against us. B • canus, Calvin, Beza, Martyr, Jewel &c. bring them against the Papists, who deny not their authority. And thirdly, they misregard the order of divine dispensation in rhe course of time, not without ingratitude to God for his gifts, and to good men for their labors, by preferring the meanest, that carrieth the name of Antiquity, unto the worthiest instruments of that blessed work of Reformation, who had above all that went before them many great helps of the languages, of human literature, and of printing, and to whom many secrets were made known by the accomplishment of prophesies, especially concerning the Antichrist, who being conceived in the Apostles times, was brought forth, and brought up unwittingly by the Fathers, who looked for the Antichrist from another quarter, which maketh them to be incompetent judges in the matter of Hierarchy, & Ceremonies thereof. The Romanists themselves, who profess to be the greatest favorers of the ancient Fathers, are forced to blush at many of their gross and shameful absurdities, & to confess, that many things, that were of old either doubtful, or altogether unknown, are now to the meanest become clear and certain. Some of them have exploded it as an impertinent similitude, that we being compared to the ancients, are as dwarffes upon the shoulders of Giants. The other thing, that we would have the studious reader to take notice of, is this, That of the Prelates & maintainers of conformity, seeking the fountain of antiquity, and uncertain where to find it, some go back to the old testament, to bring the Prelates pedigree from thence, some would bring his descent from Christ, some from the Apostles, and a fourth sort from the primitive Kirk. But before they get a sight of their own Prelate, in his pomp, in his power, and in his bu • ke of Ceremonies, they must go farther down the stream, till they come in sight of the Antichrist, and there they shall see him not far of, waiting on, as may be apparent by this which followeth.

THE PASTOR acknowledgeth the difference of the Kirk and ministry of the old & New Testament, seeketh neither type, nor pattern of his office from the Levitical priesthood, but bringeth his oldest warrant from Christ and his Apostles, and exponeth the Ancients, as Jerome and others, who insist in the similitude of the ministry of the old and New Testament, as speaking by the way of allusion, and not from any warrant of divine translation.

The PRELATE searching the fountains of Nile, would bring his descent as high as from Levi, as if the chief priests, who had no episcopal authority over their brethren, were turned now into prelates: the inferior Priests into pastors, and the Levites, who had no proper care of the poor, were changed into our Deacons. He bringeth the ancients to reckon this Genealogy, but with such success, as the sons of Habijah had, when they failed in reckoning their line from Aaron, and so proved unworthy of the priesthood Nehem. 7.

2. The PASTOR hath an ordinary and perpetual office appointed by Christ, but the office of the Apostle and Evangelist was extraordinary, & to continue but for a time. So that (howsoever antiquity useth the words of Apostle & Bishop amply, calling the Apostles Bishops, and Bishops or pastors Apostles, and successors to the Apostles) yet neither is the one kind of office compatible with the other, nor can the one properly be said to succeed the other. So different are they as well in respect of charge, as of gifts and discharge of duty. For the Superior doeth not only do that which the inferior may not do, but his manner of doing, of that which is common to both, is far higher and more eminent.

The PRELATE repelled by the officebearers of the Old Testament, seeketh to enter with his directiue power and jurisdiction among the ministers of the Gospel, but with like success. For a pastor and doctor, his power over pastors and doctors suffereth them not to be. He urgeth to be taken in with the Apostle or Evangelist, and to be esteemed successor to them, but his office and theirs are not compatible. For formally their office was extraordinary, and without succession, and materially his office is not contained in their offices, as is the office of a pastor, there being no example in Scripture, without the office of Apostle or Evangelist of such power as the prelate claymeth. Whether his life and form of ministration be apostolical, all that know him may discern.

3. The PASTOR and not the prelate is the first minister (by the prelates own confession) whom the Apostles appointed in Kirks, when they first planted them. The pastor and not the prelate is the minister, whom the Apostles in their time do approve, and the Pastor and not the prelate is the last minister, to whom the Apostles, when they were to remove, or were near unto death, did recommend the care of the Kirks, and therefore the Pastor and not the prelate is the minister warranted by the Apostles.

The PRELATE denied of Christ, would father himself upon the Apostles, and finding no warrant from their doctrine or practice in Scripture, albeit the Acts of the Apostles contain the history of many years after Christ's ascension, He seemeth to be sure of the ecclesiastical history recorded in the Apostles times, & by Apostolic institution, a begun succession of Bishops in Jerusalem, Rome, Alexandria, Antioch &c. But here also he standeth without, because the bishops of those places were either Apostles, and therefore could not be properly Bishops, or else ordinary pastors of no greater place nor power, except for age & gift, then other presbyters laboring with them: Such were Linus, Clemens, Cletus, Anacletus, fellow presbyters at Rome at one time, one of them living some space after another, and to show the order of succession from the Apostles against Heretics, who urged it, they were numbered, as if they had not lived at one time, and in the line of succession were called Bishops, by Eusebius and others after him, agreeable to the corruption of their own times, when now men had of their own head put a difference betwixt a Bishop and a pastor, and not according to the purity of the primitive times, of which they did write, when a pastor and a bishop was one and the same.

4. The PASTOR is the divine and Apostolic bishop, of the lawfulness of whose calling, and power in the primitive Kirk after the Apostles there was no question. The pastor by consent of antiquity (when now by human wisdom the constant moderator was brought in and called the Bishop) had right and power, not by grant but by his office, not only to preach the Word, minister the Sacraments, and use the keys in binding and loosing the conscience, but also with the fellow presbyters to ordain ministers, and in the presbyterial, provincial, and national assemblies, to decide controversies, to make constitutions, to inflict censures, even upon Bishops, and by his pastoral authority to do all things necessary for the edification of the Kirk. And this right and power, that God gave him, he maintained in some Kirks in the most corrupt times, when now Antichrist was set on his chair, and prelacy for the most part, of human was become satanical.

The PRELATE holden at the door by Christ and his Apostles after their times by the ambition of some pastors; and simplicity of others, when he had long hung on, got in the foot to be constant moderator, but not finding entry at the first, for his great head, made up of sole ordination, of monarchical jurisdiction, of civil power, worldly pomp and superstitious ceremonies, he hydeth his miter in the mystery of iniquity, going on with it foot for foot, and draweth in by fraud and force, one limb after another, till at last, after many ages, and much working (for he atteyned not to the degree of an Archbishop, till after the Council of Nice) he showeth himself Lord in the house of God, having no more of the first institution of a Bishop, then the ship Argo had of her first building, when after her expedition she had lain at a full sea some hundreds of years, or the beggars cloak patched with many clouts and colors, that hath passed through some generations, which he it may be, makes more of, then of a parliament robe, hath of the first shaping.

5. The PASTOR as became the humble servant of Christ, and a minister of the New Testament, procured and maintained the dignity and true honor of his ministry, by holding forth the glorious light of the Gospel in his doctrine, and the shining light of holiness in his conversation: esteeming the preaching of the glad tidings of peace, to be the beauty of ministers, & righteousness their robe and ornament.

The PRELATE took him to the contrary course, for his credit, and transformed the beautiful simplicity of Christ's Kingdom into the glory of the kingdom of the world, albeit when he was of his old stamp, his greatest dignity was his chair, and faithful teaching the flower of his garland: yet now degenerating from his first sincerity, and being infected with secular smoke, he came to be cast in the mould of the first Beast, his chair gave place to his Consitory and throne; his jurisdiction and government, honored with the title of preeminence carried all the credit, Teaching as a base work was given over to the petty presbyters, and every office in the Kirk was counted a dignity worthy of honor less or more, as it had more or less jurisdiction annexed, as these are more or less honorable in the common wealth, that have more or less civil authority. And thus prelacy came up, and preaching came down, and the Kirk became more worldly then the world it self.

6. The PASTOR when all was going wrong, some raising contentions, others gaping after honors, the brains of many being big with heresies, all given to heap up superstition and Atheism, and the prelate with his popish hierarchy, possessing both the holy city and outward court, he then gave testimony to the truth, kept still the temple, and within the temple kept in the light, as two olive trees growing up by the sides of the candlestick, and dropping down from the branches oil into the lamps, for the comfort of such as Jehovah Shammah had chosen for life, and would save from the deluge of defection.

The PRELATE once possessed into the Kirk, never ceased, till he had changed the Kirk into a court, power ecclesiastical into civil policy, the Scripture into tradition, the truth into heresy, sincerity into superstition, the worship of God into Idolatry, as the worship of images, Saints and bread-worship, the pure ordinances of God into Masses, Altars, Images, Garments, Fasting, and follies of Paganism and Judaism, like a smoke out of the bottomless pit, growing grosser and thicker every day, and in the midst of the myst built up his greatness, upon the ruins not only of the Kirks, but of the commonwealths of the world: for when the stars of heaven fell into the earth, the mountains and Islands were moved out of tbeir places, and as this unhappy milt swelled big in the body with wealth and honor, the life of religion became faint, the Princes and Nobles of the earth like the noble parts in the body decayed, and the meaner ones like the hands and feet withered away. The Popes felicity was the whole worlds misery, and so was the Prelates to several nations and provinces.

7. The PASTOR and with him the godly of the time wearied with long opposition, poured out their heavy complaints, that the grief of the Kirk was more bitter in peace, then either under persecution or heresy, that she had brought up and exalted her sons, & they had despised her. If a professed Heretic should arise, she could cast him forth of her bosom, if a violent enemy, she could hide her self frō him, but now whom shall the Kirk cast out, or frō whom shall she hide herself, all are friends, & yet all are enemies, all are domestics, & yet none seek her true peace, for all seek their own things, and not the things of Jesus Christ. They are the ministers of Christ, & serve the Antichrist. He complaineth, that devotion had brought forth riches, & the mother had devoured her daughter. That of old the Bishops were of gold & the cups of wood, but now the bishops have changed their metal with the cups. That of old Christians had dark Kirks, but lightsome hearts, but now lightsome kirks and dark hearts. That the prelates inquired what rent the bishopric rendered, and not how many souls were to be fed in it. That their bodies were clad with purple and silk, but had threedbare consciences. That their care was greater to empty men's purses, then to extirpate their vices. That when they consecrate a Prelate, they kill a good man by advancing him. That no greater evil could be wished to any man, then that he be made pope. That in the estate of the Kirk Heaven is below, and earth is above. The spirit obeyeth, and the flesh commandeth. That in the mouths of the Prelates was the law of vanity, and not the law of verity, and that the lips of the priests under them kept secular, and not spiritual knowledge.

And when he searched the causes of the Kirks misery, he condescended upon the neglecting of Scripture, and multiplication of men's inventions, the ignorance and idleness of prelates, like dumb dogs, that could not bark; their covetousness above the Pharisees.

They suffered doves to be sold in the temple, but these sell both Kirk and sacrifice. Their pride and ambition declared in their great horses, and other superfluous pomp, and that as sons of Belial they have cast off the yoke, not enduring that any should ask them, why they do so and so, the unequal proportion seen in the Kirk, when one is hungry another drunk, some so enormiously overgone in riches and pomp, that the weakness of the rest is not able to bear them.

The PRELATE still mad of avarice and ambition stood upon the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that they should not blow, and opposed himself against the doctrine and complaint of the Pastors, condemning them for Heretics, giving out against them decrees of corrupt councils, thundering them with anathematismes: & persecuting them by fire and sword. He punished the clergy under him more severely for the neglect of a ceremony then for sacrilege or adultery, and finally least his fraud and falsehood should be known, he forbad all men the reading and using the holy Scripture.

8. The PASTOR and all good men, that longed and labored for the reformation of the Christian Kirk, for the space of five hundred years, as the Waldenses, Marsilius Patavinus, Wickleife, and his scholars, Hus and his followers, and all such as the Lord used for instruments in working the reformation, as Luther, Calvin, Brenz, Bullingerus, Musculus &c. did teach, that all pastors are of equal authority by the word of God, and all that space of time urged this point of reformation, as without which no success could be expected in the reformation of the doctrine and worship.

The PRELATE knowing, as it was often preached & written, all that time of 500 years, that the main cause of the corruptions of the Kirk was his own place, his pride, and his avarice, and that the desired and urged reformation of the Kirk, which was now brought to that pass, that as one says well, she could never bear her own disease, nor yet suffer remedy, behooved to begin at himself, the greatest byle in all ehe body, by all means held off reformation, as his own ruin, and when several nations were bringing it about, he could never be moved to give his consent, so dear was his myter and belly unto him.

The Pastor & Prelate compared in their judgment and practice about things indifferent.

BESIDE the speculations of the Schoolmen divided amongst themselves, in their subtleties about things indifferent, which work mightily upon men's wits, but more weakly upon their affections, then to make any great division, There hath been much ado in the Kirk since the beginning about adiaphorismes, & things indifferent. First in the infancy of the Christian Kirk the heat and the contention was great betwixt the converted Jews and Gentiles, about the keeping of the Ceremonies of the law, which before were commanded, afterwards were forbidden, but in that tract of time were in a manner indifferent. Concerning which we find, that the Apostles never imposed them upon any people or person, that judged them unlawful, that they thought that every man should be persuaded in his own mind, and should do nothing against, or without the warrant of his conscience; that by all means scandal should be avoided, as which bringeth woe upon him by whom it cometh, and destruction upon him upon whom it cometh, and many such rules of conscience and Christian prudence, which serve to the Kirk for direction in matters indifferent to the coming of Christ. Secondly, there was great business about ceremonies, and things called indifferent, in the infancy of the Reformed kirks, in the time of the Interim, when with so great power and persecution the Romish corruptions were forced again upon them, under the name of indifferency: at that time politics and worldly men, more careful of their own wealth then of God's truth, gave themselves to serve the time, and received all that was obtruded under the said cloak of indifferency. These were accounted friends to Augustus. Others of great gifts and esteem in the Kirk wished from their hearts, that these ceremonies had never been urged, yet thought it a less evil to admit something in the external part of God's worship, and thereby uniformity in religion with the enemies, then by a stoical stifnes (as they call it) and an obstinacy to provoke authority, and thereby to bring upon themselves banishment, and upon Kirk and common wealth desolarion. Such men looking more to unity, then to verity, & more to the event, then to their own duty, were called cannie, wise and peaceable men. A third sort setting aside all sophistication, and collusion with the enemy, taught plainly by word and writ from Scripture, and not from the grounds of policy: that when any part of God's worship is in danger, that then for the honor of God, confirmation of the tr • eth, and edification of the Kirk, Confession is necessary. He that confesseth not me, he that is ashamed of me before men, &c. They taught, that it was not lawful to symbolize with the enemy; that in the case of confession the smallest ceremonies are not indifferent: that at such times the Kirk should stand fast to her liberty, against such as would bring her into bondage: that yielding to such ceremonies was a great scandal, it being a returning to the vomit, the patching of an old cloute upon a new garment, & making the weak to think that the reformation of the Kirk was not a work of God, but of man: that the untimely change of ceremonies was a show of defection from the whole reformation: that when the enemy urgeth uniformity, his intentiō should be looked to, because he never rests, but proceeds from the corruption of outward worship to corrupt the doctrine, and to leave nothing sound. Men that taught after this manner were accounted by the former politics, and peaceable Formalists, to be contentious spirits, and troublers of the peace of the Kirk. Thirdly, albeit the reformed Kirks agree now for the most part in the general, about the nature and use of things indifferent, yet they go far asunder in the application of the general to their particular practices. The Lutheran Kirks hold some things for indifferent, which the Kirk of England receiveth not, and England holdeth a multitude of ordinances about discipline and ceremonies for indifferent, which we tabe to be unlawful, and beside the word. Everie Kirk judging, or at least practicing, according to their own measure of reformation: all crept not forth of that Roman deluge equally accomplished. No marvel that some of them should smell of the wine of fornication, wherewith they all for so many years were drunk. But obstinacy against the ingyring light, and the refusing of a further degree of Reformation, is fearful, what is it then to draw others back from their reformation, and to bind them up again into their old chain of darkness. These manifold contentions about things called indifferent, and ceremonies have proved so pernicious by defacing the kingdom of Christ, setting up the tyranny of Antichrist, dividing Pastors, offending people, dismembering the Kirk, and almost putting out the life of true piety, that we may truly say, nothing hath proved less indifferent to the Kirk, then the contentions about things indifferent, and many have been more hot for them, then for the heart of religion, because they concern the face of the Kirk, and as Erasmus said in another cause, the crowns & bellies of Kirkmen. Whether our old Pastor, or new prelate hath here the greatest guiltiness, will appear by this little that followeth.

THE PASTOR, ever feareth defection, and still urgeth Reformation, till everything be done in the house of God, according to the will of God. He accounteth the constitution of a Kirk, that is but indifferent good, or midway betwixt idolatry and Reformation, to be but like the lukewarmness of Laodicea.

The PRELATE pleaseth himself in this, that there be many Kirks in worse case, resteth in his indifferency, and lukewarmness, and rather inclyneth downward to further defection, then aimeth at any higher Reformation, like the Priests of Samaria, that were all so earnest against the true worship at Jerusalem, as they were against Baal and his idolatry.

2. The PASTOR looketh not to the world but to Religion in matters of Religion, and therefore thinketh not that indifferent in Religion, which bringeth good or evil spiritual upon the Kirk, and the souls of the people, albeit in their worldly estate immediately it do them neither good nor evil.

The PRELATE esteemeth many things indifferent in Religion, because they neither bring good nor evil to his worldly estate, albeit they do good or evil to the Kirk, and to the souls of the people, and looketh more to the world then to religion in matters of religion.

3. The PASTOR acknowledgeth three degrees of matters of faith, some to be of the foundation and first principles of the doctrine of faith, some to be near the foundation, as the conclusions clearly following upon the former▪ and the third to be of all other matters warranted by the word, and what is of this third rank, were it never so far from the foundation, and never so small in our eyes, not to be a matter indifferent, but to bind the conscience, and to be a matter of faith.

The PRELATE professeth the first and second to be matters of faith; but when he cometh to the third he esteemeth thē to be no matters of faith, but indifferent and wondereth that a wiseman should be so precise and puritanicall, as to stand upon matters that are not fundamental, but indifferent. For so he distinguisheth, making everything either fundamental or indifferent.

4. The PAST. comparing the worship of God under the gospel with the worship under the law, findeth that the commandment Deu. 12. 32. Every word that I command you, that ye shall observe to do, thou shalt not add unto it, neither shall ye diminish from it, doeth equally concern both. That the mind of man permitted to it self would prove as vain and foolish under the Gospel, as under the law, and that Jesus Christ was faithful as a Son in all the house of God, above Moses who was but a servant, and therefore albeit the ceremonial observations under the Law were many, which was the burden of the Kirk under the Old Testament, and ours be few, which is our benefit, yet the determination from God in all the matters of his worship he findeth to be all particular, the direction of all the parts of our obedience to be as clear to us, that now live under the Gospel, as it was to them that lived under the Law.

The PREL. as if either it were lawful now to add to the word, or man's mind were in a better frame, or the Son of God were not so faithful as Moses the servant, or as if direction in few ceremonies could not be as plain as in many, would bring into the Kirk a new ceremonial law, made up of translations of divine worship, of imitations of false worship, and of inventions of will-worship, to succeed to the abolished ceremonies under the Law, which he interpreteth to be the liberty and power of the Christian Kirk in matters indifferent, above the Kirk of the old testament: but is indeed the great door, whereby himself & others, strange office-bearers, whereby days, altars, vestures, cross, kneeling, and all that Romish rabble his shadow, have entered into the Kirk of Christ, and which will never be shut again till himself be shut out, who while he is within holdeth it wide open.

5. The PASTOR giveth no power to the Kirk to appoint other things in the worship of God, thē are appointed already by Christ the only Lawgiver of his Kirk, but to set down canons and constitutions about things before appointed, and to dispose the circumstances of order & decency, that are equally necessary in civil and religious actions, and therefore resolveth first, that nothing positive, or that floweth merely from institution, can be indifferent, or can be appointed by the Kirk. Secondly, that reason may be given from Christian prudence, why things are appointed by the Kirk thus and no other ways. And thirdly, that the constitutions of the Kirk about things indifferent can not be universal for all times and Kirks, and therefore cannot be concluded upon any moral or unalterable ground, which made the ancients to observe, that albeit Christ's coat had no seam, yet the Kirks vesture was of divers colors, and that unity is one thing, and uniformity another.

The PRELATE as a new Lawgiver will appoint new rites, and mystical signs in the Kirk, that depend upon mere institution, and are not concluded upon any reason of Christian prudence for such a time and place, but upon grounds unchangeable, and therefore obliging at all times and places, as is evident by the reason that he bringeth for festival days, kneeling in the sacrament &c.

6. The PASTOR distinguisheth betwixt the nature and use of things indifferent, and confesseth with all the learned, that albeit many actions be in their nature indifferent, yet that all our actions in particular (at least such as proceed of deliberation, which is the exception of some of the Schoolmen) are either good or evil, and not one of them all indifferent in matters most indifferent, which obligeth him to seek a warrant from God, for that which he doeth, that he may do it in faith, to walk circumspectly, to take heed to his words, gestures, &c. and to do all that he doeth to the glory of God.

The PREL. abhorreth this doctrine as the foundation of Puritanism, the restraint of his licentiousness, and the ruin of his monarchy, & therefore to the contrary sinneth with a bold conscience, and maketh the people to sin, some with erring, some with doubting, and some with a contradicting conscience.

7. The PASTOR giveth ear to the H. Ghost, charging that we put no occasion to fall, nor stumbling block before our brethren, (for that is to destroy him for whom Christ died) commanding the strong to bear with the infirmities of the weak, and not to please themselves with the neglect of their brethren, and threatening woe to them, by whom offenses come, against which no authority of man can stand, because it can neither make scandal not to be, nor not to be sin, nor not to be his sin that giveth the scandal.

The PRELATE stopping his ear against the commandment charge and threatening of the H. Ghost, whether he intend to give scandal or not by his manifold abuse of things indifferent, and especially by recoiving into the Kirk again things called indifferent, which for their great abuse were abolished, giveth offense to all sorts: as the boldness and increase of papists, the contempt and mocking of the profane, the superstition and perplexity of the simple, and the grief and crosses of the godly do declare, against which he never had any excuse, but the pretext of authority.

The Pastor & Prelate compared by the Reformation, and proceedings of our own Kirk.

AS no family or civil society, where the fundamental laws are neglected, and the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life are followed, can continue long, except it be reformed. Even so the Kirk of God, through the misregard of the laws of God & • irection of Scripture, and through the ambition and cove • ousnes of Kirkmen did fall away so far from the first inte ••• itie, that there was a necessity of Reformation, & nothing more certainly looked for, and more plainly foretold a long time before any of our reformers, or Luther himself come in the world. This reformation that could no longer be delayed was often urged, but never likely to be obtained in a general Counsel, nor with consent of the Clergy & Court of Rome, to whom Reformation was a certain ruin. And therefore in several kingdoms, countries and states of the Christian world, it was wonderfully wrought by the Lord's mighty power in his weak servants. Such were amongst others Baldus of Franco, Hus of Bohem, Jerome of Prague, Luther of of Germany, Wickleife of England, and our Knox of Scotland. Whereupon it came to pass, that although one part of Christendom knew not what another was doing, yet they all agreed (as may be seen in the Harmonie of Confessions published to the world) in the most essential and fundamental matters of faith: because the Lord was master of that work: but had also their own differences and degrees of Reformation, because men were the instruments, and they were not Angels, but men that were to be wrought upon. For whose divers dispositions in sundry nations there behooved to be divers disadvantages to the work. We are not riged censurers of other Reformed Kirks, nor are we Separatists from them: but this we think that a twofold duty lieth upon us, and them all, whatsoever be the measure of Reformation: One is (albeit there be ever some Catholic moderators, that will be Trysters betwixt us and Rome, and think to agree Christ and Antichrist) that we all with one heart praise God for separating us from Sodom, resolving never to return again, where there be so many heresies, both against the common principles and particular articles of faith, so manifold idolatry both against the first and second commandment, so proud a Hierarchy as can neither stand with the spiritual Kingdom of Christ, nor the civil Kingdoms of Princes, and so bloody a tyranny against all who refuse to believe their heresies, to practice their idolatry, and to be slavish to their hierarchy. Returning to any point of their profession is an approbatiō of their cruelty against them that have denied it. And whosoever approve their worship, they bring upon themselves the blood of so many Saints, and faithful martyrs of Christ, who have testified the word of God, & have washed their Robes in the blood of the Lamb. The other duty is, that albeit there be ever some adiaphorists, who for their own particular make many things, and show moe things to be indifferent in the worship of God, that under this pretext they may bring them back, that have been advanced before them in the work of Reformation: that we all praise God with one heart for the measure that everyone hath atteyned unto, and they that are behind in reformation, whatsoever their outward splendor be, envye not them woe have run before, or study to draw them back to their degree, least both return to Rome: but that all against all impediments press forward to further perfection, ever reforming some what according to the pattern, there being no staying neither for the Christian nor for the Kirk. The Kirk of Scotland hath little cause to be pleased with herself, whē she looketh upon her late sudden and shameful defection, but great and singular cause to praise God, when she looketh to his gracious dispensation. For as Scotland, albeit far from Jerusalem, was one of the first nations, that the light of the Gospel shyned on, when it appeared to the Gentiles, and one of the last that kept the light, when the shadows of the hills of Rome began to darken the earth. So when the sun came about again at the Reformation, if this blessed light shyned first upō others, all that had eyes to see both at home and abroad, have seen and said, that it shyned fairest upō us, Divine providence delighting to supply the defect of nature with abundance of grace, and to make this backside of the earth, lying behind the visible sun, by the clear and comforting beams of the Sun of righteousness, to be the sunnie side of the Christian world, whereof these following testimonies are sufficient proof.

The Pastor & Prelate compared by the weal of the Kirk. and the people's souls.

THE saeftie and good of the State was the main ende of Roman policy, and the fundamental law, by which that people squared all their other laws, according to their own Maxim: Let the safety of the people be the souveraigne lauv. The Kirk of Jesus Christ hath better reason to think, that the safety of the Kirk should be the rule and end of all Ecclesiastical policy, although the form of external Worship and of the government of the house of God were not prescribed by the Lord himself in his Word, but left arbitrary to men to be framed by their Canons and Constitutions, yet this must be holden as infallible. That it is the best form of government which by reason and experience is found to be best for the weal and safety of the Kirk. Unto this general both Prelate and Pastor will without question condescend: but they differ in the particular, what this is, wherein the good and weal of the Kirk doeth consist: For the Prelate places the weal of the Kirk in her outward peace and prosperity, & thinketh the Kirk well constituted, and in good case, when she flourisheth in wealth and worldly dignities. But herein he abuseth the Christian World three ways, First, that he measures and determines the good estate of the Kirk by her outward face, and not by her inward grace, by the health of her body rather then of her soul, by that which is accidental to the Kirk, and which she may either have or want, and yet continue a true Kirk, and not by that whi his essential and proper to the very nature and being of a Kirk. Secondly, that he judgeth that to be the weal of the Kirk, which hath many times proved her wrack, being abused, as commonly it hath happened: He taketh poison for a preservatiue, and surfett of peace and prosperity, excess of wealth and worldly honors, which are her deadly disease, to be her health & best constitution. Too large bestowing of riches and preferments upon the ministers of the Kirk, bred that contagion within her bowels which turned almost to her death in the ende: for thereby defection grew by degrees, till ar • st under the Man of 〈◊〉 it came to the height. Thirdly, that he measures the good estate of the Kirk by himself, and the rest of the members of that Hierarchical body, as though it went well with the whole Kirk, when Bishops stand and reign, like the Kings of the nations, and as though the ministry we • e sufficiently vindicated from poverty and contempt, where • twelve or thirteen of the number are clymed up like 〈◊〉 the highest places, that with their evil favored mingeot ••• they m • y move laughter to all that behold them from below, or like fowls flown up to the highest roofs, shooting down their filthy excrements upon the rest, that sit in the lower rooms. But the Pastor esteems the good an weal of the Kirk by her spiritual estate, that is, by a sound faith, a pure worship, and a holy conversation, as she stands or decays in these, so is she eyrher in a good constitution or languishing, and as she is furnished with all the means that may preserve and increase these, so she either prospers or decays. This judgment of the Pastor is grounded upon very good reasons. For upon this estate of the Kirk necessarily depends the glory of God, and salvation of souls, which are the two things that make the difference betwixt the Kirk of God, and all other so • ieties of men in the world, and therefore the Pastor hath reason to think, that all the riches of the earth, & all the glory of all the kingdoms of the world are not to be put in balance with the glory of God, and the salvation of souls, that which God with his own blood hath purchased and redeemed. Now whether the good of the Kirk in these things be better procured and preserved by the Prelate or by the Pastor, let them be typed by comparing them in the particulars following.

I. THE PASTOR his principal care is to preserve the purity of doctrine in the Kirk, that Christ's flock may be fed with the wholesome word of life, and to oppose all contrary and unprofitable doctrine, as poisonable and pernicious to the people's souls, and for that purpose interteyneth in weekly meetings the exercise of the word, where the doctrine delivered by one, is judged by all the rest, whether it be sound and profitable, and taketh such order with the Papists, the great corrupters of doctrine, and enemies to the people's souls, that either he converteth them, or cutteth them off from the communion of the Kirk with the spiritual sword, and exhorteth the Magistrate, to execute the laws made against them: whereby it came to pass that contrary doctrine, and vain and curious teaching either entered not into our Kirk, or was suddenly repressed and put to the door, and Papistry that had place before, was well nigh put out of the land.

The PRELATE hath neither leisure nor liking to look to such exercise, and accounts no heresy so worthy his animadversion, as the alleged heresy of Arius and his followers. It is manifest in history from the beginning, that the heresies that have most endangered the Kirk, have either been forged by the ingines, or favored and borne out by the authority and credit of Prelates: b and this day, diverse false and dangerous doctrines are partly vented, and partly winked at by them: neither thinketh he papists great enemies to the Kirk: but as the Jewish priests entertained the Sadducees, albeit enemies to true religion, and hated Christians as their deadly foes, and as the Papist can agree with the formal Protestant, but thinks the unconformable Calvenist his irreconcilable enemy, so the Prelate could agree with the common Papist for all his blaspheamous doctrine and profession, because he is a friend to his Hierarchy. But the Reformed Christian, whom he calleth the Calvinist, and Puritan he can by no means bear, because he is professed unfriend to his Hierarchy. A Prelate as a Prelate is not opposite to the Papist, but to the Protestant.

2. The PASTOR knowing that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, thinketh it dangerous for the people's souls to borrow either substance or ceremony of religion from Antichristian corruption, and therefore warneth the people to beware of the least beginnings and appearances of evil, and while he deliberates about ceremonies, fittest for ordor and decency, he intends nothing of his own, but the edification of the kirk, and in the practice of ceremonies & circumstances orderly appointed, he looketh to the peace of the Kirk that it be not broken, and to the consciences of the weak, that they be not offended.

The PRELATE liketh to simbolize with Antichrist his Ceremonies, putting the Papists in hope, that the body and substance of the • superstition may be resumed by time, where the shadows and ceremony • are so highly regarded. He intends nothing in appointing them, but the maintenance of his own estate and dignity, because he seeth and saith, N • Ceremony no Bishop, and in practice is more earnest in urging of Ceremonies, then of obedience to the greatest things of the Law, & by the Canons about matters, which they themselves call indifferent, doth viole •• either to the bodies or consciences of the people, that think other ways, & maketh them to serve as rods to scourge and whip out of the Kirk, and ministry, whom and when they think good.

3. The PASTOR considering, that he is called to feed the f • ock of Christ, and to care for the people's souls, in his entry to the ministry, will be loath to undertake a greater charge • then he can in some measure overtake, and the less his charge • is the greater is his contentment, not that he desireth to be 〈◊〉 but to be faithful, when he is entered he hath the work of the ministry in singular regard, as the most honorable and laborious work that he can be employed about, whereof the best man is not worthy, and unto which the whole man is not sufficient, and therefore is resident among the people, serveth not by deputies and Suffragans, but in his own person, and is altogether taken up with the Pastors duties, of preaching, praying, catechizing, visiting, exhorting, rebuking, comforting, &c. but labors most diligently in the word and doctrine, because faith cometh by the Word preached.

The PRELATE intending nothing, but to feed himself, at his entry to his prelacy, he regards not so much the number of souls he should feed, as the number of chalders, the large revenues, and the great dignities he is to feed upon, and the larger his Diocie, the better for him: Hence is it, that he ascends from a Diocesan to an Archbishop, and a Primate. After he is entered he disdayneth the work of the Ministry, as base, and unworthy of bis grace and great Lordship, he serveth by his deputies and Suffragans, and thinks it a more honorable and necessary employment to attend and reside at Court, or at the places of civil judgment, as Council, Session, Exchequor, and howsoever he appropriates to himself the reward of double honor due to them who labor in the word & doctrine, yet he thinks, that he is not bound to take the pains of that work, unto which the double honor is annexed. So the Pastor must labor in the work, and the Prelate must reap the reward, and which is more prejudicial to the people's souls, he maintayneth that learned & qualified preachers are not so necessary in congregations, as Curates and Readers, that there is too much preaching, and too little reading and praying, meaning nothing else but their confused Liturgy.

4. The PASTOR dare not do harm to the people's souls, because he is subject both in calling and conversation to the discipline of the Kirk, which stryketh upon the Pastor, as well as upon the people, and to bring the transgressors to repentance, he sitteth with his brethren in session, presbytery & assembly, administering the holy discipline holily, that is, in sincerity & faythfulnesse, without prejudice or partiality, and never ceasing, till the scandal be removed, the Kirk be purged, and the offender (if it be possible) be won unto God, and all this, as being Christ's own work, he doeth with Christ's own weapons, that is with the spiritual sword of the word, which is mighty through God to subdue everything exalting it self against God, and to bring sinners to repentance.

The PRELATE may do what harm he will for his own tyrannical custom and prastise, but not by any law either of Kirk or state, he exempteth himself in respect of his Episcopal administration, and as he is a Prelate from all censure, and scorneth to submit himself to any Ecclesiastical judicature, albeit the chief Apostles submitted themselves unto the Kirk, and albeit there be no subject in a Kingdom of whatsoever quality or condition, but in every respect he is under the controulement of some judicature in the Land where he liveth. And as he is thus singularly lawless of himself, so pretending the sole power of proceeding to belong to him by virtue of his place and office, he sweyeth the course of discipline, as best pleaseth his Lordship, processes begu • ne for trying of slanders, if the party never so wicked have Argument of weight for my Lord or his Receaver, are incontinently by the Word of his Monarchical authority stricken dead. Hereby it cometh to pass, that where prelates rule, sin reigneth, and the nearer the Bishops wings, the greater liberty for sin, as is seen in their own houses and trains. And for this reason is it, that both Atheists and Papists like the Episcopal discipline, better then the pastoral, which they call straytelaced, because it troubleth their corruption, whereas the other layeth the reins upon their neck. And if the Prelate happen to proceed against offenders, his discipline consists not so much in spiritual censure, as in worldly power and civil punishment, as fining, confining, imprisoning &c. which have no power to work upon the consciences of sinners to bring them to repentance, which is most proper for the preachers of the Gospel, and the chief ende of Kirk discipline.

5. The PASTOR for the good of the Kirk, is desirous, that the assemblies of the Kirk, provincial and national, be often holden and well kept, knowing how necessary they are for redressing things amiss, for fulfilling things omitted, and for preventing evils that are like to ensue: and when the assembly is convened he carrieth himself toward his brethren, as toward the servants of Christ, and colleagues of equal authority, none presuming to any place or preeminence, though of order only, and not of power, without the calling and consent of his fellow brethren. There everyone hath liberty to utter his mind, & every one is ready with the gift that God hath given him, as the diverse members of one body, for the good of the whole Kirk: meek Moses and burning Elias, Isaiah with his trumpet, and Aaron with his belles, Bonaerges and Barionah, the son of thunder, and the son of the dove, all moved by one spirit, with mutual respect, reverence, and brotherly love, join together in one conclusion, and if at any time they be of different judgments, they are not sudden and summar in concluding things of importance, that concern the whole, but that all may be done with uniform consent, after the example of the Apostles Acts 15, the conclusion is delayed, till all objections be satisfied, and God give greater light to such as are otherwise minded, and so to the great good of the Kirk, both peace and truth are preserved.

The PRELATE is as averse from a free assembly, as the Pope is from a free General councall, and therefore will either have none at all, or will have them so slavish, as if they were but his ecclesiastical courts convened under him, and in his name. When this Assemblie is convened, at his own hand, without calling or election, he taketh upon him to preside & moderate. There no man hath liberty to utter his mind before him, who hath power to raise up and cast down, to enlarge and restrain, to prefer and postpone, or put in and put out at his pleasure, and therefore no man's gift in such meetings doeth good to the Kirk. And if it happen that his courses be crossed, and the best sort oppose, then he rageth, and by his proud boastings, and unreasonable railings, he playeth the Prelate indeed, using Christ's ministers & the Kirks Commissioners no better, then if they were his slaves or lackeys, convened to say Amen to all his intentions, and to wait upon Oracles falling from his mouth. In ende the plurality of voices of the weaker sort, and for the most part either emendicate or extorted, carrieth away the sentence which must oblige all, and therefore besides the tyrannies and unjust proceedings, proveth afterward to the great hurt of the Kirk, to be the cause of many evils and great divisions.

6. The PASTOR in planting of Kirks, and placing of ministers without respect to any man's private judgment or affection with common consent, maketh choice of the best qualified for graces and manners, and most fit for the people he is to be set over, and that with their own special advise and desire, so that he giveth not the Kirk to the Minister, but the Minister to the Kirk, and in the act of ordination at the place where he shall serve, and in presence of the whole Congregation, he requireth of the Intrant neither oath nor promise, but what is appointed by the assemblies of the whole Kirk, as constancy in the faith, obedience to the King, and fidelity in his calling, and after he is admitted, he respecteth him as the conjunct Ambassador of Christ, equal in power and authority with himself, with no difference but of age and gifts.

The PRELATE excluding both the flock, whom the Pastor is to feed, and the fellow-ministers with whom he is to labor in the work, except it be superficially and for the fashion, when now the Prelate and his domestics (who have greater hand in the planting of Kirks then both presbytery and people) have brought the matter to the point of ordination, he giveth the Kirk to the Minister, rather thē the Minister to the Kirk, whereof there flowe so innumerable evils, that the Kirk hath as just cause to complain now of the placing of Ministers by bishops, as the Kirk had of old of the planting of bishops through the corruption of Archbishops and Metropolitaneo. The ordination must be at the place of the Prelates residencie, and not at the Kirk, where he shall serve nor in presence of the congregation; then is the intrant forced without any pretext of warrant from the kirk, to give his oath and Subscription to Articles of the Prelates devising, for maintenance of his Episcopal authority, even as the Pope doeth in consecrating Bishops and Archbishops, for establishing of his universal Supremacy. When he is admitted, albeit for gifts and all other rsspects he be worthy of double honor far above the Prelate himself, yet the prelate contemneth him and his brethren, as poor presbyters, with double contempt. Whereupon we see that the Prelates and others by their example & doing esteem not of Ministers for their worth & their works sake, but as they are in places of preferment, and as they are clothed with offices and titles of dignity above their fellows: and this again makes worldly minded Ministers to seek estimation by greatness rather then by goodness.

7. The PASTOR procureth the peace of the Kirk, by following after things which make for peace, Rom. 14. for by the discipline and assemblies of the Kirk he preserveth verity, without which there is either no unity, or such unity, as is but a conspiracy, and resisteth heresy the mother of the greatest divisions: so long as our assemblies had their liberty, there could arise no heresy among us, if it had broken up in a parish, a consistory or presbytery would have borne it down: or if it had proceeded further, thē the Synodal, or if it had not been able, the national assembly would have suppressed it: for the same reason the Kirk of France, which was nearest to ours, hath ben free of heresy: In the Low Countreysif the Kirks had enjoyed the liberty of their assemblies, which they wanted for a long time, Arminianism had neither troubled them, nor their neighbors. He never can find in his heart to urge or enforce unprofitable and untimely Ceremonies upon the Kirk, if it were for no other cause, but that they have been the apples of contention, and the cause of many Schisms, and will choose rather with Jonah to redeem the quietness and safety of the Kirk with the loss of himself, then for his own particular to raise the smallest tempest, that may peril her peace. He carrieth himself no other ways in his ministry, then becometh the humble servant of the Kirk, & feareth to be affected with Diotrephes his ambitious humor, of aspyring above his brethren, which is a special preservatiue of peace. He studieth to preserve holiness, without which there can be no sound nor wholesome peace, he is ever at war with that which is contrary to holiness, and sendeth away all scandalous livers with the workers of iniquity, that peace may be upon the Israel of God Psal. 25.

The PRELATE is accounted a peaceeble man, and pretends always the peace of the Kirk, but indeed seeketh his own peace and prosperity, and opposeth the things that make for peace: for if it serve for his own particular, he can oversee Papists and Heretics, and suffer heresy to rise and spread it self, that the Kirk may have some other thing to think upon, then his Episcopacy, and may have himself to run unto in stead of assemblies, he careth not to make Schism, and will fight with tooth and nail for unlawful and unprofitable ceremonies, which have ever proved the cause of Schism, and ere he redeem the Kirks peace, by casting out these cumbersome wares, he will rather cast over boorde many worthy ministers, suffer numbers of souls, for whom Christ hath died, to perish, and the Kirk of Christ tossed with troubles, by occasion of that noisome baggage, to sink at last under the burden. Contention also cometh by his pride and ambition: for first, great places make great emulation, & hot competition, as may be seen in Christ's own Apostles, and history maketh known in many others, what debate and contention, what war and bloodshed prelacy hath brought forth in the Christian world, between Kirk and Kirk contending for primacy, prelate and prelate for presidencie, Pope and Pope for papacy between Kings and Bishops for Souveraignitie: as between the Roman Emperors, and Roman Bishops: the Kings of England and the Primates of England.

8. The PASTOR contents himself with such a competent stipend, as is assigned to him for his service, whereby he hath neither means to swell in pride and wealth, nor matter of excess and superfluity. And he hath but one body, so he undertaketh but one Cure, where he must be resident, and one Kirk living, which for fear of the censures of the Kirk, albeit he would, he dares not delapidate, but must leave the Kirk patrimony in as good or better case, then he found it at his entry.

The PRELATE hath a Lord's rent out of the revenues of the Kirk, which at the first was destinate, and should be employed for better uses, and this he hath not for the service of the Kirk, but partly for his unlawful attending civil affairs, and partly, for bearing out a Lordly porte in himself, his Lady, their children and followers. He uniteth Kirks far distant, to maki the morsel the greater for his wide gorge: he alloweth and defendeth pluralities, and Nonresidencies, by setting long takes without knowledge or consent of the Kirk, and by setting of few forms and taxwardes he raketh up all, and stinteth the Minister to a poor stipendiarie portion of five hundredth marks. So that the most Sacrilegious persons in the Land are the Bishops themselves, eating the meat out of the mouths of many worthy pastors, that labor painfully in the Lord's work.

The Pastor & Prelate compared by the good of the Common wealth, and of our outward estate.

ALbeit that sometimes the power Ecclesiastical be without the secular, and the members of the Kirk make not any civil corporation, as in the Apostles times, & long after. And some times the secular power be without the ecclesiastical, and the members of kingdoms and corporations make not a Kirk, as amongst the Heathen of old, and many nations and societies this day; yet is it far best, both for Religion and Justice, both for truth and peace, both for Kirk and Commonwealth, when both are joined in one: when the Magistrate hath both swords, the use of the temporal sword, and the benefit of the spiritual sword, and when the Kirk hath both swords, the use of the spiritual sword, and the benefit of the temporal: When the two administrations civil and ecclesiastical, like Moses and Aaron, help one another mutually, & neither Aaron and Miriam murmur against Moses, nor Jeroboam stretcheth out his hand against the man of God. Upon the one part, civil authority mainteyneth and defendeth religion, where it is reformed, and reformeth religion where it is corrupted. Kings shall be thy foster-fathers, and Queens thy nurse mothers , Kings serve the Lord in fear : And then serve they the Lord (saith Augustine) when they serve him not only faithfully as men, but as Kings, and do such things in serving him, as none can do but kings, that is, while they rest not till Religion be established, and God served in their dominions, according to his own Word. It hath ever been the greatest commendation of Princes, that they have begun their government with the Reformation of Religion, as many worthy Princes have done both before, and after the coming of Christ, for God preferreth Kings unto all others, and therefore Kings should haste to honor GOD above all others: Or that they have exceeded all who went before them in this religious and Royal Chair. AZA took away Idolatry: but JEHOSHAPHAT removed the high-places also. EZEKIAH went further, and brake the Brazen Serpent, albeit a monument of God's mercy: But this was the sin of his Reformation, that he razed not the Idol Temples, which was kept to good JOSIAH, who therefore hath this testimony to the ende of the World, that like unto him there was no King before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might. Upon the other part, true Religion, although it propone for the principal ends, the Glory of GOD, and the Safety of the KIRK, yet it serveth many ways for the Civil good, and worldly benefit of Kings and Kingdoms. Because the true Religion, and no other, maketh Kings and Kingdoms to serve that GOD that giveth both Heavenly and Earthly Kingdoms. Who looseth the Bands of Kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle: Who is the only Judge, that putteth down one, and setteth up another. And therefore godliness hath the promise, and true Religion hath many blessings attending. It is a blessed thing, when a King, or a Kingdom serveth that GOD, by whom kings reign, and who giveth and taketh away kingdoms at his pleaure: Next because it qualifieth and disposeth every man for his own place. It maketh rulers to know, that every Kingdom is under a greater Kingdom, and as they are advanced above all others, that they have so much the greater account to make. It maketh the subjects to obey for conscience sake, and subdueth the people under their Prince: which made Theodosius to acknowledge, that his empire consisted more by Christian religion, then by all other means. It keepeth true peace, both public and private, and when peace can be no longer kept, it followeth after it to find it again. Jt maketh men just and temperate in time of peace, not by restraint, which positive laws do, but by mortification. With Christians to think that wickedness is sin, Whether of the two commandeth more fully (saith Tertullian) he who saith, Thou shalt not kill, or he who saith, thou shalt not be angry: which of the two is more perfect to forbid adultery, or to restrain the eyes from concupiscencs &c. It maketh every man to practice Christianity in the particular duties of his calling. In the time of war it maketh men courageous, & to fear none but him that can kill the soul. In persecution it maketh invincible patience▪ Without confusion it giveth at all times unto God, that which is God's, and unto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and without usurpation or injury to any, it giveth unto Noblemen, Statesmen, Barons, Burgesses, and all from the highest to the lowest in the Kingdom, their own places, preferments and privileges, according to the sovereign law of justice. All estates have need of this divine influence, and of all these comfortable effects, and every religion promiseth them all, but only Christian Religion is able to perform them, and the more Christian it is, that is, the more near that it cometh to the purity & simplicity of Christ and his Apostles both in doctrine and discipline, and the more christianly, that is, the more powerfully it be urged upon the consciences of men, the more effectually it proveth for these happy ones. Let us then upon this ground proceed to our trial, whether the Pastor or Prelate be more profitable for the Country and Common wealth.

THE PASTOR preserveth the prosperous estate of the Kingdom and commonwealth, by laboring to preserve piety, righteousness, and temperance in the Land, and by oppusing with all his might against Idolatry and all sorts of impiety, against unrighteousness and all sorts of injury, whether by craft or violence, and against intemperance, incontinency unlawful marriages, divorces, and whatsoever kind of impurities: for these three where they reign he knoweth to be more near and certain causes, first of the many calamities and judgments of God, and then of the alterations and periodes of states and Kingdoms, then either the intricate numbers of Plato, or the unchanged course of the heavens, or what other cause is pretended by philosophers or politics, because these where they reign, they threatten a ruin from the true fatalitie of God's providence & justice, & do shake the pillars of all human society, as Idolatry the pillars of the Kirk, unrighteousness of the Cōmonwealth, and intemperance of the family, & one of the three falling, the other two cannot long endure.

The PRELATE upon the contrary, by taking in his own hands the power of the general assembly, which was a great terror to sin, by depriving some worthy pastors of their places, and others of their authority in censuring of sin, by destroying the discipline of the Kirk, and by his own many unlawful practices and permissions, hath given way to Idolatry, blaspbemie, and the profanation of the Sabbath, to all sorts of Scandalous and notorious Sins of unrighteousness, uncleanness, and of the abuse of God's creatures, for which the wrath of God cometh upon the world. But most of all by bringing a great part of the kingdom under the guiltiness of the violation of the covenant of God, and of doing against their oath and Subscription hath drawn on many visitations from the hand of God, doeth daily provoke the Lord to further wrath, stryketh at the pillars of all Societies, and posteth on the periods of State and Kingdom.

2. The PASTOR accounteth virtue, truth, righteousness, Christian simplicity, and prudence to be the best policy, not only for his own practice, but for all that are in authority, and for all societies: and therefore pronounceth anathema upon the chiefest axioms of Machiavels art, whom he judgeth to be as pernicious a master of policy, as Antichrist is for matters of Religion: and these two to be the principal supposts of Satan, the direct enemy of Christian faith and obedience, and the crafty subverters of Kirks and Commonwealths, unfitte for all, but most unfitte for us, whom grace hath favored with the light of the truth, and nature hath fashioned to be open and plain.

The PRELATES practices do proclaim what policy pleaseth him best. Simulation, dissimulation, falsehood and Flattery are known to be the ways of his promotion. He standeth in his grandeur and possesseth his peace, by promising good service in parliament to the King, against the Nobility, and blowing the bellows of dissention betwixt them: he warmeth himself at the fire he hath raised betwixt the King and Kirk. He beareth with men of every religion, providing they be not Antiepiscopall. He urgeth Ceremonies, which he himself otherwise careth nothing for, that they may be a band of obedience to the slavish, and a buckler of Episcopacy against the opposites, he suffereth papistry to prevail, and new heresies to arise, and giveth connivence to the Teachers of them, that there may be some other matter of disputation amongst learned men, then about his myter. If all would follow his art and example, Antichrist & Machiavel would be our chiefest Masters, and every Scottish man of spirit would prove another Caesar Borgia, or Ludovieus Sfortia .

3. The PASTOR according to the nature of things distinguisheth betwixt the things of God and the things of Caesar, betwixt the sovereignty of Christ, and the souveraigntie of man, betwixt the dignity of the Statesman and honor of the Elder, that labors in the word and doctrine, betwixt the palace of the Prince, and the Ministers manse, the revenues of the Noble-man, and the Ministers stipend; and according to the grounds of policy holdeth, that many offices should be conferred upon one man, except rarely, by the special favor of Princes, upon some that are eminent, as miracles for engine, for wisdom, and dexterity, by reason of man's infirmity, the weight of authority, the order of the policy, and the peace of the people: that as every thing in nature doeth the own part, the •• nne shyneth, and the wind bloweth, the water moisteneth, so every man should be set to his own task, that one man cannot both be Aeneas and Hector, Cato and Scipio, far less can one and the same person be sufficient for the greatest affairs, both of Kirk and policy. And therefore the Pastor keepeth himself within the bounds of his own place and calling, and neither meddleth with civil causes, nor taketh upon him civil offices, nor seeketh after civil honor.

The PRELATE maketh no distinction, but confoundeth all, as compatible enough, if he be the agent. And albeit for any good parts to be no miracle, but neighbourlike, yet he findeth himself sufficient for everything in Kirk and Common-wealth, and telleth all for fish that cometh in his net, whether Civil offices, Civil Honors, civil causes, or civil punishments: Like a Prince he hath his castle, his Lordship, his Regalitie, Vassalry, &c. He hath power to confyne, imprison &c. and taketh it hardly, when he is not preferred to Offices of estate, as to be Chancellor, President &c. which his predecessors had of old. And thus against all ground of good policy he stands in pomp, as a mighty Giant, with one Foot in the Kirk upon the necks of the Ministers, and with another in the state, upon the heads of the Nobility and Gentry.

4. The PASTOR assisteth the Civil Magistrate in planting of virtue, and rooting out of vice, partly by powerful preaching home to the Consciences of sinners, partly by censuring lesser offenses, which the Magistrate punisheth not, as lying, uncomelie jesting, rash and common swearing, rotten talking, brauling, drunckennesse &c. Wherethrough the passages to murder, adultery, and other great offenses are stopped, the people prevented in many mischiefs, and great enormities, and the Magistrate many ways eased, and partly in censuring of greater sins, and purging the Kingdom of foul offenses: for he joineth the Censures and the spiritual sword of the Kirk with the sword of the Magistrate, so impartially, that none are spared, with such expedition and diligence, that sin is censured, and not forgotten, with such authority, that the most ob • tin •• e have confessed, that the Kirk had power to bind and loose, with such sharpness and severity that Malefactors have been afraid, and so universally, that, as there is no crime censurable by the Kirk, but the same is punishable by temporal Jurisdiction, so he holdeth no sin punishable by Civil Authority, but the same is allo censurable by Spiritual power, the one punishing the offender in his body or goods, the other drawing him unto repentance, and to remove the scandal.

The PRELATE is unprofitable to the Civil Magistrate in planting of virtue, and rooting out of vice: for where his government hath place, preaching hath more demonstration of Art for the praise of the speaker, then of the Spirit for the censuring of sin, and conversion of the sinner: He passeth small offenses without any censure, & thereby openeth the way to the greatest sins of murder, adultery &c. and giveth the Magistrate his hands full. He vendicates to his court and jurisdiction some crimes, as proper for his censure, which yet he passeth lightly. The censures of the Kirk and sword of excommunication in his hand serve for small use against greater sins. For either they are not used at all, or so partially, that the greatest sinners escape uncensured, or so superficially, that they are rather a matter of mocking and boldness in sin, then of repentance to the sinner, or of removing the offense.

5. The PASTOR is chargeable to no man beside his sober and necessary maintenance allotted unto him for his necessary service, which the people can no more want, then they may want religion it self, or their own temporal and eternal happiness.

The PRELATE contrary to the rules of policy against the multiplying and maintaining of idle officebearers, hath for one office, serving for no good use neither to King, nor Kirk, nor Country, allowance of a large rent, is a great burden, and is many ways chargeable to the Commonwealth, and to particular persons; by his great lands and Lordship, by actions of improbation, reductions of feiffes, declarator of esheits, entresses nonentresses &c. by selling of commissariats &c. by raising and rigorously exacting the Quots of Testaments, by sommes of money given unto them, their sons or their servants, for presentations, collations, testimonials of ordination, or admission, sometimes by people who would be at a good Minister, and ordinarily by the cannie friends of the intrant, who can find no entry but by a golden port.

6. The PASTOR would have learning to grow, & considering that Schools and Colleges are both the seminarie of the Commonwealth, & the Lebanon of God for building the Temple, desireth earnestly, that there might be a School in every congregation, that the people might be more civil, and might more easily learn the grounds of Religion, he would have the best ingynes chosen & provided to the students places in universities, the worthyest & best men to the places of Teachers, who might faithfully keep the Arts and Sciences from corruption, and especially the truth of Religion, as the holy fire that came down from heaven was kept by the Levites. He desireth the rewards of learning to be given to the worthyest, and after they have received them, that they be faithful in their places, least by loitering and laziness, they become both unprofitable and unlearned.

The PRELATE is not so desirous of learning in himself, as of ignorance in others, that be only may be eminent both in Kirk and Commonwealth, and all others may render him blind obedience and respect. He devoureth that himself which should entertain particular schools: he filleth the places of students without trial of their ingines to pleasure his friends and suyters, contrary to the will of the masters and the Acts of the foundations; he filleth the places of learning not with the learnedst, but the welthiest sort, who for any vigilancy of his might both corrupt the human sciences and bring strange fire into the house of God. If a learned man happen to attain to one of their highest places; which they call the rewards of learning, incontinent their learning beginneth to decay, and their former gifts to wither away. So that their great places and prelacies either find them or make them unlearned.

7. The PASTOR by the gouvernment of the Kirk prescribed in the word, is strong to resist or repress Schisms, heresies, corruptions, and all the spiritual power of sin and Satan, but hath no strength to withstand the temporal power and authority of Princes. The same gouvernment sorts with monarchy no less, then with Aristocrasie through the wisdom of the Son of God, who fitteth the same for all nations, and diverse forms of civil policy. The Pastor acknowledgeth his Prince to be his only Bishop, and overseer superintendent over the whole Kirk in his dominions, as being the preserver of the liberties of the Kirk and keeper of both tables, To whom also the general assembly of the Kirk, of some few commissioners chosen by them and convened, when it is thought expedient by the Kings Commissioner, may give his Majesty better and more speedy satisfaction in Kirk affairs, and with greater love and contentment of the whole Kirk, and of all his Majesty's loving subjects, then can be given by the thirteen Prelates. All which may be done upon a small parte of the prelates rent, for bearing the charges of his Majesty's Commissioner, who also may be changed at his Majesty's pleasure.

The PRELATE and his gouvernment it weak to withstand the spiritual forces of sin and Satan, but is strong to oppose the temporal power of princes, and hath been of all enemies the most dangerous to monarchy; for howsoever now, while opposition is made, he flatter & fawn upon the Prince for his own standing, yet if all Ministers and the whole Kingdom did acknowledge his Superioritie of bind the conscience, the Primate of the Kirk would be powerful then any Subject in the kingdom, and might prove as terrible to Kings, whatsoever their Religion were, as Popes have been to Emperors, and Prelates have been to Kings in former times. He hath no power for all his credit and Lordly authority to get anything done to his Majesty's satisfaction, and with contentment of the Kirk, for all the craft and violence, that hath been so long bended, never one whole famous congregation within the Kingdom is either conquested, or like to be subdued to his Conformitie, but either the better or greater part, or both have resisted. And yet for his Lordly maintenance he hath impaired the rent of the crown, in so far as it was aided by the collectorie, he pulleth from the King the rents of great benefices, the homage of Vassales with their commodities, Regalities, & other privileges more proper for the Scepter then the Shepherds staff.

8. The PASTOR desireth no other title, but to be called the minister of the town or parish, he stryveth with no man for precedency, he seeketh no place in the Common wealth, neither in Counsel, Session, nor Exchequor, but stirreth up, and soundeth the Trumpet in the ear of the generous spirits of the Kingdom, to show themselves worthy of their own places, and whether he be Minister in brough or land, he is a Common servant to all, from the highest to the lowest, to parents and children, to Masters & fervants in all pastoral duties: while he liveth he harmeth none, but helping all, procuring honor to the greater, & maintenance to the poorer sort, & when his life is brought to a comfortable end, every soul blesseth him, and all mourn for him, as for a common parent,

The PRELATE according to the political axiom When virtue waineth, Vanity waxeth, and many titles much vanity, disdaining to he called anymore the Minister of Christ, hath taken upon him the Titles of the Nobility, My Lord of Orknay, My Lord or Cathnes, My Lord of Murray, My Lord of Argyl, &c. with the title he taketh the place before them, and filleth their places in Council and Session, and when risen up from his dunghill, he is set on high places, and is drunken with his new honors, he lefteth his ears like Isis Ass, and as handmaids, when they become mistresses, he waxeth so insolent, that he cannot be borne. In his own city he will have momage of all, overtruleth the election of their Magistrates, harmeth both parents and children through the Country, by giving warrant far sudden and secret marriages without proclamation, which the very Counsel of Trent cannot but allow, he taketh the honor of the greater to himself, and spends that upon his pride, which should serve for the poorer sort. And when after many wishes, his life at last is brought to an ende, the whole Diocie is filled with joy, and his own family and friends are filled with centempt, and disgrace.

9. The PASTOR maketh the Kingdom fit for war, against the time that necessities give alarm: for, by laboring to make the people truly religious, he maketh them resolute for both parts of Christian fortitude, active and passive, for doing valiantly, and suffering constantly. In the time of peace, he stirreth them up against softness and intemperance, to diligence and labor, whereby their bodies are the more able and durable: He strengtheneth also the nerves of war, by contenting himself with a mean estate, & by his doctrine and example teaching people to spare in peace, for the time of war.

The PRELATE maketh the Kingdom unfitte for war: for by his government the people loose true fortitude, with the love of Religion, that if they have any kind of Courage for battle, it is not so much the invincible courage of Christian Religion, as the carnal and bastard Fortitude of Paganism, which in comparison of the former hath ever been but pusillanimitie. By his oversight of rioting and idleness, their bodies become weak and effeminate, and by his own large rents, and his example of prodigality, which to them is a law, he enervates the estate, and cutts asunder the sinews of war.