lvumb:IV. di T T E N D .I X 77 q, At Luther's Reformation Swarms of Separatifts arofe in Germany, Holland, Pr land, &C. to the great difhonour of theProteftant Caufe. 5. Here in England it hath been ill in Queen Elizabeth's time, by the Familifts and Separatilts ; and far worfe fine : It wasfuch as Quartermanand Lilbúrn, and o- ther Separatiththat drew Tumultsand Crowds down to Weffminfter, to draw the Parliament to go beyond their own Judgment,and thereby divided the Parliament- men, and drove away the king, which was the beginningof our odious War. It was the SeparatingParty that all over the Land fee upAnti -Churchesin theTowns that had able godly Minifters, when theyhad nothing impofed on them to excufe it, neither Bithops, Liturgies , nor Ceremonies. So that Churches became like Cockpits, or Fencing-Schools, to draw afunder the Body of ChrifI. It was the Separating Party that got under Cromwell Into the Army, and becamethe common Scorners ofa godly able Miniltry, by the Namesof the Prieft-byrer.g the Drivìnerr, the Wefminfter- firmer , the Diffembly-men, as Malignant Drunkards did , and worfe. It was thefe that thoughtSuccefs had made them Rulers of the Land , that caufed the disbandingof all the Soldiers that difliked their Spirit and Way,and then pull'd down, firft eleven, and then the major part ofthe Parliament, imprifoning and turning out Men of eminent Piety and Worth, and making a Parliament of the minor part, and their killing the King, and afterward with fcorn turning out that minor part that had done their work , and to whom they had oft profeft them- felves Servants : It was thefe- Men that fet up a Ufurper - that made a thing called a Parliament, all of his and his Armies nomination.. 1f' this fhould ever be imitated, whommay we thank. It was thefe Men that fet up the Military Go- vernment of Major-Generals: It was they that fet up and pull'd down fo many feigned Supream Powers in a few years , as made themfelves the Scorn of the World, and by adreadful. warning of Divine Juftice, all their victorious Army and Power dropt inpieces like Sand, as they would have ufed the Church, and was diffolved without oneBattle or drop of Blood , fave the afterBlood of their Lea- ders that were hang'd, drawn, and quarter'd by Parliament Sentence, It is thefe Men and thefe doings that have hardened thoufands againftReformation, and turn- ed all that was done for it (Owhat did it coif, and what raifed hopes had manyof the Succefs) into Reproach, quieted the Confidences of thofe that haie thought they ferved God by filencing, hating and perfecuting thofe that they thought had been of this guilty Se&. In a word, the fpirit and way of caufelefs Separation, whether by violent Prelatifts Purfuits and Excommunications, or by felf-conceited Salaries, was never owned or bleft by God. If any fay (truly or falfly) Tau have had aband infame furl thingyourfelf. r I anfwer, If I had I will hate it, and write against it fo much the more. To thruft onesPelf into a way fo difowned by God, by fach a courfe of fearful warnings, is to run with Pharaoh into the Red-Sea; efpecially when Impenitence fo fixeth the guilt on them that cannot endure tohear of it, as may make us fear that theworst is behind, andSin andJudgments yetcontinue. The Sumof what is faid to you on the other fide, is that the Church ofEngland and the Parifh- Churches have no true Miniltry, and therefore are no true Chur- ches: That they confers there is no Church without a Bilbop, and no Bishop be- low the Diocefan, and fo noChurch below the Diocefan Church : That thofe are' no ScriptureBithops and Churches ; and Men cannot bePallors againft their wills, and the will of their Diocefans. That I contradidt my Treatife of Epifcopacy in denying this: With more like this. To which I fay, I. If the Parifh Congregation were but part of a Church, you might joyn with it as a part, as well as with part of an Independent Church. And they that can hear a Lay-man with the Separatilts, might hear the Minifters there, II. Whether I contradict[ my l'elf, or not, is nothing to your Caufe and Con- fcience: I undertook not, whenI wrote, that none fhould wilfully or ignorantly tnifunderftandme: The formal Notion of a National Church is nothing but a Chriltian Kingdom: The Matter is Chrilüan Rulers and Subjects, and as ordered Confederate particular Churches : England hash been filch for many Ages, Here from the Reformation they owned theSovereign Power as the Head of the 'Politi- cal National Church, as Chriítt is of the Univerfal, ( under him) They, owned Parifh.ChurchesunderDiocefans, and true Minifters therein: Their Books chew their Judgment, their Articles, Apology, Homelies, Liturgy, Ordination, Canons, ba.. Thefe Books are hill ownedby the Church : But at lait a new fort ofBishops tofuup that would have made the Parilh Churches tabe no proper Churches, but like
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