150 7heHISTORYof the PURITANS. Chap. IV. 93nrrn " again/l mywill. And when they forced it upon him, he inveighed a- Ahzabeth, " gainft the apparel, as foolifh and abominable." r566. At the end of the book is a prayer, in which are thefe words; --_. P Y Are not the relilìs of Romifh idolatry ftoutly retained ? Are we not " bereaved of fome of our paftors, who by word and example fought " to free thy flock from thefe offences ? Ah, good Lord ! thefe are now " by power put down from paftoral care ; they are forbid to feed us;, " their voice we cannot hear. This is our great difcomfort; this is the " joy and triumph of antichrift; and which is more heavy, the increafe of this mifery is of fome threatened, of the wicked hoped for, and of us feared, as thy judgments againft us for our fins." At the con- clufion is the Lord's prayer and creed, after this manner, In thy name, 0 Chrift our captain, we afk theta things, and pray unto thee, O hea- Strype'sAnn. verily Father, faying, Our Father, &c. After this; O Lord, encreafe p'555. our faith, whereof we make confeflion, I believe in God the Father Al- Pierce, ie 'mighty, &c. And in the end is this fentence, Arife, O Lord, and let thine enemies be confounded. Other pamphlets of the fame kind, were publifhed in defence of the fufpended miniflers, which the bifhops appointed their chaplains to anfwer. Mr. Strype is of opinion, that the archbifhop himfelf publifhed an anfwer Pierce's to their declaration; but whoever be the author, he is a man of a bad fpi- ynd, p. 62. rit, and abufive language : The miniflers printed a reply, intitled An anfwer for the time, to the examination put an print without the author's name, pretending to maintain the apparel prefcribed, againfi the declaration of the minijiers of London; it anfwers the adverfary paragraph by para- graph, with good temper and judgment. But the bifhops printed fome new teflimonies of foreign divines, without their confent, with a collec- tion of tra&s, of obedience to the mag/rate, and Melanchton's expofition of Rom. xiii. t. Let everyfiul be fubjeét to the higherpowers : From whence they conclude, that becaufe things are barely tolerable, though offenfive, dangerous, and in their own opinions, to be removed out of the church, as foon as an opportunity (hall offer, yet in the mean time they may be impofed under the penalties of fufpenfion, deprivation, and imprifon- ment, from a miftaken interpretation of the apoftle's words, let every foul befubje5t to the higher powers. The puritans replied to all thefe attempts of their adverfaries ; their traéts were eagerly fought after, and had a wide fpread among the people; upon which the commifíioners had recourfe to their Taft remedy, which was the further reftraìnt of the prefs. They complained to the council, that notwithftanding the queen's injunftions, the differences in the church were kept open by the printing and publif sing feditious libels; and here- upon they procured the following decree of the fear-chamber, (viz) r. " That
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