The HISTORY of the PuRITANS. Chap. V. " and the civil war in England, may be charged upon them- That !f. Charl~sl " for thefe reafons the parliament had refolved to change this inconvenient,~ " mifchievous government, and fet up another in the room of it, more - · " naturally formed for the adv~ncement of piety --That this altera- " tion was the bell exp~dient to unite all proteftant churches, ~nd ex- '·' tinguiili the remains of pmpery - . - He hoped therefore the king would: " concur in fo commendable and godly an u,ndertaking; and conceived '' his maje!l:y's confcience could not be urged againft fuch a compliance, " becaufe he had already done it in Scotland; nor could he believe that " epifcopacy was abfolutely nece!Tary to the fupport of the chriil:ian reliu gion~" Dr. Steward clerk of the king's clofet, addreffing himfelf to the corn- DdtforS~ewmiilioners, replied " he knew their lordiliips were too well acquainted ar s repiJ. " wi th the con!litution of the church of E'lgland, and the bafts upon '' which it Jl:ood, to imagine it could be fhaken by the force of Mr. Hen- " derfon's rhetoric-- That he was firmly of opinion, that a govern- " ment, wh ich from the planting of chr iftianity in E ngland had continued '' without interruption ; that a government under which chrillianity had " fpread and flouriihed to a remarkable degree, could have nothing vicious " or antichriil:ian in its frame ; that he expected, that thofe who had fworn " themfelves to an abolition of this primitive conil:itution, and came hi- " ther to perfwade their lord01ips and his majeil:y to a concurre nce, would " have endeavoured to prove the unlawfulnefs of that government they " pre!Ted fo il:rongly to remove --But though in their fermons and " prints they gave epifcopacy an antichri£1:ian addition, Mr. Hende~fon had '' prudently declined charging fo deep, and only argued from the incon- " veniences of that government, and the advantages which would be confe- " quent on an alteration-Forafp-1uch as an union with the protefiant chur- " ches abroad was the chief reafon for this change, the doctor defired tO · " ' know what foreign church they deugned for a pattern-That he was fure " the model in thedireelory,bdno great refemblance to anylforeign reformed " church --.And though he would not enter upon a ~enfure of thofe " communions, yet it was well known that the moO: learned men of thofe " churches, had lamented a defect in their reformation ; and tha t the want •s of epifcop cy was an unh:' ppy circnmfl:ance --That they had always " paid a particular revere nce to the church of England, and looked on " it as the mof\: perfect confl.itu tion, upon the fcore of its having retained " all that was venerable in antiquity - -from hen ce he proceeded to en- " large upon the apofl:olical inHitution of epifcopacy, and endeavoured to 'f prove, that without bifhops the facerdota l character could not be con- " veyed, or the facraments admini£1:ered to any f]gnificancy. " As
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