Chap. VII. 'lbe HIS T 0 RY of the PutuTANS. 23 I fcripture, and confeffed by many champions for epifcopacy, that presby- K. Charles L ters may ordain presbyters; and to difengage his majefiy from his coronation ~6~ oath, as far as relates to the church, he conceives, when the formal rea fen of an oath ceafes the obligation isdifcharged: when an oath has a fpecial regard to the benefit of thofe to whom the engagement is made, if the parties inte. reil:ed relax upon the point, difpenfe with the promife, and give up their advantage, the obligation is at an end. Thus when the parliaments of both kingdoms have agreed to the repealing of a law, the king's_conJcience is !Jot tied againfi figning the bill, for then the altering any law would be !m– practicable-He concludes with obferving, that king James never admitted epifcopacy upon divine right; and that could his ghqfl now fpeak, he would not advife your majefiy to run fuch hazards, for men [prelates] who would pull down your throne with their own, rather than that they perilh alone. The king in his fecond paper of June 6; avers, no reformation is law- King's fmnd ful, unlefs under conduct of the royal authority; that king Henry the p~pers. eighth's reformation being imperfect is no proof of defects in that ofB~b. Re;~ P· · king Edu·ard VI. and queen Elizabeth; that Mr. Henderfon can never ~c~' 3 ' · prove, God has given the multitude leave to rifornz the negligence of pritrces; that his comparing our reformation to the laodicean lukewarmnefs, was an unhandJome way of begging the quefiion, for he {]wuld firil: have made out, that thofe men [the puritans] had reafon to complain, and that the {chifm was cbarf!eable upon the conformifis. His majefiy is fo far from allowing the prdbyterian government to be practifed in the primitive times, that be affirms, it was never fet up before Calvin; and ad-· mits, that it was his province to fi1ew the lawfulnefs, and uninterrupted fucceffion, and by confequence the neceffity of epfpopacy, but that he had not then the convenience of books, nor the afiifiance of fuch learned · men as he could truil:, and therefore propofes a conference with his divines. And whereas Mr. Henderfon excepts to his reafoning from the primitive church, and confent of the fathers; his majefiy conceives his exception indefenfible, for if the fenfe of a doubtful place of fcripture is· not to be governed by fuch an authority, the interpretation of the infpired · writings muft be left to the direction of every private fpirit, which is · contrary to St. Peter's doctrine, z Pet. i, 20. No prophecy if Jcripture is if private interpretation ; it is likewife the fource of all fects, and without prevention will bring thefe kingdoms into confulion. His majelty • adds, that it is Mr. Henderfon's part to prove, that prefbyters without a • bilhop may ordain other prefbytcrs. As to the adminiltration of the facramt nts Mr. Henderfon himfelf will not deny, a lawfully ordained prif- - bj·ter's being neceffary to that office; fo that the determination of this lat- · ter que £lion will depend in fome meafure on the former. With -regard to J oaths,,
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