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<DATE>2011-04-01</DATE>
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<NAME>Pip Willcox</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<IDG S="marc" R="OX" ID="B06320">
<STC T="W">T3524</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">53299344</BIBNO>
<VID>180066</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>TVVO PETITIONS TO <HI>THE HONO&V;RABLE CO&V;RT OF</HI> PARLIAMENT <HI>IN BEHALFE OF</HI>
EPISCOPACY.</P>
<P>ONE DELIVERED BY S^r THOMAS ASTON from the County Palatine of <HI>Chester.</HI></P>
<P>THE OTHER FROM THE Citties of L. and W.</P>
<P>Printed in the yeare 1641.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 N="Chester" TYPE="petition">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>A PETITION DELIVERED INTO The Lords <HI>Spirituall</HI> and <HI>Temporall,</HI> by Sir THOMAS
ASTON, Baronet, <HI>from the County Palatine of</HI> CHESTER concerning EPISCOPACIE.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">To the High and Honorable Court of PARLIAMENT.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">The Nobility, Knights, Gentry, Mini&s;ters, Free-Holders, and Inhabitants of the
County Palatine of <HI>Che&s;ter,</HI> who&s;e names are &s;ub&s;cribed in the &s;everall Schedules
here|unto annexed.</HEAD>
<OPENER>Humbly &s;hew,</OPENER>
<P>THat whereas divers Petitions have lately been carried about this County, again&s;t the
pre&s;ent forme of Church-Government, (and the hands of many per&s;ons of ordina|ry quality
&s;olicited to the &s;ame, with pre|tence to be pre&s;ented to this Honorable
<PB REF="3">A&s;&s;embly:) which we conceiving not &s;o much to ayme at reformation as ab&s;olute
innovation of Government, &amp; &s;uch as mu&s;t give a great advantage to the Adver&s;aries of our
Religion, We held it our duty to di&s;|avow them all.</P>
<P>And humbly pray, that We incurre no mi&s;cen&s;ure, if any &s;uch clamours have (without our
privity) a&s;&s;um'd the name of the County.</P>
<P>We, as others, are &s;en&s;ible of the com|mon Grievances of the Kingdome, &amp; have ju&s;t
cau&s;e to rejoyce at, and acknowledge with thankfulne&s;&s;e, the pious care which is already
taken for the &s;uppre&s;sing of the growth of Popery, the better &s;upply of able Mini&s;ters, and
the removing of all Innova|tion; and We doubt not but in your great Wi&s;edomes, you will regulate
the rigour of Eccle&s;ia&s;ticall Courts, to &s;uit with the tem|per of our lawes, and the nature
of Free|men.</P>
<P>Yet when We con&s;ider, that Bi&s;hops were in&s;tituted in the time of the Apo&s;tles;
<PB REF="3">That they were the great lights of the Church in all the fir&s;t generall Councells;
That &s;o many of them &s;owed the &s;eeds of Religion in their bloods, and re&s;cued
Chri|&s;tianity from utter extirpation in the Pri|mitive Heathen per&s;ecutions; That to them we
owe the redemption of the purity of the Go&s;pell We now profe&s;&s;e from Romi&s;h corruption;
That many of them for the propagation of the truth, became glorious Martyrs; That divers of them
(lately and yet living with us) have been &s;o &s;trong a&s;|&s;ertors of our Religion again&s;t
its common enemy of Rome; And that their Govern|ment hath beene &s;o long approved, &s;o oft
e&s;tabli&s;hed by the Common and Statute-Lawes of this Kingdome; And as yet no|thing in their
doctrine (generally taught) di&s;&s;onant from the Word of God, or the Ar|ticles ratified by Law:
In this ca&s;e to call their Government a perpetuall va&s;&s;alage, an intollerable bondage; And
<HI>(prim&acirc; facie &amp; inaudit&acirc; alter&aacute; parte)</HI> to pray the pre&s;ent
removall of them, or (as in &s;ome of their
<PB REF="4">Petitions) to &s;eeke the utter di&s;&s;olution and ruine of their Offices (as
Antichri&s;ti|an:) We cannot conceive to reli&s;h of ju&s;tice or charity, nor can We joyne with
them.</P>
<P>But on the contrary, when We con&s;ider the tenor of &s;uch Writings, as in the name of
Petitions are &s;pread among&s;t the Com|mon People; the tenents preached pub|liquely in Pulpits,
and the contents of ma|ny printed Pamphlets, &s;warming among&s;t us; all of them dangerou&s;ly
exciting a di&s;|obedience to the e&s;tabli&s;hed forme of Go|vernment, and their &s;everall
intimations of the de&s;ire of the power of the Keyes, and that their Congregations may execute
Ec|cle&s;ia&s;ticall Cen&s;ures within them&s;elves: We cannot but expre&s;&s;e our ju&s;t feares,
that their de&s;ire is to introduce an ab&s;olute Inno|vation of Presbyterial Government, where|by
We, who are now governed by the Ca|non and Civill Lawes, di&s;pen&s;ed by twen|ty-&s;ix Ordinaries
(ea&s;ily re&s;pon&s;all to Par|liaments for any deviation from the rule of Law,) conceive We
&s;hould become expo|&s;ed
<PB REF="4">to the meere arbitrary Government of a numerous Presbytery, who together with their
ruling Elders will ari&s;e to neere forty thou&s;and Church-Governours, and with their Adherents,
mu&s;t needs beare &s;o great a &s;way in the Common-wealth, that if future inconvenience &s;hall
be found in that Government, We humbly offer to con|&s;ideration, how the&s;e &s;hall be reducible
by Parliaments, how con&s;i&s;tent with a Monar|chy, and how dangerou&s;ly conducible to an
Anarchy, which We have iu&s;t cau&s;e to pray again&s;t, as fearing the con&s;equences would prove
the utter lo&s;&s;e of Learning and Lawes, which mu&s;t nece&s;&s;arily produce an extermination of
Nobility, Gentry, and Or|der, if not of Religion.</P>
<P>With what vehemency of &s;pirit, the&s;e things are pro&s;ecuted, and how plau&s;ibly &s;uch
popular infu&s;ions &s;pread as incline to a paritie, We held it our duty to repre&s;ent to this
Honorable A&s;&s;embly; And humbly pray, that &s;ome &s;uch pre&s;ent cour&s;e be taken, as in your
Wi&s;edomes &s;hall be thought fit,
<PB REF="5">to &s;uppre&s;&s;e the future di&s;per&s;ing of &s;uch dangerous di&s;contents
among&s;t the Com|mon People. We having great cau&s;e to feare, that of all the di&s;tempers that
at pre|&s;ent threaten the wellfare of this State, there is none more worthy the mature and grave
con&s;ideration of this Honorable A&s;|&s;embly, then to &s;top the Torrent of &s;uch Spirits
before they &s;well beyond the bounds of Government: Then We doubt not but his Maie&s;tie
per&s;evering in his gra|cious inclination to heare the complaints, and relieve the grievances of
his Subiects in frequent Parliaments, it will &s;o unite the Head and the Body, &s;o
indi&s;&s;olubly ce|ment the affections of his people to our Royall Soveraigne, that without any
other change of Government, He can never want revenue, nor We iu&s;tice.</P>
<PB REF="5">
<P><HI>We have pre&s;umed to annex a Coppy of a Petition (or Libell) di&s;per&s;ed, and certaine
po&s;itions preacht in this County, which We con|ceive imply matter of dangerous con&s;equence to
the peace both of Church and State. All which We humbly &s;ubmit to your great Iudgments, praying
they may be read.</HI></P>
<CLOSER><HI>And &s;hall ever pray, &amp;c.</HI>
<SIGNED>Sub&s;cribed to this Petition,
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Foure Noblemen.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Knight, Baronets, Knights and E&s;quires, foure&s;core and odde.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Divines, three&s;core and ten.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Gentlemen, three hundred and odde.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Freeholders and other Inhabitants, above &s;ix thou&s;and.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST> All of the &s;ame County.</SIGNED>
<POSTSCRIPT>
<P><HI>The Anti-Petition, or An&s;were to this, is a ba&s;e</HI> Libell <HI>and a</HI>
forgerie.</P>
</POSTSCRIPT></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 N="London and Westminster" TYPE="petition">
<PB REF="6">
<HEAD>TO THE <HI>HONORABLE, THE</HI> Knights, Cittizens, &amp;c.</HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">The humble Petition of the Citties of L. and W.</HEAD>
<OPENER>Humbly &s;heweth,</OPENER>
<P>THAT whereas there hath of late a Petition &s;ub&s;cribed by many (who pretend to be
In|habitants of the&s;e Citties) been delivered, received, and read in this HO|NORABLE Hou&s;e,
again&s;t the ancient, pre&s;ent, and by Law e&s;tabli&s;hed Govern|ment of the Church, and that
not &s;o much for the Reformation of Bi&s;hops, as for the utter &s;ubver&s;ion and extirpation of
Epi&s;co|pacy
<PB REF="6">it &s;elfe; Wee who&s;e names are un|derwritten, to &s;hew there be many, and tho&s;e
of the better &s;ort of the Inhabitants of the&s;e Citties otherwi&s;e and better minded, doe
humbly repre&s;ent unto this Honorable Hou&s;e, the&s;e con&s;iderations following.</P>
<P N="1">I. That Epi&s;copacy is as ancient as Chri&s;tianity it &s;elfe in this Kingdome.</P>
<P N="2">II. That Bi&s;hops were the chiefe in|&s;truments in the Reformation of this Church
again&s;t Popery, and afterwards the mo&s;t eminent Martyrs for the Prote&s;tant Religion, and
&s;ince, the be&s;t and able&s;t Champions for the defence of it.</P>
<P N="3">III. That &s;ince the Reformation, the times have been very peaceable, happy, and
glorious, notwith&s;tanding Epi&s;copall Go|vernment in the Church: and therefore that this
Government can be no cau&s;e of our unhappine&s;&s;e.</P>
<P N="4">IV. We conceive that not only many Learned, but diver&s;e other Godly per&s;ons would be
much &s;candalled and troubled in Con&s;cience, if the Government of Epi&s;co|pacy,
<PB REF="7">conceived by them to be an Apo&s;toli|call In&s;titution, were altered: &amp; &s;ince
there is &s;o much care taken, that no man &s;hould be offended in the lea&s;t Ceremony, we hope
there will be &s;ome, that &s;uch mens Con&s;ci|ences may not be pre&s;&s;ed upon, in a matter of
an higher nature and con&s;equence, e&s;pe|cially con&s;idering that this Government by
Epi&s;copacy, is not only lawfull and conve|nient for edification, but likewi&s;e &s;utable and
agreeable to the Civill policie and Go|vernment of this State.</P>
<P N="5">V. That this Government is lawfull it appeares by the immediate, univer&s;all &amp;
con&s;ta~t practi&s;e of all the Chri&s;tian World, grounded upon Scripture, from the Apo|&s;tles
time to this la&s;t Age, for above 1500 yeares together: It being utterly incredible, if not
impo&s;sible, that the whole Church for &s;o long a time, &s;hould not di&s;cover by Gods word this
Government to be unlaw|full, if it had been &s;o. To which may be ad|ded, that the mo&s;t learned
Prote&s;tants, even in tho&s;e very Churches which now are not
<PB REF="7">governed by Bi&s;hops, doe not only hold the Government by Epi&s;copacy to be lawfull,
but wi&s;h that they them&s;elves might injoy it.</P>
<P>Againe, that the Government by Epi&s;co|pacy is not only lawfull, but convenient for
edification, &amp; as much, or more conducing to Piety and devotion then any other, it ap|peares,
becau&s;e no mode&s;t man denies, that the Primitive times were mo&s;t famous for Piety,
Con&s;tancy, &amp; Per&s;everance in the Faith, notwith&s;tanding more frequent and more cruell
per&s;ecutions then ever have been &s;ince; and yet it is confe&s;&s;ed, that the Church in tho&s;e
times was govern'd by Bi&s;hops.</P>
<P>La&s;tly, That the Government of the Church by Epi&s;copacy, is mo&s;t &s;utable to the frame
and forme of the Civill Govern|ment here in this Kingdome, it appeares by the happy &amp;
flouri&s;hing Union of them both, for &s;o long a time together; Whereas no man can give us an
a&s;&s;urance, how any Church Government be&s;ides this (whereof
<PB REF="8">We have had &s;o long an experience) will &s;uit and agree with the Civill policie of
this State. And We conceive it may be of dangerous con&s;equence, for men of &s;etled fortunes to
hazzard their e&s;tates, by making &s;o great an alteration, and venturing upon a new forme of
Government, whereof nei|ther We, nor our Ance&s;tors have had any tryall, or experience;
e&s;pecially con&s;idering that tho&s;e, who would have Epi&s;copacy to be aboli&s;hed, have not
yet agreed, nor (as We are verily per&s;waded) ever will or can agree upon any other common forme
of Government to &s;ucceed in the roome of it, as appeares by the many different and con|trary
draughts, and platformes they have made &amp; publi&s;hed, according to the &s;everal humors and
&s;ects of tho&s;e that made them. Whereas, &s;eeing every great alteration in a Church or State,
mu&s;t needs be dangerous, it is ju&s;t and rea&s;onable that who&s;oever would introduce a <HI>new
forme</HI> in &s;tead of an <HI>old one,</HI> &s;hould be obliged to demon&s;trate and make it
evidently appeare aforehand,
<PB REF="8">that the Government he would introduce, is proportionably &s;o much better, then that
he would aboli&s;h, as may recompence the lo&s;&s;e we may &s;u&s;taine, and may be worthy of the
hazzard we mu&s;t run, in aboli&s;hing the one, and in introducing and &s;etling of the other. But
this We are confident can ne|ver be done, in regard of this particular.</P>
<P>And therefore our humble and earne&s;t reque&s;t to this <HI>Honorable Hou&s;e</HI> is, that as
well in this con&s;ideration, as all the other a|fore&s;aid, We may &s;till injoy that Govern|ment,
which mo&s;t probably holds its In&s;ti|tution from the <HI>Apo&s;tles,</HI> and mo&s;t certainly
its plantation with our <HI>Chri&s;tian Faith it &s;elfe</HI> in this Kingdome, where it hath ever
&s;ince flouri&s;hed, and continued for many Ages without any interruption or alterati|on: whereby
it plainly appeares, that as it is the mo&s;t excellent Government in it &s;elfe; &s;o it is the
mo&s;t &s;utable, mo&s;t agreeable, and every way mo&s;t proportionable to the Ci|vill
con&s;titutions and temper of this State. And therefore We pray and hope will al|wayes
<PB REF="9">be continued, and pre&s;erved in it &amp; by it, notwith&s;tanding the abu&s;es and
cor|ruptions which in &s;o long tract of time through the errors or negligences of men may have
crept into it: Which abu&s;es and corruptions being all of them (what and how many &s;oever they
may be) but meere|ly accidentall to Epi&s;copacy; We conceive and hope, there may be a Reformation
of of the one, without de&s;truction of the o|ther.</P>
<CLOSER>Which is the humble &s;uit of Ten thou&s;and thou&s;and.</CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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