their tender consciences shall require us. And in this examination, I have not only satisfied myself, but have begun a treatise, in which I intend the satisfaction of others, by a demonstration of the reasonableness of our laws of ecclesiastical polity. But, my lord, I shall never be able to finish what I have begun, unless I be removed into some quiet parsonage, where I may see God's blessings spring out of my mother earth, and eat my own bread in peace and privacy: a place where I may, without disturbance, meditate my approaching mortality, and that great account, which all flesh must give at the last day, to the God of all spirits.

This work is comprised in eight books, of which, the four first were finished at Boscomb, and printed in 1594. The fifth was composed at Bishop's-Bourne, and published separately in 1597. The three last books were also written at this latter place, but not published till after his death.

The plan of the work, I shall give in the author's own words; and which is stated in his preface, addressed to the Puritans.

Mine intent

in these several books of dis

course, [is,] to make it appear unto you; that for the

ecclesiastical laws of this land, we are led by great reason to observe them, and ye by no necessity bound to impugn them. It is no part of my secret meaning, to draw you hereby into hatred, or to set upon the face of this cause any fairer gloss than the naked truth doth afford; but my whole endeavour is to resolve the conscience, and to shew, as near as I can, what in this controversy 'the heart is to think, if it will follow the light of sound and sincere judgment, without either cloud of prejudice, or mist of passionate affection. Wherefore, seeing that laws and ordinances in particular, whether such as we observe, or such as yourselves would have established; when the mind doth ́sift and examine them, it must needs have often recourse to a number of doubts and questions, about the nature, kinds, and qualities of laws in general, whereof, unless it be thoroughly informed, there will be no certainty to stay our persuasion upon: I have for that cause set down, in the first place, an introduction on both sides needful to be considered; declaring therein what law is, how many different kinds of laws there are, and what force they are of, according unto each kind. This done, beCause ye suppose the laws, for which we strive, are found in Scripture; but those not against which ye strive; and upon this surmise, are drawn to hold it, as the very main pillar, "that Scripture ought to be the only rule of all our actions," and consequent

ly, that the church orders which we observe, being not commanded in Scripture, are offensive and displeasant unto God; I have spent the second book in sifting of this point, which standeth with you for the first and chiefest principle whereon ye build. Whereunto, the next in degree is, that as God will have always a church upon earth, while the world doth continue, and that church stand in need of go. vernment; of which government, it behoveth himself to be both the author and teacher: so it cannot stand with duty, that man should ever presume in any wise to change and alter the same; and therefore, "that in Scripture there must of necessi ty be found some particular form of ecclesiastical polity, the laws whereof admit not any kind of alteration." The first three books being thus ended, the fourth proceedeth from the general grounds and foundations of your cause, unto your general accusations against us, as having in the orders of our church (for so you pretend) "corrupted the right form of church polity with manifold popish rites and ceremonies, which certain reformed churches have banished from amongst them, and have thereby given us such example as (you think) we ought to follow." This your assertion hath herein drawn us to make search, whether these be just exception: against the customs of our church, when ye plead that they are the same which the church of Rome

hath, or that they are not the same which some other reformed churches have devised. Of those four books which remain, and are bestowed about the specialties of that cause which lieth in controversy, the first examineth the causes by you alledged; wherefore the public duties of the Christian religion, as our prayers, our sacraments, and the rest, should not be ordered in such sort, as with us they are; nor that power, whereby the persons of men are consecrated unto the ministry, be disposed of in such manner as the laws of the church do allow. The second and third are concerning the power of jurisdiction; the one, whether laymen, such as your governing elders are, ought in all congregations for ever, to be invested with that power? The other, whether bishops may have that power over other pastors, and therewithal, that honour which with us they have? And because, besides the power of order, which all consecrated persons have, and the power of jurisdiction, which neither they all, nor they only have, there is a third power, a power of ecclesiastical dominion, communicable, as we think, unto persons not ecclesiastical, and most fit to be restrained unto the prince, our sovereign commander over the whole body politic. The eighth book we have allotted unto this question, and have sifted therein your objections against those pre-emiThus have nences royal which thereunto appertain.

I laid before you the brief of these my travels, and presented under your view, the limbs of that cause litigious between us, the whole intire body whereof, being thus compact, it shall be no troublesome thing for any man to find each particular controversy's resting place, and the coherence it hath with those things, either on which it dependeth, or which depend on it.

I shall now select a few passages from the body of this celebrated work; and endeavour, in these selections, to exhibit the leading principles on which the author founds his arguments.

The law of reason doth somewhat direct men, how to honor God as their Creator; but how to glorify God in such sort as is required, to the end he may be an everlasting Saviour; this we are taught by divine law, which law both ascertaineth the truth, and supplieth unto us the want of that other law. So that in moral actions, divine law, helpeth exceedingly the law of reason to guide man's life; but, in supernatural, it alone guideth. Proceed we further; let us place man in some public society with others, whether civil or spiritual; and